Gonna be an interesting Event Registration this year

[Black Jack Rackham]

Since I am running so many events this year (for both GC and Origins) my 'play' time is pretty curtailed. So rather than the usual trepidation associated with the impending registration dates, I'm thinking of just going the generics route (that way I'm not tied to any particular event, I can decide that day whether to hit a game, futz around, check the dealers hall, watch Dave run a game (I've never actually seen him run things, just heard the great stories) or go take a nap.

I never thought I'd say this but its really exhilarating not knowing what I'm going to be doing...

[salamanca]

If you plan of sitting around and watching, you best have generic tickets. Otherwise, I am gonna assume you are spying on the game to cheat in a future session and kick you right out of the room.

I am also sure that once the actual event list comes out, there will be plenty of events that I can recommend based on known GMs. (which I will be doing anyhow for everybody here. You like good games, I know good GMs, we should get you all together)

[Black Jack Rackham]

If you plan of sitting around and watching, you best have generic tickets. Otherwise, I am gonna assume you are spying on the game to cheat in a future session and kick you right out of the room.

Kicked out for cheating on an adventure I wrote! This is gonna be awesome!!!

I am also sure that once the actual event list comes out, there will be plenty of events that I can recommend based on known GMs. (which I will be doing anyhow for everybody here. You like good games, I know good GMs, we should get you all together)

See this is what I was hoping for, no real idea what I'm gonna be playing, just know its gonna be good...

[Sister Sonya]

I am also sure that once the actual event list comes out, there will be plenty of events that I can recommend based on known GMs.

I'm planning on trying Shadowrun, the Living Campaign, for the first time (gosh, the rules are a disorganized and poorly defined mishmash).

Does anyone have any recommendations/suggestions/comments?

[Black Jack Rackham]

gosh, the rules are a disorganized and poorly defined mishmash).

Does anyone have any recommendations/suggestions/comments?

See and here I thought SR20A was one of the more well-organized core books out there.

As for suggestions, did you mean for SR or just games in general?

[Sister Sonya]

See and here I thought SR20A was one of the more well-organized core books out there.

As for suggestions, did you mean for SR or just games in general?

Perhaps Shadowrun veterans see things differently. The SR20A is more like a glossary than a rulebook.

If you know what you want, the descriptions are terse and the tables are concise. If you want to know how Magic works, however, forget it! The combat sequence needs a several combat turn example. There is a point made about encumbrance, but few weights of things are listed. The cyberware and bioware isn't explained well at all, nor are matrix or astral encounters. Magic foci? Sustaining foci?

A GM could not possibly adjudicate it all unless his module has everything written out. I can see myself arguing at the table over some highschooler GM trying to justify a scientific or engineering ruling!!

I gave up playing miniatures at Cons because GMs refused to limit cheating by players. Shadowrun seems like another such possibility.

Hello? Any suggestions on games are welcome!

[salamanca]

If you want minis, the team running and playing aerodrome are awesome gentlemen (and ladies) it's simple biplane combat and it is an easy starter game since you only worry about one plane each.

Alex and Lisa Ford are also coming down with a handful of homebrew minis games and they are very nice people with solid and simple systems made to be fun. Some of their games are very much designed for children (as she is a teacher) and others are geared for the grown ups.

If your shadowrun GM is named Ratkovitch, just walk away from the table.

the entire team of GMs for Matinee Adventures are awesome people. They run the sort of stuff we do and in a very similar style to Mark and myself. If you like us, you will like them.

Akira Barnes is also a great GM as is his team. They run a few systems they created as well as a BESM campaign based on a ninja elementary school that needs a flow chart to diagram the ties between potential characters (of which there are around 30 to select from)

Most of the Cthulhu teams are solid as well.

I will chime in more when I see an actual event list.

[Sister Sonya]

I played in my first Shadowrun game this evening.

Five of us had more-or-less normal characters. Of the rest, one was a Japanese demon with 0.2 Essence, another was a gunbunny with a 30 dice attack, while the third, with 15/15 armor, did 23 Stun with his attack.

The game is broken!

