Casting Shadows

I planned for this week’s seed to be a Technoir Transmission, but there was way too much life in the way to get it finished in time, so instead the seed will be for Shadowrun, as I am in a cyber state of mind.

The Seed

The runners’ sources of work dry up, leaving them with no paying prospects that they do not generate themselves. No one is slagging their rep, or stealing their gigs, but their fixer still has nothing for them. Other crews are working, but not seemingly on runs that should have gone to the characters. The money is almost gone, and there is no sign of work coming up for them – even from other fixers.

Something will have to be done.

Planting the Seed

This idea works best if it is used with a crew used to accepting runs rather than planning their own, and if it is timed to fall after a lucrative score, when they are enjoying the highlife and looking forward to the next big run…. but it never comes. They have cash to spare, so it doesn’t seem that bad at first, but time starts to drift by, then more time, and …still no work.

If they are going to maintain their lifestyles and do things like eat and replace exotic ammunition, nuyen must be made.

As they begin to scope out the area looking for a score to take down to generate some income, they will begin to notice that they are being tailed discretely by fairly skilled professionals.

Who is watching them, and why?

Hunger, combined with irritation and curiosity should be all you need to keep things in motion from this point.

The details

Regardless of whether the characters find a decent target from which to liberate something of value to liquidate for funds, while they are out and about looking for targets, they will have greater opportunities to spot the corporate goons who are keeping an eye on them from long-range. The watchers are just that, and do not in any way seek to interfere with what the characters do. If detected and approached, they will skillfully blend into the background and when safely away, will request a replacement agent to complete their surveillance assignment.

Someone wants the runners out of work and desperate, and these agents are in place to report on what the crew does once they get desperate enough to act.

What’s going on

Veteran runners will no doubt quickly realize that they are being set up to take the fall for someone powerful that wants to make a move against another powerful agency without leaving traces – not even traces so faint as a surreptitious hire under the name of Johnson.

As they can likely guess, a Corporate Suit has put his discretionary funds to work paying off fixers and troubleshooting typical problems, so that there is nothing for the crew to do. At the right moment, he will make sure that they ‘discover’ the information they need to make what they presume will be a ripe score on a vulnerable corporate target (his rival, of course). The resulting crapstorm is supposed to wipe out the runners, devalue what they liberated, and clear the path for the next stage of his plan.

What will the crew do? Will they play along, and seek the right time to double-cross their arrogant wanna-be puppet-master, will they stage more of a frontal assault, or something in-between?

This small seed of an idea has a lot of potential to increase the level of proactivity present in a group, and get players thinking about their characters’ skills and abilities in a different way. It also has the potential to be a smooth lead-in to a Fistful of Dollars-style tale where they are able to work to their own benefit and their opponents’ detriment at the same time, while risking only their lives.

Enjoy!

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