Ah, the Wolves and General Winter in a Redneck Run, it is something like this that makes Runner wished the ran against Saeder Krupp than dealing with the godforsaken cold, cutting edge tech barely works and woe betide the cyber samurai who would spend at least three months in the wilds, far enough to wish he had something to maintain his cyberware. One thing most of modern civilization take for granted includes communication and easily replaced cutting edge parts. Out in the wilds or hell the sticks, this is as much of a death sentence as traveling without any clothes in the dead of winters. Modern Tech simply isn't meant for the rigors of long travels as they are designed to be replaced, not fixed. This coupled with the Corporate run Sixth world meant it is squared and it really sucks even more to be out in the wild without functioning cyberware.
Also, Ice Spirits is another nice problem to add to the list of wildlife and paracritters out to get you.
Koekepan, you really shown me how you can create a dangerous shadowrun without the need to use the corporations or some secret society as a threat. Nature is as ruthless and deadly as Lowfyr.
Also I got a "redneck" run taking place in Southeast Asia
Background: War is hell, and food is a precious commodity in the Southeast Asia War Zone. An spice island plantation with rice cultivation as a side job is about to be hit by pirates, the Japanese and the Corps in a nasty three way struggle.
The newly formed island of Koffman is a prime piece of real estate, a microisland which has been providing the outskirt islands with rice and spices, both of which are very valuable commodities to the ones buying as lead can't exactly fill the stomach in a satisfying manner. Much of it is still unexplored primeval but the island plantation is host to the only source of civilization which is a well fortified agricultural colony owned by an indepedent entrepeneur Rick Nyugen. The former Vietnamese company man of Evo had left his company to place a stake in the war zone and had struck white gold in the form of rice and spice. It is only a matter of time before War hits Koffman, both hot and cold.
The Parties
Rick Nyugen, a Company Man of Evo who had been an awakened Shaman bound to a rain spirit, blessing the rice fields with water and thus bountiful harvests of rice, the rain had been a boon in making the place very difficult to find. The guy runs a food smuggling ring as he realize he can make more money selling bags of rice rather than bags of novacoke. He runs the plantation with a forced seclusion policy, since any disclosure of plantation will mean certain death for him as he had made a lot of enemies as a Evo company man.
Shiawase atomics had noticed a large deposit of uranium and they decide the plantation would be converted a mining one. They are dropping a tectonic device that if left unchecked may disturb the volcano that had formed the island that can make a nasty little euruption. Being responsible for rather volatile materials means they have an defense detail that rival that of several HTRs since there has been a lot of unsuccessful attempts to picket/raid/sabatoge the mines they run. These guys won't survive a day without their hardware though.
The Blood Cloud Boys are ruthless pirates with the intent to plunder the grain stores, Rick had hired these guys to run interference on Shiawase and Mitsuhama a long time ago. But that is a long time and while he doesn't remember them, they remember him and they want to find the food supplies as a string of dud raids of finding more bullets than butter and many of these guys are starving to the point cannibalism has been committed by some of the pirates. Take it by force if needed.
The Problem: Shiawase's little mining expedition has been recently been growing out of hand for Rick, paying off some pirates to run interference, the Runners are sent to provide "support" for the Pirates. Things aren't as simple as he thought though as the pirates are close to locating his plantation and he knows once they find him he will be forced to "share" his cut. The perfect excuse for Shiawase to use to destroy him and run him out of the island. They just recently struck a MCT freighter that had a lot of guns, way more guns than what Nyugen have to keep his labor in line.
The Proposition: I want you to hit a local installation belonging to Shiawase, I hired some muscle but these guys are scum. Make sure they only hit the place and none of them find out where we are.
The facts: This is going to take place in Monsoon season which you know is absolutely bad news for Shadowrunners, rain and lots of it, whiplash winds that makes ranged combat a living hell. TO put it bluntly, it's Vietnam and you are fighting both an unconventional force that knows how to navigate in Monsoon season and the other bringing a lot of big guns to protect their investment and time is running out.
Complications
-Some of the Blood Clouds are turning into Ghouls.
-Rick may turn into a toxic water Shaman, bad news all around.
-Paracritters join the fray in the jungle.
-Tribals from a nearby village may be of interest as "labor" for the plantation, Nyugen may pay you extra to persuade these folks to work for him. Of course, 75% of these are awakend, the remainder are trolls or very strong metahumans augmented by powerful spirits that can take on a street sam with bone lacing and win.
-Wait, is the volcano exploding? TAKE COVER!
Full Version: Redneck Runs (GMs ONLY - SPOILERS)
Nice. A lot of people forget that the locals in bad terrain can be pretty tough. After all, they survived there, didn't they?
One question, though: how do you take cover from a volcanic eruption?
One question, though: how do you take cover from a volcanic eruption?
QUOTE (Koekepan @ Oct 28 2014, 08:02 AM) 
Nice. A lot of people forget that the locals in bad terrain can be pretty tough. After all, they survived there, didn't they?
One question, though: how do you take cover from a volcanic eruption?
One question, though: how do you take cover from a volcanic eruption?
Indeed...
Oh, that is a simple one... It just isn't very effective.
As I recall the process is something like:
Tongue optional.
- Spread legs nice and wide
- Bend down real far, and grab ankles
- Kiss sweet ass good-bye
Tongue optional.
QUOTE (Koekepan @ Oct 28 2014, 09:52 AM)
As I recall the process is something like:
Tongue optional.
- Spread legs nice and wide
- Bend down real far, and grab ankles
- Kiss sweet ass good-bye
Tongue optional.
Yep - That's the one...
QUOTE (Koekepan @ Oct 29 2014, 12:02 AM)
One question, though: how do you take cover from a volcanic eruption?
What type of volcanic eruption, if it's Mafic your basic HEL suit will see you safe, Felsic? High force barrier spell?
QUOTE (Shortstraw @ Oct 28 2014, 08:13 PM)
What type of volcanic eruption, if it's Mafic your basic HEL suit will see you safe, Felsic? High force barrier spell?
Ain't no Force high enough.
QUOTE (Tymeaus Jalynsfein @ Oct 30 2014, 12:00 AM)
Ain't no Force high enough.
Slow spell?
QUOTE (Shortstraw @ Oct 29 2014, 05:43 PM)
Slow spell?
Doesn't exist.
Background:
As long as the oil keeps pumping, farming will use that energy and governments who hate food riots will make it easier. This means machinery, and lots of machinery. Of course, the machinery itself becomes valuable as long as the energy infrastructure makes it usable. And it doesn't have any running problems.
Of course, raping Gaea for her mineral wealth and then raping her again for soulless factory farming doesn't sit too well with some folks.
The Parties:
Rape Whistle are a group of people dedicated to restoring the health of Mother Earth, as they see it. Not quite a policlub, not quite a terrorist organisation, they're openminded and inclusive about approaches to their mission. It doesn't matter to them how crazy you think they are. They think you're the crazy one - and disgusting.
Gerald Brown is a human farmer who is in hock up to his ears to various seed merchants. And he has a problem.
The Problem:
Rape Whistle have decided that the best thing they can do is sabotage. They would love to sabotage every oilfield in the world, but that's realistically out of their reach since a lot of those oilfields are guarded by soldiers and mercenaries who would like nothing better than to shoot the whistlers, cut off their ears, and make a necklace of them. So what can they do? Sabotage farm machinery! Specifically, abscond with tractor parts from Gerald's farm.
Gerald Brown needs to plant the seed to reap the crops to pay back his debtors, so that he can go into debt again, plant more seed, and .... really, his way of life is basically a modern form of sharecropping, and it sucks. But he still doesn't want to go bankrupt.
The seed merchants don't mind too much if Gerald goes bankrupt, because they'll take his land, but they think Rape Whistle are dangerous idiots, so they have no real stake one way or another.
The Proposition:
None of the parties have significant money, so this is only really viable as a hooding mission. Gerald needs his tractor repaired, and needs it fast, otherwise he'll never worry about any tractors ever again. The parts which were taken or destroyed are integral to the power system, and there are a few options. A machinist could fabricate adequate replacements, given some notice. A mechanic could get replacements, given some notice. But the fastest approach is a race across country to fetch the parts, and then have a competent mechanic repair the equipment with the parts.
Cannonball Run!
Some Complications:
Rape Whistle don't want it repaired, and of course the moment the characters get involved they will be on them like really annoying fleas.
The dealer is out of the parts, the depot is out of the parts, and the factory is busy making a different model's parts which are subtly incompatible.
Rape Whistle are keeping tabs on the location, and just waiting to pounce again. This problem won't be solved without bloodshed.
Aftermath Ideas:
Rape Whistle call some friends in All Sentients' Rights Organisation for backup and muscle.
Rape Whistle share the identities of the runners with ASRO.
Speed traps. Lone Star. Fines. Confiscations.
As long as the oil keeps pumping, farming will use that energy and governments who hate food riots will make it easier. This means machinery, and lots of machinery. Of course, the machinery itself becomes valuable as long as the energy infrastructure makes it usable. And it doesn't have any running problems.
Of course, raping Gaea for her mineral wealth and then raping her again for soulless factory farming doesn't sit too well with some folks.
The Parties:
Rape Whistle are a group of people dedicated to restoring the health of Mother Earth, as they see it. Not quite a policlub, not quite a terrorist organisation, they're openminded and inclusive about approaches to their mission. It doesn't matter to them how crazy you think they are. They think you're the crazy one - and disgusting.
Gerald Brown is a human farmer who is in hock up to his ears to various seed merchants. And he has a problem.
The Problem:
Rape Whistle have decided that the best thing they can do is sabotage. They would love to sabotage every oilfield in the world, but that's realistically out of their reach since a lot of those oilfields are guarded by soldiers and mercenaries who would like nothing better than to shoot the whistlers, cut off their ears, and make a necklace of them. So what can they do? Sabotage farm machinery! Specifically, abscond with tractor parts from Gerald's farm.
Gerald Brown needs to plant the seed to reap the crops to pay back his debtors, so that he can go into debt again, plant more seed, and .... really, his way of life is basically a modern form of sharecropping, and it sucks. But he still doesn't want to go bankrupt.
The seed merchants don't mind too much if Gerald goes bankrupt, because they'll take his land, but they think Rape Whistle are dangerous idiots, so they have no real stake one way or another.
The Proposition:
None of the parties have significant money, so this is only really viable as a hooding mission. Gerald needs his tractor repaired, and needs it fast, otherwise he'll never worry about any tractors ever again. The parts which were taken or destroyed are integral to the power system, and there are a few options. A machinist could fabricate adequate replacements, given some notice. A mechanic could get replacements, given some notice. But the fastest approach is a race across country to fetch the parts, and then have a competent mechanic repair the equipment with the parts.
Cannonball Run!
Some Complications:
Rape Whistle don't want it repaired, and of course the moment the characters get involved they will be on them like really annoying fleas.
The dealer is out of the parts, the depot is out of the parts, and the factory is busy making a different model's parts which are subtly incompatible.
Rape Whistle are keeping tabs on the location, and just waiting to pounce again. This problem won't be solved without bloodshed.
Aftermath Ideas:
Rape Whistle call some friends in All Sentients' Rights Organisation for backup and muscle.
Rape Whistle share the identities of the runners with ASRO.
Speed traps. Lone Star. Fines. Confiscations.
They could also attempt to destroy an ag dam or a windmill as another complication.
DP.
Fight Crazy with Crazy Chic.
Help Farmer Brown turn a new leaf and try going with some awakened fruit trees and similar, the more rare the better and spin it to his debtors as selling a premium line of rare food items commanding top nuyen, the face will have his work cut out trying to sell it but it is possible.
RW won't be entirely pleased, but with enough spin and pushing the fact you can use less machinery and the trees are not cut down. Hell go a step further so only the fruit that drops off is collected to make it even more special and a sell to the group. Just don't mention you are charging an arm,leg and both kidneys for the stuff because its so special (look at what you pay extra for organic NOW, figure by 2070 tht has gone higher) or actually they probably won't care....
Of course getting your hands on some of these plants will be a challenge in themselves, and could be a series of runs in and of itself, but a Azzie research facility just over the border may have just what you need or a few trips down to Amazonia/middle of NAN territories/Lofwyr's personal garden if you like it fresh picked.
Ultimately there will probably be reprisals from the sources of the plants, but you should be well clear by then.
Plus if you have successfully sold it to RW, they may well step in to defend the plots from the baddies trying to wreck the crops.
Help Farmer Brown turn a new leaf and try going with some awakened fruit trees and similar, the more rare the better and spin it to his debtors as selling a premium line of rare food items commanding top nuyen, the face will have his work cut out trying to sell it but it is possible.
RW won't be entirely pleased, but with enough spin and pushing the fact you can use less machinery and the trees are not cut down. Hell go a step further so only the fruit that drops off is collected to make it even more special and a sell to the group. Just don't mention you are charging an arm,leg and both kidneys for the stuff because its so special (look at what you pay extra for organic NOW, figure by 2070 tht has gone higher) or actually they probably won't care....
Of course getting your hands on some of these plants will be a challenge in themselves, and could be a series of runs in and of itself, but a Azzie research facility just over the border may have just what you need or a few trips down to Amazonia/middle of NAN territories/Lofwyr's personal garden if you like it fresh picked.
Ultimately there will probably be reprisals from the sources of the plants, but you should be well clear by then.
Plus if you have successfully sold it to RW, they may well step in to defend the plots from the baddies trying to wreck the crops.
QUOTE (Koekepan @ Aug 8 2012, 03:25 AM)
Background:
You know what they say: when seconds count, Lone Star is only minutes away. Unless you're at the end of a dirt road up a canyon in the badlands, in which case nobody's coming.
Unless, of course, there are some hired guns around. Then maybe you can hire them. And maybe they'll work honest.
The parties:
The Anstruther household consists of Sarah, Michelle, and Dahlia. Dahlia is Sarah's daughter by genetic recombination with Michelle, who is Sarah's lesbian wife. You have a problem with that, stranger? All three are human, palefaces but as much a part of the scenery as the rocks.
The survivalists are a gang of stragglers from what was a millenial cult. Mostly second generation now, but Guru Swami Rajakrishnan (birth name: Harold Gutenmeyer) still runs them with an iron fist of love and inner light. Michelle used to be a member, but she's apostate now, and has no time for them. They kicked her out, nominally to fly with the eagles in the light of her own inner peace; practically to die of thirst and exposure in the badlands. She ran into Sarah (a rigger, at the time) who saved her and retired to the badlands to live with Michelle, and now they farm some incredibly hardy livestock, arguably even better than the survivalists.
The vultures are a go-gang from Denver who like nothing better than to go out into the back of beyond, live out the kind of hideous depravity even snuff BTL makers shudder to contemplate, and then return safe in the knowledge that nobody knows, nobody cares, and whatever they're selling for salvage or scrap won't be missed by anyone still living.
You know what they say: when seconds count, Lone Star is only minutes away. Unless you're at the end of a dirt road up a canyon in the badlands, in which case nobody's coming.
Unless, of course, there are some hired guns around. Then maybe you can hire them. And maybe they'll work honest.
The parties:
The Anstruther household consists of Sarah, Michelle, and Dahlia. Dahlia is Sarah's daughter by genetic recombination with Michelle, who is Sarah's lesbian wife. You have a problem with that, stranger? All three are human, palefaces but as much a part of the scenery as the rocks.
The survivalists are a gang of stragglers from what was a millenial cult. Mostly second generation now, but Guru Swami Rajakrishnan (birth name: Harold Gutenmeyer) still runs them with an iron fist of love and inner light. Michelle used to be a member, but she's apostate now, and has no time for them. They kicked her out, nominally to fly with the eagles in the light of her own inner peace; practically to die of thirst and exposure in the badlands. She ran into Sarah (a rigger, at the time) who saved her and retired to the badlands to live with Michelle, and now they farm some incredibly hardy livestock, arguably even better than the survivalists.
The vultures are a go-gang from Denver who like nothing better than to go out into the back of beyond, live out the kind of hideous depravity even snuff BTL makers shudder to contemplate, and then return safe in the knowledge that nobody knows, nobody cares, and whatever they're selling for salvage or scrap won't be missed by anyone still living.
I'm preparing to run this one, and looking to see if anyone has used it, and if so did they come up with any additional idea/bits/scenes?
For that matter, anyone have advice in general? I'm running a one player campaign, and this time I've cut off the motorbike loving shaman from his usual NPC support characters. For reasons not worth explaining here he's cooling his heels at the Anstruther compound, with the daughter of a mafia leader under his protection (and no, there is nothing romantic between him and her). He's busy practising his stealth skill (going from 1 to 2, woot!) and conversing with some pretty trippy earth spirits he's found in the North Dakota badlands.....then stuff happens. Doesn't give him a large choice on which side to join, but he can choose to take the girl and ride, or to stay on and get involved.
I'm thinking of introducing the survivalists as the apparent opposition....then have one of them come stumbling through a blizzard, bleeding badly, reporting the Vultures having hit the main survivalist camp.
I botched the road trip that the character was on (every time I introduce this one rigger NPC the game seems to go flat, so I made an emergency call to slice in a red neck run to get things moving again)
QUOTE (Betx @ Nov 6 2014, 06:08 AM)
I'm preparing to run this one, and looking to see if anyone has used it, and if so did they come up with any additional idea/bits/scenes?
