Ok so i have finished making two characters to playtest me scenario's with. "Syntax" the hacker and "Borg" the big ass weapons guy. I would like to describe a scenario and see how different players and GM's think it should work out mainly regarding tests and dice rolling.

The job is easy, sneak into the old unused and nearly forgotten tunnels sprawled throughout the city to gain access to the lower levels of Olzie Corp.

The runners are supplied with a virtual schematic of a rain water run-off drain access point that leads to old Department of Public Works tunnels below the city. From these tunnels there are many stairwells and entry points for the lower levels of many buildings in the downtown area. The runners, with a little [data search] help, find the correct point of entry into the rain water drains. They follow the schematic and after a possible fight with some ghouls manage to find the junction that leads up one level to the drier ground of the DPW tunnels. After looking around the runners eventually find door 3C-1 which they are told leads upto Olzie Corp boiler levels. The door is locked with a first generation Maglock (older style). It is assumed the runners finally gain access.

Once inside the boiler level of the building they have to make their way up to the ground floor (2 levels) to gain access to any nodes (the lower levels are signal blocked). Once there the hacker takes over and has to find the signal, gain access to the system, locate security systems to deactivate security devices so they can sneak in to the lab and vault area to steal corporate secrets. They will have to go deep into the complex to get to the labs. All the doors inside are maglocked as well with keypads and card readers (more important ones have biometric scanners). Once inside the lab the hacker tries to gain access to another secure system to download corporate research data and eventually break into the vault (think 2070 bank vault) to gain access to prototype corporate secrets. Then get out again....alive!

Sounds easy enough and i want this to be a very short run as it has two players in mind. To be honest the two other players just want to playtest the game mechanics and system to see if they like it. If they do they trust in my story telling and RP style to make a good game. They are hung up on D20 and i am trying to break them of it.

I have read over the core book, Augmented and Arsenal and i have only a very basic idea of how to handle the mechanics. I know there is a skill test to remove the keypad covers from maglocks...then hardware tests to break in etc .

What i am looking for is someone to pick apart the description above and insert tests where they think some should be. If anyone is upto the challenge.

One thing I've learned about Shadowrun (and gaming in general) is that players rarely perform a job how you envision them doing it. You have to plan for a variety of different scenarios.

Your mission has (potentially) a lot of hacking involved. This might make your Street Samurai feel a bit left out, unless he's going to be doing most of the sneaking around.

I'd design three networks for your guy to hack into. You'd want to assign stats to each of these networks, as well as any IC or security hackers. Since they're new, I'd make it pretty easy, and not include enemy hackers. Give him some low level IC to fight against in cybercombat though.

You'll want at least:
Network node for the facility
Network node for the Security System
Network node for the lab (where they need to download the paydata from)

You'll also want to assign stats to the card readers. You'll need to know how difficult it is to fool the reader with a fake card, you'll need to know what access level the hacker will need to bypass it, and you'll need to know what difficulty threshold to assign to manually bypass the lock. You'll also want to include various corporate citizens that are available for mugging in case they decide to tie someone up in the janitor's closet and steal his ID card (and maybe cut off his hand) to get through the scanners and biometrics.

Since you want to keep the run short and easy, I'd only have a few guards available in the facility.

Give them a Rigger to deal with who will send a combat drone after them if an alert is triggered either by security cameras or in cyberspace. Don't use a horribly powerful one. A doberman drone with an SMG on it should be sufficient. Unfortunately the facility isn't THAT secure, so the Rigger only has one or two drones. If the runners gun/hack their way past them, no more drones will be forthcoming.

Give them a handful of guards with batons and tasers that they can sneak by, but also defeat fairly easily in a fight.

Once they break into the lab itself, give them 2 more guards with heavy pistols or SMGs for a real good firefight. Hopefully the hacker can help defend himself?

Since you don't have any Magic Users, I wouldn't throw any magical security their way.

