[Michael Chandra]

Reaver already made the first post elsewhere, but I figured I'd keep mine a bit compact masterlist-wise. =)

• The world is a realistic one
• Know your players, not the history
• Don't be afraid to leave things out
• Know your role
• Wing it
• Excessive gear brings in the cavalry
• Nobody likes collateral damage

[Michael Chandra]

Don't be afraid to leave things out
The Shadowrun rules are massive. >400 pages of Core rules, then over half a dozen extended Core books, plus fluff books, setting books and more. And that's without getting into previous editions. And both to a new GM and a new player, this can be rather daunting. Especially a GM may feel like they have to know it all, especially when players start pulling in obscure things and you have to figure out if this will work the way they think (looking at you, Astral Hazing), and if you even want to allow it.

But keep in mind there's a simple solution to that: Feel free to cut out the parts you don't want. Just be open to your players about it. If you don't think you can really make something shine or play proper, feel free to ban it from your table. You can always introduce these things later, as both you and your players grow into the game.

If you don't like the idea of Technomancers, or they seem simply too complex for you and your players to play out well? Just agree that TMs are an NPC-thing at your table. You could even agree to not play Matrix of any kind, and just let the runners hire off-site deckers who are handwaved. That way you won't have to figure out exactly how all those Matrix Actions are supposed to work.

You also might not want to design a massive Megacorp site, or give yourself the headache of figuring out all the kinds of security they're packing into that kind of thing (paracritter guarddogs, security drones, patrolling watcher spirits and normal spirits, normal guards, spiders and agents observing the cameras, tripwires, microwire-topped fences, motion sensors...), nevermind how they might retaliate. So just send your players after criminals instead.

And if you're worried about Drone Armies or Spirit Armies? Just agree with your players that you'll only keep the NPCs to light patrol stuff, in return for them doing the same. (Incidentally, you could always houserule instead. But let's face it, you need the right to say no. You're in charge, not the Setting, so just don't add resurrection/teleportation/timetravel and we're good.)

[Reaver]

KNOW YOUR PLAYERS, NOT THE HISTORY.

One of the biggest hurdles it seems for new players and GMs is the huge amount of lore that comes with Shadowrun. And lets face it, the SR world has 90 years of history to it! (since much of the lore for SR actually goes all the way back to 1990!). Many times, they feel that they have to know everything that has happened to move forward.

So much so, they often feel paralyzed by their lack of knowledge! Does this fit with the Lore? Does that break the Lore?

Honestly, don't sweat it!
 
I love the Lore of Shadowrun! There is so much to it, and its so deep that even after 30+ years of playing and reading SR, I am discovering new twists and plots that I missed years later! And for the most part, you don't really need to know it all... The CRB and the sourcebooks for 5e give you a base outline of the history, and that's really all you need to get yourself started.

And that's all you need - "Start playing, the lore will literally sort itself out as you go."

And I do mean that! Lore never survives contact with the players Trust me. AS you play, your players interact with the world, those interactions can have consequences! They may not be earth shattering to the "lore" but the will be repercussions.

I call this "Claiming the Lore for your table"

And again I mean it. From the moment you sit down with your group, the world you create is YOURS and your tables. Own it. Live it. Enjoy it! Realize that by playing the game, you are impacting the lore that will come after your players start,  by the choices that they make.

Remember, Looking back is fine. it can give you perspective. But your eyes should always be looking forward.
 

[Reaver]

WING IT

As Michael points out, the rule book is over 400 pages long. Add in other sourcebooks, and PDF materials, and that number gets into the low thousands pretty quickly!

There is just too much to know off the top of your head. This is why I use the GM screen - it has a lot of tables in info right there for quick reference.

But sometimes I forget to pack it. OR some dastardly cruel player will come up with a situation that is not covered by the rules. (In my case, this is just about every hour. FU Brad!)

What I do is simple: I write it down. I think about for no more then 1 minute. Then I make a call. Usually most of these situations are "tests" of some kind. So I boil it down to the test resolution of SR. I pick a Skill and And Attribute and let the dice fall where they may...And I write down what I choose to do.

I do this to keep the game moving forward, in stead of bogging down the game with looking though rulebooks or forums for the answer. (that comes later!). Now sometimes this solution isn't going to please everyone - and you SHOULD listen to player input. (They are not all out to "get you", you know )But once you have made a ruling stick to it.