I have not run it, but how could I turn down such a request?
QUOTE (Betx @ Nov 6 2014, 06:08 AM)
I'm thinking of introducing the survivalists as the apparent opposition....then have one of them come stumbling through a blizzard, bleeding badly, reporting the Vultures having hit the main survivalist camp.
I botched the road trip that the character was on (every time I introduce this one rigger NPC the game seems to go flat, so I made an emergency call to slice in a red neck run to get things moving again)
I botched the road trip that the character was on (every time I introduce this one rigger NPC the game seems to go flat, so I made an emergency call to slice in a red neck run to get things moving again)
Your mention of blizzard makes me think you're playing in the cold season, so that's worthwhile to bear in mind.
Wendigo is always the fun option in my original listed complications.
Another complication is that this time the Vultures might have been trailed by Knight Errant - who might not be too picky about how they deal with lunatics in a wasteland.
For added spice and variety, add a twist: the Vultures aren't alone, but are waging a running battle against a war party from a local tribe/rival go-gang/toxic circle/crazed vigilante group, and the survivalists as well as the Anstruthers are all simply caught in the middle.
In keeping with the theme of general mayhem, Urban Brawl: the Exurban Challenge! All the fun of a running battle and the media is there, too! They're making wild offers of nuyen in return for releases of trid footage.
Stumble across an old mine adit, inhabited by ghouls or worse.
Really, the possibilities are monumental.
Background:
The Junkyard. You'd think a place called that would be a blighted zone in an urban wasteland, but in this case it's about twenty acres (about 3% of a square mile, or roughly 800 by 1,000 feet) of accumulated technological debris in which a sort of clan of scavengers makes a living by identifying valuable things, and using or selling them. They do well for themselves, by closing their eyes to a few things nobody needs to see, and making the crazy world of modern tech just a little bit more efficient.
The Parties:
Boss Gurdy. He's an ork, big and tough as they come but getting old. In his late forties.
Halfway House. A dwarven technician with a checkered past in dozens of chop shops - now mostly legit. When someone's watching. Sometimes.
Sweetcheeks. Human, female, street rat shaman. Devastatingly cute in a waifish sort of way, with a mind like a merc and a mouth like a sewer. Specialties involve finding things talismongers want - and a few side projects of her own, like astral security.
Stitch-n-bitch. Female elven streetdoc who was thrown out of a medical internship for replacing Boss Gurdy's mangled arm with chrome, without a UCAS licence telling her she could do it. The arm's still there and in good shape, and the medical association still wants her ass in a sling, but for some reason lots of other people are happy to get her services. They must be stupid. Or ignorant. Or like cyberware and not bleeding to death.
Maybe half a dozen others, of various degrees of permanence, usefulness and intelligence. Boss Gurdy usually throws about one useless waste of oxygen out a month, with the help of Halfway House and Sweetcheeks. Once in a while, if it's a troll too big for Gurdy to toss out by himself, Sweetcheeks will summon a spirit or something, and that generally settles things.
The Problem:
You just can't have nice things. Boss Gurdy has sweetheart deals with regional offices of various large corps. Sometimes he finds things they lost and hands them back for a perfectly acceptable, modest finder's fee. Sometimes he finds things they lost but hands them back accidentally to different people who offer him a perfectly acceptable, modest finder's fee. Sometimes inconvenient things or people are conveniently parted out, recycled and put to the benefit of the greater community - for a perfectly acceptable, modest recycling fee. Everyone knows which side their bread is buttered, and the Junkyard is a going concern in the finest Shadow tradition.
Even the local gangers know that:
The Junkyard is treated as neutral turf, even to the point that some meetings between gang chiefs have happened there.
Unfortunately, Horizon have decided that they need to save the world by embarking on the recycling business. First, they set up shop on the fringes of the Barrens, and then weirdly nobody wanted to do business with them except for very mundane crap. Then Boss Gurdy got made an offer he wasn't supposed to refuse.
Now a team of runners have left the Barrens, run out to the junkyard, and taken Stitch-n-bitch hostage.
The Proposition:
"Those drekheads will start a war. Do you understand me? A war. I'm not talking about three dozen gangers spraying bullets, I'm talking major corps sending in thunderbirds and armour drones to flatten everything, and then each other. I'm talking hombres calling in tickets from cities three hundred miles away to bring all their veteranos to bring the big shit. If she's taken out, Gurdy'll scream for blood and everybody from the streets or the hills will listen. When the place goes nuclear, the corps will roll up. Now you - make it stop. Get her out. Get her out alive."
The Facts:
An inexperienced team of runners, working for Horizon (though they didn't do enough legwork to figure that out) grabbed Stitch-n-bitch on the instructions to force Boss Gurdy to sell. Why did they think it would work? Because they're dumber than a combine harvester in a gravel pit, and they don't realise that a runner's most important tool is between his or her ears.
The talk of war is not exaggerated. A very large amount of very classified material flows through the Junkyard, as things turn out, and while the Junkyard's dissolution might involve a few people getting quietly shanked for a few weeks, a Horizon takeover will result in all-out, no-holds-barred conflict.
The mental giants who grabbed Stitch-n-bitch (who call themselves the Asphalt Kickers) holed up with her in an off-the-grid cabin in a valley, where reception sucks. They successfully figured out that keeping any electronics she might be carrying out of touch with the Matrix is smart, but these rocket scientists failed to figure out that kidnapping a competent street doc makes nobody any friends, ever. Now these neurosurgeons are trying to close a deal with Boss Gurdy, but he's smart enough to hang on to every message and all metadata for analysis by a competent decker, as soon as he can find one.
Some Complications:
The Horizon exec who is pushing the project doesn't really know what's going on, and his head is so far up his rear end that he can hear himself think. He's thinking of hiring another team of runners to help the first team. How he thinks this will end is anybody's guess. His answer to every problem involves more money.
The fixer who arranged for the involvement of the Asphalt Kickers is slowly realising just how tragically, awfully, hideously badly this is going, and is caught between stunned disbelief and hoop-fluttering terror. If the characters can corner him, he will weep nuyen in a desperate effort to save his precious, precious skin.
The Barrens gangs don't usually run out to the Junkyard en masse, but individuals often do. They know what's up, and they know that Gurdy is promising a fat reward to whoever can bring Stitch-n-bitch back. All the local gang bosses want to be Gurdy's newest, bestest friend.
Aftermath Ideas:
A senior Horizon VP gets to hear of it. And wants something terrible, tragic, totally coincidental to happen to the Horizon exec who came up with this scheme. And will pay to read all about it on the Matrix over his morning coffee and blowjob.
Renraku and Ares have special toys they're just dying to share with a deniable asset who can remove the brain trust who is disturbing the peace. They might even regard it as a bankable favour.
The Junkyard. You'd think a place called that would be a blighted zone in an urban wasteland, but in this case it's about twenty acres (about 3% of a square mile, or roughly 800 by 1,000 feet) of accumulated technological debris in which a sort of clan of scavengers makes a living by identifying valuable things, and using or selling them. They do well for themselves, by closing their eyes to a few things nobody needs to see, and making the crazy world of modern tech just a little bit more efficient.
The Parties:
Boss Gurdy. He's an ork, big and tough as they come but getting old. In his late forties.
Halfway House. A dwarven technician with a checkered past in dozens of chop shops - now mostly legit. When someone's watching. Sometimes.
Sweetcheeks. Human, female, street rat shaman. Devastatingly cute in a waifish sort of way, with a mind like a merc and a mouth like a sewer. Specialties involve finding things talismongers want - and a few side projects of her own, like astral security.
Stitch-n-bitch. Female elven streetdoc who was thrown out of a medical internship for replacing Boss Gurdy's mangled arm with chrome, without a UCAS licence telling her she could do it. The arm's still there and in good shape, and the medical association still wants her ass in a sling, but for some reason lots of other people are happy to get her services. They must be stupid. Or ignorant. Or like cyberware and not bleeding to death.
Maybe half a dozen others, of various degrees of permanence, usefulness and intelligence. Boss Gurdy usually throws about one useless waste of oxygen out a month, with the help of Halfway House and Sweetcheeks. Once in a while, if it's a troll too big for Gurdy to toss out by himself, Sweetcheeks will summon a spirit or something, and that generally settles things.
The Problem:
You just can't have nice things. Boss Gurdy has sweetheart deals with regional offices of various large corps. Sometimes he finds things they lost and hands them back for a perfectly acceptable, modest finder's fee. Sometimes he finds things they lost but hands them back accidentally to different people who offer him a perfectly acceptable, modest finder's fee. Sometimes inconvenient things or people are conveniently parted out, recycled and put to the benefit of the greater community - for a perfectly acceptable, modest recycling fee. Everyone knows which side their bread is buttered, and the Junkyard is a going concern in the finest Shadow tradition.
Even the local gangers know that:
- Stitch-n-bitch sees anybody, for cheap
- They can get good rates on parts, and even machining courtesy of Halfway House
- Boss Gurdy trades straight and pays on the spot for goods
- Sweetcheeks seems to have a very creepy understanding with some devil rats.
The Junkyard is treated as neutral turf, even to the point that some meetings between gang chiefs have happened there.
Unfortunately, Horizon have decided that they need to save the world by embarking on the recycling business. First, they set up shop on the fringes of the Barrens, and then weirdly nobody wanted to do business with them except for very mundane crap. Then Boss Gurdy got made an offer he wasn't supposed to refuse.
Now a team of runners have left the Barrens, run out to the junkyard, and taken Stitch-n-bitch hostage.
The Proposition:
"Those drekheads will start a war. Do you understand me? A war. I'm not talking about three dozen gangers spraying bullets, I'm talking major corps sending in thunderbirds and armour drones to flatten everything, and then each other. I'm talking hombres calling in tickets from cities three hundred miles away to bring all their veteranos to bring the big shit. If she's taken out, Gurdy'll scream for blood and everybody from the streets or the hills will listen. When the place goes nuclear, the corps will roll up. Now you - make it stop. Get her out. Get her out alive."
The Facts:
An inexperienced team of runners, working for Horizon (though they didn't do enough legwork to figure that out) grabbed Stitch-n-bitch on the instructions to force Boss Gurdy to sell. Why did they think it would work? Because they're dumber than a combine harvester in a gravel pit, and they don't realise that a runner's most important tool is between his or her ears.
The talk of war is not exaggerated. A very large amount of very classified material flows through the Junkyard, as things turn out, and while the Junkyard's dissolution might involve a few people getting quietly shanked for a few weeks, a Horizon takeover will result in all-out, no-holds-barred conflict.
The mental giants who grabbed Stitch-n-bitch (who call themselves the Asphalt Kickers) holed up with her in an off-the-grid cabin in a valley, where reception sucks. They successfully figured out that keeping any electronics she might be carrying out of touch with the Matrix is smart, but these rocket scientists failed to figure out that kidnapping a competent street doc makes nobody any friends, ever. Now these neurosurgeons are trying to close a deal with Boss Gurdy, but he's smart enough to hang on to every message and all metadata for analysis by a competent decker, as soon as he can find one.
Some Complications:
The Horizon exec who is pushing the project doesn't really know what's going on, and his head is so far up his rear end that he can hear himself think. He's thinking of hiring another team of runners to help the first team. How he thinks this will end is anybody's guess. His answer to every problem involves more money.
The fixer who arranged for the involvement of the Asphalt Kickers is slowly realising just how tragically, awfully, hideously badly this is going, and is caught between stunned disbelief and hoop-fluttering terror. If the characters can corner him, he will weep nuyen in a desperate effort to save his precious, precious skin.
The Barrens gangs don't usually run out to the Junkyard en masse, but individuals often do. They know what's up, and they know that Gurdy is promising a fat reward to whoever can bring Stitch-n-bitch back. All the local gang bosses want to be Gurdy's newest, bestest friend.
Aftermath Ideas:
A senior Horizon VP gets to hear of it. And wants something terrible, tragic, totally coincidental to happen to the Horizon exec who came up with this scheme. And will pay to read all about it on the Matrix over his morning coffee and blowjob.
Renraku and Ares have special toys they're just dying to share with a deniable asset who can remove the brain trust who is disturbing the peace. They might even regard it as a bankable favour.
QUOTE (Koekepan @ Nov 8 2014, 07:27 AM)
Background:
The Junkyard. You'd think a place called that would be a blighted zone in an urban wasteland, but in this case it's about twenty acres (about 3% of a square mile, or roughly 800 by 1,000 feet) of accumulated technological debris in which a sort of clan of scavengers makes a living by identifying valuable things, and using or selling them. They do well for themselves, by closing their eyes to a few things nobody needs to see, and making the crazy world of modern tech just a little bit more efficient.
The Junkyard. You'd think a place called that would be a blighted zone in an urban wasteland, but in this case it's about twenty acres (about 3% of a square mile, or roughly 800 by 1,000 feet) of accumulated technological debris in which a sort of clan of scavengers makes a living by identifying valuable things, and using or selling them. They do well for themselves, by closing their eyes to a few things nobody needs to see, and making the crazy world of modern tech just a little bit more efficient.
Oh, I'm totally going to build up to this one
The very start of my campaign was helping a well connected n NPC dwarf 'recycling expert' deal with pressure from the established junkyard in the area, who thought he was treading on their turf. Will have to make some other things happen to set this up, but I love how it comes together To bring things full circle back to junk yards would be tasty.
Play report on the Anstruthers vs Survivalists vs Bikers
First, I moved the location to the Black Hills/badlands of the Dakotas, because it was where I needed things to be. Things started a few days after Christmas, with an inch of dry snow on the ground, and temperatures only a little below freezing—the year has been warm and dry and that trend has continued into the winter. The former rigger I said was an old contact of an NPC rigger who is part of the current events. The former member of the survivalists I made an orc (with the human looking quality) for no good reason other than racial diversity has been a bit low in recent sessions.
The set-up:
The way I set this up was that the player character shaman (I have a one player game) and the young woman he is guarding (daughter of a senior mafia guy—for simplicity I’ll just call her Mafia Princess, or MP for short) got stuck at the A’s compound in while their rigger took MP’s mother off to stick her on a plane to someplace other than with them (they just knew she was going all whacked out on them, not realizing she was a VR (if not BTL) addict who had been cut off for too long).
While killing time, MP borrows a rifle (and they buy ammo from the A’s) and they go out to explore the hills a bit (levitation is a wonderful thing) and MP works on her rifle shooting (she is decent with a pistol). MP expresses frustration with her options in the world, that she wants to do some good, not just live well off her father’s money which all ultimately came from crime.
First encounter:
Later that evening, when the dogs bring in the A’s small herd of bison, one doesn’t come with them. The A’s accuse the shaman and MP of having shot one of their animals. However a quick astral investigation reveals a dead bison, and eight humans around it, one of them awakened. The shaman and the A’s head out (leaving a disgruntled MP to babysit).
They arrive to find the people starting to butcher the bison. These are some of the survivalists, including their leader. The A’s are outraged, the survivalists claim the right of the hungry to take the bounty of the earth to feed themselves, plus they raised one of the A’s, she owes them. She counter accuses that they left her out to starve or die of exposure, and she owes them nothing but a bullet between the eyes. The leader of the survivalists gets all preachy and is rather persuasive, and the shaman realizes that he’s the adept, and has powers helping his persuasive abilities—so slaps a silence spell on him. I allow the leader to resist with his voice power + magic, and by a quirk of the dice he gets loud enough to be heard over the silence spell. The shaman then calls him out as an adept, but the leader denies all magic, saying only that the spirits of the land may favour those dedicated to living in harmony with them. Eventually the shaman levitates the leader and plays with him (it is a Cat shaman…..) and the survivalists finally (after some dice rolling) decide here and now is not the time to fight, and leave.
The A’s spend the night butchering the bison so that they don’t lose the meat, and in exhaustion ask the shaman and MP to go out with the herd in the morning to keep an eye on things. They eventually start coming in, in the early afternoon, when even the city slickers recognize that the weather is turning ugly.
Second encounter: Bikers:
The snow is starting to fall horizontally by the time they approach the compound—at which point one of the bison cries out and falls, clearly wounded. As the bison form their instinctive defensive circle the shaman scouts astrally, finding a shark mystic-adept-shaman, and a little behind him a group of twenty mundane bikers. At this point the PC shaman and MP are largely hidden from the Shark shaman by the dozen bison.
I thought I had made the shark shaman plenty tough, but the player shaman called up a force six earth spirit, and with a fortunate roll it succeeded in engulfing the shark shaman. The shark shaman did manage to do 7 damage to the spirit with the one spell that he got off, but two rounds of engulf were enough crush him to a pulp despite armor jacket, 2 armor point helmet, and a couple of points of armor from the adept power. First time the PC has used engulf in anger, and we hadn’t clued in just how deadly it could be (especially with how tough earth spirits are).
The PC shaman then makes a phantasm of an even bigger earth spirit coming towards the bikers. With their very scary leader down, the compounds still locked up, a blizzard starting, and a huge spirit coming their way, the bikers decide to take off and head for the tents they’d seen in the distance a way back (all the PC side of things know is that the bikers leave).
Interlude: stumbling out of the blizzard….
