Redneck Runs (GMs ONLY - SPOILERS), All ah need is mah truck an' mah thirty-thirty. Options

[Koekepan]

Background:

"Hey, big fella. Gonna party tonight? Oh yeah, I wanna party with you. I see you checking the girls out. They get so lonely sometimes, just need a man like you and his strong hands to hold them. Ah-ah-ah, not out here. Daddy'll see, and he gets real mad if we give freebies. I got a trailer back there, or you can park your truck round the back. Either way's fine by me. Especially since you got that fur in your seats. Is that real? It looks so soft."

The Parties:

Big Daddy (human) runs the Chick Ranch, finest comfort service west of the Mississippi. The girls (and a few boys) are clean, inspected, professional and fitted with the best personafixes, in some cases, money can buy. And Big Daddy has a lot of money.

Doc Mendez runs the local cyberclinic. She's a doctor, she's human, she's competent, but she has the personality of a long haul truck and the bedside manner of an angry skunk. She's an utterly militant, hard line female supremacist. She hates Big Daddy beyond all reason, but realises that screwing him up will do his employees a lot of harm. She sticks around because if she leaves, all the whores have no medical care beyond a half broken autodoc system. She is one very conflicted doctor.

The Problem:

Big Daddy has a labour dispute on his hands. No, not unionisation or anything like that - just a few girls who want to moonlight by recording their business transactions and selling the result in sim (or BTL) form.

The main thing holding it up, out here at the best truck stop whore shop in the middle of nowhere, is a lack of a hookup for distribution, and Big Daddy realises that this will change the moment the chicks find the right trucker. This is a problem because he realises that the business still runs on confidentiality, so recording of any kind is a complete business killer.

The Proposition:

"Listen, I don't want rough stuff. 'Kay? Out here reputation lasts forever and the pool is small. Lotsa girls are here because the options for making money are limited, and most of 'em make more money bending over a desk than they could make behind one. I'm their security, I'm their business manager, and they know it. I need an expert to stop this crazy scheme because the moment it gets running? The gig is up. I'm out of work, they're out of work, or they're freelancing and that's real dangerous."

The Facts:

Big Daddy's chicks are not slaves. Not even the ones with personafix setups - although they use personafixes for a number of reasons, some (un)healthier than others. There are the ones who want money, but can't contemplate doing the whoring as themselves. The personafix makes it so that they check out for a while, and collect money afterwards. There are the ones who just aren't very good, personality-wise, and they make more money with it. But a competent customer service approach actually earns the ones without a personafix more money. A personafix only goes so far.

Big Daddy also offered employment to a few local trolls, who would rather bounce creeps than toss haybales on farms. They're well armed, they're tough, and Big Daddy just doesn't have a lot of problems with idiots.

Big Daddy actually is not the heartless pimp of fiction - he actually cares about the welfare of his employees, although he does look out for Number One when the chips are down. He's just more experienced than the hookers, and he spent a long time in the Barrens around Seattle learning the ropes before he got out. He knows what's at stake here, and doesn't want the whole deal going sour because a few short-sighted people got greedy. The presence of his business helps support a cyberclinic nearby, and a few other businesses. The brothel is a commercial anchor.

Doc Mendez is watching Big Daddy like a hawk, just waiting for him to break a law so that she can put him out of business and use a lawsuit to redistribute the cash to the whores, but he's actually pretty scrupulous, and not just because of her. This is why she actually grits her teeth and maintains the prosthetics, cosmetics and augmentations which keep the business running. That said, she'd do what the girls want in terms of installing recording equipment in a hot minute, because in her view if a few redneck manpigs get recorded porking some woman and paying for it, they probably should be pubically ridiculed.

Some Complications:

A Vory pimp from the coast sees a great opportunity to cut in - if he can just get rid of Big Daddy.

The whores approach the runners as well, hoping to distribute recordings through them. Or to make some very specific scenarios.

Big Daddy is running out of time. His heart is failing, and Doc Mendez refuses to give him a cybernetic replacement, or to grow another. He wants another doctor, but doesn't want to leave the area for fear of what people will get up to in his absence. All this stress is bad for the heart ...

Aftermath Ideas:

Hey, maybe it all goes great! Free service for life!

Maybe free alibis, or a trailer to doss down in.

Maybe the runners got recorded, and the recordings went out.

Maybe the Vory is happy - or not so happy. Business is hard.

Maybe the runners helped the Vory get in, but now they realise the girls are not doing as well. Do they have pangs of conscience?

