Shadowrun
Shadowrun Play => Gamemasters' Lounge => Topic started by: Endgame on <03-15-11/1130:20>
-
Hey folks,
I'm a new GM (in general not just to Shadowrun, never run a game before) who is returning to Shadorun for the first time since early 2nd ed. I have perused most of the 4th ed base book and *love* the updates and changes. That being said, I have agreed to run a game for a bunch of hardcore SR loving players who are some of the most devious and savvy folks I have ever had the fortune to meet. I have been told up front that expectations for this initial game (a one-shot, possibly continuing on into a campaign) are high and to be honest...I am kind of freaking out.
So, with no further gilding the lily, you guys have any tips for the new guy on the block?
-
First off, don't write your own adventure to start with. Grab a pre-made book (one of the missions or something) to run so you're not questioning if you built something wrong or not. Second, respond to the players not to set expectations TOO high. Even hardened SR GMs can mess up. Find out what exactly they are looking for in the game (lots of atmosphere, more combat vs. RP, etc.) so you can better hit those expectations. Finally, just try to have fun. ;)
-
Don't be afraid to house rule things, but don't spring them on the players. Let them know well in advance or wait until between sessions when you decide to nerf or buff something. And let them retcon their characters appropriately to make up for the change.
-
Ruleswise, some things to watch out for:
- Decide if you want to use the rule that makes direct combat spells have higher drain if you use the net hits.
- Figure out what to do about Stick-n-Shock ammo.
- Make the characters as a group so you can hear what they're planning. Also, take the sheets with you after the first session so you can see how those plans turned out.
-
Ruleswise, some things to watch out for:
- Decide if you want to use the rule that makes direct combat spells have higher drain if you use the net hits.
- Figure out what to do about Stick-n-Shock ammo.
- Make the characters as a group so you can hear what they're planning. Also, take the sheets with you after the first session so you can see how those plans turned out.
I am at work, so no book on me. What is the deal with 1 and 2?
-
Regarding #1: There's an optional rule (SR4A, p. 204) where Direct Combat spells (like Stunbolt) increase the Drain Value if you add any net hits to the damage. This gets a little complicated, in that using it as written may actually encourage overcasting (specifically, casting a higher Force version without applying net hits). There have been several discussions on these forums about it, but the gist is that most people either ignore the option altogether, or tweak it so that it comes out to ((Force + hits) / 2) + modifier, making the Drain a little more manageable.
Regarding #2: Electrical damage has this nasty little side-effect (SR4A, pp. 163-4). Specifically, the target has to roll a Body + Willpower (3) test; if they fail, they flop to the ground and twitch for 2 + net hits Combat Turns; even if they make it, they take a –2 penalty to all actions for the same duration. Even a moderately successful shot means that the guy's either out of the fight altogether, or has this hindrance for the whole fight. (It's kinda rare for combats to last more than about 4-5 Combat Turns, really.)
One thing that some GMs do is assume that if an attack's damage is reduced to zero, then the secondary effects don't happen either — problem is, this isn't explicitly stated in the rules. You kinda have to read into it, but it's there: see Damage Resistance Tests (SR4A, p. 162) and the line in Electricity Damage that specifies "a successful Electricity damage attack". Basically, it sounds like an attack reduced to 0 would count as "unsuccessful", but it's possible to regard an attack that isn't completely dodged as "successful". Make of it what you will.
SnS ammo also can give a weapon a higher base damage than is normal for the weapon itself (a lot of burst-fire and full-auto weapons have a base damage of 4 or 5), and when you add net hits, SnS shots can get pretty high. Because of this, some GMs rule that SnS shots don't add net hits to the Damage Value.
There's also the point that SnS bullets change the armor used; instead of getting Body + Ballistic armor, they get Body + half Impact + nonconductivity — and if their armor's metallic, it counts as zero. Granted, nonconductivity is a relatively cheap armor mod, but if someone overlooks it, they can be hosed pretty quick with one pop from a taser.
(My own group is already seeing this stuff. Several people have SnS ammo, or tasers, and one guy has a Lightning Bolt spell, so any firefight's going to have people getting the twitchies.)
-
If you do decide to make your first game yourself, keep it simple. Make it a simple snatch n grab, courier job, or B&E. If need be, I'd just remind the players of your inexperience (as Jack said) and explain that a fixer isn't going to risk an important, high paying job on a bunch of untested, wet behind the ears, newbs.
