I'm starting a game with a new group! I've GM'd a couple sessions with another group, and I think that gave me a much better idea of how a shadowrun game should flow. We're going to be playing through Food Fight first though, to make sure everyone gets a handle on the game. I think we'll just use the quick start characters for that, then making new characters for the missions I write.
Here's the breakdown of what I had in mind for a first mission:
The runners are contacted by a Yakuza organization. They meet the Johnson, who explains that an associate of theirs has gone missing with a valuable piece of cyberware that was entrusted to him. The yaks can provide the runners with the home address of said associate (they have done their homework), but he does not do his work from home. He in fact runs a one-man chop shop out of an abandoned meat processing plant way out in the barrens. The plant itself is far removed enough, and in a miserable enough area, that it is cut off from Matrix access. The runners can find it's location by searching the target's home, getting a clue, asking around on the matrix, etc.
The plant is the heart of the run. It will be a smallish building, with an above ground entrance and one underground/basement entrance. There will be several ghouls milling about, half-starved, gnawing on discarded remains, etc, who will of course attack any runners on site. There will also be several security drones inside, who will not necessarily attack the runners unless provoked, for reasons revealed later.
The guy who runs the chop shop can be found inside, half-mad, having sealed himself inside a small room. He will say things like "it came in on the arm", and will show signs of having been attacked by ghouls, but is largely out of it.
In another room, the runners will find a mostly-decayed body lying out, with a very impressive-looking cyberarm attached to it.
What's going on here is that the yaks hired this guy to remove the arm and prepare it for their boss (who has a collection). They knew the arm's original owner was a Renraku (or possibly different corp?) operative. I haven't decided how they got the body yet. What they didn't know was that the man was a technomancer, and tagging along on the arm was a nascent A.I., a product of resonance, an advanced Red Samurai tecnet, and the arm's owner's obsession with feudal Japanese art and poetry. The Samurai-loyal A.I. took control of the chop shop's security systems as soon as the arm was reactivated, and allowed some stray ghouls to have some fun with the surgeon before he sealed himself off.
The A.I. considers itself something of a ronin, with its "master" dead, but is motivated to return to Renraku, where its loyalties ultimately lie. If the runners make contact with it peaceably, it will attempt to get them to return it to Renraku, giving them a counter-offer on their job. Of course, even if they agree, Renraku will attack them, possibly with Red Samurai, as opposed to offering them any real money.
When brought back into a matrix-coverage area, the A.I. will attempt to contact Renraku regardless.
Alternatively, the players may attempt to contain or destroy the A.I., returning to the Yaks with the arm intact for payment.
These are just preliminary notes, but I'd love feedback. I am a little nervous about making sure this is a challenge new SR players can handle. It will probably be very difficult to "defeat" the A.I. in cybercombat, and I am wondering if the players will be savvy enough to trap it (by disabling the arm's wireless hardware, etc.) or trick it. On the other hand, I think this as a starting mission could provide a great jumping off point.
I'm debating whether the A.I. should actually cause the players to be attacked by R.S., or if it should instead simply want to wander off, ronin-esque on the Matrix. This could keep the plot a little simpler and keep the new players from being overwhelmed with choices.
Let me know what you think!
Thanks.
