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Putting a new spin on Insect Spirit adventures

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belaran

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« on: <06-30-18/0648:08> »
Hi all,

Insect spirits are definitely a cool threat of the Shadowrun universe and I would like to use more, but, whenever I try to come up with a story with them, I always end up into the same old story about some people disappearing leading to a nest of some sort to clean. Did you run across stories involving bugs in more interesting way? Or did you write some? Or simply do you have any ideas you would be willing to share?

Michael Chandra

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« Reply #1 on: <06-30-18/0721:29> »
I've done two runs with Insect Spirits. The first was a mobster hiring the group to send a message to a Lieutenant that was getting out of line as well as training a private army. They had to beat up his personal goons at a private warehouse and find data that could tell what the guy was up to. They went to the warehouse, sniper on the ready as Overwatch, went in and ran into a guard. The smg gelround burst hit him good. The guy didn't even flinch.

That's when they freaked out and ordered a killshot through Blind Fire with camera support. With a Barrett 122. The guy groaned and was bleeding but still standing.

At that point the run evolved into an Extermination job there and at the guy's hq. They ended up taking out the entire private army, captured the shaman and the Lieutenant, and the mobster had the two executed.


The second one was my campaign finale where we ran a dungeon crawl with Line of Sight in Maptool, taking out a bug hive. Here they knew in advance and had prepared well. There were multiple traps waiting for them and a ticking clock as other nests nearby (Hello Siouan wilderness!) took them as a threat and were approaching.
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Beta

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« Reply #2 on: <07-02-18/1032:32> »
I've had insects show up twice.  To introduce them they were hired by a semi-retired runner who mostly keeps an eye out for bugs these days, who'd located a small beetle hive.  He taught the shaman insecticide and made sure they went in geared up to the hilt.  It was a bit of a nightmare of never knowing when beetles would burrow in behind the team, drop them into a cross tunnel, etc.  But with veteran guidance they got through it.

On a later run there was a place where a bug nest had been burned out by Firewatch, but one of the solo wasp spirits that preys on other insects had been preying on that nest and working on seducing a local young weakly talented magic type.  To him, she was his amazing flying magical dream girl, who he was desperate to please and protect.  Team was sent there by someone who had sensed traces of the insect's magic.  Digging around they found traces of his and her magic eventually, had to figure out how to find her based on him, then deal with the pair of them.  It was far more about the emotions of dealing with a young love-struck nerd than great danger from the spirit.

Mirikon

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« Reply #3 on: <07-02-18/1229:18> »
Hi all,

Insect spirits are definitely a cool threat of the Shadowrun universe and I would like to use more, but, whenever I try to come up with a story with them, I always end up into the same old story about some people disappearing leading to a nest of some sort to clean. Did you run across stories involving bugs in more interesting way? Or did you write some? Or simply do you have any ideas you would be willing to share?
There's a whole ongoing plot where Ares corporate citizens are being turned into bugs by the hives working inside the mega. Remember, if you get enough good merges, a Hive can grow up in plain sight, without any 'disappearing people'. They simply go for a 'retreat', and come back with a new outlook on life.
Greataxe - Apply directly to source of problem, repeat as needed.

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Reaver

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« Reply #4 on: <07-03-18/1434:14> »
Lets see, insect spirits that I have come up against....

There was the Ant hive in the Orphanage in Russia....

There was the Beetle nest in New York sewers.

More then a couple of nests in Seattle over the years, but they don't really trigger any memories other then "killed it"...

And of course the whole containment zone...



The Orphanage one stands out the most in my memory, mostly because it was a real "house of horrors" style run, where we didn't put the pieces together until the Sammy literally had a 6 legged kid in his arms! And then the panic set in.....
Where am I going? And why am I in a hand basket ???

Remember: You can't fix Stupid. But you can beat on it with a 2x4 until it smartens up! Or dies.

Michael Chandra

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« Reply #5 on: <07-03-18/1643:06> »
Consider the reverse by the way. People go missing in the OU and some return aggressively trying to recruit? Turned out to be vamp-blood-addicted people scoring victims for their masters. One of the vamps ended so heavily overkilled they failed to get a bounty for just two arms.
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