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Lord Ben
Okay Dumpshock, here are your secret ingredients:
A sewer as inspired by: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061219/od_uk_...k_mexico_sewers
A large number of datachips.
Music
Sword

Rules are to create the outline of a run using the above ingredients in as original a way as possible. 5 points for how well the ingredients are used (originality), 5 points for how laid out and coherent the outline is (plating), and 10 points for how much fun our esteemed panel of judges (just me) thinks the adventure would be to run or play in.

Allez Cuisine!
PBTHHHHT
Do I get a point for pointing out that article? wink.gif
Lord Ben
No, you get docked a point because now all I can think of is swimming in excrement.
Trigger
Alright, this Iron GM has my interests picqued and my mind is working away at creating an idea. Will have soemthing tomorrow. biggrin.gif
Draug
Wetsuit? Oh man, that is horrible!

...Hang on, that photo's showing a drysuit. Whew. At least he doesn't have to swim around with a layer of shit inside his suit to keep him warm.

When's the deadline on this?
Tbatu
A sewer as inspired by: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061219/od_uk_...k_mexico_sewers
A large number of datachips.
Music
Sword


In the runners normal tavern hangout, several people are talking about the death of the lead sing in a local bar band. (The runners will note that this is odd because the kind of music played by the band is not the kind normally liked by the bar patrons. Old, grizzled ex-runners liking fluff-pop music, or snobby elves liking grunge, etc. You choice to the kind of band.) His body was discovered in the sewers by maintenance workers, along with several thousand datachips. All of the chips were destroyed by their time in the sewer. The newsfeeds report that he was killed by a single sword thrust to the heart and that his tongue was cut out.

If any of the runners say ANYTHING out loud indicating curiosity about the death, all of the people in the bar that were raving about the dead singer's music suggest that they should look into it. (Use 4-5 unrelated NPC's from completely different backgrounds.) These people come to an agreement among themselves to pay the runners a very profitable sum to find out what really happened and to bring the killer to justice. This very odd behavior should wave all kinds of red flags at the party that something strange is going on.

If they question the fans of the dead singer, all of them will rave about a sample music chip that they got for free. The chips were all one-use, then they erase themselves(much like BTL chips). These kinds of chips are used by bands and music promoters to let people sample the music without being able to copy it. Deeper questioning will reveal that the people that normally would not like the singer's music overheard it in a public place being played by someone else. If asked, two of the people still have the chips and will give them to the runners with no problem.

The chips:
No data can be recovered from the chips. The have been wiped clean. But if the chips are viewed astrally, they have an odd residue on them. And if all of the people who liked the music are viewed, a difficult test will reveal the same signature on them. This weak signature will NOT be noticed unless the mage knows what to look for…so the chips MUST be viewed first. A little investigation will reveal that the destroyed chips in the sewer were the same kind and they have the same signature. (The chips from the sewer and information could be gained by hacking the police report, astrally projecting into the sewer crime scene, or talking to the maintenance worked who found the body and chips.

The band:
Of the other three band members, all are difficult to find. A bit of a bar/club crawl is needed to gather information on them. One hasn't been seen in days…he's dead too. Same MO. The other two band members, a couple, are in hiding. Some more investigating will give some leads to their whereabouts. But a few of the people contacted will says that someone else has already been looking for them, but the descriptions of the other person are not the same.

The searchers:
There are other people looking for the band members. There are two other runner groups…they got the same kind of offer from music fans that the PC's got.
- One group is experienced and consist of a hacker/rigger, shaman and a hermetic. The shaman and hermetic are very curious about the astral signature on the chips.
- The second is a group of noob runners, 3 sams, a hacker, and a face. They all LOVED the music that the hacker played for them. And they want to find them for an autograph.
- The last person is an elf...an adept...with a weapon focus…a sword. It's very old.

