IZ2.0: Ashes of Phoenix

Game Master Aloha-Shirt-Samurai


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This is the out of character discussion thread for our IZ2.0 campaign.

A couple reminders to everybody, and updates so you don't have to read the thread so painstakingly:

1. TURNS OUT SKILL SPECIALIZATION IS DIFFERENT IN IZ2.0:

-You receive 20 points to create your character to start with, instead of 15.

-You can buy a specialization for 1 point instead of 2 at character creation. Thereafter if you spend an advance, you can either buy two specializations, one specialization/one skill upgrade below its linked attribute or one specialization in a new skill you buy at a d4.

2. Everybody (except as of this instant, N30N) should have received a PM from my GM account for this game, GM Ten-Speed with some info. You're welcome to reply to that PM if you have any questions or you would like to do anything to prepare before the campaign thread launches in a couple days. :)

I'll be double-checking everybody's character sheets and doing some last prepwork on my end. Also note that this is my first campaign I'm running on Paizo, so there may be a learning curve with regards to how I handle some of the finer details (still debating the best way to handle bennies and when to dole out experience, for instance).


Bennies 3/3 Street Cred 3/3 Parry 4, Toughness 7, EMP Toughness 7, Neural Toughness 6, Firewall 8 Condition: normal, Wounds: 0, Fatigue 0, Strain 3/6 Roll20

I just want to state up front how stoked I am to finally be able to roleplay a cyberpunk character. I have invested in four other roleplaying systems that provide a cyberpunk experience: Shadowrun, Cyberpunk, GURPS, and D20 Modern. But other than creating characters, I have never had the chance to role play any of them. So I have high hopes that this will be a lot of fun.

I also wanted to mention that in two PBP games I'm in now, one as a player and one as a GM, the standard tense for posts is past tense, while this and others the standard tense is present. I think past tense works better, but I'm okay with either one. However, I may sometimes forget to edit a post for tense and may post in past tense instead of present tense or my tense may shift mid post. I usually catch it, but if I don't, I hope it doesn't bother anyone.

Feel free to look at 1dr0meda's profile, but please don't read the background spoiler at the bottom. That has some secrets no one would likely know.


Male NG Human Priest Mystic | SP 21/21 HP 23/23| RP 3/3 | EAC 15; KAC 17| Fort +2; Ref +2; Will +5 | Init: +1 | Perc: +9, SM: +9, Darkvision 60’ | Speed 20ft | Active conditions: None.

GM, what skill would someone use to disguise manifesting Zeek powers? Specifically Peek mindreading, IE if I wanted to mindread someone without everyone knowing what I was doing.


N30N "Neon" Bioroid Novice Bennies: 1/3 Wounds:1 Pace:6 Parry:5 Toughness: 6 Firewall:4 Strain :6 Street Cred: 2 Ag:d12 Sm:d8 Sp: d6 St:d4 Vi:d6

Perhaps Stealth (Zeek) ?


Attributes:
Agility [d8] | Strength [d6] | Smarts [d8] | Vigor [d6] | Spirit [d6] | Parry 4 | Toughness 5 | Pace 6
Hybrid Tiger
Skills:
Investigation (Datanet)[d8+2] | Notice (Visual)[d6+4] | Intimidation (Mental)[d6] | Tracking (Urban)[d8+2] | Shooting (Pistol)[d8] | Driving (Car)[d6] | Streetwise (Gang)[d8+2] | Fighting (Krav Maga)[d6]

Tony reporting in, ready to get to huntin'!

I think if you wanted to hide the manifestation of Zeek powers, you would have to take Stealth (Sleight of Hand).


Bennies 3/3 Street Cred 3/3 Parry 4, Toughness 7, EMP Toughness 7, Neural Toughness 6, Firewall 8 Condition: normal, Wounds: 0, Fatigue 0, Strain 3/6 Roll20

It might help to consider how a similar situation is handled in hacking.

When hacking past a firewall, you may alert the target to the intrusion if you either fail the roll or succeed but don't get a raise. Then the target gets a roll to notice, modified by any stealth engrams running. If there is a stealth (Zeek) skill as suggested, a roll with that skill could create a target number for the detection.

That might imply that there is a notice (Zeek) specialization.

