Chucky in Shadowrun, Can it be done? Options

[Shev]

So, as a GM I tend to be inspired by music. I stumbled across the soundtrack for the Child's Play reboot and now I really want to have a series of runs that revolves around the concept, and was interested in getting some feedback. Here's what I have so far:

Background: Kaslan Corporation is an AA corp that has seen better days. It 's line of Good Guy dolls was popular for a long time during the 40s and 50's, mainly due to a fantastic marketing campaign and lots and lots of supporting toys, shows, and other peripherals. However, since then their sales have stagnated and gone into decline, forcing them to come up with a new angle: the Buddi doll, equipped with state-of-the-art defense mechanisms and a drone brain that makes the doll both incredibly lifelike and incredibly good at keeping your child healthy and safe from all those nasty outside threats (and throw in a surveillance suite so that mom and dad can keep an eye on their tyke from the comfort of their couch).

At least, that's the idea. However, making that kind of drone dogbrain is easier said than done and the researcher in charge of the project, Dr. John Bishop, is getting desperate. He goes to a local bar to drown his sorrows, where a beautiful woman overhears his problem and tells him she can help him get something to show the board. Overjoyed and more than a little soused, he agrees and gets into her car to direct her to the facility...

The run: The team (cybered for stealth elf infiltrator/face, human combat (mostly) mage, dwarf vehicle rigger, human decker) is hired to infiltrate a Kaslan corp R&D facility and steal a prototype that the corp is working on by a competing toy company that is, if enough digging is done, found to be a subsidy of Aztechnology.

The infiltration itself should go smoothly as long as the players don't do anything stupid or overly aggressive. Kaslans security was never its strongest suit, and is fairly basic all around.

However, that will soon prove to be a double edged sword. You see, this mysterious woman that Dr. Bishop brought back with him is an Adversary shaman named Tiffany Valentine, and she was looking for something to use as a vessel. In a horrific blood ritual that culminates in the murder of poor Dr. Bishop, she brings the doll to life with the personality of her late boyfriend, Charles Lee Ray. She thinks she successfully took his soul out of his dying body and kept it in a amulet until he could could be transferred. However, she may have just created a twisted kind of ally spirit in a fancy homunculus.

Said doll is not only monstrously strong and resilient, along with all the "defense measures" Kaplan built into him, his electronics are still networked with a bunch of "proof of concept" dolls that have no dogbrain, but that he can control as if he was jumped into them. At that point, the run is up to the players. Do they NOPE on outta there and take the hit to their reputation? Are they the consummate professional who grab the goods to give to the Johnson, even if the goods are definitively bad? (And do they figure out who exactly they're giving this blood-magicked doll to...) Or do they take it upon themselves to end the menace themselves?

Moreover, I'm obviously playing fast and loose with the 3e rules here. The question is, would this kind of ripped off story be fun for you? Are there any tweaks you think should be made to make it better dovetail with Shadowrun?

[Stingray]

So, as a GM I tend to be inspired by music. I stumbled across the soundtrack for the Child's Play reboot and now I really want to have a series of runs that revolves around the concept, and was interested in getting some feedback. Here's what I have so far:

Background: Kaslan Corporation is an AA corp that has seen better days. It 's line of Good Guy dolls was popular for a long time during the 40s and 50's, mainly due to a fantastic marketing campaign and lots and lots of supporting toys, shows, and other peripherals. However, since then their sales have stagnated and gone into decline, forcing them to come up with a new angle: the Buddi doll, equipped with state-of-the-art defense mechanisms and a drone brain that makes the doll both incredibly lifelike and incredibly good at keeping your child healthy and safe from all those nasty outside threats (and throw in a surveillance suite so that mom and dad can keep an eye on their tyke from the comfort of their couch).

At least, that's the idea. However, making that kind of drone dogbrain is easier said than done and the researcher in charge of the project, Dr. John Bishop, is getting desperate. He goes to a local bar to drown his sorrows, where a beautiful woman overhears his problem and tells him she can help him get something to show the board. Overjoyed and more than a little soused, he agrees and gets into her car to direct her to the facility...

The run: The team (cybered for stealth elf infiltrator/face, human combat (mostly) mage, dwarf vehicle rigger, human decker) is hired to infiltrate a Kaslan corp R&D facility and steal a prototype that the corp is working on by a competing toy company that is, if enough digging is done, found to be a subsidy of Aztechnology.

The infiltration itself should go smoothly as long as the players don't do anything stupid or overly aggressive. Kaslans security was never its strongest suit, and is fairly basic all around.

However, that will soon prove to be a double edged sword. You see, this mysterious woman that Dr. Bishop brought back with him is an Adversary shaman named Tiffany Valentine, and she was looking for something to use as a vessel. In a horrific blood ritual that culminates in the murder of poor Dr. Bishop, she brings the doll to life with the personality of her late boyfriend, Charles Lee Ray. She thinks she successfully took his soul out of his dying body and kept it in a amulet until he could could be transferred. However, she may have just created a twisted kind of ally spirit in a fancy homunculus.

Said doll is not only monstrously strong and resilient, along with all the "defense measures" Kaplan built into him, his electronics are still networked with a bunch of "proof of concept" dolls that have no dogbrain, but that he can control as if he was jumped into them. At that point, the run is up to the players. Do they NOPE on outta there and take the hit to their reputation? Are they the consummate professional who grab the goods to give to the Johnson, even if the goods are definitively bad? (And do they figure out who exactly they're giving this blood-magicked doll to...) Or do they take it upon themselves to end the menace themselves?

