*checks his CP2020 1st Ed boxed set*
In terms of professional quality artwork and such, yes. It was a...not cheaply made as in badly, but as in "just entering the market"?
There's a sheet of errata that came out too.
But nothing near as bad a CP203X. The concepts of the latter are primarily what made it unbelievably atrocious. He tried to segue it from cyberpunk into bio/nanopunk without creating anything but ridiculousness. You just can't roleplay the singularity; it's an unfathomable event so far beyond human experience it's not funny.

As an aside, Friday Night Firefight was the most realistic PLAYABLE modern combat system I've ever dealt with. Hot stuff.

i think something similar showed up in a recent anime.basically a glove with a row of shells on the back of the fist. punch someone and a shell went of, point blank.

Savage Worlds is easily the most balanced game I've ever played. White Wolf books tend to be poorly balanced, but some of their works (Mage: the Ascension, Exatled 2nd ed) are actually very balanced. D20 in settings without spellcasters is actually very balanced all around - the major problem D&D had was that while non-spellcaster classes got class abilities every level or two, spellcasters got exponentially more powerful class features multiple times per level.

The Fallout RPG (basically just the system the computer game used, reverse-engineered - you can find it online as a free downloadable I believe) is fairly balanced, though much like the original game, it's only really designed to handle up to about level 10-12 (though it's technically open-ended)

On a related note, I would love to get my hands on a copy of SR3 to see what it's like.




D&D4th is pretty good from what I've seen so far, but it does lack the diversity that prior editions had. The fact that basically all the classes are exactly the same (even though their powers are noticably different) cuts down on the replayability.




That's pretty much what we did. It's still a pain to get the rules down pat. I imagine it's a problem that will sort itself out with time, but as I mentioned before, the primary problem is that the books are not lain out in a way that facilitates that learning.




You can find page XX in the Malkavian clan book for Vampire: the Masquerade. =P




Amen.




I beg to differ! Check out Desden Codak, and read the 'Hob' storyline. You could totally reoleplay the singularity. It would be awesome.

I agree it's not necessarily a good fit for SR/CP, but in a broader sense, a game where you live through the implications of the singularity would be sexy-awesome.




Exploding 'boxing gloves' are an old (if rarely used) but awesome trope. I think it gets used most often in Mecha stories.

Also: WEEP AT THE MIGHT OF MY EXPLODING FIST! HIYAAAA! *BOOM* [/obligatory]

I think that roleplaying the singularity is not something you can uh... do with normal folk on a regular basis. I think it'd be fun to do once with a rules light system or no system at all.

I'd also point that Savage Worlds is balanced only because it has rules that could fit on the back of a postage stamp. Most of the core book is filled with "Awesome Ideas!" rather than "In the event of a 30.06 round fired from a pre-1970 cartridge under low barometric pressure (See Note: Barometric Pressure Readings And Interpretations) ensure that you use table D-1a and relevant appendices for calculating bullet rise to mystical power bulge" It's a pulp game, players are all pretty much the same because the point is to swing into a scene on a rocket chandelier and punch some fool in the face.

I happen to love Savage Worlds and hope to play more if it in the future. Killing Alien Space Nazi's never gets old for me.

hehe, now that you mention it, i recall loving the contact explosives used by pris's suite in bubblegum crisis 2040.

a bit like offensive smart armor

In my opinion the reintegration of Hackers (and Riggers) into the main Shadowrun group was the single biggest improvement in the SR4 rules. I have also found that SR4 Matrix rules allow for better Hacker "hybrid" characters than previous editions, even though more skills are required. This is due to mainly because of the reduction in cost for Hacking equipment. Under SR3 and especially SR2 you didn't even think about making a Decker or Rigger without Resources Priority A, you just didn't bother.

