Does anyone have simplified rules for computer skills that don't involve side treks into the matrix? My group has long had a fear of the "Decker Effect" and even though SR4 tries to limit this some, there's been a unanimous request for simplified decking rules.

In the past GMs have gone so far as to give the group a "PDU" (Portable Decking Unit) that we carried around and plugged in whenever something computer-related came up. I don't want to go that far though, so would love any suggestions folks might have.

Thanks!

the "PDU" exists by RAW, if it's what I'm assuming you mean. Load a mook-Agent up with some proper programs and options, or just get a few sprites to do the same. The couch-potato hacker can sit next to the summoning mage and the rigger to have a card game while their minions do their work.

Seriously though, can you name anything in specific that makes you go cross-eyed and you'd like to see simpler?

No. I don't have a problem with decking as written, bu the players do. Their primary issue is that when a decker takes off into the matrix he can sometimes eat up a lot of OOC time doing his thing, but the rest of the game is on hold because he's using very little IC time. The fix they've requested has varied from "no decking" to "someone decks but we use a streamlined system that doesn't involve wandering around the matrix, just some quick die rolls." I'm hoping someone has done something similar to the last, as that would be my preference. An SR team without any computer capabilities stretches my imagination beyond the breaking point, as does giving them a free workaround like we've done in the past. I'll point out the Agents and see if they want to buy some of those.

I've only had one game that "The Decker Took Over" issue happened. But it was all preliminary stuff that was for multiple 'Runs against the same target. (A Customs Warehouse that multiple Mr. Johnsons wanted different items out of.).

Other than that, it's been pretty decent.

The "just some die rolls" is easily achieved by cutting any and all description:
"Right, you enter a node. Roll Anaylze. Good, you see some unimportant looking files and a link to another node. Roll exploit until I say stop. You're in. Roll analyze. It's probably the node you want. Roll Browse. You found what you're looking for."
You could even pre-roll rolls for the system, compile a list and tick them off one by one, to speed up die rolling on your end.

Some advice:


a)Use heavily, specially for extended tests, the rule of 4 dice convert to 1 hit. It reduces dice rolling, allows you to focus on description.

b)Weave the important part of hacking into the main run: don't get too specific with what and where is the character hacking unless it enhances the story. This is tricky and is a big part of GM's arbitrary decision-making, but good use handwavium helps reduce the time others remain without doing anything.
b.1)Use the same for astral mages, astral quests, and other analogous solo missions that take a long time.
Delegate.

c)The hacker character is supposed to be the team's expert. The player is supposed to be the same, at the table, for his character's relevant rules. He doesn't need to know all of them, only the ones he wants to use. He is responsible for helping you do that narrative easier and faster. This helps a lot, and makes everything easier and faster.

d) Handwave caveat: Don't use this to make the character's skills less relevant. Rolling dice is an important part of the game, otherwise the player's would be in diceless rpg's. Use it to make downtime rolls, easy hacks and other secondary actions faster and more streamlined. Also this makes the character feel more competent: he can easily accomplish these facts matter of factly, he won't botch in them and feel like an idiot (Player: -"What? I got 21 dice and rolled 20 1's!!!" GM: -"Ok, again you can't find the electricity plug in the wall, your commlink will run out of battery during the run.").

Another idea, if you're a writer like myself, is to Handwavium the rolls into simple descriptions, writing down what happened, and then post a story for the group to read as they "Watch" the Hacker do his thing.

It won't have the "At Table" impact, but it won't slow down the game, and will demonstrate what their pasty-white fellow can do. (The real surprising thing about him being so white is the fact that he has an African background!).

This right here is pretty excellent advice.

There's even an easy way to do it.

Use Random.org's Integer generator. on the following settings:
Range between 1 and 6, 11 columns, 649 numbers.
When copy-pasted to an text editor - i use openoffice - this should give you one full 8.5x11 sheet of random d6 rolls. Print it off.

If you ever want to quickly roll through stuff WITHOUT buying hits - start from the top, and just cross off numbers.

Mook needs to roll ten dice for something? First ten are his results, they're used, cross em off, count the hits, boom, done.

Its slightly more random than buying hits. I don't think anyone likes the 4->1, but you should use it.


Part of the 'hacker taking over the game' issue has a lot to do with how the game is formatted.
SR4 matrix is -supposed- to be a narrative kind of experience - as opposed to previous editions. Treat it as such.
unwired has(specificlaly, the hacking a fake sin) part has Extended Tests for making truly globe-spanning or hard hacks. You don't bother rolling for each system in a chain, you make it an extended test.
Realize that your player's hacker can probably hack some things trivially. Don't bother rolling for those (except to, say, test for glitches). 16+ dice against a rating 2 system? Really? Why are you wasting your time when you can buy hits.
Counterpoint to the above: Don't give your player a free pass if he's going to abuse it. Like all other players, he deserves his time in the spotlight - emphasize the -important- hacks; learn to handle the not-so-important stuff quickly so it doesn't detract from your other players. (long-term stuff, like software creation? Handle that after the game, in downtime)
A lot of this has to do with learning the rules. The matrix CAN be smooth and easy if everyone knows what you're doing. This means, sometimes, not using every available rule or filling a system full of IC. A better way to do it is to make the entire PARTY matrix-savvy. They may not be -great- on the matrix, but bringing up situations where they can and should use Augmented Reality to their benefit helps people learn to say, use command, or analyze things so their hacker doesn't have to. Hacking is a minigame; it stops being game derailing when everyone can join.

