So I'm writing a one-shot in which the players are military contractors in Sarejevo, there to find and extract a person.

What I've got:

The grand mufti of jerusalem has the people who kidnapped their target under his protection. If they're willing to help him out with a political crisis of his, he'll happily let them have their target. He's telling the truth, but the requirement is a bit sticky: They have to extract a group of pilgrims kidnapped by belligerent slav-pagan separatists living up on mount Igman.

I'm pretty happy with the build-up, and the layout of the job, but I feel like somethings missing. I'd like their trip out to be interrupted by other parties, preferably ending in a chase shoot-out between centaur allies of the slavs they jacked earlier, and possibly involving UN forces. I'm just not sure how exactly to tie it together, and to make it exciting enough (not saying it's not an exciting day for the characters, but the players need to be on the hook too).

Any feedback or extra ideas welcome as well!

in my experience of running many one shots "less is more"

the more you try and crowbar mad plot devices and overacrching story etc. when the players haven't had the build up and don't understand the politics and scheming involved ... it becomes a mess for you to contain.

and trying to fit all that into a session, you may find yourself rushing to get to the next story arc and risk missing some of the drama and fun.

I know what you mean, but trying to do it all in a short time just causes pain and disappointment.

secondly, if your players are anything like mine .... you won't get past the Grand Mufti ... he'll be a fine pink mist and there'll be a shootout in the palace as they try to escape and all your grand plans will be forgotten then you have a job to ad lib on the fly...

Contingencies have been made They are free to try to attack the Muftis charges and get their mark out by hand, and that'd be okay by me as well, but they should be able to tell that reasoning with him is easier.

I don't think my players would be so rash, but I'll hint that there are spirits bound to him that could strip the flesh from their bones before they could get around to toasting him.

cool, as long as it doesn't feel like a railroad etc.

Hell, drop the hint and if they go for it anyways .. let 'em have fun doing it.

okay so lemme get this straight

they have the job to get the hostage, the hostage taker offers a job in trade for the hostage
and then the fecal matters hits the rotational projecting device while they are trying to do the second job

quite simply, the Grand Mufti has set them up, he has no intention of handing over his buddies and has also sent a message to the UN alerting them to the presence of some terrifying Terrorists (Your Runners) who are plannign to start killing civilians in the mountains for some nonsense reason

your guys have to then choose ..
shoot at UN peacekeepers ?

go to ground & try and complete the job (while bombers fly over head scanning and dropping tunnel buster missiles)

or go back to town and try the old fashioned way

multiple factions all can be talked to to try and counter offer something

the UN want the Grand wotsit caught in the act, and will give intel to aid their insertion
the locals want the grand mufti removed from power and will arrange a militia to aid them
or just do as they are told and possibly get screwed over

the possibilities are fairly open here for you and them

I guess I could sacrifice the Mufti since it's a one-shot, but till now I've pictured him (going by Feral Cities) to be a just and honourable man. Because of cultural notions of face and security obligations, he cannot give his men who pulled off the kidnapping up just like that - Therefore, he'll have the runners release these hostages so he has something to offer his charges (pagans release hostages and, likely, get blown to bits).

I have arranged for the Gray Wolves to be a faction (although a bad one, trying to fuck the characters over every step of the way unless they deal hard), as well as a christian militia who will help get the target from the muftis men to discredit the muslim rule, and of course - taking the mufti up on his plan, and get the hostage out, but being attacked en route to their extraction jet by [insert slav-allied centaurs, UN goons, or maybe the wolves/militia].

You've given me something to consider, thanks!

Edit: I should clarify, it is "one-shot" in the sense that we're not continuing with the game and characters, but there has been three gaming sessions or there about dedicated to it.

I like when a GM is willing to do that, one great story with a satisfying end can be as memorable if not more then the indefinite ongoing setting.

Oh nice. If you have that time then this will be awesome

If you want to retain the grand multi then you could use his head of staff as the bad guy. Trying to further his political. Agenda.

It was on his orders that the hostage was taken. Hence the mufti is keen to clean his hands of the situation

Could be a good idea. Word has it some New Islamic Jihad assholes are in town too, perhaps I can tie that into it!

Why would you want to attract Aden?

Well, they want to turn Sarajevos muslims to the right, killing some infidels while they're at it. A stupid idea with the corporate court sitting on the city, but then extremists never were too good with risk calculation!

E: Where in Scandinavia are you, Lionhearted?

A boat trip away

Right. Just curious.. I've long been meaning to make an updated Scand Union document, but it's pretty hard to tie the Denmark I know with what the hell is going on in Shadows of Europe

Check the link in my sig, it's kinda great.
Also my home city is a toxic wasteland in the 6th world so not sure how helpful I could be
From the bright side... You got Skåne

I think I will go with the "Mufti is on the up and up, his Grand Vizier is an asshole" angle. This could draw in any number of complications, depending how much resistance they look like they can handle.

THanks everyone!

And all your runners need now is a Small Monkey, a flying carpet and a truck full of lamps ... and you got ... well I'll just leave that right there

If this is a one shot, go for the grand set-piece. Chances are your players aren't here to pornomance anyone or build any contacts or anything. They're here for action.

Crack open your local copy of Mil Spec Tech or whatever, find the biggest, baddest, meanest attack VTOL/T-Bird you can, and give it to them. Perhaps it's a loaner from the secondary Johnson, or at the very least one of their guys gets to call the targets. Give the bad guys a tank that they won't get past shooting it out with on foot in a chokepoint they can't sneak past or bypass, give them AA that the attack bird can't get past on air, and they should be able to figure it out from there. If it's a one-shot and you're making the characters, don't give them any magicians, give them at most a physical adept, so they can't get creative with spirit summoning and spells.

Plan for your players to get creative anyway. If they manage to secure the tank, then the bad guys should have major mojo backup show up in the form of a great form spirit when they're on the way out. But hey, now they have a tank and air support! I think they should be able to see where that's going, too. You should end with a high-speed chase over open terrain between centaurs having Movement sustained on them and your camo-collar 'Runners in fast attack vehicles, making a beeline for safety behind friendly lines.

Nice!
Evil Vizier are always fun nice.

You can always have him use a splinter group that has decided that the grand multi is not conservative enough as pawns.

Maybe the Vizier is planning to use the runners and the radicals to eliminate each other after they have taken care of his problem.

And maybe he is not as smart as he thinks he is and the radicals have their own surprise to eliminate both him and the Grand Multi (that the players can stop as part of the conclusion).


For a one shot you got to have a couple of good fire fights (and radicals make perfect targets), but you can keep the runner's blood pressure up by having them be set up and having to avoid real military forces.

All good points. I'll let you know how it goes!