Chipping mission data, ultimate deniability Options

[Backgammon]

A thought occured to me last night. If you were to give a runner a knowsoft chip with all of the mission detail on it, you'd have ultimate deniability.

I mean, if ever the runner got captured, all he has to do is use a built-in chip destructor (doesn't exist right now, but wouldn't be hard to do), and *poof*, the runner can't talk because he doesn't know anything about the mission. All he has are the memories of up to his capture, but he dosn't know what he was after or who hired him.

The runner could try to resist interrogation normally before destroying his chip, especially since mind-probe is useless since it's chipped knowledge. But if it looks like he won't be able to hold back, he destroys the chip with a mental command.

There is a certain risk involved, however, that if you can get the chip intact, you might be able to hack it and know *everything* about the mission against you. But with the proper precautions, such as downloading chip into head mem rather than carrying it, encrypting it, putting anti-tampering bombs in the head-mem, etc, you can minimise that risk.

You also have further advantages in the form that after the mission, the runner has no clue why he did all he just did, just a wad of money in his pocket and a satisfied client. No need to worry about his employer killing him cause he might know too much, etc.

It's not a perfect system, but in many cases it would be a GREAT way to do business.

[Nikoli]

Problem is, it's argueable that the runner would remember any details they had to call up from the chip during the run.

[Backgammon]

Not by definition of knowsofts. Otherwise, you could chip a certain skill, and then learn from it, which is specifically stated isn't the case. However, the runner would remember certain things, like infiltrating the facility, what weapons he used, etc. But crucial information, like why he did all those things and for who, would elude the character.

[Nikoli]

If that were the case, then there would be no need for a datalock on headware memory to keep couriers safe.

[Arz]

The Johnson who ran these jobs would have to be quite the decker/programmer to crank out these chips. He would also become known for his signature mission style unless all or most of his peers ran missions similar to this MO.

Even with it's quirks, kudos for this great idea. I'll have to inflict this on my players soon....

[Nikoli]

Could even add some sort of mini-explosive 2L to resist that blows the chip when removed, easily resisted by most runners and slotted right there in front of the Johnson before you leave.

[simonw2000]

"This chip will self-destruct in 5 seconds..." :D

[Nikoli]

With a 3 second timer, to keep the runners guessing

[Backgammon]

I haven't looked at the chip size & cost table before posting this, so I can't really get into details, but my innitial thought is that we're not talking about producing a Math 6 skill chip here. All you have is mission objectives, intel on the site, key people, etc. Out of range for smaller fixers, but any corporate johnson could have one of these cooked up easily.

[Nikoli]

Sounds about right for the BBB.

[Mr. Woodchuck]

but there is the small problem other other bits of knowledge being left on the chip. a little bit of Deus in your brain with each mission. i don't know the exact rules but i think that a labotomy would be in the works as soon as you slot your first job.

[Backgammon]

I don't think that knowsofts can spike enough to induce brain damage (a.k.a brain wasing or some other form of psychotropic effect), but I'll have to verify that. Still, that's a problem with johnson-runner relationships as a whole, not so much as with chipping missions. If your johnson wants to screw you over, doesn't matter what system you use, he's gonna screw you over.

[Lilt]

The problem is that a character could just think about what he was gonna do next when he did have the knowsoft. I'm pretty sure that if he did think about the rest of the mission then it would stick in long-term memory. It's like how you could use a tactics soft to help work-out a plan for something and still emember the plan you divised once the chip is removed.

[Siege]

It's also a little complicated for runners who need to convey limited aspects of mission specs.

A simple bypass for the "self-destruct" component -- have the runner spend half an hour with pencil and paper.

It would be exceedingly difficult to pass along information in a strictly controlled manner to what amounts to sub-contractors.

It's easier just to dispense the information through a faceless, anonymous Johnson who could be working for anyone.

-Siege

[Kagetenshi]

I'd think that people would maintain some knowledge of anything on the chip. but it would be incredibly fragmented— not enough to be useful in most cases, but enough to be damaging potentially for highly sensitive documents. Random writes to various parts of memory, but mostly not done because hey, it's already in your memory, why memorize it?

~J

[Siege]

Because most shadowrunners rarely ever trust anything handed to them by the Johnson, including mission specs and operating details.

-Siege

[Fortune]

These sound more like Datasofts than Knowsofts. Datasofts interact in a different way than Knowsofts, in that a Datasoft doesn't attempt to teach the character anything, instead just containing information that the character can access. For an itemized list, or a write-up on run details, there isn't much learning involved, as the chip is not actually giving the person any skill knowledge.

[Kagetenshi]

When I say "why memorize it?" I'm referring more to the workings of the brain than the conscious thought of the runners.

~J

[Zazen]

I was just about to say what Fortune said, so like, what he said.

[Reaver]

I typically give my players chips with the run info on them. The info has a worm in it set to go off when it reaches a specific date and erase the memory as well.

[Backgammon]

[Zazen]

I still think it is definitely not skill information. It'd be a kind of funny skill to name, too. "Running the Ares Compound on 3rd Ave for medical documents hidden in the office safe of Dr John Dobson - 4" Now what if a player wanted to learn that skill with karma before the run? ;)


Also, upon re-reading the section on knowsofts, I don't see where it says that you don't remember what you did or that you're unable to learn from it. I figure that someone using a skillsoft could learn about as much about the skill as from watching someone else do it in front of them.

[Lilt]

I think that, as a general rule of thumb, if something could be told to you normally and remembered then it will be comitted to long-tem memory in the same manner. IE: you don't need to spend karma for your character to remember the general details of a run as described by a jhonson.

An interesting application of this is for storing passwords that are extremely complex and change over time using an excessively complex formula based on dates, times, and fed-back info from the password panel. Such a formula would be extremely hard to remember, thus interrogating someone for it would be futile unless they actually comitted the formula to memory as a knowledge skill. The previous passwords would also be virtually useless as they'd be hard to remember and redundant 15 seconds later or something.