Using the 4th edition rules (well, mostly anyway) I plan on running Shutdown/Brainscan – I wish I can give it an Akira (the anime) feel: an almost religious fervor grabbing a whole bunch of people…Deus as the second coming type thing.
Anyway, I don’t know if it’ll work (with my luck, it’ll probably implode after a session).
Has anyone out there played or ran Brainscan? Can anyone give me any advice, any tips on running that campaign or any idea at all?
Thanks!
Furst
Full Version: Running BRAINSCAN
I thought about it once. Really, the biggest differance you are looking at is drones. In 3rd Ed, bullets bounced off drones. You would have to find a more inventive way to get around them. Unles you got some AV rounds, in which case the drones exploded just if you piinted your weapons in their general direction.
In 4th Ed, you can actually fight the drones. That's the biggest shift you'll face running Brainscan, I think.
In 4th Ed, you can actually fight the drones. That's the biggest shift you'll face running Brainscan, I think.
| QUOTE |
| Has anyone out there played or ran Brainscan? Can anyone give me any advice, any tips on running that campaign or any idea at all? |
You know that first cake run at the power station? Make sure the team has an understanding of how simple the situation is, and doesn't over complicate. The group I ran it for came loaded for bear for some unknown reason, drew a lot of attention to them selves,and ended up in a running batle with the Star that cost two PC lives. It was a total cluster fuck. So just keep them from over complicating.
Keep the mystery as well. If you can, run the games without the book. Not like you're going to ned it for stats anyway. That way you can run another run or two between the Brainscan stuff, giving it a bit of a seperation, and making it more interesting when it all starts to come together.
| QUOTE (fistandantilus3.0) |
| That way you can run another run or two between the Brainscan stuff, giving it a bit of a seperation, and making it more interesting when it all starts to come together. |
You should intersperse the runs from the original Harlequin adventure. That'd totally mess with their heads.
| QUOTE (Fortune) | ||
You should intersperse the runs from the original Harlequin adventure. That'd totally mess with their heads. |
.... you're mean.
| QUOTE (fistandantilus3.0 @ Aug 23 2007, 10:08 AM) |
| You know that first cake run at the power station? Make sure the team has an understanding of how simple the situation is, and doesn't over complicate. The group I ran it for came loaded for bear for some unknown reason, drew a lot of attention to them selves,and ended up in a running batle with the Star that cost two PC lives. It was a total cluster fuck. So just keep them from over complicating. |
As one of the writers for Brainscan, that had me actually laughing out loud.
I agree with the already-offered advice. If you can keep the books hidden away, your players will be less suspicious of an over-arching conspiracy and will be more surprised when they learn the truth. I also agree with the recommendation of mixing the Brainscan adventures with totally unrelated runs. Then the players will have less reason to suspect the runs are linked together and that adds to the surprise also.
| QUOTE |
| I wish I can give it an Akira (the anime) feel: an almost religious fervor grabbing a whole bunch of people…Deus as the second coming type thing. |
Religious fervor would not be out of place for the Whites. Each of them has their own reasons for serving Deus, but they all believe him to be a vastly powerful being that is going to transform the world in some significant way.
And while the other Banded might not have believed that before Deus transformed them, they've been thoroughly brainwashed since.
Keep in mind that Brainscan is happening during the Year of the Comet. Using both can really give your campaign an extra kick.
I recently ran Brainscan under 4th Edition rules, and it worked well. As advised by others I spread it out and mixed in some homemade stuff in between the set up runs that lead up to actually entering the Arcology.
Inside the Arcology I got a lot of setting mileage out of mixing up totally rebult areas with totally untouched areas, and areas that were slightly altered. The mix of normal, slightly abnormal, and totally abnormal created a nice creepy feel. Additionally I minimized the combat, but had nearly each one be an ambush, there was a lot of time spent worrying about what was around the next corner but not a lot actually shooting. It's a group style issue though the Arcology can be either a combat dungeon crawl or a great suspense thriller depending on how you run it.
Another tactic I used was to have spider drones very quickly cover the evidence of combat in some sections, which really would mess with the players when they would shoot an area up, and then later have to backtrack and not be able to find any evidence that they had shot it up half an hour earlier.
Inside the Arcology I got a lot of setting mileage out of mixing up totally rebult areas with totally untouched areas, and areas that were slightly altered. The mix of normal, slightly abnormal, and totally abnormal created a nice creepy feel. Additionally I minimized the combat, but had nearly each one be an ambush, there was a lot of time spent worrying about what was around the next corner but not a lot actually shooting. It's a group style issue though the Arcology can be either a combat dungeon crawl or a great suspense thriller depending on how you run it.
Another tactic I used was to have spider drones very quickly cover the evidence of combat in some sections, which really would mess with the players when they would shoot an area up, and then later have to backtrack and not be able to find any evidence that they had shot it up half an hour earlier.
Thanks for the advice, I'll keep that in mind. I hope i can get an Aliens (the second movie) feel for when the character get into the Arcology - you know when the Colonial Marines find all those "melted" bodies near the nuclear core? I really want to go in that direction.
You might do a search here for the "Halloween" thread from last year. One of the scenarios involved an arcology, and might provide some mood, although you're dealing with an electronic demon here.
| QUOTE (Demonseed Elite @ Aug 23 2007, 11:46 AM) |
| As one of the writers for Brainscan... |
Dude, you totally rock! The whole Deus, Arcology, and Brainscan plotline was my absolute favourite to ever appear in Shadowrun.
Once you get into Arcology, emphasize the "horror" feel of it. I actually dimmed most of the lights in the room where we play when I ran those parts. You can emphasize the left-overs from gruesome experiments that Deus was carrying out. I had the players stumble upon a "dumping room" where Deus threw all the people that didn't work out "quite right" so they were all twisted monstrosities of failed experiments.
However, what worked better than that were objects that are normally harmless that take on a different feel given the circumstances. One of the most memorable scenes was when I had the players move through a now abandoned Amusement Park in the Arcology. I described how the once happy music now seemed twisted and mocking. I knew I was getting the picture to them when I described the laughter of a mechanical clown, then I made the "Ha ha ha..." sound over and over until one of my player said "I shoot the clown!" In that scene I also introduced those freaky kids with their dolls that speak to them. Little kids can be really freaky in a "horror" type setting.
| QUOTE (Malachi) |
| Dude, you totally rock! The whole Deus, Arcology, and Brainscan plotline was my absolute favourite to ever appear in Shadowrun. |
Dave Hyatt and Brian Schoner get the credit for the original idea of Deus and the Arcology shutdown. I was involved later and pitched Brainscan and co-wrote it.
I'm glad you like it though! It remains one of my favorite developments in Shadowrun too.
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