This will help build confidence and 'hype' for the coming game. It will make character generation go by much quicker and smoother. And use sticky-notes to mark the important areas in the rule book. Get a feeling for the set-up and flow and organization of the process. Create a few characters by yourself in preparation. It might even change your original plans, for the better.Ģnd Point of Advice - Communal Character Creation.īefore you sit down with all your players to create the PCs, you should make sure that you, as GM, are familiar and comfortable with the character creation rules. This makes people more comfortable playing PCs they might not be 100% on-board with, as they know that if they really dislike it, they'll be able to change it later.īut involving your future players into your prep is an amazing way to get both more involved players AND a good set of pointers about where to focus your efforts. Either optimizing them or changing them completely. One special "ruling" I include in pretty much all the games I run, no matter the rules-set or setting, is this: "After we all have enough experience with the game, setting and rules, all of you will be able to re-work your PCs. And, yes, "I'm sorry, I don't think I'll be able to digest the rules for X until our first game." is a valid reason. Just calmly explain why can't do that yet. Not in a hostile or aggressive manner, of course. And if they express interest into something you can't/won't/don't want to accommodate in your first game, tell them so. If their ideas sound cool and/or workable to you, include them. But if you want your players to have fun, ask them about what they'd like to do/experience/play as well. And if you know that you'll have a social character, two combat characters and a tech-focused character, that's another good set of information, telling you which part of the books to give more attention to.Īlso, and this is something I'll never stop stressing for ANY game: Involve your players in this! It's okay for you as the GM to have a general direction in which to take things. Well, that's several sections of the book you don't have to tackle yet. If you, for example, know that you don't have any Mages/Deckers/Riggers in your group and that your PCs won't encounter the Yakuza and Mafia at first. This will, in turn, give you a better focus for the rest of your game prep. Think about what kind of game you feel comfortable running. The traditional "Mixed group of runners operating out of Seattle, doing jobs for everyone, brushing up against both Magic and High Tech regularly" setup.Īnd a decidedly non-traditional "A team of riggers and street sams operating in the Rhine-Ruhr Megaplex, working exclusively for mid-tier corps, never really brushing up against magic" setup. How far do you want to go on the "Magic and Machine" axis?Īll of those will change your game up in very striking ways.What composition will your team consist of?.Will the PCs work mainly for megacorps, criminal organizations, smaller-scale corps, neighborhoods, mysterious patrons or something else entirely?.What power level do you want to start with?.But while some games offer a very streamlined approach for a newbie GM (The old 'meet in a tavern and get hired' stereotype, for example.), others offer more freedoms right from the start.Īnd while Shadowrun is not as hard to pin down as, say, Transhuman Space, it does have its share of turns and dials you can manipulate to get wildly different experiences. This is the most basic piece of advice to give, and it applies to pretty much every game out there. This is a "think about those and re-think them later after you get some personal experience" guide.ġst Point of Advice - Decide on what you want to focus on. This is not a "follow these steps and never stray" checklist. As such, I will try to keep my biases to myself as best as I can and not push you towards my personally preferred style of Shadowrun. The advice and hints presented here are meant to get you and your friends started with Shadowrun, having fun in your first few sessions and giving you a steady base on which you can then build up your future games. This is not a "How to set up your epic cyberpunk campaign?" post. Take note: This is all this is! A set of pointers for a tight, fun first experience. Let me give you a few pointers towards setting up your first Shadowrun game and going from there. You started flipping through it, and you want to get your group together to give it a shot.Īnd chances are good, that you might be a bit overwhelmed, even if you are hyped to run the game. So, you just purchased your first Shadowrun corebook.
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