Help - Search - Members - Calendar
Full Version: Intro Solo mission
Dumpshock Forums > Discussion > Shadowrun
grahariel
Okay, so I've got a friend who hasn't played a table-top rpg in her life, but after seeing us play Shadowrun she's shown interest in joining. I've given her the core book to look over, mostly the short intro story and the background for starters. However, I want her to have a small handle on the rules before I have her join the group already in progress. I was hoping to just do a one-on-one session to give her character some in-game history as well as get her familiar with the rules. I'm wondering if anyone knows of any place or any type of introductory, solo-mission pre-made mission I can use to get her into the world and learning the ropes. Something fun, interesting, and quick, and hopefully something that covers the three basic tests: social, combat, and maybe mental. Does anyone have any ideas or resources I can pull from? It'd be a big help.
Udoshi
The Food Fight freebie/starter adventure thingie from the website comes up a lot in these kinds of discussions. May start there?

It also helps a lot to do a Test Run to familiarize new players with the rules using premade or throw-away characters so they can get their hands wet without risking a character they are potentially attached to.
ShadowPavement
hmmmmmm......I'd give her something straight forward but with some choice and that will highlight some of the coolness of SR and give her a chance to try some different things depending on what kind of character she has.

How about a simple courier job. She has to deliver a comlink to someone inside Dante's Inferno who isn't expecting the drop. It has an obvious goal, lets you highlight the awesomeness of the Inferno, and has a bunch of different approaches you can take to getting into the club.

She'll have to figure out how to get in past the long line of wannabes at the door first. Does she sneak around the back and try to hack the alarm on the emergency exit? Does she con her way passed the troll guards at the door? Or does she knock out the two bartenders who are on their break in the employee smoke area?

Once inside she has to locate the man she's looking for. Does she does she use the clubs system to try and locate his comlink with the name she's be given? Does she ask around and interact with some interesting npc's to see if they've seen him? Or does she intimidate the information out of someone or does she have a spirit search for him?

Once she has located him how does she deal with the small team of gangers that have been hired by a rival faction to intercept her delivery.

Once she's gotten to the mark how does she get the comlink to him. Does she slip it into his pocket on the sly. Does she try to seduce him and get it on him that way. Does she take the direct approach.




I also recommend letting her pick from one of the pre-made characters, especially if she's new to gaming in general. You may also want to limit her choices to some of the more obvious types of runners instead of ones that need many specialized rules (like technomancers, or riggers)

Hope that helps.
grahariel
Thanks, those are some good ideas. I wanted to use her actual character because I was hoping she could use the solo mission as background info to tell the players once she joins the group, if she chooses to, as well as an intro into how she ends up in Seattle or needing a group. Besides, I can fudge the dice if necessary since it's just meant to show her the rules and understand the game, not really be a crazy challenge. Just something to giver her character some substance and a bit of in-game history so she's not fishing around for an answer on-the-fly when asked some standard questions by the PCs. So, thanks, it's much appreciated.
nightslasthero
It's a good idea to figure out what she is playing first. If she is a magician then you need a different type of run than if she is playing a street sam. I second staying away from technomancers and riggers (though riggers aren't as bad as technomancers).

But here is an easy run idea.

Mr. Johnson hires her to go blend in with a small time gang to find out how involved her daughter's boyfriend is with the gang. This should be mostly a social interaction. Have one fo the gang members flirt with her and a girl in the gang get ticked off about it. When the PC goes off alone, have the now ticked off female gang member come with a couple of friends to "teach" her some respect. If she leaves anyone alive they will start to respect her, if not maybe have someone in the gang suspect that she is responsible. Either way the gang member should be impressed and invite her to go with them to rough up a shop owner for his monthly dues. When they get there, they send her in alone to see what she got and if she can get the guy to pay up. Have the guy with a bodyguard so there is definetely some ranged combat that occurs.

In the end she learns that the boyfriend and the daughter are running away to Seattle as he is being promoted to a higher position within the gang. She is then hired to get a team and locate the Boyfriend and the girl. Returning the girl back to her parents and making sure the boyfriend never wants to try and see her again.

Make sure the encounters are relatively easy. Keep most of the oppononents average and maybe assume that the gangers have already been in a fight so that they are already weakened. Alternatively, the gangers may not be willing to die for the lady gangers personal problems and will retreat. If she is a mage, add a mage into the fight, But maybe have him just observe and toss a stun spell into the entire group to calm things down. (Maybe this is the guy who observes her skill, so maybe keep the mage even if she isn't one)

Manunancy
As far as ganger go, having them drunk/badly hungover/crashed down from some stim, drug or whatever is justaseffective and probably even more likely than havingthem wounded from a fight.
CanRay
QUOTE (Manunancy @ Jan 9 2012, 01:57 AM) *
As far as ganger go, having them drunk/badly hungover/crashed down from some stim, drug or whatever is justaseffective and probably even more likely than havingthem wounded from a fight.
For a good example of that kind of intro, read this.
Xahn Borealis
QUOTE (CanRay @ Jan 9 2012, 06:00 AM) *
For a good example of that kind of intro, read this.

Hey, did anyone see where that came from? Someone just threw a plug out of nowhere...
nightslasthero
QUOTE (Manunancy @ Jan 9 2012, 12:57 AM) *
As far as ganger go, having them drunk/badly hungover/crashed down from some stim, drug or whatever is justaseffective and probably even more likely than havingthem wounded from a fight.

Really jealous that I didn't come up with that first.

Also if the group happens to already hate a gang all the better.
nightslasthero
QUOTE (Xahn Borealis @ Jan 9 2012, 01:03 AM) *
Hey, did anyone see where that came from? Someone just threw a plug out of nowhere...

It wasn't out of nowhere. I set CanRay up to make a plug with a off the top of my head adventure idea that just so happened to fit in with something he wrote.
Midas
Can you give us any info on what character she is playing? Also, info on any contacts she might have or background hooks she might have given you would be helpful.

I would probably have one of her contacts request a favour of some kind, something in her line of work (bodyguarding/teaching someone a lesson for a sam, tailing a socialite going to a party to see who she talks to for a face, basic B&E work for an infiltrator, dealing with a mischevous spirit for a mage etc). Tailor the mini-adventure to her skills, and give her plenty of advice regarding her options on any given encounter. You might want the small favour to turn into something bigger that she can't handle alone, so that when she tells her contact that the kid is in deep with the triads or whatever, the contact can put her in touch with a fixer who brings in the rest of the team ...
grahariel
Haven't made character yet, but I leant her the corebook to look over as I've stated. So, I'll need to talk to her about what her character concept is. I hope to make her character this Sat using chummer. I'll post once we've settled on a concept.
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.
Dumpshock Forums © 2001-2012