AFTER the game. Sit down with all interested parties, and do some research and discuss the issue and the Call you made. You might find the answer after a few minutes of looking, or you may find that there is no solution to your issue! Sadly, the rules can't cover every possible outcome; And even if they could, I doubt we could afford to buy the books as it would rival a Legal Library in size!
 From here, the solution is Simple. come up with a solution that works for your table. It doesn't need to be "prefect", it just has to be fair and applied to all sides equally. Once you and your table have worked out a solution, write it down and refer to it when that issue comes up again.
 Chances are also good that you will find that your quick ruling was actually covered, and you flubbed it up. Happens to me all the time. In this case, admit that you made a bad call, explain what you did, what the rules say, how you got it wrong, and move forward.... No one is perfect, but we can learn from our mistakes as long as we can admit we made them.
 

[Michael Chandra]

EXCESSIVE GEAR BRINGS IN THE CAVALRY

Look, many of us know the problem of a GM getting into an arms race with the players. If you throw enough nasties at them, they're definitely going to gear up against them. But occasionally you'll have the people that jump ahead. Or they scored MilSpec once and want to bring it everywhere. The Troll Tank wants to bring her Ballistic Shield everywhere. One guy thinks he should bring his Ares Alpha with him, slung over his back, AT THE MALL. Don't even mention the guy who has 3 sniper rifles in his duffel bag, so he can use his hunting rifle normally, his Crockett for bursts against annoying dodgy ones and his Barrett for Double Tap to disrupt a F12 Spirit in 1 shot. (Hint: That's my Missions character.) Or the Troll who walks around with a Claymore or a Krime Mace. Or the Channeler who thinks Channeling a Force 9 Great Form spirit with Energy Aura is a good way to enter a Redmond bar.*

*sobs*

Ahem. Where was I. Right, players bringing their big toys everywhere. Though the same argument applies to NPCs. And that argument is: Excessive Gear brings in the cavalry.

Let's describe two scenarios.

1: A Security Guard spots a guy walking around in a place they shouldn't be. The guard notices the guy is rather sturdy, which might hint at an Armor Jacket underneath their fancy clothes. Fails to spot the concealed weapons. When he calls the guy out, the guy does a runner (heh). So backup is alerted, a chase starts, at some point it turns into a gunfight, more backup is called while the guards just try to corner the Runner while keeping their cover. The rest of the team finishes the job during the distraction and thanks to flashbangs everyone gets away safely.

2: A Security Guard spots a guy in Full Body Armor, wielding an Ares Alpha with a fully-loaded underbarrel grenade launcher. The guard dives for cover, starts running to a safe area while calling for backup on a code Terrorism. The words used trigger a failsafe mechanism in the communication system, which calls and wakes up 3 Security Mages, telling them to send their entire Spirit Army to the location. 30 seconds later, a dozen F5~F6 spirits appear. A minute later, a higher-up Mage who has been on the site before has been found and notified, who immediately sends in two F9 Spirits. By then the guy has been found, has downed a few Spirits but has been torn apart. The following security sweep ends up discovering the team, leaving just one unfortunate survivor who now is in a secure facility undergoing questioning.

Law Enforcement, Megacorps, Organized Crime always has more resources than mere gangs and runner teams. But they won't spend those resources unless their hand is forced. If anyone goes in with excessive gear, you trigger an excessive response. That ganger bringing a grenade to a gunfight had better realise that within a month from then, most of his gang will have been rounded up by the cops or other parties that don't like collateral damage in their city.

And a runner had better understand that if they're spotted with something way beyond the current Security, said security will call in for MASSIVE backup. And thanks to Spirits, some of that can be there real fast. On longer runs, you risk a HTR squad of a bigger location dropping by this one to help, or the cops sending in some real nasty HTR teams. If you walk into Downtown with Forbidden heavy weaponry, you'll be splat across the pavement within 1d2 minutes. And if you ever decide to publicly wear MilSpec in Seattle, keep in mind there is an Army base in town, plus border patrol, so choppers with big guns can be anywhere in 20 minutes. Better finish your business before then.

So be smart. Hide your gear. Use smuggling compartments, duffel bags in places where they don't attract attention, concealed weapons inside your clothes with Palming. Don't blow everything to kingdom come unless you want the king, all of his horses and all of his men to come down on you like the Flood on everything. And for a GM as well: Excessive force will be used either by terrorists or when given plenty of reason first. Don't randomly throw it at the players.

