So in Shadowrun we have bunraku parlors (with their shunts), DNI, commlinks, PAN, and simsense modules all of which allows for an extreme amount of interconnectivity.

My question goes like this, what would it take to remotely take control of an individual and use them as a bio drone?

Is it simply a matter of hardware (i.e. more specialized commlink)?

Could it be handled by simply uploading to the target specialized software that alters the DNI?

A combination of hardware and software?

Is it even possible?

The DNI (direct neural interface) carries with it some connotations that imply a highly integrated link. It could be that I'm simply reading more into it than is there but the idea of the bio-drone is intriguing.

So what do you think?

This is more along the lines of Eclipse Phase tech, but you could pull it off in SR. If you do, beware of the other problems this will allow in (look at EP for examples of those).

I am unfamiliar with Eclipse Phase so I will have to take your word for it.

But thanks for the response.

I'm not sure you can actually -rig- someone without some wierd stirrup interface inplant, but i'm pretty sure force-feeding BTL's, tripchips, and personafixes to users with unsecure DNI is a fairly standard hacker trick.

I suppose you could take that one step further, and force-feed someone a custom personafix set up to take orders from another entity. Wasn't Dreamchipper kind of based around this idea?

EP can be found as a free download in several places. It's rules are percentile based but otherwise have many parallels to SR's (no surprise considering who wrote them) so conversion isn't really to hard to do.

I would imagine hat all that would seriously be needed would be:
Control Rig adaptation to a commlink
skill wires 4.

That should be all it needs. Now you might be limited to skill 4, and the physical stats of the person being controlled.
You might need wired reflexes 3 in order to keep up with a hot simmed rigger with boosted sim.
But for most people. I suspect that a modified commlink and skill wire 4 would be all that's needed.

Has to be Stirrup, or Personafix.

You seem to be rather certain of that. Care to elaborate?

Because Stirrup's the only thing that makes biodrones, which is what the original question was. I'm not even sure what it would *do* to a metahuman, though.

Personafix doesn't do that, but I mentioned it because it can 'control' someone by making them do what you want… sort of.

With a really permissive GM, you *might* be able to hack someone's skillwires (and their senses, etc.), but you wouldn't be rigging them. You'd be Issuing Commands in a very clumsy way, and only for loaded skills, and they'd be resisting, etc.

In our game one of the characters is a free possession spirit. When he finds a delectable body he installs Bio-Drone wares as mentioned in Augmentation and Running Wild. If you can rig a monkey, why not a man? We were rigging people back in 2nd edition... the technology is there, its just not advertised for people, because that would be...um... wrong?

This is a topic we're exploring in our upcoming game. I have a hacker character who is partnered up with a razorgirl. The idea is to overwatch her on runs through her senses and other sensors. But we got to asking, "what about if she gets knocked out or some such? Is there some way my character can 'ware' her?" (We're both fans of the Ravenor series of books, IRL, hence the inspiration.)

Everything I've looked at so far points towards a rigger adapted move-by-wire system. In fact, that's exactly what Augmentation says the Stirrup system is. Essence cost is easy to figure out: it's just another .5 for the rigger adaptation, looks like. The problem is figuring out how much it would cost nuyen wise. The stirrup systems for bio-drones actually cost less than equivalent MBW systems.

Of course, our GM hasn't given us the OK on this yet, either, but it may be something we explore further in game. Should lead to some interesting runs...

Ezz

What about CAST for metahumans? Every order given would be resisted by a perception test to tell whether something is real or an ARO, but it'd probably work. Maybe even an orientation goad. The thought of some implant that makes your biodrone stumble in a rough direction you want them to go is wondrous.

I agree with Yerameyahu. It would have to be a Stirrup Interface (or a CAST or GOAD), since that's what they do.

Basically, there's three ways to make a biodrone:

Orientation Goad: This lets you direct the biodrone. Forwards, left, right, up, back, as simple as that. Used in recon drone and biobombs, due to their low essence (harder to spot with MADs and Assensing). Who would suspect that one of those birds on that rooftop is following you and recording your illicit activities, or that cute dog bounding towards you is actually about to blow your face off?

CAST: Uses cyber sense replacement (eyes, ears) or simsense to make what the biodrone is perceiving look like what you want it to. So if you wanted your attack dog to maul that poor corpsec wageslave, the CAST would superimpose a multisensory impression of a cat or something over it. Very useful as it also allows you to perceive all the animal's natural senses, such as a dog's sense of smell, or the eyes of a hawk.

Stirrup Interface: The full monty. With this implant, the biodrone comes under your full control, as though every muscle were a myomeric servo in your average android. For all intents and purposes, the biodrone is a full drone, with Pilot programs, autosofts and jumping in all avilable to a (rich) rigger. It also boosts the animal in the same way as a move by wire system, including skillsoft support and wired reflexes.

I would imagine all of these are available for metahuman implantation too.

Interesting...perhaps a different line of thought.

It has been postulated that you can forcibly kick somebody into VR. Instead of trying to overtly get somebody to do something how about manipulating them through what they perceive?

Maybe with a mild scopolamine dose to get the ball rolling (inhibiting memory formation and making the target docile).

That's basically what CAST does, right? Control via illusions?

More or less. You get a direct link to the animal brain to tell it what to do. If you say sit it might just feel tired or what ever, ( you/ GM discrestion) so you have much better control over it.

-sencencrly The Cactus Man[color="#00FF00"][/color]