Setting Rules

IZ 3.0 (8/8 Players)
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Setting Rules

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Campaign Theme: Freelancers (Tweaked from Cleaning Crew; see below).
Adventure Cards: No.
EP Restrictions: MEGA!, Expanded Understanding, Have I Got a Backstory for You, and all options from the Stylish Adventurer.
Character Restrictions: None except that while psionics are allowed, I want no more than one or two in this game.
Additional Game Setting Rules: Secret Roller (see Setting Rules list below), but otherwise none beyond those suggested by the IZ 3.0 Player's Guide.
Benny Philosophy: Every New Mission the Bennies reset. I will do my best to reward quality roleplay and hamming it up with your character's hindrances, but feel free to also nominate each other if you ever feel like I failed to award a well-deserved benny!
Character Creation: Follow the core rules (SWADE) as adjusted by the setting (IZ 3.0). Starting characters begin play at Novice 1 in accordance with forum guidelines.
  • Create one minor contact your character knows (in addition to any you might receive from any relevant Edges or Hindrances). This could be a childhood friend, a ronin from the first crew you ran with that you've kept in touch with, or a bartender at your favorite dive. Just a name and a brief description is enough for your contact.
    Note: This is not a powerful contact. Your character does not know the CEO of Kenta Cyberdynamics or the chief of security for CHIMERA.
Freelancers
Cryptos speak, omae, and freelancers are never without a voice if they player their cards right. Someone always needs a loved one found and vengeance doled out by proxy. Gangers roll through the wrong territory, crossing the wrong path, and need to be taught a discrete lesson. Biohorrors aren't always fried in a timely fashion.
Freelancers keep their ears open and fixers happy, so that when the Cryptodollars come calling their team is the one coming to collect. Build your street cred up and Mr. Johnson himself might ask for you, too, and no one has more cryptos to spend than the corps. But at the end of the day, are you willing to cash in on whatever off-the-books drekshow the corps can't or won't handle in-house?
Rank: Novice (+1 Advance)
Starting Wealth: Each character gets 5,000 cryptodollars.
Team Roles: Drone Jockey, Fighter, Fence, Heavy, Hacker, Investigator, Leader, Marksman, Martial Artist, Medic, Rogue, Scientist
The Stage: The urban environments of Chicago, although freelancers might find themselves travelling abroad and through a variety of environments to complete their contracts.
Plot elements: In a Freelancers game, your characters will be taking on a variety of odd jobs. Parcel delivery, hostage recovery, corporate sabotage, asset acquisition all pay, and getting paid is what Freelancers are all about. Characters freelancing should be capable of adapting to face any situation because they never know what their next job will be. The only question is, what all are you willing to sacrifice for a payday?
Acceptable Content
Some members of the community enjoy reading other game forums, and there are some types of content which is distasteful to many. Cursing in game is OK with me, but I would prefer to minimize or eliminate F-Bombs. If its dramatically appropriate, I'm fine with it (but would prefer F@#$ or something similar).

In general, steer clear from any kinds of abuse. If your character comes from a background where they were abused in some way that is fine, but please do not describe in great detail what they experienced. In game, none of our characters should partaking in abuse of any kind (aside from red misting each other, of course ;) ). One caveat would be if your character is using intimidation to interrogate an NPC. You can do so, but please put on the kiddy gloves first. Smacking an NPC around could be acceptable with discretion, but going into copious detail about the various ways you inflict intense pain upon them is not.

Finally, a mention on adult content. If your character has a love interest or two of you become involved, that is fine. But please leave any adult activities in the background. Also, while adult businesses and clubs exist, and it might even be possible to visit them, lets leave the obvious contents of these establishments to the imagination. Maybe cherry bomb has an amazing body, but we don't need to know explicit details.

I feel like a good gauge of what is appropriate is whether or not you would be comfortable with a teen (13-16 or so) reading what you write. If not, you should probably change it.
Interface Zero 3.0 Setting Rules
  • Conviction: Heroes gain Conviction Tokens that can be used to add a d6 to a Trait or damage roll. Conviction is awarded for triumph (overcoming a great obstacle important to that character), and tragedy (a personal setback, death of a friend or ally, etc.). Players may only have one Conviction at a time, but it does carry over.
  • Gritty Damage: When Wild Cards take a Wound, they roll on the Injury Table and apply the results as temporary injuries.
  • Hacking
    • Cyber Combat Plugins: Bring the Pain (no Hard Mode), Counter Hacking, Cyber Hacking, Programs
      • Program List: Autoscanner, BlackRAT, Blaster, DeletePro, Hyper Editor, ICEpick, Mask Maker, Mindfrag, Partition Viper, Reality Editor, Traceroute, Traceroute Deluxe, TraceroutePro
    • General Purpose Plugins: Active Monitoring, Dramatic Tasks (IC as Complications), Due Diligence, One Roll to Rule them All Networks within Networks, Quick encounters, Sprites, Time.
  • More Skills: Player characters start with 15 skill points.
  • Multiple Languages: Characters know half their Smarts die type in different languages at d6.
  • Secret Roller: There may be times when the GM wishes to make a roll on behalf of the player. If he does so, he’ll take into account all applicable Specializations, Augmentations, gear, Edges, Hindrances and any other possible modifiers that character has. The roll will be made as usual for a wild card (Trait + Wild Die).

    The player will be notified when this is the GM’s intent, and the player will be told whether or not the roll was a success or a failure (but not to what degree). The player will not be told why the roll was made or which trait was rolled.

