Are there any games that nail "hacking" like subsystems?

#21

What Jacob said.
That’s what I did in Corporia, too. All the players dive into the VR world (Sucker Punch, the Matrix) to do their own thing along with the Hacker.

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#22

There are the 20XX rules for hacking, 200words by Aaron Shelton, which is a variation on the ArsMagica trick (that magic is language) given hacking is Arthur C. Clarke-magical.

#23

Huh… image link was broken and the post is too old to edit, so: re-posting the text of the Scout Ahead move for posterity:

SCOUT AHEAD
When you go off on your own to explore a dangerous area, say how you do it and roll+ STAT (per Defy Danger): on a 7+, you make it back safely and the GM describes what you found. Then, on a 10+, pick 2; on a 7-9, pick 1:
• You got away clean, rousing no suspicions
• You noticed something out of place or otherwise not what it seemed
• You determined who or what was in charge
• You spotted something valuable or useful
• You identified the biggest threat or danger
• You were able to sneak something out
• You made some preparation to exploit on your return

On a 6-, choose 1:
• You make it back to the others, with trouble hot on your heels
• You’re missing in action, the details to be revealed later

(sorry for the thread necromancy)

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#24

My sci-fi game Starguild: Space Opera Noir covers hacking as a ‘dramatic conflict’ which is the mechanism for abstracting dramatic things. There are ‘dramatic conflicts’ for

  • infiltration
  • interrogation
  • net running (aka hacking)
  • manhunts
  • large scale battles

There are opposed task checks, the opportunity to escalate or de-escalate the amount of peril which is at stake for both parties, and clear end results for eventual success or failure.

Short enough to not take the focus away from the rest of the table, but with enough choices to make it feel like someone is ‘doing a thing’.

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