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Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: Fahnuir <FAHNUIR@******.BITNET>
Subject: Starting a new party
Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1993 20:02:17 PRT
Hi everybody


I'd like to hear some opinions from you about how to introduce Shadowrun to
a group of 10 people who don't even know exactly what a RPG is ( I HATE living
in this underdeveloped country ). They've already started to create their chara
cters, but i don't how i shouls advise them in character creation ( you see, i'
ve played for 3 years as a player with 4 diffrent GM, and i got a little to adi
cted in some kind of spells, weapons, etc...). I don't want to influence them i
n any way. I want them to be themselves, not to create clones of my characters.
But THEY DON'T KNOW S**T ABOUT MAGIC, CYBERPUNK MOVEMENT AND STUFF LIKE THAT.
I will only be their GM because they look realy interested in knowing about it
. Tell me also what kind of mission should i make them first ( I was thinking a
bout SILVER ANGEL, but i fear that it may be too complicated for them.)

Thanx for your answers
Fahnuir

In your room, i feel you and i just can't get enough...
Judas
Message no. 2
From: The Deb Decker <RJR96326@****.UTULSA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Starting a new party
Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1993 22:08:43 GMT
>But THEY DON'T KNOW S**T ABOUT MAGIC, CYBERPUNK MOVEMENT AND STUFF LIKE THAT.

Hard Sell. How good are you at writing?

Seriously, one thing I did when I GM'd was write up 1 or 2 page papers that
sort of acted as a FAQ for whatever campaign I was running. Campaign background,
basic game mechanics, and other things digested for immediate understanding.
If you do that for each one of those topics and hand your players the pages,
it'll help them understand things and prompt questions for you to answer. It
focuses things for you.

As for characters, rather than recommend certain spells, equipment, and skills
that you use, I would tell them which ones are used frequently and help out
the most. For instance Willpower is really important for magic, both for caster
and subject, and that Intelligence and Quickness determine Reaction, and how
important Initiative can be. Cite a few examples.

Point out some special combinations of equipment. For instance, the rangefinder/
smartlink/grenade set-up. ALso point out neat combinations that will be of
limited use.

I would spend your first 'session' getting everyone together and going over
characters an mechanics, perhaps running a few rules sections (decking, combat,
magic) with the assumption that it won't affect the campaign much, and then
actually starting play at a later date.


J Roberson

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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!