Politics, An under-used source of Runs Options

[ornot]

I've been thinking for a while that runs from the SRM02 series seem a little heavy on Syndicate jobs; do these guys not have mooks of their own?! I started to wonder why there were so few corp jobs, but then I got to thinking that Denver should be a veritable hotbed of political intrigues between the various Nation-states. Spying, smearing, blackmail and even the occasional political assassination should be the order of the day.

Anyone have any good stories of politically driven runs, or thoughts on how to incorporate the fractured political world of 2070 into Shadowruns?

Finally a question for any devs that happen to pass through; any thoughts on a sourcebook along the same lines as Vice and the Corporate Guide covering the political powers, and the kinds of employment they can offer runners? The closest to this in the past, to my knowledge at least, is the brief political background given in some of the location sourcebooks. IF this is a new idea, feel free to send me a nice fat cheque (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

[Ryu]

Syndicates can get involved into political runs, too, because they provide the shadow infrastructure. My Seattle-based mafia campaign had quite a few runs paid for by the "One Nation Under God" faction.

Political runs will often come with specified levels for collateral damage - some will focus on sneakiness, some aim at causing civil unrest.

[Dashifen]

I'm currently enmeshed in a campaign within Tir na nOg wherein the government as it existed in 3rd Ed. has been overthrown for a more democratic one but the Elves are looking to re-establish their ownership over the government and there's a fifth column within the Danaan Familes maneuvering to put themselves in power regardless of what happens to the other Families. Politics is, actually, probably one of the mainstays of my campaigns.

[wanderer_king]

I run a high level runner game (yep, they even broke the no-deals-with-a-great-dragon rule) and easily 2/3rds of the groups runs are political. One of their major employers is a UCAS black ops power broker' and for a while he had them doing runs against the UCAS Navy. Politics is a great place for inspiration, but remember that unless you are high level runners, its uncommon to necissarily know what you are doing or why.