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

[DTFarstar]

Hehe, the mental image of a leather clad troll zooming around on a regular sized crotch rocket.

Chris

[FriendoftheDork]

Ok, continuing the posting of PC stats I bring you Simon! (the sorcerer).

[ Spoiler ]

Simon

Agility 3
Body 3
Reaction 3
Strength 2
Charisma 3
Intuition 3
Logic 5
Willpower 4
Edge 3
Essence 6
Initiative 6 (8 med improved reflexes spell)
Initiative passes 1 (3 med improved reflexes spell)
Magic 5

Active Skills
Assensing 3
Banishing 2
Binding 2
Computer 2
Counterspelling 2
Data Search 2
Dodge 2
Etiguette 2
First Aid (Combat wounds) 5 (+6 fra medkit)
Infiltration (Urban) 1
Medicine 2 (+6 fra medkit)
Palming (legerdemain) 2
Perception (vision) 4 (+3 fra optical vision enhancement)
Pistols (semi-automatics) 2 (+2 fra smartlink)
Spellcasting (manipulation) 4
Summoning (fire) 3
Survival 1

Knowledge Skills

Street
Magic 6
Tridstars 2
Security Companies (Knight Errant) 4
Ares Macrotechnology 4
Street Gangs (Merlyns) 4

Academic
Chemistry 2
Biology 2

Gear
Contact lenses
- Image link
- Flare compensation
Shades
- Smartlink
- Low-light vision
- Optical vision enhancement
Medkit, rating 6
Microtransiver, rating 6
Optical binoculars
Flashlight
Ares Predator (50 regular ammo)
Col America
Flechetti Security
Defiance EX Shocker
Knife
Armor Vest
Suzuki Mirage
Renraku Senzei
- Iris orb operating system
- Programs: Analyze, Browse, Command, Edit, Encrypt, Scan, alle på 3
Manipulation sustaining focus, force 3
Health sustaining focus, force 3

Spells
Heal, Manabolt, Armor, Levitate, Influence, Stunball, Control Though,
Increase Reflexes

Bound Spirits
Force 2 fire spirit, 3 services (guards Simon’s apartment)
Force 3 fire spirit, 6 services (guards underground lair)

Ares SIN (Simon Patterson)

Fake SINs
Martin Stein, rating 4 (throwaway)
Peter Anderson, rating 1 (throwaway)
Jason Blue, rating 4 (old legal)
- Licenses to Heavy Pistol, Sustaining Focus, Combat spells
Steve Parson, rating 4 (shadowrun)
Karl Johnson, rating 5 (legal, owner of apartment)
Thomas Pitt, rating 7 (fra FBI, enda ikke brukt)

High Lifestyle, shadowaccount .

[FriendoftheDork]

And here is Jimmy/Vanesse/Michelle/ oh my confusing. Stats are "as is", from the player himself. If they are too confusing I could answer a question or two.

[ Spoiler ]

VAN
Vanessa Janice Van Creuff (Van, Jimmy “Shades�): Thief, Hacker
ABL: B:3 A:5 R:5[6] S:1 --- C:3 I:5 L:5 W:3 --- Edg:6 Ini:10 Ess:3.055 – Physical/Stun 10/10 --- Karma 76(-2)/5

SKILLS: Stealth4(Disg Infil Palm Shad), Electronics4(Comp DSearch HW SW)
¤Hacking5(Expl), CyberCombat5, Electronic Warfare5, Percep5(Vis), Dodge1(Ranged), Con4(Act), Etiq4, Leader4, Negoti4, Forgery1, PilotGround1, AutoMech1
¤Chemistry4, Echonomics2, UCAS Law1, Geography1, History1, Corp Knowledge Renraku3, Security Procedures3(Inside), Business2, Matrix Games4(GL), Street Drugs1, Music1, Matrix Chat Rooms2
¤English(N), Japanese4
¤ActiveS: Construction2, Cybertech4, Medicine4, Pilot exotic:Drone3, Pilot Anthroform3
¤KnowS:Architecure German Gothic3, Club Music3, Construction3, Macroecconomic5, Security Design6, Street Drugs4, Urban Brawl3

*NEG.QUALITIES: Criminal SIN, Sensitive System, Mild Addiction (BTL), Spirit Bane (Beasts)
*CONTACTS: *Sysop Hacksite 5/3, *Mr Singh 3/1
*IMPLANTS: Datajack(0.2e), Voice Modulator(0.4e), Fiberoptic hair(0.1e), A-Skillwires5(used 1.92e), Expert(0.1e) ***Sleep Regulator(0.075e), Synaptic Boosters1(0.25e)
*LIFESTYLE: Low 2k/m + 250 shadow account +1200 ward6
*FSIN: Allison Carter 4, Michelle Landon 3, Jan Herschel 1

