10-in-Ten, The Fresh Meat Edition

 This edition of 10-in-Ten is dedicated to Preston Hampton over at the Shadowrunner’s Union group on Facebook. He had questions about introducing his players to a new setting. Mr. Black posted there, but decided to give a more in-depth version. As always, for those of you who are new here a 10-in-Ten is 10 (or so) quick ideas on a subject. They are edition agnostic and rules light (okay, more rules non-existent!). So just how do you engage a group of characters, or more importantly, their jaded and attention deficient players? Let’s take a gander. Since Preston’s original concept mentioned the Walled City of Kowloon, and, as always, Mr. Black sets his musings in Seattle, we will be contrasting Seattle with an Asian setting. But these ideas can easily be transferred to any setting.

1. Change their living conditions - In Seattle they all had low class houses or hidden little apartments. They were kings and queens of their environment (or more likely, scary little C.H.U.D.s occasionally emerging from their basement hidey holes to kill people and steal their belongings for The Corporates Shilling.) Not so in the Walled City. Living space is tight. So they all ended up at Mama Chiang’s. (Channel the Pig Sty Alley from Kung Fu Hustle) They have a single large apartment, with little privacy and must share a common bathroom with their neighbors. Kids underfoot, inquisitive neighbors asking about their gun bags, Sweet old Grandma Sheng from 3 doors down who welcomes them with a pomegranate. Their next door neighbor Mrs. Li (and her cute son/daughter) who insists they roll a pineapple around the floor of their new flop. Done right this will create both empathy and intrigue. You could even give them the old Guided Tour trope. Whoever brought them to the Walled CIty could give them a short tour while leading them to Mama Chiang’s. You want the Krew to get a look at and experience how the downtrodden look, smell and feel. You want to interrupt their rest with precocious tikes, nosey neighbors, the street sam’s snoring, and the wish-I could-forgettable view and knowledge that the rigger goes commando, and walks around the apartment naked. Get them bickering, get them helping out the neighbors, let them discover all the local establishments. You know, like normal people.

   

   Welcome Home, Shadowrunners...

2. Give them new Holidays to experience - As Mr. Black has mentioned before (here and here), holidays are powerful reminders of time and period. Having the Krew show up in the Walled City during a holiday will disabuse them that they are still in Kansas. The hustle and bustle of the streets, new sights, new smells, new customs, new superstitions, all to confront your players and their characters. Do they want to stage a Run when everyone will be busy and distracted? Then go local. Perhaps that time is Tuesday, when the weekly water talking races are on. Or at exactly 12:30, when the soap opera, A Guy, A Girl, A Red Panda, airs, and everything shuts down to watch. LEt them race to the top of Bun Towers, or master Pearl Ball. Let them see the beating heart and soul of the Walled City before they enter its dark soul.

3. Confound them - Any player can easily look up anybody or any group in any of the Shadowrun books or various wiki’s. So give them all new groups and people to confront them. Everybody knows who the Ancients and the Halloweeners are, whether they should stay away from them or just how far they can push them. But not the Black Spiders, the first street gang they encounter in the Walled City. Are they local heroes? Villains? A combination of both? Who do they work for? Or are they at the center of their own little web? When everything is both new and unknown, there is a lot to discover. And those discoveries can keep your players engaged for a long time. So confound them with new people, groups, customs and experiences.

4. Embarrass them - Few people are so shameless as to not feel embarrassment, and fear it. According to several polls, most people would rather literally die than make a public speech. Did any of the Krew take Walled City Etiquette specialization? Or the Chinese Culture Etiquette specialization?  Or bring a Cantonese Lingua Soft? Well too bad, now they have to figure it out. And they will fail hard. Strangers will stare, children will laugh, and the dreaded words “gwailo” “round-eye” and “barbarian” will follow them around. Oh and they all get the Distinctive Style (they neither look, walk, eat, talk or dress like locals), Loss of Confidence (Etiquette or Language) or Chinese Poser Negative Qualities (or 2 or all 3 together!) until they acclimate. After all, most non-Asian visitors to the Walled City are tourists, thrill-seeking influencers, or burnt-out expats looking for a hole to hide in. It will take time to fit in. On the upside, Mrs. Li’s children find the Krews broken pigeon Chinese kind of cute…

