[TimmyTheNerd]

So, my players have me worried about how to handle the campaign I was planning for Seattle (Since I'm a first time GM and they're new players, figured it made sense to use Seattle).

Player A: Elf. Only focussed on Agi and Log. Made a sniper/mechanic type care, taking Archery, Long Arms, Armorer and Automotive Mech.
Player B: Elf. A more rounded character, using Bod, Agi, Rea and Str.His character is a ground vehicle pilot skilled in close combat and archery.
Player C: Human. Focussed on Logic and Willpower, raised Str by one point. His character is a Magician with a Mentor spirit.

We've done Skills, Attributes and Qualities. All that is left is Resources. Still, none of them took any hacking or stealth skills. All of them have decided to focuss on a full frontal assault type character. Should I have them remake characters or use the sample ones? How much will their characters affect the campaign?

[OFTHEHILLPEOPLE]

Depends on how much you want to show them the weaknesses of their character.  You could either create some adventures that lean more toward their playing style with these characters and use what skills they didn't take to showcase an NPC that's helping them out or really lay in them with opportunities that are only solved with the skills they don't have (Chances are they won't take or be offered those jobs anyway).  That way they see how useful those skills are and might rethink where their karma is going or what character they'll play next when they eventually take the long dirt nap of character death.  But as the GM you do have the right to veto any character you disapprove of so it's really up to you.

[All4BigGuns]

They built the characters they felt they'd enjoy. Build the campaign around what they CAN do. While it can be okay to take them out of a "comfort zone" of their ability on RARE occasions, the missions they go on should be ones that the skills they do have are sufficient. For those who claim this isn't "realistic", the simple fact is the Fixer's job is to match the job to the team, and a good Fixer knows the skill sets of all the teams he deals with and will not bring a job that a team does not have the skills for to that team.

While you can "veto" a character or characters, this is a power that can (and quite often is) very easily be abused, so I advise to ignore it entirely.

[Ympulse]

Give them some introductory runs wherein the Stealth and/or hacking aspect would make the job a bit easier. Not impossible, but easier.

After a session or five, put them in a situation where frontal attack will not work. I personally ran into a situation where the Runners, of their own doing, managed to get a high Threat Response team from KE sent after them. Their Mohawks stopped being pink after that run.

[All4BigGuns]

Give them some introductory runs wherein the Stealth and/or hacking aspect would make the job a bit easier. Not impossible, but easier.

After a session or five, put them in a situation where frontal attack will not work. I personally ran into a situation where the Runners, of their own doing, managed to get a high Threat Response team from KE sent after them. Their Mohawks stopped being pink after that run.

This is trying to lead the OP to believe that his players are wanting to have fun "wrong". They are not.

[Reaver]

well, if I understand the stats they have from your posting, you will be challenged in several areas... the first being not killing them off right away....

I would sugest using the "kids gloves" approach to the first few runs until your players have a better understanding of the rules, setting, system and style of Shadowrun.... The lack of a hacker type is not that big of a deal... in my experience the Matrix only really appeals to a small percentage of players so most GMs I know kinda just gloss over it, or assign an NPC team hacker to fil the role.

Now that you have seen the characters tehy have built, you can take a step back and design your runs with their skillset in mind. Sadly it sounds like they have kinda pigeonholed themselves into combat,destruction,wetwork  and mayhem missions so plan those types for them. these are usually straight runs, usually for underworld gangs/mafia/yakuza/triad/Vory johnsons and Corps looking to put the squeeze on rivals.

IF your players seem to get bored of these types, you could have them try their hands at protection runs... but without a high perception or other intutive skils these could be a little harder on the players. IF they start expressing an interest in more "trenchcoat" play... sublty sugest they spend their karma on "sneaky" aspects of the game (infeltration, shadowing, disguise, etc)

[foolofsound]

The players and GM should agree on what sort of campaign that want to run. If the players want lots of combat, you can give that to them (I run a fairly mohawk campaign myself, it's pretty fun), while still requiring some stealth. You should discuss with your players the kind of campaign you want to run, and reconcile that with what your players want to be doing.

