Public Awareness...?, Awareness, street cred and notoriety Options

[noneuklid]

I've got two questions about Public Awareness. They're actually complaints, but I'm phasing them in the form of a question in case I'm misunderstanding something. Also, while I did a board search on the topic, I may have missed an earlier post about this. It seems likely others have noticed/asked about these things as well.

First, what's up with Notoriety? It adds a positive bonus to intimidation checks, which makes sense for a trait which can reflect working for dragons, killing innocents, causing excessive damage, etc. However, it also increases for picking fights and losing them, backing down from a run, or acting obnoxiously. These things wouldn't seem to make one particularly 'intimidating.' More 'pathetic.'

Secondly, what's this whole deal about burning Street Cred/Notoriety and Public Awareness? The book gives an example of a sammy who ditches four points of Street Cred to burn two points of Notoriety. This would also reduce their Public Awareness by two. What's that reflect? "Oh, well, yesterday lots of people knew who I was. Today it's back down to just a few. Y'see, last night I called up a few people and apologised for acting like an ass, and everything just sort of worked itself out..." I mean, it seems like if I were a Runner and was getting too well known, I'd go out and do something asnine and public every so often just so people would forget who I was... that doesn't really make sense to me.

[Ryu]

First, a reputation for fighting without reason makes you more intimidating. I´m more afraid of some people that I could defeat easily than of some of my friends who´d I better attack from behind without warning. Armed.

The second could be something like changing names, faces and modes of operation, lessening the extent to which you are recognised. The bad things stick better than the good ones.


I have to admit we don´t use the system.

[Jack Kain]

Well actually it doesn't say it reduces your public awareness. You just assume it does.

[noneuklid]

All I assume is that the rules are consistent. Public Awareness:

[ixombie]

Though specific actions increase your notoriety, most people who hear about your rep won't know the details. All they'll know is that a person with notoriety 6 is "bad news." Even if your notoriety is for bumbling, all they'll probably know is that you are notorious.

@noneuklid - That would be correct, if you used the right formula. The correct formula for public awareness is given at the bottom of p.258. It is street cred + notoriety divided by 3, rounded down. Street cred and notoriety equally contribute to your public awareness, and public awareness can't be reduced by any means within the book.

Creative GMing would always allow you to figure something out though, like faking your own death, spreading rumors that you don't exist and you're just a myth, or getting a patsy arrested and jailed/executed in your place so people think you're no longer at large.

[ShadowDragon]

Like most things, the system requires some common sense GM fiat. That's the advantage RPGs have over videogames ;) If a player wants to lower his notoriety and public awareness the day after his face was broadcast over TV for nuking a preschool, the GM is well within his rights to just say no or not yet. If a player took incompetant: basketweaving and thus gained a point of notoriety, the GM is well within his right to turn down a player who wants to use that notoriety for intimidation.

[Rotbart van Dain...]

You should also note that Notoriety isn't limited to positive values: it's perfectly ok to buy it into negative, quickly reducing your PA to 0.

[noneuklid]

[Rotbart van Dain...]

[Mistwalker]

Part of it also depends on how much the players use disguise while on runs.
Either nano-paste and or the spells makeover and fashion, do wonders to make it harder for people to be able to ID you, even if your run "face" is plastered all over the trid, it won't lead to you.

[Kyoto Kid]

[Jack Kain]

What you should do when you burn street cred to rid yourself of notoriety is keep track of the old score.

At 20 Karma
Street Cred 0(2) (two street cred burned)
Notoriety 1(2)

At 40 Karma
Street Cred 2(4) (still two cred burned)
Notoriety 1(2)

Keep track of it in a manner similar to cyberware boosts on your stats.
this prevents the public awareness escape by burning street cred to rid yourself of notoriety.
Your unmodifed scores still count fully towards public awareness.
You need to keep track of howmuch street cred you've burned anyway for when your karma goes up and run events that grant street cred.

[Mr. Unpronouncea...]

...and every 50 or so karma, you need to make a new character because your old one can't get work anymore.

[Jack Kain]

Well runners who take precautions to keep from being identified or linked to a crime can lower there Public awareness at DM’s discretion. Its in the same column as public awareness.
Say if your runner obscure his face behind a tinted helmet.


A high public awareness doesn't mean anyone knows your face. It just means the public is more aware of you.
The runner Thunder Dhorn may be famous for his legendary aim but if no one knows for sure what he looks like as his face is always obscured. Its kinda hard to identify him.
Deep Throat (watergate scandel) had a rather high public awareness but until recently how many people knew what he looked like?

[noneuklid]

I feel confident in saying that anyone who read Deep Throat's astral signature or tracked his PAN knew exactly who he was.

:spin:

[Jack Kain]

He'd have to have his comlink active that to happen and you can't really pass out a photo of someones astral signature for the other mages.
(also don't only awakend and dual nature characters have astral signatures)

You do know I was talking about a real person right?

Tracking PAN's: If your comlink is off as you make your escape a PAN trace is impossible. There's no signal to pick up.

Only awakend characters leave astral signatures, even they can erase them.
"A magician using astral perception may take a number of Complex Actions equal to the Force
of an astral signature to erase it completely."

[noneuklid]

All living things have auras, but yes, only magical effects/powers leave signatures. Mages can transfer knowledge of auras/signatures via Mindlink. My point is that Mr. Throat and Mr. Dhorn have a bit more to worry about in 2070 than what their face happens to look like on any given day; you can always get cosmetic surgery. Besides the two mentioned, there's also genetic information left behind in the form of flaked cells and hair, voiceprints, payment records... the list goes on infinitely. If your name is public enough, people are going to be hunting hard for your identity.

You do know that nobody can really read auras and PANs don't exist, making my statement unqualifiably true, right?

[Jack Kain]

Genetic material leff behind is useless with out a suspect to link it to. Most runners are SINLESS so they don't have a DNA profile on record anywhere to match the material to.
And SIN cards don't actually include your genetic print on them anyway.
Credsticks make payment records rather hard as these things can physically changes hands alot.
The high usage of fake sins make payment records even harder.
With the advanaced voice mimicing technology a voice print is near useless.

I'm not saying it be easy with a public awareness 10 or anything. What I'm saying is a runners alias may have a public awareness of 3+ but law enforcement doesn't know what he looks. An astral or aura signature can't be shared via the matrix like other data. So only a limited few are going to know.

And the book only says astral signatures have a unqiue finger print. It doesn't mention auras.
When no record of your past exists, staying invisible isn't as hard as you may think.
Why do suppose SINNER is a negative quality.

[kzt]

[Jack Kain]

[Fortune]

[hyzmarca]

Astrally sensitive film, exists. While taking a digital image of an aura or astral signature is impossible, it is quite easy to take a plain old analog photo using something similar to Kirlian photography. That photograph can then be scanned into a computer system. The equipment is expensive and the technique is painstaking, but there is no good reason for any magically equipped police department to not employ a Kirlian photographer to capture auras and signatures.

[Jack Kain]

Execpt auras and signaures don't hand around very long. (near as I can tell auras vanish at the speed of the runner)
And magical security is still rather rare in 2070. The runners could easily be long gone before that stuff arives and there signaures faded.

I still don't see how the "astral camera" is suppose to work. And the impression I'm geting form the FAQ shows that it shouldn't exist in the way you discribe it.

[Jaid]

[Jack Kain]

Right which means you'd have mages trying to keep hundreds if not thousands of astral signatures memorized. the PC's aren't the only runners out there.

Ok I mentioned magical securiy is rare but you go on to talk about matrix what?