Protecting your S....tuff. Yeah. Stuff., How do you keep your property, gear, homes, etc. safe? Options

[Ryusukanku]

It was George Carlin who said that "And when you leave your stuff you gotta lock it up. Wouldn't want somebody to come by and take some of your stuff. They always take the GOOD stuff. they don't bother with that crap you're saving.

So here's the Million Newyen question... what stories or ideas are out there amongst the 'runners about how to protect your stuff from the grabby people of the sixth world?


Like this music video's idea for protecting your car from potential thieves. (warning. gets graphic)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endsc...p;v=QeWXGy8Uack


(May have been inspired by the segment that begins at 8:15 from this classic movie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WEVmVKUk7s...screen&NR=1 )

[kzt]

We believed that our kindness, good intentions and smiles would keep our stuff safe. Plus our isolated location, claymore mines, automated camouflaged concrete HMG bunkers, barbed wire fences, reinforced concrete walls, steel lynxs with MMGs loaded with AP and tracers and our family of barghests. And the fact that we would be highly unhappy, and they wouldn't like that. At all.

[Neko Asakami]

My players currently live in Bellevue, paying the rent on a nice house in a very low crime neighborhood. They participate in the neighborhood watch and generally make sure to be good citizens. Oh, and they make sure the other houses look a bit more clean and safe than theirs, they make it look like they're not the ones worth stealing from. They also currently have a 3m-long Naga house-sitting for them because they just left for Bogota (earlier tonight, actually), but the "Beware of Snake" signs should take care of any issues that might arise there.

[Blade]

High security for your lifestyle.
Saying "I take my precautions" when leaving your car or other stuff around.
I'm not really into micro-managing all this.

[Midas]

The simple answer to your question is "Lifestyle" - generally speaking, the higher the lifestyle the safer you are (and yes, the good security positive quality helps). The complex answer is, as secure as you want to make it.

I run quite a gritty campaign, so my players have developed quite detailed info on where they live, what escape routes they might have, where the heavy duty gear is stashed etc. They also have given me their SOP for getting between their various digs and the team HQ, what precautions they take after a run etc. One player (Low lifestyle) even paid hard cash to get a heavy steel security door, intercom and anti-invader defences installed in his pad.

When leaving their vehicle in a dodgy area, the face usually negotiates a minimal "parking fee" with the local gang ... unless the local gang is why the team is there in the first place ...

Basically the question of security can be as abstract or complicated as the table wants it to be; I for one can recommend the grittier detailed side, as it breathes life into the setting, and gives me a decent understanding of what to do if some faction the players have pissed off ever finds out where they live and come a knocking.

[Jeremiah Kraye]

I've heard good things about a mono-filament grid porch door. Although you will occasionally come home to a mess.

[CollateralDynamo]

The anti-theft device from Arsenal is usually my 'go-to' for protection. Huge amounts of stun to anyone not on your registered users list? Yes please!

Just make sure to either keep that list updated or warn your teammates away from it...or watch the fun! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[CanRay]

The anti-theft device from Arsenal is usually my 'go-to' for protection. Huge amounts of stun to anyone not on your registered users list? Yes please!

Just make sure to either keep that list updated or warn your teammates away from it...or watch the fun! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Also great when you park it in the Barrens and street kids use it to cook their Devil Rats Onna Stick.

[_Pax._]

Well, over on Jackpoint I posted these Lifestyle qualities:

Hidden Storage (+1 or +2 LP)
You have one or more cleverly hidden storage compartments in your home, whose total volume is equal to half your Necessities rating, in cubic meters. These compartments have -6 concealability. For 2 points, the compartments are also shielded, providing a -4 Conealability versus all non-magical searches.

Concealed Room (+2 or +3 LP; requires Necessities at Squatter or higher)
You have an entire (small) room with a single entrance and floor space equal to twice your Necessities rating in square meters, that is hidden from outside detection. For 2 points, the concealment is visual and auditory, with a -6 Concealability. For 3 points, they also gain a -4 Concealability against all other non-magical searches. If your lifestyle includes "Escape Tunnel", you may have the entrance be within this room - and your Safe Room has multiple entrances, allowing you to enter it from nearly any room in your home. You cannot have both "Concealed room" and "Safe Room" at the same time.

Safe Room (+3 or +4 LP; requires Necessities at Middle or higher)
You have a Concealed Room as above, but the walls and entrance are armored and reinforced (increase both Armor and Structure by +4, to a minimum of 10) and the door has mechanical locks that may only be operated manually, from inside the room. This room is supplied with food, water, and power at two Necessities levels lower than usual, suitable for three days (for the number of permanent residents). If your lifestyle includes "Escape Tunnel", you may have the entrance be within this room - and your Safe Room has multiple entrances, allowing you to enter it from nearly any room in your home. You cannot have both "Concealed room" and "Safe Room" at the same time.

