Shadowrun

Shadowrun Play => Character creation and critique => Homebrew PACKs => Topic started by: The Wyrm Ouroboros on <04-11-15/0430:46>

Title: New SR5 PACKS
Post by: The Wyrm Ouroboros on <04-11-15/0430:46>

The Secret Stash
(26,000¥ + 3 Karma / 16 karma) (12F)

The secret stash is where you go when your main house and your usual safehouse is blown.  This is a place you tell none of your teammates about.  The guy who works there (the accompanying contact) knows you by the name on the fake ID tucked inside the jacket pocket, and probably doesn't know enough to recognize you from Adam otherwise.  With transportation, armor, identification, and weaponry taken care of, you can get back on the road in order to wreak vengeance on those who have screwed you over.  Good luck, chummer.

Suzuki Mirage racing bike (8,500¥)	Ares Predator V (725¥) w/ 4 clips (60 rounds) regular ammo (140¥) and a concealable, quick-draw holster (325¥)
Helmet (eq. to Urban Explorer) w/ image link and sound link (125¥)	Flash-Bang and Frag Grenades, 1 each (200¥)
Mapsoft (city streets, 100¥)	Armored Jacket (1,000¥)
3 Months Squatter Lifestyle prepaid (3 x 500¥ for 1500¥ total - typically 'not a home', but can be)	Meta Link commlink (100¥) and 2 cheap burner commlinks (20¥ each)
Spare Cash, additional weapon, clothing, etc. (1665¥)	Rating 4 Fake SIN (10,000¥) w/ Rating 4 licenses (vehicle, pistol possession & concealed-carry: +1600¥)

Contact (Site Clerk, C1/L2)      
     The site clerk may work for a U-STOR-IT, an airport-area coffin hotel, or a D-neighborhood apartment complex; what he does is mostly keep the place (relatively) clean of both kinds of trash, hitting the PanicButton if he's threatened and making sure the rooms are empty before they're rented again.  For occasional bribes and a friendly smile, he's willing to look the other way while you store your Highly Illegal Crap inside your unit at his location ... and even shoot you a message if the cops come sniffing around.      

Title: Re: New SR5 PACKS
Post by: Ursus Maior on <04-11-15/0552:29>

Love it!

How would you handle pre-paid lifestyles in game? Specifically the part that covers food and other consumables? Would that be a pre-set place simply wating for you to show up? Who lives there, before you "bug-out"?

Title: Re: New SR5 PACKS
Post by: The Wyrm Ouroboros on <04-11-15/0620:27>

Nobody lives there; you lose the 'consumables' portion each month, sorry.  I think 3E did lifestyle variants in general better than 5E; for my home game, I'll probably continue to use my fashion and lifestyle rules, the latter modified from 3e with 4e (and, eventually, 5e) tweaks so that you can get what you're looking for - or what the GM says is available.  ("What, ghouls in the closet again??")  IMO, one should not need to pay a base of 5000¥ monthly for the Middle lifestyle privilege of having a 5'x10' U-STOR-IT to put a frickin' motorcycle into.  At most, the unit should cost 100¥ or so, providing for nothing besides the space itself, except maybe the area it's set in - a storage unit in a building in Renton (AA security) is going to be more expensive (say, 135¥) than one in a D-zone (28¥).

... huh.  I should've included clothing.  *goes back to edit*

Title: Re: New SR5 PACKS
Post by: UnLimiTeD on <06-17-15/2132:35>

So why a place to live?
Couldn't you just put it with a low rating SIN on a cheap link and a linked bank account to buy yourself a doss?
Unless you assume you'll get your main fake SIN back, or keep it, in which case, there'll be plenty of money on whatever secondaries you have with the shadow bank of your choice.
Can't run without a SIN, anyways.

Title: Re: New SR5 PACKS
Post by: The Wyrm Ouroboros on <06-18-15/0035:04>

Uh ... it isn't typically a place to live.  It's the 5' x 10' U-Stor-It where you keep the gear.  It's the 'rent' for keeping the gear in the basement/garage of that contact's place.

