| From: | TopCat <topcat@***.NET> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: Calling back the hunt |
| Date: | Tue, 1 Jul 1997 12:34:40 -0500 |
>My players have managed to kill a fixer under yakuza's protection.
>So now they are having a little trouble staying alive for long, unless
>they manage to stop the yaks from coming after them.
>I want to run a few sessions, heavy on the role-playing side, with them
>trying to survive, and possibly stop the yaks.
>What should they do in your opinion to persuade the yaks to leave them
>alone? Just killing everyone sent against them is an option, but I want
>something better (and to give the players a chance).
They could offer services in exchange for the inconvenience the loss of said
fixer would cause the Yakuza. They could offer evidence to support the
killing as just. They could be killed outright (that solves the problem,
heh). I'm always fond of having the players owe people favors. Sometimes
these favors never get paid off.
Sure, the Yakuza will just set up a new fixer or boost the responsibilities
(and cash flow) of one of the myriad of others they know. The fact that
their business never skips a beat still doesn't mean that the runners don't
owe them big. I'd make them run for free whenever the Yaks wanted them to.
Suicide-type runs when I felt like it. See, why would the Yaks care if a
few runners that they didn't pay for got killed? If they manage to survive
the suicide run, then you get a big payoff and you cna send them out again.
If they don't, well there are always other runners to get favors from...
>What would your players try?
Talking it out, they'd get stuck with favors. They'd try to hide too, but
nobody can hide forever (Yaks have pretty decent resources). They would
find a middleman to work out the differences (and end up accepting the
never-ending favor). Maybe they'd try to leave town, but they'd be found.
Basically, they know better than to start killing when it was killing that
got them into this mess in the first place and they'll do what they can to
work toward an agreement which'll leave them breathing.
The one thing that would absolutely not work and would lead to the deaths of
the runners would be to try and attack the Yakuza or run on the Yakuza to
gain information which can be used against them. They simply have too many
friends in very high (and very low) places for a group of runners to
succeed. Yaks need corp-level resources? They talk to "top men" (who they
helped to get to where they are and now owe the Yaks a favor). They need
street-level resources? That's where they excel, runners and gangers by the
hundreds and more street-level connections than the city's electrical
system. They've been cultivating favors for centuries and they aren't
afraid to use them.
Maybe the runners go to the Mafia for protection: fine, now the Yaks are
still after them and they owe the Mafia a favor... heh.
--
Bob Ooton
topcat@***.net
