I'm going to be GMing SR4 in the medium-near future, and it has been suggested, agreed with, and asked for by the players that I create a sort of gear cheat sheet; a list of things they will likely find very useful/necessary to be a functioning citizen of the Sixth World's shadowrunning populace. I got started and realized that it's an interesting problem in its own right to find a happy medium between carrying everything you could find useful and leaving as many nuyen, and thus BP, available for items and Attributes more in line with their specialty.

In short, I'm trying to come up with a core runner gear set they can all build on to get well-equipped characters, thus avoiding the problem of, say, the party face showing up unarmed and unarmored to a run, or the mage forgetting to buy a commlink and wondering why he never gets any calls.

Below is what I've got so far:

Defiance EX Shocker taser
Taser Darts(10)
Survival Knife
Armor Vest
Sony Emperor commlink w/ Renraku Uchi OS
Certified Credstick
Glasses w/Image Link
Datachips(10)
Stealth Tags(20)

So what should be added? What should be taken away? I'm not messing with the prices or forcing them all to get it or anything; this is purely a list of suggested gear for my new players.

I think it's a bit too specific. You should make it a bit more general: a fake SIN/licenses, a commlink, and some kind of armor. Some kind of weapon, in all but the most secure areas; and at least one member of the group should have a rating: 6 medkit. Beyond that, gear becomes more situation-specific.

A towel

Actual clothes, not just armor.

A skillset and a mindset. Everything else is optional.

So,

A commlink
Some kind of armor
Some kind of weapon
a fake SIN
fake licenses for any R gear

Is about right? Any advice to pass on about ratings?

A lot of that is going to depend on the game table/GM, and how much he wants to spend time on that sort of thing, really. There's no "right" answer, but I know that when I doubt I tend to go for the best SIN (and/or license) I can get within the availability rules. I'm paranoid that way.

Not that it really matters by RAW – even "the best" fakes will get you busted.

I used to carry around my grand-dad's knife, a little 4" number, and even that got me weird looks from folk in this day and age. Now I carry either multi-pliers or a wine key. Both have a knife built into them and can be used for all small cutting jobs, but neither can be mistaken for proper weapons and they have other uses.

I'm sure there is a correlation for yesterday's commonality becoming today's absurd, but for gaming purposes, make tools look like tools and not weapons.

Above and beyond that ask your players what they have in their pockets. Now ask what they would carry if they had warrants out.

You forgot the towel

An instant-disguise. http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2869/18...ninjalesson.jpg or preferably something more sophisticated. Sometimes you need to make sure you can't be identified easily.

A subdual weapon, such as a taser. Useful if you want to interrogate the enemy, or when killing would cause more trouble (like a police officer) Tasers have the important advantage of not being Restricted.

A deadly weapon. Preferably not too absurdly illegal, in case you get searched by the cops. If you can get off with just a fine that's nice.

Tag eraser

Soap that will wash out bloodstains. To clean up a crime scene or just your own clothes so you don't look like you were in a fight.

Several different anonymous credsticks. For bribes and emergency purchases.

A vehicle with a Pilot that you can call to pick you up when you want to leave. A motorcycle will do but a car can hold bodies of injured teammates, prisoners or corpses.

A leatherman or other compact multi-tool.

Rating 6 medkit. Seriously, it's not expensive, and you'll cry if you don't have it when you need one.

Too Funny!



It seems strange to me that tasers are not restricted, but stun batons are restricted. Similarly shuriken and throwing knives are not restricted, but just like with tasers it doesn't mean you can just get into anywhere while carrying one.

Also what weapons are not absurdly illegal? I couldn't come up with any that were not Forbidden and not Restricted that were deadly. I mean I suppose tasers could be deadly, but I don't think you meant that.



Is this soap listed in Arsenal somewhere?

There are some strange design choices in the Restriction ratings. But in this case I think that tasers are considered less-lethal and nice for young ladies afraid of rape, while a stun baton is mean for law enforcement and corpsec.




A typical gun is R, and you get some trouble with it. But a sniper rifle is way more serious, and if you get caught with a monowhip you're in deep shit.




I think you need C Squared for that. Household items aren't dealt with in huge detail, but I wanted to point out the usefulness of ordinary items.



Also: duct tape and tie wraps. Stuff to tie people up with has become standard gear for my characters, regardless of setting. And they're so versatile.

What is C squared?

Edit: E/m.

