L e t ’s face it. With Constructs morphing in from the dust on the floor and programs lurking in the digital realm, a netrunner’s career should be very short indeed. But netrunners get around this lit-tle fatality problem in much the same way as sysops (the natural enemy of the wild netrunner) do; they use their own programs. Netrunners can also create their own Constructs by programming their own mindcores and supplying them with smart dust or polymer, or using several mind cores to Construct an assembler (more on this l a t e r ) .
While almost all sysop programs are designed to do one thing (kill netrunners) netrunner pro-grams and Constructs are designed to do four things really well: 1) Fake out passwords; 2) stealth through systems; 3) Defend a g a i n s t cyberspace attacks or realspace threats when they manifest themselves and start trying to eat the raiding party and 4) Kill threats in either cyber or realspace before they can get at you.
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F a k e o u t s
Fakeouts are the first part of the runner’s arsenal;
if you use them right, you won’t need the other stuff. Fakeouts create passwords by analyzing the system for clues. They include:
C o d e c r a c k e r
Strength: 3 Structure: 20
ICON: A thin beam of white light, which shoots from the netrunner’s hands.
Attributes & cost
1 Digital: the Construct can operate in cyberspace 2 C rypto: The program can decipher on create code
keys at a skill equal to its STR +10.
Wi z a r d ’ s Book
Strength: 4 Structure: 20
ICON: A stream of blazing white symbols, flowing at incredible speed from the netrunner’s open hands.
Attributes & Cost
1 Digital: the Construct can operate in cyberspace 2 C rypto: The program can decipher on create code
keys at a skill equal to its STR +12.
Raffles
Strength: 5 Structure: 60
I C O N : A dapper young man wearing evening clothes of the early 1900‘s.
Attributes & Cost
1 Digital: the Construct can operate in cyberspace 2 C rypto: The program can decipher on create code
keys at a skill equal to its STR +15.
S t e a l t h
Stealth programs disguise the fact that you’re even in the system. They make the system think that no one has logged in and that there is noth-ing out of the ordinary gonoth-ing on. They include:
I n v i s i b i l i t y
Strength: 3 Structure: 40
I C O N : A flickering, iridescent sheet, which drapes over the netrunner. In realspace, it acts as a light bending cloak, shielding the target from visible light; in cyberspace, it overlays false signals on the r u n n e r ’s trace, making it appear to be mere static.
Attributes & Cost
1 Digital: the Construct can operate in cyberspace 3 Material: the Construct can operate in realspace 4 Invisible: The Construct is almost impossible to see
( - 4 ) S t e a l t h
Strength: 4 Structure: 20
ICON: a sheet of black energy draped over the netrunner's ICON.
In cyberspace, Stealth mutes the target’s cybersig-nal, making him harder to detect . In realspace, the Construct acts as a chameleon cloak, helping him blend into the surroundings.
Attributes & Cost
1 Digital: the Construct can operate in cyberspace 3 Material: the Construct can operate in realspace 2 Stealthy: The Construct is hard to see (-2) R e p l i c a t o r
Strength: 3 Structure: 20
I C O N : In cyberspace, a chrome sphere creating holographic images of the netrunner that run away in all directions. In realspace, the sphere activates four mindcores and associated nanodust to create four duplicates of the user, who run off in different directions (each lasts 10 turns).
Attributes & Cost
1 Digital: the Construct can operate in cyberspace 3 Material: the Construct can operate in realspace 3 Flak: the Construct creates copies of the target,
which run off in different directions. There is a 7 in 10 chance that the attacker will go after a copy rather than the original.
1 Light Emitting nano-diodes: in realspace, the Construct has glowing or light emitting parts.
D e f e n d e r s
Defenders stop attacks before they get to you.
They attack the code of the black ice, rendering it ineffective. Or they can attack the programming of the mindcore itself, wiping it out. Defenders i n c l u d e :
S h i e l d
Strength: 3 Structure: 80
ICON: A shifting circular energy field appearing in front of the netrunner. Shield absorbs direct attacks to the netrunner in both real and cyber-space.
