Shadowrun
Shadowrun Play => Gamemasters' Lounge => Topic started by: Rotten_Emu on <02-26-15/0407:46>
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I'm new to the 5th edition ruleset but GMd and played some 4th edition (and played one run of 5th). I'm preparing a run as GM and the idea is that the runners intercept a convoy from an up and coming starter to S-K. The package turns out to be a Technomancer girl the start-up has done experiments on to make more compliant. There are two questions that keep troubling me and I'm hoping to get some input from you all.
1. Currently the security is set up as being three Bulldog vans, with a random one taking the package (more on the package later). In every van there are 3 Corporate Security grunts, the van with the package has 1 Lt + 2 grunts. The question is would this be a plausible amount of security for this kind of package or would you expect a start-up to be able to afford more? Because more would probably mean the 4 man runner team won't be able to hack it at this job (it's cutting it close as is, I think).
2. The Technomancer will be shipped in a stasis pod that keeps her subdued. From the outside the runners won't be able to see what's in it. Due to some MacGuffin I want the pod to malfunction (as in the stasis stops and the technomancer awakens). But I can understand if one of the players would try to prevent this by hacking it. The new matrix system is still a bit foreign to me though and I'm not sure what kind of security I can conjure up on the pod since it's not connected to the matrix and should (imo) only have a direct link through a datajack possible. For security purposes should I run this as a host and set up security from there or would it possibly be better to run it as a Cyberdeck with programs running and go from there?
I hope someone can help me out with these questions!
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There are simple and complex answers for both questions.
Simple 1
Can you team handle this challenge?
Yes – than everything is fine
With ease – maybe you should upgrade this convoy and add some more drones, men, and mages.
No - You should downgrade this encounter and make it easier for them.
Simple 2
Do you want a long and complex decking encounter?
Yes – Host
No – Deck
Complex 1
It heavily depend on the worth of this technomancer.
For example if this thing is a breakthrough in the machine/human interface and the only working prototype/date to replicate technomancer abilities and or initiation than this is something worth of a full out corporate war. And with that in mind, Lofwyr in person could watch over this operation.
On the other hand, a simple prisoner transfer of a no name, low-level technomancer and no indications of trouble, isn’t worth that much resources.
They will not use more resources as (potential loss)*(risk in %)*((1 / steps to profit/goal) or (completion to profit/goal in %))
Complex 2
SR5 matrix core rule book.
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1. Currently the security is set up as being three Bulldog vans, with a random one taking the package (more on the package later). In every van there are 3 Corporate Security grunts, the van with the package has 1 Lt + 2 grunts. The question is would this be a plausible amount of security for this kind of package or would you expect a start-up to be able to afford more? Because more would probably mean the 4 man runner team won't be able to hack it at this job (it's cutting it close as is, I think).
Regarding the "plausibility", I would say that seems sufficient for an important but not vital package.
Regarding difficulty, it depends entirely on your runners and the tactical situation. If your runners are brand new out of char gen, that'll make it harder. If they're specialized for combat (e.g. no Face) that'll make it easier. If they spent a lot of money on weapons that'll make it easier. If the enemies all pour out of their vans at once, that'll make it harder.
My gut instinct is that a typical chargen party will struggle mightily to defeat 8 grunts and 1 lieutenant simultaneously, unless they hit them all with a couples fireball or similar AOE attack. Even dinky pistol fire can take down a street sam with Stun damage if there are enough guns. I would probably give the runners a chance to disable one of the vans (explosion, ramming a vehicle against the doors, etc.) or separate them (crashing an overhang down) to make it fairer fight.
2. The Technomancer will be shipped in a stasis pod that keeps her subdued. From the outside the runners won't be able to see what's in it. Due to some MacGuffin I want the pod to malfunction (as in the stasis stops and the technomancer awakens). But I can understand if one of the players would try to prevent this by hacking it. The new matrix system is still a bit foreign to me though and I'm not sure what kind of security I can conjure up on the pod since it's not connected to the matrix and should (imo) only have a direct link through a datajack possible. For security purposes should I run this as a host and set up security from there or would it possibly be better to run it as a Cyberdeck with programs running and go from there?
