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Dumpshock Forums _ Shadowrun _ Pocket Secretary Appearance

Posted by: Drraagh Jun 1 2006, 01:39 AM

Hey,

New poster here, but had a question that has sort of bugged me for a while. Perhaps someone can point me to the answer or at least help shed some light on the situation.

I own the SR1 core book, the SR3 core book and a bunch of supplimental books and adventures. I know what credsticks look like, I know what various drones look like, but I have never seen a 'Here's what pocket secretaries look like' sort of thing. I haven't looked in the SR4 book for this yet, but then I'm playing in an SR3 game anyway.

In one game I played, the gm had them be business card shaped with a 3D holographic head projected from it for the user to interact with. Another person had described it like a Blackberry sort of device. I've seen it also described as a closed case, folded open to access it sort of like some of the organizers out there or even as the Ninento DS. Also, I've seen the versions that sound like the PSP or the Origami. So, there's just about as many versions as there are items on the market.

I suppose there could be different versions, with diferent features for everyone. Like one might have a projected IR keyboard http://www.alpern.org/weblog/stories/2003/01/09/projectionKeyboards.html while another might actually have a keyboard built into it with a stylus or handwritting technology. One might read stuff back through a text to speech program or virtual representation while another might display it on a screen.

I don't have my books in front of me at the moment, but I remember the pocsec was listed as having a phone system in it or something similar to that. Not sure if it has a net connection though, but if it does, you would need some way of displaying the posts on the Shadow Forums since people use all sorts of animations and such, or would it just convert it to simple text?

Posted by: ShadowDragon8685 Jun 1 2006, 01:43 AM

I'd say that given the large number of P-Sec models available...

They can look like whatever you want them to look like. Bravo for you for taking a ubiquetous piece of gear and caring about it's appearance. I'm proud.

Posted by: Smiley Jun 1 2006, 02:07 AM

'Bout like a Palm Pilot.

Posted by: Kanada Ten Jun 1 2006, 02:12 AM

P'secs have a phone/fax, camera, basic Matrix and exhaustive software packages. They can look like anything; DNI control allows them to be controlled with thought alone (more expensive in SR3), and basic models have roll out displays/keyboards, voice control using sub vocal mics, and so on. Their output can be displayed through an image link or sunglasses, earbuds, transducer, etc - even converted to simsense with an ASIST converter.

The girl in http://sria.litbo.org/image-covers/07215.jpeg has a p'sec on her head. http://www.wiredreflexes.com/sr/shadowrun/gallery/index.php?img_id=433 a Mister Johnson with one.

Posted by: Drraagh Jun 1 2006, 02:20 AM

QUOTE (ShadowDragon8685)

They can look like whatever you want them to look like. Bravo for you for taking a ubiquetous piece of gear and caring about it's appearance. I'm proud.

QUOTE

They can look like whatever you want them to look like. Bravo for you for taking a ubiquetous piece of gear and caring about it's appearance. I'm proud.

I tend to be curious about stuff like that because I do a lot of graphical work and like to have an idea how to make it look so that it is recognizable. I mean, sure people will recognize the gun, the cyberdeck (as they tend to always be drawn the same in the source books), and so forth, but you draw a pocsec like a cellphone or like a pocketPC and people think of it as those items, you draw it as something more 'alien' in appearance and people will tell you 'I don't think they look like that'.

It's the same if you do any sort of story, or text based roleplaying, some people always like to correct you on their version of how something should look. I agree there should be a general variety of them, but was curious if there was a general concensus.

For those of you who have seen Serial Experiments Lain, think of how it would be if it wasn't so much of a commercial for http://www.cjas.org/~leng/apple-lain.htm. The computers could have been different, perhaps more like those in http://www.devo.com/bladerunner/sector/5/esper.html. Both have some good examples of what a pocsec could look like, like the last image on the Blade Runner page or the HandyNAVI.

Posted by: hobgoblin Jun 1 2006, 02:34 AM

i think the original PS device was a bit like a overgrown laptop.
i kinda recall similar devices being described in the cp2020 chromebooks.

over time it morphed in shape into something similar to todays PDA's. still, the concealability score remained the same until a SR3 errata that fixed a whole lot of said scores that was very 80's-like...

if you look at SR4 you could say that anything a PS could do, a comlink can do. therefor you have a nice frame of refrence there (a bit like a overgrown mobile phone).

