Ok guys, I've got to make this quick. I have 15 minutes to do a write up before class, so sorry for any misprints. I'll update info after class, but comment on what I have, cause I want to know how it sounds before I let you in to the details.

I'm introducing a group of RPers who I've convinced to try SR after they got fed up with the hack and slash fest of D&D offered at school by other GMs. All of them are good Role players. So far they have:

A otaku specialized in stealth.
A pistoleer/Sensor Platform/Demolitionist Bounty Hunter (He is also X-LS)
A Healer/Stealth/Investigator Mage
We also have a Sammy, Decker, and a Rigger in the works.

The johnson is gonna lay it on the line something like this: (Rush Version)

Your job is to find a computer programmer/Forgery Expert who has a great deal of experiance in the shadow community. He goes by the name Triple Exposure. He was part of this team organized by a Mafioso as a forgery cell for the mob. The rest of his team and the Mafioso has been assasinated. We want to know why. We also want to know what he is working on. We are also willing to offer a bonus for finding and stopping the killer.
If he is dead, we will accept a copy of Triple Exposure's work as a acceptable alternative.
There are no leads as to where he is, and it is believed that this is probably how come he is still alive.


How much per person should I offer, ect, ect. Anything you can think of including false leads, put them down. I'll fill in the actual events behind the scene when I get out of class in 2 hours.

First baseline is figure out what the PCs pay in lifestyle, on average. That's your backend for the run. Then add in how hard you are going to make it. At a guess, I'd say 30,000 is a good baseline for this kind of task. Six characters might bump it up to 40,000 and let them negotiate from there. If it's really a difficult run (the killer is a CZ or otherwise Bad Ass) Maybe go as high as 60,000 or 10,000 per player.

Being stingy with people you're trying to get interested in the game just doesn't seem to be the right thing to do, so these numbers should work.

Ok, now that I have some time, let me lay out the unseen meat behind the scenario:

Seattle has been a mecha for false IDs and counterfeiting for years. All those borders so close, all the money going in and out, it was a good deal. Especially for the Mafia and Yakuza. And with the near unending state of war between them, also good targets.

The trouble began when the local made man Nelson Spataro got an idea. One of the new number crunchers had a background in worms and viruses. Wouldn't it be great, he thought, if they could make one of those bugs, and sneak it into the database of the yakuza counterfeiters? Crash their machines for a day or two, corrupt their information. Hit them where it hurts!

He ran off and told the idea to the group. They grunted and twitched, but after a quick look at their own system, they realized it could be done. After some more examination, they realized they could do that and more. They realized they could, instead of crashing the system, use the virus to hijack they system for their own uses. They coded it up as a side line, and when they were ready, they hired a team to place it in their server.

The run was successful. Once the systems booted up, they realized the beauty of the situation. No only did it give full access to their system, but it also allowed them further access, until they all but secretly controlled the entire mainframes operations.

Here's where it gets complicated kiddies, so keep up . Nelson decides to inform his boss of the situation in hopes of working his way up the ladder. He's been keeping it secret, so he's hoping to pull it off like a birthday present for the Don.

However, one of the programmers, Kurt Jong, got a brainstorm of his own. All those IDs, all that money, all ready for the picking. So he goes and Drains the Yakuza of Money, installs a black ice in the Mainframe to fry the programmers, then grabs a dozen or so of their IDs. He leaves data pointers leading towards their building. Then, he uses the same virus to suck all the funds and IDs out of his department, and funnels it into a storage file. He then ducks out for a sandwich, and calls in a tip to the local Yakuza boss (who is throwing a fit) about how there is a "party or something" going on over at their building, and how he saw the Don there. Action and reprisal is swift from a yakuza cyber assassin. The building is ventilated. After she leaves, he firebombs it for good measure. Kurt then goes to the Airport to fly away and leave happily ever after.

But things don't work out that way.

The night before all this went down, Triple Expose (henceforth T-E) realized that all that information being transferred might give the Yakuza some warning of what was going on. So why send all that information? Why not compress it and encode it first? Heck, let's be through and have it add a data bomb on it. (At midnight, when your all alone, and it's just add hocking a few pieces on, it can seem like a good idea) So he did. He was up till four doing it. Triple was so exhausted that he called in sick. And was at home. All day.

Oh, by the way, did I mention that Kurt never noticed the encoder? Or for that matter, the DECODER, which was on the MAINFRAME, which was FIREBOMBED?

So we have Kurt, sitting here, with the information, but no way to access it. False IDs and cash galore. But it was locked up and he burned the key.

Oh, and Nelson got ventilated by the Don. Not much of a shock there. He was framed for it, by runners of course.

Kurt is now back in the city, with hired muscle quietly combing the streets for T-E. The Don's men are looking. The Yakuza are looking. T-E is hiding, unaware that he is the only one with the slightest clue on how to get several million nuyen out of a file. He could see the way the wind was blowing.

And the runners are working for Renraku. Do I need to spell that one out, folks?

What do ya think? I'm looking for help with some false leads, some fleshing out of the major characters, ect. Basically, I'm looking to flesh it out a bit.

"Seattle has been a mecha for false IDs and counterfeiting for years."

Just an off topic note; the mental image of thousands of devote pilgrams bowing down to Eva Unit-01 or the Gundam Epyon warms the corners of my heart.

Carry on.

See, I'd start off SR-virgins with a few milk runs.

So I'm guessing you're the kind of guy that jumps right into the freezing cold pool without sticking your toes in first. Am I right?

You know... Food Fight has to be one of the best starting adventures I've ever read. It's simple, quick, and above all, fun.

I've already done food fight. I just didn't consider the milk run worth mentioning.

I have made sure they have a decent grip on the rules and that, this is just their first 'real' run is all, and I want to make it special...

And yes, Zazen, I am.

The problem with new players is that, if they don't have a lead, they won't know what to do. You have to throw them a bone of some sort. A girlfriend, the bar he always frequents, something to get them on the right track. Otherwise, they'll spend the first two or three hours of the game floundering and losing interest quickly because they're not getting anything done.

The Abstruse One

That's a good point. One of my tricks to combat that problem is to have a small "clue pile" on hand, which is just scraps of paper with minor clues written on them. When a player comes up with a clever way of gathering information or gets a phenomenal roll, I pull something appropriate out of the clue pile and hand it over. This way they don't get discouraged and bored.