Shadowrun
Shadowrun Play => Gamemasters' Lounge => Topic started by: Karasin Black on <04-06-11/0607:05>
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Time to start sharing.
I've played roleplaying games for a long time, almost 25 years and gamemastered almost as long.
I started gamemastering my first Shadowrun campaign when the 4th edition came out. I soon realized that I wanted to try and direct game more to be played in a certain way and the characters to do certain way without actually forcing my players to do things.
When the players jumped off from a moving bullet train with parachutes after a run, some of the players suggester that they should get an achievement for doing stuff like that. You can see the result of that thought below.
Karma rewards are quite small because my campaign is now running at 124 sessions so the player characters are powerful enough. Also some achievements are pretty campaign specific.
Feel free to rip parts or all of the ideas and content to your own game or just drop a comment.
Ingame Achievements
AAA Runner
Complete a complex Run against one of the AAA Corporations - Gain 5 Karma
>>>Locked<<<
BASE Jumper
Complete all BASE jumps while on a Run - Gain 4 Karma - No spellcasting allowed
Buildings:
Antennas:
Spans:Blair, Slav, Mr.Hyde, Coil
Earth:
Big Score
Plan and execute a heist of more than 500,000 nuyen street value. - Gain 3 Karma
>>>Locked<<<
Bug Hunter
Kill an Invae Queen or shaman capable of summoning one - Gain 2 Karma
>>>Locked<<<
Bring It!
Suffer total of 100 points of physical damage. Yep, unsoaked damage hurts. - Gain 1 Karma
>>>Locked<<<
Corporate Runner
Complete a complex Run against one of an AA corporation - Gain 2 Karma
>>>Locked<<<
Dead Man
The character should be dead, but isn't - Gain 1 Karma
Completed by: Mr.Hyde, Slav
Deal with a dragon
Make a profitable deal with a Great Dragon - Gain 3 Karma
>>>Locked<<<
Dazed and Confused
Collect 100 points of stun damage. What a rush! - Gain 1 Karma
>>>Locked<<<
Diplomat
Prevent an already excalating, large conflict without violence - Gain 2 Karma
>>>Locked<<<
Double Runner
Plan and execute a two-parter Run in one session - Gain 2 Karma
>>>Locked<<<
Dragon's nest
Break in to a dragon's lair - Gain 2 Karma
>>>Locked<<<
Earth Bane
Decrease the Aspect of an area by one - Gain 1 Karma
>>>Locked<<<
Environmentalist
Increase the Aspect of an area by one - Gain 1 Karma
>>>Locked<<<
Family guy
Gain public approval from the Elders of the Saltair family - Gain 1 Karma
>>>Locked<<<
Gentle Art of Making Enemies
Piss off a major power player on a personal level. Hope it was worth it. - Gain 2 Karma
>>>Locked<<<
Hideout
Stay off the grid for one month - Gain 2 Karma
>>>Locked<<<
Infernal Favor
Gain access to the lowest level of Dante's Inferno - Gain 1 Karma
Completed by: Mr.Hyde
Insane Stunt Bonus
Complete an action that has threshold of 10 or more - you crazy fuck! - Gain 1 Karma
Completed by: Slav
King maker
Make a decisive impact on any big govermental or corporal election - Gain 2 Karma
>>>Locked<<<
Law Abiding citizen
Go a whole gaming session without breaking any law - Gain 1 Karma
>>>Locked<<<
...Makes You Weaker
Suffer a permanent injury that requires extensive cybernetic, magical or surgical care to fix - Gain 1 karma
Completed by: Coil, Mr.Hyde
Mr. Famous
Gain 3 Public Awareness - Gain 2 Karma
>>>Locked<<<
Mr. Fuck up
Gain 3 Fuck Up point - Gain 2 Karma
>>>Locked<<<
Mr. Incredible
Gain 6 Street Cred in any faction - Gain 2 Karma
>>>Locked<<<
Mr. Notorius
Gain 6 Notoriety in any faction - Gain 2 Karma
>>>Locked<<<
Nailin' Mr. Johnson
Fuck Johnson during a Run - Gain 1 Karma
Completed by: Slav
Pacifier
Incapacitate 20 enemies with nonlethal methods. - Gain 1 Karma
>>>Locked<<<
Saint
Permanently remove a major magical threat - Gain 1 Karma
Completed by: Braylen, Darius, Hyde, Slav
Servant of the Enemy
Give Horror an access to the Gaia Sphere - Gain 2 Karma
>>>Locked<<<
Shadow Runner
