The thing about the 4E matrix rules is, while they're certainly not perfect, they do IMHO work, at least close to 90% of the times. Possibly the worst complaint I could level against them is that they're too complicated. Now obviously this is a pretty massive project you've posted here, which means that reading it, let alone learning it (a more involved process than simply reading it) would be a pretty epic time investment for a prospective GM, especially one whose players are, after almost two IRL years of campaign time, finally getting the hang of the standard SR4 rules.
So I suppose my question to you is, in your opinion, what is so broken about the basic SR4 matrix rules so as to require this undertaking (both on your part and obviously the part of the end-user)? Sorry if you answered this somewhere else in the ten pages of comments following the original posts, in keeping with the theme of tl;dr I've got going here, I skimmed.
Well I feel silly! It's the first thing you posted in the thread. Missed 'dem spoiler tags. While I do think I will try to read some of this massive overhaul out of idle curiosity (I loves me some Shadowrun rules), I don't think it's for me and my players. The problem with them isn't that they powergame, in fact the problem with them is usually convincing them to maintain a basic level of competence sufficient to not have every remotely challenging run ending in a TPK. (While only the resident hacker has DRASTICALLY INSUFFICIENT dice pools (I'm working on it atm) they all have a tendency to make stupid decisions, overthink things, or somehow both at once.) The last problem in the world I'd encounter is them having too much power (outside of anything but maybe physical combat).So what precisely is wrong with the Matrix rules in SR4 such that they need to be completely rewritten from the ground up (again, for the 10th time)? Simply: the Matrix rules in SR4 do not hold up when people attempt to push them or exploit them. Even authors of Unwired have described it as “Six parts Hollywood hackers, six parts modern tech, zero parts playtesting by a powermunchkin.” And that's a shame. Fundamentally, I believe that the matrix rules need to be more solid than do the rules of other subsystems. Unlike magic or car driving or whatever, the Matrix is predicated on the idea of the acting characters actually knowing the rules and deliberately attempting to exploit holes in them. Hacking is about finding power exploits, so if power exploits exist in the rules it is actually counter immersive for characters in the world to not use them.
So the basic SR4 rules contain the exploits of Script Kiddy (where you can wave your credstick around instead of actually having any skill to hack effectively), Hackastack (where you can benefit from having multiple iterations of hardware to bypass structural limits of personal identity), Drop-Out (where you can choose to segregate yourself from the matrix and still hack effectively despite being unhackable in return), and Agent Smith (where you can gain extra actual actions from your pocket book). The net result is that characters with no technical skills at all can throw some money on the table and hack as if they were dozens or hundreds of hackers at no actual risk to themselves or anything they care about. That's bad, because the entire concept of a hacker entails the fact that if they could do that then they would. It is the hope that these presented rules will not have problems like that, or that if they do that at the very least they will not produce a such perfect storm which relegates the concept of the Matrix Specialist to the dustbin of history.
Thanks! : )
P.S.
This made me smile.Within the game of Shadowrun the player characters drill holes into their heads in order to create a good mind/machine interface so that they can better hack into secure computer systems while running around cyber ninja style so that they can complete espionage missions and go back to the seedy dives that they live in and take the electronic currency that they are paid in and spend what they don't squander on food and rent and buy black market gadgets that let them be even better at espionage and/or shooting people in the face for money so that they can be a bigger noise in freelance crime and eventually retire to a tropical island with a Mercedes full of cheerleaders. A lofty profession and a noble life goal to be sure, and it makes for some very nice storytelling and some entertaining characters.
