G'day, chummers. I've got a bit of a situation here that I'm hoping you guys might be able to help me with.
A few weeks ago, in a fit of exhausted delirium, I pulled a run out of my ass for my players. They've recently (temporarily) relocated from Seattle to New Orleans, and participated in a few small scale (but high paying for metagame reasons) runs. This time, their fixer (A gentlemanly Cyclops named Rutherford who lives his life Like a Sir) set them up with a very special run. It seems that a certain pirate and smuggler has been causing trouble in NO these past few decades, and some interested parties would like it if he stopped.
The run, specifically, was to make sure that Kane ceases all operations in NO and considers the city off limits for the remainder of his career. The players (in typical runner fashion) have decided that this means that he should suffer a severe case of High Velocity Lead Poisoning.
Personally, I'm still hoping they'll opt to complete the run through roleplay rather than gunplay, but that part I can handle.
The problem I'm having is that I'm not much of an expert when it comes to setting up drones and loadouts. I've got the stats for some of his usual gear in SL:S, but other than that, creating an army of drones/vehicles for one of the greatest riggers to ever live is beyond me.
So now for the fun part:
If you were a rigger with nigh limitless resources, set up as a smuggler/pirate in the Carib League, what gear would you use? And what tactics would the Billion Dollar Man use in a fight?
Just in case anyone cares, the current party setup is: Ork Magician/Face focused on utility (but with some combat spells and moderate spirit support); Troll Rigger/Wheelman with a penchant for shotguns; Human Gunbunny/archer who can pin people to concrete with arrows and fire her AR on full auto with no recoil
(and also has a go-go-gadget arm that she's shown a disturbing level of creativity with); Elven Face/Infiltrator/Martial Artist whose feet do more damage than most LMGs. They also have an ex-PC NPC Ork Magician who's basically Karl Kombatmage. He focuses on Indirect Combat spells, but has a drain res pool high enough to ignore the drain from most spells assuming an average roll.
So yeah, that's all I've got. Any suggestions?
~R~
Full Version: Kane
What tactics? Simple: Not be there.
Kane has access to all kinds of stuff, submarines not excluded. And a crew. And a rigger girlfriend with tank experience. I'd lead them to these facts with legwork and they should probably reconsider, broker a deal or something, maybe resulting in a few favors on both sides.
If they go in guns blazing, they should go down in a blaze of glory.
However, if you want them to succeed, give them a possibility to single him out. Monthly Poker game or something like this, with maybe just a few guys backup.
A subtle surveillance airship drone (maybe with a sporting rifle) at high altitude, disguised as a NOPS drone, to give him a heads up, followed by immediate activation of a tricked out Steel Lynx or two, a getaway car coming up. Further backup could arrive in 1D6 minutes, plus complications from NOPS
Kane has access to all kinds of stuff, submarines not excluded. And a crew. And a rigger girlfriend with tank experience. I'd lead them to these facts with legwork and they should probably reconsider, broker a deal or something, maybe resulting in a few favors on both sides.
If they go in guns blazing, they should go down in a blaze of glory.
However, if you want them to succeed, give them a possibility to single him out. Monthly Poker game or something like this, with maybe just a few guys backup.
A subtle surveillance airship drone (maybe with a sporting rifle) at high altitude, disguised as a NOPS drone, to give him a heads up, followed by immediate activation of a tricked out Steel Lynx or two, a getaway car coming up. Further backup could arrive in 1D6 minutes, plus complications from NOPS
IIRC Kane has access to several assets other than drones that can make life very hard for the PCs if they try to attack him with brute force.
In Milspec tech he mentions having access to Dassault Lancia missiles, which have an effective range of 100 km and can take down pretty much any vehicle on the market (and definitely anything the PCs have access to!), though at 425000
a shot he may be somewhat hesitant to pull the trigger if there are other options available. He also talks in passing about the Terracotta Orochi Light Rail Gun, and its a fairly safe assumption that he has access to such weaponry should he need it.
in This Old Drone he comments on how he uses LDSD 23 blimp drones for recon. he also mentions owning a MQ-8 Fire scout (it's painted red).
