For an upcomming shadowrun that I am doing soon, I would like some feedback on the run I have put together. It is my first run with my new group, and most of them have not played 4th ed before (We are using 4th ed, not SR4a.) This is my first serious attempt at running a shadowrun game, so feedback is appreciated.

Also, I give some examples of what players can do in here. Those were just things I came up with. If the players come up with some creative solutions to the problem, I will allow it if it is within the rules.

Shadowrun Runs

1st run:

Run in brief: A small group of Alamos 20K thugs have taken it upon themselves to start bombing the Ork Underground.

The Meet:
Fixer calls up the runners and sets up a meet. The Johnson isn't professional, she isn't even a Johnson (And will not go by that name.), she is, however, reliable according to the fixer.

The Meet is in a bar on the border of the Redmond Barrens called "Hit the Spot" and is relativly well-known as a shadowrunning bar (at least amongst the shadowrunning community. The larger community hasn't caught on yet.) The client has set up a private back room to meet. She is a middle-aged Ork, and seems more comely than most.

She introduces herself as Linda Wilsons, and she is a representitive of a neighborhood watch program in the ork underground. Recently, there have been a series of bombings that have killed many orks in some of the shopping areas of the underground, and she is (understandably) very worried. She will pay the runners 5k if they can solve the problem, and can offer 2k upfront. She will not negotiate, she simply does not have any more money (Though if pressed, she will agree to try and hook them up with some deals with some shop owners.) If the runners agree, she will immediatly take them to the site of the latest bombing

Act 1)
The most recent bombing happened 12 hours ago, and is in a fairly well-accessable area of the ork underground, a pramanade with many "Open Air" shops and cafes. A bomb was placed on a gas-line at a pizzaria. The death has caused a background count of 1, though that will dissipate after a few more hours. Linda says that this is the worst attack, but that there have been at least three others in the past two months.

(Magic)
Examining the astral space is difficult, but not impossible. Remember the background count of 1, and ask for an assensing test (Threshold 4). A sucessful test reveals an astral signiture of a spell, but not a combat spell (an illusion spell.) The trail is so badly distorted that it cannot be followed for very far.

(Street Investigation)
Asking around on the streets requires an etiquette(Street or Ork Underground) test. Threshold is 4 for elves, 3 for humans, 2 for trolls or dwarves, and only one for fellow orks. Any sucesses reveal that there has been a new ork around that seems a bit . . . off. He claims to be new asking around for job employment and such, but something about him seems . . . off. He has been spotted hanging around a few of the bombing sites, but there is no hard evidence. This test takes about 4 hours.

(Academic Knowledge)
People with the demolitions skill, or Knowledge skills in chemistry, physics, or forensic science, can investigate the bomb. A sucessful check (Threshold 2) reveals a home-built chemical explosive (Rating 3) with a timer that was set near the gas line. If any of the players have the facilities to run a chemical composition check (requireing a chemestry shop) they can discover it was an amonium nitrate bomb.

ACT II)
The players have some leads (Hopefully) so now they can get down to the dirty buisness of finding the bombers.

(Magic)
If anyone has sucessfully deduced the bombers astral signiture, they can scan the astral looking for the signature. The test requires both an assensing test (Threshold 2) and a Perception test (Threshold 3). They will locate the signature within a day.

An alternate stradegy is to simply watch astral space looking for anything out of the ordinary. This requires an assensing test (Threshold 4) and a Perception test (Threshold 4).

If either are sucessful, see "Found out!" below.

(Streetwise)
If the above street investigation was sucessful, then a bribe of 1d6x10 nuyen will convince anyone who has seen this ork to give the runners a call if they see him again. The next day, they get a call, saying he is poking around some residental neighborhood. Finding him requires a sucessful Perception check (Threshold 2) after they have been made aware. A Shadowing Check may be called for to follow him.

(Academic)
Anyone who made the academic test can buy a chemsniffer, and try to find our ork by tuning the chemsniffer to the chemical signature of the explosive. Finding him requires a Perception check (With bonus dice for the rating of the chemsniffer) Threshold 3. When found, a shadowing roll may be in order.

FOUND OUT!
If the ork figures out he has been spotted, or sees that he is followed, he will immediatly drop his PHYSICAL MASK spell (revealing him to be a normal human) and run. For his stats, use the "Occult investigator" sample character, only add the Physical Mask spell, and the demolitions skill at 2. A chase may insue resulting in the mage ducking through crowds or trying to lose them by taking back alleys. Roll the mage's STEALTH vs. the Shadowrunners SHADOWING (-3).

