Dumpshock Forums > Publicity in the Shadowworld

Tiralee

Jun 18 2006, 12:31 AM

Ok, my usual insane team has developed into an even MORE insane team with fallout from the last run.

[ Spoiler ]

The team's new decker had gathered some fantastic footage (Use the "punch" rules for Shadowbeat) and the resident security expert thought of selling it to an ADVERTISING AGENCY. And wrote a dammed jingle to go with the footage. (See the above spoiler for the description of the footage)

"Okay," I thought. "Here we go."

The Ad execs loved it. Me: Damn
They sold it to an insecticide manufacturer (Bug-Be-Gone, available in Household, Troll and Chicago-size packs) They said, uh, yeah, ok, it looks pretty funny...Let's see the audience acceptance. Whew

The Public loves it - it's up there with NERPS for public exposure, sales are through the roof, the Ad company awards the players mucho nuyen with an option for further work.
( I sometimes hate my dice.)

The players make off with

325K each for the advertisement, they made sure the people doing the hammering were unidentifiable and now they're looking to sell more footage of their exploits. (Ie: Firestone Multipurpose Runflats - they're what REAL riggers use.)

I know about the low-profile, etc...but they did their homework on this one and I'm going to have to award them Karma for sheer Bravado.

Have you GM's out there had similar situations?

-Tir

"Bug-Be-Gone...F#$G Yeah! When you've got a problem, Bug-Be-Gone! F#$G Yeah!" - excerpt of the jingle. Think "America, F#$K yeah!" but a lot better.

SL James

Jun 18 2006, 12:37 AM

Your players are fucking awesome.

Muzzaro

Jun 18 2006, 02:01 AM

*wipes away tears*

I agree, your players are the best. That's the best read i've had in ages!

hyzmarca

Jun 18 2006, 03:24 AM

. It's like the antithesis of The CLUE Files. Those players know what Shadowrunning is all about.

bigdrewp

Jun 18 2006, 04:14 AM

I guess I am not seeing the problem. You are the GM right? You don't have to do what your dice say do you? I thought not. Now, you could always stop having Johnsons hire them as they are too well known, or some other such idea. I agree with rewarding their bravado, I would, but don't let them, or your dice, railroad you into a direction you don't want your game to go. Roleplaying is a balance of what the players want and what the GM is willing to let them do.

Abbandon

Jun 18 2006, 04:21 AM

If your runners are famous or have alot of exposure then everyone who has been on the wrong end of your runners could start trying to find them and it will be relatively easy.

Whatever money they are making from commercials and stuff should be just enough to cover the cost of building a new safehouse right after all their old enemies get done blowing up there old one. Maybe they come out a little ahead since they are so creative.

Forever Zero

Jun 18 2006, 06:33 AM

If he plays an open dice game, the GM can't fudge rolls. However, in a case like this, I'm not sure I would want to fudge the dice. This is the kind of crazy runner stunts that when pulled off right, can turn a regular runner team into a legendary team ("You hear about those crazy fraggers? I'd kill to be on their team!"). Sure, their reputation with Johnsons that want a total hush-hush job might go down until the media frenzy dies down, but other interested parties might pick them up just because they look like a top-notch team. If secrecy isn't an issue, then just the fact that some people know that THOSE runners are on the job might scare off most people looking to cause trouble (And will also lead to Glory Hounds trying to pick a fight that want to be "The guys that beat the team on the vids")

Of course, when you're a shining beacon, everyone and their mother knows where to find you. Anyone trying to track them down could easily get names (Hacking the Ad Agencies paying the runners with a decker, or even just hitting the bars and asking around "You know who the guys are in that vid? I'd buy them a drink if I knew who they were and met them"), and be kicking down safehouse doors in no time.

SL James

Jun 18 2006, 08:09 AM

What media frenzy? You did read the part where they made sure that they were unidentifiable, right?

Tiralee

Jun 18 2006, 09:49 AM

Thanks for the replies people - I'm tempted to show the players your kind words, but I think they've had enough fun already.

