[toad]

When your party is travelling around Seattle, how much do you play out, how much do you hand wave?

Say for instance the party has to travel between Redmond and Bellevue or Downtown, do they have to pass through KE checkpoints? Do you RP it?

The books talk about the importance of SINs, and "stop & frisk" style security being tough in areas; but in published adventures, it doesn't seem to come up.

[Michael Chandra]

We only recently picked the exact locations where people live, but unless they look like utter gutter trash, I wouldn't let KE stop them. Touristville-road is rather important after all. Plus they haven't been loitering in Downtown, they tend to get their job offers at lesser areas, what with the Johnsons also prefering privacy.

Besides, KE has a lot on its hands, so I doubt they'd enjoy the waste of resources. So unless you look/behave suspicious, or in the higher-end zones you look out of place, I'll leave it out myself.

Of course I use troubles during the road but that's when it's planned, such as gang trouble. And one character once got really annoyed by on-hold music, so she accidentally ran a red light and got a talking to from the cop about how she shouldn't be paranoid about the safety of the Matrix and should use the Autopilot or not drive while calling.

[Belker]

Police checkpoints aren't something you can pull off in a major metropolitan area without seriously impacting transit and, more importantly in the Sixth World, commerce. So while you may see private security checkpoints at certain gated communities and high-security facilities, people traveling on the public roadways are pretty much going to be left alone until the violence gets heavy.

Keep in mind that Seattle has a number of major go-gangs (the Ancients and Spikes for two examples) who claim large stretches of major roadways as their turf. Depending on what you're doing and where you are, you're much more likely to encounter gangers than KE.

Now, if you're on foot in certain sections of Downtown, or Bellevue, or other AAA areas, you're probably not going to see checkpoints so much as aggressive "stop & frisk" activity for people who meet KE's profile of likely troublemakers. You're also likely to see small teams (two or three members) of KE officers around major transit stations and the like, but these are hardly going to stop everyone they encounter; they're part security theater, part visible deterrence, part rapid response.

[Kincaid]

Largely it's handwaved, but the extent to which I'll do that depends on the level of their fake SINs and what they're wearing.  If you're a pink mohawk ganger in murder armor, I don't care how great your SIN is, you're going to attract attention in a AAA neighborhood.  If the players dress and act the part (obviously harder for folks with Distinctive Style), then I generally move them along to wherever the action is.  If they don't, or won't, then there's a chance things go sideways.

[prismite]

My table also hand-waves it ... unless the characters have high notoriety or public awareness, then we might harass them some, but not to a fault.

We don't RP any of that stuff in Seattle. Our group has been meeting forever and tends not to run in Seattle if possible. They like to travel abroad. Despite that, when actually there, travel is unrestricted usually. Not necessarily 'safe' ... but unrestricted.

When the group is in the uppity side of town I constantly mess with the trolls and orcs (profiling ftw) and actively caution SINLESS not to try and walk around there.

Had one mission where a cop caught a bunch of sinless in a van while they were casing a doctors office. Things got out of hand quickly because the player(s) panic'd. In the end, more than 200 innocents were dead from being ran over or from the resulting explosion as the pc's drove their vehicle at 200+ mph into some pneumatic piston barriers. One of the runners was killed in a skirmish with KE, one of the runners gave herself up and is doing Life, while the driver fought the law while he spent a year on death row before he became my first player to experience capital punishment in-game.

[Namikaze]

I like to say that certain districts have borders.  For instance, getting into the Redmond Barrens is a bit more of a process than just walking in.  There's Touristville, which is easy access and (relatively) low-crime.  But then there's the actual Barrens, which are sort of walled off against incursion by authorities.  The cops don't go to the Barrens for a reason, and I see part of that reason as caused by the gangs.  The gangs block off their territory when they have the manpower and resources to do so - they don't look for SINs, they just look for colors.

So the Barrens are like a war zone in my game - each of the gangs has their turf, colors, etc. and if the players aren't wise to the ever-shifting boundaries and such, they could get in deep drek.

Ironically, this isn't much different in a corporate enclave or high-security neighborhood.  But instead of flaming cars and walls of tires and rebar, the neighborhoods have drones and gates.  If someone's going into Bellevue, they need to be aware of the security in the area, especially the security that one cannot normally see.  Cameras are everywhere, from the walls of buildings and fences to the drones in the skies.  One might only see one police car on patrol, but the police and private security have eyes everywhere,

[Reiper]

Unless I have a reason, I usually handwave going around the city.

