Security Guards, How do you run them? Options

[Konphujun]

Hey everyone, Im new here and im relatively new to shadowrun too. Im pretty Familiar with the rules but im no rules lawyer. Anyhow, I have a game coming up in which there are a LOT of security guards and I had a few questions. First, how do you use security guards? Do you run them as adequately smart guards with good armor and weapons, or do you run them like movie security guards which are dumber than a box of bricks? Also, do you give them all one kind of weapon/armor and if so which do you think works best as the basic middle of the road corp. sec. weapons? One last question, do you use the professionalism ratings as stated in the SR3 book or do all of your guards fight to the death? Thanks!

Peace

Konphujun :cyber:

[Kagetenshi]

Varies. I don't use professionalism ratings per se, but I brain it (replace brain with eyeball for the idiom I'm adapting); most secguards won't fight to the death unless they don't know it'll be to the death. Depending on the individual guard and the amount of money being thrown at the problem of security, guards could be smarter than the runners, civvies with guns, or people who got hired to stand around and look tough because that's all they can do.

I do, however, typically give the guards either all the same armor and weaponry or all one of two gear loadouts. For mid-level this will usually either be a heavy pistol or an SMG, along with an armored jacket.

~J

[Apathy]

I try to use the professionalism as a general guide, but combat in shadowrun has a tendancy to happen really quickly, so they sometimes don't get a chance to run unless there are lots of them, or the runners miss the first time.

The competence of the guards should depend on the setting. If the runners are breaking into a run-down mall, the security isn't going to be well trained. On the other hand, if they're taking on a major corp, the guards should be smart, well trained, well armed, and know their 'home turf' well enough to use it to their advantage.

...and Blackjack is my inspiration for all things GM-like:

[ Spoiler ]

[taken from Blackjack's Guide to Bitter Gamemastering]
I’m dedicating this issue of Blackjack’s Guide to all of those thousands of poor NPCs that have been wasted countless times in countless games over the relatively short number of years the game of Shadowrun has been in existence. I’ve never been a spectacularly big fan of deceased non-player characters and have prepared a few suggestions on how you Bitter GMs out there can keep the NPCs alive longer than the duration of a few die rolls. While the common solution to NPC fatalities seems to involve the use of tank-like body armor and weapons whose barrels could be used as sewage conduits, this half-assed fix often results in something even worse than dead NPCs - dead PCs. So, here’s a few suggestions on how your NPCs can get the upper hand while refraining from creating situations that generate numerous PC and NPC corpses. The cemeteries of Seattle are already overflowing with them.
Retreat

This may not sound like a very good way to help your NPCs win, but the simple act of retreating will often baffle the PCs so thoroughly that they begin to pull some boneheaded maneuvers. When a group of PCs and a few NPCs are hunkered down in a hallway tossing several kilograms of ammo at each other, the sudden disappearance of the opposition generates an interesting bit of disarray - not to mention paranoia. Remember: NPC guards, mercs, hired runners, etc. are often fighting on their home turf. They know the layout of the building right down to the air ducts and by retreating they give themselves a chance to mount a new attack, resulting in a battle that isn’t merely based on surprise. Most fire-fights erupt simply because two opposing forces bump into each other while walking down a corridor, sewer, etc. While the PCs tend to hammer away at their opponents in such a situation, the NPCs have the additional option of using their knowledge of the ‘battleground’ to create a strategy not based on the tossing of bullets.

Variety

When I say ‘variety’, I’m not referring to the traditional construction of a combative NPC force (i.e. a few people with guns, one or two with magic, somebody with heavy armor, etc.). I’m referring to the various tactics, spells, weapons, appearances, etc. utilized by each individual NPC. It’s really easy to sit down and crank out a group of NPC guards with the normal archetype spread. But such a simplistic view of NPC group construction usually results in a group of NPCs whose skills involve direct combat and little else. When a GM limits his or her combative options by creating such a group, you end up with NPC/PC encounters that result in little else than bloodshed by the gallon.

