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Blade
post Nov 18 2007, 07:47 PM
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This is yet another matrix system but this one tries to stay close to the canon rules and fluff. It just explains and expands some aspects. It is not a complete Matrix system, but I hope it’ll help some of you.

Fluff

History

After the first crash, the rising corps took the opportunity to create their own network, to their liking. Much more closed than the internet, full of DRM, and with far less free contents and services. This explains the way the matrix was in the first editions. Gradually, it opened itself, leading to SR3's matrix, but then came the second crash.
The corps were once again able to rebuild their own system, learning from their past mistake to make sure it wouldn't get out of control again.

Each crash also allowed governments to create new laws against "cyber-criminality". In 2070, all police forces have a hacking department and matrix threats are considered as dangerous as magical or physical threats. The means and methods of the Lone Star Matrix Department are roughly the same as those of their physical counterpart. And they don’t limit their action to the Matrix side. They can also do physical interventions to catch hackers.
Legally, corps can physically catch a hacker even outside of their territory.

Most of the population accepted the changes made to the Matrix, even if most of the time it meant losing freedom. Nobody wanted the crash to happen again. But some people realized that most of what was being made wasn’t made for better security, but just for the corps to get a tighter control on the Matrix. They started protesting about it and created alternative free networks. These networks and their creators became the first target of the new Matrix laws. This led many of them to stop the fight. Those who were left decided to fight directly the official Matrix. They created underground hacker communities everywhere in the Matrix.
In 2070 hacker communities are still going strong, but because of the constant fight by corps and governments (especially after the second crash), there are actually very few real hackers in the Shadows. Roughly the same number as mages, actually.


What is the Matrix?

Nowadays, most people use the Matrix term to talk about the international mesh network, but the Matrix term can also be used to describe any kind of network.

All Matrix-compatible devices (which cover nearly everything you can buy in 2070) can connect directly to nearby devices or route their connection through some router. Some devices, like commlink, can also act as a router. In most places, there are public routers which will connect the devices to the Matrix backbone. Most of this backbone is wired (wires weren’t affected by the second crash), but routers can also fallback on wireless communications if needed. This architecture has a lot advantages. Even if you’re far from a router, you can route your signal through different nodes to eventually reach one. It is also more resistant to crashes. If a big communication hub crashes, the traffic can be easily routed through another one, or even through any working devices.

DNI and the metaphor

The major feature of the Matrix over past computer systems is the use of DNI.
Together with the metaphor, it makes UI really intuitive. The metaphor has nothing to do with past virtual worlds, which were limited both in inputs and outputs. For example a 3D modeller can now shape his objects with his hands, feel it, rotate it, see it under different lights as he would do with a physical object. (Actually, most of the time he'll just have to think about the object to have it created)

Actually, the metaphor is also the best way to interact directly with the computer. It's the first UI to best command lines in speed and flexibility. After all the first use of DNI assisted computing was of course Echo Mirage squadrons. Previous system administrators were kicked out of the system as soon as they logged in. Thanks to DNI, the Echo Mirage members could see the streams of data rushing to them and dodge them with a single thought. They just had to look around them to identify the infected files...

The use of DNI and matrix metaphor give the user the data in the most efficient way, by doing it the way he is used to get it in the physical world, and receives input directly from the brain. Both inputs and outputs use advanced techniques to exploit this ability to the maximum. Even if the visual representation is the most common way to send data, it can also be directly sent to the brain, the way knowchips work.

Matrix views

The metaphor is great but how can we be sure that it will show us the best suited view? A customer will feel comfortable in the aisles of a virtual shop, but it's not really convenient for spiders who want to check everything without having inexistent aisles blocking their view.

That's why the matrix doesn't just store and transmit information but also tailor it to fit the needs of the user. This is done through the use of "matrix views".

There are three main matrix views:
1. Simple data: sometimes you just want data without having to go to a virtual world. With this view you get only what you need: schedules, pictures, music... There's not even a "webpage". The data itself is fetched directly. Of course some sites might refuse to send the data without the whole webpage around it, but these tend to be rare.
Example: A travel agency will send the offers matching your request, and they’ll be displayed (or read to you) just like what you can have today on the Internet.

