Lockpicking and hacking

This page is about one of the special rules.

There is a skill for lockpicking but what exactly does it do, especially in combination with the various tools to pick locks?

The types of locks:

In the Wasteland there are numerous locked doors and containers that are either locked with purely mechanical locks or secured with electronic mechanisms. Mechanical locks are of course a known thing: one inserts a key into a keyhole, that is formed in such a way that it pushes the pins inside the lock aside, so that the lock can be turned. That is the common principle of locks that is known from door locks and padlocks.

Electronic locks do not have a keyhole in the classic sense. They have a computer interface or a reader for so-called key cards. While an electronic lock still locks with bolts and/or other mechanical devices, the manner in which it is unlocked is activated by an electronic device.

The picking of these locks:

There are three types of locks. Some doors are however secured by a combination of two or three of these methods. One needs a code, that one enters at a computer terminal and a key as well as an a keycard.

But let us begin with the mechanical locks:

To open these one needs tools that are called lock picks. A lock pick set contains several small tools, that are fashioned in such a way, that one can can push the pins in the lock in the correct position. In the equipment list for “thieves’ tools” are descriptions for two sets of lock picks as well as the simple bobby pin. With bobby pins each try to bypass a mechanical lock with them, needs to first test on luck. If this roll to test on luck is failed, the bobby pin should break. If the roll critically fails, the pieces of the bobby pin should break in such a way, that it’s now impossible to pull them out of the lock and the lock remains broken and closed forever, one therefore needs a different method of getting behind this door. That means, if one wants to open a door lock with a bobby pin, one first rolls the test on luck. If that one was successful or even extraordinarily successful, then and only then the test on lockpicking is rolled. With an extraordinarily successful test on luck, the DM may give a bonus to the skill test.

The lockpicking sets are meant for this particular work. They have no need for the roll on luck, to see if they break. Locks can be of differing qualities. There are incredibly complex locks that are hardened especially well against lockpicking. There are rusted, old, locks, that might open if you sneeze hard against them. The DM will decide if the door or container is locked with an easy to open lock, or with a particularly hard to open lock, when they assign an advantage or disadvantage to lockpicking. Reasons to make a test easier for example might be the ability to lock pick it in peace and openness, because one does not have to hide, or of course the quality of the lock being an inferior one. Of course there should be a difference applied by the tools used, i.e. the bobby pin or the small lockpick set with a limited amount of tools or the larger one with all the tools.

Now to the electronic locks:

There are two types of electronic lock: those directly controlled by a computer or the slightly more primitive ones, that require a keycard.

Accordingly there are two types of tools, to get past these locks without the code/the keycard or the password.

Electronic lockpicks are devices that are complex in their use, but they fulfill a relatively easy task: they fool a lock into thinking that a proper keycard has been inserted and a possible code has been entered. They are formed in such a way that one end can be inserted into a keycard reader while the other end has various electronic bits in a case and several buttons attached. Maybe even some status lights or more complex displays, depending on the model. Since electronic lockpicks are small computers, the skill to pick such a lock is not lockpicking but computer skills. Without such an expensive device, one can forget about picking such a luck and go look for the keycard.

If the door or container is secured by a computer, that wants a username, a password and maybe some other security questions answered, one has to either answer them or slip past those hurdles. Hackers speak of so-called tunneling. In the Equipment list thieves’ tools are three different computer viruses listed, that can help with tunneling. Important here is, that the better viruses (Influenza and Ebola) also require a higher skill set by their user. This should be reflected when the DM assigns bonuses and maluses, as well as the bonus these viruses should give just by using them.