So Unwired didn't totally disappoint me with this, but it didn't exactly answer all my questions either.
I think a good deal of my questions and general foggy-ness surrounding how to GM the Matrix would be solved by reading through a couple of good gameplay examples from good GMs and experienced hacker/rigger PCs.
I've searched through some dumpshock archives and some websites though and I'm not finding any if there are any out there.
My players don't have a hacker in their group, they have an Agent that they use for hacking on the fly, and they hire NPC hackers for serious legwork. They did a little B&E last night, using the Agent to open a door and crash a Node for them. Everything went really well, and I think my players had fun, but I'm still not *comfortable* running in-depth Matrix hacking that much.
Any tips out there?
Full Version: Matrix gameplay examples
Sorry to artificially light up your topic, but this is something my group would be VERY interested in seeing.
I'll "GM" a new version of the Idiot's Guide to the Matrix like Synner and I did back in the day if someone wants to act as the player. Alternatively, I could both GM and play if you all like.
Discussion on how to introduce the matrix into a game.
http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=23482
Some other topics of interest
http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=23587
http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=23460
http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=24771
http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=25819
http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=25683
http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=25583
http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=25397
Never doubt the need for the data search skill to exist.
http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=23482
Some other topics of interest
http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=23587
http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=23460
http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=24771
http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=25819
http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=25683
http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=25583
http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=25397
Never doubt the need for the data search skill to exist.
Those are all excellent reads, and extremely useful (they were all forwarded to my "hacker team" as I read them), but not exactly what the OP is looking for.
I dunno what their gameplay is. Need more data. What are they trying to do? What do they think they can do? What do they think they cannot do? What do they want to do? what do they think would be fun to do? I need more then "it's fuzzy and I would like it unfuzzied".
The best advice I'd ever been given on how to run the Matrix is to describe everything through the eyes of a layman, in other words an average user. Not a hacker and not through game mechanics language.
Every node and every program looks like something (icon). Describe what it looks like and let the player decide what it is. "An eyeball pops out of a panel and slowly flies to the middle of the room with a low hum. Once it gets there it emits a wide fan of green light like a laser scanner and begins to rotate, lighting up the surface of the interior of the room as it spins."
You know that the node runs an analyze program periodically, the player can deduce that it is an analyze program or he can request a matrix perception test. I'd also have the player describe what he does through the same paradigm. "I turn into a panel that matches those in the room, or I change my icon to that of a lab assistant like the icons of the people that work here" instead of "I run stealth." I may even give him a bonus die if his description is a particularly clever one.
I try to give every program a certain look. Even an Exploit program can look like a saw or a pair of oversized goggles with a light on it or whatever. Even data packets look like something, a command from a rigger to a drone may look like a paper airplane whizzing through the air. A spoof program made to look like the rigger's command to that same drone would be made to look like a paper airplane.
Once the player starts to use layman's language for everything then all of a sudden it becomes more enjoyable and understandable for everyone around the table (even myself). "I take out my Clockwork Hammer 3000" instead of I load my attack program.
Don't know if this is what you're looking for but it has helped my group.
Every node and every program looks like something (icon). Describe what it looks like and let the player decide what it is. "An eyeball pops out of a panel and slowly flies to the middle of the room with a low hum. Once it gets there it emits a wide fan of green light like a laser scanner and begins to rotate, lighting up the surface of the interior of the room as it spins."
You know that the node runs an analyze program periodically, the player can deduce that it is an analyze program or he can request a matrix perception test. I'd also have the player describe what he does through the same paradigm. "I turn into a panel that matches those in the room, or I change my icon to that of a lab assistant like the icons of the people that work here" instead of "I run stealth." I may even give him a bonus die if his description is a particularly clever one.
I try to give every program a certain look. Even an Exploit program can look like a saw or a pair of oversized goggles with a light on it or whatever. Even data packets look like something, a command from a rigger to a drone may look like a paper airplane whizzing through the air. A spoof program made to look like the rigger's command to that same drone would be made to look like a paper airplane.
