GM Lounge - Bartenders Answer All Your Questions

[HockeyGod]

*dusts off the bar stools*

My oh my things have gotten dusty in here.

I can't believe all of our GMs have retired!

;D

[HairyHeretic]

Still about, though hunting for a very elusive muse the last while :/

[Thufir Hawat]

Still around myself, but since nobody is asking questions, and I ain't got any at the moment, myself.

[TheGlyphstone]

On vacation, not retired.

[Chrystal]

Not retired, just tired... lol...

I'm over a quarter of the way to GM status for the first time ever!

Shhh! Don't jinx it!

[HockeyGod]

Still about, though hunting for a very elusive muse the last while :/

Currently I'm on the waiting list for a tag to even go hunting for one. They are quite the trophy prize as of late!

[Josietta]

Lunar and I are still around. Have been doing wiki stuff for our upcoming freeform Shadowrun Game that we hope to release for an interest thread come January.

[Chrystal]

Lunar and I are still around. Have been doing wiki stuff for our upcoming freeform Shadowrun Game that we hope to release for an interest thread come January.

A Freeform Shadowrun game?

*DROOLS*

Cyberpunk Fantasy FTW!

Please can I book a place in advance?

[LunarSage]

A Freeform Shadowrun game?

*DROOLS*

Cyberpunk Fantasy FTW!

Please can I book a place in advance?

Heh.  I love the genre as well. 

There are no 'spots' per say, as we don't want to put a solid limit on the number of players, at least at first.  What I can tell you is you're more than welcome to check out our (very much WIP) Wiki that's linked in the image in our signatures.  The game is going to have equipment as a central aspect as for one, I think that's important to the genre and two, it's really fun to go 'shopping' for a game (at least in my opinion).  We're going to have very simple 'stats' as well, but under no circumstances will there be any dice involved. 

What we want is to provide a measure of character limitations and capabilities as an aid to the RP without it truly being a system game.  We're not using anything statwise from the books.  Rather we created a something very simple and easy to understand that will allow anyone, even those who avoid system games to enjoy themselves.  The RP aspect is going to be far more important than anything in the end and we wanted to make that clear before we start recruiting in January.  We hope that it will turn out to be very successful and anyone will be most welcome to join when the interest thread goes up, so long as they understand that this isn't supposed to be a combat-centric system game, but it won't just be a sandbox game either.

[TheGlyphstone]

Lunar and I are still around. Have been doing wiki stuff for our upcoming freeform Shadowrun Game that we hope to release for an interest thread come January.

Oooh...want want want.

[Chrystal]

Oooh...want want want.

*giggles*

See above, Glyph, and see you there...



UGH!

I just looked at your wiki, Lunar, and all I can say is........ WAHHHHHHHH!  :'(


Yeah, I'm grief stricken. I thought you said you were putting together something simple? I actually tried reading the rulebook for shadowrun once and quite frankly I didn't have time to get more that part way down the third page. This is why I don't do system games, because I don't have the time or the energy to read and learn a lot of rules.

Please, please tell me that you are going to provide a very nice, simple summary page?

[TheGlyphstone]

..that is the simplified version. ;D

[AndyZ]

Over-oversimplified version of Shadowrun.

The year is 2070.  Magic is real, and lots of people have been born into different metatypes (races) like elves, dwarves, orcs and trolls.  Monsters exist as well, even dragons.

Technology has evolved to the point of being able to directly interface with your brain, and you can get body parts replaced.  Want chrome cameras or cat's eyes in your skull?  Yours for the right price.

Governments have fallen apart and megacorporations pretty much run everything.  However, some things require independent contractors (aka deniable assets).  Corporations employ Mr. Johnsons to hire on shadowrunners to do the things that megacorporations want done but can't legally pay people to do.

The game allows for an awful lot of leeway, but here's some basic classes:

Street Samurai: Most of your body has been replaced with cybernetic enhancements and you are a killing machine.

