Shadowrun
Shadowrun Play => Gamemasters' Lounge => Topic started by: Longshot23 on <09-13-10/2149:54>
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Has anyone got any thoughts on best or preferred way to get characters together? I think there are a couple of 'standard' ways, but i'm looking for alternatives. One i like is the characters come together because of a threat to a mutual friend.
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The most common method is a mutual Fixer needing a well-rounded team for a job. Much like the old Mission: Impossible TV show, where the best people were brought together for the mission on hand (it was just coincidence that the same people qualified every week ;)).
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An idea i am toying around with at the moment. Debt. All the players owe money to the same shark, and they meet and decide that with their complementary skills they could more easily pay off that debt.
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After the hundredth time of having the players meet in game and having them try to explain what they do while painfully trying to keep their real skills hidden from these "strangers" they just met. I've just House ruled that they all know each other in at least a loyalty rating of 1 and if they want to be closer friends than that to work it out before game. Frankly game time is too precious to waste a half hour to hour on the getting to know you dance.
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After the hundredth time of having the players meet in game and having them try to explain what they do while painfully trying to keep their real skills hidden from these "strangers" they just met. I've just House ruled that they all know each other in at least a loyalty rating of 1 and if they want to be closer friends than that to work it out before game. Frankly game time is too precious to waste a half hour to hour on the getting to know you dance.
Either that, or their mutual fixer has sent them dossiers on the others so they know what they're working with.
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See, one problem I've noticed is that when the PLAYERS know each other, the introductions by the CHARACTERS tend to get short-circuited.
There's a site for online Hero System games - HeroCentral.net - where the getting-to-know-you stuff comes across as a lot more honest. Hell, I found out after a session that I knew at least one of the other players before i had played there.
now, if we could get a set-up like that for SR4, i think it would work wonders.
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The hand grenades into the bar they all happen to be at, that leaves only the players as the (mostly) unwounded does wonders for creating a common purpose...
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'From dusk till dawn' style stand-off in a mexican, erm, aztlan style bar VS ghouls. Won't find friends much faster than that ;D
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My next campaign, I want to start it all off by making them all take the Criminal SIN flaw and have them in the same prisoner-transfer van when it gets hit by a runner team to break out some NPC big bad guy who's also in the van. Now they're on the run together and will be better as a group than alone.
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To expand on raggedhalo, there's always the "Dirty Dozen" route as well...
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You will have to excuse the uneducated kraut, but... the what route?
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Never saw Dirty Dozen (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061578/)?
A group of convicts are brought together by the 'higher-ups' to go on a suicide mission to get their prison time commuted.
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Jesus Christ on a flatline ride, how did I miss that movie?? No, never saw it, but I plan to correct that mistake. Thx :)
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Okay... to go along with Dirty Dozen, I'm also listing Magnificent Seven (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054047/) and The Great Escape (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057115/). Hopefully you've seen them. ;)
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Uhm... erm... *cough* Sure! Sure I have. I mean, hey, who hasn't? Right? One would have to be pretty oblivious to have missed these two... yeah...
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The hand grenades into the bar they all happen to be at, that leaves only the players as the (mostly) unwounded does wonders for creating a common purpose...
Yeah I was wondering about that kinda intro? I mean In most my D&D experience the Party WAS and go to the bar/castle/dungeon as a group already.
For teh Run... Well I was kinda thinking that my daughter's Elf & Usda have already ran together before. I think I'll be using some Chiropractic skills on our Face. You Know give him an... adjustment. ;D
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Uhm... erm... *cough* Sure! Sure I have. I mean, hey, who hasn't? Right? One would have to be pretty oblivious to have missed these two... yeah...
Captain Oblivious here. I did however stay at a Holiday Inn! I also watched Kelly's Heroes. Woof Woof!
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The hand grenades into the bar they all happen to be at, that leaves only the players as the (mostly) unwounded does wonders for creating a common purpose...
Yeah I was wondering about that kinda intro? I mean In most my D&D experience the Party WAS and go to the bar/castle/dungeon as a group already.
