New SR GM with a buncha questions Options

[tagz]

Yeah, Funk's right. That the mastermind isn't the big movie climax fight doesn't mean there isn't one. Just because a mastermind is a wuss doesn't mean he can't cause a dramatic scene either. If I had reason to suspect that a team of runners were coming after me and I had power, money, and connections... oh man, I'd do some crazy things even if I can't shoot straight.

Set his office room up to explode. Hardwired to a hand held detonator.
"Want to shoot me know that I have a dead-man's trigger on the whole floor? No? Then take a seat and shut up."

The fun thing, especially with Pink Mohawk or action based games is when the big bad sets up a situation where you CAN'T fight him. Well, can't fight and win at least. It will make the players want to kill him SO bad. Have this happen a few times and when you finally let them do it they'll feel so rewarded. Just make them outsmart him to do it.

Intellect, creativity, and planning are the strongest weapons in Shadowrun. The DV is limitless.

[Yerameyahu]

It's true that GMing Shadowrun is a bit trickier than oldskool D&D, from the perspective of successive fights. There's just so many angles going at once, but that's the whole reason we play it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

As a new GM, just start small and experiment. If you mess up, roll with it. A failed run can still be a really fun and exciting run.

[KCKitsune]

CountingGardens, no one else said this, but welcome to the insanity known as Dumpshock.

Soon you'll find yourself hitting this board like someone hitting TVTropes, because you'll find a lot of good ideas for 'Runs here.

[Banaticus]

Just out of curiosity, does a Skinlink actually work as he described? I'm not looking at the book, but I thought you needed links on both sides. Obviously, he can/would just hack wirelessly anyway, but I ask for my own edification.

Most cyberware has a Signal of 0 meaning you need to touch it to hack it.

Say you have a 'mastermind' who dislikes a dragon because it's been meddling in his affairs. He goes through a huge chain of Johnsons and other hired goons in order to hire the team to interfere with that dragon's operations. Satisfied with the result, he continues hiring those runners for job after job, slowly attempting to decimate the dragon's holdingss until he grows tired of the games and sends the runners to kill the dragon once and for all.

And in the meantime the dragon is hiring runners to find out who's messing with his holdings until a group of runners rushes in and he... asks... them who hired them. And they oh so willingly tell him.

[Ol' Scratch]

Most cyberware has a Signal of 0 meaning you need to touch it to hack it.

You sure? I'm fairly certain that Signal represents the broadcasting strength, not reception. And with the goofy way the hacking rules work, you could do a one-way hacking. And, heck, I'm not even certain if the target's Signal rating matters at all even then.

[Manunancy]

You sure? I'm fairly certain that Signal represents the broadcasting strength, not reception. And with the goofy way the hacking rules work, you could do a one-way hacking. And, heck, I'm not even certain if the target's Signal rating matters at all even then.

that's just plain common sense - you need some feedback to hack, if the return signal can't reach you (or at least a relaying node in range), forget it. There could be some expections - spoofing drone commands in autonomous mode seems a likely candidate - but there are excpetions.

One thing that could be done would be to have a signal modifier for reception to represent a fine-tuned receptor able to pick a fainter signal - meaning you're boosting the signl rating of everything you get. Though probably with a lot of EECM to sort out the right signal and limited to a +1 or +2 at best. You could probably pick an even fainter signal if there was nobody else on that frequency, but they would be lost in the closer transmissions using the same channels.

[Robineng]

Most cyberware has a Signal of 0 meaning you need to touch it to hack it.

Won't the cyberware be part of the wearers PAN, meaning if you get into the targets commlink you'll be able to get at the cyberware?

[Warlordtheft]

Tips and tricks for protecting cyber rule #1-turn the wireless off. If for whatever reason you want to have it connected to your pan, slave it to a commlink which is kept at a signal of 0.

Side note a signal of 0= 3 meters.

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

Won't the cyberware be part of the wearers PAN, meaning if you get into the targets commlink you'll be able to get at the cyberware?

Only if the Character is not a runner, or not very paranoid... there is generally no reason to have wireless connectivity for most cyberware, and with DNI Connectivity, you do not have to add it to your PAN for it to be effective... it should be its own DNI system, with no outside connectivity except for maybe a Data Jack for Diagnostic Purposes...

At least, My paranoid ass goes that way with it... keeps those annoying Technomancers from screwing with your augmentations through your PAN... and if you are having that system hacked by a Hacker through your Datajack, you have got other problems anyways...