Did someone actually list "Hitcher Jacks" in a positive manner? *rolls eyes* The fact that going full VR in SR4 is cheaper than in previous editions and far less harmful to Awakened characters than in previous editions, this makes full-group actions in the Matrix far more viable than ever before. They are still not what I would call desirable, but certainly more viable.

The bottom line is that SR4 Matrix rules allow people to focus more on the story and objective of the game than the "nuts and bolts." There is no more Storage Memory/Active Memory tracking, no more I/O Speeds, and Matrix actions are generally reduced to a single Opposed test rather than the a test against one of six different possible base target numbers (are you forgetting System, Access, Control, Index, Files, Slave?). I think if someone is complaining about the tediousness of Data Search and Matrix legwork than they are missing the point. The point is to give the players the info they need and then move on. If, as the GM, you are sitting back and lazily waiting for your Hacker to tell you the "magic word" that he is doing a Data Search on to give him the Legwork info he needs then you're playing it the wrong way. Just let him make a number of rolls equal to his Computer skill, give him a package of info based on the number of hits and move on. Get on with the story.

It is the job of the Game Master to ensure that no one "aspect" of the game takes up too much time. That means fudging the rules sometimes, and I have done this a lot in each one of SR's three "planes" of play (Physical, Magic, and Matrix). However, if one the GM has "decided" (possibly even before the session starts) that the rules are bad and won't work then the game will play out like the rules are broken and don't work.

Played SR2, a great deal of SR3, and skads of SR4.

Hacking doesn't make me cry like decking did.

My hackers have actually been with the party near their runs, if not down in it.

My deckers never left their coffin motels or armored redoubts.

I'll also note (as Malachi has mentioned) that it no longer costs more to outfit the decker/rigger than it does to juice up the Sami or initiate the mage 4 times. Furthermore it is nice to see non-hackers able and even expected to take part in using the Matrix. I'm struggling to recall a time in SR2-3 when someone besides the decker said "Well I'll just jump on the Matrix and see if I can dig anything up"... I'm sure it happened but, as a player, I was always like "Jeez why even bother?"

It is reasonable to be upset that the role of the hacker/decker has been diminished. But considering I've never been in a group with more than one hacker (wait I lied, my forum game has 3 now) I don't consider that a huge loss. I'm also a little weirded out by adepts/sami being able to hack as well or better than a guy with a datajack but that's just me. If it really bothered me I guess I'd give datajack deckers who hotsim it a major bonus. But like I said... hasn't really been a problem yet, no cold sim hacker has "broken my game".

The point is that if you're playing by RAW, Data Searching is a tedious and time-consuming affair, yet necessary for the game to progress. If you're playing a Missions game, where you're required to use RAW and information is dribbled out based on the successes you get on a Data Search roll, the problem is even worse.

I'll also add that saying the system is better because you can use house rules is just *silly*. You shouldn't need house rules for the game to run smoothly.

so 60-80 people... for how many hours roughly? 40? 80?

This seams like a relatively small amount of people and also begs the question of all they are super uberfans of the system or do you have haters in there to. I'm not expecting D&D 3.0 or Pathfinder levels of playtesting but honestly more eyes and hours make a better product "if" the developers are willing to listen and not be stuck in fanboy mode.


Also on the balance thing I just like to add balance != fun. I had lots of fun playing Vampire the Dark Ages and in no way was the 7th gen brujah equal to the 11th gen gangrel.

A GM doesn't have to allow the PC to roll Data Searches ad infinitum. That is RAW. I don't have my BBB in front of me but I know there's a passage in there that states (and I'm seriously paraphrasing here), "The GM may limit the number of rolls on a Data Search as he may decide that not all information can be found on the Matrix." So while the number of Extended Test rolls made is a GM fiat, a GM who allows a game to get to a point where people are leaving the table is a GM who has lost control of his game.

That's a pretty significant number of people for a small publisher to work with. I work for a smaller mid-sized software-as-a-service company and that's a larger group than we use for pre-release testing (like Catalyst we're owned by a larger company). You throw dozens and dozens of people into the mix and the law of diminishing returns kicks in.

