Runners
The Introduction
There has always been more to this world than the people normally assumed. Nevertheless, the events of November 11th of 2015 turned out to be quite a surprise even to these who fancied themselves the puppetmasters.
It was then that the first of the gates that the Elder Ones left on Earth opened, tearing a great rift into this universe - and leading into another, forever changing the landscape around Warsaw in the process. What came through it was something of a shock as well - beings that one would normally think belonged in a fantasy novel rather than reality, including a heavily wounded dragon that left precious little doubt as to the nature of the situation.
The world of fantasies had crossed over with a world where such things were nothing more than wild flights of fancy.
What followed - the tense first contact, the hesitant exploration, the discovery of the world that lied on the other side of the First Gate and the events that soon ensued - those are all matters for history books, chronicles of the change that swept over the world that you live in. They are not, however, what you are most concerned about.
That would be making money.
While the First Gate is the greatest one known so far, there are others as well - small paths, carefully hidden from mankind's eyes, but ones that nevertheless can be found and opened by those with proper knowledge and understanding. Some have been located by various governments - and some of those were also sealed away, what the Elder Ones left within them too dangerous to risk releasing on Earth. However, there are many still undiscovered - and some who have been appropriated by not entirely scrupulous organisations, who, for one reason or another, wanted to have access to the other world without having to worry about the prying eyes of the government.
The other world is full of magic, but the technology within leaves a lot to be desired, compared to what can be found on Earth - and the inhabitants of it are less than enthusiastic about the restrictions that UN had imposed on trade with them, as a means of at least attempting to keep the situation under control. And where the legal market can't provide the desired goods, the black one takes its place.
The year is 2018, three years after the First Gate opened. You are gun runners, illegal arms traders, willing to sell modern weapons to kings and warlords for incredibly lucrative prices, smuggling entire arsenals through secret gates.
Now you're going to get yourselves one hell of a retirement fund.
The Basics
The Concept
The basic concept of Runners is that the players are acting as members of an arms trading company, dealing in incredibly illegal - and even more incredibly lucrative - cross-universal arms trade, using the Gates that the government has yet to learn about to smuggle them to the world of fantasies. Though it is possible for them to have government connections; for all that the various intelligence agencies dabbled in drug trade during their darker moments, this is far more profitable than any of these could ever be.
The Situation
The world of fantasies is now connected to the modern world, apparently permanently, via the First Gate, opened by a group of escaping archmages in a moment of desperation. At the moment, they have absolutely no idea how to shut it down, and most governments are not keen on the idea of closing down stable connections with the other world in the first place. After all, the land of fantasies is no more peaceful than theirs, and what has been opened once could be opened again - but who knows what would come through this time?
While Earth is obviously lacking in magic, the difference in technological development is significant, though the exact causes for that state of affairs are still being researched. As a result, there is an incredible demand on technologically sophisticated goods from Earth in the other world - a demand that often cannot be met by what restricted trade is allowed to take place as the governments directly involved in the whole affair attempt to find out just what kind of mess they are stepping into. While consumer goods and medicines are hardly an issue, that does mean restriction on arms sales - and these are one of the things that the other world desires the most.
In truth, though, arms traders like yourselves are hardly the only ones engaging in those secret smuggling operations - there are some who specialise in the importing of magical items and works of art from the other world away from the prying eyes of the governments, and both drug cartels and human traffickers - on both sides - took to the new situation like fishes to water, to mention only some of the most significant ones.
Your Organisation
The exact rules for the creation of your organisation will be put here later. In general, though, you can easily assume at least respectable amount of assets and connections at your disposal - small fries in the business rarely involve themselves in something as big as this, and if they do, they rarely last for long. Each gate not under governmental control is an incredibly valuable resource, after all, and it just would not do to let a bunch of amateurs hog some.
The organisation generation will be done collectively by the players - or, in case of differences in opinion that are simply impossible to overcome, by assinging each player an equal number of points to spend as they see fit.
Your Characters
The exact rules for the creation of your characters will be put here later. In general, those are their personal abilities, skills, most prized possessions etc - anything big is handled under the organisation rules.
Notably, you can create characters who originally come from the other world, even non-human ones. That will be associated with its own price, and a set of specific advantages and disadvantages. (such as the ability to use magic and limited understanding of modern technology, respectively) There won't be specific racial templates etc made in advance, however, so if you want to play something other than human, tell me and I'll work something out.
The Goal
Get rich Get filthy rich.