    The Player can then decide whether to keep what was rolled or choose to make their own roll. If the player keeps the GM’s roll, they will receive a Benny.
  • Skill Specializations: Characters choose a specialization for each skill and subtract 2 when using other variations. See page 137 for more information.
    • The below skills have general uses before considering which specialization to select.
      • Anyone with Driving can operate Civilian Cars, Vans, and Trucks without penalty. They can also choose a Specialty from cycles, commercial / industrial transports (buses, semi-trucks, et.), Golemmechs, hover vehicles, and tracked vehicles.
      • Anyone with Fighting can use it without penalty with Unarmed Attacks, or using Natural Weapons. They can also choose a Specialty from bladed weapons, bludgeoning weapons, power armor and cyber melee weapons, and Golemmech melee systems.
      • Anyone with Hacking can do basic hacking and macro activation. They can also choose a Speciality from programming, edit device, and trace. Other types of operations fall under other skills such as datamining being a specialization of the Research skill.
      • Anyone with Healing can do basic lifesaving (e.g stop a character from Bleeding Out). They can also choose a Speciality from augmentation surgery, pathology and analysis (diseases, poisons, etc.), and trauma treatment for healing Wounds.
  • Street Cred: See page 138 for more information.
  • Wound Cap: Wild Cards never suffer more than four wounds from a single hit.
  • Zeeks: Androids and bioroids do not have flesh and blood brains and therefore cannot become zeeks. Cyborgs do have brains, but as recommended by the rules, cyborgs are not allowed to be zeeks either.
    • Power List: arcane protection, barrier, beast friend, blast, blind, bolt, boost/lower trait, burrow, burst, confusion, damage field, darksight, deflection, detect/conceal arcana, disguise, divination, drain power points, elemental manipulation, empathy, entangle, environmental protection, farsight, fear, fly, growth/shrink, havoc, healing, illusion, intangibility, invisibility, light/darkness, mind link, mind reading, mind wipe, object reading, protection, relief, shape change, sloth/speed, slumber, smite, sound/silence, speak language, stun, telekinesis, teleport, wall walker, warrior's gift
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Explorer Points & Patrons

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Not all of the site's Explorer Points options work for this game, but some do. Those that do will be linked from here. Follow the directions in the EP forums for how to use them.

Well Fudge
(1 EP) Anyone Got a Benny?
(5 EP) Deus Ex Machina

Good In A Pinch
(1 EP) Power Efficiency
(3 EP) Inspiration

Account Unlocks

Patrons

Interface Zero will not be making use of the savagerifts Patron or Signature items, however Patrons can choose one option from the two below:
  • An item of choice worth up to $1500 within your character's concept and pending GM approval.
  • A powerful contact with access to specific favors or goods and pending GM approval. This is not a major player such as the CEO of Kenta Cyberdynamics, but it might be an important member of the shadow community, a middle manager with discretionary control over some program or product, or someone with access to high end weaponry, vehicles, or armor.
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Lifestyles

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Lifestyles
Instead of handling the crew’s day to day expenses by counting every Cryptodollar spent, it is easier to use the Lifestyle Setting Rule. This isn’t the Wealth Setting Rule; crews are still expected to buy mission gear and other essentials out of pocket. Instead, this is a quick and easy way to keep track of how the crew is living without extensive, not to mention needless, record keeping.

Each character starts the game with a d6 Lifestyle die. This is not an Attribute die but acts like one—players may spend Bennies when checking it, get their Wild die, and benefit from Support when making Lifestyle rolls. The characters are also assumed to be living the Getting By Lifestyle when the game starts. The world of 2095 has six lifestyles, each based on a die type.

Lifestyle Checks
Lifestyles are determined on a month by month basis. At the beginning of each month, the character declares what Lifestyle they wish to enjoy or endure. They then make a Lifestyle check. This is done with the Lifestyle die and may be helped with Support and Savings.

First, the character determines if they want to live it up for the month (live beyond their Lifestyle die), tough it out (live below their Lifestyle die) or live within their means (same as their Lifestyle die). They then roll a Lifestyle check for the month.

If the character wishes to live within their means and the check is a success, it means they maintain their Lifestyle without issue or drama. On a raise, they have a windfall of some sort and gain one point of Savings. (See below for more information on Savings.)

On a failure, the character runs into some unexpected bills or expenses and has a hard time making rent. They may spend a point of Savings to get them through the month, or they can cut expenses and live one Lifestyle lower than they expected.

On a Critical Failure, the character runs into a financial disaster. They must spend 3 Savings to live within their means. If they don’t have the Savings or if they just want to tough it out, they can drop two Lifestyles. For example, they could drop from Doing Well (d8) to Barely Enough (d4).

If a character Supports another character’s check and that check fails, they suffer a penalty. They don’t gain a Savings on a success with a raise but do suffer a −1 to their own Lifestyle check on a failure and a −2 on a Critical Failure. A supporting character can use their Savings to help their own Lifestyle rolls, but not for other characters’ checks.

The Player’s Guide to 2095 lists costs for medical equipment and treatment. If the characters are injured and require emergent or acute care and they pay for it, they gain all the benefits of that care without penalties from their Lifestyle.

The Modifiers to Natural Healing checks for the lower and higher Lifestyles reflect the sanitation and nutrition of the character’s living conditions. These impact a character’s overall health and ability to convalesce but shouldn’t impact any emergency care.


A character may also want to live it up and live one die type higher than their Lifestyle die. The Lifestyle check is made at −2 for every level over their current Lifestyle die. If the check is successful, the character enjoys that Lifestyle for the month, but it comes at a cost. For the following month only, the character’s Lifestyle die will be reduced by one die type. A success with a raise brings the luxury of their new Lifestyle with no loss of a Lifestyle die the following month.

On a failure, the character couldn’t get the Cryptos together. Any Savings they spent on the check is lost, and they must live the lifestyle equal to their current Lifestyle die. On a Critical Failure, the character has reached too far. Any Savings spent on the check is lost, and the character’s Lifestyle drops one level below their current Lifestyle die.

A character may tough it out or live a Lifestyle lower than their current Lifestyle die. When they do, they gain a +2 to their Lifestyle check for every level of Lifestyle they are going to live less than their current Lifestyle die. On a success, they live that lowered Lifestyle and gain a Savings, two Savings with a success with a raise. On a failure, they’ve mismanaged things and live the lowered Lifestyle without accruing any Savings. On a Critical Failure they live the lowered Lifestyle and must pay a Savings or live a Lifestyle one additional level lower.

