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Contacts: Administering the Slums

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Lethal Joke

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« on: <11-08-14/2359:36> »
The Shadows in the Twin Cities Sprawl
Previously, I’ve gone over both the big street gangs and the organized crime syndicates in the St. Paul-Minneapolis (or Twin Cities) Sprawl. This is what I’ve done for other illegal activities, up to and including Shadowrunners. I would like to know if I’ve missed anything, or even just made something that doesn’t work particularly well. So here’s my list of miscellaneous criminals.

Fixers

Montgomery “Slagheap” Epcot: A big, boisterous ex-runner ork who is one of the most successful fixers in the city. The former rigger keeps up his old equipment and skills pretty well. He sets up jobs for many of the major corporations, mostly Ares, EVO, NeoNET, the A-ranked Hollingway International, and Renraku, or from the Mafia. Used to run with Harvey “Hackboy” Styvesant and the two still cooperate from time to time. The fixer for my player’s decker.

Harvey “Hackboy” Styvesant: A paranoid technomancer dwarf who follows the Jewish faith religiously and lives in a very well-appointed squat with his beloved wife. He coordinates teams for jobs that come from corporations such as Aztechnology, Saeder-Krupp, Horizon, Mitsuhama (and thus the Yakuza) and DocWagon, or from the Lakota Mafia. Used to run with Montgomery “Slagheap” Epcot and the two still cooperate from time to time…when Harvey’s desperate enough. The fixer for my players’ aspected magician and street samurai.

Templeton (Temple) Fugate: This middle-aged human efficiency expert was once a Johnson for a low-end corporation (now defunct.) He decided to go to the other side, and turned a good portion of it into a practical shadow-corporation in its own right. Fugate is less a fixer himself, and more a coordinator of several other fixers. He set up salaries, bonuses, medical plans, and even pays taxes through a shell consulting corporation. Everyone who is willing to pay a larger sum for a guarantee goes to his people. Fugate is thin and balding, carries a (gun) cane and wears a suit. He is very well-armed (belt and wristwatch band are memory blades, “pocket watch” is flashpack, has Shiawase Puzzler) in a very clandestine manner. He is a very wealthy man in his own right. He gives jobs to none of my players, but any other runners they encounter will probably be one of his.

Shadowrunners

Rival Shadowrunner Team: A team of Shadowrunners I set up to contrast with and annoy my own players. The unnamed 3 or 4 man team is notorious for their brutal methods and cold tendency to ignore civilian casualties. That said they do a good job of keeping out of sight of cameras and HTR/FTR teams. They will eventually be on opposite ends of a run, and it will be my players or this team that comes out on top. The members are:
Nathan Rhett a.k.a. Bruise Meister: One of the biggest, meanest, dumbest trolls in existence – he is the stereotype. Rhett is the official leader, but not the actual one. The player street samurai is a fairly witty elf.
Johnny Knox a.k.a. 100+: The biggest jackass on the Twin Cities grid. The team’s dwarf decker and usually the one who plans their runs, he is noted for his loud arrogance and ‘pimped’ assault rifle. The player is a polite, fairly quiet human who uses pistols.
Luisa Isabella Cuesta a.k.a. Succor: A cruel, manipulative human woman from Aztlan, both face and magician. Her theme is a witch, using manipulation and illusions with little physical combat. The player is a quiet aspected magician who prefers arrows to spells.
Jason Shi Wu a.k.a. Rush Hour: An egomaniacal vehicle rigger who prefers to enter combat on his pimped out motorcycle, even inside, no matter the damages caused. No player, yet. The player team hires riggers as needed.

Alamos 20,000 “Color Team:” Like the name suggests, a team of anti-metahuman commandos. They aren’t actual shadowrunners, but they act enough like a vicious version of them that they are being chased by the same detective teams. They focus on sabotage and assassination, but they are very poorly-funded. Their most recent mission reduced their number from 7 to 4 members, but they are yet active. All human, naturally.
Daniel Clifford a.k.a. Black: Asocial street samurai from the CAS. He hates metahumans so much that he won’t even talk to them. He’s just muscle, really.
Maria Hill a.k.a. Blue: An otherwise fun-loving CalFree aspected magician, she despises metahumans and prevarication in equal measure. Loves boating and area combat spells.
Julia Dark Eagle a.k.a. Yellow: A physically weak decker from the UCAS, who is still reasonably good at her tasks. Useless in combat, she mostly just posts their ‘messages.’
Pavel Zulu a.k.a. White: The leader of the group, originally from Asamando. His hate is mostly focused on ghouls, but includes all metahumans. He is the group’s Face, an adept.

