Adventure aspect computers and hacking

[darthauthor]

So I have some players with some skills.

Computer operations, Computer programing, Computer Hacking (Rogue), Electrical Engineering, Artifical Intelligence.

I'd like to create adventure moments when they could use them.

Where on Rifts Earth can players use hacking skills.

To test my own beliefs I will attempt to answer my own question.

Only a handful of major cities, military bases, factories, schools, robots exist with the type and level of computer technology.

I see computer hacking like hot-wiring a car.

I don't know how to deal with it accept to determine the skill roll and have the player roll. After that, they get the information or control over the thing.

I vaguely remember an RPG a LONG time ago that treated hacking as an adventure scene. Had a map with rooms for nodes or whatever. Hacker player had to pick locks, fight digital security guards, bluff/disguise their way past check points/guards, search for informtion, digital money or digital controls. Then they could fire the turret in the outside real world, take over the plane/car/boat etc.

The problem was, it isolated the rest of the adventure party from the one who was doing it. Also, they had to watch over his veg body like he was astral projecting.

Also, the computer skill activities felt Over Powered or never used. As though if the player succeed in their "Hack" they could put in a slave program or self destruct program that would shut down or blow up the robot/skel-bot or turn it into an NPC equivalent of the spell "Animate Dead" or zombie.

Powerful stuff

The books don't seem to have any canon rules or examples.

Well, the skills exist and are a thing if the player plays a character with them.
99% of the time, Rifts Earth does not have much in the way of robots and computers around. They are for city folk and rich ones at that. That leaves archaeology finds with computers/robots, Archie 3, CS skel-bots, etc.

Basically, I want players to be able to play the way they want to play (within the rules/limits of the game). If they pick a OCC with the skill, they ought to be able to use it.

The question is how do I let them in a way that is not to easy, over powered or boring for the rest of the adventure party?

My guess is, the adventure party is supposed to be kept amused by turn taking by out of cyberspace combat or skill use.

2. Rifts always have unbalanced things going on with it. It's just the game. Like having a Juicer, a glitter boy with his robot, and a rogue scholar all adventuring together. So treat the hacked robot as an animated dead or zombie without healing but expensive / time consuming repair whenever they are damaged. So a hacker is the new necromancer only people are cheaper and more plentiful than hard to find robots that need maintenance. Hey the players final get to use their mechanical skills and if that's what I and the players want; win win.

3. The point of debate is how hard should hacking be. A spell caster can work their magic and their target just has to make a saving through. Done. Best the player can do is to cast their spell again and hope their opponent fails their save.
Although, with hacking it might play like a psychic using Telemechanics possession or something. Where the player is out of body and essentially play the robot in combat as opposed to the necromancer/spell caster who is directing their undead minion.

So, its a matter of deciding on a "fair" system for game play of manipulating robots and computer systems. Only framework I have to compare it to are spells and psionics.

What to roll?

How long it takes to do?

Do "they" get a save?

How long does it last?

How "much" does it cost the "hacker/caster"? .

Please share your feedback/ideas

Very Respectfully,

Brett

[foilfodder]

So I have some players with some skills.

Computer operations, Computer programing, Computer Hacking (Rogue), Electrical Engineering, Artifical Intelligence.

I'd like to create adventure moments when they could use them.

Where on Rifts Earth can players use hacking skills.

...

Please share your feedback/ideas

Very Respectfully,

Brett

The Coalition States actively prevent their population from becoming literate. C.S. officers and top-level scientists can usually read and write. Some Rifs Earth societies, such as the New German Republic, have a very high literacy rate.

This does not mean the Coalition doesn't have a lot of computers and technicians to keep their equipment running. Terminals and tablet computers with a graphical user-interface inferface would be common. Simply press the icons to carry out functions. If detailed input/output is needed tge terminal will speak text and take audio commands, just like Siri/Cortana/Alexa in our modern smart devices.

What this means for hackers is that keyboards are not around so 1980s/1990s style hacking doesn't exist. Characters with the hacking skill probably wil insert an overide chip into a physical terminal, like putting a thumb drive into a USB slot. From there they make their skill roll. I see two possibilities, either make the system recognize your face and voice as an "authorized user" or replace the Operating System with your own software so you can access whatever the terminate is connect to on your own terms instead of going through the "virtual helper".

