Shadowrun

Shadowrun Missions Living Campaign => Living Campaign Discussion => Topic started by: A.A. Salati on <09-14-10/0033:58>

Title: Missions Season 4 - Seattle
Post by: A.A. Salati on <09-14-10/0033:58>
Here's your opportunity to ask for it.

What do you want to see in Season 4, Seattle?

What don't you want to see again this Season?


And why?
Title: Re: Missions Season 4 - Seattle
Post by: Chrona on <09-14-10/1308:54>
Optional rules for home versions? I.e. suggested changes if the group has HMHVV/Drake/AI/etc characters. I play in Canterbury, England and alot of the people I know like more exotic characters as a challenge. My first Shadowrunner was a Ghoul.
Title: Re: Missions Season 4 - Seattle
Post by: Bull on <09-14-10/1450:01>
Chrona:  If you're strictly playing a home game (and don't plan to take the character to any cons, open plays, or other Missions events), there's no need to follow any of the Mission specific rules.  Feel free to play whatever :)

Bull
Title: Re: Missions Season 4 - Seattle
Post by: Spanner on <09-14-10/1509:20>
Here's your opportunity to ask for it.

What do you want to see in Season 4, Seattle?

What don't you want to see again this Season?


And why?


Are you a writer for Missions? What exactly can you do to make these things come to pass, or prevent them from happening?
Title: Re: Missions Season 4 - Seattle
Post by: FastJack on <09-14-10/1539:46>
Here's your opportunity to ask for it.

What do you want to see in Season 4, Seattle?

What don't you want to see again this Season?


And why?


Are you a writer for Missions? What exactly can you do to make these things come to pass, or prevent them from happening?
He's simply giving a voice to the people on the forums. Since Bull's already responded to some, I'd say the idea has merit.
Title: Re: Missions Season 4 - Seattle
Post by: A.A. Salati on <09-14-10/1712:52>
Yes, I am. :)
Title: Re: Missions Season 4 - Seattle
Post by: Wasabi on <09-14-10/1827:52>
I'd like to see more pinkhaired gangers and chaos. I'd like to see Lone Star FRT teams and Docwagon panzers. I'd like to see Shadowrunners afraid they'll get whacked by locals regardless of TR.

I'd like the variety shown in the current batch of CMP's.

I'd like enemies that scale in quality and not just quantity.

I'd like matrix nodes written up with a handout of the initial description for the hacker(s) and simplewalk through for GM's who dont do a lot of hacking in case they get a PC that doesn't do a lot of hacking.
Title: Re: Missions Season 4 - Seattle
Post by: Frankie the Fomori on <09-14-10/1957:39>
This may not be a viable thought but i would love to see some of the former great runners from the 50's used as fixers or Johnson’s....mostly the Raven, and Argent! Argent would make a bad ass fixer.

Would also like to see some of the surrounding Salish towns incorporated, mostly along the west coast of the sound.
Title: Re: Missions Season 4 - Seattle
Post by: FastJack on <09-14-10/1959:01>
Argent can't be a Fixer. Problems would fix themselves to avoid Argent. ;)
Title: Re: Missions Season 4 - Seattle
Post by: A.A. Salati on <09-14-10/2018:05>
I'd like to see more pinkhaired gangers and chaos. I'd like to see Lone Star FRT teams and Docwagon panzers. I'd like to see Shadowrunners afraid they'll get whacked by locals regardless of TR.

I'd like the variety shown in the current batch of CMP's.

I'd like enemies that scale in quality and not just quantity.

I'd like matrix nodes written up with a handout of the initial description for the hacker(s) and simplewalk through for GM's who dont do a lot of hacking in case they get a PC that doesn't do a lot of hacking.

Good suggestions.  Keep them coming.
Title: Re: Missions Season 4 - Seattle
Post by: Spanner on <09-14-10/2149:01>
He's simply giving a voice to the people on the forums. Since Bull's already responded to some, I'd say the idea has merit.

Um, no, he's a writer for Missions and therefore has the ability to actually implement some of the suggestions that we give him. That's what I was trying to establish. There's plenty of threads about problems that need fixing. He's looking for adventure-specific stuff.

