Some jobs in the Sixth World might call upon shadowrun-ners to blow up a building—anything from a warehouse or retail store to an apartment complex or office tower.
Sometimes these jobs come from corporate Johnsons looking to take out a competitor, while other times they come from organized-crime syndicates looking to es-tablish protection rackets and needing to make a pub-lic example out of some problematic citizen. Runners could also be involved in a real-estate scheme meant to acquire land on the cheap or perhaps a scam to col-lect insurance money after the “accidental” destruc-tion of the owner’s property. These rules are meant to help players and gamemasters carry out those types of campaigns.
STEP 1: IDENTIFY AMOUNT OF EXPLOSIVES NEEDED
Identifying a target to be blown up is easy: a Johnson will tell the shadowrunners which building or struc-ture to blow up. Knowing the target strucstruc-ture’s type will indicate how much explosive material is needed to get the job done. Characters with the Demolitions skill need to make a Demolitions + Logic [Mental] (6) Test to successfully calculate just how much explosive material will be needed to get the job done right. “Get-ting the job done right” in this case means blowing up a building in a reasonably controlled way that minimizes collateral damage and results in a large building col-lapsing on itself. If a character has acquired blueprints and building specs, the threshold for determining how much explosive to use will be lowered to 4. If a char-acter fails this test, his estimate will be off by a mar-gin of 20P. If a character gets a glitch on this test, the character’s estimate will be off by 40P. If a critical glitch results, the character underestimates or overestimates the amount of explosives needed by 60P. Consult the Building/Structure Damage Value Threshold table for the appropriate value for the given structure and apply modifiers as appropriate from the Demolitions Test.
To successfully destroy and implode a large building or structure, charges will need to be distributed evenly throughout the structure at key structural points (channeled into structural columns and beams, load-bearing walls, etc.). To ensure the building collapses in a controlled fashion, charges need to be rigged for simultaneous detonation by setting them up on wired circuits with detonating cord and blasting caps, on preprogrammed timer detonators, or on radio detonators. Charges need to be placed on structural points in multiples of four per level. Most buildings require charges to be planted on either four or eight
structural points per level, but for truly massive structures, the gamemaster may require extra placements. The bigger the building, the more structural supports will need to be taken out with explosives. As a general rule, explosives need to be placed on the ground floor or basement of a large building and on every floor whose number is a multiple of 5. If charges are properly placed on key structural points within a building, the DV for the charge is doubled (see Damaging Barriers, p. 198, SR5).
The charge must be sufficient to produce a 1-meter hole in the structural point to effectively destroy it. Most structural points are made out of structural material (Structure 10, Armor 16) while some more hardened facilities are made out of heavy structural material (Structure 12, Armor 20). Review the Material Damage Threshold table to find out the specific threshold for the correct material type.
Instead of simply relying on the Building and Structure Damage Value Threshold table to determine how much power an explosive charge would need to bring down an average building, a gamemaster can generate a more-specific DV. The gamemaster can do this by determining A) how many structural points the runners will need to destroy per level, B) what material the structural support points are made of, and C) how much DV would be needed to destroy just one structural point. Then the gamemaster can multiply the DV by the number of support points the runners will need to target per level and then multiply that number by the number of levels that runners will need to plant explosives on to implode the building to get the total threshold value.
EXAMPLE
A gamemaster wants his players do a job where they have to blow up a twenty-story building. Right away, he knows that the runners will need to place ex-plosives on five floors (the basement, the fifth, tenth, fifteenth, and twentieth floors). The gamemaster de-cides that the runners will have to plant charges on four structural points per level. The gamemaster also determines that the support structures are made out of heavy structural material (Structure 12, Armor 20).
Referring to the Material Damage Threshold table, the gamemaster realizes that each charge will need to do a minimum of 20P per structural point. Each floor would require a combined damage value of at least 80P to get the job done. Multiplying that by the number of floors the runners will need to plant explosives on (5), the gamemaster calculates the minimum DV for destroying the building as 400P.
