Quote from: pspahn;302833I get the the feeling that 2E was an attempt to fix a lot of the problems with 1E.  It had some nifty bits that I'd like to see repeated (like the skill web), but there were some subsystems (particularly involving magic) that really slowed down gameplay.  I think today's gamer would find it far too clunky overall.  In fact, I think the coolest thing about 2E's system was that it wasn't like D&D and there were very few games on the market at that time.  

Pete

Can you explain the system a bit more?  I am hoping that it will give me ideas on what to do and what not to do when I put together my Net system mechanics.

I think that the tricky thing is that at first glance you'd say "well, if its VR you could just make it work exactly like in the real world except you can do more stuff maybe", but then as you think it through you realize it wouldn't really work that way.

And yes, there is the problem of "what do the non-hacker people do meanwhile" but that's really the subject for another thread, this thread would be more about how to do a really good in-teh-intarweb system of mechanics.

RPGPundit

Cyberpunk 2020 took the biscuit in terms of annoying, fiddly, confusing and boring 'net mechanics. We just banned Netrunners as player characters and had hirable NPCs do 'net stuff if ever it was needed with a simple success/fail dice roll.

Quote from: RPGPundit;302979I think that the tricky thing is that at first glance you'd say "well, if its VR you could just make it work exactly like in the real world except you can do more stuff maybe", but then as you think it through you realize it wouldn't really work that way.

And yes, there is the problem of "what do the non-hacker people do meanwhile" but that's really the subject for another thread, this thread would be more about how to do a really good in-teh-intarweb system of mechanics.

RPGPundit

Playing SR or Cyberpunk, I used to let my brother play "hackers" because it would be just he and I, but when we had a group we did like noisms and just banned playing (in the case of SR) deckers and riggers, and we just sucked it up and handled astral space, which seemed to not get used as much anyway. Often, none of the group would want to play mages, which is why we ended up switching to Cyberpunk anyway.

When it comes to what would work better, an idea I've thought about is approaching net running like an "overlay", where the decker is present with the rest of the group and everything the decker does is in real time. I'm not sure if this is how the latest SR does it, but a friend describing it to me is what makes me think of it, so it could be. Otherwise, I would fall back on the old method and just not use "hackers". It's easier most times to just treat them as hirelings and farm the work out to an expert.

I've been thinking of a sci-fi setting a bit farther into the future, but not inter-planetary in nature (kinda like Minority Report), where everyone is plugged into the net like this. Everyone would be walking around the real world, but would see an "enhanced" reality. The system would be used to track people, employ targeted advertising, allow people to communicate, keep track of their kids, order stuff, view and hear entertainment, work, etc.. There would be a class of people called "the unplugged" that refused or were unable to receive the implants needed to use the technology, and all the PCs would be "hackers" and would know how to use and manipulate the system in order to make themselves invisible, bypass security, gather intel, etc.... Haven't fleshed it out too much yet, but I've been thinking of it a little bit.

SR2 & SR3: The Matrix is basically a digital dungeon you enter, Neuromancer-style.

SR4: The Matrix is based on Augmented Reality, Minority Report-style. In that aspect, it goes a long way towards solving the problem of splitting the party between those who are logged in and those who are not.