-
Hey folks,
I'm a new GM (in general not just to Shadowrun, never run a game before) who is returning to Shadorun for the first time since early 2nd ed. I have perused most of the 4th ed base book and *love* the updates and changes. That being said, I have agreed to run a game for a bunch of hardcore SR loving players who are some of the most devious and savvy folks I have ever had the fortune to meet. I have been told up front that expectations for this initial game (a one-shot, possibly continuing on into a campaign) are high and to be honest...I am kind of freaking out.
So, with no further gilding the lily, you guys have any tips for the new guy on the block?
If I was totally new to the system and had a bunch of friends that were hardcore players who were expecting a lot, I think I'd tell them that one of them should step up and GM otherwise expect to spend a fair portion looking up rules.
I'm not saying you shouldn't GM. I've LOVED GMing, you can too. But the first few sessions will be slow, I can almost promise. I spent about 4 months reading the books to familiarize myself with the rules and building my own adventure, starting with something very similar to "Food Fight" (my own twisted take on it). Almost the entire 5 hour session was one combat spent looking up different parts of SR4, didn't even allow the supplements yet.
My advice is to set the expectation to be: "I'm learning, lets have fun and see what happens."
Other things that can help:
1) Have players read up and get a grasp of the common game mechanics their character will be using. Many players are really good about this, going over the rules and learning how to be good at their role. Some other players figure the GM can tell them what to roll and they'll pick it up after a while. I've played with both and I don't mind the latter, but it slows things down and can create problems sometimes when the rules don't allow them to do things they thought they could do (especially true of Matrix and Magic).
2) If things hang up on a rule decision, make a choice then find out the correct way after. Keep things moving and not bogged down. Best way to do it I've found is to make a quick call and ask a player to look it up while you continue the game. Then once you have it you can do it the right way from then on.
3) Don't over prepare if you make your own adventure. Things can easily go off on a tangent or different direction then expected. I've found it works well to make well flushed out NPCs and consider how they would react to the player's actions, instead of trying to come up with an adventure "script" or whatnot.
4) Don't be afraid to houserule. I use a bunch of optional and houserules, myself. But like McMurray said, don't surprise them with houserules, keep them in the loop and a part of the decision making process.
5) Rule #1 is have fun. That's both the players and yourself.
6) Ask for character sheets a few days before the first session. Go other them, see how they made their characters. Couple reasons, first is if anyone is new to the system as well then error checking is a good thing. If the player knows the system well then it can help you to see what they consider important for their character to have. And also it allows you time to look up the rules on anything you might have not thought would come up, but will. The "Oh, crap - He's got Kinesics, what are those?" or "What does Gyrostabalization do and why is it on this AK-97?", etc.
-
Another: don't be afraid to limit the game to just the core book at first. You can trickle other books in and let people do minor retconning to account for it. That way you've only got one rule source to keep track of.
-
I know how your feeling Endgame.
I started GMing SR4A three weeks ago. I GM almost exclusively for our game group every Wednesday and Sunday night from about 5pm till midnight.
All players are experienced role-players (Mostly Earthdawn, Cthulhu and SLA Industries.) who's expectations were very high indeed. And its lot of pressure when you have 3 or 4 days to read and digest the MRB whilst keeping on top of the day to day.
The game mechanics for everything seemed really good. My only concern was running the Matrix.
During the first session my concerns were realized. Combat went smoothly, Magic, the same. When we got into running the Matrix it just slowed down with the player of the group matrix support (A technomancer) of the opinion that I had miss-understood the way the Matrix worked. It in no way spoilt our enjoyment of the story but the session was not without frustration.
During the days between sessions I read, and re-read the chapters on the areas I was unsure about and had some awesome help and advice from this forum. One of the best bits of advice being to sit and run through the areas of difficulty with the players. Get their feedback on how they interpreted the workings of the Matrix and the game sytem that supported it.
This Sunday (Session 3) was awesome fun with all aspects of the game running smoothly.
-
Ultra, I made something that might help you and your technomancer. The link in my sig goes to a set of cards I made that cover all the Matrix actions and software; the action cards have the mechanics for any tests involved, and every card has a description. You'll need to download a program to view/print them, but it'll also let you edit them how you like.
(If you get it, one word of warning: The program defaults to printing on A4 paper -- be sure to change that when printing, or you'll get funny results if you're using 8.5x11" paper.)
