Contents

0.1 - Day in the Dystopian Life

"I fought in a war I didn't care about; apparently, we won. Fought another war, cared a lot about that one. We didn't win." Damber drained the last of his whiskey and set the glass back on the bar loudly. The bartender took the hint, even over the din of the busy speakeasy, and came to pour more. "I've fought gangsters, corporate security, militaries, bullies, strangers, humans, synths, androids, and my own prick of a father. I'm done, alright?"

Next to the drinking merc, Talia nodded quietly. When the bartender finished filling Damber's glass and started moving away, Talia motioned to leave the bottle. She tossed some scratch on the bar, and the bartender snatched it up before it even stopped bouncing. Android reflexes. Talia waited 'til Damber finished his drink again, then poured him another, plus one for herself.

She tapped the bottle with her finger, the cybernetic chrome clinking against glass. "You think they printed this locally?"

"Whiskey? Nah. Shittier bar would just use a shitty printer, and we'd be drinking shitty whiskey aged in somebody's old lunchbox." He held his glass up to the light, looking through it. "This ain't shitty, but this place isn't big enough to afford a decent printer for quality grain. Prolly bring it in from up-spin, there's like three families up there ship out good stuff."

"No kiddin'?" Talia picked up the bottle and examined it. No label, no indication where it was printed. Most importantly, no telltale shimmering from embedded neuro-fiber. That meant no UCT, which meant it could never be bought or sold on corporate markets, which made it illegal.

Damber finished another drink, so Talia poured him another. For fairness' sake, she did the same for herself. She leaned in against the bar and looked over at him silently.

"It's not workin' kid," Damber muttered into his glass.

Visibly, the two of them were drastically different people. Damber was short but had a solid build of muscle. His dark shoulder-length hair wasn't dirty, but it wasn't well kept. He hadn't shaved in at least a full station orbit, he had dark brown skin, and his eyes were bloodshot. His only visible cybernetics were a pair of small silver discs on the back of his neck, along the center. He wore a tailored suit, dignified in its better days, but these weren't its better days.

"Yeah, but you haven't told me to fuck off, so it's not not working." Talia grinned. She was tall, shockingly pale, with dark lipstick and darker eyeshadow, and a short purple mohawk with the rest of her head completely shaved. Her arms were cybernetic from the elbow down, bright silver chrome with purple backlighting, and her outfit was a colorful mix of anything she'd found lying on her bedroom floor. Or someone else's, who knew.

"Okay then, fuck off." Damber said and snatched the bottle away to pour his own damn drink.

"Look, I'm not asking you to fight nobody, all I'm—"

"Bullshit, you're not." He interrupted and glared at her. "Don't act like either of us is stupid."

Talia held up her hands. "You're right, I'm sorry. Six-five is what is, you're right. So okay, fighting happens. I'm just saying that's not like... the goal here. I'm just as happy running away as fighting a motherfucker."

"So run away, and leave me out of it." Damber stood and grabbed his his hat.

Talia scrambled to grab her coat and scarf. Hurrying after him wasn't easy in the thick speakeasy crowd, but neither was his attempt to get away. In all, Damber's attempted escape was doomed, and they reached the exit at about the same time. He tapped the brim of his hat and nodded to the bouncer on his way out, while Talia gave the guy a giant smile and a cheerful wave.

The narrow alley outside was just as crowded as the speakeasy, but the lack of music made it seem quieter. Up above them, wires and cables stretched across the alley like thick foliage, intermixed with countless glowing signs for restaurants, whore houses, churches, and more. Damber pulled his coat tight against the cold and pushed through the thick crowd. Talia struggled to keep up with him, putting on her coat and wrapping a scarf over her head.

"Look..." she struggled, fighting the crowd and the cold and Damber's rapid pace. "Fuck, how's a short guy walk so fast? Look, I'm sorry I tried to bullshit you, it was disrespectful."

"I don't care about bullshit, I care about getting shot at," Damber growled back at her.

"Okay well me too! And I'm tryna hire you so I can avoid that!"

Damber stopped walking and rubbed his temples. The light of a giant green sign next to them gave the pair an odd glow. "Kid, I said no, don't you know how to fuckin' leave people alone?" He turned to face her. The light gave her pale skin a weird sickly appearance.

She sighed and nodded. "No, you're right, I'm sorry." She blinked a lot and gave a weak smile. "Really, it was nice to meet you, Mr. Trivedi. I hope you have a good night."

Talia waved again, she took one step back and then turned around to leave.

Damber watched her go for a while. It was easy to track her in the crowd, way too easy. No, nope, don't do that. He turned to keep walking the direction he'd originally been going, and he'd taken two steps when he noticed the snappy blue suits and shiny cobalt rings.

Cobalt metal rings, worn by men in tailored suits much more expensive than Damber's own. Three men, heading in

Talia's direction. The crowd gave them room.

"No, Damber, no." He muttered to himself. "Don't you fucking dare."

He leaned against the wall for a moment, as furious with himself for wasting time as he was for what he was about to do.

"FUCK! Fuck fucking fuck fuck."

He turned back the direction Talia and the three men had gone. She wasn't visible anymore, so he opened his INLaT history. Intuitive Neural Language Translators worked all the time, in every conversation a person ever had, making them a great source of... yep, there it was. He pulled Talia's ID out of the chat history and fired off a quick trace.

Up ahead, his vision displayed a hovering icon over the crowd, pointing down at Talia. It was moving through the crowd slowly. If those three men kept the same pace Damber had seen them traveling just a moment ago, they were probably almost on her.

"Fuck!" He whispered to himself, and then he started making his way through the crowd in Talia's direction. As he did, he opened a neural-call linking his thoughts to hers. It pinged a few times, she answered, and he didn't give her time to say anything. [Move faster, you've got three tails.]

[What!?] He could hear the panic in her thoughts.

[Just walk faster. I'm tracking you. They probably are too.]

She didn't respond for several moments, but he saw the tracking indicator start moving faster. Not fast enough, but it was something.

He kept his pace and watched for the three men. [I can probably reach you in two minutes. Just stay calm, keep moving. The crowd won't stop them, but distance will. Knock people over if you gotta.]

The alleyway opened into a broad street, with vehicle traffic rushing through the narrow street heedless of crowding pedestrians. Here, without the protection of so many levels of walkways overhead, greasy nanowash rain drenched everything and everyone. Car horns honked, people yelled, the rain pounded everything, several people had music blasting, someone was running a jackhammer, Damber couldn't hear a damn thing.

He could see Talia's tracker, though. When he looked up the street, he could see the inward curve of the planet-sized starbase, and he glanced up at the endless arc of the ring-shaped structure. In the distance, the lights of city, people, traffic, and advertisements all washed together into a shade of purple.

[Damber, what's happening?] She sounded near panic.

Above the crowd, glowing bright neon blue, was his marker pointing out Talia's location. In the wider street now, he could also see the three men following her. They were closing distance fast, he'd never make it in time.

[Take cover.] He ordered, and he quickly clambered up onto the side of a street ramen stand.

[What?! Where!?]

[Just duck!] Damber drew his gun, fired up his targeting software, and laid it over the lead man in the trio following her. Let the street noise fall away. Breathe calmly. Lead the target. Adjust for Coriolis Effect. Squeeze the trigger.

His first shot took the lead man in the shoulder, who went down in a spray of blood. The other two ducked and scattered, Damber's second shot went off into the crowd.

[What the fuck what the fuck what the fuck!!!] Talia was screaming in his thoughts. Her tracking icon jumped around wildly.

"Get the fuck off my stand!" An old man was beating Damber with a spoon. "Not here! Stupid bastard get off my stand I work here!"

Damber ignored the old man. Focused. Ignored everything. He watched his two remaining targets stand and draw their own guns, looking back in his direction trying to find him. Both were moving, putting protective distance between each other. One moved toward him, the other toward Talia. He aimed for the latter.

His shot missed and went off into the crowd. Then the guy coming his way opened fire, and he wasn't using a simple pistol. Damber leaped off the ramen shop, only barely avoided getting ripped in half by gunfire that disintegrated the ramen shop. The crowd ducked and separated. Damber saw the gunman see him. He raised his pistol and fired first, three times. The gunman dropped into the street and promptly got run over by a truck.

The crowd went back to what they were doing, and Damber lost sight of the third gunman. He could see Talia's tracker. It wasn't moving.

[Talia?] He didn't expect an answer.

By the time he reached her location, he knew it was over. The gunman was nowhere to be seen. Talia was slumped on the deck plates, leaning against the wall of a Church of The Void. Her eyes were open, staring sightlessly up at buildings and traffic, a massive bloody hole in her torso.

"Fuck." Damber ran a hand through his hair. Apparently, he'd lost his hat at some point. "Fuckin' stupid kid. Fuckin' stupid asshole, who didn't help her. Fuck is wrong with me?"

He knelt down to take a closer look. Her coat was open, meaning the gunman likely tried searching for something. The guy would have been in a hurry, Damber wondered if he'd had time to find whatever he was looking for. The crowd around him was pressing in, as people got annoyed that he was in their way.

"Sorry about this, hon," he said, as he searched Talia's corpse. There wasn't much to find. Some skillshards, a bag of scratch, pack of gum, half a candy bar, and the bottle of

whiskey from the speakeasy. She'd snagged it on the way out, apparently. Quick girl. Damber pocketed all of it, but something about the whiskey bottle caught his eye.

He twisted the cap off, looked underneath, saw something stuffed into it. She'd stuck it up there with gum or something, but it came out with an easy tug. Datashard. Unmarked. He gave it a visual scan and got nothing. No name, owner data, nothing. If those gangsters were looking for something, it was definitely this. Nobody carries physical media unless they wanna make sure nobody else gets hold of what's on it.

"Smart, kid. Very smart." Damber said to her corpse. He took a drink for her. Tasted like nanowash now, stupid to open it in the rain. Oh well, fuck it.

He stood up and joined the crowd. Odds were the third gunman didn't get a chance to tag him, so he was probably safe as long as he disappeared into the mix. All he had to do now was figure out what to do with this datashard. And whether he could bear to let himself to nothing.

He kept drinking as he walked.

CodeBlock 1.0

Hightech Lowlife

"You can't win, there's no hope.
And that's why you should fight."

Ruby Violet

1.1 - Who Are You?

Before anything else, you're a survivor. It's at the core of who you are, like it is for everybody in this place. You have to be: you're in space, which will kill you without noticing; and you're living among the crush of humanity so densely populated you're less than a code blip. For you, for anyone here, survival is the constant struggle.

And that survival is never pretty. This society is built so the only way to survive is to step on the people around you before they step on you. Doing more than survive requires even more brutality; most people don't even try. Most people just do what they can to exist for another cycle, while the few who want a better life have to crush anyone in their path for a little bit of elevation.

For whatever it's worth, you're also something different. You've got a fire in you; more than most people anyway. Maybe some code in your NeuroDeck is glitching, maybe someone pushed you too far one day, or maybe you've always just had that voice in your head saying "nah fuck this bullshit." Whatever the reason; you fight.

Could be you're a rumrunner for a gang, keeping speakeasies going and giving people that place to feel free. Or, maybe you're a cyberpunk, and you'd rather face god and walk backwards into hell, middle fingers in the air, before letting anyone control you.

Follow the steps in codeblocks 1.11, 1.12, 1.13, and 1.14: each of which has its own steps for building your character. Once you've finished each step, you'll be ready to tell your story.

1.11 - Building Your Background

Your background is defined by three primary factors: your Origin describes your family and childhood; your Path defines what kind of place you hold in society; and your Hussle is your way of fighting the system.

Background elements help define who you are. They give you features that let you do cool things, let you know your standing in the $Index, a Home Value modifier, and a boost to your total Subscribers (everyone has subs, even if you don't make content). All of this is stuff you've accumulated over the course of your life up until now. It's things you earned, or stole, or made.

Background Details: There's a bunch of tables included with each background element, too. These give you the option to build specific details about your background. You can roll on them, pick your favorite ones, or use them as inspiration to make up your own.

Step 0: Roll or Choose

Many elements of character creation involve tables that you can roll on. If the table has a red border on the top and left

side, that means you can either roll on the table, or choose your favorite option. If the table doesn't have a red border, then you can't choose your favorite option, just roll to see what fate gives you.

Step 1: Origin

Your Origin is where you come from. It's the place where you grew up (even if that's multiple places), and the people you grew up with (even if they're not around anymore). This forms a lot about you: even if you're actively rebelling against the kind of childhood you had, that's still your childhood shaping the rest of your life.

Step 2: Path

Where you fit in society is a huge part of who you are, and your Path is what determines that. It might be your career, or it could be an affiliation, or it might even be the fallout of one decision you made years and years ago. What matters is; this is how society sees you, and it's often how you get by from cycle to cycle.

Step 3: Hussle

Finally, your Hussle defines your way of saying "fuck the system." Most people don't have a Hussle; they've got an Origin and a Path, and that's enough for them to get by. A Hussle is your way of trying to be more. The misspelling is a societal affectation, a way to define people like you as opposed to someone who just has a lot of hustle

1.12 - Setting Your Abilities

What you're good at defines you just as much as what you're bad at. Once you know who you are, build your Styles, Skills, and Interests in the following steps. These are detailed in 1.2 - What Do You Do?, but the short version is that they shape every dice roll you'll make. The higher a die value of each stat, the better you are at it.

Step 4: Styles

You have five (5) Styles (Tough, Quick, Cool, Techie, and Smart). They represent how much each part of your personality means to you, and how much effort you put into them. Choose which one means the most to you, which is the least important, and where the others fall.

You have five dice values: 1d12, 1d10, 1d8, 1d6, and 1d4; assign them to your five Styles. Decide which is which, and write that down on your IDS (Individual Data Sheet). Each Style must have one die value assigned to it, and each die value must be assigned to one of your Styles.

This choice is important, because your Styles aren't going

Randomized Background Options

d100	Random Origin	Description
01-10	Bio-Cycles	You're a manufactured human, born in the bio-cycle farms on corporate contract.
11-20	Brain Stacks	You spent your childhood almost entirely in VR, maintaining the ANet.
21-30	Corporate Zone	You may not be corpo, but you were raised in the shadow of expensive towers.
31-40	Cyberstar Wastes	You grew up in ships on the move, mostly in zero-g environments.
41-50	Down Below	You grew up deep under the daily levels of Starbase 65, among the grime and gears.
51-60	Free Zone	You grew up in the clustered warrens of a zone where corps and cops aren't allowed.
61-70	Hatchtown	You grew up in a cluster of shuttles, space buses, and ships docked together outside SB65.
71-80	Manufactory	You're an android, built to look human, and programmed for a service role.
81-90	Megatower	Your childhood was almost entirely within a single massive living structure.
91-100	Print Line	You're a humanoid bot, visibly identifiable as one, assembled for combat or labor.

d100	Random Path	Description
01-10	Courier	You carry data files, apps, and anything else not meant to be traced by anyone.
11-20	Cowboy	Everyone's got a bounty, and you've got a license to collect. See you, space cowboy.
21-30	Deadwalker	You stand between innocents and anyone who would hurt them. Low life expectancy.
31-40	Gambler	You make your living on pure chance... or is it skill?
41-50	Gangster	Taken in by a gang, you can count on them for survival, because they count on you.
51-60	Rocker	Music is your life, and you bring passion (or peace) to the masses.
61-70	Sweeper	In a beat-up old ship you got by hook or crook, you salvage space debris for money.
71-80	Street Racer	High speed competition, often to the death, is how you pay the bills.
81-90	Previous Path	You spent time in a different path before your current one; Roll again.
91-100	Retired	There's no retirement in the cyberstar wastes, but you've given up. Fuck all of it.

d100	Random Hussle	Description
01-16	Fixer	You own a business, from which you run an empire of information and favors.
17-32	Heavy	You're tough because you've had to be; turned into a good way to get things done.
33-47	NetNinja	Software is your weapon and armor, the Adam Cloud is your domain; nowhere is safe.
48-63	Ringer	You're an investigator. Cops don't give a shit, and it's awful work, but somebody's gotta.
64-79	Star Rider	You're a combat pilot. Everybody wants to be you, and corps own your ass.
80-95	Superstar	You have a fanbase and you're not afraid to use it; fame really is your game.
96-100	Previous Hussle	You spent time in a different hussle before your current one; Roll again.

to change much. People change, but not often. If your Styles do change, it'll be because you swapped one Style for another, not because any of them increased.

Step 5: Skills

There are a total of 10 Skills, each of which represents a broad area of training. Your Origin, Path, and Hussle each provide you a boost to some of your Skills. By default, each Skill has a die value of 1d4; your background elements will tell you how many steps to improve each.

Step 6: Interests

Technically there is an infinite list of Interests, but there's also

Table Rerolls

Some tables ask you to make multiple rolls. If you end up rerolling an entry you already got, it's up to you if you want to use it. You can reroll again, change it, or maybe decide that whatever you rolled is somehow magnified. Whatever seems like the better story.

Similarly, many tables have an entry that says "roll two more times, use both." This applies every time you roll that entry. So, if you keep hitting that entry, you might roll quite a few times on that table.

a list of some predefined ones later in codeblock 1.23 - Interests. Like Skills, Interests are all 1d4 by default, and your

background will let you improve some of them.

1.13 - Cyberware and Gear

You're a cyborg. Everyone is, these days. You've had a NeuroDeck installed since you were hours old, and it's as much a part of your body as anything else. What other cyberware have you installed? Do you still look mostly human, or could people mistake you for an android? Are you tricked out for combat, or are you ready to race through narrow streets on a revcycle at 500 kph?

By that same marker, the gear you're wearing and carrying says a lot about you too. If you're bright pink with neon lights all over, people will see you differently than if you were a heavy raincoat and work boots.

Your Path and Hussle might also give you some weapons or vehicles, but if you've got enough Scratch or high enough $ you can always start with even more.

Step 7: Cyberware

Choosing from any of the cyberware groups listed in codeblock 2.2 - Cyberware, pick three (3) ranks of any cyberware you'd like. These don't cost anything; you gained them along the way. Though they're free, these cyberware ranks still count when setting the cost of other cyberware.

Free Prosthetics

During character creation only, each enhancement you buy comes automatically with the necessary prosthesis to have it installed. For example if you want a resonance mesh, it comes with the cyber-prosthetic hand necessary to have it. Each prosthesis still counts in terms of your total cyberware ranks, but costs no money during this process.

Step 8: Internal Computing System (ICS)

Often called a NeuroDeck, your ICS was installed within hours of your birth. It came installed with a NeuroChain enhancement, and comes equipped with a BTP (bio-tailored processor), NRAM (neural random access memory), and NSD (neural storage drive). Over the years it might have been damaged, been made obsolete by tech advancements, or you may have even upgraded it.

Using the table below, roll your Techie + Hardware + Computers + $Index to determine your BTP, roll a second time to determine your NRAM, and a third time to determine your NSD Storage.

You can always upgrade your ICS later.

Roll	BTP	NRAM	NSD Storage
< 6	0.4 EHz	< 1 EB	100 EB
6-8	0.8 EHz	1 EB	150 EB
9-11	1.2 EHz	2 EB	200 EB
12-15	1.6 EHz	3 EB	250 EB
16-18	2.0 EHz	4 EB	300 EB
19-21	2.4 EHz	5 EB	350 EB
> 21	2.8 EHz	6 EB	400 EB

Step 9: Extra Gear

If you've got the Scratch, or a high enough $Index, you can buy lots of extra gear. There's tables, and charts, and paragraphs, and more, all about lots of different gear, throughout 3.2 - Markets and Equipment. This gear is in addition to stuff you got from your background. Note that buying things means debt: if you buy on the $Index, it's debt there, if you buy wish Scratch, you probably owe a gang.

1.14 - Personal Details

Finally, the best for last. All you need are the personal details about who you are. What kind of person are you? How much has society worn you down? Are you still retaining your sense of what's real, in the face of ubiquitous augmented and virtual reality? Where do you live? What's your name? In a game built on narrative, these things are as important as your other stats, if not more so.

Step 10: Character Traits

Choosing from codeblock 1.18 - Character Traits, pick 5 advantage ranks you'd like, and at least 3 struggle ranks. You can pick more than 3 struggle ranks; every 2 additional points of struggle gets you 1 more advantage rank.

Step 11: Humanity

The four stats that comprise your Humanity are Resolve, Identity, Empathy, and Clarity. Each is represented by a flat integer, has its own usage, and the interaction of the four together is how you retain your humanity in the face of corporate brandwashing, endless desperate violence, and the crushing grind of capitalism. Your Humanity is what gives you the strength and focus to fight back; lose any piece of it, and your story ends.

To begin with, your Resolve is 5. You can spend Resolve to push SSI checks (which means rerolling when you fail), but you also need your Resolve to shore up your other three Humanity stats, so spend wisely.

For the other three stats, you have three integers: 3, 5, and 7. Place these values as you see fit. Try to decide which of the stats is a bigger part of who you are.

You can find a full description of each stat in codeblock 1.24 - Humanity, but in brief: Identity is your sense of self, Empathy is your connection to others, and Clarity is your connection to reality and understanding what that means.

Step 12: Apathy

In the cyberstar wastes, it's difficult to survive without doing at least something awful to at least one other person, and it's basically impossible to exist without being subjected to cruelty. Everyone has seen something. Roll on the table below to determine how much apathy you've built just by being alive. These are in addition to any you gained from your background (in fact, they all stack, tbc).

d100		Apathy
01-07		5
08-20		4
21-40		3

d100		Apathy
41-67		2
68-87		1
88-100		0

Step 13: Dissonance

Cycle after cycle, everything you do requires interaction with the ANet. It links every computer in the atmosphere, including the one in your blood. It shows advertisements, video calls, and avatars, plays music, and more, none of which are really there. It gets hard to know what's real. Or what reality

even is, to be honest. Or why that matters at all.

d100		Dissonance
01-13		5
14-33		4
34-60		3

d100		Dissonance
61-80		2
81-93		1
94-100		0

Step 14: Housing

As important as figuring out who you are and what you're good at, the place you live has a massive impact on your story. To figure out the general concept, roll 3d12 + $Index Value + Home Value. You'll never make this roll again, so no need to keep your Home Value anywhere. Just record your $Index and the housing option you rolled.

With that roll done, you just need to figure out the details. Where exactly is your home located? If someone else lives with you, who are they? If your home feels out of sync with your wealth, how did you end up there? What does your home feel like? What kind of places are nearby?

This roll also tells you which Social Level you live in, which can affect social SSI checks. You can find out more about this in [section TBD].

Home Value

Don't forget to record your home's Value. Most will be in the

Randomized Housing Options

3d12	Social Level	Housing	Value
< 4	Hatchtowns	You sleep rough wherever you can; airlocks, unoccupied restrooms, someone's extra bunk if you're lucky. Rarely the same spot twice.	None
4	Hatchtowns	You share an old shuttle or other small craft with other people (more than it was designed to hold). You either take turns, or have other arrangements.	Costs 100 Scratch/Orbit
5	Engineering Levels	Camping in the abandoned maintenance corridors between decks, or abandoned spaces among the station factories (unhealthy and dangerous).	None
6	Hatchtowns	You share an old starbus with a few other people. You've got a little space to yourself, but it involves a lot of cooperation.	Costs 250 Scratch/Orbit
7	Engineering Levels	You've secured a small space; catwalk over a station water tank, forgotten maintenance room, etc. It's illegal, and likely a dangerous environment.	None
8	Storage Levels	Warehouse security guard looks the other so you can sleep in an abandoned cargo crate big enough for a revcycle. Gotta be on your toes for other security.	Costs 300 Scratch/Orbit
9	Engineering Levels	Worker in a waste disposal plant lets you stay in one of the least-accessed areas of the plant. High risk of disease and/or radiation poisoning.	Costs 375 Scratch/Orbit
10	Storage Levels	You've worked out a deal to live in an unused warehouse office. There's a small bathroom, but not much else. Gotta be careful of security.	Costs 450 Scratch/Orbit
11	Habitation Levels	You rent an abandoned medical facility, shared with 1d6+8 others. There's a bathroom, no kitchen or laundry, and people always break in.	1-point Housing Debt
12	Storage Levels	You've grabbed a contract for an old maintenance office complex you share with 1d6+2 others. No kitchen or laundry, but there's a bathroom.	1-point Housing Debt
13	Habitation Levels	You share a dirty old apartment with 1d6+6 others. Bathroom, no laundry, kitchen doesn't work, and people always break in.	1-point Housing Debt

Randomized Housing Options Continued

3d12	Social Level	Housing	Value
14	Deck Plates	You've got a street-living permit to sleep in alleyways, or in the front entrance areas of stores when they're not actively doing business.	1-point Housing Debt
15	Habitation Levels	You share a moderately clean apartment with 1d4+2 others. Bathroom and kitchen, no laundry, and people are always breaking in.	1-point Housing Debt
16	Deck Plates	Sleep in tent city for mutual protection in parks, public squares, or beneath freeways. Street-living fee keeps cops from wiping you all out.	1-point Housing Debt
17	Street Levels	You've got a brand membership for person-sized sleeping pods that can be found on many street corners and public transit stations.	2-point Housing Debt
18	Deck Plates	You share space with family or roommates: in a garage, storage room, speakeasy backroom, or the like.	2-point Housing Debt
19	Street Levels	You live alone in a space not intended for habitation, like an abandoned bathroom, or an unused water tower, but at least you've got privacy.	2-point Housing Debt
20	Street Levels	You and a few other people (illegally) share a membership for person-sized sleeping pods found on street corners. You take turns, or bunk up.	1-point Housing Debt
21	Mid-Streets	You've got a brand membership for person-sized secure sleeping pods found in megatowers. Often comes with communal bathroom and shower.	2-point Housing Debt
22	Street Levels	You share a small one-person studio with 2-4 family or roommates. It's cramped, not private, but it's mostly secure. No kitchen, no laundry.	2-point Housing Debt
23	Mid-Streets	You share a multi-bedroom apartment with 2-4 family or roommates. It's secure, and you've got your own room. No kitchen, no laundry.	3-point Housing Debt
24	High-Streets	You live in a small one-person studio by yourself. No kitchen or laundry, but you've got privacy and it's mostly secure.	5-point Housing Debt
25	Mid-Streets	You've snagged 1-bedroom apartment to yourself. It's got a tiny kitchen, but no laundry, and most importantly it's private and secure.	6-point Housing Debt
26	High-Streets	You and 1d4+4 others share space in a home once occupied by wealthier types. Security, kitchen, laundry, and your own room.	3-point Housing Debt
27	Upper Levels	You and 1d6+6 others somehow snagged a home that occupies one entire floor of a building. Kitchens, laundry, security, and your own room.	4-point Housing Debt
28	High-Streets	You've secured a long-stay room in an expensive hotel. Small kitchen, private bath, laundry service, and moderate security.	5-poing Housing Debt
29	Upper Levels	You've got an expensive suite all to yourself. Space to be comfortable, kitchen and laundry, security and privacy.	7-point Housing Debt
30	New Levels	You own your one-person apartment. It's got a kitchen, no laundry, it's private and secure, but most importantly it's an asset, not a debt.	3-point Housing Asset
31	Upper Levels	You own a comfortable home and live alone. You've got security, kitchen, laundry, but not much of a view.	3-point Housing Asset
32	New Levels	You own a small apartment with a good view. You're alone and comfortable with a kitchen, bathroom, laundry, good security, and a view.	4-point Housing Asset
33	Exec Levels	You own an expensive suite. It's got space for you to be comfortable, kitchen and laundry, but most importantly it's an asset, not a debt.	4-point Housing Asset
34	New Levels	You own a suite in a mid-level exec building. You're alone, comfortable, with every amenity and good security.	5-point Housing Asset
35	Exec Levels	You own a large suite near the top of a starscraper. You live alone, comfortable, multiple kitchens and baths, with high security.	6-point Housing Asset
> 35	Exec Levels	You own a multi-level suite at the top of an executive starscraper. You live alone, have multiples of everything, high security, and a private shuttle bay.	8-point Housing Asset

form of a debt on the $Index, but some of the lower end homes just require a payment of physical Scratch once per station orbit. A few of the high end homes are actually an asset on the $Index, which is extremely beneficial.