[Shortstraw]

Not sure how I am going to include this truck but it will happen.

[Tecumseh]

Koekepan, you're a good writer. You do a good job finding the shades of grey in a situation and confronting the players with them. It's great sandbox material for those creating worlds instead of just scenarios. This stuff is ace.

[Koekepan]

Koekepan, you're a good writer. You do a good job finding the shades of grey in a situation and confronting the players with them. It's great sandbox material for those creating worlds instead of just scenarios. This stuff is ace.

Thank you, sir. I don't get paid to write this stuff, but I appreciate it when people enjoy it.

My number one guideline, for those who care, is consistency. Always try to keep things making sense. Otherwise you breed resentment among players.

[hermit]

And I forgot to upload the last part of my after-action report. My apologies in advance!

The setup: The Morningblossom farm is under siege by mad animals and the toxic tribals who control them. It's Cybercowboys vs. toxic Indians time! A preliminary talk has the kids, Morningblossom's wife and one of the ork hands leave for the nearest city. The rest of the farm crowd decide to dig in and let'em come.

Front 1 - Front Porch, Stables, Fenceline - is defended by Tara the Rigger, Mr. Green the Hacker, Maxine, and Morningblossom. Front 2 - Back yard and Chicago Grey crops - is manned by Vicky the Adept, Steve the Sam as well as one of Morningblossom's Ork hands. Oz the mage is still recovering, as the player couldn't make it.

The proceedings: The first wave is Lesser Thunderbirds and E-Martens. While eye in the sky (an armed aerial drone), Vicky and Steve down most Thunderbirds, two get through and fry eye in the sky. The martens wreak havoc amond the Rigger's, Hacker's and Maxine's drones, knocking Maxine out with biofeedback and destroying half of the drone fleet. Copious use of stun grenades and Morningblossom's excellent stun ball in the end hold front 1 through wave 1.
Front 2 sees Vicky dodging thunderbolts and, with Steve's help, kill the birds. Below (Vicky takes the roof for better view), Steve is stunned by MArtens, who also mob up on the poor ork. Vicky jumps down and slice-a-dices little furry animals, though the ork nis severely mauled, lacks most of his fingers, face, and other bits, and needs a trauma patch. Front 2 holds ... with heavy losses. Morningblossom is called to help the ork.
The second wave is Antlers tribals, each aided by a force 5 Abomination and a shaman.
Front 1 deals surprisingly well with them - Tara the Rigger rolls lucky and one-shots the shaman on her front with her Mannlicher rifle, and the rest is more or less a standard goon-slaughter. The Abomination eats a lot of lead, but there is little it can do against the remaining two drones' combined automatic fire, even without more than a guardian spirit Morningblossom left behind.
Front 2 is much more interesting. Tribals roll lucky and nearly down Steve. The Abomination rushes Vicky, who slays it but is badly bruised herself. Then the tribals advance while the shaman calls up a new abomination. This is where weird shit happens, because the shaman critglitches his summon roll, AND the spirit critglitches it's resistance roll.
I decided to ask Vicky's player to get the Dark Heresy core rules and roll for Perils of the Warp and Minor Mutation. I expected some deformity on the Shaman and the trees weeping blood for 1d6 turns. What I didn't expect was "posession on everyone for 2d6+10 meters radius" and a reroll on Greater Mutation that turns the shaman into a worm. Now the tribals are possessed by toxic possession spirits, and the shaman is a worm-thing possessed by a force 5 abomination.
Things get a little tense now. Steve and Vicky combine fire on one possessed tribal, while Morningblossom heals the ork. The tribal is .... unimpressed. They Edge. One down. Vicky then decides tot ry and kill the shaman first, in the hope the other spirits will be weakened or something. Steve edges ... and rolls a damn great roll. Shaman is not only wounded, Shaman is actually hurt. Vicky edges and rolls great as well, then charges the wormthing that once was a shaman.
She rolls badly, and is nearly killed.
Steve again fires on the worm, which failed it's summoning test again, and decides to go for Vicky, who neatly dodges an acid jet. Then the runners retaliate, and ... it's worm smash. I decided the other possession nspirits take the cue and disappear, and the tribals break down in misery. Vicky and Steve do not suffer the unclean to live, though.

