A Guest Article by Dave Viars, line developer for Interface Zero<\/p>\n<\/a> I’m so pleased with the way this graphic came out that I couldn’t resist uploading the full-sized image for everyone to drool over. Click this thumbnail to see it in all its glory :)\n
\nThese week I\u2019m interrupting the Orcs & Elves series to give readers wgho aren\u2019t into it a break, and to bring you a guest article advance sneak-peek at a new Game Setting that\u2019s on the way, in a genre that hasn\u2019t yet received a lot of love here at Campaign Mastery…\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Introduction<\/h3>\n
What\u2019s up, amigo? How\u2019s things going for you and yours? Not that I really wanna know, but it pays to play along with social niceties in this business, ya dig me? So you\u2019ve come here to learn the straight skinny on how the Mediaweb works, what the hell a TAP is, how a Hyper-glove functions, and just how you can go swimming through the Deep and hack everything you come across…<\/em><\/p>\n
Hi there! Forgive the hammy dramatics at the top! I\u2019m Dave Viars, line developer for Interface Zero and the head rules guy for the game. Today I\u2019m going to talk about how the internet functions of our game setting and how you, the potential player, can go about hacking it! I\u2019m going to mostly do this In Character, so forgive me for hamming it up again, it\u2019s all in good fun!<\/p>\n
The Hacking Environment<\/h3>\n
Before I can really get you educated on how to Hack, we need to talk about fundamentals. I\u2019m going to walk you through this as if you were a n00b, no offense omae, but we gotta take this one step at a time. You gotta learn to doggy paddle, before you can swim like a fish through the Deep, my friend.<\/p>\n
The old world internet was only the start of the information revolution, here in 2090, it\u2019s matured and reached its pinnacle. Well the pinnacle for all of us still walkin\u2019 around in meat bodies, the Church Of The Upload would have you believe we should all be dubbing ourselves into data beings, but I\u2019m rather attached to my own flesh, you hear me? Sure I could eat a virtual nutra-dog, but you don\u2019t get the same real satisfaction of being full, or the heartburn later. Anyway I\u2019m gettin\u2019 off topic.<\/em><\/p>\n
The Mediaweb & The TAP<\/h5>\n
The Mediaweb, as we call it today, connects everything and everyone in away you wouldn\u2019t even believe. Ya see, the way everyone is connected to one another? It\u2019s an implant 95% of the human, and post-human races have within their grey matter called the Tendril Access Processer, or TAP for short. The TAP was the biggest revolution to hit humanity since, well damn near electricity, ya feel me? The TAP gives us constant connection to the Mediaweb 24\/7, you don\u2019t have to worry about your service provider crapping out on you, because your head is the service provider. It doesn\u2019t disconnect you unless you willing decide to turn it off. Whenever we want, we can look up websites, open em up in Hyper Reality (don\u2019t worry I\u2019ll get to HR in a moment), project our consciousness into completely Virtual Realms, keep our personal information stored away, and pretty much do more than any smart phone back at the turn of the Millennium was capable of. All of this and it\u2019s in your head so you won\u2019t lose it!<\/p>\n
Most importantly, the TAP let\u2019s you interact with Hyper Reality, the old world\u2019s Augmented Reality, only taken to 11. Hyper Reality is friggan everywhere in 2090! Virtual Icons and control panels, objects and entertainment, directions and advertisements all just floating there, over laying the real world. Thanks to your TAP you can touch, taste, feel, see, and hear HR all around you. Now of course we got spam filters to take care of most of the garbage and viruses out there you can\u2019t be too careful in avoiding, but the benefits seem to outweigh the drawbacks. Also while capable of transmitting \u201cfeeling\u201d of a sort HR isn\u2019t a replacement for the real deal, so that HR girlfriend or boyfriend program is only going to assuage you for so long. The majority of objects out there have HR controls, it\u2019s how you\u2019ll open most doors, tell most machinery what to do, and of course order things online by looking through HR menus.<\/em><\/p>\n
The Hyperglove<\/h5>\n
But let\u2019s get to what you\u2019re really interested in now, how the hell do you make this Hyper reality filled playground do what you want? Let\u2019s talk about Hacking. The first thing you\u2019re gonna need, is a hyper-glove. Thanks to having what is pretty much a computer already implanted in your head, you don\u2019t need to carry around a laptop like the real old days, but you\u2019re also gonna need something with more power to it than a smart phone, too. That\u2019s where the hyper glove comes in. The hyper glove is a tool used by programmers and engineers through out the world, and of course, information pirates like us. The Hyper glove is a symbol that says you\u2019re someone who knows what the hell their doing when it comes to the Deep (which if you haven\u2019t figured it out yet, is the mediaweb\u2019s nickname!).<\/p>\n
The Hyper glove works with your TAP, boosting it\u2019s processing power and giving you the ability to access the underlying code of every hyper object and computer controlled object you run across… if you can break past its firewall of course. That\u2019s another thing the Hyperglove lets you do. Think of it as a sort of big ass digital crowbar that lets you rip open the casing of these objects and play around with the guts, or code inside. If you can hack past the Firewall, you\u2019re free to make some quick alterations to the code of the object on the fly.<\/em><\/p>\n
Hyperglove Mode<\/h5>\n
Course, what you want to do to the object you\u2019re hacking largely depends on what mode you have the Hyper-glove in. Standard hypergloves used by engineers have control and edit mode… Hackers, Law enforcement, and soldiers have the third mode, Destruction, added to their Hyper glove as well.<\/p>\n
