Toss out ideas for runs/scenarios, but keep em short,
----------------------------------
Use the Butterfly Effect trick.
Put the players in a position to prevent or correct something horrible that happened in their own past, but at severe cost to themselves. Whether this is Ashton Kutcher's loss of love level, or his own prenatal suicide level, doesn't matter.
Just use it to make the players/characters realize the consequences of their own actions.
Full Version: Run Stubs
Hmm. okay, i can toss out a plot point or two 
The run: retreive some expensive stolen hardware from some gangers who robbed the truck it was on. The johnson is in charge of shipping, and his ass is on the line.
the catch- one computer was misloaded, and had classified info on its drive. The ganges have accessed this info. a second team has been hired to kill everyone who has compromised the information. they were hired by the IT director, to cover his ass on the slip.
The play- do your homework, get the gear. anything left of the gangers die to group 2. group 2 will jump the meet with the johnson (theres GPS on some of the stolen goods). they shoot the johnson first, and toss a gernade in the recovered goods.
Endgame- survival, and find out about the 2nd teams johnson before he hires a better team to kill you.
The run: retreive some expensive stolen hardware from some gangers who robbed the truck it was on. The johnson is in charge of shipping, and his ass is on the line.
the catch- one computer was misloaded, and had classified info on its drive. The ganges have accessed this info. a second team has been hired to kill everyone who has compromised the information. they were hired by the IT director, to cover his ass on the slip.
The play- do your homework, get the gear. anything left of the gangers die to group 2. group 2 will jump the meet with the johnson (theres GPS on some of the stolen goods). they shoot the johnson first, and toss a gernade in the recovered goods.
Endgame- survival, and find out about the 2nd teams johnson before he hires a better team to kill you.
The Run: A sexy woman hires the team to kill her husband so she can collect his pension.
The Catch: Her husband is a Lone Star S.W.A.T. Team member, and has to die in the line of duty for her to collect.
The Play: Somehow the PC's have to draw a S.W.A.T. response (and ensure they send his unit), and then spring the trap and kill him.
Endgame: A fat payday or death. If it works, the Star is going to have a lot of itchy trigger fingers on patrol and will want to know who ambushed their team so they can get some payback.
The Catch: Her husband is a Lone Star S.W.A.T. Team member, and has to die in the line of duty for her to collect.
The Play: Somehow the PC's have to draw a S.W.A.T. response (and ensure they send his unit), and then spring the trap and kill him.
Endgame: A fat payday or death. If it works, the Star is going to have a lot of itchy trigger fingers on patrol and will want to know who ambushed their team so they can get some payback.
The run: Kidnap a lone, eccentric genious and take him (and his research) to [insert megacorp here].
The catch: He's built a fully-functional time machine. During the attempt to capure him, the time machine is activated, and the PCs (and the Genious) are catapulted hundreds of thousands of years into the future. During the Scourge, thime time machine is attacked by Horrors, and while the runners survive, the Time Machine is damaged. Also, the damage renders the PCs unconscious (flying bits of metal battering the over the head, being knocked into the deck, etc). When they wake up, they find themselves in the future of The Time Machine (by H.G. Wells). The Genious is shortly captured by Morlocks while looking for parts to repair the Time Machine, and the PCs have to rescue him.
The endgame: The PCs rescue the Genious, and slaughter Morlocks by the dozens in their excape. The Genious comes up with the idea of using looted Morlock machines to repair the Time Machine, the PCs take the Genious home and give him to [insert magacorp here].
The catch: He's built a fully-functional time machine. During the attempt to capure him, the time machine is activated, and the PCs (and the Genious) are catapulted hundreds of thousands of years into the future. During the Scourge, thime time machine is attacked by Horrors, and while the runners survive, the Time Machine is damaged. Also, the damage renders the PCs unconscious (flying bits of metal battering the over the head, being knocked into the deck, etc). When they wake up, they find themselves in the future of The Time Machine (by H.G. Wells). The Genious is shortly captured by Morlocks while looking for parts to repair the Time Machine, and the PCs have to rescue him.
The endgame: The PCs rescue the Genious, and slaughter Morlocks by the dozens in their excape. The Genious comes up with the idea of using looted Morlock machines to repair the Time Machine, the PCs take the Genious home and give him to [insert magacorp here].
| QUOTE (FrostyNSO) |
| The Run: A sexy woman hires the team to kill her husband so she can collect his pension. The Catch: Her husband is a Lone Star S.W.A.T. Team member, and has to die in the line of duty for her to collect. The Play: Somehow the PC's have to draw a S.W.A.T. response (and ensure they send his unit), and then spring the trap and kill him. Endgame: A fat payday or death. If it works, the Star is going to have a lot of itchy trigger fingers on patrol and will want to know who ambushed their team so they can get some payback. |
I'd walk on the slitch the moment I found out her idea of a Shadowrun was to deliberately call the Star down on my head. Not just any Star, mind you, but an HTR..... No way, josephina.
Then I'd upload the recording of what she wanted me to do to her husband. (Cyberears and cybereyes, doncha know?)
Heh, anyway... My idea of a run?
--------------------------------------------
The Run: Mr. J hires the team for an easy datasteal. The run goes exactly as planned, opposition is light, everything is fairly low-key.
The Catch: In the meantime, Mr. Johnson was whacked. Not greased, not geeked; whacked, old-school. However, the mob dosen't seem to have any interest in the runs he put out, or in the runners. It seems totally unconnected. (Mr. J shoulden't have racked up those gambling debts.)
The Plot Thickens: The information that J had stolen was extremely sensitive information his own company/organization dosen't want out. They were banking on the obscurity of the data's location to keep it safe. The Runners don't know that. Mr. J was going to sell it and use it to pay his gambling debts. Now the company is frantically searching for the data, and they're completely mishandling it. It's a race against time to erase all evidence and implications they had anything to do with Mr. Johnson. Oh yeah, and try to turn a profit.
Endgame: The ball is in the player's court. It'll surely amuse you what they come up with.