What's going on:
The surviving band member, the song writer, has a talismonger friend. Her friend knows that she was in a band and that she liked old music. She found some old sheet music at the estate sale for a university professor.(Actual paper!) The professor was a hermetic who researched folklore. All of the dead professors magic items were found and properly distributed. The sheetmusic is NOT magical, which is why it was sold. However, the MUSIC when played does have an effect. The old professor was researching music-myths. The sheet music was his approximation of the sound of the sirens. Being tone-deaf himself, it never affected him, and he jealously guarded his notes, so no one else ever hear it. She incorporated some of the music into their newest song and they had a hit! Everyone loved it and they got a music promoter to dupe them the sample chips. They were on their way to stardom and riches.

The elf is a very experienced adept. And ex-runner, he's had his sword for about 6 years. He personally recovered it from a crypt in North Africa. But when his sword heard the music, and compelled him to kill. The sword is ancient and powerful…Force 6 for combat. And it adds 8 dice to counterspelling illusions and mind affecting spells to anyone within 10 feet. The sword was designed to kill sirens. The music triggered it with the band as the target…they were the ones making the music. The elf had no idea about his sword's purpose. And because it is bound to him, he can't resist it. In fact, in his current state he doesn't want to.

What are the runners going to do?
- They have competing groups looking for the band members.
- The adept is a stealthy, death machine.
- Use the noob team as comic relief.
- The experienced team can be used to help against the adept. But they have run into the noob team also…and they will assume the PC's are they same. They can also be used to explain the whole mess afterwards if the party lacks a caster.


Ok….I got second place the first round. And I missed the second round. Lets' see if I can get gold this time! smile.gif
Konsaki
It's time for Seattle's 'Shadow Life' first annual 'Sewer Runner' competition. 'Shadow Life' is a matrix site for people who run in the shadows, an offshoot of 'Shadowland', that is owned by a retired shadowrunner who started his own small buisness. This old rigger, Flash Gump, had a hard life in the shadows and thought he could liven it up some by providing a competition for kicks.

Teams of shadowrunners would travel through the Seattle sewers on the hunt for a data chip, that Flash set out with his drone army, with a specific sword and hidden identifier so it couldnt be forged. There would be five chips with 5 different types of swords: Rapier, Claymore, Shortsword, Saber and Bastard. There will also be a bunch of fake datachips with silly AR images on them, or annoying sounds that will force their commlinks to play it outloud.
Feel free to add any sort of critters you like to cause trouble with the runner team, including other runner teams. Most runner teams though wont be violent, just hostile comments thrown back and forth, unless the teams know each other somehow.
The chips are placed in crevices and other hiding spots, so the runners will be constantly making perception checks with the total darkness modifier, unless they bring some sort of light with them.

24 hours after the competition started, no mater if all five chips are found or not, all the teams who turned up with legit chips were finalists in a matrix cast Band Music competition.
This fact was kept hidden right up until Flash announced the finalists. He's pretty sure they would go on with it because the prize is a whopping 50,000 nuyen.

The teams have 15 minutes after midnight to figure out how they are going to display their team for the song and who is playing what. Each member must make a Charisma + performance test to see how well he plays his part and all the teams add up their collective hits. Glitches are -2 and Crit Glitches are -4 hits.
After it is said and done, if the runner team makes at least 10 hits total, they win the competition, some street cred and the cash.

While violence during the competition is not banned, it is frowned upon since this is supposed to be a friendly competition. The teams will have a drone, controled by Flash, following them at all times to matrix cast the scavenger hunt.
Draug
Background
The band Wild Reality was a rising star on the Seattle scene. Backed by Horizon, the neo-grunch post-industrial band was given lavish media attention, and everything seemed to be set for an international career. That was before their bassist disappeared yesterday. With a gig only three days away, Horizon had to act quickly. The rest of the band has been placed under bodyguard supervision, but that does not solve their problem. Horizon needs someone with street skills to discreetly track down and retrieve their musician before the concert, or other medias will have a field day making a scandal out of the situation.

