Emo Samurai's Dedicated Campaign Thread, The Next Generation Options

[emo samurai]

Yes, that's where I get the ideas.

I also have another idea. Brett Favre is considered by his fans incredibly overpaid and a drain on his team; he's paid 12 million a year, enough to finance a shitload of rookie talent, and yet he doesn't play that well because he's old. He refuses to retire, and anyone who forces him to will look like the world's most evil team manager/coach. In SR4, a futuristic version of this will happen to a cyberware sports team; the coach hires you to "convince" the player to retire through whatever means possible. Since he's all cybered up, it will be difficult to do this through injury, and any cyberware will have to be replaced at great cost to the team. This will be an infiltration/face-type run.

[emo samurai]

He will have many bodyguards and shitloads of fans.

[emo samurai]

How do I make a run against Brett Favre fun? And challenging?

[krayola red]

[emo samurai]

I wasn't going to have them kill him, just convince him to retire somehow.

[Rotbart van Dain...]

Make a nice photo album of his friends and family and send it to him?

[emo samurai]

How do I make it hard for them? I mean, the best way is to intimidate him... maybe that's the challenge, make a football star with a ginormous security budget quit through intimidation, do it in such a way that he will never feel safe.

[emo samurai]

How do I make it hard for them? I mean, the best way is to intimidate him... maybe that's the challenge, make a football star with a ginormous security budget quit through intimidation, do it in such a way that he will never feel safe.

[Rotbart van Dain...]

Oh, getting close to his family and famous friends should be quite a challenge... taking the pictures without killing anyone doesn't make it easier.

[emo samurai]

Dude, he's so old he doesn't have family... then again, he'll have clones... He'll be the clone of Brett Favre! Maybe they'll have to observe him for long enough to find something he's neurotically attached to...

[krayola red]

Killing him would be a whole lot easier than "convincing" him to retire, and it leaves a lot less loose ends to boot. Not to mention he might change his mind later when he's not in as vulnerable a position and you'll have to deal with a very pissed off cybered up millionaire who wants payback.

[krayola red]

Another idea: the reason they can't make him retire is because of his popularity, right? So destroy it. Set him up for a scandal that makes him look like a monster that no decent person would ever idolize, and he'll retire of his own accord without even needing any prompting on your part.

[emo samurai]

Great idea. Thanks!

[Glyph]

As far as the how goes, I would leave that up to the players. Don't think about it too much, or you might get upset when they don't do it the "best" way. There are lots of ways, from blackmail (slip a mickey into his drink, then get the sim or trideo of him in a compromising position with two trolls in leather chaps), to intimidation, to simply killing him.

Football players are boring, though. It might be more interesting if you made him a star of one of the more recent sports such as urban brawl or combat biker.


This is the kind of run that can teach a team about recon and legwork. If they don't check things out first, they might bust into his penthouse, only to find out that he's throwing a house party for his teammates - twenty or so max-cybered monsters just like him.
:vegm:

[emo samurai]

I was thinking of letting them do it however they wanted.

Yeah... that sounds 4vv350|\/|3.

And making it a clone of Brett Favre would be kinda lost on them, probably, since they might not care about football that much.

[emo samurai]

The toxic mage dude's background will be this: he was a normal Tir Na Nogian college thaumaturgic student until he was taken hostage by a toxic shaman. The toxic shaman was trying to court a toxic free spirit for a hidden life pact and wanted to impress it, so he took a school of magic hostage. The spirit didn't think too highly of the shaman's sycophantic foolhardiness and so decided to invest itself in the toxic mage as a young man, since he had intelligence and connections. It gave him a deal, allow himself to get killed by the mad shaman, or make a pact with the spirit and gain the strength necessary to punch a hole through his torso. He took the latter, but was changed by the experience. He has spent years infiltrating Tir Na Nog's high society. His company disposes of toxic waste in 3rd world territory, increasing his spirit's domain.

I have a few sample descriptions in mind. "He seems as if he once had a human soul, which has since mutated into a sharp-edged cube of iridescent nuclear waste." "He is beautiful like oil slicks glistening on the surface of seaweed, or the glint on the edge of a glass knife in moonlight."

I remember hearing on this board that the Hidden Life pact, in earlier editions, granted bonuses to physical stats but incurred mental flaws. I will be using this version of the pact. How did it work, by the way?

[emo samurai]

The Tir lady will have a very Edna Pontellier view of the toxic mage, and when she sees him alone, she'll tell him, "We should play-act! You'll be the lonely wizard in his tower, cursed to eternal life, who has never known the love of a woman, and I'll be the rebellious but noble runaway princess who has seen through your veneer of cruelty and independence!" I have no idea how to show them this; maybe Mr. Johnson will be her husband, and he'll pay them to follow her on the job.

[krayola red]

Who is Edna Pontellier and why does her name sound so familiar?

[Fortune]

Chick in Kate Chopin's The Awakening.

[krayola red]

Eh, so that's why it sounded familiar...I read The Awakening back in high school. By which I mean I was supposed to read it. By which I mean I didn't and slept through all the class discussions.

Ah, good times.

[emo samurai]

What should the characters' names be? And what do you think of my dude?

As for the Edna Pontellier reference, I was basing it on when she talks to Robert and they have a play-acting moment where he watches over her while she takes a centuries-long nap when in reality she was just taking the afternoon off.

[emo samurai]

The husband will think of her as having a certain courage in her romantic flightiness that he will never match; that is why he keeps her.

[emo samurai]

What do you think of my Victorian cast of characters?

[Fortune]

I'm trying to figure out why you don't write short stories ... or even attempt a novel.

[emo samurai]

Maybe I should pitch this storyline as a novel to WizKids.

Here's a link to my short story. It involves Shen. If you don't want to read the rough drafts, skip to the second page.