Back to the main page

Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: Luke Kendall <luke@********.CANON.OZ.AU>
Subject: Last SR game for me
Date: Fri, 17 Feb 1995 10:02:00 +1100
Sigh. Lots of dissatisfaction with our current campaign has meant
that we are winding it up tonight. Probably no more SR, ever.

Hours of analysis and discussion about What Went Wrong came up
with these reasons, which I'll share with you for your edification:

Too much roleplaying. There was usually more interaction between
the players than with the world.

Too many players. We had eight, which often slowed things down,
distracted people in side conversations, and people lost track
of what the others were doing, didn't hear important pieces of
information, etc. etc.

Too much history, too many fresh characters. Several long-running
characters had long lists of powerful enemies. The new characters
kept asking themselves `What am I doing hanging around with these
people?' and `Why should I care what happens about <XXX>?' and
`Why won't anyone tell me WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?'

Too many mistakes. Two major characters got filmed by security
companies in the middle of fights (`We call it murder, m'lud'),
and had to leave the group. This introduced still more new
characters (See above problem.)

Rules problems. Even after playing SR for years, we still found
we were running up against holes in the rules, or hunting for
minute details that were buried in obscure places in the rulebooks.

Too subtle GM. A little less realism in the distribution of clues
as to the (six? eight?) major plots running in the background
would have meant that important pieces of information got tied
together.

Unforgiving world. In SR, with the level of surveillance, and the
sophistication possible through computer matching of body shapes to
known felons, it is very easy to make a character Known and Wanted.
This pushed us towards very cautious play (which is not what you'd
call cinematic), and slowed the pace down badly.

Anyway, that's about all I can remember from off the top of my head.
Hope it's useful to the players and GMs out there, as problems to
watch out for and avoid in your own game.

I'll probably sign off the list in the near future, but I certainly
enjoy this mailing list a great deal, so I'll hang around for a bit
longer yet.

Regards all,

luke
Message no. 2
From: Gurth <gurth@******.NL>
Subject: Re: Last SR game for me
Date: Fri, 17 Feb 1995 11:38:04 +0100
>Too many players. We had eight, which often slowed things down,
>distracted people in side conversations, and people lost track
>of what the others were doing, didn't hear important pieces of
>information, etc. etc.
>
>Too much history, too many fresh characters. Several long-running
>characters had long lists of powerful enemies. The new characters
>kept asking themselves `What am I doing hanging around with these
>people?' and `Why should I care what happens about <XXX>?' and
>`Why won't anyone tell me WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?'

You could, of course, try to start again with only three or four players and
completely new characters for everyone. Say that the old characters don't
exist in the "new" SR world you're playing in, so there's no chance of them
ever showing up and complicating things. Maybe also change your characters'
attitudes a bit from those of your previous chars, so they don't get into
RPing among themselves as much...

>Rules problems. Even after playing SR for years, we still found
>we were running up against holes in the rules, or hunting for
>minute details that were buried in obscure places in the rulebooks.

Don't. That bogs it all down to much. If you can't find the rule you're
looking for, my solution is to simply base it on what I can remember. If I
get proven wrong later on, well, too bad.


Gurth@******.nl - Gurth@***.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Every time you shake someone's hand It determines where you stand
Geek Code v2.1: GS/AT/! -d+ H s:- !g p?(3) !au a>? w+(+++) v*(---) C+(++) U
P? !L !3 E? N++ K- W+ -po+(po) Y+ t(+) 5 !j R+(++)>+++$ tv+(++) b+@ D+(++)
B? e+ u+@ h! f--(?) !r(--)(*) n---->!n y?
Message no. 3
From: Inquisitor <ESPD92MS@****.ANGLIA-POLYTECHNIC.AC.UK>
Subject: Re: Last SR game for me
Date: Fri, 17 Feb 1995 12:46:00 GMT
Just because you might never play again, you don't have to leave the list. I
last played SR when I was in Holland last year. All my of my group lives dooted
across the U.S and one lives in Japan. I take part in this list because it is
interesting, fun to read, it has a great diversity of nationalities (sorry
about the Dutch posting, it got a bit out of hand) and because I think that SR2
is one of the best games that I have played since the tender age of 8/9 (I'm
21 now). If you enjoy the list, stay on it, you can still contribute even if
you din't play.
Message no. 4
From: toksick boy <NSPIN0404@*****.NSULA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Last SR game for me
Date: Sun, 19 Feb 1995 01:19:44 -0600
I suggest you shouldn't feel the need to leave this list, either...
I haven't played SR since 91-92...I've never even SEEN the SR2 rules
(although I hope to soon!)...yet I still find this group a wonderful
source for concepts, ideas, amusement, and inspiration. Being a
cyberpunk artist, many of the ideas expressed here morph into ideas for
my images and paintings. I also take heart in knowing there are people
out there who love SR as much as I do.


Sure..take a preak from GMing...take a break from playing...but don't
write off such a good game because you had problems...the problems can be
resolved with time and work...maybe it's not worth that to ya...that's
understandable...but hanging around here might give you the extra
interest, support, and push to keep enjoying Shadowrun!

Dave

--
Dave Pine "I wasn't when wasn't wasn't cool." |Geek Code: GFA/GCS d---(----)
Digital Samurai http://rever.nmsu.edu/~maldrin/|h-->---- s++:- au+ w+++ C++++
maldrin@****.nmsu.edu artistcypherpunkwierddood|N+++ W++>++++ V+ Y++ R+ tv b+
NSPIN0404@*****.nsula.edu /\/"only connect"\/\ |>+++ D++ u** h! r++>+++ !n
y?
Message no. 5
From: Renegade <a018907t@*********.SEFLIN.LIB.FL.US>
Subject: Re: Last SR game for me
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 11:26:39 -0500
I haven't even played or owned the SRII sourcebook (How's that
for behind the times) but I still enjoy the list and the people on it.

| GAT GC 2.0
"'Tis true; there's magic in the web | d--(++) H>++ s+: g+ !p !au a- w(+) v(++)
of it;" - Othello, Act 3 Scene 4 | C++++ US P? !L !3 E N++(+++) K? w--- M-
William Shakespeare | V -po+(+++) Y+ t 5 j+>+++ R+>+++$ G+>++++
| tv+ b+++ D+ B--- !e+>+++ u** h+ f+ r+
| n---- y+>$ *laugh*
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joel Ricker | Renegade | a018907t@*********.seflin.lib.fl.us | THIS SPACE
| jricker@*******.fsu.edu | FOR RENT

Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about Last SR game for me, you may also be interested in:

Disclaimer

These messages were posted a long time ago on a mailing list far, far away. The copyright to their contents probably lies with the original authors of the individual messages, but since they were published in an electronic forum that anyone could subscribe to, and the logs were available to subscribers and most likely non-subscribers as well, it's felt that re-publishing them here is a kind of public service.

Thwap!