[GiraffeShaman]

I'm in the process of creating a run based on the Crash Zone, ruins of the town of Monroe, WA, in the northeastern Redmond Barrens. My timeline is around January 30th, 2060.

The current plan is to have some corp hire the runners to go there and find components from the crashed spaceplane. They'll have a list of wanted components and get paid for each one found. Also, perhaps  bonuses for components not asked for. They are likely to run into several factions there, including the former inmates from the local prison, led by a cybered prisoner called King Chrome. Also, local rat shamans, squatter militias, an outpost of the Metroplex Guard, and toxic and mutant critters from the polluted river nearby. They can kill, rob, or negotiate with these various groups for parts and also try to dig for them in the ruins. There will be a magic background count as well, as noted in the 3rd edition Seattle guide text.

Does anyone know where the Seattle Metroplex Reformatory is located or a source where I can find that? I can get some ideas from google maps for creating the ruins of Monroe, but sadly they don't put SR universe sites like that in there.

Does anyone have any ideas for other factions that might be located here? I'm trying to avoid major threats like toxics/bugs, etc. as this is the first run for one of the two teams I'm running.

Anyone have any ideas to spice it up from a simple item collection run? Plot twists or alternative approaches to this?

Any information on the Crash Zone that I don't have would be appreciated. Even 2070 info I may find a use for, despite my campaign date of 2060.

[markelphoenix]

I'm in the process of creating a run based on the Crash Zone, ruins of the town of Monroe, WA, in the northeastern Redmond Barrens. My timeline is around January 30th, 2060.

The current plan is to have some corp hire the runners to go there and find components from the crashed spaceplane. They'll have a list of wanted components and get paid for each one found. Also, perhaps  bonuses for components not asked for. They are likely to run into several factions there, including the former inmates from the local prison, led by a cybered prisoner called King Chrome. Also, local rat shamans, squatter militias, an outpost of the Metroplex Guard, and toxic and mutant critters from the polluted river nearby. They can kill, rob, or negotiate with these various groups for parts and also try to dig for them in the ruins. There will be a magic background count as well, as noted in the 3rd edition Seattle guide text.

Does anyone know where the Seattle Metroplex Reformatory is located or a source where I can find that? I can get some ideas from google maps for creating the ruins of Monroe, but sadly they don't put SR universe sites like that in there.

Does anyone have any ideas for other factions that might be located here? I'm trying to avoid major threats like toxics/bugs, etc. as this is the first run for one of the two teams I'm running.

Anyone have any ideas to spice it up from a simple item collection run? Plot twists or alternative approaches to this?

Any information on the Crash Zone that I don't have would be appreciated. Even 2070 info I may find a use for, despite my campaign date of 2060.

So, as far as spicing it up, give them a choice. There are several parts available in a warehouse they stumble across. In another section of the warehouse is loud chanting and what sounds like the screams of a young woman. If they peek in, they see a ritual sacrifice being taken place.

Now, you can let them grab the items and run, without worrying about getting caught due to the 'owners' of the parts being engaged in a rather loud and involved ritual. If they choose to help the girl, you have spin offs from that. Was this a ritual for summoning toxic spirits? If so, a few are summoned due to the ritual being 'half-done' and now the party has to stand their ground if they wish to save the woman's life. You can then decide to either make the woman someone valuable (nuyen potential if they follow it), someone helpful (has access to several parts due to being the leader of a small group of squatters who get by on collecting 'relics'), or a purely good-deed (extra karma rewards on top of what would be the norm for that kind of feat).

Ultimately, make it your own. The parts are the McGuffin. What they do to get them and the choices they have to make is what creates memories!

[markelphoenix]

Oh, also, make one of the parts be something other than what it was stated to be. The "Black Box" wasn't the real flight-recorder, but was a self-contained experiment that was recording the effects of 0G nanite construction of advance bio and cyberware components. Runners could then decide, do they fess up to finding it and turn it in for the negotiated pay-day, do they try to fence it to another corp, or do they try their hand at installing it into their street sam for increased performance?

In each case, their are consequences. Say they hold out, you can determine a realistic percent chance that they would be discovered in their deception and do an opposed group test. They get discovered, they just made a mega-corp enemy who will want to harvest the part back if you implanted in a team-member. You decided to honor the contract? Next time you're running against that Corp, their augmented security has extra die to roll against their tests due to the breakthroughs from their experimental tech being a success!

