Imago, Anyone played/run it? Options

[Zyerne]

Thinking about picking this up to convert to SR4, we're a UK group so a trip to London might be fun. Can anyone give any feedback on it?

[Sticks]

FAIK its set in Edinburgh not London and parts of the Scottish Wild Lands, so plenty of scope for Critter and spirit encounters

[Method]

I ran it back in the day, and I seem to remember that it was a pretty fun adventure. I don't remember a lot of the details, but its kind of a cool mix of horror and technology themes. My players enjoyed it, but it gets a little... er... weird toward the end.

[Zyerne]

Group I play with likes weird. I'll be getting it free as it'll make an order up to the next level of discount at the store I use, so I'll probably give it a shot. It's that or Eye Witness.

[Inncubi]

I played Eye Witness, and have Imago.
Eye Witness is cool, and I really like the Alpha Blue character that show up there -she's the Johnson, but a Shadowrunner herself-. However it is more of a "vanilla" Shadowrun adventure than Imago. Imago is more... complex as it mixes both magic and matrix fenomenons.

[Zyerne]

I really just want something that doesn't have a rocker theme (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I won't reuse Mercurial but I've still got Dark Angel and Total Eclipse available.

Also got Ivy and Chrome which appears, at first re-skim to be another "vanilla" run, so sounds like Imago is the way to go.

Thanks for the replies folks.

[Inncubi]

Sure...
My old SR3 campaign actually started with Queen Euphoria, followed by Ivy and Chrome and Eye Witness, Paradise Lost and the one about Urban Brawl -forgot the name- with a build up towards Total Eclipse with a plot that linked the first and last advetures. Of course I used some of my own creation (Campaign ran for 5 RL years). Those advetures can be linked easily, and with imago thrown in, can make for afun Magic-themed campaign that also has plenty of room for techies and sammies.

[Zyerne]

Queen Euphoria is the only one of those other than Ivy I've seen and I don't actually own it, nor does the store have it. I was surprised they had any tbh.

I'm going to be throwing the old material I've got in amongst Missions, the SR3 Seattle ones first then probably moving on to Denver.

Our group only plays two hours a week and rotates systems every month or two so I'll be set for a long haul.

[Method]

Killing Glare, IIRC

Eye Witness, is probably my favorite published adventure for SR. Yeah, its "vanilla" but the story is good, and Gallowgrey the tomb spirit is just creepy...

[Zyerne]

For $6ish, maybe I should throw it in as well then (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Method]

I would if I were you. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Zyerne]

Ok. If I do that I don't need to get On the Run as I'll qualify for the discount without it.

Is it worth getting anyway?

[Method]

On the run? I've never had the oportunity to run it. Some people round these parts say it's a little too railroady and that the story is incoherent at times. For my money, I think Eye Witness is a better buy. Of course On The Run was written for SR4 so it has the advantage of needing less conversion.

Me? I'm a compulsive SR buyer so I've bought them all. If you're so inclined just buy em both. More SR = good.

[Zyerne]

I'm laying down for a LE rulebook and a copy of the Almanac this time out. I think I'll get the oldies while they are still available and leave On the Run for another day.

What I save'll buy me a couple of pints to help me deal with my players (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Darkeus]

I am currently converting Dreamchipper to 4th edition. Any ideas appreciated!

I have never read Imago even though I own it....

[Zyerne]

Cut stats, skillls by 1/3, mission pay by 2/3 should get you in the right ballpark.

Hacking'll be trickier if you've got a PC hacker, the old rules being so much different. I'm lucky that I don't, as yet, have one, though I still have one undeclared player.

On the other hand, given the way our gaming group works, I do have 7-8 players to contend with..

[Cheops]

I wouldn't bother with On the Run. I bought it when it first came out because I like to buy the first adventure for any new system I am running. They usually give me a good idea of how the rules work, how to build challenges, and the tone that the designers are going for. On the Run was good for 1 and 3 but was terrible at 2. It was also a pretty poorly designed run since there is no incentive for the team to progress to the "second" part of the adventure. 5 years into SR4 I'm pretty sure that #1 isn't necessary anymore and #3 has been clearly established.

Overall I'd say that On the Run is a failure.

