TEXT: �
  The BlackPowder Plague 
  by Richard Harris �
  �
  I guess I've been reading too many good books recently, or eating too much cheese before bedtime. 
  I always wondered, what would Cyberpunk be like if we didn't have any guns? Would we really have street samurais? How would the 
  Powers That Be keep control....or would they? 
  Would the underclass get shafted again, as only the rich can afford energy weapons? 
  What this post is, it a sketch of a possible campaign featuring such an idea. 
  OVERVIEW  
  Society is almost in total collapse.... you've got armed kids 
  shooting at the cops.... cops shooting at corps.... and corps 
  arming all sides. Just what the f*** is going on?  
  What if you could do something about it? What if you knew 
  the world would be a safer place without SMGs, snipers and 
  holdups at the seven-eleven.  
  What if you had technology that could kill guns....? Or, more 
  to the point, what if you had that technology that spread.....  
  The cops can always use static guns... they stop, but they 
  don't kill. Maybe that's what this old world needs... a wakeup 
  call to down tools.  
  STREET GOSSIP  
  "Yeah, I've heard about the gun troubles people have been 
  having. I reckon it's just a batch of faulty ammo.... more of the 
  cheap arab crap that Militech is importing."  
  "It's a good thing if you ask me. Gun deaths and down... I 
  dunno what the cops are doing though. Di Marno's meatboys 
  are out in force at the mo, get this, they're not packing!"  
  "You mean the plague? Well, the corps haven't been hit by it 
  yet. So I hear it's just cheap ammo again. Saying that, I don't 
  think it's that cut and dry. I reckon its the NSA, tooling us all 
  down to take out the bad parts of america."  
  "Hey, you seen that vid footage of Dweeb's netsite? Militech 
  goons spraying their building with some anti-bacterial agent. I 
  told you they were behind it."  
  THE INCIDENT  
  One of the player's main weapons will start to jam and misfire. 
  By D4 days, *any* ammo or weapon the player has touched, 
  will NOT fire.  
  Caseless ammo is affected more quickly than old brass 
  ammo. Caseless rounds become useless within D4 days, 
  while brass cased ammo packs in after D6 days of infection.  
  NEWS BROADCASTS  
  Channel Six: "The Major of Night City, Mrs Emily Ronson, has 
  called her first emergency act since her recent election. 
  Continued problems with NCPD firearms have resulted in the 
  emergency release of static guns to officers. When pressed 
  for more information, the Chief of Police, CEO Markus de 
  Whit said he had no comment."  
  HardCore: "You're telling me the government didn't know 
  about this? It's a plague I tell you. No comment from de Whit 
  and Ronson recalls all the cops just happen to have enough 
  volt guns to keep themselves safe. What about you and me, 
  huh? We need to defend our homes, our families... This is 
  Mike Hunter for HardCore News."  
  CORPORATE ANNOUNCEMENTS  
  Militech: "No Miss Jones, we are not behind this alleged 
  plague, isn't that very close to slander? The spraying incident 
  you refer to was merely part of our routine building 
  maintenance. If customers have any problems with equipment 
  purchased through the Home Defence Network, may I 
  suggest they visit our net site, or contact the customer care 
  line."  
  Monarch Corporate Security: "Yes, we have withdrawn many 
  of the sidearms our agents carry. We are concerned by the 
  increase in misfires, so we have provided our officers with 
  energy based systems. We have always preferred stun 
  weaponry over shoot to kill."  
  Biologic: "We have been carrying out tests for numerous 
  parties. I am not a liberty to say who, although I can say that 
  an outside agent is responsible for causing ammunition to fail. 
  We have yet to discern if such an agent is either bacterial or 
  nanotechnological."  
  
