Harley's back, I need help running it Options

[Halabis]

I'm currently running my players through HB, and I've been having some difficulty. While it seemed like a great adventure when I read through it, in practice it is turning out rather unspectacular. We've just finished the first part (which i had to fastforward thorugh the end cause the players were at a loss). And the players seem much more enthusiastic about the cowboy segment, but i was wondering if anyone had any advice on problems they may have encountered when running this adventure themselves, and any ideas you might have on rectifying those problems.

[Large Mike]

The only problem I had with Harlequinn's Back is that it's so *loooong*. Too us a month. After a while, no matter how cool it is, you just want to get back to inflitrating the compound. I ended up skippin the entire Arthurian bit.

I know, that's not very helpful at all. And the first adventure does tend to leave people at a bit of a loss. The only real advice I can present is this: be ready to improvise.

[fistandantilus4....]

I'm actually running that right now as well. just going into the arthurian setting.
I think the biggest obstacle is just that for the first two, the characters have no clue what is going on, and ut is prone to lag time.

If you can keep the action moving in between the lags, and get them into the roleplaying , it'll go over a blot better. My group is digging it so far (when they're not scratching their heads or asking "what the hell are we supposed to be doing here again?").

The good thing is that after the first two, they have a bit better idea of what's going on. In the 3rd and 4th "place", they figure out what they're supposed to do pretty quick (more or less). And the last place has a lot of good opportunities for roleplaying. Just set a faster, almost frantic pace, as it's all coming to a head.
If you can get your players into the role playing , it'll go well.

3 questions:
1) Did you run the first Hq adventure with them?

2) are you using Frosty much?

3) How well are you expecting them to hold up the the beasties in the 3rd place, especially the hag? I'm kind of expecting my group to get pretty fragged over, but (hopefully) survive (I mean really <slay human and slay elf in a group with only humans and elves!)

[TeOdio]

I tried it once and the experience sucked. I LOOOVE the adventure, but it really takes the right group of characters/players. Deckers, Riggers, and to some extent Street Sams really get hosed in some of the Mini-Adventures. If you really want to run it I would suggest possibly two options that would make it go well, one, make sure you have a magic heavy group, or two, custom create characters (adepts, mages) for the campaign and have your players use them. To me it only makes sense that awakened characters would be called up for such a monumental meta planer quest. Plus, if you've read the adventure already you know someones really gonna get hosed to "win". If you're players are up for it, I'd have them play the pre-constructed characters and give the karma for their normal ones. I'm just speaking from experience, so you may have better luck with a "typical" shadowrun team. I just think awakened ones work a hell of a lot better.
:nuyen: :nuyen: :nuyen:

[DrJest]

Harlequin's Back is that thing that seems unpopular round here - heroic Shadowrun. Your players, in order to get through it well and with maximum enjoyment, need to get into the heroic mindset. As mentioned earlier, playing the original Harlequin campaign is recommended so you have some idea who you're dealing with. Also it all hangs together nicely as a long campaign :)

It is a great adventure, and one my players (who tend towards the heroic anyway) thoroughly enjoyed. And as Astral Quests go, it's a doozy :)

[Pthgar]

I'v eso extensively modified HB that I don't think I can give you an informed opinion, but let me tell you what we did to see if it helps.

The Bridge Part One= no changes (except dialogue as needed, whic can be applied everywhere)
The Aftermath= no changes (except the location was moved to hometown, Detroit)
A Fistfull of Karma= no changes
By The Sword= skip
The Impossible Dream= skip
The Songbird= skip

At this point I really diverge from the book. We're playing after the death of Big D. Some of my team have read the Dragonheart Trilogy. I had to update the adventure somewhat.

The Bridge Part Two= here H tells the runners that the previous journey was screwed up and they got sent into the wrong meta-plane. Go through this portal and retreive the Dragonheart focus.
Earthdawn= the team finds itself in a high fantasy setting (some may recognize the setting from the ED matrix game). They have to retrieve the DH Focus from a dragon called Mountainshadow. Mountainshadow's agent (Darktooth) tells them to remove an artifact from the city of Parlainth. After that Darktooth gives them directions on how to see Mountainshadow. The artifact represents some of Big D's memories. This whole plane was created by Big D and is "in his mind" so to speak. After recieving the artifact, mountainshadow (who the players recognize as Big D) gives the team the Dragonheart.
The Masquerade= skip
The Bridge Part Three= pretty much the same. The team fights Darke and the Horror constructs while H does something with the Dragonheart. The team has to take it to the other side and wait for it to be activated. When it is activated Big D's spirit appears and is tyhe new guardian.

I don't know if this will give you any ideas, but don't fell too bad if you gotta change HB around so that it is more fun for your group.

[Charon]

I own it but so far have only skimmed through to get an idea of what it is.

I'm not sure I'll run it but if I do I'll try to ease things for techno players. A decker and a Rigger seem to be pretty much screwed in some scenario. I figure that since this is a metaplanar quest, the players could be a little less 'runner stuck where they don't belong' and a little more 'mythic alter ego'. Meaning I'll try to modify things so that the PCs can fill pretty much the same role in their new setting as they did in their old one, albeit with a local twist.

So in the primitive segment the Rigger could be become a 'beastrider'. That is, someone gifted with the ability to see through animals eyes, command them and occasionnally possess them. Sounds familair, eh? A decker could become a windtalker, a kind of shaman who can only talk to secretive wind spirits and wrestle from them the secrets that they know by virtue of going everywhere and seeing everything in the land.

That sort of thing. This is just a very superficial, gut reaction. I wouln't want rigger/decker to feel second fiddle for most of the adventure. Usually, when I run an adventure that force a PC to take the background, I try to make him the most important PC on the next mission, which would be kinda hard to do in HB.

[tisoz]

bump

[Halabis]

Holy dead thread batman!

[kevyn668]

[Toptomcat]

Perhaps it's a sign of renewed interest in the Horror metaplot (hint, hint, designers I know surf these forums from time to time...)

[kevyn668]

No complaints here if that's the case. Most people here know that I'm a HUGE fan of the Horror metaplot. I was just curious.