BLACK FREEZE

Developed by a security hacker who spent six months in a corporate prison after using his Black out program to knock out a suspiscious user who turned out to be top executive, the Black Freeze program has become a favorite for security hackers. This operates exactly like Blackout or Black Hammer with the exception that it never does any damage, physical or stun, to the target. It's sole purpose is to jam the target's connection so the security decker can question them. If the security hacker is satisfied with the target's responses he can release them with a simple action.


LOOPER

The looper is an attack program specifically designed for programs. It has no effect no personas. When this attack program is run the damage against the program is calculated as normal. If the damage is enough to crash the program then the program does not take damage but instead becomes paralyzed in a continous loop. If the damage is not enough to crash the program then the looper program has no effect. Programs trapped in a continous loop remain that way until they are crashed by a normal attack program, repaired by a medic program, or the node undergoes a system reset. Programs afflicted by the looper program continue to draw from the node's resources when determining response. The node will not be aware the program is no longer functioning unless it runs an Analyze program on it.

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Any comments?
Do you have any program ideas?

Two more program ideas......

RABBIT

This program is almost always run on agent programs. It's purpose is to completely mimic its users matrix ID. Operating without stealth an agent with this program often serves as an effective decoy while the hacker does his work. A matrix perception test opposed by pilot+Rabbit is required to see through the deception. Some agents with rabbit programs are designed to run away into different nodes in hopes of tricking enemy hackers, track programs, or agents into following it. Others are designed to hop around a node in full defense mode while defensive programs or hackers try to capture or kill it.


GREY MACE

Grey mace is similar to Black hammer and Blackout as it prevents the target from leaving the node. However it does matrix damage instead of physical or stun damage. But the real benefit is that this attack program affects mobile programs like agents and sprites as well as AR and VR users. AR users can still of course jack out close the connection with no harm to themselves. VR users risk dumpshock when they try it. Care must be taken though because if Grey Mace causes the matrix damage track to fill then the user will crash whether the hacker wants them to or not. Crashed users do not suffer dumpshock damage.

"who said AR was safe?!"
-cowardly wageslave

ZAPTASTIC

if your using skinlink, watch out. this program turns a comlink equiped with a skinlink into a somewhat weak electroshock weapon aimed at the comlinks user. it does (hits/2)S(e) damage, and is resisted like all other attack programs. physical armor do not protect against this.


FAR OUT, MAN...

this program force the targets AR enviroment to generate sensory inputs specificaly designed to make the brain "space out". damage is (hits)S if the target is using simsense, and (hits/2)S if he is using AR glasses and similar. upon the initial attack the user gets a free jack out attempt (reaction vs damage of the attack). after that its like trying to jack out while under attack from black ice.

..when did Emo Samurai take over hobgoblin's account?

RETRANS

Upon successfully infiltrating a commlink, roll Hacking + Retrans vs sytem + firewall, if successful the commlink retransmits any signal your comm sends to it, replacing your commode with its own, and similarly pipes any signal the matrix sends back through itself to you. It continues doing this even if switched to hidden mode, but the comm can be detected as thogh it were in passive mode if this occurs, something a wiley comm user may notice.

Maximum proram rating that can be used "through" a comm affected by retrans is equil to the rating of the retrans program as if it were being run from the hijacked comm, however, as the comm is not actually processing or interpreting the retransmitted signal much, it is not significantly slowed by retransmitting the data, the retrans program does not count against the maximum number a comm can be using, or the amount of programs before the comm starts acting at a lower response rating.

Damage done to an Icon running from the original comm is all applied to the original comm/icon/persona, as the retransmitting comm does not do much processing or interpreting of the signal being passed through it, however trace programs / ic will always locate the retransmitting comm first and must roll [pilot equivalent] + Trace VS retrans + system (of the actual comm) to see that the data trail extends further.

Retrans is fitted with an optional automatic signal re router so if the retransmitting comm powers down, instead of dumping the user it will seamlessly reroute the info to the original commcode, however suddenly having your comcode change while hacking will often result in a sytem alert being triggered. The system you are in gets a free (possibly extended) System+Firewall (stealth) roll to spot the user and the user must then roll hacking + Spoof vs System + firewall or be 'demoted' to public level access. This is obvoisly dangerous if they are in a private node. the system gets to continue making cumulative System+Firewall (stealth) rolls each turn until the hacker has regained the correct access level for what they were doing. On the plus side this does not run on the same track as the cumulative system and firewall test the sytem makes against a brute force hacking attempt.

I really like Black Freeze. Although I wonder if maybe it should do just a teensy bit of stun damage. (resisted, of course) Sort of as an unavoidable side-effect. I like the idea of the "harmless" weapon accidentally doing some damage.

Same opinion here, thats already in the game.

I've got nothing new, but I do have criticism. I guess that makes me a literary reviewer ... =)

BLACK FREEZE

I love it. It also compliments the Trace program nicely.

LOOPER

Pretty cool. I can see it. Although the mechanics are a little wonky; programs that aren't IC, agents, or sprites are crashed by an Extended Test, not by Matrix damage. I'd make it a straight Opposed Test, like maybe Hacking + Looper against Firewall + Target Rating.

RABBIT

I like the tactic, although you don't need a special program to make it happen. Agents already have your Matrix ID, so you can just have an agent run interference for you.

GREY MACE

I like it, although I'd call it "black (something)," since the jack-out block rules are associated with with "black" ice. Although the best I can come up with is "Black Taser," which doesn't really sound menacing. I think, though, that the developers wouldn't like it, because having a Swiss Army Attack Program might be too easy.

