Embirsiphone
alright since i wasn't aware of many paper RPG's outside of Dungeons and Dragons.. (I know I'm a bad person) I stumbled upon something called Shadowrun. The game enviroment is fantastic and seems more like and idea for a novel. I really enjoyed reading about the enviroment and I'm sort of curious though about how someone would go about explaining the enviroment to their players, because to me it seems like it'd be complicated to explain things as you were playing. So what would you say to you're players exactly if it was their first time playing, to really draw them into the campaign and keep the enthralled as they go along. that and for me, magic and technology never really mixed in the gaming that I did so I was wondering how someone would got about incorporating those as well.
Like how you'd describe a lobby or a fight, or even better a fight IN a lobby.. or any number of scenarios.. it's just pure curiosity on my part. Mostly because I kind of want to get my hands on these books and run a game for them someday but as of right now i have no clue how i'd go about doing so. So write away my friends and ease my curiosity please :D
Comments
Ladies and gentlemen of the class of '57,
*Never Deal With A Dragon*
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, avoiding Dragons would be it.
The long term dangers of associating with Dragons have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience...I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your tres chic clothing; oh nevermind; you will not understand the power and beauty of your clothes until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you'll look back at wanted posters of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked.
You're not as fast as you imagine.
Don't worry about the Awakened World; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to summon a spirit by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that are 2 metres tall and want to blind you on a Tuesday at 4am.
Do one thing everyday that scares the neighbours.
Shoot straight.
Don't be reckless with other people's heavy machine guns, don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Conserve Ammo.
Keep up with SOTA; sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind; the race is long, and in the end, it's what keeps you alive.
Remember the secret pay data you retreive, forget the loused up runs; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how. Keep your old cyberdecks, throw away your old credsticks.
Stay Low.
Don't feel safe if you don't know what you want to do with that hot merchandise, the most wanted people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their illegal wares, some of the most dangerous 40 year olds I know still don't.
Get plenty of soykaf.
Be kind to your knees, they're expensive to replace.
Maybe you'll goblinize, maybe you won't, maybe you'll have HMHVV, maybe you won't, maybe you'll retire after 40 runs, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th ;what ever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either. Your survival is half chance, so is everybody else's.
Enjoy your Ares Predator, use it every way you can; don't be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it's the greatest instrument you'll ever own..
Deck, even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.
RTFM, even if you don't understand it.
Do NOT read Slashnull, it will only make you feel ugly.
Get to know your parents, you never know when you'll need some extra cash from them.
Be afraid of your criminal record; it's the best link to your past and the thing most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that Johnsons come and go, but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography in lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the money.
Live in Seattle once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Chicago once, but leave before you turn into a bug.
Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths, the weirdness will increase, runners will sell out, you too will get old, and when you do you'll fantasize that when you were young the streets were normal, runners were noble and elves were trustworthy.
Never trust an elf.
Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a stolen bank account, maybe you have a wealthy Johnson; but you never know when either one might be eaten by insect spirits.Don't mess too much with your wired reflexes, or by the time they're 40, they will be out of warranty. Be careful whose BTL's you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it.
Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.
But trust me on the Dragons.
I have some of them (you can see them "here":http://www.librarything.com/catalog/curufea&deepsearch=shadowrun )
I've played the game many times -and I prefer the novels :)
I've never played Shadowrun, but I did play Cyber Punk and it seems relevant to that as well.
If you are looking for good cyber-punk-esque novels, don't miss out on William Gibson. Neuromancer was the only book that I ever read and then reread immediately.
He even wrote a steam punk novel called The Difference Engine that is a "what if" look at the Victorian age if Charles Babbage had managed to build his dreamed up steam and punch-card operated computer. Really cool.
Love the song, though.
I also recommend the YA book "Leviathan":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leviathan_%28Westerfeld_novel%29 by Scott Westerfield
And if you want "magic during the Victorian Age" then the Laws of Magic series by Michael Pryor, and the various Castle Falkenstein franchise books are great. Also "Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr_Norrell by Susanna Clarke.
For a slightly diferent history - dragons in the Napoleonic wars, you can't go past Naomi Novik's "Temeraire":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temeraire_%28series%29 series
"Dragons of War":http://www.curufea.com/Wikka/wikka.php?wakka=DragonsofWar
*********
It all happened so fast. No one saw it coming. No one had time to reflect afterwards.
It was a bullet in the back of the head.
More was known about ancient history than the last couple of months.
The birth of the new age was signaled by a crashing and burning of the old. Much like how deindustrialization in the West had signaled the transition to so-called
Well done, DarkMagus.