Help - Search - Members - Calendar
Full Version: Otaku or Decker - help needed!
Dumpshock Forums > Discussion > Shadowrun
Yawgmoth
Hi all,

I've picked up the Matrix expansion for SR3, and am looking to play again after a few years away. I'm writing a new character but can't decide between an Otaku or a decker. I've generated the sheets for both, but it seems that the Otaku is not as effective as the decker, even though they're supposed to be "Uber" deckers. Silly amounts of good karma appear to be needed to increase channels via stat-line. Deckers on the other hand need the deck ect, but as a starting character (via priority system) start off with a better MPCP, and similar hardening and initiative ect.

What do you think? Is a decker or an Otaku the best way to go to be sh*t-hot in the matrix?
ShadowDragon8685
Try starting off with the Companion's point-buy system, see if that gets you anywhere else.
Yawgmoth
No can do, The GM is quite specific on this. More than enything, I want to know peoples experiance - is it something that balances out as the character gains experience or do deckers always have an edge that Otaku dont?
ShadowDragon8685
Well, remember...

You can always put a round into a Cyberdecker's Cyberdeck. And then all his skills are for shit, and it's possible he's lost all his expensive programs. You can't stop an otaku from otakuing, short of putting one through his dome.

Otaku are supposed to be really mad wizzer nova-over Deckers, which pisses me off. It's bad enough PhysAds can beat the unholy hell out of anyone else, now we need CyberAds under a different name?

Why not just call it Mage: The Running? (okay, rant. Sorry.)

I don't know. Maybe you built it wrong or something, but I know an Otaku is supposed to be head, shoulders, arms, hands, waist, groin, and knees above a Decker.
Yawgmoth
Well, I've built it pretty well. As far as I can see, the problem revolves around the channels. Since these are linked to your intelligence, charisma and willpower raising them is with karma is rather expensive. These can't be augmented by operational utilities which are available to deckers at high ratings. Submersion significantly improves Otaku, but it's a slow process. We have a starting decker in the group and his initiative is higher, as is his MPCP. And I agree with thie whole magic getting involved with everything - it should be for spell slingers and conjurers. There's not even anything to stop the becoming street sam deckers as well!

As I said, I'm newish (not having played since SR"), and Otaku are pretty new to me - I'd appreciate if anyone had a starting set of stats to compare mine against.
toturi
If you use pure vanilla priority system without Edges and Flaws, Otaku do not have the overwhelming edge they have over deckers. But even so, otaku can be a lot more effective than deckers. Remember the best deck a decker has access to at chargen should be the CMT Avatar (unless the GM change the chargen Avail). That is a measly MPCP of 7. A good baseline chargen otaku should have at least 8 in all his mental attributes. A really good otaku could have an MPCP of 10+, which surpasses that of a Novatech Slimcase!

Sample human otaku
Strength 1
Body 1
Quickness 1
Intelligence 9 (Exceptional Intelligence Edge)
Willpower 9 (Exceptional Willpower Edge)
Charisma 8

Or sample dwarf otaku without Edges
S 3
B 2
Q 1
I 8
W 9
C 8

MPCP 9
Yawgmoth
ahhh - I see, the starting decker has a kraftwerk-8. Not sure how to get baseline stats of 8, doesn't being aan otaku only add 1 to the racial miximums for mental charachteristics? As a boring humie that would only give me a basic MCPC of 7 frown.gif

Since we're not using the edges and flaws system, it might be better to go with a decker then
toturi
Your GM is allowing a Avail 10 gear in your game? And he's not allowing BP? (Forgive me, I'm going to my corner to have a good laugh...)

If you assign only 1 in all physical stats, you get to reduce your physical stat max but increase the mental max by 2. So you get base 8 in all mental. If you are using elf or dwarf, your MPCP is 9.
Zeel De Mort
I don't have stats to hand or anything, but I tried running through character creation once with otaku, and found they weren't novahot or anything. Then gave them lots of karma and found the same.