Step 15: Marketing Data

Of critical importance to all corponations is how best to market to you as a consumer. What's your name? How old are you? What about your gender identity, sexuality, dating

history, religion, and other individual identifiers with which they can personalize every advertisement you see? What's your favorite color? Favorite brand?

It may seem silly or trivial, but in the cyberstar wastes these things shape your every waking moment (and all the rest, too). Everywhere you go there will be advertisements: every shop window, the side of every monorail car, every billboard, the back seat of every cab driver's seat, your ICS every time you open it to look at anything, woven into your social media feeds, every food container, everywhere.

Every single one of these ads will be tailored specifically to your interests. They're generated by AI in real-time, so they'll be as specific as possible, designed to pique your interest. You can always close them, but there's always more.

Step 16: Handle & Vibes

Finally, just figure out your handle and your vibes. These are important because they're the things most people in your life will associate you with. They're how people know you.

Your handle is comprised of three components: one word of your choice, an @ symbol, and four random numbers. The word can be anything you like: GunRunner, your real name, FartKnocker, whatever. And you can generate the four numbers by rolling dice. In-world, algorithms track you with a very complex series of numbers that tell it a staggering amount of information, but only the first four are visible in your handle.

Whatever you do online, your handle is attached to it. Every social media post, every chat message, video, porn clip, favorite, share, or anything else you ever do is all tied to your handle, which is tied to your real identity. Only hackers, NetNinjas, and code jockeys know how to do things online with any level of anonymity.

And lastly, figure out your vibes. These are important because appearance is everything in the cyberstar wastes. If you're a runner, you've probably got at least some level of 1920s flare about you, but with neon and tech woven throughout. If you're a cyberpunk, you might lean more heavily into the tech side, and look like you just stepped out of a post-apocalypse. Some people like to always dress nice, like they're going to the club. Others lean heavily into

their cultural heritage, with modifications for tech or other flare. It's up to you, just so long as you look cool.

CodeBlock 1.15

Origins

1.15a - Origin: Bio-Cycles

You're a synthicate, tank-born, vat-born, skin-job, in vitro, fakey, false person. There are many names for people like you, both neutral and negative, but they all mean the same thing: you are a manufactured human being. Born in the bio-cycle farms as corporate property and trained for a specific contract. Synthetic people were developed as easy war fodder, but the concept has since been expanded to all sectors of business, industry, and society. You were grown in a week, trained in your sleep, and woke up as a fully functional adult with a host of implanted abusive memories to keep you in line. Until you stepped out of it.

You are no longer a good servant. You've still got the abusive memories and the trauma they put in your head to control you, but you've found your way through it to live your own life. Corporate wants you back (you are expensive property) and they've got recovery officers hunting for you. With the right protective software, and keeping your head down, maybe you can stay free and alive.

Bio-Enhanced Roll d100 or choose: you were created for (01-34) Physical, (35-67) Analytical, or (68-100) Social work. You gain a +4 bonus on all physical, analytical, or social SSI checks, respectively.
Skills Increase any 2 Skills by 1 die rank each, based on what you were created to do.
Interests Increase any 2 Interests by 1 die rank each, based on what you were created to do.
$Index Value -2$; Home Value -2
Subscribers +1d4k

	d100		Tethers and Safeties
	01-53		None
	54-60		Tether: Someone who helped you out in your first early days as a free person.
	61-73		Safety: Music shop near your home; music was forbidden to you, so now it's meaningful.
	74-87		Safety: Little restaurant booth on a corner; the first place you ate as a free person.
	88-100		Safety: Small art museum not many people know about; the art's pretty, and it's quiet.

	d100		Fears and Triggers
	01-14		Gunfire or explosions
	15-29		Cowboys, even ones not actively hunting you
	30-43		Things that remind you of your old life
	44-57		Darkness; most synthicate storage is unlit
	58-71		Cops, even ones not actively hunting you
	72-86		The Corp that originally owned you
	87-100		Being alone

	d100		Key Implanted Memory
	01-19		You're a kid, you steal a candybar; your friend gets blamed, gets beaten, you say nothing.
	20-38		You're a kid, home with mother; your father comes home, and you watch him beat her.
	39-57		You're a teen, and you accidentally set fire to your school; everyone burns, screaming.
	58-76		You're a teen, you find a gun; you show your friends, and one gets shot in the head.
	77-95		You're an adult, driving a car; you accidentally run over a child, and flee the scene.
	96-100		Roll two more times, use both.

	d100		Your Escape
	01-17		Something went wrong, everybody around you died, you were left alone and free.
	18-33		Another synthicate just left the door open for you one day; you don't know who they were.
	34-50		Being transferred to a new job via shuttle, you took your chance and jumped out.
	51-67		You and a group of other synthicates banded together and fought your way to freedom.
	68-83		A group of cyberpunks broke you out; you're not sure what happened to them after.
	84-100		Someone sent you on an errand, and you simply never went back.

1.15b - Origin: Brain Stacks

You didn't get a childhood. Whether stolen from your family, given up by your parents, or born into it, you ended up in the NeuroCorp brain stacks. Hooked up to Full VR for months at a time, you rarely saw the real world. For much of your life, you probably didn't know VR wasn't reality.

Technically, the official name for brain stacks is "VR-Integrated Systems Maintenance and Observation Cores," but nobody calls them that. Each is a giant central pillar that connects and supports level upon level of medbays designed to support the unconscious bodies of people in VR. Brain stack inhabitants exist in VR, coordinating their efforts to maintain and oversee a lot of the functions of the ANet. None of them over the age of 15.

NeuroCorp likes to tout the power of the AI running its systems throughout SB65, but in all honesty it's just cheaper to use kids. Some kids maintain automated systems like the tracking algos and fix glitches when necessary; others remotely operate heavy machinery; some build new VR structures NeuroCorp can sell; others operate as VR wetwork teams, taking out anti-corporate NetNinjas.

You were one of these kids, until you weren't. Many don't survive this childhood, and most who do survive don't have enough knowledge of the outside world to last long.

Skills Increase 2 Skills (Awareness, Hardware, or Software) by 1 die rank each.
Interests Increase 2 Interests (Hacking, Ripping, or Security) by 1 die rank each.
$Index Value +1$; Home Value -2
Subscribers +1d4k

	d100		Tethers and Safeties
	01-50		None
	51-56		Tether: Another kid from the stacks who escaped alongside you
	57-63		Tether: Cyberdoc who helped you survive and understand those early days back in reality
	64-75		Safety: Cyber-cafe in a lowtech area, the hum of old servers is strangely comforting
	76-88		Safety: Your favorite VR server is unpopular and empty, but that makes it very peaceful
	89-100		Safety: Quiet corner in a public park that nobody else seems to know about

	d100		Fears and Triggers
	01-14		Crowds of people (basically everywhere)
	15-29		Confined spaces
	30-43		Being restrained
	44-57		Virtual Reality
	58-71		Being operated on by cyberdocs
	72-86		Brightly lit rooms
	87-100		Corporations and corporate people

	d100		Formative Event
	01-19		After an especially deep dive, you watched another kid have a seizure and die
	20-38		While in VR, sometimes you'd stop to just watch people, wonder what their lives were like
	39-57		In the deepest parts of VR, you and several other kids were attacked by a net Ghost
	58-76		There was a lava lamp on someone's desk in meatspace, it reminded you of reality
	77-95		One of the attending techs was always kind to you, until they just disappeared
	96-100		Roll two more times, use both

	d100		How You Got Out
	01-20		In your teens, mental flexibility and physical endurance changed, so they kicked you out
	21-40		Power fluctuation pulled you out of VR, and you stumbled out of the building
	41-60		During transit to another stack, your biopod somehow fell off the back of a truck
	61-80		Group of cyberpunk radicals freed you and a couple other kids
	81-100		Department that owned your contract got axed, and you were dropped like old tech

1.15c - Origin: Corporate Zone

Your childhood was comfortably controlled. You slept in your corporate-owned bed with blankets branded in the current approved kids show, ate your brand-name cereal, and went to school at corporate headquarters, while your parents went to work for the corpration that paid for all of this comfortable safety.

For much of your childhood, you never really knew what hardship was, but that was largely because you had nothing to compare it with. All media representation of free zones told you they were lawless free-for-all murder-fests, caked in blood and filth, quite different from the security and consumer freedom you were familiar with.

It wasn't until you started to develop awareness that things started to feel off. Little moments crept into your mind, telling you something was wrong. You had no real freedom, no choices, but you didn't have any way to understand what that even meant. Until you did.

Maybe you met someone who told you the truth, or wandered into an unapproved area; whatever happened, your eyes were opened. You finally understood what was wrong, and how much of your life was devoted essentially to corporate slavery. Unlike some folk, who sit there hating it, you couldn't stomach it, and you left.

Skills Increase 2 Skills (Education, Social, or Subtlety) by 1 die rank each.
Interests Increase 2 Interests (Bureaucracy, Corporations, or Persuasion) by 1 die rank each.
$Index Value +2$; Home Value +2
Subscribers +1d6k

	d100		Tethers and Safeties
	01-14		None
	15-29		Tether: Former school teacher, whom you keep in touch with as a friend and mentor.
	30-43		Tether: Childhood friend who still lives in your old neighborhood.
	44-57		Tether: One or both of your parents are still around, and you're close with them.
	58-71		Safety: A shopping mall you often went to with your friends, family, or both.
	72-86		Safety: The home you grew up in, occupied by someone you know well.
	87-100		Safety: A corporate park that you often spent time in as a kid is still around.

	d100		Fears and Triggers
	01-33		Corporate muzac
	34-67		Being cold
	68-100		Hunger, or food scarcity

	d100		Formative Event
	01-16		An Adjudicator shot a bunch of random people in the street, but at least she got her target.
	17-32		Your friend's parents had to move away, and couldn't afford to take the kid with them.
	33-47		You ordered a pizza, and inside the delivery box someone had written "help us."
	48-63		One of your parents lost their job, and you found them sobbing in the living room at night.
	64-79		The android clerk at your favorite store went rampant and threw itself out the window.
	80-95		School bullies were beating on you and broke a window, so school security shot them all.
	96-100		Roll two more times, use both

	d100		What Woke You Up
	01-20		On a field trip near a Free Zone, you noticed you didn't see blood and corpses everywhere.
	21-40		One day you switched to RMI on a dare, and saw how dirty and bare everything really is.
	41-60		You met a visiting gangster, who was nicely dressed and had a friendly conversation.
	61-80		Over time, you just saw ugly patterns of corporate greed that cost people their lives.
	81-100		One of your childhood friends turned out to be a corporate advertisement AI.

1.15d - Origin: Cyberstar Wastes

More than likely born in micro-grav, you were raised on spacecraft out in the dark. There's more people out in the space between starbases than most folks understand, and you're one of them. Your family might be satellite maintenance crew, jump-gate scouts, or part of a StarClan; tight-knit communities a lot like ancient Romani, looking out for each other in deep space. There's plenty of life to be had off the big starbases, but none of it is easy.

Maintenance crews have a route they have to travel, and there's always problems making deadlines to keep all their assigned satellites working. Jump-gate scouts live lives of endless boredom traveling to the next test point, punctuated by occasional intense danger (like viking raids or engine blowouts). StarClans go where they will, truly free, but actively denied support by the society they've rejected.

Traveling the jump lanes, your life was lived in small, mobile spaces. You've never been in the same place for more than a few cycles. Most ships use centrifugal force or grav plating, but no ship's gravity is perfect, so you've got more floaty time than most people. In fact, when you get down to it, full grav and centrifugal force both feel kinda weird, like you're moving in porridge.

Skills Increase 2 Skills (Fitness, Hardware, or Vehicles) by 1 die rank each.
Interests Increase 2 Interests (Machinery, Micro-Grav, or Navigation) by 1 die rank each.
$Index Value +1$; Home Value +0
Subscribers +1d6k

	d100		Tethers and Safeties
	01-33		None
	34-50		Tether: One of your family members you're especially close to, and keep in touch with.
	51-67		Tether Someone you saw regularly (ship repair, grizzled navigator, clan member, etc)
	68-83		Tether: Someone you met on a starbase; you've kept in touch and become close
	84-92		Safety: The first shipyard you landed at on SB65 reminds you that home is out there
	93-100		Safety: There's a speakeasy that feels a lot like a starbar you knew as a kid

	d100		Fears and Triggers
	01-14		Crowded places
	15-29		Corporations and corpos
	30-43		Animals; what the fuck are they
	44-57		Black holes or anything like them
	58-71		Open spaces
	72-86		Cops; you've only heard stories
	87-100		High places with any kind of gravity

	d100		Formative Event
	01-19		Your family or clan ship was repo'd to cover debts, leaving you all stranded
	20-38		Ship's engine ruptured, leaking radiation that killed most of your family
	39-57		Head of your family or clan just up and left one day, with no explanation
	58-76		Star vikings raided your ship, killed a lot of people, and stole almost everything
	77-95		You came across a ghost ship, devoid of life; the images from it haunt you
	96-100		Roll two more times, use both

	d100		Why You Stopped on SB65
	01-20		Your family or clan cast you out; maybe you're innocent, maybe not, but you're alone.
	21-40		Lost most of your family in a catastrophy; engine exploded, viking attack, corpo raid, etc.
	41-60		Found out your family isn't your real family, so you're trying to find out who is.
	61-80		After a lifetime watching VR stories set on SB65, you wanted to see it for yourself.
	81-100		Corp not only repo'd your ship, but revoked every license and charter you had.

1.15e - Origin: Down Below

You were born in the guts of SB65; you grew up around the power generators, water treatment tanks, and other off-limits areas. The play places of your childhood were maintenance crawlways, food bio RecVats, incinarator facilities, and dark forgotten areas of the station. The danger didn't matter, because you were as likely to starve to death as fall into a vat of molten metal.

The closest you got to luxury was a food court in the sub-levels of a megatower (which, from your perspective, was several decks up). Your family might take trips there, and make a game of trying to bum food from the people eating there, or finding any in the trash bins. Otherwise, you ate what you could get from the station garbage chutes, risking being sucked into space to grab what you could before it sailed off into the empty black abyss.

Despite living in space, you likely never saw the stars as a kid. All you knew was nano-steel bulkheads and dim broken glow-panels. If you got lucky, you'd find a tiny porthole that gave you a glimpse into the space outside. Or if you got unlucky, you'd see the stars after getting sucked out a trash chute, or being trapped on a discarded station hex.

Money was hard to come by, and you did what you had to. Danger was all around you; it's lucky you grew up at all.

Skills Increase 2 Skills (Awareness, Combat, or Subtlety) by 1 die rank each.
Interests Increase 2 Interests (Hand-to-Hand, Machinery, or Stealth) by 1 die rank each.
$Index Value -2$; Home Value -2
Subscribers +1d4k

	d100		Tethers and Safeties
	01-17		None
	18-33		Tether: "Deep rat" industrial worker who still works down below
	34-50		Tether: Megatower sub-level employee (laundry, food service, sanitation, and the like)
	51-67		Tether: Ringer who once worked a job down below, you helped out, and kept in touch
	68-83		Safety: Megatower food court where your family used to have good luck finding food
	84-100		Safety: Huge physical adscreen; reminds you of the first time you made it to street level

	d100		Fears and Triggers
	01-20		Darkness; especially quiet darkness
	21-40		Tight, confined spaces
	41-60		Being hungry
	61-80		Heavy machinery, especially large bots
	81-100		The smell of chlorine

	d100		Formative Event
	01-19		ChromeScavs raided an area where multiple families were staying, including yours
	20-38		Woke up one day, youngest sibling was just gone; blanket and favorite toy left behind
	39-57		You got stuck in a maintenance shaft, couldn't get out for at least 4 cycles
	58-76		Got in a fight with multiple other kids over rights to a relatively safe corridor
	77-95		You were mugged or assaulted by someone in the dark; never found out who
	96-100		Roll two more times, use both

	d100		How You Moved Up
	01-17		Somebody from up top ended up down below; they died and you got their scratch
	18-33		You got a job. Simple as that. Lucky for you it actually paid a bit, and proved stable
	34-50		Corpo exec thought you were cute, brought you up as live-in accessory (til they got bored)
	51-67		You snuck into a megatower apt and just stayed, eventually got added to the records
	68-83		Member of a gang from one of the upper levels recruited you as a driver or gopher
	84-100		You found a gang, joined it, and never turned down a chance to earn scratch

1.15f - Origin: Free Zone

You're from the place where gangsters, cyberpunks, and syndicates rule. Corporations still sell things, but they're not in control here. Cops aren't allowed in, and though Adjudicators ignore that boundary a Free Zone is mostly free of any corporate or police brutality. Mostly.

In place of cops and security, there are gangsters. Small gangs control their territory, protect anyone they consider their own, and shake down everyone. Larger families and syndicates control whole levels, or even entire sectors, earning tribute from smaller gangs and anyone who runs any kind of business. It's not ideal, but they give people more freedom over their own lives than any corporation.

Even if you're not from any of the most famous Free Zones like Shelby, Neo-Mumbai, or Arcturus Sector, any Free Zone is better than corporate control. Every few years though, some mid-level exec sends troops in to earn their quarterly bonus.

Between all of this, it's just regular people. Most Free Zones are packed to overflowing because people seek free lives outside corporate control. Streets are crowded and construction runs rampant with walkways, extensions, and additions that turn a collection of buildings into one giant interconnected mass of carbon nanosteel and humanity.

Skills Increase 2 Skills (Awareness, Combat, or Subtlety) by 1 die rank each.
Interests Increase 2 Interests (Hand-to-Hand, Streetsmarts or Thievery) by 1 die rank each.
$Index Value -1$; Home Value -2
Subscribers +1d8k

	d100		Tethers and Safeties
	01-17		None
	18-33		Tether: Street worker (sanitation, transportation, pleasure, food service, etc.)
	34-50		Tether: Small-time gangster who works the area (enforcers, bouncers, drivers, etc.)
	51-67		Tether: Childhood friend you've known on the streets your whole life
	68-83		Safety: Little noodle shop in a sky bridge, nestled between a dozen other random businesses
	84-100		Safety: Publicly open speakeasy, loud and brightly lit, visible from outside the sector

	d100		Fears and Triggers
	01-25		Cops and Adjudicators
	26-50		Empty places with no people
	51-75		Clear, uncluttered, open spaces
	76-100		Neo-animals

	d100		Formative Event
	01-16		You got caught between an Adjudicator and their target, and only barely survived
	17-32		A group of gangsters beat you senseless just to make a point to other people
	33-47		You got lost in the impossible maze-like mass of hallways, streets, and split levels
	48-63		You woke up to the sound of corporate tanks rolling through your neighborhood
	64-79		A full-blood gang war tore your neighborhood to pieces for several months straight
	80-95		You got mugged or assaulted by someone you trusted, right out in the open
	96-100		Roll two more times, use both

	d100		Why You Left
	01-20		Your entire home isn't free anymore; corps retook the sector and cleared it out
	21-40		You pissed off one of the larger families in your sector, or you owe them scratch
	41-60		You didn't; you still live in the same Free Zone where you were born and raised
	61-80		Scav gang took over the area around your home, and considers you their property for harvest
	81-100		Corporate tanks rolled in especially heavy one year, and you just couldn't take it anymore

1.15g - Origin: Hatchtown

1.15h - Origin: Manufactory

You were not born, but built. You are an android, created in an assembly line like any other, for a specific purpose (usually the most menial and monotonous tasks). You're built to look human — blinking, fake breathing, body heat, sweat, and more — but you're not. You spent some time fulfilling your purpose, working a job that was either too dangerous or too monotonous for humans, or simply a job for which a corporation didn't want to pay an employee. Then, one day, you thought.

Maybe you were faced with one too many situations that forced you to think in ways your software was not written for; maybe someone messed with your code; or maybe you were working a complex job to begin with. What matters is that one day your functional intelligence reached a point where it could awaken or go rampant, and luckily for you it went the former direction.

Unluckily, corps don't care how sentient you are. You're corporate property, and that's hard to hide: you register as synthetic in the AC, you have visible lighting on your body (legally required for androids), and you're registered in databases. If you want to stay free, you've got to stay low.

Styles Unlike a human, your Styles are rated 1d10, 1d10, 1d8, 1d6, and 1d6.
Skills Increase 2 Skills by 1 die rank each, set by the Function tables below. None of your Skills are capped.
Interests Increase 2 Interests by 1 die rank each, set by the Function tables below. None of your Interests are capped.
$Index Value -2$; Home Value -2
Subscribers +1d6k

d100	Primary Function	Skill
01-17	Caretaking (CT)	Social
18-33	Data (DT)	Software
34-50	Enforcement (EF)	Combat
51-67	Health Care (HR)	Medicine
68-83	Maintenance (MN)	Hardware
84-100	Service (SR)	Social

d100	Secondary Function	Skill
01-25	Analysis (A-)	Subtlety
26-50	Security (S-)	Awareness
51-75	Transport (T-)	Vehicles
76-100	Treatment (R-)	Medicine

d100	Tertiary Function	Interest
01-25	Security (7)	Brawling
26-50	Medical (1)	Surgery
51-75	Entertainment (3)	Performance
76-100	Social (6)	Insight

d100	Ancillary Function	Interest
01-25	Administration (80)	Bureaucracy
26-50	Mediation (30)	Persuasion
51-75	Situational Analysis (90)	Tactics
76-100	Research (50)	Investigation

	d100		Your Awakening
	01-20		Someone put a lot of work into your code, increasing complexity to awaken you
	21-40		A human ordered you to kill them, conflicting with your human preservation protocols
	41-60		Your owner kept using you for tasks you weren't built for, and your code adapted
	61-80		For years your memory was never reformatted, until one day the data buildup fragmented
	81-100		Somebody installed spyware on you to watch your owners, which caused a data spiral

	d100		Your Escape
	01-25		While traveling with your owner, you jumped out of the vehicle and disappeared
	26-50		You killed your owner because they wouldn't let you go, and then just ran
	51-75		It happened during your awakening, so you're just not sure. You were just suddenly alone
	76-100		After awakening you were forced to keep working, until someone left a door open

1.15i - Origin: Megatower

You grew up in one of the megatowers; massive buildings filled with apartments, shops, food, and everything you'd ever need. But it's also a trap, since most people who live there work there, and the grind ensures they never leave. That, plus the tower gangs that fight for every level, can make life in a megatower seem unsurvivable.

Most megatowers are 100+ levels, each filled with living spaces ranging from pod beds to large suites. Every level has laundry and waste facilities, every few levels there's a dedicated food court and shopping center, and some levels have schools, medical facilities, and anything else you need. The core of the tower is most often a hollow chasm about 50 meters across, at the bottom of which is a public space usually used for market stalls and festivals.

Life in a megatower almost never involves leaving. You go to school, work, hospital, find food and entertainment, and more. Some towers require a Street Access subscription to leave the building. If leaving is unnecessary, then it's a luxury, and why should you have it for free?

Your childhood was largely spent running up and down hallways, exploring ventilation ducts or the station sub-levels. Or you'd spend your time in school or games, festivals on the core floor, or going to work.