Yeah, try to remember that you're telling a story. Do you expect them to carry a survival knife? Why? Were they going to be picked up by a giant bird and dropped in an unknown wood? If so, did you want them to have a survival knife? If you did, what's stopping you from giving them one?

"You didn't bring a flashlight? Well why would you? Your commlink has a light built in. TA-DA!"
Assume whatever you need to assume in order to give characters the kind of knowledge that players don't have.

If players, on the other hand, are gearing up specifically to defeat certain plot things, (like carrying around FAB III grenades so that if you ever pull the old "cabal of mages" thing, they can put the kibosh on the whole arc,) then that's straight up competitive anti-gaming bullshit. So, as long as you don't punish players for not thinking of things which maybe they don't know about, (having very little experience as a magical troll vampire were-dragon assassin living in the future,) then hopefully they won't metagame your plots to death with over-planning and ridiculous OOC choices.

This sounds a lot like a D&D character than a Shadowrun character.

Sounds like a relative or buddy of a dwarf video-clerk/assassin I once had played in a game I ran*...

My group is a huge fan of Narcojet, or whatever it is in SR4.

There used to be a site, Blackjack's SR or something, and he had alot of in character writings about this sort of stuff, too. One thing I thought was interesting was to have a pack of smokes. Your cyberware filters should keep you from dying (from the cigs) and if you were having to wait a long time for some one or thing, it at least made you look less suspicious than just twiddling your thumbs.

*- Note: This character was actually never ran. The potential player happened to work in a video store at the time, and kept changing his mind so much on what to play he literally erased through the character sheet. In the span of time he was working on his character, another player/buddy of ours and I got to joking about the whole thing. Probably had to be there...

Don't forget to Search a little. There have been several iterations of this thread.

If I suggest to my players that they all carry non-lethal weapons I'll get laughed right off the table. They're already having enough trouble with the pacifist dwarf bounty hunter (who's carrying every nonlethal weapon in the book)

If it's a bounty hunter, there are great reasons besides pacifism for that choice. Like… not losing the bounty. But, anyway, your players are stupid. Carry Stick-n-Shock.

I actually asked something like this some time ago, and I ended up making an "Oh, Shit! kit"

Its a useful basis for extra gear runnners should have, even if a bit expensive. It can be put together after a while. This is for a strater runner and costs around 25K:



As for basic gear, it depends. I'd go for something like this. This gear is for a character that is not a specialized hacker, but knows how to use the matrix fairly well (relevant skill groups around 3, but lacking cybercombat), including the main commlink this goes around 70K. Yes its expensive, but its also higly tweakable:




Now, the necessary explanations:
Some guns don't have licenses. This is intentional, these weapons are used when during runs, that way the cops nor corps have any records on them. These guns should be customized often to avoid them being tracked as having been used in different crime scenes (barrel changes, for example).
Guns with licenses are the everyday ones. Those he uses for personal protection and only pulls out in situations when he can confront LS or KE and say: I shot in self-defense. These guns should /never/ be associated to /any/ shadowrun he is in.

Avoid killing if possible. Use Narcojet and tasers whenever possible while on the run. Its easier for your conscience: it keeps you saner longer.

He has various outfits, again, know when to use them. Blend into the general populace. Use your "perception" enhancers rarely, they make for a bothersome life and you don't need to live wired all the time.
Switch identities. This makes it more difficult for anyone to track you. Include as a lifestyle cost new SINs and licenses all the time. Never, never, own more than one gun in one identity

The extra commlinks exist as decoys. His professional one is used only during runs, the rest of the time it's off. Eventually you'll want to improve those. Start with the one in the "Oh, Shit! kit": the sooner oyu improve it, the safer you'll be.
An agent running constantly with Analyze, Track and Nuke is a good way to improve your main 'link security.
For teh extra ones, go with a simple constant analyze.

This guys doesn't use highly customized weapons, but rather good generic ones: easier to replace.
For history reasons the only one I wanted to pimp out badly was the warhawk. His trusty gun to bring down trolls.

Yes, lots of guns and redundant gear, this was done on purpose. This guy doesn't depend on only one gun or trick: he is a runner, able to blend in a lot of situations adequately.

There are lots of things for this guy to go to, or to change. Depending on type of character: mages can drop the programming suite and go for a magical lodge. Reduce the cost of the main commlink and get a focus. But as far as gear goes, this covers a lot of things.

