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Help me model: cyberspace for cyberpunk game


Surgo

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I'm putting together a vaguely Shadowrun-inspired ruleset for my next game, to be run when my current D&D session ends. Hacking is a key part of cyberpunk but it's important to make sure that the hacker has a reason to physically be with the team, not doing it from a protected outpost somewhere.

 

In classic cyberpunk fashion, cyberspace is an actual place you can experience via VR. But you can also just be in the normal world and partially experience it via AR (you get "arrows" over your senses, usually sight). You get up to +3 SPD for being in VR, and while you're in AR you attack at 1/2 OMCV anywhere outside of your actual line of sight, as opposed to your normal "signal" range. But you can totally walk around hacking in AR despite that if that's your thing. The downside of VR being, of course, that you're an inert body in meatspace.

 

The important things that need be modeled are: every brain and every device exists in both meatspace and cyberspace, but to properly attack and perform other hacking tasks in cyberspace you need to be able to see into it (or use another sense, if you're doing it only in AR, that's pretty flavorful and cool). You get AR and the sense to see arrows for just having a computer in your head. So my questions are:

 

- How do I model getting the senses to see AR, for any of your sight groups? Preferably at minimal real cost, so anyone who wants one can have a computer in their head. Plus the 1/2 OMCV for hacking beyond your LOS.

- How do I model VR? I don't like extra-dimensional movement because it seems overly pricey for what is essentially a flavor concern, and I don't want to have to add Transdimensional to everything. But it is ultimately a separate dimension in the sense that it completely overwrites all of your standard senses. It's just that that's more of a drawback than a penalty (in a metagame sense, anyway), so paying the points for XDM seems counterintuitive.

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Honestly, and IMNSHO, Cyberspace should remain a special effect while the actual hacking comes down to a series of Skill checks and/or Mental Powers versus the computer system. It's just simpler that way. Make the Hacking device (deck) a piece of equipment that provides stat bonuses and Skill Levels, Only in the Matrix (-1 or whatever floats your integer) and the Programs as Gear, like you would buy guns. 

 

Perhaps it is an artifact of my growing curmudgeonityness, but complex systems are becoming a big bugaboo to me. Other folks will probably refer you to Kazei 5 or come up with some elaborate build. Great thing is that you get multiple perspectives and can choose the methodology you want.

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I'm happy to have it be "just" a special effect, but I need to come up with an elegant way of saying "side effect: all your senses are overwritten by cyberspace sense; can instantaneously move to and view anything in signal range".

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I'm happy to have it be "just" a special effect, but I need to come up with an elegant way of saying "side effect: all your senses are overwritten by cyberspace sense; can instantaneously move to and view anything in signal range".

 

Virtual Reality Override: Concentrate 0 DCV; Completely unaware of surrounding environment

 

Instantly Move to Anything in Signal Range: Special Effect of having Range on your Mental Powers (?). Presumably you are going for the Shadowrun 4 Wireless Hacking over the Shadowrun 1-3 jacked in "decks?"

 

 

Keep in mind that I have not completely thought through a system yet. I am just not inclined (as you are also not) to have some elaborate EDM, Leaves Body Behind build.

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I like to just view Cyberspace like I would Astral Space for mages: A seperate reality, paralell to the real world, one can "Project" into while leaving the meatbody behind. (Indeed that is pretty much how Shadowrun handels it, just with some levels of seperation between "Astral" and "Cyberspace" projection).

 

There are numerous ways to build "Astral Projection" (and thus "Cyberspace Projection"):

Duplication (the Duplicate exists in Astral Space).

One of the APG's has a Projection variant of Desolidification (the projection is desolid and might even exist in another Dimension like Astral/Cyberspace).

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You could approach cyberspace or any alternate reality the way The Strange RPG does and essentially provide a separate character sheet for each realm/reality your characters travel to. That may require more effort than you want to invest, but doing so would definitely give cyberspace a distinct feel and allow distinct rules and powers.

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Thanks for the responses, all. I plan to post my ruleset (for this aspect, anyway) in this thread later tonight when it is complete.

