[Glorthoron]

OK, so I have a group of runners that have been hired by a former ganger to body guard him  He has quit his gang (small gang of about 50-60 members), but he knows the gang wants to kill him for trying to leave.  They are supposed to keep him safe for 3 days until arangements have been made by the fixer to get him out of Seattle.  What the team has decided to do is just drive around seattle for three days, with the idea that this is the safest thing.  (a moving target is the hardest to hit).   This sounds, in theory, like a good idea, but I have this sense that it isn't very bright because it seems to fall against all standard convention. 

Obviously I don't want them to get paid without earning it.  I don't mind letting that happen if the plan is really good and new, but this isn't the first time that they've used this strategy.

Any thoughts on this?  For some reason I'm struggling on this.

[JustADude]

A few simple questions:

1) Do people KNOW they've used that strategy before?
-----Just because it worked doesn't mean people actually know what they did to get the job done.

2) Do they use a "clean" car each time?
-----Even if people know how they do it, if they use car that has no connections to them each time then finding the right vehicle before time's up will be nigh-impossible.

3) Is word out that they're working with the guy?
-----If they're not publicly connected with the job, nobody would have reason to look for their vehicle even if they're using a vehicle they can be spotted in.


If you end up with "Yes", "No", and Yes" to those three questions... then they're boned. Break out the chase combat rules and have fun with gangers trying to run them off the road Mad Max style.

[Glorthoron]

A few simple questions:

1) Do people KNOW they've used that strategy before?
-----Just because it worked doesn't mean people actually know what they did to get the job done.

2) Do they use a "clean" car each time?
-----Even if people know how they do it, if they use car that has no connections to them each time then finding the right vehicle before time's up will be nigh-impossible.

3) Is word out that they're working with the guy?
-----If they're not publicly connected with the job, nobody would have reason to look for their vehicle even if they're using a vehicle they can be spotted in.


If you end up with "Yes", "No", and Yes" to those three questions... then they're boned. Break out the chase combat rules and have fun with gangers trying to run them off the road Mad Max style.

Well, they're not riding around in that gang's territory, so I would think it would be pretty hard for that gang to track them down.  Seattle is a big place, after all. 

They've used the tactic before, but since they got by without incident before, it would be assumed that no one knows they've used it before.

I've determined that word has now reached the gang about who has their target.

what do you classify as a "clean" car.

[Black]

Not connected to the runners or the target.  eg vehicle stolen from long term parking...

Can the gang track the target via ritual magic using a material link?  Did he leave anything behind they can use to track him this way.  Afterall, the moving vehicle is hardly the same as a ward.

Does a rival gang also know (through spies or word on the street).  Just cause they're out of the gang's territory doesn't mean they cant be spotted by someone who recognises them or the target.

[rasmusnicolaj]

A rival gang could spot him and decide to take a shot at him - he is without his gang and on their turf. They don't know or care that he has left the gang.

How well-connected are his old gang and how rich are they? If they have put out the word that they will pay good nuyen to see him dead the 3 days could sudenly become very long.

Has the ganger enemies other places? Maybe he has been with a big wig corporates daughter some years back (when she was out slumming or something) and now he is spottet by corp security.

Driving around for 3 boring days can lower the runners perception quit a lot. Have them make a wrong turn and end up in a bad place like glow city or a tanamous ambush.

How easy or hard they get it is entirely up to you :-)

[Glorthoron]

Not connected to the runners or the target.  eg vehicle stolen from long term parking...

Can the gang track the target via ritual magic using a material link?  Did he leave anything behind they can use to track him this way.  Afterall, the moving vehicle is hardly the same as a ward.

Does a rival gang also know (through spies or word on the street).  Just cause they're out of the gang's territory doesn't mean they cant be spotted by someone who recognises them or the target.

Material links have been removed from the equation.  My understanding of wards, is that you can create a ward that moves.  It has a physical object that is the focal point of the ward, but if that physical focal point moves, so does the ward.  Maybe I'm wrong on this.

I decided, as the GM that the runners had about 24 hours before word on the street started.  The 24 hours is now up.

Also, for a laugh, you might want to know that the runners went to an expensive hotel and tried to rent a room with magical security.

Vehicle is semi clean.  It is the first time they have used it since they acquired it from the previous run.

[Reaver]

Seattle is a huge area... Unfortunately it is also heavily divided. Lots of toll-booths, police check points, go gangs and other nasties. Just cause the client's gang doesn't find them doesn't mean they are safe....


Hard to get past a check point without ID or in a stolen car.

Go gangs love to prowl their turf.

Driving around for long periods of time randomly is going to flag traffic drones... Which means a cop stop...

