[Mirikon]

Two words: Awakened Influenza.

[Zilfer]

Two words: Awakened Influenza.

o.O' that sounds like the black plague to me

[CanRay]

Two words: Awakened Influenza.

o.O' that sounds like the black plague to me

"Governor, Governor, is this VITAS IV?"  "No, luckily it's only an awakened form of Influenza.  It should only be a real emergency to the already sick, elderly, young, or those with extensive amounts of cybernetics."

[ArkangelWinter]

How about a disease that only infects the Infected? That also opens up some strange runs for desperate or concerned Infected Johnsons.

[Serious Paul]

Maybe I'm over thinking this-but how pissed off as a player would you be if someone ran a game that was specifically tailored to mess you up, screw you over or simply level an opponent that you can't beat? I get that people are presenting various ideas in hopes of leveling the playing field a little, but seriously this all reeks of GM vs. Players mentality to me. It's kind of high schoolish at best, at worst...well as a player I'd be pretty offended.

This isn't to say all of these suggestions are strongbad! or wrong. Just keep in mind that it needs to be internally consistent Lead up these sorts fo events, give them opportunities to interact with them, maybe even change them. As the GM you can constantly change the story line and plot to make the game dynamic.

[Mirikon]

The world is not fair. It is not nice. It does not care about your feelings. If you make a name for yourself, people will look to take you down, either out of revenge, or to secure their own rep. If you have a rep as a combat god, even moreso. These two have been running roughshod over the game world, and so it is time to bring them down a couple pegs.

Sometimes, the first warning you have that someone wants to make their bones off your name is that funny feeling in your kidney as they twist the shank.

[Argent]

Divide and conquer!

Players of that skill are probably proud and don't like people stealing their frags. So they normally want to finish their "own" fights.

Lure the vampire away from the troll by having a npc (closer to the vampire than to the troll) appear and shoot at him from not too far away(so he will still decide to attack that one in close combat) right after the vampire finished off his last one( that way you will kinda force him too attack the enemy you picked for him). After attacking that one lure him even farther away, same game. then have him attacked from two direction. there should always be one in his back. Make them aim for the head too (no regen), wear down his armor(the vampire might regenerate, his armor doesn't), and finally him. Those npcs don't need to be skilled, they just need the right tactics.

With vampire out of the way, let someone sneak to and surprise attack the troll in close combat, if its his weakness. Called attacks with +4 dv are important to go through his armor.
Used acid spells early on him. He might laugh while soaking the damage. Then tell him his armor rating has halved.
For shooting use cover, thermal smokes. The goal of defending npcs is to delay until they get stronger backup.

Dividing the group is a good idea. However just because they are running powerful characters doesn't necessarily mean that they're full of pride and ego. In fact, considering that they've survived so long, I'd say that they're far more likely to be careful.

[ArkangelWinter]

They're pretty good at scouting out everything first; even on a short timeframe, swarms of sprited and drones are pretty effective at that, as is Mind Probing baddies. Really, it wouldnt have become an.issue if they didnt work so well together. They even made sure to eventually buold high-tech gear load out and a low-tech one for dealing with hackers. I've had a lot of fun jerking around their moral compass, since the TMs the only one with the guts for wetwork and drugs and such.

[JustADude]

They're pretty good at scouting out everything first; even on a short time-frame, swarms of sprites and drones are pretty effective at that, as is Mind Probing baddies. Really, it wouldn't have become an.issue if they didn't work so well together. They even made sure to eventually build high-tech gear load out and a low-tech one for dealing with hackers. I've had a lot of fun jerking around their moral compass, since the TM's the only one with the guts for wet-work and drugs and such.

Okay, this right here.

They're good, they're smart, and they're cautious. They're doing everything right and they've gotten big and nasty and powerful. In short, they're ripe for a big "retirement" job.

I don't mean "retire" as in "kill them and/or maim them so horribly they can never work again". I mean "retire" as in "retire"... you know, give them one last REALLY hard job with a payday big enough to retire on.

Have them get tasked to steal a huge fortune in gold, gems, orichalcum, etc (whatever you feel is appropriate) are being shipped from somewhere to somewhere else. Probably as a payoff for something from a corp to some huge underground organization that doesn't trust cred-sticks, where it would be spread out far enough that each individual would get a much more 'normal' payout. The reward for the run? The gold/gems/orichalcum itself!

