#1. Those of you with cyberware, turn all wired access off. If your cyber arm starts acting up, we'll interface with it directly in the corp hospital after filing the proper worker's comp claims, but leaving its wireless access node on is just asking for trouble. Similarly, no smartguns. Ejecting the clip is just too likely with those darn technomancers.

#2. Raise your hand when you feel the shivery cold feeling. That was our resident mage, astrally walking through your aura on the astral plane. When you feel that, you must sound the alarm -- call for backup immediately. As part of today's exercise, you'll be responsible for counting how many times our mage walks through your aura. As with all tests today, you must score at least a 95% to pass.

#3. Always shoot the mage first. He will be your biggest priority because a mage will work you over. If the team is running away, shoot the scrawniest guy first, because he's most likely to be their driver.

#4. Feel free to run away if they have overwhelming firepower. It's far easier for us to tap your mind and see your memories to get a good scan of any invading shadowrunners while you're alive -- it's too expensive to give you all cybereyes and we don't want to pay your death stipend to your widows, it's far too expensive. If things are getting bad, run the heck away. We'd rather have your impressions of what happened because you can tell us of any spooky vibes or anything else that you sensed that our technology might not pick up. After all, if a person gets to where you are, they've bypassed our devices already. Don't be a hero. That's what we hire our own shadowrunners for.

#5. Before you pull out your own weapon, always, always, hit the panic button on your shoulder commlink first. If you see their gun, chances are you're going down. Runners are crazy insane people who are faster than a male jackrabbit around a female and if backup is on its way then you're more likely to get healing in time and survive and we all want you to survive, right?

#6. Never let anyone through unless they appear on the paper security list or your direct supervisor is there saying that it's ok. I don't care if God, Dunkelzahn, Lowfwyr, or your bosses' bosses' boss comes walking in, if they're not on the list, they don't get in. If the CEO comes walking in, you can bet that we all, including your immediate supervisor, will be there kissing his butt and your immediate supervisor will then authorize you to let the group in. Nobody can get you fired for not letting them through if their name isn't on the list. In fact, sometime during your first week, we will test you -- we will have a crazy convincing guy come up to you then start verbally assaulting your when you won't let him in. If you let him through, you will be fired. Don't let a person through if their name isn't on the list.

#7: Never engage in a fair fight. This isn't a boxing match, or a duel, your honor isn't on the line. Your life and our business is at stake. Use every dirty trick at your disposal, attack only when you have an obvious and overwhelming advantage, and when at all possible do not let any shadowrunners gain an advantage over you. If you are ever evenly matched or at a disadvantage, disengage and regroup with others until you *do* have the advantage. Believe that the criminals who you are facing will be looking to do the same thing. However, you're on friendly territory. That's an advantage you can't lose, so make sure you use it.

Now, gentlemen, if you'll open the blue test booklet in front of you and follow along with me while I read the directions...

...

For those of you who have passed the initial aptitude test, I have trids here of security footage, astral scans, and matrix overwatch from seven different shadowruns on rival and associate corporations. All footage was obtained within the last six months, so these are current, real-world tactics you're about to see. These are not recreations. We will be discussing common shadowrun team tactics, how to resist these, and how to use these against the criminals themselves. Remember, anything they can do, we can do better.

[[Thanks, Dixie Flatline.]]

actually, you have several grades of security... the watchmen sound the alarm, then the elite shock troops go in guns blazing (with magical support). the combat guards play by different rules than the night watchmen. they still geek the mage first of course.

heavy weapons target hard targets (like well armored trolls) first. the rest of the squad targets the less-sturdy enemies first. if you dont have heavy weapons, call for backup.

Nice fluff there Banaticus. It reminds me of the Top 100 Things I'd Do If I Ever Become an Evil Overlord.

..no smartguns?? smartguns with skinlink makes TM's intrusion very difficult..

At the end of the day, you'll have 100% failures, because the security guard pay does not match the ability you want nor the risk they take.

Very nice, I approve!

If only there was some way to plug your smartgun into the system directly via an implanted induction pad, or maybe through your datajack...

That is sooooo yesterday! Go with the times, omae!