They're broadly comparable with deckers, but need sooooo much karma. Whereas the decker needs a mix of both (usually best, since you get both!). You also have to remember that otaku are pretty shit at anything outside the matrix, whereas it's not hard to build up a decker who is good at other things (e.g. combat, electronics, vehicles, talking to grown ups, and so on).

I'm not a huge fan of otaku anyway (can you tell?), but just on a purely numbers level... they're not miles ahead of deckers.

P.S. Only one exceptional attribute per character toturi, tut tut!
Yawgmoth
It all becomes clear!!!!!!

Think I'm going to drop the otaku idea - perhaps with edges and flaws they're better but I'd like to be able to do something besides deck in the game!!

As for the availability I'd never noticed it was 10 for the kraftwerk 8 !!! Words will be had!
Mugzy
The thing I have a hard time getting around, is the fact that it's hard to take an otaku seriously due to their age.

Honestly speaking, they can be as hot as they want, but I'm not taking a 14 year old with me on a run. There are too many other risks associated with their general immaturity, and the last thing the team needs is a kid to babysit in the middle of a firefight.

Worse yet, otaku probably can't attend a good number of meets due to their age as well, as many of these take place in clubs and bars.

I tend to use them as background fluff, if at all. AI created otaku are a different story, because they have some substance to them, other than just being around to overshadow the decker.
tisoz
QUOTE (Mugzy)
Honestly speaking, they can be as hot as they want, but I'm not taking a 14 year old with me on a run. There are too many other risks associated with their general immaturity, and the last thing the team needs is a kid to babysit in the middle of a firefight.

From what I've seen, youth doesn't get roleplayed very well.

QUOTE
Worse yet, otaku probably can't attend a good number of meets due to their age as well, as many of these take place in clubs and bars.

Fake, dwarf ID and disguise skill?
toturi
Some of my Johnson meets are in the Matrix nowadays since I have now a very competent Social Adept in my group (also any meet involving Link as the Johnson is conducted via Matrix). And those runs are mostly datasteals.

Having an otaku cover you in the Matrix is essential if you want to find out as much as you can about the Johnson. An otaku's Detection Factor is often quite high (higher than that of a similarly created decker). So if your group's otaku wishes to stay hidden during negotiations and follow the Johnson home afterwards so to speak, he is the best Matrix user for it.
sidartha
Something that hasn't been mentioned yet is the numerous wacky abilitys that Otaku can get.
There is no substitute for Info Sortalage among the Deckers.
And while Deckers need a balance of Karma and cash, the Otaku only need Karma. The Otaku can still benefit from Bioware that inhances natural mental abilitys and since they're not spending cred on the newest Fairlight they will get those implants quicker.
Glyph
Deckers are usually more playable. You can make an effective decker who can also function at least decently in other roles (sniper, gunfighting, break-in, face, etc.). If you play an otaku, typically you are good for nothing but decking. A bit of a generalization, maybe, but otaku do tend to be far more limited in their roles.
Cain
That's been my experience as well. It's easier to advance an Otaku's skills and abilites than it is to advance a decker's programs and hardware; but the decker has a lot more versatility. Heck, if you check out the combat decker archetype in the main book, he looks suspiciously like a light sammie.

The big advantage otaku have over deckers is that they get to start with insane mental attributes and a computer skill of 8. However, by doing so, you've pretty much killed off your ability to do anything physical. Decker/samurai and decker/rigger combinations can be extremely nasty, and you can even have solid decker/mage combinations. Otaku are good at what they do, and they start off somewhat better than a starting tricked-out decker, but you lose a *lot* of range.
toturi
Looking at it from a purely metagame perspective, the only type of run that a team without a decker but has an otaku is datasteal from an offline Matrix system.

