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Message no. 1
From: Number_10_Ox@**********.com (Number Ten)
Subject: How have -you- used Harlequin?
Date: Thu, 17 Oct 2002 15:04:00 -0700 (PDT)
I've got a mite of a problem.

Some time ago I ran a Shadowrun campaign. In the process, the characters
went through the original Harlequin adventure. Then I stopped running the
campaign.

I am now running an entirely different Shadowrun campaign, but the
-players- are the same. I would like to put them through Harlequin's Back,
but I need to set some proper groundwork first, because I would like the
characters in question to recognize Harlequin and/or Jane Foster.

So. Have you used Harlequin in your game beyond the published adventures?
If so, what was he doing? How has he shown up, and what evilness did he
embroil your players in?

Thanks in advance,

--Number 10

====number_10_ox@**********.com

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Message no. 2
From: bouillon.jeremie@*******.fr (Jeremie Bouillon)
Subject: How have -you- used Harlequin?
Date: Fri, 18 Oct 2002 00:20:08 +0200
Le 00:04 18/10/2002, Number Ten écrivait :
>So. Have you used Harlequin in your game beyond the published adventures?
>If so, what was he doing? How has he shown up, and what evilness did he
>embroil your players in?

I did not behalf the original H's campaign, but if you want a short and
simple way you could try this: ask one (or several) of your player to write
the story of the old H's adventure; Then the new team (of characters)
discover some notes/stories wrote by the old team.
Or the interactive variation, the new team is meeting someone of the old
team, and they talk about it.. So you ask one of your player to play for
several minutes his old character, and tell the story.

Including of course all the things he/they might have forgotten,
misunderstood, and so on. They will communicate their old flaws about this
adventure to the new team :-)

If you want an adventure, you migh try this: H's is traine Jane Foster, neh
? Beside pure thaumaturgical skills, he want here to be tough and aware
here status (as a gifted elve) does not make her invincible, he wants here
to know the sprawl, know the shadows, how things are done.
So he challenge here:
"I would love to retrieve that item... to bad I don't have time for this..
if only I knew someone who could handle it... maybe X ? no.. he has to be
done by a magician.. maybe Y ? no.. he's busy.. maybe Z ? yes she might be
able to .."
"And why not me ? If this little bich can do it, I can !"
"*chuckles* I don't think so my dear, you are a little novice to handle..."
"frag you ! I'm twice as good as she is !"
and eventually Jane jump out of the bed, and left H's castle in a stormy,
violent, very feminine way :-). SHe to her legwork, try to retrieve the
item but fail. Pure mana power is not enough, so she hires a local team to
watch her back and handle the little details. Of course it was what H's
wanted in the first place, and of course he sent a powrful (but well
hidden) spirit to watach her (not them :p) back if things getting out of
control.

The item may be a very powerful artifact, a world shaker one... like a
bottle of 1893 red Chateaubriand wine, put on magical stasis for
conservation, in the beach-house of Samatha Villier for example *evil GM grin*
Message no. 3
From: korishinzo@*****.com (Ice Heart)
Subject: How have -you- used Harlequin?
Date: Sat, 19 Oct 2002 00:01:17 -0700 (PDT)
VERY VERY sparringly!!!!!!

That said...

--- Number Ten <Number_10_Ox@**********.com> wrote:
> I've got a mite of a problem.

[SNIP]

> So. Have you used Harlequin in your game beyond the
> published adventures?
> If so, what was he doing? How has he shown up, and
> what evilness did he
> embroil your players in?

I have only ever used Harlequin twice; once to
neutralize something that was getting out of hand, and
once to add a touch of strangeness to a boring run.
In the first example, I had allowed one of the
characters to get their hands on a book, written in
Sperethial, that seemed very old. Too old. It
predated the Awakening, and raised all kinds of fun
questions. Now, I did this because the player had
stated he wanted to play an Indiana Jones type
persona. He wanted to have an elf archeologist who
used shadowrunning to both fund and cover up his
research into the last age of magic, the mythical
fourth age. I liked the concept and was ready to play
into it a bit by adding such artifacts to the game.
This was the first...and last. The player got a
greedy gleam in his eye and promptly had his character
start looking for buyers. Rather furious, I sicked
Harlequin on him. Harlequin offered him 10K for it.
He told the "pansy clown boy" to go jump. He,
obviously, was not taking advantage of my standing
offer to loan out any of my novels or sourcebooks
people needed to get the feel of the game. :> By
the time Harlequin got done toying with him, he wanted
to give the book away for free.
The only other time I used Harlequin, it was pure
flavor text. The PCs were working security at an art
exhibit, show casing the work of someone who had some
unknown corporate enemies. One of the guests to show
up was good old H. He hobnobbed with a few other note
worthy guests, flirted outrageously with the
man-hating cyberfreak razorgirl running security
behind the scenes, and generally added quirkiness to
an otherwise tense job. He ended by buying a painting
that some elf visiting from Tir Tairgire (guess who?
;p ) was bidding heavily on, and leaving quietly
through the back door. That sums up the total I have
used Harlequin in all my years of GMing.

> Thanks in advance,
>
> --Number 10

Harlequin is one of the purest examples of deus ex
machina that you could possibly use against your
players. It would be the equivalent of strolling a
50th level NPC into a 3rd level D&D game. Whether she
was there to help or hinder, she take a huge chunk of
fun from the players. My advice is to use him like a
very stong, very expensive spice: tiny doses, and not
with every dish. He is useful for foreshadowing major
plot events, giving potent but enigmatic advice, or
rewarding a bit of ingenuity by the players. For
example, suppose they steal something during a run
that is very hard to fence, but you are impressed with
the creativity that went into grabbing it. You want
someone to buy it, getting it out of their hands and
out of the way. Have good old H come along just then,
desperately desiring a fine Renraku Whatsitcalled?®
Prototype. That oddity you threw in for flavor, never
expecting to have it in the PC's hands, for which you
made no stats, is safely gone once more. After all,
it is not like they can trace the buyer, or frag with
him, or double cross him. He is like the perfect
/dev/null for objects you want gone from the game.
:)

======Korishinzo
--wouldn't ever want my PC anywhere near that pansy
clown boy ;p

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