The Vital Trideography of John Carpenter, Part 2

 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: Last time we did Escape from New York. This time we cover The Thing. So buckle in, check your flamethrower fuel, and let’s visit a classic.

1. Let’s start with the setting. A science base at the bottom of the world. In true horror style, it is isolated, and cut off from the world. It is a harsh, deadly environment, with no place to go, and there is no place to escape from what is about to happen. Let’s put it this way: DocWagon ain’t showing up to save anyone anytime soon.

   

   No one is showing up anytime soon..

   
   Sounds like a great place for a Big Ten Corp to set up a research station that they don’t want anyone to interfere with. And you can use this in your game. Pick a place close enough for the Crew to get there, but far enough away that help can’t show up. Choose a place isolated from civilization, and all its support*. No Matrix, no hospital, no police, no contacts coming to rescue them. The gear they have fits in the single carryon they could bring with them. The small Cessna C753 seaplane that brought them in has left.

   

   No one is showing up here either...

    The fuel cells on the YNT Delfins that transported them are dry. The sled dogs can’t be trusted. Cut them off. This is smarts over warez time.

2. The key horror of The Thing is body horror. This is the complete loss of control of our very physical being, and that control given to an uncaring alien force with the the ability to warp our human frame to its desires. Body horror is right up Shadowrun’s wheelhouse. Between uncaring corporations doing vile experiments, the inhumanity of cyberware, the attack on metahumanity by shape shifting AI’s and spirits, and the possession capabilities of some of them, body horror is at the base of Shadowrun’s burgeoning transhumanity. Use it!

   

   I am still a man! Please put the improved flamethrower away!

   
   

3. Use words that cause unease in your audience. Words like moist, crevice, orifice, secrete, and squirt. Remember, you cannot gross out the characters at your table, only your players. Use language that makes them cringe. If you are lucky, they will translate their emotional distress to their characters via roleplaying. 

   

   Moist, secreting orifices, coming right at you...

   
   

4. Invest in that unease. It is hard, but with a little work, and maybe some time with a thesaurus, it can be done. Channel those scenes where the creature possesses people, and warps itself. Describe all the inhuman details to your players. Never give them generalities. Don’t say, “The scientist’ head falls off, legs appear and it walks away.” Compare that with, “Paul’s head suddenly crooks to the side, at an unnatural angle. His mouth opens, and a high pitched sound comes from it. Then the head, Paul’s head, slides down his lab coat. You can hear bones crack, and cartilage pop. His neck stretches and parts, like a candy bar of caramel and nougat, stringy and moist, but red like blood. Long thin moist tendrils extend from Paul’s neck, whipping around with an inhuman intelligence. Paul’s lab coat is smeared with a bubbly pink mucus, as the last strands of his neck give way, and his head hits the floor with a wet plop. Thin crab-like legs extend from the orifices of Paul’s head, and it scurries off, towards the one way out of this room…”

   

   Hi! My name is Paul’s head...

   
   

5. Note how I kept mentioning “Paul’s” head. This is an example of using proper nouns to create immersion. By using his name, we are emphasizing his humanity, even as it is brutally taken from him. You need to make the NPC’s human to the players. No one cares when nameless mooks die. Kill 1, kill 100, they are just fodder and statistics. You need your players to empathize with the NPC’s before you kill them. Give them names. Give them traits. Give them hopes and dreams. After all, if Paul, the microbiologist with a girlfriend back in Seattle, who kindly shared his sesame krill treats with Blue Dawg the soy-allergic Troll decker can be possessed, by this thing, then no one is safe…

   

   One of us is going to betray you. Can you guess which one?

   
   

6. This use of proper nouns also aids creating paranoia. If you have 10 nameless faceless mooks and Paul, not only is it easy to guess who the thing is, but there is no tension when mooks betray you. Because only people you trust can betray you, and it awfully hard to trust “nameless person in a lab coat #2”. So spend some time with them. Think about Alien. We get to know them all quite well before the horror starts. Mr. Black is willing to bet that most of you can name the cat in Alien right now...

   

   SAY MY NAME YOU WORTHLESS GUTTER BUNNY!

   
   

7. And if we are giving names to the NPC’s, the thing does NOT get one. This Trideography is called The Thing for a reason. Because as soon as you name it, you give the players power over it. If you call it a Wendigo, or a Black Annis, your players will know they can kill it, and how. And then all the paranoia and fear you have worked so hard to create is gone, just like that. Even if the thing IS a shedem or an insect spirit, never confirm it to the players. When their characters suggest it, have the NPC’s deny it. “So you're saying a undead-like spirit creature from another dimension is possessing them? That’s crazy talk! How does that even work? I mean I am a professor of Advanced Thaumaturgy and Metamagicks, and it just doesn’t work that way!”

   

   I am a professor of Advanced Thaumaturgy,
   University of Washington State! I am perfectly fine!

