You/your team which has operated in Seattle almost exclusively for many years and is considered one of the top people/groups in its shadows, has been forced to leave, lost all of their contacts and must start again in Hong Kong in order to stay alive.

They no longer have any material resources save for the clothes on their back, a few weapons, and some basic equipment. Funds are practically non-existant. They are essentially strangers in a strange land and have to start over, but now without the network of contacts even newbies have, and with little knowledge of the local scene.

Add to that, they were forced to bring along two dependents who are not runners, and poorly suited to defending themselves.

What would you do in order to quickly rebuild a rep from scratch, locally, in the FEZ?

This is something that's happened to our team recently, and a majority of players are for some reason having a hard time coming up with ideas. I think we've had it good for too long. Thanks in advance for any ideas.

Well, in that situation, I would almost take it as an open-ended recon job. Information gathering is key, matrix, astral and physical...take a few days if not a couple of weeks and observe.

I am sure as a GM, you could hook the characters into scenarios and slowly, they will make some contacts. I am sure they would also step on a few toes as well, that could come back to haunt them.

Survival would also be a big thing...finding food and shelter would be key.

I know that is pretty general, but as a player in this instance, that is what I would do. Get me and my team into some form of shelter, to kinda call home base and then spend time out on the streets, observing, gathering intelligence and in time, some things are going to pop up and contacts will be had...

Pretty open-ended, but after a few sessions, I am sure at least a few contacts would be gotten, and with that, you could start running more standard jobs...build that money base back up and all would be good!

You could try to hire your skills to a crime syndicate (shouldn't be hard to get into contact with those).

The biggest problem would be fake IDs, I guess, if you do not have any, anymore, which means you can do squat legally. So finding people who can A) give you money for work -and- B) sell you fake IDs would be good.

BTW, why are *all* your Contacts gone? That seems rather weird.

Bye
Thanee

That question is very general, and there are many aproaches, from simple urban survival to asymmetric warfare.

What fields of profession does the team feature? What special abilities do they bring along?
What are their backgrounds?

What he said; sell them to Tamanous for start up cash.

The first thing would be finding a fixer, the second one finding a reliable one .

Well, I guess it's not that the contacts are gone, but rather the team has no idea which ones they can trust right now, and so are avoiding any contact with their, err, contacts.

The team is made up of a warrior adept good with guns and his hands, two street sams who are very good with guns (of course), a hacker who is a capable combatant, and a shaman who is quite good in anything BUT combat. The dependents are a woman and her young child, who are a part of the shaman's storyline (his girlfriend and a little boy who is probably his child), and who are fleeing the same situation the team is.

Overall, they made their reps with extractions and wetwork. The usual stuff.

No skillwires in this team?

No skillwires. I feel the hacker would have gone that route if things hadn't gone to Hell and the team hadn't ended up in the situation they're in now.

this is probably a bad idea, but my first reaction was to say to get in a big fight in a bad part of town. Let people know you're dangerous, and then they'll either fear you and give you what you want, or want your help in doing bad things to other people.

I had a similar bad idea - pick a side in a Triad war as a hobby. Maybe the other side will offer some work.

I disagree on the "pick a fight" strategy.

I would go out of my way to meet people and learn things. Hanging out in bars, on the local 'trix nodes, whatever it took. Start networking. Eventually, you'll catch an eye, and someone will start doing their homework on you. Make sure you feed them what you want them to know. What kind of work you do, what you're good at, etc.

Above all, do your best not to let anyone know about your dependants. Move them out of the city you plan on working in. Have as little contact with them as possible. If very young, hire them a nanny/caretaker asap.

There's always the Yojimbo/A Fistful of Dollars solution to being a tough stranger in town--find the hottest action/feud, play both sides until you figure out which one is going to prevail, and then support the weaker side just enough to cause them to destroy themselves (to your profit).

Given the guanxi structure of HK, this might not be a good idea, though...

Maybe there is a corporation which the runners have worked for in the past which has a subsidiary in town and could benefit from some out-of-town talent?

Well, let's see whether a pretty ancient guideline fits this problem:

First, find a place where the characters are away from prying eyes - abandoned facilities, maintainance ducts, etc. are a great place.
While the hacker acquires the basic mapsofts, the shaman summons a spirit with magical guard, ordered to protect and follow the orders of the three fighters.

