"Rival Gangs"

A Shadowrun Duels Scenario by Matt Vanek

Outside gated communities and the protection of corporate-backed private security, street gangs rule the city.  Rumbles with other gangs are common when one has something the other wants...

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What is Shadowrun?

"It is the latter half of the 21st century. Magic has returned to the world, awakening powerful creatures of myth and legend. Technology merges with flesh and consciousness. Elves, trolls, orks and dwarves walk among us, while ruthless corporations bleed the world dry. You are a shadowrunner – a mercenary living on the fringes of society, in the shadows of massive corporate arcologies, surviving day-by-day on skill and instinct alone. When the powerful or the desperate need a job done, you get it done... by any means necessary."

Shadowrun is a science fantasy setting based in a near-future universe in which cybernetics, magic and fantasy creatures co-exist. Thematically it combines the genres of cyberpunk, urban fantasy and crime, with occasional elements of conspiracy, horror and detective fiction.

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What is Shadowrun Duels?

Shadowrun Duels was a collectible miniatures game produced by WizKids back in 2003, set in the world of Shadowrun.

Unusually the Shadowrun Duels 'miniatures' are big 1:12 scale action figures each with a separate base that has three Clix dials. This twist on their single dial Heroclix range allows the figures to take damage in one of three areas (Head, Weapon, or Body) as they fight during the game.

A clever multi coloured dice based mechanic also allows for a level of roleplaying to be easily included in scenarios along with multiple options for different equipment and weaponry that can be chosen from before each game.

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Rival Gangs: Introduction

Outside gated communities and the protection of corporate-backed private security, street gangs rule the city.  The scum of the Redmond Barrens band together to “protect” their own section of town.   Since gang members are not always predisposed to an honest day’s work, rumbles with other gangs are common when one has something the other wants...    

Setting the Stage

In this scenario, two rival gangs raid each other’s turf to steal a valuable item.  This could be a weapon, credstick or a case of drugs.

Teams should be even in points.  Dice for alpha team.

Each team takes turns placing 1d4 + 3 pieces (total, not per team) of terrain on the battlefield.  The alpha team places first. 

Each team deploys at opposite ends of the battlefield with their dials placed against the edge.  An objective marker is placed within 5 inches from each gang’s edge of the board.  These are the objectives for the game.  To take an item, a shadowrunner must have 3 pts of gear space.  If they do not, they must drop equipment (per the advanced rules).  In addition, the runner must remove two dice from his or her base to pick up the item.     

If a gang member dies, they automatically drop the objective. 

Objectives

The first team to successfully raid their rivals and return with the item to their own deployment zone wins the game.  A team can also claim victory if all rivals are killed.

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Not a Shadowrun Duels Player?

As with any scenario ever written it can easily be adapted for any gaming system with a little work. If the theme matches you don't need to change the blurb but often a little personalisation for your campaign or setting helps. You also need to check the scale, as long as it works with your rules thats fine. Lastly, and the hardest part is adapting any special rules the scenario contains to your ruleset.

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Webmaster’s Notes

"Retrieval" was written way back in 2003 and has been included in the 2019 Advent Calendar with kind permission from the author. It was first published on Orcs in the Webbe on Wednesday 18th December 2019.

Shadowrun Duels is now out of print but the figures can be found every now and again on eBay, alternatively you can use any number of near future or sci fi miniatures to represent Runners in your games of Shadowrun.

The Shadowrun Duels rules including Jeremy Schwennen's expanded Shadowrun Duels Reloaded can be found in PDF format here on OITW.

For anyone not familiar with Shadowrun there are a variety of places on the internet you can learn more, one of which is the game's Wikipedia page here.

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