And yes, I do have Shadows of Europe...

The year is 2062 and my group of players are planning on relocating their operations to somewhere away from the American continent. -They still have to escape from Ares hit squads and survive a deal with their Yamatetsu handlers- However, If everything comes out nicely, (some) of them will skirt Seattle and hopefully start afresh in a new place.

I had suggested Hong Kong, but these characters would be too conspicuous. As one of them is actually a German dwarf and another has a fixer with a couple German connections, I know they will move under Lofwyr's shadow...

The thing is, I have to plan the campaign ahead and have something there to welcome them. I still don't know what city to use and which "flavor" and plot elements I could make the most of there.

I was considering Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Frankfurt or the Rhine Rhur Megaplex.

Have you ever played any campaigns there? Are you from Germany? Have you got any used or unused German runs you can tell me? Maps? I am still undecided on what kind of environment I want to build. The only conditions I imagine are that: it should not be a corporate enclave, Ares presence should be weak or nonexistent and it should have enough space to keep recently arrived elite group of shadowrunners busy and happily in the shadows.

They will probably use the city as a staging ground for Europe based runs so loose borders and bribable customs could be useful too. (mmm... this sounded interesting... maybe I post this as a IC post in the "welcome to the shadows section)

Anyway, help, stories and inspiration appreciated. "War Stories" most welcome (¿Run stories?)

Cheers!

Max

P.S. I have never been to Germany nor I speak the language, and neither do any of my players. We are quite keen on reading enciclopedias, though

i'd suggest Hamburg . . mainly because i am living there at the moment and have done so for over 3 fourths of my life but also because it is the only city in which a rigger can get to actually use a mini sub to get through town ^^
also there's smuggeling galore to get in and out of the city and it is not directly under golden snouts nose . .

I'd say Hamburg is your best bet. It has the right mix of barren and safe areas. It's a good entry point into the AGS and has the port and its smugglers, the vory etc. aside from the 'regular' shadowrunner atmosphere.

Rhine-Ruhr is pretty much in Lofwyr's grip - though Ares presence is limited because of that - and has corporate enclaves by the dozen. However, the udnerworld war between the italian mob and the other syndicates in the area might be interesting to play up.

Berlin is half corporate enclaves, half anarchist containment zone. That setting appeals to some, others rather avoid it.

Frankfurt is mostly corporations, Munich is, too, in addition, Munich is very ritzy and glamorous.

munich is also in the free state of bavaria which is, if i remember, basically little japan only worse because of the church when it comes to metahumans, cyber/bio and magic . . of course, that could have changed from 3rd to 4th . .
also, the city named wuppertal would be worth mentioning . . they pretty much just built the city over the river wupper and as this place is more and more barrens the deeper you get it is basically the german equivalent to the orc underground in seattle i'd say . . also, if you dig that kinda stuff in the rhein/rhur area there are those old coal mines where supposedly there shall be an subterranean dwarven kingdom beneath one of them . . of course nothing definite, mostly fluff from one or two shadowrun novels *g*

I´ll second Hamburg. Nice town, has a waterfront (you did not specify that, but it is important IMO). 4.6 million citizens, so it is large enough.

Any information you need? I don´t own Shadows over Europe, but I can make it up with Germany in the Shadows II.

I spent 9 years over there and I'm partial to Karlsruhe, Frankfurt, and Westrhein-Luxembourg (since I lived in those areas). The last would be a pretty good area for your dwarf (43% dwarven population...from the good ole Germany Sourcebook). If you can get your hands on the Germany Sourcebook, it has a lot more info (and better maps) than Shadows of Europe (of course it's much, much older). The German version (Deutschland in den Schatten) is even better (IMO). I still have to get my hands on the second one they released. I have a bunch of German adventures...but they're all in German so they won't do you much good.

Yes, there are four of them. DidS2 is still "Nice to have" for germany campaigns, the others you can do without. I assume Shadows over Europe reduces interest in DidS2 further than time did (at least for non-locals).

I'll echo the previous posters and suggest Hamburg as your entry point. I'm running a street-level campaign there and the "pirate nest" atmosphere is a blast to elaborate on. (Basically I consider the entire southern half of the city -- the half-sunken ghettos and underwater smuggling hideouts -- to be sort of like Tortuga. On Jazz. With semi-automatics instead of muskets. You get the idea. )

The latent anti-corp feelings of both the man on the street and the political upper crust also allow for many different run opportunities, such as, in politik-speak, reducing undue influences in the political sphere (wetwork hits on lobbyists), infrastructural reorganisations (hooding for the good of the ghetto), and high-priority evaluations of emergent crises (corp espionage). Add pirate and smuggling opportunities in the North Sea, where you can prey on or trade with London, Europort or the Scandinavian Union, excursions into continental Europe, and you'll be hard-pressed to run out of material.

