Modelling Modern Smart Phones

[comradeDa]

Has anyone put any thought to this? In previous investigations, finding out the capital of Angoa (say) would require a trip to the local library, but now it's just a few screen swipes away. Or one can look up how to take apart a particular brand of lock etc.

 

Obviously, a lot of information would be either secret or nonexistent (MILINT, or dark web stuff), but that could be reflected with a roll.

 

A lot of basic Area Knowledge stuff just becomes a basic googling, as well as cursory knowledge of most topics. This all only applies if you have data service and battery life, of course.

 

Anyway, would like to not have to write that from scratch (though if you had a Watchdogs style character, they'd presumably be able to use their smartphone for a lot more).

[Scott Anderson]

+1 Overall Level, noncombat only (-1/2)

[薔薇語]

The topic of cell phones and smart phones comes up a LOT on these boards. I am sure that QM or another will be able to give you links to the countless discussions regarding them. 

There are various solutions:

Access (to the web, etc). 
Generic Skill bonus (as above - which is my preferred manner). 

Various Enhanced senses and / or talents
A Send and Receive Radio 
So on and so forth. 

Soar. 

[comradeDa]

Honestly, I had completely forgotten that Americans use the term "cell phone", so I didn't search for that.

[薔薇語]

Where are you from ComradeDa? And what do you call them where you are from? 

In the US I called them Cell Phones and Smart Phones (which are also still called cell phones now). In Japan we call them 携帯 which translates kind of as "portables" or スマーホン which is the abbreviated Japanese version of "Smart Phone". 

Soar. 

[steriaca]

Where are you from ComradeDa? And what do you call them where you are from?

 

In the US I called them Cell Phones and Smart Phones (which are also still called cell phones now). In Japan we call them 携帯 which translates kind of as "portables" or スマーホン which is the abbreviated Japanese version of "Smart Phone".

 

Soar.

DoCoMo is the top cell phone/smart phone service in Japan.

[薔薇語]

Docomo or AU. One of them is for sure. Docomo is a funny name come to think of it. I just realized it can be understood in Japanese as "everywhere". Peraonally I use YMobile (Y, as in Yahoo!). Softbank tends to be the most popular with foreigners, or so it would seem.

 

 

Soar.

[Surrealone]

Has anyone put any thought to this? In previous investigations, finding out the capital of Angoa (say) would require a trip to the local library, but now it's just a few screen swipes away. Or one can look up how to take apart a particular brand of lock etc.

 

Obviously, a lot of information would be either secret or nonexistent (MILINT, or dark web stuff), but that could be reflected with a roll.

 

A lot of basic Area Knowledge stuff just becomes a basic googling, as well as cursory knowledge of most topics. This all only applies if you have data service and battery life, of course.

 

Anyway, would like to not have to write that from scratch (though if you had a Watchdogs style character, they'd presumably be able to use their smartphone for a lot more).

 

Computer Link bought on an Obvious, Accessible Focus: Smart Phone [-1]

 

As Computer Link is a 1-10CP Perk, you'll need to decide how much of it makes sense.  If the character is a world-renowned hacker or security expert carrying a rooted phone with custom apps which s/he can use to learn (via hacking, the Dark Web, etc.) almost anything, perhaps 8-10pts of Computer Link makes sense.  If s/he's a plebian smart phone user like the rest of us, 1-3 pts is probably appropriate.

 

In either case, you should probably give the character the appropriate skills to make solid use of the Computer Link.  Security Systems and Computer Programming might apply for the world-renowned hacker or security expert, while plebs might simply have Googling to represent the formulation of solid Google queries (where better queries result in less time spent looking for something).

 

You get the idea.

[Wardsman]

Computer Link bought on an Obvious, Accessible Focus: Smart Phone [-1]

 

As Computer Link is a 1-10CP Perk, you'll need to decide how much of it makes sense.  If the character is a world-renowned hacker or security expert carrying a rooted phone with custom apps which s/he can use to learn (via hacking, the Dark Web, etc.) almost anything, perhaps 8-10pts of Computer Link makes sense.  If s/he's a plebian smart phone user like the rest of us, 1-3 pts is probably appropriate.

 

In either case, you should probably give the character the appropriate skills to make solid use of the Computer Link.  Security Systems and Computer Programming might apply for the world-renowned hacker or security expert, while plebs might simply have Googling to represent the formulation of solid Google queries (where better queries result in less time spent looking for something).

 

You get the idea.

Point of order, compared to Europeans, Canadians get reamed on paying cell phones. Compared to Canadians , Americans get reamed.

Though I hear that is changing in both countries.

 

While cell phones (mobiles) are radios, they rely on the underlying cell system. If that is down they are useless. Most do not have point to point function. Nextel may be the exception. 

