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Message no. 1
From: "Phillip Menkel" <pmenkel@***.edu>
Subject: new character for new group
Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 06:42:26 -0500 (CDT)
Hello everyone,
I am starting a new group. They told me I have to create a new
character. I only know one person in the group right now. I was
wondering what kind of character you'all would suggest for a new group.
I have no idea of their playing styles or anything. They also have the
basic general characters. Also I have been playing SR for 6-7 years now
mostly GM. I want to play now so I had to join a new group to play.




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Message no. 2
From: The Jestyr <s421539@*******.gu.edu.au>
Subject: Re: new character for new group
Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 22:11:42 +1000 (EST)
> Hello everyone,
> I am starting a new group. They told me I have to create a new
> character. I only know one person in the group right now. I was
> wondering what kind of character you'all would suggest for a new group.
> I have no idea of their playing styles or anything. They also have the
> basic general characters. Also I have been playing SR for 6-7 years now
> mostly GM. I want to play now so I had to join a new group to play.

Well, two suggestions: I'm sure you'd know pretty much (after THAT much
SR experience) what sort of characters you enjoy most - magically active
peeple, in-your-face sammies, subtle company men, "support staff" like
riggers and deckers... so pick what you like and get a basic idea.

Then, go along to one of their games (or more if you can spend the time)
and see what sort of character and style will best fit their group. I'd
suggest finding out what the group needs, but you've had 6 years of GMing
for other people, you're allowed to play what YOU want for a change... :)


Lady Jestyr

------------------------------------------------------
A titanic intellect... in a world full of icebergs
------------------------------------------------------
Elle Holmes s421539@*****.student.gu.edu.au
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1503
------------------------------------------------------
Message no. 3
From: Richard M Conroy <Richard_M_Conroy@***.ir.intel.com>
Subject: Re: new character for new group
Date: Thu, 29 Aug 96 13:44:00 PDT
Philip wrote:
:Hello everyone,
: I am starting a new group. They told me I have to create a new
:character. I only know one person in the group right now. I was
:wondering what kind of character you'all would suggest for a new group.
:I have no idea of their playing styles or anything. They also have the
:basic general characters. Also I have been playing SR for 6-7 years
:now mostly GM. I want to play now so I had to join a new group to
:play.

I think what you really need to do is talk to both your friend and your
GM(arrange to meet/ring him), to find out their styles, and what
holes/niches there are in the team. Once you know that it's just up to
your own personal taste, and what kind of character you want. It's just
that finding out the group style is important if you want to maximise
your own enjoyment.

Richard.
O--------------------------------------------------------------------O
\Food for thought lies in the\Richard_M_Conroy@\Roadkill on the Info \
\depth of an inedible brick. \ccm.ir.intel.com \-rmation SuperHighway\
O-------------------------------------------------------------------O
Message no. 4
From: "Sascha Pabst" <Sascha.Pabst@**********.Uni-Oldenburg.DE>
Subject: Re: new character for new group
Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 15:39:57 +0000
On 29 Aug 96 at 6:42, Phillip Menkel wrote:
> I am starting a new group. They told me I have to create a new
> character. I only know one person in the group right now.
Ask this person what other characters are around in the group. Although it
_is_ unrealistic to decide what char one has by what the others have, it tends
to be quite boring with 3 riggers and one gang member... :-)

> I was
> wondering what kind of character you'all would suggest for a new group.
> I have no idea of their playing styles or anything.
As I said: Get info about what the other players' characters are. This will
tell you something about their style, too ("Hm, 2 Sams, 1 Merc, a Rigger....
of course - low power level game! Hah!" :-).
W/o knowing I'd advise you to have some kind of magician. If one is already
present, good. Astral Combat is best done in greater groups (then the enemies
are). If not, they need a magician urgently, and you should know the rules.
Plus, a magician is IMHO most flexible, with very few changes (spells only)
one can switch from a combat-oriented madman to a peaceful investigator.

Sascha
--
+---___---------+----------------------------------------+--------------------+
| / / _______ | Jhary-a-Conel aka Sascha Pabst |The one who does not|
| / /_/ ____/ |Sascha.Pabst@**********.Uni-Oldenburg.de| learn from history |
| \___ __/ | | is bound to live |
|==== \_/ ======| *Wearing hats is just a way of life* | through it again. |
|LOGOUT FASCISM!| - Me | |
+------------- http://www.informatik.uni-oldenburg.de/~jhary -----------------+
Message no. 5
From: rhoded01@******.STCLOUD.MSUS.EDU (Ahzmandius)
Subject: Re: new character for new group
Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 11:58:31 -0600 (CST)
"When in doubt, go for the basic fighter type" are a few words I seem to
recall right now. My first DM/GM always said to start with a generic
character and expand him/her/it from there. You could, I don't know why,
start with a street rat that is active but a virtual tabula rasa.

Ahz
Message no. 6
From: bluewizard@*****.com (Steven A. Tinner)
Subject: Re: new character for new group
Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 13:27:08 -0500 (EST)
>"When in doubt, go for the basic fighter type" are a few words I seem to
>recall right now. My first DM/GM always said to start with a generic
>character and expand him/her/it from there. You could, I don't know why,
>start with a street rat that is active but a virtual tabula rasa.

True words of wisdom. However, you have said that you are an experienced player.
If you are thinking of playing a shaman, but are unsure what totem to
choose, see if your GM is up for something different.
Rather than choose your totem, allow it to choose you!
Simply pick spells, etc, and then after a game session or two decide with
the GM what totem would be best for your PC.
It takes a lot of work by the two of you, but it can add a lot to the game
by RPing the first encounter with your totem.



