Ok- Here is the challenge: find mundane or semi-mundane items that can be incredibly useful to a shadowrunner when used creatively.

Ill start the ball rolling:

Paint Grenade: Commonly made at home or sold to paintball enthusiasts (insert similar 2070 sport of choice here) for use in their games, paint grenades are mundane tools that simply splatter paint everywhere nearby. While nearly harmless (except in the off chance it hits you in the eye) these grenades make everything a little more colorful around where they land.

Shadowrunners use: While ineffective at incapacitating targets, paint grenades can do one thing very, very well. They are the bane of the invisible, be it a cloaked mage or a sniper in a chameleon suit. After all, nothing screams stealthy like a giant swab of pink paint all over your nice ruthenium polymer jacket. As an added bonus, their inability to hurt people allows them to be used a very close range, to get a clear (albeit colorful) picture of your surroundings, and anything hiding within reach of the grenade. They also often leave paint drips, making tracking a "wounded" opponent much easier. Last but not least, they are cheap to make and can be made at home by simply filling a water balloon with a color of your choice. Of course, by 2070, a number of official grenades would exist with an even paint scatter for maximum coverage, but even the homemade ones will work in a pinch.

I'd go even more simple. There are some disgustingly innocuous IEDs. Chlorine gas will mess you up something fierce. Autopickers are easy enough to get. A halfway descent tool box will get you into most any building, and the barest of cover stories works 99% of the time.
As for what you can do on a half way descent computer, I know that in austin tx (at least) that hackers spent more time watching footage from traffic cams than any officials. If you want to talk hardware hacks police scanners, and HERF guns are really easy. There are kitchen sink builds of both.

A splash grenade with paint under pressure, however, can hit stuff, say, on the ceiling, such as the lenses of certain ubiquitous security devices.

Rolling a can of spray paint into a room and shooting it works ok for that, too.

Your average water bottle is innocous enough not to get noticed by anybody and you could possibly make an airtight one for those pesky chemical sniffers. It's a very convenient way to carry liquid explosive or an individual under the "turn to Goo" spell (Not my idea, someone else on this board was brilliant).

I personally find flats and hobo clothes the most convenient because people will automatically ignore you if you're in either.

Sleeping pills and hot dogs: great for any para critter watch dogs.

Two words: Duct and Tape

Duck Tape: Handyman's Secret Weapon


Bonus point for the reference.

On further uses of paint grenades:

1. Cheaply available industrial solvents will do a number very, very quickly on many synthetic materials - especially tires.

2. Filled with a colorless, odorless paint that only fluoresces under a very narrow band of wavelengths, a paint grenade can be used to "tag" a target without their knowlege - useful for keeping tabs on someone in a crowd.

3. For this trick, you need two paint grenades: A large one filled with a cyanoacrylate solution (a.k.a superglue), and a very small one filled with a catalyst. The glue will set in quite literally seconds - likely fusing its targets' hands and feet to whatever they're touching. These are available at any good hobby store today, and I can tell you that that it's INCREDIBLY easy to glue your fingers together.





The problem with autopickers and HERF guns is that they won't work in a world of maglocks and completely optical ICs. As for police scanners, a remotely-updated time-locked encryption system would be murder to keep patched into.

Red Green Show. I grew up in Northern Ontario.

As for a tool? Red Toolbox full of handyman's tools.

What? I can think of a dozen uses for a Claw Hammer alone!

And just think of what you can do with a Cordless Drill!

Sometimes the simplest of weapons get overlooked. Socks make very good bludgeons when filled with miscellaneous metal and stone objects, wrapping some simple chain around your fist makes good improv brass knuckles, and table legs are good clubs and sometimes great vampire offing tools.

Air nailers and stablers may not be deadly, but they can sure annoy people in a pinch.

Treble hook hanging from monofiliment line tied in branches or form fire escapes at face high would slow down dang near anyone.

A handfull of carpet tacks or roofing nails and marbles was always usefull in slowing someone down too.

Go to the store and get

a roll of duct tape : 2.99
a box of latex gloves : 4.99
a jar of petrolium jelly : 1.99
and a can of cat food .50

the look on the check-out clerk's face : priceless

Plus every house should have a good store of all of the above

@SpasticTeapot, yeah auto pickers are pretty worthless in 2070. I still figure a herf gun would become a jammer in SR's fantasy physics.

