What would you want in a Shadowrun game?
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If you were to play on a Shadowrun game, what would you look for?
Assume for a moment we are talking the most recent full edition (5).
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Chargen Method (Priority, Sum to 10, Point Buy, Modules)
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Setting (Seattle, Denver, Tokyo, London, etc)
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Metaplot (Should there be one?)
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Should people be required to BE runners?
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How often would you want to go on runs vs have social scenes?
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In-game Nuyen tracking: Y/N?
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What supplements would you include?
I'm a rodeo clown.
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I'd want an evidence/rumor/connections investigation system, so subtlety and insight is rewarded.
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Runs everyday.
Make it happen.
(I know nothing about shadowrun beyond 'cyberpunk'.)
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@Tempest said in What would you want in a Shadowrun game?:
Runs everyday.
Make it happen.
(I know nothing about shadowrun beyond 'cyberpunk'.)
Get better pantyhose.
I'm a rodeo clown.
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@tragedyjones I think the main challenge these days would be giving people things to RP about while not on a run.
- He who takes offense when not intended is a fool. He who takes offense when intended is a greater fool.
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@Arkandel said in What would you want in a Shadowrun game?:
@tragedyjones I think the main challenge these days would be giving people things to RP about while not on a run.
Obviously I need to create multiple factions for both intra and interested factional pissing contests.
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I'd want the choice between priority system and/or lifepath modules. Either of those are fine.
People wouldn't have to be runners.
Setting is mutable.
Metaplot: As long as it isn't crappy AI's taking over people's brains... I can take it or leave it. Metaplot is good on tabletop because the characters in tabletop are the 'heroes' of a sense, they control a lot of what's going on. If a game is of any decent size, not everyone can be heroes so metaplots kind of just become background noise only a few get to enjoy.
Runs shouldn't be as common as people think, most Runners aren't on a run 24/7, they need down time to recoup, heal, and gear up or just try and get back to the point they can run again. Social RP should be important to runners because Connections.
In-game nuyen tracking is a must have, everyone needs money to improve, even magics.
There's not enough 5th edition supplements to worry about not including any of them. The only thing I wouldn't be adverse to seeing not being there would be many of the super races (I'm looking at you pixies!)
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Going down the list....
@tragedyjones said in What would you want in a Shadowrun game?:
- Chargen Method (Priority, Sum to 10, Point Buy, Modules)
Not priority, because we hates it. Point Buy/Karma is ideal, because it's the closest 1:1 chargen:on-grid thing. Modules, though.... I LIKE MODULES... in principle. It even gives you some tie-in opportunity with others. The issue is that karma costs are non-linear. House Rule them, and we good. Other things to consider: nuyen. Cause gear eats into your potential skillz.
- Setting (Seattle, Denver, Tokyo, London, etc)
On a boat... A SKY BOAT! HELICARRIER?
SHADOWRUN: AVENGERS IN THIS BITCH.
Setting isn't terribly important, because Cyberpunk. But it needs boats, for sure.
- Metaplot (Should there be one?)
Indeed.
- Should people be required to BE runners?
No, but there should be restrictions in place for people who do not engage in illicit activity. I feel this is the biggest hurdle, especially for people coming from a WoD frame of reference.
- How often would you want to go on runs vs have social scenes?
ALL RUNS ALL THE TIME.
- In-game Nuyen tracking: Y/N?
Yes. Nuyen makes the world go round. Charge for rent and lifestyle stuff (with the fancy breakdown so you pick all your stuff. SOMEHOW.)
- What supplements would you include?
Supplements are the hard part. Because a lot of the shit in them is... shit. If it were SR3, I would throw every gun and car you find in the books out, and build them from scratch with the rules in CC or R3R, and then have new pricing for everything. Because book guns, you will find better guns for cheaper.
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Also a thing I forgot to mention: something akin to initiation/submersion for mundanes to do that helps them advance their own stuff. Need time to play SR5 before committing to just what.
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What about Pirate Havens for a setting? Then you wouldn't have to worry as much about putting together constant shadowruns for small groups of players. People could band together as crews of various ships, and you could have competition between ships, between all the pirates and the local corps, between everyone and Aztlan, between sentients and non-sentient threats (Kraken!), all sorts of things.
