The corebook has a nice section called alternate campaigns on page 354. The section outlines rules for streetlevel, highlife, mercenary, docwagon and criminal syndicates. Although it has similar, but not identical rules for streetlevel and primerunner campaigns on page 64 (I guess those where made to confuse the enemy?)
What are your suggestions for alternate campaigns? or changes to some of those in the book? glittering vampire /loup garou campaigns? underwater auqamen? mad scientists?
Here are some of mine, they arent fully fleshed out, as the purpose was more for presenting my players with more choices, and go from there.
Smuggler campaign. When something valuable needs to be transported/extracted from A to B through/out/into containment/war/high risk zones you dont just turn to your regular runners, you go to the specialists. The team uses the priority tabel as a normal shadowrun campaign, but gets a free Ares venture T-bird. Furthermore each player gets 5 free skillpoints in either Pilot air/gunnery/EW/areonautics mechanic/navigation/armorer or artisan(for painting hot ork chicks on the T-bird). Each player gets a number of free knowledge skillpoints equal to their intuition in smuggling related topics. The team must fund the upgrades for their aircraft themselves, and name it something cool ofcourse. They are allowed to start with a joined lifestyle with room for their baby.
The awakened campaign. Hogwarts on kamikaze and psyche at the same time!! you get the idea. Every player is awakened (or awakened and emerged). Priority table is as standard, except for the magic or resonance column. That column is moved down 1 step (adept and aspected at D goes down to E, C to D and so on) there is no A for magic then, leaving that choice for the metahuman, attribute, skills or cash column instead. The players are encouraged to make a diverse team as possible, with as many archetypes as possible (adept deckers, aspected riggers, shaman faces, burn out B&E experts, magic fingering mystic adept demolition experts and so on). Furthermore to strengthen the team synergy the GM can grant players free ranks in ritual spellcasting/ritual spells or alternatively for those that cant use the ritual skill (adepts, summoning/alchemy aspected magicians) free ranks in arcane/assensing or foci of an equal value could work. (maybe even a hellhound for the grumpy old ork animal handler adept)
Da ork unda-grawnd!! Yep all the players are in an ork underground campaign (or the more pansy tir na nog elven campaign) exhance human with ork in the priority tabel and dwarf with troll, all other races are ignored as they are too weedy. (this can easily be combined with streetlevel play if they are too über). all players start with a prejudiced mild negative quality against either other metahuman races or some oppressing corp for no bonus points, they also gain free knucks or clubs!
Braaiins!! all the players are flesh eating ghouls! (or other infected if you dare try coming up with costs for them) As all metahumans can become infected and turn out as ghouls just use the priority tabel as normal (rules for ghouls are on page 405). Each player gets 8 extra skillpoints to be used on assensing/outdoors and linked skills/animal handling/intimidate/sneaking/gymnastics and running(and specializations for each of those).Each player also gets their logic score as free knowledge skills in something HMHVV related. Again players are encouraged to make a diverse team as possible (with deckers, faces(yikes), magicians and cybered freaks etc.). Each player gets his charisma score as extra points for contacts to be used on devil rat packs or feral ghouls, or something else suitable. (if they suffer losses they will be resupplied after the next game). They arent very usable as contacts but are willing to get their hands dirty (and teeths). This is more of a survival game, where the evil corporations are hunting the poor misunderstood cannibals.