*ALIASES: ○Van(matrix personae), ♂Jimmy “Shades�(shadowrunner), ♀Allison Carter(FSIN4, programmer), ♀Michelle Landon(FSIN3, writer, fixer, Gadget), ♂Jan Herschel(FSIN1, tinkerer), ♀Monica ‘Cherie’ (bimbo) +♀Dove(Hooder), ♂Hawk(Hooder),

MATRIX:
*COMMLINK: (Re6 Si5(4km) FW4 Sy6)Comlink FL Caliban, ‘Morpheus’ OS, Hotsim+2
-Wireless router, Cellphone, PDA, GPS, Chip Reader/player, Wallet/Credstick, Credstick reader, GamingDevice, Music player, micro-trid/holo-projector, Camcorder, Microphone, Image/Text scanner, RFID tag reader, retractable earbuds, Voice-access controls, Biometic Reader, shock- and water-resistant case (+touchscreen display, roll-up Velcro-fastening keyboard).
*PROGS: ¤STD: Analyze5, Browse4, Command3, Edit4, Encrypt5, RFilter3, Scan4
¤HACK: Armor6, Attack6, BFBFilter6, BHam5, Decrypt4, Defuse6, ECCM5, Exploit6, Sniffer5, Spoof5, Stealth6 Track5 + Blackout, Databomb, Medic0
¤MAPSOFT: Seattle6 ¤INFOSOFT: Spells and Magic6, CranialBombs3. Explosives3
¤GAMES: Cimciv**, Grand Larceny, Killing Floor, Miracle Shooter, Shadowrun MMORPG*
¤MISC: VR Music, VR Pet(SM Ork), IC5, Teamalert, Wipe

GEAR
¤COMMLINK: FL Cal,Subvocal
¤SHADES: *Maxi(IL,Lo,Fl,En3,Ma+Cyb6,Mad3,Olf6) *Fem(IL,Lo,En3,Ma) *Ultra(IL,U,Sm) *Shooting(IL,Sm,Lo,En3)
¤CHAMSUIT(6b/4i,nonconductive6,frills,fiberoptic)
¤GUN:Yamaha SmartPulsar(CHolster,darts16)
¤Yamaha Growler

¤SHOULDERBAG/BAG/PURSE
¤¤DISGUISE: 2xLatexMask, Chestpiece, wraparound skirt, pumps
¤¤DRONES: ¤SUMMA(Cam,CybScan,Holo) ¤PUFF(Smoke,Cam,Holo,Mad)
¤GIZMOS: Respirator, Biomonitor, HeadPhones(Ench3,SelectSFilter), Printer, Commlink(2-2, 3-3), Earbuds, +Camcord, DirMic, Geig, Motion, Mic, 2xBug3, Bug4
¤¤B&E: WhiteNoise6(300,a7), Autopicker6,Miniwelder,Wireclippers,TagEraser,Flashlight
¤¤MISC: HW Kit, Medkit1, Geckos, Colt America(extra clip,shots:18)
¤¤9xTranq Patch, 2xNarcoject, Plastic restraints(20), Glue Sprayer(150), Tape
¤¤Grenades: 4xFrag,2xSmoke,2Fbang, Tsmoke,CS,Naus, 5TinCans
¤¤PURSE: Make-up, Mirror, FemProducts, Jewellery, 2xPepperP, Food(Chocolate, Instant Coffee etc), TissuePaper

*Credstick(1k+), ShadowAcc(rest), Trog –20k
*Â¥<35.055>

[MaxHunter]

ok, ok, I really liked the stats that go with the chars, somehow I had expected them to be much more munchkiny. You don't know the things I have to deal with in my games. Loved the SIN details, I enforce something like that but then my groups usually have one-three fake SINs.

I haven't seen Uzz yet, but of these three I liked Jimmy the most. Maybe that is so because I didn't have any hacker chars in my games. (I do have one now, in a GitS clone japanese campaign I am gming) I liked the names of the drones too.

I do have a question, under "programs" there were two that caught my attention; what are "teamalert" and "wipe"?

Cheers,

Max

[MaxHunter]

oh, and it is really curious she has a "cranial bombs" datasoft, isn't it?

Cheers,

Max

[MaxHunter]

oh, and "Simon the Sorcerer" :lol: how biblical

Cheers,

Max the multiple poster (maybe I should start thinking before I write)

[Jaid]

[MaxHunter]

oh, but I would have to actually take some time to do that, now wouldn't I? It's so much easier to regret and make fun of myself... :D

cheers,

Max

[FriendoftheDork]

[FriendoftheDork]

Oh and about Jimmy's player: He's very thorough and so is his character.

He saves everything, makes alot of notes, and now (the character) is making a list of all the shadowrunners the team has come across and heard about, making a fake secretary in the secret lair (with room and everything), making some special delete command that saves what is deleted in a hidden encrypted folder (to prevent others from deleting everything), etc.

