10 in Ten - The Olympics Bluebacks Edition

Hershe - "Oh, yeah? A million greenbacks? I got 10 million of them in the next room."

Snake - "Un-uh. Bluebacks."

Hershe - "Oh, come on, Snake."

Snake - "Bluebacks. I swear to God..." - Snake Plissken negotiating with Hershe Las Palmas, Escape from LA

So several members of the ShadowGrid forums have been talking about the upcoming 2076 Seattle Summer Olympics, especially Geekman047. With that in mind, Mr. Black presents the following 10 in Ten - The Olympics Bluebacks Edition. This 10 in Ten is a little looser than normal, more of a primer of ideas as opposed to 10 concrete ideas. Mr. Black will be blogging more about the evil of these Olympics, but thought you GM's could all use something more "generic". And all of these ideas can be used along side the Horror of the 2076 Olympics. So use, abuse, and enjoy. And make sure you get paid in Bluebacks, not that Seattle Olympic Committee Greenback script.

1. Drug testing is always a part of the Olympics. Whether Mr. Johnson wants you to plant a tainted sample (to disqualify another athlete), plant a pure but counterfeit sample (to protect his athlete from being exposed for a drug cheat), or just corrupt/rig the drug testing equipment itself (hack your way in and then do either or both!), you are sure to be handling piss and/or blood this summer. Just be careful who pees in the bottle; for some runners taking drugs is more than a lifestyle-it is a job require. Part of said drug testing is the actual taking of drugs. Whether the Crew gets drugs for his client, or to plant drugs on/in his client's competition is up to you and Mr. Johnson. Actual performance enhancers (like Bliss, Cram, Jazz, Kamikaze, steroids, etc.,) and dubious performance enhancers (like weed, coffee, etc,) are all on the menu. Heck, just spiking an athlete's cola with extra caffeine could be enough get them disqualified. Can the crew smuggle in some Mega-Jolt Super-Caff soda, disguised in Omega Fizz cans? Or alter all the soda dispensers to switch to Mega-Jolt as needed? The last will require work on the dispensers and keeping 24-hour watch on them; a good job for a hacker heavy Crew.
2. Your Crew may be doing so many drug runs that they threaten to quit. "That's 20 runs on the testing facility in 3 days! We need a break!" Which will impact their Street Cred of course. And maybe more. Mr. Johnson, desperate for one more medalist, decides that blackmail/extortion is the way to go. He doesn't care about repercussions, as he will be out of North America in a day or so. And if the Crew decides to hunt him down in whatever piss-hole Eastern European Bloc country/African hell-hole/Middle Eastern waste-war-land he is hiding in, then you just got two Runs for the price of one. And the extra one involves international travel and a whole new hyper-corrupt landscape.
3. Depending on what year it is in your game will dictate the amount of construction that is taking place. The OOC usually nominates the winning city 8 years ahead of time to allow time for planning and financing all that construction. So you can have your Crew do runs involving construction plots from about 2069 onward. Putting pressure on bidding firms to drop out of said bidding (classic extortion/blackmail here, nothing fancy), conducting runs on their construction sites to make them look disreputable (destroying work so it can't be done on time), altering construction materials to make them weaker (Concrete is key here. What do the runners care about how many people die when the building collapses?**), falsifying work documents to show the firm's racial make-up isn't up to snuff to qualify for government work (not enough metahumans for UCAS regulations, or too many metahumans for Kennie's Big Plans), organizing demonstrations outside of current projects to make firms look bad, there is lots of work for Crews. And all these different types of jobs allow work based on the Crew's skills, a big bonus for GM's.
4. Mr. Johnson has a problem. His client never thought he would get the bid for constructing the Paul Schell Badminton Facility*. The client's bid was waaay under the others, and now he is running out of money to continue. So Mr. Johnson wants a simple arson, one that will pass an arson investigation. His client hopes to collect the insurance money and then bow out. You know, if the Runners don't blackmail him first...
5. Just as the 2016 Rio Olympics resulted in a toxic waste site/sailing venue, and the Sydney Olympics before them, the hurried state of construction is sure to do the same in Seattle. And where you find toxic sites, you find toxic spirits, and toxic shamans. And now Mr. Johnson needs you to clear the Harry White Soccer Grounds* of such a shaman. The Grounds are huge, with 3 full-sized pitches being built. The crew is on a clock, as the Seattle Olympic Committee is sending an inspection team to the site to check on the progress. And this all needs to be kept quiet, big explosions and running street fights are out. Publicity of such an event would cost millions...
6. Or maybe the city just gives in. And the Crew gets hired as one of many off-the-book teams to keep an eye out for pissed of toxic spirits. Too bad they got hired to sit on a boat in Lake Washington and patrol the sailboat races. Mr. Black knows he hates facing angry water spirits while sitting in the water. Or worse, they could be watching the rowing events (those little boats splinter quickly, hard to save those folks, and there goes the bonus money!) or kayaking events (pissed off toxic spirits AND white water rafting? Sounds like fun, right?)
7. While the UCAS national team is guaranteed a spot in the Soccer competition, spots on the team have to be earned. Or bought. Mr. Johnson needs the Crew to thin down the competition for his client. This may take several runs, injuring some athletes, buying out others, and smearing the rest (drug use is a good way to go.) The Crew has to be careful, as key players are still needed so that the team doesn't suck. The client is looking for a medal, not just participation. Mr. Johnson is looking at bench players here. But mistakes happen, and they may lead to bitter repercussions...
8. The previous run idea could be applied to any of the lesser team sports (field hockey, volley ball, etc.) However Basketball is big time. While the UCAS team is not what it once was (with the UCAS losing much of it's territory and all) it is still a favorite for a medal. And lots of star power in this sport.So trying to manipulate the roster is going to be "Win Big/Lose Big". Either the players succeed and get a huge payout, or they screw it up and get found out nationally. You can bet the teams of the players they messed over will want revenge, not to mention the very rich players themselves, and possibly the Players Union. Hell, if they hurt the wrong players the Mafia will come after them for screwing up the betting odds...
9. Becoming an officer of the Seattle Olympic Committee is quite the resume-maker. One is sure to get amazing job offers from any of the Big Ten; some will want the ex-officer just for publicity reasons. So getting appointed is quite the hurdle. Thus Mr. Johnson needs to make his client sparkle so that a contender looks dirty. The Crew will need to find some dirt or just plain make some up. If you are running Kennie's Big Plans, just being anti-Humanis may be enough. Unless he needs a "token" on the Committee, that is.
10. Anytime world-class sporting events are held in Western countries, someone is sure to seek asylum. And the Olympics are no exception. Generally the athletes just walk out into the street and ask for it. However this extraction is semi-Hostile; the target wants out but their country is against it, and is providing extra security for it's athletes and staff. Compounding the extraction is Knight Errant's on-site security; they are the security providers for the Seattle Olympics (why do you think the Brackhaven administration choose them? Kennie gets two jobs for the price of one...) And current Olympic security is no joke. The threat of terrorism is higher than ever, making the Olympic Village extremely well-guarded. And the stadiums are no joke either. They are sure to have intrusive searches and sensors at the entrances. Can the crew grab the athlete and get him/her to a UCAS government building all while dodging foreign security teams and Knight Errant? Need to step this up a peg? Make the country Lagos and the athlete a Ghoul to increase the moral dilemmas for your players and Crew.

*All facilities described here are named after Seattle mayors, as found here.
**Causing guilt among your players (after the building they altered concrete collapses, killing hundreds of innocent women and children) is just pure bonus fun! You can decide what to do with the character with the Street Samurai Honor Code....