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Degausser
Okay, so I am planning out my campaign, and, at one point, I want my players to be forced into a situation where my players are out of contact, fighting with low-end weapons, and fighting to help some people against a superior force. Kinda a show that tactics and abilities win wars, not guns and numbers. In short I want to make them freedom fighters, but just for a bit. Anyway, I was looking through some stuff in the SR world where I could do this, and I came to a realization, I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT'S GOING ON!

I mean, seriously, I have a handle on a lot of stuff in Shadowrun, but I still only know about 1/five billionth of what is out there. Where do you guys get all this info?

Every time I try and come up with an idea, I look up some fluff from the books and the rabbit hole goes far deeper than I could have imagined, and I know that the stuff I read is only the beginning!

For the current example, I was having the team smuggled into the Middle East to defend an encampment of Arabic Hobgoblins from extremists (I know this sounds in poor taste in the current political times, but I would have no problem sending the team to the phillipines to defend against Japanese, or other situations similar, haven't decided yet), but I found very little info I can use in "Loose Alliances" about the middle east, and the info I did find is out of date. Can anyone help me so I can know where to look for to get the leg up on all the fluff text?
AK404
We read a lot.

No, seriously. We read the papers, we watch the news, we make educated guesses about how certain places might turn out in the future.

Lucky you, SR seems to follow the trend that the Middle East has, by and large, still not managed to catch up to the rest of the world, culturally or technologically. (This may or may not be a good thing.) As an English major, it pains me to say it, the depiction of Middle East of Shadowrun isn't that much different than the depictions of the Middle East we're familiar with today.
Chrysalis
As someone who is living and working in the Middle-East I have to say that the depcitions of the Middle-East in Shadowrun are about as accurate as when Lawrence of Arabia was here in the 1920s. Sorry, but some of the descriptions really you expect the british man in the pith helmet to walk by and people to still live in tents.

Countries are getting richer and technology is beocming more accessible, furthermore we are having leap frogging of technology. Libya for example is jumping directly to cellphone use and cellphone wireless connections. As they are becoming more open they are also becoming more western oriented and western aware.

Nationality at this point is what says in your passport, not what you are politically, ethnically, or where you are located.

Let's also point out that the term middle-East comprises of most of North-Africa and an entire subcontinent. Inside of it fits tens of languages, hundreds of dialects, hundreds of ehtnic groups and numerous conflicts.

To make this at least Shadowrun related.

Have them be hired as mercenaries to fight Aztlan and Aztechnology in the Yukatan. You willbe fighting with a small guerilla group against a large conventional army. And yes you will be bombing cafes and smuggling bombs onto bridges.
Penta
Well, yes, Chrysalis.

I'm going to be harsh here, but I do mean well:

Everything you say is completely true. But it's also completely frickin' useless.

SR is written, in the main, for Westerners, by Westerners who usually don't live in a place, nor speak the language, as I understand it. This is by and large a good thing for the game: The few times settings have been written by locals, they've rarely turned out well. (See Germany, see CFS.)

Also, SR diverged from the real world around 1989, sort of. Back in the 1980s?

The Arab World wasn't exactly leapfroggin' anybody. A lot of the progress has taken place since the mid-90s, long after SR diverged from the Real World.
Saint Sithney
QUOTE (Degausser @ Oct 8 2009, 01:04 AM) *
Can anyone help me so I can know where to look for to get the leg up on all the fluff text?


the wiki is working again. wobble.gif

http://wiki.dumpshock.com/index.php/Middle_East

What are you looking for specifically? Intrigues? Regional players?
How high-profile are your players?
Warlordtheft
Alot of us have books from the beginning SR1 and one thing none of the following additions did was change the history.

In any event for what you are planning you have alot of choices. The Yucatan is one front, Bogata is another (mentioned in Feral citites and Ghost cartels), Lagos/Africa (Free the slaves-form an army, but don't accept a dinner invitation from a Sasabondsman), Balkans (still a mess), Berlin (mentioned that the corparations have taken over some parts but that the NEO-A's still hold sway in others), China (balkanized, a big mess), and I'm sure people could have additional suggestions.
fistandantilus4.0
Runner Havens may also have some info useful to you. And if you can find it, the old book Fields of Fire and State of the Art:2063 both have info on merc campaigns.
Degausser
QUOTE (Chrysalis @ Oct 8 2009, 08:52 AM) *
As someone who is living and working in the Middle-East I have to say that the depcitions of the Middle-East in Shadowrun are about as accurate as when Lawrence of Arabia was here in the 1920s. Sorry, but some of the descriptions really you expect the british man in the pith helmet to walk by and people to still live in tents.