In Milspec tech he mentions having access to Dassault Lancia missiles, which have an effective range of 100 km and can take down pretty much any vehicle on the market (and definitely anything the PCs have access to!), though at 425000
a shot he may be somewhat hesitant to pull the trigger if there are other options available. He also talks in passing about the Terracotta Orochi Light Rail Gun, and its a fairly safe assumption that he has access to such weaponry should he need it.in This Old Drone he comments on how he uses LDSD 23 blimp drones for recon. he also mentions owning a MQ-8 Fire scout (it's painted red).
Considering my thoughts on Kane, unless your runners have the dragons' luck it shouldn't be possible in a single run. As I recall /dev/grrl herself even said she didn't wanna tell the team she hired to track Kane down who they really were tracking down. I mean, the guy is supposedly number 9 on the CAS FBI, and yet he'll play poker with the Louisiana state governor. The man's got connections, and if even half of what /dev/grrl has in her report about him is true (particularly the Aztlan extraction for Kat), then the runner team is in a whole lot of potential trouble.
The best way to get Kane is to make it in a higher power's best interests to see him dead. Fake an overt attack by him on a strong government or corporate or draconic target that's been giving him enough problems (and getting enough shit from him in return) to make it believable that he lost his cool and launched a cruise missile at their CEO or whatever.
Failing that, remember that he is an ambitious pirate leading a crew of ambitious pirates. Kane's not a magician, and chances are neither is his main squeeze. Someone on his crew must be running astral security; how loyal is that guy? Does he have enough charisma to control the rest of the crew if he lets your spirits slip in, murder Kane and his bonnie pirate bitch in their sleep, then declare that he's the new captain? (Or is he ambitious enough to believe he does, regardless of the truth of the matter?)
If Kane's a rigger, does he go Hot Sim? If he does, then he's vulnerable; jump him in cybercombat with all the backup you can muster and Black Hammer him to death. Don't even both with his IC or any backup hackers he may have; have everyone hardlined into nodes that are hardlined to a transmitter whose power source can be shut off electronically, jump him the next time he's jumped in, and black hammer him to death with everything you've got. Once he's down (and I mean 'completely' down, don't stop until you've blasted through all of his dying boxes and have flatlined him beyond a reasonable doubt,) send the command that cuts the power to the transmitter, automatically severing any link to the fight and putting you beyond the retribution of his crew. Depending on your GM's interpretations of the rules, you may suffer dumpshock for this; I suggest having mages and medics to administer first aid, possibly during the fight itself.
But before you even attempt this, remember: Kane plays with military tech and probably over two and a half to five million nuyen in assets at any given time, and he has no sense of honor or morality what-so-ever. If he ever gets ANY hint that you're gunning for him, he will strike first, he will strike hard, and he will strike those you care about just to spite you, even if you're already dead. No-one's off limits to him, not women, not children, not infants and pregnant women.
He also has to have someone looking out for him. Nobody operates as high-profile as he does, in the 2070s dystopian environment, without some backer who can offer him a safe harbor; and they're not going to be some pissant little country, either, because the CAS, Caribbean League, or Aztechnology wouldn't even think once about stepping right on the ballsack of some minor power to murder Kane and tell them to suck it up if they dare complain.
If you kill Kane, who are you potentially pissing off? If your first thought was "Amazonia," you may want to reconsider whether you want to even take the risk of potentially pissing off a Great Dragon if you happen to be right.
On the other hand, convincing Kane to leave Nawlins alone isn't very likely. He wouldn't honor any agreements he made, if he even deigned to answer any polite overtures for negotiation with anything but a missile. Especially if the governor of Louisanna is an ally of his.
