Matrix Headaches Options

[Degausser]

Okay, I am SURE this question has been posted before, but searching through 13 pages of threads isn't my idea of fun. And hey, it says this is the forum for discussing game rules.

I am planning on starting to GM Shadowrun soon, and I am trying to nail down all the rules so that when my PCs throw oddball curves at me, I can come back and at least know the core rules.

Unfortunatly, I can't quite figure out Matrix stuff. Magic and combat and all that I got down, just not the Matrix stuff.

Okay, you you have your comlink, which connects to a maximum of (2x Comlink's system rating) worth of devices, as well as the Matrix as a whole. So it controls your smartlinked gun and your smart glasses, and the doberman drone, yadda yadda. great, I got all of that. Running on various modes like active, passive, hidden, got that.

What I don't got is hacking. Let's say you want to hack into a system and open a door.

If I am reading the rules right, you roll (Hacking skill + Exploit Program)Against Threshold (Enemy Firewall) to gain access to a facility's LAN, and they roll (Analyse+firewall) Against Threshold (your Stealth) to detect you. Once in, you Run (Computer + Analyse) to find that door, then (Hacking+Command) to open the door.

Is this right? Do they NEED Command to open a door? Does the door get to resist my 'Command?'

If My buddy is piloting a drone, and I want to gun for him, Do I have to have the COMMAND program to do gunnery?

Also, if the above is true, then the two sample hackers in the book (The ork and the technomancer) must be the worst hackers ever, because neither of them have the explot program! Can they 'Default' by just rolling their hacking skill?

[Ryu]

Official Errata Page

p. 96 Hacker [4]
Replace the Encrypt 5 program with Exploit 5

[snippity]

p. 103 Technomancer
Increase Agility to 3.
Add a “(+2)� a er the English Cityspeak rating
Replace the Deception 5 complex form with Exploit 5.

p. 103 Technomancer [4]
Change the Active Skills BP Cost to 134.
Change the Physical Damage track to 9.

The An Introduction to the Matrix Rules thread in the community project section might help with the other issues, specifically the examples in the opening post.

[hobgoblin]

the use of command is probably the most hotly debated subject.

its primary use seems to be for controlling drones and similar like they where RC toys.

but reading the description of the program itself in SR4 seems to indicate that its a generic control board, that gets deployed whenever one wants to control something, from something simple like presenting a on/off switch for the light of a room, to a multi-monitor setup straight out of the moon landings huston control room.

however i suspect that what the hacker would see in the door example, is a list of doors, or maybe a map of the building, and thanks to the analyze (or maybe browse, as it seems a bit more appropriate), the wanted door is highlighted for easy selection.

and yes, you can default to skill alone.

some dont like how that breaks the internal logic of the stat+skill system used in the rest of the game and instead use a system of stat+skill with hits limited by program rating (so no matter how skilled one are, running a rating 1 exploit leads to max 1 hit pr test).

[Matsci]

What I don't got is hacking. Let's say you want to hack into a system and open a door.

If I am reading the rules right, you roll (Hacking skill + Exploit Program)Against Threshold (Enemy Firewall) to gain access to a facility's LAN, and they roll (Analyse+firewall) Against Threshold (your Stealth) to detect you. Once in, you Run (Computer + Analyse) to find that door, then (Hacking+Command) to open the door.

Is this right? Do they NEED Command to open a door? Does the door get to resist my 'Command?'

If My buddy is piloting a drone, and I want to gun for him, Do I have to have the COMMAND program to do gunnery?

Also, if the above is true, then the two sample hackers in the book (The ork and the technomancer) must be the worst hackers ever, because neither of them have the explot program! Can they 'Default' by just rolling their hacking skill?

You Got about everything right, but since the door doesn't have any reason not to open, I wouldn't make my players roll. If it needs a biometric login, then you might have to Spoof it, but other than that, you seem to have the hang of hacking.

If your buddy is flying a drone, and you want to gun for him, you roll Gunnery + Command.

They got errated, and No, you cannot default to Skill.

Page 208 BBB,

Matrix skill tests use the same skill + attribute dice pool as other tests, except that since you are interfacing with the machine world, you use an appropriate device or program attribute in place of your character’s attribute.

So if you have no skill, you can default to program, not the other way around.

[Degausser]

Thanks for all the help guys.

I did find out that Technomancers can SORT OF Default by 'threading' and such, which can make up for their generally lower 'hardware' when it comes to hacking.

[Aaron]

They got errated, and No, you cannot default to Skill unless you have the Intuitive Hacking quality from Unwired.

There, I fixed it for you. =i)

[Degausser]

Hey, another Matrix question:

Okay, so it says that when your comlink is on 'active' (which it must be in some areas, like high-end clubs and stuff) it brodcasts your interests, your wishlist, your yadda yadda yadda. But it also brodcasts your SIN. Isn't that retarded? To me that's the equivelant of walking down main street with a big sign that says "Here is my Social Security Number and Bank information, please steal fro me!" I mean, some hacker could surely break into the UCAS mainframe and use logged SINs to get all kinda info about people, then rob them blind!

[Malicant]

Not exactly. It's more like permanetly showing around your drivers license. But I'd assume that information is still encrypted, so that only those who need to know it (Big Brother and his Corporate Goon Squad) can actually access it. Or something like that.

We can assume that the system is retarded, but that would be silly, since the game assumes it works. So we just need to find explanations that make at least some sense and voila, the headaches are gone! Or at least don't worsen (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

[InfinityzeN]

I don't think it continually broadcast the actual number. More along the lines of a "Challenge-Answer" with the challenge having to come through an authority account. But even so, yes it is very nasty.

[hobgoblin]

any good id forger will not make to much noise about himself. so while yes, he could rob people blind, he is more likely to just charge a extra meal or something on their account.

anything else and GOD may come rumbling (that is Grid Overwatch Division, corp courts matrix cops)...

[Heath Robinson]

But it also brodcasts your SIN. Isn't that retarded? To me that's the equivelant of walking down main street with a big sign that says "Here is my Social Security Number and Bank information, please steal fro me!" I mean, some hacker could surely break into the UCAS mainframe and use logged SINs to get all kinda info about people, then rob them blind!

So overrule the fluff. The fluff is retarded all over the place and you have the right... no, the responsibility to replace it with stuff that makes sense. Instead of broadcasting your SIN they use a challenge-response system based around infeasibly breakable hashing systems. Like European Chip-Pin debit cards.

Or, at least, British ones. Don't know about the rest of Europe.

[hobgoblin]

the details seems to have been dropped in SR4 (have not checked unwired tho) but in earlier editions, the different levels of credstick came with different levels of id.

it started out with a simple pin code, and went all the way to a dna test for the high end stuff.

still, this level of "security" would probably only be deployed in A-level neighborhoods (think something close to gated communities) or corp/government property.

and these places are most likely set up so that to get in, either physically or virtually, you have to go thru a guarded check point.

i do not see sin level broadcasts happen at the mall (though i suspect that a lot of people will be doing evo-book profile broadcasts and similar).