malek77

The theory I sorta had b4 was that the image of the net wasn't pumped in but generated by the deck software itself. It might'nt be such a bandwidth hog ---but that's where my whole idea of pings came from.

In the net - you need light. Sure - it looks great on telly to have all those lines representing data - but they don't glow and they don't exist, and to see them you'd have to ask whatever is sending the data for details. A ping. Like light.

Netspace doesn't have natural things like light to make it perceptible - nothing is for free. If you want to see something, you need to code something to look at it...

O'course - this is all conjecture & you're free to change the above.

Another thing I came across was an idea that the deck is, in fact, an eyeball. And that's about all - its just a way of looking at data.(How - I don't know - but lets just assume it can).

So how does the interaction happen?

Something my programming teacher said the other day clarified an idea for me - "Names give you power. Name your program well, and you'll have power over it. Name it badly, and it will have power over you."

Now I'm thinking, how Sorceror's apprentice is that...

What if you emphasise 'name calling' in the run? Knowing the name of what you want to call, the names of the commands to give it. Security is hiding the name of something...which means you have no power over it.

Power is authority - I have the authority to write this file. To change it. But not to actually affect anything else on the site - because I don't know what to call it, or what commands to give it if I do.

There's the seed of an idea there...and I think it could make nice trippy role-play rather than the 'mechanism' I was talking about...

Thoughts?

HAHhahAHahAH...

I love it...roast Britney...

Hey Hanns...

How do I get Aspergers syndrome? Any known causes?

Incidentally - how easily could you communicate with someone else who had Aspergers syndrome? Would you be mutually un-understanding?

...& do you ascribe to any particular form of philosophy? Like humanism or rationalism or Nietzche?

This might be a bit deep, but this kind of psychological stuff is fascinating and might provide the kind of insights I'm looking for with this post.

My point with the philosophy is that its very homo-sapien-centric...to do with what a human believes, percieves and wants.

If you truly think that you are more disjointed from humanity than normal - what do you think like?

(don't have to answer if you don't want to )

Geez - this is ugly.

They can't handle the idea of something not having a limited corporeal form, can they?

...It's just not natural...so its not right.

Blargh.

It'll just create an illegal copy industry along the lines of drug industries now. With similar sociological effects.

...and does it mean you won't be able to copy and paste anymore? Only cut and paste is legal?

I tried writing up a char' of myself once...but some things I wasn't too sure about how to level out.

Like int. Like, how smart am I for working out how messily I'm going to die in 20yrs time?

...and especially after I talked my way out of getting mugged once - I think I'd have to improve my cool stat for that. I had thought it was about 3 to begin with...(or you could assume the muggers had an intimidation of +1 and rolled a fumble that day   )

Honestly - they were pretty hopeless...

The thing that got me going the most was - if I lived in CP2020 world, and everyone had a gun, I'd certainly be someone practicing every other day on a range...but in real life I'm never likely to touch a pistol. SO CP2020 me would have pistol +2 or +3...ie: what new life skills will I have in 20yrs time?

I think the CP world would change us very suddenly...being nice little geeky people that we are. Really being drafted into a Corporate war against the Mafia/Gov't/Other Corp would scare the hell outta me.

(But I like to think I'd still do it!)

Regarding practical experience of cars being shot at...

Our pristine state forest is full of dead cars. Unusually dead ones, because the local rednecks/druggies/bunny killers like shooting at said cars.

There are a couple of 'bodies' I know of that are seriously peppered by small arms fire.

Point being - I think any average shotgun blast will go straight through a car. (Smaller, more AP shotty type things.)

Fully auto .22's will - at close range...and if aimed square onto the side.

Does this give anyone something they could compare to? I don't know how close a 9mm and .22 are.

(NOTE: I do not participate in nor condone acts of car mutilation. Cars are innocent. People aren't.)

:S Sorry Archangel - the point is I'm trying to figure out a mechanistic process for playing out netrunning. It's not about role-play...I see your point though. I'm still coming to terms with the freedom RPG's present - given my background in straight wargames I find the idea of an RPG a bit obscure.

...& it doesn't necessarily mean more rules...

Whoa! Big word time. Cool. Hmm...

Ok - but otherwise we're unable to move? Like when you wake up from a dream and feel frozen? (I kinda lost what you meant - the grammar was a bit thick...:S)

Can you tell us about the style?

Is it sketch, painting, lineart computer coloured?

Is it flat planes of colour or tonal?

Sure its a guy? I know of lots of pictures that fit that description...with girls...

Is it manga styled?

Try http://www.anipike.com/

Following on from the alternate netrunning rules thread -

What kinda hardware do you think a 'deck incorporates?

I'll put forward my idea - feel free to re-evaluate or post your own.

***

Major components...

>I/F port. This is where you plug in your I/F cables or gog's or screen...

>BIOS - Decks' I imagine would make great use of hardwired stuff. BIOS as a chip is (possibly) faster the restart, less likely to crash, less corruptible.

>BioCon - lying there comatose is a good way to get bedsores. I imagine deck's would take over your basic motor control and keep you breathing etc. This is a vulnerable point - if the BioCon chip can be attacked, you might be induced to choke yourself, thrash about, etc.