I get alot of emails with ALOT of details of what the character does in the meantime or works on when not running.

[FriendoftheDork]

Here we go again, continuing the Elven Fire module. This week Uzz’s player had unfortunately taken sick, so Uzz more or less faded out of the story. Since the player has played the module before that was alright, but then again his firepower would be well missed.

[ Spoiler ]

At this point in the story the PCs didn’t have any conclusive leads. Talking to the Yakuza, the Ancients and Lucinda brought them to believe that Elven Fire was an organization bent upon destroying the Ancients, perhaps previously part of them, or maybe a different group. There were even suspicions that Tir Tairngire was involved somehow.

They did have one lead though, that they got from asking about where the Ancients got their weapons. Rumor had it Tir had supported them until know, but that Ancients were buying lots of new guns from Seattle sources. That meant either they had lost the support, or someone else posing as Ancients were making the purchases. Investigating this rumor they found out the Yakuza arms dealer Gordon had been selling to them, but he wanted 15k for the info (comes with a free Panther Assault Cannon).

Since the PCs were running out of leads, Trog managed to convince them to take Gordon’s offer, and even offered to pay half the sum himself (wanting that PAC). Eventually Jimmy and Simon agreed, and off they went. Gordon delivered, and they got footage of some Elven Fire members with Dumont and St. John buying the merchandise, some 30 smgs, and different kinds of ammo (APDS, XX, etc.)

Now that they had a few more faces, they called both Green Lucifer and Ino Mamoru and showed them their footage. Both sides started looking for these people, asking questions. Additionally, Trog hit the streets and started talking to different gangs while Jimmy did the same with the Yakuza people.

After a couple of hours, they got some answers. First of all, 1 of the elves entering Gordon’s shop was called Vandal, and was a member of the Ancients with a criminal SIN from Lone Star. Green Lucifer checked around as well, and found out that Vandal was indeed a previous member that had a falling out with the Leader and left the gang/disappeared. Additionally another of the elves with Dumont and St.John, called Tirade was a wannabe Ancient some months back, but was not accepted for being an annoying prick.

Additionally, these two gangers were had been spotted by other gangers with Dumont in Renton fairly recently, next to the Maple Valley Mall, and another street person had even spotted Dumont entering an abandoned soda pop facility close by.

At this time it was night, and Simon was sleeping (the only one without a sleep regulator). Meanwhile Jimmy and Trog did an exterior check of the place. Jimmy “disguised� himself as a BTL junkie and sat down observing the place while running some nice BTLs just to… you know, be “in character�… yeah, that it. :) Trog used his Renraku Stormcloud drone to do surveillance.

In the morning when Simon woke up he had gotten messages to call Trog and Jimmy. He did so (while having real eggs for breakfast in his high-lifestyle apartment), and they told him the news.

He did an astral scouting turn on the soda pop factory first, but aside from getting a sense of dread from the place, he found out it was too cramped by machinery, pipes, and a maze of catwalks and paths. Aside from bugs, he found nothing alive. Since they believed the place was empty at the moment, they spent some time staking out, using drones and spirits to patrol the area.

Then, ‘round noon they got a call from Koren Thark: He has spoken with an authority on metahuman gang culture, and gotten new information about Elven Fire. Most importantly, a former member called Half-Ace can be found in a apartment block in Touristville, Redmond Barrens.

The team is now eager, and arrives at the place fairly early. They walk into the apartment block, and finds out it is mostly occupied by squatters and that the elevator isn’t working… geez they have to walk up the stairs all the way to the 17th floor!

At last they get up to the right floor, which is not particularly different from the others. They pass a smiling elven child on their way, but his mother quickly pulls him into her apartment and locks the door, fearful of the PCs. The door to apartment 17 is half ajar, and Trog opens the door. On a small bed sits an elven figure wrapped in a blanket. He says: “So you’re looking for Elven Fire? You’ve found it!� The submachine gun under his blanket speaks volumes.

The SMG guy starts the fight, firing at Trog, and since he’s packing APDS he actually hurts him! Another elf in ancients color exits through a door behind Simon and Jimmy, and starts spraying. Trog walks up to “half-ace� and starts to squeeze him. A mage and 2 spirits appear in astral space, and the latter 2 start materializing, while the mage tries to dispel Simon’s Improved Reflexes spell! He barely fails though, so Simon hits the mage as well as the spirits with a force 10 Stunball in astral space! Since the spirits are dual natured they are affected as well, and boom there goes most of the opposition!

