Maybe it has been canned.

Maybe it has been canned.

You're in quite the pickle now, my friend!"

What do you guys think the odds are we get some type of a sixth preview or maybe the English Quick Start Rules for Shadowrun 5 dropping before the release date?

I think I'd like to see some of the archetype PCs like the Street Samurai (which was in the German quick start rules).

BODY: 5
AGILITY: 5
REACTION: 3(5)
STRENGTH: 6
WILLPOWER: 3
LOGIC: 3
INTUITION: 5
CHARISMA: 2

ACTIVE SKILLS
[Dice pools are the values in [], (skill+stat).]
Gymnastics 2[9], Intimidation 3[5], First Aid 3[6], Long Arms 2[7], Climb 2[9], Bladed Weapons 5[10], Run 2[9], Pistols 4[9], Automatics 5[10], Survival 2[5], Unarmed 3[8]

GEAR
Commlink [Device Rating 3]
Armoured Jacket [Armour 12]

WEAPONS
Ceska Black Scorpion [Automatics| Acucuracy 5(7) | Damage 6P | AP – | 35© |Range: 0-5 m (K, 0), 6-15 m (L,-1) | Smartgun System]
Remington Roomsweeper [Pistols| Accuracy 4(6) | Damage7P | AP –1 | 8(m) | Range:0-5 m (K, -0), 6-20 m (L, -1) | Smartgun System]
Ruger 100 [Long Rifles| Accuracy 7 | Damage 11P | AP –1 | 5(m) | Range: 0-100 m (K, -0), 101-250 m (L, -0) | Scope (disregard the –1 pool at long range)]
Schwert [Bladed Weapons| Accuracy 6 | Damage 10P | AP –2 | Range 1]

AUGMENTATIONS
[The effects of Augmentations have already been factored into the character's stats.]
Cybereyes [Level3; Eye Recorder, Image Link, Low Light Vision, Smartlink (allows use of the Accuracy bonus of Smartgun Systems), Vision Enhancement 3 (+3 dice on visual Perception checks)]
Dermal Plating 1 [Armour Rating +1]
Wired Reflexes 2 [Reaction +2, +2 Initiative Dice]

KNOWLEDGE SKILLS AND LANGUAGES
Gardening 2, Motorcycles 3, Police Tactics 4, Streets of Seattle 4, Street Gangs 4, Weapons Manufacturers 4
Afrikaans 3, English N

QUALITIES
Courageous

CONNECTIONS
Barkeeper, Pawn Shop Owner, Black Market Weapons Dealer

I can do that.

Well, the MARKs system as described in the QSR seems to be pretty close to the real thing, biggest question for me would be what it takes to simply get into a node...provided that concept still exists at all...

Hosts are places in the Matrix you can go. You need a mark on a host to enter it. Nodes aren't a thing in the core rule book.

Nodes aren't a thing in the core rule book.

Hmm, so (assuming the QSRs reflect the actual game) getting into $CORP's mainframe just for the bragging rights is a Logic + Hacking (Firewall) test, which also is the kind of test you need to gain further MARKs and do stuff once inside ...

What's the difference besides terminology? One host = one device?

That's one approach, yeah. There's more than one way to skin an icon. EDIT: also the skill and attribute (and limit) that you need once you're inside a host depend a lot on what you're trying to do in there.


In SR4, everything was both an object and a place. We thought that made things really complicated really quickly. So in SR5, everything is either an object (devices, personas, and files) or a place (hosts). So a host is a host, a device is a device, a persona's a persona, and a file's a file. Unless I'm forgetting a fifth type of Matrix icon. I think it's only four.

Unless I'm forgetting a fifth type of Matrix icon. I think it's only four.

That's a good shift. I do want to see how a host might interact with another host, though. Linked hosts? Subhosts?

Programs?

For instance, the Armor Hacking program gives you a + 2 dice pool modifier to resist Matrix damage. The Exploit program gives you a +2 bonus on your Sleaze attribute when attempting to Hack on the Fly, etc.

I see. Are there programs that affect limits? And can programs still be crashed with a targeted attack?

EDIT: also the skill and attribute (and limit) that you need once you're inside a host depend a lot on what you're trying to do in there.

So in SR5, everything is either an object (devices, personas, and files) or a place (hosts).