2. The user view: the user view is the most common view, the system uses a user friendly metaphor to interact with the user. Most matrix sites now offer limited user view for AR browsing: rather than be immersed in the virtual environment, the user will interact with a few smalls ARO.
Most of the matrix sites generate a view for the user depending on the requested data and the metaphor but some force the user to experience it through one fixed representation. On the opposite some sites allow the user to use the user’s own metaphor to “dress� the data.
Example: In the full view, the user will be inside an office, talking to a virtual assistant who’ll help him find what’s best for him, just like in the physical world. If he wants, the user can have a virtual sample of the destinations; visit the hotels and so on.
In the limited view, the user will only have a small AR window showing the assistant, as if it was a vidphone call.

3. The system view (or dev view): this view still uses the metaphor, but the environment is arranged to be close to the machine's state. All useless objects are removed, the positions of each objects are mapped to the memory blocks they are running on... This is the view used by hackers.
If the developer wants, he can have the user view mapped to the system view, so that both view will be more or less the same. But both views can also be totally different even if most of the time they’ll both use the same metaphor to dress up the icons and environment.

The views also come into play in the global Matrix when immersed in VR (or accessed inside an AR window). Your view can fit your geographic position, showing you the icons corresponding to the nodes around you but you can also arrange the icons in any way you want them.

More on the system view
- In system view, the position of each icons show the exact position of the corresponding files, program or persona resources in the system’s memory.
- Even if the persona is running on the user’s commlink, it’ll appear inside the system view. Actually, connecting to a node creates some bridge between the node and the commlink. Part of the commlink’s system will “merge� with the node. In the system view, the persona will appear where the node handles its resources, but this part will be linked to the commlink system. Thus, programs running on the user commlink will impact the node as if the persona was running directly on the node and programs affecting the persona in the node will have an effect on the user’s commlink.
- Each icon will be able to “see� the icons it is allowed to. But if the icon is hidden, the only way to see it will be to have it come in range of the analyze program (and to be detected)
- Walls can still exist in the system view: processes and thread can lock some memory blocks, so that other processes won’t be able to see the content. In the system view, this will lead to walls blocking the view and the access.
- Matrix security experts are able to sculpt the system view to make the system more secure: ICEs will patrol near sensitive memory blocks, walls will limit the view of the hacker, and data bomb will be planted on strategic places. But even if they can turn the system view into a real matrix bunker, they will only do it for high security systems. A too secure system view is more complicated to maintain and might have bad repercussions on the user view.

Nodes and hosts, why size doesn't matter

In 2070 size and computing power aren’t related, except for some experimental systems. You can have the same computing power in a big computer and in a small commlink. Even using several CPU in parallel processing won’t give any significant boost. The only advantage of big node networks is that they can handle much more traffic and programs at the same time.
If one intruder breaking into a rating 5 commlink will face 2 rating 5 ICEs, 10 intruders breaking into a similar rating 5 host will face 2 rating 5 ICEs each. It’s as if each user connected to his own node, except that all users of the same host will be able to interact with other users on the same host.

But what if there are 9 legitimate users and 1 intruder? Will he be sent 10 rating 5 ICEs? It’s possible but this kind of situation will rarely arise because you can’t be sure that the 9 other users are really legitimate users. Sending all your ICEs on the same intruder would be like sending all your troops to attack an intruder in a building, leaving the rest of the building without anyone.

But what if the host is able to handle 100 personas at the same time, but there’s only 1 person connected? Will the 200 ICEs check him? Once again, it’s possible but they won’t, and exactly for the same reasons: you can’t be sure that the 99 other slots are really inactive. A good hacker can enter the node without being detected.
Besides, running too many ICEs on the same slot often leads to more trouble than it’s worth: a hacker can disguise himself as an ICE, so each ICE should check each ICE it comes in contact with. So when you have 100 ICE for 1 user, the probability that one ICE will check the intruder is much lower than if you only had 2.
That’s why most of the time you won’t have hordes of ICE defending a host.