5. Inspire them - Channeling Kung Fu Hustle again, think about the scene when the Ax Gang is about to burn a mother and her child alive for information, and Coolie, the Master of the 12 Kicks of the Tam School intervenes. Mr. Black’s heart soared when he stopped them. Let your players , and by extension, their characters’ hearts soar as well. There are heroes in the Walled City, bright mirrored reflections to the Krew’s (at best) anti-hero credentials. As Belloq said to Professor Jones, “ I am a shadowy reflection of you. It would take only a nudge to make you like me, to push you out of the light.” So give them the opposite. Let them experience things that would give them just a nudge to make them want to pull themselves out of the shadows. In Yojimbo, there comes a time when even a ronin can no longer resist the light. And in the Seven Samurai, the first of the ronin takes up the cause over a meager bowl of rice. Show them the sacrifices the common people make to just exist in the darkness of the Walled City. HAve a Kung fu Master save some townspeople from a local gang. Let a mystic angel stop the evil when the Krew refuses to do so. After all, heroes have everything to fight for, and money can only buy so much. And it takes time to fight for everything…

   

   They may not look like much but have want it takes to get your player into the game

6. Piss Them Off - No, really! Few things honk off players like dismissing, condescending, or just plain rude NPC’s. Especially if they can’t wipe that smug look off the NPC’s face. So give them someone to hate with the passion of a burning sun. As soon as they hit the streets, get the Krew in a fight with a much more powerful opponent. But don’t kill them. Have the NPC go on about how pathetic they are. Use epitaphs and pejoratives. Killing them means disposing of the bodies, and they just aren’t worth the trouble. Especially as the authorities are so inquisitive of dead out-of-town gwailos and round-eyes. You know you have done it right when one of the players can’t take it any more and tries to pull a “from hell’s heart I stab at thee” sort of thing, like suicidedly tossing grenades about. Just be sure to have the NPC’s spend edge and live. Everytime some NPC yanks their chain, the Krew will add another name to their Book of Grudges. Or as some will know it, The List of Gutterbunnies Who Must Absolutely Die Before I Can Leave Town. MAke it a long list, so they will have to stick around for a long, long time. Remember Mr. Black’s dictum: “Bad guys who get away will create more hate another day”...

7. Escalate the Opposition - So they encountered a street gang and cleaned their clocks? Good, but make sure some get away. This gives you a couple of things. Thing 1, there are few better feelings than watching your enemies run before your wrath! Thing 2, if players hate rude NPC’s, the second thing they hate is bad guys who get away. Because they know about Thing 3: bad guys who get away always come back bigger and stronger. If today is a street gang, tomorrow is the gang's enforcers, followed by the gang’s organized crime affiliate, followed by the affiliates enforcers, followed by the affiliates biggest baddest: Triad Black Tiger masters, Yakuza Katana adepts, Vory kill teams, etc. Or their Corp overseer HTR teams, Red Samurai, EVO Special Service Marines, Jaguar Brigades, etc. Sooner or later, the Krew will hit their own Peter Principle of opposition, the bad guys they can't beat without allies…

8. Scare Them - Expose your players to the Dark Side™. Have the Krew meet the Big Bads of your campaign. Evil conspiracies, monstrous spirits, uncaring Corporate Kill Teams, Chinese Black Magicians, Triad masters, tainted dragons, etc. Show them the Big Bads doing despicable acts, using magick beyond the Krew’s comprehension, filled with Delta cyber/bioware, with guns of immense power. Cockroach Spirits in the sewers, bricked up apartments full of shedim, vampire cabals prowling the streets between midnight and dawn, the Yama Kings, whatever puts the fear of the Goddess into their little money grubbin hearts. Give them a reason to seek help. Because it is going to take more than an Initiated Master to put down that free Blood Spirit. It is going to need a magickal ritual, a very specially constructed weapon foci, advanced in-depth research in black ICE sites and forbidden libraries to uncover the spirits True Name, all while somebody holds off the spirit’s earthly, mortal, heavily armed minions. In other words, the Krew will need allies and information and most importantly, many specialized runs to find everything.

