Dealing with being arrested Options

[Murrdox]

So I've come up with what I think will an amusing side-run for my players that I'm going to put them on later on in the campaign.

Again, if you're my players, GEEZ DO NOT READ!!

So the point of the run will be that the Runners are "moving up a level" in terms of their corporate dealings. A AAA corp has heard of them, and wants to hire them for a very high-profile job. However, the AAA wants to test their capabilities first. This is a classic "Get Screwed by Mr. Johnson" run. It also gives my players the chance to use their A-Team Van that the Rigger has been tricking out, so I really think they'll like this.

The Run Outline is pretty simple.

1) Meet up with a truck driver out in Salish-Shidhe territory. The Truck Driver has been given instructions to deliver his cargo to an assigned courier for transport across the Seattle border.

- In actuality the Truck driver has been instructed to do no such thing. He's actually driving his load from Yakima over to Spokane. Mr. Johnson just knows that the Truck driver WILL be stopping at a popular Truck Driver hangout in Ellensburg, and this is where he tells the Runners that they're supposed to make the pick up.

2) The Runners hopefully figure out what is going on and boost the shipment, either at the Truck stop, or in transit to Spokane. They get it back to Seattle.

- If the Runners decide to open the Truck, it's full of pre-packaged Soy Tacos for Taco Bell.

3) Mr. Johnson doesn't show up at the drop off point. Instead, he tells the Runners that his client has decided he's not interested in the shipment anymore, and instructs them to get rid of the Truck. He tells them he'll send them their payment as soon as they can verify the Truck has been disposed of adequately.

- As soon as Mr. Johnson hangs up with the Runners, he gets on the phone with Knight Errant and reports the theft of a truck and cargo. He feeds Knight Errant the GPS Tracker information for the Truck so that they can locate it. Knight Errant sends a squad car to investigate the stolen vehicle which takes 20 minutes to rendezvous with the Truck.



Now, the end of this run will potentially result in a conflict between Knight Errant and the Runners, unless they're VERY fast about ditching the Truck or have already had the forethought to disable the GPS tracker in the Truck. My main question is, what should I do if the characters are arrested? In the past in my game I did this by having the arrested character pay a fine of a few hundred Nuyen, call in a favor with a contact for a lawyer, and his SIN got a criminal record (He was already a SINner).

For SINless characters, if they get arrested, what's appropriate? I don't want to execute them or have them spend months in prison obviously... that's no fun.

[kzt]

Well, they will likely have killed the driver and some KE guys, then go find and kill the Johnson. So what do you plan next?

[ShadowDragon8685]

Mr. Johnson is playing with fire here. There's a non-insignificant chance the runners will find out that he's the one who called Knight Errant. If they do, the very least of his problems will be the fact that they'll probably suggest he go and do something anatomically improbable with a fragmentation grenade if he offers them any more jobs. Putting them in a position to be pinched by the Star? (Or Knight Errant, whichever.) That generally requires vengeance of the ballistic skullfuckery variety.

Generally speaking, a doublecross like this is how a Johnson says 'our business relationship is over,' not 'you're hired.'

[Murrdox]

Generally speaking, a doublecross like this is how a Johnson says 'our business relationship is over,' not 'you're hired.'

Hmmm I sort of agree. I might have to re-think having him call Knight Errant on the Runners. If any of them DO actually get pinched by Knight Errant, Johnson is going to be less likely to hire them since now they have Knight Errant looking into them.

Maybe the confusion about having them "pick up" a shipment turning into a "hijack a shipment and then ditch the evidence" is enough of a "test".

[capt.pantsless]

My main question is, what should I do if the characters are arrested? In the past in my game I did this by having the arrested character pay a fine of a few hundred Nuyen, call in a favor with a contact for a lawyer, and his SIN got a criminal record (He was already a SINner).

For SINless characters, if they get arrested, what's appropriate? I don't want to execute them or have them spend months in prison obviously... that's no fun.

On the subject of getting arrested, usually what I do is make sure they have a couple of different avenues of escape, with varying levels of difficulty and consequences.

1.) The initial wave of cops will try to handcuff any suspects and throw them in the back of a squad-car. Busting out of a squad-car in the middle of a chaotic crime-scene is WAY easier that getting out of a prison. Mention that detail to the PCs. If any of the team can escape arrest, they can help others get free as well. Obviously, there's a good chance the authorities will create a criminal profile for anyone arrested, but it's better than getting a full-on Criminal SIN.

