That is wholely up to you. This is your first time interacting with this Johnson. So you have no clue what kind of a boss he is. If say, somebody did some legwork to find out the reputation of said Johnson, Mr. White and the team may have something else to base tactics on. You have certainly heard of other Johnsons that expect nothing less than strict adherence to their orders. Typically this is due to them having other plans that are supposed to be going on simultaneously with your actions. You have also heard of plenty of Johnsons who would give you a time frame of what they expect, but are perfectly reasonable if you adjust it a little.

So, how does your character feel able The Scion. You are correct that he said "The job is an extraction, hostile, and you must begin in exactly fifteen minutes." How would your runners interpret that.

As far as the timing goes, there is about 3 minutes left in those 15 minutes and it certainly seems like the timer's end is going to coincide with this presentation still going on. That's about all I can tell you.

Climbing 14 : descend zip line (14d6.hits(5)=5)

Once over silas will drop past whoever went first and stealthily start to arrange a drop line. Not throwing the rope to the floor yet, just in case it gets spotted etc.

Infiltration : chamelion suit active for -4 perception (12d6.hits(5)=4)

Ok, so I'm going to try hacking into his commlink (hacking on the fly). My commlinks stats are first.

Erika Elite, Novatech Navi OS, Response 5, Signal 5, Firewall 6, System 6, Non-Standard Wireless Link 6
Running Programs: Exploit 6, Stealth 6
Response Degradation: None until I hit 5 running programs

I'm only running the 2 programs I need at the moment. I can load/run programs as simple actions if/when I need them, but at the moment I only really need Exploit and Stealth. And although it goes without saying, I am going for an Admin account (threshold is Firewall + 6). And again, every attempt I make he gets an Analyze + Firewall roll with a threshold equal to my Stealth to detect me. This is Hacking + Exploit + 2 (Hacking on the Fly)

Roll 1: 17d6.hits(5) = 7
Roll 2: 16d5.hits(5) = 2
Roll 3: 15d6.hits(5) = 2

That's 11 successes across 3 rolls. Crap on a stick. Hopefully the first one was enough. I doubt it, but I can hope. And if it is needed, you need to make a ruling on roll 3. 15/2 = 7.5. I've got 7 1s on that third roll, which may or may not be a glitch (depending on which way you round to determine).

Let me know if I need anything more than this before I gain an admin account on his commlink.

Ouch. I know how that feels, I had the 2 successes on 15 dice boot-to-the-head last mission.

You obtained Admin access with the second roll. The iconagraphy is of a generic office typical of off the shelf commlinks. You see a pair of eyes and a rifle icon sitting the desk in the middle of the room.

And for reference, i would rule that you'd have to roll 8 1's out of 15 dice to actually glitch, though this time around it wouldn't even matter since you didn't need to make that roll.

You are thoroughly sleathy-like especially as Gardner's spirit still has you under it's concealment power.

3D6E5 => 1

With one success you can't really tell where Acson is sitting. You do notice the well dressed man stationed by the doors you just walked through, another one buy the set of doors you were turned away from and two stationed by the series of doors leading to the balcony. There appear to be a couple wait staff finishing up clearing away plates, but everybody else seems to be seated.

And the windows to the outside are currently shaded so as to let the balcony entertainment be a surprise to the guests.

Anything else you were trying to see?

Sorry noobie question .. How are txt messages or subtle comms handled ? I mean can white be contacted without his amazingly awful ringtone sounding across the whole place

Is the wait staff dressed in suits/tuxedos? If so I'm going to stride over toward the kitchens and see if I can grab one of the platters the wait staff is using. Then I'll go see if I can pick up some plates at the front of the room, looking for our mark. My aim is that if its a dark room and most folks are looking at the stage, they're unlikely to notice a guy in the back picking up a serving tray.

Failing all of that, White will have a seat and send a quick note to his associates that he is inside, presentation is going on, and he's not spotted the mark yet.

