[DarkSpade]

My friends have recently started playing Shadowrun.   This is my first time ever GMing and I'm already ready to strangle them.

I fully expected them to throw me curve balls and they really haven't disappointed me there.   I came as prepared as I possibly could.   I've actively tried my best to avoid any kind of potentially scripted events.   Every area they travel to I have a list of notes for goals for the location(meet this guy, find this, get this info), items/clues of interest, and Notable NPCs and what those NPCs know.  For any information I need them to get, I've tried to insure there's multiple ways for them to get it.

There's been one problem that keeps popping up and has really taxed my abilities as a new GM.  They don't trust anyone.  All their interactions with NPCs seem to be interrogations.  They are trying to find a serial killer, so it kind of makes sense, but it makes things difficult since they never want to share info either.  It's making it tough to get them allies.  After all, would you want to help someone who's all questions and treating you like a suspect?   I don't want to end every conversation with the NPC saying "oh btw, you should probably know about this." What's making this worse is that we're in the the very early part of the story.  They've been meeting some key people in town that are meant to be allies in the later part of the story but they seem to be going out of their way to alienate them.

Another more minor issue is when they're just not paying attention.  I can handle the occasional interruption of joking around, showing funny pictures on phones and teasing when I horribly mispronounce a word.  We're 3 friends hanging out at 1AM.  It's going to happen and it's part of the fun.  Problem is when it happens while I'm describing a new area they're entering.  When I do, I give a general description of the area including anything that might stand out or that I'm assuming they might actively look for.  Inevitably, they miss something.   When it's not critical, I just let it go.   The hard part is when it is critical and I have no idea how to bring it to their attention without having the hand of god come down and slap them with it.   

First time it happened they were alone in the coroner's office(with permission) looking over the body of a victim.  I had described the room they were in when they entered including mention of some evidence bags laying on a table next to the table the victim was on.   Every time we got off topic I pulled the conversation back to the game by redescribing the room and they still were oblivious to the bags.  Finally I had the coroner walk back in the room with the Lone Star detective he was talking to following.   After a bit of introduction RPing, the detective left saying to the coroner on the way out, "make sure those evidence bags get down to the station or I'll have your ass".  At which point one of my players said "evidence bags!?  What evidence bags?"


Any advice on how to deal with this?

[TormDK]

Yeah, pick better session times and take breaks.

That is assuming that the players want to be there, and so take it seriously enough to be attentive.

I would speak with them about it, and the type of game they are looking for. It may simply be they want to go what the "old timers" here call Pink Mohawk - so the type of heroic action you see in movies, rather than your Scooby doo type .

My gaming Group just recently picked up Shadowrun and we're having a blast, but we are all so used to going in with guns blazing that it is hard for them to think outside the box in a world more advanced than ours, where only the imagination (And some poor rules ) stops them from using technology from going through an entire session without firing a gun.

They want clear objectives, and a "dungeon" to clear, where as I want to pull it in another direction where everything isn't so black and White. I'm actually dreading the first Johnson double cross which will likely happen in a session or two, they will never trust any NPC ever again

[Namikaze]

There's been one problem that keeps popping up and has really taxed my abilities as a new GM.  They don't trust anyone.  All their interactions with NPCs seem to be interrogations.  They are trying to find a serial killer, so it kind of makes sense, but it makes things difficult since they never want to share info either.  It's making it tough to get them allies.  After all, would you want to help someone who's all questions and treating you like a suspect?   I don't want to end every conversation with the NPC saying "oh btw, you should probably know about this." What's making this worse is that we're in the the very early part of the story.  They've been meeting some key people in town that are meant to be allies in the later part of the story but they seem to be going out of their way to alienate them.

You might consider having their contact or NPC simply tell them, "Dude, you're a dick.  I'm not answering your questions.  And if you make a threat to me, I'm calling the cops/gangs/local thugs."  Also, you might try telling them flat-out that they are being too aggressive with the NPCs.  It's fine for them to be paranoid of them, not trusting, etc.  The problems arise when they start going into interrogation mode on people.  For example, I distrust some of my co-workers.  So I won't tell them anything truly important, but I will try to get information out of them anyway sometimes.  The key is to be good at getting info without giving any away.  And if your players aren't good at that, maybe their characters are.  Consider having them simply roll for social interaction results, because it's not fair to punish a player who is a bad actor when their character would be good at something.

Another more minor issue is when they're just not paying attention.  I can handle the occasional interruption of joking around, showing funny pictures on phones and teasing when I horribly mispronounce a word.  We're 3 friends hanging out at 1AM.  It's going to happen and it's part of the fun.  Problem is when it happens while I'm describing a new area they're entering.  When I do, I give a general description of the area including anything that might stand out or that I'm assuming they might actively look for.  Inevitably, they miss something.   When it's not critical, I just let it go.   The hard part is when it is critical and I have no idea how to bring it to their attention without having the hand of god come down and slap them with it.

