Shadowfixers Syndicate A west marches -style campaign in 2060´s Seattle
Welcome runners!
Whether this is your first time in the wonderfull world of Shadowrun or you're a street-savvy veteran of the streets, have a look at the information below. It will contain all you need to know to get started!
"Watch your back"
So what is this? This is a west marches - style campaign set in 2060´s Seattle, where multiple game masters host sessions for dozens of players all set in the same world and time. Players play as Shadowrunners that get hired to go on (you guessed it!) Shadowruns. The world is filled with people that need less-than-legal jobs completed (preferably discreetly) and that's where you come in!
Making sure that the shadowrunner gets hired and organizing jobs is the trade of the Fixer. Each game master has a Fixer that will post shadowruns that they need runners for, its's up to you (the player) to sign up on the runs that you want to participate in. Each run has a payout, a recommended rank (more about that later!) and a deadline. While most runs will only take a session to complete, multi-session runs are not impossible and many runs will be connected to larger, seasonal meta-plots.
"Shoot straight"
So where do I start? The ruleset we´re using is Shadowrun 5th edition, with some house rules and tools to make the game flow more smoothly. We´ll go into more detail about how to make a character later, but here are some core concepts:
- Shadowrun has no classes. You are free to create whatever character you want! But there are a few archetypes you can be inspired by; street-samurai, rigger, decker, adept, shaman and mage. A street-sam is a combat oriented character, usually brimming with cybernetics. Riggers and deckers operate drones/vehicles and hack the matrix, respectively. Adepts, mages and shamans are magic users, each with their own take on what magic is good for.
- Shadowrun has no levels; you gain Karma that is used to increase skills and attributes between levels whenever you feel like it (and have enough karma to spend!).
- Characters are split into Ranks based on their total karma gained. That includes karma gained during character creation and karma that you´ve already spent. This is your total career karma and is a easy way to see how experienced a character is. The rank system is WIP.
- You can have up to 3 active characters at once! To create a new character after you´ve reached the limit, you must first permanently retire one of the other characters. Once you have at least one character at Prime ranking, you can create one additional character already at prime ranking (for a total of 4 characters).
- Your character has to live somewhere! In shadowrun, you pay lifestyle expenses each month, these represent basic living costs like rent, food, bills and entertainment. There are multiple levels of lifestyle ranging from squatter to luxury and come with different perks. To make things manageable you (the player!) simply pay these costs every 2 (two) sessions you use a character. So at the end of every other session, you deduct your living expenses for the character you played.
When you're done here, head over to the Character Creation hub to learn more about creating a character and playing the game!
"Conserve ammo"
Of course we need a hub where all our characters can meet, get to know each other and plan their shadowruns. This hub is The Black Market. Here you´ll find bars, vendors of illicit goods, hideouts and most importantly other shadowrunners!
Throughout the campaign, we´ll add more locations to the world and expand on the Chronicle below. This is a combined map and historical timeline that lets you and your gamemaster keep track of interesting places and important events, in one place. It´s also a great resource if you need a map of Seattle to plan your next shadowrun (which you will!)
Direct link: The Seattle Chronicle
Or look at the guide first:
And where do I find these runs you keep talking about? I hear you ask. Well right here, on the fixers Run Board!
Here the gamemaster's will post runs for you to take on, with information about their rewards, difficulties and special requirements. Once you find one you want to do, contact the listed Gamemaster in the #fixers-run-board on Discord!
"And never, ever make a deal with a dragon"
That's it! You´re now ready to start your shadowrunning career. Use the links below to read more about the ins-and-outs of your chosen archetype, what rules are important and which you can ignore and how to use our favorite character creation tool: Chummer!
There's also lore articles, maps and and other fun stuff to explore coming soon, so stay tuned!
Remember to create an account and sign up as a subscriber for this world, that way we can share secrets with you and you can save character information right here, on the wiki!