-
So far one of my huge remaining concerns is Magic. I don't know if I have some sort of mental block or something but if it is magic related (spirits, wards, etc...whatever) it confuses the SHITE out of me. Any tips?
It also does not help that, frankly, I am a terrible rules guy. Not that I don;t care about them, but I can never seem to memorize them. Combine this with my most fanatical player being a super-computer for rules (seriously, he glances at a page and he can recite rules from it) and I am stressing th game this coming weekend HARD. Bleh.
-
So far one of my huge remaining concerns is Magic. I don't know if I have some sort of mental block or something but if it is magic related (spirits, wards, etc...whatever) it confuses the SHITE out of me. Any tips?
Start with the basics; don't worry about things like wards, background counts, etc. until you get the hang of the essential parts. I'll try to sum it up, and give a few examples.
Basically, casting a spell or summoning a spirit calls for a test on the mage's part: Spellcasting/Summoning + Magic. This is always an Opposed Test: if it's a spell, the target resists with Body (for Physical spells) or Willpower (for Mana spells), plus any dice they got from someone using Counterspelling on them; objects can only be affected by Physical spells, and resist based how 'processed' they are (Object Resistance Table, SR4A p. 183). Spells that hit willing targets, or just gather info, typically aren't resisted at all. Spirits resist summoning with their Force (nothing's added to that).
Area spells normally have a radius of (Force) meters (meaning they're (Force x 2) meters wide). If the caster wants to adjust this, each die they drop from this first test adds or subtracts 1 from the radius.
Steve casts a Stunbolt at a guard; he rolls Spellcasting + Magic vs. the guard's Willpower (no Counterspell dice). Steve rolls 4 (Spellcasting) + 5 (Magic) = 9 dice; the guard gets 3 (Willpower). Steve gets 4 hits vs. the guard's 1: 3 net hits.
Barry casts Physical Barrier to give himself some cover; he rolls Spellcasting + Magic, unopposed. He has the same dice as Steve, but wants to make it a little smaller -- no sense protecting the ceiling. He withholds 2 dice from the test, rolling 7; he gets 4 hits.
Carol wants to summon a Force 4 fire spirit; she rolls Summoning 5 + Magic 4 vs. the spirit's Force. She gets 4 hits vs. the spirit's 1; 3 net hits.
For spells, the net hits determine the effect: for Combat spells, the damage is (Force + net hits); for info-gathering or non-resisted spells, the description usually tells you what the hits create. When summoning spirits, each net hit = one service owed.
Steve's Stunbolt got 3 net hits. He cast it at Force 5, so that's 5 + 3 = 8 Stun damage.
Barry's Physical Barrier uses the hits as its Armor and Structure Ratings. 4 hits = 4 Armor, 4 Structure. Since he withheld 2 dice, the barrier has a radius of 3 meters.
Carol successfully summons her spirit; it owes her 3 services.
Once the results are known, it's time to resist Drain. For spells, the drain is (Force / 2), rounding down, typically with a modifier. Drain cannot go below 1. (If you stick with the "cast spells at your Magic rating", you can pre-calculate Drain.) With spirits, you double the number of hits (NOT net hits) the spirit got -- that's the Drain, minimum 2.
Steve's Stunbolt has Drain of (F/2)-1, or 1. Barry's Physical Barrier has Drain of (F/2)+3, or 5. Carol's summoning Drain is 2, twice the spirit's hits.
That's pretty much it. There are a few more specific things:
- Direct Combat spells (Manabolt, Stunball, etc.) don't get a secondary soak test. These can do a lot of damage, which is why there's an optional rule that adding net hits to the damage increases the Drain.
- Indirect Combat spells (Fireball, Lightning Bolt, Acid Stream) are rolled as Spellcasting + Magic vs. Reaction, just like when using a firearm. Things like cover apply, and if the spell's targeted indirectly (say, with a mirror), they travel along the sight-path -- so if you use a mirror, you hit the mirror. Net hits automatically increase damage with no potential penalty; the target soaks with Body + half Impact armor.
- Detection spells typically have a range of (Force x Magic) meters; "extended" versions multiply this range by 10, but have +2 Drain. Only roll the casting test once; it applies to all targets in range, and is used to see if new things that enter are 'noticed'.
