Shadowrun Adventure in the world of Atlas Shrugged Options

[tweak]

I'm doing the ground work for writing an adventure that takes place in the Atlas Shrugged world, where government intervention threatens the creation of the megacorps. Is this an alternative setting anybody would be interested in playing in?

[CanRay]

*Sits down with popcorn and Q-Cola* Oh, this flame war is going to be fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun!

[Raiden]

heh, sounds combative, id give it a shot

[TheOOB]

*Sits down with popcorn and Q-Cola* Oh, this flame war is going to be fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun!

In the interests of avoid said flame war, I will avoid stating my(very strong) opinions on objectivism and Ayn Rand's work.

That said, the entire setting and basic concept around shadowrun is the exact opposite of that, governments are weak and corporations are all powerful. It's why characters can have big guns and powerful 'ware, and even why shadowrunners exist.

The problem is, strong governments almost always come along with strong law enforcement, and as a general rule, RPG setting work best with poor law enforcement. With strong law enforcement, other than directly opposing the government, there is little for PC's to do, there is no crime or anything to fight, and performing crime is too risky and difficult. Imagine a D&D setting where the kings men kept great order and cleaned out all the monsters from their territory, what would the players do?

[DuckEggBlue Omeg...]

ShadowRun: Atlas Shrugged

"Okay. The six-foot three capitalist rapes you. Roll Will - 2 to avoid falling in love with him."

[CanRay]

Imagine a D&D setting where the kings men kept great order and cleaned out all the monsters from their territory, what would the players do?

Other than starve?

[EKBT81]

Imagine a D&D setting where the kings men kept great order and cleaned out all the monsters from their territory, what would the players do?

Play those King's Men, maybe?

[Speed Wraith]

In the interests of avoid said flame war, I will avoid stating my(very strong) opinions on objectivism and Ayn Rand's work.

That said, the entire setting and basic concept around shadowrun is the exact opposite of that, governments are weak and corporations are all powerful. It's why characters can have big guns and powerful 'ware, and even why shadowrunners exist.

The problem is, strong governments almost always come along with strong law enforcement, and as a general rule, RPG setting work best with poor law enforcement. With strong law enforcement, other than directly opposing the government, there is little for PC's to do, there is no crime or anything to fight, and performing crime is too risky and difficult. Imagine a D&D setting where the kings men kept great order and cleaned out all the monsters from their territory, what would the players do?

I agree with the idea that Shadowrun principally works because the corps have the power. It gives them more leeway to allow shadow activities since the bottom line becomes the most important factor. However, I do not really agree with the idea that, "more government control leads to increased security". Primarily because more government means more bureaucracy and more bureaucracy means more places for things to fall between the cracks. Rogue departments, professional politicos carving out their own shadow kingdoms, and threat of military coup/civilian insurrection can all make for great campaign arcs.

Of course, this really doesn't work with the whole Randian thing. It becomes less about an ideological competition and more simply shifting the villains around instead.

Ranty last sentence deleted so we can avoid flamewars and focus on the game (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[tweak]

Let me throw out some more seeds. Let's suppose that the mega corps were formed in Colorado under the guise of John Galt. One shadowrun mission might just be extracting current corp heads and moving them. It starts to answer the disappearance question within the world of shadowrun.

[Raiden]

In the interests of avoid said flame war, I will avoid stating my(very strong) opinions on objectivism and Ayn Rand's work.

That said, the entire setting and basic concept around shadowrun is the exact opposite of that, governments are weak and corporations are all powerful. It's why characters can have big guns and powerful 'ware, and even why shadowrunners exist.

The problem is, strong governments almost always come along with strong law enforcement, and as a general rule, RPG setting work best with poor law enforcement. With strong law enforcement, other than directly opposing the government, there is little for PC's to do, there is no crime or anything to fight, and performing crime is too risky and difficult. Imagine a D&D setting where the kings men kept great order and cleaned out all the monsters from their territory, what would the players do?

well like you said, it may BE a lot more combat oriented then normal due to your fighting the goverment. your a black ops runner group working for the corps trying to destabilize the government. id be a little interested since at that point its almost like a rebel army. lol

[CanRay]

Working for the remnants of Corporations under the Regime of Big Brother of Nineteen-Eighty-Four?

[Wakshaani]

*Sits down with popcorn and Q-Cola* Oh, this flame war is going to be fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun!

Tsk. You know if you criticise the flame war, they'll just set it on fire rather than change their words.

...

Got room on this dining car for one more? Should be a fun traintrip!

