DizzyCrash
First Post
Alright So For Starters.
My Crew:
"Baby Bullhorn" Cute Troll Mechanic from a trailer park.
"Red Riot" Young man with a trucker hat and love of racing and a Texas accent. ( Sorta Reminds me Terry Bogard )
"Barricade" Big african american orc with metal arms ( Sorta Reminds me of Mr T or Barrett )
"Jupiter & Star" A bald rock-star Elf girl with a attitude and master thief/con-artist ( Sorta reminds me of Mass-Effect Jack mixed with Gem and the Holograms ) ( Her band is Jupiter and the shooting stars and she has a pixie sidekick named Star )
Thats what my players decided on, a young group of basically kids with a single older member who works as a low level fixer, they are the lowest tier of shadowrunners and baically start off knocking over ATM machines and dealing with local gangs. Like the mad clown biker gang ( Who are under the employ of a the syndicate known as the midnight society )
Now my plot so far goes like this.
The CEO of a minor corporation based out of Kansas city called Echelon Pharmaceuticals is also the crime boss of the Syndicate known as the midnight society, He is engineering bio weapons and drugs and distributing them through his criminal distributes.
This CEO is a vampire with a pension for cruelty and ex street runner who worked his way up in a syndicate until he took control of all the crime in Kansas city through a violent take over.
Now when he was a runner Barricade ( The older shadowrunner ) was a rookie and he worked with him as well as the troll girls father "Bison Bullhorn"
Now thats just backdrop stuff moving in the background the players dont need to know about, But heres what I need help with.
Now this vampire has a master plan, he has engineered a drug with his own blood called "Bloody Lips" which he is distributing through the mad clown gang and the midnight society. This drug will make all the junkies in his city Reinfeilds/Igors, watching the city for him and being his eyes and ears.
Now iv set up a fairly well organized connected and villain who is hard to touch. So the players who figure out how will feel very rewarded. Rule 1 of Dming is the players dont care about YOUR plot they care about how it revolves around THEIR plot, so most of this is just going on in the background.
Iv set it up in such a way that this information will be trickled out based on what the players do, interrogation, investigation, connections and what not. And it all involves them and there choices.
For example, small ways the plot immediately involves the players and motivates them. "Red Riot" the southern racer kid is a member of a rival gang that opposed the Mad Clowns who killed one of his buddies.
The villain is deeply involved with Bullhorn and Berricades history, and Berricade fills a sorta fatherly role to Bullhorn as her father used to be his old running partner.
And Jupider is a 17 year old runaway who still has a Sin and doesnt tell the other players she is from a wealthy family, she is also an addict and potentially will take the bloody lips drug if its offered to her.
Now the plot goes like this.
I will offer the players a few jobs at first, simple ones and so they get sloppy and drop there guard... After hitting the Echelon Pharmaceutical R&D Lab they acquire something very valuable... And this catches the attention of the crime boss who owns it...
I will than offer the players a simple delivery job, no security and no combat, its a simple covert delivery of some stims. But it pays alot, like a million nyen.
When they take the bait its an ambush... They will likely not even post a look out cause of expectations to this point, but if they do it may save them cause its a set up, the Midnight Society will encircle the diner and just rip it to shreds... Any players who dont escape run the risk of capture or worse, and just to ensure they retrieve the syrum the CEO himself will be there. A very powerful vampire with a history with Barricade.
Now when the players escape they will likely lead the villains back to their hide out, a old Runner Bar owned by Berricade, all the homeless people in the area are effected and will inform the villains ware there base is...
The Corporation will than put the players on the ropes, burning down safe houses, draining there accounts pushing them into hiding.. heck if they try to contact family or friends they may even put them at risk.
The players will than need to fight from the bottom up, get revenge, get there stuff back, save there captured allies or avenge the killed... And hopefully the girl didnt take the bloodylips or there may even be a sleeper agent spy within there ranks.
I have experience with these players and i know there priorities and what insensitivize them, how they think. This should be alot of fun and if done right they will never feel like it was inevitable, there will be plenty of clues than in retrospect if they had payed closer attention or only connected the dots would have prevented all this.
A good role-playing campaign uses all these factors to make the players feel both invested int he story and the driving force behind the story.
These players are starting to trust me less though.. Iv betrayed them and hurt them before and I am getting a reputation for being that DM who likes to break there players hearts, with betrayals tricks and plot twists. I am very experienced and while some people may struggle with plots with so many moving parts i am confident i can handle it. I just want peoples opinions on how i can improve it and if their is any problems with it so far. Maybe some suggestions or if it all fits into the lore neatly.
Kansas city seems to be relatively untouched by the lore of shadowrun their is very little information on it which makes it open for me to explore ( Plus its ware battle angel alita is set which is one of my favorite cyberpunk stories ) And its southern so Bullhorn and Red Riots more southern redneck characters work here.
I love Berricades character too, he has a cute little orc daughter who is missing her legs and his only wish is to buy her some robot legs. And she is a back up Decker encase he ever dies.
And Bullhorns goal is to get enough influence to get her father and siblings official sins so they can live a normal life and move out of the slums.
This is a fairly moralistic group though, I have a feeling there good hearts are going to get them into trouble.
