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Balthazar
2009-07-01, 03:10 PM
Hey, I got a glancing reference to Shadowrun in a gaming comic, and I read the wikipedia article, and I was wondering A) Is there an equivalent of the OGL SRD for D&D that I could use, and B) Is there anyone here who would like to play?

Dhavaer
2009-07-01, 03:18 PM
A) No, I'm pretty sure there's not.
B) Probably.

Swordguy
2009-07-01, 03:20 PM
1) Not legally.
2) Certainly. Unfortunately, Shadowrun is EXTREMELY difficult to run over a message-board forum.

Fixer
2009-07-01, 03:49 PM
1) Not that I have ever heard of.
2) Sure. I'd play, but I have no idea how you'd do it.

I do know there are many versions of the game. I have played the second and third editions. They are presently on the fourth and I hear they are working on 5th.

tarbrush
2009-07-01, 05:55 PM
http://forums.dumpshock.com/ is probably your best bet to find a game and ask shadowrunny type questions. Whilst there's not an SRD I believe that there is an introductory adventure kit. How good it is, I don't know.

The 5th edition was an April fools thing.

Xuincherguixe
2009-07-01, 06:06 PM
No SRD, but there is a "quickstart rules" which explains the basic mechanics.

Balthazar
2009-07-01, 06:07 PM
Is that enough to get me started playing? And is that on the forum previously mentioned?

GreyMantle
2009-07-02, 12:30 PM
It might be enough to start you off, but it's just the basic combat rules, some pre-generated characters (which, from everything I hear, suck horribly), and a pretty neato single encounter that could lead on to others things. If you're willing to improvise and not do much with magic, it could keep you going for a bit, but compared to say the SRD or D&D basic game, it's not much.

Another_Poet
2009-07-02, 02:53 PM
I've been playing 4th edition Shadowrun for 3 years now, on a regular basis.

I strongly recommend you buy the book and read it through in detail. Everything is complecated in Shadowrun - more complicated than D&D. That's not bad (though the layout of the book is) bit it does make a steeper learning curve.

Plan on reading the whole book through once - the whole thing, not just the cool future history section and char gen. Make a few characters, at least one of whom uses spells and another one who uses lots of cyberware. Figure out how spirits work, how astral travel works, how hacking works and how the matrix works. Know where to flip to find gear of different sorts.

Then start a game. And unless you're changing how the dice are rolled, start the game IRL. Don't try to run it over the net.

A little bit of advice: you may want to ditch the matrix (and maybe astral travel) for your first game. Maybe even ditch hacking. Just start your characters off as street scum with little money or gear, so they can learn these things gradually. It'll make it a lot easier for people to get into it.

ap

Balthazar
2009-07-02, 02:55 PM
Eh, I'd like to make sure that I'd be able to play somewhere if I bought the book. Otherwise it seems kinda a waste.