TL;DR – anyone have idea seeds for one or more distinctive runs in New Orleans?

For those willing to read more: I’m sending my game down to New Orleans for a bit. My favourite SR supplement of all time was Sprawl Sites, for the many, many, ideas for encounters and runs--but for this I don’t want things that could happen in any sprawl, I want things that would really say “Nawlins.”

Story reason is investigating/infiltrating a policlub/cult that promotes the awakened as a superior class of metahumans. Specifically tracing one young man who went through the introductory training/brainwashing up in Seattle, then headed to NO for more advanced material, but hasn’t been heard from in too long. I want to pace that investigation by doing pieces of it broken up by other runs.

The reason that I, as GM, am sending the game there is that I eventually want to send it out in the Bayou, where I can use a couple of awesome looking redneck runs set down that way. (That probably happens either because fake identities get blown or from the lure of magical potential, although if any adventure seeds provide hooks in that direction it is a bonus)

But before I get to the Bayou, and between and around investigating The Aurora of the New Dawn (yes the name is terrible—it was meant to be) I would like to run one or more episodes in NO that would not be likely to happen in Seattle. Arrival there will be just before or after Easter, so no Mardi Gras, and temperatures shouldn’t be more than warm and muggy.

I have two maybe-possibly starting points in mind.

One thought is that apparently Seattle – St. Louis – New Orleans is a major smuggling run, while NO itself is a huge smuggling hub, so could have a ‘while you are down there…..’ job sourced from back home. But would still need to give it some distinctive Cajun flavour. And that could help make some of the local linkages to tie into another run or two.

Another thought is that a couple of recurring NPC are musicians on the side, so one or both of them could go down for reasons musical, get involved in something, and call in their acquaintance from back home who happens to be in town.

But I’ve not yet come up with anything appropriately spicy growing out of either of those starting points, so would appreciate any ideas, related to those two starting points or not.

There's a lot going on in NOLA (I just got back from there last week, actually).

NOLA is a major port and sees a lot of shipping, including toxic materials. A toxic shaman looking to increase her power could do worse than a ship collision on the Mississippi.

"New Orleans likes its politicians and its rice dirty". Very true. If this is a given now in Seattle, imagine how bad it is in NOLA. Heck, selling out to a toxic shaman seems pretty reasonable for a NOLA politician.

NOLA is a swamp. With global warming, a lot of it you can expect to be underwater. On the other hand, if you start pushing the water back to support the city, who knows what else you'll find!

French Quarter is, as my kid put it, "full of drunks and tourists". No better place in the US to find people to kidnap/feed on/pull into an orgy/plant something on.

LA has some of the worst schools anywhere. I'd love to see what the results of that are in 50 years. (Pretty much my whole family goes to Catholic schools). Down there you go private, or you almost shouldn't even bother.

There's a number of major cultural conflicts going on. You have old blood and newcomers. A lot of speculation went on after Katrina, buying up houses, and the prices in NOLA have spiked to insane levels (bear in mind, I'm saying this from where I live in DC). What's going to happen in fifty years when those speculators are the 'old blood', who are hated by the actual Louisiana-blood they pushed out? And while tourists like to see Voodoun living next to Christians without conflicts, that's not the fact. Inter-religious warfare is real, and perhaps meaner than elsewhere. After all, NOLA voodounists aren't just heathens worshiping alien gods, they're blasphemous, defaming Catholic saints. Meanwhile, Catholicism is the religion of the slave-owners that was forced onto black culture. Once they actually have real magic, you better believe that conflict is going to heat up.

The fun thing about NOLA is its a lot like Gumbo, lots of bits thrown into the mix and a bit of heat keeping it stirred up.

Whatever your campaign, be sure to toss in lots of flavour bits like the musicians and the food.

Also remember time runs a bit different and some of your runners might find it slow and odd but it works and those who don't fit into it find themselves on the outside pretty fast.

And lots of corruption. They will need to hone those social skills to smooth talk, wheedle and bribe their way through a bit. If reaching for a gun is their first response to a problem, NO might not be the best place for them, because while they might initially pop a few heads and make some noise, there are older and meaner powers that can and will squish them if they make too much a scene...

I went to grad school in New Orleans a while ago.

Crackheads everywhere. Drunks are respectable. If you're waiting for the bus you might as well crack open a beer.

Old culture and Catholic edifices interspersed through slums, body odor, and stumbling crackheads.

Cloying and delicious deep fried food.

A blend of the majestic and ancient with the banal, obese, and addled.

I am imagining the set of "Blade Runner", except replace the Asian culture references with equal parts Catholic references and African American culture references. The sublime steeped in the dark and urban, but not in a neo Tokyo way. Instead this way tastes of soul food, French inspired cuisine, and junkie sweat, while a cathedral dissolves under acid rain in the background and some corrupt cops beat a hobo in the foreground.

If you have friends coming to your house to play Shadowrun, serve them home made catfish po boys and Abita beer every time they come while the game is set in New Orleans. Make them gain a surprising amount of weight while they stay in New Orleans. Thus you will give them an authentic New Orleans experience.

The ultimate setting for Shadowrun, really.

Thieves Guild Versus Assassins Guild

Versus Crackhead Guild.

Steal from Cyberpirates if you can - look, times change, but it's mostly the faces and names, the same filth and corruption and danger lucks around no matter what time-line you're in.

Pirates! (Flashy watergangs with very good in-and-out skills) and Krewz and religion and politics (If your team is new there, someone's going to send out feelers your way, as you're not tainted by a local brush yet, or are you?) and guns and magic (Lotsa magic. Lotsa sneaky magic) and god-knows what is out in those swampwaters.

At the same time, you're also describing the steady increase of concrete to chocolate city - no arcologies yet, but maybe some sky-rise developments that are still-building as people try to lease floors, demolish foundations and break into or out of certain secured storage (It's harder to steal if it's up 20 floors).

And spirits! It was supposed to be lousy with them (literally, if there's some bugs out there...) and they have their own agendas, often alien to your meat-world runners.

And drugs. Seriously, da drugs. Get promised hard cred, get 50% up front on a credstick, but be delivered a bale of deep-weed that makes your troll grunt when they try to lift it as the rest. Novacoke, all the uppers, downers and sideways-ers you never want to see. Drug-crazed hobos? Every day that ends in Y. Some fast, brutal and quiet little knifing near your safehouse? That's the local neighbors. Say "hi". Weird-ass Voodoo shit? Naw, that's the Stuffer Shack, tourist.

Make it clear the city works, but no one knows how. Movers and shakers are often puppets on strings to even scarier Hommes and don't forget - it's always shifting. There's no clear leaders, there's no clear goals and there's no clear exits.

Your team is going to get dirty.


-Tir.