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If you have ever seen an action adventure or organized crime movie, you know car bombs are a favorite way of doing away with snitches, witnesses, and other tar- gets. In the Sixth World, using car bombs to kill targets remains a popular way of getting a wetwork job done.

In Shadowrun, there are a couple of different ways to plant car bombs to kill the passengers inside. There are the “dumb bombs” and the “smart bombs.” Dumb bombs are designed to respond to a specific trigger, not necessarily a specific target. A common dumb bomb wires an explosive device into the vehicle’s ignition via an electrical detonator. This type of car bomb remains inert until the person starts the car and allows the electric current from the car’s ignition system to detonate the explosives, killing the unfortunate metahuman(s) caught in the blast. Another type of dumb bomb is connected to a pressure-sensitive detonator and placed under the seat the target is expected to use; the bomb triggers when a certain amount of weight sits on the seat. This type of bomb can be placed under the driver’s seat, the front passenger seat, or the rear bench seat. The problem with dumb explosives is there’s a very good chance they won’t hit the target. Many vehicles in 2075 have a rigger interface, so a rigger can start the car remotely, triggering the dumb ignition bomb and destroying an empty car. If a car lacks a rigger interface, a bodyguard or valet can collect the car—again, the bomb hits the wrong target. Also, all but the cheapest models of cars allow the driver to start from several meters away by using a commlink. The problem gets compounded if the target uses multiple cars or has family members who might swap cars with the target at an inopportune time, which means so ignition trigger can easily catch the wrong person—or no person.

Other runners might choose to use a radio detonator; once the team has visual confirmation the target is in the appropriate seat, the bomb can be remotely detonated, assuring the success of the job. However, this costs runners time. Also, using a radio detonator requires runners to worry about noise interfering with the detonator signal. This is why experienced shadowrunners invest in smart car bombs that do the work for them.

A smart car bomb always uses an optical detonator and is always considered to be a complex explosive device. An optical detonator can be connected to sensors either wirelessly or via fiber-optic cable. Once the sensors confirm the target is in the vehicle, the bomb will detonate. An optical detonator has a processor

runners will hide a micro-camera inside the passenger compartment (in the dashboard, in the dome light, etc.), which is wirelessly connected to the optical detonator. The detonator has been preloaded with a facial recognition program and images of the target. Once the program confirms the target, it triggers the explosion. Since some high-level targets use body doubles, and with the quality of cosmetic modifications available in 2075, a number of runners are uncomfortable relying on facial recognition to get a confirmed kill. A variant of this smart bomb uses biometric scanners to confirm the presence of the target’s DNA or other biometric information before detonating. These scanners normally collect airborne particulates to confirm the target’s identity, or they can be configured to scan for fingerprints on the vehicle’s most commonly touched surfaces such as the seat belt, steering wheel, and glove compartment. Spray-on nanoprint scanners for these surfaces are becoming common for this type of work, with the nanoprint scanners feeding data to the optical detonator. Of course, this method requires a sample of the target’s DNA for biometric comparison by the smart bomb. Smart bombs can also be programmed to send a text message to the runner team prior to detonation, which informs the team that the target has been acquired and the detonation sequence has started. If set up with a camera, the smart bomb can send footage of the target prior to the explosion, which can be used as proof of death for the Johnson (though remember that the more wireless devices used in an explosive, the more opportunities there are to be discovered). This allows a runner team to be nowhere near the bomb when it goes off, ensuring a clean getaway.

To set up a vehicle bomb meant to kill only the passengers, the explosive needs to be placed inside the passenger compartment, such as under a seat. Otherwise, the explosive device will have to be powerful enough to breach the Structure and Armor ratings of the vehicle. The explosive device has to be shaped to create a directional blast that forces the brunt of the explosion toward the victim. When the device detonates, the explosion is considered a penetrating weapon for any barriers between it and the target, such as the seat, and the barrier itself absorbs one box of damage. The rest of the damage transfers to the target and anyone sitting within a 60-degree arc of the blast. Those outside the 60-degree arc treat the explosion as a circular blast, with the blast’s damage dropping by 2 per meter. In this case, deal the damage to the individuals inside the vehicle first. All damage from the explosive device is considered Physical, no matter what the passengers’ Armor Ratings are. Once the passengers have taken damage, the vehicle resists the remaining damage: subtract from the Damage Value each hit the characters inside the vehicle rolled for resisting damage. Because the primary targets were the passengers and not the vehicle itself, only

apply –2 AP to the vehicle’s Armor Rating. If the vehicle took at least one box of damage but is not entirely destroyed by the explosion, it is considered to be on fire. For every Combat Turn the vehicle is on fire, it takes 1 automatic box of damage. If this fills up the damage track for a vehicle with a fuel-based engine, the vehicle explodes. Anyone still in the vehicle who survived the original blast would have to resist another 20P blast from the car’s exploding fuel tank.

