So Shadowrun Larp is it possible?

[thomas]

Hey for those who have not met me yet I am Thomas... I play Boomer at the Aftermath larp and also play in the Vampire/Hunter crossover larp called Dead by Dawn. Also I am a player in one nwod larp and a Staffer for a Nwod Mage larp. So I was wondering if it was possible to do a Shadowrun larp without having to resort to laser tag guns or aerosoft to resolve stuff. Since I know in Europe there are several large Shadowrun larp groups that use those. The only solution I have and if people are interested this summer when I actually have more time I would be willing to organize and write up rules for a 4th ed larp transition probably by switching the d6's to the d10s and using the Nwod larp card drawing mechanic which I will scale for cinematic themed shadowrun gameplay. Any thoughts? Any ideas? Any criticism?

[Erin]

I will have to come back with LARP gametheory business later when I am not being climbed upon by short people, BUT I HAVE TO SAY: I would totally be down for playing in a Shadowrun LARP. I love Shadowrun -- and I would get to have such glorious fun costuming...!

[thomas]

Other then mechanics I was thinking of it being set in Sacramento or Seattle and the general socializing/meet up place for other shadowrunners to talk, or meet up with there fixers is a popular bar and grill that is in the slums border lining the downtown area of either city. Other then that I think the easiest thing to do is bump the idea of d6s to d10s and use the simple Nwod larp card drawing mechanic and then reading through all the source books of 4th edition and maybe fixing some of the qualities to make sure they are scaled as well. I love shadowrun a lot and I am sad they never wrote larp rules for the game.

[Bob]

nWoD is a fairly reliable system for adapting different genres.

The thing I think you'll have to worry about the most is establishing a struture for the game that makes the LARP fun outside of scenes.

[thomas]

Yeah I agree with that for even socializing there should be a meet up place that would work for most of the players to meet up but also with Shadowrun once people grow and establish business groups they would most likely get there own havens. Added with the whole haven system it works very well with Gates Of Gold where various cabals tend to chill at there own sanctums but have a trust with each other and socialize with each other. I know in the beginning everyone is going to be at the main meet up location since not everyone is going to start out in a crew and in Shadowrun you really need to work with each other for several jobs before establishing a working relationship and trust with your team.

[Scott]

NWod could work as could a few other systems. I'd be down for Shadowrun. It always seemed so interesting but I never found many people who played it, everyone was drones to D&D and wouldn't play anything else. If that's what you want to try then go for it.

A problem with the social stuff though is different teams working for rival/enemy employers. This wouldn't be like other games where people would just throw insults. Bullets are gonna fly in some circumstances.

[thomas]

Well Shadowrun people tend to not work for one individual employer. Hell most of the time they do not know who they are working for it is on anonymous employment basis since technically shadowrunners do not "Exist". Also added I want Player versus player to be around but if they are going to engage in a PK attempt I want them to have total IC reasons apposed to OOC grudges. Not all Shadowrunners get along and some even go insane.

[Scott]

Something else is that Shadowrun seems fun but it never struck me as a game for social butterflys who in vampire would sit around Elysium and just talk. Shadowrun seems a lot more action oriented, also the netrunner rules are pretty complicated.

[thomas]

Yep they are and I am not intending to run this as a staff alone if I get time to run it finding other people to staff is half the battle. Net running can be fixed to make it less complicated.


Added staff needs to be creative and needs to work on creating plots and events since Shadowrunners get work by being contacted by there fixers or someone who referred them to someone else who needs something done.

[Craymore]

Could a Shadowrun LARP work, the answer is yes.

IF you are up for the work then NWoD would work very well for the system, though so would classic Rock Paper Scissors system used by Old WoD.

This is a purely intellectual excercise, so I don't know if this would work but it seems like a cool idea in my head.