2.) Lone Star/KE are big, plodding corporations, and they end-up dealing with tons of SIN-less arrests every day. There's plenty of opportunity for characters to bust-out of the initial holding-cell, either by force, by conning/bribing the officers (should be hard, but not impossible), or by getting a lawyer to bluff them out of custody.
If the PC's don't work-fast to get free, the authorities will issue any and all of them a Criminal SIN, or attach an arrest record to any SINners.

3.) Beyond that, I'd usually run it with a trial and a sentencing. That said, I've never gotten to that point, and hope that my PC's wouldn't let it get that far.

That said, I think Mr. Johnson throwing KE at the PC's is a little dickish. A quick hijacking job in the middle of nowhere is a fine 'shakedown' job, to make sure the shadowrunners you just hired are actually decent. I wouldn't make it Soy-Tacos though, I'd make it into a real run, for some important, but not really critical, corporate purpose.

[TwoDee]

Hmmm I sort of agree. I might have to re-think having him call Knight Errant on the Runners. If any of them DO actually get pinched by Knight Errant, Johnson is going to be less likely to hire them since now they have Knight Errant looking into them.

Maybe the confusion about having them "pick up" a shipment turning into a "hijack a shipment and then ditch the evidence" is enough of a "test".

My suggestion if you want the Johnson to test them is to instead sick a local gang on them, like the Ancients or the Halloweeners. Same basic gist without throwing another corp into the mix (to say nothing of the fact that KE are deadly professional). That said, if the idea was to get them into a tangle with the authorities in the first place, disregard this suggestion.

[kzt]

There is also the fact that the players accepted a job to pick up a shipment, and got paid for a milkrun. In my group if the courier doesn't give it to them that is not the players problem, that is the Johnson's problem for not having all his ducks in a row. If I'm not being paid to carry out a hijacking I'm not going to carry out a hijacking. That's why you collect 50% up front.

[ShadowDragon8685]

There is also the fact that the players accepted a job to pick up a shipment, and got paid for a milkrun. In my group if the courier doesn't give it to them that is not the players problem, that is the Johnson's problem for not having all his ducks in a row. If I'm not being paid to carry out a hijacking I'm not going to carry out a hijacking. That's why you collect 50% up front.

This, too - I forgot it while I was busying myself imagining all the ways I'd tell a Johnson who sent the Law after me that our professional relationship had turned hostile. (Most of those ways involve bullets. Lots of bullets. Some involve knives - one even has a leper.)

If they show up for a hand-off and the person they think is the courier won't play ball, they're likely to take their 50% up front and tell the Johnson he's not professional enough to work with them in the future, and possibly give him the number of a local gang. (Ironic, ain't it?) Of course, it might well be a test of their professionalism - to see if they're professional enough to walk away, or whether they'll push forward and try to hijack the truck.

[Wiseman]

I vote to turn this into a smokey and the bandit run/escort of said truck with KE hot in pursuit. They either make the delivery in time and escape, or don't. Throw in a countrified sheriff and his dumb ork offspring who are more tenacious than even KE (when you spill their soycaf, it's personal!)

I do agree that a straight setup by the Johnson is a bit overboard and way too heavy handed for a AAA.

As for jail, why pull any punches? no one said crime paid let alone always paid. But some alternatives if it goes down that used road.

-Slap them with criminal SIN negative quality that has to be bought off (released on bail)
-House arrest and hijinks (nothing like a target that doesn't move, anyone have a score to settle with them?)
-Roll up a new char (you can play him again in 10 to 20)
-Prison break! (is that dirt in your pockets or are you just happy to see me)
-Shortly imprisoned and then "recruited" to work for the man (Frank Abagnale syndrome)
-Escape from capture en route to prison from teammates who weren't captured or even the AAA
-Fake imprisonment/interrogation by said AAA corp (just testing your mettle son)
-Have a trial and allow evidence tampering and witness manipulation

[snowRaven]

You can always have someone at the truck stop call the cops (or the truck driver, if they let him live)

[Iduno]

You can always have someone at the truck stop call the cops (or the truck driver, if they let him live)

Although that will probably lead the players into a "kill all the witnesses, then anyone who witnessed those killings" playstyle.

[Murrdox]

This, too - I forgot it while I was busying myself imagining all the ways I'd tell a Johnson who sent the Law after me that our professional relationship had turned hostile. (Most of those ways involve bullets. Lots of bullets. Some involve knives - one even has a leper.)

