I need help understanding Console Cowboy, the move on the hacker playbook. The trigger looks identical to the trigger for Login, the general matrix move. Am I reading that right? Do hackers essentially roll twice any time they login? More questions assuming the answer is yes… Thanks in advance!
I need help understanding Console Cowboy, the move on the hacker playbook.
I need help understanding Console Cowboy, the move on the hacker playbook.
Yes, a smart Hacker rolls twice when logging into a system, but the MC only asks for the Login roll, it’s up to the Hacker to remember to roll their CC move. The Hacker is all about gaining Hold over a system and spending that Hold to make the system do things. Console Cowboy is the first opportunity to start gaining that hold. CC has some very useful features, so it’s definitely a thing a Hacker will want to do.
The trigger for Login is “when you attempt to gain access to a system”. But the trigger for Console Cowboy is “when you connect to a secure system”. They’re similar but not identical.
Right. The second roll only happens if login results in access. It still feels like double jeopardy for the hacker. Is that intentional?
I should clarify, if the miss result wasn’t open ended, it would not seem like double jeopardy. It’s still a bit awkward to chain rolls like that. Harm moves feel awkward to me for the same reason.
It’s often a chain, as the Hacker will often be attempting to access a secure system. But in some cases, they’ll use Login to gain access to something that’s not a secure server. Or if the Hacker gain access to a secure system without haing to login, like if the team blackmailed credentials from a corp CEO or if the Hacker can get to a place to simply jack in, then only Console Cowboy will trigger. Those are uncommon cases though.
The moves also use different stats, so the Hacker has to spread points around. The hold from Console Cowboy are really powerful though, which I think is the point. Characters in The Sprawl are competent professionals who are good at what they do. And these two moves allow the Hacker to wreak havock on a system.
William Eastler
There are two moves, but you make each move and resolve its consequences and/or benefits individually so there should be an element of narrative space between them. I guess there’s an element of double jeopardy, although Login as likely to produce some sort of complication and CC is likely to produce a powerful bonus.
That narrative space is interesting. What does that look like?
The narrative space after login should either be the negative consequences of the move or a description of the hacker entering the secure space.
I usually picture the fictional consequence of CC as the virtual equivalent of stretching and flexing; getting comfortable in the VR space. In that way, it’s a character moment.
Those probably flow together pretty naturally.
(In looking up the specifics of the moves, I actually realized that I usually do this the other way around, but this is the way the triggers are written.)
Also, as well as the kinds of access tweaks that Chris Stone-Bush mentioned, if there are secure systems within the first system that require additional logins, don’t roll CC again. They’re still in the same overall server.
Although, the MC could design a system such that the opposite was true, I suppose.
I see. So you imagined CC to be a first contact move between hacker and server and login triggers upon any following attempts at cracking security boundaries?
Both usually happen once per Matrix system you try to hack. But nested systems can be a thing, and back doors that bypass logins might also be a thing. (Those backdoors could also be custom moves, like the Matrix Infrastructure move in Freewaytown in November Metric.)
Thanks Chris Stone-Bush and Hamish Cameron! I think you’ve cleared things up a lot.
Great!