[Anarkitty]

I am trying to put together a campaign inspired largely by the attitude and feel of the Saints Row 2 and Saints Row 3 video games.  As such, I am going to start the runners out at Street Level, a bunch of punks that have come together because they want to become Shadowrunners to escape from their crappy lives.  Rewards of gear, nuyen and Karma are going to be above-normal as I want them to fairly rapidly progress to become the cinematic badasses they are destined to be.  I'm hoping this will progress from living on the street to being international shadow-celebrities, from green mooks to Prime Runners, from knocking over Stuffer Shacks for gangers to taking down megacorp shadow sites for dragons.

The setting is darker and more crapsack, and the common theme is that no one gives a crap about anyone.  The average citizen is violent, dumb and armed.  Knight Errant is corrupt and lazy, except for elite teams that are competent, dedicated and overequipped.  Corps may try to kill you during a run, but once you are off-of/no-longer-in-possession-of their property they are likely to treat the security camera footage as a resume for the next time they need a team.  No one cares enough to hold grudges (unless the plot demands it).  No one ever goes unarmed in anything lower security than an A-zone, with progressively larger guns getting more common as you go down.  Some parts of the barrens have been in a continuous state of gang warfare for years.  People survive, but life is commonly brutal, short and violent, and hedonism and vice are the most popular escapes.

With all of this said, I have never GM'd Shadowrun before.  I've GMed other things, but I have always tended towards a more loose, open-ended sandbox style which doesn't work as well in SR.  Are there any SR-specific pitfalls or tips I need to keep in mind?  Anything specific to pink mohawk games like this that could be trouble?  Keeping in mind that "ridiculously overpowered" isn't so much of a problem as it is a character motivation, are there any crazy ideas I can keep in my back pocket?

I'm also open to thoughts about some runs and meta-plots.  I'm still gathering players and getting their character concepts so it is hard to figure out details of what I'm going to do, but I'm open to any ideas or advice any more experienced GMs might have for me.
I'm also willing to answer any questions anyone might have, it will help me brainstorm and flesh out the ideas I have.

I am using Obsidian Portal for campaign tracking, if you're curious it can be found here: http://saintsrun.obsidianportal.com

[Glyph]

Sounds like a cool campaign.  I prefer games with a more wild west feel to the ones that get too bogged down in erasing video footage, splashing bleach everywhere, and scanning your loot for RFID tags.

The biggest problem with street-level games is that it lets mages and adepts start out close to full power, while deckers, riggers, and street samurai are pitifully weak by comparison.  It's a hard thing to fix, too.  Maybe instead of limiting resources, make a restriction on how much money they can spend on gear other than decks/software/augmentations.  Sure, they have this wiz gear or 'ware from their previous cushy job, but now they're out on the cold, hard streets.

[MijRai]

Somewhere around page 350 of the Core is the Street Scum alternate CC option; that's more balanced than Street Level, so I suggest taking a look.  Basically, what it does is change the Priorities you start with, instead of cutting your Karma and money. 

[Anarkitty]

Good thoughts.  I am probably going to use the Street Scum priorities.

To balance against mages/adepts I was going to give non-magical characters the opportunity to spend a few Karma to get a deep discount on one piece of expensive equipment relating to their specialty.  I'm not worried too much about starting balance, as I am going to be pretty liberal with rewards, especially gear and cash, so it will even out quickly enough.  I am going to require that the player come up with an in-character reason for them to have acquired that 'deck/ware/drone/rocket launcher/etc. prior to starting the game.  I haven't worked out all the details yet, but I think it will probably make things work better.

[Poindexter]

I have always tended towards a more loose, open-ended sandbox style which doesn't work as well in SR. 

It works SO well in shadowun, it's sickening. If that's the style of game you run, then welcome home my friend. There's a plate waiting for you already. You do what you do and watch it work.

As for general advice, just remember at any given time, there are always three different realities going all at once. Keep that in mind ALWAYS and you'll be fine.

