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

[Kiryu]

Ah, the Wolves and General Winter in a Redneck Run, it is something like this that makes Runner wished the ran against Saeder Krupp than dealing with the godforsaken cold, cutting edge tech barely works and woe betide the cyber samurai who would spend at least three months in the wilds, far enough to wish he had something to maintain his cyberware. One thing most of modern civilization take for granted includes communication and easily replaced cutting edge parts. Out in the wilds or hell the sticks, this is as much of a death sentence as traveling without any clothes in the dead of winters. Modern Tech simply isn't meant for the rigors of long travels as they are designed to be replaced, not fixed. This coupled with the Corporate run Sixth world meant it is squared and it really sucks even more to be out in the wild without functioning cyberware.

Also, Ice Spirits is another nice problem to add to the list of wildlife and paracritters out to get you.

Koekepan, you really shown me how you can create a dangerous shadowrun without the need to use the corporations or some secret society as a threat. Nature is as ruthless and deadly as Lowfyr.

Also I got a "redneck" run taking place in Southeast Asia

Background: War is hell, and food is a precious commodity in the Southeast Asia War Zone. An spice island plantation with rice cultivation as a side job is about to be hit by pirates, the Japanese and the Corps in a nasty three way struggle.

The newly formed island of Koffman is a prime piece of real estate, a microisland which has been providing the outskirt islands with rice and spices, both of which are very valuable commodities to the ones buying as lead can't exactly fill the stomach in a satisfying manner. Much of it is still unexplored primeval but the island plantation is host to the only source of civilization which is a well fortified agricultural colony owned by an indepedent entrepeneur Rick Nyugen. The former Vietnamese company man of Evo had left his company to place a stake in the war zone and had struck white gold in the form of rice and spice. It is only a matter of time before War hits Koffman, both hot and cold.

The Parties

Rick Nyugen, a Company Man of Evo who had been an awakened Shaman bound to a rain spirit, blessing the rice fields with water and thus bountiful harvests of rice, the rain had been a boon in making the place very difficult to find. The guy runs a food smuggling ring as he realize he can make more money selling bags of rice rather than bags of novacoke. He runs the plantation with a forced seclusion policy, since any disclosure of plantation will mean certain death for him as he had made a lot of enemies as a Evo company man.

Shiawase atomics had noticed a large deposit of uranium and they decide the plantation would be converted a mining one. They are dropping a tectonic device that if left unchecked may disturb the volcano that had formed the island that can make a nasty little euruption. Being responsible for rather volatile materials means they have an defense detail that rival that of several HTRs since there has been a lot of unsuccessful attempts to picket/raid/sabatoge the mines they run. These guys won't survive a day without their hardware though.

The Blood Cloud Boys are ruthless pirates with the intent to plunder the grain stores, Rick had hired these guys to run interference on Shiawase and Mitsuhama a long time ago. But that is a long time and while he doesn't remember them, they remember him and they want to find the food supplies as a string of dud raids of finding more bullets than butter and many of these guys are starving to the point cannibalism has been committed by some of the pirates. Take it by force if needed.

The Problem: Shiawase's little mining expedition has been recently been growing out of hand for Rick, paying off some pirates to run interference, the Runners are sent to provide "support" for the Pirates. Things aren't as simple as he thought though as the pirates are close to locating his plantation and he knows once they find him he will be forced to "share" his cut. The perfect excuse for Shiawase to use to destroy him and run him out of the island. They just recently struck a MCT freighter that had a lot of guns, way more guns than what Nyugen have to keep his labor in line.

The Proposition: I want you to hit a local installation belonging to Shiawase, I hired some muscle but these guys are scum. Make sure they only hit the place and none of them find out where we are.

The facts: This is going to take place in Monsoon season which you know is absolutely bad news for Shadowrunners, rain and lots of it, whiplash winds that makes ranged combat a living hell. TO put it bluntly, it's Vietnam and you are fighting both an unconventional force that knows how to navigate in Monsoon season and the other bringing a lot of big guns to protect their investment and time is running out.

Complications
-Some of the Blood Clouds are turning into Ghouls.
-Rick may turn into a toxic water Shaman, bad news all around.
-Paracritters join the fray in the jungle.
-Tribals from a nearby village may be of interest as "labor" for the plantation, Nyugen may pay you extra to persuade these folks to work for him. Of course, 75% of these are awakend, the remainder are trolls or very strong metahumans augmented by powerful spirits that can take on a street sam with bone lacing and win.
-Wait, is the volcano exploding? TAKE COVER!

[Koekepan]

Nice. A lot of people forget that the locals in bad terrain can be pretty tough. After all, they survived there, didn't they?

One question, though: how do you take cover from a volcanic eruption?

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

Nice. A lot of people forget that the locals in bad terrain can be pretty tough. After all, they survived there, didn't they?

One question, though: how do you take cover from a volcanic eruption?

Indeed... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Oh, that is a simple one... It just isn't very effective. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Koekepan]

As I recall the process is something like:

1. Spread legs nice and wide
2. Bend down real far, and grab ankles
3. Kiss sweet ass good-bye

Tongue optional.

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

As I recall the process is something like:

1. Spread legs nice and wide
2. Bend down real far, and grab ankles
3. Kiss sweet ass good-bye

Tongue optional.

Yep - That's the one... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Shortstraw]

One question, though: how do you take cover from a volcanic eruption?

