[Shaidar]

List of Shadowrun Books

Yes, many decades across many media types, magazines, novels, & RPG rule books.

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

2) The general population has a HUGE germ phobia and it has totally reshaped human interaction. Nicer areas are constantly cleaned and disinfected. Social interactions are generally limited to "clean" people of the same geographical and economic standing. Over a 3rd of the world's population was killed between the two VITAS outbreaks.  Toss in things like becoming a ghoul or one of the other types of infected and you get an idea of how a little phobia is probably not a bad idea.

This ... is incredibly good.  Ultraviolet is a guilty-pleasure movie, but thinking about it, the various diseases that've hit the 6th World might well wind up making the population as paranoid as the population in that movie ...

[Ursus Maior]

I recently introduced a NPC character in my New Orleans 2060 campaign, who is still of the opinion that "ork" is something you can catch like VITAS, mainly since her uncle goblinized, which apparently left a mark upon her mother. As racism is a big topic in the campaign and we will enter 2061 (Year of the Comet) within the next few session, germophobia will play a role as well. As soon as changeling start appearing, many people will completely freak out. It's been a generation since VITAS-2 hit the world and after the Fuchi crash in 2059/60 and with Insects and Dunkelzahn's death in the immediate past, worldwide unrests will follow. I also introduced racially motivated unrests in New Orleans, this should add up "nicely".

[Spooky]

Wow, Ursus. I'm almost glad I'm not playing on your table, with all that to throw at the characters. Course, now that you mention it, I should throw some of that at my players... hmmm....

[Ursus Maior]

Well thank you, I'll take that as a compliment. 

To me, racism always was an integral part of SR. As much as the 'corps, magic and augmentations. And after almost 15 years in academia and countless discussion on "integration" and "identity/alterity" I conclude that the amount of stupid is infinite. In combination with 20+ percent of New Orleans' population being orks, this makes racial issues an endemic problem in my world. Plus previos SR-authors have done a superb job with the Kenneth Brackhaven plot. I adopted him as Kenneth Desoto into my campaign and it works like a charm. My players hate him. Even the anti-ork racist in my group.

[Namikaze]

I agree - racism is something still alive and well in 2075.  And in a campaign set in 2060 it's still on a simmer from the Night of Rage.  The recent changes to the metatypes to add unique "cultures" to each of them brings with it the strong possibility of alienation, which will revitalize the racism that is already in the world.  As the elven and orkish cultures move away from the mainstream, the divisions will become more and more apparent.  Dwarves seem like they'd be fine to live in their own little ghettos, and don't really need anyone else.  If any of the metatypes have a pitiable culture, it's the trolls.  Higher literacy rates aside, they just have no sense of identity, which is a shame.  The key here being that the differences between the metatypes is only becoming more apparent, not less.  The racism angle can have different levels of emphasis, depending on the GM's style and the motif of the campaign, but it's definitely there.

[ScytheKnight]

One key thing is something that a few CRPGs nowadays are getting the hang of, have the world go on around the players, let them hear of events outside their little bubble. Offer a job you know they will never take, and then later hear about the fallout as another less scrupulous team completes the job. Basically if the only stuff the players hear about is the effect their characters have had on the world, it's going to make the world seem like an artificial playground.

[Ursus Maior]

Yes, and I try to avoid that artificial feeling wherever I can. It's difficult however, since you have to spin so many threads over the duration of a campaign, just in case the players finally decide to tap into one at a later point nonetheless. That's why I usually ask my players what they would like to do during downtime, if they want to schedule a solo between regular sessions and we usually have one of us (mostly them) write a summary of the last session before the next.

We also use a character pool system, so people can switch characters (and thus roles) between runs, playing what they like within one campaign. It works really well and three out of five have experimented with a second character, one aims to do so in the future and only one player showing no interest in a second character since he is highly invested in his samurai. Which is fine by me as he somewhat took the role of my leader, when I stepped in as game master.

