I understand TM's live in VR, but can they natively AR with the aid of just trodes, goggles and gloves?

As a TM I'd roleplay to refuse to use AR but I was curious about this.

Thanks,

~GTT

I always assumed TMs were always in their own bizarre form of AR. If they were always in VR, they'd always have that penalty, which is, what, -8? That'd be just a tad bit crippling.

I don't recall anything in the Holy Book that says one way or the other, but my group has taken it for granted that the Technomancer (which is to say, my character) can downshift his Matrix perceptions to AR when needed.

Keep in mind the severe disadvantage against physical action and perception when in VR. If Technomancers are Hot Sim VR 24/7, they'd probably get run over by a car at some point. On the other hand, it doesn't make any sense that a Technomancer can't "walk and chew bubble gum" too. Access to AR is the simple solution to both conceptual problems.

TMs pick up any AR that is broadcast to them. I imagine they have a subscription list-like process running in their heads, but if you read their description on page 232, particularly the final paragraph, it seems as though they can't get away from the matrix.

1) why would you need trodes, goggles, or gloves? you're a technomancer. remember how your commlink is built into you biologically? well, i would have to imagine that you already *have* a DNI to your own brain, so i can't imagine you would need an external DNI to your brain. assuming that even worked somehow without connecting to another, internal, DNI. similarly, you have a built in sim module for all intents and purposes. AR can simply be projected onto your mind's eye using simsense. if you have a sim module or equivalent, you automatically have any kind of senselink you may ever need, provided you don't modify your simsense to reject certain information (for example, you may want to turn off the emotion part of simsense).

2) i suppose you could wrap your body in wireless fabric, put a commlink outside the fabric, and a wire leading to a small transmitter inside, and have the commlink turned on only when you want full VR or something... or otherwise simply deny yourself access to the matrix except for VR (by "turning off" your internal commlink). but this is about as likely as someone willingly walking around with their eyes closed all the time.

They can use AR. The rules state what happens if they switch to VR - so they don´t need to be on VR all the time.

One thing that escaped me the first time reading is that the book states that all references to matrix access is assumed to be AR unless it specifically states VR. I don't have a page ref for that since my book is at home today.

Since TM's talk about accessing the matrix, but the only reference that I recall is that VR is always hotsim not that TMs are always VR, it would make sense that they are also able to access via AR.

Read page 232 gang.. It explains pretty much everything. EXEPT... can they turn it off.. or would they always be not only receiving but broadcasting as well. and does that make them a bigger target for other hackers... A hacker or anyone else can switch their comlink off, but I dont see a TM being able to do that. Which means that they are always broadcasting and can be tracked.

Well, the rules for rebooting on page 221 seem to indicate that TMs can sever their matrix link:

Well, I remember Holy Writ saying that the use of one's Resonance powers leaves a signature in the Matrix. However, only TMs and their sprites can perceive these signatures, and the TM or sprite who created the signatures can either erase them or wait a few hours until they fade away.

My point? Yes, TMs can technically be tracked, but you need someone with TM powers to start tracking ASAP.

or you can assign a very, very high treshold for trying to find it with the analyze program. and maybe have said treshold drop if the hacker have access to more files and nodes that should in theory contain the same signature.

this is compareable to finding a watermark in a music file when you dont know what your looking for, but have multiple files that should contain the same mark. basicly your looking for patterns that repeat across files, and in the same location in each file.

it will be like finding the needle in a haystack by looking at and removing one and one straw

I've always seen it such that the technomancer doesn't really see AR objects, but intuitively understands what they are and what they're supposed to look like. In game terms, there's no real difference.

I've always gone the opposite route myself: that Technomancers can not only see (touch/feel/etc) AR objects, they seem just as real to them as anything. While my group hasn't gone really far with this concept, the idea came up that a Technomancer might get "lost" in excessive ARE stimuli, unable to separate fantasy from reality.

Hot-Sim VR is home in a deep-seated way, while going cold-turkey is reality in the most fundamental way. ARE programs would be a funky feeling amalgamation of the two, like a waking dream.