Hi,

I'm a (fairly) new GM and I have an idea for an adventure and I need help elaborating on it and structuring it so it makes a good lengthy adventure.

I have players on here, so I'd rather not talk about it on the forum, but if there are any kind hearted GMs out there that would like to help, please send me a private message. I'd really appreciate it!

Thanks!

It might help to sketch out a skeleton of the game you're looking at. That way there's a little bit of direction and commonality to the PMs you're getting. Put it up in spoiler boxes if you're concerned about your players, but really, any game need sa certain amount of trust. After all, you trust that they aren't going to be altering their character sheets or fudging dice rolls, right?

Might help to have a couple words on setting, character types. Play styles.

Seattle 2072, I run a very dark gritty shadowrun...

As far as the run is concerned, I have a loose plot in my head, I just need some advice from more experienced GMs on how to flesh it out...

Send me an email at K@knasser.me.uk if you like. I don't have much time, but I could go through it and offer some suggestions. Caveat: I have a complete hang-up about Technomancers et al. so am unlikely to be as much use on adventures revolving around those.

K.

Are you sure we can't just post it here with spoiler tags? It'd be better if anyone could give and get idea from the whole conversation.

Seconded.

If you feel comfortable improvising, you might try just giving them an end objective (the point of the run), and then letting them sandbox it and figure out how to accomplish the mission on their own. A lot of groups will create their own plot if given the chance.

In that case, make sure to have a lot of interesting NPCs, locations and events beforehand.
You could improvise them too, but unless you're very good at improvising, your adventure risks begin a little too bland.

My suggestion is More DAKKA!! for the gunbunny, More CHOPPA!! for the browler (never enuff dakka, never enuff choppa), WAAAGG!!! for the mage and on a critical glitch make the whole team's heads asplode; and maybe an e-Squigg as pet for the for the hacker/mancer!!!

On a more serious note it's kind hard to give hints without knowing the composition of the team, I mean if the runner are heavily combat oriented it's going to be hard to play a game heavy on the social aspect, and dark and gritty can mean many things.

Meh, just have the team roll an extended Edge Test, and if they don't do well enough then their heads all explode.

Heh! That sounds like a system for the next version of World of Darkness. Each player just makes a roll at the start of the adventure to determine how well they succeed at it, and then they all just improvise the rest of the story from there. If you get a 1, your character must die at some point.

K.

Hey now, I like the nWOD.

Legs, check out the links in my signature. Those two threads start by explaining how I went from the inception of a run idea to developing it into a fully fleshed out run.

The extremely short form: make sure you start with a context in the world, come up with the reason the run is happening (who are the powers behind the run, why is it happening?), grab a central idea/image (which you already have), then build up to it or around it using the information from the context and background for the run.

PM me if you have further questions.

This is the first mission for this group and I want to really throw them into some dark stuff to set up the tone of this Street Level campaign....

My players are:
Troll Ganger
Human Street Sam
Dwarf Rigger
Human Mage
Human Hacker
Human Face

Part of my idea comes from a novel called Blue Belle...

My idea is that prostitutes are being stolen by a mysterious van. It's been dubbed The Ghost Van on account that it's a nondescript gray van that snatches the girls and seems to just disappear (magic?). So many girls are going missing that a group of pimps pool some money together and hire the team to find the van and take it out before they lose anymore product/business.

Im thinking the van is linked to a snuff BTL production ring. They snatch the girls, kill them, record it on BTL. All this is being funded by The Vory and, in particular, a russian named Toljan Tustanov who is one evil dude. They call him "Uncle" because he is so loved by the people in russia because he fronts as the president of a children's chairty who bring the poor youth to america to find better oppurtunities. Once he gets them here, though, he forces them into many evil things. I wanted a REALLY dark antagonist that could be around a long time.

So that's my idea...I need help elaborating on this so it's a long run. We play 4 hours a week and i'd like this to stretch over 2 or 3 evenings.

I was thinking the van could be protected by another tough guy that would be hard for the PCs to take on.

