Denver, 2070, What's goin on? Options

[Mickle5125]

So I'm thinking about running a campaign in Denver. Unfortunately, I know next to nothing about it. All I know is that Ghostwalker waltzed in and took over.

So, what else can the ever-so-wise Dumpshockians tell me about Denver?

[Wesley Street]

This wise Dumpshockian can tell you to download the 2006 1st Quarter FanPro Commando Quarterly and read pages 12-19. Everything you need to know is right there. Cheers!

[Ancient History]

Yeah, Shadowrun Missions did a whole campaign there. It's free.

[the_real_elwood]

On the topic of Denver, I was reading Shadows of North America, and it mentioned that the Lakeside amusement park was inhabited by some spooky creature, but that Ghostwalker cleared it out. Is there any information on what exactly the "spooky creature" was? Maybe some secret Ute military installation, or actually a paranormal creature?

[Red_Cap]

I dunno about that spooky creature, but there's a bit at the beginning of Arsenal about the Denver Zone Defense Force cracking down on smugglers in the abandoned subway lines. . . . which, in SoNA, were said to be filled with Azzie loyalists. Other than that, I have nothing to add to the Quarterly article previously mentioned.

[Mickle5125]

Thanks for all the help, ladies and gents!

Another couple of more specific questions in regards to Denver.

1) what is the political layout?
2) who are the big names to keep track of?
3) what are the important places?
4) what exactly does Ghostwalker do with his time? I've heard that he takes walk-in appointments....

Thanks again! and I'll read Commando Quarterly tomorrow at work while I'm forced to be away from Dumpshock.

[the_real_elwood]

As far as the political layout, the Ute section has been absorbed into the PCC section, so that means one less seat on the Denver Council. But other than that, I don't believe any of the council members have changed. That's probably the biggest change from the Crash 2.0 on the Denver politics. That'd probably put the council at a deadlock a lot of the time, with a PCC/Sioux block typically voting against a UCAS/CAS block. Though since Ghostwalker is pretty much in charge, I'm not sure what the council actually does, other than sit around and pretend to be important.

[The ubbergeek]

Random inane remark; coming from a foreign regime like Algonkian or Québec would put the runner(s) in a nice '"neutral' position in theory... Comsidering it's kinda like Cold War Berlin...

[BishopMcQ]

I'd be happy to answer questions about Denver if you compile a list.

1) what is the political layout?
The city is broken into districts (Sioux/UCAS/CAS/PCC). There is also the Hub, a AAA area in the middle of downtown which is itself compartmentalized into two sectors. Each sector has its own governing bodies, with the FRFZ council making cross-district policies. The Commando Quarterly introduces the current politicians and hints at some of their motives and agendas. GW has a rep on the Council is well and the Zone Defense Force (National Guard effectively) answers directly to the dragon.

2) who are the big names to keep track of?
Are you looking for Political, Social, Org. Crime, gangs?

You have corpers, gangers, and a slew of syndicates fighting in the streets.

3) what are the important places?
Same answer as number 2...I need more info to help you lay out the important places. A key location is the Hub in general as the Council meets there and several megacorps are headquarted in the Hub. Lakeside Amusement Park pictures prominently into the Mafia schemes.

4) what exactly does Ghostwalker do with his time?
Whatever he damn well pleases.

[Red_Cap]

In terms of important places, I'll point out a few that me and my old crew frequented (or avoided, as the case may be) during a game in Denver. I actually live in Colorado Springs, so I've tacked on a few points and places based on RL experience that translate fairly well to SR.

1.) Draco Foundation, in the aforementioned Hub in downtown Denver. Anything having to do with dragons, drakes, or Dunkie's Will will have runners intimately familiar with this place. They do offer runs unrelated to those things, though -- it is a corp of sorts, after all.

