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> Advice on Mission Results, The Group I ST Did Something...ungood...
zeb.hillard
post Dec 14 2006, 06:18 PM
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Last night completed the third run for the players that I GM for, and boy...did it end on a high note. Due to one players slight misunderstanding of the rules, the facility they were extracting clones from was leveled.

A little bit of history: Note: Spoilers for 3rd Ed Shadowrun Missions

I'm running the Shadowrun Missions series from SR3, revised and updated to SR4. The second mission, Strings Attached, involves the 'runners breaking into a DocWagon Storage facility and removing several (4) clones and two tissue samples for a competing agency on the rise in Seattle, so they can 'buy' the sponsorship of several high profile clients to lure others away from DocWagon. Much like the idea that people will change cell-phone companies when a celebrity endorses them.

The group makes their way into the facility through the sewers (One of the only modules that I've seen where this entry plan is the standard) and into the clone holding facility. They sack up the four bodies after some small skirmishing with security and a competing group that is on their own mission to retrieve a tissue sample, and before they flee the group face/demolitions-bunny plants his plastic explosive on the ground.

Now...the Technomancer has already KO'd the corporate decker through sheer luck and Hot-SIM, and the other security teams are blocked out of the clone-storage level because of a lock on the elevators. The Mage has 'Armored-up' and is watching them Astrally. They begin to retreat, and the explosive goes off.

My first hinting that the explosive rules in Shadowrun 4th Ed are a little...funny.

Damage for an explosive is based on the square root of its Compound Level times its Weight in Kilos. So, he has 4 kilos of Compound XVI that he made himself during the month of downtime (60 damage). 60 damage at point blank, and reducing by 2 every meter...the kicker is, though, that it's enough damage to overcome the barrier rating of the walls and supports in the clone-storage...and in the sub-basement, and through most of the basement level.

There are three more levels on top of the basement, but I has ruled that the near instant evaporation of those three levels would cause an internal collapse of the building...pretty much killing everyone inside through combination of explosion and internal debris. Save the mage. Due to her armor spell, her office on the top floor, and a conjured elemental, she escaped mostly unharmed, unseen, and knowledgeable of the people the did the deed.

Now...she's assumed dead by her corporation, her SIN is deactivated, and she'll eventually be hurting for cash. I plan on turning her into either a "Friendly" runner long enough for them to trust her, or to have her make a heel-turn and betray them...or just have her hunt them down relentlessly and bring them back to DocWagon to have them reinstate her SIN with the government and give her her job back (Head of Magical Security, DocWagon Seattle).

I'm all for drama, but my question is; what train of activity do those of you that have bothered to read this is the best? While the first is the most long-term and vengeful...the players in my group are really untrustworthy of any NPC's due to a combination of character history and the fact that they just don't believe in 'nice people' in the world of 2071. Should their introduction to magic be at the hands of one of the first graduated of MIT&T, or should I give them a little leeway...just for a while...
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Backgammon
post Dec 14 2006, 06:29 PM
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Why the hell would she be "assumed dead"?

"Hey George, did you see that explosion?"
"Yeah, messy. Think we should check for survivors?"
"Nah. Wanna grab lunch?"

And assuming you go with the implausible notion that no one checked for her, why oh why wouldn't they immediatly take care of her once she presented herself back to Doc Wagon? "Gee, sorry miss Turner, you see, we deactivated your SIN moments after the blast, so you'll just have to eek out a life in the slums from now on. K-thanks-bu-bye"
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mmu1
post Dec 14 2006, 06:31 PM
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Wait, what? What's the Compound Level, and how high was it? In order to have a (square root of x) * 4 = 60, x has to be 225. I have no idea how SR4 works this, but that seems like an unusually large number for any RPG. (unless you're dealing with things like a dragon's hitpoints, or something...)
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zeb.hillard
post Dec 14 2006, 06:35 PM
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QUOTE (mmu1)
Wait, what? What's the Compound Level, and how high was it? In order to have a (square root of x) * 4 = 60, x has to be 225. I have no idea how SR4 works this, but that seems like an unusually large number for any RPG. (unless you're dealing with things like a dragon's hitpoints, or something...)

That's my bad, I mistyped the volume of explosives he had used. Needless to say, it was a learning experience for both myself and my players.
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zeb.hillard
post Dec 14 2006, 06:37 PM
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QUOTE (Backgammon)
Why the hell would she be "assumed dead"?

