When I started making characters, perhaps the most frustrating part for me was equipping a rigger. It seems that my first two attempts both came up inadequate. Riggers require several specific pieces of equipment to do their rigging, but nowhere in the rulebook does it list exactly what a rigger requires. The equipment required is instead spread across the book in several locations. I found this to be the case with other templates to various degrees, and the sample characters in the rulebook are of only slight help. Adventuring Gear Packages for Shadowrun are my way of helping to solve this problem.

These packs do include fake SINs and licenses, but they are not customized to the buyer. These are just off-the-shelf fakes with ready-made data, so personal data like age are unlikely to match. Dealers tend to stock kits with both male and female identity SINs, so a buyer can request one of the other and usually get it. The metatype listed on a fake SIN is always human by default. The rest of the personal data is random. The names and other data on the licenses and other registered equipment do match the information on the SIN that comes in the same kit. Runners are encouraged to replace these cheap fakes with more convincing fakes that are personalized.

Feedback, suggestions, and general complaints that I am wrong about everything are very welcome.

PRICE SHEET

Here is a quick list of the packages that I have cobbled together. After the names, the total value of the component parts are given. Then I included a suggested retail price for the entire kit if a character were buying one from a black market dealer or a fixer. The retail price point is most is simply the wholesale price rounded up to the nearest thousand nuyen plus one thousand more nuyen. The Rigger Driving Kit is an exception because it includes an actual vehicle and the additional mark up reflects the cost of storing the vehicles.

Squatter Paradise Kit
wholesale value: 9360 nuyen
expected retail price: 11,000 nyuen

Rigger Drone Herding Kit
wholesale value: 12,210 nuyen
expected retail price: 14,000 nuyen

Saddletramp Kit
wholesale value: 17,700 nuyen
expected retail price: 19,000 nuyen

Rigger Driving Kit
wholesale value:  26,615 nuyen
expected retail price: 30,000 nuyen

Ghettoriffic Kit
wholesale value: 29,660 nuyen
expected retail price: 31,000 nuyen

My Little Decker Kit
wholesale value:  69,450 nuyen
expected retail price: 75,000 nuyen

SQUATTER PARADISE KIT
This is a dirt cheap package of dirty, second hand dirt. At least it looks like mostly dirt. Actually all of the equipment is new but modified to look used an unimpressive. This kit is ideal for a character who needs to disappear into a crowd. This package includes bare basics but offers little firepower, almost no firewall protection, and a tiny first aid kit. The Streetline Special without smartlink was selected as the centerpiece of this package because of its affordability and resistance to being spotted by cameras. One interesting twists are a hidden armslide holster sown built into the sleeve of the armored jacket. Another trick is how the laser sight, flash light, and glasses are configured to work together offering the buyer an infrared view and things to see in it while others around the buyer see nothing; it's like seeing the world through infra-rose colored lenses. This package comes with a fake SIN but no licenses, so the buyer is expected to dump the pistols, ammo, and grenades before allowing oneself to be caught with them.

knife in the switchblade style (damage STR+1, acc 5, AP -1) 10¥
Streetline Special pistol (damage 6, acc 4, ammo 6) 120¥
      with laser sight that projects an infrared beam
12 rounds of regular ammo 240¥
spare clip with 12 rounds of hollow point ammo 99¥
     (pistol's stats become damage 7, acc 4, AP-1, ammo 6)
hidden armslide sown into the jacket 350¥
flashbang grenade 100¥
smoke grenade (does not block thermal vision) 40¥
two outfits of worn-looking dirty clothing and mismatched shoes 20¥
armor jacket (armor 12) 1200¥
sturdy backpack, dirty 30¥
2 bottles of water and three small meals of dehydrated food 20¥
Metalink commlink $100
credstick 5¥
glasses with flare protection, thermal vision, and infrared vision modes 1675¥
infrared flashlight 425¥
earbuds with select sound filter (rating 1) that are pre-programmed to filter
     out the noise of a flashbang grenade 300¥
first aid kit (rating 1) with a trauma patch 750¥
fake SIN (rating 1) 2500¥
licenses: pistol, ammo x 2, grenade x2, and concealed carry 1200¥

