Yeah, I have pretty much decided they are doing this with out any pay. This will be on their dime-well specifically one players, but I have faith the others will pitch in due to their own close ties with said Players family. (They buy the kids presents, help watch over them, and are generally involved in their family life.)

Any money they make will be a side effect. I want to take the kids out of Seattle and somewhere difficult for them to access, by route of several way points to make the chase difficult.

Sorry if I bounce around here. I am bouncing my ideas off of you guys, so thanks for the help!

I can think of a pretty cool place up here in the Northwest, since I live here. There is a place on the northern Oregon coastline called The Sea Lion Caves. It's a tourist attraction place that includes a restaurant, gift shop, lighthouse, and underground cave/viewing area. The cool thing about this place is that its perched on the side of a very harrowing rocky cliff. Moneying around the outside of it is pretty treacherous due to the wet rocks and strong winds. The interior portion of the viewing area is this long stairwell that leads into the rock wall and then opens up in this natural tidal cave. It's very large inside and fills about 1/3 of the way up during high tide. This, btw, is where you get to see all of those annoying barking sea lions (ugly and stinky by the way).

This would be a great place for a couple of reasons:

1) They're a ways away from Seattle, so the trip there is considerable, especially considering who our southern neighbors are.

2) This kind of place has been in business for a long time, but I imagine that its a good candidate for being 'out of business' by this time.

3) You've got a variety of building interior types to use, including a full on cave, and treacherous cliffs where falling damage most likely equals death (if the fall doesn't kill you, the waves most assuredly will as they smash you into the rocks)

4) You've got a natural timer element. If the kidnappers want to insure that they get their payment for the kids, they can set something up so that they don't tell the runners where the kids are until an hour before the tide comes in. Then, their cohorts can drop the kids in the sea lion section of the cave while they start screaming for help. (Kind of a SpiderMan: The movie scenario - save the kids or MJ?)

5) It's extremely loud there. Not sure if noise has played a role in your games, but the kids nor runners, and possibly not even gunfire would be able to be heard from within that cave. The crashing waves kills almost all other ambient noise... save for the barking slugs (and when there's tons of 'em in there, its insane how loud it is)

6) It's a quirky location... probably something they wouldn't expect...?

Mais non! C'est le decker acadien! Laissez les bon temps rouler!


(Sorry, as a real Cajun, I just couldn't resist.)

I think if I was a player in this game, I would've stopped my amped up sammy long before it came to pulling guns. It's like these guys play while high on PCP or something... wtf.

Funny though, if not a little scary.

it's a free action to quickdraw, as long as you're using the correct holster, right?

I dont' see a problem with this ... as long as they're willing to either roleplay the fallout from shooting their dependent (willpower test, anyone? ), or think of an alternate scenario -- either way it offers great ways for character growth.

Yes but you did that to the wrong PC so it just ended a little bloodier than usual
It seems to me that you want to avoid cliche with this so my suggestion is to either make it (relatively)easy to get the kid(s) back and add twist there, cyber, possesion, ritual link+control action, reprogramming(only use this one if you own CC and know the rules for doing it).
Or. Make it insanely difficult to complete and have the inevitable death turn the campaign where you need it to go like, UB host, Azzie blood sacrifice, Mistuhama magical training program.
If your in a really bad mood make it nessisary for the PC's to kill a kid

Since when did the Mob become kid killing psychos, eh? If it was a trap they'd have assloads of gunmen waiting at the drop point. Cheaper, and not as despicable... well, relativly speaking...

thanks, I was confused on that.

You're talking about the people who invented the car bomb... they don't fraggin care who's kid is in ther car with Hoffa... And the area-cortex bomb costing 50,000 is for the cyber version. I'm talking cutting the girl's head open and packing it with plastic, sitching it back up, tossing her on a bed.

Guys with guns surrounding the characters? You watch too many movies

But kidnapping doesn't? They have to kill the kid somehow -no witnesses. Bombs just eliminate the evidence a little better than bullets.

You're right, shoving a pipe bomb down her throat or up her <> makes more sense; while she's drugged of course.

drugs cost money too...

Fine, knock her over the head with the pipe. Before you fill it, mind.

I would use a silly icon, but it doesn't seem appropriate.

You seem to be taking this a little personally. I am not questioning what happens in your own game, but what happens in mine.

In my own game the Family has a specific set of crimes that they frown upon-that doesn't mean if the pay off is big enough they won't do it. It just means that on the whole the average Family member finds it tasteless.

Sure reality says that they may have to occassion kidnap kids, even kill them-but I guess I just don't see every person in the SR world as eager and willing to kill children.

There are other ways to ensure witnesses aren't eager to talk-and sometimes those can be even more effective than killing. Killing has its place, but wanton destruction is just assinine. It'd create way too much heat.

Now if in your own game its an easy decsion to kill kids, and thats cool with you-then fine. As long as you're having fun who am I to question you? In my own game niether my players nor I see a real need for child killing. It doesn't increase our fun factor, or entertain us particularly.

Oh and bombs leave as much evidence as bullets-only in a different format.

Not at all, actually. I just like to debate. From this reaction and your previous in the vampire thread, it seems you don't. I'll try to remember that.