Seeking Shadowrun game

[Lentrax]

I am looking for a game of Shadowrun.

I have both the 4A and 5th Core books.

Not sure exactly what I have in mind to play as, but I have the Cyberpunk itch right now.

Anyone willing to run it?

[truemane]

Oh man, Shadowrun is so hard to run on PbP. I mean, it's hard to run anyway. But on PbP it's nearly impossible to do in the manner it's intended. It's really hard to play Shadowrun without some tactical planning and tactical planning in this format is just death.

In my experience, you either need a very strong agreement among the players as to how you're going to manage that part of the game, or a story with constant pressure so the players never have the chance to sit down and plan anything.

[Feathersnow]

4th edition shadowrun is my all time favorite RPG. I have a few one-off adventures and a module I could run in it, but Truemane is right it will be hard to do.

[Lentrax]

As someone who has attempted to run a game of 4th on this very forum many times, yes. I know it is a big ask.

I am perfectly fine taking the game to discord, or a vtt, or anywhere where it would makes things run a bit better.

But I have to find people willing to even have the conversation first, and where better to start than here?

[Auranghzeb]

Shadowrun is always my mojo. Mark me interested.

[Lacco]

Oh man, Shadowrun is so hard to run on PbP. I mean, it's hard to run anyway. But on PbP it's nearly impossible to do in the manner it's intended. It's really hard to play Shadowrun without some tactical planning and tactical planning in this format is just death.

In my experience, you either need a very strong agreement among the players as to how you're going to manage that part of the game, or a story with constant pressure so the players never have the chance to sit down and plan anything.

Best way to play SR on PbP: using Blackjack's Cinematic Combat & Hi-mod Confrontation. Unless PCs are able to stack like 2-3 advantages, nobody hits anybody. You don't move, you got hit. You got hit - ignore the damage if your favourite gun just got shattered/lost in drain/your 'ware just shortcircuited/your mojo fizzled out.

Or... low-OP low-level street level stuff.

I love Shadowrun, but it's pain to run it as written.

[SwordCoastTaxi]

I'm always ready for some Shadowrun.

[samduke]

Intetested for certsin, its possible as pbp just tske a bit of staging

[BelGareth]

super interested, only played a few times.

[Shiro_Nogard]

Interested. More towards 5th, but 4th is also good.

[Debatra]

Never played Shadowrun before, but had an interest for a while. Call me interested as a player, regardless of edition but with a slight preference for 4th. (And also with truemane's concerns in mind, perhaps on roll20 or something instead of pbp? Can't really speak to how difficult it really is.)

[Llyarden]

Well, the site seems to have stabilised a little bit so I guess I'll throw my hat in the ring as a potential 5e GM - albeit with a lot of caveats.

1) For ease of play I'm going to be houseruling initiative in a way that will probably disadvantage the PCs more than the NPCs - I'll roll for all characters' initiative, and then all players will make one post apiece for all their passes, and I'll figure out how everything slots together.
2) Anything that has one PC wander off and do their own thing will not be allowed. Using hacking/technomancy/astral stuff during combat is fine, turning the game into a solo campaign not so much. (Potentially I might allow some longer Matrix stuff, since theoretically anyone can participate in cybercombat to a limited extent, but even that will be a stretch.)
3) To accommodate for the kinds of intel-gathering that would normally be accomplished in those kinds of 'solo' segments, I'm going to steal the 'flashback' concept from Blades in the Dark et al.
4) I'm going to kinda run roughshod over Shadowrun's lore - I don't know most of it and don't particularly have any interest in spending ages looking things up. What's in the SR corebook will be canonical; I make no guarantees about anything else (although I'm not going to make my own stuff up purely for the sake of doing so.)
- 4b) For the storyline itself, my plan is to simply take some inspiration from a (non-Paizo) Pathfinder adventure path, obviously with all the characters, MacGuffins, etc, converted to something Shadowrun-appropriate. This comes with all the normal caveats any adventure path has about being something of a railroad (although to an extent this is inherent to SR with the runners being hired for specific jobs). You will probably need to suspend your disbelief that the PCs are the only ones capable of handling certain tasks at some points.

As for some other general notes...
- In terms of tone, I know there are various divisions between 'pink mohawk' and 'black trenchcoat' but I don't remember what they are - whichever one is 'pink mohawk with a dash more realism.'
- Relatedly, the PCs will be built at relatively high power levels - this is to enable people to have interesting and cool shticks, not so people can roll all the dice in the world. :smalltongue:
- The PCs will be childhood friends who all grew up together in a district on the outskirts of Washington, and all have enough affection for the district, or the friends and family who still live there, that when they receive word that a gang is threatening the place they are willing to come back to defend their childhood home for a reward that is probably not commensurate with their skills and the effort it will require.

It'll take a couple days to put enough stuff together, but assuming there's enough interest, I'll probably get a big 16 up at the start of next week.

[Lentrax]

Well. Thanks for stepping up, Llyarden. I was kinda beginning to despair that I would have to try running a game again.

And though I still might do that at some point, I truly do appreciate the opportunity to be a player for a game again.

[samduke]

It'll take a couple days to put enough stuff together, but assuming there's enough interest, I'll probably get a big 16 up at the start of next week.

sounds great overall

[Volthawk]

Ooh nice, a SR game, one of those things I keep trying to play in but the games never last because of the various things already discussed. Still always gonna post interest, though.

Those changes mention all sound like pretty good ideas - in my experience, legwork is where pbp Shadowrun goes to die, so cutting out the more awkward to run parts and using flashbacks (I haven't dug into Blades enough to know the details, it's one of those systems I keep meaning to look into but never do, but taking the concept at face value it seems like a good idea) sounds like a good solution. The personal angle and slanting it more towards the "doing the right thing even though the reward isn't as good" side of the runner spectrum also sounds pretty good to me too, it's always nice to have that established upfront before chargen.

[Lentrax]

Anyone have ideas for concepts?

[Triskavanski]

I've got three concepts.. But it really depends on how things shake up.

Giest - Mystic Adept "Telekinetic" rabbit changeling. If being a changeling is too much, she'll end up doing something a little more like Vanny I suppose.
Juice - Transhumanist Technomancer Drug - Think Bane but with technomancery magic
Geppetto - Technomancer "Data Dog" changeling - focuses more on running drones.

[Lentrax]

Think I've settled on high concept.

Name María Gallo, runs under the alias Selene. Ork Face/Sam. Orksploitation star whose studio got shut down by competing outfits.

[samduke]

Anyone have ideas for concepts?

In the grand scheme, it will slightly depend on if it's sr4 or sr5, and then the big 16 overall, but I like weapon specialist, and rigger

[truemane]

Despite my reservations about running it on PbP, I love Shadowrun. I always have. If we're able to sublimate the tactical pre-Run planning to a Blades-style Flashback system, that would be very exciting.

I'm always awash in Shadowrun character ideas.

Concept-wise, I'm thinking Ork Adept specialized in double-pistols. Secondary competencies would be athletics and stealth. I'd play them as a thrill-seeker, a bit of a trouble-maker (in a comedic relief way, not in a disruptive way), always up for a caper and bores easily with negotiation and planning. Give them a rough childhood, a family to support, and a keen social conscience to go with their low-impulse control.

Second idea is a Dwarf mechanic with a penchant for heavy weapons and demolitions, but who's also a Face. Make him an old-timer who's got old friends on every street-corner.

Third, not even a concept yet really, but I always wanted to play a Human with both the Lucky and Bad Luck Qualities. Have 8 Edge, always be jumping head-first into impossible situations, trusting to their luck to get them through it, knowing that every now and then (1 time in 6!) it's going to go horribly wrong.

[Debatra]

First idea I ever had for Shadowrun was a big guy like a Troll, working as an electrician/computer/tech guy, with tiny tools implanted in his fingertips to help with detail work that his large hands would normally be too bulky for.

In particular, a small blowtorch on one of his middle fingers, and he has a buddy who always gets a kick out of his friend "flipping him off" when he asks for a light.

[samduke]

In particular, a small blowtorch on one of his middle fingers, and he has a buddy who always gets a kick out of his friend "flipping him off" when he asks for a light.

this guy would love my weapon specialist then

[Lentrax]

Third, not even a concept yet really, but I always wanted to play a Human with both the Lucky and Bad Luck Qualities. Have 8 Edge, always be jumping head-first into impossible situations, trusting to their luck to get them through it, knowing that every now and then (1 time in 6!) it's going to go horribly wrong.

Isn’t this just every character in Shadowrun to begin with?

Every run a mad dash for glory or a sprint to the dumpster fire?

[Shiro_Nogard]

Isn’t this just every character in Shadowrun to begin with?

Every run a mad dash for glory or a sprint to the dumpster fire?

I am getting DMC vives.

[Lentrax]

We don’t make characters who ever live to a ripe old age and die smelling like posies.

Make characters that dream if it, sure.

But to make one that actually gets there? I don’t buy it.

[Llyarden]

Here's the recruitment thread. (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?664403-The-Runners-from-the-Hollows-(SR5e))