In short there is lots you can do to mess with them and their "easy money" run.

[Glorthoron]

A rival gang could spot him and decide to take a shot at him - he is without his gang and on their turf. They don't know or care that he has left the gang.

How well-connected are his old gang and how rich are they? If they have put out the word that they will pay good nuyen to see him dead the 3 days could sudenly become very long.

Has the ganger enemies other places? Maybe he has been with a big wig corporates daughter some years back (when she was out slumming or something) and now he is spottet by corp security.

Driving around for 3 boring days can lower the runners perception quit a lot. Have them make a wrong turn and end up in a bad place like glow city or a tanamous ambush.

How easy or hard they get it is entirely up to you :-)

True.  It is up to me.  They're not getting paid a heck of a lot, but I don't want it to be a cake walk either. 

[Critias]

Don't be afraid to let the plan work, but the job still get complicated.  Like Reaver mentioned, there's still plenty that can go wrong in the Seattle Sprawl, that may or may not even have anything to do with their job or their plan or their employer.

And who knows how that stuff could snowball? 

[raggedhalo]

A spirit with the Search power has ruined many a plan to flee the scene. Make sure to have a clear idea of how large the Metroplex is, though!

[Lethe]

The bad thing with driving around is, its all about evasion. If they somehow manage to find you, you can't really recognize your enemies in all the traffic, every hit will be a surprise attack.

What is the ganger saying about having to drive around all the time, its tiresome and uncomfortable. An attitude like "If i can't sleep in a nice bed next night, i am not gonna pay you" quickly screws the runners for not having backup plans.

Whats so wrong about renting a hotel room? Could be a nice suite, accessible only with a personal elevator, paid for with a new fake SIN and the ganger smuggled in disguised so nobody can tell he is there.

[Glorthoron]

The bad thing with driving around is, its all about evasion. If they somehow manage to find you, you can't really recognize your enemies in all the traffic, every hit will be a surprise attack.

What is the ganger saying about having to drive around all the time, its tiresome and uncomfortable. An attitude like "If i can't sleep in a nice bed next night, i am not gonna pay you" quickly screws the runners for not having backup plans.

As long as he gets to live, he's game for anything.

Whats so wrong about renting a hotel room? Could be a nice suite, accessible only with a personal elevator, paid for with a new fake SIN and the ganger smuggled in disguised so nobody can tell he is there.

They made the mistake of walking in to a magically secure hotel and renting a room, without telling them they had an invisible SINless person with them.  They were removed pretty quickly.

[lurkeroutthere]

As long as he gets to live, he's game for anything.

Wrong wrong wrong! If he wanted just to live there's ways to do it that don't require shelling money for shadowrunners. He could have had a fake ID made up well ahead of time and then checked into a no tell motel for 3 days. He could have taken the money he's presumably paying them, got himself a docwagon bracelet and got himself admitted to a docwagon hospital for a couple days. Besides the excuse to get the players connected If he's hiring shadowrunners he expects to still be in control and still be able to do things. He's a former gang leader, by nature that kind of person whouldn't be used to being out of control.

Basically we can't fix a problem for you if your not going to fix the tools you have.

[Glorthoron]

As long as he gets to live, he's game for anything.

Wrong wrong wrong! If he wanted just to live there's ways to do it that don't require shelling money for shadowrunners. He could have had a fake ID made up well ahead of time and then checked into a no tell motel for 3 days. He could have taken the money he's presumably paying them, got himself a docwagon bracelet and got himself admitted to a docwagon hospital for a couple days. Besides the excuse to get the players connected If he's hiring shadowrunners he expects to still be in control and still be able to do things. He's a former gang leader, by nature that kind of person whouldn't be used to being out of control.

Basically we can't fix a problem for you if your not going to fix the tools you have.

It's also pretty hard for you to fix the problem when you can't even frickin' read.

I said he's a ganger, not a gang leader.

And no, the runners are hired to keep him alive until the fixer's agents can arange an exit for him from the city, which means he needs to stay out of sight.  He's paying them to keep him alive.  Any good shadowrunner would tell a johnson that they are protecting "do what I tell you, or you will end up dead." 

He could have taken the money he's presumably paying them, got himself a docwagon bracelet and got himself admitted to a docwagon hospital for a couple days.

That would be a very dumn thing to do.  Easily found.  Easily geeked.  Not to mention his gang would have started watching him when he started doing suspiscious things, like dealing through underworld agents to acquire a fake SIN and Docwagon contract without telling other members of the gang.

[UmaroVI]

Wards, afaik do not stop ritual spell casting. They just weaken the spell, but you can still find someone via a link.