“Cowboy Way” Group: A revived old group. One of the survivors from the old group – in addition to running his store – teaches his philosophy and combat style to the next generation (and anyone else who pays.) The three people he’s been teaching have become a new shadowrunner group. A very proud, organized, and ethical one. They tend to wear old-style hats and a ballistic mask while on the job. All vehicles painted in horse theme.
Bartholomew Rollins a.k.a. Black Bart: The teacher of the group who doesn’t usually go on runs. He’s a Gun Adept who knows all the Cowboy Way techniques. His iconic equipment is a ballistic mask customized to look like a sack, a black bolero hat, and a powerful weapon focus bullwhip. A fairly mellow guy who is given to ramble.
Hollis Daye a.k.a. Doc Holliday: Almost copy of Black Bart, a gun adept who knows some Cowboy Way techniques, and medical skill. Weaker weapon focus bullwhip, ballistic mask styled as cowboy bandana and glasses, and a top hat. Quiet, but abrasive.
Diana Raven Wing a.k.a. Lady Pearl: Dwarf shamanic mystic adept who knows most of the unarmed techniques of Cowboy Way, and tends to use assorted spells, rituals, and summons. Classic Stetson hat and standard Ballistic Mask. Gentle if not angry.
Patrick Morse a.k.a. Lone Rider: The most modernized (SMGs) of the group, the rigger from Tir Na Nog is reputed (falsely) for being a serial killer on the run. Wears a bowler hat and has a ballistic mask stylized with a gaunt face. Dour, but a nice guy.

Independent Shadowrunners: Whether it's because their team died, fell apart, they just haven’t found one yet, or  they prefer to work alone, these shadowrunners are all lone agents for hire. They do come in pairs on occasion.
Smith Connors a.k.a. Brand: A human-looking ork street samurai, former member of the UCAS military. Has a Humanis logo branded on his cheek, with a tattooed cancel symbol on top. Tough, honorable man who won’t allow innocents to be hurt. Heavy Weapons.
Amy Trellane a.k.a. Chatter: A female human face (using bioware) with strong ties to the local Neo-Anarchist Policlub. A skilled infiltrator who loathes Humanis and similar groups. In combat, more a sniper than anything else, but does use shotguns – and pistols.
Harleen Graves a.k.a. 5P4C35H1P 91RL: Sweet, idealistic human technomancer girl. Actively runs a blog supporting M.O.M. activities. Not good at physical combat. Or lying. Or anything off the Matrix. Except riding her hot pink scooter.
Spencer Bell a.k.a. Puppet: Human razorguy who is reliant on his skilljacks and skillwires – a legacy of Aztechnology experimentation. He can do  or know just about anything imprinted on a soft. Works for cheap, almost emotionless.
Warren Mears a.k.a. Mister Mars: Human adept who used to be a classical boxer until he awakened before a big match and was thought to be cheating. Worked for the Mafia, then as a shadowrunner. Depressed and nostalgic for lost glory. Skilled in unarmed, duh.

Supplier Contacts

Talismonger: Ask a Lakota Mafia member or look for what you want yourself.

Drug Dealer – Sugar: A male elf who deals just about any illegal or restricted biological drug on the market. Not as tough as he acts like, but friendly once you get past that. He deals his merchandise out of the Jotunheim club parking lot with his sister, Spice.

BTL Dealer – Spice: A female human who deals a full array of Better-Than-Life chips out of the Jotunheim club parking lot with her brother, Sugar. She used to be horribly addicted to BTLs. Selling got her out. Violent and tough, but flighty and forgetful.

Mechanic – Donald Sutherland: Gregarious and strong human male who will fix any vehicle or drone you have for the right price. Technically owns a legitimate business with his father and three brothers along with a large amount of employees.