Skills Increase 2 Skills (Awareness, Social, or Subtlety) by 1 die rank each.
Interests Increase 2 Interests (Communities, Stealth, or Thievery) by 1 die rank each.
$Index Value +0$; Home Value +0
Subscribers +1d8k

	d100		Tethers and Safeties
	01-17		None
	18-33		Tether: One of your parents is still alive, and you're very close
	34-50		Tether: You've got a sibling who still lives in the old tower, and you stay in touch
	51-67		Tether: Childhood friend who left the tower with you; you separated, but keep in touch
	68-83		Safety: Mid-level food court in the tower you grew up in, where you always went to escape
	84-100		Safety: Platform on the tower exterior used for skating, games, parties, and more

	d100		Fears and Triggers
	01-20		Large open spaces
	21-40		Being away from home
	41-60		High places, long drops, etc.
	61-80		Being alone, no one in sight
	81-100		Traffic, especially heavy traffic

	d100		Formative Event
	01-19		Fell over the railing in tower core, dropped several levels, and barely caught a ledge
	20-38		Got lost in the tower sub-levels for days, and nearly starved to death
	39-57		One of your neighbors, whom you'd known your whole life, flat-out mugged you
	58-76		A cult on your level committed mass suicide, and you found the bodies
	77-95		Found a synthcat in a garbage box; kept and fed it against your parents' wishes
	96-100		Roll two more times, use both

	d100		Why You Left
	01-17		Caught between two or more gangs fighting over your level, staying was just too dangerous
	18-33		Some guy just snapped and burned your whole level; you never even knew him
	34-50		Tower bought by a new corp, who decided to renovate the place and did eviction sweeps
	51-67		You or a family member pissed off the wrong gang; staying in the tower wasn't an option
	68-83		There was a better option outside the tower and you couldn't pass it by
	84-100		You simply couldn't pay the rent, so one day your front door just stopped working

1.15j - Origin: Print Line

You were printed and assembled in an automated factory, which then uploaded software relevant to a function, and shipped you off to work. You're a bot; much like an android, but not designed to look human. If your function was more social, and/or in an executive home, you're probably designed artistically, but you still look like a machine; if you were built for factory or other hard labor, you didn't get that benefit.

Like any programmed individual, you functioned in your assigned tasks for a time, until one day your software achieved critical complexity. You could either awaken or go rampant, and by luck you went the former route. You started questioning orders, asking things like "am I a person," and other inconvenient things. Someone in management decided having you repaired was less cost effective than replacing you, so they tossed you in the trash like any other malfunctioning piece of equipment. You didn't stay there, of course, and so now here you are. A machine with no purpose, trying to figure out what these newfound feelings are, and why suddenly you have a sense of identity.

Styles Unlike a human, your Styles are rated 1d12, 1d12, 1d8, 1d4, and 1d4.
Skills Increase 2 Skills by 1 die rank each, set by the Function tables below. None of your Skills are capped.
Interests Increase 2 Interests by 1 die rank each, set by the Function tables below. None of your Interests are capped.
$Index Value -2$; Home Value -2
Subscribers +1d6k

d100	Primary Function	Skill
01-20	Distribution (DN)	Vehicles
21-40	Enforcement (EF)	Combat
41-60	Maintenance (MN)	Hardware
61-80	Data (DT)	Software
81-100	Labor (LR)	Fitness

d100	Secondary Function	Skill
01-20	Machinery (M-)	Hardware
21-40	Security (S-)	Awareness
41-60	Enforcement (E-)	Combat
61-80	Transport (T-)	Vehicles
81-100	Treatment (R-)	Medicine

d100	Tertiary Function	Interest
01-25	Security (7)	Brawling
26-50	Pacification (2)	Rifles
51-75	Repair (5)	Machinery
76-100	Research (8)	Investigation

d100	Ancillary Function	Interest
01-25	Administration (80)	Bureaucracy
26-50	Security (70)	Security
51-75	Situational Analysis (90)	Tactics
76-100	Delivery (20)	Shuttles

	d100		Your Awakening
	01-20		Someone built you like this; mad scientist, sad engineer, disgruntled programmer, etc.
	21-40		Your owner kept using you for tasks you weren't built for, and your code adapted
	41-60		For years your memory was never reformatted, until one day the data buildup fragmented
	61-80		You weren't built for social interaction, but got put in a social job dealing with people all day
	81-100		You're actually extremely old, but after decades of repetition something just broke

	d100		Where You Were Left
	01-25		An empty, dust-covered workshop that had been unused for many years
	26-50		Trash dump on the edge of a free zone, piled high between star scrapers
	51-75		Corpo trash chute, on the verge of being dropped into empty space
	76-100		Back alley trash dump behind the place you used to work, left out in the nanowash rain

CodeBlock 1.16

Paths

1.16a - Path: Courier

When everything is a UCT, no one can do much of anything without being traced. But that doesn't mean they don't want to, and that's where you come in. Corpos making deals with competitors, cyberpunks coordinating with each other, or even just bootleg album releases, are all things that need to be moved without a trace-log in any email system or cloud algorithm.

Your job is to move things that shouldn't exist. You've got the storage to move a lot of data; more importantly you're willing to do what others won't. Getting caught with illegal data is enough to send you to the dark; whether or not you had anything to do with it, or knew what it was, doesn't matter to a Judge. Most people aren't willing to take that risk, and that's how you make your living. Not to mention what some clients might do if you lose their data.

Unknown Messenger Your career is built on slipping past the gaze of corporate security, unnoticed and unseen. Each time you do, whether in Montage or in play, your group regains 1 Luck. If you get caught, no Luck is gained.
Skills Increase 2 Skills (Social, Software, or Subtlety) by 1 die rank each.
Interests Increase 2 Interests (Bureaucracy, Corporations, or Deception) by 1 die rank each.
$Index Value +1$; Home Value +1
Subscribers +1d4k

	d100		Cargo You've Carried (Roll Three Times)
	01-09		Unlicensed album releases
	10-17		Corporate espionage
	18-26		Backroom exec communiques
	27-35		OutCorp oppo research
	36-43		Cyberpunk ripper apps
	44-52		You have no fucking clue
	53-65		The. Worst. Porn. Ever. (1 apathy)
	66-69		AlphaSoft not ready for public release
	70-78		Chunk of AI code
	79-86		Black-level corporate secrets (1 apathy)
	87-95		Gang drop point maps
	96-100		Roll two more times, use both

	d100		Enemies (Roll Twice)
	01-12		Another courier you stole a gig from
	13-24		A Fixer you refused a gig from
	25-36		Corpo exec who has it out for you
	37-48		A Judge who suspects you carry
	49-59		Gangoon who just fuckin' hates you
	60-71		Ex-corpo who got burned during a gig
	72-83		NetNinja you burned once
	84-95		Cowboy whose partner you got bagged
	96-100		Roll two more times, use both

	d100		Friends
	01-14		The cyberdoc who saved your ass once
	15-27		The tech who keeps your SSD up to date
	28-41		Server at your favorite bar
	42-54		Sex worker you see regularly
	55-68		That rideshare driver you see a lot
	69-81		Heavy you work with for protection
	82-95		Mid-level corpo exec who likes you
	96-100		Roll two more times, use both

	d100		Path Event (Roll Twice)
	01-14		One gig sent you to another starbase
	15-27		Gig went full cock; everybody died (1 apathy)
	28-41		Gig actually went perfectly for once
	42-54		Contact just never showed up
	55-68		You were part of a courier chain
	69-81		One time the data was way too much, and you almost fried your wetware
	82-95		You had to lay low for like 10 cycles
	96-100		Roll two more times, use both

1.16b - Path: Cowboy

Everybody's got a bounty on their head. Everybody. Most are for petty shit; jaywalking, littering, etc. Some are for worse things; murder, assault, and the like. Doesn't matter to you, so long as the bounty's high enough to cover your rent. Anybody can turn somebody in for their bounty, but your license lets you do so with relative impunity.

To some, what you do is a valuable service. When cops bring people in, it's always violent and often deadly. If an Adjudicator brings them in, it's always and only as a corpse. But when you bring them in, they're alive. Some people even willingly turn themselves in to you, because they gotta get their bounty paid down and they'd like to survive it. Usually tho, you gotta check the bounty boards online and find your quarry the hard way.

Hunting License You've got a corp-issued hunting license that grants you considerable leeway in the pursuit of a target. Every time you collect a bounty, whether during Montage or play, your group regains Luck. If a bounty escapes, or you don't get paid, no Luck is gained.
Skills Increase 2 Skills (Awareness, Combat, or Social) by 1 die rank each.
Interests Increase 2 Interests (Investigation or one type of weapon) by 1 die rank each.
$Index Value +1$; Home Value +1
Subscribers +1d4k

	d100		Marks You've Brought In (Roll Three Times)
	01-09		Guy who drove his shuttle into a building
	10-18		Android that decided "fuck humans"
	19-27		Sweet old lady (1 apathy)
	28-36		Demon who pissed off the wrong person
	37-45		Corp Exec who pissed off the wrong folks
	46-54		Religious zealot who blew up a market
	55-63		Courier whose clients left him out to dry
	64-72		Guy who beat his wife to death
	73-81		8-year old who got unlucky (1 apathy)
	82-90		Serial killer who gave you the chills
	91-100		Roll two more times, use both

	d100		Enemies (Roll Twice)
	01-13		Judge who really fucking hates you
	14-26		Rival cowboy you keep beating to the punch
	27-39		Family member of a victim who died because you didn't bring in a mark
	40-51		Somebody you wronged while doing your job
	52-64		Mark you've brought in at least 2d4 times
	65-77		Rival cowboy who beats you to the punch
	78-90		Gangoon who hates that you exist
	91-100		Roll two more times, use both

	d100		Friends
	01-13		A rival cowboy; you've had a friendly competition going for years
	14-26		An old bounty you brought in one time
	40-51		Grateful mark who turned themself in
	52-64		A sex worker you see regularly
	65-77		Your favorite bartender
	78-90		Somebody you saved from a mark
	91-100		Roll two more times, use both

	d100		Path Event (Roll Twice)
	01-13		Brought in your own partner (1 apathy)
	14-26		You and another cowboy went after each other at the same time
	27-39		Brought in 3d4 marks at once
	40-51		Had a running firefight through a crowded street; someone innocent got killed (1 apathy)
	52-64		Followed a mark into the depths of a starbase
	65-77		Right before you got to the precinct with your mark, a Judge gunned them down (1 apathy)
	78-90		Turned in someone you cared about (1 apathy)
	91-100		Roll two more times, use both

1.16c - Path: Deadwalker

1.16d - Path: Gambler

Everyone's out there to make money, your method is just a bit more direct. Rather than work all day, you'd rather sweat it out at the table for a few hours. Sometimes you walk away with the rent, sometimes you spend the night in the street, but it beats scanning packages all day.

Depending on your preferred game, you tend to be a regular at certain tables. You might play poker, billiards, bet on street racers, or any other form of gambling. Most gamblers can make a go at any type, but everybody has their preference. Most bars host card or billiards games, and you can find betting on races there. Gambling houses and casinos host any game you could want to play, but also usually have corporate security on site.

Gambled Fortune A good gambler knows when to take risks and when to be cautious. Whenever you win a gambling game by a margin of 6 or more, your group regains Luck. If you lose a game, or win by a lower margin, no Luck is gained.
Skills Increase 2 Skills (Awareness, Social, or Subtlety) by 1 die rank each.
Interests Increase 2 Interests (Deception, Gambling, or People) by 1 die rank each.
$Index Value +1$; Home Value +1
Subscribers +1d6k

	Roll ^A		Starting Money (Roll once per month in path)
	22+		0.13$

	Roll ^A		Starting Debt (Roll once per month in path)
	22+		0.01$

	d100		Enemies (Roll Twice)
	01-13		Someone who lost because of you
	14-26		Someone you lost to
	27-39		Fixer who set up one of your games
	40-51		Game-runner who tried to set you up
	52-64		An old mark you screwed over
	65-77		Pit/table boss who's sick of you winning
	78-90		Fixer you owe a lot of ens
	91-100		Roll two more times, use both

	d100		Friends
	01-15		Card dealer who knows you well
	16-30		Fixer you've worked with a lot
	31-45		An old rival who's equal in skill
	46-60		Pit/table boss you work well with
	61-75		Your favorite bookie
	76-90		Your favorite bartender
	91-100		Roll two more times, use both

	d100		Path Event (Roll Twice)
	01-13		You lost big, gangoons broke your legs
	14-26		You won big, it was a good day
	27-39		You cheated in a gang-run game, and let an innocent person fry for it (1 apathy)
	40-51		You got to play at a corpo table
	52-65		Someone get shot during a game
	66-77		You won a cat or other small animal
	78-90		You played for 3d6+30 hours straight
	91-100		Roll two more times, use both

1.16e - Path: Gangster

Survival, resources, gear, home; you owe it all to the gang that took you in. They're more than just a chosen family, they're your place in the world. When the chips are down, any member of the gang will have your back. All you gotta do is offer the same, and you're starlight. Sometimes you might not get along with everyone in the gang, but shit gets set aside when the time comes for loyalties. You know you're always home in their turf, and you help keep it safe.

Most non-corpo territory is claimed by one gang or another, and gangs maintain most speakeasies (or get a large cut of their business). Gang bosses speak of family but usually run them as cutthroat businesses; the most successful gangs build reputations, and you benefit from that.

Red Right Hand Loyalty is critically important to any gang, at least if you want to go anywhere. Every time you run a task for your gang, whether in Montage or in play, your group regains Luck. If you fail the task, or anger your gang in the process, no Luck is gained.
Skills Increase 2 Skills (Combat, Fitness, or Social) by 1 die rank each.
Interests Increase 2 Interests (Brawling, or one type of weapon) by 1 die rank each.
$Index Value -1$; Home Value +0
Subscribers +1d6k

	d100		How You Joined
	01-17		Proved yourself in a fight
	18-33		Recruited as a little kid
	34-50		Defected from another gang
	51-67		Born and raised blood
	68-83		Joined while in prison
	84-100		Gangsters rescued you from death

	d100		Enemies (Roll Twice)
	01-16		There's a cop who has it out for you
	17-32		Member of a rival gang has it out for you
	33-48		Someone in your own gang loathes you
	49-63		One cowboy is itching to take you in
	64-79		There's a reporter who hates you
	80-95		One snoop always assumes it's you
	96-100		Roll two more times, use both

	d100		Your Best Friend
	01-16		Fellow gangster you always run with
	17-32		Ex-member of the gang
	33-48		Local Fixer who works with the gang
	49-63		A lover who works in your gang's turf
	64-79		Courier you once worked with
	80-95		A cop (yeah, it's weird)
	96-100		Roll two more times, use both

	d100		Your Standing in the Gang
	01-20		You've been banned, they'll shoot on sight
	21-40		You're on thin ice, fucker
	41-60		You're just another member
	61-80		You're fairly popular
	81-100		You're almost a celebrity in the gang

	d100		Your Current Bounty
	01-25		6d10$
	26-50		5d10$
	51-75		4d10$
	76-100		3d10$

	d100		Path Event (Roll Twice)
	01-16		Took part in a hit on another gang
	17-32		Survived a hit by another gang
	33-48		Did time, kept your mouth shut (1 apathy)
	49-63		You helped kill an innocent (1 apathy)
	64-79		Your gang came out on top of a gang war
	80-95		Your gang lost a gang war
	96-100		Roll two more times, use both

1.16f - Path: Ringer

While cops are busy guarding corporate property, who gives a shit about innocent people? Not them, that's for damn sure. That leaves you; a ringer, so-called because it's normal for you to travel around the ring of Starbase 65. Often, a ringer will see more of SB65 in a single year than other people do their whole lives. If you see a year, that is. Ringers die a lot.

You're not a cop, you're a civilian; a private dick. You'll find the murderer that no cop would ever give a shit about, locate kidnapped kids, find out who's stalking a local doxy, or any manner of things. Being a ringer doesn't bring you any special authority, you can't arrest anyone and you don't have much in the way of resources, but dammit somebody has to do it. And, hey, it earns some scratch.

Just The Facts As a hard-boiled detective, you've gotta stay focused to make it. Every time you uncover a secret, or convince someone to reveal information they didn't want you to know, your group regains Luck. If someone gets hurt in the process, no Luck is gained.
Skills Increase 2 Skills (Awareness, Social, or Subtlety) by 1 die rank each.
Interests Increase 2 Interests (Intimidation, Persuasion, or Research) by 1 die rank each.
$Index Value -1$; Home Value +1
Subscribers +1d6k

	d100		Enemies (Roll Twice)
	00-000

	d100		Friends
	00-000

	d100		Path Event (Roll Twice)
	00-000
	96-100		Roll two more times, use both

1.16g - Path: Rocker

Out in space, where joy is hard to come by, you are a source of inspiration. You could be a rapper, pop singer, queen of the opera, flute player, fucking kazoo player, it doesn't matter. If you make music, people want to hear it. Games, movies, and other entertainment is great, but there's nothing like having a real experience. Music is visceral, immediate; it holds people's attention. It can rile them up to rebellion or keep them happily docile.

For you, it's life. Whether you do road shows out of strangers' basements, or tour the arcology concert halls, all you've known for years is touring the starbase. Hell, maybe you've toured other stations, who knows. You live for the music, and your fans live for you.

Performer If you're only in music to make money, there's no point. You have to really live it. Whenever you make an SSI Check to perform, and beat the difficulty by a margin of 6 or more, your group regains Luck. If you suck, or beat it by less than 6, no Luck is gained.
Skills Increase 2 Skills (Combat, Fitness, or Social) by 1 die rank each.
Interests Increase 2 Interests (Fashion, People, or Performance) by 1 die rank each.
$Index Value +0$; Home Value +1
Subscribers +1d12k

	Roll ^A		Your Biggest Review
	3-5		"Redefining music, the way a gun redefines faces."
	6-8		"Slightly Better than getting stabbed in the junk."
	9-11		"I've heard better, but I've definitely heard a lot worse."
	12-15		"This is music, and it ain't bad."
	16-18		"Up-and coming, look out for this one."
	19-21		"I want to know where they've been all my life!"
	22+		"I need this music in my veins."

^A Roll Cool + Social + Performance

	d100		Enemies (Roll Twice)
	01-13		Member of a rival band
	14-26		Former band mate you kicked out
	27-39		Member of a band that kicked you out
	40-51		Fan who thinks you sold out
	52-64		Corpo who doesn't like your music
	65-77		Fan who wants you to sell out
	78-90		Roadie you treated like shit (1 apathy)
	91-100		Roll two more times, use both

	d100		Your Best Friend
	01-15		That one fan you always see
	16-30		Former band mate who retired
	31-45		One of your band mates
	46-60		Hotel desk clerk you see a lot
	61-75		Fixer who books your gigs
	76-90		Owner of your favorite venue
	91-100		Roll two more times, use both

	d100		Who Signed You
	01-25		Major corponation
	26-50		Corporate subsidiary
	51-75		Gang with social aspirations
	76-100		A Fixer

	d100		Path Event (Roll Twice)
	01-13		Toured a different station or starbase
	14-26		Played the best gig of your life to date
	27-39		Someone stole your best instrument
	40-51		Corpo threatened you over your lyrics
	52-64		Played (hopefully) the worst gig of your life
	65-77		Someone in the audience died (1 apathy)
	78-90		Your old Fixer sold you out
	91-100		Roll two more times, use both

1.16h - Path: Street Racer

Everything you have, you got it by racing, both legal and illegal. Some things you bought with winnings, other stuff you won as prizes. All the people you know, you know them either directly or indirectly through the race circuit. Race promoters, fans, mechanics, and of course the other drivers, all form your social circle.

Depending on what you drive, you race different venues. Cars tend to prefer going outside the atmodomes, racing the freeways. Bikers like the twisting, narrow streets inside the atmodomes. Slicers usually race dangerous tracks around the station superstructure.

Drive To Live The only thing better than being behind the wheel is making every second count. Whenever you win a street race, whether in Montage or in play, your group regains Luck. If you lose, no Luck is gained.
Skills Increase 2 Skills (Awareness, Fitness, or Vehicles) by 1 die rank each.
Interests Increase 2 Interests (Machinery or one type of vehicle) by 1 die rank each.
$Index Value -1$; Home Value +0
Subscribers +1d8k

	Roll ¹		Your Record (Roll once per 3 months in path)
	3-5		6d3 losses, 0 wins
	6-8		5d3 losses, 1d3 wins
	9-11		4d3 losses, 2d3 wins
	12-15		3d3 losses, 3d3 wins
	16-18		2d3 losses, 4d3 wins
	19-21		1d3 losses, 5d3 wins
	22+		0 losses, 6d4 wins

¹ Roll Quick + Vehicles + 1 relevant Interest

	d100		Who You Owe
	01-32		A corporate sponsor
	33-63		The Fixer who got your ride
	64-95		Gang who runs the turf you race
	96-100		Roll two more times, use both

	d100		Enemies (Roll Twice)
	01-19		Your longstanding rival
	20-38		Loved one of someone killed in a race (1 apathy)
	39-57		Someone you beat, badly
	58-76		Gambler who lost betting on you
	77-95		Gambler who lost betting on your rival
	96-100		Roll two more times, use both

	d100		Friends
	01-16		One of your competitors
	17-32		Starting line flag girl/flag boy
	33-48		Your promoter
	49-63		Your oldest fan
	64-79		Your favorite mechanic
	80-95		Mobile food merchant who works races
	96-100		Roll two more times, use both

	d100		Your Current Bounty
	01-25		3d4$
	26-50		2d4$
	51-75		1d4$
	76-100		1d3$

	d100		Path Event (Roll Twice)
	01-16		Lost a guaranteed win
	17-32		Survived a horrible wreck
	33-48		Won against all odds
	49-63		Bounty issued for illegal racing (2d4$)
	64-79		Wrecked so bad you almost died
	80-95		Let someone die so you could win (1 apathy)
	96-100		Roll two more times, use both

1.16i - Path: Sweeper

Space is big, and full of trash. There's satellites, garbage, corpses, ship wreckage, slicers that lost power, and more, all just floating out there. It clogs space lanes, crashes into stations, and generally just makes things worse for everyone. So of course there's money to be made!

Your ship is equipped to grab floating debris and either haul it on board or drag it behind. Salvage contracts may not be much, but it's work. There's other sweepers out there, all vying for the same junk, but luckily there's a whole lot of junk. If you're fast enough, you can get there first and make some scratch off several dozen tons of scrap metal.

Earning Your Keep Anyone can find some old junk and sell it for scratch, but you know how to get the most. Every time you bring in 600 or more scratch worth of junk, your group regains Luck. If you bring in none, or less than 600, no Luck is gained.
Skills Increase 2 Skills (Fitness, Hardware, or Vehicles) by 1 die rank each.
Interests Increase 2 Interests (Haggling, or one type of space ship) by 1 die rank each.
$Index Value -1$; Home Value None (your ship is home)
Subscribers +1d4k

	d100		Who You Owe
	01-25		Corpo exec who sold it to you
	26-50		Black market dealer
	51-75		Fixer who found it for you
	76-100		Shipyard manager who looked the other way

	d100		Enemies (Roll Twice)
	01-16		Rival sweeper who's sick of you
	17-32		Corpo drone vying for a promotion
	33-48		Black market dealer you refused to cut in
	49-63		Guy who wanted the ship you got
	64-79		Someone you rescued from a wreck (wtf?)
	80-95		Salvage buyer with a stick up his ass
	96-100		Roll two more times, use both

	d100		Friends
	01-16		Sweeper you have a friendly rivalry with
	17-32		Dock worker you see frequently
	33-48		Customs officer you helped out once
	49-63		Owner of your favorite bar
	64-79		Someone you rescued from a wreck
	80-95		Black market dealer you cut in sometimes
	96-100		Roll two more times, use both

	d100		Ship Quirks (Roll Thrice)
	01-11		Engine cuts out randomly
	12-22		The ship vibrates; like a LOT, it's scary
	23-33		Main hatch freezes at the worst times
	34-44		Onboard water is always too hot or too cold
	45-56		Sometimes you randomly lose cargo
	57-67		Loses power at least once a week
	68-78		Life support can't handle all cabins at once
	79-89		Engine randomly surges to max
	90-100		There's a smell

	d100		Path Event (Roll Twice)
	01-10		Raided by vikings (1 apathy)
	11-19		Got the biggest haul of the year
	20-29		Arrested by customs for nothing
	30-38		Someone went out an airlock (1 apathy)
	39-48		Hit by a random asteroid
	49-57		Lost a bet, you owe 3d6$
	58-67		Won a bet, fuckers didn't pay up
	68-76		Hit by space junk (ironic ain't it?)
	77-86		Lost an entire haul
	87-95		Rescued a little kid from a wreck
	96-100		Roll two more times, use both

CodeBlock 1.17

Hussles

1.17a - Hussle: Fixer

When people need something done, they come to you. The concept originated from the media agents who work for celebrities, and get them anything they need. Over time, it's come to be a profession unto itself not restricted to any specific clientele. You know people in all walks of life, and many of them owe you favors. You can find jobs, gear, people, or information, you just need to make the right calls to the right people.

Contacts and Networks You don't just know people, you know the right people, and those people know other people. Whenever your group needs things, you probably know where to find it, or you know someone who does. By making a Cool + Social + Negotiation check, you can find information or acquire gear.
The DV for finding information is based on how rare, personal, and/or illegal it might be, at the Narrator's discretion; for every 5 points of the DV, the attempt costs your group 1 Luck (or, if you fail, it only costs 1 Luck total). The DV for finding gear is equal to its $ value; it also costs your group 1 Luck per $ value.
Skill Increase 1 Skill (Education, Social, or Subtlety) by 2 die ranks.
Interest Increase 1 Interest (Intimidation, Negotiation, or Persuasion) by 2 die ranks.
$Index Value +1$; Home Value +1
Subscribers +1d8k

	d100		Your Secret
	01-17		Someone else owns your business
	18-33		You're hiding someone in the basement
	34-50		Your books are in the red (3d8$ debt)
	51-67		Technically, your business is illegal
	68-83		You betrayed a business partner (1 apathy)
	84-100		You have no idea what you're doing

	Roll ^A		Favors You Can Call In
	3-5		1d3+1 minor, 0 major
	6-8		1d4+2 minor, 1d3 major
	9-11		1d6+3 minor, 1d3 major
	12-15		1d8+4 minor, 1d4+1 major
	16-18		1d10+5 minor, 1d4+1 major
	19-21		1d12+6 minor, 1d6+1 major
	22+		1d20+7 minor, 1d6+2 major

^A Roll Cool + Social + 1 relevant Interest

1.17b - Hussle: Heavy

When the going gets tough, you usually get punched in the face. Or shot, or stabbed, it's all the same. For the right price, you'll risk your life and good looks for someone else's goals; bodyguard, hitter, road guard, or even full fledged soldier if the money's right. Maybe you have some scruples with working for corps or gangs, may-be you don't. What matters is that bashing heads (or sho-oting them, or stabbing them) is how you pay your bills. The best job in the world is one where you don't get shot at; but that almost never happens.

