Probably would force more vehicle tests to avoid crashing (for both van and bikers) than causing any serious damage. Not saying it's a bad idea.

We've neglected an important question here - that of the musical accompaniment to the attack. These are troll go-gangers. They have to have massive speakers on their bikes or mounted in their flatbed blasting out music. Now modern goblin rock would probably be most appropriate but for some reason, perhaps because the Spikes are a racist organisation, I'm picturing the steady notes of Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries blasting out as the eleven foot long choppers with the 10" wide tires appear in the mirror.

You know, when I get my Shadowrun game going again, I'm going to drop this in as a flying encounter. The PCs will be riding along, there'll be a van in front of them, suddenly, strangely, they hear music (I'll put it on low at this point, if they wind down their window, I'll turn it up). Coming up alongside them - the Spikes. I'll leave it up to them whether they want to interfere or just watch the show.

Great ideas, here!

I'm glad someone else was getting a Wagner vibe from this thread.

Also nice to see so much fun, pink mohawkness. I love sunglasses, but sometimes you need some Smokin Aces.

Excuses my naivete, but can someone please define these slang terms? Apparently I missed the memo...

Pink Mohawk
Sunglasses
Smokin Aces

Pink Mohawk: Over the top action-oriented gameplay with lots of big guns. Stealth, deniablity and inconspicuousness are not an issue.
Sunglasses: Also called Black trenchcoat and mirrorshades. The opposite of Pink Mohawk. Remaining unseen and undetected is a great part of gameplay.

Actual gameplay usually is somewhere in the middle between the two extremes.

Smokin Aces: I'm stumped there too.

Smokin Aces: a stereotypical Shadowrun movie.

Big reward, no time to plan, many teams after the same goal. Cops + Swat. .50 sniper rifles, chain saws, double barreled shotguns, machettes, grenades, dual wielding SMGs. Disguise Checks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=202uOuNsgow

Pretty good video (as far as 2 min videos go).

Dakka (of course) got the other definitions.
- Pink Mohawk: over the top, troll in the back of the pickup truck, wielding a minigun. Style is paramount; if you are cool, then you will live forever. (Over the top anime is often a good example.)
- Sunglasses/Mirrorshades/Black Trechcoat: We are the Men in Black. Agent Smith. Very "reality" based, often gritty. Professionalism is key; if you are noticed by the big players, then you are dead. (Ghost in the Shell)

It seems like Shadowrun is really going in the Sunglasses direction. I personally love Sunglasses. But I also play 7th Sea and the Firefly system (drama die systems). Smokin Aces is -really- pink mohawk. It disrupts the Sunglasses hitmen plans to no end.

So many posts suddenly make more sense now. Thanks!

Well shadowrun has it's own vocabulary, it was only a matter of tick tock untill we had our own too ^^
also: damn, i need to see that movie o.o

They just came out with a sequel too!

Smokin Aces 2

It really depends on the GM, I think. Personally, I take a page from Johnny Mnemonic and approach it this way: Runners are valued for their ability to take things as they come and they have a unique ability to interact with the environment they find themselves in on its own terms-- people don't write "death by culture shock" lines about street samurai, they write them about company men. There's all sorts of sane professional types out there who can shoot straight or hold their own in cyber combat and they get well-compensated for it. But how do you think Mr. "I'm-hot-shit-in-the-combat-sims" does on his composure tests when being treated to an acapella version of Wagner's most famous by a truckload of troll gangers barreling down the highway? Dat TADAH da DAH!

So, yeah, going in sunglasses style is a smart idea when you're casing the meet or have to operate in a zone with A grade security. But in Shadowrun, being professional means you also need to take it in stride when that Coyote shaman insists you take enough peyote to make a bear lose its cookies. The best rule to remember is the one that says that not everyone plays by the same rules. Ice Cold Pro has its advantages, but that doesn't mean the rest of the world will respond in kind.

It's more of a style>action>plot thing than the preview suggests. There's not all that much action, but when there is, it's pretty quickly resolved, as most RL gunfights tend to be.

Oh, it's a horrible movie. But it's a lot of fun to watch. (Opinions may vary: you have been forwarned.)

I just really like it because it sets up the scene. Then they put a bounty down. The word is sent out, and even a couple of fixers/johnsons get involved. There is a very finite time frame. Everyone (well, some of them) come up with plans. Then all the plans go down, but you have 7(ish) independent Shadowrunners/teams (a lot of them are solo agents) tripping over one another's plans. There are cops, SWAT, and Feds. Even some bail bondsmen. And lots of fun toys (seriously: a chain saw, and a .50 cal).

It's not sophisticated at all. But I enjoyed it, and it's a fun intro movie to Shadowrun (as opposed to a lot of good, but overly serious ones).

Btw, I like your description Whipstitch.

Watch Smokin' Aces followed by Johnny Mneumonic (Up to the dolphin, then stop), and finish up with The Saint.

In regards to gas-vent on miniguns - isn't the thing supposed to be a gas-vent chamber? I'm no serious gun freak, but it seems to be that there are indeed firing chamber modifications to lower recoil in reality.

While there are different firing chambers that are supposed to reduce recoil the gas vent is on the tip of the barrel. Openings on the upper side of the barrel release the gas upwards which pushes the gun down and thus reduces muzzle climb.

For the record, I've never actually seen the Johnny Mnemonic movie. From everything I've heard, this is a good thing. It is perhaps ironic, but I generally have a seething hatred for the movies most people describe as being shadowrun-esque.

