SEARCHING FOR INFORMATION
Type Of Information Modifier
Not hidden +2
Poorly hidden +1
Hidden +0
Well hidden -2
Very well hidden -4
PENETRATING COMPUTER SYSTEMS
Type Of System Modifier Skill Roll Example
Unsecured +2 or better None Typical home computer
Poorly secured +1 8- Typical business computer
Secured +0 9- to 11- Low-end government, law enforce-
ment, and corporate computers
Well secured -1 to -3 12- to 14- Average government, law enforce-
ment, and corporate computers
Very well secured -4 to -6 15- to 17- High-end government, law enforce-
ment, and corporate computers Extremely well secured -7 to -9 18- or better Military computers
Other Circumstances Modifier
Character has some information or clues regarding system passwords +0 or better Character has found exploitable flaws in the same or similar software +0 or better Computer system is...
Much less advanced than what the character’s used to +6 or better
Less advanced than what the character’s used to +1 to +5
More advanced than what the character’s used to -1 to -5
Much more advanced than what the character’s used to -6 or worse
“Other Circumstances” penalties are cumulative with Type Of System penalties, but in most cases the maximum penalty the GM should impose is -10 (equivalent to an Extraordinary Skill roll).
The “computer system” modifiers are a specialized form of the Advanced And Obsolete Technology rules from page 39; the GM may substitute the standard rules instead if he prefers.
the system, and so forth. The GM should set a Base Time to perform the task based on the Time Chart. For each full 3 points by which the character makes his roll (e.g., rolling an 8 when the character has an 11- Skill Roll), reduce the time required by one step up the Time Chart. For dramatic purposes, the GM can condense the time further as he sees fit — char- acters in movies and on television sometimes seem to penetrate computer security and find just the information they need in remarkably short periods of time. In a Champions game, it’s possible that a super-intelligent hacker could find a way to pen- etrate a computer’s security in a matter of Phases during a battle!
After Penetrating Security
After a character bypasses system security and penetrates a computer system to gain access to that computer, he may have to make one or more addi- tional Computer Programming rolls to do whatever he wants to do in that system. If he’s just searching for (and perhaps stealing) information, use the “Searching For Information” modifiers in the Com- puter Programming Modifiers table. If the char- acter wants to interfere with the system in some way — take control of it, plant secret programs in it, interfere with others’ ability to use it, cause it to crash, or the like — apply the “Type Of System” modifiers to his roll, but halve them.
Cracking Access
In most cases, characters can access computer systems remotely, since the systems are hooked up to the Internet (or Cybernet) in some way. One way of increasing the security of a computer is not to connect it to any other system at all — to make it a
“standalone.” That means the character has to gain physical access to the computer before he can try to crack its security and find the data he needs... and just getting to it may be an adventure!
Eliminating Traces
A savvy computer cracker knows he has to conceal the traces of his work — where he logged in from and other information that might allow the authorities to track him down. Doing this requires a separate Computer Programming roll for use in Skill Versus Skill Contests with computer security specialists who might come after him.
Phreaking
Phreaking (an outdated term in some respects)
refers to manipulating the telephone system, often for illegal purposes such as making free long-dis- tance calls. Some scholars regard phreaking as the earliest form of computer cracking. The GM can allow characters to phreak using Computer Pro- gramming and the rules for penetrating computer security; Bugging (given its use to wiretap) and Skills like KS: Telephone System serve as Comple- mentary Skills.
Phreaking is easier on older analog telephone systems, which use pulse dialing (such as old-fash- ioned rotary-dial phones). More modern digital phone systems use DTMF (dual tone multi-fre- quency), making them much harder to phreak (-2 or worse penalties to rolls).
PROGRAMMING
A character with Computer Programming can write, modify, erase, copy, or replace programs using various computer languages (but see Soft-
created in just a few minutes, typically the Base Time for creating or making major modifications to a program is 1 Hour or longer (see the Program- ming Table). Erasing, copying, or replacing pro- grams usually takes much less time — perhaps as little as a few seconds, but usually at least 1 Turn. In a dramatic sense, the character often succeeds just in time to avoid detection or make his escape.
RETRIEVING COMPUTER RECORDS
Characters can also use Computer Program- ming to retrieve computer records and files. Ordi- narily this doesn’t even require a roll; the character just has to search for what he wants (usually with the help of searching software). However, some- times people delete files from their systems, or even damage or destroy the hard drives or other physical media on which the files are stored. Recovering that data requires more effort.
Retrieving or recovering a file that’s just gone through the basic deletion process requires a roll, usually with a bonus (+2 or more), or at least no penalty. If someone knows what they’re doing and takes significant steps to remove a file, the character typically has to engage in a Skill Versus Skill Con- test using Computer Programming to defeat their handiwork (or make his roll at a significant penalty, such as -3 or greater). This may require specialized software or equipment. However, if a character has the specialized resources he needs, keeping him from recovering a “deleted” file is very, very difficult — even the US military’s extensive protocols for fully deleting data (which involve filling the storage media with meaningless data and completely erasing it more than forty times) aren’t actually guaranteed to work. With the right equipment, a character can use Computer Programming to recover data even from broken or fragmented physical media, though the worse the condition of the physical media the harder it is to work with (impose penalties of -3 or greater). The only way to ensure that a properly-equipped character can’t recover deleted files is to literally grind the physical media into powder.
Retrieving deleted or lost files typically takes 5-20 Minutes for data that hasn’t been subjected to thorough attempts to delete it. If such attempts have been made, or the physical media is damaged, the Base Time rises to 1 Hour (or even much longer).
Other Rules
SOFTWARE
In games where characters do a lot of Com- puter Programming work, the GM may want to add flavor to the campaign and keep characters from unbalancing the game by restricting the use of the Skill based on software. In the modern day there are dozens of programming languages and major software packages, and just because a character knows how to use one doesn’t mean he can use the others with equal fluency. (In Future-era cam- paigns, this problem may still exist, or all computer programming may have been streamlined to a single uber-language that runs all software.)
In game terms, for each Character Point spent on Computer Programming a character may choose one computer programming language, major software package/product, or the like that he knows how to use. (Thus, a character who spends the standard 3 Character Points for Computer Pro- gramming knows three languages/software pack- ages.) A character can buy more languages/software packages without increasing his Computer Pro- gramming roll at the rate of ½ Character Point per language/software package. (Since the minimum cost of anything is 1 Character Point, this is only relevant if the character buys two, four, or some other even number of languages/software packages; otherwise the odd one gets rounded up to a cost of 1 Character Point.)
Example: Marcus V, a character in a Dark
Champions campaign set in the early twenty- first century, spends 5 Character Points to buy Computer Programming with +1 to the INT- Based Roll. Therefore he gets to choose 5 pro- gramming languages or software packages that he knows how to use. He chooses C++, Java, UNIX, Microsoft Windows, and the Adobe suite of desktop publishing products.
EQUIPMENT
By definition, Computer Programming requires equipment: a computer to work on or with. Lacking that, a character at best has knowl- edge he can’t apply to anything.
POWERS AND COMPUTER PROGRAMMING
Cyberkinetic powers, such as those
described in The UNTIL Superpowers Databases, are specifically designed to let a character inter- face with and manipulate computers without having to use Computer Programming. Many of them are built as Mental Powers that work against the Machine class of minds.
CONSEQUENCES OF FAILURE
With most Computer Programming tasks, a failed roll simply means the character didn’t accom- plish his task: the computer he built or repaired won’t work; the program he wrote won’t run (or won’t do what he wants it to); he can’t find the information he needs; he can’t penetrate the computer’s security. But a badly-failed roll (by 4 or more) may have dire