About four hours later a young survivalist comes stumbling up to the compound. He’d been heading between tents when the bikers roared up, and had been smart/scared enough to run for cover. He’d stuck around for a while, witnessing several of the survivalists getting shot and hearing very disturbing screams coming from the tent, before he finally decided to try and find help. He’d stumbled around in the blizzard for a good while but had finally found the compound.
After some debate, it comes down to:
- The PC shaman asensed the bikers, and considers them evil, and is inclined to go help the survivlists.
- The A’s, all morality aside, figure that once the blizzard blows over, the bikers could easily be coming after them. As it is, they know where the bikers are, that they have no good defenses, and are largely blind from the blizzard.
- MP wants to do some good.
So it is decided that they will go attack the bikers. Astral scouting and the local knowledge of the A’s help confirm the location and situation. (The PC shaman may never scrub from his ‘eyes’ what he saw in the auras in the tents.) The A’s, however, feel that one of them has to stay in the compound to protect their daughter, and keep an eye on the young survivalist. Meanwhile, MP insists on coming, donning the shark shaman’s armor jacket over a borrowed parka, and borrowing the shaman’s pistol.
Climax: against the forces of evil
The shaman, MP (with the shaman’s pistol), and the Orc lady head off into the blizzard, protected from it by a handy air spirit. In due course they approach the tents all unprotected (the site was chosen for it shelter from the blizzard winds, not for defensive reasons). They hunker down behind mounds of snow, a couple of dozen metres away in the darkness. The shaman has the wind spirit try and take one of the tents down. Those are pretty solid structures, designed to resist prairie winds, but the spirit at least gets it acting oddly and one of the bikers comes out to check out the situation. Shaman snipes at him with an ice spear, hurting him, but he raises the alarm.
The bikers are not stupid. The douse the lights in the tents and as they exit they spread out, but they can’t immediately spot their attackers. The shaman summons a new, stronger, air spirit, and takes one of his actions to tour it through the camp, pointing out the angry, hostile, aggressive, auras, versus the pained, afraid, and panicked auras, then tells it to go after the former.
Finally one of the bikers spends edge on his perception role, and spots the Orc ladies’ rifle barrel. Half a dozen of the gangers I’ve designated as ‘toughs’ and they had all popped kamikaze at the first sign of danger, and they all charge the players targets. Given how outnumbered the shaman and helps are, I gave the bikers submachine guns and machine pistols, with ordinary ammo—relatively easy to soak given all the negative modifers to hit from darkness and blizzard conditions. (the shaman is astral perceiving to see his targets despite the conditions, btw, and taking the appropriate penalty)
Orc lady and MP fire at the bikers charging them, dropping one of them and attracting the return fire. The shaman uses ball lightning to lightly wound but also slow down (initiative-wise) some of the ones charging them. Meanwhile the spirit is causing havoc amongst the other bikers, keeping them busy. MP glitches, causing her gun to malfunction (I’d decided that, given the conditions, any gun jams would have this result). She bolts into the blizzard, drawing predatory fire but surviving thanks to the armor jacket. The orc lady takes some light wounds but is rolling soak dice like a champ. The shaman accepts that it is time to accept some drain, and goes for a much stronger ball lightning, put substantial hurt on four of the attackers. The attacker not hit by the ball lightning glitches, jamming his gun, and he leaps on the Orc lady to grapple with her (he ends up with only a modest advantage over her).
At this point the shaman gets desperate enough call his spirt back to help deal with the four (wounded) tough bikers pointing guns his way. He ends up with some wounds, but the spirit turns the tide, and the shaman and the spirit drop the last of the toughs. At this point the rest of the bikers had been getting it together and starting suppressive fire, but when the actual spirit and an illusion of another one come roaring back their way (literally, I had the spirit borrow the nature of the blizzard) the survivors soon break and make a run for it, trying to bike off through the snow. The shaman uses the spirits final service to have it go hunt the runners (some of the other bikers run off into the blizzard and escape that fate, he specified the riders).
The find MP, heal spells get quickly dispensed, then MP and Orc Lady vote to finish off any not-dead-yet bikers. The shaman acquiesces. That happens, then they take shelter with the surviving survivalists, exhausting their first aid kits and endurance for healing spells as they try to undo some of the damage from the bikers.
After the blizzard finishes they eventually get in touch with the closest thing to law enforcement. They find out that the bikers had tried hitting a town a ways south, only to find that a group of Sioux Rangers were in town. The bikers had been on the run since then, and had been forced farther north, out of their normal range. There was a modest reward for taking them down—but in return the biker’s goods were confiscated as evidence (basically I just wanted to skip the whole issue of trying to find a buyer for the bikes and guns from way out there, as I wanted the game to move on). Some went to the survivalist in the form of a delivery of food brought in with the NPC rigger when he made his way back to the compound, some gave a bit of money for the few of the survivalists who wanted to leave the band after this, some went to the A’s, and the shaman even shared his with MP, meaning he didn’t end up with much nuyen, but he cared more about karma anyway.
And MP concluded that improving the world by getting into gun battles probably was not for her.
In short, I apologize Koekepan—I took one of your ideas and it ended up being the most disgustingly feel good thing imaginable. The player was happy, which is good, but I didn’t feel that the whole thing came out as cyber-punkish as it could have done.
In hindsight, what would I have done differently?
- The shark shaman should have used edged against the earth spirit’s first attack to engulf him. I hadn’t realized how deadly this would end up being, so I didn’t, which changed everything that came afterward.
- I should have given a back up awakened in the bikers. Even an adept who could hurt spirits could have made things quite different. Strong spirits vs mundanes is just too one-sided—even with such a disparity in numbers.
- I also should have had one more seriously cybered up monster amongst the bikers. I relied too much on sheer numbers, not enough on having that one dude who individually is scary.
- I probably should have had a Windigo grab MP while she was running out into the blizzard. We were out of time so I decided to just say "with astral projection you track her down before the cold gets her", but instead I could have run a follow-up session to find and save her, starting from a point of wounds, fatigue, and only one edge point. The player did risk his client, so I should have made that have greater consequences.
- I could have had some survivalists have more spunk, jump a biker, take his gun, and angrily turn on the bikers....attracting the attention of the PC’s spirit.
- For that matter, I could have started things off with the survivalists instead of at the A's compound. Could have had a somewhat similar flow, but I think would have made the situation more grey. For real tension I could have done things totally differently and have had them fall in with a 'totally peaceful' group of bikers along the road, although one good assensing role would probably have blown that one apart.
First, I moved the location to the Black Hills/badlands of the Dakotas, because it was where I needed things to be. Things started a few days after Christmas, with an inch of dry snow on the ground, and temperatures only a little below freezing—the year has been warm and dry and that trend has continued into the winter. The former rigger I said was an old contact of an NPC rigger who is part of the current events. The former member of the survivalists I made an orc (with the human looking quality) for no good reason other than racial diversity has been a bit low in recent sessions.
The set-up:
The way I set this up was that the player character shaman (I have a one player game) and the young woman he is guarding (daughter of a senior mafia guy—for simplicity I’ll just call her Mafia Princess, or MP for short) got stuck at the A’s compound in while their rigger took MP’s mother off to stick her on a plane to someplace other than with them (they just knew she was going all whacked out on them, not realizing she was a VR (if not BTL) addict who had been cut off for too long).
While killing time, MP borrows a rifle (and they buy ammo from the A’s) and they go out to explore the hills a bit (levitation is a wonderful thing) and MP works on her rifle shooting (she is decent with a pistol). MP expresses frustration with her options in the world, that she wants to do some good, not just live well off her father’s money which all ultimately came from crime.
First encounter:
Later that evening, when the dogs bring in the A’s small herd of bison, one doesn’t come with them. The A’s accuse the shaman and MP of having shot one of their animals. However a quick astral investigation reveals a dead bison, and eight humans around it, one of them awakened. The shaman and the A’s head out (leaving a disgruntled MP to babysit).
They arrive to find the people starting to butcher the bison. These are some of the survivalists, including their leader. The A’s are outraged, the survivalists claim the right of the hungry to take the bounty of the earth to feed themselves, plus they raised one of the A’s, she owes them. She counter accuses that they left her out to starve or die of exposure, and she owes them nothing but a bullet between the eyes. The leader of the survivalists gets all preachy and is rather persuasive, and the shaman realizes that he’s the adept, and has powers helping his persuasive abilities—so slaps a silence spell on him. I allow the leader to resist with his voice power + magic, and by a quirk of the dice he gets loud enough to be heard over the silence spell. The shaman then calls him out as an adept, but the leader denies all magic, saying only that the spirits of the land may favour those dedicated to living in harmony with them. Eventually the shaman levitates the leader and plays with him (it is a Cat shaman…..) and the survivalists finally (after some dice rolling) decide here and now is not the time to fight, and leave.
The A’s spend the night butchering the bison so that they don’t lose the meat, and in exhaustion ask the shaman and MP to go out with the herd in the morning to keep an eye on things. They eventually start coming in, in the early afternoon, when even the city slickers recognize that the weather is turning ugly.
Second encounter: Bikers:
The snow is starting to fall horizontally by the time they approach the compound—at which point one of the bison cries out and falls, clearly wounded. As the bison form their instinctive defensive circle the shaman scouts astrally, finding a shark mystic-adept-shaman, and a little behind him a group of twenty mundane bikers. At this point the PC shaman and MP are largely hidden from the Shark shaman by the dozen bison.
I thought I had made the shark shaman plenty tough, but the player shaman called up a force six earth spirit, and with a fortunate roll it succeeded in engulfing the shark shaman. The shark shaman did manage to do 7 damage to the spirit with the one spell that he got off, but two rounds of engulf were enough crush him to a pulp despite armor jacket, 2 armor point helmet, and a couple of points of armor from the adept power. First time the PC has used engulf in anger, and we hadn’t clued in just how deadly it could be (especially with how tough earth spirits are).
The PC shaman then makes a phantasm of an even bigger earth spirit coming towards the bikers. With their very scary leader down, the compounds still locked up, a blizzard starting, and a huge spirit coming their way, the bikers decide to take off and head for the tents they’d seen in the distance a way back (all the PC side of things know is that the bikers leave).
Interlude: stumbling out of the blizzard….
About four hours later a young survivalist comes stumbling up to the compound. He’d been heading between tents when the bikers roared up, and had been smart/scared enough to run for cover. He’d stuck around for a while, witnessing several of the survivalists getting shot and hearing very disturbing screams coming from the tent, before he finally decided to try and find help. He’d stumbled around in the blizzard for a good while but had finally found the compound.
After some debate, it comes down to:
- The PC shaman asensed the bikers, and considers them evil, and is inclined to go help the survivlists.
- The A’s, all morality aside, figure that once the blizzard blows over, the bikers could easily be coming after them. As it is, they know where the bikers are, that they have no good defenses, and are largely blind from the blizzard.
- MP wants to do some good.
So it is decided that they will go attack the bikers. Astral scouting and the local knowledge of the A’s help confirm the location and situation. (The PC shaman may never scrub from his ‘eyes’ what he saw in the auras in the tents.) The A’s, however, feel that one of them has to stay in the compound to protect their daughter, and keep an eye on the young survivalist. Meanwhile, MP insists on coming, donning the shark shaman’s armor jacket over a borrowed parka, and borrowing the shaman’s pistol.
Climax: against the forces of evil
The shaman, MP (with the shaman’s pistol), and the Orc lady head off into the blizzard, protected from it by a handy air spirit. In due course they approach the tents all unprotected (the site was chosen for it shelter from the blizzard winds, not for defensive reasons). They hunker down behind mounds of snow, a couple of dozen metres away in the darkness. The shaman has the wind spirit try and take one of the tents down. Those are pretty solid structures, designed to resist prairie winds, but the spirit at least gets it acting oddly and one of the bikers comes out to check out the situation. Shaman snipes at him with an ice spear, hurting him, but he raises the alarm.
The bikers are not stupid. The douse the lights in the tents and as they exit they spread out, but they can’t immediately spot their attackers. The shaman summons a new, stronger, air spirit, and takes one of his actions to tour it through the camp, pointing out the angry, hostile, aggressive, auras, versus the pained, afraid, and panicked auras, then tells it to go after the former.
Finally one of the bikers spends edge on his perception role, and spots the Orc ladies’ rifle barrel. Half a dozen of the gangers I’ve designated as ‘toughs’ and they had all popped kamikaze at the first sign of danger, and they all charge the players targets. Given how outnumbered the shaman and helps are, I gave the bikers submachine guns and machine pistols, with ordinary ammo—relatively easy to soak given all the negative modifers to hit from darkness and blizzard conditions. (the shaman is astral perceiving to see his targets despite the conditions, btw, and taking the appropriate penalty)
Orc lady and MP fire at the bikers charging them, dropping one of them and attracting the return fire. The shaman uses ball lightning to lightly wound but also slow down (initiative-wise) some of the ones charging them. Meanwhile the spirit is causing havoc amongst the other bikers, keeping them busy. MP glitches, causing her gun to malfunction (I’d decided that, given the conditions, any gun jams would have this result). She bolts into the blizzard, drawing predatory fire but surviving thanks to the armor jacket. The orc lady takes some light wounds but is rolling soak dice like a champ. The shaman accepts that it is time to accept some drain, and goes for a much stronger ball lightning, put substantial hurt on four of the attackers. The attacker not hit by the ball lightning glitches, jamming his gun, and he leaps on the Orc lady to grapple with her (he ends up with only a modest advantage over her).
At this point the shaman gets desperate enough call his spirt back to help deal with the four (wounded) tough bikers pointing guns his way. He ends up with some wounds, but the spirit turns the tide, and the shaman and the spirit drop the last of the toughs. At this point the rest of the bikers had been getting it together and starting suppressive fire, but when the actual spirit and an illusion of another one come roaring back their way (literally, I had the spirit borrow the nature of the blizzard) the survivors soon break and make a run for it, trying to bike off through the snow. The shaman uses the spirits final service to have it go hunt the runners (some of the other bikers run off into the blizzard and escape that fate, he specified the riders).
The find MP, heal spells get quickly dispensed, then MP and Orc Lady vote to finish off any not-dead-yet bikers. The shaman acquiesces. That happens, then they take shelter with the surviving survivalists, exhausting their first aid kits and endurance for healing spells as they try to undo some of the damage from the bikers.
After the blizzard finishes they eventually get in touch with the closest thing to law enforcement. They find out that the bikers had tried hitting a town a ways south, only to find that a group of Sioux Rangers were in town. The bikers had been on the run since then, and had been forced farther north, out of their normal range. There was a modest reward for taking them down—but in return the biker’s goods were confiscated as evidence (basically I just wanted to skip the whole issue of trying to find a buyer for the bikes and guns from way out there, as I wanted the game to move on). Some went to the survivalist in the form of a delivery of food brought in with the NPC rigger when he made his way back to the compound, some gave a bit of money for the few of the survivalists who wanted to leave the band after this, some went to the A’s, and the shaman even shared his with MP, meaning he didn’t end up with much nuyen, but he cared more about karma anyway.
And MP concluded that improving the world by getting into gun battles probably was not for her.
In short, I apologize Koekepan—I took one of your ideas and it ended up being the most disgustingly feel good thing imaginable. The player was happy, which is good, but I didn’t feel that the whole thing came out as cyber-punkish as it could have done.
In hindsight, what would I have done differently?
- The shark shaman should have used edged against the earth spirit’s first attack to engulf him. I hadn’t realized how deadly this would end up being, so I didn’t, which changed everything that came afterward.
- I should have given a back up awakened in the bikers. Even an adept who could hurt spirits could have made things quite different. Strong spirits vs mundanes is just too one-sided—even with such a disparity in numbers.
- I also should have had one more seriously cybered up monster amongst the bikers. I relied too much on sheer numbers, not enough on having that one dude who individually is scary.
- I probably should have had a Windigo grab MP while she was running out into the blizzard. We were out of time so I decided to just say "with astral projection you track her down before the cold gets her", but instead I could have run a follow-up session to find and save her, starting from a point of wounds, fatigue, and only one edge point. The player did risk his client, so I should have made that have greater consequences.
- I could have had some survivalists have more spunk, jump a biker, take his gun, and angrily turn on the bikers....attracting the attention of the PC’s spirit.
- For that matter, I could have started things off with the survivalists instead of at the A's compound. Could have had a somewhat similar flow, but I think would have made the situation more grey. For real tension I could have done things totally differently and have had them fall in with a 'totally peaceful' group of bikers along the road, although one good assensing role would probably have blown that one apart.
QUOTE
In short, I apologize Koekepan—I took one of your ideas and it ended up being the most disgustingly feel good thing imaginable. The player was happy, which is good, but I didn’t feel that the whole thing came out as cyber-punkish as it could have done.
It's fine. I'm sure that in days to come the shaman will look upon his blood-stained hands and ask himself with tears choking his trembling voice what he has become.
You're leading up to that, right?
Premise: Prison Labor camp run out in the sticks. A simple stash theft.