 



You could approach cyberspace or any alternate reality the way The Strange RPG does and essentially provide a separate character sheet for each realm/reality your characters travel to. That may require more effort than you want to invest, but doing so would definitely give cyberspace a distinct feel and allow distinct rules and powers.

 

Definitely do not want to go this route. Not only is the hacker meant to be a unique role in the team, they are explicitly able to affect the real world including human brains with their hacking. So they should ideally be spending as many points on that as the street sam.

 



I like to just view Cyberspace like I would Astral Space for mages: A seperate reality, paralell to the real world, one can "Project" into while leaving the meatbody behind. (Indeed that is pretty much how Shadowrun handels it, just with some levels of seperation between "Astral" and "Cyberspace" projection).

 

There are numerous ways to build "Astral Projection" (and thus "Cyberspace Projection"):

Duplication (the Duplicate exists in Astral Space).

One of the APG's has a Projection variant of Desolidification (the projection is desolid and might even exist in another Dimension like Astral/Cyberspace).

 

Yeah, in Shadowrun the astral and the matrix are pretty much the same thing (or at least, in the best matrix rules they were).

 

I don't think I want to go with Duplication because every brain and machine needs to simultaneously exist in both realms already, with no additional fanfare. The projection variant is interesting but maybe a bit too complicated to combine with what I'm going for with signal ranges. Neat ideas though, thanks!

 



Virtual Reality Override: Concentrate 0 DCV; Completely unaware of surrounding environment

 

Instantly Move to Anything in Signal Range: Special Effect of having Range on your Mental Powers (?). Presumably you are going for the Shadowrun 4 Wireless Hacking over the Shadowrun 1-3 jacked in "decks?"

 

 

Keep in mind that I have not completely thought through a system yet. I am just not inclined (as you are also not) to have some elaborate EDM, Leaves Body Behind build.

 

This seems good. The special effects of the power range is exactly what I'm looking for. And yeah I'm going for SR4 -- I want futurism rather than retro-futurism :-) Specifically I'll be adapting the rules from Ends of the Matrix: http://tgdmb.com/viewtopic.php?t=48836

 

Hacking itself will be done sort of like the Magecraft system from Killer-Shrike (http://killershrike.com/FantasyHERO/HighFantasyHERO/MagicSystems/magecraftSystem.aspx); the skill rolls are important to give it a "skill" flavor, I think. All devices have a signal range, and your hacking powers are mostly limited to your opponent being in signal range of you and vice versa. Since many installations you want to hack have intentionally low signal ranges, this forces the hacker to stay physically with the rest of the team when they want to use their cool powers. I think this has been a big issue with hacking systems in other games; you split the team up so as a result the hacking aspect of the game is left as mostly a sideshow. Not what I want in cyberpunk!

 

I'll post my more complete write-up tonight, now that you all have helped me figure out how to do it.

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It's not the cleanest write-up yet, but here's the basics. Numbers and specific rules subject to change. Some things taken from Ends of the Matrix.

 

Hacking powers:

  • Hacking powers are called “programs”. They include all the “Mental” powers. They attack with OMCV, defend with DMCV and are soaked with Firewall (F), a form of Power Defense. Thus they must have the appropriate ACV and AVAD advantages (but unlike normal AVAD, they will still do BODY damage). Furthermore, they are only visible to the Matrix sight group; they must take the Invisible Power Effects advantage where necessary.

  • All characters on a network get a Firewall of 2 for free; this represents the basic components of their personal network that defend the brain.

  • See the “type” and “range” rules from Ends of the Matrix. The “Handshake” range replaces the normal power range for all hacking powers (a -0 limitation/advantage).

    • If both the target and the actor have an open connection to a third party's node they are within Handshake range of each other regardless of distance in the real world.

    • Most secure installations intentionally have low signals or use high-density blocking paint, which forces the hacker to be physically present as part of the team.

    • Your signal range is based on your commlink; see the range table below.

