Dear God if you are one of my players you should not be reading this thread so GET OUT!

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Anyways, so I'm working on the second half of the Shadowrun campaign I'm currently writing. I have a very vague idea of what I want to do, but I'm having issues coming up with specifics and really ironing out the outline of events. I thought I'd post my current ideas, and some of you fellow Shadowrunners might nudge me in the right direction.

CAMPAIGN PART ONE

Part One of the campaign deals with the Runners on a search and rescue mission for a Horizon executive's daughter. She's been kidnapped by an obsessed ex-boyfriend who unfortunately is also an Insect Shaman and is convinced she's destined to be his Queen.

The Ex-Boyfriend has conquered some territory in the Barrens from the Crimson Crush thanks to the funds from a Chemical Plant that he's taken over. This is where he's starting to build his hive. He's managed a lucrative deal with an Ares subsidiary for funds and weapons to arm his gang, which he uses as a recruitment tool for the chemical plant and as hosts for his slowly-growing hive.

The end of Part One should have the Shadowrunners locate the chemical plant, and hopefully storm it, rescue the girl, and probably kill the Shaman. If the Runners take too much time to rescue her, the rescue will probably turn into a battle with the new Hive Queen instead.

In PART TWO I have a few things that I want to happen.

- The Runners will have happened on a HUGE pile of Paydata by discovering the link between Ares and a gang run by an Insect Shaman. I have an idea that the shaman was using the Chemical Plant to manufacture large quantities of a certain chemical in order to help Ares conduct a massive sabotage against a rival corporation. I'm having some difficulty fleshing that out. One thing I thought of is that perhaps Ares is using this plant to manufacture a large amount of some sort of chemical necessary for the manufacture of advanced Bioware implants. Putting some kind of defect into the chemical could ruin an entire production batch and set back the process months, or even years. It would make sense if Ares hired a no-name chemical plant in the Barrens to manufacture this chemical in secret.

- What I want to have happen is that the Runners happen on this massive paydata that they could sell to multiple people. They have to make a hard choice as to who they deal with. If they tell Ares they have this information, Ares may hire them to complete the sabotage operation that they'd originally hired the Insect Shaman for. If they tell the corporation that was going to be sabotaged, that corp may hire them to inflict some pain on Ares. Either way, once they take action, they need to prevent the other corporation from finding out what they know.

- I'm thinking it might be interesting if an AI is orchestrating this entire thing and after conducting its sabotage, hires the runners to smuggle it outside. I haven't done much with AIs in Shadowrun though, so I'm not sure if I want to go this route.

- There are a few things I DO know that I want to happen in Part Two. First, no more Insect Spirits. That part is done. I only have one magic user in the group, I don't want him to dominate both halves of the campaign. Second, I want the Runners to have to do some travel. If I involve Aztechnology I can get them to go to Amazonia, or I could easily get them to Detroit with Ares. Other areas are equally possible.

I guess overall it's the motivations of the corporations that I'm having trouble brainstorming. After Part 1 I don't have a clear villain for the campaign anymore, since the Insect Spirit is probably dead. I need to figure out why Ares is using this chemical plant, and what its plans for it were, and how the Runners can help or hinder that operation. Is a rogue AI involved? It's a cool idea but I'm not sure how to implement it yet.

Yes this is a long post. If you read it all, I thank you.

The beautiful thing about shadowrun is that there are some really blurry lines between medicine, chemicals and tech.

You might try Nanoforge Feedstock Goop out of arsenal - if you're looking for a really big payday item, unrestricted/untagged nano feedstock.

I might also suggest some sort of Nanite/medical nanobased product, like the stuff that goes into nanocybernetics, or, if you're looking for a Big Ticket Item, parts that are going into ares Cyborgs - they are one big company that is fairy invested in jarhead production.
There are still plenty of useful drugs and boosters - check out augmentation's section, especially their medical drugs, for ideas.

As far as your "evil mastermind" goes, you must remember that the corporations and megacorps are giant bueracracies, full of managers, middle managers, executives, VPs, specialists, etc.