Still, Trog’s neural boosters aren’t active yet, and the group of thugs starts doing damage on Simon and Jimmy. Simon also calls 2 of his standby spirits, and has them dealing with the Elven Fire thugs. They are armed with SMGs (with EX-EX) and flechette-firing shotguns, so they do a lot of damage when they hit. Simon’s spirits are almost immune to their weapons, but even the shotguns damage them quite a bit, as well as just glancing off harmlessly at times. Trog hides in the room while putting the squeeze on the first elf (literally), Jimmy enters and taser him, causing him to drop. Simon also enters the room for cover, and tries to fire his Ares Predator around the corner using his smartlink and guncam. Player: “Hmm 4 dice that could do the trick…. And it’s a critical glitch!� Poor Simon not only misses his target, but the awkward angle breaks his wrist and causes him to drop the gun.

Instead he uses Control Thoughts on the second SMG elf in the corridor outside, and forces him to blow his brains out. The fight goes the team’s way, particularly because of Simon’s Imp. Reflexes spell and Spirits. Additionally, Trog goes out into the Hallway and hoses the remaining Thugs with Gel rounds, knocking them out.

After the dust settles in the poor Barrens apartment block the team is damaged especially Simon from overcasting his Stunball. The attacking mage is unconscious somewhere, all but one of the attackers are knocked out, although one is dying from damage from Simon’s Fire Elemental. As the team goes through the enemy’s stuff, they can hear Sirens wailing – Lone Star!

They threaten the witnesses to keep quiet about what happened, and starts transporting the bodies as well as the now conscious but secured “half-ace� – who is actually the spitting image of Vandal, the one Elven Fire member buying guns with Dumont and co. The “suicide� victim was also recognizable as Tirade from the same video footage. They had time to transport all the bodies to an empty apartment 2 floors below, as well as remove the astral signature of Simon’s spells. The Lone Star had to go up 17 floors just as they did, and they weren’t too keen on getting involved in a possible gang war. So they just surrounded the place and secured it gradually. Only once they were sure the shooting was over did they even enter the premises.

Meanwhile Jimmy called Thark and told him about what had happened. He was already on his way there since dealing with gang crime is his job, and once there he could ensure the ‘Star didn’t find any good evidence against them. The people in the apartments had been sufficiently intimidated and of course couldn’t identify the attackers. So the only thing LS found was evidence of heavy gunfire and the splattered remains of an obvious suicide victim.

Trog, Simon and Jimmy started interrogating Vandal. Simon started talking about having to use his mind-numbing spirit-crushing powers, while Trog and Jimmy helped in on the “bad-cop even-worse-cop� routine. In the end Vandal got the closed options of either being delivered to the Yakuza, The Ancients or Lone Star depending on the level of his cooperation.

Needless to say, he spilled his guts. He admitted to being a member of Elven Fire, a group created to destroy the Ancients and replace them with a new organization. Half-Ace had been dead for a long time, and their leader called “Rook� planned this ambush and knew the team was going there. All his confessions were “taped� of course, and he even agreed to testify in full to Lone Star about the scheme to bring down the Ancients.

Next thing, Koren Thark contacted them. He told them about the guy who gave him the info about this called Shim Bright, and after checking with the prisoners they found out it was the same as “Rook.� The problem about getting him arrested was that Mr. Bright was an upstanding member of the high class community, and rich. They needed good evidence against him, and the testimony of an elven ganger was not enough.

Meanwhile, the Elven Fire mage finally woke up from the Stunball. After quickly checking out the battlefield with a watcher spirit, he called Rook aka Shim Bright and reported that the combat had gone terribly wrong and that the attacking team was gone, taken somewhere away except for Tirade.

Bright acted quickly, and called Vandal’s commlink. Jimmy answered, using his voice modulator to sound exactly like Vandal. Bright was surprised anyone answered, but believed he was captured and forced to lie as “Vandal� told him the combat was won and the PCs were dead. It was a good try, but Shim Bright didn’t fall for it, being used to deception and a master of it himself. So he told Jimmy to meet him at the abandoned bottle factory in Renton in 2 hours. Jimmy agreed, and that was that.

After Lone Star and Thark left the block, the team stole away. Thark “found� the prisoners in the apartment and they were detained by Lone Star.

The team went to Renton to set up an ambush. Jimmy contacted the Yakuza and enlisted their aid in catching the killer who shot the Whispering Nights members at the Witches Circle. They sent a squad of Kamikaze goons and 3 Adept Ninjas with Monowhips (thanks again Maxhunter). The plan was that the Goons wait a block away as backup, while the more stealthy Ninjas aid the team directly. Jimmy, Simon and Trog were going to enter the place and ambush from within.

Things didn’t work out that way though. While Jimmy was checking the place he triggered a booby-trap that he barely managed to dodge/soak. Not disheartened, the other two entered the maze of a factory as well, and not until long walked into a similar trap. Trog was almost unscathed, but Simon with his previous drain fell down and overflowed his damage. Trog used a trauma patch and stabilized Simon, but then Dumont popped up and surprised them, damaging Trog heavily with his XX long burst from an Ares Alpha. Jimmy was keeping track of everyone, having subscribed to everyone’s commlinks, even the Yakuza. This way he prevented Dumont from causing total confusion and friendly fire. As soon as Trog spotted Dumont, the Ninja’s also knew where he was, and came at him with great speed through the claustrophobic maze.

