[JustADude]

Well, I'm finally taking the plunge and GMing my first Shadowrun game. I've done some stuff with other systems, but nothing with a similar tone to the SR4 universe.

Long story short, my gaming group and I have reshuffled our schedule and opened up time for another game. We're going from Shadowrun-then-7th-Sea to Shadowrun all night one week, 7th-Sea all night the next. Because one of our players can't stay until our usual 3am-4am stop time, we decided to to do two separate Shadowrun campaigns instead of doubling up on the Missions modules. I, for some reason, was crazy enough to offer myself up for the task of running this second game.

I'm taking on the task of running an "OpFor" game; one where the team plays an official, legitimately sanctioned strike force in the employ of one of the AAA corporations (leaning Ares, just for convenience). I'm planing it to be a series of "random" missions, which will develop into one of a few story ideas I have, depending on how the group  into the metaplot as they discover things, but I'm slightly sketchy on how to get things rolling.

I am, of course, hampered by the fact that none of the players has made character sheets yet (first game isn't for 2 weeks), but any advice anyone could give me on getting the game started, plot pacing, or any other helpful subjects would be most welcome.


EDIT:
I'm throwing in a few custom rules that I think will help get the feel of being "real" corporate citizens down better.

 1) All Players will start with SINner, Records on File, and the full-time version of Day Job as "stock" Negative Qualities. Aka, no BP bonus for them. If they decide to take Criminal SIN, they only get 5bp for it.
 
 2) All Players will be required to have  a Custom Lifestyle with Middle for Necessities, High for Neighborhood and Security, Low or higher for Comforts and Entertainment (furnished apartment and basic grooming requirements, respectively). The lifestyle will also have the "Corporate Owned" quality, adjusting the total result by -3BP, for 4,400¥/mo if they take Middle/Middle for the adjustable areas.
 
 3) No BP may be spent to buy Nuyen; players will instead be given a 250,000¥ stipend for gear and 'ware, to represent the fact that they have outside funding. "Consumable" items, such as Ammo, do not count towards this total.
 3b) Mages will still have to pay BP to bind their starting Focuses.
 
 4) Starting Availability restrictions are waved, as long as the item makes sense in context of the character's task and could reasonably be assumed to get past the guys in Purchasing.

EDIT REDUX: Adjusted point #2 to reflect my decision to allow adjustment on Comforts.

[nakano]

My advice would be as follows: 

• If possible build the characters with the players.  That way you know the nuts and bolts of their mechanics.  Aka how high their dice pools are, their willpower etc.
• Try to get some sort of background from the players, written is best, but even verbal can be good.  This way they have thought about more then just the mechanics of their characters.
• Have a good chat with each player about who their contacts are, not just what their contacts are.
• Talk with your players about the direction that they would like to take their characters, both in a karma fashion, and also in a career development fashion.
• Know what subjects are off limits with your players.  How much "dark" do they want in the world.

Just a short checklist that I normally use, hopefully it helps.

[FastJack]

My advice would be as follows: 

• If possible build the characters with the players.  That way you know the nuts and bolts of their mechanics.  Aka how high their dice pools are, their willpower etc.
• Try to get some sort of background from the players, written is best, but even verbal can be good.  This way they have thought about more then just the mechanics of their characters.
• Have a good chat with each player about who their contacts are, not just what their contacts are.
• Talk with your players about the direction that they would like to take their characters, both in a karma fashion, and also in a career development fashion.
• Know what subjects are off limits with your players.  How much "dark" do they want in the world.

Just a short checklist that I normally use, hopefully it helps.

Can't add much to this except Have Fun!

[JustADude]

Thanks for the advice; next chance to really talk with most of the group will be next week when we do our 7th-Sea night. I may have to get them to email me their backgrounds and such afterwards.

[All4BigGuns]

EDIT:
I'm throwing in a few custom rules that I think will help get the feel of being "real" corporate citizens down better.

 1) All Players will start with SINner, Records on File, and the full-time version of Day Job as "stock" Negative Qualities. Aka, no BP bonus for them. If they decide to take Criminal SIN, they only get 5bp for it.
 
 2) All Players will be required to have  a Custom Lifestyle with Middle for Comforts and Necessities, High for Neighborhood and Security, and whatever they want for Entertainment. The lifestyle will also have the "Corporate Owned" quality, reducing it to 4,400¥/mo if they take "Middle" Entertainment and 5,000¥/mo if they take "High".
 
 3) No BP may be spent to buy Nuyen; players will instead be given a 250,000¥ stipend for gear and 'ware, to represent the fact that they have outside funding. "Consumable" items, such as Ammo, do not count towards this total.
 3b) Mages will still have to pay BP to bind their starting Focuses.
 
 4) Starting Availability restrictions are waved, as long as the item makes sense in context of the character's task and could reasonably be assumed to get past the guys in Purchasing.

1:  I can see where you're coming from on this since they'll all have it at a base.

2: Why Middle on Comforts? That is just what's inside their home, so why force them to have the good stuff inside if like a really cheap furniture set and all soy food is all the character really cares to have. You can like to "live it up" in the Entertainment slot, but have pretty simple barebones furnishings.

3. Holy crap! 250 thousand for free?! Damn, I wish you were my GM. That's a lot more points going into skills, qualities and contacts, possibly even Edge. I know it's good to go ahead and say it just in case, but I know I'd assume bonding foci and getting spirits and stuff would still cost points for the mages unless I was specifically told otherwise.