Street Doc – Mercy Wyte: Former EVO Crashcart medic laid off when that venture failed in the city. Capable of fixing any injury and acquiring and/or installing any cyber/bioware needed or requested. Pretty female elf, detached and serene. Knows player street samurai.

Street Shaman – Bernard Low Falcon: Human male living as a squatter in the slums of the sprawl. Uses spells and ritual magic to heal, not kill or harm. Does not take pay, but favors to help out the people of the slums. Stern, but kind and generous.

Fence – Josef Olafson: Ork male who specializes in buying and selling illicit and restricted equipment. He pays up to the Mafia for (actual) protection, and often deals their goods, mostly their weapons. Greedy and always businesslike.

Military Quartermaster – Staff Sergeant Peter Everett: A troll, fed up with all the racism he thinks he sees in National Guard, who decided to sell ‘lost’ equipment to anyone who would pay. High prices but dodge the Mafiosi. Very laid-back, but a shrewd negotiator.

Smuggler – “Flyboy Roy” Orbison: A jovial, if cagey, rigger who knows the smuggling routes in the sprawl and on the nearer borders like the back of his hand. If you need something moved from place to place unobserved, he’s the man to go to.

Smuggler – “Fly Baby:” See related page. Not as effective as Orbison.

Bartender – Jack Tanner: Human who runs his father’s old bar, Vince’s Tavern, in one of the poorer sections of the sprawl. Knows his liquor well, and sells good stuff (often brewed in-house) in spite of the bar’s location. A little gruff, but very street savvy.

Other Contacts

Professor – Patricia Godard, Ph.D.: Highly awarded human professor of Political Science at the University of Minnesota, and an avid biker and hunter. Idealistic and helpful.

Bouncer – “Mac” Billings: Bouncer at the cheap slums bar called Mercer’s. Knows the streets, and fighting, very well. Quiet, tough exterior belies his friendly, gentle nature.

Street Urchin – Molly “Ghost Runner” Smith: Elf teenaged urchin and pickpocket, quiet and lonely. Knows plenty about the slums, and will give that information up for cheap.

Janitor – Josefina “Fina” Laurentis: Dwarf janitor addicted to BTLs. Constantly being fired, but gets rehired by someone else. Knows layout of many corporate buildings. Desperate, depressed, but still sarcastic. She can be bought off for a BTL chip.

“Recovery Agent” – Heather “Whisper” Bellows: Skilled elf thief noted for being able to break into and steal anything. Cold and greedy. Can tell full layout, security systems, and secret locations where she’s been. If she can be found, and if there’s enough nuyen in it.

Information Broker – Esmeralda “Delphi” Tatarikov: A full hermetic magician who uses her Awakened talents to appear as a fortune teller to those unfamiliar with the Awakened not to con nuyen, but to extract useful information. She then sells that information to interested parties. Manipulative and sociopathic, but flirty if aren’t one of her ‘clients.’ The information isn’t cheap, but she knows more than anyone. Bribes keep in business.

And...that's about it, really. Thoughts?
« Last Edit: <11-12-14/1407:44> by Lethal Joke »

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« Reply #1 on: <11-10-14/0208:31> »
This is great work you've done here.

Inspired me to work a bit on my own game, it did.
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Lethal Joke

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« Reply #2 on: <11-10-14/0239:08> »
Hahaha. It's not like I did all of this all in one sitting or anything. Some of these characters started life as a test character  and some started life as something else.

Donald Sutherland, the mechanic, was originally going to be the players' live-in fixer - and inventor, negotiator, Rigger - known as the Repairman. (Can you see why I abandoned that idea? Sutherland barely resembles his old self.)

Both my players' fixers started life before I even had a concept for a campaign as basically test subject character builds that I decided to recycle and modify - that's why they are ex-shadowrunners.

"Flyboy Roy" was just because I wanted to build a shadowrunner with an airplane - similar to later reasoning for T-Bird rigger Fly Baby.

The Alamos "Color Team" was originally just Black, who was to be an assassin of sorts, until I realized how underpowered he would be and brainstormed new ideas for a full team. And then decided against 3 of them.

It's less great when you realize this was scattered over my almost-full notebook of random notes on my Twin Cities sprawl.