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…”

10 in Ten, Chinatown Hustle

 This 10 in Ten is a combination of date stamping, runs, and Chinese holidays, inspired by our review of Big Trouble in Little China. If your city setting has a Chinatown (or LittleTokyo, etc.), then involve your players in its calendar. The food, the sights, the smells, the fireworks, the Shadowruns… If ol’ Jack Burton can stumble into a millenia-old struggle for the soul of the world, you can expect your players to find some work, as long as they don’t get on the wrong side of the locals, or the Triads.

A note on dates: Chinese holidays are usually celebrated on the lunar calendar, and follow a “second day of the second month” model. That is, a holiday will fall on the second day of the second lunar month. For non-Chinese or non-AAPI, this means the holidays do not fall on the same time each year, and can vary from year to year by weeks. Mr. Black recommends using a good calendar app, that includes Chinese holidays, and using the current year (say 2021) as the year in game. So replace 2080’s calendar with 2021’s. Let the app keep track of the holidays, and give you alerts that you can tailor to your players.

If your location doesn’t have a Chinatown, or you just prefer a different ethnic/regional group, most Asian cultures share many of these holidays. Many celebrate them differently, and often on different days (make use of that calendar app again!) But the concept is the same. 10 holidays, 10 different times of year, at least 10 more runs to undertake…

(Please note, Mr. Black is definitely a gwáilóu. Mr. Black is attempting to use Chinese customs and holidays to add depth and excitement to a game, and intends no disrespect or insult to the Chinese people, Chinese-Americans, or any people who share Asian heritage and/or culture.)

1. Lunar New Year, Start of Celebration-the Lunar New Year, or the Spring Festival, is the first major holiday of the year. This year there is competition for the Lion Dancers team. This is a major boon. The chosen team will perform not only throughout the Spring Festival, but also at many other holiday celebrations, and may get to travel and represent Seattle throughout the world. The prestige within the community, the extra pay for the performers, and most importantly, the guanxi and miànzi gained for the team sponsor, elevate this from a single “Bring It On” event into something much grander. For a small nimble Crew this could play out as a less lethal version of A Fist Full of Yuan, or a series of runs disrupting costume storage, painting the lions inappropriate colors, etc. Both teams want to win, but neither wants the other team dead or crippled. After all, beating them again next year just proves the miànzi was properly earned, and, “Lion Dancer team brutally murdered in Hing Hay Park” does not bring the tourists in. The dance team supported by Mama Chiang’s Golden Palace restaurant (or their competitors, Mr. Li’s Market, you choose, your game!) may not pay the best, but the Longevity Noodles are divine, and the good luck is palatable. And who doesn’t need some extra luck, and a new contact in the new year?

   

   Someone is about to get blown up big time..

   
   

2. Lunar New Year, End of Celebration, the Lantern Festival. Traditionally, this marks the end of the Spring Festival. The Lantern Festival makes a great Meet for a cunning Mr. Johnson, as the lanterns often have riddles on them. Solving the riddle may be a proof of competency, or lead to a second quieter meeting place. This is also a good way for the dance team that lost the above competition to contact the Crew, and use them to get some revenge on the winners…

   

   So many lanterns, so little time...

   
   

3. Zhonghe, the Blue Dragon Festival. The festival venerates the Dragon God*, but is also a spring planting festival. It is considered a good time to get a haircut. Perhaps a hacker is needed to put a name in the appointment app for Zhao’s, the most auspicious barber shop and ladies salon in Chinatown. Or Mr. Li hires them again, this time to sabotage Mama Chiang’s zongzi, or sticky rice dumplings.

   

   Zongzi, sort of a Chinese pork tamale.

   
   

4. Qingming, Tomb Sweeping festival. This festival is more solemn than most, but given the distance in both time, space and generations from the homeland (and Seattle Chinatown’s lack of space for tombs/graves,) Qingming has turned into more of a family reunion picnic type of thing. Families gather in the International Distrinct’s parks, and pay respect to their departed family elders. There is feasting, burning of joss paper, and the carrying and pacing of pomegranate and willow branches, But the big draw is kite flying.the creation of kites, selling of kites and flying them has grown into a huge festival in Seattle. While there is no kite flying competition, there is some minor jostling, and much miànzi can be won or lost, especially if a team loses their kite, say to having their kite string cut...

   

   These kites get kinda big and scary...

