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Message no. 1
From: Mark A Shieh SHODAN+@***.EDU
Subject: False Saints and True SINners (WAS: Re: Declaration vs. Constitution)
Date: Fri, 21 May 1999 16:28:24 -0400 (EDT)
GMPax@***.com writes:
> Yeah. I've also done the million-nuyen samurai, with only _maybe_
> 100K nuyen
> of actual gear on him in any given run / adventure. Had permanend squatter
> lifestyles in about fifteen cities around the globe, complete with basic,
> minimum gear and some cred in each, along with a fake ID or two. Was great,
> everyone else worried about being tracked down, all I did was ask the GM
> "which country THIS time?"

What do you consider basic gear for a stash like this? I'm
thinking some certified cred (or fake ID and cred), a gun, body armor,
ration bars, and a medkit, but I'm curious what other people consider
basic gear that they would like to be redundant. I'd consider adding
a survival knife and an electronics B/R kit, depending on the concept.
Also, how do you get into your stash? Do you carry around a
maglock passkey, or a master key of some sort, or do you have
individual keys for each?

Mark
Message no. 2
From: Steve Collins einan@*********.net
Subject: False Saints and True SINners (WAS: Re: Declaration vs. Constitution)
Date: Fri, 21 May 99 17:50:31 -0400
On 5/21/99 4:28 pm, Mark A Shieh said:

>GMPax@***.com writes:
>> Yeah. I've also done the million-nuyen samurai, with only _maybe_
>> 100K nuyen
>> of actual gear on him in any given run / adventure. Had permanend squatter
>> lifestyles in about fifteen cities around the globe, complete with basic,
>> minimum gear and some cred in each, along with a fake ID or two. Was
great,
>> everyone else worried about being tracked down, all I did was ask the GM
>> "which country THIS time?"
>
> What do you consider basic gear for a stash like this? I'm
>thinking some certified cred (or fake ID and cred), a gun, body armor,
>ration bars, and a medkit, but I'm curious what other people consider
>basic gear that they would like to be redundant. I'd consider adding
>a survival knife and an electronics B/R kit, depending on the concept.
> Also, how do you get into your stash? Do you carry around a
>maglock passkey, or a master key of some sort, or do you have
>individual keys for each?
>
>Mark
>
>
>
My current character that does this has the following stashed in 4
squatter lifestyles

Secure Ultra vest
Heavy Pistol
6 full clips (3 Gel, 3 Regular)
Light Pistol
4 full clips (2 Gel, 2 Regular)
Medkit
Concealable Holster
2 sets of clothes (1 fancy 1 low class)
Handset Phone
500 Nuyen certified credstick
coppies of a fake Sin that never gets used otherwise
Survival Kit
Tool Kit
10 days ration bars
Message no. 3
From: Oliver McDonald oliver@*********.com
Subject: False Saints and True SINners (WAS: Re: Declaration vs. Constitution)
Date: Fri, 21 May 1999 16:55:43 -0700 (PDT)
On Fri, 21 May 99 17:50:31 -0400, Steve Collins wrote:

>My current character that does this has the following stashed in 4
>squatter lifestyles
>
>Secure Ultra vest
>Heavy Pistol
>6 full clips (3 Gel, 3 Regular)
>Light Pistol
>4 full clips (2 Gel, 2 Regular)
>Medkit
>Concealable Holster
>2 sets of clothes (1 fancy 1 low class)
>Handset Phone
>500 Nuyen certified credstick
>coppies of a fake Sin that never gets used otherwise
>Survival Kit
>Tool Kit
>10 days ration bars
>


Ever noticed how poorly cheap squats are protected? One day you are going to try to
fall back on one of these, and you will find 10 empty ration bar wrappers and nothing
else. Especially if your GM reads this msg...

-----------------------------------------------------------
Oliver McDonald - oliver@*********.com
http://web2.spydernet.com/oliver/
-----------------------------------------------------------
Space. The Final Frontier. Let's not close it down.
Brought to you via CyberSpace, the recursive frontier.

