Intro and House Rules

[Rabbit]

This thread goes into my approach to the game as a gamemaster as well as where I will post any House Rules or rule alterations.

So I appreciate that most players will not be reading the Shadowrun book cover-to-cover. However, There are certain chapters I would like players to read (or at least skim.) These chapters focus on the feel and texture of the world. I think if all the players and GM are each familiar with the setting it will help us all create a fun and interesting game.

A History Lesson. pg 22-34

Life on the Edge. pg 35-59

Running in the Shadows. pg 242- 272

Running in the Shadows has some sections in particular that I would like players to review. My thoughts on these subjects and more are below.

Lifestyle: Characters should feel like they could go broke at any minute. As a Shadowrunner you live a life on the edge full of uncertainty. You may not die of a gun shot today, but without enough work you may go hungry. On average, a mission may come your way about once a month; maybe every other week if you have a good reputaion. That means you have to cover the costs of your Lifestyle every one or two missions.

The point is how much credit (money) you have matters. The costs of your Lifestyle covers many things including "rent" which can come in many forms and not paying up always has its consequences. If you don't pay rent the Home Owner's Association may confiscate some of your property, the slum lord may come to break your knee caps, or the local gang you have been paying off may decide to torch your flat. (Some of these events might even make for fun side adventures, but your character will likely pay for it one way or another.)

Lifestyle is something that can effect tasks you undertake while in game play. For example: A character who has a "Luxary" or "High" Lifestyle will be able to head straight into an elite night club and enter its VIP room with no problem. With "Medium" Lifestyle the same character may first have to do some smooth talking. But someone who has "Squatter" or "Street" is not likely to get in the front door without a confrontation.

This has a lot more to do with the vibe I am aiming for in this game than it does actual mechanics. People who choose to live SINless are "off the grid" (this includes nearly all Shadow Runners.) These people may think working as a wage-slave for a megacorp that controls every aspect of your life is no life at all, but there is a reason so many people do it. Security. A good job and citizenship within a powerful corporation guarantees a place to live, food to eat, a safe place to raise a family, and a retirement plan. Unregistered "temporary citizens" have little to no rights.

And one final note about Lifestyle. Lifestyle rates your quality of life but the details are flexible. If you want to live in an abandonded building but you enstalled a shower, electricity, a modest security system, and you are on good terms with the local gang-bangers then your Lifestyle is closer to "Moderate" or perhaps even "High", not "Squatter." Paying for a better Lifestyle covers the cost of these amenities within the monthly charge.

Reputation: This is something that I will use and follow so players should familiarize themselves with this. This will be tallied at the end of every session just like Karma.

Karma/ Character Progress: This game has a slower character progression than some other RPGs. You don't "level up" with an ever increasing tally of experience points by slaying every monster you see. Instead you earn Karma Points that can be used to enhance your character and fine tune skills/abilities/etc.

From the very beginning of character creation your goal should be creating an interesting character rather than working the numbers into the most efficient character. Sure, you still want a character with strong qualities. The game would not very fun if your character could not perform when life and limb are on the line. However, Karma rewards come from good role-playing, objective completion, and using your wits more so than how many goons you shot.

Challenges and the Learning Curve: Since we are all learning a new game, world, and system this series will be progressive in nature. As gamemaster I want to provide a solid challenge. What I want to avoid are dilemmas in which you fail because you (as a player) just don't understand how the system works. So we will start off semi-basic, but I intend on putting new obstacles and tricks out there as we all get more comfortable. Likewise, as players begin using more complex rules/character types/and powers your enemies will, too. If a player plays a mage you will be more likely to encounter magical security. If a player plays a hacker then wireless security is going to start getting beefed up.

As a general rule players should keep in mind that if you can do it to them. They can do it to you.

Example: If you play a Rigger and start hacking into NPCs' security drones and turning them on your enemies you should make sure your own drones have a Firewall with a high enough Rating to prevent them from getting hacked and turned against you.

[Rabbit]

Glitches and Critical Glitches

Also called the Rule of One a "glitch" is when at least half of the rolled dice come up 1s. This should just be a minor inconvenience or setback for the player, though it does not necessarily mean failure as long as enough hits were still scored.

Furthermore, rolling a glitch while scoring no hits at all is considered a "critical glitch", and is substantially more serious or potentially even fatal. You can find examples of glitches throughout the core book.

...At first glance this rule may seem to put too much in the hands of fate, but I would prefer that we not see it that way. Instead this is a fun tool we can use to create complications for your characters that make the story more interesting and have more depth. This is another example of how the game is not soley focused on your character reaching maximum bad-ass status, but that we players have a good time role-playing.

Sometimes I may even choose to allow the player who rolled the glitch to suggest what their complication is (as long as we can agree to one that seems suited to the scene.)

[Rabbit]

Virtual Reality and Hacking In-Plain-Sight

Something that was flubbed on the Sneak and Peak (beta) Mission; When a character is using VR -Virtual Reality- (as oppossed to AU -Augmented Reality) the character’s physical motorfunctions are overridden to prevent the character from flailing about and causing themselves potential harm. The body goes limp “as if asleep.” With that in mind reefwood’s smooth hacking in front of the security agent could not have happened the way it did. However, reefwood’s hacker should have detected the agent’s Node and commlink from outside the front door (which I failed to consider.) With that knowledge the players’ team could have hacked the Node from outside the building and might not have even gone through the front door in the first place.

[Rabbit]

Play by Post, sample 1

Samurai Jack enters the bar and scans the room.

Perception check

In this example the player is making an “Observe in Detail” Perception Test (simple action.) The game master will make this check, so that the player doesn’t know exactly how well they passed or failed. The game master may also make occasional unprompted “passive” Perception Tests to determine what the player picks up during a scene. Requesting the Perception Test voids out the -2 “distracted” penalty (Using Perception pg 117.)

[Rabbit]

Play by Post, sample 2

The bar has seven patrons spread throughout the room. All human except a dwarf bartender. A few glance up as Jack enters the bar, but quickly turn back to their drinks. No one appears to be armed.

The dwarf bartender sneers at Samurai Jack, obviously not excited to see an elf in his bar, “Sorry, we don’t serve pixie dust in here.”

I’m going to put dialogue in bold so it stands out.

[Rabbit]

Play by Post, sample 3

Samurai Jack smiles back. He usually didn’t like murder gigs but this dwarf was making it come naturally. Jack's employer wanted to send a message to the neighborhood and Jack was going to make sure it was heard loud and clear,“You should have kept your mouth shut, chummer. Nobody likes a rat.”

He un-holsters his Ruger Super Warhawk and takes aim at the dwarf’s face. Things are about to get bloody.

INITIATIVE: 4 [(Reaction 4 + Intuition 4) 1,2,2,3,5,5,6,6]

Declared Action(s):
-READY WEAPON (simple action) no check required
-FIRE WEAPON (simple action) 4 [(pistols 4 + agility 4) 1,2,2,3,5,5,6,6]

The player will roll their own numbers for combat (and any other rolls where the results will be immediately obvious to the player/character.)
Combat Turn Sequence pg 132