Shadowrun Thoughts - Mr. Johnson and Chronic Backstabbing Syndrome

It's been quiet around here.  I hate summer.  And record heat and humidity.  It makes doing anything difficult, even thinking.  The heat and humidity just drain you of energy.  Summer sucks.

On to the meat of the post.  A recent thread over at RPG.net, "The worse tropes in modules/scenarios that new writers should really avoid", had me thinking.  Shadowrun and, to a lesser degree, Cyberpunk 2020, especially in published adventures, tended to have the PCs betrayed by their employer in one way or another.  It's not as bad as it used to be, but after the first betrayal, the players aren't going to trust anyone who hires them.  This is a problem.

Painting Minis - Modron Part I

Finally found some sliver of time to get back to painting.  The past bit has been either busy or oppressively hot.  With a break in the heat, I started the modron.  Since this is pic heavy, the post will continue after the jump break.

Miniatures Update

It's been a bit.  The last time minis appeared here, I was planning out how to paint some modrons.  I haven't started yet, but there's some motion.  My work week is shifted back a day, so Tuesday to Saturday.  During my workday on Saturday, I received emails that the paint I ordered for the monodrone was arriving and, later, had arrived.  During my first break, I checked the front door and found the package.

Security in Cyberpunk 2020 and Shadowrun - Part 3 - Example

It's been a couple of weeks, but here's how the security levels play out during a heist.  I'll assume a pure cyberpunk approach and point out where the magic from Shadowrun can make a difference.  If you need a refresher, check out parts 1 (the levels) and 2 (the responses).

Meet the crew, one I was going to use for a Shadowrun story that needs some work before I start.  Skater is the group's hacker; she uses skating metaphors to get past the Intrusion Countermeasures (or IC).  The Chrome Rainbow is the team's cybernetically enhanced combat expert, a street samurai if you will.  Hudson is the getaway driver, one with the car.  Tempest T. Pot, the team's face and dealing with a few personal issues.  And for Shadowrun, Datalore, a mage who uses detection spells.

The crew gets hired to break into a corporate facility to remove a MacGuffin that Mr. Johnson wants.  Mr. J has added a "no killing" clause to the contract, so the crew wants to get a better idea of what they're walking into.  Skater and Tempest, being the least likely to draw casual attention thanks to a low amount of cyber installed, are sent to the facility during an open house of job seekers.  Between the two of them, they make note of the security guards around, which are mainly the first level, obvious but lightly armed, the security cameras, and get copies of employee IDs to check later for security tags,  Skater and Tempest leave after spending the entire time under the watch of guards and trying to fit in, and report back to the rest of the crew.  In Shadowrun, Datalore stays back; the crew assumes that the corporation will have someone scanning the astral and mages are rare enough that one walking in will be noticed.

A day and a half later, the crew has a plan.  Mr. J has given a general location of his MacGuffin and everyone has less-than-lethal weapons like tasers and stun batons.  Skater has done some more homework online and has a map of the facility's grounds, including entrances.  She has also given the crew modified security access to use to get through doors.  The access won't last long, but they just need to get inside.  The door near the facility's parking lot responds to the stolen security access, and the crew enters.

The crew has a plan.  Skater and Datalore will go grab the MacGuffin while the rest of the team pretends to go after another target with the intent to fail.  They're not getting paid for stealing a second item.  Skater is prepped with the needed props, a copy of an IT work order.  Datalore will look at the work order from time to time.  Tempest, Chrome, and Hudson make their way through the facility, staying in touch with Skater and keeping close to exits and not going too much deeper.

Team False Intrusion eventually trip an alarm.  The security station sends out drones to locate the intruders, followed by several human guards a few metres back.  Without Skater to hack into security's radio encryption, Team False Insertion doesn't know that theyve been discovered.  However, that is part of the plan.  When the drones appear, Chrome throws one into a wall, guaranteeing the security control knows where they are.  The human guards take up posiition and tries to stop TFI.  Chrome's reflexes allow him to tase two before they can react, and a quiet foot chase begins in the facility.

Skater arrives at the location where the MacGuffin is.  She hacks her way into the secure room, but notes that the lock used is something she has seen where there is more security.  Yet, there isn't thing here, no drone, no camera, no tripwires, nothing.  Inside the secure room, she finds the MacGuffin and notes that it's older than she expected.  Again, the security surrounding the MacGuffin is off.  Tight but not.  Skater gets what she came from and lets the rest of the crew know.  Datalore checks for magical security, but magic and tech don't play well together, and the room is almost a storage space for tech gear.  While Skater does her work, Datalore magically keeps an eye out for security passing outside.