What type of volcanic eruption, if it's Mafic your basic HEL suit will see you safe, Felsic? High force barrier spell?

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

What type of volcanic eruption, if it's Mafic your basic HEL suit will see you safe, Felsic? High force barrier spell?

Ain't no Force high enough. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Shortstraw]

Ain't no Force high enough. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Slow spell?

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

Slow spell?

Doesn't exist. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Koekepan]

Background:

As long as the oil keeps pumping, farming will use that energy and governments who hate food riots will make it easier. This means machinery, and lots of machinery. Of course, the machinery itself becomes valuable as long as the energy infrastructure makes it usable. And it doesn't have any running problems.

Of course, raping Gaea for her mineral wealth and then raping her again for soulless factory farming doesn't sit too well with some folks.

The Parties:

Rape Whistle are a group of people dedicated to restoring the health of Mother Earth, as they see it. Not quite a policlub, not quite a terrorist organisation, they're openminded and inclusive about approaches to their mission. It doesn't matter to them how crazy you think they are. They think you're the crazy one - and disgusting.

Gerald Brown is a human farmer who is in hock up to his ears to various seed merchants. And he has a problem.

The Problem:

Rape Whistle have decided that the best thing they can do is sabotage. They would love to sabotage every oilfield in the world, but that's realistically out of their reach since a lot of those oilfields are guarded by soldiers and mercenaries who would like nothing better than to shoot the whistlers, cut off their ears, and make a necklace of them. So what can they do? Sabotage farm machinery! Specifically, abscond with tractor parts from Gerald's farm.

Gerald Brown needs to plant the seed to reap the crops to pay back his debtors, so that he can go into debt again, plant more seed, and .... really, his way of life is basically a modern form of sharecropping, and it sucks. But he still doesn't want to go bankrupt.

The seed merchants don't mind too much if Gerald goes bankrupt, because they'll take his land, but they think Rape Whistle are dangerous idiots, so they have no real stake one way or another.

The Proposition:

None of the parties have significant money, so this is only really viable as a hooding mission. Gerald needs his tractor repaired, and needs it fast, otherwise he'll never worry about any tractors ever again. The parts which were taken or destroyed are integral to the power system, and there are a few options. A machinist could fabricate adequate replacements, given some notice. A mechanic could get replacements, given some notice. But the fastest approach is a race across country to fetch the parts, and then have a competent mechanic repair the equipment with the parts.

Cannonball Run!

Some Complications:

Rape Whistle don't want it repaired, and of course the moment the characters get involved they will be on them like really annoying fleas.

The dealer is out of the parts, the depot is out of the parts, and the factory is busy making a different model's parts which are subtly incompatible.

Rape Whistle are keeping tabs on the location, and just waiting to pounce again. This problem won't be solved without bloodshed.

Aftermath Ideas:

Rape Whistle call some friends in All Sentients' Rights Organisation for backup and muscle.

Rape Whistle share the identities of the runners with ASRO.

Speed traps. Lone Star. Fines. Confiscations.

[Shortstraw]

They could also attempt to destroy an ag dam or a windmill as another complication.

[Shortstraw]

DP.

[Sendaz]

Fight Crazy with Crazy Chic.

Help Farmer Brown turn a new leaf and try going with some awakened fruit trees and similar, the more rare the better and spin it to his debtors as selling a premium line of rare food items commanding top nuyen, the face will have his work cut out trying to sell it but it is possible.

RW won't be entirely pleased, but with enough spin and pushing the fact you can use less machinery and the trees are not cut down. Hell go a step further so only the fruit that drops off is collected to make it even more special and a sell to the group. Just don't mention you are charging an arm,leg and both kidneys for the stuff because its so special (look at what you pay extra for organic NOW, figure by 2070 tht has gone higher) or actually they probably won't care....

Of course getting your hands on some of these plants will be a challenge in themselves, and could be a series of runs in and of itself, but a Azzie research facility just over the border may have just what you need or a few trips down to Amazonia/middle of NAN territories/Lofwyr's personal garden if you like it fresh picked.

Ultimately there will probably be reprisals from the sources of the plants, but you should be well clear by then.
Plus if you have successfully sold it to RW, they may well step in to defend the plots from the baddies trying to wreck the crops. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Beta]

Background:

You know what they say: when seconds count, Lone Star is only minutes away. Unless you're at the end of a dirt road up a canyon in the badlands, in which case nobody's coming.

Unless, of course, there are some hired guns around. Then maybe you can hire them. And maybe they'll work honest.

The parties:

The Anstruther household consists of Sarah, Michelle, and Dahlia. Dahlia is Sarah's daughter by genetic recombination with Michelle, who is Sarah's lesbian wife. You have a problem with that, stranger? All three are human, palefaces but as much a part of the scenery as the rocks.

The survivalists are a gang of stragglers from what was a millenial cult. Mostly second generation now, but Guru Swami Rajakrishnan (birth name: Harold Gutenmeyer) still runs them with an iron fist of love and inner light. Michelle used to be a member, but she's apostate now, and has no time for them. They kicked her out, nominally to fly with the eagles in the light of her own inner peace; practically to die of thirst and exposure in the badlands. She ran into Sarah (a rigger, at the time) who saved her and retired to the badlands to live with Michelle, and now they farm some incredibly hardy livestock, arguably even better than the survivalists.