The Stage of Ancient Stone
The Characters are hired to perform an extraction on a nobody who works for corporation X. They must go to an isolated location and grab the character at a precise time. They interrupt a the target in the middle of a culturally significant ritual, probably magical, while Corp X looks on with many scientists.
Across the world, CorpY registers an interruption in their own experiments with a similar magical ritual.
Corp X wants their person back. Corp Y wants them for study, and for info on Corp X’s magical studies. The target wants to find his counterpart in Corp Y, and will pay the runners to help him.
In other words, watch Gasaraki.
The Characters are hired to perform an extraction on a nobody who works for corporation X. They must go to an isolated location and grab the character at a precise time. They interrupt a the target in the middle of a culturally significant ritual, probably magical, while Corp X looks on with many scientists.
Across the world, CorpY registers an interruption in their own experiments with a similar magical ritual.
Corp X wants their person back. Corp Y wants them for study, and for info on Corp X’s magical studies. The target wants to find his counterpart in Corp Y, and will pay the runners to help him.
In other words, watch Gasaraki.
How a fixer gets his goods.
You're hired by your fixer to aquire a hard to get weapon/item. It could be stealing a gang leader's monowhip, or the Lonestar weapon of choice. Heck, it could be stealing a program.
Ever wonder why the price goes up when the time goes down? Well ... this job ought to explain it....
You're hired by your fixer to aquire a hard to get weapon/item. It could be stealing a gang leader's monowhip, or the Lonestar weapon of choice. Heck, it could be stealing a program.
Ever wonder why the price goes up when the time goes down? Well ... this job ought to explain it....
| QUOTE (ShadowDragon8685) | ||
I'd walk on the slitch the moment I found out her idea of a Shadowrun was to deliberately call the Star down on my head. Not just any Star, mind you, but an HTR..... No way, josephina. Then I'd upload the recording of what she wanted me to do to her husband. (Cyberears and cybereyes, doncha know?) |
Calling down the SWAT like that isn't the only solution, just the solution that the asshats in my group would come up with =)
| QUOTE (Slump) |
| How a fixer gets his goods. You're hired by your fixer to aquire a hard to get weapon/item. It could be stealing a gang leader's monowhip, or the Lonestar weapon of choice. Heck, it could be stealing a program. Ever wonder why the price goes up when the time goes down? Well ... this job ought to explain it.... |
Our group actually did this one way back. Fixer had a client who wanted a Panther Assault Cannon, they got to pick it up.
| QUOTE (FrostyNSO @ Nov 20 2005, 05:05 AM) | ||||
Calling down the SWAT like that isn't the only solution, just the solution that the asshats in my group would come up with =) |
Yes, it is so much easier to just drive a remote-control car bomb into the police station while he is inside.
| QUOTE (hyzmarca) | ||||||
Yes, it is so much easier to just drive a remote-control car bomb into the police station while he is inside. |
I'm reasonably sure that Lone Star is prepared against terrorist attacks.
Now for something reasonably low-key. This would be best after the players have done the Food Fight run.
The Run: the Runners are contacted by a Mr. Johnson who wants to hire them for security work. Mr. Johnson represents Stuffer Shack, which is in the middle of an ambitious project to try and revitalize a D sector. The Runners have to provide 24/7 security on the 'shack, and it has to be effective. Their duties are to act as a makeshift 'high-threat response' team; they're not expected to grab every shoplifter. Their job is to fight off gangers and such, and give the 'shack a reputation for security that'll rival McHugh's.
The Twist: After this goes on for awhile, the gangers kidnap the manager's daughter, and perform a live matrix call to the shack, informing the manager that he'd better abandon the shop if he wants to see her alive again. Mr. Manager now begs the runners to rescue his daughter. (If they don't do it out of kindness or in the interest of completing their contract, have him pay.)
Endgame: The runners can either persuade the manager that his daughter is worth evacuating the shop, and surprisingly the gangers will return her. (Not unharmed, but alive.) They can perform the EASY task of tracking the call and busting the gangers up. Or they can refuse to let the shop get abandoned, refuse to rescue her, and watch as the girl is raped, tortured, and murdered on the screen when Lone Star just shoots everybody. (This will result in Mr. Johnson judging them to have commited breach of contract, and not getting paid.)
Okay, that was significantly more than a bare stub, but...
A Made sleazy porn BTL producer hires the runners to find one one of his stars who has apparently been kidnapped. The troll porn star actually ran away with his free spirit girlfriend because he wants out of the business. The facts that the porn business is a mafia front and that the star knows too much make getting out somewhat difficult.
A well respected Shadowrunner has recently died.
A clsoe friend of his with a price on hi s head seeks to return to Seattle for the funeral. The runners are hired to provide added security; watch his back while he's emotionally out of it.
After the hirer's cover is blown and the runners have deomstrated their effectiveness as bodyguards they are offered an astronomical bribe by whatever enemies the man has and have to decide how much it takes to buy them off.
If they betray the runner they have an emotional train wreck of a professional killer (who happens to be vindictive, a surprise if they did no homework) hunting them down. If they turn down the bribe the full weight of whatever organzation is angry will fall on them for the duration of the job and there will be some bad blood in the end.
A clsoe friend of his with a price on hi s head seeks to return to Seattle for the funeral. The runners are hired to provide added security; watch his back while he's emotionally out of it.
After the hirer's cover is blown and the runners have deomstrated their effectiveness as bodyguards they are offered an astronomical bribe by whatever enemies the man has and have to decide how much it takes to buy them off.
If they betray the runner they have an emotional train wreck of a professional killer (who happens to be vindictive, a surprise if they did no homework) hunting them down. If they turn down the bribe the full weight of whatever organzation is angry will fall on them for the duration of the job and there will be some bad blood in the end.
A popular simsense star meets with the runners. Seems that before she was discovered, she performed in some low-budget softcore that was never released. She's afraid that her former employers will decide to release it now or try to blackmail her with it, so she want the runners to find and destroy all copies of the clip.