If you definitely want the pod to be unhackable and malfunction on command for plot reasons, make it a throwback with no easily accessible universal port. I don't know what the timeline is for your awakening, but if it's "during/right after the fight" that should suffice. If you want it to malfunction several days down the line you'll probably need to come up with something more plausible. The easiest thing to do is just make it a device with really, really high ratings that you know will consistently defeat the group's hacker (and make it clear it's beyond their ability). Alternatively, booby trap the port to fuse shut if you attempt to use it without doing <insert convoluted step that the runners cannot do>. For an event that you don't want to actually happen I wouldn't bother making a host, but you can go that route as well.
It doesn't really make sense to make it a cyberdeck. Cyberdecks are tools to be used to hack, they're not something that you hack "into" in this context. Perhaps my understanding is wrong, but I've never heard of them being used as a "target" outside of cybercombat.
If you are confused about Matrix rules I'd encourage you to ask questions, I found it super confusing when I started and still do to some extent.
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Thanks everybody for your comments and suggestions! I think I'll go with a slightly slimmed down version of the security as I'm looking at a 4 man group now. The set up now is 2 grunts per car and a Primerunner rather than a LT as a body guard for the package. 7 vs 4 seems good enough for me, I can scale it up if more people show up.
As suggested I'll just use a plotdevice to not let them prevent the malfunction, as it'll be close to the action scene and it's more important to have it break down rather than give them the outside chance to prevent something they'll probably trigger once they find out the true contents anyway.
Again thanks for the help!
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The malfunction will happen; combat = chaos, and chaos = a bullet in the wrong place = malfunction. That said, the only reason for there to be three virtually identical vans with the target in a random one is for an Italian Job shell game. The challenge isn't in the fight - functionally, you should ideally have only 2 PCs in the actual fight, while the other 2 PCs are involved in keeping the other two teams away. The challenge is to give the PCs the chance to figure out which of the three they have to go after, then making it to the right one in time, while keeping the other two teams occupied.
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I was thinking something along the lines of a convoy rather than three separate routes. Though I like the shell game idea, the question then would be how could I get them to know the right car (as I feel a good security guard would randomly assign the actual package and give dummies to the other cars). I'm guessing cross checking routes with a destination they got from a bit of legwork might be helpful. Though then they might possibly just wait for them at the transaction location. Which would possibly be heavily guarded... And I'm driving myself crazy again with all the bases I have to cover.
It's a good thing I like GMing... :p
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You need to see more movies. While the good (and wealthy) guards would put dummy packages in the other cars, SmallCorp can't afford it; life support bodpods are expensive, even to rent. Which allows the PCs to hack traffic cams and see which one's running low. ;) Or else they need to get eyes on the loading process, which is the chance to let the decker shine.
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You can get body doubles - they don't have to be exact clones or cyborgs or anything. Just someone that looks enough like the person, perhaps with a disguise added, to fool the players into not realizing which one is the right one. Really darkly tinted windows to help obfuscate the target as well, and then have all the devices in the vehicle running silently. If the decker can find out which vehicle is the right one, they can put an ARO over it's physical location (Trace Icon needed if operating in VR, otherwise just AR is fine). The ARO would presumably not come off, though if the security team has its own decker on overwatch, there might be a bit of a fight in the open grid over the AROs.
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"Hello, Lonestar/K-E? I'd like to report a reckless driver... it was a white Bulldog, and the 'how's my driving?' ARO on it said it belonged to [startup name], and was vehicle L51". The driver almost hit a little elf kid playing in the street, and then barely missed my Westwind at the next intersection." {Westwind? Cha-ching!}
Presuming they're playing the "shell game", and all three vehicles are identical, Lone Star will now be looking for them. Once one is stopped, and radios (matrixes) in, the others will be in duck and cover mode, making them significantly easier to deal with separately. S-K would probably win as easily in the street as they would in court, but sending their own strike team out to check on the package will look suspicious and (more importantly) tip their hand, not to mention leaving a visible trail right to the package.
