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FriendoftheDork
Hey everybody!
As said before in my previous post I have started up a new group in SR. Things will be different that before, both in starting power, rules, and of course the players themselves.
Still I plan to write an After-Action Report, both to make sure I have a log for later reference, and to amuse and inspire you all. 
I can’t guarantee it will be as good a read as the last one, since the players are much less experienced and maybe a bit less enthusiastic roleplayers and problem-solvers, but we’ll try to have fun anyway.

So without further ado, here is the background and starting point for the game:

Chargen: 400 BPs, normal rules for purchase but players should avoid too much powergaming. Magic capped at 4 for starting chars.

Some of the house rules of the previous game continue, but nothing earth shattering. I will be using SR4a rule changes though. Also, Smartlink will have higher capacity cost than in normal SR4a, meaning you’d want cybereyes or goggles/visor if you want a good smartlink. A “SmartLite” with only 1 bonus die will be allowed for the usual cost/capacity though.

The concept for this game will not be poor inexperienced street scum, nor will it be normal experienced runners. The PCs actually all start as non-runners with appropriate military, corporate or technical backgrounds. Becoming Shadowrunners will be the first overarching goal.

Thus they will have to justify all their skills, talents and starting gear. Also, most of them will actually be SINners, or have a good reason for having lost their SINs. Gear has also been severely limited, both because I know how time-consuming it can be to poor through SR4, Arsenal and Augmentation in order to find the perfect combo of gear, especially for newbies, and because I know how gear can upset the game balance. Thus they were allowed to purchase what they want that’s not restricted or Forbidden, but otherwise had to justify every item and have restricted ones linked to their real SINs or having it being stole/illegal (neither of which is good for runners). They were also allowed to save up to 20 BPs of gear for later that they could get from their new Shadowrun contacts/employers.. more about that later.

Background: A team of Shadowrunners have come back from a long run in the crossover setting of Earthdawn, the 4th world. After having become experienced and tough, and having both seen the Horrors and consequences of an extreme Magic Level close up, they have agreed that they should do their best in preventing a premature coming of Horrors in the 6th world of Shadowrun. After a few jobs for the Draco Foundation (they worked with Dunkelzahn back in the 4th world, under a different name of course), they have decided to do form their own Company, called New Dawn. New Dawn wants to recruit, train, and hire potential Shadowrunners - hopefully someone who can become professionals, who are not too jaded yet, and who can be employed later to help thwart an early coming of Horrors.

Meet the characters:


Bates – Troll Samurai. Ex military heavy weapons specialist. Good with Heavy Weapons, Blades, and a set of soldier skills. He’s also learned some about security procedures in the army, which might be applied to running. Honorably discharged, and now wants to get back into the action somehow.
SINner, medium lifestyle. Uses 2 Warhawks in normal combat (one at a time).


Andersen: Human hacker. Ex corporate security consultant, specializing in matrix security. Had a major intrusion incident in his facility that was never really proven to be an inside job. In any case he was fired and his hacking programs and licenses confiscated. He’s gotten used to the High lifestyle though, and thus needs nuyen badly since his fellows in crime left him high and dry without his cut. Despite this he has quite a bit of legal augmentations of high quality (alphaware or better).
SINner, High lifestyle, uses either a taser or a high-caliber hunting rifle in combat.

-Gunslinger Adept. (I can’t remember her name right now, update it later). Previously low-level criminal involved in burglaries and petty theft with her friends. Caught and forcibly enlisted for military service (infantry). While on leave during the crash she lost her identity and was never missed during roll call. So far she is largely unaware of her magical ability, but has found out she is very good at shooting (especially with pistols) and is able to react and act very quickly.
SINless, squatter lifestyle, (getting Low soon). Uses light pistols in combat, notably the Yamaha Sabuki Fubuki or whatever it’s called.


Prelude:


[ Spoiler ]
FriendoftheDork
Oh and guys as always.. feedback, constructive or not, is always welcome smile.gif

Yes I'm an attention whore wink.gif Please rate, comment and subscribe nyahnyah.gif
Ghremdal
Good to see you starting a After Action Report. I read your last one, so am looking forward to this one. Will this include life in the barrens in any way? And a second question, I am not familiar with In Media Res, so who put the runners in a simulator?
DireRadiant
"into the middle of affairs" Latin.
Ghremdal
I know that nyahnyah.gif, thought it was a published adventure due to capital usage.
FriendoftheDork
QUOTE (Ghremdal @ Mar 25 2010, 06:56 PM) *
Good to see you starting a After Action Report. I read your last one, so am looking forward to this one. Will this include life in the barrens in any way? And a second question, I am not familiar with In Media Res, so who put the runners in a simulator?


