I've just watched some lockpicking videos on youtube and I admit I am intriuged. Where can I get lockpicks? Can the skill be learned just by self-practice, or do I need an instructor?


From this discussion it sounds like the noise and detection tables in SR3 might need some revision if we want them to be realistic? Certainly, a shotgun being fired indoors should be heard by a lot of people. On the other hand, if we roll on that table for each noise the party makes for each person in the building, surely most things will be heard fairly easily, albeit in a weirdly scattered manner. Any comments?

I got my picks from SouthOrd. I have the 11 piece set, which is more than sufficient for 99% of the locks you'll encounter in the US. I don't know about the legality of whatever country and state you're in, so do some research first. You'll also want a lock that isn't in use, preferably with a key so you can make it easier. Used is fine, as long as it works. You'll probably want a tumbler lock to begin with, but other ones are okay.

Yes, you can do it without an instructor. However it will probably require some reading. I go to www.lockpicking101.com for most of my lockpicking background stuff, and they have a guide there to get you started. I read two books on lockpicking before I tried it and it just took a little time. My wife interrupted my lecture on it five minutes in and mastered our firebox lock in ten minutes.

I can't really comment on the noise thing though. I've only picked locks, i've never drilled, snapped, shot, blown up, kicked in, burnt down or otherwise destroyed them. But it makes sense to me.

You can get lockpicks on the intarweb.
It can be learned with self-practice and book reference, but instructors are nice. I think a face-to-face instructor is a lot less necessary with lockpicking than with a lot of skills, but far from worthless.
If you want to take a course, it's generally called "locksmithing", 'cause "lockpicking" sounds like you're going to do something naughty with it.
There are courses by mail where they'll mail you a lock, you pick it, and then send it back.

Lockpicks are legal in the UK, but if you get picked up whilst carrying them around without being able to show your good intentions, you can be charged with (I think) "going equipped." I don't know about other countries.

As to learning to lock pick, there are one or two tricks, but you can get those out of a book. More than anything, it's just practice, figuring out how much torque to apply to the cylinder and pushing the pins out of the way. Get acouple of cheap locks and play with it. I would assume you can get picks online somewhere, I got them from a friend who is a locksmith. After about 2 hours of practice, I could pick a $40 lock in under 5 seconds. (I'm really not kidding, it's scary how easy it is.) For most locks I've played with, a rake and a torque bar was enough.

When drilling metal, the bit against the metal does make noise, and there is no way to really get around that unless you put it in a vacuume. (Anyone want to try that one? ) MOST of the noise however seems to come from the drill itself. Something with enough power to drill through metal makes a LOT of noise. You can lessen it a lot by slowing the speed down, but time is a valuable thing on a run.

Yes, most people are going to make noise. Most people in the offices will likely ignore incidentle dreck though. Having a decent stealth skill also helps, though I've seen more than a few runners not take that skill. (though that's not as bad as the teams only mage not taking treat heal or stabalise when they know they are going through Harliquin's back.) Cutting torches and the like might draw some attention though. This is where distractions or background work (like finding a guy with the keys at home or something) can be a lifesaver. Preperation.

Around here, no one ever picks locks. That I know off .

The preferred method for burglars (and their legal counterparts) seems to be the drill. I don't know how much noise that makes, but afaik most common locks take only a few seconds-

In the military, we destroyed a lot of padlocks. When someone lost their key, or even more common, left it inside the locker, there was always someone there who had a folding shovel and an helmet at hand .

Yeah,you hit your <$30 lock with anything big, it's going to break. The $50+ ones are a bit harder, and some it is goingto take a BIG hammer to do that, and it will make noise. A big enough pairof bolt cutters would work to cut through the metal loop, but that only goes so far. The problem is you are also talking about locks in the door, not just pad locks. Those require a slightly different method.

And yes, it doesn't take long to drill a lcok, but in a quiet office building where you are desperatly trying to avoid a high tech seccurity system with sound sensors...

The other suggestions I brought up is snapping the cylinder. I've never done this, I don't know how it is done, but I understand it is relatively easy. Once the cylinder is snapped, it is apparently possible to unlock the door. I would assume there would be a loud crack as the cylinder snapped, but aside from that, nothing unusual.

Butterblume- if you're in Europe, the popularity of lever locks makes lockpicking a little more difficult. However even here in the US, less than 5% of break-ins involve lockpicking (I don't know the exact number, but it's very, very small). After all, if you were willing to go through the work of buying equipment and learning how its done, you wouldn't be a two-bit burglar, now would you?

Well your 'average' padlock or combo lock I've found is often quickly and easily opened with a hammer and a wrench. At least thats when they dont have a guard for the actual bar. Course it's noisy to a degree but its suprising some times how noisy you can be and still get away with stuff.

