[OFTHEHILLPEOPLE]

Hey, I'm sure this has come up at some point but how do you all design your runs or stories that you want to tell?  I'm just curious because I have a group that only meets every other week for about three to four hours and I want to make sure they get enough to keep them coming back as well as finishing on time.

Personally I subscribe to the Chris Perkins method of adventure writing where you have a beginning where the conflict is introduced, a middle where the conflict escalates and get worse (most of the time), and an end where a solution is either brought to the attention of the players or put to use if discovered before that point.  Fill that in with the usual Who, What, Where, and Why questions and I've had some luck with a fairly decent adventure or two.

So how do you design your runs for your players and can you give an example?

[Kat9]

I tend to design Shadowruns like most players handle planning. I come up with a loose framework of what I want the mission to be.
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"I want the players to fight a magical threat. Something that'll be tough, but not horrible. So I'll go with a small roach hive. The initial contact will be a shaman that has noticed some strange astral activity, spirits he's sent on various missions having been killed. He wants to know what's going on. Make him a Rat shaman, that way he has an excuse why he hasn't done it on his own."

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 Then I settle in and think, "OK next is legwork, who has what contacts and what, if anything would these contacts know." I tend to give legwork information as "a favor for a friend," so if I later have a mission idea I have a hook for it, "Remember when I helped you with..well.."

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Grubbin knows a squatter. The squatter knows that people have been turning up missing lately in X part of town.
Sam knows a club owner. The club owner knows that a new club opened up and recently he had a some of his employees have moved over to that club. Its in X part of town.
Modem knows an AI and a Free Sprite. They know nothing useful, however if Modem investigate this club the financial records show the employees aren't getting paid nearly as much as a club this size should be paying.

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That settled, I think of complications and opposition. What trouble are they to face both combat and roleplay.

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Only some of the staff have been made fleshform bug spirits.  Two dancers, some clean up crew (they tend to stay out of view, a good 'job' for warrior spirits that are not a good merge and some customers. The bouncers in the club are unaware of the hive lurking under they club. They're there to do their job and get paid.

The club has a weapons policy they only allow people to have at most a knife, or a light pistol. The bouncers however I noted are there to get paid, so they might be up for a bribe. Here's their social pool in case the Face tries a bribe, here's their search pool for a patdown.

The club is warded, so that can cause problems for astral investigation....not that its generally safe to project into a potential hive.

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At that point, I have a loose idea of what I want the team to face, an idea of the information they can get that'll lead them there. I know a few complications that they'll face and a loose idea of the opposition. At that point I am pretty much ready to run. If they go in subtle they'll face opposition that's on scale with the weapons and abilities they have on hand. If they go in guns blazing then I'll throw enough opposition at them to make them sweat, burn through enough ammo to feel like action heroes.

I also think of "Oops" situations, "Oops unlucky roll, Sam is down, the bouncers catch sight of a fleshform and roll in to help the team." I add potential contacts they can gain if they try, figure out how much I want to pay them in cash and karma.

I leave a lot of wiggle room for improv, because I have one brain and the players have their collective intelligence to throw against my mission. If they come up with some plot twist I haven't thought of, well then, would be a shame to allow that idea to go to waste.

[OFTHEHILLPEOPLE]

Yeah, I do a hefty bit of planning myself and I realize that the old formula of "for every hour of play you have about two or three hours of prep" still holds true.  I use the random adventure table from Interface Zero a lot for inspiration and intend on running a few of those adventures too, but I am still fairly new at thinking up Shadowrun adventures that work with the setting.  The last adventure I had a Yakuza with an camouflage poncho that I wanted to be nigh-undetectable (except in the spirit realm) and I wasn't prepared for the question of "So what kind of stats does this thing have" when they had enough time to snatch it off the guy's unconscious body.   But that's besides the point.  I'm just trying not to railroad my players is all.

[RHat]

You have to be ready to "improv".  But good material needs prep time.

The answer?  Improv with prepped components.  Let's say that in the Insect Spirit run above, Kat9 thought that the team might choose to investigate the criminal owners of the club using it as a laundering operation, and thus had prepared something where they'd managed to replace one of the underbosses.  The players don't run that angle, so that prep seems "wasted".  But in reality, now Kat9 has a "mole in the organization" element ready to go and be plugged into some other run later.  If you keep stuff like that in your back pocket, you have a greatly enhanced ability to roll with what your players do.

[Kat9]

Heh if I'm ever stuck being GM I need a lot of prep time.

