"The Cannonball Shadowrun" was conceived as an idea for a campaign. A BIG campaign. Not necessarily in length (I think my GM'ing of it lasted 10 sessions or so), but in scope and reward. This is a "big score" campaign. Or not, depends on how you want to play it, but that's how it was designed. This campaign was written for an advanced, high-flying, fast-paced group of characters (the group found in the fiction on this website!). They used the millions (yes, millions) gleaned from this campaign to further grow their corporation, to a point where they can reasonably interact with Villiers in the "Blood In The Boardroom" campaign, and go for the biggies in Dunkelzhan's will.
Here's The Story
The characters are sent invitations to a gathering. Once on the estate, along with all types of other Shadowrunners, they are told they are invited to participate in a runner competition. Think of it as The Cannonball Run meets Mortal Kombat. The players will partake in most every form of gladiatorial game and Shadowrun imaginable. Mercs and Samurai will duke it out in arenas. Teams will race other teams in standard run styles (invade a facility and make it out with the paydata, for example). The competition will end in a Cannonball Run style race across the continent to Georgia. The ultimate prize will be a cool million nuyen per member. Plus, the hosts will spread the word that the winner is indeed the best runner to ever hit the shadows. The winners will have money to set themselves up, or retire in style. They will have rep beyond words, and will be in the highest demand. All they have to do is beat the best runners in the world... Nul sweat, eh?
***S P O I L E R S***
GM's Only Beyond This Point
The Real Story
The benefactors are indeed as well backed as they seem, and have the cash to make good on their offer. The characters will participate in a long series of competitions and runs, and conclude with the simple task of racing across the multi-national continent of North America.
The secret? The benefactors are themselves backed by a corporation, Omnitek, and many of the runs they perform will be real runs, not set-ups, with the express purpose of catapulting Omnitech to the front of the line.
The hitch? Every runner there is a target. The benefactor, Devon McDermit, is actually a runner himself from way back (by another name, of course) who seeks to make himself and his team the ONLY game in town, and set himself up as THE Prime Runner. How does he plan to do this? Everyone in the competition is sold out to someone from their past. Corporations, governments, and individuals have paid McDermit & Omnitek -millions- for a controlled shot at those they have a grudge against.
Scene By Scene
The characters are going about their daily lives, and all receive email, phone calls, or hardcopy messages at about the same time of day. Each message is delivered in a way unique to the target character. One runner receives an email to a private drop-box, known only to a select few. Another receives a message addressed to her -real- given name, not her streetname. So on and so on. Each is an invitation to a private party to be held on an estate in Bellevue. Those that don't have their own transportation, or prefer not to use it, can be picked up. In extreme extravagance. Pheaton limos for example. They are delivered (or arrive) at an estate in a AAA district of Bellevue. Walled grounds. A+ security. Landscaped gardens. The works. Inside, they are escorted into a ballroom where a party is in full swing. They should recognize some former contacts. Either dredge up some old Shadowrun characters as NPCs, old enemies, or even the Prime Runners characters. Either way, the room is filled with Shadowrunners of every make, model, and color. Mercs in battered armor with assault rifles slung over their shoulders. International assassins in their Armani best. Deckers in street leathers with their Excalibers hanging under their shoulders. Magicians that tell the MIT&T boys how it's done. Individuals in uniform jumpsuits serve everyone's needs. The champagne flows. The buffet never ends. At the height of the party, a fanfare draws everyone's attention to a balcony. A dapper man with salt-n-pepper hair and goatee is standing over everyone. He greets them all in his thick British accent:
"Greetings, my colleagues. As I'm sure you've surmised, everyone here is a denizen of the shadows. Mercenaries. Riggers. Adepts. Street Samurai. Deckers. Magicians. We've worked for and against practically every major corporation and government in the world. We compete with each other for the best run, the greatest rep, the highest adventure, the biggest payoff. I used to be where you are now fifteen years ago. The shadows weren't as crowded then as they are now. Everyone knew where they stood in the food chain of life. Now it's not so easy to tell. Who's the best? The straightest shooter? The decker who can cut any ice? The fastest gun? The most powerful spellcaster? That's what we're here to find out. If you choose to stay and participate, you will go through the most grueling series of tests of your career. You'll run against the biggest corporations in the world, compete hand-to-hand with each other, and race time and each other across this continent. Some will walk away. Some will pay the price in blood, and have nothing to show for it but wounds. Most will lose. The winners however, will receive a million nuyen apiece... (let this sink in) And most importantly of all, we will tell every fixer and contact in the world who is the best. Now, you will be given an hour to ask questions of my associates around the room and discuss it amongst yourselves. If you decide to leave, so be it. You'll go back to your lives. If you stay, you will indeed have a chance to find out who is the world's Prime Runner. It may even be you..."
