[Xexanoth]

This is just going to become a repeat of the emu war isn't it?

Oh well, time to get the Popcorn.

[Ghost Rigger]

Not really, the average Canadian can defeat several geese in combat while armed with only a hockey stick, it's just that they, you know, fly away before you can get them all. Also you'll inevitably end up stepping in goose shit if you try to engage them at close range.

[PretzelCoatl]

This is just going to become a repeat of the emu war isn't it?

I wasn't expecting a newb question on something so incredibly BASIC and integral to the functioning of the game to be so...contentious and differently understood. o.o

[Slipperychicken]

I think we have differing interpretations of what a Public Grid is.  I've taken the information on p. 220 to mean that you will always have access to a grid, one that is provided by "underfunded non-profits, outdated satellites, and the occasional good Samaritan who’s willing to share a wireless access point or two".  Yes, you can hop onto the Public Grid from anywhere in the world, but that doesn't mean you have access to every Host, indeed it's specifically mentioned there are Hosts who do not allow Public Grid Connections.

If there are Hosts that detect you're on a Public Grid and so refuse to allow a connection, they won't return a response on a "Google" search, will they?

As for Megacorporations actively looking to sell their goods, it's highly unlikely you buy from the Megacorporation in the first place.  If you want a Nuke-It Burrito you buy it from your local Stuffer Shack, not Aztechnology.  If you want an HK227 you look for Weapons World, not Saeder-Krupp.  And if you're using Ares' Global Grid it won't list the HK227 at all, but will return a listing for the Sigma-3 instead.

This is how I've interpreted the Matrix, and I fully accept it may not have been the intent, but it works.  If you want to go with the internet existing prior to 2012 and then being maintained through the various crashes then go for it, it's your game.

I meant that the public grid is a close enough analogue to the modern global internet for the purposes of doing business online. It's a vehicle for commerce that anyone can access, where any commodity, including deadly assault weapons and armored vehicles, are just a few clicks away.

As for the hosts that refuse public grid connections: Those are hosts that are so high-class that they refuse just about everybody who spends less than ¥50-60k annually on their lifestyle (i.e. only middle and higher can get in). A club selling embellished hunting weapons might do that to stroke the egos of its members, but it just doesn't make economic sense for a vendor hawking cheap AKs and bullets.

I'm starting to think that the writers didn't include rules for legitimate purchases because they didn't foresee that as a use-case. They envisioned a runner walking into a convenience store or dealership to buy something (items of availability "-" fill that niche) and they imagined runners navigating the grey/black markets for illegal items (in which case the availability rules make perfect sense), but they just didn't cover a runner simply typing "buy assault rifles" into an online search-bar and hitting enter.

[Ghost Rigger]

I meant that the public grid is a close enough analogue to the modern global internet for the purposes of doing business online. It's a vehicle for commerce that anyone can access, where any commodity, including deadly assault weapons and armored vehicles, are just a few clicks away.

As for the hosts that refuse public grid connections: Those are hosts that are so high-class that they refuse just about everybody who spends less than ¥50-60k annually on their lifestyle (i.e. only middle and higher can get in). A club selling embellished hunting weapons might do that to stroke the egos of its members, but it just doesn't make economic sense for a vendor hawking cheap AKs and bullets.

Ah, see, but neither the corps nor the national government want anyone selling guns, bullets and who knows what else to the SINless and/or licenseless, and especially not to people with fake SINs and licenses. If you openly and obviously sell weapons and ammo without SIN and license checks, the cybercops will take you down within a week. So if AKs&APDS wants to set an online shop, they have two choices: either they check SINs and licenses with every purchase, or they make themselves hard to find on the Matrix.

[Rooks]

Yes and there certainly is no such thing as a Crime Mall in Puyallup Barrens either...



...Well Drek...

[Ghost Rigger]

Yeah, the availability rules make more sense if you think of them as "how to buy things without the risk of burning your fake SIN or getting busted by the cops in one fashion or another" instead of just "how to buy things".

[Slipperychicken]

Crime Mall

This is amazing. I love the idea of arms dealers paying off Lone Star enough to operate a crime mall.

Ah, see, but neither the corps nor the national government want anyone selling guns, bullets and who knows what else to the SINless and/or licenseless, and especially not to people with fake SINs and licenses. If you openly and obviously sell weapons and ammo without SIN and license checks, the cybercops will take you down within a week. So if AKs&APDS wants to set an online shop, they have two choices: either they check SINs and licenses with every purchase, or they make themselves hard to find on the Matrix.

That's more or less the process I outlined in the first page of the thread, minus the idea of clandestine matrix sites full of illegal weapons and gear.

[Dwagonzhan]

This is amazing. I love the idea of arms dealers paying off Lone Star enough to operate a crime mall.

This is has happened in one of my games.
My players got in good with Lone Star, who started operating an underground vigilante net, mainly through the Ork Brotherhood.

Effectively, the runners were "Shadow-Deputized", and in exchange for their "community service", Lone Star let them operate a Shadowrunner Club, named "Painkiller".
Their team became the Club Painkiller Crew.

It was built over the front for an illicit (off-the-books) cyberclinic that formerly belonged to Renraku. (and oh boy, the small street war that raged over that coup; Renraku was NOT happy)

Upstairs was a "legitimate" bar and entertainment scene with regular gigs and occasional premium "real" food cook-offs.
But downstairs, and in the back, was where the real deals went down.

The back rooms (insulated against all manner of sensors, and thickly armored) were used for the many Mr. Johnsons of Seattle and abroad to come out and meet on "Neutral Ground".
Everything else in the back and first basement was effectively a "Farmer's Market" style black market. They had gun runners, drug pushers, talisleggers, tech-heads and all other manner of smuggler goods moving in and out on a semi-regular basis. Lone Star turned a blind eye in exchange for 10% cut and details on what was moving in bulk.

It was really funny playing Shadowrun Returns and visiting the Seamstress Union; because it was almost note-for-note what I had in my game for years prior to that game's release.

Alas, it was not to last forever. Painkiller closed its doors forever when Knight Errant scored the lucrative Seattle contract; terminating the protection gig and forcing the team to disband.