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Message no. 1
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Shiro BsquLadat)
Subject: how do you see shadowrunners?
Date: Wed Feb 27 17:55:01 2002
I just wanted to ask this: how do you people view
shadowrunners in your games? Are they heroes,
cold-hearted criminals out for the cash (my personal
favorite) or just people trying to survive? And how is
the power level in your games? Average (the runners
have statistics lets say double that of a normal
evryday joe) or out of this world (The players are
almost god-like after 50 karma, easily capable of
taking whole installations by themselves).
Just wondering.

====-It didn't look so big in paper!!!!
-Ideas grow,Shiro.Sometimes bigger than life!

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Message no. 2
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Thanatos)
Subject: how do you see shadowrunners?
Date: Wed Feb 27 19:15:01 2002
On Wed, 27 Feb 2002, Shiro BsquLadat wrote:

> I just wanted to ask this: how do you people view
> shadowrunners in your games? Are they heroes,
> cold-hearted criminals out for the cash (my personal
> favorite) or just people trying to survive? And how is
> the power level in your games? Average (the runners
> have statistics lets say double that of a normal
> evryday joe) or out of this world (The players are
> almost god-like after 50 karma, easily capable of
> taking whole installations by themselves).
> Just wondering.

It all depends on the player and how s/he perceives the character. I've
had cold-blooded mercenaries who's only thought was the bottom line, naive
dissafected corporate children hoping to change the world for the better,
and gangers trying to take that next step to elevate themselves out of the
street. My previous campaign revolved around an ex-runner turned priest
who hired out the group for a series of runs that tried to make amends for
everything he'd done in his criminal career.

The power level of my game is also a function of the players. Some people
prefer just making enough on the few runs they get to scrape by with a
little extra left over for a new gun or some conjuring materials. Others
like the fast paced, high powered games where the team's resources allow
them to contemplate runs like infiltrating remote R&D facilities to loot
and burn.

I should mention, though, that lethality is in direct proportion to power
level. Small mistakes might go unnoticed in a street level campaign, but
a tactical error or lapse of judgment in a high powered campaign will send
a character home in a body bag.

ACP

-------------------------------------------------------------

The essence of life is struggle and its goal
is domination. There are higher goals and
deeper meanings, but they exist only within
the mind of man. The reality of life is war.

-- The Way and The Power
Lovret
Message no. 3
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Downtym)
Subject: how do you see shadowrunners?
Date: Wed Feb 27 20:30:01 2002
On Wed, 27 Feb 2002, Shiro BsquLadat wrote:

> I just wanted to ask this: how do you people view
> shadowrunners in your games?

Totally depends on the player. My NPC's go the range from Robin Hood
style 'Runner to Terminator style 'Runner. I try to play it as human
as possible and, if nothing else, I've learned that very few humans
are alike.

> And how is the power level in your games? Average (the runners
> have statistics lets say double that of a normal
> evryday joe) or out of this world (The players are
> almost god-like after 50 karma, easily capable of
> taking whole installations by themselves).

I like to push the envelope and toss insanely hard missions at my
players when starting a new campaign. I've had to many stop and go
campaigns because people didn't know what the game was about or
something bit them in the rear a few sessions down the line and they
get spooked. So, I do about 4 'beginning' runs that get the characters
up to around 30 karma or so. These beginning runs are probably harder
and more tactical operations with a lot of dice rolling than
role-playing and their sole, shared purpose is to say, "Shadowrun
isn't D&D. It isn't Cyberpunk2020. It isn't this, it isn't that. This
is what it is."

In the time of the 4 runs, I introduce any new players (Fancy this: of
6 campaigns I've run in 3 years, I've only had 2 recurring players.
=/ I do a lot of newbie breaking in and then people move away or go
to different colleges or drop out. *sigh*) to the world of Shadowrun
and give them a trial by fire. In that time, I break their wills and
summon the dark lord Cthulhu to twist their....um....nevermind.

Personally, I like to play 'over the top' campaigns where the stakes
are the world and losing just isn't an option. I find these to be a
lot more fun than just going from run to run, getting cash, and
killing bad guys. I was always a fan of the 'epic' campaigns in D&D
and other roleplaying games where your character was a random event
waiting to change the course of history. I disliked the day-to-day
dungeon crawl campaigns where you're just another +3 armor wearing
guy.