And that's how the Morningblossom Farm and Maxine the factory rigger were saved by a band of runners. Celebrations were held (briefly), and pay was given - partly in cash by Maxine, partly in weed by Morningblossom. The ork died in Hospital, and soon after the second wave, Ares' mercenaries zoomed overhead in their T-birds and bombed the living daylights out of the Antlers and their blighted home. Much needs to be rebuilt, but the runners made some cash, some friends, and got some quality weed (they also did a good thing). And then they drove their winebagoo and SUV into the sunset to this tune.

Additional Background and Changes: Sometimes, I like to use Dark Heresy tables, particularily when mages critglitch. It never fails to be very dramatic.

[Koekepan]

Awesome. That sounds like a good ol' time.

So, the key question: Are the runners terrified of anything which is green now, or are they keen on more of the same?

[hermit]

A great time was had by all involved, including me, the GM, who always wanted to do something somewhat like an old Western.

Terrified of the countryside, keen on more Grey. XD Well, some. Steve's player might retire him and switch to a new PC, and have Steve the Sam become Steve the weed farmer. Vicky is anti-drug except for alcohol, but also hates the countryside now, pragmatic as she is. Oz' player took the totaly unexpected betrayal of Green (who by now is dead) hard and might drop. Green (who was killed ingame when he ganged up with some smugglers - the player rteally got into the Judas thing!) built a new PC who is romantically involved with Steve now. Tara kinda could care less about Green or Weed. She's mercenary like that.

[Koekepan]

If they're having a hard time with the countryside, now is the time for them to run into that locust swarm across the Dakotas.

Present it right, and you might get to see them cry.

"The engine roars as you gradually make your way up the rising country of the plains, reaching higher and higher altitudes as you head for the rockies.

"But wait, what is that on the horizon? It looks like a cloud. A dust cloud. Is it a dust storm, or is it smoke? It's the wrong shade for smoke, it looks more like dust. Is this a return of the great dust bowl of a century and a half ago?

"There's a tiny click and beep from the binoculars as they zoom in on the nearest edge of the cloud. The image resolves, and you can see the tiny motes swirl like dust, swirl through the air, jumping and coming down on anything green, where they consume it like the locusts they are. What you see before you is a locust swarm the size of a city.

"It's not the first time locusts have swarmed on the high plains, and certainly won't be the last, but more details come into focus, like the half-man with four legs and jointed arms chewing on a tree as if it were a cob of corn. And locusts the size of ponies leaping and flying into the still air, powerful spiked hindlegs trailing behind them.

"They are headed your way."

[Mystweaver]

Just got my players out of town with the tailchaser plothook... oh how scared they are of the contents of the box... Hee hee hee... Thank you for your fantastic ideas! I'm gonna run em all - but adapt them cos they are in the NAN (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Koekepan]

A good approach to GMing:

treat it like being a conjurer. Distract them with something shiny while you move things around.

[Kiryu]

The setup

You are going to shoot a Sheriff and a couple of deputies, maybe break a couple inmates outta jail.

The problem

Sheriff James Arkansaw is self proclaimed "toughest Sheriff in the UCAS". The Lone Star Sheriff police the local Arizona area with an rusty iron fist and have put Metahumans in his excuses for "Prisons" at the outskirts of the PCC Arizonian desert. With living conditions that makes a Squatter in the Barrens look a cushy lifestyle. He was highly criticized by many Metasapient rights groups and the odd corp who thinks the slotfaces prison condition is an eyesore. However you cant just directly oppose him. Aside from dealing with Lone Star, the last thing you want is to be flagged as a left wing dandelion eater who wants the criminals and Anarchists to run free. That said recently some groups decided that PCC needs a property value change and Arpaio has to go. That said there is many different ways to skin this sob and you different buyers who have a different reason for wanting his oily hide.

The Groups

The group you are up against is Mr. Arkansaw and the Local Lone Star on his payroll. He is a xenophobic, humanist Lone Star Sheriff who makes prisoners wear elven thongs, listen to Sinatra and other cruel forms of punishment we wont mention here. Humanis Runners will have no luck getting him to hire you since you are probably a filthy criminal or out to take his job in a virtual slavery system. Dont mistake his racism for lack of opportunistic pursuits. His cyberzombie troll prisoners act as Prison muscle with confiscated cyberware forced into them with obedience chips to add to the milspec arsenal. He has a lot of "donations" from the tough on crime old money Anglos who loves his tough on crime and immigration policy. Especially since you are sharing the country next door to Aztlan which is a worrysome problem.

