Almost all runs are illegal in some way otherwise they wouldn't need to call it shadowrunning. Have you ever tried to play a character that tries to stay legal like doing bounty hunting (people or critters) or combat medical services (self defense is legal isn't it?)? Any other ideas for a legal profession that doesn't put you to sleep?

You could be one of the pigs, but I don't know how you'd get to sleep at night.

Wait, that was rash. I bet half you people are fuzz sympathizers. Nothing like bringing a good old heat wave down on myself on a Shadowrun forum...

Yeah, I'm playing a Lone Star campaign now. And I've always wanted to play an FBI campaign.

That's pretty good! Now why didn't I think of that?

I suppose there might be a few private eyes out there who toe the line, but I suspect most would bend the law here and there. Then again, that might go for the Star too.

Military campaigns and that sort. You're required to abide by certain laws (military, international conventions, etc.).

I've been running a Private Eye campaign, both ont he board and irl. Both are quite entertaining (at least to me)

I had one character who was technically a legal shadowrunner but only because he did things like use an obscure interpretation of 1700s privateering laws persisting in the UCAS because of a 'six degrees of kevin bacon'-type legal defense.
Most cops just gave up on trying to book him for the weapons when he handed them a 402-page legal brief on exactly why he was allowed to carry them without a permit.

LOL, that law(sheister)5/7 paying off is it?

Doc Wagon campaigns can be fun for a bit. Paranimal hunter/explorer, special ops team, computer programmer or racing team are all adventurous, sexy jobs you could do in SR. Seems like it could be fun to play an aggressive IRS person against corps or violent individuals. My aunt-in-law worked for something like that and had to receive some light combat training (this was before she saw the light and became an evangelistic Christian and turned away from the path of evil).

There is always field correspondence team, good oportunity for cyber, small arms and automatic weapon permittance and combat

Evil being the IRS...?

Nothing to see. Move along.

We've done a resistance/military game in California against the Japanese.

My main character is a PI who works with the police., She avoids wet work and things like that but does do B&E.

They also wield too much power for a government contractor

I've been kinda thinking about this with my elf face. He got a full set of skillwires for runs, but all his regular skills focus around being a business savy elven noble. With a voice modulator and retinal duplication you can go from Joe Stock Exchange to Kid Shadowrunner, with different Platinum credstick ID, in under 6 seconds.

If you wanna be really subtle carry a few sets of Retinal Tailors and Fingerprint Mappers.

Whatever. As far as government agencies go, the IRS is one of the least objectionable. If it weren't for them, the government would have no money, and I like things like roads and education.

Sadly, it's generally U.S. Marshals that tax-avoiding (After working for Treas, I would sooner slit my throat than give them a modicum of respect by calling them "resisters") assholes attack and/or kill when the Marshals serve papers on thes fucktards.

Ironically, Robert Forsyth, U.S. Marshal for the District of Georgia, was the very first federal law enforcement officer to be killed in the line of duty--serving civil papers.

Personally, Christian evangelicals are miles beyond the IRS in their ability and willingness to do evil on the world--their leaders especially so.

Because the FBI has a (underserved and BS) mythos of heroism and integrity around it that LS doesn't. They will get a pass on things local cops (even if they're LS) wouldn't.

I'm actually running a Lone Star campaign on Dumpshock right now (Urteil). I'm not certain that my players have grasped the full implications of accountability yet…

~J

Yes, but...

It keeps occurring to me that accountability only seems to go as far as a reporter is willing to get off their ass and do something, which is of course contingent on the victims actually coming forward and implicating cops.

That's true, but if it's actually caught on camera somewhere (and cameras are common in the Sixth World), things can get bad fast. And every reporter loves a bloodbath.

~J

I'm no fan of the fuzz, but reporters are just as bad, and media moguls are even worse. I imagine in the Sixth World, it's easy for a lot of things to just disappear, even if they ARE caught on camera. Sort of like in the twenties when William Randolph Hearst tried to kill Charlie Chaplin and hit some up and coming starlet instead. Nothing ever happened because he owned all the newspapers. If the powers that be want to victimize you, you WILL be victimized, and nothing will be done about it.

Which really looks good on the tapes. Right.

~J

"Smile! You're on Candid Camera!"

"*blam* Not anymore."

Haven't done it yet, but I'd like to. The nice part of a bounty hunter or FBI campaign is that you can send the PCs all over the UCAS: one day in Seattle, another in Vancouver, another in D.C., etc.

"He was a cop, and good at his job. But then he committed the ultimate sin and testified against other cops - gone bad. Cops who tried to kill him, but got the woman he loved instead. Framed for murder, now he prowls the badlands. An outlaw hunting outlaws, a bounty hunter - a RENEGADE!"

I used to love that cheesy series... along with A-Team and others.

Now we just have to ask ourselves where does Airwolf fit in?

Don

I have GMed in the past (and will again very soon) a campaign where the PCs are FedPol special investigators.

The compaign is mostly leg work, light on combat. They tend to show up for raids with overwhelming force, and they have to work within the confines of the law, which means where reasonable to do so they have to try to take people into custody without using force.

The challenge of the game is to solve the crime without stepping over the legal boundaries. The PCs are much more restrained than shadowrunners. It's a real challenge.

They get a salary which supports a lifestyle- no matter how the cases turn out, the salary doesn't change (unless they get themselves suspended). Equipment is simply assigned to them from supply. The goal is not to gain wealth or get upgrades, it's to solve the crime.

Very different style of play, but it works nicely if you've got the right players.