    • Connection range is considered a -1/4 limitation for powers. Furthermore, non-human-piloted software (like IC) can only act via Connection range and cannot open connections on its own.

    • When a connection is established, any non-LOS program can be run over the connection. Effectively, every non-LOS program has an implicit range of Connection.

  • Most programs take a full-phase action, though some take half-phase actions.

  • Your matrix actions are limited to a SPD of 2 without being in at least cold VR (see “VR Module” below).

 

Basic item: the commlink. It’s a computer in your head. Represented by a talent. Signal and number of simultaneous programs can be bought up for more character points. A basic commlink costs 5 points and gives you some everyman powers:

  • Allows you to search and access the matrix.

  • Allows you to communicate to anyone else on the matrix who is willing to accept communication (acts as Mind Link power).

  • Allows you to see the matrix in AR (“arrows”). Sense AR, one per sense group. For equipment and powers that use arrows, characters must define which sense the arrows go to.

 

Commlinks, and all computer installations, have a “signal” attribute. This represents the range it can reach with its powers. By default this starts at step 0. Every step up the table costs 5 character points.

 

Signal / Range - Examples:

-1 / 20 cm – Nanoware Tranceivers

0 / 3m – Metahuman Brain, RFID Tags

1 / 40m – Handheld Electronics

2 / 100m – Microdrones

3 / 400m – Average Commlinks

4 / 1km – Commercial Drones

5 / 4km –

6 / 10km – Cell Towers

7 / 40km

8 / 100km – Low Orbit Satellite Links

9 / 400km

10 / 1000km

11 / 4000km Earth Orbiting Satellites

12 / 10,000km

13* / 40,000km

 

Hackers are particularly interested in concurrent programs. You can only use one program at a time; this limit can be increased by 1 for every 5 character points you spend.

 

Hacking Skills:

  • Computer, Datasearch, Electronic Warfare, Hacking. All INT based. See Ends of the Matrix for details. We don’t use Cybercombat (that’s OMCV/DMCV).

  • It’s a lot like Magecraft, but there are only those 4 skills. You buy the programs as talents, real cost / 10.

 

Hacking in AR:

  • While you can hack in AR, it’s not ideal.

  • Classically, AR is handled in the same manner as the classic “Head's Up Display” of the late twentieth century, but it technically Arrows can be handled with literally any type of sensory input. Some hackers have been known to pipe their matrix information through touch links as a web of tappings on their body or through audio playback as elaborate music in order to continue seeing the world unimpeded. This is still distracting, but at least you no longer have blind spots.

  • Choose at character creation time which sense group you want to use for your arrows. Standard sense group rules apply, so non-sight senses aren’t targeting unless you buy it.

  • When taking hacking actions in AR, you are at ½ OCV, ½ OMCV and limited to a SPD of 2.

 

Hacking in VR:

  • The next stage in perceiving the matrix is to replace all sense data from the real world with matrix Arrows. At its crudest implementation, this literally just means that Arrows are so densely packed across one's perceptions that the input from the world around cannot be seen at all. At its ideal, it represents a whole virtual world crafted for the user in which all Arrows are incorporated and contextualized.

  • On the downside, you can’t move your real body and are virtually helpless in the real world. On the upside everything is so much faster.

  • To do this, you need a sim module. They come in varieties from SPD +0 to SPD +3.

 

Sim Module:  (Total: 30 Active Cost, 13 Real Cost) +3 SPD (30 Active Points); Only in the Matrix (-1/2), Meat Body (Your body is paralyzed, and your normal sense are overwritten with the matrix; -1/2), IIF (Commlink; -1/4) (Real Cost: 13)

 

 

Other Hacking Gear:

 

Why not record your senses for playback later? Make a VR movie. Open your own X-rated VR movie studio. Hell, you could even have a little television window while you’re hopping around in VR so you could see out of your meatspace eyes while you’re doing your thing.

