If you were going to take down a megacorp..., Need help! Options

[FuelDrop]

One of our players is under the delusion that he can solo a AAA megacorp (Renraku, specifically) in a few months/years ingame. Obviously, this is so absurd that none of the other players think that he'll make a noticeable impact on the local branch's quarterly expenses, much less bring them down.

However, he's recently been considering the idea of a bioweapon attack on them. He doesn't seem to understand that this will get us killed. and all our contacts. and anyone who knew our contacts. Ect. So what I need is some plausible-seeming strategy that we can funnel him towards instead that will A) take his time and effort without drawing unwanted attention, B) Take a long time to set up, and C) have some minor flaw that we can point out at the last minute to convince him that it won't work, thus forcing him to start from scratch. Dumping the character is not an option for various reasons, so we need to channel his efforts into something harmless. any ideas?

[Tanegar]

Let him try. Let him get the entire group, and their contacts, and their contacts' families, killed. Then, when he asks, "How could this have happened," you take him by the hand, and gently explain that it happened because he is an idiot with no real grasp of the setting. Hopefully, after that, he will be better-behaved.

[SpellBinder]

Too bad it wasn't S-K he was after. Wonder how he'd react to a little one-on-one time with the Hans Brackhaus. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smokin.gif)

Otherwise this sounds a little like an Elevator Ride To Hell.

[DeathStrobe]

He joins them. Works his way up middle management slowly accumulating power. Playing the upper management political game. Until in a violent take over he ousts the CEO and becomes head of the mega corp and proceeds to make as many bad management decisions as possible to bankrupt the company.

Or he could always just kill the CEO. It wouldn't be easy, but would at least be more doable then stopping an entire faceless mega corp. But what'd be even easier then that, without having to change cities, would be to kill the head of whatever the local branch is. Also, he should probably frame someone else. Nothing like a good ol' scapegoat to keep the heat off him.

Or he could disrupt their supply chains on a small scale. Steal a shipment of sprockets and give it to the local orphanage, or just destroy it. Extraction runs and kidnap a lot of head researchers and sell them off to other corps. Pretty much normal shadowrun stuff...just a bit more well targeted at one corp. That'd probably be your best bet. Slowly they'd lose so much money they'd have to close shop in that city.

[FuelDrop]

He joins them. Works his way up middle management slowly accumulating power. Playing the upper management political game. Until in a violent take over he ousts the CEO and becomes head of the mega corp and proceeds to make as many bad management decisions as possible to bankrupt the company.

It's Renraku. he's an elf. There are no non-humans in Renraku that hold positions higher than junior executive. (Corporate guide, page 139). otherwise it'd be a sound plan.

[RHat]

Let his contacts catch wind of the plan. Then apply the following qualities:

- Bad Rep
- Hung Out to Dry
- Wanted (possibly)

This should get across the idea of how stupid an idea this is. Or just talk to him out of game and explain that no, he CANNOT take down Renraku - they can very, very easily just send someone far more competent than him to take him down. And that the team has absolutely no reason to keep him alive, much less around, if he's going to be that sort of liability.

[Dakka Fiend]

How about you all grab archetype characters and join in as best as you can. You'll still fail, but you'll be free to fail spectacularly. It's a chance for one night of goofy pink-mohawk totally-over-the-top fun. And afterwards your real characters can always joke about those drekheads who tried to go up against Renraku.

[DeathStrobe]

It's Renraku. he's an elf. There are no non-humans in Renraku that hold positions higher than junior executive. (Corporate guide, page 139). otherwise it'd be a sound plan.

Sounds like he needs to invest in some cosmetic cyberware to get the human looking quality then.

[Wakshaani]

Well, Renraku isn't the biggest of the Megas. It was ... 6th, I think? In the last Corp Guide. (Mind you, Shiawase fell from 3rd to 8th in that book, so, it might not be exactly on-target) ... at any rate, let's say it's somewhere in th 5-7 level. Comparing it to modern nations, it's teh same as fighting France (#5), Brazil (#6) or the United Kingdom (#7) ... does he feel that his plan would destroy any of those nations? If not, then they won't work on a Mega.

