I need a little problem-solving input, guys. (My character can talk to his buddies, that's what this represents.)

Rusty (my character) Crossfire, Basher and Darwin were employed to rip off a shipment of Yakuza guns. The run went bad, and the place we hit was either a decoy, or they were already on to us and emptied it. We were able to track down
the actual warehouse (we think) and sold the information instead of completing the job. The reason we didn't hit the second building is because we were already being tailed by a couple of known Yak bad-asses.

Anyway, a week or so later, Crossfire is approached by a contact of his who has ties to the First Nations. (For those who don't know, FN does work for the Yakuza.) He shows pictures of Crossfire, Rusty and Darwin and gives Crossfire some options: 1. He can turn over Rusty and Darwin for 2000 each. 2. He can pay the contact 2500 each not to get turned in. Otherwise, we presume he'll turn us in to the Yaks for a reward.

Crossfire has told Rusty about the bounty, but the others don't know yet. Also keep in mind that the bad guys don't seem to know about our fourth guy. I'm beginning to make a plan, but looking for some options that I may have overlooked.

Thanks in advance for the ideas.

What level of contact is this guy? Assuming 4th edition, if he has loyalty greater than 1 then this should not be happenning. I say lean on him and find out what's going on. After this he's already NOT a contact. You can spread how unreliable he is (and this thread might work wonders) telling him you'll use the money he would have gotten for his silence...or you can interrogate him.

Contacts generally don't screw their contacts, so I suspect he has a skeleton in his closet that's coming back to haunt him and you guys are his most expendable option. If you can get it out of him and work with it he just might owe ya big time when it is all over!

Part 2 is to go to ground. Fade away until the heat dies down a little. Call in a favour or two and when you can pop out of hiding find out who set you up and why, then use the opportunity to build your reputation as runners not to be screwed with.

Don't pay him. there's no reason for him not to take your money, then drop dime on you anyway and get more cred from the yaks.

Also even if he takes your money and walks away, it's only a matter of time before someone else shows up with a pic.

Push back. either cut off the head of the guy asking around 'see what happens when you mess with these guys"
go to ground or try to make a deal with the yaks.

Actually we use a hybrid of 2nd and 3rd ed. rules. The guy's behaviour is pretty typical as contacts in our game are constantly fluctuating. Enemies become friends and vice versa.

Other factors: We are very street level and have little cash to work with. I'm not certain that we could afford to pay him. And we're not that stupid. Plus, we don't really have the funds to go to ground.
No magicians, the whole team are basically thugs. Think Payback, with maybe a little more firepower.

My current plan is to use the fourth guy to lure the searchers into a trap. I have some of the technical details worked out, but I won't bore you.

I never considered that somebody's leaning on the guy. Not sure it'll make a difference in the end, but I'll do some quick and careful legwork on it.

Even if we take out the guys that come looking, we maybe have to deal with the Yaks as an organization. We do have some backing from the Russian mob, but I don't see a way out without owing someone. Right now I'm hoping to find out that the guy after us is on a personal kick or gone rogue or something, so we can end it when we get him.

Put the fear of Ruunners into your GM

Interrogate the contact, read up on torture methods and lovingly describe them to the GM as your character uses them (you want the GM nice and freaked out)

Learn these things:

1: What Yak family wants you,

2: How many members it has

3: names and adresses for as many of those as possible

4: Why contact went Judas

5: Named of the other Yak families

6: Numbers for those

7: Names and addresses for as many of those as possible

Use the data to kill off ranking Yaks in the family that are hunting you. GOAL: Learn the full list so you can DEPOPULATE this Yak family

If any other family interferes depopulate them too

Ummm... we want them to stop hunting us.

What? you think they will hunt you when they are DEAD?

Go rent 'Get Carter' starring Sly stallone

The actual core of this trick is to move fast enough that the GM doesn't have time to counter-think your plan

There is a hunt on

The gae is Cat and mouse, only one way to win, Don't be the mouse.

Problem with "kill those who frag with me" type attitudes is that guys who are your superior "might have let you live if it hadn't been for the fact that they know you'll kill them" attitudes start also showing up.

