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[Curris]

Hey folks, it's me again.

I've been running a game in real life for some new players, and while they are picking up the rules, I find that I don't know as much as I should. . .

So I'll ask your advice.

Recently in play, my runners screwed up big time, and I want the Feds and Mafia both to come down on them hard. . . Usually, they would find where they live, and raid the place, but in this case, they are living in the riggers RV, as a mobile home. Being constantly mobile, and difficult to trace, I have two choices. . . Either the Feds and company can't find them, and they get off scot free, or I pull GM fiat, and say they show up. But I can't do that in good conscious. . . Am I over thinking this?

Should I find some other way? Like letting their fixer get pissed at them? Although the job went south, should I reward a clear getaway?

Also. How do I get around characters that are constantly invisible, via ruthenium suits. I have a few Trolls and Orks with Infravision, and some other guards with cybereyes or goggles to see, but I can't have EVERYone having them. . . Basically, my players constantly get the jump on the NPCs and so, never get hit back. . . I'm sure this has come up before. . . So what's your thoughts?

[mercy]

fixer sells them out by planting a homeing becon also if feds have a disciption of the rv radom pull over fo a traffic voliation o a check point

as for the invisble bioligical guads are geat o duel natue themo sensers ulta sound lot of guad pets have geat sense of smell
have a guard use a fie exstighes on the area
or a can of spray paint
the goal to evel them not to hit them
neostun 11 gas ulta sonic sound waves

[kv]

Yeah, I would definitely have the mafia AND the feds track them down. You don't need to GM Fiat it, either. If the group has a decker who constantly needs to jack in, or a street sam who needs to get some new bullets, have thier contacts sell them out. Only a level 3 contact won't sell you out, so anyone less than that can burn them for a favor (or a pat on the head, if it's an organized crime contact).

Runner should NEVER get away scot-free with a bad run. Thier rep should suffer, nobody wants to work with them, and the people who want to work with them are just trying to get enough info to sell them out.

Having nice equipment is a problem. The bigger problem (for the runner, not you) is that nice things break. One shot puts a hole in a ruthelyum (sp?) suit, and there's no scotch tape on earth good enough to patch that hole. It's much harder for the runners to sneak around if they have bulletholes and blood splatters running down them. This can be accomplished with some low-pay sec guards who get off one or two lucky shots, followed by the higher-pay sec guards. You can also throw different types of enemies at them- anything from dual-aspected creatures (what tech group is any good at fighting spirits?) to automated turrets that lock onto heat signatures to good old-fashioned security measures like in the books. Pressure plates in the floor, and stuff like that.

Hope that gives you some ideas.

  -kv

[Ingo Monk]

I recommend going through the Corporate Security Handbook (old SR2 book if you can get your hands on a copy) for ideas, but here's a few:

- Ruthenium Polymers don't make you invisible IIRC, they kind of make you look like a cloaked Predator (from AVP movies, or the Predator movies).  Standing still or moving slowly are hard to spot, but a fast moving person is more noticeable, reduce the runner's bonus if they're moving fast.
- Like Kid said, bullet holes and blood splatter or blood dripping down the body from a wound (again think of the neon green blood from the AVP/Predator movies when the predator got wounded) will stick out in dull gray corporate areas
- Also remember that the suit runs on batteries, which can run out.  Also, the electrical system can be shorted if the runner takes any kind of electrical damage (same goes for cyberware as well).  When in doubt, the enemy mage has a lightning bolt or lightning ball spell.  Let the players know who's boss
- Security cameras: adding low-light/thermo is relatively inexpensive for a corporation
- Guard animals can smell very well.
- Spirits can see everything just about, ruthenium doesn't hide astral signatures
- Same goes for mages who can astrally perceive/project.

Mobile Base ideas:
- They need to stop for gas sooner or later, transactions can be traced and then compared to video footage (the whole 'plex has cameras everywhere besides the barrens, they'll show up sooner or later and people can be actively watching certain areas for an RV).
- Astral signatures - a person leave an astral trail that can last for several hours.  The more intense emotions (i.e. anger/fear from a gun fight) the longer the signature lasts.  A mage can assense the signature and then follow the trail through the astral plane.

Just remember, if there's a way to do something with tech there's always a way to undo it.  At the same time there's always another way to do it and undo it with magic.  Damn, talking about all this makes me want to run a game again!

[Poison]

Hi Curris,

Dunno if your game has progressed from this situation, but the first thought that popped into my head is 'cell-phones'.  In the modern world, if you have your cell-phone switched on then it can be tracked - it might be difficult to do, or to convince your phone company to do, but it can be done.  I'll admit to not being completely fluent with the wireless world of SR4 (I'm a SR3 guy myself) but I'd suggest that something similar could be a way of tracking down a mobile runner team.
Another method would be the standard surveillance measures used by Big Brother to keep the general peace - traffic light cameras, GridLink, and other systems that may not be specifically targeting the players but that could be used to trace their movements if someone sufficiently resourced (such as the Feds) had the inclination.

Another suggestion would be for either the Mafia or the Feds to make the runners come to them - put the word out amongst street contacts that there is a job going that the runners would be perfect for, then spring a trap.  Maybe the head of the operation wants to meet the runners face-to-face to explain to them exactly how they screwed up his carefully-laid plans, and how they're going to make it up to him (or what convoluted, James Bond-esque way they're going to die).
Yet another suggestion would be for the Mafia/Feds to try to flush the runners out - hitting their contacts until they're faced with an ultimatum: face their foes or be hung out to dry by friends who want to save their own hides.

[kv]

Yeah, what he said about hitting the contacts. Nothing quite like leaving yourself out to dry.

  -kv