Here is how I would approach it, if you want my opinion. I would establish a limit in game play, based on the game site, I would use a kind of street style slum area, I would set up different sections of the game site to be different locations in the slum. I would try to get the PC's to take on roles some of the usually NPC roles. I would have the corporations though stay mostly in the shadows and be a hiring force, then I would use the corporations to play the PC's against each other, while encouraging also Territory wars (certain section of the game site have certain resources which make things easier for Runners or Gangs who control that territory such as these two locations have a Weapons store, this place has a medical clinic etc.) I would then have a neutral central location where a couple NPC or PCs if you want to go that route, higher different players to do different jobs, for example a central Bar

an example of an evening of Story in my mind:

Group A is hired to pick up a package, bring it back to the bar and meet up with a second group of runners called Group B, so you get to run a B&E scene with group A. Group C, D and possibly E are three groups hired by different groups who all want the package as well, one is the corp it was stolen from, one is another rival corp, and Group E for example get's tipped off and decides to capture the package and auction it off to the highest bidder.

Then the players have an internal cat and mouse game, on the group which achieves it's goals will get paid. Boom, you have a working Shadowrun LARP, one shot. Add in PC's in the employ of Lone Star, Medic's, the Staff of the bar astind just other people in the game and the whole thing starts getting much more colorful and interesting.

I would turn Resources into Territory, so if you want Guns, and you have the Gun Shop you can get guns, but you won't have Med Pack's unless you have the Medical Wing so the Medical Clinic. Employers can pay in Gizmo's, programs and Weapons for example to make people interested while not having to worry about Cash.

That is just off the top of my head.

So in other words, yes it can be done if you want to.

[thomas]

Could a Shadowrun LARP work, the answer is yes.

IF you are up for the work then NWoD would work very well for the system, though so would classic Rock Paper Scissors system used by Old WoD.

This is a purely intellectual excercise, so I don't know if this would work but it seems like a cool idea in my head.

Here is how I would approach it, if you want my opinion. I would establish a limit in game play, based on the game site, I would use a kind of street style slum area, I would set up different sections of the game site to be different locations in the slum. I would try to get the PC's to take on roles some of the usually NPC roles. I would have the corporations though stay mostly in the shadows and be a hiring force, then I would use the corporations to play the PC's against each other, while encouraging also Territory wars (certain section of the game site have certain resources which make things easier for Runners or Gangs who control that territory such as these two locations have a Weapons store, this place has a medical clinic etc.) I would then have a neutral central location where a couple NPC or PCs if you want to go that route, higher different players to do different jobs, for example a central Bar

an example of an evening of Story in my mind:

Group A is hired to pick up a package, bring it back to the bar and meet up with a second group of runners called Group B, so you get to run a B&E scene with group A. Group C, D and possibly E are three groups hired by different groups who all want the package as well, one is the corp it was stolen from, one is another rival corp, and Group E for example get's tipped off and decides to capture the package and auction it off to the highest bidder.

Then the players have an internal cat and mouse game, on the group which achieves it's goals will get paid. Boom, you have a working Shadowrun LARP, one shot. Add in PC's in the employ of Lone Star, Medic's, the Staff of the bar astind just other people in the game and the whole thing starts getting much more colorful and interesting.

I would turn Resources into Territory, so if you want Guns, and you have the Gun Shop you can get guns, but you won't have Med Pack's unless you have the Medical Wing so the Medical Clinic. Employers can pay in Gizmo's, programs and Weapons for example to make people interested while not having to worry about Cash.

That is just off the top of my head.

So in other words, yes it can be done if you want to.

I like that a lot and I will not be limiting charecter concepts as long as they make sense the main thing though is I like PVP a lot but I do not want an issue with OOC vendetta's against players playing into IC combat. The only other reason why I would want to use the d10 card drawing mechanic is from my experience is the rock paper scissors mechanic seems quite unfair and turns into more of a game of psychology. Sure the player who is awesome at it is unaware how they get good throws but it is how the mind interprets patterns. I would honestly like to start off with a few lead staffers an narrators but having the game involve ti a player based economy would be good but I think before he implement that we need to wait until we have a decent player base.

[Craymore]

I would recommend having it in place early, it is harder to introduce stuff like that later in the game then it is at the start.

[thomas]

With further thought though I like that idea. =)

[Scott]

You still working on this? I think it could be fun. Heard some people bitching about how stupid Shadowrun supposedly was, but I think a LARP of it could be interesting and might get some new blood too. Not ALL LARPS have to be Old WoD or even WoD.

[thomas]

Shadowrun is not fucking stupid. =/

[Scott]

This LARP idea needs to happen.