[salamanca]

that's the point of shadowrun. if you want to be effective and do cool stuff, you have to focus on one thing and do it well. let the rest of the players fill out the team. it is not a game for characters that do a little of everything. so be the hacker or the hitter or the con man or the mage. do not try to be all things.

the best way of doing it back in the day was to go combat and either tech up or stat up. I was partial to street samurai with enhancement for reaction speed and aiming bonuses. (We were the reason the initiative system got rewritten in 3rd ed.) Other cool builds were to go magic combat as a physical adept and armor enhanced trolls to be a wall.

hackers and drone controlling vehicle runners tend to get overshadowed in most games unless the GM is really into those aspects.

[Rebecca Iavelli]

Yeah Mike, this is definately not a game where your character can "do" all types of things. It is best to focus on one and do it to the max, than try to spred one person to do all things, it just will not work that way. Because, if you get hit, your character can die, and you will be needing to create another character.

Knowing how you like to have your characters do "many things", this may not be the game for you to play, unless you change your focus, and make that one character that can "Kick Ass" in one thing alone.

I've played several years with Mark and another guy as our GMs, and in those years, I've played a Shaman (really liked her!), a gun bunny (eh, average shoot em up type) , and the last time I played the "Face" character. Playing the Face was to me one of the hardest things for me to do, as I had to be the person who talked us in and out of jobs, ect..., and I am not a verbal based person in real life, so really had to push myself to play her. The fact that she was also a Troll, made it very interesting to play her though, and while I loved playing the Shaman best (because I felt more in touch with the character), it was playing the Face that I really had some interesting times in the game, lol.

[cpugs]

For all of the RPG's I own, and I have some obscure ones, Shadowrun is a no show in my collection. I wonder why????

[Sister Sonya]

Played three more Shadowrun games Saturday. Mr. 30 Dice didn't shoot his sniper rifle in the two games that he played, Mr. Demon didn't come back, and Mr. Armor described his armor.

My character now has 15/10 armor.

I managed to bring an unconscious 13-Body Troll, w/3 stun left, almost completely back, so that he was down just 2 stun for the next round.

The events yesterday had more style; my favorite was moving a 40,000 gal. fishtank twice.

As in D&D of 30 years ago, it's the geeky teen who knows chapter and verse in all the rulebooks, which seem shamelessly to contradict each other. Much of the technology has about as much sense, or less, than that of 7th Sea- which makes few pretenses.

I can see why you like the game,Mark! Ideas, backed up by dice, can make plausibility a reality. I've even found a Shadowrun novel in our public library system! My new and improved character will be ready for Seattle at Origins!

[Rebecca Iavelli]

LOL Mike, I remember that one, lol. Yep, was an interesting thing, having to move it, wasn't it, lol!

I really wasn't much into Shadowrun when it came out either, but with playing it with the guys, has shown it to be kinda interesting, in its way, sort of like Deadlands to me. There are things you just don't know about til "Wham!" and it's like "Whoa! Really! Cool!"

Wait til you get to play some that Mark wrote (will be quite a while yet, I believe), but you have to work your way through some really horrid written ones first. LOL, half of our sessions were of how horrid they were written. But hang in there and then you'll get to play them.

[Black Jack Rackham]

I waited till I got home to answer this cause I need the laptop to fully respond (without taking several years typing on my iPad).

1st you are correct, if you are using the Shadowrun Companion to come up with racial architypes (the Oni) that is WAY broken.

2nd - I would guarantee the gunbunny could be brought low by the minorest of mages because he has absolutely no defenses to magic of any kind. 30d attack or not, any magic-using creature is going to eat his lunch.

3rd - 15/15 armor? Sounds like someone is layering (a big no-no in SR) the only armor allowed to layer is FFBA (form-fitting body armor) 6/2 combined with an Armored Jacket 8/6 for a total 14/8. Now I guess you could go obnoxious and buy a helmet 1/2 and riot shield 2/6 which would give you better than those numbers (17/16 to be exact) but then you'd have to carry all this stuff wherever you go (guards/cops/security look dimly at people who look like they're coming to start a war).

4th - 23 stun, I'm guessing, was from the sniper rifle? Well if the players can use it, so can the GM. And I gotta tell you, taking a headshot from a sniper you can't see is an awful sucky way to have your character die...

