[tyusmax]

Hello,

I am wanting to try out SR5E.  I have not played Shadowrun since 3rd edition.  I've come up with some disparate parts to an overall story, but I am having a hard time putting it all together.  Any help would be appreciated.

My players will be an ork adept, human face, human decker (i asked him to play one specifically to test out the matrix and wireless rules), and a combat mage.

Backstory:
One of my players is an ork adept.  I gave him a backstory that he was from a very well-to-do family, but he goblinized into an ork at 17.  Fights with his rascist father (member of Humanis), and player left to make his way in the world.  Ends up running the shadows, has been at it for some years now. 

My player does not know this, but his younger sister worshipped her brother.  Parents died couple years after he left in an accident (he missed the funeral while on a run), so she spent some money on trying to keep tabs on him.  Also began romanticizing his life as a runner, so she was drawn to things that were dangerous and edgy.  She grew up to be quite a beauty, and she does some modeling work on the side.  In the past 6 months, she has taken up the role of Gov. Brackhaven's mistress, but this is not public knowledge.

Overarcing plot:
UCAS Intelligence special team (I have no idea who this group would be from source material) has recruited the sister to infiltrate into Brackhaven regime and try to gather info on what exactly he is planning. They know he is planning something, just not what.  She agrees b/c this is opportunity to operate "in the shadows" like her brother.  She eavesdrops on sensitive conversations, tries to find files. Brackhaven eventually discovers her true purpose.  This is when she disappears (haven't decided yet if she is alive or dead). 

Brackhaven has a plan to declare independence for Seattle from the UCAS with himself as Interim President, of course.  He has struck a deal with Aztechnology.  Azzies have slowly been infiltrating into Seattle (with help from Brackhaven) over the past 8 months.  On the go date, Brackhaven will arrange for the top officers of the UCAS forces in Seattle to be incapacitated (through drugged food at an officer's ball).  The combination of loss of leadership, support from Aztechnology military, and beefed up Gov. guard (forgot their name) to take out the existing UCAS forces.  In exchange, Brackhaven will trade a powerful artifact that has come into his possession, as well as favorable trade relations with Aztechnology.  Aztechnology, without Brackhaven's knowledge, has been swiping some SINless and homeless people for blood magic rituals.   

Aztechnology, without Brackhaven's knowledge, has been swiping some SINless and homeless people for blood magic rituals.   I have thought about plot where Azzies are gathering these sacrifices to be combined with the Artifact in order to accomplish super blood magic ritual with cataclysmic consequences to the city, but not sure if I want to go there.  And not sure what such a ritual would do.

Structure of adventures

Beginning:

So my players will begin the game coming back from their last run.  His sister is missing, and in some manner the brother will find out and start looking for her.  And here, we come to probably my biggest problem.  I want to setup the first combat to be against a group of up and coming gangers in the Barrens.  I think this would be a fairly good way to get everyone's feet wet in combat, and I don't have to dream up hyper-deadly corp kill teams or anything like that. But how to connect them to the missing sister I have no idea.

Middle:

The players eventually learn that the sister opened up a security deposit box under an assumed name in a mid-sized bank.  Inside the deposit box will be a data chip with incriminating evidence against Brackhaven, and a journal.  Brackhaven's people will just have become aware of this as well, so he will hire a runner team to steal the chip.  So it becomes a race to see who can get it first.  (I set this up as a mid-size bank so the security and run would be easier for a first run.  In game, probably say that Brackhaven has too much influence in the other banks, and just be able to cash in favors with them).

Once the players have the chip, they will find somewhat choppy audio recording of conversation about Aztechnology and "the Patriot Project", another conversation about the "special sauce" for the officers' ball, and one last conversation where a man she calls "Micah" gives her instructions on a setup for her to bump into Brackhaven for the first time.  Journal will be an accounting of her thoughts about hero worship for brother, recruitment and training by Micah and the UCAS intelligence team, and where she meets them.  Also, the end has a note that  she believes evidence of agreement letter between Brackhaven and Aztechnology can be found on Governor's secured server (only accessible inside his mansion). 

If players go to location of UCAS team, they will be found dead.

End:

But by default, they can try to make a run on the letter in the Governor's mansion, or they can try to stop the UCAS military officers from being taken out.  Or both.  Obviously, players can think up other options I have not.  I'll try to be flexible.

So that is my plot.  Maybe a little over detailed, but it's what I came up with.

So to recap, I need help with:

1. Start looking for the sister.  I had originally just planned on a panicked msg to brother asking for help.  But my players have exressed to me that they want to be rewarded when playing Shadowrun.  So should I maybe offer them the job to find his sister, and find out later that it was a trigger for if she was taken out? Money would be funded by her, setup before all these events.

2. Disconnect from there to fighting a gang to knowing that she hid info at the bank?  I can't think of any really good ideas on this front, unfortunately.

3. Should I have an uber-blood magic ritual from mages at the end? And if so, what kind of ritual?

Sorry, for the wall of text.  Thanks for any help.  Hopefully it was at least entertaining o read 

[TX_DM]

That's a pretty intricate plot you have there, and I hope that it goes off how you want it to. Here's my two cents on how I would go about making that happen.

