Long story...I run a Shadowrun game. My group was hired by the mafia to stage a robbery (as a diversion) of a Yakuza-affiliated casino...the idea being that they would rush in, take the main floor hostage, and occupy the security forces while a secondary group stole the Casino's money (since money is mostly electronic transactions anyway).

Well, the group's hacker wanted to be useful, and decided to hack into the Casino's network to display "You are PWNED" on the Casino's display tickers. The place has tight security, and he was immediately detected by the system, which sent IC after him. He had initiative against the IC, but chose to make his edit test to send the message, giving the IC the first shot, intending to run off. Sadly, the IC connected, and his connection was jammed open. Well, he eventually managed to knock it out, but took a fair amount of stun in the process.

They pacify the yakuza guards with smoke grenades, a lot of bullets, and a good intimidation check. Then a Lone Star SWAT team shows up, much better equipped than the casino guards, forcing the group to withdraw. The hacker, annoyed at the Casino's security (I was going back and forth between him and the regular combat, so he may have thought it took longer than it did in real-time), decides to kill the Casino's lights on his way out, as the van is driving off. he is attacked by IC again, and this time it knocks him fully unconcious. Mind you, he was hacking in hot-sim this whole time, not using AR.

I tell the group that they notice him go from his usual "slack and limp" to "fully unconcious". They do nothing about this. The mage, who had bailed out on the assault earlier due to injuries, calls from a safehouse and finds the hacker unresponsive, and finds that his own commlink is being hacked through the connection (basically, the IC/security hacker at the casino is hacking the commlink of the group's hacker, and anything connected to it).

The hacker regains conciousness an hour later. Nobody turned off his commlink, so the Yakuza's IC has had a full hour to play around on his commlink. The group maintains a communication network for quick coordination during operations, so their commlinks (utterly unsecured, as none of them even has a Computer skill) were vulnerable too. Most of them turned them off as soon as they heard this (the mage smashed his), but this was after the hacker regained conciousness and realized what had happened. So their whole network was vulnerable for an hour.

Just how bad could this get? I assume even the SINners in the group kept their fake IDs on their commlinks rather than their real ones. But could their money accounts have been accessed? Tracking is obvious, and I figure even if they reload the OS on their commlinks, their IDs are blown.

First of all, if the players had no idea that this sort of thing could happen (sort of implied by them doing nothing when the guy was obviously taken out by security) then they probably should've at least recieved a roll to see if their characters would pick up on the implications.
If they didrecieve such a roll, or if you feel that the players were aware of what could happen and simply elected not to do anything because they were busy, then ream them fully. Otherwise, you should probably consider going kind of easy on them and just having a talk with them "for next time." Saaay, whatever ID they were using at the time is ruined, any data on the commlink and not backed up is gone, and the commlink itself is ruined.
Next time they do that crap, they wake up in an unfriendly room surrounded by unfriendly men doing most unfriendly things to them.

i really really hope that unwired bring in some kind of gray IC attack code in the future. so that if one cant nail the user, one can at least nail the device

hell, i wonder why the hacker didnt attempt to go AR the second his connection was jammed open. ok so it would probably attract the same test as jacking out, but still.

also, when did hacking the ticker become useful in any way? if he wanted to be useful he would go for any kind of guard com or similar. the good old smartlink hack anyone?

Yeah I agree on rolling for stuff that characters might know but players who didn't memorize the rulebook wouldn't. Plus it keeps logic from being a dump stat.

Anyway your question is what could happen.

First the money would generally be safe. Otherwise your hacker would be relaxing in malibu by now. You can come up with whatever scheme for that you like. I like having biometric info (that isn't saved) have to be scanned and also like having a small system like an LED with rotating numbers on the comlink that isn't at all connected to the rest of the link, so hacking alone doesn't help.

Now obviously all sorts of tracking stuff could have been loading into the comlinks, but smashing solves that.

The other risk factors involve.

1. What data was in/went through the comlinks. Did your teams save maps of the facility, plans for the run, text instructions from their bosses? Were they communicating using the links? Did they call someone else up? Everything could have been overheard.

2. Being tracked. By using the track option repeatedly the security guy could follow, roughly, where the runners were for that whole hour. It's reasonable that they might not swoop in right away. Instead hoping that they call or meet with their employers or provide other information.