Most of the themes in my campaigns are larger than life and revolve
around my own evolving storyline of the Horrors returning to the
planet. I also mix and match major events in the SR universe and throw
those at my players ("You've been shopping in the Renraku
Arcology, looking for that special gift for your fixer when an
alarm goes off......").

Downtym |
Email: gte138j@*****.gatech.edu | Post no bills
Message no. 4
From: shadowrn@*********.com (George S Waksman)
Subject: how do you see shadowrunners?
Date: Wed Feb 27 21:00:00 2002
Shiro BsquLadat wrote:

>I just wanted to ask this: how do you people view
>shadowrunners in your games? Are they heroes,
>cold-hearted criminals out for the cash (my personal
>favorite) or just people trying to survive?

Any and all of the above, Shadowrunners are what the players make them. If the player
wants to have an underground hero, so be it, if the player wants a cutthroat psycho, so be
it. The specific personality doesn't much matter on its own, what matters is how the rest
of the world and the other players respond to the characters actions. Lone star isn't
going to care if you shot a guy in the middle of the street because he was evil or because
you wanted money, they care that you shot a guy in the middle of the street. Similarly,
the heroic player and the greedy, selfish player are going to argue. They play what they
want and everything has consequences.

>And how is
>the power level in your games? Average (the runners
>have statistics lets say double that of a normal
>evryday joe) or out of this world (The players are
>almost god-like after 50 karma, easily capable of
>taking whole installations by themselves).
>Just wondering.

Firstly, 50 karma is a lot but a god it does not make. 50 karma is enough to increase your
stats and attributes by a few points making you better but not unbelievable. Secondly, you
don't need to be super powerful to take on an installation by yourself unless your plan is
to go in the front door and assault anything in your way. A smart starting character can
easily outdo any super powerful idiot. I've seen entire buildings full of terrorists taken
out by a group about 6 without any fatalities (the terrorists were not killed, just dealt
with) and no hostages were lost. These weren't super characters, they just played well
(average of about 10-20 karma).

If you want a way to compare the PCs to the enemy look in the SR Companion, it has plenty
on the subject.

-George Waksman
Message no. 5
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Holly Feray)
Subject: how do you see shadowrunners?
Date: Wed Feb 27 23:35:07 2002
On Wed, 27 Feb 2002 14:59:11 -0800 (PST) Shiro BsquLadat
<shirogr@*****.com> writes:
> I just wanted to ask this: how do you people view
> shadowrunners in your games?
Response 1:
I unfortunately have had them (the PC's, not all runners) viewed as good
guys, but I am a thinking that may vacillate a bit now that you mentioned
it.



Are they heroes,
> cold-hearted criminals out for the cash (my personal
> favorite) or just people trying to survive? And how is
> the power level in your games?

Response 2:
They are all seasoned operatives point wise, though not necessarily
personality wise.

Average (the runners
> have statistics lets say double that of a normal
> evryday joe) or out of this world



Response 3:
Lets just say that fast is an attribute that is prized here. Strong is
not the choice way to go as you can cyber up till the cows come home and
I am thinking pre cyber stats. Skills are phenomenally high and stats
are all above average.

Abiento,
Bandit(dans a la mission en France and shooting at the bad man who took
her oreos, Rat te te TAT TAT!)
Holly
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Message no. 6
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Lone Eagle)
Subject: how do you see shadowrunners?
Date: Thu Feb 28 05:15:01 2002
>I just wanted to ask this: how do you people view
>shadowrunners in your games?

In the group at the moment we have a couple of totally amoral characters, a
couple of naive corpers playing at running, an ecowarrior, a dark twisted
SOB and a proffesional with a heart of gold (although it's a very small one
and very well hidden)

Having two GMs means we can vary the style a bit (with a lot of
communication between the two of us.) I tend to take my cues from the novels
and similar stuff, although rather than saving the world and stuff they tend
to simply be saving their little bit of it (or just making a pile of cash to
retire on) the other GM has a different take on things and plays the
conspiracy theory angle a lot more, but brings the corps' focus a lot closer
to the players allowing them to use bring greater resource levels to bear.
We both try to make sure it's gritty and nasty and very dangerous to kill a
cop but we do it in different ways both styles work (i just wish I could
play in one of mine!)

