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From:	Darryl Baker dpb@**.com
Subject:	Starting a new Campaign
Date:	Mon, 2 Oct 2000 22:26:07 -0500

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From:	NeoJudas neojudas@******************.com
Subject:	Starting a new Campaign
Date:	Mon, 2 Oct 2000 23:09:22 -0500

Message no. 2 From: "Darryl Baker" <dpb@**.com>
Subject: Starting a new Campaign

> I'm new to the list and have not yet read the FAQ so if I'm asking any
stupid questions that are asked all the time and answered in the FAQ please
set your flamers on private.

"flamers on private"... thats a new one...

> I'm starting a new campaign while I will write mostly my own stuff but I
also want to reuse some of the old commercial adventures. I would like to
mix my plot line in with the FASA one. I have some questions.

Hey, good questions are always good things. Stupid questions can be too
for that matter... ;-)

> I think I will run the game under third edition rules only. I guess I will
use the third edition SOTA also. Though I think I'll start my time line at
2050. Any comments?

None at this point in time. However, if you do so, I would suggest that you
consider what 'warez' are available to the characters. Many players and
their GM's are incredible sticklers when it comes to this detail. And, as
you "move through the timeline" you will find that by beginning with
gear/warez of the "2061" game, you will discover a staleness to the game as
it develops.

> Has anyone already converted the stats for the old adventures to third
edition? I have almost all of them.

I have converted some, but have not posted them because of copyright
infringements and related problems with FASA Corporation. In fact, I was
working on doing this as a "submission" to FASA Corporation, but their
current schedule in-the-works does not have a lot of room to do this.

> What are your opinions on the FASA adventures?

They were good for the time(s) they were released, and some (Universal
Brotherhood) were generations in potential ahead of the others. Numerous
loopholes exist in several of them however, but a capable GM and
understandable player-base can more than make up for those short-sighted
places.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
J. Keith Henry (Webmaster)
Hoosier Hacker House (www.hoosierhackerhouse.com)

From:	Aristotle antithesis@**********.com
Subject:	Starting a new Campaign
Date:	Tue, 3 Oct 2000 01:58:21 -0400

Message no. 3 <Darryl Baker> ...I'm starting a new campaign while I
> will write mostly my own stuff but I also want to reuse
> some of the old commercial adventures. I would like
> to mix my plot line in with the FASA one. I have
> some questions...
</Darryl Baker>

This sounds very much like what I have been doing in my campaign. I have
an underlying campaign that I weave into published adventures and the
periods between runs. This is working very well at this stage as most of
what I am doing is foreshadowing and introduction to my campaign.

<Darryl Baker> ...I think I will run the game under third
> edition rules only. I guess I will use the third
> edition SOTA also. Though I think I'll start my time
> line at 2050. Any comments?...
</Darryl Baker>

As someone else mentioned, you don't want to run things that early with
all of the tech from SR3 as things will seem stagnant after a few years. I
personally am using only the tech in the core rules. Technology from the
other books (Cannon Companion, Man & Machine, Magic in the Shadows, etc..)
is being introduced very slowly and as realistically as possible. I've
also taken care to use corporate names and products from the time I am
running in.

I was originally going to start in 2050 as well, but didn't want to wait
that long before any of the major campaign/plot lines. I've decided to
start in 2054. That gives them two years to make names for themselves
before that fateful trip into Chicago *evil laughter*. Then into the
election, a mob war, the corporate rumblings..

While I would love to be running in 2060 I have a complete table of 6
players with no SR experience. They were becoming overwhelmed with rules..
so I decided to take them back and show them all the plots and schemes
that has made me love Shadowrun. They are doing much better.

<Darryl Baker> ...Has anyone already converted the stats
> for the old adventures to third edition? I have almost
> all of them...
</Darryl Baker>

I have been converting on the fly and making judgment calls for the most
part.. I suppose that fits my free form style of GMing a bit more than
cold, hard, conversions.

<Darryl Baker> ...What are your opinions on the FASA
> adventures?...
</Darryl Baker>

While there is the ocasional fracture of the rules or plot that doesn't
seem to fit the SR universe I have found that 90% of the adventures are
very fun.. and often introduce GM styles that I might not try on my own.

Just my $0.02,
Travis "Aristotle" Heldibridle

From:	Gurth gurth@******.nl
Subject:	Starting a new Campaign
Date:	Tue, 3 Oct 2000 10:46:39 +0200

Message no. 4 According to Darryl Baker, at 22:26 on 2 Oct 00, the word on the street
was...

> I'm new to the list and have not yet read the FAQ so if I'm asking any
> stupid questions that are asked all the time and answered in the FAQ
> please set your flamers on private.

Do read the FAQ, it will save you a lot of trouble later if you're of the
"reply before quote" or "quoting? what's quoting?" school of e-mailers
:)
BTW, could you set up your mailer to word-wrap at around 72 or 76
characters? Your paragraphs are all on one long line, which can be hard to
read in some mailers.

> I think I will run the game under third edition rules only. I guess I
> will use the third edition SOTA also. Though I think I'll start my time
> line at 2050. Any comments?

Starting in 2050 is cool, because it means you can do two things: 1) make
the players see/be involved in the major events of the SR world of the
past 10+ years, and 2) start the players off with only the equipment and
things that were available back then, and introduce all the rest when the
game timeline reaches the point at which books like the SSC or FoF were
introduced.

I ran a similar campaign for about two years in which we played the FASA-
published adventures in chronological order, and it worked pretty well.

> Has anyone already converted the stats for the old adventures to third
> edition? I have almost all of them.

You don't really need to convert things, I feel. The basic stats remain
the same anyway, so all you really need to do is change over a couple of
skills and update weapon and vehicle stats. Those last two you can do on
the fly by grabbing the relevant book when necessary (that is, if you
can't remember the SR2/SR3 damage code for a typical weapon of the type an
NPC is using) while updating skills can follow the simple guideline that
the NPC has all the skills into which an SR1/SR2 skill was split in SR3.
For example, if it says "Firearms: 3" just assume the NPC has a skill of 3
in all skills such as Pistols, SMGs, Rifles, and so on. If that's too
broad for you, you can rule that the NPC has the relevant skills for all
the weapons he or she is carrying at that level.

> What are your opinions on the FASA adventures?

See http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/shadowrun/7300.html for my opinions on
most of the ones I own :)

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
It was a warning shot that missed.
-> NAGEE Editor * ShadowRN GridSec * Triangle Virtuoso <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Page: http://plastic.dumpshock.com <-

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