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Geiger
So, I've played Shadowrun before, but always online. I got my D&D group to agree to try it... So. My basic idea for an intro is.

1.) Party knows each other, all unemployed. Live in an area on the edge of the Redmond barrens that, due to a local business man might actually become a pretty nice place to live. Locals mostly work at his factory and he's on the cusp of selling out to Ares, gaining the security of that in the process.

2.) There's a gang that makes protection money off the town, and knows they couldn't do that under Ares watch and wants the deal to fall through.

3.) Adventure starts while getting a burger at the stuffer shack, the business man is there, gangers show up to try and kill him to kill the deal. If players help business man, they get the offer to get pulled in as mercs to help him seal the deal. Have to help keep the factory safe, and if possible get the gang leader arrested. If they help the gangers, it's basically the opposite. Kill the businessman, or his son if he dies in the initial encounter. And wreck the factory to ruin the deal. Gang pays better, factory nets more Karma. Either way, they get a fixer contact at the end for free. Either organized crime, or a fixer who does business with Ares.

And then there is always the option of 'none of the above' in which case I have to make things up entirely.

Does this seem like a decent intro to build off of?
Tecumseh
Yes, it's a decent foundation to build on. Some thoughts:

Be mindful of your group's mentality and habits they might be bringing with them. Many D&D players accept the GM as the quest-giver and then follow the quest somewhat linearly. Shadowrun can run that way, or it can be more open-world with multiple possible approaches to a problem. It sounds like you know that well.

I might structure it a bit differently. Have the businessman reach out to the players with a request to meet to talk about some problem-solving he wants them to do, perhaps with a high-level overview of the proposal. That's just a call; before the meet can take place, the gang gets wind of the overture to the players and approaches them (perhaps over burgers at a Stuffer Shack) with the gang's offer.

The players now have two offers and need to choose one. The businessman will say that a megacorp will bring stability and security to the neighborhood. The gang says that a megacorp will bring oppression to the neighborhood, either legal or economic or both. The gang's hidden agenda is that they want their unpopular protection payments to continue; the businessman's hidden agenda might be that Ares is going to automate everything and that all the locals working at his factory will be out of jobs soon anyway. The players could uncover both of these hidden agendas with some legwork, another concept that might be less familiar to D&D players. Their decision about which offer to accept might depend on their legwork, and the morally grey nature of both the businessman and the gang could help contrast Shadowrun to D&D's black-and-white morality.

I would flip it so that the businessman pays more nuyen and the gang pays more karma. The gang can't match the monetary resources of the businessman, but they can offer guns, drugs, and a friend in the PCs' corner when they need one. Conversely, if the PCs piss off the gang then they'll have an enemy for life, which could make the local neighborhood tense and dangerous until Ares swoops in and cleans things up. Maybe the PCs make enough money so that they can move away, or maybe they stubbornly stay where they are so that every trip to the Stuffer Shack is going to be risky from now on.

Or, as you say, the players pick option C and open an ice-skating rink as a front for their organ-legging operation.
Gingivitis
I agree with Tecumseh,

Having the offers made separately and outside of the heat of battle allows the players to ponder, ask questions, do legwork, and explore their morality.

Chances are, if the event happens in the Stuffer Shack without previous consideration, the players will shoot the dudes with guns (the threat in the room) or just leave. In both cases, you don't get any chance for reflection or real choice at the table.

One of the players ought to have a contact through which the businessman and the gang can work. This gives the players the feel for how these shadows work.

I like that your first run is a play-style choice for the players (go corporate or go street). That is a good move and it opens up a sandbox style of play too.
farothel
QUOTE (Tecumseh @ Sep 4 2018, 10:43 PM) *
Or, as you say, the players pick option C and open an ice-skating rink as a front for their organ-legging operation.


Then they really have to learn the street sammy to go for head shots. I wouldn't do to hurt the merchandise.
And yes, that happened in my group once.

As to the proposal, I think most is said. I'm not sure how experienced your players are and if they have any experience besides D&D, but D&D and Shadowrun can be quite different. Legwork, legal ramifications on their actions, the possibilty of solving a run without a fight (rare, but it can happen). Things like that.

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