Trog, being a lot slower than the insanely (and insane) fast Dumont, couldn’t get in a good shot right away and so the chase was on. For several rounds Dumont evaded Trog, getting in a few bursts while Trog couldn’t. This caused Trog, who was now heavily damaged for the first time in this campaign, to slow back. The Ninjas came at full speed though, and now that they were 3 they could outmaneuver Dumont. Trog got a few bursts at him, and although he dodged most of the attacks the Ninjas followed up with their Monowhip attacks. Dumont’s extreme defenses were soon worn down (he had Move by Wire 3 and Reflex Enhancers 3!). Trog landed a good long burst almost killing Dumont, and then one of the Ninjas lopped his head off with the shiny red string, Johnny Mnemonic style.

When the combat ended the team was half-dead. The Ninja’s got the head and delivered it to their Oyabun, who called off the war against the Ancients. The team got the body, but the betaware is personalized so they can’t use the cyberware in Dumonts body. Still, the Yakuza’s actions convinced the other major gangs to end the Feud against the Ancients. The violence trickled down to previous levels, and the Metroplex Guards didn’t have to go in after all. A Lone Star squad sent to detain Shim Bright for questioning came too late, as he had already left in his private plane for an unknown destination. Thus the rumors of Tir involvement could not be verified. Still, Koren Thark held his word and the runners got their remaining 88k, as well as treatment for their wounds at LS hospitals under fake names arranged by Thark.

A fun module with some really tense combats especially since Uzz was away for the climactic ones. A bit sad for me that Dumont escaped, as I had wanted him to confront Uzz at some time as a nice counter, but Trog and the Ninja’s did him in fair and square and I’m not going to fudge that. And the Yaks taking his head means no HoG :)

Ok guys, in about an hour I leave for the airport. I’m going to Thailand and Laos this cristmas and won’t be back before the 3rd week in January, so no playing before that I’m afraid.

Happy Christmas, Feliz Navidad and a happy NewYear!

[MaxHunter]

excellent post Friendofthedork! Sounds like good fun. My compliments to the players (and my ninjas.) Enjoy your holidays in the sun!.

Merry Xmas!

Max

[It trolls!]

Oh God! No news for a month? How am I supposed to get my fix ?! :eek:

*rummages through his stash of Dreamchips* Oh yeeeaah, that's the stuff!

[FriendoftheDork]

[kindalas]

Excellent read you have definitely inspired me for the game I run for my friends.

[BFaolan]

I'm debating starting a thread like this one (more likely to be an Actual Play thread over at rpg.net, where the actual play forums need some shadowrun IMHO). What sort of things would you recommend for remembering enough of the session to write stuff down later?
(my memory is amazing sometimes - and absolute drek the rest!)

[FriendoftheDork]

[FriendoftheDork]

[Fortune]

[BFaolan]

Thanks for the advice :)

We'll see how things work out - I think if I can find the time I'll sit down and write up the first four sessions as best as I can before I decide...

[FriendoftheDork]

Hi guys, I’m back with a long awaited update for my Barrens campaign. This time I didn’t use any official modules, but I’m using material and adventure ideas from Emergence, so if your GM is using it beware of spoilers!

[ Spoiler ]

So far we’re early in the Emergence campaign, and none of the major events have happened. This means the character doesn’t know anything about Technomancers, not even the name, although the players do. The PCs have read some news about AIPS (Artificially Induced Psychotropic Syndrome), as well as some news reports about NeoNET, MCT and Renraku competing over the wireless technology market and NeoNET about to make a breakthrough.

For once Jimmy was contacted for a job offer. It was his contact called “SysOp� that called him, asking for the possibility of Jimmy doing a run. Now, Jimmy was actually quite keen on nurturing his contacts, and has previously sent SysOp nude pictures of Euphoria etc.

So calling 4 in the morning SysOp wanted Jimmy and his pals to do a job for an acquaintance of him, hereafter referred to as Miss Johnson. He hinted that the reward might not be up to Jimmy and his associates’’ standard, and would consider doing the job a personal favor to him. He said the job was urgent and hoped they could meet Ms. J in just half an hour if possible.

So they meet Ms. J in a hacker bar in Touristville called the Cathode Glow. Jimmy had been here before (during on the run), but the other PCs had to adapt to the etiquette of the place (such as not going hidden mode). They found her in a corner – in her 30s, wearing a blue jacket and short skirt- She’s in active mode like everyone else (but not calling herself Ms. Johnson of course!). She looks nervous – and astral perception confirms that she is nervous as well as very sad. The job is to retrieve a corpse that has been stolen from a DocWagon ambulance. The deceased is a hacker named Arthur Bowman, better known as BigMac.

