Shadowrun Session 2 Recap

This will likely be a bit brief, but there was some interest in what happened in the second Shadowrun session so I figured I'd share. If you don't like posts describing actual play, by all means feel free to skip today (also, let me know in the comments.) November is almost over, so we'll be going back to a more regular schedule soon. Unless people prefer the more fast and loose formatting on updates. Personally, I like the regular schedule. That said, let's get going.

The session started right where we left off. The players were in a room with a bunch of dead goons and one dead cybered up dwarf. Two of the party members wanted the body to sell on the black market to make some money off the oreal. Two of the party members weren't sure what was going on. One didn't care. Everyone knew they had to go fast though because the dwarf's gang was closing in fast.

this led to the first half of the session being a mechanics heavy run and gun fest as the gang members came on the group in waves, and the PCs fought their way back to the stair case. Once they made it to the stairway I went more vague. I had the players make some rolls, spend some ammo, and just assigned some wounds to reflect a long, drawn out gunfight in the stairwell. Long story short though: the players made it out of Wasp territory and were able to get back to their floor.

From there the PCs split up. One character needed a doc badly, and two of them wanted to use that doc to sell the dead dwarf and his cyber. The doc in question was a loyalty 3 contact to one of the players, so I asked them a simple question "is your street doc friend on the up and up or is he kind of shady as all hell?" the player said that he's always played straight with him, but as an illegal street doc he could probably seem shady to others. Unfortunately the player didn't have much more in mind for their contact so I made up the rest.

Enter Jon the street doc. Jon is an ork and a "person of color." His assistant is a female ork with latino origins that has a big pink mohawk, wears tight leather pants, and keeps a couple of long knives (closer to short swords really) on hand at most times. She's also into piercings, scarring, and tattoos. Jon is a bit more down to earth. The conversation starts about the body the players want to sell. Jon is not amused. He can't get into organlegging. No one is going to trust a street doc that is known for pulling cyber out of bodies - even just dead bodies - and selling it. It'd be horrible for him. However, he likes Wog (the player) and so decides to help him out. He gives Wog a contact number for someone he met once that does do organ legging. The players make the call and set up a meet.

The meet goes down at the docks. Perfect place for an ambush and everyone's brought friends with guns to make sure they aren't on the losing end. Luckily though, the sale goes off without a hitch. 20,000 nuyen for one dead, headless dwarf body and all the cyber in him. The players are amazed with how much money they got. The contact, a man calling himself Johnson (of course) gives them his card. He's with the Tamanous Syndicate (one of my players actually growled/groaned here in recognition. Hah! :P ) Still, money is money and everyone is happy to get paid. They use the cash to pay off their expenses from the gun fight and split the rest up evenly. Everyone gets a nice payday for what amounts to a few hours of work.

The end result? Willa is on her own. She's a senior in high school and the man who raised her just died. Bills are going to be coming in for that, and how she reacts will determine a lot. The players are together more or less. They know they can function as a group and that they even do well. Finding jobs that way could be a thing they do going forward. Wilhelm has discovered that body armor is a good thing. I feel this is an important step for him.

Mechanically? The session was fairly basic. We're still getting core mechanics down and there is a LOT to get down. Hopefully, soon, I'll be able to introduce AR/VR and some of the rest of the world into the game.

As a GMing win, I think I handled the organ legging very well. I got to use a contact to explain the issue and consequences IC to characters who are new to what they do. I think the NPCs reaction also helped cement how badly it can be looked upon, and if nothing else it put out there that there is more to organlegging than just getting fat checks. At the same time, I think the 20k (more than the players expected, and the first offer from the Tamanous Johnson) shows that it can be lucrative if you do it right. Now the PCs just get to decide which way they go.

For the next session I'm planning to slow it down a bit. Focus on the individual characters and their plights. After all, I have a young girl to chase around with monetary woes and a world of options for her to make money in. :)