Control and gathering of information (in both tactical and strategic senses) are the domain of the Matrix user. Although some information may be gathered through the Face(contacts) or through Magic (Divination or detection spells), information is primarily gathered by the decker/otaku and denial of information to the opposition is just as important. Consider also that with the high Intelligence that otaku possess, it would less possible for NPCs to outsmart the otaku (much like how some would argue that a high Intelligence NPC dragon should not be outsmarted by a bunch of Intelligence 4 PCs). A RML 8 Intelligence otaku can have a Attr Max of 12 (twice that of a normal chargen PC).
sidartha
QUOTE (Glyph)
Deckers are usually more playable.  You can make an effective decker who can also function at least decently in other roles (sniper, gunfighting, break-in, face, etc.).  If you play an otaku, typically you are good for nothing but decking.  A bit of a generalization, maybe, but otaku do tend to be far more limited in their roles.

I agree completely.
In a small team a Decker/something is usually more desirable. But when there are no glaring holes to be filled and the player feels up to the role-playing challenges, Otaku are not as worthless as people were saying.
This, of course, is just my most humble opinion.
Cain
They're hardly worthless, but about the only dual role an otaku can fill is otaku/face, and that's pretty limited because of the ettiquette restriction. Still, starting with Charisma 8 can be a huge advantage for a face.

In general, it's always better for people to have overlapping roles, regardless of how big the team is. A sam/techie and decker/rigger/techie might not use their backup skills much, but it's always nice to have the option in a pinch.
Glyph
It's hard to compare deckers and otaku, because otaku have innate abilities, while deckers depend on technology. On the one hand, deckers are more vulnerable to their decks being lost/stolen, and have to keep up with the technology curve. But on the other hand, their dependence on technology can be a strength depending on how easy it is to acquire it in a particular campaign. A decker who boosts the corporate decker's Fairlight Excalibur is suddenly much, much better than he was before.

If the campaign is a gritty street level one that is high on Karma but low on cash, then the otaku has an edge in decking. If the campaign has higher monetary rewards or opportunities to snag high-tech loot, then the decker will have the edge.


@Toturi: Overall, I would actually say it would tend to be easier to outsmart an otaku than it would be to outsmart a decker. Otaku are geniuses, yes, but also 'semi-autistic street kids with very limited life experiences'. They would probably fall for some tricks that would never work on a hardened runner. Once they get some real-life experience, though, their superhuman mental Attributes will come into play more effectively.
toturi
Glyph: Exactly. They won't be street kids in the first place if they fall for any tricks that would never work on a hardened runner. They would be smears on the pavement. Their life experiences might be limited to the Matrix and the street, but I would think these 2 "limited" areas are more than enough. Afterall, a ganger's life experiences might just be limited to the street biggrin.gif.
mfb
keep in mind, there's no reason you can't play a 18 to 20-year old otaku. that's plenty old enough to be an experienced runner, especially if you started young.
nick012000
AS for the folks that are saying that otaku are useless outside the Matrix, I have two words for you: grenade launcher.

The Launch Weapons skill is Int-based.

Also, I would personally play an elven otaku. Albino, with the Exceptional Attribute (Int), Bonus Attribute (Int), Aptitude (computer), and Natural Hardening Edges.

Abilities:
Str 1
Quickness 2
Body 1
Int 9
Will 9
Cha 10

And then we get to play the genius elven kid that plays with high explosives. biggrin.gif
sanctusmortis
Can you actually get a launcher and ammo easily to start?

I'd say that, in their domain the Matrix, it's hard to trick an Otaku. IRL, though, easy targets. After all, Matrix has datahavens, IRL has newspapers. Not as reliable or diverse...
toturi
QUOTE (sanctusmortis)
Can you actually get a launcher and ammo easily to start?

I'd say that, in their domain the Matrix, it's hard to trick an Otaku. IRL, though, easy targets. After all, Matrix has datahavens, IRL has newspapers. Not as reliable or diverse...