2.) Ghostwalker's Office, in the Hub. We steered clear of this during my game. Nobody wanted to tangle with GW or his army of spirits who guard the place. Enter at your own risk unless you're unarmed and asking for a petition to be heard by Ol' Pale Scales. Well, even then, it's a risk. *shrug*

3.) Council Hall, in the Hub. We did lots of B&Es on the Council Hall, which was actually pretty stupid since it is ridiculously well guarded. Lots of runs involving this place are based on political maneuverings by the Council members.

4.) Fort Carson. Ahh, my real-life home. An hour down I-25 from Denver, still inside the FRFZ, is this US army base. "Now" the Zone Defense Force (ZDF) owns it. Unless you're meeting a ZDF contact or have some other "in," running against any sort of military installation tends to be a pretty fraggin' stupid idea. Same goes the Rocky Mountain Arsenal, which started life as NORAD, built into Cheyenne Mountain about a five minute drive from Fort Carson's Gate 2. According to SoNA, one fixer managed to set up a connection with the Zonies here to get some of their milspec gear on the black market, which is a good connection for any Denver runner to have.

5.) Colorado Springs, in the Pueblo Sector. Literally next-door to Fort Carson, the Springs IRL is a meeting place for military and "dual-use" tech-corps like Boeing, Raytheon, Northrup-Grumman, et al, and in 2070, I doubt that has changed. Excellent place to run, if you ask me, for the following reasons:
- Very little has been written about it in any version of SR. Gives your GM the opportunity to set up the situation as he sees fit.
- Lots of corps. Like I said before, all the defense contractors that are really there today are easily transferrable: Federated-Boeing, Ares, S-K,
- The Springs is home to the old US Air Force Academy, which in turn is now home to the Nexus, one of the biggest (if not THE biggest) Matrix data havens.
- I'm in the Army, I know how rowdy off-duty soldiers can get. The constant clashes between off-duty Zonies and the Pueblo security forces make excellent distractions whenever you need to slip away for the cops.
- If you ever make it here in the meat, may I suggest the Chipotle's at the corner of Academy and Galley. Best. Burritos. Ever.

6.) Pueblo, in the Pueblo Sector. This small city even further south down I-25 than the Springs sits on the southern-most boundary of the FRFZ. In and of itself, it's nothing special; it's where all the not-quite-well-enough-off who work in the Springs live and has some shady clubs (likely run by the Koshari now, Koshari being kind of like the Pueblo Mob). However, just outside of town to the west is the Pueblo Chemical Storage Facility, an old US Army biochem weapons storage area. It doesn't actually have any biochem weaponry stored there anymore nowadays, but for SR purposes, it'd make a good homebase for Azzies or toxic shamans.

7.) Dragon Man's. This guy, in real life, owns a Class Three gun dealership/weapons range down Highway 24, east of Colorado Springs. Might make for a good place to pick up gray or black market guns & gears for runners.

On a final note, Denver's position as a multi-national entity squashed between a bunch of nations that don't necessarily like each other and have widely differing laws makes it a smuggler's paradise, not to mention that you've got Mafia, Triads, Yakuza, and Koshari all operating here and mostly on equal terms. For the inventive GM, that right there makes for plenty of runs.

That's about all I can think of at the moment. Hope it helps.

[Mickle5125]

So much help from everyone! I really appreciate it!

SO I have places and political layout answered. That leaves people and GW himself.

For clarification, and to answer BishopMcQ's question, I need it all. The big gangs and important people among them (if known), The corps and their importants, fixers, Organized Crime, any prominent social figures that may be of note, etc etc.

As to the GW question... I was hoping for more specifics. Does he sit around all day and wait for his next snack, I mean, guest? Or does he patrol the astral realm making sure no massive threats are arriving? Does he wander the streets, snacking on random trouble makers, or does he sit in his luxurious home/office and monitor a number of shadowrunning specialists who he sends to deal with any problems that may occur?

Thanks again for all of the help! Keep an eye out for my recruitment post. I'll have it up once I have sufficient background info to have the skeleton of my idea complete.

Coming soon to a Dumpshock near you: Karn Evil. The Clowns aren't the only scary thing at this Carnival.

