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How might a decker sustain a mark for a longer stretch

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Dudeling

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« on: <01-15-18/1746:16> »
I've got a scenario for my players where they are going to be working at odds with an opposing team of shadowrunners.  As a twist, one of those runners is a contact for one of my players.

I'm trying to give the player a chance at realizing their contact is involved by letting the team's technomancer possibly notice the decker's marks, clueing him in, and allowing the scene to play out very differently.

My thought is that the decker has been scoping the facilities out in advance, and pre-marking objects (they're supposed to do an extraction, and want to be in and out fast).  The rules state that marks only last one matrix session, and disappear after reboot.  If the decker is operating off a grid they have legal access to, however, and the only hacking they do is to put the mark(s) in place, how might they sustain those marks for, say, a couple of days, without them simply vanishing and not have it be a complete atrocity of overwatch rule-breaking?  If this decker was instead a technomancer, then "Clean" could be a way out of my conundrum.

Jack_Spade

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« Reply #1 on: <01-15-18/1759:43> »
You could use the bootstrap program from datatrails to have a given device automatically invite a mark whenever it starts up. (Bootstrap can be found in Datatrails)
talk think matrix

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Revenant Kynos Isaint Rex

Dudeling

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« Reply #2 on: <01-15-18/1903:31> »
Ah, I see, so this decker would have spent time previously in fits and bursts illegally breaking into the devices, formatting them, boostrapping them to invite a mark, so that on next reboot, they could simply add a mark without it appearing as an illegal action, since it was invited?  Thus, they could stay in the matrix for quite some time with those marks in place without needing to trigger any overwatch-activating actions?

Jack_Spade

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« Reply #3 on: <01-16-18/0427:50> »
Correct. It's quite a bit of  work to use bootstrap, but when it's done there should be no more illegal actions necessary and therefore no overwatch generation.
talk think matrix

To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield
Revenant Kynos Isaint Rex

Finstersang

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« Reply #4 on: <01-16-18/0447:47> »
Deep Dives from Data Trails also let you perma-Mark devices in advance. If your team and your GM are in on it, you can have a little inception-style prep run.

Dudeling

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« Reply #5 on: <01-16-18/1239:09> »
Awesome, that means I just have to come up with a means of the decker dealing with fatigue for 48 hours, which is pretty simple.

Re: deep dives, interesting, but would be way more work for this run for the decker in question than the pay and risk would warrant.  Useful for future use, however.  :-)

Rooks

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« Reply #6 on: <01-23-18/0354:58> »
wait wait wait wait you have a technomancer? fly on the wall program cleaner complex form to reduce overwatch score why is this even a question?

Dudeling

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« Reply #7 on: <01-23-18/1654:43> »
The player team has a technomancer.  The opposing NPC team does not.  I was asking so that the players wouldn't be able to call BS.

Dudeling

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« Reply #8 on: <10-30-18/0126:56> »
Hey, a followup question on this: is there a way for a technomancer to do something similar?  I don't see anything, and the only method I can see is the technomancer using cleaner/static veil and staying up for long periods of time to put the marks in place, etc., but fatigue....

&#24525;

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« Reply #9 on: <10-30-18/0222:55> »
The player team has a technomancer.  The opposing NPC team does not.  I was asking so that the players wouldn't be able to call BS.
Why not? They're just npcs. They are whatever you need them to be.

Dudeling

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« Reply #10 on: <10-30-18/1023:44> »
We all like to approach things in our group where NPCs can't necessarily do anything the PCs can't ever consider being able to do themselves (unless the NPC in question is meant to be, say, a super-boss or somesuch).  This NPC doesn't fall anywhere *near* that category.  As noted above already, it was even a fairly simple mechanism to make it happen.  Now I have my technomancer player justifiably asking "if a decker can do this using a program, how can my technomancer do something at least similar, if not identical?"

Dudeling

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« Reply #11 on: <10-30-18/1031:12> »
And I just was able to answer that question - submersion and taking Resonance (Program).  Considering her TM has not undergone submersion yet, this'll be a fairly straightforward thing is she wants to go there.

Finstersang

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« Reply #12 on: <10-30-18/1118:52> »
You could use the bootstrap program from datatrails to have a given device automatically invite a mark whenever it starts up. (Bootstrap can be found in Datatrails)

That is... a really damn good use of the Bootstrap Program  :o

Damn, I never realized how usefull this thing is. It´s funny how easy it is to overlook these small pieces of crunch that actually have huge ramifications. Bootstrap is an absolute must-have for hackers   :P

Jack_Spade

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« Reply #13 on: <10-30-18/1337:04> »
Jupp, but don't talk to loudly about it or someone will errata that option out of existence  ;)
talk think matrix

To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield
Revenant Kynos Isaint Rex

Stainless Steel Devil Rat

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« Reply #14 on: <10-30-18/1538:54> »
OTOH it may not always be the best idea to leave your contact info left behind in a hacked device.
RPG mechanics exist to give structure and consistency to the game world, true, but at the end of the day, you’re fighting dragons with algebra and random number generators.