TEXT:  Shadowrun 101 - A Basic Run 
  Branson Hagerty (Blackjack's Shadowrun Page http://shadowrun.html.com/users/blackjack/) Posted April 01, 1996
  A simple sample: 
  Joe samurai is hired to break into a corp's office and steal the CPU from his desktop computer. They need
  the hardware within three hours. It is now one in the afternoon. The name of the corporation is Corp Inc.
  It is located in an A section of downtown Seattle. The office of Mr. Coogle, the corp, is located on the
  tenth floor in room 12. 
  Possible courses of action, can you guess which one's the best? 
  A. Joe samurai walks into the lobby of Corp Inc. with a panther cannon and a LAW screaming, "Is there
  a Mr. Coogle here? I'm looking for a Mr. Coogle..." 
  B. Joe samurai drives his heavily armed and recently stolen City Master into the lobby, pops open the
  hatch, and screams "Is there a Mr. Coogle here? I'm looking for a Mr. Coogle..." 
  C. Joe samurai hooks up with Joan decker and Jack shaman and they drive to the location, Joan in a
  separate car. They drive past the building once and pull into a nearby parking lot, five new yen an hour.
  Joan had noticed two security cameras on the outside of the building and a guard in the lobby. Jack
  shaman tells everybody he'll be right back, pops into astral space and discovers that astral security, if any,
  is out to lunch. He also spots a guard and a camera by the elevator of each floor. Before being frightened
  back into his body by a pissed off Spirit Of Man he takes a quick look at the target room, discovering no
  security systems and what could possible be Mr. Coogle happily singing to himself on the can. He returns
  to find Joan gone and Joe buck naked in the back of the Brumby, changing into a suit. Jack briefs Joe on
  the corporation's "security" and Joe laughs so hard that he almost drops his fake ID. Joe in turn informs
  Jack that while he was gone Joan phoned a friend who gave he some access codes and a floor plan which
  she printed out before leaving to find a nice isolated place to jack in. Jack says "neato" and flips a coin as
  he cannot decide whether to stun someone as a diversion, or blow something up. It comes up tails and
  Jack begins to look around for a nice Electrocar he can Wreck. Jack puts on his head set and Joe thinks
  his into action as he exits the vehicle and merges with the rush of corporate foot traffic. After stopping
  for a soy wiener at a small cart across the street from Corp Inc. the security cameras begin to nod.
  Everything is clear. As Joe crosses the street he notices that there is a patrol car in the area and informs
  Jack that he should not blow up anything just yet. He enters the building and is promptly intercepted by a
  big, burly security guard named Alf who requests to see his ID. Joe produced the fake and holds his
  breath. Alf's expression turns to that of a smile as he compliments Mr. Shurbert's new hair cut and allows
  him to proceed. Joe runner enters an elevator, notices that the one and three buttons are flashing in rapid
  sequence, and quickly gets off. Apparently Joan thinks it better that he take the stairs. Hoping that
  nobody noticed the trip up he briskly enters a stairwell and begins the climb to the tenth floor. On the way
  up he notices that one of the security cameras is nodding, smiles, and continues on his way. Once at the
  tenth floor he walks at a business person speed past the guard and over to office twelve. He knocks.
  Nobody answers. Apparently Mr. Coogle is out getting lunch, or else unconscious on the toilet. Joe
  figures it is possibility one and comes to the realization that he's been standing in front of the office door
  for a good ten seconds and the guard is beginning to take notice. Quickly he enters a security code and,
  with a loud obnoxious yelp, the device rejects it. He tries another and the same thing occurs. Joe runner is
  beginning to get worried, even more so as the guard approaches with a quizzical look on his skinny elven
  face. This would be a good time for Joe to panic, were he not a professional. He quickly surveys the
  situation. Guard at four meters, two business types in the vicinity as well. He hears Jack's headset hit the
  
  van floor. The guard is in Joe's face now. Jack has a Manhunter in his belt. He decides to wait. A call on
  the guard's radio. A seemingly possessed troll has barged into the lobby and has commenced with
  urinating on everything. All available guards to the lobby. The camera behind the guard begins to nod and
  the door lock snaps open. Joe runner says something witty as he and the guard part and Joe enters the
  office. Jack is back on his head set and explains that the troll was his idea as Joe breaks out his electronics
  kit and removes Mr. Coogle's CPU. Joan's voice startles him as it suddenly emerges from an intercom
  box and she informs him that the print scanners on the elevator buttons are now deactivated. On the way
  down Joe decides to be safe and take the stairs anyway. He exits onto the street after wading through a
  crowd of business types and security personnel who have gathered to watch the now hog tied troll roll
  around on the floor and attempt to figure out what the hell is going on. Joe stops for another hot dog
  before meeting up with Jack and Joan and heading to the drop off location. 
  Which option's best? If you guessed C, you get a cookie. 
  This run is probably one of the simplest out there. No assault cannons or Wasps or dragons or Black IC
  or demons with your name on them. A simple in and out. Joe samurai's scenario went off fairly well. Here
  are some points I felt were important. 
  *The GM didn't do anything to bail Joe out of a tough situation, his fellow runners did. Had Jack just sat
  around doing nothing the events on the tenth floor could have turned ugly. Had Joan done the same he
  never would have made it off the ground floor. Joan had a constant eye on Joe's progress and made sure
  his path was clear. Jack was ready to jump in at a moment's notice, which he did without putting himself
  or the rest of the team in further risk. 
  *Joe kept his cool. He could have started blasting when cornered on the tenth's floor and may have
  succeeded in his mission using methods of that type. But he didn't have to, and probably didn't want to.
  Blowing away a messed up ex-runner with a vendetta against children is one thing. Taking out a security
  guard for walking down the hallway is another. 
  It is doubtful that any actual run would ever go down this smoothly. Usually the group is lacking either
  the necessary equipment or personnel required to do the job perfectly. Had Joan not existed the entire
  approach to the situation would have been different. This team used what they had to their utmost
  potential and that is what made the difference. 
  This story also represents my own personal bias against what I deem unnecessary violence. The group
  could have pumped the building full of cyanide and then blown it up after taking the loot. They could
  have gone in with silent APDS flinging assault rifles and taken everybody out. And as a GM I should
  tolerate their actions without bias. But I normally won't. This doesn't mean you can't snipe off guards
  around a compound or HMG a gang headquarters. Sometimes you almost have to. But think first: Is this
  what my character would really do? And if he would, make sure you can justify it to yourself in several
  ways just to be sure. Sometimes you have to do really terrible things to live, just make sure you're not
  living to do really terrible things. Unless that's what your character is all about. 
  In which case he won't even make it through one of my gaming sessions. 
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Shadowrun [multi]/EXTRAS/GM Tips and Suggestions/BITRsr101.pdf