wholesale value: 9360¥
expected retail price: 11,000¥

RIGGER DRONE HERDING KIT
Riggers offer more options in their equipment combinations than perhaps any other class. This particular build is set up to be a cheap and effective drone controller of robots that are controlled with the Pilot Ground skill. A rigger who purchases both rigger kits could conceivably park the car around a corner, remain seated there under the protection of the car's armor, and send forth drone minions to perform a job.

This kit includes shock gloves as a melee weapon, but the real usefulness of the gloves is that they can charge their own significant internal batteries from nothing but the Matrix, and that electricity can be repurposed with a Hardware skill roll to power depleted microdones. The internal batteries from the taser pistol could be used in the same way. This kit also includes a couple of remote controlled ropes which are not as useful as actual drones but close – and they are dirt cheap enough to be considered disposable. This kit includes flashpacks which are almost as effective as flashbang grenades but require no licenses.

Kits cannot include serious cybernetic augmentations like a control rig, so as a substitute, this kit includes an external trode for the rigger to wear. The trode is integrated into the helmet and connected to high-end comm link which is running software that emulates a control rig. Using the trode, the buyer is still capable of interfacing with the vehicle in virtual reality as a either cold sim or as a hot sim just as the rigger would do with a control rig. Of course, the buyer with a trode does not receive the dice bonuses of using an actual control rig. If the buyer has an actual control rig installed in ones head, the drone is equipped to interface with that also.

The drones included in this kit are Sikorsky-Bell Microskimmers. Although considered to be micro-drones, these frisbee-like disc shaped robots are actually larger than some mini-drones. Flashpacks can be mounted on drones without requiring a weapon mount, although the drone's autopilot will not know how to use them. The flashpacks can be removed and switched out with small explosives, additional sensors, a commlink, or whatever the buyer prefers to send.

Shock Gloves 550¥
Yamaha Pulsar taser (damage 7S, AP -5, ammo 4) 180¥
concealable holster 150¥
four taser darts 200¥
loose fitting outfit of armor clothing with shoes and helmet (armor 8) 550¥
Hermes Ikon commlink (rating 5) with trode 3070¥
AR Gloves 150¥
common programs: datasoft covering the model of drone 120¥
silver cred stick 20¥
3 Microskimmers 3000¥
3 flashpaks 450¥
2 myomeric ropes, 50m each 2000¥
fake SIN (rating 1) 2500¥
fake licenses: shock gloves (rating 1) 200¥
tool kit in a standard size tool box 500¥
medkit (rating 3) 750¥
large case for everything above 100¥

wholesale value: 12,210 nuyen
expected retail price: 14,000 nuyen

SADDLETRAMP KIT
For the shadowrunner on a tight budget of 50,000 nuyen or less, this is an adequate supply of starting gear. This package might be useful to street samurai who has adopted the Code of the West as his personal code of honor or else a veteran smuggler who wants to leave her old SIN behind and go live off the grid for a while. It doesn't have a lot, but what it has is good and reliable stuff designed to fit neatly into a pair of saddle bags. One budget-slimming feature is how only the guns and ammunition require licenses, so if this runner is ever stopped in the wilderness by some game warden or bounty hunter, he  can might claim to be on an extended fishing or camping trip. Another budgeting feature is that this kit includes no vehicle. It is suggested that the runner either team up someone who does own a vehicle or else spend on points of contacts on a loyal horse. There are no augmentations in the package, so the saddletramp can invest in that later or remain natural and preserve his essence. Pistols and blades can be paired (with the purchase of a second kit) so to take advantage of the Ambidextrous advantage or else just enjoy the security of having backups. This package includes a better than average comlink so that the saddletramp can simply rely on its firewall to keep private his personal network of items, but if he ever suspects a hacker is working against him, he can simply turn off his gear, and it will all still work quite well.

