The team drove into the arcology as they headed out for their next mission, as they had done nearly half a dozen times before, to see the Otaku tribe and pick up their fake IDs. During the meeting, the little girl who was their "contact" in the zoo had a weird new doll, with piercing blue eyes.
As they turned to leave, the lights went out, and stayed out for a few minutes. The team headed for the exit, using their thermo / ultrasound vision - but before they got to the exit, the lights came back on. A voice echoed from the loudspeakers, telling all residents to return to their domiciles, all visitors to remain in their current locations.
the team got a sudden sinking sensation.
The players round the table were just staring at me, until Scott said "Are we doing Renraku Arcology: Shutdown".
I nodded. And called the session for the night....
Keep your hands inside the rollercoaster folks. This ride does *not* stop....



This is the end of a 6 month setup. One of the team is an ex Renraku bodyguard, paranoid about going in the arc (with good reason). Since the team rescued a tribe of Otaku from some people smugglers though, and they set up camp in the arc, they've been going to visit them to get discounts in the mall on gear, and fake IDs they've been churning out to say thank you. I threw this at them often enough, and with few enough complications that they just accepted it as routine. Even the ex-bodyguard stopped wearing the toupee and false glasses.

In fact, he's just posted this on his facebook page
"Just back from a days Shadowrun (yay for holidays and understanding wives!)
When we started this campaign I had an idea it might be a plot line that I know of, but know very little about (the Seatle Arcology going nuts if you're interested)
However it wasn't, and Every run we did we were preparing for a hit on a tower on Dubai, I've been learning Arabic, getting gear, and every time we got our fake IDs from an otaku clan we'd saved 6 months before who now lives in the arcology. So latest mission go to pick up our ID and suddenly the lights go off, and Scott and I realised what's happening. Well played Kren well played, you had lured me into a false sense of security and now we are 7 levels of hell away from our guns and armour."


Feeling extraordinarily pleased that this abrupt right turn in direction caught the players flat-footed and has given them a real buzz when they realised that the mil-spec armour and all that AV ammunition they got hold of is going to get a *really* good workout now.

I hope your players are okay with it.

That's a scenario I wouldn't spring on any table of mine without having some seriously upset players.

I posted this by way of introduction to the campaign, so they all walked in with open eyes:

Word on the streets
Hey, you know that fat dude works the docks? Big Frank or something?
Fat Frank? The fixer?
Yeah, him! Well, word is that he’s looking to put together a special team for something. Word is he’s paying top-nuyen for people ready to take names and kick some ass.
Well, duh. He’s a fixer. That’s his job. He puts people in our line of biz together with Johnsons, to get biz done.
No no no. Well, yes. But no. I mean he’s got something SPECIAL coming up. Like RARE.
You mean like smuggling some more Delta grade stuff into the country.
No I mean like the most high tech Cyberware you….. wait, what? What do you know about Deltaware.
Other than it’s more expensive than you’ll ever afford, that he’s got a couple of runs lined up against one of the corps, and he’s planning on extracting a sizeable amount of gear and making out like a bandit.
How do you know so much?
‘Cos I’ve already signed us up for the interview run my little gun toting cherub.
You have? Well why didn’t you say? And what’s a cherub? Are you mocking me?
Not at all my friend… you just pick up your harness, strap on your 50 cal, and we’ll go and make more money than we’ve seen in the last 2 years over the course of the next 3 months.
Alllllrighty then!
Make sure you pack some undies too…. Sounds like we’ll be out of town for several weeks, and I ain’t sitting next to you if your undies ain’t fresh.
**********************************************
5 Players wanted for Shadowrun Pink Mohawk high threat mini-campaign!
This campaign will very much NOT be 'light consequences'! Early mistakes will haunt you, and cunning wins will increase your chances of overall success.
In fact, it is likely to have campaign changing consequences for the regular Pink Mohawk series.
Campaign commitment:
Overall length will of course depend on player action, but it is expected to take place over several months of real world time.
Days/frequency of play to be decided, but I will try to run a game fortnightly or so. It requires the same team to be present at every session, as there’s no chance to drop other Mohawks in/ out if you’ve gotten on a jet plane to Japan...
There are no blanket boxes. If you cannot make a session at the last minute, another player or the GM will play your character to the best of their ability based on how you have roleplayed it to date - but you'll have to accept if a decision you would not have taken leads to your character's death, injury, permanent maiming or loss of gear.
Rewards:
Karma rewards can be expected to be high based on threat alone. Roleplaying rewards will be what you make it.
There will also be the opportunity for significant rewards - but discovering and cashing in on those opportunities will be up to you, the players (e.g. managing to discover paydata to fence or a high value or rare item, rather than any particular 'job payment')
Eligibility:
Your character MUST have >5 karma pool, and SHOULD have >7 karma pool ideally. If you’re interested, post your character name you want to sign up with. If it's oversubscribed, I'll pick by lottery, although I reserve the right to put characters in broad skillset groups and randomise within the groups instead to make sure we have a good mix. I don't want to kill you all just because the dice gods gave us five random streetsamurai and no mages...
Because of the level of threat, and the 'locked in' nature of the campaign once it's started, please note the following before saying you want to take part:
* You must accept that the character you nominate may die, potentially quite suddenly. Certainly it is likely that there will be at least one PC death in this campaign.
* A TPK, and even complete mission failure, is eminently possible.
* You must not mind being played by another player or the GM if you cannot attend.
* You must not mind being given a pregen to replace your main character if they die. Comfort zones are likely to be stretched.
* Your characters are going to have to deal with Bad Things - body horror, claustrophobia, exhaustion... Good roleplaying will be appreciated

I just read Shutdown for the first time about a month ago. Since you're going Pink Mohawk, which elements are you going to use?

You got them good there. Total surprise, but a warning beforehand.
Me, sitting at that table, I would applaud. Well played.

Well, none of the players are hugely into the lore, and even though we've been playing for just under 2 years, there's still lots of the gameworld to explore yet. To start off with, because they were in the mall as non-residents, we're looking at exploring the mall/zoo/funland areas a little, showing the effects of the containment on the tens of thousands of pre-christmas shoppers (for reasons to do with my campaign, the shutdown happened on 23 December in my game universe, not the 19th, so we played up the "last minute shoppers" a bit more).
One of the team is an ex-Renraku bodyguard, part of a cyber-enhancement project that was betrayed by a rival (he was Robocop, the rival was push the ED209 drones, if you want the analogy) - so he has some background knowledge - he has a rough floor guide and will get some pointers and hints as we travel through the building.
The plans are still somewhat in in the air, but I think once they get away from the mall area, it will be a journey to the residential levels to watch the slow transformation from workers > banded, and the increase of the number of drones - and see what interesting plans they can come up with for escape.