9. Have Them get Allies - They will need lots of them eventually. Start small, then build big. After all, they will need all new Contacts. Be generous with them, as these Contacts will become the face, heart and soul of your new setting. Everytime they need new gear or info, have a Contact or neighbor steer them to a new source. Everytime the black heart of the Walled CIty exposes its ugly face, there is another, brighter person or group to get the Krew over the next hurdle. Some will do it for prestige, some for power, some for money, some out of righteousness, some just because a Character made them laugh. But all of them will be needed for that final confrontation. And it will take time to find these allies, and the fulcrum needed to lever them into the light. And that means time in the Walled City.

10. Expose Them to Secrets - This is the best tip of them all. Everybody likes secrets, but so few can keep them. So send them on a run. As they are escaping, the door just won’t open. As the bullets start hitting the walls around them, and the sweat is running down their backs, one of them gets a text: “The door code is 125689. The Pink Rat.” The code works, and as they are running to safety, another text appears: “<your welcome> I’ll be in touch. The Pink Rat.” Just who is the Pink Rat? What do they want? Why are they helping us? So many questions, so little answers, so much to uncover! Better yet, give every character their own secret to uncover. Perhaps the Black Rat helps out the Sammie, the Green Rat the Mage, etc. Maybe the “Rainbow Rats” want to aid the Krew, maybe they want to use the Krew, and just maybe they don’t actually get along. If all of your players now have different and hopefully competing secrets to uncover, it may be months before they ever leave the Walled City…

Or even longer if Mrs. Li has her way...

So go deep and set your wicked plans into motion. When you are done, you may have had to drag your players kicking and screaming to the Walled City, but if you set the foundation correctly, they will never want to leave, and you will give your players a game they will talk to their grandchildren about. Especially if their last names are Li. “Child, let me tell you about the time I was one of the Sacred Six of the Walled City…”

Ten in 10, Year of the Tiger Edition

If you hold to the old “72 years in the future” convention for Shadowrun (as Mr. Black generally does), then the Chinese Zodiac for the Shadowrun timeline follows the current timeline. That means February is the start of the Year of the Tiger. What does that mean for your game? Well, it can mean either quite a lot, or as little as you and your players need/want. In this edition of Ten in 10, we look at 10 (or so) ideas to infuse your game with New Years hijinks, Year of the Tiger Style.

1. The first concept is that of date stamping. Mr. Black has talked about this before, but the Lunar New Year is a great Date Stamping event. Most cities have an Asian enclave (or multiples!) and almost all of them celebrate the Lunar New Year. Fireworks, specials at Stuffer Shack, parades (perfect for staging confusing chase scenes), firecrackers, Lantern festivals, gift giving, debt payments, and family and business dinners. Just remind your players that the holiday is happening, perhaps with news reports, traffic advisories, Contacts telling the runners they will be unavailable for a few days (see below), etc. Move your game calendar forward and increase immersion!

   
   

   

   Stuffer Shack, feeding Runners culturally appropriated food for decades!

   
   

2. This last concept is perfect for any Contacts with Asian roots. Did the runners forget to give gifts? Did their Contact give them gifts? Do the runners owe said Contacts nuyen, debts, favors or other such considerations? This may/should result in a loss of guanxi and/or mianzi, reducing a Contacts Loyalty. After all, if a Contact is not important enough to take to dinner, said Contact will see the runner as similarly unimportant. And as all debts are traditionally to be paid before the lunar year ends, not honoring that debt/favor is sure to result in a loss of both guanxi AND mianzi. This of course works both ways. Giving gifts (especially prosperity gifts- prosperity money in lucky red envelopes, or lucky red credsticks), paying off debts/favors, and holding celebratory banquets for the runners’ Contacts should increase their Loyalty towards the runners. And speaking of business dinners, there are many to host/attend during the Lunar New Year celebration. This is a perfect way to ensure a Contact may be unavailable to the runners, if the GM needs it to be. 

