Don't do five way conversations :) then problem solved. Most threads I run have two or three players in it. Three works really well. Four becomes a crowd.  Occasionally they get together for planning or something, but then they usually have a chairman, lots of side conversations and ... those threads are as hard to run as combat.

But put two or three players into a thread and they'll have a blast chatting or investigating or doing stuff. Takes hardly any effort as they do all the work. Everything grinds to a near halt with combat though, and I have to do a lot more work.

Being lazy I like to dodge that 'more work' as much as possible so I have tweaked the rules systems so that only the players roll the die most of the time. They roll to hit, and they roll to dodge. That way all I have to do is a bit of fluff. You can do that with shadowrun quite easily. Just 'buy hits' for the bad guys (don't do that for the big bads of course... just minions).

I've played in a M&M2 game with you Sir Swindle I think (A long time ago, I haven't played M&M2 for many years). Works there too. Actually better. In shadowrun it changes the die distribution (for the better I think, but it's still a change). In M&M it's identical.

Ya, getting the back and forth die rolling simplified down to one roll is pretty necessary.

I've hit up a few M&M games on here. Tried to run them but it didn't really work out.

I've discovered that the best way to run combat seems to be: "Everyone post their actions and I'll resolve in order".   Otherwise, it takes a week per rather than a day or two.

Ya, that's what I do.

Also having a schedule seems to help. "Combat rounds will be resolved on Tuesdays and Fridays" or something like that. Then you make sure you know "reserve" actions that the PCs will take of they don't post, in SR it's almost always I shoot the guy with my gun.

Total agreement Hunter/Sir Swindle. Players go. GM goes. Players go. repeat

While there's alot about the SR3 system I dont miss (I remember cross referencing 3 different source books to determine the correct target number for a die roll) I do miss the Task Pools that system had. It meant that two characters with the exact same stats could be played quite differently depending on how the Task Pools were utilised.

Good morning chums.

Ola, everyone.

Everyone, please don't forget that we have open threads in several categories in addition to Community Chat.

Ask the DMs: For those rules that you can't quite figure out.  Also, for discussion of said rules.

Orphaned Characters: for characters that you've never gotten to play, the game fizzled out before getting going, etc.

Game Ideas: An idea for a campaign (or just a few scenarios) that you'd like to GM or play.

I'd like to make a motion to change the title of Orphaned Characters to Character Ideas.

"Orphaned" is a built-in sob story. It shouldn't notably matter if a character saw a game or you just liked the idea and built it out.

Agreed 100%

In reply to Sir Swindle (msg # 23):

Okay, done!
This message was last updated by the player at 07:21, Mon 07 Aug 2023.

Let's get some discussion going, shall we?

Okay, here's the question.  How do you make a self opening parachute, what components does it need, and how much will it cost?

Tie the rope to the plane like they do for paratroopers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...%20a%20preset%20time

.it takes a computer a sensor and an actuator. A commlink (100 nuyen in sr5) has the computer and the sensor (a modern smartphone has enough). The actuator is probably another 10 nuyen if you buy one. And a box to put everything in ... that's probably as much as the rest... call it 90 nuyen for nice round numbers

The parachute itself will support it. Today there are many countries where it is mandatory to have such devices

Summary... 200 nuyen and about an hours work for someone that knows what they are doing (plus the parachute)
This message was last edited by the player at 08:23, Sun 20 Aug 2023.

So some more general question about gaming: just to get a chat going

Race:
If people were going to play in a shadowrun game would they prefer a 'simple mostly human/orc/elf' sort of game, or would they want to play some of the more exotic (and unbalanced... but who cares about balance) races. i.e. pixies, were creatures, free spirits, AI, trolls (I put them here because they are as broken as pixies)...