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Message no. 7
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Wallace Blade)
Subject: how do you see shadowrunners?
Date: Thu Feb 28 05:20:01 2002
Shiro said:
>I just wanted to ask this: how do you people view
>shadowrunners in your games? Are they heroes,
>cold-hearted criminals out for the cash (my personal
>favorite) or just people trying to survive? And how is
>the power level in your games? Average (the runners
>have statistics lets say double that of a normal
>evryday joe) or out of this world (The players are
>almost god-like after 50 karma, easily capable of
>taking whole installations by themselves).
>Just wondering.

My people view shadowrunners as crimminals, that kill for money and capable
of even worse things for cash. My players, instead, view them as guys that
just want to survive in a world that doesn't welcome them.
On the other side, they're little over Joe Average (100 creation points).

Wallace Blade
Sepherim (Dagger in sperethiel)
"The Matrix was made to serve,
but only obeys those of us that love her."
Nodo 666: http://www16.brinkster.com/sepherim


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Message no. 8
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Damion Milliken)
Subject: how do you see shadowrunners?
Date: Fri Mar 1 02:00:01 2002
Shiro BsquLadat writes:

> I just wanted to ask this: how do you people view
> shadowrunners in your games? Are they heroes,
> cold-hearted criminals out for the cash (my personal
> favorite) or just people trying to survive? And how is
> the power level in your games? Average (the runners
> have statistics lets say double that of a normal
> evryday joe) or out of this world (The players are
> almost god-like after 50 karma, easily capable of
> taking whole installations by themselves).
> Just wondering.

Heh. They range from all of those, and to much more in between and past each
extreme. It depends on the player and the character in question.

In my experience, the majority of shadowrun characters I've encountered
(which is rather a few, I might add) tended to be selfish, greedy,
merciless, murderous, amoral, mercenary types as far as personalities went.

As for stats, these, too range the full gamut from 'super weenie' to 'mega
munchkin'. The majority, however, tended to be in what I would call the
'powergamer' regime, with an individual character easily capable of taking
on an entire squad of well equipped security goons by themselves.

--
Damion Milliken University of Wollongong
Unofficial Shadowrun Guru E-mail: dam01@***.edu.au
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Message no. 9
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Bira)
Subject: how do you see shadowrunners?
Date: Fri Mar 1 09:15:00 2002
On Fri, 1 Mar 2002 17:55:05 +1100
Damion Milliken <dam01@***.edu.au> wrote:

>
> In my experience, the majority of shadowrun characters I've encountered
> (which is rather a few, I might add) tended to be selfish, greedy,
> merciless, murderous, amoral, mercenary types as far as personalities went.

Actually, I guess you could apply that to many RPG characters out there,
not just shadowrunners. No matter what's written on the character sheet,
that's the way they tend to be played...

--
Bira -- SysOp da Shadowland.BR
http://www.shadowlandbr.hpg.com.br
Redator de Shadowrun da RPG em Revista
http://www.rpgemrevista.f2s.com
Message no. 10
From: shadowrn@*********.com (pete filipe)
Subject: how do you see shadowrunners?
Date: Fri Mar 1 10:35:01 2002
> Shiro BsquLadat writes:
> > I just wanted to ask this: how do you people view
> > shadowrunners in your games? Are they heroes,
> > cold-hearted criminals out for the cash (my
> personal
> > favorite) or just people trying to survive?

In my group, there really aren't any heroes. My
campaign is known mostly for its grey and ambiguous
sense of morality. I think the tone of our game is
summed up best with one of my character's more famous
quotes: "Hello, we're the bad guys."

One present character is completely immoral to the
point that his player feels he's a threat to his own
group at times(hi Coyote). Other former characters
have in the past sided with Darke and the Enemy, even
if only briefly.

That being said, most characters in my game do have
lines they won't cross. While they aren't necessarily
"good" (especially in the D&D sense), they are mostly
"honourable" (or neutral in the D&D sense). In a fight
between Good and Evil, most would side with Good, but
go about the fight in a very dirty way.

> And how is
> the power level in your games? Average (the
> runners
> have statistics lets say double that of a normal
> evryday joe) or out of this world (The players are
> almost god-like after 50 karma, easily capable of
> taking whole installations by themselves).
> Just wondering.

And just who is god-like after 50 karma? There are
very powerful charcters in my game (some dating from
the very inception of SR), but no one was ever
god-like at 50 karma. That said, I guess "god-like"
is a relative term: if you play a fully tripped out
beginner runner, but you only face mudanes, then you
are pretty god-like. My players go up against much
more serious opposition, but they themselves would
generally be considered powerful by most standards.

Pete
player, GM, and general SR addict

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