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Message no. 1
From: mykul@*******.co.uk (Mike Thomas)
Subject: Decking Traces
Date: Tue, 16 Jan 1996 20:50:53 +0000
Yo chummers.
Here is a puzzler which I would appreciate feedback on. I'm not fully
conversant with VR2.0 rules and dont have any rulebooks on me as I write
this, but here goes.
Somehow, the Team manage to get a datatap into the links to a PLG or an
LTG. I suppose it might be in a sewer or something. They have tried to
conceal as much of the cable as possible. They are in hiding approximately
200m away through some sort of maze of tunnels. They have left false taps
coming off the main tap and their taps. They have spent a lot of money and
effort on this - a major Matrix run. You get the picture.
During the run some Trace IC is triggered.
The problem I have is reconciling the trace modifiers in locating the jack
point and the arrival time of any response.
1. Would the fact that the team have laid out so many false trails etc
count as modifiers?
2. How can the response team locate the jack point in the physical world if
all they have is a new, unauthorised logical entry point?
3. How can they place this in the material world - it is somewhere between
"Dogey Phone box on Street corner X" and "Bogus Banks ATM Machine" ?

I would appreciate any advice, critisisms etc.

Mykul
8-)

Suffer No Skrimshankers.
Message no. 2
From: bqtech1@***.pipeline.com (Andrew Ragland)
Subject: Re: Decking Traces
Date: Tue, 16 Jan 1996 16:30:11 -0500
On Jan 16, 1996 15:45:44, 'mykul@*******.co.uk (Mike Thomas)' wrote:


>1. Would the fact that the team have laid out so many false trails etc
>count as modifiers?

No. Only one of the cables is actually carrying a signal, so the TRace IC
would not be confused by the false taps.

>2. How can the response team locate the jack point in the physical world
if
>all they have is a new, unauthorised logical entry point?

Ever hear of a signal drop detector? Putting a tap on a line causes a drop
in signal strength. With a high enough rating on a signal drop detector,
the corps could figure out where physically the tap was. Might take them a
bit, though.

>3. How can they place this in the material world - it is somewhere between

>"Dogey Phone box on Street corner X" and "Bogus Banks ATM Machine"
?

Cave: (decker jargon) A shooting blind, a safe spot to deck from that can
be abandoned without regret on a moment's notice. Normally a single room,
usuallly in a large building with a lot of pedestrian traffic. The cave
will normally have a desk, a chair, and an LTG port, and may have other
facilities depending on what the decker is willing to lose. Normally, the
rent or ownership (if the cave isn't a squat) will be a dummy SIN or a
grave (a deceased person's SIN, kept active), as will the LTG, if it's not
boosted. The ideal cave has leads to an enemy of the decker. The heavy
pedestrian traffic provides cover from astral surveillance.

--
Andrew W. Ragland, Product Support Manager, R & M BioMetrics / BioQuant
bqtech1@***.pipeline.com *** The Internet is a Process, not a Thing
GTW @*+(-) s++/+ a c++(++++) G+ y* L e* W !N o+ K w++$ M+ O+$ V+ +PS- +PE-
Y+ PGP @*+ 5@ X+ R+++>$ h---- b+++ r+++
Message no. 3
From: Robert Watkins <robertdw@*******.com.au>
Subject: Re: Decking Traces
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 1996 08:47:02 +1100 (EST)
>1. Would the fact that the team have laid out so many false trails etc
>count as modifiers?

Yeah. It's that little thing: Trace Factor +4. If you think the team has
gone to extreme efforts, increase it.

>2. How can the response team locate the jack point in the physical world if
>all they have is a new, unauthorised logical entry point?

The trace would find out what switching station was being used, I guess.
That'd give them a fairly discrete area, and there aren't TOO many places
you could hook in an illegal jack point. Fiber isn't like wire... you
can't just cut it and splice another connection in. You'd have to do it
at an access point.

>3. How can they place this in the material world - it is somewhere between
>"Dogey Phone box on Street corner X" and "Bogus Banks ATM Machine"
?

Yes.

If you want an "untraceable" link, use a satellite uplink.


