Hello,
I’ve ran about six games so far where the runners have had encounters with a couple of gangs, a few crime syndicates (Yakuza, Russian mafia) and a few corporations and their security forces. They’ve been doing some package deliveries, some smuggling, some gang hits and an extraction from a corp – the usual fare. We’ve had fun so far.
My setting is low on magic, where if it manifests in people, it is a rather rare occurrence. Some corporations are experimenting on subjects trying to take advantage of their abilities.
My idea for the campaign was that the runners have latent magic powers. They were “recruited” by Universal Omnitech and experimented on at an early age, and later set free as failed subjects that didn’t meet the expectations, their memories of the experiments erased. An overseer is set to monitor the runners progress, in case their powers emerge at a later point. This all happened in their past.
Years later, the overseer acts as their Mr Johnson, sending them on different runs, partly to monitor them and partly to get assets for his own needs.
Mr Johnson might turn out to be the BBEG or a player in a larger game, the campaign might go either way. The players are getting suspicious of Mr Johnson, and they think he might be bad news.
The main bad guy in this scenario wants to use the research that were used on the runners for his own gain, his motivations are power and wealth. The bad guy once worked on the project for UO, experimenting on the runners, but has now vanished after he stole the research.
The runners were contacted by UO who wants help to find the BBEG. Unsure of their motivations, the runners haven’t helped the corp so far. The corp might or might not know about the runners involvement in the experiments, since all their research went missing with the BBEG.
Going forward, I want to involve the BBEG more into the campaign. Many of their previous runs, where they were hired by Mr Johnson, can be tied into the main plot if they start poking around.
Ideas I have for now:
- Their powers will slowly start to manifest in unusual ways.
- Somehow, they stumble upon the research, and find their names in archives dated from when they were young
- Some religious fanatics are after the runners, having found out in their involvement in “ungodly experiments”. (One of the runners’ backgrounds involves religious fanatics.)
- The BBEG is in league with a terrorist organization, maybe some of his goals are the same as the terrorists.
I am looking for suggestions on how I can involve the BBEG in a more personal way. I want the players to really hate his guts, but I feel the BBEG needs a good reason for either involving the players in his plans (and eventually screw them over) or a good reason to go after the runners.
Our gaming sessions have been fun, but I feel I need to let the main plot emerge a bit more, and make them see the outlines of something horrible if they don’t stop the BBEG’s plans.
Any help or ideas would be most welcome.
