I'm going to be attempting to GM Shadowrun for the first time in two days, using Roll20, but I don't know much about the actual lore beyond playing SR:R, and I'm substituting the system for a simplified one of my own creation that's a bit more like XCOM.
Here is the session plan.
>Four independent rookie Runners meet at a designated location, briefly greet eachother before being approached by an escort
>They are driven to a local mansion and meet the Johnson
>Short exposition about an Aztechnology research facility that was abandoned and locked down after a containment breach
>The facility was actually built directly under the mansion, and the Johnson is looking for a team to go in and wipe the place clean; data and surviving subjects included, because he's getting paranoid about it
>They go inside and see some of the experiments, most dead, some still living-ish
>Soon reach the central command console, Decker will presumably try to wipe the data as requested, but access will be denied
>'Facility override initiated'
>All of the cells containing the research subjects abruptly open
>Party must hold off the abominations while the Decker struggles to bypass security and force a regionalized lockdown, the only option is to lock themselves in rather than lock the monsters out
>Once that's done, they must explore deeper into the facility
>Eventually come across three corpses
>Find out through investigation that they were a previous shadowrunning team, and the fourth member is missing
>Decker can find out through datajack hijinks that the fourth member is a demolitions expert and had some hardcore C4 in his pack
>More exploration
>Eventually becomes clear that the Johnson isn't an Aztechnology guy at all, but a madman who is hiring Shadowrunners not to kill the monsters, but to feed them
>They later stumble upon the demolitions expert fending off a wave of enemies, must save him
>He joins the party, and they learn about a structural weakness towards the back of the facility
>They make their way there, and have to fight through another horde to reach the back wall and blow it open
>They can then storm the Johnson's mansion, kill his men and him and pry the reward money from his cold dead hands
My question is, how can I make this more accurate to Shadowrun lore and/or spruce it up? Alternatively, general feedback? I'm nervous.
And here's a partial screenshot of one of the combat maps.
>>47313591
Go to /srg/, they'll answer all your lore questions.
SR is an EXTREMELY lore heavy game (arguably the one with the heaviest still in modern publication), so bear with them.
>>47313630
Alright. I'll do that when they make a new thread, since the current one is close to death. Feedback in this thread would still be helpful, though.
>>47313721
Your concept is still good.
Exactly what the "monsters" are is going to need fleshing out, but there's a ton of options in SR for that fluffwise and /srg/ can give it to you.
I'm at work right now so I can't go in-depth, and the plot is fine and you'll just need details to make it more spot-on like you said.
Depending on your home system and how it works you won't even have the usual SR problems that SR does when designing plots, namely that the extreme level of flexibility in character archetypes and creation makes a railroad like you designed very difficult in most cases.
You might want to replace genetic experiments with HMHVV monsters, since I don't know of any templates for enemies that would fit your idea. But they could also just be generic metahumans filled with bioware, Chrome Flesh toys and SURGE features of your choice.
Otherwise, it seems plausible for a run. The Johnson could say that Azzies were trying to combine genetic manipulation with blood magic, so you even have the excuse to why it was abandoned.
The only part that don't fit together are:
1. How long has the decker been alive, how did he survive and why hasn't he contacted anyone?
2. How could the Johnson keep getting away with it for what I presume has been a while?
Also, the run seems heavily combat-oriented, so it would be a good idea to warn the players that Face, Decker and Rigger won't have much to do.
>>47313774
Thanks.
>Exactly what the "monsters" are is going to need fleshing out, but there's a ton of options in SR for that fluffwise and /srg/ can give it to you.
Oh, I did have one vague idea for that. Aztech could have been doing research into 'aggregating metatypes' - basically mixing trolls, elves, orks, dwarves and humans into one entity to see what the result would be. Their failure to successfully do so resulted in the collection of messed up monsters the party runs into.
>namely that the extreme level of flexibility in character archetypes and creation makes a railroad like you designed very difficult in most cases.
I can imagine that might be a problem. I held off on fully designing the encounters and such until the party had already created all their characters, although that left me with a shortage of time to actually get things done. That's why I'm a bit nervous.
>>47313776
>1. How long has the decker been alive, how did he survive and why hasn't he contacted anyone?
I'll assume you meant the demolitions expert, the sole survivor of the previous Runner team?
Good question. I could say he's been down there for... Four days, maybe? Just barely surviving by laying low and using up most of his explosives? I do have a good excuse for why he hasn't contacted anyone, though. The facility was built into an ancient cavern network (purely so the Shaman can have a 'the spirits are here and they are restless!' moment), which has the added effect of disrupting communications to the outside world.
2. How could the Johnson keep getting away with it for what I presume has been a while?
Hmm. Maybe he exclusively targeted rookie Runners, so the odds of them successfully fighting their way out were always really low?
>Also, the run seems heavily combat-oriented, so it would be a good idea to warn the players that Face, Decker and Rigger won't have much to do.
That's fair. Fortunately, they don't actually have a Face or a Rigger. Decker might be a problem, but I've tried to give her some opportunities to shine.
>>47313912
Good that you have an excuse for no outside communications, or the run could end up in a /tg/ thread where GM pulls out a faraday cage out of nowhere.
Even rookie runners can be a valuable asset for their fixers, so they better have a good reason to keep selling them to Mr. Johnson. A fixer would notice a pattern of his runners disappearing otherwise, and that's bad business. How do the players end up together, anyway?
And if multiple teams died in that dungeon, some rumors should start, even if the loose ends don't reach Mr. Johnson and his zoo. I assume your players won't have much time to dig anything up on Mr. Johnson once they meet him, but they might want to check what their fixer has been up to, check the source of the gig if there's no fixer involved, or even look up anything on the location of the place they've been brought to once they are there. With trodes or other DNI, chances are no one would notice a decker doing that in AR unless they actively scan icons in cyberspace. Better have something prepared in case that happens.
And, now thinking of it, a decker will have something to do if you have working turrets in the place.
>>47314138
>A fixer would notice a pattern of his runners disappearing otherwise, and that's bad business.
Good point. I suppose Johnson could make a point of never contacting the same fixer twice, and maybe issuing threats to any fixer that doesn't believe his cover story when the runners go missing...
>And if multiple teams died in that dungeon, some rumors should start, even if the loose ends don't reach Mr. Johnson and his zoo.
I feel like I could make something out of this. Maybe have this particular fixer be 'in on it' since he would almost certainly be aware of the rumors. Or maybe one of the party members knows about the place's reputation?
>And, now thinking of it, a decker will have something to do if you have working turrets in the place.
Yeah, there are working turrets in two of the four combat encounters, with two terminals for the Decker to either shut them down or actually take control of them.
I think I actually will say that this particular fixer is a plant by the Johnson, and the players can figure that out if they're smart enough and take him down as well before the session ends. That leaves the question of where they can find a replacement fixer. It would be nice if they could gain one over the course of the mission, but I can't think of any justification for them finding a fixer in an abandoned research facility.