The PCC wants this to be to be a clean sweep and make it simple: Kill the Sheriff and get out. The guy running this operation is Jackie Taylor, former KE Company Man who wants KE to take over Lone Star's assets. He is a clean by the book by Company Man standards and upholds Ares and KE's values that it grates on the nerves on Arizonan officials, in the past he has supported lawyers who was running against Arkansaw in Arizona's law enforcement contracts but he is also a bit too friendly with the metasapients which has him painted as ineligible for becoming the one to run the law in Arizona.

The Hatchethead clan is an NAN faction who wants you to free the prisoners and leave Arkansaw alive so he can feel the retributipn of Lone Star. The leader of this group is a native man named Iron Chainbreaker, a Negro-NAN who had his share of being in chains and barely escaped from Arkansaw's prison camp after being arrested for a false charge. Being broken once and put back together both physically and mentally, he feels that Arkansaw is merely the head of the snake. If he is discredited peacefully, the prisons will have their unbreakable reputation broken and he can get his own representatives (courtesy of Native Nation's gang's personal lawyers) to take over the prisons to use as recruiting grounds, releasing NAN friendly assets on good behavior while turning it to a literal death camp for any dandelion eater. That said the prisoners are not leaving quietly, they want Arkansaw dead if they want to escape.

The Malpais on the other hand is an anarchist gang. Bent on bringing down the man.this group wants you to lay waste to Arpaiao and the head of the snake. They want as much collateral as possible and you will deliver. They dont know they are being pulled by Lone Star outside of Arizona as well as other Security interests who want to cash in on an actual crime wave. Lone Star doesn't like Arpaio because he is leaving them with a drek reputation in PCC and the PCC may send retaliatory raids by sending their own bad dudes to cause trouble in Lone Star turf in the South where you got trigger happy conservatives that have wage slaves packing tasers to shock a metahuman bum as a past time (Remember, tasers are technically legal to own in the sixth world, even corps know we have violent impulses and better to act it on the Sinless) who will shoot any free thinker on sight.

The Preposition

"The job is simple. I want you to remove Sheriff Arksansaw from power. You may have seen his mustache twirling antics on the Matrix or the news, but this time you will be in the belly of beast. I want you to rid of bastard as per my client's requests and you will get paid. Also anyone who are concerned this will mark you as cop killers don't worry I know a good cleaner. But only if you do it right as my client wants it. I will tell you the details here..."

The Facts

A Jailbreak job, pure and simple, ok may not so simple and dealing with the aftermath of slaughtering a pig is never entertaining unless your name is John Kastle.

Finding the Sheriff is easy, getting there is hard since you will be crossing a sun baked desert at least running at 100 degrees at best as well as dodging his milspec patrols as well as elementals and paracritters wandeirng the desert wasteland.

The prison camp itself is one part fortress, one part refugee camp. plenty of gun towers with the guards packing sniper rifles with frangible and explosion munitions, the entire tent prison is within T-Bird gun range so there is literally next to no cover. You will have to bring your own rigger to even think of surviving the attack. The Adminstration building is built like a fort and supplied like one and Arkansaw has a good deal of security inside who knows the complex like the back of the palm of their hands.

Complications

The misery in the prison is ripe for a ritual. Expect a death elemental spirit swarm to make your life miserable. There is a lot of unreported prison deaths in the camps and all it takes is one imprisoned Shaman, gone clearly insane from the conditions to unleash his rage on the system

Turns out there are other groups waiting to spring their own groups out of jail. They will offer a choice for you, help them out or they will tell their friends that you didn't.

You may run into an incarcerated "friend" of yours and he has been cyberzombified...

Oh shit a fleet of gunships have arrived. Hope you packed heavy...

A coyote may hire you to get prisoners to him, and these prisoners are chipped with state of the arm stuff. No RFID remover you have can hide their stench.

Aftermath

So you killed a cop. A high profile cop. Hope you can handle the Lone Star.

The other groups out there will remember this and they are none too happy.

So where will these prisoners go now that Arpaio is dead? If you freed them, expect PCC to face a crime wave in the years to come.

Depending on the new management, you can either make powerful friends in high places or can forget about coming to PCC ever again.

You are unofficial a hero now, come on, think of the Trids and games that will be made in your exploits. A prison break of this caliber will be something Horizon will use to cater to the free thinkers! Think about it!

[Koekepan]

That one will definitely work well for people who have a taste for allegory in their roleplay (although beyond a certain point it goes beyond allegory to explicit political commentary).

For a more sophisticated group, the hints dropped by name (and other factors) tends to drop the surprise factor, so that they then know for sure what's coming. In my experience, that's not as good a roleplaying outcome.

