For the last three weeks or so I've been working on a procedurally generated stealth game with the explicit intent of giving it to you guys as a stand-in for the Hacking Minigame that currently exists in Shadowrun. Namely that the GM needs to run two different scenes at the same time: one for the hacker and one for everyone else.
5th didn't really solve this problem and introduced the whole "Host" idea which only made things more confusing as to WTF was actually going on.
This project is far from done, but it's at a point where it is usable for the purpose that I have been building it for. That is: it doesn't look pretty and not all the features are complete, but it can be used in place of splitting the party. GM boots this up on a laptop, enters the relevant system attributes, and then reviews the resulting dungeon. Then he hits "Hacker setup" and passes it to the player who inputs their relevant attributes, and then plays a minigame on their own in VR while the GM runs the meatworld.
I am most certainly going to keep working on this in the coming days and weeks. Though don't expect much in the way of visuals: I'm neither a graphic artist nor a 3D modeler.
http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~mmj29/temp/hacking.html
Requires the Unity Web Player (it's like Flash, but 3D).
Controls are listed underneath on the page.
Only thing(s) of note:
When it says "paydata found" that is a mostly-complete feature. Essentially it's an abstract evaluation of non-target data that the hacker found and downloaded which can later be sold for some nuyen. The total value collected isn't displayed yet (oops, forgot) but is tracked. Each one is only 200-1200 nuyen or so.
Each "room" has its own alert level, but that information is not displayed to the player at the moment. I haven't come up with a good way of doing it. In general if you get spotted the alertness of that room goes up twice as fast as the global alert level, but decays over time. It also raises the alert level of all connected rooms (on the GM review screen there are some red lines: those show security connectivity or connections that only matters for alertness).
I've also got a thread on TigSource for the development (screenshots abundant).
http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=39262
Full Version: A New Way to Hack
Sounds wonderful! I'll definitely look into this if I get a game going.
I'm not sure what to think.
On the one hand, the idea of giving the Hacker their own separate little digital dungeon to crawl through while the rest of the team does their thing in theory would reduce the amount of work the GM has to do. (It's also kind of brilliant to have the player leave the "physical" world of the game to go play a literal computer game on their laptap, the results of which directly impact the "physical" game world when you're done.)
But on the other hand, this kind of feels like treating the symptoms rather than curing the disease. From my perspective, the problem is less with how you implement the splitting up of the party between those who hack and those who don't, and is more with the need to even have that split in the first place.
- Addendum -
The closest parallel I can draw is with Magicians, who can Astrally project. Most of the time, Magicians don't actually have to Astrally Project in order to do their job - in fact, it's a relatively rare sort of thing to do so, and it gets employed pretty much just for niche purposes.
In contrast, very few dedicated Hackers can do their job without going full VR to do the things they need to do. Sure, you can technically run AR, but at that point why bother when you could just have an Agent do it for you with roughly the same effectiveness? The big problem as I see it is that Hacking is too unforgiving, that it requires too much hard investment, and that consequently only the truly specialized can succeed at it in any reasonable measure. You effectively need to go VR to be able to do your job, and that means regularly leaving the meat world behind just to get things done.
Mages, on the other hand, don't ever have to Astrally project if they don't want to. They lose out on a few neat tricks that way, but their daily bread and butter of casting spells has zero real dependence on Astral projection. They can stay in the meat world their whole lives, yet they still get to meaningfully influence it in ways no one else can through magical power.
Which leads me to another aspect of Hacking which I think is broken - "Virtual Reality".
When a Magician decides to Astrally Project, they essentially move into a different "layer" of reality - they're still in the same world as before, they're just interacting with it via a different set of rules. But when a Hacker decides to run VR, they enter an entirely different dimension separate from the real world.
If Hackers could be fully effective without having to make the equivalent of trip to an entirely different Metaplane, I think a ton of their problems would disappear. Which is why the whole disconnected Virtual World is such a problem - it essentially forces you to stop interacting with the meat world in ways no other character is forced to.