Basically, there are two major ways to run your campaign: like a heist movie (lots of stealth and social interaction, police are good at forensics work) or like an action movie (lots of shooting and driving, police are too incompetent to find the characters). Both are perfectly fun and acceptable. It sounds like your player want to play the latter. Unless you are dead set on the former, it shouldn't be a problem.

Edit: A cool thing you can do with 'action movie' games is give the players a NPC hacker/team coordinator who watches cameras and can take care of the hacking stuff, which seems appropriate, seeing your lack of hacker.

Edit Deux: Shadowrun only has to be as realistic or cinematic as you and your players want it to be. Do what you think will be the most fun.

[Black]

Give them some introductory runs wherein the Stealth and/or hacking aspect would make the job a bit easier. Not impossible, but easier.

After a session or five, put them in a situation where frontal attack will not work. I personally ran into a situation where the Runners, of their own doing, managed to get a high Threat Response team from KE sent after them. Their Mohawks stopped being pink after that run.

I really don't agree with this approach per se.  The players made characters they are interested in, providing the GM is still keen, then its really a matter of customising the missions to suit the characters.

A bit of magic, a high speed chase, maybe the opportunity to provide cover with a sniper rifle.....  So... how about an extration mission? Or a bounty hunter mission? or providing protection to a sensative courier that needs to travel into go gang territory in the barrens?  There are adventures which will still be shadowruns which don't require break and enter or hacking.  Also, hacking can be outsourced, as it often was in previous editions.

I wouldn't feel comfortable making a player get into hacking if they had no interest in this side of shadowrun.

Also, new GM and new Players?  Things will change once they start playing the game.  So my advice would be to allow the players the ability to change their characters a bit after the first run, or heck after the every run for the first five runs or something like that. 

Once they start to play, things will come out naturally, without being forced, simply by the players own play style.  The GM doesn't need to force these things.  If the player wants to be stealthy and they lack the skills, they will want to redo their character and thats cool.  Making a player be stealthy when they arn't interested?  Thats less cool.  In my opinion anyways.

[TimmyTheNerd]

I think I like that suggestion Black. I'm use to GMing/DMing DnD and Pathfinder, it has clear roles in classes. First time doing something with Shadowrun's level of player customization

I was actually planning on the first few runs being against some Halloweeners. I played the Shadowrun Genesis game and I remember the Halloweeners and how they were normally in starting missions.

[Ympulse]

This is trying to lead the OP to believe that his players are wanting to have fun "wrong". They are not.

There's a difference between the "Wrong way to have fun" and "Unaware of alternatives"

The group, as stated, comes form D&D, where the entire scope of your character is defined by the amount of numbers you can generate in combat. Their tabletop "conditioning" tells them that they all have to be combat monsters, else they're 'worthless'.

SR provides a setting wherein the full frontal combat approach is not always the end all be all. The players, being D&D players may not fully grasp this concept. That is why giving them the knowledge and tools (Runs that can go easier with Stealth/Hacking) to explore this 'new' concept is a better idea than simply sticking with what is known.

Of course, if all they want to do is throw sixes, and that's it, then by all means. I'm just pointing out that there is a greater depth than what the group in question may be used to, and giving them sight of it can't be a bad thing.

[Eugene]

Give them lots of action missions.  It's clearly what they expect, and it can be lots of fun.  When they get to resources, make sure at least one of them has a hacker contact and run that aspect in the background.  Later on maybe have an enemy hacker mess with their ware as an unusual challenge.

Or, if you're insistent on running a stealth / intrigue game, have a conversation with the players ASAP!