*: Yes, this act earned him a point of Notoriety. Because holy crap dude.

[Reaver]

KNOW YOUR ROLE
(Now that I am awake, half drunk, and in a good mood..... lets talk "dirty")

No, I am not addressing players. i am talking to the GMs out there

I've been seeing a creeping issue in the GM forums for the last few months, that its starting to cause me some concern and I feel should be addressed.

And that, simply put, is that I think many people are flailing to fully understand their role as the "Game Master" of their game. i know what the book says, and I know what many other systems say about this topic. They are not wrong in what they say, but I don't think they do enough to stress the responsibilities that go with being a GM.

And, many people think they do know their responsibilities, but fail to fully understand them. So I thought I would give you my feelings on this topic. Maybe you can find some insight. (Or at least come up with good material to beat me over the head with later!)

I am going to sum up the position with a very controversial statement:

You are God.


No really, for all tense an purpose, you are literally God. You are the gravity under their feet, the air they breathe. You are responsible for every person, place, thing, action, reaction, and consequence that happens in YOUR game. Let that sink in for a moment.  Are you starting to feel the responsibility?

People play games to escape their crappy lives for a few hours. To forget about their shitty day at work, or the screaming ankle biter, or that nagging wife, or that lazy ass Husband. They want to sit back and enjoy themselves in the company of friends. YOU are responsible for their fun. (more heavy thinking? or just pretentious?)

Too many times I am getting the impression from some threads, that some think being a GM is a competition between them and their players. I have seen many threads asking for ways to "beat X combination" or "Stop X" from happening.  - Some of these ARE legitimate concerns (I am trying to be vague so I don't point a finger in any ones's face. That is not my intent) .But, generally speaking its not a competition at all.

From my experience as a player, a good GM is trying to tell a story, and the protagonists of that story are the Runners. They are the Heros. (they may be "heros" stuffed full of murderous glee and explosives... but they are still the "heros"... Or "assholes"..). A good Gm will use his limited time with his players, to weave a narrative that grabs the attention of all your players, pulls them into the setting your telling; Challenges their skills, and yet leads them to overcome their difficulties.

You are there to work with your players, not against them.

I will get into different game styles, and how the GM's Supportive role works with each here, but first lets talk concepts of what i mean by "game style"
Very broadly put, there 3 basic styles:

1: Mission by Mission: This style of play is proabably close to what Missions style is (I wouldn't know, as I don't do the mission scene at all), as characters will drop in and out of the table. Generally the Missions/runs are the sole focus of the table time, and nothing really happens on a "character interactive" level - Their private lives are a couple of dice rolls of effort, if even that.
Basically everyone shows up, sits down, does the run, gets their pay and heads home. There is nothing wrong with this style of play, but it does turn the GM from a literal God (which CAN be a GOOD thing!) to an Arbiter. Yes an ARBITER. they are there to arbitrate and assist in the interactions between the Runners, the rules and the objectives.
In this game style usually the mission is a pre-made adventure (as those that make their own mission usually fall below), in which case it tells you everything that happens, you just guide, assist and arbitrate for the players.

2: Interconnected Missions: this is kind of the half way point between "missions" style play and full on Campaign style play. Generally someone has hand crafted the missions so that they flow together, or they are a Pre-made campaign that usually covers a "Season" of the respective game world. Generally, you have characters that may still come and go, but generally they have all progressed to the same point, some how. Their character's personal lives are usually still just a foot note however.
Here, The GM is almost back to "God" mode again (for all the good and bad that entails). However, the Gm is still an arbiter, there to assist the players, mediate the missions, and guide the players through the material. But he also has to keep track of all the minutia that can creep up like who is what to whom, and how! Who has what from where and why.. 

