I've gone through both the Manhattan download and the first Missions adventure (I've already played in it). From what I can see, there's some information that's missing:

Passes - I see that there are four color passes, white, blue, red, or black. Nowhere does it truely state the differences among them other than two are resident, and two are visitor (one of which is criminal). Things like where you can go, what you can do, how the cops view you, those types of things. Also, there's no chart for costs or availabilities for fakes.

Vehicle licenses - It mentions that vehicles are extremely prohibited on Manhattan, but it doesn't give any information on circumventing those restrictions. There's no information on common vehicles in the city, how rich and or famous you need to be to have your own vehicle, or how closely you'll be looked at if you're driving one. Also, how do drones figure into the picture. Do they need additional licenses, or other types of IDs to be regarded as legal in Manhattan like autos do? And again, there's no chart for costs or availabilities for fakes.

Thanks for any information in advance.

Robert (aka Spanner)

Manhattan: The Rotten Apple

That has a lot of background.

"When buying a fake ID, make sure it is tagged for White or Blue
Access. Red and Black access, visitor and restricted respectively,
won’t let you get everywhere you need to be. And remember if a
corp gives you a pass, they can shut it down whenever they want."

Vehicles need a Personal Vehicle Pass. Only residents get PVP....

Without any more detail given, I simply treated the restrictions as requiring the runners to actually have a real or fake license for the vehicle.

All that you are really trying to do is convey that the island is a high security area controlled by the corps pretty tightly, and the runners need to take that into account. Good fake SINS and Licenses are valuable.

I'd simply treat the extra Passes , the resident and Vehicle ones, as additional Fake Licenses until we hear otherwise.

Especially important considering everyone is supposed to be broadcasting all their SIN and Licenses at all times.

Nope, I was looking for the same information. Then I notice something about a blue pass with a white stripe allowing subway access or something like that. I really wish they'd just drop a list of all the passes, any special flags/stripes , and what they're used for.

Aaron and I are working on updating the FAQ--There have been a few new book releases and updates to Manhattan instead of Denver.

The colors of passes will be enumerated in the FAQ. Until then, here is a brief answer:

Unless you have a pass issued by a member of the MDC (a possibility for loyal runners who sell their soul to the Man), you will likely have a visitor or restricted pass. These are handled mechanically the same way that fake SINs and licenses are. Like today in Manhattan, most people do not drive and driving on to the island would require passing through security checkpoints. It is recommended that you either have a bribe handy for NYPD or a SIN that can handle the inspection.

Common vehicles in the city are: Taxis (land and air), corporate shuttles, sanitation vehicles, NYPD cruisers (not as prevalent as Seattle).

Hmm, well now I'm in an awkward position on a couple of counts. First, our team chose the witness relocation program with the pre-paid high lifestyle and the cushy government job in the last Denver adventure. I chose my relocation to be to Manhattan since I knew that's where the next set of Missions was going to take place. I think that counts as a resident.

Also, I'm the rigger, and my main vehicle is a Bulldog. I figured that the proper, high-level fake license tied to my resident SIN would pass muster during ordinary travel around the island. Delivery van or somesuch as long as the transponder checked out. That kinda thing. I can't really envision runners making a getaway from some facility on foot.

Now let me say that I may be worried over nothing. I've played in several NY Missions now and all the GMs have been flexible with my residence (SoHo BTW) and vehicle. I guess I'm just hoping for some clarifications that don't require completely retconning my character.

Thanks for taking time to reply.

Robert (aka, Spanner)

As a GM I had players who had taken the new identities from Denver and had vehicles, I treated it as if they had the appropriate license.

The Fake SIN and Licenses are a generic item and can be applied as desired. If a PC bought one, I always treat it as if it's in the PC favor that they have a license ro SIN as required.

Agreed

Updated FAQ which includes these issues has been posted.

Ok perhaps I'm missing something... but

http://www.shadowrun4.com/missions/srm_faq.shtml

has nothing about NY at all. Where should we look?

The Link for the updated FAQ is here.. It's a PDF for download. In the future, Aaron will be updating the website Missions FAQ.

Q: What is a 'natural pool'? An unbuffed pool I presume? [So augmented stat + skill but no other modifiers?]

Q: How does this affect Hacking tests which do not use a stat? For example, what is the cap on a TM Threading a CF they don't know**? [LOGIx2?]

Q: Does using front-end Edge count towards the Hard Cap?



Teamwork Tests are 1 hit rolled is 1 die earned. Changing that to 1 hit rolled is 1 hit earned makes Teamwork Tests far easier. I suspect a late night ytpo, perhaps?

