My group is taking the plunge into the world of Shadowrun soon - we're still in the planning and character / team development phase at the moment. I am the only one with any experience in the Sixth World, and the last time I played, we were using 2nd Edition rules - about 15 years ago.

We're not afraid to houserule things that don't work, or to use house/optional rules if it makes the game flow better, and improves the experience of the group. On that note, what are some of your favorite houserules? What things have your groups encountered that were in need of some tweaking, whether for balance or game play reasons?

What we're using so far is:

1) All starting characters receive CHA x 2 BP in free contacts. If you are that charismatic, damnit, you have friends.

2) The legality of the Bone Lacing Augmentation is now legal, with the same Availability as it has in the book. Doesn't make any sense to me that harder bones are illegal, while you can get a permit for your assault rifle.

3) The Strength modifier to recoil optional rule from Arsenal (page 163) will be used.

I'd love to hear any ideas that the DS folks have, and learn from those who've played a lot longer.

Use the Stat+skill for hacking optional rule, where the rating of the program limits your hits.
I really like it.

Ammo Faucet and Armoire of Holding.

Ammo Faucet assumes that regular rounds are cheap and easy enough to acquire that you only have to keep track of what's in your mag or on your belt - the cost of such rounds is covered in lifestyle or what-have-you. Exotic weapons and heavy weapons don't apply to this rule. Specialty ammo is still under normal rules.

Armoire of Holding assumes that you're going to have a closet full of clothing matching your Lifestyle - so street clothes and regular lines are covered under lifestyle as well - chic for High, and tres chic for Luxury. Armor, of course, follows normal rules.

Beyond that there isn't much else. At times I'll use attribute+skill for hacking actions, successes limited by program rating, but that may fall by the wayside as I feel better and better about my experience with SR4's Matrix rules.

I want to take the jammer rules and throw them out the window.

Haven't paid a lot of attention to them yet since it hasn't quite come up, but I'd rather have a Stat+Skill+ECM versus the Stat+Skill+ECCM Opposed Test, winner-take-all for the round.

isn't it Stat+Skill+ECCM-ECM =lolthreshhold right now?

Cha x 2 free BP I use as well if we go with BP. However, Karmagen is usually used. Since this tends to be a little more lenient-this one doesn't come into play here.

However, for a Karmagen house rule: We do use German eratta(x5 Attribute costs, pay BP in Karma for race), but we do not count Edge, Magic or Resonance into the half Karma limit. This is because Human mages and technomancers are at an obvious disadvantage here. (Yes, you can argue that Trolls are at a penalty under the errata to get an uberhigh Body and Strength, but i'm in the boat of if you get a stat that high naturally, you should pay for it. Starting with an 8 instead of a 10 does not make you a wimp. On the other hand, human magicians can't even max out their magic under Karmagen with attributes that are *under* some Build Point limits, which I feel is considerably worse than a troll having to pay a lot for a sky-high Body(especially in the realm of enhancements.)

No Availablity limit, no gear rating limit. You're free to take what you want, we've played with this rule since the mid 90's. It's more of a case of ''would your character have this?'' A low end ganger with a minigun would require some hefty explaining why they have it(but hey, if it's good, it's good!) Meanwhile, the guy playing the legally hired Big Game Hunter in the wilds of Australia could probably understandably have some very heavy ordinance. We just use gear limits on a game by game basis(if we want to disallow something, it's based more on game rather than a hard and fast rule.)

Recoil rules in Arsenal. I like those.

Going to play with the idea of taking off the hard caps, however, I'm still working out a method for making it harder to get past these caps(raising the costs of Attributes and Skills taken over the maxes.) Of course, this wouldn't be done at character creation normally(positive qualities aside-take one of these and you can break your normal limits at the start.) Still working this out, so it's not in play yet.

Houserules are kinda neat in the sense that some can become canon rules; the one that I remember the most was limiting people to no more than +3 DV of martial arts, when this rule became canon(I got tired of seeing people twink the system by dumping Strength and just taking a crapload of + DVs.)