Complete a complex Run against one of an A corporation - Gain 1 Karma
>>>Locked<<<
Shadowsea Member
Gain 'Member'-status in ShadowSEA network - Gain 1 Karma
Completed by: Blair, Mr.Hyde
Shape of Things to Come
Play a significant role in an event that shapes the Sixth World - Gain 1 Karma
Competed by: Blair, Coil, Slav, Void
Silent Assasin
Complete a wet work assignement without anyone noticing - Gain 2 Karma
>>>Locked<<<
Silent Runner
Complete a Run without alerting anyone - Gain 2 Karma
>>>Locked<<<
Street racer
Win a street race in Seattle - Gain 2 Karma
>>>Locked<<<
Survivor
Survive a simultaneous hunt of at least 5 different factions - Gain 2 Karma
Completed by: Braylen, Darius
Swift Runner
Plan and execute a Run in one session - Gain 1 Karma
Completed by: Blair, Darius, Mr.Hyde, Primus
Tir Insider
Break in to Tir Prince's castle - Gain 2 Karma
>>>Locked<<<
Can't Touch This
Complete a dangerous run - where getting shot at - without getting hit - Gain 1 Karma
>>>Locked<<<
Ultimate Fighter
Win a free fighting tournament in Seattle - Gain 2 Karma
>>>Locked<<<
What Doesn't Kill You...
Duel a member of your specialty with no punches pulled, and lose. Someone's always better - Gain 1 karma
>>>Locked<<<
Wheel is Turning
Change a Path in the Wheel - Gain 3 Karma
>>>Locked<<<
Meta Achievements
Achiever
Come up with 3 GM approved achievement ideas - Gain 1 Karma
Completed by: Coil, Darius, Tempest, Void
Book Keeper
Keep tabs on your characters income and expences for 10 sessions - Gain 2 Karma
Completed by: Blair, Coil
Described
Write a character description and put it online - Gain 1 Karma
Completed by: Blair, Darius, Coil, Jared, Mr.Hyde, Primus, Slav, Void
Edge Runner
Be the beacon of genre statements through leading in Achievements -- Gain 1 Edge
Completed by: Slav
Genre Upkeeper
Cheer up GM with random fluff text - Gain 1 Karma
Completed by: Blair, Slav
Going Strong
Describe 3 meters that your character uses to measure his/her success as a runner - Gain 1 Karma
Completed by: Coil, Darius, Void, Slav, Primus, Braylen
Life is Good
Describe 3 meters that your character uses to measure his/her quality of life - Gain 1 Karma
>>>Locked<<<
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*Beep-Boop* Achievement Unlocked.
Do PS3 owners get trophies?
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So if they get shot at but don't get hit or rob a bank but they haven't unlocked the achievement yet are they just screwed?
Personally it seems way too video-gamey to me. SR4 has karma awards for achieving objectives and good roleplaying already. Most of those seem to fall under that or come with their own rewards (like a successful 500,000 nuyen heist or not getting killed on a run).
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I like the Metagame achievements. I have been awarding extra karma to those who do the back ground work in my games for a while. I have a real life with real kids my time is precious too. My Co-GM gets some karma for helping me prepare the run. Our hostess gets karma for hosting the game. Every player gets one point of karma if they have their purchases and expenditures done before we play.
The burden of putting a run and a gaming group together is better if it is shared.
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I'm shamelessly stealing the idea. :)
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So if they get shot at but don't get hit or rob a bank but they haven't unlocked the achievement yet are they just screwed?
I'm not sure what you mean, James. Achievement's are unlocked when you manage to do them and unlocking them means you get the karma reward out of it. Nothing more.
Personally it seems way too video-gamey to me. SR4 has karma awards for achieving objectives and good roleplaying already. Most of those seem to fall under that or come with their own rewards (like a successful 500,000 nuyen heist or not getting killed on a run).
