The big thing I'd like to see is a bit of direction at the beginning. Honestly, I never got very far in the original because I had no idea what the heck I was doing or where I was going. I didn't even know that I was supposed to follow the guy you talk with at the beginning! I think that this will also be more confusing for people who have just played Dead Man's Switch and never touched the original.

Perhaps that guy you talk with as soon as you exit the first building could provide some additional dialog options, both to let the character know what the heck they should do next and to describe some of the differences between this campaign and Dead Man's Switch. In the original version, he had only two topics (Hitmen and Firearms) and wasn't really all that much help besides "the hitmen want you dead, so get a gun" If he were a more helpful character, he could serve as an audience surrogate and answer a lot of the questions. A rough draft of the dialog might be:

Intro: What! You can't be alive! I saw you get geeked by those hitmen! You're crazy showing your face again. You'd better get smart like me and pack a firearm or you'll wind up dead! [This is the same as the original]

Hitmen: [Original] They want you DEAD! If I were you, I'd watch myself! [New] No idea who they were working for. I try not to ask too many questions if it might end with a bullet in my brain.

Firearms: [Instead of being unhelpful and not telling you anything about them] There aren't any weapons shops in this part of town, so you're on your own. And no, you can't have mine; you'd have to pry it from my cold, dead fingers. [Foreshadowing getting the baretta off of his dead body, which I imagine would be a scripted item stash that appears on his death]

Spells: Spells aren't something you can just buy off the shelf of the local Kwik-Mart. They have to be learned from someone who has the mojo. If you think that'll help save you from the hitmen, do some favors for someone who knows a bit about it and see if they'll teach you a few of them.

Spirits: You don't choose the animal spirits, they choose you. You'll have to earn their trust if you want them to help save you from those hitmen.

Decking: Anyone can do it if they've got a cyberdeck and a data jack. I see that you've got a jack, but it looks like it got messed up when you got riddled with bullets. No way you'd be able to jack in. You'd better see about getting it fixed. In the mean time, you could hire a decker to enter the Matrix for you.

Rigging: Haven't seen anyone around here who sells drones. Don't hold you breath for them. [Indicating that there are no drones in the game, unless this mod is adding them].

Training: You learn everything you need to know by being on the streets. But sometimes you just need a good night's rest to process what you've learned. After you've had your fill of beating up bad guys and such, find a bed and sleep on it to reflect on how you can learn from your experiences. [This is a way to tell players that they need to find a bed in order to spend karma]

Where should I go: You've got to have had a place to live before all this went down, like a flat or something. Why not go back there? In the mean time, we need to get off the streets. I might know a spot you can lie low for a bit. Follow me. [Then he runs ahead. This helps the player know that they ought to follow him, which was my biggest problem when I first played the game]

While were're at it, it would be really great to give Jake more dialogue than "Firearms", "Hitmen", and "Talk." Short, to the point questions are probably sufficient; we don't necessarily need to give Jake a distinctive way of speaking. For instance, he could just ask "Who were those hitmen?", "Where can I get a firearm?", "What's this metal thing in the back of my head?", and "Where should I go?"

thanks for the reply @Thunderforge ^these are all things id like to see improved from the original... just to get people in the mindset of how the item and conversation unlocks work in this game.

the spells and spirits dialogues could be for talking to the shaman you save from the graveyard - as is talking to Hamfist about rigging and decking... but also these info chunks could be on loading screens eh - a biggie that really needs to be added is something like "different conversations held and items gained can open up new conversations in people youve already talked to"

the first punk you see i figure is only barely not gonna shoot you on sight so i think simpler like 'shut up and shop deadman ... tho good luck finding one round ere'

yeah definitely - some internal dialogue for the player is definitely a great idea - it does a few important things - gets the player more interested in their character, shows their avatar which does more of the same, narration is a 'noir' thing to do - but mostly its a great device for storytelling

@thunderforge - Having a "quest mode" is one improvement on the list. That will help with the direction.
Having some better explanation dialogue is also a good addition. I don't think its in the spirit of Decker to have the info, but his "I don't know" line could direct people to the bar and then the bar could give more info without seeming out of place...
Thanks for the comments.

A narrative device that should be useful for helping story telling this would be the use of flashbacks that fill in Jakes back story some of it aimed at the main drive of the story some of it just to fill out the character and setting.

A second narritive device to look at for the story would be the use of Visions to describe encounters with the dog spirit.

The triggers for both should at the very least be progression in the main story campaign. Other "filler" infomation (character/setting), should be given out with secondary story quests completetions.

@Saereth345 some awesome ideas there - the shaman journey and his memories coming back could well be directly linked ... - a bit i wrote

- "Kitsune and Jake have a history she was not randomly there when he gets gunned down – they were on the same runner team when ♥♥♥♥ hit the fan at Matrix systems – everyone else gets murdered… Kitsune and Jake got seperated and fortunately was about to meet up at the perfect moment – she heals him and then flees… knowing the spell takes time to work… this lends itself to more dramas between Kitsune and Jake and some story and feels for him getting his memory back in small doses. also she was secretly jealous of Jakes ex. possible flashback to the Matrix systems run?"

so tying this in with a shamanic epiphany would be and excuse to show some scenes from Matrix System and also show some more of Professor Raitsov - who its always bugged me we know nothing about.

Something else to consider once the main plot is done, is a few optional side missions for cash and exp. Something I always remembered about the original shadowrun game was I was always strapped for cash, and karma with out grinding out constant fights.

same again ... i want to have a few companion quests - for one - helping hamfist get his favourite cyberdeck back from gangers/ghouls - for 2 i want a dances with clams romanitic quest - cos clams. the kitsune and jake relationship could also spawn several missions. im no writer.. so yeh if anyone wants to step up ill make a google page so people can work on a script

in this, logic would work the same as the official SRR campaigns - once you have a runner on side - they charge no money - once the campanion mission/s are done

The companion quest should as its reward strengthen the said companion making them a better runner. The easy way of doing this is that the toon becomes version two (or three depending on how many companion quest there are.) of that character.

yeh much like mass effect series? i was thinking streamlining to zero dollars with better stats

One last thought be sure to update the material you have with things from the Berlin campaign, The castle enviroment would do great for the night blade club and dante would do better then the hell hounds you have used for the dog spirit.

nps thanks. we are still wondering if we should limit ourselves by using berlin assets...

You would not be limiting your self by using the berlin assets but expanding your horizons above and beyond what you could achieve other wise.

Just a quick note, I'm following along this thread but I'm not going to comment until later. If I let myself be distracted by enhancements, I'm not going to finish what I currently need to!
I encourage you all to keep discussing this though!

I believe what Geeked was referring to when he said they might limit themselves was that the mod would only be available for those who have purchased Dragonfall. I suppose they could make it so that those assets were present if you had them installed and alternates if you didn't, but I'm guessing that would be a lot more work on the developers side that they would rather spend working on getting the main mod working. So I guess they'd have to make a decision at some point; core SRR or SRR+Dragonfall. It'd be nice if Harebrained Schemes gave some numbers for how many people bought Dragonfall; if it were greater than 50% I'd say use it.