Shadowrun

Shadowrun General => General Discussion => Topic started by: a very angery werefox on <08-17-13/2140:11>

Title: out with the new in with the old????
Post by: a very angery werefox on <08-17-13/2140:11>
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.
Title: Re: out with the new in with the old????
Post by: DeathStrobe on <08-17-13/2156:49>
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.
Title: Re: out with the new in with the old????
Post by: a very angery werefox on <08-17-13/2159:47>
ahh thanks new to me but thank you.
Title: Re: out with the new in with the old????
Post by: Mirikon on <08-17-13/2202:36>
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. ;)
Title: Re: out with the new in with the old????
Post by: Novocrane on <08-17-13/2236:21>
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.
Title: Re: out with the new in with the old????
Post by: CanRay on <08-18-13/0111:47>
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.
Title: Re: out with the new in with the old????
Post by: Medicineman on <08-18-13/0146:00>
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
Title: Re: out with the new in with the old????
Post by: Tzeentch on <08-18-13/0353:07>
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!
Title: Re: out with the new in with the old????
Post by: Eldritch on <08-18-13/0523:22>
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.   
Title: Re: out with the new in with the old????
Post by: Reaver on <08-18-13/0650:35>
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...>


 
Title: Re: out with the new in with the old????
Post by: grid_roamer on <08-18-13/1424:11>
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.
Title: Re: out with the new in with the old????
Post by: Shinobi Killfist on <08-18-13/1439:13>
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. 
Title: Re: out with the new in with the old????
Post by: KarmaInferno on <08-22-13/1417:40>
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". :)
     
Quote
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.

Title: Re: out with the new in with the old????
Post by: grid_roamer on <08-22-13/1509:21>
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....
Title: Re: out with the new in with the old????
Post by: Belker on <08-22-13/1543:12>
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.
Title: Re: out with the new in with the old????
Post by: JackVII on <08-22-13/1551:09>
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.

I paid extra to make sure my new deck still loks like a keytar from 1st Ed.
Title: Re: out with the new in with the old????
Post by: CanRay on <08-22-13/1604:08>
Quote
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.
Mungo wuz 1337.  Nawo izn't.   :'(
Title: Re: out with the new in with the old????
Post by: Shinobi Killfist on <08-22-13/2240:15>
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". :)
     


Yah the people I game with always used decker.  I suspect the longer you've played the more often you are stuck on the old terms, old habits and all that.
Title: Re: out with the new in with the old????
Post by: CanRay on <08-23-13/0056:37>
Decker was still used by Saints Row The Third after all.  ;D  (Yes, they knew the origin of it, yes, they admitted they were Shadowrun fans!)
Title: Re: out with the new in with the old????
Post by: grid_roamer on <08-23-13/0540:57>
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.

I guess the file abstraction still applies to cominks.
plenty to steal there.... :-[
Title: Re: out with the new in with the old????
Post by: AJCarrington on <08-23-13/1256:21>
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.

Pretty sure Randall confirmed that this was definitely a part of the logic. Check out the interview w/ d6 Mafia (http://d6mafia.com/index.php?option=com_easyblog&view=entry&id=111&Itemid=220)