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So, I had my first session and am looking to improve my GM'ing.

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Sphinx

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« Reply #15 on: <09-18-18/1751:43> »
How do you handle the gun laws in your games?

Anyone with a license (or convincing fake) is allowed to carry a weapon for personal defense. It's common enough that security probably won't even bother checking the license, as long as you aren't waving the weapon around. If you're discreet, nobody cares.

Openly displaying a weapon is another matter. True, any weapon with an availability code marked R (Restricted) is legal to carry with an appropriate license, but just because you're allowed to have an AK-97 doesn't mean it won't attract attention. Knight Errant or local security WILL stop you and check your SIN and license. And they'll probably call for backup and follow you around for good measure. (Want to distract security? Get someone to walk around carrying a perfectly legal assault rifle.)

Private property owners can forbid weapons on their premises. Expect to see Augmented Reality notices posted near the entrances of clubs and restaurants prohibiting various categories of weapons. Some venues might offer a service for checking weapons at the door, along with your coat and umbrella. If the in-house security catches you defying their weapons policy, they can insist that you comply or leave, at which point you can be arrested for trespassing.

And of course, the rules can change completely with extraterritoriality. When you enter the mall on the ground floor of the Aztechnology pyramid, for example, you're on their territory and subject to their laws. They might not care about your Armamentos Murreta machine pistol (especially since it's an Aztech brand), but they might give you some grief over your Ares Predator just because it has the wrong logo, and that frag grenade you forgot you had in your pocket could get you sentenced to a Big A prison farm or Televisa gladiator program.
« Last Edit: <09-18-18/1754:57> by Sphinx »

The Wyrm Ouroboros

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« Reply #16 on: <09-18-18/2351:00> »
Go for the Televisa gladiator scene!!

That said, it does sound like a sit-down may be necessary, to talk with the players and explore the type of game you -- as a group -- want to play.  That includes you as GM; what kind of game do you want to run?  You CAN do heavy combat, lots of firefights and LMGs in play; if it's a black trenchcoat world, well, that's a short-lived team, but if it's more on the pink mohawk side, well, 'just life in the big city'.  I'll be doing this with my own group soon, and it may result in everyone making new characters, to fit in with each other better, and perhaps even a session that's building a unified background to link them already, from which they can then create interlocking characters.

We'll see -- but it does sound like a conversation your group needs to have.  Unless they're already all on the pink mohawk bandwagon, in which case just start climbing up the professionalism / competence scale, from a few dozen mooks to four or five serious badass hitters.
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Reaver

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« Reply #17 on: <09-20-18/1127:12> »
Yea, You are going to have to make a choice in the style of play for your game. There are 2 common styles of play.

PINK MOHAWK
This is a Wild West meets Blade Runner, meets Escape from New York style of game. Wild, crazy antics, Big guns, bigger explosions are the rule, not the exception!
Generally, this style of play encourages a "closed community" feel to it, with each part of the city being a very closed in area, with areas of "wild urban life" all around them, allowing for such antics without calling in the question of why people would live in a city where random, heavily armed maniacs can mow down 200 people and level several city blocks and get away with it on a weekly basis :D

This style is all about the wild stuff that the players can do, and less about what happens when they do it.  Fun is the general order of the day, but it can make it hard to introduce serious plot and story elements to a game, as the players first instinct will always be "Deader is Better". It's also the style that most players of DnD/pathfinder fall into  as it satisfies the "The bigger the sword the better" mentality of those systems.

Black Trench Coat
This is more of a James Bond meets Blade Runner meets Johnny Mnemonic style. Criminals of a certain level of professionalism try to blend in with society to make their living, not stand out from it. Planning, calculation, and eventual chaos are the order of the day. - this is the style presented in the books most often.
Being "Loud and Proud" with your weapon choices gets you stepped on fast by security as they try to prevent mass chaos and disorder.... At least in the important areas of town.

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Honestly, Shadowrun gives you options to run the world the way you want for the most enjoyment of your table. But for that to happen, you all have to be on the same page as to the style of game you are going to play. Trying to play a "Black trench coat" game with a bunch of "Pink Mohawk" players is not going to end well for anyone. The same is to be said of a mixed team.
Having a single Pink Mohawk player in a bunch of Black Trench Coaters can be even worse. Namely because the Mohawk player usually ends up screwing the other players over in their plans by insisting on being "loud and Proud".... which puts you in a tough place. -best to nip it in the bud now.

Where am I going? And why am I in a hand basket ???

Remember: You can't fix Stupid. But you can beat on it with a 2x4 until it smartens up! Or dies.

Karrth

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« Reply #18 on: <09-20-18/1303:13> »
Thanks for the view points guys!

I should have taken the talk with them today but one is sick and the other is a no-show lol.

But I will make sure to have a talk with them before next session.