Thus equipped, those three leave to scout the area, and, if clear, start inspecting the low-security-low-life areas the hacker has identified as potentially interesting for setting up base.
While those three search a suitable base of operations and get rid of the bodies of the former inhabitants, the hacker expands it's search for local information and wraps up a factbook... while the shaman takes care of his family.

In case of success, the team reunites again, only for separating again as the fighters, remote-guided by the hacker acquire the basic living amenities.
Basically, they'll get some excercise in S&G jobs first, moving on to B&E with better gear - keep in mind to target only corps.

As soon as the material basis is secured, the team can look for people willing to buy stuff they stole, thus making first contacts into the underworld - and having reference.

Eidolon: They may not speak Chinese all too well, which would likely make networking a nightmare. But the pick a fight idea is pretty bad, it was just the first thing I could come up with given their talents.

Rotbart: I like that plan better than my suggestion by far.

That's true. There's always pocket translators and linguasofts though. First things first when going to a new country.

Also, and especially in SR, never underestimate the number of English (or another language) speakers in any location.

Thats true, I suppose they could Smash and Grab some linguasofts, they wouldn't be able to buy them though with out Fake ID or contacts.

You've got some pretty tough guys in your team, right? Find the local fight scene and take a few matches for money. Far from ideal, but you'll be meeting some of the right sort of people. It's a "pick a fight" that isn't.

But I also think Rotbart has the best approach. Very methodical.

It's just like prison - They'll have to kick someone's ass, or be someone's bitch. Maybe both.

Step #1 - Set up home base.

If Knight Errant makes frequent patrols into and area, your runners don't want to be there. Stick to Kowloon City, or the Mong Kok barrens - They have neither the equipment, resources, nor contact web to deal with any of their actions resulting in legal repurcussions, and given the 'street' level of this location, they'll have a much easier time getting some work. Find someplace to squat. A warehouse, or condemned building would be ideal, though an alley and a tarp will do in a pinch. Foster a relationship with the locals. Your team will want to eat, and there's always manual labor to be done. Spend a few days doing odd jobs for food, and maybe a couple of bucks on the side to grab some drinks at the local shadow dive. Stuff like repairing someone's roof, fixing someone's radio, or getting that old beast on blocks in road worthy condition will work. If you can build a relationship out of the job, you might get a contact, or better yet, a line on a good place to sleep. (Frank's Auto-garage?)

Step #2 - Get guns.

Before trouble goes looking for you, it's best to go looking for trouble. Get your street samurai something that passes for a firearm in the twenty-first century. It doesn't need a laser sight, or a smart link set up. It just needs to function, and preferrably come with a few spare clips. Ganger's are notorious for providing cannon fodder for shadowrunners, but out numbered, and underequipped might make that difficult - Perhaps your team could negotiate some weapons out of the local triad backed gang, in exchange for offering them a little extra muscle the next time they need it - Be warned, however, direct negotations will often result in 'tests of strength' that may involve runners getting their ass kicked, so come prepared - Wrap some barbed wire around a baseball bat for your Samurai, and raid a dumpster for some broken bottles for the hacker, technomancer, or mage. Hopefully that mage didn't lose his spells along with his gear. And maybe the local stuffer shack will sell some razor blades for a creative adept. If you can't -fight- mean, you can at least -look- mean. Having a Magician will be pretty crucial here since losing gear isn't such a big deal, with the exception of all that bonded karma they'll be bemoaning.

In either case, it shouldn't be overly difficult to find out where the local gangs hang out - Afterall, they'll probably have a protection racket going on where your team is squatting. At the latest, you'll spot gang colors a week from squating.

Step #3 - Kick some ass. Get some names.

So you've skirted on the surface. You've either gotten your ass kicked and gone back to square one, kicked some ganger ass into submission and stolen some equipment, or bargained for it - Ideally, the third option there will expose your character's a little deeper into the criminal underground of Hong Kong. From there it's just a matter of surviving until you can prove your useful enough to get attention from bigger fish in the pond - As the reputation grows, more options will branch out - Pirates off the coast, smuggler's between Hong Kong and neighboring ports, and maybe even a little inter-triad action. This will most likely encompass a rebuilding period for your team, as they find more permanent squatting zones, and maybe even add a little security to it. Hopefully they've been strictly professional and haven't gotten -too- involved in local politics to make any enemies.

Afterall, they still don't have the contacts, resources, reputation, or equipment to really take on any of the Hong Kong Shadow veterans, just yet.

Step #4 - Moving up in the world.