Mage: Either a hermetic (books and tomes) or a shamanic (more animistic) approach to magic, but you have the Gift and you can cast spells.

Adept: You have the gift for magic but in a different way.  It lets you jump higher, move faster and so on.  Think kung fu monks and chi.

Hacker: Known as deckers in earlier editions, Hackers go through the Matrix (yes, like that Matrix, but Shadowrun had it first) and worm their way into systems

Technomancers: Like hackers except that your brain is capable of going into the Matrix without any sort of artificial aid.  You just concentrate and your brain handles the rest.

Rigger: You control drones, either vehicles that people ride in or various types of robots.

Face: The charismatic negotiator.

It's also more than possible to be a mix of stuff, but you tend not to be as good with a mix than if you focus on one thing to be best at.  If one of those calls out to you, it may be best to ask about that and learn about that part of the world.

[Thufir Hawat]

After looking over the wiki, it seems most of it is setting information. Although when you look at the items and such, there's more than enough rules to run a diceless system with :P!

Anyway, kudos to you, but attempting to condense 20+ years of setting developments can still end up with quite a bit to read. Even if it's objectively a great reduction, which it doubtlessly is for what I read, it might still be prohibitive for people new to the setting >:).

And if we're talking the system, I can sympathise with Chrystal, the original version of Shadowrun is too rules-heavy and rolls-intensive even for me, and I'm not usually scared of heavy systems ;D!
I guess a summary would be in order, though, or you risk only getting players that are already familiar with Shadowrun 8-).

[Chrystal]

Mmhmm

I know all of that, and I already know I want to be a half-human-half-orc hacker...

In fact, Amazon and I just started a cyberpunk story, called "The Best In The Business" (yeah I know, we're a couple of arrogant bitches), where she's the best Razor-girl around, and I'm her hacker partner (also the best at what I do).

Warning - The RP is Extreme.

Point is, I know cyberpunk inside and out. Gibson is a fantastic author and I really ought to re-read his books! What I don't know is how you intend to turn the complex Shadowrun rulebook into a freeform diceless system? I also don't know how the magical side of shadowrun works...



As an aside, cranial implants are no longer science fiction: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/05/thoughts-control-robotic-arm/

Medical uses come first, then military, then communications, then leisure...

Watch This Space!

In all my Science Fiction RPs, unless there is a good reason not to, characters have a cranial implant!

[AndyZ]

Well, in core Shadowrun, you can't be half and half.  Metatypes between two different types have a 50/50 shot of the child being either one.  However, yeah, you probably know enough to get by.

[Chrystal]

Well, in core Shadowrun, you can't be half and half.  Metatypes between two different types have a 50/50 shot of the child being either one.  However, yeah, you probably know enough to get by.

There you go, you see... What I don't know is the stuff that is specific to Shadowrun.

[TheGlyphstone]

There you go, you see... What I don't know is the stuff that is specific to Shadowrun.

I think that's what their wiki is for. One mage is dedicated to the shortened ruleset, the rest is all/going to be setting info.

[Chrystal]

I think that's what their wiki is for. One mage is dedicated to the shortened ruleset, the rest is all/going to be setting info.

Uh, you mean the wiki is magical? I didn't realise it was all done by individual wizards casting spells to make the content visible....

*giggles*

Sorry, couldn't resist that. I know you meant page...

So, um, yeah... see that's the problem. There is such a LOT of setting info, the difficulty I have is that I don't have time to read all of it... Especially as much of it I already know. It's just those interesting little bits like "You can't be half of one race and half of another" that I need to have pointed out to me!

Please understand, this is not a cr--- well I suppose it is a criticism, but I'm trying to make it a constructive one, if you see what I mean? For people with no knowledge of cyberpunk, they would surely need all the setting details. But then, someone with no knowledge of cyberpunk wouldn't really be interested, would they?

For those of us familiar with the basic concepts of the average CP genre, what would be useful to have would be a summary of the differences, and where to find the details of those differences so we can read up on them if we need to...?