   
   

8. The Thing, in Shadowrun terms, is a textbook example of insect spirit possession. An alien, non-human entity, takes over people, and warps their bodies and very souls to its non-mammalian will. Some may appear human on the outside, but on the inside, they want you to join them and create more inhuman spies. Just abdicate your intellect and you will be safe. And there is no harmonious space to share. You are either one of them, or just a future host. If you want to introduce insect spirits to your game in a controllable way, The Thing is a good template. Just the Crew and 10-15 scientist/researchers/fodder for nightmares…

9. While Mr. Black has much more to say about horror both in Shadowrun and at your table, The Thing is a good start. Follow the notes here until Mr. Black adds more.

*Around Seattle, sea floor research facilities abound in the turbulent waters of Puget Sound. And the NAN Salish Council lands can be isolated enough, especially during winter. Try the Cascade Ork lands, full of polluted mining projects, acid snow, and a repressed tribal people who dislike foreigners, non-NAN members, pink skins and breeders, in ascending order of hatred. Or try the top of a skyscraper, the top thirty floors cut off. Or a vast, deep basement of a research lab, with the elevator power out, and 300 meters of reinforced concrete between them and daylight. Or a facility in Glow City, for a The Thing-lite version. Toxic insect spirits anyone?

The Vital Trideography of John Carpenter, Part 1

 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. 

1. 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

   
   

2. 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!

   
   

3. 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!

Pork 5 Ways-Hellish Kitchen!

In Frankfurt, Germany, Mr. Black enjoyed eating at The Singapore-a Chinese restaurant (the ONLY one in Frankfurt!) that served a dish called Pork Five Ways-3 types of pork and 2 types of ham in a mild sauce. This new column is similar-a single element or Run concept, served up multiple ways. So heads up chummer, Mr. Black promises you at least 5 ways to pork, but there may be more. This time we have a star chef, a single recipe, and an adventure worth 3 stars (Mr. Black prefers the Michelin grading system.) How many ways can you serve it up?

1. Mr. Johnson needs to stay on the cutting edge. The cutting edge of food and catering that is. He wants the Crew to get the recipe for Chef Solon Greene's Soya Puffs with Krill and Tomato. Solon Greene is the head chef of the Depository on 6th Street, one of the hottest restaurant's in Seattle. There is a tight deadline, as Mr. J's client hoped to have Greene cater a party. Greene is otherwised booked, and the client wants no harm to come to Greene; the client plans on eating at The Depository on 6th Street many times in the future. But the soya puffs are someone's favorite, promises have been made, money talks and so a recipe is needed. Can the Crew break into Solon Greene's test kitchen and pry the recipe free without hurting the chef?

   

   so he is that kind of chef...

2. Uh oh! After successfully getting the recipe, the reason for amazing taste of the dish comes to light. A rare ingredient makes Chef Greene's puff sing. Purple-ribbed fern may be that ingredient. Mr. Johnson is back, and he needs the Crew to go into Ork Sinesereach to get some-and traipsing through Orc held Tribal lands won't be easy, especially with a now even tighter time table. How quickly did the Crew finish the last job? Well, that's how much time is left, and plenty of NuYen rides on a successful outcome. 
3. Mr. Johnson is not taking no for an answer. Solon Greene will be catering the party, whether he wants to or not. The Crew will have to extract Greene, escort him to party location, and keep him there. Keeping a gun to a cook's head is not ideal for turning out 3-star food, but the Crew is going to do what they have to do to make sure Soya Puffs with Krill and Tomato happen for 200 people.
   
4. Mr. Johnson needs a softer touch. He wants the other booking disrupted. Chef Greene is catering at NuFoods Seattle 2075 at the Marriott that weekend. The Crew will need to completely disrupt one of Seattle's premier food events. A single bomb threat ain't going to do it. Disrupting ProteanArtes LLC might; they are the host corp for Nufoods. Vaping their Matrix capabilities, sabotaging their offices, etc. might suffice. Sadly their offices are in Atlanta. That leaves hitting the venue hard, and on target. Doing anything to the hotel too early will just result in a change of venue. Too late and the chef will still be unavailable, and risks excessive collateral damage. Mr. Johnson is definitely NOT paying if most of the better chefs in Seattle end up dead! Can the Crew disrupt/sabotage an entire hotel at around Saturday at 3am?
5. Mr. Johnson needs Chef Solon Greene available for a catering event. Chef Solon is otherwised booked. So Mr. Johnson wants the crew to intervene with the other event's coordinator-and make them an offer they can't refuse. While the CEO of ProteanArtes LLC, Adrienne Brodier, could be the target, there are others lower down the totem pole who actually do the bookings and run the NuFoods tours. Hit too low and the target won't be able to do anything. Hit too high up the totem pole and the Crew will invite superior security and retribution.  Can the Crew convince Adrienne (or one of her agents) that Solon Greene needs firing?
6. There is another way to free up Chef Greene. It is slightly dangerous to both his reputation, and potentially the dinner party Mr. Johnson wants the chef to attend. And that is to sabotage The Dispensary on 6th Street, resulting in a massive food poisoning outbreak, ideally the week of the event. When several hundred people are in the hospital (or dead) NuFoods Seattle is bound to cancel Chef Solon's appearance, freeing him up for Mr. Johnson's event. Can the Crew stomach the potential deaths needed to pull this off?
7. Of course any GM worth his salt (Fleur del Sel of course) can add some spice by creating small “requests”. Perhaps a key guest is allergic to an ingredient, and the Crew has to help find a replacement. Or the wine selection is subpar, and a last minute replacement is needed. Better, there is an agent provocateur at the party, and the Crew must go undercover as servers to find and stop the agent!
8. And some GM's will need to put the heat on. There are several additional adversaries that can show up. Perhaps the Client's arch-nemesis, Trudy Beekman, agent provocateur of the pushy, showy 1%,  decides to send a runner team to get Solon Greene first, and bring the chef to Beekman's rival party scheduled for the same night. Perhaps protesters show up at the NuFoods Seattle show, getting in the way. Or at either party, chanting and waving signs and getting in the way. Or providing a cover for Runner Team Beekman. And as restaurants are always bad investements, perhaps Solon got creative with his financing. So any of the big OCO's can show up-the Mafia, Vory, Triads, Yakuza and more are in play. Don't be afraid to have a contact in your chosen crime family call his Runner friend and remind him/her that hitting The Depository on 6th Street will not go down well with the Family. Or the families of those poisoned hire some muscle/Runners to get revenge. Really need to stick the knife in? Make the Client or their spouse a retired Runner. Think Bull and his many, many friends, with years of gear, experience, and more contacts than your players could ever dream of.