 

There still coverage areas in the US depending where you are. Even if you do have coverage it may be roaming at slower speeds than you are used to. It is child's play to set up a false a cell tower even without stingray access. The trick is setting your fake tower to connect to the PSTN so not to raise suspicions on the mark.

 

Bluetooth is another security nightmare for mobile security.

 

And if you maintain a LAN,  employee mobiles with wifi are you worst nightmare if you are trying to maintain a strict access protocol to your LAN.

Bring your own device policies are a hot topic in CompSec circles.

[薔薇語]

What do you mean by reamed? Costs to make calls, data plans, text / email, something else, or all of the above? My only experience is with the US and Japan and both have their strong and weak points. In terms of costs to call, the US is by FAR the cheapest of the two. By an order of magnitude cheaper. But on quality of data streaming, it seems like the US suffers. Both countries have cheaper and more expensive ways of getting phones (in contract vs out of) and the US model tends to give you the phone upfront at an extremely reduce priced while the Japanese one makes you pay in installments in order to get it at an even lower price but if you break contract you are on the hook for a much more expensive phone. I got the impression that Canada was fairly well on par with the US from some Canadian friends but that might have been an issue of the particulars than the actual overall comparison. What of Europe? 

 

Soar. 

[Wardsman]

What do you mean by reamed? Costs to make calls, data plans, text / email, something else, or all of the above? My only experience is with the US and Japan and both have their strong and weak points. In terms of costs to call, the US is by FAR the cheapest of the two. By an order of magnitude cheaper. But on quality of data streaming, it seems like the US suffers. Both countries have cheaper and more expensive ways of getting phones (in contract vs out of) and the US model tends to give you the phone upfront at an extremely reduce priced while the Japanese one makes you pay in installments in order to get it at an even lower price but if you break contract you are on the hook for a much more expensive phone. I got the impression that Canada was fairly well on par with the US from some Canadian friends but that might have been an issue of the particulars than the actual overall comparison. What of Europe? 

 

Soar. 

It has been a while since I last look but around 2012 Canada had better sane call and data prices and Europed beat Canada. 

In We have a mix of CDMA and GSM. While it now changing, in the US being locked into a contract was a real thing. Going and putting a new sim in the phone when change areas was hard. We used to only have cells that were locked. But as I said we are moving away from that.

We only have two main GSM carriers. AT&T and T-mobile. The rest are CDMA

[Beast]

cell phones are pretty fragile things, so backups in safe places or an armored case would be a must

[Surrealone]

Slap an activation roll on the OAF if you want to model coverage concerns.  Some thoughts:

• 14- for Verizon in the US.
• 13- for AT&T in the US.
• 12- for T-Mobile in the US.
• 11- for Sprint in the US.

[steriaca]

<p>

 

Slap an activation roll on the OAF if you want to model coverage concerns. Some thoughts:

• 14- for Verizon in the US.
• 13- for AT&T in the US.
• 12- for T-Mobile in the US.
• 11- for Sprint in the US.

Where is the activation roll for Boost Mobile?

 

On a related note, TracPhone. For non Smart Phones it is 14-. On Smart Phones, 8- if your lucky.

[Surrealone]

Where is the activation roll for Boost Mobile?

 

On a related note, TracPhone. For non Smart Phones it is 14-. On Smart Phones, 8- if your lucky.

Lol -- no idea on Boost or Cricket or any of those, as I've not used any of them for any length of time across the US (in both rural and metro areas) like I have the ones I listed.

[dmjalund]

Detect, Sense and Locate fictional creatures

[comradeDa]

Where are you from ComradeDa? And what do you call them where you are from? 

Soar. 

In Australia, "Mobile Phone" or "Mobile" is pretty common nomenclature.

 

+Some amount to knowledge skills

+Less to other skills

+Absolute Time Sense

+Absolute Range Sense (up to a range)

+Bump of Direction

+Eiditic Memory (photos

+Telepathy, limited, other people with a phone

 

idk

[薔薇語]

Other than the communication function, I generally hold to the idea that a generic plus 1, 2, or 3 INT skill will suffice for most functions a smartphone will provide. 

Going through the list provided above, we can see how such a skill bonus could be applied:

Knowledge Skills - A generic bonus will let you boost any values you have. And since no information you can gleam from the internet is going to be perfect, it makes sense for it to essentially just bump up your own abilities. 

Absolute Time Sense - This Talent is actually built as "detect: time". That is little more than a perception check that is essentially guaranteed to succeed. But since it is typically a trivial issue, the sheer cost of "overall skill levels" should be enough to grant the power anyway. 

Absolute Range Sense - this one I am not sure about. What phones are telling you range? Do you mean GPS? No GPS system is absolutely perfect. So just using the Skill levels to bump up your own "Area Knowledge: X" should be good enough. 

Bump of Direction - This is just the same as Absolute Time sense but with "Detect: North". 

