[GhostWriter]

Unfortunately , as I am new to this but having GM'ed tons of the other systems before, I was asked to GM this game and I've never really played it before. Heard of it yes, but never played. Anyways, to my fellow game-masters and players of this game, what advice do you have for a first run? Can anybody else explain to me anything else that isn't covered by the core book (SR4ae)? I would appreciate any information that will likely be relevant for the first few games so I can run it as smoothly as possible. Thank you in advance.

[Reaver]

Find out what type of characters your players are considering (gun bunnies, magically active, code slingers, etc) and what type of game they are expecting (suspense, action, intrigue, etc).

Then make sure you know the relevant rules as best as you can (if none of your players is going to play a hacker/TM, there is no sense in making learning the matrix side of the game a priority.)
And once you know what type of a game your players are looking for, you can customize the runs to suit them. No sense in working on a triple who done it plot if they want explosions and a high body count

After that, brush up on some dystopian reading to get a feel for the world and slowly expand on the runs you give your players to include more and more elements of a traditional shadowrun as you grow more familiar with the rules and setting.

Other then that, Good luck! Have fun! Conserve ammo. Never trust an elf. And never, NEVER make a deal with a dragon!

[nightslasthero]

If possible I would highly recommend the runners toolkit. It has some great aids to help you out. Anatomy of a run tells a story and presents the game stats beside it. And the on the run adventure gives you advice on running.

In a way if this is your first time running I'd go with a couple of simple runs or the horizon adventure arc. Or you could get one of the missions runs for $4 and run that.

The matrix is the hardest part of the game. Not only in terms of rules but also in terms of having the hacker something to do while simultaneously have the rest of the group something to do.

[GiraffeShaman]

Always have a minimum of 2 or 3 small shadowruns set aside, or at least the skeletons so that you can run them on the fly. I usually keep about 30 to 50 in a notebook. These are your ultimate backups. They need not be fancy, they are just there in case your set adventures end earlier than you think or the players turn down the run offer. They might even one day bail you out of the dreaded day when you not only fail to prepare, but also don't inform the players of this and are attempting to pull a game out of your hoop.

Keep things moving. If you are noticing the game is lagging, it may be time to pull out one of these mini runs you've set aside. This is other use of these mini runs, as not only filler, but also a means of keeping the game at a fast pace. Sometimes a series of mini runs makes a good session in of its self, not just as a backup.

[WSN0W]

Always have a minimum of 2 or 3 small shadowruns set aside, or at least the skeletons so that you can run them on the fly. I usually keep about 30 to 50 in a notebook. These are your ultimate backups. They need not be fancy, they are just there in case your set adventures end earlier than you think or the players turn down the run offer. They might even one day bail you out of the dreaded day when you not only fail to prepare, but also don't inform the players of this and are attempting to pull a game out of your hoop.

Keep things moving. If you are noticing the game is lagging, it may be time to pull out one of these mini runs you've set aside. This is other use of these mini runs, as not only filler, but also a means of keeping the game at a fast pace. Sometimes a series of mini runs makes a good session in of its self, not just as a backup.

All the other replies gave solid advice (including the Runner's Toolkit and checking out some of the missions. There is even the Free Taiwan mission that is free for download as well at DriveThru) but this is something I want to give a 'here here!' to.

Mini-runs not only keep things going and have some filler stuff, they are also a great way to add a personal touch to things. The Runners don't exist in a vacuum. Most are 'damaged' people on the fringe of the world. So establishing connections (as odd, broken or 'porcupine mating' they might be) and using them to flavor their lifestyle, the neighborhood they life in and just take that mini run, connect it into their through their contacts (contacts have lives too, so great way to add the 'give/take' side of things) so they have a chance to improve their ratings and add new ones and really get into details of things to bring it too life.

[lord_shadow_666]

Read your characters back stories and see if there is anything you can make a mission out of from that. As an example, my dwarf hacker lost his daughter to infected and his son-in-law is a world famous businessman and runner, so these are both ways to run missions from the GM's side of things.

But making up little runs are good ideas, see what you can nick/borrow from other people on this forum as I am off to look for any mini missions I can use as fillers.