[the_real_elwood]

For whatever Ghostwalker might be up to, it'd be worthwhile to pick up a copy of Dragons of the Sixth World. Otherwise there's really not much published on what specifically Ghostwalker does with his time. I would presume that on a day to day basis, he does whatever other great dragons do (which is pretty much whatever he pleases). He's not involved with the day to day operations of running the FRFZ, but the Denver Council does have to come to him for approval on anything. I would presume he sits in on council meetings from time to time too. And for more Denver information, the Denver, City of Shadows book is good if you want lots of specifics.

And about Cheyenne Mountain, I believe I read somewhere that the U.S. military blew the place up as they were leaving, so I'm not sure how usable it is anymore. Though the PCC (I believe it's in their territory) may have refurbished it for their own purposes by now.

[Red_Cap]

Most of what I'm about to tell you in either straight out of Dragons of the Sixth World, Shadows of North America, or the Commando Quarterly on Denver; or extrapolated from those sources (extrapolations are in italics for ease of reference; take these with a grain of salt). For the serious Denver runner and/or GM, I'd suggest picking up SoNA and DLing the CQ article; DotSW is optional. I'll see what I can do to help you out, but remember: you're the GM. It's your game. Feel free to make sh!t up.

For clarification, and to answer BishopMcQ's question, I need it all. The big gangs and important people among them (if known), The corps and their importants, fixers, Organized Crime, any prominent social figures that may be of note, etc etc.

- In the CAS sector, there is an underground group called Los Espejos -- "The Mirrors." They are all ex-Aztlan folk who went to ground after Pale Scales smashed the teocali and booted the Azzies out of Denver for good. Despite the best efforts of the CAS security forces and the Zonies, Los Espejos survive as a network of revolutionary cells trying to keep a toehold in Denver for Aztechnology. Their leader is an Eagle shaman who goes by the Matrix handle Eagle Warrior and has a pet blood spirit named Carmesi; apparently, Eagle Warrior's sanity is starting to slip. After years of getting beat down by the Zonies and GW, Los Espejos' membership has probably been culled to the point where only the smart and tough are still around. This makes them extremely dangerous, but they're hamstrung by the fact that they have no friends in the rest of Denver and are almost totally cut off from Aztlan. The Council and the ZDF both regularly sponsor "independent scouting missions" into the sewers and abandoned subway tunnels under Denver in order to keep The Mirrors too busy defending themselves to attack. The most likely form of attack would be ambushes of ZDF and/or corpsec patrols and terrorist attacks on FRFZ government installations. Knight Errant runs the security patrols for the CAS sector, so of course Ares has a heavy presence; Saeder-Krupp and Wuxing have offices built on top of the old Azzie pyramid. The Mafia are the top dogs in syndicate terms, though the Koshari and Triads have made some small in-roads (Chinatown is in the CAS area).

- The Pueblo Sector is probably the quietest. The Koshari crime syndicate completely pried the Mafia out of the Pueblo sector as of 2063, leaving them pretty much king of the hill. Cal Hots and most other high-grade simsense up to (but not including) BTLs are legal, so there's a pretty hefty trade in chips. PuebSec runs security and they're pretty good about it though if you're Amerind, they'll probably bribe easier. Like I said earlier, Fort Carson and the Rocky Mountain Arsenal are in the Pueblo Sector south of Denver, and those'll be pretty good spots to snag some milspec gear if you're really good, really lucky, or really rich, and the Koshari peddle most of the vice (drugs, prostitutes, etc) to the ZDF and PuebSec troops hereabouts. As for corps, the Pueblo Corporation -- aka the government of the Pueblo Corporate Council -- rules the roost, but NeoNet (Simplex Software) and Renraku (HyperSense) both have offices here, too. Decking/hacking is basically a national past-time in the PCC, so a lot of good hackers come out of this area. The Pueblo swallowed the Ute, including their sector of Denver, so they also inherited the Mafia-run Lakeside Amusement Park which is full of casinos as well as rides. The Mafia is so entrenched in "Little Vegas" that I doubt the Koshari have kicked them out completely, though that kind of a mob war makes for interesting shadow-work. The Arvada neighborhood has been overrun by gangers, making it the roughest turf in the Pueblo Sector, and of course a center of Koshari activity.

