Preparing for the Wierd and Unusual, It's not paranoia if they really are out to get you Options

[KarmaInferno]

I wrote this in another thread:

Dude, this is Shadowrun. Sometimes rainclouds are deadly.

I meant it as humor, but got to thinking... Shadowrunners more than anyone else in the game run into Really Weird Shit. And on a far more regular basis than many would like.

So the more paranoid and/or more experienced Runners might prepare contingencies "just in case".

What are things you or your players have been observed doing to Prepare For The Weird?

My Merc character, for example, has been known to carry clips of special load ammo, like Silver Bullets and such. He has in one incarnation carried a large bore revolver with capsule ammo containing a mix of wood shards from a blessed cross, gold and silver powder, Essence of Garlic, Cayenne Pepper, DMSO, and Hyper. "Just in Case". He's Old, and has seen waaay too much Weird Shit.

Anyone else?




-k

[Fatum]

My characters tend to have an autoinjector loaded with everything from Slab for playing dead to K-10 for that last stylish berserker suicide charge.
I also love concealed weaponry, from fingertip monowhips to those pistols from Arsenal.

[Digital Heroin]

It depends on the runner in question, but I have some, like my hit man (Jon Snow of the stolen name) who prepare down to the absolutely ludicrous detail. He is thoroughly mundane (unaugmented even), but possesses and knows how to wield, a foci katana. Why? Because if some spirit gets uppity, he wants to be able to lay a hurting on it.

[Yerameyahu]

Honestly, I feel like SR *doesn't* have much weirdness. At this point, it's Last Action Hero: there's *always* a ninja in the closet. Or a crazy spirit, or a munchkin (SURGED mysad metavariant infected-variant), etc. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[pbangarth]

My PC in Shadow Wars, Lucky Eddie has snakemesh socks, for obvious reasons. And Alkahest solvent for many uses, including in case of leech constructs.

[CanRay]

Were I to actually ever get to *PLAY* Shadowrun... Shotguns.

Look at the types of shells available today, and you'll know why.

And it's easier to explain to Officer Friendly why you have one in the trunk of the car than an AK-97 or Panther Assault Cannon. "Sorry Officer, I was about to head to Salish land to hunt me up some Deer. See, I even have a gun safe to hold the ammo all legal-like."

[Dakka Dakka]

I'm no hunter, but I doubt you hunt deer with smooth bore weapons. Especially not with shot, unless you want minced deer.

Since a shotgun in SR is just a s legal as an assault rifle this excuse would work just as well for your scoped AK 97. BTW you never know what paracritters would want to steal your prize. So better take some extra firepower on your "hunting-trip".

[Game2BHappy]

A riot shield with R6 Chemical protection ... because I am absolutely certain that one of our GMs will eventually attack us with Aliens. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[CanRay]

Then why do they call it "Buck Shot" if you're not supposed to use it for Buck? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[Stahlseele]

'cause it's supposed to be a buck a suck shot?
Or it's a bucket of shot?

[pbangarth]

I'm no hunter, but I doubt you hunt deer with smooth bore weapons. Especially not with shot, unless you want minced deer.

Then why do they call it "Buck Shot" if you're not supposed to use it for Buck? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

Buckshot

Larger sizes of shot, large enough that they must be carefully packed into the shell rather than simply dumped or poured in, are called "buckshot" or just "buck". Buckshot is used for hunting larger game, such as deer (hence derivation of the name), and also in riot shotguns and combat shotguns for defensive, police, and military use. Buckshot size is designated by number, with smaller numbers being larger shot; sizes larger than "0" ("ought") are designated by multiple zeros. "00" ("double-ought") is the most commonly used size.

A standard 00 buck shell holds 7-9 pellets. Two types of 00 buckshot are commonly available from suppliers: regular 00 buckshot shells for hunting, and low-recoil shells for law enforcement or home defense use. Low-recoil 00 buckshot allows the shooter to make fast follow-up shots, which may be needed in a combat situation, but are not typically required in hunting.

[Sixgun_Sage]

One of my runners had a... well, it was a tactical vest that everyone reffered to as the bat-vest because of this guy's tendency to have seemingly random usefull stuff in it. Everything from spare clips and shuriken to a mini-tool for soldering to those wierd astral smoke bombs. Spare commlinks and a special "one shot" mini grapple gun. Oh, and the plastic explosive "bomblets" for his slingshot.