Background: Somewhere in the West Virgin is a lone Star correctional facility where prisoner work their debt off to society by growing crops for the Star. Soy? Wheat? Legumes? Nope! Its drugs. The lone star prison have become a place where the gangers former clients have been forced to make every known sixth world drug to pad the backstop accounts. Lone Star has also extorted nearby plantations to take in the prison labor as part of some fucked up plan to rehabilitate these good folk when in reality they are sent as intimidation as well as turning the places to produce more narcotics to make drugs to help give gangs in their back pockets something to disrupt less cooperative people as well as keeping the undercover boys with enough dope to trade.
The Parties
Warden Mary Guano is an Elven Lone Star Warden from Atzlan. Well versed in the Narcotics business. She had gamed the system with her letting fellow cops snort blow off her fine elven abs and ass to look the other way and runs a mean business. She has turned gang leaders against their own crews and is mean with a sniper rifle to match. Mary's a charmer and knows the legal and illegal game well enough to make most ex-Star Runners feel like a naive trainee on their first day on the beating stick.
Ian Ironsting is an Human DEA agent with a grudge. First thrown out of the military after UCAS "honorably" discharged him after trauma at a destroyed drug plantation which shook the vet. His fathers connections to KE kept him working as he then gets an involuntary surgery by gangers who implanted a sloppily installed auto injector that demands highly addictive drugs to keep him from dying from withdrawal. He has a lot of reasons to tackle the drug trade and while he is a staunch enemy of the narcotics trade, he is sadly chained to it and he isn't putting a bullet to his brain yet.
Weedwhacker the orc is the informal leader of the prison gangs that are brought in between the plantations as a firebrand leader after being thrown in jail for advocating legalization of drugs (so Aztech can use this easily sweep the pharmacutical business in America, leaving DocWagon and AA Medical firms as their blood bitch), bordering on insurrection against the Warden. He plays a fine game between the "innocent" prisoners who are forced to commit more crimes in their prison sentences and the true gangers who see this as an excuse to not get shanked by scarier folks like Guano or Weedwhacker. Weedwhacker has an unusually strong tolerance to substances and it will be hard to outdrink or overdose the motherfucker.
The Problem: Your Runners just hit an armored car loaded with Narcotics. Getting a pager from Ironsting you were told the KE is hiring backup for a dangerous mission. A twenty thousand nuyen payout for anyone who helps take out the drug farm. Unfortunately one of the KE under Ironsting has been plowing Mary or her party girls and have ratted out a raid is coming. Typical drug war...
Weedwhacker is seeing a golden opportunity to start a prison riot, make a bargain with KE and use the leverage to become the new warden of the plantation co-op project and promise to dispose of the hard drug, with all of the benefits of being boss. But as they say, keep your enemies close and your drug stash closer...
Except the drug plantations are fortified with Lone Star guards and even the prisoners have holdout guns and tasers designed to ice poachers who somehow sneak past security. Dispatch for reinforcements is only 15 mins away from becoming part of the prison block. Then you git the joys of a profit over prisoner mentality of the drug farm as well, the drug production facilities are extremely run down facilities where the lack of oversight means it goes through prisoners faster than BTL chips. One stray bullet or chemical in the mixing tank will result in a nice explosion.
Complications
-Some of the plantation owners out there are willing to work for or against the Lone Star running their plantation. They are using you as a distraction though, the ones who working against the Star will shoot everyone but the Knights on the ground but the ones loyal will most certainly call in help as soon as the Knights roll in to bust the place.
-Fertilizer stocks have been missing lately, did you know where it went? Wait, is that tank of fertilizer be next to the armory? And why is there beeping?
-Rabbits are hungry for the tobacco and ganja, and they are reacting oddly to it, WHY DOES IT HAVE FANGS THAT CHEW THROUGH STEEL!!!!
-Fire and an open field of drug laced smoke...do the math.
Aftermath
-If Ian wins the drug war, he is going to push the fact that he has an addiction and you hand over the drugs you got shot up for.
-Siding with Mary means you are now the Lone Star's bitch, she is hot. But she has a hot temper for those who refuse to sniff the coke off her ass.
-For some reason if both Ian and Mary are dead and Weedwhacker is left standing, he is going to turn this to his own warlord fiefdom and you have to prove your loyalty to him. And he has a long list of enemies in the city that needs a couple of lessons.
Coming soon: A Japanese Redneck Run, soy, beef, a return of the old Japanese diet system!
Background: Somewhere in the West Virgin is a lone Star correctional facility where prisoner work their debt off to society by growing crops for the Star. Soy? Wheat? Legumes? Nope! Its drugs. The lone star prison have become a place where the gangers former clients have been forced to make every known sixth world drug to pad the backstop accounts. Lone Star has also extorted nearby plantations to take in the prison labor as part of some fucked up plan to rehabilitate these good folk when in reality they are sent as intimidation as well as turning the places to produce more narcotics to make drugs to help give gangs in their back pockets something to disrupt less cooperative people as well as keeping the undercover boys with enough dope to trade.
The Parties
Warden Mary Guano is an Elven Lone Star Warden from Atzlan. Well versed in the Narcotics business. She had gamed the system with her letting fellow cops snort blow off her fine elven abs and ass to look the other way and runs a mean business. She has turned gang leaders against their own crews and is mean with a sniper rifle to match. Mary's a charmer and knows the legal and illegal game well enough to make most ex-Star Runners feel like a naive trainee on their first day on the beating stick.
Ian Ironsting is an Human DEA agent with a grudge. First thrown out of the military after UCAS "honorably" discharged him after trauma at a destroyed drug plantation which shook the vet. His fathers connections to KE kept him working as he then gets an involuntary surgery by gangers who implanted a sloppily installed auto injector that demands highly addictive drugs to keep him from dying from withdrawal. He has a lot of reasons to tackle the drug trade and while he is a staunch enemy of the narcotics trade, he is sadly chained to it and he isn't putting a bullet to his brain yet.
Weedwhacker the orc is the informal leader of the prison gangs that are brought in between the plantations as a firebrand leader after being thrown in jail for advocating legalization of drugs (so Aztech can use this easily sweep the pharmacutical business in America, leaving DocWagon and AA Medical firms as their blood bitch), bordering on insurrection against the Warden. He plays a fine game between the "innocent" prisoners who are forced to commit more crimes in their prison sentences and the true gangers who see this as an excuse to not get shanked by scarier folks like Guano or Weedwhacker. Weedwhacker has an unusually strong tolerance to substances and it will be hard to outdrink or overdose the motherfucker.
The Problem: Your Runners just hit an armored car loaded with Narcotics. Getting a pager from Ironsting you were told the KE is hiring backup for a dangerous mission. A twenty thousand nuyen payout for anyone who helps take out the drug farm. Unfortunately one of the KE under Ironsting has been plowing Mary or her party girls and have ratted out a raid is coming. Typical drug war...
Weedwhacker is seeing a golden opportunity to start a prison riot, make a bargain with KE and use the leverage to become the new warden of the plantation co-op project and promise to dispose of the hard drug, with all of the benefits of being boss. But as they say, keep your enemies close and your drug stash closer...
Except the drug plantations are fortified with Lone Star guards and even the prisoners have holdout guns and tasers designed to ice poachers who somehow sneak past security. Dispatch for reinforcements is only 15 mins away from becoming part of the prison block. Then you git the joys of a profit over prisoner mentality of the drug farm as well, the drug production facilities are extremely run down facilities where the lack of oversight means it goes through prisoners faster than BTL chips. One stray bullet or chemical in the mixing tank will result in a nice explosion.
Complications
-Some of the plantation owners out there are willing to work for or against the Lone Star running their plantation. They are using you as a distraction though, the ones who working against the Star will shoot everyone but the Knights on the ground but the ones loyal will most certainly call in help as soon as the Knights roll in to bust the place.
-Fertilizer stocks have been missing lately, did you know where it went? Wait, is that tank of fertilizer be next to the armory? And why is there beeping?
-Rabbits are hungry for the tobacco and ganja, and they are reacting oddly to it, WHY DOES IT HAVE FANGS THAT CHEW THROUGH STEEL!!!!
-Fire and an open field of drug laced smoke...do the math.
Aftermath
-If Ian wins the drug war, he is going to push the fact that he has an addiction and you hand over the drugs you got shot up for.
-Siding with Mary means you are now the Lone Star's bitch, she is hot. But she has a hot temper for those who refuse to sniff the coke off her ass.
-For some reason if both Ian and Mary are dead and Weedwhacker is left standing, he is going to turn this to his own warlord fiefdom and you have to prove your loyalty to him. And he has a long list of enemies in the city that needs a couple of lessons.
Coming soon: A Japanese Redneck Run, soy, beef, a return of the old Japanese diet system!
QUOTE (Koekepan @ Nov 11 2014, 08:53 PM)
It's fine. I'm sure that in days to come the shaman will look upon his blood-stained hands and ask himself with tears choking his trembling voice what he has become.
You're leading up to that, right?
You're leading up to that, right?
Well, you can lead a horse to water........
Perhaps ironically, in the next play session the shaman was trying to help a young mage with a new degree and a bad gambling debt figure out how to pay off the debt without becoming a wage slave, and without risking (much) being shot at. Did not seem to trigger a crisis of conscience, however.
You allowed MP to use the shark shaman's armor jacket after the shark shaman had been engulfed in it? Ew.
I'll definitly use the Junkyard. I may even put the adventure in a writeup of New Jersey I'm working on right now. It just fits with a location I had developed anyway.
QUOTE (Tecumseh @ Nov 11 2014, 11:03 PM)
You allowed MP to use the shark shaman's armor jacket after the shark shaman had been engulfed in it? Ew.
I know, right?
There was some discussion/roleplay around that. The PC shaman was all for leaving it, but the thrifty Arnstruther's (spelling) naturally took it and cleaned it up--"You never know when we'll need something like that."
When MP wanted to accompany the assault party, part of the reason against was "you are too vulnerable, and I'm supposed to be protecting you." I had her volunteer to wear the jacket, as proof of her commitment (I did lower its armor by a point, however, due to damage done). Gross or not, it pretty much saved her life, as she was hit three times, soaked down to 0, 1, and 2 points of damage. With 11 less dice on each soak roll..... (and likewise, with one less gun/target, high odds that Orc Lady wouldn't have walked home and it may have been much closer for the PC).
I'm trying to develop her as an occasional reoccurring character, who understands the shadows, who screws up sometimes, who is willing to compromise sometimes, but who is fundamentally trying to do the right thing in a very screwed up world. Therefore, if someday she looks at the PC Shaman in disgust for what he has done, that will mean something. Or on a less dire note, in a situation where the player is torn between options I can bring her back in as a sounding board.
I figure that someone that you have protected and even mentored to a degree would have a lot more emotional impact in that regard than would most other characters. (in a previous adventure the PC had extracted her from a Yakuza run Puppet-house. Yak had kidnapped her and were threatening to put her under surgery and put her to work unless her father, the finance guy for the south Seattle sprawl Mafia, did what they said. When the Mafia-Yakuza war turned from cold to hot with the fire bombing of a Christmas midnight mass with much of the mafia elite in attendance, the first thing the finance guy did was hire the PC to get his family to safety).
Alright, time for a trip to the Japanese Countryside for a Rural Shadowrun
Background: Racial Tensions in Japan is perhaps one of the worst, making the slave trade era south looking as open as SanFran's liberal community, the prejudice does not just extend beyond metahumans but also race. And out in the sticks, it is even worse. Especially when you are from the island of Hokkaido.
The Parties
Go Honda is a Mitsuhama rice/soy farmer with connections to the royal family, owning an "organic" rice/soy plantation that uses the backs of Koreans, Ainu and other riff raff as laborers in his plantations, the organic rice and soy is often used as the basis of his famous "Edo Subbu Tabemono", a series of meat free products for hardline traditionalists to enjoy meat free diets like the Emperor likes it. Go is xenophobic and even finds city slickers from Tokyo as foreign as a paleface. Suprisingly enough, he isn't the oldest man in the family but because his older brother was a good for nothing modernizing twat. He had his brother disowned by his parents with the help of some Yak runners to make him brother look bad.
Yon Honda is a tech wiz, lacking the same prejudices as his brother with the love for the Nuyen, he has made a killing as a SPU and Food manufacturing producer, you know those addictive Japanese soychoco treats that comes from Japan is probably from his subsidiaries. After being relabeled as a Renranku product of course. Yon is a profiteering bastard who has even more of a grudge for his brother Go than Mitsuhama itself.
Guu Ushitama is a Troll Ainu rancher in Kobe, the place where all the delicious Kobe Beef is made readily available to the Japan (and the odd Gaijin provided they pay a huge markup for the delicous Kobe Beef). Despite his status as perhaps the proverbial black cat of Japan, he has made quite a killing as he has a lot friends in the Kawaru-gumi and a couple of elves and dwarves as diplomatic envoys. Plus he knows how to raise a hell out a Kobe cow so he was granted an exemption and has a lot of well trained Ork/Troll muscles who the Japanese imperial authorities have difficulty throwing out.
The Problem: Yon has been developing something big for the kitchens of the corporate crowd, a state of the art SPU that makes the taste between meat and non meat products have no difference whatsoever, considered a luxury choice for health conscious execs or traditonal Japanese who still follow the meat free diets. This product would drive out the Kobe Beef business domestically. Despite that Yon isn't selling to Mitsuhama or the local Japanese but decides to sell it as a niche health product overseas. He has already begin talks with Horizon, Evo and other "liberal" minded corps for the product. Despite this, Guu wants to send a middle finger to the Honda clan by taking the project data at a secluded research complex in the Japanese countryside since he knows if Go gets the data first it will mean doom for his business.
[b]The Proposition:[/b] For anyone with a Yak Runner, Go would pay you to go do a datasteal on Guu's plans to sabotage everyone If you have a full team of Japanese runners he is going to be a little more generous with his info and payout, if not expect way less info than what he gives you and even try to stab you in the back. And if you dont' have a Japanese runner, well tough luck. His opposition comes in the form of MCT and Yakuza security and comes in strapped, given how Japan has a law prohibiting all non security from carrying a gun...
Yon is asking you to stop both sides from stealing his data, unlike Guu or Go he is open to everyone. An average payout but decking against Yon's assets will be a headache to say the least. His complex is as well protected as Japan's IP defenses against foreigners from downloading the latest album from Teiko Ikekawa.
Guu Ushitama on the other hand wants the building to become rubble, Yon's new SPU is bad for his business and he is making a nice proposal over an all you can eat Wagyu dinner at a branch restaurant in Kobe. Plus he is willing to part with a lot of Wagyu beef. Of course, he also have a lot of Ork and Troll muscle ready to do a little picketing as well and they can swing a katana with the strength of a giant and the grace of an Dandy Eater.
The Facts: It's a three way struggle for the data and there are a lot problems from the get go for the runners.
Rural Japan is neither easily accessible nor friendly to gaijin and city wise Japanese, mountainous roads that doesn't yield well to Ares/Azzie off road cars means a chase may turn well fatal. Gun laws in Japan being so strict means you will have to smuggle your weapons in or bring pathetic holdouts to the fight. Plus the rural Japanese are xenophobic, a good deal of their towns have an order of adepts that defends their home with the zeal of a zealot. A native Japanese may even have a tough time communicating with the rural Japanese. There is also the issue of dealing with the hideout in the sticks, Yon's enemies are well aware of his plans to release the SPU to overseas and they are making sure it doesn't happen. Yon's scientists are dug in tight and are no slouches in the Matrix while Renraku HTR are ready to deal with the problem. Defending is also a bitch as well, a two way fight against MCT and Troll/Ork Yaks.
Complications
-The technology is archaics, like 20 years behind archaic. You know how the Japanese still use outdated website tools and fax machines today, now apply the same principles on a hectic run.
-Typical vulture like behavior once you do the meat of the run. A classic way to make a 2 way fight even worse.
-The local village you are stopping is a creepy cult, is the car outta gas? Well that is going end well.
Consequences
-Whomever loses will see the local businesses suffer from this setback, manpower losses, profit losses. Expect a shortage of goods coming in, and a surplus of retribution
-Getting back to the city is the hard, rural Japan is a pain to travel from and back.
Background: Racial Tensions in Japan is perhaps one of the worst, making the slave trade era south looking as open as SanFran's liberal community, the prejudice does not just extend beyond metahumans but also race. And out in the sticks, it is even worse. Especially when you are from the island of Hokkaido.
The Parties
Go Honda is a Mitsuhama rice/soy farmer with connections to the royal family, owning an "organic" rice/soy plantation that uses the backs of Koreans, Ainu and other riff raff as laborers in his plantations, the organic rice and soy is often used as the basis of his famous "Edo Subbu Tabemono", a series of meat free products for hardline traditionalists to enjoy meat free diets like the Emperor likes it. Go is xenophobic and even finds city slickers from Tokyo as foreign as a paleface. Suprisingly enough, he isn't the oldest man in the family but because his older brother was a good for nothing modernizing twat. He had his brother disowned by his parents with the help of some Yak runners to make him brother look bad.
Yon Honda is a tech wiz, lacking the same prejudices as his brother with the love for the Nuyen, he has made a killing as a SPU and Food manufacturing producer, you know those addictive Japanese soychoco treats that comes from Japan is probably from his subsidiaries. After being relabeled as a Renranku product of course. Yon is a profiteering bastard who has even more of a grudge for his brother Go than Mitsuhama itself.