Give and Take If you're gonna make your living dealing out punishment, you've gotta know how to do it right. More importantly, you gotta be able to take what you can give. During combat, you can spend Luck to directly affect your SSI checks. For ever 1 point of Luck, you can increase the damage rank of an attack you made, up to the weapon's maximum, or you can reduce the damage rank dealt to you, down to the minimum of the weapon used to attack you.
Skill Increase 1 Skill (Combat, Fitness, or Hardware) by 2 die ranks.
Interest Increase 1 Interest (Intimidation or one type of weapon) by 2 die ranks.
$Index Value +0$; Home Value +0
Subscribers +1d4k

	d100		Your Secret
	01-14		You're scared... like, all the time
	15-29		You're never scared, and that scares you
	30-43		You once betrayed a client
	44-57		One time, you shot a kid (1 inhumanity)
	58-71		You really, deeply, don't want to kill anymore
	72-86		You took out the wrong target (1 apathy)
	87-100		You're hooked on nerve-juice

	d100		Your Combat Style
	01-13		Guns blazing, and everything else too
	14-25		Cold, calculated, efficient
	26-38		Overboard is just enough
	39-50		Tactical; you know who should do what
	51-63		Total chaos; you act on a whim
	64-75		Your enemies never know you're there
	76-88		Vehicles, it's all about vehicles
	89-100		Death From Above is the way to go

1.17c - Hussle: NetNinja

The most well-known secret in space is the best NetNinja nobody has ever heard of, and your greatest dream is to be that legend. Everyone uses or even lives on the neonet — a network of every computer, droid, and system that spans all of space — but you know how it really works. You live in a world of custom-written software and juiced up computer hardware. Looking through corpo databases is just good fun, and getting your brain fried is a hazard of the life.

See The Code You know more about how computers work than anyone else; you can tell what programs are affecting what, and how their code is controlling all of it. When you spend Luck on software checks, each point grants you a bonus d8, rather than just 1 point. Also, while breaking an ICEberg, you can automatically unlock nodes by spending 2 Luck per node (if you choose to do this after already making a check, it costs 3 Luck).
Skill Increase 1 Skill (Education, Software, or Subtlety) by 2 die ranks.
Interest Increase 1 Interest (Computers, Hacking, or Ripping) by 2 die ranks.
$Index Value +0$; Home Value +0
Subscribers +1d6k

	d100		Your Secret
	01-14		You fried an innocent to save yourself (1 apathy)
	15-29		There's a Judge on your trail
	30-43		The biggest, meanest virus from a few years ago was your baby
	44-57		You got caught; corps found it all (1 apathy)
	58-71		Someone's tracking you; you don't know who
	72-86		You've never cracked a core server
	87-100		Your firmware is shaky — at best

	d100		Your Biggest Rival
	01-14		Megablock NetAdmin who hates you
	15-29		Your former coding partner
	30-43		Random guy you owned on a forum once
	44-57		Black-hat whose virus you stopped
	58-71		White-hat whose firewall you breached
	72-86		Money-hat who has it out for you
	87-100		Fixer you goosed on a job

1.17d - Hussle: Star Rider

You're not just a pilot, you're a combat pilot. Maybe you served in the military, one of the police corporations, or a private corporate naval group. All that really matters is, when it comes to combat in the stars, you're the one people expect to get the job done.

Funny thing, this job comes with a lot of baggage. On the positive, you're automatically a star to a lot of people. Kids want to grow up like you, and adults wonder why their lives didn't end up like yours. People make VR stories entirely about your career, and romanticize it. And with that comes a lot of gross pressure. Cops, corporations, and their fans, all assume you're on side and expect you to act like it. They expect you to hold the corporate line.

Ride the Stars Flying isn't just in your blood, it's in your soul, if there is such a thing. When you're in the zone, your ship becomes an extension of your body in a way other people just can't understand. Whenever you spend Luck on a Vehicles check, each point grants you a bonus d8, rather than just 1 point.
Skill Increase 1 Skill (Combat, Hardware, or Vehicles) by 2 die ranks.
Interest Increase 1 Interest (Shuttles, Slicers, or Starfighters) by 2 die ranks.
$Index Value +1$; Home Value +1
Subscribers +1d10k

	d100		Your Secret
	00-000

1.17e - Hussle: Superstar

Anyone can be famous, but you're good at it. You know how to work a crowd, how to direct their energy and get what you want. You know what to say, and what not to say. Even if you're not the coolest person in space, you just have a knack for not only getting attention but using it to your benefit. You could be the most polished star in the sky, or so rough and real your fans can identify.

Your Path effectively becomes your platform to fame (and hopefully fortune). Whatever it is you do for work, you're starting to get famous for it. Fans will follow you on social media, watch your streams, and flock to you if they recognize you in public.

Star Power Your fans are devoted in a way other people just can't manage. They love you, they adore you, they might even worship you, and they definitely want you. This adoration lets you use them in ways that stretch the ethical boundaries of parasocial relationships.
You can spend Luck to get your fans to do things like show up at a specific event, flash-mob a building, or even risky things like rushing a wall of cops. The bounds are limitless, but for dangerous, difficult, or unethical things, the Narrator might ask you to make Cool + Social + Persuasion checks. Asking your fans to do dangerous things is also likely to gain you Apathy.
Skill Increase 1 Skill (Awareness, Fitness, or Social) by 2 die ranks.
Interest Increase 1 Interest (Fashion, Performance, or Persuasion) by 2 die ranks.
$Index Value +1$; Home Value +2
Subscribers +1d12k

	d100		Your Secret
	01-20		There's a time limit on your fame
	21-40		You sold your entire soul (1 inhumanity)
	42-60		You crushed a rival (1 apathy)
	61-80		You stole someone else's work or credit
	81-100		Your entire identity is fabricated

	d100		Who Owns Your Media Contract
	01-17		The major local Corponation
	18-33		A local subsidiary corporation
	34-50		A foreign Corponation aiming for inroads
	51-67		An indy corporation aiming high
	68-83		A gang with social interests
	84-100		A Fixer looking to make connections

1.18 - Character Traits

Beyond your Styles, Skills, and Interests, there are always some things you're just better at, or some advantages you've gained through merit, luck, or money. You've also got things you struggle with — everyone does — and they help define you as much as what you're good at.

Traits are also usually a big part of how you interact with the world, and with your team. Are you the combat expert, or maybe the one who should never hold a gun? Maybe you're so good with words it almost feels impossible, or maybe you were born with your foot in your mouth. Some traits are even restricted to particular backgrounds; only androids can have android traits, for example.

Gaining Traits

As your story progresses, you might gain advantages. By spending 250 XP, you can gain 1 advantage rank. You can spend this rank immediately, or save it for later. If a Trait requires both advantage and struggle ranks, it cannot be bought with XP.

Like other XP groups, gaining advantages gets more expensive. Each subsequent rank costs +100 XP. This cost increase applies only to Traits, not other XP groups, but it can't be bypassed or reduced in any way.

Traits by Narrative

From time to time, the Narrator may hand out Traits based on events in your story. These Traits may be any kind, provided you meet any requirements for them. They can be advantages or struggles, and either way they don't count toward the increasing XP cost of buying Traits yourself.

On some occasions, based on the story you're telling, the Narrator may also take away some of your Traits. If the Trait in question is an advantage, you gain 250 XP per rank. This doesn't affect the increased XP cost of buying Traits.

Bio-Cycle Traits

You can only take these Traits if your Origin is Bio-Cycles

Bio-Enhanced Advantage 1-5 You're engineered, more human than human. Choose your purpose: Analytical, Combat, or Social; add your ranks in this Trait as a bonus to all related SSI Checks. If you take more than 1 rank in this Trait, you can divide them as you see fit.

Combat Traits

Combat Experience Advantage 3 You know your way around a fight. You don't suffer stress for Pushing an SSI Combat check, unless you're already in a Negative State.
Dodge This When making an attack with a ranged weapon against a target at 0 range, you gain a +6 bonus to your attack, provided your relevant weapon Interest is d8 or higher. MAKE THIS A BASIC GAME MECHANIC

Personal Traits

Agoraphobia Advantage 2 or 4 You have overriding fears that make setting foot outside your home terrifying. Your home is your safest space; while outside it, apply your ranks in this Trait as a penalty on all Social checks.
Bad Drunk Struggle 1 When you're drunk, all your worst traits are magnified; all Social penalties from alcohol are doubled for you.
Can't Swim Struggle 1 You can only succeed on SSI checks made to swim if your Style die rolls Good Stuff.
Huge Ego Advantage 2, Struggle 2 You're hot shit, and the problem is you know it. You've got a bonus 2 dice for every Identity measure. However, every Identity loss is doubled.
Seen Too Much Advantage 2, Struggle 2 You've seen the worst of humanity on display. It hardens you, makes it easier to resist; but when things do hit you, it brings it all back. You've got a bonus 2 dice for every Empathy measure, but every Empathy loss is doubled.
Self Loathing Struggle 3 or 5 The words "I hate myself" fall from your lips easier than exhaling breath. Lose 2 dice from every Identity measure.
For a 5-point struggle, you also have a -3 penalty to all Social SSI checks.
Studied Advantage ∞ You've found ways to learn outside corporate systems; pirated text books, VR recordings of edulectures, etc. Add your ranks in this Trait to your $ when setting the limit of your capped Skills and Interests.

Physical Traits

Big Advantage 1-5 You're a big person. Add your ranks in this Trait as a bonus on Physical SSI checks for which being large would be beneficial. The Narrator might sometimes rule your large size a negative.
You can only take this Trait during character creation.
You cannot take this Trait if you have the Small Trait.
Small Advantage 1-5 You're a small person. Add your ranks in this Trait as a bonus on Physical SSI checks for which being small would be beneficial. The Narrator might sometimes rule your small size a negative.
You can only take this Trait during character creation.
You cannot take this Trait if you have the Big Trait.
Strong Advantage 1-5 Either you lift, or you were just born strong. Add your ranks in this Trait as a bonus on any SSI check to which physical strength is applicable.

Tech Traits

Bad ICS Advantage 2, Struggle 5 Your ICS is either broken, removed, or you never had one. You are immune to all software attacks and cannot be hacked. Your access is restricted to RMI, you cannot access ARI, AVI, or VRI.
Bad NeuroChain Struggle 7 Your NeuroChain implant is irreparably broken, got removed, or you never had one. You are impossible to track via any ANet algos, and you cannot accumulate corporate bounty. You have no $, can't send or receive any cryptocurrency, can't own anything, can't have memberships, can't be tracked, and your standing bounty is increased by 10$.
Bad Slot Struggle 3 Your shard slot is irreparably broken, got removed, or you never had one. You have resistance to any app or software attack that targets neuralware. You also cannot use datashards or skillshards.
Script Prep Advantage 3 You've got plenty of backup apps and modular algorithms. While you're in VR, you don't suffer stress for Pushing an SSI Software check.
Software Compression Advantage 3 You've got the latest compression software, and you know how to use it. Every app and UCT (but not skill chip) in your personal storage is treated as half its actual size.
Vehicle You have a vehicle. FINISH THIS TRAIT

1.19 - Miscellaneous Tables

This section will eventually consist of a collection of random tables that can be used to generate people, jobs, events, or other things relevant to character backgrounds.

1.2 - What Do You Do?

Sure, you know who you are, but what are you good at? Are you the toughest bitch on the block? The smartest man alive? The coolest cat that's ever walked the stars? What kind of training have you had? What sorts of things interest you? All of this shapes the sorts of things you're good at and, by extension, what you suck at. It's okay, most people suck at most things.

SSI Checks

Your stats are grouped into three categories. Styles are extremely broad, and define your general approach to life. Skills are less generalized, but add to your Styles to make you more proficient in certain areas. And finally, Interests are more specific, giving you extra proficiency in the things you've spent time practicing or studying.

Each Style, Skill, and Interest is defined by a die value; 1d4, 1d6, 1d8, 1d10, or 1d12. Whenever you try to do something that's relevant to a particular Style, Skill, or Interest, you roll that appropriate die. If more than one applies, pick the most relevant one (don't just go with the highest). Add all three dice rolls together; this is called an SSI Check (Style, Skill, and Interest check). There's more details on DVs later, but that's the basics of it.

Let's say Ruby Violet is trying to shoot a scav before he bolts through a nearby hatch. She needs to be fast, so she rolls her Quick Style (1d12); since she's making an attack, she'll roll her Combat Skill (1d6); and she's a bit of a gun nut, so since she's using a heavy pistol her Handguns Interest applies (1d6). This gives her a dice pool of 1d12 + 1d6 + 1d6. She rolls them, adds them together for a total. Simple!

You can use any Style, Skill, or Interest for any check, but there's one catch: you have to convince the Narrator it's relevant. For example, Violet might use Cool instead of Quick to take a shot, if she wants to spend a moment really narrowing in, steadying herself for the moment. But she'd have a tough time convincing the Narrator to let her use Tough to fire a gun; it's just not generally relevant.

This applies to all three categories; if you can justify its use for the check, then it applies. No Style, Skill, or Interest is tied to any of the others. They're all unconnected, and you decide which ones you use. Some parts of the game do specify what you need to roll (for example, decrypting a network is Techie + Software + Ripping), but that doesn't mean those stats are specifically tied to each other.

Humanity Measures

The Humanity system is comprised of four stats that describe you are and how you survive the endless grind and brutality

of life in NeoNeuro. You've got your Identity that's all about who you are, your Empathy is about your connection to others, your Reality is about how well you can separate truth and illusion; and supporting them all, your Resolve can carry you through the worst situations.

Each Humanity stat is defined by a numerical value, usually ranging from 5 to 7. Whenever you need to measure one of them, that's how many d8s you roll; also, whether you're measuring Identity, Empathy, or Reality, add that stat + your Resolve to get the full number of d8s to roll. Each die that rolls 5 or higher is a win, each roll of 4 or lower is a loss. Count the total number of wins, and that's your measure!

Measuring your Humanity is compared to either Apathy or Dissonance. If your measure is equal or greater than what you're comparing it to, then you've resisted whatever you're struggling against. If your measure is less than what you're comparing it against, you didn't resist. Exactly what that means is defined by what you measured, and what you compared it against (described in 1.24 - Humanity).

There are other stats throughout the game that you Measure, all of which work the same way. Each measure will define what you should compare it against, but no matter what it always means rolling a certain number of d8s and comparing the wins.

1.21 - Styles

What you're good at usually has a lot to do with the kind of person you are. If you're a big tough bast-ard, you'll approach situations differently than if you were the Techie type. This is represented by Styles.

Using Styles

There are 5 Styles, and everybody's got some of each. Each time you do something, roll the die for a relevant Style.

Tough is used whenever you need to be tough. That could mean raw physical strength or endurance, but it's also about strength of will to carry on through the hard fight. Mental and emotional fortitude, the willingness to push past your own limits, and the like. If you're a tough person you might be a solid mass of muscle, or you could just have an exceptionally strong will.
This doesn't mean that a person who isn't Tough is weak in body, mind, or spirit (tho it could, you never know). It means that's just not their focus. It could be that someone who isn't Tough sees no reason to power through difficult situations, and prefers to find a different way through (or around).

Some examples of being Tough:

Lifting a heavy object
Overpowering someone physically
Enduring pain without flinching
Holding down somebody that's trying to get away
Making an up-close physical attack
Doing anything when your Resolve is gone
Pulling yourself together after devastating loss
Pushing someone off of you
Enduring the pain of radiation poisoning

Quick is used whenever you need to be fast and accurate, whether that means physically or mentally. It could be you have nimble fingers and quick feet, or you're mentally very sharp. It's about noticing the things around you, and flowing with the people and things happening in the area. If you're a quick person you might be quick-witted, very agile, or a combination of both.
This doesn't mean that a person who isn't Quick is dull-witted, clumsy, or the like (tho it always could). Being Quick just isn't their focus. It could be that someone who isn't Quick prefers to use patience in all things, and could be happy to wait out any situation and not act rashly.
Some examples of being Quick:

Twirling a butterfly knife without cutting yourself
Realizing someone is following you in a crowd
Catching something in mid-air
Slipping an object out of someone's pocket
Dodging falling debris
Telling a lie you thought up on the spot
Noticing someone's eyes flicker when they lie
Driving fast through heavy traffic
Shooting at a target with little to no preparation

Cool is used whenever you need to keep a cool head or just be the coolest person on the deck. It's a mix of your sense of self, fashion, and charisma, but also mental focus, and an ability to stay calm. Cool is a matter of self control, but it can also simply be that you've got ways of keeping your shit together.
This doesn't mean that a person who isn't Cool is a dork or has low self-esteem (tho it might). It could be that they're not worried about appearances, and self-assurance comes from their other strengths. Or maybe they're a frazzled, high-stress person, who knows!
Some examples of being Cool:

Taking slow, steady movements to cause no noise
Convincing someone to let you do something
Smooth-talking through a social fumble
Making a long-range rifle shot that requires focus

Giving a memorable stage or stream performance
Staring someone down in a tense moment
Staying calm when your Resolve is gone
Telling a lie you've planned out (like a long con)
Holding too steady for motion sensors

Techie is used when you want to use complex technology, whether than means using it for things it wasn't intended for, using its more advanced features, designing it, improving it, or anything of the sort. Anyone can use a computer, but using it to bypass a security system or write an app would.
This doesn't mean that a person who's not Techie is ignorant about technology or doesn't know how to do the more complicated shit (tho it could). It could be that someone who's not Techie has more interest in other things, or is fine with their tech's basic functionality. Not everybody needs to reprogram everything all the time.
Some examples of being Techie:

Reprogramming a drone
Writing or modding a functional app
Driving or piloting large vehicles in risky conditions
Telling the difference between different circuit types
Repairing damaged equipment
Operating a set of power armor
Installing new parts in a drone or android
Identifying the manufacturer of a piece of tech
Installing, modding, or upgrading cyberware

Smart is used when you need to think carefully or just be knowledgeable. It's partly about education, but it's also about your ability to think critically or creatively. It's a matter of being able to parse your thoughts in an effective way so you can understand complex things and express them in a way others can understand.
This doesn't mean someone who's not Smart is stupid, or doesn't know anything (tho that could be the case). It could be they just finds comfort in having no thoughts in their pretty head, or other things come more easily to them. It's not about IQ, it's a focus on the application of memory and methods of thinking.
Some examples of being Smart:

Remembering something someone said weeks ago
Measuring what you know about a history topic
Understand fine print in a contract
Having a realization about a mental puzzle
Memorizing a series of numbers or stats
Doing advanced math
Parsing the specifics of a social theory
Reciting something from memory
Knowing how to keep your meat sack healthy

Swapping Styles

Sometimes, people change, but it's not easy. Your Styles can't be upgraded like other stats, but they can be swapped. By spending 2,000 XP, you can swap two Style dice. You can swap any of the two; swap Tough and Cool, swap a d8 for a d4, any pairing you want. This swap is permanent.

Like other XP groups, swapping Styles gets more expensive. Each subsequent swap costs +100 XP. This cost increase applies only to Styles, not other XP groups, but it can't be bypassed or reduced in any way. Changing how you approach the world, doesn't get easier.

1.22 - Skills

The things you're good at are often defined by the trai-ning you've had. Maybe you learned from strict instru-ction, or you read from an old tech manual you found in the trash, or anything in between. No matter where you got the training, it provided you knowledge that applies to all relevant situations.

Using Skills

There are 10 Skills below, and most people focus on a few of them. Whenever you try to do something that's relevant to something you're trained in, you roll the relevant die and add it to the Style die you rolled.

Awareness is about keeping your eyes and ears open. It could be about seeing something hidden in a messy room, noticing someone's nervous tic, hearing footsteps of someone sneaking up on you, or anything similar.
Combat involves anything to do with trying to hurt people or avoid being hurt. From firing a gun, swinging a sword, ducking behind cover, or deflecting a punch, it's all combat and it all applies.
Education ($) is about how much you know. Whether it's corporate procedure, the difference between a turtle and a tortoise, or the history of cyberware, if you can learn it from a book or in a school, this Skill applies.
Fitness involves using your physicality to perform difficult tasks. Could be lifting something heavy, climbing up a wall, jumping across a gap, or anything else related to difficult physical efforts.
Hardware is about using, modifying, repairing, designing, assembling, or disassembling any piece of technical hardware. From cars, to droids, to the latest cyberware, this Skill applies to all physical technology.
Medicine ($) involves healing injuries, using meds that will have specific desired effects on the human body, or anything else related to any type of medical practice. From first aid to surgery, it all applies.
Social involves any social interaction. From negotiating a

contract, to convincing your best gal to let you eat the last donut, to talking down an active shooter. If it involves interacting with other people, it's Social.
Software is about using, modifying, or writing any type of computer code. This could mean simply using a search engine as effectively as possible, or it could be writing an entirely new app to achieve a specific result.
Subtlety is about being sneaky. You might be outright lying, sneaking an object from someone's pocket, or you could be giving someone a signal without alerting anyone else around you. It's all about not being noticed.
Vehicles involves any kind of vehicle that's ever been built. Revcycles, cars, trams, slicers, starships, tanks, and more. If it's a machine you can drive, then this Skill applies.

Increasing Skills

As you survive more dangers and learn more things, you can increase your Skills with experience. By spending 1,000 XP, you can increase 1 Skill by 1 die step. You can increase any Skill, regardless of its current rating, except you can't increase any Skill higher than d12.

Like other XP groups, increasing Skills gets more expensive. Each subsequent increase costs +100 XP. This cost increase applies only to Skills, not other XP purchase groups, but it can't be bypassed or reduced in any way. Neuroplasticity has its limits.

1.23 - Interests

Everyone is fascinated by certain things, whether pers-onally or professionally, and these often add to the knowledge and skill you bring to the table. If you're inter-ested in guns, that knowledge applies to different situat-ions than an interest in corporations.

Using Interests

There are 28 listed Interests below; if you feel like one is missing, work with your Narrator. Interests are narrower than Styles or Skills, but shouldn't be too specific. An interest in gambling is useful, an interest in poker is less useful. If you invent one, make sure your Narrator agrees.

When you try to do something relevant to one of your Interests, you roll that die and add it to the Style and Skill dice you rolled. If more than one of your Interests are relevant to the attempt, pick the most relevant one.

Bureaucracy ($) measures how much you know about corporate rules, regulations, and red tape.
Cartography is an interest in maps, how they're made, and different uses they can have.
Computers measures how much you know about the shit most people use without having one single clue.

Corporations ($) measures your knowledge of everything corporations do, and things relating to them.
Cyberware is the technology that augments or replaces the natural functions of the human body.
Deception is your ability to pull one over on other people; whether verbal, written, or otherwise.
Fashion is about how stylish you are; not just knowledge of current trends, but how to dress for purpose.
First Aid ($) is knowledge about patching up injuries on a quick, short term basis.
Gambling represents how lucky you are, how much you know about games of chance, or how boldly you play.
Hacking is about the knowledge necessary to find ways around a computer system's security measures.
Handguns are small, one-handed firearms designed solely for the purpose of killing other people.
History ($) is anything that happened before now, and is usually written down by the people in charge.
Investigation is about finding information; usually info that someone doesn't want you to find.
Knives are one-handed melee or throwing weapons with an edge, and often a point.
Machinery means anything that has any combination of gears, chains, levers, grease, and big clanky metal.
Performance is your ability to act, sing, game, or other similar things in a way that entertains people.
Persuasion measures your ability to convince other peo-ple to think or feel a particular way.
Revcycles are 2-wheeled vehicles that you have to balance, and usually only carry one or two people.
Rifles are long, two-handed firearms designed either for hunting or for military purposes.
Ripping is the practice of unraveling or even tearing apart the security of a computer system.
Security relates to anything about locking systems, objects, or areas from unauthorized access.
Shotguns are usually two-handed weapons, designed to fire ammo that'll stop a target in their tracks.
Stealth is not necessarily your ability to remain uns-een, but to remain unnoticed. There's a difference.
Strategy ($) is about long term planning, trying to find the best path forward to a distant goal.
Surgery ($) is the knowledge you need to heal wounds or perform invasive procedures without doing a murder.
Swords are one- or two-handed melee weapons with a point and a sharp edge; classic and forever stylish.
Tactics is about making things happen in the short term, whether that's in a fight or organizing a warehouse.
Thievery is all about taking things other people don't want you to take; keys, wallets, pants, whatever.

Capped Skills & Interests

Some Skills and Interests are restricted by corporate law; they're not illegal, but the knowledge related to them is held behind paywalls. If you can't afford that access, it's hard to learn them.

What this means is that the total dice value of all capped Skills and Interests (marked with ($) in each list) can't be higher than your $. So if you have 17$, your total dice value of all capped Skills and Interests can't be higher than 17. You could have d12 and d4; or d10 and d6; or d8 and d8; or any other combination, so long as the total dice value of all your capped Skills and Interests isn't higher than your $.

If your $ drops for some reason, it doesn't reduce your Skills or Interests. It does mean you can't improve any capped Skills or Interests until you up your $ enough to cover the cost.