Posted by: Wounded Ronin Jun 1 2006, 02:41 AM

You have to remember the context in which the Pocket Secretary was envisioned...in 1989. Therefore, it has to be something out of bad 80s sci fi. The Genesis Shadowrun game portrayed it well. Really gigantic, green text, and lots of apparently meaningless flashing lights.

I think green text being the primary medium of the PS is a must.

Posted by: Drraagh Jun 1 2006, 04:40 AM

QUOTE (Kanada Ten)

The girl in http://sria.litbo.org/image-covers/07215.jpeg has a p'sec on her head. http://www.wiredreflexes.com/sr/shadowrun/gallery/index.php?img_id=433 a Mister Johnson with one.

The guy could also have a data display hand terminal or a pocket computer, while the girl looks like she has a cybercam using a headmount. The micro-cams were covered in the Shadowbeat book. Or it could be a commlink with built in flashlight.

But I do see your point and the point of others, so it's just a matter of personal aste, but figured some people might have a personal preference for one. I think I just may come up with a few styles and brand names for my TT game.

Posted by: ChuckRozool Jun 1 2006, 06:19 AM

If you do you should totally post them here...

matter of fact i think i'm gonna start a thread for that

edit - I just created two threads:
http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=13234
http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=13236

Posted by: Platinum Jun 1 2006, 02:03 PM

I always figured it was the size of a ds lite, has a built in phone, voice command, holographic keyboard, and you can input commands through a datajack. Basically a glorified chip reading phone/pda.

Posted by: Kagetenshi Jun 1 2006, 02:09 PM

A Newton.

~J

Posted by: nezumi Jun 1 2006, 02:59 PM

It looks like a PIPBoy 2000

Posted by: Toptomcat Jun 1 2006, 06:02 PM

All you REALLY need the physical bit for is for you to push buttons and it to give you information through the display and speakers. Input and output, in other words. Both these functions are doable through DNI.
It doesn't need to have buttons or a screen, just some memory, a processor, and something to plug a datajack into.

Posted by: KarmaInferno Jun 1 2006, 06:08 PM

I think a pocket secretary should look like a tiny human with a pad of paper and a pencil, that fits in your pocket.

But maybe that's just me.

-karma

Posted by: Slump Jun 1 2006, 10:17 PM

QUOTE (Toptomcat)

It doesn't need to have buttons or a screen, just some memory, a processor, and something to plug a datajack into.

In my game, you could get a pocket secretary that looked like almost anything. They were at least the size of an I-Pod Shuffle (for the pure DNI), and were typically no larger than a Blackberry, though you could get specially made ones that were large, some as large as a modern laptop (for trolls, naturally).

Posted by: PlainWhiteSocks Jun 1 2006, 10:24 PM

I remember a character at a con that had a PS she wore as a pair of earrings. I never did ask her if there was some kind of connection between the two and her datajack.

Posted by: GrinderTheTroll Jun 1 2006, 10:38 PM

I like the one on the cover of "Mr. Johnsons Little Black Book" personally.

Posted by: Drraagh Jun 3 2006, 10:38 AM

These are a few examples I just clippedfrom the net as what I am thinking of designing a few different corporate pcosec lines like, based off gear out on the market today:

http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/8581/b00005t3q401lzzzzzzz6ie.jpg

http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/7420/scout1up.gif

http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/343/ph20060506001681va.jpg
http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/1253/ut2038kw.gif
http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/6813/intermec66511yi.jpg

Each would have different uses, like the fourth would be vocal interface with a text to speech synth program, or pure DNI interface on it.

And now for somethingi nteresting I found while searching for those images:

http://alexanderbecker.net/portfolio/objects/assistant/, but not quite sure exactly if it would fit as a pocsec, though it does look like it could quite pass itself off as one.

Posted by: silvermain Jun 4 2006, 08:04 AM

Just a quick question. what is the second pda that you showed?

thanks

Posted by: Kiedo Jun 4 2006, 08:18 AM

the second one is a digital image, and is not real. So it could just be a concept at this point.

Posted by: Drraagh Jun 4 2006, 08:29 AM

http://www.tidylittlepackage.com/work/milife.html where I got the second one from, and according to them, they have a physical prototype. Course that was in 2004.

Posted by: silvermain Jun 4 2006, 09:16 AM

thanks, I went and found an article by wordman on http://plastic.dumpshock.com/html/nagee/7/pocket%20secretaries.html that you might be interested in. I have used these as examples with the people that I game with and they have put the info to good use.

hope that helps

Posted by: Wounded Ronin Jun 6 2006, 10:13 PM

QUOTE (nezumi)

It looks like a PIPBoy 2000

Quoted for truth.