  BEHIND IT?  
  Rumours:  
  - Any energy weapon company would rub their hands if the 
  old chemical slug throwers packed in.  
  - The cops would love to bring the no-go areas back under 
  police jurisdiction.  
  - Any government or corp, who wanted an unarmed 
  population. You can bring order back, before releasing the 
  antidote. Or, you could never release the antidote and hang 
  on to power.  
  - Anti-gun lobbies, need I say more?  
  - A foreign power, or megacorp, could use this as a pre-
  invasion tactic.  
  - The orbitals who are sick of groundsiders shooting up 
  habitats.  
  The Truth:  
  Well, if your players are reading this, then I'd mix and match 
  from the options above.  
  Personally, my take on this is a nanotech/bacterial expert. 
  Maybe someone left over from one of the old government 
  germ warfare projects.  
  I'd be tempted to say he (or she) was funded privately, or 
  maybe by some shadowy corp/government agency. The latter 
  is a little to obvious, but then it's your choice on this.  
  The developer should be to nanotech, what Newton was to 
  physics. He is a genius, but his ideas were twisted, or he was 
  deluded into releasing the agent.  
  He is: 
  - working on an antidote to fix the mess he's made. 
  - has no plans to release an antidote. 
  - is unable to make a fix (being held captive by another party). 
  - has the antidote, but is being kept from releasing it.  
  POSSIBLE ADVENTURE HOOKS  
  This all depends on how you want your game to develop.  
  HARD OPTION 
  You could take it that the agent is almost unkillable and that 
  would mean the loss of most firearms within the game. 
  Obviously, this would take some serious thought and would 
  take your game out of the Cyberpunk game setting. Maybe 
  you could use this as a one off campaign.....  
  SOFT OPTIONS  
  - The plague could burn itself out.  
  - Maybe an "immune" chemical propellant is now for sale.  
  - Someone releases an antidote.  
  The top two options would lead to "gun loss" being simply 
  temporary. In any event, prices for weapons that are not 
  affected, such as lasers, tasers, static pistols, etc, are going 
  to go through the roof.  
  The third option (IMO), gives the most scope for a long 
  scenario. How about a chase to find the developer(s) and 
  locate the antidote? (see "The Truth" above).  
  Of course, you'd have to convince him/her/them to give you 
  the antidote..... that might not be easy. (I'd be tempted to have 
  the player's play on the developer's conscience - rather than 
  outright violence - although that could work <g>).  
  You could have a race to get the antidote.  
  - The player's might want to release it and return to the old 
  world.  
  - A government/corp might want it for a bioweapon (now they 
  have the antidote).  
  - A government/corp might want to keep it and NOT release it 
  (either "ever" or until they can benefit from doing so).  
  - Anyone not wanting the cure to be released. Anti-gun 
  factions might like the new status quo, or the energy weapon 
  manufacturers now they are onto a winner.  
  HOW DID IT HAPPEN?  
  I'll ignore the "it can't happen arguments". The agent is merely 
  a plot device, that's all.  
  I order to infect such a large area, the developer will have 
  needed outside help in some manner. Those are your first 
  clues to tracking them down.  
  Some of the easier ways of releasing an infectious agent 
  could be:  
  - Into the subway system (as per the old British flu test during 
  the war - allegedly).  
  - Into the water supply. The bug is harmless to people, but not 
  to gunpowder. You wash your hands don't you?  
  - Airburst the agent into the clouds or have it dropped by 
  advertising blimps.  
  - Plant small release containers in key locations (ie: subways, 
  water plants, shopping malls, air condition systems, etc).  
   
   
  
  HOW CAN WE FIND THE DEVELOPER?  
  - One of the players knows someone who planted one of the 
  dispersion systems.  
  - One of the players was paid to plant the dispersion system 
  (bit of a twist - that's fun if the hunters know about that).  
  - The players locate of the dispersion systems and manage to 
  trace it's source (ie: a lab company makes them specially, 
  psychometry, or one of the techie players actually made a 
  similar one!).  
  - One of the players knows someone who is a nanotech 
  expert. Maybe they can provide a list of suspects. (this option 
  will be slow and gives the most chance of players bumping 
  into the other hunters).  
  - A decker was paid to turn off the security measures/bacterial 
  filters for a water/air processing plant.  
  The game should then move towards a cat and mouse 
  segment. Depending on which delivery method was used, 
  affects what tracing options there are.  
  At some point, the players should bump into one, or two, of 
  the other hunters. Maybe the teams could share information, 
  although given the power/money at stake here, I think any 
  opposition is likely to be terminated (or shook down for info - 
  then terminated).  
  I think the players should find part of the developer's 
  laboratory. That could be either a disused army base or two 
  articulated lorries in the middle of nowhere.  
  Not having any operation guns would make having the site in 
  a big city risky. I'd be tempted to go for a system of sentry 
  guns (lasers or volt guns of course).  
  When the players manage to break the security, they should 
  find signs of forced entry and the lab ransacked. You could 
  have them fish out a camera recording of the assault group, 
  maybe using that trace what the opposition left in (two 
  unmarked vans or a 'copter. The latter being traceable via 
  radar - any good decker should be able to find that out).  
  Oh, and they are walking into an area owned by a nanotech 
  expert... at this point don't forget to ask them if they are 
  wearing NBC suits.... oh and to make lots of infection rolls... 
  you never know. :-)  
  CUT TO THE CHASE  
  One of my last games had the ending based on a train. 
  Perhaps I've been watching too many old movies....  
  Failing that, how about a trip on a blimp? You have the same 
  type of access problems as before.... besides, blimps are 
  more opulent and I've never seen a group blow one up yet. :-)  
  You could lead the players onto finding the developer on a 
  cross country train (after all, modern trains don't stop and are 
  well armed. It's a safe place to stay).  
  You now have the question of how the players get on board a 
  moving train/blimp. Queue the train robbery film with Sean 
  Connery. :-)  
  However you do it, there should be a show down with the 
  other hunters. That can either be a laserfight, or wolvers at 
  ten paces (I'd prefer the latter - melee gives most players the 
  willies, as they can't stay behind cover and snipe at targets).  
  If the train (or blimp) passes through any major city, you could 
  have the antidote released during a fight between the rival 
  groups. I don't think you can beat a rooftop struggle between 
  a player and a key NPC.... especially if you're gonna die if you 
  fall off. :-)  
  
  SIGNING OFF 
  Anyway, that's enough waffle from me. 
  I've not written this idea down as a step by step scenario. I find that I don't stick to anything I 
  write down anyway and my players often surprise me and I end up improvising chunks until 
  they eventually hit a major clue. 
  Add your own stuff to this print out and have fun playing it. If you have any suggestions, or the 
  outcome of any game you play, please drop me a line at richard.harris@leaderflush.co.uk or 
  synik@usa.net. 
  Cheers, 
  Rich 
  �
  �
  �
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Cyberpunk/Unofficial/Datafortress 2020 Archives/Cyberpunk 2020 - Net - Adventure - The BlackPowder Plague by Richard Harris.pdf