Modern technology in modern RPGs

[Janx]

I played a game of Vampire:tM this weekend for the first time. I made a PC with a reasonably high computer skill. Pretty much matching my own computer skill level. What occurred to me, is that there's a ton of fairly cheap tricks I can employ in the real world, that my PC can therefore also employ. My goal wasn't to play a cyber-punk or nerdty character. It got me thinking about the kinds of things I could pull off.


So this thread is about the kinds of things a reasonably technical character could do. It's not about rules, its about practical uses of technology by PCs.


The trick that came up in the game, was to get an iPhone. It's easily justifiable as a $400 item, and everybody in the real world has cellphones, many have internet plans. The iPhone is simply one of the nicer implementations.

What it's good for: between having built-in wi-fi and data-network, you always have internet access, except in the bulkiest building (I can confirm this in the real world). From there, doing research is pretty easy. General information is easily available. You can confirm a lot of simple facts (addresses, names, etc). When you get the address of a location you must do something at, goto Google maps, and check out all the exits and layout.

You can also claim the Digital Milenium Act increases the chances that public records have been scanned in for the public. Building plans, birth certificates, etc may be available. The building plans could be very handy (another good excuse for the GM to hand you a map).

Darn near any PC should be able to do this. Not just the computer saavy.


More technical tricks:
setup a conference call phone service, and have every PC call in with their blue-tooth ear pieces and cell phones. Now you've got instant walkie-talkies for "free". This lets your group stay in touch, ala stargate (the tv show). Those guys are always connected.

Install custom firmware, and modify the firmware to encrypt your data. The only way to get your data on your iPhone is to have the password. Strong encryption is cheap. Decryption takes a LONG time. There's also a bunch of other apps you would be able to run, that do interesting things.

Getting on secure wi-fi networks is less easy. Getting ahold of a laptop already on the network is the most direct and easy. Social engineering your way through the help desk of the company to get the passkey is another way.

Cracking the wi-fi encryption from your PC, not so easy. It's almost easier to brute-force passkey combinations than to try to decrypt the signal. Decrypting the signal isn't easy, because the wi-fi signal decryption is most likely handled inside the wi-fi device, not inside the computer memory (meaning your easiest place to code doesn't have the data).
A little more research on google would reveal what tools are needed. In general, this would require some kind of skill check in the RPG.


I'd advise your PCs to always use a data encyrption tool, particularly on e-mails. Its not a good thing to be doing clandestine things, with data that could be read by your enemies. This is pretty easy to acquire and setup.

The other day, I found a neural network program (with source code) for image identification. You could modify this to scan through images on file or the web to match up a picture (identifying a suspect). This would require a skill check to setup, but once done, the tool is good to go.


There's just a few of the things that are possible. It's my feeling that Modern setting RPGs seldom take into account what's really possible with readily available and free/cheap technology.

What other ideas do y'all have. I'd like to stick with practical use items that are available today, rather than "cyberpunk" innovations your character could invent, but don't exist today.

 

[Janx]

Here's some more ideas:

write an expert system for day-trading on the stock market. For my PC, I had a high wealth and finances score, so I justified it by claiming my PC had written such a tool to make my money. In the end, for any expert system or knowledge base, your PC should have some knowledge in that area. This ensures a good application that can actually solve the problem...

on the "hacking" side, here's some other useful tricks. Please note, I do not endorse attacking REAL systems, nor I am posting instructions on how to do so. I'm giving a general description of the approach used, so both player and GM sound like they know what they are talking about.

network traffic attacks are useful against a network to tie up resources, preventing data from getting in or out. This would also affect the players ability to do so. The reasons for doing so might include preventing someone else from using the network. For companies using Voice-OverIP, you could possibily interfere with that as well (anyone with VOnage or cable-modem phones can attest to that). It could be obvious to tell where the attack is coming from (which is why skilled hackers use remote controlled slave computers)

Remote controlling computers: every copy of Windows since XP has a remote desktop feature. It ties into the Help & support feature. In theory, it's off by default. Some people turn it on, so they can remote in from home. That's a vulnerability/feature.

Getting ahold of someone's computer is usually pretty handy. At work, they are more likely to keep sensitive data on it, than on a server file share. This is because it's just easier to use it that way (despite the security risk). Knowing this, should shape how your PCs approach a problem.

Social engineering is how hackers get information (that will help them do technical stuff later). Generally it means posing as an office worker or repair man and getting to areas that let you see how things are laid out, or to see people typing in passwords in cubicles (known as shoulder surfing go see the movie Hackers for an example). In RPG's that's a great encounter/skill test to play out.


Computer security is usually laid out by differing groups, within an organization. In a small organization, you can exect it to be light, as they will often have a "it's just us" mentality. If there's any passwords, it's probably few accounts, shared by many.

In a large organization, you can expect an IT department has setup servers with security to host business data. All the business workers use it. The technical labs (in a research or design firm) probably setup their own servers because IT can't get it right (or does so in a way that inhibits their work). Technical labs are run by technical people. They can setup their own server pretty easily. This in turn is their weakness, because they become a "small organization" mindset, and security is pretty lapse. What this means is, depending on the PCs goal, security may be tighter or lighter.


Back to cellphones:
all new cellphones are required by law to have GPS functionality built-in. This is for 911 purposes, and usually isn't displayed to the user. There are some phones that do expose the GPS feature (so you can get directions). There's 2 faces to this, 1) authorities could track where calls were placed. It is unlikely, barring an active search warrant and investigation that they will be looking as the call is happening. But retro-active research is very viable. 2) the GPS where-am-i feature can help PCs from getting lost. This once again leads to the "just give the players a map" mindset that I have as a GM, because it speeds up gameplay.

I'm thinking that some of what I've written could be used by GM's to shape hacking encounters. Or by players to come up with a technical approach to solve a problem.