Once comlinks start getting smashed they might move in. But if they have an areal drone in the area they might just keep waiting, and hope for the best.

3. Getting their other stuff hacked via the comlinks. Typically cybereyes and smartlinks have cameras. Hacking those can provide a lot of info. Ears too. But this isn't restricted to things in their network/PAN. Anything that is in range of those wireless comlinks was at risk. For example a car or toaster. Or someone elses comlink that happened to be in the area.

Ugh we're posting at the same time.

Anyway it's actually pretty easy to change the ID on a comlink. It's in the rules. Also hackers typically spoof their ID before heading out.

Also in the future your chars should invest in some quality comlinks with some patrolling IC with analyze, if not attack. Just to at least give them some security.

That being said the CCG and falling asleep comments indicate that you have bigger troubles at the moment. I find that 5+ player games can be difficult as the spotlight can be off of people for too long. You may also have characters who are too combat focused. Which leads to the falling asleep problems.

Ok, so it sounds like any future access to the commlink won't be possible, or future tracking via commlink. But they *will* need to come up with new access IDs, and their street names are probably known to the Yakuza at this point (along with the contact lists).

Possible problems during the hour include uploading a trojan pilot program to the van, hacking cybereyes to get images of the runners, and stealing any important data that was on the commlinks.

As for what data was on there...I don't think any of the players had spare commlinks, so they kept whatever it is that people keep on their commlinks there.

I don't think communications are typically stored on a comlink. Though caller and recipient probably are. Same as cell phones. However any call that happened in the hour could have been listened in on.

The van could also have something that sends out something so it can be tracked loaded. If the van has a backdoor now that would mean that hackers from it could in theory re-hack players comlinks once they go back to the van. Ditto low flying drone.

But I like the "show up at the meet" option. Although they might not know why it happened. Maybe have it come up in dialouge.

Still you might want to think of how to keep your players enganged. Me I try to keep my groups at 4 or 3 so it isn't so bad.

I think the aims here are to (a) punish the players for carelessness and not paying attention but not so much that it spoils the game and (b), do so in a way that is justifiable within the logic of the setting.

It's reconciling (b) with not spoiling the game that's the problem. The Yakuza are vicious, effective and have had the opportunity to determine who their attackers were and where they are.

My suggestion is that the Yakuza aren't so much interested in punishing hired thugs (the players) as they are taking their pound of flesh from their real enemy behind them, i.e. the Johnson. Have the Yaks tail the players to the meet with the Johnson, via knowing their SINs, comm code IDs, a hacked pilot program in the van, whatever. Then they attack in a big bad way (will leave the tactics to you), the Johnson dies, the players lose a valuable contact and future employer and perhaps even don't get the second part of their payment. It's up to you, but by going for their employer you can keep the Yakuza as deadly as they should be, but spare the players character death for their incompetence / laziness.

Any use?

-K.

I don't know, I think I'd have them knock down the character's doors in the middle of the night and demand that the Runners make things right by doing the Yaks a favor or two...


Of course, the Yaks don't tell the Runners that the "favor(s)" is really serving as a mere distraction and that they fully intend on the Runners not making it out alive.

Well in RL Vegas of today, to conduct anything like what was done here, and if the Vegas security types had all of the information on the commlink,,,,they would be wearing orange jumpsuits.

Now in SR, the Yaks would want the Johnson and the team that pulled this boners just for their "FACE". Look up what that means in Runner Havens Hong Kong.

I agree the Yaks would track them, tag them and wait until they meet the Johnson. Then the Yaks would drop hell in a hand basket on the team and the Johnson.

As for their comm links, vehicles, etc, they are toast, best to just melt them down, and burn the vehicle. Use sterilize to hold down the ritual spell work.

Best option for the Team, ditch everything, grab any bug out bags, which I doubt they have, leave the area, and basically live at squatter life style, all other lifestyles the Yaks will have compromised if they were on comm links.

WMS

The Johnson meet attack is the best option at this point, I think. I also like the van takeover idea, and I might use it when/if the players try to escape from the botched meet. Does it sound feasible? A rogue pilot program can remain resident in the van, right? And can then shut off wireless matrix access, forcing the team to (if they have the hardware skill necessary) access the computer through a hardware connection?

