Lifestyles of the rich and criminal..., The home of a Yakuza higher-up. Options

[bibliophile20]

Alright, I need some help here:
I'm putting together a run where, if the runners mess up enough, they're going to have to rescue someone from the home of a senior Yakuza--not the Oyabun, but one of his inner circle.

Any suggestions on:
A) Where his home would be in Seattle? (Downtown, Renton, Bellevue, etc...)
B) How big?
C) What kind of security and how much of it?
D) Anything else.

[cristomeyers]

Let's see...Downtown would make for an interesting penthouse in some areas, but the higher end neighborhoods would make for a full on compound. Either way, probably nothing below a AA rated neighborhood.

Size would depend greatly on location. Like I said before, you could get a full on mansion in some neighborhoods but be limited to a penthouse suite in others.

A man that high in the Yakuza is bound to have at least one trusted bodyguard, probably more. These guys would be a few notches above your average goon.

[fistandantilus4....]

You could also go with the more isolated ares, maybe Snohomish, or a good spot of land in Bellevue. Put up those stylish tiled walls around the out side, koi pond with bridge, rock garden the works. Then have all the "traditional japanese landscaping" conceal security measures such as minidrones, pup up turrets, motion sensors , pressure pads, and neat things like nightingale floors. Depends on just how bad ass an oyabun and how difficult you want it to be.

[Chance359]

1) Bellevue, probably an AA neighborhood with several other Yakuza members living near by.

2) A two story /w finished basement, 5 or 6 bedrooms, and an attached 3 car garage should be pretty good. More or less rooms depending on the size of his family, with one bedroom turned into a home office.

3) Panic buttons in each room, alarms on the doors and windows, cameras disqused as sculputres, astral bacteria in false walls around the office, neighborhood security that patrols by the house every hour at random times, maybe even a few yakuza members who stay in a spare bedroom/monitering station.

[imperialus]

I doubt he'd get a compound or too much crazy high tech stuff to himself. Stuff like that would probably be limited to the Oyuban.

Assuming he is a family man who doesn't need to live too close to his work my thoughts are:

A stylish house in a nice neighborhood. Sitting at the upper end of the high lifestyle, probably around 8000 sq feet, on a lot that still gives him a decent garden possibly with a small 1000 sq footish "guest" house that is inhabited by his personal body guard. The gated community has an armed security force that will respond in 5 minutes or less if a panic button is hit by anyone in the house.

[Ravor]

I agree with imperialus with the addition of wards around the house and additional Astral Security built into his 'office'. (Or maybe the other way around, Dual Plants, ect around the house and a decent warding in the office.)

[bibliophile20]

Hmmm... sounds a little overkill for what I need. Still... perhaps...

This is a run for very low level characters--less than 20 Karma; they need to rescue someone and if they screw up or wait too long, that someone is going to be taken away by the Yakuza in question.

I'll have to think on this. Thanks!

[Wounded Ronin]

Just watch Showdown In Little Tokyo. Dolph Lundgren's hideout is what the yakuza oyabun's house would look like. See also Mr. Miyagi's house in The Karate Kid 1.

There's no other way you can be sufficiently 80s sterotypical for the purpose of SR.

[Wounded Ronin]

[Anythingforenoug...]

It does not need to be a big deal in the game, but I would guess that the Yak Big Cheese would do the same thing as The Godfather-own every house on the street and put loyal people in those houses. Given the tech in Shadowrun that would be the only way to make sure that you are not under constant surveillance and subject to a sniper or a mortar type of attack-all of of which would be deadly accurate in the sixth world, and at great range (and the Yak Big Cheese would be the type who would have enemies who would pay someone, (i.e. Shadowrunners) who could put something like that together).

As I said, this does not need to be a big deal, I only bring it up because the players should not be able to easily set up in a near by house or adjacent apartment and use that as a staging area.