BM was flat lined, probably by a Black IC while attempting to hack a corporate hospital in Renton owned by MCT. He was found by DocWagon in a sleazy coffin hotel in Touristville last night (about 1am), but was abducted by some unknown assailants that also killed everyone in the ambulance. Ms. J got his info from snooping around DocWagon databases herself. So the job was to retrieve BM’s body as well as find out why he was taken in the first place.

After asking some questions, the runners agreed to take the job for as little as 10k each.

Then it was legwork time. People searched the matrix for information regarding bowman, DocWagon, Mitsuhama etc. They learned that his mission was to retrieve medical records of about a dozen people suffering from AIPS (Artificially Induced Psychotropic Schizophrenic Syndrome) from the MCT hospital mainframe. They didn’t find out who was his fixer right away, but got a list of 3 potential fixers he had worked with in the past. They checked out the area where the DocWagon ambulance had been ambushed, and noticed about a dozen people living in the few squats nearby. Most of these were BTL and drug junkies and had little or no information. They did find astral residues of health spells being cast nearby, but it seemed no magic had been used in the ambush itself.

They learned which DocWagon employee had written the report about the ambush that Ms. J had found, and Uzz called him (John Bear) with an offer to work for them and find out the responsible. Uzz said his middle name was Honest, and Trog’s player mentioned that would make his full name “U. Ærlig� (means DisHonest in Norwegian) :D

Mr. Bear was not at liberty to disclose shit though, and referred him to his boss. Mr. Brown listened to Uzz’s proposal, but it lacked his usual finesse and flair (and he only got 2 hits on the negotiation roll), so he refused to hire Shadowrunners and said he had to go to the proper channels if he was to seek employment by DocWagon. And he was neither confirming nor denying anything Uzz said about the case.

When they knocked on the door of a resident the other junkies said was “weird�, they were surprised to see a materialized beast spirit of considerable force (6) open the door while the ork Shaman answered behind it. Unfortunately the Beast saw Jimmy, and went into rage. Without being commanded to it wailed horribly and made the entire party flee in terror! (Fear power). Uzz and Trog were the first to snap out of it (after fleeing for 1 turn), and neither had a problem facing the Beast again. Uzz calmly walked back to knock on the door again, but Trog was pissed off as this is the first time he’s ever fled from anything. He stormed back and kicked the door down. Not surprisingly combat ensued. The Beast struck first, made a nasty wound on Trog with its sharp teeth and claws and delivering poison. Uzz ran back in and started APDSing the spirit. It was tough, and managed to damage Trog further but the combined might of APDS and Trog’s mighty spurs disrupted the spirit (despite the fact the Shaman cast improved reflexes on it). With his spirit so easily dispatched, the Shaman quickly surrendered when Uzz pointed his Predator on him, and was willing to give information as well as healing Trog who was now almost heavily damaged. The Shaman heard the noise of gunfire last night and saw a black van and a group of 5-7 soldiers in black combat armor shooting the DocWagon guys. He later saw the same Van driving southwards on the road to Renton and Puyallup.

Jimmy figured that this information didn’t help much, so they went to the coffin hotel. It was all automated meaning few or no witnesses, but a little hacking confirmed that DocWagon had been there to retrieve the corpse from one of the coffins. They called Koren Thark, LS detective, Gang division, but he didn’t answer right away, as he slept to 12 AM. Jimmy also hacked a few cameras on the way confirming the van was going southwards, but when he tried to hack a LS checkpoint from Redmond into Renton he failed and jacked out rather than being attacked by LS IC. He eventually got hold of one of the Fixers though, a man called Stahl (named after a member on Dumpshock). He was suspicious about Jimmy calling him, but he recognized his name and was willing to talk, even though he never admitted to have anything to do with BigMac. They met him a few hours later in a cinema in Redmond taken over by squatters. After Jimmy admitted about knowing about the failed hack, he offered to take on the job himself. Stahl agreed, and after Negotiating with Uzz they got 50k upfront and 200k more if they got the complete information.

Later Uzz and Trog went back to the DovWagon ambush site and found out from one other junkie that the black ops team had taken BM and that he probably was alive as they handled him carefully and had a machine saying "bing" every now and then connected to him.




At about noon Thark called back to Jimmy, who told him about the attack at DocWagon without giving any background information. Since this wasn’t his field, and no one had reported any crime, he didn’t care much.