So, one of those. With a silenced weapon on a Smart Firing Platform (or two of them, even), and/or maybe an Ares Sentinel "R" Series rail-drone.

[Ruby]

Our GM wasn't really into making us feel like our stuff would be broken into, but my technomancer was really wary of strangers and had like a jillion locks on her door, a hidden security camera and a drone on hand to patrol around her apartment.

While it isn't securing your stuff, our face was the sort that had 'escape plans' more than a way to secure his things. I'm pretty sure he had a change of clothes & identity hidden in lockers at nearby bus stations, train stations and at the Sea-Tac airport... Paranoid man, that face was.

[Yerameyahu]

Carry it all with you at all times. SR4 has no weights or even bulkiness numbers, per se. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Ruby]

Carry it all with you at all times. SR4 has no weights or even bulkiness numbers, per se. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

True, but carrying several disposable commlinks and the sheer number of outfits the Face had.... it was wiser to hide them around Seattle. He seriously spent a large chunk of his starting nuyen to have a wardrobe set and enough disguises that would put a Hollywood movie set to shame.

[Yerameyahu]

I'm just kidding, of course. The GM would instantly and rightly involve the normal reactions of the game world to such an attempt: not only weight and bulk encumbrance (as always, GM-fiat valid), but also (as you say) the sheer fact that they're carrying many things that are illegal, detectable, stealable, etc. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

I agree with Blade: it depends a lot on the group's preferences, and some anti-theft measures from the gear section has usually been enough for ours.

[Neraph]

I usually go very in depth. For example, I carry two commlinks: my main link and my dummy comm. The main link has all my important stuff on it and is tricked out and set up to (usually) super contacts and glasses (or cybereyes, as the character may go), never comes off hidden mode, and has all the illegal stuff going on (subscriptions to attack drones, TacNet, ect.). The dummy comm is there to run in Active/Passive and has my SIN/licenses on it and is linked to at least a pair of goggles (or usually monocle) with IL so I don't miss messages to my legit cover. The main link also has a skinlink that is set up to automatically switch on if an intrusion is detected, cutting off all wireless communications. That comm is also Strong Encrypted with a R6 Ergonomic (usually a little Optimized also) Encrypt program and has a decent rating unrestricted Agent working as overwatch.

I usually go fairly in-depth with my houses also, using the Runner's Companion's lifestyle rules to built safehouses.

Also, check this out for ideas.

[TeOdio]

My troll mercenary Guerilla T doesn't so much worry about his stuff as much as he worries about his own ass, so he plops down a smart platform with a vindicator mini gun on the coffee table of his doss. If they get past that to steal his stuff let em have it. Like the old clockwork orange philosophy goes, if he wants something, he takes it, so he doesnt get too attached to his gear.

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

My troll mercenary Guerilla T doesn't so much worry about his stuff as much as he worries about his own ass, so he plops down a smart platform with a vindicator mini gun on the coffee table of his doss. If they get past that to steal his stuff let em have it. Like the old clockwork orange philosophy goes, if he wants something, he takes it, so he doesnt get too attached to his gear.

Yeah, we really do miss Guerilla T. So, When is he coming back to the table TeOdio?

[CanRay]

Bastards the lot of you.

[Krishach]

not to quote a cheesy series (of which I am a fan (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif) )

For any operative, stashing weapons is second nature after a while. Spies hide guns like squirrels hide acorns. You never know when you'll need some firepower, or where you'll be when you need it.

I am rabidly opposed to metagaming, so I hate saying this out loud, but this is all about judging your GM. We have one who will allow us fair access (as in, if you really can make that retarded dice roll, I am not overrulling it) to any toy we come across. His continuing reason why?

"It's not like I can't take it away later."

This one comes down to your group. I imagine if you are a paranoid who spent the lifestyle cost for those locks, and hiring a naga to house-sit, you could get frustrated when amateur (read "not-paranoid-enough") runners couldn't care less and never are penalized for it. On the flip side, many casual RPGers will feel targeted if they are singled out as an example.

That being said, it is IN THE BOOK that this stuff goes on. Things are stolen, places are ransacked, covers are blown, SINs are compromised, toys are broken, or even lost. There are rules for everything on how to deal with it except the most important part: how often it occurs, and how well equipped your thieves are. In an ideal game, shadowrunners plan for this sort of thing, players don't take it personally, and the GM has a fair but realistic system on how to determine it's existence.

I am too paranoid at the game table playing Shadowrun. But it's rarely me getting boned: usually it's the guy who didn't take the same steps I did. I don't squirrel away emergency supplies in that many locations though. Apparently I should start.

[ShadowDragon8685]

My players have a fairly decent security system, but the Matrix is its weak link.

Their primary lifestyle is a junkyard out in the Barrens where one of their number raises a considerable number of paracritters and regular critters. The walls are high, composed of nicely rusting metal cars with barbed wire and other sorts of unpleasantness. Not impenetrable to a professional, but gangers will shred themselves trying to get over the walls.