 

Full Sum Rig: (Total: 11 Active Cost, 9 Real Cost) Eidetic Memory (5 Active Points); IIF (Commlink; -1/4) (Real Cost: 4) plus Transmit for standard senses (6 Active Points); IIF (Commlink; -1/4) (Real Cost: 5)

 

Normally your commlink limits the frequency and amplitude of signals sent to your brain to within normal human parameters. This is a very important safety feature to prevent peoples’ brains from being fried. But sometimes you just want that extra speed and intensity that getting rid of this feature gives you.

 

Running Hot:  +1 SPD (10 Active Points); Only for Matrix Actions (-1/2), Side Effects, Side Effect occurs automatically whenever Power is used (-3 resistant Firewall; -1/2), Extra Time (half-phase to activate, -1/4)

 

Running Hot:  +1 SPD (10 Active Points, 4 Real Cost); Only for Matrix Actions (-1/2), Side Effects, Side Effect occurs automatically whenever Power is used (-3 resistant Firewall; -1/2)

 

Programs:

Black Hammer (LOS):  Killing Attack - Ranged 1d6, Attack Versus Alternate Defense (Firewall; +0), Alternate Combat Value (uses OMCV against DMCV; +1/4), Invisible Power Effects (Invisible to non-Matrix senses; +1/2); Line of Sight Range (-1/2) (26 Active Points)

 
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  • 1 month later...

 

 

- How do I model getting the senses to see AR, for any of your sight groups? Preferably at minimal real cost, so anyone who wants one can have a computer in their head. Plus the 1/2 OMCV for hacking beyond your LOS.

- How do I model VR? I don't like extra-dimensional movement because it seems overly pricey for what is essentially a flavor concern, and I don't want to have to add Transdimensional to everything. But it is ultimately a separate dimension in the sense that it completely overwrites all of your standard senses. It's just that that's more of a drawback than a penalty (in a metagame sense, anyway), so paying the points for XDM seems counterintuitive.

 

First off you need to define what a persona in cyberspace is.  Is it a physical representation  of a meat body in a 3D virtual world which must sense and move as a human does?  Remember the ultimate point of the net in Gibson's books are that we have virtual personas which see and hear and smell and touch and taste in the virtual world as if using their own senses.  Moving this persona uses the same signals one would send to one's own body.  In this way a computer illiterate can access cyberspace.

 

In this way one may not have a clue how to program code but knows in this house if you walk up to the bar and order information such as ta file the bartender gives you a glass of wine and when you drink it the copy of the file you asked for is in your memory.

 

Or is the sensation felt and virtual world just the result of the agreed on metaphor for running a retrieve data program and a copy utility.  It looks and acts different based on the special effect but it is always the same program.  This matters because the second version requires a system of programs, what they are and how they interact while the first dispenses with standardize rules and instead the system being hacked is a set of rooms that have to be deciphered like a dungeon.

 

Either way is OK and you can use both.

 

I would make programs AIs or avatars using spirit rules.  Spirits have DEX, INT, EGO & PRE, OMCV and DMCV and Mental Defense and SPD.  All other stats are Not Applicable.  All powers etc are utilities and must either be bought no end or feed from a endurance battery somewhere.  End Batteries reflect system resources.  Powers can require end from the hackers CPU and RAM or from the system they are in or both.  END requirements for virtual object programs could have arbitrary set amounts adjusted by the administrator.  Thus downloading a small file might require 20x End to reflect the importance of the file and the amount of attention a CPU admin will place on it.

 

I would utilize Mind Scan to locate a program, persona or file on the net.  Change environments etc can make mind scans harder.

 

ICE programs could immobilize a program with mental paralysis, change its programming with mind control, deceive it with mental illusions, etc,

 

Drains on Dex or Spd slow it, drain Int cripples it, the persona which can only have INT/5 programs active and drain ego to 0 destroys the persona, AI or data.  PRE is how many connections outside and inside one can have at one time.  In order to change data, program functions , add back doors or Easter eggs or take over a persona's deck use transforms.  Buy everything Based on Ego, AVAD Mental Defense.  Line of Sight is anything in the same node on the internet.  Looking into other nodes require clairsentience programs if one knows what node they are in and if not mind scan to find that node.

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