You come out of the bar and walk over towards your bike. There is a child upon it, about 7-9 years of age. They are kindly asking for 5 creds in exchange for watching your bike. What do you do.

tell em to hop it....... saying that child or not if they had sat in Atilluses bike she would have thumped them! theheheh but she aint a nice person.


torz x

Depends. What methods and resources do I have available? This varies heavily both on the personality and the archetype of the character in question.

It also involves the assumption that the bike didn't zap the kid with an anti-theft device the instant they touched it.

~J

I wonder how he got past the electro-shock anti-theft system.

Or:

"Sorry kid, I don't play at kiddy arcades. Get your credits somewhere else."

Or:

"Here's five nuyen kid, now scram." Then I go get that electro-shock anti-theft system installed.

Heh...that situation is SO a trap. If you flip a coin to 'em, the shadows sprout gangers who decide "hey, he/she's got money!" and rob you blind.

Of course, if you don't, you later find out he/she was either a needy child found dead of hunger the next day or he/she is actually an free spirit manifested, and now it doesn't like you...

The Sam flips them a few creds (probably 10). He's a nice guy with an elf who's way to good for him, so he tries to be nice. Until someone hurts/annoys her.

The Adept-Shaman? Well, doesn't have a bike (car instead), but is liable to flip the creds if he's got some on him, if the kid doesn't bother him. Kid bothers him or he has a serious headache/sunburn/other thing annoying him, then he's more likely to ask his ally spirit to manifest in the 'huge black demon' shape and scare said kid away

Ok, working with my characters and going down the list:

Alex: tell the kid to scram. She'd probably start the bike up with the kid still on it and send him on the ride of his life (potentially the last, depending on how well he or she hangs on) if the kid doesn't.

Lloyd: He'd laugh, toss the kid ten credits, tell him or her to beat it. Probably the nicest of the characters I've played recently.

Edit: he also has by far the highest income of any of the listed characters, and the only regular income. Coincidence?

Major: Tell the kid to get out. Maybe if she had enough for next month's rent she'd consider giving him a nuyen.

Juri: Probably organleg the kid.

[Mage I'm working on right now]: Wipe the kid's memory, leave him wondering how he got there, and drive off.

~J

I'd tell the kid s/he can have 5 nuyen for washing and polishing the bike. That way, I can't be accused of being a total asshole to a starving kid and it can't be said I was ripped off necessarily.

"Here's 10, now get outta here."

Remotely trigger the electro-shock and as I drove away, place an anonymous call to child welfare services at lone-star.

Goodness, with the range of characters I've played it would go from:

"Hey, kid, here's 10, get yourself somethin' that'll stick to those ribs. Word of advice, though, not every biker is as nice as I am, so I'd chill on the sitting on a stranger's bike stuff."

and that advice brings me to the other end of the spectrum:

"How 'bout I give you 5 nuyen worth of bullets if you don't get the hell off my bike?"

CoalHeart would have to do this if it's in his home turf area.

The burly ganger looking ork glares at the kid, looking him over from head to toe and back up again a few times. He'd then look down the street and around, keeping an aye out for a setup of some kind.

Assuming all is Jake(uncommon):

Coalheart walks up to the kid and sneers. "I'll give you 500, and let you keep this." he pulls the one of the many spare Ceska light pistol from some concealed holster. "If you get the frag off my bike, and smoke that punk right there." He gestures at some rival ganger or a Uptowner slumming it.

Assuming it's a bad situation (which is common):
Coalheart pulls a Pred-3 from an armpit holster, uses his datajack plugged radio to detonate the Bike's underseat kg of c-12 with the kid on it, while calling in his crew for back up and running for cover and laying down some fire.

Edit:
The joys of being a relatively rich ganger/shadowrunner. Money is good, and wasting money is fun.

Kake (Troll "Street Sam" with a penchance for breaking down doors -- especially ones that are dikoted (and the walls aren't. )): "Get the frag off my bike before I club you one!"

Bob (Cyberzombie, full body replacement. Need I say more?): "...Off..."

Wolf (Based on Wolfwood from Trigun): "That's nice, kid. Have 10 and don't ever come back to me."

Slag (Troll psychopath): "Nobody touches my bike!" Shoots the kid.

If the kid had the guts to say that to Bob, it'd be worth the cred.

~J

I think kids have the guts to say anything to anybody if they're paid enough.

*BLAM!* *BLAM!* *BLAM!*

*reloading noises*

*BLAM!*

Maybe it's a tri-barrel shotgun?