3. In Chinese lore, the Tiger is the king of beasts, and an enemy to the Dragon. This is a struggle of Yin and Yang, of the minions of Earth and those of the Heavens. But if you are looking for a major campaign plot, this can be much, much more. There are several known dragons in Seattle, not including the Great Sea Dragon. Perhaps the Triads see this year as an auspicious time to make a move in Seattle, and take the Dragons down a notch (or out completely, depending on the capabilities of your Krew, and how much you want to shake things up in your game!) Do you dare run a game where Eastern ascended cartels make war upon the infernal draconic power, with your players stuck in the middle, Fist Full of Nuyen-style? Can the Krew afford to sit this power struggle out? Or will they be drawn in, just protecting their loved ones and neighbors? Will they have to enter the conflict just to quiet the streets down enough so they can hit the shadows and make a dishonest buck again?

   
   

   

   “Crazy blogger was right. There's money to be made in a place like this.”

   
   

4. And as the Triads pour soldiers, Initiated Masters, and Black Magicians, this will alter the balance of power between them and the other organized crime outfits. This influx of strength could easily result in turf wars. If any of the runners have ties to the Asian community or any of the organized crime outfits, they could easily get drawn into this war. Whether helping out friends, protecting Contacts, or just making some money out of the conflict, the Krew could end up winning battles, but losing the war. After all, when the smoke clears, and the acid rain washes the streets clean of blood again, the winning side is coming back to settle accounts. Side with Triads, and have 6 different cartels and some hooped-off dragons coming for revenge; side with the latter and have the largest criminal enterprise in the world that just took down some dragons AND everyone else coming looking for their due…

   
   

   

   “ You mean the Triads and crazy Kung Fu masters on one side?
   Maybe dragons on the other side? And me right smack in the middle?
    Uhn-hn. Too dangerous. So long.“

   
   

5. Tsai Shen Yeh, the Chinese God of Wealth, is usually portrayed as riding a tiger. This makes the Year of the Tiger an incredibly auspicious time to make money. Which may be the reason for this war. Is Wuxing, backed by Lung, making a move on Seattle to increase market share and stock price? Is Lung looking to possibly take Ryumyu and the Yakuza down a peg? Or are the Triads just looking to expand? Of course, the Year of the Tiger is an equally auspicious time for the Krew to make money...

6. Guardian of the Dead. Tigers are considered to also be enemies of evil spirits. Tigers are carved on tombs and funeral monuments. Have the Seattle dragons been making pacts with dark spirits? Or even worse, with shedim? Is this the real cause of this war? Or will you go low key, and put your poor runners in bad positions on runs, only for arcane Triad masters of the legendary Black Tiger school arriving to save them from manifested spirits? Can the Triads bring your players into their camp in the upcoming war, by showing them the evil that dragons do?

7. Hēi Lǎohǔ The Black Tiger: Since we are looking at a potential war between the Triads and Seattle Dragons, a wonderful way to display the seriousness of the Triads intent is to introduce a kickass physad into the mix. A truly powerful Kung Fu master, named after his mastery of the feared Black Tiger style. Give him or her all the abilities needed to put the fear of the Goddess into both your runners and players. Covered in Qi tattoos, strong as a troll, as dexterous as an elf, as fantastically quick as an amped up Street Sam with too much money and too little essence. The Black Tiger’s hands glow with infernal energy as he/she engages Deadly Hands, the Qi tattoos radiate color and shift as bullets bounce off them, and spells dissipate and fail against the Black Tiger’s warding and initiated abilities. Scare them hard.

   
   

   

   Who’s the baddest MoFo low down around this town…

   
   

8. Bái Lǎohǔ The White Tiger: Chinese culture and myth holds that tigers can live for a 1,000 years. If they make it to 500, they turn into White Tigers. If the Black Tiger wasn’t enough to pin your runners ears back, then introduce the White Tiger. Even badder than the Black, with even more skills and powers, the White Tiger should seriously test your Krew and scare the crap out of your players. You know you have done it right when they start complaining about how broken and OP the White Tiger is. Let them. They are fighting one of the biggest and most powerful criminal organizations in the Sixth World, with resources AA corporations would be envious of. When they grabbed the Tiger by the tail, they should have known they would get the claws…

   
   

   

   Unleash the badassery upon your poor players!

