Rocker Runs, Spoiler Alert: GMs Only! Options

[Koekepan]

Background:

Music and religion are intertwined in metahuman consciousness, and have been since time immemorial. Even the most secular of musicians has at some point to contend with a wild-eyed preacher ranting about satanism, hedonism and the downfall of modern society, but there are also musicians who roll a spiritual consciousness into their works.

The Parties:

Pride is an open shamanic hard rock group. They are devoted to the totem of Lion, and they look like it. They consist of Karl, their front man, and Judy, Kath, Sarah and Molly, the musicians. They are all at least somewhat magically active as Shamanic Way adepts. Karl in particular is quite a powerful adept, and an incredibly potent brawler. Molly is a shamaness of Lion, while Judy, Kath and Sarah are all adepts as well. They like their way of life, even if it isn't for everybody. And they don't plan to change it, either. And yes, they are a magical circle.

Beverly le Clerc is a music industry executive, and she's responsible to her bosses in Nuvenu Entertainment for making sure the good times roll, along with the cash, with a minimum of fuss and a maximum of good vibes.

Humanis is a public benefit association of high moral standing and unimpeachable ideological purity, that would really appreciate it if Pride would stop corrupting their children.

The Problem:

Pride is going on tour! Unfortunately, this means that Pride needs security.

Now, normally in your typical dive bar, Karl is all the security they need. He's a wrecking crew all by himself, but most of the time he has so much presence and charisma that he doesn't have to lift a finger.

In larger venues such as a concert stage, a few troll and ork bouncers keep the peace fairly effectively. The occasional punchy drunk, or Humanis loudmouth gets shown the door, or the pavement, as roughly as necessary but not more roughly than that.

On a major, financed tour this is no longer true. It's time for serious, professional help.

The Proposition:

"Discretion. That's what we need here. On tour, we're selling a good time, and open gunfights are not a good time for the audience. We need professionals who can find the problems before they start, neutralise them before we arrive, and keep the under wraps until after we have left. We will have regular security - bouncers, Lone Star or Knight Errant as well for crowd control and traffic management - but we know that some bad people are gunning for us, and we can not accept that risk. We need it fixed, or the show won't go on."

The Facts:

Humanis badly want a win. They'll accept driving Pride off, they'll accept disrupted or interrupted concerts, they'll accept kills. In this cause they will try to use toxins, firearms, explosive, incendiaries, and just plain old vandalism. The runners will have to be on the ball in a very big way to make this all go smoothly.

Humanis is also coordinated enough to try to attack on the long road. This is where subtlety will matter the least, but where Humanis can also bring the biggest guns.

Some Complications:

Maybe someone in the local Lone Star office is feeding intelligence to Humanis.
Maybe Humanis finds a sympathetic journalist to put a negative spin on Pride, and drive local outrage in the form of picketers.
Maybe someone in Humanis gets slick, and diguises an armed drone as a trid drone to get close.
Maybe Humanis wants to just use a sniper or two to attack the crowd, rather than the band themselves, so as to sow panic.
Karl is a male adept devoted to Lion as his totem. He has an ego. A big, big ego. Someone will be working overtime managing him.

Aftermath Ideas:

Humanis hates you. You, specifically.
All this cooperation with local enforcement services has raised your profile. Hope that didn't matter!
If you managed the situation well, you get a reputation in the music biz. And that is a very good racket - but also a very dangerous one.

[Blade]

Reminds me of a short campaign I once GMed.
It all started with a one-shot game where there had been a sudden punk revival in Seattle, as in the good old 2050s. But it was about to get taken over by corporation, turned into the usual corp soup, packaged and sold for two weeks before moving on to the next big thing.
The PC were hired by a weird naked indian to keep the spirit of punk alive.

During one crazy session, they managed to form an awesome punk band and organize a memorable wild and illegal concert in Downtown, hijacking the official Ares Entertainment Pop-punk show.

Then the players decided to become the "managers" of the band and to keep on playing their adventure. Things like finding the immortal human Iggy Pop, busting a new band member out of Folsom prison and something involving a WW2 submarine painted yellow, horny cockatrixes and the board of Aztechnology. Plan was to have the last session be about killing off the band in the most awesome way possible but we never played it.

