[panRybak]

Hi!

First of all, I have some game-mastering experience, however they are all from about 10 years prior. Since then I have not been doing any RPG's, besides those on PC. Now, me and my two friends have decided to geek it out again.

None of us have any experience with Shadowrun. We have read through the rulebook and this is where the difficulties start.

First of all, due to edition changes, I don't know which books support the current, 5th installment of the game. I'd be obliged if you'd point me to the titles that are relevant. I know that the history presented in the editions is continuous, so that basically I could read all of the books, however, as we've grown into more mature lifestyles, we don't have as much time as years before and therefore have limited time to spend at hobbies.

Secondly, there are only three of us. This gives only two players, which are also keen on playing the shooty types- one decided he wants to be a street samurai, the second will most probably go for special ops operative. I anticipate that lacking any power in magic and decking will prove difficult for a duo of shadowrunners. Should I try to persuade them to dabble in decking and magics?

Finally, bearing all the above in mind, which adventure would you encourage for me to run?

Thanks for all your input!

TL;DR:
Which books are for 5 ed?
Can a samurai and special ops operative survive on their own, or should they mix magic and decking?
Point me towards an adventure that would be a cool, introductory run for two newbs.

[martinchaen]

1. Any book listed on battlecorps.com/catalog that applies to SR5 rules will have a "for use with Shadowrun, Fifth Edition" disclaimer.
TL;DR
Quick-Start Rules (free!) http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/116662/Shadowrun-Fifth-Edition-Quick-Start-Rules?term=quick+start&filters=0_0_1700_0_0
Core Sourcebook (referred to as SR5) http://www.battlecorps.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=28_187_84&products_id=3184

2. Can they; yes, if the GM wants to. Will they, if you run them through pregenerated adventures without adjusting the challenge level? No.
TL;DR
It's up to you as a GM to make the game fun. If you pit two players against a couple of Force 6 spirits, prepare to fudge a few rolls here and there if you want them to survive and/or emphasize that running away is always an option...

3. The QSR adventure is fun (typical milk run), and you can make it more so by modifying it to your needs. Firing Line and Sprawl Wilds might be too much for a group new to the game. SRM Season 5 "Chasin' The Wind" might be appropriate for the group, and the GM could always add an NPC or the players could control two characters if needed...

[Wavefire]

Playing with only two players is actually a lot of fun but you have to tailor the runs a lot. But it does give the players a lot of space to play their characters and have personal goals.

1. Right now there's only the basic rules and a couple of adventures out. GM screen should land on the 18th.

2. They should probably dabble a bit. Since it seems like none of them want a magic background (mystic adept special ops guy would be cool) you should push them a little into getting some complementary skills or the runs can get a bit samey samey. Street sam that doubles as rigger and operative that can deck should work nicely.

Can't really point you to an adventure other than the Food Fight one, let them try out the system and one of them might want to make a different charactger when they see how cool magis is.

[Belker]

Since your first question is well-covered, here's my two nuyen for the second: hook them up with an NPC magician of some variety. Perhaps this is the guy who actually contracted for the first job and has hired these two as physical muscle. Maybe they discover that the job they've been contracted for involves a bound spirit, and their fixer encourages them to work with "This spirit-wrangling ork chica" he knows. As long as the players are in the driver's seat, there's nothing wrong with supplementing their skills with an NPC.

[Imveros]

You could also have the job be to escort/guard the mage or have them come in on a job in progress. The matrix security is already down and while the other team is fighting the spirits, your spec ops guy steals the goods. It's all about tweaking the game towards what they are good at while emphasizing that other things do exist. Then its up to the players wither to branch out, our "double down"

 Honestly, as long as they are having fun, who cares about game balance?

[Michael Chandra]

SR5 has currently released:
- Core Book
- Assassin's Primer: PDF small Splat-book
- Chasin' the Wind: Season 5 Mission 5A-01
- Sprawl Wilds & Firing Line: Two Convention Mission Packs, compatible with both SR4 and SR5
- Splintered State: 'introduction adventure'

To be released someday that we know of:
- Stolen Souls, a book going into the details of the Sybil virus, which plays a role in Splintered State
- Run&Gun: The gunbook of SR5, expected to include new weapons, new armors, and weapon modifications.

- Run Faster: A book designed for what being a Runner is all about, likely including new Qualities and a more detailed Lifestyle system.
- Data Trails: The new Matrix Book.


While there's some SR4 books quite compatible, I suggest you simply start fresh and ask for advice on the forum from time to time, people will point you at old fluff and rules that will help.

[panRybak]

Thanks to you all! I'll try the QSR this time and provide them with an option of rerolling their chars after it, if they decide that they need to cover more bases.

[Michael Chandra]

By the way, Missions uses a system where you can play with a Sample character once and take the rewards with you to a real new character. If you give out a few rewards, you'll want to give those to their rerolled chars as well if they change it up.

[baronspam]

I think you can run Shadowrun with two characters, but you need to write adventures carefully, and most punished adventures would not work without a considerable rewrite of the opposition.  Specialists such as deckers, riggers, and mages could be filled in by npcs when necessary, but be sure to make the PCs the stars of the story.  For example, if you have a run that is a data steal, the real challenge would not be the decking, but your two PCs escorting a decker into a facility so he can do his thing, and then to get him out again alive.  Possible job ideas for two combat oriented characters include bodyguard and physical security work, assault/property destruction/wetwork, undercover work provided the characters have some etiquette and knowledge skills.

Overall, I think it would be much more helpful to make sure they have some social skills between then than trying to build a sam/decker (which is hard to pull off well).  Some etiquette, maybe some con or intimidate (plus some street knowledge) will let them interact with npcs in a wide variety of situations with some game mechanic leverage behind them, which lets that take on all kinds of jobs that don't require just brute force.