Life in the Barrens 2 - A New Dawn, My second campaign AAR. Options

[FriendoftheDork]

Hey everybody!
As said before in my previous post I have started up a new group in SR. Things will be different that before, both in starting power, rules, and of course the players themselves.
Still I plan to write an After-Action Report, both to make sure I have a log for later reference, and to amuse and inspire you all. 
I can’t guarantee it will be as good a read as the last one, since the players are much less experienced and maybe a bit less enthusiastic roleplayers and problem-solvers, but we’ll try to have fun anyway.

So without further ado, here is the background and starting point for the game:

Chargen: 400 BPs, normal rules for purchase but players should avoid too much powergaming. Magic capped at 4 for starting chars.

Some of the house rules of the previous game continue, but nothing earth shattering. I will be using SR4a rule changes though. Also, Smartlink will have higher capacity cost than in normal SR4a, meaning you’d want cybereyes or goggles/visor if you want a good smartlink. A “SmartLite” with only 1 bonus die will be allowed for the usual cost/capacity though.

The concept for this game will not be poor inexperienced street scum, nor will it be normal experienced runners. The PCs actually all start as non-runners with appropriate military, corporate or technical backgrounds. Becoming Shadowrunners will be the first overarching goal.

Thus they will have to justify all their skills, talents and starting gear. Also, most of them will actually be SINners, or have a good reason for having lost their SINs. Gear has also been severely limited, both because I know how time-consuming it can be to poor through SR4, Arsenal and Augmentation in order to find the perfect combo of gear, especially for newbies, and because I know how gear can upset the game balance. Thus they were allowed to purchase what they want that’s not restricted or Forbidden, but otherwise had to justify every item and have restricted ones linked to their real SINs or having it being stole/illegal (neither of which is good for runners). They were also allowed to save up to 20 BPs of gear for later that they could get from their new Shadowrun contacts/employers.. more about that later.

Background: A team of Shadowrunners have come back from a long run in the crossover setting of Earthdawn, the 4th world. After having become experienced and tough, and having both seen the Horrors and consequences of an extreme Magic Level close up, they have agreed that they should do their best in preventing a premature coming of Horrors in the 6th world of Shadowrun. After a few jobs for the Draco Foundation (they worked with Dunkelzahn back in the 4th world, under a different name of course), they have decided to do form their own Company, called New Dawn. New Dawn wants to recruit, train, and hire potential Shadowrunners - hopefully someone who can become professionals, who are not too jaded yet, and who can be employed later to help thwart an early coming of Horrors.

Meet the characters:


Bates – Troll Samurai. Ex military heavy weapons specialist. Good with Heavy Weapons, Blades, and a set of soldier skills. He’s also learned some about security procedures in the army, which might be applied to running. Honorably discharged, and now wants to get back into the action somehow.
SINner, medium lifestyle. Uses 2 Warhawks in normal combat (one at a time).


Andersen: Human hacker. Ex corporate security consultant, specializing in matrix security. Had a major intrusion incident in his facility that was never really proven to be an inside job. In any case he was fired and his hacking programs and licenses confiscated. He’s gotten used to the High lifestyle though, and thus needs nuyen badly since his fellows in crime left him high and dry without his cut. Despite this he has quite a bit of legal augmentations of high quality (alphaware or better).
SINner, High lifestyle, uses either a taser or a high-caliber hunting rifle in combat.

-Gunslinger Adept. (I can’t remember her name right now, update it later). Previously low-level criminal involved in burglaries and petty theft with her friends. Caught and forcibly enlisted for military service (infantry). While on leave during the crash she lost her identity and was never missed during roll call. So far she is largely unaware of her magical ability, but has found out she is very good at shooting (especially with pistols) and is able to react and act very quickly.
SINless, squatter lifestyle, (getting Low soon). Uses light pistols in combat, notably the Yamaha Sabuki Fubuki or whatever it’s called.


Prelude:

[ Spoiler ]

The characters were all contacted and sent to New Dawn offices for applying to the vaguely described job. Long story short, they all passed the tests and evaluations, while gangers and lesser criminals (including those just out to get a free lunch) were sent away. They also got a chance to meet the founding members of New Dawn, including SAM the likable Street Samurai/ex-delta force, Grey Wolf the amerind Adept/scout/Blademaster, Papa Doc the somewhat evil Hungan/Bokor/Nethermancer (who really creeps out the party with his obvious voodoo ways) and last (and least) Bless, the Uncouth dwarf Mage/Wizard who likes to wear heavy armor.


