The Ends v4.01

General questions, debates, and rants about RPGs

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Libertad
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Post by Libertad »

Public Service Announcement!

The Ends of The Matrix in the original link is unavailable because Megaupload got shot down by the IP police.

And I didn't find it on Lokathor's Free RPG Blog, so... is it lost to the Internet?
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Post by JesterZero »

Libertad wrote:And I didn't find it on Lokathor's Free RPG Blog, so... is it lost to the Internet?
It's certainly not lost; I have multiple versions of it on my machine at home.

I'll put up some temporary links tonight until a more long-term solution can be put in place.

EDIT: Updated below.

Lokathor's Versions My "Pretty" Versions
Last edited by JesterZero on Sat Nov 17, 2012 1:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Libertad »

Thanks, man!
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Post by Lokathor »

Libertad wrote:Public Service Announcement!

The Ends of The Matrix in the original link is unavailable because Megaupload got shot down by the IP police.

And I didn't find it on Lokathor's Free RPG Blog, so... is it lost to the Internet?
I think you're confused maybe. I don't run thefreerpgblog.com, which is why it's not on their site.

My site is on google docs, and the specific page for EotM is here:
https://sites.google.com/site/lokathorg ... the-matrix
[*]The Ends Of The Matrix: Github and Rendered
[*]After Sundown: Github and Rendered
plavni
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Post by plavni »

FrankTrollman wrote:Equipment

Rated Programs: Cost/Availability
  • Analysis Programs 500¥/Rating – 2/Rating
    Attack Programs: 2000¥/Rating – 2/Rating
    Communications Programs: 1000¥/Rating – 2/Rating
    Exploit Programs: 1500¥/Rating – 2/Rating
    Operations Programs: 500¥/Rating – 2/Rating
    Pilot: 500¥/Rating – 3/Rating*
    IC: 500¥/Rating – 2/Rating


    Internal Commlinks
    Internal Commlinks are of primary use because of the direct wired connection they have to the user's brain. This allows the user to wirelessly communicate with their network through EUE and severely limit the ability of hackers to take their network away. The system is set to send information in and out, and bypasses a need to have a Sim Module. The Internal Commlink costs .2 Essence and 2000¥ plus the cost of the commlink itself. If you get it at a higher rating, you only need to pay the extra cost for the 2000¥ installation feed, not the cost including the commlink itself. When installed, the Commlink can either be Hot Sim enabled or not. Enabling BTL is illegal in many places, but not doing so will not necessarily prevent you from using it. However, if a wired BTL path is not established when the device is installed, Hot Sim sensory information will have to be sent wirelessly, at which point the Internal Commlink will act just like a set of trodes while the network is running hot. Hot Sim enabling uses up no more Essence and doesn't cost a different amount, it literally just changes the legality.
Two questions here:

1. How exactly do the program costs work? if I'm reading it correctly, a rating 4 attack program would cost 2000/[4-2] = 2000/2 = 1000¥, and a rating 6 program would cost 2000/[6-2] = 2000/4 = 500¥ . Are better programs supposed to be cheaper and programs below rating 3 free?

2. What exactly would be getting the internal commlink at a higher rating?
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Post by Username17 »

1. That's a cost of 2000 per rating and an availability of 2 per rating.

2. That's hardware ratings. So if you wanted to get a better signal or something the other costs wouldn't change.

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Post by Pulsewidth »

There's no reason encryption can't work exactly like it does IRL. Shadowrun computers aren't real life computers, but encryption is just mathematics, and changing mathematics strains verisimilitude too much for me. This doesn't harm the game because key management is still a weakness (see http://xkcd.com/538/ ), and hackers have many new ways of acquiring keys.

We can also assume that computers in 2070 are powerful enough that full homomorphic encryption is feasible. This explains why elite hackers are willing to pay for software: each program must be customized for the user's brain, and there's no risk sending the dealer a detailed brainprint (any hacker OS can generate this with the active cooperation of the brain being profiled), because it can be encrypted with a random temporary key and then homomorphically processed to generate the customized software without the dealing ever knowing anything about it. The plaintext brainprint and the key never leave the user's PAN, and they can be deleted immediately after the custom software is received and decrypted.
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Post by Username17 »

Well, if you go with "real" hacking, then it becomes all kinds of stupid shit like requesting password resends and then looking up someone's personal information on wikipedia (it worked to unlock Sarah Palin's illegal personal email account that she was running state business through without leaving it in government archives). That kind of thing makes for a good story, but a terrible game. Because in a game it basically boils down to the MC playing "guess what I'm thinking about".

More importantly, if what you're doing is acquiring a passcode by guessing common words or social engineering or straight up stealing it from a place it is stored... then you're a legal icon and there isn't any alarm bullshit at all. For the computer guy to be turning up in glowing Tron armor to have kung fu matches with the system, you have to be able to "brute force your way in", which doesn't really make any sense but is far more exciting.