IRL, there are no otaku. There are no newspapers in SR, only screamsheets (which are tranmited through the Matrix).
Bigity
I swear, I wish some of you Body 1 people played in my games. Oh man, you let your telecom fall on your foot...please roll Body.

Oooooh, time for a cane, since you'd never survive surgery.
toturi
Telecoms are not on any list of canon improvised weapons, hence do not deal any damage. By the way... it is the falling object that takes damage, not the other way around.
Bigity
House rules, my friend. House rules.

I'll just improvise and use the collision rules from R3.
toturi
Ah... since when did you use your telecom as a form of transportation? Doctor Who and TARDIS does not count.
Bigity
It's not really a telecom. Just a custom drone built to look like one.
Vaevictis
QUOTE (Bigity)
I swear, I wish some of you Body 1 people played in my games. Oh man, you let your telecom fall on your foot...please roll Body.

Oooooh, time for a cane, since you'd never survive surgery.

Rule #1 of being a player in an RPG: If your GM is an arsehole, find a new GM.
Bigity
That's not being an asshole. In fact, the whole idea of a Body 1, Quickness 1 character is more being an asshole then that.

If you want to play a crippled mental giant in a game about violence, then you gotta accept the negatives that come with the positives.
Vaevictis
Sorry, but contriving a situation where you drop a bloody phone on your foot, and you make them roll body just because they have a body 1 IS asshole. Do you make your body 3 human mages do the same thing when they drop a telecom on their foot? I think not.

It's one thing if they're in the middle of a firefight and they get fragged because of their low body, but basically what you're saying is that you'd actively look for ways to screw them JUST because they have a low body. Sorry, but in my book, that's asshole, and that's when I find a new GM.

And it's not asshole to make an otaku with body 1 considering that the game SAYS that they're physically underdeveloped and then gives you a mechanism to ENCOURAGE you to take body/quick/strength 1. Further, most of these otaku are just bloody kids -- it makes a lot of sense that many of them would have a body of one.

Mugzy
I really just find it funny to watch our Body 2, Strength 1 elf mage try to climb, swim, run, or jump with his HUGE athletics of 0. Defaulting sucks when you don't have the attributes to back it up.

Funny thing is, he has a harness he wears so the others can haul him around when something like that comes up.
Bigity
Oh, I wouldn't actually do the telecom thing. I'm just pointing out that it's going to hurt. Anything is going to hurt.

I just dont think feeble, children otaku running around really fit the genre, so I discourage the practice.

Getting implants is a major hassle with a Body 1 also.
hyzmarca
QUOTE (Mugzy)
The thing I have a hard time getting around, is the fact that it's hard to take an otaku seriously due to their age.

Honestly speaking, they can be as hot as they want, but I'm not taking a 14 year old with me on a run. There are too many other risks associated with their general immaturity, and the last thing the team needs is a kid to babysit in the middle of a firefight.

Worse yet, otaku probably can't attend a good number of meets due to their age as well, as many of these take place in clubs and bars.

I tend to use them as background fluff, if at all. AI created otaku are a different story, because they have some substance to them, other than just being around to overshadow the decker.

Maturity is realitive. There are some very immature 80 year olds out there and there are some absurdly mature 10 year olds. You can't jusde indivicual maturity by age alone.

If a character is an Otaku then he or she grew up on the streets or in the Arcology. Both places make you grow up very fast. They have to know how to survive or else they wouldn't still be alive. The only problem is their physical stats. Making them elves and buying some pistol skill helps. So does giving them powerful social skills. With a potential 9 CHA before 'ware they can make deadly Faces.

Would you have the same reservations about a 14 year old who was born on the streets,who was raised by hobos, and who mainfested Killing Hands during a fist-fight with a Troll go-ganger when he was 8 years old?
Zeel De Mort
But most ten year olds are less mature than adults - and Otaku, by the way they're described, are certainly no exception.