The vultures are a go-gang from Denver who like nothing better than to go out into the back of beyond, live out the kind of hideous depravity even snuff BTL makers shudder to contemplate, and then return safe in the knowledge that nobody knows, nobody cares, and whatever they're selling for salvage or scrap won't be missed by anyone still living.

I'm preparing to run this one, and looking to see if anyone has used it, and if so did they come up with any additional idea/bits/scenes?

For that matter, anyone have advice in general? I'm running a one player campaign, and this time I've cut off the motorbike loving shaman from his usual NPC support characters. For reasons not worth explaining here he's cooling his heels at the Anstruther compound, with the daughter of a mafia leader under his protection (and no, there is nothing romantic between him and her). He's busy practising his stealth skill (going from 1 to 2, woot!) and conversing with some pretty trippy earth spirits he's found in the North Dakota badlands.....then stuff happens. Doesn't give him a large choice on which side to join, but he can choose to take the girl and ride, or to stay on and get involved.

I'm thinking of introducing the survivalists as the apparent opposition....then have one of them come stumbling through a blizzard, bleeding badly, reporting the Vultures having hit the main survivalist camp.

I botched the road trip that the character was on (every time I introduce this one rigger NPC the game seems to go flat, so I made an emergency call to slice in a red neck run to get things moving again)

[Koekepan]

I'm preparing to run this one, and looking to see if anyone has used it, and if so did they come up with any additional idea/bits/scenes?

I have not run it, but how could I turn down such a request?

I'm thinking of introducing the survivalists as the apparent opposition....then have one of them come stumbling through a blizzard, bleeding badly, reporting the Vultures having hit the main survivalist camp.
I botched the road trip that the character was on (every time I introduce this one rigger NPC the game seems to go flat, so I made an emergency call to slice in a red neck run to get things moving again)

Your mention of blizzard makes me think you're playing in the cold season, so that's worthwhile to bear in mind.

Wendigo is always the fun option in my original listed complications.

Another complication is that this time the Vultures might have been trailed by Knight Errant - who might not be too picky about how they deal with lunatics in a wasteland.

For added spice and variety, add a twist: the Vultures aren't alone, but are waging a running battle against a war party from a local tribe/rival go-gang/toxic circle/crazed vigilante group, and the survivalists as well as the Anstruthers are all simply caught in the middle.

In keeping with the theme of general mayhem, Urban Brawl: the Exurban Challenge! All the fun of a running battle and the media is there, too! They're making wild offers of nuyen in return for releases of trid footage.

Stumble across an old mine adit, inhabited by ghouls or worse.

Really, the possibilities are monumental.

[Koekepan]

Background:

The Junkyard. You'd think a place called that would be a blighted zone in an urban wasteland, but in this case it's about twenty acres (about 3% of a square mile, or roughly 800 by 1,000 feet) of accumulated technological debris in which a sort of clan of scavengers makes a living by identifying valuable things, and using or selling them. They do well for themselves, by closing their eyes to a few things nobody needs to see, and making the crazy world of modern tech just a little bit more efficient.

The Parties:

Boss Gurdy. He's an ork, big and tough as they come but getting old. In his late forties.

Halfway House. A dwarven technician with a checkered past in dozens of chop shops - now mostly legit. When someone's watching. Sometimes.

Sweetcheeks. Human, female, street rat shaman. Devastatingly cute in a waifish sort of way, with a mind like a merc and a mouth like a sewer. Specialties involve finding things talismongers want - and a few side projects of her own, like astral security.

Stitch-n-bitch. Female elven streetdoc who was thrown out of a medical internship for replacing Boss Gurdy's mangled arm with chrome, without a UCAS licence telling her she could do it. The arm's still there and in good shape, and the medical association still wants her ass in a sling, but for some reason lots of other people are happy to get her services. They must be stupid. Or ignorant. Or like cyberware and not bleeding to death.

Maybe half a dozen others, of various degrees of permanence, usefulness and intelligence. Boss Gurdy usually throws about one useless waste of oxygen out a month, with the help of Halfway House and Sweetcheeks. Once in a while, if it's a troll too big for Gurdy to toss out by himself, Sweetcheeks will summon a spirit or something, and that generally settles things.

The Problem:

You just can't have nice things. Boss Gurdy has sweetheart deals with regional offices of various large corps. Sometimes he finds things they lost and hands them back for a perfectly acceptable, modest finder's fee. Sometimes he finds things they lost but hands them back accidentally to different people who offer him a perfectly acceptable, modest finder's fee. Sometimes inconvenient things or people are conveniently parted out, recycled and put to the benefit of the greater community - for a perfectly acceptable, modest recycling fee. Everyone knows which side their bread is buttered, and the Junkyard is a going concern in the finest Shadow tradition.

Even the local gangers know that:

• Stitch-n-bitch sees anybody, for cheap
• They can get good rates on parts, and even machining courtesy of Halfway House
• Boss Gurdy trades straight and pays on the spot for goods
• Sweetcheeks seems to have a very creepy understanding with some devil rats.

The Junkyard is treated as neutral turf, even to the point that some meetings between gang chiefs have happened there.

Unfortunately, Horizon have decided that they need to save the world by embarking on the recycling business. First, they set up shop on the fringes of the Barrens, and then weirdly nobody wanted to do business with them except for very mundane crap. Then Boss Gurdy got made an offer he wasn't supposed to refuse.