The Meet
The players' regular fixer calls the characters up, offering them a moderately well-paid retreival job that needs to be done quickly for a media-related Ms. Johnson. The meet is to be held at whatever is the most popular runner hangout in the city (the Inferno if in London, Seattle or Sidney) that very night.
Ms. Johnson, is a handsome blond woman in her late twenties, and not all business, possessing that friendly, TV-host attitude and smile that keeps people watching the news. Any background searching will reveal that Sara Rhyder, age 27, born in Boston, is working for Horizon News. More digging will only verify these facts. The corp has no reason to hide this Johnson behind layers of deception.
Ms. Johnson will explain to the runners that the job is to find a missing person, and needs to be done in three days, preferably quicker. She offers 4,000¥ up front, with six more on completion, and a 2,000¥ bonus for every day prior to the deadline the job is completed, and a varying penalty if her employers will have to do a lot of cleanup after the runners. Negotiation can get this as high as 5,000¥ up front, eight on completion, and increase the bonuses to 3,000¥ per day. She simply does not have a larger budget.
If the characters accept, she will lay as many facts as possible on the table, naming Psyke, providing full background information on him (real name Ian Brogan, age 24, UCAS citizen), photos, and even voice samples. She explains that he is believed to have attended a concert at the nightclub SuperBlack, in a poorer neighborhood (Touristville if Seattle) when he disappeared. There have been no attempts at extortion, which leads her to believe it is an act by a rival group, gang, or a personal vendetta. She'll give them a number to call her on once the job is done.

Behind the Scenes
Before their breakthrough, Wild Reality featured a different bass line provider and composer, an elf calling himself Leo. Leo was very, very passionate about his music, and refused to “sell out to corporate pigs”, who would pollute their music with “mainstream pop culture for the benefit of their own capitalistic interests”. The band, tired of playing in shitty nightclubs for shitty pay, chose to throw him out. They also chose to keep his songs, which secured their career, and never told Horizon about their previous member.
Leo was always a primadonna and a flighty artist soul, but he was never a hardened criminal. However, the jealousy of seeing his former band-mates succeed using his songs became too much for him. He sent them death-threats, but to no avail. Wild Reality simply hired a couple of bodyguards, and Leo was about to give up. Then he contracted HMHVV while heading home from another shitty gig, and things spiraled downward.
His mind destroyed, his artistic talent shattered, and his ability to socialize reduced to null, Leo had only his hate keeping him together. His hate for his former mates for stealing his music transformed into a hate for musicians in general, especially those seeking profit. Knowing exactly how they thought, where and how they lived, who they socialized with, Leo had no problem putting himself in the minds of his new enemies, the up-and-coming musicians. With increasing skill and violence, the began stalking them, destroying their instruments and stealing their music.
After months of such activity, he came face-to-face with the one who took his place, heading home after “slumming it” in the Superblack. Psyke was horrified to find what had happened to the former bassist, but even more horrified when Leo beat him unconscious and dragged him into the sewers. Somehow, he managed to talk his old friend out of eating him, and he's now kept – beaten, bloody and covered in shit – with Leo's stash of stolen songs.

Legwork
* The SuperBlack serves as a hangout for the gang Black Blades, who staff it, run security, and occasionally some of the members play gigs there. The Blades all wield swords for style (but have guns too), and aren't easy to talk to. They don't really know anything about any kidnapping either. However, one of their guys disappeared last month. They found him partially eaten by a ghoul, which broke his synth and ran off with his sword. If they botch the negotiations, they might have to fight the gangers.

* The attacked ganger is still alive, trying to heal and fight of HMHVV in the care of a local street doc. Sweet-talking the Blades or snooping around will turn up his location, where he is watched over by a couple of guys from his gang. For 1,000¥, – enough to pay for his care – or with an adequate bluff or threat, he will tell them that his attacker seemed more intent on destroying his synth and stealing the data chips he had with some musical recordings than killing him. He also recalls his attacker was also on foot.

* Snooping around the borough will turn up stories of a crazy guy with a sword who hates musicians and destroys musical instruments. If any of the characters has access to the HMHVV community, they can be able to turn up the fact that the crazy guy is a ghoul, and apparently and ex-musician.

* The Wild Reality band members are all holed up in a condo with a trio of bodyguards, one of them a troll. They have been asked not to leave the place until the situation clears up, and the bodyguard have orders not to let anyone but the band's support crew in. Should one manage to gain access to them, they can be forced or tricked into talking, telling the runners about Leo and how they dumped him.