Then there's the inside of the walls. You know what stacks upon stacks of partially and not-at-all crushed cars have? A loooot of space inside them to hide toys. They have crap-tons of Ares Predator and similar-model heavy pistols on light turret bodies all fiber-optic wired to the CHN. Basically, once bad guys have been identified, there is literally nowhere in the junkyard they can take cover without at least one pistol turret having a clear shot. Heavily armored characters might not care so much, but it's still going to distract them.

In the main courtyard are a number of vehicles. Among the vehicles there is an Ares Citymaster with an Ares-Stoner LMG in the remote-control turret. When the Citymaster is parked in its designated position, this Citymaster is hardwired through fiber-optic cable to the CHN, and has a commanding field of fire over the entire courtyard.

And then there's the critters. Good gawd, the critters. A pack of Newfoundland dogs trained as guard dogs, lions, devil rats, barghests, Nixie the horseexceptionally large and strong pony... The list goes on and on. Basically, anyone who enters and starts shit will be facing a nasty gun network that can pin them down while the better part of Running Wild runs up behind them and mauls their faces off.


The weak link is the CHN. Even a street-level hacker can get in if he's willing to spend time and energy cracking it. This didn't used to be an issue, since the group had an AI who resided in the Nexus in the Citymaster who was trigger-happy about her Black Hammer and woulde have performed horrible cybermurder upon a genuine intruder in the home's system. However, that player didn't show up half the time, and then quit the game altogether, so she's vacated the Nexus. Now their system is less-than-entirely-secure, though they have a hard reset in the form of an ancient Simon Says paddle rigged up to force the system to reset to defaulted configurations.

They did get penetrated once; some street-level runners took a job to recover some "treasure" hidden in a car that was towed to the junkyard in the early 2010s and forgotten about. Their hacker subverted the system and turned it against them; when the ninja (who was still at the junkyard) unleashed the hounds manually, they found the gun turrets had been turned on them (he was stealthing everywhere and the turrets couldn't target him.) He wound up just doing them himself, which worked just fine, as he geeked their mage in one salvo and chased the rest off.


Oh, and they pay the local gang enough and cut them in on some of the material goods from their more larcenous endeavors (such as hijacking a stolen truck of Stuffer Shack goods,) that the gang, nominally at least, is willing to defend them. The gang's just not all that good at it, and they're not willing to cross, say, the Ancients, even if an Ancients squad rides through their turf; so the Ancients have basically free access to the junkyard dogs. But they did try to intercept the new player coming in - he was driving that hovertruck out of Arsenal, uparmored to the point that it appeared to be a tank. The gang attacked the truck, shooting at it with heavy pistols and light submachineguns from the bed of a Gaz pickup truck.

It did all of Jack and Shit, but my players gave them a gold star for effort.

[Krishach]

Sounds like they need to get to wirin'. Only way I am aware of to protect the goods against a hacker when you have none for yourself is to cut access points. Force the hacker to come within striking distance, so to speak. A really good hacker can ghost into even a rating 6 system without triggering alarms, and then as long as they time things well, not get caught until it's far too late.

I like the simon-says thing; brings back memories. Sounds like it might be time to remind the team of what they are missing?

Also, strike me if I am wrong, but a host of those critters do NOT get along with each other. It takes Against Instinct training for creatures of animosity or predatory/prey relationship to coexist, does it not? With weekly refreshers, and just the list you mentioned, it sounds like he'd spend most of his free timing training. I just made my first beastmaster, so this is something I'd love to know for sure. I'm at the moment trying to nail down cost, availability, and training options for griffins (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Brainpiercing7.6...]

In one group I played in two PCs rented a workshop somewhere semi-safe, and then put their stuff in a safe secured with explosive devices. They had rigged it so as to destroy evidence, should the cops barge in, because they didn't think anyone would get that far. The rest of the place was only covered in electric traps and stuff. (This was SR3, so no cheap guard drones.)
Guess what happened when they came home one day: There was a big mess, and the explosives had, quite as planned, blown up EVERYTHING they had stashed in the safe. Their faces where priceless when the GM told them about this, especially as they had just put some super-cool new toys in it. Wasn't that a cool security effort?

[Krishach]

someone should discuss with them possibilities like "firesafes help vs incendiary bombs" or blast safes so they don't have to repeat next time. We have a GM who will take security measures, such as the explosives and heavy handgun turrets, and roll occasional odds to see who accidentally finds them, his theory being there are far more curious idiots and bungling thieves then there are master criminals. He's right, of course. So making a security system to forward can wind up blowing your cover unless you own the land and hide the evidence.

Currently I have 3 fenrir wolves on my property who get to dispose of "evidence." Just remember, shave their heads and pull their teeth first, so you don't have to collect it afterwards. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/pumpkin.gif)