[Coldbringer]

So what percentage of folks do you suppose have Doc Wagon or similar service and who does respond to a large motor vehicle pile-up in the metroplex.  at the end of my last session the runners had managed to create a very large pile up of vehicles near an on ramp to a freeway, they are now stuck in the middle of the mess they created and pinned down by a team sent by someone they ticked off.  So what kind of response will a 40+ vehicle accident get in 2072.

[Jadehellbringer]

I would suppose similar to what you'd get today, in a way- just faster thanks to increased use of VTOLs and such. It's going to be a huge number of emergency services showing up to something like that, along with towing/salvage vehicles. And if foul play is even hinted at, expect law enforcement (varying depending on the locale) to show up as well- both investigative services to determine whodunit, and probably armed officers in case the culprit is still around (so, you know, don't be!)

[Catadmin]

If you're talking in general terms, assume most of the people in the pileup are SINners. Since they can afford vehicles, middle-class or higher, which means wage-slaves. Which means they either have corporate sponsored health insurance or personal health insurance. Lots of Doc Wagons showing up, maybe a few smaller & unknown private firms.

The biggest issue, though, is jurisdictional dispute. What security corp is responsible for the street on which the pileup occurred? If there is suspicion of foul play, would they be fighting it out with Doc Wagon to retain the "patients" in legal custody until things get sorted out? Would they be assigning officers to go with Doc Wagon employees, riding along to the hospital / clinic to make sure the patient didn't escape post custody?

Assume, in 2072, that there is some contract agreement between law-enforcement and medical contractors, but it's not nearly as friendly and "we're all in this together" as it is in this day and age. After all, unlike modern medicine, Doc Wagon has a direct contract with the individual patient, so has a vested financial interest in doing what they promised to do in the contract. And if law enforcement / security gets in the way of that...

Lots of possibilities here. Just saying.

[FastJack]

Also, I doubt it would be DocWagon High Response Teams. Mostly ground ambulances with one, maybe two transport helicopters (depending on the severity of the victims). They wouldn't be armed for extraction, although they would probably have some light weapons for self-defense.

[Irian]

I agree to Catadmin: Most people in the accident will probably be middle class, which means that they can afford a basic DocWagon contract (but I wouldn't assume everyone has one). If you don't have a DocWagon contract, it just means that you have to rely on "normal" ambulances (which can - and will - probably take much longer than 10 minutes to arrive - and it will probably arrive never if you're in a bad area or obviously sin-less). The big question here is also the situation: What TYPE of accident are we talking about here? Did a troll fire a vindicator into 40 cars causing them to explode?

[Welshman]

It's all the makings of a multi organizational turf war for jurisdiction. And in Shadowrun that means escalating fire power. Unless there are more than one platinum Doc Wagon contract in that mess, I'd guess that DW would exercise their standard clauses regarding undue danger to their service teams. DW is likely to sit on the sidelines and wait for things to settle down. Again unless there are multiple platinum contracts in there, if there are then they'll be trying to get in and just get those out ASAP.

For your Runners, your best bet is to lay down a hell of a lot of smoke and hope that the guys gunning at you draw the fire of the various law enforcement/security types. Then try and slip away in the chaos. If they are still shooting when LEOs show up, they'll just be another target to take down fast and hard.

Best,
WM

[Juxtamon]

What a cool image!  I do agree as well, here:

The big question here is also the situation: What TYPE of accident are we talking about here? Did a troll fire a vindicator into 40 cars causing them to explode?

  The context of the cause of the accident will matter.  If it just seemed like a vehicle malfunction/driver brain-fart, I concur with the busy-but-minimal-threat response teams idea.

   However, what if SOMEbody, somewhere in all that mess, just happened to be somebody's VIP or heavily-watched Person of Interest?  Then you might see a corp extraction team screaming in there, heightening the tension somewhat ( ), and possibly creating some bullet-loaded misunderstandings.  What a cool scene to game!

[Kontact]

I'd think most wage slaves telecommuted or just lived on-site.
VR means office space is only limited by processing power.


Most vehicle traffic in my games is either shipping/deliveries or criminal-related... not the kind of guys who pull HRT responders.

[FastJack]

Ahh... takes me back to my childhood watching the monthly "huge highway clusterfrak" on CHiPs. There was always a schoolbus of kids, the elderly couple in their big car, the hot actress in her sports car and the drunk dude in his pick-up.

[Coldbringer]

The route cause was a stun ball throw into a massive amount of traffic, mostly motorcycles after our street samurai was fired on. A huge pile up ensued, and there will also be some mentor spirit unhappiness added into the mix, as wise warrior is not so keen on Willy nilly uses of force on non combatants.