It's "the number of rolls on a Data Search test", IIRC. So, every time someone asks a question, you can limit the number of times they roll within the Extended Test. However, you can't limit the number of questions they ask.

You're right, you can't limit the number of questions asked. But if a GM is telling players what they need to know (and you're not suffering from a poorly-written adventure, which is always a possibility) and the players are paying attention, there would only logically be a handful of topics to run a Data Search Test on. If a player is just rewording the same question over and over again, a GM can say, "You already searched on that topic."

Depends on who your pool is. 60-80 people can be plenty if they are a good mix of people. If you have 30 fanboys, 30 haters, and 20 neutral guys. You should get a fair test. I know back when I used to code a bit I would send all of my stuff to one guy because he would break it by trying to use it in ways it was never intended. If they have a super-munchkin hater then perhaps only 1 playtester is needed. I believe that anything coming out of 4e should be treated as a 1st edition when playtesting, the core rules have not had years to be refined so adding any mechanics could potentially change gameplay drastically. You're never going to have a perfect product for all people but you can try to get it 80% to 80% of people or better.

I also try never to bash catalyst as a company. I think they are in a very difficult situation and are generally making forward progress even if I find most of 4e not for me there are some things that are definite improvements, which gives me hope that 5e might be for me down the road.

The Missions adventures are highly regarded, so I don't think that's an issue. I've seen this problem crop up under a bundle of good GM's, so I don't think GM ability is an issue either.

However, I don't know about you, but in the games that I typically play in/GM, the players often come up with a dozen or more plans, often with intricate moving parts, that require a ton of data searches apiece. Finding uniforms, janitorial equipment, janitorial companies, guard rotation schedules, personnel rosters, fake corporate ID's, links to crime families or gambling debts, security layouts, office politics, blueprints, sewer connections, duct layouts; all that and more can easily come up during the legwork phase of a run, and any of those might make the basis for an entire run plan. That's over a dozen items, encompassing over a dozen tests. Even at just one or two rolls apiece, that takes time. And it's bad precedent to simply hand out information, especially if you've got players who have fun putting together a run like this.

There is always more you could search on, or another angle of attack you hadn't considered. I'm used to creative players, who come up with an approach I hadn't thought of. But that does mean that you have a huge laundry list of questions to ask, which takes time. It wouldn't be so bad if the decker weren't the king of legwork; but that's the way it goes.

You can combine a ton of those. Blueprints, more hits = you get sewer and ducts. Rosters, schedules, etc, more hits = more detail/more of what the runners want. And so on, at most, thats 2-4 rolls tops.

That presumes you're letting them roll indefinitely, or at least until the GM calls a halt to it. Which increases the number of rolls as if they were making more tests.

I never said that. One roll per section. Blueprints? You roll, 1 hit, nothing, or maybe just building outline. 2 you get layout of the building. 3 you get sewers, 4 vents. Something along those lines.

I think that's clearly a GM call. If your GM really wants to sit there and wade through a billion tests for a billion things... hey it's his gaming time too.

So I agree with Tarantula, those tests can and should be combined if only to keep the story moving. I think it'd be preferable to break all the legwork into several rough sections "Disguises" "Security" "Personnel" make the relevant extended tests and inform players how successful they were in finding relevant information for the sections in question.

"Alright, you have some strong leads on what uniforms they wear and where you can get some. You blew some edge on the security roll so your fairly certain you know just about everything that you can know about their setup. You didn't do so hot on your Personnel roll so all you were able to get was an out of date roster." etc etc.

I'm reading through a rule system called "The Burning Wheel" and it has an interesting rule called "Let it ride". Namely that, for the sake of telling more story and rolling less dice, you only make one roll for any extended test. If your character is infiltrating a mountain fortress you roll once, not once to get close, once to get over the fence, five times avoid patrols, 12 times to sneak through guard quarters, once to get out, once to get back over the fence, once to get away. Now that rule isn't exatly appropriate for SR but the reason it exists is sound. It prevents players from trying to farm for good rolls and keeps GM's from calling for tests until the player fails.