They were also told a few more candidates were accepted as well and that the two teams might cooperate in the future or even merge together (a good excuse to insert more PCs).

Then we played in media res: The runners were all on the top floor of a corporate office building haven gotten the paydata, but suddenly having triggered an alarm. Not long after a team of corpsec came up in the elevator, shooting with pistols and even a SMG. The fight was more intense that I’d thought and the gunslinger (gunbunny?) was seriously hurt, but they got out on top.

The hacker decided to “pick” the maglock on the emergency exit after Bates tested the guards’ access cards on the elevator and got “insert PIN.” They managed to get it open before more corpsec arrived, and got down to the 2nd floor where they were ambushed by 2 Force 4 spirits and a mage hiding in astral. When I planned the encounter I thought the party would have a mage… not surprisingly they struggled against the 2 spirits (air and earth), and after failing to damage one with the Fubuki, the gunslinger was brought to only one box away from death. The hacker learned the hard way that his taser which worked very well against the corpsec was useless against the spirits (in my game they are immune to stun damage). Bates did well against them with the Warhacks (good penetration and damage), but the real killer was surprisingly the hacker with his hunting rifle (8P base damage!). When the spirits failed the mage came out from hiding to get the troll and hacker with a Stunball, but luckily they both managed to resist it. The Troll had no problem taking out the magician after that!

During this time the troll and hacker wondered a bit about a few odd things. The way the corpsec fought to the death, and how clean everything seemed… the hacker eventually thought it was a simulation and easily hacked out with the troll. The gunslinger failed to disbelieve what happened though so was stuck there while the other two just disappeared! When they got back to the real world they remembered they were connected to a military tactical training simulation program, and were drugged beforehand so they wouldn’t remember it was a simulation (to make matters more realistic). In any case after a break they went back in and finished the simulations.
One week later they were ready for their first run.
That’s it for now. I’ve done writing mission 2 already but I want to post mission 1 first. Stay tuned!

[FriendoftheDork]

Oh and guys as always.. feedback, constructive or not, is always welcome (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Yes I'm an attention whore (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) Please rate, comment and subscribe (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[Ghremdal]

Good to see you starting a After Action Report. I read your last one, so am looking forward to this one. Will this include life in the barrens in any way? And a second question, I am not familiar with In Media Res, so who put the runners in a simulator?

[DireRadiant]

"into the middle of affairs" Latin.

[Ghremdal]

I know that (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif) , thought it was a published adventure due to capital usage.

[FriendoftheDork]

Good to see you starting a After Action Report. I read your last one, so am looking forward to this one. Will this include life in the barrens in any way? And a second question, I am not familiar with In Media Res, so who put the runners in a simulator?

Ah well no except at least one adventure set in the Barrens. The runners were put in the simulator by the owners/leaders of New Dawn.

I know that (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif) , thought it was a published adventure due to capital usage.

Ehm no I'm not sure why I used caps. Sorry for the confusion. My point was merely that the players were unaware of the back story and was thrust into action, and later found out they were in a simulation. This was just done to enhance the tension and make them believe their characters could very well die the first session.

[SecGuard]

I look forward to reading the updates.

[YourAdHere]

So, I'm new around here, but by no means new to Shadowrun. I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed the "Life in the Barrens" thread and have finally finished reading it. I hope to see an update to this soon.

[Dr.Rockso]

*poke* Come onnnnn, write up the latest one (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[SecGuard]

*poke* Come onnnnn, write up the latest one (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

I saw the update and got all excited (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohplease.gif)

[FriendoftheDork]

OK OK! Sorry just been busy lately. I'll do my best to finish it monday, this weekend i'll be busy partying and stuff. Good thing is, it will be a double feature (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[FriendoftheDork]

Sorry it's been a busy week, but finally, here they are, New Dawn part 1 and 2:

New Dawn part 1: Milk Run

[ Spoiler ]

So it was finally time for the wannabe runners to test their mettle.
Goal: To access the mainframe at the BioChem offices at the King Street office building in downtown Seattle and download the confidential data contained therein.

The men at New Dawn thought this was a nice and fairly easy mission to test the runners. Well, we’ll see about that.
The team never had contact with the actual Johnson, so Sam acted as their fixer. They were told that this was a fairly typical but small office building of 6 floors all in all. The first (ground) floor being used for cafes, restaurants, and small shops as well as the loading area/garage, while the remaining 5 floors were used for various offices by several other companies and the building itself owned and run by 2 different companies(Seagate and Onvia, respectively). Still with me?

