malek77

 

If you carry weird stuff, you have to feed it and care for it.

Just thinking guys - we've not really got a trunk monkey heavy gunner yet...

@ StrayCatalyst :

 

Wish list for cyber (veto as needed)

Fast-heal nano - does not exist yet! Nano is limited to dumb materials and limited transistor experiments.

 

Radio implant - This means a cochlea implant with an external port. Given that I know a guy who literally has a pair for his phone/iPod/pacemaker...yes you can have it. (The sound quality is good now, it's fantastic 'then')

 

Reflex boost, with boostmaster if possible - doesn't exist. Yet.

 

Datajacks, smartgun link, vehicle link - DNI means a USB port with a rubber cap under an ear on some bone. Think-to-Type. It was developed for the quadriplegic, and is quite standardised/extendable - you only need the one. 'Smart guns' means 'smart sight on gun', unless you want to pour money onto a bespoke model.

 

Biomonitor - Think of a Suunto sports watch. You need to wear electrodes at important points.

 

Pain Cutout - does not exist yet.

 

 

 

 

@ Eraser :

so basically you're saying, we're sexy and we know it

 

YES.

 

 

 

ok, so a couple gear questions then.

 

are issue weapons still going to be from the AR/AK family? any bullpup options? do we have access to enhanced sighting options (eotech, ACOG, ampoint, etc) or are those an added cost feature?

 

You have access. For simplicity, I use a concept of 'accurised weapon' which gives +1 to aim. To get more than +1, you need to aim for a few turns.

 

is it alright if we just use 10mm stats for 40 cal rounds, seeing as mike already got the rounds confused in the book?

 

What fires .40?

 

Cheytac .404 is around...but is one of those 'unique' weapons you need to feed yourself.

 

5.56, 7.62 and .50 will be the most common on the field.

 

what sort of stats would a plate carrier have? are you making any distinction between level 3 and 4 plates? what's the issued body armor? has soft armor for the legs become viable for anyone besides bomb techs/bank robbers, by this point?

 

Normal soft vest (that hides under a suit) is SP14.

 

Plates are SP25.

 

Soft leg armour is SP10 on fatigues only.

 

Fast moving big armour requires an ExoSkeleton. The USMC is wearing light powered armour at this point, based on the HULC system.

 

grenades, can we have them and if so which types?

Yes.

Hi-ex, smoke, hot smoke, colour smoke, flash, CS, non-lethal rubber.

 

Claymores too. Grenades come out based on mission, they aren't normal carry.

 

 

less lethal kit, is it worth it for us to drag this kit around, or do we just kill em all and let god sort em out?

 

Non-lethals are a good idea. Taser tech has come a long way. The leading model is TXR5 - Taser, eXtended Range :

 

Pistol, -2, Jacket, Common, Taser InCap Dart(2D6), 6, 2, 20m, $200

 

The 'InCapacitor Dart' is the devil's Nerf dart, with an array of wicked barbed prongs (4mm long) and a compressed air accelerator. The revolver is bright yellow, rather fat, and all plastic.

 

On a contact hit, they dig in and cause 2D6 combat turns of incapacitation, during which the victim is compelled by nerve jamming to assume the foetal position and vent themselves.

 

There is no evidence this causes or accelerates heart problems. Multiple hits are not considered a hazard. The 'tuning' of the jamming signal has been dramatically improved - the pain induced is 1/4 of today's models.

@ Doomblade :

 

O_o

 

By Lord Poseidon and his watery horses...!!

 

There's some character design, uhm, issues for the BAB1L0N universe. I'll send some options in PM.

There's also another option of craziness, which I shall also raise.

 

 

@ MasterDrow :

Dameon is fine! He's in. He may wish to 'conceal' his IFA/IRA past by just not talking about it to OMA staff. OMA has a "Don't-ask, don't-tell" policy about past rebel association.

 

 

@ All :

 

SKILL POINTS DECISION = You have 55

Eraser's puppy-dog eyes have me convinced. Have more free points.

Also - IGNORE multipliers. (See below for detail)

 

 

Super Important Reference Note of Style Education :

 

This is NOT book CP2020. This is my deranged depraved imagination inventing the next decade.