Edges and Lifestyle Checks
Characters with the Rich Edge gain an increase of die type to their Lifestyle die. Very Rich characters gain two die types. Characters with the Poverty Hindrance decrease their Lifestyle die by one step.

The Fame Edge gives characters a +1 to their Lifestyles checks, while Famous characters gain a +2. When you’re famous, people want to give you stuff.

Some characters can just find good, if not completely legal, deals. This includes swanky places to crash while the owners are out of town or eating at the finest restaurants without having to pay. If the character doesn’t mind living a little on the edge, they may use their Streetwise bonus on their Lifestyle checks. The GM may decide that living on shady deals will catch up to the character someday. A failure on a Lifestyle check might mean they were squatting in someone else’s penthouse, which will lead to a different kind of problem.

A character may also take the Connections Edge to help with their Lifestyle. If they dedicate a Connection to Lifestyle, they get a +2 to all their Lifestyle checks.

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Lifestyles Table

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Lifestyles Table
Less than d4
  • Lifestyle - Impoverished: Living on the streets. Ragged clothes. No sanitation. Get food where you can.
    • Impact: Natural healing rolls are made at –4. Spending more than one month Impoverished gives the Anemic and Ugly Hindrances until the Lifestyle can be improved.
d4
  • Lifestyle - Barely Enough: A tiny studio apartment or coffin room. Poor or secondhand clothes. Access to a sonic shower every now and then. Can only get the cheapest street grub, but not every day.
    • Impact: Natural Healing rolls are made at –2. Spending more than one month with Barely Enough gives the Ugly Hindrance until the Lifestyle can be improved.
d6
  • Lifestyle - Getting By: A medium sized studio or a one-bedroom apartment. Decent clothing and maybe one nice outfit. Built in shower. Mostly fast food, but enough to stock a fridge and cook a decent meal now and then.
d8
  • Lifestyle - Doing Well: A large-sized studio apartment or a small house somewhere in the burbs. The clothes are new and stylish, with a couple designer labels in the closet. Food is good and there’s enough to go out to a classy restaurant from time to time.
    • Impact: Natural healing rolls are made at +2.
d10
  • Lifestyle - Living in Splendor: A nice brownstone or large house with some land. You’re wearing mostly designer stuff, with a couple one-off pieces that set your wardrobe apart. You know the first names of several chefs around town.
    • Impact: Natural healing rolls are made at +4. Spending more than one month Living in Splendor gives the Attractive Edge until the Lifestyle drops to Doing Well or below.
d12
  • Lifestyle - Rolling in It: A penthouse apartment or large estate. Designers send you clothes to help get their brand out there. Celebrated chefs from around town come to your place to cook for you.
    • Impact: Natural healing rolls are made at +6. Spending more than one month Rolling in It gives the Very Attractive Edge until the Lifestyle drops to Living in Splendor or below.
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Savings

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Savings
Savings reflects the character living within a budget and watching their daily spending. A character can accumulate Savings either by a Windfall or by living a Lifestyle that is below their current Lifestyle die. They may stash away as many Savings as they wish.

A character can spend one Savings to gain a +1 on a Lifestyle check. They may spend up to four Savings on any check. They may also spend a Savings in certain circumstances to keep from dropping into poverty.

Increasing the Lifestyle Die
The Lifestyle die increases through character advancement.
  • Seasoned: Lifestyle increases to d8, or otherwise one step up.
  • Heroic: Lifestyle increases to d10, or otherwise one step up to a maximum of d12.
    • A Heroic character with Filthy Rich still treats their Lifestyle Die as a d12 on the Lifestyles Table but gains an additional +1 modifier to lifestyle rolls.

Alternative-Buying Lifestyles
I do not like this option. I do not intend to use it, However, if we discuss it and you guys decide you prefer this option...Read below.

If you’d rather skip the Lifestyle checks, the GM may have the characters buy their Lifestyle at the beginning of the month. The characters declare what lifestyle they want to live for the month based on the buying lifestyles table.

When the character makes their Lifestyle payment for the month, they gain all the benefits and penalties of that Lifestyle. Living in poverty for months at a time still has its problems and living in prosperity has its perks.

Buying Lifestyles Table
  • Less than d4: No cost
  • d4: $1,500
  • d6: $4,000
  • d8: $6,000
  • d10: $12,000
  • d12: $24,000


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Modified Hindrances / New Edges

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Modified Hindrances
Anemic (Minor/Major): Anemic characters are particularly susceptible to sickness, disease, environmental effects, and fatigue. They subtract 2 from Vigor rolls made to resist Fatigue (see Hazards, starting on page 125).

As a Major Hindrance, characters suffer a −2 on all rolls to resist the effects of Environmental Hazards including radiation.

Poverty (Minor): It’s said a fool and his money are soon parted. Your hero is one of them. He starts with half the usual money for your setting and the character's Lifestyle die is also decreased by one step.

New Edges
Healthy
Requirements: Novice, Vigor d6
Healthy characters have a strong constitution making them virtually impervious to debilitating effects. They add 2 to Vigor Rolls made to resist Fatigue.

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Safehouses

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Safehouses
From time to time, characters may find it necessary to find a safe house to lay low. This may be a temporary flop that they will hide in for a few days or weeks, or this may be the character’s permanent lair with all the amenities of home and a security system that makes the place a veritable fortress. The price a character pays for a safe house depends on the location and the security options. Most locations have Advantages and/or Disadvantages due to the nature of the location. Additional Advantages and Disadvantages may be assigned that will adjust the price of the safe house.
Regardless of the type and purpose of the safe house, the first thing they will need to choose is the location.

Descriptions
The following section looks at various locations for safe houses.