A Tir Tairngire dissident was involved in some smuggling, and caught by border patrols. Since the Tir Citizen was not an elf, the patrollers presumed he was from the outside, beat him up, dosed him with Laes, and tossed him onto the back of a flatbed heading into Seattle.
Meanwhile, the patrollers and the paladin who led them have found out that the guy was actually a nobel scion, and are rushing to get him back or grease him before anyone finds out about the error. The nobel family has only gathered that he is lost in the plex somewhere and want him found. Another, more powerful dissident who was involved in the smuggling wants his asset rescued. Any one of these groups could hire the runners, or the guy could approach them for help. Remember though, he's still dosed and has no idea what's happened.
A high-up Ares exec from Detroit is concerned about his wife. She's been visiting the runners' home town from time to time on the sly, and he thinks that she's selling company secrets. He doesn't want in-house security to know about it because he loves his wife dearly and wants to give her a chance, so he wants local talent to follow her from when she gets off the plane and report her activities.
Turns out that the lady is loyal to the company, but not to her husband. She's visiting a secret boyfriend. Who the boyfriend turns out to be could be the clincher, though.
A merc unit is working in the Cascade mountains, and has hired a Seattle based magic circle to perform a ritual to aid them for a particularly tough night. They need all the men they got, so they contract the runners to protect the ritual. Of course the target, Cascade orks, track the ritual and send their buddies from Carbonado to interfere.
A fixer has some juicy info for the runners: A rich mage who lived in the plex has passed away, and various friends, family and contacts have come from around the city and around the world to pay respects and attend the funeral and reading of the will. What most of them do not know is that this mage was close with the fixer. He confided to the fixer that there is a considerable hoard of magical gear hidden somewhere in his huge ancient house. The fixer knows that some of the people expected to show are dead, so he offers to set the runners up with fake ID that they can infiltrate the household and search for the treasure.
To top it off, the ghost of the dead mage remains, and has his own agenda. It intends to expose the secret past of several of the participants. This could be a classic haunted house story.
A reporter following an unrelated lead has made a startling discovery: In a hidden, deserted outpost on a remote island, the rusting remains of a squadron of Nightwraith fighter-bombers, most likely the ones that mysteriously put a halt to the Euro-wars.
Now, whatever entity controlled the attack wants him silenced, and the reporter turns to the runners for protection. Eventually, he realizes that he needs to expose the story to save himself, and that means going back to the island.
Over twenty years ago, a magician made the grave error of summoning a dangerous spirit that was somehow far too powerful for him. (Perhaps the spirit somehow tricked the magician into helping it.)
The magician was wracked with guilt for the spirit, which has destroyed many people, the magician's family included. The magician made it his life's duty to stop the spirit.
The magician adopted or kidnapped a child that showed magical potential, and that child has spent his entire life doing little other than preparing to confront the spirit. The magician has spent the bulk of his years crafting magical artifacts to aid the warrior he was creating. However, the spirit learned of the magician's plot, and ruined it.
When the magician seeks the runners for help, the young champion is now imprisoned somewhere and must be rescued. Also, the various magic artifacts must be found and returned. If the runners do well, they may be needed to escort the champion to his confrontation.
Okay, so maybe that's a campaign idea...
A Tir Tairngire dissident was involved in some smuggling, and caught by border patrols. Since the Tir Citizen was not an elf, the patrollers presumed he was from the outside, beat him up, dosed him with Laes, and tossed him onto the back of a flatbed heading into Seattle.
Meanwhile, the patrollers and the paladin who led them have found out that the guy was actually a nobel scion, and are rushing to get him back or grease him before anyone finds out about the error. The nobel family has only gathered that he is lost in the plex somewhere and want him found. Another, more powerful dissident who was involved in the smuggling wants his asset rescued. Any one of these groups could hire the runners, or the guy could approach them for help. Remember though, he's still dosed and has no idea what's happened.
A high-up Ares exec from Detroit is concerned about his wife. She's been visiting the runners' home town from time to time on the sly, and he thinks that she's selling company secrets. He doesn't want in-house security to know about it because he loves his wife dearly and wants to give her a chance, so he wants local talent to follow her from when she gets off the plane and report her activities.
Turns out that the lady is loyal to the company, but not to her husband. She's visiting a secret boyfriend. Who the boyfriend turns out to be could be the clincher, though.
A merc unit is working in the Cascade mountains, and has hired a Seattle based magic circle to perform a ritual to aid them for a particularly tough night. They need all the men they got, so they contract the runners to protect the ritual. Of course the target, Cascade orks, track the ritual and send their buddies from Carbonado to interfere.
A fixer has some juicy info for the runners: A rich mage who lived in the plex has passed away, and various friends, family and contacts have come from around the city and around the world to pay respects and attend the funeral and reading of the will. What most of them do not know is that this mage was close with the fixer. He confided to the fixer that there is a considerable hoard of magical gear hidden somewhere in his huge ancient house. The fixer knows that some of the people expected to show are dead, so he offers to set the runners up with fake ID that they can infiltrate the household and search for the treasure.
To top it off, the ghost of the dead mage remains, and has his own agenda. It intends to expose the secret past of several of the participants. This could be a classic haunted house story.
A reporter following an unrelated lead has made a startling discovery: In a hidden, deserted outpost on a remote island, the rusting remains of a squadron of Nightwraith fighter-bombers, most likely the ones that mysteriously put a halt to the Euro-wars.
Now, whatever entity controlled the attack wants him silenced, and the reporter turns to the runners for protection. Eventually, he realizes that he needs to expose the story to save himself, and that means going back to the island.
Over twenty years ago, a magician made the grave error of summoning a dangerous spirit that was somehow far too powerful for him. (Perhaps the spirit somehow tricked the magician into helping it.)
The magician was wracked with guilt for the spirit, which has destroyed many people, the magician's family included. The magician made it his life's duty to stop the spirit.
The magician adopted or kidnapped a child that showed magical potential, and that child has spent his entire life doing little other than preparing to confront the spirit. The magician has spent the bulk of his years crafting magical artifacts to aid the warrior he was creating. However, the spirit learned of the magician's plot, and ruined it.