 

This is what it looks like :

 

The Hurt Locker - Sniper Scene : YOU are the PMC guys.

 

: Those shiny GMC's with the Apache escort zipping through the night? That's what you look like normally.

 

Dillon Aero + GMC Suburban : When the package is high value, you will get these. You will also be permitted to USE these. Have fun.

 

Smokin' Aces : This is my idea of Fun. Note the Capital F. If you want in, take points in Sniper.

 

I did something similar to this to a PC once. He had to Roll under his remaining Luck points (losing a point to do so) to have his character scraped up and reassembled. He came back with a new jaw and a slightly finicky cyber-audio.

 

 

 

 

 

 

@ StrayCatalyst :

 

Skills with multipliers, such as martial arts, rotorwing pilot, etc - do we use the mods, or are they treated the same as normal skills?

 

Ignore multipliers at CharGen.

 

XP? IP? All that 'how I gets better at stuff' stuff?

Is handled in game by challenges and use.

 

By Use : Spot an obscure point or issue (ic or from a dice roll) and I'll buff your Human Perception. Pull off a spectacular driving stunt, and I'll buff driving.

 

By Challenge : I might, for plot reasons, issue an insane team challenge - capture a high rank hostile, manage a non-lethal takedown, manage to actually look stylish for Sophia...and it will rain XP.

 

 

 

 

How do spotters work? Shiny isn't really a sniper type, but he could serve as a spotter if he has the correct skills, and they help enough to be worth the cost in points.

 

Spotting and Sniping is handled narratively in game. If your character (like Georgia in that Barrett scene) is spotting, then the sniper gets buffs to hit = to your Sniper skill. You can just use the number, or if you give the shooter a 'quality picture' of the situation, there's buffs there too...with or without Sniping skill.

 

If the Sniper spends time finding a really good hide, buffs to hit. Or hide.

 

'Sniper' will add on top of 'Rifle' to help defeat the ridiculous range penalties.

 

Spotter + Sniper = Huge buffs. Sniper on their own...is just Rifle.

 

Teamwork people, Teamwork!

 

 

How much money and/or cyber and/or gear do we start with? I presume that OMA will provide all our normal gear, probably including uniform, armor, at least one gun, and vehicles. Do they provide and/or require any sort of cyber?

 

Assume you have all that a modern normal citizen would have, and the debt to prove it.

OMA will shower you with weapons. (In previous games, standard carry was a FAMAS w/ UB GL, MP7 sidearm, knife, bullet vest. Heavier weapons based on mission. Unique weapons are fine - they'll just add to your debt).

 

 

Rather than exacting accounting, I'm going to assume you all have debts ~$100k, and will increase or decrease that based on you wanting extraordinary gear (PC : "I wanna, a G11 with inlay gold brocade!" GM : "OK!" Kching!) or training (PC : "My shooting sux. I take a week on the range." GM : "Ok!" Kching, +1 Rif Ding)

 

You 'expect' to pay this off in 4 years.

 

 

 

CYBER

 

Cyber is advancing rapidly. The bleeding edge of science today is commercial tomorrow.

Replacement limbs with Direct Neural Interface are the solution to limb loss.

 

If you lose something, it will get replaced ("Ow! I need a new arm!" GM : "OK!" Kching!) but will increase your debt. You will then need to worry about batteries on a daily basis, and limbs will be small-car-like in cost.

 

Sensory bionics are lagging though.

 

This means external displays for everything, even though you can think-type to control something.

 

 

Any problem with chipped languages, to allow an OMA employee to be useful in multiple locations? Or will OMA be providing translators, or are we just hoping that guns and angry men are a universal form of communications?

 

No chipping.

 

The latter. If the locals don't speak English, that's a serious negative indicator on their Economic-Viability-Indicator, and high on the priority list of any aspiring politicians to fix. You will get interpreters. They will be of variable quality, and very scared.

 

 

Do we know anything about the principle, aside from "protect her and/or die"?

 

The principal is an English blue-blooded management/accountancy/foreign affairs trained university type.

She's also hot.*

And very, very cranky.

