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Tatertot
I'm running a low-powered street gang adventure and need ideas for encounters/runs/action. To put it into D&D terms, the standard shadowrunner is about 10th level, these guys would be first level so runs against an arcology and the likes are out. The 2 first missions I have in mind are a convience store robbery gone bad (basically a modified Food Fight) and a warehouse B&E with unexpected complications. I want these missions to be something for them to do in between them figuring out where they want to take their characters ( I have an underlying plot but they shouldn't discover it until down the road). Thanks for the help! smile.gif
RangerJoe
Some nice low-level assignments are:

* Guard duty for the Yaks/Mafia/Vory down on the docks. (There's going to be a transfer of expensive item(s) X, or a shipment of Y is expected, and the mob is looking for a little extra muscle).

* Create a diversion for runner team of your choice (how many SR adventures mention something about hiring a gang to provide a diversion for the main run. Now players will get to feel that from the other end). This kind of adventure is fun because it lets the gangers party/cause mayhem/loot/etc.

* "An Embarassment of Riches" (the gang stumbles across a suitcase full of premium novacoke/drug of your choice-- maybe a dealer got busted, or a pimp got gunned down. Think "True Romance" if you've seen it. Anyhow, it's time for some choices. Should the gang a) kill a whole lot of brain cells, b) fritter away the goods slowly, but at a loss, as your average gutter punk doesn't care if his fix is the "the good stuff" or somethign scraped off the bottom of a beaker, c) find the "owner" and become someone powerful's pet gang, or d) try for the big score of selling off the whole suitcase to a wealthy addict. Of course, the previous owner of the drugs wants them back, a number of local dealers might want their pieces of the pie, or, if you're feeling sadistic, the drugs were tied up in some kind of awful crooked cop scam-- ie, stolen evidence. Now the crooked cops are after the drugs they stole fair and square, in order to save thier hoops, and the regular police force is after after the drugs in an effort to figure out what's going on. This kind of run is a nice transition between street level and organized gang level play.)

Is this gang a go-gang, a thrill gang, a racial/poli gang, or just your neighborhood hoodlums?
Tatertot
These are great, thanks! Keep 'em coming if yyou have 'em!

The premise behind the campaign is that the character's are on the very low end of the totem pole in the gang. The Outcasts (the gang) regularly helps/exploits the weak (the characters) in the Redmond Barrens offering food and shelter inexchange for servitude. What kind of servitude depends on what you have to offer. If you look halfway decent and have no real skills you'll end up chained to a bed, if on the other hand you're vicious enough or you have some uncommon skills then then maybe something less unsavory is in store. In this campaign I want a Predator to be a pretty cool find (at least in the beginning) and I want it to be gritty. The Barrens should look like one of those Feed the Children villages but with a bunch of rundown burnt out buildings amoungst the shacks. The characters will have about 12-15pts of active skills with nothing over rating 3 and about 18pts worth of stats. Gear will be minimal with crappy guns and little to no armor (again, at least at first) I'm thinking of removing Magic/Metahumanity but I haven't decided on that yet. Anyhoo I think you get the idea.... so..again..if you have any ideas I'm eager to hear them. thanks all!!
GrinderTheTroll
*I had some fun taking some PC's to do a weapon's deal gone bad (think of the movie Ronin) that made for some interesting interactions. This is even good for more upscale runners, I like to do this type of thing when they are trying to get some of the more shadier items, also seems to keep the runners on their toes.

*Turf Wars! Always fun to let PC's kill-kill and kill for kicks sometimes, you know they want to, Gang vs. Gang style!

*Have one of the new recruits turn out to be a shadowrunner in disguise hoping to infiltrate the gang in hopes to get close to the leader or something for a possible assassination attempt.
RangerJoe
Removing magic is an option, but you might just consider cutting the number of starting spell points and/or adept powers and/or the force of spirits which can be summoned. You can then dish out power points/spell points like karma as they game progresses.

Limitting metahumanity is going to change the flavor of the game dramatically. If you allow it, on top of attrib points (ie, 18 attribs + mods) you are going to get a whole lot of trolls and orks (especially without armor or firearms). On the other hand, the Barrens are full of metahumans, so it would be nice to see them dominating the gang's population. A nice compromise might be limitting magical powers to humans?

More gritty ideas:

* Some dumb slag's been cutting the "meat puppets." Find out who's been cutting up the joygirls and teach him/her a lesson.

* "Digits" is a local bookie, and one of his clients hasn't been paying his debts. Find him, and remind him why "Digits" is called "Digits." (It's up to you to decide if the gambler is a scummy hooligan, or a family man who's been gambling to get his kid braces).
Kagetenshi
If you really want it down-and-dirty predator-is-a-rare-find, Puyallup might be a good place. Shredded infrastructure really drops the class of the inhabiting gangs.

If and when the characters get good enough, send 'em against some ghouls. When all you've got is melee weapons, going up against ghouls can be a death sentence.

~J
Tatertot
@Rangerjoe- cutting the spell points and magic ratings down was my original idea for magic, along with having the availability of it determined buy drawing from a deck of cards and seeing if your magically gifted or had access to various tech skill and whatnot. That way the team possibly has some proto-archetypes.