Perhaps you could rub some of the serial numbers off that idea, and add a few curveballs? Or even address the question of government heavy-handedness in a more oblique way?

[Kiryu]

That one will definitely work well for people who have a taste for allegory in their roleplay (although beyond a certain point it goes beyond allegory to explicit political commentary).

For a more sophisticated group, the hints dropped by name (and other factors) tends to drop the surprise factor, so that they then know for sure what's coming. In my experience, that's not as good a roleplaying outcome.

Perhaps you could rub some of the serial numbers off that idea, and add a few curveballs? Or even address the question of government heavy-handedness in a more oblique way?

Yeah, I just wanted to do this since the whole talk about Joe Arpaio's "Toughest Sheriff" screams "kick me" with a sign on their back. The fact I was able to do all of this on a smartphone was an achievement.

[Kiryu]

Background You like a keg of my finest beer, it's genuine stuff, not that stuff made from fungi or soy, actual wheat beer, goes great with anything. Even the city slicker soy food! It's like liquid bread! Well just don't make it your sole meal source but I am willing to sell you a couple of kegs of the good stuff.

The Parties: Brian Ainoat is a stout dwarf from the outskirts Milwaukee. Against all odds he had managed to have a farm dedicated to one thing before big Agriculture ruined the palates of every man, woman and child of the midwest and Big Ten (namely Ares) decided to put it out of it's misery. Beer was sadly one of the many victims of Big Agriculture's influence, Anheuser Busch had not only forced a glut of food but it had created a glut of unappetizing cuisine and beer associated with small time crooks, but even then even a respectable shadowrunner would rather swig down a bottle of synthenol than a can of bud light or Milwaukee. Ainoat Ale is a high alcohol all wheat beer with a dirty little secret: It can give you dwarf like strength when drunk provided you have enough cans, then again you would probably die of alcohol poisoning. The guy wants to remain independent and he has a good deal of connections to smugglers to ensure independence since he keeps them well stocked with beer that they sell everywhere for jacked up prices. You know the whole thing it is with wars and how you can make a steal for chems.

Ares obviously wants the beer, namely KE Head Galahad McLeod, he was looking for a way to boost KE morale in Chicago from the bug city fighting by giving them something that will make them fight harder. During a milk run for beer he had stumbled upon Ainoat Ale. The guy wants to secure supply rights with Ainoat and he now has to play dirty to get more of the good stuff. Galahad had suffered quite a bit from the Bug War in Chicago and seriously wants some of that stuff to erase the memory of a squad being eaten alive and turned into bug spirits.

Saeder Krupp is a surprising competitor in this beer war as it had acquired Anheuser Busch and turned it's alcohol companies to producing beer worldwide, unfortunately the beer is anything but natural and subtly filled with addictives to encourage deviant behavior to make the criminal underworld weak to the Golden Snout's suggestions. Hans Lubeck has heard about this potent brew and decided to set up shop with a chain of breweries in the local area of Ainoat, who wanted to build it in the first place. His goal is to either destroy Ainoat completely or make him produce their brands of beer.

The Problem: Brian has been facing problems with KE, they have been blockading his main lines of shipping and denying access to sell his wares without paying duties. Now just because the prohibition is over doesn't mean there isn't any alcohol smuggling to do, you got the middle east who prohibits liquor to the hum of religion and the pussies who thinks 100% proof is too unsafe to sell, and then there is classic tax evasion which makes up of the major reason why the day the Sixth World legalize drugs the cartels with novacoke will buy out DocWagon and run on preferred service. Brian needs to to either send a convoy of beer to a smuggling post or actually do it yourself in a classic moonshine run. KE on the other hand wants the beer to their places but recently someone has been hiring raiders on the road to hit the beer convoy or KE patrols. Either way, it's a fight.

The Proposition: I need someone with a nice big truck, or ride one of my trucks to this place carrying the beer. And watch out for the raiders, they would sure love my beer but I sure as hell ain't sharing with these slotfaces"

The Facts: You are on a smuggling run and it's that simple, that said KE patrols are going to be on the lookout for any beer truck and unless you want to sell yourself out to the KE they will most likely shoot you. Unfortunately for them the SK had hired raiders and criminal scum to keep the KE distracted so they can get the main prize, the beer. They hope to hit enough convoys to force Ainoat outta business and it may be in the best interest of the Runners to hit their bandit hideout. But only the KE knows where it is but can't make a move since it may lead to a war between SK and them, and the last thing they need is the dragon in their backyard.