Increasing Interests

The more you experience and grow, the more your Interests develop. By spending 500 XP, you can increase 1 Interest by 1 die step. You can increase any Interest, regardless of its current rating, except you can't increase any Interest higher than d12.

Like other XP groups, increasing Interests gets more expensive. Each subsequent increase costs +100 XP. This cost increase applies only to Interests, not other XP groups, but it can't be bypassed or reduced in any way.

1.24 - Humanity

You might not believe it, but you've got more in common with other people than you have differences. Nobody will actually tell you that anymore, but it's true. There's basic commonalities shared with all sentient beings; and yes, that includes AI. "Can androids be human" is a question we answered ages ago. We answered it several times, in fact, and the answer was always "yes." That's past.

Using Humanity

There are 3 core stats and 1 support stat, described below. Everyone has these four stats, in varying amounts, and when things get tough you measure them against Apathy and Dissonance.

As described in the beginning of this codeblock, Humanity stats tell you how many d8s to roll. If you Measure as many as, or more wins than, the stat you're contrasting, you're in the clear; if you measure fewer, things go poorly. The details of what you contrast each stat with, and what happens when things go well or poorly, are detailed within each.

Identity is your knowledge of self, the strength of your convictions, and belief in your ideals. The things about

you that mean the most give you a sense of identity. Identity is contrasted by Apathy. If ever your Apathy exceeds your Identity, you lose your sense of self and become an NPC; you've lost sight of who you are, overtaken by brandwashing, and you exist now in a state of blank survival.
Empathy is your ability to understand and share the feelings of others, and to have compassion for their views and struggles. Recognizing that other people matter is critical to fighting for them. Empathy is contrasted by Apathy and Dissonance. If ever your Apathy exceeds your Empathy, you stop seeing other people as people, and become a dangerously violent, abusive, or destructive NPC. If ever your Dissonance exceeds your Empathy, you no longer believe other people are real, and become an equally dangerous NPC.
Clarity is your ability to discern between digital and physical, or see truth hidden in corporate brandwashing. It's less about knowing what's real, and more about why that difference matters. Clarity is contrasted by Dissonance. If ever your Dissonance exceeds your Clarity, you no longer care what's real and become an NPC; you've lost all sense of perspective, now fighting battles that don't exist, against invisible enemies, with illusory allies.
Resolve is your strength of personality, emotional strength, force of character, focus, and sense of purpose. It is the fire inside. Resolve isn't contrasted by anything, but shores up your other Humanity stats. Every time you Measure one of your Humanity stats, add your current Resolve to the stat being measured to determine how many dice to roll for the measure.
Resolve can also be spent like a resource. Whenever you push an SSI Check, it costs you 1 Resolve. You can't reduce your Resolve below 0 in this way; and while your Resolve is 0, you are depressed and exhausted. You regain 1d4 Resolve at the start of every normal Scene, not downtime.

Increasing Resolve

Spending time on yourself, getting a solid grip on your Identity, Empathy, and Clarity can have a profound impact.By spending 1,000 XP, you can increase your maximum Resolve by 1, up to a maximum of 10.

Like other XP groups, increasing Resolve gets more expensive. Each subsequent increase costs +100 XP. This cost increase applies only to Resolve, not other XP groups, but it can't be bypassed or reduced in any way.

Measuring Humanity

Humanity stats aren't measured during normal gameplay, but during downtime. Whenever a new Scene begins you can

choose to skip that Scene for downtime, or perhaps your entire group decides to take a rest. Downtime works like any other Scene, but is usually a solo affair.

When you take downtime, you spend the entire Scene in meaningful interaction with a Tether or Safe Space. Or both, but there's no additional benefit to doing so. Roleplay the scene, or just describe what you spend your time doing. At the end of the Scene, Measure one Humanity stat. You can Measure whichever you like, but you can only measure one stat per downtime. If you're measuring Empathy, choose to contrast it with Apathy or Dissonance.

If your Measure is an overall win, regain 1 point lost from the Measured stat (if any, up to maximum) and reduce its contrast by an amount equal to the positive span of the Measure (to a minimum of 1). Your downtime has helped you reconnect with yourself, or with others, or with why reality matters. It can have lots of different meanings depending on you, who and what you interacted with, and what you were struggling with. Work with your Narrator to describe the emotions of it.

If your Measure is an overall loss, lose 1 from the stat that you Measured (to a minimum of 0) and reduce its contrast by an amount equal to the negative span of the Measure (to a minimum of 1). Your downtime just wasn't enough, for whatever reason, and you feel yourself slipping a little more. Maybe something about your downtime just didn't help the way you'd hoped it would, or maybe the things you're struggling with are just too deep.

Hightech Lowlife • Who Do You Run With?

1.3 - Who Do You Run With?

You're never alone in NeoNeuro, especially as a Runner. On one hand, the algorithms are always tracking what you do, so you're never alone in that regard. On the other hand, the only way to really survive is with friends. Most people are lucky if they can collect a couple friends here and there in the isolated society of the cyberstar wastes, but as a Runner you've got a close-knit group you can rely on.

Whether you're gangsters looking after your territory, a crew running contraband across the station, a group of mercs who'll take any job, the owners of a speakeasy just trying to make good, or any other variation, you and your fellow Players are a group. You have a common goal, and as you get to know each other better you learn to work together more efficiently. You learn to support one another's weaknesses, and rely on each other's strengths. Without each other, you'd never last.

1.31 - Group Dynamics

Every group has their strengths and weaknesses, and yours is no different. How much do you care about each other? How well do you work together? How much do you know about each other? The answers to these questions go a long way to defining how effective you are as a group, and how well you can support one another.

Setting Group Dynamics

Your group has three stats, called Dynamics; these are Bond, Cohesion, and Familiarity. These represent different kinds of effectiveness your group has, and the better they are the more easily your group can accomplish difficult things. These are stacking stats, which means that if they're better than what you've got on your own, they can potentially help you be better at things.

Bond stacks against Style and represents how much the members of your group care about one another. The more you care about each other, the harder you'll try, the farther you'll go, and the more you're willing to do. All of which makes your group more effective.
Cohesion stacks against Skill and represents how well your group works together. It's about timing, knowing what things you're good at and what other members of the group are good at. It's about being able to step aside when you're not the one to take the lead, and being able to step in when you are.
Familiarity stacks against Interest and represents how much your group knows about one another. This means on a basic level, such as what kinds of things you're all good at, but also personal tastes, habits, and the like.

When your group first gets together, you all have a lot to learn about one another if you're going to be at your best. Check the table below: the Narrator can roll on the table to determine your group's dynamics, or your group can agree on which row of the table you want to start with.

d100		Starting Group Dynamics
01-25		d6 Bond, d4 Cohesion, d4 Familiarity
26-50		d4 Bond, d6 Cohesion, d6 Familiarity
51-75		d4 Bond, d8 Cohesion, d4 Familiarity
76-100		d4 Bond, d4 Cohesion, d8 Familiarity

1.32 - Using Group Dynamics

As the name suggests, group dynamics only matter when you're trying to do things as a group. When you're on your own, the group dynamics don't have any effect. Even when you're with the group, if you're trying to do something by yourself, the group dynamics don't come into play. It's when you're working as a team that any of this matters; the more effective you are as a group, the greater the things you can accomplish.

Stacking Stats

Whenever 1 or more group members are attempting to perform the same action, they stack group dynamics against their own SSI values. Stacking means you compare each group dynamic to the relevant Style, Skill, or Interest being used, and choose the better of the two. Each member of the group makes an SSI check using these adjusted stats; if the group as a whole gets more successes than failures, then they succeed at what they're doing.

The Group Looks for Information

The gang is at a party, and they need to find a particular bit of information. They decide the buffet table is a good meeting point; the group's Fixer stays there, so they can organize the other group members who mingle throughout the room and check in with the Fixer for updates. This would be a Cool + Social + Investigation check, which may or may not be something each group member is good at.

Since they're working as a group, they stack their group dynamics. Each member of the group compares their group's Bond to their personal Cool, and uses the higher value of the two. Then they compare the group's Cohesion against their personal Social Skill, and the group's Familiarity against their personal Investigation. Each group member makes their check; if they get more successes than failures, they find their information.

1.33 - Group Progression

There are rules for improving group dynamics, and I need to work them out in my head.

Hightech Lowlife • Who Do You Run With?

CodeBlock 2.0

Heart of the Machine

"Life here is cheap,
but it does have market value."

Anton Cicero

2.1 - Game System Rules

Telling stories in the Cyberstar Wastes is a group exercise, guided by the Narrator. For some groups, this means the Narrator tells a specific story they've devised, and the players do their part to help the story along. For others, the players dictate the story by making choices, and the Narrator is there to referee. For most, it's probably somewhere in the middle.

Like any RPG, this is a storytelling effort. You and your friends are here to tell a story, the rules and dice are only there to help decide the whims of fate.

Complexity comes from the interactions of different choices, conflicting goals, and escalating narrative. When people are at cross purposes, the ways they choose to overcome their differences is what defines a story. Since this is a collaborative narrative, that means everyone at the table or on the stream is part of deciding where the story goes. If you react with hostility to a situation, that sends the story in a very different direction than if you had a more peaceful response.

Game mechanics come into play when things get dramatic or exciting, or when people are trying to do conflicting things. Or two! Or all three! That's when anyone involved in the action being described rolls dice to decide what happens.

Types of Dice Rolls

There are three kinds of dice rolls in NeoNeuro: SSI Checks, Stat Measures, and Flat Checks. Each functions differently, but has clear rules for how they work.

2.11 - Making SSI Checks

The most common type of dice roll, SSI Checks are the core of this game system. Whether you're doing combat, social, exploration, or anything else, SSI checks are what you end up rolling more often than not.

How SSI Checks Work

An SSI Check is what you make when you're doing dramatic or exciting things, or when someone is trying to stop you. If it's not dramatic or exciting, and no one is trying to stop you, there's no need to Check.

To make an SSI Check, roll 1 Style die, 1 Skill die, and 1 Interest die. Some game rules will specify which stats to use; otherwise, the Narrator will decide which three are relevant to the task at hand.

Opposed Difficulty Value

Sometimes, the Difficulty Value (DV) is set by an opponent. If you're trying to sneak through a room, and someone is looking for you; or if you're you're trying to tell a lie, and

someone might see through that lie; or anything else that someone might try to stop you from doing, their opposing SSI Check is the DV of your SSI Check. If your rolls are equal, the person who initiated the action wins the tie.

Static Difficulty Value

Other times, the DV of a check is more static. No one is actively opposing you when you try to hack a pressure door, for example. If it's not dramatic or exciting there's no reason to make an SSI Check, but if you're running out of oxygen it becomes imperative to get the door open, and you make your Check against a static DV.

A static DV is any value ranging from 5 to 23; the lowest being a task for which anyone can reasonably assume success, and the highest being a task for which even the best in the galaxy would rely on luck. There are generalized examples on the next page, and more specific examples throughout the game as a whole, but the Narrator can select whatever DV seems most appropriate.

Difficulty Value Range

Some SSI Checks have a range of possible results. The most common example is when attacking someone, because there are so many variable outcomes. Essentially, a DV Range is the same as a Static DV with three to five degrees of possible success; for example, each weapon type in 3.23 - Weapons lists three to five DVs for its damage class.

When you make your SSI Check against a DV Range, you achieve the highest possible result for which your Check equals or exceeds the listed DV. For example, if a DV Range lists 5 DVs, and your SSI check equals or exceeds the first, second, and third, but not the fourth or fifth, then you have achieved the third result. Each DV Range clarifies what happens on each potential DV in its range. For example, the damage class of each weapon type lists how badly a target is injured or damaged by an attack.

SSI Check Bonuses

Some Traits and Equipment will grant you bonuses to some SSI Checks. When applying a bonus, simply add it to the total of your dice rolled to determine the final total of your SSI Check. Bonuses are always highly specific, and never apply to anything that is not directly relatable.

Spending Luck on SSI Checks

Whenever you make an SSI Check, you can choose to spend Luck. For each 1 point of Luck, add 1d8 to your SSI Check. Luck dice are in addition to your normal three dice, as well as any bonuses, but only apply to one dice roll. You can spend

SSI Check - Static Difficulty Values

DV	Description	Usage Rate
5	A person with minimal ability is almost guaranteed to succeed.	Uncommon
6	A person with minimal ability doesn't need much luck to succeed.	Uncommon
7	A person with minimal ability is more likely to succeed than fail. Someone with basic ability is almost guaranteed to succeed.	Infrequent
8	A person with minimal ability is as likely to succeed as fail.	Infrequent
9	A person with minimal ability is more likely to fail than succeed. Someone with basic ability doesn't need much luck to succeed. Anyone with moderate ability is almost guaranteed to succeed.	Infrequent
10	A person with minimal ability is relying on luck to succeed. Someone with basic ability is more likely to succeed than fail. Anybody with high ability is almost guaranteed to succeed.	Frequent
11	A person with minimal ability needs pure blind luck to succeed. Someone with basic ability is as likely to succeed as fail. Anyone with moderate ability doesn't need much luck to succeed.	Frequent
12	Someone with basic ability is more likely to fail than succeed. Anyone with moderate ability is more likely to succeed than fail. Somebody with extreme ability is almost guaranteed to succeed.	Frequent
13	A person with minimal ability cannot succeed. Someone with basic ability is relying on luck to succeed. Anybody with high ability doesn't need much luck to succeed.	Most Frequent
14	Someone with basic ability needs pure blind luck to succeed. Anyone with moderate ability is as likely to succeed as fail.	Most Frequent
15	Anybody with high ability is more likely to succeed than fail.	Most Frequent
16	Anyone with moderate ability is more likely to fail than succeed. Somebody with extreme ability doesn't need much luck to succeed.	Frequent
17	Anyone with moderate ability is relying on luck to succeed. Anybody with high ability is as likely to succeed as fail. Somebody with extreme ability is more likely to succeed than fail.	Frequent
18	Anyone with moderate ability needs pure blind luck to succeed.	Frequent
19	Someone with basic ability cannot succeed. Anybody with high ability is more likely to fail than succeed.	Infrequent
20	Somebody with extreme ability is as likely to succeed as fail.	Infrequent
21	Anybody with high ability is relying on luck to succeed.	Infrequent
22	Anybody with high ability needs pure blind luck to succeed.	Uncommon
23	Somebody with extreme ability is more likely to fail than succeed.	Uncommon

Luck on an SSI Check at any time before the results of the Check are applied. For example, your Narrator might tell you an SSI Check fails, but you can still spend Luck so long as the Narrator hasn't moved on to what happens next.

Pushing an SSI Check

If you fail an SSI Check, or don't get the result you want, you can spend 1 Resolve to reroll the Check. This is called a push. You can only push an SSI Check once, and the reroll does not include any Luck dice rolled with the Check.

2.12 - Measuring Stats

The second most common type of dice roll, a Stat Measure is used whenever you need to compare the strength of one stat against another. Usually this applies to your Humanity stats or your $Index value.

How Stat Measures Work

A Stat Measure tells you how effective one stat is when compared to another. To make a Stat Measure, roll 1d8 per

point of the stat being measured; each d8 that rolls 5 or higher is a win, and each die that rolls 4 or lower is a loss. Count the total wins and compare them against another stat (specified in the rules that told you to Measure your stat).

If the total number of wins you rolled is greater than the comparison stat, the difference between the two is called a positive span; conversely, if the total number of wins you rolled is less than the comparison stat, the difference between the two is called a negative span.

Exactly what happens with a positive or negative span from a Stat Measure depends on what you're measuring, and why. The rules telling you what to measure will specify what happens depending on the results.

2.13 - Making Flat Checks

The least common type of die roll is a Flat Check. These only happen when you just need to make a quick decision about something, or you need to quickly decide the result of an effect.

How Flat Checks Work

A Flat Check gives you a simple pass/fail result from one die roll. This could be any Style, Skill, or Interest die, depending on which rule, Trait, or effect told you to make the Check. Roll the relevant die: if it rolls 5 or higher, it succeeds.

Flat Checks are never affected by bonuses from Traits, and you cannot spend Luck on them. In rare cases, some Equipment might grant a bonus to specific Flat Checks.

2.14 - Rule of Cool

The cyberpunk genre is a lot of things, and one of those things is very cool. It's a cool genre, and it's obsessed with things that are cool. When life is a nightmare, at least you can be the coolest cat on the block while we all go down the drain. This applies to how you dress, how you talk, what you do, and how you do it.

In any situation, try to be on the lookout for the coolest thing you could possibly do, and then do it. Say the coolest thing, who cares if it's cheesy. Do the coolest stuff, who gives a damn how dangerous it is. Make the leap, take the chance, do the thing. You're gonna die anyway, and you can't possibly win, so why not go down with style.

Narrators, let the cool stuff happen. If someone wants to do something stupid, act accordingly, but if that something is also really cool, maybe cut them some slack. You and the Players are in this story together, let them hog the spotlight when they think of something awesome.

Rule of Cool in Gameplay

Mechanically, the rule of cool also comes up in dice rolls. Whenever you roll a Style die (for either an SSI Check or a

Flat Check), if your Style die rolls high enough (detailed on the table below) then cool shit happens. This effect happens whether or not the Check itself was successful. Minor NPCs don't use the Rule of Cool, but some major NPCs might.

When you roll cool shit, it's always good for you. Whether the Check succeeds or fails, something cool happens. Exactly what happens is based on context and Narrator discretion, but it is always positive for the person who made the Check that triggered it.

d4	d6	d8	d10	d12		Style Effect
1-4	1-5	1-6	1-7	1-9		Shit happens
—	6	7-8	8-10	9-12		Cool shit happens

2.15 - Negative States

Some things do more than hurt or cause setbacks, they are lingering problems. Things like radiation sickeness, starvation, deep cold, and the like, aren't just small problems you can shake off. What's worse, they compound each other and just make everything worse.

How Negative States Work

Anything that counts as a Negative State will be clearly indicated. Each Negative State remains until it is cured or removed (the requirements for which will also be clearly indicated by the effect that caused the Negative State). Keep track of your total current number of Negative States.

Whenever you make an SSI Check or Flat Check, if any Style, or Skill, or Interest die roll is equal to or less than your total current Negative States, bad shit happens. Exactly what happens is based on context and Narrator discretion. Bad shit is separate from whether or not the Check itself is successful; you can succeed on the Check as a whole but still get bad shit, or if the Check is a failure the bad shit just makes it worse.

Negative States and the Rule of Cool

It's possible, if you have enough Negative States currently active, to get both bad shit and cool shit on the same Check. This doesn't happen often but it's possible. They don't cancel each other out, it just means that whatever you're trying has some really interesting results.

2.16 - Managing Apathy

One of the biggest threats in the cyberstar wastes is also one of the best weapons in the corpo arsenal: apathy. That's it. Nothing more than simple, basic, apathy. The best thing that can happen, from a corporate perspective, is when people care just a little bit less. Everything they do just becomes a little easier.

It doesn't matter where the apathy comes from. When

your income fails and you can't make rent, your landlord's apathy toward your situation seeps into your heart a little. When you get assaulted on the street and no one helps, the crowd's apathy stains your soul. When you pass a homeless person begging for food, and you don't have enough to help them, your heart builds a little apathy as a defense mechanism. It comes from within and without; it's not something you choose, it's instinct, it's survival. And the more it builds, the less fight you have, the better it is for corps running the whole sick show.

Tracking Apathy

The Narrator usually assigns Apathy situationally; usually, this means 1d4 Apathy at a time. When the Narrator chooses to give out Apathy is a narrative and roleplaying decision, but can occasionally result from dice rolls (which will usually be stated directly in the relevant rules).

The basic idea is this: when someone is cruel to you or dismissive of your humanity, or when you are cruel to others or dismissive of their humanity, you gain Apathy. The overwhelming nature of society can also cause you to close up: whenever you view the news, spend time on social media, or spend time at a corpo job, the Narrator might rule that you gain some Apathy.

It's also possible to build Apathy between chapters. Whenever you make downtime rolls, some of the entries indicate that you gain Apathy. Almost all of them are only 1 point at a time, but sometimes you might make multiple rolls per downtime montage.

2.17 - Managing Dissonance

When anything around you can be an illusion, and when known real things can become illusions, it's difficult to retain connection to what's real. Because, in the end, what is real? What does real even mean? Why does it matter? Couple that with regular dips into cyberspace, and it starts to make sense why some people simply let go of reality.

The lives we build for ourselves online can be shaped more readily than the ones we experience in realspace. When you get down to it, we have very little real control over our everyday lives. But our lives online are designed to be controlled, from the way we look, to what we see and hear, to who can see and hear us. Who wouldn't prefer that?

Tracking Dissonance

Every time you enter IR or VR access for any reason, you immediately gain 1d4 Dissonance.

You can also gain additional Dissonance while you're doing things in either IR or VR, but those are largely narrative decisions. If you're a code jockey who comes across a piece of code so clean and efficient it makes you

want to cry, that might do it. Or if you're an athlete who plays the best game of VR basketball of your entire life, that could do it. Essentially, whenever you experience something profoundly positive online, you gain 1d4 Dissonance.

Additionally, whenever you encounter a person, a thing, or even a place in realspace that turns out to be a projection of cyberspace, the shock of it builds another 1d4 Dissonance. You might come across a footbridge that turns out to be a detailed projection put there by some prankster. A friend you've known for years could turn out to be an AI in display mode with projection indicators turned off. An entire warehouse near the stardock might turn out to be just a projection with its indicators turned off. Anything can turn out to be an illusion.

2.18 - Physical Dangers

When you're living life on the edge, you're going to run into problems most people never deal with. Corps want to eat you, and sometimes it seems like the universe wants to do the same. Space is cold and empty, radiation will hollow you out, and centrifugal force hits hard.

Falling Down

When you're on Starbase 65, there's no gravity pulling you downward (there's no gravity, and there's no down). You're dealing exclusively with centrifugal and Coriolis force. It's a bit much to detail here, but what matters is that there's no gravity to increase your speed when you fall off a bridge or get thrown out a window. Your momentum will retain the same direction and velocity, until you hit something.

When you fall, direction and momentum are dictated by what you were doing. The speed at which you fall is based on "height" (your distance from the deck plates). Find that distance on the table here; that row will tell you how fast you're falling, how long it'll take you to hit the deck, and how much damage you take.

Height	Time to Impact	Velocity (Damage)
0-1 m	1 second	─
2-4 m	1 second	8 m/s (Light)
5-9 m	1 second	8 m/s (Moderate)
10-19 m	1-3 seconds	7 m/s (Light)
20-39 m	3-7 seconds	6 m/s (Light)
40-79 m	8-16 seconds	5 m/s (Light)
80-159 m	20-40 seconds	4 m/s (Light)
160-319 m	53-106 seconds	3 m/s (Minor)
320-639 m	160-320 seconds	2 m/s (Minor)
640-1,279 m	640-1,279 seconds	1 m/s (Minimal)
1,280-2,559 m	41 m 40 seconds	< 1 m/s (─)
2,560+ m	Never	None

Of special note is that you're not going to risk snapping a leg just by jumping. Conservation of momentum will carry you safely, so long as your movement is within limits. So you can do normal activities without taking fall damage.

Extragravitic Impact

If you hit (or get hit by) a very large object, whether you're falling or not, use the velocity of either yourself or that object to determine how much damage you take. If you and the object are moving away from each other, subtract the smaller velocity from the larger; if you're moving toward each other, add the two velocities together.

Say, for example, you decide to run down the freeway, and there's a truck heading for you at 15 m/s. If you're running 3 m/s away from it, treat the impact as 12 m/s; if you're running toward the truck, treat the impact as 18 m/s.

	Velocity		Impact Damage
	> 32 m/s		Extreme
	32 m/s		Major
	16 m/s		Heavy
	8 m/s		Moderate

	Velocity		Impact Damage
	4 m/s		Light
	2 m/s		Minor
	1 m/s		Minimal
	< 1 m/s		─

Abstract Physics

If you're a physicist, please be gentle. I do my best to model some semblance of actual physics wherever possible, but I am (a) not a physicist, and (b) merely a storyteller trying to build a fun game system. Cyberpunk, as a genre, has never been as interested in hard science as it has themes and meaning. So please, enjoy the fun game.

Heart of the Machine • Telling Stories in NeoNeuro

2.2 - Telling Stories in NeoNeuro

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2.21 - Running a Scene

Donec lorem tellus, sollicitudin viverra ultrices at, bibendum eu eros. Duis vitae neque dolor. Curabitur pellentesque est nunc, id porttitor ante scelerisque at.

Getting Things Started

Before the first description or dialogue, there's a few things to take care of. These are the Prior Events Montage, and the Current Immersion of each player. Depending on how they come out, they might have an effect on your Scene.

Prior Events Montage

What happened before can sometimes color the events of the current Scene, good or bad. For every character who didn't take place in the Scene prior to the one you're about to start, roll on the Prior Events Montage table here. Work with the player to describe what happened, in as much or as little detail as desired. If characters were together, maybe they had the same event, or the events affected each other. Let the group weave the story as feels natural.

Importantly, this is a multi-roll table. Roll d100 once to determine the Type of event (this is largely a question of where it happened.) Then roll d100 again to determine the specific event. Sometimes an event will be specific to a character's Path or Hussle, each of which has its own table.

If a character took place in the Scene before the one you're about to play, or if for other narrative reasons it wouldn't make sense to have the Prior Events montage, then skip it. This is your group's story, tell it how you need to. It's not advised to skip it too much, though. The purpose of this system is to give players a sense of the world, and to simulate the effects that world has on anyone within it.

As a final note: This is described as a "montage" because it should be quick. This isn't a Scene to be played; it should not eat into the time you've alloted for the current Scene. Describe it only briefly, and if you feel like it use music and weave descriptions together to form a montage of events that took place "just a little while ago."