If you really want to kill Kane, as I said first, your best is to frame him for a brazen, overt attack that pisses off some huge power at a level they can't afford to ignore or write off as the cost of doing business. Make it personal for them, to the point where they're willing to accept that it will cost them more to kill him than they will save by eliminating his depridations for the rest of his projected life expectancy, and they'll crush him like an insect. Frame him for an attack on Ares and the Thor shot comes down on his boat. Frame him for an attack on AZT/Aztlan, and the blood mage ritual circle makes his brain explode. Frame him for an attack on the CAS and they send half their navy to hunt him down at all costs. Frame him for an attack on the Caribbean leauge and there will be commandos waiting in any and every port he might potentially try to take refuge in to storm his ship and murder him. Frame him for an attack on Denver (not sure how) and Ghostwalker will eat him... You get the idea.
Failing that, remember that he is an ambitious pirate leading a crew of ambitious pirates. Kane's not a magician, and chances are neither is his main squeeze. Someone on his crew must be running astral security; how loyal is that guy? Does he have enough charisma to control the rest of the crew if he lets your spirits slip in, murder Kane and his bonnie pirate bitch in their sleep, then declare that he's the new captain? (Or is he ambitious enough to believe he does, regardless of the truth of the matter?)
If Kane's a rigger, does he go Hot Sim? If he does, then he's vulnerable; jump him in cybercombat with all the backup you can muster and Black Hammer him to death. Don't even both with his IC or any backup hackers he may have; have everyone hardlined into nodes that are hardlined to a transmitter whose power source can be shut off electronically, jump him the next time he's jumped in, and black hammer him to death with everything you've got. Once he's down (and I mean 'completely' down, don't stop until you've blasted through all of his dying boxes and have flatlined him beyond a reasonable doubt,) send the command that cuts the power to the transmitter, automatically severing any link to the fight and putting you beyond the retribution of his crew. Depending on your GM's interpretations of the rules, you may suffer dumpshock for this; I suggest having mages and medics to administer first aid, possibly during the fight itself.
But before you even attempt this, remember: Kane plays with military tech and probably over two and a half to five million nuyen in assets at any given time, and he has no sense of honor or morality what-so-ever. If he ever gets ANY hint that you're gunning for him, he will strike first, he will strike hard, and he will strike those you care about just to spite you, even if you're already dead. No-one's off limits to him, not women, not children, not infants and pregnant women.
He also has to have someone looking out for him. Nobody operates as high-profile as he does, in the 2070s dystopian environment, without some backer who can offer him a safe harbor; and they're not going to be some pissant little country, either, because the CAS, Caribbean League, or Aztechnology wouldn't even think once about stepping right on the ballsack of some minor power to murder Kane and tell them to suck it up if they dare complain.
If you kill Kane, who are you potentially pissing off? If your first thought was "Amazonia," you may want to reconsider whether you want to even take the risk of potentially pissing off a Great Dragon if you happen to be right.
On the other hand, convincing Kane to leave Nawlins alone isn't very likely. He wouldn't honor any agreements he made, if he even deigned to answer any polite overtures for negotiation with anything but a missile. Especially if the governor of Louisanna is an ally of his.
If you really want to kill Kane, as I said first, your best is to frame him for a brazen, overt attack that pisses off some huge power at a level they can't afford to ignore or write off as the cost of doing business. Make it personal for them, to the point where they're willing to accept that it will cost them more to kill him than they will save by eliminating his depridations for the rest of his projected life expectancy, and they'll crush him like an insect. Frame him for an attack on Ares and the Thor shot comes down on his boat. Frame him for an attack on AZT/Aztlan, and the blood mage ritual circle makes his brain explode. Frame him for an attack on the CAS and they send half their navy to hunt him down at all costs. Frame him for an attack on the Caribbean leauge and there will be commandos waiting in any and every port he might potentially try to take refuge in to storm his ship and murder him. Frame him for an attack on Denver (not sure how) and Ghostwalker will eat him... You get the idea.
If you got that route, be sure you've got your tracks very, very well covered. Otherwise the aforementionned consequences are likely to be aimed your way if soemone gets foooled. If he figure it out, he won't be happy, an neither will you.
