MASTER CHARACTER CREATION TABLE

Step 1: Arrange Priorities A-E

Priority Race Magic Attributes Skills Resources

A - Mage/Shaman/Technomancer 6 24 450,000¥
B - Adept/Aspected(Mage/Shaman) 5 20 275,000¥
C Troll/Dwarf - 4 16 140,000¥
D Elf/Ork - 3 12 50,000¥
E Human - 2 8 6,000¥

Humans Elf Dwarf Ork Troll

1 free Edge Advantages +1d vigor +1d Strength +2d Strength
+1Benny +1d Agility +1d Strength +1d vigor +2d vigor
Attractive +1d Spirit LowlightVision +1 reach
LowlightVision ThermoVision Brawny ThermoVision
+2 to Disease +1d Running Die
+2 to Poison Resist Smarts costs Brawny
Brawny double to raise
above a d10 at Big (+2 to be hit +1 to
Cost Double to Creation Toughness)
Raise Agility above
a d10 at creation Agility costs double to raise
-1 Pace above a d8 at Creation
+20% Cost to
Lifestyle/Equipment Smarts costs double to raise
above a d6 at Creation

+50% Cost to
Lifestyle/Equipment

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 Adepts
• Adepts channel mana
into their own bodies to
enhance their natural
abilities, making their
talents and skills much
more potent.
• Adepts never astrally
project
• Adepts only perceive
astral space by purchasing
the Astral Perception Skill.
• Adepts can learn the
Assensing skill only if they
have the Astral
Perception Skill.
• Adepts cannot use skills
from any magic-related
skill (Sorcery, Conjuring, or
Enchanting).
• Adepts can follow
mentor spirits
• Adepts gain Adept
Powers that are
purchased with Power
Points. Adepts receive a
number of Power Points
equal to their Spirit rating.
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Magicians
• Magicians can astrally
perceive. Assensing d4
• Magicians can astrally
project. Astral Combat d4
• Magicians can choose
freely from the magical
skills (Sorcery, Conjuring,
Enchanting).
• Magicians can cast
spells, conjure spirits, or
enchant magical items.
• At character creation,
magicians who cast spells,
perform rituals, or create
alchemical preparations
may know a maximum
number of formulae from
each group equal to their
Sorcery/Enchanting
Aspected Magicians
• Aspected magicians are
a limited form of
magician.
• Aspected magicians do
not astrally project.
• Aspected magicians can
astrally perceive. d4
starting
• Aspected magicians
must choose one, and only
one, of the following three
Skills.
• Sorcery (Spellcasting and
related skills)
• Conjuring (Summoning
and related skills)
• Enchanting (Alchemy
and related skills)
• Aspected magicians
cannot perform any of the
magical skills associated
with the two groups they
did not select.
• Aspected magicians can
only learn Counterspelling
if they take the skills to be
a spellcaster.
• Aspected magicians can
follow mentor spirits.
Mystic Adepts
• Mystic adepts are a
combination of magicians
and adepts.
• Mystic adepts never
astrally project.
• Mystic adepts can
astrally perceive if they
purchase the Astral
Perception Skill.
• Mystic adepts purchase
Spells/rituals/preparations
in the same way as
magicians.
• Mystic Adepts gain
Adept Powers that are
purchased with Power
Points. Mystic Adepts
receive a number of
Power Points equal to
their Spirit rating. Divided
by 2
• Mystic adepts can have
any skills from the
Enchanting, Sorcery, or
Conjuring skill groups.
3|Page
ESSENCE
All characters start the game with 6 points of essence.
Essence represents the characters connection to the
natural, awakened world. When essence reaches zero,
the characters soul forfeits the inhuman shell and the
character dies. Invasive surgery, such as Cyberware,
depletes essence by replacing the natural with the
artificial. Some hideous forms of magic also deplete
essence.
STARTING NUYEN FOR EQUIPMENT
Characters start with 15,000 ¥ to buy items and a
lifestyle. They can take Rich or Very Rich Edge or the
Debt Hindrance to increase this amount. Using points
in character creation increase the amount by 5,000 ¥
each point.
LIFESTYLE
In order to simplify the complexity of modern life, this
setting uses lifestyles to provide a rough measure of
the player characters’ standard of living. This includes
rent, food, utilities (such as water, heating, electricity
and Matrix connection), entertainment and clothing.
Lifestyles are bought on a monthly basis. The price of
the lifestyles are found in the Equipment section, and a
detailed overview can be found in the appendices.
Characters who do not buy a lifestyle are assumed to
be homeless, barely scraping by (see the Street
lifestyle).
Gritty Damage
This variation on damage works well for settings
such as gritty detective scenarios or “realistic”
military adventures. It can be very lethal so use
it cautiously.
Treat Extras’ wounds normally.
For Wild Cards, counts wounds as usual and go
Through the normal steps for Incapacitation should he
accumulate more than three wounds. In addition, every
time the hero suffers a wound, roll on the Injury Table and
apply the results immediately (but roll only once per
incident regardless of how many wounds are actually
caused).
A hero who takes 2 wounds from an attack, for example,
still only suffers one roll on the Injury Table. Injuries
sustained in this way are cured when the wound is healed.
(Injuries sustained via Incapacitation may be temporary or
permanent as usual.) A Shaken character that’s shaken a
second time from a damaging attack receives a wound as
usual but does not have to roll on the Injury Table.

Only a Flesh Wound

Once per session the player can burn a benny to lower the
damage they have taken by 1 degree. This must be used
immediately after being injured.

Blood & Guts

Characters can spend Bennies on damage rolls! Use this
rule when you really want to up the carnage.

Born A Hero
During character creation, heroes may ignore
the Rank qualifications for Edges. They must
still have any other requirements as usual. The
usual rules for Rank requirements apply after the
character is created.
Critical Failures
This rule works well for very dark or very
humorous games. When a character rolls double
1’s on a Trait roll, he can’t spend a Benny—he’s
stuck with the critical failure.
EDGES
ACE
This Edge is slightly modified to work for vehicles (Ace),
golemmechs (Golemmech Pilot), and drone (Drone
Jockey). Each of these are separate edges.
A character with one of these edges adds +2 to Boating,
Driving, or Piloting rolls. In addition, he may also spend
Bennies on soak rolls for any vehicle, golemmech, or drone

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he controls. This is a Boating, Driving, or Piloting roll at −2
(canceling the usual +2). Each success and raise soaks a
wound and any critical hit that would have resulted from it
BACKGROUND EDGES
BLAND
Requirements – Novice [Must be taken at creation]
You look average and normal. People who try to
describe you have a hard time clearly remembering
what you look like, because you seem to look like
everyone else.
You gain a +2 bonus to Stealth when trying to blend
into crowds, appear anonymous or similar activities.
You also gain a +2 bonus to Deception when trying to
disguise yourself, or trick someone into believing
you’re someone else.
MENTOR SPIRIT
Requirements – Novice, Arcane Background (Adept or
Magician)
In your search to find out how to control your
awakened powers, you encountered a spirit willing to
guide you. This spirit follows you everywhere you go,
bringing guidance and power. However, like
metahumans, spirits are not perfect. A less desirable
trait will also find its way to you.
Pick one of the mentor spirits detailed in the magic
chapter. You gain the advantages and disadvantages
of that mentor spirit. A mentor spirit can also be renamed
to better fit your tradition. An example would for
a Norse shaman to follow Tyr (Wise Warrior) or Thor
(Thunderbird).
STRONG ESSENCE [Must be taken at Creation]
Requirements – Novice.
You hold on to your essence for dear life, and
cyberware does not affect your humanity as much as
that of others. When you install a piece of cyberware,
the Essence loss is reduced by 20%, rounded up to
nearest 0.1 fraction.
For example, a Suprathyroid Gland costs 0.7 Essence.
20 % of 0.7 is 0.14, which is rounded up to 0.2. Thus,
the Suprathyroid Gland will only cost 0.5 Essence.
Power Anchoring
Additional Requirements: Veteran, Spellcasting d10+
This Edge allows a Spellcaster to anchor a sustainable
power permanently to an object. If the object is ever
moved, the power immediately ends. Anchoring takes a
number of hours equal to the used Spellcasting die. The
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cost of anchoring a power is 1,000 Nuyen x the power’s
rating [ novice, seasoned, etc ] Anchored powers can be
used in a ritual to locate the spellcaster who did the
anchoring.
Tai Chi: Requirements AB (Adept) You focus your chi to
such an exceptional degree that your attacks can knock
your opponent halfway to Philadelphia, despite appearing
as gentle as the breeze. Opponents are knocked back 1d4”
per success and raise on your character’s Fighting roll. If
they strike a solid object, such as a wall, they are
automatically Shaken.
Monkey: Requirements AB (Adept) In this style, you
hunker down, screw up your face, and then move with
sneakiness and speed. This surprises opponents, who
often underestimate you because you look so dang funny.
Your sneaky hombre gets +2 when making
Taunt rolls or performing Agility Tricks.
Killing Hands Requirements AB (Adept)
your hero’s unarmed Fighting attacks inflict Str+MA+4
damage.
Drunken Style: Requirements AB (Adept) You weave
around like you’re out of your tree on firewater, making
your moves hard to follow or predict. Your hombre has +1
Parry but has his Pace reduced by 2 when using this style
due to his staggering gait.
Mantis: Requirements AB (Adept) A mantis student holds
his hands like hooks, and moves from mesmerizing calm to
sudden strikes in a terrifying instant. Discard and redraw
cards of 5 or lower dealt to your character in combat. If he
has the Quick Edge, discard and redraw cards of 8 or
lower.
Wing Chun: Requirements AB (Adept) This style
emphasizes flurries of powerful blows, usually both
offensive and defensive at the same time. As long as your
hero is attacking unarmed, he may make one Additional
Fighting attack at no penalty.
Flexible Signature
This Edge allows a magically active character to change
their Magical signature (their magical fingerprint). If
somebody else wants to analyse astral traces left by the
character, do an opposed roll between Assensing (the
analyser) and Spirit (the character). If the assensing person
doesn’t have the Flexible Signature Edge they suffer a -2
penalty to their roll.
Masking COMBAT EDGES
With this Edge a magically active character may change QUICK RELOAD
their aura (for example, they may appear to be mundane Requirements - Novice, Agility d8, Shooting d6
when looked at through Astral Perception). If an assensing You are able to reload your gun and shoot in the same
person wants to break through the Masking, do an round without suffering the normal -2 multi action penalty
opposed roll between Assensing and the masked to your action. This includes changing ammo types.
character’s Spirit. If the assensing person doesn’t have
Masking Edge they suffer a -2 penalty to their roll. WEAPON FOCUS
Requirements – Novice, Shooting D8, Fighting D8 or
CHROMED Throwing D8 (whichever is used for the weapon group)
Requirements: Novice You have practiced extensively with a specific group of
The Character receives an additional 15,000 credits. These weapons, and the training has paid off. Select a weapon
bonus credits can only be spent on augments. group from the list. When you attack with that weapon,
your Wild Die is considered a D8, rather than a D6.
SPIRIT AFFINITY
Requirements- Novice, Arcane Background (Magician) IMPROVED WEAPON FOCUS
When a Magician manages to summon a spirit, he can Requirements – Veteran, Weapon Focus, Shooting D10,
give the spirit an additional job Fighting D10 or Throwing D10 (whichever is used for
weapon group)
UP-SIZED Your preferred weapon has become a natural extension to
Requirements: Novice, Brawny, Vigor d8+, Android, your arm, and you have all but perfected your skills with it.
Cyborg, Strong or Tough Hybrid When you attack with that weapon, your Wild Die is
Your character was built to be big. This has some inherent considered a D10, rather than a D6 This type must
advantages, but also a few drawbacks. The character’s size correspond with a type that you already have
is increased by +1, his Strength is increased by one die Weapon Focus in. The same is true for the skill
type (max d12+1), and his Carrying Capacity from is requirement.
increased from ×8 to ×12. Against smaller, squishier
people, he gains a +2 bonus
to Intimidate checks. He’s also really, really good at getting
things off the top shelf. On the downside, this character
takes up at least two seats in an enclosed vehicle, and
there’s no hope of passing for human even with the best
disguise. Also, there’s no way he could ever be a
golemmech pilot; the best he can hope for is to ride
on back with hold-bars while making “Vroom! Vroom!”
noises.
Living expenses and prices for most gear and cyber-
augmentation are quadrupled, due to the need for
customization and special orders. When it comes to
weapons and tools, he could use a two-handed melee
weapon as a one-hander, but normal-sized guns and tools
have controls too small and fiddly for his hands, resulting
in a −2 penalty to skill checks, if they can even be used at
all. He suffers a −2 to Charisma (most folks don’t feel
comfortable near giants), and the occasional Agility roll to
quickly squeeze into spaces where a normal character
could just dash right through. Sometimes it’s good to be
“large and in charge,” but it can also be a royal pain as
well.