Now a team of runners have left the Barrens, run out to the junkyard, and taken Stitch-n-bitch hostage.

The Proposition:

"Those drekheads will start a war. Do you understand me? A war. I'm not talking about three dozen gangers spraying bullets, I'm talking major corps sending in thunderbirds and armour drones to flatten everything, and then each other. I'm talking hombres calling in tickets from cities three hundred miles away to bring all their veteranos to bring the big shit. If she's taken out, Gurdy'll scream for blood and everybody from the streets or the hills will listen. When the place goes nuclear, the corps will roll up. Now you - make it stop. Get her out. Get her out alive."

The Facts:

An inexperienced team of runners, working for Horizon (though they didn't do enough legwork to figure that out) grabbed Stitch-n-bitch on the instructions to force Boss Gurdy to sell. Why did they think it would work? Because they're dumber than a combine harvester in a gravel pit, and they don't realise that a runner's most important tool is between his or her ears.

The talk of war is not exaggerated. A very large amount of very classified material flows through the Junkyard, as things turn out, and while the Junkyard's dissolution might involve a few people getting quietly shanked for a few weeks, a Horizon takeover will result in all-out, no-holds-barred conflict.

The mental giants who grabbed Stitch-n-bitch (who call themselves the Asphalt Kickers) holed up with her in an off-the-grid cabin in a valley, where reception sucks. They successfully figured out that keeping any electronics she might be carrying out of touch with the Matrix is smart, but these rocket scientists failed to figure out that kidnapping a competent street doc makes nobody any friends, ever. Now these neurosurgeons are trying to close a deal with Boss Gurdy, but he's smart enough to hang on to every message and all metadata for analysis by a competent decker, as soon as he can find one.

Some Complications:

The Horizon exec who is pushing the project doesn't really know what's going on, and his head is so far up his rear end that he can hear himself think. He's thinking of hiring another team of runners to help the first team. How he thinks this will end is anybody's guess. His answer to every problem involves more money.

The fixer who arranged for the involvement of the Asphalt Kickers is slowly realising just how tragically, awfully, hideously badly this is going, and is caught between stunned disbelief and hoop-fluttering terror. If the characters can corner him, he will weep nuyen in a desperate effort to save his precious, precious skin.

The Barrens gangs don't usually run out to the Junkyard en masse, but individuals often do. They know what's up, and they know that Gurdy is promising a fat reward to whoever can bring Stitch-n-bitch back. All the local gang bosses want to be Gurdy's newest, bestest friend.

Aftermath Ideas:

A senior Horizon VP gets to hear of it. And wants something terrible, tragic, totally coincidental to happen to the Horizon exec who came up with this scheme. And will pay to read all about it on the Matrix over his morning coffee and blowjob.

Renraku and Ares have special toys they're just dying to share with a deniable asset who can remove the brain trust who is disturbing the peace. They might even regard it as a bankable favour.

[Beta]

Background:

The Junkyard. You'd think a place called that would be a blighted zone in an urban wasteland, but in this case it's about twenty acres (about 3% of a square mile, or roughly 800 by 1,000 feet) of accumulated technological debris in which a sort of clan of scavengers makes a living by identifying valuable things, and using or selling them. They do well for themselves, by closing their eyes to a few things nobody needs to see, and making the crazy world of modern tech just a little bit more efficient.

Oh, I'm totally going to build up to this one (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) The very start of my campaign was helping a well connected n NPC dwarf 'recycling expert' deal with pressure from the established junkyard in the area, who thought he was treading on their turf. Will have to make some other things happen to set this up, but I love how it comes together (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) To bring things full circle back to junk yards would be tasty.

[Beta]

Play report on the Anstruthers vs Survivalists vs Bikers

First, I moved the location to the Black Hills/badlands of the Dakotas, because it was where I needed things to be. Things started a few days after Christmas, with an inch of dry snow on the ground, and temperatures only a little below freezing—the year has been warm and dry and that trend has continued into the winter. The former rigger I said was an old contact of an NPC rigger who is part of the current events. The former member of the survivalists I made an orc (with the human looking quality) for no good reason other than racial diversity has been a bit low in recent sessions.

The set-up:
The way I set this up was that the player character shaman (I have a one player game) and the young woman he is guarding (daughter of a senior mafia guy—for simplicity I’ll just call her Mafia Princess, or MP for short) got stuck at the A’s compound in while their rigger took MP’s mother off to stick her on a plane to someplace other than with them (they just knew she was going all whacked out on them, not realizing she was a VR (if not BTL) addict who had been cut off for too long).

While killing time, MP borrows a rifle (and they buy ammo from the A’s) and they go out to explore the hills a bit (levitation is a wonderful thing) and MP works on her rifle shooting (she is decent with a pistol). MP expresses frustration with her options in the world, that she wants to do some good, not just live well off her father’s money which all ultimately came from crime.

First encounter:
Later that evening, when the dogs bring in the A’s small herd of bison, one doesn’t come with them. The A’s accuse the shaman and MP of having shot one of their animals. However a quick astral investigation reveals a dead bison, and eight humans around it, one of them awakened. The shaman and the A’s head out (leaving a disgruntled MP to babysit).

