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Message no. 1
From: Kama kama@*******.net
Subject: Holiday Adventures (was Re:Quiet)
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 13:30:52 -0500 (EST)
On Thu, 11 Feb 1999, Tony Rabiola wrote:

>
> >Well, it's just me too then. I'm starting to consider signing up on
> some
> >additional list serves just to generate the level of traffic necesary
> to
> >keep me from being bored to death at work. Hmmm . . . maybe I should
> go to
> >less extreme measures and route through my stuff to see if I can find
> >anything worth posting . . .
>
>
> I'd vote for the second option, Kama. Give us something to argue over
> and generate some traffic that way...
>

Ask and ye shall receive.

My husband and I were inspired by the Dunky and World Series posts (yes, I
know they were a while ago, so I will recap them) to consider putting
together a series of adventures with holidays and annual events as the
theme. The idea would be to provide the neccesary story seeds, NPCs, etc.
for running the adventures while not having anything to year specific in
the adventures (so that a GM could use the ideas in pretty much any year
that his campaign was set in). Our brainstorming (added to the two
original seeds provided) produce the following list. What refinements,
alternative ideas, additional ideas, suggestions, and wisecracks does
anybody have to offer:

The World Series: Enraged by the murderof helpless trees on account of a
sport, Terra First hires the runners to steal the wooden bats from the
world series and place an Earth First message on the electronic
scoreboard. The bigest problem lies in getting all those bats out of the
stadium.

Christmas: Few beings are more dangerous than the Christmas shopper in
search of the elusive "Dunky". Face them if you dare. Better yet, raid the
warehouse and avoid the rush. (Unfortunately, another team had the same
plan.)

New Year's Eve: Smuggling is nothing new to most shadowrunners. Smuggling
vintage champagne to a New Year's Eve party is easeir then most cargo - it
doesn't call for help and is unlikely to blow up. The problem lies in
making delivery to the Johnson. Currently, he is in hiding in Denver,
avoiding corporate attention. They have discovered he is in Denver, which
caused him to take the party on the road, resulting in a treasure hunt for
the runners as they follow his trail trying to find the Johnson, and their
new yen, before the corp.

Valentine's day: What could be more wonderful than two young people
in love? What could be more romantic than a Valentine's day proposal? What
could be easier than being hired to make sure the engagement ring is where
it supposed to be, when it supposed to be there, and provide security for
the proposal? A lot, especially when the ring was stolen (a family
heirloom our young Romeo took), Juliet's parents are determined to
keep her from tainting their elven bloodline with a human
son-in-law, and both sets of parents are willing to spend lots of new yen
to make sure Romeo never pops the question.

Mother's Day: A series of simple extractions. Three targets, all
to be delivered to the same address at the same time on Sunday. No harm is
to come to the extractees or their families. The fact that all three
"victims" turn out to be siblings should be sufficent warning for the
runners. Unfortuantely, they may still get caught up in the fray caused by
Dad making sure that all three of his errant children finally turn up for
the family Mother's day picnic. (my husband hates this one - so I really
would appreiate help with it. I just love the idea of sticking the runners
in the middle of a vicious family arguement where they can't use lethal
force.)

Holloween: Nothing could be easier than stealing candy from a
baby. Or could it? The runners are hired to provide security while a
courier makes delivery to a dwarf disguised as Superman at the local
shopping mall. The stolen top secret chip is hidden in a snickers bar. The
problems is that the sweet went to the wrong trick-or- treater. The runners
will need to find the kid who got the wrong sweet and relieve him of this
valuable item, before the corporate flunkys looking for the chip figure
out what is up and get there first, or the candy bar gets X-rayed in the
food court, or the kid eats the chip - just one question, which "superman"
was it?

Not only would I enjoy feedback and refinements on these ideas, but any
addiitonal holdiays and ideas. (St. Patrick's Day? Union Day? Easter?)