And the Signal 0 signal of Cyberware just means that you need to be within 3 Meters of you, not touching it... 3 Meters is still a pretty significant distance if you are just walking down the street...

Keep the Faith

[CountingGardens]

Alright, so I'm trying to follow what you guys are talking about... Fairly lost. So he can't use the Skinlink to transfer data such as a picture to someone else by touch?

Says in the book, "With skinlink, a device is adapted to send and receive data transmitted through the electrical field on the surface of metahuman skin. Though limited to touch, skinlink communication has the advantage of being protected from signal interception or jamming."

Granted I know almost nothing about hacking, matrix, or anything the like and should probably read up on it. When you're doing hacking tests, you have to hack an individual commlink? Is it just a threshold set by the GM to do so? Or does everything (commlinks, lights, electricity, cars) have a firewall?

And thanks a lot for the welcome Kitsune. It's nice to know that this a really friendly and active group who aren't elitists. Was scared about PnP RPGs for a while cause most RPGers I know are extreme elitists.

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

Alright, so I'm trying to follow what you guys are talking about... Fairly lost. So he can't use the Skinlink to transfer data such as a picture to someone else by touch?

Says in the book, "With skinlink, a device is adapted to send and receive data transmitted through the electrical field on the surface of metahuman skin. Though limited to touch, skinlink communication has the advantage of being protected from signal interception or jamming."

Granted I know almost nothing about hacking, matrix, or anything the like and should probably read up on it. When you're doing hacking tests, you have to hack an individual commlink? Is it just a threshold set by the GM to do so? Or does everything (commlinks, lights, electricity, cars) have a firewall?

And thanks a lot for the welcome Kitsune. It's nice to know that this a really friendly and active group who aren't elitists. Was scared about PnP RPGs for a while cause most RPGers I know are extreme elitists.

Well... to send data from Point to pPoint with a Skinlink, BOTH individuals must have the Skinlink Option on their equipment, or it does not work... a device without the Skinlink modification will not transmit/receive anything... Of course, you could always just use the wireless connectivity to accomplish that data transfer, assuming that e both devices were connected through either a Data Request or Subscription...

With a Technomancer, he can Force a Skinlink Connection with any device upon touch if he has the correct Echo...

Many devices have Matrix Attributes of System, Resonse, Firewall, and Signal... these devices would need to be hacked in order to access them... you have to hit a threshold of Firewall (+ Access Rights: +0 for User, +3 for Security and +6 for Admin Access) to do so... Unless you have authorized access to the device...

Keep the Faith

[tagz]

Well, skinlink is often operating by taking the wireless out of the picture, but sometimes used as a backup for when you're being jammed. Instead of using wireless it uses the bodies electromagnetic field. So, if put skinlink on all your devices and you've not using wireless anymore on those devices and can't send or receive normal signals. It would be just like turning your wireless off on your laptop: you can still play your games, access your files, run your programs, but you can't chat, you can't do google searches, can't research on Dumpshock, etc. Of course, you can still have devices that use skinlink with the wireless turned on, but that takes out a big piece of it's hacking defense. Best to turn off the wireless on everything but your commlink and skinlink everything to that, that way all hacks need to go through the comm before they can touch the cyber. You can also slave all the devices to the comm but I'm fairly certain that still leaves them vulnerable to spoofing.l

And the one way hack tricks are possible on 0 signal devices using spoof. You don't get nearly the same control but you can still mess with devices. Just need an authorized Access ID, to get the device in your signal range, break encryption if present, and have a command that the device will understand. Great for cyber hacks. "Cyber-arm, punch me." when spoofing a command to look like the user... ah... fun.

Anyhow, the rules for matrix can be tricky, even for veterans of the game. My advice is to be relaxed on the rules and concentrate on making it stylish and fun until you get a good handle on the rules.

[Yerameyahu]

While it's true that you need *mutual* Signal range for direct connections (and 3m really can be a lot), what's the problem with indirect (routed) connections? Yes, this won't work if you're Detecting Hidden Nodes or Capturing Wireless Signals, but it will for most other hacking—for example, the kind CountingGardens is talking about. Right?

Follow-up: why is Spoof different? Is that RAW or a house rule?

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

While it's true that you need *mutual* Signal range for direct connections (and 3m really can be a lot), what's the problem with indirect (routed) connections? Yes, this won't work if you're Detecting Hidden Nodes or Capturing Wireless Signals, but it will for most other hacking—for example, the kind CountingGardens is talking about. Right?

Follow-up: why is Spoof different? Is that RAW or a house rule?