They arrive to find the people starting to butcher the bison. These are some of the survivalists, including their leader. The A’s are outraged, the survivalists claim the right of the hungry to take the bounty of the earth to feed themselves, plus they raised one of the A’s, she owes them. She counter accuses that they left her out to starve or die of exposure, and she owes them nothing but a bullet between the eyes. The leader of the survivalists gets all preachy and is rather persuasive, and the shaman realizes that he’s the adept, and has powers helping his persuasive abilities—so slaps a silence spell on him. I allow the leader to resist with his voice power + magic, and by a quirk of the dice he gets loud enough to be heard over the silence spell. The shaman then calls him out as an adept, but the leader denies all magic, saying only that the spirits of the land may favour those dedicated to living in harmony with them. Eventually the shaman levitates the leader and plays with him (it is a Cat shaman…..) and the survivalists finally (after some dice rolling) decide here and now is not the time to fight, and leave.

The A’s spend the night butchering the bison so that they don’t lose the meat, and in exhaustion ask the shaman and MP to go out with the herd in the morning to keep an eye on things. They eventually start coming in, in the early afternoon, when even the city slickers recognize that the weather is turning ugly.

Second encounter: Bikers:
The snow is starting to fall horizontally by the time they approach the compound—at which point one of the bison cries out and falls, clearly wounded. As the bison form their instinctive defensive circle the shaman scouts astrally, finding a shark mystic-adept-shaman, and a little behind him a group of twenty mundane bikers. At this point the PC shaman and MP are largely hidden from the Shark shaman by the dozen bison.

I thought I had made the shark shaman plenty tough, but the player shaman called up a force six earth spirit, and with a fortunate roll it succeeded in engulfing the shark shaman. The shark shaman did manage to do 7 damage to the spirit with the one spell that he got off, but two rounds of engulf were enough crush him to a pulp despite armor jacket, 2 armor point helmet, and a couple of points of armor from the adept power. First time the PC has used engulf in anger, and we hadn’t clued in just how deadly it could be (especially with how tough earth spirits are).

The PC shaman then makes a phantasm of an even bigger earth spirit coming towards the bikers. With their very scary leader down, the compounds still locked up, a blizzard starting, and a huge spirit coming their way, the bikers decide to take off and head for the tents they’d seen in the distance a way back (all the PC side of things know is that the bikers leave).

Interlude: stumbling out of the blizzard….
About four hours later a young survivalist comes stumbling up to the compound. He’d been heading between tents when the bikers roared up, and had been smart/scared enough to run for cover. He’d stuck around for a while, witnessing several of the survivalists getting shot and hearing very disturbing screams coming from the tent, before he finally decided to try and find help. He’d stumbled around in the blizzard for a good while but had finally found the compound.

After some debate, it comes down to:
- The PC shaman asensed the bikers, and considers them evil, and is inclined to go help the survivlists.
- The A’s, all morality aside, figure that once the blizzard blows over, the bikers could easily be coming after them. As it is, they know where the bikers are, that they have no good defenses, and are largely blind from the blizzard.
- MP wants to do some good.

So it is decided that they will go attack the bikers. Astral scouting and the local knowledge of the A’s help confirm the location and situation. (The PC shaman may never scrub from his ‘eyes’ what he saw in the auras in the tents.) The A’s, however, feel that one of them has to stay in the compound to protect their daughter, and keep an eye on the young survivalist. Meanwhile, MP insists on coming, donning the shark shaman’s armor jacket over a borrowed parka, and borrowing the shaman’s pistol.

Climax: against the forces of evil
The shaman, MP (with the shaman’s pistol), and the Orc lady head off into the blizzard, protected from it by a handy air spirit. In due course they approach the tents all unprotected (the site was chosen for it shelter from the blizzard winds, not for defensive reasons). They hunker down behind mounds of snow, a couple of dozen metres away in the darkness. The shaman has the wind spirit try and take one of the tents down. Those are pretty solid structures, designed to resist prairie winds, but the spirit at least gets it acting oddly and one of the bikers comes out to check out the situation. Shaman snipes at him with an ice spear, hurting him, but he raises the alarm.

The bikers are not stupid. The douse the lights in the tents and as they exit they spread out, but they can’t immediately spot their attackers. The shaman summons a new, stronger, air spirit, and takes one of his actions to tour it through the camp, pointing out the angry, hostile, aggressive, auras, versus the pained, afraid, and panicked auras, then tells it to go after the former.

Finally one of the bikers spends edge on his perception role, and spots the Orc ladies’ rifle barrel. Half a dozen of the gangers I’ve designated as ‘toughs’ and they had all popped kamikaze at the first sign of danger, and they all charge the players targets. Given how outnumbered the shaman and helps are, I gave the bikers submachine guns and machine pistols, with ordinary ammo—relatively easy to soak given all the negative modifers to hit from darkness and blizzard conditions. (the shaman is astral perceiving to see his targets despite the conditions, btw, and taking the appropriate penalty)

Orc lady and MP fire at the bikers charging them, dropping one of them and attracting the return fire. The shaman uses ball lightning to lightly wound but also slow down (initiative-wise) some of the ones charging them. Meanwhile the spirit is causing havoc amongst the other bikers, keeping them busy. MP glitches, causing her gun to malfunction (I’d decided that, given the conditions, any gun jams would have this result). She bolts into the blizzard, drawing predatory fire but surviving thanks to the armor jacket. The orc lady takes some light wounds but is rolling soak dice like a champ. The shaman accepts that it is time to accept some drain, and goes for a much stronger ball lightning, put substantial hurt on four of the attackers. The attacker not hit by the ball lightning glitches, jamming his gun, and he leaps on the Orc lady to grapple with her (he ends up with only a modest advantage over her).

