John Carpenter may not be the first filmmaker that comes to mind as the creator of the dystopian future genre, but he came damned close. Films from his golden era set the tone for everything Shadowrun, including the addition of magic. Mr. Black will take you through 6 of his groundbreaking and iconic films, and illustrate what a GM can take from them and add to his or her game.
Spoilers ahead, let’s dig in, in chronological order: first up, Escape from New York.
At first blush, this classic actioner is about a prisoner forced to rescue someone in an apocalyptic hell zone. But it is so much more. Replace “futuristic government” with mega-corporation, and you can take a fresh new look at any of the mega’s black ops divisions. Too often we think of the mega’s as just modern-day companies with guns. But they really aren’t. They are the most powerful of Shadowrun’s nation states. They have more money, and more tech than any current nation state other than the US of A. And while the mega’s militaries may not be as big, they are the biggest of their time. And their operational commitment and decisiveness dwarfs that of any current country. Any modern state would take a highly trained, patriotic volunteer. But not the US of Escape from New York. They grab a criminal, give him a 24 hour window of success or death. Basically a Shadowrunner. They don’t really care about him, only the safe extraction of their “CEO”. Just like a Shadowrun. Really, Escape from New York is a Shadowrun, the extraction of a board member trapped in the Barrens, that no one can know about. Think about the ruthlessness of that government, and the vicious shadowy ops they execute to stay in power, and to gain even the smallest bit more.
The Ready Room of your local Mega Corp Speaking of the Barrens, the New York of the movie is a good replica of the Barrens of Seattle, or really the Barrens of any city. When the Crew has to enter the Barrens, picture the trash strewn streets, the fear and desperation of the inhabitants, the abandoned buildings, the dread and hopelessness of the inhabitants. It is a forgotten realm, with it’s own power structure, that of might (the Duke) and knowledge (the Brain) with street level projections of power by various feral gangs in between. Show your players that dread, that dirt, that damaged social structure. If they need more, remember the initial furious gang attack, and replay it with feral ghouls. If they need a glimmer of hope in the darkness, channel your best Borgnine and give them the Cabbie.
You can’t meet the Duke! Are you crazy? Nobody gets to meet the Duke. You meet him once and then you’re dead! Last thing, this would be a good first mission. A plane crashes in the Barrens. It is all over the news. Not reported is who was on board, a VIP of one of the Mega’s. The party fixer summons the Crew, and they have to go now, before any other Mega steps in, and before news gets out of the passenger list. The loss of the VIP would cause stock prices to drop, and so an extraction is needed. Now, immediately.
When this is your Mr. Johnson, you know it is bad...
The Crew gets what they need to do the job (perhaps a vehicle, or whatever else is needed.) they are also handed a tracking device locked to the VIP’s tracking bracelet (think DocWagon, but just for internal company use) and a sat phone, so they can call in when it is time for the hand off. The tracker makes this a very linear mission, perfect for a first Run. You can lead the Crew from encounter to encounter. If you need to add some flavor, add in an electronic file the VIP was carrying (aka the briefcase in the film), something extra to track down. Perhaps a character with ties to the mega sending them in is given a secondary tracker for it. (Better yet, a character with ties to a rival mega! They want the info, and want their “inside man” to get it. Without anyone else knowing, not even their Crew mates! Use the “inside man” to help create some minor paranoia, and force a moral dilemma onto your players.) Or throw in a rival extraction team. Not a HTR team, no one wants the scream sheets to see what is really going on. (This hiding of the truth/duplicity is a key theme, both of the mission, and of Shadowrun in general. Use this mission to pound that theme into their smarmy gutter bunny heads, that these are shadow ops, that keeping your mouth shut and the truth from everything and everyone is the part and parcel of their existence, and the reason for their paydays.) No it is a dark mirror version of the Crew, a Belloq to their Indiana Jones. Use this doppelgänger Crew to push the players, to put a ticking clock on their characters. You don’t want any lollygagging about here. Give them places to be, street gangs to fight, an enemy to outrun/outthink, and a good payday afterwards. Let them keep the Rover 2080, the sat phone, any toys they got. (Except the trackers, those get returned.) For future paranoia, put trackers in them all. Give them some rather generous money, or that piece of tech/ware someone really wanted but couldn’t afford/legally buy. If they carry it out (and this is a starting Run, they WILL succeed) and keep their mouths shut, they will have a Johnson for life,
Guess who has another job?
and the thanks of a Corp VIP (or not. Like in the Trid, show them how much the high up muckety-mucks really care!) They will also have a Mega watching them, another pissed at them, and a rival Crew to sparp with. That is a lot of rich future roleplaying out of a “starter mission”! Take it, run it fast, and introduce your players to a new, savage, and engaging future, all the way from 1981!
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