Countries are getting richer and technology is beocming more accessible, furthermore we are having leap frogging of technology. Libya for example is jumping directly to cellphone use and cellphone wireless connections. As they are becoming more open they are also becoming more western oriented and western aware.


Not to contradict you, but I kinda have to contradict you. In Loose Alliances, it states that some guy (Iba Ein, or something like that) basically got most of the Islamic major players to sit down and at least pretend to play nice. He founded the new country Arabia, and everyone kinda sits there and does there own thing, and coexists. Not saying they get along by any stretch of the imagination, but they at least live together, like the different sects of Christianity in the U.S. Anyway, now Arabia is doing okay for itself, and has a decent level of tech. Now, I am not saying this should, would, or could happen, I'm just saying that there are no Brittish guys walking around in Pith Helmets.

What I am looking for is a group of people trying to oppress a smaller group of people, based on either religion, race (metahuman, etc), ethnicity, or whatever, in a fairly lawless backwater area. Any suggestions of groups that my runners could go up against?
Warlordtheft
For backwater-some of the "countries" -I use that term loosely- around lagos would be a good place. Lots of small bandit kingdoms, genocide, slavery, ghouls (sasabondsman), and for added discomfort-a hostile enviroment full of shedhim and other paracritters. Feral Cities has the details on this.
Faradon
QUOTE (fistandantilus4.0 @ Oct 8 2009, 01:14 PM) *
Runner Havens may also have some info useful to you. And if you can find it, the old book Fields of Fire and State of the Art:2063 both have info on merc campaigns.


And of course there is an entire mercenary campaign (guide?) due out in the not too distant future... In full color of course.

Traul
QUOTE (Degausser @ Oct 8 2009, 07:36 PM) *
What I am looking for is a group of people trying to oppress a smaller group of people, based on either religion, race (metahuman, etc), ethnicity, or whatever, in a fairly lawless backwater area. Any suggestions of groups that my runners could go up against?

How about the Azzies? When looking for a bad guy, they are always a sure choice.
Degausser
QUOTE (Traul @ Oct 8 2009, 02:23 PM) *
How about the Azzies? When looking for a bad guy, they are always a sure choice.


Yeah, megacorps always make a good big bad, but I wanted a different kinda feel. Runners usually go up against corps, this time I want something more visceral, something more than just "I do what I do because the corp pays me." I want people who genuanly hate the group that the PCs are protecting . . . on an idealogical basis.
Traul
Aztechnology is not just a mega corp, they also maintain a dictatorship. I was thinking about that:
http://wiki.dumpshock.com/index.php/Yucatan
The French wiki is a bit more complete about it:
http://shadowrun.fr/wiki/Yucat%C3%A1n
It has nice rebels, evil empire, jungle guerilla, chemical warfare that turns into magical apocalypse,...
Degausser
QUOTE (Traul @ Oct 8 2009, 07:17 PM) *
Aztechnology is not just a mega corp, they also maintain a dictatorship. I was thinking about that:
http://wiki.dumpshock.com/index.php/Yucatan
The French wiki is a bit more complete about it:
http://shadowrun.fr/wiki/Yucat%C3%A1n
It has nice rebels, evil empire, jungle guerilla, chemical warfare that turns into magical apocalypse,...


Corp, dictatorship, it's still a SYSTEM and not an Ideology. Well, at least not a very compelling one. The Azzies are slashing and burning the Yucitan because they were TOLD to by the higher-ups. They are not doing it out of their own volition because they believe it has to be done.

An idea I had was that some JIS citizens (basically the Japanese version of Humanis Policlub) decide to take it upon their own initiative to retake Yomi by killing any metahuman inhabitants. These Japanese in this case truly FEEL like they are superior. They have been told, since birth, that they are morally, physically, and mentally superior to the 'degenerate' metahumans, and this is the feel I want for the runs I will send my players on.
rob
When in doubt, make it up. No sense in looking for stuff, nor expecting everyone to have the same info or the same interpretation of the fluff text.

I guess, my questions is "why do you need more info to lead them into that situation?" You've got some middle eastern hobgoblins, you've got a team inserted into the area. Make up a couple motivated foils (like the guys attacking the hobgoblins) and commence. Who cares if it's not strictly congruent with whatever information a shadowrun sourcebook has put out? Spend some time on google earth looking over rural Syria or Iraq (or wherever), and you can even tell what the buildings will look like.