"that is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even death may
die."
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ICQ: 38158540
Message no. 4
From: Gurth gurth@******.nl
Subject: False Saints and True SINners (WAS: Re: Declaration vs. Constitution)
Date: Sat, 22 May 1999 11:38:43 +0200
According to Mark A Shieh, at 16:28 on 21 May 99, the word on
the street was...

> What do you consider basic gear for a stash like this? I'm
> thinking some certified cred (or fake ID and cred), a gun, body armor,
> ration bars, and a medkit, but I'm curious what other people consider
> basic gear that they would like to be redundant. I'd consider adding
> a survival knife and an electronics B/R kit, depending on the concept.

Here's something from the Millennium's End list which had a similar thread
not too long ago. For those that don't know the game, ME is set in more or
less the modern world with PCs doing very much Shadowrun-style jobs for
whoever hires them. The post below is thus aimed at what's currently
available, but some creativity allows this to be easily adapted to SR.

-----
Date sent: Thu, 11 Mar 1999 01:18:13 -0600
From: "Robert J. Hansen" <rjhansen@****.net>
To: millenniums-end-l@*******.com
Subject: [ME]: Portable God-Forbid Bags
Send reply to: millenniums-end-l@*******.com

A while ago someone on the list suggested the use of small God Forbid
bags which could be carried under the seat of a car, on the person,
etc. I'm going to *attempt* to categorize the important things to
include in this bag.

Things to remember when packing your personal bag:

* Carry only the absolute essentials needed to SURVIVE. We're not
talking about the essentials needed to continue a mission; we're talking
the essentials needed to survive long enough to regroup.
* Keep It Simple, Stupid.

1. Lawyers, Guns and Money
With these three you've got nothing to fear. However, not all three
should be in your emergency pack. A copy of a PI license, driver's
license and other essential ID would be a good idea, as well as forged
papers if possible.
Guns should not be carried in the personal God Forbid bag. The reason
is very simple: guns take up considerable weight and volume which could
be better spent with other equipment. On top of that, it is very likely
that the operative will already be carrying a gun on his/her body;
therefore, another gun would be redundant. Carrying around a spare
magazine and/or box of cartridges might be a prudent move, though.
Money is not essential, but it helps. $100 cash is enough to get you a
hotel room for a night, enough to get a bus straight out of town, enough
to do lots of important things.
A roll of quarters is always handy for vending machines and the like.
Lawyers, guns and money should take up very little weight and/or volume
in your pack. Most of this stuff is compressible in the extreme, and
identity papers are fairly light.

2. Communications, Command and Control
If you can't talk to your teammates, you're as good as gone. When
communications fail, everything else is poised to soon fail. If your
operative is separated from the group, re-establishing communications is
an absolutely critical priority. To this end, carry a cellphone in your
portable bag. Ensure that it is registered under a false name, one
which you have *never* used *anywhere else*. Even then, assume the cell
phone is compromised; the cell phone is a last-ditch emergency
communications tool, not your regular one.
Your regular communications tool should be a $50 pre-paid calling card
-- two of them, if possible. Payphones in public areas are the best
ones to use them in.
*Do not* keep a list of "important phone numbers" in your bag. Nor
should you program the cellphone with speed-dial numbers. If you do
this and you get captured, you give your adversaries an enormous amount
of very useful intel.

3. "MEDIC!"
Pack along a first-aid kit. This can quite literally be the difference
between life and death. It will occupy a fair bit of space in your
pack, but don't worry about it; it'll be space and weight well-used.
Your first aid kit should not be a standard hiking first-aid-kit that
you buy over the counter at Wal-Mart (hell, even the hardcore hikers
that I know make their own instead of using those). I am not a medical
authority, so take this as a best guess instead of a hard and fast rule:

* Foil blanket. Not only is this good for warmth, it can be used as a
makeshift tarp/poncho, and can also be used to staunch some of the
nastier varieties of thoracic wounds.
* Sterile gauze dressing. Don't even bother with the small 2-inch
pads; if you're hurt badly enough to need first aid, you're hurt badly
enough to break out the 4x4s, the 8x4s, etc. A dressing the size of a
largish paperback book is good; make sure it's nice and thick, something
that can really absorb a lot of bodily fluids.
* Rubber gloves. You might have to use these things on someone else,
after all, and the risk of blood-borne disease is just too darn high.
* Ace bandages are handy. So is athletic tape. You only really need
one or the other, though, and my bet's on the tape.
* Forceps are a nice addition if you have the room. Tweezers, too.
* NO ASPIRIN. Aspirin is an anticoagulant; if you take aspirin, your
blood will take much longer to clot. This has the potential to kill you
if you take a penetrating wound. Instead, pack along ibuprofen and
acetaminophen.
* A small bottle of Betadine goes a long way towards minimizing the
risk of infection. Alternately, pack along a bottle of Hibiclens hand
soap -- it's the real deal of antibacterial soaps, unlike the weak
triclosan-based ones available on the market today.
* A disposable razor, a toothbrush, a travel-size bar of soap and
travel-size tube of toothpaste add very little to the size of the first
aid kit, but can do wonders to improve your quality of life when you're
on the run.

... Remember that the purpose of this first-aid kit isn't to treat the
minor dings and scrapes in life; it's to treat potentially
life-threatening wounds in such a manner as to give you a decent chance
of surviving long enough to get to the hospital. The secondary purpose
is to treat minor wounds promptly with antibacterials, to keep them from
becoming infected.
If you think that this first-aid kit is overkill, it may well be. But
if your operative takes a 9mm to the upper arm while getting away,
you'll be needing almost everything in it. This first-aid kit will
likely be bulky, but it should be able to fit in a fanny pack without
much difficulty.

4. Other Tools
A Leatherman multitool or a Swiss Army Knife is always, always a good
bet. They are simply too versatile not to include in a personal bag.
If your character has the requisite skills, a Yawara stick (Kubotan)
can be a small but very useful weapon.
A small pair of binoculars is hardly a necessity, but it could easily
become useful.
Handcuffs (should be self-explanatory)
Candy bars
Don't pack along a MagLite; they weigh too much. Instead, look into a
short-duration high-intensity Cyalume lightstick. The 12-hour ones are
pretty useless for illumination, but the shorter-duration ones work
pretty well. I'm currently sitting in a darkened room with a Cyalume
stick beside me; I wanted to see how long it lasted until it was
completely out. So far this 12-hour stick has gone 30 hours.
Unfortunately, it never was very bright at any point over the last 30
hours...
-
====================the millenniums-end-l mailing list===================....To
unsubscribe, email the words "unsubscribe millenniums-end-L" to....
...."majordomo@*******.com". For more info on Millennium's End, visit.....
......Chameleon Eclectic's web site at www.chameleon-eclectic.com........
-----

> Also, how do you get into your stash? Do you carry around a
> maglock passkey, or a master key of some sort, or do you have
> individual keys for each?

A master key might be the best option, or install keypad maglocks on the
doors. Using the same code for each would allow you to easily remember it,
but with the disadvantage that someone who learns the code of one
apartment can get into all your others as well.

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
I never seem to be able to finish what I
-> NERPS Project Leader * ShadowRN GridSec * Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
->The Plastic Warriors Page: http://shadowrun.html.com/plasticwarriors/<-
-> The New Character Mortuary: http://www.electricferret.com/mortuary/ <-

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Message no. 5
From: Paul J. Adam Paul@********.demon.co.uk
Subject: False Saints and True SINners (WAS: Re: Declaration vs. Constitution)
Date: Sun, 23 May 1999 13:51:11 +0100
In article <4.1.19990521175729.00938ad0@**********.worldnet.att.net>,
Graht <Graht@**********.worldnet.att.net> writes
>Um, this might cause a problem (depending on the intelligence and resources of
>whoever is chasing you if you have to use these SINs).
>
>A SIN that's never been used can stand out when it is used.
>
>Let's say you buy a nice basic SIN in 2056 and stash it. In 2058 you're in a
>heap of trouble and go into hiding and start using the SIN. Someone could run
>a search program to look for any SINs that have been quiet for awhile and
>suddenly pop up, and then send their boys to check those SINs out.

