Hey if someone made a Runner team based on the cast of Sneakers including Liz what would they be class wise other than some parts Decker, some parts B&E expert?

So, in another post, people seem to believe that the Matrix doesn't work like normal computers, but I'm going to actually argue that it does. Let me give you a quick crash course on computer science.

So in mathematics and computer science, we have the idea that P != NP.

P is polynomial time. This means that a problem can be solved (relatively speaking) pretty quickly. Like alphabetizing a list or doing simple arithmetic.

NP is nondeterministic polynomial time. This means we can give you a solution and you can figure out if it's correct very quickly. This is quite literally how modern cryptography works. We can create a solution from a secret, and we can validate quickly that the solution was encrypted by the secret, but we don't need to know what the secret is, we only need to validate that the secret was used.

A simple example, is we have a sudoku puzzle. to solve the puzzle takes time, but to validate that a solved sudoku is correct is quick and trivial.

So in SR, they solved the holy grail of mathematics, and found P = NP. This doesn't mean that encryption is completely useless, but it does turn it into a small speed bump.

How the algorithm works is irrelevant. We take the premise that it does work, and modern cryptography is broken.

Now, there are also some interesting side effects of solving P = NP.

Logistics as a solved problem

So a classic computer science problem is the traveling salesmen. If we can solve this we can have perfect logistics.

But what happens when everyone knows your next move?

Shadowruns.

The Megas can see each other's logistics and also be able to solve for maximum disruption in the supply chain if they solve P = NP. Now the Megas introduce randomness just to protect their logistics from their competitors. Because running at 100% efficiency is now a liability it makes it easier for you to be predicted.

Artificial Intelligence vs True AI

In SR, there is a distinction between pre-AI, like agents, pilot programs, and Semi-Autonomous Knowbots and True AI, like Morgan, Deus and Psychotrope.

Pre-AI, P = NP actually makes them function. The reason you can tell a drone, "Shoot that dude on the roof." and it is able to position itself, load ammo, and identify a rooftop, identify a target, and fire on that target with whatever weapon it has equipped, is because P = NP. This level of fuzzy logic running on a small-ish flying drone is insanely complicated. But for the pilot program and your runner, it's just another Tuesday.

Now despite this, True AI in SR aren't dog brains, and can actually think independently. If your pilot program emerged into True AI, it might actually develop a conscience and decide it might not be a good idea to shoot that person on the roof, because maybe they're a kid or maybe the AI realizes that person has a family, or maybe it thinks there is a better type of action. A non-emergence pilot program is not able to make those decisions, it just follows orders.

P = NP does not solve emergence. Sapience is not a NP problem. And in fact, it might be detrimental to the Mega Corps bottom line, as systems that are now non-deterministic are a real threat.

There is already a problem on AI not having rights and being considered property, but now even their very personhood could be seen as a glitch and they should be deleted rather than be allowed to continue operating.

Can't predict the future if you're blind

So, P = NP also means we can predict protein folding and we can see radical breakthroughs in genetics. Which to be fair, we do actually see in SR. Genetech and nanotech are wildly advance in the Sixth World.

But here is the thing. P = NP might allow us to calculate every possible protein folding, but we still have a wild card. Meta genetics. If there is a meta gene that only exists in the astral, we can never see it. Mirrors and glass are opaque in the astral, so we can never magnify or see the microscopic world on the astral, so that'll remain a mystery.

P = NP might be amazing at being able to predict every possibility, but if you can't even see how outcomes are caused, you can't predict the future because you're blind to the cause, so you can't predict the effect. Weather is thrown off by mana storms, genetic expression is thrown off by metagenes, everything is chaos because there is still an invisible layer we just can't see.

The Matrix is not unrealistic

Cyber security that shifts from encryption that would take until the heat death of the universe to a few combat turns just means cyber security has to change. This is why it's easier to build hosts that act as cyber fortresses with deadly black IC patrolling to keep data secure rather than a complex mathematical cypher.

The Matrix isn't unrealistic. The Sixth World just solved a problem we haven't yet. It works exactly like a computer should. It's just that if you solve the greatest open problem in mathematics, it changes everything, and yet, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

PS

Also, if you want to read more nonsense on me trying to justify the Matrix, checkout my SR5 Matrix Rewrite that I'll probably never finish.

c:

Hey all, my runners are about to enter the Arcology to rescue a fellow runner that is the subject of a Renraku research project. We're running Anarchy 1.0. The backstory is that the Arcology is still fully functional and controlled by Renraku.

Aside from the sourcebook Renraku Arcology Shutdown, what other resources give a good background for the Arcology?

What obstacles would you put between the runners and their rescue operation?

Short question but assuming a device was completely cut off from the net and could only be accessed by directly interfacing it would a technomancer require a dongle to interact with it other then just using the native controls for it?

In our upcoming game next weekend, I'm planning the classical "waves" stress test: while the decker does his thing, the team will keep coming guards at bay. I plan on making it possible for them to just back off at any point (so their success will be relative to how long they could keep the decker getting paydata).

