I'd say it's worth the price of a crap-common Ares Predator every now and then. They grow on trees in the Barrens, y'know.

I'm thumbing through Frank Abagnale's "The Art of The Steal" right now. My character's gonna try some of this stuff. Stuff like: build a fake ATM that tells everyone that it's out of money, after they slot the card, but meanwhile it's reading their info, so you can make a fake card.


Why bother to steal a batch of Excalibur decks or whatever? Easier to steal a case of the casings they go into. Probably a lot less security at that factory. Take a couple of days to fill them with the guts from some second hand decks, then sell 'em. It'll make money, but definitely not friends.

so question: where do you put the fake ATM, since they're usually built in to a wall if they're an out door, or inside a business which would usually like to know why you're putting an ATM into their lobby.

Replace theirs with yours?

The same way it's done IRL: Tell them you want to install an ATM and they get a rental fee every month for the opprtunity to have one in their store that you take care of.

lots to read through on this thread, not sure if this has been put out yet but here goes.

If you've got an empty plastic bottle, you've got a one use silencer.

Ummmmmmm... That's not going to work well. And by "well" I mean "at all"...

Hmmm, potatos do as well.

baked with sour cream, it's the sour cream that does wonder with sound dampening.

That's my problem, I've been topping my silencer potatoes with bacon & cheese and skipping the sour cream!

Yeah the reason i game is to stay out of trouble, Thanks for helping it find me again.

All that silencers really do is let the gas leak out slower than it normally does. A coke bottle would work okay in that task, as the gas would first expand into the bottle, and then out the hole made by the bullet. The pressure pushing the gas out would be much less than that of the barrel. I don't know how effective said dampening would be, but it would be better than nothing. Plus I bet a 2-liter would work alot better than a 20oz, but using a glass bottle would just be asking for trouble.

One of the things that Lazarus always carried on his person were those restaurant packets of salt. They make a nice field expedient torture device since most people you interrogate will be bleeding somewhere. (or at least you can make them bleed.)

Also knowing some martial arts that has knowledge of pressure points and nerve endings is useful as well.

And basically develop "good" habits. Throw gear away that you can't clean or can link you to something. Never resell a murder weapon. Always have a way out. Have downtime where you lay low for a little bit after a run. Stuff like that.

Use stuff that is common. The more of it there is the harder it is for it to trace. If you can kill someone with an Ares Predator versus a rare Power Focus use the Predator.

When it comes to money or favors I like money. People can forget they owe you one but money is usually rock-solid. If you have enough of it people will help even if they don't like you. Also try not to owe anyone. If it can’t be helped then whatever but if you can pay them, even if it costs out the ass pay ‘em.

When you get the money things you need:

1. A Clean I.D. that is bulletproof, or as close as you can get. Don't use unless it's an emergency. And try to include a bank account with that I.D.

2. Clean Equipment you never use. A safehouse you never use. A car you never use. You get the idea.

Don't put all your wealth into one type. It doesn't have to be bulky like 400 AKs, but magic stuff is good for that. Also precious metals, paper money (Yes it's still around in SR.), jewelry, hell friggin Baseball cards, whatever. Basically don't have all your money in Nuyen in bank accounts where a pissed off Decker can ruin you or in Certified Credsticks where they can be stolen or lost.

If you get caught:

1. Don't say shit.

2. Don't say a f**kin' word no matter what.

3. If they have you dead to rights and they want something then if you have no choice, give them just enough to keep yourself alive.

4. If you can bribe your way out do it. Again money is nice for this.

Thanks for the backup Slump...

Another Idea, instead of boots or shoes, wear moccasins. I'm sure there are plenty of different materials that can be used to grant said foot gear just as much armor as boots, benefits include better sense of balance and grip on terrain as well as harder to trace from prints on soil, drawbacks you'd be a bit more susceptible to caltrops and broken glass although a steel DrScholl's insert would rectify that matter you'd also go through them a bit faster. Although with a Leathercrafting skill and enough material you'd rarely have to go out and buy them.

...

just putting it out as another idea, never said it was a good idea...

I just don't see "wear moccassins" as something I'd expect to see on a thread called "tips for the criminals in training."

as I live and breathe, expect the unexpected...

Another good point. They are also a lot less noisy then boots. Bare feet are a lot less noisy then Mocc's but... not reccomended

Because if you go on a run barefoot, you'll leave footprints behind, just like you'll leave fingerprints behind if you aren't wearing gloves.

Always wear gloves on a run.

It's better to owe money than to be owed when it comes to someone more powerful than you. It's better to be owed money than to owe money when it comes to someone smaller than you (and useful).

Remember, if you owe someone else money, they won't want to whack you (as long as they have faith you'll eventually pay you back. Keep up on that interest!) If they kill you, you can't pay and you can't make future withdrawals. If it's a big enough sum, that means they'll be a little more anxious to help you out since if you die on the job, you can't pay them back. Eventually you can kill the person who you owe money and you're even again. But as I said, you must make sure they think you're good for the money!! If they suspect you're going to welch on the deal, you're better dead now so they can sell your stuff.

If someone owes you money, needless to say, you can call in favors (the alternative is you push for more immediate payment). This doesn't work on people who can easily pay you because bullets are cheap. As a general rule, if a mob boss asks me for money, I make sure it's a 'gift' so it's not worth his trouble to kill me.

I don't need to watch "Hunted" to see what you're talking about, I've done my share (and several other peoples' shares) of hiking, camping, tracking, etc.

I didn't say it was bad advice. I just said it caught me off guard in a thread about Shadowrunning criminals.

A better idea would be to get a special boot that can morph between smooth bottoms for increased stealth and treaded ones for increased grip.


There we go, all high-tech.

just get a genaric common boot hi selling and many people have em.

Like, maybe, surplus army combat boots.

question about that, actually....

when determining a person's weight from thier boot depression depth, how do they account for weight being carried??? They can't, can they?

and what about previous moisture, rainstorms, etc???

(E.G. the dirt was soft after a slight rain when I made the depression, but then quickly hardened and was rather solid when they found it.)


perhaps I'm thinking into this too much, but I had to ask.

An easy way to defeat this is simply change how you hold your foot. Put a rock in your shoe. You'll naturally shift your weight. As a non-CSI person, I can't say if they'll know how to counter the Ministry of Silly Walks though. Also consider wearing boots that are the wrong size and stuffing them somehow. Someone said shoeprints are as distinctive as fingerprints. This isn't quite accurate, but as people have already pointed out, the size, make, wear, residue and weight of the wearer can all work to identify your culprit.

thanks for the info. I came up with another way to defeat it:

Stilts.

well, it depends on jus how different of a shoe size you use (you could probably get away with a size, maybe a size and a half) but if you go for something hugely different, it will be apparent simply because the length of the stride won't match someone with that footsize. I'm a perfect example of this, i'm only 5'3 and wear a size 6 1/2-7 shoe. If i were to stuff my foot into anything much above a 7 1/2 or 8, it would be painfully obvious, or i'd have to struggle to get a longer stride.

Which is why you get your moccasins made out of armored materials. So the broken glass won't cut through it.

My quote was in regards to a shoe print in the mud.

Pick up your shoe right now. How many people have that model of that shoe from that company? How many have that much wear? And in that size? What sort of things are stuck in the treads? Mud? Poo? Hair? Dried rice? Not as distinctive as a toe print (seriously though, who is dumb enough to commit a crime barefoot anyway), but very distinct nonetheless.

So wear whatever foot gear and put those little hospital booties over them.

Or just destroy the shoes after the run along with the gun.