Regarding the Missions as written:

It's VERY frustrating for players at a table to feel like they've had their options removed from them simply by the whim of the writer. Some examples, Jacknifed starts you out in the Johnson's limo and sends you into a wifi-inhibited tunnel. Something Completely Different starts you in a closet. Elevator Ride to Hell starts you out in a hotel room with no clothes. All of these may be great for stretching your writing chops, but from a player's perspective, they're not that fun. They leave a bad taste. People build their characters to do, and be good at certain things.

Give the GM some options and ideas for "other" endings, and how they can handle them. Many GM's try to stick to the adventure as written, and won't deviate from the script even if it makes sense. If these GM's are told, "Here are the most likely endings, but just in case, here are some possible twists with their accompanying results" it gives them more flexibility when running the mod.

When you give a description of an area, especially one that the players will be infiltrating or somehow interacting with, you need to break out the data the GM needs into very clearly-identified sections. Don't bury pertinent details in running text (i.e., descriptions or background information). This issue only slows the GM down. I would suggest all scenes get a three-part breakdown that consists of Mundane, Magical, and Matrix defenses/opposition with bullet items for the pertinent information. And please don't bury the statistics for that information in the back of the mod or refer them to a sourcebook. Place all the needed info there at the GM's fingers in the pertinent section. Leave the back for major NPCs, contacts, and legwork.

Place, plot, etc., etc. don't matter too much to me since I believe writers should write about their interests. If you write about something that's interesting to you, you do a better job at it.

Most other suggestions that I would have are really more under the coordinator's control and have been discussed to death already on the DS boards and here.

Thanks for soliciting for feedback.
Title: Re: Missions Season 4 - Seattle
Post by: A.A. Salati on <09-15-10/0819:04>
1. It's VERY frustrating for players at a table to feel like they've had their options removed from them simply by the whim of the writer. Some examples, Jacknifed starts you out in the Johnson's limo and sends you into a wifi-inhibited tunnel. Something Completely Different starts you in a closet. Elevator Ride to Hell starts you out in a hotel room with no clothes. All of these may be great for stretching your writing chops, but from a player's perspective, they're not that fun. They leave a bad taste. People build their characters to do, and be good at certain things.

2. Give the GM some options and ideas for "other" endings, and how they can handle them. Many GM's try to stick to the adventure as written, and won't deviate from the script even if it makes sense. If these GM's are told, "Here are the most likely endings, but just in case, here are some possible twists with their accompanying results" it gives them more flexibility when running the mod.

3. When you give a description of an area, especially one that the players will be infiltrating or somehow interacting with, you need to break out the data the GM needs into very clearly-identified sections. Don't bury pertinent details in running text (i.e., descriptions or background information). This issue only slows the GM down. I would suggest all scenes get a three-part breakdown that consists of Mundane, Magical, and Matrix defenses/opposition with bullet items for the pertinent information. And please don't bury the statistics for that information in the back of the mod or refer them to a sourcebook. Place all the needed info there at the GM's fingers in the pertinent section. Leave the back for major NPCs, contacts, and legwork.
These are actually three of my top issues as well.  1 - I understand why this was used so often, but despite time constraints, I'll avoid using in media res tricks.  2 - That's a top priority for me to include within time and space constraints.  3 - Yes, mentioning items in running text that you have to look up elsewhere is a pet peeve of mine, too.

More, please.
Title: Re: Missions Season 4 - Seattle
Post by: Bull on <09-15-10/1709:53>
Mesh is also currently helping me out by providing proofing and editorial feedback on Missions.

Anyway...  To aderess a couple points:

1)  In Media Res.  Yeah, overused.  I don't mind it rarely...  Once every 12 Missions or so, as it's a storytelling technique.  And something like what happens in Mission 03-12 can be used to test the runners creativity and abilities.  But, it has to be used carefully, and rarely.  The important parts are that you cannot take away the players abilities too badly...  If you strip them of their gear, you have to give them the opportunity to quickly acquire at least the basics..>  A commlink and some hacking programs for the Hacker, a vehicle or drone for the rigger, and some guns for pretty much everyone. 

But the other big thing is that you can't remove their ability to negotiate.  That was a real flaw in the original 03-09 (the IMR stuff has been completely removed for the release, and a new intro with a meet put in it's place).  Not only telling the runners that they did "X", but that they did something crazy/stupid willingly, and that they have already agreed to X Nuyen just takes too much away from the runners.

I won't say that In Media Res will never be used again.  But if we do, it'll be done very carefully and very sparingly.  3+ times in 12 missions is a bit much though.