Abandoned Building
  • Any
Apartment
  • Portable Security System, Security Cameras
Business Front
  • Security Cameras, Portable Security System. May rely on existing security from the business.
Coffin Motel
  • Portable Security System
Estate
  • Any
House
  • Any
Industrial Location
  • Security Cameras, Portable Security System. May rely on existing security from the business.
Motel/Hotel
  • Portable Security System
Outdoor Location
  • Portable Security System


Abandoned Building
Abandoned buildings are fairly anonymous making them hard to find, but they are also typically run down and offer no services such as power and water. They have no inherent security except some questionable doors and walls. They also have no nosy landlords preventing you from making whatever changes you want.
Advantages: If the characters simply claim the building, there is no base price per month. The characters can put in any funds they wish to install any Security options that they want.
Disadvantages: The building may already be claimed by squatters or gangs that the characters may have to deal with. There is no power or water provided to the building.
Base Cost: 0 if the characters simply claim the building. If they wish to rent or purchase the building it can be rented for 250 C$ per 1000 square feet. It can be purchased outright for 5 C$ per square foot.

Apartment
Apartments are typically small residences that are in close proximity to other similar structures. Typical apartments have a living room, kitchen, bathroom and 0 to 3 bedrooms. An apartment with 0 bedrooms is a studio apartment and the living room doubles as a sleeping area. A studio apartment is 500 square feet, and each additional bedroom adds 150 square feet.
Advantages: Unless a party seeking the characters has an exact address, it is difficult to locate a specific apartment out of the countless ones in an area. −2 to Networking rolls to locate characters in an apartment.
Disadvantages: Neighbors. Neighbors mean that you cannot use automated defenses due to perpetual false alerts as the neighbors move around. Also, neighbors talk. For every 48 hours that characters remain in the same apartment, reduce the Networking penalty by one. If the characters have any visible Security Options, decrease this by one additional point per 48 hours.
Base Cost: 1 C$ per square foot per month. Minimum of one month. An Apartment cannot be purchased unless the entire structure is purchased.

Business Front
The characters are hiding out in an existing business of some kind. This may be a back room, an upper apartment, or a basement of the business. Any type of business is possible, though some may be less available than others. Perhaps the characters are hiding out in an apartment over a garage, a back room of a bar or the basement of an accounting firm.
Advantages: Customers. With customers coming and going from the building, it is more difficult to track a character to their safe house. −2 to Investigation and Notice rolls to track the characters to their safe house. Existing security. The characters may utilize the existing security for the business.
Disadvantages: It is a business. If the characters make too much noise or draw too much attention to themselves, such as a gun fight, they can expect to deal with their business landlords as well as sector cops and security professionals.
Base Cost: Business fronts can range in price depending on their size.
  • Small business: 4,500 C$ per month
  • Medium Business: 7,500 C$ per month
  • Large Business: 10,500 C$ per month
Coffin Motel
In a coffin motel a guest has a space that is extremely small, often a four foot by four foot by eight-foot horizontal space with others immediately above, below and to the sides. These “rooms” are coffin-like containers that slide out of the wall, lower to floor level for entrance and egress then return to their space. Amenities consist of little more than a mattress, sink and a comp terminal. Restrooms are shared between the spaces, typically one restroom per twenty rooms.
Advantages: They are extremely cheap and all but impossible to locate. Apply a −3 to Networking rolls as well as Investigation and Notice rolls to find an individual without having an exact location.
Disadvantages: There is no space. Housing more than two people in one space is extremely uncomfortable. If more than two people attempt to share a single “room” for 24 hours or longer, all must make a Vigor roll every 24 hours, suffering a level of Fatigue on a failure.
Base Cost: 50 C$ per night.

Estate
An estate is much like a house, but typically has much more land and is much larger as well. It has a greater amount of privacy than a house due to its distance from other structures. An estate may have one large house, like a mansion, or it may have several smaller structures, but it typically has a structure foot print of around 15,000 square feet and has a significant amount of land, 5 to 10 acres in an urban area or 50 to 100 acres in a rural area. It has at least 2 garages.
Advantages: Privacy and a lot of room for amenities. While it may be fairly obvious where the structure is, knowing what is going on there is another story entirely. There may be structures such as swimming pools, VTOL pads, large garages, etc.
Disadvantages: They are extremely expensive.
Base Cost: 10 C$ per square foot and acre per month. 200 C$ per square foot and either 10,000 C$ per acre in a rural area or 50,000 C$ per acre in an urban area to purchase.

House
A house is typically 2,000 square feet including a two-stall garage, small yard space in front and behind, three bedrooms, living room, kitchen and two bathrooms. Houses can be rented or purchased. Additional space may be purchased in the form of a basement, second floor, an outbuilding in the yard, etc.
Advantages: Privacy and Versatility. Generally, any kind of work can be done to add Security Options without too much attention being drawn to the work. A house can have any kind of Security Options installed. Since it is free standing, it is far easier to detect unauthorized visitors than one where numerous neighbors are nearby.
Disadvantages: Houses are more expensive than apartments and the police response time to a house is comparable to an apartment once gun shots start ringing out in the neighborhood.
Base Cost: 2 C$ per square foot per month. 60 C$ per square foot to purchase.

Industrial Location
The safe house is within an industrial structure of some kind, be it an actual factory, a warehouse or some other kind of manufacturing facility.
Advantages: Like a business front, the safe house can share the Security Options that the industrial location already has. There may also be convenient amenities available such as a workshop, VTOL Pad, etc.
Disadvantages: Like a business front, drawing attention to yourself will draw the ire of your landlords. A firefight in the factory is going to draw the police or private security extremely quickly.
Base Cost: 5,000 C$ per month.

