 Some unusual Shadowruns?, Or: How to frag your DocWagon Contract. |
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 Jun 20 2005, 03:22 PM
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#26
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Uncle Fisty  Group: Admin Posts: 13,891 Joined: 3-January 05 From: Next To Her Member No.: 6,928  |
They did open a bunch of subscriptions, and the decker also hacked in to the systems of doazens of different telemarketing companies and added his name to their call lists, as well as changing the numbers on different names to his. They also made him think one of his homes he moved to was haunted (read:fun with ally spirits), hid dead fish in the hosue, changed the presets on his stereo... goes on and on. I think one even went back over his taxes and reported him to the IRS. That's just mean |
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Sep 23 2005, 11:30 PM
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#27
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Horror Group: Members Posts: 5,322 Joined: 15-June 05 From: BumFuck, New Jersey Member No.: 7,445 |
Man, the stuff you find using the Search feature. I remember this thread. The point of my Threadomancy?...
Well, no point. I'd just like to giggle some more at what Fisty's players did to that poor bastard. Maybe come up with some new ideas. Here's one: Buy him a pet dog. Have it delivered to his home anonamously. When he gets attached to it, kidnap it and return it shaven with a tattoo. |
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Sep 23 2005, 11:49 PM
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#28
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Shooting Target Group: Retired Admins Posts: 1,784 Joined: 28-July 04 From: Cleveland, OH Member No.: 6,522 |
Alternatively, if you really want to run against DocWagon, you could check out the SR3 Shadowrun Missions story arc. :) First 4 adventures are up on the srrpg web site. The next 8 (soon to be 10) are available upon request for conventions, game days, or home play.
Sorry, could resist the chance to pimp the product. :D |
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Sep 24 2005, 12:47 AM
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#29
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 384 Joined: 18-August 03 From: North VA Member No.: 5,519 |
Well, it makes a whole bunch of sense if she happens to be a contact...she's not hiring a Shadowrunner, she's getting a favor from a friend, or cashing in a previous favor she paid them. |
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Sep 26 2005, 04:28 PM
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#30
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Target Group: Members Posts: 48 Joined: 21-July 05 Member No.: 7,510 |
Take a page from the Hackers script, and put ads into several transgender/troll personals pages. Register him as a sex offender. Report his car stolen (when it's not). Let some squatters in his home to shower. Shave someone (or something) in his kitchen, leave mess. If he's single, get him a wife (fictional can work) and report her missing...that'll be fun to explain.
Officer 1: 'Scuse us Mr. P. When's the last time you saw your wife? Mr. P: ... Officer 2: Mrs. P. When's the last time you saw her? Mr. P.: I'm not married. Officer 1: Is (mr. p's SIN) your SIN? Mr. P: Yes, yes it is. Officer 1: Your wife's sister says she hasn't heard from her in several weeks, and she's worried. Mr. P: But I'm not married, I have no wife. Officer 2: Paperwork says you are, and you do. etc, etc, etc... |
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Sep 26 2005, 04:39 PM
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#31
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Midnight Toker Group: Members Posts: 7,686 Joined: 4-July 04 From: Zombie Drop Bear Santa's Workshop Member No.: 6,456 |
Also, if you are a 12-year-old Otaku, tie yourself up and lock yourself in his trunk. When the Star pulls him over, bang on the trunk making as much noise as possible. |
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Sep 27 2005, 12:07 AM
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#32
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Horror Group: Members Posts: 5,322 Joined: 15-June 05 From: BumFuck, New Jersey Member No.: 7,445 |
Shoot any attourneys the mark ever met. Use those gloves that let you fake someone's fingertips. Then plant the murder weapon in the mark's apartment. :)
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Sep 27 2005, 01:58 PM
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#33
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 718 Joined: 10-September 05 From: Montevideo, in the elusive shadows of Latin America Member No.: 7,727 |
The "harassing run" idea is just great! I love it. That's what I call good roleplaying. It's a little "Amelie", but I admit I have seen the film but never thought of it as a Shadowrun idea (must be getting old) Anyway, kudos for creativity.
The parazoology run idea was good too. (I just don't remember who posted it right know) Whoever you are, you described that Amazonia run as a "nightmare". As far as I am concerned, "nightmares" are always good shadowrun stuff. How did the run go? What opposition was there? Etc. Cheers Max |
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Sep 28 2005, 10:11 AM
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#34
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Mystery Archaeologist Group: Members Posts: 2,906 Joined: 19-September 05 From: The apple tree Member No.: 7,760 |
I feel the need to relate the story of a run one of my groups didd in the midst of a Blood in the Boardroom game.