2)  One of my goals with Season 4 is to provide some additional, optional material with the adventures, to beef them up for home use.  I'd like to see a bit more done for options and alternate endings...  Usually adventures only have one or two possible outcomes though, shy of "Runners go off on some wierd tangent", in which case the GMs just gonna have to wing it most of the time, because it'd be impossible for us to try to write for every contingency.  I've found over the years that no matter how many variables I plan for, the players will ALWYAS find the one I didn't expect.

Plus, to be honest, it's a convention game.  There's a certain amount of rails that come with a game like that.  It's the only way to work a game so that it fits in a limited time block like taht.

3)  Agreed about including stats in each scene.  One thing I've been trying to hammer home is that GMs should have to look up very little, if anything.  Rules references and the like are fine, since GMs should either know the rule already, or the rule is likely too cumbersome to repeat.  But NPC, Critter, and Gear stats should all be included.  And I'd like to do a little more with details...  I'm a big fan of the Old School Matrix, so things like Matrix Topography, IC architecture, etc are all important to me.  So every important node should have some basic description of what the node looks like, at the very least.  Now, not every node needs descriptors.  That can often be left up to the GM...  But anything major, anything important, yes, that should have some detail.

Magic is a bit tougher, because the Astral is often just a reflection of the Mundane.  There are unusual things that can be there though, so these should obviously be mentioned.  But again, this one mostly falls under GM purview.

Bull
Title: Re: Missions Season 4 - Seattle
Post by: DireRadiant on <09-15-10/1740:23>
I dunno Bull, you sure about this leave it up to the GM business?
Title: Re: Missions Season 4 - Seattle
Post by: Bull on <09-15-10/1751:21>
At some point, you have to put some trust in both the players and the GM.  Otherwise, you may as well drop the GM altogether and just run a "Choose Your Own Adventure." :)

You know... Now that Shadowrun has a fiction imprint again...  Hrmm...

Bull
Title: Re: Missions Season 4 - Seattle
Post by: FastJack on <09-15-10/1758:47>
At some point, you have to put some trust in both the players and the GM.  Otherwise, you may as well drop the GM altogether and just run a "Choose Your Own Adventure." :)

You know... Now that Shadowrun has a fiction imprint again...  Hrmm...

Bull
Bah... I always cheated on those anyway. ;)
Title: Re: Missions Season 4 - Seattle
Post by: Spanner on <09-15-10/1842:20>
3)  Agreed about including stats in each scene.  One thing I've been trying to hammer home is that GMs should have to look up very little, if anything.  Rules references and the like are fine, since GMs should either know the rule already, or the rule is likely too cumbersome to repeat.  But NPC, Critter, and Gear stats should all be included.  And I'd like to do a little more with details...  I'm a big fan of the Old School Matrix, so things like Matrix Topography, IC architecture, etc are all important to me.  So every important node should have some basic description of what the node looks like, at the very least.  Now, not every node needs descriptors.  That can often be left up to the GM...  But anything major, anything important, yes, that should have some detail.

Magic is a bit tougher, because the Astral is often just a reflection of the Mundane.  There are unusual things that can be there though, so these should obviously be mentioned.  But again, this one mostly falls under GM purview.

Bull

I'm sorry, I see now that I wasn't that clear when writing about this point. What I meant was that the details that the GM needs to run a scene should be broken out into three discrete sections. Here's an example:

Mundane:
3 guards, 2 human male, one female (stats below), 2 perform a full circuit every 5 minutes, 1 located in the security center
Shoji panels which provide some cover but not the full blind fire penalty since you can see shadows through them
2 doberman drones w/FN-FAL assault rifles (stats below) which can be controlled by the spider on call (see matrix section below)

Magic:
2 force 2 watchers patrolling the grounds. one complete circuit every 3 minutes; summoned by the security mage
1 force 4 air elemental on standby; summoned by the security mage
area 23 warded with a force 4 polarized ward
1 security mage, female dwarf (stats below)

Matrix:
location node (stats, access points, etc.)
security node (same)
security spider (stats below)

This way when the runners ask, "What are the magic defenses like? I scope them out astrally." The GM has a quick answer and doesn't have to go digging around in the descriptive text for an answer.
Title: Re: Missions Season 4 - Seattle
Post by: A.A. Salati on <09-15-10/2219:45>
Adventure formatting is often discussed.  It has always been a directive to provide the Mundane, Arcane, Matrix aspects, details, and options in a scene, and your suggestion to clearly lay them out in their own sections is a good one (and one at which we need to do our best, agreed).
Title: Re: Missions Season 4 - Seattle
Post by: KarmaInferno on <09-15-10/2227:14>
I dunno Bull, you sure about this leave it up to the GM business?

