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A New GM starting a Gunrinning campaign.

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ArkangelWinter

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« Reply #15 on: <03-27-12/2003:33> »
"...off to save, the Princess Zelda..."

Vale

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« Reply #16 on: <03-27-12/2055:58> »
NAVI (Neural Augmentation and Virtual Intelligence) is, on the surface, a training program for new runners. She's going to have the 'bubbly elf girl' personality that occasionally glitches to 'bloodthirsty succubus'. She'll cover things like Street Etiquette, the HALO system, Codes, etc. in addition to giving players out of character knowledge that they should already know (what to roll to shoot a gun, etc.).

The fun thing about her is that she's actually an AI and is very good friends with Stolichnaya. While she helps the newbies out, she also diggs through their comms and cross-references what she finds with multiple databases to learn as much as she can about the runners and transmits the data back to Stoli; a safety precaution for the both of them. If your new street samurai is being hunted by and has a huge bounty from Ares... well, why not nip the problem in the bud and make some cash along the way?

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Cass100199

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« Reply #17 on: <03-29-12/0851:28> »
Something that comes to mind for me is what exactly are the clients in SE Asia asking for? I'm under the impression, and I may have read wrong, that a large volume of weapons are already produced in SW Asia. I would assume the same goes for SE Asia. So what makes the guns coming from N. America more desirable to justify what they'd be paying?
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JustADude

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« Reply #18 on: <03-29-12/0947:31> »
Something that comes to mind for me is what exactly are the clients in SE Asia asking for? I'm under the impression, and I may have read wrong, that a large volume of weapons are already produced in SW Asia. I would assume the same goes for SE Asia. So what makes the guns coming from N. America more desirable to justify what they'd be paying?

High end stuff from Ares' military division, of course.
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CitizenJoe

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« Reply #19 on: <03-29-12/1014:24> »
Smuggling is just like any other trade route, you don't want to travel with and empty hold. So you need something to go to SE Asia but you also need something that comes back from there to the Western markets.  Typically, these circuits involve more than just two points.  Since there's wars going on in SE Asia, a lot of legitimate weapons trade is going on.  What the gunrunner is looking for is the surplus that can go back to North America.  What they don't have in SE Asia are luxury items. 

ArkangelWinter

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« Reply #20 on: <03-29-12/1305:23> »
Transporting little geisha dolls with bobble heads is a legitimate smuggling job if you're paid in guns

Vale

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« Reply #21 on: <03-29-12/1342:55> »
Ha, this is reminding me of another suggestion I received: Darwin's Nightmare.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOXO7kMbu84

Granted it's mostly about how shitty that part of Africa is, but underlying fish for guns trade is directly translatable.

CitizenJoe

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« Reply #22 on: <03-29-12/1426:54> »
This is pretty unpalatable, and puts you squarely in the role of 'bad guy', but you could do human trafficking into SE Asia for the surplus guns.  Probably need to hook up with the Vory or Mafia for sourcing. 

Xzylvador

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« Reply #23 on: <03-29-12/1719:53> »
Post Script: Also, is there a map of the world circa 2072? I've found one for the '60s, but nothing more 'recent'. Is that map still viable? Has anything changed?

The Ute Nation no longer exists, it's now part of the Pueblo Corporate Council.
Don't think it'll have much effect on your game, being a bit out of the way of any Seattle-Shanghai routes, but since you asked...

Vale

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« Reply #24 on: <03-29-12/1944:47> »
Well, when I said Seattle to Shanghai, I didn't mean only those two cities exclusively; it was just a bad case of wording. They're going to be smuggling and trading all throughout the pacific, Seattle being their home port and Shanghai being a definite stop on the route. And who knows, as they start getting better at what they do more of the world opens up to them.

CitizenJoe

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« Reply #25 on: <03-29-12/1947:44> »
I think that the important thing to note is that the PCC now borders six countries.  Aztlan, CFS, CAS, UCAS, Sioux, Tir Tairngire, S-SC and it has a deep water port in Los Angeles.

Are they directly competing with Wuxing?  Or are they maybe handling the deniable trade for Wuxing?

Vale

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« Reply #26 on: <03-29-12/2048:02> »
You're going to have to elaborate a little more for me, Joe. Remember, I'm still pretty new to this stuff. What I know of Wuxing is 'foremost magical AAA with a Wu Jen flavor'.

CitizenJoe

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« Reply #27 on: <03-29-12/2355:39> »
Wuxing's origins and backbone (aside from the banking) is shipping throughout the Pacific Rim.  They even formed a allied corporations thing call the Pacific Prosperity Group.

Vale

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« Reply #28 on: <03-30-12/0736:12> »
Huh, well I would think that a triple A would only worry about the big fish in the gunrunning pond, which is not necessarily the level that the group will be running at for some time (though Stoli is fair game and thank you for giving me such a wonderful idea). As they get better, though, everything's fair game.

CitizenJoe

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« Reply #29 on: <03-30-12/0819:46> »
Consider whether you and your players want to run a Freight Business or a Cargo Business. 

As Freight, you don't own the stuff, you're just transporting it.  You don't get paid if you lose it, and you might also get into trouble if you do lose it.  However, once at the destination, selling the stuff is someone else's problem.

As Cargo, you do own the stuff and it is your responsibility to find buyers and sellers and all that. 

Some people simply aren't going to be into the whole negotiating and planning routes and such.  They just want something to shoot.  For them, it would be better if this was a Wuxing (or other powerful group) backed freight operation.  Gun running is simply an excuse for you to be in different places around the world and to get attacked by various people (since they want your stuff).

If you've got the players that like to sink their teeth into a logistics puzzle, go with the cargo method, but probably limit the logistics portion of the game to about 10-20%.  Maybe one session is planning out the route and then 4 sessions are hot spot events that happen at various locations along the way.  You might look into some board games that might simulate logistics aspects.