TFI is still dealing with security.  On the part of security, they're noticing that they're not being killed.  Security control makes the choice to not call in heavier troops.  With TFI withdrawing, security decides that pushing the intruders out is enough; going for an arrest may turn the intruders violent and they're not getting paid enough to be killed.  TFI escapes, leaving a number of tased and confused guards behind.  Hudson gets his car going and the crew escapes with what they came for.

If Mr. J. was after something else, say a weapon prototype, the crew may have run into high levels of security who might not have bothered to warn them before opening fire.  Security, though seemed light, leaving the crew wondering just what Mr. J. wants with the MacGuffin.  Skater takes some notes so she can follow up after exchanging the MacGuffin for the crew's pay.

Questions?

Friday, over at Psycho Drive-In, The Live-Action Adaptation.
Saturday, over at The Seventh Sanctum, hiatus week.
This weekend, Renaissance Press is holding a virtual convention.  I will be on a panel about adaptations Saturday at 4pm Eastern.

Virtual Appearance

A few adminstrative notes.

The big announcement

I will be on a panel at Renaissance Press' Virtual Conference.  The conference runs June 5-7, registration is free, but panel space is limited due to technology.  I will be on the panel, "Why the book was better... and why it wasn't" Saturday at 4pm Eastern.  Check out the rest of the panels to see what else looks interesting; I've signed up for a few already.  There will also be a vendors room through Discord.

I haven't been able to get back to painting minis again.  Between heat and an attack of gout, I've had other things on my mind.  I did find some day-glo orange paint online, so I've ordered it to use with the modrons and possibly other uses, such as magical effects like /fireball/ spells.

I'm still working from home.  No word yet on when that will change, so I'm assuming that I'll still be sheltering-in-place until at least the end of June.  Better be safe than be sick.  But whoever said residential neighbourhoods were quiet never lived in one, especially one filled with toddlers and yappy dogs.

To close out, have a melted kitty.

Model: Jewel.  Photo by author.

Today, over at Psycho Drive-In, Scooby-Doo.
Saturday, over at The Seventh Sanctum, The Live-Action Adaptation.

Painting Minis - Coming Up

I haven't been able to continue painting since the last minis post.  Part of it is lack of energy when I've had the time and lack of time when I've had the energy.  Go fig.  This year is not normal.  However, I am keeping an eye out for interesting minis.  I have a bulette to go with Sharkie, but I'm not ready for that.

Instead, I have two modrons, a monodrone and a duodrone.  Modrons are Lawful Neutral, coming from the plane of Mechanus.  They are geometric, from the one-sided monodrone to the five-armed pentadrone.  One thing that struck me was their appearance

Modrons with elf for scale.  (Photo by author)

and how they correspond to the binomes from Reboot.

From the Reboot Fandom Wiki

And the spark ignites here.  Why not paint the modrons like binomes?  My minis, my decision, right?

That means planning the colours.  Let's start with the duodrone first.  As can be seen above, the one binome has three sections, the upper head with eye and hat, the lower head with mouth, and the body/pants.  The upper two thirds are silver or blue-grey (ignoring the viral binomes who are Megabyte blue).  The mouth and arms are gold or copper, the eyes are white with a black pupil, and the hands are red though fingerless.  The lower third depends on the costume.

A better look at the duodrone.  (Photo by author)

The duodrone has a big difference from the one binome - it has two main sections with a connector.  Might work enough for my plans, though.  Two eyes instead of one, with goggles.  Not too bad.  Colours I'll need - grey or silver for the head, gold or copper for the arms, some sort of red for the hands, brown for the bottom portion and legs, and green for the feet.  The same green can be used for the spear's haft and gold or copper, matching the arms, for the spearhead.

The zero binomes are a little more tricky.  They have three sections, a large middle that is blue-grey or silver, with exceptions, and two end pieces the same colour, acting as a shirt.  Arms and legs are gold or copper, and the hands are red.  The exceptions are binomes like Jean-Luc, a Captain Picard parody, and Hardboot.  I may have more room to maneuver, really.

This guy gets around.  (Photo by author)

The monodrone has wings, one less eye, and less stubby arms and legs.  It also looks like the the figure has armour, with a guard infront of the eye.  That adds to the complexity of colour.  Arms and legs are still going to be gold or copper, as will be the wing supports.  Hands again will be red.  The eye will be white with a black pupil.  Inside the armour, I could got with red, to match the hands.  That leaves the armour itself.  Silver or grey may work, to give the proper impression.  Feet might get brown, to imply boots.  The spear, I may go with a reversal of colours for the duodrone's weapon.

