Shadowrun
Shadowrun Play => Gamemasters' Lounge => Topic started by: Shadowseer Kim on <10-22-17/2135:52>
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You got it, you have seen the threads a million times, no magic no metahumans.
I am gearing up to start a new campaign with my group and story boarding/bullet pointing it right now. We are several months out, plenty of time to prepare.
According to my notes from 5 years ago or so, I accomplished this by pushing out tech level and official timeline world events by a few decades.
Players will start 200 point buy
Tech level restrictions are 6R, 4F. Higher tech stuff is in R&D, but at least character can get some basic cybernetics, early gen stuff.
This gives a leading edge of the shadowrun world, building of the mega corps and gives me the chance to run the characters through the awakening if I want to. And who knows, maybe the runner will somehow play a hand in future timeline events.
Ok other GM's inspiration material time. What you got? What do you recommend other than the list I have down here?
Related movies/tv shows I already own and will be watching again.
Blade Runner
Ghost in the Shell
Nemesis
Johnny Neumonic
Ex Machina
Akira
Soldier
Ultraviolet
Gattica
A.I.
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Also, how is 5th Ed compared to 4th Ed?
I have access to all the 5th Ed books, I just actually own 4th ed, and a ton of 3rd ed source material.
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Honestly? Trying to do SR without Magic or metahumans is going to be somewhat problematic, especially in 5th. There's too many ripples to keep track of, so you'd be doing a LOT of debugging in game. Magic is one of the major balancing acts against tech, after all, so removing it is going to have more effects than I can think of in game. And that's just on the rules side of things. On the lore side, EVERYTHING changes.
If you're looking for a SR feel without magic, I might suggest using a different system, since there are several that will work quite nicely for a cyberpunk type game without magic. Champions/HERO System, GURPS, or ParanoiaXP would all potentially be good fits.
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I know your reservations Mirikon. As you may have read in my post, I have done this before and it was successful. I say "Pre-awakening" because it allows me to campaign into proper Shadowrun with metahumans and magic. When you run the reduced tech levels, it does not need the balancing factor of magic, at least I have not run into any issues before.
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So you want to run a game about magic in a cyberpunk world without the magic, or the cyber, and instead of punks you want cripples. I guess the bystanders in all the movies you mention would work as inspiration.
The cyberpunk 2020 books were a similar vein and might serve as some inspiration. I don't remember much about the rules so I don't know if you would be able to port any game stuff over.
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I really appreciate the warm welcome to the forums.. thanks
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Look, you two obviously aren't interested in what I am doing with the rule set, so instead of telling me to go away, or raining on my parade, maybe engage the base conversation. I am not asking you to play in my game.
How is 5th Ed compared to 4th?
What inspires you for writing a campaign?
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We didn't tell you to go away. Hell, I suggested an entire book line that could provide inspiration. I was not suggesting playing cyberpunk.
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Presuming you actually want to run the 6th World, i.e. Shadowrun, but before the Awakening itself, I highly recommend getting a hold of the 6th World timeline so that you can keep track of when things kick off - magic, truly functional cybernetics, that sort of thing.
Because the appearance of magic and high tech - the cybernetic man/machine interface that is the original Matrix, with the first Crash Virus hot on its heels, forcing the swift evolution of that tech - has had such a major effect on the world and corporations, you are going to have to essentially do a complete rewrite on your world's history, from whatever point-of-alteration you're taking it. Just as an example, no Matrix means no Universal Matrix Standards conference, which essentially means that the matrix-heavy Japanacorps - MCT, Fuchi, and Renraku - are going to be radically different. No magic means no dragons, which means Saeder-Krupp is going to be absent. No both means that there's no Nanosecond Buyout of Ares, making Ares significantly changed, and also means that ORO never has either reason or methodology to evolve into Aztechnology. No magic means Yamatetsu never has Buttercup, which changes the guts of that corporation - and therefore Shiawase might reign as the undisputed top dog of the corporate world.
It really is a massive undertaking; good luck.
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For a game like this, I'd recommend watching Leverage and Person of Interest. Especially PoI has some very interesting story lines that work well for the urban, first world mercenary.
For the game itself, healing will be the most important point of difference. SR 4 and 5 count on the fact that there are advanced medkits available that will bring your PCs back on their feet in no time.
I'd recommend using the advanced rules of Bullets&Bandages to add some grit and simulate the greater difficulties of healing up again.
All in all I'd recommend playing 5e, because you'll need the higher skill level. Without that, your PCs will soon reach the end of their development with no useful way to spend Karma.
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Let's remember to keep the comments civil.
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Jack
Thanks for the movie recommendations and a few key points about 5th ed.
Wyrm
I do in fact have a really extensive timeline that I parsed together about 6 years ago from all the source books I own. It is pretty extensive. Is there an official one that has been printed that I am not aware of?
My biggest issue is that it is the year 2017 right now, and the awakening happened in 2011. I found it is an easier time on players (more immersive) if I keep the timeline in tact as it is, but move it back on the calendar by about 30 years, so awakening would happen in say 2041 instead. And then I can tell the players "it is the year 2040, here is what has been happening the last several years", and then we play. Maybe it is my own hang up.
ShadowcatX - my apologies, yes to the cyberpunk books, I used to love that game, but I haven't seen one of those books in over a decade. It's a clunky system and I really don't want any of the rules from it.
Re-read over my notes, from the 4th Ed books, I intended to have players start with 293 points to build. I was making them spend the extra on contacts. (or else how do you get jobs? everyone should know someone.) And I was starting the technology level available to be 4R, 2F. So we can really start down in the grit, on the streets.
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I don't remember the system well enough to comment, but some of the source material, like night city and their version of go gangs was really interesting.
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I don't remember the system well enough to comment, but some of the source material, like night city and their version of go gangs was really interesting.
For sure. I wish they had kept up with the times and made new editions. The rules like any d20 base are volatile, and it was really deadly.
The ideas were good (nothing that isn't really covered in Shadowrun, I do love me some biker gangs)
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The biggest problem with using the SR5 rules, unless you have Run Faster (which has additional character creation systems), is that the Priority character creation system weaves magic/technomancy and resources into the five Priorities, making excising or reducing them more difficult.
293 build points is kind of anemic, even for street punks.
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The biggest problem with using the SR5 rules, unless you have Run Faster (which has additional character creation systems), is that the Priority character creation system weaves magic/technomancy and resources into the five Priorities, making excising or reducing them more difficult.
293 build points is kind of anemic, even for street punks.
Good to know about the 5th ED character gen. I did hear they put in a mechanic for surppressing fire which I am keen on. (this did not seem to be in 4th)
The idea I had with that point level was that you could either get a character with a lot of skill and some gear (which I see as more useful) or a character with a fair amount of gear but almost no skill (which is more useless) Just my opinion. 400 points was standard in 4th Ed if I remember, which made more high end characters, and the book even suggest for a real grit street level to go as low as 200 points. I felt 300 was the good balance for what I wanted to do.
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Can I suggest making a character of each major archetype with your homebrew rules and after you have it built ask yourself is this a character you would be mechanically interested in playing. If you find the home brew rules have crippled an archetype, especially if it is one your PC's want to play you can make adjustments. (Availability here more than even bp, what kind of commlink for the decker, drones for the rigger or guns for the samurai.)
On a side note, PC's of any power level can start down in the grit. Just the more powerful they are the more options they have for getting out.
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The biggest problem with using the SR5 rules, unless you have Run Faster (which has additional character creation systems), is that the Priority character creation system weaves magic/technomancy and resources into the five Priorities, making excising or reducing them more difficult.
293 build points is kind of anemic, even for street punks.
Good to know about the 5th ED character gen. I did hear they put in a mechanic for surppressing fire which I am keen on. (this did not seem to be in 4th)
The idea I had with that point level was that you could either get a character with a lot of skill and some gear (which I see as more useful) or a character with a fair amount of gear but almost no skill (which is more useless) Just my opinion. 400 points was standard in 4th Ed if I remember, which made more high end characters, and the book even suggest for a real grit street level to go as low as 200 points. I felt 300 was the good balance for what I wanted to do.
Yeah, but there's also buying Attributes to factor in. Even getting low-average stats, let's say four 3's and four 2's, costs 120 BP.
My personal preference for low-powered campaigns is to give the same number of points, just with more restrictions on how you can spend them - things like limiting how much they can spend on resources, capping maximum Attribute or skill ratings a bit lower, etc. But they will have a wider spread of skills, more contacts, etc. The problem with lower points is that you can wind up with less variety. People will buy the same "essentials" and not have any points left for extra stuff.
SR4 rules for suppressive fire are on page 144 of the main book (don't know what page for the Anniversary Edition).
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Can I suggest making a character of each major archetype with your homebrew rules and after you have it built ask yourself is this a character you would be mechanically interested in playing. If you find the home brew rules have crippled an archetype, especially if it is one your PC's want to play you can make adjustments. (Availability here more than even bp, what kind of commlink for the decker, drones for the rigger or guns for the samurai.)
On a side note, PC's of any power level can start down in the grit. Just the more powerful they are the more options they have for getting out.
Great suggestion, my previous players had no issue with this the last time I did this, but I never really sat down to do a bunch of characters myself. I really should, then make them NPCs
Glyph - Thank you for that page #, no idea why I couldnt find that previously
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Back to your original question about inspiration, I recommend "Children of Men"
I am thinking this could be the perfect "introduction" to Shadowrun.
The characters are somehow involved in protecting Kee, the only woman pregnant on earth. But once they successfully rejoin project tomorrow, and Kee gives birth, the baby isn't human - it's an elf. Maybe it's even Jane Foster (or maybe it's a dwarf, depending on how much you like the "arcane meta-lot" of the SR universe).
It's kind of adding a pretty big element to the timeline (there were no babies for 18 years at some point), but it really sets up the dystopian element, it's low-tech futurism set in the 2010's, there is a migrant crisis, surveillance tech, and oligarchs "saving" the world by rescuing art from the fallen places (Theo's cousin).
Also, it will misguide your players into thinking you're not playing Shadowrun.
You can pick up a few years later, and some of the group might even have gooblilnized, etc...
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Back to your original question about inspiration, I recommend "Children of Men"
I am thinking this could be the perfect "introduction" to Shadowrun.
The characters are somehow involved in protecting Kee, the only woman pregnant on earth. But once they successfully rejoin project tomorrow, and Kee gives birth, the baby isn't human - it's an elf. Maybe it's even Jane Foster (or maybe it's a dwarf, depending on how much you like the "arcane meta-lot" of the SR universe).
It's kind of adding a pretty big element to the timeline (there were no babies for 18 years at some point), but it really sets up the dystopian element, it's low-tech futurism set in the 2010's, there is a migrant crisis, surveillance tech, and oligarchs "saving" the world by rescuing art from the fallen places (Theo's cousin).
Also, it will misguide your players into thinking you're not playing Shadowrun.
You can pick up a few years later, and some of the group might even have gooblilnized, etc...
Nice, I will add that my watch list. Thank you so much. Maybe when it comes time for awakening, they have to secure a VIP. The pregnant woman, and someone somewhere obviously knows that the unborn is special, but no one else quite knows why so much effort has been put in for this pregnant woman. Could be cool.
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Shadowrun "à la Vampire", where PCs gets to see the Magic coming (ie human becoming Vampire to keep the analogy). Cool :)
My 2 cents on tweaking Timeline - I avoid doing that at all cost, because once you have done it you must tweak everything. Yes, it might be silly to play a somewhat futuristic settings set in 2011 but (in my case), I'll take that over dealing with mocking up with the dates.
Also, regarding the system, you may want to take a look at Anarchy (over 4ed and 5ed).
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Owning a game and comic store is a wonderful thing, I picked up all the 5th ED material off the shelves and started reading through it. Anarchy, wow great book. As we were thinking of doing a Shadowrunners League, drop in style like D&D Adventurers League, this book is awesome.
Much reading to do.. I hear you bout the date changing concerns, but I find it really easy to just add 30 years to everything.
Still in the middle of a Ravenloft Campaign, so plenty of time to plan. I am practicing with the idea of setting up scenarios and NPC motivations so I do not end up railroading the game too much.