[Realtime]

While I am an experienced GM, having been running and playing games of the RPG dice and paper variety for well over 25 years, it has been over 10 years since I last ran a Shadowrun game, and am posting this to engender some much desired and humbly requested suggestions on what I should start my runners out with. Now before you all jump in with tons of material that you would reference, I will say that I have in mind a short run, B & E, to obtain a little item for a Johnson that has a few extras thrown in, ala never trust a dragon. That is where I am at, since it won't require a huge amount of work up for opposition and the like.

But since it has been so long and so many things have changed (but stayed the same as well, neh?) I'm putting it out there for some suggestions on where to go from there.

Ideas?

[Bull]

Moved this to the general SR forum, since it's not SR Missions specific, and it's likely to get more attention and discussion over here.  Good luck!

[Billy_Club]

Well, it would probably all depend on how much you want to punish your group on their first run.  On a scale of 1 to 10, how much does your group deserve a trouncing?  1 being "they are good guys and should get an easy start" and 10 being "they are a bunch of rules-lawyering jerks who don't use soap and act like they are kings of the world even while they are screaming for more cheesy poofs from their mom's basement"?

Basic B&E runs are a pretty good choice.  Requires your group to do some interesting legwork beforehand if they want to pull it off successfully, exposes them to the meat of the new rules getting through security countermeasures, and gives the GM plenty of hook opportunities for future runs.  Having the snatch be from a corporate front that the group won't discover unless they work REALLY hard: "Yeah guys, that mom and pop store you guys knocked over on that run was actually wholly owned by an Aztechnology exec who happens to be their son and he is PISSED".  Make the item they are after some paydata that is full of heavily encrypted files laced with data bombs, but the actual data they were sent for is an unencrypted one (happened to me once, I'll love/hate that GM forever.  Actual paydata file was the dragon's favorite recipe for lentil soup that it thought was lost centuries ago, essentially worthless to anyone except the dragon).  I'd keep the combat/traps/other stuff that can easily kill a group low key on the first run unless they actually deserve it.  You can always throw in an HRT if they are just gunning their way through everything with ease and taking no precautions as a lesson in subtlety.  For future hooks, camera shots, inhaled nanobots, tracker spirits and all kinds of things can link the runners to the crime and force them to work off their wrongs as a favor to whoever's property they broke into, or any of a number of different plot devices.

Any help?   

[Acme]

The other idea is maybe do a reverse B&E- that was always my standard "intro to Shadowrun" game for new groups and convention runs.  A basic one where they had to go in and place an object inside a R&D facility; it was obvious to most people it was an EMP bomb (I need to work on my subtlety) but still, the divergences from there are endless (my usual MO is that it was an MCT facility- that blended in well with moving to Paradise Lost from there, MCT became a major enemy for the players.. )

[KarmaInferno]

The other idea is maybe do a reverse B&E- that was always my standard "intro to Shadowrun" game for new groups and convention runs.  A basic one where they had to go in and place an object inside a R&D facility; it was obvious to most people it was an EMP bomb (I need to work on my subtlety) but still, the divergences from there are endless (my usual MO is that it was an MCT facility- that blended in well with moving to Paradise Lost from there, MCT became a major enemy for the players.. )

INCEPTION




-k

[Realtime]

Well, it would probably all depend on how much you want to punish your group on their first run.  On a scale of 1 to 10, how much does your group deserve a trouncing?  1 being "they are good guys and should get an easy start" and 10 being "they are a bunch of rules-lawyering jerks who don't use soap and act like they are kings of the world even while they are screaming for more cheesy poofs from their mom's basement"?

Basic B&E runs are a pretty good choice.  Requires your group to do some interesting legwork beforehand if they want to pull it off successfully, exposes them to the meat of the new rules getting through security countermeasures, and gives the GM plenty of hook opportunities for future runs.  Having the snatch be from a corporate front that the group won't discover unless they work REALLY hard: "Yeah guys, that mom and pop store you guys knocked over on that run was actually wholly owned by an Aztechnology exec who happens to be their son and he is PISSED".  Make the item they are after some paydata that is full of heavily encrypted files laced with data bombs, but the actual data they were sent for is an unencrypted one (happened to me once, I'll love/hate that GM forever.  Actual paydata file was the dragon's favorite recipe for lentil soup that it thought was lost centuries ago, essentially worthless to anyone except the dragon).  I'd keep the combat/traps/other stuff that can easily kill a group low key on the first run unless they actually deserve it.  You can always throw in an HRT if they are just gunning their way through everything with ease and taking no precautions as a lesson in subtlety.  For future hooks, camera shots, inhaled nanobots, tracker spirits and all kinds of things can link the runners to the crime and force them to work off their wrongs as a favor to whoever's property they broke into, or any of a number of different plot devices.

Any help?   

Yeah, that's kinda what I had in mind, but I working on a bit subtler approach, less matrix action, more legwork. Read detective noir and you get the drift. But I'll be using some of this in the final workup.Thanks!

[thalandar]

My solution was this:  I had Mr Johnson hire the runners to break into the Estate of his rival.  I read through Running the Shadows: Security Systems, designed the physical and magical.  The goal was a book in a safe in the study, get in, get out, don't get caught, don't nuke the place.  Avoid unnecessary killing and collateral damage.  Turns out it was Mr Johnsons estate and he was looking for talent quickly.  If the do a good job, he will offer them the 'real" job.

[theKernel]

Or maybe let em do the B & E however they want, IE fsu. Then when they make a mess let em get chased by the star and then get away only to find out that they were breaking into their boss' old hangout and that they were there to distract the po po and that their boss is mad as hell that they killed some dudes as they will being first timers doing whatever they want.

[CecilHarvey]

If you're looking into having a more "film noir" approach, why not set them up on a fake mission?  For example: have them carry in a black briefcase with SPECIFIC instructions "DO NOT OPEN.  EVER.  WE MEAN IT!  " and to plant it into the office of some exec (it is implied through our "trustworthy" Johnson that it is a bomb.  Then, as they do, a bomb goes off, and the case opens automatically, with a simple note from the Johnson: "Run", with no bomb and no money.  Then, the cops come... and they have to run and find why the Johnson set them up.