[duuka]

Hi guys,

First of all, thanks for reading and hopefully answering these few weird questions. Please excuse any grammatical error, as English is not my primary language.

I'm new at mastering SR4. So far my group and I have played 2 games and are having a blast. I'm currently reviewing the matrix books to flesh out the haker's work, and there's a few gray areas over Blackhammer. Hope you guys could help.

- Do the biofeedback from Blackhammer (or any other source) still inflicts damage when knocked unconscious? My take would be yes, as the damaging signals from the biofeedback still wreck your unconscious brain, but that would mean that Blackhammer could potentially kill a cold sim VR user. (fill up stun damage damage track, then overflows to physical, then player starts a fresh new character)

- Second question, can you force someone into VR? For example could you hack into someone's commlink with admin privileges and then force the 'link to connect to some node via VR?
Sooner or later my Hacker player will find out he might be able to pull that trick, then immediately hammer the brains out of anyone using a sim module whithout having to get his meat out of his armchair. Or maybe I'll use that idea myself on deserving players. Or write a scenario about a mass-murdering malware the players have to investigate on. But in all cases I need to know if it's feasible or not.

- Lastly, if a hacker uses Blackhammer or Blackout on someone else, would he jam the connexion open, like a Black IC would do? (I'd say yes on that one, but the books are not 100% clear).

Well that's about it. Thanks in advance!

[emsquared]

- Do the biofeedback from Blackhammer (or any other source) still inflicts damage when knocked unconscious?

SR4A, p.237 - BLACK IC ATTACKS, 4th paragraph. Blackout explicitly does not overflow into Physical, Blackhammer explicitly does. Does the Black IC continue to attack after the PC goes out? I would say no, unless a User commands them to. It's generally more beneficial to leave the connection open and trace the User and gather other intel.

- Second question, can you force someone into VR? For example could you hack into someone's commlink with admin privileges and then force the 'link to connect to some node via VR?

If they have a Sim Module (and of course, 'trodes on or DNI) and it's slaved to the Node you've hacked, or you've hacked the Sim Module Node itself; absolutely. It's a Node just like any other device and therefore potentially controllable by a hacker. Though note the Gear listing explicitly says you can modify the Sim Module to have a Physical switch (can't be hacked). You wouldn't even have to force them to connect to another Node, just force the Sim Mod to go VR, and their meat body will go limp (whatever they're doing) and they will be in VR (either in the Sim Module Node or their Commlink Node if it's slaved).

- Lastly, if a hacker uses Blackhammer or Blackout on someone else, would he jam the connexion open, like a Black IC would do? (I'd say yes on that one, but the books are not 100% clear).

Blackhammer and Blackout are both just programs that Black IC (which itself is just another word for Agent) will run, so you knew the answer, just had the wrong question; yes, they both jam the connection open. Sorry, misread your question. I would say, yes, of course the User could still try to jack-out using the Complex Action.

[duuka]

Thanks! Everything's clear for me now