Well, we could go the micromanagement way that other living campaigns have gone.

Which inevitably results in a 200 page campaign FAQ/rulesbook.

What do you think?



-karma
Title: Re: Missions Season 4 - Seattle
Post by: Shinobi Killfist on <09-16-10/1356:11>
Mesh is also currently helping me out by providing proofing and editorial feedback on Missions.

Anyway...  To aderess a couple points:

1)  In Media Res.  Yeah, overused.  I don't mind it rarely...  Once every 12 Missions or so, as it's a storytelling technique.  And something like what happens in Mission 03-12 can be used to test the runners creativity and abilities.  But, it has to be used carefully, and rarely.  The important parts are that you cannot take away the players abilities too badly...  If you strip them of their gear, you have to give them the opportunity to quickly acquire at least the basics..>  A commlink and some hacking programs for the Hacker, a vehicle or drone for the rigger, and some guns for pretty much everyone. 



Bull

I'd also add that since you are taking your character form convention to convention unless the gear is basically just handed back to you at the end of the adventure nothing should be taken off screen.  Heck I hate all off screen things anyways.  Wait what I just walked into an ambush, got knocked out, dropped in a room and am wearing a hospital gown?  If you lose your 40 karma investment power focus in game, so be it, but losing it per GM fiat off screen is just bad design.  I might just pick up my character and leave the convention table.  There are games out there where I might actually have fun, I'd be a model train enthusiast if I wanted to be on rails.  Somehow I suspect the goal of convention games is not to piss off the players so they don't want to play.
Title: Re: Missions Season 4 - Seattle
Post by: Wasabi on <09-16-10/1809:39>
"I'd be a model train enthusiast if I wanted to be on rails."

This, lol!
Title: Re: Missions Season 4 - Seattle
Post by: Bull on <09-16-10/2006:58>
Quote
I'd also add that since you are taking your character form convention to convention unless the gear is basically just handed back to you at the end of the adventure nothing should be taken off screen.  Heck I hate all off screen things anyways.  Wait what I just walked into an ambush, got knocked out, dropped in a room and am wearing a hospital gown?  If you lose your 40 karma investment power focus in game, so be it, but losing it per GM fiat off screen is just bad design.  I might just pick up my character and leave the convention table.  There are games out there where I might actually have fun, I'd be a model train enthusiast if I wanted to be on rails.  Somehow I suspect the goal of convention games is not to piss off the players so they don't want to play.

Oh, no, you should definitely get all of your gear back in the adventure itself.  And preferably pretty quickly.  Shy of things actually happening through gameplay (Stuff gets broken, lost, whatever), you should never have anything just flat out taken away from you permanently.

And hey, all games are on rails.  :)  Some just hide it a little better.  But if there is any kind of plan and story, the game's on rails.  :)
Title: Re: Missions Season 4 - Seattle
Post by: Shinobi Killfist on <09-16-10/2011:14>
Quote
I'd also add that since you are taking your character form convention to convention unless the gear is basically just handed back to you at the end of the adventure nothing should be taken off screen.  Heck I hate all off screen things anyways.  Wait what I just walked into an ambush, got knocked out, dropped in a room and am wearing a hospital gown?  If you lose your 40 karma investment power focus in game, so be it, but losing it per GM fiat off screen is just bad design.  I might just pick up my character and leave the convention table.  There are games out there where I might actually have fun, I'd be a model train enthusiast if I wanted to be on rails.  Somehow I suspect the goal of convention games is not to piss off the players so they don't want to play.

Oh, no, you should definitely get all of your gear back in the adventure itself.  And preferably pretty quickly.  Shy of things actually happening through gameplay (Stuff gets broken, lost, whatever), you should never have anything just flat out taken away from you permanently.

