[NeonPanda]

my friends are all getting into shadowrun and ide like to join them as a GM but ive never done it before, aside from memorizing the rules are there any tips or advice anyone could give me or good places to start?

[Crunch]

Don't be too worried about memorizing the rules, just get a familiarity with the parts you know you will need and use bookmarks or notes to refer to things when you need them.

Keep things moving. At it's heart SR is an action game and pacing is everything. Letting the game drag or linger can make the whole experience less fun.

Be fair. Appearing to play favorites or make arbitrary decisions is the worst possible result.

Communicate clearly. Let the players know what's happening and what to expect.

Don't be afraid to make a call to keep the game going.

When in doubt err on the side of the players.

Don't be afraid to admit if you've made a mistake.

Be consistent. If you're going to change the way something is run you have to tell the players beforeit comes up in play.

Have fun.

[zekim]

For a new GM, I'd grab the Splintered States adventure.  It is designed to introduce players (and GMs) to Shadowrun.

[Belker]

Being prepared doesn't mean "I have the entire city mapped in detail and a list of every possible NPC completely rendered". But it's really helpful to fire up one of the many random name generators out there (I especially like the one based on the US Census that lets you specify how unusual a name you want) and have a list of names handy. And grab a couple of random building maps (from the various Sprawl Sites supplements, or similar ones on RPGNow/DriveThruRPG) so when you need to inevitable no-notice firefight in an office you can whip one out.

It's OK to wing it, and it's also OK - if you make sure everyone knows up front - that sometimes it's better to say "Make this roll and get five hits and you can do that" rather than stopping the action while three people dig through the rule book.

If you have trouble getting into character when voicing NPCs, try thinking of a character from a TV show or movie which resembles the NPC and try to imitate that.

Really simple hack I got from a website somewhere: get a couple of the inexpensive blocks of Chessex dice in primary colors with white pips. Grab a Sharpie of the appropriate color and darken in all the 2, 3 and 4 pips, leaving the 1s, 5s and 6s white. This makes it really, really easy to count up hits and determine glitches.

You don't have to act out every conversation, nor every line of every conversation. Learning the right balance between acting things out and glossing over might take a little time to get, but don't sweat it.

If you and the players are having fun with your game, that's all that matters. Period.

[ahayford]

As mentioned before, pacing is everything. When in doubt, if you can't find the rule or don't know the rule...just make something up that makes sense and keep the game moving. If a combat is getting drawn out, don't be afraid to make the enemy surrender, or flee once it becomes obvious who is going to win.

[Michael Chandra]

Nice trick with the sharpies! I oughta try that one.

Speaking of the primary color dice: Split them up over players so they have 2~3 sets of 9 dice each, that lets them take Attribute from 1 set, Skill from a second, add bonuses from a third and remove penalties from the entire pool, helps them visualize how many dice they have and where they get them from.

[Kincaid]

Watch Blade Runner.

Don't be afraid to screw up.  Shadowrun is 500 pages of rules, you're going to miss one.  Just roll with it and use it next time.  Like others have said, pacing is really important.

Watch Ocean's 11 or Rififi or whatever heist movie you like.

For the first run, I'd recommend that no one play a rigger or a technomancer (and maybe a decker).  These archetypes are much easier than they used to be, but if both you and the players are new to the system, there will probably be a long pause after your player says, "Great, I'm a rigger.  So what can I do?"  Straight guns and magic often makes for a smoother first run with a novice group.

Watch Ronin.

Be flexible!  I let my players remake their characters after session one because often times there are rules they didn't know about or they didn't fully appreciate the math behind their dice.  In the meantime, it's important that the players feel like they matter and can accomplish things in game.

If you can find a cheap copy of the 4E book "Runner's Toolkit" somewhere, it has a breakdown of a run called "Anatomy of a Shadowrun."  The rules part of things won't translate directly to 5E, but it's very handy to see the sorts of things a team might have to overcome in the pursuit of nuyen.