Thanks,

Kama
Message no. 2
From: David Buehrer dbuehrer@******.carl.org
Subject: Holiday Adventures (was Re:Quiet)
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 12:58:49 -0700 (MST)
For the mere cost of a Thaum, Kama wrote:
/
/ Christmas: Few beings are more dangerous than the Christmas shopper in
/ search of the elusive "Dunky". Face them if you dare. Better yet, raid the
/ warehouse and avoid the rush. (Unfortunately, another team had the same
/ plan.)

After winning the battle at the warehouse they find out there is only
one Dunky left and it's been shipped to the local toy store on truck 12
(the route is clearly marked). Unfortunately dispatch sufferes from
dyslexia and it's actually in truck 21. Truck 12 is delivering Crying
Suzies. Of course another team has allready found this out (by raiding
the warehouse's computer) and there will be a battle which involves an
exploding truck and a rain of Crying Suzies. Once the runners track
down the Dunky it will allready be in the store which is about to
open. Waiting outside is a mob of Dunky hungry shopper, most of which
are armed to the teeth. Scattered thoughout the mob are a couple of
shadowrunning teams. Any other mayhem the GM can think of is highly
encouraged.

/ Mother's Day: A series of simple extractions. Three targets, all
/ to be delivered to the same address at the same time on Sunday. No harm is
/ to come to the extractees or their families. The fact that all three
/ "victims" turn out to be siblings should be sufficent warning for the
/ runners. Unfortuantely, they may still get caught up in the fray caused by
/ Dad making sure that all three of his errant children finally turn up for
/ the family Mother's day picnic. (my husband hates this one - so I really
/ would appreiate help with it. I just love the idea of sticking the runners
/ in the middle of a vicious family arguement where they can't use lethal
/ force.)

I'm suddenly reminded of The Ref with Timothy Leary, and an evil grin is
spreading across my face :>

-David B.
--
"Earn what you have been given."
--
email: dbuehrer@******.carl.org
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1068/homepage.htm
Message no. 3
From: Kama kama@*******.net
Subject: Holiday Adventures (was Re:Quiet)
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 15:19:01 -0500 (EST)
On Thu, 11 Feb 1999, David Buehrer wrote:

> For the mere cost of a Thaum, Kama wrote:
> /
> / Christmas: Few beings are more dangerous than the Christmas shopper in
> / search of the elusive "Dunky". Face them if you dare. Better yet, raid
the
> / warehouse and avoid the rush. (Unfortunately, another team had the same
> / plan.)
>
> After winning the battle at the warehouse they find out there is only
> one Dunky left and it's been shipped to the local toy store on truck 12
> (the route is clearly marked). Unfortunately dispatch sufferes from
> dyslexia and it's actually in truck 21. Truck 12 is delivering Crying
> Suzies. Of course another team has allready found this out (by raiding
> the warehouse's computer) and there will be a battle which involves an
> exploding truck and a rain of Crying Suzies. Once the runners track
> down the Dunky it will allready be in the store which is about to
> open. Waiting outside is a mob of Dunky hungry shopper, most of which
> are armed to the teeth. Scattered thoughout the mob are a couple of
> shadowrunning teams. Any other mayhem the GM can think of is highly
> encouraged.

I like the idea of the mix up, a rain of crying suzies could be great
fun. Forcing them to confront the mad shoppers is another cool idea. Hmmmm
. . . I do want to give them a chance to make a decent haul though -
after all, the runners may very well have kids they want the toys for!


>
> / Mother's Day: A series of simple extractions. Three targets, all
> / to be delivered to the same address at the same time on Sunday. No harm is
> / to come to the extractees or their families. The fact that all three
> / "victims" turn out to be siblings should be sufficent warning for the
> / runners. Unfortuantely, they may still get caught up in the fray caused by
> / Dad making sure that all three of his errant children finally turn up for
> / the family Mother's day picnic. (my husband hates this one - so I really
> / would appreiate help with it. I just love the idea of sticking the runners
> / in the middle of a vicious family arguement where they can't use lethal
> / force.)
>
> I'm suddenly reminded of The Ref with Timothy Leary, and an evil grin is
> spreading across my face :>
>
That is what I had in mind! I'm just not sure how to work it so the
runners can't (or won't) just walk away from the whole situation when
things start to get uncomfortable (or geek the whole family!)

