This is a proposed mission/run I plan to potentially put a group of fairly new runners through.

Setup:

I tend to give news reports (local, national, international, etc.) of various events. Most is just fluff, but sometimes it's jermaine to what they might get involved with. For this mission, a run or two prior there would be a report about a teen Christian Rock sensation Christy Noguchi having returned from her self-imposed pilgrimage to <someplace exotic and far away like Indonesia>, to work with disadvantaged populations there. The gossipmongers are attributing it to everything from her spending time in rehab, to genework/surgical enhancements, to her half a dozen other reasons.

The Call:

The runners are contacted by a fixer, ganger, or other contact, stating that there's someone out looking for a crew. If they're close to the contact (i.e. Charisma+Loyalty [3] test), they might find out that whomever's hiring is looking for no-rep people for a quick and dirty snatch-and-grab.

If accepted, the runners are directed to an abandoned locale for the meet.

The meet's a voice only call from an old model home telecom. The runners are told a package is being delivered to a local, private airport, and they are to obtain the package, and babysit it for up to a week. Sometime during that time they'll be contacted for further instructions. There are several disposable commlinks hidden under the telecom.

The promised pay is sizeable, with a good amount up front (for the weeklong expenses).

The Run:

If they accept, their given the location, and time of arrival (4 days hence, at night). The airfield's a private airfield used by mid- to senior management corp types for their private sky toys (piper brats, cessnas, etc.), but is also sometimes used by corps for clandestine deliveries. DocWagon, Metroplex Guard, and the city's Emergency Response Services also use the field occasionally for refueling or tactical deployments.

Security at the field is tight, with a perimeter of drones, and a small detachment of mercs for reactive defense. Astral patrolling, etc. I expect the runners can either infiltrate the airfield (the hard way), or intercept the package after it's been delivered (the easy way).

The Twist:

The "package" is actually a baby. The run is a kidnapping-by-proxy. A criminal group has learned that Ms. Noguchi was actually abroad having a baby. Not wanting to tarnish her reputation as a C-rocker, Horizon (the company managing her) sent her off to drop out of the spotlight for a while. The group somehow learned of this, and is expecting to extort a huge amount from Horizon.

Things don't go well for the criminal group. Somehow, they're find out, and Horizon has them liquidated.

The runners might never learn of that. A week will pass of the runners (literally) babysitting the package, and they'll never be contacted. Horizon, however, is actively looking for the baby.

The runners (I figure) have a few choices: get rid of the baby, find out who it belongs to and attempt to ransom it on their own, or explain how they were duped, and return it to whomever's looking for it. Horizon won't necessarily be adverse to option 3. They'll be watching closely any data searches on the child, so any attempts to learn about the kid (via the matrix, or magically, or possibly even via contacts) may open the door for initial contact with them.

Aftermath:

Depending on how the runner's play it, they could end up with a new contact (someone at Horizon), and corporate good will, or an enemy, or just some cred and karma and a story they can't talk about.

---

What do you think? Problems? Reasonable? I always find the ending of runs hard to plan, as the actions of the runners create such a large variable.

Tell me the title is a typo.

Paging Dr.Freud...

Hah! No, actually, the quote, "Music has charms to sooth the savage beast" is a typo. The line is as above. It's from "The Mourning Bride".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mourning_Bride_(Tragedy)

Good run, and a dystopic look at Horizon. If the runners discover who the mother is, and attempt to contact her and/or return the baby (without being blocked or traced by Horizon hackers/IC) she will not believe them, and deny the existence of any baby. This is because Dawkins Group agents have used ASIST reprogramming to replace the memories of the pregnancy and the father (who is a loose end they need tied). If the baby goes back to Horizon, it never surfaces and the C-Rock star releases that new, extra hyped spiritual, multi-platinum opus. The father will take the baby, but the runners better hope they can cover his tracks or convince Horizon he's not a threat (or that they can threaten to "Blow this thing wide open". Another alternative is that the SINless can't adopt, so a contact might have a friend.

If the baby is killed during the run (hey ammo cookoffs and uncontrolled fire spirits can and do happen) or Horizon disappears it and the runners are connected to it through their contacts or the father, you might want to add the hung out to dry and/or dark secret qualities.

The other thing is the run itself. Stress contacts and legwork, and have them suggest a few alternate methods of entry or offer to sell them an advantageous piece of gear. Again, anything in the legwork section could be used to connect the runners to the baby later and hurt their rep. If it's used by the Metroplex guard, they might have a dock for patrol boats (a point for infiltration or escape). Also, the security should probably be Metroplex guardsmen with some bodymods courtesy of Docwagon. Depending on how you view the Seattle government, Knight Errant and the borders of extra-territoriality, they could find themselves being chased by the vehicles (boats/helicopters/cars) of the MG's, KE, or both, depending upon cooperation.