[Mantis]

Remember, when it comes to combat, this is a game of glass canons. Unlike other systems, where players can keep going until they drop with no real decrease in effectiveness, in SR, wounds hurt and they can quickly disable low level characters. Don't be surprised if a character is fine one moment and dead the next. This goes for NPCs as well as the PCs.
Magic is a great equalizer for the PCs and one well placed Stunball or Manaball can quickly end a fight. Don't be surprised if some fight you cook up ends in a single action on the part of the magician. It's supposed to be that way. Spirits can also really mess up someone's day.
The vehicle rules are screwy and best work as a backdrop to the action. The matrix is weird enough that many just give up on it in despair (magic system = logical, matrix system = illogical). That said, it can be a place to just go wild with descriptions of actions and fights since it needn't obey the laws of physics. Just make sure your hacker player describes his persona enough that you have something to work with description wise. The matrix will tend to bog down into a series of dice rolls if you let it though.
Contacts are the PCs life-blood. They provide the jobs and gear they need as well as numerous hooks for stories. Use them and make sure the PCs do too. Every job should involve a contact or two if just for information on the job and employer.
Otherwise, have fun.

[GloriousRuse]

Remember the triple ripple. You should be able to envision your scene in the astral, in the meat world, and in the matrix.

Beware the mages. They are quite obscene. Actually, any starting 400 BP char can be quite obscene, but mages can be particularly so.

Generally speaking, the answer to challenging players is not putting high DP mooks where the guards would be (they still die), but in designing the intrigue and the tactics so the players can be challenged by appropriate foes. This is a change from many systems where difficulty = enemy power level. Even moderately capable builds can thrash most enemies if they shoot first. now, the flip side is true as well - even moderately competent enemies can thrash players. a good reason to avoid the charge of the light brigade.

Finally, there are about a billion splats. Your players will want to use them, because, hey, splats. SR is already complex enough with just the core rule set, then gets even more so. For your first games, limit them to the basic 4 metas, and limit your splats only to the absolutely essential (Arsenal, augmentation, street magic, unwired, runner's companion are a good baseline - though the game can be played straight form core without much functionality change). otherwise you'll turn the merely confusing into the abominable rules monster.

.


 

[GhostWriter]

  Thanks for the replies./ I just got my hands on the toolkit. What's the next book I should get or is this good enough to go off on?

[The Dark Warden]

Well firstly, welcome to the shadows, I'm a *fairly* new shadowrun GM but I've been using it for long enough to have some input. Core is sufficent to run off, so what you want next is going to depend on you and your group, personally I found Unwired very useful since I had a hard time getting my head around the matrix and the extra detail helped me put it into context. Out of the other "core rulebooks "Street Magic is another useful one, for spellslingers as it expands their choices immensely. Runner's Companion is also incredibly useful as it comes with a very wide range of new and optional rules (Actually I've got an old copy from 4th ed, rather than the newer release but I understand there weren't massive changes so this should still be valid), including different character generation techniques, metatypes, diseases and so on. (Do NOT however let players play as HMHVV infected until you've got a lot more experience under your belt... HMHVV is... interesting... balancewise...). Augmentation and Arsenal I would say are less essential, certainly early on. Arsenal I think falls under the heading of nice to have but not essential as it's virtually all equipment in one form or another, so I'd say it's one to get once you're comfortable with the system and are looking to expand and/or already have the other books and have some money you're looking to burn. Augmentation does bring some very nice toys to the table but again is more of an expansion of SR4A stuff (although nothing says a borked run like a cyberzombie) so I would say my recommended purchase order is [any book covering stuff you don't understand from the core]>Runners Companion>Unwired/Street Magic>Augmentation> Arsenal. That said SR4A should be more than enough to get you going so when you choose to buy this stuff is probably dependent on how much money you have, local store availibility and personal preference.