Any ideas on easter? I've been considering a free spirit who is
manifesting as a giant bunny, but have no clue what to do with the egg
hunt. . . . Maybe it has the wealth power and is hiding genuine golden
eggs all over the city. That could cause a lot of amusing chaos . . . Now,
how do we get the runners involved . . .

Kama
Message no. 4
From: Ojaste,James [NCR] James.Ojaste@**.GC.CA
Subject: Holiday Adventures (was Re:Quiet)
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 15:36:19 -0500
Kama wrote:
> > I'm suddenly reminded of The Ref with Timothy Leary, and an evil grin is
> > spreading across my face :>
> >
> That is what I had in mind! I'm just not sure how to work it so the
> runners can't (or won't) just walk away from the whole situation when
> things start to get uncomfortable (or geek the whole family!)
>
Make it a part of the deal. Having delivered the goods, the runners
are to provide security (ie make sure nobody dies) for a few hours.

> Any ideas on easter? I've been considering a free spirit who is
> manifesting as a giant bunny, but have no clue what to do with the egg
> hunt. . . . Maybe it has the wealth power and is hiding genuine golden
> eggs all over the city. That could cause a lot of amusing chaos . . . Now,
> how do we get the runners involved . . .
>
How about giving the spirit Hidden Life? Somebody stole the spirit's
hidden life but weren't aware of what it really was. The spirit then
started throwing around golden eggs everywhere to confuse the trail
of the real thing. The spirit contracts the runners to bring back
a specific egg (identifiable somehow - or maybe just bring them all
back :-) ). In return, the spirit will let them keep the rest of the
eggs.

Instead of having the spirit contract the runners, have a third party
(who's looking to get a hold over the spirit) contract them. As they
find the true egg, the spirit appears and attacks the runners.
Monty Python, anybody? :-)

James Ojaste
Message no. 5
From: Paul Gettle RunnerPaul@*****.com
Subject: Holiday Adventures (was Re:Quiet)
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 16:02:41 -0500
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

At 12:58 PM 2/11/99 -0700, David Buehrer wrote:
>/ I just love the idea of sticking the runners
>/ in the middle of a vicious family arguement where they can't use
lethal
>/ force.)
>
>I'm suddenly reminded of The Ref with Timothy Leary, and an evil grin
is
>spreading across my face :>

Dennis Leary. The Ref would have been a _much_ different movie if it
had starred Timothy Leary. :)

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-- Paul Gettle, #970 of 1000 (RunnerPaul@*****.com)
PGP Fingerprint, Key ID:0x48F3AACD (RSA 1024, created 98/06/26)
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Message no. 6
From: Marc Renouf renouf@********.com
Subject: Holiday Adventures (was Re:Quiet)
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 16:07:11 -0500 (EST)
On Thu, 11 Feb 1999, Kama wrote:

> > I'm suddenly reminded of The Ref with Timothy Leary, and an evil grin is
> > spreading across my face :>
> >
> That is what I had in mind! I'm just not sure how to work it so the
> runners can't (or won't) just walk away from the whole situation when
> things start to get uncomfortable (or geek the whole family!)