Been playing Advanced Squad Leader much? =P

Also, while we're on the topic of alien space nazis, a friend of mine picked up Slipstream the other day - it has an alien race generator! Not only that, but it has a background edge - that requires you to be a player created race - called 'last of your kind.'

So awesome.

I also highly reccomend Runepunk, Sundered Skies and Evernight.

Actually I'm not much of a war gamer at all but I've seen some of the gun arguments we've had here and elsewhere. If I cared that much about realism I'd use a computer to do all the heavy mathematical lifting.

I'm a big fan of Mongooses latest Travellers. Probably the most enjoyable character generation ever.

Oh? How so?

Basically it's a system that generates not only your stats but also your contacts, your skill group, and you (often hilarious) backstory. You actually get to make roleplaying choices while you compile your character. Simple choices (do you stab your buddy in the back or take the fall for him?) but amusing choices that help flesh a character out even as you build them.

I'll admit, it's a great deal of rolling on charts with choose-your-own-adventure choices but it actually plays pretty well and my group had a blast rolling up characters. The whole game is like that, there's all kind of randomly generated elements and it's up the player and GM to justify whatever oddness comes up on those tables.

Probably not describing it very well but it's an intriguing formula, well worth at least a read through.

That's fine, but it's also not RAW. Even if you combine the tests, it's an Extended test. Unless you're telling them the top threshold, they're going to keep rolling until you tell them to quit. And even telling them the top threshold is a shorthand way of telling them when to quit. Not that telling them the threshold is a good thing in the first place.

Also, that presumes the players aren't blindsiding you with requests. For example, I once had a guy in a Missions game demand a snowplow for one of his plots. It's a legitimate request, so you can't say "You don't find anything" and be playing fair. Like I said, I'm used to creative players who take off-the-wall approaches.

The point is, there's a whole lot of Data Searching that goes on in the Legwork phases of a run. Enough so that deckers dominate it; all anyone else has to contribute is Contacts. There's no reasonable or fair way to stop deckers from dominating this section of the game, which used to involve everyone.

BTW: I haven't played the recent Mongoose Traveler, but I have played other editions. Character creation has always been lifepath-based, and sometimes gets to be a lot of fun. It's fairly balanced as well, combat characters aren't clearly superior to other archetypes. It's difficult to make a nerfed character in that system.

All version of Traveller I have played use a lifepath system. You pick what you were doing at age 17 and answer decision questions (in this case you pick kits) that generate who you are and what you have done in your life. Burning Wheel and I believe Mechwarrior 3 also use lifepaths.

They rock as a player, suck to build as a game developer. plirr who stopped posting on dumpshock when the everything else section vanished built a lifepath system for SR3 once upon a time, I don't know if he ever completed it.

I'd have to pull my books before I'll comment on RAW.

Extended tests or not the RAW does state that GM's are allowed to make more or less arbitrary rulings to keep things moving. If time and access are not an issue than we can assume that players kick their Data Search into auto pilot and buy successes until they have everything they can know on a topic. I think the key is remind them that access is an issue and not everything is going to pop up in a souped up google search. Certain records will be kept offline, misinformation will be inserted, etc etc.

Not sure I get what you are saying about the snowplow... Was he trying to buy one?

Travellers is fairly balanced but the Mongoose version has some very spare rules (More complicated than Savage World but much less complicated than anything else I've played).

I don't think Burning Wheel uses lifepaths (at least not the version I bought) but I haven't finished reading the rules over so I might have missed that part.

The only time I ever actually played Traveller my character died during chargen.