Buying hits is normally 4:1, not 6:1. (SR4A, p62) So in the example the sprite should buy 1 hit (ratingx2 is 6, 6/4=1) so the recipient of the Diagnostics would get +1 Die to roll and not +1 hit. A rating 4 sprite would buy 2 hits and allow 2 additional dice. See also:




I ask these questions not to be an ass, honest. Its really rare for me to find a GM who is familiar with the rules on sprites and TM's so its extra important that FAQ's be very correct or at least openly labelled as a houserule by a Missions co-Director.




**A threaded CF can still be threaded although the Threading test itself suffers from the sustaining modifier the USE of the threaded CF does not.

Basically. The rule cited has all the details, but I think the magic words you're looking for as far as this rule applies is "dice pool modifier." Dice from a reaction enhancer, for example, adds to the Reaction attribute, and so would not count toward the cap. The dice from vision enhancement are explicitly a dice pool modifier, and would count toward the cap.


Er ... I believe that would be a Software + Resonance Test (p. 240, SR4A). As far as a dice pool that "doesn't use a stat," I'm going to assume that by "stat" you mean "attribute" and direct your attention to Attributes in the Matrix (p. 226, WWLOMTRAPT).¹ If you are concerned about the cap on a dice pool using a complex form that has been threaded, the process of threading increases the rating of the complex form, and so the new rating counts as the "natural" rating for the test; threading is not a dice pool modifier.


Short answer: no. Long answer: the rules for Edge call for adding dice to a pool, but not as a modifier to that pool.


My reading of that excerpt is that the sprite is buying one hit for its Rating x 2 Test, which subsequently translates to a +1 dice pool modifier for Netcat. All seems in order to me.


I'm not sure what you are getting at, here. Could you clarify this so I can address your concern more completely?


¹WWLOMTRAPT == What Was Left of My Tax Return after Property Taxes, an in-joke on these forums for SR4A. I've always wanted to use it. =i)

I'd guess he's referring to this



Reading this... the sprite is using 6 dice to buy 1 hit. Instead of "The sprite uses 4 dice to buy 1 hit and the other two dice are ignored".

Ah. Yeah, I can see that. You can buy one hit with four dice, but if you "pay" six dice you still get one hit, so technically it's accurate, just potentially a bit confusing. If you read it "six dice buys one hit," that might be a bit more clear in the intent.

Crypto--Your reading is correct. In the case of a Rating 4 Sprite, the 8 dice would buy 2 hits, and thus be a +2 bonus to the tests. A Rating 3 Sprite has a pool of 6 and as seen on the Buying Hits table (p. 62, SR4A) that results in 1 hit.

Thanks for the responses, guys!

Back to the topic of the actual passes, just two quick questions.

1) for SRM3-01 Ready, Set, Gogh, I noticed that the mission says that tourist passes good for a week are given out. I'm assuming this was supposed to be a visitor's pass as there is no other mention of tourist passes that I'm aware of. I just wanted to make sure this was correct.

2) Is there any difference in the availability for the different types of passes? I know per the faq some come with lifestyles, but it would seem like compiling the data necessary for a visitor's pass would be fairly "easy" to acquire versus something like a white resident pass.

Yes, that's a Vistior's Pass. The adventure was written before the pass rules were solidified.


Passes are assigned by the MDC or member corps for certain people under specific circumstances. The sort of pass that one would by would be a fake, and those pretty much have the same Availability.

I believe the answer to the next question is "Nothing is stopping you, although sometimes you want a different color pass for your purposes."

Well there is always the fake permits/passes ect

Why yes I do live on the island..here is my clearly real <fake> sin with all my information and permits.

Remember, it's a very rare resident who travels into Terminal...you may want a Visitor pass for that type of thing. Just Food for Thought.

Good point, though on the other hand, Sin add on's (permits ect) are cheap so not a big deal, the player just has to remember that tidbit

Oh, and weapons that are undetectable by mad, always good for newyork. hehe, Though with the whole police state thing going I can see people with skill wires and meet skills, spending cash/karma for a few points in palming and con real quick.

...what items can I license in Manhattan that are forbidden outside the MDC's control, or where might I find a list/catalog/reference for such items?

A list of items is included in the Rotten Apple PDF release. Examples include btls, controlled substances, and prostitution

Wow, I'm really glad you asked, FlashbackJon... it prompted me to look it up. [See the "Manhattan Legal Exceptions" sidebar on page 8]