Another poster, Fellfrosch, and I were having this same discussion while writing up an adventure.
The Splicers book is (deliberatly?) vague on what passes for normal in a Ghost Town
. For our adventure, we came up with the following basic rules:
First off, no War Mounts, with the exception of the Packmaster and Gorehounds.
Next, no Host Armor. A group of eight foot tall organic robot looking guys bristling with disgusting weapons is not really going to blend into any crowd.
Living Armor can be worn at GM's discretion.
No obvious weapons. Pistols, melee weapons, anything that can be easily concealed is fine.
The Machine doesn't want anything ruining its "illusion" of normal life, so most Ghost Towns don't have combat bots wandering the streets.
I think a Ghost Town is a spot where the PCs have to rely on their wits and skills to survive, and the GM has to be fairly creative ("You only way out is out the window and across a large TIN ROOF!!!"
) As you said, if you're discovered, you're basically dead. This should be the challenge of Ghost Town. Can you get in and out in one piece (this is where Techno Jackers and Skinjobs come in real handy.)
However, as we all know, SDC characters don't last long in an MD world. So, here are a few ideas that Fellfrosch and I came up with that may help.
1. Allow light, non-EBA armor. In the Splicers book, there is non-living Body Armor referred to as “Miracle Fiber Armor”. It only weighs 10 lbs and has no movement penalties, so its conceivable it could be worn under regular clothes. With only 30 M.D.C. on the main body, it would allow the PCs to survive a few punches and one or two shots tops. Time to start using their brains.
2. Fellfrosch is a fan of making Ghost Towns kind of like "The Matrix", as long as you look normal, you'll blend in, but you never know who may be a bad guy. For the "Matrix" approach, no armor, no obvious weapons. To give the players a fair chance, if they are discovered or disturb the peace, there are Nex Androids disguised/programmed to behave like law enforcement (since the Machine is trying to replicate a human society, this is not entirely illogical.) Have any law enforcement type Androids armed with only conventional SDC weapons and avoid hand to hand. The Nex Androids are tough enough to take several MDC blasts (or maybe dodge them entirely, making them very Agent-like), and the PCs will have to constantly be on the move so they don’t draw much attention to themselves.
Another train of thought entirely is for PCs to head to the sewers of a Ghost Town, and only surface at locations relevant to their mission.
Bots and Droids lose contact with the Machine in the sewers and cannot call for back up, and no one really cares if you're wearing Host Armor or not. However, sewers should not be without risk. This is where Sewer Prowlers and Skitter Pods can come in to play.
Sewer Prowlers especially are fairly tough (320 MDC Main Body, 7 attacks) and 1-2 of them should be a challenge to a low level group.
Skitter Pods are not as tough, but in a swarm they can be horrid. Imagine a tunnel filled with Skitter Pods charging your PCs. Do they fight, or run blindly through the sewers? Skitter Pods are combat bots, so they won’t head to the street (at least, in theory) but what happens when a bunch of Splicers come charging out of a (metal covered!) man hole onto a busy street?! I think this may shatter the illusion, and now the PCs are caught in a "Black Hawk Down" scenario; fighting the whole city, running low on ammo, waiting for reinforcements .
Not sure if this what you were looking for, but hope it helps.