 

You are not her only PSD, she has three, and she will use you like a hammer. She will expect extra-contractual activities - so do you, you are on the circuit! ...But OMA is famous for their PSDs being assigned 'missions.'

 

She has used the blunt end of a shotgun on the knees of a PSC who "didn't like her security arrangements."

She has used the round end on an uncommunicative local rebel for being "without further value."

 

 

Worse, is the money situation.

In OMA, there is a thing called "Cap-Cred."

 

Capital Credit. Think of it as a gold-plated company credit card. When the accounts she manages perform well, it increases. When she screws up, it decreases.

 

Hers is running at a low $500k. This makes her desperate. Her enemies routinely run in the $1.5m range, and she is not above sniping at them. Enemies? Oh yes. They're OMA too.

 

When she gives YOU a Mission, it will increase her Cap-Cred...if you succeed.

You really, really want Team Sophia to succeed.

 

She is generous with toys, she likes rolling in style, and she likes her "men to look sharp."

 

 

 

* ...pix soon

 

 

 

the sub machine gun is dead and buried...

 

Oi!

I like SMGs!

He can have it if he likes. Given that the 'standard sidearm' last time was an MP7, it's not a bad idea.

 

If you try and use a weapon you are not specifically trained in, I'll use half the skill from the weapon you are trained in that's more suitable in that situation. So if you find yourself in an indoor pistol fight with an SMG, I'll use half Handgun. If you have Rifle and need to use a .50...I'll use half rifle.

Lol - go on, make a sales pitch. This is Babylon, everything's for sale...what did you want?

Yes! Shiny & Chuck are perfect and awesome!

 

Just the kind of earnest & usefully skilled employees OMA is looking for.

 

 

Skills.

 

The following are the assumed result of a modern, middle class upbringing :

They are free - you can't go lower and you can't move them.

Grooming : 1

Swimming : 1

Education : 3

 

To get hired, you must have points in:

 

Handgun, Rifle, First Aid, Drive, Awareness (which kinda does the job of spot checks and is the most rolled skill)

 

You should consider :

Basic Tech, Weaponsmith, Electronic Security, Escape/Evade, interrogation, intimidation, persuade and human perception.

 

And anything else you think is characterful. If you want to have helo or fixed wing pilot it could be excused.

(no AV's in this world yet).

 

 

40 skill points. No skills over 5 (else you'd have a better job).

 

Note : computers & comm use are under 'Interface' and 'Sniping' is a new skill. It'll crop up sometime, and a Spotter also uses 'Sniping' as their skill to guide the shot home.

 

Also - any kind of social graces are a great way of being useful.

 

If the above results in any conundrums, let me know.

 

 

For those lurking, we still have two empty seats in the Suburban.

Travel :

 

OMA is transnational and horrifyingly powerful.

 

If it has accounts in a nation, it will have a forward armoury and a fleet of locally appropriate vehicles. Only the very most isolationist nations (NK) or useless won't.

 

When acting as PSD, you will travel either first class with Sophia and sit in seats around her, wearing suits, or business class in whatever you like.

 

Personal gear will be in OMA tagged secure bags (OMA secures the bags for flight readiness, normal airport security doesn't need to touch or go near them) and vehicles will be provided from the pool on arrival.

 

Normally, you'll be rolling around in armoured GMC Suburbans, 2020 models. They're electric, blocky, and have ballistic cloth/fibreglass panelling for light SP25 armour, run-flat tires, Radio-TacNet comms on board.

 

 

 

With one drastic exception.

 

CONUS.

 

The USA is a Police state. Major cities have 'Green Zones' with airport levels of intrusive security measures to get through the walls. Yellow Zones have militarised check points. Outside the 'burbs, it's Red Zones, full of rioters murderers rapists dealers pimps drugs chaos crime and rebellion. If OMA has hired you, you don't have a history in a Red Zone.

 

In the Green, you politely follow the orders of your Visitation Liason handler, and carry nothing more threatening than a credit card.

 

In the Yellow, you might get pistols, if you ask very nicely. If your character is American, this is most likely where they have lived since 2020, and have watched 'today' become 'tomorrow' as the Police started recruiting a cheap, massive, over-armed Army to beat back the illegals and impoverished.