My other idea was for the Yaks to try to snipe one of the players during the meet with gel rounds for capture, perhaps holding them as ransom to force them to make amends for the robbery.

I don't want to punish the players, per se, just the characters. The players should still have fun, but realize that they made a serious screw up, and learn from it.

On last thing on the ambush.

What you don't want to do out of all this is make them hate the matrix. Too many groups try to minimize matrix stuff because they think it's just some complicated thing that occasionally screws them over. At the start of this thread you weren't clear on what exactly could have happened. It isn't fair to expect your players to be.

But that hacker char has been there and done that. While the player may not realize cybereyes are hackable the person he is playing has done it a dozen times, they've probably also messed with a pilot program in your day.

I'd suggest letting any player with the appropriate skills know the possibilities presented in this thread, especially since they know they were hacked.

What they do with that knowledge is up to them. But work with them on it. If the hacker says they want to wipe anything that had been hacked point out that things could get rehacked as they go if they have connectivity, and that the camera accross the steet at the stuffer shack could be hacked as well. Or maybe a yak drone is outside right now.

The runners then have to decide if they want to bail on the Johnson meet or see if they can manage it sneakily enough. They'll still suffer, but they don't have to feel like you're withholding info to screw them over.

If they don't up their security however, and get hacked and don't realize it..............

Well, I was fairly certain that the general stuff I'm talking about (following them, setting up an ambush) could happen. I was just unsure of whether or not more sensitive info (biometric, etc.) would be stored there. I'll probably give them a roll to see if they anticipate the cybereyes problem, but the results of that (anyone with a SIN can be photo ID'd) have already gone into motion. They're fully aware, as of the last game, that they are being tailed. The mage has popped two watcher spirits already, and the group is headed for a safehouse in Puyallup to hole up for the night. As I recall, Puyallup is pretty barren in 2070, so they'd easily spot any attackers coming to harry them.

All SIN information (including biometrics, licenses, SS#, etc.) is stored on your commlink with a base encryption of 5. Read the BBB pg. 258 through 260 for info on what is stored on your commlink (if you choose). I'd say that any Fake IDs and Real ID (if they have a legal SIN) is compromised and anything connected to those SINs is compromised as well (i.e. cars, lifestyles, etc.).

Everything those commlinks could see, scan, communicate with, and otherwise know during that hour has been dumped and recorded to a secure Yak node for analysis. Someone had their gun smartlinked and gun cam hooked into the team net? Yaks have the full profile and tied every bullet in Lone Star evidence rooms to every crime that gun left evidence at. Extend concept. Have fun.

Which is why only very stupid or new Runners only run one PAN instead of two.


Plus youi should never subscribe any of your Cyberware (With the exception of your Datajack of course.) to an outside source, your teamates don't really need to be able to see through your eyes, the risk just isn't worth it and Shadowrunners have been doing their job without all this wireless crap weighing them down for decades now.

But yeah I guess I tend to be a bit Old School about these things, because being otherwise is a good way to get yourself iced.

Yeah, they're pretty screwed. Their SINs are definitely compromised, and I'd houserule the Yak hacker could have placed a 'backdoor' or track program onboard. Hell, in that full hour they could have uploaded their OWN modded OS into their commlinks. Unless the hacker in the party coded his own, the other runners would have no idea their stock OS was now YakOS 2.0. You don't need even close to an hour to do a full data dump from each linked commlink. Everything that was there on each commlink has a hotshot Yak hacker poring over it for anything of use or value.

What could you do? Well, every weapon license is compromised, every linked item is known and scanned... I'd dig out a copy of the old matrix books and houserule some variant of a worm program, for starters. So the runners get smart and buy new commlinks, which works until they resubscribe any hardware carrying the worm.

In short, write up a couple really grueling Yak repayment runs. They Yakuza won't waste good talent, but they WILL play the 'oh, now you owe us a favor' and we know how hard it is to get out from under one of these 'favors'.

Hell, the Yakuza know where the runners live, now. If the runners bought a couple extra months of a lifestyle as a safehouse and didn't place it on a backup commlink, that's compromised as well.