[Manunancy]

What kind of bioweapon is he considering ? About the only thing that could kill enough peoples to significantly harm the Mega would be a nasty genemod disease. Mere toxins simply don't have enough reach to hit more than one site at a time. Unfortunately, there's no Renraku gene - which means anything nasty enough to damage Renraku would damage everyone else. There's a reason why bioweapons are frowned upon : they're horribly indiscriminate and have a knack for flying straight back into the user's face along with massive colleteral damage.

Even disease talored to aime for pure-strain human tailored bug would be major bad news as humans are still the majority. And since most metahuman tend to be 'human genome with some extras', whatever he might cook up is lkely to end up hitting metahumans too.

It also brings the question of what kind of bee got under his bonnet toward Renraku. Is it personnal 'Renraku screwed ME, I'll destroy them', some outrage at how they handle methaumans (gues what, most Japancorps play with the same book - why would he single out Renraku ?) or something else ?

I'd say work from that and see if there's another way to alleviate whatever got him into that sort of mindset.

If all else fail and simly kicking the character out is out of the question, locate someone with acess to brainwriting hardware (don't remember the in-game terminlogy) and edit that obsession out, or at least bring it to osmething more reasonable..

[Ixal]

Ask him what his actual goal is. "Destroying a Megacorp" is kinda nebulous.
Sure, he can kill the board of directors but that doesn't destroy it. It hurts their stocks, yes but new directors will get elected and things will continue.

[FuelDrop]

What kind of bioweapon is he considering ? About the only thing that could kill enough peoples to significantly harm the Mega would be a nasty genemod disease. Mere toxins simply don't have enough reach to hit more than one site at a time. Unfortunately, there's no Renraku gene - which means anything nasty enough to damage Renraku would damage everyone else. There's a reason why bioweapons are frowned upon : they're horribly indiscriminate and have a knack for flying straight back into the user's face along with massive colleteral damage.

Even disease talored to aime for pure-strain human tailored bug would be major bad news as humans are still the majority. And since most metahuman tend to be 'human genome with some extras', whatever he might cook up is lkely to end up hitting metahumans too.

It also brings the question of whyt kind of be got under his bonnet toward Renraku. Is it personnal 'Renraku screwed ME, I'll destroy them', some outrage at how they handle methaumans (gues what, most Japancorps play with the same book - why would he single out Renraku ?) or something else ?

I'd say work from that and see if there's another way to alleviate whatever got him into that sort of mindset.

If all else fail and simly kicking the character out is out of the question, locate someone with acess to brainwriting hardware (don't remember the in-game terminlogy) and edit that obsession out, or at least bring it to osmething more reasonable..

He's considering a genecrafted virus... which I believe he thinks is a 'zombie virus' but which if he'd been paying attention is closer to a vampire virus. yeah, if there was any chance that the virus was actually still viable (His idea for storing his sample was to pack the vials in foam. no refrigeration, then a week of travel. yeah, let's see a logic 3 phys-adept try and replicate the virus from that with no aid from the group biologist!

As for target discrimination... I'm not certain he's familiar with the term. Honestly, if he had a chance to succeed then I'd give Lone Star an anonymous tip off... but for this scheme he doesn't.

His thing with Renraku is a classic: Lost loved one negative quality. Of course, while technically the fight he should be picking is with the Seattle branch of the red samurai he decided to expand his hatred to all of Renraku.

I just can't wait to remind him that his girlfriend is in the building he's trying to biobomb... I think I'll wait until he's just about ready to deploy whatever he cooks up.

[Manunancy]

As for target discrimination... I'm not certain he's familiar with the term. Honestly, if he had a chance to succeed then I'd give Lone Star an anonymous tip off... but for this scheme he doesn't.

Target discrimination is hitting what you want and not hitting what you don't want or are notsupposed to hit. Snipng is discirminate (well, if you take the time to identfy what you're shooting a), drive by shooting isn't. Laser-guided bomb opposed to WWII-syle carpet bombing. Which what he's going after is definitively not as there's zero way for a virus to tell 'oh that person isn't from Renraku, let's look for someone else.'. Once that particular car is out of the bag, it'll claw anything that comes close then run out for more scratchposts...