Pork 5 Ways - Monster Hunting

In Frankfurt, Germany, Mr. Black enjoyed eating at The Singapore-a Chinese restaurant (the ONLY one in Frankfurt!) that served a dish called Pork Five Ways-3 types of pork and 2 types of ham in a mild sauce. This new column is similar-a single element or Run concept, served up multiple ways. So heads up chummer, Mr. Black promises you at least 5 ways to pork, but there may be more. Today we look at monster hunting. A group of Merrows attacked a ferry in Puget Sound (twice in a month!) and the Governor has called for action! A price has been put on their heads, and the Characters can collect! So look through the permutations, find the hook that works best for your players (and your dirty, evil plans for them), and let Mr. Johnson do the talking.

1. Straight Up Bounty Hunt-The Governor of Seattle has placed a 100,000 NuYen bounty on the destruction or capture of the Merrows. A good boat, maybe a submarine or a sea sled and a Crew comfortable with scuba gear are ideal for this. Head out to sea and whack some monster butt!
2. Perhaps Governor Brackhaven didn't put up the money - grieving family members did. Can crying children incentivize your players where Brackhaven's bounty failed? This can be a Mr. Johnson-led effort, or a committee-led affair (The Western Ferry Atrocity Families and Survivors Committee? WFAFSAC?!?)

   

   Merrow fishing, 2075-style

3. Or perhaps the Merrows attacked near the NAN side of the Sound. Does your Crew have ties across the Sound or in the Salish Tribe? No? Then are they ready to take on the Salish Sea Patrol for that bounty?
4. Does your Crew have close ties with the SSC? Instead of a bounty hunt, the Tribes wish to relocate the Merrow, to the western side of Salish territory. This is going to take more effort, and need more equipment than just sailing along and shooting things. But it should pay off big time with those tribal contacts.
5. Of course, any of the Big Ten (and quite a few of the A/AA firms) might want the Merrows for their own nefarious needs. And of course they are hiring your Crew to do it. They will be claiming the bounty of course, but that is why they are out-sourcing this. That, and they have the gear (like a boat) to loan to their bought team. That boat is just sitting there, accumulating maintenance cycle fees. Fees that bounty will cover. This is pure cost analysis for a big corp, just like it should be.
6. Need more shenanigans in any of the above? Add in protesters, ala Green Peace/PETA, trying to stop the hunts by driving their boats in the way. Are your players ready to sink some Sentience/Animal Rights Activists to make their payday?
7. Merrows aren't the only sea-going monster out in the Sound. Grab any sea-beastie or flying threat you like out of the creature section and sic 'em on the Crew. Can you say "Thunderbirds skimming low over the water, at our 5 O-Clock"? Mr. Black knew you could...
8. Of course, any GM worth their salt (sea salt in this case) will add some competitors to the mix. Rednecks in zodiac boats with hunting rifles, fishermen using nets, sport fishing boats loaded with weekend warriors, charter boats full of licensed hunters, yachts with dabbling playboys/grrls and their $5000 hunting express rifles, UCAS Navy Ensigns and Ratings out on pass from Everett Base, competing Runner teams with all their tricks, Salish tribesmen in war canoes, Vory mobsters riding the waves with AK-97's, Dwarf Surf crews on Jet Ski's, anyone and everyone should be getting in the Crew's way.

9. 

   This, but with guns...

   Of course rivals, beasties and well-intentioned but interfering activists are not the only spice in this dish. Perhaps the Corps want in. And they have such wonderful toys...
10. Or the Corp are looking for a bunch of blood-thirsty sea-going guards for one of the underwater projects/arcologies in Outremer. So they hire the Crew to relocate/kidnap the Merrows. Bonus pay if the Corp can collect that bounty as well as get new guardians.
11. And if you really want to step up the pain, make those Merrows beholden to the Sea Dragon. Nothing like a GREAT dragon to rain on the party's plans...
    