When planting an explosive inside a vehicle’s passenger compartment, some players may choose to remove the door paneling and stick a tamped explosive inside. When the explosive device goes off, multiply the Damage Value of the explosion by 4 instead of just doubling it. This extreme version of a car bomb is usually reserved for hard-to-kill targets, such as heavily armored and extensively augmented trolls.

EXAMPLE DUMB BOMB

Cold Heart was hired by a Manhattan Mafia Johnson to elim- inate a witness in an upcoming trial. The UCAS Federal WitSec program relocated the snitch to Seattle until the trial date. Cold Heart does his research on the witness and learns he lives alone and works for Federated Boeing as an engineer. He also learns that he drives himself to work each day. The witness has no spe- cial protection, only a new identity meant to keep him safe. Unfor- tunately for the witness, a UCAS Marshal was happy to give up his identity and location for some cold, hard nuyen. Cold Heart found the target doesn’t carpool with anyone else and is a bit of a loner. Studying the car model the witness drives, Cold Heart learns that it’s limited to manual ignition and lacks a rigger interface. For Cold Heart, this is a perfect situation for a dumb car bomb.

One night, while the witness is asleep at home, Cold Heart breaks into his garage and tampers with his Ford Americar. Rolling an Automotive Mechanic + Logic [Mental] (3) Test, Cold Heart gets 4 hits. He uses an electrical detonator and connects the ignition to 1 kilo of Rating 14 plastic explosive. He places the explosive device underneath the steering column. Cold Heart also makes a Demoli- tions + Logic [Mental] Test to shape the charge and gets 2 hits. The device now effectively produces 16P damage.

The next morning, the witness turns on his car for work and it explodes inside his garage. The way it was planted, the shaped explosive device is considered directional. Since the distance between the explosive blast and the witness is less than 1 meter, he gets the full blast (16P). The witness rolls 4 hits on his Damage Resistance Test, but takes 12 boxes of Physi- cal damage. The target is still alive but is 2 boxes into physical overflow (Body of 4).

The Ford Americar now has to resist 12P damage from the explosion (16P – 4). The gamemaster rolls the vehicle’s Body and Armor Rating, –2 AP (15 dice), and gets 5 hits. The vehicle takes 7P from the explosion and has caught on fire. Unless the witness regains consciousness and gets out of the vehicle within 4 Com- bat Turns, the vehicle will explode and he will take another 20P damage. Needlessly to say, the target dies just prior to the car exploding.

SMART BOMB

Warhawk has taken a job to eliminate one of Mr. Johnson’s megacorporate rivals. He intends to plant a smart bomb inside

the target’s armored limousine and has acquired 1 kilo of Rating 20 plastic explosive. Warhawk connects the detonator to a mi- cro-camera that will be planted inside the dome light of the lim- ousine. He loads images of the target into the optical detonator’s facial recognition program. Warhawk researches the make and model of the limo in question and gets the precise dimensions for the rear bench seat, which will allow him to construct the bomb to fit underneath. Because the bomb uses an optical detonator, the device is considered a complex device. For the Extended Test, Warhawk will need to get 18 hits with an interval of 1 day. Warhawk has a dice pool of 13, and a Mental Limit of 6; he takes 6 days to assemble the device.

Warhawk then waits for an opportunity to plant the bomb. He learns from his legwork that the target’s security will be taking the limo into an auto-detailing shop for some work. He bribes the owner of the shop to allow him access to the limousine, and he plants the bomb underneath the rear passenger bench seat.

The limousine is picked up from the shop a day later, and the human target, a troll bodyguard, and a human driver take it for a drive downtown later that day. Once the smart bomb confirms the identity of the target via facial recognition, it detonates. The target is sitting right on top the explosive device. The seat ab- sorbs 1 box of the initial blast, so the target resists 19P, with an AP of –2. The human target only gets three hits on his Damage Resistance Test, so the target is killed instantly in the explosion.

The troll bodyguard is also caught within the directional ex- plosive’s 60-degree arc and is sitting less than 1 meter away from the blast; he also has to contend with 19P damage. The body- guard is wearing full body armor (Rating 15) and has titanium bone lacing. After resisting damage, the bodyguard suffers 10 boxes of damage and survives.

The driver of the limousine sat approximately 1.75 meters from the victim, which is rounded up to 2 meters for determin- ing damage. At this distance, the explosive blast is considered circular, not directional. By the time the blast gets to the driver, he must resist 15P damage. The driver only gets one hit on his Damage Resistance Test, so he dies also.

The gamemaster subtracts the hits the characters rolled re- sisting damage from the 19P blast, which is 14 hits. The limousine easily absorbs the 5P. The limo may be fragged up on the inside, but it is not in danger of exploding.