This is why it’s important to remember the wide variety of options a GM has when creating combative NPCs. Mundane guards need not be armed with the traditional pistol/SMG combo; they can utilize squirts, grapple guns, stun sticks, exotic bladed weaponry, etc. Magicians can utilize unconventional or custom spells, deploy watchers to mess with the PCs heads, etc. If the GM doesn’t want to mess up the PCs too badly they can arm the NPCs with everything from stun rounds to gas grenades. Not only does this variety of weapons create more interesting, and often less deadly, combat, it also creates a hell of a lot of PC confusion when they realize that they can no longer predict exactly what they’re going to be up against. A locked bullet barrier won’t do any good if the opposition carries crossbows as a side arm.

Scary Toys

One of the best things about GMing is that you get to play with a whole bunch of neato toys that the PCs will probably never get their hands on. As long as the weapon is at least remotely technologically feasible, the GM is pretty much free to pull whatever weapon they want right out of their ass. Use this freedom to create unique stun weaponry, or weapons that create a frightening show but posses low lethality. If you’re afraid that the PCs might get hold of the weapon should they kill off the NPCs, just remember that you always have to option of saying that the batteries in the Sonic Knockdown 2k are extremely advanced and rare and were built in a factory in Peru that - whoops - mysteriously blew up last week.

Be Flexible

Remember that your NPC sheet (if you use an NPC sheet) is not written in stone. There’s really nothing stopping you from bumping up the attributes of an NPC if the PCs are stronger than you thought or exchanging an NPCs heavy pistol for an automatic shotgun with stun rounds. You can also toss in additional NPCs if you feel you need them (for some reason a lot of GMs seem to forget about this obvious little pointer). Just be careful that you don’t start tossing in MP Lasers because you’re pissed off at how easily the PCs ripped through your last group, and - always remember this - make all changes BEHIND the GM screen.

[Konphujun]

Ahh, Thanks apathy. Thats just what I needed to know as my players are going to take on Ares. Also, thank you Kage, I figure I'll outfit my guys with an ares predator and a smg of some sort. Thanks again!

Konphujun :cyber:

[TinkerGnome]

I'll reiterrate some of the above in my own way (and add some new). There are important questions to ask:

What are they guarding? High security, low security, something else entirely? The value of what the guards guard is going to drive how much money gets spent on them. This, in turn, drives gear, etc.

How well are they motivated? Corporate employees tend to be relatively loyal to their corp and will probably fight harder. Some rentacop working part time while he goes to vocational school is less likely to do so. It also often drives how good they are at their job.

What is the nature of their duty? Guards generally do several things at one time, but they still have a scope of duty. This generally determines their armament and skill set. Remember, guards in facilities are likely to switch between one or more duties fairly often (take watching cameras, for instance. Human beings can only watch a monitor bank for about 15-30 minutes at a time before their chance of detecting anything plumets to virtually zero).

For gear, go with reliable, cheap, effective equipment. Guards almost always have a radio, some descent armor (armor jacket or vest w/plates), and a sidearm (a heavy pistol, generally). Higher grade guards are going to have cheap cyber (boosted reflexes, plastic bone lacing, etc.) and a bigger gun (in addition to the sidearm) like a shotgun or a rifle. SMGs are more specialized and you're probably not really going to see them till you start getting into really high security environments.

A shotgun (mainly the T-250), on the other hand is amazingly effective for the cost (only the Sadler TMP is its equal in the SMG market in terms of cost, and then the TMP is BF only, which makes it not quite so good for relatively normal human guards).

[Diesel]

Make sure they utilize their surroundings effectively, as Apathy said (quoted?). Using delaying tactics until the big boys in the badass helicopter can make an entry works pretty well I've found out. If the guards patrol in groups, it makes the "silent takedown" infinitely more difficult, and if you really want to get nasty, a biomonitor connected to a communication system makes for an instant red alert anytime a goon goes down. Finally, explosives are great, the cosmetic damage a fragmentation grenade inflicts is utterly minor compared to the loss of research, prototypes, scientists, or whatever. Seeing as Ares is a bit of a weapon producer, it wouldn't be wholly far-fetched to have the guards equipped in a military fashion, with assault rifles and light machine guns, grenades, and effective armor. Assuming of course this is a private facility and not a shopping mall.

