The MMO I would like to create is Shadowrun. Yes everyone's favorite Cyberpunk game is back. Im going to stick with the world of Shadowrun 3rd edition, for that is the world with which I'm most familiar. I have not called this an MMORPG and there is a very good reason for this. I don't WANT an RPG based off of Shadowrun. By RPG I mean a game where you're characters skills define exactly what he can do, and everything is automated by the computer, and very little player skill is involved in. I want to Play in the shadowrun game. I want to really shoot my gun, not just tell the computer to auto-attack that mob. So in most senses I want an MMO stealth/FPS game. However, I want Roleplayers in this game, I want the world to be fully fleshed out with NPC's stores, crafting, and other such things so that it feels like the living breathing 6th World that it is. So in that aspect I DO want a MMORPG. I guess the best description would be an MMOARPG with A standing for Action. First, let me say that I want to take most of the rule book and throw it out the window. I do not want to be tied down by dice pools and such. Since I expect this to be more of an action game than an RPG strict adherence to the rules is not needed. Faithfulness to the world however is. Yes the game will have stats and skills. They will translate directly towards various aspects in the action of the game. Physical Attributes STR deals with carrying capacity and encumberance, which limits movement speed and jump/roll manuevers. As well as damage delt by Melee weapons. QUI affects "hand-eye" coordination, how fast you can adjust you're aim, AND is a measure of endurance. (For those of you wondering this is how often you can do those jump/roll manuevers.) Also, for Spell casters that take a gesturing geis this is also what is used to determine spell casting speed...as well as INT or CHA depending on the magic style you choose. BOD affects HP INT affects skill ups (more on that later) and interactions available to you when dealing with NPC's. Determins spell casting speed for Mages. WIL affects drain damage from casting spells. Also it deals with you're characters ability to resist spells. CHA affects the number of spirits you may have with you, and affects NPC reactions towards you. Determins spell Casting speed for Shamans. INIT/REAC are gone from this game they will be handled by the player. Essence stays the same as the core rules, it determines how much cyberware you can put into you're body. Skills, such as various fire arm skills directly affect you're ability to aim. Either making you're reticule smaller or decreasing movement of you're reticule while trying to shoot. (system not decided yet) If a reticule size is used, you're shot may land anywhere inside the aiming reticule, so the smaller the reticule, the better shot you are. Various Build/Repair skills will be used for crafting, vehicle skills will determine how well the system reacts to any driving that your character attempts to do. Now to the meet of the game...the Shadowrun. There will be a need for a VERY ROBUST RANDOM MISSION GENERATOR. I will explain here shortly. You're interface with the random mission generator will be your Fixer. Once you choose the mission you would like The computer generates it for you. Then you go through the various steps of a Shadowrun, This is where the generation gets to be tricky. Step 1. is meet with the Johnson. Random, standard game location...either a club, park, alley way something. He will give you mission details (blow up, steal, kill, kidnap, etc) and the location of the mission. This is tied into the corporate faction system that will be described in a seperate post. So that the outcome of the mission will have some effect on the real world. Step 2. is the leg work. When the computer generates the mission it also generates the mission zone. Yes Zone. This is a 5 by 5 city block instanced zone that is tied into the "free-way" system. When the game creates this zone, it also creates Matrix links to various bits of the zone, Power, maps, blue prints of the specific target building, sewer system etc. Each company will also have a large number of MR. Johnsons, and they will be databased as well, with information for you're specific Johnson being obtainable, but remember, not all is what it seems in the world of shadowrun. The team can either find an NPC or PC decker and pay them to find the information, or they can have thier own decker do it for free....or they can skip doing leg work at all. Step 3. do the mission. This is a mix of FPS, Stealth action, and dungeon crawl. If the players do thier leg work, then this can be made alot easier with maps on the HUD and other nice things. The decker can also find a computer terminal in the building and try to take over security. Of course the matrix is also randomly generated for the building... Step 4. Finish the mission and get paid. Call the johnson, computer sets up another meet with the johnson...he pays you. This is also where the Johnson may double cross you. A note on instances. You need to be able to travel into and out of you're instance without loading. I picture this through the "Free-way" system. It works like this. (However, a player may also choose to enter the zone through a loading screen by taking the subway.) Every zone is connected to the Free-way. The free-way has numerous on and off ramps. Certain key Off ramps are tied to the regular zones of the game, and they are easily seen and noted. The other off ramps are for instances. Once leg work, planning, gun buying and so on is done, the team leader chooses "Start mission" Upon choosing that any team member that enters the free-way will begin loading up the instance. This will be done in the background, and once the instance is loaded, the player will be prompted to take a highlighted off ramp. This offramp will lead into the instance after an appropriate amount of street driving. (hopefully without needing a load screen) Zones need to be large to account for proper planning. guards will patrol buildings, players can set up snipers etc. This is why there is a 5 block radius of the zone. If things go bad, and players need to run, they find the street that leads back to the on ramp and make a run for it. However Mobs chasing them need to be able to follow them OUT OF THE INSTANCE. These mobs however will only attack the Party PC's and anyone elese who attempts to help them. This is just a rough concept...and I know that alot of it may not be possible. but what do you think?

