My group stole a security SUV, wiped the IDs on it, and repainted it. They decided to create their own small security company so that in the future they could use it's illusion of legitimacy to get them into places they couldn't go as easily.

So far, they haven't done much. They have a fake SIN for the CEO of the company and a Matrix Node for the company.

One of the players has the idea of using the company to get a hold of restricted gear more easily. It's assumed the Knight Errant can simply get on the phone and have a delivery of restricted gear shipped to their warehouse quickly, since they have the appropriate licenses.

What would my group have to do to make this happen? Will they have to buy fake licenses for each item they want to buy, or can they buy broader "package deals" of licenses? I'm leaning toward the latter, and making a bit of the game about them rolling their Forgery tests and working through their contacts to make this happen.

Finally, what game effect should this have? If they're authorized to buy restricted gear, they don't have to use their contacts or the black market- they can order out of catalogs and "off the shelf". Should I give them bonuses to their availability tests?

What do you think?

the gear is also now registered with the appropriate law enforcement agencies. any public use/loss of said gear will generate questions which will lead back to their dummy corporation, which will probably fall flat under close inspection.

their contacts who help them set this up will be really annoyed if this comes back to bite them in the ass.

EDIT:

if you really wanna make it hard, set off an investigation/audit if they start ordering random, suspicious stuff via the shell corp.

IE, what does a Security company need with mil-grade guided missiles?

Fake SINs cover a multide of sins, pun intended. Whilst the security company deal might make some licenses more plausible, it shouldn't make gear any easier to get.

No, the company is licensed, not the people in it. The KE guys don't have a license for their assault rifles, grenades, armored combat drones, etc. they run under the corp license.

But getting the corp created and the corp licenses is not easy, and legitimately ordering stuff isn't the same as ordering it on a fake license. The company that sells it to you has reason to avoid shipping it to a fake entity, as they probably won't get paid. Assume that every time you order something they verify the license with a grade 4 or better check.

Of course there was that bus company in CA that created their own genuine fake police department. ...
http://articles.latimes.com/2006/mar/08/local/me-ferrari8

In my opinion, seems like Polack has a choice in his game. If you wanna be realistic, it's way too complex/expensive for a group of regular shadowrunners to just start a company that's legit enough to get gear and such. So you can either cater to reality and tell them no, or throw reality out the window and basically just make it up as you go along.

I would recommend making them devote a run, unpaid, to setting this up. Maybe a midnight run into the local gov offices to plant the necessary documents, maybe a favor to the Mob or a Johnson, maybe a discrete threat to the right people, maybe just a lot of time sitting in a office.

I would simply give them all the Black Market Pipeline quailty for most weapons, armor, and vehicles. Yes, it's not really black market but ruleswise It'd work fine.

I think this really depends on the type of gear you're talking about. If you're hoping to get 100 legal Ares Predators, it shouldn't be too tough. 100 Ares Alphas requires greasing some palms of politicians. 100 Ares Antiochs should be out of your reach, as you're not a paramilitary organization.

One trick I've thought of (But have never been able to use because I don't play, only GM) is to have a legitimate SINner be the main shareholder and the rest of the group be "Silent Partners" (High-End Fake SINs designed specifically for this.).

For the gig to work properly, you'd need two SINners you can trust, or one SINner you can trust, and one that's just mentally incompetent enough to not care that they're getting some nice cheques. (My personal idea is find someone semi-senile with no family. Just get the Pornomancer a fake face and all he/she will remember is: "They were nice people that helped me invest my money.").

The second way, if something goes down, the CEO goes down and can argue incompetence with a good lawyer (I suggest setting up a fund for this, as it's good Karma), and the guy you trust has a Golden Parachute Clause in his contract.

You can use this for Security Businesses, Money Laundering Fronts, and other companies to get your hands on raw materials to build/modify equipment that are of a questionable nature.

In addition, while keeping it out of the media, you can also use the company to fund public works programs in your neighborhood. Make sure the underworld and local folks know what's going on, but it has no back-trail to the group. And, thus, you also get a nice place to put a safehouse where you have a damn good security system.

Gazprom did this back in the '90s to get around laws regarding foreign corporations operating, iirc, Lithuania. The best part is it's mostly legal. Just remember there are two people you'll always want to keep on retainer when playing politics like this; a good lawyer, and a good hitman.

We ran a game where we were running a security company as the game. The players all agreed that this would be fun and the GM was amused, so the GM just fiated that we were when the game started and everyone had darn good IDs. I think we were sinners.