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.
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! 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.
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.” 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.“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...
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?
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… 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! 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…
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| Is your adept up to the challenge? |
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…