So does anyone do a smuggling campaign? How well does it work? Seems like a smuggling run would sorta get boring. You roleplay the buying of goods, take off, have some encounters with a border patrol or 2 depending on where you were going and then land and sell things. Sorta simple and straight forward. What can you throw in for twist?
I was wondering cause we finished playing all the 3rd ed missions and then we are about half way through the 4th ed missions and I was reading smuggles havens and they were talking about the t-bird route from seattle to denver so I figured it might be a good way to make some cash and buy time for more missions to come out.
Full Version: Smuggling
| QUOTE (odinson) |
| I was reading smuggles havens and they were talking about the t-bird route from seattle to denver so I figured it might be a good way to make some cash and buy time for more missions to come out. |
You can't, unless you can stop to refuel 10 times. T-birds have incredibly limited range due to huge fuel consumption. You can barely get 200 KM IIRC.
This makes a lot of sense, as you are essentially using raw engine thrust to keep an armored box in the air, but it doesn't fit with how the fluff portrays them.
I've never run a smuggling campaign before, but if I were going to I would look at smuggler stories for inspiration, like Firefly.
One way for smuggler runs to get interesting is to put the Smugglers in the role of target of a Shadowrun. Smugglers have things people want, sometimes badly enough to hire runners to intercept and steal/kidnap/assassinate it.
Another possibility is that the characters have a good run and another crew starts to move in on it and they have to defend their turf.
Smugglers may get caught up in the plots of a Dragon, Organized Crime, a Megacorp doing something on the sly etc.
In those cases the hazards of the road (Customs agents, Border Guards, wild paracritters, pirates) become additional challenges to completing a job.
Another possibility is that the characters have a good run and another crew starts to move in on it and they have to defend their turf.
Smugglers may get caught up in the plots of a Dragon, Organized Crime, a Megacorp doing something on the sly etc.
In those cases the hazards of the road (Customs agents, Border Guards, wild paracritters, pirates) become additional challenges to completing a job.
I'm going to go ahead and say that t-birds, WJ Williams not withstanding, make zero sense as smuggling vehicles. You have to throw plausibility straight out the window.
As has been pointed out, they require enormous amounts of jet fuel. Where are you getting that on the sly? The bird itself costs an unimaginable amount of money, maintenance costs even more, and their cargo hold is tiny.
On top of that, they look exactly like a military incursion on radar, which invites laser guided missiles.
Here's a better idea. Buy a delivery truck for one twentieth the purchase price, fill it with crates labeled "Hand Lotion" that are full of contraband underneath a thin layer of lotion, and drive it, preferably remotely, through the busiest checkpoint you can find at 35 kmph, not 350.
As has been pointed out, they require enormous amounts of jet fuel. Where are you getting that on the sly? The bird itself costs an unimaginable amount of money, maintenance costs even more, and their cargo hold is tiny.
On top of that, they look exactly like a military incursion on radar, which invites laser guided missiles.
Here's a better idea. Buy a delivery truck for one twentieth the purchase price, fill it with crates labeled "Hand Lotion" that are full of contraband underneath a thin layer of lotion, and drive it, preferably remotely, through the busiest checkpoint you can find at 35 kmph, not 350.
Well what fun is that? You'll never have a high speed chase or expensive explosion with that kind of smuggling operation. 
| QUOTE (odinson) |
| Seems like a smuggling run would sorta get boring. |
Yeah, it's only going to be fun when things go wrong, and if things are always going wrong why do it?
I'd suggest having the group work up a sort of SOP. If there are any obvious flaws with it, you run it through and point out said flaws in game. If it seems solid enough, the 'games' only occur when something unexpected happens. Sort of a "You've been smuggling for 2 months now and have made X¥", pause for cheers and excitement, maybe some offscreen purchases, "Currently you are halfway between point A and B on a run, when <insert speed bump here>".
The smuggling itself happens in absentia, as you said it'll get boring otherwise, you play when things go wrong, and there are planty of things that can go wrong as stevebugge pointed out.
| QUOTE (DuckEggBlue Omega) | ||
Yeah, it's only going to be fun when things go wrong, and if things are always going wrong why do it? I'd suggest having the group work up a sort of SOP. If there are any obvious flaws with it, you run it through and point out said flaws in game. If it seems solid enough, the 'games' only occur when something unexpected happens. Sort of a "You've been smuggling for 2 months now and have made X¥", pause for cheers and excitement, maybe some offscreen purchases, "Currently you are halfway between point A and B on a run, when <insert speed bump here>". The smuggling itself happens in absentia, as you said it'll get boring otherwise, you play when things go wrong, and there are planty of things that can go wrong as stevebugge pointed out. |
Thats kinda what I was figuring on doing. Playing some regular runs and then have a bunch of smuggling happen between adventures on their downtime and only play out the ones where stuff goes bad.
I've done some smuggling games .Hovercraft work good. T-birds are ok if you can do the work to up their economy. In my exeprience, they're good for a change of pace, but not so much on campaign direction. Good just be my personal taste though. Good if you can make up lots of interesting NPCs and locales.
smuggling really works best when it's part of a larger campaign scheme (like having to smuggle goods down to calfree to the fence you finally found for them, etc) spend more time on the B&E/salvage/fencing than on the actual smuggling, and have many non-smuggling jobs on the sides as well.
even recent popculture "smuggling" shows, like Firefly, have been more along these lines.
even recent popculture "smuggling" shows, like Firefly, have been more along these lines.
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