- Trying to heal someone who's cybered? Figure out how much Essence they lost (round down); this is a penalty to your casting test. So those street sams with 0.15 Essence make you lose 5 dice when casting Heal.
- Remember, Mana Illusion spells affect minds only; Physical Illusion spells can work on cameras and other electronics.
That help any?
-
Great help there LP. The cards are gonna help too, I'm sure.
-
Thanks. I make stuff like that all the time, index-card printouts with a gun's stats on it and boxes to check off shots, little spreadsheets for number-crunching things like spirits, that sort of thing. I'm also working on a character creator, but it's on a third-party program and I haven't yet figured out how distribution's gonna be done. (That, and it's still in early development; it doesn't handle skills or gear yet.)
-
My suggestion for your game is just come up with a basic concept. Like a snatch and grab. Then create your NPCs. Your main NPCs should be detailed including psych profiles and motivation. Why are they doing what they are doing and how will they react to the PCs actions. Next come up with a few complications and you are done.
-
There are a couple of things from screenwriting that I like to keep in mind:
1) If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don't put it there. In other words, don't include irrelevant details. If the group hears rumors that the target is working on cyberzombies and never sees a cyberzombie, they'll be confused. That's not to say that everything should always be straightforward, but if you do put something in and then either not use it or use something else then there should be a reason for it. A very good reason is if the players don't look like they care. For instance, if you mention both cyberzombies and a free spirit and the players glom onto the idea of the free spirit, it's ok to leave the cyberzombie out of this particular run (though maybe it should hunt them down later).
This principal also has the benefit of saving you a lot of prep work, since you only have to create the things that matter. However, if the players go off on a tangent your work at the table will be increased dramatically since you'll be adlibbing everything.
2) The writer's job is to chase the protagonist up a tree, throw rocks at him, and then set the tree on fire and watch how he gets out of the tree. Because RPGs involve other people you can't be as cruel as you can be when writing, but it's a good lesson. Your job is to create obstacles, not solutions. It's the players' job to come up with the solutions to the dilemmas you put in front of them.
-
2) The writer's job is to chase the protagonist up a tree, throw rocks at him, and then set the tree on fire and watch how he gets out of the tree. Because RPGs involve other people you can't be as cruel as you can be when writing, but it's a good lesson. Your job is to create obstacles, not solutions. It's the players' job to come up with the solutions to the dilemmas you put in front of them.
This is the biggest single secret 'trick' in my GM'ing style 8)
I rarely write a single defined solution to any run or RPG scenario. It's the players' spotlight, not mine. I love it when they surprise me with some creative, in-depth plans and strategy, to which I'll modify the scenario on-the-fly to make it cool for all concerned, or even a lucky called shot (with edge and a good roll).
Make it cinematic. Bend the rules to let it work. Make sure your players are the ones driving the story, and prod them along with carrots or cattle-prods as appropriate ;D
-
When I prep a run I don't look at numbers til the very last draft. I have theme in every scence that drives the action til it changes next scence. Ex: Reunion scence. The players meet a blast from their or at least one of their past. You can have funny stories how the old runner got them out scrapes, maybe dated a PC, might be a PCs older sibling that inspired them to run, whatever you want to ground them to the runners that has your right feel. Then tip he is the Johnson and needs a favor 4 old time sake. Working like that I know what gets fast rolled, ie. Fudged, & what I need my abbacus for. A bar brawl that ensues on big bro Jimmys return home is going to fast roll, PCs rule, due in part because the team is a bunch of shadowrunners and will rock some avg bar denizens & part because it steps on the lead of reuniting. Even if the team miracles a loss here you make it about Jimmy tucking them back in at their flat an chiding lil bro about he saved him once again like he did from kids back in the streets. Themes work good for me.
-
I'm giving John a +1 here. He's got an excellent point: For all the number-crunching and rules that try to cover every eventuality, SR is an extremely story-driven game, and even running a published scenario can result in sessions where a lot gets accomplished with very little die-rolling.
Character creation backs this up, especially when you get to knowledge skills and contacts: if you haven't gotten into your character's head by this point, you pretty much need to do it to fill out these parts. The Karma award system does this too; you don't get Karma based on how many kills you get, or how much loot you gained. It's all about doing the job, roleplaying well, and pulling some seat-of-your-pants heroics when (not if) things don't go as planned.