He does lack a vehicle and getting drones would help too. These are things to plan for.

EDIT: He lacks Stick and Shock, the reason: in my campaigns they aren't used. This guy tries to stick to the BBB, with some exceptions as this makes it easier for him to be approved by Gm's

It's been a while since I've been on the player end of things but my characters always used to carry a rucksack with some variation of the following in it.

Duct Tape
Zip Cuffs
Maglight
Multi-Tool
Garbage Bags
Disposable "flats" clothing
Energy Bars
Candy Bars
Electrolyte Water
Cigarettes
Zippo Lighter
Bleach hidden in a re-purposed bottle of hand sanitizer
SARS mask
Mirrorshades.
Leather Gloves.
Latex Gloves.
Ballcap

What's on my mind right now ain't the soy cafe in my cup, it's the dead ork in my garage. When you pulled up did you see a sign in my front lawn that said "Dead Ork Storage"? NO! Cause storing dead orks ain't my fraggin' business!

No wonder people looked at you funny, you were carrying around a four-foot knife sword!

I always liked the walking stick for many of my characters.

Either a cane with a fake limp at times, or a full out staff with a bit of fake mage/shaman fetish wear on (aka the wannabe mage look).

Both the club/staff are legal, and with the right skill set lethal (and the staff has reach baby..)

though my last childish character had a nice solution to combat: slap patch antidote 6 vs Pepper punch, drop pepper punch gas grenade, go to town with defiance taser as a melee weapon or taser as needed. Roller blade away leaving a bunch of gangers trying to figure out how to explain getting thier butts kicked by a 12 year old

Duct tape. Swiss Army Knife. Imagination.

And more duct tape.

..if playing by RAW rules, no equipment better rating than 6, so no armor case rating 10 during charc. creat. (SR4A BBB pg 86 " Finally no piece or gear purchased at
character creation can have a rating higher than 6 or an Availibility higher than 12 (for more information.."

My mistake. Fixed in post.

You forgot to add Knowledgesoft: MacGuyver Rating 6

As for Armour, I'd go with an armour vest, as it's concealable with a fair rating, but not too high that your Body 1 elf/whatever keeps tripping up.

Essential programs:

Analyze. Leave it on, it'll help defend against hacking.
Encrypt. Guess what you need this for?
Scan. In case you get cut off from your team, a high rating might help you find them again.
Purge. Depending on how likely your GM is to spring a nasty virus (Of the software kind, natch. No one said it'd be a good idea to go party with that elf slitch with the pale skin...) on you.

You may also want to invest in some IC for your 'link, too. Even it's just loaded with an Attack prog, it takes no skill whatsoever to say, "Crash that hacker," and if it works in concert with your own team's hacker(Please tell me you've got a hacker...), it works even better.

Gear:

Trodes. If only because DNI is less obvious than manual or verbal controls. I'd rather be thinking "Help" to my team rather than insert-random-deity when I'm tied to a chair in some Yak warehouse. Even better if you've got a datajack or internal 'link.

Some sort of grenade. Literally any. You don't need Throwing Weapons to drop a frag onto some gangers, or drop a smoke grenade under a table during a meet that's turning nasty.

At least a light pistol. Maybe a holdout if social infiltration's your thing. You may be Incompetent with it, but they don't need to know that. (Your team does though.)

No I didn't.

"Imagination".

If you lack that, then, yeah, the Knowledgesoft: MacGuyver 6 and Knowledgesoft: Red-Green 6 would also come in handy.

For one thing, I'd allow your players to procure from their pockets anything legal, possibly fitting in there, and fitting their character archetype and personality, that they want, unless it's actually necessary to keep track of it and as long as you don't allow them to pull a story-breaker ("There's a vampire in front of you." "I just so happen to have my wooden bullets in my pocket" ). A character who at least once mentioned to be smoking would usually carry something that can make a fire, and a few cigarettes. A tech oriented character wouldn't leave house without a pocket toolset of screwdrivers. Everyone that is at least to a certain degree civilized will have things like datachips. They're like usb sticks, if you write them down might aswell bookkeep pencils. If they forgot to write down a comlink at character creation, they have a cheap one until they buy a proper one - exception possible with the never-seen-a-city-in-their-live character types.
If it's less of a question whether they carry it and more of a question whether they somewhere posess a certain object... well, if it's legal, it's probably as accessible as a can of soda. Walk into a store and buy it. If it's in that range of accessibility, they consider it necessary to own such a thing, but didnt remember to pick it during their char creation and now dont have the resources - just give it to them and let them be happy, they can pay it afterwards when they get the money for the job. In most cases they won't find a proper use for it anyways, and even if they did, there would have been alternatives in case the object wasnt brought, too.

