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Message no. 1
From: Bull bull@***********.com
Subject: The Clones Go Marching One By One...
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 06:32:06 -0400
Ok, I'm fishing for ideas for my current campaign :] I have a general idea
of what's going on, but I'd love to have a really killer finale to this
particular plot thread, and ATM I don;t have one :]

Here's the Set Up:

One of my players is playing a character called Mime. He's a Phys Ad,
specialized in great leap and Stealth, Acrobatics, and Hand to Hand combat
who doesn't talk. His childhood is a bit fuzzy, as he's an orphan who was
raised on the street by a "family" of squatters. He's always said that
some day he'd like to see if he can't track down what happened to his
parents. He also has a 1 Point flaw simply called "Flaw" that was never
defined at char gen, but that I planned early on to somehow relate to his
Parents.

Well, over the last batch of game sessions, Mime has been recieving phone
calls over his vid phone from what appeared to be a matrix icon. This icon
was a "Golden Guy" icon (Picture Bob from Reboot, if you've seen it, with
gold skin), and it never spoke. The first couple of times it just looked
at him before disconnecting. Then it waved. Eventually it started
"talking" to him by holding up little white signs, ala Wile E. Coyote. The
messages were short at first ("Have fun in Japan?" "You're in
Danger" <grin>).

Mime's group was then hired to do a "sabatoge" run against a small
bio-engineering lab. Basically, they were to blow the place up, render it
unusable. The group snuck in, was placing the explosives, when they found
a secret basement level to the complex. They snuck down there, and found a
much more hi-tech lab underneath than the one on top. they split up,
because they were in a hurry to finish placing explosives, and Mime came
across a large tank with a body inside. The body looked just like him,
only without the facial tattoo he has.

Mime freaked, and that's when all kinds of alarms and sirens went
off. Mime smashed the radio detonators for the explosives they'd just
placed, and the group booked. Mime refused to explain until later. Of
course, they decided to give back the advance they'd gotten for the job,
since they weren't going to finish it now (Mime wouldn;t let them go back),
and this was especially painful since Mime and another party member were
flat broke :]

Anyways, mime decided to take it upon himself to provide additional
security for the building, and prevent their Johnson from sending in a new
team to do the job. While he was perched on the roof of the lab overnight,
the Golden Guy called again. This time, he held a "discussion" with Mime
(Which consisted of Mime typiung stuff into a data display that runs along
his goggled, and the Gold Guy holding up lots of signs :] ). During this
discussion, Mime found out that the Gold Guy also was his double, except
for that he, IRL, was a cripple, confined to a wheelchair, though he was a
really good decker. There was also another "clone" out there that's a
Mage, who works for Ares as a Security Consultant. The Decker hadn;t been
able to contact the Mage yet though, and was barely able to keep tabs on
him. Along with those three, there was also the body in the lab. that
makes 4 "Mimes". the Gold Guy can;t talk either :]

Of course, Gahbardi, the Voodoun in the group, saw the Mage in the airport
a few weeks earlier, but freaked, misread the situation, and decided not to
say anything <grin> So that REALLY made things interesting when the group
finally shared info :]

So that's kind of where they're at. Mime is about to go into the Lab where
the 4th clone is with a specialized cyberdeck and some programs the Decker
clone rigged up for him (Decker in a Can, basically :)) to snag data from
the lab's closed matrix system. So now I need to figure out what the
overall plot is going to be.

The overall plot is actually inspired from the Azure Bonds Forgotten Realms
novels. In those, the main character finds out that she was created by a
group of powerful evil beings to be an assasin or something (One of them
wanted to use her as a sacrifice, I think). Along the way, she finds out
she wasn;t the only one created. They actually made I think 7 of her, each
with a different area of expertise. She was a master swordswoman. one was
a Thief. one was a Mage. Etc.

Same concept here. There are a bunch of Mime's that have been created over
the years, for whatever reason. Mime thinks he's about 18 or 19, but he's
really only about 8 years old. All his fuzzy memories from before he went
to live with the Squatters are false implanted memories. How and why he
ended up on the streets, I'm not sure. The Decker Mime likewise ended up
in an Orphanage and was adopted. The Mage currently has no background, but
I'm thinking he ended up in a Corp Orphanage which meant a life of Corp
Seritude, so to speak. But since he's a powerful Mage, he ended up getting
a good job out of it.