Your mastermind would be someone who would gain from this plot they have created. Whether it be in profits, promotions, or prestige. And it may not be an Ares person, but someone from a rival corp who is trying to make Ares look bad. Maybe the product to be sabotaged was crap to begin with, so the lead scientist or project manager behind the new product hatched this idea. They've been covering up the failed tests and fudging data to make things look good. But now, its time for production and they want to blame the inevitable failures on the competition.

Quite often the really dirty deeds are done without approval from higher ups. Sometimes for the good of the whole. Sometimes to save someones ass. Usually the ass of the person who started all the crap to begin with.

Thanks for the bit about the Nanotech goo. I was actually pondering something dealing with Nanotech (maybe the chemicals have hidden nanos?) so I think I might explore this idea further.

I think my difficulty in planning this might arise from the fact that I don't have a clear antagonist picked out yet.

Of course, since I don't know which choice they're going to make, I think this means I have to pick TWO antagonists... and essentially one of them will become the Runners' "ally" and one will be the "enemy" which is of course perfect for a Shadowrun lol.

The other thing I'm just having issues with is the McGuffin of the adventure.

Does the factory have to be an active chemical plant?

What if Ares are working with the Ant Shaman and the plant is actually his hive? Or worse yet Ares are using it for insect spirit research and he's co-operating with them? Or maybe the factory isn't controlled by Ares at all, but happens to be run with Ares dollars by an executive who happens to be an invested Flesh Form? Maybe said exec is under the Ant shaman's control?

I actually ran a similar adventure once. Players were asked to investigate a missing person ( a child for a friend of a friend). Turns out that there had been a lot of kid disappearances and abductions within a local area. Looked like it was tied to a paedophile case or something. Managed to work out that there was a recent parole who moved back into the area and the disappearances coincided with his release from prison. They go to pay the guy a visit and they learn that his place had a hidden room (acid carved, tunnelled) and realise that he's an insect shaman and he's kidnapping kids and turning them into vessels. Their primary target he had earmarked to invest with a nymph spirit and was planning to make his queen.

So basically it was a paedophile Ant shaman, using kids as his merges. Needless to say I tried to come up with the most despicable, sickening character I possiby could and even the most non-squeamish players at my table were grossed out by it.

After they took the guy and his mini-hive out, they realised that the shaman they just killed went into prison a mundane and came out a shaman. Upon further investigation they found out that a good chunk of a prison had actually been converted into a major Ant hive. Guards, inmates, you name it.

EDIT - CLIFF NOTES SUMMARY:
Did similar thing once. Random missing persons case turns into a full blown bug hunt.

- J.

The factory doesn't HAVE to be an active chemical plant. I wrote the scene that way because I wanted the Shaman to have an interesting base of operations for his Nest that people would be reluctant to snoop around. A polluted cesspool in the Barrens seemed like just the trick. Plus, I have one character with a Moderate Allergy to Pollutants so I thought that would be fun way for him to deal with his condition. Then I planned an interesting attack where the Runners basically raid the Chemical factory, and as they go deeper into the sub-basements it gradually transforms from gangplanks and factory equipment to an underground tunnel network.

I haven't completely finished writing out that scene, but those were my motivations for doing so.

In the "Behind the Scenes" aspect of the plot, the Insect Shaman has been using his influence in the Barrens to acquire himself a nice cheap slave-labor force, some of which are turned into Hosts for his growing Ant army. Ares doesn't know they're dealing with an Insect Shaman, but couldn't refuse the incredibly cheap labor. All they need is a few shipments of surplus military hardware and some cash, and they've got a full blown chemical plant up and running. The Insect Shaman uses the guns to rise to power in a local Barrens gang, and scares the Crimson Crush away with his seemingly limitless arms supply.

I just have to concoct a grand plot for Ares in terms of why they're involved with this chemical plant in the first place.