Also with an average logic, no biology or genecrafting skill and no lab, there's a very high chance that 'patient zero' (the first person to get infected and who will transmit the disease around) will be himself. He doesn't even have a snowball's chance in hell to make a sucessful genemod, even less to get a working biowarfare virus. At best he may cutlure and spread around an existing disease. Once again with a very good chance to infect himself if he's using something contagious.

I have a dim memory of some IRL terrorists trying to make an athrax bomb and managing to infect themselves way before getting anywher close to building their weapon. (note : checked, it seems to be bogus But possible, like a meth cooker blowing himself up with his lab...)

[thorya]

I would suggest that instead he assemble a large pile of data. Blackmail material for 50 or so high ranking executives should work. Then he should collect the security info on lots of their facilities, specifically anywhere that has valuable paydata and the weak points of the system. Further assemble a large group of investors and friends with enough liquid capital to buy out the a big portion of the company at discount prices.

With the blackmail material he can gather more information and force bad decisions and get back doors put into their system. Then he leverages this blackmail to start a downward spiral of PR nightmares. Once he's got enough info and they're really compromised he leaks the info on the matrix of all the security sites, their matrix weak points, where their paydata and valuable assests. It should create a shadowrunner/mega corp feeding frenzy that will seriously devalue their stock and take out a large portion of their ability to respond and seriously damage the company. Once they've taken a big hit, use your investors to buy out a large portion of the company and set up matrix preventions to prevent anyone else from getting in on the purchasing. Reinvent the company as something else, have the people you don't like in the company summarily executed. Profit.

That's a plan that will take several years to put into motion and is not necessarily suicidal like a full frontal assault.

[Draco18s]

The "zombie virus" already exists, it's called HMHVV (Ghoul).

[Novocrane]

He needs a way to encourage the Corporate Court to call open season on Renraku. Anything direct is a waste of time.

http://shadowrun.wikia.com/wiki/Corporate_Court

With serious enough blackmail on the majority of the thirteen board members, he might be able to do this. Problem? The board members change every six months, meetings are held on Zurich Orbital, and I could see the founding seven megas killing their representative before allowing them to be compromised - they get to choose who is put up for election in those seats.

[bannockburn]

If his shenanigans threaten the group, get him a good psychiatrist. Or feed him to Tamanous and sell his implants. Maybe both, if the psychiatrist can't help. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)
Personal grudges of this size can and will pull down everything around him.

[ShadowDragon8685]

The only ways to take down Renraku are as follows.

1: Find evidence of their/frame them for doing something so blatant and uncorporate that the CC issues an Omega Order on them and let the blood flow.
2: Found your own corp, claw your way up to AA status, then aim to take Renraku's seat on the CC.

It would probably be much simpler to tell him that his missing girlfriend is alive and can probably be rescued.

[Teulisch]

easier to give a face to blame, a few executives and middle managers he can pin the blame on directly. assuming he ever tries to do any legwork at all.

seriously, this sort of thing reminds me of 'the stars my destination' by Alfred Bester. the main character starts out with a very basic goal of revenge, but as it is thwarted he turns his vengeance upon individuals rather than against a faceless symbol.

aside from that.... even if he does dedicate his time to acts of terrorism (and he will need to use asymetric warfare here), it will never be enough to really hurt any AAA. long-run, his best bet is to whittle them down enough that another AAA can feed on whats left.

[Wakshaani]

Yeah, the team should probably look at buying some BTLs with some kind of 'Love Renraku' effect and slip it into his morning newspaper download. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Faelan]

To have any chance of success he must do as a very minimum the following:

1) Have personal direct access to magic. Without it they will find you with too much ease.
2) Tell no one, if you expect to succeed.
3) Uncover information or frame them for stuff that won't garner any sympathy from their corporate competitors.
4) Stepford wife their middle management, but never use them until the endgame. Never go after the big fish.
5) Do jobs for Renraku, and do them the right way. Don't screw them, and make sure you don't take a job where they will screw you. Turn jobs donw from time to time.
6) Make friends at Renraku.
7) Make money, lots of it, you will need it.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif) After years of turning middle management into your future hardwired personal slaves and making tons of money while being good little Shadowrunners, pull the trigger and watch it crumble if you did everything right.