Flavour
Do people most like playing

• Shadowrunners in a 'all guns blazing' 'shoot their way in and get the loot' style
• Sneaking/skulking... no one even knew they were there
• Normal people in the 20XXs
• Working for the corps
• Doc Wagon/Trauma Team (a special case of working for the corps)

Power level
Do people like

• Street level
• 'Normal' as per books (which is pretty potent)
• 'Prime Runner' (i.e. has been around the blocks a few times)

What to play

• Cyber street samurai
• Mage/Shaman (aka spell caster with or without spirits)
• Physical Adept
• Technomancer
• Other

Alignment

• I want wetwork
• Who cares if we have some collateral damage?
• Let's not kill anyone unless we have to
• I don't kill people
• Goody two shoes

Game version

• Homebrew
• SR 1..2...3...4...5...6

My preference:

• Races: I like the exotic races because I have played the normal races a lot, and I like the differences.
• Flavour: I like the 'no one knew we were there' or the Doc Wagon/Trauma team... both great
• Powerlevel: I like to start at normal and get better quite quickly.
• Alignment: Ideally 'I don't kill people' +/1 on that scale
• What to play... actually I'm OK with most. Probably mystic adept or technomancer > Mage > Cyber Samurai but the > is a small >
• Game version. Homebrew (because SR is so very very very complicated requiring so very many die) or SR5

My preference:
Races: Human (allows more options for archetype) > Orc (enough physical bonuses to justify not picking human while not limiting archetype)
Flavour: mirrorshades > pink Mohawk (in appropriate setting like Blackout), would like to try a working for the corp team
Powerlevel: Normal if there’s decent karma and Nuyen given out at the end of a run, prime runner if going for the big runs
Alignment: Ranges based on character, generally neutral
What to play: have not played a Technomancer or decker, adept/street Sam is my go to
Game version: SR5 or 6

My preferences

• Races:  Like Siran, I've done the core races quite a bit.   And I've found that playing an exotic tends to come with hooks of it's own.   Plus, I seem to have a connection to fairies....so Pixies!
• Flavour:  I'm fairly open to anything, really.
• Power Level:  I like Prime Runner for online games, myself.   I'm open to really anything but street level: scrounging for resources is too much like real life for me.
• What to Play: Mages and Shooters.
• Alignment: One of my old go-to was Elven Hitman; but I really prefer to avoid body counts.
• Game Version: I've played 2nd, 3rd, and 5th.  My current jam is 5th.

My preferences:

Races: I'm elf ride or die here
Power Level: Normal and up
What to play: Mages and Technomancers
Alignment: Only necessary killing
Game Version: most experienced with 4e

Hello all!

Preferences:

Race: Human or Elf, mostly
Flavor: Depends on the team and the run.
Power Level: Prefer normal/book level, but 'Prime Runner' has its appeal, too.
What to Play: PhysAd, then Decker (or Decker/Rigger in SR5). Haven't tried Technomancer yet
Alignment: While collateral damage is sometimes unavoidable, it tends to make enemies...
Game Version: SR5. I haven't had a chance to try SR6 (or, for that matter, SR3).

Preferences:

Race: Elf and Troll usually but I'm open to about anything, really like the idea of a Tiger Shifter but they tend to get shafted being dual natured in 4th.
Flavor: Sneaking and Skulking is my preferred but typical Shadowruns/Trauma team and Corp are all very delicious flavors!
Power Level: Normal or up, I don't like struggling, much like Hunter I can do that in real life just fine :P
What to Play: Depends on the addition but I have a soft spot for Cyber Samurai and Possession Shamans...Voodoo anyone?
Alignment: I believe in escalation, the more I escalate the more the bad guys do...so I start off with as little death as I can manage but make sure I have the tools to blend if it's necessary, but not my preference.
Game Version: SR4 and SR5, played 3 briefly and haven't even looked at 5e

Hello chummers.

Preferences:

Race: Dwarf
Flavor: Gritty
Power Level: normal/book level
What to Play: Face/Struggling Musician or Street Doc/Chemist/Drug Boosting User.  I've also had fun with Enchanting adept or Ex-Merc
Alignment: As little killing as possible.  Heavy planning and surgical precision are his preferred style.
Game Version: SR1, SR4, and SR5.