On occasion I may set up checkpoints for some areas, for example, I had Governor Brackhaven's car stolen, stripped, and burned and the remains discovered in Pullyup, so he raged and set up checkpoints there. But for the most part, as long as the team has a fake SIN to broadcast and isn't doing anything to attract attention, I'm not going to have KE harass them (at least not all of the time).

[PiXeL01]

Unless they give me an obvious reason for having lawenforcement bother them, like flashing illegal hardware around then I hand wave it as well.

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

If you're on the standard roads, and you're driving normally, you won't generally get hassled - not even if you're wearing gang colors.  The moment you step out of line, though, you might start having issues.

Pananagutan Reference - <snip>

[Mr. Black]

When my players are traveling around Seattle, I have them make a "Life Style" check. They roll dice 6 dice for Luxury, and 1 die less for level down. On a critical glitch, bad stuff happens, e.g. traffic stops, flat tires, engine trouble, etc. I also have them make similar checks when they are in secure/rich neighborhoods rolling around in their used, beat-up Americar (or vice-versa when rolling through the Barrens in their Nightsky limo).

I rationalize it as a reward for living a wealthy life style (more I.D. verifications, better vehicle care, just looking like you belong) and a penalty for living poorly (Your gear stands out, you look like you don't belong, a less beneficial I.D. record). I also rationalize as a penalty to those "munchkin" players with millions in gear, but living a Low Life Style so they don't have to pay as much. And yes, I have had several do that.

On the bright side, it makes going to "The Meet" more exciting!

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

To be fair, I kind of have as well - but if you have millions in gear, you should have a 'switch' location.  Mmm, the Score ...

[Michael Chandra]

I had Governor Brackhaven's car stolen, stripped, and burned and the remains discovered in Puyallup

Sing it after me people:
♫ He had it coming ♪ he had it coming ♪ he had it coming all along! ♫
♫ I didn't do it ♪ but if I'd done it ♪ how could you tell me that I was wrong! ♫

[prismite]

♫ He had it coming ♪ he had it coming ♪ he had it coming all along! ♫
♫ I didn't do it ♪ but if I'd done it ♪ how could you tell me that I was wrong! ♫

Nice reference! Loved it! I never realized how Shadowrunnish that song was...

"...then he ran into my knife. He ran into my knife 10 times."

[8-bit]

When my players are traveling around Seattle, I have them make a "Life Style" check. They roll dice 6 dice for Luxury, and 1 die less for level down. On a critical glitch, bad stuff happens, e.g. traffic stops, flat tires, engine trouble, etc. I also have them make similar checks when they are in secure/rich neighborhoods rolling around in their used, beat-up Americar (or vice-versa when rolling through the Barrens in their Nightsky limo).

I rationalize it as a reward for living a wealthy life style (more I.D. verifications, better vehicle care, just looking like you belong) and a penalty for living poorly (Your gear stands out, you look like you don't belong, a less beneficial I.D. record). I also rationalize as a penalty to those "munchkin" players with millions in gear, but living a Low Life Style so they don't have to pay as much. And yes, I have had several do that.

On the bright side, it makes going to "The Meet" more exciting!

I think I'll steal that idea, thank you very much. Although, I think I would double the dice. So, 12 for Luxury, 10 for High, 8 for Middle, 6 for Low, 4 for Squatter, and 2 for Street. 0 hits means something happens, critical glitch means something really bad happens. I think the idea is amazing though.

[cantrip]

When my players are traveling around Seattle, I have them make a "Life Style" check. They roll dice 6 dice for Luxury, and 1 die less for level down. On a critical glitch, bad stuff happens, e.g. traffic stops, flat tires, engine trouble, etc. I also have them make similar checks when they are in secure/rich neighborhoods rolling around in their used, beat-up Americar (or vice-versa when rolling through the Barrens in their Nightsky limo).

Good idea - I like it! 

Youse a smart one Mr. Black! 

I think I'll steal that idea, thank you very much. Although, I think I would double the dice. So, 12 for Luxury, 10 for High, 8 for Middle, 6 for Low, 4 for Squatter, and 2 for Street. 0 hits means something happens, critical glitch means something really bad happens. I think the idea is amazing though.

Another option would be to add the rating of their fake SIN. So, you could have a low or squatter lifestyle and still have decent dice if you have a good ID.