The Clone in the Tank is the Sammy clone, I think. It's wired, cybered,
and Biowared to the max. During the "info Extraction" Mime and the gorup
are about to do, I think It's going to escape, with it's memory and
personality implants only about 1/2 done. It'll run off during the fight,
leaving it a future plot hook :]

There's also at least one more clone, a Rigger/Mechanic clone. I may have
that one be dead though, for whatever reason.

So that's where I'm at. It's beena fun little storyline thus far, and I'd
like to really give it a good ending, whenever that comes up. Of course,
the other 2 players also have some fun threads going on, so I tend to
bounce around a bit, but... we're focusing on Mime at the moment, so...

What do you think, sirs?

Bull
--
Bull -- The Best Ork Decker You Never Met
bull@*******.net == bull22@***********.com == bull@***********.com
http://shadowrun.html.com/users/bull
ICQ: 35931890
====================================================== =
= Order is Illusion! Chaos is Bliss! Got any Fours? = =
======================================================
"Animals have 2 jobs: To taste good and to fit well."
-- Greg Proops, "Vs."
Message no. 2
From: Gordon McCormick gmcc@*********.ie
Subject: The Clones Go Marching One By One...
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 12:07:33 +0100
Bull wrote:
>
> Ok, I'm fishing for ideas for my current campaign :] I have a general idea
> of what's going on, but I'd love to have a really killer finale to this
> particular plot thread, and ATM I don;t have one :]
>
> Here's the Set Up:

This is cool, I may have to steal it, er, use this as
inspiration :)

First thing I'd want to know, is how are the badguys
that made the Mimes going to use them? They've placed
them in orphanages to allow them to grow up as normal
as they can but how do they end up getting the benefit
of all this work? One idea would be a wired "remote
control" although Mimemage and Mimephys probably have
essence 6 so maybe not. Or maybe it's a biorecording
device - they wont have control but are figuring they
can hire their progeny and keep tabs on them? I dunno...

Or maybe, the bad guys had planned to raise the group
as killers themselves, but 8 years ago they messed up
and some shadowrunners while trashing the lab rescued
the 'newly born' mage,physad,decker and gave them to
orphanages. It's only now that the badguys have managed
to get the resources to build the street sam.

Perhaps the group that hired the PC's to blow up the
research lab is the same group that hired the runners
who blew up the original lab and saved the 'kids'?

As for the flaw, and why the rigger is dead - perhaps
the clones have a built in shorter life span, either
by accident or purposely put there for some wacky reason.

The rigger was the first clone made, say 10 years ago,
but after reaching 9 he started to age real fast and
died. So the mimes find out they only have 2 years to
live...hmm, maybe that's worth more than a one point
flaw though :)

For a final showdown I'd be thinking along the lines of
having the group that wants the clones destroyed meeting
the group that made the clones in a rather nasty battle,
perhaps with other clones there too? Myself I'd have
the group that wants the clones destroyed at least as
nasty and warped as the clone guys (maybe a rival cloning
corp?) - oh, and probably a sad death scene for the mime
decker as he dies of old age....

Then it's up to the Mimemage and Mimephys to romp around
the world looking for a cure gilgamesh style.

Anyway, hope there's something in there you can use :)

gordon
Message no. 3
From: BRUCE gyro@********.co.za
Subject: The Clones Go Marching One By One...
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 13:12:44 +0200
-----Original Message-----
From: Bull <bull@***********.com>
To: shadowrn@*********.org <shadowrn@*********.org>
Date: 19 October 1999 12:37
Subject: The Clones Go Marching One By One...


>Here's the Set Up:
>What do you think, sirs?
<schnipp>
>Bull

The clones could have been created in an attempt to figure out the
gene for making people magically active.
Having only had one success, the progenitors of the scheme have
basically abandoned it and moved on the other schemes. Mime has been
left out in the cold, even though he showed limited magical talent
(adept).

