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Senelif
I am designing a mission for my group that is going to be in the style of a dungeon crawl. It is actually going to be a deed to gain initiation. Because of this, the mage in question has a clear motivation for the run. As for the other members of the group, it will be largely pro bono aside from karma rewards. What I am wondering is what ideas you have for loot that can be found throughout the "dungeon". This will give the other runners added incentive to venture deeper into the "dungeon". What do you think?
Kagetenshi
More details. What is this dungeon crawl? Why does it exist? Unless we get those answers, there's no realistic loot we can suggest.

Me, I'd personally not give them added incentive.

~J
Backgammon
The sammy should open a wooden treasure chest and find a panther assault cannon made of gold.
Crimson Jack
You mean a real dungeon, as in the kind found in castles? Or a cave filled with awakened critters... like Dungeons & Dragons? Kage has a good point. There should be a valid reason for the existence of this "dungeon".

LOL... gold panther assault cannon. biggrin.gif
Senelif
The mission will fit in with current SR canon, first of all. The background is that the mage in my group is seeking a group for initiation. He will get connected with a group and their mandate is to oppose all vampiric life in the sixth world. As a sign of good faith, the mage will be sent on a mission to eliminate a cabal of vamps that have a hideout in a derelict mine at some location outside of seattle. The dungeon will be an underground fortress carved out of the remains of the derelict mine. It will have the feel of a D&D dungeon crawl, by having distinct "levels" each one having its own set of traps, critters and NPC opposition. That's about all I can say as of yet.
Crimson Jack
Well, if you have a vampire hunting theme, you could always include Martin de Vries (Prime Runner, Vampire Hunter). De Vries researches magical threats, specifically vamps, and believed that there was (or is) a cabal of vampires "working to awaken some metaplanar monstrosity" (Quote, Prime Runners, p.14). He hunted them in Europe from 2040 to 2051, then disappeared for a year and a half.

Now, he exists as a vampire who hunts other vampires. The exact story of how he became that which he hates is subject to rumormill and GM decision.

In the Hooks section of his bio, it states that not only does he hire runners for hits on vampires, but he is an excellent source of information if your runners have need of his services. He should be hard to find though.

And he has a nifty little Essence Focus which boosts his Essence by 4 points.
Kanada Ten
The vampires were of course experimenting with cyberware to make their minions more powerful. The group encounters ghouls with cybereyes and dermal plating along with more exotic ware - all clearly experimental (and valuable).

The mine is actually active, with drones or slaves carrying precious, partially refined cargo from the depths to the surface. If they could just eliminate the vampires, they could claim the mine and sell it... Except once at the center they discover a bound, powerful free spirit was creating the precious stones with the Wealth power and
Masking the signature on it. He'll grant them a favor or something.

A trickster mountain spirit uses Confusion on the runners, drawing them deeper into the maze when they thought they were escaping.
Synner
DNA/DOA.
fistandantilus4.0
According to "The Terminus Experiment", he's supposed to have "given himself willingly... to better understand his enemy". That's pretty hardcore.
"Make me a vampire so I can eat you please." wobble.gif
Crimson Jack
Yeah, PR reads something to that effect as well although its written as if its more a believable rumor, rather than the cold hard facts. But yes, hardcore.
FrostyNSO
C'mon people! What about good ol' artifacts of historical signifigance and/or value???

It doesn't even have to be magical (or it can be, up to you). There are thousands of collectors around the world who pay good money for one-of-a-kind (or some cases not) items of antiquity.

North American museums might pay good money for a native american find of signifigance.

edit: you'd be surprised how much a broken ceramic statuette of a pig-faced woman breastfeeding a jackal goes for on the collector's market.
Crimson Jack
There could be a vampiric dragon slumbering away in this mine shaft maybe..
Kanada Ten
QUOTE (FrostyNSO)
C'mon people! What about good ol' artifacts of historical signifigance and/or value???

The problem is that the vampires are not as likely to be parading such things around. While they could simply spot something priceless on it's way down, there must be a reason for the runners to expect finding more loot. Not that I wouldn't think to find a horde of valuables in a vampire lair - but I'd also suspect curses on the goods...

