I am going to start this thread by giving you all a little bit of my background before diving into the specifics of what this thread is. I feel that will give everyone who reads this a good idea of what to expect.
While I am new to SR4A, I am not new to Shadowrun itself. I played 2nd and 3rd edition way back in the day (remember A-E for selecting metatype and such?), and I loved the game back then. The setting is awesome, and the futuristic aspect really appealed to me. But, friends move away, real life gets involved, and before I knew it, I had stopped playing for a really long time. Which is sad. But I re-found my love for the game by happenstance, and I have to say that thanks to the guys at Catalyst I have fallen in love with this game all over again.
I'm not new to gaming by any means. I started gaming when I got the D&D red box set (yes, with Keep on the Borderlands) when I was really young, and I've been gaming now for [number of years intentionally omitted so you guys don't say "Holy shit is he old!"] years, having been both a player and GM in that time. I cut my GM chops on AD&D, specifically 2nd edition, and I think I've forgotten more rules for that game then would fit in a 100 page book. Hell, I still have a hand-written document detailing all of the house rules I have for that game. I have to go read that just for the trip down memory lane some time.
Anyhow, I'm no stranger to role-playing, having been involved in several games as a player and a GM. I've GMed various systems, to include Rifts, Vampire/Werewolf, GURPS, and Star Wars, to name a few. I like to think I have a good grasp on what it takes to be a decent storyteller, and what it takes to keep people intrigued, scared, shocked, happy, and whatever other positive adjective you'd like to throw in there when it comes to being a GM. I'm not perfect, and I make mistakes. But I like to think I'm intelligent enough to learn from my mistakes, and that I'm more than capable of holding my own when GMing a game.
I'm no stranger to PBP gaming, having been involved in several games across several sites for the past few years. I'm involved in 3 of them here as a player, and I love every minute I get to spend reading the posts in not only the games I'm involved in but games I'm not involved in. What can I say - I'm a true gamer at heart.
I'm not perfect with the mechanics of SR4A, but I am learning them (with a huge thank you to Xzylvador, who has wonderfully put up with my noob-ness on combat thus far). I read more and more of the books I have access to every day, and every day I make it a point to grasp one more thing about the mechanics I didn't know before. I'm not perfect, and I still have questions. But the only stupid question is one that goes unasked, so I ask all kinds of stuff all the time. And one day, hopefully before another edition comes out, I'll have a good grasp of the mechanics.
Now, with all of that said...
I've noticed that there is a gap between the number of players and GMs out here. This isn't a knock on anyone or anything out here - it's merely an observation. There will always be more players than GMs, because 1 GM runs a game for (on average) 3-5 players. But I've noticed that whenever an opening happens in any game there are more people interested than spots available. This is a good problem to have, as it means people want to play. But it's a bad thing as we need more GMs to step up. And while I'm not perfect, I'm not afraid. I am therefore going to take up the mantle as an SR4A GM and try to run a game.
I'd like to get a group of 4-5 players, with a nice mix of vets and noobs. I want to run a game that is primarily fun, with a nice helping of learning by all. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't learn something new, whether in a game or in real life, and I'd like the game to be the same thing (mostly). I'll take all levels of players, because as a GM that is still learning the mechanics we can all teach each other something new.
This thread is, as you can tell by now, a thread to gauge the level of interest by all, and to see if we can't get enough people to play in a game. I've got a smattering of information for the game, which is detailed below:
1. Seattle, 2072. Mid-year, right around June 1.
2. All characters would be standard builds (availability 12, no hacked programs, etc.), with 400 BP.
3. Posting frequency would be no less than 1 time per week, with GM posts put up at a pace reasonable enough to keep the game flowing. But I will never go more than 7 days between GM posts.
There are more house rules that I have, but not many. Mainly stuff that helps keep the game moving and flowing nicely, but nothing that is out of bounds or will make people raise their eyebrows.
If you are interested, please post your desire in this thread. Don't post characters here yet - I want to see the level of interest and then get a party together first, with people potentially getting together to create their characters to complement one another.
So, is there any interest? If I get 4-5 people saying they want in, then awesome, and we'll start working on characters and such. And if you've got questions before committing, by all means - post them here or PM me. I like questions. Questions are good.
EDIT: The game is now live.
IC Threads[IC] Where Shadows Fall: Copycat KillerCurrent PartySolifuge
Data Miner
Artair
Oppenheimer
Former Party Members
Father Twilight
Current Waiting ListYmpulse
Sway
Ethan
Static_Wolf
Kylen
DiscoDwarf
All Players: Some minor house rules and needed information:
- We are going to use the standard colors for posting. That is, BLUE for speech, PURPLE for commlink communications, BROWN ITALICIZED for thoughts, and RED for matrix actions.
- We are going to use Invisible Castle for dice rolling. Use the format Xd6.hits(5), where X is the number of dice to be rolled. This will return the individual results for each die rolled, and tell you how many of them hit the threshold of 5.
- Include all dice rolls at the bottom of your post in spoiler tags please.
- All dice rolls should be spelled out. That is, if you have 10 dice for Data Search, I would like to see Data Search 4 + Browse 5 + PuSHeD 1, and not Data Search 10.
- If one of the NPC's indicates that he is "pushing" something to your commlink, you need to check your real-life email. This statement indicates that there is something that I am sending you that your character would be receiving on his commlink that, for whatever reason, isn't going to be posted in the IC thread. This can be data files, account information when you get paid, or information that only your character (or some characters, but not all characters) might have access to.
- Unless you state otherwise, I will assume that your commlink is is broadcasting your real SIN (should you have one) in Passive mode. If you do not have a real SIN, I will go through the list of fake SINs you have and pick the first one in alphabetical order. And you must indicate in the IC thread what mode your commlink is in, and I would prefer that you do so every time your location changes. That is, if you are in a bar you should indicate what mode, and then when you go to the hospital you should indicate, and then when you are in the subway you should state it, etc. I would also prefer that the first post of yours at that location include the mode of your commlink.
