This is Shadowrun

Hey, I’m Austin the GM of this game and the author of this podcast. I’ve been playing Shadowrun for at least 10 years now, ever since second edition. I’ve run several other games (pretty much all the classics, D&D, Star Wars, ect) and I have to say that Shadowrun is my favorite. Its the first RPG I ever played. I also think the 4th Edition rules which we play with are also pretty much the best ever for Shadowrun as well.

As a GM I try to run Shadowrun as if I was directing an action movie. That means I will bend the rules if I think it will make the scene more interesting. Indeed I tend to play fairly loose with the rules in general. My philosophy is that roleplaying is pretty much interactive storytelling, and rules are simply a mechanic for fairly resolving some situations. I think that if a rule is getting in the way of my game, then the rule is wrong. Other times I may not know the exact best way to interpret a rule, so I like to simply wing it and move on. I’m also not above bending the rules in my favor if I believe the situation calls for it.

In terms of story lines I write I like to think of myself as an ‘Evil GM.’ I often purposely design missions to screw the characters over. This is Shadowrun, after all, and thats what I think the setting calls for. I seek to challenge my players, because I think they will find a game with tough opposition more enjoyable then one that is a cake walk. On the other hand I am also merciful, giving the players advice, clues, and sometimes even cheating my dice for them.

I’m far from perfect from a GM though. One of the reasons I started this podcast was to improve my GMing. I certainly don’t always plan things through enough. I also have a hard time coming down hard on the players, I tend to scale things back when I really shouldn’t. And I still sometimes railroad my players even though I try hard not to. Generally I think my biggest weakness is that I tend to be to kind, and should tow a tougher line with my players. But then again the whole point of this is to have fun, and finding the balance between challenge and fun can be difficult.

Oh, and I love to Roleplay myself, playing all sorts of characters. But I rarely get to, being stuck as the GM. Such is life.