Just because you have Charisma 9 doesn't mean you'll make a good face either. Otaku can still only start with Etiquette 4, and I don't care how high your Charisma and Etiquette are, you're still going to get huge modifiers if the team sends a 10 year old to the local arms dealer to get them a Panther Cannon!

Yeah you can make your Otaku a 20 year old if you like, but the majority of them aren't.

Even if physical stats were their only problem that's still a HUGE problem! Having body in the 1-3 range means you'll die very fast indeed if you go anywhere near combat, and avoiding it will be difficult/boring in a typical SR game. Strength and Quickness at a similar mark are problems too if you want to carry much gear at all, or be able to keep up when your team mates go out for a walk to the Stuffer Shack. smile.gif
Mugzy
Total agreement Zeel.

An Otaku can have a charisma of 9, or higher, but a Mr. J isn't going to waste his time with a kid.

They can't even buy a Soyweiser, let alone a piece of hot gear from a truly professional source.

In game mechanic terms, sure they have great social skills right off. In the more realistic aspect, their age, regardless of their actions, will have such a heavy penalty, they couldn't be a good face until 20 something.

The super young crack characters, to me seem to be a part of the anime influence on SR (I.E. A good percentage of the characters in animes are of very young age, yet have superb training as assassins or some such stuff. It's a wonder these kids know how to perform long division, let alone flying death kicks or whatever). It's an aspect I avoid like the plague.

The Otaku tend to go along with that aspect... and I've determined it's simply not for me.

Give me a decker any day with a well thought out deck and they'll smoke an Otaku.. favorite example was Fastjack in RA:S in the story about what happened at SL.

hyzmarca
QUOTE (Zeel De Mort @ Jul 8 2005, 01:51 PM)
But most ten year olds are less mature than adults - and Otaku, by the way they're described, are certainly no exception.

Just because you have Charisma 9 doesn't mean you'll make a good face either.  Otaku can still only start with Etiquette 4, and I don't care how high your Charisma and Etiquette are, you're still going to get huge modifiers if the team sends a 10 year old to the local arms dealer to get them a Panther Cannon!

Yeah you can make your Otaku a 20 year old if you like, but the majority of them aren't.

Even if physical stats were their only problem that's still a HUGE problem!  Having body in the 1-3 range means you'll die very fast indeed if you go anywhere near combat, and avoiding it will be difficult/boring in a typical SR game.  Strength and Quickness at a similar mark are problems too if you want to carry much gear at all, or be able to keep up when your team mates go out for a walk to the Stuffer Shack. smile.gif

The local arms dealer probably sells to 10 year olds on a regular basis if he sells to gangs. As for maturity, there are different types of it. An Otaku certainly has intellectual maturiry. With a INT of 8 it is ahrd not to. An Otaku certainly has street smarts and enough social matirity to survive and even gain leadership with a "tribe". An Otaku may not hav the same level of emotional maturity as an adult but that is really a hormoral thing. He is certainly more mature than the pastless friendless vindictive munchkinized kill-borg that disguises itself as a street samurai.

Yet the munchkinized kill-borg is somehow better suited to the setting than a child who spent his entire life either on the streets or in sealed city run by a mad computer that thinks it is GMing a game of Paranoia. Why is that?

This goes back to the Girl Scout vs the Adept question, really. Could 50 girlscouts take out a single Adept by relying on Friends in Melee bonuses?

However, no one asks is a single Megacorp raised and trained girlscout with a monowhip in her finger and the skill to use it could take out an Adept. It is a disytopian future. Childhood is a luxury some people can't afford. Ever hear of child soldiers?

In some parts of Africa 8 year old girls are given AK-47s and told that they have been drafted in some geurilla group and they have no choice but to fight for them or be killed. It is the same way in the world of SR. The diffrence is that this happens in Seatle as well. How many gangs do you think recruit children? Probably most of them. Some of them probably do so by threat of voilence. Most of them by giving the kids a sense of belonging.