[Draco18s]

One of my runners had a... well, it was a tactical vest that everyone reffered to as the bat-vest because of this guy's tendency to have seemingly random usefull stuff in it. Everything from spare clips and shuriken to a mini-tool for soldering to those wierd astral smoke bombs. Spare commlinks and a special "one shot" mini grapple gun. Oh, and the plastic explosive "bomblets" for his slingshot.

Reminds me of Shag from Road Rovers. Dog pulled a bazooka out of his fur one time.

[Stahlseele]

Reminds me of Silent Bob.

[Fatum]

I imagine the fun times he's having explaining the cops what does he need all those for.

[Draco18s]

I imagine the fun times he's having explaining the cops what does he need all those for.

I have a permit.

[CanRay]

One of my runners had a... well, it was a tactical vest that everyone reffered to as the bat-vest...

I had one of those IRL when I was doing computer field tech work. It's a Tilley Vest (An earlier model of this one, in Khaki) that I loaded up with the usual tools, and a lot of weird and wonderful gear of all shapes and sizes. You'd be amazed at what is useful at a Dollar Store. (Stuffer Shack is certainly a place to buy a lot of must-have gear! "Fighting with guns makes you stupid. Fighting with duct tape makes you smart." - Burn Notice).

My boss and I only had to go to the car for tools once. And it was something that couldn't fit in the vest. The looks I got from, well, everyone (Boss included!) made me feel like I had prepared just like Batman for every contingency.

And even he has to whistle for the Batmobile/Batjet/Batboat every now and then for the big stuff.

Only problem... I had it close to it's full weight capacity. Damn thing added fifteen pounds to me, at least.

[Stahlseele]

so about 10%? O.o
i get strange looks when i can produce screwdriver, USB cables of ALL different kinds(including USB3), UMTS, WiFi, Storage, LAN-Cabling, an HDD, some SD/Micro-SD-Cards, cable binders, screws of some sizes, duct tape, two sided tape, insulating tape, bubble foil, anti static foil, VGA to DVI adapter, DVI to HDMI adapter, Molex to SATA Power adapters, SATA data cables, an IDE/mini-IDE/SATA to USB adapter, a pocket sized digital aplifier, an external blue ray drive, empty CDs/DVD's, 4 kinds of RAM, a Router, a switch, a soundcard, a network interface card, PC-Power-Cable, HDMI-Cable, VGA/HDMI-Cable and a laptop from within arms length basically anywhere . .

[Draco18s]

No pliers?

[Stahlseele]

*twitch* actually, no, i allways forget about those for some reason . . yeah, thanks, i'll put them in right now <.<;,

[Digital Heroin]

I didn't see pickle grabber on that list. I swear by those bad boys.

[CanRay]

No pliers?

I swear by my Fuse-Style Leatherman Multitool. Pliers, screwdriver, knives, scissors, file, fish gutter, and a few other fun things!

[KarmaInferno]

I'll throw another one in that I've mentioned here before, but it fits the subject:

I had a character that used to hand out TacNet comms to the groups he was running with. They included the TacNet, a nice bunch of sensors, and a friend-or-foe encrypted transponder so his drones wouldn't shoot his teammates.

What he DIDN'T tell folks was that A) he could use the devices as target designators to give his drones a BONUS to shoot his teammates, and B) each device also had a charge of plastic explosive hidden in it with a remote trigger, if that wasn't enough.

You know, just in case.




-k

[Sixgun_Sage]

I imagine the fun times he's having explaining the cops what does he need all those for.

Strange enough it never came up in a game, most of the stuff he had permits for, the rest was overshadowed by the team troll's flagrant verbal abuse of the police.

[Bodak]

I had a character that used to hand out TacNet comms to the groups he was running with. They included the TacNet, a nice bunch of sensors, and a friend-or-foe encrypted transponder so his drones wouldn't shoot his teammates.

What he DIDN'T tell folks was

I had a rigger that provided tacnet (to a group which had up until that point dismissed tacnets entirely as too much work) and secretly recorded all the data from it on runs (encrypted of course, space no longer being an issue). During downtime some careful editing and selection of camera angles, voice recordings, etc. provided me with some good blackmail material (ready to be anonymously donated to previously offended corp(s)) should any of my team turn judas or decide I was expendable. Never did get to use it.

My plausible deniability contingency plan if they found out I was recording runs was that if we later needed to know something we hadn't noticed in the first place or had subsequently forgotten (How many people ran past that gap? Could any of them have been concealing a McGuffin?), I could review the recording to see if any of the tacnet sensors had picked it up.