Shadowrun Pub
Shadowrun RPG => SR3 (Shadowrun 3rd Edition) General Discussion => Topic started by: kv on May 28, 2006, 04:57:33 PM
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http://elsewhere.cattail.nu/cgi-bin/matrix.cgi
I'm starting a group of new runners, and since they've gotten the hang of cyberwear and guns, I put them through magic, and now I'm working on riggers and deckers.
Just found this resource and thought I would share.
-kv
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Random ones are nice for quick unexpected runs. But tailoring your own really sets the story alive.
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I'm actually having trouble working the matrix into my runs- I don't want the players to have to sit around and twiddle thier thumbs while waiting for the decker to do it (I also try to limit astral reconnisance, for the same reason).
I was curious though- there used to be a lot of good programs for generating vehicles using Rigger 3, and weapons using Cannon Companion, and I can't find either one of them online anymore. Does anyone have a link to them?
Can anyone get me a copy of them?
-kv
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I'm not sure they have one for Rigger 3, Rigger 2 maybe. I think the Rigger 3 one was never completed...
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There used to be a wedsite called the Shadowrun Archive, you could check that place out. Unfortunately, they were pretty buggy and s bunch of the links died without being removed, but still, you may find something there.
Gabriel
PS - If you have people getting bored with the decker, then get them some hitcher jacks and a Computers 4 Skill and let them run tag-team with the decker. Gabriel was going that route before Vader got geeked under mysterious cercumstances.
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Hitcher jacks don't let the character do anything in the meantime, they just allow the other person to observe everything from the icon's POV.
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Yeah, I already know about hitcher jacks- and I checked the Shadowrun archive. They haven't updated (looks like anything) since 2003, so ALL of thier english links are dead. Although there are two in german that are still good- presuming that you can read and speak german.
-kv
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Then I am thinking of paralell decking I guess. I always got hitcher jacks confused with other hardware, and it has been a LONG time since I had to use a decker, so my rules knowledge is a bit rusty. I do remember that they player who used a decker was a college grad who got his degree in Computer Engineering, so he really enjoyed using those rules and helping me understand them. He was also the one who suggested sending in a "decoy" decker while he hit the main system. I remember thinking "Great, I'm both the GM and the decoy. I really need to cheat once in a while..." ;)
Gabriel
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Usually you'd just use an agent or smart frame for that sort of purpose.
;)
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Actually, wouldn't that make things harder? I mean, as the 'decoy'runs up the security tally, it's still going to make things harder for the decker who actually needs to get paydata out of the datastore.
I think this is one of those things that can backfire.
-kv
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Depends, there can only be so many Security deckers and Security tally is on a per user basis. So if you deck a host and someone before you has gotten a 10 security tally, you still have 0. The "decoy decker" could distract the Security Decker on "patrol" in the system while the other continues to deck under the radar. However, if the host is on passive or active alert, the security tally is still 0, but you still have to deal with the host in alert-status. Your security tally stays the same when you're still jacked in even if you leave the system. To remove your own security tally you must either jack out completely (by performing a Graceful Logoff operation) and then redeck the system.
Really, that's how I interpreted it, because in SR3 Core, it says that the tally stays the same for everyone, while in Matrix, it says the tally is raised separately. I'd recommend doing whichever makes more sense to you.
Security Deckers are more dangerous because they have Noisy utilities. Since they are usually legitimate icons they can use utilities that are very obvious to the Host and can load better programs with less active memory with the advantage of not-having to worry about security tally. However, if the security decker finds himself invalidated by an Invalidate User operation, he'll quickly find that the IC are much more likely to notice her.
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That's a nasty trick.
Gabriel
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That is a nasty trick. I'll have to remember that.
As for the programs, does anyone have a copy of them? I was specifically looking for the rigger one, as I have a player starting out playing a rigger, and I wanted him to have fun customizing his vehicle.
-kv
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Rigger and Decker are totally different animals, Kid_Vid. You have to get the Rigger 3 Revised book for him. Oh, and have fun with the migranes and bleeding eyeballs.
Gabriel
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That's a nasty trick.
No-no.
That's in the little blue book of Standard Operating Procedures.