QUOTE (ShadowDragon8685 @ Aug 26 2012, 05:06 AM) 
Frame him for an attack on AZT/Aztlan, and the blood mage ritual circle makes his brain explode.
... just gave me a run idea, the run to pick up a drop of blood for a ritual sample from a very dangerous and paranoid man ...
To topic, I am not familiar with this Kane character, but for a rigger pirate I would give him the following:
1) A big old frigate or aircraft carrier, souped-to-the-max engines and heavy armour, and gun turrets and a submarine bay
2) As already suggested, 4 ruthenium coated blimps with state-of-art sensors and TACnet and tricked out sniper rifles
3) A rigger room with attached medical facility for his remote pilot and spider crew
4) "Squads" of various arial drones, many with turret mounted LMGs
5) Ditto for underwater drones, also with 4 "invisible" scoutcraft for underwater TACnet, salvage and attack ... including a few kanikaze missile/bomb subs
6) A few combat choppers and one fighter plane to defend serious airspace violations, with specialist pilots and gunners for both, gattling guns canons, missiles, the works
7) A getaway sub for key crew (the lowlier hands jump on the choppers) if things go totally FUBAR.
If the PCs find out about or detect the scout blimps/subs, they might have a chance to launch a sneak attack, but a head-on attack should be impossible unless they have brought some serious firepower (a navy or air force or both). And Kane should definitely be able to escape by sub ...
QUOTE (Midas @ Aug 26 2012, 03:43 PM)
... just gave me a run idea, the run to pick up a drop of blood for a ritual sample from a very dangerous and paranoid man ...
To topic, I am not familiar with this Kane character, but for a rigger pirate I would give him the following:
1) A big old frigate or aircraft carrier, souped-to-the-max engines and heavy armour, and gun turrets and a submarine bay
2) As already suggested, 4 ruthenium coated blimps with state-of-art sensors and TACnet and tricked out sniper rifles
3) A rigger room with attached medical facility for his remote pilot and spider crew
4) "Squads" of various arial drones, many with turret mounted LMGs
5) Ditto for underwater drones, also with 4 "invisible" scoutcraft for underwater TACnet, salvage and attack ... including a few kanikaze missile/bomb subs
6) A few combat choppers and one fighter plane to defend serious airspace violations, with specialist pilots and gunners for both, gattling guns canons, missiles, the works
7) A getaway sub for key crew (the lowlier hands jump on the choppers) if things go totally FUBAR.
If the PCs find out about or detect the scout blimps/subs, they might have a chance to launch a sneak attack, but a head-on attack should be impossible unless they have brought some serious firepower (a navy or air force or both). And Kane should definitely be able to escape by sub ...
To topic, I am not familiar with this Kane character, but for a rigger pirate I would give him the following:
1) A big old frigate or aircraft carrier, souped-to-the-max engines and heavy armour, and gun turrets and a submarine bay
2) As already suggested, 4 ruthenium coated blimps with state-of-art sensors and TACnet and tricked out sniper rifles
3) A rigger room with attached medical facility for his remote pilot and spider crew
4) "Squads" of various arial drones, many with turret mounted LMGs
5) Ditto for underwater drones, also with 4 "invisible" scoutcraft for underwater TACnet, salvage and attack ... including a few kanikaze missile/bomb subs
6) A few combat choppers and one fighter plane to defend serious airspace violations, with specialist pilots and gunners for both, gattling guns canons, missiles, the works
7) A getaway sub for key crew (the lowlier hands jump on the choppers) if things go totally FUBAR.
If the PCs find out about or detect the scout blimps/subs, they might have a chance to launch a sneak attack, but a head-on attack should be impossible unless they have brought some serious firepower (a navy or air force or both). And Kane should definitely be able to escape by sub ...
um... make that a fleet of the above. he's not running 'A' ship, he runs a fleet
1) Learn Target Habits
2) Find vantage point that he cannot secure
3) Insert sniper rounds and spells
4) Don't miss
5) Vacate Premises
Not that the above would be easy, but at the end of the day Kane is "just" a very high end Shadowrunner who's not even particularly good at staying to the shadows. Even Blackbeard one day picked too much a fight.
