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Dumpshock Forums _ Shadowrun _ Paydata

Posted by: TheUrbanMonkey Jan 21 2007, 08:24 PM

What sort of items constitute paydata? I honestly am having a brain-block here, coming up with nothing but "prototype design" as paydata....

any help would be most appreciated.

Posted by: cetiah Jan 21 2007, 08:39 PM

Recored comcalls and emails make the best sorts of paydata.
Sure, experimental designs.
A list of accounts and passwords.
Financial records for the last fiscal year.
Employee evaluation records.
An internal memo that says, yes, cigarettes are indeed addictive but don't tell anyone.
Blueprints and floorplans.
Song lyrics or storyboard designs for entertainment media that hasn't yet been released.
A security evaluation report for their Seattle branch offices.
A shipping schedule

Posted by: TheUrbanMonkey Jan 21 2007, 08:52 PM

thank you for the quick response! those are wonderful ideas. thank you thank you!

Posted by: Butterblume Jan 21 2007, 09:18 PM

There's also the chance that someone pays well for the info how often or when the men's room door on the executive floor was opened. But since nobody would try to sell those infos, it's more likely that it would be the target of a run. Of course, anybody trying to gain this specific information would probably hide it by demanding all logs for that buildings executive floor .

Posted by: ErrosCallidus Jan 21 2007, 10:30 PM

Investment Portfolio/Plans
List of Assets of a Corp/Organization

(both of these could be used as jumping off points for helping/ruining the individual(s) targeted)

Company expansion plans
Market research/directions (could be hired to modify said records as well)

creating/confirming ANY bad data before a stock merger/sell off/split/etc.

Posted by: cristomeyers Jan 22 2007, 01:09 AM

travel plans for Mr/Mrs CorpBigWhig (what flight, what connections, etc)
incriminating vids (the CEO was doing WHAT with that Ork hooker?)
distribution records (proving smuggling/embezzelment)
prototype schematics
criminal records
bank records
voting records

Posted by: Drraagh Jan 22 2007, 03:05 AM

QUOTE (Butterblume)

I read that and the first thing that came to mind was The Oracle from Deus Ex. Based on the Usenet Oracle who would give humorous requests after answering a question sometimes. I could see an AI or even just a guy at a computer compiling all sorts of random information like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Question_%28comics%29 and compiling it all together to create conspiracies out of it.

Posted by: hobgoblin Jan 22 2007, 08:45 AM

virtually anything can be paydata as long as someone is willing to pay something for it

Posted by: yoippari Jan 22 2007, 08:56 AM

Executives'/Official's dayplanner.
Their "little black book"
Keylogger data
Proprietary software ((en/de)cryption formula)
Medical history
Biometric data

Posted by: Sir_Psycho Jan 22 2007, 09:35 AM

Lone Star patrol routes.

Any sort of criminal operations (who's pushing the Yakuza's BTL's on the street, which businesses are paying which enforcers etc.)

Discrepant financial records (proving bribes/tax evasion).

Posted by: MYST1C Jan 22 2007, 10:53 AM

QUOTE (TheUrbanMonkey)

any help would be most appreciated.

"Plan_for_world_domination.doc" or "coca-cola-recipe.txt"

Posted by: ChicagosFinest Jan 22 2007, 03:26 PM

HP had that board fall out with the VP's. Paydata like that would be worth a lot. Let me think real quick what it would be....

Phone numbers
Credit card accounts
Sin numbers
Phone and financial records

and thats what she used in general to track down the HP leak. I bet she dug deeper than that too.

Posted by: Ben Jan 22 2007, 05:16 PM

lists of contacts

info on those contacts (—> blackmail: this guy is a BDSM fan and his wife doesn't know, that one belongs to the Humanis Policlub, a cop helped a friend of his get away with killing a young boy in a car accident by destroying evidence, etc)

Posted by: Butterblume Jan 22 2007, 05:59 PM

QUOTE (Ben)

That is data you don't keep on computers, but taped on the underside of your drawer, where no one will ever find it

Posted by: ChicagosFinest Jan 22 2007, 06:05 PM

I dont know some poeple arent that proffesional when thinking things though. I bet a middle manager or lower with stuff like that would not know how to hide it. Lets look at what happened at Eron. They didnt hide their dirty lanudry to well either.

Posted by: lorechaser Jan 22 2007, 06:55 PM

QUOTE (Ben)

Or possibly emails (or the future equiv) that you recover from the deleted bin, discussing this.

Posted by: ChicagosFinest Jan 22 2007, 07:12 PM

Watergate. Presidential conversations were always taped. Wouldnt it be funny to have that happen to Ares or Mitsuhama or any of the tripple A's

Posted by: Ben Jan 23 2007, 12:40 PM

QUOTE (Butterblume)

QUOTE (Ben)

That is data you don't keep on computers, but taped on the underside of your drawer, where no one will ever find it

actually, I rather thought of this as something kept on a commlink, possibly an implanted commlink. To be found when you kill another runner, or a fixer, or a corporate middle-to-high-ranking guy.

interestingly, you can also plant on an enemy runner's commlink intel about the present run (that this dead runner's team gathered, supposing that both the players' team and the NPC runners team have the same goal).

Better yet, if you need to bring your next plot differently that just "your fixer contacts you, he has a Johnson interested in hiring you because you are good fighters", you can plant info on such a commlink, that will be at the center of the next run. For example, when your hacker sifts through the dead guy's commlink, he can discover, "hidden" among a lot of junk (it's important that there should be a lot of junk, see below), such things as:
- previously stolen paydata (hehe): weapon schematics, internal memos from research teams about a new kind of drones (I like the idea of half-drones half-living machines research, or androids like those in Philip K Dick's "Blade Runner")
you should have it related to a previous run your team made, or to something you want them to do in the future, so that the runners can actually try, through their fixer or other contacts, to find someone interested in the stuff
- intel about the present run (things the PCs have not found, and things they did): useful to help them see that crucial piece they missed, when you thought it would be the first thing they checked
- contacts, especially fixers or 'useful' guys (cops, barmen, anyone you could extort intel from, depending on what level campaign you play: street, corporate, etc)
if those contacts are friends, it should be possible to find chat or email logs about what they do (the BDSM fan, the humanis pointy-hatter, the corrupt cop)
- the place and time they should meet their own Johnson, in the case of enemy NPC runners.

for useless junk:
- passwords or sentences that look like they are passphrases, if possible combined with a list of favorites bars (adresses, a summary of what drinks they serve): it's funny to see the runners go in those bars and tell the barman "power overwhelming" or "there is no cow level", which of course he won't understand, and think the runner is loco…
- favorite shops or restaurants
- Urban Brawl stats
- keys to empty bank coffers or private storage
- an of course, agents and black IC