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thorya
So in my game Lone Star has been publicly humiliated when Knight Errant goes public with a large body of evidence showing cooperation with a lot of high ranking Lone Star employees and Atlanta street gangs. There has been a public out cry and a lot of people being let go and resigning from Lone Star as a result and a lot of Lone Star officers mixed up in it going on the run rather than being tried. This happened a few months ago and contract renegotiation/renewal time is coming up for Lone Star. Knight Errant would like to put the screws to them and remind the public just how bad Lone Star is. Knight Errant is planning on running a big televised (matrixivised?) series of events where they feature the worst of the worst Lone Star fugutives and offer rewards for their capture (think Cowboy Bebop). "Lone Star's not on the Job and someone needs to be! Knight Errant's offering these rewards to keep our streets safe and get these dangerous animals out of our neighborhoods."

I'm almost certain my players will want to get in on this. (Three of the group are huge Cowboy Bebop fans and spent time trying to decide which members of the crew their characters would be) So my questions is, what type of rewards seem reasonable for this? I'm not sure how much nuyen should be up for grabs and I'm thinking that there will be other prizes too. Maybe a car, new soy processor, trip to an Ares resort, etc. Ideas are welcome.

They'll be tracking down, apprehending dangerous guys that know people are coming from them, keeping the competition away, and turning them in while keeping their own SIN's secret. If they don't this could lead to more fun down the line.

Also, does anyone have any washed up cops or former company men characters built? I would be interested in using them if you want to share. I can make them myself, but figured it might be cool to see what other people have lying around, because despite having 15 or so chummer files none of them really fit the bill.
Or if anyone has other bounty hunters lying around, since there will be competition.
Neraph
Well, first off, don't forget the standing bounty on HMHVV (page 64, Running Wild). Also, don't forget about the 1 Million nuyen.gif bounty on live Blood Mages and Toxic Shaman from Dunkie's Will.

QUOTE (Dunkelzahn)
To further encourage an end to the use of blood magic by Aztechnology and other parties, I offer a bounty of 1 million nuyen on any blood mages captured alive and delivered to the Dunkelzahn Institute of Magical Research for the purposes of studying the effects of blood magic use on metahumanity. I further authorize the Draco Foundation to provide suitable rewards for the receipt of verifiable accounts of blood magic use, the rewards to reflect the usefulness of the information provided.
....
In order to discourage the proliferation of toxic shamans, I offer a bounty of 1 million nuyen on any toxic shamans captured alive and delivered to the Dunkelzahn Institute of Magical Research for the purposes of studying the effects of toxicity on the physical and astral presence of such shamans, and how they in turn impact the physical and astral world.

Note that these should be extraordinarily difficult fights - high Magic mages on their home turf ready for trouble. My group successfully finished two and the third they went after nearly killed everyone, even though some of them were in Heavy MilSpec armor. The group members are still afraid of Radiation mages (as freaking well they should be).

I don't have any stats offhand for bounty hunters, although I did have an ork built at one time who was a self-stylized sheriff of the Ork Underground - he used revolvers, had a Boyd & Richards Desperado shotgun, wore a Lined Coat, and rode a motorcycle that had a Personality chip for a horse. He was crazy too. He survived multiple high-force Powerballs and at one point leaped onto an Ares Roadmaster that was attacking the group from his cycle, stuck his arm through the gun port to stay on, tossed a grenade in the port, and then rode the thing down when the mage of the group tossed another high-force Powerball against its front to kill the truck, and only suffered something like 3 or 4 P damage from the encounter. Then he demanded his motorcycle be seen to before he was.

Good times.
thorya
This is a street level campaign. My players would get owned hard core if they went up against a toxic mage.
SpellBinder
Start smaller then, like closer to legal bounty hunting, a.k.a. skippers. Those who fail to show up to court on the appointed date, fail to check in with their P.O., etc. Typical jobs now return 10 to 20 percent of the skipper's bond, and I can't see any reason why that wouldn't be true in the 2070's. It's possible that a bail bondsman will call upon runners for such work in the Shadowrun world. And even not-so-legal versions could be the same, where a crime boss/lieutenant wants someone for some reason, and calls upon shadowrunners to track someone down for whatever reason. There's a Denver mission module that's like that, SRM02-06.

There's even another mission module where the team has a chance to collect that 1 million blood mage reward (or more if you're generous with what DIMR accepts), SRM02-09.
Emperor Tippy
What kind of bounties? Most of the more elite criminals and people that would be good for KE to get off the streets from a PR perspective simply aren't low level.

And sorry but a new soy processor is not the kind of thing Ares would offer for someone turning in a criminal that is apparently capable enough to avoid LS. Nuyen, employment opportunities, a new identity, a SIN, a college education, funding to start a business, etc.

Remember that most people are on the streets because they are 1) running from their old life, 2) born without a SIN, or 3) lack any useful skills. Offering a SIN, an apartment, and some training will get most people on the streets to turn any criminal that they know about it. Offering Ares employment and a new ID to those with the skills will get a large chunk of the rest to jump at the chance (tired of the gang life? Ares will give you a phenotype alteration, a new ID, and a reasonably well compensated job in exchange for you working for them).

