[Big_J]

So how do I set the mood for a more grittier game?

[JustADude]

So how do I set the mood for a more grittier game?

Gritty as in "full of brutal, innocence-stealing choices that make the characters question their own humanity", or gritty as in "a soul-crushing struggle for survival against constant grind of life in the shadows"? Or some of each?

[Big_J]

Got a good amount of soul-crushing survival against the life in the shadows, schadenfreude. I think I should start eroding their morals and temping them with some back-stabbing.

[JustADude]

Got a good amount of soul-crushing survival against the life in the shadows, schadenfreude. I think I should start eroding their morals and temping them with some back-stabbing.

Not backstabbing the rest of the group, though. That always ends up with someone getting pissed and can seriously erode the fun at the table.

My suggestion is to start with the target of a Run getting wise to the party and offering them some serious cash to abandon the real run and hand over a fake payload, with implanted tracker, instead. If they balk at the idea of doubling or trippling their payday to not risk their necks, back it up with the threat of immediate and bloody reprisals if they don't take the deal, making it a classic "offer you can't refuse".

 Or, perhaps, have a client offer a huge several times the standard rate to pull off an easy job with a morally reprehensible target, like a small, poorly guarded child that is the only next-of-kin between the Johnson and a sizable fortune.

[CanRay]

Grind the difference between the Haves and Have-Nots into them.  And remind them they're often hungry enough to shoot someone in the face for just enough nuyen to buy more bullets and unflavoured nutrisoy to get through the next week.  It doesn't matter whose face, just as long as they get paid.

[Raven Runner]

Here are some more thoughts, get them jumpy, very jumpy to the point of paranoia.  I like to keep armor pretty low, if the characters have big guns fine but I want them worried when they hear the first gun shot.

Also, lot's of folks talk about coercing PCs into immoral decisions but if they want to be good, that's fine, let Mr. Johnson play off that, tell them they are going after a drug lord and let them find out after they shoot him that all he did was rob Mr Johnson's corp to buy food for his kid, then Mr. Johnson tries to turn them in and the targets family put's a bounty on there heads, oh and his kid starves. Let them think they are good and find out latter they did something really bad, then keep showing them how it was even worse than they thought. But still let them be good some times, keep there hopes up.

Also, if they try the no food thing feel free to start changing there stats to reflect unhealthy starving homeless lowlifes.

Lastly, make sure they have something to lose, once in a while you can kill a character but you can always have stuff stolen, contacts lost or killed, and if it seems like there fault all the better.