The mage is a double agent for the progenitors, keeping an eye on the
failed experiments, in case any of them show signs of talent or of
betrayal. I liek the idea of the clone-in-a-vat escaping. Make sure he
runs into Mime and gives him a good old scare while you're at it.

The decker clone will probably know something about the identity of
the progenitors and will be manipulating mime and possibly others into
doing the dirty and dangerous work of finding the evil buggers.

Hope that helps, oh fanged one

Bruce <gyro@********.co.za>
RULE NO 1:
DONT GET CAUGHT
Message no. 4
From: dbuehrer@****.org dbuehrer@****.org
Subject: The Clones Go Marching One By One...
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 07:46:02 -0600
Bull wrote:
\ Ok, I'm fishing for ideas for my current campaign :] I have a general idea
\ of what's going on, but I'd love to have a really killer finale to this
\ particular plot thread, and ATM I don;t have one :]

[snip: Mime is a clone]

Just to put a spin on things, check out the book "Circuit of Heaven".

Specifically, there are engineered people called Constructs. To get around
the "it hasn't had a life" problem they impressed the personalities and
memories of three people into the construct (I'm guessing one or two wasn't
enough, more than three was to many). For about the first 1-2 weeks the
construct thinks its an actual person. However, soon their memories start
to conflict and they start having dreams about the people they are made up
of (imagine a dream where you're someone else). Then the personalities
resurface and the construct realizes it's three different people, yet one
person.

If you really want to mess with the player's head something similar could
happen to him.

Now that he's aware that something is wrong he'll start dreaming that he's
other people (probably other Physads). After a while he'll be able to talk
to the people in his head (though their memories won't be complete, they
may be able to offer general advice (don't stick your finger in a light
socket), and the occasional red herring).

\ So that's kind of where they're at. Mime is about to go into the Lab where
\ the 4th clone is with a specialized cyberdeck and some programs the Decker
\ clone rigged up for him (Decker in a Can, basically :)) to snag data from
\ the lab's closed matrix system. So now I need to figure out what the
\ overall plot is going to be.

I wouldn't let the PC find out much of anything when he breaks into the
lab. In fact, if I were running it the lab would be completely empty when
he goes back.

[snip: Azure bonds reference]

\ Same concept here. There are a bunch of Mime's that have been created over
\ the years, for whatever reason. Mime thinks he's about 18 or 19, but he's
\ really only about 8 years old. All his fuzzy memories from before he went
\ to live with the Squatters are false implanted memories. How and why he
\ ended up on the streets, I'm not sure. The Decker Mime likewise ended up
\ in an Orphanage and was adopted. The Mage currently has no background, but
\ I'm thinking he ended up in a Corp Orphanage which meant a life of Corp
\ Seritude, so to speak. But since he's a powerful Mage, he ended up getting
\ a good job out of it.

As part of the plot, a bioengineering company could have created him, and
his brothers, and put them into society to see if they can function as part
of a long term experiment. The plan is to be able to create corporate
security forces, ergo the stereotypical Physad, Decker, Mage, Sam and Rigger.

Also, I'd have him notice that someone is keeping an eye on him, someone
who was watching him about 8 years ago when he was a teenager. I.e., the
corp that created him has been keeping tabs on him ever since he was
"born", in a very X-files kind of way. But if he ever catches any of his
"watchers", none of them will tell him anything (they fear the corporation
far more than anything he could possibly do).

Maybe as a big red herring, a former secretary of a branch of the
corporation (with good dose of paranoia) could find him and try to help
him. She knows that the corporation had a project and that he was part of
it when he was a child. She'll come up with all kinds of crazy theories
(ala Mel Gibson in Conspiracy Theory).

The real reason for the character's creation is so simple that they'll
never figure it out <EGMG>.

\ The Clone in the Tank is the Sammy clone, I think. It's wired, cybered,
\ and Biowared to the max. During the "info Extraction" Mime and the gorup
\ are about to do, I think It's going to escape, with it's memory and
\ personality implants only about 1/2 done. It'll run off during the fight,
\ leaving it a future plot hook :]

I'd definitely save the Sam for future use, as an opponent (the corporation
realizes that Mime is a failed experiment, but want to continue using him,
testing him against the viable clones). Maybe you'll solve that "who's
better, a Physad or a Sam?" debate ;)

\ So that's where I'm at. It's beena fun little storyline thus far, and I'd
\ like to really give it a good ending, whenever that comes up. Of course,
\ the other 2 players also have some fun threads going on, so I tend to
\ bounce around a bit, but... we're focusing on Mime at the moment, so...
\
\ What do you think, sirs?