*shrugs* i liked the movie.
But then again, i also liked the machine girl . .
And Johnny Mnemonic is as close to a canon shadowrun movie as you are likely to get.
It's based on one of William Gibsons Short Stories, if i am not misremembering.
And that story more or less is what cyberpunk and thus shadowrun are based in as well.
You have the Decker, you have the Yakuza, you have the Mega-Corporation, you have the Cyberware street samurai . .
A worldwide epidemic . . aside from magic, most everything that makes shadowrun shadowrun is in there actually.
Watch it with an open mind. If only for the famous room service ^^

It was based on his short story titled... Johnny Mnemonic. Although technically the main character is Molly Millions, who also makes an appearance in another story of his you might be familiar with, Neuromancer.

muzzle brakes are also nice for reducing recoil.

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2009/01...n-shotgun-ever/

Some style pictures for the go-gang:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3141/263088..._8ee0166d7b.jpg
http://jayspage.net/pics/motorcycle/Badass%20Trike.jpg
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1321/117806...a680974.jpg?v=0

Also, to make a trike (for your WarBoss gang leader), I think it's pretty reasonable to use the existing "sidecar" mod, but simply not add the sidecar. Ups the body, lowers the speed, accel, and handling. Add in metahuman size customization, and perhaps the unofficial body increase mod (which you can find here on the boards) if you like.

Working off something a poster said earlier, I love the idea of da Troll boss rolling up with a modded trike, with the steampunk style from Arsenal, and a sawed off elephant gun (with EX-rounds, of course).

Not all five at once. He has to hit each one individually. Even assuming greater skill on the part of the van driver, the choppers have better Handling. That evens out the dice pools somewhat, meaning that it's very uncertain that he can succeed. And even if he does hit, he needs to make yet another Crash Test. That means he'll be making six crash tests per turn, with a decent chance that he'll fail one of them.

With regards to drugs & stacking:

Do drugs stack with one another? I'm not asking with regards to IP or pain tolerance, but stats such as Strength. (For example, Kamikaze & Nitro.)

Added: (Ooo, but stacking unresisted Damage is fun. Since most of the cool combat drugs do unresisted damage when they wear off, maybe I'll houserule that drug effects do stack. That is, of course, if they don't stack by raw.)

For all I know, drug effects stack. I believe Arsenal has rules for combining drugs, too.

Indeed. It's often called "speedballing" and the effects (and side effects) of both drugs will indeed stack.

Yet another double post.

Arsenal does have rules for combining drugs, but if there is anything besides "take a -1 die penalty to your addiction test," then I'm missing it.

I know that you can take drugs at the same time, and gain effects from both. But since SR is normally against stacking, I would take that to mean that you gain the gain the better bonuses from both drugs (kamakazie & novacoke, for example: +2 Str (same on both drugs), +1 IP from Kama, and the Pain Tolerance (6) from Novacoke, because it's better than the (3) from Kama).

The other alternative could be fun (stacking), but does lead to situations such as "Yeah, I'll take Cram & Jazz at the same time." O-o

IIRC all drug bonus stack... Yeh this means you can pump yout self up to 9ip(random guess looks right) but still you can only use 4 of them XD

AFAIK, you simply can't stack IP bonuses. Pretty much every augmentation tells you to. Even if RAW isn't clear on the drugs, that's probably what they meant;

[Thingy that gives you the most IP bonus] + [Edge] + 1 = total IPs.

And the other things that drugs give bonuses on.. well, to the augmented maximum.

Im picturing this troll go gang as a bunch of Warhammer 40K Nobs on bikes. Fasta Red!!

but i'mn sure you can pop jazz or cram to got form 2-3 ip

How dangerous can a Troll go-gang be?

If you have to ask, you don't want to know. EVER.

That question is right up there with:WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?

Or You sure this is a cake walk?

A troll go-gang ! Run for your life and hide has fast has you can !

at least its not a drake go-gang

Or should we say "fly-gang"?

Meh some go-gangs apparently have air support by the fluff.

Lol what. What kind of gangs, and what kind of support? Sprawls have their airspace tightly controlled.

Do flying drones count as air support?

That would be yes.

Get a low level comlink and a low level flying drone that can carry one, put a hunting rifle on that thing and you are set.
Hide it in a box and transport in a car or van or something and only take it out when you need eyes and guns up there.

Pah, if you count drones, sure thing everyone and their mother have them.
I thought we're talking real air support - you know, all the good stuff: t-wings, copters, strike aviation.

Realistically, effects of drugs increases the more you use, and of course different drugs can enhance one another. However it's not so clear cut as adding the effects together. Sometimes the effect of drugs may even negate one another.

Also, there is the fact that many of the drugs listed are probably already processed drugs added together. Now if you can get +3 IPs just by taking 3 different drugs, then why is there no drug cocktail listed with similar effects?

In those cases where the drugs have different effects though, all effects should apply, and the higher of two should be used of it's the same kind of bonus.

No clear cut rules on it though.

I allow everything but increased IP's to stack, but I enforce speedballing rules (nasty). Also remember that coming down from 2 drugs at once or in quick succession can quite easily kill you, especially if you're already banged up from combat.

Hey, use the trolls in a Mad Max type of deal. If the stretch of road the runners are going through is a warzone, add some obstacles such as cars full of burning tourists (Tir ones). How about having the trolls partner up on bikes/cars and have them assault the van. Suddenly you have a bunch of psychopathic trogs clambering all over your ride! Do something strange, like having them smash out the windows or trying to enter the crew cab. Chances are, even though a go-gang really doesn't have a static turf (course they really do, like biker bars and clubhouses) they would definitely know the roads like the back of their hands.

Take away the advantage of the van.

Transfer truck across the road will stop even armored vans PDQ. When they stop, the trolls all pull up behind... Then.. You know. Do what pissy trolls do.