Other than the first question, though, I'm not sure I understand your statement.  Are you wondering why a) there's a 'lifestyle' selected at all, and why not just throw a R1 or R2 fake sin in there along with some cash to purchase a lifestyle?  Well, this first assumes (as one always should) that your primary fake running SIN is blown.  It secondly operates on the conclusion that a low-rating SIN is virtual suicide; a 4 is what is functionally necessary to move around in society without getting into shootouts with the cops once per linear mile.  Third, it operates on the belief that if you have a bunch of stuff, you need to keep it somewhere; that's why the 'Squatter' lifestyle, even though it may not really be such (storeroom of the contact's bar, their basement, the compartment at the U-STOR-IT, whatever.  Fourth and Last, that's why the L4 SIN is in there, which it doesn't quite seem you noticed.

Title: Re: New SR5 PACKS
Post by: UnLimiTeD on <06-18-15/0515:09>

You're right, I didn't.
So then you could just have 10k on an account and be good to go, no?
Of course, this is really favourful, so I wouldn't complain.

Title: Re: New SR5 PACKS
Post by: The Wyrm Ouroboros on <06-18-15/0733:59>

10k on an account?  To do what, buy the Fake ID?  On what account?  With whom?  Certified credsticks?  If you buy NOW, then you don't need to go through the rigamarole of hunting down and buying it THEN.  Who knows what might have happened, you know?  Maybe you got burned, and nobody is talking to you - the guy you'd get a fake ID from says he won't touch you with a hundred-meter commlink code.  Or maybe you got betrayed, and you don't know who betrayed you, and the guy you'd get a fake ID from might be the guy who did it.

This is a stash, meant for you to be able to show up, grab your crap, and either scram or get to work.  If you want to eliminate the SIN - the one thing that would enable you to do that, the one and only thing the absence of which would be guaranteed to prevent just that - hey, go ahead.

Title: Re: New SR5 PACKS
Post by: Herr Brackhaus on <06-18-15/0813:01>

If the intent was to use this as a "get the hell out of dodge" kit, you could replace the Suzuki Mirage (8,500¥) with a Dodge Scoot (3,000¥) and save 5,500¥. After all, "no self-respecting shadowrunner would be caught dead on one" :D

Nice piece of kit.

Title: Re: New SR5 PACKS
Post by: The Wyrm Ouroboros on <06-19-15/0026:46>

Well, the use varies on what the need is - but with at least one of the needs potentially being 'get to work', a Scoot becomes of dubious value, especially if there are people still liable to be shooting at you.  I don't disagree, please understand - I've used that sort of thing myself - but sometimes your best chance is to run, fast and hard.

Title: Re: New SR5 PACKS
Post by: Senko on <06-24-15/0601:36>

Actually bolt holes only cost money when in use see the last paragraph in run faster on page 216 and running onto 217 . . .

Living the Bolt Hole lifestyle is not pretty. A bolt hole is a space away from everything (people, grid, entertainment), and most often you’re stuck in it for a while
because you need to stay out of sight. Add 4 to the threshold of any test involving someone trying to track a character who is living la vida Bolt Hole. In the Entertainment category, assets can be bought for a Bolt Hole, but not services or outings (see p. 219).Bolt holes only have a monthly cost when used. The character pays for the whole month, even if he used it for a day, or even just a few hours (though if you only need to hide for a few hours, use a no-tell motel already).

So you can throw say 2,500 for your low lifestyle ustore it bolt hole for a month and it'll just sit there quietly until such a time as you actually move in and start needing to pay ongoing costs if I understand this right.

Title: Re: New SR5 PACKS
Post by: Herr Brackhaus on <06-24-15/0611:06>

Senko
I think the purpose here is that the store-it actually does hold your stuff. You're not using it to live in, you're paying rent for storage for your stuff.

Title: Re: New SR5 PACKS
Post by: Senko on <06-24-15/1730:52>

Possibly just one of those Gray areas I guess it could be read that you need to pay for gear hmm.