I think you're going to have *way* to much fun <EGMG>.

-Graht
--
"The light is reached not by turning back from the darkness,
but by going through it."
Message no. 5
From: Kevin Langevin kevinl@******.com
Subject: The Clones Go Marching One By One...
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 09:44:34 -0400
> The clones could have been created in an attempt to figure out the
> gene for making people magically active.
> Having only had one success, the progenitors of the scheme have
> basically abandoned it and moved on the other schemes. Mime has been
> left out in the cold, even though he showed limited magical talent
> (adept).
>
> The mage is a double agent for the progenitors, keeping an eye on the
> failed experiments, in case any of them show signs of talent or of
> betrayal. I liek the idea of the clone-in-a-vat escaping. Make sure he
> runs into Mime and gives him a good old scare while you're at it.

The mage could actually be the "real" Mime, trying to create magically
active clones. When it created the failed Sammy clone, he decided to cyber
him up and use him as a bodyguard when he's ready, which is almost done.
The decker clone could still be in the hands of the mage, but secretly
contacting it's brethren in an attempt to gain sympathy to mount a rescue
attempt to free himself. The rigger clone being dead could be cool if you
build into the background that he's already made an attempt to free the
decker, and failed. The mage killed him. The mage could also be insane.
Why else would anyone clone themselves 7 times instead of cloning some
simsense star and creating a harem? :)

-Kev


> The decker clone will probably know something about the identity of
> the progenitors and will be manipulating mime and possibly others into
> doing the dirty and dangerous work of finding the evil buggers.
>
> Hope that helps, oh fanged one
>
> Bruce <gyro@********.co.za>
> RULE NO 1:
> DONT GET CAUGHT
>
>
>
Message no. 6
From: Grim Shear grim_shear@*******.com
Subject: The Clones Go Marching One By One...
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 09:15:37 CDT
<snip the whole story>
>What do you think, sirs?
>Bull

Very cool. Kind of twisted, but very cool. Did your player make a character
like that just so that they could have a cool character with built in plot
hooks, or just 'cause they wanted an ambiguous character?

Grim Shear
"Dammit man, I thought I told you to throw the _Grenade_
not the pin." Spoken soon after telling a _really_ stupid
(and well roleplayed Troll), to pull the pin and throw it.

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
Message no. 7
From: Lars Ericson lericson@****.edu
Subject: The Clones Go Marching One By One...
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 09:25:41 -0500
Bull wrote:

*snip plot*

> So that's where I'm at. It's beena fun little storyline thus far, and I'd
> like to really give it a good ending, whenever that comes up. Of course,
> the other 2 players also have some fun threads going on, so I tend to
> bounce around a bit, but... we're focusing on Mime at the moment, so...
>
> What do you think, sirs?

Sounds like a very cool plot line. I would suggest trying to make the
plot a grander one and maybe incorporate some of the other characters.
The other players may feel jaded if the whole campaign seems to revolve
around a single character. Having more than one unrelated plot line can
be fun too because the players will start assuming everything's related,
while you can involve the other characters (individually or not) in
other subplots.


--
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-Lars Ericson: Professional Vagabond
Smalley Research Group, Rice University
E-Mail: lericson@****.edu
WWW: http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~lericson/

Life is like a Wankel Engine. In between the emptiness of boredom and
despair, and the compression of stress in one's life, there's that one
spark of enjoyment that keeps you going.
Message no. 8
From: lomion lomion@*********.escnd1.sdca.home.com
Subject: The Clones Go Marching One By One...
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 09:55:42 -0700
At 09:25 AM 10/19/99 -0500, you wrote:
>Bull wrote:
>
>*snip plot*
>
> > So that's where I'm at. It's beena fun little storyline thus far, and I'd
> > like to really give it a good ending, whenever that comes up. Of course,
> > the other 2 players also have some fun threads going on, so I tend to
> > bounce around a bit, but... we're focusing on Mime at the moment, so...
> >
> > What do you think, sirs?

