simonsays
Initiate Douchebag
Posts: 49
Preferred Game Systems: Shadowrun, GURPS
Favorite Species of Monkey: Howler
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Post by simonsays on Sept 17, 2013 21:43:19 GMT -8
I have question. I am planning on running a street level campaign since the overall reduction in amount of skills and resources to track will make learning the system a little bit easier (I hope). The one thing I do want to do is track ammo expenditure. I want ammo to be rare and expensive, something I think will add some tension to the whole survival on the streets vibe I'm going for (think Metro 2077) I am worried that the tracking of ammo will become too much of a distraction, however, from the overall action. I don't want it to feel like a chore. I was considering handing out index cards for players to use. Does anyone have another suggestion. I briefly toyed with an idea of differently colored beads denoting bullets, clips and loaded weapons, which would be added and subtracted from labeled boxes (sort of like Mancala) but yet again I think it would ultimately be too distracting. Any suggestions would be appreciated
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maxinstuff
Supporter
Posts: 1,939
Preferred Game Systems: DCC RPG, Shadowrun 5e, Savage Worlds, GURPS 4e, HERO 6e, Mongoose Traveller
Favorite Species of Monkey: Proboscis
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Post by maxinstuff on Sept 18, 2013 3:09:18 GMT -8
I think that ammo is actually pretty cheap, so it might be more about enforcing how much ammo they can CARRY than making it rare.
Even at street level it is tempting to buy plenty of ammo at character gen.
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Post by The Northman on Sept 26, 2013 13:22:36 GMT -8
Firstly, I'd say creating characters with what the book offers as a baseline will do more to make the system easy to pick up by being able to follow exactly what's printed through character creation.
Beyond that, you're absolutely going in the right direction by making them keep track of that stuff (the game is, at it's heart, about making money after all) and it's just a matter of making sure they adjust their inventory after each fight. You're only going to be able to carry so much.
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Post by Malex on Jul 5, 2014 7:18:19 GMT -8
I love throwing the idea of 'getting screwed by Mr. J' to the wind. Why would anyone work for this guy if he has a reputation for doing that? Simple answer: those who are too dumb to do legwork or no one would.
Campaigns in Shadowrun are at times difficult, but have you checked out the Shadowrun Missions? These are short modules that are all linked together, so you can do a one-shot or a whole campaign.
If you want the retro feel you can use the 4e Missions, some of which are free to download from Catalyst, and either make your own NPCs or update the existing NPCs in the game to 5e.
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Post by ayslyn on Jul 5, 2014 18:44:07 GMT -8
Why would anyone work for this guy if he has a reputation for doing that? People who can't get legitimate work elsewhere for whatever reason. Shadowrunners aren't norms, either because of their choices, their neurosis, or their attitude. Running the shadows is what they can still get work doing. And Johnson's are the ones that offer that work. You do the job because you need the work.
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Post by Malex on Jul 8, 2014 2:41:02 GMT -8
Why would anyone work for this guy if he has a reputation for doing that? People who can't get legitimate work elsewhere for whatever reason. Shadowrunners aren't norms, either because of their choices, their neurosis, or their attitude. Running the shadows is what they can still get work doing. And Johnson's are the ones that offer that work. You do the job because you need the work. While desperate people will do desperate things, the ones who stay alive longer are the ones who keep their ears to the ground. In game Legwork is where 'Runners go to in order to make sure a Mr. J is not going to attempt a backstab; that information comes from other 'Runners who have worked with the Mr. J before. While they are not 'norms', 'Runners still operate under guidelines that immigrant, migrant, and contract workers have been using for a long time (I being one of the latter) that if the job or the employer sounds too dirty you will walk and tell others of your ilk what you experienced. If they are dirty, that Mr. J will have a reputation and no one will take their jobs; so Mr. J's have to walk a fine line or be completely new to an area if they want to betray the 'Runners. Otherwise, they'll have a well armed team of street mercs prepped for action in the final meet.
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Post by ayslyn on Jul 8, 2014 3:07:59 GMT -8
The difference is that shadowrunners aren't any of those things. They're criminals for hire. Which is a much different kettle of fish. The criminal world is not rainbows and puppies. These are the job conditions and it's what you do. The runners who live longest aren't the ones who don't deal with treacherous Johnsons, but those who are able to minimize their ability to be double crossed or their ability to survive it. Because it's not a question of finding an honest Johnson. Honest businessmen don't need your services.
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Post by Malex on Jul 8, 2014 9:59:11 GMT -8
Even criminals have some standards in regards to whom they deal with, and 'Runner teams are (unwritten) contracted trouble-shooters (hehe) who have no SIN (SSN) that do, sometimes horrible, things for money.
No, the criminal world is not full of good vibes and hippy dippy BS; but even so smart criminals don't take bad deals where they have been told through their network of contacts that "this person who is offering you a job will shoot you in the back". Now I do enjoy the game where the team decides to gain leverage on the Mr. J to avoid that potential double cross: abducting his wife and children, having the critical piece of information that makes them back down, or shooting them up with a neurotoxin that you'll gladly give them the antidote to once they settle up. However, that gets old after you do it once and what is your team going to tell their Fixer? They're going to tell the Fixer how the Mr. J tried to screw them, and that Fixer will likely not be sending talent to that Mr. J ever again and will blackball them with all of their contacts. Thus that Johnson is out of the game, because his reputation will precede him that he's untrustworthy and unreliable.
Ayslyn, I think we're just going to have to agree to disagree on this one and let others decide for themselves how the pieces of their games shall fall.
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Post by The Northman on Jul 10, 2014 17:57:04 GMT -8
I think untrustworthy clients need to be handled like boogeyman stories. Everyone knows someone who got dicked by a Mr J, maybe even a few of them had it happen once, but they all know the stories well enough that there's a healthy amount of paranoia in all their first-time dealings or when they start accepting jobs from people where quick revenge isn't really an option should things go sideways.
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Magic_Octopus
Initiate Douchebag
Posts: 11
Preferred Game Systems: GURPS, Earthdawn
Currently Running: Earthdawn 3rd Edition
Favorite Species of Monkey: Sunda slow loris
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Post by Magic_Octopus on Dec 16, 2014 3:59:19 GMT -8
I'm running a GURPS Shadowrun game for three players. The characters are brothers. The premise is that the youngest character had to take a loan from the Yakuza in order to finance his attempt at pro football. That failed, and now he only has the debt. He asks his brothers to help, and with the guidance of their ex-mercenary uncle they are starting a Shadowrun career.
Because the idea is that they are new to the business, they've only done low level runs so far. And I had a Mr. Johnson screw them over, just to teach them something about the importance of legwork and trust in the criminal world.
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