Keeper M GM Style Sheet
Thank you for taking the time to consider applying to one of my games. 2022 marks the passing of the fifth year of my involvement with Shadowrun, having been introduced to the setting in 2017. RPGs as a whole date to the nebulous times of late primary school, with an interest in Game Studies sparked in 2013, continuing to this day. Most of my experiences are of the #ForeverGM type, with systems I'm the most familiar with being titles such as Dungeons and Dragons 3.5E and Shadowrun 5E, The Dark Eye, Dungeon World, Burning Wheel, Pathfinder, Savage Worlds, Wolsung, Entropic, Solar Echoes, Green Ronin's Dragon Age and Blades in the Dark. Both D&D and SR are systems I've enjoyed reading books from all five editions for (remember the times when your class would be dwarf and the infamous days of "The Complete Book of Elves" propaganda?), although I keep coming back to 3.5E and 5E, respectively.
Some points worth considering if you're willing to give me a chance to GM for you:
- I appreciate all constructive criticism as it allows me to improve as a GM and occasional player. If you have any concerns, please let me know, I'll gladly work a solution out. Your voice needs to be heard so that I understand what we have to consider.
- As a GM, I am a fan of the characters. My job is to give you a world to play in, then have it react to what your PCs do as believably as possible. I deal in obstacles to be treated as opportunities. Do not expect the GM to ever be playing against you: while not everything is possible due to the setting we work in, there are no intentional traps in place intentionally sprung to kill your PC. I am not out to get you. If the runners accrue heat, we will work together to discover ways to fix the problem. Hardships should be treated as opportunities you're not aware of yet. Your character is welcome to despair, OOC, trust and mutual understanding are crucial for me to do my job right.
- My style is flexible, dependent on the players' preferences. Generally, I like to call it emotional mirrorshades with black trenchcoat consequences. In my eyes, my favourite runners I've been GM-ing for over the last four years of the home game are talented if ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances, forced to get an edge to survive, with hopes of thriving. The megacorps are always richer, scarier and more powerful than you are, but you are able to make a change for your little corner of the world, for example making a neighbourhood in the barrens a bit less shitty. The NPCs are much more than stage dressing for badass PCs: they've got their own motivations, hopes, fears and dreams, their lives do not stop when the session comes to a close. Forging relationships with the other players in the world is probably the most valuable resource, with all your actions, good or bad, having consequences. Caring for contacts earned in my games allows your characters to develop a wider network as these NPCs have their own lives going on, with friends and allies they may introduce to professional PCs. You have the power to steadily increase their connections and loyalty - just like treating them with "all take, no give" bears expected fruit.
- As we all know, Shadowrun 5E has a number of rule conflicts. I hardly consider myself a veteran of the rules and the world. If you see I'm doing something wrong, whether with rolls or the lore, please tell me and teach me better. Sources are particularly useful.
- Do not hesitate to get in touch with me. My account is set up to facilitate contact. Particular runs, lore questions, general RPG talk, cheatsheets and fanmade guides - you know where to find me. As long as I'm able to help, I will be glad to do it.