* Band member and lead singer Phade however, is so scared he needs to fuck something. In peace, away from his mates. At night, he takes off with one of the bodyguards to find a brothel while his buddies are getting high on Novacoke in the condo. Like gaining access to their condo, any runners managing to track and corner Phade should be able to make him talk. Meanwhile, guitarist Crash is staying on the Matrix, and can be found by a knowledgeable or dedicated hacker.

* Talking to anyone from Wild Reality or snooping around (a lot!) will turn up Leo's old address. Gaining access to the shabby apartment block is pretty easy, and the apartment looks like it hasn't been used for a long time. However, the fire escape, a window ledge and moved dust will tell a different story to anyone with investigative skills. Leo still frequents his home, and occasionally even uses it to sleep in. There are also deep cuts and chips in some of the walls, and a broken bass-guitar lies crumpled in a corner.

* Snooping around below the fire escape will reveal a half-open pothole. Leo isn't really strong enough to keep moving the lid back and forth, and has just left it open enough for him to squeeze through. The sewers below are more or less dry, the pumps in this part of town having been closed down a long time ago. Checking the Matrix however, will reveal that there's a flushing of debris into this section scheduled in order to clear out the still-working sewers for maintenance. Flushing starts two hours after the players find this out.

* When at Leo's old shack, any attempt to call him will turn up his commlink lying in the debris. Any attempt to call up Psyke or locate him through his RFID will also be answered, but by a faint signal that can be tracked to outside: It's emanating from the open pothole. Once into the sewer, the signal grows stronger and weaker as the players move about, allowing them to slowly track him down as the signal bounces through the pipes.

* Leo's hideout is nothing more than a section of auxiliary pipe, barely large enough to squeeze through. He can be heard long before he is seen, violently destroying some high tech musical instruments in the main pipe while playing some weird music on a ghetto blaster, throwing petrol on them, and igniting the whole thing. Psyke is stuffed into the auxiliary pipe, battered, bloody, bound, gagged, gnawed upon and still scared shitless.

Showdown
Finding Psyke should have taken the characters about one and a half hours, and taken them deep into the sewers. This gives them roughly 30 minutes, maybe a little more, before millions of gallons of piss, shit and toilet paper comes rushing their way. Depending on their skill level and style, they should be able to neutralize Leo, who doesn't really have any combat skills. He does, however, have a couple of ghoul friends and a sword, one he will point at Psyke's chest if able to. How they chose to deal with him may vary, but most will probably frag the deranged, flesh-eating ex-musician. Some might try to talk him out of it.
Psyke, middle-class kid at heart that he is, will scream and cry as soon as he is ungagged. By the ghetto blaster is a bag. The bag contains some of Leo's personals, 94 datachips containing samples and songs from all the underground artists Leo has stalked. A lot of it is crap, but some of the songs are gold, and some will be loved by the pop culture.

Extraction
Having defeated Leo, the runners have to haul a screaming, traumatized bassist through the sewers to avoid literally drowning in crap. Halfway to the top, Psyke will momentarily snap out of it and look around questioningly, asking “did you get the bag?” The bag contains his newest samples, his lucky charm, and some musical gold. He will explain this to the characters in hysterical tones as he goes traumatized again, promising them more money (he'll go as high as 10,000¥, he's not entirely sane at that moment) for the bag.

Aftermath
* Ms. Johnson keeps her word, paying the runners as promised, reducing pay by 2,000¥ if the runners executed violence towards the band, and 4,000¥ if any of them were seriously injured. Should any of the bodyguards have died, she'll be none to happy at all, and cut all pay but the bonus. If any band members are dead or unable to play at their concert, they might as well not bother calling.

* If he's alive, Psyke returns to his band, and manages to make a show on the concert. Still traumatized though, he plays horribly before having a breakdown and fainting on stage. The show's a total fiasco, and Wild Reality becomes a joke on far too many TV shows. Psyke will tell the world of his experience. Questions like “who the hell bothered saving Psyke” will begin to pop up, along with several Joe Salaryman witticism like “couldn't they at least have given him a hug on the way up?” Runner IDs may be compromised too.

