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Negalith
I plan to run an adventure soon that takes place in The Sudan. My players live in Seattle. They are being requested to help a few Sudanese government officials with a project that requires expertise not available in their county. The PC are welcome at their destination with pretty much any gear they are able to bring. Leaving Seattle is the problem, as well as customs / security at other stop overs if they travel by air. Considering my lack of knowledge about the Shadowrun setting, what would folks here recommend I plan for as far as my players trying to get their characters and gear to a very distant but very receptive location (and back again).
Tachi
Have the Sudanese send a private plane to Seattle, they should be able to skip inspections if they pick the right airport. I can't remember which one, but, one of the Seattle airports deals with private planes almost exclusively, and if it's a Sudanese 'government' plane it's protected by diplomatic immunity which will protect you on the way there.
Kliko
Have their merc-dealer setup the transport.

We once did a run in Sierra Leone escorting supplies in order to start-up a small civil war. Basically what we did is make-up a list of supplies and equipment (starting with fresh water and clean socks) and had them supplied at our local rendez-vous point. In the end we used up most of the listed items, though we were somewhat modest in the weaponry department (heaviest piece of gear were 3x LAW's).

Your players should be aware that they seriously risk losing all that fancy equipment once re-located to Sudan.
The Jake
Standard is for PCs to have a local contact be able to supply them with gear (who pays for the expense is negotiable).

Some equipment can also be taken with the PCs, presuming its not too illegal and they got the right permits/IDs. Most of mine will always try and take melee weapons and pistols where they can.

Not only does this save on transportation costs, its harder to link the PCs to the crime (if they do it right).

- J.
toturi
First, you have to decide if Sudan has diplomatic relations with Seattle/UCAS. Only those countries with embassies (not just consulates) in Seattle/UCAS can benefit from diplomatic immunity. But if Sudan does have an embassy in Seattle, it is a simple matter to get their gear to the Sudanese embassy and have them put diplomatic seals on the boxes, they can even send an embassy official to make sure that the boxes are not tampered with. If I recall correctly, local law enforcement cannot x-ray the contents either.
The Jake
QUOTE (toturi @ Jan 5 2009, 10:35 AM) *
First, you have to decide if Sudan has diplomatic relations with Seattle/UCAS. Only those countries with embassies (not just consulates) in Seattle/UCAS can benefit from diplomatic immunity. But if Sudan does have an embassy in Seattle, it is a simple matter to get their gear to the Sudanese embassy and have them put diplomatic seals on the boxes, they can even send an embassy official to make sure that the boxes are not tampered with. If I recall correctly, local law enforcement cannot x-ray the contents either.


That works too but diplomatic immunity should be used sparingly.

In cases where there isn't an existing diplomatic relationship, you may be able to use the United Nations as they can get diplomatic immunity as well (My preference is for COMA).

- J.
hobgoblin
hmm, do not the corp acts as embassies with no nation?
Sir_Psycho
The right contact in a AA or AAA corporation can ship the equipment under the protection of extraterritoriality. However, because you're working for the Sudanese government, there's an ample opportunity there, given that diplomatic packages (which can be a briefcase or a shipping container) are very similar to extraterritorial corporate privelage.

If you can't manage either of those, there's always freelancers. If you can get in touch with smugglers who can co-ordinate routes from Seattle (presumably) to Sudan, then they should be able to do it at a price. Organized crime outfits could also be paid to move your equipment.

There's a few options, it's just a case of how much nuyen and leverage each option will take.
Clyde
The Sudanese government would have the correct end user licenses to purchase any equipment you might like. Certain items related to weapons of mass destruction might be embargoed, but your team probably does not need a tactical nuke, either.

Note that US (and I assume UCAS) law prohibits nationals from participating in foreign armed conflicts. Those laws don't necessarily bar nationals from providing security services, but the difference there is pretty thin. So your team has a couple reasons to hope the gear is set up ahead of time.

I suppose if you wanted to smuggle the gear anyway, those smugglers could meet a cargo ship outside UCAS territorial waters easily enough. . . . Between smuggling, having the host government provide gear and the diplomatic pouch getting the stuff out of Seattle should be null sweat!
Negalith
"Note that US (and I assume UCAS) law prohibits nationals from participating in foreign armed conflicts."

Are not most runners SINless anyhow?
The Jake
I think it also depends on how discreet the runners need to be.

If the government is able/willing to provide support such as a diplomatic visa, sweet. Sometimes a government may want to truly distance themselves from the runners however (and cannot afford any implication). In which case, you'll want to buy gear locally and dispose of it when you're done. For those instances however, I'd be insisting the client pay full cost of any equipment required for the job.

- J.
TheOOB
When being sent off to a distant local, it is customary to have the client arrange for the equipment necessary to perform the run on location(unless part of the run is smuggling), that said, Johnson will usually only provide what they think you will need, so most runners will find ways to bring a few extra things along.

I for one would never trust Johnson enough to allow them to handle all my eq, I always pack heat on a run.
imperialus
This reminds me of when I ran the old 2E adventure, Celtic Doublecross. Similar situation. The team had to get into Tir-Na-Nog on what they assumed was a VIP protection detail. Part of a large campaign so they were High(ish) karma characters. Probably around 250 or so and I wanted to kick them out of a rut we'd be in as a result of a bit of monty hauling on my part.

All they were 'allowed' to bring in was a pistol sized gun, a moderately powered foci, an armored business suit, stuff like that. Pretty limited really and I cut them to the bone, stripping away all their heavy gear.

However. One of the characters had a contact with the Irish underground. This let them pick one 'toy' that could get smuggled in. The sam got his tweaked out LMG, the mage his favorite foci, ect.

I found this to be a nice balance. It got rid of a lot of their gear, forced a lot of Macguiver crap on their parts and turned out to be one of the highlights of the campaign.
Tachi
QUOTE (imperialus @ Jan 6 2009, 01:20 AM) *
This reminds me of when I ran the old 2E adventure, Celtic Doublecross. Similar situation. The team had to get into Tir-Na-Nog on what they assumed was a VIP protection detail. Part of a large campaign so they were High(ish) karma characters. Probably around 250 or so and I wanted to kick them out of a rut we'd be in as a result of a bit of monty hauling on my part.

All they were 'allowed' to bring in was a pistol sized gun, a moderately powered foci, an armored business suit, stuff like that. Pretty limited really and I cut them to the bone, stripping away all their heavy gear.

However. One of the characters had a contact with the Irish underground. This let them pick one 'toy' that could get smuggled in. The sam got his tweaked out LMG, the mage his favorite foci, ect.

I found this to be a nice balance. It got rid of a lot of their gear, forced a lot of Macguiver crap on their parts and turned out to be one of the highlights of the campaign.


Great idea.
BTW: It's 'MacGyver', I was a big fan as a kid.
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