Oh, sure, certain records would be worth a mini-run in and of themselves. But that would slow down the game even further. You can't buy successes, though-- if you fail, you could get the wrong information, after all! So we're stuck with a lot of extended tests going on, enough to bog down a game. The GM could simply hand them the info they need; but smart players won't trust it without verifying it first, and that takes nearly as long.


He needed to know where all the snowplows were, and which one was not only closest to where he wanted it to go, but which would be easiest to steal. I could've just handwaved it, and said there were none; but I wanted to see where he was going with this, plus it was a creative idea. The problem was, of course, that this was very specific information, requiring at least 4-5 successes on an Extended Data Search test. By itself, not a problem; but when mixed in with all the other Data Search tests we had to do, it just made things go even slower for everyone except the decker.

Nah, you're not trying hard enough. If your Hacker only does Hacking stuff and everyone else is sitting on their hands then turn a Matrix encounter into a different kind of encounter. Let's take your snow plow example.

Matrix to Social Encounter:
PC: "I search for a snow plow to buy."
GM: "Ok, Big Bob's Plows has a few. You can't order directly over the Matrix, his site says: COME ON DOWN."

Matrix to Combat encounter:
PC: "I search for a snow plow to buy."
GM: "You find an interesting post on an out-of-the way message board where someone has spotted a premium snow plow in an old impound lot in Redmond that is now being squatted by a local gang. If you can deal with the gang, then the plow is up for grabs."

If your players are rolling until they get the max hits, time isn't a factor, and you aren't limiting their number of rolls, then just skip the whole rolling thing and give them all the info.


Seriously, I've very curious how legwork used to involve everyone so well that it doesn't now. The only thing that I see that has changed in SR4 is that all character types can use the Matrix in a much more viable way than they could in SR3. What's changed so much?

And your point?

SR4, 58, "Though it may seem that characters are guaranteed of success
in an Extended Test over time, that is not always the case.
The character may have a limited timeframe in which to accomplish
the task, so she may run out of time before she finishes the
job. The gamemaster can also limit the number of rolls under
the assumption that if the character can’t finish it with a certain
amount of effort, she simply doesn’t have the skills to complete
it. A good limit is to allow a maximum number of rolls equal
to the character’s dice pool (so a character rolling 6 dice has 6
attempts to get it done). A character can also fail an Extended
Test by glitching (see below)."

And, SR4, 59, "If a character rolls a glitch during an Extended Test, the
task is not aborted, but the character should be inconvenienced
in some way (broken tools, missing parts, or distracted from
work by an annoying pest, for example). The gamemaster can
also roll 1D6 and subtract this from the hits scored so far; if
this reduces the accumulated hits to 0, the test fails.
If the character rolls a critical glitch, however, the task
is immediately aborted—the character has simply failed and
must start over."
Theres rules in place to limit it. Use them.

As you yourself pointed out, what happens if they botch? You can't skip the rolling if there's a chance for failure.

Also: This isn't just my games. I've seen this happen under a lot of SR4 GM's, including one Commando. Playing by the RAW, this is exactly how it goes down.


You're kidding. To use the Matrix effectively in SR3, you just needed the Computer skill and a cyberterminal. That's it. Heck, you could do simple data searches from your home computer, no skill required. (To be good, you required a cyberdeck, but that's a different issue.) Now, in order to use the Matrix effectively, you need the entire Electronics skill group, a high rating Browse and Analyze program, and a commlink that can handle it.

I'm not exactly suggesting mini-runs (although I do love them because they tend to flesh contacts and the world out) I'm just suggesting that have to draw a line at what knowable via a basic datasearch. I don't think any GM should have a problem saying "Look, this shit is going to take forever if we datasearch a la carte so you get X rolls over X topics and that's the end of that." If the hacker is the only one who cries than that's tough for him, if everyone wants to sit and watch the hacker roll dice... well then I guess they should go grab a snicker bar.