When the magician seeks the runners for help, the young champion is now imprisoned somewhere and must be rescued. Also, the various magic artifacts must be found and returned. If the runners do well, they may be needed to escort the champion to his confrontation.
Okay, so maybe that's a campaign idea...
Runners are hired by a publishing conpany to retrieve the lastest novel of a popular horror writer who has gone in seclusion and breeched his contract. A little leg work will lead them to a small New England town that has been the setting of many of his novels. A little bit more leg work will tell them that this town is completely fictional.
When they get to this town that should not exist, wierd drek starts to happen, including the citizens spontaneously exploding for no apparent reason and/or turning onto monsters.
When they get to this town that should not exist, wierd drek starts to happen, including the citizens spontaneously exploding for no apparent reason and/or turning onto monsters.
"My rates triple if the run involves Sutter Caine."
SETUP: The Tibetian budhists are looking for a new Dalai Lama. The monks set to find the new Dalai Lama, the Lotus Thrones, have found him in the form of the head of the Seatlle mafia's grandson. The child wishes to go with the monks but an overprotective grandpa is against it and has hired the runner's to track down his grand kid and make an example of the monks.
TWIST: The monks are awakened and they are already in China so the runner's have to leave their assault cannon's at home and go to a foreign potentialy hostile land.
TWIST: The monks are awakened and they are already in China so the runner's have to leave their assault cannon's at home and go to a foreign potentialy hostile land.
In the beginning there was a runner with a gang member contact. His contact's boss, Eccentric and Really Ignorant Criminal (Eric), recently purchased himself a pet, which was dropped off at the docks today. Since everybody else is busy and/or mentally retarded, gang member contact (or Eric) farms said work out to the runners. Just pick up the cage, bring it in, and recieve <Insert Paltry amount of nuyen/weapons/ammo/drugs for what this run will actually entail here>.
The runners are given an open-bed truck of some sort (preferably a beater with 1/4 tank of gas or a dying battery) arrive at the site after some time to find a cage with reinforced steel bars containing plainly visible or escaped <insert dangerous/annoying/mischievous and/or highly illegal and visible paranormal animal here>.
Hilarity, pain, and bodily dismemberment/pissed off gang leader/lone star car chase/ ensues.
The runners are given an open-bed truck of some sort (preferably a beater with 1/4 tank of gas or a dying battery) arrive at the site after some time to find a cage with reinforced steel bars containing plainly visible or escaped <insert dangerous/annoying/mischievous and/or highly illegal and visible paranormal animal here>.
Hilarity, pain, and bodily dismemberment/pissed off gang leader/lone star car chase/ ensues.
A Yakuza oyabun's over-westernised son is 'attending' university doing simsense studies, when he disappears. Players need to find him. They find him, and he's hanging out with some seedy characters making BTLs using his university skills (like industrial chemists nowadays getting into the clan labs). This is where things get interesting.
The police are on to this particular BTL crew and are in the middle of collecting evidence to bust them. Oyabun hears about this through having the necessary contacts. The police know the Oyabun's son is in there, and want to bust him to pressure the Oyabun.
The players are then re-hired - extract the son and destroy everything else, including surveillance evidence in the hands of the police. This means (a) negotiating the police surveillance of the BTL lab to get in, destroy the place, and kill or persuade-to-disappear everyone except the Oyabun's son, who then needs extracting under the police's noses and needs to be brought (unwillingly) to his dad, and (b) get into the police station and get rid of the evidence, and possibly (depending on the group) more runs relating to intimidating witnesses.
The police are on to this particular BTL crew and are in the middle of collecting evidence to bust them. Oyabun hears about this through having the necessary contacts. The police know the Oyabun's son is in there, and want to bust him to pressure the Oyabun.
The players are then re-hired - extract the son and destroy everything else, including surveillance evidence in the hands of the police. This means (a) negotiating the police surveillance of the BTL lab to get in, destroy the place, and kill or persuade-to-disappear everyone except the Oyabun's son, who then needs extracting under the police's noses and needs to be brought (unwillingly) to his dad, and (b) get into the police station and get rid of the evidence, and possibly (depending on the group) more runs relating to intimidating witnesses.
| QUOTE (hyzmarca) |
| Runners are hired by a publishing conpany to retrieve the lastest novel of a popular horror writer who has gone in seclusion and breeched his contract. A little leg work will lead them to a small New England town that has been the setting of many of his novels. A little bit more leg work will tell them that this town is completely fictional. When they get to this town that should not exist, wierd drek starts to happen, including the citizens spontaneously exploding for no apparent reason and/or turning onto monsters. |
| QUOTE (Adarael) |
| "My rates triple if the run involves Sutter Caine." |
Couldn't pay me enough. No tongue-kissing the mouth of madness for me, thanks anyway.
| QUOTE (Enigma) |
| A Yakuza oyabun's over-westernised son is 'attending' university doing simsense studies, when he disappears. |
This is a great setup for a run, thanks for the idea.
Plot 1:
====
Ingredience:
+ 1 female, seductive yet "helpless" searching her younger sister that ran of with
a "brutal looking" ork
+ 1 obviously gay "Nobilis" searching a statue
+ 1 fat Troll, searching the same statue
+ 1 friend of the Player characters, recently deceased
+ 1 "brutal looking ork", recently deceased next to the above friend
+ 2 Lone Star cops after the PC
+ 1 dying captain delivering the statue to the characters
Stir and stew for about two hours. Season with any amount of Peter Falk if absolutly desired. Do not use colors!
Plot 2:
====
+ 1 Mafia-controlled race track (dogs or trolls)
+ 1 PC group pressured into robbing said track
+ 1 treacherous NPC trying to steal the money
+ 1 treacherous Johnson
+ 1 large, mostly empty border hotel
+ 1 caliber 12 pump gun, a pack of 00 shot and a pocket radio
+ Optionally 1 sexy elven chick associated with a PC
Have the group kill the Johnson, believe they killed the treacherous NPC. Organise everything for a showdown at the hotel.
