[Lysanderz]

So you got characters, decently built and somewhat interesting.

You got a story: Fighting on behalf of a Green Policlub and handing out justice to those polluting the Bayou while something far more sinister lurks under the surface of this preamble.

You got free time, you got your dice and then....


You realize that you're playing the game with people that neither know, care, or desire to do either about the world of shadowrun. They want to shoot each other, grope guards, seduce hookers, cast orgy everywhere, make blood mages and Cyberzombies (After barely reading about them), and thinks a good way to deal with a corp is blowing up the local branch with enough high powered explosives to be labeled as terrorists by several governments.


So what do you do when you come across a playgroup that just doesn't fit or is hard to control. Especially when their direction they desire to go is far far far from where you are writing?

[Chrona]

Adapt, negotiate and continue, negotiate and restart or negotiate and cancel.

[TheHug]

Change the title of the game from Shadowrun to Transmetropolitan: The RPG. Then they are playing just right!

[RelentlessImp]

Give in to the Pink Mohawk fun for a little while, then try to steer things towards more Mirrorshades.

[Pyromaster13]

Kill one of them off during the first session to show how shadowrun isn't a place to play around in.  Then have a second runner get kidnapped, totured, buttraped then dumped outside of a stuffer shack with a host of new negative qualities.  That tends to get the players to play/make characters more seriously.

I am a strong advocate of killing of players within the first few sessions for two reasons. 1) to show the players that you can without murdering a character that a player has become attached too. And 2) To make them continually aware that they can die at any second to gunfire, disease, and just plain bad luck.  The world is tough, the shadows are tougher.

[Zilfer]

^While making them scrape by the first few sessions to show them the danager i might agree with.... killing them the first few sessions can turn a lot of people off from the game. <.<

Hell if you did that while i was already trying to learn the game I probably wouldn't want to play after that. At least give me a good amount of sessions before you pull the damn ground out from under me.

[TheNarrator]

Maybe don't kill them, but you could give their actions consequences by having the things they've done catch up with them.

While corps by-and-large accept shadowruns as the cost of doing business, when runners start causing bloodbaths and leaving craters, then the cost starts becoming more than they can tolerate. That's when they start retaliating. And the runner's rep will take a dive if they make a mess. They gain Notoriety. Johnsons don't want to hire runners with no self control or professionalism. Fixers won't recommend them. Their contacts won't want anything to do with them. Law enforcement will start taking an interest in them. If they really blew up a whole building, then they're probably on the FBI Most Wanted List (or equivalent) and that really puts a damper on one's ability to do much of anything.

So yes, there are ways to smack the runners back into line short of killing them.



But... that might not solve the basic problem here, which is that they don't seem to want to play the game that you want to run. It might be time to sit down with them and ask them if they have any interest in actually playing the story that you're trying to tell. And if not... then you might just have to admit that this is a lost cause and walk away.

[SeriousOne338]

I like the idea of killing one, should keep people in mind of what they are doing. As for the blood mage, sure let them go that way. Then sick lonestar, knight errant, hell a mage collective on him. Cyberzombie Let them...... then have it hacked by an outside source like a evil AI then have it attack the group, good luck taking down that tank. 

Also if the group gets totally out of control, set another team of runners to take them out. I like opening that scene with a characters head exploding from a 50 cal round at extreme range.

[Pyromaster13]

1) Always remember that blood mages have a massive bounty on their heads at all time ala the Draco Foundation.  So if there was one in a runner team I'd narcoject him in his sleep to get the quick cash rather than risk him sacrificing me in the future to feed his blood god.

2) Cyberzombies are expensive. REALLY expensive. Megacorps are the only ones generally capable of making them, let alone KNOWING how to make one. 

If they really want to just pillage, then spend their loot on booze and whores, you should seriously consider running a low level ganger or organized crime campaign rather than go into the shadowrunner route since it sounds right up their alley.

[JoeNapalm]

You have to balance the kind of game you want to run with the kind of game your Players want.

If all they are interested in is Pink Mohawk and you're trying to run a Mirrorshades game, there's going to be friction.

If you think that they can be brought around to the Mirrorshades side of things with a little...encouragement...killing a PC could definitely get their attention. I don't think that a GM should shy away from that...if they don't fear the consequences of their actions, there's no sense of danger...but many people fear that their players will quit if that happens (seems immature, to me - Shadowrunning ain't for cowards - but you know your players better than I, so it's a judgement call).

Killing an NPC is always a good object lesson. Take an NPC, insert them into the group, make them very likable, leave them in place long enough for the players to A) establish a personal connection and B) think they're a permanent addition to the group - then geek them like a frog in science class.

Tends to make folks contemplate their own mortality.

-Jn-
Ifriti Sophist

[Lysanderz]

I want to take a moment and thank you all for your advice. After sitting and talking with them, and some arguments coming from some of the less mature players.

As it turns out, these players may have been the majority but there were individuals who were incredibly frustrated with them. As such, our group splintered but the few that agreed with me are now enjoying a campaign in New Orleans fighting for the dark side of politics in the CAS. What is the other group doing? Not playing, since they don't have a person willing to step up and take responsibility as a GM.

Sucks to be them, now on to the Main Event!