>Chipslots - where you plug in your extra memory and cartidges.

>Main CPU - defined with a 'thread' rating - ie, how many programs it can run at once easily.

Thoughts?

LoL!

Do B-Boy style red trackies and huge shoulder pads get in on this too?

The name 'Dexter' comes to mind as a gang leader...

2 ideas...

For humanity loss :

If you need prosthetics from an accident, HL is the absolute minimum. Like, instead of 3D6 - only 3pts lost.

If you lost a limb in combat (particularly if you were a participant, rather than just a victim), half HL.

Elective replacement is full HL.

This way an innocent person requiring an FBC won't lose it just because of being canned in a tank. It might make them wierd, but not borg.

Secondly...

How would you go borg?

If you had to or chose to replace bits'n'pieces - how would it end? What do you think you'd end up doing?

Hm. This is quite an interesting question - what we would really get...?

I'd definitely want an M-Link and a cybermodem link, like as of yesterday. And a Sandevistan would go down well too...but the idea of chopping an arm off is a bit to far. Mine may be skinny, but they work ok.

But if I had to get one - I definitely want a tool hand

Ok - here's a coupla mine. (I love the prev posts. You just never realise CP is funny until afterwards...!)

Solo guy is out for a night on the town. For plot purposes, these he ends up with this stoned girl on his shoulder(her 'friends' at the bar wanted to get her killed and tried to hand her over to the next freak they saw). Well, Solo-guy is happy about this and decides to be nice about it, and get her out of there and make sure she's alright until she comes round.

On his way out, he comes across a bunch of Inquisotors beating up a nomad. He tries to show off to the girl by shooting at them - and his gun misfires twice. No jam, just misfire. He makes like it was deliberate, and the girl (Honestly - it was all rolled!) manages to convince them to lay off and go away. I dunno about his luck...his gun is still a problem even though its VR.

Or the time another char decided to hijack a car, so he went to a street corner and pressed the button for the lights. When a tiny little car finally pulled up, he tried to scare the driver out by flashing his guns, but that didn't work.

She was a loaded up solo - who he managed to keep pulling massive rolls against and basically stole her guns out of her hands. SHe raced off and he shot at her fuel tank - missed - but upset the cops cos he was all of 200m away from NCPD 3.

I've got some webspace and art programs and webpage stuff - we could make up a Pschyopunk site with maps'n'all if you want.

http://home.kooee.com.au/murrell

Is my current page. I'm gonna upgrade it with Flash someday...adding a Psychopunk thing won't be a problem.

Heh - well. Most of the people I try to play CP2020 with are fairly nice, WASP sorts who haven't an illegal bone in their body or ever do anything vaguely immoral...

Which is great, because as soon as they start playing, they all hit the casino, chase girls/guys, get in chases with booster gangs and generally cause me a nightmare to keep up with them and their suddenly uncontrollable desires and habits.

And practice? We don't need nunathat. We get *all* the practice we need just by being alive...

Lots of biking...lotsa motorcyclists.

I think we're repressed...

I was thinking cart's would be rare if they had hostile hacking software on them.

The extra facilities req'd to make them would probably preclude overtly illegal activity there. Unless you want to make cartridge production a back shed thing...

Blowing a ROM? How would you do it?

(I don't have much experience with ROM stuff - maybe you have some ideas)

http://www.bullpup.de/

Check out the above. Really pretty stuff...

No I haven't seen the FN-2000 - where would I? Is there a link I can check? Sounds pwetty...

Can we get some maps and maybe some news articles about the incidents?

btw - when does SWAT activate? Do other people call us in?

What is our Team's scope of operations?

What laws must we abide by? (I'm aussie, so I only know abt American police from the telly. )

What's UMIS?

I'm learning C++ at the moment.

We're just getting into pointers.

I am afraid. Evil things.

kewl.

Is anyone else cyberpsychotic?

What comes next? AI demigod?

Hm.

I dunno if an ICeBreaker is a massively complex thing to write. A truly effective one - yes, but the general idea of busting into some port or other is a matter of deft TCP manipulation.

Believe me - with a team of moderately bright programmers, you'll be able to make one. No problem. I'm learning C++ now...

Using libraries is definitely the way to go - as if you can actually avoid it. Just to get C++ to get input from the keyboard or print it to screen you *need* libraries.

What you'll want is all the streaming and formatting stuff...

I generally think the CP2020 programming rules are ok...all except what they make. I find the idea of the demon really strange.

Therefore - I tender my ideas.

BIG software : runs on desktop PC's. You load a great big heavy ICEbreaker, its partially intelligent and it basically 'runs' along side you. You give it orders, it carries them out.

These prog's will have stats that require '5cpu' to run.

Small software : runs on Decks. This stuff is small - a'TCP control box' which lets you define what command you want to send - so you have to know it yourself.

These will require '1cpu'.

When I say cpu - its the number of concurrent threads the deck/computer can run at the same time without having to stagger them or without any perceptible speed loss.

One chip may have a 6cpu rating. Its simple, and most people can get it.