Have the Johnson be Hans Brackhouse (which is Saeder-Krupp's version of "I'm a Johnson, but I want you to know I work for S-K"), since they've got a reputation for generous pay combined with harsh reprisals for screw-ups. Next, throw several other runner teams competing for the same target into the mix (ones who are not amenable to splitting the prize), as well as the type of security a covert shipment worth several large fortunes would have.

If they lose to the runners they get taken down a peg, and if the security wins because they were all too busy in-fighting then they've made an enemy of S-K, and that's not a good enemy to have.

If they get the payday... well "Okay, guys, you all have enough money to retire to a life of filthy, decadent luxury. Roll up new character,"

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

In short, they're ripe for a big "retirement" job.

This right here.

You approach the players and say, "I'm sorry, but these guys have gotten way out of hand.  I'd like to give them the opportunity of One More Run.  Putting together new characters isn't the question; the question is do you do it before your next run, or after.  Your choice."

There always comes a time.

[CitizenJoe]

Well if you guys are going to start breaking out the biowarfare agents, just crack open a can of FAB-III around the leech and close the doors.

[Tagz]

If you're not ready to go the route of forced retirement there are other options as well.

Try challenging them in other ways.  You mentioned before they wouldn't take wetwork and you were playing with their morality.  That's pretty good.  I can think of a few ways to make some challenges there.

First off the top of my head is a mob of mind controlled people trying to kill them.  Just ordinary folk in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Do they use their crazy murder abilities on these people who can't throw more then 4 dice to soak, or do they have to find another option?  For added fun, make it happen where there are cameras, fast LEO response time to get the runners in more trouble or slow response to drag it out, etc.
Or you could rework that idea a thousand different ways.
Instead of mind controlled with magic, have the Big Bad use a bunch of gamers who think they're playing a VR game at home, but he's deactivated the safeties that keep people from moving around.  They're trying to shoot your players but they think they're just in a video game.  And so on.  Lots of examples.

Another one you can use is setups.  One I'm a fan of is having the run involve a little violence, but the Johnson intentionally recording the meeting and the run in secret.  Then providing the victims with the footage and any other data.  Obviously, this is a trap run by someone with a grudge, but if they've got the rep they do they've bound to have made some enemies by this point.

And there's always snipers.  Always snipers.  Magic snipers too, don't discount ritual spellcasting.

Being too good at your job means you stand out, makes you a target.  Remember that too.

[squee_nabob]

Combat in SR is very swing-y due to several mechanical choices (it is easier to hit than to dodge, unless you have plenty of armor most people can be 2 shotted by SnS rounds (especially burst fired)).

 I would not try to balance your encounters to make them challenging, instead add encounters that make sense for the story and that the players can defeat. It is much easier for the game to recover from PCs destroying a group of enemies, than a group of enemies destroying the PCs (because they may be dead or in jail). If you don’t intend the combat to be a challenge and instead just another element in the story, then overwhelming violence is a tool in the PC’s toolbox when they plan a run (do we want covert ops or overt and cops?).

[Serious Paul]

The world is not fair. It is not nice. It does not care about your feelings. If you make a name for yourself, people will look to take you down, either out of revenge, or to secure their own rep. If you have a rep as a combat god, even moreso. These two have been running roughshod over the game world, and so it is time to bring them down a couple pegs.

Sometimes, the first warning you have that someone wants to make their bones off your name is that funny feeling in your kidney as they twist the shank.

If all of this is internally consistent, then yes. If not then it's a steaming pile of crap and just an excuse for lack of ability by a GM to create an interactive, and internally consistent and dynamic setting.

[ArkangelWinter]

Okay, so during our run today the party had to extract a target from Kowloon Walled City. Ended up mauled when the vampire got Blasted twice by a Yama King and the troll (rapelling down a building a few blocks away to plant distraction explosives) got lit up by a minigun. Technomancer saved his butt with her Hotspur and mounted Panther, and the mage managed to beat the Yama King by Control Thoughts to make him attack the target, but it cost them the run because the TM was the only one who could go on.