For teh Run... Well I was kinda thinking that my daughter's Elf & Usda have already ran together before. I think I'll be using some Chiropractic skills on our Face. You Know give him an... adjustment. ;D
At the begining of the game I am going to ask everyone how they know the person on their left.
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The hand grenades into the bar they all happen to be at, that leaves only the players as the (mostly) unwounded does wonders for creating a common purpose...
Yeah I was wondering about that kinda intro? I mean In most my D&D experience the Party WAS and go to the bar/castle/dungeon as a group already.
For teh Run... Well I was kinda thinking that my daughter's Elf & Usda have already ran together before. I think I'll be using some Chiropractic skills on our Face. You Know give him an... adjustment. ;D
At the begining of the game I am going to ask everyone how they know the person on their left.
I brought her into this world and cut her Umbiblical cord? What my daughter usually sits to my left! ;D
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Uhm... erm... *cough* Sure! Sure I have. I mean, hey, who hasn't? Right? One would have to be pretty oblivious to have missed these two... yeah...
Captain Oblivious here. I did however stay at a Holiday Inn! I also watched Kelly's Heroes. Woof Woof!
Kelly's Heroes is good, but the other three were some of the very first purchases I made on DVD (Also scored a terrific version of Seven Samurai on DVD a few years back).
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Lotta awesome in those movies.
Anyway, what I like to do to get the characters together is that each one knows, either personally or indirectly, two of the other PC's. It creates a tie and a bond between the characters, since they are friends of friends, and makes them introduce each other and their specialties at the same time. It's really handy, also, in that it still allows for interparty conflict (if you are into that) because the characters don't need to be friendly toward each other, just respectful enough to work together.
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The hand grenades into the bar they all happen to be at, that leaves only the players as the (mostly) unwounded does wonders for creating a common purpose...
Yeah I was wondering about that kinda intro? I mean In most my D&D experience the Party WAS and go to the bar/castle/dungeon as a group already.
For teh Run... Well I was kinda thinking that my daughter's Elf & Usda have already ran together before. I think I'll be using some Chiropractic skills on our Face. You Know give him an... adjustment. ;D
At the begining of the game I am going to ask everyone how they know the person on their left.
I brought her into this world and cut her Umbiblical cord? What my daughter usually sits to my left! ;D
In game not out of game.
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The hand grenades into the bar they all happen to be at, that leaves only the players as the (mostly) unwounded does wonders for creating a common purpose...
Yeah I was wondering about that kinda intro? I mean In most my D&D experience the Party WAS and go to the bar/castle/dungeon as a group already.
For teh Run... Well I was kinda thinking that my daughter's Elf & Usda have already ran together before. I think I'll be using some Chiropractic skills on our Face. You Know give him an... adjustment. ;D
At the begining of the game I am going to ask everyone how they know the person on their left.
I brought her into this world and cut her Umbiblical cord? What my daughter usually sits to my left! ;D
In game not out of game.
I will make sure you are on my left then. I know God because I'm batshit crazy! *cough* Though I'm not playing Vin so I can't use that excuse.
And I think I'd be more likely be a newcomer than anything else. Or that I just accidentally shot you at some point. That usually starts off a good relationship right?
Now that you mention it no one really sits on my left... Dad and I are on the couch and all you people loser it up on the floor even though there's plenty of room. o_0;; And then complain when Galahad sits on your stuff and drools on your laptops. XD
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Anyway, what I like to do to get the characters together is that each one knows, either personally or indirectly, two of the other PC's. It creates a tie and a bond between the characters, since they are friends of friends, and makes them introduce each other and their specialties at the same time.
Bingo. That's what I did when I started my current campaign, and I usually apply it to any game I do, Shadowrun or otherwise. It's a trope I stole from the good folks at Evil Hat Productions.
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I'm a big fan of running 2-player prequels, if I can, to give everyone a chance to try out their characters (to make any last-minute changes), to let everyone get a handle of the rules for the character they made ("Wow, I just realized I'm apparently gonna need the ____ skill, after all," or "Yup, my Pistols score lets me feel awesome!"), and to form inter-party bonds.