Getting out of the Van - White Collar Style

"It is really exciting in the Van." - Neal Caffrey, White Collar

Ahh, the Van. Notice that capital 'V'. The Van is a vital part of Shadowrun. It is how the Crew gets to and from the job. It is where they run surveillance from. It is part home, part smuggling rig, part camouflaged blind, and part escape option. The Van's armor is vital to its comfort for the less squishy characters. It storage capacity is vital to most characters who need lots of guns, drones, reagents, explosives, ammo, and breaching gear. The Van often serves as a rolling hospital, complete with advanced Medkits and auto-docs. Even magical characters benefit from the Van's protection, whether hiding from bullets or astral projecting. The need for a Van, any Van, makes Riggers an almost mandatory addition to any Crew. Sadly, most are trapped in that role, and never get more to do. And many characters simply stay in the Van, never getting out. As GM's, we need to play off of this.

"You guys should invest in some of those Christmas tree air fresheners."

"You don't like the Van. Noted." - Neal and Peter, White Collar

Of the many TV shows and movies Mr. Black has watched, White Collar has the most consistent Van life and the most real. Vans are often used by law enforcement organizations for surveillance. With proper camouflage (usually as municipal/utilities work vehicles) they can hide in plain sight. They are big enough to hold lots of vital electronics. But this come at a price. Imagine the result of half a dozen people spending rotating 12-hour shifts in a confined place for days (or weeks!) at a time. The resulting effuliva of humanity has to be pretty miserable. The 3 B's-Belching, B.O. and Butt Gas-are just stewing in the enclosed space. The occasionally door opening must be like cracking the hatch on a submarine about to run out of air. Remember this next time the party is doing Legwork. Do any of the characters have strange allergies? They are probably being exposed to them in the Van. Did any of them pick Plastic? Clobber them for it in the Van! And if any of them are harboring grudges against each other, it is your job as a GM to remind their players of their shared enmities. They should be bickering like children on a long car trip. And one more thing-they are no bathrooms in the van. If they want to pee in anything but an old soy-caf cup, they need to upgrade to a motor home. And definitively remember those many, many cups of stale urine, with nothing but a feeble McHughs' lid retaining those fluids in place, once the car chase starts...

"It's like a Kardashian. Not very refined, but it has a lot of cargo space. " - Mozzie, White Collar

However, the Van is very useful for any Crew. While we do not have a "Rigger Book" yet, a compassionate GM should allow his Crew to load it out with all the cool items in the "Electronics" section of the Gear. Let them bolt the gear down. Remember that the Van is their home away from home. Allow them to make themselves at home. useful items not in the gear section are soy cookers (hot food helps in cold Seattle), 5-gallon bucket toilets (no more soy-caf cups of piss!), stashes of munchies (Stuffer Shack run!), Gun rack (not "rifle rack"-all those extra weapons aren't going to stow themselves!), cots/racks (someone should be resting while the others are watching), and potpourri sprays. Advanced gear includes drone racks, smuggling compartments, outside spotlights (in both UV and IR), reinforced ram bars and chassis, and the ever-present engine work and handling packages. Many of these have not hit the rules yet, but they are sure to soon. A point of handling or speed should be well within a good rigger/mechanics skills. Just figure out a cost. Let the poor rigger get the most out of his rolling sanctuary. After all, someone has to drive the Crew around.

And the Van is most useful for its camouflage. Usually we are talking about the Bulldog Step Van. This makes it the 2075 version of a UPS truck. And if painted properly, with a properly outfitted crew, just like a UPS van, it is totally ubiquitous, can be parked anywhere, and no one really pays them any attention. And the Van can be repainted to match the mission. Delivery vans, laundry trucks, hazmat/emergency vehicles, swat vans, food trucks and more are possible, and can get the Crew close to their objectives without their targets suspecting anything. After making their escape, they can easily be repainted to hide them or confuse their enemies.

Peter: Jones, Diana, you'll be in the van.
Jones: Always.
Diana: I like the van.

The real challenge is getting the Crew out of the Van. With all that protection, the "squishier" characters are liable to never leave. This is a bad thing. Allowing half of the Crew to stay behind in safety, while the other half goes and faces death, is bound to cause friction and resentment among your players, and can derail a game. So don't let them hang out in the Van. 5th Edition Shadowrun allows hackers to work on the run. So get them out and about. Make them make hard decisions concerning where and when to go hot sim/cold sim, and AR/VR. And the same with the spell casters. Assessing should be a choice, not a default mode. And while having a getaway vehicle waiting and ready with the engine running is favorable, the rigger can do all that wirelessly. And running drones from inside and on-site can be more important that hanging around outside. Good GM's will set up Runs that require the van-hangers to get put and head inside. Not every run. but often enough to take them out of their comfort zone. Remember, never let your players take anything for granted!

Neal: But it's the van. The van's fun.
Peter: You hate the van.
Neal: I like the van when Diana's in it. You're the only thing that smells good in here.
Diana: Then take your last whiff, because I'm leaving.

So let them enjoy it while they can. The players and their characters should appreciate whomever is doing the driving. And next we will talk about tools to get them out and about, and some runs ideas.