Hacking

Hacking a system is really close to infiltrating a building. You first have to find its location (find the node), then you can spend time to study it, get a valid maglock pass and so on (probing the node) or you can go in straight, hoping to get through the checks (hacking on the fly).
Once inside, you can move around freely, but you can’t get through doors. Contrary to the physical realm, you can fly or even teleport everywhere as long as you’re allowed to. You have to be careful about guards (spiders) and drones (ICEs). You can try to hide from them or be disguised (stealth program), you can convince them you’re supposed to be there (spoof), or take the appearance of a known individual (spoof to get the matrix signature of a legitimate user). Your fake pass may not allow you to get everywhere and open every locker (you can have limited access rights), or you may need another one to get access to some places, even if you have the CEO’s pass (you need to get inside another node, with a new passcode).

Of course, as mentioned, there are some differences with the physical world, but it’s quite close and the best way to represent it. It helps players to get into it quickly and most problems and questions the GM can have can be resolved by comparing the situation to a similar situation in the physical world. Once players and GM are comfortable with it, they can move on to use elements that are specific to the Matrix.
Another benefit of this system is that it allows GM to handle the Matrix scenes in a way that every player can understand so that anyone can listen to it just like they’d listen to the battle the street samurai can have on his own instead of doing something else while you resolve the Matrix scene. But you also have to be careful to make it different from what a player infiltrating a building will do. Use the metaphor to show a totally different world.

Rules

Most of the hacking rules of the BBB apply.
In the Matrix, the Matrix skills are considered as attributes and the programs as skills. If you don’t have the program, you roll skill – 1, if you don’t have the skill, you roll skill rating (0 or -1 if you’re incompetent) + program.

This rule system doesn’t rely on a fixed set of actions. But to each action the hacker can try there’s a corresponding program. Here is a rundown of what is covered by some multi-use programs:

Analyze = Perception skill
Exploit = Exploit design flaws. Can be used to go through a Matrix wall, evade an ID check by an ICE by using a flaw (a master password, an action that breaks the check routine…)
Sniffer = Spying utility, akin to some detection spells or sensors. Can be used to “eavesdrop� data exchange between two icons (for example to listen to the passcode an ICE gives another when checked)
Spoof = Con skill. It is used to give false identification, to impersonate another user (if the hacker has analyzed his matrix signature before)…
Stealth = Stealth skillgroup. It is used to hide (passively or actively, in which case the hacker can roll hacking+stealth), disguise (as data packets or “anonymous� icons, impersonating someone is covered by Spoof).

Simple/quick hacking

In some situations all you want to do is a simple action on a device. In these situations a full hack takes is superfluous (and takes too long to play). This is especially the case in combat situation: you don’t want to spend all combat trying to hack one device, and you don’t want to spend 10 minutes to resolve your hacking in the middle of a tense combat.

That’s why this is resolved through a new system: simple hacking.

There are two simple hacks:
• Messages hacks: sending an order to a device to have it execute one action
• Exploit hacks: hack the node itself but only for one simple effect.

The limits of what a hacker can do with simple hacking are up to the GM, but they should be restricted to quick hacks when there’s no need to play the whole hacking session. Even if programs rating are less important in simple hacking the GM shouldn’t hesitate to give negative modifiers to a character who’d only take the programs taken into account for simple hacking.
For the hacker there is no difference between doing a simple hacking and the regular hacking. The difference is in the rules. You can compare that to rolling charisma+con for a whole conversation instead of playing it all, rolling all kind of social checks.


Message hacks are resolved by rolling a Logic+Electronic Warfare (target’s firewall or pilot rating) test, the number of hits are limited by the rating of the Spoof program. The threshold is the rating of the node or agent the hacker is trying to hack. If the hacker is successful, the device or agent does as ordered. The effect of a message act has to be something the device or agent could be ordered to do. For example if a camera is set to refuse all orders, it isn’t vulnerable to message hacks. If it can be remote controlled but not reset or switched off with simple messages, then the hacker will only be able to move it around.