I fucking love it.

From a GM perspective though, it might get tough reacting to the runners slowly coming to terms with the fact they have a baby nobody is coming for. If they don't get the bites, I'd consider sliding some info their way that this baby is valuable, to get their creative juices going and avoid them dumping the baby in the dumpster. Players are often surprisingly risk averse and will probably aim for the safest bet, which may not be the most fun to play out. Might need to coax them a bit.

Alternatively; Cities for Tough Titties.

Christy Noguchi’s reputation is obviously worth a great deal of money to Horizon.

Horizon would most certainly try to liquidate anyone else involved, including the runners. Even if the runners become aware of what’s really going on and try to make a deal with Horizon, there’s still a risk of the Dawkins Group erasing their recent memories… the cheap and easy way (Amnesia).

This might be a bit challenging for “a group of fairly new runners”

Thanks for the feedback!



The "fairly new runners" is mostly to make the hook plausible. The criminal group wants nobodies. They don't want anyone with street cred.

That, and how the group handles the aftermath is meant as a sort of litmus test that could define the group, and/or playstyle.

I agree that they're on dangerous ground. If they try to blackmail Horizon, they could find themselves in some very, very hot water, very quickly. If they play it cool, discrete, and professional, well, the Dawkins Group is always in need of deniable assets for other work.

As for what the runners know, there are other, less drastic ways to counter anything they may know, besides mindwiping or assassinating a bunch of would-be runners. Why do you think there's so many rumors swirling around about this singer? To muddy the waters for anything real that might come up.

@Sir_Psycho:

Those are some good points, regarding what may have happened to the performer. I had sort of considered adding another layer to things, in that the PR manager doesn't want his superiors to know about the kid, either (since he's the father), as he'd likely get the axe (figuratively and literally), as a way to lower the playing field somewhat against the runners. And things could get hairy if the runners begin dealing with Horizon directly. Just her having a kid would be a black-eye for his team's performance reviews.

@Backgammon:

Also good points. Perhaps some news items detailing the singer's distress at her revival concert? I was kind of counting on their curiosity getting the better of them.

Or the dependent -ve quality.

I agree with this, but I think it'd be more interesting to give them information saying that a corp hit squad is looking for the baby. The problem in that case is that the runners might directly choose to negociate and the run will be pretty short and simple. Maybe you should add elements that would make the runners think that the corp is going to do something bad to the baby (because "corps are bad"), while they're actually only looking to get it back to the mother.

You can also make it a bit more complex by having someone from a rival corp hear about that and think that the baby is the product of some new genetech, and send runners to find him. It's even better if that runner team is persuaded that they're getting the baby back to his mother.

If Mr. Johnson is the daddy, and he's playing this game to save his neck from the higher ups, then a relative like a parent or sibling of the C-rocker might want to take the child. As far as the runners staying off Horizon's chopping block this scenario allows certain runners with with John Constantine's penchant for the Faustian double-cross to inform his Horizon boss of the games he's playing. At this point, you have to stress that the runner's need to do a deal with the devil to prove they're not a liability (and to give Horizon leverage over them for crimes committed). Lots of run hooks.

"... And when I pull the trigger, you'll be dissolved in a vat of acid, the rumours will die and Christy's album will destroy the charts with the slitch none the wiser, courtesy of her bolstered work ethic, job satisfaction and of course, brand loyalty."
"Sir, your Pito's C rating just plummeted."
"What?"
"In effect, Mister Cline no longer knows you. What's the first thing you feel when you shoot a C eight?"
"Agent five sev-- George, please. don--"
"Uncompensated recoil. As for you, you now have Gary's undivided attention. I'll leave you with that, we have Mr. Johnson's very loud baby to deliver. I don't think he liked the bang."

The team have a challenging infiltration/exfiltration from the airfield (with potential for a chase by security forces), the "package" turns out to be a baby, and the Johnson ends up as a no-show ... sounds perfectly Shadowrun to me!

It will be interesting to see what the team do with the baby when the Johnson is a no-show, although (as I am sure you are aware) you should probably flesh out possible outcomes. If I were on the runner team, I would be on the commlink to my fixer straight away demanding that he sort it out.

One question: Why is it vital for Horizon that the singer gets brainwashed to forget the pregnancy/birth? I can see it could be an interesting plot hook for later (she could hire the team to look into the dreams of giving birth she keeps having), but still ...
Wouldn't it be easier for Horizon to keep her child (with a nanny of course) close to her mother and explain it away as a baby she adopted during her volunteering sabbatical? I would have thought some tear-jerking story spun about how the singer tried to save the child's mother to no avail, and the ficticious mother's dying wish for the singer to look after the child as her own as a good bitta Christian rock PR ...

