| From: | "Paul J. Adam" <paul@********.demon.co.uk> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: Killing in Shadowrun... |
| Date: | Sat, 25 May 1996 09:16:44 +0100 |
<topcat@******.net> writes
>>Firstly, you're assuming a corporation can set up a team of shooters
>>where it wants in a city? In a AAA area? I really, really think you need
>>to do some reality checking. You have Lone Star, local rentacops, and
>>the personal security of the assorted great-and-good who dine at this
>>place, all ignoring a group of riflemen? It ain't just the runners who
>>are there, that's the whole point of using a good place to meet: all
>>that security protects you, too.
>
>Once again, you assume "shooters" to be people carrying around assembled
>weapons (and sniper rifles at that) blatantly in a city (especially a AAA
>seczone). A silenced pistol does the job just fine. So will throwing
>knives, poisons (narcojects don't have to be non-lethal), and dozens of
>other weapons. Spells work really well for this.
You still have the problem that the security at this place exists to
protect the diners: a successful assassination of a customer in an
establishment like this means they're effectively out of business. Even
an indiscreet attempt could be extremely expensive.
You brought up the sniper team, I went to work on that. Now we're down
to pistols, throwing knives and Narcojects, which need you to be much
closer to the target, still involve an overt display to use, and are
less assuredly lethal.
I'd suggest that you understate the difficulty of carrying out an attack
like this. I wouldn't let a runner team do it without extensive
preparation: a corporation may have more resources, but it still faces
the same opposition. "Yup, yup, you can kill our diners. We didn't like
being in business anyway. Guess being unemployed sounds pretty good."
>And if your runners are
>comfortable having a meet in front of a group of LS cops or rentacops or
>private security, then I probably don't want to go to any meet at all with
>them. Nothing like laying out a criminal act in front of the law to ruin
>your day.
You let people overhear discussions in places like this? Boy, in that
case the runners just hang there anyway. Today a corporate takeover,
tomorrow Governor Schultz' re-election plans.
>Even AAA zones don't have cops every ten feet scanning every
>window of every building and checking the insides of every limo that passes
>by them for anything that might be suspicious. Does a smart cop ask a
>senator to get out of his limo and be strip-searched because he's worried
>about the senator maybe being criminal? No. He doesn't dare do anything
>but smile and wave at him when he passes by. Now take this to a
>busniessman, would he do that there? Hell no, their tempers and connections
>can cost a security firm a job real quicklike. Now what if it's some
>unknown quantity that never really comes here? They pulled up on
>motorcycles and seem to have the swagger that only street-trash pick up.
>They'll be watched and closely.
Beg your pardon? And the samurai still has her neon mohawk, and the
troll checks a Panther at the door? :)
You rent an Elite for the night, you wear your best suit, and you blend.
Blending in is a shadowrunner survival trait. You fit in. You look like
one of the rich and shameless that the security is there to defend,
rather than the low and nasty that they're defending against.
>>Plus, everyone is now a little more tense. Who were those snipers there
>>to kill? Nobody is going to wait for the bullets to start hitting before
>>they act.
>
>Once again, the snipers won't be out in the open, waving guns around and
>asking people if they've seen the target. In the original example, they
>know where the targets will be and who they are. They are hidden using all
>available corporate resources. They aren't linked to the corp in any way.
>They aren't necessarily carrying anything more than a pistol with a silencer
>and that'll be concealed until it has to be used. They'll be looking just
>like everyone else around the area, maybe they'll be in a limo or in a
>window. Maybe they'll use spells instead of guns. Anyway I look at it, I
>can easily (and cheaply) create a scenario that runners can't win for an
>assassination. Would a corp know how to do this? Yes. That shouldn't even
>need to be asked. If you want the runners to live, you have them miss a shot.
And, just suppose, you have a third party who has an interest in (a)
keeping those runners alive and (b) embarrasing your corporation. The
list of candidates is endless. It suddenly stops being so quick, simple
and easy, doesn't it?
>>You also don't seem to realise how hard it is to penetrate a closed
>>culture. Hell, where I live we had the "6:57 Crew" of football
>>hooligans, who only disbanded when they got too old to enjoy it. The
>>police were never able to infiltrate them or even do much worthwhile
>>undercover surveillance, because they lived on one estate and the police
>>were very much the enemy.
>
>Here's the key to this: the UCAS is not a closed culture. End of story.
The US isn't today either. So, you can walk around in central Los
Angeles, or Atlanta, or Washington D.C., at night, with no worries?
Those residents will be cheerful, helpful and friendly? You can drive a
rental car around in Florida safely? :)
I'd say there were closed subcultures within it, just like there are
here. The US may be open, just like we are, but that doesn't extend to
every district of every town.
>>For every IRA informer, there are ten people sitting in prison with
>>their mouths sealed shut.
>
>An IRA member in the US will work differently than one in Ireland or
>England, I can tell you that much.
Yeah, they'll be limited only by the distance they have to ship their
Semtex. How would you track PIRA members in Boston? Would you even be
able to? This is the cradle of NORAID, remember. The IRA would have
Senatorial backing. You're looking for someone with an Irish accent in
Boston? Lots'o'luck...
>>Plenty of fixers around, too. Who would you want to run for, someone who
>>kept 'losing' talent? And both sides can kill you pretty easily. Fixers
>>want to live to spend the money.
>
>I'd rather work for whatever one would have me. Every runner I've had has
>gotten multiple fixers as soon as he could. I prefer to go with smart
>fixers who'd drop a source of trouble for a solid corp link. They'll always
>have quality work for quality pay. Unlike the one's who hang onto
>almost-dead groups and bite the hand that feeds them.
Got to be alive to spend the money. If your fixer keeps getting teams
mysteriously dead at meetings, those good jobs look more like bait in a
trap than an incentive.
"There are four kinds of homicide: felonious, excusable, justifiable and
praiseworthy."
Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
Paul J. Adam paul@********.demon.co.uk
