As I'm preparing to roll another Shadowrun (5th edition) game into life; I'm finding myself double checking my thought processes.    I'll get to the point: I'm proposing what amounts to the SR equivalent of not starting at first level (in DnD terms, around 7th or 8th).

What are people's thoughts in general about doing stuff that (i.e. not starting at first level or equivalent); bear in mind that I've pointed out recently that "The level you start at is likely the level you'll finish at."

Unless you're specifically starting a long campaign where the players will work their way upwards from Jar-Jar Binks to Obi-Wan Kenobi and spend their low levels clearing womp-rat infestations, then I think its a very good idea that makes a lot of sense.

If you want your players to do something epic and cool, they need to be reasonably epic and cool themselves to start with; especially if you're playing Shadowrun because logically if your Corporate Johnson wants a team to pull off an epic job, their fixer/middleman is unlikely to send them a team of level 1 noobs.
The characters ought to be a few levels up so that street gangers, beat cops and corporate security are going to be an inconvenience rather than a critical threat, but end-of-level bosses still represent a challenge.
This message was last edited by the user at 21:43, Wed 02 Aug 2023.

I was admittedly thinking a bit more broadly than Shadowrun.  I know that there are players and GMs who won't be in a game that doesn't start at first level.  While it's not right or wrong, I don't entirely understand it.

I've played in games from lvl 1 to 5 and 3 to 5 and I prefer to start at lvl 3 and up or level 5 . I'm actually running a game starting at level 5 that is a play by post dnd game of my own world cuz I want to experience high tier dnd with my players.

I'm okay I general with starting higher than "level 1." The main downside is that advanced characters are generally more complicated, and so there's more for a player to learn how to play. In theory, if they start at the lowest point, then by the time they're advanced they understand how to use their original abilities (and may have found some that don't work well have have modified them - if there are bugs in a complicated character, it may be hard to figure out why).

There are always more than enough players. No need to worry about people being turned off. Online is where you get to run your off the wall fetish campaigns if you really want to.

But in any case. Shadow run has the "Prime Runner" CC rules specifically for starting higher levels. If you want higher than that just apply the difference again.

 In shadowrun five,  and four, I can't speak on earlier versions, there are are processes for playing more seasoned characters. In the brief period I played SR table-top, we played a group of runners that were privately working for a specific group of corporate individuals. We were starting higher than what beginning runners would start with, we knew each other to some degree -- there were still secrets, but we knew something about each other -- and we had better stats, and equipment than we would have had, if  we   had just started out.  The stakes were higher too, and the Storyteller did a good  job of bringing our patrons to live and making them people we didn't want to let done, and not just because we feared them, although there was one we mostly did fear, although I developed a history of being candid that for better or worse set the tone for interactions with that particular individual.

The room for failure was smaller, and that added additional challenges.

It also was a very different kind of shadowrun game, because we were starting from a specific standpoint, working for a set group of individuals. We were essentally the trouble shooters for them, off the books, which meant,  our reputation with them and our interaction with each other was much more set than it might be otherwise.  To put this another way, there were very strong implicit motivations for us to work together.   I'm not sure how well this particular style of shadowrun would translate to RPOL, because it would require a bit   of commitment  for players to stay with the game and to develop some shared history.

As others have kind of stated, to varying degrees, the only really strong reason to start characters at Level One (or whatever equivalent status may be for the system you're using) is for inexperienced players to develop an understanding and appreciation for the nuances of the game.  If you've got experienced players, and especially if they're experienced  with that specific system, they can easily get bored starting them at the very basics.

I like to start characters in my own games at fairly low levels to have them develop naturally.  I think it is easier to identify with that character and how they are reacting to the world they've been tossed into when you get to play through it.

That being said, I have an imagination and don't mind creating that development less naturally (go longer backstory for the win!)for a good game.  As long as it isn't Pathfinder 1e/Gestalt/Mythic/level 16 with homebrew elements.  That has to start low level or my brain hurts LOL