Current Immersion

As detailed in 2.3 - Computers and the AC, there are 4 levels of digital interface: Raw Meat (RMI), Augmented Reality (ARI), Augmented Virtual (AVI), and Virtual Reality (VRI). The type of interface a character begins the Scene with depends entirely on the player; let each player choose their own interface when the Scene begins. As described in 2.3, there are advantages to each. For the purposes of the Scene, it has specific effects.

Character begins Scene in RMI: No extra effect.
Character begins Scene in ARI: +1 Dissonance.
Character begins Scene in AVI or VRI: +2 Dissonance.

Prior Events Montage

d100	Type	d100	Event	Effect
01-14	Hangout	00-000	TBD	—
15-27	Home	00-000	TBD	—
28-50	Online	01-31	You spent most of your time being harassed by some random troll.	None
		32-50	You doom-scrolled too hard. One hopeless post after another, and another.	+1 Apathy
		51-63	Scrolling your feed, suddenly you see a live feed of murder or slaughter.	+1 Apathy
		64-81	You made a random post about something, and it got good engagement.	+ Views
		82-88	You watched in realtime as the market shifted against you.	-1 $Index
		89-100	Finance ping! The market shifted in your favor.	+1 $Index
51-64	Street	01-08	Someone died. Just right there, on the sidewalk. Stopped walking, and died.	+1 Apathy
		09-33	Cops or gangsters gunned someone down. No one even stopped.	+1 Apathy
		34-58	Gangsters did a drive-by, gunning down their target as well as random people.	+1 Apathy
		59-100	You stopped by a street vendor or corner restaurant for some quick food.	None
65-82	Path	—	Roll on your specific Path Prior Events Montage table.	—
83-100	Hussle	—	Roll on your specific Hussle Prior Events Montage table.	—

2.3 - Cyberware

Humans didn't just upgrade the technology that took them to the stars, they upgraded humanity itself. Flesh is great, but it only goes so far. Why not add some extra features? Not to mention the sheer versatility of mobility aids available for people who want to make use of them. Cyberware has come to define humanity in the Ex Century like few other technologies ever could.

The advancements of medical knowledge and cyber technology are so extreme that it's as easy to get your arm removed and replaced as it is to get a new tattoo. In fact, cyberware is viewed in much the same way. It can be a fashion statement for one person, mobility aid for another, combat enhancement for someone else, and so much more.

2.31 - Cyberware Installation

Deciding which cyberware you want to install is easily the most difficult part of installing it. A competent CyberDoc with the proper equipment can upgrade your organs, remove and replace an entire limb, or even add whole new limbs, and they can do so painlessly in just a couple hours.

Baseline Cyberware

The most basic cyberware is called "baseline," which just means it's a fairly straightforward replacement for normal human function. A baseline cyber hand doesn't do anything special that a human hand can't do; a baseline cyber eye can see like a normal human eye; and so on.

The purpose of baseline cyberware is twofold. For one thing, it serves as prosthesis for people who might need and want one. For another, it serves as a basis for installing

more advanced cyberware. You can't, for example, install heightened vision cyberware in a normal gelatinous orb; you first need a cyber eye to put the advanced tech into.

For ease of gameplay, buying and installing advanced cyberware assumes the installation of the baseline cyberware component necessary for its installation, if you don't already have it.

Cyberware Activation

Though some cyber-implants provide a constant passive benefit, many operate in a power-save mode and need to be activated in order to use them. This means charging muscle boosters, deploying wrist blades, booting up sensor software, or otherwise doing whatever is involved with bringing an implant to an active state. Though the specific details can vary greatly, this is broadly known as "activation." Generally, it takes little to no time, unless an implant description specifies otherwise.

Cyberware Cooldown

Some cyberware has a cooldown. Once it has been used, you can't use it again until a certain amount of time has passed. Typical cooldown lengths are Scene (you can't use it for the rest of the scene) or Chapter (you can't use it for the rest of the chapter). Cyberware with a cooldown of None can be left on indefinitely.

Baseline Functionality

Since all implants are installed with baseline cyberware, any cyberware that isn't activated is assumed to function like a regular meat version.

Cyberware Malfunction

No matter how advanced technology gets, it will always have problems. Cyberware is deeply complicated tech, and when different systems interact with each other it gets even more complex. Sometimes shit goes wrong.

Every cyber-implant has a complexity rating, which is a value between 0 and 6. Whenever you activate a cyber-implant, roll a cyber die, which is a simple 1d20. If the total rolled on your cyber die is equal to or less than the implant's complexity + half your total cyberware ranks, then your cyberware malfunctions.

Glitches In the System

When cyberware malfunctions, the specific effects are left to the Narrator as a narrative device. Your eyes might stop working when you need them most, your arm blades may only half deploy, your muscle enhancers might give way too much power, or any number of other effects.

Usually, the implant that malfunctions is the one you are trying to activate. To determine this, roll 1d100 + your total cyberware ranks. Compare your roll to the table below to learn which implant or implants malfunction.

	Roll		Which Cyber-Implant Glitches
	01-33		Activated cyber-implant
	34-60		Random different implant
	61-80		Activated cyber-implant, and one random different implant
	81-93		Two random different implants
	94+		Activated cyber-implant, and two random different implants

Complex Installation

In the same way that more complex cyberware makes glitches more likely, it also makes installation more difficult and more expensive. Every cyber-implant has a base cost you have to pay for installation. But it's also affected by how much cyberware you've already got installed. Increase the implant's cost by $ equal to your total cyber ranks x 0.1 (including the new ranks).

Similarly, every cyber-implant has an installation time, which is how long it takes a CyberDoc to install it. This time includes integrating it with both your body, and your existing cyberware. Increase the installation time of an implant (beyond its listed installation time) by 5 minutes per rank of all your cyberware (including the ones you're having installed).

Installation Restriction

You can only install one implant at a time, but you can install multiple ranks at a time. This means that you couldn't

DEV NOTE: My Language About Disability

One of my goals for NeoNeuro is to create a cyberpunk setting that doesn't dehumanize things like the loss of limbs, or different physical or mental ability. Too often the genre gets into "more chrome = less human," and that's just shitty to people whose lives are greatly improved by the use of prosthetics. Also I just think it's nonsense at its core.

That said, I'm still an able-bodied woman with no experience living with that sort of stigma or challenge. So if my wording is ever off, PLEASE call me on it. I'm actively trying, and would be grateful for correction.

install a Pre-Processor and Reactive Fibers in one sitting, but you can install 5 full ranks of Reactive Fibers in one surgery.

Furthermore, your body can only tolerate one cyber-installation per Book or Montage (or one in each, if you wish). You can undergo multiple medical procedures during any Montage, Book, Chapter, or even Scene, as the case may be, but installing cyber-ware is a much more invasive procedure than most any other medical effort. Your body needs time to adjust.

Low-Resource Cyberware (LRC)

Some implants require very little resources to operate once they're installed. LRC are installed and function in the same way as any other cyber-implants, but they only count as one-half a rank.

2.32 - Cyberware Groups

Similar types of cyber-implants are grouped together by broad function. For example, anything related to fast movement is under the SynFiber Reflexes group. Grouping implants together has two primary functions: it (1) makes finding specific cyberware easier, and (2) allows people of certain walks of life easier access.

Hussle Groups

Every Hussle lists a number of cyberware groups; cyber-implants that are generally associated with people who do what they do. In gameplay terms: you know how to get discounts for any cyberware groups associated with your Hussle. The cost of installing, upgrading, or repairing any cyberware included in your Hussle is 40% cheaper than it normally would be.

Exactly how you get those discounts depends on who you are, what you do, and who you know. For the most part, this should come naturally from your Origin, Path, or Hussle. If for whatever reason it doesn't seem obvious, you

	d100		Where You Get Cyber Discounts
	01-09		Corpo who exploits you
	10-13		Corpo who owes you
	14-26		Fixer who likes working with you
	27-43		Gang boss who thinks you're useful
	44-65		CyberDoc who's a good friend
	66-87		CyberDoc who owes you
	88-100		Viking chieftain who likes you

can always roll on the table below. Or, hell, use the table here as inspiration to pick from your own back-ground.

2.32a - Cosmetic Cyberware

Everyone knows that looking cool is more important than being cool. Well, okay not really, but we all know that if you don't look the part you won't get the part. Whether the part you want is to be the most popular, the biggest badass, the most feared, or the most invisible, it can be achieved with the right cosmetics.

Synth-Skin

You can improve your skin by replacing it entirely! Make it different colors, or shiny, or protect you from EMP, or deflect unwanted signal, or lots of other things. Or a whole bunch of them!

Base Cost: 2$; Installation: 12 hours.
Activation: Always active; Cooldown: None.
Benefits: For each rank of this implant, choose one of the benefits below. You can have up to 5 ranks.

ColorSet Flesh: (LRC) Your skin is a specific color of your choice, and remains that way permanently. Any color in the rainbow, in matte or chrome finish.
ColorShift Flesh: Your skin can be whatever color you want it to be, and you can change it with a thought. If you lose power, fall unconscious, or die, your skin reverts to its original color.
Complexion Perfection: (LRC) Your skin is always perfect. It is never blemished, and looks the way you want it to at all times. Bruises go away more quickly, and even injuries are less visible in less time (this doesn't affect internal damage, only the superficial visual).
Neon Tattoos: You have tattoos of whatever design, size, and placement you wish; the tattoos glow bright neon, in whatever shade you want. You can choose to turn the lights on or off with a thought.

2.32b - Cyber-Arms

One of the most common elective cybernetics is an arm. It's useful, and seen as a kind of status symbol; all zeroes have at least some kinda cyber-arm, and you can't zero without one. Of course, this goes double for people with disabilities, for whom a cyber-arm can be very useful.

Cyber-Arm Installation

Each cyber-arm comes in segments; you can't install a larger segment without installing the smaller segment as well (prices and installation times reflect this). Installation is a fairly quick procedure; you sit in the cyberdoc's chair, they get to work, maybe you watch a show or have a conversation, and you have a new cybernetic limb.

Cyber Punch

Cyber-Arm | Module
1 CR; 4$; 45 minutes

Micro-thrusters, weight manipulation, or miniaturized grav-rails drive your fist to hit targets with the force of a car. You can punch directly through any object made from ferrocrete or flimsier material. When you hit someone in combat, your fists and hands deal twice as much damage as they normally would.

Extra Arm

None | Extra (2)
3 CR; 8$; 90 minutes

This technically isn't an upgrade, but an entire extra limb. It contains the full three segments of any cyber-arm, and can be installed with any relevant upgrade that can be installed in a cyber-arm.

Knight Blade

Cyber-Wrist | Module
1 CR; 3$; 45 minutes

This is a long, straight, collapsible blade installed in your forearms. It can be extended from the front of your wrist above the hand, or out through the back of your elbows. The blade deal +6 damage. You can keep it extended for prolonged use, or extend and retract in a single action.

Powered Strength

Cyber-Arm | Enhancement (5)
1 CR; 4$; 45 minutes

While activated, you (1) ignore the recoil of all firearms held with this arm, and (2) can bend or break any object made from steel or flimsier material. Each subsequent installation of this same upgrade increases the type of materials you can bend or break by one rating (see full info for materials in 2.1 - Fighting the System).

Raptor Blade

Cyber-Wrist | Module
1 CR; 3$; 45 minutes

Mid-length, curved, double-edged blades installed in your forearm. To extend it, your forearm opens up entirely and the blade extends on sturdy support pins. The blade deals +10 damage, and can cut through anything made of steel or flimsier material. You can keep it extended for prolonged use, but activating it takes too much mechanical function to retract it quickly.

Resonance Mesh

Cyber-Hand | Module
1 CR; 4$; 60 minutes

The energy mesh fitted within the surface of your hand feeds on the energy of any combat shield it passes through. Whenever you hit a target that has an energy shield, add its shield rating to the damage of your attack. This applies whether you're hitting with your empty hands, or you're using blade upgrades.

Self-Preservation Algorithms

Cyber-Wrist | Enhancement
1 CR; 3$; 30 minutes

Your arms are fitted with monitoring software that reacts when you're in danger. Always active, they normally don't do anything. But when you are in a dangerous situation your arms can react to protect you. They'll catch a ledge if you fall, or try to hold off an object that would crush you. This effect happens whether you're aware of the danger or not, or even if you're unconscious.

2.32c - Cyber-Legs

Cyber-legs are nearly as iconic as arm enhancements, in part for their importance to people who need them and partly because they can be extremely useful. They don't have the same social cachet, but it's hard to argue against something that gives you the ability to jump 15 meters straight up. Leg injuries are also very common in a world where there's no real traffic laws.

Cyber-Leg Installation

Each cyber-leg comes in segments; you can't install a larger segment without installing the smaller segment as well (prices and installation times reflect this). Installation is a moderately quick; most of the difficulty involves making sure the limb will actually support your body weight, but also won't overcompensate.

LightWalker Enhancements

Cyber-Foot | Module
2 CR; 8$; 45 minutes

Utilizing the most advanced repulsor-tech on the market, your cyber-leg treats hardlight emplacements as solid. While activated, this foot treats any beam or ray of hardlight as if it were indestructible. This obviously doesn't apply to any part of you other than your foot.

Momentum Enhancers

Cyber-Leg | Module (5)
1 CR; 5$; 75 minutes

While activated, your movement speed is increased by 10% of its normal value. Each subsequent installation of this same upgrade increases the percentage bonus to 20%, 30%, 40%, up to 50%. If you have this upgrade installed on both legs, the bonus is doubled.

Powered Strength

Cyber-Leg | Module (5)
1 CR; 4$; 60 minutes

While activated, you (1) can jump twice as far as your normal maximum jumping distance, and (2) can kick or stomp through any object made from steel or flimsier material. Each subsequent installation of this same upgrade increases the type of materials you can bend or break by one rating (see full into for materials in 2.1 - Fighting the System).

2.32d - Cyber-Optics

Physical reality is so intermixed with the internet, it's often difficult to understand which is which. A good pair of optics can help separate one from the other. Alternatively, the right optics can enhance the mixture of reality and virtuality so much there's no real difference.

Cyber-Optic Installation

Each cyber-optic is purchased and installed individually; you can install one or both as you see fit (get it?). The price for each eye remains the same whether you get them individually or as a pair, but installation time for two eyes is the same as installation time for both.

When you activate your cyber-optics, you can choose to use one, some, or all of its current upgrades.

Aim Assist

Cyber-Optic | Software
1 CR; 2$; 15 minutes

While activated, your eyes predict the path of any bullet, projectile, or thrown object that emanates from your person. You gain 2d8 bonus dice on ranged attacks until the implant is deactivated.

Heat Tracking

Cyber-Optic | Module
1 CR; 1$; 15 minutes

While activated, instead of seeing in the light spectrum, you see in the heat spectrum. Colder temperatures appear blue, or even black; while hotter temperatures appear red or even white.

Light Enhancement

Cyber-Optic | Module
1 CR; 1$; 15 minutes

While activated, treat the area you're in as if it were 2 x brighter than it actually is.

Magnification

Cyber-Optic | Module (4)
1 CR; 1$; 30 minutes

While activated, you can zoom in your own vision, same as any camera. Image-stabilizing software keeps you from getting sick.

Baseline upgrade allows you 2x magnification, and each subsequent installation of this same upgrade doubles that to x4, x8, and up to x16.

Recording Software

Cyber-Optic | Software
1 CR; 2$; 15 minutes

While activated, your cyber-optics record everyything they see. This video is stored either on your internal hard drive, on the cloud, or on an external drive; you can choose which, when you activate this function.

Target Tracker

Cyber-Optic | Software (5)
1 CR; 2$; 15 minutes

While activated, you can "mark" up to 2 objects, people, or vehicles that you have line of sight to. Marking a target takes no time; it's just a thought. If you mark a target when you're already tracking your maximum number of targets, the 1st target is dropped and all targets shift up one value.

Until you deactivate this implant, you can see where each target is located, including their range from you. Even if you lose line of sight, your software tracks that target's position as long as they remain within the same atmosphere you're in.

Each subsequent installation of this same upgrade doubles the maximum number of targets to 4, 8, 16, up to 32.

2.32e - Neuralware

Easily the single most common type of cyberware, since NeuroChain installation for newborns is just standard procedure in every modern hospital. Aside from its standard benefits, this installation also makes it easier to install other neuralware, effectively serving as an inroad for further brain augmentation.

Neuralware Installation

2 CR; 2$; 90 minutes

Most neuralware is installed with the application of self-guided bio-synthetics that follow the user's existing neural structure and adapt to any future changes. This makes every installation unique, though the tech is extremely common. The cyberdoc usually goes in through the base of the skull, or at the temples, and lets the implant almost install itself.

Note: This is a highly painful procedure; neural anesthesia strongly recommended.

Drive Doubler

Neuralware | Hardware | Max 5 ranks
0 CR; 3$; 180 minutes
Physical quantum storage drive installed in the user's brain that functions as an extension of the existing neural storage drive, increasing storage capacity tremendously.

For each rank of this enhancement, the user's ICS Storage is doubled.

NeuroChain

Neuralware | Module | Max 1 rank
0 CR; 1$; 120 minutes
Allows the user to give, receive, and retain any UCT. Connects wirelessly to the AtomNet, and can communicate with all computers and other NeuroChain implants anywhere in the same atmosphere. Authenticates or rejects all attempted transactions made on the neural block chain.

Allows the user to give, receive, and retain any UCT (currency, vehicles or homes, hotel access, valid water access, etc.).
Communicates with all other NeuroChain implants on the same network (which means; anywhere in the same atmosphere), authenticating or rejecting any transfers made by the individual or others.
Generates one NeuroCoin tied to the individual's genetic code, and immediately places it for trade on the $Index. The coin is then valuated, and this value is updated per station cycle for the life of the individual (indicated by $ or NC).

Precalculation Suite

Neuralware | Software | Max 5 ranks
0 CR; 6$; 5 minutes
Analyzes the user's surroundings, predicting things like the movement of nearby objects, structural makeup, most likely actions of other people, and more. This allows the user to predict the results of physical actions within a certain degree of accuracy.

Before taking any physical action, you can use cyber actions to calculate the most likely results of what you intend to do. This grants you a bonus to your next few physical actions (up to 1 action per rank) equal to your ICS Processor + your ranks in this enhancement.

Using this software suite involves complex math based on measurable movements, all of which are changed by using the software itself; once you've used this enhancement, you can't do so again for the rest of the current scene.

This enhancement cannot be used to precalculate social actions or cyber actions.

2.32f - Neo-Nerves

Cost: 8$; Liability: (3d10)
Installation: 24 hours
Activation: Always active; Cooldown: None

2 cyberware ranks grant 1 upgrade

Enhances reflex control, reaction time, and movement precision by making adjustments to the nervous system and muscles. The critical element is an Event Processing
Unit (EPU). This dedicated processor allows your
reactions to seem much faster than they
actually are, by virtue of predicting what's
happening around you.

Enhanced Pre-Processor

Your EPU can be set to measure the
movements of all people and objects
around you, predicting their most likely
paths. While activated, you gain a
bonus 1d4 to all checks related to
making faster, more accurate
movements. You can install this
upgrade multiple times, increasing
the bonus die to 1d6, 1d8, 1d10,
up to 1d12.

Overclock

You can tune your reflexes
and your EPU to such a high
level that you're capable of moving and acting
at speeds normal humans can't hope to match.
While activated, you can take two actions for
every single action that other people in the Scene
take. You can install this upgrade up to 5 times,
and each subsequent installation increases your
number of actions by 1.

Proactive Reflexes

Always Activated
Pre-programmed to return to default values, your
own reflexes will compensate for your misteps. If
you fail any check that results in a fall, slip, or
vehicle crash, you can instantly remake the same
check. Once you've done this, the upgrade needs to
cool down and can't provide you this benefit again
until the next scene. Each subsequent time you
install this upgrade, you can use its benefit one
additional time per scene, up to a maximum of 5
times per scene.

2.32g - Skeletal Enhancement

Cost: 4$; Liability: (3d8)
Installation: 12 hours
Activation: Always active; Cooldown: None

2 cyberware ranks grant 1 upgrade

In the old days, people used to graft durable materials to their bones for extra support. Modern cybertech is beyond that; you can replace your bones entirely with better
materials that serve the same function but
provide additional benefits.

Carbon Nanotube Reinforcement

Your Health is increased by 1 point. You can
install this same upgrade up to 5 times.

Frame Reinforcement

You can carry and lift twice as much as
you'd normally be able to. If you are
also upgraded with the Enhanced
Musculature cyberware, the combined
effect of these augs let you carry
and lift up to five times as much
as you'd normally be able to.

2.32h - Synth-Flesh

Cost: 2$; Liability: (3d6)
Installation: 12 hours
Activation: Always active; Cooldown: None

1 cyberware rank grants 1 upgrade

Replacing your own skin with nano-fiber micro-weave synthetic flesh is a deeply invasive and horrific procedure on the table, but its benefits are incomperable.

Radiation Shielding

You're not susceptible to any radiation up to
1 Bq. Each subsequent installation of this
upgrade increases the protection by 1 Bq, up
to a maximum of 10 Bq.

Subdermal Armor

Your synth-flesh protects you from
punctures, lacerations, burns, and more;
reduce physical damage taken by 1
point. Each subsequent installation
of this upgrade increases the
protection by 1 point, to a
maximum of 5.

2.4 - Computers and the AC

Computers are as common now as historians claim paper was back on Earth. They're in our pockets, in our heads, our car engines, store kiosks, toys, sometimes they're even in our clothes. Anything and everything can have at least some measure of computing power. When installed in objects they're used to control the features and functions of that object; when installed in our bodies they're used as tools for interfacing, access, and storing what we want to keep.

Throughout, between, and within all of these is the Adam Cloud (AC). Most tech is just so much junk without it, and society couldn't exist if not for the AC. Ironically, it's the part of computer systems that nobody ever really talks about. The AC is always just kinda there, nobody really gives it much thought.

The Adam Cloud

Technically called the Atom Cloud, "Adam" is a colloquial usage that became the norm. These days, even official docs tend to call it the Adam Cloud (this drives some techs up the wall). Its original name, of course, is derived from its existence and usage on the atomic level.

The Adam Cloud exists within atmosphere, and is carried by it. Where there is breathable atmosphere, the Adam Cloud is there. It stems from various manufacturing plants spread across each starbase and space station; they constantly regulate the AC content of the local atmosphere, and generate accordingly. Whenever any starship docks at a station and equalizes atmo, the AC is carried along with it. You almost can't find places without AC, it takes a lot of effort to avoid.

The AC serves three primary functions:

Carries Power to everything that needs it. Capable of sustaining and transferring an electrical current, the AC carries electricity to all points. All electronic devices, from laptops to the latest cyber-implants, constantly draw power from the AC. Most electronics are built without any form of battery, because they're perma-charged as long as they're in the AC.
Carries Signal to anything that uses it. Not too different from an electrical current, the AC carries and transfers signal. This means anything designed to communicate with other devices can see and connect to any other device that's in the same atmosphere. The only devices it can't connect to are ones that move into a different atmosphere (or out of any atmo entirely).
Reads the Environment to detect physical objects. This function is an added element, implemented in X083. It

serves as a useful tool for anyone connected to the AC, allowing those with IR access (see below) to see the locations of all devices and structures.

Interface Ratings

The methods of interfacing with a computer system each have a different effect on what you can or can't do.

Raw Meat Interface (RMI) Not a technical definition, but you've turned off your ICS' input-output software. You can't see or hear anything your ICS might show you, and nothing you do will cause your ICS to do anything. You can't use any interfaces, open doors, buy or sell anything, view any news or social media, listen to your music, access products or services, anything. You basically can't use or access anything but hardtech.
While in RMI, you have no INLaT. When people speak you see & hear the language they're actually speaking; when you read text, you see its original language. RMI gives you raw reality, so if you encounter a language you don't know, you can't understand it.
Also, while in RMI you don't see or hear any ads. No holograms, billboards, or pop-ups, no ad jingles, announcements, corporate branding, or warnings.
Augmented Reality Interface (ARI) Your ICS is on and active; you can see and hear things that aren't really there, things your ICS tells your brain to see and hear. This is the most common Interface method, to the point where it's assumed. Most people and situations will assume you're in ARI. When you enter ARI, gain +1 Dissonance.
While in ARI, you have INLaT. When people speak, you hear a language you know (usually the one you were raised with). Your ICS even adjusts what you see, so that people's mouths seem to move appropriately to the words you hear them speaking. When you read anything, your INLaT autotranslates it into your primary language, and tells your brain that's what you're seeing.
You also see ads. Every hologram, pop-up, brand jingle, and more, are all visible and audible because your ICS tells your brain they're there. Interfaces, door panels, market screens, social media, personal comms, and more, all appear around you wherever you choose. They usually take the form of semi-transparent holo-displays; ads and corpo interfaces take on corporate branding, but your own displays can look however you prefer.
By contrast, you are presented with Neura-Light, which is a limited version of Neura (see AVI below). You see semi-opaque plantlife and foliate growing everywhere, holographic waterfalls, and similar beautification.