Lined Coat in the form of a duster (9 armor, & -2 bonus to conceal items under the coat) 900¥
wide brimmed hat 50¥
rugged clothes and synth-leather boots 250¥
Remington 950 hunting rifle (damage 12P, Acc 7, AP -2, ammo 5) 2100¥
imaging scope and shoulder strap 315¥
Ruger Super Warhawk revolver (damage 9P, Acc 5, AP -2, ammo 6) 400v
speed loader 25¥
2 concealable holsters for knife and gun (-1 to conceal-ability & -1 if running wireless) 300v
100 bullets (50 for the revolver, 50 for the long gun) 2000¥
1 survival knife (damage 5D, Acc 5, AP -1) 100¥
Hermes Ikon commlink (Rating 5, Firewall 5) 3000v
medkit (rating 3) kept in pocket 750¥
trauma patch kept in pocket 500¥
medkit (rating 10) kept in saddlebag 2500¥
standard rope, 100 meters 50¥
flashlight 25¥
survival kit 200¥
gold cred stick 100¥
fake SIN (rating 1) 2500¥
licenses (rating 1 each): pistol, long gun, ammo, concealed carry, hunting, and fishing licenses 1,200¥

wholesale value: 17,715¥
expected retail price: 19,000¥

RIGGER DRIVING KIT
Riggers offer more options in their equipment combinations than perhaps any other class. This particular build is set up to be cheap and effective driver, and as thus it is the only kit which comes with a vehicle. The light pistol which is included in this kit is held in a hidden compartment which is quickly accessible by reaching under the vehicle's dash. The pistol comes with two clips of ammo, one filled with regular bullets and a spare filled with paint-delivering bullets which can obstruct the view of an opposing driver when fired at a windshield. This entire kit is protected by the firewall of the Hermes Ikon commlink. That is a Firewall 5. This commlink is typically kept in snugly in a special pocket on the vehicle's steering wheel with voice control enabled, but the buyer may opt to simply carry the commlink in a pocket. The vehicle does not feature a weapon mount, so if the buyer wants these vehicles to be armed, they need to upgrade them. There is also no melee weapon in this kit; use a wrench out of the tool kit if something really needs to be hit.

Kits cannot include serious cybernetic augmentations like a control rig, so as a substitute, this kit includes an external trode for the rigger to wear. The trode is integrated into the helmet and connected to high-end comm link which is running software that emulates a control rig. Using the trode, the driver is still capable of interfacing with the vehicle in virtual reality as a either cold sim or as a hot sim just as the driver would do with a control rig. Of course, the driver with a trode does not receive the dice bonuses of using an actual control rig. If the driver has an actual control rig installed in ones head, the vehicle is equipped to interface with that also.

The package does not include Mapsofts because it can be sold anywhere. Instead, it comes with a Shopsoft program in the commlink. Using the shopsoft, one can easily purchase specific mapsofts, and those maps are automatically installed in the vehicle's on board computer.

The vehicle included is usually a Mercury Comet. These mid-sized sedans are the single best selling model around,  solidly built, and cheap enough to almost be considered disposable. These are not new vehicles, but being one or at the most two years old. Sometimes a Ford Americar or Honda Citizen will be substituted for the Comet depending on local availability. Any of the three is functionally considered the same as a brand new Comet. Their stats are handling 4/3, speed 3, accel 2, body 11, armor 6, sensor 2, pilot 1, seats 4. The buyer can drive this car, allow the car's computer to drive it, or control the vehicle through the trode.

