What is the overall ton of your campaign? Are the runners self-proclaimed heros striking back at the man? Are they heartless mercenaries that will happily slaughter anyone? Or perhaps something else?
The only characters I've played in SR have both been honest and honorable. Not afraid to do wetwork, but won't do innocents.
The campaign I'm running now has a rigger, gun adept, troll tank, and gator shaman. All of them except the rigger accepted a job to blow up an elemetary school without even batting an eyelash. Their only concern was how much they got paid and whether they could survive. They did decide against going because they couldn't hit the school hard and fast enough without either a) getting caught by Lone Star or b) having it be boring except for the one character that could sneak in with demolitions.
What is the overall tone of your games?
Full Version: Campaign tone
We have two GMs for our game.
With the first GM the tone it is hard to keep the players from turning on each other. The tone is more of the line paranoid than anything else.
The Second GMs tone is of fear. We have no idea what is going to do to us at any given moment. We walk around like choir boys in speedos while on a greek freighter.
With the first GM the tone it is hard to keep the players from turning on each other. The tone is more of the line paranoid than anything else.
The Second GMs tone is of fear. We have no idea what is going to do to us at any given moment. We walk around like choir boys in speedos while on a greek freighter.
My group consists of the following:
Oni physad/mage
Human wujen
Human generalist
Elven decker
Elven physad
and sometimes a ghoul melee/fighter
Generally speaking, most of the group is a pretty "good aligned" group. The one divergant character is the Oni mage who has little regard for those he considers "beneath him." The Elven physad keeps him in line though, sometimes erupting into in-character/in-game arguments about his actions.
Case in point, the group was stuck on the docks in Hong Kong with a large group of Triad goons heading in their direction, looking for them. The team starts stealthing down the docks, looking for a boat they can hijack. The elven physad finds an elderly couple that is taking their junk out on the bay and starts negotiating with them to purchase it. The old man, sensing that the runners are in trouble, keeps jacking the price of the junk up... well beyond its worth. The elven physad is willing to pay for it, so long as they can wrap up the deal quickly and without incident.
The Oni gets pissed that this little human won't just sell the boat for more money than he's seen in his lifetime and grabs the frail man by the collar, shaking him. "Look, take the f*%$ing money and give us the boat!" he says. The little Chinese guy wedges a fist with a middle finger up in front of the Oni. The Oni pulls out a stun grenade, shoves it down the guy's pants, and chucks him into the dirty bay water. His little wife jumps up and starts pounding on his chest as he grabs her face and throws her in the drink as well.
After the bubbles subside and the group is on their way with the now-stolen junk, the elf and oni go at it on the subject of ethics and morality... while the rest of the team is worrying about getting their hoops out of there. That's a good example of the tone my team sets.
Since I know they have this "problem," I try to cater runs around situations that foster these kinds of scenarios.
Oni physad/mage
Human wujen
Human generalist
Elven decker
Elven physad
and sometimes a ghoul melee/fighter
Generally speaking, most of the group is a pretty "good aligned" group. The one divergant character is the Oni mage who has little regard for those he considers "beneath him." The Elven physad keeps him in line though, sometimes erupting into in-character/in-game arguments about his actions.
Case in point, the group was stuck on the docks in Hong Kong with a large group of Triad goons heading in their direction, looking for them. The team starts stealthing down the docks, looking for a boat they can hijack. The elven physad finds an elderly couple that is taking their junk out on the bay and starts negotiating with them to purchase it. The old man, sensing that the runners are in trouble, keeps jacking the price of the junk up... well beyond its worth. The elven physad is willing to pay for it, so long as they can wrap up the deal quickly and without incident.
The Oni gets pissed that this little human won't just sell the boat for more money than he's seen in his lifetime and grabs the frail man by the collar, shaking him. "Look, take the f*%$ing money and give us the boat!" he says. The little Chinese guy wedges a fist with a middle finger up in front of the Oni. The Oni pulls out a stun grenade, shoves it down the guy's pants, and chucks him into the dirty bay water. His little wife jumps up and starts pounding on his chest as he grabs her face and throws her in the drink as well.
After the bubbles subside and the group is on their way with the now-stolen junk, the elf and oni go at it on the subject of ethics and morality... while the rest of the team is worrying about getting their hoops out of there. That's a good example of the tone my team sets.
Since I know they have this "problem," I try to cater runs around situations that foster these kinds of scenarios.
I'm currently running two SR groups. The one is quite mature. They're very professional. For the most part, they do their legwork, they object to killing innocents, and even security guards they will let live if they have the choice. One or two of them is too hungry with power (both mages) to really consider the little guy sometimes, but the B&E expert has her gamma-scopaline, should the need arise.
The second group is primarily high school boys.