10 in Ten, Seattle Olympic Bribapalooza Edition

So we have looked at the basics of the Brackhaven Machine (in Seattle Olympics 2076-The Bribapalooza Tour), and how construction and contracting firms get hired (hint: bribes, lots of bribes). So let us look at a few of these jobs you can have your players' Crew do:

1.  Mr. Johnson needs some muscle. He represents a firm up for a construction bid. Sadly, the competition has deeper pockets and a bigger bribery budget. So Mr. Johnson wants the Crew to disrupt, extort, and blackmail his opponents. And quickly, as the winning bid will be announced is just a couple of days. The Crew is going to have to hit hard and hit fast to pull this off.

   

   Just another day getting ready for the Olympics

2. Mr. Johnson needs some muscle. He represents a firm up for a construction bid. Fortunately, the firm he represents has deep pockets and greased all the right wheels. They are expecting to win this bid easily. However, some of the competing firms seem disgruntled. Looking to protect his firm and their bid, Mr. Johnson wants the Crew to disrupt, extort, and blackmail his opponents. And quickly, as the winning bid will be announced is just a couple of days. The Crew is going to have to hit hard and hit fast to pull this off.

   

   A typical business negotiation during the 2076 Olympics

3. Mr. Johnson needs some muscle. He represents a firm up for a construction bid. Fortunately, the firm he represents has deep pockets and greased all the right wheels. They are expecting to win this bid easily. However, some of the competing firms seem disgruntled. Looking to protect his firm and their bid, Mr. Johnson wants the Crew to protect his firm from disruption, extortion, and blackmail. And they will have to hit the ground running, as the winning bid will be announced is just a couple of days. The Crew is going to have to maintain excellent surveillance and anticipate trouble, as other shadow teams will be hitting hard and hitting fast to destroy the firms chances.

   

   Can you really resist adding a crazed Christopher Walken to your game?

4. And better yet, an astute Crew can play all sides against the other, ala Yojimbo/A Fist Full of Dollars/Last Man Standing (take your pick of movie sources, Mr. Black likes them all.) (Or go read the original, Dashiell Hammett's Red Harvest.) 
5. With all the rampant bribery these Brackhaven Olympics have mustered, there is another side to it. As construction gets closer to kick-off, necessary infrastructure will be taking a hit. All that heavy machinery driving around, and all those citizens having to take detours. And a fix will be needed. And the Brackhaven administration surely won't want to pay for new roads when they can just have their kickback-paying construction firms do it, for free. After all, Brackhaven is not likely to get a third term, and him and his cronies need to feather their pockets now. And those firms may need some reminding about who is really in charge. So Mr. Johnson is paying Runners to put some fear into these builders. Whether it is classic strong arm extortion (you know, pictures of family members with cross hairs on them), or causing problems on work sites (to show how much more it will cost not to build roads/water lines/rail lines), it is all to the good, if you can call it that.
6. The above goes the other way sometimes. Once confronted with $300 million-nuyen bill for road upgrades that weren't included in the initial contract, some companies will push back. They don't need to strong arm Brackhaven himself, they can strike against members of Seattle's Olympic Planning Committee, and or members of the Seattle Direct Bank (SDB, a Brackhaven Investments hidden subsidiary that is handing out the official loans for Olympic construction) board. All that is needed is enough of a knife twist to get the OPC to put up funds, or better yet a SDB loan to cover the new expenses (which of course, can be renegotiated latter, or even forgiven).
7. "...(the builder) completed the job only to learn that the last tranche of money owed to him had gone to a number of other firms that he suspects were linked to certain officials overseeing the project. After complaining to his contacts at the (OPC), he was told to sit tight and not go to the police—the state would find lucrative work for him..." - Another version of the above is have Mr. Johnson hire the Runners to get some of that money back-either by hitting up the officials, or by hitting up their firms, hitting up the SOC, or better yet just straight hitting all three. This is a little tougher than number 6, as no one wants to give back their graft. But letting people within the Brackhaven SOC (Seattle Olympic Committee) steal the money the Brackhaven SOC promised you after you bribed the Brackhaven SOC to get the job that paid all the money in the first place (confused yet?) is bound to make someone angry enough to want retribution-or just their money.
   And sometimes you have to let everybody on the Bribapalooza carousel know they can't just push you around. Someone is going to pay this time. The GM can make this a straight Run, or the first act in a war.

   

   No one would go through all this for just $13 million!"

