Questions from our first campaign.

Well, first of all I think he is abusing your knowledge of computer security. Really important things like those in the movies are on "airgapped" (devices not connected to anything), VPN-enabled (meaning he has to do an adventure to find a weak link to access inside the VPN... if there is one), or directly on old paper (Russia has a numbered pack of typewriters to copy or redact important stuff. Then they burn the ink "cartridges").

I suggest you to go to DriveThroughrpg.com, and look Eclipse Phase 2nd edition open Beta. It is free, and the chapter called "The Mesh" explains a lot of stuff you can use in the games (just 3-4 pages).

Ufff... dunno if the Geists are more detailed than what I read in the first chapters of the book. To me, they are expys of Eclipse Phase's Muses, and those are like "dumb" AI, but people is so dependent on them (some even give those bodies and make them their lovers) that they suffer mental trauma (EP has a sanity score, it's the only real way to lose the player character), so hacking someone's muse is a serious crime.

Unless there exists data on the corebook or the GM book, I would rule that all Geists have basic hacking capabilities (for self protection, data search, adapting programs, etc...), but have ALL the info of their charges/owners.

As for comlogs of fallen soldiers, if it is a problem to you, assume they erase themselves of any sensitive data if their owner dies or if they are removed without using the right way. So cubevac is the way, but certain people with sensitive data or important enough in their organization might have beacons and subroutines integrated in their cube so once connected to a system (to run the cube and interrogate the dude) they can be located, and removal of those features means destroying the cube.

Having a weapon implanted means that you need extra implants to conceal it... or wait outside. And in the first case, its a contest between the lookers and the "hiders".
See, implanted weapons are a not very good idea. Since if you are captured, the other party might decide to remove the limb entirely, just in case.
Having some "self-defense" implants is another thing entirely, however, but that means some sort of taser, or pepper spray, or, at most, some sharp nails.

 

Happy to help, this is great for helping to hone my own knowledge of the system too.

Not directly, they are part of the characters personal network so an enemy infowarrior will have to successfully breach their system (with 1-5 Breach effects depending on the target) before they can issue instructions to their Geist.

Short answer, a lot. Imagine someone had access to all of your online life (in a world where everything you do or pay for is online) today... They absolutely have recording tech, and many people live blog everything. You could easily get answers you need from a downed opponents comlog.

You'd make a contested stealth check vs the system being used. While it's not spelled out anywhere I'd assume that there are ways of disabling implants, which might be another option.

It's our genuine pleasure.

 

Admiral I think you're wrong about Geists not being able to be hacked directly.

But I think it's an 'it depends' problem. Ie if your Geists is taking actions only internally to your commlog then it's behind your own firewall: to hack your Geists they first need to pwn you. However, if your Geists is taking actions actively (ie it's running an analysis of a hostile node you've accessed) and stumbles across a security LAI it's vulnerable to being directly affected.

 

Oh, sure.

Absolutely true.

But I think in the context of the rest of the discussion we're focused more on the situation of Geists in their native local environment.

 

Describe a scene where he goes to meet a contact that he's never met before and how he goes about Hacking.

The security bracelet was a nice idea.

 

It starts the Mesh chapter (which is its own PDF for now, in a batch with all the things they are beta testing) describing things like VPN, crytocurrency (applied to Fork numbering), airgapping... they stay on top of things, or at least make the effort to look like it wihtout clouding what's exposed for players and GM's.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about "real world" hacking.

Just stick to the actual system and it'll do you well.

I'd assume that important NPCs are always Nemesis "grade" - so penetrating their network is going to take 5 Breaches. And you can pre-write a couple of different security setups and use variations of them repeatedly.

The idea of a "disabling" bracelet for an implant is a good one - consider it nicked!

 

Cheap Geists are universal: I'd expect to see at a minimum a 'Basic Geist' Trooper adversary on most privately owned Nodes. These aren't difficult to defeat: their principle job is detection, and even at low odds if all they're doing is making Observation tests in a particular zone they'll find any hacker who isn't making an actual effort to stay hidden.

Basic 'Commerical Information security monitoring' gives you the option of summoning an 'Elite Security Geist' to investigate an 'Alert' for the cost of 2 Heat (the LAI profile in the 'Denizens of the Human Sphere' is pretty much ideal out of the box as an 'Elite Security Geist') anytime the standard Geist (which should be making Observation tests on ~5-8) detects an intrusion. Honestly, this is about the minimum level of protection I'd expect for any Corporate issued Commlog: everything is automated (so it scales), it's all legal and it's an effective way of protecting their information.

I wouldn't be surprised if regular everyday private citizens could purchase this as a security from 'Kapersky Quantronic Systems' in much the same way you can purchase anti-virus' today (you could just downgrade the LAI profile to represent a 'Trooper' level threat, and have their Geists making Observation tests on ~5-6).

A point to note is that while you need to do 5 Breaches to completely take over a target network, you can have less universal effects at a lower level of success (each Breach allows you to have a single discrete effect). I think of it as the difference between standing outside a house and looking in the windows (through the Breach Effect 'Data Manipulation'), and walking around the house like you own it (5 Breaches).

