Using Shadowrun for Metal Gear game?

[Maerok]

I've been thinking about running a Metal Gear-themed game for a while now. The most natural system to run this in (around here) might be d20 Modern, but I think Shadowrun would also do a fine job of it.

The system of choice has to handle:
-Stealth and action
-Future science like robotics, augmentations/cybernetics, as well as spy gear
-Guns, guns, guns
-Supernatural aspects/ESP
-Able to stat out maniacal/flamboyant bosses and other characters

I think Shadowrun handles this pretty well. The magical aspects of SR can be downplayed to handle the supernatural folk that pop up in MG games. I'm not all that experienced with SR yet (I've got the Anniversary Edition; 4.0?) but running a game like this may help me to hammer out the rest of the details.

Not sure how many players I'd have for a game like this. I could possibly run it as a solo game.

[Worira]

Shadowrun?

[SilveryCord]

If you end up not being happy with Shadowrun, M&M 2e would work wonders.

[Lycan 01]

I actually think this would work perfectly. You can have cyber ninjas like Grey Fox (Adept plus Bioware, Wired Reflexes, and a katana), insane shots like Sniper Wolf (Elf or other race with higher Agility, tons of Longarms ranks, specialization in sniper rifles, and then a souped up Sniper Rifle with Smartlink and other bio/cyberware), and plenty of stealth and espionage mechanics.


Heck, my first (and only, due to me just being a bad GM and my players all expecting different things from the game) Shadowrun mission featured almost everyone making a MGS reference.

[Gametime]

So long as you have one player willing to say "...Metal Gear?!?" in David Hayter's voice, I think Shadowrun will feel close enough.

And maybe a boss who manipulates the player's dice rolls. Not the results of their dice rolls in the game, the actual dice rolls on the table.

[UglyPanda]

Of course, you have to put a strike through every instance of magic in the rulebooks and replace it with "nanomachines".

[Chrono22]

MGS 1 & 3 had their share of magic.

[UglyPanda]

And that's one of the (many) weird things about MGS4. They went out of their way to point out that Vamp and Liquid Ocelot aren't magic, but the previous games had guys like The End, The Sorrow, Psycho Mantis, and Fortune.

That said, Shadowrun is a decent choice for a Metal Gear-esque game.

[Lycan 01]

Tone down the Magic and make Hacking and The Matrix less important/complicated, and you should be fine...


I <3 the idea of a boss messing with the RL dice rolls and stuff. Just like Psycho Mantis turning the tv off and stuff, you should flip the results, with 6's being 1's and 2's being 5's and whatnot. Or have the players trade character sheets mid battle, like they've switched bodies or something.

[Worira]

Use trick dice.

[Maerok]

The PSP games also have psychics like Gene and Ursula/Elisa.

Plus the MGS4 bosses had some really strange mojo about them, like some kind of mental trauma aura, when they were de-suited. I really didn't like them (the Crying Wolf battle was frustrating and the interference defeated the epic-sniper-battle vibe) but Hideo was able to still do some really cool stuff with them (Laughing Octopus's and Screaming Mantis's battles).

Screaming Mantis was also kind of 'supernatural' but she was controlling the nanomachines. Then again, it seems like she was more or less possessed by Psycho Mantis.

I was fine with letting the whole Cold War mind experiment theme sort of play out. Yet nanomachines make slightly more sense than midichlorians.

---

Maybe one of the bosses can only be beaten by switching the game to DnD a la the VR Missions back on the PS1?

And maybe a boss that you can shoot in the head while they're still monologuing?

[Lycan 01]

one of the bosses can only be beaten by switching the game to DnD

I cannot say yes hard enough. Switching SR to a D20 mechanic, in combination with dice tricks and whatnot, would be an amazing Psycho Mantis-esque boss battle.


Screw it. I'm so totally stealing that idea. The big Psyker boss battle in my next Dark Heresy game just got a lot more interesting...