[All4BigGuns]

Honestly, I find it easier to just off-the-cuff everything.

[Black]

Some times I do a lot of prep... But lately I found the runs where I have a bare bones idea and a few stated signature enemies works fine. My current run has an 'idea' of what the various npc factions are upto, a hook to get the players involved, one hand out ( list of names and one line description) and the players are now driving the storyline... And its turning out very, very cool. And I the GM have only a short list (in my head) of possible scenes I whant to run. Therefor, I have no real idea where this story will go.. Kinda exciting actually.

[Inconnu]

Advice:No matter what you do, in what tabletop rpg, to prepare, your players will find a way to frag it all up. Best example:Vorpal Bread Knife VS Dough Golem. The GM forgot that he picked it up, as did everyone else. (i think it was the mage.) He easily dismembered the apparition.

[Shadowjack]

Personally, I've tried countless GM techniques. The one thing I find to be most important is to always spice things up. I refrain from getting into patterns, even if something worked really well. Players could really like an idea you had, but if you use it too much, it cheapens it.

Another thing I like to do is give the players lots of freedom to do what they want. However, before too long into campaigns I think the storyline needs to develop into something meaningful.

Regarding planning, I typically like to do a lot of planning but I enjoy doing minimal planning at times. Minimal planning tends to work best with an experienced group that cares more about the role playing aspect of a game, instead of combat. If combat is the main interest, careful planning feels better so you can really keep the action moving.

In Shadowrun, I think it's really important to make the players sweat and really feel the dark elements of the game. The reality that things can go wrong and they're not immune to anything. I make a point of letting my players know that I'll do anything I think is best for the campaign, nothing is off the table. Not to say I'm a dick to my players, but if everything goes well all the time, it's not as much fun for anyone. Victory means more once you've tasted defeat.

A really good idea for GMing is to make a list of things you want to happen during the session. This can be very useful if you don't have much prep time. Make a list, put in enough details to make it look like lots of work was put into it and then talk a good game

Above all, don't be predictable. This is especially important in Shadowrun due to the typical sequence of events. Role play, talk to Mr.Johnson, complete the run, get paid, get Karma, sell loot, buy stuff. Do whatever you can to spice things up. The routine of Shadowrun is good but the NPC's should behave like real people. Sometimes they should contact the players looking for things too.

[Crunch]

I tend to build a sandbox and then improv using sandbox elements. So I'll prep locations, NPCs and setpiece story elements ahead of time, but I'll shuffle them around and let the story go where the players take it.

[Wakshaani]

When I get a new group, the first few adventures tend to be things I've designed with a blank template in mind ... the group will have a sammi, a mage, a face, an NPC decker, and so aren't exactly taiolred to a group's unique flavors. After a month, when I know the group isn't breaking up, but the membership has shaken out a tad, and I know who the characters are, that's when the Work starts.

One of the biggest changes in my GM style came from the Buffy RPG, of all things, where they introduced the idea of seasons. I'd always had some story arcs, where adventures would link from one to another, but the seasonal arc allowed me to plan, say, a dozen adventures out in advance, and knowing which ones were where "Metaplot" arcs would hit and where "one-off" arcs would be. I could have some slow stuff and some fast stuff picked and placed, some RP-focused character stuff and some plot-based stuff, and so on. Getting that balance right is tricky, but neat.

So, an arc might look roughly like this.

1 - Cakewalk. The runners are hired by a "Mrs Smith", a client who doesn't have a Johnson, to do a milk run on his own research facility. Job's an easy one ... get in, get a certain McGuffin from a secure lockup, hide it in his workstation, take a few other things to disguise what's really being taken, and beat feet. Low on cash, he lets them steal his car on top of a small payout. The job's crazy easy, no betrayals, and it goes smoothly.

2 - Just a datasteal. Johnson wants a file stolen, the back-up data erased, and a bonus if they can snag a prototype. By-the-numbers run.

3 - Favor for a friend - Someone's contact has a problem. The team bails them out. Low payout, but a good RP session with a karma bonus for everyone.

4 - Something magical. A spirit flips out and kills someone. The group's hired to capture it, but things go sideways and they wind up having to kill it instead. Johnson is grumbly, but still pays out a (lesser) fee. Unknown to them, it ties in to the first McGuffin.

5 - "What do you mean, we aren't hired?" Another RP session with side benefits ... they talk to a Johnson and don't get hired; a rival team does. With time off, they start sniffing around their contacts more, having three low-no payouts in a row. A good time to focus on someone who took on of Those quirks, like Amnesia, or Enemies.