Hey, immaculate conception.

I'd also think that being sent to retrieve a 'package' that turns out to be a baby will get most runners very pissed at whoever is employing them - possibly out of moral reasons, but mostly because it adds a serious layer of complication on delivering the package in an acceptable condition. Finding some baby formula milk in time for it to do some good while on the run from the package's security may very will turn out to be impossible.

As a player, I'd feel very, very pissed by the Johnson omitting informations he very likely knew and that has a large impact on the mission. Especially considering that unless he's terminaly dumb, he knows it's going to impact the mission. Which means it was a deliberate screwup from the start. Which would sink any willingness to actually finsh the mission will go straight for the dumpster and possibly induce me to abort the as soon as I figure out what the 'package is.

Yes, the runners are being used. And yes, they likely should be pissed.

They are, however, being promised a very sizeable payout for their troubles. The "johnsons" are likely promising something on the order of 30-50k (or more) per for their time, which should 1) allay their misgivings over the imcomplete information, and 2) raise some red flags from the outset that it it'll be more complicated from the get-go.

They'll never see that money, of course, since the johnsons don't get their payout. The johnsons were looking for a multi-million payout. They'll only end up receiving whatever up-front amount they negotiate.

That's also why the johnsons wouldn't want to let it be known what exactly the package is, lest the runners decide to pull off the kidnapping themselves (or not do the kidnapping, due to moral concerns; once they have the kid, they're invested in the scheme). They also don't want the runners to know who the kid is, so that the runners don't turn it on them.

I think if the runners are incredibly thorough, they can possibly discover what is onboard. Say the hacker manages to locate the manifest (which should be very, very difficult). The manifest won't list "Baby", but it will note that there is one passenger, and checking up on that passenger discovers it's an RN.

@Midas:

Yea, that's something I would need to flesh out. I would hope they'd back-follow the trail, and potentially discover who it was hiring them. Legwork galore, post-run. A team face would be very useful for the post-run negotiations and legwork.

Wjhat would the Johnson say if the players inquired about the nature of the package ? Not as in 'who does it belongs to' but 'what kind of precautions do we need to take around the package to make sure it's not damaged and will be delivered in proper condition for us to get paid'

Elusive or even worse false answers here means the whole deal is a trap. Not the usual overehtusiastic 'need not to know', but a deliberate setup for failure. The package might be a red herring and the whole run a diversion to keep the target busy chasing the package, the Johnson might be after the package's destruction and lies so the runner will unwillingly destroy it and forfeit their pay (and it will bypass the fact that killing a baby in cold blood is something few runners can stomach).

No matter what, in my opinion once they figure out what the package is and that the Johnson deliberately witheld critical information, many runner will simply bug out and leave it on site. Sure they're going to have the Johnson peeved at them, but since it's very dubious he intends to pay them in the first place (or even that they simply can keep the baby alive...), I don't think it's worth the bother to go effectively snatche the baby. It will at least mean the whoever had it moved won't be as motivated as if the kid was taken.

I mightg even go as far as to hack the security's comlinks and dump whatever i have on the Johnson in a 'that bastard srcewed us about that job, here's what we have on him so you got straight for him rather than us' file.

To answer the first question: the Johnson would simply say that what the package is doesn't matter. Grab it, hold on to it for a week, then do with it as told. Yes, that should raise red flags, perhaps. It's not like they're swiping some dangerous chemicals, hazmat materials, or explosives (though a baby may very well be a producer of all three).

I think that what you describe *is* a possibility. And as a GM, I'd be fine with it. Yes, it'd short circuit some of the planned hijinx, but if that's the route the characters are going to take, then so be it. And they'd be well on their way to some good paranoia.

That said, I still think it's unlikely. With a large payout potentially awaiting them (they don't know they won't receive it), and needing to make a decision quickly (when they grab the package/kid), and no real way to contact the Johnson afterwards...

Even if they dispose of the child (however humanely), there's always the possibility the corp comes 'round to find out what happened to the kid. They might not look kindly if they dropped it in a dumpster, or "lost" it.

This.

And also: you might find these useful.

I envy you that the Johnsons you deal with are all up-front and completely honest, mine throw curveballs all the time and expect the runners to be professional enough to be able to roll with it. I mean, you would expect a heads up from the Johnson if the "package" were hazardous and they would need chemsuits or a lead-lined case or whatever to deal with it, but a baby? Just stop into a Stuffer Shack on the way home for some infant formula and nappies, and it's all good ...