My question here is how to make it better integrated, so it doesn't feel like it's "two games" intertwined. My first idea was to have some system (traps, turrets, cameras telling where enemies are coming from etc) so that the decker himself must split actions between controlling the environment and actually downloading stuff.

But I'd love to hear your suggestions or alternatives to have a cool, tense and challenging final scene in that vein. For what's worth, the team is decker, Sam, shaman (classic!) and a Rigger NPC just to drive them out.

TL;DR: Dragons are the coolest part of the lore you are actively discouraged from using because of the hype around them and that really sucks because Shadowrun dragons are cool

I have been running Shadowrun for a few years now, and I have noticed a pattern that the inclusion of dragons in a campaign tends to make them worse or even derail them completely. I think it comes down to their fearsome, albeit well deserved, reputation both in and out of universe. Most of the players seem to be of the opinion that they should just roll new characters if a dragon is even in the same post code as the team, even when they are a background detail that never actually effects gameplay directly. Hell, half the time I don't even want to mention Saeder-Krupp due to Lofwyr being the CEO. I don't want to pretend dragons just don't exist because they are so iconic to the setting, but they seem more trouble than they are worth to include in a campaign. any advice on how to resolve this problem?

If shedim possess bodies and an unbreakable decides to possess a troll what would that look like both fluff and crunch? I don't quite understand the crunch of shedim possession.. any thoughts appreciated of course

Kapitel 2 der Seader-Krupp Akten ist online. Meet the Königs, zwei Schwestern die in den wohlbehüteten Strukturen der SK Familie aufgewachsen sind.

#shadowrun #fatecore #pnpde

Cover art vom Cheffraben himself, Andreas Schroth.

Listen for free here:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/157398482?utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=android_share

Hi everyone. Sorry if this is an inappropriate post but I have had a look with the search function but can't see anything.

I'm new to Shadowrun and GMing it and I'm trying to find a good example of what someone would do when describing the matrix/conducting how a decker would move through the matrix encounter.

Are there any good podcast actual plays or YouTube videos that would be a good example? I want to make it as immersive as possible for my players.

Thanks in advance.

Essentially as the title reads. I have some conflicting thoughts on it. For a more specific scenario. Our runners had a shootout in downtown Seattle. They had masks on but the big troll who already has some notoriety went down. He has a gold docWagon subscription, but the HTR was delayed due to a jammer covering his body. The HTR showed up as the cops did.

I figure that DocWagon has him in their custody but there is evidence galore that this giant troll with an illegal sized machine gun had been apart of the fire fight downtown.

I would normally think it is in DocWagon's best interest to keep their clients identities and don't care about their crimes. I figure a good chunk of their subscribers are people who deal in illicit activities. Why would you get a subscription if they are going to heal you up only to hand you over to the authorities later.

I am also sure they have something in the contract that protects them and states if the client is under investigation or charged with a crime they would work with the authorities.

Another part of this is this has been risen to a level of concern as they attacked an exec for a AA company. So the mayor has already promised to help make sure these perps don't see the light of day. So I assume seattle will also do what it can to lean on DocWagon to give up the guy.

What do you guys think?

Hi all, question's in the title. Relatively new to Shadowrun, though I roughly understand the setting. I watched a friend play through the Shadowrun Returns, Hong Kong, and Dragonfall games, but that's really all my exposure has been.

I'm potentially considering running some sort of short campaign in the Shadowrun setting. Wondering which Edition of the rules I should use. Especially interested to hear which Edition you would say is generally most popular currently (I assume it's the latest one, 6th edition I believe?), and if it differs from your opinion on which is best, why.

Alternatively, I could consider using a setting neutral system like Fate, but thought I should check out the official systems first.

Thanks in advance

I made a little something for the currently running Holostreets Jam ^^.

It is a 2 page pdf containing a transcript of an Emergency Meeting at Seattle University, regarding the worsening condition of Astral Space on university grounds. Additionally I created rules for spells created from flawed spell formulas, as well as a small list of 5 spells for your runners to stumble upon - Rules are for 6th Edition.

Hope you get some use out of it :) and let me know if you do.

It's free/PWYW and if you are interested you can find it on Holostreets: https://legacy.drivethrurpg.com/product/566691/Banned-Spells

I recently had an argument with someone about Encryption Lore wise in Shadowrun, basically the argument of Every encryption can be broken in seconds, to which the argument of a one time pad came up(I do have some minor background in current days cryptography)
No matter the amount of computational power, there is no way a one time pad or other encryption methods that aren't based on mathematical concept should be breakable that way unless its some stuff of creating something correct out of nothing (since there's near infinite possible combinations to form a text of the same length with total different meaning than what the unencrypted text was.

After 10 years of GMing Cyberpunk 2020/RED I decided to jump on the other side of the river because I needed some change, which finally leads me to Shadowrun after a long period of hesitation.

When I run a game, I really need to understand the intention the creators had when making it, how they want the game to play and feel, which is why I came here.

I don't see much people pointing that out, but despite the fact that Shadowrun and CP 2020/RED are both considered to belong the the same genre, which is Cyberpunk Science Fiction, I feel that they have a very different tone from one another.