It probably should be mentioned that the team in question where kisk ass hard, only worked for scandalous fees and where responsible for Novatech surviving the corpwar more or less. They get called to a meet at Harga's House of Ribs on an all you can eat night (this was sr2 so the party could eat for America). The Johnson was a wet behind the ears twenty something lawyer and the party picked it up right away. He offered them a resonable fee (by their standards) to "extract" a specific fifteen year old boy. They thought it was a bit weird but the johnson assured them it was all above board and they took the job. They then ran around till they were blue in the face thrying to work up why the fuck someone would pay that much for a teenage boy. They found nothing exceptiaonal about him... So they looked some more. Nope still nothing. Still puzzled they start to plan. Thankfully for all concerned they decided against walking into his school in their shiny Milspec armour(like I said kisk ass hard). They got him out of his bedroom in the end with knock out drugs and plenty of stealth. They deliver him to the address the johnson gave to find a big old house containing a mad cat lady, who wants to introduce herself to the boy. The party demand an explanation. The old says she is a possessing spirit and one of her old hosts was the boys mother, while she was pregnant infact, so the spirit sees herself as the boys mother, and wants to meet him and help him in life. She had the wealth making spirit power hence the ludicrous paycheck... I have yet to see a party panic so much about what they where doing. Not even the party who delivered an underage girl to a politician ( and got bad karma for doing so). |
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Sep 28 2005, 10:49 AM
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#35
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Immoral Elf Group: Members Posts: 15,247 Joined: 29-March 02 From: Grimy Pete's Bar & Laundromat Member No.: 2,486 |
Why would they get bad Karma? Was the act against their alignment? :please: |
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Sep 28 2005, 11:49 AM
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#36
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Mystery Archaeologist Group: Members Posts: 2,906 Joined: 19-September 05 From: The apple tree Member No.: 7,760 |
Because they eagerly delivered a drugged up girl to her horrible death. They took her away in a sports bag that was slightly to small for her... Is it my fault I run games with some level of morality. Well I gues it is. Plus they where surprised when she ended up dead. EDIT:- I can't spell, or use a spell checker... |
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Sep 28 2005, 11:51 AM
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#37
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Freelance Elf Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 7,324 Joined: 30-September 04 From: Texas Member No.: 6,714 |
Actually, though I can't (and wouldn't want to) vouch for SR4, by the official rules/guidelines/what-have-you, karma is generally only supposed to be rewarded to goody-two-shoes Robin Hood Raging Against The Machine sort of fluffy lovey Shadowrunners. Check out the rules set in the old SRComp, with rules for ways to run a less moral game -- optional rules, mind you, because obviously no one would want to run a game like that.
Makes you all warm and fuzzy inside as you then reach for a copy of CP:2020, don't it? |
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Sep 28 2005, 12:01 PM
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#38
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Horror Group: Members Posts: 5,322 Joined: 15-June 05 From: BumFuck, New Jersey Member No.: 7,445 |
No, actually, it dosen't. If a Runner team I was DMing for delivered a little girl to a pervert/killer, I'd award them ALL the Bad Karma flaw. If I didn't just get up and leave and decide not to play with such monsters again.
Karma is, after all, the colloquial reward for doing a GOOD deed. Doing evil deeds may net you nuyen, but you'll pay for it in the end. Usually when a team of Good Shadowrunners is hired by the girl's relatives to come after you and put you all down. Some runs are meant to be turned down. |
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Sep 28 2005, 01:10 PM
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#39
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Freelance Elf Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 7,324 Joined: 30-September 04 From: Texas Member No.: 6,714 |
Did you explain that you weren't really running a cyberpunk game, but rather were inviting friends to play roles in your morality play, when you were first getting people together to run Shadowrun?
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Sep 28 2005, 01:34 PM
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#40
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Chicago Survivor Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 5,079 Joined: 28-January 04 From: Canton, GA Member No.: 6,033 |
besides, as the GM you are the one that came up with offering them the job. Seems a little off to condemn them for doing the job you offered them.
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Sep 28 2005, 05:40 PM
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#41
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Mystery Archaeologist Group: Members Posts: 2,906 Joined: 19-September 05 From: The apple tree Member No.: 7,760 |
I always warn my players that they are playing in a moral game.
The point of the exercise was that they needed to learn to be careful about what jobs they took. Two of the party walked from the job as they didn't like it. The other three asked the clearly drug addled girl if she wanted to do it. She said basically yeah whatever. They called the other two runners(who'd dropped out) wusses. They had their chance. |
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Sep 28 2005, 05:40 PM
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#42
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Immoral Elf Group: Members Posts: 15,247 Joined: 29-March 02 From: Grimy Pete's Bar & Laundromat Member No.: 2,486 |
I absolutely abhor the Bad Karma (optional) rules!