[Van Gogh]

I was planning on developing this area in my campaign as well. Essentially an area with a radius of 3 to 4 miles from the crash site is now run by a gang (the Skullfu*k Kings) made up of former prisoners and smaller gangs from the area that have been absorbed into the larger gang. They have complete control over the area and it would take a military force to root them out of the area. They are aware of everyone that moves in and out of the area and may allow some other groups to coexist under their rule on their turf. The 20 square mile area is strategically set up with baracades and the group has major firepower including antiaircraft and antitank weapons. I took some inspiration from the movie Escape from New York. The group may have to pull off some sort of extraction of an important person that is being held hostage in the huge area

[GiraffeShaman]

So, as far as spicing it up, give them a choice. There are several parts available in a warehouse they stumble across. In another section of the warehouse is loud chanting and what sounds like the screams of a young woman. If they peek in, they see a ritual sacrifice being taken place.

Yes, this does give me some ideas for giving more choices in the adventure, although I won't be able to use that specifically about the young woman. I don't want to get too predictable and just last run I tempted one of the team's adept into rescuing a little elven girl from some Night Hunter gangers. (I had just read about someone on these forums foisting a kid on their players like that, so I figured I'd give it a shot) Perhaps some of the parts are being jacked by Rat shamans and they can pursue the rats or go rescue some orks being trucked off in chains as slave labor  by King Chrome's prisoner gang. This would also give them the choice of splitting the party to pursue both objectives, but it would be risky in such an area.

Oh, also, make one of the parts be something other than what it was stated to be. The "Black Box" wasn't the real flight-recorder, but was a self-contained experiment that was recording the effects of 0G nanite construction of advance bio and cyberware components. Runners could then decide, do they fess up to finding it and turn it in for the negotiated pay-day, do they try to fence it to another corp, or do they try their hand at installing it into their street sam for increased performance?

This is an excellent idea. I could probaly find some advanced tech pretty easy in books that have 2063 tech, since this is 2060. It would be interesting to see what the team does. Alernatively, the Seattle guide mentions an incident in the Rat's Nest where a pocket secretary with valuable data on it ended up there and the Yakuza went nuts trying to retrieve it. Either organized crime or corporate forces could end up tearing the region and residents apart and perhaps the runners wll try to protect the poor trash rats.

In each case, their are consequences. Say they hold out, you can determine a realistic percent chance that they would be discovered in their deception and do an opposed group test. They get discovered, they just made a mega-corp enemy who will want to harvest the part back if you implanted in a team-member. You decided to honor the contract? Next time you're running against that Corp, their augmented security has extra die to roll against their tests due to the breakthroughs from their experimental tech being a success!

I'll have to be careful using these ideas. I'm a good GM that turned into a Killer GM for a year or so, so I'm in the process of rebuilding player trust and keeping the kid gloves on.

I was planning on developing this area in my campaign as well. Essentially an area with a radius of 3 to 4 miles from the crash site is now run by a gang (the Skullfu*k Kings) made up of former prisoners and smaller gangs from the area that have been absorbed into the larger gang. They have complete control over the area and it would take a military force to root them out of the area. They are aware of everyone that moves in and out of the area and may allow some other groups to coexist under their rule on their turf. The 20 square mile area is strategically set up with baracades and the group has major firepower including antiaircraft and antitank weapons. I took some inspiration from the movie Escape from New York. The group may have to pull off some sort of extraction of an important person that is being held hostage in the huge area

Awsome. That is a good image, and I may set up the "castle" in a similar manner, especially now that I've been told recently that one of the runners will be a drone rigger. The hostage idea gives me another possible way to spice this up as well. Maybe the party instead will be hired to find and rescue someone in there. Or maybe two Johnsons will hire them, one for the components, one for the rescue. And both Johnsons want their money's worth and won't take kindly to learning the team is working for them both at once.

Thanks for the help chummers. I'm planning to run this Sunday and I used up too much time developing shorter runs as backups and drooling over my new Sprawl Sites maps. I knew this needed some work, since I myself hate seing item collection quests in video games or tabletop. It's quite useful to have people pull at the threads and improve the run.