"The Minotaur and the Bio-Agent"
A Shadowrun Duels Scenario by MetalTongue2002
Tasked with obtaining a sample of a rare and exclusive bio-agent two rival Shadowrun teams must team up to bring down a powerful Monitaur Shaman in the emply of the Saeder-Krupp Corporation. But only one team can leave with the prize...
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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
An experimental bio-agent, created by the Saeder-Krupp Corporation, is being transported to an undisclosed location. Both Mitsuhama Computer Technologies and the Yamatetsu Corporation have gained knowledge of this through underground sources in the matrix. These two mega-corporations have hired their own group of runners to attempt to steal this valuable experiment in hopes to create a new and powerful weapon.
Arriving at the same time, both teams of runners notice that the agent is being transported by a huge minotaur shaman. They’re only choice is to team up and eliminate the minotaur shaman before turning on each other.
Objective
The bio-agent must be taken. Both teams are fighting over control of the bio-agent. The team to leave with the bio-agent through a designated exit point wins.
The Designated Exit Point
This point is to be placed on the opposite edge of the board as the minotaur shaman. The two teams of runners start the game on this side of the board with at least 15 inches seperating the two teams. Only the agent carrier must make it off the board at this point to win.
The Minotaur Shaman
The Minotaur shaman itself is to have two turns per round. Each team has control of one of the turns. When rolling for initiative, each turn is rolled seperately. The minotaur shaman has two sets of dice. Each team gets one set of it's dice. Each set of dice includes 2 white d6's, 2 yellow d6's, 1 red d6 and 1 red d4. Each of the minotaur shaman's turns allows it to move once and attack twice. When an attack is made on the minotaur shaman the opposing team chooses which dice (to be taken from the defender's minotaur pool) to roll for dodging. If the attack is successful, the defending player designates which dial to apply damage to, with the exception for any green aces (use these as per the normal rules). If the minotaur shaman is hit with a black ace it must roll a skill check of yellow/defense/20. If this skill check is failed the minotaur shaman drops the bio-agent and must spend dice on it's next available turn to pick it back up (see special rules for bio-agent). If the minotaur shaman is still alive and someone else holds the bio-agent, every movement and attack must be geared towards getting the vials back. i.e. the minotaur shaman can only, and must attack and move towards the current carrier.
Stats for the Minotaur Shaman Note: (b = 1 bullet hole)
Head/Movement : 4(RedSheild) 4 3 3 2 1 1 1b 0bb bbb
Body/Defense: 10(BlueSheild) 10 9(Yellowsheild) 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0b 0bb bbb
Arms/Attack: 10 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1b 1bb bbb
Ruler:
Close range:1-4(+2 on 1-4)
Magic Range:1-10 (+1 on 4-10)
Gear: The shaman wears an amulet that gives him a yellowsheild 4 and a greensheild 4. The Minotaur shaman does not equip any other gear and does not have 12 slots to fill.
The Bio-Agent
The bio-agent is considered a 2 point gear (with 1 dice for picking up reasons only). If it is being picked up, the person must have the available slots to do so. This is done as per the rules of dropping/picking up gear. There is one exception though. To pick this up, a person (or minotaur shaman) is only allowed to spend only a white dice. If the person, other than the minotaur shaman, carrying the bio-agent is hit with a tech ace, then the bio-agent is dropped (instead of choosing any other gear)
Any figure may attempt to steal the bio-agent from the carrier. To do so the figure attempting the steal must be in base contact and make a white/arm/25 skill check and have slots available to carry the agent. Making this check though will will take up all attack actions for the turn, leaving only movement options left.
Dropping the Bio-Agent
Any time the Bio-agent is dropped, there is a chance that one of the vials will break. The person who dropped the vials must make a white or yellow/Head/15 check. If this check fails, one of the vials is broken and everyone in a 15 inch radius must take 1 click of damage to every dial.
Victory
The team with the figure to leave at the designated point with the bio-agent wins.
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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
"The MInotaur and the Bio-Agent" was written way back in 2003 and has been included in the 2020 Advent Calendar without permission from the author as I failed to track them down. It was first published on Orcs in the Webbe on Sunday 6th December 2020.
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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