First, I'll be adding an IC post shortly.

Second, thanks for the ruling on the glitches (even if it wasn't needed this time). Some GMs round up, some down. Wanted to clarify that right away.

Third, page 225 in SR4A indicates that no action or command is denied to an admin account. Based on this, do I need to roll the opposed test indicated on page 230 for Crashing a Program? If I have an admin account, would I be able to just send the command for icons/programs to just crash/abort/ab end?

Which brings up a question: Would I need to roll a Matrix perception test to determine if the icons (eyes, rifle) are running programs or links back to other nodes? Again, some GMs rule things differently, so I need to know.

Depending on your answers, I may not actually stop running Exploit.

He's got AR contacts in. I'd assume he'd turn the ring tone off while on the job. And text messages would appear in his augmented reality vision. I don't believe he has trodes on his head, though he's mentioned a subvocal mic before. So he can't "think" messages back to you, but he can reply subvocally via commands to his commlink.

Give me an Edge roll. This doesn't use up any of your edge, it's just a Luck roll basically. The waitstaff is wearing suits in Horizon's distinctive blue color, they are very big on corporate identity after all. But with the lighting the way it is, your suit may appear close enough to pass as one yourself.

Keep in mind though that you are currently broadcasting your identity via Active Mode commlink and there is a security guard stand next to the door you just entered through.

So I just need to put my comlink on silent, right? I'm rubbish with ar/comlink/matrix stuff.

Just in case, here's the Edge roll.

6D6E5 => 2 | ones: 1

The eyes and rifle are separate nodes, their appearance on the desk are merely representations of them being registered to this commlink. You are correct that admin access gives you full rights to shut off any device this node has control of and you don't need to make a perception test to detect anything running on this node (unless it's say a security rigger or IC running a stealth program that is not controlled by the node).

You can't see what, if anything is running on the other nodes though until you connect with them directly. In this particular instance, that is just a Complex Action to Log On to it and you would retain admin access because of how they are slaved to this device.

You can also see that this device is slaved to another system, represented as a heavy duty security door to one side of the virtual office. From your experience with the Matrix you would guess that is a connection to the buildings security system, and that the sniper's access id only has basic user access on that network. So were you to try connecting to it, you would again have to attempt get new admin access on that node if that is what you were wanting.

Looking around, every attendee has their commlink in Active mode with you being able to "click" on their icon to see a basic bio on them, name, position in the business, branch office, etc. Your commlink is currently doing the same. Were you to shut that off particularly standing in front of a security guard, it would likely get noticed.

Your outfit is close enough to the waitstaff that most people wouldn't notice your lack of the Horizon logo on your lapel.

Ok, let's start with the eyes. I'm going to access that node with my admin rights and see what's up with those.

As you dive in, you find yourself within a spherical room, there are a number of icons within representing Smartlink, Low-Light and Thermographic vision modes (currently thermographic is active), flare compensators, and visual enhancers (Rating 3). There appear to be no IC or other programs running on the cybereyes.

Holy crap you can do this to people that easily ??? ... My level of paranoia just went exponential !!

Most adventures are setup without many hackers, but yes. It can be quite simple to hack somebody's eyes should they have a generic commlink without IC running on it.
For any runner i would highly recommend at the very least adding a good Analyze program for your 'link to try to detect intrusions. Every commlink has a rating 1 Analyze program built into it. To detect intrusions you roll Firewall + Analyze. So for the standard commlink Rating 3. That's only 4 dice. And it takes a lot of rolls to get the 6 hits needed to see somebody like needle Hacking in.

This is why I asked about it before the first mission started, Slacker. 'Cause now I'm terrified that because I didn't remove the wireless functionality of all of TW's cyberware and run it old-school DNI this would happen to him in the middle of a firefight.