Not to mention Bone Density Augmentation is not only fully legal, but easier on your system, gives more Body bonus, the same Unarmed bonuses(as you go up) and is virtually undetectable. It's just more expensive.

Jamming is:
if Jammer Rating > Signal+ECCM then jammed

Jamming on the Fly:
EW + Signal Rating vs EW + Signal rating + ECCM oppossed test, winner take all.

In the Influence Skill Group, replace Etiquette with Intimidation.
Etiquette always requires a specialization.

You mean, Etiquette is an Exotic? Because you should be able to have multiple Etiquettes, and not really benefit from specialization (unless you're doing a language/dialect thing).

We favor Cha x 3 for contacts - but we like contact heavy games with lots of networking.

We keep the Matrix rolls RAW, but we drop the +2 for Hot SIMing for everything but cybercombat and matrix perception, in most cases, the interval drop is enough of a good thing. Also, for hackers that Hot SIM all the time, once a month or so the GM checks for BTL addiction.

Generally the Restricted Gear Quality (if you are using Runner's Companion) is only allowed once - one piece of super tech per character is enough.

Spirits are generally very limited in the force available - we play with with more of the theory Spirits are their own separate entities, and not merely conjured expressions of a mage's will. Therefore you aren't going to find force 10 spirits of men in the barrens, or huge beast spirits in downtown. As a general rule of thumb, anything force 3 or under is fine, above that is GM caveat if something is available. You'd better be someplace very attuned to that type of spirit for anything above a 9. Huge monument's for big task spirits, sacred temples for guidance, pristine wilderness for plant and beast, etc. It's very uncommon to see spirits above force 5 (controlled by PC's) in most of our games.

On the other hand, Binding spirits is slightly easier. We allow the purchase of 'Shrines' which are basically permanent foci for binding a particular spirit. They cost Force x 5000, with an Availability of Force x 4. Anything Force 4 or above is restricted. These shrines always summon the same spirit, and usually some kind of working relationship is worked out with the mage who possesses the shrine and the spirit that resides in it. No binding mats needed to bind out of this shrine, but the spirit gets extra dice to resist if the GM feels the mage has been a dick to the spirit lately. They generally take up some space, but a couple of them will fit comfortably in most magical lodges, though they aren't generally very portable. We've done whole runs to get a couple of these things for our mage Oh, and the have the same karma binding cost as a Summoning foci. They also count as foci for purposes of addiction as well.

Languages are some what simplified, 1 = literacy or speech, 2 = both (heavy accent, simple vocab.), 3 = conversational second language (you have an obvious accent), 4 = native speaker (can easily fake dialectal accents), 5 = excellent writer/orator, 6 = master orator/writer. You can't apply more social hits than your language x 2, unless R6, at which case the sky is the limit. OTOH, you never roll your language skill. Everyone gets their native language for free at 4. Most Face characters spend the 2 free knowledge skill points to bump it to five or six.

Knowledge skills can be used as a synergy assistance test if the character has time to contemplate the action. Two hits on a complementary knowledge skill = one more die on the active skill test.

That's all I can think of right off the top of my head, yeah we have a few, but we've been using most of them so long they are second nature.


Edit: Oh, forgot our overcasting house rule.

In order to make overcasting more inline with flavor text and such (Mage passing out when overcasting, not dying) Over casting no longer does physical damage, but removes the 'divided by two' portion of drain codes. So, a fireball that's normally (f/2)+4 with a magic attribute of 6, when cast at force 6 is 7 drain. when cast at force 8 is 12 drain. Stun overflow going to physical damage as normal. Makes people think twice about overcasting, since it might not kill you, but staying conscious is much harder.

No emotitoys. Can't believe I forgot to mention this one in the games I'm running here before we got past the first run!

When looking for pirated software, you make the usual extended test to find a data haven. Then I randomize a collection of software, and the levels it's available at, with prices between 10 and 20% of original price. And the data haven has a random chance of being moved or going offline each time you try to visit it. This house rule was just created, and I've had a great time creating some sample data havens for my players to find.

I like free contact points, but I think it varies from game to game. Usually CHAx2, but in my Missions games, it's one local contact 3/2 or 2/3 and that was it.

