A few weeks back I posted a thread about creating a flexible yet deadly character, and received lots of good advice. I ended up going with a skillwire-based character with enough reflexes and weapons skills to hold her own in a fight. (As a reminder, this was core book only; no supplements!) Here's what I ended up with:

Jessica "Nails" Kallinsen

Generation: Resources A, Attributes B, Skills C, Magic D, Race E

Body: 4
Quickness: 6
Strength: 2
Charisma: 4
Intelligence: 6
Willpower: 5
Essence: 6 (~1.28)
Reaction: 6 (10)
Init. Dice: 1 (3)
Combat Dice Pool: 8

Assault Rifles / AK97 5 / 7
Pistols 6
Etiquette 4
Stealth / Alertness 5 / 7
Biotech 6
Electronics 6

Corporate Culture 6
Corporate Security (Novatech) 5 / 7
Military Tactics and Procedures 6
Arms Dealers 6
High Finance 6
Corporate Architecture (Novatech) 2 / 4
Fine Art 3

Elvish 5
R/W 2
Japanese 4
R/W 2

Cyberware (everything but the skillwires is Alpha):
Skillwires (6; 108 MP)
Smartlink
2x Chipjack
Datajack
Knowsoft Link
Wired Reflexes II w/trigger

Main gun:
AK-97, smartlinked, gas venting III, shock pads, ultrasound sight, full combo scope, plenty of spare clips of all obtainable ammo types

Plenty of other gear of course.

---

Our fixer, Max Spelling, set us up with a new Johnson named Nigel, who offered us 20,000 nuyen each (five of us) to obtain a case from a lab, swap it for another case, and return case #2 to him. Case #1 was in a lab, but security would be off and the place empty. After the usual haggling (price didn't go up, but he offered the location of lootable stuff in the lab) and intimidation to reduce the risk of betrayal, we got a map of the lab and off we went.

Coming in the secret emergency exit, we had no trouble finding the lab and lifting the case. While looting the other labs, we were less than overjoyed to hear explosions and gunfire coming from the other side of the security door (leading to the rest of the building, where we knew better than to go). We beat a hasty retreat, guessing that more than one person was looking for this case.

When we picked the lock, we understood why: an advanced prototype cyberskull with several data disks. Lacking time to make a full copy of the data, we called to affirm completion of stage 1 and got the location for the case switch and the name of our contact. Thankfully, we had enough time to do a full recon of the site (waterfront, empty warehouses, no sign of any presence either physical or magical) and line the case with explosives (remote detonated) in case of a double-cross.

The meet was at an intersection -- the fire team went on an adjacent rooftop, with the ground team in a nearby alley and the getaway vehicle parked on the street (all within sight). Time passed...5 minutes over time...10...15...then we hear an approaching car. To our chagrin, it drives wildly into the intersection and crashes into a lamppost, riddled with bullets. The driver is clearly dead. Then we hear a car and helicopter approaching...and it's action time.

The helicopter swiftly moves to hover over the intersection, it's side doors open. Eight commandoes can be seen readying ziplines -- but before they can descend, Nails opens up with her AK-97. Three bursts later, the helicopter's engine gives out and it plummets to the ground. Unfortunately, the short drop does little to the heavily armored strike team inside. [This was a wonderful intro to combat for me: free action to eject explosive rounds, simple to insert standard ammo, then three simple actions (over two phases of course) burst-firing merrily away!]

The rest of the team moves into position, opening fire on the commandoes, who move toward the car and begin shooting out the windows. The approaching car is rammed by our rigger, who stuns the two Awakened individuals in the front, then finishes them off with his SMG before they can recover. From the rooftop, the mage detects a strange and powerful Awakened presence in the back -- more a creature than a sentient being -- but with its handlers dead, it remains locked in the car for the remainder of the fight.

Several of the commandoes manage to reach the case inside the car and pry it from the hands of our dead contact...but from our rooftop firing position, there was nowhere for them to go. In a few seconds all but one was dead or dying. The last commando cowered behind the chopper hoping we would forget him. No such luck.