Yeah, i know. Like I said, adventures aren't really designed with hackers that will do this sort of thing to the players. Think about it this way, it was a complex action for Needle to locate the hidden node, then two complex actions for her to actually log in with admin access this time (if the commlink had a higher firewall it could take longer). That's one full combat turn before she can even do anything to him. How many of the fights from the first mission lasted longer than 1 combat turn?
Hacking like this is good for runners who are doing it before the action starts, its not nearly as effective when doing it as a reaction to hostile forces attacking you.

Well, okay. Guess I need to talk to Mac or Ms. Ching about a good Analyze program, making the Stealth program 6, and maybe adding an Agent to my 'link, then. Paranoia for a merc means a lot less chance you die when the shit hits that fan.

That's cool and it totally makes sense from a roleplay stand point. I just want to make sure that you understand that I have no plans to do that sort of thing to you guys. I'm much more about letting the players do they cool stuff like that than bogging them down it trying to learn the ins and outs over the matrix rules regardless of if they are the hacker of the group or not just to protect themselves.

Groovy. When Needle mentions how she disabled the roof sniper TW's expression will probably go like this. And then he'll be making a couple phone calls. And hopefully be wearing his brown pants.

Quick Question: So, I'm assuming that while the guy has cybereyes, his sight is natural? That is, his overall sight isn't controlled by the cybereyes?

Second Question: Considering I have admin access, do I have to make the opposed roll to start crashing programs (page 230, SR4A)? If not, would this then be a Simple Action, or still a Complex Action?

He has full cyber eye replacement. So his vision is completely cyber. Its not an opposed test to turn off a device or program. It will still take the same amount of time As usual though So a complex Action.

Ok, so here's what I'm going to do. I get 3 passes per turn, so I'm going to be using 3 Complex Actions in the first turn. In the following order:

1. Crash his sight completely. That is, crash the program that controls his actual vision.
2. Crash the program controlling the smartlink.
3. Crash the program controlling his image link.

I know that crashing his sight program he'll effectively be blind. But I want to crash both the smartlink and the image link to make sure that he has no connection to his commlink to be able to "see". No image overlays, no smartlink to his weapon. I want him blinded completely.

On the next turn, with my 3 IPs, I'm going to use a pair of simple actions and then wait to see what I can see inside the next node before deciding on my next course of action. I'm going to retreat back to the commlink, and then I'm going to access the Rifle node. Both of these should be simple actions, performed in the same IP. I'll then burn the rest of the turn to see what programs are running in the rifle node. I'm going he will be too disoriented to contact the building. In fact, when I get to my books tomorrow I will look up jamming his ability to call for help.

And once I've gotten into the Rifle node I'm also going to, subvocally, contact the rest of the team to let them know they are good to go.

And so we're clear, I'm also making the blanket statement that I'm loading Analyze into resident running memory at my earliest convenience, and that Analyze will ALWAYS be running on my commlink. Which means I will currently have Analyze 6, Stealth 6, and Sniffer 6 running. No response degradation until I hit 5 running programs.


Yeah, this is why I love playing hackers. All those people out there who think they have nothing to worry about with their cyberware and such. Pffft.

Smartlink, imagelink, and the rest are all components of the cybereyes node. You could simply crash the node to get them all at once.

To block signals you would either need special jammer device, either an area or spot jammer. Area blankets the whole area with jamming (meaning your teams Comm and everybody in the banquet hall if it were a wide enough area to get the sniper). Spot hammers concentrate at a specific angle and are more precise. Either way a jammer would jam the commlink completely to the sniper and you couldn't do more hacking on him.

Alternatively you can use the edit program to try to block transmissions. To do that you will either need to be sitting on the commlink's node to see when a transmission tries to start (ie not in one of the slave nodes) or you will need to be actively scanning for signal traffic with an Electronic Warfare + Scan extended test that as an interval of one combat turn. Considering you have full access to this commlink you'd pretty much automatically succeed but it would still be using up your actions for that combat turn to do the scan.