Fechetti Security 600 with integrated laser light (damage 7P, Acc 6, ammo 30) 350¥
30 regular bullets 600¥
spare clip loaded with 10 with paint rounds 255¥
loose fitting outfit of armor clothing with shoes and helmet (armor 8) 550¥
Hermes Ikon commlink (rating 5) with trode 3070¥
common programs: shopsoft & datasoft covering the model of vehicle 270¥
silver cred stick kept in glove compartment 20¥
fake SIN (rating 1) 2500¥
fake licenses: vehicle, gun, ammo, and driver's license (rating 1 each ) 1000¥
tool kit kept in trunk 500¥
Comet or equivalent car 12,000¥
rigger interface and manual operation controls 1500¥

wholesale value:  26,615 nuyen
expected retail price: 30,000 nuyen

GHETTORIFFIC KIT
For the character who embraces the street life, this is all the equipment to get one from punk to street cred in record time. None of it is top of the line, but all of it is enviable to the gangers, fixers, and posers of the world. Become back alley royalty. Without a good firewall, this package relies on a portable jammer the firewall of the commlink to discourage hackers (noise +5, firewall 3). Licenses? We don't need no stinking licenses.

Monofilament Whip (damage 12, acc 5 or 7, AP -8) 10,000¥
Ares Predator V with integrated smartgun and explosive bullets
(damage 9, acc 5 or 7, AP -0, ammo 15) 725¥
50 rounds of explosive heavy pistol rounds and a spare clip 3550¥
Streetline Special backup pistol (damage 6, acc 4, ammo 6) 120¥
12 rounds of regular ammo 240¥
one outfit of loose-fitting but designer label feedback clothing and shoes 800¥
synth-leather armor jacket (armor 12) 1200¥
Renraku Sensei commlink with trid projector and trode headband 3200¥
area jammer 1000¥
gold credstick 100¥
fake SIN (rating 1) 2500¥
sunglasses with image link, smark link, and low light vision 2825¥
headphones (rating 1) with select sound filter that removes traffic noise 300¥
autopicker (rating 1) 500¥
5 chem patches laced with gamma-scopolomine 2000¥
trauma patch 500¥
5 stim patches (rating 4) 100¥

wholesale value: 29,660¥
expected retail price: 31,000¥

MY LITTLE DECKER KIT
Deckers are the quintessential hackers of the setting, but the rules by which they hack are kind of a mess. Here is basic set of starting equipment for the decker on a budget or a character (like a rigger for example) who wants to get into decking. A technomancer with nuyen to burn might want to invest in this set of equipment so to pass oneself off as a decker. The emphasis for this particular character build is to get into a data node quickly, grab the desired files, and jack out before trouble catches up with her. She is not equipped for dueling in the Matrix. She packs a Streetline Special because it is a cheap and effective means of personal defense, but of course, it a decker is ever in a position to be shooting her target, she has already failed. She is packing a trod adapter because it's a cheaper and less invasive alternative to neural cybernetics, but a player is welcome (and encouraged) to invest in the much superior augmentations. The Urban Explorer Jumpsuit is an excellent compromise between protection and comfort. The helmet which comes with that jumpsuit is not equipped with any enhancements, but there is room to comfortably wear a trode underneath it. The cyberdeck included in this kit is a Microdeck Summit, the same product that is the first deck of many deckers. The Summit is a rating 1 item which can only run one program at a time, so there is only one hacker program included. To use common programs and this hacker program, the decker will need to switch back and forth between them. The preset configuration for the Summit are Firewall 4, Data Processing 3, Sleaze 3, and Attack 1.

Streetline Special (damage 6P, Acc 4, ammo 4) 120¥
20 regular bullets 400¥
concealable holster 150¥
Urban Explorer Jumpsuit with helmet (Armor 11) 750¥
comfortable shoes 30¥
Meta Link commlink 100¥
Her first deck: the Microdeck Summit 58,000¥
with Satellite Uplink and one Trode 570¥
10 datachips 60¥
common programs: browse, encryption, signal scrubber, and toolbox 320¥
hacker program: exploit (adds +2D to Sleaze attribute when attempting Hack on the Fly rolls) 250¥
gold cred stick 100¥
fake SIN (rating 1) 2500¥
fake licenses: gun, ammo, and concealed carry (rating 1) 600¥
tool kit 500¥
Docwagon contract, basic 5000¥ per year which begins when the buyer activates it