Dark Archive

Android Op 3 | HP 22/22 SP: 14/21 RP: 7/7 |  EAC: 19 KAC: 19 | Init: +6 | Perc: +8 | F: +1 R: +7 W: +3 | Atk:+7/d6+1

Super stoked for this to start!

I have absolutely neither questions nor issues with my PM. It encapsulated everything I'm going for with this character. ^_^ Can;t wait for the Gameplay to kick off!

@1dr0meda: I really like neo-modern RPGs because it plays off what we currently do now, so you can usually identify with a character slightly easier. After all, we can only speculate on what it would be like to wear armor or drink mead from the skull of your enemies, but we all know what walking down a sidewalk to go to a meeting feels like.

Also guns. I don't know why but I like rolling dice for a gun slightly more than rolling for a sword. Don't know why. Might be, like above, my brain can just relate to it a bit more. =)

Enjoy!

Dark Archive

Android Op 3 | HP 22/22 SP: 14/21 RP: 7/7 |  EAC: 19 KAC: 19 | Init: +6 | Perc: +8 | F: +1 R: +7 W: +3 | Atk:+7/d6+1

@Aloha: Could you please open up gameplay so I can dot and have this post to my campaign tab?


Bennies 3/3 Street Cred 3/3 Parry 4, Toughness 7, EMP Toughness 7, Neural Toughness 6, Firewall 8 Condition: normal, Wounds: 0, Fatigue 0, Strain 3/6 Roll20

My favorite Cyberpunk novel is Snowcrash. It is remarkable how similar everything is in the story to present day. Even the virtual reality is relatively restrained, not much more advanced than the 3D goggles just coming out now. The weapons are not much different either. And yet by using computers and a few high-tech devices like skateboards that can race along behind speeding cars, a gun that fires uranium pellets that can chew through the deck of an aircraft carrier, a bio-engineered epidemic spread by a fundamentalist religion that turns followers into mind controlled slaves, and mix it together with a lovable mafia godfather, a cute yet oh-so-gutsy teenage courier and a mixed race katana wielding computer geek, and you have a wonderful fantasy adventure.

Don't get me wrong, I love the fantasy tropes, but by this point, I've played all sorts of fantasy characters. I've never played a Cyberpunk character. Looking forward to it.

One thing I want to be sure I understand correctly is how hyper reality works. My impression is that this combines what we today call the Internet of Things with the notion of a sensory interface that feeds directly into our consciousness via the TAP. So if a character has his TAP turned on and she is walking down a busy street, it will look something like the images on Person of Interest, with little hyper text markers by various people either showing information about the person or showing what information is available.

Looking at a business may produce advertisements and perhaps even virtual sales people or perhaps sprites to try to draw your attention.

I'm assuming a person can access this information just by desiring to do so. Likewise, I expect a person can push such things to the periphery to minimize distractions.

Since 1dr0meda is a hacker, she can not only see these sorts of things, but she has the option to try to hack into them in ways not intended. I'm interested in learning what sorts of things a hacker could do once she hacks past a person's firewall and into his/her TAP. I know a hacker can make attacks with the right engrams which can cause non-lethal or even lethal damage. Could a hacker also monitor what the person is experiencing or even thinking? Root around for information files? Leave a sprite behind that can spy on the person?

I expect this will be worked out as we go, but suggestions will be appreciated for how to use these potent hacking powers to best effect.


Bennies 3/3 Street Cred 3/3 Parry 4, Toughness 7, EMP Toughness 7, Neural Toughness 6, Firewall 8 Condition: normal, Wounds: 0, Fatigue 0, Strain 3/6 Roll20

By the way, I'm going to be away from most computers from about Friday morning to Sunday morning, so if anything happens before Sunday, I probably won't respond until the end of the weekend.


@1dr0meda: I'm super stoked to be GMing a cyberpunk campaign, and I'm pleased so many people jumped on board! I'll have to look into Snowcrash, it sounds right up my alley.

Hyper Reality imposes digital data onto a real world object. It's pretty omnipresent in 2090. One of the examples in the PHB include that most doors are no longer manual, or even use motion sensors. They read short range signals (LOST--line of sight triggers) from the TAPs of people who approach them. This is why Unplugged is such a major hindrance. Having your TAP off also makes you stand out like a sore thumb to anybody scanning a room with hyper reality on--you'll be the only person with no flags.