With all the action, mutliple story threads and various meta-plots on diffrent levels ('corps, racism, national level, magic, organised crime) I also try to stick it not too often to my players. I want everyone to leave the table with a feeling of having spent his spare time on something worthwhile and that means most of the time the runners succeed. They play good, plan ahead and although there have been stupid decisions, really bad roles and simply ugly days, they have made contacts, friends and money so far. We all know, that might change at some point, it's a gritty world out there, but I don't force it. In my opinion, trust is easier gambled away than earned, and that counts for teachers, leaders and game masters all the same.

To ensure that everyone can play, what he likes, while not inhibitting the major plot lines of the campaign, we agreed on a couple of simple rules. The basic group of runners all know each other from before their lives in the shadows. They worked together for Fuchi and defected when the shit hit the fan in mid 2060. As long as they remain off the radar, they might be able to pull it off, but if they arouse to much attention, Shiawase and Novatech, which bought most Fuchi-assets, will notice that they're still alive and try to "seize their assets". So the main goal is to survive. In each run at least one member of this "Original Six" (including my character) needs to be participating. Everyone else can play characters from his pool. Characters that are not played receive exactly the same karma and payment during their downtime as the rest, so there is no immediate drawback of a character resting for while. However loot, contacts and bonus payments can only be earned in-game. If you miss a run, you don't get any of these. If you miss a session however and your character participated on the run, you are entitled to all the benefits. I don't punish players for missing a session, as I presume that everyone wants to play and my players often work nightshifts or weekends. So missing a session is punishment enough.

Everyone can ask for solo sessions or other extra sessions with less than the full group present to play more narrowls focussed stories around one or a few characters. These are not runs per se, so there is no set payment or karma. In fact these are usually session, in which players spend money on organizing gear, playing initiations, make contacts or anything like that. So my players have to come up with more ideas from themselves here. Technically, they can earn money, if some NPCs offers thems, but there won't be karma at all, since I want all of my players to have equally skilled characters. I made the experience that people, who play less often often get the feeling of being left behind, if their characters have less karma. As I said, I don't like someone feeling punished for working hard, having wife and children or choose between his long distance relationship and fun with friends. So, while I cannot and will not stop people having fun on solo missions - and handing them goodies - I won't offer karma.

I have received extremely positive feedback (did an anonymous online evaluation a while back to be sure) and I think everyone genuinely likes the team performance. So that's that. If anyone likes to experiment with our team rules, feel free and I'd more than happy to receive feedback from you, too.

[BRodda]

2) The general population has a HUGE germ phobia and it has totally reshaped human interaction. Nicer areas are constantly cleaned and disinfected. Social interactions are generally limited to "clean" people of the same geographical and economic standing. Over a 3rd of the world's population was killed between the two VITAS outbreaks.  Toss in things like becoming a ghoul or one of the other types of infected and you get an idea of how a little phobia is probably not a bad idea.

This ... is incredibly good.  Ultraviolet is a guilty-pleasure movie, but thinking about it, the various diseases that've hit the 6th World might well wind up making the population as paranoid as the population in that movie ...

It just makes sense.
VITAS, HMHVV, CFD? and the list goes on and on...

I honestly don't get a lot of SR. Trying to get to a A rated area in my games is almost as bad as getting to Manhattan. There was a reason people wanted to live in the arcologies.

[Reaver]

I honestly don't get a lot of SR. Trying to get to a A rated area in my games is almost as bad as getting to Manhattan. There was a reason people wanted to live in the arcologies.

Sewers man! They go everywhere! map them out and use them to avoid the police security checkpoints.

Just bring lots of ammo for the devil rats, ghouls, and all the other uglies down there.


(a gas mask, chem suit and a strong stomach are also required)

[Adder]

There are some neat tips here! I especially like the random weird occurrences that seem to have no relevance to the plot. I want to add my own:

1. I distribute a news summary at the beginning of every session at the safe house, which typically has three paragraphs on local Seattle news. Then I do the same with "shadowland" news, that often provides deeper (if unreliable) insight into the actual news, and sometimes is just random. All of the points are designed to either follow up a previous run ("Yesterday an office building downtown was raided by an unknown group of criminals. There were several casualties, and Knight Errrant is vowing to hunt down the perpetrators..."), act a a tie-in to the next run, be a hook for a possible future run ("Shiawase starting construction of a nuclear plant, looks to secure uranium fuel"), or subtly change player behavior ("citizens outraged by the callous murders from last night's attack, security guard on duty leaves behind husband and four small children").

