Starting with a 'behind the scenes' bit of background, not all corporate drones are as loyal and dutiful as they'd have you believe, this opens with the standard information for the GM about how Shadowrun Missions work and how the adventure is laid out and should be run.

And so, to the adventure itself. As the title suggests, the characters are hired to perform an extraction of a corporate high-flyer from his cushioned comfort. Standard 'runner fare, one would think... and it is, up to a point. Go in, conduct a flashy hostile extraction on behalf of another organisation, and deliver the target to them. Naturally all is not as it seems... and, consistent with the underlying themes of this season of Shadowrun Missions, there are several other groups with sufficient interest in what is going on to try to influence the characters, perhaps a counter-hire, occasionally a threat or an appeal to their better natures. One group, however, wishes to conduct negotiations through the medium of hot lead!

The first scene deals with the hiring and preparation for the extraction, with the second scene being the extraction itself - plenty of opportunity for the cinematic action hero side of your 'runners to shine here. As well as a run-down of the security they will have to face there is a timeline of the corporate response to intrusion that proves very useful in keeping the game on track and everything happening at a suitably challenging speed. Extractions ought not to be a walk in the park, after all.

Assuming the extraction's successful, the rest of the adventure is fairly freeform, as the way the characters choose to act will influence its course and what the other entities involved will do. There is also a new section called Triggers which set the conditions that will cause certain things to happen or specific approaches to be made. Although compact, the information provided is replete with detail with likely questions or problems your characters might present answered ready for you. Always useful, particularly when running a game under the pressured environment of a convention time slot. If you are playing with your home group, it's still nice to have such useful information at your fingertips.

It's a rare treat to have such an open-ended game in a shared campaign. Opportunities abound for the characters to get to role-play as well as to use their skills and combat abilities. There's plenty going on, and some useful locations and contacts for those interested in long-running campaigns. Recommended.

Return to Extraction page.

Reviewed: 28 July 2011