Do your runners have contingency plans to kill their team mates?, Batman does Options

[Aberrant]

Spinning off from this thread about magic, I figured the discussion warranted its own thread.

Now, my current runner, Lucky Kelly, has plans to off his teammates if he has too. The other front line combatant, Ace? She's good with a shotgun, but not a ton else. Overall, Kelly is better equipped and is a lot faster (Wired Reflexes vs Reaction Enhancers) AND stronger. So if need be, I could put her down even in a straight fight.

The mage, Doc? His little dwarven ass would be tricky. ICly, I know he can turn invisible, create 'force fields', and can knock people out with a look. Contingency? Constant attention to him, adrenaline pump, and the ability to get the drop on his slow to react self.

Finally, the most experienced member of our team is Jester Ned, a world famous hacker. Ned is a character with almost 300 Karma - his combat skills rival mid level gangers. But he is still not an experienced combatant. He IS quick on the draw, even in meatspace, so it comes down to preparation. Be better armored and better armed.

Also, databombs in all pieces of wi-fi enabled cyberware helps. So does a skinlink (still need) or an optical connection straight into a smartgun.

[HappyDaze]

Constant attention to him, adrenaline pump, and the ability to get the drop on his slow to react self.

Before I'd let a player get away with something like this, I'd ask them if they're willing to take penalties for being distracted on all other Perception checks. Constant vigilance is costly.

[Critias]

1) Shoot them in the head.

2) Repeat.

*shrug* No point in overthinkin' it.

[Mr. Mage]

Well, my current character, Donald "Warlock" Locke is a conjurer, with a good deal of Karma stored into conjury related Metamagics and into spellcasting some useful spells.

Frontliner of our group: Reaper, a standard, uncouth Street Samurai. My main advantage over him is that he has no firends...literally. Playing up to the Uncouth negative quality has pretty much dried up any of his contact assets, so he has noone to turn to other than his current team, and even then, they're more likely to stand aside than aid him in anything. Other than that, I can try out the ole' one look Knockout (as is Abberant's problem with his mage) or, and this one's good, I could summon one of my high force, greater formed spirits to tank his ass, sinc summoned spirits have immunity to normal weapons. Couple on this that both the character and the player are not very smart tactically and I'd bet that even if he can somehow bring serious harm to my spirits, I can maneuver him to an unfavorable position.

Our Stealth Operative: Phantom, another cybernetically enhanced individual, has the powerful ability to change his/her physical appearance between any face, elven or human, and either gender. He/She also has many assets in the form of both contacts and tools. Stealth is His/Her key though, and everything else falls into the Jack of All Trades, master of none category, as He/She is not a master at anything besides stealth. My key advantage here is that I can track It's (tire'd of saying He/She) Astral Aura, since It cannot change that, no magical prowess AND has little to no knowledge on the machinations of Magic. Provided I can get It away from Its benefactors and contacts, I can set up ambushes for It, and it will not be able to easily elude me. So long as I'm too close for the sniper rifle to be used effectively, and I attack first, I'm good.

Our Technomancer: The Ambience, is actually a close friend of mine (though he is my polar opposite: I am a business owner, he is akin to a street urchin; I am a middle-aged drunkard, he is a youngster who has never had alcohol before; I break everything that's electronic or mechanical [Gremlins 3 quality], and he's a Technomancer). My advantage comes from simply that I am unconnected to the Matrix myself, so he has no direct power over me, though he has plenty of indirect power such as posting my name and location on the Matrix for the authorities to find. However, he has almost no combat capabilites and so could not take me in a quick and decisive battle, especially if I conjure up a minion to help me out.

I'm gonna go a little further than my party here, My previous Character and now a Prime Runner: Mr. Takanowa, a respected host of CLub Raven, a highsyle corporate club and restaurant which is a favorite for many shadowrunners to meet their Mr. Johnson's. He was my previous character, and eventually given over to the GM. He is tactical, focused, Composed and a Master of Bushido and Japanese Swordplay. He is also a very powerful Adept. In a one one on one fight between him and Reaper, he would tear Reaper apart. He is also incredibly aware of his surroundings and also has the Astral Perception ability, so Phantom will unlikely be able to get the drop on him. He also has many contacts and has limited Matrix access, so The Ambience would most likely need to use an indirect attack, which could likely fail since everyone sees Takanowa as a fine, upstanding citizen. As for me, well, my Spirits would be hard pressed to land any attacks on him, since he is just that agile, and his Katana is essentially a Force 3 Weapon Focus, and thus a magic weapon capable of harming them. It is also his ancestral blade, and the wisdom of his ancestors who wielded it beforehand help him in battle. Probably the only way for us to actually defeat him permanently would be in a direct fight, with all 4 of us attacking from a separate flank, disallowing him to focus on one target at any given time. He is nearly untouchable from any other method.