Chapter 1, A Finder of Lost Children...

Set up the gang fight as part of another job, that's ending on a doublecross. Have someone hire the Runner team to go look for missing children out of the Yard Street Park and the trail has led them to the Go Gangers hideout (I use Hells' Angels, but that's just me). During the firefight the Ork's phone goes off and its' his sister, most people don't answer the phone during a firefight, and if he does, have a grenade (a dud) land at his feet, that'll get him scrambling. The Runners finish the firefight and return the four lost kids to their parents only to find that they lied about the amount of money they have, so party payout is in the realm of 500 yen apiece, just enough to cover ammo and maybe a bowl of soup.

Chapter 2, Obi Wan you're my only Hope!

The phone message she leaves is a plea for help, she talks a bit about the Team that's after her, and how she's got a 400k nuyen credchip, secured orbital funds. Also she's picking up a burner phone and tossing this one since it's probably being traced. She will make a cryptic reference that only the Brother would know "Remember where I hid that thing that time?" and that gets them going to a spot he would know, like a train station, bus depot or even an old shed. The area will be swarming with law enforcement due to a rolling shootout earlier whether or not this is related is up to you.

The info-drop is just a very brief precis on what she's been up to, and lets the brother know he's her only hope. It does not contain specifics like the journal would, it does contain a few references like the chemical formula for the Special Sauce and this years lingerie shopping guide from Victoria's Secret, if they check the lingerie file for length, it's too long, there's data hidden steganographically in it, the bank and deposit box number of the Journal and chip. Also, a string of numbers and digits and the end of the file that *looks* like corrupted data. It's really a net address that's fairly well defended, to give the Decker something to do. The database from the address is encrypted, so it can't be read until they get the key, which is on said chip in the safe deposit box.

Chapter 3, The Blood is the Life...

The players get the chip and there's a running gun battle going out the front door of the bank. KE Maximum Response Unit is on the scene in seconds with Drones, men and equipment. Everyone is disarmed, questioned on the scene and ID's checked. If someone doesn't have an ID or SIN worth using, it's the Face Characters time to SHINE. The players will get the chance to interact a little with the guys who were coming to kill them from Aztechnology, and maybe even find out their names and things, the lead Azzie makes a reference as to how
'We've Got Her, he'll be pleased".

After everyone is released by the cops and told to go their separate ways, they check out the chip. It's got data about the governors plot and the journal has some weird magical writing in the margins. Mage reads it and finds out about The Blood Ritual and how it requires a certain blood type. Have them cross check the recent victims and start finding matches.

Chapter 4, Does the Devil Dance in Pale Moonlight?

This is the endgame, they have all the pieces, they know the plot, the Sister is alive if found inside of 12 hours after the bank scene, dead if later.

Also, this is just how I'd do things, so feel free to shake it up however you like. I hope you have a good time at it.

[tyusmax]

I swear that I originally started with just a generic street gang slavery ring story     But I just kept thinking that if I was going to do this, I should make it really feel like Shadowrun.  So I just kept piling more factions on and trying to connect the dots until I came up with...this   

Thank you for the suggestions!  I will probably swipe them all!

Any other thoughts on this adventure or how to run it?

[GiraffeShaman]

Just a suggestion in regards to the blood magic and Aztechnology blood mages. I'd suggest using an Aztechnology wage mage who has been desparately seeking blood magic rituals in order to rise to the higher ranks of the corp. In other words, he's a wannabe blood mage. The reason being that the Aztechnology blood mages are often high grand initiates with many connections and should be able to easily crush starter runner teams. By making the blood mage a wannabe he is more equal in power to the characters, and he can also grow in power and be a recurring villian, assuming he survives the coming battles. You can make an Equal or Superior Prime Runner character and give him the same karma your PCs earn as the game goes on.

As for the ritual its self, it could just be his first summoning of a blood spirit.

[TX_DM]

I agree with ^ in saying that the blood mage that the pc's run into should be small time. If he's muy awesome, he'll just wipe the floor with the party. Maybe leave the blood mage for another time since spoiling the kidnapping ring and stopping the takeover plot by the governor will set back his plans for months at least.

As far as how to run things, chew gum. It keeps your face busy so your friends can't tell what your thinking by looking at your 'tells'. Nothing ruins a twist or surprise like your best friend of fifteen years looking you in the eyes and just reading it out of your face.

Present good news with a flourish and bad news with a twist.

Of course the good news should be something like 'You just won a free Golden Menu at Mickey D's!"

The bad news is You just got Shot!

[SnowDog]

Of course runners want to get paid for runs but the way I see the setup is that this is very personal thing for the ork. I like to tie adventures to PCs to raise the stakes and this fits the bill nicely. So, I wouldn't offer any money for rescuing his own sister.

Still, they can make some money from discovering the dead UCAS team. Maybe they have some nice gear left or UCAS will be willing to pay for them or even hire the team for a follow up job. There should be multiple ways to reward your players, especially in Shadowrun and not all of them are evident immediately.