@AdmiralJCJF , let me know if I've got anything really wrong, or you'd have done it differently. Walking through a worked example:

The hacker's (Alice) aim is to get detailed information on a target (Bob), so the team has leverage on them when they go to the meet. But if the hack is detected by Bob at all then Bob will be Unfriendly during the meet (+1 difficulty ) and if Alice is identified, then Bob will be hostile during the meet (+2 difficulty).

1. Alice has to determine where in the city's network Bob is. This isn't necessarily trivial on it's own. Alternatively Alice could try to hack the contact during the meet... but that seems like it would blow up in her face (attacking the person you're meeting with is a show of bad faith at a minimum; but she also runs the risk of only getting the information after it would be useful). But for the ease of this, lets just assume that Alice has discovered Bob often eats lunch at a popular cafe downtown (Random Cafe). The rules suggest that this can be achieved by a research test (so either Education, Hacking, Thievery, Persuade or Analysis depending on how Alice conducts the test, but mostly I'd expect an Analysis test for 'lite-stalking on the social cloud' with a difficulty based on how private an individual your target is).
   
   
2. Alice's hacking programmes have a range of R/C so she needs to get Close to her target. She doesn't have time to get across town to get physical access to Bob at the cafe, or put her own repeater in location. The same research test above can let Alice (or a subsequent research test... but each takes time) find out that there is a Mayanet Access Point (a Repeater) physically located in Random Cafe (Random Cafe advertises as offering 'high-speed Mayanet access with our own picocell on premises'). So she decides to hack Random Cafe's network to allow her to use the Cafe's Repeater as if it was her own.
   
   So we've got 4 nodes on the Infowar map: Reach: Alice's Personnel Network - Close: the Cybercafe Alice is sitting in - Medium: Random Cafe's Network, Bob
   
   
3. To attack Random Cafe's Access Point first Alice needs to move onto Random Cafe's Network.
   
   Random Cafe has access to a whole host of private data: so they are required to protect their customers data. To do this they've paid for a middle of the road security package. It won't be a hassle for a hacker of Alice's ability, but it will take time: is it possible that it takes so long that Bob leaves the Cafe for the meet before she succeeds?
   
   
4. Since Alice wants to remain undetected, her first step is to enter the Hidden state: so she rolls a Stealth Test (using Intelligence+Stealth).
   
   
5. Next, she wants to see how well protected the Random Cafe's network is. So she makes an Analysis test to see what she can see. This is probably a sneaky action, so Alice is forced to make a second Stealth test. She discovers that the Authentication Server she discovers that Random Cafe's network has IC-Crybaby 2 installed and is patrolled by a very low level security Geist (AWA 4, Senses +2).
   
   
6. Alice makes a Hacking Test to access the network, she knows that she needs 2 successes but has extremely good skills so she doesn't spend any Momentum (relying on the re-roll instead). However, the GM determines that this is a Noisey action: so unless she wants Random Cafe to know that they're being hacked, she opts to spend 2 Momentum to downgrade this to a Sneaky action, and makes her 3rd Stealth test.
   
   
7. Now Alice has access to the Random Cafe's Network zone, and she can Hack the Access Point. The GM determines that it has a firewall of 5 and no Soak. Alice makes an Exploit Action (a Sneaky action) followed by an Intrusion action: this is a Noisy action (which Alice again downgrades to a Sneaky action). Alice successfully causes a Breach, and Tags the Random Cafe's Access Point (allowing her to use it as a Repeater)
   
   So to review: at this point Alice has access to a Repeater in the cafe where she believe's Bob to be. She's made 4 Stealth tests and has spent a chunk of Momentum (she's probably about even on that front). This has all also probably taken a minimum of 30 minutes and potentially over an hour: I'd be thinking around 1.5hrs wouldn't be inappropriate (30 mins on the Research test and ~1hr to penetrate the Random Cafe's network) unless Alice used momentum to speed up the Hack.
   
8. Alice uses the Repeater to perform an Observation / Analysis test to confirm Bob is in the Cafe. This could arguably be a Silent action, but making it Sneaky isn't unreasonable (Alice doesn't own the device she's operating on, and she is manipulating stuff on the network).
   
   
9. Alice has located Bob and now attacks his network. Each attack Alice makes is Noisy and both Bob and his Geist have a chance to detect Alice. Bob is an important part of the story, so is a Nemesis. Since Alice wants detailed information, she needs to own his network. This means that she needs to achieve 5 breaches without being detected.
   
   
10. Alice successfully Pwned Bob and copied vast swathes of data about his life. Note this is data not information: Alice or her team are going to need to analyse that data through Analysis, Education or Psychology tests. If they're successful they should learn something that can give them some leverage in the meeting that's happening any minute now.
    
    
11. But Alice isn't done. She got in undetected, now she needs to get out. Stealth test to hide the fact that she just stole vast amount of data from Bob; Stealth test to hide the fact she penetrated the Random Cafe's network. Now she's free and clear.

