[daGob]

I know for games that I've been in we often work off of backstories.  Everyone creates they're own character and gives them a kind of life so far and then the GM works from those to create encounters.  Often for this approach players may take an active role in creating backstories that intermesh, or even if the PC's don't know anything about the other PC's characters linking them together in this way makes it a fun way for the first run to be about characters getting to know each other and finding out how their backstories might bring them together.  Sometimes to move this along or bring people together more the GM asks for all characters to address a specific provided element/person/event in the backstory and then has that to work off of.

EXAMPLE GAME I PLAYED:
Characters -
Drug Lord
Hacker
Wild West Gunman
Military Chemist
Young Up and Coming Politician
Professor Magician

     The Drug Lord and the Hacker had common areas & income so they decided that they'd know each other somehow.  Then the Wild West Gunman got hired by the Drug Lord to do a few jobs and those three started from there. 
     The Professor Magician got involved in the Young Politicians campaign and they were linked that way.  The Politician guy had chosen an addiction for his character which ended up being a really nice way to give him only a few degrees of separation from the Drug Lord.
     Meanwhile the Military Chemist was trying to quit her job as a high up researcher. 

The PC's were a bit separate and against each other at the start but almost everyone had reasons to come in contact with each other and then over the course of the game our three factions went from totally separate/slightly opposed to a real Shadowrunning team. We didn't just say "Oh my character became a shadowrunner like so...." we got to play the process of entering the world of Shadowrunning. It wasn't a normal format and there wasn't just one Mr. Johnson but essentially it made a pretty unique game. And half of the starting plot was figuring out the other PC's you were working with which ended up being really fun and good for RPing (if you want to focus on that) 

Also, you can apply this method to basically any set of PC's and come up with something special/interesting on the regular. May take longer to get to a specific run you planned but if you want to do a first encounter then dedicate the full time to making it a real adventure so the players can get into it.

[mike929]

Good point.  After all this will be my first Shadowrun campaign, having run D&D mostly. 

Like I said my plan is to use the Food Fight mini adventure to help introduce the combat to the players after character creation.  They won't know each other, but video of the incident from the stores camaras will leak out and this will be how MS. Johnson has the fixer contact each of the players.  She has the means what with facial id, and the technology.  She is bringing them together for the runs.

[brasso]

Nice thread. I've tended to use daGob's approach - the players decide how they know each other and why they're together. That way, if two characters are completely opposed ethically (for example) it's up to the players to decide how/ why they're together.

Any one contact can call their respective runner, then it's down to that runner to contact the rest of the firm and get the ball rolling (and perhaps acting as middle man and skimming some of the take , heh heh)

[Senko]

Watching spies like us and I'm thinking that would be a way to do it. The group's put together as a deliberate distraction and not expected to succeed only to draw attention and get killed. So a face could randomly pick sinless people with the necessary "skills" out of a general matrix search.

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

It varies for my games, whether playing or running.  If characters have overlapping backstory, I'll allow the fixer who calls the first ask them whether or not they know anyone who can do what the second guy does.  Otherwise, always remember that the fixer is a fixer because he has a network of contacts.  Every character should have some sort of contact; that's the route that the character gets sent to the meet, the fixer calling someone who suggests they call the character's contact, who calls the character and says, 'if you wanna make some money, be at Bluto's Bar on Berkley Bend at 9 PM tonight.  Ask for Aaron.'  It all comes from the same fixer, but it appears to be indirect, which is the point.

Another good way to do it is what was used in one of the Season 1 missions - the one where they're in the park, being guards for a fixer's meeting.  Each fixer proposes someone (i.e. the PCs) in order to basically make sure that a) the meet is secure and b) they aren't screwed over by the other guys.  Afterwards, well, PCs being what they are, they exchange contact information and 'hey, I got a Johnson on the line, and I need some of your kind of back-up.  You in?'

Alternately - and this is one of my favorite ways to do it - everyone makes four or five different characters, essentially one of each sort of 'type' - combat, magic, matrix, social, vehicle.  Those characters essentially make up their own small 'network' of associated runners, and depending on what the run needs and the player(s) want to play, they pull out a different character.  The unplayed characters get some amount of karma/cash - 80%, for example - in order to keep up with the others, but there's a lot of flexibility with this sort of 'stable'.

[Reiper]

One GM that I had for a message board game had a really neat idea I though, although the game fell through (which sucked).

Basically news went out for a big meeting of runners for a job. I think he had about 20 people show up give or take. And the fixxer who was in charge of the mission basically had everyone draw numbers to form the teams and then do the job, first team to get the job done basically "won" the contract for the next mission. Of course our team by luck of the "draw" ended up on the same team.