Does any of this help?

Other folks might have better or more specific ideas for you. I'm a newer GM myself.

This is Rule #1 of GMing.

To counter this, have the run be a Mitsuhama run. Mitsuhama is very hands-ons and usually tells the runners exactly what to do and how to do it rather than letting them plan the run themselves. You can thus ensure that the team will indeed take the sewers and follow the general plan. The downside of course is the characters are just tools with no planning - which is 50% of a normal shadowrun. But for an intro run, this is probably a good idea.

It is also true the run is very hacking and electronics heavy. You can throw in a couple of doors the sammy can brute force. Like perhaps the first sewer-level entrance door is an old lock n tumbler lock, which no one can lockpick - but it just so happens the sammy can shotgun it open. He'll love that.

The video game approach of multiple solutions to each problems is also a great way to go. You have a locked door: provide a way to go through it stealthyly, brute force, or go around it. Basically, one option per playing style, with advantages and disadvantages to each. Go stealthy is slow, blowing it down is quick but lound, and going around it exposes you to unplanned encounters.

Thank you both for your quick replies. Excellent points and i have made a few modifications to the scenario to reflect. What i am stuck on most is exactly what needs to be done for instance i'll jump right to the heart of the run. The two runners make it through the sewers and into the building by whatever means they can. They make it to the lab and after passing the door and defeating the security the hacker now has to work his magic.

How exactly would this work? What tests does the hacker need to make? I assume he has to (1) find the nodes signal (2) brute force attack the node (3) root around in side to find the information he is looking for (4) download the information onto a data module

What i am guessing would be a series of extended tests such as

{1} [Electronic Warfare + Scan](2; 1 combat turn) to find the correct node assuming they do it wireless having not destroyed all the terminals allowing manual access.

{2} [Hacking + Exploit](9; 1 IP) to brute force hack the system. I picked a threshold of 9 because firewall(3) and aiming for admin access.

(3) [Computer + Analyze](3; 1 IP) to find the information.

{4} [Hacking + Command](6; 1 IP) to download the information. The Threshold is high because the system security is set to prevent copy of the information other than data backups.


With this out there does this make sense? Does anyone have a better suggestion? What about the rest of the scenario?

Q: Brute force hacking requires [Hacking + Exploit]. Does this mean "hacking" as in hacking rank + logic + modifiers + exploit or just hacking ranks + exploit + modifiers?

If a company doesn't use the door to tunnels they are unlikely to have a way to get through it from the outside. I'd expect it to be locked, bared and alarmed. I'd expect that an exothermic cutter or a grinder to cut a small hole, followed by electronics on the door alarm followed by finishing cutting the door open. (Then maybe a shape metal spell to fix it.) Traditionally in SR I'd expect the team mage to use an endoscope to put a silence spell and an illusion over the door while the cutting and burning fun is underway, without that it better be a pretty empty area without cameras.

2) - Remember, the system rolls an Analyze + Firewall (Stealth) Extended Test, with one roll for each of the hacker's. If the system detects the hacker before he is in, it's Firewall gets +4 from an active alert (Threshold for entry goes up), alarms are triggered (alerting security of the attempt), and IC is put on standby (in case the hacker continues & gets in). If the system detects the hacker as he gets in, the same as before, except the threshold for entry does not matter, and the IC engages in cybercombat. If the system does not detect the hacker, said hacker has free reign of the system (barring patrol IC or security hacker's that may notice him fucking around).

4) - This can also be done with Hacking + Edit (to remove the copy protection), Hacking + Exploit (to find a way around copy protection), or Hacking + Spoof (to make it believe you are someone with permission to copy - can only be done if someone really does have permission).

A: Hacking Skill + Program Rating. By RAW, Logic does not affect your ability to hack. A common house rule (and as of Unwired, an official optional rule) is to instead use Hacking Skill + Logic, with a maximum number of Hits equal to your Program Rating.