And now the fun begins..., MWAHAHAHAHA!!! *rubs hands in glee* Options

[Stalag]

Most importantly, can you get paid before the opposition whacks your Johnson?

Well, to be fair, if the opposition knows who your Johnson is then you've probably already failed. The point of being a "Johnson" is to maintain your anonymity and the point of hiring runners is the deniability.

[Warlordtheft]

On this topic, can I ask a question about illusion? I've been wondering about how a "tricksy" mage would go, but almost all the illusion spells in SM seem to just be Confusion by another name (ie, -hits to all actions). Is there any real difference? And more importantly, do they stack, so you can stack up a ridiculous negative modifier against someone by stacking Confusion/Bugs/HotPotato/etc spells?

Illusions are fun!! Assuming you don't have to worry about the astral....like in the middle of a firefight, drop a trid phantasm of you all dying in the explosion. Or make it so your guys in the area of effect are actually 3 meters from where they really are. Mask and physical mask are also good tools. It is one of my favorite spell groups.

[hyphz]

Illusions are fun!! Assuming you don't have to worry about the astral....like in the middle of a firefight, drop a trid phantasm of you all dying in the explosion. Or make it so your guys in the area of effect are actually 3 meters from where they really are. Mask and physical mask are also good tools. It is one of my favorite spell groups.

Would you allow that? That would seem to be a combination of illusion+invisibility to me (phantasm to make the appearance of people dying, invisibility to hide the real people)

[Yerameyahu]

It's a gray area, balance-wise. Typically, it's assumed that Trid Phantasm is a 'perfect', opaque illusion; the equivalent of putting up a painted false wall.

[CanRay]

Didn't work so well for the Coyote against the Road Runner. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[Yerameyahu]

Heh, that's exactly why I didn't use the fake tunnel example which totally popped into my head first. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) It *would* work in SR4 though!

[Warlordtheft]

It's a gray area, balance-wise. Typically, it's assumed that Trid Phantasm is a 'perfect', opaque illusion; the equivalent of putting up a painted false wall.

ALso, IIRC--AFB it has one of the highest drain codes F/2+3....but yeah it is one of the more powerful illusion spells.

[Modular Man]

Oh yeah, I do like illusion spells, too. They become so very versatile if you get creative...

[Midas]

I would suggest the following obstacles to test-drive your magic-heavy group.

1) Drone sentries roaming inside the compound wall ... to teach them that a lot of magic ain't good against tech stuff.
2) Wards, to make them drop sustained spells/leave behind non-bound spirits or raise the alarm.
3) Mundane mooks with a counterspelling wagemage with a few bound spirits ... as this is the sort of thing they will often encounter once the real campaign starts.
4) A spooky lab with insect spirits inside host bodies, some part-mutated ... for the horrors!
5) Boss fight with a blood magician in his Aspected domain hideaway with bound spirits and a blood sacrifice to amp up his power even more.
6) (Should they succeed) A conundrum - the McGuffin is an evil blood magic text. Do the PCs hand it to the Johnson for the cash, or destroy it for the karmic feelgood factor?