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knasser
Last session, the players completed a mission to assassinate the captain of an Atzlan cargo ship arriving in Seattle. This they did at midnight, travelling by stolen coast guard rescue helicopter. The mission turned out to be quite easy as they bluffed their way in to see the captain. Having not GM'd for a while, I found that I have become overly theoretical and adhered too closely to principles of not railroading the players and letting things play out naturally. Consequently the game wasn't as exciting or well-paced as I would have liked.

The PCs are now flying back toward the Everett docks in their stolen helicopter, it's about ten-minutes past midnight and they're still a good eight miles out. They haven't exactly covered their tracks very well so I'm thinking this helicopter might be intercepted and they'll end up either dumped in the ocean near the shore or at least stranded on the docks. They don't have any transport of their own and they're rather loaded with weapons and armour. What I'm thinking is that I make the journey back to their hideout in the Redmond Barrens an adventure all of its own. If anyone has ever seen a film called The Warriors, you'll have a feel for the sort of thing I have in mind.

What I need help with, is ways of keeping them from just getting a taxi home or other ingenious plans they might come up with (one of them has a contact with a flying, intra-city shuttle for example). And I want to do this in as justifiable a way as possible so the rail-roading is as hidden as can be.

The ship they hit was carrying a major shipment of drugs to be picked up by the Eighty-Eights triad, so they've got one dangerous enemy they don't know about after them already. Three of the four also have Spirit Bane: Water, so there's a weak, Free Water spirit that would be a natural enemy for them and will likely spot them as she patrols those areas of the docks. They have a shaman, but he's in no condition to take on a spirit that remains mostly Astral, so I'm thinking she can dog their footsteps, bringing their enemies to them as she figures out what's going on. The Everett docks are partly Scatterbrain territory, so there's a good opportunity to bring in one of my favourite gangs and they can behave as randomly as I like. Lone Star do currently have visual records of two of them, but no particular reason to connect them to this crime so far. However, they'll have the description of the group (1x South American female troll, 1x Caucasian ork, 1x Caucasian Elf, 1x Caucasian Human) which might be distinctive enough to go on at midnight on a weekday in a limited area of town. Again, the players need not necessarily know that they are being hunted by Lone Star right away.

So the obvious problems and my current thoughts are:

Why can't they get a taxi / bus?
Visual inspection of the group makes them look too dangerous to pick up, they match descriptions of the people who attacked the ship and these reports are now being circulated.
Why can't they call their contact with the shuttle?
He's not available, his wife wont let him out because he's minding the kids, etc.
Why can't they steal a car?
They have no hacker who can take control of one.
Why can't they kidnap someone with a car?
No good answer, yet.
Why can't they just fly the helicopter home to the Barrens.
Should be able to deal with this by whatever method I choose for stopping them just flying it all the way back. It will be picked up as stolen and then shot down if they don't comply with instructions.
Why can't they just break into an abandoned building and hide for a day.
No good answer. I think I need some general method of keeping the pressure on them, e.g. the spirit tracking them, Lone Star sweeping the area.
Why can't they just split up and head their separate ways?
No good answer. As it stands at present, at least one of them is likely to say: "okay, see you" and head off to a separate hideaway. Not splitting up until they've dealt with however they're being tracked might be the right sort of thing

Anyway, I like the idea of this adventure. I like the rich background and setting material I can work into it. I'm not satisfied with my efforts to make it natural and draw the journey out a little.

Any suggestions or anyone ever done something similar?

Khadim.
Stahlseele
BONUS KARMA FOR YOU FOR MENTIONING THE WARRIORS!
Have them Crash somewhere and Damage their means of communication maybe?
No way to call anyone for help that way, right? Not feasible? no?
Have them Crash somewhere nobody else would want to go . . Straight into a Gang-Fight?
Straight into a Lone-Star raid? Into the Ork-Underground?
IceKatze
hi hi

When I want to have a run go in a certain direction, I make sure to lay out some of the basic challenges right at the start. As soon as the helicopter gets intercepted, look them each in the eyes and say: "It looks like getting home is going to be a challenge." or something to that effect. This will help them not feel like they are being sucker punched, instead you've clearly established the challenge and then it is up to them to overcome it.