4: Be careful, you might end up seeing Gauss rifles and Panther Assault Cannons popping out with this one.

All in all, good ideas, but you might wanna tweak it a bit to keep things from getting out of hand.

[JustADude]

1:  I can see where you're coming from on this since they'll all have it at a base.

2: Why Middle on Comforts? That is just what's inside their home, so why force them to have the good stuff inside if like a really cheap furniture set and all soy food is all the character really cares to have. You can like to "live it up" in the Entertainment slot, but have pretty simple barebones furnishings.

3. Holy crap! 250 thousand for free?! Damn, I wish you were my GM. That's a lot more points going into skills, qualities and contacts, possibly even Edge. I know it's good to go ahead and say it just in case, but I know I'd assume bonding foci and getting spirits and stuff would still cost points for the mages unless I was specifically told otherwise.

4: Be careful, you might end up seeing Gauss rifles and Panther Assault Cannons popping out with this one.

All in all, good ideas, but you might wanna tweak it a bit to keep things from getting out of hand.

1: Exactly; it's these qualities that give "crunch" to the idea that they're official.

2: I was figuring "Furnished Apartment", since they're going to be pretty fresh off the recruitment boat. I may just go with a minimum of "Low" for both Comforts and Entertainment (Low being the least rating for Entertainment that allows for regular personal grooming  ) and let them pick what they want.

3: This is because they're officially backed and not paying for their own gear, and Ares (or possibly S-K, just because the Myrmidon armor looks awesome) wouldn't be scouting them if they hadn't already shown potential.

4: That, my friend, is exactly why I put that in there  . Given that Missions, which we're doing in the other campaign, requires a play-style that falls on the Ninja end of the Ninja-Mohawk scale I was planning on having things be a weeeee bit louder. Not total Pink Mohawk, I'll still require them to think tactically and scout the situation, but they won't have to worry about cops any more than Red Samurai would.

[JustADude]

I hate to double-post, but I figure this is better than starting another thread:

Anyway, what do you guys think of using picture handouts to get people in the right mood? The image thread over in General Discussion has some great pictures to help people get the right images in their mind, and I've also found some sample pictures on architect websites that would work great for interior shots. I don't want to waste ink and paper, though, if it's not going to really be worth it.

[FastJack]

It can help, but like you said, imk can be expensive. A cheaper way may be, if you have access, to have them on a laptop/tablet you can show.

[Crash_00]

The only thing that I can really say is often worth printing out are blueprints if you want the group to have a copy of them easily.

Everything else is looking good, but I do have a few questions to help me come up with some good ideas.

Would the following be considered  "consumables" for purposes of starting money:
A.) Grenades (Particularly Flash-bangs, Neuro-Stun Gas, Thermal Smoke, and possibly Splash[with Thermal Dye inside], but other members might want more bangy types).

B.) Injection Darts with Narcoject payload. I'm playing with the idea of using a Dart Rifle or Dart Pistol as a secondary weapon.

C.) Medkit Supplies and Medical Patches (Trauma, Stimulant, Tranq and Antidote).

My current working concept is an ex-seal that went into Breakneck (2073 version of UFC basically) after his service. After a short but very promising, and famous, career, he was "retired" due to the questionable death of an opponent. To be Named corp has hired him to work in their High Risk Threat team as a publicity stunt.

On that note: Would you allow In Debt or Fame?

[JustADude]

The only thing that I can really say is often worth printing out are blueprints if you want the group to have a copy of them easily.

Everything else is looking good, but I do have a few questions to help me come up with some good ideas.

Would the following be considered  "consumables" for purposes of starting money:
A.) Grenades (Particularly Flash-bangs, Neuro-Stun Gas, Thermal Smoke, and possibly Splash[with Thermal Dye inside], but other members might want more bangy types).

B.) Injection Darts with Narcoject payload. I'm playing with the idea of using a Dart Rifle or Dart Pistol as a secondary weapon.

C.) Medkit Supplies and Medical Patches (Trauma, Stimulant, Tranq and Antidote).

My current working concept is an ex-seal that went into Breakneck (2073 version of UFC basically) after his service. After a short but very promising, and famous, career, he was "retired" due to the questionable death of an opponent. To be Named corp has hired him to work in their High Risk Threat team as a publicity stunt.

On that note: Would you allow In Debt or Fame?

Yes, Yes, and Yes to the "consumables" question. Basically, if its something that is single- or limited-use and has to be replenished afterward the item, or the means to replenish it, would be considered a consumable. You still have to buy the med-kit, for example, but it will be considered automatically refilled between runs.

As for In Debt and Fame... go for it. Just keep in mind that the money from In Debt isn't "official funding"; please limit its us to items he'd have bought for himself before signing up, subject to typical availability restrictions, of course.

EDIT: Also, since his career got nipped in the bud, I'd say Fame would be limited to the Local level dice-pools, since that's the level with a "rising star" example.

[Crash_00]

You may want to rethink the availability ruling a bit. I've been playing around with several concepts (depending on what other people are wanting to play), and realized that with no availability limit I can totally pick up a Power Focus at Force10 for 250k then pick up armor and a sidearm with In Debt. And then of course binding at CC makes that a great deal because its only 10 BP (20 karma effectively) opposed to the 80 karma it would be in game.