Plot 3:
====
+ 1 NAN village besieged by ork bikers
+ Some heroic shadowrunners willing to defend the village
+ Enough NPC shadowrunners to fill up the ranks of the heros if necessary
Plot 4:
====
+ 1 Ring
+ 1 Volcano
+ ...
Birdy
Birdy
====
Ingredience:
+ 1 female, seductive yet "helpless" searching her younger sister that ran of with
a "brutal looking" ork
+ 1 obviously gay "Nobilis" searching a statue
+ 1 fat Troll, searching the same statue
+ 1 friend of the Player characters, recently deceased
+ 1 "brutal looking ork", recently deceased next to the above friend
+ 2 Lone Star cops after the PC
+ 1 dying captain delivering the statue to the characters
Stir and stew for about two hours. Season with any amount of Peter Falk if absolutly desired. Do not use colors!
Plot 2:
====
+ 1 Mafia-controlled race track (dogs or trolls)
+ 1 PC group pressured into robbing said track
+ 1 treacherous NPC trying to steal the money
+ 1 treacherous Johnson
+ 1 large, mostly empty border hotel
+ 1 caliber 12 pump gun, a pack of 00 shot and a pocket radio
+ Optionally 1 sexy elven chick associated with a PC
Have the group kill the Johnson, believe they killed the treacherous NPC. Organise everything for a showdown at the hotel.
Plot 3:
====
+ 1 NAN village besieged by ork bikers
+ Some heroic shadowrunners willing to defend the village
+ Enough NPC shadowrunners to fill up the ranks of the heros if necessary
Plot 4:
====
+ 1 Ring
+ 1 Volcano
+ ...
Birdy
Birdy
Little Johnny killed a man, put the gun against his head pulled the trigger now he's dead. Little Johnny's parents want the mess cleaned up, one way or another. The runners must destroy the evidence and/or frame someone.
Condom Duty (Is it only my group that makes dick jokes when every you say Mr. Johnson?)
A Johnson usual muscel can't be had for meet. He wants to hire your team. This can be good to give them a look at the other side of the run.
Needs: To look professional. Failing professional, look scary.
Main Tasks: Arrive on time. Astral and drone watch is an asset.
Twists: The hired teams attacks the Johnson or is ambushed at the meet.
First to Market
Two new cyber products are coming to market. Corp A wants the advantage of an early launch, if only in Seattle. Unfortunately Corp B has a few days lead. You need to try and cut that down.
Tasks: To target crucial component deliveries, warehouses, delivery trucks, and assembly plants.
Twists: Low profile required. If it becomes obvious that it is that one product being targeted security can be stepped up a lot.
Pay
Start around 8g a player. Can get more and some needed gear at a discount with negotiations.. Extra pay the longer Corp B is delayed past Corps A's launch date.
All that Glitters is not Gold
A corp mine has started producing oracalum. But something happened. There is a 2-4 day window before a clean up crew arrives to fix it up.
After the magic surge that created the oracalum shedem/other magic critter showed up and ran most of the mine. The surviving mine personal are holed in the oracalum processing area waiting for reinforcements.
Main Tasks: Get in and get out with as much oracalum and info on it as possible.
Extras: If possible grab some of the mages (doing the refining) in there as well.
Pushing the Envelope:Make the processing area a large box with big windows. It highly armored and has a strip search to get in/out with so no oracalum goes missing. The mages are highly protected but have line of sight on the runners.
Spirits bound an dotherwise.
Remote rigger controlled mining equipment.
Pay: High. Lots of bonuses depending on data, mages, and oracalum extracted.
Lost and Found
Some creatures that have been heavily wared have escaped from facility. You need to bring them back. The amount of damage the creature takes affects your pay.
Option 1
It was an orc or 2. They are heading for the orc underground and you need to intercept them or deal with the ork underground.
Option 2
It was a pack of fenir wolves. They are hunting down civilians and employess near the research station. The wolves are holed up in sewer/caves/forest that allows them to close on the runners before being shot.
Sweet Dreams
You need to oversee a BTL/data trade between the yakuza and an independent group.
Unfortunately the swap is in a public place in the middle of the day so no bug guns. And the Star around to.
Even worse the independent is a chip junkie that is barely holding together trying to stay clean to make the swap. Keep him together (probably don’t even let him out of you sight) or try to explain him to the yakuza.
Twists: The mob wants the brief case with the chips in it. They make you an offer you can’t refuse (or at least shouldn’t) refuse.
The chip junkie gets away from you long enough to shoot up. What can’t go wrong now?
A Johnson usual muscel can't be had for meet. He wants to hire your team. This can be good to give them a look at the other side of the run.
Needs: To look professional. Failing professional, look scary.
Main Tasks: Arrive on time. Astral and drone watch is an asset.
Twists: The hired teams attacks the Johnson or is ambushed at the meet.
First to Market
Two new cyber products are coming to market. Corp A wants the advantage of an early launch, if only in Seattle. Unfortunately Corp B has a few days lead. You need to try and cut that down.
Tasks: To target crucial component deliveries, warehouses, delivery trucks, and assembly plants.
Twists: Low profile required. If it becomes obvious that it is that one product being targeted security can be stepped up a lot.
Pay
Start around 8g a player. Can get more and some needed gear at a discount with negotiations.. Extra pay the longer Corp B is delayed past Corps A's launch date.
All that Glitters is not Gold
A corp mine has started producing oracalum. But something happened. There is a 2-4 day window before a clean up crew arrives to fix it up.
After the magic surge that created the oracalum shedem/other magic critter showed up and ran most of the mine. The surviving mine personal are holed in the oracalum processing area waiting for reinforcements.
Main Tasks: Get in and get out with as much oracalum and info on it as possible.
Extras: If possible grab some of the mages (doing the refining) in there as well.
Pushing the Envelope:Make the processing area a large box with big windows. It highly armored and has a strip search to get in/out with so no oracalum goes missing. The mages are highly protected but have line of sight on the runners.
Spirits bound an dotherwise.
Remote rigger controlled mining equipment.
