[DigitalZombie]

Stealing decks...hmm wheredid I read about that before  .. stealing decks?? aaah yeah now I remember, it was in one of those "how do I stop my players from looting all the time?" threads. I believe most of the answers were something along the lines of " .. trace the loot and punish them!!" or " give them so much notoriety, that they might as well retire " etc.

My point is, if it turns out the GM is not ok with this sort of behaviour. Your decker might be in bigger troubles than having an outdated deck.
Talk with your GM, maybe he is willing to make a run where you were to meet your nemesis decker, you get to hate each other for a few runs until in the end you defeat him and yank his deck.

Another alternative: there is 130K difference between the renraku and sony deck. The sony has a higher device rating, 3 increased stats and is able to run an extra program. For every 30K you can upgrade 1 stat by 1, until after 150K it has the same stats as the sony.

But yeah, it does sound like you need to find a better fixer with better paying runs.

[Razhul]

RE: Not going to meets with a Decker - I'm somewhere close by in a van, just in case I'm needed personally. Also, noise is not a big issue with a char that rolls about 20 dice now (old char) for most Matrix tests and especially not if the meet is only talking to the Mr. Johnsen.

RE: Stealing decks - My GM simply ruled that you cannot use someone else's deck as it's [/wave of hands] attuned to them. I was totally fine with that.

[RHat]

RE: Not going to meets with a Decker - I'm somewhere close by in a van, just in case I'm needed personally. Also, noise is not a big issue with a char that rolls about 20 dice now (old char) for most Matrix tests and especially not if the meet is only talking to the Mr. Johnsen.

Still a problem in Matrix-isolated meeting spots, which even come up in some of the published adventures.

[BetaCAV]

Perhaps it's worthwhile to take a bottom-end deck to meets, just in case you need to do more of a Matrix Search on something you're told than your commlink can help with. If you lose it, you still have your best deck to work with. Even so, it's too expensive to considre a "throw down" -- don't wave it around like a sign that says, "geek me 4 free stuffs". Treat it similarly to how your sammy pal treats their favorite gun (if any), or your mage (hopefully) treats their power foci;

• Keep it hidden when possible
• Don't pull it out unless you're going to use it
• It works just as well under the table
• Cyberlimbs were made for these too
• If the other guy shows his, don't feel obligated to show yours.

Actually, this list applies to pretty much everything you don't want to get kicked in.

[Razhul]

RE: Not going to meets with a Decker - I'm somewhere close by in a van, just in case I'm needed personally. Also, noise is not a big issue with a char that rolls about 20 dice now (old char) for most Matrix tests and especially not if the meet is only talking to the Mr. Johnsen.

Still a problem in Matrix-isolated meeting spots, which even come up in some of the published adventures.

Yes, of course. I was not stating that this should be the "Golden rule you shall never disobey!" but as the default. As anyone who plays Shadowrun knows, you have to adapt.

[RHat]

Trouble is, you don't always know that's the meeting you're going into - besides, there's too many ways to defeat your attempts to listen in.

[Razhul]

Again, this is the normal procedure for the standard meet in my RP group where my character is participating in VR, not snooping or listening in.

If meetings with the Johnsen are much more tense and restricted and dangerous in other groups, you certainly have to adapt.