Guu Ushitama is a Troll Ainu rancher in Kobe, the place where all the delicious Kobe Beef is made readily available to the Japan (and the odd Gaijin provided they pay a huge markup for the delicous Kobe Beef). Despite his status as perhaps the proverbial black cat of Japan, he has made quite a killing as he has a lot friends in the Kawaru-gumi and a couple of elves and dwarves as diplomatic envoys. Plus he knows how to raise a hell out a Kobe cow so he was granted an exemption and has a lot of well trained Ork/Troll muscles who the Japanese imperial authorities have difficulty throwing out.
The Problem: Yon has been developing something big for the kitchens of the corporate crowd, a state of the art SPU that makes the taste between meat and non meat products have no difference whatsoever, considered a luxury choice for health conscious execs or traditonal Japanese who still follow the meat free diets. This product would drive out the Kobe Beef business domestically. Despite that Yon isn't selling to Mitsuhama or the local Japanese but decides to sell it as a niche health product overseas. He has already begin talks with Horizon, Evo and other "liberal" minded corps for the product. Despite this, Guu wants to send a middle finger to the Honda clan by taking the project data at a secluded research complex in the Japanese countryside since he knows if Go gets the data first it will mean doom for his business.
[b]The Proposition:[/b] For anyone with a Yak Runner, Go would pay you to go do a datasteal on Guu's plans to sabotage everyone If you have a full team of Japanese runners he is going to be a little more generous with his info and payout, if not expect way less info than what he gives you and even try to stab you in the back. And if you dont' have a Japanese runner, well tough luck. His opposition comes in the form of MCT and Yakuza security and comes in strapped, given how Japan has a law prohibiting all non security from carrying a gun...
Yon is asking you to stop both sides from stealing his data, unlike Guu or Go he is open to everyone. An average payout but decking against Yon's assets will be a headache to say the least. His complex is as well protected as Japan's IP defenses against foreigners from downloading the latest album from Teiko Ikekawa.
Guu Ushitama on the other hand wants the building to become rubble, Yon's new SPU is bad for his business and he is making a nice proposal over an all you can eat Wagyu dinner at a branch restaurant in Kobe. Plus he is willing to part with a lot of Wagyu beef. Of course, he also have a lot of Ork and Troll muscle ready to do a little picketing as well and they can swing a katana with the strength of a giant and the grace of an Dandy Eater.
The Facts: It's a three way struggle for the data and there are a lot problems from the get go for the runners.
Rural Japan is neither easily accessible nor friendly to gaijin and city wise Japanese, mountainous roads that doesn't yield well to Ares/Azzie off road cars means a chase may turn well fatal. Gun laws in Japan being so strict means you will have to smuggle your weapons in or bring pathetic holdouts to the fight. Plus the rural Japanese are xenophobic, a good deal of their towns have an order of adepts that defends their home with the zeal of a zealot. A native Japanese may even have a tough time communicating with the rural Japanese. There is also the issue of dealing with the hideout in the sticks, Yon's enemies are well aware of his plans to release the SPU to overseas and they are making sure it doesn't happen. Yon's scientists are dug in tight and are no slouches in the Matrix while Renraku HTR are ready to deal with the problem. Defending is also a bitch as well, a two way fight against MCT and Troll/Ork Yaks.
Complications
-The technology is archaics, like 20 years behind archaic. You know how the Japanese still use outdated website tools and fax machines today, now apply the same principles on a hectic run.
-Typical vulture like behavior once you do the meat of the run. A classic way to make a 2 way fight even worse.
-The local village you are stopping is a creepy cult, is the car outta gas? Well that is going end well.
Consequences
-Whomever loses will see the local businesses suffer from this setback, manpower losses, profit losses. Expect a shortage of goods coming in, and a surplus of retribution
-Getting back to the city is the hard, rural Japan is a pain to travel from and back.
Background:
Agriculture relies on inputs. Aside from sunlight, these are various chemicals. Some are derived from the air (notably CO2 for plants, O2 for animals) but pretty much everything else comes through some combination of soil and water. An example would be the various compounds of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus which usually cycle through the environment at a rate determiend by the biophysical activity of the creatures in the area, ranging from birds in the air to the soil biota.
If you want to extract more, you need to bring more nutrients. The old fashioned way is manure and guano. The way of the Green Revolution is petrochemically sourced.
By the middle of the twenty-first century, petrochemicals are rising in price and displaying their limitations. They can't substitute for micronutrients, and their regular use and abuse isn't good for soil biota. Pretty soon you end up with soil which isn't a living system, but a growth medium like gravel in a hydroponic setup. In the NAN some of this pain was reduced by pushing more traditional agriculture and just accepting more limited yields. In some corners of the world, they will push for as much artificial plant food as they can find.
Kelly Ortiz is an environmental manager (read: contract farm manager) for Jackrabbit Gulch Ventures. She doesn't have jackrabbits to worry about, but she does have production figures to keep up otherwise she might very well find herself redeployed to solid biowaste management in a parent megacorp's janitorial division.
Benny Stumptown is a junior environmental manager for Jackrabbit Gulch Ventures, who was passed over for promotion in favour of Kelly. The way he sees it, it would have been him except that Kelly put on her chapstick and kneepads and sucked the district manager's brains out through his groin. He knows perfectly well Kelly needs to make her numbers or get pushed out, and he figures that she could never make her numbers if just one little shipment of NPK nutrients didn't make it in on time.
In actual fact, Kelly didn't need to suck much of anything. She's just good at her job. But the district manager is sweet on her and certainly would like to spend extra time investigating the biological environment which they experience together.
The Parties:
Kelly Ortiz
A competent, businesslike lady who is the modern version of a farmer - an expert for hire in the service of a large company.
Jackrabbit Gulch Ventures
A joint venture with majority stockholding by a heavy machinery subsidiary of Shiawase. Farming in the CAS is pretty much their gig.
Benny Stumptown
Another farmer - in his junior position his salary is an insult, his authority is negligible and his frustration is high. Oh well, sucks to be him. And he knows it, so he just wants to get ahead. Can you blame him?
Konrad Taron
Konrad is Kelly's direct manager, and is at a level where he doesn't do things - he tells other people to do things and then checks that they did these things. Kelly was his pick, because she makes green things grow - and because he wishes that on some corporate retreat he could test the limits of her fertility. Because it's all about goals.
Caribbean Potash
They don't just deliver potassium based nutrients, but also a fair range of nutrients right down to kelp-based micronutrient-rich plant food. Which won't do a lot of good when shipments don't arrive.
RapeWhistle
Yup, they're back. And they (and their friends in All Sentients Rights Organisation) can think of nothing more fun on a lazy day than helping Benny stop some Gaia-poison. That would be the truck full of nutrients. And hey, some of those nutrients can be combined with diesel to make explosives so that they can cause more mayhem!
The Problem:
Hey, what's not to like about violent extremists with explosives ingredients? And farms producing less food? And honest people being sidelined by crooks?
Well, Kelly's not too happy. So she gets with a fixer to get her supply lines sorted.
The Proposition:
"My client is missing a shipment. The shipper claims they were robbed, which may even be true, but it doesn't solve the problems. We need you to find the shipment, intact if at all possible, and bring it to my client ASAP. Payment will be pro-rated on the return of the materials, plus a ten thousand nuyen base payment for any word on the vehicle, driver or other relevant information."
The Facts:
RapeWhistle jacked the truck, and offered the driver a simple choice: work like a dog in their encampment to expiate his guilt for Gaia, or take a bullet to the cerebellum and pay his dues by decomposition. He chose option A. If the runners can identify him and speak with him, he will do anything and everything he thinks he can as long as he gets out of there. He thinks the members of RapeWhistle are absolutely apeshit crazy, and they horrify and terrify him in equal measures. He will not fight them. But he will run like a rabbit in any direction the runners point.
If the runners go through the data of RapeWhistle, they will find lots of information implicating Benny. Enough to earn him six feet of retirement farm all his very own.
Some Complications:
RapeWhistle are getting more extreme, more violent, and have started building booby traps with explosives. This should be a dangerous run for the naive.
About fifty percent of a twenty ton (metric) shipment has been converted to explosives already. This makes for quite a few very big bangs.
Konrad will be dismayed by all of this, and will pay handsomely to keep it quiet, because this sort of thing does not look good on his employment record. That includes turning runners into mulch, if necessary. They should think (and tread) carefully around the corporate politics.
Aftermath Ideas:
RapeWhistle feed more information on the runners to their buddies in ASRO. An entire subculture of rabid treehuggers wants the runners dead, or inconvenienced, and will do so out of sheer spite.
Caribbean Potash are impressed by competent work, and grateful that they don't have to up their insurance premiums if the driver was rescued. They might have more work for the runners.
Agriculture relies on inputs. Aside from sunlight, these are various chemicals. Some are derived from the air (notably CO2 for plants, O2 for animals) but pretty much everything else comes through some combination of soil and water. An example would be the various compounds of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus which usually cycle through the environment at a rate determiend by the biophysical activity of the creatures in the area, ranging from birds in the air to the soil biota.
If you want to extract more, you need to bring more nutrients. The old fashioned way is manure and guano. The way of the Green Revolution is petrochemically sourced.
By the middle of the twenty-first century, petrochemicals are rising in price and displaying their limitations. They can't substitute for micronutrients, and their regular use and abuse isn't good for soil biota. Pretty soon you end up with soil which isn't a living system, but a growth medium like gravel in a hydroponic setup. In the NAN some of this pain was reduced by pushing more traditional agriculture and just accepting more limited yields. In some corners of the world, they will push for as much artificial plant food as they can find.
Kelly Ortiz is an environmental manager (read: contract farm manager) for Jackrabbit Gulch Ventures. She doesn't have jackrabbits to worry about, but she does have production figures to keep up otherwise she might very well find herself redeployed to solid biowaste management in a parent megacorp's janitorial division.
Benny Stumptown is a junior environmental manager for Jackrabbit Gulch Ventures, who was passed over for promotion in favour of Kelly. The way he sees it, it would have been him except that Kelly put on her chapstick and kneepads and sucked the district manager's brains out through his groin. He knows perfectly well Kelly needs to make her numbers or get pushed out, and he figures that she could never make her numbers if just one little shipment of NPK nutrients didn't make it in on time.
In actual fact, Kelly didn't need to suck much of anything. She's just good at her job. But the district manager is sweet on her and certainly would like to spend extra time investigating the biological environment which they experience together.
The Parties:
Kelly Ortiz
A competent, businesslike lady who is the modern version of a farmer - an expert for hire in the service of a large company.
Jackrabbit Gulch Ventures
A joint venture with majority stockholding by a heavy machinery subsidiary of Shiawase. Farming in the CAS is pretty much their gig.
Benny Stumptown
Another farmer - in his junior position his salary is an insult, his authority is negligible and his frustration is high. Oh well, sucks to be him. And he knows it, so he just wants to get ahead. Can you blame him?
Konrad Taron
Konrad is Kelly's direct manager, and is at a level where he doesn't do things - he tells other people to do things and then checks that they did these things. Kelly was his pick, because she makes green things grow - and because he wishes that on some corporate retreat he could test the limits of her fertility. Because it's all about goals.
Caribbean Potash
They don't just deliver potassium based nutrients, but also a fair range of nutrients right down to kelp-based micronutrient-rich plant food. Which won't do a lot of good when shipments don't arrive.
RapeWhistle
Yup, they're back. And they (and their friends in All Sentients Rights Organisation) can think of nothing more fun on a lazy day than helping Benny stop some Gaia-poison. That would be the truck full of nutrients. And hey, some of those nutrients can be combined with diesel to make explosives so that they can cause more mayhem!
The Problem:
Hey, what's not to like about violent extremists with explosives ingredients? And farms producing less food? And honest people being sidelined by crooks?
Well, Kelly's not too happy. So she gets with a fixer to get her supply lines sorted.
The Proposition:
"My client is missing a shipment. The shipper claims they were robbed, which may even be true, but it doesn't solve the problems. We need you to find the shipment, intact if at all possible, and bring it to my client ASAP. Payment will be pro-rated on the return of the materials, plus a ten thousand nuyen base payment for any word on the vehicle, driver or other relevant information."
The Facts:
RapeWhistle jacked the truck, and offered the driver a simple choice: work like a dog in their encampment to expiate his guilt for Gaia, or take a bullet to the cerebellum and pay his dues by decomposition. He chose option A. If the runners can identify him and speak with him, he will do anything and everything he thinks he can as long as he gets out of there. He thinks the members of RapeWhistle are absolutely apeshit crazy, and they horrify and terrify him in equal measures. He will not fight them. But he will run like a rabbit in any direction the runners point.
If the runners go through the data of RapeWhistle, they will find lots of information implicating Benny. Enough to earn him six feet of retirement farm all his very own.
Some Complications:
RapeWhistle are getting more extreme, more violent, and have started building booby traps with explosives. This should be a dangerous run for the naive.
About fifty percent of a twenty ton (metric) shipment has been converted to explosives already. This makes for quite a few very big bangs.
Konrad will be dismayed by all of this, and will pay handsomely to keep it quiet, because this sort of thing does not look good on his employment record. That includes turning runners into mulch, if necessary. They should think (and tread) carefully around the corporate politics.
Aftermath Ideas:
RapeWhistle feed more information on the runners to their buddies in ASRO. An entire subculture of rabid treehuggers wants the runners dead, or inconvenienced, and will do so out of sheer spite.
Caribbean Potash are impressed by competent work, and grateful that they don't have to up their insurance premiums if the driver was rescued. They might have more work for the runners.
Feedback
I incorporated/borrowed one of your scenarios into an ongoing scene recently, and am duly acknowledging and providing feedback. If I ever invent a time machine, about the 377th * thing I’ll do is track you down when this thread is just starting, and suggest giving names to the various ideas, which would make them easier to reference later. But apparently I don’t invent a time machine because that didn’t happen, so, descriptively it was the one set in the bayou, where Mama has magical roots going back to who knows when, the would be suitor of her ward escapes the bayou to join the bayou babies only to (maybe) go all Sampson during a run. Clear as the water in the bayou? Good, carrying on….
I embedded/intertwined this with an ongoing investigation.
(detail: I have a one player game, the PC is a shaman. While investigating a missing teen back in Seattle he’d infiltrated a cult/policlub promote the superiority of the awakened. He determined that the Zachary (the missing teen) had been shipped to the groups headquarters, near New Orleans, for “advanced training,” and he went that route himself. While down there a side job got him sent to Mama for help in tracking a missing package (the drone that was hiding it in the bayou got eaten by a large awakened gator, and those who were supposed to receive the package feared retribution from ‘the powers in the bayou’ if the package broke open in the bayou). For her help, Mama asked the runner and companion to investigate what happened to Jean, the missing suitor (I forgot what name he had in the original write-up, so I just made him a generic Jean). )
I changed a few items. I left the relationship between Mama and her ward unclear (grand daughter? Apprentice?). I gave them a sort of house boat, more or less a shack on pontoons. Which upon asensing turned out to be awakened, with power higher than the PC shaman’s magic. (the exact nature was never revealed). I felt that un untrained Jean was unlikely to be able to join the bayou babies and shortly bring a factory down on his head, so I created another escapee from the bayou with more skills as a red herring (actually a woman disguising herself as a man), but had her trail criss-cross both Jean’s trail and clues that I needed revealed for the other investigation. The rest was more or less per the write up, allowing for the fact that I didn’t have it open in front of me while running things.
Things that worked for us:
- The PC was impressed with Mama’s power, skill, wisdom, and experience. It was funny seeing the brash city boy suddenly being all “yes ma’am”
- The bible-thumping hamlet that Jean was from put the fear of being burned-at-the-stake into the PC, which was also good. He used magic to get the information he needed, but boy was he careful with the where, how, and around who.
Things that didn’t:
- The investigation part fell flat, which I’ll take the blame for. The PC had already been doing investigations, and now had more investigations to do. He wasn’t willing to be too rough about it, so it was a lot of rolls of perception, asensing, etiquette, negotiate, and judge motives—all of which he has at similar levels, so there wasn’t much motive for him to use one over another. So there was a lot of “roll eight dice, then roll them again, then roll them again.” I should have set some triggered scenes where people would behave irrationally when questions were asked, leading to some good action.
And in case you were wondering:
- the behind-the-scenes story is that the cult/policlub views spirits inhabiting human bodies as the ultimate hybrid and wave of the future—that all humans, awakened or not, are essentially breeding stock for these new, better, beings.
- the group had purchased a de-commissioned oil rig off the coast where they go through final preparations and summoning, and where the less human looking of the results could live safely. Mostly they have ‘student’ volunteers there who are convinced they are becoming something better—the case with Zachary-- but they also have some less willing prisoners (basically anyone who finds out but doesn’t want to participate, so who could leak the information)—which was the case with Jean (he’d stowed away on their supply boat, being curious about the entire group of awakened people he’d seen go onto it, then got caught).
- the leadership of the group is not all unified, with splits between those still human and the embodied spirits, and between some of the different embodied spirits of different types. The details of this were never found out, but were seen in the actions, which is what gave the PC and his ally (a troll who is good at hitting things with clubs) a chance.