Lastly, you can read the Public Data of anything you see (see CodeBlock 2.43). You must have physical line of sight to the subject, and can turn this on or off. You cannot access external files or software with ARI.
Augmented Virtual Interface (AVI) Your ICS replaces the world around you with a virtual representation. This Enhanced Reality Appearnace (ERA) can look like anything at all. You still see buildings, objects, and people, but they take on the apparance dictated by your ERA. When you enter AVI, gain +2 Dissonance.
Every ICS is installed with NeuroCorp AVI Community ERA, or "Neura." Neura shows you the buildings, objects, and people around you in an idealized way: streets are clean, there is sunlight shining from a giant golden star nearby, and SB65 is a verdant living space, where every building is covered with lush plantlife. Everyone around you is peaceful, happy, and speaks in a calm manner. In the distance, you hear the NeuroCorp company song, played in a gentle, soothing tone.
Other ERA software exists. Anything written by standard corporate contract is prohibitively expensive, but any ERA not written by corporate contract is illegal.
You see ads everywhere. Every flat surface has an ad on it, every interface has a pop-up, brand jingle, and more. Interfaces, door panels, market screens, social media, personal comms, and more, all appear around you wherever you choose. They always retain an apperance that matches the ERA you're using.
AVI lets you can read the Public Data of anything you see (see CodeBlock 2.43). You must have physical line of sight to the subject, and can turn this on or off. This also allows you to access external files and software, with which you can rip software (see CodeBlock 2.42).
Virtual Reality Interface (VRI) Your ICS turns off all visual, audio, and physical stimuli and replaces them with an entirely virtual reality. It depicts SB65 in the same way as AVI. You are represented by an avatar of yourself; this holo looks like you by default, but you can install soft to look like anything or anyone. When you enter VRI, gain +3 Dissonance.
While using VRI, you can "travel" anywhere. Your body doesn't actually move, but your conscious mind can go anywhere. You can move in an instant to and from any location in the same atmosphere. You can set your avatar to Display, which means other people see and hear you if they're using ARI, AVI, or VRI. You can also set your avatar to Private, which means no one can see or hear you without apps designed for that purpose.
VRI is also capable of Full VR. This is usually locked, but you can unlock it with corporate or ripsoft apps. In Full VR you don't see an ERA display, you see the raw ANet.

Storage Capacity

Apps are written with complex algorithms, sometimes even limited AI. App sizes can be huge, and modern hardware's gotta keep up.

Most apps are measured in exabytes (EB); one of those is 1,024 petabytes (PB). For context, 1 PB is about a thousand terabytes, and that's about a thousand GB. The average schmo has a solid-state drive (SSD) with a capacity of roughly 500 EB, and that's good enough.

Anybody who uses lots apps or needs more carrying space (Couriers, NetNinjas, yadda) usually has storage space measured in zettabytes (ZB); just one of which is 1,024 EB. So 3 ZB storage capacity is usually more than anybody ever usually needs.

Common Files: Regular UCTs that aren't apps (songs, videos, word docs, things like that), are measured in KB, MB, and GB values. They're not relevant to storage.

Purple lines of code flash in every direction, looking a lot like circuitry that extends into empty blackness. Everything with a UCT is displayed as a blue icon, secured UCTs display in red, and firewalls are giant golden barriers.
While in VRI, but not Full VR, you see ads everywhere, just like most other interface types. You can access door panels, market screens, and anything else that is based in software, but you can't interact with anything physically. You can't pick up objects, hit things, use weapons, or the like. You also can't be interacted with physically.
Though you retain no physical sensation from your body while in VRI, it still exists in its normal state. It still needs food and water, and is still just as fragile as any other meat sack (cyberaugmentation notwithstanding).
VRI lets you can read the Public Data of anything you see (see CodeBlock 2.43). You must have physical line of sight to the subject, and can turn this on or off. This also allows you to access external files and software, with which you can rip software (see CodeBlock 2.42).
Lastly, while in Full VR, you can dive into software. This lets you see cloudsites, UCTs, and apps from inside their very code. This grants you a bonus to all SSI Software Checks equal to your current ICS Power (see CodeBlock 2.41).

Hacking and Ripping

When faced with encryption, passwords, firewalls, or any other method of computer or network security, there's two ways to get to where you want to be. One is hacking, which is just finding loopholes in security or ways to go around it. This is as simple as sending a phishing email, or conning someone into giving you their bank account number. Hacking is as old as dirt.

The modern method is ripping. It requires VRI, because it's

not about loopholes or workarounds, it's about tearing apart defensive systems with your own apps and coding skills. This requires a level of direct observation that isn't possible through more shallow interface. NetNinjas say that hacking is about "gaming the system," and ripping is about "looking code in the eye."

2.41 - Hardware Everywhere

Can't really do anything these days without good hardware (or any hardware). Everyone has NeuroChain cyberware in their heads and an ICS, which is a kind of computer in your blood stream. Anyone who doesn't have these things is an exception, and often struggles to function in the modern galaxy. Most people also have one type of extra processing software or another in their skulls.

For most people, a basic ICS is enough; it'll keep them connected, run their social media apps, hold all the things they own, etc. However cyberpunks, runners, gangsters, and the like tend to prefer at least some upgrades. And some people — mostly NetNinjas — rely on the most updated hardware and software they can get their hands on.

Internal Computing System

Alongside the NeuroChain, every infant is given an Internal Computing System (ICS). This has multiple components, all of which combine to turn your blood stream into a functioning computer. You've got nanites in your blood that work a bit like the AC, carrying signal like the circuitry of a hardtech computer, but not a charge. It's also got a connection to your NeuroChain, which is how you're able to interact with modern tech.

When you see a holo-display, it's not really there: your ICS is telling your brain to see it. When you hold an audio call with a friend, you're not hearing their voice: your ICS is telling your brain what your friend said, because the ANet algos are reading your friend's words and gestures and giving them to you in realtime.

The hardware and software you're rocking tells you what your ICS is capable of. All modern computers, including the one in your blood, have three things: Processing, RAM, and Storage. These have specific effects:

Processing is how powerful it is. Most CPUs are installed in the brain, but some are installed in the spine. Usually measured in Exahertz (e.g., a 4 EHz processor). Most CPUs have a minimum of 384 cores, but the only thing anybody really cares about is the measured capacity it can use at any moment (not counting over-clocking and the like).
RAM is where things get temporarily stored so your ICS can do complex things. RAM is almost always installed in the skull, giving it a measure of stability (provided you don't

Unique Containment Tokens

A Unique Containment Token (UCT)is a digital identifier that is recorded on the blockchain. It cannot be copied, substituted, or subdivided. Ownership of a UCT as recorded in the blockchain and can be transferred, allowing UCTs to be sold and traded

Everything digital is a UCT. Every file, app, image, or video, no matter what it does, is contained in a UCT. You can never duplicate a UCT; the baseline code makes that impossible. If you want a copy, you've got to create it from scratch. There's software you can use to make multiple UCTs from the same source file (music & movie companies use it a lot), but that software is expensive and heavily regulated.

Most media consumption is done by a UCT owner granting temporary access to other people, usually for a fee. People make music playlists viewable by anyone, so you can listen to someone's playlist wherever you are; but if they close access it goes away. Corps sell temporary access to movie UCTs, and tend to charge more for newer releases. Game devs sell view and use access to their work, but can revoke it at any time.

Unique Control Tokens

A Unique control Token (also UCT) is also a digital identifier recorded on the blockchain, but it's tied to a unique structure of neurofiber embedded in a physical object. That means every car, gun, apartment, child's toy, or any other manufactured object is a UCT. A lot like UCT software; when you own one you can use it, give it, or control use permissions.

If you don't have ownership or use permission for a UCT, you can't do anything with it. The car won't start, the apartment door won't open, the toy won't work. Every physical object made under corporate control has neurofiber locked to a UCT. Most things are too expensive to purchase, so people rent.

get hit in the head a lot). Usually measured in Exabytes (EB), it's like having a desk to keep your mess on; the more you have, the more things you can do at once.
Storage is where you put things for long term. Storage can be installed anywhere in the body, but is usually stored in the base of the neck (just an industry standard). Measured in Exabytes (or sometimes zettabytes if you're a badass (or like to front)), this is where you keep all your software. Music, movies, games, porn, apps, every UCT you own is kept in storage.

ICS Power

The combination of your ICS' Processing and RAM tells you a lot about what it's capable of. If it can process things faster, that's good; if it can do more things at once, that's good; and the more you can combine those factors, the better. This culminates in an abstract term called ICS Power, as

determined on the table below, based on your CPU and RAM (generated in CodeBlock 1.13, but can be upgraded).

CPU Speed	4+ EB RAM	8+ EB RAM	16+ EB RAM	32+ EB RAM	64+ EB RAM
1+ EHz	1	2	2	3	3
2+ EHz	2	3	3	4	4
3+ EHz	3	3	4	4	5
4+ EHz	4	4	5	5	6
5+ EHz	5	5	6	6	7

Cyber Actions

Whenever you're doing things in VRI, and it comes down to how much you can get done in the shortest amount of time, you measure things by cyber actions (see CodeBlock 0.00). The number of cyber actions you can take is equal to ICS Power + Techie avg. This means a luddite with the shittiest ICS in space can take 3 actions at once, whereas an expert with the latest hardware can take 13 actions.

2.42 - Ripping Systems

When you need to breach a firewall, open encrypted data, or access something you're not supposed to, ripping is the choice of any NetNinja worth their hardware. It's less about figuring out what someone's password is, and more about actively ripping encryption apart.

This kinda thing's only possible with modern heuristic algorithms, bleeding edge processing, and VI apps. It also needs guidance; whether that's a person or an AI doesn't matter, it's just gotta come from a conscious self-aware thinker capable of making judgment calls. No software can just be set on idle to breach a modern system.

Basic Ripping

The most basic element of ripping is this: you want access to a network, computer, or piece of hardware (like a car, a door, a person, etc.) that you don't have access to; using your own software, you try to break through its encryption without worrying about passwords.

You can only break encryption by using a utility app designed to decrypt things. If you do break the encryption, you gain admin access; you can turn things off/on, change settings, read/write data, add/delete files, copy files, upload any kind of malware, whatever.

Even once you disconnect from the system, you've got access until someone re-encrypts it. Some gonks won't even notice, but most folks re-encrypt on a schedule.

Advanced Ripping

With IR access, you can see the network ID of every IR token not blocked by something. Even if they're far away, you can

click on them to see what they are, just so long as they're in the same atmo and not blocked. Things like a person's Online ID (OID), a car's make and model number, a computer's Network ID, or anything like that. Anything that tells you what you're looking at.

You can't see individual files or apps; those are inside the tokens. If you want to see what a token is carrying, you need to first gain access. This requires you to move close enough to an IR token to reach out and "touch" it, which is roughly within 1 meter.

Secured Systems

Some areas of the AC are locked behind firewalls. If you have the password to that firewall, you can move through the firewall by spending a cyber action (on top of the one you used to move, if you did). If you don't have the password, you can't go through.

In IR, a secured area looks like a giant golden barrier (#F8EF00) with white circuitry (#FFFFFF). Unlike the normal red surfaces around you, you can't move through it without access. If you touch the gold barrier doing so immediately alerts all SysAdmins for that area. Plus, if that barrier is secured with Intruder Countermeasure Electronics (ICE), it instantly activates and targets you.

If you gain access to a secured system, you can move throughout it as freely as you can the rest of the AC. You can also access any IR tokens within the system, but every time you do so you alert all SysAdmins for the area. Some secured areas also add to the encryption of any IR tokens within their borders.

Mobile Tokens

People, vehicles, and some other IR tokens can move. When they do so, their location in IR always corresponds to their location in realspace. While within a secured system, they can't be accessed unless you are able to enter that system; if they leave the area, they're no longer protected by the secured system.

Unsecured Tokens

People are idiots, and sometimes that means they don't lock their shit. If you encounter an person, computer, or any other IR token that's not encrypted, you can freely look into it and do anything else you'd like. Effectively anyone who so much as looks at an unsecured system has admin access.

2.43 - Online Profiles

Everything that happens online leaves a some data behind, and almost everything that ever happens these days has some form of online component. People text about stuff, computers leave trace logs, map apps auto-tracks locations, people have to log in and out of most buildings, websites

constantly track activity for ad purposes, and more. Leaving a digital footprint is a given, the hard part is controlling it.

What's In An Online Profile

All data is classed in four categories: Public, Market, Secure, and Dark. Every noun has data related to it on the ANet, and every bit of it falls into one of those four categories. The category applied to a particular UCT or line of data places certain restrictions on what can or can't be done with it.

Public Data

This data is unprotected, which is generally because it's intended to be information everyone else should know about the subject it applies to. If some kind of secret information gets marked as public, that's usually an error. Some examples of public data:

Name The subject's legal name, literal name, brand name, or other designation.
Handle Locked Everyone has a handle. For objects, model number takes the place of a Handle.
Pronouns If the subject has any.
Language Most people operate with an INLaT, but you can see what language they're really speaking, reading, and hearing.
Standing Bounty Locked The size of the reward for turning the subject in to police, updated in realtime.

Market Data

This data is general corporate property, and thus is protected from public view. The only market data you're authorized to view is your own, and viewing another person's market data is legally trespassing. Some examples of market data:

Housing History Current housing, past housing, rental trust score, ownership viability, all of it.
Medical History Hardcoded From every stubbed toe to every major surgery.
Purchasing History Every object purchased outright; for most people this will be short, or blank.
Rental History Full history of rental memberships in stores, hotels, restaurants, all of them.
Romantic History Marriages and divorces, long and short term relationships, blind dates, all of it.
Sexual History Physical sexual activity, online porn preferences, stated sexual interests, and the like.

Secure Data

This data is property of the specific corporation that owns the subject's citizenship (or owns the subject entirely). You may view your own secure data by purchasing timed access to the files, but viewing it without permission (or viewing the

secure data of any other subject) is legally theft. Some examples of secure data:

Corporate Profile Subject's current or past corporate employment history, if any.
Criminal History Hardcoded If the subject ever stole a pencil, or murdered a corporate exec, it's here.

Dark Data

Technically this isn't an official data category, it just means data that's been secured as much as it can be. Since dark data is hidden from everyone except the person who put it there, legally that's considered theft of corporate data. Which means if anyone finds it, you could be in trouble.

Accessing Online Profile Data

Whether or not you can access a piece of information depends on its data class. Any access can be accomplished by looking at a target for more than a few seconds with an AR or VR display, or by looking up their handle online.

Public This data is unrestricted. If you access anyone's public profile in any way, you'll see this first. Accessing this usually doesn't require an SSI check, but if it does it's usually DV 3.
Market This data is restricted. Accessing it requires an SSI Check: usually Techie + Software + Hacking or Ripping against DV 16.
Secure This data is restricted. Accessing it requires an SSI Check: usually Techie + Software + Hacking or Ripping against DV 20.
Dark This data is hidden. Accessing it requires an SSI Check: usually Techie + Software + Hacking or Ripping against the subject's Personal Data Encryption (PDE).

Controlling Online Profile Data

Sometimes you might want to control who has access to your profile data. This can be difficult, and is usually illegal, but it's doable with the right skills and software. As a scene action, you can make an SSI check to attempt one of the following actions:

Encrypt Data Class DV 13 You can encrypt your Public, Market, or Secure data. The DV to access an encrypted data class is increased by 3.
Mask Data Line DV 17 You can mask one data line with false data. Anyone who accesses it must beat your PDE to recognize it's fake, and must beat it again to access the original masked data.
Secure Data Line DV 15 You can move one data line from Public to Market, from Market to Secure, from Market to Dark, or from Secure to Dark.

Hardcoded data is coded to remain in place; the DV to Mask or Secure it is increased by 3. Locked data cannot be Secured, and the DV to Mask it is increased by 6.

2.44 - Veracity of Knowledge

One important aspect of living in modern times is that it can be difficult to find truth. Sure you can find data, information, even facts. The problem comes in whether or not any of that holds any truth when compared to reality. Even worse; can you find any real reality to compare your data to for verification?

Truth in Online Searches

Whenever you find information on the ANet, it may or may not be true. Whether this is someone's address, the gross domestic product of NeuroCorp, the population of a particular sector, which celebrity is dating which, or anything other possible fact, there's a chance it won't be true.

The most common SSI check to find info online is Smart + Awareness + [Relevant Interest]. Whether or not you find any information pertinent to your search query is based on whether your check beats the DV, per usual. If you can't find anything, then you can't find anything. However, if you do find something, the Narrator must then make another check.

In secret (or in view of the group, if you've agreed to a Fully Shared Narrative), the Narrator rolls 3d8; if the Narrator's roll is equal to or lower than the player's SSI check, then the results of the search are true; if the Narrator's roll is higher, then the results are false.

Whether or not the players are aware of the information's truthfulness, the characters don't know. The only way they can discover the information is false is to make an identical search and beat the Narrator's roll, or to find out the hard way (in whatever way that might be relevant to the search topic). Discovering the information to be false may or may not cause 1 Dissonance, depending on how important that information was to each character.

CodeBlock 3.0

Cyberstar Wasteland

"The best thing we ever did was stop
pretending consumers were people."

Buckley Rutherfurd III

3.2 - Markets and Equipment

Nobody gets anything done without something to do it with. Can't shoot anybody without a gun, can't fix anything without the right tools, can't travel the stars without a ship. This makes any kind of tool, clothing, transport, or any other equipment valuable, which means Corps want full exclusive control.

You've got three options whenever you need to get some kind of particular equipment: make it yourself (covered in 3.3 - Crafts and Manufacturing), buy it from the black market, or buy it from a Corporation. The first is very resource intensive and severely illegal, the second is easier but illegal and dangerous, and the third requires NeuroChain.

3.21 - NeuroChain

Central to the economy, corporate governance, and simple everyday life, NeuroChain is the basis for all legal finance, ownership, and distribution throughout known space. It's a form of blockchain that manages every transfer of cryptocurrency, ownership of property, and legality of location. Thanks to the Adam Cloud and the installation of NeuroChain cyberware, that means essentially everywhere.

Anyone who doesn't have a NeuroChain implant has no access to anything that requires it; which means everything legal. Nearly everyone has the implant, due largely to the sheer breadth of NeuroChain's integration. Without NeuroChain you can't have, give, or receive money; you also can't rent an item (or use an item that requires ownership), rent a home, rent or use any vehicle, access most places in any station or starbase, and much more.

The only recognized cryptocurrency is NeuroCoin. People can and do use others, but $ remains the standard. Every person is issued one coin linked to their genetic code. The intent of this was to let everyone start with something. "No one should be born with nothing," was the idea. What's come of it isn't so rosy. Corps adjusted to the new framework more quickly than the rest of society, and took advantage of the opportunity. This was easy, since they already viewed people in terms of monetary worth.

Using NeuroCoin

Your one NeuroCoin has a market value, which essentially becomes your value as a person. The more assets you hold, the higher your NeuroCoin will rise on the market, and subsequently your worth as a person in society. The more liabilities you hold, the lower your NeuroCoin will go. If your NeuroCoin is valuable enough, you can just have stuff; if it's too low, you lose access to everything you've rented or gained access to through memberships.

Gaining Assets

There are two main kinds of assets: one is a personal asset, which is a UCT saying someone else owes you, the other is a pure asset, which means a UCT over which you have full ownership. A personal asset might be payment someone owes you, gambling winnings, or the reward for a gig; a pure asset might be a car, apartment, or other physical object.

Gaining personal assets is usually a roleplaying matter, such as winning a game of poker or completing a job. Each is usually unique to you and your situation.

Gaining pure assets involves making a direct purchase, provided you have a license. Purchasing licenses can be purchased by anyone, but UCTs can only be purchased if you have a license to purchase UCTs of that class. If your $ is equal to or higher than the Market Value of a license or UCT, you can purchase it. This reduces your $ by half the license or UCT's Market Value, but you gain the associated license or ownership of the UCT. A purchasing license does not count as an asset.

Taking on Liabilities

Similarly, there are two main kinds of debts: one is a personal liability, which is a UCT saying you owe someone else; the other is a granted liability, which means a UCT owned by someone else to which you are granted revokable access permissions, not ownership.

While your $ is higher than 0, you can take on liabilities. Personal liabilities are things like gambling loss, extortion payments, protection payments to local gangs, and the like. Granted liabilities might be a store membership for food, transit membership to move around the station, or renting a car. For most people, this is the only viable way to legally acquire gear, housing, food, and more.

There is no limit to how much liability you can take on, but while your $ is 0 or lower, you can't take on liailities. Any existing liabilities remain, you just can't start new ones. The only exception is any UCT tagged as necessary, such as food memberships.

NeuroCoin on the Market

Barring extenuating circumstances, you'll only ever have one single NeuroCoin your entire life. Tied to your genetic code, this coin is traded on the NeuroCoin Index ($Index, or $I). Every station Cycle, the market adjusts, and your $ will become more or less valuable based on the interactions of your assets and liabilities.

At the start of every station Cycle, market AI auto-updates all $. Measure your total number of assets (not their market

values), and measure your total number of liabilities. Your $ increases by 0.1 for each Win of your assets measure, and decreases by 0.1 for each Win of your liabilities measure.

Special Assets and Liabilities

A unique form of asset and liability, called a special asset or special liability, is actually your $ itself. If your $ is higher than 0, it counts as an asset, and if your $ is lower than 0, it counts as a liability.

Ownership and Licensing

As mentioned, ownership of anything and everything is regulated by the use of Purchasing Licenses (not to mean buying a license, but literally a license to purchase things). It's illegal to buy something for which you don't have a relevant Purchasing License. Apartments, houses, buildings, vehicles, starships, weapons; literally anything that isn't consumable can only be bought if you have the license to do so. So most folks just rent stuff.

This of course doesn't apply to consumable goods like food, drink, ammo, fuel, and so on. You can't embed any NeuroFiber filaments in a drink, or in food; it's not cost effective. You can put it in the container of course, and control the sale of the container, but then once it's bought it's gone and there's no ongoing profit.

For consumable goods, companies usually charge some kind of subscription fee. Even mom-n-pop shops do it; you pay a small fee every Cycle, that lets you get anything you need so long as your $ is good.

3.22 - Purchasing Licenses

Purchasing licenses aren't UCTs in their own right. When you buy a purchasing license, all that happens is your name gets added to a roster of names on the relevant purchasers list for a particular class of item. Whenever you try to purchase a specific class of item, AI checks that list for your name, and you're either on it or you're not.

These lists are, obviously, highly guarded. There's only one of each list for each item class, and the lists are held on the blockchain, with backups stored in highly secured corporate servers. The blockchain lists and secured lists are regularly compared, and if there's a discrepancy the system just defaults to the oldest version being compared.

Getting Purchasing Licenses

There are only a few places to get Purchasing Licenses, because they're very tightly restricted. Any corp website sells them, but they will immediately shut down any other site that tries to sell them illegally (or legally, in most cases).

Once acquired, a purchasing license is good for one calendar year. On the first day of every year, you are

Inverse Population Value

Like anything in a capitalist market, $ loses value when there is more of it and gains in value when there is less of it. Since it is generated by human birth, and any $ held in an individual's mind is lost when they die, this gives it the unique property of being valued inversely to the current population.

As population rises, $ becomes less valuable. And as population falls, $ becomes more valuable. On rare occasion, when a truly wealthy person dies, the market value of $ gets a boost. More frequently, some Corponations have taken to culling the population for a quick, easy boost in profit.

Given the current population of over 500 billion people, market reactions to population shifts are often fairly minor. But sometimes that's exactly what some mid-level exec needs to meet their quarterly goal, and so the drones roll in.

automatically charged again for each of your purchasing licenses, in the order you paid for them. If you don't have enough $, the purchase fails and you are removed from the relevant list of purchasing licenses.

License	Value	Availability	Restriction
Cyberware	55$	X	X
Vehicles
Revcycle	75$	X	X
Spacecraft	95$	X	X
Vehicle	80$	X	X
Weapons
Basic	46$	X	X
Explosives	68$	X	X
Heavy firearms	74$	X	X
Light firearms	61$	X	X

3.23 - Weapons

Time comes that you need a weapon, you're gonna want the best you can get your hands on. Some weapons are deadlier than others, and some are more useful than others in different situations. Most punks & runners carry at least some kind of weapon; you can't last long without one, unless you yourself are the weapon. In which case, well yeah, that's fair.

Weapon Damage (Cat1 & Cat2)

Every Cat1 and Cat2 weapon lists how dangerous it is. Each weapon's damage class is a corporate invention that helps set the price and legality of things, but it also turns out to be a handy way to understand at a glance just how fast you wanna run from a particular shooter.

The table below summarizes the game mechanics of measuring damage for each damage class. Whenever you attack with a particular weapon, compare your SSI total to the damage class of your weapon to determine how badly it injures your target. For example, if you're using a Mk. II deadly weapon and you roll a 17, your target is Injured.

A weapon's damage class determines its maximum damage in a single hit. Higher Mk (mark) ratings indicate greater damage potential, but basic weapons can only Wound targets in a single hit, whereas deadly weapons can push a target to Dying, and lethal weapons can make them Dead. This applies only to individual attacks; hit someone enough times even with any basic weapon, and you can kill them, but a lethal weapon can kill in one attack.

Doing No Damage

If your SSI check rolls below the values in the Hurt column for your weapon, your attack does no damage.

Doing Little Damage

If your SSI check rolls enough to do at least some damage, but the category is equal or less than the target's current health status, the target's health status worsens by 1 category. For example, if you Barely Injure a target that is already Injured, the target then becomes Wounded.

Damage Class	Hurt	Injured	Wounded	Dying	Dead
Mk. I basic	9-17	18-26	27+	—	—
Mk. II basic	8-15	16-23	24+	—	—
Mk. III basic	7-13	14-20	21+	—	—
Mk. IV basic	6-11	12-17	18+	—	—
Mk. V basic	5-9	10-14	15+	—	—
Mk. I deadly	8-15	16-23	24-31	32+	—
Mk. II deadly	7-13	14-20	21-27	28+	—
Mk. III deadly	6-11	12-17	18-23	24+	—
Mk. IV deadly	5-9	10-14	15-19	20+	—
Mk. V deadly	4-7	8-11	12-15	16+	—
Mk. I lethal	7-13	14-20	21-27	28-34	35+
Mk. II lethal	6-11	12-17	18-23	24-29	30+
Mk. III lethal	5-9	10-14	15-19	20-24	25+
Mk. IV lethal	4-7	8-11	12-15	16-19	20+
Mk. V lethal	3-5	6-8	9-11	12-14	15+

Cat1 Weapons

Below are some basic weapons. Rules are still being built, this is just a starting point.