Of course, that's a great way to limit what the runners get should they miss that only a magic barrier keeps the lair from being buried beneath the rocks...
FrostyNSO
Maybe they worship it?
Senelif
These are some great ideas. I'm going to have to invest a lot of time into this mission, but I think the group should appreciate it.
James McMurray
National Treasure. smile.gif
hahnsoo
QUOTE (Backgammon)
The sammy should open a wooden treasure chest and find a panther assault cannon made of gold.

I swing it around... is it magical? *grin*
hahnsoo
Oh, and parts of the Renraku Arcology: Shutdown can easily be adapted to a traditional dungeon crawl. Also, Bug City lends itself to a good dungeon crawl feel... few areas of "safe havens", centralized barter trade, and bugs bugs bugs everywhere.
tisoz
In one of the Ann Rice vampire books, there was a vampire that had a collection of jewelry, watches, coins, etc. he had taken from his victims. So your guys could find caches of credsticks, rings, foci, personal weapons.

Remember the room of stuff in From Dusk Til Dawn, at least I think that was the name - the one in the mexican bar, plus the ravine out back full of vehicles?

There could be rooms with a variety of cyberware left over from the ghouls victims.
ef31415
An _old_ dungeon left over from Earthdawn.

Kagetenshi
One of Artificer's playpens.

~J
FrostyNSO
Maybe you could do a 6th world tribute to the old fashioned dungeon crawl:

The Sewer Crawl

All the fun of a dungeon, Now with mutant alligators!
tisoz
He is not looking for 'dungeons' or dungeon-like places. He is looking for loot and incentives for the non-mages to run it.
FrostyNSO
Hell, just crawling around in the sewers and learning a few nifty routes that I may want to utilize at a later date (and if I was the GM I would make this an option later on if my players thought of it) would be enough incentive for me.
DrJest
QUOTE (Synner)
DNA/DOA.

The moment I read the subject on this, the exact same thing popped into my head biggrin.gif

The most important thing to think about is WHY the vamps are squatting in the mines. What do they get out of it? After all, vamps are not, as a rule, sub-sentient; they'd want the comforts of home as much as anyone.

If it's for protection from the sun, then you have to assume they've kitted the place out, at some point, as a comfortable living space.

That in turn means they might have access to a large amount of cash and contacts with the services they want or need, if it's kitted out pretty well.

At the other end, it could be a "Lost Boys" deal, and they just hide there during the day - but that would make a pretty poor dungeon crawl, so let's assume their wealthy.

An important question is going to be - can vampires in your game have cyberware? If the answer is yes, then the mine will almost certainly be protected by security devices as cutting edge as the vamps can manage. If no, then the security won't be quite as good - if they're relying on a slave to run a rigged security setup, for example, they won't want him turning it on them. In the latter case, I'd look at the drones that run on rails... damn, corp security handbook not to hand... you know the ones. That would limit the potential devastation to them if their slaves broke free.

Of course, they might have people working for them willingly. I can think of any number of reasons, but here's one off the top of my head: Crazy Ivan the rigger has cancer. Inoperable cancer. Inoperable, "wrap up your affairs cos you're going to die in a couple of years" cancer. Ivan doesn't want to die - who does? He starts looking into all kinds of life-extending stuff. One of your vamps hears about this and comes to see him. "We'll make you a deal. You set up and run our security system for a few years, and in return we'll make you immortal."

Will they keep their promise? What if the DO intend to? Humanitarian actions, even partially motivated by self-interest, will three-dimensionalise the vamps to the characters and make them harder to just off. Well, they would for most roleplayer types, anyway.

(PS: I cannot believe that on a Shadowrun forum the spellchecker hasn't learned the word "roleplayer"... smile.gif )
Fortune
QUOTE (DrJest)
The most important thing to think about is WHY the vamps are squatting in the mines. What do they get out of it? After all, vamps are not, as a rule, sub-sentient; they'd want the comforts of home as much as anyone.

That was my first question as well.
Grinder
Maybe they gain access to an old Liferock - much, very much magical energy. They could use it to power some magical research....
Wounded Ronin
If I were you, I'd fill the dungeon with orcs who for some reason have nothing better to do than to stand around in the dungeon and attack anyone who comes in with rusty short swords.
Grinder
Dwarves with axes. Elven mages. biggrin.gif
Kagetenshi
QUOTE (Wounded Ronin)
If I were you, I'd fill the dungeon with orcs who for some reason have nothing better to do than to stand around in the dungeon and attack anyone who comes in with rusty short swords.