   
   

9. The Ten Tigers of Canton. Need an entire group of badasses to put some beat down on Seattle and the Krew (or save it?) Then invoke some history and revive the Ten Tigers for the Sixth World. With a great name, and a pedigree of Kung Fu mastery, the Ten Tigers of Canton can bring a lot to your game. Giving you a roster of names and skills, the Ten Tigers can give you a low level threat one on one, or a greater threat in twos or threes. Let the players meet and beat one, then have two show up. Then three or four, if that is what it takes. If the Krew gets too big for their britches, toss all ten at them for a truly epic showdown they will never forget, and few of them will walk away from…

Is your adept up to the challenge?

10. An astrological point. There are 5 Tigers in the Chinese Astrological system. 2022 is the year of the Black Tiger, also known as the Water Tiger. The Water Tiger returns in 2082*. But even if your game is not set in 2082, you may just want to fudge it. By invoking the spirit of the Water Tiger, we can stretch this to include the Great Sea Dragon (water=sea in this paradigm.) Have the lesser Seattle dragons invoked such dark powers that only Lung, Wuxing, the Triads, the transcendent masters of the Southern Schools of Shaolin, and the fraggin’ Sea Dragon herself need to intervene? 

So, you can take a little of this or a lot. Or go the whole hog. Mr. Black dares you to run a game where the Krew is dragged into a gang war for Chinatown (perhaps by Mr. Li, or Mama Chiang), escalating into an all-out mob war, then morphs into Big Trouble in Little China, then cascades into a mystical bag of twisted free spirits, shedim invasions, magickal Kung Fu masters, Victor Wong (aka, “Winning King”), and more deals with dragons than you can shake a stick at, all while making boodles of nuyen? Can you say, “A 12-24 month campaign of wonderful pink trench coat weirdness for the very soul of the Emerald City? Please and Thank You.” 

The Year of the Tiger says, “You’re Welcome.”

*A 72 year cycle would put us in 2094, the year of the Blue Tiger, the Earth Tiger. Instead of the Sea Dragon, perhaps Hestaby joins the Triads’ fight for the soul of Seattle? After all, orange is an auspicious color for Tigers…

Halloween Special Part 2 - Sealab 2081

After looking at The Thing and films like it, Mr. Black thought of including Deep Blue Sea. But then Mr. Black realized that horror in a sea base (as opposed to the real life horror of submarines, aka Das Boot) has a lot of material. So let’s cover them in our template. As usual, spoilers.

"But I got 5 successes on my Stealth roll!"

Deep Blue Sea has a lot going for it. Isolated base? Check! Confined underwater? Check! Something has gone wrong and the life support systems have failed? Check! One of the researchers messing about with Things Man Should Leave Alone? Check! About to get eaten by a monster way out of your league? Check and double check! Deep Blue Sea is the very epitome of thing on a sea base. But it is more than that. We get 2 wonderful extras!

Thing One: There is More than One Monster. While the trid has no possession-based thing, that is easy to add. But having a second threat from something that wants to eat the Crew, that is priceless. When the troll is trying to close the huge hatch against the rising water level, and the hacker is trying to turn off the electricity before the Crew gets fried in that water, and the mage is trying fight the giant isopod insect spirit in astral space, and the rigger is trying jury-rig the escape vehicle, all while the street samurai tries to fight to super-brainiac shark, you have a game…

"When does our Edge refresh?"

Thing Two: The Shock Kill. Director Reny Harlin is mostly known for destroying the pirate genre (until its resurgence in Pirates of the Caribbean!) But he knew exactly what he was doing here:

Samuel L. Jackson’s corporate executive Russell Franklin is the trideo’s voice of reason. That is, up until he gets eaten. Reny said he did it for two reasons: 1, it happens on land, out of the water - nowhere is safe! And 2: He kills off the Big Name actor! The one person who you thought would live, gets killed early - no one is now safe! These are great concepts to jack up the tension among your players! You want them to think nowhere is safe, and anyone, at any moment can die. It is just a matter of time until all the NPC’s are gone, and now it is time for the characters to start dying...

Let that sink in before we continue.

"Why is the spirit-y Thing copying my face?"