Stealing a car: The car they try to steal is fresh from being already stolen by a group of gangers. Either the gangers object with bullets, or the runners quickly realize that Lone Star is looking for this car and now think they're the original thieves. (perhaps there is a fresh corpse in the trunk) The players are looking for a random car, but you don't have to give them one at random.

Hiding for a day: The spirit is a good idea. Perhaps it has the "control animals" power, and sends waves of unsavory critters at the runners. While not necessarily dangerous, the critters pose a nuisance and eventually start drawing attention because of their incessant screeching and howling.

Splitting up: The first character to split up gets about a block and then is ambushed. The rest of the runners can of course come to the rescue, but that character must be quick on his feet for a round or two before help arrives. Perhaps a gang, perhaps Lone Star tries arresting him. Make sure it is in clear audio/visual range of the rest of the team.
crizh
Let them get in the Taxi.

That's like Russian Roulette that. You never know when you are going to get the total psycho driver.

Enviro-seal in the passenger compartment, Lael and DMSO in a concealed splash grenade.

Sell them to the Tamanous.

That might be a bit harsh but you get the point.
Screaming Eagle
Why can't they kidnap someone with a car?
No good answer, yet.

My answer: let them. Roll some dice in secret and make a face or whistle and then pick from a list what kind of horror you want them to deal with.
-The driver is possesed by a Blood or bug spirit fleeing its summoner or hunters/ is seeking prey.
-The car is an inhabitied ally spirit and the cab driver is its summoner. Can you say Accident power?
-The driver just stole the car on orders from the criminal organisation of your choise and the Don/Incence master/ whatever is going to be PISSED.
-The car is currently under intence scrutiny by Lone star/ Knight errant/ a local Go-Gang for (pick a reason) and its theft makes them go a little trigger happy
-the cars owner is a technomancer or hacker (you mentioned the team is light in this area?) who proceeds to play merry havoc with the party in VR, AR and flags the car heavily insured, highly explosive and stolen to everyone you can name the instant he can.
-the cars owner has a live organ he is transporting, seriously don't ask, but it needs to get to (Place very inconvient for the group) by (abitrarily hard to make time), the owner can pay you serious yen and if you can shoot a gun all the better becau- *BOOM* (enter a second entertaining and dangerous plot to complicate everyones day)
Traul
QUOTE (knasser @ Jul 23 2009, 09:50 PM) *
Three of the four also have Spirit Bane: Water


WTF ? I would start with a tsunami or a waterspout smash their helicopter if they try to fly low enough to escape radars.
crizh
Do Water Spirits have Accident?

Edit.

Mmmm, yes and Weather Control....
Traul
Spirits don't need any power to manipulate their own element.
Prime Mover
This sounds like a good time to run an out of the frying pan into the fryer game. Let anything they try go from bad to worse, mechanical problems, police,gangs spirits etc... As if the world is against them, maybe it is, maybe in there raid they've picked up a cursed artifact or attracted a unique spirit.
Stahlseele
QUOTE (Traul @ Jul 23 2009, 11:48 PM) *
Spirits don't need any power to manipulate their own element.

was that changed in running wild or somewhere?
Traul
No, it's in the base book. The example they take is a fire spirit setting something on fire as a physical service. No power is involved.
Stahlseele
The Service COULD have been:"go here, touch that"
Traul
Then you can as well say that the water spirits are so pissed off that they team up and form a pyramid nyahnyah.gif
Stahlseele
*snicker* ^^
Oni
as far as hijacking goes, couldn't they happen to hijack a semi full of shedhim rotfl.gif (not sure about the spelling)? Nobody ever said that a master shedhim wouldn't up and move his operation.
Telion
Did any of these characters check how much gas was in the vehicle before they took off? Perhaps it was scheduled for maintenance and easier to steal so the fuel guage is off. That or just accident them while flying seems most appropiate. Having so many spirit bane water flaws, seems the perfect opportunity to teach them to fear water.

Summerstorm
So they stole a helicopter... and have no rigger/hacker to change the ID and deavtivate the safety broadcast? I think that means that the owner contacted the police. And that they WILL be intercepted by two armed Wasps... or Yellowjackets with guns. They will get an ultimatum: Follow and land at the Docks, where some (many) lone star officers wait for them, or be shot down for terrorist activity (or suspected smuggling, since they left the zone and came back pretty fast).