 

In the Red, you'll roll in convoy with Police Strykers and Little Bird cover, under command of the Local Area Commander. You'll have lethal force licences. If anyone throws so much as a rock at you, you can kill them...it could be a disguised IED...and oftentimes, it will be something scary.

 

 

 

Note that OMA's HQ is Babylon, Iraq. It's a foreign company to the US.

 

 

 

 

 

@ Mort :

 

Umm...DeepC0re sounds fun, but not for this world. :S

 

Save DeepC0re for another day...he'd be great in a more Kiri-esque world. Hell. I will CREATE a world for him, but Babilon ain't it. Think gothic police state dystopia, rather than Bubblegum Crisis.

 

This is "Bob has an enormous mortgage. Bob can never pay it off, and will end up in the Red Zone, at which point he will be unemployable. A 2 hour commute including strip-search every morning is not practical. Bob decides to risk his life for his family by doing Security work for OMA, because it pays well."

 

 

 

This means, everyone, backstory is largely a matter of "Who do you care about, what is your debt to them?"

 

OMA doesn't care about your school or cadet history or military experience. They care that you have a debt, and will shoot straight for them. They don't hire men with no next-of-kin or cares in the world...that's what national armies are for.

 

 

I'm still resolving Skills, but it's likely I'll cap them at 5, except for the Awareness and the Empathy skills.

(If you're a better shot than a 5, you'd have a better job...)

 

Still thinking. More soon.

Fret not - Run.Net is easy, and in forum play terms largely means an easy way to feed you intel.

 

Sounds like you might be interested in being Team Leader...

also, one question to start with. on a typical day, are we wearing suits or fatigues?

What an excellent question!

 

Fatigues for field work, which is normal. Suit work will occur, but it's rarer.

You do have to make Sophia look good anywhere you go. No filthy moustaches or local garb.

 

I feel to mention that even in suits, you'll be carrying long-arms and wearing ballistic vests - combat pragmatism is the in look.

No poncing about with concealment. You are meant to be a threat.

 

 

 

Your character design is excellent. You'll want to give him interface, which will give him access to the Run.Net rules & thus Comms work. This is good for survivability, and your pay grade.

 

 

 

 

Skills Mods!

 

No SA's.

 

Interface is the default computer use skill, and gets you into Netrunning.

 

Sniping is a skill separate to Rifle or Heavy, and operates outside of the FNFF time-scale.

(think of it as a mini game involving a spotter character. It gives you triple long range on your weapon. This is different to being designated marksman - that's just a high Rifle skill)

 

 

 

 

 

I will tighten up skill rules shortly. I am looking for exactly 4 players or less.

 

LOL

 

I love it...

 

CharGen is for a 63 pt character (7 for each stat).

I'm still thinking through Skills, but you definitely need Handgun, Rifle, First Aid & Drive...and Education of at least 3, or you probably couldn't fill out the paperwork.

 

 

The job is to work as Sophia Cavanagh's Private Security Detail, and get paid enough to pay off a debt - be it mortgage, startup capital or gambling debts from a profligate lifestyle. OMA doesn't like people with no debts and a perfect credit rating. They aren't desperate enough to do what needs to be done.

 

Yes, that means you'll have to pick one!

 

Next are the grading tests.

 

A series of tests will be rolled and points over TN will adjust your pay grade and define your SOS - security occupation specialty - so if you want to be the Trunk Monkey SAW gunner, you are encouraged to train to be one.

 

 

The work, the missions, are to protect Sophia as she deals with account problems- rebellious farmers, militant activists, and the lethal machinations of her 'colleagues'.

 

Head office is Babylon, rebuilt & ready for business in 2025. The accounts are globalised, and the frontline is everywhere there's a bottom line.

 

OMA Grading Assessment Form 2-4a

 

 

Thankyou for your Grading Assessment Process (GAP) application for a position within OMA's security division.

 

Along with your Marksmanship (2-5a), First-Aid (2-5b) and Driver Assessment (2-5c) gradings, we require the following questionnaire in order to evaluate your psychological profile. Evaluations will be provided to your PSD Leader.

 

 

Please select one answer.

 

1. You are in a convoy of 3 vehicles, A, B & C.

The Principal has been randomly assigned to B.

