Guttersnipes!

The Shadowrun Worldview

Alright, so first off, get yourself some learnin' about Shadowrun, everyone's favorite (or loathed) mix of high fantasy and cyberpunk. Nota Bene, though, that the wikipedia entry is about the most recent version of the game. This one-shot will use the second edition rules, and the second edition timeline, which is slightly different. The basic ideas, though, are the same. For all of the possible grumblin' about tarnishing William Gibson's legacy by adding elves (c.f. the wikipedia entry), I think Shadowrun does a nice job of creating a realistic world with a compelling alternative history, and I like the basic system.

For those who don't like too much readin', the gist is simple. It's 2050ish, and the world has moved on, meaning that magic has come back, birthing mages, shamans, trolls, elves, etc., all while technology has continued to advance so that cybernetic implants and fully immersive "virtual" reality interactions with software are mainstream. Native Americans ("AmerIndians") got magic back first, and managed to take back virtually the entire western united states. Seattle is the lone outpost of the UCAS (United Canadian and American States) on the west coast, and is surrounded by tribal lands and an elvish nation-state. As such, it has sort of a unique role in the region's politics. Convenient, eh?

Concept

Our alter-egos for this one-shot will be a group of teenagers scraping by in the horribly decrepit and dangerous Seattle Redmond "barrens", i.e. the slums of Redmond. Like most street kids who have survived into their teens, you all are tough and have respectable survival skills. Even more than most, though, your little gang of punks is something special. Each individual has a little somethin'-somethin' to give them an edge in the ghoul-eats-person world of the barrens, and banding together has provided possibilities for garnering some loot and maybe even getting the hell out of the hellhole they live in. So, the group has a bit of a reputation, and sometimes even lets themselves think that they'll grow up to run the shadows. However, they are still small fish in a really big, nasty, dirty, disease-ridden, and shark-infested pond.

Every day that ends without death is special for this endearing tribe of guttersnipes, but the day we play these ragamuffin roles promises to be specialer, and dangerouser, than most. Surviving looks unlikely, but opportunity is knocking on the cardboard door of your filthy squat just the same. It's a high risk, high reward scenario, which is a significant improvement on your everyday high risk, no reward life.

Cast of Characters

Max: the face-man of the group, and the most determined to make a name for the little band. He will go to great lengths to protect his fellows, especially his vulnerable sister, Tara. Max has the spark of a sorcerer, and the little magical knowledge he has garnered is enough for others to label him a wiz-kid mage. He doesn't know a whole lot (yet!), but it's enough to burn your face off if you fuck with him. As a sorcerer (i.e., a hermetic magical adept), Max can cast spells, but cannot conjure elementals/spirits or astrally perceive/project.

Tara: Max's sister. She fell ill a few years to some mysterious disease that is probably curable by magic or technology (or both) for those who have the money to spend on it. Tara is now essentially a quadripalegic, with only limited control over one arm/hand and no speech capacity beyond a few grunts and groans. However, her mind is perfectly intact, and she is quite gifted at manipulating computer systems in cyberspace. Known on the Nets as Angelik, she can evade corporate IC (Intrusion Countermeasures) as if she lives her life jacked in to the Matrix, 'cause she does. [This will be an NPC.]

Reagan: a privileged young suburbanite, happily living in the Renraku corporate enclave and dreaming of being an engineer like his daddy, until the ultimate fuck-you of puberty goblinized him into a Troll at age thirteen. His previously loving - currently horribly racist - parents freaked and Reagan ran off into the streets of Seattle. This was a stupid idea, and he would've been dead in a few days if he hadn't been scooped up by the others. He is fiercely loyal to his friends since this incident, and plays a vital role as the group's mechanic and technological savant, not to mention the fact that he is bigger - and thus hits harder - than most. Reagan was able to pay for a good portion of the group's loot (including Tara's datajack and cyberdeck) by agreeing to submit himself to some experimental surgery over at Bob's Quickstich, where someone needed to practice on a Troll. Reagan came out of the horribly painful, tramautizing experience with a fair amount of money and a partially cybered right arm that has some experimental cyberware in it that only malfunctions about half the time.

Togo: a young Raccoon shaman, born with spirits fluttering about his head. Togo is obsessed with some archaic sport called baseball, and has been known to summon city spirits (minor ones, mind) just so that he could have someone to pitch to him. As a full shaman, Togo can cast spells, conjure spirits, and astrally perceive/project.

Rad: a wiry, scrappy little AmerIndian (he doesn't know what tribe) kid, Rad has the ridiculous natural athletic potential of a physical adept. Even though he has little training, Rad has never met anyone who moves faster than he does. Previously content to channel his talent into breakdancing and burglary, Rad has recently met an old sensei who has taught him a thing or two about how to kick someone in the head seven times before they see the first one coming.

Group Sheet - A list of of the groups communal resources, contacts, etc.