Finalle
The mage eventually surfaces in Pallyup, near an old warehouse. He is a leader of a cell of Alamos 20k, and has been using his Physical Mask Spell to plant bombs in the ork underground. His warehouse is guarded by 1 force 3 Watcher spirit (which he re-summons every sun up/sundown) and has a basic security camera system watching the outside and inside (Device rating 3.)

Inside are 4 Thugs (Use the Profession rating 1 thugs in the book, or my Alamos 20K thugs in the THUGS! thread.), 1 Lieutenant, and the mage. The job isn't done until the threat is "neutralized."

Sounds like a good introduction mission to your campaign. However, not knowing the experience of your players, I can't say for sure. For new players to Shadowrun, the concept of "legwork" might be foreign to them. They may need some guidance or some clues to fall in their lap so to speak to get them to sherlock the rest of the mystery.

However, for more experienced players or those at least familiar to Shadowrun, you may consider stepping up the resistance depending on the size of the group. Mages are generally bad news, but they are still vulnerable to damage dealing Samurai and other heavy hitting mages overcasting spells. You know your group best, so make sure to scale it to give them a challenge (maybe two mages with a team of thugs?).

One last consideration, I've always seen my first mission as a way not only to introduce the players to the rules, but also to introduce them to my flavor of GMing. Make sure your first run conveys your play style or at least hints towards where you'll be taking them next session.

seems like a prety well laid out run, and its good its not a straight to a corp johnson and lots of nuyen. one question - how long will your session be as I dont see it lasting more than 2 - 3 hours even with newbies. A couple of suggestions to lengthen the time if needed

1) When the runners turn up at the warehouse have the thugs be paid muscle which then can lead back to Alamos for a second fight, this one the runners can plan out.

2) Have the mage take on the visage of a local known and well liked ork when the runners chase him letting him get away(leaving clues behind of course) as the locals help block the runners to help their "friend"

3)Personally I like to have my first minor bad guy to come back a couple of times to be very annoying to runners it also adds some continuity when three missions in Stan the now unemployed security chief/deposed gang leader/broke fixer blows up the pcs car/home/workshop/yacht etc or for the personal touch lets in anilmals and feeds them laxative letting him get away and having the pcs search for and not find him immediatley could be useful

As I said these are just to expand the time, the adventure seems fine by itself.

That sounds like a lot of fun. Well planned with lots to do for all different types of characters. I would agree that for new PC's the legwork section can be a little hard to grasp but with the right hints and a talkative NPC the players will probably follow the bread crumbs. As for game lenght just a few hours for a first run is not such a bad idea. Players will add a lot to each section of the game so just interacting with them and letting them "Do their thing" without letting them get to far off track will add game length.
Do you have a Hacker in the party? If so you could add some real simple systems that may have cameras that might have recorded something. The hacker could even set up a video feed to monitor different areas of the Orc Underground. And for a little excitment for those PC's that just love to shoot stuff you could add a critter or two as the PC's investigate the darker corners of the Underground for clues. Packs of devil Rats or maybe A Ghoul could add a little flair.
But these are just suggestions. I think your game sounds like a lot of fun and you have a real good lay out. Enjoy and let us know how things turn out. Good Luck!!

Thanks for the suggestions. Good suggestions all around, and thanks for all the positive critiques.

For reference, I am making these runs as generic as possible so that people can use them as they see fit. Personally, my party consists of 2 street sams (one pure street sam, one heavy weapons guy), a mage, and a hacker.

Here is my second run. It is intended to be longer than the first, and includes 2 fight scenes. I plan to draw out act 2 with some heavy RPing, but I could use some advice on how to buff up this run even more. Advice welcome.

Second Run:

Description: A bodyguarding assignment goes about as bad as it can get.

The Meet: Fixer calls the team and informs them that, because of their good job on the previous mission (See first one), the Gianelli family has decided to hire them on a trail basis. Johnson works for the Gianelli family, and wants to hire them for a simple assignment to “test them out.�

Johnson meets them in a south downtown Italian restaurant called “That One Place.� He is a normal-looking human in a somewhat formal suit (Auctioneer armored clothes). And has the banquet room reserved for them. He provides a dinner of Lasagna with some REAL (but low-end) red wine. He explains that he wants some extra muscle transporting a willing person from the docks (she's coming in by boat) to a downtown building. A successful knowledge check (Seattle Underground/Crime syndicates/turf) will reveal that the building is a well-known apartment complex for housing Gianelli family members. It is deep within family turf.