As for security they were informed it was run a small company called UPS (Universal Protection Services). These Rent-a-cops was to be armed, but few in numbers and mostly for show.If you’re interested in their stats and equipment, you can read them in the spoiler text below.

UPS guards: All UPS personell are trained to contact Lone Star in case of clear danger and not engange obviously dangerous people by themselves.

[ Spoiler ]

Professional rating 2.
UPS (female) receptionist: Bod 3 Ag 3 Rea 2 Str 2, cha 4, int 3 log 3 wp 3 ,Init 5. Perception 2, Pistols 1, Unarmed 2, Computer 2, Negotiation 2, Etiquette 3, Intimidate 2, First Aid 2. Professional knowledge: Receptionist 3, Professional Knowledge: Security guard 2. Security Systems 2, Sec. Proceedures 2. Gear: Defiance EX-shocker, comlink, formal uniform, armor vest, medkit rating 6 (in reception). Taser 4 dice, Unarmed 5 dice. armor 6/4. Spot 5 dice.
UPS (male) Security Guard: stats above except: Bod 4 Rea 3 Str 3 Cha 2 Log 2, Init 6. Pistols 2, no computer or etiquette skill. No Receptionist 1, Sec Systems 1. Additional gear: Ares Predator, glasses w/smartlink, visual enhancement 2 and low-light vision, MAD scanner r. 3, Medkit rating 2, 2 magazines w/regular ammo. One dose of Jazz (+1 rea, +1 pass).
Taser 5 dice, Predator 7 dice, Unarmed 5 dice, armor 6/4, Spot 7 dice.

Part 1 Continued:

[ Spoiler ]

Otherwise the team had a few days to pull off the job, and was promised the modest sum of a few thousand nuyen. The main challenge here would be to gather intel about the security systems and procedures of the building, and get the data without too much fuzz.

The team (of only three) was eager to attempt their first real Shadowrun. They started out by going there and looking at the place. The building was pretty nice, of mostly brick construction and 3 parts, one center and two wings. The nearest tall building is King’s Street Station, and you can see the Space Needle far away to the north. A nice area with low gang activity, lots of commercial buildings, and close to the highway.


The runners parked their car some distance away and discreetly had a look around. They noticed the main entrance in the center part of the building was at the 2nd floor up some stairs to a plateau with grass, some bushes and small trees and even a small pond. There were entrances at the side of the building facing the street to small shops, and on the opposite side there was a large parking lot and the three garage doors. The hacker (Mr. Anderson) scanned the building as well as he could and detected several more or less hidden wireless cameras guarding the entrances and the parking lot.

They didn’t really know where to proceed from here though. They went up to the main entrance but couldn’t see through the polarized glass of the sliding doors. They could see employees and sometimes visitors entering and leaving, but couldn’t get a clear picture of what kind of security there was in the lobby area. Some matrix searching gave them mostly names and some details about the security company and their level of professionalism, but nothing really compromising.

None of them dared to enter the building at all undercover (they have really bad social skills), and while they discussed the possibility of entering through the garage area or the shops at the other end, they couldn’t agree on a plan there. They noticed 2 guards leaving the place and one arriving. So in the end they decided to have Bates (the troll) and the gunbunny hidden near the entrance in the night in order to get in after making a diversion or provoking some response from the guards (to tell you the truth I don’t know exactly what they were trying to do.)

Any way, Anderson hacked the camera facing the entrance so Bates could get there undetected, but turned off the picture momentarily. Bates then simply turned the camera around and broke its motor (so it couldn’t turn back) – yes he is tall enough to easily reach the camera at about 2-3 meters up. The security guard in the lobby, now working alone in the reception monitoring the cameras, noticed the camera failing. He went to the doors to look out to see what was happening, and saw the gunbunny trying to hide in the sparse bushes (not a very good Infiltration test there). Suspecting possible gang activity or burglars, he contacted his operations central who then dispatched a mobile response guard. (Stats below).

Mobile Response Guard

[ Spoiler ]

UPS Ork (night) Security guard: Bod 7 Ag 3 Rea 3 Str 5 cha 1 int 3 log 2 wp 3. Perception 2, Pistols 2, Unarmed 2, Negotiation 1, Intimidate 3, First Aid 2. Defiance EX-shocker, comlink, uniform, Urban Explorer Jumpsuit w/helmet, medkit rating 2, Ares Predator (with 2 mags), glasses w/smartlink, visual enhancement 3. One dose of Jazz (+1 rea, +1 pass), 2 doses Long Haul. Armor 6/8.