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THROWING EXPERTISE
Requirements – Novice, Quick Draw, Throwing D8
You’re a dead shot with knives and shuriken, and you can
use
them to really fuck people up. When using throwing
weapons that
are readily accessible (such as in a belt or bandolier), you
may
make up to three attacks at a -2 penalty, similar to how
fully
automatic firearms work.
You may attack like this with both hands, which imposes
the
normal penalties for fighting with two weapons.
AUGMENTED WARRIOR
Requirements: Novice, Martial Artist, Agility d8+,
Cyberlimb
The character has learned how to use his cyberlimb for
both offensive and defensive purposes, granting him two
benefits: either +1 to unarmed damage rolls made with
the limb or +1 to Parry. He may choose which one he
wishes to use as a free action, but must decide this at the
start of his turn.
DRAGON LASH
Requirements: Seasoned, Martial Artist
With a flurry of blows and throws, the character is often
able to clear those around him. Dragon Lash allows the
character to make a Push maneuver against every adjacent
target (friend or foe). The character makes the opposed
Strength roll at −2 against each target individually. The
character may not use Dragon Lash in the same round as
he uses Frenzy or Rapid Attack.
IMPROVED DRAGON LASH
Requirements: Heroic, Dragon Lash
As above but the character may ignore the −2 penalty.
GUN-FU DISCIPLE
Requirements: Seasoned, Agility d8+, Shooting d8+
You are on the path of Gun-fu, known by some as “the way
of the gun.” In most people’s hand, a gun is merely a
clumsy weapon. In yours, it is an extension of your body,
the focus of your art form. When using a gun in close
combat, you are not considered Unarmed. You can move
up to half your Pace in
the same round you use the Aim maneuver (including
when
using the Marksman Edge).
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GUN-FU MASTER
Requirements: Heroic, Gun-Fu Disciple, Agility d10+,
Shooting d10+
Your mastery of Gun-Fu has advanced to such a degree
that you can move your full Pace in the same round
you use the Aim maneuver (including when using the
Marksman Edge).
GUN-FU LEGEND
Requirements: Legendary, Gun-Fu Master
Your mastery of Gun-Fu has advanced to such a degree
that you can run as a Free action in the same round
you use the Aim maneuver (including when using the
Marksman Edge).
MARTIAL ADEPT
Requirements: Seasoned, Martial Artist, Fighting d10+
You make deadly combat look like a beautifully
choreographed dance—a true art in its own right. Your
hands flash like a Renaissance master’s brush, laying low
all the enemies in your path with strength, speed, and
finesse. You underwent rigorous training to become a
finely honed, nearly supernatural fighter. A character with
this Edge doesn’t suffer from gang up bonuses.
PACK FIGHTING
Requirements: Seasoned, Fighting d8+
You have a natural talent for turning overwhelming force
into overwhelming damage. You add half your gang up
bonus (round down) to damage for melee attacks.
IMPROVED PACK FIGHTING
Requirements: Heroic, Pack Fighting, Fighting d10+
Your ability to capitalize on greater numbers has
become astounding. Your bonus damage bonus from
Pack Fighting is equal to your gang up bonus.
STEEL DRAGON PUNCH/KICK
Requirements: Seasoned, Strength d6+, Cyberlimb
The character has learned to leverage his cybernetics to
his
advantage. When the character hits a foe in melee, using
his cyberlimb, with a raise he can choose forgo the
additional damage die to send his foe reeling back 1d4”. If
the opponent strikes a solid object he is shaken, this can
cause a wound.
POWER EDGES
CONCENTRATION
Requirements: Seasoned, Smarts d6+, Spirit d6+, Vigor
d6+
the character knows how to maintain concentration in
adverse situations. He gains +2 to Smarts rolls to avoid
disruption.
PROFESSIONAL EDGES
COMBAT BIKER
Requirements – Novice, Driving D8
Riding motorbikes and beating down rivals is a second
nature to you. You’re either an experienced biker
ganger, or you have been practicing the deadly sport
of Combat Biking on a high level.
You can use the rules for Mounted Combat while riding
a motorbike, substituting Driving for Riding. Using
onehanded weapons impose no penalties, whether those
are melee or ranged weapons.
Trying to keep your bike steady without hands imposes
a -2 penalty on all actions, while allowing you to use
two-handed weapons, such as combat axes and
assault rifles.
SURGEON
Requirements - Seasoned, Spirit D8, Medicine d8
When you are attempting to heal a target, you ignore
their wound modifiers, but not your own. You can
perform surgery as well. This includes installing
cyberware in people (provided you have the necessary
tools and equipment)
SPRAWLSMAN
Requirements - Novice, Spirit D6, Survival D8, tracking
D8
You are at home in the chaotic throng that is the
Sprawl. You have learned to use that to your
advantage. You receive +2 to knowledge rolls when
dealing with the Sprawl and +2 to Stealth, Survival,
and Tracking rolls while within a sprawl.
FIXER
Requirements – Novice, Spirit D8, Streetwise D8,
Persuasion D6, At least three contacts.
You’re the guy who knows a guy. Your contact list
rivals the yellow pages and people know they can
count on you to get them whomever they need. During
play, you can call upon previously unknown contacts
by making a successful Streetwise roll against TN 6.
This new contact can then help you out with a single,
specific problem. You may invoke multiple
spontaneous contacts during a session, but each
contact can only help out once per session. And
remember, chummer: Nothing’s Free.
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BODYGUARD
Requirements: Novice, Agility d8+, Fighting d8+, Notice
d6+
Bodyguards make their living by protecting someone else.
This means they not only have to be aware of any
potential
dangers, but must be able to act quickly and effectively to
prevent any harm from coming to their charge. A
character
with this Edge gains a +2 bonus to Notice checks made to
detect potential ambushes or similar dangers. Additionally,
the character may spend a Benny once per round to place
himself in the way of any attack (Fighting, Shooting or
Throwing) against a person within 5". All Fighting rolls are
then made against his Parry, and he suffers the effect of
any successful attacks. This can be done at any time,
regardless of the bodyguard’s Initiative, and counts as a
free action; any other actions must be taken on his own
initiative card.
BOUNTY HUNTER
Requirements: Novice, Vigor d6+, Investigator
When someone disappears that someone else wants
found,
that’s usually when a bounty hunter gets called in. For the
most part, being a bounty hunter requires two things:
you’ve gotta be tough, and you’ve gotta be good at finding
people who don’t want to be found. A character with the
Bounty Hunter Edge gains a +2 bonus when making any
Notice or Tracking rolls.
CORPORATE MOGUL
Requirements: Novice, Strong Willed, Persuasion d8+
Not every action needs to be a violent one. Corporate
Moguls are people whose primary talents are convincing
people to take actions that are what the mogul desires.
This is accomplished through a combination of
communication skills, threats, coercion, or even blackmail.
Corporate Moguls gain a +2 bonus in all Social Conflicts
and Social-based Dramatic Tasks (Intimidation, Persuasion,
Streetwise, or Taunt).
EX-SOLDIER
Requirements: Novice, Vigor d6+, Fighting d6+, Shooting
d6+
“Sir! Yes, sir!” You served in a regimented military outfit. It
might have been a corporate paramilitary unit,
government controlled army, imbedded guerilla force, or
freelance mercenary unit. The nature of your background
probably colors your attitudes toward things like money,
patriotism, and honor. You gain a +1 bonus to your
Toughness. You also add weapons, armor, and/or
Augments totaling 5,000 credits in value to your
possessions.
SECTOR COP
Requirements: Novice, Smarts d6+, Intimidation d6+,
Shooting d6+
Sector cops have this amazing ability to convince people to
mind their own business. A sector cop may spend a Benny
to make either one Wild Card or a group of Extras ignore
what he and his companions are doing—or otherwise not
raise an alarm—once per scene, regardless of the NPC’s
friendliness. Sector cops also get a +2 to Streetwise rolls
when they are in an area under their jurisdiction.
STREET DOC
Requirements: Novice, Smarts d8+, Healing d8+
As a street doctor, you perform a valuable service. You
make basic health care available to those who otherwise
might not be able to get treatment. Of course, performing
this service means you have to operate outside the law,
outside the restrictions imposed on licensed medical
practitioners. Your office is wherever you can find space to
treat people, usually in the back rooms or basements of
various places like a restaurant, or a pawnshop. Operating
in this fashion isn’t without its drawbacks.
You have to make do with whatever supplies you have
on-hand, which usually isn’t much and certainly doesn’t
comeclose to the resources of a licensed medical facility.
But you’ve adapted and in many cases you manage to
overcome these disadvantages. You ignore penalties to
Healing rolls when operating without the necessary
equipment. Additionally, the character with this Edge can
get wounded punks up and fighting again in seconds. If the
healer can get to a wounded Extra by the end of the round
in which he was wounded, he can make an immediate
Healing roll at −2. If the roll is successful, the patient is
Shaken instead of wounded.
WASTELANDER
Requirements: Novice, Vigor d8+, Notice d6+, Survival
d8+,
Tracking d6+
Life amid the toxic wastes, deserts, and city ruins is only
for the heartiest of souls—people like you. Like many
wastelanders, you might be running away from something
in your past or a scavenger rummaging through the ruins
of coastal cities now sunk beneath the rising ocean tides.
You gain +2 to Survival skill tests in hostile environments,
and +2 to Fatigue rolls from hazards. Additionally, for each
9|Page
Rank, you add your choice of two pieces of gear or
weapons; each item is worth up to 1,000 credits in market
value.
WEIRD EDGES
DOUBLE JOINTED
Requirements Agility d6, Escape Artist d6
You can bend and your pop bones in a way that is
dangerous and painful for others. You receive +2 to
Escape Artist checks.
ASSENSING MASTER
Requirements - Novice, Arcane Background (Adept or
Magician)
You can taste someone’s aura like you sample a fine
wine. When you roll a casting check to gain
information about a target while Assensing, you add +2
to your rolls on information gained.
ADEPT POWER
Requirements – Novice, Arcane Background (Adept)
Through intense introspective meditation, or constant
exercise, you have uncovered more potential within
yourself. You add one adept power to your list of
known powers.
MAGICAL ENDURANCE
Requirements - Seasoned, Arcane Background
(Magician), Sorcery D8
Your mental and spiritual tenacity is quite remarkable.
You gain a +2 bonus for resisting Drain.
MIRACLE WORKER
Requirements: Seasoned, Street Doc, Smarts d10+,
Healing
d10+
People don’t die on your watch. You won’t let them. Call it
strength of will, exceptional skill, or just plain
stubbornness, but you have a knack for resuscitating the
dead. You can revive a person who has died by making a
Healing skill roll at a −2 penalty for every minute that has
passed since the character died (max 5 minutes). Each
attempt takes a minute. Characters that are revived are
considered to be Bleeding Out
(as per Savage Worlds core rules) and must make the
appropriate Vigor rolls or slip back into death’s embrace.
Raises on the Healing roll do not remove any additional
wound levels, but instead stabilize the dying person!
DIGITAL EDGES
These edges are for those who surf the edges of the digital
world.
HACKER EDGES
INTERFERENCE
Requirements: Novice
Something about your electromagnetic signature makes
your TAP harder to hack. Increase your TAP’s Firewall by
+1.
IMPROVED INTERFERENCE
Requirements: Novice, Interference
Your TAP’s electromagnetic signature is much stronger.
Increase your bonus to your TAP’s Firewall from +1 to +2
EXPERIANCED HACKER
Requirements: Novice, Hacking d10+, Knowledge
(Programming) d8+
You’re a ghost in the machine, a wizard at cracking into
the toughest systems and ferreting out information. You
have dealt with the harsher elements of the Global
DataNet and are tougher for the experience. Your Neural
Toughness is increased by +1. Also, each time you
successfully hack into a Corporate, Government, or
Military Access Network, make a Smarts roll. If the roll is
successful, you download 1d4×1,000 credits worth of
information you can sell on the black market.
HACKER
Requirements - Novice, Smarts d8, Hacking d8,
Investigation d6, Deception d6
You are a real wiz kid with a Cyberdeck, and you know
your way around the matrix better than most. You get
a +2 bonus to all hacking rolls. In addition, the time
needed to hack into something by probing is cut in
half.
NOVAHOT HACKER
Requirements – Seasoned, Hacker, Spirit D8
When you jack into the matrix, you do not waste time
or mess around. When you jack into systems using
VR, you get yet another initiative pass, making it 3 in
total.
MULTITASKER
Requirements – Veteran, Hacker, Hacking D10
You have become better than most at matrix combat,
and you are able to handle yourself against multiple
opponents in the matrix. You are able to attack up to
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three entities as an action, sharing your wild die
between the attacks (like firing a weapon using full
auto). This imposes a -2 penalty to these hacking rolls.
RIGGER
Requirements - Novice, Repair (drone) d6, Cyberware:
Head Gear (Vehicle Control Rig)
You have practiced a bit with your VCR and you are
getting the hang of it. When you jack into drone or
vehicle, you no longer take a -2 on all skill rolls. While
jacked in, the drone also gains the use of the Quick
edge.
IMPROVED RIGGER
Requirements - Seasoned, Rigger, Repair (drone) d8,
Shooting d6
You have become one with the machine and jacking
into drones have become a second nature. When you
jack into a drone, you gain the use of one of the
following edges, which is selected at jack-in:
 Rock and Roll
 Marksman
 Dodge
 Frenzy
DRONE CONTROLLER
Requirements - Veteran, Improved Rigger
You have drilled extensively with your drones and
equipment, and you can jack in and out of a drone in
an instant. Jacking into a drone is now a free action,
rather than an action.
You may also select one drone as your primary drone.
During combat, you are able to rig in and out of that
drone rapidly, allowing you to take your turn as normal
while rigging that drone.
Extra Drone
Requirements - Drone Controller
allows one extra drone, can be taken up to 3 times
Custom Drone
Requirements - Ace, Extra Drone, (Streetwise d10 to
obtain custom Autosofts or Programing d10 to code your
own) Repair d10, Driving, Piloting, Boating d10 (Dependent
on the drone type)
Create your own drone, it becomes a Wild Card. It has 3
wounds and can you can spend Bennies for it to soak
Wounds. It takes 24 hours and 75000 Nuyen to, obtain
custom parts and install custom Autosofts and build. Can
be take once per Driving, Piloting, Boating skill. This gives
your drone all Stats at a d8 and 3 Autosofts at a d8.
1 Hard Point. Extra Autosofts are 5000 per rating. Extra
Hard Points are 3000. Requires 8 successes to hack on its
own. All Movement speeds are increased by 50%. When
jacked in, drone gains +1 parry +1 dodge
HINDRANCES
The Doubting Thomas hindrance is not available. When a
dragon has been elected President of the United States,
we stop telling ourselves that it’s all in our heads. Also, the
Clueless hindrance has been superseded by the
uneducated hindrance.
ARCANE BEACON (MINOR)
You stick out like a sore thumb on the Astral Plane.
Mages and Adepts gain +2 to their roll when
attempting to detect your aura. Only awakened
characters may take this Hindrance.
ALL THUMBS (MAJOR)
Functions just as rules in SWDX (pg. 28), but is now a
Major Hindrance since technology is everywhere.
BAD LIAR (MINOR)
You just plain suck at lying. Whenever you attempt to
lie or bluff, you suffer -2 to your roll.
CHIPHEAD (MINOR / MAJOR)
You have spent too much time jacking on to
entertainment chips and BTLs and it has left your view
of reality a little skewed.
Minor: when in a stressful situation roll a Spirit check at
-2 or begin having minor hallucinations (you suffer -2
to all actions for 2d4 rounds).
Major: same as above but at -4 and suffer major
hallucinations (-2 to all actions for 2d6 rounds) and
each round you make a spirit check. Failure means
that you are lost in hallucinations, and can take no
actions.
CYBER FAILURE (MINOR)
You react strongly to the effects of Cyberware, as your
body’s immune system actively tries to reject it. You
double the essence cost for any Cyberware
augmentation. Incompatible with the Strong Essence
edge. This penalty does not extend to Bioware.
DEAD WEIGHT (MAJOR)
You have an Extra who is a loved one that you care
deeply for. Problem is they somehow always land
themselves in trouble. Build the character as a normal
Novice except the ally must take a Major Hindrance
11 | P a g e
and only get one Edge. If the Extra is killed, the player
gains the Vengeful (Major) Hindrance and must exact
a terrible retribution on those who killed their loved
one! The character also gains Phobia (Major) related
to how the Dead Weight died, and are paranoid that it
will happen again.
DEBT (MINOR / MAJOR)
You have taken out money from a disreputable sort.
The good news is you start with more money. The bad
news is they want them paid back at some point. If you
take Debt, you cannot take Rich or Very Rich.
Minor: You start out with 3 times the starting Nuyen,
but owe 6 times as much. The bright side is that you
are current on your payments as well.
Major: You start out with 5 times the normal Nuyen,
but owe 10 times as much. You have not paid your
debt in a long while, and it’s time to pay your dues,
either in cash or in blood.
ELF POSER (MINOR)
You are a human who wants to be an Elf so badly that
you wear fake ears, try to talk like Elf, walk like an Elf,
and hang out at Elf clubs and neighborhoods. Most
people feel sorry for these poor chummers and ignore
them. They suffer -2 to Charisma. An Elf poser who
pays for good cosmetic surgery for Elf ears and eyes
gets +2 to a deception roll to avoid being detected.
FREEZE UP (MAJOR)
Your character tends to get scared/nervous when
combat starts. Maybe you got the jitters from an earlier
run, or you are simply not good at dealing with stress.
You start the first round of combat Shaken, which can
be removed through the normal methods.
LOW PAIN TOLERANCE (MAJOR)
When wounded, you suffer an additional -1 modifier.
Shit hurts chummer!
NIGHTMARES (MINOR)
You have suffered a traumatic event that haunts you,
even into your dreams. Every night you relive this
horror. Every time the character sleeps, a spirit check
is rolled. Failure means the character did not rest well
and starts with a level of Fatigue. This caps at -2
Fatigue, which disappears completely when you
successfully get a restful night of sleep.
ORK POSER (MINOR) UNEDUCATED (MAJOR)
You are a human or Elf who wants to be an Ork so You never had a formal education. You grew up either
badly that you wear fake ears, grumble like an Ork, in the streets of the barrens or far away from the
and try to be hardcore like an Ork. Most people feel sprawl. You suffer -2 to common knowledge rolls. Your
sorry for these poor chummers and ignore them. They Charisma also suffers a -2 penalty when you’re around
suffer -2 to Charisma. An Ork poser who pays for good highly educated people, such as corporate suits or
cosmetic surgery for Ork ears, tusk, and muscle mods university professors.
gets +2 to a deception roll to disguise as an ork.
GAME PLAY
SECRET (MINOR / MAJOR)
You have a dirty little secret... Well maybe it is not so
little. You have done something terrible and are
deathly afraid that the truth will come out and ruin you.
The severity and consequences, should the secret be
brought out into the open, should be discussed
between player and GM.

SIMSENSE VERTIGO (MINOR)

You character and virtual realities don’t go well
together, and they suffer a sense of disorientation
when using Augmented or Virtual Reality, along with
Simsense. All checks made using any of the above are
made with a -1 penalty.

SINNER (MINOR / MAJOR)

You have a record, and for a Shadowrunner nothing
could be more of a pain in the ass. This means all your
bank info, biometric readings, medical history, credit,
travel history, personal history, etc. are all stored on
several highly secure databases. As a Minor
Hindrance, you are a legal citizen of a nation or
extraterritorial corporation of your choice. As a Major
hindrance, you have been arrested for a crime and
most likely served time for it. This means it is easier for
you to be identified, along with the lack of rights that a
Criminal SIN confers.
SPIRIT BANE (MINOR)
Spirits just don’t seem to like you, chummer. When you
attempt to bind a spirit, the spirit will always attack you
if you fail, rather than escape. When a summoned
spirit has completed all its jobs, it will attack you for
one round before escaping to astral space.
UNCOUTH (MAJOR)
You have a difficult time interacting with others. You
might be anti-social, sociopathic or somewhat autistic.
Social skills cost double to buy at character creation
and can only be increased by one point when
advancing. Social skills include Persuasion,
Intimidation, Streetwise and Taunt.
ADDICTION
Some of the stuff you find on the street is takes you
away to a new and exciting world. Most of it will just
fuck you up if you eat enough of it, though. Drugs are
wonderful for gaining that extra bid of edge on the
streets, but be careful. You might find yourself
becoming addicted to them. And BTL chips are a beast
of their own.
Whenever a character goes on a drug bender, roll a
Vigor check, modified by the drug or BTL in question. If
the character succeeds the roll, they’re okay. If they
fail, they gain the Habit (Major) hindrance, in respect to
the drug they did. Taking a drug once in a while will not
get a character addicted. It is ultimately up to the
Gamemaster what a “Drug Bender” entails. A rough guide,
however, is more than three doses of a drug in one day, or
a single dose of the drug every day for three days.