- The Sioux Sector is pretty rowdy. The Koshari have their fingers in this pie too, but there are lots of Amerind gangs and ultra-aggressive warrior-types, mostly Lakota and Mohawk, and they love to pick fights regardless of tribal affiliation. A big part of the Hub is in Sioux territory, so keep that in mind. The corporate heavy-hitters here are Shiawase, Universal Omnitech, and Arboritech, all of them hip-deep in agritech, biotech, and genetic engineering. Eagle Security Services maintains the peace. A feathered serpent named Henequen used to run a lot of ops in the Sioux Sector when the Azzies were still around, but now that GW kicked him out, he's been pretty quiet of late; supposedly, he's trying not to step on GW's toes, but most of the rest of the local dragons beat feet when Ghostwalker showed up, so no one's quite sure why he stayed.

- The UCAS Sector houses the other half of the Hub, and has plenty of corporate sponsorship: the Draco Foundation, MCT, NeoNet, Evo, and (of course) Ares all have offices or subsidiaries here. The Aurora Warrens -- Denver's version of Redmond, only worse -- is in the UCAS sector. An Ares Firewatch team torched the UB offices here way back when, and the area just fell apart. Runners live here in they can't afford better, but the gangs run the place. It's the next best thing to a warzone; surprisingly, Lone Star holds the contract here, but they don't go into Aurora unless they have a very good reason, lots of guns, and plenty of air cover. The Mafia run the vice hereabouts, but with all the corporate folks and Lone Star keeping a lid on things, it's all pretty under-the-table.

As to the GW question... I was hoping for more specifics. Does he sit around all day and wait for his next snack, I mean, guest? Or does he patrol the astral realm making sure no massive threats are arriving? Does he wander the streets, snacking on random trouble makers, or does he sit in his luxurious home/office and monitor a number of shadowrunning specialists who he sends to deal with any problems that may occur?

First off, even though they're brothers, GW isn't Big D. He's by no means tyrannical, but his word is law and he expects those laws to be obeyed by us mere mortals. Ghostwalker also isn't as public as Dunkie was, rarely making proclamations and even more rarely making public appearances. He sits in on the occassional Council meeting, but his translator, Nicholas Whitebird, represents him, say, 80% of the time. He also has a penchant for spirits, probably a result of his long sojurn in the metaplanes (or wherever the Hell he was before he climbed through the Rift), and has an army of such spirits who act as guards, messengers, and spies. Because of all the spirit activity he pushes, Ghostwalker himself probably doesn't get out much. Chances are, he sits around all day scheming like most good dragons do. He's not as hands-on as Lofwyr or Hestaby, but his temper tantrum when he first got to Denver means no one's going to underestimate him. He does grant petitions and hold audiences with common folk though these are probably screened first to separate the baseless from the worthwhile. Most of these petitioners come asking for something, usually cash (GW's big on helping out small businesses) or support for one thing or another, though some try to barter deals and flat-out sell information. The lucky ones usually walk away empty-handed; the not-so-lucky get eaten or worse (there's a troll statue at the front door of GW's office building that used to be a real person. Whoops.). One last note. GW doesn't like Lofwyr, to the point where the corporate deck is stacked against Saeder-Krupp in the FRFZ. Might make for good runs, if you don't mind fraggin' with the landlord.

Coming soon to a Dumpshock near you: Karn Evil. The Clowns aren't the only scary thing at this Carnival.

I hope I've earned a spot in that, omae. I haven't run in Denver in a while.

[Mickle5125]

I hope I've earned a spot in that, omae. I haven't run in Denver in a while.

With how much help you've given, you've definitely earned it. You're in if you want, omae.

[Mickle5125]

FYI: recruitment is up HERE