I'd also suggest that Data Search inherently includes an element of fact checking. If the players say they want to verify the information they got I'd explain that verification is inherent in the search (after all, isn't that the point? Sifting through vast amounts of questionable information for the nuggets of usefulness?) If they still want to check things out than they're asking for access to items off the grid or behind a sufficiently mean firewall to ward off the hacker cursory checks. That might generate micro runs but at least they'll be runs that everyone is involved with and that are more involved than throwing dice until the cows come home.

I should also note that I'm a GM who will always ask "Where are you trying to go with this?" before answering a question like that (Questions I hereby dub "Snowplow Questions"). Due to the time constraints of convention play I would have probably explained to him that I was going to use the success he had on the closest relevant test. Or I'd just handwave that he had or didn't have access to that.

Maybe I'm missing something but I've always assumed that Data Search is either:
A) You are sitting in a public node and data mining public records.
B) You have gained access to a relevant secure node and are trying to extract info before the IC notices you and bashes your brain stem in.

I guess what I'm saying is that I don't really see a way to fix this problem without GM handwaving... regardless of the rules in question. Either you accept a great deal of abstraction to prevent the game bogging down over a pixel fuck that'd make Sierra proud. Or you get beaten to death by the player equivalent of DDOS. That sounds like a rules independent problem unless I'm badly mistaken.

The problem is that you have to resort to GM handwaving. Previous editions of Shadowrun didn't have this much of a problem with legwork. Anytime you have to resort to handwaving, it's a sign of a weakness in the system.

I'll also say that mini-runs are a big problem. If the decker decides to do some involved hacking while on a data search run, it could take up even more time. Admittedly, you'd have the same problem if an astral mage decided to try for a site penetration, but it's a smaller issue because the mage isn't taking up as much time previously.

Or, you could just apply the rules I quoted, and limit them to their dice pool in rolls.

That's per test. You can't limit the number of questions they ask, thus you cannot limit the number of tests they make. We're not talking about 10 rolls per test, anyway. Six is plenty enough to bog down a game.

@Cain, I'd have to ask you why this was wasn't a problem in earlier editions. It's been years since I've played SR3 and my memory of decking revolve around staring at the ceiling wondering when it would all be over. Was it a fluff problem? Did earlier editions of SR claim that less was available on the 'trix?

Earlier editions limited the number of questions you could ask?


@Fortune: We consider that a feature not a bug . You can't technically die in the version we played but you could push your luck to the point that your character is forced into retirement.

I can say with all honesty that my group's legwork involves, well...legs being moved a lot more than shifting from right over left to left over right as you lay back on the couch. The hacker might get some basic info from the web but there is no reason at all that the group shouldn't have to go around a bit and, oh...interact with NPCs for what they need.

The entire Electronics group eh? Unless your players are required to build their own Commlinks and code their own programs I'd say your exaggerating a little. In SR3 you needed Computer, in SR4 you need Data Search, in SR3 you had a Cyberterminal and in SR4 you have a Commlink. What are your players doing in SR4 that requires Browse and Analyze that didn't require the programs of the same name and function in SR3?

Yeah, they're making a data search test. For the sake of the discussion, lets give them a fictional dice pool. Say, 15.

Ok, they get 15 data search tests. They can use those on whatever questions they want. But thats it.

You don't have to give them an extended search per thing they search for. They are searching for data. Telling you what specifically they're looking for. They only get 15 rolls total.

Decking runs could take longer, which was why in my games, we combo'd the decker into another role and sent him along on the runs.

It was partly a fluff problem, in that less information was available on the matrix. But it was also that it was much easier to get a high Computer skill, and send a lot of people out searching for info. Contacts also played a bigger role in legwork. It's now easier and less dangerous to use the matrix than it is to actually seek out the information live, which is also a fluff issue.

Ah yes, I remember people telling me about being able to die during chargen in Traveller now.

Biggest problem I have with legwork in SR4 is that it involves alarmingly few legs.