If they decline, they better jump out, destroy the other helicopters, or get shot down and land on the water. (If they agree and land at the docks... they would have to fight a lot of cops, the two yellowjackets and maybe more.) So first question: Can they swim if they are loaded with stuff and weapons? Second: When will the boats come? Three: how far to the docks?

Even if they make it to the docks or somewhere. Three people with spritbane water just swam through the zone. Enter: the pissed-off spirit, which will now proceed to worsen their day. After they are now labeled as "armed and extremely dangerous", the police will actively search for them. Taxi's and public transportation may alert the cops if they use it (If they still have any gear, or the cops got a good look at them.)

So... other parties. Have they been notified of the murder/theft? Power players>Gangs>Homeless and corrupt Cops. If one knows what's going on, all know. Maybe they even get a bounty out? So you have the cops selling your suspected position out to the gangs,. What the gangs know, the REALLY bad dudes know. Every homeless guy or drunken worker could be selling you out (You can't trust no one) All you need for it is time. (Which you get while they are swimming home)

And whenever appropiate they have an "accident", or their foes are under concealment... and something seems always to "swoosh through the shadows behind them".

Dammit, have i killed them now?

Oh and with stealing a car: Sure... that is one thing one can not do much about. But if they are stupid they let the driver live, or don't tie him up/knock him out: Now they are inside a locked down car, and everyone knows where they are. If they kill him: Biomonitor flatlines: Everyone knows they have killed and which car they are likely to use. If they take him with them: Yeah... smart move. (But he has an internal comlink and calls the cops withouth them knowing it. MUHAHAHA) - Or the driver could be just a normal guy, and they escape with his car and live happily ever after (not good *g*)
Cthulhudreams
If you stole a coast guard/customs helicopter they are going to be really pissed, and they are actually part of the military. This allows for an arbitarily large manhunt after you shoot them down... but I wouldn't play it that way.


Instead, I'd challenge the helicopter, force it down (jet threating to shoot them down if they don't land immediately) when they don't respond and cannot explain how they came to be flying a stolen helicopter that appears to have just conducted and illegal raid on a boat. Then a patrol would be sent to pick them up, which would:

A) Find them

B) Wildly underestimate the threat

C) Start a fight

D) Get killed.

Now the PCs have a bunch of dead cops, and a bunch of really pissed off alive cops looking for them. Which is a perfect excuse to prevent them just getting acab. Then make the cocaine go missing, so now the Yakuza also want to kill them. Then they are fucked, and it is EXACTLY the scenario in the warriors biggrin.gif

Blade
A few ideas:

* Climatic conditions: a very violent storm. Air traffic isn't an option and ground is difficult (little to no visiblity, some accidents, GridGuid has trouble working properly). A mana storm could be happening too.
* Start the Riot!: they arrive in the middle of a violent docker riot. Lone Star is trying to cordon the area (so no vehicles) and the Scatterbrain are joining the fun.
* Wild magic: same as above, but replace dockers with wild spirits appearing from nowhere. The whole area is closed down.
* Oops!: Their helicopters happen to kill a few people (such as cops) when crashing down, or they happen to fall right next to coast guards, the taxi driver is a guy they had trouble with...
* We should have turned left at alubquerque: If you don't want to set the scene in Everett, they can take a taxi that get shot down in the neighborhood of your choice. It can even be outside the shortest route from Everett to the runner's hideout ('Ahh! You meant the REDMOND Barrens?')
pbangarth
The Spirit Bane that three of the PCs have and the local Free Spirit provide you with a powerful tool to run the game as you see fit.

A) "You bastards! See what life is like in my domain!"

B) "You bastards! They are mine to play with, not yours!"

You can interfere with the PCs and their opposition as you see fit.
Pendaric
I would go a slightly different way with this,

After their in the sea and several watery encounters/ surviving the tides. Their communications go the way of the dodo due to short circuit and they are washed ashore near snohomish and out in the wilds. They stick together due to the delightful attention of nature.

Triads, Aztechnology, Star or local gangs/ farm owners security, perticularly with the anti meta sentiment can be included for human resistence and places greater emphasis on getting transport to safety together.