My Crew:
"Baby Bullhorn" Cute Troll Mechanic from a trailer park.
"Red Riot" Young man with a trucker hat and love of racing and a Texas accent. ( Sorta Reminds me Terry Bogard )
"Barricade" Big african american orc with metal arms ( Sorta Reminds me of Mr T or Barrett )
"Jupiter & Star" A bald rock-star Elf girl with a attitude and master thief/con-artist ( Sorta reminds me of Mass-Effect Jack mixed with Gem and the Holograms ) ( Her band is Jupiter and the shooting stars and she has a pixie sidekick named Star )
Thats what my players decided on, a young group of basically kids with a single older member who works as a low level fixer, they are the lowest tier of shadowrunners and baically start off knocking over ATM machines and dealing with local gangs. Like the mad clown biker gang ( Who are under the employ of a the syndicate known as the midnight society )
Now my plot so far goes like this.
The CEO of a minor corporation based out of Kansas city called Echelon Pharmaceuticals is also the crime boss of the Syndicate known as the midnight society, He is engineering bio weapons and drugs and distributing them through his criminal distributes.
This CEO is a vampire with a pension for cruelty and ex street runner who worked his way up in a syndicate until he took control of all the crime in Kansas city through a violent take over.
Now when he was a runner Barricade ( The older shadowrunner ) was a rookie and he worked with him as well as the troll girls father "Bison Bullhorn"
Now thats just backdrop stuff moving in the background the players dont need to know about, But heres what I need help with.
Now this vampire has a master plan, he has engineered a drug with his own blood called "Bloody Lips" which he is distributing through the mad clown gang and the midnight society. This drug will make all the junkies in his city Reinfeilds/Igors, watching the city for him and being his eyes and ears.
Now iv set up a fairly well organized connected and villain who is hard to touch. So the players who figure out how will feel very rewarded. Rule 1 of Dming is the players dont care about YOUR plot they care about how it revolves around THEIR plot, so most of this is just going on in the background.
Iv set it up in such a way that this information will be trickled out based on what the players do, interrogation, investigation, connections and what not. And it all involves them and there choices.
For example, small ways the plot immediately involves the players and motivates them. "Red Riot" the southern racer kid is a member of a rival gang that opposed the Mad Clowns who killed one of his buddies.
The villain is deeply involved with Bullhorn and Berricades history, and Berricade fills a sorta fatherly role to Bullhorn as her father used to be his old running partner.
And Jupider is a 17 year old runaway who still has a Sin and doesnt tell the other players she is from a wealthy family, she is also an addict and potentially will take the bloody lips drug if its offered to her.
Now the plot goes like this.
I will offer the players a few jobs at first, simple ones and so they get sloppy and drop there guard... After hitting the Echelon Pharmaceutical R&D Lab they acquire something very valuable... And this catches the attention of the crime boss who owns it...
I will than offer the players a simple delivery job, no security and no combat, its a simple covert delivery of some stims. But it pays alot, like a million nyen.
When they take the bait its an ambush... They will likely not even post a look out cause of expectations to this point, but if they do it may save them cause its a set up, the Midnight Society will encircle the diner and just rip it to shreds... Any players who dont escape run the risk of capture or worse, and just to ensure they retrieve the syrum the CEO himself will be there. A very powerful vampire with a history with Barricade.
Now when the players escape they will likely lead the villains back to their hide out, a old Runner Bar owned by Berricade, all the homeless people in the area are effected and will inform the villains ware there base is...
The Corporation will than put the players on the ropes, burning down safe houses, draining there accounts pushing them into hiding.. heck if they try to contact family or friends they may even put them at risk.
The players will than need to fight from the bottom up, get revenge, get there stuff back, save there captured allies or avenge the killed... And hopefully the girl didnt take the bloodylips or there may even be a sleeper agent spy within there ranks.
I have experience with these players and i know there priorities and what insensitivize them, how they think. This should be alot of fun and if done right they will never feel like it was inevitable, there will be plenty of clues than in retrospect if they had payed closer attention or only connected the dots would have prevented all this.
A good role-playing campaign uses all these factors to make the players feel both invested int he story and the driving force behind the story.
These players are starting to trust me less though.. Iv betrayed them and hurt them before and I am getting a reputation for being that DM who likes to break there players hearts, with betrayals tricks and plot twists. I am very experienced and while some people may struggle with plots with so many moving parts i am confident i can handle it. I just want peoples opinions on how i can improve it and if their is any problems with it so far. Maybe some suggestions or if it all fits into the lore neatly.
Kansas city seems to be relatively untouched by the lore of shadowrun their is very little information on it which makes it open for me to explore ( Plus its ware battle angel alita is set which is one of my favorite cyberpunk stories ) And its southern so Bullhorn and Red Riots more southern redneck characters work here.
I love Berricades character too, he has a cute little orc daughter who is missing her legs and his only wish is to buy her some robot legs. And she is a back up Decker encase he ever dies.
And Bullhorns goal is to get enough influence to get her father and siblings official sins so they can live a normal life and move out of the slums.
This is a fairly moralistic group though, I have a feeling there good hearts are going to get them into trouble.