[OFTHEHILLPEOPLE]

Something I did with a group when we had down time was create A-Team-like missions that required planning and execution with a few well placed GM monkey wrenches thrown in the mix.  They all had action and they all let every character shine.  Maybe you can take some inspiration from some of the old school sources and craft some missions that let the players plan and play the way they want to.  Once you do and you throw in some monkey wrenches of your own I think your players will see where they may need to improve or focus or perhaps they simply enjoy what they're doing and keep at it.  I think my point here is that whatever missions you dig up for your players make them ambiguous enough that they still have to think about how they're going to accomplish their task instead of feeling that when the bullets and blades start doing their thing that everything will work out in the end.

[Smiley]

My suggestion is to make them aware of all the possibilities involved in Shadowrun campaigns, may it be in problem solving (some are easier to solve with different skills), type of jobs that can be offered and the like, before you continue your preperations. Ask them if they still want to play these characters as they are. If they do, DO NOT PUNISH THEM for creating characters they like. That would be just lame. If they do play these characters, these guidelines may help you in dealing with them.

-Fixers choose jobs best suited for the team.
-Put obstacle more easily dealt with either social skills or stealth based skills but do not ever make them impossible without them. Optional objectives are another matter tho.
-They want action, give them action.
-These jobs are fairly suited for your team (some with maybe just a few skills acquired with karma), without too much difficulties: Package transport and delivery, VIP protection and escort, Vermin extermination (do not underestimate the size of the rats in Redmond), Thug/Intimidation, even Smuggling if they have in either smarts or social skills what they lack in stealth skills.
-With good preparation and good equipment, they can do things they wouldn't be able to normally.
-They, or the Fixer, can hire outside help if needed (see pre-made NPCs or you can make your own.)

That should cover what I had to say to help you on your first Shadowrun Campaign.

[WellsIDidIt]

A few things to keep in mind, anyone that uses a gun well (AGI based) can easily splash a single point of infiltration and be decent. Especially if they spring for Camo clothing (or color changing clothing with a camo pattern) or Ruthenium Polymer Coating.

Also, keep in mind that mages can do all sorts of nasty tricks as well. Spirits with Concealment do a wonderful job helping even clumsy runners not get noticed. Improved Invisibility can work wonders as well. Of course there is always Physical Mask to look like a security guard and even Alter Memory to make other Security Guards think that you're their best buddy/ies on the security force (or their boss).

As others have said, figure out how you want to run the campaign, and only force them to remake the campaign if you don't think you can or that you'll enjoy running a full frontal assault pink mohawk style game.

Some people are against forcing players to make character that fit your game style, but the GM has to have fun too and running a campaign that you don't like is not fun for any GM. If they don't want to play a stealthy spy style campaign and that's all that you really feel up to running, I suggest finding another game or letting one of them try the reins at running the game.

As others have said as well, a hacker can easily be produced as an NPC hired by the fixer as well if the job requires it (wonderful approach since he can likely often stay in the van and let the rest of the team install a wireless tap or relays for him to bounce off of into the site.

If a stealth approach is needed, the fixer can always hire a B&E specialist to assist the team as well. If they get tired of having to split their pay with NPCs, they will pick up the skills to cover other areas as well.

[GiraffeShaman]

I'd agree that forcing or punishing the players for their style choice is a bad idea. Your primary job with new players is to make sure they are lifelong Shadowrun addicts. This probaly won't be the last campaign you run, if you don't scare the players off of this system. It can actually be good not to get bogged down on the more complex rule systems such as hacking at fist anyway with new players.

The suggestions for subtly introducing more aspects of the game as it goes along are good ones. You may also consider asking the players if they'd be interested in switching campaigns every week or whatever. For example running the action game every two weeks, and the alternate stealthy campaign on the off weeks. On the stealth game weeks you could give them pre designed characters or let them design and make suggestions. Just ask them if it's something they are willing to do and explain you are trying to introduce them to another fun side of the game.

Vehicle combat was something I wanted to see more of, so I just slowly introduced it into the game over many months. It worked out well that way, as the rules would have bogged down play if I had just tossed it in fully right away.