Will this work?  No idea.  I'm aiming for impression, so accuracy can be off as long as people look and think, "Hey, Reboot!"  That's the goal.  Colours could change as I get the details done.  Even as I'm writing, I remembered the exoskeleton suits that Dot and others used.  Instead of silver or grey, the monodrone's armour could be yellow or orange.

Dot showing off the latest in exoskeleton fashion.  (From the episode "Infected".)

Sure, it's not a binome, but the only zero binome to wear any thing resembling armour was Hardboot from "Icons", and his was makeshift.  But Hardboot is also why I'm going with red for the visible part of the monodrone in the armour.  So, who knows?  It's worth a try.

Today, over at Psycho Drive-In, Alien Nation, the series.
Saturday, over at The Seventh Sanctum, Scooby-Doo (2002).

Security in Cyberpunk 2020 and Shadowrun - Part 2 - Response

Oops.  Meant to post this last week.

Disclaimer:

What follows is a discussion of how security in a near-future science fiction setting would work, not a how-to on breaking into a secure facility.  Some of the information comes from my personal experience in working in public- and private-sector offices.  The rest is imagination.  Any similarity to a real location is coincidental.

Last time, I wrote about the layers of security that can be expected at a megacorporation in Shadowrun and Cyberpunk 2020.  This week, how the layers respond,

Security response will depend on how far the PCs have gotten into a facility and the time of day.  Ideally, heists are done when there aren't as many witnesses, but sometimes there's a deadline looming and a daytime break and enter is needed.  Given the levels above, here's what the PCs can expect to run into.

During business hours, intruders will warrant a quiet response to avoid panicking workers.  Last thing security wants is workers running through the line of fire.  Security control will use cameras to locate the intruders  Drones could be sent in to follow the intruders. A few guards, lightly armed and armoured, will walk into the area to isolate the intruders to deal with them away from the workers.  If the intruders begin a firefight, the first guards will fight a holding action to ensure most of the workers escape and to hold the intruders in place until the second wave arrives.  This new wave will be using firearms and won't care as much for collateral damage.  Depending on the setting, heavily armed drones will accompany or even lead the way.  If the intruders are able to make a stand, more guards will arrive, though the average team of expendables are going to cut their losses at some point.

Outside business hours, the first line of response will be armed drones.  Unless there intruders area in an area of the facility that is in use 24/7, the drones won't hesitate to open fire, especially if the would-be thieves have obvious weapons.  Guards will follow, more to confirm that the intruders are down than to get involved.  The fewer live targets around, the more likely the drone will shoot intruders instead of guards.  However, guards can't be hacked line a drone can be.  Sure, there's social engineering, not quite to the point of, "these are not the droids you're looking for," but asking the right questions and carrying the right props can get an intruder into a facility past guards.  Drones, thus, are second level response.

If the intruders get past the drones, then out come the heavy hitters,  Heavily armed, heavily armoured.  The intruders are after the expensive, core business, and need to be stopped.  Traps are activated, lockdown and alarms go off, and security stops the pretense of caring about the average workers, though the braintrust and senior C-level executives get to see far more guards than normal.  The goal becomes directing the intruders into a designated killzone and making sure none survive.

The elite guard, like Renraku's Red Samurai and Arasaka's elite corporate soldiers, are only going to be in areas that are mission critical.  The average worker will know about them more from corporate propaganda pretending to me entertainment.  If they're around and get called in, they will be calling the shots.  They are the last line of defense.  And they will be combat monsters.  Player characters may want to think of running away if they hear that the elite guard are involved.

Shadowrun adds one more twist - magic.  Cyberpunk 2020 is the near future, with today's society having been shattered and destroyed by unfettered capitalism.  Pretty much today but worse, really.  Shadowrun tosses in the return of magic, so it adds a twist to how security operates.  The last thing any corporation wants is to be on the receiving end of a magical intrusion when they have no way to counter it.  Given that magicians and adepts of any tradition are rare and are worthy of being protected by security themselves, those who go into security are worth their weight in Unobtanium.  This means that they are never going to be part of the front line, especially in a setting where, "Geek the mage.first," is an altruism.

The security mage is going to be busy handling astral security, not physical or network.  Full mages and aspected mages focusing on conjuring can create weak spirits known as watchers to keep an eye on out-of-the-way corridors and report on any activity and full strength spirits to patrol independently.  The runners will have their own magical capabilities, so the corporations are going to try to get the magical edge.  Magical research is one of those categories that could bring out the elite, though the researchers may be better at defending themselves.

Next week, an example run from security's point of view.

Friday, over at Psycho Drive-In, Alien Nation, the series.
Saturday, over at The Seventh Sanctum, Scooby-Doo (2002).