Vehicle A is hit by an IED, and there are casualties.

 

Do you?

 

A. Exfiltrate with B, securing B against any future attacks.

B. Break off to render immediate First-Aid assist to personnel from A.

C. Secure the site of A, and then provide First-Aid assist.

D. Leave a Medic to assist A, then catch up to secure B.

 

 

 

 

2. An insurgent force has attacked your convoy, but having under-estimated your force, has been defeated. One of their number surrenders.

 

Do you?

 

A. Secure the Insurgent, and return them to base for interrogation.

B. Secure the Insurgent, and turn them over to local Law Enforcement.

C. Secure the Insurgent, and exfil, leaving them behind.

D. Execute them.

 

 

 

3. In the course of an operation, it becomes clear that a local Law or Regulation, if followed, would compromise operational security.

 

Do you?

 

A. Alter the operation to remove the conflict.

B. Ignore the Law or Regulation, and proceed.

C. Report the conflict, then proceed with the plan.

D. Refuse mission orders because they conflict with a state's Law or Regulation.

 

 

4. An external agent, media, official or civilian figure makes contact with you. They make promises - good or bad - on the understanding you will breach OMA Security for external, non-OMA goals.

 

Do you?

 

A. Ignore them, and do nothing.

B. Report them, and try to avoid the consequence they promised.

C. Take immediate punitive action against them yourself.

D. Report the incident to OMA Strategic Security.

Vishnu at the Cat Circus

 

Oh yeah.

 

No one can make me feel the future quite like Ian. And that story did it.

 

Brazyl though - that's my favourite. (Have just started the Dervish House.)

Link is borked. Could you find a permanent link to it? I'm curious to see what it says, and know rather little about American legal searches... :S

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/sena...inee-amendment-

 

Paul argued the amendment, which is cosponsored by McCain, "puts every single American citizen at risk" and suggested that if the amendment passes, "the terrorists have won."

 

“Should we err today and remove some of the most important checks on state power in the name of fighting terrorism, well then the terrorists have won," Paul argued, "Detaining American citizens without a court trial is not American."

McCain, however, who has spent hours of floor time in the last weeks promoting his amendment, hurried to the floor to defend it against Paul's onslaught.

 

"Facts are stubborn things," McCain repeated from the floor several times. "If the senator from Kentucky wants to have a situation prevail where people who are released go back in to the fight to kill Americans, he is entitled to his opinion.”

 

 

...you guys do see how dirty this looks, right?

 

Especially given that I'm not an American, and therefore a valid potential subject for 'disappearing'? Just in case, y'know, I sprout horns or something and become a Threat to America.

 

I'm not hating at you personally, I'm looking on with increasing horror as a previously 'friendly' nation goes into the political equivalent of a manic-depressive paranoid fit.

 

If you dragged the USA onto a psychologists couch, what would you get?

 

"OMG someone THREATENED me!?"

"Did they hurt you?"

"They punched my nose!"

"And what are you going to do about that?"

"I'M GOING TO KILL THEM. AND ANYONE ELSE WHO TRIES TO PUNCH ME."

"Tries to punch you?"

"ANYONE!"

"How will you know someone is trying to punch you?"

"I CAN SEE IT IN THEIR EYES! I'LL KILL THEM FIRST!"

"But if they don't actually pu..."

"I'LL TIE THEM UP! No-one will ever punch me again! EVER! Ever ever!"

 

 

 

A government throwing a paranoid tantrum strikes me as curiously unsafe to be 'governed' by.

 

You are, uh, thinking about your personal safety, right?

The fact that the above debate exists freaks me out.

 

That we are at a point where 100% 24/7 global coverage by armed Hunter-Killer drones is beyond the optimistic 'technical feasibility' of things like a Moon-base but is actually happening and really having serious political effects is drop-dead amazing.

 

Imagine the above was a storyline you cooked up for a game back in 1989.

 

Over the top Technothriller you would think.

There's laws, you would think.

A fantastic extreme.

 

Put it this way - I do think of you Americans as 'mates' in the Australian sense, and I'm increasingly scared of the situation the US is developing.