The pedophile Ant Shaman is indeed creepy. In my campaign I'm going more for the strange, creepy cult aspect. When the Shadowrunners track down this Insect Shaman to his "territory" in the Barrens, they'll run into all sorts of low-lifes who basically think that he's the best thing that's happened to their "Neighborhood" in 30 years. He's instilled a sense of "Community" with them. Everyone cooperates for the sake of the neighborhood, with everyone doing their individual part. Most people have already drank the Kool Aide and can't wait to be part of his "Special Project"! All the people who get to work in his chemical plant are so HAPPY! They're just kept so busy they don't come back to visit very often though...

I like where your head is at on this one.

What I really wanted to do is create an Insect Shaman where co-operating and working with him (and his Hive) is actually in their best interest. I never fleshed out this idea anymore or did anything with it, but I really liked the idea of forcing PCs down a road where they have to decide what is the lesser evil - or at least the devil they know.

- J.

Maybe Ares is having him process something that's Toxic and they don't want it in their corporate territory because of the type of spirits it draws/creates and it's bad for their image if people find out that they're dumping Boron Trifluoride into the atmosphere like it's going out of style and if your bright happy wageslaves are sick and rotting from the inside out. Or since Ares is into military stuff, maybe they're refining nuclear materials at that sight for sale under the table to third world countries. I imagine that the corporate court probably likes to control nuclear arms just as much as the first world countries do today (and with as much success).

Oh, I'm liking that.

Ares could be supplying another country with the McGuffin (nuclear material, Nanobot goo, etc) and stepping on some corporate toes while doing so. For example, if they're planning on selling this stuff in Europe, that has a good chance of pissing off Saeder-Krupp. That gives me a perfect excuse to have the Runners do some serious travel, which I'd wanted them to do as part of this Run. It also gives them the chance to either help Ares, or decide to shop their services to Saeder-Krupp.

I was seriously thinking of sending them to Amazonia as part of this run, but I'm not sure that this would work with that, since Aztechnology is pretty much synonymous with Aztlan. I might be able to concoct something.

What about sabatoging an insecticide or FAB supply? Seems like something an insect would go along with.

I like where this is going. Might use some of this myself.

What I would do is have the plant manufacturing a chemical substance that Area is selling at cut-rate prices to some insurgent group somewhere (which happens to be revolting against some government propped up by rival Corp B). The insurgent group is post-processing the stuff into something nasty (like a chemical weapon for terrorist-style attacks). The second part of your campaign could involve a trip to a war zone just in time to thwart one such attack.

Alternately, if you aren't too attached to Ares, the ant shaman could be working with Aztechnology (also a major arms manufacturer) to produce herbicides for their Amazonia campaign.

Yes, this is definitely on the right track.

I like the idea of sabotaging an insecticide as well... that's definitely something an Ant Shaman would sign on for. I'm not sure if a bad batch of Insecticide is high-profile enough. Seems to me that if the Insecticide was ineffective, they'd figure that out pretty quick and change insecticides. If the Insecticide was simply a poison to kill crops, it seems that they'd realize pretty quickly that the crops were having an adverse reaction to the Insecticide and stop using it before widescale damage was caused.

An insurgent group propped up by rival corp is a great idea.

I need to pore through my 6th World Almanac and pick a good location for that.

Maybe it's the fact that I've been watching Sons of Anarchy, who deal weapons to Irish Terrorists, but I'm thinking Elvish terrorist agents for Tir na nOg might be a good idea.

Don't forget that some insecticides are basically low-concentration nerve agent... hence the characteristic rapid twitching. Your shaman could also be upping the dosage to affect larger critters with fewer legs.

Doesn't Ares also produce the anti-bug spirit chemical spray in arsenal?

the really awesome stuff that specifically kills bug spirits but isn't that harmful to real people? I believe its an Allergy-based damage mechanic.

Yep, that would be the Flourescent Astral Bacteria I through III, used to great effect against Chicaco, Bug City (and genociding the frag out of a bunch of surprised ghouls!). I could actually see a Hive searching out and attacking a FAB stockpile, boy would that be messy..