- One of the prisoners was a young fisherman who’d investigated the rig too closely, and those wondering about him helped with the logistics of the approach, and Mama contributed a fairly huge spirit to track Jean and guide the PC to him
- Had some interesting tactical situations. Embodied spirits have certain weaknesses in terms of astral combat, and for all that their bodies are pumped up in terms of physical stats it turns out that nausea gas can still be an effective weapon against them. And they aren’t entirely immune to be smashed by trolls. But they are tough with some interesting combinations of abilities.
- Both boys got rescued (getting the second was a tough call), and the PC and troll companion survived—fleeing into the busy streets of downtown NO to escape one final, monstrously embodied, water spirit who only caught them at the docks. Out of edge, damage tracks half full…. The action part came out just about right.
- And there is an embodied spirit of man sharpshooter who has promised that they’ll never know what hit them if word of what is on the rig gets out (Given five rescued prisoners plus Zachary, they are very worried about leaks).
* I know that seems like a pretty low priority, but I figure hey, if I have a time machine I should be able to get around to everything eventually.
I incorporated/borrowed one of your scenarios into an ongoing scene recently, and am duly acknowledging and providing feedback. If I ever invent a time machine, about the 377th * thing I’ll do is track you down when this thread is just starting, and suggest giving names to the various ideas, which would make them easier to reference later. But apparently I don’t invent a time machine because that didn’t happen, so, descriptively it was the one set in the bayou, where Mama has magical roots going back to who knows when, the would be suitor of her ward escapes the bayou to join the bayou babies only to (maybe) go all Sampson during a run. Clear as the water in the bayou? Good, carrying on….
I embedded/intertwined this with an ongoing investigation.
(detail: I have a one player game, the PC is a shaman. While investigating a missing teen back in Seattle he’d infiltrated a cult/policlub promote the superiority of the awakened. He determined that the Zachary (the missing teen) had been shipped to the groups headquarters, near New Orleans, for “advanced training,” and he went that route himself. While down there a side job got him sent to Mama for help in tracking a missing package (the drone that was hiding it in the bayou got eaten by a large awakened gator, and those who were supposed to receive the package feared retribution from ‘the powers in the bayou’ if the package broke open in the bayou). For her help, Mama asked the runner and companion to investigate what happened to Jean, the missing suitor (I forgot what name he had in the original write-up, so I just made him a generic Jean). )
I changed a few items. I left the relationship between Mama and her ward unclear (grand daughter? Apprentice?). I gave them a sort of house boat, more or less a shack on pontoons. Which upon asensing turned out to be awakened, with power higher than the PC shaman’s magic. (the exact nature was never revealed). I felt that un untrained Jean was unlikely to be able to join the bayou babies and shortly bring a factory down on his head, so I created another escapee from the bayou with more skills as a red herring (actually a woman disguising herself as a man), but had her trail criss-cross both Jean’s trail and clues that I needed revealed for the other investigation. The rest was more or less per the write up, allowing for the fact that I didn’t have it open in front of me while running things.
Things that worked for us:
- The PC was impressed with Mama’s power, skill, wisdom, and experience. It was funny seeing the brash city boy suddenly being all “yes ma’am”
- The bible-thumping hamlet that Jean was from put the fear of being burned-at-the-stake into the PC, which was also good. He used magic to get the information he needed, but boy was he careful with the where, how, and around who.
Things that didn’t:
- The investigation part fell flat, which I’ll take the blame for. The PC had already been doing investigations, and now had more investigations to do. He wasn’t willing to be too rough about it, so it was a lot of rolls of perception, asensing, etiquette, negotiate, and judge motives—all of which he has at similar levels, so there wasn’t much motive for him to use one over another. So there was a lot of “roll eight dice, then roll them again, then roll them again.” I should have set some triggered scenes where people would behave irrationally when questions were asked, leading to some good action.
And in case you were wondering:
- the behind-the-scenes story is that the cult/policlub views spirits inhabiting human bodies as the ultimate hybrid and wave of the future—that all humans, awakened or not, are essentially breeding stock for these new, better, beings.
- the group had purchased a de-commissioned oil rig off the coast where they go through final preparations and summoning, and where the less human looking of the results could live safely. Mostly they have ‘student’ volunteers there who are convinced they are becoming something better—the case with Zachary-- but they also have some less willing prisoners (basically anyone who finds out but doesn’t want to participate, so who could leak the information)—which was the case with Jean (he’d stowed away on their supply boat, being curious about the entire group of awakened people he’d seen go onto it, then got caught).
- the leadership of the group is not all unified, with splits between those still human and the embodied spirits, and between some of the different embodied spirits of different types. The details of this were never found out, but were seen in the actions, which is what gave the PC and his ally (a troll who is good at hitting things with clubs) a chance.
- One of the prisoners was a young fisherman who’d investigated the rig too closely, and those wondering about him helped with the logistics of the approach, and Mama contributed a fairly huge spirit to track Jean and guide the PC to him
- Had some interesting tactical situations. Embodied spirits have certain weaknesses in terms of astral combat, and for all that their bodies are pumped up in terms of physical stats it turns out that nausea gas can still be an effective weapon against them. And they aren’t entirely immune to be smashed by trolls. But they are tough with some interesting combinations of abilities.
- Both boys got rescued (getting the second was a tough call), and the PC and troll companion survived—fleeing into the busy streets of downtown NO to escape one final, monstrously embodied, water spirit who only caught them at the docks. Out of edge, damage tracks half full…. The action part came out just about right.
- And there is an embodied spirit of man sharpshooter who has promised that they’ll never know what hit them if word of what is on the rig gets out (Given five rescued prisoners plus Zachary, they are very worried about leaks).
* I know that seems like a pretty low priority, but I figure hey, if I have a time machine I should be able to get around to everything eventually.
Background:
The countryside is wide, empty, and tranquil. It's a great place to lie back, relax, look for shapes in the clouds and wait for the heat to die down. Of course, after a few dozen times, even the great thinkers in Lone Star got the idea, and the game was on.
The Parties:
Lone Star
They can't be everywhere, so once in a while they subcontract some of the stickier situations. Especially when someone with a lot of money demands results, and jurisdictional issues prevent them from operating openly.
Knight Errant
Knight Errant aren't bad guys. And they certainly want miscreants caught and brought to justice - as long as they get their cut. And if Lone Star isn't cutting them in, then obviously Lone Star are the problem.
Lew MacKenzie
All he wants is for the fighting to stop. He wants peace. Specifically, he wants the long arm of the law to stop trying to fight him. So what if he had sex with the daughter of a CEO? She loved it. And she consented. And she wanted to keep seeing him. So what if he's twenty-five, and an ork, and she's a hot human of seventeen, who is heir to many meganuyen? So what if she gave him one of her daddy's favourite hunting rifles as a gift? That's between Lew and her. Or her and her daddy. Lew didn't break any laws that really mattered.
Amanda Busch
Hot, horny, seventeen, and with a taste for the butch. Lew dresses up nice, and could pass for human in the street, but turns into a complete wild animal in the sack. She thinks she can make her own decisions. And it all really pissed off her daddy, who doesn't pay her nearly enough attention anyway.
Kendrick Busch
A pissed off father with heavy connections.
The Problem:
It's an old, old story. And a surprisingly simple one. Romeo and Juliet wasn't that different. Except without the guns. Lew has gone to ground in an ancient trailer up a creek where the fishing's good, the hunting's not bad, and nobody ever goes. Lone Star has a pretty good idea where he is, although they can't confirm the details. All they need is deniable assets to make the grab.
The Proposition:
WANTED
DEAD OR ALIVE
LEW MACKENZIE
FOR RAPE AND THEFT
$NY 100,000 (Alive) or $25,000 (Dead with confirmation)
The Facts:
Lew was smart enough to skip jursidictions because he wants to live. He has kin in the area who will let him know the very moment they see heavily armed strangers. In CAS he knows his skin is worth more than he can pay. Now he's in UCAS. But while he wants to live, he knows that what waits for him in the CAS isn't worth living for, so he will adamantly refuse to be taken alive.
Some Complications:
It's a political case. Humanis wants him so very dead. They want him dangling from a rope on a branch, because that's how they work. Anyone surprised? Didn't think so. Of course on the other hand, the trog rights groups are all over this. They want to make him a poster boy for the hideous judgemental racism of the CAS, and Humanis, and anyone else whose flags they don't like, like Lone Star. There's a posse of journalists all over this area, looking for their Big Scoop, and many of them come with armies of news drones. Keeping a low profile will be very hard.
Aftermath Ideas:
In such a simple story with so many angry faces, there's one major unexpected aftermath aspect which should bite most players: whichever side they choose, whatever they do, they will have their reputation, politically speaking, marked by their choices forever.
The countryside is wide, empty, and tranquil. It's a great place to lie back, relax, look for shapes in the clouds and wait for the heat to die down. Of course, after a few dozen times, even the great thinkers in Lone Star got the idea, and the game was on.
The Parties:
Lone Star
They can't be everywhere, so once in a while they subcontract some of the stickier situations. Especially when someone with a lot of money demands results, and jurisdictional issues prevent them from operating openly.
Knight Errant
Knight Errant aren't bad guys. And they certainly want miscreants caught and brought to justice - as long as they get their cut. And if Lone Star isn't cutting them in, then obviously Lone Star are the problem.
Lew MacKenzie
All he wants is for the fighting to stop. He wants peace. Specifically, he wants the long arm of the law to stop trying to fight him. So what if he had sex with the daughter of a CEO? She loved it. And she consented. And she wanted to keep seeing him. So what if he's twenty-five, and an ork, and she's a hot human of seventeen, who is heir to many meganuyen? So what if she gave him one of her daddy's favourite hunting rifles as a gift? That's between Lew and her. Or her and her daddy. Lew didn't break any laws that really mattered.
Amanda Busch
Hot, horny, seventeen, and with a taste for the butch. Lew dresses up nice, and could pass for human in the street, but turns into a complete wild animal in the sack. She thinks she can make her own decisions. And it all really pissed off her daddy, who doesn't pay her nearly enough attention anyway.
Kendrick Busch
A pissed off father with heavy connections.
The Problem:
It's an old, old story. And a surprisingly simple one. Romeo and Juliet wasn't that different. Except without the guns. Lew has gone to ground in an ancient trailer up a creek where the fishing's good, the hunting's not bad, and nobody ever goes. Lone Star has a pretty good idea where he is, although they can't confirm the details. All they need is deniable assets to make the grab.
The Proposition:
WANTED
DEAD OR ALIVE
LEW MACKENZIE
FOR RAPE AND THEFT
$NY 100,000 (Alive) or $25,000 (Dead with confirmation)
The Facts:
Lew was smart enough to skip jursidictions because he wants to live. He has kin in the area who will let him know the very moment they see heavily armed strangers. In CAS he knows his skin is worth more than he can pay. Now he's in UCAS. But while he wants to live, he knows that what waits for him in the CAS isn't worth living for, so he will adamantly refuse to be taken alive.
Some Complications:
It's a political case. Humanis wants him so very dead. They want him dangling from a rope on a branch, because that's how they work. Anyone surprised? Didn't think so. Of course on the other hand, the trog rights groups are all over this. They want to make him a poster boy for the hideous judgemental racism of the CAS, and Humanis, and anyone else whose flags they don't like, like Lone Star. There's a posse of journalists all over this area, looking for their Big Scoop, and many of them come with armies of news drones. Keeping a low profile will be very hard.
Aftermath Ideas:
In such a simple story with so many angry faces, there's one major unexpected aftermath aspect which should bite most players: whichever side they choose, whatever they do, they will have their reputation, politically speaking, marked by their choices forever.
sorry this dropped in the wrong thread
Great to see the Redneck Run back in town for more out of ass end of nowhere runs.
Background: We gotta help a "friend" get a friend out of a rehab camp in the ass end of nowhere.
The Parties: Joe Appleseed is an awakened who is one bad event away from a psychological breakdown, he found trust in the first one to show him pity like a damn lost puppy. He has done better over the years working as a talismonger after being tossed out of the home but he is seemingly too attached to Jane...sort of like puck and Jackpoint.
Jane Peeves is your typical free thinking, drug toking hippie teenage girl who have a trust fund. However her parents is the kind of parents that would do anything up to dealing with a dragon to reprogram the child, so far nothing in the city have really worked and they are turning to outsider help for a change.
The honest Believer's Healing camp is a rehabilitation camp that you would hear sometimes about while browsing the trix, favored by Horizon parents who would prefer to brainwash their kids rather than threaten to unleash a corpsec corporal punishment squad, they would legally kidnap children and youth and take them to these camps to become "well adjusted" believing dro...er citizens of Corporate society with a mix of squatter living and tough love sessions. All the price of 5000 Nuyen. Post rehab chems costs extra.
The Peeves family is an old money family with staunch values of god, tough love and more religious reinforcement. Funding these wonderful rehab camps they were shocked to learn their daughter has become a free thinker despite all the indoctrination they taught her.
The Problem: Joe and Jane are very close, but Peeves hates awakened more than metahumans because they are the scourge of god. Some say he seduced her with magic but this kind of behavior is natural for Peeves, plus she loves psychologically troubled young guys who needs help. But apparently the Peeves had enough of their daughter's free thinking ways and in the break of night she was kidnapped CIA style. Appleseed soon learned of this quickly through his extended family who had noticed a couple of palefaced guys taking her to a rehab camp in another tribe's land who isn't exactly friends with Appleseed's people.
The proposition: Joe wants a simple rescue job, he is paying you in foci, drugs and nuyen to save his girl from certain indoctrination/death.
The Facts He had heard horror stories about these camps and wants you to get her out. Of course given the fact he is living on an emotional crutch and as a potent awakened does not help the Runners any better because if she ends up dead or emotionally broken he will freak out and unleash an awakened rage that may level the nearby city block the runners are at right now. Plus his tribe as distant as he may be will call for your deaths.
Finding the camp was easy, getting into the place is hard, wilderness rehab camps are places of horror. Far from civilization as the patients are forced on heat scorching death marches who's personnel are more concerned about their well being than the patients. Living conditions are horrifying and there may be a couple of reports of deaths that get covered up...
They also got rigger patrols out in the desert and the only thing that makes it easier is there are no barbed wire to keep out unwanted guests, not that it matters because the guards there are trained to make sure the young awakened and trolls don't get any ideas of breaking out so they are packing heavy.
Time is ticking and the longer she is cooped up in the camp the faster she is gonna break...
Complications
Rival tribals have struck an alliance with these guys, so NAN tribals will attack you and you don't who's whom.
So the rehab camp may have a toxic totem, or a bug shaman and runners realize a simple rescue job has gone very bad.
The nearby town may in league with the rehab camp, since they get rid of their troubled youth so effectively. Do you keep driving even though Jane's practically been starved to death, under a heat stroke and supplies are running low between runners (Did you remember to bring several water canteens to the wild, of course not, you are city slickers). And the next stop is about a good 8 hour drive.
Aftermath
Getting her back to town will be easy, keeping her safe from her family is hard.
Joe may be targeted next of course, if some member of the Peeves found out he had hired a fixer to get his girl back they will definitely inflict reprisal on him.
A couple of acolytes find out about the runners and decide they will send a couple of their "holy" men to deal with them.
Background: We gotta help a "friend" get a friend out of a rehab camp in the ass end of nowhere.
The Parties: Joe Appleseed is an awakened who is one bad event away from a psychological breakdown, he found trust in the first one to show him pity like a damn lost puppy. He has done better over the years working as a talismonger after being tossed out of the home but he is seemingly too attached to Jane...sort of like puck and Jackpoint.
Jane Peeves is your typical free thinking, drug toking hippie teenage girl who have a trust fund. However her parents is the kind of parents that would do anything up to dealing with a dragon to reprogram the child, so far nothing in the city have really worked and they are turning to outsider help for a change.
The honest Believer's Healing camp is a rehabilitation camp that you would hear sometimes about while browsing the trix, favored by Horizon parents who would prefer to brainwash their kids rather than threaten to unleash a corpsec corporal punishment squad, they would legally kidnap children and youth and take them to these camps to become "well adjusted" believing dro...er citizens of Corporate society with a mix of squatter living and tough love sessions. All the price of 5000 Nuyen. Post rehab chems costs extra.
The Peeves family is an old money family with staunch values of god, tough love and more religious reinforcement. Funding these wonderful rehab camps they were shocked to learn their daughter has become a free thinker despite all the indoctrination they taught her.
The Problem: Joe and Jane are very close, but Peeves hates awakened more than metahumans because they are the scourge of god. Some say he seduced her with magic but this kind of behavior is natural for Peeves, plus she loves psychologically troubled young guys who needs help. But apparently the Peeves had enough of their daughter's free thinking ways and in the break of night she was kidnapped CIA style. Appleseed soon learned of this quickly through his extended family who had noticed a couple of palefaced guys taking her to a rehab camp in another tribe's land who isn't exactly friends with Appleseed's people.
The proposition: Joe wants a simple rescue job, he is paying you in foci, drugs and nuyen to save his girl from certain indoctrination/death.
The Facts He had heard horror stories about these camps and wants you to get her out. Of course given the fact he is living on an emotional crutch and as a potent awakened does not help the Runners any better because if she ends up dead or emotionally broken he will freak out and unleash an awakened rage that may level the nearby city block the runners are at right now. Plus his tribe as distant as he may be will call for your deaths.