3: Campaign Style: These come in many forms, but generally all share at least 1 key point. They are the GM's attempt at a "persistent" world. Here, the GM is literally God, as he, like I said above creates everything from the gravity under their feet to the air they breathe, to every single thing in that world. Its a big job, and a huge undertaking to craft a world in words and paper.. let alone do that for a group other people. AND, you better of done for other people, namely your Runners, else it will not feel real to them. It is in this style that I find most GM "fail" themselves and their players. (And I am sometimes guilty of this too!). They create a world they (the GM) want to play in, and fail to consider their players.
And since it is a world they (the GM) wants to play in, they take an almost involuntary affront when their players interact with their creation in an unexpected way. Be that not showing respect to an NPC that the GM has specifically invested time into (let me tell you how THAT works out! Again, FU Brad!), or using 5kg of explosives to solve every problem, Or spending their time hijacking cars; Or play "clothesline" on the highway with monowire...
Again, the job of the GM is arbitrate the rules, assist and guide the players through the story and to the conclusion of one ark, and (maybe) into another. Only now, the GM has much more freedom to "Be God" and to make major mistakes. Which is fine, we grow when we make mistakes; as long as we realize that we made them. 
By building a world that your PLAYERS want and not what the GM wants is a step in the right direction. Now you just have to work on courage, fairness, darkness, humor, and finality.   
 


**and for those who are wondering, Brad is an "asshole" player at my table who lurks on these forums, reads them, then brings all those nasty tricks you people post to MY table. But he feeds me beer and fixes my bike... so I can't kick him out

[Michael Chandra]

I pity you for Brad.

NOBODY WANTS COLLATERAL DAMAGE

Occasionally someone complains about game balance when they bring up an OP move. Spirit armies, oversummoning a massive-Force spirit (looking at you, brother, with your Force 20 through Orichalcum bribe*), Drone armies, 2 Semi-Automatic Grenade bursts (looking at you, my darling wife, with your Manascaped Silenced Invisible drone and grenades blowing up a Shedim Master in 1 shot*), Gatling guns, Storms unleashed by Greater Form Spirit, explosives...

And they forget that Shadowrun isn't just about beating the run, but about surviving afterwards. Which means that these things aren't something PCs or NPCs should often do.

Let's look at a simple scenario: A single grenade costs 100 nuyen. Equip one guy with six grenades instead of a pistol, and you're still cost-even. So why don't they? Asides from the Forbidden Availability, of course. Well, look at it this way: If you're a ganger, would you trust your comrade to not throw that grenade wrong? Even if they're skilled, isn't it defending your turf, rather than blowing it up? Why would you bring something that is solely made to tear up your neighbourhood? Unless you're committing a strike on enemy turf without intent to leave anything standing, why would you bring out a grenade?

The same goes for CorpSec. Hello? Do you have ANY idea how many fragile things are in place here? And don't forget the walls are thin, so you'll likely blast straight through them and damage offices and labs. What do you think a single 120"-tridscreen costs? Or all the secret paperwork on a desktop that you just blew up? The windows? The security systems? Why would you think we'd ever equip you with something that asks you to cause collateral damage? Dive for cover and call for backup, you idiot! I'm not shutting down this office for renovation for a week because you like big booms!

Why do cops not send in a squad into the Barrens? Because they'd have to send in three, risk Organized Crime suspecting a raid, risk random people taking potshots at them, risk Urubia and Kalanyr going 'hm???' (don't forget: Redmond has 2 Dragons), and that's ignoring the runners using every trick to get people pissed at them.

Why do runners not like leaving bodytrails? Or blowing up offices? Or stealing whatever they can instead of just what they came for? Because it pisses people off. Because nobody likes Collateral Damage. So if you leave it, you're a problem. Some people needlessly costing us lots of cash by forcing us to train a dozen new guards and gearing them out with ware? An office that needs to undergo a renovation that costs more than the team even got paid? They stole for themselves instead of for their Johnson? Elite squad, go fetch.

So when someone asks 'why can't I just do X?', ask the follow-up question: "How are you going to get away with it?" And most likely, the answer is 'with a lot of Notoriety, some Public Awareness, dried-up jobs and both Law Enforcement and Corporate Hit Squads wondering whether to go after us'. And the same goes for their opposition: Nobody feels like causing a massive headache if they can just take a loss now and get out without massive losses. But if that kindness is not returned in kind, then retaliation may be swift.


*: To be fair, in these cases I deliberately gave them a tough scenario and they figured out to use these tricks to take care of them. And can you imagine the time and costs it takes for a player to create 1 dram of Orichalcum themselves?

[Michael Chandra]

NOBODY LIKES GETTING SHOT

Not everything has to become a battle to the death. Because in the end, nobody likes getting shot. There are only a few cases where enemies are willing to suicidally rush into bullets, or run into a knife ten times. So if you worry about fights ending way too fast, or vice-versa your runners going down from a suicide-rush too quickly, then defensive measures for both sides are a good idea.