I guess I've been playing SR4 wrong? I've never had all the legwork for run readily available over the Matrix. They hacker either needs to do some hacking and punch into the right nodes or the team needs to start working the streets and their contacts. I'm not sure where it says EVERYTHING has to be available on the Matrix along with proper fact checking. It's there but if they players want to make sure they better hoof it over to look (or no people who can look for them). Also per the fluff I'm reading (I don't have Unwired though) all you need to do a Data Search effectively is a decent commlink, computers, Browse, and Analyze.

Beyond that I seem to recall decks costing like hell in SR3. Losing a deck was like a sami loosing his move by wires. In SR4 the top of the line off-the-shelf commlink with top of the line OS is just under 10 grand. Programs add another couple grand ontop of that and the whole thing probably clocks in under 50k

This seriously sounds like a play style disjuncture rather than an issue of rules. I'd have to see some specific paragraphs to mandate the GM to provide everything to the players give that they ask enough questions. I'd also point that if we removed the Matrix completely you could still have the same problem just with social pools against NPC's. Too many questions, too little time, too much on the fly granularity.

Too many questions has always been an issue with Shadowrun and "heist" games. You want to do a lot of legwork before you plan your run, a lot of legwork while planning your run, and a lot of legwork after you've finished your run, so you know who you've pissed off. As far as giving them all the info they need, look at the published Missions adventures. In them, all the legwork is set on a 1-5 success scale, with 5 successes giving you the most information. Even high connection contacts will have trouble getting 5 successes on the first try; deckers are the only ones who don't have to stick with one try.

Savage Worlds abstracts information gathering into "common knowledge" rolls, which are accessible to everyone. In SR3, it was either contacts or a Matrix search done by anyone with a Computer skill. Now, you need the full services of a decker in order to pull it off.

I'm still not clear on why you need a hacker to pull off a Matrix search? Does Data Search imply a certain amount of hacking that you simply aren't rolling for? By hacking I mean cutting IC and violating nodes.

SR4 legwork sucks! When I GMed SR3 I decided that some data wasn't on the Matrix and that you couldn't find street rumors without talking to NPCs in the street, that you couldn't find sensitive data without breaking into the place where it was stored. I decided that some data was buried under tons of false rumors and search noise.

But with SR4 I decided that everything could be find on the Matrix (and I don't want non hacking character to buy the data search skill or an agent and a browse program), and now the hacker does all the legwork on the Matrix. I'm so frusterated!

Dude, I'm sorry, but you've created your own problem.
By saying all the info is on the Matrix, you've immediately ignored some common sense rules that exist among secretive organizations - including actual existing research/government facilities. That rule is "The only secure computer is one that has no external input/output connections, is turned off, and buried under 10 feet of concrete."
No one keeps everything on computer. No one. Especially, oh, legal firms. Most of that crap has to be on paper. The same with government facilities. The same with dedicated research facilities.
I know the new wired world is Uber-Kool, but the megacorp security and IT departments did not upload all their frackin' files onto the network and then expect ICE and the 2070s equivalent of firewalls and antivirii to protect their asses. And to essentially railroad character creation so ONLY the decker can do research? Yeah, I can imagine that you are frustrated.
Easiest way to solve that problem? Nothing everything is Matrixed and the other chars can research too.

Actually that was just a sarcastic take on Cain's trouble with the legwork. Don't worry about that, the legwork in my game runs fine!

Oh. Dammit.
Well, it was a good response anyway.

They seriously need to come up with an internet standard sarcasm tag. Like a special font or something.

I agree. you don't know how many times I have posted sharp witted and incredibly humorous remarks, only to realize after posting that the sarcasm didn't translate.
So instead of getting "roflmao,Dude, your fragin funny" I end up with "Who the hell let this asshat in?"

Or I could just be an asshat with a piss poor sense of humor.

Oh I'm sure you're just an asshat.

See! This is what I'm talking about!