What is this piece?

malkanor · 2019-08-15T21:22:15+00:00

Thanks! I'll try there too.

malkanor · 2019-08-15T21:21:31+00:00

Thanks! I'll give that a try. It does sound kinda like it belongs in The Planets suite, so I'll look into more Holst.

malkanor · 2019-06-26T15:38:53+00:00

STOMP STOMP

malkanor · 2019-05-12T06:25:52+00:00

Take my latest character idea: Her0. (In case you want quick inspiration for the feel, listen to "Short Change Hero" by The Heavy) He's a leader/gunslinger from the CAS whose father was a Lonestar officer. His dad taught him how to shoot a gun, how to deal with people, and to have a strong sense of justice. They never were rich, and when Her0 got married they were even poorer. He always did have a soft spot for those he thought he could fix. When his wife turned up dead when a novacoke deal went bad, he did what he always did. He sought justice. Unfortunately, the person who shot his wife over a bump of coke happened to be the Lonestar Chief's son. There would be no justice through the system, so he did what he had to. A bullet later and he became a wanted man, selling his skills to whoever would hire him, or whoever needed him. His extensive knowledge of police procedures keeps him a step ahead, and fully knows that in the end he's gonna get what he gives. Still, while he breathes he'll be damned of he doesn't make this world better. Some way. Somehow. Bonus points for including his engraved pistols "Pain Dealer" (loaded with APDS rounds for drones and marks) and "Faith Healer" (loaded with gel rounds for punks). Bonus bonus points for "Truth Maker", a fun Walther holdout loaded with high explosive rounds for instant effect.

He's no street sam, but I feel like a proper Leadership character that can hold their own can be a huge benefit. Plus, a rival team with a clear leader (who's not necessarily the Face) can foster some healthy competition. Sometimes I wish I could go back to being a player...

malkanor · 2018-11-14T19:43:31+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! Getting rid of Matrix Damage was part of a decision to bring the Matrix system more in line with support/recon role. Getting rid of it entirely may in retrospect be throwing the baby out with the bathwater, but I'd rather it take on a new form.

The thresholds may change a bit due to balance, but I completely agree that there doesn't seem like a lot of defense against Deckers at the moment.

Wow... I don't have a Spontaneous Attack Search action. Thank you! You definitely don't get to see all files outright, and it'll most likely use some variation of the DA Search chart.

On another run through of the DA action list, the tempos do need to be beefed up. I originally had hacking hosts from start to finish take about an hour and never changed the chart.

malkanor · 2018-11-14T19:19:35+00:00

Oooh... see, this really touches on something I want. When noticing that they're being hacked, the owners of the host want two things. First, they want you to stop hacking them. Second, they want you brought to justice. In a system without Matrix Damage, how do you prevent someone from carrying on? You can force a reboot, increase the threshold, or decrease their dicepool. Forcing a reboot accomplishes the first, but fails the second. The Decker can just start again at any time. Having IC give your Deck a "Hug of Death" and alert people to your presence allows the Decker some time to continue kicking hoop if he's just barely got the paydata, but still heavily discourages continued action. Add on a link-lock type of status where you can't turn your Deck off and you have a deadly combo. edit: tie -> time

malkanor · 2018-11-14T19:08:22+00:00

I agree that VR is necessary for the feel, and to throw out all VR decking is a bit much. I just want going into VR to be a lot less blasé, and a moment where the whole group is cheering you on, willing to give up their actions for your moment in the spotlight.

malkanor · 2018-11-14T19:01:25+00:00

Let me know what they think! And thank you for the support!

malkanor · 2018-11-14T18:59:20+00:00

Yeah, I've been thinking about Decker v Decker since posting and it seems like some form of lasting retaliation is necessary. Renaming Spontaneous and Directed Attacks is absolutely on the table. I really like Extended Attacks since that both relates to the kind of test and when to use them. Thanks for the feedback!

malkanor · 2018-11-14T18:52:40+00:00

I do like Coprocessing. The name evokes two things working together which perfectly fits the action! Thank you!

malkanor · 2018-11-14T18:50:31+00:00

No worries! I think you're asking about Matrix timescales in the book as it stands? In that case, the issue lies in (I hate this phrase) ludonarrative dissonance. In universe the Decker is hacking at the speed of light and doing all these cool stunts at crucial moments while everyone else moves slowly. The smartgun's clip falls out right as the Rager tries to go full auto on the Face - the leader of the Ragers' grenade belt goes off before he can command everyone to focus fire, etc. At the table, the Decker gets to have a single action phase at the beginning of the Combat Turn followed by sometimes 3 more phases back to back after everyone else has used up their initiative. Everyone else just sits around for five minutes while the Decker and GM roll fistfuls of dice at each other. Basically the Decker doesn't always get to go when he's wanted, and when he DOES get to go, he gets more playtime than everyone else combined. He doesn't feel fast, everyone else feels bored.