5th - regarding the sniper rifle and a lot of other stuff which is boardering on the rediculous. Is your GM enforcing the availability maximum? Many of the sniper rifles (and the awesome bullets that go with it) have availability ratings higher than 12. That means your character can't have it. (and we haven't even gotten to all the chem-sniffers, MAD scanners, and security checkpoints, I get the giggles every time some runner thinks they can just waltz across a security checkpoint with a ton of restricted gear).

6th - lets not forget the resistance and soak rolls. 23 stun may sound bad initially, but a combat-oriented runner might avoid the hit entirely or just take a few stun from that.

In sum, the game is "broken" when you have a few characters who are playing with all the optional rules (which are, btw, illegal in Missions) and several 1st time characters.

Both Dave and Laura are correct, its best to focus on one aspect of the game IF you like large dice pools (and like to have your moment in the spotlight)

I managed to bring an unconscious 13-Body Troll, w/3 stun left, almost completely back, so that he was down just 2 stun for the next round.

And that's why it pays to focus.

The events yesterday had more style; my favorite was moving a 40,000 gal. fishtank twice.

I liked the actual execution of this adventure, I just found the railroady "hey the bad guys know exactly what you are doing and where you are at all times PLUS they know your communit # to be a bit off-putting. So am I correct in assuming you played through 00, and 01?

Much of the technology has about as much sense, or less, than that of 7th Sea- which makes few pretenses.

Hate to tell you Luddites this, but SR is where technology is going. Many of the things that SR-technology takes for granted, are things which we are hearing hints of today. If you want a bunch of examples, head over to the Dumpshock forums (http://forums.dumpshock.com/) they can tell you all about it.

I can see why you like the game,Mark! Ideas, backed up by dice, can make plausibility a reality. I've even found a Shadowrun novel in our public library system! My new and improved character will be ready for Seattle at Origins!

I am glad to hear you like it too. It's got a very methodical feel to it. You're given a problem, and within some restrictions are free to solve the problem in whichever way you want (or have the skills to solve). There are always multiple ways to solve it given the makeup of your team.

As for books, I have a bunch of them, I can probably point you toward some of the better adventures (and away from the truly awful books).

Oh yea, one last thing, regarding Dave's comment about the SR GM. His full name is Stephen "Bull" Ratkovich (he might just put "Bull" as GM). He is now also the SR:M Coordinator so the whole Seattle Campaign is his baby and it will most definitely have his stamp on the games. The ones you are playing through now (NYC) were Coordinated by John Dunn, Aaron Pavao, and Steven McQuillin (at various times). All the latter are gone from SR now (just like me, they were owed money and not paid). Bull however, seems loyal to the thief and his cronies (and continues to put his own personal spin* on SR).

Mark

*He'd very much like to return SR to the days of cyberdecks and jacking in (aka SR 1-2) rather than letting the game evolve with the technology around it.

[Sister Sonya]

I helped to take down the piping and drapes at the site, so came right home and fell asleep. The last two adventures, went in an interesting fashion; however, the last was simply silly.

We played SRM 03-00 through 05. Trying to break the fellow out of jail on 05 was just over-the-top, although I suppose that NYPD Inc. should have been prepared. We had to pull out before completing the whole mission because the spirits were just too tough for everyone. (And here I was, ready to go, with my 4 actions per turn, if at Initiative 5, too!)

[Black Jack Rackham]

The reason it was silly is because when I outlined that particular storyarc (first helping Karl with the Bridge then delivering a message to him) they didn't use my initial outline but went with something completely different.

When I played through it (with my 'Face') we simply waltzed in and delivered the message. I convinced NYPD Inc I was his lawyer and voila. They couldn't record our conversation.

[Sister Sonya]

Well, that explains it then. The way I understood it, our primary mission was to break the owner out, and the secondary one was to get the information inside, so as to get the sister safely out of town. Chalk it up to last day/event GM and player confusion.

I like the idea of being a Face, but am not a natural and have to work at it. My regular job is to be a Face for our Subsection of a State Agency, talking to unhappy employers and their various representatives about taxes and the Law, but I have not wanted to that kind of stuff at a Con!

Maybe I'd better bite the bullet and go for it. Most young kids don't have a clue about process and bureaucracy, and the Face can have a lot of fun too.

[Black Jack Rackham]

Nope no way you could break him out. Just need to talk to him. BUT there is a guy you can give a little help to who will break himself out. It could have been GM/player confusion, but it could also be a little bit of creativity on the part of one of your fellow players...

