[The Madadh]

Hi all, and thanks in advance.

The situation is this: I wrote a first run that is meant to be an introduction session for the team, which is made up of 2 mages, a face, and a blind, uncouth decker (not real excited about this character), and I'm afraid that there's nothing for the decker to do.

The run itself will take them on a Judgment Night-esq run through some of the worst areas of the Redmond barrens, including a ghoulish ambush and a climactic encounter with a corporate HRT. I know he will be useful in the final battle in all, but I need some ideas for non-combat encounters for a decker in the middle of the barrens. These can be pretty generic (I know I haven't given you a lot to work with). But basically they are trying to save a young girl fron being recaptured by a corp HRT.

[Crunch]

Blind and Uncouth is sort of a ball buster of a combo...

Still... the decker should shine in the legwork part of the adventure, being able to do data searches and find clues you've seeded. The girl in the back of a photo in the local digital tabloid, a post in a Neo Anarchist data haven warning of ghouls, perhaps a police report or the plans to the sewers where the girl is hiding. Acquiring blackmail information to force a recalcitrant witness to come forward, or hacking cameras to track the movements of the girl are also options. Downloading the onboard computer of the taxi she took and backtracking her route could be useful as well. Or maybe there's a prid pro quo- Jimmy the mook will tell what he knows if a witness statement "disappears" from police servers.

Basically the decker can be your tool to feed the characters information. You could also have the decker stumble across a corporate decker trying to do the same type of things and work in some cybercombat.

[SoulGambit]

Why does your blind decker not have cybereyes? O_o

For Gangers, as long as they are using image links / smartlinks, he'll have something to do. Edit file, blind them. If he's smart, edit file to just shift the image a few feet to the left or right, to make his hack not obvious. Ghouls and people without ware are harder to handle. He either has to have a non-hacking skill at that point or you need to give him his own sidebar combat during it. Bonus points if you make the time matter. Alternatively, you can dress it up with the scenery. Maybe they're in a construction site--suddenly he has a whole bunch of power tools, drones, and trucks to hack and ram into ghouls. Surrounding cars, in general, are weapons. Cleaning up the trail by editing the PCs out of nearby cameras can be a thing as well. Maybe Hack the local AR to keep civilians away from the ghouls. If he's looking at the Matrix, he'd also be aware of any incoming devices (i.e. people) well before the other PCs would. Well, maybe, but I'd make sure he knew first in this case.

[The Madadh]

This is some good stuff. I really like the location encounter of a construction site. I already had planned for an opposition decker, but bringing him into the fore much earlier could not only give the decker something to do, but be a real menace as well.

There isn't a legwork section per se, but certainly using him to drop info can work.

Honestly, it's a group I've never run before, but I think I'm going to ask him to rethink his build a bit. He's too one dimensional.

[The Madadh]

I talked to the player and he is going to make his PC a little more 3D. I wouldn't mind hearing some more examples for how to full integrate a Decker, particularly in the SR5 ruleset.

[Csjarrat]

ok here are a few decker ideas:
-Decker can hack a target's commlink, reading into diary entries and gaining clues as to target's location or actions
-Hack into a car, find out where target is going to/from (is target shopping info to the enemy, or is he having an illicit affair etc?) could even sabotage the vehicle to prevent an escape when your team hits the target later.
-Hack into target's commlink and intercept live calls, record and use info for nefarious means
-Control cameras, edit up fake footage and frame a target for something they didn't do
-Trap people inside buildings/elevators or deny them entry into them as situation requires, perhaps trap someone so the face can interrogate them? or lock the doors down so the police/mafia can't get in at you?
-Hack into a fabrication facility's forge/assembly drones and alter the plans to ruin the production line, or subvert it to produce what you need it to

there are plenty of options mate, you just need to think outside the box :-)

[GiraffeShaman]

The Barrens are full of gangers and gangers are often stupid enough to leave wireless on most of the time. Thei Decker should have a field day on such targets.

Perhaps the feral Ghouls are led/supported by a less feral ghoul with Decker or Rigger skills?

Locating targets is a big job of the Decker, in particular idiots gangers with their wireless on. Also avoiding things things the team wants to avoid. This can be done by hacking the commlinks of the targets or hacking cameras in the area the Decker wants to check out. Can also help the team avoid things they want to avoid. Huge ganger part blocking a whole street? Cops all over an area? Out right dead ends from ruined buildings. feral ghoul packs so big that the team will want to avoid them. Huge riot scenes. Traffic jams. And so on.