The big problem is keeping your mouth shut and avoiding suspicion. Things he is already failing to do. Start even looking at bio warfare as an option and Renraku will be the least of his troubles. He will be happy if Renraku gets to him first, at least that way he will get his blood all over their hands.

[Manunancy]

I would suggest that instead he assemble a large pile of data. Blackmail material for 50 or so high ranking executives should work. Then he should collect the security info on lots of their facilities, specifically anywhere that has valuable paydata and the weak points of the system. Further assemble a large group of investors and friends with enough liquid capital to buy out the a big portion of the company at discount prices.

With the blackmail material he can gather more information and force bad decisions and get back doors put into their system. Then he leverages this blackmail to start a downward spiral of PR nightmares. Once he's got enough info and they're really compromised he leaks the info on the matrix of all the security sites, their matrix weak points, where their paydata and valuable assests. It should create a shadowrunner/mega corp feeding frenzy that will seriously devalue their stock and take out a large portion of their ability to respond and seriously damage the company. Once they've taken a big hit, use your investors to buy out a large portion of the company and set up matrix preventions to prevent anyone else from getting in on the purchasing. Reinvent the company as something else, have the people you don't like in the company summarily executed. Profit.

That's a plan that will take several years to put into motion and is not necessarily suicidal like a full frontal assault.

Considering that it's precisely the sort of shenanigans the megacorps try to pull over each others, I don't think his odds for sucess are very good. As soon as he gets reasonably identified as a nuisance of significant magnitude, he'll probably get wiped out. Art Dankwalther style if necessary.

[toturi]

It really depends on several factors. First of all, it would largely depend on his skillset and how skillful he is. World class business skills (Social skills, Knowledge skills, etc) would enable him to map out his campaign with higher probabilities of success. Second, he would need to amass the resources and contacts to execute his plan.

[Umidori]

Really, short of spending the next 30 in-game years obsessively building up enough power and influence to feasibly make a dent in Renraku's immense strength, the only viable option is making an insane grab for overwhelming disruptive power in a terrorist act.

Things like finding some way to hijack a Thor just long enough to wipe Renraku's main headquarters off the face of the earth, or even better if you can manage it, a rival company's headquarters and make it look like Renraku was responsible. Bioweapons might be viable, but it'd probably be simpler to go nuclear. Basically the idea would be to cause as much damage and sow as much confusion as possible, all in one fell swoop, because any protracted engagement is going to end badly for you.

Of course, there's always magical terrorism too. Throw your lot in with Twisted Mages and you can get some nasty results. If you're willing to go far enough, you could even sell your soul to a Horror or the like, enticing it to come and have a little Doomsday Party in Renraku HQ.

~Umi

[All4BigGuns]

One of our players is under the delusion that he can solo a AAA megacorp (Renraku, specifically) in a few months/years ingame. Obviously, this is so absurd that none of the other players think that he'll make a noticeable impact on the local branch's quarterly expenses, much less bring them down.

However, he's recently been considering the idea of a bioweapon attack on them. He doesn't seem to understand that this will get us killed. and all our contacts. and anyone who knew our contacts. Ect. So what I need is some plausible-seeming strategy that we can funnel him towards instead that will A) take his time and effort without drawing unwanted attention, B) Take a long time to set up, and C) have some minor flaw that we can point out at the last minute to convince him that it won't work, thus forcing him to start from scratch. Dumping the character is not an option for various reasons, so we need to channel his efforts into something harmless. any ideas?

Step 1: Set up and attend a meeting with a Renraku VP.
Step 2: Sell the offending character up the river to the corp for a modest sum (it's more than you have now).
Step 3: Grab popcorn and watch as the corp destroys him, his family and his contacts (leaving those things for the rest of the party intact).