But yeah. Another vote for Handwavium powered narrative matrix. Worked great in my game.

Avoid cybercombat (with a caveat).

Cybercombat should be awesome, it should be filled with fantastical icons warping the fabric of cyber-reality, neurons exploding with every attack. Unfortunately it's "Attack, Soak, Counter-attack". I've gotten bored in cybercombat and I'm the team hacker. Cybercombat is also by far the most time intensive thing you can do on the Matrix because it's basically impossible to give a surprise knockout punch, every time I've fought it's turned into a long, dull slugging match.

That's not saying you shouldn't do cybercombat, merely that if you do cybercombat it should be against another hacker, a GOD agent or something similar. Cybercombat betweeen two hackers, each having two agents running Nuke or something is very time consuming but it's actually fun. That's worthwhile every now and then, maybe once every 3 runs. The rest of the time though, cybercombat is just a giant boring time suck.

The easiest way to do this in-game, from my experience, is to have any cybercombat result in an overwhelming response. Get an Active Alert, fight an IC, and the node launches new IC, calls in IC from other nodes, security hackers rush in, etc. Pretty soon you (and your hacker) will be thinking that anytime the hacker gets spotted there's going to be an overwhelming response and so stealth, tricks, etc become the overriding concern. The occasional cybercombat happens when you're hired to whack somebody in cyberspace, you fight the one key guy who runs all the node defenses, etc.

Other than that, I think the rule of four (four die buy one success) is the way to go. For example, if your hacker has a die pool of 12, there's no reason to ever have him roll against an R3 system or lower. There might be some situations where you might want to roll (hacking on the fly against an R3 node with Analyze if the Hacker's stealth isn't great) but for the most part just say "you did it". If the Hacker has a die pool of 16, no roll for R4, at 20 die, no roll against R5.

I actually think just saying "You did it, what's next?" is very important because the other big slowdown is the hacker figuring out which action they're going to take next. In combat you have plenty of downtime between actions for the combatants to figure out what they're going to do next. Hackers don't and the game goes a lot faster if they immediately know what to do next. Saying "You did it, what's next?" gets them to focus on the actions they're taking instead of the dice pools and that speeds up the game alot.

A lot of the actions in the Matrix aren't intuitive so anything that helps the Hacker see exactly how one action leads to another is huge. A lot of the questions people come here with about hacking are "How do I do X?" where X is something simple that requires about five different actions by the hacker. Anything that slows down the flow between one action and the next makes it harder for your hacker to learn how one Matrix action leads to the next. I strongly agree with Incubi that both the GM and the hacker have to know the hacking rules very well, this helps the hacker (and hopefully the GM) become much more familiar with Matrix actions by reinforcing how to use different Matrix actions to do simple real-world things.

As an example, I was recently in a situation where we were infiltrating a prison (yeah, yeah) and the warden wanted to call our "superior" to double check our credentials and I wanted to tap his comcall and reroute it. The guy had a R4 commlink but my hacker runs 16-20 die pools in everything. That can take a long time but there's no real doubt of success. So instead of 5-10 minutes to resolve it, we rolled for hacking on the fly, I knew all the actions to take after that, and we resolved it in under a minute. Felt cool, there was still a bit of risk, and the tension of the situation wasn't lost by a lot of hacking rolls.

Especially if you have a group that's Matrix-wary focus on getting comfortable with the Matrix Actions, then start to worry about dice pools.

Of course, if your group just doesn't want to bother, someone needs to shell out for a decent commlink, a mook (Agent), and some software for it. Should run you about 60,000- 100,000 and nobody has to roll anything, GM handles it separately. Should be about as good as your average script kiddie. It should have a die pool of about 12, so from your perspective it auto hacks R3 links or below, you can make a few secret rolls for R4 systems, and it just fails against R5+ systems. If your team takes this route and wants to hacker tougher systems, somebody better have a high level contact, a lot of nuyen, or both.

Edit:

That would be paradise.

Use the device rating table. Note that most tests now use a dp of 2*device rating. Roll only important tests - Exploit, Spoof, finding hidden stuff. Narrate the rest. Use Aarons hacker cards (woot, new stuff there) for quick rules access.

Give spotlight to the hacker via the results of the hacking actions, not via long hacks.