[Summerstorm]

In my current group... i don't think so. But before that, they didn't not only have plans, they executed them. I had people just beeing shot in the face after a surprise test. I had two guys using explosives to trap the other two in a cave. (They used forced labour of some scientists to get free and on a revenge-seeking killing spree).

Hell i had an otaku using cybereyes/ears to film all illegal stuff, adresses, locations, behavioural patterns and such, creating not only dossiers on the group but on all their contacts and collegues. If he were to die EVERYTHING would have been send to lonestar. He would be taking ALL with him, no matter if they betrayed him or not.

Ah... and my characters are mostly a bit nicer... but i think i helped killing off a psycho-character of somebody, can't remember *g*. But the player wasn't angry. If you play psycho, you may get the headshot... unwritten rule.

[Aberrant]

I should note that the hacker in our group is a dead man if/when his previous team (we sometimes cycle put characters) ever find out he betrayed them to save his mother's life.

Also, Mr Mage, our group also has a gender-shifting character. But not as literal. Ace, the other merc, is our friend's first Runner. Her character grew up in Egypt, and, tired of gender inequality, moved away and began living as a male, to the point she has gotten a voice modulator. No one in our new crew knows she is a chick, which will fuck with my character, as they have been bonding a lot over beer and shop talk.

[Mr. Mage]

I should note that the hacker in our group is a dead man if/when his previous team (we sometimes cycle put characters) ever find out he betrayed them to save his mother's life.

Also, Mr Mage, our group also has a gender-shifting character. But not as literal. Ace, the other merc, is our friend's first Runner. Her character grew up in Egypt, and, tired of gender inequality, moved away and began living as a male, to the point she has gotten a voice modulator. No one in our new crew knows she is a chick, which will fuck with my character, as they have been bonding a lot over beer and shop talk.

Hehe...that will be interesting, but at least that character actually has a gender. Phantom can change at will, and I;m not even sure he/she has an actual gender anymore.

[Blade]

In one of my campaign, the troll trapped the room of two team members. One of them wasn't there when it all blew up, the other one managed to survive (and so did the other team members who were in the building at the time of the explosion). The building wasn't so lucky, though.
Later on, a PC gave his location to the police (by then the troll was Hamburg's most wanted criminal) who shot him down.

Right now I'm not aware of any special plan to kill their team mates but the team hacker keeps data on anyone who might want to kill him (nearly everyone according to him). If he dies, the data will be spread all over the Matrix.

In another campaign, I've seen PCs completely destroy the life of another PC. They destroyed his reputation (he had the maximum 'Fame' Quality), making him neuter himself and go from worldwide celebrity to religious zealot. But that wasn't planned.

[PaulK]

In my previous SR3 campaign, not only did I have contingency plans to off teammates, but actually had cause to implement two of them. Our physad yak-wannabe got way too popular with law enforcement. Locally known as the "Fifty-cal Killer", he had a bad habit of doing stupid stuff, like tossing white phosphorous grenades at Lone Star while being recorded by an orbiting news helicopter. The Force 9 Greater Fire elemental was on its way when the Yak took care of things.

The other team member that deserved to die was the lesbian elf face with an unhealthy interest in transforming HMHVV into a bio-weapon, with the intent of turning large portions of Seattle into a ghoul infested wasteland. Why, we never knew. That one was actually pretty easy. Several tranq patches and a call to Lone Star and the UCAS federal authorities with directions to her lab and that problem was solved.

[Stahlseele]

1.) Shoot them.
If that does not work:
2.) Hit them.
If THAT does not work:
3a) BLOW THEM UP!
3b) Consider Negotiation.
if that does not work EITHER:
4) Blow them up HARDER

[Mr. Mage]

1.) Shoot them.
If that does not work
2.) Hit them.

Aaahh...but what if you aren't combat oriented? A bit of planning goes a long way....

[Blade]

1.) Shoot them.
If that does not work:
2.) Hit them.
If THAT does not work:
3a) BLOW THEM UP!
3b) Consider Negotiation.
if that does not work EITHER:
4) Blow them up HARDER

Nuke them from the orbit! It's the only way to be sure!

[Zaranthan]

Nuke them from the orbit! It's the only way to be sure!

Agreed, but you always need a Plan B: Twice as much gunpowder as Plan A!

