Shadowrun Skillsofts, Simsense, ARE Software, ID and Credsticks

## **Skillsofts**

A skillsoft program is a programmed/recorded skill—as in, a person’s knowledge and memory (including “muscle memory”). When used in conjunction with the proper hardware or cyberware, skillsofts allow users to know and do things they never otherwise learned. When a skill test is called for, the character may use the skillsoft rating in place of an appropriate skill. If the character already possesses the skill, use whichever rating is higher.

Since skillsofts prevent users from gaining experience on their own, they are not useful as a learning tool. They are highly favored, however, by corporations interested in cheap labor (no need to spend years of education on technicians when you can simply equip some grunt with a knowsoft).

Tests made while using a skillsoft may not be boosted with Character/Force Points. Skillsofts have a dice pool equal to its rating x 2 pips (3 pips = 1D) + the user's corresponding attribute.

 Knowsofts
 Linguasofts

* **Activesofts**: Activesofts replicate skills that require physical activity, including all Combat, Physical, Social, Technical, and Vehicle skills. Recording and programming physical skills is more difficult, so Activesofts are limited in rating. Activesofts must be accessed with a skillwire system; the rating of the activesoft is limited by the skillwire system’s rating.

* **Knowsoft**: Knowsofts replicate Knowledge skills, actively overwriting the user’s knowledge with their own data. Knowsofts must be accessed with a direct neural link (either a sim module or datajack).

* **Linguasoft**: Linguasofts replicate language skills, allowing the user to speak a foreign language as fluently as her native language. Linguasofts may also be used as real-time translation programs. Linguasofts must be accessed with a direct neural link (either a sim module or datajack).

## **Simsense**

Simsense is the pinnacle of modern entertainment. Simsense programs are created when a simrig records a person’s sensory input (all five senses) plus their emotive response. These recordings may then be played back and experienced by another user with a sim module. Simsense has become the predominant medium in the entertainment industry, with “simflicks” raking in billions of credits and a range of celebrity simsense stars capturing the public’s imaginations and desires.

Sim programs range from special-effects laden action blockusters and steamy romances to completely programmed anime specials to porn and underground crime and snuff sims. Some sims have a polypoint-of-view feature, allowing you to switch back and forth to experience the action through different performers.

 BTL Recordings
 VR Games

* **BTL Recordings**: Conventional simsense recordings include signal peak controllers to protect the spectator from physical brain damage, as well as to reduce the addiction qualities of jacked up highamplitude signals and direct stimulation of the pleasure centers of the brain. Better-than-life programs don’t have these controllers, promising the illusion of a better life to all those who’ve been chewed up and spit out by society.
Continuous exposure to BTL leads to psychological addiction and unpleasant side effects like catatonia, multiple personality disorender, amnesia, flashbacks, mania, synesthesia (sensory crossover), and, in some cases, death due to malnutrition, dehydration, or suicide. BTLs are usually programmed to burn-out or self-erase after one use, sending you back to the dealer for more.

* **Virtual Reality Gaming**: The use of simsense technology has led to a whole new generation of games, linking the player directly into a true first person shooter perspective (Ultra Mario, Dunkelzahn’s Quest XII, Sahara Soldier, Shadowrun MMORPG) or hovering over the action (SimCiv, EuroWar 2032, Final MageCraft). Most games offer both a SinglePlayer and Matrix MultiPlayer option (the latter for a monthly fee). Many of them offer not only a gaming challenge but also a perfect alternative to the dismal existence of most people’s real lives.

## **ARE Software**

Augmented reality has led to the development of AR environment (ARE) software that alters the user’s perception of reality, allowing the user to customize the “world” they live in. ARE programs are continuously connected to the user’s senses as well as the Matrix, allowing them to react to changes in milliseconds. The experience is only as good as the user’s equipment, of course, so a sim module is mandatory for the more sophisticated programs. ARE users are noticeable from the odd (and sometimes dangerous) behavior patterns that come from living in a private world that only they can see, hear, etc. Like simsense, the danger exists that ARE users are in imminent danger of losing oneself to their fictional, illusionary dreamworld—many users in fact run their AREs 24-7, bringing “escapism” to a new level.

* **Virtual Surround Music**: This software plays music in a way that mimics an outside source. When the user changes her position and facing, the way in which she perceives the music changes accordingly. Any style and arrangement is possible, from omnipresent background music to the throbbing bassline of surround-sound club-level subwoofers to the front-row of a stadium concert. If you’re particularly inventive, you can try out what your favorite song sounds like when played at 10,000 decibels from 20 kilometers away.

* **Wall Space**: Choose from a massive library of famous paintings to decorate your walls, so that you and your subscribed guests will have the pleasure of enjoying those classics as if they were really there. Photos, posters, video, and trideo can also be uploaded and projected in customizable sizes (including sounds, smells, and tactile perception like warmth and air movement). Size does not matter—you can plaster the walls of skyscrapers with the likeness of your favorite idoru with a snap of your fingers.