Motel/Hotel
Very similar to an apartment but rented per night rather than per month. There is a huge range, however, in quality of the room. This is based on the “star” system. A one-star motel may have the same square footage and room count as a five-star hotel, but there are significantly more roaches and fewer comforts. A typical motel/hotel location includes a living room, bathroom and 0 to 3 bedrooms. In a 0-bedroom location, the living room shares the bedroom function. Typically, this is approximately 1,000 square feet plus 150 square feet per bedroom.
Advantages: Anonymous. Like an apartment, there are countless people coming and going and unless a pursuer knows the exact address and room number, they suffer a −2 penalty to Networking rolls as well as Investigation and Notice rolls to track a character to their bolt hole. Additionally, they may choose an Advantage from the list of Advantages for each star above 3 stars at half price.
Disadvantages: People talk. For every 48 hours that characters stay in the same motel/hotel, the penalty for being anonymous is reduced by one. Additionally, the GM may assign a Disadvantage from the list of Disadvantages for each star below 3 stars.
Base Cost: 100 C$ per night multiplied by the number of stars for the motel/hotel.

Outdoor Location
An outdoor location may be a secluded woodland campsite or a cardboard box in an alleyway. Either way, you are not paying for it, but you have little to no shelter from the elements, not to mention protection from incoming ammunition.
Advantages: Does not cost anything. It has no address, so it is not easily found.
Disadvantages: Unprotected. No Utilities.
Base Cost: 0

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Safehouse Options

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Advantages
Advantages improve a safe house in some manner that is not directly a security option. Cost is the price per month. In the case of a hotel or other safe house that is paid for daily, the cost is 1/10th of that shown per day. In the case of a purchase, the cost is multiplied by 25.


Amenity: Catering
Cost: 500 C$ – 1,000 C$
Description: Food is provided at the safe house. Range determines the quality of the food.

Amenity: Entertainment
Cost: 200 C$ to 2,000 C$
Description: Some form of entertainment is available. This could be anything from a high-end stereo to adult entertainment services.

Amenity: Transportation
Cost: 50 C$ – 5,000 C$
Description: Transportation is readily available at this location. This could range from a tube pass, a bus pass or even a chauffeured limo for enough money a month.

Cache
Cost: 10 – 25% the value of the Cache
Description: A stash of a valuable commodity that the character may need. Weapons, Drugs, etc. The Character may use these items during their stay but is responsible for the fee as well as repaying any of the cache that is used such as ammunition, etc. The range of the cost is influenced by how rare / illegal / etc. the commodity is.

Easy Access/Exit
Cost: 200 C$ – 1,000 C$
Description: The location has an easy way in or out. This may mean a first-floor apartment right next to the exit, a house right off the interstate, etc. Range of cost is based on how convenient it is. Quick access to an airport is more expensive than access to a fire escape, for example.

Garage/Hanger
Cost: 100 C$ or 200 C$
Description: Secure storage for a vehicle. This would be an additional garage for safe houses that already have a garage. 100 C$ for a garage, 200 C$ for a hanger.

Improved Digital Security
Cost: 300 C$ or 5,000 C$
Description: Increase the network security of the safehouse. A typical safe house is considered a Network (Civilian), for 300 C$, it becomes a Network (Corporate) and for 5,000 C$ it becomes Network (Government or Military). Hacking individual security options, such as security cameras, are done at a –2 or –4 penalty based on the level of Advantage.

Improved Physical Security
Cost: 25% or 100% of the cost of the safe house
Description: Increases the physical structure of the location. Default toughness of 8 for doors would increase to 10 for 25% or 12 for 100%. This is universal, so it applies to windows and walls, as well as housings for Security Options such as cameras and sentry guns. Object toughness of a window is 4, this is increased to 6 or 8 for example. This does not grant any Security Options, but it does improve Security Options that you have purchased.

Isolated
Cost: 250 C$
Description: The safe house is in a location that is difficult for intruders to get to. In the case that the character is located by an intruder, allow the character a Notice roll to identify that intruders are incoming.

Medical Facility
Cost: 350 C$
Description: A fully functional medical bay. Assuming that a person with the correct medical training is available, any kind of medical procedure may be performed here. Additionally, treating wounds during the golden hour in a medical facility grants a +2 to First Aid rolls. Further natural healing rolls in a safe house with a medical facility receive a +2 bonus as well.

Off the Grid
Cost: 250 C$
Description: This building uses independent power and utilities, and its location has been carefully scrubbed from The Deep. Attempting to use Investigation and/or Notice to locate the safe house either physically or via The Deep is at a –2 penalty.

Opulent
Cost: 75% of the base cost of the safe house
Description: The safe house has all the frills. Water fountains, Persian carpets, crystal chandeliers, the works. +2 to Persuasion rolls when negotiations are being done on your home ground.


Disadvantages
Disadvantages reduce the cost of a safe house at the cost of penalties and inconveniences in the structure. Taking a Disadvantage that is the direct opposite of an Advantage that has also been taken is not allowed. For example, Improved Physical Security and Decreased Physical Security cannot be taken together. Disadvantages cannot bring the cost of a safe house below 50% of the base cost of the safe house. Credit is the price reduction per month. In the case of a hotel or other safe house that is paid for daily, the credit is 1/10th of that shown per day. In the case of a purchase, the credit is multiplied by 25.


Decreased Digital Security
Cost: 150 C$
Description: Decrease the network security of the safe house. A typical safe house is considered a Network (Civilian). With this Disadvantage, the safe house is considered a Machine (Simple) for Hacking purposes. Hacking individual Security Options, such as security cameras, are done with a +2 bonus.

Decreased Physical Security
Cost: 10% the cost of the safe house
Description: Decreases the physical structure of the location. Default toughness of 8 for doors would decrease to 6 with this Disadvantage. This is universal so it applies to windows and walls as well as housings for Security Options such as cameras and sentry guns. Object toughness of a window is 4, this is decreased to 2 for example.

Difficult Access/Exit
Cost: 100 C$ to 400 C$
Description: The location has no easy way in or out. This may mean an upper-floor apartment with no nearby fire escape, or a house on a back road or long driveway. The credit is based on the level of challenge of the access.