At this point the shaman gets desperate enough call his spirt back to help deal with the four (wounded) tough bikers pointing guns his way. He ends up with some wounds, but the spirit turns the tide, and the shaman and the spirit drop the last of the toughs. At this point the rest of the bikers had been getting it together and starting suppressive fire, but when the actual spirit and an illusion of another one come roaring back their way (literally, I had the spirit borrow the nature of the blizzard) the survivors soon break and make a run for it, trying to bike off through the snow. The shaman uses the spirits final service to have it go hunt the runners (some of the other bikers run off into the blizzard and escape that fate, he specified the riders).

The find MP, heal spells get quickly dispensed, then MP and Orc Lady vote to finish off any not-dead-yet bikers. The shaman acquiesces. That happens, then they take shelter with the surviving survivalists, exhausting their first aid kits and endurance for healing spells as they try to undo some of the damage from the bikers.

After the blizzard finishes they eventually get in touch with the closest thing to law enforcement. They find out that the bikers had tried hitting a town a ways south, only to find that a group of Sioux Rangers were in town. The bikers had been on the run since then, and had been forced farther north, out of their normal range. There was a modest reward for taking them down—but in return the biker’s goods were confiscated as evidence (basically I just wanted to skip the whole issue of trying to find a buyer for the bikes and guns from way out there, as I wanted the game to move on). Some went to the survivalist in the form of a delivery of food brought in with the NPC rigger when he made his way back to the compound, some gave a bit of money for the few of the survivalists who wanted to leave the band after this, some went to the A’s, and the shaman even shared his with MP, meaning he didn’t end up with much nuyen, but he cared more about karma anyway.

And MP concluded that improving the world by getting into gun battles probably was not for her.

In short, I apologize Koekepan—I took one of your ideas and it ended up being the most disgustingly feel good thing imaginable. The player was happy, which is good, but I didn’t feel that the whole thing came out as cyber-punkish as it could have done.

In hindsight, what would I have done differently?

- The shark shaman should have used edged against the earth spirit’s first attack to engulf him. I hadn’t realized how deadly this would end up being, so I didn’t, which changed everything that came afterward.
- I should have given a back up awakened in the bikers. Even an adept who could hurt spirits could have made things quite different. Strong spirits vs mundanes is just too one-sided—even with such a disparity in numbers.
- I also should have had one more seriously cybered up monster amongst the bikers. I relied too much on sheer numbers, not enough on having that one dude who individually is scary.
- I probably should have had a Windigo grab MP while she was running out into the blizzard. We were out of time so I decided to just say "with astral projection you track her down before the cold gets her", but instead I could have run a follow-up session to find and save her, starting from a point of wounds, fatigue, and only one edge point. The player did risk his client, so I should have made that have greater consequences.
- I could have had some survivalists have more spunk, jump a biker, take his gun, and angrily turn on the bikers....attracting the attention of the PC’s spirit.
- For that matter, I could have started things off with the survivalists instead of at the A's compound. Could have had a somewhat similar flow, but I think would have made the situation more grey. For real tension I could have done things totally differently and have had them fall in with a 'totally peaceful' group of bikers along the road, although one good assensing role would probably have blown that one apart.

[Koekepan]

In short, I apologize Koekepan—I took one of your ideas and it ended up being the most disgustingly feel good thing imaginable. The player was happy, which is good, but I didn’t feel that the whole thing came out as cyber-punkish as it could have done.

It's fine. I'm sure that in days to come the shaman will look upon his blood-stained hands and ask himself with tears choking his trembling voice what he has become.

You're leading up to that, right?

[Kiryu]

Premise: Prison Labor camp run out in the sticks. A simple stash theft.

Background: Somewhere in the West Virgin is a lone Star correctional facility where prisoner work their debt off to society by growing crops for the Star. Soy? Wheat? Legumes? Nope! Its drugs. The lone star prison have become a place where the gangers former clients have been forced to make every known sixth world drug to pad the backstop accounts. Lone Star has also extorted nearby plantations to take in the prison labor as part of some fucked up plan to rehabilitate these good folk when in reality they are sent as intimidation as well as turning the places to produce more narcotics to make drugs to help give gangs in their back pockets something to disrupt less cooperative people as well as keeping the undercover boys with enough dope to trade.

The Parties

Warden Mary Guano is an Elven Lone Star Warden from Atzlan. Well versed in the Narcotics business. She had gamed the system with her letting fellow cops snort blow off her fine elven abs and ass to look the other way and runs a mean business. She has turned gang leaders against their own crews and is mean with a sniper rifle to match. Mary's a charmer and knows the legal and illegal game well enough to make most ex-Star Runners feel like a naive trainee on their first day on the beating stick.

Ian Ironsting is an Human DEA agent with a grudge. First thrown out of the military after UCAS "honorably" discharged him after trauma at a destroyed drug plantation which shook the vet. His fathers connections to KE kept him working as he then gets an involuntary surgery by gangers who implanted a sloppily installed auto injector that demands highly addictive drugs to keep him from dying from withdrawal. He has a lot of reasons to tackle the drug trade and while he is a staunch enemy of the narcotics trade, he is sadly chained to it and he isn't putting a bullet to his brain yet.

