Alright BLUF....
The team I GM managed to piss off the Yaks in the Seattle area BIG TIME. Basically hitting them at a moment that caused the Yaks to not only lose face, but a substantial ammount of and a very visible shadoworld loss to the some of the Seoulpa Rings. So the big bosses back in Neo Tokyo have sent a couple of handpick "badasses" to even the odds with the runner. The reason the Yaks are doing it themselves as opposed to hiring outsiders is show they still have bite yada yada. Now the question becomes do I have the Yaks send n power slinging mages and armed to the teeth soldiers that track down and visibly blow up the PCs (try to anyway), Or do I go cliche and have the PCs stalked by a handful of ninjalike, full body tatto having/ Yak streetsam and phys adept type? Just input would be great sometimes it is nice to bounce ideas off of others

did they leave a tissue sample?

I know, ritual spellcasting is mean, but way cheaper than training&risking ninja assassins. And you save the plane ticket.

I remember reading somewhere that the Yakuza aren't into using Mages or Adepts [or metahumans]..
..So probably augmented Ninja, who know everything they need to know about the characters.

Tho, I'm not sure they'd strike directly or quickly.

Maybe kill off their contacts first, to spread the word the characters are not to be helped because of what they did.
Then maybe take out their resources, so they have fewer option..
..Then maybe have the run they're on turn out to be a trap [which they needed to do because of said loss of cash], making them use money and ammo staying alive, only to have the Oyaban at their goal and he kills them in hand-to-hand combat.

Do it over a few adventures, where things get worse and worse for them..

Well: Working from the assumption that this is like/related to the very visible, very badass 'we blow them all up' runner vs. Yak of the last few weeks...

At this point the Yak need to make a statement, yes. But they can't risk sending more straight up badassess into the meatgrinder. First of all, its bad business, second, even if they win, they may take so much damage in the process that they won't regain much rep.


Particularly when dealing with violence prone runners, the smart solution (aside from ritual magic... which is certainly fair game) is the subtle killers. Snipers and poisoners and ritual assassin teams... none of which are particularly fun to be on the receiving end of...


Ideally, then, the Yak are not just out for 'revenge', but rather saving face. They'll play the subtle game even smarter than that. They won't send hitters at all, 'least not after the runners. No, they'll make the runners lives miserable. Contacts will dry up, jobs will disappear. Lovers and family will go missing as the pressure invisibly mounts.

Then the 'hitters' really make their move. The sniper shoots to cripple, the poisoner restricts himself to food poisoning, the demo guy shatters their tea cup (or whatever)... nothing more.

Then they get a call. The offer? Do themselves in, continue the harrassment, or work for the yak, exclusively. Make them the offer they can't refuse. Maybe they get to head up local operations, or at least be big dogs in the local op. Turn them into pampered yakuza lapdogs, still doing the dirty work for money, but only for one team, and very very well compensated.



Only if your players would like that style of game. Otherwise? Go with the ninja-adepts and borg-sammies.... give 'em something to fight.

Oddly enough theur last run ended with body of the fixer that set up the job splyed open on his desk with a letter in Japanese stuck to his chest with a tanto.

A little more background to the event they did not leave any tissue samples, what they did leave was an unnoticed security camera inside the compund in the bosses office not jacked in to the rest of the network. So the Yaks got a visual of them to start. The Seattle Yaks were just brought back into the fold recently by Tokyo but the Runners actions severly disrupted local activities in a blitzkrieg of back to back operations including 2 datathefts, 1 wetwork job, and a slash and burn op of a BTL facility.

Yaks are not big on magic. But Yaks are big on beeing mean.

Now it really depends on what the Yaks want. If they want the runners humiliated, shred their equipment, blow up their apartments, mutilate their contacts and finally cut some of their limbs.
If the Yaks are out to kill the runners... relocate. They should run for it, because Yaks have influence and if they really pissed them of they have people capable of killing some shmug street punks (i.e. non Yaks). Or put in some suicide run that the Yaks offer the runners to clear their dept. And then maybe another or two. Really hard stuff, high risk of death, against rival crime syndicates (the Vori might be fun) or against high profile corporate targets. Neo Tokyo is always in need for some scapegoat gaijin runners to divert attention.

It really depends on what you want to do with the runners. Assuming you don't want to wipe their characters of the face of the world, don't go jihad on them. It will be silly if they kill of the assassins and everything is fine from then on.

I'd try something like an ambush in which the Yaks incapacitate the runners, followed by some beating, injection of some crazy ass designer toxin (maybe a nano tech weapon) and a really short time span until their deaths. Now, I don't really want to kill them, so the Yaks remove the bad stuff after the players perform a run. Everything is ready and set, just the fools stupid enough to actually pull it off were missing. Until now. If they complete the mission they actually get what they were promised but are still in dept with the Yaks.

It's a really nice opportunity to have some short, violent, high risk runs, that let the runner feel the consequences of messing with the wrong people. Never, ever let the players ger away easy after pissing off Yaks (or something along the lines).

Have the yaks offer them jobs, via intermediaries. Have at least one straight out ambush at the meet, using other "deniable assets". Have others be more subtle, like the commander of the Lone Star HRT gets a phone call on his personal phone just as the players are sneaking into a non-sovereign facility, along with pictures and other data. After the next few jobs go bad they should go crazy with checking out Johnson's and killing their hapless fixer who "set them up".

If you send ninja, just send one ninja, and make him a prime runner uber-badass. Then he should try to go to the runner's homes and geek them one by one.

Oh god, here we go again...

Why not start by hitting them where they are likely to be weak? Friends, family, a player character who tends to be off on his or her own-collateral damage can often be frustrating and angering, since we can't directly control it. Start off nice and slow, blowing up safe houses, equipment, vehicles, killing contacts, and spreading the word that doing business with these people is a bad choice. Gangs, in my professional experience, often isolate an individual before striking at them. By cutting them off from friends, and protective environments, and taking advantage of circumstances they can lash out with impunity.

This also builds up the tension, and gives the PC's a fighting chance-maybe if they're smart, and on the ball they'll ctach people doing this and realize what's coming at them.

1) Send an unassuming Chiba vatjob, Johnny Mnemonic style. Have him fuck with them for a while. And then have him go to it incapacitating the whole team. He'll likely succeed. When they wake up... (If you choose this, go to number 3)

2) Mr Chiba appears next to each individual runner's bed at night, he tells them that they owe the Oyabun a great debt, and that he has lined them up a job with a reputable Johnson. He leaves the number and suggests they take the job. They take the job.

They go on the job. It is hard, it is skin of the teeth, and it is immoral. A bit of murder, a bit of torture, maybe some rape, whatever you want the runners to have to do. Anything that challenges their RP worldviews. If they are already immoral mercenary monsters, then send them some-where like the Glow City reactor, or the SOX, and then give them recurring health problems from then on. So once they're back in one piece, they head to the point of payment, and a few doses of Gamma-S later... (Go to number 3) The Oyabun spits in their faces, and tells them to be grateful for his clemency. Then they realise... (Go to number 3)

3) They are tied to chairs around a table, and their hands are taped to handguns, which are taped to their temples. Mr Chiba says, "I apolagize, but I did not possess a revolver." and then you roll dice for each runner, and who-ever gets the lowest roll. Bam. Their character sheet is scrapped. "Let this be a lesson to you." and then he dissapears.