[Imveros]

I'm also open to thoughts about some runs and meta-plots.  I'm still gathering players and getting their character concepts so it is hard to figure out details of what I'm going to do, but I'm open to any ideas or advice any more experienced GMs might have for me.
I'm also willing to answer any questions anyone might have, it will help me brainstorm and flesh out the ideas I have.

i suggest waiting for you players to hand in some back story for their runners and then tailor a story around them. If they are an integral part of the story they will be more invested in the campaign's success. Fell free to bounce ideas off of us though once they do!

also your plot premise reminded me of this picture

[Anarkitty]

Yeah, I've been building up the world in general while I push them to get character concepts to me.  I've asked each player for a starting character, and how that character sees themselves in five years, so that should give some direction for the specific campaign.

I've always thought the stuff in between runs could be just as fun and compelling, and I want to bring that in.  Despite bring Saints Row-inspired, the team are aspiring runners, not a gang, but dealing with rival teams of runners, turf wars with gangs, finding contacts and mentors, and just daily life in 2070 can make for interesting play, not just running.  That's part of why I wanted to start out lower powered and closer to the street.  Very few of my players are familiar with the setting, and it seems like a good opportunity to get everyone acquainted with the Seattle of the future.

That said...most of the GMs I've run under have run their SR games fairly linearly.  Meet the Johnson, do the run, deal with complications, meet the Johnson again, get paid, gloss over everything that happens until the next run.
Does anyone have any advice for running the game as more of a sandbox?
I'm thinking that I should still have planned runs, and just have them available when the characters go looking for them or have the Johnson contact them when it's appropriate.  I know I need to come up with recurring NPCs to populate the places the team lives and hangs out, and specific information about that area.  Some of this will have to wait until I get character concepts.  Are there suggestions for designed events and "adventures" that can occur between runs that other GMs have had luck with?

I've run Hackmaster, Pathfinder and several other games as sandboxes, and each has its own unique challenges.  Is there anything special to watch out for in SR? 


I'm adding that image to the site for the campaign, by the way.

[Shaidar]

Contacts become more important to a sandbox style SR campaign.  Make sure you have them fully realized, also allow(strongly encourage) your PCs to cultivate more contacts within the local neighborhood/district/metroplex.

I like to allow players to acquire new contacts at a low Loyalty and less than full Connection ratings.  Start at 1 Loyalty and 1/3 of the Connection rating that their position would have, then as the player develops their relationship by increasing their Loyalty with Karma or Favors owed increase their Connection rating.  Reasoning: their contact is more willing to go out on a limb for them if they are more willing to go out on a limb for their contact.

[Anarkitty]

I like that idea.  I know it will require a larger roster of fleshed-out NPCs than a typical series of runs would.

I'm looking forward to really fleshing out the setting a bit for the characters.

[Acolyte]

Three or four plot threads you can poke at any one time. These don't have to be big world changing things - in fact it's better if they're not - but should be relevent to the player. Knowing the goals of each character can allow you to advance specific plot points for the group a little for one character at a time. Just rotate through the group to avoid setting on one character.

I usually plant hooks right in the begining of the game that I can tug on later. As an example, I was running a campaign that started the characters as teens in the barrens, taking the stats that they wanted they're full characters to have and dropping them then raizing them up as the character matured until they where full runners.

Life sucked for them. In one scene a character got stopped by a police car screeching to a halt with the officer getting out and saying  "Freese or I'll shoot" Bang. Character goes down, he overhears the officers talking about how he didn't move - ya but he was going to. Just leave him to the ghouls. No one will notice one less street scum. He didn't die, he wound up owing a street doc a bunch of money that he had to work off.

Might sound mean, but there was method to it. I'd planned that if the game ever started to slow down or I started running out of ideas or players losing interest ect.. They'd spot a news article.

"You recognize THAT face. That's the guy who shot you. And guess who's running for mayor?"

Then sit back and watch the players put together the next few runs.

I like to put a few hooks like that into the game.

   - Shane

[iamfanboy]

One book I recommend looking for is the now-ancient Sprawl Sites - the rules and everything are obsolete, but what it has is near 50 pages of nothing but adventure hooks geared towards (as I'm looking at them!) the Street Scum level. I won't lie, about one in six of the hooks are truly unusable, but there are so many good ones! I'm stealing wholeheartedly from them for my own game. The three thrillgangs listed (Ronin, Shamrocks, and Reapers), NPCs (the local yakuza kobun on my list is actually from one of the encounters), and a whole lot of other things are straight from those pages. 5-10 bucks on ebay is worth it for as many seeds as this.


