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savantt
Hello, I'm a new player to ShadowRun, but an expeiranced PnPer generally. Having finnaly finished the rule book, there are one or two rule clarifications I'm struggeling with...Mainly to do with the Matrix and Technomancy....I think I've got the basics but if any of my assumptions are off, please let me know wink.gif ?

1)Technomancers...What can Technomancers do in the way of mimicing tech? Obviously they can project their Living Persona onto the matrix, Ala Commlink/VR, but can they send and recive messages too, like a commlink? If so, so they need a message service or is it assumed that they 'feel' the way to their friends Comm? Also can they run Sims/Hot Sims/BTL chips/Matrix Games internally, or do they need a player or even a player+Trodes combo(I'm assuming they need the player, but presumably they could connect mentally)? Ditto rigging, do they need the equipment or is it dealt with internally? Finally what do they do for storage? The book specificaly states that they do not have organic storage memory, but can they simply store data online (In which case how do you pay for this/obtain Serverspace?)? Or can they just 'connect' to a Datastick and use that?

2)Sprites...Can sprites manifest themselves in the real, physical world? I'm unsure as to wheather a sprite 'manifestation' is in the real world, in just VR, or both? If they can physicaly manifest, can they physically attack, ala spirits?

3)The Matrix...Right, last barrage. First do PCs still exist? In offices, how do people do work, is it an approximation of a PC, do they all go full VR, or is it a form of AR using the company WiFi (I remember Commlinks come with a keyboard, do they use that)? I assume companies still have a mainframe, which is how Runners hack in? Next, If I'm reading it right, a node is kinda like a router/server/online enviroment combined, if so what do they look like in RL? Can you hardline yourself to a node and log on that way? Finally, how do you connect devices (the datastick springs to mind) that presumably dont have a wifi rating? This also applies to sensors, which have a signal rating, but presumably need somwhere to store the recorded data?


Okay, I realise this is a hell of a lotta questions, but most of 'em are along simmelar topics... Any and all answers will be massively appreciated!

Thankoyu in advance for any answers, and for reading your way through the whole thing...
hobgoblin
1) a TM brain can basically talk wifi. as in, it can connect to a network just like a comlink can. its not however a comlink or any other kind of computer, so it cant run the normal computer programs. i still think they would use a message service. think of a message service as a voip/im server, with the ability to hold messages for you if someone tried to contact you while you where not around (latest version msn messenger have this ability imo). hell, if they update it so that they can hold files for you to (just upload it to a offline contact and it will go to the server. and when the contact connects, the option to download said file is made available). hmm, maybe i should build a jabber extension to do that. maybe toss in a im to mail system so that the oldies can send mail to a im contact and it will show up as a im session. err, where was i...

2) sprites are just very weird/special agents. and agents are just programs. if a sprite wanted to manifest it would have to take control over a holoprojector or something wink.gif

3) there have been at least on thread on the subject. ill see if i can dig it up, if not someone else feels like doing it.
Dashifen
Most of the questions your asking will vary from GM to GM and, thus, from game to game. SR4 provides a GM with a lot of freedom to interpret their world and make it fit for the way that he or she want it to feel. That being said, I'll cover your questions below.

QUOTE (savantt)
1)Technomancers...What can Technomancers do in the way of mimicing tech? Obviously they can project their Living Persona onto the matrix, Ala Commlink/VR, but can they send and recive messages too, like a commlink? If so, so they need a message service or is it assumed that they 'feel' the way to their friends Comm? Also can they run Sims/Hot Sims/BTL chips/Matrix Games internally, or do they need a player or even a player+Trodes combo(I'm assuming they need the player, but presumably they could connect mentally)? Ditto rigging, do they need the equipment or is it dealt with internally? Finally what do they do for storage? The book specificaly states that they do not have organic storage memory, but can they simply store data online (In which case how do you pay for this/obtain Serverspace?)? Or can they just 'connect' to a Datastick and use that?


Technomancers (TMs) can do pretty much anything a commlink can do. Like a poster above said, they're like walking, living, breathing commlinks. I've always allowed them to send messages but without some form of an image link (probably in goggles or glasses to avoid essence and resonance loss) they can't really see the messages come back in AR. I wouldn't allow them to run any form of Sim, BTL, or Game unless there was a device transmitting the program wirelessly to their living persona. If they have a datajack or some other form of interface between software and their meat-bod, then that would work, too. Trodes are often a good way to go if you want to interface a device but also don't want to lose essence/resonance.

As for rigging, the only possible equipment they might want is the Control Rig, but even that's mostly optional. With their own living persona, they can send commands to drones and even compile sprites to command drones and command the sprites. They can store data online, and how they acquire storage space is up to you and your game. Maybe there's free online storage, but if so then there should be a caveat to using it (Ares reads all your files) or they could just purchase a commlink to use for data storage and to blend in with the normals.

QUOTE
2)Sprites...Can sprites manifest themselves in the real, physical world? I'm unsure as to wheather a sprite 'manifestation' is in the real world, in just VR, or both? If they can physicaly manifest, can they physically attack, ala spirits?


Sprites are entirely a virutal being. They have no presence in the physical world without interaction through a device. Like the poster above said, a holoprojector could work, or even a normal video screen of some kind. The other way that sprites can interact physically is by riding a vehicle or drone. If I remember right, Aaron's got a sprite that lives in a van as an ongoing NPC in his "S is for Smartlink" adventure. Thus, said sprite can interact with the party because it controls their vehicle.

