[jorgumander]

Brand new to 5th Edition. Haven't played Shadowrun in years, and wasn't the GM most times. So I'm looking for some good plot hooks to keep this thing going.

Basically, I'll have a prime runner used as the source/motivator for the campaign. Toying with the idea of making the players all start with either a corporate SIN or at least a National SIN (Sweden). Possibly even a criminal one. Whatever caused them to become part of the Shadowrun group sent from Sweden to Seattle. Sent by SAAB Corp which I'm trying to decide either IS Sweden's government right now, or vice versa. The 2 are tightly intertwined.

Missions I'm thinking are data steal from the biggies. Each one getting progressively harder.
Running smaller local runs, to establish themselves in the Seattle shadows.
Item steal, and then courier it back to SAAB contact. Possibly all the way back to Scandinavia?
Protect an embassy for a time?

I also need thoughts on tightening up the reasons the players could have been forced to work for a smaller megacorp, why they would continue, how they got roped in and sent to a foreign country.

Thoughts? And thanks so much for all of your help folks! you've been great!

[Bushw4cker]

New to Shadowrun, and haven't GMed much...

I would keep things simple to start out with. Especially if your players haven't played Shadowrun before. You can work your way up to your Swedish Campaign. I would get a feel for the basics before you try to set up some elaborate campaign. It will be easier to send the players to a foreign country if they botch one of their runs and need to lay low for a while. Have their fixer set them up in your city of choice.

Why Sweden by the way? I'm curious.

[jorgumander]

New to Shadowrun, and haven't GMed much...

I would keep things simple to start out with. Especially if your players haven't played Shadowrun before. You can work your way up to your Swedish Campaign. I would get a feel for the basics before you try to set up some elaborate campaign. It will be easier to send the players to a foreign country if they botch one of their runs and need to lay low for a while. Have their fixer set them up in your city of choice.

Why Sweden by the way? I'm curious.

Ooh! Great idea! I'll have them start in Sweden, and get moved to Seattle later on. Sorry it took me so long. I somehow lost this thread.

As for "why Sweden"... I hope to move there someday in the near future. My heritage is Swedish, so I feel a connection. I also wanted the players to be working for a corporation that wasn't fleshed out in the game, so I could be more fluid with it. This gives them corporate sponsorship, without making them feel like sellouts.

[Cowdragon]

I have some interest in Scandinavia myself. This is an interesting thought that gives me some cool ideas! Displacing the PC's seems very novel.

[Dampfish]

There's an old sourcebook (Third Edition, if I'm not mistaken) called Shadows of Europe, with a whole chapter on Scandinavia. It's a bit outdated now, taking place in 2063 instead, but that just gives an excuse to make the necessary changes you want. It's a great if you want to weave in some canon-fluff into your own brew
And it's a pretty amusing read if you're a swede (as I am). Apparently the Nordic nations joined together to form the Scandinavian Union, which I won't even go into the politics of why that's kinda hilarious.

[TormDK]

There's an old sourcebook (Third Edition, if I'm not mistaken) called Shadows of Europe, with a whole chapter on Scandinavia. It's a bit outdated now, taking place in 2063 instead, but that just gives an excuse to make the necessary changes you want. It's a great if you want to weave in some canon-fluff into your own brew
And it's a pretty amusing read if you're a swede (as I am). Apparently the Nordic nations joined together to form the Scandinavian Union, which I won't even go into the politics of why that's kinda hilarious.

The Kalmar union has plenty of supporters in Denmark still at least   .

So not totally unrealistic from a timeline perspective.

[Cowdragon]

what about the Nordic Union?

[Dampfish]

Yeah, Sweden's been in a few unions through history. (I like Stormaktstiden the best, even if it's not technically a union).
But without going too deep into politics here, what I meant was that we had the opportunity to form an actual Nordic Union several years ago (IRL), but the resources to do so went instead towards joining the EU. And now it's too late.

But anyway, to the OP, I recommend having a look through the Shadows of Europe sourcebook if you can find it, since its more than likely out of print.