And the hook to get the players to keep coming? The orks are all guarding pie.

Kill the pie, eat the ork.

~J
Fortune
I was going to suggest a bunch of Gnomes who had SURGEd into little dog-like humanoids called Kobolds. grinbig.gif
Mensche
MAGE "Alright guys, I need to go into an abandoned mine for my initiation group."
SAMMY "What for?"
MAGE "Oh nothing...prove myself, you know? They said if I survive the mine and wipe out the evil I am destined to be with the group."
SAMMY "So what do we get out of it?" *looks at other gun-toting individuals of the group*
MAGE "...uh...satisfaction in helping my skill develop, therefore providing us more protection than ever from enemy mojo."
SAMMY "Hmmm....No. You're not giving me much reason here."
MAGE "Oh, please. PLease?"
SAMMY "Uhhh. ..Nah."
MAGE *thinking hard* "There'll be treasure." *A BLATANT LIE*
SAMMY "REally...lots?"
MAGE "Yeah. Lots."

IMHO the group should have no idea what they're getting into. Its an abandoned mine. Let them do the legwork if at all. Maybe then they'll find out why the mine was abandoned in the first place. If they go in blind, let them face the dankest evil you can conjure (I like the free spirit idea. it could be the one responsible for gathering vampires.)

When they get in the mine, constantly make the other members of the group want to leave and say 'F*ck this noise. Nothing but dirt and darkness'.
Try and get the group seperated.
Make the entrance collapse, then they have to stick together.

I love dungeons.
Then the group has to decide wether they want to commit to their mage or not.
DrJest
I'm thinking someone's been reading Order of the Stick again... smile.gif
Crimson Jack
Does the mage already know about this magic group's schtick (ie. "We Hate Vampires")? If not, they could send him in there after a load of orichalcum, not telling him what dangers lie within. If he already knows about the vampires in the mine, then you're left with a bit more of a dilemna in getting the rest of the party to join the 'adventure'. It could be that the mage will have to pony up some nuyen for the rest of the team to accompany him also.
Senelif
I have a few more details now. The mine will be located in the Hell's Kitchen area of the Puyallup Barrens, somewhere near Mt. Rainier. The mage will know about the group's mandate against vampirism, and as such he will then have to choose whether or not this is the type of group he would like to initiate with. If he agrees, then the first rite of initiation will be to route out and destroy the cabal located in this mine.

The mine will be pretty shabby at first, but as they get deeper into it there will be the furnishings of a fully operational research facility. Taking an idea from another post, the runners will get some hooks into a larger, worldwide vampiric plot. Somewhere in the mine will be the corpse of another runner, hired by Martin de Vries. He was supposed to clean out this hive as well, but fell victim to the dangers inside the "dungeon". In the room where the corpse is will be some kind of note, or pocket secretary hidden for the runners to find with some kind of oblique reference to de Vries, and also to the larger vampiric conspiracy.

If my group picks up on it then I imagine they will attempt to uncover the details of this conspiracy, and furthermore track down Martin de Vries, himself. This will inevitably lead to the group going to Europe to find and meet with de Vries, and then they will obviously have to put an end to the vampire threat.

I'm still working out the entire arc, but it seems like it could be fairly epic for my fledgling group.
FrostyNSO
QUOTE (Senelif @ Feb 5 2005, 06:02 PM)
If my group picks up on it then I imagine they will attempt to uncover the details of this conspiracy, and furthermore track down Martin de Vries, himself. This will inevitably lead to the group going to Europe to find and meet with de Vries, and then they will obviously have to put an end to the vampire threat.

Good luck. Make sure this is something your characters want to do, and that they don't have other, self-planned goals in mind that might derail the hell outta your well-laid campaign.

If they're anything like my players, they have a nice list of things they want to accomplish and have plans on how they want to do it. This pretty much makes me have to make long campaigns custom-tailored to the PCs' goals.