What do those modes do? Well, let\u2019s say you\u2019re breaking into some place you\u2019re not supposed to be, and you spy a security camera down the hall. Point your Hyper glove at it, hack past the camera\u2019s firewall, and the mode you\u2019re currently selected in will determine what you can do! Control will let you turn the damn thing on and off or even make it point in the opposite direction for a short time while you hustle past. Edit will let you feed it new information, wiping you and your friends out from what it\u2019s currently seeing, or make it look like a whole gang is running down the halls! Destruction? Well, that bad boy causes each system it hacks to fall into an electric feedback cycle which can cause some damage, do it well enough and the camera will end up crispy.<\/em><\/p>\n
Defenses<\/h5>\n
Of course I\u2019m making it sound much easier than it really is. Each item you run across either has its own internal firewall, or is hooked up as part of a larger network. Hacking the vending machine you run across outside isn\u2019t going to cause you too much trouble usually, but the same vending machine inside of a corporate, government, or military facility is going to be hooked into that facility\u2019s network, and have some nasty surprises for you! Fail your hack and you might get lucky, nothing might happen. Or you might just trigger an alarm. But if your luck is sour, you might trigger an Intrusion counter measure which sends a nasty bio-feedback signal up through your Hyper glove and into your brain! The Deep is full of nasty surprises in the end amigo, so watch yourself out there!<\/em><\/p>\n
The mechanics beneath the surface<\/h3>\n
Hi again! Dave V here, stepping out from behind the curtain once more to talk system and mechanics with you. I hope you enjoyed the In character discussion of how things in our setting work, but let\u2019s talk nuts and bolts about how that system actually runs while you\u2019re playing the game!<\/p>\n
Design Objectives<\/h5>\n
Savage Worlds is known to be a wonderful system which allows for excellent levels of detail and intricacy, all without giving the GM and the players a headache being bogged down by unnecessary rules. The standard philosophy of \u201cFast, Furious, Fun!\u201d which is in all Savage worlds products is the same thing that we followed creating the rules for Interface Zero.<\/p>\n
Too often in most other cyberpunk offerings the Hacker is removed from the action. They\u2019re outside, not involved, and typically waiting on the rest of the party to do the \u201creal\u201d work. Other times the hacker engages in an entire mini-game involving the GM and player looking up rules just to figure out how things work while the rest of the group goes about twiddling their thumbs.<\/p>\n
In interface Zero, we did our best to minimize that when it came to our hacking. The process is simply the player pointing their Hyper glove at the object they want to hack, deciding what mode their hyper glove is in, and then making a hacking roll to bypass the system\u2019s firewall. Success grants one turn of effect, a raise usually grants a bigger effect. The Firewall of an object is determined by the network the player is hacking. The core book provides a range of Firewall difficulty suggestions depending on what type of network your players are running up against. It also provides a list of suggested consequences, depending on the type of network as well. In practice it means you only have to write down a single number for any building or area the players are running around in, and create or consult a simple chart when the player fails a hack! It\u2019s fast, it\u2019s easy, and it keeps the Hacker running right along side the rest of the group as well!<\/p>\n
Deeper Hacking<\/h5>\n
Of course we also give more than just this quick and easy type of Hacking for those who want to get more complex in their games! You want the Hacker to go completely virtual, scout out the place ahead of time and leave in some backdoors for the group? We have a system for that built on the Savage world\u2019s deluxe rulebook\u2019s \u201cDramatic Task\u201d rules, you can get it done quick and easy and get on with the campaign! You want to Hack someone\u2019s brain, and turn them into your puppet? We got you covered there too. Along with a system for going completely virtual for those who want to really play in the Deep!<\/p>\n
The TAP opens up a world of possibilities in game play, from fully uploaded digital consciousnesses called \u201cDubs\u201d which can offer a form of \u201ceternal life\u201d to those with the cash, to viruses which turn people into stark raving lunatics with Hyper Reality inlaid red eyes that want to kill everyone around them!<\/p>\n
Cyber-enhancement<\/h5>\n
Cool hacking rules aren\u2019t the only thing we have going for us in Interface Zero 2.0 though, we also have a deep and varied \u201cEnhancement\u201d system covering a large breadth of cyberware and bioware to kit out your character\u2019s. We also have an engaging system for what happens when you change to much of your meat. Go too far and maybe it\u2019ll be something biological, your health will be affected… You might have to end up having to take a weekly immuno booster to keep yourself from getting sick too often, or the presence of so much ware in your body is limiting your control of it… your systems end up firing when you least expect it. You might end up going the mental route though, and find yourself with Pinocchio Syndrome; you\u2019ll end up engaging in destructive behavior just to prove you\u2019re a real boy (or girl) underneath all that chrome!<\/p>\n
Beyond that, we have Drone rules made easy following the savage worlds rules for minions, Golem-mech creation rules, Solar colonies, vat grown simulacrum, android characters, brain bending psychics, and lots of other cool stuff in our setting. Interface Zero is the cyberpunk setting that will let you play and tell any kind of cyberpunk story you want too, psychics on the run from the North American Coalition\u2019s \u201cPsi group\u201d, Investigative reporters digging into the heart of a mega corporations illegal experiments, mercenaries trying to earn a buck playing all sides against one another, or Corporate moguls aggressively taking out their rivals!<\/p>\n
We really hope our setting sounds interesting to you, and welcome you to come take a look. This project is a labor of love, and is about giving everyone the best cyberpunk setting and set of rules we can give you! Thanks for taking the time to read this, and we hope you\u2019ll check us out!<\/p>\n