Compications

Is this the Walking Dead? Yeah, ghouls wander the roads as KE does and they are hungry for brains

Maybe Ainoat may toss in an extra job where you are going stop by, pay a visit to a local AB brewery and teach these tasteless beer duds a lesson in making beer.

Contamination, Contimination everywhere.

Maybe one of the runners couldn't resist the beer and tries a glass, then another and another...

Aftermath

So now the beer is shipped out, you want to make the rest of the trip?

Galahad has a lot of pull in KE, being discharge for alcohol addiction may cause you problems in detroit.

As always, never cut a deal with a dragon or in your case, screw with a dragon.

Was the beer contaiminated without anyone noticing? Oh Drek that can't be good news.

[Koekepan]

Background:

Being a bodyguard is rough enough when you're in the 'plex and you have all the trappings of technology to help you keep an eagle eye on your surroundings, the people, and ultimately to help you with any drekheads burned enough to think they can make it through your defences.

Out in the countryside, it's a tiny bit harder.

The Parties:

Confederation of Artistes Simutainment is a TriD and Simsense studio. High tech, high prices, high standards. And when they hire talent, they hire someone to protect that talent.

Victor Steel is talent. Big talent, with a square jaw, a bit of scruff, some tan, and just a hint of wrinkles. Cute enough to cuddle, hot enough to want. He's simsense sales numbers on two feet.

Cathy Grier is talent. Big talent. She's an actress with a degree and skills to show for it, but it doesn't hurt that her genetics and her surgeon collaborated on a feast for the eyes and the sims.

The Extras ... dozens of people, most of whom are here to prove that they should be in Victor and Cathy's shoes, and are ready to steal, kill, frag and slag and maybe even do a little acting to prove it. And posing. And preening. So very much posing and preening.

The Crew, led by Armand le Tour, director extraordinaire. The toast of the red carpet, the A list celeb that everyone wants to be seen with. He has a travel trailer twice the size of anyone else's, to make room for his ego.

The Fans. No, they weren't invited. It's cute how you thought that made a difference.

Franklin Mickelson is the fixer. He is a great fixer. Money flows through his jeweled fingers like water, and impressing him is a good way for a runner to make some great money. Failing to impress him is a good way never to work again. Ever.

The Problem:

It's not that hard to do a movie, even with full three dimensionality, and composite everything into place. Doing it convincingly with sim is still way too expensive and very difficult. It's actually easier to shoot some things on location, and flesh is cheaper than that much technology. If this were animated it would be easy but the fact is that it isn't, and in full sim the audience is very good at picking out inconsistencies.

This is why the whole cast and crew are headed for the high country near Denver in Summer.

The Proposition:

"I have contact with some very influential backers behind an entertainment project. Security is a priority - of course, it always is - but it's also a problem. The shoot must go off without a hitch. It must be a beautiful, a superlative, a miraculous artistic work, and a copy of all the shot material must make it back to me ASAP. The backers are concerned that certain of the people intend to play a double game with the insurance, then take the money and run. So. You get to hold Victor's coat when he needs it, and give it to him when he needs it. You get to discreetly bring groupies when he's in the mood, and discreetly keep them away when he's not. You get to be part of the magic - but you also get to protect the magic, and to make sure it comes home. Am I clear? I assume that two hundred thousand nuyen will be satisfactory recompense. Do the job right, and I have another couple for you."

The Facts:

This show is doomed. It might as well have been called the Graf Zeppelin. It's going down in flames.

Cathy hates Victor's guts, and Victor isn't too wild about hers. They're supposed to have sex in the desert, on the record. Unless the writers rewrite it as an angry grudgefuck, it will suck harder than she knows how to, and that's just a fact of movie magic.

Armand is good enough at his job, all hyperbole aside, that he will know it is not going well. This will make him worse to deal with than a cuddly porcupine. His bad attitude will amplify everyone else's and be highly disruptive to security arrangements.

The writers are not being shipped out to the back of beyond - there's no point in this world of remote communications. Of course, that means the team decker will be responsible for keeping those communications safe and secure while the crew is trying to score some hot groupie ass in the air conditioned comms trailer. Oh, was that door supposed to be locked?

Franklin is screwing half the backers at the behest of the other half. This simsense is getting leaked so that it can be edited for BTL use on the side. The players can blow that scheme open and never work the town again, or play ball and have the other half of the producers outraged. Oh well.

