I've got a good sized player base (7) and am working to ensure they all have things to do on the various runs. In the group currently I've got the following:

Hacker
Rigger
Gunslinger Adept
Bioware based Street Sam
Combat Mage
Moon Maiden Shaman (Face/Illusion/buff, not direct combat)
Bear Shaman (healer/combatant focused)

I'm having a somewhat challenging time figuring out how to get the hackers and rigger involved more completely during the run itself. The mages tend to be versatile to the point of needing little help for things like scouting, etc. To that end I'm considering adding more drones / automated defenses and less in the way of immediate people. Thoughts?

Also, I've been asked by the rigger if there's any device that would allow her to have a drone or other PC connect the device to a camera or other security apparatus and be able to hack access to the system's security. Arguably the hard wiring would provide the vector for the hack attempt into the security center. The question is whether this is possible and potentially allow her to depend on someone else to get through the first layer of physical security, set up the device probably with a signal booster or repeater or something and go from there. Thoughts / suggestions?

The same sort of question works for the hacker too. Existing systems for key executives would be with a signal of like 0 locked in an office somewhere to be inaccessible until after the security has been defeated. Is there a device again that could be used to provide the hacker remote access to the system? How would that work?

Along a similar vein, a drone would count as a node or launch point for a hacking attempt, correct? The thinking being that a drone could be sent in somewhere and be able to subscribe to the local AR feed (or allow it to be used as a platform for hacking into the local network) so that data requires a technological approach rather than just a magical one. In a prior run the group was scoping out a warehouse that was shipping products and the mage went for an astral scout to see if the schedule or anything was posted. He was looking for a bulletin board. I pointed out that there was likely an AR equivalent but that it would require someone/thing infiltrating to subscribe to the signal to find out.

In another weird combo thought, has anyone "mounted" a level 1 foci on a drone? My thinking is that channeling a spell from the astral into the physical space requires a foci to act as the conduit or at least that's my recollection at least from SR3. The drone flies around with the foci and allows the astrally projecting mage to drop repeated mana related spells in an area without fear of hurting the conduit. Thoughts?

With a sweep of his...

Hat

Well depends what you mean by remotly. A lot of places will have RF paint and the like, making truely remote attacks not so good.

But inside the paint many things from drones to cameras may be wireless and attacked to the security system giving hackers an in. And if not wireless you could get in via any one of them (doors etc).

I would encourage you to use more drones than people. It keeps the feel better in my opinion and keeps people on their toes. Also GMs have a habit of having the opposition play the role of the mentally challeneged suicide squad. This makes more sense with drones.

However for a clever hacker on a less secure place there are probably other ways in! For example even if the place has RF paint if they connect to the matrix from the inside of the building if you hack their sales system or an indaviduals comlink you could use that to sniff around (electronic warefare) for a wireless way into some aspect of the security system.

Retrans Unit in Arsenal provides this. My technomancer has a emotitoy with one installed, and it spends a good amount of time clinging to one person or another.



I've ruled that bouncing a signal through anything without a retrans unit will limit you to the devices response rating. So all programs will be running at about rating 3 depending on the power of the drone/vehicle. So if they want to upgrade all drones to rating 6 response, they can but a retrans unit is much cheaper.



Grounding isn't possible in SR4 anymore.

I've got some responses for a couple of your inquiries.

Getting hackers/riggers involved more completely...in my group, except for the mage, everyone has some firearm skills. So, while the hacker may not be hacking the entire time, he is still involved. The rigger is a 50/50...as he can bring some smaller attack drones with him, so he may be using his actions to attack via drones...either way, a firefight has everyone involved. The mage, normally has a spirit or two attacking...so, you don't need more drones/automated defense to get those two involved as long as they have some decent attack skills.

As to the special "device", I don't know of anything in the books, but on my current mission, I gave the rigger four custom hand-sized drones. I told them that they were specially calibrated to the target building's defenses. This would give the team an opportunity to have a drone physically interface with a camera, door lock, etc, create a special node and hack through that. I called it jump-hacking. I did it so the rigger and hacker had to be involved, but wouldn't bog the game down by either of them roaming through the security nodes wasting time.

What I am hoping this does for this mission is give the hacker and rigger more focus and a limited amount of freedom. Limiting the custom drones to 4 also allows me to devise some puzzles where they may not have enough drones to bypass all the security at the same time. In any event, while nothing really exists in book form, if you want to do something like that, I think it would work, you just have to put some limitation on it. In my game, these custom drones were provided by the Johnson, are calibrated only for this one job (or until the security is changed) and are to be returned upon completion.

They (drones and spider/pilot software-operated defenses) are cheaper than security goons who typically need to be paid benefits and all that silly stuff. Much easier to have a warranty. So yeah, that shouldn't be a problem for you.



I haven't seen one, but since I have a technomancer in my group and want to do stuff with non-networked systems that require a physical jackpoint, we've discussed it in my group. As far as I'm concerned it shouldn't be outside of the realm of possibility that something similar to a USB modem would exist that would turn a physical jackpoint into a WiFi one. We just haven't tought up the pricing/are half waiting for the Unwired book.

Thanks Nightwalker450 for pointing me in the right direction book-wise for that!



That should work just fine, thought it is another node that the hacker needs to be subscribed to.



You know, I've been looking for those rules and may have overlooked them. I remember that from the old SR1/2 but hadn't seen the rules yet. I'm thinking it may have been wrapped into ritual sorcery, but hopefully someone will answer this so I can find out too

Grounding hasn't existed in canon since SR2. There were no rules for it in SR3, and there are similarly none in SR4.