On a slightly different note, I was wondering about the fact that you are putting all this data in the wiki. I'm one of those weird people who look at the wiki tutorial and go catatonic. I would love to construct something like that for my Mars RP, but don't have the time or the ability!

[TheGlyphstone]

I'm not sure if Shadowrun would be considered straight cyberpunk, actually - it's got a lot of the classic CP elements and themes, but the re-integration of magic and fantastical creatures into society is a very strong element, so it's as much urban fantasy as it is cyberpunk. Looking at it like Neuromancer or Blade Runner: The RPG will just leave you confused, so it's probably more friendly towards people who know nothing at all about cyberpunk, by simple virtue of them not accidentally being tripped up by incorrect assumptions.

[Chrystal]

I'm not sure if Shadowrun would be considered straight cyberpunk, actually - it's got a lot of the classic CP elements and themes, but the re-integration of magic and fantastical creatures into society is a very strong element, so it's as much urban fantasy as it is cyberpunk. Looking at it like Neuromancer or Blade Runner: The RPG will just leave you confused, so it's probably more friendly towards people who know nothing at all about cyberpunk, by simple virtue of them not accidentally being tripped up by incorrect assumptions.

Ah, gotcha. See, that is exactly where I'm coming from. I got the impression when I looked at the system that it was "William Gibson meets J.R.R Tolkein, in Terry Pratchet's back garden!"

[TheGlyphstone]

Ah, gotcha. See, that is exactly where I'm coming from. I got the impression when I looked at the system that it was "William Gibson meets J.R.R Tolkein, in Terry Pratchet's back garden!"

Nope. It's a good deal more complex than that, with a lot of nuances that give the setting character but need to be read to be understood. Just for starters, the way demihumans are created...they didn't even exist until the Sixth World began in 2011 by the game's timeline. When magic returned, a  whole bunch of humans spontaneously transformed into orks and trolls, and human babies started being born as elves, dwarves, or weirder things. While it has been 70-odd years in-game since this happened, one of the big elements of the history was all these mythological creatures appearing out of nowhere and trying to fit into a previously all-human society, typically with lots of racism that still hangs around in the present.

Or, from another angle, the way technology and magic have been integrated. They're counter-productive in usage - the more inorganic cyberware you have installed in your body, the harder it is for you to channel magical energy - but they can work alongside or against each other in harmony - if you hack into someone's mainframe, you're just as likely to be fighting an A.I. security program as you are a technology spirit bound into the computer network. So while it does have Gibson influences, and Tolkein elements, it's not easy to directly map said influences.

[Chrystal]

Hmm...

Just out of interest, has anyone else here read a rather intriguingly similar series of novels called "Quantum Gravity" by Justina Robson?

In Robson's world, there are several different "dimensions" which were opened up by something that Humans called the "Quantum Bomb" but which there is severe doubt as to whether it was a bomb, what it was, or whether it actually happened at all... The main dimensions are Demonia, Elfhame and Faerie. There is also Zoomon where the pure elementals come from, and one I can't remember beginning with "Than..." where the dead go. Among others...

Fascinating stories and include a similar combination of technology and magic - again with the two being mutually incompatible. Well worth a read.

[TheGlyphstone]

Nope, but it sounds interesting. Point being, Shadowrun is more Science Fantasy than strict Cyberpunk, with its integrated blending of technology and magic, cyberpunk and urban fantasy. While you can survive playing in the world with a bare-bones rundown of important things (Watch your back, shoot straight, conserve ammo, and never, ever, cut a deal with a dragon."), understanding the world takes more work, though you get a richer experience in the end.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/TabletopGame/Shadowrun?from=Main.Shadowrun
Here's the TV Tropes page if you don't want to wade into the wiki, it's fairly informative( but is TVTropes, so reader beware).

[Chrystal]

Dragons.... hmm....

Any chance of playing a dragon?