   Or this can go Payback*-style:"I can't pay you $300 million!" "We just want our $13 million." "No one would go through all this trouble for just for $13 million!"
8. There are of course many smaller companies that need help. Mr. Johnson represents one of these firms that has been shut out of the process. They don't have enough to bribe their way into a big contract. But maybe the Crew can harass a mid-tier contractor into hiring the small firm; sort of the opposite of 1-3. "Hire us or we will disrupt your operations to the point you can't get stuff done." This can easily turn into a mini-campaign as the Crew now has to protect them against retaliation, use their "influence" to expand operations and gain new contracts. Really, this would be like starting a new crime outfit. The crew starts by using threats and backs them up with violence and blackmail. They then work their (and the firm's) way up until they have gone legitimate. Of course, the end of the mini-campaign can be an old, deadly enemy coming back for revenge-a disgruntled opponent, an enemy runner team back with new members and upgrades, or the Ciarniello family showing to put everyone in their place.
9. Mr. Johnson has a job for a Crew that has the "proper touch". He represents a smaller firm that is being harassed out of bids. The opposition has strong ties to Humanis, and the firm hires lots of metahumans, and is tired of scut work and deadly jobs. They want a bigger place at the table, and need some muscle to get them there. Can the Crew put some racist in there place?
10. Mr. Johnson has a job for a top runner team. Jamie Rodriguez, reporter for KSAF, needs protection. She is investigating the Brackhaven SOC and all the bribery going on. Can the Crew keep her alive long enough to expose the truth? And does the Crew want to keep her alive long enough to expose their involvement in all this? Can they do the job and steer her away from their activities (which may be ongoing)? Or are they prepared to show Jamie the dirty nasty heart of the Seattle Olympics, by way of their own experiences? Somebody is going to be number one with a bullet-will it be the hottest news expose of the year, or a bullet in the head? Only the Crew's conscious and abilities will tell...

 *Mr. Black hasn't checked out the Straight Up cut yet.

Notes:

• Article on The New Yorker concerning Sochi Olympics and epic bribery levels
• this piece from Bloomberg.

Seattle Olympics 2076 - The Bribapalooza Tour

Mr. Black has more ideas for runs with an Olympic background. (We will get back to the genocidal Hell on Earth part soon...) But before we get into the fun stuff, let us explore the meat of the matter. Mr. Black is extrapolating that Kenneth Brackhaven and his administration are using the Olympics as a platform for massive bribery and corruption. He and his administration are also using the Olympics as a cover for all that bribery; the massive construction needed and the urgency of the deals (the deadline is pretty strict after all) allow Brackhaven to get away with almost any deal.  How does all of this work?

Brackhaven, as Seattle Governor, has staffed the Seattle Olympic Committee (SOC) with his cronies and yes men. They in turn (under Brackhaven's direction) have filled the Olympic Planning Committee (the OPC, charged with getting all the infrastructure and construction done) with more cronies and yes men.  Construction firms submit bids to the OPC; the OPC is under no obligation to accept the lowest bid- sometimes the "better" bid is the winning bid. This can be due to a bid allegedly being finished faster, being constructed with less distress to the neighborhood (traffic congestion is a big issue with homeowners), the bid being completed by a more reputable firm, said firm already having all the trucks and equipment in place, etc. The real truth is most likely that the Fix is in; simply the bigger bribe wins.

This is 1920's Chicago/Huey Long/Tammany Hall levels of corruption. The bidding firms either pay off Brackhaven directly (through "bagmen" of course), who funnels down money and directives, or they pay off OPC members, who funnel it up and the advise Brackhaven on who is playing ball the best. These firms are not immune to this either. While not even B-level corps, most construction firms are contracting firms; they hire other, smaller construction firms to do the jobs. These smaller firms are naturally paying off the contracting corp-how else can the contractors pay for the bribes they pay Brackhaven's machine? Of course, these firms must be hiring union labor (these unions kick back dues monies to Brackhaven's administration of course), except for the truly dangerous jobs-that's what metahumans are for after all.

"And what has been the Governor's reaction to these problems? He wants to fire Seattle's hard working police! Clean up starts at home, and Kenneth Brackhaven's the man for the job!" - an excerpt from one of Kenneth Brackhaven's Gubernatorial campaign speeches (from Runner Havens) 

Let us not think that this is all just construction scams. The "police" are in on this as well. How do you think Knight Errant got the policing job in Seattle? Remember that Brackhaven ran for Governor in 2070 as a supporter of Lone Star. He clashed with his opposition candidates on this support consistently. Then why the change? What, you actually think Lone Star was too racist for Kenneth Brackhaven?!? No. Lone Star wouldn't play ball. Even Clayton Wilson was uncomfortable with the amount of corruption Brackhaven was hinting at. So a hidden slush fund slid Brackhaven's way with KE on the cover. Why would Knight Errant and squeaky-clean Ares sully themselves this way? Money. Lots and lots of money. Knight Errant understood they would get the job, and still be in place during the Olympics. The Olympics contract will double the officers on the beat. That's something like 200,000 extra jobs. And their taking over Seattle would shake Lone Star's grip on law enforcement world-wide. Lots of contracts eventually went KE's way after 2072. Enough to make one wonder what KE and Ares may have to do with the Mayan Cutter cases and the Tempo crisis. But that is a theory for another day. All we need to understand right now is that Ares greased Brackhaven's wheels hard to put themselves in the catbird seat. The day-to-day officers won't be on the take, but they know who is buttering their bread. 

So Seattle passes new taxes to pay for the Olympics (this was done under the previous administration!). Brackhaven uses these taxes, along with Corporate sponsorship deals to fund the construction. The firms bidding to win construction work bribe either Brackhaven, the SOC or the OPC. They in turn take bribes from those hoping to get contracted work. And the unions (electrical, HVAC, carpentry, etc.) get all the labor contracts, and then kick money up. And keeping a cover on all of this is a modern efficient police force, which is also kicking money up. So the bribery train goes round and round. And Brackhaven's administration is getting a taste at every level. And all paid for by citizens and rival corps. That is how a political machine works.

