[a very angery werefox]

a this might sound strange but why are cyberdecks back. in 4th ed ever pice of fluff sayed they are old news. now in 5th ed there back??? . any resone or am i missing something.

[DeathStrobe]

After Crash 2.0 corps created GOD to police the Matrix. It took them awhile (bureaucracy amirite), but they eventually created new wireless protocols for the Matrix that restrict what commlinks can do. However, they still need a way to edit files and do things so they created a new device, and just so happen to call them cyberdecks. They aren't anything like the cyberdecks of old, but they do have a lot of specialized hardware that allows them to subvert Matrix protocols. They're also a bit larger than a commlink, think ipad, while commlinks are iphones.

If you want more, Stormfront has some more details on the transition.

[a very angery werefox]

ahh thanks new to me but thank you.

[Mirikon]

Basically, a bunch of old people were complaining that there was Change, and they didn't like it, and wanted the damn kids to get off their lawn, and so here we are.

[Novocrane]

They're basically nothing like old cyberdecks, with the exception that both are the cutting edge hacking tool of their time. Which is enough to resurrect terminology, I suppose.

[CanRay]

a this might sound strange but why are cyberdecks back. in 4th ed ever pice of fluff sayed they are old news. now in 5th ed there back??? . any resone or am i missing something.

Old Cyberdecks are 1980s style keyboards (Although they usually look like MIDI boards) with a high-end computer inside.  New Cyberdecks are like Tablets, with a high-end computer inside.

No more hacking with Skript Kiddie programs on a Smartphone!  That was SR4s Hacking Rules.

[Medicineman]

Basically, a bunch of old people were complaining that there was Change, and they didn't like it, and wanted the damn kids to get off their lawn, and so here we are.

I guess this explains the....new Initiative too ?

with a New Dance (called Tango)
Medicineman

[Tzeentch]

I guess this explains the....new Initiative too ?

Crazy overcomplicated Initiative rules are a time-hallowed Shadowrun tradition.

Now get off my lawn before I call the cops you rapscallions!

[Eldritch]

After Crash 2.0 corps created GOD to police the Matrix. It took them awhile (bureaucracy amirite), but they eventually created new wireless protocols for the Matrix that restrict what commlinks can do. However, they still need a way to edit files and do things so they created a new device, and just so happen to call them cyberdecks. They aren't anything like the cyberdecks of old, but they do have a lot of specialized hardware that allows them to subvert Matrix protocols. They're also a bit larger than a commlink, think ipad, while commlinks are iphones.

If you want more, Stormfront has some more details on the transition.

Well, also unlike Apple products, they are good products that do what you want them to. 

From what I saw reading the studio stuff on it, they wanted to write the hardware back in because it was thematically cooler and I have to say I'm inclined to agree with the writers on this.  There is something about the image of your gnarly chromed out decker hacking away at some wizwire half rigged keyboard that just feels right.   

[Reaver]

Basically, a bunch of old people were complaining that there was Change, and they didn't like it, and wanted the damn kids to get off their lawn, and so here we are.

"Doonchta mak meh git me suhgunn!!!!"   <Wanders away drunkening, waving his cane in the air, long white beard dragging on the lawn...>


 

[grid_roamer]

Hi All!

Away from the storyline....

The changes seem to make the whole concept of the Matrix more manageable.  Before there was no structure defined so universally as the 'GOD' Array as applied to the grid topologies.
easier to traverse, harder to defeat.

Technically, you can be anywhere on the Matrix as a simple user but to access resources illigally is a seperate act above simple usership.

[Shinobi Killfist]

the in game reason was given. But 2 reasons spring to mind.

1. the term Decker is shadowrun, other games have hackers or netrunners, Shadowrun had Deckers,.  Its bringing back a brand name instead of using the generic.Little things like this and the slang are important to create a more distinct brand identity and feel to the game. 
2. On a game balance side it was far too cheap and easy to be a decker on the side.  By using expensive decks it balances out the priority cost with a technomacers magic collum and makes it do a few nuyen and a couple skills isn't enough to be a decker. 

[KarmaInferno]

the in game reason was given. But 2 reasons spring to mind.

1. the term Decker is shadowrun, other games have hackers or netrunners, Shadowrun had Deckers,.  Its bringing back a brand name instead of using the generic.Little things like this and the slang are important to create a more distinct brand identity and feel to the game.

Some of us never stopped using "decker".
     

2. On a game balance side it was far too cheap and easy to be a decker on the side.

And thus Mungo was born.

[grid_roamer]

the in game reason was given. But 2 reasons spring to mind.

1. the term Decker is shadowrun, other games have hackers or netrunners, Shadowrun had Deckers,.  Its bringing back a brand name instead of using the generic.Little things like this and the slang are important to create a more distinct brand identity and feel to the game. 
2. On a game balance side it was far too cheap and easy to be a decker on the side.  By using expensive decks it balances out the priority cost with a technomacers magic collum and makes it do a few nuyen and a couple skills isn't enough to be a decker.

More importantly the revamp of the hardware pretty much makes the casual Matrix user unremarkable to the Hacker types. It's very hard to justify preying of some random individual with a comlink....

[Belker]

More importantly the revamp of the hardware pretty much makes the casual Matrix user unremarkable to the Hacker types. It's very hard to justify preying of some random individual with a comlink....

Except to steal their identity.