I'll see if I can scan through my OOC threads for other off the cuff declarations I have made on the fly.

I'll be taking advantage of this one in our next inter-session play.

Looking forward to using the rule, actually.

Oh, and I'm seriously considering using the Logic + Skill for hacking, limited by program value. I really like the way that feels, and it makes it less likely that a script kiddie would be as good at it as a well trained and intelligent hacker would be.

Yeah, it makes more sense...but then I'd have to redo my entire character, since I'd not longer be able to hacker based on my current setup...not that I'm great at it anyway. If we were running at 400 BPs and someones was logic 2, cracking group 4 and program 6 then yeah, makes sense. Obviously, up to you though.

There are a number of (probably) unintended consequences to using that rule, which is not to say that you can't use it. I forget which thread we were discussing them in…

I use rules to make encryption stronger. Namely thresholds to decrypt are Encryption^2 instead of Encryption*2.

Yeah, idk, if you sacrifice your logic, you end up losing out on some interesting options in the forum of the computer skill group. I'm not a fan of having successes capped by anything. If you have a good roll, you should get it.

One optional rule I use is that each attack reduces worn armor by 1 point of ballistic and 1 point of impact.

I tried Skill plus attribute (limit program) but found that it really made technomancers matrix gods (with threading) over hackers. Plus everything is designed with raw in mind, so it was hard to work with on occasion.

I assume the first is each successful attack that hits? What about hits but does no damage? Obviously its the case if it hits and does damage.

That makes a lot of sense about the threading.

I am under the impression that script kiddy hackers are fine, the goal is to reward hackers who have a higher logic, correct? To that end I would find a way to let higher logic hackers have an easier time making and maintaining their own custom programs - its the higher logic hackers that script kiddies should be buying their programs from (back doors optional) in those shifting data havens they head to for "pirated" software.

How does this express itself in a house rule for SR4A (if you have Unwired, YMMV)? IMHO, divide interval (convert month to days, I would use the ratio 1m:30d) by logic, so that intervals are measured in days rather than months. I think I was disagreed with fairly strongly the last time I brought this idea up, I've tried to modify the idea since then, so again, YMMV.

This way I keep the matrix use Skill + Program in line with the line of fluff found on page 232 SR4A "In order to interact with the Matrix, you need to use programs. Programs can be purchased (or written by a hacker) and then stored with a persona or agent." That would be pretty significant reward for the hacker Einsteins of the Shadows, I hope. Being that it can bring their role more in line with how runs can take place with only hours or days allotted for preparation and planning and how the down time from a run gets played out in games. I suppose if downtime between runs that gets gamed was months at a time, I wouldn't see much use for this house rule but I see that even rarely, since maintaining life style costs and new black market goodies seems to necessitate players having their runner characters constantly working (on top of some view downtime as time their characters could be on a exciting run), at least in the experiences I have observed.

Part of the reason for the change in the way Matrix stuff worked from past editions was to bring them more into the action of the other non-Matrix characters various interactions, say combat or social, correct? I see this house rule as just further bringing the high logic hacker in line with the prep and planning time the other types of specialists accomplish before/during their leg work/laying low till the heat comes off enough to get good work again.

I completely agree with everything you said there. There are many advantages to the high logic hacker.

Yeah, that is pretty sharp. I think I might play with the numbers some, see what happens to various scenarios when different house rules are applied.

Limit the number of hits to 2x skill with an untrained skill having a maximum of 1 hit.

Bioware and cyberware will cost 1% of the implant cost per month. This limit some of the tranhumanism and gives a reason augmentations are not dominant in society. Nanites are in addition to the hive and cost 10% per month or lose 1 rating. This gives a reason for players to go on runs to earn cash.

Edge dice are the number of your unused dice.

Ranged weapons use a threshold of equivalent to the penalty dice +1 instead. Extreme requires a threshold of 7 and short requires 1. This limits sniping at extreme range to trained snipers tending to use edge. Active dodging hits remove dice from the sniper's roll.

Spirit edge is half of its force.