Johnson starts the bidding at 1k a runner, but will go as high as 2k (None upfront, this is a bodyguarding mission, after all). The boat is coming in tomorrow, and he gives the runners the time and location (a commercial dock, 7 at night), and instructs them to look “Presentable.� He also informs them that this is simple bodyguarding, and bringing heavy weaponry would be counterproductive and draw too much attention.

Behind the Scenes: Constance Gianelli, granddaughter of Tony “The Cheif� Gianelli (current consigleri of the Gianelli family) is currently coming home. She is also the cousin of the current don, Joey Gianelli. Moreover, the poor 16 year old suffers from AIPS and is a Technomancer. She was extracted to one of the Puget sound islands last year during the technomancer crisis for her own protection, and is returning home now that technomancers are more widely accepted.

Act 1:
If the runners agree and show up, they find that they are early . . . intentionally so. They wait around for about half an hour or so with four other Gianelli soldiers. The soldiers don't talk unless spoken to, and only give curt, short answers. If necessary, use the stats for the Lone Star Thugs in the BBB (or the mafia legbreakers from my THUGS! Thread.) They have their own luxury sedan, which will transport the girl, and the runners are to follow in their own form of transportation behind them.

After half an hour, a yacht docks, and two well-dressed soldiers escort a sixteen-year-old, strangely dressed girl off the boat. They are clearly trying to direct her to be as professional as possible, but her AIPS makes it difficult.

Her AIPS puts her in a dreamlike state, where she finds even the most innocuous things intriguing. She stops to talk to the runners as she exits the actual dock, and assumes that whomever has the best commlink is the leader. If this is not the case, she becomes quite confused. She acts like she is permanently 'out of it' and is interested in strange or mundane things. A successful assensing test (threshold 5) will reveal her as a technomancer, or a fellow technomancer will recognize her as one.

As the team prepares to escort her to to the car, they become surrounded by Triads. There are 4 thugs and 1 Lieutenant on either end of the area, so it looks like the following. Use the Profession rating 2 Corpsec guards stats. (Or Profession rating 2 Cut-Rate Mercs, from my THUGS! Thread.) Feel free to up the number of thugs if the encounter is too easy.

|WAREHOUSE| Alleyway| WAREHOUSE |
4thugs, 1 Lieutenant - - - - - - - Runners/mafia - - - - - - - - - - 4 thugs, 1 Lieutenant

The Triads demand that the girl be turned over, or they will kill everyone. The Mafia guys, obviously, won't let that happen, so everyone has a fight on their hands. The triads are approx 20 Meters away, on either side, of the runners/mafia.

Once the shooting starts, the mafia direct the runners to take out one group, and they will take out the other. The first order of business should be for the runners to get the girl inside the car, and get her head down, (If they do this, they will each be given a 500 nuyen bonus upon completion of a successful mission.) If not, the mafia guys will do it (and the runners won't get the bonus.)

What's going on: The Triads got wind of the girl being transported, and want her. They know that she's a technomancer, and suffering from AIPS, so they figure they can use her psychological disorder to their advantage, and trick her into hacking for them. If that plan fails, they can always ransom her off back to the Gianellis.

Act 2, GONE!
Make sure the firefight lasts more than 2 rounds (if necessary, have additional thugs in high places acting like snipers to further distract the team, or hiding around corners.) When the runners return to the car, they find that the mafia soldiers are also victorious (though they are slightly the worse for the wear) and the girl is missing from the car.

What's going on: The girl has not been kidnapped by the Triads (though the runners are free to think that.) Instead, she has simply “Wandered off� during the firefight. She has not had the chance to interact with any nodes (besides the one in her home on the island) for several months, and she has jumped at the chance to explore the city and all the nodes in Seattle. For her stats, use the sample Technomancer in the book.

Finding her:
Magical:
If the party mage has assensed her aura earlier (requiring a threshold of 3)he or she can try looking for the lost Technomancer that way, with an extended test requiring 10 successes on assensing and 10 on perception (Each combined assensing/perception check takes 1 hour.)

Matrix:
Finding her on the matrix is a fair bit . . . stranger. She hacks almost every node she can, and changes default AR theme to ponies, or fairies, or other, similarly cutesy things. This includes AR spamming zones and local businesses. Following her trail of hacked nodes requires an extended test, 10 successes on a scan test, and 10 successes on an Analyze test. Each Scan/Alayze test combo requires only 10 min. (or 5 min. if running hotsim.)