Next up is The Abyss. It has all the trapping we are looking for, but little of the menace. In fact the most menacing thing up until the thing shows up is a deranged Michael Biehn. Here he plays Lieutenant Hiram Coffey, a special forces type, becoming a More than One Monster. Being in a claustrophobic space with a murderous elite Street Sam type will do that for you. Note that if you want to add a “Hiram Coffey”, make sure he holds rank in the Corporation’s military. It will up both the tension (if he works for the Corp he cannot be trusted!) and the immersion (Corps have militaries! Militaries that are mostly full of special ops types!) With that down we need to amp up the menace. The key is to change the things. Put the sea base near a portal to an astral plane, and have water spirits investigate the metahumans before possessing them. Then once the life support fails and the Wuxing Maritime Security Division/EVO YNT Marine Commandos decide to close the portal with a nuke, you have a race for survival…

"Tell me again why the psycho with a nuke
is duct taping me to bulkheads again?"

Next is Leviathan. This completely lines up with our template, so much so that after the last 2, it is a bit of a let down. A thing that possesses the crew? An uncaring Corp CEO that sends the Crew to their doom? Yep. Still, it has good creature design…

Someone is getting possessed...

Just to keep the rabble at bay, we can talk about Underwater and Sphere, both set on sea bases, but without a lot of possessing, and only Underwater has things. But if you really need more undersea base design inspiration they are there.

And Underwater has a great creepy vibe...

Sector 7 gives a two-fer! This time we get rid of those pesky entitled white people, and let South Koreans fight for their lives. And it is set on an oil rig, giving you another place for fear to strike.

I don'y think a Taser is going to cut it....

The Rift’s one saving grace is R. Lee Ermey. Well that and a giant starfish-like creature...

Someone is going to end up like that soda can...

That is nasty...

Lastly we have Deep Star Six. A mutated extinct sea scorpion* is our thing, which gives us a two-fer, awakened beastie AND insect spirit! It also has navy personnel with nukes, so that’s nice. But an ancient aggressive anachronistic thing from beyond time and space? On second thought, a nuke might be just the right choice…

Looks pretty insect-y spirit-y to me...

So armed with choices, and lots of inspiration, go and scare your players. And don’t forget, they can’t dawdle, there is a major storm about to hit the dive area, and the last LAV out lifts off in 20, so they need to grab their go bags and board with what they have with them!

Next up is using your environment to isolate your Crew...

*Yes, Mr. Black knows a scorpion, sea or otherwise, isn’t an insect, but needs must, neh?

Halloween Special, Part 1 - Other Trideos and Settings

 So while Mr. Black pondered The Thing, he realized there are others out there like it. That is, other films about a body-possessing alien entity trapped inside an isolated space with a few unfortunate souls about to die. Turns out there are loads of them. So let’s do a quick review for those of you looking for something a little less iconic. Please note, we are talking about sending the Crew into a confined, remote, godforsaken place, so no Invasion of the Body Snatchers. If you can leave town in the family station wagon, it is off the list, so no The Blob. Also, we aren’t looking at the remake. It is not a terrible film, but adds little to this discussion.

So old school it lost it’s color!

First up is the original, The Thing from Another World. Mr. Black still gets goosebumps every time he watches the scene where they discover the ship. While it lacks a body possessing thing, it does have an evil scientist determined to grow and feed the thing at any cost. It also has that square-jawed broad-shouldered All-American jingoism that is generally lacking in the rest of these films, and Shadowrun in general. For most of us, this attitude is lacking in the world. But if you wanted to show some soul-tired Runners a glimpse of what working in a mega is like (that smiling happy can-do attitude, mixed with unbearable confidence and xenophobia: “Gee mister, of course Ares is the best in the world! Together we can do anything, even save the world! Let’s go pin the ears back on those EVO commies”)

That is a big object. I wonder what is inside...

And since we are starting Old School, Quatermass and the Pit, AKA 5 Million Years to Earth, gives us locust-like aliens, using their ancient literal hive mind to kill any human without a strand of the alien’s DNA! While this sounds dodgy, this British Trideography Picture heavily inspired generations of sci-fi directors, John Carpenter included, and Mark Gatiss of Doctor Who fame. Mr. Black recalls being creeped out by it as a child. It goes for a black-and-white, movie time news vibe. And it’s protagonist Professor Quatermass, would make an excellent scholarly NPC, a classic cardigan wearing, pipe smoking square jawed academic, with a mustache that could cure cancer. If we need someone to lead the Crew to our facility to find out what has gone wrong, he’s our man...

