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Grinder
Get the PDF here.

QUOTE
Deadly Cold Wind

It’s been nearly twenty years since disaster struck the city of Chicago, transforming it into an urban hellscape, and some people now believe it’s suffered enough. The Governor of Illinois has initiated and ambitious plan called Project: Takeback to reclaim the feral urban jungle. What’s more, he’s put money into the effort, and that’s the language every corporation on Earth understands. Suddenly, the race is on as the megacorps scramble to claim pieces of the Windy City. They’ll be butting up against the dangers of the Containment Zone and each other, so they’re going to need all sorts of deniable assets. The shadows of Chicago are coming back to life.

In Chasin’ the Wind, what starts as a simple run into the Containment Zone gets more complicated by the minute, and before the night is over shadowrunners might encounter rogue assassins, a feral runaway, and a mysterious massacre in the heart of one of the worst urban areas in the world. But if they survive, there’s more than just pay waiting for them at the end. There’s pizza—Chicago-style.

Chasin’ the Wind is the first adventure for Season 5 of Shadowrun Missions, Catalyst Game Labs’ living campaign for Shadowrun. It is designed for use with Shadowrun, Fifth Edition.
Slithery D
[Crossposted to the main Missions thread.]

Okay, I've thought over this mission for a couple of days, and I'm prepared to offer my opinion: hot garbage.

It gives me no pleasure to say this, and let me caveat by saying this is my first Missions purchase: maybe this underbaked development and cartoonishly nonsensical background is common for Missions vs. regular adventures.

A spoiler free summary: the runners are sent into the Chicago containment zone (no longer contained) to do a pretty simply run. While there, you receive calls for another run from a second Johnson. Later yet, you receive a call for a third run; unknown to you, it is related to the second run. Hijinks may (or may not) ensue.

There's a lot to complain about here. Let's take the first run, installing a Macguffin in two locations. The first has a minimal guard force. Are they hostile? I guess so, since they're described as guards. But who do they work for? What is their agenda? Why are they guarding the location? Can I negotiate access, or do I have to disable them? (Evading isn't practical.) These all strike me as good questions, but you won't see them addressed in this product. Literally all you are told is that there are guards there and here are their stats. WTF?! Did I just buy into a gang war if I kill these guys? Interfere in a corporate project? And why is one of them (out of three!) a quite competent mage? Surely there's a story here that might result in consequences.

And I'm sure there will be when your GM notes the deficiency here and writes his own backstory. So why did he buy this, then?

The second Macguffin installation location is more straightforward. And boring. Unless you pick the Pushing the Envelope option, you just have to find it and overcome some (minor) skill/extended test requirements. But if you choose to Push the Envelope:

[ Spoiler ]


So far it's bad, but it's just underdeveloped. But with the second run things just become stupid, with no plausible reason for these events to occur or your target location to exist.

[ Spoiler ]


Absolutely atrocious.
Tymeaus Jalynsfein
So... Just curious... Is this little girl the one out of Dunklezahn's Will? One of the players at our table just has to know...

EDIT: I ask, becuase there is a reward for information on the 6 year old girl lost in the CZ. It is important that she survive, apparently.
Slithery D
Not unless there was a Samantha Carroll in the will.

Incidentally, the reason the Aztech Johnson hires you for a Lone Star cop is he's trying to build up favors and alliances. Did I mention that this cop is a black sheep who is very unpopular with both the local Lone Star management and the media? It's just natural that Aztechnology would reach out to their friendly neighborhood Texas AA corp through this guy.
Slithery D
Aha! I found a reference to why the guards are at MacGuffin site #1: it's in the description of the mage guard, of course, rather than in the actual scene description. "A male dwarf combat mage, here to protect the interests of the smuggler groups who call [location] home."
Slithery D
Something that is smart about this adventure, every adversary is explicitly described as having wireless turned off on their gear...
Bigity
QUOTE (Slithery D @ Oct 9 2013, 09:16 PM) *
Something that is smart about this adventure, every adversary is explicitly described as having wireless turned off on their gear...



Muahahahaha. That is hilarious.
Tymeaus Jalynsfein
QUOTE (Bigity @ Oct 10 2013, 07:33 AM) *
Muahahahaha. That is hilarious.


And the lunacy continues. Even the Writers know that the Wireless Boom (and the hacking thereof) is nothing but Crap. smile.gif
mister__joshua
QUOTE (Slithery D @ Oct 10 2013, 03:16 AM) *
Something that is smart about this adventure, every adversary is explicitly described as having wireless turned off on their gear...



That does seem weird. I mean, even after the long discussions on this board, you'd expect anything from an official product would back their design decisions and run wireless on, or what's the point? indifferent.gif
Tymeaus Jalynsfein
QUOTE (mister__joshua @ Oct 11 2013, 01:43 AM) *
That does seem weird. I mean, even after the long discussions on this board, you'd expect anything from an official product would back their design decisions and run wireless on, or what's the point? indifferent.gif


The point is that even the writers know that what was pushed out in the Main book is crap. cool.gif
TeOdio
I left their wireless ON when I ran it, and the decker (1st time Shadowrun Player at that) had a blast. When I ran it was still an early draft but it is mostly there to build contacts for Season 5. I found it to be a bit "busy" for an intro to the new season. Definitely a stretch to get it all done in 4 hours with a table of people new to the system.
Bigity
So did the decker single handedly shut them all down, or was it similar to having an extra 'gun' in the group?
binarywraith
QUOTE (Tymeaus Jalynsfein @ Oct 11 2013, 07:58 AM) *
The point is that even the writers know that what was pushed out in the Main book is crap. cool.gif


love.gif

I have no words. But clearly we're overstating how bad it is.

That said, I'm looking forward to getting ahold of this adventure. I used to run a lot of SR3 in the CZ, because my buddies in college were big Aliens fans, and wanted a bughunt campaign.
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