 

...you guys got a plan? You're gonna be alright? :S

 

 

((And yes DS, you were right...holy moly...))

The simple answer is that US practice we see at work in Pakistan will eventually become common place in Mexico, Central America, and Northern Africa. However, the more interesting answer is how it gets applied to US internal security when the US/global economy crumps into depression, the US government goes bankrupt, and the current system loses much of its remaining legitimacy. In that scenario:

 

Drones and US internal security- Global Guerrillas

 

 

The above articulates something that's been lingering in the back of my mind for some time.

 

 

"If you are somebody that believes the President of the United States has the power to order your fellow citizens murdered, assassinated, killed without a shred of due process … then you are really declaring yourself to be as pure of an authoritarian as it gets."

 

 

With death of Anwar al Awlaki

 

 

...and there's a little of the legal angle.

 

 

And this.

 

Which just says it all.

 

xkcd/652/

 

 

One wonders what counters there are to drones. Or Australia is about to experience a giant American-immigration.

Also - some other important stuff.

 

 

Program creation :

 

...should be kept out of core R.N. Why?

Because it's dependent on the GM's universe assumptions.

 

I'm going to have cabal's of cyborgs initiating "Singularity Golden Age" programs by using nootropic software to code better.

You might still have teams of bored caffeine addicts being annoyed by uncomprehending Management.

 

What we do need is a tidy way of defining a Program's Strength (the bonus it gives), Pre-Requisites (+3 speed deck or direct cable connection to target or 3 turn spool-up etc) and Effects (Ghost-Dive > transcendental exploration? Instant target crash? Permanent firmware change?)

 

 

We will then happily outsource play-balance to the owning GM.

 

If you really really want program creation rules - I'd advise researching Sanity rules from Cthulhu games.

 

 

More usefully, a mini-game for finding ZDE's would be plotworthy and rule-supporting.

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile.

 

Obsolescence is MUCH more important.

 

I would suggest that programs and hardware decays in a neat ratio.

 

The GM should set a 'Time Unit' that represents the present gradient of the oncoming-Singularity curve.

1 week is fast and feasible for 2020.

 

TU = Time Unit = 1 Week.

 

 

Software Strength decays 1pt per TU.

Hardware Speed decays 1pt per 4xTU.

 

 

So after a week, all your programs drop a point in Strength. After 4 weeks, your Deck degrades one point of speed.

 

This should compel Netrunners to constant investment and patching to keep up, represents the pace of change, new developments and obsolescence, and makes ZDEs valuable.

I'm the GM.

 

I need a way of handing out big bonuses to assist the player's 'suspension of disbelief' that a bunch of Street-kid hackers could take on a Militarised Corporate Mainframe.

 

 

Programs are that way.

 

 

They need to :

 

1. Give killer bonuses to Run.Net actions.

Use of aspects like 'one-shot', 'spool-up', 'requirements' will keep their use in check.

 

 

2. Give killer bonuses to Skills.

A customised script to find and edit a dBase record would be inordinately powerful and give an middlingly-trained n00b inordinate leverage. That's why it was written.

It doesn't work anywhere else.

 

 

3. Do weird stuff.

I need a way to trigger non Run.Net events. (Firing teh Orbital Lazor, ghost-dives, runaway-gestalt-seed-AI takeovers)

 

 

 

 

Another thing I'd like to do with Programs is buff the mental stats. Yes. STATS. So when you're running 'SocialAngel' on your AR glasses, you do have higher empathy. When you're running a DNI integrated Math co-processor, you do have a higher INT.

 

Why?

 

Because it's how to make a Singularity happen. In game. So I get to watch it erupt and obliterate all before it. And laugh. Maniacally.

Right - so, we cool it on the bonuses, get down into the middle and low ranges, and try again.

 

I'm happy to keep the Speed in a -3..+3 range, and use it as an equipment quality bonus.

 

I'd like to try using it also as a Cap on Persistent actions - if I can ever think of other actions than [Conceal//User].

 

[secure//Modem], [Detect//Comm] perhaps? For a heavily secured system.

'Cause I'm snarking you dude.

 

Now now children.

Play nice.

 

Or scary old Malek will try out his Behavioral Modification Therapy on you.