The format of listing things is taken from video games for fun and laughs, but the basic idea is just more elaborate system of karma rewards. The point is to tell the players the objectives and role-playing awards beforehand. That way they can form a picture of the different aspects of the game and how the game master has visioned it to be played, things that are fun, cool or just with the genre. Or some small payback when thing go horribly wrong. It's also a way to tell things about to the game. Give glimpses of the things that are behind the scenes.
You could of course just tell players all this stuff verbally, but it's not that much fun. If it's an open list, players can review it as often as they want, rediscover things that they have forgotten and find new meanings to some achievements when the game goes on. And getting karma reward, even a small one is always a great motivator.
One of my personal favorites is Servant of the Enemy. None of my players knows whats it about but with this achievement alone they understand that there are terrifying big fishes swimming in the shadow of the shadows and that there are thing in the game you shouldn't be messing up with.
But achievements are not for every campaign. So if you don't like them, don't use them. But just don't throw away the idea just because you don't like the name. That would be quite narrow minded. :)
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Sorry, you presented it as a video game so I read it as a video game. In those some achievements /rewards / quest are usually locked until you do something to unlock them.
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Like WareWolf, I especially like the idea for metagame achievements. I'm terrible with bookkeeping and game management type tasks, so rewarding the players for helping out is a great idea. The only problem I have is that I don't like awarding individual karma/experience. Maybe an extra Edge refresh or something similar?
And by the way, I don't see anything wrong with video game allusions. If it works, it's a good idea, no matter where it came from.
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Sorry, you presented it as a video game so I read it as a video game. In those some achievements /rewards / quest are usually locked until you do something to unlock them.
Yes, but that doesn't stop you from doing the action needed to unlock it. And usually when you unlock an achievement you get... *tadaa*... and unlocked achievement! :)
Take Call of Duty: Modern Warfare for example. You have achievement
Three-some
Kill at least 3 enemies with a single shot from a grenade launcher in Single Player or Special Ops - Gain 10 Gamer score (X360)
You get this achievement by killing three enemies and then it is unlocked. And you get some gamer score. We are somehow talking about this from totally different angles. But that happens in forums. :)
The only problem I have is that I don't like awarding individual karma/experience. Maybe an extra Edge refresh or something similar?
Extra Edge refreshment works fine. Or you could award extra dice that can be used outside Edge (and without the extra benefit of edge using rules) if you want to give your players the feeling that they are getting more reward out of it. Or you could allow them to purchase a rare piece of hardware/software/cyber/stuff. Or give them free knowledge skill that's related to the stuff they've done for the game/character (if they get Book keeping 1 it'll not skrew up your game balance).
Stuff like that.
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To me, all the crazy stuff that could be an "Achievement" already falls under the karma award "Cool Stuff PC Did To Impress The Hell Out Of Everyone." Your players will likely pull stunts that you never thought of, and pigeon-holing the awards into specific actions/feats takes away the special surprise factor of pulling the crazy stunt in the first place.
By metagame achievements, I'm assuming you are talking about awards for the players, themselves, doing the research and background stuff so that you spend less time explaining everything to them, correct? This, I agree with, as it works to immerse them better into the world.
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Perhaps a different kind of reward in game, something that they can brag about but doesn't really have much in-game benefit.
I suggest a dildo-hat with the dildo getting larger as you unlock more achievements. Of course, I might read too much VG Cats. :P
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CanRay, you're going to have to drop a link to the comic in question now.
I had my own achievement list, but had to drop it -- I was using a site that created the relevant images, with progress-bars and color-coding and such, but the page in question went *poof* a couple weeks ago, turning all my carefully-crafted images into broken links. I am disappoint.
You might want to add a caveat to Insane Stunt Bonus: it sounds like you don't intend on it being used on Extended Tests, but didn't specify.
Anyway, here's some of the achievements I'd made up, in case you want to steal some. I didn't come up with any specific rewards, so it's up to you what you do with 'em. Meta-game achievements are marked with an (M).
- Velcro Pineapple: Exploit the grenade-bounce rules
- Let's Do Business: Gain a contact through roleplaying
- This Stuff Don't Grow on Trees, Y'know: Empty five full ammo clips in a single combat
- You Can Pick Your Friends: Bypass 10 physical locking mechanisms (practice doesn't count)
- I Know Your Gun's IP Address: Hack an enemy's weapon or cyberware
- Wrecking Crew: Cause 1 million nuyen in property damage
- (M) Verbal Ellipsis: Render the GM speechless
- (M) I'd Like Some Pound Cake: Mimic a move or line from an Internet meme or movie without explaining the reference (The title references this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL_x1rRg7mM), by the way)
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The only problem I have is that I don't like awarding individual karma/experience. Maybe an extra Edge refresh or something similar?
