Every shadowrunning team needs a way of getting around. You need to get in and out of secure locations quickly, and you need to look inconspicuous while doing it. Perhaps most importantly, you need to not blow up like a Pinto when the going gets tough.

This vehicle was designed to be of use to almost every shadowrunning team. I wanted a car that was big enough for the average team, inconspicuous enough for everyday use, fast enough to handle itself in a chase, tough enough to handle itself in a fight, and cheap and available enough to be within the reach of new characters.

Without further ado: The Mystery Machine


Note that all the availabilities are 12 or under, so it's accessible to starting characters.

I decided to go with the Rover 2068 over the traditional GMC Bulldog Step-Van for a few reasons. It's cheaper by 10k, and its speed and accel are vastly superior. These advantages more than make up for the loss of 7 modification slots. If you really feel the need to tweak stuff out, then the basic vehicle can be easily swapped out for the Bulldog.

I'm also assuming here that the "standard upgrades" are suggestions, rather than modifications present by default - or at least that if they are, they can be removed at no cost.

Suggestions? Comments? Competing rules interpretations?

Armor i not additive (when you change it). As written this Van only has 10 concealed (and that takes 2 slots).

Hm... looks like a normal van to me though (i mean normal as in normal for OUR purposes *g*)

Whoops, armor fixed. Dropped the armor, added extra entry/exit ports.

"standard upgrades" are upgrades that come free with the base vehicle and take up no mod slots. while you can typically remove them without cost (i would make an exception for limited maneuverability, which you would lose the bonus mod slots if you removed the mod by adding another means of motive power) you usually don't have any particular need to do so, and you may as well leave them in.

I was going to say that the van might not be available to starting characters because some of the gear is Forbidden. Of course, after looking it up in the core rulebook, I could find no mention of starting characters not being allowed to start with forbidden gear. Maybe that was just something I made up (since I restrict my players to Legal and Restricted at char creation). I am using SR4A so if anyone knows whether the SR4 (non-A) says that forbidden is...well...forbidden at character start up then please tell me.

Otherwise, pretty nifty set up. I'll have to recommend it to some of my players, they did just receive a fairly substantial windfall.

forbidden just means you can't get a license for it and are therefore extra-special-more-screwed-than-usual if you get caught with it.

(edit: to answer more directly: no, there are no official restrictions on starting with forbidden gear)

If a 'Runner can't get Forbidden Equipment, they shouldn't bother to 'Run.

And another question: What kind of mileage can you get out of that SUV?

Forty rods to the hogshead, and that's the way I like it!

Alright Abe, settle down or it's back to the home.

You forgot the custom paint job. Black with red strip.
Should probably include tools (shop) as well for adding scrap armor and building cabbage cannons.


Edit: Oops missed the name, all you need a dog biodrone and some meddling kids.

weird..somehow..(maybe last night session of D&D is still affection) i feel
a need to create Gnome Rigger w/ large-size Mechanical Dog Drone as vehicle of choice..
Do i need then Pilot Ground craft/Pilot Anthroform for "riding"??

Chameleon coating, dude. Just download it from the Matrix (www.pimpmyride.com or what have you) and you're good to go.

Spoof chip
Morphing license plate
Fake License (registration)
Fake License (insurance)

Forgot about the first two, thanks. Added.

Latter two not really part of the vehicle, and I'm not sure how useful they'd be anyway.

I just redid your van using the excel character generator from DamienKnight (SR4CG_DK_1k), cause I'm allways looking for interesting vehicles and drones
And I got some different numbers back from the excel tool... but right now I can't check wether the tool is wrong or your numbers are off as I'm away from books. So. I thought, I mention this here and maybe you can check for yourself...

According to the excel tool chameleon coating and personal armor only use one modification slot. So your van still has two slots left. And btw, if you want to make the van chargen legal you are restricted to personal armor rating 6.
Also, the whole package only costs 61.850 . Main difference here is the costs for the vehicle tag eraser, which only costs 3.250 in the excel tool.

So, there's still room for maybe a rigger adaption or a turbocharger...

-CJ

I get 3 slots left (the Rover comes standard with 10 armor, no need for a mod on that) and a total cost of 61,350 . Personal Armor is (Rating)R for availability, so the full 10 is fine at character creation.

No, you are limited to max rating 6 at character creation.



-CJ

Would it be cheaper/easier to modify a SUV/Van with a lifestyle than it would be to buy an actual RV/motorhome? I saw that Arsenal had a listing for some RV/s/Motorhomes. They were big, rare, and usually seen as police mobile HQ's or on camping trips outside Seattle. It doesn't seem that hard to convert a van/large SUV with a lifestlye to be able to live in it comfortably.

Man.. you beat me to it.

Quick note about spoof chips, they can be installed into any electronic device. No need to spoof your datatrail anymore. No test either, apparently.

Huh. You're right.

"Spoof chips are small firmware add-ons that automatically generate a new access ID for a vehicle node (or any device) on a regular basis, or as instructed."



-k

Yep, been using these in my Comlinks since Arsenal came out... They are great...

Camileane coating takes care of that