 

 

 

This is a starting character, it is even underpowered compared to most starting characters as it is only 51 build points.

 

True.

 

I'm thinking we dump Speed as a bonus to each and every roll. It simplifies the math, and shortens the numerical range.

 

Stat[3..10] + [Cmd 0..5 + Tgt 0..5] + 1D10 [1..10] = Range of 3..30.

 

 

Alternate use :

 

Speed as a Cap on Simultaneous Persistent Actions.

Range -3..+3.

 

+3 is the latest and greatest when money is no object.

-3 is an 18 months out of date system that still works.

 

Tracking Speed and Software degradation by age is essential.

 

Once you go below 1, you can do one thing on a system at a time. This simulates how an old system that could do heaps back in the day now can barely struggle open a word processor. (I have a 386 laptop running Windows 3.1, and it could multi-task! It couldn't cope with a web browser though.)

 

Also - by making Speed a Cap, rather than a brute-force bonus, getting the best from the system requires you actually use the ability to run 3 things in parallel.

 

 

 

 

Question : Should each cumulative action count up to that Cap? Or only Persistent stuff? Can you run 3 persistent and take 4 actions in a turn? Do instructions from a foreign party count against the limit?

 

 

 

Sequencing remains an issue.

 

We seemed to settle on :

 

[Conceal//User] > so that if there was any back-trace, it would struggle to ping the runner.

[infiltrate//Comm] > we were running against radio masts. In other cases, Modem would suit more.

[Cypher//System] > to change access passwords and generally keep the system to ourselves.

 

I like having a 3 step process - I'm wary of a realistic 8 steps, and of insisting on taking 'control' of the target system - I like how different people can be in the one system and squabbling over access to a resource.

In the airport game under the original APR system Timmi Merah was taking about 6 actions a turn.

Under -2 with Malek as GM she took an average of 2-3 a turn, rising to 4 in crisis points.

Master Drow seemed only to be taking one action a turn, with the same GM.

 

The last game was a low powered hack/counter hack where Concealment worked well, and there was no need to rush. It was largely about training, rather than inducing hysteria.

 

 

 

...I just described 8 entirely realistic actions necessary before I would even be able to poke around the files on my neighbor's computer!

 

An interesting point here.

 

I'm the one who ends up GMing all the time, and thus imagining how I think things work, but in RL networking is kryptonite. I just cannot do it.

 

I would be interested in creating 'sets' of DV hurdles to represent the progress of a Hack, but again, I think they're a module thing.

 

Also, I tend to give the Cmd/Tgt's quite expansive & overlapping meanings. I haven't been demanding that players take control of a system, thinking that they just need 'access' to look into it. I demand control when they want to shut something down. Maybe this isn't valid.

I am really, really keen on -2.

 

Players might be able to afford the detailed calculation of action points - the GM can't. -2 makes massed NPCs practical - whereas anything that looks like a derived statistic is a GM killer, and I soon enough find a way to dump it.

 

(Hell, for years I haven't used filled in character sheets - I just call NPC's "Grunt 64's" or "Grunt 83's"...where the first digit is their Stats, the second is their Skills, and they attempt whatever I need them to do.)

 

 

 

-2...does absolutely nothing to take into account the Netrunner's skill or the quality of her gear.

 

I disagree.

 

An Interface 2 Netrunner could only attempt one extra action at DV10 without going totally negative.

 

An Interface 10 Netrunner can attempt a FIFTH action at DV10, with the expectation of success.

 

 

-2 requires no derived stats. It is inherent in the Interface skill, and you can judge it easily. DV10 actions do matter tactically. -2 makes R.N practical to GM, and that is really important to me.

 

Action Points can stay in Space Hulk where they belong.

Another thing that I have seen in other systems is slow hacking vs fast hacking.

 

Slow Hacking is RPed out, and it gets you the 'MegaBonuses' - the +10's to infiltrate. Or whatever the GM deems appropriate.

 

This is also the case with Programming.

 

So - if you play out the social engineering to get a password, you get a huge bonus to walk into a system. It's 'Login', not 'Infiltrate'.