I can't imagine any decent way out of this situation... if the runners don't really seem worried they're compromised then any half-assed attempt to cover their tracks (new SIN, new face, new gun, etc) is no good if you have the worm riding resident on any hardware. Only the mage might be able to get out as he now needs a new commlink (and fake SIN if he/she is smart) since the odds of a mage having any cyberware is low.

What *I* would do is have them notice everywhere they go, there's a nice, smiling Japanese man or woman who looks fairly competent. They can't shake him or her, no matter where they go. At some point they'll approach their new Yak contact, and if they don't kill him, they might get the idea that to have the Yak off their backs, repayment is needed. When they ask the nice happy Yakuza what they're doing, have the Yakuza casually mention something like "Oh, greetings Maverick. How is the view from your lovely home on the shores of Puget Sound? I hear the Predator IV you're carrying is known to have a slightly faulty gas vent system, if you replace it it won't kick to the left anymore...." If I was playing a game and the GM dropped a Yak NPC in front of me that knew that much about my life, I'd realize I was well and truly fragged and do what I could to square things.

If they vape their new Yak friend, then play the whole bit from Indiana Jones. Quotes courtesy of IMDB.

Belloq: Dr. Jones. Again we see there is nothing you can possess which I cannot take away.
Belloq: So once again, Jones, what was briefly yours is now mine.

So when the runners make a big score, a Yakuza team shows up as they leave, nods at them, and robs them of 90% of their new gear/money/whatever. You don't want to kill off the characters, I understand that. But there are things worse than death. If the team decides to try to fight, keep in mind there's a very good chance the Yakuza are completely aware of the runners in terms of strengths, weaknesses, gear carried, etc. They will outgun the runners in every area, so if the team wants to commit suicide by fighting them, you can let them. A crossfire of pain inducers alone can really take the fight out of a runner team. A sniper firing gel rounds (+2 power, +2 impact) is a very difficult thing to resist as well.

The team can choose to keep being 'tapped', try to wipe out the Yakuza (good luck, but there might be a point where the Yakuza cuts their losses... probably when the last Seattle Yakuza member is dead... that comment about 'face was dead on) or choose to work for them enough to repay the favor... for now.

Now, i’m gonna just put in my POW here regarding commlinks. The hacker should have the knowledge about this and the hardware unless he’s new to the shadows.

1. Commlink ID
If they have a fake commcode I really do wonder if they HAVE to have each fake ID connected to EACH commlink they own. Commlinks are computers and they can use fake connection services not connected to a SIN. Thus the hackers commlink don’t have to be loaded with everything he owns.

2.Multiple Commlinks
Always have at least two commlinks. One for personal use with your fake SIN and one for hacking. Even better, use two for hacking so that the second one is loaded with agent and peeking inside the other commlink (No subscribing, just legal access through passcodes). He should have one comm. For hacking and one for communications.

3. Ditchable commlinks
The cheapo commlinks can work as disposable cellphones. 300Y a pop you can ditch them after each mish. Run them hidden and only talk through them. The hacker will have a top notch comm that ONLY monitors communication.

Now, IF they are newbies as runners (the characters AND players) then they made a huge mistake that will give them a little hard time (running for the yaks as a compensation for their lives). The commlinks can be reused but new commcodes are needed. Their SIN’s if they had them on those very commlinks are garbage now as the yaks have it.

You know, I think that I may have found a way to fit in Aaron's "Last Run" adventure without ruining the campaign, just have the Yaks show up at the end and take the Runner's cut as "repayment" before declaring that they are now even.


The characters get punished because they basically do a run for free and lose one of their Fixers as she would retire from the Shadows.


They get the Yaks off their backs.


Of course, the downside is that the Runners might decide that the ammount of cred we are talking about is worth fighting for, in which case have the Yaks come down fast and hard, but in this worse-case scenerio its unlikely that the Characters will survive.

SUCCESS!!!!

I just wanted to thank everyone who responded here for their feedback. Seriously, this has got to be the best community group I've experienced for an RPG system. Quick responses, helpful, the whole nine yards.

Now that the mushy stuff is over, I'll tell you how it went.

I had the Hacker make a computer roll to determine his general summation of their data breach: he rolled well (no surprise), and determined that their data was pillaged to all hell most likely, and that some cyberware could have been vulnerable. He checked everyone's cyberware, but it turns out almost nobody actually has cybereyes (they're using glasses), so they were alright on that count.