[nezumi]

I'm curious who you imagine the runners work for. In a world like that, freelancers stand to get stomped. But I could totally see them working for the corps, having access to special research tech the government doesn't have yet, a huge budget, and running to sabotage government projects.

[tweak]

I'm curious who you imagine the runners work for. In a world like that, freelancers stand to get stomped. But I could totally see them working for the corps, having access to special research tech the government doesn't have yet, a huge budget, and running to sabotage government projects.

The runners would start out working for John Galt who would be their mr Johnson. Now, if we make a leap that the mega corps are being built in Colorado, then we can assume that the runners will be getting the talent out of the rest of the country. Now with high unemployment nationwide near what Spain has today, there will be plenty of ops to run.

As for the currency, the nationwide currency would have to fail.

Of course, now I'm thinking where the dragons would be.

[CanRay]

Sitting on their piles of gold waiting for the stupid Metahumans to kill themselves off over worthless pieces of paper and data.

[TheOOB]

I agree with the idea that Shadowrun principally works because the corps have the power. It gives them more leeway to allow shadow activities since the bottom line becomes the most important factor. However, I do not really agree with the idea that, "more government control leads to increased security". Primarily because more government means more bureaucracy and more bureaucracy means more places for things to fall between the cracks. Rogue departments, professional politicos carving out their own shadow kingdoms, and threat of military coup/civilian insurrection can all make for great campaign arcs.

Of course, this really doesn't work with the whole Randian thing. It becomes less about an ideological competition and more simply shifting the villains around instead.

Ranty last sentence deleted so we can avoid flamewars and focus on the game (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

Yes, but it could be argued that increased bureaucracy helps corporations. With all those rules and red tape, your average person may have no hope of getting what they need or want done, but a group with lawyers and bureaucrats of their own could become quite powerful by using the system agienst itself. Corps are able to take advantage of the bureaucracy, without being bound to it, which is kinda what made the SR world what it is in the first place.

[almost normal]

I'm doing the ground work for writing an adventure that takes place in the Atlas Shrugged world, where government intervention threatens the creation of the megacorps. Is this an alternative setting anybody would be interested in playing in?

Works that display a presupposition of atheism tend to be pretty static and sad. Horror I can understand and enjoy from time to time, but the drivel that takes place in Rand's work leave little room for enjoyment.

[Bearclaw]

I'm curious who you imagine the runners work for. In a world like that, freelancers stand to get stomped. But I could totally see them working for the corps, having access to special research tech the government doesn't have yet, a huge budget, and running to sabotage government projects.

The runners would definitely work for the corps.
In a Randyian setting, the corps would be the good guys, trying to get out from under the heal of the oppressive government and make an honest buck, without having to carry all the poor people on their backs. Lots of smuggling and getting dirt on corrupt government functionaries. For extra fun, they can do runs like burning down rent controlled apartment buildings so their bosses can rebuild condos.
Being the bad guys can be fun for a while (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Bigity]

Anytime I think of Atlas Shrugged, I think of the South Park episode where the cop learns to read and someone gives him that book, and at the end:

***damn reading is lame!

[Dr.Rockso]

I think the nature of the game would have the runners in a Ragnar Danneskjold(think i spelled that right) type of role, as well. Adds a whole lot more Shadowrun type runs to the equation(theft, arson, etc)

...

Actually, that kind of fits with Cyberpirates....

[tweak]

It's pretty much a dystopia, where government socialism has run wild.

I'm pretty sure that I'm going to do the adventures pre-2050. The runners will deal with the creation of the mega-corps, and the characters will be able to tweak history. The first adventure will be roughly based off of the first part of Atlas Shrugged. I want the characters to answer the question as to what happened to Wyatt. In this story, I'm pretty sure the Mr. Johnson will be the guy that ran the Durango line in response to the dog-eat-dog passing. While he says in the book that he doesn't plan to fight it, I like the idea of him turning to the shadows for help. What better way to take down the Galt line then by sending runners after Wyatt.

At this point in time, I'm playing around with the idea that John Galt could potentially be a dragon. I might even name the last adventure: Never Deal with John Galt.

What do you guys think? This three part adventure will definitely be pre-2050.

[tweak]

Here's my first draft of the Mission Synopsis. Does this sound interesting to you guys?

I'll be posting scene by scene as I finish them. This first part should have four scenes. I'm re-reading the first part of Atlas Shrugged again to make sure I don't miss any opportunities to merge it into the pre-2050 Shadowrun world.