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 Substance Type
Hallucinogens, Deamchips
Stimulants, Moodchips,
Personafixes
Narcotics, Tripchips
Modifier which you cannot perform any straining activities and are
+0 effectively bedridden. Loss of Essence makes your
-2 connection to the natural world weaker, and it means hell
for any awakened characters. If you ever see a mage with
-4
Cyberware, you can be damn sure it was not his choice to
put it there. Replacement Limbs are very popular, and they
were the way Cyberware began. Most people use them to
replace limbs lost in accidents, but we Shadowrunners
often replace our working limbs in exchange for better
ones. Besides, look at that shiny chrome. Damn.

CONTACTS

Contacts cost $10,000 apiece, per Level

Level 1 Contacts- Standard contact. You use sometimes

and they may remember you, but then again they might
not. They could have information you need, but they also
might not know a Hacker from a shoebox. They have no
loyalty to you and would rat you out the first sign of
trouble.

Level 2 Contacts- You see them on a semi-regular basis.

You may have done a few favors for them, or passed
Enough Nuyen their way that they’ve become more
Endeared to you and you’ve become buddies. You
receive +1 to Charisma checks when attempting to get a
Level 2 contact to do something for you.

Level 3 Contacts- These are more than buddies to you.

They are stout friends who will stand by you. You may
INSTALLING AUGMENTATIONS
have grown up with this person, or saved their life. You
When Augmentation is purchased legally; it is attuned to
see this person on a regular basis and really don’t even
the customer’s immune system and installed by a
think of them as a contact anymore. You receive +2 to
Charisma checks when attempting to get a Level 3 contact professional. This ensures that there is very little chance
that the surgery will be botched in any way. Of course,
to do something for you. You can also burn a Benny for
being Shadowrunners, legal operations are not always
an automatic success here.
possible. You must either visit a street doctor, or have one
of your buddies help you. If you want to install something
in one of your chummers, you must have the Surgeon
AUGMENTATIONS
edge. Presuming you are in a well-stocked operation
Augmentations cover the two main ways of augmenting theatre, you make a Healing check at TN 6. You cannot
install augmentations on yourself, as the operation
the human body in the 2070’s: Bioware and Cyberware.
requires full anesthesia. Implanting Bioware is easier than
When you install augmentations, you lose some of your
implanting Cyberware, and therefore it confers a +1
essence. The essence loss depends on the augmentation.
modifier on the Healing check to implant it.
Bioware generally cause a much smaller essence loss, at a
much higher price. There is also a recovery period, during  On a raise, the operation went swimmingly, and the

13 | P a g e
recovery time is a rating lower than normal.
 On a success, the limb is installed and works as expected,
with normal recovery time.
 On a failure, the patient rejects the augmentation, and
the operation fails. The surgeon may attempt to install the
augmentation again, when the patient has recovered in
1D6 days.
 On a Critical Failure, something went very, very wrong.
The patient takes 2D6 damage, and the augmentation
is broken and must be repaired.
SKILLS
RESTRICTED SKILLS
There are some skills that cannot be used by all characters.
Magic and Resonance-based skills are restricted to
characters that have Magic or Resonance rating. Without
the appropriate attribute, the character cannot learn or
utilize these skills. These restricted skills are listed under
the Magic and Resonance headings in the list of Individual
Skills Additionally, Aspected magicians can use only one
category of Magic skills (Sorcery, Conjuring, or
Enchanting), while magicians and mystic adepts are able to
use the whole range of skills. Deckers, even though many
of their talents are similar to technomancers while in the
Matrix, cannot use Resonance-based skills (namely
Compiling, Decompiling, and Registering).
KNOWLEDGE AND LANGUAGE SKILLS
Characters receive free Knowledge and Language skills
points equal to Smarts. These points are spent in the same
way as other skill points, meaning that spending 1 point
gives d4 rank in a skill. In addition to the free points, your
character receives one language that he knows as a native
language at no cost.
LANGUAGE SKILLS
Language skills represent the languages in which the
characters can speak, read, and write. The higher a
character’s rating, the more fluent he is at these tasks.
You can buy Language skills at the start of the game
by using points from your Knowledge skill freebies.
SPECIALIZATIONS
A specialization within a group of skill offers a onetime +1
to that skill.
DEFAULTING
It is impossible to prepare for every scenario and only
14 | P a g e
slightly harder to have every skill. When you perform
an action without actually having the skill for the test,
there’s still hope. You can default the skill, making the
test at a d4-2 along with wild die at a d6-2.
COMBAT ACTIVE SKILLS
When the punching and the kicking and the shooting
starts, these are the skills you use. All Combat skills
are linked to Agility unless otherwise noted. For ARCHERY
Archery is used to fire string-loaded projectile weapons.
An archer is familiar with many different styles of
bow and the multitude of arrows that can be used to
maximum effect.
Default: Yes
Skill Group: No
Specializations: Bow, Crossbow, Non-Standard
Ammunition, Slingshot
AUTOMATICS
The Automatics skill covers a specific subset of firearms
larger than handheld pistols but smaller than rifles. This
category includes submachine guns and other fully
automatic carbines.
Default: Yes
Skill Group: Firearms
Specializations: Assault Rifles, Cyber-Implant,
Machine Pistols, Submachine Guns
BLADES (FIGHTING)
Slice and dice! The Blades skill includes the use of all
handheld slashing and stabbing weapons. You can use
a range of edged weapons including daggers, swords,
and axes.
Default: Yes
Skill Group: Close Combat
Specializations: Axes, Knives, Swords, Parrying
CLUBS (FIGHTING)
Clubs governs the use of all hand-held bludgeoning
instruments. With this skill you can turn any blunt item,
be it a baseball bat, crutch, or mace, into a weapon.
Default: Yes
Skill Group: Close Combat
Specializations: Batons, Hammers, Saps, Staves,
Parrying
EXOTIC RANGED WEAPON (SPECIFIC)
Sometimes a regular gun or blade won’t do the job and
you need something fancier. Or weirder. This skill must
be taken once for each unusual ranged weapon you
want to use. Some examples include blowguns, gyrojet Default: Yes
pistols, flamethrowers, and lasers. Skill Group: Close Combat
Default: No Specializations: Blocking, Cyber Implants, Subduing
Skill Group: None combat, or by specific Martial Art
Specializations: None

HEAVY WEAPONS
The term heavy weapon is designated for all projectile
weaponry larger than an assault rifle, such as grenade
launchers, machine guns, and assault cannons. This
skill is exclusive to handheld and non-vehicle-mounted
weaponry—if you’ve got a gun mounted on or in a vehicle,
use Gunnery.
Default: Yes
Skill Group: None
Specializations: Assault Cannons, Grenade Launchers,
Guided Missiles, Machine Guns, Rocket Launchers

LONGARMS
The Longarms skill is for firing extended-barrel weapons
such as sporting rifles and sniper rifles. This grouping also
includes weapons like shotguns that are designed to be
braced against the shoulder.
Default: Yes
Skill Group: Firearms
PHYSICAL ACTIVE SKILLS
Specializations: Extended-Range Shots, Long-Range
These skills are all about actions you take with your
Shots, Shotguns, Sniper Rifles
body (besides things covered in Combat skills). You’ll
find the specific rules for using each skill (or a reference
PISTOLS
for where you can find the rules) in the skill description.
This skill category includes all types of handheld pistols,
including tasers, single-shots, semi-automatics,
DISGUISE (SMARTS)
and revolvers.
Disguise covers non-magical forms of masking your
Default: Yes
identity, including makeup and enhancement. See Using
Skill Group: Firearms
Disguise and Impersonation
Specializations: Holdouts, Revolvers, SemiAutomatics,
Default: Yes
Tasers
Skill Group: Stealth
Specializations: Camouflage, Cosmetic, Theatrical,
THROWING WEAPONS
Trideo & Video
Throwing Weapons is a broad-based attack skill that
can be used for any handheld item that is thrown by the
DIVING (VIGOR)
user as a weapon.
Diving brings together a wide array of actions performed
Default: Yes
underwater. This skill can be applied when
Skill Group: None
diving, swimming underwater, using complex diving
Specializations: Aerodynamic, Blades, NonAerodynamic
equipment, and holding your breath.
Default: Yes
UNARMED COMBAT (FIGHTING)
Skill Group: None
Unarmed Combat covers the various self-defense and
Specializations: By breathing apparatus (Liquid
attack moves that employ the body as a primary weapon.
Breathing Apparatus, Mixed Gas, Oxygen Extraction,
This includes a wide array of martial arts along with the
SCUBA), by condition (Arctic, Cave, Commercial,
use of cybernetic implant weaponry and the fighting styles
Military, etc.), Controlled Hyperventilation
that sprung up around those implants.

15 | P a g e

ESCAPE ARTIST (AGILITY)
Escape Artist measures the character’s ability to escape
from bindings by using body contortion and manual
dexterity. See Using Escape Artist,
Default: Yes
Skill Group: None
Specializations: By restraint (Cuffs, Ropes, Zip Ties,
etc.), Contortionism
FREE-FALL (AGILITY)
This skill covers any jump from height, including leaps
from a third-floor window to jumps from a plane at high
altitude. If it involves any kind of attempt to slow or
control your fall, this covers it, so it includes skydiving with
a parachute, flying a wingsuit, or descending on a line,
bungee cord, or zipline.
Default: Yes
Skill Group: None
Specializations: BASE Jumping, Break-Fall, Bungee,
HALO, Low Altitude, Parachute, Static Line, Wingsuit,
Zipline
GYMNASTICS (AGILITY)
Gymnastics measures your balance, general athleticism,
and all-around ability to use your body. For more
information on ways Gymnastics may be applied in game,
see Jumping,
Default: Yes
Skill Group: Athletics
Specializations: Balance, Climbing, Dance, Leaping,
Parkour, Rolling
PALMING (AGILITY)
Palming is sleight-of-hand skill that gives a character
the ability to snag, hide, and pass off small objects.
Default: No
Skill Group: Stealth
Specializations: Legerdemain, Pickpocket, Pilfering
NOTICE (SMARTS)
Perception refers to the ability to spot anomalies in
everyday situations, making it one of the key skills a
shadowrunner needs. See Using Notice,
Default: Yes
Skill Group: None
Specializations: Hearing, Scent, Searching, Taste,
Touch, Visual
RUNNING (VIGOR)
Running, as you may guess, is about how much ground
you can cover quickly. Specialization gives +1 pace in that
environment. For more information see Using
Running,
Default: Yes d4-2
Skill Group: Athletics
Specializations: Distance, Sprinting, by terrain (Desert,
Urban, Wilderness, etc.)
STEALTH (AGILITY)
Need to get where you’re not supposed to be? This
skill allows you to remain inconspicuous in various
situations. See Using Stealth Skills,.
Default: Yes
Skill Group: Stealth
Specializations: Location type (Jungle, Urban,
Desert, etc.)
SURVIVAL (SMARTS)
In the desert with nothing more than a tin cup, a poncho,
and an iron rod? You’ll need this skill to help you
get out alive. Survival is the ability to stay alive in extreme
environmental conditions for extended periods
of time. The skill governs a character’s ability to perform
vital outdoor tasks such as start a fire, build a shelter,
scrounge for food, etc. in hostile environments. See
Using Survival
Default: Yes
Skill Group: Outdoors
Specializations: Desert, Forest, Jungle, Mountain,
Polar, Urban, or other terrain
SWIMMING (STRENGTH)
This skill determines the character’s ability to swim in
various bodies of water. The skill level affects the distance
and speed at which a character can swim. See
Using Swimming,
Default: Yes
Skill Group: Athletics
Specializations: Dash, Long Distance
TRACKING (SMARTS)
This skill confers the ability to detect the passage of
metahumans and other game through terrain and use
those clues to follow that individual. This skill also allows
you to identify unmarked trails and common game paths
in various environments. See Using Tracking,.
Default: Yes
Skill Group: Outdoors
Specializations: Desert, Forest, Jungle, Mountain,
Polar, Urban, another terrain type

16 | P a g e
 leap. No matter how many hits you get, you can’t
CLIMBING jump farther than your Agility x 1.5 meters (net hits
The Gymnastics skill is applied to both assisted and beyond this mean you did it with style).
unassisted climbing tasks. Assisted climbing is For a vertical jump, it’s the same test, but you get half
accomplished a meter of altitude per hit and the maximum you can
with specialized gear such as ropes and harnesses (see jump is 1.5 times your height.
p. 25 Savage Worlds Core PDF). Assisted climbing is easier
and safer, but requires more preparation. Unassisted USING ESCAPE ARTIST
climbing may be done on the fly, because you climb In Shadowrun, you might just find yourself caught instead
without any gear. Climbing is an Action, of killed. Escape Artist provides a chance to escape from
most forms of confinement, including ropes,
RAPPELLING handcuffs, and other bindings. To get out of restraints,
Rappelling is a gear-aided descent at near free-fall speed. make an Escape Artist Test against a threshold based on
This technique requires a Free-Fall Success Test. So long as what you’re trying to get out of.
you have the proper gear and training, you can break at If you succeed, you’re free after working on it for one
any point in the descent, slow your speed, and land safely. minute (20 Combat Turns), divided by the number of
Rappelling expends a Simple Action, during which you fall net hits you get on the test. The dice pool is modified
at a rate of 20 meters per Combat Turn. Rappelling by a variety of factors, such as whether or not you’re
characters can increase the number of meters descended being watched (and trying to be subtle) or if you’re
during that same Combat Turn by 2 for each hit and raise. carrying a set of lockpicks. These situational modifiers
If you take another Simple Action in the are on the Escape Artist Table. The gamemaster may
same phase, such as firing a weapon, you get a –2 modifier decide that some restraints are too difficult to escape
to both that action and the Free-Fall Test. Stopping from without outside help.
requires another Free-Fall Test with the same target
number. On an unsuccessful test, you don’t slow down RESTRAINTS TARGET
and may take damage if you hit the ground at speed NUMBER
(Falling Damage, p 101 Savage Worlds Core PDF). Rope, plastic cuffs 4
Metal handcuffs 6
Straightjacket 8
CLIMBING FAILURES AND GLITCHES
Containment manacles 10
A test while climbing or rappelling automatically halts Reinforced Material +1
your progress, and you have to make a Strength Test to SITUATION MODIFIER
hold on. If you fail this second test, you start to fall (about Being Watched -2
20 meters per Combat Turn). During your next Action Character has picks or cutting +2
Phase, you may attempt to stop by making a Strength Test implement
with a –2 modifier. Your gamemaster may allow other
climbers to make a Strength Test to grab you.
Characters who are using climbing gear are allowed
an additional test if they fall. Have the character who
prepared the safety lines make a Free-Fall Test against a
threshold equal to half the falling character’s Vigor (round
down). If successful, the safety gear catches,
leaving the character dangling. If it fails, the character
falls (see Falling Damage, p. 101).

JUMPING
Jumping is done from a running or standing position.
Running leaps get more distance than standing jumps
do, if you have enough room to get up to full speed.
Make a Gymnastics Test, applying any appropriate
modifiers. For every hit you get on this test, you
jump 1 meter on a standing jump or 2 meters for a running

17 | P a g e
 don’t find the food or shelter you need and take Fatigue
Damage. The Fatigue damage cannot
be healed until you get a good night’s sleep without
having to make a Survival Test. If your Fatigue Condition
overflows and you fall unconscious, you cannot make your
Survival Tests, so you just keep taking the damage (now
Physical from overflow) until you’re either rescued or
dead.