This one's easy; have the run offered to the PCs by one of their
closest contacts, preferably in return for a favor that he or she has
already given them. That way, the runners won't geek the family because
it will lose them the contact (and probably gain them an enemy).
Similarly, they can't just walk away because they're not doing it for
money. They owe the contact, and to welch on a favor is bad for your rep.
Heh. This one could be fun. <EGMG>

Marc
Message no. 7
From: David Buehrer dbuehrer@******.carl.org
Subject: Holiday Adventures (was Re:Quiet)
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 14:12:17 -0700 (MST)
For the mere cost of a Thaum, Kama wrote:
/
[snip: mother's day]
/
/ > I'm suddenly reminded of The Ref with Timothy Leary, and an evil grin is
/ > spreading across my face :>
/ >
/ That is what I had in mind! I'm just not sure how to work it so the
/ runners can't (or won't) just walk away from the whole situation when
/ things start to get uncomfortable (or geek the whole family!)
/
/ Any ideas on easter? I've been considering a free spirit who is
/ manifesting as a giant bunny, but have no clue what to do with the egg
/ hunt. . . . Maybe it has the wealth power and is hiding genuine golden
/ eggs all over the city. That could cause a lot of amusing chaos . . . Now,
/ how do we get the runners involved . . .

Nope :) The free spirit is a tad confused and is taking everyone's
eggs and hiding them. The VP who woke up to find his Fabrege egg
collection (12 in all) missing is the Johnson who hired the runners.
The runners have to move quickly as each hiding place is discovered by
the public. Trips to the mall, zoo, amusement park, city park, city
hall, projects appartements, some rich guy's mansion, the NFL stadium,
etc. Odds are someone else will find one of the eggs first and PCs
will have to roleplay it out of him (well, they could geek him but the
press is there and a bad rep sucks so...<EGMG>). And of course someone
else will notice the object of the runners hunt which will bring in
other groups of runners... :)

-David B.
--
"Earn what you have been given."
--
email: dbuehrer@******.carl.org
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1068/homepage.htm
Message no. 8
From: Kama kama@*******.net
Subject: Holiday Adventures (was Re:Quiet)
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 16:18:11 -0500 (EST)
On Thu, 11 Feb 1999, Marc Renouf wrote:

> On Thu, 11 Feb 1999, Kama wrote:
>
> > > I'm suddenly reminded of The Ref with Timothy Leary, and an evil grin is
> > > spreading across my face :>
> > >
> > That is what I had in mind! I'm just not sure how to work it so the
> > runners can't (or won't) just walk away from the whole situation when
> > things start to get uncomfortable (or geek the whole family!)
>
> This one's easy; have the run offered to the PCs by one of their
> closest contacts, preferably in return for a favor that he or she has
> already given them. That way, the runners won't geek the family because
> it will lose them the contact (and probably gain them an enemy).
> Similarly, they can't just walk away because they're not doing it for
> money. They owe the contact, and to welch on a favor is bad for your rep.
> Heh. This one could be fun. <EGMG>
>

Oh that's good!! I hadn't thought about the friend of a friend angle! I wa
wrestling with the how do I offer enough money to keep them from ditching
the run without allowing them to buy everything they have ever dreamed of
- including retirement problem and complete forgot about the idea of using
anenticement other than money.

Talk about short-sighted!

Kama
Message no. 9
From: Kama kama@*******.net
Subject: Holiday Adventures (was Re:Quiet)
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 16:22:22 -0500 (EST)
On Thu, 11 Feb 1999, David Buehrer wrote:

> /
> / Any ideas on easter? I've been considering a free spirit who is
> / manifesting as a giant bunny, but have no clue what to do with the egg
> / hunt. . . . Maybe it has the wealth power and is hiding genuine golden
> / eggs all over the city. That could cause a lot of amusing chaos . . . Now,
> / how do we get the runners involved . . .
>
> Nope :) The free spirit is a tad confused and is taking everyone's
> eggs and hiding them. The VP who woke up to find his Fabrege egg
> collection (12 in all) missing is the Johnson who hired the runners.
> The runners have to move quickly as each hiding place is discovered by
> the public. Trips to the mall, zoo, amusement park, city park, city
> hall, projects appartements, some rich guy's mansion, the NFL stadium,
> etc. Odds are someone else will find one of the eggs first and PCs
> will have to roleplay it out of him (well, they could geek him but the
> press is there and a bad rep sucks so...<EGMG>). And of course someone
> else will notice the object of the runners hunt which will bring in
> other groups of runners... :)
>

Cool! (It's terrible when a newly-freed spirits first taste of human
culture is a reurn of "Here Comes Peter Cottentail")

Next question, how do the runner's get the list of where the eggs are
hidden? Does each egg have a clue attached to it, letting the runners (if
they know how to figure it out) know where to look for the next egg? Or is
there a pattern to the hiding spots? Or does the giant bunny just appear
in the sky over the buildings?


