Stashes, Places to hide stuff Options

[Serial_Peacemake...]

Actually if I remember the fluff right in Shadowrun EVERYONE is packing outside of fairly secure corperate enclaves. Having some heat on you is an important part of fitting in.

[imperialus]

I have two different types of stashes.

Type 1: Just like kanislatrans. Seriously, other than cosmetic differences they're almost identical. The biggest change is I don't bother with a high rating comlink or SIN. My stash bags are supposed to be a temporary thing that lets me lay low for a few days/weeks and if you're checking into a scummy motel and not opening the door for anyone but a pizza delivery guy you don't need a good SIN or comlink. If I do need a good SIN or comlink for some reason I'll go to the safe deposit box. Other than that, I always have a multi tool in there too.

Type 2: A safe deposit box in a bank near the airport. This is meant to be used when something has gone seriously wrong. It's really more an RP thing than anything else since any time I've had a character use this stash I've retired him.
1 comlink, best I can afford.
1 SIN, best I can afford
1 small nanopaste disguise
10,000 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) in certified credsticks different denominations
Banking information, if the character has things like Swiss accounts and the like.
5000 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) cash, different currencies.
precious stones of varying value (sometimes)
an open ended first class suborbital ticket to somewhere without an extradition treaty.

[Synner667]

Personally, you realise what to put in a hidey-hole by taking all the gear from a character and see what he can/cannot do.

Having guns is necessary, but if you have to use it then you're already in trouble.

The most useful thing to have are Contacts, because they'll warn of trouble, provide gear and information, possibly intervene and give you breathing room to save your life - and you can't put them in a stash.

[Ice Hammer]

With the last group of characters my group had, they actually started a (mostly) legitimate business out of providing a secure place for people to to safely store items without too many questions asked. It turned out to be a profitable business, as the possiblity for security for valuables (legal or not) is a valuable commodity in the sixth world, or at least, that's how I GM'd the game. I would imagine that there are opportunities for retired runners to provide a similar service to their buddies as well. They've seen all the tricks in the shadows, they know what to expect, and they definitely know the importance of being able to have a safe location to store items, expecially if they are items that need to be stored temporarily if its related to a run.

[Earlydawn]

Personally, you realise what to put in a hidey-hole by taking all the gear from a character and see what he can/cannot do.

Having guns is necessary, but if you have to use it then you're already in trouble.

The most useful thing to have are Contacts, because they'll warn of trouble, provide gear and information, possibly intervene and give you breathing room to save your life - and you can't put them in a stash.

I've always assumed that stashes are "bail-out bags". If you need to use one, you're more then likely unable to get in touch with your contacts; they're either being watched, or it'd be too much exposure to try and go out and find them.

[Spike]

One thing to keep in mind is that you actually should have two seperate TYPES of stashes (and multiple iterations of each), if not more.

Your PHYSICAL stashes are full of real world stuff, and should be pretty disposable/anonymous. Either you'll never use them, or they'll be found.

Either way they share a trait: The fewer ties to the cache the more likely you can get it when you need it. If you dump a cache with your buddy, your ex-wife, your fixer or in the kitchen of your favorite resteraunt you might be able to check on it, know it's reasonably secure, and even trust that if it IS found that nothing untoward is going to happen as a result. On the other hand, people who care enough to figure out where you live just might check all those places and keep an eye on them. If its an ongoing thing (where they have LOTS of time to stake you out... in other words you are royally fonged...) they might just figure out that you always sit under a certain tree in the city park and figure you'be buried a bag there...

In other words don't visit a place you've stashed a cache.

Moving on: One major thing to NOT include on your hidden commlink (provided you put one in there) is links to your hidden accounts and fake ID's. Why? Because if it IS found and turned over to bad people, they now have access to your bailout network, to your hidden accounts.


Which brings us to our second major type of Cache: Data Caches.

All that stuff you would plug onto a 'bugout commlink'? Yeah, that stuff. Hidden accounts, new identies (possibly, at this point, without visual data... in essense a partial 'ID' waiting for you to get a new face to finish it up...) and even blackmail data can all be hidden entirely virtually, and should. We can assume safely that no one checks physical paperwork anymore... its all electronic.

There CAN be a physical component to these stashes. Maybe its all on a RFID tag 'chip' in a public place, maybe you hacked some coffee shop and installed it on the espresso machine in a hidden folder.

But it doesn't have to be that way. With a little virtual work, you can hide it just about anywhere wireless. You don't have to be a great hacker, or even a particularly good hacker... at least as far as the Shadows are concerned. The key here is that its hidden where no one will look for it, ever. If you are really clever you break the cache into chunks (not a bunch of files, but literally divide the data so that only a complete set of peices makes actual files that can be manipulated) though there aren't really rules for that, so that if any one cache IS found its useless gibberish. There can be thousands of 'part A' scattered all over.

The key is the only record of where you've hidden data is in your own head. Well, the commlink you used to move all that will have something, but a simple drop into an incinerator takes care of that trail.

Heres another way to cache data: specifically money. A smart (read: paranoid) runner parcels out savings into dozens of numbered accounts. He doesn't link to them but rather memorizes (thats work, but paranoia... you know) all the numbers in case of emergency. When he's got to bug out he taps a number from the memorized list, drains it dry if necessary and moves on.

this is mostly immune to hacker games. Not because the accounts are any harder than any other to hack (though honestly, banks must have some serious security if hackers in Shadowrun are doing 'runs' instead of just hacking banks for their accounts to pay the bills...), but because the hacker has to know about the accounts to do anything to them. By resorting to coded accounts and memorized numbers only, instead of storing data on his Commlink, the Runner insulates those accounts. Sure, someone may randomly hack a specific bank and drain a specific account, but there is a reason for multiple accounts in multiple banks. Sure, it is theoretically possible to backtrack every transaction a runner has done, ever, looking for this, but most crisis situations will be resolved fast enough to make this improbable on any meaningful scale, and even then a truely paranoid runner may have even used proxies and cutouts to really spoof his trail (the old fashioned way...not teh Hacker program way).

[Earlydawn]

My ideal cache:

• Change of street clothes, and a lined coat.
• Firearm - likely a handgun. Possibly a stealthgun like the Elan if my likely escape route goes through an airport or train station.
• Survival knife, again customized for ceramic / plasteel components.
• Small C-Squared spray.. good call!
• 50,000 in certified credsticks.
• Fake SIN, good quality.