Encryption level determines the time it takes to break. 1 is a turn, 2 is a minute, 3 is an hour, 4 is a day, 5 is a week, 6 is a month.

And most of the stuff in augmentation

Fading DV from tasking is half sprites rating + # of hits by the spirit.

Not bad, but I can't imagine it coming up often, unless they have wicked high ability scores.



Seems like a lot of extra bookkeeping, and would punish mundanes much more than adepts and magicians, who are already pretty powerful in comparison.



Huh?



Seems like a double whammy. Why not just increase the range penalties to the DP if you feel hitting at long range should be more difficult?



Why?



Seems pretty harsh. Either nobody, for whatever reason, uses encryption on their devices/nodes, or the hackers/TM's aren't going to be doing any hack-on-the-flies, even for basic rating 3 devices/commlinks.



Ouch.

Well, I think it's fairly common to have Agility 7 and skill 1 (or 1+2), and then start adding tons of bonuses. I agree that the 2*Skill cap really only functions at extremely low skills (0, 1, sometimes 2). Still, this basically destroys defaulting, and doesn't alter much for skills 3+.

I notice that your encryption function is very uneven (start at 3 secs, *20, *60, *24, *7, *30). It seems better aesthetically to smooth that out, but maybe it works well for actual gameplay time scales?

Considering most characters will have less than 300,000 nuyen in cyberware I don't find the cost crippling (less than 3000 nuyen per month). It limits most mundanes to reasonable amount of cyberware. It does make your jarheads and cyber zombies expensive though. Again it gives a motivation for players to take jobs or to create their own jobs to pay off the debts. The extra book keeping isn't bad as the players have already priced out their cyberware during creation and purchase.

The number of dice you use for edge tests goes down by 1 each time it is used until it is refreshed. Ie our hero with 8 edge uses 8 dice the first time, but during a run he uses edge 6 times then he is down to 3 dice the 6th time. Diminishing returns the more it is used.

Single whammy. There is no dice penalty for range I just change the threshold instead of subtracting dice for range. It cuts down on the use of automatic weapons for damage at range. Scopes are a special case being a combination of dice penalty and threshold increase this is to represent environmental factors over distance. Guided weapons such as missiles ignore range modifiers.

The idea is for edge to be rare except for free spirits, runners and prime runners. It is what separates our heroes and major villains from the rest of humanity.

The encryption is to represent the secrecy of the files. It also represents very high level data where players are trying to decrypt files the same time our enemy is trying to find the files before they are leaked. The idea is to make pay data very valuable. An encrypt 6 file is probably going for several hundred nuyen or more. Average encryption of files would be in the 0 to 2 range depending on the criticality of the data or device. The idea is to copy it and break it somewhere else. Edge can be used to knock the time down.

Tasking would vary less in DV. A 6 sprite would get 3+0 to 6 DV rather than 0 to 12 DV. Changes the randomness and doesn't knock the player out as often, but is more likely to cause some drain on average. Also means you aren't as likely to kill yourself by compiling a high level sprite.

Depending on what's a 'whammy', your 'dice becomes Threshold' rule is a triple-whammy, right? That's not a criticism, just asking.

That is the intention to make sure beginners luck doesn't dominate vs. a skilled individual. 1 hit is plenty for most common routine tasks.

The idea is for it to be uneven. Normal work files are not going to have a high encryption it would kill productivity (1 is plenty with 2 being restricted working files). Encryption at the 3 level and above are not intended for combat situations. 4 is for basic bank transactions, 5 is for military commands and high level bank transactions, 6 is for nuclear launch codes. A level 6 encryption is probably going to get you killed, but enough to retire on.

To me it is a single whammy as you are only affected once by increasing threshold.
It does present an advantage to the players in most instances as their opponents are not firing at long range or extreme range with any effect. More closely mimics actual gun battles in this aspect.

Re: skill hit caps, my point is that the cap only affects a few instances: defaulting (which is crippled to, as you say, totally mundane tasks), skill 1 (nearly as crippled, which is *sorta* the point, but pretty harsh), and skill 2 ( which is limited to a pretty reasonable level). Anything else is effectively untouched, so bonus-stacking (which is the real 'problem') is not limited, even though it remains an issue. *shrug*. I'm saying it's a little inelegant, not that it's misguided.