* If Leo's dead. He's dead. However, if he is alive, he'll keep raging against musicians. He will also live up to his death threats, stalking and killing the now disenchanted and failed members of his old band. The band members, fearing for their lives, will offer to pay the runners – the only shadowrunners they possibly know – to kill the ghoul before he gets them all.

* Psyke's interview with local media creates a hype around “the lost songs”. After the interview, Psyke will set up a meet with the runners if they are interested, offering 3,000¥ for the bag (negotiable up to 4,000¥). He'll bring a couple of grunts to muscle it out of the runner's hands if they refuse.

* Shortly after, Horizon offers 14,000¥ for the songs, and the Mafia counters them with 10,000¥ and a favor. Should they show up in their neighborhood, the Black Blades will thank them for the help and ask for their songs back. The original composer turned ghoul, and they put him down. Giving them their songs back will give them an “in” with the gang.

* Should the runners hang onto the songs and do nothing, the situation will simply die down. However, it would be possible for them to sell the music on the Matrix, making as much as 20,000¥ for the tracks over the course of a week.
Lord Ben
You have in there that the band will explain how they dumped Leo, but don't explain it. Is he a former member of the band that Psyke is in?
Lord Ben
Tbatu -
Originality: 3 - sword seemed tossed in. Nice use of the music, esp the Siren song. Laid out in a good mystery fashion with a plausible ending.

Plating: 4 - very nicely laid out and easy to follow.

Taste: 8 - I think it'd be a very fun adventure. Easy to insert into a game and the plotlines don't seem forced. The mystery of the special music would keep PC's guessing too.
Lord Ben
Konsaki -
Originality: 3, The ingredients were all used well and didn't seem too forced. Only that I'd maybe but a backstory in about Flash Gump always liking music so the music competition makes more sense.

Plating: 2, I'd have a hard time running the sewer part personally. Have to come up with a map and a better flow chart for encounters with the other runners.

Taste: 6, My group wouldn't take to it as well the way it's written. But the underlying core is decent. I'd change it to more of mock SR public TV show. Full of laser tag goodness and the chance for public awareness.
Lord Ben
Jarl -
Originality: 4, The sword didn't flow perfectly so I withhold the 5. However the rest was superb.

Plating: 4, Well put together but there were references to the original band having to do with Leo and it wasn't explained. Well organized with possible endings though.

Taste: 9, Very fun to run or play. Well thought out roles for all the different members of the party with chances for "extra" income.
Lord Ben
Note: it's not done, I just wanted to grade each one instead of randomly picking a winner.
Konsaki
Meh, I knew I wouldnt get a high score with this one, I thought it up in around 10min, so it would be something I pulled out of my ass.
Draug
Never pull things you want others to see and enjoy out of your ass. nyahnyah.gif

So, 17 for me? That means I'm in the lead, right? Weeee! biggrin.gif Oh, and I'll look into the sword and the explanation of the band.

EDIT: When I work, I usually end up with a collage of documents, which I then paste together. The "Behind the Scenes" part had fallen out. It's in now (and joinks it up to over 2000 words! 2201, to be exact.)

Thanks for comments, I'm pretty happy with it myself too. smile.gif
Konsaki
QUOTE (Jarl)
Never pull things you want others to see and enjoy out of your ass. nyahnyah.gif

What? Everyone likes corn, right? grinbig.gif
Lord Ben
The concept was pretty good. Actually similiar to something I'm doing in my game. My character's awareness is starting to get high and we own a 10 story building at the edge of the barrens. I was going to theme it out and call it "The Shadowrun" or something like that. Then it'd be an airsoft/paintball gun type place for people to compete, etc. In public it'd be a themepark but it'd essentially be a very public place to train new runners and make contacts, etc. Kind of like operating as a shadowrunner with a wink and a nod.

So the concept reminded me of my RL game and it was good. Just not fleshed out as much as the other two.
Lord Ben
Jarl for the win!
Draug
Yay!

So, does that mean I design the next Iron GM recipe?
Lord Ben
If you'd like to feel free. Else I'll likely post something later if nobody else does.
Draug
I'll do so right away.
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