A great one that I've started in my games is just to treat Encryption as a Language skill. If you need to decrypt something just make a non-action to "understand" what the device is saying when you try to spoof/hack it. Makes it into a standard test that doesn't take any time. Suddenly combat hacking becomes more useful.

That's sounds like a way to massively unbalance the whole system of hacking times and of programs-vs.-skills.

Well, for the ultimate in streamlining, you have to get a custom CommLink Case that has as little wind resistance as possible.

Hey, it matters! My character has Parkour!

Not as a literal Language skill -- treat the mechanics as the same. You roll your EW + Decrypt in an effort to "understand" what the target node is "saying" to you. If you roll successes >= to the rating of the Encryption you have decrypted it.

Unless I am mistaking what you are trying to say.

I'd like to chip in and double-emphasize this point here.

When I was playing a 4/5 pass hacker, and not actually rigging or being involved with the combat(so my order of actions aren't as important, since was typically hacking from the getaway car), I'd just tell my gm what I was doing with each of my passes all at once, and we'd go through it much quicker than normal. 'I do this, and this, then this' works out really, really well when you know exactly what you have to roll for each step, and are ready to just buzz through it in one go.


Another trick i'm fond of - as the player - is training my GM to have Node Stats(system+FW, and its Analyze) ready. Since you can use Analyze to look at matrix attributes of things, taking a quick peek BEFORE/as you begin hacking(matrix perception for sys/firewall/running programs) makes things go a lot smoother. As the hacker, i'm rather familiar with the rules. Once I know those stats for the node, i'm able to fill in the information for the GM, so he doesn't have to look it up.
For example, ' i'm doing X, you need to oppose it with sys+FW, thats 8 dice' and we both roll at the same time. No confusion, no waiting, no looking up rules.
For all the actions afterwards, then, we already know most of the relevant dice pools the node will roll to oppose the intrusion attempt, which makes fighting through it a breeze.
After a bit of this, a GM just starts to have that information ready and on-hand before I ask for it.(the magic # system for nodes is pretty excellent, by the way) This makes things even faster.

No, Cheops, I'm saying that Encrypt/Decrypt use programs, that you have to buy. If you make it an (Active) Language-type skill, you've just eliminated the need to purchase a high-rating Hacking program and the high-rating commlink to run it on. You've also significantly decreased the utility of encryption in the first place, because it normally takes several Combat Turns to beat it. People complain that encryption in SR4 is too *weak*, so I'm not sure that weakening it to nothing is a good move for most groups. (If it is a good move for your group, that's obviously fine. )

I do not replace the PROGRAM with a SKILL. I treat the mechanics of breaking encryption AS IF it was a language skill. You still need a program and a commlink to run it.

This actually makes encryption a fair bit stronger in my opinion. Normally a Rating 6 Encrypt only needs 12 hits to get through (oh noes 12 seconds!). Now you have a 1 time shot to beat threshold 6. That's 18 dice to reliably "understand" the target. That's something of a reach.

My biggest beef with Encryption is that a) it doesn't do anything, b) the only thing it does is stop you from hacking someone's smartlink/drones. In most situations you hit scenario A where it doesn't stop a hacker who has the time. Unhinged came up with some ways for the GM to justify saying "No" but no ways to solve the issue. Scenario B is something we were told we'd be able to do in SR4 but even a measly Encrypt 1 shuts that option down for 1 whole combat turn (or maybe 2 IP if you rush? how does that break down?). So you have to take a minimum of 3 seconds just to communicate with the target's PAN. Then you can start your hack/spoof. So the promise of SR4 was total horseshit.

So if outside of combat encryption doesn't matter except for GM whim situations (where you aren't decrypting without some sort of story shenanigans) then who cares how strong it is? But in combat it becomes so strong that the Hacker is better off shooting his pistol in most situations (again apart from plot considerations -- Mongo the Troll Tank) than hacking. That seems ass backwards to me. So, this rule allows me to say "Fuck non-combat encryption, you break it" and in combat there is an actual mechanic that requires dice rolling but doesn't make it more worthwhile to shoot your pistol.

Ah, I misunderstood your suggestion. It would be clearer to simply say, 'change Decryption from an Extended test to a normal Test'.

I'm perfectly fine with encryption slowing you down (per RAW). That's the whole point. 'Combat' (instantaneous) hacking breaks everything.

I'll second the hand wavium. For the most part sensors, vidcams and such are not that hard to hack unlee you are in a high security area. Also-- when not using handwavium try and keep the action going for the other team mates at the same time. This of course means knowing the rules.

Things that help:
Opposing decker's/agent's skills and programs are all the same ratings.
The PC decker should know the matrix rules (preferably better than you do)


PS: I'm old--they're still deckers in my mind.

Thanks everyone. It looks like they're going to buy themselves an agent and some programs to give it, then give someone enough Software skill that they can reliably make copies.

Crack that Copyright Protection! Fight The Man!!!