[Djinnocide]

Not sure if this is the correct place for this particular topic, but I was wondering if anyone here had any entertaining anecdotes about their experiences running or playing the 4th edition adventure On The Run. I initially came across this adventure while looking for a nice beginner-friendly run for my new players. We had gone through Food Fight 5.0, which was good for getting our feet wet, and I ran a couple of sessions afterwards that gave me a chance to learn the ropes on being a GM and running an original game, but once that was over, I was hoping to come across something that provided my players with a wider scope of the world than the little corner of Puyallup I'd kept them limited to.

So far it's going well. The first couple of scenes took a little longer than I had anticipated, so we only got as far as doing the Johnson meet and heading to the location of the first big scene. The team is still learning to think outside the box when it comes to how to progress, and I find I'm treading a fine line between giving them too much info and giving them nothing at all, but it's coming together.

[samiam]

I know I've come across this topic elsewhere...perhaps try the GM forum.  Quick search came up with a boat load of topics with "on the run" in them... 

Anyway, I ran this for my group early this year and yes, it's a pretty good introduction for both players and GM.  The main complaint I had and (remember reading others had) is that to experience the toughest part of the module and a significant portion of it the Runners are expected to screw over their Mr Johnson - which is greatly frowned upon and can lead to a very short career if your Mr Johnson does not take it well (and he shouldn't) - word travels fast in the Shadows, or it should.  It just doesn't strike a lot of people as being a good start to a new shadowrunning career.

On the other hand, if they do choose to take the offer that comes up late in the module...that could lead to some interesting possibilities in the form of repercussions for their actions if you spin it into a home campaign rather than moving to another module.

I presented my Runners the option to do so and they (wisely IMO) chose to complete the job they were hired to do...and missed out on the latter portion of the module...and I was not interested in railroading them down that path.  They missed out on a fair amount of the available Karma awards as well as a couple of key potential contacts along with the higher nuyen payout -  but it's blended into a larger over-arching campaign so Karma/etc came from elsewhere.

[Mirikon]

As samiam says, On the Run isn't a module I would put forward as a good new player/character adventure. If the group is concerned with making a rep for themselves (they should be, if they're new runners), or if they're the professional "I do the job, I get paid, I don't speak of it again unless someone screws me" type, then they aren't going to even experience the second half of the module. The module only really works if the runners are the kind who routinely go about backstabbing their employers if they find a better offer.

[Djinnocide]

After making this thread I ran another session which led us to the point where the team obtained the Compact Disc and needed to decide on whether they wanted to investigate further into the CD's contents or to return the disc. One player was immediately saying they should turn it in (smart guy), but the other two were on the fence. I brought up the possibility that it might be a good idea to confirm the contents of the disc before turning it in, because it would be looked upon poorly if they turned in the wrong CD (which was a suggestion the module made). We were at the end of our time to play though, so I told the guys to think about it and let me know next game how they wanted to proceed.

After having had you guys point out the problem with having a new team screw over the Johnson on their first real Run I may bring that point up and make sure it's what they want their characters to do. I guess I better be prepared to run a different session if they decide to be good little runners.

Thanks for the input, guys.

[Michael Chandra]

I always hate it when the Johnson says you're retrieving their property but in truth it's a theft job. If you don't trust me to do your dirty business, don't hire me to do it. I do NOT like being lied to, just withhold information you ass. -_-

[Djinnocide]

We wrapped up On The Run today and I thought I'd share how it concluded. Just as you guys predicted, it did prove difficult to make my players interested in learning what was on the CD just for the sake of self satisfaction, they did however become concerned with learning whether or not the contents of the CD actually had the info on it that it should have. As they were making plans to sort this out, they received the mysterious call from the third party, and they threw me for a loop when they decided that they would attempt to make a copy of the CD (nearly impossible) and sell it to both the 3rd party and Mr. Johnson. This didn't end well as they hit the first hurdle in the CD encryption, so they decided to entertain the offer that the 3rd party made when I mentioned "significantly more" and they headed off to the meet. After some piss-poor bluffing on part  of the team's representative, they fessed up to the amount they had been originally hired for, and were offered double plus 5K each and that was enough for them to sell out. As the mystery party was heading out, the Shangri-la strike team swooped in to get the CD, but the Runners joined in and wiped them all out.

I've learned I've really got to take better notes regarding combat stats in order to smooth the process along. This was the largest combat scene we've dealt with yet, and it started to look like I was unprepared for the whole thing, so I just started fudging the dice rolls between the two rival npc parties, having them focus on one another instead of the Runners. This seemed to work, and the party was non the wiser.

Ultimately, the team made some big money, but pissed off their employer, ruining the chance at further work. This doesn't feel like a good thing to have done to a new runner team, but it definitely taught them that there are consequences for their actions in the Sixth World and it's also going to teach them a lesson about paranoia.