5. Duanwu Festival, or the Dragon Boat races. June. Dragon Boat Races present lots of options for runs. Lots of money from gambling is on the offer, and prestige for winners makes this one of most exciting days for shadowrunners in Seattle. Whether rigging boats to increase drag, influencing boat crews to throw a race, sabotaging boats, providing security against the above before races, providing security during races (water spirits can get quite feisty on Lake Washington during the holiday), and acting as bagmen after races, runners can make a lot of nuyen. And activity during the races have only increased since Salish tribal teams in West Coast Canoes were invited to take part. Team Raven or Team Dragon? You take your pick, and live with the consequences…

   

   Raven Boats...

   
   

   

   ...or Dragon Boats, take your pick..

   
   

6. Qixi, or the so-called “Chinese Valentine's Day”. August. This is more a celebration of couples, and less of Western Romantic love. But it does involve magpies bridging the Milky Way, and thus Magpie shamans (or in a mixing of Northwestern cultures, NAN Raven/Magpie Shamans), special treats, qiao guo candies. There are also contests for young ladies, testing old-fashioned domestic tasks, such as threading needles in low light conditions. This sounds out of place, sexist and pretty useless, but in Chinatown of 2080, the winners acquire miànzi they can then use through guanxi to earn money to start businesses or help with college tuition. It replaces a beauty pageant in a way. And where there is a contest, there is room for the Crew to work their magic...

   

   Conflict and candy!!!
   
   

7. Ghost Festival. This festival is famous for burning joss paper, the act of setting food out for departed loved ones, and placing festival lamps out upon the waters. This time Mama Chiang hires the Crew to replace Mr. Li’s joss paper with something offensive, and Mr. Li hires them to replace the vegetarian offering food with meat. The entire festival is a perfect time to harvest spirit summoning reagents, as the heart of the celebration is the opening of the “underworld”. And all this doesn’t involve “Hell Bank Notes”, or Hell Money. Could a savvy Crew sabotage a Triad’s economic base by subbing in their bearer bonds for Hell money, and laughing as the Triad’s members burn the bonds? And could a Crew be hired to help/hinder the summoning of a massive spirit on the day the spirits are released from Hell?

   

   For burning, not for earning!

   
   

8. Mid-Autumn Festival, Moon Festival. Seattle does this big! More dance teams, lantern contests, food booths and food trucks (Mr. Black’s favorite form of surveillance!) make this another chance to lose or gain both guanxi and miànzi. From Triad protection scams, to “enforced” food shortages, to ultra-rare ingredient gathering (can the Crew gather 4 Broobie or Lesser Roc eggs, for the most decadent and expensive Mooncake ever?), there is lots for a Crew to do, or more likely get entangled in.

   

   Mooncake.

   
   

9. ChongYang Festival, Double Nine Festival. This October festival follows the traditions of many Chinese holidays, the reverence of ancestors, the drinking of a particular tea/wine (chrysanthemum in this case), the eating/gifting of a dense “cake”, and monster fighting and hill climbing. Wait, what are those last two? Yes, traditionally a hero told his village to climb a hill for safety while he fought a monster. So replace lion dancers with a monster killing parade, and lots of hill climbing contests, both actual (dirt bikes and foot races up East Roy Street on Capitol Hill are sponsored events) and AR (Sonia Danzig’s Emerald Free Climb Challenge 2078 it still widely played, and has 2 special Chongyang climbs in the International District. This year, the Space Needle is chiming in with an AR climb up the needle, complete with “monster attacks”, and a special menu with top chef Peter Yuen flown in from Hong Kong.) Can the Crew help Mister Li or Mama Chiang win? And what of the rumors of an underground wrestling gambling ring? Is the street sam ready to strip down, grease up, and partake in the nastiest one-day fight club that doesn’t permit kicks or strikes this side of the Pacific? Is the mage ready to gather all those “double yang”, doubly lucky reagents?

   

   Seattle’s most popular AR climbing game!

   
   

10. Dongzhi Winter Solstice Festival. This is celebrated on the actual solstice. Getting together with family, and eating rice ball soup, dumplings, and/or hot pot (depending on where one's family is from, and how strict their traditions are.) After the ceremonies, the “year” is now older, making this an auspicious time for reagent gathering, spirit summoning, spirit releasing/banishing, and debt paying. Any and all of these fall within the Crew’s remit, making this a challenging and enriching holiday. As is gifting your Chinatown patron/Mr. Johnson an appropriate gift. And said gift had better be very appropriate, or the loss of miànzi could be catastrophic in the upcoming year...