Edit: some links
http://www.child-soldiers.org/
http://hrw.org/campaigns/crp/index.htm
http://www.amnestyusa.org/child_soldiers/index.do

10 year old member of the Khmer Rouge had little trouble working their Ak-47s or hacking up people with their machetes. Neither did 10 year old Hutus have trouble during then genocidal campaign against the Tutsis.

Anyone who deals with gang is going to deal with children. The younger members will be used as couriers and middle men so that the high-ups don't have to stick their necks out. If they have the money or the drugs then they will be taken seriously by virture of that fact. The person they are dealing with may think that they are just acting as a courier for someon else. That makes it easier.
tisoz
QUOTE (Mugzy)
I really just find it funny to watch our Body 2, Strength 1 elf mage try to climb, swim, run, or jump with his HUGE athletics of 0. Defaulting sucks when you don't have the attributes to back it up.

Funny thing is, he has a harness he wears so the others can haul him around when something like that comes up.

That's what Levitate is for.
Cynic project
QUOTE (toturi)
If you use pure vanilla priority system without Edges and Flaws, Otaku do not have the overwhelming edge they have over deckers. But even so, otaku can be a lot more effective than deckers. Remember the best deck a decker has access to at chargen should be the CMT Avatar (unless the GM change the chargen Avail). That is a measly MPCP of 7. A good baseline chargen otaku should have at least 8 in all his mental attributes. A really good otaku could have an MPCP of 10+, which surpasses that of a Novatech Slimcase!

Sample human otaku
Strength 1
Body 1
Quickness 1
Intelligence 9 (Exceptional Intelligence Edge)
Willpower 9 (Exceptional Willpower Edge)
Charisma 8

Or sample dwarf otaku without Edges
S 3
B 2
Q 1
I 8
W 9
C 8

MPCP 9

Both these things are pile of numbers and are dead if they have to deal with anything physical.

Otaku are too decker what Adepts are to street sams. But here is the trick, being a decker doesn't have to be the only thing your character is. See, Adepts give up cyberware and become good at one thing, and most the time they can be better the street sam at that. That is is fine, the street sams can do more things.

Now Deckers and street sams are a few skills apart. A decker can be good in a fight both on and offline. They can get combat ware,and contacts, and be your face, you waht not. They can do other shit. Otaku can um be good in the matrix. Wht else can they do? Can anyone show me an Otaku who is anything besides a fancy smart frame trapped in a child's body?

sanctusmortis
Well, seeing as you don't have to spend much on skills... use the points system. I've seen some Otaku with nicely rounded physical stats as well as mental, who can do both. Plus, very few gangs or corp security firms think the little kid is a runner with a Smartgun in their jacket.

As for the maturity, well they know everything a street-level character would. That's where they have always been. Now, love and trust in others but the tribe... that they will be lacking.
Shockwave_IIc
Also don't forget that that an Otaku makes for a very good matrix face, an area wher the fact that they are 12 or younger matters little.

Owner of a Lovely Body 1 Otaku
Cynic project
QUOTE (Shockwave_IIc)
Also don't forget that that an Otaku makes for a very good matrix face, an area wher the fact that they are 12 or younger matters little.

Owner of a Lovely Body 1 Otaku

With all their two contacts? Great face!
toturi
With... all of their 2 contacts... otaku come with a tribe built in.

BTW, the otaku can make sure you are never exposed (a term used by a player and borrowed from Spycraft CCG and I thought it was entirely apporpriate). APB? What APB? Evidence? What evidence? Reinforcements? Why are they late? Deckers can do all of the above, but only at the expense of their physical abilities. With the otaku, there is no such confusion. They are good at the matrix support and they remain as matrix support. A decker cannot deck and give you cover fire, so why bother?
hyzmarca
QUOTE (toturi)
With... all of their 2 contacts... otaku come with a tribe built in.

