10 in Ten, The Rigger Triumphant Edition

One of the members over at the ShadowGrid forums, captduck, asked for help with giving his player's Rigger character more to do. After offering some suggestions, Mr. Black gave it some long thought. The problem was not so much about what else the character could do, but that most GM's and players tend to pigeonhole the Rigger into not much more than a glorified chauffeur. (Mr.Black knows, he has done it too!) This is very wrong, but may require a paradigm shift for most players and GM's. Really, we GM's should try Runs where different members of the Crew get to shine, especially the Rigger. The trick is to make the Rigger the reason the Run is going on-he needs to drive something away for Mr. Johnson. As a starting point Mr. Black offers the following 10-in-Ten, the Rigger Triumphant Edition, to help push that gear-shift. Enjoy, and use at your Rigger's grace and your Crew's peril.

1. Let's start simple. The Crew needs to get into a very tall building. From the top. Perhaps the elevators don't go all the way to the roof, or maybe the top 30 floors are not accessible by Wi-Fi. And the other 100 floors are a bitch of a security nightmare. Whatever. Time for the Crew to get out of the Van, and into a helicopter, which our poor benighted Rigger gets to drive. And maybe fire machinegun shots into those top 30 floors. And then make a high speed aerial chase across the skies of Seattle. Bring extra shenanigans by having the Crew make an high-speed emergency evac off that roof. You know the one, where that last member of the crew has to make a jump off the 130th floor onto a skid or a dangling rope. Don't make it to hard for the jumpee; you want him dangling when the chase starts. You know, for that extra-cinematic feel. And the grin on your face as the Crew's spends all their Edge to keep him from falling off...
2. Mr. Johnson wants the Crew to recover a large shipment. It is loaded on 3 freight cars, and Mr. Johnson wants the Crew to steal the whole train. Which is where the Rigger comes in. While the Hacker goes in and changes the routing, the Rigger is going to play engineer! Again, someone else will have to drive the Van. The rest of the Crew can provide security, and really, who doesn't want to have a fight on top of a train?
3. One of the Big Ten has a new prototype. Only this time it is not some little piece of electronics. It is a frakkin' tank (or a Riot Control Vehicle, or an APC. Something big, armored and armed.) And Mr. Johnson wants it driven to the Swap point. Try Ash City/Glow City, or maybe the stolen train above. Anyways, the Crew needs to get into the testing grounds, get the Rigger into it (only Riggers can drive this advanced prototype), and then jander off into the night. And somebody else will have to drive the Van this time; hope somebody has Pilot: Ground Vehicles above Rating 1. Oh, and throw in an awesome chase, perhaps with attack helicopters firing AP missiles, and lots of car crunching fun.
4. Try the above Run differently. Mr. Johnson is perhaps a collector of expensive, high-speed automobiles. And one of the major corporations is testing their new prototype $500,000+ sports car. Once again, the Crew needs to get into the testing facility and have the Rigger drive it away. Which should lead to a high-speed, high octane (should that be high ozone in 2075?) chase across the city. Channel all your Fast 'n' Furious 1-7 into this; stealth should not be an option. Heck, go super-stupid and have the Crew helo insert into the top of the above Very Tall Building and then go full Furious 7 on them! If you are wizzer lucky, then maybe the rest of the Crew will also be able to drive and have some fast vehicles. 'Cause that stodgy Van just won't be able to keep up this time. For extra shenanigans, ensure Mr. Johnson puts a "no damage" clause in the contract.
5. You could change up #4 by making Mr. Johnson a very vindictive person, who has a beef with Jackson Pedley. Seems Ol' Jackson should have paid his gambling debts/kept his hands off someones wife/etc. And Jackson is driving the Number 37 Omega Fizz car in the Seattle 300 this weekend. And Mr. Johnson wants that number 37 car retrieved during the race on national TV. Once again, make sure there is a big chase, lots of fireworks, and lots of embarrassment for Ol' Jackson.