Sure, spending the marks often requires a test, but first you need to get those marks. And getting those apparently is the same process for the initial access and every subsequent one. I'd have preferred something which reflects the fluff of having overcome the outer defenses in crunch, but oh well, if that ends being my worst complaint about the new matrix...


So a host is something you can get inside of, and the rest is some icon you interact with?

Arrrrgh

You can “hop” between grids, but which grids you can access depend on where you are in the world. You can get on the public or any global grid from anywhere on the planet. Local grids can only be accessed if you’re physically in the grid’s service area. For example, if you’re on Netzwerks Berlin, you could see and interact with a commlink that is on Seattle’s Emerald City, but you wouldn’t be able to hop to Emerald City grid itself

Why ?

And you lost me, right there. Grids are like a cell network, OK. I can see devices which are not on my grid, huh? But I can't get on the remote grid myself, huh²? If I have access to devices on other grids, why do I care about those things? For a subchapter that allegedly wants to explain the concept of grids, it leaves open more questions than it answers...

...if you’re using a sim module along with your DNI, you can get a sort of “super AR mode” where you can also feel, smell, and taste your AR experience.

...if you use AR with a direct neural interface like trodes or an implant, you can use all of your senses to view AR without any extra devices.

Okay, so, conflicting information from two spots on the same page.



Which is it? Is DNI alone enough to use all your senses, or do you in fact need an additional sim module to experience smell, taste, and touch?

Addendum: A couple pages later, in the hacking example, you're honestly telling me that a bank 1) has an emergency exit in a deserted back alley that is not covered by security cameras, 2) has outfitted this emergency exit with a maglock instead of a mechanical one-way locking system, and 3) has outfitted a universal access port to the outside of this door? Why?!? What possible reason could they have for this utter security idiocy? They're a goddamn bank!

~Umi

And damage to his Icon means his deck is ... on fire? Or at least sizzling? But it can be repaired in a few hours, so I guess it's only got non-vital components that are highly flamable. now?

No actual rules covered. Fabulous. That answers all the questions I had. It does raise a number of further questions though.

So it's a half-old style, half-SR4 Matrix now, with LTGs that seem really meaningless except for the malus you get when accessing across a grid (to stay with Epicedion's example, a Verizon phone can call a Sprint phone, but the call will be lousy quality, I guess). Then there are local LTGs, as opposed to global LTGs (RTGs?), and if you do not happen to be in the city the local network is bound to you cannot access it? Did I get that right?

Also, there is so much Strange in the example Matrix run, aside from the weird security setup of the bank itself. Why does the Decker tap into the lock with a data cable? Isn't this supposed to be, you know, a wireless Matrix? Is wireless hacking so bad it is unviable now? Why doesn't someone else watch the hacker's meatbod? Does Overwatch log a character's actions in the Matrix ... a day? until re-log? forever? If so, why on earth is the guy hacking some waitresses' s commlink while on a run? And damage to his Icon means his deck is ... on fire? Or at least sizzling? But it can be repaired in a few hours, so I guess it's only got non-vital components that are highly flamable. I wonder if Technomancers get the same treatment, though. And even an elegant jackout gives you dumpshock now? That'll go well with corp deckers and wage slaves.

It appears that Matrix Combat Damage = Deck Damage.

The idea is that grids largely overlap. You can be on the Renraku grid and access proximate icons on the Seattle grid or the public grid but there's some interference between them (my Verizon phone can call your Sprint phone).

You can hop grids if you have access rights or break in.

EDIT: Think of it like an LTG

Which leads me to the preview's small glimpse at the JackPoint Host. I'm having a very hard time imagining that it operates at all like the old JackPoint, much less Shadowland before that. A dangerous community of criminals somehow manage to operate their own private Host and GOD doesn't just smite them down from the digital sky? Yeah, sure. No, especially combined with the Hidden Stories stuff about FastJack and the Ares mind-control nanites and whatnot, it seems like JackPoint as a Host would have be GOD controlled, meaning it's one giant idiot trap.

~Umi

So here's a question...

Hosts: who can "host" one, and how much control do they have over it? I assume not just anyone can set up a Host, and I also assume that GOD mandates limits on how an "owner" can restrict access or otherwise control their own Host. Just how does this all work?

If I own a nightclub and want to create a Host for it, can I do that myself, or do I have to ask GOD to do it for me?
~Umi

If you can hide hosts on the Matrix, doesn't the whole GOD-everwhere setup lose any semblance of reason?