[Facemage]

Talgrath, for me your strategy as a gm is totally acceptable and fine. If you want that your player's characacters are _not_ highly optimized, I recommend one of the following strategies:

1. Use easier enemies than the archetype characters from the corebook. If player's sam has let us say 10 dices in his weapon pool, the probability that he wins (and kills) a gunslinger adept from the corebook, is 50%. The characters can easily die if they fight against as powerful enemies.

2. Use prime runner level characters.

I personally think that the first option is better.

Moreover, give your players more karma than the standard guidelines give. If the characters have 4 in most of his skills and 3-4 in his attributes, the progression speed is really slow if you give only ~5-6 karma per run.

[Talgrath]

Thanks for the tips, I'll keep that in mind.   

[Glyph]

The CO and Street Doc contacts are not rules-legal. You can only spend 7 points on a single contact unless you have a Friends in High Places positive quality.

Re-reading the section I realized I had overlooked that one, thanks, I thought it was a little weird that a high charisma character could spend all their points to start with a connection 12 loyalty 6 contact.

There is a quality in Run Faster called friends in high places if you want to be buddies with a great dragon or a corporate CEO.


On the power level - if the group doesn't create pro-level shadowrunners, then just give them lower-powered runs.  Shadowruns cover a wide range of difficulty, and fixers will try to get the right team for the job.  If the team are not pros yet, they will get more petty crime or cheap muscle jobs.