Virtual advertisement is constant through hyper-reality (nobody paints billboards anymore, they're just blank screens where advertising agents can throw up posters). Most automated processes have some form of hyper reality integration. Whenever you pay for anything, it's almost always using your TAP to access your credit account and make the purchase. Cash is mostly the provision of street vendors, people who live outside the sprawl and criminals. AI sprites are strictly illegal and dangerous--Expert sprites don't have the potential for true sentience, but they tend to be expensive enough they're not wasted on marketing, except maybe at very high levels.

Most common knowledge can be searched instantly via TAP inside the sprawl (who knows about Phoenix. ;) ), and you have to go deep in the boonies to get off the net entirely. Information that's not widely publicized can still be found, with the specialization listed as "Investigation (Global DataNet)" serving the same purpose as "googling". You can individually choose what things you want to have showing from your TAP. Some people would have their name and bio floating around for anyone who cared to read it, others are more private. Some people will have hyper reality images projected onto their body like tattoos, some clothes project hyper reality images and animations, etc. Virtual reality is more obvious, as your avatar is tagged specifically with your TAP info in order to prevent spoofing/impersonation.

With regards to what you can do inside a TAP: You can't fully read someone's mind without the mind reading power, but you can make hacking rolls to see what they've been searching for, what engrams are loaded into their AMS, etc. The integration between the TAP and the actual brain is the point you're attacking to cause physical damage when you're hacking aggressively. Think of it more like hacking into someone's home computer or smart phone and less like hacking into their brain directly. Granted, the computer is wired into their brain, but... Yeah.

@Ghiv: Most Peek powers are fairly subtle actually. Mindreading is explicitly mentioned under the "Hiding in Plain Sight" section on p. 114:

Hiding in Plain Sight:
I think this is probably the subject which scares people the most — the fact that, unless you see us do something obviously out-of-the ordinary with our abilities, you’ll never know we are psions. Remember, I mentioned using my ability to read people’s minds nearly every day I spent serving those bastards who got my mom killed. Not one time did I ever openly reveal I was psychic. My marks went on with their lives blissfully ignorant of what I did to them.

Peek powers are also mentioned as forcing you to concentrate on a subject. People who know what to look for (Notice: Psionics specialization) might get a notice roll if you use your powers in front of them. Otherwise you'd need to fail repeatedly before I gave the normies a chance. I don't think there's any additional skill you'd need to take to make Peek powers more subtle, as the majority of the time nobody is going to notice anyway. The people who know what to look for get a chance, but its part of the occupational hazard of being a Zeek in general. ;)

Of course, backlashing is more obvious. A 1 on your psionics die gives you brainburn (automatically shaking your character) which could be pretty noticeable in the form of sudden hyperventilating, cold sweats, etc. A botch is extremely noticeable, as you let out a "psychic scream" that shakes all allies in a LBT centered on your character.

@Alanna: I'll open up the thread after this post, but I probably won't make the introductory post of the campaign until Sunday. :)


Bennies 3/3 Street Cred 3/3 Parry 4, Toughness 7, EMP Toughness 7, Neural Toughness 6, Firewall 8 Condition: normal, Wounds: 0, Fatigue 0, Strain 3/6 Roll20

Regarding the subtlety of psionics, some powers spell out aspects of whether the target can tell they are being read, such as Mind Reading, which says:

"Mind reading allows a character to read another’s thoughts. This is an opposed roll versus the target’s Smarts. A success allows the character to gain one truthful answer from the subject. The target is aware of the mental intrusion unless the mind reader gets a raise. The GM may apply modifiers based on the subject’s mental hindrances or current state of mind."

This makes it more obvious than a hack, which requires the target make a roll to detect unless the hack was made with a raise.

There is also a power that can conceal arcane powers (Detect/Conceal Arcana), although this reads like it mainly conceals it from arcane detection powers.

Regarding cash, there is a great scene in Snow Crash where a character has to pay cash for something illegal.

Here is some of the dialogue:

Snowcrash wrote:

"There's money in the storage compartment in front of you," Ng says.