Kama
Message no. 10
From: David Buehrer dbuehrer@******.carl.org
Subject: Holiday Adventures (was Re:Quiet)
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 14:24:00 -0700 (MST)
For the mere cost of a Thaum, Kama wrote:
/
/ > / Mother's Day: A series of simple extractions. Three targets, all
/ > / to be delivered to the same address at the same time on Sunday. No harm is
/ > / to come to the extractees or their families. The fact that all three
/ > / "victims" turn out to be siblings should be sufficent warning for the
/ > / runners. Unfortuantely, they may still get caught up in the fray caused by
/ > / Dad making sure that all three of his errant children finally turn up for
/ > / the family Mother's day picnic. (my husband hates this one - so I really
/ > / would appreiate help with it. I just love the idea of sticking the runners
/ > / in the middle of a vicious family arguement where they can't use lethal
/ > / force.)
/ >
/ > I'm suddenly reminded of The Ref with Timothy Leary, and an evil grin is
/ > spreading across my face :>
/ >
/ That is what I had in mind! I'm just not sure how to work it so the
/ runners can't (or won't) just walk away from the whole situation when
/ things start to get uncomfortable (or geek the whole family!)

Hmmm....

How about changing the premise.

The runners are hired to steal something that's locked up in a vault on
one of the top floors of a corporate building (think Die Hard).
However, it's a pretty easy job because the Johnson has inside info and
passcards that can get the runners up to the floor and open the vault
easily. As the runners are entering the last password to open the
vault in comes the family (Dad, Mom, Daughter, Son, Daughter) to get
Mom's present (stored in the VP's desk). In the confusion (how can the
VP be entering his office when he's allready in his office (passcard
used by the runners)?) the computer activates the time lock on the
vault. The runners have to wait until 6:00 a.m. the next morning
before they can open the vault. The can't let the family go because
they'll tell security. They can't geek the family because the Johnson
told them "Don't hurt anyone."

Stereotype the family. The mother is easily frustrated by the father,
and vice versa. The oldest daughter will try to seduce one of the
runners. The son is infatuated with one of the runners. The youngest
daughter is psychopathically cute. Occasionally the runners will have
to avoid the security guard doing his rounds.

-David B.
--
"Earn what you have been given."
--
email: dbuehrer@******.carl.org
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1068/homepage.htm
Message no. 11
From: David Buehrer dbuehrer@******.carl.org
Subject: Holiday Adventures (was Re:Quiet)
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 14:25:15 -0700 (MST)
For the mere cost of a Thaum, Ojaste,James [NCR] wrote:
/
/ Kama wrote:
/ > > I'm suddenly reminded of The Ref with Timothy Leary, and an evil grin is
/ > > spreading across my face :>
/ > >
/ > That is what I had in mind! I'm just not sure how to work it so the
/ > runners can't (or won't) just walk away from the whole situation when
/ > things start to get uncomfortable (or geek the whole family!)
/
/ Make it a part of the deal. Having delivered the goods, the runners
/ are to provide security (ie make sure nobody dies) for a few hours.

Oh, now that's evil :)

-David B.
--
"Earn what you have been given."
--
email: dbuehrer@******.carl.org
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1068/homepage.htm
Message no. 12
From: David Buehrer dbuehrer@******.carl.org
Subject: Holiday Adventures (was Re:Quiet)
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 14:37:36 -0700 (MST)
For the mere cost of a Thaum, Kama wrote:
/
/ Next question, how do the runner's get the list of where the eggs are
/ hidden? Does each egg have a clue attached to it, letting the runners (if
/ they know how to figure it out) know where to look for the next egg? Or is
/ there a pattern to the hiding spots? Or does the giant bunny just appear
/ in the sky over the buildings?