If they show up for a hand-off and the person they think is the courier won't play ball, they're likely to take their 50% up front and tell the Johnson he's not professional enough to work with them in the future, and possibly give him the number of a local gang. (Ironic, ain't it?) Of course, it might well be a test of their professionalism - to see if they're professional enough to walk away, or whether they'll push forward and try to hijack the truck.

Good points. This run is specifically going to be setup to the Runners as a Milk Run. Mr. Johnson is planning a big run, the Runners have some knowledge of it, and they want Mr. Johnson to hire them for it. Johnson tells the Runners his client wants to see how effectively they work together first. Johnson happens to have a small job he can give them. It's strongly hinted that if they do well on this run, they get hired for the big run.

Also keep in mind as a GM, this is also partially an excuse on my side to give them a run where they can play with their new tricked out van. The other point is to partially let them know they're dealing with an asshole Mr. Johnson that they'd better be careful with. The payout for the job is HUGE though, much larger than anything their team has gotten before. I'm hoping that will entice them to stick with him. If it doesn't, well I guess I'll have to re-write my plot hook!

I'm actually somewhat interested what they'll do with this. They ARE very professional in how they go about doing things. It's entirely possible that when they figure out there is no shipment to "pick up" that they'll just drive back to Seattle and tell Mr. Johnson that he screwed up the pick up details, and they weren't about to steal a truck shipment without further information. I'm hoping they'll figure out that it was Mr. Johnson's intention all along to throw them a curve ball, and they'll steal the shipment and bring it back to Seattle.

If there are any other ideas for some kind of a Milk Run that would fill my requirements (they get to use their tricked out van, introduction run to Mr. AAA Johnson) I'm open to suggestions!

[Murrdox]

Although that will probably lead the players into a "kill all the witnesses, then anyone who witnessed those killings" playstyle.

Yeah this is totally their playstyle. They're very professional... but they are definitely a "leave no witnesses" type of team.

[Kolinho]

How about having the AAA Johnson call KE on them, in such a way that they have to be caught (perhaps making the shipment of some serious ordinance or a drek-load of BTL). Then, after they are cuffed, have the Johnson bust them out on the way to the station.

Thus the Johnson has all the rights to call on them for some serious favour-repaying, saving himself and his bosses a fair packet while having a squad of runners capable of hijacking a truck in his pocket, if that makes sense? The players can find out at some point later he set it up. I would think you'd want it to be at a time and place where they can carry out some bullet justice though.

[nezumi]

There is also the fact that the players accepted a job to pick up a shipment, and got paid for a milkrun. In my group if the courier doesn't give it to them that is not the players problem, that is the Johnson's problem for not having all his ducks in a row. If I'm not being paid to carry out a hijacking I'm not going to carry out a hijacking. That's why you collect 50% up front.

This is very true. Generally when the J starts changing plans up, I make sure he recognizes this and tags more cash onto the bill (either a reasonable amount through immediate transfer, or twice that amount for POD). While it's fun to imagine the runners will bend over backwards to please the J, in practice they don't enjoy feeling like their chains are being yanked.

The Johnson has to call immediately after or prior to KE arriving to tell them they've been hired, and their entire promised payment plus a nice bonus is being wired to them using their preferred method. Cash is their carrot, and runners will put up a lot to get it.

[Murrdox]

How about having the AAA Johnson call KE on them, in such a way that they have to be caught (perhaps making the shipment of some serious ordinance or a drek-load of BTL). Then, after they are cuffed, have the Johnson bust them out on the way to the station.

Thus the Johnson has all the rights to call on them for some serious favour-repaying, saving himself and his bosses a fair packet while having a squad of runners capable of hijacking a truck in his pocket, if that makes sense? The players can find out at some point later he set it up. I would think you'd want it to be at a time and place where they can carry out some bullet justice though.

This is an amusing idea. The Johnson secretly getting the Runners arrested, only to show up and bail them out and appear like a Guardian Angel. I'm not sure I'll end up USING this idea... just because I don't trust that my players won't "resist arrest" with a lot of bullets and magic! However, it does get me thinking on Mr Johnson manipulating them into thinking he's helping them more than he really is.

The information on dealing with getting arrested in this thread has been really good too.

