The Chrome Market ยท Chapter 8
Intrusion
A hack is a clock. The hacker works inward one layer at a time while an Alert climbs behind.
The System
Every system has three numbers.
| Number | What it is |
|---|---|
| Security | The difficulty of intrusion checks against it: 1 Easy to 5 Extreme |
| Layers | How many successful checks it takes to reach the centre |
| Countermeasures | What it does when it notices |
| System | Security | Layers | Countermeasures |
|---|---|---|---|
| A door lock, a camera, a vending machine | 1 | 1 | None |
| A car, a home network, a shop's till | 2 | 1 | None |
| A smart weapon, a consumer drone, a phone | 2 | 1 | None |
| A person's cyberware | 3 | 1 | A Biter at Chrome tier if the owner paid for one |
| An office network, a police cruiser, a security drone | 3 | 2 | Wall, Tracer |
| A corporate site, a bank branch, a military vehicle | 4 | 3 | Wall, Tracer, Biter |
| A data fortress, a central bank, a state ministry | 5 | 4 | Two Walls, Tracer, Biter, Black |
Reach. The hacker must be connected: on the same network, within wireless range (Short for a handset, Medium for a deck), or plugged into a port on the site. A system with no outside connection is reached only from inside the building. That is why crews have someone who goes in.
The Run
In structured play a hacker acts on his or her own turn like anyone else. Outside it, each check is a minute.
An intrusion check is an action: Hacking against the system's Security. Add the deck's Boon Dice.
| Result | Outcome |
|---|---|
| Success | The hacker is through one layer |
| Breakthrough | Through two layers |
| Failure | Alert rises by 1 |
| 2 Boons | Learn what the next layer holds, or what countermeasures the system has |
| 3 Boons | Alert falls by 1 |
| 2 Bane (GM spends) | Alert rises by 1, even on a success |
| Calamity (GM spends) | One countermeasure acts at once |
Inside a layer the hacker may use what is there. Each use is an action. It needs no check unless a living defender opposes it, in which case it is Hacking against Hacking.
| Layer | What the hacker can do there |
|---|---|
| Outer | See through cameras, open ordinary doors, read schedules and directories, loop a camera's feed |
| Inner | Copy or change files, silence an alarm, lock doors, take a drone or a turret, listen to internal comms |
| Core | Move money, change who is authorised, erase logs, shut the system down, lock everyone else out |
A system with one layer has all of it in that layer. A system with two has Outer and Inner in the first.
Anything loud raises Alert by 1: shutting down, locking out, taking a drone that someone is watching.
Alert
| Alert | State | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Quiet | Nothing |
| 1 | Flagged | Add 1 Bane Die to the hacker's checks against this system |
| 2 | Hunting | Countermeasures act at the end of each round. A human defender is called |
| 3 | Locked | The hacker is thrown out. The system cannot be entered again by the same route for a day. Guards are sent to wherever the Tracer found |
Alert stays where it is when a run ends, and falls by 1 a day.
Countermeasures
| Countermeasure | What it does when it acts |
|---|---|
| Wall | Passive. Add 1 Trial Die to intrusion checks against the layer it guards |
| Tracer | Makes one check each time it acts, with 3 Ability Dice against the hacker's Hacking ranks as Trial Dice. After two successes it has the hacker's location |
| Biter | Attacks the hacker's deck: 4 Strain to a hacker using a Neural Link or Datajack. To anyone else, one loaded program is burned and must be reloaded after the run |
| Black | Chrome tier. Attacks through a Neural Link: 3 Wounds and 3 Strain each time it acts, ignoring Resistance. It cannot reach a hacker who is not linked |
Pulling the plug is a maneuver for a linked hacker, and it ends the run where it stands. It is the answer to a Black countermeasure, and it is always available.
A Black countermeasure inflicts Critical Injuries only as any other source of Wounds does. It does not kill by itself.
Decks and Programs
A deck adds Boon Dice to intrusion checks and holds programs. A program does one thing, once in a run, unless its entry says it is passive.
| Deck | Tier | Boon Dice | Programs | Price | Avail | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Handset | Near | 0 | 1 | 300 | Common | A phone with the right software. Security 1 and 2 only |
| Field Deck | Near | 1 | 3 | 4000 | Restricted | A hardened tablet or laptop. The working tool of the trade |
| Combat Deck | Chrome | 2 | 4 | 20000 | Illicit | Built for speed against live opposition. Needs a Datajack or a Neural Link |
| Black Deck | Chrome | 2 | 6 | 75000 | Illicit | A custom machine with no maker's mark. Needs a Neural Link. Its owner is wanted for having it |
| Program | Tier | Price | Avail | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Breaker | Near | 1500 | Illicit | Remove 1 Trial Die from an intrusion check against a Wall |
| Ghost | Near | 2500 | Illicit | Ignore the first point of Alert gained in a run |
| Mask | Near | 1000 | Illicit | The run appears to come from somewhere else. A Tracer finds the mask, not the hacker, the first time |
| Shield | Near | 2000 | Restricted | Reduce the Strain or Wounds from a Biter or a Black countermeasure by 3 |
| Sniffer | Near | 800 | Restricted | Finding one named thing inside a layer needs no check |
| Scrubber | Near | 2000 | Illicit | On leaving, reduce Alert by 1 and erase the log of the run |
| Worm | Chrome | 5000 | Illicit | Left behind in a layer that was reached. The next run against this system starts at that layer |
| Hijack | Near | 3000 | Illicit | Add 2 Boon Dice to intrusion checks against drones, vehicles, and weapons |
| Crasher | Near | 2500 | Illicit | Shut down one device or one layer for a number of rounds equal to net Successes. Always adds 1 Alert |
| Scalpel | Chrome | 8000 | Illicit | Add 2 Boon Dice to intrusion checks against cyberware |
Loading a different set of programs takes ten minutes.
Hacking Things
A smart weapon, a drone, a vehicle. Security 2 or 3, one or two layers. Inside, the hacker may shut it down for a number of rounds equal to net Successes on a further check, or, for a drone or vehicle, take control of it for that long.
A person's cyberware. Security 3, one layer, and only if the target has a wireless implant: a Smartlink, an Internal Comm, a Neural Link, a Memory Store, or Cybereyes with a display. Inside, the hacker may do one of these each round:
- Shut down one implant until the end of the target's next turn.
- Make the target Disoriented for a round with noise and false images.
- Read what the implant holds: the last hour of a Memory Store, the contacts of a comm.
A hack cannot move the target's body, make the target attack, or speak with the target's voice. The target ends it by switching the implant's wireless off, which is a maneuver and costs whatever that implant did over the air.
A Datajack has no wireless. Nothing reaches it that is not plugged into it.
An Example
Ines is in the stairwell with a Field Deck (1 Boon Die) while her crew crosses a lobby. The building is Security 3 with two layers, a Wall on the second, and a Tracer.
Round one: she succeeds and is in the first layer. Round two: she loops the lobby cameras, no check. Round three: she goes for the second layer against the Wall, with an extra Trial Die, and fails. Alert 1. Round four: she fails again, with a Bane Die added. Alert 2: Hunting. The Tracer makes its first check at the end of the round and succeeds. She has one more round before it knows which stairwell.