Oi ! .. I do the funny accents round here ! .. or have you got a cold ?

That's what I get for posting from my phone.

I thought about crashing the node until I read up on it. I have to have a subscription AND be logged into the node. Which I am at this point, so there's no big deal there. Until you continue reading on page 230 where it says you get severed from the matrix and have to resist dumpshock. If I could set a delayed crash where I have time to back out of the node before it crashes, then I'd go that route. But based on the RAW this isn't possible.

Unless you want to make a ruling that this is possible?

True. You would have to resist Dumpshock then.

I'm debating whether or not you can turn off eyesight without crashing the node though...eh. I'll allow it it because surely a cyber-doc has to shut the eyes off to mod them, right?

So, you were going to shut off his vision, then smartlink, then image link?

Yeah, in that order. As I mentioned before, I'm hoping he's disoriented enough where I can retreat back to the commlink and mess with his ability to communicate before he has a chance to even try.

Sure, sure. Ok, you've shut all that down. And I take it are moving back to the commlink. Are you going to do anything there, or just move on to the gun?

Current time, 2minutes 45 seconds until the 15 minutes are up.

I believe Gardner still needs to roll his Climbing + Strength check to stop at the end of the Zip line. Is Eclipse sliding down too?

And what is Mr. White doing inside? Is he switch his commlink to Hidden Mode or otherwise turning off it broadcasting his bio as Malcom Reynolds the Horizon Manager of Whatever the Hell it is he was supposed to manage? Or did he go sit down at his table for the time being? Or did just just jump the security guard at the door in the home the other security personnel won't notice?

I can't waste time sitting in his commlink, waiting to see if he's going to try communicating back. I'm headed to the rifle.

Ok then....

Roll me your Edge for a Luck roll. If you're lucky, he thinks it's an attack and his first reaction is to send in a call to central command. If you're unlucky, he thinks it's buggy cyberware and he's rebooting his commlink to reboot the linked devices like his cybereyes and rifle, in which case you are going to get dumpshock.

Surprise, only lasts one combat turn and you used that up shutting down all of his cybereye accessories and then moving back to his commlink. He's a professional and was able to make his Composer roll to not panic. So it's a matter of determining what his first response would be.

Sorry, forgot. I got 2 hits on the climbing test. I'm also wearing my rappelling gloves in preparation for the trip down.

Mr. White - go to your seat for a second, then sort through the people's displayed bios and find our target. Then walk up and talk to him like you know what you're doing. Convince him there is some reason he needs to come with you right now to the balcony. I'd say don't worry about your commlink, that's why your contact gave the bogus credentials of a guy he isn't fond of

Hell, don't even sit down. Make it look like you're a man with a plan. Walk in, immediately look for somebody and then beeline to him like it's important. The biggest part of selling a con is looking like you know what you're doing.

Sorry about the double-post. Wanted to be sure my addendum was seen.

Ok, so here's my roll for Edge: 2d6.hits(5) = 1

Ok, so I'm lucky. Now, I kn ow he's not rebooting, but I think I might be smart enough to think he may be calling this in. So I will wait 2 full combat turns (which is the equivalent of 6 seconds), scanning to see if he's trying to send communications back to his command. Based on your previous post, it's Electronic Warfare + Scan, which means I have to spend 1 IP in the current turn to load Scan 6, and then another IP to load Edit 6 (that's now 5 running programs, meaning Response has degraded from 5 to 4 - Analyze 6, Edit 6, Scan 6, Sniffer 6, Stealth 6).

Scan is needed for the check to validate that he's trying to communicate. Edit is because I want to block the communication going out (SR4A page 231 under Intercept Wireless Traffic states that if I want to block or alter any portion of wireless traffic, I have to use the Edit action). So that's 2 IPs in the first turn to load new programs to start checking for (and then potentially blocking) any communication he may be attempting to send back to the building.