Once the runners have put in their dues, they'll probably start changing out their secondhand equipment and getting some more modern toys - And by now, they'll probably have a couple of contacts that might have a line on corporate work. Once the corporate work starts, it's just a matter of pulling off the right job, the right way, without fragging over the employer, chummer.

And one of the fortunate things about Hong Kong is that with the social system in place, the more people you have a positive relationship with, the worse it will be for a Johnson to frag you over - So, as you continually prove you're on the level, the more likely your jobs will remain on the level.

----

Anyway. Just my two cents. Maybe that helped? Maybe not. Either way, good luck!

The main problem is you can't just walk up to a bar, belly up, and say "So, who's the local fixer in these parts?"

Get your hacker on the local info channels. Read every piece of news you can find, research the areas, the culture, the history (assuming they don't know it). After a week or so of reading news, you should have a pretty good idea about a few things that were actually 'runs.

Depending on how SINless they are, there's always the bounty hunter route - go to the local Star, find a few local criminals. Hunt them down, then offer to let them go if they'll give you a hookup.

nice job rotbart

Great ideas so far, everyone. Big kudos to Rotbart, as he started in a way I hadn't considered, and was quite methodical about it.

The team has little pocket money. They also have very little gear, however, they do have the basics, as well as weapons and links, etc. They also happen, at least for a few of them, speak basic chinese and have some familiararity with Triads.

Each of them had a "get the hell out of Dodge" bag already put together that they grabbed during the exodus. I think for more cash, some of the goodies they managed to escape with are going to go bye-bye to whomever will buy it.

Agian, really good advice Rotbart! I also liked the pit-fighter ideas, and overall, moving into Kowloon City (but the characters won't). The only corp they need to avoid overall is Saedder-Krupp, so the offer their services to a corp idea is cool as well.

another option is to try to make an arrangment with a Triad, or a Yak family. it'd probably be a pretty crappy deal, but it'd at least be steady work.

..BTW - why exactly did they had to bail, Schaeffer?

I agree wholeheartedly with eidolon and Rotbart. The first things the team needs to worry about are a doss and contacts. Find a (relatively) safe place to crash, and find ways to meet people. This may simply be staying low for several weeks while the characters go out clubbing/going to semi-legal gyms/talking to people online/whatever other ways there are to meet people in the area. It may be contacting the Hong Kong branch of the Triad gang one of the characters knew in Seattle. It may be beating up a gang and selling their stuff on the black market.

Whatever it is, if you have a place to crash and you can find some people to talk to, you're well on your way. It'll be an interesting time for the 'Runners, however, as they have to rely on their wits and their skills rather than their gear. Really, it sounds like a great set-up for a fantastic non-run-of-the-mill adventure.

Nice story - makes for a great campaign hook.

One tip I'd throw in is to look for other foreigners. Every major city has expatriates, Hong Kong should definitely be no exception. Some of those foreigners will have business interests and shadow contacts, and they won't have any weird Confuscian attitudes or linguasoft problems getting in the way. The player characters will likely stand out like a sore thumb. Maybe none of the locals want anything to do with them, but a Brit or American with business connections might take a chance on them.

If the players don't have a coherent plan that makes sense to you, let them twist in the wind for a while. Then, as a GM, you could have one of these foreigners approach the team and just make an offer or two. That way the team doesn't sputter too long and you, the GM, don't have to break with the reality that their situation is bad. This foreigner can conveniently be in Europe on business at pretty much any time, too, what with Suborbitals and all. It lets the players know that they have to make some local contacts of their own while also giving them a guide as to how to go about that. You can speak through this NPC and give the players a perfectly usable cultural guide - everything from how to bow properly to who's egg rolls not to eat.

i would be arranging just enough work to get back to portland, and from there to go to seattle and get hold of the contacts one by one

using mind probe and alter memory I would have each one checked for loyalty, then would begin a campaign of removing the files those corps have on me

They could always sign up for the Cola Wars in Southeast Asia. A tour of duty with the Minute Men would give them a nice, clean Confederate SIN when they were done and no questions asked or answered about their past before that point. Show up two years later in Atlanta with ex-military passports that could take them anywhere north of the Aztlan border...

-Frank

Our session last night went well, and the players used a lot of Rotbart's advice. They managed to secure a (temporary) base of operations inside Kowloon City, and also aquired two contacts, a fixer and a member of the Black Crysanthemums. The fixer guided them to a run on a design firm, and the organlegger bought up the pieces of the gangers/former occupants of the team's new digs.

Thanks for the help folks.