I called down from the rooftop: "Put down your weapons and step forward with your hands up!" First an AR-97, then a Browning Hi-Power, were tossed forward, then the commando stood and walked forward. I took careful aim...brrap. Eight down. [The GM was rather surprised...hey, it's Shadowrun!]

We got the case, blew the car with the creature inside (it was some evil cyber-zombie thing), and called our Johnson to make the final drop and get paid. Ring...ring...ring...

Uh oh.

---

As you can see, the run went /very/ well for us. I definitely dished out the most damage by far, with the combat mage's stunballs coming in second. These commandoes were some Renraiku Red Samurai team (don't know if the GM made them up or took them from a book), but they were badass -- and still I was giving them serious wounds or worse with each hit. They did manage to drop our orc who made a run for the case, but we revived and healed him after the fight. I didn't take a scratch, mainly because the range on my gun let me stay well back from the action.

Looking forward to kicking more butt next week!

Sounds like fun Sand. I think your GM was surprised by you offing the comandoe because knowledge is power, who were they, what were they after, what sort of trouble have you gotten yourselves into. But nice job none the less.

I did love oyur coment about a 'secret emergency exit'. I could just see some poor employee during a fire, "Where did they put that emergency door? Was it behind the filing cabinet? Or is it hiding underneath my desk?" Nothing like keeping secrets from your employees.

If those were your GM's version of Red Samurai then my players would love him. I always treated the Red Samurai as the best of the best, so long as it was straight up combat. Not exactly high marks in my book for subtelty. But it is your game not mine.

Well, Sand, something having your Johnson offed by sinister agents is the best way to get ahead in the biz.... or at least a cyber head.....

Is it a good idea to tie up a chipslot with a skill that you're pretty much guarenteed to use constantly?

Our GM said that we got a default language we didn't have to pay for...I thought the rules didn't work that way, but whatever. So my default language (which is English) didn't show on the sheet. Sorry!

As for offing a potential source of information -- once I realized these guys were elite, I figured that a) they would have considerable counterinterrogation training and b) they wouldn't know much more than "our boss ordered us to come here". There actually was one of them unconscious from a stun spell that we could have saved, but once we found some addresses in the contact's pocket secretary we figured it wasn't worth the risk.

These guys definitely did not display the tactics of a top-level squad; not sure if that was intentional or a GM failing. I suppose it could be presumed they operating with incomplete info and/or on a very short timetable without time to set up a more involved plan.

I think your GM did a fine job. Sounds like a really exciting game, and those are the best. When I see my players sitting on the edge of their seats, wit one leg jinggling and that glint of excitement in their eyes, I know I did a good job

So kudos to your GM, and make sure to tell us how the rest of the story goes!

It's been a while since I looked at the First Run book, but wasn't there a different ending to the adventure when it was published? I remembered it kept going after the Renraku Red Sams dropped in...

The Abstruse One

Don't post it here -- I didn't know this was a book adventure, but if so I'm still in it!

I almost did spoil it, but realized you might have only half-finished it and/or your GM changed it (which would be a wise move in my book, but saying more would be spoiling, people who've read/played the adventure will know what I'm talking about).

The thing with the Red Samurai in that run came up in a different post where several reasons why the RS almost always get eaten alive by the runners was explained. It's a wide-open street and the RS drop down with no cover giving the PCs plenty of time to load their weapons and fire as they're hitting the ground. Plus the CZ in the thing (which the PCs in this game apparently blew up before it had a chance to get out) had to have been mentally retarded. Basically, good soldiers made mistakes thus allowing the less experienced characters wipe them out. It's still a challenging encounter if the players don't know basic tactics (find cover, set up cross-fires, etc), but it's a lot less challenging than it should be.

Just for future reference, dead men may tell no tales, but live ones can be downright talkative. Always leave one alive to interrogate. You can blow his brains out at your leisure then.

The Abstruse One

Stealing from Corp. Sec, I see.

Don