For purposes of the Shadowrun game, hacking has to work like movie hacking. Because anything that was remotely like actual early 21st century hacking wouldn't be real time or interesting to describe. And then it wouldn't be an appropriate player character action.

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Post by Pulsewidth »

If you're spoofing an Access ID then you can be a legal icon too. Allowing real world crypto actually makes Tron battles more likely. With inherently breakable asymmetric crypto anybody can sneak in given sufficient time. If there's no guarantee you can acquire a key you might have to resort to the Backdoor exploit, which is presumably detectable.
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Post by Pulsewidth »

I'm planning on GMing with these rules, so I've been thinking carefully about all the concepts involved. The one I had most trouble with was Line of Sight.

The game mechanical reason for LoS requirements are to encourage hackers to stay with the rest of the party and to give corporate servers a chance to survive now that IC is weak. The in-universe justification is unclear. It can't be a requirement of the signal transmission, because LoS range attacks are possible anywhere on the Matrix once a connection is open. The only plausible reason is that it's essential for the metahuman brain powered part of the attack. The attack could theoretically be sent to any arbitrary Matrix address, but if the brain can't "see" where the target is then its attribute+skill can't be used, and with zero dice pool the attack fails. Once a connection is opened additional handshaking information is exchanged that lets the hacker use full brainpower even without the visual cues.

However, hacking is not magic, so there's no reason there has to be a direct optical path. The image of the target could even be entirely simulated if you had accurate knowledge of its position. You could set up an AR "window" in a wall with the image of the target virtually behind it. You can use drones for spotting if you can display their sensor data in this way (which requires knowing the exact position of the drone). You can even guess the locations of targets, but if you miss the target can notice your attempt if it succeeds at a Matrix Perception test with threshold equal to the number of meters your aim was off (rounded up). Creating such an AR representation is a Complex Action. If the target is moving then it can be updated to match the new position (if known) as a Free Action.

The target still needs to be within signal range of a device on the network containing the metahuman brain doing the targeting. I don't think there's any need to distinguish between retransmitters and directional retransmitters now, and there's no reason retransmitters can't be arbitrarily chained. The better place to limit attack range is the ability of the metahuman brain to accurately understand the location of something they're seeing. To avoid excessive dice rolls this can be a flat threshold, and it should be something comparable to a Technomancer's signal range. 100m per point of Intuition sounds reasonable.

The other potential problem is how Technomancers interact with this system. By going VR they can easily see any target, and their ability to automatically make connections is also potentially problematic. It seems like it could be a good idea for an ordinary hacker to take a point of resonance just for access to those abilities, even if they had no intention of ever using Complex Forms or Sprites.

To solve this I think there should be no transparency between hacking and technomancy. When a Technomancer opens a connection, it's fundamentally different from a hacker's connection. Only resonance based attacks can be sent through it. Technomancers can't relay their resonance based abilities through any other hardware, they only get to use their brain. They also don't benefit from any stat improvements from devices on their network when using resonance based abilities either. Spotting from technomantic VR only gives enough understanding to target resonance based abilities, although it can be used to gather information for future AR targeting.
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Post by Pulsewidth »

Forcing Arrows onto people is a cool idea, but the rules are conspicuously missing. How about these?

Arrow (Attack Program)
Type: B Range: S Time: CA (S)
An Arrow is projected directly into the target's optic nerve. The Logic + Cybercombat check is opposed by the target's Firewall + Willpower + Signal Defense (if any). The victim sees an Arrow of the attackers choice, causing a distraction penalty equal to the net hits. This penalty is cumulative with penalties caused by any other Arrows, to a maximum of -6 (at which point vision is completely blocked). The victim may attempt to remove the Arrow by taking a Toggle AR/VR action and making a Logic + Computer test with a threshold of the net hits of Arrow. The attacker may voluntarily limit the penalty of the Arrow, eg. for battlefield communication.

Spam Storm (Attack Program)
Type: B Range: Special Time: CA (S)
This works like Arrow, only it affects all targets in range as though the signal rating of the transmitter is reduced by 3. The attacker rolls only once, with the same successes used for all targets.
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Post by Lokathor »

That's extremely similar to what the "Test Pattern" Registering Form does, but since Technomancers are kinda OP with all their sprite nonsense it doesn't really seem like a thing they need to have exclusively.
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Post by virgil »

I'm planning on running a SR game next week, and I'm wanting some advice for using EotM. For a mage character, what kind of matrix equipment/skills should they obtain so as to not be a drag on the group? What are musts for the group's hacker?
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Post by Korgan0 »

It's been a little while since I've looked at this stuff, but I think all you really need is the best Firewall you can afford and then maybe a couple of utility programs or something if you want to do some independent research.
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Post by RiotGearEpsilon »

If you're really paranoid, you might want to get a faraday hat, but I'd be more worried about people shooting you with bullets than jacking in to your head.
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Post by Lokathor »

Non-Matrix characters should get a Firewall of 6 (or 7), and all other commlink stats at 3+ should be fine.