USING DISGUISE
AND IMPERSONATION
Disguise and Impersonation are also handled using
Opposed Tests. When the makeup and costuming are
first applied, the character creating the disguise performs
a Disguise Test. The number rolled is the threshold for
anyone trying to see through the disguise later on.
Impersonation can be used to improve a disguise, or it can
stand alone. A character in disguise can roll their
Impersonation + Charisma and add the number of hits
to the threshold for breaking the disguise. If
Impersonation is being used without the benefit of a
disguise (such as when vocally imitating someone), treat it
as standard Opposed Test. A Disguise Kit (see Tools) can
be used to build
a Disguise, using the Building & Repairing rules.
USING SWIMMING
USING SURVIVAL Swimming is an Action. A swimming character
Surviving the elements is more dangerous in the Sixth can move a number of meters in a Combat Turn equal to
World. Environmental decay has reached unparalleled the Swimming Die. You can take an Action to “sprint” with
heights. In Great Britain, for example, a perfect storm a Swimming Test, adding 1 meter per hit, or 2 meters per
of toxic disasters and severe flooding devastated the hit if you’re an elf or a troll. Swimming on the surface
countryside. Those forced to live on city streets fare no of water or under it does not affect this rate of speed.
better. The homeless are as likely to be attacked by a As with the Running skill, swimmers suffer from fatigue
swarm of devil rats as they are to be beaten by a ganger after an extended time (Fatigue Damage).
looking for a bit of fun.
The Survival skill is used for braving all forms of extreme
outdoor conditions—this includes urban survival, HOLDING YOUR BREATH
where the threats are as likely to come from other people Sixty seconds (Ten Combat Turns) is the base time
as they are from the elements. It covers the ability a character can hold his breath before any tests are
to find food, water, and temporary shelter in any needed. A character needing to hold his breath longer can
environment. If you’re exposed to these conditions for 24 make a Swimming Test (with the Controlled
hours or more, you’ll need to start making daily Survival Hyperventilation specialization coming into play if you
Tests. Modifiers and thresholds for Survival Tests are have it). Each net hit extends the clock by 12 seconds (2
provided on the Survival Test Table. If you fail the test, you Combat Turns).

18 | P a g e
Once the time expires the character must breathe or
take 1 box of Fatigue damage at the end of each Combat
Turn until they breathe (this damage cannot be resisted).
Once all the Fatigue is gone, the character loses
consciousness. At this point the character takes one
Wound damage at the end of each Combat Turn until
rescued or dead.
TREADING WATER
If you’re just trying to keep afloat, you can tread water.
You can tread water for a number of minutes equal to
your Vigor rating. At the end of this time, make a
Simple Swimming Test. Success means you can keep
treading water (or float, if you’re skilled at Swimming) for
the same amount of time before another test; failure
means you slip and take 1 box of Fatigue damage that you
can’t resist. If you have a flotation device, double the time
between tests. You can keep treading water as long as you
can stay conscious.
USING TRACKING
Tracking a person or critter requires a Tracking Test with a
threshold based on the terrain (decided by the
gamemaster). If the target is actively obscuring their trail,
tracking is handled as an Opposed Test. The tracker rolls
Tracking against the target’s Sneak. Any net successes on a
Tracking Test can be used to gain additional information
about the trail, such as the number of people using the
trail, type of critters recently using it, and how old the
tracks are. In urban tracking, additional hits can be used to
19 | P a g e
identify local crowd movement patterns, relevant
cameras, and AR clues that reveal where the target was
heading and how long ago it passed by. The gamemaster
may choose to apply modifiers for conditions such as
weather, age of the tracks, the amount of people who’ve
trampled the trail, and so on.
Individuals using a tracking dog or other tracking critter
may use Animal Handling as a Teamwork Test for their
animal’s Tracking Test.
SOCIAL SKILLS
Dice rarely need to get involved when characters need
to solve problems between one another. Dealing with
NPCs isn’t always so easy. Social skills give characters
the ability to problem-solve without expending bullets
or mana. These skills tend to be linked to the Spirit
attribute. Social skills are intended to be used to
complement good role-playing, not replace it. The Social
Test should come either at the end of a well-role-played
scene to wrap it up, or in place of a social situation that
would be less interesting to actually play through to get
through it quickly. The gamemaster can provide modifiers
on this test based on how well you make your point, or
how
much bulldrek you’re able to pile up without flinching.
CON (SPIRIT)
Con governs the ability to manipulate or fool an NPC
during a social encounter. This skill covers a range of
confidence games as well as the principles behind
those cons.
Default: Yes
Skill Group: Acting
Specializations: Fast Talking, Seduction
ETIQUETTE (SPIRIT)
Etiquette represents the level of understanding and
awareness of proper social rituals. The skill works as a
sort of social version of Sneak, allowing you to move
unimpeded through various social situations. Etiquette
also serves as a social safety net in case a player botches a
social situation in a way a skilled character would
not. See Using Etiquette,.
Default: Yes
Skill Group: Influence
Specializations: By culture or subculture (Corporate,
High Society, Media, Mercenary, Street, Yakuza, etc.)
IMPERSONATION (SPIRIT)
Impersonation is the ability to assume the identity of
another person, including voice and physical mannerisms.
The skill is limited by the physical abilities of the
character. A dwarf might be able to impersonate a troll
over a commlink, but the illusion shatters when he is
face to face with his target.
Default: Yes
Skill Group: Acting
Specializations: By metahuman type (Dwarf, Elf,
Human, Ork, Troll)
INSTRUCTION (SPIRIT)
Instruction governs the ability to teach people. The skill
level helps determine how comfortable the instructor
is delivering new material as well as how complex of a
skill may be taught. See Using Instruction,
Default: Yes
Skill Group: None
Specializations: By Active or Knowledge skill
category (Combat, Language, Magical, Academic
Knowledge, Street Knowledge, etc.)
INTIMIDATION (SPIRIT)
Intimidation is about creating the impression that you are
more menacing than another person in order to get them
to do what you want. The skill may be applied multiple
ways, from negotiation to interrogation. Intimidation is
20 | P a g e
an Opposed Intimidation + Charisma Test against
the target’s Charisma + Spirit, modified by the appropriate
entries on the Social Modifiers Table.
Default: Yes
Skill Group: None
Specializations: Interrogation, Mental, Physical,
Torture
LEADERSHIP (SPIRIT)
Leadership is the ability to direct and motivate others.
It’s like Con, except rather than using deception you’re
using a position of authority. This skill is especially helpful
in situations where the will of a teammate is shaken
or someone is being asked to do something
uncomfortable. The Leadership skill is not meant to
replace or
make up for poor teamwork. When using Leadership
make an opposed test Charisma + Leadership. See Using
Social Influence Skills, at right, for test modifiers.
Default: Yes
Skill Group: Influence
Specializations: Command, Direct, Inspire, Rally
NEGOTIATION (SPIRIT)
Negotiation governs a character’s ability to apply their
charisma, tactics, and knowledge of situational psychology
in order to create a better position when making deals.
Default: Yes
Skill Group: Influence
Specializations: Bargaining, Contracts, Diplomacy
PERFORMANCE (SPIRIT)
This skill governs the ability to execute a performing
art. Performance is to the arts what Artisan is to craft.
The performer uses her skill to entertain or even captivate
an audience. See Using Performance, p. 141.
Default: Yes
Skill Group: Acting
Specializations: By performance art (Presentation,
Acting, Comedy, specific Musical Instrument, etc.)
USING SOCIAL SKILLS
At the core of Shadowrun is the idea that the characters
are outsiders trying to survive in the shadow of the old
boys’ network of corporate suits, elven princes,
government interests, wageslaves, street gangs, etc. These
kinds of people know who belongs and how to deal
with one another. Social skills are your ticket into these
social networks. They start when you walk into the
room and continue as you interact with other people.
SOCIAL MODIFIERS
Anyone can be swayed, given the right place, right
time, and right conditions. Social modifiers represent
the conditions that affect your interaction with NPCs.
Smells, crowd noise, attire, distractions, and even an
NPC’s state of mind can play a factor in the interaction. For
example, you’d be hard pressed to convince
21 | P a g e
Mr. Johnson of your professionalism if you show up to
the meet in ripped jeans and a blood-spattered longcoat,
and that would make your chances of negotiating
a better fee for the run kinda harsh. The gamemaster
should assess each social situation and apply modifiers
as he feels appropriate. Unless otherwise noted, Opposed
Test modifiers affect one character or the other.
A few modifiers affect both characters.
USING PERFORMANCE
Performance is a Simple Test with a Social limit—the
gamemaster can use your hits to gauge the artistry of
your performance. If you’re trying distract a target, or
sweep them up in your performance, the generic modifiers
on the Social Modifiers Table (p. 140) apply, and
your target(s) use their Charisma + Willpower to oppose
your test.
USING ETIQUETTE
Etiquette is about blending into the social fabric. Skilled
characters can move through a social situation without
anyone realizing that they don’t belong. It’s more than
knowing the right mores (you could look those up on the
Matrix), it’s about trained instinct.
You can use Etiquette to ease suspicions, so that people
might trust you more than they would an outsider.
Make an Etiquette + Charisma [Social] Test against the
other person’s Perception + Charisma [Social] Opposed
Test. If you get any net hits, they’ll accept you. If you get
3 or more net hits, their attitude toward you will improve,
moving up a line on the “NPC’s attitude” section of the
Social Modifiers table. The skill is not meant to replace
role-playing, but it can save you from a social blunder that
you (the player) make when your character probably
wouldn’t have. When this happens, make an Etiquette Test
against a threshold equal to the severity of the blunder
(set by the gamemaster using the Success Test Thresholds
table, p. 45). A successful test means your character
recovers from the misstep. When making Etiquette tests
with a group of NPCs, use the same rules for influencing
groups (Using Social Skills,).
ETIQUETTE & GLITCHES
A glitch on an Etiquette Test is treated the same as a
social blunder—the temporary annoyance could give
you a –2 dice modifier on your next social test. Critical
glitches result in major social gaffes that have a lasting
effect on the relationship your character has with
others—the NPC’s stance towards your character could
move one step toward Enemy. This is the stuff of which
long-time grudges and major feuds are made, the
words of disrespect that set street armies into motion. on
or before their next Action Phase.
USING INSTRUCTION Inspire: Your hits act as a Teamwork Test for your
From virtual instructors to how-to vids, there are subordinates’ Surprise Test for the rest of the Combat
numerous ways to learn skills. There is no substitute, Turn.
however, Rally: Your subordinates add 1 to their Initiative
for a flesh-and-blood instructor. In order to teach Score for every 2 hits you get.
someone a skill, a character must have the skill at Rating 4
or
higher. The teacher can only teach up to their own
Instruction Rating. Teaching is an Instruction + Charisma
[Social] Test. Every hit on the Teaching Test reduces the
time for the student to improve their skill by a day
(Character Advancement, p. 103).
Instruction is also used to teach spells, complex
forms, rituals, and various other techniques. The rules
for using Instruction are a bit different in these cases and
are explained in the appropriate sections of this book.
USING LEADERSHIP
The Leadership skill is about coaxing, convincing,
threatening, or challenging your subordinates, or getting
people to accept you as a superior. If you lead
people who accept you as their (lone) superior, even
temporarily, you can take a Complex Action to make a
Simple Leadership + Charisma [Social] Test. How this
helps depends on what you choose to do.
Command: The target resists with a Leadership +
Willpower [Mental] test (with Social Modifiers, p. 140).
For every net hit you get, the target accepts you as their
leader for 1 Combat Turn. This doesn’t work if you’ve
failed on this target before.
Direct: Your hits act as a Teamwork Test for one
subordinate’s skill or Composure Test that they perform

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23 | P a g e

MAGICAL SKILLS
Magic skills are reserved for those who practice magic. In
order to acquire magic-specific skills, characters
must have a quality that provides a Magic rating. In order
to use these skills, that Magic rating must be 1 or
higher. Please visit Magic, for all your Magical
skill-using needs.
ALCHEMY (SMARTS)
Alchemy is used to create substances that store spells.
Alchemy is most commonly used to brew potions, distill
magical reagents, and even create orichalcum.
Default: No
Skill Group: Enchanting
Specializations: By trigger (Command, Contact,
Time), by spell type (Combat Spells, Detection Spells, etc.)
ARCANA (SMARTS)
Arcana governs the creation of magical formulae used
to create spells, foci, and all other manner of magical
manipulations. Arcana is required to understand formulae
that may be purchased over the counter or discovered by
other means.
Default: No
Skill Group: None
24 | P a g e
Specializations: Spell Design, Focus Design, Spirit
Formula
ARTIFICING (SMARTS)
Artificing is the process of crafting magical foci. The
skill may also be used forensically, in order to assense
qualities about an existing focus’ creation and purpose.
See Artificing p
Default: No
Skill Group: Enchanting
Specializations: Focus Analysis, Crafting (by focus type)
ASSENSING (SPIRIT)
Assensing is a magic user’s ability to read and interpret
fluctuations in the astral world. This skill allows
practitioners to learn information by reading astral auras.
Only characters capable of astral perception may take this
skill. For more information, see Astral Perception,
Default: No
Skill Group: None
Specializations: Aura Reading, Astral Signatures, by
aura type (Metahumans, Spirits, Foci, Wards, etc.)
ASTRAL COMBAT (SPIRIT)
Fighting in Astral Space requires the Astral Combat
skill. Combat in the Astral World relies on a very different
set of abilities and attributes than physical combatants.
See Astral Combat, p. 315.
Default: No
Skill Group: None
Specializations: By specific weapon focus type, by
opponents (Magicians, Spirits, Mana Barriers, etc.)
BANISHING (SPIRIT)
Banishing is used to disrupt the link between spirits and
the physical world. Banished spirits are forced to return
to their native plane and are no longer required to
complete unfulfilled services.
Default: No
Skill Group: Conjuring
Specializations: By spirit type (Spirits of Air, Spirits
of Man, etc.)
BINDING (SPIRIT)
Binding is used to compel a summoned spirit to perform
a number of additional services. See Binding, p. 300.
Default: No
Skill Group: Conjuring
Specializations: By spirit type (Spirits of Fire, Spirits
of Earth, etc.)
 This skill is used to summon spirits. See Summoning,
p. 300).
Default: No
Skill Group: Conjuring
Specializations: By spirit type (Spirits of Earth,
Spirits of Man, etc.)

RESONANCE SKILLS
Resonance skills are a unique subset of Matrix skills
that can only be used by technomancers. Resonance
skills, like magic skills, require the character to have a
special attribute. The Resonance attribute also serves
as the linked attribute for all of the skills.

COMPILING (SMARTS)
Compiling involves the ability to translate the complex
0s and 1s of machine source language and the rhythms
of the resonance into sprites. See Sprites, p. 254.
COUNTERSPELLING (SPIRIT) Default: No
Counterspelling is a defensive skill used to defend Skill Group: Tasking
against magical attacks and dispel sustained magical Specializations: By sprite type (Data Sprites,
spells. See Counterspelling, p. 294. Machine Sprites, etc.)
Default: No
Skill Group: Sorcery DECOMPILING (SMARTS)
Specializations: By spell type (Combat Spells, Decompiling is a character’s ability to effectively delete
Detection Spells, etc.) previously compiled sprites. See Sprites, p. 254.
Default: No
DISENCHANTING (SPIRIT) Skill Group: Tasking
This skill governs a character’s ability to remove the Specializations: By sprite type (Courier Sprites, Fault
enchantment from an item. See Disenchanting, p. 307. Sprites, etc.)
Default: No
Skill Group: Enchanting REGISTERING (SMARTS)
Specializations: By type (Alchemical Preparations, This skill allows a technomancer to register sprites on
Power Foci, etc.) the Matrix, thereby convincing the grids that they are
legitimate. See Sprites, p. 254.
RITUAL SPELLCASTING (SPIRIT) Default: No
Ritual spellcasting is a spellcasting skill used to cast ritual Skill Group: Tasking
spells. See Ritual Spellcasting, p. 295. Specializations: By sprite type (Crack Sprites, Data
Default: No Sprites, etc.)
Skill Group: Sorcery
Specializations: By keyword (Anchored, Spell, etc.) TECHNICAL SKILLS
Technical skills are called upon when you operate or fix
SPELLCASTING (MAGIC) something. Technical skills link to a variety of attributes,
The Spellcasting skill permits the character to channel listed with the skill.
mana into effects known as spells. See Spellcasting,
p. 281. AERONAUTICS MECHANIC (SMARTS)
Default: No Aeronautics mechanics have the ability to repair a variety
Skill Group: Sorcery of aerospace vehicles, provided the proper tools and
Specializations: By spell type (Combat Spells, parts are available. See Building & Repairing, p. 145.
Detection Spells, etc.) Default: No
SUMMONING (MAGIC) Skill Group: Engineering