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RULES FOR TAKING DOWN BUILDINGS >>To reduce the amount of explosives and charges needed to destroy a structure, a demolitions expert may choose to tamp the charge. This requires the charge to be set up where a strong material on one side of the explosive channels the force of the explosion toward the structural support and turns the explosion from a circular blast into a directional blast. Typical materials used for tamping include sandbags and rubble, but runners have been known to also use body armor and spells such as Physical Barrier to produce the tamping effect. They may also use solid plates of a heavy metal on one side of the charge, similar to how a claymore mine is constructed, to direct the explosion. The material or spell providing the tamping must have a Structure Rating of at least half the Rating of the material being blown up by explosive device. For example, an explosive device set up to destroy heavy material with a Structure Rating of 6 would require a Structure Rating or Force of at least 3 in order to provide tamping.
Runners also have the option of drilling holes inside the structural point, putting the explosive device directly inside the support, and sealing up the hole.
This is also considered a tamping method. This option, though very effective, is also time consuming, and most runners will lack sufficient time to go this route.
Tamped charges receive a x 4 multiplier to their
Damage Value instead of the standard x 2. In addition, the gamemaster should reduce the number of structural support points that the runners need to use to set the explosives, to a minimum of 4. Tamped charges are always considered either average or complex charges.
Buildings fewer than five stories do not necessarily have to be imploded. Packing enough explosives to meet the necessary Damage Value threshold (250P or less) and placing them near a single key structural support point is sufficient to destroy these small structures. In the case of a house or apartment, runners have the option of causing a gas leak, such as by tampering with a gas oven or hot water tank. The team may then choose to either use a small charge or cause a spark to detonate the gas. If a character uses a gas leak to amplify an explosion, increase the Damage Value of the explosive device by 20P.
When collapsing a building, the character doing the demolitions work must pay careful attention not to exceed the Damage Value threshold for the building by more than 50P. Doing so will result in collateral damage for the surrounding area from the larger-than-necessary blast, such as damage to neighboring buildings and injuries to bystanders on neighboring streets. If the character underestimates the threshold for demolishing the building by more than half its Damage Value, the building will not collapse at all and can be repaired.
<< RULES FOR TAKING DOWN BUILDINGS
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STEP 2: MAKE THE DEMOLITIONS TESTS
Once the player has the explosives, he needs to turn them into charges (see p. 436, SR5), either by wiring them with detonators and setting up the charges to be detonated simultaneously with the other charges, or by setting them up on a single circuit. The player may choose to make a Demolitions + Logic [Mental] Test,
with each hit raising the effective rating of the charges by 1. The character does not need to do this step if he is confident in the quality of his explosives and believes he does not need to raise their effective rating to get the job done. The character needs to make only one Demolitions Test for the entire batch of explosives to improve their effective rating. Making this test is con-sidered shaping the charges to make them more effi-cient. Shaping a charge turns a circular blast into a di-EXAMPLE
Twitch and his runner team are hired to blow up a twen-ty-story Universal Omnitech office building. Twitch does his due diligence and researches what he can on the building’s struc-ture, which includes gaining access to its blueprints and building specifications. This lowers Twitch’s difficulty on his Demolitions Test by 2. Twitch gets the required 4 hits on the Demolitions + Logic [Mental] Test. The gamemaster informs Twitch’s player that the building layout requires him and his team to plant explosives on 4 separate structural points per level. He also informs the player that the structural points are made up of heavy structural material (Structure 12, Armor 20). This means each charge will need to meet a minimum threshold of 20P to destroy the structur-al point it is planted on. Twitch successfully cstructur-alculates that his team will need explosive charges capable of providing at least 400P worth of damage to successfully implode the building. He also knows from experience that he will need to plant charges either on the ground floor or in the basement of the building and again on the fifth, tenth, fifteenth, and twentieth floors. Af-ter making his calculations, Twitch decides he needs 20 kilos of Rating 11 plastic explosives. He intends to divide the explosive material into 20 separate 1-kilo charges, with 4 charges being placed per key floor (5 floors). These charges will be set up with timer detonators on a three-hour delay. If properly placed, the explosive charges will exceed the threshold needed to destroy heavy structural material. The Damage Value for the charges is calculated as follows:
Base Damage Value of each charge (11) x 2 (placed directly on a key structural point to receive a x 2 multipli-er) = 22P; x 4 charges per level = 88P.