Shadowrun is a roleplaying game where the characters are, for the most part, hardened criminals. If I wanted to play a Paladin, well, there is another game system for that. Karma is a mechanic for improvement and growth in Shadowrun. It isn't some cosmic chocolate chip cookie that is only given out to boy scouts and sunday school kids. It is meted out whenever a character accomplishes a desired goal (whether that goal be for good or ill), as well as for various other (usually lesser) reasons. |
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Sep 28 2005, 05:54 PM
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#43
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 150 Joined: 31-August 05 Member No.: 7,660 |
I strongly agree with you (as did the core rules in the SR line, at least through 3rd edition). Cyberpunk includes more styles than scum on scum. It's up to the individual GM to select the tone of his campaign. The only important thing to do is to explain up front what type of behavior you're expecting in the campaign. After that, I'm all for tossing out players who insist on running such characters. |
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Sep 28 2005, 06:03 PM
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#44
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Horror Group: Members Posts: 5,322 Joined: 15-June 05 From: BumFuck, New Jersey Member No.: 7,445 |
I prefer to punish them. After all, they had fair warning to revise their character, make a new character, or to choose to leave on good terms. As they choose instead to make my game miserable, I will return the favor.
Meh, what can I say? I'm a vindictive SOB. :) |
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Sep 28 2005, 06:16 PM
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#45
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 153 Joined: 7-November 04 Member No.: 6,811 |
For my game, I described it as "one of my mind-fuck games," asked them to abstain from the cliche cold-as-ice inhuman shadowrunner, and made sure to point out soon after that the three pinnicle runs of the campaign were, in my notes, listed as A Matter of Ethics, Ethical Calculus and The Price of Ethics. They got the hint, more or less. Though personally, I don't think the point is to have shadowrunners be uncompromising good guys. That's contrary to the mood of the setting. Likewise, I don't think it's fun to play Saturday morning cartoon villians. That's unreal and personally unsatisfying to watch. The fun is letting a sufficently developed, sufficently (meta)human character decide for himself what's good, what's evil, and how far they're willing to go for wealth, power, or noble purpose. |
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Sep 28 2005, 06:52 PM
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#46
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,174 Joined: 13-May 04 From: UCAS Member No.: 6,327 |
I think that about sums for me right there in what I look for/want. You let them develop, that's part of the fun. I would hate for people to just play a cardboard cut-out character that never changes or learns from the world around them as they go about their runs. |
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Sep 29 2005, 12:33 AM
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#47
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Horror Group: Members Posts: 5,322 Joined: 15-June 05 From: BumFuck, New Jersey Member No.: 7,445 |
Yeah, well, there are limits, too.
I, for example, refuse to DM for a group of Evil characters in D&D, because I abhor it. Likewise, I refuse to DM Shadowrun for the kind of morally bankrupt person who will deliver a doped-up girl to a horrible death for money. |
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Sep 29 2005, 05:47 AM
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#48
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Midnight Toker Group: Members Posts: 7,686 Joined: 4-July 04 From: Zombie Drop Bear Santa's Workshop Member No.: 6,456 |
This is the line that gets me. The awarding of bad karma in this case isn't a passive-aggressive attempt to enforce a certain playstyle, it is outright punishment for not mindprobing the GM. If they didn't know the consequences of their actions then it certainly has no bearing on the character's morality. If they assumed in good faith that everything would be okay then it is, at worst, lazy intel gathering or a lack of healthy paranoia. This is something to punish the character's for in game, not something to metagame punish the players for. I would have a good laugh and post the details so that others can laugh at it and then devise a way for the act to haunt the players. But that's just me. Personally, I try to avoid punishing players for their inability or unwillinglness to magically mindrape me. |
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Sep 29 2005, 06:01 AM
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#49
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Immoral Elf Group: Members Posts: 15,247 Joined: 29-March 02 From: Grimy Pete's Bar & Laundromat Member No.: 2,486 |
If the mere thought of the idea is so distasteful, then don't offer them the job. If the GM places something on the table, he should be ready for however the Players choose to respond. If they are supposed to be goody-goody boy scouts, why is their Fixer setting them up with this kind of run in the first place?
Shadowrun is a game based around criminal activities. It is not Bunnies and Burrows! |
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Sep 29 2005, 06:23 AM
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#50
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Target Group: Members Posts: 25 Joined: 20-March 03 Member No.: 4,295 |
A bit of a morality run here.
I had the players capture a runaway cyber experiment. It was a orc that had sold himself to a corp so they could perform cyber experiments on him. After the players had stunned him into submission (better pay that way) his built in medkit revived him on the way back to the corp. After his sob story of having to sell himself to the corp and then enduring months of experiment and wanting to die rather then go back the runners had to decide what to do with him. Keeping in mind better pay for alive they came up with the idea of giving him a half dozen arsenic pills that wouldn't kill him for at least an hour after they left. And I learned never let the runner negotiate for a 5% finders fee without checking on how much that would be. Ended up being 4 times what the origional pay would have was. :rotate: |
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