    

    Kicking it Chinese style!

And just think, in a few months, it all starts again. There is a lot of adventure, fun, and runs to execute in just 3 blocks! With 10 holidays, and each having multiple runs for a good group with the right contacts, a GM could do an entire year's worth of runs. And by expanding their guanxi, and the careful management of their patrons miànzi, they could become virtually the Guardians of Chinatown…

*Dragon Gods brings up images of both the Sea Dragon, and Lung, Patron Dragon of China and the Rim of Fire. Do you dare run a game where the Crew, after eating zongzi, slowly transform into drakes? What has Mama Chiang gotten them into?

10 in Ten, Proper Nouns

This is dedicated to Glenn Royer over in the Shadowrunner’s Union Facebook group. In the post on creating immersive gaming through using Proper Nouns we discussed why to do it. Here is 10 simple ways to do it.

1. Start with one organization. It can be a Corp, a criminal group, security provider or gang. Decide which pistol they use, which SMG, which taser/stun baton and their patrol vehicle of choice. Then next run/next month do another. In a year you will have all the major groups for your campaign done.

2. Do 2-4 ads to beat your players over the head with. You can just do tag lines or graphics if you have skillz. Or copy mine. Then hit them again and again.Try a gun, a car, a clothing line/perfume, a food item, or an event/Trideo. And, as above, do a new set next run/month.

3. Use a date stamp* method to feed these ads. Mr. Black starts every game with a quick news update. A quick promo is slipped in. This small trick brings a lot to your GM repertoire. Starting every session with the same verbal bit helps to settle your players down, and lets them know the session has started. The promo creates mood and immersion. And the news can create foreshadowing, as can the ad promos. In just a few moments, you set up future arcs, entertain your players and invite them to the table to play, and embed their characters deeper  into your world.

4. Start naming NPC’s on a small scale. Pick a couple and give them names, a single trait and an appropriate dice pool or two. They can be contacts, enemies, or various dramatic personages. Use whatever filling system you prefer. Index cards, Google Docs, whatever program you like, as long as you can share it across platforms. Do 3-4 this month, and another 3-4 next month. 

5. Steal NPC’s, ads, promos, whatever you need and like. TV, film, books, anime, comics, YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, whatever. Don’t be afraid or ashamed. You are trying to have a better time with your friends, not write The Great American Novel. You have limited time, so adapt what you need from the best and brightest creators in the world. If Picasso and Mr. Black can do it without a moral qualm, so can you.

6. Stealing concepts can come from various places. Here’s 2 on the cuff. Mr. Black likes his movies and TV shows on hard formats (DVD/Blu-Ray). Because of the extra features. On the Talladega Nights DVD is an extended riff of Ricky Bobby and Cal extended commercial promos and public service announcements. Not only are they hilarious, they can give you ideas, pitch and tones. The same is true of SNL’s ESPN Classics sketches. Pete Twinkle’s line reads inspire Mr. Black every time...

7. You don’t have to do it alone. Your players can help you out. We all know Shadowrun has its 20 Questions. Mr. Black has 100 in his 20 questions, and many are asking his players what their favorite foods and pop culture are. If you have 5 players, and each of them creates the names of 5 songs and TV shows and movies and ice cream flavors (and more!) you now have 25 of each to use in your game. And your players will feel included when you use them. Rewarding their players with Karma and Nuyen? That’s fair. Having their favorite song for 2080 blaring over the Crews earbuds during the action section of your game, and giving that character imaginary** front row tickets to their favorite imaginary** band? That is fragging priceless omae. And it shows you listen to your players, and makes your Mr. Johnson or fixer look omnipotent.

8. A good app on your phone can help, for when inspiration hits. Note down names, ideas, or quirky traits. Get it down somewhere, so you can expand on it later. You can do quick screenshots, take photos, and do internet dives, and save it all for later.

9. So you have named 3-4 key members of the Street Spiders, a local go-gang, decided they are all riding Suzuki Mirages (fast and cheap) and carrying Colt L36’s (just cheap. You lifted a street level blacklister from the Black List, did some screen captures of a graphitti you liked (or did a quick design in a graphics app) as their street tag to show the players, and created a small charity to help clean up the streets to hire the Crew (or is it a holding company for Brackhaven Investments, looking to clean up the neighborhood so they can flip it?) Now you have a nice little run for your players! Throw in some hangers talking about the trideos from last night (“Hoi butch, you scan that new Doctor Quinn trid? That Sarah Iron Bear is smootchie!” “Chip truth butch, but when Sully came out of that pond shirtless? I go ba-bootchie for Chrissy Kane!”) and you have got something chummer.