I'm also a sucker for SR3, but I assume people would want to play SR5, in which case I would agree that all the supplements with a few judicious excisions would be the way to go.
Definitely Karmagen or Points-Buy, and I think I would abstract Nuyen-tracking to a Wealth stat or something like that, so you don't have to worry about buying a KrispySoy, but everyone doesn't have deltaware all the time.
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Ooooh, boats!
Idea: alternate ID code for different disguises. I hate to be that person, but I'm tired of people ICly knowing my runner's real name and @desc, despite making no roll to do so. Fuck those people.
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@Jennkryst said in What would you want in a Shadowrun game?:
- How often would you want to go on runs vs have social scenes?
ALL RUNS ALL THE TIME.
Who's going to run all these, er, runs?
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Was being semi-facetious. I know that plots wont happen all the time... but! Bar-p is stupid. If I am outside my doss, it is because I am networking for a job, or actually doing a job. It can be a fake job. It can be fake networking with an NPC contact you have. I can only sit in a tavern/pub/restaurant/spaceport/club and sip from a glass so many times before I leave the game because I'm bored.
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@Jennkryst said in What would you want in a Shadowrun game?:
I can only sit in a tavern/pub/restaurant/spaceport/club and sip from a glass so many times before I leave the game because I'm bored.
I get over this by running runs.
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@Jennkryst said in What would you want in a Shadowrun game?:
Was being semi-facetious. I know that plots wont happen all the time... but! Bar-p is stupid. a@Jennkryst said in What would you want in a Shadowrun game?:
Was being semi-facetious. I know that plots wont happen all the time... but! Bar-p is stupid.Of course, and (almost?) no one in their right mind will argue that point with you. It's just that when bar RP is an issue it's not so much that people want to do it all the time, it's that there's nothing else available to do, you know?
It's really common on almost every MU*. There are way more players sitting around with nothing to do than someone willing to run things for them. It's why spheres with politics (Vampire) tend to do better than those which are action-based (Werewolf); you can always go bicker with your rival PCs or plot their demise with your buddies but negotiating with or punching evil spirits requires someone to set it up. And that's a limited resource.
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Are ShadowRunners too cool to have "problems at home", by which I mean their local neighborhoods?
It seems like they could contribute to the balance of power in local media, government, crime etc. Sort of the RPGs Underground or Fates Worse Than Death(1) while not on missions, and ShadowRun while on missions.
- A surprising near future game where social relationships and compromise are more likely than massacres.
I have a waggish sense of humor.
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@SG said in What would you want in a Shadowrun game?:
I get over this by running runs.
Alas, my days of running 2-3 plots a day are behind me. I can barely finish one in a day. Really, I just hang out on-channel, otherwise.
@Misadventure said in What would you want in a Shadowrun game?:
Are ShadowRunners too cool to have "problems at home", by which I mean their local neighborhoods?
It seems like they could contribute to the balance of power in local media, government, crime etc. Sort of the RPGs Underground or Fates Worse Than Death(1) while not on missions, and ShadowRun while on missions.
- A surprising near future game where social relationships and compromise are more likely than massacres.
Hilariously, a lot of the best Shadowrun things do not begin or involve actual shadowruns. Older editions inclued pre-genned rock stars and reporters and P.I.s and stuff. It is why I am pro-non-runner player characters (Doc Wagon recovery team! Urban Brawl! Talismonger!)
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The idea of someone overturning the status quo by being hungrier is a thing in most cyberpunk games. So it sounds like SR would have no problem coming up with lots of ways to engage a player without doing official Runs?
I have a waggish sense of humor.
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To me, this is an extremely viable suggestion complicated by the fact that in Shadowrun, you are a Shadowrunner, you run shadows, and that's pretty much it. It would be just as nice to have a D&D Mu* where you did more than Adventure, but difficult to pull off for all the same reasons,
“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.”
― Carl Sagan, Cosmos -
@Misadventure said in What would you want in a Shadowrun game?:
The idea of someone overturning the status quo by being hungrier is a thing in most cyberpunk games. So it sounds like SR would have no problem coming up with lots of ways to engage a player without doing official Runs?
That's absolutely true, but what are some of those ways?
Let's brainstorm about them. What other sustainable sources of RP can characters tap into when they're not on runs?
- He who takes offense when not intended is a fool. He who takes offense when intended is a greater fool.