As for plans, I think every single one of my characters lives by the TF2 Sniper's creed. "Be polite, be efficient, have a plan to kill everyone you meet." Frankly, anything less would be suicide in the shadows.

[Generico]

Nuke them from the orbit! It's the only way to be sure!

Petition a higher power to drop a cow on them!

[SaintHax]

1.) Shoot them.
If that does not work:
2.) Hit them.
If THAT does not work:
3a) BLOW THEM UP!
3b) Consider Negotiation.
if that does not work EITHER:
4) Blow them up HARDER

"There are five possible operations for any army. If you can fight, fight; if
you cannot fight, defend; if you cannot defend, flee; if you cannot flee,
surrender; if you cannot surrender, die." -- Sima Yi

According to Sima Yi, after 3b fails you are dead (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Mr. Mage]

Petition a higher power to drop a cow on them!

Ever played "Kobolds ate my Baby"? Honest, that's a random way for the character's to die....walking along and all of a sudden: COW FROM ABOVE!

[RebekahWSD]

I don't think all the people in the group I'm in have plans to kill everyone else, just one particular player...but let's see, if I were to kill everyone myself.

I play a mage. And everyone has really, reallllly low willpower. That really well, solves most of the issues there.

The only person though that would likely try and kill my character is the Fomori Street Samurai (dislikes flighty characters), who has the lowest willpower. And can't fly. And relys on hand to hand a lot. (I play a pixie. The gm said as long as I owned to companion, I could play anything from it, heeeh)

I haven't really thought much about anyone else, but my character is more about the ducking and hiding then the killing of teammates. Though like I said in the start, the group is likely to try and kill our gunwielding assasin person (that's all he plays). If it comes to that, it's certainley going to be hide, hideeeee time.

RebekahWSD

[Ravor]

Of course, and there are times when I've actually had to carry through.

[Leehouse]

Since I am GM'ing I know at least one of my runners has a contingency plan should it come to that, but considering the group I doubt it will come to that.


I know the short period I had a rigger I definitely had an exit strategy which would have been painful.

[Stahlseele]

"There are five possible operations for any army. If you can fight, fight; if
you cannot fight, defend; if you cannot defend, flee; if you cannot flee,
surrender; if you cannot surrender, die." -- Sima Yi

According to Sima Yi, after 3b fails you are dead (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

If i blow them up hard enough, i won't have to worry.
If i blow them up too hard, i won't have to worry either.
It's a win/win situation with a nice big BA-THROOM! ^^

[TeaTime]

Yes.

[Tanegar]

And planning all of this while remaining effective, congenital coworkers.

Er, I think you mean "congenial." "Congenital" means something quite different.

[TeaTime]

Ah...Oopsy! Dang fansy werds! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wobble.gif)

[Jaid]

I'm gonna go a little further than my party here, My previous Character and now a Prime Runner: Mr. Takanowa, a respected host of CLub Raven, a highsyle corporate club and restaurant which is a favorite for many shadowrunners to meet their Mr. Johnson's. He was my previous character, and eventually given over to the GM. He is tactical, focused, Composed and a Master of Bushido and Japanese Swordplay. He is also a very powerful Adept. In a one one on one fight between him and Reaper, he would tear Reaper apart. He is also incredibly aware of his surroundings and also has the Astral Perception ability, so Phantom will unlikely be able to get the drop on him. He also has many contacts and has limited Matrix access, so The Ambience would most likely need to use an indirect attack, which could likely fail since everyone sees Takanowa as a fine, upstanding citizen. As for me, well, my Spirits would be hard pressed to land any attacks on him, since he is just that agile, and his Katana is essentially a Force 3 Weapon Focus, and thus a magic weapon capable of harming them. It is also his ancestral blade, and the wisdom of his ancestors who wielded it beforehand help him in battle. Probably the only way for us to actually defeat him permanently would be in a direct fight, with all 4 of us attacking from a separate flank, disallowing him to focus on one target at any given time. He is nearly untouchable from any other method.

if you think attacking your reputation is the only thing a non-combat technomancer can do to you, then you don't understand what a technomancer can do at all.

if nothing else, drones are an indirect attack. his fame won't help him out if someone decides to put a sniper rifle on a stormcloud and just waits.

[Red-ROM]

I'm playing a rigger, so naturally my drones are set to kill everyone when my biomonitor stops. If I had to take my group out, it would be timing. I drive 2 vehicles, and right now they're all in the van and I'm in the truck. I could just drive them into the front of an oncoming Mac truck. and with ramming rules the way they are, no one would survive.