COMMLINK APPS
Code Buddy: A Code Buddy is an app designed to help you create software faster by constantly checking for errors and providing suggestions for solutions, and even writing some of the more tedious code for you based on heuristic algorithms. This app can save you a lot of time, but not always—we’ve all laughed at autocorrect fails. When making a programming test with the assistance of a Code Buddy app, add one die to your dice pool, but make it a wild die.
eParkour: Analyzes local objects and projects possible parkour moves based on the user’s skill profile. Provided you have a DNI or image link, it provides a point of Edge on any Athletics test, which must be spent on the test or is lost. This does not provide Edge on attack or defense tests, even ones that benefit from Athletics via the Dodge action.
File Vault: Any files stored away in a file vault app are protected by encryption with a rating equal to your commlink’s Firewall attribute. If a decryption attempt is detected, the app’s default response is to alert the commlink’s owner and delete the files. The default response can be altered—one of the more clever applications is to cause the files to be edited or replaced, so that the hacker downloads false information unknowingly.
SimShare: This app allows you to share your simsense feed with other users. Most commonly used to experience media together or share a private simsense environment, it also allows users to subscribe to the commlink’s simsense feed as a passenger in the Matrix. A subscribed user experiences all the same simsense as the commlink’s owner, including any dumpshock or biofeedback damage. Subscribers can choose their own interface mode to limit this danger. Using AR completely prevents any damage, and cold sim VR means you only take Stun damage from biofeedback. Only biofeedback damage is shared, not Matrix damage. The only Matrix Actions a SimShare subscriber can use are send message, switch interface mode, and jack out, but you can assist other Matrix Actions with a Teamwork test if you have the matching skill. While much safer to use than the hacker program Hitchhiker, SimShare is not able to carry passengers into Foundations or the Resonance realms. A hitchhiker shows up as an icon attached to the host persona, and cannot be targeted separately via Matrix Actions, complex forms, or sprite powers.
MeFeed: Social media is ubiquitous in the Sixth World, and it can be a useful way to gather information quickly. Even people without MeFeed accounts are referenced and tracked, so if you know where to look, you can invade anyone’s privacy. Having the MeFeed app running provides a point of Edge on any Matrix search about a person, company, pop culture topic, or current event. This Edge must be spent on the Matrix search, or it is lost. A glitch on this test introduces a piece of misinformation, while a critical glich corrupts the entire search. These are commonly accessorized with a small flying drone for capturing life on the go and taking selfies. Many shadowrunners take advantage of this to excuse the presence of a surreptitious reconnaissance device.
Mannequin: Hackers sometimes need to make it look like one of their devices is running an active persona, perhaps while they are busy using a different device or just trying to blend in somewhere. The Mannequin app requires a personal assistant app to be running in order to function. With both Mannequin and a personal assistant running, your commlink appears to any Matrix observer to be generating an active persona. Detecting that this is a false persona requires a Matrix Perception test against a threshold equal to the commlink’s device rating.
Personal Assistant: The personal assistant is one of the most common and popular commlink apps. It functions as a software servant, with the primary functions of keeping track of your schedule, monitoring your network, and automating control of connected devices. They are often programmed with artificial personalities and distinctive icons but are nowhere near being true sentient AI. These are essentially just highly sophisticated commlink automation tools. Unless equipped with additional software (see P-ICE below), it is limited to the following Matrix actions: Change Icon, Control Device (owned devices only), Edit File (owned files only), Enter/Exit Host, Format Device (self-only), Full Matrix Defense, Jack Out, Matrix Perception, Matrix Search, Reboot Device (self-only), and Send Message. Issuing your PA a simple command requires a Minor Action. More complex automations requires a bit more time and focus. Especially elaborate and complex automations may require a programming test with an interval of one minute, per the gamemaster’s discretion. Any sequence, contingency, and combination of the available Matrix Actions is possible. Your PA will only take actions as directed. It has no initiative of its own and is capable of taking a single Matrix Action each combat round on your turn. For all actions, a PA’s dice pool is its rating x 2. However, a PA must buy hits instead of rolling (one hit for every full four dice, rounded down), and no Edge may be gained or spent on its behalf. On its default setting, a PA improves your overall Matrix defense by constantly taking the Full Defense Matrix action on your behalf. This adds its rating to your dice pool to resist any hostile Matrix actions. Note: A rating 1 PA scores zero hits, rating 2–3 scores 1 hit, rating 4–5 scores 2 hits, and rating 6 scores 3 hits.
P-ICE: Personal ICE, or P-ICE, is a new line of commlink app designed to make people feel safer about using the Matrix. Not as powerful as true IC, it can still mess up a hacker’s day. A commlink can only run one at a time, and it must run along with a personal assistant app.
Nope!: This type of P-ICE causes the PA to spend its action every combat round searching for signs of hostile Matrix activity against the commlink and its connected devices. If signs of hostile activity are detected, the PA carries out a batch of actions immediately. The default response is to alert its owner and the authorities of the attack or intrusion, then turn wireless off for all connected devices, then reboot the commlink. It can instead be set to alert only certain numbers, or to adjust the settings of some devices but not others. This must be predetermined, but the advantage is that the owner doesn’t have to spend actions turning each device’s wireless mode off to protect them against hacking—it all just happens quickly in response to a detected intrusion. You can also trigger the app using a Minor Action, even if no illegal activity is detected.
Spines: The Spines program arms your PA with some extra defense against hackers. Your PA continues to use its action on Full Defense every combat round. Any time a hacker takes a Matrix action that is opposed by your commlink’s Firewall attribute, they take Matrix damage. If the Matrix Action against you succeeds, they take one Matrix damage. If it fails, they take one damage for every net hit against them (minimum one damage). This Matrix damage can only be prevented by the Spineshield cyberprogram.
Watchdog: The watchdog P-ICE causes the PA to spend its action every combat round to search for any icons that are running silent. If hidden icons are discovered, it alerts its owner and any other numbers it has been pre-programmed to contact. No further test or action is required to identify the icons, but the only information provided is the type of icon or device. If the icon is disguised or otherwise altered, the watchdog app reports the falsified information as if it were true.