Common crimes in C.S. cities might be tampering with public vidscreens and terminals to "alter" C.S. propoganda, perhaps replacing the Emperors image with a troll or changing his voice recording by mixing up words or playing the audio file backwards. Hackers able to read and write might prgram the terminal to broadcast historical information or current events the C.S. tries very hard to control knowledge of.

See Rifts Sourcebook 1 for details on C.S. Skelebot. They have security protocals and do not allow even most C.S. personal to "fix" them. Any character trying to tamper with which is not deactivated,, even while diguised as C.S. personal, will be met with lethal force. Their patrols can last for weeks of continous activation, typically reporting back to central command for maintence rather than a field commander or C.S. squad officer

I vaguely remember an RPG a LONG time ago that treated hacking as an adventure scene. Had a map with rooms for nodes or whatever. Hacker player had to pick locks, fight digital security guards, bluff/disguise their way past check points/guards, search for informtion, digital money or digital controls. Then they could fire the turret in the outside real world, take over the plane/car/boat etc.

The problem was, it isolated the rest of the adventure party from the one who was doing it. Also, they had to watch over his veg body like he was astral projecting.

Also, the computer skill activities felt Over Powered or never used. As though if the player succeed in their "Hack" they could put in a slave program or self destruct program that would shut down or blow up the robot/skel-bot or turn it into an NPC equivalent of the spell "

The rpg you are recalling was probably either:
1) Cyberpunk if pure scfi high-tech; recently has both a computer game and short animated series released
2) Shadowrun if there were elves and trolls running around with magic. The character type was known as a "decker" and they would run the adventure as an avatar in a computer network known as the "Matrix". Currently in 6th edition.

A Rifts RPG comparable character would probably be someone with the psychic power of Telemechanics rather than a person relying simply on a Computer/Hacking skill.

[Grazzik]

Rifter #2 has the official canon rules for hacking and a ton of ideas and optional OCCs. While a lot of the emphasis may be on cyberhacking and immersive cyberworlds, hacking can still be presented as the old fashioned "script-kiddie" or "hard-coder" style of play.

Instead of lugging a satchel of scrolls, they lug around a satchel of thumb drives/optical chips each with a different coded program. Perhaps the drive/chip is single use and autodestructs, so it can't be traced, requiring players to make new ones (and rolling against their skill each time when used to see if it works).

The actions a hacker can take can be physical (re access to hardware or network), digital (re information/software), or even internal (perhas require a few ME or PE attribute rolls when hacking sessions take hours or the player is under duress/distracted).

Keep in mind that hacking isn't a single act, but a series of actions that lead to a result. Actions by the hacker usually has to be coordinated with others who are to take advantage of the opportunity the hacker creates. So, if players are all just standing around watching the hacker drool while online, then something is wrong with their plan, not the skill.

Whether old school hacking, cyberhacking or using some of the psychic hacking powers, if you are looking for adventure scenarios, foilfodder hit on a few and perhaps a few of the following may be helpful:

Spoiler:

* Get paid: hacking into credit cards/ATMs/vaults/payment machines.

* Get street cred: head to head hacking between rivals purely for reputation (hacking is a subculture after all)

* Coordinate: Try use a cellular network just outside city limits to hack into a data center, while the rest of the party has to sneak into the city and cause distractions

* Augmented Reality: Perhaps ditch the idea of a hacker sitting comatose and have them hack while doing other things like driving, fighting or simply running around

* Intrigue: If there are multiple hackers in the party, perhaps they get paranoid and think each other is a snitch

* Retrofit: Augment equipment that use software to modulate power levels or send signal like FOF recognition signals

* Mediate: Patch networks together physically and digitally and protect them to enable a digital meet between rivals

* Spy: Hack into cybernetic or bionic implants to have them be your eyes and ears, whether knowingly or not

* Get help: Pulling up technical maps from utility terminals, but avoid getting zapped by security systems

* OG Hacking: Software can degrade or become unsupported or simply go wacky without warning. Hacking was (and still is) the figuring out of solutions to make things work. Think of it as a "digital jury rig" skill for when formal programming isn't possible or fast enough.