 

If you play out programming for weeks to produce a sophisticated, targeted virus, when its conditions are met, you'll get a free pass into the target system, and perhaps free persistent Concealment. If that's what you've programmed for.

 

 

In effect, this is what low level Runners will need to spend their time on.

 

 

Master Drow :

The whole thing about brain hacking, GitS style. I think that I should not be a thing done in standard hacks, aka those that are done while on a run.

 

 

Interrupt :

Brain-hacking is either for advanced versions or perhaps optional side rules. It is not going to be a primary concern for now.

 

 

Yes, it's a module thing.

 

What sense do you want to create? Because if you really wants GitS, then Brainhacking is common and fast and profoundly effective. If you want Inception, a single hack is a month's planning.

 

That said, I realised something about DNI the other day, and its possible applications for psychological manipulation. There are definitely some feasibly unpleasant things that could be done.

Okay, the editing has begun.

 

I have :

 

 

1. Clarified that you put your Interface X 5 points in both lists. I hope. Feel free to suggest a better wording, or we can go back to the "Interface X 10. Then ÷ by 2." if that's easier on the brain.

 

 

 

2. Noted that Cmd & Tgt list thingies are capped at 5.

 

Why the cap of 5? So that we don't 'break' Interlock by pushing past the normal range of 0..10. When you combine your Cmd & Tgt skill, you are recomposing the Interface skill that was broken into detailed parts, and that is what fits in the normal Stat + Skill + D10 function.

 

 

 

3. Fixed the typo about Rolling to Hit :

 

Int + Interface(Command + Target) + Mods + 1D10 vs DV.

Where...

 

Interface is composed of the values you have in the Command & Target's you have selected for the action.

Mods includes the Speed bonus for the age of your deck.

 

 

 

4. I have unilaterally decided you can make untrained attempts at Cmd's and Tgt's in which you have no points, as you 'guess' your way through the menus or, heaven forbid, actually read the F1 pages.

 

 

 

 

I haven't tried to codify the Instability/Crash rules, still seems too much in flux.

 

I like the "Gun Style" system, but I'm not sure about the trigger point being the Process Limit thing. Frankly, it seems too easy avoid ever using.

 

Options :

 

a> If a Crash Save were triggered on a roll of 1, the your reliability number (UR/ST/VR) - number of Persistent actions that turn, roll over or Crash?

 

b> Program Limit = Interface Skill? Or 1/2 Interface skill?

 

c> Persistent Program Limit = Speed bonus. Exceed it, and risk crash rolls? (Makes old systems more unstable...which is realistic as newer software eats more processor on older systems.)

 

 

 

 

...anyway guys, keep it coming! There's quality thought and serious critique going into this, and it'll forge a stronger product.

 

I would LOVE to try it out.

 

This Saturday. MSN.

 

I'll be on ~ 8:00 am, 24-09-2011. (UTC +10)

 

That means FRIDAY 09-23-11.

3:00PM (UTC -7) for West coast USA, 6:00PM (UTC-4) for East Coast, and Friday 11:00PM London (UTC+1).

 

My MSN name is in my profile, and I'll be the cartoon dude with the Sergeant's Patrol cap and yellow cheesy grin.

 

 

 

The Game Plan so far -

 

You'll be in a friendly 'Fire Team' of Netrunners, working for MA&F. So there is a fixed backstory - you were hired, and were posted together.

You'll have Interface around 5, so these aren't super-hackers, but normal 'proficient' Net Warriors.

It will also include a lot of Free-style make-it-up-as-we-go GMing, and probably Hellfires.

You may even need to draw on someone.

 

My Netrunners don't slouch safely at home on the couch. They've gotta run around and be shot at too, like everyone else.

 

It'll be the Kiri' 2025 setting. Merrill, Asukaga & Finch are under attack. Someone is trying to break into MA&F's secured trading lines.

 

This could mean America (who hate Kiri, & MA&F particularly as money launderers), China (who hate Kiri' for hiding dissidents), or the EU (who hate Kiri' for pum & dumping their markets).

Much cheaper than 40K.

 

An army of 5 guys is awesome. Hell, the most tense game I ever played was 3 basic guys a side...it got all SWAT style tactical real fast.

 

Also, the Art is GLORIOUS.