And hey, all games are on rails.  :)  Some just hide it a little better.  But if there is any kind of plan and story, the game's on rails.  :)

Well sure every game has some rails.  But games that start you naked in a room with a bad frame up mean you aren't just on rails, you on on the train and it left the station an hour before play started.  As long as there are enough alternate tracks it isn't an issue, but once you remove the ability to switch tracks it stopped being an RPG and became the story telling circle. 
Title: Re: Missions Season 4 - Seattle
Post by: Bull on <09-16-10/2025:37>
Look at it as a challenge.  It's a roleplay challenge, it's a physical challenge.  Games should challenge both your characters and you as a player.  I know some of the most fun games I've ever played in usually involved bad things happening to my character, because the fun part if fighting my way out of it, overcoming it.  Characters should be more than a sum of their gear.

Like I said, we'll minimize stuff like this, because it's not always handled well, and it's not always that much fun for every player, but I wouldn't count on never seeing it again, because like I said, I think adventures should present a challenge in more ways than just the usual "Beat up the bad guys" and "find the right path to the end". 

Bull
Title: Re: Missions Season 4 - Seattle
Post by: Bull on <09-16-10/2029:35>
Also, this wasn't played up as well as it should have been, because of Missions wonky release schedule to this point, and the fact that when this eyars cons were planned, 03-12 wasn't the final New York Mission.  The idea behind it was something big, something kind of over the top, and something a little different. 

(And like I said, I defend the idea to do 03-12 this way because I think it was an interesting idea, and I think that Missions players sometimes get a bit complacent.  Coming on the heels of 03-09 (or possibly even being played right before or after 03-09's original IMR opener as well) was poor timing, unfortunately.  And while I defend it, it wasn't my choice to do the adventure this way.  It was plotted and the first draft written well before I got involved, and changing it would have involved completely redoing a large portion of the adventure, so...  It stayed.)

Bull
Title: Re: Missions Season 4 - Seattle
Post by: KarmaInferno on <09-16-10/2100:02>
Look at it as a challenge.  It's a roleplay challenge, it's a physical challenge.  Games should challenge both your characters and you as a player.

Yeah, I have to agree.

The scenario? Is not happening to YOU, the player. It's happening to the CHARACTER. Play it as such. Have fun with it. It is an opportunity to break from your normal routine and experience new tangents of roleplay.



-karma
Title: Re: Missions Season 4 - Seattle
Post by: Shinobi Killfist on <09-16-10/2323:27>
Look at it as a challenge.  It's a roleplay challenge, it's a physical challenge.  Games should challenge both your characters and you as a player.  I know some of the most fun games I've ever played in usually involved bad things happening to my character, because the fun part if fighting my way out of it, overcoming it.  Characters should be more than a sum of their gear.

Like I said, we'll minimize stuff like this, because it's not always handled well, and it's not always that much fun for every player, but I wouldn't count on never seeing it again, because like I said, I think adventures should present a challenge in more ways than just the usual "Beat up the bad guys" and "find the right path to the end". 

Bull

I consider it a role play challenge when I had an opportunity to do something about it.  I like bad things happening to my character as well, but I am not a fan of this already happened to you scenarios.  They leave way too many why the eff was I this stupid feelings.  So I just rode down an elevator into a gas trap, we didn't scout the area, no one was giving over watch on the matrix, we sent everyone in instead of keeping a guy back on astral watch?  There are plenty of ways to present a challenge without the adventure taking the role playing out of the players hands.  This same adventure could have started at the request for the meet part.  If the players fall for the trap, hey they are in gowns in a room with a tied up girl, if they notice the trap and break free of it, they now have a quest to find out who is trying to set them up. 
Title: Re: Missions Season 4 - Seattle
Post by: Shinobi Killfist on <09-16-10/2328:35>
Look at it as a challenge.  It's a roleplay challenge, it's a physical challenge.  Games should challenge both your characters and you as a player.

Yeah, I have to agree.

The scenario? Is not happening to YOU, the player. It's happening to the CHARACTER. Play it as such. Have fun with it. It is an opportunity to break from your normal routine and experience new tangents of roleplay.



-karma

Wait it isn't happening to me?  Wow I never would of known that I wasn't my character.  Joking aside, lets say in the game your character spots a landmine.  Now the GM says okay Karmainferno your character decides to walk on the land mine.  You say WTF am I mind controlled or something?  Nope consider it a role play challenge.  Would you like it, would you consider it a role play challenge.  These situations are the same thing, they just happen off camera.  It is completely possible to find these things to be fun killing, disruptive to role playing your character, and not get hung up on irrational it is happening to me thoughts.
Title: Re: Missions Season 4 - Seattle
Post by: Frankie the Fomori on <09-17-10/0430:44>
A small detail it would be awesome if shapeshifters or drakes were allowed.
Title: Re: Missions Season 4 - Seattle
Post by: Bull on <09-17-10/0448:33>
There are...  Issues with both characters on a number of levels.  Balance being one of the,, but also roleplay wise.  One of the drawbacks of those races is very much a roleplaying oriented one.  And that's something that Missions can't really handle well.  It's the same reasons certain flaws like Enemy, Dependants, and Day Job aren't allowed, because they're not something that can be properly handled in the Missions setting due to time constraints, bouncing from GM to GM, etc.

