[BlackDoogan]

- Try to keep everyone within 1 IP of each other for maximum fun and least boredom.

IP? What is that? Inning Pitched?

[JustADude]

- Try to keep everyone within 1 IP of each other for maximum fun and least boredom.

IP? What is that? Inning Pitched?

Standard Shadowrun term. It means "Initiative Pass".

Everyone starts with 1 Initiative Pass per Combat Turn, which is defined as a period of 3 seconds. At this point, they're effectively the same thing. Everybody goes in turn, one after the other, then you roll Initiative for the next round and start from the top.

Things like Wired Reflexes give people extra Initiative Passes during the same 3-second Combat Turn. What happens then is that everybody goes once, then the people with 2 IPs go again, then the people with 3 IPs go a third time, etc, etc, until all the Characters have gotten to go as many times as they have IPs... then you roll the next round.

If there's people sitting around with 1 IP when others have 3 or 4, they're going to be doing absolutely nothing for most of the time.

[BlackDoogan]

Standard Shadowrun term. It means "Initiative Pass".

Everyone starts with 1 Initiative Pass per Combat Turn, which is defined as a period of 3 seconds. At this point, they're effectively the same thing. Everybody goes in turn, one after the other, then you roll Initiative for the next round and start from the top.

Things like Wired Reflexes give people extra Initiative Passes during the same 3-second Combat Turn. What happens then is that everybody goes once, then the people with 2 IPs go again, then the people with 3 IPs go a third time, etc, etc, until all the Characters have gotten to go as many times as they have IPs... then you roll the next round.

If there's people sitting around with 1 IP when others have 3 or 4, they're going to be doing absolutely nothing for most of the time.

Awesome, thank you!

[Mara]

If there's people sitting around with 1 IP when others have 3 or 4, they're going to be doing absolutely nothing for most of the time.

This is why a) every character I make has SOME form of Initiative Boost and b) I try to encourage everyone I play/gm with
to have an initiative boost. Then again, I remember back in 2nd Edition when the Street Sam would kill the gangers/guards
before anyone else even acted...(Hence why I still have the automatic equation of Street Sam=Dedicated Mass Murder Machine).
Many of my players, BTW, would probably weep unmanly tears if I ran them through a second edition game....

[Lacynth40]

Second ed wasn't hard, it just required a different kind of thought. You had to know if you were in a pink mohawk game, or a black trenchcoat game. And then make and run your characters in that style. If you were expecting Nueromancer, and got Transmetropolitan, then you would be a little out of your element.

Back to the OP:

I took a bunch of D&D and Pathfinder hardcores, who had never touched Shadowrun, and ran them through a few sessions. They enjoyed it a bit, but they haven't asked for a return. Most of what I got back from them was that there wasn't enough guidance from the books about what their "class" (they're words, not mine...) was supposed to be good at. I twitched a little bit, and told them they didn't have classes, that those archetypes were guides towards different ideas. They could do whatever they wanted.

What happened was that they couldn't figure out how to min/max, and when they did specialize, they were upset because not every situation they ran into was suited for their munchkinning. Three damned adepts. And a hacker. No, not even close to every situation is going to be geared towards that set-up. So, do yourself a favor, and help them all set up their characters separately. Ask generalized questions beforehand, and try to make sure there is overlap in the groups abilities, but not outright copying. And know your players. If someone isn't set up mentally for infiltrating a fortress alone to set up some hacker relays, so the hacker can shut down security and let the other members in more easily... Have them be the troll with a panther cannon. They'll have more fun that way.

[Mirikon]

When my D&D DM decided to take a break from the big chair, I stepped in to introduce the group to Shadowrun. I started by handing out things like the "History for the Reality Impaired" section of the core book, "Anatomy of a Shadowrun", and other such things, to set the tone, months before the current campaign came to a stopping point. I gave them movies to use as inspiration, such as Blade Runner, Ghost in the Shell, and Johnny Mnemonic. This prepped the field, and allowed them to get a feel for the setting. I gave them a nice long talk about how in Shadowrun, you're not heroes. You might be good guys, or bad guys, or somewhere in between, but you're people who do jobs for money.