Extra Edge refreshment works fine. Or you could award extra dice that can be used outside Edge (and without the extra benefit of edge using rules) if you want to give your players the feeling that they are getting more reward out of it. Or you could allow them to purchase a rare piece of hardware/software/cyber/stuff. Or give them free knowledge skill that's related to the stuff they've done for the game/character (if they get Book keeping 1 it'll not skrew up your game balance).
Stuff like that.
The GM I'm currently playing with does something similar to these Acheivements individualized for long term role-playing goals for each character (one of the other players calls it the RP Bucket List). Depending on the perceived difficulty of the long-term goal, the better the reward. Usually it's a choice between a karma award (which is purposely set "a little low" for the acheivement) or a "NERPS Card" like the ones they did at a convention a few years back, with the exception that you can hold randomly selected card for as long as you like and use them whenever appropriate. She has a rather interesting deck of homemade NERPS cards with loads of stuff on them (I believe she even has updated versions of the originals but I can't be sure since I never owned any of the originals and only saw pics of them).
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CanRay, you're going to have to drop a link to the comic in question now.
OK. (http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=256)
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Heh. Yeah, I remember that one now. No way I could've found it in the archives (at least, not quickly).
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To me, all the crazy stuff that could be an "Achievement" already falls under the karma award "Cool Stuff PC Did To Impress The Hell Out Of Everyone." Your players will likely pull stunts that you never thought of, and pigeon-holing the awards into specific actions/feats takes away the special surprise factor of pulling the crazy stunt in the first place.
I assumed that the "achievements" were in addition to those karma awards, not in place of them. I don't think there's any harm in giving the players suggestions for cool stunts and such. No pigeon-holes there.
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It's a gift.
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This is an awesome Idea I may have to steal and/or recommend.
Just one thing is Nailin' Mr. Johnson meant to be taken literally or figuratively.
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This is an awesome Idea I may have to steal and/or recommend.
Just one thing is Nailin' Mr. Johnson meant to be taken literally or figuratively.
I think you can unlock it both ways.
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To me, all the crazy stuff that could be an "Achievement" already falls under the karma award "Cool Stuff PC Did To Impress The Hell Out Of Everyone." Your players will likely pull stunts that you never thought of, and pigeon-holing the awards into specific actions/feats takes away the special surprise factor of pulling the crazy stunt in the first place.
I assumed that the "achievements" were in addition to those karma awards, not in place of them. I don't think there's any harm in giving the players suggestions for cool stunts and such. No pigeon-holes there.
There is no "in addition to" for karma. Either you are awarded karma or you are not. There is nothing wrong with giving a player some extra karma for cool stuff, above and beyond what the other players get, if they floored everyone with the coolness. And, yes, it does pigeon-hole the players. By specifying the exact circumstances those awards will take place, then the players will simply go out of their way to do those things...and get no feeling of accomplishment for coming up with something special, because it won't be special.
Sure, they get the karma or whatever as a bonus, but then they expected that payout, so how is it a "special award?" They did nothing out of the ordinary to get it, since the GM put it in there for them to perform that specific act. I think listing a few of those actions as examples of crazy stuff they can do could spur them on to think up things for themselves to earn, but making a specific list forces them into thinking of ways to do the list, not to do something cool and interesting.
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I did something that should help with the problem - I've made a list of Achievements, and presented a select few to my players. The rest will be secret, and I'll just hand them a small Achievement card when they manage to 'unlock' it. And some of them unlock Reputation bonuses (I've balkanized the Street Cred into several Reputation factors), contacts, and such...
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"Sweet! I got the 'Derailed the Adventure' Achievement which nets me 10,000 nuyen!" "Actually, that's a minus sign in front of the money." "... ... ... I don't have 10,000." "Somebody owe's Bubba the Hut, the Loan Shark money!"