--
_______________________________________________________________________
/ \
| "As soon as we started programming, we found to our surprise that it |
| wasn't as easy to get programs right as we had thought. Debugging |
| had to be discovered. I can remember the exact instant when I |
| realizedthat a large part of my life from then on was going to be |
| spent infinding mistakes in my own programs." -- Maurice Wilkes |
| Robert Watkins robertdw@*******.com.au |
\_______________________________________________________________________/
Message no. 4
From: Robert Watkins <robertdw@*******.com.au>
Subject: Re: Decking Traces
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 1996 19:54:20 +1100 (EST)
>Cave: (decker jargon) A shooting blind, a safe spot to deck from that can
>be abandoned without regret on a moment's notice. Normally a single room,
>usuallly in a large building with a lot of pedestrian traffic. The cave
>will normally have a desk, a chair, and an LTG port, and may have other
>facilities depending on what the decker is willing to lose. Normally, the
>rent or ownership (if the cave isn't a squat) will be a dummy SIN or a
>grave (a deceased person's SIN, kept active), as will the LTG, if it's not
>boosted. The ideal cave has leads to an enemy of the decker. The heavy
>pedestrian traffic provides cover from astral surveillance.

You forgot the escape route. And the automated defences to buy the decker
time to use it. :)

--
_______________________________________________________________________
/ \
| "As soon as we started programming, we found to our surprise that it |
| wasn't as easy to get programs right as we had thought. Debugging |
| had to be discovered. I can remember the exact instant when I |
| realizedthat a large part of my life from then on was going to be |
| spent infinding mistakes in my own programs." -- Maurice Wilkes |
| Robert Watkins robertdw@*******.com.au |
\_______________________________________________________________________/
Message no. 5
From: bqtech1@***.pipeline.com (Andrew Ragland)
Subject: Re: Decking Traces
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 1996 09:26:44 -0500
On Jan 17, 1996 03:54:21, 'Robert Watkins <robertdw@*******.com.au>' wrote:


>>boosted. The ideal cave has leads to an enemy of the decker. The heavy
>>pedestrian traffic provides cover from astral surveillance.
>
>You forgot the escape route. And the automated defences to buy the decker

>time to use it. :)

Read above where it says heavy pedestrian traffic. You walk out and you get
yourself lost in the crowd. You take very public routes so there's lots of
witnesses and innocent bystanders to complicate a firefight and convince
the opposition they don't want to start shooting.

The best way to survive a firefight is not to have one.
--
Andrew W. Ragland, Product Support Manager, R & M BioMetrics / BioQuant
bqtech1@***.pipeline.com *** The Internet is a Process, not a Thing
GTW @*+(-) s++/+ a c++(++++) G+ y* L e* W !N o+ K w++$ M+ O+$ V+ +PS- +PE-
Y+ PGP @*+ 5@ X+ R+++>$ h---- b+++ r+++
Message no. 6
From: seb@***.ripco.com (Sebastian Wiers)
Subject: Re: Decking Traces
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 1996 15:45:54 -0600 (CST)
Our campaign is set in chicago. About half the pc,s live in the noose. ALL
trid, phone, etc conections in the noose are illegal. Many are jurry rigged,
doe to damage from the nbight of rage and years of neglect. Would these not, by
definition, be difficult to trace, at least as far as real world location goes?
--
() _
/\ /) //
/ ) o _, // o // _
/__/__<_(_) o //__<_</_</_
/| />
|/ </
Message no. 7
From: "Larry White (WPG) (Exchange)" <Larryw@********.MICROSOFT.com>
Subject: RE: Decking Traces
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 1996 18:59:20 -0800
>On 16 Jan 96 mykul@*******.co.uk wrote:
>
>>During the run some Trace IC is triggered.
>>The problem I have is reconciling the trace modifiers in locating the jack
>>point and the arrival time of any response.

You can also choose to determine how far away the response team is, whether
they are already suited up, whether they are already involved in another
call, what sort of vehicle they use, whether there is any blocking traffic
or whether they have an accident on the way.