why does it have to be MMO, espceily if your puting some much emphasis on mission generation and npc's and no mention of typical mmo concerns

Well for one, Shadowrun is about Groups of people. Whether they are a hardened team (set group) or one thrown together by the fixer (pick up groups). Besides shadowrun and fans have been screaming for an MMO for a long time now.

If you're throwing away most of the Shadowrun rules, then it isn't a Shadowrun MMO. It's a cyberpunk MMO. But at least, if you don't use the rules of it, you don't have to pay the licensing. A nice Shadowrun-inspired cyberpunk MMO would indeed be cool. A shame you can't make it. :)

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Original post by ellis1138 If you're throwing away most of the Shadowrun rules, then it isn't a Shadowrun MMO. It's a cyberpunk MMO. But at least, if you don't use the rules of it, you don't have to pay the licensing. A nice Shadowrun-inspired cyberpunk MMO would indeed be cool. A shame you can't make it. :)

I disagree. The reason I am throwing out most of the rules is because I don't want to play the RPG Shadowrun on the computer, I want to play a game in the Shadowrun WORLD on the computer. What I'm throwing away is the turn based combat of Shadowrun and replacing it with an action style game.

Think of the game as a game based off of a book set in the shadowrun world. :P

Yeah, a Shadowrun MMORPG would be great. Even a shadowrun SPRPG would be awesome. Unfortunatly, the IP holders think a console shooter is whats best to make with it.

so sad...

edit: About a year ago, for fun, I made a roughly 20 pages design document draft for a shadowrun MMORPG. The central idea was pitting different player teams in the same "shadowrun" but with different/conflicting goals.

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Original post by Steadtler Yeah, a Shadowrun MMORPG would be great. Even a shadowrun SPRPG would be awesome. Unfortunatly, the IP holders think a console shooter is whats best to make with it. so sad... edit: About a year ago, for fun, I made a roughly 20 pages design document draft for a shadowrun MMORPG. The central idea was pitting different player teams in the same "shadowrun" but with different/conflicting goals.

I'll have to disagree. Just look at DDO, does it enjoyed success as people expected?

Pen and paper rpg just can't be made into a MMO, but there are other ways that you can make it into a multiplayer games, and DO let player play the role of Game Master, simply because the game master plays a critical role in a pen and paper rpg.

ok, let me re-phrase what I meant:

"The shadowrun universe would make a great setting for an RPG of any kind, but instead they are making an Xbox360 shooter with the IP and I hate console shooters"

I agree that if someone were to make a Shadowrun game, it should be more FPS-style than turn-based RPG style. Robert is correct that the cool thing about Shadowrun is its setting and style, not its somewhat clunky conflict resolution ruleset. I think the style that the p&p game tries to evoke is much better served by fast action, tense gameplay. Some p&p rpg rulesets (d&d) have a large following that like it specifically because of all its number-crunching and min/maxing and huge number of rules, but Shadowrun always seemed like a less rules-heavy game that was intended to focus attention on the story and interplay between characters rather than building the perfect fighter and playing out combats on a grid.