Five floors of 88P worth of explosives would produce an explosion with a cumulative value of 440P, which exceeds the required threshold of 400P. 440P is not considered excessive as it does not exceed the threshold by more than 50P and it also provides a little cushion for Twitch should anything go wrong with planting the charges, so Twitch is confident this plan will be sufficient to implode the building.
Alternately, let’s consider Twitch’s less-skilled compatriot, Tic, who is prone to making mistakes in his calculations. This is how things might go for him:
Tic does his due diligence and researches what he can on the building’s structure, which includes gaining access to its blueprints. This lowers Tic’s difficulty on his Demolitions Test by 2. Despite this, Tic gets a critical glitch on the test. Tic believes he will need explosive charges capable of providing at least 340P worth of damage to the building to successfully destroy it (400P – 60P for the critical glitch). Tic knows he will need to plant charges on key structural points on the building’s infrastructure either on the ground floor or in the basement of the building and on the fifth, tenth, fifteenth, and twentieth floors. After making his calculations, Tic decides he needs 20 kilos of Rating 9 plastic explosives (4 kilos per charge per floor). If all charges are plant-ed properly and see no further modifications to their effective rating, the Damage Value for the charges would be:
Base DV for a 1-kilo charge of Rating 9 plastic explo-sives (9) x 2 (placed directly on a key structural point) = 18P; 4 charges (placed on each side of the building on each floor to distribute the force of the blast at 18P) = 72P.
5 floors of 72P of plastic explosives = 360P (provided everything is placed properly).
To acquire the explosives, Tic goes through a contact that tells him a high-quality batch of homemade explosives in the necessary quantity is available for purchase. Believing in his contact’s reliability, Tic decides to buy the homemade explosives.
Sadly, his trust is misplaced. The gamemaster assigns a –3 to the explosives’ rating, meaning that the effective rating of the 20 kilos of plastic explosives is now Rating 6, not Rating 9. Without any additional modifications, each charge Tic builds will have a base DV of 6. If Tic plants all charges successfully, the DV of the explosion on each floor would be 48P (6P x 2 for planting the explosives properly on each structural support, x 4 for four sep-arate charges per level). This would only produce an explosion with a blast equal to 240P (48P per level). On its own, the explo-sive power of this blast may be just enough to bring down the building on its own, as it exceeds half of the required threshold, but it will not do so in a way that is desirable to poor ol’ Tic. He may find himself in a spot of trouble.
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RULES FOR TAKING DOWN BUILDINGS >>character to specifically target something, whether that be a person, a specific component of a structure, or a vehicle component.
The character will have to perform an Extended Test to determine how long it takes for the charges to be made. To do this test, the gamemaster determines the complexity of the device(s) being built and whether multiple devices or a single device will be used. The Time Frame for Building Charges table provides the rules and intervals for this test. See the table for special rules on performing Extended Tests with the Demolitions skill.
When deciding which detonators to use, characters need to understand the interior design of the target.
Buildings that runners might blow up are not typically considered prepped for demolition, which would normally happen if a company was hired to legally demolish the building. For example, the demo company would take out materials that could interfere with a radio or wireless signal. Also, the building could be located in either a static or a spam zone (see Noise, p. 230, SR5). In addition to outside interference, some secure buildings make active use of large quantities of Wi-fi negating paint, making getting an unauthorized wireless signal into the building from the outside next to impossible.