Also hoping for roleplaying solutions? How could this kind of requirement be met other then by murder or overwhelming force. Even if you did find some leverage or peaceful solution your putting your rep that the job got done in the hands of a borderline socipathic terrorist. If you wanted them to find a roleplaying way out of this you should have picked a different NPC.
2) Find vantage point that he cannot secure
3) Insert sniper rounds and spells
4) Don't miss
5) Vacate Premises
Not that the above would be easy, but at the end of the day Kane is "just" a very high end Shadowrunner who's not even particularly good at staying to the shadows. Even Blackbeard one day picked too much a fight.
Also hoping for roleplaying solutions? How could this kind of requirement be met other then by murder or overwhelming force. Even if you did find some leverage or peaceful solution your putting your rep that the job got done in the hands of a borderline socipathic terrorist. If you wanted them to find a roleplaying way out of this you should have picked a different NPC.
QUOTE (ShadowDragon8685 @ Aug 25 2012, 10:06 PM)
If you really want to kill Kane, as I said first, your best is to frame him for a brazen, overt attack that pisses off some huge power at a level they can't afford to ignore or write off as the cost of doing business. Make it personal for them, to the point where they're willing to accept that it will cost them more to kill him than they will save by eliminating his depridations for the rest of his projected life expectancy, and they'll crush him like an insect. Frame him for an attack on Ares and the Thor shot comes down on his boat. Frame him for an attack on AZT/Aztlan, and the blood mage ritual circle makes his brain explode. Frame him for an attack on the CAS and they send half their navy to hunt him down at all costs. Frame him for an attack on the Caribbean leauge and there will be commandos waiting in any and every port he might potentially try to take refuge in to storm his ship and murder him. Frame him for an attack on Denver (not sure how) and Ghostwalker will eat him... You get the idea.
Actually, I wanted to introduce a counterpoint here: Kane is already a pretty well-entrenched, professional Prime Pirate with tons of resources, contacts, and friends in high places.
At his level in the food chain on the shadows, its very very likely that the big corps use him to smack on their competitors. If a big company is launching products and shipping it out, and just happens to be putting it on water - going to one of the world's best Sea shadowrunners and saying "Here's a few million and some shipping routes for a boat. We don't care if you sink it or sell what's on it in a few months, just make it go away".
What this means is he's everyone's good and bad side at the same time. He certainly has enemies he's wronged in the past, but at the same time, he's a great tool to use if you want to hurt the other guy MORE.
This approach also means there's alreadg going to be existing rivalries to exploit, and setups and traps to consider with job offers as the team figures out a way to get to the guy.
Hey guys, thanks for all the responses. I promise I haven't vacated the thread, life's just been busy lately.
Anyway, preparing for the worst, I've been scrolling through my fancy new copy of Deadly Waves. I noticed that the Razing Kane (his favorite boat) is an Aztech Tiburon...a corvette class ship.
Now, another of my failings is a complete lack of knowledge regarding anything naval. Does anyone know exactly how big that would be? Bigger than a cruiser and smaller than a frigate is...kind of a big category. I've found that in general they can support one VTOL craft (currently, only helicopters), but what would the crew be for a ship that size? And if he really owns a whole fleet, what else should I include?
Also, regarding this:
Yes, Kane is a borderline personality. But if runners can't negotiate with sociopaths and come out alive, they clearly don't belong in the shadows. I'm well aware that Kane isn't a Nice Guy, and I'm not planning on playing him as one, but a few of my players are consummate negotiators (especially the utility mage), both in and out of character. While Kane is not particularly well known for his polite business dealings, I view him as an opportunist above all else. If the option to make a greater profit by ignoring New Orleans than by raiding it should arise, I don't see any reason he wouldn't take it.
