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## Advice for a game: Bikers in Shadowrun- or not...

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TheFlatline
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### Advice for a game: Bikers in Shadowrun- or not...

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Post by TheFlatline » Sun Jun 30, 2013 8:21 am

So recently I got my friend to watch Sons of Anarchy, and I went through it myself. We were discussing ideas for a new RPG session we'll be starting in the coming months, which means it's time for me to start brainstorming on the logistics of the game. The idea of a SoA inspired game was thrown out there and I liked it.
My original mental image was of some troll at midnight on a troll-sized bike tearing down a desert highway at a hundred miles an hour dodging gunfire and tossing spells on a run gone bad. Thunderheaders & Lightning (bad pun I know). Shadowrun works great right? Biker Elves were one of the original tropes of SR.
The idea germinated a little. Riggers would potentially take a big spotlight, light to no matrix (I'd NPC it most likely), not top tier shadowrunner material but not your dirt poor slum gang, situated somewhere around Reno to provide a conduit between Seattle, the NAN, Tir, and some place like Salt Lake City and further east. You know, in their own world they're big shots but in Seattle or other big cities they're probably pretty small fish. One of the concepts of the game would be that juxtaposition and the difficulties of moving between those worlds.
I figured I'd work with the players to help set up a background for the gang/club/organization, let them customize it some, and let them determine where their revenue sources come from. I'm a big fan of player-driven plotlines, and try to say "no" as little as possible.
But then I started thinking. SR4's vehicle rules are broken. Period. Riggers are basically pointless. Even though the underlying resolution system seems to work, taking vehicles out of a biker gang seems to be limp. I don't need the game to focus on vehicles, but I don't want to bust out the MTP playset every time they jump on a bike.
So I started to think of other stuff. Spycraft is an idea with their excellent vehicle rules, but I wanted something a little more fantastic than modern day "real world", and frankly I'm burned out on D20 still. I have SR3, but while rigging works there (and is pretty badass to boot) the system comes with it's own issues. Someone mentioned Savage Worlds/Wasted West, and that's an idea, but I don't know jack about it or it's limitations.
So I guess I'm looking for some ideas on either retrofitting SR4 or a system that could replace it. I'm not against a hombrew setting, but I dug the fantasy/sci-fi of Shadowrun.
I'm also curious what kind of stories people could see telling in such a setting. I want to avoid the trajectory of SoA if I can. It's got some good ideas, but I don't know if I want to go into the family lives that much- I find the club stories are more interesting ironically. I figured a large portion of the conflict in the game would take place from rival clubs and from defending their revenue supplies, but I was also toying with the idea of giving them founding chapter status and having them responsible for a nationwide "family" of clubs that they set the tone and have some unofficial authority in. I could tell several good stories but that doesn't feel like enough for a campaign.
Last edited by TheFlatline on Sun Jun 30, 2013 8:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
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vagrant
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###

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Post by vagrant » Mon Jul 01, 2013 6:18 pm

Nothing wrong with running an episodic game a la Sons of Anarchy. Hell, it might be easier to plot, considering the players have less of a sandbox than usual.
Then, once you have absorbed the lesson, that your so-called "friends" are nothing but meat sacks flopping around in the fashion of an outgassing corpse, pile all of your dice and pencils and graph-paper in the corner and SET THEM ON FIRE. Weep meaningless tears.
-DrPraetor
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