Y.T. opens the glove compartment, as anyone else would call it, and finds a thick bundle of worn-out, dirty, trillion-dollar bills. Ed Meeses.

"Jeez, couldn't you get any Gippers? This is kind of bulky."

"This is more the kind of thing that a Kourier would pay with."

"Because we're all pond scum, right?"

"No comment."

"What is this, a quadrillion dollars?"

"One-and-a-half quadrillion. Inflation, you know."

...

"Well," says the guy, a tall rangy dude in his forties, much too skinny to be forty years old. He yanks the butt of a cigarette from his mouth and throws it away like a dart. "What'll it be, then?"

"What does Snow Crash cost?"

"One point seven five Gippers," the guy says.

"I thought it was one point five," YT says.

The guy shakes his head. "Inflation, you know. Still, it's a bargain Hell, that plank you're on is probably worth a hundred Gippers."

...

The guy laughs, shakes his head, hollers back to his colleagues inside the warehouse. "You guys, we got a chick here who wants to pay in Meeses."

"Better get rid of 'em fast, honey," says a sharper, nastier voice, "or get yourself a wheelbarrow."

For the record, this was written back in 1992, just four years after the Reagan administration.


Male NG Human Priest Mystic | SP 21/21 HP 23/23| RP 3/3 | EAC 15; KAC 17| Fort +2; Ref +2; Will +5 | Init: +1 | Perc: +9, SM: +9, Darkvision 60’ | Speed 20ft | Active conditions: None.

@GM Thanks, I'll probably still be investing in a Stealth skill to mask my Peekiness.


N30N "Neon" Bioroid Novice Bennies: 1/3 Wounds:1 Pace:6 Parry:5 Toughness: 6 Firewall:4 Strain :6 Street Cred: 2 Ag:d12 Sm:d8 Sp: d6 St:d4 Vi:d6

Yeah, snow crash is a great novel.

Dark Archive

Android Op 3 | HP 22/22 SP: 14/21 RP: 7/7 |  EAC: 19 KAC: 19 | Init: +6 | Perc: +8 | F: +1 R: +7 W: +3 | Atk:+7/d6+1

Updated gear a little bit. (Some knickknacks from the base book. And, um, bullets. =)

Gave names to my contacts. The man I met on the bus, Propoket, is a talented Street Doc. His son, Imrael, knows everyone and is a well-connected Fixer.

Dark Archive

Android Op 3 | HP 22/22 SP: 14/21 RP: 7/7 |  EAC: 19 KAC: 19 | Init: +6 | Perc: +8 | F: +1 R: +7 W: +3 | Atk:+7/d6+1

Can't wait! (I'm like a little kid on Christmas morning. ^_^)

The last time I was this excited to play a character, I had gotten into a small game of Eclipse Phase. (I think we all know about that. It's a -very- complicated play system that is -very- futuristic...and also very dystonian.)

Everyone was stoked, and me an' one other player had really emotional, in-depth, detailed first post to introduce our characters, and explain how we felt as we woke up in a new body. Things looked good.

And then we never heard from the DM again. Heh. =P


N30N "Neon" Bioroid Novice Bennies: 1/3 Wounds:1 Pace:6 Parry:5 Toughness: 6 Firewall:4 Strain :6 Street Cred: 2 Ag:d12 Sm:d8 Sp: d6 St:d4 Vi:d6

Hmmm, yeah , that's unfortunately too common.
I've got a long list of campaigns that fit that description....cool character you invested time in creating, only to have the DM disappear early or before the game even begins.

Looking forward to this one.

GM, haven't seen a PM from you yet. Is there something I needed to do? Fix.

Still need to go over gear and augments...will probably do so this evening.


@Neon: Sorry, you'll be getting a PM from me in the next couple of hours! :)


And we're launched. :)


N30N "Neon" Bioroid Novice Bennies: 1/3 Wounds:1 Pace:6 Parry:5 Toughness: 6 Firewall:4 Strain :6 Street Cred: 2 Ag:d12 Sm:d8 Sp: d6 St:d4 Vi:d6

Thanks for the pm , gm.

Going to see Mumford and sons so won't have an update till later.