Now they started checking security at the MCT hospital as well as trying to find about more regarding AIPS and whatever project MCT might be working on. They found out the official project manager for the AIPS outreach project was called Tracy Goertzen, and learned there was going to be a conference in a week at the Victoria conference center in Downtown Seattle. The team now focused on getting to her and the information she might have. Their approach was to find the manager of the Victoria conference center and use mind control spells to get information from him and lure in Goertzen. Miss Goertzen didn’t have a listed commcode, so Jimmy tracked the manager Karl Bilt (don’t laugh I’m bad at inventing names on the fly) through his commcode and triangulated the signal.

They found out he wasn’t on the job though but rather in a fancy mall in Downtown. He went there alone and found) together with a young girl (not what you think). Before casting spells Simon checked the astral and found out there were several spirits flying around… Mall Spirits! He realized he would be caught if he tried so he just followed them until they left. Unfortunately they left to the garage, and instead of following them there Simon went out the main exit and walked around to the garage exit area. Jimmy still had a trace on Mr. Bilt though and had him triangulated. But of course the vehicle Mr. Bilt was probably in was a small limousine with dark windows so Simon couldn’t cast a spell on him.

They followed the car to his Bellevue home (not far from Simon’s). It drove into the garage here as well in the fancy apartment block, and Simon couldn’t get in. The garage gate wasn’t on the Matrix, so Jimmy had to come down there as well. He spoofed the gate so Simon could get in and hide, and then started sending error messages spoofed to be from his car to Mr. Bilt’s commlink. He called a mechanic/computer fixer and went down to meet him. Simon cast an Influence spell telling him it would be a good idea to call Tracy Goertzen and tell her she should meet him in the conference center asap to check out the place for the conference.

He did, but Goertzen didn’t think she should have to come, but Bilt was very convinced of this and she agreed to come in 3 days – too late for the runners purpose. Not knowing that they planned to abduct her at the center the same day, and waited there a long time. After realizing she wouldn’t come they gave it up and instead planned to mindbend some doctors at the hospital and get access to the data there.

Well that was the session. Since we played the next one just 2 days later I’ll have the second update as soon as I can finish it, which should be today. And there will be a sad announcement as well.

[FriendoftheDork]

Ok this is the last part about the first Emergence run:

Last time the runners planned to infiltrate the hospital, but of course being players they changed their minds. Now they followed up the lead on BM again, as they figured the corp had deleted the data at their mainframe (Jimmy slowhacked it and found references to it but it was deleted), so they figured BM must have the data in an implanted commlink.

Jimmy slowhacked the GridGuide and followed the route the black unidentified Van driving at 01.15 hours through Renton (not stopping at the hospital), and down into Puyallup. Then it went eastwards away from the civilized part and into the Barrens after where there was no more GruidGuide data since GG doesen’t cover the Barrens. Trog checked with Vatos if there were any gangs in that part of Puyallup that might help them, and in there is a gang there called Chulos (pimps) that have friendly ties with their fellow latinos/aztlaners. They set up a meeting and it went pretty well. The Chulos meeting them wanted some green (or whatever the color of nuyen is) for the info, but was happy to tell them they saw the black van driving down into a tunnel known to be corp property.

They followed the lead, and found the tunnel. Jimmy searched for wireless signals, but because of the bad Barrens reception he failed to find any but his teammates commlinks. They went down into the tunnel and when it became level they spotted a hidden camera in the far wall. They quickly moved back while Jimmy started intercepting the signal in order to make a fake one.

Unbeknownst to the team however, the MCT Covert Ops team hacker saw them through the camera and alerted his team. They executed BigMac silently, and deleted the contents of his implanted commlink, as they had already tortured him for many hours and found out he didn’t have time to make a copy of the intel before he was attacked by a security spider and flatlined. This team’s mission was to get the hacker delete his information, and make sure he had no copies by taking him to a safe house and interrogating him. Having done their job, they were packing things and almost ready to leave.

Jimmy tried to send a fake image, but the MCT hacker saw through the deception easily and instead saw Jimmy walking forward to “pick� the Maglock on the garage door. The rest of the team was still just out of sign (FYI they didn’t think Jimmy needed to walk close and though he was with them still). As soon as the soldiers got into position, the hacker opened the garage gate, and the Covert Ops men in position on the ground opened fire on the hapless Jimmy. The first long burst took him down and the second would have killed him (edge burnt).

The rest of the team now waking up from waiting around, moved closer and engaged the enemy. A big firefight ensued, both sides firing suppressive fire. Trog used his heavy machinegun, but only had Gel rounds loaded which were rather ineffective against the corp teams’ heavy combat armor. The spec ops had nothing heavier than submachine guns, but they had APDS loaded so they could harm Uzz and Trog as well. Uzz was as usual picking guys off with his Ares Predator and APDS, but their armor meant that he had to use several shots per person. Also, these were professionals (with lots of edge) and could even avoid some shots altogether while being a serious threat. Only 5 of them engaged the PCs right away, the hacker was hidden in another room just organizing the fight.
Uzz shot 2 of them dead, and together with Trog wounded 2 more severely. The last fled and locked the next (armored) door. The wounded men surrendered when Trog came at them with his spurs and they couldn’t even rise from the ground. Uzz was heavily damaged as well and was shot down at one point. Still, he picked up his military sniper rifle loaded with APDS. Trog first got his combat axe and attempted to break down the door, but then they tried to threaten the surviving soldiers into opening the door. Since they were unable to, Uzz executed them.

