Re: GURPS Shadowrun
 

I don't think he's talking about using Magic or the Magic Skill at all, merely using an equivalent to Ritual Magic for Decking instead of something as complex as the Cyberpunk article in Pyramid or the original Netrunning bit in 3e.

Re: GURPS Shadowrun
 

That's only a couple of paragraphs too.

You have one Skill for each basic aspect of Decking such as Stealth, Hacking, Offense and Defense. Roll against the appropriate Skill to accomplish any decking function.

Exactly what the modifiers should be is the major question but the basic concept isn't hard.

Re: GURPS Shadowrun
 

Ah, I hadn't read those in forever either so I don't know which way would work better; which is why I'd have to read over each of the rules carefully to see which I liked better.

Re: GURPS Shadowrun
 

This is actually not very far off from how that Pyramid article (in the #3/21 Cyberpunk issue) handles it, which is why it keeps getting recommended. :)

Re: GURPS Shadowrun
 

The last paragraph in my post is key. Well, also I have 45 programs rather than 12.

See, in standard GURPS netrunning (including the new article) your programs are affecting the computer. It's all about what's happening on the electronic side. While my version has some of that, it also has a lot of "make your roll and this real-world effect happens." So I don't need to say, "Well, I got my Breach off, but there was an Analyze program monitoring the system IC, so now there's a system alarm..." I just use Jedi Trick and the system's like "Ah, an authorized user. Let me get the door, sir."

But yeah, I'm currently mining that article for tweaks and ideas.

Re: GURPS Shadowrun
 

I'd be more than interested to see what you come up with based on the article when you get it finished.

Although I've noted a tweak you may have missed on your Dwarf Template - the penalty to their gear should apply mostly to armor; Dwarves have normal sized hands and pretty much normal upper bodies, just stunted legs.

Re: GURPS Shadowrun
 

That's actually intentional. In most SR art, dwarves look kinda like halflings. I like my dwarves a little more "dwarfy," so in my SR they're short but broad. This means that they have problems fitting into seats designed for all but the most obese humans (or trolls), their height means they have trouble seeing over the table with human-scale chairs, their hands are broad enough that they have trouble fitting them into most human-sized grips, etc.

They're not quite warhammer dorfs, but they're also not the size of a human midget or dwarf.

Re: GURPS Shadowrun
 

Actually, the netrunning in Pyramid 3/21 works very much like Ritual Magic already. A ritual mage has a few core skills (Ritual Magic, Symbol Drawing, plus one skill for each Path/Book/College he knows); each individual ritual is a technique based off of the appropriate skill, with a default penalty depending on the difficulty of the supernatural effect it seeks to create.

A hacker has a few core skills (Computer Hacking, Computer Programming, Computer Operation, and Expert: Computer Security); each program is a technique based off of the appropriate skill, with a default penalty depending on the difficulty of the task it's trying to accomplish.

The complexity that I think Crakkerjakk and Godogma are objecting to is all in the target network. Having a network with multiple computers, layered ICE, and security monitors is all a design choice by the GM ... if the GM decides he doesn't want all that hullaballoo, he can just have the hacker make one roll per computer (against, say, Breach -- as in Crakkerjakk's "Jedi Trick" approach), or even one per network. That's actually how the rules in Action 2: Exploits work: a hacking job is distilled it to a single, modified Computer Hacking roll.

Re: GURPS Shadowrun
 

No joke. What is it with 4th editions of RPGs? I mean, I'm no fan of the d20 system, but at least it resembled the D&D of Olde ... 4th edition D&D resembles nothing so much as PnP WoW.

GURPS 4 is the only 4th edition that springs to mind which actually improved the system in question.

Re: GURPS Shadowrun
 

See, the problem in my SR world is that everything and their mother has a computer in it. I don't want to design elaborate (or even slightly complex) networks that you need to get through to get someone's gun to eject it's magazine. I just want you to be able to make a roll and have that happen.

Oh, and here's the current version of Jedi Trick.