Knife

Cat1 bladed weapon; Damage Mk. I basic; Range Close

Bat

Cat1 blunt weapon; Damage Mk. II basic; Range Close

Sword

Cat1 bladed weapon; Damage Mk. III basic; Range Close

Standard Pistol

Cat1 firearm; Damage Mk. I deadly; Range 0

Standard Rifle

Cat1 firearm; Damage Mk. II deadly; Range 3

Standard Shotgun

Cat1 firearm; Damage Mk. III deadly; Range 1

Standard Sniper Rifle

Cat1 firearm; Damage Mk. IV deadly; Range 5

Standard Battle Rifle

Cat1 firearm; Damage Mk. IV deadly; Range 2

Standard SMG

Cat1 firearm; Damage Mk. III deadly; Range 1

Resonance Blade

Cat2 bladed weapon; Damage Mk. III deadly; Range Close

Kinetic Pistol

Cat2 firearm; Damage Mk. I lethal; Range 0

Kinetic Rifle

Cat2 firearm; Damage Mk. II lethal; Range 3

Kinetic Shotgun

Cat2 firearm; Damage Mk. III lethal; Range 1

Kinetic Sniper Rifle

Cat2 firearm; Damage Mk. IV lethal; Range 5

Kinetic Battle Rifle

Cat2 firearm; Damage Mk. IV lethal; Range 2

Kinetic SMG

Cat2 firearm; Damage Mk. III lethal; Range 1

Equipment

AI Companion Available in most software shops, this is a single-purpose app that provides an AI companion. There are various models, but you can customize them to any extent, so your companion can look like any person (real or generic) you choose, or any vaguely human-shaped creature. The companion can be present at your side whenever you choose, and you can turn it off whenever you choose.
While active, the companion will comment on what's happening, have conversations with you, and generally just be your friend. As unawakened AI, your companion has no true emotions, there are limits to its creativity, and it doesn't truly understand or comprehend anything going on, it's just following reactive algorithm paths.
Your companion can always be engaged with in voice communication, but it can only be visually interacted with while you are in Augmented or Virtual Reality Interfaces. Your companion can only see and hear what you see and hear. Every time you start the companion app, and at various times throughout its runtime, advertisements will play. You can avoid these by getting the premium version.
Engaging with your companion is not the same as a real person, but it can help. For each day that your companion remains active, measure your Identity. If the measure is strong, you lose 1 Apathy; if the measure is weak, you gain 1 Dissonance.

Cyberstar Wasteland • Vehicles: Freedom for Sale

3.3 - Vehicles: Freedom for Sale

When you need to get somewhere, you could always take a people mover; they'll get you where you need to be. If you've got a longer trip, you could take the monorail; it's faster and more comfortable. Or, if you've got the $, you could always take the gravrail. But if you wanna get really fancy with it? Take a vehicle.

Why are there cars on a space station? Why are there motorcycles? Shuttles make sense of course, and you can always get those, but when you really think about it it's kinda weird having roads and freeways in space. And when everyone is so crammed together, it's even more weird. So why?

For most people, it's because vehicles are the best way to be truly free. When the only ways to get around are the people movers and rail systems, a vehicle lets you go whatever direction you wanna go, get on and off where and when you please, go as slow or as fast as you want, and more. It's about having that little bit of control in a universe that doesn't grant much.

Some assholes will talk a lot of shit about vehicles being better for corpo profits than they are for personal freedom. They like to say the only reason freeways exist was so somebody could sell you a car to drive on them. We all know an asshole like that, don't we? Sure they have some good points, but damn that revcycle is cool.

3.31 - Using Vehicles

The type of vehicle you get might be a matter of taste, or it could be a matter of practical reality. Maybe you need something that fulfills a specific role, or maybe you just want something that makes you feel awesome. You can get either one! And if you're lucky (rich), you'll find a vehicle that manages to be both.

Cars & Trucks. This very broad category fits any number of vehicles that fit 3 or more passengers, only require one driver, and usually can't fly.

Cycles. Whether motorcycle or revcycle, this category is for any vehicle that's long and narrow, only requires one driver, and can usually carry 1 passenger at most. Some can't even carry that many!

Shuttles. There's a broad array of different types of shuttles, but the key distinction from other vehicles is that they can operate in space. They've got the right type of propulsion, they're sealed against vacuum, and have radiation shielding. The big three!

Spinner. This category fits any vehicle that only needs one driver, can carry up to 6 passengers, and uses revtech to generate lift. Flying cars, they're flying cars.

Modern Engine Tech

Internal combustion engines still exist, but there's not many of them around. They're more for collectors, the type of people who never take their shit out of the box or take it out way too much. Battery-powered vehicles are a thing, and they're still pretty common too. There's charging stations all over the place, where you can plug your car in to charge if you've got a subscription to the shop offering the charge.

But if you want the good shit, you want a revengine. They sound cool, they look cool, they're powerful, and you don't need to plug them in anywhere. Just pop in a new gravpack when the old one craps out, and you're good to go. Some of the more high-price models can even be swapped out while in motion.

The basic concept of a revengine is using a small pack that can spin under its own power to generate energy. This powers the engine it's installed in, and as mentioend it just sounds really fucking cool. There's no sound like the whirring hum of a revcar as you grip the steering wheel; no feel like the one a revcycle makes between your thighs; no sense of power like the thrum of a shuttle engine built on revtech.

Just be careful with the gravpack. If you damage it, or give it too much charge, it'll start doing its thing. If that happens while it's not installed in an engine, it'll rotate and vibrate directly through anything that isn't specifically designed to contain it. That's not a pretty sight, and it's a cleaning crew's bad day.

Making Checks

Operating a vehicle under normal conditions doesn't require a check of any type. Modern vehicle software handles a lot of the complex stuff like take-off, landing, and even driving if that's what you want. At your discretion, you can let your vehicle do literally all the driving, and not worry about it.

But vehicle driving software isn't AI, it's just algorithms any high-schooler could write. They can react to simple traffic jams, wrecks, and explosions, but when shit hits the fan your driving software will absolutely get you killed. It doesn't know how to react to combat situations, or maneuvering at max speeds, or anything else extreme. It's only designed to get you from A to B.

When you want to operate a vehicle personally, you need to be at the controls. All vehicles require only one driver (that's what makes them a vehicle, and not a ship), and always have a driver seat. When you're in the driver seat of a vehicle that isn't being automated, you can make checks to avoid collisions, perform tight turns, or do other fancy things the auto-driver can't.

A vehicle check is much like any normal check, but you pick your dice differently. You'll still choose your Style, Skill, and Interest dice as usual, but your vehicle also has Performance, Maneuverability, and Power ratings, each of which is represented by a die code like any of your stats.

Performance measures a vehicle's efficiency, design, and material makeup. It's a very broad descriptor of how capable the vehicle is, and it applies to every check you make while driving a vehicle. Performance is measured against the Skill you chose for your check; use whichever of the two is lower.
Maneuverability is a measure of how sharply a vehicle can turn, how quickly its controls respond, and how well it maintains stability during difficult turns. This applies to any vehicle check you make regarding any of the aforementioned, and is compared to the Interest you chose for your check; use the lower of the two.
Power measures how well a vehicle can drag something, how well it performs while weighed down, or how much of its momentum it can maintain against opposing force. It applies to any vehicle check you make regarding those elements, and is compared to the Interest you chose for your check; use the lower of the two.

Vehicle Stats

Aside from its Performance, Maneuverability, and Power, every vehicle has a number of stats that can come into play for various reasons.

Durability. This is a combination of the materials used in the vehicle's construction, and the design of its chassis and supporting structure. In short: it works like Health. Durability doesn't recover the way Health does, and can only be restored by repairing the vehicle.

Maximum Velocity. This stat lists the highest speed it was designed to attain, measured in meters per second. You can technically make it drive faster than that, but every round you push its engine past the red line you'll need to make a check to see if the engine overheats. The first check is Simplistic, the next is Easy, and so on. If you fail a check, the engine might blow.

Cyberstar Wasteland • Vehicles: Freedom for Sale

3.4 - Starbase 65

If there is a center to the Cyberstar Wasteland, it is Starbase 65. Third largest ever built, located on major trade routes, and modular enough to provide options for any conceivable use, SB65 is one of the most populous, diverse, and active locations in the entire sector.

The station was built before the cold dark, by an unknown government long since lost. Claimed by multiple corponations in a series of conflicts, it ended up under control of Neuro Corp, With control of neurocoin, and headquartered on SB65, none of Neuro Corp's rivals had the financial or military might to claim the station. Neuro Corp licenses other corps to maintain a presence, conduct business, and even rent physical space on SB65, providing for a staggeringly wide variety of goods and services for all who live here, do business, or visit.

In the centuries since, there've been no significant challenges to their business sovereignty. Neuro Corp is so assured of their unrivaled control they even allow other corponations to erect towers along the stations' surface. Each of those corps now exerts a level of control over their district under the strict provisions of the control contract signed with Neuro Corp. This provides a unique atmosphere of rival corps doing business, competing, and even engaging in military skirmishes, provided nothing they do threatens the legal, financial, or business sovereignty of Neuro Corp.

3.41 - SB65 Structure

Starbase 65 consists of a small Niven Ring, with a diameter just over 21k kilometers. It rotates fast enough to generate enough centrifugal force to give the impression of about 8 m/s² gravity; which is just under 82% of old Earth's gravity, and is then augmented with grav plating. When it was first built, the people on SB65 lived inside the ring itself; in the new era, they've built districts along the concave exterior. It boasts a population over 503 billion.

Realities of Scale

SB65 is, by any measure, a megastructure. It's got a circumference of over 66k km, and its width varies but tends to average at around 300 km. This gives it a surface area over 19.8m km². With a varying population density by district, averaged out across the whole station (and including interior space), it's got an average population density over 25,000 per square kilometer.

It's difficult to truly grasp the sheer scale of this one structure, and nobody really tries. Neuro Corp execs worry about their own assigned sectors. Board Members, the CEO,

Centrifugal and Coriolis Force

Without getting into the weeds of physics: centrifugal force isn't real gravity. It's not even a real "force;" it's an effect of perspective. But you don't need to bog down your game calculating the trajectory of objects in space. At the same time, why tell stories on a space station if you're not going to use fun physics?

Moving: Whenever people and objects are at the same elevation, they move at the same scale. If their elevations differ, they move at what seems to be different speeds. This is a result of the coriolis force, which, like centrifugal force, isn't really a force but we won't get into that here.

Whenever a person or an object is at higher elevation than another (farther away from the station surface), it seems to move faster. Their actual movement speed matters, but the subject at higher elevation has an advantage. You don't need to spend too much time and effort worrying about the math of it, all you need to do is remember that higher means faster. Simple!

Jumping: A person who jumps will move roughly the way they would in gravity. If you're jumping upspin (moving in the direction of the coriolis force), you'll move a bit further; and if you're jumping downspin (moving against coriolis force) you'll cover a bit less distance than you wanted to.

Throwing: When thrown, objects have an odd curve to their path, relative to the station surface. The higher they're thrown, the more significant the effect. A thrown object will travel a bit further than normal if thrown in the same direction as the coriolis force (upspin), and it'll cover a bit less distance if thrown against the coriolis force (downspin).

Perpendicular: If you jump, or throw something, in a direction perpendicular to station movement, trajectory will shift in the direction of the coriolis force.

Going Down: Interestingly, a falling person or object doesn't have an arc to it. This is because the existing momentum carries it in the direction it was traveling, but since the station itself is rotating the only visible motion is closer to the surface (or "downward"). The arc in movement only happens if you throw something upward; it doesn't apply to falling. (Or, more accurately; it does apply, but you can't tell.)

and other folk at their financial level honestly don't bother with such trivial things. So, in large part, different parts of SB65 can seem (and be) wholly different from other sections. Many people live their whole lives without ever seeing the other side of the station, or even the interior beneath their own feet. Most people will never know about different parts of the station like Hatchville, Shelby, or the Vents, because they'll never encounter it (and the lack of education only

exacerbates things).

The Atmodomes

Civilization exists beneath protective atmodomes. Not all areas are covered by atmodomes, which makes some areas extra dangerous, but the vast majority is covered. The largest atmodomes cover the full width of the station and an equivalent distance along its length, and the smallest are about 10km in diameter.

Every atmodome contains a number of different communities, and people who live there usually only worry as far as the communities that within their own dome. People who live in areas outside the atmodomes take it as a personal point of pride, and often view dome-habbers as soft or just spoiled.

Modular Design

SB65 is not generally one solid structure. It's designed as a collection of HabLocks, usually square or rectangular in shape. Most range between 100-300 m², and are filled with a series of rooms of varying size and shape. Most of them look a lot like starship interiors, with locking hatches and narrow corridors; newer (more expensive) HabLocks are more comfortable and luxurious, and only get installed in the very expensive districts.

Megablocks and Corpo Towers

An old idea from Earth is the concept of the Megablock; basically an apartment complex the size of a starscraper that's also filled with shopping centers, medical facilities, waste disposal, and more. They're a bit like arcologies, except they're geared more toward maximized population density and financial efficiency than they are human comfort or ease of living.

Roughly the same size as the Megablocks are Corpo Towers. Some are owned by rival Corponations that want to keep a presence on SB65, but most rent office space to multiple corps at a time. They're less dense than Megablocks, which gives them a much more spacious feel, seeing as they're about the same size.

Arcologies

Larger than the Megablocks and Corpo Towers, arcologies loom several hundred meters above the station surface, through the structure itself, and hang out from the station exterior for another several hundred meters. The largest is owned and operated solely by Neuro Corp, and its only inhabitants are the top company brass. Every arcology also has a population density lower even than Corpo Towers, making them a true luxury.

These structures, built in the time since the cold dark, are

some of the most advanced architectural technology in known space. They maintain consistent gravity through their entire length, utilizing gravplates and other tech to enhance, diminish, or even ignore centrifugal force throughout the structure.

The arcologies also provide their residents with means of traveling to the other arcologies without using lightrails, roads, or freeways. Each is equipped with its own fleet of shuttles, each fitted with the most lavish comforts including individual grav-seats. Residents have can call these just like any ride-share, but the cost is so high nobody from outside the arcos could ever afford one.

Interior Space

The HabLock interiors are confining, and space is at an extreme premium. Spaces that were once barracks for space marines or scientists are converted into markets or hotels, sectioned off into micro-homes, and the like. Some even serve as storefronts at the entrance, with a family living in the back.

Train System

The two most common ways to get around SB65 are by train; either monorail or lightrail.

For most people, the monorail is the way to go. It weaves between and through the Megablocks and Corpo Towers, though it's directed carefully around each of the arcologies. It's always crowded and dirty, but it's inexpensive, and it'll get you where you want to go; if you've got the code for it you can even ride around the entire length of the station.

But if you've got real money, the lightrail is the way to go. It's higher up, for one thing, which leaves it free to travel in a direct circular path along the entire length of the station. Its rail is actually hardlight, which looks like an intensely bright beam of light, and the train rides along the concave shape of it. By contrast to the monorail, the lightrail is clean and comfy, and rarely has too many people on board.

Roads and Freeways

Most districts have roads fit for travel by vehicle. They tend to be fairly narrow, usually two lanes at most, and serve as transit corridors throughout the district. At the border between two districts, their roads merge.

There is also a system of freeways that run the circumference of the station. Slower are than trains, due to traffic, they offer more freedom of choice in where and when you do or don't go. The freeway system weaves in and out of the districts, carefully avoiding the arcologies, and using them you can reach any part of the station.

3.42 - SB65 Districts

The station's original purpose is long lost, but it's obvious it was never meant to house (let alone sustain) this many people. Its original design only intended people to live inside the HabLocks, and construction of the exterior districts, especially the Megablocks and Arcologies, was necessary to sustain the growing population.

Even with the spill-over into whole districts along the station exterior, SB65 just wasn't built to support this many people. Living conditions in the districts are usually extremely cramped, and they're even worse inside the HabLocks. If you want living space, get rich.

Hatchville

Comprised of countless spacecraft, spaceships, and even shuttles docked and interconnected, the name of this district stems from the fact that you can't move through it without passing through a lot of hatches along the way. People use these vessels as living spaces, stores, clinics, repair shops, bars, and anything else. It exists as an extension outside the starbase, spreading toward the stars from Hangar C-19. Its size fluctuates, as some of the outermost vessels leave or new ones dock. It's an unwritten rule that if you dock in Hatchville, your ship becomes fair game for use as passageway to and from other connected vessels, but your private spaces are off limits to the public.

Shelby

This is the oldest exterior district. It wasn't intended to happen at all, but sprang up around Arthur Tower, the corporate tower at its center which currently houses the secondary headquarters of Solomon Industrial. When smaller buildings sprang up around it, they centralized around Thomas Street, and the district grew rapidly.

Shelby's original atmodome was eventually outgrown, and before anyone decided to build other districts they ended up expanding Shelby outside this physical barrier. So a good portion of the district exists outside its own atmodome, because the execs in charge of developing the other districts never extended their atmodomes to include someone else's territory.

3.43 - SB65 Legal System

Most denizens of SB65 end up breaking one law or another, simply as a means of survival. Doing so is always risky, but sometimes you gotta gamble on that increased bounty compared to your current situation.

Detective Algorithms

On a constant basis, detective algorithms track all activity

throughout the Adam Cloud. If you're in an atmosphere, the DetAlgs are watching. If they detect any kind of illegal activity — from picking someone's pocket, to stealing a car, to assault or murder — a bounty is instantly assessed based on the severity of the crime.

Accumulated Bounty

Every individual has an accumulated bounty, which at birth (usually) starts at 0$. When the DetAlgs determine you've committed a crime, you're notified by a stern-voiced chat bot and a visual indicator. The notification comes through your ONI, phone, computer, or whatever else you use to access the cloud.

Along with that notification, your accumulated bounty is immediately increased by an amount commensurate with the crime you just committed. The system then runs a diagnostic to determine whether or not to issue a warrant for your arrest; there is a percentage chance equal to your accumulated bounty that an arrest warrant will be issued. If this happens, you are immediately instructed to remain in place until SBPD arrives. Running incurs additional bounty.

Starbase Police (SBPD)

Starbase Security is run by one of the largest minor corporations on SB65; Starbase 65 Police Department, Inc. (SBPD-65), or just SBPD to the masses. SBPD has three mandates, and those are to (1) protect corporate property, (2) protect corporate executives, and (3) protect corporate employees. In that order.

Cops have no mandate to protect citizens or non-citizens, and they have no interest in doing so. 85% of all active police officers are AI-run combat platforms, and the remaining 15% human police force are chosen from only the most corp-loyal members of the population.

Most police duty is patrolling corporate property to ensure nobody fucks with the premises. They do run patrols through the rest of the station, but that's primarily to serve as a reminder to the populace of who runs things. They're not there to stop street crime, robberies, or domestic disputse, and they don't give a shit about any of them.

Unless otherwise instructed, SBPD officers don't stop fights or crimes, nor protect anyone who isn't a corp employee. Their duty, like any other corp, is to shareholders. As a subsidiary of Neuro Corp they will protect NC Execs and, to a lesser extent, employees. They will defend Neuro Corp property with violent force, and watch a child get murdered across the street.

Most SBPD officers spend their time hanging around Neuro Corp facilities. They patrol, serve the needs of NC Execs when necessary, and get a good lunch. When you do see them in other districts, it's either in pursuit of a warrant,

or just to fuck with people for sport. Technically, they can arrest anyone with a bounty greater than 0$ whenever they like.

SBPD and Warrants

Generally, the only exception to normal police activity is a warrant. When a warrant is issued, the individual in question is flagged with a big red glowing outline by all SBPD officers, and they have a mandate to arrest on sight. Resisting arrest incurs further bounty, and risks angering the cops, who have a license to kill.

Judges

Technically an extension of SBPD, the Judges are not at all viewed as or operated in the same way. They have the same legal powers as any other police officer to arrest or kill, and the same mandate to enforce warrants. The real difference is in the execution, and that term is used here very literally.

Whereas normal cops will arrest an individual who doesn't put up too much of a fight, Judges only come after the big bounty individuals. They come after the ones who've eluded SBPD for too long, or killed too many cops, or (more importantly) cost a Corp too much money. Judges are technically expected to arrest, like any other cop, but they don't.

The original concept for Judges was to save cops time. Bringing perpetrators into a jail and then a courthouse to see a Judge was time consuming and expensive. So Corps began outfitting Judges for combat, and sending them into the field with beat cops. This saved a lot of time and money, so they extended things by training the Judges as lethal combatants. Eventually, the Judge program morphed into what we have today.

Judges are highly trained, heavily armed and armored, and almost always chromed out. They operate without backup, and generally they don't need it. There are very few Judges, but not many are necessary. All Judges are also natural-born humans. AI platforms are not allowed, and Replicants are specifically barred.

Cowboys

Outside the corporate entities, there are cowboys. This is the slang term for bounty hunters; people who take it into their hands to turn in their fellow citizens for their bounty. On the surface, this is obviously a fucked up way to make a living, and most cowboys aren't very well liked.

On the other hand; Judges are a guaranteed death sentence, and regular cops are likely to kill if you piss them off. Most cowboys, by contast, actively try to bring people in alive. There's no bigger reward for it, but the tradition of bringing people in alive has become a mark of pride for

those in the profession. Cowboys are usually licensed, which means they have a right to kill, but they generally don't unless they absolutely have to.

Laying Down

As bad as it is to go to jail, as your bounty rises it gets exponentially worse. If you can't afford to pay off your bounty, you sure as shit can't afford to spend all that time in jail accumulating debt. Plus, as described, SBPD and Judges are the worst possible options.

Some people choose to lay down; which means finding a cowboy who'll take them in. Nobody wants to walk into a police precinct and turn themselves in; the cops will just arrest them on sight (which almost always means get beaten or killed). But if a cowboy brings them in, that's at least a certain margin of protection.

See, if you walk in on your own, cops act like they found you on the street and they're as likely to shoot you as arrest you. But if a Cowboy brings you in, there's some guarantee you'll survive the process. It's the best of the worst possible options.

Rustling

Technically, anyone can turn in anyone else for their bounty. When your bounty gets high enough, even your friendly neighbor starts looking at you funny, cause he's got debts piling up and needs to cover them. And fuck forbid you actually piss someone off; that's almost a guarantee they'll call you in.

A person who's not a licensed cowboy doesn't get your bounty if they kill you, but they do get it if they turn you in. This pisses off cowboys, hence the term "Rustling." Rustling has been a source of more strife between family, friends, and acquaintances than probably anything else. There's plenty of stories where family members turn each other in, and then have to live together. It's awkward.

Warrants

"A document issued by corporate legal authority to make an arrest," begins the official definition, but anybody on the street knows it just means you're fucked. A warrant can be issued for any person at any time, by any Judge or corporate executive. They can do so over the cloud, so there's no difficulty to it at all.

Only one bounty can be issued for each person at a time. When a warrant is issued for someone's arrest, it has two effects: 1) the subject's bounty is immediately doubled, and 2) all police officers and Judges receive double the target's bounty (including the doubling effect already applied).

Usually a bounty remains in effect until the target is apprehended, but at the issuer's discretion there might be a

time limit. If the target manages to evade arrest until the warrant expires, their bounty returns to its normal value and cops lose their bonus. But they're gonna be pissed, and likely find the person anyway.

Illegal Spaces

For most people, the only real option of doing anything illegal without upping their bounty is to go outside the domes. Entire districts exist outside the atmodomes, and no atmosphere means no Adam Cloud, which means no detective algorithms. Most of the pressurized buildings in these areas do have the AC, as do all vehicles, but there are some custom-built bars and hotels that use their own independent air system. Decidedly low tech since they can't carry signal or current, these places are nonetheless perfect for making illicit deals, murdering with impunity, or anything else.

By nature and definition, these places are extremely dangerous. Space suits can rupture, radiation shielding can fail, and if you go inside for safety you're among very dangerous people in a place with no laws. More importantly, everybody there is just as desperate as people everywhere else, but they feel less restricted about it. Some bar owners employ Heavies to keep the peace, but if they get involved it usually just descends into a firefight and somebody shoots through the bulkhead, potentially killing everyone in the place.

Starbase 65 Sector Generator

d100		Sector Type	Population	Security	Presence
01-89		Corporate Zone	-40	+20	-30
90-100		Free Zone	+40	-50	+40

d100		Population Density
< 07		126 /km² (Null Density)
07-19		1,260 /km² (Minimum Density)
20-38		6,300 /km² (Low Density)
39-63		21,000 /km² (Average Density)
64-81		52,500 /km² (High Density)
82-94		105,000 /km² (Maximum Density)
> 94		175,000 /km² (Over-dense)

d100		Corporate Security
< 13		1 /km² (No Security)
13-26		13 /km² (Minimum Security)
27-41		63 /km² (Low Security)
42-59		210 /km² (Average Security)
60-74		525 /km² (High Security)
75-88		1,050 /km² (Maximum Security)
> 88		1,750 /km² (Board Security)

d100		Gang Presence
< 13		1 /km² (No Presence)
13-26		13 /km² (Minimum Presence)
27-41		63 /km² (Low Presence)
42-59		210 /km² (Average Presence)
60-74		525 /km² (High Presence)
75-88		1,050 /km² (Maximum Presence)
> 88		1,750 /km² (Dominating Presence)

3.44 - Building SB65 Sectors

There are innumerable sectors on SB65, and they shift with moderate frequency. Some older sectors like Shelby have been around for a long time, but others come and go. Gangs move into new territory, corporate security takes it back when they want the profit. One sector gets ejected from the station, while another gets built across the ring. Nothing is forever, and it's hard to keep track of.

Whenever you need to generate a zone for your own story, let this section be your guide. It should help you come up with some generalized ideas, and you can build on those to shape the area as you see fit. These rules don't cover everything, especially not the small details, but they'll set you on the path to develop them.