The little black book of nasty tricks mainly involves blackhammer proggies and a few dirty tricks that require assistance from outside the 'trix.
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What's the name of that utility?
Oh, and anyone know anything about weapon/vehicle design programs? Anyone?
-kv
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Eh, there was one called some Rigger 3 Autoshop or something like that. But I don't think it ever got completed. There is a gunshop utility but I found the custom gun rules are pretty lame.
I basically switched my game over to a realistic firearms system based on Raygun's Website:
http://matrix.dumpshock.com/raygun/ (http://matrix.dumpshock.com/raygun/)
He has some custom gun rules there too. I find it's better to simply ask the player what they want and come up with your own stuff. I believe there was some utility out there that calculates damage values based on custom calibers and such.
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What's the name of that utility?
Vanishing SANs are discussed Matrix p. 120.
The system operation to block the is imaginatively called 'Freeze Vanishing SAN' and uses the Doorstop utility and a complex action.
Doorstop is funnily enough one of the few (if not the only one) operational utility to have escaped the table on p. 163 (Matrix), but can be found on page 70 (of Matrix), and has a size multiplier of 2.
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Seems awful small memory-wize.
Gabriel
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That's ratingxratingx2 Mp, for a program that does nothing but keep vanishing SANs open.
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I know the equation, but I would think it's shear usefullness would have meant that it would have had a multiplier of 3 or so. I mean you use vanishing SAN's on some really nasty systems. So using a utility which attacks the system's ability to defend itself seems to me that it would be a bit more robust.
Gabriel
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Well, it's only used for that one SO, whereas many other (most, I think) utilities are used for several different SOs.
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Yeah, it makes sense to me. The more useful a program is, the higher the multiplier is.
-kv
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Ah, gotcha.
Gabriel
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So your "find Trog Pr0n for Gabe" program would only have a multiplier of 1.
Plus... you know, retching. and stuff.
-kv
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That's be a browse program, possibly inside a smart frame or agent, just given a specific command.
Ofcourse, that'd also be much more flexible.
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the program was called 'the shop'
do a google search for it and you should be able to find it.
or I have it at home on my PC if you want to jog over and copy it accrost a flash drive.
-Ruski
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Ah yes, but to find all the valuable paydata Tr0g pr0n you'd need a nice Evaluate utility.
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So your "find Trog Pr0n for Gabe" program would only have a multiplier of 1.
Plus... you know, retching. and stuff.
-kv
Big words coming from Mr. Pickle's little freind on the side." You naughty troll buggerer.
Gabriel
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http://homepages.nyu.edu/~amw243/diaries/ (http://homepages.nyu.edu/~amw243/diaries/)
And let's then get back to topic, please, before someone locks and purges the topic.
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I've looked for "The Shop" but can't seem to find it. The old Dumpshock link is deader than... something that's really really dead.
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Pretty much all of thier links are.
I was thinking, maybe we can track down some people who have a copy of them, and re-host them here. Or sumthin'.
-kv
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Well, the Shop is for 2nd edition Rigger 2 rules though, keep that in mind.
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I could get off my lazy ass and program some visual basic stuff, but that sounds like an awful lot of work.
-kv
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If you do, just make sure that we all get free copies to use and complain about. ;)
Gabriel
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Well, if you were to do that, you'd be better off making a Matrix 3.0 utility so you can combine more Matrix stuff with your regular players.
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That's what I was thinking of- that and a 4th Edition Generator. Of course, I should probably take a programming class, and figure everything out.
Ahhhh... how I love getting course credit for personal projects.
-kv
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Ironically, using the Matrix to teach yourself the Matrix . . . Bizzaro!
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I've been learning to use .NET code lately.
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Well, I'm taking a Java class over the summer, so more likely than not, all of them will end up being java applets.
Although I would like to make a version to save on a computer (so people could use thier home computers, rather than having to access the intra-web)
-kv
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Well, as any file, you should be able to save it anyway, yeah?
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Not for Java- although I was hoping to integrate a print to html thang so it would actually be useful.
-kv
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I would go with XML so you have a broader framework and it's easier to put into other programs that read XML