Rigger Soul-searching, Can we do without them? Options

[GrinderTheTroll]

[Ol' Scratch]

Note that my proposal (while I failed to mention it) included the idea that riggers would no longer be slumped corpses sitting in the driver's seat. They'd still be piloting, but their cybernetic enhancements would allow them to perform some seriously wicked maneuvers compared to what anyone else can do.

The thing I hate most about riggers is the comatose thing. Bleh!

[Kagetenshi]

I personally love the comatose thing. Same with deckers. Different strokes.

~J

[Tarantula]

[mmu1]

If I were God, I'd change two things about the way Riggers work...

1. Make all reaction-enhancing systems use the same type of basic rules. Either everyone with reaction enhancement gets a control pool, or no one does. (it makes no sense to me that someone controlling a car or a drone using a VCR3 has much better control over it than someone using a hugely more expensive WR3 setup has over his own flesh and blood body.) Things like TN mods, bonus dice, etc. could and should still vary depending on the type of reaction enhancement you had. That way, if you have Wired Reflexes, you can do sick things with a car because of your great reaction time, but you still don't get to feel the road the way a rigger does.

2. Stop treating drones like vehicles for damage purposes, but at the same time, make them much cheaper to repair - that way, there can be a middle ground between "so heavily armored you can't scratch it without AV rounds or ATGMs" and "50K:nuyen: pile of scrap".

[Lantzer]

Note that any rigger who spends his active time controlling a drone network, handling communications, and listening in for trouble doesn't have to have a single vehicle skill, or a VCR. Why? He's too busy in captain's chair mode to waste time 'jumping in' to any one drone. What he does need is a datajack, good commo and R/C gear, nice drones, and really good electronics, computer, surveillance, and tactics skills. Note that a well equipped character can do the 'comm central' gig while infiltrating with the team, but his reactions tend to be slowed by the fact that he has to keep himself out of trouble too. He'll be distracted, most likely (+1 modifier for captain's chair, IIRC). On the other hand, it's nice to have an electronics and tactics wiz handy on site with the team.

Not to say some driving skills wouldn't be handy.... to get the command post out of harm's way, or to drive the team away when the 'comm central' character is the one least likely to bleed on the dashboard.

[Lantzer]

As examples of interesting hybrid characters:

Doc Salvage: Security Rigger/Combat Decker/Street Doc.
Minions: Hermetic Mage/Drone Rigger.

One thing is going to be true: any 'rigger' character will suck up cash like no tomorrow, Because being a rigger is about having toys. And toys cost.

[Kagetenshi]

If a Rigger has a VCR-3 and a good natural Reaction, they can expect three actions a turn. That means they can jump into a drone and take a look around in two seconds. Jumping in, while not always optimal, tends to have serious advantages.

Drop it down to VCR-1 and mediocre Reaction, and you start taking three to six seconds to check a drone, but I haven't seen many like that.

One good combination with a Rigger is a Decker, especially if you slap a satellite dish on a vehicle.

~J

[Bigity]

Hmm, that just gave me an idea for a question..

I know that deckers cannot access "sealed" systems unless they can access a trunk or terminal and put in a tap.

But...can access to those taps be remote? Say, your rigger and decker are in the command van, and the penetration team breaks into the target, and places a remove dataline tap onto the basement trunk?

[ES_Riddle]

[Kagetenshi]

Yes. Potentially, they could bridge a connection from an unconnected system to a connected system, or just add in a wireless access point of some variety. I actually had a set of drones rigged up to do exactly that (a bunch of Body 1 rotodrones with laser relays)

And you can add sensors to bikes. I will point out that most normal vehicles start with Sensors 0 too :P

~J

[Ol' Scratch]

[ES_Riddle]

That's what I get for posting about riggers when I don't have Rigger 3.

On another note-

Does anyone here actually have their riggers sit in the driver's seat when they rig the vehicle they're in? Mine usually do it from someplace in the back that isn't as likely to get you picked off as the "driver" and lets your buddies roll down the windows and do their drive-by from both sides.

[Kagetenshi]

My current Rigger sits in the driver's seat because her van is decently heavily armored and she wants to prevent anyone we happen to be holding in the back from seeing her. I had another character, though, who drove from the passenger's seat via datajack port when combat looked like it might start.

~J

[mfb]

psh. my rigger is never in the car at all. she sits in the back a very safe, highly-armored transport miles away from the action, and directs her drones via satellite.

[Tarantula]

I had one rigger of mine (a dwarf) strap himself into the trunk for rigging. Add to the fact that the car had no manual controls, he was set.

With my good natured GM, he had a punk one day try to carjack the car while they were on a run. I was jumped into a drone at the time, and didn't notice the punk until he had climbed into the car, and closed the door. I promptly locked the doors, and drove off a ways while warning him through the speaker that when the car stops, he is to get out, otherwise, he will die. I stopped the car, he took off running, at which point the GM told me I noticed that the seat was damp. When my team piled into the car with some pursuit, I didn't have time to tell the unlucky mage what they sat in.

[Kagetenshi]

What I would have done is let him drive for a while, then all of a sudden set the windows to full tint from the inside and start veering off at maximum speed. Pull all the driving tricks you can.

Basically, make it a personal competition to get the punk to die of a heart attack.

~J

[Tarantula]

[Kagetenshi]

True. Ok, I still say you should have taken him for the ride of his life with zero visibility :)

~J

[Tarantula]

Is it scarier when you can't see anything and can just feel the car swerving around? Or if the windshield un-tints just in time for you to spot the semi headed right for you?

[Cain]

Trashman: As others here have mentioned, you're missing the whole world of versatility that drones bring to the rigger arsenal. The CnC rigger is one of the most powerful things to have on your side in a fight. Also, armored drones are the 800-lb gorillas of Shadowrun combat-- the LS Strato-9 is the only way you can start game with a MMG; and an Ares Guardian drone loading Great Dragon ATGM's will make a mess of anything, while remaining impervious to midrange weapons!

Riggers are more than getaway drivers. With the advent of CCSS, a rigger may become your best infiltration specialist. In combat, they're your heavy artillery. For recon, riggers with miniblimps can't be beat. In short, a properly-equipped rigger can be an entire backup runner team!

[Kagetenshi]

[mfb]

indeed. that's what my rigger does. two LS-9s for medium support, two Lynxes for hardcore asskicking, a custom rotary-wing UAV for guarding her meat, a cheap truck for moving the team, miniblimps for spotting and retrans, and three kitty-cat drones with internal speakers for interacting with the outside world.

[DrJest]

Although it's been a while since I read it, Walter Jon Williams' Hardwired is the genre source for all things rigger (and a surprising amount of the other cyberpunk stuff we take for granted - Gibson didn't invent as much as people give him credit for, but I digress). The hero in that book jacks into his vehicle, and yes, that gives him an immense advantage in that he feels the vehicle like his body and can operate it in much the same way. That's the reason for control pool, to me - that piloting the vehicle is as natural as running around. Frankly, I don't see anything about increased reflexes in there. I'd go with the idea to make a VCR a minor piece of cyberware, and any extra reaction/initiative dependent on other reflex systems. It's a good idea, and I shall be stealing it wholesale.

[mmu1]