Or, if you're just SOL about knowing much about the middle east, spend some quality time with a map of the place and a copy of Peter Manifeld's History of the Middle East, and even though the information in the last chapter will be 80 years old you'll have enough sense of historical narrative to make the area seem convincing.
Dr Funfrock
You want know more about the Shadowrun world? Get the "Shadows of..." books (yes, this is not the first time I've had this rant). Shadows of North America, Shadows of Europe, and Shadows of Asia. Between them, these are the best possible guide to whats going on in the SR setting (and it still annoys the hell out of me that I'll probably never see Shadows of Latin America).
If you want to expand your knowledge into more obscure areas, add the "Target:" series. Target: Wastelands is amazing, covering all the weird shit like space, the arctic, the deserts, and toxic zones (mother-frakkin MOONBASES!). Target: Awakened Lands has a bloody brilliant write up on Australia (Two words: Drop Bears), as well as a bunch of other interesting locations. Target: Matrix is kinda cool as well. It deals with well known Matrix locations and figures, including full write ups on several prominent shadowtalkers like Fastjack, The Smiling Bandit and Slamm-O ("Yes, we know Fastjack's stats are absolutely insane. Listen, he was decking whilst your mother was in diapers. You'd think, just maybe, this guy might know a bit more about the matrix than you do, sonny jim.")

More skippable, but worth snatching up if you see them are the last two Target books. Target: Smuggler Havens has a bunch of neat facts about smuggling, like how high a Banshee can fly, as well as write ups on New Orleans and Vladivostok. Target: UCAS is the least exciting, since most of it is covered in Shadows of North America, but the write ups on Boston and Detroit are still pretty cool. Boston is the heart of the UCAS these days (Chicago's a mess, East coast is gone, Seattle is isolated, and New York belongs to the corps), and Detroit is neat because it's all owned by Ares. These two books are basically the model on which they built the SR4 city books; two cities fully detailed, according to a theme, plus spotlighting of various other locations in the theme and general useful information.
Maollelujah
QUOTE
What I am looking for is a group of people trying to oppress a smaller group of people, based on either religion, race (metahuman, etc), ethnicity, or whatever, in a fairly lawless backwater area. Any suggestions of groups that my runners could go up against?


A group of Assyrian Christians vs. a radical Islamic force in the Deserts of Arabia.
A group of Archaeologists vs. A Radical Cardinal of the Catholic Church... (What if the Archaeologists had stumbled upon something that might disprove some of the basic tenets of the Catholic Church?)
Any native tribe vs. SK (Africa?)
A small modern village vs. the Powers of Amazonia (Amazonia)
A metahuman school vs. a Humanis Policlub (in any slum.)
DWC
How about central China. Basically everything that isn't Hong Kong is currently carved up into little micronations ruled by whichever warlord is closest. Drop in some powerful triad opium growers or a secret corporate biotech lab experimenting with local flora, and send the runners there for something then hang them out to dry in the fuck-ass middle of nowhere in the (mountainous and cold) northwestern part of China, and watch the fun.

And yeah. Read. Check out the BBC World Service. Read Shadows of Asia. Hit up the CIA and State Department websites for their travel advisories. Crack open an encyclopedia in the library that was written back in the 1980s. Then read Hardwired again. Watch Tears of the Sun and Dogs of War. Have some scotch. Smoke a cigar. Talk to someone who's been there. Then figure out how much worse you want it to get, find out how bleak your players will enjoy, then go to town.
Larsine
QUOTE (Warlordtheft @ Oct 8 2009, 06:32 PM) *
Alot of us have books from the beginning SR1 and one thing none of the following additions did was change the history.


Not completely true.

In SR1 (published in 1989) they talk about the USSR.
In SR2 (published in 1992) the same chapter changes that to Russia.

In real life the USSR was disbanded in 1991, and Shadowrun history was changed accordingly.

Lars


Warlordtheft
QUOTE (Larsine @ Oct 9 2009, 11:14 AM) *
Not completely true.

In SR1 (published in 1989) they talk about the USSR.
In SR2 (published in 1992) the same chapter changes that to Russia.

In real life the USSR was disbanded in 1991, and Shadowrun history was changed accordingly.

Lars


Sorry....some of the RL stuff changed with the times. But they did not retro thw wireless to 2050. nyahnyah.gif
AK404
BTW, Chrysalis, the key word in my post was 'depictions.' These do not correspond in any way to reality. biggrin.gif

Also, to the OP, stick with what you know. If your knowledge of the Middle East is limited, then limit the players to the Area of Operations by using any and every reason you can think of for them to stay there until the run is over.
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