Skip to main content

Saturday Shadowrun: Looking for Information, but Finding Trouble

It was a big Shadowrun day with 4 of 5 players in attendance and the run underway.
---
When last we left off, Felix (aka. formerly Zephyr) had just switched on Nabo's comm link and Ender, the technomancer confirmed it was the right comm link.  Unfortunately, it was in public mode, and all of Nabo's near and dear go-ganger friends that were providing security, also saw it come on.  Two of the security guards burst in to the room with Felix, told him to stop, and opened fire.  He barely was able to dodge the bullets and disappear up the HVAC vent.

Felix warned the rest of the group to stay put and not mind the bullets.  He darted across the roof.

Mr. Black, the new face of the party, took the controls of the van.  Void dove into the passenger's seat.  Vee hopped in the back, and got the window down and her gun in place.  The backdoor guard ran inside and then reemerged with 3 more.  Vee layed down supressive fire and made them all hit the dirt long enough for Felix to rappel down the wall, and run into the van.

The van took off past the porta-potties, dodging concert-goers that were fleeing the warehouse after hearing the gunfire.  The guards jumped in their SUV.  Tires blew, but the guards kept driving on run-flats.  Luckily, Mr. Black was able to lose the pursuers.

The team went to V-Worx to take care of the commlink.  Ender was off on other business, so Felix talked to Eula. For a price of 250 nuyen, she could unlock the comm link that he had "forgotten" the password for.  Once inside they found an email regarding the optical disk they were looking for.

They caught back up with the technomancer and got info on the message.  They tracked it to a hacker named Zipper.  And Zipper hangs out in a hacker bar named Cathode Glow.

The group goes there and finds it to be a run down retro hacker bar.  Within minutes the group's commlinks were mischievously hacked.  Mr. Black found his way in nice and found Zipper.  For 750 nuyen she gave up her contact -- a seller of the optical disk that wanted to remain anonymous and that had already received a couple of messages regarding the sale.  Loomis was his name, and he owned a run-down club called Coda.

Arriving at Coda, the party found an even-more run down bar with BTL addicts in the gutter and vomit in the doorway.  A disturbance next door in a junk yard caught their eye.  A small group of armed guys were overtaking a limping man trying to flee through the junkyard.  The party fell into position to watch, against the will of the pursuers, except for Mr. Black.  He entered the bar to find 5 gangers.  They hassled Mr. Black.  He walked out and they followed.  The took the pursuers of the man as another gang trying to move in on their turf.  Suddenly the party was caught between pursuers and the gangers with impending violence.

Felix got on top the piles of cars.  Void watched behind cover.  Vee threw out a flash grenade as the pursuers caught the limping man, and picked off two of the gangers.  The pursuers stunned the man.  Felix moved in and took a shot at the men trying to carry "Loomis", as they identified him.  He had a bad shot and hit Loomis in the head, killing him.  Gangers returned fire at Vee.  Void moved into position, trying to get to a nearby crane.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

5E Starting Gold and Equipment for Higher Levels

The DMG has a rough recommendation for starting gold and equipment for higher levels, but with my groups running one-shots, we wanted to nail it down to level by level. Here's my DMG-inspired table. Generally I allow equipment to be traded in during character creation for half book value, where applicable. I also, as a GM, offer to make custom magic items for players who can't choose. A list of magical items by rarity can be found here  with stats available in the DMG. I also generally allow players to buy healing potions (2d4+2) for 50gp and greater healing potions for 250gp (4d4+4). PHB items are available at book cost at creation. I do not allow other equipment to be purchased except in game. This is generally based off the "high magic" campaign. Level Starting Gold Starting Equipment / Magic Items 1 - 160gp  OR Standard starting equipment 2 210gp Standard starting equipment 3 285gp Standard starting equipment 4 365gp Standard sta...

Rules for Flying Creatures in 5E

I'm not one for just throwing my players willy-nilly into something new without an idea of how it would work.  Flying races are on the horizon for one of my games, so here are my clarifications for flying creatures: A flying creatures requires a minimum space of at least 3 times their height in all directions in order to flight. For example, a 6 ft tall flying creature requires a room to be at least 18 ft in all dimensions before they can fly in it. A flying creature can attempt to grapple a creature.  If the the target or grappler are flying, grapple attempts are at disadvantage. If neither are flying, grapples are per RAW.  The state of flying or walking is determined by the last square you have moved.  To change between walking and/or flying, you must use at least 1 space of movement.  Movement rules per RAW apply (PHB pg 190 "Using Different Speeds") A successful grapple check by a flying creature can allow the flying creature to potentially carry th...

Exploiting Weakness in D&D 5e: A Guide for the Evil Plotting GM

I wrote a similar article to this on Pathfinder, and though this is a pretty evil topic, it has been of use to a lot of folks out there.  So, now, I think, is the time to start a similar article for D&D 5e.  This will be a living document to be updated with suggestions and more information as I find better methods. In general, 5e is a lot more challenging for a GM, because the classes are reasonably balanced and because the game mechanics don't have a lot of scale over the 20 levels. Here's a general list of things to increase the difficulty for the party: Increase the number of foes and the CR (ignore the book CR system if it isn't offering a challenge) Spells against the PCs low saves.  A high level sleep spell, for example, could take out a party with no elves. Drag out the opportunity for the long rest.  After 2 short rests, the 3rd battle of the day is tough. Hit the most vulnerable PC first. It almost always forces another teammate to take an acti...