Damn you! I was gonna say that!

waterproof matches
penlight
pocket knife (seriously, no matter what century it is, it is always handy to have a blade)
superglue
1 extra bullet or 1 cyanide capsule
condom (NOT in case of pornomancers)
paperclip

Deluxe Kit:

In fact with the jury rig quality its worth while filling your pockets with bits and bobs so you can make any thing you might need. we need to get the door open hum what do i have then......

Swiss Army Knife, the "every tool you might need" tool for centuries! Some modern versions even have USB memory sticks and computer repair screwdrivers on them now. One wonders what innovations them Swiss will come up with in 2070.
http://www.swissarmy.com/Pages/Home.aspx

A claw hammer, if nothing else is working whack it with the hammer. As useful for opening stuck doors as for negotiations with stubborn informants.

Waterproof rubber black electrical tape. Need a seal on something that's watertight? Insulation against some minor electrical shock? Emergency handcuffs? Emergency gag? Got ya covered.

Chairleg of Truth.

An addition to the whole paint grenade idea, trip lines loaded with IR visible paint. Makes it much harder to lose the people chasing you in you are covered with paint that shows on IR. And as a bonus to the corp who used the IR paint bomb, it's much easier to clean up paint than it is to repair a hallway.

As for tools, Well the typical Leatherman or whatever it's modern equivalent is.

Slaves are still one of the best tools for your money, especially if you have a pornomancer and Possession tradition magician on the team. There's little that can't be handled if you're willing to put up with a higher bodycount!

Except with a high body count you run the risk of 'Star getting interested. If you can get in, get the paydata, and get out without a shot fired, then it might be days before the target knows that SOMETHING went down.

Subtle is overrated. Let's get back to the pink mohawks! If you can get hundreds or even thousands to take up arms in your name, you can fight the Star head-on and possibly stand a chance of sticking it to the man.

Hopefully you've got your next batch ready about the time the first batch is dying...

I have a non-smoking friend who hasn't left an urban area in years who carries a knife and a lighter at all times because he feels that it's his birth right as a human to have the capacity to cut stuff and start fires, and doesn't ever want to completely fail at being human

Send in the Clones!

X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X

Clones can get expensive compared to fawning hordes of barrens dwellers that you've brainwashed into following your vision. Looking at the big picture, pornomancers are the greatest threat to any foe.

In a different Cyberpunk game, we were able to bring down a Corporation's Stock to pennies on the dollar by using gangers, illegal immigrants, cheap food, and 30-year old school busses.

'Course, they had a crazy guy at the place where all these people were "Protesting" with a Gattling Shotgun that couldn't wait to use it, but that's a different story.

I used to have a list of things back from the cyberpunk days.

I have to say that a tin with plasticine for making impressions is useful.

Bailing wire
Grease pen
Duct tape
Petroleum jelly
Rampant Rabbit
Ball gag

Everything you need.

What's a Rampant Rabbit?

Some of this has been touched on. Guys can get away with a roll of duct tape, it stands out with a woman unless she's a handyman/tomboy sort.


personally
Swiss army knife, disposable lighter(in an emergeny break it open and you have a fuel source,) pack of smokes (I don't smoke but it allows a slow burn- timed fuse any one? pack of gum and hand mirror, guys seriously you aren't gonig to question a woman with any of these except maybe the swiss army knife. If you can a small ball of string is good too. also at the risk of TMI anything which can be hidden in a small tube like shape, really guys, you go through a lady's bag, you going to search too closely anything that looks like a tampon?

RL I alway have on me a phone, spiderco folding knife, small note book, make up, small mag lite, My boss has actually benefited from most of these when things have gotten odd in the office. I suspect he would NOT appreciate the gun, so what he doesn't know won't hurt.

Google Ann summers and Rampant rabbit.

Well, okay then. Question answered.

Although I am considering if I want to know what use it would be on a run. Not asking just yet, just thinking of asking.

Such devices can grind airports to a halt.

plus if you tape it to the window it'll do a fine job of messing with anyone bouncing a laser mic off your window

Against the sniper in ruthenium underwear: Granted. Of course it will be a bit difficult to get close enough to a sniper to be able to pull it off without getting shot once or twice. But against a mage using an invisibility spell this will be next to useless. The paint will hit the mage - and instantly become invisible as it becomes part of the mage's clothing. Of course the disappearing paint or paint dripping from the mage can still give his position away. But if my understanding of the spell isn't wrong, you won't have a splat of paint flying around.