Exploits hack are resolved by rolling a Logic+Hacking (target’s system+firewall rating, 1 IP) extended test, the number of hits of each roll is limited by the rating of the Exploit program. If the intended action requires admin or root access, raise the threshold as for hacking tests. Actually, the only difference between this and the regular hacking is that the node doesn’t roll to detect the intruder: if the hack is successful the intruder isn’t detected if it isn’t the intruder is detected.

Each hack after the first one will require a new test. If the hacker fails, he gets a -2 modifier for each following test on this node and -1 for any other node on the same “network� (for example if the hacker fails to hack the commlink of an opponent, he will have a -2 modifier if he wants to hack the commlink of another member of the team). The negative modifiers are cumulative. If he fails 4 simple hackings inside the same network, the hacker will have a -4 modifier. This modifier can be reset by hacking the controlling node and stopping the alert, which can’t be done with simple hacking.

Agents

Agents are assistants made for different purposes:
• Help with software: Advanced image editing software can do a lot of complex operations without needing much knowledge from the user: add or remove elements from a picture, correct the lightning and so on. But they still need the user to give their instruction step by step, and the automatic job won’t be as good as what an expert can do and can even sometimes totally fail. That’s where agents come into play. Agents are semi-intelligent. They can consider things in a more human way of thinking. For example, you want to remove a car from a picture. With the image editing software, you’ll have to tell it to select the car and ask for the software to remove it, then select the car’s shadow and ask for the software to remove it, then you might need to adjust other part of the picture (such as reflections of the car somewhere). With the agents, all you need to do is ask it to remove the car.
• Personal assistant: agents can handle your agenda, manage your money, and remind you of important dates and events…
• Answering machine: you’re not always online; sometimes you have to get some sleep. Your agent is still there (even if your commlink isn’t connected, it can load itself on another node) and can take care of any incoming information. It can do more than just store it, if you want, it can process it as well.
• Matrix tasks: Your agent can take care of tasks on the Matrix. As soon as the task is given, the agent will literally go around the Matrix, loading itself on the nodes to get a direct access to information, and going back to your commlink (or another node to wait for your commlink to get back online if your commlink isn’t there when its task is over or if the agent itself is stuck.)
• Guard: Agents can defend nodes, though commercial agents available to the mass market will only patrol and report intrusions. Security agency with the right authorization can sell combating agents, but those can’t be controlled by the client.

Agents and hacking

When building the Matrix 2.0, corps and governments wanted to prevent wide scale attacks and agents were a big issue. One of their concerns was the Agent Smith phenomenon: hackers using clusters of commlinks to send hordes of agents on the target nodes. To prevent this issue, they designed a protocol that prevented agents from connecting to a node the way a persona does, and created strict rules controlling the agent behaviour. In the wake of the 2.0 crash, they also created security teams whose job is to track down and eliminate every threat of virus (hacking agent) both in the Matrix and outside.

Of course, all protections can be broken, and as long as a persona can connect to a node, an agent should be able to do so but so far the corps did a good job of preventing hackers from breaking the protection. It has already been broken several times, but it took big teams of hackers and a long time of work to do so, and some of the teams have been identified and a lot of their members were caught. All in all, breaking that protection has become too difficult and dangerous to be really useful, except for a major attack.

The regular agent’s connection behaviour is simple: the agent requires a connection. To prevent DoS attacks, the port listening to the agent’s request can be closed if the number of agents or outstanding request is too high. If the request is accepted the agent transfers itself to the node. The node will then scan the agent and, if no problems are found, run it. Most of the time, nodes need to read the owner’s commcode in the agent to accept it (this commcode has to be good enough, because the agent uses it to go back to its owner’s commlink when its tasks are over). Nodes are free to apply whatever other limitation they want.

Because of this special security on agents, a lot of nodes actually grant bigger rights to agents than to standard users, or only allow agents to access some data. Agents can also be used for secure transactions: rather than send the raw data, the nodes send agents with the instructions loaded inside. When scanning the agent, they can check for any modification to the agent’s code.