Sadly, this means the Scatter brains have to be dropped unless you get them to follow the coast to the docks.
StealthSigma
QUOTE (Summerstorm @ Jul 24 2009, 02:26 AM) *
So they stole a helicopter... and have no rigger/hacker to change the ID and deavtivate the safety broadcast? I think that means that the owner contacted the police. And that they WILL be intercepted by two armed Wasps... or Yellowjackets with guns. They will get an ultimatum: Follow and land at the Docks, where some (many) lone star officers wait for them, or be shot down for terrorist activity (or suspected smuggling, since they left the zone and came back pretty fast).


It's not just any helicopter, it's a coast guard helicopter. That means it's attached to the military/government. I would expect that by 2070 we had managed to implement good tracker/ID tags and monitoring in our miltech vehicles.

If I had players trying to steal a miltech vehicle I would expect the following. First is to hack air traffic control and add the flight record for the helicopter so that doesn't set off any red flags. IIRC all aircraft, helicopters included, do have to submit flight plans prior to take off. I can't imagine that changing by 2070. Second is to hack the mil monitoring system and create a "ghost" that says the helicopter is just sitting on the tarmac, or inject a flight plan there. If it drops off the grid suddenly, that's going to raise alarms and initiate a search. So while that players could may have gotten to the boat, getting back to the mainland could be difficult. The first isn't required if in the second they put a fake flight plan in the military logs. A helicopter will still show up on radar, and air traffic control would alert the military of any aircraft they don't have a flight plan for, if the military has a flight plan for the aircraft then no problem, but even without a fake record at air traffic control, you could run the risk of some eyebrows being raised within the military. Third, unless this helicopter had a crew on it, the chances of finding it outside of a coast guard facility unattended are practically nil, meaning they would have to go to a coast guard facility to nab it. If nobody heard or saw the helicopter taking off, I'd be surprised. Of course that may not have attracted any unwarranted attention, but the idea that they could get away without anyone noticing is silly. Whether the characters that notice think anything would be amiss would be a valid consideration.

There's probably other things that could raise their profile on this operation, but I think that it would be easy enough to come up with a few reasons to cause them to get dumped in the ocean.
vladski
They have no hacker?  This makes it simple, have the Coast guard reclaim control of hteir 'copter during the flight back.  Lock it down (doors, controls, etc) and keep it over water until it hits the docks where the coast guard and the military and possibly Lonestar await them.  By now the surveilance cameras in the 'copter have sent their images to the authorities.  Should hte PC's manage to abandon the craft over the water or crash it (I would in no way let them gain full control of it) then they have to swim to shore, all the while with rescue/arrest craft patrolling for them in the area it went down. Toss in any water adventures you wish to have.  Should they make it to land, now they should have to face the fact that the military, Lonestar and anyone else are looking specifically for them and all the major newcasts are splaying their faces EVERYWHERE.  No cab is going stop for them. People on the street are going to be calling Crimestoppers for the reward. Maybe a cabbie does pick them up and then locks them down as he transports them to the police.



Anyway, this could go all over the place, but you get the drift.  Tie their problems to something they did or didn't do and it doesn't look like railroading, it looks like consequences of their actions.  And really, if they aren't killed or dismembered or have their entire careers taken from them, they have no reason to complain.  Interesting times is why we play the game, not "It all went smooth, here's your million nuyen, now go retire."



Vlad

Kerenshara
You know, we're talking a largs ship with a valuable cargo intended for one part of the 'plex's underworld. At least ONE other organization of some flavor decided to interfere in the vessel's operations. Why not another?

See, the Star's interested in arrests, worried about cameras and has to pretend to respect your rights when they think somebody might be looking (like, up in the skies over the city?). A rival faction might know that the chopper is supposed to be bringing a (non-existent?) highly valuable individual into the city, and they want them for themselves? Maybe they want them dead. Either way, you can have a group of heavily armed helos and drones "herd" the players helo in a direction away from civilization, and even if they get away eventually, it should be an ammusing (for the GM anyway, since you know you don't want to actually kill them just YET) and exciting (for the players trying to get the drek out of Dodge) chase scene as they dodge machine gun fire, rockets, the occasional guided missile (their Rigger DOES have a good EDGe stat, right?), buildings, power lines, and the occasional advertisement dirgible. Have them crash way the drek and gone out in the wrong end of wherever just after defeating/evading the badguys, but their helo's too badly damaged to continue. Your comlink's "GPS" feature is actually often based on Matrix based triangulation, so they might not know where they are, precisely. They might have only seconds to clear the damaged (burning?) aircraft, having to leave behind extraneous (read: stuff you regret giving them) gear to save their lives.