That is kinda my point Calvin

The Yaks are on the 'Kill the ones who fucked with us' Bent

But most yaks do not have serious cyber or magic...

Neither do we.

Shoot yourself
it will be less painful than what the yaks do to you

C'mon guys, hlep me out here. I have until Friday.

edit: ...or help, hlepping won't do any good.

Have the mysterious fourth guy betray and kill you to save his own hoop. It is believable. Just remember the three important words "burnt beyond recognition".

Have the 4th guy approach the yaks as an "independant contractor" garuntee'ing to do the job right since he has inside info on one of your safe houses. Burn safehouse to a crisp, lay low (real low) exact revenge.

Follow the rules of warfare, since you are effectively at war with the yaks. Gather your allies. Hide from your enemy. Scout your enemy. Strike when your enemy is unaware and retreat before they can respond effectively. Take your enemy's resources to use against him. Deny him his own resources. Become the guerilla force your team could be.

Basically plan to ambush, kill, loot, hide, repeat. Always repeat.

Call in every favour you are owed. Use whatever cash you have available, steal what you are short of. Find out who your enemy's enemies are and become allies (be careful not to become indebted though. Take nothing you cannot pay for from them).

I seriously suggest a misinformation campaign. Use any contacts you have to spread false leads as to your location. This will buy you time if it works. Hide while you use this tactic. Disguise yourselves if you have to leave your hidey-holes.

Finally, whatever you do, for crying out loud, STAY TOGETHER! Do NOT split up. Ever! Really Bad Things happen to groups who split up while being actively hunted. Don't let the GM bully you by saying "your contact won't like it if you bring your friends." Let him know that this is the new way of doing business and it is not open to negotiation. If you lose contacts, well, they are al always in flux in your campaign anyway. Pull a page from D&D and set watches so you are never all asleep at the same time!

Finally, if you do not have a vehicle then get one. Buy, beg, borrow or steal to get one. If ya gotta get away, far, far away, then this will be essential.

Organized crime is largely protected by the fact that people with both the will and the ability to kill a lot of them are few are far between. Admittedly, you probably can't eliminate the crime syndicate completely (but then again...) which would be required to stop their revenge on you. However, wiping out large numbers of tehm + destroying their sources of income will probably mean that their revenge may involved hiring two bit thugs on bicyles to come and get you.

Of course, this is typically why 'old school' crime bosses establish a revenge fund.

Kill the contact that was blackmailing you, certainly, but violently interrogate him first to discover the locations of all copies of those photos. Let him know that he's going to die either way, the only thing at stake is how fast it'll be and it can be very ery slow, such is being sealed in a brick wall with plenty of air and slowly dying of dehydration and starvation.

Just remember, if it's not business, then it's an honor code thing.

Try to make peace overtures, if it is rejected, then go to war, they have establishments (business fronts) and "protectees" that you can attack.

If the war becomes too costly, then offer a truce.

Hey everyone! This is Crossfire himself (well, the player lol). So that $%?/$% decided to blackmail my character and his friends. This is what I think...

1 - I think that all the First Nations members received those pictures and they've probably been offered a bounty on our heads. So my "contact" decided to go solo and make more money that the official bounty from their Yak bosses...

2 - The contact is a level 1 contact (as per 2nd edition rules) so no real friendship bond between us... My character met the guy a long-time ago in prison.

3 - The character has the flaw "vindictive" so the guy must obviously pay for his betrayal...

4 - Going on hiding might be difficult. We don't have a lot of money, we're not well connected or well equipped. My character already owe at least 10K and has the flaw "distinctive style", is a troll and barely have a vehicle (he has an old jeep).

5 - Possible solutions include: A. Asking the russian mob for their protection (the character REALLY doesn't want to do that). B. Like DOG said, we could use the fourth guy to set up the contact. C. Rip his head off (the character really want to do that, more than the player...) D. Going on full scale war with the yaks would be a disaster for us, we don't have the resources to put that out... E. I really like the torture idea, the only problem is is would leave marks, his gang would ask questions and we would have to deal with more people, same thing if we kill him. F. For me the only possible option would be to also blackmail the dude (using his family, his past or compromising pictures of him having sex with a troll...), to make him understand the seriousness of his betrayal towards the yaks so if he talks my character would rat him out to the yaks, to have him promise to shut his dirty mouth forever, then kill him a week later in some random street violence...

