Session 0

[Shadowstarr]

28 minutes ago, Roughtrade said:

I'm not disagreeing. I am asking Why.

My point of view is, what does it add to the plot? What does it add to the characters? I only see it as taking away from both.

 

If we are not natives then why do we care about anything that happens. Make our buck and move on.

Game Mechanics. No Area Knowledge. No KS skills about the local gangs, shadows, hide outs, fixers, matrix workers, or police.

If players want to be new to the area, more power to them. Great. Have fun.

 

If we are Denver natives, then we have an investment in making things better, or at least preserving the status quo. We can have family we care about that could be threatened. We could have old school friends for contacts. The guy who became a cop when we went and joined a gang. We can know the names of the streets. We can have plot hooks that are about the character and not just about "I got a two point game mechanics advantage"

 

To me, it is a matter of giving people choices. Maybe I would make a character that was a drifter, caught up in some Denver dreck. Maybe not.

I would prefer to have the choice, especially as I prefer to have characters that are not psychotic loners with no friends, family, or connection to the world.

 

I don't know how else to write it. I thought it would be interesting. You bring up many good points as to the shortcomings of the notion. Thank you for pointing it out.

From the beginning of posting this game, I've tried to offer everyone interested to give input, on what kind of game they would be into. The only real thing I have been sure about is Denver. I am all about player agency. I have not seen any advertised game here in my limited time that even asked what the players wanted, outside of the interest checks.

[Laird_Thorne]

@Shadowstarr - if you went with the Run Faster point/Karma buy, might I recommend the Life Modules system? I’v always liked the way it helped build/frame a background for a character and kind of flesh it out a bit.

[NewSheo]

If I remember correctly, I believe there’s the Sum to Ten method that could also help. Depends on if you want to mess around with the Priority tiers or not.

[Essence]

Howdy! Haven't really played much of 5e but I'm not new to Shadowrun. Game caught my interest certainly!

Street-level games or more basekit established shadowrunning works fine with me, though I lean more towards having a more default start for character creation. Style wise, I favor more serious and black-trenchcoat esque games than anything. Nothing super grimdark or bleak, but over-the-top pink-mohawk isn't really my cup of tea.

Also, since I voted already and can't really edit my vote @Shadowstarr, new runners or established runners are fine for me - of course, given the thread history above, just because someone is new to the Shadows doesn't mean that they don't have an idea on how things work or have access to contacts for jobs unless they're legitimately squeaky-clean SINners who thought that the rest of their life was going to be that of a comfortable and cushy wage-slave.

4 hours ago, Roughtrade said:

If we are Denver natives, then we have an investment in making things better, or at least preserving the status quo. We can have family we care about that could be threatened. We could have old school friends for contacts. The guy who became a cop when we went and joined a gang. We can know the names of the streets. We can have plot hooks that are about the character and not just about "I got a tw. o point game mechanics advantage"

I agree with @Roughtrade here on this point. People new to Denver is fine, high-end Shadowrunners or those experienced in the life definitely wouldn't have a problem relocating different cities. But the thing about that is that high-end veteran runners can usually afford to do that, along with having the ability to follow the contracts and work on whatever makes the most Nuyen. But also, personally, I enjoy making characters that are at least somewhat native to the setting, since it allows me a little agency to fluff up the game with my own contributions to the story and makes things much easier to ensure my character is a more 'active' figure in the narrative as opposed to someone who's purely reactive (not that there's anything wrong with that, it's just not so much my own playstyle).

6 hours ago, NewSheo said:

Is there a definite year that this is taking place in, and I just missed it? Or has that not been decided yet?

I think something was said about 2067 or the late 2060's, so a few years after Ghostwalker kicked out Aztlan from the city and gave their sector to the CAS. If it is post 2067, then the Ute Nation would have also been absorbed into the Pueblo Corporate Council.

Character-wise, if we're allowed to make characters familiar to Denver, I was thinking of making a Runner related to the NAN's still involved with the Denver partition. Either with Pueblo or the Sioux! Not sure on archetype or role or mannerism yet.

[Starhawk]

I asked a few people about the pros and cons of being new to a city and mostly what I got back was..

Isn't that entire point of being new to city?   Everyone has a few superficial contacts.    You got to find your place in the world...

Roughtrade's experience of lots of games having the same start up has not been my experience. I've played in street level games where I was a native of the city. I've played in games where we were experienced runners in our home city who've known each other for a long time. I've played in games where we were in our home city, and had only heard of each other.

 

[Havelock]

I think "New to Denver" is not a bad idea as a starting point, how to bring everyone to the same place, allow players not overly familiar with any Denver source materials to not have to dig too deep, although digging deep into relevant SR lore is fun.