Anyway, any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

Not a bad plot, certainly workable. As a word of caution, I have found that "investigation" type adventures are more challenging to prepare for and run from a GM perspective because of their open-endedness (that's probably not a word). Also, make sure you know that your players will actually be drawn into the story and engage with it. Some players just don't jive with "find the clues" kind of adventures and would rather just be pointed at a target for something to blast. Given those two caveats (more challenging, can be boring to some players) if you still think your group will have fun then go ahead.

Background
You have some good background material. You have an idea what is going on "behind the scenes" and a reasonable reason for the Shadowrun to happen. The only thing I would tweak in your background is that nearly all prostitution rings will be controlled/backed by a major crime syndicate, so instead of a group of pimps pooling their money you may want the run to be sponsored by the Yakuza or Mafia. However, there are still some independents, so it's not out of the realm of possibility for several independents to pool their money to take care of the problem (as you suggest).

The Hook
Looks like you have your "Hook" already: the mysterious "Ghost Van" that picks up prostitutes who are never heard from again. I encourage you to play up the gritty, noir-mystery kind of theme you have going.

The Scenes
The next thing I do is break down the run into a series of Scenes. These will outline how the players progress through the run on a broad level. Here's a suggestion on one way the scenes might by laid out for your run:
1. Setup and Meet - the players start hearing about the disappearances, perhaps some news stories; then they meet with their employer(s) and are given their assignment; pay is negotatied
2. Finding the Van - the players must track down the van based on a series of clues/legwork
3. Confronting the Source - After finally tracking down the Van and uncovering the snuff BTL operation, the players now deal with it; this will depend a lot on how they players track the van but could include attacking it at its "base" or a high-speed chase as they catch it in transit somewhere

From there I start to detail how each scene is going to play out. In your case #2, the "investigation" part is going to be the most crucial. Try to think of how your players would approach the task of finding the van. The toughest part of "investigation" runs is all of the information that the players are going to want to get: is there a pattern to the kidnappings? Who was kidnapped last? Does the girl/guy have friends? Who saw it? Where did they happen?

Other things you'll need to keep in mind: Where will the van strike next? What will they do if they see someone watching/following them? etc.

Try to prepare for as many avenues for your players to discover clues as possible. Inevitably, your players will do something you didn't prepare for. The key (I found) with "investigation" scenes is: do not stonewall them. If your player(s) are trying something then it seems logical to them given the information they have and how they understanding it. Even if what they are trying seems completely "off the wall" to you, make it work in some way. Make whatever they do give them some other clue that they can follow. If you keep throwing up the "you find nothing" wall, your players will quickly become frustrated. (Like those old King's Quest games: "You can't do that!" gets old real fast)

Legs: you might find THIS discussion helpful.

Given that you're relatively new to GMing and the nature of the story you are trying to tell, I would suggest a more linear approach (particularly the Event Matrix scheme I discuss in the thread above), but give your players lots of wiggle room on each event so you're not railroading them.

Also, giving the players a sense that the game world is going to continue advancing whether or not they act is a very useful (but difficult to employ) GM skill. Your story will be more compelling if you plan out a timeline of attacks the Ghost Van will follow and make the players rush to solve the puzzles before the next girl dies.

Also some other ideas:

I have a few ideas that might help the cause...



Hope this helps.

Sign--

Wacky

Wacky...that's basically what I was thinking.

So now I'm just trying to figure out a way to stretch this investigation to make the run extend through a couple sessions.

If you are mainly trying to run a mystery/investigation (which can be quite difficult) you can try reading the suggestions here.

There's always complications. Have them track down the wrong van- maybe one loaded with drugs or guns on its way to a local crime syndicate. Have them "rescue" a whore who doesn't want to be rescued- an undercover vice cop, or a high-end hooker who is being paid to act out some dude's weird abduction fantasy. Have a local street gang misinterpret the runners meddling as an attempt to cut in on the area's prostitution market- they've come to collect "taxes". Get creative.

The biggest problem I see with this plot is that I don't see why they'd go around kidnapping the prostitutes, most of whom are under the protection of someone or of a crime syndicate, when they could minimize the risk by just snatching SINless who don't have that kind of protection.

