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DocWagon introductory campaign for new players, Soliciting thoughts, scenarios.

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Tunnel Cat

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« on: <11-21-18/0725:58> »
I'm developing a campaign to introduce some new players to the world of SR.  It's been like 15+ years since I did any gaming so to ease all of us in I'm going to run a brief DocWagon game set in Seattle 2050.  My thinking is I can give them short scenarios with straightforward objectives.  Between other HTR calls I've got an overarching plot of them responding to events surrounding the Night of Fire from Into the Shadows.

For this go-round they'll decide what position they'll be filling (medics, fire support, rigger, mage, decker).  I'll stat and gear them to fit into an HTR crew.

Some ideas I have:
Unable to locate/access the client without some kind of negotiation (an introduction to street politics)
Firefight with clients on both sides
A gang gets the bright idea to injure a client so they can ambush/steal the HTR vehicle
Client menaced by hostile paranimals/spirits/elementals
GHOULS!
Client suffering essence drain from a vampire or somesuch
Have to choose between saving their client and simple survival
Changes in protocol/equipment problems/micromanagement interfering with and complicating their jobs

I'm looking for ideas along these lines.  Scenarios that introduce different game concepts, acclimate them to  life in the Sixth World, generally get them to kind of see how the world of SR works and the kind of thinking they'll need to do to survive (also remind me of the same).

Also looking for ways to integrate some light decking into these scenarios.  I figure one of the crew might have some mediocre skills and a deck.  One idea I had was for a client with a very cheaply made/designed cortex bomb that can be accessed through his datajack.

Thoughts?  Suggestions?
« Last Edit: <11-21-18/0727:44> by Tunnel Cat »

fseperent

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« Reply #1 on: <11-21-18/1112:56> »
I like where you're going here and I'll add one more:
clients on extraterritorial grounds.

For that time frame, an HTR crew would not have a decker or rigger, if I'm recalling correctly.

If you have it, Bullets & Bandages would give a base for character building.

DigitalZombie

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« Reply #2 on: <11-21-18/1137:57> »
Someone at the company has been supplying their salary with Medical supplies and drugs from the company inventory. Management thinks its your team - what do your do? (Especially if one of the players really has been supplying themselves, thanks to their addiction to painkillers).  :-X

The team end in a dilema as one of their contacts/dependent/hot chick is in need of Medical help, yet doesnt have a docwagon contract.  :-\

Management has upped the effeciency requirements for All the teams,  Many of the other teams are cheating to get a Better score- what does your team do? ???

Sphinx

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« Reply #3 on: <11-21-18/1201:43> »
The SR4 Shadowrun 2050 sourcebook has some good advice about using newer rules with the older setting. It's specific to Fourth Edition rules, of course, but still useful for Fifth Edition.

SR2 Neo-Anarchists' Guide to Real Life has a whole chapter on DocWagon. Great background info for this kind of campaign.

Some plot ideas:
  • The DocWagon customer is only one victim in an eco-terrorist bombing with multiple casualties, some worse than the customer.
  • The DocWagon customer was an obvious aggressor/criminal, and must be rescued from defenders who have the moral (and literal) high ground.
  • The DocWagon customer is a shadowrunner in the middle of a run gone wrong (possibly wounded by his own teammates to bring DocWagon as impromptu backup).
  • The DocWagon customer flatlines in the ambulance (nothing the players could do), but they're being pursued by someone willing to kill for the paydata in the body's headware.

Michael Chandra

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« Reply #4 on: <11-22-18/0227:00> »
While iirc some of its rules are a bit outdated due to being a rushed sr4->sr5 conversion, Bullets & Bandages still has plenty of stuff on how DocWagon works.
How am I not part of the forum?? O_O I am both active and angry!

Tunnel Cat

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« Reply #5 on: <11-23-18/0210:12> »
Thanks for the ideas, guys.  Please share any more you have.

For that time frame, an HTR crew would not have a decker or rigger, if I'm recalling correctly.

I'm aware, but for the sake of introducing the players to things I'm going to flex on this.  At the very least a rigger makes a lot of sense.  The decker is more of a stretch but it's worth bending for, which I justified by saying just about any sort of crazy situation can happen in the field and HTR teams don't seem to have access to a lot of the support a modern EMS agency would.  I imagine it's just one of the support personnel trading a slightly lower combat skill for a moderate amount of hacking skill and a low level deck kept with the other special equipment.

Overbyte

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« Reply #6 on: <11-24-18/1517:34> »
Building on Sphinx's thoughts..

Multiple-casualty event and there is more than one customer injured, the team has been asked to handle both, but one is a severely wounded basic subscriber and one is a lightly wounded high-paying (Platinum) subscriber. They require rescue, but one (pick) is in an easier location and one in a much more difficult one.
Nothing is foolproof. Fools are so ingenious.