Ok, so I run an open dice game. It cuts out people bitching about "No way would that happen!" (Force 13 Fireball from my mage is a case in point, or the infamous Force 19 Flamethrower...Players: "My god! You're sustaining THAT? It's eating through the walls! - yes, that was a level 7 initiate Mage who earned her new streetname of "Hellbringer") and it makes things a LOT more intense.
Actual Quote: "Hah, I rock, you <GM rolls> can't touch me <we all look at the table>, oh god, that's a lot of sixes...."
Rest of the Table: "STOP! Hammer time...Do dah doo, dah do, Can't touch this..."
<GM=Me> "Muhuhhauhuahahahahahaahaaaa!"
Player: <Starts frantically rolling body, burning Karma, etc>

Some rolls ARE secret - that god-dammed "punch"roll a case in point, but these guys are quite new to Shadowrun. The Decker (RatH) had been playing Kronk as filler, then wanted to start his own character. (See my fumbling cries for help earlier last week, it's been YEARS since we had a Decker. Now we're cursing the fact that we didn't for so freaking long.)
Maybe 5 sessions into a brand-new system, and he was pulling crap like that? I was torn between laughing and grinding my teeth in fury.

I do this (GM/Shadowrun) because it can be a lot of fun and some of the crap that happens is pure comedy gold.

Like one where the mage cast "control fire" on the guard smoking on a roof, killed him with the cigarette, then caused the grenades to cook off spectacularly, which then set the building alight, distracting the rest of the guards busily engaged in trying to wipe out the rest of the team. (Binoculars are USEFUL).

Or the time when another mage dropped a Force 6 Shape Earth on a suspect we were trying to "interview" and invented the Toothpaste Effect.

Or last night, when the Security Expert decided that since he's watched a lot of weird Japanese street racing(Tokyo Driftaloooooooo), he was going to Re-inact the Blues Brother's Mall scene to the theme of "Indiana Jones" because he had 40 seconds to make it out of the mall and the security shutters were closing. Best thing is, he leaned back inside to steal a hat from a hat-rack juuuust as the shutters closed...

Popularity - these guys ARE smart. They already have an example or two of "Don't do this" from other players (Insert Azzie death-squad reference) and they're wanting to have a good time without having to look over their shoulders all the time.

I'm sort of tempted to get the Ad agency to contact them, begging them for the ID's of the guys so they can do a few more advertisments... Heh - I like teasing them.

Look - I was wondering if people had players amaze you with their gumption and how you managed to redirect them away from the dark side of "Jackass", is that too much to ask:)?

-Tir.

knasser

Jun 18 2006, 10:19 AM

Your players are fraggin awesome. That was hillarious. My advice? Go with it! Run a few games where they're sucked into the world of media and celebrity. Let them find out that that world is even crazier than the one they've left behind. Watch in gibbering wonder as they're hired to pull off a shadowrun live on national trid.

"So, can you tell where we are, yet?"

I predict the game will self-destruct in about four sessions, and it will be new-character time. But it'll be totally fun, that's for sure.

QUOTE (Tir)

Look - I was wondering if people had players amaze you with their gumption and how you managed to redirect them away from the dark side of "Jackass", is that too much to ask:)?

But if you want to change the tone from "the dark side of jackass" then the best way is increased realism. The more real you can make everything, the less cartoon like the players will behave. Play up consequences of actions. Don't underestimate describing things in greater detail and adding atmospheric cues. Set a serious tone and stick to it despite all provocation. You may want to preface the next session with mentioning how you intend to change the tone just so they don't think you've suddenly become a killjoy.

But seriously, that was brilliant.

ShadowDragon8685

Jun 18 2006, 10:50 AM

That was in fact brilliant.

I'd have Ares Macrotechnology contact the ad company in order to contact the Runers to hire their services on-retainer as urban Bug-infestation troubleshooters. Why not? They may have hit Runner gold here - steady job doing work where you can honestly say you're doing more good than harm, pays well, and the media loves you when you do shit like shove cans of bug-be-gone down an ant form's throat and kick the shit out of it.

I can just see the ad campaign now. The two trolls are brandishing troll-sized shotguns - pump action grenade launchers with a very powerful concentrated form of Bug-Be-Gone.

The first one pumps his shotgun.
"Roaches check in."

The other one pumps his.
"They don't check out."

