[Wilhelm R.]

As the subject says, any advise?

The Runners are soon going to find themselves neck deep in a wasteland where wireless tech is quite scarce...  So I'm looking for ways/ideas to keep the Decker from fading to the background.  Any help whatsoever is appreciated. 

[Beta]

One thought is that while there may not be much in the way of active decking to be had, matrix perception could still be quite valuable – any tech that is out there should stand out (if they can detect it through the ‘noise’ of few linkages).  And if there are others out there with some tech, if they haven’t had to worry about deckers in the past, their security may not be very good.  Could even add a moment when getting a message is key, and his ability to fight through the noise to send or receive really matters.  None of which makes major use of his abilities, but do give him moments to still shine.

More broadly, a lot of players may enjoy the occasional session where they have to rely on their secondary skills, so long as they know that they will get chances to shine at other times.  Just take a look at what he can do besides deck, and give him opportunities.  He has high hardware?  A key piece of equipment that they are given (or scavenge) is flakey and needs repair to be more reliable.  Has first aid or medicine?  Helps keep them mobile after their shortage of survival skills results in them getting sick (bad water/mosquito born disease/poison snake bite/etc.)

For that matter, look at his negative qualities.  If any of those would be particularly challenging, play it up – dealing with your negative qualities is still a play challenge and spotlight time. 

[Wilhelm R.]

Gamemaster burnout has been giving me tunnel vision, so I was hitting a major wall here.   Good thing is the intro to this wasteland series of runs will be the last of the current arc, so we'll be tagging out game systems, allowing me to really flesh out the roles and character engagement for when we dive back in.

Those ideas are absolutely phenomenal - precisely the kind of stuff I was looking for. 

Thanks!

[halflingmage]

First of all, what can he do other than deck?  If he has no secondary skills and nothing to offer in a physical fight then he has partially brought it on himself.

Second, if all he really can do is deck then throw in a few drones or a vehicle for him to brick. 

[Mirikon]

First of all, what can he do other than deck?  If he has no secondary skills and nothing to offer in a physical fight then he has partially brought it on himself.

This. Sure, a decker might not have room for much more after all the stuff they gotta sink into decking, but they ought to have SOMETHING else they can do, even if they aren't as good at it. Hell, even in comic books, you see similar. Cyclops is great at blasting things, and Wolverine can slice things up like no one's business, but they have other skills they can bring to bear when 'wreck the place' isn't the first choice.

[iduno]

He can always pop a maglock or two. Otherwise, look to see if any of the cyberware or programs have multiple uses. Number-crunching, mapping, recording, determining which way is north, detecting people or animals approaching...

[farothel]

And as decker he should have invested in a satlink, which means he could keep in touch with his regular resources, although maybe a bit slower.