Thougts on a new campaign Options

[Ragman]

Hi, long time lurker here. Im starting a new campaign with my group and would like some input.

So everyone from my group in Göttingen (Tech Support, Gadget, Igel, Eddy, Uschi and Predator) please stop reading.

[ Spoiler ]

Gadget STOP reading, last chance!

Are they gone? ...ok

Is there any canon dirt on the Draco Foundation?

Some of my players are metagaming a lot and think Dunkelzahns playthings are the ultimate good guys,
saving the world, friend of all shadowruners and completely trustworthy.
So to cure them of trusting anyone
(took me half a year to make them stop trusting every friendly npc they just met and not start an interrogation with "Here is what we know...")
i plan on DF being the bad guys and Aztec being the (somewhat) good guys.
I have no trouble portraying Aztec believable as a fair and square, business first, no human sacrifice corp (i mean they got to have a couple of non crazy non bloodmage execs, right). But DF doing something really bad without my players protesting ("they would never do that!!") is hard to find.

The campaign is set in LA and supposed to be pretty pink mohawk.
And since i have been very stingy with money, gear and power (several house rules to keep balance) we decided to have a Overpowered campaign. No houserules almost everything that is even remotely RAW and starting with 500BP.

and while i havnt seen the finished chars yet im starting to fear what they will bring to the table
what i heard so far:

shifter voodoo(possession) summoning mage:
she said she can reliably summon lvl 17 spirits (bind lvl 8 ) without drain (i guess spending edge is involved)
and plans to have several spirits of Man cast and sustain Increase Initiative, Deflect, Armor, Improved Invisibility and Levitate on her and others with Magical Guard and Conceal (expensive but as high class LA runner probably affordable)

Nosferatu Mental Manipulation Mage:
Influence, Compulsion, Alter Memory and Control Thoughts sounds scary

Seal Shifter Ware Adept:
with geneware-bioware and a ranged attack dicepool of 34

Commanding Voice Adept
Pixi Mage
Arcane Investigator (based on Harry Dresden)
No Face (face with ware to change looks including retina and fingerprints, also a Judas working for Aztec)

So 4 mages, 2 adepts and a face
any ideas to challenge them?

so far i have:
12 sisters (androids in Goth Lolita look)
visiting a cyberzombie farm
hoards of feral ghouls underground
and giving them plenty of explosives (sooner or later they always blow themselves up)
maybe ask the Nosferatu to write down Judas on his char sheet (without him actually having it) once they find out what he is. that might bring the meta gamers to actually roleplay having a bloodsucking monster in their midst.

[augmentin]

Well if Draco Foundation is the bad guys, hit them with Assets Inc., Ryan Mercury, et. al.

Though, frankly, with a bound F8 Spirit of Man, F17 whatever spirits, etc. you're going to have to send a great dragon or something at them.

Another route, since they're all magic, all the time...go the other route. Pit them up against astral hazers, arcane arresters, cyberborgs, technomancer/sprite controlled drones and the like.

[TommyTwoToes]

How about having DF try to slow the Horror return (if you are following that metaplot) by supressing / killing mages. Have them hunting down paranormal critters under the guise of making the world safer, but they are also waging a secret war against all awakened to try to lower the mana level.

Aztech could be following a different path of tryign to raise magical awareness / ability so that metahumanity will have the tools needed to fight the horrors.

[Doc Chase]

Canon makes it really difficult to play it that way. It's been established in the novels that the last thing the Azzies want is to fight the Horrors - they were the ones trying to bring them over in the first place.

You'd be better off with the Atlantean Foundation or other suitable mystical group trying to get the artifacts before DF does. Perhaps DF's trying to cover up irrefutable existance of Atlantis to limit the Atlantean influence.

[Martin_DeVries_I...]

I don't have a fleshed out idea, but here's two things to keep in mind: Immortal Elf Aina Dupree is on the DF board. An IE with the Foundation's resources is bound to have a secret plot or three going. Easy enough to make one of them unpalatable to the characters.
Second, and possibly related to Aina, Nadia Daviar disappeared without a trace around Crash 2.0. She was going out with Ryan Mercury, a Drake, and rumor had it she was pregnant. Hmmmm... I wonder where she went? I wonder what she gave birth to? Hmmm....

[Ragman]

Thanks a lot, i can work with that.

Hardliner faction lead by an IE in the Foundation thinks its too important to stop the horrors to wait for evidence
and (guilt by association) starts targeting Aztec mages that have nothing to do with blood magic or the horrors.

[Laodicea]

They're making mostly magical characters, which probably means they want to face mostly magical challenges. You can put them up against technological challenges that will easily beat them, but it won't be very fun for them or you. You should occasionally make them wish they had some tech, but don't make it the focus of the missions. People want to play a shadowrun characters strengths most of the time, not their weaknesses.