[Ghoulfodder]

Being prepared doesn't mean "I have the entire city mapped in detail and a list of every possible NPC completely rendered". But it's really helpful to fire up one of the many random name generators out there (I especially like the one based on the US Census that lets you specify how unusual a name you want) and have a list of names handy. And grab a couple of random building maps (from the various Sprawl Sites supplements, or similar ones on RPGNow/DriveThruRPG) so when you need to inevitable no-notice firefight in an office you can whip one out.

It's OK to wing it, and it's also OK - if you make sure everyone knows up front - that sometimes it's better to say "Make this roll and get five hits and you can do that" rather than stopping the action while three people dig through the rule book.

If you have trouble getting into character when voicing NPCs, try thinking of a character from a TV show or movie which resembles the NPC and try to imitate that.

Really simple hack I got from a website somewhere: get a couple of the inexpensive blocks of Chessex dice in primary colors with white pips. Grab a Sharpie of the appropriate color and darken in all the 2, 3 and 4 pips, leaving the 1s, 5s and 6s white. This makes it really, really easy to count up hits and determine glitches.

You don't have to act out every conversation, nor every line of every conversation. Learning the right balance between acting things out and glossing over might take a little time to get, but don't sweat it.

If you and the players are having fun with your game, that's all that matters. Period.

Dude, that's genius!

Damn, I've got yellow dice with black pips. 

[Iridios]

Damn, I've got yellow dice with black pips. 

Mask the sides you want to keep, spray paint the rest black.  The good sides will stand out yellow with black pips.

[Iridios]

Another tip for the new GM.  Remember the game is about the story and the players want to be the "hero".  Don't be afraid to fudge a few rolls in favor of the PCs and if it adds to the story (even if it just adds a bit of tension) fudge a roll or two in favor of the NPCs.  But it should be more about the PCs.

[Djinnocide]

My personal suggestion would be to "Know Your Players". I think the 5e rulebook says something to the effect of communicate with your players and ask them what kind of game they're looking to play, but unless they're very familiar with Shadowrun, they're not going to know what they want out of a Shadowrun game. If you've played a game with your group before and you know what they like, then great, but if not, maybe sit around sometime with them before planning out your first Shadowrun session and talk about their experiences with RPGs in the past. If they tell you tales of epic rescues or brutal battles there's a good chance that's what they're going to be comparing your game to, so do your best to fit that in.

I began my GM carreer recently with Shadowrun as well. I've played some RPGs over the years as a player, but even those experiences weren't super extensive. It's going to be a learning process. If you're like me, that first session will be a little painful, especially during combat. Do yourself  favor and make sure that you're keeping proper track of where the enemies are located and what everyone's initiative scores are.

As for learning the system, I'm five sessions in (we play once a week, if we're lucky) and I'm still learning. Hell, I feel like I've barely scratched the surface, despite reading the rulebook for 5e from front to back and making notes for every section. Truthfully, until something comes up that you haven't thought out, there's a good chance you're not going to know it. When this happens don't be afraid to tell your players that you're not certain about it, you're going to look into it after the game, but for now let's roll a Skill + Attribute [Limit].

Hope this helps and good luck! It's a great game and an ever better setting. If you're like me and you've enjoyed the setting as a casual fan for a while, you're likely to find playing the game incredibly satisfying.

[cyclopean]

Encourage the players to know how the rules for their specific character work, or at least where to look them up as needed. Or designate one player as your rules-helper. But mostly focus on pacing, even if it means some hand-waving or fudged rolls early on. Just make note of the rules that came up that you didn't know, and look them up later (and then maybe do a quick "what i learned since last week" review with your players at the start of each session).

Also, agreed that you should let players rebuild after playing a few times, once they get a feel for how the game actually works. Especially in a system as complex as this, it's easy to make a character that doesn't quite work right if you haven't built one before.

[cyclopean]

And also make an effort to fit each character's backstory into your setting in a way that makes sense, and lets you build on it, as this tends to help players get invested more easily.