[Any] Hacking systems for Cyberpunk games

[Mazeburn]

Hi! Newbie here, heard it was a good place to get RPG information. :)

I'm planning a cyberpunk campaign based on a heavily modified Dark Heresy system. One thing I can't find a good version of is a hacking system. Plain ol' skill roll seems a bit boring and the private hacking adventure from Shadowrun makes it a bit lame for the rest of the team. Hacking's going to be the kind of thing anyone can attempt (since the technology knowledge level is generally pretty high), but you'll probably fail at harder things unless it's a specialisation.

And no Towers of Hanoi or Pipe Dream minigames like in Mass Effect and Bioshock. >__>;

So... Any suggestions for what might work?
Thanks! :D

[Seerow]

Honestly SR4s hacking system isn't that terrible. While it is technically a private adventure, frequently you are hacking on the fly while actually on site, so while you're busy with the virtual battle in AR/VR, your team is busy with the physical entities. It's really not too much different from a mage having to deal with a spirit or other form of astral challenge.


If you really want to make it something completely unobtrusive though, the only answer is to completely oversimplify it. Make it a general skill. If it's d20, make it another skill just like any other, or if it's shadowrun, just make it a hacking/cracking+logic test vs the firewall rating, to achieve whatever it is you're after, scrap all of the avatars, different programs, etc. Less realistic, but faster and less intrusive to the game.

[DontEatRawHagis]

Spycraft has Hacker vs hacker/program combat. Mainly you are given possible actions with a given skill check against an opposing check. Its pretty good except that it takes a lot of in-game time, a week to hack from long distance, about 1hr from within a few miles.

Best Hacking system I have used.

[LibraryOgre]

Not being familiar with Dark Heresy, let me talk about the good points of SR4's hacking system.

First of all, you can do a lot of it on the fly. While my rigger/hacker was frequently about a kilometer away doing his thing, occasionally he was right there with the rest of the group.

When involved in a firefight, see if there is anything hacking-related you can be doing. Can you hack their smartguns to make them eject their clips? Can you hack the fire suppression system to make it rain? Or turn out the lights? Many of these play out like long casting time spells... I spend a round getting into the device, then a round getting the device to do what I want it to do.

One thing I think the SR hacking system does poorly is programs. You need programs for everything and their rating is important. While realistic, it is also a purposeful money sink... unless you're playing in games that need such money sinks, avoid that. It is far simpler to make programs more akin to 3.x's masterwork tools... you can work without them, but they give you a bonus if you have them.

Ideally, you'll have between 1-3 computer skills that you need... you can abstract it just down to "Computer", add a "Cybercombat" or "Hacking" skill, or throw in a few variations, but more than that is probably excessive.

[dsmiles]

Have the hacker take everyone with him/her into a whole new world, a la:

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[SurlySeraph]

Do it fairly on the fly. A hacking/computers/whatever roll to get access to a system first, and then a Search/Perception/Lore/whatever roll to find information, or find something particular if you've hacked into a security camera system or the like, possibly a weapons/architecture/etc or just normal hacking roll for in-combat fun like Mark Hall describes, etc. And I want to emphasize that that's a good suggestion; fun hacking is when the hacker turns security cameras away from the party, induces catastrophic failure in the elevator enemy reinforcements are using, or turns a gardening robot into a roving fertilizer bomb. You want your presence, or at least telepresence, to be actively felt around the other PCs; being off in your own little world just isn't as enjoyable.
Even in a non-wired area, you can have the hacker roll his own Perception rolls through simstim rigs on each of the characters and point out things they miss, fire party members' smartguns in addition to their own shots, do quick searches and then give the party advice on unexpected obstacles, guide a little combat robot tagging along with the party, etc.

[Mazeburn]

Hadn't really thought about hacking combat, but that sounds like it could be really fun! Opposed rolls against the system/another hacker seems like a good basis; I could essentially give systems a Willpower and then roll it as a save. I'll probably increase the time it takes based on distance and also how subtle you want to be, so combat hacking would be almost instant but also incredibly obvious. So really, hacking could be a fairly general skill that most classes in some form, kind of like spellcasting in D&D. Should make it more than just a gimmick for one party member. :)

Cool. Thanks a lot, guys!

[Totally Guy]

Just don't set the "All hacking happens in a split second" precedent.

That means that while the hacker is busy the other players can't do anything.

If the hacking takes much longer in game time then the other players can be off doing something else whilst the hacker engages the hacking subsystem.

[The Big Dice]

Cyberpunk 2020 and GURPS Cyberpunk both have fairly detailed hacking and net combat systems. But the biggest problem with them is simply, while the netrunner is online doing his thing, everyone else ends up sitting around watching.

That's something endemic to the genre, though.

With that said, both GURPS and Cyberpunk take an approach of programs = spells. They have defined effects, you can prepare them based on how powerful they are and how much memory your system has to run them. Admittedly, they only really affect other things in the net, but with the right sets of drivers and access to the systems, you can take over anything that has the potential to be computer controlled.

GURPS also has a quick and dirty skill based system, but that's assuming you're not using the fancy virtual reality interface, plug your head into the computer model.

[Toofey]

make them do soduko and kenken

[LibraryOgre]

re: Hacking takes a split second. I tend to agree... avoid that. Hacking should take about as much time as other actions.

Generally, think about how long it takes you to run programs. You've got all of them loaded up on your task bar, and are switching things around... you're going from browsing Facebook and listening to music to wanting to view a video your friend posted. You zoom down, open up your music program, pause it, then switch to your browser and play the movie. It's only a second or two to do it, and it's pretty much automatic for a lot of people. That's about an action in length.

Some people will argue "In cyberpunk, all this is thought based! It's WAY faster than that." This is true. Now, while you are switching from Firefox to WinAmp to Firefox to make these quick changes (I can do it in three mouse clicks and a keystroke), I am going to shoot at you.

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Think faster, "console cowboy".

[dsmiles]

I still like using "The Grid" with all characters attending in light-up catsuits with identity discs on their backs.

[jedavis]

Factory, from Perpetrated Press (now out of print, I think), had some pretty decent hacking rules for d20. It was flowchart based, with each node on the flowchart being a program or hardware device. Skill checks let you gain access to other programs and devices, so you ended up making multiple skill checks, but it was usually in the upper single digits; enough to be an interesting minigame, but not so many that it qualifies as a personal adventure.

[The_JJ]

Some people will argue "In cyberpunk, all this is thought based! It's WAY faster than that." This is true. Now, while you are switching from Firefox to WinAmp to Firefox to make these quick changes (I can do it in three mouse clicks and a keystroke), I am going to shoot at you.

Spoiler

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Think faster, "console cowboy".

That's about the best thing I've seen all day.