* **Virtual Pet**: Simulate your favorite pet without having to feed or otherwise care for it (of course, if you enjoy the experience, you can enable a special option that lets the pet react to the amount of care you spend on it). Virtual pets include limited tactile experience (you can’t grab it, but stroking is possible and you can feel its weight when carrying it on your shoulders), and you can have it with you at all times without worrying that it will run away or get run over by a car. All kinds of animals, critters, and fantastic creatures are possible in any sizes and numbers. You want a swarm of little pink flying elephants? No problem.

* **Virtual Person**: Simulate your favorite person! Whether it’s your ex-boyfriend or your favorite sim starlet, just access or upload their personal data, modify it as you see fit, and project the person into your life just like the real deal. This program only simulates one person at a time, and the realism in behavior depends on the amount of data given as well as the processing power of your commlink—best results are achieved with a growing assortment of downloadable sim-persons (including sim stars like Tracy Monroe and Neko-Katz).

* **Virtual Weather**: Don’t like the weather? Change it! Move the clouds or make them disappear, block out the sun or put it exactly where you want it. Change temperature to suit your needs (at your own risk, as the actual temperature doesn’t change, just your perception of it). Make the rain go away or have it pour down on your miserable self whenever you want it. The program even allows limited alterations of the ambient brightness—you can always turn day into night, but in order to turn night into day, special equipment like low-light vision is required.

* **Miracle Shooter™**: This multiplayer online roleplaying game from Ares Games takes place in reality. When you log in, the features of your chosen character are overlaid on your personal appearance, visible to all the other characters in the game. Shoot monsters to gain experience points plus cash to buy new guns and upgrades, or become the member of a faction in order to challenge players of other factions to battles. This game has already led to a number of freak accidents (for example, one player jumped from a footbridge right in front of a moving train); meanwhile, other software companies are rolling out their competing releases.

## **Identification**

Your average Joe Wageslave in the Sixth World doesn’t give a second thought to their identity in the system. They get up in the morning, go to work, buy the groceries, pay the bills, and go to bed in their living space. They don’t think about who knows who they are, how much their employer controls them, who those bill payments are going to, how their commlink knows what groceries they need this week, and who knows where they live. Yes, Joe Wageslave is pretty oblivious to the system that surrounds everything they do. But anyone who chooses to live off the grid (like shadowrunners) are all too aware of how the system of identity works.

 Fake SIN

* **Fake License**: For those who don’t want to go through the standard legal channels, a fake license for all kinds of restricted items or activities (hunting, concealed carry, etc.)—as appropriate to the jurisdiction—can be obtained through the black market. Each type of item/activity requires a separate license. Though a digitally-signed electronic license can be carried on a commlink, licenses are also stored in (and verified through) various databases online. Each license is assigned to a particular ID/SIN (character’s choice). Use the fake license’s rating in an Opposed Test against the verification system’s rating.

* **Fake System Identification Number (SIN)**: The SIN and its equivalents are what makes a mere metahuman being into a real person of the digital age. You get it when you are born and carry it with you until you die. It opens certain doors to you, and leaves others closed forever. Not to have it means to stand outside the system—making you into a non-entity, with restricted or non-existent civil rights. Shadowrunners only have a real SIN if they have the SINner quality. Most runners don’t have one, either because they were unfortunate enough to be born poor or because they lost it in the Crash of ’64.
Getting by without a SIN can be a pain, so runners settle for the next best thing—a fake. If it’s high quality, nobody will ever recognize the difference. If it’s low quality, you’d better not use it in high security settings. The rating of the fake SIN is used in Opposed Tests against the ratings of any verification systems trying to discern its authenticity.
Just like a real SIN, anytime you use a fake SIN for legitimate activity you will leave a datatrail in your wake. This means that runners often go through SINs like candy, discarding them when they’ve been used for traceable activity or begin to accumulate a profile that could be a detriment. Most runners will in fact have two or more fake SINs available at a time: one for legal activity like paying rent and going shopping, another for less savory activities, and possibly a third to be used only when you need to get out of town fast and undetected.

## **Credsticks**

* **Certified Credstick**: The modern version of cash or bearer bonds, certified credsticks are not registered to any specific person—the electronic funds encoded on it belongs to whomever holds it. Certified cred requires no ID or authorization to transfer or use. These items are popular among those who prefer to leave no papertrail. The maximum amount of funds that can be carried on a credstick is determined by its type (see the Certified Credstick Table, below).

* **Credit Account**: A credit account is an online banking account that can be accessed at any time via your commlink. Transactions require verification such as a passcode, a correct originating access ID, and/or biometric authorization. All transactions are encrypted (Rating 4D+). Each account must be registered to a particular SIN, unless the account is handled via an underworld banking service or anonymous “offshore” bank (each with their own risks), and has a monthly fee (included in a character’s lifestyle costs).

## **Source**

* Shadowrun 5th Edition Core Rulebook (2nd Printing) (pages 362, 442-443)
* thedemonapostle