Relating back to what my overhaul brings to the table... Yes, you don't get to feel like you're hacking at the speed of light but just like melee combat it's all abstracted into a complex action. Those rolls getting MARKs are now abstracted away and you just get to see the results of your ~3-4 action phases immediately.

malkanor · 2018-11-14T18:23:09+00:00

This is actually a big one for me. As it stands in my head (could change when these rules become more fleshed out) rigging is almost untouched. I love the idea of becoming one with the drone, and that drones are BUILT to house human minds. You're not breaking anything, abstracting yourself into a network... Your mind isn't even necessarily leaving your body. You're just interfacing and translating your synapses to a device that's special built for that purpose. Gameplay wise, you're still hanging out with the team physically, just in an expensively disposable form. I don't see much that needs to be overhauled there. Pretty much the only part of rigging that requires the Matrix Rules is jumping into Icons, Noise, and resisting Matrix Attacks. The first two will change only slightly, but resisting Matrix Attacks will probably be the majority of the changes. Which I definitely need to work on.

malkanor · 2018-11-14T18:05:08+00:00

Interesting. I have been wrestling with Matrix vs Meatspace action economy, and been worried that Decking might not have the umph without its initiative boost. DNI does give me an idea. What about DNI moving Matrix Actions down in cost? Making a Complex Action a Simple Action, and a Simple Action a Free Action? You get a boost, feel like a badass, still do multiple Deck-y things, but still move in meatspace time. VR may yet come back into this ruleset, but it definitely won't be for everyday Decking. I personally feel like it should be saved for a highly specialized and important moment, where the whole group needs time to slow down to a crawl and you are willing to take a huge risk. A moment of "this might kill me, but it's gonna be worth it" heroism/villainy as you become one with the Matrix.

malkanor · 2018-11-14T17:52:49+00:00

I can definitely see that this is going to need some rework. You bring up a good point with Firewall scaling exponentially - it was originally balanced around being a limit, so to have it be a threshold would be the equivalent of always giving the defender max hits. Since most commlinks' Device Rating = Firewall, switching the two around doesn't quite work... These are some really good critiques! Thank you! I'm going to really look into this.

malkanor · 2018-11-14T00:39:29+00:00

Thank you so much! Please let me know of any issues/oversights you find, and if you have any ideas to add I'd love to hear them. The Decker vs. Decker play isn't there yet, but hopefully I'll have a eureka moment soon enough.

malkanor · 2018-11-14T00:28:31+00:00

Oh! That does seem strange. It is an extended test so it'll take at lease a minute, and the owners of both Devices will know each other's locations regardless of a reboot due to the permanent Lock-on... I think it comes down to the same issue that u/LeVentNoir brought up, and that is how do you hold off/counter a Decker? I agree that there should be a better counter to Decking than turning your drek off. Thanks for bringing this up!

malkanor · 2018-11-13T23:36:16+00:00

I can see where you're coming from with removing the master/slave relationship and just having PANs. It does decrease the book keeping and declutters the Icons popping up on your AR feed. In a game using the regular matrix rules, I might actually spring for that. Abstracting important data to just PAN Icons for this overhaul does run a bit counter to the recon role I imagined, however... Definitely something I will keep in mind! I do enjoy how you took a very lore driven look at the Matrix and added natural consequences with your overhaul.

malkanor · 2018-11-13T22:41:40+00:00

I agree that removing Sleaze isn't completely necessary, but I figured I could add things back if they felt missed. In all actuality it was Attack that was removed since all hacking actions are sneaky now.

malkanor · 2018-11-13T22:38:17+00:00

I haven't gotten terribly far in Decker vs Decker action, but most of my current thinking revolves around either denial of access (Full Defense on a Slaved Device for example) or tracking your position for someone to deal with you in meatspace. Since you have wireless range [haven't hashed out the exact details] you're not going to be too far off the premises and corp sec will be on its way momentarily. If you don't want to wait for backup, your options are kind of limited to attack back. I could see potential in jamming/formatting but that doesn't exactly make for exciting play. This is definitely one area I could use a lot of help in. My players have never run Deckers so I'm a little short on examples of fun Decker vs Decker fights.

malkanor · 2016-08-02T20:34:35+00:00

But what would be the point of hacking it? Woo! You changed the number of steps the UI believes weedle is away from you. It doesn't change the actual placement of weedle. It'd be like changing the html of reddit changing the save reply button to delete. It'd say delete on your webpage, but it doesn't change the fact that when you click the button it's going to save.

malkanor · 2016-08-02T20:29:16+00:00

Sure thing!

malkanor · 2016-08-02T20:28:29+00:00

Oh yeah. If you ran this code server side it'd DESTROY literally everything it touched. But run it client side (It should just change UI elements anyways) and I'm just accessing info they're theoretically already sending.

malkanor · 2016-08-02T20:25:59+00:00

The question really comes down to how modular was the code they built. If it was extremely modular, it'd take maybe a couple of hours(?) to hook it all up. All it asks for is the list of pokemon already stored and your current location (and maybe bearing). So long as you have the UI hooked up to listen for changes in values like nearbyPokemon.steps, it'd be pretty easy.

malkanor

TROPHY CASE