It's been a while. During which our gaming group only managed 2 sessions due to schedule conflicts and the like.
Still, we managed a nice short followup mission to the above. This writeup comes from Adonis' player, with GM notes and additions marked. A good chunk of this scenario was spent running and gunning on my part, with only basic notes and profiles on various characters generated beforehand. I'm finding this a lot easier than having a full plotline that falls apart on contact with a PC with ideas.
AresPredator has dropped out of the game.
Otherwise, we're all good.
---
Journal of a Scoundrel
So we got out first payout... a payout with strings attached. The crew seemed less than pleased with the prospect of heading back into the jaws of the dragon. Still, we some time to prepare I was confident we could do it and keep our brains on the right side of our skulls. Besides, we need to start making good impressions if we want to get regular work. Walking out on a contact who just lost their go to team is going to leave a bad taste. Coming through though, that gets you off of the rolodex and onto speed dial.
The job, to exchange the wafers for the Razorgirl. Sounds easy but given Saeder-Krupp's resources if we didn't keep them on their toes and out of their element we were toast. Count Zero brought up the idea of bringing them out into the barrens and getting some extra muscle.
(GM Comment. This one sentence took about two hours ingame planning and discussion. The group discussed various options, from doing it in a public place, to arranging it in a restaraunt. To paracrocadiles. Full Text transcript here).
Luckily I knew some Orc gangers, the Softies, who were a little down on their luck having recently lost a turf war. Their turf out in Puyallup ain't pretty but it would do the job and they could do with the creds. Only problem would be them being desperate enough to try and work both sides. We decided it would be best to keep the details vague and keep them away from direct contact with whoever the corp sent. There was an exchange happening but with who and for what, they didn't need to know. After a bit of haggling we arranged the details with their bossman Slaphead.
( GM Comment. Yes, they were originally from Redmond, Why do you ask? My own fault for writing while tired and up on Coffee. Also in this segment, was Mikey, an ork teenager who managed to negotiate himself 10% of the action for letting the players know where to find Slaphead, and,most importantly, a name on the GM's character notes sheet. He's in a local bar on Ezra Pound street formerly named Hop King, where the PC's are their usual gregarious selves....
Adonis: "Not bad for horse piss,"
Bartender: "Only the best damn horse for sure,"
Slaphead is gregarious, the CEO of his own personal gang. He's hesitant to get his people shot up at first. Adonis negotiates 10 Guys, 700 NY a head after negotiation with Mikey getting his evetra 10%. Wraith ups a decent battleplan with the gang-leader, combining military knowledge and local knowledge. (3 succeses - 2 for not quite an appropriate skill.))
They recommended a disused internment camp from some old war, Camp Harmony. Used to be a museum but after Mount Rainier went up it was abandoned. Out of the way, plenty of old buildings for cover. Walls and fencing to limit access. It was perfect.
Count Zero put together a shopping list. Something about the barrens messing with out commsets and no matrix. Can't say I know how but by the time he was done we had cameras covering the approaches and comms that worked despite the static.
(GM Notes: Count Zero suggests grabbing some microtransceivers to assist in comms. Adonis suggests adding a jammer, while leaving a single frequency free. Count Zero suggests combining Microtransceivers with Cameras. GM suggests it might be possible with a good hardware roll. Count Zero purchases 6 Microcameras, alongside Microtransceivers. Adonis merely takes a few successes to find the low rarity item for Count Zero. (GM sets threshold of 4..... to get one working. Once one's working you can do it over and over again, so he builds 5 of them. But it takes him into the late evening. Adonis' player earned a bonus karma point for pulling Count Zero into the game here. Count Zero earned one for a really clever idea.)
We made the call. The next day Reinharte would receive instructions on where to go, 2 vehicles only, I guess I should learn to be more explicit. After giving the coordinates they turned up in a transport and a gunship!
(GM Comment: A flash of an idea based on his specific wording, but It seemed like just such a Corp-y thing to do! Remind them of the true pecking order. You hold cards sure, but I have an entire deck.)
Reinharte landed on the field and took the first of the wafers. The gunship then landed and the Razorgirl was brought out. She looked like she had been through hell, most of her augments had been pulled out but was mostly in good health. Crucially, it was her, assensing confirmed it. Scorch then brought up the van with the second wafer. The swap was made. Once we were away we would call Reinharte and let him know the location of the final wafer we had hidden. He had an unexpected curveball, a cortex bomb implanted in the razorgirl head. He would give us the deactivation code when we gave up the location of the last wafer.
We gave the signal for the Softies to clear out and Scorch burned rubber. Once we were clear we called in the location, our little joke. Wafers should be kept in the a clean room so where better than the sanitation block (well, what was left of it). Reinharte got a joke over on us though, turns out there was no cortex bomb!