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Just remember, Metal Gear games were flippin' lethal. Common 'mook' mobs could easily kill characters. For this degree of lethality, I would use either CoC or GURPS. Both can handle a 'tech vibe to them quite easily.

[chiasaur11]

Shadowrun?

Metal Gear?

[DaedalusMkV]

Metal Gear?

You're missing an exclamation mark.

On-topic, I agree that Shadowrun is probably a decent system for running a Metal Gear game, at least from what I've read about it. But, being that the only RPG I've played to any extent is DnD, that's all the advice I have to give. Good luck.

[Prodan]

Exclamation mark? What's that?

[JaronK]

Just remember, Metal Gear games were flippin' lethal. Common 'mook' mobs could easily kill characters. For this degree of lethality, I would use either CoC or GURPS. Both can handle a 'tech vibe to them quite easily.

I admit I do SR3, not 4, but SR is usually quite lethal indeed. Even a basic mook with a hunting rifle can kill you easily if he gets the drop on you.

JaronK

[Tehnar]

If you are looking for a way to mess with player dice, Great Dragon from shadowrun have nifty ways of using edge to screw with players. And you can easily refluff them to look like whatever you want.

[Gametime]

And that's one of the (many) weird things about MGS4. They went out of their way to point out that Vamp and Liquid Ocelot aren't magic, but the previous games had guys like The End, The Sorrow, Psycho Mantis, and Fortune.

That said, Shadowrun is a decent choice for a Metal Gear-esque game.

I've read that Kojima's official stance is that Vamp actually was immortal in MGS2, and that

Spoiler

Show

Liquid actually was possessing Ocelot in that same game.

There wasn't any source given, though, so I can't tell you whether that's true - and, of course, what Kojima says isn't necessarily going to make any more sense than the position officially espoused in the games.

That said, MGS4 did still have at least one totally, inexplicably magical character. You know the one. Plus, they didn't retcon all the previously magical stuff - like in MGS2, when

Spoiler

Show

Fortune is deprived of her magnetic-shield-thingy and still, for some reason, is able to deflect bullets.

[Maerok]

I cannot say yes hard enough. Switching SR to a D20 mechanic, in combination with dice tricks and whatnot, would be an amazing Psycho Mantis-esque boss battle.


Screw it. I'm so totally stealing that idea. The big Psyker boss battle in my next Dark Heresy game just got a lot more interesting...

Would you work out the d20 versions ahead of time? That'd make the transition a bit smoother.

[Lycan 01]

For Shadowrun or Dark Heresy?

For Shadowrun, I'd randomly switch the skills to D20 based. So that when they shoot a pistol, its not Handgun skill + agility, but rather d20+handgun skill vs DC X. So you may combine Body+Armor or Reaction+Armor to get the character's Defense, and then roll attacks against that...

So lets say the player has 4 Handgun skill, and the baddie has 5 Reaction and 8 Armor. So the player rolls [roll]1d20+4[/roll] vs 13.


For Dark Heresy, I'm going to have flipped dice results, so if they roll a 31 its actually 13, 57 becomes 75, et cetera...

Actually, I may roll a D10 every round to determine the game modification.

1-3 - no change
4-8 - dice results flip
9 - char sheet switch
10 - attributes flip


That'll make the BBEG battle more interesting...

[Another_Poet]

Having played a lot of Shadowrun, I advice you not to use it to run this game.

The nice thing about the Shadowrun is the setting. The crappy thing about Shadowrun is... all of the ruleset. You're talking about just using the ruleset. Don't do it, it's not worth your time.

Between cumbersome, hard to use rules; slow combat; poor organization of the rulebooks; bad indexing; and a weird dice mechanic (dice pools aren't intuitive to most players) it's just not a good system. Try one of the others that people have suggested above.

Good luck!
ap

[Lycan 01]

Wow, I thought I was the only one who felt that way after GMing. Loved the setting, hated the system.


Though I do think you could get it to work for MGS. Out of all the systems I've used (D20, CoC, Dark Heresy, Shadowrun), this one seems like the best choice...