basically, hamburg has about everything there is . . even one or two smaller arcologies(proteus i think has an arcoblock somewhere in the flooded/port area) if i am remembering correctly . . but not one of the big players is really seated there somehow O.o
of course they will have fillials there, but no high security thingies like high tech science workshops or something like that. There's the port and there's the old florist park "planten un blomen"(plants and flowers) where the hamburg university keeps magical active plant-stuff from more or less all around the world . . and of course let's not forget Hagenbecks Tierpark(big old zoo even today) where they have a large variety of critters i think . . oh, and the swimming slums of wild east end are noteworthy too as they can be basically reconfigured/moved to somewhere else on more or less short notice . . i am not really sure if the old Radio/TV-Tower is still there/active as of Shadowrun(today it's basically abandoned as nobody wants to pay the high[fitting] rent for the little space pretty much high up on it) . . and Big Willi the Hamburg pendant to either alcatraz or Las-Vegas(i am not really sure which one of those is true at the moment *g*)
anybody remember the old batman live action series with the BIFF, Boff, Kapow and the such? the villains lairs were somehow allways shown in a weird tilted manner . . you actually can do that in hamburg as parts of the city have sunken lower on some parts *g*
then there's the obligatory gang of ghouls . . something like the dump called rat's nest is there in . . i think altona too . . and of course the more or less actual fleet of smugglers with their hovercrafts, submarines and other such nice things . .
and of course, who could forget the (in)famous red mile? in SR3 that one is either flooded or closer to amsterdams red light destrict *g*

I'm joining the "take Hamburg"-crowd. The sprawl is huge, allows for many different kind of runs and has a very active political scene (btw, what happened to the Hafenstrasse?).
Getting in and out of the city shouldn't be a problem and the other german sprawls Rhine-Ruhr and Berlin are nearby, same for Europort.

The proximity of the other sprawls is something you should take note of, indeed. You can reach every german town within a couple of hours, even by train.

you just have to cross several borders between each of those cities and bavaria is more or less off limits *g*
what happened to the hafenstraße?
the harbour/port-street?
i'd hazard a guess that the street became part of the port/harbour when the flood came by *g*

yes, of course i know, but still,i think that part of town has been pretty much changed to at least venetian look *g*

even those that HAVE been submerged are good hideouts, if you don't mind getting wet and investing some work into making it water-tight . . then just pump out the water, dry it up with some heat and use some soap to get the stink out and you have one heck of a good hiding place . . or submarine hangar or something like that *g*

That can be said for most of the flooded city and woulnd't make the Hafenstrasse special. But a network of dedicated, politcally motivated tough guys living in a community is another kind of game...

It's important to note that the US army had been stationed in the southwestern part of Germany, while in other parts british and french troops were, but not as much as the US ones.

You need to consider limited space in more than intercity travel times.

Our flats and houses are smaller. With the SSG lifestyle creation system, everyone saved money on space... a whole category lower.

But the buildings are different, much more solid walls, nearly all made of stone.

And in former West Germany, there is a village of 1500+ citizens every 4 km (sometimes farther, often closer). The swamped, toxic part of germany would be exempted of course.

...I am looking very forward to spending a good amount of time in Germany during my upcoming trip. Most of the areas where the great JS Bach and Martin Luther spent their lives were in the DDR when I was last there. Cities like Halle, Leipzig, Köthen, Weimar, Erfurt and Wittenberg were all behind the old Iron Curtain (not a recommended destination for an American to travel in the early 70s though I did go to Berlin and had the opportunity to visit a Great Aunt in the eastern sector on a special visa).

Of course I will be "training" it all the way once I'm over there.

Hey, when will you come over to Germany?

I know. Damn.

don't trust any mile-stones you get to see in the old eastern-zone . . they had them placed closer together than the actual difference they were meant to indicate so the people would think that their little batch of the fatherland is bigger than it as in reality *g*
and the mass-transit system is even better in hamburg than it is in most other cities in germany . . we've got at least 100 lines of busses, 4 different train systems and a whole part of ships being used as means of public transport *g*
this is one of the cities where you really do not need to have a drivers license to get around . . well, aside from the really far out places <.< . .

well . . yes, for our standards that is pretty bad, but those two are pretty much the dead end as far as hamburgs mass transit is compared *g*
Norderstedt Mitte is end of line for the subway U1 but is directly connected to the A2 Trains and has at least 7 Bus-Lines starting/ending there *g*
Mümmelmannsberg is end of the line for subway U3 and has only 3 bus lines starting/stopping there . . and yes, i just happen to know that ^^

Mümmelmannsberg is a dead end.

yes, that too *g*

I personally own more english than german SR books. Most german ones being 2nd edition.

Looking forward to August

No, sorry. My festivals are Pressure Fest, With Full Force and maybe Wacken (thanks to At The Gates-reunion...).

nah, i'm not one for concerts and festivals <.<
i don't really like big masses of people when i am in the middle of it . .

...guess I'm the old fashoned type as I would more likely find myself at the Berliner Philharmoniker or attending the Bayreuth Festival. Then there's all those magnificent two and three century old Orgeln in the various churches which are still being played. To hear an instrument that was around at the time the Great J.S. Bach was alive (and maybe even played by him) like that wonderful Schnitger organ at St Jakobi in Hamburg would be priceless. Of course I have to go to St Thomas in Leipzig, even if the organ there is a newer one, just to hear his music in those acoustics.

ah, yes . . THAT i could dig . . about the only thing i can say something positive about concerning churches and religion in general <.< . .
(i've actually been thrown out of a church once . . proudest day in my whole life *g*)