Once the player starts to use layman's language for everything then all of a sudden it becomes more enjoyable and understandable for everyone around the table (even myself). "I take out my Clockwork Hammer 3000" instead of I load my attack program.
Don't know if this is what you're looking for but it has helped my group.
I'll plug the run summary that's linked in my signature.
A recap of the actual run happens starting at Post #12. Post #15 has most of the Matrix "action." Though, I will also recommend that you read back to how I prepared the structure of the Matrix host for the Federated-Boeing Facility.
A recap of the actual run happens starting at Post #12. Post #15 has most of the Matrix "action." Though, I will also recommend that you read back to how I prepared the structure of the Matrix host for the Federated-Boeing Facility.
Malachi, I'm partially through reading the run summary from your signature.
THANK YOU. GIVE ME MORE.
Seriously, this is great. Your summary is great for ideas, campaign setups, player interactions, and more. It's incredibly helpful that you include the important dice rolls and skills that you and your players are rolling. I'm still reading through them. I hope you're planning on continuing to do this.
THANK YOU. GIVE ME MORE.
Seriously, this is great. Your summary is great for ideas, campaign setups, player interactions, and more. It's incredibly helpful that you include the important dice rolls and skills that you and your players are rolling. I'm still reading through them. I hope you're planning on continuing to do this.
Malachi, I have to say that your summary was excellent. I'd love to see more of this.
About the only negative comment I have is that in the first half of the run you did a great job of including specific skill checks. You included skill and attribute tests, thresholds, and the die-roll results.
In the last half of your blog, these sort of details were left out a lot more.
I totally understand that writing down all these tons of dice rolls and specifics of skill checks while you're in the middle of a playing session might be extremely difficult. I'm just saying in the first part of your blog the fact that they were included was really helpful.
After reading through some of your Matrix action, I'm actually encouraged that I've been doing things RIGHT for the most part when I do Matrix runs.
Like I said in my OP, my group doesn't have a dedicated hacker, they simply use an Agent to hack for them when they need it. One interesting thing I noticed is that with your group you make the Agent much "dumber" than I do. In your example, the Agent was used to hack a certain Node. The group set the Agent up with a script of actions to perform, then when the time was right basically just plugged him into the node, turned him on, and let the script run. They had no idea if the Agent would be successful or not until the Agent returned.
In my group, I allow the interactions between the Agent and the players to be a bit more interactive.
The players basically give instructions to the Agent, and even if the Agent is hacking another node, I run it as if the players are "watching" the Agent in AR. They don't see the Node, but the Agent will tell the players what his status is, report on his success or failure of a task, and will report to the players any data he finds, if it's requested of him.
For example the players sent the Agent in to hack a node on the fly. He did so, but triggered an Active Alert. I told the players the Agent hacked in, but he's reporting the system is on Active Alert now. The players then told the Agent to find the door controls they were looking for, and open it. It was a little difficult because the system was on Alert, but somehow the Agent managed it. I told the players, "OK, the Agent reports the door is now open. He's awaiting further instructions." The players then told the Agent to "crash the node". I found this a little bit dismaying, since the players were certainly going to have a security spider on alert now to figure out what the heck went wrong. However, they wanted to disable all the security cameras for a few seconds, and didn't think the Agent would last much longer since the system was on Active Alert already. Amazingly, the Agent succeeded in doing this. Patrolling IC located the Agent and started attacking him, but the IC wasn't able to finish off the Agent before the Agent had crashed the node.
That's where our last session ended. I'm eager to pick things up again and see how they do.
About the only negative comment I have is that in the first half of the run you did a great job of including specific skill checks. You included skill and attribute tests, thresholds, and the die-roll results.
In the last half of your blog, these sort of details were left out a lot more.
I totally understand that writing down all these tons of dice rolls and specifics of skill checks while you're in the middle of a playing session might be extremely difficult. I'm just saying in the first part of your blog the fact that they were included was really helpful.