[Zyerne]

Already put my order in and On the Run wasn't on it (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Nearly got a DMs screen along with everything else, SR is the only game I've ever bought them for but they were out of stock and when I spotted a 2nd hand hardcover of Aberrant for about the same price, I got that instead

[Nevermind]

Hi,

have played and then GMed Imago a couple of months ago.

Its quite nice, cool places, but it has a big problem.

You have to have a character(and/or player) in the team who wants to investigate after 'bad things' happend.

When i played it, we came to Page 31, after this our chars headed home,as our GM made Britain hell for us, no nsc talked to us, Police was everywhere, no magic allowed, but everybody notices when you use it, so we walked away as we felt no longer bound to our agreement with Mr.Johnson.

When i GMed it, they had a runner with them who had some bad blows in the last runs, so she wanted to solve the problem/riddel at all costs, to avoid another blow to her battered rep. This worked quite well.

[Tiralee]

Unless you've got a native to the British isles (Ie: NOT a team of hires from Seattle) Imago is a bugger of a run, especially if you're magic-heavy (which, let's face it, most teams are)

Cyber, magic, decent decks/programs, forget it. If you smuggle yourself in (and this is a tricky one as well) you're well and truly buggered in the Nannystate of Orwellian Distopia

If you're a native, well, at least you'd have connections and access to some weapons that aren't next-to-useless.

Oh and be prepared to have the team take a few BIG hits if they manage to get to the end reasonably intact. At least those Zemp-Chem people had decent weapons for the chopper

Tir

[Method]

Yeah, if you're going to port it to SR4 you should plan to add some extra scenes where the team acquires the gear, permits and whatnot that they will need. Some might see this as a drawback, but if you ask me it just adds some extra fun and challenge to the adventure. In my games acquiring specialized gear needed to complete a job can be an adventure in and of itself. Course in SR's UK just about anything could be considered "specialized"... even the ubiquitous Ares Predator can be hard to come by.

I'm reminded of that scene in Ronin where Sam and company meet the weapon dealers near the canal... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/devil.gif)

[Mongoose]

As I recall, we completed the adventure with nothing heavier than some heavy pistols we got in London, plus some axe handles from the hardware store. True, we did have some HEFTY magic and cyber- the GM was probably pretty generous letting us across the border / running around with that, though we did keep a low profile once in country.
The final battle in the castle was touch and go though. Had to pull the claymore off the castle mantle to deal with some dudes in heavy armor (gave sword to speed-sam, and buffed same sam with invisibility and armor spells) but that was enough to let use geek the mage (also in heavy armor) and gain magic superiority for a win.
Again, not sure how much of that was "by the book"...

[Zyerne]

One of my guys has decided on Enfield rotary grenade launcher with undermounted flamethrower as his personal weapon. I should never have let him look at Arsenal.

That said, there's a Scottish fixer in Imago that can put the PCs in touch with a gun dealer so I'll just suggest they leave their guns at home and get new ones in Scotland. Biggest problem will be the Rigger I think, not sure what I'll do there.

It's won't come up for a while, I'm starting off with some of the season 0/1 missions and I'll probably throw in one of the NAN ones as well to give them a taste of border crossings.

[Nevermind]

That said, there's a Scottish fixer in Imago that can put the PCs in touch with a gun dealer so I'll just suggest they leave their guns at home and get new ones in Scotland. Biggest problem will be the Rigger I think, not sure what I'll do there.

Yeah thats the plan, ..

*spoiler*

You get a quite lousy payment and nearly no cash in advance for a not so difficult run.
Then the dreck hits the fan, J gets killed, the police is searching for you, you expect the local corp having hit squads on your heels, everybody is underequipped, no decent car, no magic gear, no guns bigger than a heavy pistol, if the GM was nice you have basic armor.
At this point, J is dead, there is nobody to pay and nobody to blame, as J meddled into the affairs of his corp and get killed. Where is the point to go on with the search for the missing Quicksilver. You don’t expect him to be alive, you have nobody who will pay you, you think you are hunted by iirc Transsys, a local big-shot corp, and you are foreign in the country, with barley any (trustworthy) contacts.
So you have to have a very curious Team to have them follow the plot. Think this can spill everything, the rest of the run is quite cool, but I maybe the deck/Quicksilver Story could be a bit lame for SR4.