And then I gave them pre-gen characters, and explained the character's 'role' to each of them, and ran them through the Food Fight starter as a combat tutorial, moving on from there. After this run is over, I'll let them transfer the Karma and nuyen over to new characters, or let them redesign characters if they wish. The group isn't normally a fan of pregens, but this made them acceptable, as a learning device.

[Reaver]

To the OP:

Something I do as the GM is randomly pick up a hand full of dice and roll, then make a (not to suble) effort to sort out the successes.... The ask the player to make a perception test (with modifiers)
  As they tell me their scores, I feed them the (USELESS!!) results from their rolls! Drives them nuts and amps up the tension :p

  As for rules, I have a firm grasp of most of them, but still take a few minutes to skim things I think may come up during a game session. But if I get stumped, I wing it! But I apply the judgement call to both sides of the encounter fairly.

   I base my "threats" on the median dice of my players (just to drive my 'Twinkie' players nuts) IE: if the AVG gun skill is 22 dice in the group, they can expect the baddies to be rolling 15 to 30 dice a shot (low for minor threats, high for major elites) I find that you get more realistic  shadowrunners out of my players this way (no elf gun bunnies with gene twinked agility mods and a WIL/LOG/CHA at min levels)

  Time spent on plot/setting is time WELL spent! Create a story and setting for your players! Fill it with twists, turns, red herrings, double crosses, and damsels in distress! So what if it survives exactly 0.0005 seconds of player interaction before they blow your plot all to hell, the players will have fun doing it, and you will have fun patching it up as you go!

  Avoid "Betty-Sue"s. players can smell them a mile away and often resent them. If you absolutely NEED a team NPC make him good enough to fill his roll, and crappy at everything else (I use comedic ineptitude, IE: a hacker that can slice code well enough to do the job, but HAS actually dosed himself with his DSMO squirt gun..(twice!) in combat
   
  Lastly, HAVE FUN!! If 80% of your group ain't smiling/laughing at the end of the night, find out why! Accept the criticism and make changes to your game style as warranted.

[Lacynth40]

I keep forgetting about comedic ineptitude. Damn.

[Psikerlord]

To answer the OP: Focus on the fun and play your first couple of games with SR4A core rules only (and ban stick n' shock ammo!)

[All4BigGuns]

To answer the OP: Focus on the fun and play your first couple of games with SR4A core rules only (and ban stick n' shock ammo!)

Ignore what previous poster put in parentheses. There is absolutely no reason for a GM to do that. Despite what some people claim, there is absolutely nothing wrong with Stick-n-Shock, and my personal opinion is that the only reason to ban it is if one is the sort of GM who believes that it is their job to actively work against the players at all times and attempt to slaughter them.

[Crash_00]

Wow, I thought you would be on the other side of the fence. With the electricity damage working the way it does (-2 and possibility of incapacitation), Stick and Shock is much more lethal to players than the enemy. That security mook was probably going to be out in one round anyway, but a player with a bad roll can drop like a rock from SnS ammo.

[All4BigGuns]

Wow, I thought you would be on the other side of the fence. With the electricity damage working the way it does (-2 and possibility of incapacitation), Stick and Shock is much more lethal to players than the enemy. That security mook was probably going to be out in one round anyway, but a player with a bad roll can drop like a rock from SnS ammo.

It goes into what I think the perfect advice is. Ban nothing, allow all sourcebooks and drop karma-generation down the deepest darkest hole one can find.

[Stahlseele]

"GM, this is CanRay. Make him PLAY for his Karma!"

[CanRay]

"GM, this is CanRay. Make him PLAY for his Karma!"

Bastards the lot of you!!!

You just enjoy watching me suffer, don't you?   

[All4BigGuns]

"GM, this is CanRay. Make him PLAY for his Karma!"

Bastards the lot of you!!!

You just enjoy watching me suffer, don't you?   

*dangles a game to play just out of CanRay's reach*

Hehehehe.