Assuming the Crew is not just muscle for the Machine, how do they get in on this? The most likely answer is that one of the competing firms hires them. They will be hired to disrupt rivals (to show the OPC that the rival is not a competent firm), extort rivals (with the threat of disruption and all that that entails), blackmail rivals (with dirt that the Crew digs up), or to protect the firm from being disrupted, extorted or blackmailed. variations upon these themes are the basis for our next 10 in Ten. Stay tuned, same Bat-Time, same Bat-Channel.

10 in Ten, Country Fried Edition

"Country fried, baptized in gravy
Can't wash off what the good Lord made ya
No matter how far that highway goes
An old dirt road'll get you home..."

So the Crew has left the confines of whatever city they call home and are out and about in the fresh invigorating air of the countryside. Or a paranoid schizophrenic Children of the Corn horror fest. Or if they are lucky, something in between. The American Wilderness has always presented Europeans with a feeling of dread. And Native Americans have a long history of cannibalism, Big Foots, and little men in the woods. And damn near every one of Grimm's fairy tales takes place deep in the woods. For a reason, the woods are a creepy place. Dark, full of vision blocking trees, and viscous man-eating beasts (some of who are actual beasts and some of which are men) and far from any civilized help, there is a reason the Greek god of the woods in Pan. As in an unreasoning fear that overtakes one in the woods, AKA panic. And for city folks, the long horizons and lack of people is off-putting. Combine all that with American Midwestern and Southern values and culture and you have more than a Run, you can have a game. And based upon rednblack's query over on the Shadowgrid forum boards, what the hell is happening out there in the tulies is a question for many GM's. So Mr. Black is back with a 10 in Ten on backwoods adventures, the Country Fried Edition...

1. So the local Sheriff has been going power hungry. Well not power so much as money hungry. Sheriffs are not elected any more, they are part of a corporate law enforcement contract, AKA Knight Errant/Lone Star/Hard Corps. And those contracts specify civil forfeiture as part and parcel of the Sheriffs job. And the Sheriff is bucking for promotion/trying to save his job/just following orders. But the locals have had enough. And the Williams family has been hard hit, with both their trucks being impounded just for parking in their front yard. Now they want the Crew to get back their trucks and take the Sheriff down a peg...
2. The Crew is going cross-country, when they stop in Shelbyville to repair and refuel. The local yokels notice all the keen gear the Crew is driving/carrying, and makes the Crew an offer: free fuel and repairs in exchange for playing ringers in the annual Urban Brawl/Combat Biker homecoming extravaganza against next door neighbor and heated rival Springfield.
3. Things have gotten hot down in the backwoods.

   

   Worth killing for? Mr. Black says, "Hell yes!"

   The Likkle Splick, a diner in Shelbyville, has been feuding with Springfield's own Nadine's Diner for years. This time some out-of-town media has claimed Nadine's red-eye gravy is the best, and them is fightin' words 'round here. So the Likkle Splick is hiring their own out-of-towners, the Crew, to get the recipe so they can break it down and adopt it to their own. The pay won't be the best, but the Crew can count on all the chicken-fried steak and garbage plates of real meat they can stuff down their craws.
4. Or perhaps something is off in Shelbyville. Like drugs. Who know the backwoods would make a great distribution center for a drug empire. And the locals don't take kindly to strangers, especially those going back to the big city (and federal levels of law enforcement.) And now they want the Crew to stick around, permanent-like. You can run the locals as a small gang or Mafia soldiers. Or they could be country boys with hunting rifles, sniping from rooftops and from behind trees.Of go full Fury Road-monster trucks flying the Stars and Bars and full of freaks with guns, flying out of the trees to cut off the Crew.
5. Of course, the above could go the other way.

   

   Were you expecting a Charger jumping a creek?

   A crew could pick up a little smuggling job to enrich their cross-country run. If they are successful, this could become regular work. It is up to the GM whether this sideline is just paperwork or a full nights work. Or maybe after a few "milk" runs, the sheriff comes in. He is, of course, in the pocket of another drug cartel. This could end up Justified (the criminal element, not the Marshals department), Season 4 Archer, or just maybe, full Dukes of Hazzard mode. Just like most runners, the Dukes..

   Been in trouble with the law,

   Since the day they was born...

6. Mr. Johnson needs a bodyguard detail. Perhaps it is the Draco Foundation or the Atlantean Group that is hiring. Or the University of Washington, the University of Chicago or Marshall College is doing the hiring. Or perhaps the PCC or the Sioux Nation is paying. Whoever it is, the Crew is wanted for an expedition into the Great North American Wilderness looking for a "lost tribe" said to be living upon especially magical land. You can play this up as a "pinkskin" tribe hiding out, ala Amazonian tribal people, or the Sentinelese. Basically take any movie about explorers going up river, and put in in North America. Think Apocalypse Now/The Emerald Forest.

   

   In the ruins of Old Detroit...