I mean, there's so many possible options. Cover is only the first thing, so make sure people use those simple actions to dive for cover. But there's far more tricks available. Toss out smoke grenades, or even thermal smoke grenades since let's face it, many enemies will have thermographic vision. Use flashpaks. Throw out gas-grenades with riot gas to cover a retreat. Employ suppressive fire to hand out penalties and keep your own side from getting shot. Heck, keep a distance for range penalties, which works nicely against everything up to SMGs. Because the first thing people want to do, is survive.

Of course you'd better keep an easy list of modifiers available, so you can easily sum up the consequences to dicepools. A cheatsheet will prevent fights from taking way too long. Helps if you wrote down default tactics so you can play out your mooks in a flash.
CHUNKY SALSA ISN'T

If for some reason your runners still decide to throw grenades, this one is important: Buildings are built cheap. That means only very few walls are structural. Even low buildings might be of cheap structure. That means it's very easy for a grenade to blow holes into walls, which means no chunky salsa. Heck, they might take out the floor, costing your players a path to their destination. Eat consequences, trigger-happy fools!

Just be careful with alleys of sturdy buildings... And make sure your players know alleys are very dangerous, for them as well. If you foreshadow consequences, they might think twice. Or they might blow a hole in a wall and discover a nest of Feral Ghouls. Because consequences can be a lovely thing. =) Just ask my brother for his favourite shadowrunner joke:

"Trinity Carmack walks into a bar. The bartender opens fire."

[Magnaric]

This is a really good writeup, and I may have to save it for later reference. Reminds me of the tips and such from Blackjack's Blog back in the day(I still have the archived version saved). Very insightful stuff.

[Seras]

Very helpful tipps for your fellow GMs. I got lots out of the posts.

[Reaver]

Building Your World

Many GMs like to create their own Campaigns (honestly, its the only way I play). They like to craft their own stories and build up their "great narrative" and then have their players experience their creation. Sometimes they do a wonderful job! Sometimes they run their face into a brick wall of their own creation at 90 mph - with the expected outcome that implies. Here I hope to give you some tips and tricks to help you create a Campaign and world that both you and your players enjoy, AND avoid you running face first into a brick wall.

1: Think Small, Start Small.
To build a believable, and vivid world for your players to inhabit, start off with where you plan to "house" the player (you have to do this for EACH one), and build from there. What does the block they live on look like? Where is it? What else is on that block? Who else in on that block? If there is a sandwich shoppe, who owns it? Who works at it? What does it look like? These details may seem trivial, but it is these very details that give your world flavor.. And really, think about your own life, you know the people in the restaurants, and shops you visit, even if its only by face - and you notice when they are not there.
You don't need to have a huge stat block of info for these people, but you do need a name and description that the players can visualize. Below it some notes that I take when completing this step.

Jon's Block (110th ST and Wilson Ave)
1990s construction, run down. low utilities. 
Noodle shoppe (Chen's Noodle House. 3 workers. All Korean Orks. Sam, age 14, Chen age 32, Sarah Age 25. Friendly, speak poor English, Korean. Restaurant runs on bio-gas so has a faint smell of rotten eggs, Good Noodles)
Brothel (The Red Door. 6 girls on staff - revolving. 1 Madame- Jennifer Female Troll age 40, pleasant to customers. 2 guards Fred and John both Trolls age 19 and 22. mostly indifferent - there to keep trouble away. Mafia front. Girls are rotated out by the Mafia every couple of weeks.)

Next start to fill in the smaller details. Who else lives on the block with the runners. Again you don't need stat blocks, but you need "names" and you need jobs - even if that is "Homeless Bob. Is homeless and sleeps in doorway".... These things bring both life, context and flavor to your game.

You should have at least a page of notes per player.

Continue to do this moving outward from their residence - with obviously less details. But you want to build the neighborhood around the Players. All the good and the bad even its just point form notes.

2: Plots 

So, you have this great Idea about the players inadvertently triggering a Horror invasion and somehow they have to destroy the metalink bridge and save all of humanity from the Horrors or watch the world be destroyed.
OK.
And then what?
No seriously. And then what? How do you move on from that??? What is the next plot in your campaign that can grab your players attention and keep them coming back to the table. Another Horror invasion?? - I though they just closed that down?! A naughty megacorp is doing something bad? Pfft! That's for noobs! WE saved the planet!!!

