[Basic]

Ok so my shadowrun team set off a nuke in space well a low yeild nuke. They ended up stealing tons of data on these corps and currently are about to use there connections to set up a deal with them to make them give over a large amount of money for it back and basicly make them call of the world wide hit team trying to kill them.

[JustADude]

Ooookay?

Aside from the question of how they managed to steal a TacNuke to begin with... why aren't they already dead?

They've gone way beyond "Shadow Runs." Heck, they've gone beyond the realm of Kane and his over-the-top antics. At this point, they should be getting hunted down like dogs, since they are a real, legitimate threat to global stability. Double that if they've tweaked either Ares or Saeder-Krupp.

[nightslasthero]

What are the three corps? I'm actually thinking a Thor shot is heading straight toward them during their meet to get the nuyen. Also if they have ticked off any dragons (the corps ran by dragons) they might want to run and forget about the nuyen. Dragons like crunchy snacks. Either way, the meet has to be a set up.

[Operator]

Consider how much clout the corps have, then consider how easily they can turn public opinion against the runners. If they survive this meet, they are going to run out of hiding places very quickly.

[nightslasthero]

Here is how I would play it. The corps agree to give the players the nuyen in exchange for the data. They arrange a meet at one of the hot spots in Seattle someplace big and public and secure. At the meeting the corp representative shows up dressed in more casual clothes than expected with two guards dressed simarily. As the players approach the representative says "today all of Seattle will remember you for your bravery, here is the agreed upon money." He transfers the 'nuyen' to the players commlink. If commented o would how he is dressed he will mention that they didn't want to be a public spectacle. At some point the pcs will learn that their commlink are indicating false data, no nuyen has been transfered. Also their commlink now relay their location to the corps. All of their accounts that can be traced to them have been frozen. While the meet is going on the ucas holds a press conference that these individuals are wanted for treason for the planned assassination of the ucas president. Outside the club two or three swat teams with mage support surround the club. (sneaking out of the club automatically fails, so long as their commlink virus hasn't been discovered and nuturalized. (perhaps it really did transfer a small amount of nuyen like 500 just in case they tried to use it). Attempt to capture the pcs alive. The corp guys will then take Dna samples, implant tracking devices directly into them and then tell them that they are now working for the corp. (this allows the game to continue and gives the pcs a chance to plot how to get out of town). Alternatively if the pcs don't surrender you can have them escape death by being caught and healed before they die) or just kill them straight up.

The idea here is that one corp has realized their skills and believe they will be more valuable to the core alive. Alternatively you can have someone to have altered the kill orders to take alive and tell the pcs that he needs their help. In exchange they forget about the data delete it, and he will provide them new identities and help them get to Denver or another city for a while. Perhaps there is an important reason he wants the data erased and never to come to light.

In any way, the players should walk away realizing they have crossed the boundaries and the corps have their numbers.

[FastJack]

Nah, bring their own paranoia against them. Have the corps pay the nuyen. They promise they won't bother the runners any more either. From that point forward, up the paranoid fantasies. Whenever they have a meet, make them do a perception check and, no matter what they roll, just smile and say "you don't see anything". Their fame and notoriety should be through the roof too, so make sure the only jobs they are being offered are big jobs. "We here you can handle a great dragon. We'd like you to do a run against Ghostwalker and find evidence of his tampering with the Denver council." "We need leverage on Richard Villiers, can you kidnap his ex-wife?" "Something's up in the basement of the Renraku arcology. It may be Deus trying to come back. We need you to check it out."

[nightslasthero]

Assuming it isn't an insane amount of money making them paranoid could be a fun way to go.

[AndyNakamura]

Thank you very much, Jack. Now I _am_ paranoid.

Here's the background, which Basic had so conveniently dispersed with.

My team got subcontracted to assist on a smuggling run down the well. Cargo: "biological specimens", which, translated into plain English, means we would need to break out power loaders to shove big, toothy things out of airlocks.

As I expected, just as the cages were getting loaded, the things broke free. The corp running the station (Shiawase, along with Ares and Saeder) declares lockdown, sends in the cleaners, and prepares to jettison the research block in case containment fails.

We manage to dodge the big toothy things and get out on a conveniently available smuggler's ship, which had a conveniently placed TacNuke in the hold, which our conveniently-placed teammate conveniently used to EMP the pursuit craft so inconveniently chasing us.

Now, our 1337 h4><><0r managed to get their grubby AR gloves on the research files for all the dodgy research going on that station. The kind that is likely to make Corporate Court throw a wobbly. As soon as we GTFO'd away from the landing site, each of the corps started sending in bids for the file's content (last I checked, Ares was leading with Y1.5M).

Here's what the plan was, before it was posted it here for everyone to nitpick at. My goal is to get the heat off of us, betting on corps deciding that leaving us alone would turn out more profitable and less troublesome for them than sending killteams.

Step 1) Place the files on a datahaven, with a dead man switch that'll send them to several tabloids if not deactivated past a certain time. Rent a secure conference node from Neonet (to discourage the other three from intercepting the Matrix traffic).

Step 2) Contact Johnsons from the pissed-off corps, and offer to return their respective data in exchange for a fraction of the top-level bid and leaving us alone.

