Whiskey Runners, or good old fashioned moonshining Options

[TheWanderingJewe...]

I've been considering this one fora bit as a break from running the deep darks that Shadowrun typifies

My players are in Seattle, but they will have a old runner buddy who has the coordinates to a rather large Stash of Glenfiddich ofvarious vintages that's been buried since the Fall of the Berlin Wall (background joke) somewhere in The Sioux Territories. I've already decided that the place has been undisturbed and the consignment unbroken. I'm also trying to come up with threats and complications for them to deal with. Mostly to throw at the rigger. I admit I'm trolling for ideas here.

Any help will be appreciated

[Traul]

How much of a joke do you want this to be?

You could have a fun encounter with law enforcement: the cop finds the bottles, believes they engage in some petty alcohol smuggling and lets them go for a token bribe, ridiculously low compared to the actual value of the cargo.

Do they have a fence? Contrary to most other stuff they are dealing with, this will not burn their fingers, so they could think about taking the time to sell it themselves.

There could be competition. Some bigwig whiskey amateur hires another team to retrieve the bottles (he might also end up buying them from your runners), the Tir Na Nog elves need a 1998 whiskey to fuel a magic ritual (or at least that's what the operatives believe, the truth is that it will only fuel the caster),... This could be an opportunity to get some high society contacts.

The transport might be a bit tricky. The bottle preservation requires controlled temperature and humidity conditions, as well as protection from shocks and shakings. Are the Sioux roads good enough? What happens in case of a chase?

[TheWanderingJewe...]

I'm liking the ideas, and yes, this run is meant to be a bit less serious while played straight

[CanRay]

A bunch of county cops that are after the 'Runners for not having paid the taxes on said hooch. ("See, this tax stamp is illegal, it says 'USA' on it."). One of them rides with a basset hound.

[TheWanderingJewe...]

and now why is 'smokey and the bandit' meets shadowrun coming to mind?

[CanRay]

That too.

Damn... Looks like my group has another LA job if I ever get a campaign going again.

[nezumi]

Boss Hogg.

[explorator]

Run it as a regular job, however make things just easy enough so the players think they got lucky, not too easy mind-you, but fudging some social die rolls should make it look like they got lucky. THEN, have them meet the Johnson, and the client, make the hand off, and open a bottle or two to celebrate. After everyone has had a few, throw the opposing team at them. Fun drunk autofire ftw!

[CanRay]

And suddenly we've gone into Redneck Rampage after a few shots of Whiskey.

[Traul]

A complete WTF moment: some of the bottles awakened and grant anyone who drink from them the temporary power to summon pink elephant spirits.

[MJBurrage]

Whiskey (whiskeys) are from Ireland and the US, whisky (whiskies) are from Scotland, Canada, and Japan. Glenfiddich is "Single Malt Scotch Whisky" or just "scotch". Hollywood prop makers often get it wrong on fake labels, and so could a counterfeiter (as a possible plot point).

If you can find a copy of Moonrunners, check it out. It is the original source material for The Dukes of Hazzard, and less over-the-top silly. (The first eight episodes of Dukes, were in between, compared to the rest of the series.)

You should also check out Thunder Road if you have any riggers in the group.

It should also be noted that whiskey/whisky (and other spirits) do not continue to age once they are bottled. I.E. a scotch aged for ten years in wood casks and then bottled 8 years ago is ten-year-old scotch not 18-year-old scotch.

[CanRay]

Whiskey/Whisky ages in the wood, yes. And the type of flavor it can develop also depends on the type of cask it ages in.

EDIT: What really cheeses me off is that Canadian Club (My personal brand), which has had five Royal Warrants (including one from the reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II!), isn't even owned by Canadians! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mad.gif)

At least Crown Royal is owned by a group out of England, even if they no longer come in a nice bag that are great for dice. (Bleh! Horrible website, too!).

[MJBurrage]

Whiskey/Whisky ages in the wood, yes. And the type of flavor it can develop also depends on the type of cask it ages in.

Very true. There is American Oak vs. French Oak, and new cask vs. used cask. In general casks are charred first, and American styles (bourbon, etc.) tend to use new casks. Scotch tends to use used casks (Sherry is the most traditional, but bourbon or wine are also seen).

[Kirk]

Spinoffs for fun would be referencing existing distilleries. Stranahan's in Denver, just to give one example. Seattle's got a small handful of craft distilleries as well.

[CanRay]

Bastards the lot of you. I want some Canadian Club 100 Proof now.

[suoq]

At least Crown Royal is owned by a group out of England, even if they no longer come in a nice bag that are great for dice.

Still come with a bag here.
http://www.crownroyal.com/society-of-the-crown-the-bag/

[CanRay]

Yeah, I keep going to that website, and it keep re-directing me to the front page. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)

[Seriously Mike]

Oh yeah? It keeps redirecting me to a website of some society against underage drinking, even that I'm of legal age since quite some time! Call that a sloppy site-building job!

[Kirk]

I had no problem. {shrug}

[CanRay]

I had no problem. {shrug}

What browser do you use?

This might be a case of The Browser Wars starting up again... I hope not, the bodies left behind by the last one. *Shudders*

"You see me now a veteran of a thousand psychic wars;
I've been living on the edge so long;
Where the winds of limbo roar;
And I'm young enough to look at;
And far too old to see;
All the scars are on the inside;
I'm not sure if there's anything left of me." - Veteran of the Psychic Wars, Blue Öyster Cult

[Kirk]

What browser do you use?

This might be a case of The Browser Wars starting up again... I hope not, the bodies left behind by the last one. *Shudders*

On an XP box, got there fine with Chrome 13, Firefox 5.0, and IE 8.

[CanRay]

Win7 with Firefox 6.0. Might be the newer Firefox...