Part 1 Continued.

[ Spoiler ]

Of course the runners didn’t know about this until they heard the patrol vehicle pulling up near the entrance and an ork guard coming out. Andersen (who was close) ran and hid, while the other tried to hide upstairs at the plateau.

The new guard walked up there, looked around for possible troublemakers, but couldn’t find any so he went inside to check up on the lobby guard. That’s when the runners decided to act. They shot the ork with taser, causing him to twitch on the ground, and quickly subdued him. The other guard noticed something had happened, but wisely decided not to burst out getting tased himself. The guard took cover behind the reception desk, hit his PanicButton alarm, pulled out his Ares Predator, and popped an emergency dose of Jazz!

However the PCs were quick about getting inside. The hacker had run up and quickly hacked the maglocks on both doors. Once they came in they tried to negotiate with/threaten the guard, but he was high on Jazz and too on edge to stand down and surrender. So instead they ended up tasing him as well (he got off a couple of shots I think but no one was seriously injured). Afterwards Bates (or rather, his player) realized an alarm might have been set off. He pulled out his Ruger Warhawk and intimidated the guard to cancel the alert and report in a false alarm, which he did. They bound and gagged the guards and used their RFID-imbedded cards to get access to the building.

They got up to the 5th floor easily enough, and quickly found BioChem’s server room. The guards didn’t have access here, so Anderson had to use his Hardware kit again. To get the actual data though he had to jack into the mainframe in VR and use his Exploit program. It was a hard nut to crack, and he triggered an alarm and had to face his first Black IC, in the form of a Samurai (courtesy of Renraku Inc.) , which was quickly defeated in a very good attack. Anderson then continued to hack the system and finally got in. The alarm was already sent to an external node, but after some searching he found the data they needed. By that time Lone Star was already arriving, and they had to flee the scene through the back door (garage), and flee the scene.

Mission accomplished.

And now New Dawn part 2: Narcotics Raid

[ Spoiler ]

This time around the members of New Dawn has reviewed the last run and come to the conclusion that the new team might not be the most discrete or stealthy type. Thus they have sent them in the direction of a gang that needs help with a little Sabotage work in the Barrens.

Mr. Johnson, or simply the human gang member called Two-Bit, wants the runner to take down a drug lab in a rival gang's territory. Collateral damage is not just acceptable, it is preferred. He contacted Sam at New Dawn for this little run... He set up the meet between the Representative and the new team, and let them handle the negotiation for once. He won't be taking any middle man fee for this, thus the runners will get whatever they can negotiate. In this case the runner got 10k nuyen total, half in advance. Not the best they could do but not horribly either.

In any case the team took the job, and learned that they were working for a local branch of the street gang called Crips. Their target gang was called Punishers, and were affiliated with the Bloods and the more local Redmond gang The Crimson Crush, and were mostly made up of orks.
The runners got the address and location in Redmond (northeast of the Touristville), and decided to check it out. They decided to go on food since they figured a vehicle would draw a bit too much attention, and left most of their big guns at home.

As outsiders, none of them really fit well into Redmond though, and as they entered deeper into the Barrens they witnessed more and more ruins, bullet holes, and angry gangers checking them out. Having a troll in the group prevented most of the random animosity, although they were verbally harassed some of the way but managed to Intimidate themselves out of the worst.

When they arrived in the enemy's turf, they were fairly quickly noticed as newcomers, and although they bought some Bliss from the dealers they were approached by gang members. The talks didn’t go very well as they critically glitched both a Con test to convince them they were just here to score some dope, and an Etiquette test to blend in… they got checked up on and they had been observed meeting with their enemy (Mr. Johnson). Guns were drawn, and before much else the bullets started flying. The combat wasn't very easy as the orks with armor jackets are pretty tough, but in some rounds 2 orks were shot dead, 1 heavily wounded and fleeing, and 1 tasered down.

Another group started firing at them from a distance though, using SMGs and as the gunslinger adept got injured the team (wisely) decided to make a break for it while the gangers shot suppressive fire. Although the gunslinger failed the Composure check for suppressed, the troll picked her up and ran away, all 3 actually manage to evade the hailstorm of bullets.

They left the entire area and had to rethink their plan, not having learned very much except that there were 2 guards with Kalashnikovs and bayonets outside the target building where the Lab was supposed to be. Thinking they’d never be able to scout the place out now, they thought of a more radical approach - the terrorist way!