I'm not complaining, it actually makes it really nice and easy for me. Just if you are making a huge over-arcing plot with this, there is always a good chance (at least in my group) that this could be a run that they do, and then never think about it again unless they leave nice big clues that you can use to justify the bloodsucking bastards dogging them for the rest of their natural lives.

edit: Chances are, if you think you'll have trouble getting them to go with the mage to clear this mine, you'll have trouble getting them to follow the whole campaign that the mine marks the beginning of.
Lindt
Remember that unique enchanments are always fun. Mabey that weapon foci only works for 3 days during this alignment of jupiter and mars?
Grinder
QUOTE (Senelif)
If he agrees, then the first rite of initiation will be to route out and destroy the cabal located in this mine.

That's pretty tough for a newbie. I would say his first quest should be the killing of one vampire, not a whole cabal. Otherwise the group would soon run out of candidates willing (and able) to join. wink.gif
FrostyNSO
"Damn, that guy DeVries sent didn't make it. Oh well, lets just send another recruit."
Grinder
"Wanna become member of a iniatory group? Don't try DeVries group - their recruits tend to disappear, never to be seen again. " biggrin.gif

As like characters, groups will get a reputation. And having a rep for killing 99% of your recruits during their initial test is not a good rep i would say.
Senelif
QUOTE (Grinder)
"Wanna become member of a iniatory group? Don't try DeVries group - their recruits tend to disappear, never to be seen again. " biggrin.gif

As like characters, groups will get a reputation. And having a rep for killing 99% of your recruits during their initial test is not a good rep i would say.

The group will not actually have anything to do with de Vries. In fact, it will be just coincidental that de Vries had sent in a runner in the past. And whether that runner's job was to exterminate or just to reconnoiter, is unknown. Also, because in this arc, de Vries is based out of Europe it is doubtful that the neophyte runners that are participating would hear or know anything about it. Hell, the dead runner might be from Europe, himself. The whole de Vries arc is completely unanticipated by all the parties previously involved in the affair. What the overall consequences will be are still to be determined.

The initiate's group is clashing with the vampires as they are in their general vicinity and have a mandate against vamps. I still have not decided what the motivations are yet behind the mandate. I'm taking a stance on leaving a lot of the plot details open until my players actually get involved in the whole affair, that way I can insert hooks and twists that I previously hadn't thought of. I think that it is best to leave some details open so I can play it by ear if need be, that way a runner, or a failed run won't necessarily frag the entire story arc.
Crimson Jack
One way you might hook them on the De Vries angle is if the pocket sec that the poor slot who bit the bullet had on him, had a message from De Vries, instructing the guy to bring something back to him that the group will positively run across in the mine research center. You include a big enough payoff for said retrieval and you might find at least a mild curiousity in finding out some more about the 'dead man's run'. In fact, that might make a good run title.
Mensche
that sounds like a solid run
Garland
QUOTE (Fortune)
I was going to suggest a bunch of Gnomes who had SURGEd into little dog-like humanoids called Kobolds. grinbig.gif

I heartily endorse this. Kobolds automatically up the fun level to at least "Wacky."
lodestar
You so gotta put an E H P in this! wink.gif
hyzmarca
Two words: Vampire-Dragon Toenails. Imagine how much they'll be worth. And all they'll have to do is off a Vampiric Dragon.

The first rule of determining treasure: Know the antagonists. Know what they'd have around and how it would be guarded. It has to make sense. The big problem with classic dungeon crawls is locked traped chests lying around for no apparent reason.

And remember, the evil wizard isn't going to put a deathtrap on his wardrobe closet unless he is immune to it. No one wants to accidently kill himself getting dressed in the morning, even if he closet is full of expensive +7 Robes of Immunity to magic and +12 pants of immunity to sharp and/or pointy things.

In a mine, raw metals are a good reward. Maybe some gold or silver that can be fenced. Maybe some natural orihalcum.
An Ancient and powerful vampire menance should have some ancient artifacts. Such a creature could have trinkets of historical significance or powerful Artifacts from the Fourth World. Either way he'd keep them close.
A militant cabal would be fairly well armed should have some high-end guns, maybe some combat drones, as well. Some Vampiric physads and mages may have weapon foci.
Crimson Jack
QUOTE (hyzmarca)
+12 pants of immunity

Why am I laughing at this? rotfl.gif
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