Sounds interesting, definitely a nuimber of possible twists. Ya know the
clones kinda remind me of blade runner, the limitied lifespan and all
woiuld be some plot twists.

>Sounds like a very cool plot line. I would suggest trying to make the
>plot a grander one and maybe incorporate some of the other characters.
>The other players may feel jaded if the whole campaign seems to revolve
>around a single character. Having more than one unrelated plot line can
>be fun too because the players will start assuming everything's related,
>while you can involve the other characters (individually or not) in
>other subplots.

You could probably draw them in, say the BAD GUYS(tm) also screwed over
some of the other PC's in the past. Maybe the mage all of a sudden decides
he wants to live longer than a limited lifespan so he goes rouge so to
speak and then others start looking for him but go after Mime instead?

You can do alot of twists with this one.

--lomion
Message no. 9
From: dbuehrer@****.org dbuehrer@****.org
Subject: The Clones Go Marching One By One...
Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999 08:12:36 -0600
dbuehrer@****.org wrote:
\ Bull wrote:
\ \ Ok, I'm fishing for ideas for my current campaign :] I have a general
idea
\ \ of what's going on, but I'd love to have a really killer finale to this
\ \ particular plot thread, and ATM I don;t have one :]
\
\ [snip: Mime is a clone]
\
\ Just to put a spin on things, check out the book "Circuit of Heaven".
\
\ Specifically, there are engineered people called Constructs. To get around
\ the "it hasn't had a life" problem they impressed the personalities and
\ memories of three people into the construct (I'm guessing one or two wasn't
\ enough, more than three was to many). For about the first 1-2 weeks the
\ construct thinks its an actual person. However, soon their memories start
\ to conflict and they start having dreams about the people they are made up
\ of (imagine a dream where you're someone else). Then the personalities
\ resurface and the construct realizes it's three different people, yet one
\ person.
\
\ If you really want to mess with the player's head something similar could
\ happen to him.
\
\ Now that he's aware that something is wrong he'll start dreaming that he's
\ other people (probably other Physads). After a while he'll be able to talk
\ to the people in his head (though their memories won't be complete, they
\ may be able to offer general advice (don't stick your finger in a light
\ socket), and the occasional red herring).

Or, the character starts tracking down his memories, trying to find out who
the original clone was, and finds out the original died and was burried 20
years ago (the mad scientist in charge of the project has been working on
this for a *long* time). However, the original died at the age of six,
whereas Mime's memories continue past age six. If he tracks those memories
the lead him to another grave of someone that died at the age of nine. His
memories from age nine to twelve lead him to yet another grave.

And all three dead children are completely different genetically (i.e., two
boys, one girl, and one of the boys was an anglo elf while the other was an
regular asian human).

With a little work the PC finds out that each of the children had an
experimental brain stimulator used on them in the emergency room just
before their death. Turns out this device was used to record their
memories and personalities.

Well, it's just an idea :)

-Graht
--
"The more I learn, the more I realize I don't know
and the more I want to learn."
-Einstein
Message no. 10
From: Ereskanti@***.com Ereskanti@***.com
Subject: The Clones Go Marching One By One...
Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999 21:44:36 EDT
In a message dated 10/19/1999 5:33:04 AM US Eastern Standard Time,
bull@***********.com writes:

<SNIP!>
> What do you think, sirs?


Overall Bull I'd say you are doing just fine on your own ... just wait though
buddy, you're gonna like it!!!

-K
[Hoosier Hacker House]
[http://members.aol.com/hhackerh/intro.htm]
ICQ#-51511837
Message no. 11
From: Patrick Goodman remo@***.net
Subject: The Clones Go Marching One By One...
Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999 22:16:32 -0500
<snip magnificent story>

I don't think that this is *quite* in the realm of SR technology, but who
the hell cares? You are one twisted individual, Bull, and I mean that with
all the affection I can muster.

--
(>) Texas 2-Step
El Paso: Never surrender. Never forget. Never forgive.

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