Robinton

Robinton

Reddit Username	[JamesRobinton]
Timezone	US Eastern
Country	United States
GM Level	2
GMP Tracker	[1]

Characters

• 

  John Galt

• 

  Samael

GMing Style - the Rule of Cool

My general style is to aim for more Pink Mohawk style runs. To me, Shadowrunners carry themselves like Big Damn Heroes and their adventures should reflect that level of on-the-edge-of-your-seat insanity that their life entails. While wild and out-of-pocket choices can, and should, have consequences, ultimately my goal is to tell a fun and engaging story with the characters as the star of the show.

I definitely opt more for "rule of cool" - the mechanics are there to guide the story when it matters and to be more or less thrown out when it doesn't matter or when those mechanics make for a worse story. This is, of course, within reason - characters suddenly being able to do things they cannot do on other runs breaks the integrity of the shared story.

When I run more Black Trenchcoat runs, that rule of cool is much more flavored in the sense that doing the legwork and having smart plays will have significant effect on the outcome. A skilled team, working together well, and with a smart plan can significantly reduce the danger of a High+ Run into something that is accomplished with the precision and style of shadowrunners.

My Runs

Name	Metaplot	Date
Ballroom Blitz		23 December 2085
Fast Food		13 December 2085
Hospital Wing	A Quest for Transcendence	29 November 2085
Divorce Rates	Paradise Lost	25 November 2085
Running Red 2	Paradise Lost	10 November 2085
Missing Persons		15 October 2085
Gotta Start Somewhere		8 October 2085
Aces High		16 September 2085
Disasterpiece Theater	Paradise Lost	14 September 2085
Muck Hunt		13 September 2085
Running Red 1	Paradise Lost	31 August 2085
Turning Tides		24 August 2085
Hunter and the Hunted		9 August 2085
Three Deckers at Minase		25 July 2085
Rose Red		22 July 2085
Requiem for the Dreamers		18 July 2085
Redmond Run		16 July 2085
HR Complaint		1 July 2085
Rookie Mistake		27 June 2085

Metaplot: Paradise Lost

Setting - The Confederation of American States

Overview

Most of my runs will take place the Confederation of American States, or CAS. Largely, this allows me some freedom to not break Seattle, but additionally, as a resident of Florida it allows me to steal heavily from the world I know the best.

Runs coming out of the CAS will likely fall into one of the follow, very not extensive, list:

• Smuggling into or out of the Port of Tampa
• Political destabilization runs into the Caribbean League or Atlzan
• Critter Hunts!
• Anti-Humanis Policlub runs
• Beach episodes
• Mystic/Voodoo shenanigans in New Orleans

Disclaimer

While the CAS can evoke images of of the Confederacy of the 1860's US Civil War and, in Shadowrun canon, often leans heavily into anti-metahuman rhetoric, those themes will not be heavily present in my games. When they are present, they will be explicitly noted in the run description and will adhere to Shadowhaven's X Card / Stoplight system.

The CAS setting allows for an odd mix of runs and NPCs to encounter - while this is the Sixth World, and many folks are out for themselves, the CAS still has the leftover DNA of Southern Hospitality and "fix your face and start acting right".

Picking the Team

Shamelessly stolen from OrionsRequiem:

This section comes with the caveat that I am limited in choice of the applicants I get.

My philosophy for choosing people for the job is to give the players the broadest selection of skills to complete the job. I will always try and bring a Matrix specialist, a magic specialist, a stealth operative and a face. This is to give the most room for a plan to be formed. Certain jobs will have leanings towards more of one archetype, but that is my broadest general case.

There will also be preference given towards thematically appropriate characters. Those who have a reason to want to do this job beyond just the nuyen and karma I feel make for a great story. In addition, I tend to prefer characters that I feel will be challenged by the job, it can feel good to completely roll over a host or steamroll the OpFor, but there is a much greater satisfaction in my mind of being pushed to your limit and not knowing that success is guaranteed.

Declining the Job

I generally won't pick a character that is likely to decline the job or engage in PVP / Monkey-Wrenching. I don't find those fun to GM for and find it often just leads to frustration for all parties involved.

Derailing the Run

If a situation comes up that causes the PCs to go separate ways, the actual mechanics of the game will be paused and we will engage in "positive metagaming" in order to outline the results of the story to the satisfaction of the players. I do not tolerate bad faith monkey-wrenching at my table.

Assumed Competence

Shamelessly stolen from OrionsRequiem:

The concept of assumed competence is one that we on the ShadowHaven apply to avoid things like "gotcha" moments. However there are things that I do not personally believe that it covers. Disguising yourself, buying burner SINs, and obtaining safehouses that aren't on your sheet have to be done on the table, this list is not exhaustive either. While these things aren't always needed, they're things to consider on a run that can't just be handwaved away.

The other note on Assumed Competence is that it goes both ways. Security forces are paid to keep a place secure, so they will do everything in their power to ensure that is the case. While these things will stay within the constraints of the difficulty system that we use on the Haven, they will have tactics and decisions that are aimed to maximize their own life expectancy, while also doing their duties. Spiders will prepare IC if a host is poked, Mages may summon spirits, security forces will call for backup.

Consequences

The best stories are built of consequences. My preference for handling glitches and critical failures during a run is to work out the narrative with the player. I've always hated being a player in the situation where this badass character in my head suddenly does something ridiculously stupid to justify a glitch, narrated by the GM, with no input as to what failure looks like for that character in my own head.

Additionally, one of the benefits of using the CAS as a location is that I can route things through a few primary fixer NPCs who will remember your successes and your failures, allowing us to craft overarching storylines across sessions.