Follow TV Tropes

Following

Web Video / Shadowrun Corporate Sins

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/corp_sins.jpg

Shadowrun: Corporate S.I.N.S tells the story of MMFEC, a group a Shadowrunners: operators who work outside of the law in a futuristic dystopian world where both magic and technology allow corporations almost total control.

The game itself is based on the Shadowrun 5th Edition RPG system and setting. During the show viewers were able to participate in the Corporate Metagame, controlling the actions of ten major Corporations and hiring the players to enact shadowruns against other, competing Corporations.

The first episode can be found here


The cast consists of:

  • Lauren Bond as the GM, and by extension, most of the supporting cast.
  • Tony Beeman as Cromwell, the team's Troll physical adept and Elsie's self styled butler
  • Jeannine Clarke as Elsie, a human teenager who acts as the team's Face
  • Claudia D. Jacob as Fang, an ork who is a former cop and now a cyborg Street Samurai
  • Dan Posluns as Mordecai, a dwarven Street Shaman
  • Cheryl Platz as Ma1nfram3 the team's snarky Decker who is an elf surgically altered to pass as human


Tropes:

  • Abusive Parents: Ma1nfram3's human parents had her surgically altered as a child to look human because she was born as an elf. This caused her to run away
  • Adult Child: Cromwell has a kids sense of right and wrong and his vision of Bear is Paddington Bear.
  • The Alleged Car: Or, van, in the case of Mordecai's van.
  • Ambiguously Bi: In the first episode Fang and Ma1nfram3 were flirting before combat started. They have also exchanged belly rubs. Fang in particular "went high' when she did Ma1nfram3. [[spoiler: When Elsie and Cromwell were planning to run to Tir Tairngire Elsie offered to invite Fang for a visit.
    Elsie: We'll hook you up with a hot elf boy. Or girl. Whatever you're into
    Fang: No reply
  • Animal Companion: Cromwell has a [[slash:bear]] "dog" that he [[slash: stole]] liberated from a [[slash: Ares Macrotechnology research facility]] zoo with the help of the Bear Doctor Society. Mordecai has a ginger tom named Cornbread that he's positively obsessive about.
  • Animal Motifs: Cromwell is a physical adept that follows the Bear totem. Mordecai is a shaman that follows the Shark totem. Fang thinks her sword contains the "Spirit of the Wolf"
  • Atrocious Alias: Most people they meet regard "MMFEC" as one, due to it sounding like a more vulgar way to say "Oh, Crap!"
  • Audience Participation: Viewers were able to help or hinder the crews progress by tipping to give the Shadowrunners or the GM extra dice to pass skill checks, perform bad ass stunts, and even summon mega shark spirits.
  • Battle Butler: Cromwell to Elsie.
  • Berserk Button: Do not try to mind control Cromwell. Hurting Emily is also a very, very bad idea.
    • It's an equally bad idea to insult or hurt Cromwell in front of Elsie.
    • As a Shark shaman Mordecai has this reaction to his blood being shed.
    • Drugs are this to Fang As they are the reason she lost her job with Lone Star even though she wasn't on any
  • Blue-Collar Warlock: As a Street Shaman Mordechai definitely qualifies.
  • Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Half the team is this. Fang is super-hyper and thinks her katana is magical when it's not, Cromwell is an Adult Child and Mordechai has some serious issues with depression, agoraphobia and technophobia.
  • Cane Fu: In the interval between episodes 6 and 7 Cromwell learns bartitsu. Because apparently being an eight-foot Troll physical adept isn't scary enough.
  • Catchphrase: Mordecai whenever he has to deliver a touch spell: "CONSENT!"
  • The Charmer: Ma1nfram3 is the only PC with Seduction as a skill and sometimes uses it in the course of a mission.
  • Cosplay: Cheryl always dresses up as Ma1nfram3. To a lesser extent so does Tony as Cromwell, mostly just wearing the hat and sometimes a monocle. Later the hat gains horns sticking out.
  • The Cracker: Ma1nfram3
  • Cyborg: Ma1nfram3, Elsie and especially Fang all have implanted tech.
  • The Cynic: Mordecai
    (to Fang when they have to obtain drugs to pacify someone they just stole from a corp): If you want to be a shadow runner, this is part of it. It's not all happiness and stabbing.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Ma1nfram3.
  • Dumb Muscle: Cromwell and Fang, who both blatantly admit it.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: The first episode had a different table setup than the rest of the series. The Audience Participation edge-giving gimmick and the series' intro both didn't appear until episode 6.
  • The Face: Elsie is explicitly this archetype, with the highest charisma and the most people skills.
  • Fake Brit: Subverted. Tony uses a really bad accent as Cromwell but Cromwell is also faking the accent which he learned from watching Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins
  • Fire-Forged Friends: At first they're just random people on a run together. By episode 6 all of them but Mordecai have become this. Mordecai...takes a little longer.