Finding the camp was easy, getting into the place is hard, wilderness rehab camps are places of horror. Far from civilization as the patients are forced on heat scorching death marches who's personnel are more concerned about their well being than the patients. Living conditions are horrifying and there may be a couple of reports of deaths that get covered up...
They also got rigger patrols out in the desert and the only thing that makes it easier is there are no barbed wire to keep out unwanted guests, not that it matters because the guards there are trained to make sure the young awakened and trolls don't get any ideas of breaking out so they are packing heavy.
Time is ticking and the longer she is cooped up in the camp the faster she is gonna break...
Complications
Rival tribals have struck an alliance with these guys, so NAN tribals will attack you and you don't who's whom.
So the rehab camp may have a toxic totem, or a bug shaman and runners realize a simple rescue job has gone very bad.
The nearby town may in league with the rehab camp, since they get rid of their troubled youth so effectively. Do you keep driving even though Jane's practically been starved to death, under a heat stroke and supplies are running low between runners (Did you remember to bring several water canteens to the wild, of course not, you are city slickers). And the next stop is about a good 8 hour drive.
Aftermath
Getting her back to town will be easy, keeping her safe from her family is hard.
Joe may be targeted next of course, if some member of the Peeves found out he had hired a fixer to get his girl back they will definitely inflict reprisal on him.
A couple of acolytes find out about the runners and decide they will send a couple of their "holy" men to deal with them.
Background:
Remember this run?
The one with the Vultures out of Denver, and the survivalist cult? The cult is still active, and they've decided that they need to find the bigger time, get more followers, and arrive at a higher plane of spiritual existence and remunerative function. Some people are starting to take notice, and do not like what they are seeing.
The parties:
Guru Swami Rajakrishnan has reached deep within himself for answers and found them. He laid out his vision before his inner circle, and they, too, found it to be full of wisdom. Within their syncretic approach to various (but notably indian) polytheistic religions, Harold Gutenmeyer figured out that there was a great metaphor for him ruling over a whole series of franchise cults.
The tender shoots of his wisdom have not entered cities, and have no intention of doing so. They're all too aware of the fate of the Universal Brotherhood, so they prefer quiet isolated vales and land where there aren't too many naysayers or watchful eyes.
The Concerned Families Collective (CFC) is pretty much what it sounds like. Their kids, parents, spouses and cousins have been separated from them, told them to go to hell and generally caused no end of heartache and concern. When it was a few barrens brats, nobody cared, but now people with actual money and connections are starting to wander off, and families with money and connections have started to find each other.
The problem:
It's not really a new problem. The Universal Brotherhood caused similar concerns, and even before the great Awakening there were cults like the Moonies. Some relatively benign; others less so. What all these cult leaders forget is that these families can be real pains in the ass. And some of them can afford bigger pains in the ass, which is where the runners come in.
The proposition:
"We have here a list of people. We have identification, biometrics as of last known body condition, DNA for many of them, information on registered cybernetic enhancements and a lot of personal background. These are just our family members, numbering over a hundred. We don't know, in many cases, if they are still alive, or where they are. We want them out, we want them back, and we want their brains detoxified from whatever garbage was forced in there. Do you understand that? We want our families back. But just in case you don't feel our pain, we think that a hundred and fifty thousand nuyen per retrieved, competent person might help your empathic capabilities."
The facts:
You don't make an omelette without breaking some eggs, and you don't get to build a serious organisation of fanatics without breaking a few personal ties. However, the job of returning these people to some form of competence might feel a little like turning fish soup back into an aquarium. How does Guru Swami Rajakrishnan do it? It turns out that he has gone over, and brought his organisation over to a particularly insidious form of toxic magic.
In the language of the cult, there are the Potters, the Vessels, and the Bearers. Potters are a nasty form of magical tradition which looks rather like a toxic shaman of mankind, but in short their totem is that of Insanity. Not just any kind of random insanity either, but obsession and devotion and self-sacrifice and idealism. Perfect cult fuel, in other words. The Vessels are people who have been melded with such spirits (willingly or not) and who are now perfect labour, cannon fodder and muscle for the Potters. The problem for the Vessels is that they are not quite functional human beings any more, and need a certain degree of watching to make sure that they don't do things to extremes, or misinterpret, or whatever. This is where the Bearers come in. The Bearers are not magically active (if any are found to be talented, they get turned into Potters on the quiet, or disappeared more permanently), but they are cult members. They are taught to revered the devotion of the Vessels, and told that the Vessels are in a state of permanent spiritual detachment (only kinda true) and that they are training to become Potters (totally false).
Obviously, Vessels are dual-natured, and extremely obvious to the magically sensitive. For this reason, Vessels stay in cult grounds, and one of the duties of Bearers is actually to stand armed guard.
Beyond the mechanics of the cult, all the cult's locations are in contact with each other, and while they are separated by hundreds of miles, they will send strike teams at full speed to respond to any attacks on any location - response time of an hour or so, but when they arrive all hell will break loose all over again.
Potters can not be deprogrammed in any meaningful sense - if you allow it in your campaign, there may be some way of detoxifying their totemic attachment, but they will absolutely fight that ferociously every step of the way with all means at their disposal. A bullet to the cerebellum is so very much cheaper and faster.
Vessels could in principle be cleansed of the possession - although it should take an initiate to even think of doing so. And they will fight with all their dual-natured fury to prevent this. A bullet to the substantia nigra is vastly cheaper and wonderfully faster. The good news is that they are easier to restrain if you really want to take the time and trouble.
Bearers are the easiest to remove and deprogram. This doesn't mean that it's easy.
The biggest flaw in this system is that the Vessels are not very discriminating - people in cultish clothing will get unquestioningly accepted. Bearers might be similarly fooled. Potters and their attendant spirits are very hard to fool.
The cult avoids all electronics. On the plus side, it means that runners on an attack can use their tac nets and whatever else with near-impunity. On the minus side, there is no Matrix reception inside the buildings (they're shielded) and even out of doors, without satellite, not much is getting through. The cult's records are hand written, by Vessels, and hand checked, by Bearers. Searching their files is a pain in the butt for the technologically dependent.
On the other hand, the cult is very magically sophisticated, and will use everything from watcher spirits on to Greater Spirits of Insanity.
Some complications:
This looks like a very simple situation, but believe it or not there are a few possible wrinkles.
The cult is putting out drugs which are popular for parties, or are popular with wageslaves who need a pick-me-up, or something to take the pain out of a long day. And all of them make future Bearers and Vessels that much easier to recruit.
The cult is putting out music, or sponsoring matrix shows with particular scripts.
The cult only establishes a branch in an area after quietly subverting the local authorities, which means that they have inside information on the movement of people in the area, and an inside call on backup.
Aftermath ideas:
So you rescued the people. Great! You deprogrammed them. Awesome! ... are you sure that you really deprogrammed them? Are you sure that none of the worshippers of Insanity managed to slip out?
Oh, you're sure. Marvellous. Perfect.
It's time to collect. The CFC might be very grateful, or they might have trouble deciding to part with that much money. And it is a lot of money. And the insurance companies backing the run want to individually assess every single cultist to figure out how not to pay.
Remember this run?
QUOTE (Koekepan @ Aug 8 2012, 05:25 AM)
You know what they say: when seconds count, Lone Star is only minutes away. Unless you're at the end of a dirt road up a canyon in the badlands, in which case nobody's coming.
The one with the Vultures out of Denver, and the survivalist cult? The cult is still active, and they've decided that they need to find the bigger time, get more followers, and arrive at a higher plane of spiritual existence and remunerative function. Some people are starting to take notice, and do not like what they are seeing.
The parties:
Guru Swami Rajakrishnan has reached deep within himself for answers and found them. He laid out his vision before his inner circle, and they, too, found it to be full of wisdom. Within their syncretic approach to various (but notably indian) polytheistic religions, Harold Gutenmeyer figured out that there was a great metaphor for him ruling over a whole series of franchise cults.
The tender shoots of his wisdom have not entered cities, and have no intention of doing so. They're all too aware of the fate of the Universal Brotherhood, so they prefer quiet isolated vales and land where there aren't too many naysayers or watchful eyes.
The Concerned Families Collective (CFC) is pretty much what it sounds like. Their kids, parents, spouses and cousins have been separated from them, told them to go to hell and generally caused no end of heartache and concern. When it was a few barrens brats, nobody cared, but now people with actual money and connections are starting to wander off, and families with money and connections have started to find each other.
The problem:
It's not really a new problem. The Universal Brotherhood caused similar concerns, and even before the great Awakening there were cults like the Moonies. Some relatively benign; others less so. What all these cult leaders forget is that these families can be real pains in the ass. And some of them can afford bigger pains in the ass, which is where the runners come in.
The proposition:
"We have here a list of people. We have identification, biometrics as of last known body condition, DNA for many of them, information on registered cybernetic enhancements and a lot of personal background. These are just our family members, numbering over a hundred. We don't know, in many cases, if they are still alive, or where they are. We want them out, we want them back, and we want their brains detoxified from whatever garbage was forced in there. Do you understand that? We want our families back. But just in case you don't feel our pain, we think that a hundred and fifty thousand nuyen per retrieved, competent person might help your empathic capabilities."
The facts:
You don't make an omelette without breaking some eggs, and you don't get to build a serious organisation of fanatics without breaking a few personal ties. However, the job of returning these people to some form of competence might feel a little like turning fish soup back into an aquarium. How does Guru Swami Rajakrishnan do it? It turns out that he has gone over, and brought his organisation over to a particularly insidious form of toxic magic.
In the language of the cult, there are the Potters, the Vessels, and the Bearers. Potters are a nasty form of magical tradition which looks rather like a toxic shaman of mankind, but in short their totem is that of Insanity. Not just any kind of random insanity either, but obsession and devotion and self-sacrifice and idealism. Perfect cult fuel, in other words. The Vessels are people who have been melded with such spirits (willingly or not) and who are now perfect labour, cannon fodder and muscle for the Potters. The problem for the Vessels is that they are not quite functional human beings any more, and need a certain degree of watching to make sure that they don't do things to extremes, or misinterpret, or whatever. This is where the Bearers come in. The Bearers are not magically active (if any are found to be talented, they get turned into Potters on the quiet, or disappeared more permanently), but they are cult members. They are taught to revered the devotion of the Vessels, and told that the Vessels are in a state of permanent spiritual detachment (only kinda true) and that they are training to become Potters (totally false).
Obviously, Vessels are dual-natured, and extremely obvious to the magically sensitive. For this reason, Vessels stay in cult grounds, and one of the duties of Bearers is actually to stand armed guard.
Beyond the mechanics of the cult, all the cult's locations are in contact with each other, and while they are separated by hundreds of miles, they will send strike teams at full speed to respond to any attacks on any location - response time of an hour or so, but when they arrive all hell will break loose all over again.
Potters can not be deprogrammed in any meaningful sense - if you allow it in your campaign, there may be some way of detoxifying their totemic attachment, but they will absolutely fight that ferociously every step of the way with all means at their disposal. A bullet to the cerebellum is so very much cheaper and faster.
Vessels could in principle be cleansed of the possession - although it should take an initiate to even think of doing so. And they will fight with all their dual-natured fury to prevent this. A bullet to the substantia nigra is vastly cheaper and wonderfully faster. The good news is that they are easier to restrain if you really want to take the time and trouble.
Bearers are the easiest to remove and deprogram. This doesn't mean that it's easy.
The biggest flaw in this system is that the Vessels are not very discriminating - people in cultish clothing will get unquestioningly accepted. Bearers might be similarly fooled. Potters and their attendant spirits are very hard to fool.
The cult avoids all electronics. On the plus side, it means that runners on an attack can use their tac nets and whatever else with near-impunity. On the minus side, there is no Matrix reception inside the buildings (they're shielded) and even out of doors, without satellite, not much is getting through. The cult's records are hand written, by Vessels, and hand checked, by Bearers. Searching their files is a pain in the butt for the technologically dependent.
On the other hand, the cult is very magically sophisticated, and will use everything from watcher spirits on to Greater Spirits of Insanity.
Some complications:
This looks like a very simple situation, but believe it or not there are a few possible wrinkles.
The cult is putting out drugs which are popular for parties, or are popular with wageslaves who need a pick-me-up, or something to take the pain out of a long day. And all of them make future Bearers and Vessels that much easier to recruit.
The cult is putting out music, or sponsoring matrix shows with particular scripts.
The cult only establishes a branch in an area after quietly subverting the local authorities, which means that they have inside information on the movement of people in the area, and an inside call on backup.
Aftermath ideas:
So you rescued the people. Great! You deprogrammed them. Awesome! ... are you sure that you really deprogrammed them? Are you sure that none of the worshippers of Insanity managed to slip out?
Oh, you're sure. Marvellous. Perfect.
It's time to collect. The CFC might be very grateful, or they might have trouble deciding to part with that much money. And it is a lot of money. And the insurance companies backing the run want to individually assess every single cultist to figure out how not to pay.
One to the fallout fans
Background: Mining, drugs, and cows. It's gold rush in the sixth world of California.
The Parties: Mr. Madrezo is the drug baron of New Redding, he keeps the meth labs in New Redding running which means a robust drug trade. This is something they need though since the quotas for mining are very demanding. He is willing to be a third party in the whole affair but the law is just looking for an excuse to get rid of him and replace with another patsy in the drug empire. Maybe a high school terminally ill school teacher?
Dan LaBarge is a Dwarf NAN owner of a local mine in the town, a staunch supporter for the miners, he had been looking to secure a sweet deal with the mayor of the town by securing a monopoly of the mines which means no corp would dare muscle on his turf unless they want to start a war that no one is going to win or have a mine that is in working order. He is looking to take control of the situation through less legal means.
Hanz Ainhoff is an elven Saeder Krupp doc who has patched up everything from ware to addictions in the town and is working on behalf of SK mining interests in the area. He is fed up with the addictions ruining the efficiency of the mines and would prefer if it was under more capable hands. He is willing to sell German Ware to anyone who would put an end to the addiction problem and bring the mines under SK control.
Ben Horner is a Troll rancher with an affinity for cows and nature, owning a bunch of ranches in new redding, he thinks all of this mining crap is bullshit and decides it would be much better if the economy was livestock instead. With the price of fresh food going up, he is going to make a killing and he is willing to let the mines collapse for all he cares.
The Problem: So recently there are outlaws causing trouble, yeah there is always outlaws. But they just got holed up at the most valuable vein of orihalcum that people is dying to get their hands on. No one is willing to move in and what would you know, another bunch of outlaws in town.
The preposition: The various parties have been tasking you fucking over the other parties. Let's see their sales pitch
LaBarge wants you to go in, get the miners out and disarm the bombs and take out the sons of bitches holed up in his mine. He also wants you to make sure there isn't any evidence implicating him with criminal elements either. So you may have to do some heavy lifting. He is willing to part with several bars of gold for a job well done plus whatever drugs you secured for him.
Hanz is looking to implicate everyone by finding out that LaBarge is drugging up his miners and take the deed as proof while getting rid of the outlaws in an "accident". since he is SK, he can pay you directly in SK Scrip which means easy liquid assets when you come to Germany, plus cyberware as an additional award.
Horner wants the mines blown up and end the raping of Gaia's magical veins. As an incentive, he is offering runners an entire herd's worth of cow meat and leather on top of "wrangling" fees. Simple but deadly.
The facts: Nothing complicated really, a classic case of deciding what's best for a small mining town.
Ok, fine it isn't so simple, the outlaws involved is a bunch of thugs "released" by Lone Star to make all sides pay up for protection. The outlaws are nocturnal fighters and what would you know, mining tunnels barely have any light and tall ass trolls are just asking to get geeked in the tunnels from a barrage of shotgun slugs. They know how to fight in close quarters and the number of weapons you can use without causing the mine to eurupt into flames is very limited. The mines also have poor reception so rigger drones will not go far without becoming useless hunks of metal.
And there are explosives everywhere...great.
Complication
Paracritters in the tunnels who have sampled Madrezo's animal friendly meth.
A smuggling tunnel that may have stash of weapons, armor and other questionable goods that you don't know belongs to whom...
Madrezo may have a drug lab down here, lots of fumes, chems and nasty corrosive chems that eat through armor jackets and very flammable.
Lone star deciding enough is enough and gets in personally, and they don't care who they shoot.
Aftermath
Ore runs out, what is New Redding gonna do?
Pissing off/Working for SK? Well nice knowing you.
Lone Star has noticed you and has put up some nice wanted posters with some trumped up charges.
Background: Mining, drugs, and cows. It's gold rush in the sixth world of California.
The Parties: Mr. Madrezo is the drug baron of New Redding, he keeps the meth labs in New Redding running which means a robust drug trade. This is something they need though since the quotas for mining are very demanding. He is willing to be a third party in the whole affair but the law is just looking for an excuse to get rid of him and replace with another patsy in the drug empire. Maybe a high school terminally ill school teacher?
Dan LaBarge is a Dwarf NAN owner of a local mine in the town, a staunch supporter for the miners, he had been looking to secure a sweet deal with the mayor of the town by securing a monopoly of the mines which means no corp would dare muscle on his turf unless they want to start a war that no one is going to win or have a mine that is in working order. He is looking to take control of the situation through less legal means.