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Yeah, those also. There's a 'got sooo high' type Achievement for popping drugs a lot that has a 'loose 1 Essence, gain Addiction' reward. ;P
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I like the idea and agree with giving a reward for doing something cool, and the karma system already has that built in. My concern with the achievement idea is that players will do outlandish things just to try and get the rewards. Even if they don't know what they are they may try to just "go over the top" with something to try and get an achievement even if they aren't sure there is one.
Just my two nuyen
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Well, this might happen. But it will also support and enhance a more cinematic game style. I like the idea*, and it gives the players a bit more fun. And the GM too - he gets to come up with all those nifty Achievements. :)
* But I've already implemented the stunt bonuses from Exalted, so you can see this is 'my kind of game'.
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I enjoy a good story, but I guess I'm not into that cinematic of a campaign. I like the realism of shadowrun and the fact that combat can and will be deadly. I like the team to have to think on their feet and a perfect adventure means they survived by the skin of their teeth especially if they at one point thought they wouldn't.
Everyone has their own style and preferences and I see nothing wrong with the achievements, but it doesn't look like my cup of tea.
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The problem I'd have with Xbox style Achievements in my games is this: while it's all fine and dandy to ignore the plot and go exploring Liberty City while playing Grand Theft Auto IV, it is not okay for a player to jump off of the Chicago Spire in the middle of Dusk because they want to get some extra karma. (Or worse, waking up a <bleeping> hive because they need the achievement.) It's great doing inane and crazy things in a video game where no one cares, and if you die you can load your old save game. Not so much in when it derails the plot and hoses your teammates during a game of Shadowrun.
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If you do play with it, is anyone forcing you to show the players the list of achievements, or even tell them about it before you hand them out?
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I read the post and went back and forth on what would play better, Achievements awards for the players or PCs for the actions in game. Awards for the PCs would be for street cred or other rep modifiers. Like Foresquare on a shadowboard or Denver Data Haven. I can see that playing out kinda cool for the competetive running soul, maybe even bought as thrillseeker or rival disad component. It would be hard to imagine it in a global context but could work fine in a localized tech happy area. Awarding players would be fun as a extra bonus suprise to the end game. Just wouldn't want the goal of the runs to rack up achievements for that sole purpose. I like to keep that difference from the Role playing games and video games.
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I've been thinking on this -- specifically, the idea that placing achievements in a game encourages the players to do outlandish things, just to accumulate them. To combat this, I'd recommend making most of the achievements things in which the players themselves have little to no control. Make them situations that are a bit on the extreme end, but are purely limited to chance.
Things like getting eight net hits on an opposed test, or rolling a critical glitch.
If there are things that call on conscious decisions by the players, make them things they're liable to do anyway; for some, they'd be one-shots (like gaining a contact via roleplaying), or things that require a quantity (like the one about emptying five clips of ammo). With these, you're calling attention to specific actions that are noteworthy, but not looking for abnormal activities.
Be careful about listing achievements for bizarre actions. The BASE jumping one in particular strikes me as something asking for the PCs to start chasing after, even if doing so is inappropriate.
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I don't really like it if it's a real roleplaying game. If you're just having a blast (literally) going from combat to combat, sure.
But rewarding players for things like base jumping from 5 different buildings in one run, emptying 5 clips in one fight and whatever else sounds "cool" pretty much screws the characters that are trying to be professional. Mr. Thrill Seeker will have a lot of fun while Ms. Professional is getting more and more annoyed that she seems to be the only one taking things seriously.
I do like metagame rewards though; things like coming to the table on time and prepared instead of arriving late and then wasting an hour of everyone's time by doing some shopping for your character, helping out a GM with some preparations and such, could be encouraged with some rewards.
Good roleplaying awards too imo.
Ingame stuff could be rewarded with ingame things, but only if they happened spontaneously instead of "because there's a paper that says I get rewarded for doing this". If said basejumper does that stuff in character and manages to make it make sense, get him some extra rep for being such a daredevil or whatever. Emptying 5 clips in a single combat, maybe if your weapons dealer hears about it, he'll give you some extra ammo for the free publicity and extra income he's getting from gangers who think full-auto is the newest rage on the streets. But don't make it some objective that's been carved in stone beforehand...
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So, when does the DLC come out?
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*laughs*
+1.
Me, I'm waiting for the patch.