Re: encryption, I don't think you addressed my point. I think it's interesting that the jump from rating 2 to 3 is 60 times as long, while the jump from 4 to 5 is only 7 times as long. That is, rating 3 encryption is 60 times better than rating 2, but rating 5 is only 7 times better than rating 4. As I said, this isn't necessarily a problem, but it is notable.

Speaking of inelegant, I use a couple of kluges at my table:

For burst fire, Wide and Narrow are merged into a single (+1 DP per extra bullet) rule. Yes, this makes the RC tradeoff more… explicit. *shrug*. There are some other little tweaks, but that's the basic rule.

For firearm skills (the 'Automatics problem), the classes are broken smaller and grouped roughly by range and 'stance': (Pistols & Machine Pistols), (SMGs & Shotguns), (AR/LMG), (Sport Rifle & Sniper), (MMG/HMG), (Rockets & Grenades). There's also a basic 'default to X' system (as in SR3), based on how similar the groups are. This rule definitely has some snaggy places, especially for the munchkin; it is not 'player-proofed', because my group doesn't need that at the moment.

...uh oh, 3rd ed here. However, couple of these are related to changes in 4th.

Spells have a flexible rating for casting up to the force the spell is learned at. So if you have say, Stunball 5 you can cast it at a lower force without having to learn it at that force rating.

Magic loss for taking a deadly wound is out. I always thought that was a silly rule which really crocks adepts.

Native Language (4) does not need to be purchased with Knowledge skill points.

Shadowrun House Rules

Note: These documents are mostly incomplete. As I have not played in a Shadowrun game for about a year now, I simply have not bothered to finish them.
Note: The Shadowrun 4 document page references are for the non-Anniversary printing



One rule I have seriously considered, but never got around to testing, is to remove the Program aspect of hacking. System, Firewall, Response, & Signal would be the only important values (the possibility of replacing System, Firewall, & Response with a single Hardware rating exists). Matrix tests would be based entirely on the character's Logic + Skill (+ Modifiers).

The primary reasons for this are because I feel the program-based system is overly complicated & unnecessary, and I do not like how you cannot effectively make a non-hacker character with some (relevant) hacking skill.

The change would require reworking a significant portion of the Matrix mechanics, but overall should be largely basic changes. I am not sure exactly what I would do with technomancers, but several possibilities exist.

The one thing I feel might become a problem is lack of a defining characteristic between dedicated hacker characters & those who have the skills as a secondary focus. If this is an issue, it can probably be averted with increased Hardware costs &/or greater dedicated non-software equipment.

Not to derail, but am I one of like, five people here who actually like the RAW for the matrix? I like it has a low entry point for basic stuff (4 bp for Data search and 300Y for Browse and you've just taken 80% of the crap people ask the hacker for off his plate) But, with that said: The cost of programs is the only thing separating a 'dedicated' hacker from someone who shoves the best stock comlink in their head for about 2bp worth of resources and spends another 20bp or so in skills. Or just Skillwires them for even less of a BP investment.

22 bp and you're only rolling a couple less dice than the team hacker if programs don't matter. Especially when you look and see how easy Logic is to jack up.

Otoh, when you need to grab 80k worth of programs as well, that's another thing altogether. Keeps the ceiling between casual data use and a Matrix Jockey firmly in place, and leaves the real serious hacking to the big boys.

/derailing off. Now back to your regularly scheduled house rule thread, already in progress.

No. They're stupid.

Under 4A core rules: Jammer must beat(not equal or beat) Signal, then it autojams it. ECCM adds to signal.
Area Jammers DO lose one point for every 5 meters(20 for directional).... but they also go up to rating 10.
Thats it. No roll, no opposed test, just a comparison of Ratings.


With unwired, however, it gets more interesting.
Jamming-on-the-fly is an option for anything with a signal: you roll Electronic Warfare+jammer's Signal, opposed by the target's Electronic Warfare+signal+ECCM.
You also can't use the device for anything else while jamming, and it counts as an area jammer.