  • Friendly Sniper: Elsie
  • Funny Background Event: While meeting a pair of Johnsons at a nightclub Elsie is negotiating while Claudia and Cheryl dance in their seats.
  • Genki Girl: If you can imagine one who is a several hundred pound, gun toting ork cyborg, this is Fang in a nutshell. Also her player, Claudia.
  • Hates Being Touched: Mordecai has this, and also doesn't like to touch others, which can be a problem when your healing and support spells require contact thus his Catchphrase.
  • I Call It "Vera": Fang call her katana "The Wolfblade"
  • Innocent Bigot: Cromwell genuinely doesn't understand why humans, dwarves and elves would mind being referred to as "piggies", "stumpies" and "twiggies" respectively.
  • Just a Stupid Accent: Cromwell speaks with a very distinct "British" accent. It's implied that he's faking it to keep up his image as Elsie's butler.
  • Katanas Are Just Better: Fang uses a katana that she thinks contains a wolf spirit.
  • Knight in Sour Armor: Fang is a more upbeat than usual version of this trope. She acknowledges that the world sucks but still believes it's possible to do good in it.
  • Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Mordecai, a street shaman, is almost completely useless when it comes to technology but refuses to admit it.
  • Known Only by Their Nickname: Ma1nfram3 and Fang.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Cromwell is an eight foot Troll who is also a physical adept.
  • Mafia Princess: Elsie, whose real name is Chelsea Whitetree combines this with Rebellious Princess as she and Cromwell are on the run from her Boston Mafia family
  • Master of Disguise: Elsie has a travel bag of costumes in case of need. Comes in handy when you're The Face.
  • The Nicknamer: Multiple examples:
    • Fang calls Mordecai "Big Papa". She also came up with the team name.
    • Mordecai regularly calls Elsie "kid" and Ma1nfram3 who's name is pronounced just like the regular word "mainframe", "Mainframe Three".
    • Elsie usually calls Cromwell "Crommy"
    • On a run Cromwell abducts a doctor whose real name is Dr. Kim but, because he's a Deadpan Snarker Cromwell names "Doctor Grumpypants"
  • Only Sane Woman: Elsie and Ma1nfram3 share this role. Mordechai thinks he's this but really isn't due to his multiple neuroses. Lampshaded by Lauren when she refers to them in Episode 20 as "The Subtle Two" in opposition to "The Obvious Three"
  • Rag Tag Bunch Of Misfits: Let's see. You have a Troll Manchild butler, a hyperactive Orc former cop cyborg, a neurotic, depressive Dwarf Shaman, an abrasive, cynical decker, and a teenage girl, the last of which is probably the most stable and sensible member of the group. Yup, it's the Sixth World all right.
  • Refuge in Audacity: Episode 8 sees Elsie attempt to distract a guard by verbally abusing him and acting like a Rich Bitch.
  • Shock and Awe: One of Mordecai's spells is Ball Lightning.
  • Sour Supporter: Mordecai regularly voices his reluctance to stay with the team. Yet he does.
  • Sticky Fingers: Elsie is a kleptomaniac.
  • Summon Magic: Mordecai has a powerful spirit mentor, Sharkey.
  • Team Dad: Fang regards Mordecai as this, despite the latter's objections.
  • Technopath: Miss J the group's liaison with The Draco Foundation is a technomancer.
  • Undying Loyalty: Cromwell has this for Elsie.
  • Technophobia: Mordecai doesn't like trains, planes or science in general
    We're not stupid! SCIENCE IS STUPID!
  • Took a Level in Badass: In the month between episodes 6 and 7 Cromwell and Mordecai explicitly do this. Cromwell learns the martial art of bartitsu and Mordecai takes his first level in metamagic. Elsie and Ma1nfram3 on the other hand spend the time relaxing and partying respectively. Fang is a more fuzzy case. She does some independent runs to hone her shadowrunning skills but what skills it is she hones or picks up are not explicitly mentioned.
  • Undying Loyalty: Cromwell to Elsie and vice-versa
  • Warts and All: The London arc is about Cromwell's search for Pip, the dwarf who raised him on Yomi Island. When they find him they discover that rather than the butler he told Cromwell he was he's a male nanny. The real kicker though is the discovery that he's a BTL addict blackmailed by a local gang into being a pit fighter.. Eventually though Pip and Cromwell reconcile when Pip explains that he was just doing the best he could on Yomi and tells Crommy that he loves him.
  • Wise Beyond Their Years: Teenager Elsie is this especially in relation to Manchild Cromwell.
  • You All Meet in an Inn: The plot kicks off while everyone is eating at an underground bar called "The Rapid Rabbit," a recurring location in the series. An ambush prompts them to band together, temporarily.
  • You Are Not Alone: Elsie, Cromwell and Fang do this to Ma1nfram3 when she reveals that she is not a human but an elf who was surgically altered by her human parents as a child and that she feels rejected by both races
    • Done again by Elsie and Ma1nfram3 for Fang when she has a brief Heroic BSoD in Japan.

Top