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Posted by: MatrixJargon Jun 12 2008, 03:22 AM

Anyway, ignoring to light hearted title me and a buddy of mine are about to double GM a campaign (switching back and fourth so we at least get to play now and then) and this will be my first official fourth campaign . So far we've played in Seattle, Nashville, and Knoxville, and I think we're ready to try out Miami. I wanted tn area with an airport that was close to the water while still providing interest. What I'm wondering is, in Fourth or Third edition, is there any heads up on Miami? In changes I need to know about? Should I just wing it or look through a few rule books? I don't wanna get halfway through a campaign and find out Miami was supposed to have been destroyed in a mana storm.

We're also looking for a plot and I need input on what kind of fun stuff your group could come up with in Miami. And, as cruel as it sounds, I'm going to give the players as many chances to betray each other as possible. In all our previous campaigns everyone has been close and trusting and we only had one almost-traitor. What kind of things should I be willing to do to sway a runner to betray another. What would you do with YOUR players? Money, moral dellimas, maybe I should just put them in situations where their personalities conflict?

Posted by: Zen Shooter01 Jun 12 2008, 03:46 AM

Magnum PI was set in Hawaii. Miami Vice and Dexter are set in Miami.

Cyberpirates had info on Miami, and I think Threats 2.

Posted by: DWC Jun 12 2008, 04:16 AM

Given Shadowrun's inescapable ties to the 1980s, and Miami Vice's prominence in determining what was cool at that time, the city is something of a no-brainer for a setting.

If you want the players to not trust each other, make sure that they don't get the sense that everyone else is out to betray them. That'll only drive the group to close ranks even tighter. Let them get comfortable, and then once in a while dangle the carrot of something on the side in front of a PC. Let the professional rivalries or personal greed take over from there.

Posted by: MatrixJargon Jun 12 2008, 04:36 AM

I knew that, I was just testing you.

Thanks for the advice guys, i'll check the books.

Posted by: Fuchs Jun 12 2008, 08:23 AM

I've been running a campaign set in Miami for years. I mainly used some RL sources, what was in cyberpirates, and then added other stuff in as seemed fit. We have Miami as a mob town, with the mafia ruling the underworld. Smuggling, pirates, dirty politics, and the Aztlan/Caribbean tension to spice things up. Voodoo is a prominent part of the magic background as well.

Over time, we've ended up with our own sourcebook.

Posted by: WeaverMount Jun 12 2008, 08:40 AM

as far as heads up go: the write up of Voodoo in Street Magic is crazy over powered. If you asked me write up the most powerful combination of spirits, it would be what Voodoo got. You can argue about the drain stat, but charisma is still a good pick. That said you should have fun with Voodoo and the awakened everglades.

Posted by: hobgoblin Jun 12 2008, 09:43 AM

on topic of hawaii, was there not a book covering it around SR1-2?

Posted by: Blade Jun 12 2008, 09:51 AM

Paradise Lost. There's also the novel House of the Rising Sun both by Nigel Findley who liked the place.

Posted by: Fuchs Jun 12 2008, 09:51 AM

Paradise Lost. An adventure with a sourcebook part.

Posted by: Blue eyes Jun 12 2008, 10:15 AM

Started up a Miami campaign myself little over a month ago, here is what I did to hammer out the setting:

A. As already stated most info on Miami is in Cyberpirates.

B. I'd recommend checking out wikipedia's section on Miami for tonnes of stuff about the city and its different neighbourhoods.

C. Several official Miami homepages give economic, crimerelated info of the city and its different sections.

D. Create stuff yourself which is fun

Btw other tv series with great visuals from the city are: Burn Notice, and ofc CSI Miami.

Personally I'd really like to see an update on the Caribbean League or atleast Miami in one of the upcoming city books.

Posted by: Velocity219e Jun 12 2008, 10:21 AM

Watch 'Burn Notice' its about an ex spy living in Miami, its kinda like a brutal version of macguyver for the 00's really good fun, especially the main characters slightly psychotic internal dialogues.

Posted by: Fortune Jun 12 2008, 10:57 AM

Best part of Burn Notice is the psychotic semi-girlfriend.

Posted by: Drogos Jun 12 2008, 10:59 AM

QFT

Edit: Fortune is right on target, as well (as usual).

Posted by: Wounded Ronin Jun 12 2008, 04:52 PM

For optimum Miami Vice emulation an appropriate 80s soundtrack is required.

Posted by: CanRay Jun 12 2008, 05:00 PM

So, who wants to get the Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Vice City Stories soundtracks?

Posted by: madmarvin Jun 12 2008, 05:52 PM

It's the nature of the business...it's the sumggler's blues.....

http://www.amazon.com/Miami-Vice-1984-89-Television-Hammer/dp/B000002O4W


Get the 2nd disk with it.

Posted by: FlakJacket Jun 12 2008, 06:40 PM

Another film you might be interested in seeing is a documentary from a few years back called http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0380268/. It's all about the illegal drug trade in Miami and Florida back in the 70s and 80s and the switch from largely marijuana to cocaine and the explosive expansion of the trade and massive amounts of money that was made. I haven't seen it myself but it was recommended to me by someone I know who usually has good taste.

Posted by: DWC Jun 12 2008, 07:37 PM

Already got it. They're in my iPod, along with the icon songs from Miami Vice. It was getting back into Shadowrun that made me acknowledge my sick addiction to new wave. Stupid "A Flock of Seagulls".

Posted by: HentaiZonga Jun 12 2008, 08:34 PM

I'm running a 2071 game set in Hawaii right now, in fact. The dragon Neheka is still kicking around, as are the bugs.

Posted by: nezumi Jun 12 2008, 08:43 PM

Funny, within an hour of reading this thread I brought up this article for an unrelated topic:
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/1997-06-05/news/myths-over-miami

Been posted before, but still worth rereading.

Posted by: paws2sky Jun 12 2008, 08:52 PM

Hi,
I'm intrigued by your ideas and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
-paws

Posted by: luke s Jun 13 2008, 06:12 AM

Cyberpirates is certainly the sourcebook for a Miami based campaign and continuing on with that theme - your group could be made up of pirates who want to 'go it alone' on their own ship but as the campaign progresses and their reps increase, their respective ex-captains approach them to 'return to the fold' so to speak - loyalty/moral dilemmas, offers to good to refuse etc.

Posted by: luke s Jun 13 2008, 06:15 AM

Who's going to play Higgins?

Posted by: HentaiZonga Jun 13 2008, 10:23 AM

http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=22383

Posted by: yesman Jun 13 2008, 07:41 PM

if you can, try find the Millennium's End Miami sourcebook; it's easy enough to convert to SR. Just plug in the megacorps and make the DMZs a little DMZier.

Posted by: Demonseed Elite Jun 13 2008, 10:41 PM

Part of me really wanted to do a full-length Miami write-up for Feral Cities, but I knew it wasn't an ideal main setting for that book. I'm not really sure where it would belong, at least my interpretation of it. I'm not sure there's a sprawl book in the planning that fits it entirely well.