After reading through some of your Matrix action, I'm actually encouraged that I've been doing things RIGHT for the most part when I do Matrix runs.
Like I said in my OP, my group doesn't have a dedicated hacker, they simply use an Agent to hack for them when they need it. One interesting thing I noticed is that with your group you make the Agent much "dumber" than I do. In your example, the Agent was used to hack a certain Node. The group set the Agent up with a script of actions to perform, then when the time was right basically just plugged him into the node, turned him on, and let the script run. They had no idea if the Agent would be successful or not until the Agent returned.
In my group, I allow the interactions between the Agent and the players to be a bit more interactive.
The players basically give instructions to the Agent, and even if the Agent is hacking another node, I run it as if the players are "watching" the Agent in AR. They don't see the Node, but the Agent will tell the players what his status is, report on his success or failure of a task, and will report to the players any data he finds, if it's requested of him.
For example the players sent the Agent in to hack a node on the fly. He did so, but triggered an Active Alert. I told the players the Agent hacked in, but he's reporting the system is on Active Alert now. The players then told the Agent to find the door controls they were looking for, and open it. It was a little difficult because the system was on Alert, but somehow the Agent managed it. I told the players, "OK, the Agent reports the door is now open. He's awaiting further instructions." The players then told the Agent to "crash the node". I found this a little bit dismaying, since the players were certainly going to have a security spider on alert now to figure out what the heck went wrong. However, they wanted to disable all the security cameras for a few seconds, and didn't think the Agent would last much longer since the system was on Active Alert already. Amazingly, the Agent succeeded in doing this. Patrolling IC located the Agent and started attacking him, but the IC wasn't able to finish off the Agent before the Agent had crashed the node.
That's where our last session ended. I'm eager to pick things up again and see how they do.
Thanks, Murrdox. Agents can be more interactive, as you describe, however the combination of need for stealth and speed in the case of my team made them set up the Agent as they did. Plus, the characters that actually did the intrusion didn't have much in the way of technical skills, so they didn't trust themselves to be able to intelligently give commands to the Agent.
The situation you describe is when one of the players has a Subscription to the Agent as it does its thing. Maintaining that Subscription while the Agent hacks is a security risk as the subscription from the Agent can be traced back to the character controlling the Agent. Make sure your players are aware of this (or don't tell them if you just want to be evil).
I'm going to be preparing and running a new session soon, do you want me to document that one as well?
Also, if you have any specific questions about how I handled the mechanics of some part of the run, feel free to PM me.
The situation you describe is when one of the players has a Subscription to the Agent as it does its thing. Maintaining that Subscription while the Agent hacks is a security risk as the subscription from the Agent can be traced back to the character controlling the Agent. Make sure your players are aware of this (or don't tell them if you just want to be evil).
I'm going to be preparing and running a new session soon, do you want me to document that one as well?
Also, if you have any specific questions about how I handled the mechanics of some part of the run, feel free to PM me.
QUOTE (Malachi @ May 8 2009, 10:36 AM) 
I'm going to be preparing and running a new session soon, do you want me to document that one as well?
Also, if you have any specific questions about how I handled the mechanics of some part of the run, feel free to PM me.
Also, if you have any specific questions about how I handled the mechanics of some part of the run, feel free to PM me.
You did such an awesome job writing up that last run. It would be awesome if you did another one.
Your write-up on how you came up with your campaign ideas and how you formulated the missions was excellent as well. I especially liked how you came up with the idea to get the players into the Aztec pyramid using the BTL partying secretary. It's great seeing where other GMs get their inspiration from.
QUOTE (Dashifen @ May 6 2009, 01:57 PM)
I'll "GM" a new version of the Idiot's Guide to the Matrix like Synner and I did back in the day if someone wants to act as the player. Alternatively, I could both GM and play if you all like.
This would be interesting to see too Dashifen. PM me if you'd like my help with it?
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