Memory - I think E.M. is actually a bit awkward since it is perfect without any roll. But realistically, the quality of the camera, the skill of the phographer, and the weather / lighting conditions will greatly effect the picture qualities. I think these various conditions could be summed up with a single INT roll with the Overall Skill bonus from a Phone. 

Telepathy - This is the one section where a generic skill bonus doesn't work. I wouldn't build it has Telepathy (nor is it typically built that way). Rather it is just a fancy Receive & Transmit Radio build. 

Soar. 

[Lucius]

Detect, Sense and Locate fictional creatures

Side Effect, Mind Control, one command, "Gotta catch 'em all"

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Hey, what are you trying to do to my palindromedary!!?

[massey]

Computer Link should probably be all you need. Most of a cell phone's features don't work if you don't have service. If you wanted to go more complex than that, I'd build it as a computer that is also OAF fragile. Absolute time sense, lightning calculator, bump of direction, radio transmit and receive (only through network), universal translator (limited languages, 11- activation, extra time: full turn) and a general KS: stuff on the Internet. Should be real cheap once you get the 1/5 cost break for a computer and then slap OAF on it.

[Hadmar von Wieser]

Should be real cheap once you get the 1/5 cost break for a computer and then slap OAF on it.

I strongly disagree on combining Computer and OAF.

Computer like Follower, Vehicle, and Base is a -4 Limitation. Meaning "you can use this about 20% of all scenes and situations", because you almost never can take it with you.

OAF, on the other hand, means: You can take it with you in every scene and situation - but someone could stop you from. That's -1.

 

A smart phone is a textbook example of an obvious and accessible focus, but no follower. A follower that follows you all the time is no limitation.   

 

[Hadmar von Wieser]

A smart phone in a contemporary setting is an everyman power. You do not have to pay for it. The same way you did not have to pay for a wrist watch since the 60s. ULTIMATE VEHICLE even has Everycar Powers and Everyrobot Skills.

But of course a GM should know how to build it – at least so you can buy it back for characters that do not have a smart phone.

 

I am 53 and in my opinion smart phones haven't changed people's knowledge as much as we expected in the 80s.

 

Users are better at finding adresses. But not much, because most people cannot read maps anymore and loose even more of there natural orientation ability. I rate this as Navigation +1 and Area Knowledge: Here +1.

 

In my experience most users have a Skill Level +1 with 3 related skills. Depending on their interests and apps:
Some people use it to be better at Seduction (Dating Apps like Tinder). But they never think about Online Trading (Trading +1).
Some users spend hours in forums for tuning cars (Mechanics +1), outdoor & survivalism (Survival +1), or training dogs (Animal Handler +1). But they never think about reading Wikipedia or CNN to question their conspiracy theories (Deduction +1 or KS: Politics).

Some users know how to get that Bureaucratics +1, but are unable to order a Pizza online.

A friend of mine has several impressive apps to improve his SC: Astronomy +1, but he not once used his internet connection to translate a text.
Another friend even gets paid to translate italian texts with his device; although he does not understand italian, he gets +1 pt. Fluent in a related language. But he refuses to use his Smart phone to learn why it stops working sometimes (Electronics +1).

You need half a year in specialized forums like this one until you know what to ask, how, and whom to get that +1 on Tactics, Riding, KS: Childcare, or Security Systems.

There might even be a Lip Reading App giving +1 or one for Ventriloquism +1. Or even for Bribery +1. But you will need months to learn to use it.

Even longer until that Acrobatics +1, Breakfall +1, or Martial Arts +1 start to manifest.

 

So what about:
+1 / Familiarity with 3 Skills of choice, usually Navigation +1, Area Knowledge +1 etc.

+1 INT because sometimes you just get a faster solution.

Radio Transmit and Receive.
OAF, fragile (1¼).

And Activation or a similar Limitation because a third of the time your net is down, your batteries are empty, your download volume is exceeded, or you have a new smart phone and have to install all those apps and gather those adresses again.
 

[TheDarkness]

My cellphone has a flashlight, a boxing round timer, and a Chinese English dictionary that can take pictures of text and provide the definitions of all words present(maybe).

 

Oh yeah, the camera.

 

I am not building those...

[NN1]

The closest published equivalent to a modern smartphone would be the Hand Computer (Star Hero p161) and similar portable computers in Terran Empire and probably other books. Lots of the functions would be reliant on telecom and GPS infrastructure and/or be limited by what you downloaded specifically (you can download a pretty big reference library if you need to, but it is no internet). The HRRP would need to be altered (though some phones have FM radio receivers), but you'd also add a flashlight and the skill rolls probably needs to be altered. Smartphones are magic.

[Nolgroth]

Mind Control 6d6 Set Effect (Look at me) Breakout roll allowed when battery discharges Plus

 

Drain Intelligence 2d6 when posting to social media sites.