And if the affair with /dev/grrl has proven anything, it's that Kane has a sense of humor and appreciates a big set of brass cajones.
~R~
Anyway, preparing for the worst, I've been scrolling through my fancy new copy of Deadly Waves. I noticed that the Razing Kane (his favorite boat) is an Aztech Tiburon...a corvette class ship.
Now, another of my failings is a complete lack of knowledge regarding anything naval. Does anyone know exactly how big that would be? Bigger than a cruiser and smaller than a frigate is...kind of a big category. I've found that in general they can support one VTOL craft (currently, only helicopters), but what would the crew be for a ship that size? And if he really owns a whole fleet, what else should I include?
Also, regarding this:
QUOTE (LurkerOutThere @ Aug 26 2012, 11:58 AM)
Also hoping for roleplaying solutions? How could this kind of requirement be met other then by murder or overwhelming force. Even if you did find some leverage or peaceful solution your putting your rep that the job got done in the hands of a borderline socipathic terrorist. If you wanted them to find a roleplaying way out of this you should have picked a different NPC.
Yes, Kane is a borderline personality. But if runners can't negotiate with sociopaths and come out alive, they clearly don't belong in the shadows. I'm well aware that Kane isn't a Nice Guy, and I'm not planning on playing him as one, but a few of my players are consummate negotiators (especially the utility mage), both in and out of character. While Kane is not particularly well known for his polite business dealings, I view him as an opportunist above all else. If the option to make a greater profit by ignoring New Orleans than by raiding it should arise, I don't see any reason he wouldn't take it.
And if the affair with /dev/grrl has proven anything, it's that Kane has a sense of humor and appreciates a big set of brass cajones.
~R~
QUOTE (Raiki @ Aug 26 2012, 10:45 PM)
Now, another of my failings is a complete lack of knowledge regarding anything naval. Does anyone know exactly how big that would be? Bigger than a cruiser and smaller than a frigate is...kind of a big category. I've found that in general they can support one VTOL craft (currently, only helicopters), but what would the crew be for a ship that size? And if he really owns a whole fleet, what else should I include?
Ship classes these days don't mean much. Particular from CGL
The traditional hierarchy of ship sizes, from largest to smallest is:
Cruiser
Destroyer
Frigate
Corvette
Patrol Vessel
For the USN:
A modern cruiser (Ticonderoga CG-47) is about 9000 tons, 563 feet long with a crew of 33 officers, 27 chiefs and 340 enlisted.
A modern Destroyer (Spruce DDG-111) is 9100 tons, 508 feet long with a crew of about 320 total.
A modern frigate (INGRAHAM FFG-61) is about 4100 tons, 453 feel long with a crew of 17 officers and 198 enlisted.
The USN doesn't use corvettes, but the various ones in use by Europe range from (Sweden) about 400 tons, 180 feet and crew of 40 to (Germany) 1840 tons, 292 feet long with a crew of 65.
So yeah, you can see how his ships never get noticed by anyone, due only to the awesome power of PLOT.
QUOTE
Yes, Kane is a borderline personality. But if runners can't negotiate with sociopaths and come out alive, they clearly don't belong in the shadows. I'm well aware that Kane isn't a Nice Guy, and I'm not planning on playing him as one, but a few of my players are consummate negotiators (especially the utility mage), both in and out of character. While Kane is not particularly well known for his polite business dealings, I view him as an opportunist above all else. If the option to make a greater profit by ignoring New Orleans than by raiding it should arise, I don't see any reason he wouldn't take it.
Sure. What can they offer him in exchange? Who is going to fund their promises? I'm not familiar with him, but he's got the firepower roughly equal to the Cuban Navy and air force. He'll crush you like a bug if you annoy him. He's a justifiably paranoid guy who can afford to hire highly competent personal security. Hence the PCs won't get an easy shot at him, and if they start something it will meet an immediate, massive and highly effective response.
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