Inhospitable
Cost: 500 C$
Description: The safe house is infested with bugs, rats or some other unpleasant invader, or it is near a loud perpetual disturbance such as a rail yard, factory or rave club that makes sleep a near impossibility. Occupants must make a Vigor roll every 24 hours or suffer a point of Fatigue. Each additional roll is at a cumulative –1 (thus –1 on the second roll, –2 on the third etc.).

No Deep Access
Cost: 200 C$
Description: Your Safe house is underground, in the forest or somewhere where The Deep is entirely out of range. No rolls involving The Deep are allowed at this location.

No Utilities
Cost: 100 C$
Description: Your safe house does not have access to water or power. Androids cannot recharge and equipment requiring power is non-functional.

Nosy Neighbors
Cost: 200 C$
Description: Everyone seems to be minding your business in this neighborhood. Opponents seeking the character receive a +2 bonus on Networking Rolls to locate the character since everyone seems to be watching the character and is happy to share that information.

Public
Cost: 100 C$
Description: The safe house is in a shared living space, perhaps this is a homeless shelter, a derelict subway station occupied by many squatters or perhaps the character simply has roommates. Regardless of the reason, privacy is something you can only dream of. Any secrets that the character tries to discuss here are bound to be overheard. Any secret stashes are sure to be uncovered.

Subject to Scrutiny
Cost: 150 C$
Description: The safe house is subject to routine investigation by authority figures. Perhaps the restaurant you are hiding in has frequent health inspectors, the factory has safety inspectors or your apartment is routinely investigated by the landlord. Regardless of the situation, black market merchandise or illegal substances are likely to be located, suspicious activities will be identified and the police notified. Each month (or day for a daily residence), draw a card. If a Club is drawn, the authority figures visit at an inopportune time.

The Deep — Brown outs
Cost: 100 C$
Description: Access to The Deep is spotty at this location due to some kind of interference. Any time that a character attempts to access The Deep, draw a card. If a Club is drawn, The Deep will not be available for this operation.

Utility — Brown outs
Cost: 75 C$
Description: Perhaps it is poor wiring or intermittent solar panels, power at this safe house is unreliable. Androids recharging here take 25% more time to charge. Any time a character seeks to use power for a procedure, draw a card. In the case of a Club, power is not available.


Security Options
Security Options are security features that a character can add to their safe house. Except where noted, these are a one-time purchase and do not add to the monthly cost.


Alarm System
Cost: 1,000 C$ Alarm systems generate a notification when either another linked security system or a door or window sensor is triggered. This notification may be an audible alarm, a silent message to the occupant or both.

Automated Weapon System
Cost: 5,000 C$ plus the cost of the weapon and any improved skills cost.
Description: Automated Weapon Systems are smart systems that implement a weapon and an associated targeting system. Any weapon included in Interface Zero may be used as the weapon in these systems. The Automated Weapon System has a base skill of d4 in Notice and Shooting. The cost to raise these skills is 2,000 C$ per die type per skill.

Biometric Locks
Cost: 1,000 C$
Description: Biometric Locks use a character’s bio-signature in the form of a fingerprint, palm print, or retinal scan to identify the correct occupant. This is essentially a two-factor identification in conjunction with the occupant’s TAP. Biometric locks do not have a physical key and therefor are not able to be opened with the Lockpicking skill. Price is per door protected by a biometric lock.

Guards
Cost: 50 C$ – 1,000 C$ per month
Description: Living guards have always been a part of security and regardless of the technological accomplishments of the 21st century, there is still little that exceeds the full range of ability that a skilled guard can provide. The cost range is an indication of the level of skill of the guard and must be paid per month. For 50 C$ one might be able to entice a local vagrant to send a notification to the occupant if they see someone trying to force entry. A uniformed guard standing at the door with a gun can expect to be paid at least 250 C$ per month and will have a d6 Notice, Shooting and Fighting skill with no Wild Die. To entice a guard with d8 skills, an occupant may expect to pay 600 C$ or more per month while a Wild Card guard can expect to earn 1,000 C$ per month or more.

Motion Detection System
Cost: 1,000 C$ – 10,000 C$
Description: A wide variety of systems may be utilized to detect motion at a distance, from as simple as a string with tin cans tied to it to as advanced as ultrasound sensors or thermographic heat detection systems. The occupant may define the nature of the Motion Detection System and the price is determined by the Notice skill of the system as well as any bonus that the system receives in its opposed Stealth test verses the intruder. Motion detection systems are considered to be active guards. The cost is 1,000 C$ for a d4 Notice skill with an additional 1,000 C$ per die type improvement with a maximum of d10. The occupant may additionally pay 2,000 C$ per +1 bonus to the opposed Stealth test of the system with a maximum bonus of +3.

Surveillance Cameras
Cost: 500 C$ to 750C$ per Camera
Description: Cameras allow remote viewing of a location or they may be set to record the area that they cover. A camera is not a smart system and does not send any kind of notification based on its recording. For that functionality, a motion detection system is required. For an additional 250 C$ the camera may pan up to 360 degrees.



Perimeter Light System
Cost: 100 C$
Weight: 10
Description: A series of lights wired together that can be set to create a large burst template of light or may be strung out in a line to create a path of light three squares wide (18’) by 9 squares long (54’). Requires a Large Battery

Porta Potty
Cost: 200 C$
Weight: 15
Description: Provides a portable sanitary waste disposal unit.

Portable Cooking Unit
Cost: 200 C$
Weight: 10
Description: Requires a Large Battery.

Portable Generator
Cost: 1500 C$
Weight: 50
Description: A system that provides the equivalent of grid power. Androids can charge off this system. Equipment that needs to be plugged in can receive power from this system.

Portable Security System
Cost: 3000 C$
Weight: 30
Description: This is the equivalent of a motion detection system. It has a 100’ radius and has a Notice skill of d6. This system requires grid power or a portable generator.