The rules: They will be told rules and allowed to ask questions of McDermit's employees. No in-fighting among teams and individuals except within the confines of specific missions or combats. Fighting on the grounds is strictly forbidden. Participants are not allowed to injure employees or cause damage to the benefactors property. Participants must stay outside of restricted areas on premises. No attempts are to be made to influence employees to help one team/individual over another, or prevent them from carrying out normal duties. Any breaking of the rules will result in expulsion from the competition, and damage to your rep. Serious infractions can result in the release of hidden, personal information to the public. The benefactors will provide medical aid as necessary, including full use of the surgical room. Surgeons with experience in dealing with those magically active will be available. Food and other mundane necessities will be provided. Participants will be allowed to leave the grounds during certain controlled time periods. Leaving otherwise is an infraction. After the initial meeting, characters are allowed to leave the grounds for 3 hours to acquire whatever gear they deem necessary for the competition.
So begins a long series of runs and combats. They should have to do it all. One on one combats. Breaking into research facilities. Kidnaping an individual from a crowded mall. Even stealing the ball in use during an Urban Brawl game. (This was FUN!) Whatever you come up with, go for it. Some runs should be deadly serious, some should just be good messy fun. Either way it slowly builds up over the course of a month to a cross-continent race to Savannah.
The Players
There are only a few main characters, and I'm not going to provide stats. I'll leave that to you. But here are a few notes, suggestions, and ideas.
McDermit: he should be extremely high in skills, and surrounds himself with high 'end runners. He's getting on in years a bit, so his attributes might now be starting to fall off, but he should more than make up for it in experience. Remember, he has 15+ years of 'running behind him.
Omnitek: generic corporation. Should have plenty of basic security guys, plus a few shock-troops to make your players sweat a bit. Magic, deckers, and maybe a few paranimals should also be present.
The Competition:
Old PC's.
A team of elf shadowrunners (actually Tir guards in disguise, here to settle old scores, but didn't want to have to pay for it).
Any Prime Runner(s). I brought in Taechdaire because one of my players truly hates him. He was aching to get in a shot at him, but the opportunity never presented itself. Then, in the big shootout in the Omnitek building, Taechdaire saved the player's life, indebting him to him. Heheheh... he hated that.
Da Three Orkz. All four of 'em. My favorite NPC's. I never made stat's on 'em, because I don't want 'em killed in some freak roll of the dice. These guys are big, dumb, and ugly. They carry big guns everywhere. They're dumb enough to actually advertise in the newspaper. They're bumbling. They're also the luckiest bastiches on the planet. They can get out of anything, through no use of skill or ability. They're not quite all that bad. They can get things done, just not if it involves a lot of brainpower. And they drive a monster truck in the cannonball run. While everyone else is trying to slip through the Tir border with fake ID's, these guys drive up, drive through the guard shack, over the fence, and out across the landscape. And they STILL make it to Savannah.
Sample Runs
The characters are instructed to break into a Renraku research facility and steal one of their new decks. They should be told there will be competing teams, aiming for the same goal. They are given information on the facility, and proceed with the run. Inside they will encounter one or two teams/individuals on the same run. It should be a matter of who gets it first and gets out with it. Once the players think they are free and clear, they should be ambushed by another team, perhaps just before they make it to the grounds.
Mortal Kombat style arena games. Mostly suited to Street Samurai, but can be modified for other character types.
Kidnap someone from a public mall. This should allow for lots of mayhem. Multiple teams after the same target... Civilians getting involved... Security/Police involvement. The characters, assuming the get the target, should be allowed to eventually ditch any pursuit. If they completely botch this, the benefactors will protect themselves by providing cover (wrecks in front of pursuers, etc... not gunfire). If the winners require cover, they don't win.