The runners should come up with something similar, but if they don't, you can offer it to them, as a way to limit the encounter to the opposition you want to throw at them... which may include the S-K detail if they're heavy on firepower, but low on IQ.
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That is a fantastic idea, BetaCAV. Let's hope my players don't get too many good ideas. :)
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That would have been a great idea! My players took a different approach. They took a roundabout way of getting there but they infiltrated the hired guards for the trucks. So they were split among the three trucks with the fourth player laying low and chasing the van with the package. When they felt enough ground had been covered one of them shotgunned the driver from the passenger seat. No defense roll allowed made for an awful bloody pulp. Long story short, one parked his car up against a tree, one effectively decapitated the other passengers and in the package van the Group's Adept punched the prime runner body guard do death with a Falcon Punch. Good times were had, especially after when they couldn't figure out where the hacking was coming from.
I also realised I have a lot to learn in regards the new Matrix rules... But I'm working on that as we speak! Thanks everyone for the suggestions and comments!
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Rotten - I am shamelessly stealing this idea. I'm going to make some changes but I thought it would fit well with the story arc I'm working on and should provide a nice hook to lead into some follow up runs.
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Rotten - I am shamelessly stealing this idea. I'm going to make some changes but I thought it would fit well with the story arc I'm working on and should provide a nice hook to lead into some follow up runs.
Feel free to use any and all inspiration and ideas you might want. If you like I can share some (not all of it is in English) of my GM info with you, or brainstorm with you.
Edit: and be sure to let me know how things worked out!
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Share away my friend and I can share a few of mine as well if you would like. If you could translate into english that would be great as my German is non existant.
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If you could translate into english that would be great as my German is non existant.
My German is piss poor as well, but I'll translate the Dutch bits for you to English ;)
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Sweet - Want to just post them in this post so others my see as well or through PMs/Emails ?
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The group is contacted by a
Legwork
Researching: TechNiche
- TechNiche is a local start-up focused on developing Human-Matrix Interfacing and interaction. It has around 20 employees and a middle sized office at the edge of town. Searching for TechNiche the name Acid Burn pops up. Acid Burn is an activist blogger who seems to have a more than average interest in the company TechNiche and its CEO Marco Schoenmaker.
- Acid Burn - Reveals a blog post on techtruth.unl "Local start-up TechNiche is flirting with the Triple-A's in an effort to peddle their latest drek. A project by the name of Tchaikovsky's Ballet (Snobbish much?) has been attracting attention from SK affiliates. CEO Marco Schoenmaker was recently exonerated from involvement (on a technicality, convenient much?) in his former business partner Lukas Gritt's untimely death and wastes no time to cash in on his former friend's demise. That makes you wonder who his next cash cow is and how long it will be before we find his body in the gutter (or dissapears completely in the Northern Wastelands). More on thus story as it develops."
- Marco Schoenmaker
CEO TechNiche. After the death of business partner Lukas Gritt Marco reinvested in a new start-up and called it TechNiche. Their mission statement and vision focuses on novel ways to interact with the 2070s technology for corporations and the public.
- Kris Wolfe
TechNiche Lead Programmer most recently associated with the Tchaikovsky’s Ballet project. There is a removed social media post that leaked to several techblogs regarding the project, but nothing insightful can be gleaned from it.
- Project Tchaikovsky's Ballet
- Black Swan
Part of project Tchaikovsky's Ballet. A Matrix manipulation tech said to revolutionise the way Corporation can perceive and interact with the Matrix.
Saeder-Krupp (Really high treshold, more like a bonus bit of info when the searching goes really well or when someone has a good contact in S-K)
- Valerie de Graaff
SK middle management in Acquisition department, would be involved in the buying of this kind of tech. Social network activity places her in 'Stairway to Heaven' (Local Club) a lot during her downtime.
