The "meat" of the run. In Shadowrun, it is best to determine each threat and obstacle as it comes along and to bypass or disarm them.
Getting Inside[]
Typically, this is the easiest part, but it's still frought with peril. I'm just going to list off ways to bypass external security:
- Climb the walls (watch for monowire).
- Blow a hole in the walls.
- Breach a fence (watch for electricity).
- Use a light flying vehicle or magic.
- Sneak along the bushes (watch for defensive weapons and sculpting)
Biometrics[]
- Pick the (mag)lock
- Steal an access card
- Use a handprint or eye
- Copy a "face"
- Use a spray can with pheremones/DNA
Tripwires[]
- Move slowly using stealth, perceiving every so often to detect the triggers
- Watch for pressure floors
- Watch for laser ports
- Constructing a Laser Maze (base time: 1 week)
- Take out the Security Rigger
- Traceless walk or Levitate
Cameras[]
Ways to bypass cameras:
- Improved Invisibility
- Ruthenium Polymer
- ECM - If the camera is wireless, ECM will jam the signals.
- EMP - Despite advances in optical technology, EMP is still quite valuable in taking out power supplies and other electronic parts.
- Direct damage - Nothing like a bullet to take out a camera.
- SuperFlash grenades take out most visual-based sensors, burning out the CCDs for a short period of time.
The Home Team[]
- The most important thing in dealing with "The Home Team" is to prevent them from triggering an alarm. The best way to do this is to simply prevent them from detecting you, but this is not always feasible or practical. The peril in eliminating a guard is the ever-present biomonitor, which will automatically trigger an alarm if the signal doesn't get to the relay station.
- Stealthy non-lethal ways to eliminate guards - Narcoject/Supersquirt, Garrote, Stun weapons, Neurostun Gas.
- Stealthy lethal ways to eliminate guards - Garrote (use Subduing Combat rules), silenced weapons, Melee and Throwing, Crossbows/Bows (requires a Called Shot to prevent them from shouting)
- Eliminating the Rigger: Discharging a mega-electric pulse into a security device that he's looking at (easier said than done). Rigging into the system and beating the rigger up.
Magical Security[]
- Take out the guard spirits or paracritters. Astral Barrier can easily be used to contained Dual Natured beings or Astral Watchers/Spirits. If a Watcher can't report back to the caster, it can't trigger an alarm. Same with Elementals. Destroying a Watcher does not alert the caster, but destroying other spirits can (especially Elementals).
- Watch for the sec mage. While most facilities don't have a full sec mage that patrols every night, the intelligence and perception of a metahuman mage can easily foil the most stealthy run.
- Watch for FAB and other "passive" astral barriers.
Response Team[]
- Know time to target for Response Team and plan accordingly
- Jam communications. This will force the response team to go with standard protocols, making them predictable.
The Short List[]
- Find some way to breach the external security
- Watch for Biometrics and Tripwires
- Take out the Security Rigger or crash/control the security host
- Know how long you have before the Response Team arrives