Weedwhacker the orc is the informal leader of the prison gangs that are brought in between the plantations as a firebrand leader after being thrown in jail for advocating legalization of drugs (so Aztech can use this easily sweep the pharmacutical business in America, leaving DocWagon and AA Medical firms as their blood bitch), bordering on insurrection against the Warden. He plays a fine game between the "innocent" prisoners who are forced to commit more crimes in their prison sentences and the true gangers who see this as an excuse to not get shanked by scarier folks like Guano or Weedwhacker. Weedwhacker has an unusually strong tolerance to substances and it will be hard to outdrink or overdose the motherfucker.

The Problem: Your Runners just hit an armored car loaded with Narcotics. Getting a pager from Ironsting you were told the KE is hiring backup for a dangerous mission. A twenty thousand nuyen payout for anyone who helps take out the drug farm. Unfortunately one of the KE under Ironsting has been plowing Mary or her party girls and have ratted out a raid is coming. Typical drug war...

Weedwhacker is seeing a golden opportunity to start a prison riot, make a bargain with KE and use the leverage to become the new warden of the plantation co-op project and promise to dispose of the hard drug, with all of the benefits of being boss. But as they say, keep your enemies close and your drug stash closer...

Except the drug plantations are fortified with Lone Star guards and even the prisoners have holdout guns and tasers designed to ice poachers who somehow sneak past security. Dispatch for reinforcements is only 15 mins away from becoming part of the prison block. Then you git the joys of a profit over prisoner mentality of the drug farm as well, the drug production facilities are extremely run down facilities where the lack of oversight means it goes through prisoners faster than BTL chips. One stray bullet or chemical in the mixing tank will result in a nice explosion.

Complications

-Some of the plantation owners out there are willing to work for or against the Lone Star running their plantation. They are using you as a distraction though, the ones who working against the Star will shoot everyone but the Knights on the ground but the ones loyal will most certainly call in help as soon as the Knights roll in to bust the place.

-Fertilizer stocks have been missing lately, did you know where it went? Wait, is that tank of fertilizer be next to the armory? And why is there beeping?

-Rabbits are hungry for the tobacco and ganja, and they are reacting oddly to it, WHY DOES IT HAVE FANGS THAT CHEW THROUGH STEEL!!!!

-Fire and an open field of drug laced smoke...do the math.

Aftermath

-If Ian wins the drug war, he is going to push the fact that he has an addiction and you hand over the drugs you got shot up for.

-Siding with Mary means you are now the Lone Star's bitch, she is hot. But she has a hot temper for those who refuse to sniff the coke off her ass.

-For some reason if both Ian and Mary are dead and Weedwhacker is left standing, he is going to turn this to his own warlord fiefdom and you have to prove your loyalty to him. And he has a long list of enemies in the city that needs a couple of lessons.

Coming soon: A Japanese Redneck Run, soy, beef, a return of the old Japanese diet system!

[Beta]

It's fine. I'm sure that in days to come the shaman will look upon his blood-stained hands and ask himself with tears choking his trembling voice what he has become.

You're leading up to that, right?

Well, you can lead a horse to water........

Perhaps ironically, in the next play session the shaman was trying to help a young mage with a new degree and a bad gambling debt figure out how to pay off the debt without becoming a wage slave, and without risking (much) being shot at. Did not seem to trigger a crisis of conscience, however.

[Tecumseh]

You allowed MP to use the shark shaman's armor jacket after the shark shaman had been engulfed in it? Ew.

[hermit]

I'll definitly use the Junkyard. I may even put the adventure in a writeup of New Jersey I'm working on right now. It just fits with a location I had developed anyway.

[Beta]

You allowed MP to use the shark shaman's armor jacket after the shark shaman had been engulfed in it? Ew.

I know, right?

There was some discussion/roleplay around that. The PC shaman was all for leaving it, but the thrifty Arnstruther's (spelling) naturally took it and cleaned it up--"You never know when we'll need something like that."

When MP wanted to accompany the assault party, part of the reason against was "you are too vulnerable, and I'm supposed to be protecting you." I had her volunteer to wear the jacket, as proof of her commitment (I did lower its armor by a point, however, due to damage done). Gross or not, it pretty much saved her life, as she was hit three times, soaked down to 0, 1, and 2 points of damage. With 11 less dice on each soak roll..... (and likewise, with one less gun/target, high odds that Orc Lady wouldn't have walked home and it may have been much closer for the PC).

I'm trying to develop her as an occasional reoccurring character, who understands the shadows, who screws up sometimes, who is willing to compromise sometimes, but who is fundamentally trying to do the right thing in a very screwed up world. Therefore, if someday she looks at the PC Shaman in disgust for what he has done, that will mean something. Or on a less dire note, in a situation where the player is torn between options I can bring her back in as a sounding board.

I figure that someone that you have protected and even mentored to a degree would have a lot more emotional impact in that regard than would most other characters. (in a previous adventure the PC had extracted her from a Yakuza run Puppet-house. Yak had kidnapped her and were threatening to put her under surgery and put her to work unless her father, the finance guy for the south Seattle sprawl Mafia, did what they said. When the Mafia-Yakuza war turned from cold to hot with the fire bombing of a Christmas midnight mass with much of the mafia elite in attendance, the first thing the finance guy did was hire the PC to get his family to safety).