7. You could also slide the above run. Here Mr. Johnson is planning a jaunt into country for telesma. He needs the Crew to watch his back while he goes through some old growth areas. He is not too worried about rival corporations, rival telesma hunters, local constabulary or meta-flora/fauna. Nope, he informs the Crew, there is a much bigger danger out there. The remnants. Those who just stayed behind after civilization moved on. This is a much darker version of the above, with dread, lots of perception checks and jump scares. For flavor, try Southern Comfort/Deliverance, or you can go the whole The Hills Have Eyes/Cannibal Holocaust/House of 1000 Corpses/any Rob Zombie movie route. Or Mr. Black assumes Green Inferno...
8. Speaking of rural horror, the Crew could always pull up in a deserted small town. They need gas/electricity to keep going. But the pumps are dry/the power is off. They keep catching glimpses of movement. As you build the paranoia, darkness starts to fall. And then the locals come out. Maybe they're ghouls. Maybe they're vampires. Maybe they're cannibalistic clowns. Or maybe they are good old boys, out to make someone squeal...
9. Need more horror? What is Mr. Black saying, of course you do!* So the locals are scared. And eventually the Crew notices that there aren't a lot of kids about. Finally the locals muster up the courage to ask the Crew for help. Their kids are going missing. and just last week a brother and sister went into the woods and haven't been seen since.

   

   Yum, yum get me some...

   When the Crew goes out to the woods, they find something terrible. Bones, lots of kids bones. Is it a Wendigo? More cannibalistic clowns? Better yet, they find a house, deep in the woods. And it appears to be made of pastry. Specifically, gingerbread. Is the Crew in time to save the siblings from an insane mage/hag/Black Annis who is fattening them up?
10. Use the above as a template for converting any fairy tale/Disney cartoon into something dark in the hinterlands. "Please help me! My daughter left this morning to take food to her grandmother and hasn't returned!" "Please help us! The mayor's daughter has magical powers and has turned the whole town into ice!" "Help me! My daughter married last year and I haven't heard from her since. Why yes, her husband's beard is so black it appears blue in certain light." "Please help us! Our town is being terrorized by a huge dark lion and packs of hyenas! They have destroyed everything in the area and now are hunting us in our homes!" "Please help us! A strange man came into town, played a strange tune, and all of our children followed him out of town! Please save them!" "Please help me! My son won't leave the local lake. Why yes, it is full of mermaids and giant were-squids!" 
11. EXTRA BONUS!! Does number 10 not sound scary/fun/scary fun enough? Lets go through the examples. The first is Red Riding Hood. This is your chance to throw a metric buttload of werewolves at your players. Throw The Howling/The Village/Skinwalkers/Wild Country/Dog Soldiers into a blender and enjoy.And remember the An American Werewolf in London starts in the sticks...do you dare to run a game where one of the characters is bitten, returns to the big city and slowly transformed into a form-changing serial killer? Not a shapeshifter, but a missing-time, waking up in sheets covered in blood and crapping out body parts murderous wolfen cannibal? Look at AAWIL of course, but also The Wolf. And who could miss a chance to rip on Frozen? Throw that chick-flick stuff to the curb, and think teen-aged blood mage uncontrollably manifesting ice spells and summoning ice spirits. Does your Crew have the mojo and the magic to stop her? And do it before her even more powerful repressed sister shows up? The third is of course Bluebeard, a classic tale based on a real person who murdered hundreds of children and enacted months-long miracle plays to gain satanic wealth and power, and maybe the love of Joan of Arc. Yes, really. It is perhaps the primogenitor of castle/house/cabin in the woods where people go and don't come out. Need a hook? One of the character's Dependent's sister/aunt has gone missing. "Honey, I am really worried about my sister. Can you get your little band of friends to go and take a look?" The fourth is everyone's favorite, Hamlet..err, Simba the White Lion...err, The Lion King. What group of players can resist saving a small town from a pack of carnivores? And bring a little The Ghost and the Darkness to it, which is based again on reality(loosely, because, Hollywood), and a little The Brotherhood of the Wolf, which is also based on real events (loosely, because cool narrative/conspiracy trumps reality**). And read Peter Capstick's Death in the Long Grass, which has a chapter on wolf packs attacking entire Russian villages (and is one of Mr. Black's favorite books ever), or here, here, here, or here. And of course the Pied Piper of Hamelin is really a wizard/shaman using spells (or an Adept with social powers and a flute foci) to steal children (perhaps to sell to the hag of Hansel and Gretel?) for his own sick purposes. Being Shadowrun, he is extorting towns for cash and needs to be stopped. Hope the crew brought ear plugs. And lastly, Disney's Little Mermaid, in reverse. Mr. Black double dares you to fill a large lake with selkies, mermaids, sirens and/or merrows, along with krakens/werekrakens, and have Mr. Johnson hire your crew to exterminate them all to save local menfolk from the evil beasts. Mr. Black triple-dog dares you!

* As the great Kenneth Hite says, it is not if your campaign is a horror campaign, but when it becomes a horror campaign.
** Any movie based on real events that somehow combines secret history, conspiracy, Kung Fu, Native American badasses, super sexy French women and Monica Bellucci, wild crazy gypsies, flintlocks, a deadly monster, bits of Sherlock Holmes, and is filmed with bravura style and great cinematography is bound to be one of Mr. Black's favorites, and is consumed in a yearly viewing ritual.