Life in the Barrens AAR, How did it come to pass? Options

[FriendoftheDork]

Ok, for those not aquainted with the story, I have set my campaign in the Redmond Barrens, not far away from Glow City. Characters are created with 320BPs (max 180 on phys/mental stats), and no magic except latent. They also recieved only 700:nuyen:, or 2d6*100 :nuyen:

Party:
-Uzz, Elf face/gunslinger that grew up in Ares seattle, but had to flee after an illicit romantic affair with a high-up executive. An excelent first impression talker, but sometimes lose out in negotations because of otherwise low mental stats. SINless.
Weapon: Ares Predator IV

-Simon, human wannabe mage med student. Also grew up in Ares, and attended high school with Uzz. Not a true mage yet, but has researched magic alot (dropped out of medschool because of it, enraging his doctor father). Drifted to the redmond after being kicked out of the apartment to find easy money. SINner. Weapon: Colt America.

-Trog, troll go-ganger. Got his name from his previous human go-gang, and still doesen't realize what it means. Grew up travelling around on his bike, but was left behind when his bike fell apart and the rest of the gang had to evade Lone Star. Looking for work so he can fix his bike, and crack a few skulls in the process. Weapons: Remington 990 and survival knife.

-Jimmy, human thief/hacker. Come from a high class Renraku family, but was caught trying to hack their systems. His family denounced him, and he had to flee from Renraku corpsec as well as Lone Star. No one likes Jimmy (cha 1), and he is good at pissing people off, even beast spirits hate him!
Was picked up (literally) by Trog as he was trying to steal his bike after. After kicking his ass, Trog found out that his bike worked after Jimmy tampered with it, so he picked him up and has kept him since. Criminal Sin (actually SINer that is wanted). Weapon: None at first, gotten himself a colt america now.

Plot: The party met eachother in the Barrens, and decided to join up for protection as well as improved job opportunities. A street Urchin (Joe) got the party to talk to an Indian Stuffer Shack manager named Rajiv Singh (Street-level fixer connection 3). They showed up, and the SS security impressed them (LMG drones mounted on rails covering the whole store) enough that they accepted to work for him for 40-50:nuyen: for the day (after negotation).

They encountered a local gang wanting their cut (and avoided confrontation by excelent Etiquette), 7 humanis thugs (which the Troll almost single-handedly drove off by killing 1 and beating up 3 others!).

Later they was sent to collect debt from a BTL-head (and Jimmy stole his simmodule and BTLs for personal use (mild addiction).

They even had to prevent a small mob from stealing food supplies coming to the Stuffer Shack, which Uzz handled with an awesome leadership check (7 hits at -5!!)

Jimmy even got a few extra cred at the side for fixing a cigarette vending machine, while the mage got work making a Warding for the store (which he can't really do yet).

All in all, they got some nuyen, and impressed mr. Singh enough to get him as a connection3/loyalty 1 contact for free.

Behind the scenes: You might wonder why there is a Stuffer Shack in the Barrens, and how Singh can afford the security - well the store is more or less a front for his illegal dealings in BTLs, firearms, drugs and fencing all manner of stuff. He's also been here for 30 years and knows alot of what happens around, making his information valuable. Although his legal sales help finance the store somewhat, his illicit dealings more than makes up for it.

The local gang, Los Vatos Locos (human latino gang), has contacted the group and now demands tribute from them: 1000 :nuyen: each or a favor.
Since they are poor as church mice, they opted for the latter.
Favors: Geek the mage, B&E or Hooding.

Geek the Mage: A weak rat shaman have been spying on the Vatos on behalf of their rival gang called the Blackrock clan (all orcs). He is currently in hiding, but the Vatos wants him dead before he can reveal the information to the orcs. The PCs needs to contact a talismonger in the blackrock's turf, or perhaps others knowing the shaman's wereabouts... all without being blasted apart by the orcs (who really hate elves). +1000 :nuyen:

B&E: party needs to get into a low-level fence's apartment and steal his comlink. Complications include armed gorillas next door and some minor security (maglock, possibly cheap alarm etc. +500:nuyen: if they do it very discreetly

Hooding: Party needs to take on the Blackrock "tax collectors", take their money, and give it back to the poor in their turf, curtesy of Los Vatos Locos. The only "good" option, but of course this is only a PR stunt. no extra nuyen here... other than what the PCs can keep to themselves.

The party chose... all of them. They want to do #1 and #3 at the same time.

Well that's what what we managed the first session, we'll play again tomorrow so I can update this thread later. All in all, the players seemed to have a good time, despite (or because of)the grim setting and low power.

Any questions or comments just go ahead. Critique is gladly accepted.