25 | P a g e
Specializations: Aerospace, Fixed Wing, LTA (blimp),
Rotary Wing, Tilt Wing, Vector Thrust
ANIMAL HANDLING (SPIRIT)
This skill governs the training, care, riding (if they’re big
enough), and control of non-sentient animals. Competent
trainers have the ability to handle multiple animals.
It is even possible to approach an untrained animal and
get it to trust you, or at least not eat you.
Default: Yes
Skill Group: None
Specializations: By animal (Cat, Bird, Hell Hound,
Horse, Dolphin, etc.), Herding, Riding, Training
ARMORER (SMARTS)
Armorer encompasses the broad array of skills required
to build and maintain weapons and armor. As with all
mechanics-based skills, the proper tools and equipment
are required to perform any repair or build operation. For
thresholds and information on determining
success results, see Building & Repairing, p. 145.
Default: Yes
Skill Group: None
Specializations: Armor, Artillery, Explosives, Firearms,
Melee Weapons, Heavy Weapons, Weapon Accessories
ARTISAN (SPIRIT)
This skill includes several different forms of artistic
impression as well as the handcrafting of fine objects that
would otherwise be produced on an assembly line. The
world’s top artists and crafters are considered artisans.
Default: No
Skill Group: None
Specializations: By discipline (Cooking, Sculpting,
Drawing, Carpentry, etc.)
AUTOMOTIVE MECHANIC (SMARTS)
Automotive mechanics are tasked with fixing all types
of ground-based vehicles ranging from commercial au-
>> SKILLS <<
<< RESONANCE SKILLS 143
tomobiles to wheeled drones to tanks. Repairs require
the proper tools and time. See Building & Repairing,
p. 145.
Default: No
Skill Group: Engineering
Specializations: Walker, Hover, Tracked, Wheeled
BIOTECHNOLOGY (SMARTS)
Biotechnology is a wide-ranging skill primarily used by
doctors and scientists to grow organic body parts. This
26 | P a g e
skill is the basis for cloning as well as all forms of bioware.
Provided the right equipment is available, biotechnology
can be used to repair damaged bioware, clone new tissue,
or detect any bioware in a subject’s body. This skill
does not allow characters to install or remove bioware.
Default: No
Skill Group: None
Specializations: Bioinformatics, Bioware, Cloning,
Gene Therapy, Vat Maintenance
CHEMISTRY (SMARTS)
Chemistry permits the character to create chemical
reactions and develop chemical compounds ranging
from drugs, to perfumes, to biopolymers like NuSkin.
Chemistry can also be used to analyze chemical
compounds to determine what they are.
Default: No
Skill Group: None
Specializations: Analytical, Biochemistry, Inorganic,
Organic, Physical
COMPUTER (SMARTS)
Computer is the base skill for interacting with the Matrix.
It represents the ability to use computers and other
Matrix-connected devices. The Computer skill focuses on
understanding multiple operating systems. It does not
allow the character to exploit code (Hacking) or strip down
mainframes (Hardware). See Using Computer, p. 226.
Default: Yes
Skill Group: Electronics
Specializations: By action (Edit File, Matrix
Perception, Matrix Search, etc.)
CYBERCOMBAT (SMARTS)
Cybercombat is the skill used by hackers to engage in
combat on the Matrix. See Using Cybercombat, p. 226
Default: Yes
Skill Group: Cracking
Specializations: By target type (Devices, Grids, IC,
Personas, Sprites, etc.)

CYBERTECHNOLOGY (SMARTS)
Cybertechnology is the ability to create, maintain, and
repair cybernetic parts. A character with the proper
tools and parts may repair or even build new cybernetics.
Cybertechnology is not a surgical skill. Characters
cannot attach or re-attach cybernetics to organic material
with this skill. This skill may be used to modify or
upgrade cybernetics within cyberlimbs. See Building
and Repairing, p. 145.
Default: No
Skill Group: Biotech
Specializations: Bodyware, Cyberlimbs, Headware,
Repair
DEMOLITIONS (SMARTS)
Demolitions is used to prepare, plant, detonate, and often
defuse chemical-based explosives. See Explosives,
p. 436.
Default: Yes
Skill Group: None
Specializations: Commercial Explosives, Defusing,
Improvised Explosives, Plastic Explosives
ELECTRONIC WARFARE (SMARTS)
Electronic Warfare is the basis of military signals
intelligence. It governs the encoding, disruption, spoofing,
and decoding of communication systems. Providing the
user has the proper equipment, the skill can be used to
manipulate or even take over the signal of any item’s
communication system. See Using Electronic Warfare,
Default: No
Skill Group: Cracking
27 | P a g e
Specializations: Communications, Encryption,
Jamming, Sensor Operations
HEALING (SMARTS)
First Aid is the ability to provide emergency medical
assistance similar to that of a paramedic. This skill may be
used to stabilize wounds and prevent characters from
dying. First Aid cannot be used to perform surgery or
repair damaged implants. For more information, see
Healing, p. 205.
Default: Yes
Skill Group: Biotech
Specializations: By treatment (Gunshot Wounds,
Resuscitation, Broken Bones, Burns, etc.)
FORGERY (SMARTS)
Forgery is used to produce counterfeit items or alter
existing items to a specific purpose. Depending on the type
of forgery, the forger may need specific tools or
schematics to complete the task. See Using Forgery, p.
145.
Default: Yes
Skill Group: None
Specializations: Counterfeiting, Credstick Forgery,
False ID, Image Doctoring, Paper Forgery
HACKING (SMARTS)
Hacking is used to discover and exploit security flaws
in computers and other electronics. For more on how
Hacking is used, see Using Hacking, p. 226.
Default: Yes
Skill Group: Cracking
Specializations: Devices, Files, Hosts, Personas
HARDWARE (SMARTS)
Hardware reflects a characters ability to build and repair
electronic devices. A workspace, proper materials,
and sufficient build time are required to enact a repair
or to build a new device. See Building & Repairing, at
right.
Default: No
Skill Group: Electronics
Specializations: By hardware type (Commlinks,
Cyberdecks, Smartguns, etc.)
INDUSTRIAL MECHANIC (SMARTS)
An industrial mechanic is tasked with repairing or
modifying large-scale machines, such as assembly line
equipment, power generators, HVAC units, industrial
robots, etc. See Building and Repairing, at right.
Default: No
Skill Group: Engineering
Specializations: Electrical Power Systems, Hydraulics,
HVAC, Industrial Robotics, Structural, Welding
LOCKPICKING (AGILITY)
This skill covers building, repairing, and opening
mechanical and electronic locks. While largely banished to
antiquity, traditional mechanical locking mechanisms
are still in use around the globe, often as throwbacks
or backups. Electronic locks are far more common and
quite susceptible to your ministrations. See Doors,
Windows, & Locks,.
Default: No
Skill Group: None
Specializations: By type (Combination, Keypad,
Maglock, Tumbler, Voice Recognition, etc.)
MEDICINE (SMARTS)
Medicine is used to perform advanced medical
procedures such as surgeries. It includes long-term
medical support for disease and illness, and the skill
can be used to diagnose a character’s medical condition.
This skill is used to implant or remove cybernetics and
bioware but cannot be used to repair or
maintain implanted devices. For more information,
see Healing,.
Default: No
Skill Group: Biotech
Specializations: Cosmetic Surgery, Extended Care,
Implant Surgery, Magical Health, Organ Culture, Trauma
Surgery
28 | P a g e
NAUTICAL MECHANIC (SMARTS)
Nautical Mechanic is concerned with the maintenance
and repair of watercraft. This skill is only effective if
the necessary equipment and time are available. See
Building & Repairing below.
Default: No
Skill Group: Engineering
Specializations: Motorboat, Sailboat, Ship,
Submarine
NAVIGATION (SMARTS)
Navigation governs the use of technology and natural
instinct to navigate through territory. This skill enables
characters to read maps, use GPS devices, follow AR
nav points, or follow a course by landmarks or general
direction sense. Navigation applies to both AR and
non-AR-enhanced environments.
Default: Yes
Skill Group: Outdoors
Specializations: Augmented Reality Markers,
Celestial, Compass, Maps, GPS
SOFTWARE (SMARTS)
Software is the skill used to create and manipulate
programming in the Matrix. See Using Software, p. 226.
It’s also what technomancers use when they create
their complex forms (Threading, p. 251).
Default: No
Skill Group: Electronics
Specializations: Data Bombs or by complex form
(Editor, Resonance Spike, Tattletale, etc.)
BUILDING & REPAIRING
Building or repairing an object is an Extended Test that
the gamemaster may decide requires certain tools or
facilities. Modifiers from the Build/Repair Table (p.
146) should be applied to the test. Characters electing
to design new items must have the appropriate Knowledge
skills to conceptualize and create schematics.
The gamemaster assigns a threshold and interval for
the Extended Test using the Task Difficulty Threshold table
and Extended Test Thresholds table on p. 48.
 Since the advent of AR mapping, a walk through the
sprawl never requires a test, but getting from A to B
can be a lot tougher when the Matrix isn’t pointing the
way. Navigation tests are required when you’re traversing
unmarked or highly unfamiliar terrain, such as
someone new to Seattle attempting to navigate the
Ork Underground. It’s a Simple Navigation + Intuition
[Mental] Test, with a threshold based on the terrain,
taking into account modifiers for environmental factors
such as poor visibility, landmarks, existing trails, advice
from locals, and so on—your gamemaster will give you
a threshold based on the Success Test Thresholds table on
p. 45.

VEHICLE SKILLS
Vehicle skills are used for driving and performing combat
maneuvers with vehicles (see Vehicles, p. 198). Unless
otherwise noted, Vehicle skills are linked to Reaction.

GUNNERY (AGILITY)
Gunnery is used when firing any vehicle-mounted
weapon, regardless of how or where the weapon is
USING FORGERY
mounted. This skill extends to manual and sensor-
Talented forgers can simulate anything from a signature
enhanced gunnery.
to a credstick to the Mona Lisa. The skill is most often
Default: Yes
used for doctoring hardcopy IDs, signatures, and official
Skill Group: None
paperwork, but it can be used to fabricate anything you
Specializations: Artillery, Ballistic, Energy, Guided
can imagine and your skill level can handle.
Missile, Rocket
Creating a forgery is a Forgery + Logic Test. The limit
for this test is either Physical (for forged art, signatures,
PILOT AEROSPACE (AGILITY)
and other physical objects) or Mental (for credsticks,
Aerospace vehicles include all reduced- and zero-gravity
documents, and other items that are more data than
aircraft capable of suborbital or extra-orbital flight.
substance). Your dice pool is adjusted by appropriate
Default: No
modifiers (see the Build/Repair Table for suggestions),
Skill Group: None
and given a time requirement by the gamemaster (an
Specializations: Deep Space, Launch Craft, Remote
interval from the Extended Test Difficulties table is fine).
Operation, Semiballistic, Suborbital
The quality of the forgery is based on the number of hits
scored on the test. This number acts as the threshold for
PILOT AIRCRAFT (AGILITY)
attempts to spot the fake. Anyone examining a forgery
This skill is used to pilot any manned or unmanned aircraft
makes an Opposed Test using a Perception + Intuition
operating solely within planetary atmosphere.
[Mental] Test or Forgery + Intuition [Mental] Test. If they
Default: No
score as many or more hits than the quality of the forgery,
Skill Group: None
the item is exposed as a fake.
Specializations: Fixed-Wing, Lighter-Than-Air,
Data-based forgeries, like credsticks, documents,
Remote Operation, Rotary Wing, Tilt Wing, Vectored
and SINs, don’t really hold up well to scrutiny, what with
Thrust
information being so readily available. They can appear
almost identical to the original, but any attempt to get it
PILOT WALKER (AGILITY)
to act like the original (transfer nuyen, pass a SIN check,
Any vehicle that walks on two or more legs is piloted
etc.) reveals the forgery.
through this skill. Characters may control the walker
physically or remotely.
USING NAVIGATION
Default: No

29 | P a g e
Skill Group: None
Specializations: Biped, Multiped, Quadruped, Remote
PILOT EXOTIC VEHICLE (SPECIFIC)(AGILITY)
Characters must take this skill one time for each specific
exotic vehicle. Characters may control the vehicle
remotely with this skill where possible.
Default: No
Skill Group: None
Specializations: N/A
certain cases Knowledge skills may provide the
background needed to complete an action, but they
typically do not provide dice for Active skill tests.
You get a number of free Knowledge skill points at
character creation. Skill advancement and additional
Knowledge skills follow the skill advancement rules
(Character Advancement, p. 103).

PILOT GROUND CRAFT (DRIVING)

This skill is used to pilot any ground-based vehicle,
excluding legged vehicles. This skill applies whether the
pilot is in the vehicle or controlling the vehicle via remote
access.
Default: Yes
Skill Group: None
Specializations: Bike, Hovercraft, Remote Operation,
Tracked, Wheeled

PILOT WATERCRAFT (AGILITY)(BOATING)

This skill is used to pilot any waterborne vehicle, whether
from inside it or by remote control.
Default: Yes
Skill Group: None
Specializations: Hydrofoil, Motorboat, Remote
Operation, Sail, Ship, Submarine

DEVISING NEW
ACTIVE SKILLS
While thorough, the Shadowrun skill system does not
cover every active skill a runner may find use for. New
skills may be introduced by the gamemaster, providing
the new skill is called for and presently unaccounted
for by the system. New Active skills should not be
introduced on a character-by-character basis, but only if a
clear need for that skill can be established. Once these
conditions are met, the gamemaster must decide what
attribute to link the skill to, what skill group, if any, to
join it with, and whether or not the skill can be defaulted
(see Defaulting,).
As a rule, new Shadowrun skills should be broad
enough that there is room for multiple specializations.

KNOWLEDGE SKILLS
Knowledge skills fall into four categories: Street, Academic,
Professional, and Interests. Each category presents an
CHOOSING KNOWLEDGE SKILLS
opportunity to shape the experiences of a character far
Knowledge skills complement your character. They create
beyond what happens on a run. Knowledge
meaning and history behind the Active skills and
skills do not affect tests the way Active skills do. In

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abilities you choose. Shadowrun gives you some room to
play with Knowledge skills. You’re free to take practically
any Knowledge skill your can think up for your character.
Knowledge skills are meant to represent a limited set
of knowledge the character could have gained in some
in-game fashion. For example, a kid growing up in an
Evo corporate enclave could have a skill in Corporate
Culture. On the other hand, had she tried to take Culture
as a Knowledge skill, it would have been way too broad
to be a Knowledge skill and her gamemaster would have
told her she needs to narrow it down a bit. USING KNOWLEDGE SKILLS
Knowledge skills are about what the character knows,
STREET KNOWLEDGE even if you, the player, don’t. Check out the Knowledge>>
Street Knowledge is linked to Spirit. This type of Skill Table for a few guidelines on what a skill reveals.
Knowledge skill is about knowing the movers and shakers Keep in mind those general facts, such as the name of
in an urban area, along with how things get done on the head of a megacorp and such, is info that can be
the street. You know about the people who live in quickly found on the Matrix. Knowledge skills are not
different neighborhoods, who to ask to get what, and about that basic level of detail, but rather information
where that not everyone knows or can find so easily
things are. The information that these skills cover tends
to change rapidly, but your instincts help you keep up.

ACADEMIC KNOWLEDGE
Academic knowledge is linked to Smarts. This type of
knowledge includes university subjects such as history,
science, design, technology, magical theory, and the
people and organizations with fingers in those pies.
The humanities (cultures, art, philosophy, and so on)
are also included in this category.

PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE
Professional Knowledge skills deal with subjects related to
normal trades, professions, and occupations,
things like journalism, engineering, business, and so
on. You might find them helpful when doing legwork
for a run, especially those in the corporate world. All
Professional Knowledge skills are linked to Logic.

INTERESTS
Strange as it might sound, you might have some hobbies
outside of slinging mana and bullets. Interests are the
kind of Knowledge skill that describes what you know
because of what you do for fun. There are no guidelines
(and no limit) to the sort of interest skills you can have.
Interest Knowledge skills are linked to Smarts or Spirit.

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LANGUAGE SKILLS
There are few situations where language skills should
require a dice roll. Characters with a language skill don’t
need to make tests to understand one another in everyday
situations. The character’s skill level serves as a
benchmark for how well they can communicate in a
foreign language over time. However, in critical situations
where precise translation is important, a gamemaster
may elect to require a Language skill test. For more
information, see Using Language Skills, at right.

LANGUAGE (SMARTS)
Language is the ability to converse in a specific language
through written and verbal means. Characters
who speak multiple languages must purchase a separate
language skill for each language.
Default: Yes
Skill Group: None
Specializations: Read/Write, Speak, by dialect, by
lingo
USING LANGUAGE SKILLS
A gamemaster may elect to call for a Language Test
anytime information needs to be translated hurriedly or
in a tense situation. The Language Skill Table suggests
thresholds for the test as well as possible modifiers.
Failing a Language Test means the parties are unable
to understand each other. If a glitch is rolled, some
meaningful portion of the information is presumed to
be understood but is actually misunderstood. The
gamemaster may want to make the Language Test
secretly,
in order to maintain the illusion that the characters
understand what is going on

SOCIAL SKILLS AND LANGUAGE

when using Social skills in a foreign language, the language
barrier hinders your charms. You can’t go higher in your
Social skill than you have in the language you (attempt to)
speak. So if Easy Sal knows he can squeeze a few more
nuyen out of Mr. Brackhaus if he can communicate clearly
with the man, and Sal’s Negotiation is d6 but his German is
only d4, Sal can only use d4 skill to worm more money out
of the man.

