Shadowrun Sensors

Sensors

Sensors are found almost everywhere. Cheaply produced by the billions, miniaturization and integration have made sensors both located everywhere and hard to spot. You can put sensors in just about everything, and lots of people do. Your can of FizzyGoo is watching you and reporting back to marketing. You can play the sensor game, too.

Sensors need to be placed in a housing or case of some sort, or built into another device. Sensors can record data themselves or forward it wirelessly in real-time or as files to other devices. Sensors are available in seven ratings (2–8) and two types: single and array. When you use the sensor array for Perception Tests, you may use your Sensors skill in place of your Perception skill.

• Sensor Array: This sensor package includes up to eight functions listed under Sensor Functions.
• Single Sensor: This is a sensor that can do only one function listed under Sensor Functions.

Sensors	Capacity	Availability	Cost
Handheld Housing	1-3	-	Capacity x 100
Wall-Mounted Housing	1-6	-	Capacity x 250
Sensor Array (Rating 2-8)	[6]	2	Rating x 1,000
Single Sensor (Rating 2-8)	[1]	2	Rating x 100

Housings

Sensors can be put into devices that have capacity. Most vehicles and drones come factory-equipped with a sensor array (at a rating listed with their stats). What you can put your sensor in is limited by the Rating of the sensor.

Sensor Housing	Max Sensor Rating
RFID, audio or visual device, headware	2
Handheld device, small (or smaller) drone	3
Wall-mounted Device, medium drone	4
Large drone, cyberlimb	5
Motorcycle	6
Vehicle (larger than a motorcycle)	7
Buildings, airports, etc.	8

Sensor Functions

All of the functions you can choose for your sensor(s) are listed on the Sensor Functions table. If a function has the same name as an imaging or audio device, it’s the same as its description in those sections, with a Capacity equal to its Rating, and thus is not described here.

Sensor Functions	Max Range	Capacity	Availability	Cost
Atmosphere Sensor (Rating 1–3)	-	[1]	1	Rating x 25
Camera (Rating 1–6)	-	[1]	1	Rating x 100
Cyberware Scanner (Rating 1–6)	15 meters	[1]	1; R	Rating x 75
Directional Microphone	-	[1]	1	50
Geiger Counter	-	[1]	1	50
Laser Microphone (Rating 1–6)	100 meters	[2]	3; R	Rating x 50
Laser Range Finder	1,000 meters	[1]	3	100
MAD Scanner (Rating 1–3)	5 meters	[1]	2; R	Rating x 75
Motion Sensor	25 meters	[1]	1	50
Olfactory Sensor (Rating 1–6)	-	[1]	1	Rating x 500
Radio Signal Scanner (Rating 1–6)	20 meters	[1]	1; R	Rating x 25
Ultrasound	50 meters	[1]	3	1,000

• Atmosphere Sensor: Weather forecasts are notoriously untrustworthy (thanks to pollution, the Awakening, and other factors), but atmospheric sensors can keep you from getting caught in the rain.
• Camera: See Visual Sensors & Imaging Devices.

• Cyberware Scanner: This millimeter-wave scanner is primarily intended to detect cyber-implants, but can be used to identify other contraband as well. Maximum range 15 meters.

• Directional Microphone: Allows the user to listen in on distant conversations. Solid objects as well as loud sounds outside the line of eavesdropping block the reception. Maximum range is 100 meters.

• Geiger Counter: This sensor picks up the amount of radioactivity surrounding it.

• Laser Microphone: This sensor bounces a laser beam against a solid object like a windowpane, reads the vibrational variations of the surface, and translates them into the sounds that are occurring on the other side of the surface. Use Perception: Search + (Device rating x 2 pips (3 pips = 1D)) for the listener’s Perception: Search Test. Maximum range is 100 meters.

• Laser Range Finder: This simple sensor emits a laser beam that is reflected off a target’s surface and picked up by a detector to calculate the exact distance.

• MAD Scanner: The MAD (Magnetic Anomaly Detection) scanner is used to detect weapons and concentrations of metal. It has a maximum range of 5 meters.

• Microphone: See Audio Sensors & Enhancers.

• Motion Sensor: This sensor uses a mix of ultrasound and lowpower infrared to detect motion and drastic changes in the ambient temperature.

• Olfactory Scanner: The olfactory sensor picks up and analyzes the molecules in the air. It works in the same way as the olfactory booster. (See Headware)

• Radio Signal Scanner: The radio signal scanner locates and locks in on radio traffic from RFID tags, wireless networks, and other transmitters, and is especially useful at capturing signals originating from nearby. The scanner can also measure a signal’s strength and pinpoint its location.

• Ultrasound: The ultrasound accessory consists of an emitter that sends out continuous ultrasonic pulses and a receiver that picks up the echoes of these pulses to create a topographic ultrasound map. Ultrasound is perfect to “see” textures, calculate distances between objects, and pick up things otherwise invisible to the naked eye, it can’t handle colors or brightness. It also can’t penetrate materials like glass that would be transparent to optical sensors. You can set it to a passive mode, where it doesn’t emit ultrasonic pulses but still picks up ultrasound from outside sources, such as motion sensors or someone else’s ultrasound sensors on active mode (or bats).

Source

• Shadowrun 5th Edition Core Rulebook (2nd Printing) (pages 445-446)
• thedemonapostle