If the mage is within the area of the paint explosion and the shooter/thrower would besically see the pain make a "hole" in the air so in retrospect it would work and footprints would show.

Another good thing about paint grenades is their ability to blind people. Most people would have glasses or lenses for AR targeting and getting splashed with paint would at least make them blinded for a turn, loose any targetting aid or make them blind if they have helmets.

<MacGyver>Need a cheap doorlock opened without a lot of noise? Old credit card does the trick. Car stuck on ice? Kitty litter provides traction.</MacGyver>

Those cool multi-folding ladders are on the top of my list. Another good one is those wire and bar caving ladders that roll up into compact little tubes. With carbon nanotubes and other composite goodies making these twice (or more) as light, they only get better for a SR crew.

Yeah caving equipment is rather cool.

Most equipment is dual natured. A surgical knife in a medical kit or a miniature kit is normal. With duct tape, bailing wire, and other surgical equipment, it becomes a torture kit.

A couple of laxatives work wonders for distracting careless guards/targets (especially good for getting people away from camera point of view).

The Glue Sprayer and Mini-welder are both awesome bits of gear in the hands of a creative player. And neither of them are all that tricky to explain having. (Especially if you keep the welder in it's packaging and can thus claim to have just been to the store)

One episode of Burn Notice had a nice use of ammonia based fertiliser and random scrap electronics to make a fake bomb. A trick which might not work quite as well in Shadowrun against people with expensive scanning devices, but could well work against more low tech groups.

Industrial bleach / cleaning solution is also a nice bit of kit. Good for cleaning up ritual samples and any DNA traces you might have left around. Plus it can be an improvised weapon if thrown in someones face or you can pour it on someone and leave it to cause chemical burns (to persuade someone to be more talkative for example).

A lighter, a match and a bucket of water are also good for getting people to spill info. Simply soak them in water while unconcious, pour a little of the fluid from the lighter under their nose and threaten them with the match.

Edit - Of course you do infact let them wake up before threatening them. Otherwise you just end up looking silly.

Argueably, the rules don't say one way or another. I'd be inclined to have it not be invisibilitied unless the mage recast the spell, as it wasn't there when the mage first went invisible.

Having things the make picks up causes more issues. If the mage goes invisible with a backpack, and a dwarf then crawls in the backpack, is there a floating dwarf? Or is it all invisible?

I have to say overalls, a hard hat (or watch cap, depending), and a tool box get you in and out of most places very easily with no questions. I mean who notices the maintainance guy? Give your ork or troll adept some points of plumbing as a skill and just think of the stuff you can walk in with. Assuming your hacker has come up with a good fake work order of course.

Oh, the things you can quickdraw from concealment in a troll plumber's crack...

No comment.

I'd say a monosaw as in a monowire hacksaw would be a really useful tool as well as being easy to hide in fact attaching the ends of a monogorot or whip to a frame would easy make such a tool being able to cut though thing with easy and to be uses as a rather lethal weapon.

One thing the paint bombs /are/ good for against an invisible mage (regardless of if the spell is running) is footprints.

The spell does nothing against the trail you're now leaving on the floor, so it gives people a rough idea of where to shoot at.

Of course you're still at a penalty, but it makes it a bit easier to trail someone you can't see or to know if/when to set off any remote bombs in the area.

The interaction of paint and the invisibility spell actually give an opportunity to make the M version of the spell worth taking. The M version makes people no see you, it doesn't bend light. The M version could still help make some one not connect the hole in the smoke with the target of the spell. Still wouldn't help with the foot prints though

Its not see you, not "not notice the hole in the smoke where you're standing because you're a stupid mage".

Utility Van.

Nothing like driving a "Electricity Van" around town to be completely unnoticeable! And the tools inside!

Mason's tools are another good kit. It gives you a reason to carry several mallets and chisels. They also are always outside contractors. If a piece of marble flooring or granite wainscotting is cracked or broken, they call in the local mason. Another group where being a troll is not nearly as unusual.

For vehicles you can't beat the uility van or the 9' white truck. Take a look in a city sometime, there are several on any given street.

"I have the perfect invisibility spell."

"You do? How's it work?"

"Easy. I'm a dwarf in a jumpsuit with a nametag, toolbox, and a union membership."

Do not lie to the Chairleg of Truth Canray for it as wise as it is terrible...