"Hey George, did you see that explosion?"
"Yeah, messy. Think we should check for survivors?"
"Nah. Wanna grab lunch?"

And assuming you go with the implausible notion that no one checked for her, why oh why wouldn't they immediatly take care of her once she presented herself back to Doc Wagon? "Gee, sorry miss Turner, you see, we deactivated your SIN moments after the blast, so you'll just have to eek out a life in the slums from now on. K-thanks-bu-bye"

Point taken on the search for survivors. However, I think the clearing and cleaning would take quite a while. THough, the end result could be in her being left alive...however, being dismissed from service due to inability to properly defend the structure.

*Ponders*

Yes, that could be the way to go, and it would cause an even deeper grudge to be harbored.
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Backgammon
post Dec 14 2006, 07:15 PM
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THAT makes much more sense. You could then keep the part about her wanting to turn the runners in in order to regain favour with her employers.
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Ryu
post Dec 14 2006, 07:57 PM
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Itīs square root of weight in kg times rating, so just 16kg required. Leaving funny explosives rules and cutting ahead to the real question. Also ignoring the man-hunt taking place after leveling a hospital.

QUOTE
I'm all for drama, but my question is; what train of activity do those of you that have bothered to read this is the best? While the first is the most long-term and vengeful...the players in my group are really untrustworthy of any NPC's due to a combination of character history and the fact that they just don't believe in 'nice people' in the world of 2071. Should their introduction to magic be at the hands of one of the first graduated of MIT&T, or should I give them a little leeway...just for a while...


Your players will only enjoy betrayal if it comes as a surprise. If you take the route of making her a runner, she on the other hand should either act fast or not at all. In-character the mage would likely hate them and set them up as fast as she can. Make her take astral overwatch from the getaway vehicle, then carjack it. Have the group escape with difficulty. Or ditch the plan completely.
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Sir_Psycho
post Dec 17 2006, 09:59 AM
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QUOTE
Why the hell would she be "assumed dead"?

because a large chunk of the building was evaporated by a huge explosion, and she wasn't in the rubble that was once her office. So they would have assumed she was evaporated. Not to mention the fact there's a whole bunch of bodies, dead seccies and cloned bodies to confuse things.

Although there is a similar point to bring up. Why doesn't she just go back to Docwagon, proclaim that she survived and report for reassignment? I can solve that for you with a little hypothetical.

Say she heads off to find her senior at DocWag, finds him getting into his Westwind and tells him. They talk for a while, and the senior is PISSED that the whole facility was levelled, and blames her. Somewhere this argument takes a turn for the violent and she fries him (and in turn, his bodyguard) with a manaball. She freaks, removes her astral signature from the bodies and is now forced into the shadows.

From there on, you've got a few options.

I'd say she avoids informing the police about the runners, due to fear of being nailed for magical murder. She ends up a shadowrunner.

Have your team do a few more runs after the heat dies down, forgetting about the docwag incident. Then give them a big run. Such as a "Windfall" in SRComp rules. But they'll need assistance.

Their fixer hitches them up with some other runners, including the mage. The mage recognizes them, but does not do anything initially. Make her work with the team for a portion of the run. But when it comes to risky business (such as sneaking into a facility) she dissapears, and all of a sudden the alarms are sounded, the runners realize what's going on, and have to deal with the whole run turning to drek.

You could also run a similar scenario, except perhaps if the runners some-how (accidentally) prove that they're great guys, maybe save her clueless-shadowrunner hoop a few times, then she even might not screw them over. I'd say you shouldn't increase her contact level past 1, though.

Food for thought.
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nezumi
post Dec 17 2006, 10:03 PM
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I'm surprised she doesn't just hire a Johnson to hire the team and either send them to covertly break a prisoner out of a Lone Star prison facility (with said cell actually empty, except when an anonymous call tells the Star there are bad people int heir prison cell) or to escort her to Doc Wagon or whatever other crazy thing she can think of. It's not like she needs a lot of cash, since she won't be paying them after the run is 'complete'.

I also think she should suffer some sort of mental trauma due to the explosion. Villains always do, and it'll explain why she doesn't work for DW any more. I mean, Joker fell into a vat of chemicals, Cat woman fell into a... cat... or something. So this lady fell into a pit full of clone parts. She can be Clone Woman or something. Just attach a few extra limbs, put her in colorful spandex and you're golden.
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