Advice for a new 'runner (GM)?

[Ailowynn]

So I'm starting up a Shadowrun campaign (my first! And actually first full non-d20 game) in a couple of months, and was having a few basic questions (trying to avoid a rocky start).

First off, how much Karma is standard for a session, at least in your experience? More importantly, how much is too much?

Which books are most important to have? The Core, obviously, but are there some really good books that are all but essential, or that must be accessible to make certain builds successful?

Are there any generic builds that are over powered or under powered in general?

What are some decent online resources that could help out?

What are your feelings on using maps and/or minis with this system?

And do you have any other tips for managing a Shadowrun game and creating adventures/campaigns?

[ActionReplay]

To start off...what edition? I am going to assume 4th, and advise from there.

I would say 5-7 karma in a session is normal depending on how wow they do. Although I'd suggest awarding BP instead of karma. Karma is a hold over from older editions and it really goes easier if you use BP and use character creation rates. If using BP, 3-5 is what our ST awards for a session.

There are a good number of books to have but if I were to narrow it down to essential I would say core, arsenal, augmentation, and runner's companion. If you're playing with hackers, and mages then street magic, unwired, way of the adept. This old drone is a good book for riggers. It keeps going depending on what you're looking at, but that covers a good number of bases.

Minmaxed mages or physical melee adepts from what I've heard are the most OP.

Using maps can be tricky if you aren't familiar with using tools to keep some things hidden. It can be easy to leave a hidden room obvious in the floor plan, and our ST has done it more than once. I'd suggest not giving them much in the way of a map unless they did their legwork beforehand and got some sort of floor plan or layout.

[Ailowynn]

To start off...what edition? I am going to assume 4th, and advise from there.

Yeah. 4th ed. Sorry for not clarifying:smalltongue:


I would say 5-7 karma in a session is normal depending on how wow they do. Although I'd suggest awarding BP instead of karma. Karma is a hold over from older editions and it really goes easier if you use BP and use character creation rates. If using BP, 3-5 is what our ST awards for a session.

Huh. Well then, glad I asked. Never would have used a thought that that would work better. Ya know, because it being on the rules makes karma perfect XD.


There are a good number of books to have but if I were to narrow it down to essential I would say core, arsenal, augmentation, and runner's companion. If you're playing with hackers, and mages then street magic, unwired, way of the adept. This old drone is a good book for riggers. It keeps going depending on what you're looking at, but that covers a good number of bases.

Ugggh. That's a lot of books....How much are those supplements? I've heard of most, and they seem to be around $40, but I've not seen Way of the Adept and This Old Drone mentioned before. Are they in the same area price-wise or are those smaller books?


Minmaxed mages or physical melee adepts from what I've heard are the most OP.

Cool. Thanks.


Using maps can be tricky if you aren't familiar with using tools to keep some things hidden. It can be easy to leave a hidden room obvious in the floor plan, and our ST has done it more than once. I'd suggest not giving them much in the way of a map unless they did their legwork beforehand and got some sort of floor plan or layout.

Cool, cool. Good info.

Thanks for all that. Should help out to get this off the ground smoothly.

[ActionReplay]

Ugggh. That's a lot of books....How much are those supplements? I've heard of most, and they seem to be around $40, but I've not seen Way of the Adept and This Old Drone mentioned before. Are they in the same area price-wise or are those smaller books?
Thanks for all that. Should help out to get this off the ground smoothly.

No problem. If you want to purchase them you can find the books on rpgdrivethru. Did a quick price check and what I have listed ranges from $4.95 to $12.00

[Need_A_Life]

I'd suggest using the alternate Matrix rules found here: http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=23034
Pro: Make Matrix actions go (slightly) faster, skills are more important than your programs.
Con: More rules to read.
Mixed: Decker has to actually be "on-location" ever so often.

Arsenal is an excellent book and so is Augmentation. Never really saw the appeal of Street Magic, but some people really like it.

[FeetUpsideDown]

The others seem to have most of the points covered, but I just thought I'd say:

For me, the most important point of SR is it's feel. Its gritty - make them work for their info, and don't keep the info static. Have an external events timeline built into the plot sometimes, make there be other agendas, have informants on the doublecross, have rivals scouting them and factoring the team into their own plans... this sort of thing. Obviously don't overdo it, but the best games I've played never had static scenarios.