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Attributes & Cost
1 Digital: the Construct can operate in cyberspace 3 Material: the Construct can operate in realspace 2 Durable: while in realspace, the Construct shapes
into a translucent screen that has a natural resis-tance to physical attacks equal to SP10.
F o rce Shield
Strength: 4 Structure: 100
I C O N : A flickering silver energy barrier. A more p o w e rful version of Shield.
Attributes & Cost
1 Digital: the Construct can operate in cyberspace 3 Material: the Construct can operate in realspace 4 Armored: while in realspace, the Construct shapes
into a translucent screen that has a natural resis-tance to physical attacks equal to SP20.
F l a k
Strength: 4 Structure: 60
I C O N : A cloud of blinding, glowing, multicolored lights, swirling in all directions. This tremendous wall of static blinds the attacking program and allows the netrunner to easily evade.
Attributes & Cost
1 Digital: the Construct can operate in cyberspace 3 Material: the Construct can operate in realspace 3 Blinding: in realspace, the Construct creates a
sta-tic field that lowers (-4) the attacker’s STR for all a t t a c k s .
1 Light Emitting nano-diodes: in realspace, the Construct has glowing or light emitting parts.
K i l l e r s
Killers are designed to take out black ice or their associated Constructs. As such, they can be downloaded into mindcores just like black ice. By keeping a few blocks of polymer or a bag of smart dust around, a smart netrunner can easily create his own realspace nasties to dismantle any critters attacking him. The best of these include:
Killer
Strength: 4 Structure: 60
I C O N : A large manlike robot, dressed as a metal-lic samurai. His eyes glow red from behind his mask, and he carries a glowing katana. Killer is a general purpose virus program designed to kill other programs.
Attributes & Cost
1 Digital: the Construct can operate in cyberspace 3 Material: the Construct can operate in realspace 1 Program Killer: the Construct can attack and
destroy other programs in cyberspace causing STR damage based on its Structure level.
1 Construct Killer: the Construct can attack and destroy Constructs in realspace, causing damage based on its Structure level.
3 Fast: the Construct can attack with accelerated (+4 STR) reactions.
M a n t i c o r e
Strength: 5 Structure: 100
ICON: A huge, lionlike shape, drawn in red neon schematic lines. A large scorpion tail arcs over one s h o u l d e r. Manticore is a more specialized Killer program designed to take out realspace C o n s t r u c t s .
Attributes & Cost
3 Material: the Construct can operate in realspace 1 Construct Killer: the Construct can attack and
destroy Constructs in realspace, causing damage based on its Structure level.
4 Armored: while in realspace, the Construct has a natural resistance to physical attacks equal to S P 2 0 .
4 Lethal: the Construct can attack with (+4) to its combat ability)
1 Light Emitting nano-diodes: in realspace, the Construct has glowing or light emitting parts.
H y d r a
Strength: 8 Structure: 120
ICON: A glittering blue fog that encircles its target and dematerializes it. A more powerful variant of M a n t i c o r e .
Attributes & Cost
3 Material: the Construct can operate in realspace 1 Construct Killer: the Construct can attack and
destroy Constructs in realspace, causing damage based on its Structure level.
3 Fast: the Construct can attack with accelerated (+4 STR) reactions.
4 Armored: while in realspace, the Construct has a natural resistance to physical attacks equal to S P 2 0 .
4 Lethal: the Construct can attack with (+4) to its combat ability)
1 Light Emitting nano-diodes: in realspace, the Construct has glowing or light emitting parts.
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D r a g o n
Strength: 4 Structure: 140
I C O N : A great golden scaled dragon robot. Laser beams shoot in multicolored arcs from its eyes, and it is wreathed in electrical discharges. The most powerful variant of Manticore.
Attributes & Cost
3 Material: the Construct can operate in realspace 1 Construct Killer: the Construct can attack and
destroy Constructs in realspace, causing damage based on its Structure level.
3 Fast: the Construct can attack with accelerated (+4 STR) reactions.
4 Armored: while in realspace, the Construct has a natural resistance to physical attacks equal to S P 2 0 .
4 Lethal: the Construct can attack with (+4) to its combat ability)
1 Light Emitting nano-diodes: in realspace, the Construct has glowing or light emitting parts.