I'm looking over my old Sprawl Survival Guide under the ID sections, and was wondering what people thought about bringing in the Ages Well positive quality to SR 4.

I'm thinking it'd be similar to Erased in a way.

Cost: 5 or 10 BP

The character with this quality either tends to operate in such a way that whatever fake SIN/ID they possess ages well, gathering the little bits of fluff and random data trails that make it seem more real and solid as time passes, or the character has an unknown or known benefactor that regularly adds such fluff data to your fake SIN/ID.

For 5 BP, every (rating of SIN) months, the Rating of the fake ID increases by 1. when the rating of the fake SIN reaches 6, every 6 months the threshold of detection against that fake ID is also raised by 1.

For 10 BP, every (rating of SIN) (week? two weeks?), the rating improves as above.

Only applies to fake IDs.

A consequence of this improved personalization is that the fake IDs only function that well for the original character, becoming less useful and less transferable in the event the character wishes to discard the ID. The amount of information makes it less valuable for resale, as it becomes much more difficult to reconcile the existing data with a new person.

In game terms, for every +1 rating the fake SIN has accumulated, it actually reduces its original value by 1. Ex. a fake sin initial rating 3, held by a character until it became rating 5, would only be worth a rating 1 SIN if they tried to dump it and sell it. Reducing a rating below 1 is immediate failure and alert.


(edit: woops just realized there should be another restricting factor. It applies to only 1 fake SIN at a time? (2 at 10 bp? I dunno)
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Anyone have any other suggestions?

I didn't even know you could resell fake IDs. :/

Well, if you can find someone of the same metatype with similar biometric data (Height and weight mainly), yeah... They could try and fob off the fingerprint and retna scan and DNA as glitches in the system if they ever get the full work-up done.

A better idea to do when you've only used a SIN to death (And the Corps can track you too well) is to buy a cheap CommLink, put it on it, and give it to a Bum with a few hundred on it. Suddenly he's able to get into the StufferShack (Provided they don't kick him out for the smell) and get some decent almost-food!

Make sure he's drunk so he doesn't remember who gave it to him.

Heh. Yeah, I certainly wouldn't buy a 'used' fake, because consider the seller's motives.

I like the basic idea of a fake SIN 'booster' quality.

I like this very much, more so than the Erased quality. Erased just kinda makes things unfun... "Oh, someone's looking for me? Well, I'm not on the matrix anymore." This also ups the usability of fake SINs, a definite plus. I know the fluff says 'Runner's go through SINs like candy, but well, at 3k a pop they ain't exactly cheap. One of my character's teammates got his SIN (rate 6) busted on a public bus. It was his first use of the SIN. Luckily our GM noticed this problem and changed the roll to SIN rating + Edge vs. SIN reader rating x2, but this quality is another great way to help fix the problem!

Given the restrictions, I like the idea. Especially as the more "solid" the ID becomes, the easier it'd be to track by anyone who's watching out for it.

You get a careless runner who uses his fake SIN for stupid stuff (unnecessary things) and suddenly *SLAM* go the handcuffs. @=)

"Officially, Honester. I'm not under the alcafluence of incahol. I just had tee meeny martoonis!"

My thoughts:
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Ages Well, 5-10 BP

The character with this quality either tends to operate in such a way that one ID (fake SIN or license) they possess ages well, gathering the little bits of fluff and random data trails that make it seem more real and solid as time passes, or the character has an unknown or known benefactor that regularly adds such fluff data to your fake ID.

For 5 BP, this quality ages one ID. The ID's rating is increased by 1 every (ID's current rating) months, to a maximum of rating 6. This quality may be transferred to another newly purchased ID. Transferring this quality will cause the previous ID to degrade due to the sudden lack of activity, reducing its rating by 1 each month until it reaches its original rating. This quality may be taken multiple times, each time applying to a different ID.