Imagine if hacking an enemy's PAN was as simple as casting a spell on someone. Instead of having to slump over unconcious and perform a small Metaplanar Quest to open a door, you could just roll your "Hackcasting" dice against a target's "Digital Willpower + Counterhacking" and produce an effect instantly upon success. If a Hacker is on a run with their team, they should be able to be just as effective at hacking as a mage is at casting spells or a street samurai is at shooting guns, and with the same investment of time and effort.
Of course, more complicated hacking could still be an option. VR could be made to serve the role that Astral Projection currently does - useful for advance scouting, or remote operations, or for specialized "Metaplanar Quests" allowing for things that can only be accomplished in that manner. So if you wanted to hack someone on the other side of the world, you could go VR and fly through the Matrix to the location in question - just like how a Mage can Astrally Project and fly around the world to cast a Mana spell at their target.
Or if you wanted to gather information about the electronics in a given location, you could "Digitally Project", flying to that location virtually, and while projecting could roll your "Digital Perception test", with various technological devices showing up in the way that the auras of creatures and spells and focus and whatnot do for Astrally Projecting Magicians.
Heck, why even "Project"? Walk into a room and turn on your "Digital Perception". While it is active, you would be both Physically and "Digitally" present in that location, in exactly the same way that a Magician is both Physically and Astrallly present. Likewise, you'd be able to detect the "Digital Auras" of anything which possessed one, in exactly the same way that your Awakened counterparts can detect magical auras.
Add in digital counterparts for all the various magical mechanics. When you "Project" into the Matrix, you can fly through walls and whatnot, but you can't pass through "Digital Wards" and other such "Barriers". This lets you freely snoop through the tech present in unprotected places, but anywhere secure is going to be "Warded" and not directly accessible. You can break through, or use special tricks to pass through, but at a cost and with risks.
The more I think about this idea, the more elegant of a solution it seems. Having different systems operating off of shared core concepts and mechanics makes life simpler and easier for everyone. Turning VR from an everyday necessity into a situation specific specialty does wonders for making Hackers less all-or-nothing, and it keeps them from having to run around and do things in a completely separate world while the rest of their team operates in reality.
~Umi
On the one hand, the idea of giving the Hacker their own separate little digital dungeon to crawl through while the rest of the team does their thing in theory would reduce the amount of work the GM has to do. (It's also kind of brilliant to have the player leave the "physical" world of the game to go play a literal computer game on their laptap, the results of which directly impact the "physical" game world when you're done.)
But on the other hand, this kind of feels like treating the symptoms rather than curing the disease. From my perspective, the problem is less with how you implement the splitting up of the party between those who hack and those who don't, and is more with the need to even have that split in the first place.
- Addendum -
The closest parallel I can draw is with Magicians, who can Astrally project. Most of the time, Magicians don't actually have to Astrally Project in order to do their job - in fact, it's a relatively rare sort of thing to do so, and it gets employed pretty much just for niche purposes.
In contrast, very few dedicated Hackers can do their job without going full VR to do the things they need to do. Sure, you can technically run AR, but at that point why bother when you could just have an Agent do it for you with roughly the same effectiveness? The big problem as I see it is that Hacking is too unforgiving, that it requires too much hard investment, and that consequently only the truly specialized can succeed at it in any reasonable measure. You effectively need to go VR to be able to do your job, and that means regularly leaving the meat world behind just to get things done.
Mages, on the other hand, don't ever have to Astrally project if they don't want to. They lose out on a few neat tricks that way, but their daily bread and butter of casting spells has zero real dependence on Astral projection. They can stay in the meat world their whole lives, yet they still get to meaningfully influence it in ways no one else can through magical power.
Which leads me to another aspect of Hacking which I think is broken - "Virtual Reality".
When a Magician decides to Astrally Project, they essentially move into a different "layer" of reality - they're still in the same world as before, they're just interacting with it via a different set of rules. But when a Hacker decides to run VR, they enter an entirely different dimension separate from the real world.