Pay: High. Lots of bonuses depending on data, mages, and oracalum extracted.
Lost and Found
Some creatures that have been heavily wared have escaped from facility. You need to bring them back. The amount of damage the creature takes affects your pay.
Option 1
It was an orc or 2. They are heading for the orc underground and you need to intercept them or deal with the ork underground.
Option 2
It was a pack of fenir wolves. They are hunting down civilians and employess near the research station. The wolves are holed up in sewer/caves/forest that allows them to close on the runners before being shot.
Sweet Dreams
You need to oversee a BTL/data trade between the yakuza and an independent group.
Unfortunately the swap is in a public place in the middle of the day so no bug guns. And the Star around to.
Even worse the independent is a chip junkie that is barely holding together trying to stay clean to make the swap. Keep him together (probably don’t even let him out of you sight) or try to explain him to the yakuza.
Twists: The mob wants the brief case with the chips in it. They make you an offer you can’t refuse (or at least shouldn’t) refuse.
The chip junkie gets away from you long enough to shoot up. What can’t go wrong now?
Destroy a corporate facility with light guards and serious magical resistance. The facility produces a part that is universal to most vehicles: shock absorbers. That's not the important part. The important part is that the corporation wants you to only use their equipment, but it's nice stuff custom fitted for your team that gives you a serious edge: they're performing an audit as to how much it costs per unit of time for shadowrunners to destroy a facility. How much you get is based on how much you return with and the condition it's in, as well as time.
I just like the idea of a performance review for Shadowrunners.
I just like the idea of a performance review for Shadowrunners.
| QUOTE (Birdy) |
| Plot 1: ==== Ingredience: + 1 female, seductive yet "helpless" searching her younger sister that ran of with a "brutal looking" ork + 1 obviously gay "Nobilis" searching a statue + 1 fat Troll, searching the same statue + 1 friend of the Player characters, recently deceased + 1 "brutal looking ork", recently deceased next to the above friend + 2 Lone Star cops after the PC + 1 dying captain delivering the statue to the characters Stir and stew for about two hours. Season with any amount of Peter Falk if absolutly desired. Do not use colors! Plot 2: ==== + 1 Mafia-controlled race track (dogs or trolls) + 1 PC group pressured into robbing said track + 1 treacherous NPC trying to steal the money + 1 treacherous Johnson + 1 large, mostly empty border hotel + 1 caliber 12 pump gun, a pack of 00 shot and a pocket radio + Optionally 1 sexy elven chick associated with a PC Have the group kill the Johnson, believe they killed the treacherous NPC. Organise everything for a showdown at the hotel. Plot 3: ==== + 1 NAN village besieged by ork bikers + Some heroic shadowrunners willing to defend the village + Enough NPC shadowrunners to fill up the ranks of the heros if necessary Plot 4: ==== + 1 Ring + 1 Volcano + ... Birdy Birdy |
Okay Plot one is the Maltese Falcon
Plot two sounded at first like city on fire, but I'm not sure.
Plot three is the Magnificent Seven/Seven Samurai. Cool.
Plot four I just can't place my precious...
Okay my run Idea...
The Hook - Hired by rich elven woman to rescue her ward(16) who has been kidnapped by gangers, the star are stumped on where he is. He was taken with his cousin(10) and his girlfriend(17, not approved of by ms Johnson).
The Line - Runners have to hit leg work city to find the kid. They should find his name in Dunks will during this. They need to avoid being noticed by the star while doing this.
The Sinker - They find the gang and the boy. They are all holed up in a bank vault that the gang have "hired" from the branch manager... Fun ensues as the group try to get him out. Add any complications you like...
Here is the one we ran as our first 4th ed game last night. i will actually do a report later and let you guys critique me.
Johnson hires the runners to kidnap a local ork rockstar during one of her performances at a local club. Since security is tight, he has guns hidden under their seats.
catch: Singer is a rich corp dudes daughter who likes to slum with the natives. Johnson doesn't give a damn about her. He just wants video of local thugs using his competitor's cheap plastic guns to terrorize the locals (and piss off a corp). he will assasinate the girl himself as soon as they deliver her, and leave the body for locals to find.
Johnson hires the runners to kidnap a local ork rockstar during one of her performances at a local club. Since security is tight, he has guns hidden under their seats.
catch: Singer is a rich corp dudes daughter who likes to slum with the natives. Johnson doesn't give a damn about her. He just wants video of local thugs using his competitor's cheap plastic guns to terrorize the locals (and piss off a corp). he will assasinate the girl himself as soon as they deliver her, and leave the body for locals to find.
| QUOTE (Ophis) | ||
Okay Plot one is the Maltese Falcon Plot two sounded at first like city on fire, but I'm not sure. Plot three is the Magnificent Seven/Seven Samurai. Cool. Plot four I just can't place my precious... Okay my run Idea... The Hook - Hired by rich elven woman to rescue her ward(16) who has been kidnapped by gangers, the star are stumped on where he is. He was taken with his cousin(10) and his girlfriend(17, not approved of by ms Johnson). The Line - Runners have to hit leg work city to find the kid. They should find his name in Dunks will during this. They need to avoid being noticed by the star while doing this. The Sinker - They find the gang and the boy. They are all holed up in a bank vault that the gang have "hired" from the branch manager... Fun ensues as the group try to get him out. Add any complications you like... |
Another hint: The elven chick is played by Kim Basinger
Btw: "Hook, Line and Sinker?" You are outing yourself here!
Birdy
Nah you still lost me. I've never paid a lot of attention to Kim Basinger.
and outing my self as what? I know what I'm referencing. now that was a good run.
and outing my self as what? I know what I'm referencing. now that was a good run.
For the sadistic GM who wants to provide a moral delima.
An anti-awakened fundamentalist cult kidnaps a young girl who is sometype of magical prodogy. They publicly claim responsibility for the act and justify their actions with mad rantings that amount to blood libel against all magicians. The girl's parents hire the runners to get her back unharmed by a certain date.