[Mercer]

On the subject of being arrested, I think the process would go like this:

1) When subjects are apprehended they will get restrained, searched and placed in a vehicle for transport. Prisoners would be scanned with whatever on-site security has access to (cyberware scanners, assensing and so on), but in the likely event security doesn't have access to those things they'll assume. That means mage masks for anyone they can't rule out being a mage. Prisoner transport will likely be similar to the enemy prisoner of war 5 S's and a T, Search, Silence, Segregate, Safeguard, Speed, and Tag.

2) Prisoners will be moved to a secure facility (jail) for processing as soon as possible. Once at the facility they will be searched again (stripped, scanned, assensed if possible). Security will attempt to discern the SINs of anyone they have in custody, and create a file for anyone they cannot identify as having a SIN. Any SINs the prisoners have will be checked to see if fake, I'd assume that if this is a Jail, their scans would be rating 6 (or higher). The arrest record would be attached to either the subject's SIN (real one if it exists, fake one if it is not determined to be fake) or to the new file that is created (if no SIN exists).

2a) This assumes the security that apprehends the runners are law enforcement. If it's corporate security, I would assume the apprehending company would do the same basic thing, taking the runners to a secure facility for processing and interrogation before turning them over to the local law enforcement where the process would be repeated. Unless the crime took place wholly on corporate sovereign territory, in which case you'd stay in the custody of the corporation the entire time.

3) Subjects that are deemed threatening (due to offensive cyberware, bioware or magical ability) will be isolated in holding cells prior to interrogation so that anything that can be deactivated will be. Assuming the subjects are in a jurisdiction that have right to counsel, they'll get to meet with counsel before being interrogated (or will waive this right). Interrogators will attempt to discover the depth of involvement in criminal activity on the part of the subject so they can determine what charges will be filed.

4) Charges are filed. This may take a few days, at which time subjects remain in jail. Cyberware is disabled if possible, if not the subjects remain in solitary confinement along with anyone whose abilities can't be "turned off"-- mages, phys ads, and so on. (This assumes that the magical abilities are confirmed, either by assensing or by abilities having been witnessed. Since every jail likely won't have an initiate on staff capable of breaking masking, it's possible an initiate with masking will be released into general population. It's regrettable but there are safeguards in place.)

4a) I would assume that SINs would be scanned many times as a manner of course during this time, basically every time they were referenced. Any SIN discovered to be fake would be invalidated and a new file would be created for that person, assuming no other real SIN already existed.

5) Once charges are filed, bail can be determined. I would assume anyone that is (or technically was) SINless would be considered a flight risk, as would anyone else who would be considered a flight risk on general principles. (Mages are literally a flight risk.) Bail could then be denied for anyone depending on the severity of the crime.

5a) Subjects with unlicensed or illegal cyberware probably won't be released with it. One because it's a crime to have it (which by this point they will already have been charged with) and two because it is evidence that was used in the commission of a crime. Most likely there would be a hearing to determine if the cyberware should be removed, and then the necessary surgical procedures would be scheduled and performed.

6) Subjects who are granted bail and who can pay it would then be scheduled for release. All the necessary information would be attached to their SIN (either existing or newly created). Newly issued SINs are criminal SINs yet, but they will become so when the subject is convicted of a crime. If the subject is found innocent, they still have a normal SIN. (Again, assuming UCAS or similar laws.) I would assume these SINs would have travel restrictions (again depending on the severity of the crime).

7) Trial. Usually months later, the subjects will be taken to trial. They may be tried together or tried separately. Some may be offered plea deals based on reduced sentence foe pleading guilty or for testifying for the state or corporation. After the trial will be the sentencing, the appeals, and possibly a lengthy prison stay.

All this assumes the runners are arrested by a government entity. Characters that are captured by corporations wouldn't have access to a lot of these rights unless the corporation decided it wasn't worth their time and handed them over to law-enforcement. There's also the possibility of jurisdictional conflicts, say if the runners committed their crimes both on sovereign corporate and non-corporate land-- as many running gun battles are.

It's also my understanding that while all of this would conform to the laws of the land where the runners were captured, the entire process is privatized. So while the runners may be subject to government law, most likely they are still being processed and handled by a corporation like Lone Star. (I think Lone Star still retains their prison contracts even in places where they don't provide law enforcement.)

[Shortstraw]

Don't use a AAA have an old enemy "aka former victim" set up the run through a fixer send in KE then have the fixer arrange their bail/release and have him send them after the guy that vouched for the johnson and off on the long trail of revenge.