Gday, see my answers below, typically I have thoughts on each of the options presented to provide context for my choices.

Race:
Human because from a purely game mechanics character generation point of view, they deliver the most bang for buck. I've always wanted to play a Troll Mage or Physical Adept but felt I had to make too many compromises to do so.

Flavour

• Guns Blazing is usually my default style of shadowrun - typically most games spend many hours doing an intricate plan which fails for some reason either before or shortly after commencing excution. Then going 'screw it' and just go in winging it with all guns blazing.
• Sneaking/skulking... - After playing years of shadowrun, I can probably count on both hands the number of times successfully pulled off a 'sneaking' shadowrun adventure.
• Normal people in the 20XXs - No Desire, never played
• Working for the corps - Something I think could be interesting to do, but never had a GM or group want to try this.
• Doc Wagon/Trauma Team (a special case of working for the corps) - See above.

Power level

• Street level - Good for grittier/dark face to face games which can be fun, but the capability of characters can be frustrating.
• 'Normal' as per books (which is pretty potent) = I prefer to start off at the default power level for  F2F games because they proceed at a decent pace so Karma gets handed out regularly enough that you can actually raise something in a reasonable irl time frame.
• 'Prime Runner' (i.e. has been around the blocks a few times) - Prefer Prime Runner for online games as game progress is from a crawl if its chat based game eg Discord/Skype with irl time between having enough karma to raise anything 1-2 months, or molasses if doing Pbp where it can be irl  6 months to a Year to save up enough karma under SR5 to be able to raise anything on a character.

Alignment
I've played all kinds of Alignment, early in my shadowrun 'career' I was pretty much consistently a murderhobo ('I want wetwork') and bounced between 'who cares if we have some collateral damage' and 'lets not kill unless we have to' Only tried the last two a few times and they were... interesting.. and challenging... but certainly enjoyable.

Game version
SR 3rd edition
I really enjoyed the Combat/Decking/Matrix/Astral Task Pools from SR3 which meant two characters with the exact same stats could end up being played very differently. Also miss FASA's fantastic editing and layout work for the source books. However I -dont- miss cross-referencing rules and tables in 3 books to determine a target number for a dice roll.

SR 4th and 5th Edition
A good (but not perfect) attempt at simplyfying and unifying Combat, Magic, Decking and Rigging. Lack of general Task Pools  means characters with similar stats will have an 'optimal' playstyle. Another bonus, most (but not all) of the rules used are limited to the Core Rulebook, Run Faster and Street Grimoire(5th Ed) instead of being spread out over 20 books. My main headche with SR5 is the incredibly slipshod and disorganised layout/editing work for pretty much every book realeased by Catalyst Games Lab.

SR 6th Edition
Myself and my regular group all purchased SR6 books shortly after release, cracked them open, created characters, played 1 full run (2-3 sessions) and agreed this ruleset was absolute garbage. To my knowledge none of us have ever touched the ruleset since.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:13, Fri 25 Aug 2023.

I think it's interesting that I am getting the following view from a few people about the 4th 5th and 6th edition

A few people have said that 5th edition is like 4th with the bugs ironed out. Most of the exploits gone, and basically better in every single way. That's the view I know have. I am $100s into sr4 (I think I have almost all the books) and I already prefer 5th.

Personally I did think 4th was significantly better than the editions I've played: 1st and 2nd. (I missed third). It just had utterly unplayable computer hacking rules. So every GM I've played with house ruled their own much simplified version. 5th edition hacking rules are (I think) much better.

And the same people all say that 6th is garbage. I've not worried about checking it. I'll wait until I get a 'hey it is good' from someone I trust before buying it.

I wouldn't classify 6th as garbage. It's rushed and has trouble holding together. With a bit more work, it might work better. At the moment, 5th holds itself together best.