6 - Move back to France where the character is from... (unlikely since I wouldn't be able to play him anymore lol)

What do you think?

Move the whole team to France and continue to run there.

I'd recommend geeking the ganger. Along with alot of their gang. And any direct Yak contacts of that ganger.

As for allies, if the russian mob isn't your cup of tea, you could have other options in the form of the 'regular' mafia, triads, or seoulpa rings type. If you're in the seattle sprawl, there sure are alot of potential yak-haters out there. Try to establish an associate level relationship, rather than you asking for protection. My personal preference, but I try to keep the people who owe me something, and the number of people I owe something to, down to a minimum. Mutually beneficial relationships tho, I try to keep as many as I can hold.

If you have a Lonestar contact, I'd say see about cultivating a relationship with them where you basically give them the FN and Yak baddies.

I have an idea! You could commit a spectacular and highly visible crime (or string of crimes) that captures the public's imagination, then let yourself get caught by the cops. Squeal out all the baddies who are after you, then start reaping the benefits of your newfound fame. While serving out your sentences, you'll be able to busy yourselves by reading mail from your adoring fans and negotiating with studios (who are seeking the trid and simsense rights to your story) and news outlets (who are trying to scoop an exclusive interview with you). When (or should I say if) you get out, you can use your royalty payments to buy yourself a nice house in the country and live out the rest of your life in quiet, pleasant seclusion. As to the type of crime you'll commit, I recommend good, old-fashioned bank robbery. Just my 0.02 .

Oh yeah, and a word to the wise: my dad is a law professor who has more than a little expertise on blackmail, and he says that the best thing to do if someone tries to blackmail you is to reveal the secret yourself. As long as a blackmailer can threaten you with the information he has, he can milk you for money or services as many times as he wants until the day you run dry. It's much cheaper and less stressful to undercut him as soon as you can get the chance.

While that is a great idea in theory, it fails in practice when the information is your identity and location when people with the means to make you dead want you dead.

Of course, a premature leak could be used to set up an ambush and take down some yaks.


This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.'
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.



Morituri te salutant

Remember the Alamo

In other words. If it comes to that take as many with you as a possibly can.

Well, I don't know about law, but I am finding a lot of parallels between SR concepts and the stuff we're studying in sociology. For example, an article that we read about social capital (i.e. the relationships that one has with others and the benefits one can get from those relationships) reminded me of the SR contact system. Because it's hard to explain roleplaying games to novices without wierding them out, I've held off mentioning SR in class so far. I'm almost definitely going to mention it next class, however, because right now we're learning about crime and other socially deviant behaviors. One of the more interesting concepts is how "deviant" and "legitimate" social organizations can work towards the benefit of a community. For example, a local gang might provide their muscle as security for the block party, or use some of their ill-gotten funds to help renovate the playground equipment at the park. This philanthropy legitimizes the gang's prescence in the community, and helps ensure that the law-abiding community members won't rat them out to the police. Very interesting, IMO.

EDIT: This might actually be a good practice for runners with fairly permanent addresses. The neighbors will be far less likely to report you to [Insert Group Here] if you do stuff like escort little old ladies on trips to the grocery store. In fact, some of these "charitable" services can even earn you a little cred on the side, or at least some free cookies and tea made by the aforementioned little old ladies.

*Imagines a street sammy sitting in an elderly woman's parlor, drinking a cup of tea and smiling earnestly as she tells him what a "nice boy" he is*

Okay, this is SHADOWRUN! Remember it is a game. Reality has no place in it. You CAN go to war with the Yaks and win.

Raid them and take their stuff. Leave behind lots of smoking corpses. Then spread the tale and disappear. Find a rathole to hide in. You don't have to spend money as much as you might think. Just don't be seen and make good use of disguises. Sooner or later tales of your success will spread and you'll get groupies and hangers on to draw from.