10. And steal from Mr. Black! Here are some ads to use. Mr. Black will load 3-5 every month just for all of you, dear readers! 😉

*Date Stamping is a technique for showing both the passage of time, and establishing mood and place through use of holidays, news feeds and more. See Part 2 of Creating Immersive Gameplay.

** Imaginary in that they are just part of your game. They cost you and the player nothing. No one got extra nuyen or karma. 

10-in-Ten, Glow Deer Edition

 Jason A Wedel over the the Shadowrunners’ Union FB group posted about the use of reflective paint on deer, which is an actual real thing. Go figure, neh? But of course it triggered both Mr. Black’s mnemonic enhancer and cerebral booster (go EVO or go home, says mr. Black!) and so we get this, a fresh 10-in-Ten. For those new around here, a 10-in-Ten is 10 ideas for runs, just enough to get you going, no stats, totally (okay, just mostly) edition agnostic. This time, we have a livestock issue.

Yep, they glow!

And just before we get started, here are links to 

Glowing Reindeer

Not so glowing reindeer

Armed with all this, let’s dive in.

1. The town of Shelbyville recently found the local deer population has Awakened. Trids have popped up all over about the deer with glowing antlers. This naturally created problems, between thousands of folks showing up to see them, which snarled up traffic and parking, trampled all the local scenery, and ran the Likkle Splick diner out of chicken fried steak and Wanda’s World Famous Chuckleberry Cobbler. But events turned dire when the talisleggers showed up and started poaching deer. Bad enough they don’t have licenses or permits. But trespassing can get people killed around here. And the ‘leggers are scaring the tourists. The town council wants this controlled, quick. Can a crew of runners, media savvy enough to act in a way that will keep any bad news off the Matrix, but good enough to still run the ‘leggers off, before any locals or those money spending tourists get hurt?

2. And soon things are going to go bad. Small-time talisleggers are one thing. But when the Triads or Koshari come a-knockin’, you know the drek’s gone sideways. The Crew better bring their AAA game, because when the Three Storms show up, it’s all gone real retrograde.

   

   Can the Crew come out and play?

   
   Better hope a local alchemist can whip up some Chuckleberry Brew, so one can see things that can’t be seen, and do things that can’t be done. Sadly, chuckleberries are out of season, but there is a small Corp-run greenhouse over in Springfield that has them year ‘round…

3. And if this isn’t enough, with less hunting, (the kiddies want to pet the glow deer and post about it on Twanger and MeTube, not see them bloodily murdered) the deer have been quietly devouring the local crops. Someone is going to have to stop Old Man Clayton from doing it loud, from the back of his pickup, while blaring “Drinking Beer and Wasting Bullets'' Is the Crew up to culling 20-30 glow deer, quietly, off the record, on the Q.T., and very hush-hush?

4. And if news of a cull gets out, TerraFirst! is bound to come calling. That is if they can elbow their way in past Sierra Inc., those Gaia’s Orphans hippies, GenePeace investigators and ALF protesters. Does the Crew have enough political savvy, fixer contacts, surveillance drones, and good old fashion muscle to help Sheriff Ponder keep the peace? And how is your Michael Rooker impression?

   

   And how do you look in capezios?

   
   

5. Speaking of the Sheriff, the locals will have some problems with the influx of new faces. All these hunters and poachers are sure to uncover some hidden stills, pot farms and other less-than-ethical activities. Does the crew help out the law, or Mags Bennet, queenpin  of Shelbyville, and her Bennet boys? And how is your Margo Martinsdale impression?

   

   And how is your glass of Apple Pie?

   
   

6. All this new activity is bound to interrupt “the Shelby Slot”, a drek hot T-Bird run that used to pass nearby, through a valley outside town. But all these poachers, talisleggers, AnimalsFirst! types, tourists, and out-of-town criminals are getting in the way. Bad enough some poacher takes the occasional potshot at a T-Bird, but trideos going up everywhere? That drek has got to drop! Can the Crew intercede to keep the peace? And how is your Harrison Ford impression?

   

   Mr. Black chooses this smuggler, but voice from Anchorman 2...