[Koekepan]

Background:

It should be no news to anyone that musicians are often sex symbols, and it should also come as no surprise that this fact relates directly to their marketability. This trend has always produced risks and rewards, and the Sixth World is no exception.

The Parties:

Aelfric Starlord is an elven singer of unusual talent and other aspects. Tall (even for an elf), muscular (even for a human), with chiseled features and hazel eyes that are by turn warm and cold, inviting and distant, confiding and cruel. His voice is as clear as a turtledove's coo and as wild as an eagle's cry. He also has that indefinable quality that makes pubescent girls hyperventilate. Does anyone understand that? Doesn't matter. He has it.

Jacko Endin is a producer and promoter who has the blessing of working with Aelfric. He succeeds when Aelfric succeeds, and vice versa. Jacko is a regular old human, but has a great ear for what works, which is also why he could produce and promote Aelfric's voice.

Megan Jones is Aelfric's biggest fan. Sure, she's also a postgraduate student at UW, but that's unimportant. She's his biggest fan. His most devoted fan. All the others are fakers, fairweather fans, late arrivals. She's the best fan he has. The only one he needs, now and forever.

The Problem:

No problem here. Megan had a problem a while back, after obsessively playing sims based on various actresses crawling all over Aelfric while his music played - it shouldn't be too surprising that she suffered pseudocyesis (a false pregnancy). But that's cured now! She managed to determine that the problem was that she needed his biological material, so she started to study like a woman possessed. Then, as she climbed the ranks of academia, she also attended every single concert of his that she could, and would sneak into venues afterwards to try to collect his genetic material. Then get cells to be pluripotent. Then culture his sperm in her laboratory. Then ... yup. Now she doesn't have pseudocyesis. She has already given birth to his healthy son! And she wants him to pay for paternity.

The Proposition:

"Look, let me lay one thing out there right now: I've known a lot of women that Aelfric got close to, and I don't recognise this one. Now, I'm not saying that he didn't do her at one time, but I really don't think so. Know why? Because Aelfric has sponsors in Tir Tairngire, and he doesn't want to make them upset with his elven image. You don't have to like it, but it's politics, and we need to make this thing go away. I don't care too much how, as long as we never have to hear of it again."

The Facts:

First off, Megan is crazy. She is a complete monomaniac, who has built this vision of existence in her head, and will defend it with pitiless, lethal violence. Nothing in her life is more important, nothing in her life is more interesting, nothing in her life is more motivating. Yes, she goes armed, she expects assassins, she is fanatical about protecting her child, and she has (primitively, but effectively) added bulletproofing to her apartment, she wears bulletproof clothing everywhere, and she has installed a positive cloud of old but functional monitoring tools around her. Her PAN includes three commlinks that constantly monitor each other as well as everything around her looking for everything from snipers to suspicious vapours drifting from vents. She has studied Krav Maga, she has done serious range time - she is a crazy paranoid freak on a level most people don't even comprehend. She also has a ditch bag, off-the-books motorcycle and sidecar hidden in a storage unit, and a cabin high in the cascades along with contingency plans for a cross-country trip. You can fit a lot of fuel in a motorcycle's sidecar in jerrycans.

The child is elven, as it turns out (Megan made sure of that), male, and currently 6 months old.

Some Complications:

Maybe Megan promised a bunch of other obsessed women access to her Aelfric sperm bank. So maybe she's the queen of her own Aelfric worship cult.
Maybe Megan has a little Aelfric-napping on her menu, as a way of improving her bargaining position. Maybe she paid some really big, ugly runners to do it for her.

Aftermath Ideas:

Maybe paternity laws change, to reflect this sort of thing.
Maybe Megan is persuaded to withdraw her suit, but now this woman wants to put her biological genius to work hounding the runners to get some payback.

[Tanegar]

Humanis is a public benefit association of high moral standing and unimpeachable ideological purity, that would really appreciate it if Pride would stop corrupting their children.

Say what, now? It's always been my read that Humanis is the KKK of the Sixth World: openly human-supremacist and mundane-supremacist, proud of it, and pariahs virtually everywhere because of it.

[hermit]

Irony, you didn't spot it. Also, they're really more like the Tea Party (scum, but too many to ignore). The Klanners would be Alamos 20K. They're the direct-action, burning cross, napalm bomb metahuman enclaves crowd. Ties to the Militia movement ect.