There's no list. The spirit took *everyone's* eggs and re-hid them. The
spirit has picked 12 areas (the Fabrege eggs are so pretty that the spirit
decided to center on them). In the morning an upcry goes up from the city
and the news latches on to it. A janitor cleaning up the metro dome starts
finding eggs hidden all over the place. He calls a news station. Everyone
comes looking for their eggs. A little later a jogger spots an egg at city
park and another site is found. After that a zookeeper finds eggs while
cleaning cages and the zoo is mobbed by parents and kids who want to find
eggs. And so on :)

This would be a good adventure for a team with a rigger to shuttle them
back and forth quickly.

-David B.
--
"Earn what you have been given."
--
email: dbuehrer@******.carl.org
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1068/homepage.htm
Message no. 13
From: Kama kama@*******.net
Subject: Holiday Adventures (was Re:Quiet)
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 16:46:04 -0500 (EST)
On Thu, 11 Feb 1999, David Buehrer wrote:

>
> Hmmm....
>
> How about changing the premise.
>
> The runners are hired to steal something that's locked up in a vault on
> one of the top floors of a corporate building (think Die Hard).
> However, it's a pretty easy job because the Johnson has inside info and
> passcards that can get the runners up to the floor and open the vault
> easily. As the runners are entering the last password to open the
> vault in comes the family (Dad, Mom, Daughter, Son, Daughter) to get
> Mom's present (stored in the VP's desk). In the confusion (how can the
> VP be entering his office when he's allready in his office (passcard
> used by the runners)?) the computer activates the time lock on the
> vault. The runners have to wait until 6:00 a.m. the next morning
> before they can open the vault. The can't let the family go because
> they'll tell security. They can't geek the family because the Johnson
> told them "Don't hurt anyone."
>
> Stereotype the family. The mother is easily frustrated by the father,
> and vice versa. The oldest daughter will try to seduce one of the
> runners. The son is infatuated with one of the runners. The youngest
> daughter is psychopathically cute. Occasionally the runners will have
> to avoid the security guard doing his rounds.
>

I like this in a number of ways. Now, how to combine these . . .

Maybe the meeting spot is not a picnic location. The runners are hired to
birn gthe three kidnappees to an office. They are given security passes
and all the codes to get inside. Dad arrives with Mom. He KNOWS what the
security procedures will be and deliberately punches in the same code a
second time locking them all in the office until morning. They can't geek
anyone, becuase if they do, there will be some hard quesitons when they
are going to leave in the morning. they can't blow thier way out, becuase
if thye do, the guards will be alerted. They have to sit tight and WAIT
until morning when they can walk out quietly wihtout anyone noticing.

In the mean time Mom is ranting at DAD for setting this up - she doesn't
want to see these ungrateful louts if they can't be bothered to come on
their own. They can't stand each other and resnet Mom for being to busy
for them. Etc. Etc. Etc.

Throw in a few attempts at Matricide and Fatricide that the runners have
to prevent as well as the wondering guards (I hope they didn't bring any
large weapons that will be hard to explain on the way out) and you have a
party.

Kama
Message no. 14
From: Ereskanti@***.com Ereskanti@***.com
Subject: Holiday Adventures (was Re:Quiet)
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 23:30:10 EST
In a message dated 2/11/1999 4:24:17 PM US Eastern Standard Time,
dbuehrer@******.carl.org writes:

>
> Stereotype the family. The mother is easily frustrated by the father,
> and vice versa. The oldest daughter will try to seduce one of the
> runners. The son is infatuated with one of the runners. The youngest
> daughter is psychopathically cute. Occasionally the runners will have
> to avoid the security guard doing his rounds.
OH GODS NO!!! All of the sudden this sounds/reads more like a variation on
"the Breakfast Club" than "the Ref". Use something more
"Ref"ish, it'll be
funner...

-K

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