To get away scot free with no detections from either Bob or the Random Cafe, Alice had to make 6 Stealth tests + 1 for every attack she made vs Bob. This ignores any successes the security geist in the Random Cafe zone may have had in detecting the intrusion. Moreover, between starting the prep for the hack and concluding the hack with useable information we're talking hours not minutes.

Ofcourse, you can abstract this to a Hacking Test (~D4), a Stealth tests (~D3) and an Analysis test (~D1-2) if you wanted to do it faster on the gaming table while still retaining the same level of risk/cost.

 

That sounds about right.

To do it fast and dirty she could simply be in the Cafe during the meet and attack the Comlink directly, which simplifies things but substantially increases the risk of being identified if she is detected.

And, thanks again @gravitypool , this has been a really interesting conversation. It's great to unpick the rules like this.

 

That's part of the point I'm making : by remotely pwning someone he's doing the equivalent of driving to their house, breaking in and searching it. If he doesn't have the time to do that, then he probably doesn't have the time to do a remote hack.

Ultimately it's an Infowar combat scene, and what Alice has done is the cyber equivalent of sneaking into a gated community, climbing into the window of someone's bedroom while they're sleeping and stabbing them repeatedly without them ever being able to do anything about it, and getting away without being caught. That *should* take some doing.

 

And if they are doing it in the same room then it's the digital equivalent of a mugging.

 

It's all combat, the 2D20 system doesn't really make a distinction between combat / non-combat.

I think the answer is 'Yes you can use Trinity': ultimately what Alive is doing is causing quantronic damage.

Re: Total Control. Yes (I think). However, pretty much all Claw special Breach Effects I'd rule as Noisy and not able to be made Silent. So if he wants to totally control someone's network without them being aware of it, that's a minimum of 4 Momentum in addition to any used on the attack itself.

Depending on what happens next I'd be very lenient in allowing Observation attempts vs the hack. Total Control is a very brute force strategy and (depending on what subsequent actions were attempted) should either be automatically detected or at least be Unsubtle. Increasing the complication range of any action conducted while stealthily Total Controlling a system could be another approach (and I mean substantially).

Before a player attempted that approach I'd warn them that it would have a high likelihood of being detected and check that they still want to continue. Then I'd let them have it.

It's less about stopping these sorts of things being effective it's more about creating consequences. The first step to this is to provide consequences for detection, this should force Alice to choose less optimal strategies so as to remain undetected (using a Silenced Pistol rather than a HMG) or desist from hacking willy nilly.

From their POV it's all rewards, no risk.

 

You certainly can use the more advanced hacking programs in order to get the breaches you need. Most of them aren't going to help with it going quietly 'though.

Total Control only allows you to issue commands, so you could switch things on and off or mess with remotes and weapons etc. It won't let you download anything, or search inside the system (it won't even tell you what's there for you TO control, so it's usually most useful on Remotes, TAGs etc). CLAW programs are designed to be used against things like remotes, not digital systems.

The best use for this scenario would be to shut down IC and Shield programs. That's going to be super easy to notice however, likely set off automatic alarms.

And, yeah, attacking the system and dealing Firewall damage is literally the only way to get Breaches.

And Breaches is how you overcome a system.

 

Depends on the soldier. Your basic troop will likely have damn near their whole life on the comlog, but someone who has done some special ops (like a Delta/SEAL) will have a clean comlog, probably bought yesterday.

I'm playing in that play-by-post in the RPG section, and am running a (former) Uberfallkommando Chimera. But the adventure is in Yu Jing, so as I went through customs, I got a tag to my Social Halo that I had illegal hardware inside, and a warning that any use of said hardware would result in severe penalties.

Remember that 2d20 is supposed to be a rather abstract and cinematic system. So you should be trying to aim for fast and furious action with multiple combats per session, not one combat encounter per session.

Also, I'd really kick up the difficulties of the hacking attempts for the local environment "due to the increase in local cybercrime".

If you really wanted to be evil, you could make the penalty for hacking much higher. In one book series I'm reading, the penalty for hacking is greater than any crime but murder.

You could also deploy the cyberpunk classic of Black Ice, which is a lethal anti-hacking program. Get detected snooping in the system and it tries to kill you (and usually tells the NetCops where to find the body). I'd make getting detected snooping in the system the consequence of failing two stealth rolls as the system runs regular sweeps. The second stealth roll would be at a much higher difficulty, since the system has been alerted to suspicious activity after the first failed Stealth roll.

 

The more I read about it, the more I like the Ariadna approach to Hacking: One All-Purpose Program (Brain Blast), delivered in convenient Wireless, Superfast Upload Packs (Teseum coated, for the personal touch and all)

 

@Danger Rose. . .

I also think that Your Bakunin Chimera Catgirl could give a totally new, improved meaning to the term. . . . ."Firewall" !!

 

That visit from the resident Custodier at our local Chapel is getting more and more likely. :P

But this is relevant: