[JaxArcher]

Hello all... First time poster here.

I'm getting back into Shadowrun after a LONG hiatus. (2nd edition)

I'm looking at events to sign up for at GenCon and I'm noticing what looks like 2 different paths. It looks like there is a CMP series and a SRM series. Is there a difference other than title? Are they continuous story arc, or can they be played episodic? What would be the best to sign up for as someone who is just now getting back into the game.

Thanks chummers!

[Kincaid]

The CMPs of a single story arc (Dragon Song, for example) all tie in loosely, but you can play one of them without having played the others.
The SRM series takes place in the same place, so there are many recurring characters.  Your relationship with some of these characters will get better or worse over time, but the plot on a micro level doesn't hinge on doing one before another.

CMPs are also tougher--sometimes very tough.  It really comes down to the table as a whole, but if you're new to the edition and your character is sitting at zero karma, I'd think about sticking to SRM to build your guy up a bit.

[ZeConster]

IIRC, CMPs are Convention Missions, so you can normally only do them at conventions: SRM, or Shadowrun Missions, can be presented by agents outside of conventions.
SRMs are also part of an overarching story, so you'll encounter the same contacts multiple times, allowing for a good Loyalty increase (tip: don't take Nick Ryder at Loyalty 4 at chargen, go with Loyalty 3 or less instead).
Also, I think CMPs tend to be a bit more dangerous than SRMs (Dragon Song, for instance, tends to have squads of enemies with 17 offensive and 15 defensive dice, so it'll be hard for non-optimized characters).

[Michael Chandra]

Not all CMPs seem to be more dangerous. Dragon's Song definitely is, though.

SRM is basically the main season, the main storyline. CMPs are filler arcs of sorts.

[Tarislar]

I was wondering.

How do CMP's relate to the various SRM seasons ?

Is each one assigned to a Season & that is the only one it can be played with ?

I'm wondering how it works when it comes to having to "retire" at the end of a season & then start new characters for the next season.

I think, as far as rules editions go, that Season 1 was 3rd Ed,  Seasons 2,3,4 were all 4th Ed, and now Season 5 is 5th & I read that you couldn't carry over between 1 to 2 or between 4 & 5.  But for 2-3-4 it was all based on "karma total" as to when you had to retire.

What CMPs are allowed for Season 5 characters ?
What CMPs could be played with Season 4 ?

[Michael Chandra]

CMPs for Season 4, none. However, there's 3 CMP-books that are compatible with SR4 and are legal for Season 4: Elven Blood, Sprawl Wilds, Firing Line. Combine that with 13 Season 4 missions AND the April's Fools Season 4 Mission, and theoretically you could plow through 27 missions for a Season 4 character before making him a prime runner in Season 5.

As for Season 5, that'd be the two books that are SR5-compatible and all the 2013&2014 CMPs.

[Tarislar]

Just to clarify, 

Sprawl Wilds  & Firing Line are available for both Season 4 & Season 5 right ?

What is the April Fools S4 Mission ?

[Timothy M. Patrick]

Just to clarify, 

Sprawl Wilds  & Firing Line are available for both Season 4 & Season 5 right ?

What is the April Fools S4 Mission ?

The April fools for season 4 was free Taiwan

[Michael Chandra]

Yup, Free Taiwan. And yes, SW&FL are both Season-4 and Season-5 legal.

Of course you cannot run both versions on one character, since Season 5 is either new characters or prime runners, and prime runners don't get to play the normal missions, only Prime Missions. So we can avoid that headache. ^_^'

[Tarislar]

What missions are Prime Missions ?

[Michael Chandra]

None as of now, and given how Bull had some personal issues for a while and is now trying to catch up, I suspect it will be a bit longer before we see the first one.

[Tarislar]

What about older seasons ?
I mean, is there a list of all the prime missions so far ?
Are they different than the regular ones or is it a case of the regular ones w/ higher level goons in them ?
I only just got into the missions thing so I'm behind the history curve here.

[Dr. Meatgrinder]

So far, there are no prime missions for any season.  It's a concept that never got off the ground when it was announced for Season 4, but I'm hopeful for some cool and dangerous prime missions for Season 5.

[martinchaen]

During my research into CMPs I found a reference to Prime Mission 01 and 02; these are not published, however.

http://forums.shadowruntabletop.com/index.php?topic=15063.0

[Bull]

Prime Missions are cursed, I'm convinced of that.  With Season 4, I had 5 or 6 lined up, and then had the authors bail or disappear on me, and just in general had problems getting authors to bite on them for some reason. By that point the season was almost over, SR5 was looming, so we shelved it till Season 5.

We have the first Prime Mission in final production now.  It's in final approval, layout, and art.  Steven A. Tinner, GM to the Stars, was contracted to write the second Prime Mission, but sadly passed away last month.  I have another writer lined up to fill that gap. 

My own personal health issues kinda sidelined everything for a while as well, so that didn't help matters.

So Prime Missions are the bane of my existance.  I'm determined to get that line rolling at some point though.