I'd say that was part of the rating of the scanner and the context. If
you're renting a coffin or buying a soyburger, no way is someone going to
run a full scan on your credit history. A cop pulling you over for speeding
might notice. If you apply for a mortgage with that ID then you're in much
more trouble.

>If you're going to have back up SINs I suggest using them every once in a
>while.

I used the "backup" SINs as journalists, registered mercenaries, contract
staff, et cetera. "No, Officer, I've been out of town a while. I was in
_insert foreign country_." Not enough to allay _all_ doubts, but maybe
enough to help with a suspicious cop in a casual check.

--
Paul J. Adam
Message no. 6
From: dghost@****.com dghost@****.com
Subject: False Saints and True SINners (WAS: Re: Declaration vs. Constitution)
Date: Sun, 23 May 1999 14:27:12 -0500
On Sun, 23 May 1999 13:51:11 +0100 "Paul J. Adam"
<Paul@********.demon.co.uk> writes:
>In article <4.1.19990521175729.00938ad0@**********.worldnet.att.net>,
>Graht <Graht@**********.worldnet.att.net> writes
>>Um, this might cause a problem (depending on the intelligence and
resources of
>>whoever is chasing you if you have to use these SINs).
>>
>>A SIN that's never been used can stand out when it is used.
>>
>>Let's say you buy a nice basic SIN in 2056 and stash it. In 2058
you're in a
>>heap of trouble and go into hiding and start using the SIN. Someone
could run
>>a search program to look for any SINs that have been quiet for awhile
and
>>suddenly pop up, and then send their boys to check those SINs out.

>I'd say that was part of the rating of the scanner and the context. If
>you're renting a coffin or buying a soyburger, no way is someone going
to
>run a full scan on your credit history. A cop pulling you over for
speeding
>might notice. If you apply for a mortgage with that ID then you're in
much
>more trouble.

No offense, but I think you missed Graht's point. You buy your SIN and
don't use it until you need it. The muckity-mucks run a scan for SINs
that have been dormant and are suddenly active (this could be, and likely
would be, an ongoing program.) ... The program suddenly pops up that SIN
XXXX-XXX-XXXXX has been dormant for X amount of time and has suddenly
been active doing such and such ... you probably have anywhere from a
week to a few months (if you're lucky) until everything is sorted out,
properly investigated, et al and your false SIN becomes defunct.

>>If you're going to have back up SINs I suggest using them every once in
a
>>while.

I'd also reccomend using the false SIN for mundane tasks ... it would
look a bit odd if a SIN never bought groceries. Basicly, use the SIN as
you would when "lieing low" so that when you start lieing low, there
won't be a change in SIN's behavior.

>I used the "backup" SINs as journalists, registered mercenaries,
contract
>staff, et cetera. "No, Officer, I've been out of town a while. I was in
>_insert foreign country_." Not enough to allay _all_ doubts, but maybe
>enough to help with a suspicious cop in a casual check.

Journalists could cause a problem ... Initiate a scan for articles
written by so and so. <sarcasm> Nothing more inconspicuous as a
mercenary. </sarcasm> What's contract staff?

Here's a new use for the day job flaw: the job is tied to one of the
character's flase SINs and so the character must maintain the job in
order to maintain the SIN and the money reflects the SIN's lifestyle
rather than cash that character can spend (of course, if s/he WANTS to
spend it, it's tracable.)