Some Complications:

A groupie collective wants to kidnap Victor for some extracurricular activities. Victor wants to be kidnapped, and wants extracurricular activities. If this means that Cathy needs to get STD treatments, well, Victor's OK with that.

A Denver-based crew union wants to picket - and maybe get more disruptive.

Some of the extras are angry enough to put special sauce on Armand's steak. Special peyote and/or mushroom sauce.

Extras decide to preen where the rattlers like to preen. Did you bring the snakebite kit?

An extra goes off somewhere stupid to get into character, and climbs a fence into a paddock containing an angry ram. Sheep:1, Extra: 0.

Aftermath Ideas:

A lot depends on how greatly Franklin is pleased, or displeased, but the other backers aren't fools, and planted some countervailing forces in the crew.

The runners get caught on camera, so everybody knows exactly who was there.

Armand insists on casting some of the team. The lights! The excitement! The stars on Hollywood Boulevard!

[Tecumseh]

I love the complications. There's a lot of RP juice to be squeezed there, and a lot of ways for the PCs to shine without resorting to guns and fireballs. The prospect of getting cast for a walk-on role would be a fun temptation to see the runners contemplate.

Also, "extracurricular activities"... tee hee.

[Beta]

I haven't run any of these as written (although that could yet come), but I did want to thank you for the idea of the toxic shamans on the over fertilized and pesticided farm. There was a scenario I found somewhere else (I wish I could remember where), where the runners have to blow up a local Doc Wagon factory. Running that I didn't let the runners know who owned the factory, when they saw the marking on the kits they were all " Doc Wagon guarantees their high threat response teams can be anywhere in the metroplex in ten minutes, with average response time less than that-- we can't fight one of those!" I played this up, counting the minutes as they finished up the mission and extracted themselves....into the neighbouring fields of soy plants (an NPC pointed out that thermographic vision has a chance of being foiled by vegetation).

They were worried about the GMC Banshee and combat drones that arrived, then worried that the pest control drones would give away their position, until the first toxic spirit zoomed in and attacked. Dealing with those while not attracting attention from the Doc Wagon forces cranked up the stress level nicely. They did eventually find the toxic shaman / low level rigger, operating out of an old root cellar, where they survived long enough for the crazed toxic shaman to discover he was not very resistant to SMG fire.

It was missing out on the moral quandary and confusion factor that you write into your scenarios, but it was satisfyingly confusing and scary (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Mystweaver]

An awakened skunk is basically impossible to keep out of anywhere, and almost impossible to shoot if you're puking your guts out because you were downwind of it. And if it's downwind of you? It knows you're there, dumbass.

I think I just woke my son by laughing too loudly (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Koekepan]

It was missing out on the moral quandary and confusion factor that you write into your scenarios, but it was satisfyingly confusing and scary (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Hey, if you want an environment of fear, uncertainty and doubt, I can try to oblige.

[hermit]

Wrap-up: I skipped the swarm because after they left the farm, the group Judas was activated. A fellow PC betraying the PCs never ceases to surprise.

I also used a basic scenario, albeit de-grimmed, in another game. Generally, I find Koekepans adventures very useful to liven up things or add flavor, Karma and physically and emotionally brutalizing experiences to 'road trip' type adventures, which are actually more like mini campaigbns and something I really like to run.

[Kiryu]

I am quite surprised i was the first one make an alcohol related run. The midwest was probably the classic case of corps destroying a way of life or in their way. Taste. I mean during around the time of the Crimean Wars a lot of Germans moved to the Midwest to start anew and brought a lot of fine farmer foods. Then we saw General Mills and Anheuser Busch come in with their monofarms and soon the palate was replaced with cheap hot dogs, deep fried crap and a cuisine scene that makes the Scots munchie box look like something Hestavy would eat as a way to impress guests

[Koekepan]

You don't think that the one set in old Wes' Virginny was alcohol based? That still is mighty important to some folks.

For fuel alcohol, of course.

[Koekepan]

Background:

Farming on the Canadian Shield is hard. It can be done, by people who can stand the punishing swing from sweltering Summer, to withering Winter. When the boreal winds sweep down their icy bite is deep. Still, some few lunatics still do it. If they're that crazy, who'll stop them? But now and again even maniacs with eyes which can scan a horizon miles away and tans burned into their skins from eighteen hour days need a little help.