Hanz Ainhoff is an elven Saeder Krupp doc who has patched up everything from ware to addictions in the town and is working on behalf of SK mining interests in the area. He is fed up with the addictions ruining the efficiency of the mines and would prefer if it was under more capable hands. He is willing to sell German Ware to anyone who would put an end to the addiction problem and bring the mines under SK control.
Ben Horner is a Troll rancher with an affinity for cows and nature, owning a bunch of ranches in new redding, he thinks all of this mining crap is bullshit and decides it would be much better if the economy was livestock instead. With the price of fresh food going up, he is going to make a killing and he is willing to let the mines collapse for all he cares.
The Problem: So recently there are outlaws causing trouble, yeah there is always outlaws. But they just got holed up at the most valuable vein of orihalcum that people is dying to get their hands on. No one is willing to move in and what would you know, another bunch of outlaws in town.
The preposition: The various parties have been tasking you fucking over the other parties. Let's see their sales pitch
LaBarge wants you to go in, get the miners out and disarm the bombs and take out the sons of bitches holed up in his mine. He also wants you to make sure there isn't any evidence implicating him with criminal elements either. So you may have to do some heavy lifting. He is willing to part with several bars of gold for a job well done plus whatever drugs you secured for him.
Hanz is looking to implicate everyone by finding out that LaBarge is drugging up his miners and take the deed as proof while getting rid of the outlaws in an "accident". since he is SK, he can pay you directly in SK Scrip which means easy liquid assets when you come to Germany, plus cyberware as an additional award.
Horner wants the mines blown up and end the raping of Gaia's magical veins. As an incentive, he is offering runners an entire herd's worth of cow meat and leather on top of "wrangling" fees. Simple but deadly.
The facts: Nothing complicated really, a classic case of deciding what's best for a small mining town.
Ok, fine it isn't so simple, the outlaws involved is a bunch of thugs "released" by Lone Star to make all sides pay up for protection. The outlaws are nocturnal fighters and what would you know, mining tunnels barely have any light and tall ass trolls are just asking to get geeked in the tunnels from a barrage of shotgun slugs. They know how to fight in close quarters and the number of weapons you can use without causing the mine to eurupt into flames is very limited. The mines also have poor reception so rigger drones will not go far without becoming useless hunks of metal.
And there are explosives everywhere...great.
Complication
Paracritters in the tunnels who have sampled Madrezo's animal friendly meth.
A smuggling tunnel that may have stash of weapons, armor and other questionable goods that you don't know belongs to whom...
Madrezo may have a drug lab down here, lots of fumes, chems and nasty corrosive chems that eat through armor jackets and very flammable.
Lone star deciding enough is enough and gets in personally, and they don't care who they shoot.
Aftermath
Ore runs out, what is New Redding gonna do?
Pissing off/Working for SK? Well nice knowing you.
Lone Star has noticed you and has put up some nice wanted posters with some trumped up charges.
The runners are not in good shape. Their last few hours in Boston involved more time in Boston harbor than is healthy (even wearing dry suits); dealing with the thing that resulted when CFD led an EVO scientist to attempt to make the most perfect human evolution, and then a band of mad technomancers with a security helicopter. And the usual homicidal headcases, of course. That was before a dragon air lifted them out at altitudes that humans only really cope with when wrapped in extreme cold weather gear and while using proper breathers--hey had some scavenged Boston winter wear and their diving breathers, which ran out of air far too quickly as the valve is meant to vent when the pressure inside is higher than the pressure outside, which is all the time at altitude. Plus the whole being dangled from talons for far too long.
Finally they are dumped into a field, the dragon makes sure that they are actually still alive, then assures them that it is pretty sure that it has avoided detection, but just to be safe they should avoid using any of their electronics, and should probably make themselves non-obvious for a bit. They’ll still be trying to stand when it takes off again (the dragon is heavily wrapped in cloaking spells the entire time). On one hand they are wounded, exhausted, short on weapons and low on ammo. On the other, they are finally out of the urban hell of locked down Boston, in the tranquil country side, and able to finally breath a sigh of relief.
Cue a redneck run.
What I’m trying to decide is which one to use as my base. I’m thinking the simple ‘two feuding clans’ could get moved to the Adirondacks or the former coal country of Pennsylvania or something in that area. But I’m not wedded to that one yet.
But I really want to make this one make them all wish they were back in Boston, whatever run I use.
I'm posting, looking for anyone who has ideas on how to up the fear and loathing factor on the feuding clans, or thoughts on other runs that would suit this well. I just want to avoid “People possessed” and stick with how messed up (meta) humans can make things all on their own.
Finally they are dumped into a field, the dragon makes sure that they are actually still alive, then assures them that it is pretty sure that it has avoided detection, but just to be safe they should avoid using any of their electronics, and should probably make themselves non-obvious for a bit. They’ll still be trying to stand when it takes off again (the dragon is heavily wrapped in cloaking spells the entire time). On one hand they are wounded, exhausted, short on weapons and low on ammo. On the other, they are finally out of the urban hell of locked down Boston, in the tranquil country side, and able to finally breath a sigh of relief.
Cue a redneck run.
What I’m trying to decide is which one to use as my base. I’m thinking the simple ‘two feuding clans’ could get moved to the Adirondacks or the former coal country of Pennsylvania or something in that area. But I’m not wedded to that one yet.
But I really want to make this one make them all wish they were back in Boston, whatever run I use.
I'm posting, looking for anyone who has ideas on how to up the fear and loathing factor on the feuding clans, or thoughts on other runs that would suit this well. I just want to avoid “People possessed” and stick with how messed up (meta) humans can make things all on their own.
QUOTE (Betx @ Sep 30 2015, 12:31 AM)
Cue a redneck run.
What Im trying to decide is which one to use as my base. Im thinking the simple two feuding clans could get moved to the Adirondacks or the former coal country of Pennsylvania or something in that area. But Im not wedded to that one yet.
But I really want to make this one make them all wish they were back in Boston, whatever run I use.
I'm posting, looking for anyone who has ideas on how to up the fear and loathing factor on the feuding clans, or thoughts on other runs that would suit this well. I just want to avoid People possessed and stick with how messed up (meta) humans can make things all on their own.
What Im trying to decide is which one to use as my base. Im thinking the simple two feuding clans could get moved to the Adirondacks or the former coal country of Pennsylvania or something in that area. But Im not wedded to that one yet.
But I really want to make this one make them all wish they were back in Boston, whatever run I use.
I'm posting, looking for anyone who has ideas on how to up the fear and loathing factor on the feuding clans, or thoughts on other runs that would suit this well. I just want to avoid People possessed and stick with how messed up (meta) humans can make things all on their own.
Sorry I've been quiet for so long. Real Life has been fairly busy.
I only had about three hours of sleep last night, so the following may not be entirely coherent, but here's a thought for you:
They are first met by Petra Vincent, a kind-looking lady who evinces plain concern, and promises to heal them up, all on the quiet, no questions asked. She admits to being an empty-nester, missing her kids and so on. All very lovely, entirely heartfelt stuff. She has a nice farmhouse where she tends their wounds, offers them the use of her workshop to repair their things, oh and by the way, while they're here, suggest to them, if they were in a giving mood, that they could repay her kindness (and lots of home-cooked meals) by sticking around (very quietly, of course) long enough to do some welding and so on to fix some of her farming machinery. It would be really great. Thanks a bunch, guys, you're swell!
The real deal: her kids left her not because they wanted the bright lights, but because she's a crazy, controlling, manipulative harpy who doesn't wield guilt like a cudgel, but like a freshly-honed microtome.
She has also successfully antagonised the entire local community, because of ancient disputes about mineral and water rights. She absolutely never ever will back down from any position, however irrational, where she feels she's in the right. This doesn't mean that she can't be forced to accept the occasional tactical reverse, but that she will keep trying and trying and trying, and throwing things in people's faces. Like Mark Thomas.
Mark Thomas was an old squeeze of Petra's, when she was young and curvaceous and desirable. He discovered that she wasn't just hot - but also subtly crazy, and he dumped her. This was about forty years ago now, and she has neither forgiven nor forgotten. She first tried to get him back, but when he discovered the charms of young ladies who were sane as well as attractive, that didn't work. Then she showed up uninvited at his wedding, and tried to interfere on the grounds that she was pregnant (not true). Then she tried her damnedest to marry the richest local man she could, to outdo him. This plan took a few years to bring to fruition, but she managed to sway a well-off young man who didn't listen to good advice. In subsequent years she tried to out-farm Mark Thomas, out-breed his wife, take him on in every possible legal sense and ultimately bankrupt him.
All her plans failed, but Mark Thomas is now a sworn enemy. The characters should realise eventually that Petra is crazy, and be offered a chance to escape to the help of Mark Thomas ....
only to discover that Mark Thomas is every bit as crazy, with a different flavour. He's a local tycoon in his way, since constant competition from Petra has made him much stronger and smarter than he would otherwise have needed to be. He's now an iron-fisted patriarch who, by dint of being more charismatic than Petra, and more judicious, actually has the solid support of his large, extended family. His problem, although he'd never reveal this, is that he is really concerned about being bought out, manipulated out or otherwise pushed out by large corps, and he secretly suspects the characters of being some kind of vanguard of this plan. He got them out of Petra's hands because he knows that she would cheerfully throw him to corporate wolves if she ever got the chance - but he's hoping that he can take the characters out of the picture first. He just first wants to (subtlely) milk them for all the information on Petra and their (supposed) employers that he can before he does away with them.
Fortunately, they will get rescued! Debra Whittington is a sympathetic ear who can get them out before Mark Thomas actually kills them, and ... she's crazy. She's an infiltration activist for All Sentients Liberation Front, and she and her cel of freedom fighters are actively plotting an armed (localised) insurrection with the intention of liberating all the oppressed nonhuman creatures (cattle, chickens, turkeys and so on) from their wicked exploiters. However, she and her (armed and cybered and dangerous) fellows, are extremely volatile, and will alternate between hugging the characters and shoving gun barrels up their nostrils at the slightest provocation.
As luck would have it, they can get away just in time (i.e. before Debra has them shot for crimes against critters) by the merciful agents of the local sheriff, who for once is totally, utterly sane. And cold-heartedly calculates the value of voters (like Petra and Mark) against troublemakers like Debra ... and the characters. He will put them in the slammer and then extort everything he can from them under threat of simply handing them off to the authorities. After all, he knows shadowrunners when he sees them. Of course ... the could do him a favour ...
With every change of hands they should have less stuff, more problems, more enemies, and more mistrust of their fellow metahumans.
Hope this helps!
If you want to keep them from just wandering off, the general atmosphere of paranoia can be upped by having distant sniper shots ricocheting off trees, and a general sense of hostility and fear. So they steal a tractor? Yeah, a heavy calibre rifle bullet will wreck the engine. They're not getting out easy or cheap, and if they're stranded by the roadside under sniper fire, the next rescue will be really easy to pull off.
God to see you about again Koekepan
Always enjoy listening to your pieces.
Always enjoy listening to your pieces.
QUOTE (Sendaz @ Sep 30 2015, 09:19 AM)
God to see you about again Koekepan
Always enjoy listening to your pieces.
Always enjoy listening to your pieces.
Listening?
Has someone been cyberstalking me all the way to my bandcamp?
Thanks for the response Koekepan – sorry to be slow acknowledging it, I just hate typing on my phone and haven’t had much quiet time at a proper keyboard the last several days.
Other RL plans fell through, leading to our next SR session being sooner than expected. I was half prepared, half winging it, which ended up being a mistake, although no great harm done.
I went with a bit of a variant on what you sketched out, hybridizing it with the original feud scenario. The runners were dumped off in a water meadow, interrupting the post-dawn chores rendezvous of Sue-Ellen Smith and Luke Brown (I always forget more complicated family names, so kept those simple). After the runners improvised a story that was perhaps unlikely but at least hard to verify, they ended up going with Sue-Ellen, since she and her Mama were alone in a big old farm house and had lots of space, and Mama would be so happy to have visitors (i.e. would be distracted enough to not ride Sue-Ellen so hard -- not that the stunning country beauty didn’t have her own interest in these outsiders).
There was early hospitality, and chance to take a nap, food (not particularly good food, but food), and a promise that if they could help with some chores the next day, the day after Mama would drive them into town. The next day the shaman was able to spy on Sue-Ellen and Luke meeting up, and saw blatantly the young woman was manipulating the lust-struck young man. And like good guests they helped out as best they could, still assuming that the ride would be forthcoming the next day.
They wake up just after dawn to a rifle shot, and find Mama triumphant to have shot one of the Brown’s goats that kept invading her small orchard. (Runners didn’t know she’d caught it earlier that season and had been raising it, hoping to find a way to get a male to breed it and start her own herd). Mama took off in the truck to crow to the Brown’s that she’d finally had proof their goats were what was attacking her trees, and that she’d shot one (actually a ruse to help waste the day away, to avoid taking the runners into town).
On her way back one of the Brown boys accidentally-on-purpose shot out her tire, and Mama went into the ditch. And here is where in partially winging it I made a mistake. Without thinking it through I said “Once you get Mama back home she uses the phone—yes, like in the old 2-D trids! – to call into town to get Mike Murray to bring her a new tire.”
I had planned a whole dispute over cost of said tire, more delays ruling out the drive into town that day, next day Sue-Ellen and Luke causing issues, and on it could go. But players, being players and having begun to catch on, told Mike Murray “500 nuyen for the tire and trip out here? Done. How about another 2000 for a ride into town—a couple of us are willing to cling to equipment in the back of the truck, believe me, we’ll take our chances.” (they had a spirit use ‘Guard’ to make sure no mishaps happened to those on the back). If I'd had time to plan in more detail I would hopefully have realized this out, and planned things differently.
And so they avoided much of the family, feud, and fear that I had planned. And I had to completely wing the return to Seattle, but that was OK because after Boston and this little interlude everyone was just happy to be with their stuff and go do normal activities with people they knew and more or less trusted. (“Stretch is still living at my apartment, right? And he’s made sure my bike is OK? All right, we get on our bikes, ride out to The Cinders, and race until the light fails. Then I pick up a couple of cases of beer and tell him the story back at my place.”)
Other RL plans fell through, leading to our next SR session being sooner than expected. I was half prepared, half winging it, which ended up being a mistake, although no great harm done.
I went with a bit of a variant on what you sketched out, hybridizing it with the original feud scenario. The runners were dumped off in a water meadow, interrupting the post-dawn chores rendezvous of Sue-Ellen Smith and Luke Brown (I always forget more complicated family names, so kept those simple). After the runners improvised a story that was perhaps unlikely but at least hard to verify, they ended up going with Sue-Ellen, since she and her Mama were alone in a big old farm house and had lots of space, and Mama would be so happy to have visitors (i.e. would be distracted enough to not ride Sue-Ellen so hard -- not that the stunning country beauty didn’t have her own interest in these outsiders).
There was early hospitality, and chance to take a nap, food (not particularly good food, but food), and a promise that if they could help with some chores the next day, the day after Mama would drive them into town. The next day the shaman was able to spy on Sue-Ellen and Luke meeting up, and saw blatantly the young woman was manipulating the lust-struck young man. And like good guests they helped out as best they could, still assuming that the ride would be forthcoming the next day.
They wake up just after dawn to a rifle shot, and find Mama triumphant to have shot one of the Brown’s goats that kept invading her small orchard. (Runners didn’t know she’d caught it earlier that season and had been raising it, hoping to find a way to get a male to breed it and start her own herd). Mama took off in the truck to crow to the Brown’s that she’d finally had proof their goats were what was attacking her trees, and that she’d shot one (actually a ruse to help waste the day away, to avoid taking the runners into town).
On her way back one of the Brown boys accidentally-on-purpose shot out her tire, and Mama went into the ditch. And here is where in partially winging it I made a mistake. Without thinking it through I said “Once you get Mama back home she uses the phone—yes, like in the old 2-D trids! – to call into town to get Mike Murray to bring her a new tire.”
I had planned a whole dispute over cost of said tire, more delays ruling out the drive into town that day, next day Sue-Ellen and Luke causing issues, and on it could go. But players, being players and having begun to catch on, told Mike Murray “500 nuyen for the tire and trip out here? Done. How about another 2000 for a ride into town—a couple of us are willing to cling to equipment in the back of the truck, believe me, we’ll take our chances.” (they had a spirit use ‘Guard’ to make sure no mishaps happened to those on the back). If I'd had time to plan in more detail I would hopefully have realized this out, and planned things differently.
And so they avoided much of the family, feud, and fear that I had planned. And I had to completely wing the return to Seattle, but that was OK because after Boston and this little interlude everyone was just happy to be with their stuff and go do normal activities with people they knew and more or less trusted. (“Stretch is still living at my apartment, right? And he’s made sure my bike is OK? All right, we get on our bikes, ride out to The Cinders, and race until the light fails. Then I pick up a couple of cases of beer and tell him the story back at my place.”)
QUOTE (Koekepan @ Oct 1 2015, 01:11 AM)
Listening?
Has someone been cyberstalking me all the way to my bandcamp?
Has someone been cyberstalking me all the way to my bandcamp?
Maybe
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