Ah well no except at least one adventure set in the Barrens. The runners were put in the simulator by the owners/leaders of New Dawn.


QUOTE (Ghremdal @ Mar 25 2010, 08:34 PM) *
I know that nyahnyah.gif, thought it was a published adventure due to capital usage.


Ehm no I'm not sure why I used caps. Sorry for the confusion. My point was merely that the players were unaware of the back story and was thrust into action, and later found out they were in a simulation. This was just done to enhance the tension and make them believe their characters could very well die the first session.
SecGuard
I look forward to reading the updates.
YourAdHere
So, I'm new around here, but by no means new to Shadowrun. I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed the "Life in the Barrens" thread and have finally finished reading it. I hope to see an update to this soon.
Dr.Rockso
*poke* Come onnnnn, write up the latest one nyahnyah.gif
SecGuard
QUOTE (Dr.Rockso @ Apr 9 2010, 08:09 PM) *
*poke* Come onnnnn, write up the latest one nyahnyah.gif


I saw the update and got all excited ohplease.gif
FriendoftheDork
OK OK! Sorry just been busy lately. I'll do my best to finish it monday, this weekend i'll be busy partying and stuff. Good thing is, it will be a double feature smile.gif
FriendoftheDork
Sorry it's been a busy week, but finally, here they are, New Dawn part 1 and 2:

New Dawn part 1: Milk Run
[ Spoiler ]


UPS guards: All UPS personell are trained to contact Lone Star in case of clear danger and not engange obviously dangerous people by themselves.

[ Spoiler ]



Part 1 Continued:

[ Spoiler ]


Mobile Response Guard
[ Spoiler ]


Part 1 Continued.

[ Spoiler ]




And now New Dawn part 2: Narcotics Raid

[ Spoiler ]


Hmm do you think I'm overdoing the /Spoiler thing?

Also, on that last run do you think the PCs deserved a point of Notoriety?

Next update will have to wait until we actually play. I'm planning on doing "On the Run" again. It's fairly simple, has varied challenges, and it's fun to see how different teams handle it. Until next time!
YourAdHere
Awesome. And the spoiler tags are good. Keeps the page from being massive.
SecGuard
Cracking, so far & yes give them the notoriety point.
FriendoftheDork
Thanks guys smile.gif Also, one vote for Notoriety registered wink.gif
Ascalaphus
Yeah, innocent* children are worth notoriety.


*As soon as they're eaten metahuman flesh they don't count as innocents anymore..
CanadianWolverine
I appreciate the spoilers, its a bit like getting to choose one's wall of text at that moment, even easier on the eyes than just paragraphs, more akin to turning pages in a book IMHO.

The notoriety point: Er, yes, they get the hit IMHO, though I am curious - has there been any strong hints yet that some of the players would be wise to have their characters invest in a rank of something social with their first 4 karma which should be attainable, correct?

Something I am beginning to take into account now as my understanding of SR and IRL criminal activity grows, being effectively social is pretty damn important just from a business stand point even if you are personally lacking in charisma. Its kinda like Perception skill ranks IMHO, easily over looked for the weapons skills as a new player because we never seem to think of that as having its own spot light and getting side lined. I know for me, I tend to shy away from social skills for my characters merely because IRL I am poor at social interactions, so regardless of my dice pool I think my character will be faulted for my own effectiveness as a player.
Acidsaliva
Awesome stuff ! Keep going. I really like your AAR and am disappointed that I can't find more SR actual play threads. Really liked your last 'Life in the Barrens' thread too.

And I vote yes for the notoriety point because its more about punishing the players for not having enough recon / planning than instilling a sense of morality (*phish* who needs morality in SR? grinbig.gif ) and reflects their sloppiness so far in planning their runs.
Its not enough to cripple them and it shows them that professional runners don't do things that way.
Next time they do something similarly sloppy though use a different form of punishment / deterrent.
FriendoftheDork
3 Votes for Notoriety registered smile.gif Although as said the players and characters didn't know about the children, but as Acidsaliva pointed out, they SHOULD have known.

Maybe they'll use their first karma on some social stuff, we'll see. They haven't earned much so far anyway, only 3-5 IIRC.
Saint Sithney
Also, another thing to consider is that the betameth lab should have been well full of highly toxic chemicals which would have turned into poison gas and killed a bunch of people down wind. So, a point of notoriety for killing children, maybe, but this job is a 'point of notoriety" kind of job regardless. They just turned that whole block into a toxic hazard.
FriendoftheDork
QUOTE (Saint Sithney @ Apr 16 2010, 08:08 AM) *
Also, another thing to consider is that the betameth lab should have been well full of highly toxic chemicals which would have turned into poison gas and killed a bunch of people down wind. So, a point of notoriety for killing children, maybe, but this job is a 'point of notoriety" kind of job regardless. They just turned that whole block into a toxic hazard.


