Shadowrun
Shadowrun General => The Secret History => Topic started by: Osserc on <12-24-13/2030:58>
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Ok forum's please be nice I am new to shadow run have played/run 1 campaign of shadowrun have just picked up 5ed book am trying to get in to the metaplot to incorporate it in my new game because it would be a nice surprise for my group as they all love the game but are all newbies like me so am asking for a beginners guild to the metaplot please
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The main thing is that megacorps are evil and are actively screwing each other over at every chance they can get. Ares may or may not be growing insect spirits for military purposes, Horizon wants to assimilate everyone into the collective (think borg), Aztechnology is big into blood magic and may or may not be under the control of a great dragon being influenced by Horrors (big emotion eating lovecraftian horrors that show up once the base magic level gets high enough), MCT is cutting up technomancers trying to see what makes them tick, Neo-net is trying to own the Matrix, Sader-krup just wants to own everything and Lofwyr will eat anyone who tried to stop them, the Universal Brotherhoods message of peace and acceptance is just a massive front to get schmucks to willingly let insect spirits possess them so they can take over the world and eat everyone, oh and the good guys, that's you, kill people for money.
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For a really good lead in to the 5th edition stuff, you should get a copy of Storm Front which has a lot of stories, characters and plot hooks for major events happening around the world and that will influence events in the future.
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Also, Neo-net has managed to unleash something that actually wants to own the Matrix and take over the meatworld while they're at it. Hello Sybil!
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Off the top of my head, in addition to the stuff already mentioned:
Harlequin/Ehran
Immortal Elves
Dunkelzhan's Will
Dunkelzhan's "death"
The Horrors
Insect Spirits/Invae
Other connections to the 4th World/EarthDawn (And, if they ever show up, EarthRise, EarthDusk and EarthFall)
(Just some of my favourite Metaplot points. If you want to go for the really deep stuff, Look up Ancient History's archive of stuff. Then you can get into how Dragons are descended from Horrors, where the Namegiver races come from, etc.)
-Chris
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If you're starting with 5th Ed let's not forget the dragon civil war that just went down. It's detailed in Storm Front but the ramifications of the fighting will be making waves for years to come all over the 6th World.
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The game is starting in 5ed but am trying to lean/get my head around the back story of the 6th world I played one campine in 4th and have fallen in love with the setting, the group I gm for are the type of ppl that love in depth gaming and metaplots
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Your best resource for pre-2060: http://old.shadowrun4.com/resources/timeline.shtml
Also, I'll go ahead and list the Primary Metaplots that mean something in 5th.
1: DUNKLEZAHN. Caps intentional. He became president of the UCAS and died, leaving a Will that changed everything. The Draco Foundation and DIMR are the two things closely related, but Wuxing wouldn't be listed in 5th as a megacorp without him, nor would NEONet. While many pieces of his Will have been dealt with inside the game, here's the whole thing: http://www.shadowruntabletop.com/game-resources/dunkelzahns-will/
2: Crash 2.0. Every character lived through this (11 years before 5th Edition's date of early 2075). It is directly involved with metaplot fears of AI and Technomancers. The metaplot on that goes back a few years, but reading the basics of "System Failure" could help.
3: Technomancers. Lots of folks are scared of 'em. "Emergence" is the start of that.
4: Dragon Civil War. It just happened, but many things had been a long time coming. Yet another thing tied into the Big D's death. "Clutch of Dragons" starts it, "Storm Front" ends some of it. For now.
5: Chicago and Bugs. This was HUGE, though many PCs will be too young to remember it. Everyone now knows about Insect Spirits because of this. The Spirits have been quiet since then inside the plot (Outside of Ares), but this was the biggest scare of the 2050s, and the ramifications are still felt. Pick up "Bug City" if you can, as anyone who is over 25 in-game will remember this. Any older (40+) Shadowrunner/Fixer/Mafioso probably had SOME dealing with the fallout.
All of these are pretty much puts to sink time/money into. Excluding a gap in metaplot between 2064 and 2070, there's well over 20 years of plots in Shadowrun. Some got dropped, some were just hooks, and some have been going for 20 years of game time. These are the ones that will get your team started in 2075 with a good history.
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DUNKLEZAHN.
Correctly spelled Dunkelzahn.
Dragon Civil War. It just happened, but many things had been a long time coming. Yet another thing tied into the Big D's death. "Clutch of Dragons" starts it, "Storm Front" ends some of it. For now.
It actually started with the assassination of Hestaby aide Elliot Eyes-of-Wyrm, which was first in State of the Art: 2073 and fleshed out in Conspiracy Theories. And while The Clutch of Dragons makes reference to this event, it doesn't do it in a comprehensive way.
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OP: IMO you will find this thread quite usefull:
http://forums.shadowruntabletop.com/index.php?topic=8123.0