[hk00107]

I've been running a fairly successful 5th Edition Shadowrun campaign for a few months now, but so far have steered clear of the Matrix based on the fact that I myself can't wrap my head around the rules. This is hardly fair to my player that made a Technomancer so I'm hitting the forums up hoping for some clarification so I can incorporate it. What enemies would she face? How would she fight them? How would she go about stealing a file? What's this about noise? Can a Matrix scene be mapped out, or is it non-spacial? I'd like to be more specific as to my confusion but I really don't understand any of it, those were just the top ones on the list. Thank you in advance.

[Beta]

It is by no means the answer to all of your problems, but as a starting point, I'd suggest using the search feature here to find the thread "Let's go to the Library" (I think that is the name... searching just for Library may find it).  It gives a detailed breakdown of a sample hack (with a decker and a technomancer competing).  Read the discussion afterwards too, to see how confused most people are, but also for additional insight.

Also let me (probably mis)quote a signature that I saw someone using on one of the SR boards: "The more the GM understands magic, the more powerful it is.  The more the GM understands the matrix, the less powerful it is."  It turns out that the matrix in SR5 is pretty good -- still hackable, but it isn't as easy as the fluff in the books makes it sound.

[hk00107]

Thank you! I found two threads following the library search that while I haven't read them all yet they have already helped clarify some. In case someone else comes looking for the same thing they are
http://forums.shadowruntabletop.com/index.php?topic=13977.msg256034#msg256034
and
http://forums.shadowruntabletop.com/index.php?topic=12278.0
I probably will have some more specific questions later but this gives me a good place to start, thanks!