2. Weave together the players' contacts into a run if you can. I ask my players to submit requests between sessions when they want to improve a contact, and tell me which contact and whether it's the loyalty or connection score. Then I see if I can put it into the run so that a side session is unnecessary. For example, my players' next run is to board a train, find a briefcase (one of an identical triplet) and exit the train. One of their contacts is a project manager for a NeoNet looking to change projects, and I told the player that he could help her out (increasing her connection score) by securing high-quality silicon wafers in the cargo car of the train- which is on the complete opposite end of the passenger cars. I've also told only the player about this request, so that he can decide what details to give the others. The wafers also can be sold for a non-trivial sum on the black market, which makes things even more awkward. I'm eagerly looking forward to him, in mid-run, suddenly dashing off towards the rear of the train without telling the rest what he's up to :-)

3. I'm a big fan of recurring characters in all RPGs. Don't just have your characters get fixed up at any old street doc. Get a specific street doc! Give him goals and ambitions, weaknesses and debts. Where is his clinic? What kind of neighborhood is it? What will the players do when he's suddenly not available one day? Would they investigate? You'd be surprised how people get really attached to very minor characters. The safehouse my players start missions in has a sweet old blind ork landlord who lives on the first floor and is often cleaning up as they leave. She makes terrible-tasting baked goods that she leaves by the door and implores them to try some on their way out (which they do, and immediately spit out once they step outside). She also asks awkward but cute questions when they go out in combat gear (having noticeably heavier footsteps and the jangling of gear as they walk).

They're so used to her being there that they'll even ask about her if I forget to mention her. One day I plan on having them come home and seeing she's been shot in the knee, which will act a wonderful launch point (assuming they have a shred of human decency) into finding the perpetrator...

[cyclopean]

There's a lot of really good stuff here! feeling inspired. My suggestion: let the player's actions (or inactions) effect the world in visible ways, even if it takes you a bit off-canon (if you're playing missions or interacting with written-up NPC's or using official settings or what have you). Seeing what happens days, weeks, or months down the line based on choices you've made is one of the best parts of roleplaying in my mind, and it's really rewarding as a GM to see your players get way more invested in a setting cause they are noticeably altering it. Like if they help a gang out, have that gang start to gain turf: maybe the PC's see their tag up a few blocks west of where their territory used to stop etc. It's fun to have happen as background stuff, so they can pick it up as news, gossip, incidental perception checks, whatever.

[Lighthouse]

I like to foreshadow events that will happen later as well as throw in news stories I find amusing that have nothing to do with the plot. Some time these stories develop into foreshadowing as an idea from them occurs to me. To make a world more alive takes a little extra work. Populate it with interesting NPC's. Think about what each named bad guy is like. Throw in some random unrelated encounters that the PC's can involve themselves or not (mugging, drive by, etc). Also ask your players what they are interested in doing. This will often make them more engaged.

[Rotten_Emu]

So much info and so many great ideas!

As a GM I usually try to give my players a meaningful choice somewhere in the run. In the case of tracking someone I'll throw in some information to make them realise why someone doesn't want to be found. I reward them for choosing the path that they weren't hired to do but the morally right choice always pays less (if at all) and finds more gain in other aspects (contacts, allegiance, gear, etc). In the long run these non monetary rewards really shape their reputation (angry Johnsons usually show up at some point) and even smaller decisions with lasting impact can have big consequence in the future (remember that desk clerk whose account you hacked? Don't you think that limping hobo looks an awful lot like him?)

I hope to be able to really build a great new environment in my current campaign and will surely use the news feed idea. Will probably do it in the form of a conspiracy blog by one of my NPCs. We'll see if they'll be invested enough in her once the corps find out she's behind the slanderous truth posts that seem to be a little more accurate than they should be.

[cyclopean]

Yeah, a PC or major NPC interested in conspiracy theories is a great way to bring in metaplot. I also really like to just throw in random side stuff, a lot of which doesn't initially have much behind it, and see what the players are interested in, and then expand in that direction. A lot of little mysteries that can get resolved/developed or not, depending on if people care to look into it further.