They went to their safehouse in the Puyallup barrens, about 15 miles or so outside of Puyallup City. The safehouse was an abandoned school (half of the second floor had collapsed), and the group soon found that it was being used as a squat by a female ork drug dealer and her 8 children (two of whom help her sell drugs). They made peaceful contact with her, she had no real interest in giving them trouble, and they gave her 100 nuyen as a bribe anyway. She was using the downstairs, so they used the still-standing portion of the upstairs to lay down and recover, taking turns on watch.

The first thing the watch noticed was the ork speaking to and exchanging money with several men. They were suspicious that she was selling them out at first, but a closer look revealed that she was selling BTLs in the yard of the abandoned school. One of them saw a car with no headlights on drive past, then turn away and disappear down an alley. The group was concerned, but nobody went after it. They warned the female ork, who gathered up her kids into a beat-down station wagon. Before she left, several of the players suddenly developed an interest in her product, with about 5 of them buying expensive (150 nuyen) BTLs from her, and one player buying two poppers of Jazz. The hacker gave her 300 nuyen as a bonus. Not wanting to take a handout, she "sold" him a cheap Metalink commlink, and drove off to (relative) safety.

Meanwhile, they set up their meet with the mafia Johnson, asking him to meet them at the school. Now, they seemed to want to ask him to be careful, without admitting that they were made. I fudged a little here, but I feel justified; the player talking had a specialty in mafia etiquette, and the character would have known better than to appear unsure about whether they had been made or not. As it was, the guy arrived thinking they had shaken their tail, and were simply somewhat paranoid. He drives up in the limo, rolls down the window, and waits. The players remain in the yard (they hadn't really set up the details of how they would meet) so he steps out and meets them halfway. Just after the player who had the johnson as a contact greets him, the Yakuza snipers pop the Johnson with Ex-Ex ammo. Well, one of them does. The others drop the players on the ground with Gel rounds.

Now, one of the players had an existing sniper's nest of his own, and another one ran upstairs immediately to snipe with his assault rifle. They exchange gunfire, but are unable to hit the Yakuza snipers. The yaks do send a car down to retrieve bodies, and are quickly set upon by the remaining players, including an impressive fireball from the group's mage. He gets popped by gel rounds soon afterward, however. The car is wrecked though, and one of the yaks gets killed by the assault rifle sniper. The yaks have a mage as well, who counterspells his way out of the fireball but eats a bullet fo 7P. Unfortunately, he manages to summon an Earth Elemental (I just realized I may not have subtracted enough dice from his wounds in the rush...) who picks up the body of the mafia Johnson, and the injured mage, and bails out of there using his movement power. The remaining players try to hold out but eventually their tactical knowledge tells them that their survival chances are slim, and the Yakuza might accept a surrender. And they do.

The unconcious players are loaded into the cars, the two concious players are disarmed and loaded into cars, and they all wind up in an undisclosed Yakuza location where they witness the mafia Johnson's body being used for traditional sword testing, prior to the yakuza telling them exactly how they will be repaying their debt. Also, the players realize that samples for ritual spellcasting have been taken (skin, hair, or blood) while they were out.

And that's how the game session ended. They'll get the details on their penance next time.

Overall, everyone had fun. I ignored the players who were distracted, pressed on with the plot, threw in some incidental "flavor" NPCs (the ork drug dealer and her kids), and found that the session worked better than any of my previous ones. I managed to run a game where most of the party was knocked unconcious and everyone was captured, but nobody complained and the players still seem interested in what will happen next. Consequences for their actions, without anyone feeling 'punished'. I'm rather proud of myself.

They got nailed and grabbed by the yaks...

It's probably best to tell them that they don't want to know what happened to their characters, and have them make new ones.

Actually, I'd just have the whole group make new characters. They've made enemies of the Yaks and the Mafia. Caught in the middle with nobody big enough to stand up and save their butts unless they do something crazy, like immideately sell out to Aztechnology and turn company meat.

Naw, I think JonathanC handled it very well, although I do agree that its unlikely that the characters will be in the good graces of the Mob again. (In fact, the Yaks might very well be counting on the fact that the Runners were Mob connected for whatever they have planned.)