For an additional 5 BP, the ID data is carefully structured to give the impression an alternate lifestyle. Attempts to track the ID's owner are reduced by half of the ID's rating, rounded down. This only applies to tracking attempts made against the nominated ID. A failed tracking attempt will lead the tracker to an irrelevant location.
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Is (rating) months a good time to age the ID? How often do your characters run? In our games, there are two runs each game-month, so aging an ID from rating 4 to rating 5 would take 8 runs. That's probably suitable. If you want it to be longer, make it take (ID's new rating) months to age the ID.

A like Catadmin's observation that this quality is double edged.

Oooh. I like this too.

Anyhoo, my premise, based off of the quality in Sprawl Survival Guide, is the notion that the 'fact' of activity helps make an id stronger. If all that (for example) ever gets registered on your fake id is a rent payment and maybe a utilities bill, over time this seems rather odd. On the other hand, since in a way your fake ID is also a tracker, having little fluff like, went to this store, this library, this strip club, bought some porn, bought some gas, got a parking ticket, paid the fine, etc that accrues at the rate a 'real person' would generally gather new infobits makes it more lifelike.

I'd actually say this is compatible with SINner/Erased as well, though treated separately. I mean, if you've already got a friendly AI erasing your real ID, it shouldn't be too much a leap to have it twiddling with your fake one too.

I'd also add that this 'ages well' category only should apply to the SIN/identity itself, not licenses attached to the SIN. So your fake licenses would have their normal fake ratings, though in some cases, with a good enough fake SIN you can probably attach legal licenses. I don't think having legal licenses on a fake ID would necessarily improve the quality of the fake ID itself, tho it might. Thoughts?

There are legal licenses?!

Yes. SINners who don't know how to get illegal ones have to stand in line, fill out innane forms, pay outrageous fees, have the forms lost by clerks, fill them out again, more fees, waiting period, and then they finally get their shiny new Concealed Carry Permit five days after they get shot eight times on the bus.

Illegal licenses are only slightly more expensive, and a lot easier to get.

Yup, that's exactly how I see it too. By default, a fake SIN has a created background. It details your official life from childhood onwards. The higher the rating, the more effort has gone into creating false archive records at the schools you supposedly attended, at the companies you've worked for, at the airlines you've travelled with, etc. This way, if someone decides to investigate the SIN beyond face value, there's supporting evidence you are the fake you you say you are.

Perfectly logical to me. I imagine only a min/maxer would take both.

Reading a bit more in Unwired, I came across the brief blurb on "ID Tokens", basically used as 'authenticity vouchers' by banks to preserve the identity of some of their high rollers while still allowing them to make their purchases.

I'm considering, and looking for feedback, on an idea of a similar though subscription based service that does that for your SIN on a regular basis.

My thoughts, In Active and Passive modes both your SIN and ID are visible. As noted by some, broadcasting your SIN around for all the world to see is kinda dangerous. But the corps want that information. The Solution? A subscription based ID Token system, which doesn't blot out your ID, but does blot out your SIN but also gives a little tag that says "Authentic SIN". Now, the way the corps would get behind this is, well, the subscription stuff, and the fact that it doesn't really prevent higher end guys like 'law enforcement' or corps from reading your SIN.

BUT, you can have the subscription in different grade-levels, like the DocWagon contracts, or perhaps the old color coding of the credsticks. At basic level, for a monthly fee, it lets you walk around without joe-public being able to directly read your sin, but law enforcement and such are still fine. At higher levels, it allows you to block more stuff. Even some corps (especially rivals).

Why would corps allow this? Well at the lower levels it doesn't really change any info gathering for the corps. Plus, added profit, plus added consumer satisfaction because the 'corps are looking out for our privacy'. It can also be yet another status symbol thing, maybe higher level ratings also let you see through other's lower level ratings. So you can mock the peons as they can't read your sin, but you can cut through their puny privacy settings.

The flipside being that the subscription service needs to verify your SIN first, making it difficult for fake SINs to pass, since they'd be under more scrutiny for initial verification. On the other hand, a good hacker can just spoof the ID Token anyway.

Makes perfect sense...the more real data on the fake SIN, the more likely it is to stand up to scrutiny.