Other than that, I'd have three advices to give you: NPCs, NPCs, and NPCs. They are what will make such an adventure interesting. I'm not talking about stats, I'm talking about a list of a few interesting NPC with their names, their appearance, their personality, their role in the story and so on. For example, they'll probably meet a few prostitutes.
If you prepare some of these NPCs rather than creating them on the fly, you'll be able to give them much more depth. This will also allow you to introduce some related or unrelated subplots, that'll really give the impression to the PC that there's a whole world going around them.

Been fleshing out the adventure a bit...

1st off...street prostitutes (at least in my game) have nothing to do with organized crime. They have pimps, but the pimps aren't paying up to anyone. Organized crime runs escorts and high class prostitutes. Maybe some low level Rings have street prostitute rings, but that's it...

Okay, so i've decided to add an element to the Ghost Van....

By the time the players enter the game, a few girls have already been kidnapped by the Van. The word has obviously gone out to not go anywhere near it. So the last girl to be kidnapped got into an americar and a witness saw the americar drive a block, pull into an alley, and transfer the girl into the van. I figure adding a second vehicle gives players another avenue to investigate.

Also, the van is being protected by a tough evil Adept who does for-hire work. Somewhere in the course of the investigation, the adept will approach one of the players to warn him off of the van. I'll have word on the street and with contacts on who this Adept is and the players will be able to track him as well, maybe leading to the van.

There is also a mage that rides in the van during the jobs. He masks the vehicle after the snatch. That will leave a magic trail that can be followed.

Basically what I'm doing is writing out all my NPCs actions and the actions of the van and if I know all that info, I'll be able to work around what my PCs do. It's closer to sandbox style than railroading, which is what I'm looking for.

Thanks for the help! I'm still interested in hearing any advice/ideas!

Already some very good advice have been given above. Especially i like Malachi's words about the stone wall.

Here are some bits of advice mostly for running the game:

Unless you are very good at coming up with names on the fly, have a sheet with names ready that you can use for NPC names you have to improvise. This will help you out and also make it harder for the players to spot "important NPC".

Mix things up: try to come up with different kind of challenges and give enough room for different solutions, look at your PCs and give them a chance to shine with their character, this does not need to be everytime, but once in a while.
Also prepare some events that can occur with action/combat scenes, most groups will like that and afterall there is a reason why they brought all that chrome, they doesn't have to be part of the mainline but it will be a welcome distraction from the investigation part. Maybe those scenes can give the players a clue or two as well. They can also buy you time to the next session if you come into a position where you could need that.

You can often count on things taking longer to play out than you plan for, for different reasons. So if for instance you have planned 2-3 sessions, i often find it comes down to 5-6 session, i know this logic is somewhat self-defeating but you get the point.

Don't be afraid to make things linear and seemingly simple. Most players will get confused anyway, make up their own plots and prepare for an ambush. Things aren't neccesarily as simple as they seem. Also, overly complicated plots will loose the players interrest in the story you are trying to tell.

Well, i will stop babling, hope its the sleigthest bit useful.

One good way to insert combat in an investigation adventure is to follow Chandler's advice: "If you ever run out of ideas, have someone come through the door with a gun.". And it applies to your ideas as well as the players ideas.

When the players get stuck, a combat (or at least a confrontation against a possible enemy: the PC may be able to talk to the person with a gun) will not only help raise the dramatic tension of the game, but it could also be a way to give a hint to your players (the old matchbox trick) to help them get back on track while "penalizing them" in some way (they can be wounded or have spent edge).

Thanks for all of the advice!

We started the plot last week and I thought I'd give an update to what happened.

First of all, the final plot...

"Uncle" Toljan Tustanov is a mid level Vory who, among other things, uses a fake children's charity to bring impoverished kids from Russia to America where they are forced into slave labor, child pornography, etc... Once the boys are too old or used up, he takes them under his wing, wiping their minds or doing whatever is necessary to make them believe he's a father figure until they are super loyal and will do anything for him.

He has a small studio set up in the basement of his strip club "Teasers" for the production and distribution of Snuff BTL chips/downloads.