(GM Comment: They pulled the same stunt in the last run. It seemed like such a perfect thing to do in return. It also forced the players to play their final card while still in Gunship range - which in any other game might've led to a chase scene since 5 minutes is nowhere near enough time to go to ground.)
After getting what was left of the Razorgirl patched up at a Steetdoc we dropped her off at Marcus club and collected our payment. He seemed pretty grateful so we could be looking at getting a regular gig. The Softies were likewise pretty happy with things, 700 creds each for a babysitting job with not a single shot fired.
When the dust had settled Reinharte called one last time. He was impressed and wanted to put us on the payroll. Not sure how I feel about working for a corp. It's secure yeah but seems like fun of living on the edge is gone. That thrill is why I do it instead of going for the easy con jobs. I told him I'd speak the crew and we'd talk it out. I guess we'll all have to decide, go straight or keep running on our own terms?
--------------
(GM Comments:
ALL players earn 6 Karma for a job well done.
Adonis and Count Zero, gain a Bonus point as detailed above. Adonis given the option of improving his contact rating with Slaphead, rather than take the bonus point, which he took.
One thing I have been specifically trying to do is avoid the usual Shadowrun Cliches and have adversaries try be reasonably smart rather that 'lol Evulz corps'. (Even the prime runners had their reasons for being so tightlipped about the true nature of the run) Generally, I'm trying to play 'fair', rather than drop a bridge. I was worried that there might not have been enough tension to the meet if everything went to plan, but positive player feedback makes me glad that I stuck to that. One of my goals is to try and reward good planning of a run and just not running and gunning it, and the players appreciated that. They also like Reinhardt as a character.
On the whole, it actually proceeded in a fairly straightforward manner when you look at the big picture, with only the minor setback of the choppers causing a moment of actual concern to the players. Nobody did anything stupid or really reckless.
As for Reinhardt - I am hoping to bring on one or two more job streams, rather than just Markas. With him being the one offering some of the more morally suspect jobs.
One thing that has been brought to my attention is my tendancy to take too many notes mid-game. Partly it's me being a pedant, and partly because it gives me space to clear my head and work out what's happening relative to what I expect. The sum total of my experience GM'ing a game is basically in this thread. Especially since I hadn't expected this to become a campaign, only the original break-and-enter run was realy planned.
There has been one other session since, but between chargen and other matters, it'll be rolled into the next one. In which what I thought would be an offhand amusing piece of background caused a PC to have a panic attack. In character, of course. Which is gonna be fun when they find out where they're going)
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
Still, we managed a nice short followup mission to the above. This writeup comes from Adonis' player, with GM notes and additions marked. A good chunk of this scenario was spent running and gunning on my part, with only basic notes and profiles on various characters generated beforehand. I'm finding this a lot easier than having a full plotline that falls apart on contact with a PC with ideas.
AresPredator has dropped out of the game.
Otherwise, we're all good.
---
Journal of a Scoundrel
So we got out first payout... a payout with strings attached. The crew seemed less than pleased with the prospect of heading back into the jaws of the dragon. Still, we some time to prepare I was confident we could do it and keep our brains on the right side of our skulls. Besides, we need to start making good impressions if we want to get regular work. Walking out on a contact who just lost their go to team is going to leave a bad taste. Coming through though, that gets you off of the rolodex and onto speed dial.
The job, to exchange the wafers for the Razorgirl. Sounds easy but given Saeder-Krupp's resources if we didn't keep them on their toes and out of their element we were toast. Count Zero brought up the idea of bringing them out into the barrens and getting some extra muscle.
(GM Comment. This one sentence took about two hours ingame planning and discussion. The group discussed various options, from doing it in a public place, to arranging it in a restaraunt. To paracrocadiles. Full Text transcript here).
Luckily I knew some Orc gangers, the Softies, who were a little down on their luck having recently lost a turf war. Their turf out in Puyallup ain't pretty but it would do the job and they could do with the creds. Only problem would be them being desperate enough to try and work both sides. We decided it would be best to keep the details vague and keep them away from direct contact with whoever the corp sent. There was an exchange happening but with who and for what, they didn't need to know. After a bit of haggling we arranged the details with their bossman Slaphead.
( GM Comment. Yes, they were originally from Redmond, Why do you ask? My own fault for writing while tired and up on Coffee. Also in this segment, was Mikey, an ork teenager who managed to negotiate himself 10% of the action for letting the players know where to find Slaphead, and,most importantly, a name on the GM's character notes sheet. He's in a local bar on Ezra Pound street formerly named Hop King, where the PC's are their usual gregarious selves....
Adonis: "Not bad for horse piss,"
Bartender: "Only the best damn horse for sure,"
Slaphead is gregarious, the CEO of his own personal gang. He's hesitant to get his people shot up at first. Adonis negotiates 10 Guys, 700 NY a head after negotiation with Mikey getting his evetra 10%. Wraith ups a decent battleplan with the gang-leader, combining military knowledge and local knowledge. (3 succeses - 2 for not quite an appropriate skill.))