[Koekepan]

Say what, now? It's always been my read that Humanis is the KKK of the Sixth World: openly human-supremacist and mundane-supremacist, proud of it, and pariahs virtually everywhere because of it.

I guess that all depends on your point of view. Humanis members see themselves as the misunderstood good guys. I mean, wouldn't you want to save humanity from all the horrors and hazards of the sixth world? Wouldn't you want to keep your children free of the corruption and degradation you can see all around you? Do you want to see your daughter taken as a slave by a roaming band of orks? Or, even worse, willingly marrying them?

Didn't think so, brother. Didn't think so. It's OK, no need to get upset. We're here to help.

[Koekepan]

Background:

So you got your group. Great. You got a garage space to practice. Fine. You have your gear, you got some gigs, you pleased the fans, everything's working well. Even if you think that albums are a relic of times gone by, you need to do some recording if only for the swag value of songchips.

You need a studio.

The Parties:

Acid Rain Tears are a Vandal group. Musicologically, they're a continuation of Goth, with a powerful lyrical connection to Sixth World manifestations. For the unsophisticated, they're gloomy people whose stage makeup makes it look as if they're refugees from some wartorn area. Their music is very danceable, if you're fond of downers.

The Nanoweasels are a pop group with a slightly punkish edge. They are upbeat, high energy, and sing sad songs about how nobody will let them put their genitalia where they want. It's a genre with eternal appeal, after all. Their stage presence is very flashy, very high tech, very aggressive, and their music is very danceable if you are into uppers.

Mark Sweeney is an old human who spent more time on the road or in garages than these kids have spent out of diapers. He has a studio these days - a good one, with professional level gear and all the fixings. He also has huge skills in mixing, mastering and everything up to and including putting the stuff on the market. Honestly, he does OK.

Eric Molenaar is a doctor who has done very well for himself healing the ills of the rich, the shady, and those both rich and shady. Like many gentlemen of means, he fancies himself a patron of the arts, and he provides some backing to both the Nanoweasels and Acid Rain Tears.

The Problem:

Eric can front a band's studio time with Mark Sweeney! This is great .... oh wait. Mark's studio time and expertise cost money, so it is just one band for now. This means one band will be sitting elsewhere for a while, and not too happy.

The Proposition:

Only two people here really have the money to hire runners - even a junior running team. Mark and Eric. Mark's main concern would probably be some sort of reprisal from a band that feels sidelined, even though it's not up to him. Eric's interest is likely to be a lot more sophisticated, and it would make a good side run while doing legwork for something else. Eric would want to know which of the two bands would be more financially viable in recording, rather than just raw live audience numbers - and that takes research.

Eric has the additional bonus of being able to offer medical services in lieu of cash. Always valuable in the shadows.

The Facts:

A simple security gig is easy. Neither of the bands really packs a lot of muscle, neither of the bands offers a big threat. The most that is likely to happen is that the nanoweasels rile up some gangers to try to engage in some low-level mayhem in or around Mark's studio, but honestly even that is no challenge for any serious runners. A minor nuisance at most.

Market research is a lot tougher, and is probably better done by a smart face and hacker combined. The nanoweasels have a big stage show, and they can keep a party going until the sun rises, but to be frank a lot of their fans would also bop along to whatever other dance comes along. Their sale potential is great if they somehow get a massive hit - but there's no guarantee of that. Acid Rain Tears serve a more specialised audience, and their gigs aren't as well attended as those of the nanoweasels, but smart hacking should reveal that there's a groundswell of fans moving to the vandal banner, and a lot of people would pay actual money for their stuff.

Some Complications:

Maybe the Nanoweasels and Acid Rain Tears meet in a parking lot somewhere. Maybe it turns ugly. Maybe someone needs a trauma patch.

Maybe the Nanoweasels persuade some of their more technically inclined fans to sabotage Acid Rain Tears's old touring van. Sounds trivial, can be tragic.

Aftermath Ideas:

If the runners do good work, Mark is a guy who knows some very weird people on both sides of the law. He could easily turn into a fixer for the musical world. If they annoy him, he could decide that they need a lesson in humility.