Also, I looked at that survival gear list that was mentioned in this thread. Rating 8 armor? That will encumber every BOD3 char. Use formfitting (will retcon the name once mentioned) armor that has 6/2 and only counts half for encumbrance. Put clothes on top and it will look pretty unsuspicious. Add armor on top according to BOD rating for the actual action. SecureTech parts also help without adding encumbrance.
The two lists that I saw are a bit... excessive. 200 rounds of ammo? That's excessive force by legal standards I'd probably not allow my players to carry that much stuff unless they carry a big army backpack around. But that's probably a matter of taste, some people like to run around with 2 types of rocket launchers and a stock of rockets that could keep clear seattle's airspace for an hour or so.

It's a good thing you're thinking of such a list, and things like IDs/certifications, comlink, weaponry, tools, medical emergency equipment etc are important to have. But don't take it out on them if they don't write certain things down that can be considered basic means of living. If it doesnt have a rating, bonus, penalty, or any kind of effective number associated with it, I don't see the need to write it down. 10 sets of underwear dont make a character sheet better.

But it makes the character so much better!

from my overly paranoid wetgirl:
Gloves (never take these off)
Shaving kit
garbage bag (to collect anything your mouth has touched to be burned at conveinance)
ffba (always wear)
civvy clothing, three shirts, one worn, pair of non descript jeans.
Backpack.
three wigs -one worn.
slap patches, narcojet
knife
two comms, two sins, one decent the other throw away
Several MREs
First Aid Kit.
Clean credsticks with extra cash.
Lighter

Yeah, no one will be in a anyway suspicious of you running around the city in armored fullbody-condom.

No, PPP adds to the rating of the other armor your wearing and fully counts for encumbrance.

That would be indeed strange, so the recommendation was wearing clothes on top.

Oh... Reading up on it again, you are right. For some reason I considered the exception of shields/helmets and thus the PPP to not be counted against encumbrance. Of course, they DO count against encumbrance, they just dont count as additional layer of armoring, as that would reduce their effectiveness. So... yeah, you're right on that one

About the form-fitting armor suit: Well, yeah, it's kind of not visible when worn under clothes. It comes with gloves, but that shouldn't be a problem, and a hood, that I would advise to either cover under a hoodie hood (wow, that combination of words sounds silly), or just not have the hood on top of your head when you're in civilized areas. In some areas of course noone will mind you wearing a latex-like hood on your head.

Come on, we all know the Lesbian Elf Stripper Ninjas go Commando in every possible way!

...

And it is at this point that every female poster on the board will attempt to smack the sexism out of me and I'll end up a story told at coroner's conventions...

As I burn in the Special Hell.

The lists were for a character of mine, so he could use the armour without encumbrance. They were an useful example.

As for the Armor Case mistake, it was my bad. True, nothing with a higer rating than 6. It can eb corected easily.

And the character was never /carrying/ that, he owned all that gear.
He carries the minimums according to job, he is not a mule... I assumed that would be obvious, I think its my bad.

And I tried to make it as detailed as possible, simply because I like that. Games vary, and its up to each reader to take what he can use and drop the rest.

No, he would need a Skinpocket or a condom and some laxatives to be a mule.

Or two parents from similar but different species and congenital sterility? Hyuk hyuk, we are the funniest.

What? A couple who were impotent since they were born as parents? How does that work?

Er, no. A mule has (two parents from similar but different species) and (congenital sterility). The grammar of the sentence makes your version impossible.

They have taken a vow of chastity like their fathers, and their fathers before them.

And thus we hijack the thread.

Shh. The movie's getting to the good part.

Oh, you meant a literal mule. Mmmkay...

Rofl, well done!

Laes cigarettes and an ultrawideband radar system are two things I never go without.

You know what every 'Runner needs?

A Armoured Duster, an Ares Predator, Extra Ammo, and a bottle of cheap synthahol! And a comfortable gutter to sleep in.

Anything more than that is gravy!

You were lucky to have a gutter! There were a hundred and sixty of us living in a small shoebox in the middle of the road.

What did you think the Ares Predator was for? To keep your gutter!