Step 3) Insist that all parties accept the deal, or the data gets released. This will put the pressure from the other two on any corp that is likely to want to pursue vengeance (most likely, Ares).

Step 4) If all else fails, we're screwed anyway. In that case, we release the data and sue Shiawase for breach of contract.

[OOC: Not my fault this game had turned into a huge grilled cheese sandwich. I mean, what kind of smuggler just happens to have TacNukes lying around in the hold?]

[Zilfer]

Only the best of the best sir! xD

Anyways, wow pretty interesting and nice way of going about trying to keep the heat down. Though I think there are other ways to find out where that data is hidden. Wouldn't Capturing you guys and Mind probing work? Maybe a ritual mind probe? or cannot that be done?

Anyways proceed carefully chummer and good luck!

*fades back into the shadows so not to be noticed*

[AndyNakamura]

As I said, my bet is on this being the cheapest option from the corps' point of view. Why send a kill team, when the item of interest is being (almost) freely offered? Especially keeping in mind my team's rep for pulling off stuff that is, as JustADude so nicely put it, "beyond the realm of Kane and his over-the-top antics".

Y'know what? I'm putting this into my sig, right now.

[GloriousRuse]

Mmm...run equation: is spin control against an unreliable datahaven leak cheaper than what the runners are asking? If so, ignore runners, alter public perception, turn your files into "right, and I bet you know who shot JFK", promptly enjoy using the rest of the civilized world's reason and rationality against them. Then kill you. ta da.

Also, since there's no guarantee about files not being released anyhow, probably best just to prep that response anyhow, pay you, get the location, hack the datahaven to be sure nothing else is out there, kill you and reclaim your personal files. Simply put, info that sensitive, there's no guarantee there's not a copy somewhere...so why bother bargaining except to ease the control and reduction of its propenents? Then anything that gets released you neatl scoff under like an elvis baby.

Also, 4 megas, stuff that makes the corp court fear for the balance of power? You release to tabloids. The stories mysteriously never run in anywhere mainstream. Your pirate trix site gains some radical teens and some shadowrunners make ominous comments about the corps on jackpoint. Yay. Then you die quietly.

[AndyNakamura]

There's more considerations to this that I'm not putting here. Don't want the GM to know _all_ my plans in advance.

I will restate yet again. The plan is not to extort the megacorps. It is to get them off our backs. The price will deliberately be lowballed to the minimum. In fact, it's there just so that the corps don't think that something is fishy when the info is offered for free. Keeping in mind that this is likely the only surviving copy of the data on extremely valuable and illegal research, any Johnson worth their salary will jump at this chance.

The datahaven is there only to work as an informational escrow. Though thanks for pointing out the credibility issue, I will have to work this through a bit more. Might just end up having it dumped on Asgard. OTOH, if even a rumour of a corp developing extinction-level bioweapons leaks, the CC is likely to sit up and take notice. And no corp wants a CC investigation, particularly if those rumours are true, and the weapon had already escaped containment.

Oh, and there is a guarantee of a sort. It's a classic Mutually Assured Destruction scenario ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutually_assured_destruction ).


I think you guys are underestimating the finesse of megacorps. You don't get to AAA status just by sending jackbooted thugs to shoot people. Forceful solutions would be the last solution considered, after all other ones are exhausted or found unfeasible. Corps work on the bottom line, and brute force means expense, and risk of unforeseen circumstances and exposure (and thus further expense spiralling out of control exponentially).

[Sichr]

This thread is...funny. From the first post its get even better and better. Considering that we are serriously talking about those dead men.

I think I wholeheartedly agree with

Mmm...run equation: is spin control against an unreliable datahaven leak cheaper than what the runners are asking? If so, ignore runners, alter public perception, turn your files into "right, and I bet you know who shot JFK", promptly enjoy using the rest of the civilized world's reason and rationality against them. Then kill you. ta da.

Also, since there's no guarantee about files not being released anyhow, probably best just to prep that response anyhow, pay you, get the location, hack the datahaven to be sure nothing else is out there, kill you and reclaim your personal files. Simply put, info that sensitive, there's no guarantee there's not a copy somewhere...so why bother bargaining except to ease the control and reduction of its propenents? Then anything that gets released you neatl scoff under like an elvis baby.

Also, 4 megas, stuff that makes the corp court fear for the balance of power? You release to tabloids. The stories mysteriously never run in anywhere mainstream. Your pirate trix site gains some radical teens and some shadowrunners make ominous comments about the corps on jackpoint. Yay. Then you die quietly.

This post. Especialy with the last sentence.
Pissing of one AAA may be fun, since you may seek protection of another. Pissing off two or more of them = all members of CC acts in unisono against you, since their status is threatened. Consider yourself to be something like Operation Reciprocity target. Every AAA set aside some resources to shared pool used for your extermination.
And on the oposite on what you say about Finesse...you have to understand that bowing to such extortion once means they would need to bow everytime in the future. More probably they would use their PR machine to shatter your credibility to dust. Making you not just Wanted, but Public Enemy.
And making you Exemplary.
BTW: IMO for Shadowruner team dealing with AAA, there is no such thing as Mutually assured destruction. Only if you have Klingon battleship on orbit, waiting for your command.