Concerning the factions of the game, i'll just say "everyone is evil from some persons perspective." the trick is getting your players to see that perspective about draco foundation.

[Saint Sithney]

Seems like they're all dual natured.
That means that astral noise will count as partial cover, which should hurt them.

I've got an 850 karma Gnome magehunter with Draco Foundation contacts who would be a good enemy to come door-stepping on your Nosferatu, bounty-style. He could chase him out of his nest and, should he get killed, your team would be able to find evidence that he's basically a DF hitman.

I'll post up stats if you're interested.

[Falanin]

The easiest way for the DF to end up as the "bad" guys is simply to have the team pull a run against them without knowing it, (shell company, etc.) You can engineer a grudge against the team (probably by a hard-ass/personally wronged/embarassed exec) as a result.

How good ARE those relic-hunting practices? Is Assets, inc. or other DF teams pulling an Indiana Jones style grab? If so, they're probably running afoul of local customs and possibly pissing off the ACTUAL owners or the spirits that the relic is linked to/placating. Heh, if it's Aztec/Mayan/Olmec artifacts, then AZT might be the legal owner of the site.

Speaking of AZT they can be GREAT to work with... as long as you're cautious. ANY mega can fuck you up, even the "I'm surprised they don't shit rainbows" Horizon. Blood magic has nothing to do with it. It's all in what connections you cultivate, and who you've pissed off. Granted, some of the AZT people are seriously crazy... but that doesn't make them any worse to work with than say, the Mafia.

[Ragman]

I've got an 850 karma Gnome magehunter with Draco Foundation contacts who would be a good enemy to come door-stepping on your Nosferatu, bounty-style. He could chase him out of his nest and, should he get killed, your team would be able to find evidence that he's basically a DF hitman.

I'll post up stats if you're interested.

sure,
i just checked with the Nosferatu player and he took the Enemy quality,
so he´s practically begging for bounty hunters.

[Daylen]

Funny I always thought DF was a badguy group that was just supposed to LOOK like they were just trying to help. One easy way to have them as the enemy is the old proverb "The road to hell is paved with good intentions". I suggest having DF manipulate some group or attack someone, then have the victim contact the runners for help. Only suggest along the way that DF is the nefarious group that burned down the orphanage. At the end reveal the truth.

[Wasabi]

Anything requiring full VR in the matrix would be a challenge for that crew methinks. The Voodoo mage could probably get possessed to aid in AR hacking but in VR they're hamstrung unless I'm reading something wrong.

[Saint Sithney]

sure,
i just checked with the Nosferatu player and he took the Enemy quality,
so he´s practically begging for bounty hunters.

Name: Damian Azeri
Work name: Daim (pronounced dime)
Street name: Rayon Red

Background:

[ Spoiler ]

Gnome born in the Basque community of Boise Idaho. Emegrated to L.A. to make it, and managed to make it pretty big. He often does surveillance by finding a nearby high point, and practicing spraying up his tag in order to hide in plain sight, disguised as little more than a punk streetkid.
Specializes in hunting toxic mages, but he's not too particular. Good local talent to clue the team into DF's interest in controlling magical power through selective assassination. Also, he's got a decent chance of stabilizing if he gets taken out, so he can be reoccurring if you like him.

Sheet:

[ Spoiler ]

Race: Gnome

Attributes

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Body: 5 [6] +2 for dmg resist
Agility: 5 [8]
Reaction: 3 [7]
Strength: 4 [5]
Charisma: 3
Intuition: 4 [5] +3 when not in combat
Logic: 3 [5] +3 when not in combat
Willpower: 6 [7]

Edge: 4
Essence: 1.015

Active Skills:

[ Spoiler ]

Stealth Group: 4 (5)
Electronics Group: 3
Athletics Group: 3
Automatics (SMG): 5
Blades (Cyber-Implant): 5
Con (Impression): 3
First Aid (Combat Wounds): 2
Perception (Visual): 3
Etiquette (Magical Circles): 2
Pistols (Semi-auto): 2
Artisan (Spray paint): 1
Escape Artist (Cuffs): 1
Throwing Weapons (Grenades): 1

Language/Knowledge Skills:

[ Spoiler ]

English: N
Basque: 3
Spanish: 3

Parazoology: 4
Tagging (Spray paint): 4
Navigation (Smuggling): 3
Procedure (Border Patrol): 3
Politics (L.A. Scene): 2
Astral Research: 1
Magic Theory: 1

Contacts:

[ Spoiler ]

D. M. R. I. Rep: 3/8
Doc Ripper (body shop): 3/4

Qualities:

[ Spoiler ]

Positive Qualities:
Biocompatability (cyberware)
Blackmarket Pipeline (Ware)
Genetic Heritage
First Impression
[Arcane Arrester]
[Thermographic Vision]

