Do you have to pay for cyberdeck utilities? because if you follow the program costs for skillsofts, then the prices are about the same as the price of my deck. which is ludicrious. And, the utilities section doesnt say anything about purchasing. just how much space they take up

Matt

First thing: this is the wrong place to post this question. This sort of thing should be posted in the Shadowrun Forum.

Second thing: umm, yeah. Of course you have to buy your utilities. In the combat section it doesnt specifically mention that you have to buy bullets... but you certainly dont get those for free. Check out the "program costs and availability" table on page 304, SR3.

Its not ludicrous... all of these programs are illegal, designed to trick computer systems into letting you anally ravage them. These arent exactly the sort of thing you can stroll on down to "deckers r us" and buy.

yeah, but lower-rated programs should definitely be available for free. probably buggy versions, or one-shots, or whatever--but you should be able to find them, realistically speaking.

Anyone got a Matrix-running program? The only one I've seen needs you to pay up.

where's the fun in that?

Nothing is free in RL world, and it's still the case in the Shadowrun world AFAIK.
The price for utilities are high, but any decker that worth the name wirte his own programs, isn't he ?
About bugs, one-shot, and so on, Matrix proposes such options, that have effects on the code size and/or the price.