The plan was simple: Hack a car, fill it with explosives, and ram it into the building to blow it all up.
There were some difficulties involved right away - getting the explosives, having some idea how much would be necessary, and of course getting the vehicle without too much fuzz.

Of course none of them had any Demolitions skill either. They did have time though, and in about 48 hours they got what they needed from Sam at New Dawn, by his basic calculation 16 KGs of commercial explosives should be able to blow up a medium sized house. He actually only got one hit on his Demolitions test, but I figured it was fairly close to what was needed. Afterwards I’d check with the rules to see if it really as enough.

Then it was the matter of the car. They wanted something large enough to punch through the walls, as they were guessing the Lab might be in the basement. Thus a used van (GMC bulldog) was picked out. It took several days to actually walk around and find a suiting vehicle with fairly low protection and where the owner should not miss it right away.
Then the hacker slow-hacked the car in VR, and used his Command program to drive it to a place where they could stash the explosives. Since he was the smartest, he also got the honor of setting up the detonator properly and despite being unskilled, with an AR "how stuff works" site to help, he managed 3 hits on his test - not bad.

Then it was the process of driving the vehicle by remote to the right location. Not piece of cake, due to even ground, bad roads, obstacles, unfriendly gangers, and spotty Matrix reception. There was even a proper hacking attempt as the car drove slowly through a street, which the hacker responded to by having the system attempting to kick the intruder out (who was discovered by the vehicles firewall+analyze), and then actually use the car to drive him over. The opposing hacker managed to dodge the car (4 hits on 5 dice!), but 2 of his ganger friends got ran over although the speed was not more than 30-60 meters per turn, both gangers were either dead, dying or otherwise incapacitated from the hit. The remaining gangers responded by shooting the van with SMGs, but most failed to penetrate the armor ((IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif) , and the vehicle was only slightly damaged.

In the end the car got to the turf. Driving down the road and dodging burnt out wrecks and rubble, the hacker managed to get it where it was supposed to. Most of the gangers were asleep (5-6 in the morning), and the 2 guards posted failed to stop the vehicle with their AK-97s. The car smashed into a bedroom and the bomb went off as it should. The explosion did 30 damage, enough to break through the concrete floor where the highly volatile Beta-Methamphetamine lab was located, destroying everything.

Later on the news the runners learned of their success. But also that several young children died in the explosion as they were living in the first floor - yes I had made quite a back-story about this and the runners were supposed to have noticed it, but because of the failure in scouting, they never saw the kids. The Runners' attitude was "not our fault," and their employers didn't mind, but I'm considering giving them their first Notoriety point for killing innocents the "American way."

They got their 10k Nuyen although they had to spend 2k on explosives. Still most of them will be able to afford their lifestyle at least.

Hmm do you think I'm overdoing the /Spoiler thing?

Also, on that last run do you think the PCs deserved a point of Notoriety?

Next update will have to wait until we actually play. I'm planning on doing "On the Run" again. It's fairly simple, has varied challenges, and it's fun to see how different teams handle it. Until next time!

[YourAdHere]

Awesome. And the spoiler tags are good. Keeps the page from being massive.

[SecGuard]

Cracking, so far & yes give them the notoriety point.

[FriendoftheDork]

Thanks guys (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Also, one vote for Notoriety registered (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Ascalaphus]

Yeah, innocent* children are worth notoriety.


*As soon as they're eaten metahuman flesh they don't count as innocents anymore..

[CanadianWolverin...]

I appreciate the spoilers, its a bit like getting to choose one's wall of text at that moment, even easier on the eyes than just paragraphs, more akin to turning pages in a book IMHO.

The notoriety point: Er, yes, they get the hit IMHO, though I am curious - has there been any strong hints yet that some of the players would be wise to have their characters invest in a rank of something social with their first 4 karma which should be attainable, correct?

Something I am beginning to take into account now as my understanding of SR and IRL criminal activity grows, being effectively social is pretty damn important just from a business stand point even if you are personally lacking in charisma. Its kinda like Perception skill ranks IMHO, easily over looked for the weapons skills as a new player because we never seem to think of that as having its own spot light and getting side lined. I know for me, I tend to shy away from social skills for my characters merely because IRL I am poor at social interactions, so regardless of my dice pool I think my character will be faulted for my own effectiveness as a player.

[Acidsaliva]

Awesome stuff ! Keep going. I really like your AAR and am disappointed that I can't find more SR actual play threads. Really liked your last 'Life in the Barrens' thread too.

