Security Guards to get Police Powers

[ReHerakhte]

One hint that I can give is letting the PCs get information that can compromise the enemy. The enemy is still too powerful for the PCs to destroy but not for the government (or rival corporation). The trick is to have information that the government (or corporation) can use to ruin the enemy such as proof of corruption, black market dealing or tax evasion on a massive scale.

The government can legally take action without the "truth" being shown to the public and the PCs know that they were the ones to find the vital information and then passed it on to the authorities. To be a little clearer, the information isn't necessarily about evil creatures from another dimension but about something highly illegal that the enemy is doing. The fact that there are evil creatures from another dimension involved is something the government wants to keep from the public.

This can also let you give the PCs a reward in the form of a government contact who while not necessarily being able to give the PCs lots of cool gear, can order certain kinds of military/police operations to happen - so next time the PCs get involved with a really powerful enemy, they have the choice of dealing with it themselves or passing the details on to the government contact who can order a special forces group to deal with it.
Basically this means that the PCs can call in a military strike on the bad guys if they need to!

Some Players like this kind of power but others feel that it robs them of their ability to deal with the problem themselves so I'd say try it once and if the Players like the idea that's good, if not it's time to try something else

[Zvezda]

I like the ideas of playing one organisation against the other. It’s even cooler if the PCs somehow manage to play one group of darklings against the other.

The scenario is very much like I would have played it in a CP2020 setting. Besides the Government contact, which I have to remember because it is a really helpful idea. I definitely must try that one. Even though DC and Cyberpunk have not too much in common, in both games the players are occasionally up against the big corporations and sometimes they manage to gather information that can be very harmful. Currently I run DC differently. Here this information would basically change nothing for the corporation. Given that the corporations in question are generally on the “too big to fail” level there is nothing the PCs can do to harm them. The only convenient way I have found out of this was to let the players deal with minor threats like super-rats in an abandoned factory.

If I remember correctly one person was fired in the Google scandal when the corporation deliberately spied on wi-fi users. More serious cases like Coca Cola using death squads to clear their bottling plants in Columbia of trade unionists or Chiquita financing terrorist organisations did not harm the corporations in a considerable way either. The same goes for Siemens and their famous corruption scandal in Greece. I think no one was ever convicted in that case. Neither in Greece nor in Germany. Nike’s use of slave labour has brought up some criticism if I remember correctly but that was about it. No sales drops, no fines. Apple and the working conditions? Nothing. Not even the scale of the Bhopal disaster with thousands of deaths and half a million injured could put a big player out of business. Despite the fact that the disaster was man-made. The lives of all these people were deliberately put at risk to save some money by turning the security measures off.

And things get even worse if you take a look at the crimes governments are involved. And I mean those proven to the public or even those admitted by the perpetrators, the death toll is generally a bit higher while the impact is next to non. Rainbow Warrior ended with one minister resigning and the terrorists serving some moths before being shipped to France and being decorated with honours and promotions. The publications of Wikileakes have lead to one arrest. Bradley Manning. Nobody denies that every NATO war of aggression has been started by using the media to lie to the public. From the Tonkin incident to the Incubator Lie and than to the WMDs…here the list is endless.

The problem is that I would like to find a ay which incorporates both. The cinematic way of putting the bad guy to justice while not turning DC into Disney World. The Conspiracy should remain dangerous and difficult to prove but an occasional victory would put a lot more fun in the game.

[ReHerakhte]

I'd have to say I pretty much agree with everything you've said about corporations and what they can get away with. I suppose in terms of the game the best way to approach it is that the information is so important that the government/rival corporation is willing to take military action (or para-military police action) against the badguy corporation.

Alternatively, the information could be so damaging to certain specific individuals in the corporation (who just so happen to be the ones that the PCs are fighting), that the badguy's own bosses are willing to sacrifice the badguy to keep the corp. looking "clean". This could mean something as lightweight as the badguy being fired from the job or it could be much worse, such as being assassinated or publicly humiliated.

Public humiliation could mean that the badguy is stripped of any rank they have and also perhaps various assets (such as wealth, vehicles etc. etc.) and maybe they also have to carry out some public act of contrition.
Either way, the badguy is no longer such a problem for the PCs - but if you choose the public humiliation path, it means the badguy might just find out who passed on the incriminating evidence and now wants revenge against them

[Zvezda]

Thanks for the ideas. Making one person the bad guy rather than one corporations has turned out to be a very convenient way. That person now is the main focus of the PCs. Very nice, even though the rest of the corporation is just as evil they now have one enemy which they are able to harm.

@Linden: I watched Law&Order. Brilliant. Should be added to the DC film list. I had real difficulties with the language, learned a few new words, like Blagger and Brief... probably the best TV show about real police work.

[Linden]

@Linden: I watched Law&Order. Brilliant. Should be added to the DC film list. I had real difficulties with the language, learned a few new words, like Blagger and Brief... probably the best TV show about real police work.

I think the cockney slang is overdone at times and certainly watching it for the first time had trouble following some of the terminology. I think it's all the more powerful for being filmed documentary style and the performances being relatively flat.I still find the last episode, set in prison, quite hard to watch.

Incidentally Ken Campbell who plays the Brief was a stand up comedian. I was lucky enough to catch one of his live performances circa 1990 which was equal parts baffling and hilarious - much of his act concerned a friend who'd gone barmy after reading a certain book and/or play.Had more than a touch of the King in Yellow about it.

[Morthrai]

Incidentally Ken Campbell who plays the Brief was a stand up comedian. I was lucky enough to catch one of his live performances circa 1990 which was equal parts baffling and hilarious - much of his act concerned a friend who'd gone barmy after reading a certain book and/or play.Had more than a touch of the King in Yellow about it.

I never got to see Ken Campbell live. I was supposed to be going to the Fortean Times UnConvention which turned out to be his last appearance before he passed away but couldn't make it

[Linden]

I never got to see Ken Campbell live. I was supposed to be going to the Fortean Times UnConvention which turned out to be his last appearance before he passed away but couldn't make it

He was definitely interested in the weird and esoteric. Also married to Prunella Gee, star of Nigel Kneale penned sitcom "Kinvig", the lucky sod.