So..... you combine the two. Powerful jammers automatically jam anything weaker, and you just jam on the fly with your jammer when you come across something you can't jam, which is a much better way to handle two e-war jocks duking it out over the airwaves. Seriously, SOME amount of skill should be involved.


As for houserules, I like one of trollman's for Ritual spellcasting. Its simple, and actually makes ritual spellcasting useful:
1) Ritual Spellcasting may be used to aid normal Spellcasting in a teamwork test.

As far as i've seen from this rule, it tends to skew the balance of some actions in the matrix somewhat. Also, how does this affect Technomancers? How does it affect rigging? What about agents and drones, who's skills are often programs themselves? For example, doberman vs sammy: it can't get more than 3 hits for shooting, because its gunnery autosoft is 3. The sammy, meanwhile, has no limit to how many hits he can get while shooting people. You've meant to fix hackers, but you've also unintentionally put a power ceiling on drones too.

For this rule, I'd take it a step further.
Logic+Skill, since being smart and skilled SHOULD matter.
Programs matter, but so does your hardware - faster is better.
Therefor, hits are capped at Program+Half Response.(round up)
And, use of Edge on any given test removes the limit on hits.
Resonance users still have the choice of using Skill+CF(the old-school way), because using the resonance is their thing.
It gets the intended effect across, without upsetting the other parts of the system too much.

1) Use BP instead of Karma for advancement - for stuff that doesn't have a BP cost, halve the karma costs.

2) Halve the cost of skills

3) Replacing the hacking system with something else.

That's very unusual, but interesting. How does that work out in practice?

I'm not the only person to do it.

There are two reasons to do it:

A) It unifies character generation and advancement, so it stops people saying 'well, if I don't take any specializations, I can get it with karma after a few sessions blahblahblahblah'

B) I prefer it over a karmagen because I prefer linear advancement for a number of subtle reasons (karma gen encourages lots of diversity which is hard to manage in a larger group (I was playing with 5) and I personally think the maths for karmagen are generically not great.

I started doing it before Runners companion came out, so no unified generation/advancement system was 'official.' I also always tried to give out a minimum of 2 BP to ensure people could always buy something (with halved skill costs, 2 BP got you a skill level).

It worked okay in practice. Goal A was satisfied (everyone who understands character creation gets BP advancement. Magical characters need a price list for initiating up front because of rounding, but everyone else can see exactly how it works), and goal B worked relatively well imho.

Double Post Removed

What if, instead of completely removing programs, you make them sort of an on/off switch, in that you can either do the action, or not depending on if you have the correct program? I would probably set the prices based on R3 software at that point, to keep things from being too cheap.

Programs bug me too.

On the one hand, it's a staple of cyberpunk to be trading chips with programs in dark alleyways, and to constantly need more SOTA software to keep up. Scoring a particularly neat piece of 'ware could really make a hacker's eyes glisten with anticipation.

On the other hand, there's bookkeeping (SOTA), pirating (why can't we just download it, buy it once and share with the entire party, or steal it from a SOTA system we're hacking?), and the desire for elegant game mechanics.

--

I'm considering something like the following:

Copy Protection
There exist Run Only Chips, which are copy-protected at a hardware level. Stick them in a chipslot to run the program. This is the physical thing you can buy in dark alleys or steal from company facilities. Cracking this copy protection requires elite hackers and an elite R&D lab.

True Code
Actual program code. Once you get a hold of it you can reverse-engineer the software and get rid of the copy protections.

Basic Software
Not tracked in rules; everyone is supposed to have access to it. It's unexceptional and needs to game rules.

SOTA Software
Stuff that's still controlled; the True Code has prohibitive Availability. It's mostly sold on ROCs. This stuff is so advanced that it provides a bonus to certain Matrix tests. The True Code for SOTA Software is normally only found in the ROC factory and the R&D lab (and in competing labs trying to reverse-engineer the ROC).
SOTA software has a Rating, which is subject to Degradation, as competitors figure out how it works and come up with countermeasures. Once the Rating hits 0, the True Code is out in the open and the software ceases to have game effects. Time to get an update!
The rate of degradation should be set in proportion to the amount of in-game time that passes between game sessions and the typical purchasing power of hackers - for game balance reasons. The GM can also do this fairly arbitrarily, based on in-game events; if Renraku's R&D lab gets broken into, maybe their SOTA ratings drop a point because another company is now able to come up with anti-Renraku patches. This is also a reason not to go overboard when sharing stolen True Code.