I think programming for a deck will be like programming for a mobile phone - what they're trying to do is make a JVM (java virtual machine)chip that's fast enough to run in a mobile so you can easily download and run software on it.

This means decks will need their own special software, and it will probably be different to write to normal stuff. Thus it would be a different skill...expert : deck programming.

I've also been pondering the idea of different kinds of chips - rather than a HDD, a deck has memory chips. Like those USB memory sticks.

There are 3 types -

Passive is just boring old memory. It holds stuff. For files.

It can hold code, which can be run by the main chip on its own personal RAM.

Active - is like having a program permanently loaded into RAM. All you do is provide power to the chip, and it provides the results. This means it will be independant of your decks CPU speed. It's like a PLC(sp?) these days.

They can be hacked and wiped out.

Hard - like a console cartridge. Exceptionally hard to hack, impossible to wipe - but has almost no memory and is very limited in function. Also - whatever it does is likely to be outdated, because of the extra hardware required to create these things...there won't be many around.

They will, however, be very, very fast.

Thoughts?

Um - what about Post Traumatic Stress? I don't think you can be immune to it unless you're nuts and psycho. Which means they *have* lost it...

Maybe emotional detachment as a skill - which means you have to quickly develop enough to make failing a roll near impossible before you go starkers.

This could be interesting - it would make PC's flake out really quickly, and they'd have to pass cool rolls to go near a fight (or even a gun) again. A curb for munchkinism and the brute force approach?

It's always seemed to me that as pressurised and horrible as the CP world is - everyone gets over it by picking up a gun. They'll either solve the problem or die trying.

The SAN stat sorta creates a pressure - the PC's have to work to prevent their character from being destroyed mentally...

Maybe take a sanity roll at the end of any stressful event 'chapter' - combat/net crash/sacking(assuming big corporate goings on) and then make them relate the developing neurosis to whatever is causing it most.

Combat will lead to either flashbacks or violent outbursts.

Crash's will lead to druglike effects, like schizophrenia or beliefs they 'know the truth about reality'.

A big corporate failure after a lot of pressure will develop into workplace paranoia's - only working with certain people, or taking on everything individually, or demanding an office without windows to avoid snipers.

I'd also make sanity fairly easy to toy with - like, if you just go cannoning people you've lost it - but if you deliberately and carefully go about your infiltration mission, and try and atone for your actions in some way (I dunno, donating to the widows of Arasaka fund) you can keep SAN high.

I'd say boosters have a lowering SAN and are deliberate about causing that effect.

Edgerunners will counter it with professionalism - avoiding excess CD will keep theirs low.

Runners - taking up some extra hobby to keep focussed on reality, rather than letting the net consume them.

I *am* going to use this...

Thoughts?

Sometimes I wonder if Mr Gibson is a bit annoyed at us all. We take his stuff way seriously and go about trying (or wanting) to live it, and all he was doing was make a social comment.

He thinks its really wierd how much effort people put into the idea of the neural interface...he didn't mean it to catch on the way it has.

You know, I don't think he cares about cyberspace at all. *sniff*

I used to think about trying to contact him to get exactly what he was thinking about how you'd turn cyberspace into something perceptible and comprehensible - hell, I'm a student programmer and I'd love to be creator of the 'ihara-murrell' transformation algorithm...

...but it doesn't look like that was what he had in mind.

Go the random corporate colonisation!

Where is orbital air when you need it? I wanna sign up...

Hm. To be annoyingly real, I think they'll try and keep the games clean but they'll have to allow some kind of 'natural' augmentation. How could they stop all the muscle grafting or indetectable nanite based adrenal enhancing treatments?

Maybe you could give a DNA sample and any differences you get penalised for...

The metal aspect would result in the paralympic games going huge. And wierd. I love the idea of corporate advertising on your cyberlimb - like race cars covered in their hundreds of logo's...it would look *awesome*.

I'm imagining that specific things like running could become too performance optimised (someone with ultralight detachable cyberarms in a streamlined shape to cut down weight), with overlong legs with extra myomar. Maybe things like pentathlons would be better...subjecting the hardware to a wide range of stresses to best advertise the limb's survivability. This is of course, assuming advertising was allowed in. Like it wouldn't be...

Who's sponsoring the games? The US gov't doesn't look like it could afford it any more. Maybe corporate sponsorship? And given the limited nature of Corp war, maybe they could revive the old greek ideals of stopping wars to go and compete...sort've.

My 2c.

http://www.commonlink.com/kurogawa-gallery/exhibit.htm

Sure, a lot of 'em are Buck Rogers style guns, but there are some nice chunky monsters that would suit Quake or Unreal.

http://www.army-technology.com/contractors/machine_guns/vektor/

...check out Vektor arms. (www.vektorarms.com) they make some nice looking stuff as you'd see on the above page. Schmick ergonomic looking bullpup rifles and the CP1 pistol - which I absolutely love the look of.

Also check out http://www.steyr-mannlicher.com/ - the home of the Aussie army's very own Steyr AUG. Like it sez in the book - wave of the future.

There's also this israeli thing...  http://www.emergency.com/isrl203.htm

Looks heaps cool.

Hope this helps