And I vote yes for the notoriety point because its more about punishing the players for not having enough recon / planning than instilling a sense of morality (*phish* who needs morality in SR? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif) ) and reflects their sloppiness so far in planning their runs.
Its not enough to cripple them and it shows them that professional runners don't do things that way.
Next time they do something similarly sloppy though use a different form of punishment / deterrent.

[FriendoftheDork]

3 Votes for Notoriety registered (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Although as said the players and characters didn't know about the children, but as Acidsaliva pointed out, they SHOULD have known.

Maybe they'll use their first karma on some social stuff, we'll see. They haven't earned much so far anyway, only 3-5 IIRC.

[Saint Sithney]

Also, another thing to consider is that the betameth lab should have been well full of highly toxic chemicals which would have turned into poison gas and killed a bunch of people down wind. So, a point of notoriety for killing children, maybe, but this job is a 'point of notoriety" kind of job regardless. They just turned that whole block into a toxic hazard.

[FriendoftheDork]

Also, another thing to consider is that the betameth lab should have been well full of highly toxic chemicals which would have turned into poison gas and killed a bunch of people down wind. So, a point of notoriety for killing children, maybe, but this job is a 'point of notoriety" kind of job regardless. They just turned that whole block into a toxic hazard.

Hmm, I'd think alot of the gases would be destroyed in the explosion? Or maybe it doesn't work that way, I don't know. In any case there were not many people living around there anyway, and most of these were gangers who were "acceptable collateral."

Also they had the choice to go in and sabotage the equipment without actually blowing up the lab - although that would require fighting the guards at the house. All in all the car bomb wasn't a bad idea, even with faulty intelligence.

In any case this wasn't supposed to be a "Notorious job" anyway, it was a supposed to be a sabotage/destruction job with an ethical dilemma/complication.

[CanadianWolverin...]

I have an idea: What if you presented the notoriety as a sort of street level news report? Pictures of the bodies of children, their guardians, and the guards and chemists making it onto a blog that gets off on the decadence of destruction or something, a by line like "Those barren scum had it coming." No public image exposure but just a sense that their actions had ripples and that is where the notoriety comes from, maybe even have their fixer go something like "My client liked your work, the brutality on the neighborhood, we can use that, fear is a good motivator for better profits for all of us" Then they can decide if their characters have any regrets in not checking (or having the ability to check) for the children.

I know this is an aside, but have you seen the tv show Breaking Bad?

[FriendoftheDork]

I have an idea: What if you presented the notoriety as a sort of street level news report? Pictures of the bodies of children, their guardians, and the guards and chemists making it onto a blog that gets off on the decadence of destruction or something, a by line like "Those barren scum had it coming." No public image exposure but just a sense that their actions had ripples and that is where the notoriety comes from, maybe even have their fixer go something like "My client liked your work, the brutality on the neighborhood, we can use that, fear is a good motivator for better profits for all of us" Then they can decide if their characters have any regrets in not checking (or having the ability to check) for the children.

I know this is an aside, but have you seen the tv show Breaking Bad?

Well actually they already saw the news teams reporting the death of the children, and saw the pictures of maimed child body parts. Their reaction was WTF? And then "who cares we won." Basically they think they couldn't have known about it and one even said "they probably deserved it too."

The gang that employed them was of course very happy.

I'm not sure the "reversed evil psychology" will work on my jaded players.. why is that as soon as there are no "Alignment" rules the players always want to play scroupleless PCs?

[Mesh]

Yes, definitely some notoriety for that. Runners have to ask themselves what their morals are at some point and better soon than later. So you're the sort who doesn't give a frag about life innocent or not? What Johnson worth his salt is going to forget that? They'll either remember it and take advantage of it or feel zero remorse at sending you on a suicide run when they need pawns. Sure that all happens anyway, but you need something to be respected for other than DPS or there's nothing that separates you from the rest of the lowlife drek on the streets with a gun, a jacket, and robo-eyes.

I'd take it even further. Somebody was deeply hurt at the loss, somebody who's not going to forget it. That should come back around shortly. Karma's a slitch.

[Doc Chaos]

Hey there (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) I burned through LitB AAR and this, its great! Please, dont ever stop! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Also, another "yes" vote for notoriety. Thats not nessessarily a bad thing, Shadowrunners are not good samaritians. So having a reputation for not hesitating or getting the job done "no matter what" may be quite helpful in some situations. Of course, sometimes it also might backfire. "Oh god, I know these guys, they're gonna kill us anyway, OPEN FIRE!!!" I think you get my drift (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Btw., am I blind or did you never publish Uzz's stats?