They recommended a disused internment camp from some old war, Camp Harmony. Used to be a museum but after Mount Rainier went up it was abandoned. Out of the way, plenty of old buildings for cover. Walls and fencing to limit access. It was perfect.
Count Zero put together a shopping list. Something about the barrens messing with out commsets and no matrix. Can't say I know how but by the time he was done we had cameras covering the approaches and comms that worked despite the static.
(GM Notes: Count Zero suggests grabbing some microtransceivers to assist in comms. Adonis suggests adding a jammer, while leaving a single frequency free. Count Zero suggests combining Microtransceivers with Cameras. GM suggests it might be possible with a good hardware roll. Count Zero purchases 6 Microcameras, alongside Microtransceivers. Adonis merely takes a few successes to find the low rarity item for Count Zero. (GM sets threshold of 4..... to get one working. Once one's working you can do it over and over again, so he builds 5 of them. But it takes him into the late evening. Adonis' player earned a bonus karma point for pulling Count Zero into the game here. Count Zero earned one for a really clever idea.)
We made the call. The next day Reinharte would receive instructions on where to go, 2 vehicles only, I guess I should learn to be more explicit. After giving the coordinates they turned up in a transport and a gunship!
(GM Comment: A flash of an idea based on his specific wording, but It seemed like just such a Corp-y thing to do! Remind them of the true pecking order. You hold cards sure, but I have an entire deck.)
Reinharte landed on the field and took the first of the wafers. The gunship then landed and the Razorgirl was brought out. She looked like she had been through hell, most of her augments had been pulled out but was mostly in good health. Crucially, it was her, assensing confirmed it. Scorch then brought up the van with the second wafer. The swap was made. Once we were away we would call Reinharte and let him know the location of the final wafer we had hidden. He had an unexpected curveball, a cortex bomb implanted in the razorgirl head. He would give us the deactivation code when we gave up the location of the last wafer.
We gave the signal for the Softies to clear out and Scorch burned rubber. Once we were clear we called in the location, our little joke. Wafers should be kept in the a clean room so where better than the sanitation block (well, what was left of it). Reinharte got a joke over on us though, turns out there was no cortex bomb!
(GM Comment: They pulled the same stunt in the last run. It seemed like such a perfect thing to do in return. It also forced the players to play their final card while still in Gunship range - which in any other game might've led to a chase scene since 5 minutes is nowhere near enough time to go to ground.)
After getting what was left of the Razorgirl patched up at a Steetdoc we dropped her off at Marcus club and collected our payment. He seemed pretty grateful so we could be looking at getting a regular gig. The Softies were likewise pretty happy with things, 700 creds each for a babysitting job with not a single shot fired.
When the dust had settled Reinharte called one last time. He was impressed and wanted to put us on the payroll. Not sure how I feel about working for a corp. It's secure yeah but seems like fun of living on the edge is gone. That thrill is why I do it instead of going for the easy con jobs. I told him I'd speak the crew and we'd talk it out. I guess we'll all have to decide, go straight or keep running on our own terms?
--------------
(GM Comments:
ALL players earn 6 Karma for a job well done.
Adonis and Count Zero, gain a Bonus point as detailed above. Adonis given the option of improving his contact rating with Slaphead, rather than take the bonus point, which he took.
One thing I have been specifically trying to do is avoid the usual Shadowrun Cliches and have adversaries try be reasonably smart rather that 'lol Evulz corps'. (Even the prime runners had their reasons for being so tightlipped about the true nature of the run) Generally, I'm trying to play 'fair', rather than drop a bridge. I was worried that there might not have been enough tension to the meet if everything went to plan, but positive player feedback makes me glad that I stuck to that. One of my goals is to try and reward good planning of a run and just not running and gunning it, and the players appreciated that. They also like Reinhardt as a character.
On the whole, it actually proceeded in a fairly straightforward manner when you look at the big picture, with only the minor setback of the choppers causing a moment of actual concern to the players. Nobody did anything stupid or really reckless.
As for Reinhardt - I am hoping to bring on one or two more job streams, rather than just Markas. With him being the one offering some of the more morally suspect jobs.
One thing that has been brought to my attention is my tendancy to take too many notes mid-game. Partly it's me being a pedant, and partly because it gives me space to clear my head and work out what's happening relative to what I expect. The sum total of my experience GM'ing a game is basically in this thread. Especially since I hadn't expected this to become a campaign, only the original break-and-enter run was realy planned.
There has been one other session since, but between chargen and other matters, it'll be rolled into the next one. In which what I thought would be an offhand amusing piece of background caused a PC to have a panic attack. In character, of course. Which is gonna be fun when they find out where they're going)
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?