See the guy you give help to? That is a secret mission for those who've sold out to one of the various corporations. If a player wanted to help that corp, (s)he could have lied to you about what you needed to do in order to get some bonus pay/gear...

So how did you like 03 - Burning Bridges? That one I did write

[salamanca]

Bull is loyal because they have not kicked him to the curb like the rest of the world. And most of his good ideas, he swiped from the other GMs in our area.

I cannot believe it never occurred to me that you knew him from working on that. He used to be part of our home group.

A little heads up, if he was involved in the mission write up, any office you need to break into will be on the second floor. Security cams at the corner of the hall on the ground floor, something astral at the top of the stairs and 3 safes in the wall behind the desk. you want the one on the right.

[Black Jack Rackham]

Wow, that predictable, huh?

My policy is "Never the same way twice." Heck I even wrote an adventure around the idea of doing the same run over and over (SRM 02(Denver) - 23: Prodigal Son) but it's never the same thing twice...

[Sister Sonya]

I did like Burning Bridges. That game produced the most recurring laughter at the table, mostly about renting a boat and going in by water. The partner showing up sure screwed things up for us.

But, sorry Mark! Moving a 40,000 gal. fishtank w/fish, twice, was the ne plus ultra for the engineer in me, especially the second time!

OK, overall, I have a better appreciation for the game now. For those instances where the GM just doesn't know what to do , he just wings it (surprise, surprise). And, there is so much technical stuff, that doesn't exist now, and much (mostly the biotech enhancements) likely will be impossible into the future, for which the GM just has to take on faith and really can't integrate on his own.

Because so much is so technical, the cheating at the table is pretty rampant IMO.

I may bite the bullet and share buying the Hero Creation program, which includes the five PDF sourcebooks, for $66.

Laura: I'm still going Magician, but think I can squeeze in certain limited Face and Wireless stuff too, so I can stick my fingers in several pots in most games. The problem that we had in the six games that we played is that everyone wants to play gun bunnies. In one game, we had no Face skills, and another we had no Hacker. In two others, we only had reluctant players for those functions. And, that's with 7/8 players in all events.

[Black Jack Rackham]

But, sorry Mark! Moving a 40,000 gal. fishtank w/fish, twice, was the ne plus ultra for the engineer in me, especially the second time!

Do you KNOW how long the math calculations took to figure out the right amount of explosive to make available WITHOUT simply handing over a ton of high-explosives to the players?

Sheesh.

[Sister Sonya]

Mark: One of the characters at our table made a calculation in about three minutes.

[Black Jack Rackham]

Mark: One of the characters at our table made a calculation in about three minutes.

Yes, a single calcuation based on already having the numbers I had to figure out. That shouldn't have taken any time at all.

HOWEVER
I had to try and think of every way you all might try and destroy the bridge (bring down the cable supports leaving the pylons intact, destroying pylon A, or B or both, bombing the driving surface, etc.)
NEXT
add in they type of explosion you would design (using piles of explosives vs. shaped charges, one big bomb or a series of littler bombs, etc.) plus your method of delivery (put it all in a car, place it directly on the structure, figure out the bridge's weak points, etc.)
THEN
calculate the amount of explosive needed based on 1) the quality of said explosives, 2) The resistance of various structures (restraining cable, bridge surface, pylon (both blowing it up from the inside and outside and at what point (hollow vs solid))) and finally 3) each of the above solutions to the problem.

So poor explosives (say rating 4-5) with a large pile in one spot in pylon A = X amount of explosive
vs. good quality explosives (say rating 8-10) with several small piles in various places = x/2 amount of explosive.

AND FINALLY
Once I found a series of permutations that all required about the same quality and quantity of explosive, I had to make sure that if I gave you say, 500 kgs of explosive A) that you could move it quickly and place it efficiently enough that you wouldn't get caught and B) that if greedy types tried to skim say 100kg of explosive for themselves (and it was extremely high-grade explosive) I hadn't given you too much meaning that in future events, there were going to be a ton of leveled buildings...

[Black Jack Rackham]

So I just re-read where this thread meandered to, and am now waiting for the Secret Service to come knocking on my door... (which, ironically, I became worried about when researching the adventure as I did GIS's for Brooklyn Bridge, Explosives, Bombings, etc.)