Commercial agents aren’t able to do hacking. Even Cybercombat is restricted to security agencies. So the only way to get a hacking agent is either to program one or to get one from a hacker. As corps and governments track all hacking agent’s programmers, most hackers prefer to keep their agents for themselves and contacts they can trust. So finding a hacking agent isn’t that easy, but anyone with a hacker contact hope to get one.
Hacking agents still need to load themselves on the nodes they’re attacking. Of course, they are programmed to get around the protection systems, but you’ll need an up-to-date agent to be able to hack a node properly. Accordingly, hacking agents have a +2 modifier when trying to exploit a node, and a -2 modifier when trying to evade removal when detected. If the agent isn’t up-to-date, another -2 modifier can apply. All these modifiers can be nullified if the agent is tailored for the node.

Of course, another way to hack with an agent would be to have the persona load the agent and send the persona with the attacking agent. In that case, the agent doesn’t have any modifiers.

Encryption

By request from a community member my encryption house rules were sent for playtest. I’m not sure if I can publish them here.

Technomancers

I didn't really have time to think about them but if I had to rewrite their rules, I'd have them use complex forms that are as different from programs that spells are different from gear, and I'll have them work exactly as spells (you don't have to buy ratings, you have to thread it each time you need it)...

Other rules

Check page 2 for additional details.

----

Congratulations if you’ve read anything. Feel free to comment, as long as it’s done politely and in a constructive way.
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Blade
post Nov 19 2007, 04:24 PM
Post #2


Runner
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Group: Members
Posts: 3,009
Joined: 25-September 06
From: Paris, France
Member No.: 9,466



QUOTE (Kyoto Kid)
...so basically what you are implying a character like my Violet (#56) could not be a Matrix Specialist (again I hate the term Hacker) in the shadows given her backstory because she would have been caught and slapped down the first time she went out into the matrix on her own. By this rationale, she would have become MetaTech's (and later Neonet's) little gene-engineered matrix wageslave (e.g. an NPC) and I would be playing a different character.

...sorry, too restricting & I do not think my GM would go for that.

If she got caught she'd probably got sentenced to something, not necessarily recruited, except if she had some really interesting skills.

I don't say she'd have been caught anyway... I'd say it's as probable as a street samurai getting killed or caught by the Lone Star before having that much illegal ware in his body or such high skills.