wholesale value:  69,450 nuyen
expected retail price: 75,000 nuyen

It was suggested by my GM that providing fake IDs might be unrealistic. According to him, making a set of fake licenses and a fake SIN even at Rating 1 will require months. It took our PCs weeks to find even this one NPC forger, and there is no way he can supply the demand by himself. I created this alternate version of the cheapest bundle including no fake IDs. While I was at it, I shaved the value down to the point where it could be afforded by even the poorest beginning PC with just barely enough left over to buy her own fake SIN.

SQUATTER PARADISE KIT 1.1
This variation of the squatter kit is even cheaper still. It includes no fake SIN and no fake licenses.

knife in the switchblade style (damage STR+1, acc 5, AP -1) 10¥
Streetline Special pistol (damage 6, acc 4, ammo 6) 120¥
      with laser sight that projects an infrared beam
spare clip and 24 rounds of regular ammo 485¥
smoke grenade (does not block thermal vision) 40¥
two outfits of worn-looking dirty clothing and mismatched shoes 20¥
concealed holster 150¥
armor vest (armor 9) 500¥
sturdy backpack, dirty 30¥
2 bottles of water and three small meals of dehydrated food 20¥
Metalink commlink 100¥
credstick 5¥
glasses with image link and thermal vision mode 725¥
first aid kit (rating 1) with a trauma patch 750¥

wholesale value: ¥2955
expected retail price: 3500¥


The various neato bits cut out of the Squatter's Paradise Kit were incorporated instead to a new version of the Ghettorific Kit.

GHETTORIFFIC KIT V1.1
For the character who embraces the street life, this is all the equipment to get one from punk to street cred in record time. None of it is top of the line, but all of it is enviable to the gangers, fixers, and posers of the world. Become back alley royalty. Without a good firewall, this package relies on a portable jammer the firewall of the commlink to discourage hackers (noise +5, firewall 3).

Several pieces in this kit are set up to work together optically. The laser sight on the Streetline Special is wired to broadcast an infrared beam which is somewhat visible to the buyer when using the glasses' thermographic model. Infrared vision and heat vision are not exactly the same thing, but they are close enough for these purposes. Likewise, the flashlight broadcasts and infrared beam. The smoke grenade was selected specifically because it does not block thermal optics.

Licenses? We don't need no stinking licenses.

Monofilament Whip (damage 12, acc 5 or 7, AP -8) 10,000¥
Ares Predator V with integrated smartgun (damage 9, acc 5 or 7, AP -0, ammo 15) 725¥
50 rounds of explosive heavy pistol rounds and a spare clip 3550¥
     (stats above take the explosive rounds into account)
Streetline Special backup pistol (damage 6, acc 4, ammo 6) 120¥
12 rounds of regular ammo 240¥
one outfit of loose-fitting one-size-fits-most designer label feedback clothing and shoes 800¥
synth-leather armor jacket (armor 12) 1200¥
hidden arm slide for the Streetline Special sown into the sleeve of the armor jacket 350¥
smoke grenade (does not block thermal vision) 40¥
Renraku Sensei commlink with trid projector and trode headband 3200¥
area jammer 1000¥
gold credstick 100¥
fake SIN (rating 1) 2500¥
sunglasses with image link, smark link, and thermographic vision mode 2825¥
headphones (rating 1) with select sound filter that removes traffic noise 300¥
infrared flashlight 425¥
autopicker (rating 1) 500¥
trauma patch 500¥
5 stim patches (rating 4) 500¥

wholesale value: 28,875¥
expected retail price: 31,000¥

Never mind -- a friend informed me tonight that the brand new sourcebook, Run Faster, contains runner kits. It looks like I did a tremendous amount of work for nothing.