[ScytheKnight]

This is asking about if I need to do anything crunch wise about the fluff background for one of my characters. This is one of the street sams in the group, a human heavy weapons specialist, focusing so far on machineguns (starting out with a tricked out M202, yup she's got 8 strength).

Pretty much her background is she's ex military black ops (who's shadowrunning via mercenary work, then international smuggling). The type of missions where she'd have memory erased after the run sort of thing. Something happens during the briefing, then something happens during the debriefing and they have no memory of the time in between. (we both well know that no such technique would be perfect, something she is actively encouraging me to mess with).

So the question is, what would be the best ways to actually do this? Drugs? Implants? Magic?

[Adder]

Would Laes fit your criteria?

Developed by the government of Tir Tairngire, laes erases short-term memories in a retrograde fashion, beginning the moment the drug is injected and flowing backward. Subjects also fall unconscious. Laes is used by the Tir to memory-wipe border infiltrators, who are dumped outside the nation.

The actual rules are listed in Stolen Souls but it seems to fit. The listing above is just a quick blurb I found online.

[Chaos Monkey]

Based on the Amnesia NQ in Run Faster, the answer would appear to be "any or all of the above".

AMNESIA
BONUS: 4 OR 8 KARMA
More than just one night of drunken partying or even
a few days’ blackout from a healthy dose of laés, this
level of memory loss is far deeper and more profound.
The loss can be from injury, magic, drugs, or something
unknown and sinister (cough … CFD … cough), and it
can be either a simple surface memory loss or a complete neural deletion. The two levels of loss offer differing Karma values and differing levels of difficulty for
the mind-wiped shadowrunner...

The Incomplete Deprogramming NQ on page 156 of the same book certainly would suggest that this sort of background isn't exactly unheard of, but provides no actual details as to how such things are done.

I think the bigger question here is does the how really matter?  Clearly from a RAW standpoint the background is possible (and even encouraged!).  At the end of the day the HOW is just a McGuffin.  It might even be best if there is no clear answer.  If the character ever does go digging, finding out the answer is likely to be one of those quests in which answering one question raises two or three more.  The trail will likely lead to shadowy projects with obscure code names performed by various off-the-books research facilities owned by shell companies using substances referred to only by obtuse IDs produced at other facilities owned by... well you get the idea.  And who was the guy in the white suit?  And what's with the two goons with blue latex gloves that always seem to turn up everywhere the team has recently been? And why does the smell of SoyBaKon (tm, pat. pend.)  trigger hallucinations in the character?

I'm going to out on a limb and suggest that a combination of drugs (Laes or some derivative is likely administered during the post mission wiping process), indoctrination techniques (a good place to toss magic into the mix), and topped off with a Personafix chip just for good measure is likely what it all boils down to in the end.

[ScytheKnight]

For the most part it wouldn't matter too much unless 'ware was involved heavily. In which case I'd have to add some "Unknown Deltaware" to her essence cost... but I think Laers combined with magic should effectively do the trick without 'ware.

Hmmm, so speaking of which, might someone be able to post or message me the rules for Laers? Not sure I want to be buying the book just to cover a couple of fluff bases.

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

Laes only works on a maximum of about 24-36 hours worth of memory, so a long-term wipe is dubious.  (Not to say that the Tir government mightn't have a particularly potent/enhanced version, but still...)  Wiping out memories by way of a PAB might be better; IIRC, it can target certain memories/times.  I personally would leave it mysterious - but sure, it can happen/be done intentionally. 

[Shaidar]

SR4 Augmentation had the Data Filter Cyberware Headware

Data Filter: Upon activation, a data filter edits the flow of information from an individual’s short- to long-term memory. The user will later be unable to recall anything that happened while the data  lter was active.  is device is popular with influential people who require the presence of aides or secretaries during con dential proceedings; such employees are fitted with a data filter that can be remotely triggered.  e drawback to data filters is that the user is distracted while it is active and does not retain memories for more than a few minutes. Data Filters are also common among “hosts” and “hostesses” of underworld bunraku parlors—the data filter ensures privacy, while a persona x chip turns the host(ess) into whomever the client desires.
A character with an activated data filter receives a –2 dice pool modi er to all Perception Tests and will not remember anything that happened while the filter was active. Data Filters can be either remotely controlled via their user’s PAN, or can be set to deactivate after a certain amount of time (most o en chosen by users that manually activate their data filters, since they won’t remember to turn it o on their own).
A data filter only prevents the memory retention received from the user’s own senses. It does not a ect the functioning of eye or ear recording units, simrigs, or other cyberware recording devices beyond the aforementioned modi er.

Essence 0.2
Capacity —
Availability 12
2,500¥

[ScytheKnight]

Hmmm, that Data Filter seems like a likely candidate... although not sure what Military would think of lowered perception.

And Wyrm, please don't throw acronyms at me I only just started playing at 5th ed so I have no drecking clue what you're talking about.

[Herr Brackhaus]

PAB stands for Programmable ASIST Biofeedback. It's a device (and/or technology) featured in SR4s Unwired. Check pages 189 through 192 for details.

Think of it like being the rough equivalent of the Alter and/or Erase Memory spells, but through simsense technology turned all the way up to 11.

The quality Incomplete Deprogramming (Reprogramming?) would likely be a result of tampering with a PAB unit, as the rules specifically mention event reprogramming as a feature of the technology.

[ScytheKnight]

Hmmm, she does have a Datajack and even an implanted Comlink so something like that would have been easily deployed on her existing 'ware.

[Herr Brackhaus]

Trodes can do the trick; no datajack or DNI necessary. Also, sedatives are often used on unwilling subjects.

[ScytheKnight]

Yeah was thinking that as well. Still I'm sure repeatedly using that sort of thing carries risks... the kind of risks that can explain Logic and Charisma dumpstats... so liking that way.

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

Sorry; it's like ASIST, PAB is just what the thing is called.  If her background was that of an agent, then yeah, she might return to HQ (or base, or whatever) after each mission, only to have the mission details erased.  And certainly it could result in having had brain damage, or at least short-circuiting.  If that were the case, I would (as GM) allow/require her, any time she tries to raise those stats, to put karma towards buying off the Amnesia quality - presuming she has one.  At the point she's back up to agent levels, she's regained much of her memory, or at least enough to make things very seriously dangerous, for her and the people around her, a la Jason Bourne.

[ScytheKnight]

Well her background is black ops military,  missions erased after debriefing... until they messed up so they just delete her time in black ops and dumped her in a Mercenary company.

In not too worried about an amnesia quality or the like as this isn't a recent occurrence. That said there's a few  fluff tie ins I can do without disrupting the Missions format.