Timer detonators are the most obvious choice to bypass this problem, but that always raises the question of whether the runners can place all the charges with enough time left over to evacuate before they go off.
This is why most demolitions experts rig up a radio/
timer detonator hybrid. Once they have planted all their charges, runners can send a radio signal to the charges while still in the building to start the timer detonator’s countdown, and then they can make their egress as the timer ticks down. This is still a risky proposition, as any number of complications could arise to prevent escape, but at least this allows runners to get the charges armed on their own schedule and not face the awkward problem of being unable to set off their charges after leaving the facility.
STEP 3: PLANTING THE EXPLOSIVES AND DETONATING
Now that the charges are built, the characters will need to get the explosives into the building. Most secure buildings have chemsniffers placed at every stan-dard entry point. Shadowrunners will need to circum-vent these sensors, either by hermetically sealing the charges, hacking the system and spoofing the sensor results, or finding another way into the building where no chemsniffers are located. Once inside, runners must find ways to access the building’s key structural points to set up the charges. Most of these points are in se-cured locations such as restricted maintenance rooms,
Rating 11 plastic explosives. He is confident with his math, so he will not try to shape them to make them more powerful. He leaves them as solid bricks of plas-tic explosive but wires them to timer detonators (Rat-ing 2) and preps them to explode. Twitch now makes an Extended Test to see how long it takes him to make 20 charges. The gamemaster determines that, being set up on timer detonators, the charges are of simple complexity. This sets the interval at 30 minutes per roll.
Twitch rolls his Demolitions + Logic [6] (20, 30 minutes) Extended Test and gets 5 hits. He has a dice pool of 10 for this test. In the first 30 minutes, Twitch is able to wire up five charges. Twitch makes a second, con-secutive roll. This time, he is at –1 die for the test (his dice pool is now 9). Twitch gets four hits for the next 30 minutes he spends working on the charges, making four more charges and bringing his total up to nine.
Wanting to reset his dice pool to the max, he takes half an hour to rest. His dice pool returns to 10. On his next roll, Twitch is only able to make three more charges, bringing the total to 12. Twitch chooses to continue and makes another consecutive roll. This time, he makes three more charges, bringing the total to 15. Wanting to just get it done, Twitch rolls again, this time with eight dice, and manages to roll 6 hits, the maximum number he can get with his Mental Limit.
In total, it takes Twitch 3 hours to make 20 charges of 20 kilos of Rating 11 plastic explosives. Twitch is now ready to head to the building to plant the charges.
Meanwhile, Tic also has some explo-sives-setting work to do:
Tic is now ready to set up his 20 charges of what he believes are Rating 9 plastic explosives. He wants to make these explosive charges more efficient, so he makes his Demolitions + Logic [Mental] (6) Test and scores only two hits. Tic believes he has improved the charges to have an effective Rating of 11, when in fact the effective Rating for the charges is now up to 8, still one point below the original Damage Value Tic desired.
Tic in this example takes the same amount of time to prepare his charges, but he uses the cheapest timer detonators available (Rating 1). This will become im-portant later. Provided everything else goes as intend-ed, the total Damage Value for the Rating 8 charges will be 320P: four charges of Rating 8 explosives per floor (16P each), planted on key structural points for the x 2 multiplier (64P for the entire level), multiplied by 5 levels = 320P. This explosion will do considerable damage to the building (and is much stronger than the original 240P that would have occurred had Tic not taken this step), but it is still far from the required 400P
Tic in this example takes the same amount of time to prepare his charges, but he uses the cheapest timer detonators available (Rating 1). This will become im-portant later. Provided everything else goes as intend-ed, the total Damage Value for the Rating 8 charges will be 320P: four charges of Rating 8 explosives per floor (16P each), planted on key structural points for the x 2 multiplier (64P for the entire level), multiplied by 5 levels = 320P. This explosion will do considerable damage to the building (and is much stronger than the original 240P that would have occurred had Tic not taken this step), but it is still far from the required 400P