LINGOS
Lingos are informal languages formed out of a mother
tongue and heavy with slang, jargon, and culturally
significant metaphorical language. Lingos arise out of
professional and often cultural need. For example, the
Cityspeak word ”wiz” came from jargon specific to the
magically active. Lingos are specializations of base
languages.

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WIRELESS WORLD
The paradox of the Matrix is this: to be an ace hacker,
you need to understand it—but no one really understands it.
Like so many things, though, the real key is to
know more and be better than the next guy. So let’s get
you started with a quick overview of the Matrix experience.
We won’t start with hacking, because you need
to walk before you can run. We’ll start with the ways
users—you and everyone else—experience the Matrix.
When you jack in and flip over to the electronic world,
you plunge into a virtual environment of a consensual
hallucination. Everything is rendered in incredible detail
powered by a century of digital graphics innovation.
Sometimes it seems almost real, but either through
conscious artificiality or the difficulty of duplicating the
complexities of the physical world, the computer-generated
seams usually show.
Physical laws don’t apply in the Matrix (unless some
jackwad admin programmed them into a host, but those
strictures can always be overwritten if you know what
you’re doing). You want to fly? Go ahead and fly. And
watch the vast expanse of exquisite artificiality spread
out around you.
Below you, stretching off in every direction, three-
dimensional icons of real-world devices light up the
landscape like a galaxy of stars in a perfect night sky. The
devices that appear to be closest to you are the ones
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nearest your meat body. Your own icon—your virtual
self— is usually the brightest and clearest of the icons.
The points of light on the distant horizon, the devices that
are the farthest from your presence in the real
world, flicker and sputter with the lag of data traveling
from the other side of the globe.
Hovering above you, massive hosts—tremendous
data collections guarded by spiders and IC—float like
corporate gods, attempting to see everything and be
surprised by nothing. Their custom geometries form
a virtual geography that is unconnected to the meatbound
map below. The larger ones, the size of cities, belong to the
Big Ten megacorporations and are dangerous
to enter if you’re not invited. Other, smaller hosts cluster
in the neural sky, offering social connections, presenting
consumer products, or promising darker pleasures.
Between it all are the representations of people, processes,
programs, and data that zip from icon to icon
and host to host, leaving datatrails of light that fade back
into the dim hum of information. The Matrix moves at
the speed of light and thought.
That’s the view from virtual reality. There are other
ways to view the Matrix, but VR is the only way to see it
firsthand. And it’s the only way that lets you fly.
MATRIX BASICS
Everything in the Matrix is an icon, a virtual representation
that allows you to interact with something in the
Matrix. Every object’s owner can choose what the icon
looks like, within certain limits. An icon doesn’t just
represent a Matrix object in an abstract way; it shows
you what it is and how to access it. The Matrix is
programmed to give users a context to make it easier to
work and play; if a tool is hard to use, it’s not much of
a tool. There are designers and programmers who
deliberately obfuscate an icon’s purpose with confusing
design, but for the most part people like to know how
they can use whatever they encounter. Most Matrix
locations require icons to match certain visual protocols.
For example, let’s say you’re in the host for Dante’s
Inferno. The Inferno is a popular and swanky nightclub
with a presence in the real world (it’s on Fifth and
Madison in Seattle’s Downtown), but it’s also got a host
that looks the same as the physical club so that patrons
from around the world can fly in for a visit at a moment’s
notice. So you get to the club’s host, pay your
cover charge with a quick transfer of nuyen from your
account to the Inferno, and in a blink you’re whisked to
your favorite spot in the club. In this case, let’s say you
go to the fifth level to enjoy the iconography of angry,
dead souls writhing to the beat in and under swampy
water. You’re in the mood for virtual food, so you call
up a menu. That’s a file, and Dante’s menu appears as a
flaming scroll with a fancy script. The programmers and
the Inferno know it’s something you’d want to read—
and they want you to read it—so they make sure the icon
looks like something you’d read, in this case a scroll. The
flames feel hot and look bright, but they’re just virtual. If
you were somewhere else, like say the Club Penumbra
host, a nightclub with an outer space theme, it wouldn’t
look like a flaming scroll, but it would still look like
something you’d read (in this case, an astronaut’s log
book).
The whole Matrix is like that. Everything is custom
crafted by its owners and is generally designed for intuitive
usefulness. The other side of the experience is your
software. Some hackers don’t want other programmers
telling them how their icons look. So they run software
to impose their own visuals on their icons. The struggle
to show what you want to show is only one of the battles
you’ll fight in the Matrix. Most people, though, don’t
bother to fight over iconography, and just let the designers
of the Matrix win out.
Matrix protocols limit the relative sizes of everything
to give users a standard experience they can share. If
your icon was a robot version of the Wuxing Skytower,
that might seem cool, but if you’re talking to someone
with an icon of a dung beetle or something, then
communication’s not going to run smooth. To overcome
this, personas (people in the Matrix) are kept between
dwarf and troll sizes, so what you actually would end up
with in the described conversation is a comically small
skyscraper talking to a frightfully large bug, so you’re both
approximately the same size. Files and devices are smaller
than personas (so you’ll never see someone reading a book
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the size of a great dragon for example), and hosts are
larger (much larger in the case of big sites, like the megas’
corporate hosts).
VIRTUAL VISIONS
That sets up the size of things, but what do they look like?
The answer is a bit more complicated than you’d think.
The look of the Matrix depends on what grid you’re on,
the programs you’re running, and a bunch of other factors.
Luckily, there is a sort of “base version” that forms
the foundation of everyone’s Matrix experience.
In this base version, the Matrix is a black flatland
under a black sky. This virtual plain is lit with the glow
of the icon of your commlink (or deck) and other icons
around you, one for each device and persona connected to
the Matrix. The plain is a projection of the whole
world made flat, so the icons get more and more sparse
the farther out you look.
There are uncounted billions of icons in the Matrix.
Devices have icons in the Matrix in sort of the same way
that living things have auras in astral space. This could
get overwhelming, but some background tech keeps
things from getting out of control.
The first piece of assistance comes from your commlink,
which automatically filters out the least interesting icons.
Do you want to know the virtual location of
every music player in the world? Right, neither do I. So
the Matrix will usually show you an icon for an
individual’s personal area network (PAN), not every device
in that network (although it makes exceptions for
interesting or dangerous devices in that network, such as
a gun).
Additionally, the farther away devices are from
you in the real world, the dimmer their icons are in the
Matrix; this is partly because your commlink figures the
farther ones aren’t as interesting to you, but mostly because
the connection is a bit slower due to the distance.
Matrix gear renders the far-off devices and personas as
dim, muted, or flickering icons. Also cutting down on
the visual noise is the fact that some icons are deliberately
hidden from view, such as locks and other security
devices, baby monitors, maintenance monitors, and of
course people who prefer not to be seen.
To understand the uses of virtual reality and how people
balance the meat world with the virtual one, let’s look at
some typical Matrix uses.
Let’s say that you’re in your car, driving home from work,
school, or wherever you usually drive home from. You let
the car’s autopilot handle the driving and drop into VR to
start dinner. Once you check into VR, your car, the road,
and everything nearby drop from view, and instead you see
the Matrix’s plane of stars. You think about going to your
home node, and boom, you go, streaking forward like a
comet.
As you get close, you see all of the devices that make
up your home network, and you head for the one that
represents your fridge. The icon for the fridge looks like
a small fridge, with a list of the food (which the fridge’s
electronics automatically update with what’s actually inside
it). You see frozen pizza on the list and decide to go
with a frozen pizza. You then reach out to your stove’s
controls (appearing as some dials over a warm, homey
glow) and fire up the oven to pre-heat to 230°. It’s a bit
nippy outside, so you set your drink dispenser (which
you’ve made look like a beer tap in VR) to start warming
the soy base, and since you’re feeling luxurious you hit
the controls for chocolate flavoring. Sill in VR, you zip
back to your car, which cheerfully tells you that you’ve
got another ten minutes, enough time to visit your favorite
social networking host.
Speaking of hosts, the big hosts are the most interesting
spots in the Matrix landscape, and they’re the
things hovering above you when you log on. No matter
where you go in the Matrix, they’re always up there. One
of the critical things to understand about hosts is that,
unlike the devices in your house, they are not necessarily
the representations of a specific device or location in
the meat world. Hosts are part of the Matrix, rather than
being a single device, so you can access them from
anywhere without worrying about the distance involved.
The next important thing to know is that the inside of
a host is a lot different from the outside. For one thing,
it’s often bigger on the inside than the outside. It’s also
a virtual environment of its own, with clear boundaries
indicating where it starts and the rest of the Matrix, for
most intents and purposes, ends.
But let’s get back to the social networking host you
decide to check into on your way home. The one you’re
going to does not have any particular entry requirements,
so you don’t have to endure the virtual equivalent of an
entry line. You just zoom to the host, fly over the border,
and you’re almost ready to go in. On the inside, this
particular host looks like a classy perpetual cocktail party,
with a sculpted look that swanky lounges in the physical
world would kill to have. Before you go into the actual
party, you enter a private changing room, where you can
make your icon look more appropriate for the party. Maybe
pick out a stylish black suit or a little black dress, then
add a tie or neckerchief for a splash of color. Get the outfit
and your virtual hair set, and you’re ready to mingle.
Or maybe a come-as-you-are sports bar is more your
style. That host has booths for visitors that change size
depending on the number of people in it, so they’re always
full but not too cozy. Or possibly games are more
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your style, joining your friends for board games, or puzzles,
or grand adventures. Or you could go to a cat fanciers’
clubhouse. Or a movie theater. Or a zero-G simulated
spacecraft. The inside of a host is limited only by its
owner’s preferences and imagination.
Those are the general outlines of the Matrix; now
let’s dive into what and who you’ll encounter.
THE POPULATION OF THE MATRIX
Every icon in the Matrix is one of six things: a persona,
a device, a PAN, a file, a host, or a mark. Occasionally,
you might also see a datastream, a transfer of data that
looks like a thin beam of flickering, multi-colored light.
Datastreams are normally filtered out of your Matrix
view because if they weren’t, they’d be the only thing
you would see. If you want, you can dial back on the
filtering, but the streams pass by so quickly that you
can’t tell where they’re coming from or going to without
snooping on whatever is sending or receiving them, and
that would be illegal (and we’d never do anything illegal
in the Matrix, right?).
PERSONAS
A persona is more or less what it sounds like: a person
in the Matrix. A persona is the combination of a user
and a device that gets the user onto the Matrix. The
fact that the device has a user overrides the device’s
normal icon status, turning it into a persona. A persona
is usually based on a commlink, cyberdeck, or rigged
vehicle or drone, although technomancers are a sort of
device-less persona.
Persona icons usually look like the people they
represent (although who can resist making a nip here,
a tuck there, a facelift, and maybe some nicer hair?),
sometimes with a splash of style like flashing eyes, hair
coloring, or a tastefully understated aura. There are
wilder looks out there, but shadowrunners often shy
away from them, as they draw too much attention and
can be considered unprofessional. On the other hand,
sometimes drawing attention is exactly the point, so
base your look on however professional (or distracting)
you want for the situation you’re in.
There’s a lot of variety to be had in persona icons.
Just about any creature or animate object is fair game:
animals, moving statues, griffins (popular among teens
these days for some reason), steam-powered robots,
zombies, aliens, just about anything that can walk and
talk. The Matrix protocols will stop you from designing
an icon for your persona if it isn’t intuitively a persona, so
you couldn’t have an icon that is a dust speck, a
Greek column, or a cube, for example. They’ll also stop
you from making something smaller than adult-dwarfsized
or bigger than adult-troll-sized.
DEVICES movie screen. Again, form suggests function is the
Device icons in the Matrix represent electronic devices rule in the Matrix.
in the real world, from your music player to your commlink
to your car and beyond. By default, a device’s icon
looks like the object it represents, in miniature if the real
thing is larger than a person. It has controls of some
kind, often the same controls it has in meat space, but
not necessarily. The Ares Mobmaster riot control vehicle,
for example, is famous for its unorthodox Roman
chariot icon complete with reins to drive the vehicle.
Basic Matrix protocols require device icons to provide
some hint of their real-life function. A firearm’s icon
looks like a weapon (even if that weapon is a tomahawk,
like the icon of the Super Warhawk pistol), a vehicle’s
icon looks like a vehicle, a lock’s icon looks like a lock,
a refrigerator looks like a cold box for food, etc. The
restrictions on devices aren’t as stringent as on personas,
as long as form suggests function at a glance.

PANS
Most individuals have multiple electronic devices
HOSTS
on them at once, and having icons for each one show
Hosts are virtual places you can go in the Matrix. They
up would provide too much visual clutter in the Matrix.
have no physical location, being made up of the stuff of
Often, what shows up instead is an icon representing an
the Matrix itself. From the outside, hosts are as big as
individual’s personal area network. This icon often looks
buildings in the electronic landscape, some of the largest
similar to the physical device that serves as master for the
being about the size of Manhattan (a limit imposed
network, such as a commlink, but individuals will
by the Corporate Court’s Grid Overwatch Division to
sometimes choose a design or logo that means something
prevent the virtual sky from being completely dominated
to them (such as sports team logos, Concrete Dreams
by the mega-hosts). The size of a host and its virtual
album covers, or corporate designs). Some devices are
altitude are related to its importance and influence in the
not merged into the single PAN icon; if an individual is
modern world. Your local Stuffer Shack has a host icon
carrying a wireless-enabled gun—or any other wireless
that’s roughly the size of the building it’s in, and it sits
device that might kill you—it will show up separately so
low to the “ground,” about on the same level as most
that it can be identified rapidly. Unless, of course, the
of the devices in the Matrix. The Atlantean Foundation’s
user has gone to the trouble to hide that icon, but that’ll
host, on the other hand, floats about a virtual kilometer
be covered later.
above the twinkling datascape and is about the size of
the biggest skyraker building in the physical world. Bigger
still is the Shiawase Mainframe, which is a slowly rotating
FILES
sphere about a hundred kilometers up and almost
A file is a collection of data. It can be a film, a song, a
twenty kilometers in diameter.
book, financial records, an image, a news article, and
so on. It can even be a collection of other files (a “folder”).
The host icons themselves look like just about anything the
Files have icons that are smaller than persona
owners want. If you look up into the Matrix
icons, typically small enough to fit in the palm of the
night you’ll see corporate logos, lavish building façades,
virtual hand. All file icons have a default appearance in
and constellations of hosts. You might recognize the
the Matrix—a glowing cube or other polyhedron that
Seattle ACHE’s ziggurat shape, or the mother-and-child
can be opened to reveal its contents—but few Matrix
logo of Humanis, or (if you have access) the three orbiting
users are so lazy and uninspired as to leave their files’
spheres of JackPoint.
icons with such a boring look. A text file might have
an icon that is a book, a scroll, a data pad, or even
Inside a host is a completely different story. A host
stone tablets. Sound files look like speakers, musical
can be (and usually is) bigger on the inside than on the
notes or instruments, and so forth, while video might
outside. A host’s internal sculpting is internally regulated,
look like a film projector, a trid set, or an old-fashioned
so while outsiders’ icons conform to standard Matrix
requirements, the host itself doesn’t have to. The host