The other thing to consider would be setting and fluff books. Seattle 2072 isn't bad but it's mostly a list of locations and so if you're not setting your campaign in Seattle isn't much use to you, that said if you *are* setting your campaign in Seattle (and it is the default) it could be worth a look. The other one I have which I do like but is almost entirely fluff is Corporate Guide, which will tell you everything you wanted to k now about the Big 10, how the corporate court works and some of the big names in the 2070s, Unfortunately I don't have War!, Attitude or other books so I can't comment on them.

[The_Gun_Nut]

As a Shadowrun player and GM from the beginning (yes, the 1989 beginning, pesky whipper-snappers!), I'd have to say that everyone's advice here is rock solid.  Especially the bit about mini-runs (I'll second that "here, here" with a +1 rep, my good man).  I would also like to repeat what was said earlier about glass cannons, and help a bit with bringing your players in from different systems.

For players used to D&D style gaming, there can be a significant disconnect when actual combat happens.  This happened in the most recent game I ran, so I'll share this concrete example.  One of the players was running a street samurai (think heavily cybered/augmented combat monsters).  On the first round of the first combat the team encountered, the sam stood out in the open taking shots at the enemy, not bothering to go to cover like the rest of his team.  He wounded one of the opponents (who had dived into cover, himself) but was nearly made into street pizza by the resulting return fire from a SINGLE member of the opposition.  He almost died, actually, and was only saved by his armor, use of edge to reroll failed dice, and lucky die rolls.  By straight odds, even with edge use, he should have been dead.

The following action, the sam crawled to the safety of cover.

The next thing I'll cover is setting.  There is a big difference between the have-not's (anyone SIN-less, like the PC's) and the have's.  The have's live in neon colored, nigh pristine, ultra Big-Brothered areas living lives of endless consumerism.  The have-not's have no right to even drink the water or breath the air, according to the authorities.  Without a SIN you can't legally go shopping, or even ride a bus.  Basic services (water, electricity, sanitation) are sometimes provided, but without legal rights to fair treatment, the SIN-less often get shoddy service on top of outrageous prices.

Really play up the difference between having it all and having nothing.  The reason there's no open civil war is, well, because no one cares enough to fight you.  Apathy is the watchword.

To finish up I'll list some books, films, or TV shows that highlight either the setting or the way the runners typically do their runs.

Burn Notice (TV):  Excellent show about a clandestine team of capable individuals living outside the law.  Super Bonus: it has Bruce Campbell in it.
Leverage (TV):  Another exellent show that highlights the different roles used to perform ops outside of the law.
Blade Runner (film):  Everything cyberpunk seems to take its visual cues from this film (and with good reason).  Excellent film, especially the Final Cut.
Ronin (film):  This movie seems to not realize that its about a group of Shadowrunners, since it's set in modern day Europe.  Great De Niro film.
Neuromancer (book):  By William Gibson, who actually doesn't like Shadowrun that much.  Excellent read.
Snow Crash (book):  By Neal Stephenson.  Great book.  No augmented street sams, but heavy use of the matrix and hyper-capitalism themes.  Great stuff.

That's all I got off the top of my head.  Good runs and have fun!

[GhostWriter]

Okay. I have almost everything set up. Should I run the "On The Run" supplement from the Toolkit or should I go with one of the five runs I have set up after the intro adventure?

[FastJack]

Okay. I have almost everything set up. Should I run the "On The Run" supplement from the Toolkit or should I go with one of the five runs I have set up after the intro adventure?

I say go with whatever you're most comfortable with. If you feel you have a good grasp of the rules and what the players can throw at you, go with your five runs. If you want to have a "shakedown" adventure, I'd recommend going through a published book. Gives idea of not only what you'll need to expect from the game, but what the players should expect from the game as well with their characters. With new characters, I almost always give them a free rebuild/update to their characters after their first-ever adventure, because something might have made complete sense in the building of their character, but in the game it was either very out of place or didn't work as they understood it.

[GhostWriter]

Solid advice as always, comrades. The game will begin in two short weeks and actually had to split the group in two because 9 or ten people at the table at once is ridiculous. But they have come up with great characters and I am learning quite fast about the rules. Magic is something I am still going over, as half of the players just started off as combat mages. But this is going to be good. And as promised, I will bring their adventures here for your reading pleasure.