Make the compensation stuff that lots of people on the streets would legitimately want but that the PC's don't (new SIN, job, training, etc.) and then have the PC's sell their compensation to a fixer. The PC's catch the bounty, they sell him to the fixer for say 5K, then the fixer sells him to a ganger who wants a new life for 10K, and then the ganger gives him to Ares for the reward that is actually worth a hundred K but isn't something transferable or that the PC's want).
thorya
Well, KE doesn't currently have the police contract in Atlanta in our game, so this is just a publicity stunt so they can constantly remind people that the bad criminals on the street with the bounty on their heads are former Lone Star officers. And avoiding LS isn't a big feat right now in Atlanta, especially if you still have friends on the force. There's a ganger war going on and the previously mentioned scandal led to 1/4 of the LS force quitting, being fired, going on the run or otherwise being removed from the force. The cities in chaos with CAS army forces occasionally stepping in for the particularly bad things. If KE wanted to track these guys down themselves they could, but they want the bad publicity for LS and to remind people that even though Knight Errant legally can't enforce the law right now, they're still trying keep people safe. So that when the Atlanta Contract comes up again and there bid is higher than Lone Stars no one will complain. It's a publicity campaign, not a real hunt for criminals.

Tippy, I don't think I follow why the bounties should be designed to attract people off the streets.

In response to what type of bounties. They're not offering bounties on shadowrunners or powerful mages, these are former detectives, police captains, and beat cops that have been on the take for several years, involved with criminal activities, and gotten away with a lot of crap because they can hide behind a badge. Now they're out on the street. So they're mean and probably well armed, but not street sams or anything. They have been targeted because they fit the bill as being particularly loathsome individuals- Drug Dealers that peddle to kids, murders, perverts, racists, trolls, etc. Not because they're the most dangerous out there.

I was already planning on offering nuyen as a prize, but was looking for something more exotic and fun (again, I'm picturing this as a game show type broadcast with them double dipping and using the prizes as free advertising). I'm not sure training or a new SIN really fit the bill as something you can give away as a prize and scholarships are mostly of interest to people that are too young to be out bounty hunting.

Then again, Knight Errant might just rig it and get a few heart warming stories out of it with a couple grandmas that tasered the thugs when they "broke into their apartments".
SpellBinder
Mean and well armed? Had a techno-rigger who really liked lasers once. Would've offered little prizes like laser pistols, power cells, and maybe even a laser rifle for him as salvage from bounties. Just have those guys defaulting on their Exotic Ranged Weapon skill to reflect the "not street sams or anything" part. The ones in Arsenal are made by Ares, who owns Knight Errant wink.gif Only drawback is that these weapons are F on the availability frown.gif

Then there's also ammo. Especially the hard to come by type that former cops might've been able to get a hold of. Had an adept face who used an Ares Predator IV in times of trouble, and in one run that was effectively a bounty hunt they got the guy's gun: an Ares Predator IV with 12 rounds and a spare magazine of APDS ammo. No one in the group had any knowledge skills pertaining to guns and such, so no one could readily identify what they were. They just knew these bullets were... different.

Instead of training for those wired runners there's always skillsofts, and tutorsofts for anyone (just brand them as Ares software, or stuff that Knight Errant uses). For the gunfighters they could get tutorsofts to teach them the Firefight martial art, something that'll likely be recognizable as an Ares related product or something KE would use and/or do.

Also, if this is going to be a KE PR campaign kind of deal, using a lot of Ares related stuff can help. You know, the "hero" with his favored Ares brand gun or Ares/GM brand vehicle. Maybe a Knight Errant P4 the team happens to have helps end a high speed pursuit of a known fugitive? Said grandma could've been protected by a GM-Nissan Doberman drone armed with an Ares Light Fire 70 loaded with stick 'n shock ammo patrolling the apartments. Along these lines it's a matter of considering product placement for the good stories.

Just stuff I'm throwing around. Hope some of these might be helpful ideas.
HaxDBeheader
QUOTE (Emperor Tippy @ Mar 31 2012, 12:22 AM) *
What kind of bounties? Most of the more elite criminals and people that would be good for KE to get off the streets from a PR perspective simply aren't low level.

And sorry but a new soy processor is not the kind of thing Ares would offer for someone turning in a criminal that is apparently capable enough to avoid LS. Nuyen, employment opportunities, a new identity, a SIN, a college education, funding to start a business, etc.

Remember that most people are on the streets because they are 1) running from their old life, 2) born without a SIN, or 3) lack any useful skills. Offering a SIN, an apartment, and some training will get most people on the streets to turn any criminal that they know about it. Offering Ares employment and a new ID to those with the skills will get a large chunk of the rest to jump at the chance (tired of the gang life? Ares will give you a phenotype alteration, a new ID, and a reasonably well compensated job in exchange for you working for them).

Make the compensation stuff that lots of people on the streets would legitimately want but that the PC's don't (new SIN, job, training, etc.) and then have the PC's sell their compensation to a fixer. The PC's catch the bounty, they sell him to the fixer for say 5K, then the fixer sells him to a ganger who wants a new life for 10K, and then the ganger gives him to Ares for the reward that is actually worth a hundred K but isn't something transferable or that the PC's want).