I suggest you kill one signifigant member of the local Yaks and kidnap another (or that other's family) to show you are not playing. Interrogate the hell out of said signifigant person and learn more, then use that knowledge. Oh yeah...don't forget to take his stuff.

Just to let you know
IRL you can perform a One man war upon a gang or crime orgamization and win

if by win you mean 'COnvince them to leave you alone'

If it was impossible, I would be dead

The only difference between legitimate governments and street gangs is that the governments have bigger guns.

That, and the lack of institutional bureaucracy generally makes the street gang more effective and less cruel.

I'm all for the "go to war" idea. You can kick the yaks the hell out of your local area. Set it up so the regular (Italian) mafia comes out ahead by profiting from your actions, and the mob will have a good reason to watch your back. From their point of view, they can let you handle all the messy stuff, stay distant from you, and drop you a call if they get wind up something sneaky coming your way.

I would argue that the SR Yakuza isn't the real Japanese yakuza. IRL I'm pretty sure that a bunch of corrupt old fatcats would pee their suits if a vengance-crazed spec ops team with nothing to lose just went and blew away a lot of their followers. But the Yakuza in the SR is fantasy American version of the Yakuza from the 80s. The 80s Yakuza eat Midwestern autoworkers for breakfast, urinate on American industry, and facilitate corporate buyouts of Rockefeller Center. If you try to go up against them you'll be Zerg rushed by Japanese auto workers who do group karate calithenics every morning at the factory and die horribly.

So, basically, IRL you probably can make the Yakuza uncomfortable if you have nothing to lose and access to weapons and information. In the Shadowrun world you can never win because they have HONAAAHH and guys in blue suits with katanas and seemingly unlimited money and corporate influence.

You could also isolate whoever's directing this operation and destroy only his operations. His competitors will forget about you while they eat him alive.

And where do you get he cliche of the "blue suit with a katana?" I've absorbed it through cultural osmosis, but where has this image been in movies?

Oh god...

Black Rain with Michael Douglas is a decent fictional example. Rising Sun with Sean Connery/Wesley Snipes...sorta. Ooooh! Showdown in Little Tokyo!

The yakuza are scary because they're JAPANESE!!! Don't you see the logic inherent in that?

Yep, all asians know martial arts. The primary cultural difference are that the Chinese know Wire-fu and the Japanese know Ninjitsu. And before you ask about the rest, I'm American, there's only two types of asians.

The Yakuza in Shadowrun are more like businessmen than ninjas. They have ninjas, of course, on the payroll -along with muscle and such. One can expect a little more cyber, since they do have connections with corporate interests. But, really, it is all about cost versus profit.

Yeah, and Underworld clarified what that means. Honor is just a way to keep people in line, IMO. Sure, if you insult the Yakuza or a member, they have an obligation to make you understand why that was a bad thing to do. But business is business. In SR2 it said that the old bosses would rather embarrass you and use shame as the tool of enforcement, but that younger members were just as willing to use blood.

Okay i think we have a workable plan

Plan A: Take the fight to the Yaks, you guys do have skills and weapons

Acquire Jazz combat drug if ya don't have initiave boosting through other means (wow you guys really suck)

kill Yaks either through the Trojan Horse meet or through ambushes

Torturing thr contact shoul get you the info you need

Keep moving, do not let the Gm catch you unawares

Kill suqad after Squad of Yaks

Plan B: lose during Plan A and begin next campaign


also what characters do ya have?

I am having trouble reconciling chars who would take a job against the Yaks with 'no real cyber or magic'

Actually, get Cram instead of Jazz. It is cheaper, lasts longer and the side effects are less nasty as well as being a more effective combat drug.

in 4th ed true
in 3rd azz was better

I like Kremlin's way of thinking...

Your gonna hafta:

• Crush your enemies!
• See them driven before you! And...
• Hear the lamentation of the women!

The best bit is it is a perfectly good In Char way to punish the GM for deliberately putting you in an untenable position

admittedly when I GM I put PCs in similar positions so that they try to 'Punish' me

and that was the whole plot