Then the mission was basically hijack a transfer truck for its cargo en route to its destination with everyone competing for it (some of the NPC runners left with the mission becoming a contest and not a sure thing), so we got to choose between us actually going in and doing the heist, interrupting another team's heist, or even just taking out the team that gets the goods first on their way back for delivery.

But we didn't get too far past heading towards the truck and calling up some contacts before the GM vanished.

[Mithlas]

They're all at one of their regular haunts (one that's a known hive of scum and villainy) when a troup of Lone Stars come in for a shake down, they start checking IDs/Permits, cuffing and hauling away chumps for anything at all (no ID/Permit, questionable association, or maybe something funny came up about their ID or permits while not straight up revealing it as fake) - if PCs resist, great - after the lead stops flying you can stick one NPC in there with them that made it through who has a nearby safe-house or squat where they can all lay low. If they don't resist (or if they fail at resisting - i.e. 'Stars use Stick'n'Shock)

This is pretty much how I started my first game. A few of the players had their characters done early, two were still vacillating over gear and contacts, so I started the first game with a split party. Group 1 was on the way out of one job and ran into early cop reinforcements. They get dumped into a group holding tank and have the opportunity to greet the recently-completed 2 characters already in from other accused crimes (likely true given the character backstories and behaviors). Suddenly the hallway clears and a cop unlocks the door and leads them out of the police station proper and into a disused conference room in a nearby building on the premises where they run into what should've been everybody's New Fixer (except after at least 6 months they still refuse to trust him, to the point of scraping money to individually maintain separate lifestyles and occasionally bolt holes when their New Fixer offers them a bought Middle Lifestyle if they get a job or few done for him).

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

...what should've been everybody's New Fixer (except after at least 6 months they still refuse to trust him, to the point of scraping money to individually maintain separate lifestyles and occasionally bolt holes when their New Fixer offers them a bought Middle Lifestyle if they get a job or few done for him).

... dude, do you really blame them?  'Trust nobody' is the first rule of shadowrunning.  You especially don't trust the guy who doesn't share the dangers with you, i.e. the fixer.  Sure, he has your 'get a job' burner number, but I sure as hell wouldn't move into any place my fixer was trying to set the group up in.  I'll do that myself, thank you...

[zenbubble]

Just ran a "first session" for my wife who, while an experienced gamer, is new to Shadowrun.

There are two things I think you need to include to drag somebody into a new setting - Action adn Emotional Involvement.

It's a street-level campaign (for now), and she's playing a young Elven PhysAd who, during the day, works as a bicycle courier, and wants to become a Shadowrunner.

So it was easy. As she left a courier drop-off, she saw, through the front window of the office, and Ork ganger riding off on her bike.

Her bike was her source of income, so she was emotionally involved, and, as you can imagine, it escalated into an action (chase and then fight) scene pretty quickly.

Worked wonders, and she's now hooked on Shadowrun.

Hope this helps,

-Chris

[Leevizer]

Basically news went out for a big meeting of runners for a job. I think he had about 20 people show up give or take. And the fixxer who was in charge of the mission basically had everyone draw numbers to form the teams and then do the job, first team to get the job done basically "won" the contract for the next mission. Of course our team by luck of the "draw" ended up on the same team.

Then the mission was basically hijack a transfer truck for its cargo en route to its destination with everyone competing for it (some of the NPC runners left with the mission becoming a contest and not a sure thing), so we got to choose between us actually going in and doing the heist, interrupting another team's heist, or even just taking out the team that gets the goods first on their way back for delivery.

...This gives me an idea for a run. Thanks for sharing. I think the idea of multiple runners going for the same target" makes for a good scenario, either knowingly (Example: The hunt for Hansel and Gretel in Black Lagoon) or unknowingly until the actual running starts...

Also, Shadowrun is somewhat "open" which might be a problem as the group isn't really uniform and doesn't necessarily always stay together unlike in many other RPG:s. Someone said earlier in this thread that when you find a group, you stick to it, which makes sense and should be told to the players as well so they realize WHY their characters might want to try and fit in.

Though in a lot of RPG:s, the start is just "you guys meet in a tavern, get drunk and become friends and go hunt for treasure/kill dragons/stuff". Murderhobo lifestyle. Shadowrun avoids this, atleast.

EDIT:

...what should've been everybody's New Fixer (except after at least 6 months they still refuse to trust him, to the point of scraping money to individually maintain separate lifestyles and occasionally bolt holes when their New Fixer offers them a bought Middle Lifestyle if they get a job or few done for him).

... dude, do you really blame them?  'Trust nobody' is the first rule of shadowrunning.  You especially don't trust the guy who doesn't share the dangers with you, i.e. the fixer.  Sure, he has your 'get a job' burner number, but I sure as hell wouldn't move into any place my fixer was trying to set the group up in.  I'll do that myself, thank you...