The hacker tried to negotiate with them through one of the dead soldiers commlinks, but even though he was willing to give them BigMac, he wouldn’t accept to open the door while they were still there trigger happy as few and no agreement was made.

Meanwhile one spec ops guy planted a demolition charge by the door, and as soon as Trog chopped down the door and got through, he detonated the charge. Trog was blown half away, BM was blown into bits. Some moments afterwards the 2 remaining members of the opposite team walked out of the toilet – and found Uzz and Trog. The latter acted more quickly and shot them down pretty quickly (out of edge), especially the sniper rifle was extremely effective.

Simon, who had only been there in astral space, came as soon as he could, but before that Trog’s DocWagon contract activated and they came into to resuscitate him. Good thing, as Uzz couldn’t carry the rest by himself anyway. Jimmy was also stabilized (by a captive spec ops, not DocWagon), but it turned out BicMac was now thoroughly chewed to bits, and his commlink wiped for information. Mission failed.

They didn’t cash in on the 200k, and they decided to give back the 50k advance as well, They did somewhat succeed the primary mission though, as they got BM (what was left of him) and found out they stole him for his data, even though they don’t know exactly what’s special about the data.

Sometimes you just can’t win, and getting the data was never an intended mission. Regardless they now suspect something’s up with AIPS patients as Mitsuhama was willing to attack DocWagon over it and a fixer willing to pay 250 thousand nuyen for the information. I think it was a pretty good opening for the Emergence campaign, but still there’s the sad announcement.

Jimmy’s player want out of the game. He thinks there is too much solo playing as the party is often split up. He also thinks his character can't do much in a fight and that investing in combat skills etc. is useless since the specialists will usually kill all opposition before he can act anyway.

He also blames the rules for this, as well as macking hacking and even combat taking extremely long time, even though he likes the setting, the characters and the missions.

Additionally, Uzz's player can't play fridays anymore so getting the group together will be difficult.

I'm considering playing along with the other 3 players, but people are going on vacations and other trips for a couple of months now anway, so I must at least freeze the campaign for awhile.

Since this might be the end of "Life in the Barrens" I'm going to say thank you all for reading this and inspiring me, this very thread has made my campaign even more important to me, and it has been fun sharing.

I'll probably stick around though, as I'm playing occasionally in another game now. Maybe if this campaign ends I'll start a new one, learn from my faults and try again, as I still like the world alot and even some aspects of the system, for all it's faults.

To be an optimist I will say cya! instead of farewell (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[It trolls!]

That was an awesome read as usual. Too bad you might have to end your campaign here. I hope you can continue (or maybe start a new topic if you get a new group together).

[MaxHunter]

Nice Emergence opening indeed!

Pity life gets in the way, doesn't it? I can tell because I am now in a long gaming hiatus since my players are all away on summer holidays (at the same location) and I am here checking Dumpshock. But, hey, I got a new job. :smile:

I am sorry to hear Jimmy's player wants out, he (she) was my favourite character. Sill I understand, none of my players want to play a hacker. I think they got bad memories from SR3.

Anyway, thanks for the storytelling! Now I just have to wait for the next campaign...

Cheers,

M

[FriendoftheDork]

Thanks guys, you are my greatest fans (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) I liked Jimmy/Vanessa as well, but he/she is not a teamplayer, and the PC would work best in a solo play. And on the other hand it is almost hopeless in combat with no combat skills or even combat activesofts (but still 5 agility is not bad) - which means in most combats the player has been sitting around doing nothing, with the occasional looking for enemies, scanning area, supporting the team with combat data... not worthless but it takes a few seconds for the player to do so IRL, while the others roll countless rolls and takes a much more active part of combat.

But on the other hand while Jimmy has been hacking the other players have often started playing Magic the Gathering instead of paying attention - not a good sign.

So the player has a point - it's just that I think this campaign is salvageable as it fulfills the main criteria - people having fun. If we can simplify hacking (perhaps boiling it down to a single roll like I did in 3rd ed. ), and speed up combat (being less ruleslawyering and use less time on my NPCs), I think this could work.

And as for the last point (team splitting), that's up to the players to find reasons for the team to stick together more. Commlink technology means they can be on different parts of the city while still communicating freely, but I think it will be better if the team stick together more and can get to interact with NPCs or actually be there when the shit hits the fan.

The main problem seems to be survivability though, not being able to survive a stray bullet or 2.

OK I use paranthesis "()" too much don't I?