Unless a mission specifically calls for eliminating targets, it's generally agreed that the most successful runs are those in which the defensive side (read: corpsec, IC, etc.) never realize the runners were doing anything suspicious. Sure, firefights are always fun to play out, but if the team can look back on a run and realize they never even raised an alarm, it's hard to say they didn't do a good job.
-
Unless a mission specifically calls for eliminating targets, it's generally agreed that the most successful runs are those in which the defensive side (read: corpsec, IC, etc.) never realize the runners were doing anything suspicious. Sure, firefights are always fun to play out, but if the team can look back on a run and realize they never even raised an alarm, it's hard to say they didn't do a good job.
The crew I'm PC with at the moment used to be very much 'We were never there' runners.
However during the Ghost Cartel module, they've several times thrown away the Stealth and took the opportunity to bring out LMG's, Armstech GL6's, and on one occasion, LAW's.
Has been a fun break, and every runner I've played with has appreciated the rare opportunity to blow something up with Marvin-like *Earth-shattering KA-BOOM*
However, in the long run for Urban campaigns where you live locally, Stealth and deception are more key for me. And again, when GM'ing I let the PC's do most of the thinking here. They put far, far more effort into breaking IN somewhere, than I ever do keeping them out... why? Because I get to Cheat :D
-
One day, I'll come up with a legitimate way to use that Mortar... :P
-
Why wait?
-
Right tool for the right job.
But I have a few ideas, including some that will throw off the countermeasures for tracking Mortar Rounds.
-
One day, I'll come up with a legitimate way to use that Mortar... :P
Come now...there's ALWAYS a legitimate use for a Mortar :)
-
One day, I'll come up with a legitimate way to use that Mortar... :P
Come now...there's ALWAYS a legitimate use for a Mortar :)
"We have the supplies from the Stuffer Shack, lay smoke!" "Smoke out. ... Splash!" "Splash con... THAT'S NOT SMOKE!" "The only smoke rounds I had left were Willy Pete." "YOU SON OF A SLITCH!!!"
-
One day, I'll come up with a legitimate way to use that Mortar... :P
Come now...there's ALWAYS a legitimate use for a Mortar :)
"We have the supplies from the Stuffer Shack, lay smoke!" "Smoke out. ... Splash!" "Splash con... THAT'S NOT SMOKE!" "The only smoke rounds I had left were Willy Pete." "YOU SON OF A SLITCH!!!"
I'm a big fan of any indirect heavy weapon.
Unless the enemy target has eyes on you from a different angle, they give you plenty of time to shoot and skedaddle :)
-
In a game demo I ran at a local convention, I had a Physical Adept use a Grenade Launcher like a Ghetto Mortar from a rooftop. A Watcher Spirit was being used as a Spotter.
The group's Mage ran after him in the Astral Plane, but the Adept lost him in a block-sized rave. He popped back into his body with a major hard-on.
-
Stealing this idea.
-
Which? The Ghetto Mortar or the Rave Runaway?
-
Yes.
-
Yes.
Possibly the hard-on.....
-
One day, I'll come up with a legitimate way to use that Mortar... :P
Best bet in my opinion use it to throw drone rounds over a target to get extra intel (Sorry if I am quoting from someone's idea. I just cannot remember if anyone had used this before). The round would be relatively stealthy as the only electronic signature would be from the electronics used to map out or photograph the target. It would not even need to have a signal because the round could be retrieved in order to get the intelligence.
-
One day, I'll come up with a legitimate way to use that Mortar... :P
Best bet in my opinion use it to throw drone rounds over a target to get extra intel (Sorry if I am quoting from someone's idea. I just cannot remember if anyone had used this before). The round would be relatively stealthy as the only electronic signature would be from the electronics used to map out or photograph the target. It would not even need to have a signal because the round could be retrieved in order to get the intelligence.
Yeah, but there's no explosion then... *Pouts*
-
One day, I'll come up with a legitimate way to use that Mortar... :P
Best bet in my opinion use it to throw drone rounds over a target to get extra intel (Sorry if I am quoting from someone's idea. I just cannot remember if anyone had used this before). The round would be relatively stealthy as the only electronic signature would be from the electronics used to map out or photograph the target. It would not even need to have a signal because the round could be retrieved in order to get the intelligence.
Yeah, but there's no explosion then... *Pouts*
But it gives you reason to drag one around and who is to say that you could not have a couple of WP or HE rounds for emergencies:-P