Only one of the players has a mob connection, in the form of two contacts. One of those contacts bought the farm already. The players themselves seemed surprised that the yakuza were using non-lethal methods to bring them in. I suppose, given that at least one of the yaks was killed in the capture attempt, they could be vengeful about it, but the way I see it...how much sweeter to have a group of dangerous people brought to heel and sent out to do work you find too dangerous or distasteful to do yourself?

Also, I'm slightly more interested in fun than realism with this game, so I'm willing to bend a little in favor of keeping the players alive. Capture and virtual enslavement via the threat of sympathetic magic seems better than execution and chargen for a bunch of people who are new to the game. I like how this went. They're in for it, they know they're in for it, and they know that they're lucky (in the extreme) to be alive. The players have learned everything that killing their characters would have taught them, and I saved several hours of char-gen and approval to boot.

Well you disregarded my advice and had a lot of fun. So I'd say you made a good call.

-K.

Yeah, I'd say JonathanC handled it perfectly. The runners are chastised, but not dead. The reprisal led to work, which is fun for the players, and they learned from their mistake.

This new direction could lead to the runners doing some smuggling (always fun) low-level enforcement (make the deadbeat pay up), or even higher-level stuff like help the Yaks clean out a Seoulpa Ring or Triad encroachment from a valuable area.

Hell, you could even let the players get back in the good graces with the mob if they tipped them off regarding the turf battle. So the Yakuza gets the third of the territory they wanted, the Mafia gets a third as well, and the Tong or Seoulpa Ring is too busy being hit from two sides at once to care who started the ball rolling.

There's nothing wrong with coercion, as long as it eventually ends (the mage tracks down the ritual links with a fire elemental in tow and 'ruins' them). The Yaks win because they regained Face. The Mob doesn't lose (as much) if they also get a big bite of the pie, and the Seoulpa Ring or Tongs are already working their hoops off to keep in the game.

Your runners might get known for 'making things happen' and suddenly have a very fine balancing act to play. They don't want to favor any side too heavily or the opposing side might choose to remove them from play.

And don't forget, the oldest dodge in the book is to tell them they're under the gun due to cranial bombs/nanites/carcerands/tracking devices/ritual materials put in play against them, but don't actually use any of the above. Those things are expensive, and 90% of the time the threat alone causes compliant behavior. Plus it keeps them guessing.

I think the best way to put it is in the 'compliment' one of my players paid me not long ago. He says he likes playing in my games, but his character doesn't (the character goes through hell). And that's the best I think you can hope for. I'm sure running a cakewalk where everything goes perfectly according to plan and there's no Machiavellian metaplots, or plot twists, or sudden mishaps would be a novel experience for most of the players out there, and the characters would love it, but after a while, it'd be boring as hell.

Looks like a good solution to me.

My current plan involves using the Yakuza scenario in the back of Runner Havens, where the players are hired to retrieve an escaped (unwilling) Bunraku Parlor worker. On the off chance they decide they're too moral for that (if I was me, I'd find a way to get the girl away), I figure they can flee to Denver with new IDs, allowing me to use some of the SR4 adventures from the official website.

This week is the continuation of the previous scenario. I'm excited, but half of me expects this to go south just because I'm looking forward to it.

The basic plan:

A handout that sums up the players' current situation, including the fact that their characters would be aware that while they goofed on the security thing, the fact remains that the Casino robbery went south way too quickly; the swat team arrived mere minutes after they had subdued casino security. Something ain't right.

And why did their mafia contact arrive with so few bodyguards?

If they look into it, they'll find that according to the mafia's books, they were already paid for their job. Someone in a position to usurp their contact's place in the mafia heirarchy set the whole job up, ensuring that the secondary team (they knew they were being hired as a distraction) would be crooked, and call down the heat on the PCs in order to cover their own escape.

At the same time, the players have to deal with the job the Yakuza send them on: finding a missing/runaway Bunraku girl and bringing her back.

This is actually quite intriguing, a deeper plot with everything still going to hell. I think you made the right call and it's definitely a nice direction you're heading.

Yeah, I have high hopes for it. It's been a rough ride for me as a GM for the past year or so...I've had to learn and re-learn how to deal with distracted players, problem players, my own laziness in plotting, the temptation to railroad, etc. Hopefully learning from all those mistakes is finally going to pay off.