Streetwise
Another way to try and track her down is simply asking around. An extended Etiquette(Street) test(10 successes, 20 min.) can net the runners a description of a girl similar to the lost technomancer walking around, like she had no cares in the world. Streetlights always went her way, and she seemed distracted by the most mundane of things. They will confirm that she was alone.

FOUND HER

After any of the extended tests succeed, the runners happen upon a multi-level, large toy store. The store is closed, but she has hacked the node and opened it for herself. She is currently editing the default theme, adding cutesy unicorns, flowers, ponies, and all other manner of things. She has also hacked various toy drones to act as her 'friends.' Trying to gain access to the store (and get it open) requires the team hacker to go head-to-head with her rating 3 guard sprite. Gaining entry any other way will require bypassing the rating 3 maglock, or busting in (which will trigger the alarm and give a call out to Lonestar of a robbery in progress.)

Finale

Upon entering the building, and working their way up to the third floor (where she is) she greets them pleasantly enough, explaining that she has simply been very bored on the island, and wanted to play. A successful Etiquette(Matrix) test, or a Negotiation(persuasion) test will convince her that her fun is causing problems for others, and she will agree to follow the team to the dropoff. However, before everyone can leave, the Traids (who also have been following the clues) show up, demanding the team hand over the girl. This time they have brought some serious backup. In addition to several Thugs from earlier, they also have a Street Samurai (use the sample street sam from the base book.)

Wrap up:
If the runners succeed, the Johnson agrees to give them 5k apiece as a token of appreciation (regardless of earlier agreements) (plus an additional 500 if they made sure the girl was safe before letting lead fly back at the docks.)

Oh come on? No help for my second run?

I'm pretty inexperienced with Shadowrun but I'll have a go. The one potential problem I see in the second run is if the runners get the girl into the car during the first fight, and then have a member of the team stay with her to insure her safety (At least, that's what I would do, even with only the three person team our group runs. I'd definitely sit the mage in the car with the girl as a last line of defense, especially considering how out of it she has appeared).

So, you might want to figure out a workaround for that, because the girl would have a hard time wandering off with a runner hanging around keeping an eye on her, and if that doesn't happen then you've lost a good portion of your run, which sounded pretty entertaining.

Best of luck.

The second run sounds action packed but in my experience GMing, I have found that player characters usually do not run from fights. The scene where the girl is meant to be shoved into a car for a quick cover might turn into the PCs hunkering down and going for a total Triad wipeout which wouldn't take long if the forces were "even". Definitely have more Triad than runners & mafia members to ensure 2 rounds of combat.

Also something like a flash bang would be great for distracting and penalizing perception tests for when the girl makes her slip from the car.

Thanks for the idea, I'll use a flashbang if the PCs hunker down in the cars.

To be honest, I was counting on the fact that the PCs won't have crazy weaponry (they were told not to bring it, remember?) and the triads hiding behind cover to draw the PCs out. Also, our mage can't sit in the car. All his combat spells are indirect (a.k.a. lightning bolt/fireball) so the only thing he'd end up doing is scorching the armored glass in the back of the car.

I would appreciate some assistance lengthening my second run, it was supposed to be considerably longer than the first.

Anyway, I would also appreciate some story critiques. Here are the ideas for my upcomming runs.

Run 3) The Gianelli's, furious over what the Triads attempted in run 2, hire the runners to strike back. They hire the runners to infiltrate a Triad drug lab, kill everyone there, then blow it sky high (if the runners do not have demolitins, they provide their own, stable bomb. It is not difficult to blow up a drug lab.

Run 4) The runner's fixer hires out his own runners. He stands to make a significant deal of money by selling the excess food made from the plastic jungles in the barrens (it is all natural, organic, real food, after all.) However, he needs the runners to teach the inhabatants to defend themselves, and he needs them to take out the local go-gang that's been stealing all the food.

Run 5) The Gianellis are back. There is a new group that is using the ork Undergound to smuggle weapons, and the Gianelli's don't like the competition . . . This run ends up hurting the Yakuza.

Run 6) The Gianellis have found one of the major fronts for Vory smuggling, and hire the runners to do a datasteal and get the incriminating evidence, and send it to Lonestar, which will reduce Vory influence.

Run 7) The Gianellis throw in whole hog, and ask the runners to sabotage/steal a major drug shipment from one of the Triads. Still working on the details to this one. The runners are contacted directly for this run (they don't go through their fixer.)