A baby that's, from what you have described maybe one month old, may not be a dangerous package, but it's definitively a fragile one, likely to require care shadowrunners running away from a job aren't exactly likely to be able to provide. Even without that, merely tossing a gas grenade or heavy duty stunball (a fairly likely occurence when you're asked to retrieve something) has a real chance to kill the baby (not much of a stun or wound track nor soak ability here...). A flashbang is just as bad if not worse, though it's also likely to damage a non-living package and isn't as likely to be used.

Which means that the two solution that the shadowrunners are the most likely to use to retrieve an unspecified 'package' without damaging it in the process have in fact fairly high odds to destroy it. That's definitively witholding critical information and setting the run to fail in my book, not 'throwing a curveball and expect the runners to deal with it professionaly'.

Note : thinking a bit more about the proposed run, the runners are as likely to ransack the plane for anything looking like well, an actual package, and come back with the the star's collection of underwear and a crate of baby formula as what they were supposed to get back. Or maybe conclude 'no package here, let's doublecheck the locations/time we got. Nope, right plane, I guess the Johnson got a wrong info. His problem, not ours, but let's make sure we can show him we hit the plane he told us to'... Or in the UPS van example above, without giving identifiying information about what parcel he wants (though at least here the PCs can dump the whole van in the Johnson's lap and let him sort it out)

You raise a good point about accidental death, although I am sure the Johnson could stipulate no damaging spells, grenades or gunfire near the package or something like that. As for the PCs finding what the package is, I imagine Eratosthenes plans for the Johnson to give them an RFID number that turns out to be on the cradle or something.

Stick it in a rigger cocoon. Things could get weird if you don't disable the DNI, though.

I had actually envisioned that baby being in an automated creche (similar to a rigger's cocoon), that would provide some basic protection. And it's the only thing on the whole plane/helicopter, being delivered, so it's obviously "the package".

Those are good points, however. Runs get messy.

Depending on the exact design, there's a chance that the runners won't even figure out there's a baby inside. And basicaly won't give a a fart about the acftual content - they're paid to retireve the thing, not to open it and check what's inside. If it's soundproofed enough, they may very well end up with a dead baby inside without even knowing it.

Also depending on on how the thing is designed and what exactly the Johnson as said about the package and the characters recognized the thing for what it is (By having a baby wail coming out of it when it gets shaken or the like) there's still a signifcant chance for the runners to decide that 'nope, that's no package. Mr J. screwed up here. He's gonna be pissed enough without adding an obviously rich parent into the mix'. A life support cocoon might fit the technical definition of a package, but it's still stretching it thin.

If you really want to screw with the runners...

Make the baby a technomancer.






-k

I've GMed a game inspired by this idea yesterday.
The fact that it was a baby didn't exactly trouble them. They couldn't bury the package somewhere as they wanted to do at first, but they found someone to take care of the baby while they just did the protection.

In my version of the scenario, the singer wasn't from Horizon but Ares, and Ares didn't have anything against giving the baby to her mother, as long as it was done quietly. When the Johnson was arrested/killed, Ares took his commlink and the guy in charge of the operation decided to try to impersonate Mr. Johnson in order to get the baby back. But the runners were told by a fixer that their Johnson was missing and maybe dead.
At the same time, someone at EVO had learned that Ares has lost a valuable baby, and thought that this was about some new genetech. So he hired runners to get the baby, telling them that she was had been taken from her real parents.

I also downplayed the security at the airfield, to make sure we didn't spend too long on the kidnapping part, and more on the rest.

So at the meet, there were:
- The PC, who didn't know exactly who they were meeting.
- The Ares Johnson, who just wanted to get the baby back and healthy.
- Knight Errants cops, tipped off by people at Ares who didn't want the runners to walk out of there.
- The second runner team, firmly believing they were here to recover a kidnapped baby.

Sadly, we had to rush the ending. But still, the players enjoyed the doubt on whoever was behind M. Johnson and how to play this one.

I had originally planned to have a "Shadow tabloid journalist" - a journalist who lives in the Shadows in order to get juicy scoops about celebrities - show up at the airfield and somehow track the runners. This could have led to the journalist releasing an article with pictures of the runners, supposing that one of them was the father, or to a group of fans and paparazzi staking or trying to inflitrate the runner's safehouse. This could have been fun, but I forgot to include the journalist at the airfield and I couldn't find a decent way to introduce her later.

Wow, sounds great, Blade! I like the twists you added to it, including multiple groups vying for the child.

I think you were right focusing on the aftermath, as opposed to the extraction, since that's the meat of the conflict, though that may vary depending on what the group wants/prefers.

I'm glad they didn't follow through and bury the "package".