ZAPTASTIC

Hobs, man, you're one of my favorite people on DS, but this idea is a bit too much for a program. It would require not merely hacking the target's PAN, but also some hardware modification. You're talking about the equivalent of attacking someone by grabbing one of those little LCD games out of a cereal box and tossing into his bath. It would be easier to hurt someone with something that's a bit more powerful, even more so than skillwires. It would have to be some sort of direct access to the brain, like a sim rig. Then you could do direct stun damage to the target. We could call it Blackout.

FAR OUT, MAN ...

This is a good tactic, but it's already covered. One could just hack in and use Edit or some such. You're also giving it effects that mimic Blackout.

RETRANS

Rotbart's right. You just need to hack into the target system and then start using it instead of your own. I did this when my GM got sick of me breaking into low-level stuff and gave me something bigger and nastier than my own commlink to sleaze into; I just did the rest of the run from the big nasty node. That being said, you could make a "program" that is given the instructions and the appropriate programs to do perform the task by itself, and then call it "ReTrans."

about zaptastic:

thing is that we dont know how much is controled by hardware, and how much is controled by software. we allso do not know how the comlinks are buildt. therefor this baby can work, if you (or the gm) want it to.

basicly you target the persona with this program and their skinlink (if they use one) give them a electric shock.

about "far out, man":

isnt one of the complaints about AR that you cant target them with black programs? this baby does just that

in the end they where just spur of the moment creations that was more about flavor then correct logic or science.and allso looking into ways of attacking AR users, giving hackers a bit more of a real life offensive ability without them packing a gun or hi-jacking a drone.

I think that the Black programs and "Far out, man..." could be accurately described as "motifs of harmful sensation" Check out the Wikipedia article on this phenomenon here. The examples are pretty cool and the article could insprie some of you.

btw, i kinda recall a old program that was able to make the power supply of a cyberdeck overload. was it in SR2, pre VR2, or more recent?

heh, the memory of said program was one of my inspirations for zaptastic...

thanks for the input aaron, now have some of this good stuff

BASILISK

A specialized program designed to cause harm to AR users, it creates a psychological feedback loop - exposing the wearer to a randomly generated image, then measuring their psychological response to determine how to next alter the image. Practically, this produces an image so horrid and appalling that it takes an extreme effort of will to continue using the AR interface, and even those who resist the urge to tear away from the horrible images often suffer psychological trauma.

CATOBLEPAS

A similar, more refined version of BASILISK, CATOBLEPAS produces images that not only terrify, but throw the metahuman mind itself in to chaos by exposing it to input that it is not equipped to respond to. Insanity and catatonia are the most common responses; rumors persist of ultraviolet ICE that produce lethal images, killing the wearer, but these have never been verified...


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Langford#Basilisks

BABELSOFTS

The same advances in brain-mapping and grammar theory that allowed the invention of linguasofts allowed the invention of babelsofts. If linguasofts are dictionaries, a babelsoft is a single-use encryption pad, a linguasoft for a language that exists nowhere else. It provides an additional layer of operational security for a shadowrunner team: it won't matter if a hacker gains access to your radio chatter if you're all speaking in Dreksperanto 3.49.

The rating of a babelsoft not only functions as a linguasoft rating, but determines the difficulty of hacking a babelsoft; a babelsoft without a barrier to subversion would be a paper tiger.

BASILISK

I'm not sure this is feasible. Even VR is described as "obviously computer-created," (Boyle et al. 229), so I can't see an AR image being any more realistic. At best, I think a program like this would have the same effect as a modern slasher flick, even if you had feedback from the target. The rules suggest a dice pool penalty of -1 to -3 for high-volume AR information (p. 210). Your most effective target would be small children.

This aside, one would need some sort of access to cause this sort of havoc on a system. Attack and Black* programs gum up the works, not execute concise commands on their system. If it were possible to do that, we wouldn't have attack programs, we'd have programs that just shut down the target's commlink. That being said, one could achieve the same effect of the suggested program by gaining access and using Edit.

CATOBLEPAS

I like this one better. My only problem with it is that each brain is very unique. To be overly simplistic, we're born with a massive lump of neurons and form our own paths through them. We've all got the same hardware, but it's wired differently. Inducing specific effects is hard, or at least takes special equipment.

That being said, there's precedent for a program like this is previous editions. Psychotropic black ice, if I remember correctly. The science is iffy, but hey, this is sci-fi. Although ...

SECURE CASTING
This AR software is based on spatial recognition and need to be used with extern display.
As an order the mage using it may have all any place or his friend being hidden from his view (black shades appear on his goggle or glass).
The main effect is to allow casting area spell even when your friends are in the melee with opponents !

There still might be some danger if your allies move very quickly as the program need a very small time to adapt the shades. This is easier to fix if you can locate them in real time.

EDIT :
I don't accept such tactic for indirect spells in my game (those spell work differently in my game)- and I would accept it with small penalties for direct ones.

2d EDIT : the SR3 FAQ shows how difficult it is to achieve such purpose using a sheet of paper. This software is specifically designed to function with automatism and more accuracy

SECURE CASTING

The possibility of this has come up around various gaming tables since we got our hands on SR4. I can't imagine it would be easy to cover up a moving friendly with enough accuracy to save them, especially if they're in melee (attack with your hands, defend with your feet, and all that). Even a stationary friendly would be a challenge, since the magician isn't completely stationary, either.

The way I'd do something like this would be to grant the program's Rating as a bonus to the friendly target's resistance roll, a sort of cover bonus. I'd also give that same bonus to targets that were in melee with or along the same sight line as a friendly. And no, regardless of the way some members of this forum may advocate their own individual take on LOS rules, I would not apply it to Indirect Combat spells.