- I react poorly to repeated attempts at metagaming, munchkining and otherwise playing adversarially, whether against a particular other PC without the explicit consent of every other player from the team or the GM. In-character conflict is fine. If there are problems OOC, we need to take a step back and find our middle ground. If you feel stuck because of uncertainty about the world, please mention it, I gladly help out with lore where I can, but consider the extent of knowledge of your character. This ties to the next part of my GM-ing style, which is…
Assumed competence and what this means. I stand by the concept of your character, a career criminal, having particular "instincts" you, the player, do not. Because of that and the importance of table trust, I don't feel the need to keep track of your ammo, I trust you to monitor how much damage you take. I see no reason to roll for things which your character certainly knows, like the simplest use of a commlink, a rigger being able to recognise the most popular drone models without rolling the Drones skill, a sammie connecting the dots on ammo used or what kits to expect from the guards, the mage being able to pick up on general cues what kind of spirit has just materialised in front of the team. This shows the most with players new to the system: you may not yet be aware that bringing an assault rifle into Downtown is asking for a bad time. Your character does. I will point it out, though the decision is left to you. I do my best not to bother seasoned players with "hand-holding" - access to the lore is presumed, and you are welcome to ask for excerpts from a book you don't have within the legal quote-per-piece allowance. Similarly, I try to engage knowledge skills, qualities and backstories of the characters for assumed competence. There will be times when I will give a particular PC extra exposition rooted in having a certain skill and a set number of ranks in it. Six ranks in a skill lets me avoid asking you to roll for things your character is bound to know due to their experience level and knowledge connected to it. This saves time and rewards picking up "niche" skills which do not bear immediate fruit like weapon skills, Perception, stealth or social capabilities. If you think you have a skill, quality, augmentation, adept power, spell, spirit or sprite to do the job, suggest it - I value creativity in problem and enjoy considering avenues I didn't think
- While I do my best to keep everyone's mechanics in mind, if I had to choose which - the narrative or the rolling - I'd need to highlight that both are important, but narrative takes precedence. If you have a badass idea, especially letting more than just your character shine, chances are high you will convince me to find a way to pull it off. I also grant back edge points spent based on your involvement, activity and ideas, so be aware the world belongs to the bold as opposed to hoarding edge. The same applies to situational bonuses. Try to earn that bonus karma for creativity and roleplaying.
- My reason for sticking with SR despite its mechanical mess is the setting. While nowhere near the level of proper old hands of the system, I enjoy the lore and researching it to build a cohesive world for the PCs to play in. If you'd like to dig into a subject across editions, I'll gladly team up. At this point, my collection of SR books pleases me and I like sharing the cool tidbits with others. Don't feel intimidated and go ahead with asking for something. As long as I'm able to answer, whether on the spot or after research, I'll be delighted to.
- The selling point of SR to me is the mix of classic cyberpunk tropes and the unusual introduction of magic. In my interpretation of the setting, it is not as rare anymore due to the rapidly rising mana levels, the FA census is heavily skewed as it doesn't include the SINless and megacorps only relinquish data which suits them. This means wagemages are not uncommon, weaker types like Aware and explorers as well as different aspected are not unusual to encounter, with wagemages outsourced to lay down wards and watchers. This means magic is feared and monitored closely. SINs without magic licences, sustaining spells for no reason, gaggles of spirits and laying waste to corpsec with Ball Lightning attract unwanted attention. This is not to say that you should not bring Awakened characters to my runs, but rather do so and bear in mind that you're not the only one packing mojo. Megacorps in particular have intelligent if not insurmountable security built on the basis of canonical information from books such as "Corporate Security", "Corporate Guide", "Run Faster" and "Street Lethal". Magic-wielding terrorists attract a much fiercer response than going quiet and knocking a few guards out with gel rounds or Stunball. Rule Zero works in your favour: as long as you don't go on murder sprees which bring the megacorp bad PR of being unable to protect their employees while simultaneously forcing it to support widows and orphans, you might be contracted by the ones you'd hit. Johnson betrayals are rare and never impossible to predict.
- With flexibility comes the readiness to understand that not every character will accept a job. If yours walks away from the meet, it happens. If in doubt OOC if you'll have fun, at the risk of spoilers, feel free to approach me. I can work with the whole team changing the run objectives just fine, but I'd rather not have a single PC actively work to derail when the rest wish to carry out the run as the J intended. I'm fine with everyone buying in on flipping the tables, which can change the rewards on offer. For example, if you decide to warn an extraction target rather than capture them, they will probably not be able to match the J's monetary reward, but you can count on more karma.
- When we play together, please accept the possibility of failure in-character. PCs don't have to succeed every time and, while I'm pleased to see you breeze through the run due to creativity and legwork, I don't consider a run which fails to achieve its objectives as a waste of time. Depending on what it entails, you'll still get some karma for colourful roleplaying and sticking with the rest. Perhaps an alternate employer shows up, even.