Bennies 3/3 Street Cred 3/3 Parry 4, Toughness 7, EMP Toughness 7, Neural Toughness 6, Firewall 8 Condition: normal, Wounds: 0, Fatigue 0, Strain 3/6 Roll20

Are we starting off with the standard 3 bennies?


Yeah, except for you, Ms. Bad Luck :B

(whenever I dole out Experience, I'll remind you all to nerf your bennies back down to your standard draw)


Bennies 3/3 Street Cred 3/3 Parry 4, Toughness 7, EMP Toughness 7, Neural Toughness 6, Firewall 8 Condition: normal, Wounds: 0, Fatigue 0, Strain 3/6 Roll20

As the saying goes, if she didn't have bad luck, she wouldn't have any luck at all. :)

Dark Archive

Android Op 3 | HP 22/22 SP: 14/21 RP: 7/7 |  EAC: 19 KAC: 19 | Init: +6 | Perc: +8 | F: +1 R: +7 W: +3 | Atk:+7/d6+1

@Emily: Hi there! =)

Wow! You've got a really interesting character!

Hey, I just had a few quick questions, just so we have a better understanding of your character, okay?

1) Are you a no-seriously-I-am-a-cop police officer? Like, still active? (That is quite fine if you are, I'm just making sure. =)

2) Could you put in a minor description of what you look like? (Hair color, eye color, build, what about her makes her so attractive. ;) Just something basic so we know what we're looking at.

3) How did you get the nickname "Daisy"? =)

Dark Archive

Android Op 3 | HP 22/22 SP: 14/21 RP: 7/7 |  EAC: 19 KAC: 19 | Init: +6 | Perc: +8 | F: +1 R: +7 W: +3 | Atk:+7/d6+1

Anyone hear anything from Tony?


Bennies 3/3 Street Cred 3/3 Parry 4, Toughness 7, EMP Toughness 7, Neural Toughness 6, Firewall 8 Condition: normal, Wounds: 0, Fatigue 0, Strain 3/6 Roll20

When I told a good friend of mine about this campaign, he asked if I would ask if he could join. I told him that the game appeared to be at its limit for number of characters and that some had been turned away in the recruitment phase, but that I would ask nonetheless.

If a slot opens up, please consider notifying ZenFox42. He has moderated two campaigns that used SW so he knows the rules well. Scranford ran a character in one of them. He is a reliable poster who is currently recovering from some serious medical problems and so has a lot of time on his hands.


I'll shoot Tony a PM if he hasn't posted by the time I get up in a couple hours and we'll move the campaign along regardless. :)


Hi all - I'm an experienced SW gamer (and GM) looking for a SW game. 1dr0meda is an old buddy of mine, and said that while you officially have 6 players, 1 is so far a no-show (perhaps as of yesterday).

If that player continues to be a no-show, or if any player drops out in the future, I'd really appreciate being considered to join the game.

Thanks!


I'm gonna give Tony a couple days just in case something came up IRL. If he doesn't make it back in, we'll start making you a character and probably bring you in on the next story beat. :)


Male NG Human Priest Mystic | SP 21/21 HP 23/23| RP 3/3 | EAC 15; KAC 17| Fort +2; Ref +2; Will +5 | Init: +1 | Perc: +9, SM: +9, Darkvision 60’ | Speed 20ft | Active conditions: None.

I'll be travelling home all day tomorrow and so might or might not be able to make a post (depending on the airport wifi in Cancun). Everything should be back to normal Friday.


Bennies 3/3 Street Cred 3/3 Parry 4, Toughness 7, EMP Toughness 7, Neural Toughness 6, Firewall 8 Condition: normal, Wounds: 0, Fatigue 0, Strain 3/6 Roll20

A storm has knocked out power in my area, so my ability to post will be limited for a while. Bot me if needed.


Alanna - sent you a PM about your PC...

Dark Archive

Android Op 3 | HP 22/22 SP: 14/21 RP: 7/7 |  EAC: 19 KAC: 19 | Init: +6 | Perc: +8 | F: +1 R: +7 W: +3 | Atk:+7/d6+1

Replied to your PM. =p


Aloha-Shirt-Samurai - I've posted a rough-draft of my PC in Recruitment...

Alanna - thanks!