Back when I was in highschool we had a spree of locker breakins. Most of it was just poping cheap combos with a hammer and wrench type deal. However, in one case, to get at some ones high priced jacket and mini-disk music player, the theif in question used a prybar and forced up both corners of the locker.

No one ever noticed this being done, in the middle of the school day. The results of course were noticed, but by then the theif was long gone with the goods. Why they went to such an extreme is beyond me however, since the loop holes for the locks were made of aluminum and could easily be snapped off in a matter of seconds.

On the topic of lockpicking:

If you want to learn how the old-fashoined way, there are some great sets available for a reasonable amount of money.

In terms of a shadowrun application, rather than taking a 6 in lockpicking, I would take a 1 or 2 in Bump keys. They work well on any lock that is currently available, provided that said lock is mass marketed, as you have to get a bump key for each lock brand.

If you don't feel like reading, theres a great video about it.

I would assume bump keys are under the lockpicking skill, however given the description of locks given (being cylindrical with whatsits all around the cylinder), I'd assume bump keys are less successful than they were before.

That would make sense, on both counts. First, it would probably be a speciaization of lockpicking and second, given 60 years, lock technology would change. I suppose bump keys would change with them, but thats conjecture.

So, I was playing with a few masterlocks earlier. Using about 15 dollers worth of picks, I could open them as fast by raking as I could with a key. This won't work on door locks as well, but for padlocks, I'd say this is the way to go.

I ran a game where the PC (an invisible way adept) had to infiltrate a small city morgue, steal the personall effects of one of the deceased, and load a chip into the morgue computer that would remove any trace of the deceased and screw around with the records.

He did it perfectly, infiltrating through a subway tunnel shaft (killing a ghoul on the way) and getting directly underneath the morgue. He was not seen by any guard on the way in/out. One thing he forgot to do, was remove the optical chip from the computer, leaving evidence of the tampering. I felt petty, so I rolled his intelligence and informed him he may have forgotten something.

On his way back he was spotted and had to knock out a guard, and make a runner from the other guards.

Nitpick: I think you mean pitty not petty /nitpick

The one thing I sort of take things on as far as keys go is also abit of a mix between an eletronic and a mechanical lock. I mean look at all these laser cut keys they have now. Greater degree of precision, or at least supposedly so. But further more in some of the cases the key itself also has a sort of mini transponder or what ever the heck it is that actually sends a signal to the lock. So just making a copy of the key itself is useless unless you also have something to spoof that little chip inside of the key.


Given the heavy use of nanotechnology in 2070 I sort of see mechanical based keys being somewhat akin to the nanokeys you had in Dues Ex 1 & 2.

And then you can allways hit these ultra wierd oddities that are a mix of old and new ideas. There's this one safebox in Europe I saw once made by a master locksmith back in like the 1800's or 1900's. Dont quite recall exactly when it was made but it was pretty old.

It had something like 8 different key slots. Most of which were hidden, one which was blatantly obvious. But only one or two of them actually did anything. The rest were all decoys. And the actual internal locking mechanism was quite something as it locked the lid al the way around.

Take an idea like that, modernize it even further and you pretty much have a foot locker or door that's locked up like a bank vault door, but with nano precision.

SR just sort of simplifies for all the possiblities by throwing them under one catagory or another. But there's absolutely no reason why you couldnt also require BOTH skills to be used as it might be a combination eletronic/mechanical locking mechanism.

To me the end result would likely be something that while hideiously expensive in 2070 and uncommon would still when it -does- pop up, challenge even the most skilled infiltration artist around.

Yeah but thats what I mean by other types of locks lockpicking would sort of apply to. There's plenty of 'mechanical' based locks. Since there isnt a third lock bypassing skill for these to go under, personally I assume lockpick covers this angle.

So you have eletronics for eletronic based locks, and Lockpicking for mechanical based. If the two are combined you likely need both skills (and two seperate rolls) to bypass a really advanced lock setup.

A lockpick for example, wont help you open that mechanical based lock on say.. a vault (or maybe it will to a small extent if the lock uses keys but there's also combo locks etc)

AH well yes there is that too, and I realize that safecracking is abit of a specialty on it's own, but I belive it actually is listed as a valid specialization of lockpicking. I could be wrong though. (I think it's actually listed as such under SR4 but I"m not sure and I dont have the SR4 main book with me atm, nor do I have the SOTA Book the skill was introduced in)

If you make it it's own skill then I'd hope you at least tell your players this. Since it's rather important, otherwise I work under what skills are actually prestented in the actual books. And to date, safecracking as far as I know isnt it's own active skill. Which is why I throw it under lockpicking.

As for the bared doorway, if your a mage you've got that one easy. Summon a spirit, tell the spirit to go and lift the bar

Otheriwse yes, you'd either have to burn, blast or ram through the door.

Ah, thansk Konsaki. So there we go, Electronics combined with Locksmithing is your 'key to everything'. At least, as long as you have the proper tools.