Satellite Downlink
Cost: 2000 C$
Weight: 15
Description: Sometimes you are in a place where access to The Deep is not available. A satellite downlink is a portable system that provides access to The Deep in a 100’ radius. This system requires grid power or a portable generator.

Solar Tent
Cost: 800 C$
Weight: 20
Description: A 4-man tent that has a solar array as its external surface. Provides the equivalent of Large Battery power to connected systems.

Tent
Cost: 200 C$
Weight: 10
Description: A 4-man tent. Provides protection from the elements. If the characters have winter clothing, this is adequate to sleep in winter conditions.


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Virtual Reality

Post by Koshnek »

Virtual Reality
Virtual Reality is a core element in many cyberpunk settings. The notion of a hacker “jacking in” and running a hack against a megacorp in virtual reality has been around since Case first started “Punching Deck” in Neuromancer. It’s almost expected that characters can do this sort of thing in their cyberpunk game.

Interface Zero is different.

Virtual reality exists, but the megacorps are smart. They don’t open themselves up to a VR hack by exposing their critical systems to virtual eality traffic. Megacorps limit their online/virtual presence to stores where people can order their products, post reviews, and interact with customer service bots. Like today, the biggest risk of a hack on one of these sites is the potential exposure of their customer’s personal information. Hackers won’t find information about top secret research projects, or databases listing their employees by hacking a corporate network (though they might meet a contact who can pass along said information); to obtain that type of information a character must physically penetrate their offices and hack the computer systems and networks. All that said, virtual reality can be a dynamic element of your Interface Zero game.

Accessing Virtual Reality
Characters can easily access any virtual reality world in existence. All they need is the gear to interface with it. We refer to these interfaces as VR Headgear. VR Headgear contains all of the software needed to translate the user’s sensorium into a virtual environment. It’s designed to plug into plug into the Tendril Access Processor’s CPU. Once the VR headgear is synced with the TAP, the character is able to enter any VR world they have an active subscription to and interact with it as if they were really there.

These items weren’t introduced in The Player’s Guide to 2095 simply because we hadn’t tackled this element of the game yet. If your group wishes to engage in VR, use the following table for pricing guidelines.

Headgear Quality
Like anything purchased on the open market, you get what you pay for. The descriptions below provide a basic guideline for how VR Headgear can have an impact on a character’s virtual reality session.

Requirements: Characters must have a Tendril Access Processor rated at Tier 1 or higher.
Performance: Standard headgear will get you there, but you’ll likely wish it didn’t. The VR experience with this tech is baseline. Many areas are pixelated to such an extent that it’s sometimes hard (at the GM’s Discretion) to determine what they are without a successful Notice roll. Digital food tastes off; it’s like the neural processors can’t figure out how something should taste, so everything tastes like chicken. Oftentimes characters will experience lag, especially if they are in heavily populated worlds such as The Deep, or any of the worlds which make up the Deadlands Universe. There is an upside to having this gear, though. You can’t feel pain and thus, you ignore any instances of Fatigue (Bumps and Bruises) while in VR.
Lag: Any time a character with this headgear engages in virtual combat or other activity (such as Chases or Dramatic Tasks) which stresses the headgear’s processors she runs the risk of incurring lag. If her Action Card is a Club, she has become lagged. She has the Hesitant Hindrance for the next 3 rounds.
  • Requirements: Tier 1 IDS
  • Performance: Lag heavy, low-quality sensorium input
  • Cost 100 C$
Requirements: Characters must have a Tendril Access Processor rated at Tier 2 or higher.
Performance: Advanced headgear has improved buffering technology and mid-to-high level Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) capable of rendering virtual domains in exceptional quality, though the neural processors still have some trouble translating sensorium input. Lag spikes happen infrequently, but they don’t last exceedingly long. At the GM’s discretion, you also enjoy a +1 to Notice checks when running this headgear. There is a slight downside— you feel pain. No modifiers are applied to any rolls to avoid Fatigue (Bumps and Bruises).
Lag: Any time characters with this headgear engages in virtual combat or other activity (such as Chases or Dramatic Tasks) which stresses the headgear’s processors, they run the risk of incurring lag. If their Action Card is a Jack, Queen or King of Clubs, they become lagged, and gain the Hesitant Hindrance for the next 2 rounds.
  • Requirements: Tier 2 IDS
  • Performance: Intermittent lag, good sensorium input
  • Cost 500 C$
Requirements: Characters must have a Tendril Access Processor rated at Tier 3 or higher.
Performance: Welcome to the dream stream, virtuality as it was meant to be experienced. The tastes, textures, smells, sounds and resolution are better than real life, and so are you. Your State-of-the-Art headgear has been custom designed to provide such an immersive experience that you enjoy a +1 to any Notice and Persuasion checks. However, the pain you feel while in VR is heightened to such an extent that it can seem unbearable at times. You suffer a −1 to any rolls to avoid Fatigue (Bumps and Bruises).
Lag: Any time a character with this headgear engages in virtual combat or other activity (such as Chases or Dramatic Tasks) which stresses the headgear’s processors, he runs the risk of incurring lag. If his Action Card is an Ace of Clubs, he is lagged. She has the Hesitant Hindrance for a single round.
  • Requirements: Tier 3 IDS
  • Performance: Superior connectivity (lag spikes are extremely rare), real life sensorium input
  • Cost 2,500 C$
Multiple Lag Conditions
Characters do not suffer additional lagged conditions if they draw another Club while currently under the effects of lag.