Card Carrying Member

The
**HOLLYWOOD**
"Never Empty Six-Gun"
School of Game Mastering

"Put on a good show and fate will smile upon you. Be boring, and you're dead!"
Message no. 7
From: Loki <loki@*******.com>
Subject: Re: new character for new group
Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 12:26:18 -0700
Phillip Menkel wrote:
>
> Hello everyone,
> I am starting a new group. They told me I have to create a new
> character. I only know one person in the group right now. I was
> wondering what kind of character you'all would suggest for a new group.
> I have no idea of their playing styles or anything. They also have the
> basic general characters. Also I have been playing SR for 6-7 years now
> mostly GM. I want to play now so I had to join a new group to play.

I'd find out from the GM if there's any holes needing to be filled or
any limitations he'd place on a character you'd bring in. (i.e. - to
keep the idea that magic is still only 10% of the 6th world, I only
allow two spell-casters in our group of seven at any one time.) If they
all ready have 6-7 characters they may have all the spell-caster,
samauri, decker, rigger bases covered. Mayhaps the GM has some unique
characters from supplements he'd allow someone with your GM experience
to play: our group has rules for play characters like NegaMages,
Vampires, Free Spirits and the like. Check out some of the more popular
S/R sites and you'll find various of these. I have our revamped
versions of the Vampire and NegaMage rules on mine if it helps...


@>-,--'--- Loki

CLARKE'S THIRD LAW:
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.


Poisoned Elves http://www.netzone.com/~loki/
Message no. 8
From: dbuehrer@****.org (David Buehrer)
Subject: Re: new character for new group
Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 14:27:42 -0600 (MDT)
Phillip Menkel wrote:
|
|Hello everyone,
| I am starting a new group. They told me I have to create a new
|character. I only know one person in the group right now. I was
|wondering what kind of character you'all would suggest for a new group.
|I have no idea of their playing styles or anything. They also have the
|basic general characters. Also I have been playing SR for 6-7 years now
|mostly GM. I want to play now so I had to join a new group to play.

I spent quite a few years trying to make characters that
the group needed. Then I played a game where everyone made
what they wanted. It made for a lot of fun and a great
challenge working around the gaps that existed. And the
competiveness that I had expected between similar character
types turned into some pretty awesome teamwork. Now
whenever I make a character I make what I want, not what
the group needs (unless the GM asks me really nicely to
fill a role). If the GM hasn't said anything like, "They
could really use a Decker." then I say make whatever you
want.

-David

/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\ dbuehrer@****.org /^\/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\
"His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like
underpants in a dryer without Cling Free."
~~~~~~http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1068/homepage.htm~~~~~~~
Message no. 9
From: GRANITE <granite@**.net>
Subject: Re: new character for new group
Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 22:27:49 -0700
Phillip Menkel wrote:
>
> Hello everyone,
>I was
> wondering what kind of character you'all would suggest for a new group.

What kind of character used to get your goat the most?? You know the ones
that the player seemed to have so much fun playing..The one that screwed up
your carefully laid plans every single time..While the player sat there and
gloated while you scrambled to pick up the pieces of what used to be a nice
orderly Run..Play one of those..
For myself I started out with a Hermetic Mage..A good starting point for
me..Once I got over the whole stickness I felt about Shaman I tried a Shark
Shaman..Now I had some fun with him..He would never fess up about his
alignment unless asked directly..But my favorite is a big helping of Rigger
with a generous side order of Drones...But of course that is me..And
unfortunately I am not in your new campeign..Play something you want to
play..HmmmmI think I have heard that somewhere before.. :)
--
-------------------------------GRANITE
=================================================================
Lord, Grant Me The Serinity To Accept The Things I Cannot Change,
The Courage To Change The Things I Can,
And The Wisdom To Hide The Bodies Of Those People I Had To Kill
Because They Pissed Me Off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ShadowRunner's Serinity Prayer
Message no. 10
From: "Gurth" <gurth@******.nl>
Subject: Re: new character for new group
Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1996 12:33:33 +0100
Ahzmandius said on 11:58/29 Aug 96...

> "When in doubt, go for the basic fighter type" are a few words I seem to
> recall right now. My first DM/GM always said to start with a generic
> character and expand him/her/it from there. You could, I don't know why,
> start with a street rat that is active but a virtual tabula rasa.

I think that works best if you have no experience with the game system,
because then you only need to know the combat rules, not the
magic/religious/computer/etc. rules of the game. If you've been GMing the
game for 6+ years, you should be able to play almost anything because
you're bound to know the rules that apply to every specific character.

My suggestion is to pick a character that interests you right now, without
really looking at what the other players have. If that means you pick a
decker in a game that already has three of them, the GM should be making
adventures that focus on them anyway, so there's no problem. OTOH, you
could also very well pick a character that doesn't fit in with the rest,
which could lead to interesting situations and conflicting ideas that
lead to a lot of roleplaying.

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Er is een verschil tussen leuk zijn en leuk doen.
-> NERPS Project Leader & Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Page: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/plastic.html <-

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Message no. 11
From: "Mark Steedman" <M.J.Steedman@***.rgu.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: new character for new group
Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1996 13:22:33 GMT
I advise a bit of care.
A lot of comments have been made.

Beware initative inbalance, it may be realistic but if there is a
moderate amount of combat in the campain you don't want some folks
unboosted and some wired 3, some variations fine but too much leads to
the usual boredom or 'oh my action i survey the bodies' syndrome,
though watching things like cover and lighting modofiers and longer
combats helps.

I would say play what you like but.
The GM might not want 2 dedicated riggers, or deckers. Otaku
particularly pose major 'net only geek' problems, with 6 years
experience you can probably avoid these but.
Similarly some folks don't like too much magic

On personalities i'd run anything non-stanard past the GM first some
might not want a 'loner' or party argumentative type, if the GM and
players are up to it some intrigue helps but

Mark

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