QUOTE
3)The Matrix...Right, last barrage. First do PCs still exist? In offices, how do people do work, is it an approximation of a PC, do they all go full VR, or is it a form of AR using the company WiFi (I remember Commlinks come with a keyboard, do they use that)? I assume companies still have a mainframe, which is how Runners hack in? Next, If I'm reading it right, a node is kinda like a router/server/online enviroment combined, if so what do they look like in RL? Can you hardline yourself to a node and log on that way? Finally, how do you connect devices (the datastick springs to mind) that presumably dont have a wifi rating? This also applies to sensors, which have a signal rating, but presumably need somwhere to store the recorded data?


This one is almost entirely up to you. PCs, in my games, don't exist. Companies provide commlinks to their employees or allow employees to use their own. Office complexes do still exist, and people have their offices, but it's more of a mobile computing society. Hell, I work for a major university and most people here bring laptops to and from work, connecting them to docking stations when they arrive. This is my model for a 2070's work environment. Commlinks can come with keyboards, holoprojectors, printers, monitors, etc. Thus, they are a desktop replacement, gaming system, personal data recorder, calendar, music box, etc. all in one.

For corporate data storage, I imagine something like a mainframe or Network Attached Storage (NAS) device. These devices would have systems that allow users to connect and store data, they'd be protected by IC (and hackers, too, for more secure information), etc. Runners could hack into such a think, or they could hack an employee commlink or commlink docking station and spoof access to the NAS devices without ever really hacking it in the first lay.

Nodes are basically just an area of coverage by a wireless signal. That signal is created by a device of some kind and as long as you're in a device's node, you can interact with that device. Consider it like wireless communication today: if you're within range of an access point, you can connect to that access point, from the AP to a router, from the router off into cyberspace. In my games, nodes work similarly as you can always jump from node to node until you get to the Matrix. In RL, nodes don't really look like anything, but just about anything can create a node. Your coffee machine probably has a wireless signal so you can connect remotely and tell it to start brewing on your way home from early morning work session; thus it has a node. Your car has a node so you can remotely start it and so that it can get the latest traffic reports and construction information (and so the cops can get the information about your driving history out if it's memory banks). Your shoes might have a node so that they can monitor your weight for you if you're in a weight loss program. In other words, if it's a device that has a wireless signal, then it has a node, and a device can look like anything.

To connect to devices that don't have a node, you're back to wires. You can connect from the device to a commlink and then the commlink can begin to broadcast a node for the device, or if you're equipped with a datajack or trodes, you can use them to connect as well. Alternately, I've used the skinlink rules in the book for some device that have a reasonable reason to provide access to people without the use of wires. For example, in one security system I wrote up for a game, all the cameras in the building were setup on a skinlink. Thus, when repair personnel had to run diagnostics, all you needed to do was touch the camera and, bang!, you could access it if you had a skinlink. Course, I did that because they only person with a skin link was the dwarven street sam. character, so it was funny to think of the players holding the dwarf on their shoulders so he could touch the camera while also allowing the hacker to piggyback on his commlink to get inside the system.

savantt
Great. Thanks for the detailed responses.

Definately have a better idea of the world now, I figured Nodes were kinda like routers/servers today, as in distinct macines, makes a lot more sence now...

Thankyou!
Cheops
One thing you can do, and I've been toying with, for the TM storage space issue is that they could create an information space "off the grid" but not in the resonance realms (unless they have submersion grades).

Basically, in 3rd, the Otaku could wander around the matrix at will and could even go beyond the borders of the grids in order to seek out "resonance wells." Now, I figure these resonance wells would be places where TMs go to enter the resonance realms but what about the space in between? Could they then go and make little pockets of data there that only they know about? Of course, someone else could stumble across said cache and then have access to it all so its not foolproof but it could be a work-around to the no storage space problem.

The other option is always to just hack a corporate node, upload your data in an unused corner, and then Hash it all. No spider is getting at that.

As for SINs, I usually just hand wave and say that TMs can have all that stuff in their brain, but they usually carry commlinks with that anyway, otherwise:

Lonestar: "Excuse me sir, may we have a word with you?"
TM: "Sure officer, what seems to be the problem?"
LS: "All of your ID checks out fine but our drones are reporting problems with your AID. It doesn't check out against any of our databases. Who's your MSP?"
TM: "Uh...it's uh...UOL."
LS: (eyeing suspiciously at the very low Fast Talk roll the TM just got) "Alright then, you might want to contact them and let them know you are having problems. Good day Citizen."
TM: (phew) "Yeah thanks officer."

Not that bad but when it happens every time that a LS drone passes you in A+ neighborhoods it could get troublesome. Not to mention LS could tag your SIN as constantly having AID problems. Which could eventually lead to them actually calling your reported MSP.
Ravor
One of the reasons that like any good Mage, a good Technomancer should also get a few choice pieces of Cyberware installed, in a Technomancer's case, a Datajack for the virtually unlimited Headware Memory is a must.

Oh and I totally agree that only a very foolish technomancer doesn't carry a working Commlink with them at all times, especially if the Witch Hunts are going to be as bad as I think they are.

*EDIT*

Oh as for whether or not Desktop PCs still exist, I figure that they do because just like Laptops vs Desktops today, its cheaper to buy a good Terminal then a good Commlink.
Dancer
Newbie question of my own: How many free actions do you get in an action phase? Just one? Can you trade in one of your simple actions for some more?
deek
QUOTE (Dancer)
Newbie question of my own: How many free actions do you get in an action phase? Just one? Can you trade in one of your simple actions for some more?

Yes, you get one free action per initiative phase and a simple action can be traded in for a free action, if you so desire.
Dashifen
There is an Adept power in Street Magic that provides the Adept with that power another free action. It's name is Multi Tasking. It does some other stuff, too.
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