This one-pager is inspired by Mr. Inbetween, and that series has so many different jobs and scenarios that it’s tough to pick just one to act as inspiration for an adventure. However, there were many more interpersonal scenarios—especial in the personal parts of the main character’s life—than there were action scenes. If one is going to take inspiration from Mr. Inbetween, it is low-level criminality interlaced with understandable personal problems. This is difficult to replicate in most RPGs unless the adventure is part of a longer campaign in which the PC or PCs have invested in their character’s personal lives—likely including a partner and children. Lacking that, the scenarios from Mr. Inbetween are similar to many other criminal intellectual properties. I’ll take a stab at one leaving it to you—the person using it for inspiration—to figure out how to stick the landing.
Story
It’s the near future and the PCs are a very small private security company that often takes pro bono work to try to help those in real need—think the A-Team, the Equalizer or Michael Westen in Burn Notice. They do some work for corps as well—so they can afford to do the other work. A lawyer who regularly represents the powerless and with whom the PCs have worked has had their files cracked—those protected by security the PCs helped them acquire. Only old files were exfiltrated, so no current cases are at risk, but the lawyer is concerned and their reputation will take a hit. The PCs need to find out who did it, why, and make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Places
The Drain: This is the part of town for people who lack resources. It’s overpriced rentals, payday loans, unhealthy food, and circuses to make people forget whose foot is on their throats.
The Industry: These are the workplaces for the people who labour. It’s not necessarily factories and smoke, but just a lot of soulless blocks making profit for the elites.
The Pinnacle: A very large piece of geography for a very few number of people. This is where the money lives. This is the place the city’s private security contractors protect and the people they serve.
People
The Lawyer: Listen, lawyers can be shady, sure, but hate the game, not the player. This lawyer has done good for desperate people, and they need a break.
The Suit: The Lawyer helped someone who said no to the Suit, and the Suit doesn’t like people saying no. They are looking to bury the Lawyer and bury their former client. The Suit wants to make an example.
the hacker: It turns out the person who is working for the Suit—the hacker—is actually the teacher or tutor for one of the PC’s kids or kin. The hacker isn’t a bad person—the money they make goes to afterschool program and school lunches. They volunteer in the Drain. They aren’t that different than the PCs, but now they’re in between the rock (people who exact revenge on anyone who says no) and the hard place (hurting an innocent).
Events
Meet The Teacher: The PCs meet the hacker as the teacher before they meet them as their target. The hacker is a genuinely nice person who is working hard to make the place better. They’re trapped in the nightmare like everyone else, but have been able to keep most of the mud off of themselves . . . until now.
The Discovery: Once the PCs learn that it’s the hacker who is doing the dirty tricks, they need to stop them but at the same time protect them from the Suit. The hacker made a mistake, and now they’re afraid. They should be. Luckily, they have the PCs on their side.
The Showdown: Somehow, the PCs need to call off the Suit, save the hacker, but also protect the Lawyer. Nobody said this would be easy.
You can find a PDF here that includes a second page with Sword’s Edge Narrative Character stats related to the one-pager.