[Kiryu]

Alright, time for a trip to the Japanese Countryside for a Rural Shadowrun

Background: Racial Tensions in Japan is perhaps one of the worst, making the slave trade era south looking as open as SanFran's liberal community, the prejudice does not just extend beyond metahumans but also race. And out in the sticks, it is even worse. Especially when you are from the island of Hokkaido.

The Parties

Go Honda is a Mitsuhama rice/soy farmer with connections to the royal family, owning an "organic" rice/soy plantation that uses the backs of Koreans, Ainu and other riff raff as laborers in his plantations, the organic rice and soy is often used as the basis of his famous "Edo Subbu Tabemono", a series of meat free products for hardline traditionalists to enjoy meat free diets like the Emperor likes it. Go is xenophobic and even finds city slickers from Tokyo as foreign as a paleface. Suprisingly enough, he isn't the oldest man in the family but because his older brother was a good for nothing modernizing twat. He had his brother disowned by his parents with the help of some Yak runners to make him brother look bad.

Yon Honda is a tech wiz, lacking the same prejudices as his brother with the love for the Nuyen, he has made a killing as a SPU and Food manufacturing producer, you know those addictive Japanese soychoco treats that comes from Japan is probably from his subsidiaries. After being relabeled as a Renranku product of course. Yon is a profiteering bastard who has even more of a grudge for his brother Go than Mitsuhama itself.

Guu Ushitama is a Troll Ainu rancher in Kobe, the place where all the delicious Kobe Beef is made readily available to the Japan (and the odd Gaijin provided they pay a huge markup for the delicous Kobe Beef). Despite his status as perhaps the proverbial black cat of Japan, he has made quite a killing as he has a lot friends in the Kawaru-gumi and a couple of elves and dwarves as diplomatic envoys. Plus he knows how to raise a hell out a Kobe cow so he was granted an exemption and has a lot of well trained Ork/Troll muscles who the Japanese imperial authorities have difficulty throwing out.

The Problem: Yon has been developing something big for the kitchens of the corporate crowd, a state of the art SPU that makes the taste between meat and non meat products have no difference whatsoever, considered a luxury choice for health conscious execs or traditonal Japanese who still follow the meat free diets. This product would drive out the Kobe Beef business domestically. Despite that Yon isn't selling to Mitsuhama or the local Japanese but decides to sell it as a niche health product overseas. He has already begin talks with Horizon, Evo and other "liberal" minded corps for the product. Despite this, Guu wants to send a middle finger to the Honda clan by taking the project data at a secluded research complex in the Japanese countryside since he knows if Go gets the data first it will mean doom for his business.

[b]The Proposition:[/b] For anyone with a Yak Runner, Go would pay you to go do a datasteal on Guu's plans to sabotage everyone If you have a full team of Japanese runners he is going to be a little more generous with his info and payout, if not expect way less info than what he gives you and even try to stab you in the back. And if you dont' have a Japanese runner, well tough luck. His opposition comes in the form of MCT and Yakuza security and comes in strapped, given how Japan has a law prohibiting all non security from carrying a gun...

Yon is asking you to stop both sides from stealing his data, unlike Guu or Go he is open to everyone. An average payout but decking against Yon's assets will be a headache to say the least. His complex is as well protected as Japan's IP defenses against foreigners from downloading the latest album from Teiko Ikekawa.

Guu Ushitama on the other hand wants the building to become rubble, Yon's new SPU is bad for his business and he is making a nice proposal over an all you can eat Wagyu dinner at a branch restaurant in Kobe. Plus he is willing to part with a lot of Wagyu beef. Of course, he also have a lot of Ork and Troll muscle ready to do a little picketing as well and they can swing a katana with the strength of a giant and the grace of an Dandy Eater.

The Facts: It's a three way struggle for the data and there are a lot problems from the get go for the runners.

Rural Japan is neither easily accessible nor friendly to gaijin and city wise Japanese, mountainous roads that doesn't yield well to Ares/Azzie off road cars means a chase may turn well fatal. Gun laws in Japan being so strict means you will have to smuggle your weapons in or bring pathetic holdouts to the fight. Plus the rural Japanese are xenophobic, a good deal of their towns have an order of adepts that defends their home with the zeal of a zealot. A native Japanese may even have a tough time communicating with the rural Japanese. There is also the issue of dealing with the hideout in the sticks, Yon's enemies are well aware of his plans to release the SPU to overseas and they are making sure it doesn't happen. Yon's scientists are dug in tight and are no slouches in the Matrix while Renraku HTR are ready to deal with the problem. Defending is also a bitch as well, a two way fight against MCT and Troll/Ork Yaks.

Complications

-The technology is archaics, like 20 years behind archaic. You know how the Japanese still use outdated website tools and fax machines today, now apply the same principles on a hectic run.

-Typical vulture like behavior once you do the meat of the run. A classic way to make a 2 way fight even worse.

-The local village you are stopping is a creepy cult, is the car outta gas? Well that is going end well.

Consequences

-Whomever loses will see the local businesses suffer from this setback, manpower losses, profit losses. Expect a shortage of goods coming in, and a surplus of retribution
-Getting back to the city is the hard, rural Japan is a pain to travel from and back.