I've got a small side run in my current mission (see my thread Need Help Constructing an Adventure for more info) that involves the players needing to find out information, or search a car that's currently being held in a Lone Star Impound Lot...

...I need help figuring out what kind of security this place would have....

Anyone wanna help?

I would probably go with simple, automated, and effective. There would be only one entrance, which would have a booth about the size of a small burger shop. There would be gates on either side of this booth for incoming and outgoing traffic. It would take advantage of natural barriers in the form of buildings on 3 sides, and have a fence in front topped with monowire. There would be two guards in the booth who also handle the check in/out, along with two solo patrolling guards who have support from two doberman droids. The lot would be a simple square shape with cameras at the four corners of the lot and on the entrance.

I'd also add in a "sleeper" car. One that's Rigger Adapted so that if there is any trouble this vehicle (or perhaps a drone inside a vehicle) can be jumped into by a Rigger from elsewhere.

For another nasty little trick run an Agent monitoring a second set of camera's running a wildife spotter program to differentiate between runners and racoons. Have it in hidden mode set to broadcast an alert to off-site Lonestar spider. Nothiing terribly high end just that last little bit since Lonestar's best are not going to be guarding the lot.

These are all great suggestions...

...what kind of matrix security would it have? Cuz my hacker is going to want to have his way with it....

There are a couple of kinds of impound lots. The lot where they tow illegally parked cars would normally not be as nearly as heavily secured as the lot where they put cars that are being held as part of a significant criminal investigation.

In Chicago, the impound lot where they put impounded cars towed for parking violations or minor stuff isn't manned by cops, it's run by streets and sanitation. You wait in line, show your license and proof of insurance, pay the fine and get the car and leave. Your players should be able to figure out how to handle that...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HulGufatDGU

If it's evidence then it will be more secure, but probably not terrible secure if they have already done the search on it. If it was towed and they are awaiting a warrant in a major crime then it is probably in a fairly secure police garage.

I wouldn't guess that it would have much of a matrix presence. I mean all the records will be kept on teh Lonestar database and only accesed with low level acccounts from there. Most of the Matrix related stuff is going to be tied up in the alarms and drones. But maybe you can add a challenge by employing a smart spider to set things up on a budget. Let the hacker discover that the spider that monitors the place has it set up to call him from couple of cheap comms hiden in the other buildings that do nothing but listen for gunfire. Put a couple of remote controlled freeze foam grenades that cover the exits. Make it a place that the spider has fun with less than lethal boobytraps and alarms. Nothing fancy just out of the ordinary. Just something to delay getting the cars out of the lot till the squad cars can show up.

If this is just an impound lot for vehicles that have been towed, I would say one armed guard at the gate (this IS Shadowrun after all), and maybe 3-4 other unarmed employees working in the office to process claims. Certainly no patrolling guards, and decent camera coverage along the perimeter. During the day when the office is open, you'd have people moving through the yard dropping off and retrieving vehicles all the time, but overnight you'd probably just have the guard watching the gate.

If this is a police impound lot for vehicles they've confiscated (evidence or seizures from a criminal), security would be more like you described and possibly even up from there, depending on how big the department running it is.

Knasser has plans for a LS police station. (Last line)

This is SR4, any impound lot is going to need rigger/decker support.

Each and every one of those vehicles is a node, and a node which can be commanded to drive itself off or perform other assorted nastiness.

Maybe some kind of a security boot & 'headjammer' attached to each vehicle.


Also, I can see a pair of guards, probably on patrol (and not necessarily together). Drones are great, but they lack a good brain. The human response is where you get your flexibility and that whole 'somethings not quite right here shaggy'. The gate itself could easily be automated in a raise the drawbridge kinda mindset... (do you really want your cops getting shot up by irate go gangers when they have bikes impounded).

Actually I suspect that the security at a LoneStar impound lot is incredibly high and not because they are too worried about people being stupid enough to try and steal one of the impounded vehicles, although they will use that as the excuse for the security.

LoneStar is a big business, and like any other business, they are looking at the bottom line.

At one of their impound lots, they will be studying the impounded vehicles, to reverse engineer whatever the criminals have done to their vehicles. To either improve their own methods of countering the criminals, or to profit from innovative designs made by those criminals.

The Runners will be breaking into a secure research facility. And considering what they do to vehicles in those impound lots, the object they are searching for has most likely already been discovered and boxed and filed in evidence lock-up. After all, going through a car involved in a criminal case, without first doing that part of the job is not too smart for business.

Bottom line people, always think about the bottom line. If a Corp can do something that might make money, they will do it.

The cars are in the impound lot because they were parked against a red curb, not because they are the batmobile. You can intently study the Honda Spirits, but they are going to look that were all made in the same factory. This is clearly evidence of a vast criminal conspiracy....

There are lots of ways for corrupt organizations to take advantage of seized cars.

This, for example.
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/il-state-...r-personal-use/

And if an organization wants to make money for impounded cars, that is easy.
http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2007/au...cash_bd_12aug12