   
   

7. And speaking even more of Sheriff Ponder, 2080 has put the “uncivil” in “civil forfeiture”. If the Crew can’t stay on his good side, it is bound to go badly. Say, just how much is that GMC Bulldog worth, you know with all those spitting-hot modifications?

8. And while all this is going on, Old Man Clayton found some local boys trespassing and poaching glow deer on his land. So now they are full of rock salt and buckshot. Doc Quinn says they need a hospital. Can the Crew, in their Van (assuming they can get it out of impound), take the Frey brothers up to the Crash Cart facility up the line, quiet like? Sally May Frey is sure to be thankful, and Mrs. Frey makes the best Chuckleberry pie in Shelbyville.

   

   Very thankful. But no kissing...

   
   

9. And now that things have quieted down, Shelbyville may fall apart. While the town council is busy setting up tourist arrangements new parking, new hotels, better photo opportunities, road widening, etc., and all the new taxes to pay for it), and 2 neighbors are feuding  over whose “Glow Deer Cookies” are the “original”, and half the town is angry about some outsider Springfield trash opening a new diner (truthfully, there is enough business for a third…) that dares to serve “Better Than Famous Cobbler”, factions have shown up. The “townsfolk” faction wants the glow deer protected. They see all those fat nuyen coming in with the deer. Tourist money, endorsements, licensing, etc. Hell, the Likkle Splick is doing booming business shipping its Chuckleberry Cobbler, and there is talk of setting up a facility for more goods (Glow Deer Beer, Glow Deer Berry Preserves, etc.) and a shipping hub. All of this might keep some of the young folks in town. The “upcountry”  faction wants hunting of the deer, but for locals only. They want to start selling glow deer jerky and flash frozen venison steaks. And glow deer antlers of course. While glow deer drop their antlers like any deer, they only glow while still attached. Talismongers are willing to pay for both. (Big time. Lisa Frey is rumored to have gotten 35,000 nuyen for a pair of 16-point antlers.) And finally Boss Hoggerty wants this whole thing turned into a farming operation. Big business means big profits of course. And Boss Hoggerty has the money to do it. Can the Crew resist Hoggerty’s cash? Or will this go all Yojimbo/Fist Full of Dollars/Last Man Standing? Lots of options, and so little time…

   

   The face of trouble, and lots of money

   
   

10. Because having run out the ‘leggers, calming down the town, faced down the Triads, having dealt with all the infighting (and the advances of Widow/Widower Jenkins, who has a little mileage on her/him, but still a MILF/FILF, and runs a nice little Matrix Chuckleberry preserves operation), the biggest foe of all is coming. Yep, one of the Mega’s is coming to town. And they want it all. The tourism, the talismonger biz, the non-Awakened glow deer biz, the Chuckleberry action, everything. They even have plans for prime time trideos, and sending “Santa and Grudolf, the Glow Horned Reindeer” on tour, all over the world. Whether they buy out everyone, or just buy the rights to everything, or run everyone off is up to the Crew. And how much they like nuyen, or Widower Jenkins…

11. And none of this accounts for the arrival and manifestation of a Great Spirit form of the glow deer, in the middle of town square, during the Christmas holiday season! Can you say “Riftmas”? Does one of the major magickal groups show up as well? Do we really need to throw the Dunkelzhan Institute, the Atlantean Foundation, the Painted Horse Lodge, even the Black Lodge/Ordo Maximus in the mix?

    

    You know Mr. Black had to go there sooner or later...

    
    

And none of this includes the fact that, if this is out of Seattle, or about half of North America, then this all goes down in or near NAN lands. Can this go all Banshee on us real quick? Does your Crew possess ID good enough for a border crossing? Do they need to be smuggled in? And if so, how is your Nathan Fillion impression?

Do you dare to pit your Crew against Tsimshian Dogmen, redneck hunters, Aztechnology Leopard Guards, Boss Hoggerty and his henchmen, eco-terrorists, the Widow Jenkins, the Triads, Koshari talisleggers, toxic spirits, lonely farmers daughters/sons, the Atlantean Foundation, the Bennett’s, and Crotchety Old Man Clayton, who may or may not be one of the deadliest street samurai ever, hiding out in the sticks? All while little Cindy Lou Who just wants a picture with the “glowy deers”? 

Your Crew is going ruin her Christmas
and make cry, aren’t they?

And remember, save room for pie when passing through Duckabush!