A question about Skills with specializations :

If I spend an Advancement on the *base* skill (say, raise Fighting from d8 to 10), do all the specializations also automatically go up? So if I have Martial Arts and Katana under Fighting, they both become d10 as well?


I'll go ahead and respond to your character writeup here as well since it makes it a little more consolidated. :)

Skill specs: Think of the specialization and skill as independent from each other. If your fighting is a d8, it's just a d8. You'll start with one specialization (let's say Judo) and if you have to operate outside of your specialty (say, using a K-tana) you'll roll at a -2. On your next advance you buy a specialization in Fighting: Swords and keep using your K-tana with no -2 penalty.

If you buy another rank of fighting (going up to a d10), you will roll a d10 with no penalty using either of those specializations. So in short: yes that's right, but the semantics are a little different. :)

Character: Looks good so far! :) The only things you're missing that you didn't bring up are that you need to have a Vow with regards to your Filthy Rich. Since I did the same for Alanna I'll also be giving you an additional complication to go with your wealth--Filthy Rich is pretty damn rich, after all.

You also need to attach each of your powers to one piece of cyberware (or the same one, though the metagame would recommend against it) and provide a trapping for each. This is important as your attached aug will shut down on backlash with the relevant power.

I'll shoot you a PM that answers some of your other questions. :)


Bennies 3/3 Street Cred 3/3 Parry 4, Toughness 7, EMP Toughness 7, Neural Toughness 6, Firewall 8 Condition: normal, Wounds: 0, Fatigue 0, Strain 3/6 Roll20

Your explanation about specializations sounds as if the points spent on the dice level of a skill includes one specialization for free. I interpreted that the cost of the dice level did not include any specializations, so I spent 1 point for each specialization listed. Was that correct?

Also, I was reviewing my skill points allocation and discovered that I have 2 more points to spend as the android race includes one free skill that starts at d6. I will probably add a specialization to my notice skill and another for investigation. But first I wanted to ask about investigation specializations. The sourcebook recommends archives, Global Datanet, Libraries, newspapers, and (in an example of how hacking works, the author adds) data mining. I'm wondering if most of these are necessary. I would think newspapers would be dead, replaced with digital reports. Likewise, I'd think libraries and archives would be digital archives and hence would both be covered by a specialization of data mining. Finally, would Global Datanet be included in data mining?

Can you recommend any more useful investigation specializations?


Ooh geeze, good point. Let's get everybody's sheet straight before the campaign gets any further. I'll double-check everybody's sheets, I don't think I counted points and specializations as thoroughly as I should have.

The rules as I understand them:
Regular skill specialization: Every skill you take has one specialization. You can gain an additional specialization for an advance or 2 skill points at character creation.

IZ2.0 skill specialization: You start with 20 skill points instead of 15. Every skill you take has a single specialization, and you can buy an additional specialization for 1 skill point. An advance can grant you either a new skill at a d4 (with corresponding specialization), raise one skill a die type (underneath its linked attribute) and grant you a new skill specialization, or grant you two new skill specializations.

As per my double-checking:

1dr0meda:
I count you as having spent 14 points, given your free d6 skill for being an android. Spend your remaining 6 and take your free specializations in all the skills you haven't specialized yet.

Alanna:
I count you as having spent 15 points. Spend your additional 5 and take your free specializations in all the skills you haven't specialized yet.

Emily:
I count you as spending 16 points. Spend your additional 4 and take your free specializations in all the skills you haven't specialized yet.

Ghiv:
I count you as spending 17 points, but I don't see a die type for your streetwise. Spend your additional 3 and take your free specializations in all the skills you haven't specialized yet.

N30N:
I count you as spending 13 skill points (11 + 2 additional specializations). Spend your additional 7 and take your free specializations in all the skills you haven't specialized yet.

I'd also like to sincerely apologize for not checking these more thoroughly before we got underway. That was sloppy of me, sorry.

With regards to investigation: I would split it up as: Archives and Global Datanet. Newspapers specifically I would just lump in under either Archives or Global Datanet depending on how old/recent the information you're looking for is. Library specialization, if somebody still wanted it, would probably be for pre-Global Datanet info. I think there's room for multiple specializations in terms of digital investigations, but I 100% agree that Newspapers is kind of dumb and should just be folded into one of the other specializations.

