FREEDOM! NOT YET...

The scenario kicks off in the middle of a combat situation, so make sure you get the pace ticking over fast and that everybody gets the sense of urgency that's going to infuse the entire game. The ninja starts off with a Light wound from his shoulder (it'd be Moderate except he got it back into place) so make sure the player has that on his sheet, but apart from that everybody's untied and fighting fit. The van is currently travelling along the highway at 50kph (60 metres per combat turn), with a Lone Star cruiser in front and one behind. Each cruiser is carrying three cops, and the van has a driver and a guard in the front, and two guards (one now unconscious, one dead) in the back. One of the cops in the front cruiser has some cyberware and one of the cops in the rear cruiser is a hermetic magician. Roll up Initiative and start things off in combat rounds right away. Roll once for all the cops, but do the cyber-guy and the magician seperately.

As soon as it's obvious something's wrong in the van (in other words, as soon as his first Initiative phase comes up), the passenger in the rear cruiser radios to the van and front cruiser - who will hit the brakes on their next action. Each driver rolls his 3 Car dice against his vehicle's Handling of 4, and each success decelerates the vehicle by its Acceleration rating - 10mpt (metres per turn) for the Patrol-1s, 3mpt for the van. The front cruiser will not allow the van to overtake it, and the rear cruiser will keep pace with the van, the passenger leaning out the window to shoot and the mage going astral to cast some spells or get into astral combat with his nightstick or something.

The team will probably want to make a move before everything's safely stopped. There is no way into the front of the van from the back, and vice versa - it's very well sealed off. The only way into the front is over the roof and in the window. Anybody falling from a vehicle onto the road will take speed/10 M damage. Anyone jumping intentionally can make an Athletics test against a TN of speed/10 - each pair of successes stage the damage level down one. To jump onto the rear cruiser, make an Athletics test with a TN of the number of metres between them (take 5m as the usual distance it's maintaining), then a TN 5 Quickness test not to fall off.

The Lone Star vehicles have tinted windscreens with a Barrier Rating of 4 (so you need a Strength of 9 or higher to punch through it), so you can't see in to target a spell or anything else (although any shots that go through have a 1 in 6 chance of hitting somebody inside). However, it's a warm October day, so they all have their front side windows open. All the vehicles start off with Autonav turned on. To shoot a tyre, make a called shot (+4) - halve weapon's Power and reduce Damage Level by one for shots against a vehicle, subtract vehicle's Armour - vehicle makes Body test against the result - compare successes with attacker's successes and stage damage appropriately. Medium damage or above blows the tyre - driver makes Crash Test using his Driving dice (plus vehicle's Autonav dice if it's active) against the vehicle's Handling (+2 difficulty for each other tyre blown out) - any successes keep him on course.

They won't want to hang around here too long - Lone Star backup will arrive 2 minutes after things get started. The face man will know this, and that it'll be a number of cruisers and a Citymaster containing a Fast Response Team in medium security armour, with other Citymasters and Northrup Wasp rotorcraft after them - not something they want to be involved with, by a long shot. Time to slide down the embankment from the highway and lose themselves in the dingy residential parts of the Downtown district.

They may decide to steal a civilian car (the Lone Star vehicles have built-in tracking devices, so stealing one is game over) - two successes on a TN 3 Intimidate roll will have somebody abandon his Ford Americar for them. The next off-ramp is just up the highway, and leads to the above-mentioned slums of Downtown. Bear in mind that they all start off dressed in orange prison jumpsuits with only underwear underneath...

 

Lone Star Cop:

B

Q

S

C

I

W

E

R

4

4

4

2

3

4

6

3

Initiative: 3 + 1d6

Professional \ Threat rating: 2 \ 2

Active Skills: Car 3, Clubs 2 (Stun Baton 5), Etiquette 2 (Corporate 2, Street 4), Pistols 3 (Ruger Thunderbolt 5), Unarmed Combat 3

Knowledge Skills: City Law 4, Police Procedures 5, Psychology 1

Gear: Ruger Thunderbolt heavy pistol with 1 spare clip, Mossberg CMDT shotgun (guards in van and passenger in each vehicle only), armour vest with plates (4\3), Lone Star leather jacket (0\2) (total armour 4\4), large flashlight, containment manacles, metal and plasteel restraints. Force 2 nightstick weapon focus for the magician. Ruger Thunderbolt smartgun for the cybercop.

Notes: Cybercop in the front cruiser has smartlink, wired reflexes 1, cybereyes with flare compensarion, low-light and thermo, and is carrying a smartgun-rigged Ruger Thunderbolt - his essence is 3.3. Mage has skills Aura Reading 4 and Sorcery 6, Willpower is 5 and he has the spells Clairaudience 3, Detect Enemies 2, Manaball 3 and Manabolt 3 - he's also carrying a Force 2 nightstick weapon focus which he can use in astral combat using his Stun Baton skill - it adds another 2 dice to his skill and has +1 Reach.

 

Chrysler-Nissan Patrol-1 cruiser

Handling

Speed

Accel

Body

Armour

Sig

Autonav

Pilot

Sensor

Cargo

Load

4 / 8

180

10

3

2

2

3

-

0

11

35

Seating: 2 bucket + 3 bench

Entry points: 2 + 2 + 1 trunk

Other features: Electronics port (with radio), EnviroSeal (gas), 2 Pintle Mounts, Thermal Baffles 1 (factored in), Turbocharging 2 (factored in). Transceiver radio, portable computer, medkit with 5 slap patches of each type.

 

Ares Roadmaster security van

Handling

Speed

Accel

Body

Armour

Sig

Autonav

Pilot

Sensor

Cargo

Load

4 / 10

90

3

5

0

2

2

-

0

80

2000

Seating: 2 bucket, 10 bench

Entry points: 2 + 1 trunk

 

Ford Americar

Handling

Speed

Accel

Body

Armour

Sig

Autonav

Pilot

Sensor

Cargo

Load

4/8

105

8

3

0

2

2

-

1

10

110

Seating: 4 bucket (2 front, 2 rear)

Entry points: 2 + 1t

 

Ruger Thunderbolt heavy pistol

Concealability

Ammo

Mode

Damage

Legal

4

12 (c)

BF

12S

2P-E

Notes: Features either a laser sight (-1 to TN to hit, -1 concealability) or smartgun link. Fires only in BF mode - damage already adjusted - with no recoil modifier for first burst in a phase but +4 for the second. Lone Star officers can recognise the gun from the sound of it being fired, and will investigate any incidence of this and harass any non-officer carrying one.

 

Mossberg CMDT shotgun

Concealability

Ammo

Mode

Damage

Legal

2

8 (c)

SA/BF

9S

5-F

Notes: Top-mounted laser sight (-1 to TN to hit).

 

Stun Baton

Concealability

Reach

Damage

Legal

4

1

6S Stun

5-C

Notes: A hit stuns the target for 6 combat rounds minus half impact armour and minus successes from TN 4 test of the higher of Willpower or Body. This gives a +2 to all tests as long as it lasts. Impact armour protects against Stun weapons, but uses only half its rating.