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VR Mechanics

Post by Koshnek »

Avatars
When characters enter virtual reality, they have avatars; virtual bodies which they use to interact with whatever VR world they are in. The avatar can move, fight, run, touch, hear, and even taste and smell(!). We don’t wish to bog you down with a ton of unnecessary rules for creating an avatar. In 2095, VR technology is advanced enough that any aspect of a living person or creature can be replicated with ease. The only difference is the quality, which is determined by the headgear the character uses. With this in mind, you can go about making VR characters in one of three ways:
  • Use existing characters: This is the easiest way to go about it. Just let the players use their existing characters to interact with VR. All the Savage Worlds rules are the same. Characters can gain fatigue, Wounds, etc. and even die. The main difference is that death isn’t real. They just respawn! See Character Death for more details.
  • Make new characters: If you want the group to have different characters than those they play in the real world, simply have them create new ones. You can set the starting Rank based on what you feel is appropriate and let the players do the rest. This gives the players more choices. Maybe an android character wonders what it might be like to be human and chooses to go that route, or your group’s cyborg character chooses an avatar that isn’t cybered, so they can experience touch and taste again.
  • Import characters: If you’re running a game in some other game (such as Deadlands, or Weird Wars) simply use those characters! There’s nothing stopping you. If you wish to give characters a skill they might not otherwise have in their “home” setting (Like Hacking or some other relevant skill), give them the skill at a d6. That skill obviously can only be used while in a VR World.
Character Death
Most of the time characters don’t die in a Virtual World; they just respawn. It’s totally up to you as to where they respawn in context of the VR world, but here’s a tip: As someone who plays in MMORPG’s it really sucks when the respawn point is far away from the action. To avoid friction, consider allowing characters to set their own spawn point by spending a Benny.

All that said, there are VR environments where anything goes! Indeed, some worlds have specialized environments where people come to suffer pain in all its myriad forms and even the thrill of death. These people actually let the developers of the worlds use the blackest malware to cause physical damage to augment their virtual sensations, and occasionally they die from the experience. These VR domains are only hinted at in this book; we don’t condone situations where players are subjected this sort of thing.

Adventures in VR
On the surface, savage tales set either entirely or even partially in virtual reality might not seem interesting, but in 2095 VR is a great place for characters to engage in all sorts of activity, like meeting contacts. It’s certainly much safer than your bog-standard meet at a night club or some other cliché. Beyond simple meetings, however, consider using VR as a storytelling element.

Perhaps a piece of information critical to the completion of a mission exists in a virtual world, and characters must enter VR and interact with the world to find it. Or maybe they must interact with (or kill) a virtual entity, like an elusive AI, or even a raid boss!

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VR Worlds

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VR Worlds
The following VR worlds are the most popular, though many, many more exist.
Note: Pinnacle Entertainment has kindly allowed us to introduce a few of their most popular game settings as fictional VR worlds. All artwork is copyright 2020 Pinnacle Entertainment. Used with their permission.
  • (GM Note: This list actually includes Deadlands, East Texas University, Necessary Evil, Nothrannon: Age of Explorers, Rippers, Weird Wars, and 50 Fathoms. I am not intending to ever run any of these games within VR as IZ3, but if you wanted to buy a VMMO subscription for your character and/or just make it a thing for your character in general, that is fine. The only one that might come up in this game, and the one you are completely free to use to your advantage if you can wiggle it into the story, is the Deep.)
The Deep
Not a VR World in the sense that it’s a game, The Deep is vast open world structured like an endless virtual city. People come to The Deep for any reason you can think of; social interaction and shopping being the prime reasons. Anything you might ever want, or need can be found in The Deep and, while smart corporations keep their most sensitive servers offline, they all maintain storefronts where people can buy their products and have them delivered in a timely manner. Similarly, any type of social group or activity you can think of exists in this virtual space. Indeed, the very structure of The Deep (buildings, parks, subways, etc.) is a place one can go to interact with like-minded people and take part in virtual activities. But these are not the only reasons people come here.

Some game-spaces in VR share a lot of common rules and framework, and even allow characters to directly cross over between them as though they were the same game. The following MMOs are connected like that; all of them feature instanced adventure content called “Plot Points.” Within a Plot Point, a group of players won’t run into any random players. Some Plot Points can exit to other games within the Plot Point genre of MMOs as well as where you originally entered them. It can matter where you entered, though, because each game does have some unique rules that carry over, wherever your character goes. If you exit the connected game space, items, and character changes unique to these Savage Virtual Worlds will be saved but may not carry over into other VR spaces.


Anonymity, should one wish it, is an essential component of The Deep. The avatar is just a virtual representation of a person, which means a person can be anybody they want, anything they want, or even nobody at all. That ambiguity of identity allows people to conduct other types of business without fear of retribution in meat space. People can buy drugs, weapons, falsified TAP identities, stolen cybertech, unlicensed genetech, and any other thing not available on the open market. They can contract assassinations, kidnappings and obtain any other service or item they want; if they know who to talk to.

While many watchdog groups and federal agencies monitor The Deep, the VR World is essentially the Wild West; it’s too big to be regulated with any real effectiveness. The cyber agency known as Stopwatch maintains an active presence in The Deep and have made some high-profile arrests of known human, simulacrum and android traffickers and have even taken down a few major hacker groups, but ask any agent and they’ll tell you the experience is like playing Whack-A-Mole.

Situational Rules for The Deep: Unlike other VR Worlds where it’s easy enough to take a look at a published game setting and use it’s setting rules, The Deep needs some guidelines you can follow if or when your group decides to take the dive into this virtual world.
  • Combat: Just like any other VR World, if a character gets into a fight with another person in The Deep, use whatever character they created to resolve it.
  • Death: Unlike popular game worlds, there really isn’t much stopping a person from using malware designed to cut through VR headgear and damage their opponent’s TAP or Brain. This doesn’t happen a lot; most people are satisfied with simply destroying the avatar (often called Derezzing, or Slicing) and knocking the person offline, but as GM you can certainly up the stakes if you wish. If characters get Derezzed while in The Deep, their connection is severed, and they are knocked back into the real world. In most cases this means they take a Shaken condition, but as mentioned above, some brainers might use malware to physically harm the characters. If this is the case, use the effects of the malware to determine exactly what happens.
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