The only thing really "railroady" about that would be that they don't get much choice about getting herded and the rough direction you choose. Even if the helo they stole is armed, do they have the arming codes? Oops. And if they kill the badguys, you don't even have to tell them (for weeks) who they were. Or if not, they can keep looking for them to keep the pressure on during the long walk home.

Anyhow, I thought I would toss a couple ideas back your way and see if anything stuck. Good luck!
knasser
Well I ran the game. We didn't have enough time to complete, but we got a long way. Thank you for all replies.

There are too many comments to go through and respond individually. Though icekatz had one of the wisest comments in saying: "let them know what's expected." I well know the disasters that can happen when player expectations don't meet GM's intentions and I took some care to adjust their expectations without telegraphing everything I had in mind.

The suggestions about powerful water spirits were good ones. I definitely wanted to hit them with their triple-whammy of Spirit Bane: Water. I had came up with two options for dealing with the helicopter situation. The first was a powerful water spirit Accident'ing it out of the sky. That would have been a good one as the UCAS naval base was just a few miles up the coast and would undoubtedly have some powerful spirits on hand. I could well see a bound Water Elemental not having the orders to actually kill them but, seeing them nearby, flicking them out of the sky to drown.

The other option was to have the Seattle authorities order them down.

I went with the second one. It was much better for a few reasons. Firstly, I already had the water spirit angle covered for events later. Secondly, it showed them that were logical consequences for behaviour as blatant as theirs. Thirdly, when else was I going to get the chance to break out an Aztechnology Attack Helicopter with missiles. smile.gif

The downside with the second option was that there were risks the players would behave in a stupid manner - trying to shoot their way out, deciding to comply with instructions and ending up in a no-win situation.

The plan that I had was that they would get ordered down by the port authorities and end up hitting the ocean one way or another and swimming for shore. I spent a good bit of time checking out the swimming rules, taking a look at their character sheets and estimating what was a safe distance to place them from the shore. About 2km out seemed the right range.

I then hoped to have them blunder into the Scatterbrains on the docks where I could set them up with the right sort of expectations for their wild run home followed by a race through Everett, into Snohomish and back toward Redmond. My initial means for harrying them was going to be a Free Water Spirit I wrote up some time ago. She wasn't going to be dangerous due to personal power, but due to her ability to tail them and bring trouble down on them. In order to keep the group together, I gave her some reasonably tough water spirit allies that she could unleash if any of the group let them get themselves alone.

I needed to work out a way of making the journey an adventure, rather than the GM saying: okay, now this happens, okay now this happens. So I sketched out a couple of different encounter tables according to choices they made. I know - encounter tables in Shadowrun! biggrin.gif But it was just: "if they choose to follow the main roads, have X brushes with Lone Star", "if they choose to shortcut through this area, have Y encounters with gangers hunting them." The most entertaining to start with was when trekking through Snohomish at about 3:00 am, their adept with Enhanced Smell picked up a canine scent and the trace of sulpher. "A Hell Hound!", they exclaimed. A short debate followed with the adept deciding that he'd quite like a Hell Hound, or else they could sell it. So they carry on over the fence through the crops until a Perception roll later indicates four sets of brimstone-rimmed eyes glowering at them in the night. "Four Hell Hounds!", they exclaim. Running back to the fences commences.

Unfortunately, they seemed determined to hunker down and rest repeatedly. I gave them as many opportunities as I felt I could and, believe me, as heavy a set of warnings as I felt I could. But the session ended with them tucked up in a derelict building on the Northern Redmond border wtih upwards of twenty gangers after the bounty and led there by the water spirit closing in around them. The molotovs were starting to crash through the window as the session ended. I think we may be looking at TPK.

Thanks again for all the help. I read every post and it all went toward making a better game. I'll write up a more detailed version in my Campaign Log thread for anyone who is interested.

Peace,

Khadim.
Summerstorm
So they are not dead? I am disappointed of you *g*. Just kidding. showing them, that they can't ignore the way to a job (or back) and that all actions have consequences is good. Next time, when they steal a helicopter and fly it around without deactivating its tracking or spoofing the ID's... shoot them down *g*.

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