Usually what I'll do in this kind of situation is introduce the scene with a little drama.  Lower my voice, ask everyone to crowd together, etc.  Handouts are helpful for this kind of thing too - if you can prepare it in advance, a map with the various things that may or may not be important might be useful.  Label all of it though - you don't want to literally spell it out for them.

First time it happened they were alone in the coroner's office(with permission) looking over the body of a victim.  I had described the room they were in when they entered including mention of some evidence bags laying on a table next to the table the victim was on.   Every time we got off topic I pulled the conversation back to the game by redescribing the room and they still were oblivious to the bags.  Finally I had the coroner walk back in the room with the Lone Star detective he was talking to following.   After a bit of introduction RPing, the detective left saying to the coroner on the way out, "make sure those evidence bags get down to the station or I'll have your ass".  At which point one of my players said "evidence bags!?  What evidence bags?"

Unfortunately, there's no good way to make players pay attention to these kinds of things.  Hopefully they catch your purpose when you say it, but some players simply won't consider that kind of thing to be critical.  What's obvious to you may not be obvious to them.  For that kind of thing, sometimes it pays to ask them, "do y'all want to do any more snooping around?  Maybe look for evidence somewhere?"  As it is, I think you came up with a great way to get their attention on the bags with the detective's dialogue.

[DarkSpade]

What's funny is that there was at least one time that I fully expected them to be aggressive with and NPC that I didn't want them ticking off so I was ready for it.   They were rescuing another runner who had a price on his head from some gangers that were looking to collect on it.  They needed to save him because he was the only contact of the a victim that they knew of at that point.  With one of the players being a bounty hunter, I full expected him to try and collect on it himself.   That player ended up untying the NPC and letting him go after they got the info they wanted!

Meanwhile, the local coroner has helped them out a couple times on nothing more than good faith and now they're positive he's the killer.  /facepalm   

I had planned to toss them a couple red herrings, but so far they've done a great job of going out and getting their own.   

Yeah, pick better session times and take breaks.

That is assuming that the players want to be there, and so take it seriously enough to be attentive.

Oh how I wish better times were an option, but with one of us having 4 kids and living an hour away, we're grateful for any time we get to game.  The goofing around is normal for any game we play.  Like I said it's part of the fun.  It's just happening with bad timing.

[cantrip]

I had planned to toss them a couple red herrings, but so far they've done a great job of going out and getting their own.   

Wait till they meet the Awakened variety! 

Oh how I wish better times were an option, but with one of us having 4 kids and living an hour away, we're grateful for any time we get to game.  The goofing around is normal for any game we play.  Like I said it's part of the fun.  It's just happening with bad timing.

Yeah - three of our four players have kids; we play on hangouts which works well, but we've had to work hard at having official break times instead of wandering off randomly. We have a set time and day to play so that helps a lot -- we're getting better at staying on task!  I think we all are attention deficit, but honeslty I think most roleplayers are!

[TormDK]

My Group is in our early to mid 30's, so I know the whole deal about kids and what-have-you's taking up time , we are also spread across a wide area, so most of us have an hour or two's drive to where we typically meet.

It just goes to reinforce the point of thinking of it like a real hobby, and thus dedicating the needed time for good (but prehaps fewer) sessions. My own group only meet every 5-6 weeks simply because scheduling doesn't typically allow for more. We instead try and dedicate an entire weekend to it, and have thus made arrangements with spouses, girlfriends and jobs accordingly.

So speak with the group about the playstyle they had in mind, and prehaps look into more dedicated (but fewer) sessions and have breaks so that the goofing around can happen during breaks rather than in a session where you are trying to be serious for a second

Thats how we do it at least

[Csjarrat]

As for not noticing things, roll their perception checks when they enter a new area and slip them a secret note if they hit enough successes on the test to notice whatever it is, or just notify the only player who noticed it verbally and leave it up to him/her what they do with that information.
Alternatively you could ask them to roll their own perception tests when they go into a new area, if they get rewarded with finds then they'll get the message and it'll become part of their thought processes. They'll automatically start searching for clues.

The other guys hit the nail on the head regarding acting/social skills.
Maybe have your players roll up etiquette before social interactions and tell them that they understand that walking into a wake for the deceased is a bad place to start throwing accusations around.
If they are total dicks, then have the NPC's respond appropriately. You can have them kicked out of bars or have drinks thrown over them, calls not returned or diverted straight to voicemail and such.
it adds to the realism of the world if the NPCs are believable people.
Also, if they are overly aggressive with NPC's, have them roll intimidation checks to represent their stance. Its a subtle way of telling them how they are coming across and it should highlight that they maybe need to tailor their approach better
don't make the world feel less real!