There's so much testosterone in the room with them, the female Johnson's voice started cracking. I suspect the first few times someone does something stupid and gets himself or the party killed, they'll figure out that there is a line to be drawn somewhere...
The second group is primarily high school boys.
There's so much testosterone in the room with them, the female Johnson's voice started cracking. I suspect the first few times someone does something stupid and gets himself or the party killed, they'll figure out that there is a line to be drawn somewhere...
| QUOTE (U_Fester) |
| We have two GMs for our game. |
And who is which one? Choose your answer wisely as I'm GMing this weekend.
I would say the tone of most of the games is that of ruthless street criminals. They are the guys from Goodfellas. They have no problems committing murder or other crimes. Sometimes the wrong person gets killed and the group will straighten the offender out before someone with authority kills the whole party. A bit more distgression would probably help the party a lot.
On that note I find it very amusing that the characters for the new campaign have the most firepower of all the parties so far. We'll have 2 combat mages, 1 giant with MMG, dwarf rigger with 4 dobermans with LMGs, Ork with Grenade Launcher, and an inhumanly fast dwarf. I was planning on doing a more laidback investigation type supernatural game but it looks like we're going to be playing splatterpunk.
| QUOTE (U_Fester) |
| We walk around like choir boys in speedos while on a greek freighter. |
LOL
In my campaign I'm trying to set a pretty gritty street-level tone. It gets interesting because the group isn't all on the same moral plane (and is in high school anyway). It's my stated goal to drag them all kicking and screaming into the shadows. Almost all the criminal action so far has been down and dirty, in the Barrens or at a run-down waterfront in Tacoma.
The ganger has some sense of morality, but it's outranked by what "ya gotta do on the streets."
The troll jock appears almost completely amoral. He's been up for everything as long as money was involved (theft of medical waste, hiding a sniper rifle for some criminal group, knocking over a gang warehouse and stealing BTLs).
The wanna-be rocker would probably do anything for a thrill but is worried about getting in trouble.
The studious physad was pretty clean until he got mixed up in the shooting of a KE officer. It looks like he's going to dive headfirst into the grit now.
The Unicorn shaman is trying to stay clear of the bad stuff. She's kind of in a support role; mostly healing the ganger when he drags himself in off the street.
And the otaku lives beyond the law anyway. But he's a complete pacifist.
I'm doing a sort of spy-on-the-run campaign. I'll give a synopsis below. It's long and complicated, so I'll throw a spoiler tag around it.
Interesting story and bio-tech.
[ Spoiler ]
Our current campaign is based on amoral templates and Organized Crime. We are in Las Vegas, which helps as far as setting, and the Ute Nation provides an Anti-Anglo racism that uniquely flavors the PCs personal interactions (I can't remember how many times I've said "We don't serve your kind here, paleskin"). Overall, it's shaping up quite well, better than I had hoped.
| QUOTE (UpSyndrome) |
| I'm doing a sort of spy-on-the-run campaign. I'll give a synopsis below. It's long and complicated, so I'll throw a spoiler tag around it. [ Spoiler ] |
Interesting story and bio-tech.
Thanks Jack.
-Joe
-Joe
I`m running my group on a gritty street level and they`ve finally learned how to go about doing their homework and all the other stuff that means the nasty cybered bodyguard of Ricky Wu`s niece doesnt get to fill you full of lead and drop you to deadly.
Most of the team has a decent moral level , that is the Gun Adept who tries not to kill people unless its unavoidable (and DOES NOT do wet work) The elf face/ skillwire jockey who`s more concerned with getting in and out with a job well done and no bullets expended... and then we have the ex mafiaso ork razor-chica, with the drug problem and who is ungodly fast and very dangerous with her cyberspur. Who will do anything to keep the Nuyen flowing and her in her latest addiction.
Throw in the fact they`re involved with a small biotech corporate `war` between Novatech and Shiawase as well as having really annoyed the Triads (the gun adept and the ork) and things are shaping up to be pretty grim and interesting all in one.
Most of the team has a decent moral level , that is the Gun Adept who tries not to kill people unless its unavoidable (and DOES NOT do wet work) The elf face/ skillwire jockey who`s more concerned with getting in and out with a job well done and no bullets expended... and then we have the ex mafiaso ork razor-chica, with the drug problem and who is ungodly fast and very dangerous with her cyberspur. Who will do anything to keep the Nuyen flowing and her in her latest addiction.
Throw in the fact they`re involved with a small biotech corporate `war` between Novatech and Shiawase as well as having really annoyed the Triads (the gun adept and the ork) and things are shaping up to be pretty grim and interesting all in one.
My game seems to be more moralistic (several "rescue" ops have given them a rep) and more in the hero genre. I personally can't stomach some of the REALLY disgusting things in SR (like Tamanous and bunraku) so I tend to stay away from them, with a few exceptions of course.