Good luck, and don't let your boys die, they've got families to worry about!

[BitBasher]

All the advice is great that's been posted above, but I want to add something that most people forget.

These guards are human beings. Odds are they have a wife and kids they want to go home to, they are each other's friends, or possibly rivals. If you trat them like cardboard cutouts or a sheet of stats then the game world loses layers of depth. They are people. Let the players know that. Pictures of family in thair wallets and in their cubicles, wedding rings sparkling on their lifeless hands, ect. Make it emotional.

[Kagetenshi]

Even better if you've got one character who will stop to loot the ring while the others just stare in horror.

~J

[Konphujun]

Wow, this is some great material here! I am SO making this sight my homepage now.. but anyhow... there are two sets of guards in this run. The run is an extraction of a willing target whom just so happens to be developing a brand new type of non-lethal weaponry/ammo and wants out of this game. The corp. would rather see him dead than anywhere else so they have a group of four guards with him at all times. This group is to defend the scientist at all costs or... if he tries to escape, terminate him. The other group of guards is the run of the mill patrol guards which will be patroling the halls, monitoring cameras, keeping magical and matrix overwatch and such. I figure each group will have one man with the panic button that alerts the big dogs of the corp. in case of emergency. So im thinking about just giving the normal guards a predator and the heavy hitters an HK227 and two defensive grenades a piece. Let me know how this sounds please! Good work so far!

Peace

Konphujun :cyber:

[Skeptical Clown]

Security guards are well-equipped and under-paid, of questionable morality and flexible loyalty. High quality and interesting weapons and armor are at a premium; after all, even if the guard dies, you can reuse his gun. Cyberware is less common; in important places, maybe some smartlinks and low-grade reflexes or dermal implants. Anybody who gets corp cyberware is pretty much indentured to their employer. Guards aren't especially well-trained or brave, but they know their facility and they're likely to have a rigger and/or decker who can spy on the situation and give them intelligence on intruders.

[Kagetenshi]

Not indentured for life, but probably under a five-year contract at minimum for something like a Smartlink unless the employee voluntarily pays it back faster.

~J

[Apathy]

I'd also note that a guard in anything other than a zero zone is also going to have some sort of stun-dealing weapon: stun baton, narcojet, billy club, or dikoted carp. Most of them would typically spend more time dealing with bob the drunk in accounting, or beligerant teenage skateborders on in the parking lot then actual shadowrunners, so they're used to going non-lethal as a first response. They'll only pull their Ares Alpha if they think the opposition presents a real danger.

If I'm in a public building like a hospital, usually the security guard only has a stun baton, but the public areas are covered with security cameras and some sort of response like knock out gas to minimize the bad pr associated with killing bystanders.

[Kagetenshi]

Indeed. In a moderately-high security building (but not a zero-zone by any account, and the security had just been upgraded temporarily due to… special circumstances), I had the guards toting bullpup assault rifles, but they were dual-clipped with one clip being gel rounds.

Any non-extraterritorial place will have nonlethal methods in vast preference to lethal.

~J

[sidartha]

Remamber that Ares has it's own private army in KE(Knight Errant) Security.
and since this sounds like a relatively high level R&D facility the four pros you describe could conceivably be armed with anything your heart desires. :)
Also you might not be aware of it but there is a note in Dunkelzahan's Willthat relates to what you are decribing

[Skeptical Clown]

I'm of the opinion that while non-lethal methods will certainly be common, and the norm in areas of high-volume public traffic, anywhere that's in the slightest bit sensitive and extra-territorial, the guards are going to shoot first and ask questions later, unless it's impractical or they're ordered to do otherwise. They're territorial and bored, and it's not uncommon for some to be a bit sadistic and filled with an overdeveloped sense of authoritarian importance. Of course, others are just careless or lazy.

[BitBasher]

If I ran that, and I may because it's not a bad idea...