Moreover, I'm obviously playing fast and loose with the 3e rules here. The question is, would this kind of ripped off story be fun for you? Are there any tweaks you think should be made to make it better dovetail with Shadowrun?

...hmmmm...Possession Magic + some of material of dolls are from same awakeked Tree later known as source of Tempo

[Shev]

While voodoo is a big part of the movies, I couldn't quite bring myself to make Tiffany a petro houngan. I kind of feel like the movies would have gone with more of a "black magic" theme if they felt they could have gotten away with it, hence the Adversary totem. That being said, possession is certainly going to be on the table, putting Chucky into the doll is supposed to be a stopgap measure until he gets a "normal" body.

[JanessaVR]

I love Shadowrun crossovers. I'd say run with it, but why are you bothering with the idea of Tiffany? In canon, Charles Lee Ray was the magical student and did the ritual himself in desperation while mortally wounded. The plot of the first movie could be grafted in pretty much as is. (At least the first part - you don't have go with him being sold and then terrorizing a suburban family, unless the team's being hired to save them or something.)

[Kren Cooper]

Not seen Chucky, so can't comment on the crossover element - but I'd be more than happy to play that adventure. Strange magical goings on for the mages to deal with, army of zombie robot child dolls for the mundanes to deal with, trying to stop the Star being called in and dealing with the factory systems at the same time; moral / ethical / reputation dilemas as well... yeah, I'm all for that.

Sounds like a decent run to me.

[Shev]

I love Shadowrun crossovers. I'd say run with it, but why are you bothering with the idea of Tiffany? In canon, Charles Lee Ray was the magical student and did the ritual himself in desperation while mortally wounded. The plot of the first movie could be grafted in pretty much as is. (At least the first part - you don't have go with him being sold and then terrorizing a suburban family, unless the team's being hired to save them or something.)

There's a couple reasons I went that direction. One, I wanted the "Chucky" element to be a surprise, so the players have to have a run that happens more or less simultaneous with his "birth." Runners seldom get hired to break into toy stores, where is where Ray imbued the doll, so it's a bit harder to make it fit.

Two, I wanted to increase the Chucky threat to have a magical component; for all that he is a walking terrifying homonculus he will not have access to Sorcery, Conjuring, or other magical skills. Tiffany bridges that gap. I also am kind of having fun with a mishmash of the first movie(the good doctors name is not random) and the 2019 remake, where Chucky was an AI gone rogue.

[Shev]

Well, it took years (we run multiple campaigns and rotate them regularly), but the plan finally came to fruition and was a big hit! The duo were a suitable threat without being insanely OP, and a good time was had by all. Thank you all for the input and help!

[Iduno]

While voodoo is a big part of the movies, I couldn't quite bring myself to make Tiffany a petro houngan. I kind of feel like the movies would have gone with more of a "black magic" theme if they felt they could have gotten away with it, hence the Adversary totem. That being said, possession is certainly going to be on the table, putting Chucky into the doll is supposed to be a stopgap measure until he gets a "normal" body.

I'm not sure I'd equate the Adversary to black magic, more just opposing whatever the current central authority is. A toxic mage might make the most sense.

[Shev]

It mentions that many toxic shamans follow Adversary, so Tiffany was a follower of Adversary in the guise of old school "red skin and horns" Satan. Basically, the kind of totem that would spin a lot of people up back in the 80s and 90s, lol. I do agree that a Corrupted Mage with a Shadow backing her would have also worked, but I wanted to preserve the angle of Chucky having once been human.

[Iduno]

It mentions that many toxic shamans follow Adversary, so Tiffany was a follower of Adversary in the guise of old school "red skin and horns" Satan.

Oh, sure. Even a non-toxic version of Adversary would oppose whatever the main authority figures are (which is why it appears as Satan in heavily religious areas), which makes it real difficult to get runs from Mr. Johnson or follow orders from teammates. I'm guessing it's normally a NPC or fish-malk totem.

[Shev]

Most definitely an NPC totem for me, I have had enough players who liked to pick stupid fights with well-protected and powerful authority figures over the years without baking it into the rules.

[Stahlseele]

You could do it either with a spirit possessing a puppet . .
Or you could just build a small anthroform humanoid walker drone.
Ever watched Screamers?

[Shev]

You could do it either with a spirit possessing a puppet . .
Or you could just build a small anthroform humanoid walker drone.
Ever watched Screamers?

I haven't, did they go the drone route?
What I did was essentially a combo job of your two points, by the by.

[Stahlseele]

I haven't, did they go the drone route?
What I did was essentially a combo job of your two points, by the by.

Screamers is a sci fi (surprise surprise) horror action movie.
On a different planet a war is waged by the colonists against each other.
Then one side, not sure which side or if it ever was explained) made robots to fight for them.
They made them look human enough to fool people who were not very observant.
They are basically full of spinning and whirring cutting implements at the point of the story.
Mostly melee and assassination terrorbots. AND THEY SCREAM AT YOU like a wailing banshee.
One of them was a small little boy form that crushed a grown mans windpipe with its hands.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114367/