 

But it also creates challenges, since characters would need a reason to go there, maybe easier to pull off if PC's is an already established team that had to run away and knows someone that knows someone in Denver (Perhaps from Aztlan/Aztechnology).

 

Has to be done right I think, since "native to Denver" is easier to work with.

 

Been a (long) while since I read any Denver materials, but from what I remember, Denver is basically the city of political intrigue, where runners have to be more subtle and such, but a certain dragon may have upended the board.

[Starhawk]

Yeah, I've written up a character who is a shadowrunner, but doesn't see herself that way, instead seeing herself as something of a freedom fighter, though she'd grudgingly accept vigilante. She believes she's on the run from Aztechnology, though she's not exactly sure who she was warring against down on the bayou. Whether it was Aztechnology and whether someone is actually chasing her, is something else entirely.

So anyway, connected 'the Azzie running of Tempo through New Orleans' to 'Denver and Ghostwalker's beef with Aztlan', to her story. Seems like an elegant tie in.

Anyway, cue the shot where she's sitting on the bonnet, sorry hood :) , of a car drinking a cup of joe, sorry coffee :), and looking at the distant skyline of Denver set against snow capped mountains.

Edited December 25, 2023 by Starhawk (see edit history)

[NewSheo]

Hard to decide what concept to go with, might end taking a leaf out of Roughtrade’s book and post multiple lol

[Fwog]

I would love to join but I have 0 knowledge of Shadowrun and especially Shadowrun 5e (I'm familiar with the setting and lore, just not the actual rules)

From what I understand we only pitch concepts for now? No actual numbers yet?

Also I would prefer it to be serious with the occasional comedic moments, so somewhere in-between.

Edited December 26, 2023 by Fwog (see edit history)

[Zaathun]

Dropping in to state my interest!

Looks like a blast so far, and most of my thematic questions are answered re:time and Denver.

Mechanics and the like are a thing that I'd rather just trust the GM on, likewise with th vibes or powerlevel. The one thing I'd strongly recommend as worth chatting about for a PbP in particular is how the GM wants to do the Matrix, as it is fun, yet time intensive in 5e!

Would 100% rumble the brain to see if I have any ideas, hope everyone is having lovely holidays!

[Shadowstarr]

1 hour ago, Zaathun said:

Dropping in to state my interest!

Looks like a blast so far, and most of my thematic questions are answered re:time and Denver.

Mechanics and the like are a thing that I'd rather just trust the GM on, likewise with th vibes or powerlevel. The one thing I'd strongly recommend as worth chatting about for a PbP in particular is how the GM wants to do the Matrix, as it is fun, yet time intensive in 5e!

Would 100% rumble the brain to see if I have any ideas, hope everyone is having lovely holidays!

How I'll handle the matrix or Astral action when it isn't along side "real time" players would be like a solo session. Ideally the player who wants the role, can be very active ( as in post daily or more) and e coukd go through some legwork or matrix / Astral recon session Relatively quickly on the side.

I am sure others with mote GM experience have ideas and suggestions. I've always had a dislike of technomancers. Not sure much the concept. More so they add a layer of rules on top of already fairly complex matrix rules.

[Zaathun]

Good to know! It's a wonderful part of it, and I've played many a deckhead, but it's known as pizza time for a reason! Likewise with Astral Space, though there I've mostly just had the experience of players avoid it as much as possible, unfortunately.

[zazamz12]

Hi there! I saw this on the advertised games page, and thought I'd join (replayed Shadowrun Dragonfall and been on a bit of a SR kick lately). I was thinking of making a face, with the idea of them being a former (or possibly current) wageslave trying to keep his legal and shadow life apart at all costs. Looking over the characters that're already there, it doesn't seem like anyone's a face, but I thought I'd check. Is there anything else I should keep in mind for character creation, apart from what's been outlined in the character creation tab?

[Shadowstarr]

1 hour ago, zazamz12 said:

Hi there! I saw this on the advertised games page, and thought I'd join (replayed Shadowrun Dragonfall and been on a bit of a SR kick lately). I was thinking of making a face, with the idea of them being a former (or possibly current) wageslave trying to keep his legal and shadow life apart at all costs. Looking over the characters that're already there, it doesn't seem like anyone's a face, but I thought I'd check. Is there anything else I should keep in mind for character creation, apart from what's been outlined in the character creation tab?

I'll edit it the final character creation rules on the 31st, You are welcome to post your concept by making your own post in the character creation topic.

[NewSheo]

@Shadowstarr Just to confirm, the game is taking place in 2067, correct? Asking because that might alter some backstory stuff for the concept I want to make.