~J

Too many variables to answer it properly. My answer would, like others have stated, would depend on what I was playing for a character, what was going down, etc...

Nick (Ganger): "Kid, get off my bike right the frag now, or I'm going to pitch you face first into the sidewalk."

Weasel: "You don't need money to be happy, kid. In fact...(launches into long speech about the joys of communism)

Ash: "Here's five. Scram."

Depends on the character.

Brick the human physad ex-pro combat biker: give him the 5 cred and an autograph too.
Ace of Spades, human aspected mage: give the kid a 10 and do a magic trick for him.
Gator, human merc weapons specialist: Look around for a trap and then not violently nor gently remove the kid from his bike.
Phreaker, dwarf trid pirate and decker: would remove the unconcious kid from his van (shock security system) and lean him up against a nearby building and call LS child services.
Commodore Jones: human rigger: would see the kid and whatever else is happening to his van from at least four different airial drones (not to mention the van itself) through his CRD and would tell the kid to get the hell off his van through the intercom.

So, uh, what the hell does this have to do with street rep? No one's around to see you kill the kid, and chances are the kid won't ever know who you are if you give him money. He's ostensibly picked your buke by random, unless you want to read too much into the example, so what, exactly, is the point of all this?

Little Bill: (If no one is watching) "Here's 10 now go get something to eat."
Little Bill: (If others are watching) "Scram!"
The Jester: levitates the kid five feet into the air and calmly climbs onto his bike and drives off, lowering the kid to the ground just before he's out of sight.
Red Cloud: "That's not my bike."

What Rating is the neighborhood?

And all the ghoul characters chorus, "Lunch!"

Let's see...

Blake: "Heh... Here, have a twenty. Are you lost? Where are your parents? You know, you really shouldn't be doing this, this is not a nice part of town. Alex?* Can we give the kid a ride? But I feel bad leaving him here..." (Blake has once, on a whim, spent a free DocWagon resuscitation and 15,000 on hospital care for a random ganger he saw getting beaten to a pulp. He's a big softie, except when going up against other career criminals, mercenaries, or quality corp security personnel, who he figures all knew what they were getting into.)

*see Kagetenshi's post

Glitch: *uses roughly 150k of sense-enhancement cyber to scan the area for anyone using the kid as bait, sneaks up on the kid undetected and gets a silenced pistol ready* "How did you get by the security system?"

Levitate the kid off the bike and into the nearest dumpster.

a little bit of a spoiler since somebody asked.

Hmm, change my manabolt to firebolt in that case.

Sorry, my PC doesn't have a bike.

Sven would pluck the kid off the bike using Levitate, and deposit him gently on the sidewalk.

Phil'd offer the kid thirty seconds to get out of his sight. I'm not sure he was actually a sufficiently cold-blooded killer to murder the kid if he didn't take that generous offer, but he could certainly project the attitude to make it believable.

Phil's partner Kiera, at a guess, would've thrown a grenade at something, and then kicked the kid in the head and ridden off on her bike while everyone was distracted by things blowing the hell up. But that's just a guess. I ran with her for years and could never anticipate what she was going to do, except that it would usually involve totally stupid quantities of explosives, mindboggling dice luck, and a complete disregard for the safety of life and limb, her own or anyone else's. The chick was certifiable. But never boring.

It'd never happen to Quis, because no one would get that close to his van without him knowing everything from what weapons they were carrying to their mother's maiden name.

Jack'd pull a credstick, toss it to the kid, then climb on her bike and ride off. And about the time she got out of sight, the credstick would vanish into thin air.

Tom would say, "I don't know whose bike that is, but it's not mine. But I'll give you a tip anyway...... never pet a burning dog."

My character would probably try to drive off with the kid and deposit him somewhere safer. Maybe throw the kid a few hundred and tell him to stay away from street gangs.

Or maybe... an apprentice...

my latest guy Dwarf by the name Cid Burn would look at the kid funny (a scary thing from a guy with an acid melted face) and tell him " get off......NOW!" if hes nice and gets off 2 or 3 creds for him

<rubs temples> I see a backhand in the kid's future.

i get the oddest feeling that the first game Weredigo ever played was Paranoia.

I know that you are not questioning the wisdom of of submitting a malleable mind to the benevolent guidance of Computer. No, you are surely not.

Hmmm. Let's see. Bike that my character (supposedly) owns. Kid asking for 5 in payment for watching it for me while I was in the bar. Bunch of people who look like they shop at the same store watching what I do...

Well, let's take this on a character by character basis.