--

Matrix tests take the form
Attribute + Skill + SOTA Program, where the SOTA Program is entirely optional. No hits cap.

The idea is that most hackers will be able to function without SOTA software, but that it provides a nice edge. Getting some isn't too easy, and no PC has an unbroken line of 6's. It'd be more common for hackers to have maybe one or two SOTA programs, not a complete set.

Also, every ROC can be different; they can be specialized against certains OSes, or on certain groups of Matrix tests.

An advantage I see is that there is now an actual kind of loot for hackers the GM can hand out which might get their interest, and stuff Johnson can loan to them for a mission that a hacker has an actual use for.

--

Technomancers would be tricky. They always make things more difficult.

Programs are like a mage's spells, or a gunbunny's weapons. The proliferation might be a bit worse (while a gunbunny can make do with a couple weapons, a hacker needs most of the programs), it's not inherently different in scope. And the diversity of programs does allow for some specialization. Are you a 'guns blazing' kind of hacker, with attack/medic/armor, or more a 'hope I don't get caught' probing exploiter? Maybe you prefer to sniffer/spoof your targets? Granted, most hackers will be able to do all of them, but part-time/secondary hackers likely won't due to the cost.

This would be similar to saying that mages can cast any spell/create any effect with Skill+Attribute, or say all guns have the same stats, so you just make an attack with Skill+Attribute, but half the fun is modifying weapons and having a specific set of niche spell effects.

As for loot/trading chips, that's still in the game. Pirated software, data havens, etc.; they've just gone online and wireless. And since pirated software degrades, hackers will need to constantly be upgrading their hardware/software. The idea of hardwired copy protection for special programs is a good one (Copy Protection as a program option exists in Unwired, of course).

This, I agree with everything here.

Yeah, it's why I abandoned that optional rule after looking at it. That, and I really liked coming up with brand names for particular programs and the like, and if they're just a generic cap on ability, they're less likely to be pursued with the same fervor.

That might have been the idea, but spells and guns all have character; each is very different. They have style, brand, looks. The software is an arbitrary list of 30+ things of which you need almost all if you're a serious hacker. But it's also bland; there's no really meaningful choice, such as perhaps OS, or Stealth vs. Speed; you just take the best of everything, and that's all.

Using cost of equipment to distinguish between hackers and script-sammies can be done in different ways too. The sammie might not want to sink 20-30K into a Cerebral Booster for increased Logic. He also won't have as many ROCs.




Yeah, but the point is that it's all really a no-brainer; you always need Stealth, Analyze, Firewall, System, Encrypt at maximum ratings. There's a "choice" between Exploit and Spoof, but one program more isn't going to make a huge in your building costs.

Cybercombat is even worse; it's basically just back and forth between you and your opponent, and whoever rolls lucky first wins. You have no meaningful choice in how to fight, it's all Attack/Black Hammer/Blackout vs. Armor/Biofeedback Filter.

Now, with ROCs, you might have different ROCs that provide specific but uneven bonuses, so you won't be equally good at everything. You'd have to decide what your priorities are; stealth, or speed, or force...

You' could also dispose of the Agent Smith problem; real copy protection on Agent programs.



I think software degradation the way they did in Unwired was a flat-out failure. People were asking "why can't I just pirate software", so they said, "you can, pirated software costs 10% of the original, and we're increasing the original prices by a factor 10". Also, they gave even Skillsofts degradation, due to built-in obsolescence; it's got nothing to do with SOTA.

It's just bookkeeping for 30+ programs, which you all want at the highest rating, and which are all bland.