Another technique is to alternate weeks between team adventures and individual adventures that the runners do by themselves, whether it be training, a sudden ambush, or a run that comes from one of their contacts. I have a "Speaking gun" that I keep moving around the table, usually spending no more than 5-10 minutes on each player - or sometimes I cut off at suspenseful moments, like when the banshee suddenly springs out and attacks, moving onto the next player who's helping his neighbor find out who keyed his car...

[Anarkitty]

Hmm, they have a bunch of old SR books at my local Half Price Books, I'll have to see if they have Sprawl Sites.  I like that idea.

As for setting up future runs, I have a binder of offline notes, and I will be liberally using the GM Secrets sections on Obsidian Portal.  That is a great idea though for a future vendetta run.  I'll have to keep it in mind.

[toad]

Couple things that make Shadowrun less linear mission (as you mentioned you've played in) and more sandboxy like you want. Basically play out the parts that you said were glossed over in those games, it's a living world.

Play out any interactions with Contacts for 'legwork'. If you need info from your Mafia contact, you have to go across town and meet with them at Mama Fratellis's restaurant or whatever. Maybe they bump shoulders with an enemy who's just leaving a meeting there? Does one player complicate things for the group, because he owes money to them, or is from a rival faction?

Same with downtime, what do the characters want? Don't just roll resource checks to get that highly illegal Panther cannon they want, have them pester some arms dealers, they should be some interesting shady characters. The players might have to avoid a KE undercover arms sting, maybe get stuck doing a favor testing the latest product for Ares.

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

... a 'sandbox' is a closed, private system - seperate from whatever else may be happening, possibly taking place at a different time and even in a different world/universe.  I think you want 'open-ended', not 'sandboxy'.  You want your players to find the world to be available to them, to go on tangents, to follow up quirky leads, to MAKE quirky leads, get involved with their Contacts' lives, etc. etc.  Open-ended, not sandbox - a box, after all, is closed.

And open-ended is what Shadowrun really is about.  If your GMs ran it very tight ... you missed out on a lot of the game's possiilities.

That said, I think you should look to set your game somewhere where Lone Star still has the contract, and Knight Errant is the dedicated team; LS being lazy and corrupt is, after all, their reputation, and KE is reputed to be above reproach, strives for excellence, etc. etc.  Set the game in an earlier Seattle, or just give the contract back to the Star so you can have that difference in effect.

Beyond that ... I'm not sure I can give much more advice than everyone else already has, or that you've already planned for.  Be flexible; be ready to pick up the weird stuff your players talk about and run with it.  Since you want a more loose campaign, your players are going to have to come up with their own runs - or else, if you run it smart, have a fixer as their close friend and confidante.  I might suggest allowing them to pool their karma in order to purchase a single Fixer contact for the group, someone that'll be decently connected but be good friends with all of them - the NPC 'team member' that goes into the 'support team' instead of the 'front team'.  Knows what they want, because they go drinking together, and when they lean in one direction ('We gotta find out what Kuato is doing in ZetaTech!!') can come up with something that's kind-of related ("I found a run for a guy who wants the plans for ZetaTech's new widget stolen') so that they can get access and do some of THEIR work while they're in there for the run.

Otherwise ... good luck.

[Anarkitty]

I'm using it in the way video game designers do, meaning non-linear and still self-contained.  I just don't have processor and memory limitations the way a video game does, so instead of the sand box being Liberty City or Steelport, it's Earth.  The "sand-" part refers to the fact that there is very little limit to what the characters can do, build, destroy, etc.

I was thinking of starting the game somewhere in the 2060's, and eventually time-jumping to the 2070's when the characters are already Prime Runners.  Season one is starting out as Street Scum with plans, season two is establishing their cred as full-fledged runners and getting gear and a base of operations all set up, season three skips forward 5-10 years (with a sizable dump of Karma and Nuyen) and that's where the characters can start playing on the world stage and rubbing shoulders with dragons and board members.

That's a good idea, I think I will plan to have at least two full-created NPCs that are ostensibly part of the team, but fill support roles.  A Fixer-type character, and a jack-of-all-trades non-combatant mage/medic/mechanic for filling in gaps where needed.  They will be full-fledged characters and useful members of the team, and I expect them to be treated as such, they just aren't roles that are fun for players.  Plus, each one is a walking bundle of adventure hooks waiting to be pulled much like a Dependent.