My point is not that hackers don't exists. It's just that hackers aren't common, and it's not as easy to become a hacker in 2070 as it is today.
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Posts in this topic
- Blade   Yet Another Matrix System   Nov 18 2007, 07:47 PM
- - kzt   Having real encryption work isn't hard to hand...   Nov 18 2007, 08:11 PM
- - FrankTrollman   So let me get this straight... your solution to th...   Nov 18 2007, 08:50 PM
- - Blade   Okay, there are a few things I've forgotten to...   Nov 18 2007, 09:19 PM
- - FrankTrollman   QUOTE About agent Smith: compare it to terrorists ...   Nov 18 2007, 09:57 PM
- - Kyoto Kid   ...hmm, Matrix Specialists as uncommon as mages? ...   Nov 18 2007, 10:04 PM
- - Blade   QUOTE ("FrankTrollman")Possibly because ...   Nov 19 2007, 11:11 AM
- - Zak   Is it possible to point out where exactly this sys...   Nov 19 2007, 01:29 PM
- - FrankTrollman   QUOTE Besides, I don't see how it'd matter...   Nov 19 2007, 01:38 PM
- - Blade   As I said this system is more intended to explain ...   Nov 19 2007, 01:40 PM
- - Cthulhudreams   Whoops!   Nov 19 2007, 01:51 PM
- - Thanee   QUOTE (FrankTrollman @ Nov 19 2007, 03:38 PM)...   Nov 19 2007, 02:05 PM
- - Blade   QUOTE (FrankTrollman) But honestly since your assu...   Nov 19 2007, 02:08 PM
- - Zak   QUOTE (Blade)How can you say that getting hacking ...   Nov 19 2007, 02:13 PM
- - Cthulhudreams   The problem with the 'GM/Player ambigiously ag...   Nov 19 2007, 02:17 PM
- - Thanee   QUOTE (Cthulhudreams) The problem with your soluti...   Nov 19 2007, 02:25 PM
- - Blade   @Zak: Actually, the reasoning of the RIAA you...   Nov 19 2007, 02:37 PM
- - Kyoto Kid   ...so basically what you are implying a character ...   Nov 19 2007, 04:06 PM
- - Blade   QUOTE (Kyoto Kid) ...so basically what you are imp...   Nov 19 2007, 04:24 PM
- - Cheops   I still fail to see the problem with Agent Smith. ...   Nov 19 2007, 04:57 PM
- - Cheops   Sorry got it slightly wrong. In Case 1 it would b...   Nov 19 2007, 05:08 PM
- - Kyoto Kid   QUOTE (Blade) QUOTE (Kyoto Kid @ Nov 19 2007,...   Nov 19 2007, 05:09 PM
- - Cheops   She could have somehow been caught by G.O.D. or Lo...   Nov 19 2007, 05:13 PM
- - Kyoto Kid   QUOTE (Cheops) She could have somehow been caught ...   Nov 19 2007, 05:41 PM
- - FrankTrollman   QUOTE (Cheops)Okay so you have 10 commlinks, ratin...   Nov 19 2007, 07:14 PM
- - Blade   @Kyoto Kid: Yes, that's a bit extreme to me. E...   Nov 19 2007, 07:26 PM
- - Kyoto Kid   ...without going deep into Vi's backstory, (wh...   Nov 19 2007, 09:46 PM
- - Cheops   QUOTE (FrankTrollman) QUOTE (Cheops)Okay so you ha...   Nov 20 2007, 12:10 AM
- - Seven-7   Cheops: I'm sure you THINK it's not as bad...   Nov 20 2007, 12:31 AM
- - Cthulhudreams   QUOTE (Blade @ Nov 19 2007, 02:26 PM) @Frank ...   Nov 20 2007, 12:36 AM
- - Cheops   QUOTE (Seven-7) Cheops: I'm sure you THINK it...   Nov 20 2007, 01:55 AM
- - kzt   QUOTE (Cheops) As an addition to 7) I'd like t...   Nov 20 2007, 02:17 AM
- - Seven-7   QUOTE (Cheops) 1) Agreed with the additional not...   Nov 20 2007, 02:35 AM
- - Seven-7   QUOTE As an addition to 7) I'd like to point o...   Nov 20 2007, 02:46 AM
- - Cheops   We all obviously have different interpretations of...   Nov 20 2007, 06:03 AM
- - Blade   @Kyoto: It's still possible for hackers to lea...   Nov 20 2007, 11:18 AM
- - Kyoto Kid   ...so in effect, more like Redford's team in S...   Nov 20 2007, 03:57 PM
- - Blade   I've realized there's a lot I forgot to sa...   Nov 27 2007, 11:15 AM
- - Cthulhudreams   If I can limit my number of connections, why don...   Nov 27 2007, 01:02 PM
- - Blade   It's covered: you can set your node to refuse ...   Nov 27 2007, 01:11 PM
- - Cthulhudreams   QUOTE (Blade) It's covered: you can set your n...   Nov 27 2007, 01:20 PM
- - Blade   I edited the answers to your issues The message...   Nov 27 2007, 01:35 PM
- - Cthulhudreams   The problem with proposing a rules framework is th...   Nov 27 2007, 01:41 PM
- - Blade   Hostage issue: spoofing the signature doesn't ...   Nov 27 2007, 02:02 PM
- - Cthulhudreams   QUOTE Hostage issue: spoofing the signature doesn...   Nov 27 2007, 10:49 PM
- - Blade   The hostage thing is an example of a trick that ca...   Nov 28 2007, 09:29 AM
- - Kyoto Kid   QUOTE (Blade)...but just sending encrypted message...   Nov 29 2007, 05:56 PM


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