A trope, a seed
Back in the 90s, my GM ran a "Thieve's guild" adventure for D&D. You know the drill: something's going on in town, the PCs track a trail and find a secret entrance to a dungeon, they realize there's a thieves' guild creating the trouble, they deal with it and get the treasure. Then I found a few fan-written "thieve's guild" but had no resemblance to my friend's, just the main concept. Years later, while trying to wrap my head aroung Mage, I asked a friend what would be the "thieve's guild" equivalent for Mage (he said it was "defend a node"). I now call these "seeds", or maybe tropes (but I wouldn't call them that for a long while).
The milk run
Fast-forward to just a few years ago... I had discovered Shadowrun and felt dry with ideas for getting started. I googled for a while and came up with a reddit post recommending a "Milk run". Basically, have the crew tasked with snatching something from someone, most likely a courier, and then just let them see how they go about it.
Perhaps you have to let them figure out how to track the mark or maybe give them a nudge. They get to decide if they want to do it stealthily or forcefully. Maybe the police arrives. Maybe the courier is armed and trained. And of course, maybe the patron never intended to pay them after delivery anyway.
Do you have any go-to seeds you like to use for SciFi games?
Image by ttrpg.network/u/roflo1, based on milk in a bottle, Matt Bango, CC0 and Bol, Petit déjeuner, Muesli.
