Cryptomancer

What kind of hacking are we talking here? Are we talking MATRIX or Shadowrun?

>>50661739
Oh hey, and to not be a total faggot:

Game's website: http://cryptorpg.com/

Link to buy it on Drive Through: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/186678/Cryptomancer

Article about the game: https://boingboing.net/2016/12/12/cryptomancer-rpg-based-on-rea.html

>>50661754
Neither, it's apparently based off of real world hacking and cryptography. See the article I linked in >>50661756

So it's a Fantasy Hacker game? The fuck? Can you give me the appeal here? What makes it cool or interesting.

>>50661783
Well, it's based of of real world hacking for one, which is interesting from me as a Security Professional. Shadowrun doesn't exactly portray a very believable world when you know how computers really work.

From a setting perspective, you basically have the internet, but magic in this setting. So you get to experience all of that from a perspective of how such a massive communication network would affect your traditional fantasy world. For me the mechanics are more interesting than the setting, but it does offer up a lot of interesting things to explore.

Example: The elves are forest destroying industrialists rather than tree hugging hippies. They have limited numbers, but control vast swathes of natural resources thanks to the power of the !internet.

>>50661877
And what's the cool thing about the mechanics of it?

>>50661901
Basically the entire idea of cryptomancy. I don't have the full rulebook, so I can't get super specific, but the core idea of it all is that it functions like things do in the real world.

Secrets are hidden with real-world secret schemes. Information on the shardnet is accessed much like how you would access information on the internet. The abstract of it here http://cryptorpg.com/cryptomancy/ gives a pretty good overview of what's possible at the bottom of the page: http://cryptorpg.com/cryptomancy/

You can literally hack someone's steam powered robot, and you do it in the way an actual hacker would. It's a system that purports to be built by hackers, for hackers. What I wish to know is how it holds up as a /tg/. The non-hacky mechanics seem like they might work well, but I don't own the book so who knows.

>real world hacking

That sounds terribly unexciting.

To be honest from what I've read, this seems like just another fantasy game but with not-internet in it. Personally, I'm not exactly getting hot and bothered about it but I guess it's not a game catered to me, I'm no hacker and have no real interest in it.

I get sceptical whenever I hear a game purported as 'ultra realistic' in one way or another. I tends to just mean overly clunky and complicated.

RPGs don't need ultra-realism. They need enough detail to feel authentic combined with good enough mechanics to create interesting choices and decisions for the player characters. And often these attempts at 'realism' actively hurt player choice, because there will only ever be one optimal action and not taking it isn't an interesting decision, it's just being wrong.

>>50662117
hmm, interesting. I've not really messed with hyper-realistic systems before.

>>50662117
>I get sceptical whenever I hear a game purported as 'ultra realistic' in one way or another. I tends to just mean overly clunky and complicated.
It's not ultra-realistic in the die mechanic sense. It's die system is basically dice pool with successes.

It uses real-world concepts with regards to technology. So communication and spells can utilize symmetric and asymmetric cryptography, golems operate under the same logic as servers and routers, the shardnet is essentially just the DNS system and internet in fantasy form, and so on.

There's even expansion mechanics which adds modern prosthetic mechanics, like pacemakers controlled wirelessly by medical company shit that exists today. And the whole of society is dominated by the Risk Eaters, which are Project PRISM and the NSA in evil fantasy form.

Dwarven culture is loosely based on the tech and banking industries, elven culture is big pharma combined with European socialism, Humans are Western civilization (esp. America).

https://my.mixtape.moe/bfajep.pdf
Core book if anyone is interested

>>50665670
Also Code & Dagger Volume 1
https://my.mixtape.moe/ecxvkd.pdf

>>50665670
>>50665728

Thanks anon. It sounds like an interesting system, and it's always fun to look at new ways of doing things and how concepts are executed.

>>50663231
I think elven culture is more big pharma plus the military industrial complex. They have air superiority going on with their bug mounts.

>>50665670
>>50665728
Thanks Anon, I was curious about it.

>>50665670
thanks, god bless you

It reminds me of the story time where an anon wanted to play a 90's style hacker in Shadowrun, but after the session he learned that the rest of the players work in Israeli cybercommand-related jobs. His realization that their looks during game were ones of pity and derision instead of support was heartbreaking. Good on l /tg/ for telling him to run with the idea and have fun.

>>50669473
I thought that Shadowrun's "Internet" was completely different though, both in mechanics and in fluff due to it being pretty 80's. Any knowledge that any actual computer hacker has wouldn't really apply in the game. It says as much in the core rulebook.

That is where Cryptomancer separates itself, as it is based on real hacking and the logic behind it.

>>50665728
Is there a volume 2 I am really liking this