Cetiah's Hacking Rules, Speeding up hacking with house rules. Options

[cetiah]

Basic Rules
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Rule of Dice Function
A GM will not make you roll more than once for the same action. Generally speaking, your first attempt at an action represents your character's best effort during that scene.
You can continue to attempt an action all you want, but you will never score more hits than you did with your initial action attempt.
Likewise, if you succeed at a roll, the GM isn't going to "take away" your success by making you roll the same thing again. Your best effort carries forward for the scene, whether successful or not.
This works for and against a player, but generally encourages investments in higher ratings for skills and programs.

Rule of Edge
(Amendment to the Rule of Dice Function)
A player may spend an Edge point to ignore the Rule of Dice Function and retry a Matrix Action that he has failed at. There is no limit to the number of Edge Points that can be spent in this way. The Edge point does not give him an extra initiative pass with which to conduct the Matrix Action, it merely waives the Rule of Dice Function temporarily.

Rule of Definition
The word "Matrix", as in Matrix Actions, applies to any applicable Hacking, Data Search, Computer, Electronic Warefare, or similiar Knowledge Skill, either pertaining to interacting with the matrix or any other electronic interaction.

Rule of Targeting
You must have some method of designating a target to perform a Matrix action on him or it. You can't, for example, say "I hack into the mage's comlink" unless you have some method of determining which of your enemies is the mage. Usually, line of sight combined with AR imaging is enough to designate an opponent, device, or node associated with either one. This form of targeting is called Direct Targeting.

Direct Targeting can always be performed against a device you can't see, so long as you have Direct Targeting with someone using or carrying that device. If you can Directly Target a device, you can always Directly Target that device's OS and associated security nodes (even if the node is held on a completely different system).

If you have no way of determining a target, you can still attempt a Designate Action to attempt to remotely designate a target, if that target is within your Signal range. If the target is not within your Signal range, you can still access him remotely via the Matrix so long as you both have Matrix access but this incurs a +3 increase to the threshold of the Designate Action.

Rule of Signal
(Amendment to Rule of Targeting)
To Directly Target a node, the device associated with that node (device, comlink, or server) must be within the Signal range of your Transmitter. The signal rating of your Comlink usually serves as your default Transmitter, but there are other transmitters you can use such as the Satellite Uplink Relay (Signal 8).

If a node is not within range of your Signal, you can use Remote Targeting via the matrix. This uses your Scan program to scour the Matrix, looking for the node. If a Node is not connected to the Matrix or within your Signal range, you cannot use Remote Targeting.

Rule of Stealth
(Amendment to the Rule of Targeting)
Some nodes run an active Stealth I.C.E. If you are running [Stealth], you can not be Directly Targeted by any hacker who is not running a Scan at an equal or higher rating. Hackers using a lower rating Scan program (or no Scan program at all) must use Remote Targeting to find you.

Matrix Actions
There are two types of Matrix actions: an Access action and an Operation action. Operation actions cannot be made against a target until a successful Access Action is made during the scene.

Matrix Programs
All actions have at least one associated program, and that program must be used with the action. If you score more hits on a test than your associated program's rating, the number of hits beyond the rating are reduced by half (rounded up). So 6 hits with a program rating of 4 counts for only 5 hits.

Alerts
A hacker that glitches on any Hacking Test triggers an alert, which is forwarded to any relevant security forces. Alerts have no other effect. (Later rules may have additional guidelines and rules for Alerts. If using my Mission Builder rules, treat all Alerts as a Silent Alarm security event.)

Accessing a Node
To maintain Access in one or more nodes, a hacker must spend one of his initiative passes each turn performing one of three types of Matrix Actions: Access, Operation, or Idle. The first action of each initiative pass must be a Matrix action or all Access connections are lost/dropped. (A Hacker who loses his Connection in this way is considered to have done so voluntarily and does not suffer from the Rule of Dice Function restricting him from accessing again.) Likewise, a hacker may terminate the connection voluntarily for any reason at any time.

Accessing Multiple Nodes
There is no limit to the amount of nodes you can access at once. However, to maintain access with at least one of them, your first action in the combat turn must be a Matrix action.

Operations on Multiple Nodes
If you have access to multiple nodes, you can perform a single action on any number of those nodes at once. Roll once for all of them, and compare the hits rolled to the Firewall ratings of each device to determine success or failure. Failure automatically drops your access.

Burned by a Firewall
If you perform any action that is opposed by a Firewall, or for which Firewall is a threshold, then failure has some consequences. First, the Rule of Dice Function applies and you cannot retry that action without spending edge. Second, if you fail on an access test, or on three or more operation tests, or any two tests consecutively, your access is automatically dropped.

Burned by a Firewall (Multiple Nodes)
(Amendment to Burned by a Firewall)
If you are performing a single action on multiple nodes using the Operations on Multiple Nodes rule, then any failures against the firewall automatically drop your access from those nodes that you failed against.