These are all Complex Actions. Considering I get 1 Free Action on each IP, and page 146 states I can speak as a free action, I want to verify (before I put up an IC post) that I can call the team subvocally and let them know the sniper is blinded. And that they need to move now. And that he is trying to call for backup. That would be 3 Free Actions, and I get 3 IPs in the Matrix (and in the Meat World). Can I do that, or is using the subvocal microphone more than a Free Action in your world?

it may be a little late now to mention it, but the sniper's communications should have been shut down first. If he's a pro, once someone blinds him, the first thing he'll do is sound a general alarm.

I'll try to get something up for White shortly.

In real life, that is exactly what I'd do. In SR, the RAW are a bit wonky. In order to block communications, you have to do one of two things:

1. Get a jamming device, which effectively renders all wireless traffic - including that of the hacker - pointless. Meaning, no wireless traffic in a particular range.
2. Use Edit, which I'm doing. However, you have to know that the communication is going out (Intercept) and then use Edit to block it.

Now, until I give him a reason to call for help, he won't. That's the wonky part in the rules. I can't jam what isn't there. Stupid, but them's is the rules.

Remember that my shutting off his eyes/smartlink/image link, getting back to the commlink, setting up Sniffer and Edit is all taking 5 seconds. He will probably be calling for help in 6-9 seconds from the time his sight goes out. Even professionals take a moment or two to get their bearings when blinded before calling for help.

Although, if I have admin access, wouldn't I be able to crash the program that controls outgoing communications?

You know what? I haven't got a clue where I came up with that rule about Electronic Warfare + Scan. I think maybe i just had a brain fart because all i'm seeing now is Electronic Warfare + Sniffer(3) Test for intercepting wirelesss signals. Regardless you definitely do need the Edit command to block the signal.

If you're sitting in his commlink node you can see a hidden port in the desk open as a microphone slides out of it (just flavor for him turning on the mic to make the call). Give me a Computer + Edit Test to block the call. I imagine you won't have a probably succeeding on that. And then you can send a message to the team as a Free Action.

It's not a matter of a program per se, phone call capability is embedded into the OS itself. So, you while you could switch the device into "airplane mode" (which would dump you out since it could no longer send/receive signals), you couldn't crash the phone without crashing the commlink itself which again would dump you.

When he turns on the mic though, you could crash that device i suppose. (sorry, i didn't think about him having a microphone in the office before even though all commlinks have a built-in mic. that's why i've handwaived it having been deactivated until he blindly pressed a button on it to turn it on to make the call).

Kind of hard to disable the communications when you are connecting to the device through its communications capability.

Computer + Edit: 15d6.hits(5)=10

That is the most number of successes I've ever generated in one roll. That was just simply amazing. So, I think I'm effectively blocking his attempt.

IC post coming to the rest of the team. I will then make my way to the rifle node.

To clarify: I posted IC that "the last is coming across now", I was referring to either Eclipse or Tundra Wolf. I know Eclipse O'Ryan couldn't post over the weekend, but I'm assuming that at the ver least he will make it across, if not necessarily very well...

Or if Eclipse isn't coming across, then Tundra Wolf has alread rolled the Climb and gotten across. In any case, it looks like we are all across who plan to zipline across. So there isn't any real reason to mess with the guy any further, it just gives him more reason for him to suspect an attack rather than an equipment glitch...

And I mentioned it earlier, but I will reiterate, does anyone seem unsure about climbing? If so, I can at least make sure you don't glitch. Won't prevent damage from a poor climb, but it'll prevent a 30 story drop.

This ^

I disagree with you on that. Once the sniper finds out he can't even contact the building, he may - MAY - fire a round or two from his weapon as a warning to the building, which would alert them to some potential problem. I want the guy completely disabled before I release him. Not to mention that if I leave his commlink, he might regain communications and alert them to the problem, which would really hurt you guys. As soon as you guys drop onto the balcony, however....then I can let him go.