6. Mr. Johnson needs a job done on Lake Washington. The bottom of Lake Washington. Seems he lost a clandestine shipment on a boat that sunk and he wants the Crew to recover it. Whether they use a mini submarine or a Lamprey is up to you and your Rigger. The rest of the crew will probably need to take scuba lessons, a good way to get them to spend Karma on something other than guns, spells, and Matrixy stuff. Need to add shenanigans? Toss in pirates or sea-beasties. Better yet, throw in a rival Crew and recreate the end of Thunderball. Hell, go all out and make them a HTR team that parachutes in. You can amp up the fun by having Mr. Johnson work for one of the OCO's (Organized Crime Organization) and the shipment, well, drugs and let you players take a walk on the Dark Side.
7. And why fight on top of a train when you can fight on top of a high speed monorail? Think Wolverine or Mission Impossible: I. Mr. Johnson wants a diplomatic extraction (or Elimination!) on the LA to Seattle monorail. Once again our Rigger takes center stage and hijacks the monorail while the crew goes to work. Or reverse MI:1 this, and have the Rigger drop the team on the train. If you thought have a Crew member jump off a 130-story building was crazy, deploying on top of an object going 200+ miles per hour is even more nuts.
8. Nothing says alternate history like a Zeppelin. Just ask Kenneth Hite. Or these. So it is now time for your Crew to join the future and hijack a Zeppelin. Perhaps there is an item in the hold, or a person that must be extracted, but whatever it is, there is not enough time to get on, grab it/him/her, and get off. Just enough time to get aboard and then start doing Legwork. Oh sure, the crew could just wait for it to land, but that item is too big to just walk with, or the target is too well protected, or more likely, the original destination is someplace the Crew definitely doesn't want to be. So hijacking is the better option. Now the Rigger has to engage in a low speed chase, and maybe fire some ordnance,  all while the rest of the Crew sits around monitoring the hostages and babysitting the MacGuffin. And make sure the Crew channels their inner Archer!
9. Mr. Johnson desires protection. Oh, and an escorted trip to the western shore of Salish lands. Has a place to be, and people to meet. Nothing more than a day trip, he says. Well, in a regular boat, and it must be a boat to stay off of radar, it is a day or 2 trip. Which is why Mr. Johnson has acquired the services of a high-speed weaponized boat. Maybe it is just super-high performance cigarette boat (Think Black Lagoon), maybe it is a hydrofoil. But it will take a Rigger with nerves of steel to drive Mr. Johnson out to that shore, cutting through all the little islands in Puget Sound, in the dark and/or fog, while staying out of the reach of Salish patrol boats/helicopters, startled smugglers, large sea beasties, and the guards at all those strange, unknown, uncharted research facilities the Big Ten have hiding out there. Good luck and good sailing!
10. While we have talked about many many large vehicles, maybe it is time for the Rigger to go small. Like flying ultralights into facilities. Or racing motorcycles through Seattle. Or scooting Jackrabbits through the sewers loaded with gold. Or cutting through the woods in ATV's or those armed dune buggy things special forces love so much. Something small enough that the entire Crew can't fit in, so the Rigger-driven vehicle is the Alpha vehicle, and the rest of the Crew is another vehicle praying and spending Edge to keep up with him. Let him be the star for the night, so he doesn't go suicidal the next time he just sits in the Van.

So to repeat, make the Rigger the reason for the run, or give him more to do than wait in the Van again. Give him a chance to shine, and make him the star of the Run every now and then. Even if your Crew decides not to hijack the MacGuffin in say #3, maybe using a cargo helicopter to steal the tank, the Rigger is still doing the heavy lifting. And you may get lucky and have the rest of the Crew riding on the back of a tank dangling from a cargo helicopter 500 meters above the ground, all while a small attack wing of Wasps/large attack wing of drones show up and start spraying everyone down. Now go and enjoy!