Title: Re: New SR5 PACKS
Post by: The Wyrm Ouroboros on <06-24-15/2240:04>

*shrugs*  Herr Brackhaus is correct.  This is not a bolt-hole or safehouse; this is a place to store your stuff.  If you break things down as per Run Faster, remove the food (or whatever - Necessities?) portion of it until you need it.  Of course, if you go that way, then you need to alter it for a garage, etc., and the Run Faster rules for that suck eggs.  Therefore ...

Title: Re: New SR5 PACKS
Post by: Senko on <06-25-15/0224:47>

I see one of those terns affects the situation deals then.

Title: Re: New SR5 PACKS
Post by: The Wyrm Ouroboros on <06-25-15/0745:46>

... does not compute.  I'm sorry, can you rephrase that for clarity?

Title: Re: New SR5 PACKS
Post by: Senko on <06-26-15/1953:01>

I'll try, what I meant is that if you termed this a bolt hole (a place to run too, sleep off your wounds and re-equip) it would work under the bolt hole rules i.e. only pay when in use. On the other hand if you define it as a place to store your stuff mechanically its pretty much identical (same qualities e.g. not a home, same gear, same function) however since its defined as a place to store stuff you have to pay ongoing costs. Either way how you make it remains identical but depending on the term used to idenify it you either apply the don't pay except when using bolt hole rule or you don't.

Title: Re: New SR5 PACKS
Post by: The Wyrm Ouroboros on <06-27-15/0232:21>

Because it comes with a contact as well as gear that's already set up for you, and because it is not a place that is going to be used by someone else in need of a place to hide out and gear to grab, it is not an official 'Safehouse' - as I've said before.  That the place and the gear is to remain available at a moment's notice, the contact intended to be unknown to anyone else you know (and who perhaps knows you only by the ID included in the PACK), the lifestyle represented thereby requires ongoing maintenance at 500¥/month - hence the very specific purchase of 3 months Squatter lifestyle prepaid, representing a small U-Stor-It compartment, or alternately the contact's back room, basement, garage, or whatever.

I honestly never figured this thing could generate so much controversy.

Title: Re: New SR5 PACKS
Post by: Herr Brackhaus on <06-27-15/0759:28>

It's the internet, Wyrm. Did you really expect any different? :)

Title: Re: New SR5 PACKS
Post by: Senko on <06-27-15/1957:38>

Sorry bolthole not safehouse they're two different things. A safe house as you said is somewhere you can send someone to keep them safe, a bolt hole is a hidden place just for you to hide in as per this bit on 216 . . .

Bolt holes and safehouses are common parts of a shadowrunner’s life. I’ve covered this before, but let’s sum up briefly: Bolt holes are prearranged, cash-only paid spaces that you crawl into when the shit hits the fan. Bolt holes are usually set up in advance and then left to sit in whatever dark, unseen place they inhabit. A bolt hole isn’t some vacation home in the Bahamas—it’s more likely a cargo crate with food rations, a chemical toilet, and nothing but time on your hands to contemplate your sins and what to do next. A few people may share a bolt hole, but they might kill each other if they stay confined too long. A safehouse is much like what you see in the trids. A little out-of-the way home used on a temporary basis to keep people safe as they are moved out of the city/country or just until business is taken care of. Corporations and governments use them for witness protection or to offer them to shadowrunners to babysit assets. A safehouse is generally a step up from a bolt hole. In that they tend to be controlled by some House Master/ Madame who maintains whatever operating façade the safe house has constructed.

Probably just how I see things making it an issue but to me what you have there is more of a bolthole than a safehouse and thus would come under the bolt hole rules. Admitedly what you have here is even less suitable for anything except storing gear so it may be justfiable not having any costs attached to it but bolt hole describes it better to me than safe house hence the only pay when using it.

Title: Re: New SR5 PACKS
Post by: The Wyrm Ouroboros on <06-27-15/2335:37>

Then yes, a thousand would be fine, as it would fulfill 'bolt hole' technicalities, and you can sock 500¥ more into the 'pocket cash' available.  Or buy another gun, or something.