He also has a gray van equipped with some BTL recording equipment. He hires an Adept named Mortay to guard the van, a Mage named Fisk to Mask the vehicle after it does it's thing and two of his "boys"...Misha to drive the van and Luka to do the killing. What the van does is pull up to prostitutes (young or young looking) and when the girl approaches the van, the back doors swing open and Luka shoots them in the street. He's hooked up with equipment to "record" his feelings as he does it.

The small operation also utilizes "snatch cars"...not only are there girls being shot in the street, but they are also using the snatch cars to pick up the girls, and transfer them to the "ghost" van before taking them to the studio and putting them in a snuff film. Their emotions (as well as those of the murderer) are recorded and added to the BTL before distribution.

The game opened with one of the players (a street sam) getting a call that an old friend from the street had been killed by "The Ghost Van" He finds out that the pimps have offered up a bounty and calls the other PCs together...

I came up with several hooks to get the investigation pointed in the right direction...

1. Lone Star had found one of the "snatch cars" and impounded it for analysis.

2. There would be a mana trail that could be followed from. Fisk casting the Mask Vehicle spell, etc...

3. Mortay has been in Seattle for quite a while now. He's twisted and gets off on death. He has taken part in a couple death matches and it wouldnt take much leg work to find out how to set up a meet with him.

In the event that that things aren't going well, I planned on having a couple of Toljan's boys hijack a PC and bring him to a meet with Mortay where Mortay would tell them to quit looking in to the ghost van. The meet would be at an abandoned warehouse by the docks and when the PCs investigated it, they'd find evidence of Toljan housing kids in it, as well as other things leading back to Teasers.

I also intend on having an Shadowrunner NPC named Crystal Beth show up down the line in another arc, so I wanted to maybe bring her in now so the players will already have had a history with her. So I was thinking she could approach them if things weren't going well. Her and her brother unknowingly hit a Yak casino and now are in debt to them. They desperately need the cash that the pimps are offering and their paths cross with the PCs. I figure this might be a good way of pooling resources and giving more hints to the PCs if need be...

So here's how the game went down last week:

The investigation begins. One of the dead girls was taken to a street doc until some money could be collected to dispose of her properly. The PCs were able to get her belongings as well as the bullet that killed her. The mage found some things out about her through her belongings and they went to where she was killed.

The mage was able to discover that mana was used at the site and witnesses gave some information as well.

The hacker started looking into everything. He found out about Lone Star having one of the transfer cars impounded. (and this is something that totally frustrated me)..the Player HAS a Lone Star contact, but he's the kind of player that has to have everything force fed to him, so he didn't even think about using his contact, INSTEAD he decides he wants to hack into the Lone Star facility to get any info he can. I think this is a terrible idea, so I have him get interruped by a knock on his door. It's a couple of Toljan's boy-goons (when I say boys, i mean, late teens). I was going to use the excuse that the hacker's search had caught the eye of one of Toljan's hackers and they sent the goons to get him and bring him to Mortay.

That's where the session ended...

I know not much happened, but if there is any more advice out there for me that would be great. If you see something I could have done differently or anything like that, I'd love to hear it.

Thanks!

Sounds like it really came together for you. I especially like the LS/impounded car idea, though if your hacker does try to crack a LS system you should make it especially dangerous. Nicely done.

If the hacker wants to hack the LS system let him. Basicly 4 outcomes can come of it: the hacker is fried or he gets the info hes after or the find turns out empty or he jacks out in time. You could model the system with 2 nodes, 1: database node 2: proxy/gateway server (which you will need to go through unless you are physically inside the facility).

The gateway could have ratings 5 or 6, with 2 or 3 patrolling ice on it. If an alert is triggered have 2 high-end sec hackers show up in a couple of passes to "investigate". The database node could be the same but with more moderate stats and only 1 patrolling ice.

Of course, you can scale this down if you want a higher chance of the hacker actually succeeding. You can find all sort of excuses for the current lack of security. Maybe their system went down last night and they are running on a backup or something. Or they are in the process of testing a new system, etc. etc.