Wyatt’s Torch

Mission Synopsis
--------------------------

Don Conway sat in awe when his colleagues decided that his rail should no longer serve Colorado.  They killed off his rail by passing a “law” that prohibited competition between two rail lines.  The oldest rail serving a location would remain.  The “law” didn’t care that his line out performed his competitor’s line, nor did it care that the older line couldn’t handle the volume of good being transported out of Colorado, namely oil.

He had spent the last few years building up the rail to handle the oil transportation for Ellis Wyatt, and his rail far exceeded the ability of his competitor, Taggart Transcontinental.  

He returned back to his office at a lost for words.  His motivation drained, and his enthusiasm to find other places to build rails squashed.  Some places existed where no rail lines went, but building a rail out to the middle of nowhere neither paid for the rail nor made good business sense.
Defeated, he attempted to relax in his office, but he Dagney Taggart had words for him.  He knew before she even stepped foot in his office that she wanted a good fight, but he had little reason to hear her rant about how they would never have a chance to throw punches.  He also knew that a strong fire burnt within her, and she would bring her current line that served Colorado up to new heights in the next nine months.  He he no way to stop her now.  

Don had nothing to say to her of any consequence.  He had been defeated by a commission that he had hoped would help protect his business interests.  Instead, it destroyed his drive.

After she left, Don did what he always did when he faced defeat.  He pulled out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and closed his door.  Sure, his kids had told him that he should give up the habit, but nothing eased his nerves better than holding fire between his fingers.  The cigarette renewed his sense of power, acknowledging the fact that he could control fire if for only a brief moment.

As he finished his cigarette, his secretary entered his office. He didn't like calling her an admin. It sounded so demeaning.  

She held in her hands a bouquet of flowers that she set on his desk.  They were probably from his wife.  She liked to embarrass him by sending him flowers, which also reminded him what a poor husband he was for not returning the effort.  She wanted to make him feel guilty.  But he had better things to do--like find a way to make the Taggart Transcontinental line fail.

Even though he knew he couldn’t face Dagney in a fight, he could leave his rail, knowing that he had shut her down.

Before his secretary left his office, he asked her to find him a number for an old friend.  The guy worked at the newsstand pretty much right inside of Taggart Transcontinental, and his friend knew everything going on about the company.  His friend also knew some shadowy figures that might be able to help him out.
Instead of going to war against Taggart or the commission that would put one of his rails out of business in nine months.  He wanted to send a message to Wyatt that their business was over.  He wanted to see Wyatt’s oil burn for the world to see.

Nine months later, under the guise of Mr. Johnson, Wyatt informs the Runners that he wants them to burn Wyatt’s oil fields.  He wants them to destroy the oil fields that keep the lines running between Colorado and the rest of the United States.

Once the Runners reach Colorado, they need to find a way to access the oil fields and light them up.  This won’t be easy.  Several Ork gangs patrol the oil fields and keep them running for Wyatt.

The Runners also have another problem.  Several prominent businessmen have gone missing over the last couple of months.  This makes running in the Shadows especially dangerous since some of the Runner’s contacts have disappeared.  Word on the Street is that a mysterious figure named John Galt is behind the disappearances.  But who the hell is that guy anyway?

[kzt]

Setting fire to the storage and pumps doesn't destroy the oilfield, it just takes time and money to fix. It certainly isn't that hard to do on a small scale, burning the hundreds of wells, pipelines and storage facilities that make up an oilfield without many people with guns showing up to interrupt is a lot harder.

I'm told there are ways to seriously hose an oilfield, though they would require a lot more technical skill, time and ability to manipulate the actions of the people running the field, though being able to hack the SCADA would certainly help.

[Speed Wraith]

The runners would definitely work for the corps.
In a Randyian setting, the corps would be the good guys, trying to get out from under the heal of the oppressive government and make an honest buck, without having to carry all the poor people on their backs. Lots of smuggling and getting dirt on corrupt government functionaries. For extra fun, they can do runs like burning down rent controlled apartment buildings so their bosses can rebuild condos.
Being the bad guys can be fun for a while (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Assuming they're the Rand-runners, they wouldn't be the bad guys at all. In this world that rent controlled building was filled with paid voter proxies, a la Dark Conspiracy. People who are basically paid, likely for the purposes of this world through some sort of welfare program, to keep certain people in charge while giving a semblance of democracy. They're not destroying homes, they're liberating people. So totally not bad guys, *poor imitation of Alec Guiness* from a certain point of view.

[CanRay]

Now I'm reminded of The Republic of Haven from the Honorverse.