6 - "Hey, it's Doctor Pete!" ... the team is hired to break into a research area and pluck a researcher... the scientist from the first mission! His value must have really gone up! And boy does it, as the Johnson is offering more than usual rates, but insists that the target be extracted with his research and family. Gonna be a hard one. The team's lean and hungry, so dives in. After plucking their old pal, he gives them a counter-offer ... big money to let him go. He doesn't think the extracting corp will let him do what he needs. The team knows he's virtually broke from the last time... do they turn him over or let him go?

7 - Gangers. Shoot them a lot. A straight mission with low moral quandries after the last one. Let the ones who bought new toys show off and blow things up. Everybody needs the release. Nice place to seed things for later.

8 - B&E ... with a twist. The facility is under water, or they need to crack into a blimp that hovers over the city, or a secret R&D facility's in the sewers. Just a little mix-up for when they get cocky. Let them win the contract over the team that got a job over them back in session five.

9 -  Johnson with a twist. High time for a Matrix-only Johnson and a mission that's a little odd. Run around and do a bunch of minor things that seem unconnected. In the process, dribble in some stuff that's come up before ... maybe a surviving ganger from before's gotten rebuilt and has a mad-on for them. Maybe another contact is involved in a mission. Just some fun. Drop some clues about the weird spirit issue from way back.

10 - Normal mission to take advantage of a PC ... the team rigger sad that you haven't had a car chase? The samurai reallyneeding a katana-weilding bad guy to duel? The mage getting cocky? Pick one PC who hasn't had a good focus eipsode yet and build the thing to showcase them. EVeryone needs a starring role once!

11 - Big Finale, Part 1. Turns out that Dr Pete's slipped his handlers and gone underground. It also turns out that his research is a Big Deal, and now people are crawling out of teh woodwork looking for him. The PCs have an edge in that they've dealt with him (twice!) and have a head start, but might have to do some digging. (Bet his car has some info. But we sold it! Crud, gotta go track it down!) ... you can start throwing things around, here. RIval team needs to bump into the PCs at least once, and clearly are on the same hunt. Contacts help out, or show up hurt from others beating the bushes. What the heck is the McGuffin that people are so hot for it? And then they find out. Ooohhh crap.

12 - Big Finale, Part 2. Stuff blows up! Guns! Spirits! Oh Em Gee! McGuffin winds up broken and/or Dr Pete winds up dead ... or "dead" and thankful for the team for getting him away from the heat. Team gets a windfall... maybe cash, maybe karma, dependning. Everyone figures out how older adventures linked to this one and go, "Aw man, if we would have ... dude!" Bask in a job well done! Take a week off for everyone to decompress, then get ready for season two.

(A real season would have more detail, obviously, but.)

[OFTHEHILLPEOPLE]

This is all really great advice.  I'm not one to railroad my players and I do love letting them run the story.  I just started up a new group and with the minimum setup I had for the small interaction they blew it out of the water and even caught me off guard by asking about some minor details ("What weapon is THIS guy using?" "What kind of program suite does this data storage device that I've just cracked have?" etc) which I guess I should take as them getting into their characters.  I'm just a D20 guy that has primarily run modern or high fantasy settings where fluff and supernatural things are in the realm of "It happens because it does" and less in the Future setting where "It happens because he's running four security cracking programs, has an AI working in the background, and is interfacing directly with the root archive, so it happens."  I suppose it's less of how I build my stories and runs for Shadowrun and more of how I wing things the right way for them to make sense that I'm after as well.

[Crimsondude]

The campaign books (Artifacts Unbound, Corporate Intrigue, Jet Set, The Twilight Horizon) have three to five plot points along with an overview and a collection of NPCs specific to each adventure. Some have varying levels of assistance in the full-length modules'  terms of "debugging" and "pushing the envelope" depending on whether each point gets too hard or soft for the PCs. Of course, then you have the adventures like in Elven Blood which are full-length in addition to being very freeform (each adventure contains four or five mini-runs) and the Debugging/Pushing the Envelope section.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that there are some examples out there of how to prepare them more or less freeform as desired. Then if you have Blood in the Boardroom or Emergence there's also the Adventure Track method where the points are even looser than in the campaign books.

Of course the most freeform setups are the Adventure Seeds/Plot Seeds/Adventure Setups that are in sourcebooks like Spy Games, Conspiracy Theories, and Dirty Tricks. They're only a paragraph or two but have varying amounts of "this happens, this is the response, and this is the complication."