Negative Qualities:
Astral Hazing (non-Awakened)
Augmentation Addict
Compulsive - Moderate
Thrill Seeker
[Neoteny]

Martial Arts:
Ars Cybernetica (+1DV Blades)
Escrima (+1 DV Blades)
Finishing Move (can attack twice in a pass by sacrificing next action)
Full Offense (+2 dice on attack, can not defend until next action)

Incredibly extensive ware: [augmentation addict, ya'know]

[ Spoiler ]

Cyber Essence loss 2.52
Attention Coprocessor 3 (alpha) [+3 on RL perception tests]
Move-by-Wire System Rating 2 (aplha) [+2 IPs, +4 Reaction, +2 Dodge, lvl 4 Skillwires]
Voice Modulator + Secondary Pattern 6 (alpha) [Can disguise voice and mimic voices]

Limbs Essence loss 1.08
Obvious Right Arm (alpha) [painted red with rating 6 Wifi Inhibiting Paint] Final stats (Bod 6 Strength 11 Agility 9)
+Customized Body 3
+Customized Strength 5
+Customized Agility 3
+Telescoping Cyberlimb
+Cyberspur w/cybergland w/6 doses
+Cyberarm Gyromount
+Agility 3
+Strength 3
Obvious Right Foot (alpha)
+Telescoping Cyber Limb
+Internal Comlink
+Cybergland w/ 6 doses
Obvious Left Foot (Alpha)
+Telescoping Cyberlimb
+Nanohive 3

Bioware Essence loss 2.07/2 = 1.035
Bone Density Augmentation 2 (+2 dice to resist damage)
Cerebral Booster 2 (+2 Logic)
Muscle Toner 2 (alpha) (+2 Agility)
Reflex Recorder - Skill Group (Stealth)
Suprathyroid Gland (+1 Body, Agility, Reaction + Strength)

Gene Treatments .7/2 = .35
Dynomitan (+1 to all intuition linked skills, wil+log(3) to ignore interesting things)
Reakt (+2 dice for Reaction only when used for defense)
Daredrenaline (+1 on all Willpower tests, wil+log(3) to avoid taking unnecessary risks)

Nano systems
Neural Amplifiers – Limbic r3 (+3 dice for Intuition-linked skills when not in combat)
Neural Amplifiers – Neocortical r3 (+3 dice for Logic-linked skills when not in combat)
O-cells r9 (Reduces the power of any Pathogen, by 9) [take that HMHVV]

Fightin' Gear:

[ Spoiler ]

Armor [total armor B/I = 15/13]
Form-Fitting Body Armor - Full Suit + Nonconductivity 6
Steampunk Longcoat + Chemical Protection 6
Steampunk Vest + Insulation 6
Steampunk Shirt + Fire resistance 6
Steampunk Slacks + Radiation shielding 6
SecureTech PPP Vitals Protector + Biomonitor + Skinlink
SecureTech PPP Shin Gurads
SecureTech PPP Forearm Guards + Autopicker r6 + Tag eraser
SecureTech PPP Leg and Arm Casings

Weapons
Ingram SuperMach 100 (extended 60rnd mag, High Velocity, 3pts internal recoil) + Gasvent 3 + Foregrip + Sling + Personalized Grip + Metahuman Customization + Smartgun System [Total RC = 11 with cyberarm gyromount Conceal = +4(5)
Colt Government 2066 (electronic firing) + Silencer + Easy Breakdown (powered) + Ceramic components 3 + Metahuman Customization
Cyberspurs [11P + chemical coating from cybergland. Redline it for more if needed.]

Ammo
480x APDS
28x Stick'n'Shock
28x Silver Bullets
70x Hi-C Plastic Rounds
2x Esprit "Petite Brume"
6x White Phosphorus

Tools and such

[ Spoiler ]

Chemtech
3x Stim patches [autoinjector]
2x Antidote patches [autoinjector]
Trauma patch [autoinjector]
Medikit 6
20x Olfactory camoflague
6x Whatever combat chemical you feel most appropriate

Bounty biz
2x GloWand
Magecuffs
50x Plastic restraints

Electronics
Comlink Metalink
Typical audio enhancement and vision enhancement

There's a good deal of other little things for disguise and such, as well as a bunch of software to be used with a modified Bust-a-Move built to hack. Additionally, the hacktoy is stuffed with UWB to act as a forward scout and mapdroid. It will just crawl around a place, opening doors and grabbing system access as needed while it maps a location top to bottom.

Additional drone in the form of Cyberspace Designs Dragonfly filled with explosives. Ye olde flying bomb.

Typically, he would use disguise, the voice modulator and the telescoping nature of his limbs to stay hidden as a normal human. So many dual-natured characters keeps this from being useful. Also, no techies means that the little robohack doll isn't needed either. I'll post that stuff too later if there's call for it.