Or, (and is far more common!) what if the players want to WATCH the world burn!?!
So you have introduced your plot and if the players don't do it, the whole world suffers.... and the players say "Cool! lets not do it and see what happens!"... well shit. now your stuck! You have started this world shattering plot with grand adventure and consequences to actions and your players just don't care, or are interested in doing the exact opposite of what you envisioned. (A quick look in the GM thread will so this comes up a lot!), Now you've just screwed yourself and the campaign because those "bad things" are going to  happen and players just don't care. (this is one of the pitfalls of personally made Campaigns)

Again. START SMALL!
Sure you can have a grand sweeping plot that involves the players saving the world. But you better build up to it slowly, or things will go pear shaped quickly. Focus on small easy little missions and plots at the beginning as way to get your players invested and interested in the world. Slowly introduce tiny elements of your "Grand Plot of World Saving" one inch at a time and see what the players do and how they respond. Using the above Horror example, maybe they find a datachip with notes of a strange ritual the party mage has never seen before.... If they shrug and toss the chip away, that could be a warning sign for you... (Or maybe it was just too subtle?). If they express interest, then string then along with another bread crumb later... let them discover your "grand plot" incrementally, this way you can make a change to your plot if you find your players just don't care.

When it comes to Plots for Campaigns, having multiple ideas you can swap in and out and change and evolve is better then just one grand plot. With a Grand Plot, your stuck on a single track, and if the players don't find it interesting, you're left scrambling to find something interesting for your players to do while you try to figure out how to solve the mess of your game from player disinterest. (learned this the hard way more then once over the years!) If you have multiple plots ready to go, you can drop the one the players are not interested in, and introduce them to a new plot that hopefully they find interesting with little issues.

3: Pay attention to Player Interest!

Waaaay back in part 1, I said to start small and build up the block and neighborhood your players lived in. If you did it right, and the players express interest in an NPC, place, or situation you placed in as a "coloring" to your setting, roll with it! Did a Player express interest in the waitress at the diner he always visits? GREAT!!! USE THAT! Work that waitress into your story! The more interest the players show in the environment you have created, the more you should play on that. Maybe that waitress becomes a friend, or a love interest? Maybe some crooks stop by the restaurant and hurt her... maybe some creep is harassing her...  The more the players show interest, the more plot hooks are sewed for you to use and abuse on your players (wide, evil grin, followed by manic cackling).

I have had entire plot ruined, and reworked over a single player interest in a throw away NPC then I can shake my fist at... and every time I rolled with it, the better the game turned out, because the players where following something that they had invested in organically and not had dumped in their lap. And if you are on your toes, you can sometimes use this player investment to enhance your world and your plot to the next level of gaming greatness!

after 30 years of SR, I can barely remember the plot of my Last GM's Campaign. But I can remember in vivid detail the running gunfight and pain and suffering and ultimate triumph of getting little Atticus back to his mother after the Yak drug dealer took him to "convince" Sarah the Shopkeeper to allow the Yaks to use her business to store drugs in... And this all started because Sarah ran the corner store that our Rigger always stopped in to buy spare drone parts in... 

4: The more things change...

If you have fleshed out your world and presented your players with a setting they find interesting and unique, the more they will want to interact with that world. And this is good, it shows interest and enthusiasm for your creation. So you should be careful of how you change that world. On a block or neighborhood scale, nothing changes quickly. Things take time to develop and change, make sure your world reflects this fact. That is not to say things can't change, it just means that when change happens, its not all at once. A business may close down, but a entire block doesn't just empty itself. A house can burn down, but it doesn't mean a new house replaces next week..
Rapid and sudden changes to the world you have created can break your player's interest in the campaign and the setting quickly, often ruining the hard work you have put in. So make sure any changes that come about in your Campaign setting have an organic feel to it! Did the players toss around their body weight in grenades in that old apartment building when they raided it looking for that McGruffin last week?   Then that building should still bare the damage of their adventure for a long time. And make sure you point it out to your players occasionally to keep up their immersion. ("As you head off to the meeting with the Johnson, you pass the tenement where you fought the Rusty Blades last month. The windows are still blown out and the scorch marks of Wizz's Fireball is still visible in the lobby..")





Later, when I have time, I will talk about antagonists.