[benhatt]

So recently I ran a group of players through the first half of On the Run.  All of the players are new to SR4, some new to role-playing.  I am all for letting the flow of the game being dictated by the group, but it took them five hours to get through the first half; mostly because they have not been able to work as a team.  In this time the following occurred:

1) They spent lots of time trying to buy optical discs, convinced that they were somehow collectors' items.
2) The female Troll enforcer talked herself into Nabo's dressing room, making amazing Con rolls I might add, and eventually talked herself inside by promising sexual favors. (Luckily, I did not have to role-play those moments)
3) The Face of the group, making terrible Con rolls, tried to get into the warehouse show by dropping his pants (he has a penile enhancement) and explaining to the guards that he was "part Troll."  That got him roughed up a bit.
4) The riot started early because the Way of the Shadow Adept shot the guard in front of Nabo's dressing room in the head and then threw him onto the stage. (Note: This was after they had successfully gotten the commlink and were planning a furtive exit)
5) The mage, deciding the way to quell the rioting crowd, was to kill the lights (he's a moron),  shot lighting bolts into the lighting fixtures, which promptly caught fire. 
6) Half the group became convinced that Zipper actually had the disc and Kenny Loomis was merely a distraction. While half the group went to  the Loomis meet, three of them broke into Zipper's apartment, shot her in the stomach and demanded to know who had the disc. Zipper, in agony, said Kenny Loomis.


O.k. so they have been Running, but not really in the Shadows.  I need heavy repercussions that I can throw at them once they actually get the disc from Loomis, which they still have failed to do.  Suggestions?

[Charybdis]

Honestly, I'm not familiar with the mission itself, but I can give advice regarding player consequences:

Firstly though, how serious is your game?
- Gritty and tough?
- Slapstick and comedic?

1) If the players are wasting time (getting optical discs as collector's items, etc), then as GM, nudge them a few times with a pending deadline. In the mission, is there anything time critical? Can an informant be killed before they can talk to them?
- GM: Looks like you just missed a gun-fight. If you'd been here 5 minutes earlier, maybe you could have gotten the information the easy way...now you'll have to shell out some cred with your own contacts to find out what to do next...

2) The Troll enforcers sounds like it was hella' funny as well as being useful and positive in moving the mission forward Only in-game consequences here should be some flowers from Nabo and maybe even an ongoing contact rating/romance.

3) Player with Penile enhancement trying to impress the guards? Sounds like a high-school prank which should end with a thorough beating... sounds perfect.

4, 5 and 6) Murder in a public area is bad. Sensors always pick up something, and just throwing a corpse onto a stage-show is going to give the PC's a bad rep. Breaking in and shooting someone in the stomach for interrogation techniques is on the same level..., and causing a riot at a stage show while info gathering is completely unprofessional
- GM: Your Johnson/Fixer calls, and they're furious. .. What the hell are you doing?! This job was supposed to be clean and discreet. Your pay is being cut by 1k each, and if I hear about any more idiocy, I'll cut my losses and bring in someone else... and maybe then send them out to tie up loose ends... are we clear?!
- Also, someone may have seen the players, which means thast Knight Errant will pick up the security footage and start a file pieceing together the runners' activities (giving either Bad Reputation, Hunted or Wanted negative qualities, although these normally take repeated acts of mayhem to start affecting the PC's

[Valashar]

I've run this mission several times. Only thing I have to add to Charybdis' excellent pointers is specific to it... The mission already has another team of runners making the rounds on the same mission, plus Jet Black's team (or Jet Black himself... little puts the fear into folks like a vampire). Use one or both of them earlier than the run suggests and make the competition more time sensitive or dangerous to your PC's team.

Question regarding these fools' actions during Nabo's concert... did things go down such that the troll enforcer (who seems to be the only one who didn't screw the pooch on this) wasn't seen as connected to the rest of them? If so, and to show that those actions are the kind that get results, toss that PC some small bennies as Charybdis suggests.

The pants dropper should've gotten into the concert with that stunt... because I would've had the bouncers drag him in there (leaving the pants behind) and toss him into the crowd so they could properly greet their 'troll brother'.

[Charybdis]

The pants dropper should've gotten into the concert with that stunt... because I would've had the bouncers drag him in there (leaving the pants behind) and toss him into the crowd so they could properly greet their 'troll brother'.

That indeed would have been awesome.

+1 for you!

[benhatt]

The pants dropper should've gotten into the concert with that stunt... because I would've had the bouncers drag him in there (leaving the pants behind) and toss him into the crowd so they could properly greet their 'troll brother'.

I can't believe I didn't think of that.  You are brillant.

As for your other comments.  I am not sure I started out trying to be slapstick and comedic, but the group just sort of ran that way.  If the group has fun playing that way, my job is to lean a little more in that direction.  I think part of it is that I am running a larger group for me (seven players), but the other part is that they all went nuts. That being said, I don't want them to go completely overboard with everything. That is why I came seeking advice.

I think I am will definitely be taking the money suggestion - the pocket book hurts the most - and upping the notoriety of the main shooters. The biggest problem with the splitting the group is that they will most likely lose to the Shangri-la team.

 I actually hadn't thought of rewarding Joe (The Troll Enforcer) but I will now.

Thanks for the advice. 

[Valashar]

If it seems like the players get more bang out of being over the top, but you'd still like to keep things from getting out of hand (off the wall but still gets the job done kind of stuff), I'd suggest considering the style of such films as Lethal Weapon. Have things go well when someone has an off-beat idea but doesn't go psycho with it. And when the psycho side creeps in (or just plain stupid), bring in a consequence as quickly as is feasible.