--
D. Ghost
(aka Pixel)
"Hello, my name is Stephen. This is Dick. He'll see if he has something
your size." -- Jug Ears
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Message no. 7
From: Rand Ratinac docwagon101@*****.com
Subject: False Saints and True SINners (WAS: Re: Declaration vs. Constitution)
Date: Sun, 23 May 1999 18:45:19 -0700 (PDT)
> No offense, but I think you missed Graht's point. You buy your SIN
and don't use it until you need it. The muckity-mucks run a scan for
SINs that have been dormant and are suddenly active (this could be, and
likely would be, an ongoing program.) ... The program suddenly pops up
that SIN XXXX-XXX-XXXXX has been dormant for X amount of time and has
suddenly been active doing such and such ... you probably have anywhere
from a week to a few months (if you're lucky) until everything is
sorted out, properly investigated, et al and your false SIN becomes
defunct.

Okay, here, I'd say this depends on the rating of the SIN. For any
really good fake SIN (I'd say rating 6 or higher), there would be an
'upkeep clause' built in. You can pay a bit of money (half or a quarter
of the cost of the SIN) per year and the creators keep the SIN 'alive'.
They program in data about you buying stuff, you living in places, you
working, you going on holidays, etc. etc. All the normal 'living'
stuff. If anyone wants to break through that, they have to test as if
they were trying to break your SIN itself. So, if you bought a rating
10 SIN, for instance, it'd cost you 100K (I think) and 25 or 50K upkeep
per year - but it'd be an almost unbreakable fallback.

Personally, I'd go for a rating 6 SIN (30K) as a backup, if that was
the minimum where you were allowed to buy upkeep. If your main SIN gets
broken and you have to go into hiding, you use this one, get yourself a
new, expensive SIN and another backup - then dump this one as soon as
you can and start living as someone else. :)

> Here's a new use for the day job flaw: the job is tied to one of the
character's flase SINs and so the character must maintain the job in
order to maintain the SIN and the money reflects the SIN's lifestyle
rather than cash that character can spend (of course, if s/he WANTS to
spend it, it's tracable.)
> D. Ghost

Not so new, Al. I've been doing this for a while. I have a combat
shaman who, under the name 'Logan Gray', works for DocWagon as a HTR
shaman (he does good healing and protective work with high powered Heal
and Armour spells). He has registered weapons, a residence, the day job
flaw and all sorts of other normal stuff under that identity. Then, he
also has his shadowrunning stuff at his safehouses. Very nice trick and
also very realistic. It's the kind of thing you can see a real
shadowrunner doing.

*Doc' gets caught because his fake SIN has him working as a simporn star...*
==Doc'
(aka Mr. Freaky Big, Super-Dynamic Troll of Tomorrow)

.sig Sauer
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Message no. 8
From: Paul J. Adam Paul@********.demon.co.uk
Subject: False Saints and True SINners (WAS: Re: Declaration vs. Constitution)
Date: Mon, 24 May 1999 23:51:56 +0100
In article <19990523.142753.-795217.1.dghost@****.com>,
dghost@****.com writes
>On Sun, 23 May 1999 13:51:11 +0100 "Paul J. Adam"
><Paul@********.demon.co.uk> writes:
>>I'd say that was part of the rating of the scanner and the context. If
>>you're renting a coffin or buying a soyburger, no way is someone going
>to
>>run a full scan on your credit history. A cop pulling you over for
>speeding
>>might notice. If you apply for a mortgage with that ID then you're in
>much
>>more trouble.
>
>No offense, but I think you missed Graht's point. You buy your SIN and
>don't use it until you need it. The muckity-mucks run a scan for SINs
>that have been dormant and are suddenly active (this could be, and likely
>would be, an ongoing program.)

Active where? At what level? (Bear in mind that I require fake IDs to
maintain lifestyle costs - it stops players accumulating them willy-nilly)

Someone loses his job - fired for whatever reason, incompetence or
redundancy or his company went under. His salary stops. He was a low-
level worker anyway, so not exactly flush with wealth or marketable skills,
what does he do?

Maybe he gets a job in a less-than-wholly-legal site, but at least it's better
than starvation... but, because he's working for less than minimum wage
and dodging taxes, and his place of work is a condemned building, he's
being paid in cash not approved credit, and is limited to spending it in
places that accept it.