BTW, the otaku can make sure you are never exposed (a term used by a player and borrowed from Spycraft CCG and I thought it was entirely apporpriate). APB? What APB? Evidence? What evidence? Reinforcements? Why are they late? Deckers can do all of the above, but only at the expense of their physical abilities. With the otaku, there is no such confusion. They are good at the matrix support and they remain as matrix support. A decker cannot deck and give you cover fire, so why bother?

That is a good point. Body 1 isn't so much of a liability when the Otaku stays in the armored getaway and support van along with the rigger.
Glyph
I would dispute that otaku don't have to spend much on skills. They usually have to spend about 13 points or so to max out their starting channels (which are already limited by the rules, so you do want to max them out), get a computer skill of 8, then get things like street etiquette, electronics b/r (to create illegal jackpoints), and maybe a few survival skills such as first aid, pistols, and/or stealth. That's a far cry from, say, a sorcerer, who can start with under 20 skill points and still not seem too limited.

An otaku built with the Priority system is usually about 123 points or so, and has no problems starting out with enough in the way of Attributes and skills, assuming that you use the min-maxing method presented in the book. "Normal" otaku are not really worth it. You sacrifice the min-maxing aspect of what is essentially a min-maxed type of character, just to have physical Attributes around 3 instead of 1.

Part of the roleplaying challenge of otaku is that they really are woeful in the real world, and very dependent on the other runners for protection. They can do a lot of things from the team's armored van, or remotely, but they are still in trouble if they run into even a normal punk ganger when out in the "real" world. That can be an advantage for the GM, in some campaigns - otaku are less self-sufficient than some other archetypes, shining in their niche rather than being good at everything, so they are more inclined towards teamwork, and less towards hogging the spotlight.
Dissonance
Frankly, I think otaku are easier to keep track of, numberwise. The balance thing doesn't really come into question, I think. As long as you don't have more than one decker or otaku on a team, you just need to scale the decking to him.
Talia Invierno
Most of this has already been said, in one form or another, so consider this mostly by way of summary; and I'll start with what Cynic project worded particularly well:
QUOTE
Otaku are too decker what Adepts are to street sams.

That's pretty much it -- and which one of those two is "better" has been debated up and down these boards since I started here. It's a particularly potent argument from the pov of a determined generalist: by their nature, otaku almost cannot but be specialists. (And yet I still find them neat!)

Otaku inherently have a much greater ability to min-max IN/WL vs. physical attributes than any other character. Depending on the tone of the game, this can be awesome ... and it can mean something very close to instant death. (I've played a BD 1 non-otaku PC briefly -- just until I could gain enough karma and train up to BD 2. It's a very risky thing in most games.)

Since the otaku does with skills what deckers do with hardware or software, deckers are much more potentially skills-versatile, in and out of the Matrix. It's the inverse of the resources point mentioned later: otaku spend a much higher percentage of their skill points, and later their karma, on computer/channel-related skills than deckers, and thus have less to spend elsewhere.

Another part of the lowered skills versatility is because the otaku should, per canon, have some significant degree of social difficulty with meat-world social interactions outside his or her tribe. Otaku, by the way they have been written up in canon, are meat-world social outsiders; and it's almost impossible for non-otaku to break into the otaku's social circle/tribe. To call the otaku tribe something of a cult would not be an exaggeration. (A cautious GM should be wary of high CH and CH-linked skills in proposed otaku.) The decker has no such restriction.

In contrast, otaku are the specialists of the Matrix. The strong skill orientation means that they are karma sinks -- but otaku also don't have programme-related nuyen requirements. (There are computer- and programming-related expenses for otaku, but they are of a very different quality -- and cash-quantity -- than for your average decker.)

In contrast to a decker, who will continually be investing most or all of their nuyen into their deck, a much greater percentage of an otaku's resources can be dedicated to non-deck items, such as the useful cyber/bio that makes any Matrix-capable character even hotter in the Matrix.

Finally, don't forget the role of the AI behind the otaku ...
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.
Dumpshock Forums © 2001-2012