I dislike the standard keystone cops interpretation of corporate security. Some basic competency tests and credentials are necessary to become even the lowest level gun-toting mook; Off duty cops, former military personnel working nights to get through higher education programs, etc... Sure, in low security installations you might run into the jackass that just wants to sit around and read a book all night, but he's definitely not the norm in a genuinely secure facility.

You have to figure that the macguffin is as important to the corp as it is to you. If somebody is paying you 50,000 nuyen to acquire it, what makes you think it's not worth 10 or a 100 times that to the rightful owners. I generally assume (as player or GM) that the only significant advantage the runners have is surprise. The opposition is likely to be as well or better funded, have defenses in place that they are capable of handling competently, and have an established response plan.

Edit: Spelling

Couldn't the TM just hack the guard's commlink and then eject the smartlink clip from there?

Sure could, but if WiFi is off (as it should be in hostile territory) and the 'link has skinlink he needs to touch it in order to do that ... can you imagine what a Troll Sammy will do to any TM doingtrying that?
I'm not exactly sure but I bet it'll be something involving a lot of pain for the TM

Isn't this just assuming the TM isn't also a troll and a melee expert?
But yeah normally the TM would be reduced to some sort of Resonance sensitive putty.

And if the Smartgun and the smartlink are equipped with a Cyber Safety, even touching would not help the TM to get access to the Smartgun.

Banaticus, I *will* be using this. Thank you!

Sounds like a good idea for A level corps and less, but in my games, new hires are only going to be showing up at the kind of corporate sites where Shadowrunners won't go, unless it's just for legwork on a real target. Any target worth grabbing is going to be in an Arcology or a Blacksite, which will only employ corporate citizens who have been trained from a young age to fit their personal niche. Those niches being, the hardcore soldier type or the more personable face-guard whose business it is to know who should be there and to figure out if anyone is acting hinky.

I dislike the assumption that basic competency tests and credentials mean that the lowest gun-toting mook are above the standard keystone cops interpretation, evidently by their statistics they are not. Given the game setting, basic competency may well mean a 1 or 2 in attributes that are being tested. Off duty cops and former military personnel are more akin to LS. As a player and a GM, I take the Grunt examples as a guideline. If my stats and skills are around 4, then my character is slightly better than a LS squad member and certainly better than corp sec. If my stats are 5s and 6s, then my character could well be ex-Ghost/Red Sam.

If someone is paying you only 50k nuyen to acquire a macguffin, what makes you think that the rightful owners are going to blow the nuyen to have as well or better funded security, have defences in place that they are capable of handling competently, and have an established response plan.

It's quite similar to standard police officer/sheriff tests.

You did see the subject: *Top rated security guards* right?

I take a Snow Crash approach to corporations:

If the iPhone "has an app for that", then Shadowrun corporations "have a procedural 3-ring binder for that". The most incompetent and cheap security is crouched behind a desk in a firefight with "Hostile Intrusions Procedural rev 4.02" sprawled across his lap trying to figure out what the f*ck to do. More professional security will have reviewed corporate procedure, practiced it, and will have a reasonable probability of following through on it in anything but the most extreme circumstances. At that point, corporate and personal priorities will coincide: Survive. Witnesses are a good thing.

The submitter's check lists I'd consider as "professional". ie: What you'd expect to encounter walking into the average megacorp compound.

I'd add one more point to the above list for anyone professional or better:

#7: Never engage in a fair fight. This isn't a boxing match, or a duel, your honor isn't on the line. Your life and our business is at stake. Use every dirty trick at your disposal, attack only when you have an obvious and overwhelming advantage, and when at all possible do not let any shadowrunners gain an advantage over you. If you are ever evenly matched or at a disadvantage, disengage and regroup with others until you *do* have the advantage. Believe that the criminals who you are facing will be looking to do the same thing. However, you're on friendly territory. That's an advantage you can't lose, so make sure you use it.

For those of you who have passed the initial aptitude test, I have trids here of security footage, astral scans, and matrix overwatch from seven different shadowruns on rival and associate corporations. All footage was obtained within the last six months, so these are current, real-world tactics you're about to see. These are not recreations. We will be discussing common shadowrun team tactics, how to resist these, and how to use these against the criminals themselves. Remember, anything they can do, we can do better.