I recall reading a pretty long thread a few months back that talked about different things people do before meeting with a Johnson. So of it was pretty in-depth and ultra-paranoid, but it was a good read. I started looking for it again but can't find the thread. Does anybody recall that and possible still have a link?

Thanks!

This or maybe this?

Ah-hah!

Now why the heck could I find those? *grumble*

Thanks very much!

Both of those suggestions seem to be geared towards highly paranoid teams and very detail oriented groups.

The last team we ran with would have two people show up to a given meet.

The first was our face, (naturally) there to do the negotiation and the like.
The second was our street sam. She had good enough cha and ettiquite that she didn't stand out like a sore thumb or offend people with her presence but was still obviously 'muscle'.
Our hacker/rigger was in VR sitting in the Face's comlink. He was there to make sure the money transfer was on the up and up and that the J wasn't trying any haxxor crap himself. He also kept the car running and kept the heavier gear in case it was needed.
Our mage sat in Astral and kept an eye on things from there. Physically he sat in the backseat of the car.

As for actual meet prep we'd usually scope out the location earlier in the day just to get an idea of the layout. The Face and Street Sam both would typically wear Actioneers and the only weapons they would bring was the Sam's ceramic pistol. This tended to keep us safe enough.

Of course, a lot of that would depend on who you're meeting and where you meet them.

-Siege

Well yeah. Naturally they arn't going to go and meet a Johnson in Redmond wearing Actioneers but it's still seems (to us at least) like a good ballance of caution and "lets get to the f'ing game already". It can also be adapted fairly easally. Meeting in Redmond, fine wear an armoured jacket and pack an SMG. Meeting in the middle of downtown, maby the hacker and mage will find a nearby hotel to check into instead so they don't get arrested for loitering. It's fairly easy to change specifics but for an 'average' meet it works ok.

I've got a group of Shadowrun noobs that I'll be introducing to the game, so I wanted to give them some "flavor" on how different groups set up their meets with Johnson. I totally agree that most this stuff is ultra paranoid, but it's one way of looking at things and is great food for thought, IMHO.

If the group enjoys the cloak & dagger stuff around the meet, then you mind as well go for it. If they just want to get to the game, then ditch it and get to the f'ing game already.

With my 'n00b' group (me having 7 years experience with it; them having none), they all came in for the meeting with Mr. Johnson. Of course it was a lower level run and the meet was at a fairly craptacular club... So nobody really stood out and there was no high-stakes action from the get-go.

I'm not a fan of the uber-paranoia.