However, the Arc shutdown is coming up, so things are getting darker in Seattle.
However, the Arc shutdown is coming up, so things are getting darker in Seattle.
Basic explanations in the spoiler who want 'em.
My PCs are all members of the Spiders gang in Seattle...so things are pretty dark. The game is set in 2057, and one of the characters only just barely got out of Bug City...
The PCs have damn all money, frag all gear, and some neat 'experimental' (read, "unreliable and crap") cyberware that Ares decided to test out on SINless people, and they're deliberately setting off to hunt Bug Spirits.
Lots of menace, little conflict...but when the hammer comes down, it will come down hard.
I strongly suspect I'll be starting another campaign in a very, very short time...
My PCs are all members of the Spiders gang in Seattle...so things are pretty dark. The game is set in 2057, and one of the characters only just barely got out of Bug City...
The PCs have damn all money, frag all gear, and some neat 'experimental' (read, "unreliable and crap") cyberware that Ares decided to test out on SINless people, and they're deliberately setting off to hunt Bug Spirits.
Lots of menace, little conflict...but when the hammer comes down, it will come down hard.
I strongly suspect I'll be starting another campaign in a very, very short time...
[ Spoiler ]
I have always run my games to have a moral and ethical "bottom line", as it were. Without it shadowrunners are just murdering mad dogs
Sometimes the line can get a little blurred - wetwork isn't completely out of the question, it just depents on who (think Martin Blank) - but it is rarely crossed completely, and the last time it was the runner in question was captured by his colleagues and turned over to Lone Star.
I even remember a retrieval run - "bring us this rock band so we can make them sign a contract" - where the group specified they would bring the band in for negotiations, but if the band wanted to leave afterwards they would make sure that happened too. One of the runners played pub gigs around Seattle, so they had a kind of fellow feeling
Sometimes the line can get a little blurred - wetwork isn't completely out of the question, it just depents on who (think Martin Blank) - but it is rarely crossed completely, and the last time it was the runner in question was captured by his colleagues and turned over to Lone Star.
I even remember a retrieval run - "bring us this rock band so we can make them sign a contract" - where the group specified they would bring the band in for negotiations, but if the band wanted to leave afterwards they would make sure that happened too. One of the runners played pub gigs around Seattle, so they had a kind of fellow feeling
That was a cool thing of the group to do, DrJest.
My players are also mixed. No real mad dogs though.
Orc rigger Kurt Miller from CalFree. Has a military background from Pueblo, and does spy footage of famous people for CalHot sims as a side gig. No goodie two shoes but prefers not to kill people unnecessarily.
Orc decker simply calling himself Johnsson. Azzie outcast who dresses in a black suit despite living in Puyalup gangland. He always been using stun rounds.
XS, human samurai. Fits the shadowrunner stereotype perfectly, down to always waring sunglasses. He´s stone cold effective, so who ever gets in the way...
Dwarf mage detective by the name of Mycroft Cunningham. Clean shaven and scrawny dwarf with sort of a Sherlock Holms complex. He seems to be bent on preventing violence alltogether.
Balam, human amazonian shaman. The player insists on being so mysterious, I simply don´t know what to expect. He´s following Moon.
I´m mostly doing the published runs, so you can propably figure what the overall tone is.
My players are also mixed. No real mad dogs though.
Orc rigger Kurt Miller from CalFree. Has a military background from Pueblo, and does spy footage of famous people for CalHot sims as a side gig. No goodie two shoes but prefers not to kill people unnecessarily.
Orc decker simply calling himself Johnsson. Azzie outcast who dresses in a black suit despite living in Puyalup gangland. He always been using stun rounds.
XS, human samurai. Fits the shadowrunner stereotype perfectly, down to always waring sunglasses. He´s stone cold effective, so who ever gets in the way...
Dwarf mage detective by the name of Mycroft Cunningham. Clean shaven and scrawny dwarf with sort of a Sherlock Holms complex. He seems to be bent on preventing violence alltogether.
Balam, human amazonian shaman. The player insists on being so mysterious, I simply don´t know what to expect. He´s following Moon.
I´m mostly doing the published runs, so you can propably figure what the overall tone is.
Our overall feel is basically normal people (plus magic and cyberware) dealing with their lives and their very high-risk self employment. They've ranged from assassins who'd kill their teammates for a decent price to dedicated pacifists who are only there due to personal interest in another team member.
In most cases, I guess in our group it comes down to why we run, not how we run.
The tone changes with the characters. Games with Sahandrian and Yue tend to be more "good" because they tend to try and keep themselves at a moral level they'd be comfortable with their young children knowing about.