Fenris, the Loki Shaman Magician-Adept: Well, depending on his mood of the day, and whether or not the kid expected to see a 6'4'' Norweigan (sp?) man in perfectly chic runner gear and a big, horned viking hat instead of, say, a clown (any vehicle of Fenris' tends to be . . . interestingly decorated). He'd either give the kid some money (that he would inform the child is ALSO candy, and proceed to eat a coin to prove it), and thank him for a job well done, or pay him an extra hundred nuyen to go up to the first six people he sees and say "Do you know you have cheese on your head?", sending his hoard of Watcher spirits along to make it so that anyone the kid says this to actually does have cheese on their head.

Siren, Sorceress and current Knight Errant employee: Would give the nice kid some money, ask a few questions to make sure they weren't starving too badly on the streets, and then take off and think nothing more of it. Unless the people watching decided to interfere, then they get to see what a powerful sorceress can do, especially when she can have KE backup there in no time flat.

Mr. Smirk, Sniper, fixer, nightclub owner: Would give the kid some money, and then offer him a job where his obvious talents at defeating high-level security measures would be put to best use. A quick call later, and the kid would have a new identity (or three), room and board, and be starting in on his new life working for the Man Who Knows Everybody.

Raven, Mad Mage and threat to the world, the early years: Would have magically raped the kid's mind for a few minutes to determine if he or the people watching were a threat. If yes, then the kid dies suddenly of a massive embolism (Manabolt), and everybody else gets crispy fried in the resulting magical drekstorm. If no, Raven unceremoniously shoves the kid off his bike, doesn't say a word, and drives off.

Raven, Mad Mage and threat to the world, the Later Years: Raven takes in the kid, the bike, the people watching, and considers. Then kills everyone in a three hundred meter radius (Yes, he can do this. No, do not ask how) except the kid, leans in close and says: "Sorry, I don't carry cash, but I'm sure you can scrounge up far more than five nuyen from all the people you just asked me to kill." Then rides away, to do more harm to the universe.

pay the kid, nod to the other guys wearing the kid's colors, and drive off. they did what i told 'em to do, they get paid what i told 'em i'd pay 'em. ganger backup's usually more expensive, though.

Shinarion: "Offer the kid 150 to come with me no questions asked. Once out of sight of most people, kill the kid and move on"

BlackJack: "keep walking and say it's not my bike. Once around the corner turn on its anti-theft system I seem to have forgotten to turn on. If it fries the kid, I walk back and take off. If he disabled it, I offer him some , take him back to the doss and see what else he can do."

Sinner: "Organleg him. Only thing to do."

Munchie: "I invoke and twist obscure rules that kill him and everyone around without anyone being able to react. Since I know the game's rules better then the GM I manage to get away with it for a while" (Ok, he didn't actually say this, but it's what he'd do)

And my character. Kane: "Ask the kid where he found my bike, since last I saw I had tossed it down into the orc underground strapped with explosives."

Snakeeyes: *arches an eyebrow, uses her DNI-equipped radio to start the bike and send it speeding around the block, throwing the kid off in the process* "I don't see you watching any bike."

Chromed: "This isn't the nices of neighbourhoods, you know. Where's your parents? Gone? I see... Tell you what. Have 5 on me..." *writes down the address to contact in orphanage* "...and if you go here, ask to see Jimmy and tell him Chromed sent you. He'll have another 5 and something to eat."

Zeitgeist: "How about you give me five nuyen and I won't trigger the bikes electroshock theft protection."

Ms. Johnson: "I'll give you ten to follow that guy over there and call me on this disposable cellphone when you see what building he enters".

"No. But I'll give you double if you tell me who are these guys watching us, 10 more if you know why and as a bonus I won't hurt you if it turns out you were sent by them. "

Roleplaying is all fine and dandy but, seriously, in that situation I'd want info more than an occasion to show off my character's empathy or mean spiritedness toward a 9 year old!

All my characters carry hard currency for just such eventualities.

Timothy carter: Rigger, start enjoins on half dozen vehicles, toss cash to kid and address the world in general, well you got balls, interesting spin making the fee for your protection racket less than the cost of ammunition.

Sticks (athletes way adept, champion of the downtrodden) shore, want some more work (cleaning something as an excuse to give kid enough to survive).

Stary knight (shaman and rich kid, more $ than cents).

Others I like.

Hand over some cash & ask “so what is with heavies for a 5 nuyen scam.

I don’t pay for what I didn’t ask for, you want money reload these, (hand kid bag of 10 AR clips and 50 boxes of bullets)

What’s your number, ill call you when I got something I need watched.

Edward