The Convoy
3x Renault-Fiat Eurovan (GMC Bulldog Stats)
Leader of the convoy security detail:
Name: Jeannette Karry - an ex-Knight's Errand officer that was bought by a mercenary group for a bigger percentage.
Movement Rate: 8/16
Composure: 7
Judge Intent: 7
Lift/Carry: 6
Memory: 7
BOD: 4
AGI: 4
REA: 6
STR: 2
WIL: 3
INT: 3
LOG: 4
CHA: 4
ESS: 5
MAG: 0
RES: 0
Physical Limit: 5
Mental Limit: 5
Social Limit: 5
Qualities: -None-
Skills: Automatics [3], Pistols [6], Longarms [3], Unarmed [6], Blunt [5], Perception [3]
Cyberware:
Reaction Enhancer (R2)
CyberEyes (R2) w/ flare compensation, image link, low-light vision, smartlink & thermographic vision
Weapons:
[Longarms] Enfield AS-7: ACC (4/5), Damage 13P, AP (-1), SA/BF, Ammo: 10 or 24
[Pistols] Colt New Agent: ACC (5), Damage 8P, AP (-), S/A, Ammo: 8
[Pistols] Defiance EX Shocker: ACC (4), Damage 11Se, AP (-5), SS, Ammo: 4
[Blunt] Extendable Baton: ACC (5), Reach (1), Damage 4P, AP (-)
Armor:
Armored Vest [AR 9]
(with thanks to the 5th ed Mook Generator)
3x 3 Corporate Security Grunts
The Cargo
In the van they pull open (if they have the right one) there is a white crate with no markings on it. It's a pretty decent sized crate (LWH 2mtrs/1,5mtrs/1mtrs). On both sides there's two clasps. In the center of the lid is a display, it is currently turned off. A feint hum can be heard from the inside.
[Through banging around, or a stray bullet or whatever, the crate malfunctions. The technomancer, Codenamed 'Black Swan' inside awakens, and immediately weaves a courrier sprite to contact someone to come save her. This friend is 4d6 minutes away at the moment of malfunction]
[After the courier sprite is sent away Black Swan starts to hack away at the player commlinks, trying to find her bearings and disable their ability to communicate with each other (in my game I used a lvl 4 sprite to 'Gremlin' their devices]
Codename: Black Swan
Metatype: Elf
== Attributes ==
BOD: 2
AGI: 4
REA: 3
STR: 2
CHA: 5
INT: 5
LOG: 5
WIL: 5
EDG: 1
RES: 6
== Active Skills ==
Compiling : 5 Pool: 11
Computer : 1 Pool: 6
Con : 2 Pool: 7
Cybercombat : 1 Pool: 6
Decompiling : 5 Pool: 11
Electronic Warfare : 1 Pool: 6
Forgery : 3 Pool: 8
Gymnastics : 2 Pool: 6
Hacking : 1 Pool: 6
Hardware : 1 Pool: 6
Impersonation : 3 Pool: 8
Negotiation : 1 Pool: 6
Perception : 4 Pool: 9
Pilot Aerospace : 1 Pool: 4
Pilot Aircraft : 1 Pool: 4
Pilot Ground Craft : 1 Pool: 4
Pilot Walker : 1 Pool: 4
Pilot Watercraft : 1 Pool: 4
Pistols : 1 Pool: 5
Registering : 5 Pool: 11
Running : 2 Pool: 4
Software : 1 Pool: 6
== Qualities ==
Addiction (Severe) (Psyche)
Analytical Mind
Codeslinger (Erase Mark)
Low-Light Vision
Technomancer
Weak Immune System
Will to Live (Rating 3)
== Living Persona ==
ATT: 5, SLZ: 5, DP: 5, FWL: 5
== Registered Sprites ==
Courrier Sprite Rt6: Favours owed = 4
Crack Sprite Rt6: Favours owed = 4
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Looks good, definitely going to have to use some of that.