...And if the Fixer gets the player out of a Lone Star holding cell like that for no real reason, I'd doubt their intentions as well... I mean damn. That just reeks of suspicion and hidden intentions.

[MrDrProf]

So my friends and I usually design characters that work well together, and then find a reason for them to meet up.  ie, the washed up cop on a case may seek help from the thief who is known for helping police investigations into murder and such.  I also like this method because it means you get characters that work together better.  You don't have one guy with a heart of gold trying to stop the bloodthirsty ork from stabbing their hostage. or the basic random people thrown together into a life threatening circumstance. 

[Mithlas]

...what should've been everybody's New Fixer (except after at least 6 months they still refuse to trust him, to the point of scraping money to individually maintain separate lifestyles and occasionally bolt holes when their New Fixer offers them a bought Middle Lifestyle if they get a job or few done for him).

... dude, do you really blame them?  'Trust nobody' is the first rule of shadowrunning.  You especially don't trust the guy who doesn't share the dangers with you, i.e. the fixer.  Sure, he has your 'get a job' burner number, but I sure as hell wouldn't move into any place my fixer was trying to set the group up in.  I'll do that myself, thank you...

And if the Fixer gets the player out of a Lone Star holding cell like that for no real reason, I'd doubt their intentions as well... I mean damn. That just reeks of suspicion and hidden intentions.

More like "I know you all are capable of getting done some things I need done, so I pulled some strings to make sure paperwork was lost and you were released without charges pressed". It's not like he had them arrested so he could then demand they do jobs for him. In any case, it's an easy way to get a team together and the concept of reciprocity would incline the runners to listen to his first job offer after he made their latest problem go away. That they've never taken him up on offers to go on retainer more often and in exchange gain eligibility for "Erased" was their choice but another option you can dangle in front of shadowrunners with Criminal SINs. Not all payments are made in nuyen.

[Senko]

Seriously if you lived in the Shadowrun world and someone bailed you out of Jail like that would you believe he hadn't set you up in the first place?

Of course you have regional variations I expect contacts and Shadowrunning in Japan for instance would be quite different.

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

Or China, very true.  However, in the general shadowrun populous, having a fixer 'put them on retainer' to such an extent that he holds their lease ... man, you wouldn't find me within a long pistol shot of that.  And, in fact, I might put a shine on the guy just for safety's sake.

[HarshRhettoric]

If my players are sporting types, I like to start In Media Res.  All players come to the table blind, maybe they know each other, maybe they don't.  The players can come up with that on their own time.  I usually give them enough time to plan together to have their bases covered, and to let them know that they're going to hit the ground running and then...

-The players wake up together tied to a large explosive in a bank vault...
-Black bags are removed from the heads of the characters.  They are all on their knees in front of Vito Gonzaga-O'Malley, Twice-Blooded Prince of the Seattle Mafia...
-The court calls Kevin Rowland, AKA Ronin to the stand...
-The camera fades into the characters all sitting in the drunk wagon together.  Everyone is injured.
-Game opens with characters standing in a lineup (a la the usual suspects)
-Game opens at a wake for a buddy they all shared, even if they don't know each other.
-Game opens in a bunraku parlor.  All puppets are dead, characters are standing in a circle back to back with shell casings clinking underfoot...
-Characters are all visiting friends in the hospital when a pack of Shedim possess the entire morgue!
-Players all wake up in the same docwagon recovery room. 
-Players (who don't know each other) are all at separate tables at a Waffle House, eating delicious hash browns at 3am when..
  -Go gangers crash the place.  Fight!
  -Mercs strafe the place.  Run!
  -The waitress' boyfriend shows up to slap her around.  Defend!
  -The manager gets robbed.  Chase!
  -A drone crashes through the window.  Investigate!

-Players, who don't know each other, are at a house party when...
  -The hottest girl at the party is found dead in the bathroom.
  -The host is found dismembered in his bedroom
  -Someone finds a tripwire tied to the last bottle of champaigne that leads to a claymore.
  -The booze runs out just as everyone is getting down and a team of drunk/high/pre/post-coital shadowrunners must now rob a liquor store.
  -The token troll guest must be subdued.
  -The cops show up, but are they cops?  Strippers?  Assassins?  Stripper-assassins?

-Players are all at a concert (and not together) when...
  -A chaotic world spell drops on the mosh pit and security is overrun.
  -A dead member of the band that is playing fights his way on stage and complete bedlam ensues.
  -Players spot Vito Gonzaga-O'Malley, Twice-Blooded Prince of the Seattle Mafia moving incognito through the crowd.
  -The main act is up on stage and the lead singer for that group approaches a party member from the crowd.  Who is on stage?
  -The main act is up on stage and the players find the lead singer dead in the bathroom.  Huh. 

Hope this helps!