37 | P a g e
can be a maze, an open space, have strange gravity or
none at all, be hot, cold, loud, quiet, and everything in
between. Most hosts stick close to reality to make it easier
and more comfortable for its patrons, but some offer
stranger or even downright bizarre sculpting.
MATRIX AUTHENTICATION
RECOGNITION KEYS
A Matrix authentication recognition key, or mark if
you’re not a fan of rattling off fancy technological
nomenclature, is how the Matrix keeps track of which
personas have access to which devices, files, hosts,
and other personas. Marks look like, well, marks—small
personalized labels or tattoos on whichever icons you
place them. Your marks can look like anything you like,
as long as they’re small, fit onto other icons, and have
some thematic link to you or your icon.
For example, let’s say you’re using the icon of a neon
green octopus. Your marks might look like neon green
sucker marks. If you had a cowboy icon, your marks
might look like cattle brands. If your icon were a vintage
movie star, your marks might look like lipstick kisses.
Normally, marks are invisible to anyone except the
person who placed them. To see other marks on an icon
(or your own icon), you have to analyze it. Seeing a mark
does not automatically tell you who put it there, though.
Usually, you can only recognize a mark if you have already
seen the persona responsible for the mark, or if you’re
familiar with his or her marking style.
Marks are routinely invited and given for normal, everyday,
legal use of various services. They act as keys, permission
slips, invitations, and account privileges on every
icon in the virtual world. For example, the Seattle Public
Library invites over 50,000 marks per day for its VR books,
films, trideos, and other items in its collection. While the
great percentage of mark traffic is legitimate, hackers try
to get marks illegally to facilitate their own plans.
THE MATRIX: FOR YOU
AND AGAINST YOU
It’s important to remember that the Matrix exists to be
used. That means that for the most part, the look and
feel of various hosts is geared toward being approachable,
not putting up obstacles that might prevent people
from doing their work or conducting their business. It is
a safe environment, with security built into its operating
systems and protocols. Ever since the recent change in
Matrix protocols, the structure is monitored by the Grid
Overwatch Division of the Corporate Court, who act as a
sort of Matrix police force devoted to protecting users
38 | P a g e
(including innocent children, natch) from online predators,
piracy, and fraud.
That’s the corp brochure version of the Matrix, anyway.
The real motives behind the Matrix, particularly its
current structure, are profit and control. The
megacorporations and the Grid Overwatch Division have
been working on “The Matrix Problem” for decades,
searching for a holy grail of Matrix design that will let
them maximize their profits while minimizing their risks,
and they may have finally found something close. The
system is set up so that the corps always have the
advantage, hackers always are at a disadvantage, and
everybody else is stuck somewhere between.
One of the keys to the new system is the network of
overlapping grids, which need to be understood if you
plan on doing any serious Matrix work.
GRIDS
If you want to get on the Matrix, you need a grid. A grid
is what a Matrix service provider uses to connect you
to the digital world. When you connect to the Matrix,
you are on the grid of your provider, much the same
way an early 21st century cell phone user would be on
their phone company’s network.
Different grids cover customers in different areas;
there are global grids provided by each of the Big Ten and
local grids sponsored in part by local governments.
Accessing these grids costs money, and each of them
presents a slightly different view of the Matrix (although
the inside of hosts look the same no matter what grid
you’re on, as that’s controlled by the hosts). It’s all still the
“real” Matrix, of course, but the icons that belong to your
grid’s owner look a bit bigger and more shiny, and the
advertising is slanted in ways that benefit the grid’s owners.
For example, when you’re connected to the Matrix
through Seattle’s local grid, Emerald City, the normally
black Matrix sky is tinged a gemstone green, and the
hosts that are closely related to Seattle are a bit brighter.
NeoNET icons are also a bit larger when you’re using
Emerald City, because the main sponsor/owner of the
local grid is NeoNET. If you were on NeoNET’s global
grid, you’d see much the same thing, without the emphasis
on Seattle or the green sky.
If you can’t pay for access to a grid, well, you’re not
completely out of luck. The corps would never have
been able to get away with completely throttling access
to the Matrix, so there’s a public grid provided by
underfunded non-profits, outdated satellites, and the
occasional good Samaritan who’s willing to share a
wireless access point or two. The public grid is slow, low-
resolution, and unreliable, but at least it’s globally
accessible.
It’s the Barrens of the Matrix. ripples for the demiGODs to track through standard
As you’d expect, the grid you’re on says something overwatch alone. They also handle cases where a hacker
about your social standing. You might find notes like has been kicked off the grid, supporting any security or
“Posted from the Renraku Grid” tacked onto the end law enforcement forces that the grid’s owner wants to
of status updates. Corps market their own grids heavily, send against the hacker in the physical world.
offering perks and free commlink upgrades every
year or two. People on the public grid are viewed as
second-class citizens. High-class hosts advertise “No
public-grid connections allowed” to show how their
clientele are elite.

You can “hop” between grids, but which grids you

can access depend on where you are in the world. You
can get on the public or any global grid from anywhere
on the planet. Local grids can only be accessed if you’re
physically in the grid’s service area. For example, if
you’re on Netzwerks Berlin, you could see and interact
with a commlink that is on Seattle’s Emerald City, but
you wouldn’t be able to hop to Emerald City grid itself.

LOOKING DOWN: GRID

OVERWATCH DIVISION
The Grid Overwatch Division, or GOD for short, is
responsible for securing the Matrix from hackers and other
unwanted intruders, especially the parts connecting
the various hosts and users (security with hosts falls
more on the heads of the host owners). Each grid has
its own sub-division (even the public grid), with its own
financing and operatives. A sub-division (referred to as
a demiGOD) watches its entire grid, keeping an eye
out for misbehaving users and illegal activity. The grids
have a warning system built-in, a subtle but telltale ripple
that occurs when the automated software detects
illegal or unauthorized use of the gird. It’s not much, but
GOD is watching, and if they see enough ripples to find
and identify a hacker, they can trace his physical location AUGMENTED WORLD
and boot him off the Matrix using the mechanisms built So far much of the discussion of the Matrix and its
into each grid. collected icons has focused on how things look in virtual
This is not to say the megacorps have made nice and reality, but that’s not how most people interact with
are now holding hands singing Kumbayah. Far from it; the Matrix on a daily or hourly basis. Most people who
the Matrix is an even hotter intercorporate battleground use VR use it to visit hosts, view entertainment, or play
than ever, it’s just that the AAAs want to keep their games, but a lot of people find the disembodied sensation
battleground to themselves. While the demiGODs are of virtual reality to be uncomfortable, or even disturbing.
separate and even competitive (the Crash of the Titans The majority of people interact with the Matrix
reality trid show is new but surging in popularity), they are in augmented reality, using their commlink.
still part of GOD and highly cooperative against hackers. A commlink is combination computer, smartphone,
They share their information in real-time, often faster than media player, passport, wallet, credit card, Matrix browser,
hackers can hop to another grid. Their operatives, called G- chip reader, GPS navigator, digital camera, and portable
men (complete with 1930s-era FBI persona icons), gaming device. And possibly a few other things, if
technically only have jurisdiction over their assigned grid, you’ve got a really nice one. It’s got all of the necessary
but they can request and receive clearance, authority, and software already loaded, but unlike a cyberdeck it has no
cooperation from the demiGOD of another grid in seconds space for cyberprograms or other hacking tools.
during an investigation. The G-men investigate cases that Most models are small enough to fit in your pocket,
aren’t lengthy enough or blatant enough to leave sufficient on a belt clip, or on your wrist. If a pocket version isn’t

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your style, commlinks are available in a number of other
forms, including headwear, glasses, jewelry, cranial
implant, belt buckles, and other accessories.
LIFE WITH A COMMLINK
Your commlink does more than just sit in your pocket (or
on your head). It interprets the Matrix around you to give
you extra information and capability that can be useful
in civilian life and vital in the shadows. This is done with
augmented reality, or AR. AR overlays information on
things in real-life in a way only you can perceive.
Let’s say you’re walking down the street in Downtown
Seattle’s shopping district. Your commlink may
seem like it’s sitting quietly, but in fact it’s quite busy.
It’s regularly communicating with other devices and
hosts around you, sharing information about your location
and your movement. The other devices and hosts
are sending information right back, telling you who else
is out there, what stores are having sales, what movies
are playing at which theaters, and so on. If you look at
your commlink screen, you’d have all that information
overlaid on an image of where you are, providing a mini
heads-up display. But let’s say you live in the current
decade, and you don’t interact with the world around you
with just a screen. You may have glasses, or sunglasses,
or contacts, or goggles, or cybereyes, or something that
puts this information right in your field of vision. Overlaid
on the world are icons telling you that shoes like the
ones you bought last year are now half off, and there’s
a dotted line leading you to the theater showing the
sequel to the trid show you thought was wiz, and the
people walking down the street are occasionally
highlighted by glowing auras—nice blue ones representing
your friends, glaring red ones telling you that someone
you know and should be avoiding is coming close. You
have more than just your natural vision—you’ve got
everything in the database you’re carrying with you.
The civilized world adapted quickly to augmented
reality, mostly because it’s easier than printing things on
paper or making signs. Augmented reality objects, or
AROs (pronounced “arrows”), are used to show
information and decorate spaces on the cheap. Stores have
their logos blazoned in 3D above their door, restaurants
offer animated menus complete with tantalizing images
of their food, street names hover over every intersection,
decorators use AR objects to spruce up interiors, all
viewable in AR for anyone who has the capability, which
is pretty much everybody. The unintended side effect is
that things can look a bit dingy when you turn off your
AR display, but that’s the price of progress.
You don’t have to be an expert to make an ARO. If
you want to send directions to your place from the party,
you can draw a line on an AR map and share it with your
friends. If you want to point out a person in a crowd for
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a buddy, you can make an ARO highlighting that person
and send it. You can choose which of your AROs are
seen by which people, so you can keep it private or, if
you’re feeling impish, put vulgar AROs on RFID tags and
scatter them around town for all to see. Of course, other
people can filter out the AROs they don’t want to see,
and so can you.
Augmented reality isn’t just visual information, either. You
can hear audio AROs if you have earbuds or a
cyberear. AROs can be tactile if you have a haptic device
like AR gloves. Engineers are still working on putting
physical scent into AR displays, and we’d rather not
talk about AR flavors. On the other hand, if you use AR
with a direct neural interface like trodes or an implant,
you can use all of your senses to view AR without any
extra devices.
Most of what you keep on your commlink are files,
this includes music, your SIN (fake or otherwise), licenses
(also fake or otherwise), maps, email messages, your
contact book, AROs, and so on. These files are visible to
people who can see your commlink in the Matrix, so most
people keep all of their files in a protected folder.
DIRECT NEURAL INTERFACE
A direct neural interface, or DNI, connects your brain to
electronic devices. Direct neural interface (along with a
sim module) is required for VR use, but DNI is also useful
for AR in that you don’t need any additional gear like
earbuds or an image link to see or hear augmented reality
objects. How do you sign up? You get DNI by wearing
trodes, or having an implanted datajack, commlink, or
cyberdeck. And if you’re using a sim module along with
your DNI, can get a sort of “super AR mode” where you
can also feel, smell, and taste your AR experience. you can
get a sort of “super AR mode” where you can also feel,
smell, and taste your AR experience.
So where do you store all of the things you want to
keep? Pictures from your Aunt Edna’s wedding, credit
information, your SIN, every book and movie you’ve
bought, all the programs you might want to run—all of
it fits on your commlink (or cyberdeck if you prefer). In
fact, every device on the Matrix has a massive amount
of storage space, unthinkable amounts by early 21st
century standards. Your gamemaster might decide that
a device is too small or low-grade or a file so massively
large that a problem comes up, but such problems are
extremely rare. Even if it does, the entire world is wireless,
so you shouldn’t have trouble finding an alternate
storage location.
SHADOWRUNNING
WITH A COMMLINK
Your commlink could be the most important piece of
gear you own. It keeps you in contact with the rest of
your team, even if you’re scattered across the entire
sprawl. You can share information like images, floor
plans, and tactical instructions almost instantly, even in
the middle of a firefight. It gives you AR displays for
your surroundings, not just what other people put there
but AROs created by your companions, which come in
handy when your shaman tags a mage among the enemy
security forces or a spotter drone maps the location of all
the guard dogs it can find. A good commlink
can also protect your own devices (including your gun)
from opposing hackers. Some shadowrunners prefer to
go without one, but most agree that the commlink is
right up there with ammo in terms of usefulness.
THE DIGITAL
UNDERGROUND
Not everyone is content to surf the Matrix in peace.
Some users are protestors, flying in the face of the
megacorps’ power over the grids. Some are curious,
poking at secure hosts and pushing boundaries that
GOD and its demiGODs would prefer remain untouched.
Some are angel-headed hipsters trying to find
some connection to the starry dynamo of the virtual
night. Some want to free the flow of information from
its corporate shackles. Some just have a habit of ignoring
the rules.
All these digital delinquents are known as hackers. In
the heavily computerized world of the 2070s, a
shadowrunning team can go a long way with a hacker on
their side. Hackers can pry at secrets, control devices, and
even destroy electronics from a distance, not to mention
defend against opposing hackers and spiders. Hackers
come in two main flavors: deckers and technomancers.
DECKERS
A decker is someone who uses a cyberdeck (hence the
name) to break the rules of the Matrix. A cyberdeck—
usually just called a deck—is like a commlink with some
extra features. It is a bit bigger than a commlink, about
the size of a small tablet or a spiral-bound notebook, or
a pair of playing card decks. Its specialized functions
and questionable legality make it far more expensive
than ordinary commlinks. The cyberdeck has advanced
electronics and firmware based on reverse-engineered
protocols used in Matrix security. In short, a cyberdeck
is the tool you need to be a hacker.
A deck can perform all of the functions of a commlink, but
its primary purpose is hacking in the Matrix.
Cyberdecks have a built-in sim module because they are
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so often used in VR, so a decker only needs a datajack
or other DNI device to make that connection, instead of
needing the full sim implant.
Deckers are far and away the most common type of
hacker. They come to the profession out of necessity, a
desire for profit, or a sense of mischief. Or all three. They
are heavily dependent on their skills, and they need
good gear to make sure their skills shine. They can usually
maintain and even build their own electronic devices.
TECHNOMANCERS
Technomancers are able to interface both in AR and VR
without the aid of a sim module, image link, or any other
electronic devices. Strictly speaking, technomancers
aren’t magical, but they’re just as mysterious as magicians
were after the Awakening. The origins of a technomancer’s
power and how she makes things happen are
still unknown to science. Like magicians, technomancers
make up a tiny fraction of the population of the Earth.
Also like magicians, they are generally distrusted and
misunderstood, sometimes to the point of paranoia.
Not all technomancers are hackers, but to the general
public they might as well be. In the media, the word
technomancer almost always means hacker, and the word
“hacker” means cyber-terrorist. Many national and local
governments require technomancers to register with the
authorities, even if they have little talent or power. The
perception of technomancers is that they are able to control
a person’s electronics, reading files at will, breaching
every moment of privacy. They say that technomancers
can see you through the devices in your home, trace your
children, ruin your reputation and credit rating, launch
nuclear missiles, drain your bank accounts, and steal your
identity. As a result of the paranoia, most technomancers
keep their identity under wraps, sometimes hiding their
abilities behind dummy commlinks.
Technomancers are rare, but they have amazing abilities in
the Matrix, doing things that by most reports
should be impossible. They use their powers and abilities to
bend the Matrix to their will and summon digital servants.
They are generally not the figures public
paranoia makes them out to be—but they have enough
power to make it seem that the paranoia has at least one
foot in reality.
(MIS)USING
THE MATRIX
The first step in hacking the Matrix is conceiving and
understanding what you might be able to accomplish. The
example below provides a narrative of someone making
their illicit way through the Matrix. It’ll show you some of
the things that are possible. Once we’ve set that up, we’ll
show you how to do the things it shows. don’t understand the different grids involved and how to
There’s a lot that goes on in the Matrix. It’s a big place, get on them, they’ll be behind the competition.
bigger than the real world if you include all of the hosts. They also have to understand what they’re seeing—which
It’s also a very versatile place. Everybody in the civilized icons are devices, which are personae, and why it matters.
world (aside from a few barely worth mentioning since,
you know, they don’t show up on the Matrix) has some They also need to be able to see the things they
basic computer skills. They can surf the Matrix, search are not supposed to see, while also keeping themselves
for information, send messages to one another, and use out of sight when necessary (Matrix Perception,).
basic AR interfaces. That doesn’t make them Matrix When it’s time to get down to business, hackers
experts, and it definitely doesn’t make them hackers. To show they’re the alpha dog in the traditional way—by
really walk the virtual walk, you need a lot more. marking their territory. Placing marks on the devices they
want to control gets them the access they are
not supposed to have. Once your marks are in place, it’s
CRACKING THE the hacker’s time to shine and take the actions to make
MATRIX SPINE the Matrix do the weird and unexpected things their
team needs. They’re not alone in there, though,
The Matrix is a controlled environment, with corporate
so there’s always the chance they’ll have to go to battle
owners wanting to keep things moving at their
against IC or a security spider
pace, according to their specifications. If something
suits their goals, it moves through the Matrix just fine,
encountering few problems or hang-ups. If it doesn’t
meet their goals, they shut it down as fast as they can
before it causes too much trouble.
Hackers don’t meet their goals, and they are paid to
create trouble. They’re the fly in the ointment, the fart
in the cathedral, the droog in the milk bar. They’re chaos
amidst carefully cultivated order, and they’re fast and
nimble if they want to stay free and keep their synapses
at their normal temperature.
Hackers can get an important advantage with their
gear and equipment, but that’s something anyone with a
decent pile of nuyen can buy. For the true hacker, it’s not
the gear that sets them apart—it’s how they use it. Their
quick thinking, their imagination, and their relentless
coding skills put them above the competition, letting
. Hackers aren’t limited to the lives of digital ninja
them dance their way through a Matrix that’s constantly
anymore. Hackers can pull out the big guns and blast
trying to force them to color inside the lines.
through the Matrix , slamming marks on targets and taking
Good hackers start with good skills Without those, they’re
what they want. They can also fry gear in the real world
just another idiot who spent too much
killing drones, destroying weapons, and otherwise
money on electronic gear they don’t know how to use.
fighting side-by-side with their teammates.
Once they have the skills that set them apart, they need
The final pieces of knowledge they need are the other
the right gear or their skills are going to come up short.
elements they might encounter online—the hosts, IC,
Knowing the Matrix attributes and how they can help
and programs that make life interesting. Armed
or limit them, will make sure they get the most
with that knowledge, hackers will be ready to help the
out of their skills. Armed with this knowledge, they can
Matrix shake off its shackles and become the raw, free
choose the cyberdeck that’s right for them. The
flow of data it was always meant to be.
good stuff isn’t cheap. Hell, even the not-so-good stuff
Then there’s one more piece of the puzzle. Once
will set you back a pile of nuyen, so hackers need to
we’ve covered how deckers make their way through the
learn how their deck might get damaged and how they
Matrix, we need to look at the technomancer side of
can avoid having it turn into a useless brick of plastic and
things to see how they operate and swim in the Matrix
rare earth elements
that they see as an ocean of data all around them
Once they have their skills and gear ready to rock,
hackers need to decide how they’re going to access the
Matrix and how to use the structure
MATRIX SKILLS
of the Matrix to make the right connections . If they To do anything more involved than sending email in the