Love your "a life with a future" reward package idea. If I was a player I wouldn't sell it to a fixer, though, I would sell it to one of my contacts with a big "you owe me" attached (likely an increase in loyalty as a result, too).
Midas
Interesting idea, Thorya, and hope it goes well.

One big question springs to mind, namely why would KE turn to criminals to bring criminals in (especially publicly as in a reality show-esque type deal)? Wouldn't be much of a PR stunt for KE if their bounty hunters turn out to be the very same SINless hardened criminals KE is claiming to want to protect the public from.

If your players are up for it, I would suggest they make quasi-legal runners with SINs and backgrounds in KE subsidiaries, or ex-gangers recruited by KE and given that SIN and legitimacy for previously turning in gang members or one or two of the ex-Lone Star dirty cops you mentioned. If the team are legit or semi-legit, I could see some fancy Ares weaponry, drones, vehicles and gizmos to help track down said bad guys given as part of the reward. If KE can't trust the bounty hunters not to turn round and shoot some civilian in the face at a later date, this most likely won't happen.

You say it is a street-level campaign, so I would probably low-ball the cash side of the reward ... say 5 to 10K for the team plus reasonable expenses per ex-bent cop, depending on how hard it would be to track them down and how bad-ass they are, in addition to Ares goodies and gizmos to help them fight the good fight. Naturally, if the team is successful then KE can offer them harder and higher profile bounties for bigger renumeration as the campaign goes on.

Don't have any particular builds to proffer, but some guidelines to how many BP and what sort of DP range you are after might help those with time on their hands. Off the top of my head, low-ball sammie, face, detection-specialist mages and surveillance-orientated hacker/fly-spy riggers should fit the bill pretty well.
thorya
QUOTE (Midas @ Mar 30 2012, 11:34 PM) *
Interesting idea, Thorya, and hope it goes well.

One big question springs to mind, namely why would KE turn to criminals to bring criminals in (especially publicly as in a reality show-esque type deal)? Wouldn't be much of a PR stunt for KE if their bounty hunters turn out to be the very same SINless hardened criminals KE is claiming to want to protect the public from.

If your players are up for it, I would suggest they make quasi-legal runners with SINs and backgrounds in KE subsidiaries, or ex-gangers recruited by KE and given that SIN and legitimacy for previously turning in gang members or one or two of the ex-Lone Star dirty cops you mentioned. If the team are legit or semi-legit, I could see some fancy Ares weaponry, drones, vehicles and gizmos to help track down said bad guys given as part of the reward. If KE can't trust the bounty hunters not to turn round and shoot some civilian in the face at a later date, this most likely won't happen.

You say it is a street-level campaign, so I would probably low-ball the cash side of the reward ... say 5 to 10K for the team plus reasonable expenses per ex-bent cop, depending on how hard it would be to track them down and how bad-ass they are, in addition to Ares goodies and gizmos to help them fight the good fight. Naturally, if the team is successful then KE can offer them harder and higher profile bounties for bigger renumeration as the campaign goes on.

Don't have any particular builds to proffer, but some guidelines to how many BP and what sort of DP range you are after might help those with time on their hands. Off the top of my head, low-ball sammie, face, detection-specialist mages and surveillance-orientated hacker/fly-spy riggers should fit the bill pretty well.


That's a good point about criminals being bad PR for KE and I hadn't thought that all the way through. I think they'll do some vetting when/if people come to turn in bounties. I figured that mostly your fringe individuals would show up: experienced bounty hunters (since it's a legal profession afterall), maybe some guys off the streets with nothing to lose but not likely to really track anyone down either, some runners using proxies to make a quick buck, etc. I don't think most criminals are going to want the publicity either. So really it's win-win to not ask to many questions when a scrawny high school shows up claiming to have downed a troll with his bear hands. I also had not really considered this a recruitment deal for KE, I picture them as being very military and by the book and not usually seeing eye to eye with your soldier of fortune types.

The team all started with 300 BP and no combat skills. We are about 30-40 karma in at this point. They're almost all SINners and everyone started from a non-runner background and the day job quality. No one's throwing more than 10 or 11 DP in anything and most combat pools are 6-8. As such they are all citizens with fairly clean records, so if they wanted to they could turn them in under their own SINs.

I like the idea of the Doberman drone and other pieces of Ares equipment being the thing that saved the day. I might have something along those lines as a prize. I imagine that they'll be vetted to make sure their answers are corporation approved.

I think 5 to 10K is a good range. It's enough to get attention but not enough for things to get crazy. I might just use the sample runner characters from the books. One of them should be a good challenge for 4-5 300 BP players.
Neraph
QUOTE (thorya @ Mar 30 2012, 07:57 PM) *
They have been targeted because they fit the bill as being particularly loathsome individuals- Drug Dealers that peddle to kids, murders, perverts, racists, trolls, etc.

Woah, woah woah - hold on there now. This is 2072, where sentiments like that are reserved for Humanis Policlubbers.
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