If Hackers could be fully effective without having to make the equivalent of trip to an entirely different Metaplane, I think a ton of their problems would disappear. Which is why the whole disconnected Virtual World is such a problem - it essentially forces you to stop interacting with the meat world in ways no other character is forced to.
Imagine if hacking an enemy's PAN was as simple as casting a spell on someone. Instead of having to slump over unconcious and perform a small Metaplanar Quest to open a door, you could just roll your "Hackcasting" dice against a target's "Digital Willpower + Counterhacking" and produce an effect instantly upon success. If a Hacker is on a run with their team, they should be able to be just as effective at hacking as a mage is at casting spells or a street samurai is at shooting guns, and with the same investment of time and effort.
Of course, more complicated hacking could still be an option. VR could be made to serve the role that Astral Projection currently does - useful for advance scouting, or remote operations, or for specialized "Metaplanar Quests" allowing for things that can only be accomplished in that manner. So if you wanted to hack someone on the other side of the world, you could go VR and fly through the Matrix to the location in question - just like how a Mage can Astrally Project and fly around the world to cast a Mana spell at their target.
Or if you wanted to gather information about the electronics in a given location, you could "Digitally Project", flying to that location virtually, and while projecting could roll your "Digital Perception test", with various technological devices showing up in the way that the auras of creatures and spells and focus and whatnot do for Astrally Projecting Magicians.
Heck, why even "Project"? Walk into a room and turn on your "Digital Perception". While it is active, you would be both Physically and "Digitally" present in that location, in exactly the same way that a Magician is both Physically and Astrallly present. Likewise, you'd be able to detect the "Digital Auras" of anything which possessed one, in exactly the same way that your Awakened counterparts can detect magical auras.
Add in digital counterparts for all the various magical mechanics. When you "Project" into the Matrix, you can fly through walls and whatnot, but you can't pass through "Digital Wards" and other such "Barriers". This lets you freely snoop through the tech present in unprotected places, but anywhere secure is going to be "Warded" and not directly accessible. You can break through, or use special tricks to pass through, but at a cost and with risks.
The more I think about this idea, the more elegant of a solution it seems. Having different systems operating off of shared core concepts and mechanics makes life simpler and easier for everyone. Turning VR from an everyday necessity into a situation specific specialty does wonders for making Hackers less all-or-nothing, and it keeps them from having to run around and do things in a completely separate world while the rest of their team operates in reality.
~Umi
QUOTE (Umidori @ Apr 7 2014, 04:58 AM) 
On the one hand, the idea of giving the Hacker their own separate little digital dungeon to crawl through while the rest of the dead does their thing in theory would reduce the amount of work the GM has to do. (It's also kind of brilliant to have the player leave the "physical" world of the game to go play a literal computer game on their laptap, the results of which directly impact the "physical" game world when you're done.)
But on the other hand, this kind of feels like treating the symptoms rather than curing the disease. From my perspective, the problem is less with how you implement the splitting up of the party between those who hack and those who don't, and is more with the need to even have that split in the first place.
But on the other hand, this kind of feels like treating the symptoms rather than curing the disease. From my perspective, the problem is less with how you implement the splitting up of the party between those who hack and those who don't, and is more with the need to even have that split in the first place.
Oh I completely agree.
But not having a solution to the underlaying problem that works in a satisfying way (as nice as your write up is, it doesn't really work for me; mostly because my ideal solution involves getting the street sam and the mage as involved in hacking as the face and hacker can be during a firefight: useful and beneficial even at lower dice pools).
I went in a route that was both fun to create, tested my skills as a programmer, and created something that addresses the symptom in a fun way. I liked the idea that the player leaves the physical world to play a literal computer game, though naturally he can still listen in and reply to conversation, and so on.
The in-game goals of my simulated environment are pretty basic right now (equivalent to "find a particular file") but I want to make it more flexible with multiple objectives so that there can be some additional back-and-forth interaction with the rest of the group. "Oh that door's locked, one second, let me just find that node...done!"
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