Hacking is a skill they need to have 2 or 3 points in unless the hacker has Cloak, because it's like Infiltrate but matrix-wise. Probably put 1 point in Computer too.

Probably don't get a jammer helmet, it's instantly obvious when you turn it on. You're protected from hacking, but you're now as unstealthed as a person could be.
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Post by virgil »

So, a basic purchase for a shadowrunner that isn't planning on messing with the Matrix...

Tinfoil Intertubes Commlink
Commlink - Signal/Response 3
OS - System/Firewall 6
Programs (Rating 6): Cloak, Armor, Redundant Biofeedback Filters
Sum Cost 29.8k or less if the software is shared by the group's hacker

[EDIT] Updated cost and purchases to account for mistake
Last edited by virgil on Wed Jan 30, 2013 4:13 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Lokathor »

System caps the Rating of a program that can run on the network.

But also, System and Firewall are both "OS" parts of the whole thing, so given some time you can copy one Sys6/Fir6 OS onto another commlink and re-optimize it and you're done.

But you should get an IC program, and one or more of:
Terminate Connection
Crash
Blackhammer.

The IC will then flail about sending mostly-pathetic deadly signals back towards anyone that tries anything, which is a lot better than nothing.
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Post by virgil »

How well is critter brain architecture mapped out? Does essentially every guard dog need to have their brain slaved to the network of a facility, and thus act as an extra camera for the security system and allowing for complex tactics to be carried out?
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Post by Lokathor »

Things that aren't metahumans don't respond to the same programs that target metahumans:
A non-metahuman brain always is considered to have an optimized defense against any B type program that was not specifically written for the type of creature that it is. You cannot use hacking on the fly or threading to bypass that particular problem without very specialized skills and talents. So for example, a character who was attempting to use seize on a dragon or a shapeshifter would have their first two hits canceled automatically simply due to the alien neurophysiology. Ghouls are considered metahumans for this purpose.
However, a facility COULD have dog-oriented commlinks hooked up to their dogs if you really wanted. It'd be more like a special event though, not a thing that you'd want to have happening all the time.
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Post by Neurosis »

FrankTrollman wrote:Well, if you go with "real" hacking, then it becomes all kinds of stupid shit like requesting password resends and then looking up someone's personal information on wikipedia (it worked to unlock Sarah Palin's illegal personal email account that she was running state business through without leaving it in government archives). That kind of thing makes for a good story, but a terrible game. Because in a game it basically boils down to the MC playing "guess what I'm thinking about".

More importantly, if what you're doing is acquiring a passcode by guessing common words or social engineering or straight up stealing it from a place it is stored... then you're a legal icon and there isn't any alarm bullshit at all. For the computer guy to be turning up in glowing Tron armor to have kung fu matches with the system, you have to be able to "brute force your way in", which doesn't really make any sense but is far more exciting.

For purposes of the Shadowrun game, hacking has to work like movie hacking. Because anything that was remotely like actual early 21st century hacking wouldn't be real time or interesting to describe. And then it wouldn't be an appropriate player character action.

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Post by virgil »

If I'm understanding the document correctly, drones don't have an arbitrary capacity for their sensors, and instead use those provided by cyberware with a price modifier for their size? If so, that would mean I could have a microdrone with the following sensors
  • Low-light vision
  • Thermographic Vision
  • Vision Magnification
  • Flare Compensation
  • Vision Enhancement 3
  • Damper
  • Select Sound Filter 6
  • Audio Enhancement 3
  • Spatial Recognizer
  • Rating 3 Cybereyes
  • Rating 3 Cyberears
  • Directional Microphone
  • Geiger Counter
  • Laser Microphone
  • Motion Sensor
  • Olfactory Sensor 6
  • Radar Scanner 4
  • Cybertorso
For the 'low' cost of 484,500¥ to equip what looks like an all-seeing ocular drone?
Last edited by virgil on Wed Feb 27, 2013 6:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Lokathor »

Assuming your math is right, then correct.

EDIT: Don't forget to include the Sensor rating, the Pilot rating, the Signal Rating, the Response rating, and the System/Firewall of the OS.
Last edited by Lokathor on Wed Feb 27, 2013 10:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by virgil »

I was only doing the math for the sensors themselves, and could only assume that I could do a cyberlimb for the capacity to hold the rest (cyberleg would've been cheaper). The base drone/OS cost wasn't included in that set-up.
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Post by Username17 »

[*] Cybertorso
Image

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