Bull
Title: Re: Missions Season 4 - Seattle
Post by: Frankie the Fomori on <09-17-10/1402:00>
LOL I get and understand the balance issue. And that is enough; regeneration is a very potent power over time.

But as far as role-playing issue....is there a big difference between a player that can shift between two different forms and a player that is a 30 foot snake or surge class three player with an elephant head? Given that shapchange spell is such a potent weapon, the power shift seems to effect game play allot less. Am I missing something for the role-playing aspect? And again I hope I am not being an ass, you provide allot of detail, and take allot of time to answer questions. I am more afraid I am missing something when I play these types of PC's and wonder if I am failing at portraying them right?

Again thanks for your time.
Title: Re: Missions Season 4 - Seattle
Post by: mortonstromgal on <09-17-10/1549:34>
I'd like to see a crib sheet with highlights rather than the tell it to them strait format, basically an outline. Also I would like to see occasional ones free, more to see if I want to invest in the rest rather than I want free stuff. I would also like to see links back to old classic adventure. Like maybe Mercurial's earring turns up again, not in a forced to know sense but in a more "cool I remember that adventure" sorta way.
Title: Re: Missions Season 4 - Seattle
Post by: Shinobi Killfist on <09-18-10/1100:45>
I'd suggest making the astral hazing flaw incompatible with missions if it is not already. I do not think it is off limits in the last season, but I could have missed it.  It kind of destroys any missions where the threat is free/evil spirit. 
Title: Re: Missions Season 4 - Seattle
Post by: Walks Through Walls on <09-18-10/1651:50>
I would like to continue to see the threats to be new and different. Every GM loves to run Insect spirits from time to time, but they seem to be the go to evil entity in a lot of ways for shadowrun.

I liked that the recent missions had other threats. (Don't want to mention specifics and spoil something accidentally for someone) I would like to see this continue in the new series of missions.

It would also be cool for the prime runner missions (or whatever the elite runner missions get called) if they could have an underlining theme or something that is manipulating things out there and they are caught in the middle of it though it would still be good to be able to run them in any order
Title: Re: Missions Season 4 - Seattle
Post by: Deacon on <09-21-10/1957:02>
The problem with having certain kinds of threats is that the setting has evolved to the point that those threats are outside the scope of the campaign.  As an example, I'll note a toxic shaman.  The Draco Foundation pays a bounty on toxic shamans; I think the going price was a million nuyen, but it could easily be only 100,000.  Even a hundred K is beyond the payout limits of a Missions adventure.  And there are groups out there that could handle a toxic shaman; all his toxic spirit buddies; and any henchmen he's got, and come out wondering why the job was so easy.

[spoiler]Case in point: last game I played, SRM03-04 Monkeywrench.  If I'd rolled just a little better, my rigger would have stolen a Knight-Errant Hughes-Stallion kitted out for SWAT.  And I was playing a rigger almost straight off the pregenerated character in the book.  That sort of thing is way beyond payout limits for Missions, I'm betting.[/spoiler]
 
Now, IMR.  While useful as a story tool, I find that its implementation can be used a lot better than using it as fiat for 'you find yourself in a bad situation, now you have to work your way out of it'.  Here's the way it should be done: The story starts out as the runners find themselves in a common scenario; for example, on the way out of the mission.  Say, they have Knight-Errant on their heels.  Insert Flashback: They're at the meet.  The Johnson has just laid out the mission.  The 'runners have agreed to the job. (Well, if they don't, then they don't get to go on the mission, and I'm assuming that they're all there to play Shadowrun)

In fact, the whole job is a flashback, and they end up on the run (with KE on their tail) through no fault of their own: they were spotted and the cops were called.  They then reach the point that the Mission intro started them at.  Now it all makes sense.  In this case you don't just say that they started in a bad situation; you let them get into that situation on their own. 

And that's how you use in media res.

Deacon