Some advice for a newbie SR4 GM?

[Feriority]

I'm pretty sure none of my players read this forum, but if a player in your game tonight tried and failed to play remotely over a telepresence robot from three different computers, you're either my group or my group's evil twins, and maybe you want to not get spoilers.

So, as the topic says, I'm DMing a Shadowrun 4e game. I'm fairly new to the system (prior experience was a game that didn't make it far) and completely new to GMing it, and so I picked "On The Run" as a good beginner adventure. Spoilers ahead:

Things were going as well as could be expected, until the end of the concert. Their goal was to sneak in, steal some data from Nabo (the ork ex-gangster rockstar who a contact claimed had gotten an email about the data they're trying to track down), and sneak out. On their way out, a rival gang attacked the concert, and they were able to use the confusion to escape. Sort of.

They turned around, thinking they should help Nabo escape - he might be grateful and have more information for them! Well, his guards didn't shoot them after seeing their marksman pick off some enemy gangers, but when Nabo and the guards drove off without the party... their hacker stopped the car. The guards decide to shoot first and ask questions never, and eventually we have the PCs and Nabo left, and Nabo has been disarmed. They decide, because they wanted to ask him questions anyway, and he just saw them kill a bunch of dudes, they should take him with them.

So now, having accidentally kidnapped a rockstar, it dawns on them that they are in major trouble. He gets away eventually, and between his gang and Lone Star they figure they're not going to have a good time of things... so their plan is to escape Seattle and head for San Francisco, to party in the CFS and continue their investigation out of sight until things die down a little.

So now I'm trying to learn more about the CFS, and come up with either a way for them to continue the adventure or some new hook to pull them along on. I also need to figure out how they're getting to SF (a road trip through Tir Tairngire seems like a bad idea, and while to some extent getting out of Seattle is their problem I'd at least like to understand the options since nobody at the table has a lot of setting knowledge).

Any suggestions?

[TheCountAlucard]

If I might say so… On the Run is a little more complex than I'd care for an introductory adventure; I like to go with Food Fight. :smallsmile:

Anyway, why should some killings change things? Shadowrunners are already on bad terms with law enforcement; unless they SERIOUSLY burned some bridges, or did something like give away their names and home addresses or something, the worst they will have to do is lay low for a month, kill their old SINs (but runners already go through those like candy) and maybe get some facial reconstruction surgery.

Shadowrun's already a system where the PCs are criminals, often dealing with gangsters, wetwork, and darker things still, and they generally come packing with enough illegal gear to send the 'Star into conniption fits.

You could even just say, "Slap two points of notoriety onto your character sheets, we're going to another adventure." Or even continue the adventure with some increased risk of getting spotted by the cops, if the PCs got the paydata and you think you're okay to continue.

[Feriority]

Oh, some of us had already done Food Fight, and another player is somewhat experienced (but for various reasons can't actually GM this one).

It wasn't the killings that were such a big deal (if they had run then, I would have let them get away with it), it's the part where they kidnapped a pretty famous rockstar that has them worried now.

[TheCountAlucard]

They kidnapped a gangster rock star. An ork gangster rock star. An ork gangster rock star, who was already in the process of having folks try and gun him down.

I'm not saying it's nothing to worry about, but I am saying that it probably shouldn't be the end of their Seattle careers unless that's something they really want to do.

In fact, in more than a couple of scenarios, the moving itself can be more dangerous. The folks in your new place might suspect you're trying to move in on their turf, or worse, ally with their enemies.

[Feriority]

Alright. So, since they have the data they wanted, the appropriate response here is more "have them run into the gang at a very inopportune moment", rather than "have the gang hunting them down"? And since Lone Star's going to have issues with them anyway, no big deal there?

[TheCountAlucard]

Largely. This is far from belonging on the C.L.U.E. Files.

[Earthwalker]

I would also go with adding on some notoriety and leave it at that.

they can skip town if they want but its not needed yet.
Apart from car, you can fly and train it to CFS. I seem to remember doing a murder on the orient express on a train from Seattle to San Fran (it is enclosed in the sections across the Tir.