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. If you choose to use the following in anything outside a tabletop RPG, it's on you, not me.For GMs, figuring out the opposition is one of the tougher jobs in the role. Too easy, and the players run roughshod over the plot. Too hard, and it's a Total Party Kill and no one leaves the session happy. Level based games, like D&D, have ways to help balance encounters, but games like Cyberpunk 2020 and Shadowrun aren't so easy. Being skill-based games, sometimes the lack of a skill causes problems, or a player gets creative or even lucky with their character's skill set and completely bypasses a challenge.
The issue in a stereotypical mission in the two games mentioned is that the characters are hired to be disposable, untraceable cutouts in the grand game of corporate espionage. The opposition will be corporate security. But even in a time where a corporation can expect a bunch of reshirted murderhobos to smash in to steal some cutting edge tech that isn't exactly ethical, the corp isn't going to put their best or most effective security up front. They cost too much to cover the front desk instead of the multi-billion dollar research lab.
In the dystopias of the games, corporations are 24/7. However, humans function best during daylight hours, so there still is a concept of business hours. During business hours, when the bulk of the workforce is in, security's physical presence is going to be light. There will be a small number of uniformed guards at the main entrance, three to five, making sure that commuters are able to sign in and checking ID badges. There may be one stationed on each floor of the building, not obtrusive, but visible to reassure employees that they are safe. They won't be in the cube farm. An armed guard out of sight is one thing; an armed guard watching workers is another. The goal is productivity at a low cost, and worried workers are inefficient workers.
The uniformed guards, though, are there as a deterrent. They are a sign that the facility is under guard. Deeper inside, probably in the basement, is a security room with banks of monitors. Electronic security is handling the bulk of the work. Cameras will be everywhere. Privacy is not a perk; if workers wanted privacy, they can start their own corporation.
The light security will be in areas that aren't critical - parts of IT, accounts payable, HR, essentially, anywhere that counts as support instead of money making. Network security will be covered and may work with physical security directly. Deeper in, security is going to be more obvious, with weapons visible. Critical areas, such as the multi-million dollar research lab, are going to have the best security the corporation has, to hell with how the scientists feel about it. At that point, though, the scientists will appreciate having the beefier guard. They, too, can be targets for extraction.
Short version? The Renraku Red Samurai and Arasaka's elite guards aren't going to be found at the main entrance of a low-level facility with only support staff and rookie guards aren't going to be guarding an ultra-secret lab performing unethical experiments for fun and profit. Unusual levels of security can act as a hint for players that something is not quite right, whether a run is too easy or too hard.
Getting a little long, so I'll pick up next week with security's response to PCs creating havoc,
Today, over at Psycho Drive-In, Remaking Emergency!
Saturday, over at The Seventh Sanctum, Star Trek Continues.
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