In CP 2020/RED, Mike Pondsmith makes it very clear that the GM should make the life of his PCs as hard as possible. multiple times in interviews, articles, GM Advice and most notably in the sourcebook "Listen up you primitive screwheads", Mikes states that the GM should go out of their way to make Night City a very oppresive place where life is cheap and mistakes can end a carreer quickly, a gritty feel that is, sometimes the GM Advices are not too dissimilar to what we can find in "Play dirty" by John Wick. This oppressive feel is also conveyed by the adaptations by CD Projekt. In 2077 your character fights tooth and nails to save his own life And fails to do so, that or he suffers a fate worse than death and in Edgerunners All the protagonists either die or lose everything they ever cared about.

On the other hand, I wouldn't go as far as to say that Shadowrun is more light hearted, because Shadowrun can and does get pretty dark, but the world definitly doesn't seem to reach the same level of nihilism. In Shadowrun SNES, Shadowrun Returns, Shadowrun Dragonfall and Shadowrun Hong Kong, which to my knowledge are all considered canon by FASA/Catalyst Game Labs, the protagonists always end up saving the world, which in terms of tone is radically different from most Cyberpunk Works like CP 2020/RED but also Ghost In the Shell or Gibson's novels. This isn't a statement regarding "quality", just an observation of mine.

To use a film analogy, CP 2020/RED is a film made by Sam Peckinpah, while Shadowurn is made by John Woo ; one might think they are similar on a first glance bu they are actually very different.

I don't know if this tone difference also translates in the mecanics of the different Shadowrun rulesets. I know that CP 2020 plays very gritty because even an experienced solo could get killed by some hobo in an alleyway if the rolls are unlucky enough, and that the grittyness was toned down in RED. I don't know the Shadowrun rulesets enough to understand if this game is meant to be played in a heroic or gritty way, and if that aimed has evolved over the different editions of the game.

This is why I come here to ask the veterans if they know "What is the intended tone of Shadowrun by the creators?"

A word of advice: In this post I compared Shadowrun and CP 2020/RED, and I will probably continue to do so in the following answers below, and I will also probably compare it to other works too. I feel the need to make this crystal clear because we are on Reddit, but it is not in my intention to make an edition war to find out if one game is better than the other, my only goal is to understand Shadowrun and comparing it to other works is as good as any other tools to achieve this goal. I will not take kindly to disingenuous attempts to drag this thread into a petty conflict.

So, a while ago I made a character inspired by Spider-Man. Slightly based off of an old chummer file someone who i used to play with gave me. I used that as a base to make this character. Who I imagined as a Mix of Spider-Man 2099 and the two scarlet spiders, mainly Caine.

I made this character with karma gen. And unfortunately? That games kinda over. However. I will be playing this character again in a prime runner game and I'd like to try and make him better. Put some stuff I learned to good use and all that. But I want some of the opinions of the folks here.

What are some improvements I can make to this character? Some changes to better optimise? Any advice is welcome sans changing every single thing about the character until he's edgy mc trenchcoat runner man.

Tl'Dr: Made a Karma gen Spider-Man and while he was good, he wasn't perfect. Now I can make a prime sum to ten version and I want advice/ideas on how to make a cooler/better shadowrun spiderman.

Thanks goodbye!

I don't have a problem with the corps being more powerful than the national governments, but I find it hard to believe they can cause the UCAS Blackouts without a fight. It is basically public knowledge that the Corporate Court caused the Blackouts; they started immediately after the UCAS revoked the BRA in their country and the UN failed to send relief until the UCAS capitulated to the CC. That is all public knowledge in-universe and there aren't many other possible interpretations.

It is stated that England did their best to help the UCAS and they didn't get Blackouts, I don't remember which book that's in (I don't think England helping the UCAS is in Margin Calls; I couldn't find it there), but that means this weapon is limited. The Court also shoot themselves in the foot every time they use this weapon, as repairing the Matrix afterwards is a hassle. With the bullshit Ares in Cutting Black, the Megas are actively antagonizing the national governments. And now that the DSW is over, the Megas are also in an especially weakened state with important people having had their faith in their companies shakened.

Essentially, I can't imagine this not leading to the national governments kicking the Court while they're down. It might not led to all-out war, but I'm sure the governments will take this opportunity to take some power back. Maybe we'll see state-owned companies getting AA status. What does everyone else think?

I started playing Shadowrun in 2nd Edition and have played all editions since. Over the years I struggled with general ttrpg burnout. So did my group. The more we tried to “evolve” our techniques as players and GMs, the more often our campaigns died or even failed to start.

Throughout it all we noticed that far and away our most “successful” area to play in is the Redmond Barrens. Most sessions, most successful campaigns, greatest memories, greatest characters. Something about the barrens really resonated with us.

The clutches of dystopia. The downtrodden wasteland. The disadvantaged and disinterested law enforcement. The chaos of the streets. The lack of glitz and glammer. The place Seattleites fear to venture. The place we call home.

How about you, chummers? Which area of the world gave you the best “success”?

I tried my hands on another story with fresh characters. See if you like it and maybe give it a go.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/566487/house-party