[Irian]

Then there is (imho) a good chanc that someone notices that something is very fishy here, dozens of vehicles out of control without any obvious reason (something that will activate dozens of alarms in the next traffic control central)? Honestly, DocWagon is the least of your problems there, as the cops will have to assume that it could be everything, for example a terrorist attack with biological weapons...

[Juxtamon]

...and some authority is eventually gonna send out an Awakened investigator to check for spellcasting signatures, and the perp had better hope he didn't leave ANYthing at the scene.

Man, I wanna see what happens! 

[TranKirsaKali]

with a spell having been cast there are options.  But I would agree that there would be some people that would have noticed a bunch of people slumping over at the same time.  Personally I would roll percent dice to see if anyone had a high response Doc Wagon contract.  I would say in rush hour traffic that would be a low possibility but a possibility none the less.  And I would roll percent on if someone put together the magical threat or not.  If your Shaman didn't cleans after his spell there is a time frame in which an astrally perceiving person can see and trace the spell.  I believe it is hours per force.  I think Lonestar or their equivalent would show up pretty quickly depending on the area and be prepared for trouble.  Not necessarily coming in with guns blazing but with the readiness to shoot if they heard shots. And if someone in the mess did detect the magic  I can see Lonestar bringing in their magical backup.  Punishment for not thinking things through can ensue with lot of fun.

[Coldbringer]

Ok so a little bit of back ground on the run.  The runners were hired to be security for a band doing a club tour of the Seattle Metroplex.  They were on their way to a gig in Bellevue when they were ambushed on the highway.  The Triad assassins managed to rev up a bunch of people to ride along and follow the band to the show in order to give them cover to hit the Runners.  Anyway we all know where we left off with the multi-vehicle pile-up and the question of what kind of a response happens to such an accident.

So i decided a mix of air and ground ambulances would be on their way, and with the Street Samurai in the process of bleeding out after his final action of laying down some smoke to block the sniper and anyone else who might be out to hit them and their permanently dead mini-bus. They took down part of the opposition setting off the opposition's Doc Wagon alerts as well.  To move things a long they opted not to fight Doc Wagon for their fallen team mate, leaving him on the roadside.  They then "borrowed" a couple of vehicles that were there in the Chaos on the highway was happening, bugging out as EMS. Police and news Choppers start to arrive.

Knight Errant tracked them to the gig and began to interview the PCs that remained on sight, the Shaman who tossed the stun-ball bugged out for fear of magical forensics linking him to the spell.  The remaining magical PCs were interviewed by the cops, one was appropriately respectful, the other got cocky so they ran his fake ID and it came up short, they put a tracker in him and will be monitoring him until his SIN status can be resolved, and hopefully lead them to the missing spell caster.

They are still in a mess, the mess is just shifting a bit.  The "bugged" player is not behaving any differently, putting all of his contacts in some jeopardy.

[TranKirsaKali]

Ok so a little bit of back ground on the run.  The runners were hired to be security for a band doing a club tour of the Seattle Metroplex.  They were on their way to a gig in Bellevue when they were ambushed on the highway.  The Triad assassins managed to rev up a bunch of people to ride along and follow the band to the show in order to give them cover to hit the Runners.  Anyway we all know where we left off with the multi-vehicle pile-up and the question of what kind of a response happens to such an accident.

So i decided a mix of air and ground ambulances would be on their way, and with the Street Samurai in the process of bleeding out after his final action of laying down some smoke to block the sniper and anyone else who might be out to hit them and their permanently dead mini-bus. They took down part of the opposition setting off the opposition's Doc Wagon alerts as well.  To move things a long they opted not to fight Doc Wagon for their fallen team mate, leaving him on the roadside.  They then "borrowed" a couple of vehicles that were there in the Chaos on the highway was happening, bugging out as EMS. Police and news Choppers start to arrive.

Knight Errant tracked them to the gig and began to interview the PCs that remained on sight, the Shaman who tossed the stun-ball bugged out for fear of magical forensics linking him to the spell.  The remaining magical PCs were interviewed by the cops, one was appropriately respectful, the other got cocky so they ran his fake ID and it came up short, they put a tracker in him and will be monitoring him until his SIN status can be resolved, and hopefully lead them to the missing spell caster.

They are still in a mess, the mess is just shifting a bit.  The "bugged" player is not behaving any differently, putting all of his contacts in some jeopardy.

A lone wolf can get the pack killed.  I hope the rest of the team does something to bring him back in.  The one with the fake SIN may have been punished enough but maybe not  Letting him feel the eyes watching him for a bit could be fun for you.  If I were the band though I would be looking for a new guard team.  Don't think I would want a "hot" team watching my back.  To many problems could be created for the band.