I can't find the example of data mining you mentioned in the book, although I would see it as being more about scanning packets and data in transit and decrypting it to gather scraps of info.


Bennies 3/3 Street Cred 3/3 Parry 4, Toughness 7, EMP Toughness 7, Neural Toughness 6, Firewall 8 Condition: normal, Wounds: 0, Fatigue 0, Strain 3/6 Roll20

Thanks for the update on skills. I'll work on getting mine updated by this afternoon.

Regarding the Data Mining specialization, it's not in the sourcebook. There is a forum where one of the authors of IZ2 answers questions about the rules. It might be worth a look-see when there is any questions about how IZ2 works. It is part of Gun Metal Games

He has a description of hacking in This post.

I've done some database work myself and if one is dealing with raw database tables, it might make sense to have a separate skill specialization from general Global Datanet searches, since one needs to write special search queries. But that is pretty much a kind of programming so I'd think Knowledge (Programming) might cover that.

I might suggest some form of detective specialization for investigations that don't just involve Datanet searches. This might cover the kind of old school gumshoe legwork that requires physically going places, talking with people, looking through physically stored information, etc. That could include searching any physical archives such as someone's private collection of antiques such as books, print-outs, etc.

Another way of looking at data mining: it is what you need if you are hacking into someone's private computer files looking for information. This kind of information is not optimized for searches the way Internet searches are, where people want you to be able to find the information quickly. But, again, I could see that kind of search as part of Knowledge (programming) since the best way to find information would be to write on-the-fly search programs.

At any rate, 1dr0meda will take whatever specialization would be needed for hacking in someone's system for information and/or searching for information on the Global Datanet.


Male NG Human Priest Mystic | SP 21/21 HP 23/23| RP 3/3 | EAC 15; KAC 17| Fort +2; Ref +2; Will +5 | Init: +1 | Perc: +9, SM: +9, Darkvision 60’ | Speed 20ft | Active conditions: None.

@GM Thanks! I had meant to add Streetwise at d6...I also bumped shooting to d6. Everything should be good to go now.


1dr0meda - FWIW, the example on the Gun Metal Games page (dated 2014, after IFZ2.0 came out) uses Investigation/Data Mining to *find files*, while Knowledge/Programming in the IFZ2.0 manual says that that's only used to *make a change* to a system.

Dark Archive

Android Op 3 | HP 22/22 SP: 14/21 RP: 7/7 |  EAC: 19 KAC: 19 | Init: +6 | Perc: +8 | F: +1 R: +7 W: +3 | Atk:+7/d6+1

Hee, of note, Ghiv/Niles has done a lot more SW than I have, so I'd pick his brain before mine. =)

Also...this is the first time I've played with skill specializations, and my initial impression of the mechanic is not one of love. One of SW's strengths has always been that it was on the 'rules light' side of things, and this seems to fix something that wasn't broken. I'm not sure who was calling out the unfairness that Drive applied to both cars and trucks, but I can't understand the angst. Specs seems to add more problems than it solves.
Like, with Stealth, one spec is Sneaking and another is...Hiding. So, because you're good at moving without being seen, somehow as soon as you stop moving you start playing your accordion? =)
It goes on. Axe is different from Blades, which is different from Polearm. Hacking has seven(!) specs.

I'm not complaining, simply stating IMHO. Many games with specs give a bonus (Shadowrun does bonus dice, as an example) and this one is giving a minus.
Again, Niles might have a better take on this. Jus' sayin'. =)

Also, he that is our better, TheGreenTeaGamer, might have a different take on it entirely. Might be something interesting to ask him about. =)


Bennies 3/3 Street Cred 3/3 Parry 4, Toughness 7, EMP Toughness 7, Neural Toughness 6, Firewall 8 Condition: normal, Wounds: 0, Fatigue 0, Strain 3/6 Roll20

I have had similar reservations about some aspects of the skills. Too much specialization is as bad as not enough. It's hard to find the ideal balance point.

I think the stealth example is a good one and if I were the GM, I would not treat hiding differently from sneaking. But clearly the ability to do sleight of hand is a considerably different skill from sneaking around or hiding which in turn is different from designing a good disguise. Although, as devil's advocate, consider the character of Peeta in the Hunger Games who was an expert at camouflage but that only worked while he was not moving.

