Netrunner

CYBERNETIC COMPUTER HACKERS AND BRAIN-BURNING SECRET STEALERS

"You guys who live in Realspace; you move so slow. Me, I like Netspace. It moves fast. You don't get old, yoп don't get slow and sloppy. You just leave the meat behind and go screamin'. First system I ever hit, I think they had some weeflerunner playin' Sysop for them. I burned in, jolted the guy with a borrowed Hellbolt, and did the major plunder action all over the Data Fortress. Somewhere out there is a guy with half his forebrain burned out. I wonder if they ever found the body. I wonder if they'll find mine the same way..."

— Spider Murphy

At three, your parents bought you an old Apple IV GS with a Radius 241 wall screen, and your life was changed. By fifth grade, you'd already mastered everything the school computer literacy lab could throw at you - you were already using Cand META-LINGUA to crack into the district's mainframe and change your grades. When you were thirteen, you shifted enough funds out of unprotected TransAmerican Bank accounts to finance your first neural interface plugs.

Now, nothing can stop you. With your direct mental link to the computer, you can plunge headfirst into the dizzying data-winds of the Net; the worldwide telecommunications system that joins humanity together. As an electronic wraith, you are the ultimate "hacker", your brain wired into special modems and computer links. You slip into the "hardest" mainframe systems with ease. Your defense and offense programs are arrayed at a touch of your mental fingertips - a quick jolt of Demon or Vampire and the data fortresses fall. EBM. ITT. Sony-Matsushita-Ford. You've tackled them all, buying, trading, and selling their deepest secrets at will.

Sometimes you uncover important things; Corporate treachery or deadly secrets. But that's not why you Netrun. You live for the new program, the next satellite downlink, the next piece of hot data that comes your way. It's only a matter of time, you think every year; the counter intrusion programs get better, the Artificial Intelligences smarter. Sooner or later, a faster program or programmer's going to catch up; reach out with electronic fingers through your interface plugs, and stop your heart. But time's on your side, and until the ride runs out, you'll be there, bare brained and headfirst in the Net.

Role Ability: Interface

The Netrunner's Role Ability is Interface. Interface is what allows the Netrunner to Netrun — to interface with electronic mind-modems (called cyberdecks) to control computers, electronics, and associated programming. The Interface Role Ability also gives the Netrunner access to a wide suite of Abilities related to computer hacking and system control. a more in-depth look into Netrunning can be found here.

NET Actions Per Turn

Interface Abilities

Role-Based Life Path

Some things are universal. Other things are pretty specific. One of these is how your day job (or night job or side job or whatever - we won't judge you) affects your life. The things that a hard-bitten Lawman on the Street has to face are way different from the glittering club life of a Rockerboy, and they both deal with shit no pampered or privileged Corpo could even imagine. To that end, find below a series of Role-based questions that supplement the regular Lifepath.