The four personal guards would tbe the equivalent of mad ass kickers. They're the best because they're directly protecting an investment. All four of them should have panicbutton or equivalent linked biomonitors. They would also have primo gear, probably not all of them the same because if they're that good they get to pick their own gear. Think Secret Service meets special forces.

That's just the way I would do it. If you're going to guard someone like that you don't do it half ass. :vegm:

EDIT:
And clown it's always better to use non lethal when possible. It's hard to question a corpse, but easy to make a detainee into one later! :)

[Siege]

At which point, you'd be completely justified in pulling an archetype or two as "bodyguards" and not off-the-rack meat sec guards.

Important asset work will require a minimum level of cybernetics if they are expecting him to be extracted - smartlinks at a minimum.

Internal radios, biomonitors and autoinjectors are some easy suggestions.

If you want to be really sneaky and your crew isn't the thoughtful sort, have two escorts within arms' reach and the other two in front and back positions, a good four or five meters away.

The players get overconfident, swoop in on the target and the two babysitters and get taken from the flanks when the second two jump in.

Weapons will probably depend on what you're comfortable with -> suggestions include:

HP:
Smartlinked: Ares Predator or Savalette Guardian
Non-linked: Colt Manhunter or Browning Ultrapower

SMG:
Smartlinked: Ingram smartgun
Non-linked: HK MP-5

Depending on their stats, Form-fitting body armor + Secure jackets.

-Siege

[Crusher Bob]

Extra territorial guards still have to answer to someone. The Ares guard must explain to the Ares cop why he gunned this guy down, he dosen't have to explain to the UCAS cop. But there will still be an inquiry when someone gets gunned down.

Explaing that you had to gun down Bob from accounting down when he got drunk and started smashing furniture b/c you didn't have a tazer/club only a SMG, is not going to fly. Guards will still have non-lethal options available to them. Notice that even most embassy guards have their guns in a safe or other 'secure storage' (at least for 'civilized places). Shadowrunners don't break into the place every week.

[Skeptical Clown]

[Konphujun]

Wow, much more than I expected on this one and im getting some very sneaky ideas. I like seige's ideas about the cybered/professional guards and I think ill use them... Thanks a bunch everyone!

Peace

Konphujun :cyber:

[Siege]

The bodyguards might have nonlethal options, but remember - they're expecting trouble and they have orders to kill the scientist if capture is a possibility.

Of course, a cortex bomb and radio collar will function equally well...

However, the security assets assigned to protecting this scientist are most likely not going to be the same guys who reign in Bob from Accounting, unless you can picture the average sec goon going from beat patrol to cold-blooded murder in the blink of an eye.

Which, granted, is a possibility - add dedicated p-fix chips and it's a certainty. But the bodyguards would probably be (or need to be) specially trained operatives, a cut above the average corporate beat cop.

And if your runners think of scanning the crowd for the second guards, remember - all armor has a concealability rating and there's no reason the bodyguards wouldn't use the same sneaky weapon-hiding tricks the runners would. Throw in a little Acting and at first glance, the guys look like terrified corps...until the runners look away and all sorts of hell gets unloaded.

-Siege

[Konphujun]

OOOHHH! Devious! I like very much. Well im set on ideas! Thanks alot!

Peace

Konphujun

[shadd4d]

[toturi]

I play my sec guards according to the Professionalism rules but I also add in a winkle of my own, I use their individual Intelligence to see what they will actually do. A dumb ass sec guard with low Intelligence and lousy Professionalism will take a hit and run away and keep running. A smart but unprofessional guard will run away at the first hint of danger and camp at some out of way spot.

A professional but dumb guard will die against overwhelming odds. A smart professional will pull all sorts of sneaky tactics.

[TinkerGnome]

SOP for security guards in combat, in order:

1) Get cover (if you're dead, you're doing no one any good).

2) Call for backup (hopefully simultaneous with 1).

3) Try to keep the intruders in one spot or at least find out which direction they're going in. This gets radioed in.

4) Try not to get shot.

Actually killing or stopping intruders isn't even in the top 4. Once a threat's been contained and sufficient backup is in place, someone higher up will give the orders to take care of it.