Tiralee

Jun 18 2006, 11:06 AM

QUOTE

But if you want to change the tone from "the dark side of jackass" then the best way is increased realism. The more real you can make everything, the less cartoon like the players will behave. Play up consequences of actions. Don't underestimate describing things in greater detail and adding atmospheric cues. Set a serious tone and stick to it despite all provocation. You may want to preface the next session with mentioning how you intend to change the tone just so they don't think you've suddenly become a killjoy.

- Knasser

I tend to run quite "real", dark, gritty missions. (Very dark, actually. My players were introduced to the World of Shadowrun, heh, with a couple of dead early-teen girls who were kidnapped and left to die from exposure. World of Darkness? Suck it.)
And I expect, along with the players, to lose a character each time we get together and game. How many people here can say that?

[ Spoiler ]

The "Dark side of Jackass" I referred to is the...well...STRANGE things people will try to do once they have "The L33t3st Street sammy of Death".

We've all seen it happen.

Mostly, the more "professional" runners (and I stress the word "professional" a lot in the game. "Want to rip off that store in the mall, sure....but who in hell would shop for jewelry in his dump? Duh") get the juicy runs.
...The ones with the pay, and the hazard.

The less professional are happy wiping out gangs, or knocking over other Shadowrunner safehouses (It's gonna hit the fan when the players realise what they've just done...) and using their Assault Cannon if they can get away with it.

These guys have money, sure...but they don't realise how much of it they go through, and how quickly everything changes if, say, someone blows up the van you've been living in, you know, the one will all your guns and stuff in it?

In the meantime, The smarter ones improve themselves, get cover IDs, more around, keep a low profile...until it's time again.

It's all about how smart the players want to be, and how smart they want to play.

ARES - Hmm, nope. I'd have a multi-million, multiple source ad campaign of Ares Firewatch ("We're here, to save you") upstaged by 3rd-rate company and a fourth-rate Ad agency.
"Hey, why bother with Ares? All you need is a case of Bug-Be-Gone and a couple of crazy trolls! Let's hit it!"
Now, that's gotta lead to some fun along the way...

But back to the game?
I'm tempted to do a bit of the media with them - the Magic-users are shockingly pretty and the colour descriptions are quite..well, typical

But some players would refuse on general principal (we're goddammed NINJAs, not Paris-Hilton clones!) while the others..well, it'd be fun for a while...then the dream is stripped away and the nightmare of endless consumption and glitter will be made bare to them, a dark, unwholesome never-ending launch party with plastic smiles and teeth that are too bright, too sharp. And the players will make a choice then and there - to look away, or fall headlong into the pit, burning brightly for a moment until they are lost, forever.

Yeah. It's like that.

-Tir.

knasser

Jun 18 2006, 11:20 AM

QUOTE (Tiralee)

it'd be fun for a while...then the dream is stripped away and the nightmare of endless consumption and glitter will be made bare to them, a dark, unwholesome never-ending launch party with plastic smiles and teeth that are too bright, too sharp.

Hmmm... well there's one idea for where to take things. That description would quite nicely cover a media that was itself infiltrated with insect spirits. I think Wasp would fit better than Ant for this but anything where there's a high enough force queen to be subtle and a few true forms could work. *cough* Queen Euphoria *cough*

A powerful mantid could be interesting too. In a way, her aims would overlap with the players' new bug-stomping speciality so the players could make useful tools... but never make the mistake of thinking the mantid is your friend. The revelation-show down is going to be a bitch

SL James

Jun 18 2006, 11:52 AM

QUOTE (Tiralee)

We're not "street level" or whatever handicap gimp system you want to call it, nor are we shining gods whose radiance blind the mortals basking in our glow. We're goddammed mages, mercs, ninjas, meet-and-greeters.

Bad.

Ass.

hyzmarca

Jun 18 2006, 08:11 PM

The great thing about Queen Euphoria is that players sign away the media rights to their adventure as part of the contract and the Sim (made from actual footage of their run) goes on to make a few hundred million nuyen.

knasser

Jun 18 2006, 08:24 PM

QUOTE (hyzmarca)

The great thing about Queen Euphoria is that players sign away the media rights to their adventure as part of the contract and the Sim (made from actual footage of their run) goes on to make a few hundred million nuyen.

Yeah - I was going through drivethrrpg earlier to see if they had a PDF, but alas, they did not.

I'd love to update it for SR4. I think I can remember most of the details though.