Another problem with that: a rate of -1 per month is a lot for groups with a lot of downtime between missions, and not so much for fast-moving groups. This speed should rather be tied in some way to A) in-game events, B) the time that expires in the PC's missions and downtime.

Unwired used very ungainly measures to try to achieve game balance, but it's painful to look at for anyone with even remote interest in computers.

I'll agree that just a list of programs is bland. But there are other ways of giving them more character. In game rules, giving them program options is one (albeit minor) way. Specific icons is a non-game-rule associated way of making them unique. Maybe this Attack-5 program is a giant warhammer, while that one is a freeze-gun, or that one is a simple shiv. Some people might not care about that, but some do.





Well, first of all, System and Firewall are of course always needed. They're your persona attributes, like Strength or Agility. That said, you're right, there are core ones you always need. But there is some nuance in there, and there is a lot of flexibility in the system. The Matrix rules, and the programs, are basically a giant sandbox. Sure, you can treat them all as just the ratings that they are, or with a little creativity you can make them pretty fanciful. Maybe the data havens have a special Attack-4 program that, when used against a Novatech Navi OS, gets a +3 DP bonus. Maybe that pirated Exploit-6 program got patched last week, and unless the hacker was staying abreast of changes, wouldn't know that. Maybe that EyeSpy Analyze-5 software by Horizon auto-defeats any Horizon Stealth software, pirated or not.

If you want to just look at them as a laundry list of stats you need to collect, then that's all they'll be.



Yea, cybercombat is a bit dull from a game mechanic POV, but from a story telling approach, you've got pretty much carte blanche to make it anything you want. Maybe one hacker is launching heat-seeking micro-nukes, while the other is slashing with an ebony lightning-filled sword.



ROC's are a good idea, in the Matrix system or in your house rules, IMO. Especially for elite software (rating 7+).




There's no reason the GM can't determine things degrade faster, or slower even. I, personally, feel the 1/month is just a starting benchmark. In fact, it might do to keep the hacker on their toes, if they rely on pirated software. Maybe each week, there's a 25% chance the software degrades. Or has a virus embedded. Or is just plain buggy. Or doesn't work against a particular company.

I think our table had a total of three houserules.

The first was the attribute + skill for hacking, with program limiting hits. I thought that presented a good balance and logically felt right.

We also started with limiting hits by skill x 2 and then I added a 5bp positive quality to up that to skill x 3 for a certain skill. With all that being said, I'm not sure how often that came into play. It really only mattered to the guys who ultra-specialized and had to use low skills or defaulting from time to time. It did help the players spend karma in other skills though and as a GM, I was glad to see they just didn't keep on pumping their best skills all the time.

The final rule we used was for training and trainers. You can find a polished write-up in Issue #1 of DDH. We actually used this a lot to manage karma expenditures. It was more of an between game and bookkeeping process, but it did work well and allowed me to offload all of that tracking to the players without worry of having to check up on them all the time.

How did limiting computer hits to Program compare with limiting all other skills to Skill*2 in play?

Well, the Skill x 2 limit was of total hits. So if someone had a pool of say 14 dice, but their skill was only 5, only 10 of those hits could be used. Obviously, that would take some major luck to get that many hits, but it came into play occasionally. Also, if someone used edge for the roll, it removed the limit for that one test. I'd say it came up 2-5 times per 4 hour session, so it did affect things. Social stuff was held in check as were really big attack rolls. That was the whole point I added the extra positive quality, so someone could get all their hits, if they really wanted to.

Now, the Program limit was one more layer. So, someone with a 3 skill, would first look at the skill limit and know that they could only get a max of 6 hits. Once that was capped, then their program would limit them further, so if you continue the example, with a rating 3 program, only 3 hits could be used in the actual test.

I thought they worked well together and really let my group focus more on spreading their skills around and not just dump everything into a stat. I basically forced them to invest in skills and not just rely on having a super high dice pool. The hacker was already trying to get high ratings on all programs, so that limit was not as effective as I would have liked, but it did have the side effect of making counting rolls quicker. If you have a rating 4 program, you knew you wouldn't get more than four hits on the test, which was nice. It made the program worth something more when we used the option skill + attribute hacking rules.