Run 8 ) BIG MAJOR RUN. The Gianellis say that they are giving the Runners over to the Finnigan family (the biggest mafia family in Seattle.) The run is supposed to be a simple meet during a Finnigan party, so the Finnigans can check them out and see if they are worthy of being the go-to runners. However, the Gianellis double cross the runners by spiking most of the food with K-10 (this will be the first public appearance of K-10 in my campaign world.) The runners have to exit the mansion full of beserking mafiosos, and are set up to take the fall by the Gianellis (who plan to sweep in and get massive amounts of territory, with blows against the other mafia family, yakuza, triads, and Vory.

Here is my idea for Run 3

Again any assistance or recommendations are very much appreciated. I am always looking for ways to extend my runs, as I seem to write very short ones. Any help, please?

Run 3

Description: Runners are hired for a retaliatory strike against the Yellow Lotus Triad.

Setup: A very short time after the runners run 2 (Basically give the runners just enough time to heal) they are approached by their fixer. The fixer explains that word on the street is that the Gianellis are hopping mad over the kidnapping attempt, and are out for blood. Their fixer explains that the previous Johnson has requested the team again, and dollars to doughnuts it is a retaliatory strike.

The Meet: The same Johnson as Run 2 (particularly well-connected characters may learn his name is “Skinny Al.�) meets them at the same place (The Italian restaurant called 'That One Place'), in the same back room, only there is no food. Skinny Al is obviously perturbed, and anyone who's smart enough can figure out why. His bosses are leaning on him HARD, and he is forced to rely on the runners again on short notice.

The Johnson will pay the runners 3k (will bargain up to 4k)each, plus an additional 500 if they complete the run within the next 24 hours. If the runners accept, he will give them the details.

The mafia has recently discovered a drug lab of the Yellow Lotus Triad located deep inside Puyallup. He give the runners the GPS coordinates, and informs them that the roads are most likely littered with debris and impassable to wheeled vehicles. He is paying the runners to plant a bomb in the drug lab (he will provide a bomb if the runners do not possess the demolitions skill) and blow it sky high. They are to leave a metal emblam of the Gianelli family at the scene, so that the message is clear: “Don't mess with the Gianelli family.�

Act 1)
If the runners want the extra cash, they have to act fast. If they choose legwork, some snooping around will reveal that the Yellow Lotus Triad, known for pushing BTL chips, are going back to drugs, what with the advent of downloadable BTL programs. The are getting raw opiates smuggled in from overseas and are processing it in several drug labs around the city. They are mostly known for cooking up Bliss and Zen, but have been known to do a few other drugs on the side (Mostly Cram and Novacoke.) This particular druglab is making bliss.

Getting into Puyallup is difficult, but not impossible for a vehicle. It takes approx. three hours of slow driving from the end of Tacoma to get close to the drug lab. However, the runners will have to have to take the last few blocks on foot.

Upon exiting their vehicles and walking half a block, several Triads (Use the Thugs for Corp Security in the BBB) surround the players, and demand to know what they are doing (They will first speak in Cantonese, and then in English if the runners don't speak that.) They are very trigger happy and will begin a fight at the first sign of trouble or disrespect, but may be persuaded to let the runners pass from a silver-tounged PC. If a fight ensues, one thug will bolt, running to ask the local drug lab for reinforcements and requesting backup.

Act 2)
If the players successfully talk their way past, they will be forced to sneak up on the compound, or else the gang returns, and they won't try talking. If a firefight has happened, AND if at least one thug escaped, then the compound will be on high alert.

The Drug lab is an abandoned two-story sleezy motel. Several of the rooms have been converted into living quarters for various Triad members, and several more have been converted into makeshift drug labs. The hotel office is where the higher-ups hold meetings and sleep.

If the compound is on high alert, there will be several people (Use the 'Dedicated terrorist' Thugs from my THUGS! Thread) leaning out of windows and preparing to 'Snipe.' There are also at least 2 mages (Use the dedicated Terrorist Lieutenant from my THUGS! Thread) as well as the local boss, an ork Gunslinger Adept (Use the Ork Gunslinger from the BBB.) The PCs can choose to either sneak in (the sewers are on option) or can kick down the door, guns blazing, but they must plant the bomb in one of the drug labs in order for it to take full effect (bomb+ flammable chemicals= what Johnson wants.)

Epilogue:
The Johnson does the dropoff via an overseas matrix bank account, and pays in full. If the players were particularly loud, they will probably have made an enemy of the Yellow Lotus Triad.