This thread is inspired by the Knight Errant thread.

GMs-What sort of stats/gear/skills/tactics do you give your basic corporate security goons?

If they're not in front of the public or if they're in front of the public as official guards, I give them mil spec armor (light) usually tricked out with a commlink and some degree of shock protection and smgs and assault rifles for firepower with thermal smoke grenades for defense. Stats and skills are generally around 3 for most things. Basic tactics(call in support/shoot the mage/block LOS/take cover/use covering fire). Depending on the situation, combat drugs will be available. Of course, any security situation will almost always involve the Matrix. As such, a stat line 3 spider will be in the mix at least and some IC, depending. Drones will appear at some point, or may be the first line of defense before meat defenders, depending on the situation.


Response teams are usually similarly equipped but have higher skills and attributes(4s) but they usually have some ware. Their tactics are better and they usually have an astral mage/spirit on call. Stun gas, multiple IPs from wares or drugs will be the norm.

My thinking is, mooks or not, these guys don't want to get murdered for trying to do their jobs. As such they're professional, they're just not as skilled/creative/powerful as our heroes. For gear, I don't find armored jackets and the like appropriate for security guards. this is just my take, but an armored jacket is a little too street and doesn't provide nearly the protection. Corporations need to train their guards and probably need to pay some kind of benefits if the guards are injured or killed. Why not a few more nuyen on the armor.

How do you run it?

I try to abstract it all, Prof. Rating-style.

I've been tinkering with the martial arts, I think most security guards are trained in one of some kind

also I give them home ground quality more than I should, but if you think about it, they work at the place everyday.

it depends. the location they guard has a budget, and once you get away from the corporate soil you have to deal with laws and regulations of the city your actually in.

cost-wise, a guard in an armor jacket with a pistol is easier to afford than a guy in full body armor with an assault rifle, and far far easier to afford than military armor with high-end weaponry. a ballistic shield and helmet is a cheap armor upgrade that is much more cost-effective for low-paid grunts. personally fitted military armor shows an investment in the soldier which at that point should include cyber and bioware (unless hes an adept).

tier one security are glorified bouncers. give them a radio, an appropriate weapon (heavy pistol or taser, and a stun baton), an armor jacket, and maybe some basic glasses(smartlink, flare compensation, thermo, vision enhancement) as well. their job is to provide a visible force, and radio for backup when needed. put em where you need a warm body and a pair of eyes. these guys would be your professionalism 1-2 guys, depending on if they are corp or temps (maybe even hired gangers for some locations).

Tier two security is for more secure sites, and their team may include magical support, and will include a drone rigger. full body armor with helmet(with some enhancements), a potent weapon such as an SMG, assault rifle, or shotgun, a backup pistol, a knife or stun baton, and perhaps gernades as the location warrents (smoke and flashbang being the most common). Their job is to provide practical amounts of firepower from a fixed defensive position able to hold out until HTR arrives. you put a team of these guys on site for high-value areas. professional rating 3-4 guys such as lone star.

Tier three is your HTR, these guys will have military grade armor, heavy weapons, magical support with summoned spirits, drone nets, and probably some air support as well. If you see these guys coming, you need to RUN AWAY. professional rating 5, these are the red samurai.

Tier four would be an actual military force with tanks. at this point you would be talking corp war. it can happen though, and they have these guys around just in case. also there would be the UCAS military, if you have messed up in the worst ways possible. professional rating 6, Tir ghost types.

shadowrunners should deal with tier 1 often, and tier 2 occasionally, with tier 3 being a rare occurrence (either a very hard run, or you hosed the mission).

I like your run down Teulisch. my only thought is that if a corp was really cost effective, they'd cut out tier one entirely, that's what they have sensors and drones and a spider for. I guess it really depends on the situation, sometimes you do need a flesh and blood person there.

This.

But you have to consider the purpose behind uniformed police officers nowadays, and that is to be visible. Their mere presence can deter a huge percentage of criminal activity.

I can't really see corporations putting military grade fitted armor on someone with 3's in skills/attributes. I think most police officers/guards would be wearing exactly what our 2010 military guys wear now -- armored jackets with helmets for an overall 10/8 rating. Most "civilian" officers in 2010 don't even wear helmets, and only have armored vests instead of jackets, for a Shadowrun 6/4 rating.

Every police department has a minimum set of standards that a person needs to be able to hit. There's a junkload of paperwork for police officers to fill out after an accident or other incident -- you don't want to hire someone who can't write well enough to fill out all the forms or who's going to make the department look stupid when he's called as a witness for something he saw. Basically, you need 3's in everything just to be considered.

The prospect of a good steady paycheck (with benefits, something that's pretty rare for most jobs) for something that involves no manual labor is fairly appealing to a lot of people. And the chance of actually dying is pretty slim (and you know that if you do die then the entire force is going to drop what they're doing and come hunt down your killers). Being an officer is a pretty attractive job for a lot of people -- it's not that difficult to find some people with all 3's -- down here in CA, about every major city has about several hundred people test every month for a chance at applying to one of the POST academies (you need 80% on the tests, I believe).

People that are wearing personal form-fitted milspec armor are tough individuals -- 6's in attributes and skills and they probably have a specialty and at least a few pieces of ware (smartlink for darn certain). People in armor like that have to be good enough to stop a random shadowrunner from killing them and stealing the armor. If someone is wearing a few hundred thousand nuyen worth of clothing/armor, they'd better be able to defend that.