Hi everybody!
New to The Sprawl, running a session of it this weekend.
For prep, I’ve gone through the book and have a couple of questions.
1. I’m confused about the Search for Paydata routine on page 155. “On a hit you find something hot that you can sell; on a 10+, when you hit the street to sell it and roll a 7-9, choose one fewer result)” Did part of that sentence get deleted, or does the hacker take one fewer result from Hit the Street when s/he goes to sell paydata?
2. The starter deck for Hacker characters are 6 point decks (p82). On page 136 when it discusses deck ratings it indicates that basic decks split 5 points and advanced decks split 6. When a hacker goes to upgrade, what point split and highest rating should I be offering?
3. I’m a little curious about Root access in the matrix (p155). Can a hacker enter a system and just go straight for Root? Is there a mechanical or fictional reason for that not to happen?
4. There’s a Safety Cutout program mentioned on page 137, but not listed on the Hacker sheet under programs. Was it meant to be eliminated entirely?
5. On page 83, when suggesting balancing cyberdecks, it mentions a “tactician” program, but that’s not detailed anywhere. Was it removed, or supposed to be included?
6. Since a Hacker’s programs can be destroyed during a matrix run, I’m curious about pricing for replacements, or simply buying new programs. A hardware cost of 1 is mentioned elsewhere, but I’m curious what they’d need to pay when they Hit the Streets for new software.
7. Matrix security measures in sub-systems include “Activate or deactivate ICE”, but the melt ICE program indicates that its the only way to deal with activated ICE. Can a hacker use a security measure to deactivate ICE?
8. Is it correct that every time a Hacker rolls a miss, that an Alert is triggered, and the Mission Clock advances (p158, 159)?
9. Passive trace seems really difficult. Max starting stealth is 2 (unmodified), so a system needs to reach passive trace of 3, and then it immediately has the Hacker’s physical location?
Thanks for any feedback! This is an awesome system and I’m really excited about running it for the first time!