[Iduno]

Market research is a lot tougher, and is probably better done by a smart face and hacker combined. The nanoweasels have a big stage show, and they can keep a party going until the sun rises, but to be frank a lot of their fans would also bop along to whatever other dance comes along. Their sale potential is great if they somehow get a massive hit - but there's no guarantee of that. Acid Rain Tears serve a more specialised audience, and their gigs aren't as well attended as those of the nanoweasels, but smart hacking should reveal that there's a groundswell of fans moving to the vandal banner, and a lot of people would pay actual money for their stuff.

The important thing to remember about market research is the real goal is often to prove your (or whoever has the sack of cash) version of the truth or bury anything else. Could be there is someone out there running interference or pushing their agenda. That might create an interesting 3rd party red herring to mess with a team that isn't careful enough. Or provide an opponent/obstacle if things are going too well.

[Koekepan]

Background:

Karah Grey is a lady who puts a different spin on the Suzanne Vega idea. Instead of a guitar and confessional songwriter thing, she plays the harp and ... does the confessional songwriter thing. This earns her plenty of fans, lots of recognition, and fawning interviews in the kind of matrix sites and other publications that do fawning interviews. Unsurprisingly, this means money.

The Parties:

Karah Grey is a notable singer/songwriter with a lot of fans, and a healthy industry in things like clothing that displays quotes from her work. Things like, in a song about sex work: "I'm for rent like a runner, not for sale like a sarariman." Or, in a song about personal relationships: "If love is a delusion, I'm glad it shows me you." You know, sentimental but socially conscious stuff.

Corinne Irving is Karah's manager. She manages public relations, she manages gigs, she manages the timing and format of releases - all the good stuff that makes careers go round. She even keeps an eye on the money situation to make sure that Karah (and by extension, Corinne) doesn't get screwed like one of the sex workers she sings about.

The Problem:

Karah has made a change. Unfortunately, this change wasn't noticed before it showed up in the studio. Now they have a whole bunch of recorded audio as well as triD of Karah singing what could best be described as a call to arms for violent insurrection against corporate powers. This can never be allowed to see the light of day for oh, so very many reasons. It's a career-wrecker for her, and Corinne, if this gets out, might find herself supplying spare parts for people whose bodies aren't quite operating right. Or ghoul snacks.

Unfortunately, Karah is standing by her position, with some idealistic crap about artistic integrity and corporate colonialism.

The Proposition:

"She has gone off the rails. We don't know why, and we don't really care. We don't want to upset legions of her fans, but her succumbing to insanity will upset them too. So: take her out of the picture, permanently, and make it look like a tragic, tragic accident. We have one hundred thousand - let me say that again, one hundred thousand nuyen just waiting for you to do your jobs."

"Don't worry about her legacy. Young, beautiful, iconic? She will live forever. Nobody needs to know she lost it."

The Facts:

Karah had a political awakening of sorts. Whether or not her insights are correct is up for debate, of course, but she sees the corporate powerstructures as a toxic manifestation of unbridled powerseeking on the part of the elites. Now she wants to make her case that it needs to be torn down, the only way she knows how. She went for a nice, relaxing working vacation in a cabin in Tir Tairngire (who, while she isn't elven, is happy to be seen as a haven for artists and all that good stuff) and she wrote all her songs the way she always does, then came back for a big studio session. Then the hideous truth came out.

Corinne tried to talk her down, tried to suggest other takes, maybe different songs, perhaps reappraisals of earlier songs - anything and everything else, but not this firebrand stuff. Well, Corinne has a big, fat insurance policy out on Karah, so here comes the fallback plan.

Some Complications:

Oops. It got out. Someone in the studio leaked it. This needs to be suppressed - or alternatively, Karah now has a dedicated fanbase. A new fanbase. An angry fanbase.

Maybe the runners regard Corinne as the problem. Do they shoot her right in the face for no money?

Aftermath Ideas:

This could open an entire arc of play around anti-corporate activism. Weave it into an existing set of plots, or link the characters to an anti-corporate group who set up memorials for Karah. With all the sensitivities and anger around this sort of thing, there's huge potential.

[Beta]

As ever, thank you for all of your run ideas. In my game I've been laying the groundwork for some music business involvement, but hadn't quite worked out all the details (the end game is providing security for a band on tour, which will drag things back to an area where they promised never to go again, but first I have to build up the emotional investment so that simply ditching the job is not appealing. I think I can arc most of these together with minor changes to make this work (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)