ShadowHaven Reloaded:Character Generation Guide
Feel free to join our discord server for more help. We have a supportive community ready to answer questions.
Basic Guide
Step One: Read the rules
In addition to the rules in the Shadowrun 5E rulebooks, ShadowHaven has implemented a few custom rules and banned some items in order to make community play easier.
Step Two: Character Generation with a Program
Download either Herolab, a paid option, or Chummer, an open source and free option. Use either tool to create your character.
Contacts
When building your PC, take a look at the public contacts. It's interesting to share a contact's story with other players. To take these types of contact simply add them to your sheet and then add your name to the list of people with the contact on that contact's wikipage.
Gear
Purchasing gear on characters can seem daunting with all the options available, if you are unsure about what you do or don't need to purchase at chargen please refer to Basic Gear Guide (Special thanks to /u/NotB0b). This list doesn't cover job specific gear and is by no means exhaustive but it should provide new players with a good foundation.
Step Three: Convert your Sheet to PDF
Converting your sheets to PDF makes life easier for everyone.
Chummer
- Click File
- Click Print
- Where it says "Print to HTML" there is a drop down. Select save as PDF
Herolab
- Print the sheet as a PDF.
Step Four: Make a ShadowHaven Wiki Account
If you want to make an account here, please join our discord server and use the command "?make_wiki_account Your_Username".
Step Five: Make A Google Drive Folder
Inside this folder place your PDF and either your .por file or .chum file. Create a link to this folder.
Step Six: Make a Wiki Page for your PC
All PCs on the Haven must have a wikipage. Once you have an account you can edit the source of one of the various character pages and copy, paste the source onto your new character page then edit in your information accordingly. If you are new to wiki creation please follow this helpful guide that was written up by our community
Step Seven: Link your PC's Wikipage on ShadowHavenCharGen
Go to ShadowHavenCharGen and link your PC's wiki page as a new post. In the title of your submission please include one of the following suffixes:
- Light - This indicates that you understand the system and the character you are submitting and all you want is a legality check. These are quick and painless reviews for the most part.
- Heavy - This indicates that you would like a full review, going over such things as the concept, dice pools, etc. This is for new players as well as veteran players who either want another players advice or critique. These tend to take a bit longer, but you will receive more hands on time with a chargen minion to help you make the character you really want.
An example title for a character submission title might read <Character Name - Light>.
If this is your first character submission, you must have a heavy review, even if you are a veteran player. Future submissions maybe light or heavy at the player's discretion.
After you have submitted a character, our Character Generation volunteers will review the sheet for legality. You will need to wait until the volunteer has approved your sheet before applying to any games.
Step Eigth: Apply to a Game!
Make an account on Roll20 so you can join a virtual table. After you get approved, go to ShadowHaven and search for a game fitting your schedule. To keep us all on the same page, jobs are posted with the time in UTC (Coordinated Universal Time). The job post will have the date and UTC time in the heading and at the top of the posting. When you find a post, follow the GM's instruction to whether they want an in-character response to the job or other information. Link your Wikipage at the bottom of your reply to the job. If you are a new player, feel free to let the GM know. The GM will reply to you and give you details to the voice room on the Discord server or ping you in the #ooc-paperwork channel. It is much easier for your GMs if you are already on the Discord server before your game.
Moving your character to create mode
So chummer, you made it through chargen. Congratulations! At this point you should have a fully fleshed out wiki page with a link to your google drive or dropbox folder containing your pdf and either a por or a chum5 file. Once you or a chargen minion has rolled and documented your starting cash, you can then move your character into career mode. Now put your career mode files in the same folder which you linked in your wiki page. You can choose to keep your create mode files in the folder or replace them. But make sure to keep a backup creature mode file in case something gets corrupted or chargen department wishes to review it again.
Applying to jobs
Runs are posted on the main /r/ShadowHaven subreddit. You may apply to any job which is flaired open (green). Run postings have both and out of character (OOC) and in character (IC) elements. Make sure to read up on the time and date (written in UTC), difficulty and type of run to see if your character is interested in it. Run applications are made as a comment and in character with your character’s wiki page linked in the following way:
IC RESPONSE
- [My character] (wiki page link)
Additional info like top 3 skill dicepools or last 3 runs as a player might have to be included in the player application should the GM ask for it in the run posting. If you are picked, the GM will comment on your application notifying you as such. A link to a Roll20 table will be posted shortly before the game, in the #paperwork channel where you can join and play the game.
After the game, rewards are handed out, which you need to add to your character file either in chummer or hero lab.(edited)
Roleplaying in and outside games
Even before your character is approved you may participate in any of the IC chat rooms. RP is also encouraged during runs unless the GM explicitly discourages RP, due to time constraints. Please read on the RP rules and follow them to ensure a smooth and satisfactory RP experience. All rolls during a run are made on the GM’s Roll20 table, including any post or pre run rolls (purchases, addiction, summoning/binding or compiling/registering, etc). Off the table (during downtime) rolls are made in #dicerolling for purposes of purchases, addiction, summoning/binding or compiling/registering, etc. All IC rolls during roleplay in any of the IC channels are made in #ic-dicerolling.