* Blind leading the Blind: Give directions to others in order to do tasks while the hacker is incapacitated or otherwise unable to.

* One-eyed King: Tap into a sensor grid and provide guidance and directions so others can avoid being discovered or find their way through a maze/complex

* Pathogen: Infect or disinfect a network from a computer virus

* Bridge a Gap: A DBee community with various data modules in a language the hacker doesn't know (but someone else in the party does?)

A note on robot drones - most street level hackers are likely not to have the AI skill or access to the facilities to dabble in AI, so reprogramming drones like Skelebots is probably way out of their league. They may be able to disable a function, like delete the subroutine for pulling the trigger finger, but even that on a military grade device would by immensely difficult for the average hacker, see foilfodder's comments. Housekeeping drones like the ones in Triax 2 might be a lot easier to hack.

Rifts is a place of high tech, even out in the wilds. Situations where hacking could be used:

Spoiler:

* Military outposts / frontier community
* Automated water wells / oil rigs / solar farms / mining operation
* Nomads carrying (worshipping?) derelict technology or storage media
* Pre-Rifts ruins (hospital, university, govt building, etc.)
* Pre-Rifts vehicles (what if a Golden Age battleship or aircraft carrier was carried by a tidal wave inland to come to a rest in a desert? What about the data stored onboard long haul trucks or trains?)
* Pre-Rifts NEMA facility / bunker
* A crashed low orbit satellite
* A travelling merchant or (sigh) a travelling circus... you might be surprised by the data a circus could collect
* A Mechanoid factory or Archie 3 facility
* A lair of Gremlins
* A bag of locked cellphones dropped on the Nebraska plains by fleeing Tolkeenite refugees
* Anywhere someone has a laptop or other device and forgot their password
* A skelebot graveyard... in New Mexico?

[Grazzik]

Electrical engineering (EE) and AI skills are likely most helpful in industrial settings. It also comes down to the characters and their motivations.

Spoiler:

Scientists or Engineers would likely be either in a facility or lab of some sort. Alternatively, they might be sent into the field to observe how a new device operates under real world conditions and have to report back. Or maybe they are trying to crack some of the secrets around TechnoWizardry.

Some military OCCs that have electrical engineering would probably use it in the sabotage of systems or networks.

Engineers are known for figuring out stuff so they may try their hand in areas they are not qualified for simply because they know electrical engineering. Doesn't mean they succeed, but maybe they just can't help meddling.

Town administrators may need the EE skill to ensure critical systems are working and maybe get involved in fixing them.

EE is such a broad skill that the applications are equally broad.

Psychologists and psychiatrists may need the AI skill to help "grow" / "develop" the intelligence model. However, AI doesn't have to be Archie level AI - think about what people use AI to do today... automate simple processes, analyze data for trends, impersonate human call center employees, report on your health based on food in your fridge and poop in the toilet... Knowing how these AIs work allows someone to figure out how to bypass or optimize the AI. If I don't store all my food in the fridge, the AI might think I'm sticking to my diet and reward me with cake.

In an adventure AI skills could be of use in:

Spoiler:

* Fixing automated machines run by low level AIs
* Cobbling together various programs and AIs to help optimize FC bionic chassis
* Upgrading cybernetic combat computers
* Installing AIs to monitor power levels in vehicles or weapons to optimize power distribution and performance
* Helping hackers to find weaknesses in security AIs
* Modifying AIs to emulate other people (like a real-time deep fake)
* Creating a daisy chain of automated transactions in a particular sequence that look like they were done by different people
* Modifying nanobot devices (like an IRMSS) to carry out different functions

The AI skill might also help someone adjust to a highly automated society. Think about Vagabond Joe coming in out of the wastes after 6 years looking for the lost city of San Vegas. He checks into the fanciest hotel in town, only to find an automated shower in his hotel room that talk to him. I think Vagabond Joe might be using the sink to wash down going forward... until the sink complains about the excess dirt in its drains. DBee Scientist Janna is in this dimension for the weekend and without even thinking starts barking orders to the various AIs in her hotel room. However, her assistant AI booked the cheap room out of a spite glitch and there are no AIs in the room. Vagabond Joe passing by her open door thinks she's insane and talking to herself, high-tailing it back to the wide open spaces away from the crazy modern world.