Sounds Like Someone Is About To Have A Cool Run,
AFE :nuyen:

[bibliophile20]

Okay, here's what I came up with: (and if anyone here is attending UBCon next week, either don't read this or don't play the "Puppet Desires Strings Cut" module that I'm running)

[ Spoiler ]

If the runners fail to rescue the someone in question--Della--in time, then she'll be taken to the Yakuza's house below:

Northeast Renton.

The house is relatively modest (for a Yakuza) three stories on a moderately sized lot, about 70 by 50 meters, with attention paid to landscaping—there are no trees next to the house and the landscape itself has been sculpted to allow for clear lines of fire and sight from the house. The property is surrounded by 12 foot tall hedges; the building itself has Force 5 wards; his office has Force 7 wards. There are small gun caches throughout the house, in the master bedroom, the office, library, and the guard quarters; the caches are secured with Maglocks rating 5 w/biometric scanner--fingerprint.

Basement: Della’s room, fully equipped kitchen, servant quarters (2), guard quarters (3), assorted upkeep (laundry, hot water heater, furnace, etc).
Ground Floor—Foyer, large and well furnished living room, dining room, garden in the back, detached garage.
Second Floor—Two guest bedrooms, office (warded, Force 7, reinforced walls, armor/barrier—8/9), master bedroom, three full bathrooms (1 w/large hot tub)
Third floor: Library, various rooms.


Della has, surprisingly enough, free run of the house when the Yakuza is not around—however, she cannot leave the walls. Her new master has taken the precaution of adding a trigger to her p-shunt—if she walks beyond the walls, the p-shunt, personafix and skillwire systems will take over and she will calmly turn around and walk back downstairs to her room and shut the door. The system can also be activated remotely, allowing the coast to be clear for when he is expecting guests. The p-shunt will activate on the following conditions (note that he can override this if he wishes):
Della walking beyond the walls of the house.
Della entering his office
Any other member of the Yakuza aside from his men entering the property.
The doorbell
Remotely via command

The p-shunt can be deactivated by means of a Cybertechnology + Logic (15, 10 minutes) extended test.

However, Della can roam the rest of the house at will—and utilize the Matrix, quickly hacking her way out past the rudimentary blocks that her new master had put in place (the system has good defenses from outside attack, but coming from the inside going out is a lot easier). The blocks would have been enough to stop someone with little knowledge of the Matrix and computers, but he never bothered to ask about her history and background (she was a computer student at Seattle U before being "persuaded" into Yakuza service).


Hotaka
The Yakuza's personal guard, Hotaka is a Japanese adept utterly devoted to his master. Honorable—to a point—he will give the runners a chance to surrender before attacking.
B 3
A 6
R 5 (7)
S 4
C 3
I 3
L 3
W 4
M 7
Ess 6
Init 10
IP 3

Physical: 10
Stun: 10
Edge: 3

Skills:
Blades 6
Dodge 4
Etiquette 2 (Japanese +2)
Unarmed Combat 3
Athletics 4

Grade 1 Initiate
Metamagic:
Adept Centering (chants in Japanese)

Adept Powers
Improved Reflexes 2
Mystic Armor 4
Combat Sense 4

Weapon: Katana (Weapon focus)

Armor Vest: 6/4 (10/8 )

So, any comments, suggested alterations, etc? I actually didn't get to send the runners here when I ran the module last Saturday--only two people showed up and they managed to beat the clock, so to speak.

[Ravor]

I'm always looking for a good module, is there anyway one could get a copy, perhaps after the con?

[Wounded Ronin]

Hmm. Is Hotaka going to be enough to stop a party of runners? You might want to give him some friends or else beef his stats.

[bibliophile20]

[Wounded Ronin]

Personally I think it's better to err on the side of challenging a team than on the side of coddling them. I think that holds especially true when you're talking about a team who can approach and attack in any way they want versus one melee dude who is restricted to specifically guarding a target and whose role is fundamentally reactive.

[bibliophile20]

[knasser]