Well, any Insecticide should work against Bug Spirits, as they have an allergy to it. Of course, the Humans don't do too well with it either. *shrug*

It remains a light allergy, however. So long as you want to do some real harm on a high force Invae, FAB is probably better, but then you run the risk of ticking off your magic-users and killing your dual natured allies :-/

May I ask what your group looks like (archetypes, Powerlevel, Karma, Experience in general)?

Power level is generally low (which is why the Insect Shaman for Part 1 is only starting a Hive and doesn't have a fully established one with a Queen)

Group consists of:

Human Face whose Charisma is off the chart, but relies on his Edge of 8 to get him through combat

Human Weapon Specialist who eschews Cyberware. He has lots of different skills making him a "Jack of all Trades Master of None"

Human Rigger who is actually pretty well built and capable. He just needs money for more drones and heavier weapons for the ones he has, etc.

Human Mage who has Combat Paralysis and specializes in Control Actions and Spirit Summoning.

I'm really hoping during this campaign I'll be able to persuade the Weapon Specialist to break down and get some Cyberware, or at least get Specializations in some of his many skills.

Everything but Soldiers has severe insecticide allergy. That means anything besides the Soldier forms gets damaged by insecticide, thus successfully killing it double-dead in appropriate concentration.

and how experienced are your players? how long have they played shadowrun?

The Rigger is a veteran player. The rest of the players I've sent on 4-5 adventures before. The Mage loves reading the books so he knows things pretty well. The Face and the Weapon Specialist know the game enough to roll their dice, but that's about it. I've gradually introduced them all to various aspects of the 6th World over the course of their last runs. Most have been fairly simple, but I've been gradually upping the complexity. I haven't gone too nuts with the Matrix yet, since they don't have a dedicated hacker. Their adventures hasn't been very Magic heavy either, but they've dealt with a few low-force spirits and a handful of mages.

The reason i am asking is that the constellation ARES conspiring (knowingly or unknowingly) with insect shamans could be a bit to much. It's the kind of paydata that gets AAAs omegaed by the CC, the bad publicity not to mention. So once ARES finds out the PCs are dead meet no matter what.

AZT and a blood mage would be a better combination IMO, since quite frankly nobody likes AZT, everybody knows they are into blood magic and AZT wouldn't really give a ****.

Even then villains from the far end of the scary-and-dangerous scale shouldn't be used in casual manner, because after them there is only CORPS, dragons and GODS left for escalation.

Also your group doesn't seem exactly combat heavy, so why not make the mage a crocodile shaman living in the sewers, who fell madly in love and abducted the girl. Make his neighbours ghouls, with the leaders still being intelligent and sane. This way you keep you options for later escalations and you give your players different options to solve the adventure instead of forcing them to use violence.

A well played shaman (or mage for that matter) even an average one can kill the entire PC team if he is played correctly and smart.

Yeah, the storyline is a big deal, and that's sort of the point. So far they haven't done any jobs for a AAA. They've done one major job AGAINST Wuxing, but it was mostly against a rogue executive who Wuxing was going to hang out to dry anyways.

I don't think the plot is TOO Earth shaking. The Insect Shaman in this case barely has any kind of hive setup yet, and he doesn't have any grand designs to infiltrate Ares. The paydata is a big deal, certainly. But we're not talking about an Insect Shaman conspiracy that goes all the way to the top echelons of Ares here. In the end I'm not going to throw more at my players than I think they can handle.

I'm really looking forward to seeing how they approach the finale. They have a Chemical Plant used as a nest for Insect Spirits. If I were them, I'd load up on Insecticide bombs and go nuts in the entire area... but they DO have to worry about rescuing the girl too, so they can't just level the place. Plus it's a completely toxic environment to begin with.

Like I said though, the first part of the adventure with the Insect Shaman is 80% written out exactly where I want it. I'm happy that I think it'll be an entertaining run for them, with some horror elements and some surprises that they haven't dealt with previously. It's Part Two I'm really looking for help brainstorming on.