For a goodly while, that person is almost an unperson. Until he climbs out
of that mess into a job that pays "real credit" instead of crumpled UCAS
dollars cash-in-hand, until he gets back into the cycle of life where bills are
paid with a tap of the credstick, he's vanished.


How many such people do you think exist, compared to a few score
shadowrunners?

>... The program suddenly pops up that SIN
>XXXX-XXX-XXXXX has been dormant for X amount of time and has suddenly
>been active doing such and such ... you probably have anywhere from a
>week to a few months (if you're lucky) until everything is sorted out,
>properly investigated, et al and your false SIN becomes defunct.

Most such people are those dipping in and out of legitimate employment,
not shadowrunners. How much time and money are you spending checking
every such person, to what reward?

>>I used the "backup" SINs as journalists, registered mercenaries,
>contract
>>staff, et cetera. "No, Officer, I've been out of town a while. I was in
>>_insert foreign country_." Not enough to allay _all_ doubts, but maybe
>>enough to help with a suspicious cop in a casual check.
>
>Journalists could cause a problem ... Initiate a scan for articles
>written by so and so.

Yep. But, put the name on the stick as that of a junior hack at the
Seattle Tribune (circulation 1,200 and still falling) and you can avoid that
problem for a while.

><sarcasm> Nothing more inconspicuous as a
>mercenary. </sarcasm>

By 2060? Read Fields of Fire. It's a more common field of employment
than now, and - as long as you're obeying the law where you are now -
thorougly legal. And it explains _so_ much...

Depends just how shadowy you are, doesn't it?

>What's contract staff?

Contract programmers would be an example today. Hired on three-month
contracts, usually younger guys with few ties and considerable mobility. No
job security, no pension plan, no paid holidays, so they're expensive per
day but they're useful to deal with short-term loads and crises.

Skills will always be mobile: this is a great way for a decker to hide. "No,
Officer, my records probably won't catch up for a while, you see I was
upgrading the Housing Allotment database in Ulan Bator for the last four
months, you've never seen such a mess, there was still COBOL code in
there, anyway it was meant to be four _weeks_ but it turned into four
_months_, and that was right after the disaster I had in New Delhi..."


Some basic homework and, up to a point, you can hide easily. If they get
to the point of actually checking Ulan Bator and New Delhi then the point
of having a fake ID - to have something that keeps casual enquiries casual
- is gone already.

That's the key issue: it gets damn hard to hide once anyone gets
interested and starts probing. The point is to satisfy the first casual
glances and prevent that interest from developing.

>Here's a new use for the day job flaw: the job is tied to one of the
>character's flase SINs and so the character must maintain the job in
>order to maintain the SIN and the money reflects the SIN's lifestyle
>rather than cash that character can spend (of course, if s/he WANTS to
>spend it, it's tracable.)

Yeah, that's not a bad way to do it. I've had a private investigator
character, for instance: ran the shadows for interest and for money, but
was a damn sight more cautious than most of his colleagues because he
had more to lose than they did.

--
Paul J. Adam
Message no. 9
From: Geoffrey Haacke knight_errant30@*******.com
Subject: False Saints and True SINners (WAS: Re: Declaration vs. Constitution)
Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 13:37:48 CST
> ><sarcasm> Nothing more inconspicuous as a
> >mercenary. </sarcasm>
>
>By 2060? Read Fields of Fire. It's a more common field of employment
>than now, and - as long as you're obeying the law where you are now -
>thorougly legal. And it explains _so_ much...
>

Another goo one is a bounty hunter. A lot of places have bounties on
Awakened beasties, and need people to hunt them. Now if the gov't is
actually serious about the bounties (and they will be if they are offering
cash) then they may be a little lenient when it comes to all that cyberware
your character is sporting (otherwise the good bounty hunters won't come).

Geoff Haacke
"if you not part of the solution then you are part of the precipitate."


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