Also helps to note that it's Locksmithing, not lockpicking which makes it alot clearer. Was that reference out of SR3 or SR4? Cause I think at least, SR3 it was introduced as Lockpicking (yet covered the same thing), again I'm not sure off the top of my head, not that it really matters.

SR4 BBB

I tend to plan my stuff in a vacuum when it comes to designing runs. So, sometimes, that in itself is enough to screw PCs over. By that, I mean I don't look at my runners and because the sammy has a maglock passkey, I put the security behind a door with a old fashion tumbler lock. Instead, I look at it as if I were designing security for the building; what would I think would be secure, but at the same time not interfere with actual work.

I used to work in an business complex. The company I worked for owned the main floor in tower 1, the sixth floor in tower 2 and the seventh and eight floor in tower 3. The business complex used a keycard to open the security doors to the elevators after hours (which was anytime other than 6AM to 6PM Monday to Friday), and that same card was programmed with the floors you're able to access after hours.

Those elevators would bring you to the elevator lobby on that floor which has cameras covering it from either side. For tower one, you had the door to outside and a security door to get into the company. On the other floors, you were between two security doors. Those security doors are opened with a second card, which is coded by the company to only let you into rooms you can access. So, I was allowed into my department, the lunchroom, and the hallway where my locker was. I couldn't go into the other departments because I wasn't allowed.

Now, since this is about screwing over PCs, there are a few ways that situation can do it; one I see quite obviously is that the decker only added their access to one of those databases but not to the other, so they're stuck in the lobby unable to get in.

Now, if I really wanted to, I could make those complex security systems like in Sneakers or in Mission Impossible or in Ocean's Eleven or Twelve for everything the runners go after, but what that does, while making it cinematic, raises the question about how people work there.

But one thing I must throw in because I have had this happen to me at two jobs I have worked at. This is a really great way to screw over your runners; a power failure. The emergency systems run on their own line usually because they include the emergency lights and the fire suppression systems, but all the computers on site power down, the security doors lock into place because there's no power to open them, the elevators stop working, things like that. Now, most places do have power generator backups, but that could be affected by the same issue. If you don't believe me that it could happen, check out the Salty Fog that hit Nova Scotia.

Thing is, depending on the maglocks, they will either sieze up, or in many cases infact, unlock. It's a safety concern afterall if suddenly no one can open the doors, and then for what ever reason the building catches fire. Of course sometimes that isnt taken into account, it's done on purpose, or there's still backup power and if a firealarm goes off the doors 'supposedly' unlock.

As to 'salty fog'. Not sure about that, but having been in Nova Scotia. I can certainly belive salt damage is extremely common in some areas. That excuse about birds though is pure bull. While enough of em sitting on a line could potentially damage it, it shouldnt happen since first, the lines need to be strong enough to stand up to very high winds, and secondly, yes, to a gerat deal of wildlife sitting on those lines, who's combined weight is actually quite abit. If the lines arent designed to handle such strain (which if their cutting corners would quite likely be the case) then yes, that is a valid problem. But only because you were too lazy to do something to prevent it.

That mention of firealarms and such on a run just suddenly started screaming to me Resident Evil (the movie). Replace virus reanimated bodies with perhaps, a virus that kills alot of people and for some reason alot of basic sheddim possess said bodies. And then maybe throw one master sheddim right into the middle of it!

Non-ferrous steel? Tell me more

~J

Well, rather than steel. Consider Aluminum as a good example.

I know, there are a million and one possibilities. The one I proposed "giant magnet" to address, however, specifies tool steel.

~J

Steel used to made tools is often non magnetic .
(unless it's a screwdriver or a carpenters hammer. For those it's actually usefull not only being ferro-magnetic, but magnetic itself ).

if the nailfile is metal, hold in your hand with it parallel to your wrist, using the thumb to support. Stab into templ, eye socket, possibly ear, or the sweet spot in between the collarbones. You can do this with a drinking straw, so a metal nail file should work. If it's wood or plastic, it should still work. I'd recomend the ear thing last though, it's the hardest one to pull.

....why do I know this drek?

If the players have gotten into the habbit of just blowing/burning through the doors of safes. there is one thing that i have heard about that should discurouge that.

stick a large bomb in the door with sensors.

if they don't unlock it the right way, the bomb goes off, leveling the building, or at least blowing out all the windows on that floor.

Not a very nice solution, but they should learn after the first treatment.

Bomb that big would likely waste the whole team though, so unless they know bout it in advance, thats abit of a mean one to pull. I tend to give PCs abit more leeway than usual when it comes to boobytraps.

Claymores for example I'll usually give em a few perception rolls to notice, if they dont get even one hit though.. well.. not my fault.

And again, how do people work there? They never enter their passwords wrong? Power surges or power outages never happen? The electronics never break down? The giant bomb that goes off at the slightest provocation will soon level the employees. The runners will never even get a chance to break into the building.