WHen the girl is rescued the runners learn that the cultists weren't quite as crazy as they seemed. The girl is, in fact, proud of her detined role as a human sacrifice and speaks of the brutals tortures tht she will endure before ending her own life in a particulary grusome manner with nothing less than joyfull anticipation.
What's more, the blood ritual is meant to close a huge power site, one large enough to allow some big and nasty things to pass through. There is a maliginant force banging at the gates and only one chance to bar them.
The runners can deliver the girl to a horrifying death and collect their pay or they can protect her from herself and her parents and, in doing so, unleash an unspeakable evil into the world.
An anti-awakened fundamentalist cult kidnaps a young girl who is sometype of magical prodogy. They publicly claim responsibility for the act and justify their actions with mad rantings that amount to blood libel against all magicians. The girl's parents hire the runners to get her back unharmed by a certain date.
WHen the girl is rescued the runners learn that the cultists weren't quite as crazy as they seemed. The girl is, in fact, proud of her detined role as a human sacrifice and speaks of the brutals tortures tht she will endure before ending her own life in a particulary grusome manner with nothing less than joyfull anticipation.
What's more, the blood ritual is meant to close a huge power site, one large enough to allow some big and nasty things to pass through. There is a maliginant force banging at the gates and only one chance to bar them.
The runners can deliver the girl to a horrifying death and collect their pay or they can protect her from herself and her parents and, in doing so, unleash an unspeakable evil into the world.
Moral delima? Option 1 seems to supports both:
1 Get paid
2 Live long enough to spend it
while option 2 does not.
So what is the problem?
1 Get paid
2 Live long enough to spend it
while option 2 does not.
So what is the problem?
Maybe the unspeakable evil pays better.
depends on the character. If you have some cthulhu/horror cultists/etc as runners... guess what? Bring in the horrors! 
Plus, what if all these folks are just delusional cultists? They're all being manipulated by some crazed spirit/bug/<insert horror>. The runners might feel that the right thing is to stop them. I know, I'm just adding a twist to the whole thing.
Plus, what if all these folks are just delusional cultists? They're all being manipulated by some crazed spirit/bug/<insert horror>. The runners might feel that the right thing is to stop them. I know, I'm just adding a twist to the whole thing.
| QUOTE (hyzmarca) |
| Maybe the unspeakable evil pays better. |
Almost certainly but will you live long enough to spend it.
Edward
maybe if you join its side, it might let you live longer...
'All hail the unspeakable evil*...'
* - It's probably drop bears...
'All hail the unspeakable evil*...'
* - It's probably drop bears...
| QUOTE |
| The runners can deliver the girl to a horrifying death and collect their pay or they can protect her from herself and her parents and, in doing so, unleash an unspeakable evil into the world. |
Wait... what? The prodigy's parents want her dead too? You get paid if she dies? I thought the options would be:
1) Protect the girl from herself and the cult, get paid, but unleash unspeakable evil (a return of popularity to Furbies?)
2) Let the girl waste herself, pick up the girl's parents as enemies instead of the cash, but stop "unspeakable evil."
I do like PBTHHHHT's suggestion, which would turn it from a lose - lose, to a win-lose, but... only if you're sure they're crazy. Wether it was true or not, I'd drop hints of it, just to make the issue that much more confusing.
Then I'd have the party eaten alive by the return of furbies.
| QUOTE (Feshy) | ||
Wait... what? The prodigy's parents want her dead too? You get paid if she dies? I thought the options would be: 1) Protect the girl from herself and the cult, get paid, but unleash unspeakable evil (a return of popularity to Furbies?) 2) Let the girl waste herself, pick up the girl's parents as enemies instead of the cash, but stop "unspeakable evil." I do like PBTHHHHT's suggestion, which would turn it from a lose - lose, to a win-lose, but... only if you're sure they're crazy. Wether it was true or not, I'd drop hints of it, just to make the issue that much more confusing. Then I'd have the party eaten alive by the return of furbies. |
Nah, the cult that is doing the kidnapping is a bunch of fundamentalist waccos who think all magic is the work of the devil and all magicians eat babies.
The fact that the girl was bred and raised specifically to be a human sacrifice is purely a coincidence.
It becomes a question of which side is crazier, the misguided but altuistic hatemongers or the people who are willing to slaughter their own child in accordance with their beliefs.
Ok, I'll do my option. Kill all the wackos cultists, rescue the girl and any other people that can be saved, take the money from the parents, whack them too. Take all the funds from both the cultists and the parents. Send the girl to some place to be deprogrammed and then send to her a boarding school and a trust fund so that she can have a normal life. What, why are y'all looking at me like that?
| QUOTE (hyzmarca) | ||||
Nah, the cult that is doing the kidnapping is a bunch of fundamentalist waccos who think all magic is the work of the devil and all magicians eat babies. The fact that the girl was bred and raised specifically to be a human sacrifice is purely a coincidence. It becomes a question of which side is crazier, the misguided but altuistic hatemongers or the people who are willing to slaughter their own child in accordance with their beliefs. |
Oh, I see. I was under the impression that it was the Cultists who had planned to sacrifice her (though she accepted it.) Makes more sense now.
The runners are hired to investigate a series of magical terrorist attacks against a small to middle-ish corp's Marketing Research department. Someone keeps sending spirits in to wreak havoc for no apparent reason, but the corp doesn't have the magical knowhow to figure out whats going on. This Corp is about to roll out a new productline that could launch them into the big leagues, but someone seems intent on derailing their plans.
The catch: The Corp is being terrorized by a Free Spirit. It seems some marketing schlub came up with a catchy new name for their product, and this just happens to be the same as the spirits True Name. Whenever some corp wageslave has need to speak the name of the product line aloud, this spirit shows and wrecks up the joint. OTOH, the free spirit can't figure out how all these mundanes have gotten access to its True Name, or why they keep slamming him into this one section of Seattle on an irregular basis.
The Runners are stuck with destroying a powerful spirit OR unraveling the mystery, convincing the corp to drop a name that has focus-grouped well, while at the same time convincing the free spirit that they either know nothing, or that they can be trusted with its True Name.