Guillaume has a farm to the west of Hudson Bay, in what used to be Manitoba, where he makes a modest living. He has some grains, some vegetables in earth-bermed greenhouses, and some regular cattle, sheep and pigs. But the real money is in the qiviut he combs from his musk oxen. When the weather turns ugly, the cattle and sheep live in the barns and he feeds them hay and grains stored from the hot months, but the musk oxen wander his land in the blizzards and ice storms.

The Parties:

Guillaume du Toit is french canadian, but his English is fine. He never learned the speech of the cities, because he doesn't need it. He's a throwback, in his way, but a successful one. He could build a cabin with an axe, dig a root cellar with a mattock, and farm with a shovel and fork if he had to. He's a massive, barrel-chested human. With cosmetics, he could pass for an ork, and a husky one at that.

Barbara du Toit is also french canadian, and is as human as her husband, Guillaume. She helps him farm, when she isn't looking after the household. She raises their four young children with tenderness, grace, and a swift wooden spoon the size of a rifle stock. She's every bit as good a shot as Guillaume, and the rabbits which dare to sully her gardens go into her pot.

Autumn. The snow is already here, but more is blowing in with the howling voices of an Awakened world.

The Problem:

Guillaume and Barbara care for and protect their whole farm, but sometimes Mother Nature brings more than they can easily deal with. Even Guillaume's old .303 can't take down a wolf when the blizzard blinds him.

And the wolves have come for the musk oxen.

The Proposition:

"The herd is in danger. I hear them, I hear the wolves calling at night. I found the remains of a calf they ate, frozen in the snow. How long ago? I do not know, but less than a week. I have to take care of the animals here, I cannot be walking around in the snow hunting wolves. I am a busy man, but you, you could go. What else do you have to do? Do this for me: bring me the hides of the wolves. Kill them all, and save my beasts, and you shall sleep warm in my barn and eat well from Barbara's kitchen this Winter. If not? Begone. Go back to Toronto. Wrap your feet well when you walk there, because frostbite will take your toes."

The Facts:

The team isn't there because they want to be. It's because they want to be elsewhere even less. They need shelter, they need food, they need to survive while hanging out long enough for their trails to get cold. Guillaume is offering them a safehouse which is so far out of the way, nobody is likely to even think of looking. And all they have to do is one little favour.

These aren't cute doggies. These are apex predators - rapacious timber wolves. They are smart. They mass about 50 to 70kg of hard muscle and fangs. If musk ox isn't the meal of the day, then maybe shadowrunner is. They run in a blizzard with snow a fathom deep, and lope along all day at a fast trot. They kill as a team, and they will gash and disembowel their prey until they falter and fall and are eaten, even still alive and twitching.

It's only early October, but the season closed in rapidly and the last chance to decide one way or another is rapidly vanishing. Clouds, heavy and green with fresh snow can be seen rolling overhead in the breaks in the weather.

Some Complications:

Polar bears. Wendigo.

Awakened wolves. Shapeshifters. Regular wolves are bad enough, but what about these?

Wolf shamans might have a real problem with this.

Sudden onset weather changes. It can turn in astonishingly short swings. A balmy 5C can turn into -20C in an hour. As the season gets later, -20C can feel balmy.

Snow blindness. Forgot your eye protection? You can be effectively blinded. It's a real thing.

Disorientation. And don't think satellite connections are reliable in heavy weather either.

The chill can be brutal. Windchill can drop the apparent temperature below -50C. Cyberware starts to misbehave and freeze up. And the wolves are on the move.

Aftermath Ideas:

Let's say the runners survive. Or some of them, anyway. Let's say they succeed, and get paid in a sack of qiviut. Do they have any idea what they have, and how valuable it is? Turning a resource into cash is always tough.

[Beta]

It happens that I grew up in Eastern Manitoba (not that far north, but same basic geography), and my grandparents had a farm in the Canadian Shield (cows will happily browse shrubs, and it is amazing where you can grow potatoes....). For this alone I'll have to run this scenario (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

One additional thought, once you get off the farm, the land is probably granite ridges separated by muskeg (swamp). In this weather the surface may be starting to freeze, but anyone heavy (orcs, trolls, metal bone lacing maybe) would likely break through. Oh, also, if you see the northern lights, good chance that your satellite link net connection is going to be messed up.

[Koekepan]

Glad I could be of service to the canadian contingent!

I'm not a taiga or tundra farmer, but I've spent many hours stalking through snow with a rifle in my hands, finding the thing which is eating my animals. Don't underestimate how much the cold can hurt, or how quickly hypothermia can set in, or how much foggy scopes and frozen actions can screw up shooting.