The Squat

Our heroes, sometime in the not too distant past, scored big time. It turns out that the bombed out husk of a local chain hotel was covering up the fact that it had an intact basement swimming pool room. The staircase down to this lower level is completely obstructed by debris, but the elevator shaft and car were intact enough for Reagan to jury-rig the system. So, the group has claimed the space as their own, using the drained pool and the surrounding space as rough yet servicable living quarters. This fact has led to some interesting slang, such as "going swimming" for "going home" and "I gotta go to the deep end" for "I gotta take a shit" (the only drain in the space is at the bottom of the pool).

PROS: (1) it's hidden away and therefore pretty safe, and the fact that a pack of ghouls frequents the ruins of the building upstairs means gangs and other squatter types are less willing to nose around the area. (2) The hot tub still (kinda) works (sometimes), if you fill it with water.

CONS: Ummm, a pack of ghouls lives upstairs.

Plot Synopsis

Dramatis Personae:

Max (played by Dieter)
Togo (played by Ben)
Rad (played by Kim)
Reagan and Tara (NPCs)

Full Story

The adventure began with the group getting a job that involved going to the Seattle Public Library (some Bartender in Puyallup wanted someone to pick up books for him, that he wasn't planning on returning. Scanadalous!). After some messing around (Togo found out about some local news, and looked up old baseball videos, Rad pickpocketed some old bum), the group was about to leave with the books, but some scared AmerIndian kid ran into the library and came up to Rad as if he knew him, mumbling something about how ". . . this information needs to get to Spirit Eyes . . . The Maiden or The Matchstick." As the kid ran off, two stiffly moving corporate suits entered and questioned the group roughly. Max noticed that they both had some weird (blue light blinking) chipjacks at their temples. The suits headed off suspiciously after the AmerIndian kid, and the group headed back to the Barrens. Before too long, though, Rad realized that the AmerIndian had slipped him some kind of datachip (in a fake, detachable finger joint.)

Next, the group delivered the goods (all ten books of Roger Zelazny's Amber Series!) to the client, the owner/bartender of The Rig, a bar in downtown Puyallup with a gimmick: the bar is fully mechanized and operated via Vehicle Control Rig (VCR) by the proprietor. He turned out to be a sci-fi dork who was a bit in awe of the characters' "street" lifestyle. He offered his services as a Rigger if the group needed some aerial transport (for the right price, of course).

When the group went back to visit Gunther (the Mr. Johnson who had gotten them the library book job) the group got jumped by a bunch of Elf wannabe gang members. After some scuffling, Max and Togo tagteamed to blow the hell out of a whole bunch of the chumps, magic-style, and the rest ran off. The group took the gangmembers' sweet motorcylces (two of 'em), and found a bunch of pictures of themselves (in the library) on the body of the gangleader. It turned out that someone was looking for them, and sending word through the streets that there would be good money in it for whoever found them. Fuuuuuuuuuck!

The group realized that the price on their head might have something to do with the chip, so they set Tara to try to find out what was on it. It was encrypted beyond her ability to crack, so she sent it on to a fellow Decker - an ork named Took - to crack. The rest the group panicked and prepared themselves to get the fuck out of dodge.

Took managed to crack the data, and wanted to turn it over to the group. It had two things of interest on it: (1) a fairly detailed memo about how a megacorps (Ares Macrotechnology, I believe) was planning to assassinate a Salish-Shidhe council (read: tribal) leader during planned talks with Renraku officials, and (2) some incomplete/cryptic plans about some sort of Ares project called "The Avatar Project." Max and Reagan went into the Ork Underground to meet with Took, only to witness Took being bumped off by some highly trained goons (turns out that Took couldn't keep his mouth shut about having the chip's info). Max hid, then grabbed Took's cyberdeck and ran. The group made some attempts to find this Spirit Eyes guy, but were ultimately unsuccessful (the closest they got was getting a phone number that reached a recorded message replying "The Maiden" when the group said "The Matchstick or the Maiden."

The group realized that they were in trouble, but before they could make any move, they were attacked in their home by some corporate hitman street samurai (it turns out that Gunther had betrayed them and led Ares to the group's squat). The group managed to fend him off, with some help from the ghouls upstairs. They then packed everything they had into Reagan's pickup truck and hauled ass to Council Island, hoping it'd be a safe place from the Corps strike teams, and that the info they had would be enough to grant them entrance. It turned out that the assassination attempt was a huge deal, and the info the team had was complete and damning, so the team was let onto Council Island - after a call was made to Spirit Eyes - to live another day.

Major Points of Interest

(1) The group used to live in a squat in the Redmond Barrens, but had to flee to Council Island to escape the clutches of Ares Macrotechnology.
(2) The group was wanted by Ares because they stumbled on some secret corporate info (see full story above).
(3) The group was betrayed by the low-level Mr. Johnson they worked with often (Gunther, who works out of Redmond Barrens). He sold out the location of their squat to Ares, who sent a hitman (or hitmen, it was never quite clear) after them.
(4) The information the group found was important to someone named Spirit Eyes who had some pull with officials on Council Island.