Insect spirits, or the Devil? You decide...

Mitsuhama goons escort Mr. Johnson and his impressive mustache away...

Annihilation explores a similar theme, but adds in mutated creatures, and “the Shimmer”, an energy field of some kind that is keeping the thing in. Perhaps the insect spirits have set up a hive, and are flesh possessing animals? What do you have when a piasma and an insect spirit aren’t tough enough for your Crew? How about a possessed half piasma/half behemoth? Mr. Black is not sure even he has enough gun for that…

You are going to need a bigger gun...

The Reanimator is considered one of the best Lovecraft adaptations. It lacks the isolation snd claustrophobia of the other trideos discussed, but Mr. Black mentions it here because The Reanimator may be the best depiction of what happens when scientists mess with death and start summoning shedim…

This is when the Crew will start to suspect something has gone wrong...

...and when they know it has all gone dreadfully wrong.

Though shedim may be at the heart of Event Horizon. It features the Distress Call Lure, There is Another Monster and Failing Life Support, ramping up the distress. Whether you look at this as a shedim infestation, or an Astral Outbreak Event is up to you and the level of hell you are willing to inflict on your players…

There is a lot of Hell to go around...

The Void moves our location from Corp facility to a hospital. This has the benefit of confusing your players with a place that is supposed to help them, with a staff that wants to harm them. While sending your Crew to the isolation/quarantine wing of a Corp hospital is creepy enough, send them to a DocWagon Customer Wellness Center. Even after the mission is over, let them wonder if the terror and the things are the new normal for DocWagon…

A pretty suspicious DocWagon team...

...with even more dodgy facilities.

Next up is Alien. While very similar in tone and pace to The Thing, the key difference is that the Corporation is actively trying to get the thing out. This concept is bad enough when you can’t trust anyone because they might be a thing, but knowing someone in the facility is trying to sabotage your efforts to survive and escape, and is actually trying to get you possessed, triples the terror.

I can't lie to you about your chances,

but you have my sympathies...

Let’s cover the rest of the viable franchise while we are here. Aliens is the version after the thing has struck. This time the Crew’s job is rescue and retrieval, guns a-blazing. Little do they know how insidious is their “bug hunt” or that once again, the Corporation only cares about getting the thing back. This version gives your Crew all their toys and guns and bullets, and counters them with LOTS of things! Aliens also switches up our alliances. In Alien the Android is the traitor, here he is there to help, and a baby-faced Paul Reiser is our thing-loving traitor. (Never give your players the same traitor twice!)

This is the True Face of Evil...

Taken together, The Thing is an initial outbreak/infestation. But after review, the Corporation is excited about the results, and sends in another team. This is Alien, an unsuspecting team sent in to be hosts. This doesn’t work either, so this time the Corporation sends in a strike team, Aliens-style, to rescue a host at all costs. Do you dare run the same mission 3 times for your crew?

We will mercifully skip the rest of the series, except for Alien V Predator. While not a good film by any means, we can look at it from the perspective of another Corp finding out, and sending in their own team. After the first Corporation has sent in at least 3 research/rescue/Runner teams, there must be something useful in there. Perhaps the Crew is hired because of a special skill they have, e.g., mountaineering, arctic survival, jungle survival, LAV piloting, mushing (sled dog handling), etc. Find a skill on at least one of the character’s sheets that will help, and go. This new Corp could just be taking a gander, or it could be a smaller Corp looking to steal a leg up on the competition. It could be that Mr. Johnson is the one going with them. He may be looking for a fast promotion, hoping to bring whatever is in the facility to his corporate overlords. Or he could just be a rich day trader type, watching the fuel expenditures and airplane orders of the first Corporation. He realizes something is worth grabbing up there, and hires the team to take him and a couple of buddies/beancounters/bodyguards to the spot. He promises a cash payment and a share of whatever is in the facility, or whatever his Corp can make out of it, or shares in the new company he is hoping to bootstrap out of the discovery! Lots of angles to play here, and loads of ways to play this out. You take your picks, and the Crew takes their chances.

Runners, Mr. Johnson, and prey...

Next up, we take a jander under the sea...