With regard to driving, a roll is usually only needed when in an extreme situation trying to maintain control of the vehicle. Since a large truck behaves differently from a car, it makes sense that one might be good at one but not another. A NASCAR driver might be aces when trying to control a stock car around a sharp turn, but the same driver might not do so well trying to control an 18-wheel rig, even though he should be better at it than an average Joe who only has enough skill to negotiate the rush hour traffic. And someone who is good at driving a car or truck might go splat if she tried to ride a motorcycle.

The key is a GM who knows when to insist on a specialization and when to let it slide and just use the general skill.

A player just needs to consider how often he/she may need to use each specialization and most of the time simply choose the specialty that is most likely to be needed and accept a little worse result with the others, such they crop up. Someone who wants to be good at a broad range of specialties has a bit of accounting to do to spend the fewest points.


Thus far, I like skill specialization a lot better on paper than I do in practice. Part of that is that IZ2.0 handles it differently than the original SWD setting rule. The other part is that I don't feel like *every* skill needs specialization, but both the setting rule as written and the IZ2.0 version are both all or nothing. I don't like having arbitrary rules so I went ahead and threw it towards "all".

My native system is Deadlands Classic, which was the predecessor to SW. Some of the skills in Deadlands had specialization, called concentration, but only for highly technical skills (Shooting, Driving, Fighting, IIRC). Again, I don't like arbitrary rules, so I dislike saying something like "Skill Specialization that only applies to the following skills", but that might end up being a better solution. :\

Or just take your specializations, and assume you can roll without penalty unless I tell you its relevant. What do you guys think?


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Sure enough that does have that coaxial mounted machine gun. How big could that possibly be--OH JESUS CHRIST!!

Poor mooks never stood a chance, did they? :P


Bennies 3/3 Street Cred 3/3 Parry 4, Toughness 7, EMP Toughness 7, Neural Toughness 6, Firewall 8 Condition: normal, Wounds: 0, Fatigue 0, Strain 3/6 Roll20

I am in favor of ignoring the specialty unless it is a skill for which it is particularly relevant. For example, there are all sorts of different things one can do with hacking and I took a generous range of them that should cover most hacking situations. But if she does happen to need to try to detect intrusion, she's going to be -2 at that. But with things like investigation, stealth, or notice, specialties may only be relevant for non-standard situations, like using stealth for disguise or noticing someone's body language.


Bennies 3/3 Street Cred 3/3 Parry 4, Toughness 7, EMP Toughness 7, Neural Toughness 6, Firewall 8 Condition: normal, Wounds: 0, Fatigue 0, Strain 3/6 Roll20

Looking down the road, so to speak, and considering getting a JUMP board for 1dr0meda. The sourcebook references another book, Road Rage for details. Does anyone have that book? I'm wondering if it has enough to make it worth the purchase. If someone has it, I'd be interested in maybe a copy/paste PM with information relevant to the JUMP Bike or JUMP Board if there is anything on that (but only if it would be a modest amount of information). I'm mainly interested in what the rules are for doing jumps and what happens in crashes.

Frankly, I'm interested in replicating the cool skateboard antics described in Snow Crash. It would also be a cheap way to get around.


Male NG Human Priest Mystic | SP 21/21 HP 23/23| RP 3/3 | EAC 15; KAC 17| Fort +2; Ref +2; Will +5 | Init: +1 | Perc: +9, SM: +9, Darkvision 60’ | Speed 20ft | Active conditions: None.

I happen to like the specialties...

Are we all still waiting on Emily?


That's more what I'm leaning towards. Most skills will be general unless the specialization is extremely relevant. The exceptions are mostly combat/active skills, so Driving, Fighting, Hacking and Shooting, which would always take specialization into account. I'm interested to see how everybody feels about that though.

I'll take a look into getting my hands on a copy of Road Rage. :) It's a 1.0 supplement from what I understand, but I guess the rules will transfer over just fine? I've heard good things about the race mechanics, it's sort of a blend of combat and chase rules.


@Ghiv: Go ahead and resolve your action, since no more enemies are acting until after you've already gone.

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