@Kagetenshi- I had thought of using Puyallup but it doesn't seem crowded or frantic enough. Though they will have a field trip or two out there. cyber.gif
Oh, and ghouls will make an appearance....definitely
RangerJoe
I suppose it all depends on your players' style of play, but I'd suggest against "skills from a hat." I'd feel more attached to a character if I went into game play knowing a little bit more about the character because I designed him/her. Think how much fun it is to play that crazy old hobo who roams the neighborhood-- a low powered shaman with the following spells: deflect ("those pesky kids might try to throw stones at me, but they never hit"), nutrition ("All I ever eat is garbage, but I'm no worse for wear. Have a rat carcass, on me!"), and detox (see previous), versus, being the player being told, "Here is you (B:2, Q: 2, S: 2, I: 4, W: 4, C: 3) human with 10 spell points."

I'm just a fan of the idea-in/character-out school of PC design. I think it should still work in a low power campaign.

And one last mission idea:

In the middle of a thunder storm, a LS drone has been forced down and crash-landed in the Barrens. The players have to go fetch the drone for their gang bosses. Caveats: the drone can't move, but it's still got a turret-mounted LMG, and it will defend itself like a wounded animal. Also, the Star will be arriving (eventually), and will be able to track the drone, unless someone disables/smashes the transponder.
Lantzer
Fun ideas.

I've been running a campaign with a similiar theme. How to come up with jobs for them? Think of all those jobs that are _like_ shadowruns but are too easy and too low-paying for a 'real' shadowrunner to bother with.

Some past jobs:

1) Getting a stay-at-home recluse out of his apartment and to a Mafia contact alive without causing any kind of fuss that the neighbors will notice. Prevailing opinion among the group is that they were making a vacancy for a 'unreported dead' fake credstick.

2) They were given a loaded SINed credstick, the PIN number, and a schedule of places/purchases to visit/buy. Their instructions were to not get caught with the credstick, and not draw any unnecesary attention to it. The group thinks this was either an alibi for somebody, or producing a history for a fake ID. This was also a fun job to get them out of their normal environs.

3) They were asked by a contact to help provide security for a pirate broadcast. Their job was to provide warning of incoming FCC vehicles/drones, and find a way of slowing them down so the pirates could finish the broadcast, pack up, and leave.

4) They were subcontracted by a group of shadowrunners who wanted a distraction in the front lobby at closing time.

5) They had to pick up a package at one location and deliver it to another.

6) They bodyguarded a secretary who's ex-boyfreind was stalking her.

7) They bodyguarded an illegal street racer to keep his competition from nailing him or his car before a race.

8 ) One of them collected payment for a lone shark.

9) One of them is fixing up an airtaxi engine for a gang. Another is working on a control system.

10) They saved a woman who's car was wrecked when a drone-semi went out of control in their barrens neighborhood. They also got some of the cargo of various soyafoods from the semi, along with the rest of the mob. They also got the heck out of the way when an HTR team came for the lady.

11) They got involved in a fight in the nightclub where they were playing (as the band) to save a teen from being 'extracted'. They hate to lose fans. Especially rich ones.

In other words, the gutterpunk team does the bottom-of-the-food-chain jobs, until they can build a rep. They are building one. As such, their jobs will start getting harder - and more lucrative. They will start getting new contacts as a natural result of getting involved in the world (Most recent new contact - a thrash band called 'Colostomy Exposion')

I have a fun group. For their most recent job, (the street racer), they were paid a small amount of money down, and 10% of the purse if their client won the race.

So they guarded the guy and his car. And when race day came, we played out the illegal street race. I handled the cops. Each of them handled a racer. To keep things suspenseful, They didn't know which of them was their client, so they were all trying _hard_ to win. They lucked out- the client won in an amazing come-from-behind victory. (It was the leader ducking through a car wash in chinatown to lose the cops that did it).

Yeah, fun group. cool.gif
Tatertot
Awesome, those all sound good. Especially the car race one. biggrin.gif
krishcane
And here's some more ideas..... I had some fun running a low-level campaign here on the Forums for about a year, and I've run a few in person.

1.) Attend a pit-fight or cage-fight, either as fighters or security

2.) Get involved in a gang war!

3.) Conduct armed robbery, to reinforce the need for the neighborhood protection racket

4.) Fake being muggers and let some guy "rescue" the victim and "scare you off". Actually get paid by the fake hero, who wanted to impress his girl.

5.) Hunt devil rats for the bounty!

6.) Steal cars

7.) Serve court papers to deadbeat dads

8.) Steal drugs from dealers/gangs

9.) Steal food from shipments

10.) Cause gridlock as part of a distract/disrupt for another team

11.) Graffiti someplace difficult

12.) Pretend to be more important than you really are, to attract business. Be seen in the right places. Crash an underworld party.

13.) Gather blackmail on beat cops -- or, set it up. Or, fake it.

14.) Annoy "the system" by destroying parking meters, stop lights, and other government-paid but undefended objects

15.) Urban scavenger hunt!!

---K
Paul
Well here is my own game, maybe it will help you: Streets of Rage.
Voltage
Perhaps as they move up the food chain, the main squeeze of their gang leader gets kidnapped by a rival gang, and they runners are tasked with her rescue. The catch, which they'll find when they arrive, however, is that she doesn't want to go back. Of course, this wouldn't be for earlier in the campaign, but more mid-level.
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