Hello Dumpshock,

I have a weekly gaming group that plays a bunch of games, currently we are playing Deadlands, and i am putting together a couple of short adventures for those nights the current GM isn't prepared. I had a thought that it would be funny if the runners were hired by a kid, like a teenager, pretending to be a Mr. Johnson. Either he hacked into his fathers corp account, or has a hefty allowance and decided to play in the shadows by hiring a group of runners.

Current runs i have thought up:
1) Steal a copy of the hot new album before it hits shelves. (could also replace album with video game, movie, etc.)
2) Spy on a hot actress while she is in town
3) Break into a private school and adjust some students grades.
4) Upload a music album to a local radio stations playlist.

I am planning on having the kid first meet the runners in the matrix only. He is going to come off as an odd, eccentric, and a bit green, Johnson who pays well. Hopefully it will take a few runs for the runners to find out there Johnson is a kid.

If i go with him using his fathers corp account i will eventually have dad find out and either attempt to eliminate the runners, or hire them to cover up his son's misdeeds.

I would love some additional ideas for runs that a teenage boy, say 14-17, would hire a group of runners to do.

Thanks.

Let's assume the kid is green, but smart. He'll know he'll need cash to cover his misdeeds, and more is better, so there should be some serious fiscal upside in it for him, if possible. He's Matrix-savvy enough to feel comfortable doing his negotiations that way, so he can probably feel halfway comfortable fencing things in the Matrix.

I suggest that he would want the runners to grab things like Matrix games, and also Matrix equipment. Also, don't underestimate the desirability of fashion items. Clothing, jewelry, nanotat or other cosmetic stuff.

Now, if he's enough of a player you could up the ante. Maybe he knows a few girls who go to the same school, who are desperate to be in the cool crowd but don't have the cash. Maybe he can arrange ... alternative payment. And eventually, he starts sharing with some buddies. For a price.

Two weeks in, you have a budding pimp. Then some of the heavy crew decide to move in on his operation. Then he needs muscle - and turns out, he knows some runners.

Also, some of the girls (and boys) might want discreet delivery of chemical encouragement. The kind on which the law frowns. He needs the runners to fetch the novacoke and handle disbursement of funds.

Someone else might want a discreet medical service, of one sort or another. Might be a sports star with an injury in the school. And guess who's the guy who makes things happen?

You have a budding fixer on your hands.

SophmoreRun™

And you just thought all you had to deal with was acne and cliques.

The idea behind the kid right now is that he is into the glamorized world of runners that the trideo portrays. So his meeting locations and how he negotiates are going to be pretty cliche. The first time he meets the runners in person i want it to be in a parking garage where he is standing in the shadows. Stuff like that. I want the runners to think..."Man, that guys a little weird, but he pays well for odd jobs."

I'm still trying to decided if he gets started because he is a bored rich kid, or if he needs something desperately and decides to use runners to get it. Like he is going to fail this semester and Daddy is going to cut off his trust fund unless he brings his grades up.

I'd go with the changing grades (he was goofing off and has bad ones)> Anybody that's played SR long enough will be killing themselves trying to figure out what the 'deeper' game is...cause they won't believe that changing grades is the real assignment.

@ Phatpug

Thank you for the Run-ideas und the Mr. J.

1) runners are hired to shut down the freeway at a precise moment in time (kid wants to ditch so he arranges for the school bus to get stuck in traffic).

2) runners hired to retrieve a package from a drop and discreetly deliver it to a specified room in corp. housing. The room turns out to be a girl's bedroom and if the runners open the package they find perfume (kid wanted to impress a hot girl who likes bad boys by pretending he broke into her room). For added fun, kid hires different runners to guard the package because he wants to see a fire fight.

3) runners are hired to catch or fabricate John Doe in a compromising situation (kid wants to blackmail teacher)

4) runners hired to shut down a drug dealer (dealer supplies the rival football team with performance enhancing drugs and the big game is Friday).

5) runners hired to kidnap someone and release him after 24 hours with express instructions not to harm him (kid wants to go to the big party but his dad grounded him. He wants his dad out of the picture for 24 hours so he can go to the party).

6) runners hired to sabotage a corp. project (kid is helping his dad get a promotion by sabotaging his rival's work. Runners might notice a connection between between 5 and 6)

Listed in order I thought of them.

@ Nemo

Your Welcome. Its something i've been rolling around in my head for a while and i just think it will be fun. Plus the guys I game with are all super paranoid so they are going to dive really deep down the rabbit hole

@ Fastball

Thanks for the ideas. Those give me some more angle to look at this from.

I also had some ideas where the runners are hired to roll a drug dealer/ liquor store and deliver the product to warehouse the day before a big rave.

lets put a twist on this topic- a teenage girl is using her daddy's money to hire runners.

1) she simply MUST have the latest designer fashion, which is on display downtown. the other dresses will sell well on the side.

2) her favorite pop star has a new girlfriend, who she hates. kidnapping missing for ransom.

3) her boyfriend cheated on her- so she has him kidnapped, taped to the hood of a van, driven across town, and dumped in the barrens.

and so on. heck, you could even have this turn into a brother/sister team working with the same runners (she finds out, and blackmails her brother into letting her play too).

another angle on this, would be if the teen is actually a technomancer.