To fill this forum with something other than spam, let's try a thread wherein we post that advice most needed by all GMs - adventure ideas. Mechanics aren't necessary (and should probably be tweaked to your own group's power level anyway) - just plotlines and enough info on who's screwing over whom to make everything clear.
And just in case it needs to be said - PLAYERS (especially MY Cincinnati players) STAY AWAY.
Adventure #1: Knights-Errant in Tarnished ArmorThe party gets a new job. Just a simple hit. Bust in, create at least twenty-five confirmed kills, destroy the building, then leave. The contract? It's from Knight Errant. The target? A mid-sized gang out in the barrens. KE doesn't have the manpower free to hit them right now, so they're subcontracting.
---The kicker: The gang has expanded its 'pay us or we break stuff' extortion racket into an actual security company. They're providing legal law enforcement and protection for businesses and homes in their area at a fraction of what KE charges. This isn't undercutting them much now, since it's only one small gang, but word travels fast in the shadows and slums. If more gangs incorporate and get licenses, they might lose profits. KE can't take direct action, or they'd be liable in Corporate Court for unfair business practices, so they have to shut down their competition under the table. Enter the runners. So, do they take the job and slaughter the only organization that's willing to defend the SINless and slums?
--The screw-job: There are only 17 members of the gang. The 25 confirmed kills stipulated in the contract cannot be achieved without killing innocent bystanders, and KE knows it. They have the area under surveillance, and plan on ambushing the runners as they make their getaway, killing them in the name of 'law enforcement' and covering their tracks to make sure there's no link between them and the hit.
--The double-double cross: one of Lone Star's spies within Knight Errant tipped off the gang. They're expecting the hit and are fully prepared.
--The triple-cross: a group of disgruntled citizens-turned-domestic-terrorists are supporting the gang and its anti-megacorp stance. They've set up sniper roosts in seven nearby buildings, and are ready to open fire on the KE troops as soon as they show up, thinking they're the ones who'll conduct the initial hit.
Got all that? End result: the party is running into a warehouse full of heavily armed gangers expecting them with sniper support outside and the cops waiting until they get weakened to take them out, while another cop company tries to screw them over. And no matter what, they aren't getting paid. How do they salvage this mess?
Adventure #2: Crap...did anybody raise their Social Skills?A rich heir(ess), inexpertly contacts the PC's or their fixer for a job. He/she is pissed at a friend or rival, wants the runners to do something petty like wreck the target's latest Big Public Event. It's about revenge and humiliation. Not guns blazing.
Play up the extravagance. High security (but with gaps since hey, dumb kids don't know better), rare decorations and loot (all of it tagged and monitored) and some pretty awesome awesome food and drink. This is a high-roleplay opportunity to get to walk around and talk with some real movers and shakers if the runners play it cool and subtle. For a team of veteran runners, imagine the hilarity that might ensure if one or more of those movers and shakers
recognizes them while they're at the event.
If they screw it up, the runners have probably just gotten an enemy who might squeal to Daddy/Mommy that "mean 'ole shadowrunners exploited him/her". If they do the job successfully, the runners'll probably get called upon to do other jobs and potentially get embroiled in the petty BS of the rich and idle - a stomping ground few runners are going to be comfortable being in.
Imagine this whole thing being something like, "the Olsen Twins hire you to wreck a young Paris Hilton's Sweet 16 party, but instead of her father running hotels, he's actually the head of Lone Star."
