I need to learn to write better… Or stop trying to post at work…

What makes a good runner group? Does it have to be super specialized or can a generalist group compete? I like a group that has been designed- just like the characters – to perform shadowruns, and usually a specific type of run too. Does this take some of the fun out of the game? My problem with the ‘gang of criminals’ shadowrun method is an issue of suspension of disbelief. Sure, there is now magic, and orcs and elves… but people are still people.. Throwing 12 6th worlders together (with or with out SIN’s) isn’t going to get you a good baseball team. And a running team has a higher standard to meet than most baseball teams, in baseball you mess up you loose... in a shadowrun you mess up you go to jail or die.. or worse some one else goes to jail or dies. Sure shadowrunners are not nessacarly the cream of the crop, but they still have to do the job, otherwise they wont get hired…

you're right people are people.

this is one of the reasons i like the infighting in a group of runners.

also one of the reasons that we try to rotate characters so everyone has a character or two and can pick depending on the job.

I've found that the best way to do it, for our group at least, is to have two or three teams of runners. That way you avoid the problem of one bieng played in a group more than the others. Ex. each player has three characters. Each of these three characters of the players is on a team. None of the three characters under the same player know each other. The three teams are totally independant. That way if another player wants to take a stab at running a game, or you have a differnet type of game in mind, you can just pull out that team. Hopefully the players can agree on which team they want to play. But we jsut have the GM dictate which team hes running the current run for. makes it easy.


But really what makes a good team is the players being able to work well with and off of each other. Not so much the character or stats

As long as you get a good mix of skills and abilities from the get go, darwinian pressure will round out the team as time goes on. The last group i GM'd for lacked a decker. As the runs went on, the minimally cybered skill bunny became the teams decker.

IF your running team lacks any and all magical support, it stands to reason that some one is going to die sooner than later. Fill that character's slot with a mage.

Granted you can save yourself a lot of trouble before the game starts, by making sure the players build a balanced team. But you'll sacrifice some realism unless you build it into the storyline.