What I do instead: (don't tell my players ... some of them don't understand
this) Gaze off into the distance for a few moments, scratching my chin.
Collect some dice in my hand. Start to add several more and then say "no"
and only add a few more. Roll the dice hidden from their view. Stare at
them intently for several seconds. Look them straight in the eye and say
"Nothing immediately happens where you are."

A response will or will not happen, and will be quick or slow, based on my
understanding of how to make the play as challenging and rewarding (if they
live) as possible. Good preparation on their part is generally rewarded,
but sometimes things just have to happen to get the plot on to the next part
of the adventure. Bad preparation on their part is generally punished, but
sometimes it would interefere with the adventure. Sometimes it doesn't make
a difference, so I'll judge by whether that dice roll was "awful" or
"great". Sometimes I pick up several dice and reroll them (as if they were
sixes) to heighten the sense of danger. The more dice they hear rattling,
>the more worried they get.
Message no. 8
From: bqtech1@***.pipeline.com (Andrew Ragland)
Subject: RE: Decking Traces
Date: Thu, 18 Jan 1996 15:05:47 -0500
On Jan 18, 1996 11:19:39, '"Larry White (WPG) (Exchange)"
<Larryw@********.MICROSOFT.com>' wrote:

>sixes) to heighten the sense of danger. The more dice they hear rattling,

>>the more worried they get.

This is an old trick but it still works like a charm. Non-SR: I remember
when I got my 30-sided reaction die. It's numbered 0 to 9, positive,
neutral and negative, and I use it for NPC reactions when I don't have an
idea already. It's about the size of a golf ball. First time I used it, I
just rolled it out onto the table right into the middle of the players.
They really lost it. One of them even jumped up out of his seat, yelling
something akin to "What the frag is that?"

Roll dice and refuse to explain. Nervous players are your friend. :)
--
Andrew W. Ragland, Product Support Manager, R & M BioMetrics / BioQuant
bqtech1@***.pipeline.com *** The Internet is a Process, not a Thing
GTW @*+(-) s++/+ a c++(++++) G+ y* L e* W !N o+ K w++$ M+ O+$ V+ +PS- +PE-
Y+ PGP @*+ 5@ X+ R+++>$ h---- b+++ r+++
Message no. 9
From: Zaeki@***.com
Subject: Re: Decking Traces
Date: Tue, 23 Jan 1996 18:02:14 -0500
In a message dated 96-01-16 15:56:47 EST, you write:

>1. Would the fact that the team have laid out so many false trails etc
>count as modifiers?
>2. How can the response team locate the jack point in the physical world if
>all they have is a new, unauthorised logical entry point?
>3. How can they place this in the material world - it is somewhere between
>"Dogey Phone box on Street corner X" and "Bogus Banks ATM Machine"
?
>
>I would appreciate any advice, critisisms etc.

It seems the trace would work as normal, but it could not report a location.
Message no. 10
From: gilean@****.muscanet.com (Kurt Montgomery)
Subject: Re: Decking Traces
Date: Tue, 30 Jan 1996 16:27:53 -0600
>A Halliwell said on 29 Jan 96...
>
>> |In my experience this is "never keep drawing cardws from a deck of many
>> |things, it can seriously ruin the game" :(
>>
>> Welllllll, the maximum number that a character can draw is 3 or 4 anyway....
>
>Not according to my DMG. All it says is that you have to announce how many
>cards you want, before drawing them, and that you can elect to draw two
>more if you get a jester.
>
>> (I always have lots of fun corrupting badly worded wishes and things.... ;)
>
>Or fighting a Minor Death, as one of the players discovered. Out of five
>players, three didn't live past their encounter with this deck. I and
>someone else drew only one or two cards and got good ones (+20000 XP for
>instance) but the rest went wild when they discovered that the deck gave
>them lots of goodies. Despite the DM's warnings that their luck might run
>out...
>
Wow, I'm impressed, 2 out of 5 lived through a deck of many things!!! I've
seen those things kill of a team of 7 before. (I don't want to play
blackjack with you. No. I mean it. Well, mabey just one game......)

Further Reading

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