At some point, the characters are taking a few hours off, having left the grounds and are eating at an outdoor cafe. As they sit there, they recognize a competing team drive by in vehicles, followed by a second team in pursuit. Our team chose to use this as an opportunity to show "creative thinking." They went after the teams, stole the paydata from the leaders, and made it back to the safehouse. While they weren't supposed to be a part of this competition, McDermit chose to look at it as an example of fine Shadowrunning, recognizing an opportunity and going for it. The fact that they stole from a legimitate competetor, well.... it's all about competition anyway. Maybe you should have the loosing team in this go nuts and try to take out your characters, only to be expired by McDermit's employees. It should be recognized that many of them have combat training, and are 'runner caliber themselves. Not to be messed with.
The Cannonball Run
The Rules: ground vehicles only. Nothing that flys or floats. This'll help keep control of speed, and allow everyone the chance to get there at about the same time, a requirement for the conclusion.
The concluding run of the contest is a cross-continent road race. It begins in Seattle and ends at a similar estate near Savannah, Georgia. This is where the mayhem begins. Which way do they go? East through Amerindian territories? South, cutting through the Tir? Eventually, they'll have to cross several national borders before they reach Savannah in the CAS. Have as much fun with this as possible. There should be go-gangs, border guards, teams waiting in ambush, convoys of trucks, and the occasional police, military, or corp strike team waiting for them (or one of their competitors). Some of the buyers of information will probably choose this area to strike. If the strike team obivously has fore-knowledge, there should be evidence that one of the other teams sold 'em out. Maybe they'll help out a competing team being ambushed. Maybe they won't. Up to you and your players.
Anyway, for drama and fun, the situation should arise where most reach the target area at about the same time, only to find road access blocked. It now boils down to a foot race to the actual estate. It shouldn't break down into a gunfight between teams. If team A stops to shoot team B, teams C, D, and E will race by, or join in. Not productive. They get to the grounds, blow through the gate, and race inside to find... nothing. Noone. Nada. Zip. Empty house. This is when the last buyers of the setup arrive. Lone Star. Knight Errant. Government police. Corporate police. Everyone with a grudge who bought the info. All converge on the 50 or so Shadowrunners gathered at the house.
Most of the runners should make it out. They find a drainage pipe in the garden behind the house, or some such thing. Once through the pipe and sewers, the wind up in a warehouse. They exchange contact information and split up, agreeing to do some legwork, find McDermit, and make him and anyone he's with pay.
A week later, McDermit is exposed as the long term 'runner he is, and his Omnitek backing. Let them decide how to deal with it. Here's what the runners did, with our team in leadership:
A decent team can break into many facilities, make off with paydata and raise some havock. Top-level teams can make most anything their own, destroy most anything if they set their skills and resources. Fifty of the best runners in the world can destroy a corporation. They head back to Seattle. Scope Omnitek's facility (a 35 story building). A team of everyone's deckers pretty much has their way with Omnitek on the matrix-side. They steal paydata, raid bank accounts. Anything of value is their's. They also provide matrix cover for the rest of the 'runners, who enter the facility and systematically kill everyone there, eventually finding McDermit, his team, and Omnitek's heads on the top level. After they've been eliminated, the building is leveled with explosives, while they again make their escape into the sewars from the basement. Lone Star and the rest never heard a peep of outcry from Omnitek until the whole thing droped.
Aftermath
Nuyen, and lots of it. Everyone should receive at least a million, if not more. Or let them pick up that piece of gear they've always wanted while they pilliage Omnitek. MP Lasers. Excalibers. Whatever. Our team also made off with the deed to the Seattle estate, and now use it as a safe house and base of operations. Rep-wise, things change. A clear message is sent out to Johnson's everywhere. "We've grown accustomed to our employers attempting to backstab us. It's expected now. However, do not presume you are beyond reach in your ivory towers. No person, group, or entity is entirely safe. If you attempt to destroy us as a whole, expect the same in return. Tread lightly..."
Karma & Rep: I usually award 4-12, depending on mission (session), danger, and fun had by all. The big one at the end should probably not award less than 12, but could go as high as 20. Play it big. This is a game-altering event, with shadowrunners completely wiping out a corporation. Survivors should have incredible rep after this, with Johnsons clamoring for their services. The Johnsons should also be afraid (for a while, anyway) that what happened to Omnitek will befall them as well.