Hmm, I'd think alot of the gases would be destroyed in the explosion? Or maybe it doesn't work that way, I don't know. In any case there were not many people living around there anyway, and most of these were gangers who were "acceptable collateral."

Also they had the choice to go in and sabotage the equipment without actually blowing up the lab - although that would require fighting the guards at the house. All in all the car bomb wasn't a bad idea, even with faulty intelligence.

In any case this wasn't supposed to be a "Notorious job" anyway, it was a supposed to be a sabotage/destruction job with an ethical dilemma/complication.
CanadianWolverine
I have an idea: What if you presented the notoriety as a sort of street level news report? Pictures of the bodies of children, their guardians, and the guards and chemists making it onto a blog that gets off on the decadence of destruction or something, a by line like "Those barren scum had it coming." No public image exposure but just a sense that their actions had ripples and that is where the notoriety comes from, maybe even have their fixer go something like "My client liked your work, the brutality on the neighborhood, we can use that, fear is a good motivator for better profits for all of us" Then they can decide if their characters have any regrets in not checking (or having the ability to check) for the children.

I know this is an aside, but have you seen the tv show Breaking Bad?
FriendoftheDork
QUOTE (CanadianWolverine @ Apr 16 2010, 09:26 PM) *
I have an idea: What if you presented the notoriety as a sort of street level news report? Pictures of the bodies of children, their guardians, and the guards and chemists making it onto a blog that gets off on the decadence of destruction or something, a by line like "Those barren scum had it coming." No public image exposure but just a sense that their actions had ripples and that is where the notoriety comes from, maybe even have their fixer go something like "My client liked your work, the brutality on the neighborhood, we can use that, fear is a good motivator for better profits for all of us" Then they can decide if their characters have any regrets in not checking (or having the ability to check) for the children.

I know this is an aside, but have you seen the tv show Breaking Bad?


Well actually they already saw the news teams reporting the death of the children, and saw the pictures of maimed child body parts. Their reaction was WTF? And then "who cares we won." Basically they think they couldn't have known about it and one even said "they probably deserved it too."

The gang that employed them was of course very happy.

I'm not sure the "reversed evil psychology" will work on my jaded players.. why is that as soon as there are no "Alignment" rules the players always want to play scroupleless PCs?
Mesh
Yes, definitely some notoriety for that. Runners have to ask themselves what their morals are at some point and better soon than later. So you're the sort who doesn't give a frag about life innocent or not? What Johnson worth his salt is going to forget that? They'll either remember it and take advantage of it or feel zero remorse at sending you on a suicide run when they need pawns. Sure that all happens anyway, but you need something to be respected for other than DPS or there's nothing that separates you from the rest of the lowlife drek on the streets with a gun, a jacket, and robo-eyes.

I'd take it even further. Somebody was deeply hurt at the loss, somebody who's not going to forget it. That should come back around shortly. Karma's a slitch.
Doc Chaos
Hey there smile.gif I burned through LitB AAR and this, its great! Please, dont ever stop! wink.gif

Also, another "yes" vote for notoriety. Thats not nessessarily a bad thing, Shadowrunners are not good samaritians. So having a reputation for not hesitating or getting the job done "no matter what" may be quite helpful in some situations. Of course, sometimes it also might backfire. "Oh god, I know these guys, they're gonna kill us anyway, OPEN FIRE!!!" I think you get my drift smile.gif

Btw., am I blind or did you never publish Uzz's stats?
Dr.Rockso
**poke** Keep em' coming!
FriendoftheDork
Hello again, it's been awhile.. almost 2 years in fact.

First off let me say sorry for stopping to post in my thread, I completely forgot about it. The game I had with my friends fell apart a long time ago, and we never finished the "On the Run" module that I intended. Essentially, the group wasn't that into Shadowrun I think, or RPGs in general. In combat they worked fine, but as soon as it was legwork etc. most of the group became completely lethargic, and the only way they managed anything was with hacking or magic use.

In the end when players kept canceling at the last minute for anything that might come up, I got fed up with it and said game over. I spent hours preparing sessions and trying to make a nice campaign, and they wouldn't even bother reserving every other Sunday. I tried to play without the most problematic player, but then only 2 showed up.

So cutting it short, we stopped playing almost 2 years ago. Now I'm a player in a new group (with mostly devoted players), and I plan to maybe run a one-shot for some university buddies soon. I'm not sure if that warrants an AAR, but I just wanted to chime in here.

Damn I miss the old game with Uzz and co.. oh well it is something me and my other players look back upon with nostalgia and good memories smile.gif

Oh, and thanks for everyone following my threads, moves my heart smile.gif

Later, I hope!
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