Give 'em all a job or two to know at least one or two other PCs, so that when it suddenly becomes time for this ragged pack of a half-dozen sociopaths to start spending their every waking moment together, it makes a little more sense. ;)
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I'm a big fan of running 2-player prequels, if I can, to give everyone a chance to try out their characters (to make any last-minute changes), to let everyone get a handle of the rules for the character they made ("Wow, I just realized I'm apparently gonna need the ____ skill, after all," or "Yup, my Pistols score lets me feel awesome!"), and to form inter-party bonds.
Give 'em all a job or two to know at least one or two other PCs, so that when it suddenly becomes time for this ragged pack of a half-dozen sociopaths to start spending their every waking moment together, it makes a little more sense. ;)
I tried that approach for an online campaign I'm running. Worked alright. Honestly I think even getting two players at least somewhat connected in game can make a big difference.
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I just had them get into a firefight in a store.
Then they ended up getting hired by the same Johnson.
Isn't that a coincidence. :P
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Already mentioned above.
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A few ways to get a group together at the start of a game:
1) The group's already together when we join them in media res. Later on, you can flashback to how they got there.
"The troll (that's your character, Steve) presses his massive body to the heavy door, holding it closed as the ghouls claw at the outside and the mage (your PC, Dave) kneels over the badly injured man, staunching his bleeding and and preparing him to move once the hacker (Alice's PC) finds a safe path out of the barrens using the drone she's hacked."
"Steve, give me a Strength plus Body test, Dave, roll First Aid or Heal, as you prefer, to patch up the package for extraction. Alice, give me a Hacking and Exploit test."
2) The characters are left the only competent and effective people in a situation where action must be taken to preserve their own lives and the lives of others.
"The ride on the subway car is peaceful and a fast way to get where you need to be in the Seattle evening until it suddenly starts to slow as the interior lights fail. The breaks shriek like a lost soul in the sudden darkness and the sudden stop sends a pregnant young woman sprawling past your hacker, Alice. With an initiative test that beats 9 you could catch her and stop her from falling. Dave, no less then three people pile into your troll, roll a body test to keep from falling down. Steve.. your ok, no problems."
"When the car stops something starts clawing on the outside of the train. You can each see two other people that look like they could defend themselves, and about five that can't in a scene lit only by neon tattoos and fiber optic hair on a scared looking elf."
Or..
3) Start them in a bar when a mysterious Odinic wanderer enters with an eyepatch and bot-raven on his shoulder, asking them with humble good humor to indulge an old man a moment while he buys them a drink and offers them a job.
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After we talk about the game itself, everyone writes a background of something they would enjoy playing, would work well and puts together their character sheet. Once that is done, I have them as PCs come up with how/why they are together, name their team etc. Each player then tweaks their background a little to explain. I found that is they best way to get group cohesion and stops any rogues who want to go off on their own. All this is pretty much done online in a forum. After the first game session, they are allowed to tweak a little, esp if they are new to SR.
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Depending on the players, I either give them their group background, ("smiley, the fixer you all know picked you all for a run a few months back. The run went like clockwork, and you all decided to stick together after that.") Or, I let them come up with their own backstory for the group. Seen some really great runs too! (like the elven identical triplets and their Ork "muscle", to all being from the same barrens gang that pulled off a large score right before the rest of the gang got slaughtered by the Corp reprisal team.)
Things get trickier when I have to introduce a new player... Then fall back alot on Fastjack's "fixer drop in" option. Also use the "common allies" trick sometimes as well... Again, it all depends on the players and their style of play.
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One I recently witnessed was that they'd all been brought into a holding cell for processing/questioning. There's one more person in the cell with them. That person's team staged a jailbreak and the players were given a choice of coming along or being "good" witnesses. (The only good witness is one who won't testify against you...) Since the other team was the only one with weapons the decision wasn't that hard.
Lotsa hooks...