Games with Malkav and Ceres tend to be a little grittier due to their darker backgrounds (Bug City and a sadistic stalker ex-boyfriend, respectively), but still good-aligned, and often weirder, because they get tied up in magic things.
Games with Six, Fireball, or Drake tend to be very gritty due to their willingness to pull almost any job and Drake's backstabbing (he has quoted Machiavelli and similar people in explaining his actions).
Finally, games with Dot, Zem, Ler, and Rei tend to be silly, and are pure hell for an inexperienced GM due to their complete inability to follow a plot or plan of any kind.
In most cases, I guess in our group it comes down to why we run, not how we run.
The tone changes with the characters. Games with Sahandrian and Yue tend to be more "good" because they tend to try and keep themselves at a moral level they'd be comfortable with their young children knowing about.
Games with Malkav and Ceres tend to be a little grittier due to their darker backgrounds (Bug City and a sadistic stalker ex-boyfriend, respectively), but still good-aligned, and often weirder, because they get tied up in magic things.
Games with Six, Fireball, or Drake tend to be very gritty due to their willingness to pull almost any job and Drake's backstabbing (he has quoted Machiavelli and similar people in explaining his actions).
Finally, games with Dot, Zem, Ler, and Rei tend to be silly, and are pure hell for an inexperienced GM due to their complete inability to follow a plot or plan of any kind.
We have three main gm's and each gorup has a different feel.
When I GM, the players tend to be more cold and business like. I don't know why.
but they are mercinary willing to take a contract for any money.
With another GM we run a military campaign in CFS against the japanese, and tenk to be more violent. Think Arnold Schwartzzenagger or Steven Segal movies.
With our Main GM the characters tend to be more indevidualistic. Mine tend to be more "doing good work" but others are more likely to look at the bottom line. they might take a contract on someone, but mine won't.
When I GM, the players tend to be more cold and business like. I don't know why.
but they are mercinary willing to take a contract for any money.
With another GM we run a military campaign in CFS against the japanese, and tenk to be more violent. Think Arnold Schwartzzenagger or Steven Segal movies.
With our Main GM the characters tend to be more indevidualistic. Mine tend to be more "doing good work" but others are more likely to look at the bottom line. they might take a contract on someone, but mine won't.
My last group was playing young-street-level-bored-post-highschool wannabes. For the most part it was gang related and gritty without the darker elaments, like blood magic, etc. They were neophytes, but their world was going to get pretty complicated and sinister just after we quit to play that other game
I've run the same basic campaign off and on for several years with different characters.
The setting is 2059 in Detroit with the corp war as a back drop. I'll sped a bit of time focusing on various aspects of the 6th world, but in the end I've got 3 "main" plot lines. You have the whole Ares internal rivalries, the CATCo Seraphim stuff. I've also set up a street gang that's been pushing a custom drug in my campaign for years. Backing the gang is a criminal organization headed up by an Ant Shaman. I love the Earthdawn connection so I throw some shady global conspiracy stuff in every once in a while, but I don't beat my players over the head with it. It's more like a garnish to the main course. We have started going to the stable idea so my players can experience different runs with different characters. My players are pretty good, and even if they refuse to take a job, (even if it's just one character) I can find some trouble for them to get into. I try to keep the pay for the jobs under 6 figures unless it's "The Big One". That keeps the players on the edge. I guess if I would describe the overall tone it would be High Tension-Fight for Survival.
The setting is 2059 in Detroit with the corp war as a back drop. I'll sped a bit of time focusing on various aspects of the 6th world, but in the end I've got 3 "main" plot lines. You have the whole Ares internal rivalries, the CATCo Seraphim stuff. I've also set up a street gang that's been pushing a custom drug in my campaign for years. Backing the gang is a criminal organization headed up by an Ant Shaman. I love the Earthdawn connection so I throw some shady global conspiracy stuff in every once in a while, but I don't beat my players over the head with it. It's more like a garnish to the main course. We have started going to the stable idea so my players can experience different runs with different characters. My players are pretty good, and even if they refuse to take a job, (even if it's just one character) I can find some trouble for them to get into. I try to keep the pay for the jobs under 6 figures unless it's "The Big One". That keeps the players on the edge. I guess if I would describe the overall tone it would be High Tension-Fight for Survival.
I just discussed the next campaign I am setting up (to begin in March or April) with my players. We will be going for a massive, world changing level of run with very elite level characters. I anticipate that the types of things they will go up against will be dark and unspoken of in public, but those in the know will be seriously scared of the threats.
I suppose the tone of my game would be more mystical than anything. Weird techno-magical drek happens, and the characters can either try to understand it, or work around it to do their jobs. So far, they've consistently chosen the latter. The game is set in Chicago, and the game date is August 20, 2055, so perhaps that's appropriate.
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.
Dumpshock Forums © 2001-2012