AS long as you can establish Mututal Signal Range through the mesh network that makes up the Matrix, that would work just fine, but it becomes harder when the target has a signal of 0... after all, 3 meters is not all that much either... but it is doable... and it will even work if you are trying to Detect Hidden Nodes or when cCpturing Wireless Signals, as long as that signal integrity can be maintained, which is the challenge with a Signal 0 Device...

Keep the Faith

[Yerameyahu]

As I understand it, Capturing Wireless Signals requires that you be at the source, or at every node in the 'next level' as it routes to the Matrix. Failing that, you can't capture the 'intact' signals at all.

But you're right, 3m isn't nothing, but it may not be enough to maintain a connection if the target isn't also connected to the Matrix (via personal commlink); I assumed he was, but there's no real reason to guess that. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[tagz]

While it's true that you need *mutual* Signal range for direct connections (and 3m really can be a lot), what's the problem with indirect (routed) connections? Yes, this won't work if you're Detecting Hidden Nodes or Capturing Wireless Signals, but it will for most other hacking—for example, the kind CountingGardens is talking about. Right?

Follow-up: why is Spoof different? Is that RAW or a house rule?

Spoof requires no subscription and requires no return signal from the device, usually. It may fail if the device does not understand the command it will likely ask for clarification and that would require 2 way traffic. If you can get YOUR signal into it's range to receive signals then you can spoof it.

[Yerameyahu]

Just humor me, is there a list or at least a page reference explaining what Matrix actions require subscriptions? You just send the command via a trusted access ID?

Thanks Tymeaus, for the hand-holding. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) The Matrix has always been the trickiest aspect of SR.

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

Just humor me, is there a list or at least a page reference explaining what Matrix actions require subscriptions? You just send the command via a trusted access ID?

Yes... In Unwired...

Pages 54-55... It explains the difference between Data Requests and Subscriptions...


Keep the Faith

[CountingGardens]

Alright, probably having difficulty following since I don't own the Unwired book, guess I will just read through the Hacking section and try to understand.

[Ol' Scratch]

Good luck with that. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) I've been playing the game for years and, in none of the incarnations of the game, have I successfully gotten a solid grasp on the damnable Matrix rules. It's made me think that I may be autistic or something.

[CountingGardens]

I mean, for simplicity's sake, should I just not include complexities with the Matrix rules and make everything like a Hacking dice roll with a made of threshold in my mind? I think, since I barely know anything yet, that would be the quickest and most fun of my options right now for the player using the Orc Hacker.

[Wandering One]

There are some mechanics you want in play, from the start, Gardens, and then you want to layer them in to find your group's personal threshhold.

The reason that your hacker may/may not be willing to live with more limitations is because you have to make them a two way street. What your hacker can do, so can the enemy. In this example, it means I could have a guy with nothing but speed and a skinlink upload an agent to every comm I can get near and completely and utterly hose your entire team.

You definately want to bring in range and unreasonable gear usage so that it can't be turned back on them. Also no, your techno can't just upload a picture at whim, he's got to hack it. Even rudimentary commlinks with bare minimum protections require a password to use. (Not spoof, which is another ballgame)

Player/enemy hacking can be one of the most complex rulesets involved until you get a solid handle on subscription vs. security vs. ranges vs. things you can do. It can also be the most powerful, thus the layers. Start smaller, in a different way. Cameras, doors, automated turrets, sharks with frickin' laser beams on their heads. That kinda stuff. Probably the easier way to immerse yourself.

[Oehler the Black]

Say you have a 'mastermind' who dislikes a dragon because it's been meddling in his affairs. He goes through a huge chain of Johnsons and other hired goons in order to hire the team to interfere with that dragon's operations. Satisfied with the result, he continues hiring those runners for job after job, slowly attempting to decimate the dragon's holdingss until he grows tired of the games and sends the runners to kill the dragon once and for all.

Dr. Funk has an excellent point. The setting is populated by criminal super geniuses that could probably trick Lex Luthor in to stealing cakes for them. With so many conflicting corporate, Awakened and other intrests all trying to get the better of dozens of their respective enemies. The only real limits of the levels of intrigue and levels to any conspiracy are really your storytelling skills--so have fun with it.

For reference, the final battle in Boondock Saints 2 comes to mind, small group of allies finally taking out the "mastermind" to find out there's really more going on. Or Lex Luthor and Superman in "Superman: Red Sun," which really shows you what competing super-human intellects are capable of pulling off. (alas poor communist Batman (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif) )

Then there's David Xanatos, who anticipated this thread.