The catch: The Corp is being terrorized by a Free Spirit. It seems some marketing schlub came up with a catchy new name for their product, and this just happens to be the same as the spirits True Name. Whenever some corp wageslave has need to speak the name of the product line aloud, this spirit shows and wrecks up the joint. OTOH, the free spirit can't figure out how all these mundanes have gotten access to its True Name, or why they keep slamming him into this one section of Seattle on an irregular basis.
The Runners are stuck with destroying a powerful spirit OR unraveling the mystery, convincing the corp to drop a name that has focus-grouped well, while at the same time convincing the free spirit that they either know nothing, or that they can be trusted with its True Name.
Hats off, Deamon, that's brilliant.
| QUOTE (Deamon_Knight) |
| The runners are hired to investigate a series of magical terrorist attacks against a small to middle-ish corp's Marketing Research department. Someone keeps sending spirits in to wreak havoc for no apparent reason, but the corp doesn't have the magical knowhow to figure out whats going on. This Corp is about to roll out a new productline that could launch them into the big leagues, but someone seems intent on derailing their plans. The catch: The Corp is being terrorized by a Free Spirit. It seems some marketing schlub came up with a catchy new name for their product, and this just happens to be the same as the spirits True Name. The Runners are stuck with destroying a powerful spirit OR unraveling the mystery, convincing the corp to drop a name that has focus-grouped well, while at the same time convincing the free spirit that they either know nothing, or that they can be trusted with its True Name. |
A little edit to conform to the rules.
It also cuts down on the spirit constantly being there, and it may also provide the clue to what is happening.
A Johnson in the middle of a messy divorce and custody dispute hires the runners to kidnap his or her daughter from an elementry school.
The catch is that the target isn't the Johnson's daughter. The target is a Free great form Blood spirit with the human form power which just happens to look like the Johnson's dead daughter. The Johnson believes that this creature is, in fact, his or her daughter's ghost and feels that he or she has a duty to provide it with sustaince that no one will report missing.
The catch is that the target isn't the Johnson's daughter. The target is a Free great form Blood spirit with the human form power which just happens to look like the Johnson's dead daughter. The Johnson believes that this creature is, in fact, his or her daughter's ghost and feels that he or she has a duty to provide it with sustaince that no one will report missing.
or shedim for the lower power groups. The dead daughter who has miraculously come back to life. Wait, did the Johnson was the person who caused the daughter's death (accidental or intentional) and now feel such anguish and guilt about it, that now that she's back he/she's helping to protect the 'daughter'.
| QUOTE (hyzmarca) |
| For the sadistic GM who wants to provide a moral delima. An anti-awakened fundamentalist cult kidnaps a young girl who is sometype of magical prodogy. They publicly claim responsibility for the act and justify their actions with mad rantings that amount to blood libel against all magicians. The girl's parents hire the runners to get her back unharmed by a certain date. WHen the girl is rescued the runners learn that the cultists weren't quite as crazy as they seemed. The girl is, in fact, proud of her detined role as a human sacrifice and speaks of the brutals tortures tht she will endure before ending her own life in a particulary grusome manner with nothing less than joyfull anticipation. What's more, the blood ritual is meant to close a huge power site, one large enough to allow some big and nasty things to pass through. There is a maliginant force banging at the gates and only one chance to bar them. The runners can deliver the girl to a horrifying death and collect their pay or they can protect her from herself and her parents and, in doing so, unleash an unspeakable evil into the world. |
This one's simple.
Take the daughter, but make sure that she gets roughed up a bit in the escape. (Of course, make it look like an accident. After all, should'nt the parents be happy that she was only knocked unconcious, as opposed to having that rocket plow through the Roadmaster's armor?)
While she's out, load her full of those drugs that they use on magic-users to destroy their magical ability. A bit of Laes might also help; she would'nt know what's going on.
Because you'd be knocking out her magical abilities, the anti-awakened folks would likely be happy to stage the "escape", and maybe even provide the necessary drugs, or perhaps just administer them. When the runners get back, they hand over the daughter, they'll get paid; they can claim that they did what they can to get her back in one piece, and leave. (Hopefully, they'll have a mage to shield against Lie Detector spells or the like.)
This one works nicely. The fundies get what they want, and because they no longer have the girl, they don't have to worry quite as much about shadowrunners blowing them to little bits. The parents get their kid back; they won't likely admit that they had intended her for sacrifice, and will likely pay the runners. And they won't be able to sacrifice the girl, which works out well for both her and the rest of the planet.
The only ones to lose would be the drop bears.
| QUOTE (SpasticTeapot) | ||
This one's simple. Take the daughter, but make sure that she gets roughed up a bit in the escape. (Of course, make it look like an accident. After all, should'nt the parents be happy that she was only knocked unconcious, as opposed to having that rocket plow through the Roadmaster's armor?) While she's out, load her full of those drugs that they use on magic-users to destroy their magical ability. A bit of Laes might also help; she would'nt know what's going on. Because you'd be knocking out her magical abilities, the anti-awakened folks would likely be happy to stage the "escape", and maybe even provide the necessary drugs, or perhaps just administer them. When the runners get back, they hand over the daughter, they'll get paid; they can claim that they did what they can to get her back in one piece, and leave. (Hopefully, they'll have a mage to shield against Lie Detector spells or the like.) This one works nicely. The fundies get what they want, and because they no longer have the girl, they don't have to worry quite as much about shadowrunners blowing them to little bits. The parents get their kid back; they won't likely admit that they had intended her for sacrifice, and will likely pay the runners. And they won't be able to sacrifice the girl, which works out well for both her and the rest of the planet. The only ones to lose would be the drop bears. |
No, the drop bears will win. So will everyone's favorite metal elemental if the GM is sadistic enough. Remember, the ritual sacrifice is mean to close the potential gateway.
It is sort of a damed if you don't less damned if you do sort of situation.
I've been playing Fatal Frame III so the entire human sacrifice to close the gates of hell thing has stuck in my mind. It also fits with Shadowrun canon considering the Dragonheart trillogy.
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