Title: Re: New SR5 PACKS
Post by: Rooks on <07-04-15/0435:02>

What I figured a bolt hole is is something like the save zones in Watch dogs a shipping container to go to lay low a safehouse is like a coffin motel or what Walt went to near the end of breaking bad

Title: Re: New SR5 PACKS
Post by: The Wyrm Ouroboros on <07-05-15/0132:33>

Thank you for contributing.

Title: Re: New SR5 PACKS
Post by: Kinkerbell on <07-17-15/1832:28>

This is awesome. Totally stealing it. My old group had a term for acquisitions like this: "Veteran 'Runner Basic." It was one of those things that new players never seemed to buy, but everyone who had ever survived more than three sessions of a campaign bought every time, without question, before they did ANYTHING else with their kits.

I am wondering if, for both flavour and concealability, you could buy added storage space on the bike and store all of your bugout bag inside it. None of it is high mass, and then if you parked it in a U-Store-It anywhere other than redmond even if someone found the bike it would just look like some rich corp brat's toy, since all the really good stuff is inside.

Title: Re: New SR5 PACKS
Post by: The Wyrm Ouroboros on <07-18-15/0205:16>

I tend to build bikes with SR3's vehicle creation rules, so all my bikes come with a bit extra storage space - whether that's hard-case panniers or whatever.  So yeah, totally.

Title: Re: New SR5 PACKS
Post by: Moonshine Fox on <08-17-15/1955:21>

Here's a PACK I made for the face in our group, the IDent PACK!

Sometimes, you just need to be someone else. Whether it's because the heat is on any you need to lay low, or you need to get access to someone you wouldn't normally be welcome, the IDent PACK has you covered! Including a solid (and solidly affordable) fake SIN with a pair of licenses to it to cover anything you need, a Commlink to hold your ID and personal history, and a budget for any style of cloths or armor you need to be the new you! Giving you flexibility for affordable pricing.

Fake SIN	2	║	5000
Fake licenses x2	2	║	400
Commlink	2	║	700
Armor/Clothing budget		║	1900

Title: Re: New SR5 PACKS
Post by: Rift_0f_Bladz on <08-17-15/2016:39>

Rating 2 is not what I would call a solid fake ID.

Title: Re: New SR5 PACKS
Post by: The Wyrm Ouroboros on <08-18-15/0154:29>

It's also an incompletely-described PACK - add in '¥8000 / 4 Karma'.

And Fox, for a PACK you pretty much should actually define the gear - or at least give several options.  What armor costs ¥1900?

However, I agree with Rift - a Rating 2 Fake SIN might get you onto the bus downtown, and let you buy drinks and the like, but it is in no way 'solid'.  Rating 2 is shaky; rating 3 is acceptable.  Rating 4 starts to get into 'dependable' territory, with 'solid' being reserved for 5 and 6.

Title: Re: New SR5 PACKS
Post by: Moonshine Fox on <08-18-15/1551:59>

Hmmm, valid points. I was thinking about keeping costs low and didn't think about trying to infiltrate higher level areas. Will have to re-work this when I get a few free minutes. I left the 'Armor and clothing' area open as there are so many different combinations of armor and clothing styles that it would be hard to pin them down while leaving the identity open (ganger would have different cloths and armor then a low end rent-a-cop and such), but I'll look into if I can do something about that.

Title: Re: New SR5 PACKS
Post by: Rift_0f_Bladz on <08-20-15/1104:46>

Armored jacket or armored clothing both can be stylicly moded to fit whatever theme is needed. Hell, in the Sioux Nation leather armored jacket is what you wear to a fancy dinner/meeting along with your combat knife and heavy pistol (no burst fire or full auto though). But anyways, if you are wanting a get out of dodge kit, then rate 2 SIN will work. If this is a whole new you, you want 4 or above.

Title: Re: New SR5 PACKS
Post by: The Wyrm Ouroboros on <08-21-15/0355:28>

If you're wanting to cross a border - and from Seattle, you'd need to - then a R2 SIN won't work, tripping alarms there.  You want at least a L4 (as I put in mine) in your bugout bag.