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Matrix, you’ll need some skills. Specifically, you’ll need
the skills in the Cracking Skill Group and the Electronics
Skill Group. Here’s a quick rundown of those skills and
what they do:
USING COMPUTER
The Computer skill represents your ability to use
computers. Common functions for this skill include editing
files, erasing marks, and searching the Matrix. It’s also
used in your Matrix Perception Tests, which can be vital in
finding that Black IC before it stomps your neural
pathways.
USING CYBERCOMBAT
Cybercombat is the skill to use when you’re trying to
wreck something or hurt someone in the Matrix. You
can use it to damage electronics, break through defensive
algorithms, and crash programs.
USING ELECTRONIC WARFARE
This skill is about controlling the airwaves, an important
ability in a wireless world. It’s good for jamming other
people’s signals with a jammer (or even your deck),
hiding your own signature, and snooping on other people’s
datastreams.
USING HACKING
Hacking is about cleverly convincing the Matrix to do
things it’s not designed to do. It lets you find and exploit
weaknesses in digital defenses, and otherwise use
finesse in your Matrix mayhem.
USING HARDWARE
Hardware describes your ability to build, repair and
manipulate electronic hardware. This skill is rarely
used in the Matrix, but it encompasses everything
that runs on the Matrix—and everything the Matrix
runs on. It’s very useful for fixing electronics that have
been damaged by Matrix combat, not to mention upgrading
your deck or building your own devices.
USING SOFTWARE
This skill is about creating programs and other code
that runs in the Matrix. It’s good for writing your own
programs and analyzing strange code. If you’ve got the
guts to try to handle a data bomb, you’ll need some solid
Software skills to keep it from going off in your face.
USING RESONANCE
The skills in the Resonance Skill Group are only usable by
technomancers. These skills are used to thread
complex forms and to compile sprites.
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MATRIX DAMAGE
Each device in the Matrix has a Matrix Condition Monitor.
This represents the device’s ability to handle damaging
code designed to make the device do things
it’s not supposed to do. As a device gets damaged, it
overheats, suffers power spikes and dips, shorts out
as components start failing, and eventually becomes
damaged beyond functionality.
The Matrix Condition Monitor equal to the Devices Rating
is always resisted with Device Rating + Resistance. When
a persona is hit for damage, the device it is running on
takes that damage (except technomancers, who take it
as Stun damage).
Unlike other forms of damage, there is no penalty for
having Matrix damage until your Matrix Condition Monitor
is completely filled. Matrix damage that becomes
Stun damage for technomancers still does carry a penalty,
though, as does Stun or Physical damage caused by
biofeedback.
BRICKING
If the Matrix Condition Monitor of a device is completely
filled, the device ceases functioning. This is
called bricking a device. Devices that are bricked never
fail non-spectacularly. Smoke, sparks, pops, bangs, sizzles,
nasty smells, and occasionally even small fires are
common features of a device in the process of becoming a
brick. If you’re using your deck in VR when it gets
bricked, you are dumped from the Matrix and suffer
dumpshock . A bricked device is damaged and useless until
it is repaired (described in the next bit, Repairing Matrix
Damage). If a device is bricked, it stops working: batteries
are drained, mechanical parts are fused or gummed
up with melted internals, and so on. That said, not all
devices are completely useless when bricked. A vibrosword
is still sharp, a roto-drone glides to the ground on auto-
gyro, a lock stays locked. The firing pin on an
assault rifle might not work, but its bayonet works just
fine for stabbing smug hackers. And you can’t exactly
brick a katana, ne? And don’t panic when your trickedout
combat bike gets bricked; it will ride again … if you
know a competent technician.
REPAIRING MATRIX DAMAGE
If you have a device with Matrix damage, you can repair it
with a toolkit, an hour of work, and a Hardware test. Every
hit you get can be used to either remove one box of Matrix
damage or cut the time required in half; the first die spent
toward time reduces the time to half an hour, the second to
15 minutes, and so on, to a minimum of one Combat Turn
(6 seconds). Bricked or not, the device is off-line and
unusable during the repair process.
If you critically glitch on the roll to repair your device,
that’s it. The device is permanently bricked. You can use
it as a paperweight, an object lesson, or (if you need
one) a brick. If you glitch, the device can be restored to
functionality, but it becomes a bit glitchy (the gamemaster
will tell you how at an appropriate moment).
NON-DEVICES AND
MATRIX DAMAGE
IC programs and sprites have Matrix Condition Monitors.
Like devices, they are unaffected by Matrix damage until
they have a full Matrix Condition Monitor. IC
and sprites cannot be repaired, but they lose all damage
when they stop running or return to the Resonance.
Hosts and files can’t be attacked with Matrix damage, so
they don’t have Matrix Condition Monitors.
Technomancers don’t have Matrix Condition Monitors,
either. Instead all Matrix damage they take is converted
DUMPSHOCK & LINK-LOCKING
Hackers taking damage in the Matrix works differently
depending on which kind of IC we’re talking about. The IC
also have a few tricks up their sleeve. Regular Damage is
done via neurofeedback. Electric currents are blasted into
your noggin’, making you disoriented at best
When taking damage from White IC, regard it as Fatigue
damage. This can incapacitate the Hacker, but not kill
them. Once incapacitated, the Hacker is Jacked Out out of
the matrix by his commlink. Gotta’ love those safety
measures.
Technomancers leave VR behind as well, mainly because
they fall unconscious.
Black IC damage causes wounds. What usually happens
from an outsider’s perspective is that the hacker shakes
violently, bleeds from every orifice in their head and dies.
Wounds taken from this damage can very well kill the
Hacker through biofeedback-induced strokes.
Other Nasty Tricks that IC can throw at you include
Dumpshocks, which is violently ejecting you from VR.
Going through a Dumpshock makes the Hacker shaken,
and does 1D8 non-lethal damage for each success and raise
gained on the damage roll.
Another danger in the Matrix is having your connection
link-locked. This is when another persona or device
sends keep-alive signals to your deck (or other device)
that force it to cancel any attempt to leave the Matrix.
If you’re link-locked, you can’t use the Switch Interface
Mode, the Enter/Exit Host, or the Reboot actions on the
device your persona is using (probably your deck). You
can escape with a successful Jack Out action.
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to Stun damage to their person, but it is still resisted with
their living persona’s Device Rating + Firewall.
BIOFEEDBACK DAMAGE
Biofeedback damage is Matrix code that forces your sim
module to misbehave badly. It makes your body go haywire
the same way that Matrix damage screws up devices. This
can cause temporary or even permanent damage
to a deckers’ body and brain. It’s used by Black IC, Grid
Overwatch Division G-men, and unscrupulous hackers
and spiders, although it can also come from other sources
inadvertently, like dumpshock or the damage riggers take
when their vehicles and drones are damaged.
Biofeedback damage is only dangerous when you’re
in VR mode. Unless the attack says otherwise, biofeedback
is Stun damage if you are using cold-sim VR and
Physical damage in hot-sim VR. You resist biofeedback
damage with Resistance.
If the Hacker decides to cut their losses and Jack Out to
avoid getting their brain fried, they must make a Hacking
roll at -1 for each piece of IC currently active. He can also
chose to abort rapidly, making sure he gets out, but taking
1D8 non-lethal damage for each Matrix Entity around him.
Successfully jacking out usually means suffering
dumpshock, but at least you’re free. Any persona, be they
agent, technomancer, or sprite, can be link-locked.
Usually, if you fall unconscious in VR, your commlink
or deck automatically switches you to AR. If you’re
linklocked, you remain online and in VR. IC typically
doesn’t care whether its target is conscious, so it will
probably keep attacking you. Spiders are a bit smarter
about it but no less ruthless, and they have a lot of options
when you’re helpless and stuck in the Matrix. Either way,
it’s nasty, since you can’t defend against actions when
you’re unconscious.
USER MODES
When you interact with the Matrix, you can do it in one
of three modes. In augmented reality, or AR mode, you
deal with reality directly, and you use your meat body
to interact with the Matrix through AR overlays. In virtual
reality, or VR mode, your body goes limp and your
only sensory input comes from the Matrix. Basic VR
mode is cold-sim, meaning you interact with the Matrix
primarily through sight and sound. In hot-sim VR
mode, your have the full Matrix experience, involving
all of your senses as well as your emotions. You can
perform Matrix actions in any of the three modes.
AUGMENTED REALITY
As we’ve described, AR is normal living in physical
space with an AR heads-up display. You can see the
Matrix if you like, either by creating a virtual window
or display screen and viewing it like a camera, or by
overlaying device and host information on your normal
vision. Your persona can go anywhere in the Matrix using
this view. You can even enter hosts, although your
icon will appear jerky and slow compared to a VR user
in the same node.
When in AR, you use your normal Initiative
You do not take biofeedback damage, like
from the attack of Black IC. If your attention is really
focused on your AR display and not your surroundings,
your gamemaster may impose a –2 penalty on
any Notice tests you make to notice things going on
around you in physical space.
Augmented Reality is a digital overlay on the real world
(hence, Augmented). When a chummer looks through
his AR device (Normally contact lenses or glasses.
Cyber eyes also have built-in AR software), these
digital images called Augmented Reality Objects, or
ARO’s, enhance the world around him. When he
enters a restaurant, a menu pops up in his field of
vision, allowing him to mark off his order by touching it,
for example. Naturally, Hackers have modified their AR
software to better suit their illicit needs. They are made
resistant to the spam ARO’s that inevitably pop up in
everyone’s field of view. They also have a handy program
that makes everything that is wirelessly connected distinct
somehow, either by making it glow brightly, giving it a
red outline or some other form of indication. This
allows the hacker to instantly know what devices in his
field of vision that are hackable.
VIRTUAL REALITY
This is the real rush, chummer. Once you go into VR
mode, you leave behind your body and enter the digital
space. While you are in VR your body is unconscious
and limb, drooling ever so slightly. Your mind and
thoughts are in the Matrix.
The matrix can look like anything, depending where
you go. There are many digital nightclubs and secret
matrix lodges around. Generally though, the Matrix is a
black void filled with icons that represent nodes. The
“ground” below is a grid of lines, and the “sky” is black
as well. Each of these nodes can be interacted with in
some way.
Normally there are constraints build into Commlinks to
limit the amount of information fed into your brain. This
would protect people from dangerous neurofeedback,
at the price of slowing their matrix activities. Being a
hacker, you have no time that and the first thing you do
is to override the parental controls. This is called Hot
Sim, and allows you to literally operate at the speed of
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thought, as opposed to the speed of safety. Normal people
can only interact with nodes in the way their creator
intended. You, on the other hand, can break the security
that keeps people from meddling with the way nodes work.
The creators of the nodes are not pleased with this behavior
and new forms of security software have been developed to
deal with the likes of you. It is called Intrusion
Countermeasures, or IC.
COLD-SIM VIRTUAL REALITY
In cold-sim VR, you’re meshed with the Matrix through
simsense filters. This means your brain is protected
from dangerous signals, but it makes things a bit slower
for you because all data is analyzed by your sim module
before it reaches you. Your body relaxes and your
meat senses are blocked, as though your body were
asleep. You see the Matrix as though you were really
there, soaring among the icons. In cold-sim VR, the
hacker’s body is lifeless and limp, unable to defend itself in
any way. The hacker enters the matrix space and can only
see nodes and devices. Once in VR, the hacker gets two
initiative passes per turn. Switching between AR and
VR is an action. If the hacker is dump shocked, he is
returned to AR mode instantly. Whenever you take
biofeedback damage, it is Fatigue damage
HOT-SIM VIRTUAL REALITY
Hot-sim VR is like cold-sim VR, only the filters are off.
You are flooded with simsense signals that can even affect
your limbic system, so you can not only see, hear, and
touch the Matrix, but you can feel it. Hot-sim uses the same
simsense signals as better-than-life chips, which makes it
dangerous and even addictive (see Addiction), but you
can’t get a closer, more intuitive connection with the
Matrix. When you are in hot-sim VR mode, you get 3
Initiative Passes. You cannot go pass the maximum of 4
Initiative Passes . You receive a +2 bonus to all Matrix
actions, and you take biofeedback damage as
Physical damage.
MAKING CONNECTIONS
The Matrix is a different environment, one that runs
parallel with the real world while being deeply connected
to it. When you’re flying through the virtual
night, there are some things that work a bit differently
than they would if you were flying through the physical
night. Aside from gravity, that is.
NOISE
Noise is the static on the wireless Matrix. There are a
lot of things that can mess with your signal, like nearby
electronics, natural and artificial dampening, and even
cosmic background radiation. It may seem as if traffic
in the Matrix is instantaneous, but ask anyone who has
played an online game with someone a few continents
away—there is a noticeable delay compared to playing
someone next door. When decisions are being made
in the blink of an eye, every speed difference matters.
The farther you are away from an icon in real life, the
harder it is to communicate with it, whether your intentions
are harmful or benign. Noise can be reduced
with noise reduction, which can be provided by a few
different pieces of hardware and software (see Street
Gear,).
The most common source of noise is distance from
your target, but there are other causes, as listed on the
table. There are also spam zones and static zones to
deal with. A spam zone has so much traffic (often
commercial in nature) that everything gets processed
slower.
Static zones are areas with either a lot of electromagnetic
blockage (like an underground tunnel, labyrinth
of sewers, or ruins of a steel office building) or far away
from civilization (the middle of a desert, the north pole,
adrift in the Pacific, etc.).
To figure out how noise is affecting you, start with
the noise level from real-world distance to your target
and add the noise level from any other applicable
situations, then subtract any noise reduction you are using.
Any positive noise level you have left over is a negative
modifier to your actions. Noise never applies
to defense or resistance tests.

ILLEGAL ACTIONS
Some Matrix actions are illegal, making them more
risky than legal actions. The Matrix was built with security
in mind, but of course they couldn’t make it hacker-proof.
The list of illegal actions is pretty simple: all
Attack and Sleaze actions are illegal. The risks that go
with them depend on just what you’re trying to do.
If you fail a Probe [sleaze] action, the target’s Firewall
software detects the intrusion and places a mark on you. A
device immediately informs its owner, a host launches
IC. If the target already has three marks on you, it doesn’t
get another, but it still does the informing and launching.

46 | P a g e

OVERWATCH SCORE
AND CONVERGENCE
The greatest ninjas in the world can’t walk through the
desert without moving some sand, and the best hackers
in the world can’t hack the Matrix without leaving tiny
clues to their passing. GOD and the demiGODs are on
the lookout for these kinds of clues, but luckily the Matrix
is a really big place, with plenty of places to hide.
They’re good, though, and they’ll get you eventually. The
more hacking you do, the easier you are to find.
When you start using the Matrix after a fresh boot,
you’re as pure and innocent as the driven snow (at least
as far as the demiGODs are concerned). The moment
you perform an illegal action (Attack or Sleaze), you get
an Overwatch Score, or OS, that your gamemaster uses
to track how much evidence you’ve been leaving in your
wake. When you perform an Attack or Sleaze action,
your OS increases by the number of hits the target gets
on its Notice test.
The Overwatch Score also increases as time goes by.
If the demiGODs have time to analyze your activities,
they’ll notice traces of your passing and will start to get
closer and closer. Every fifteen minutes after you first
start tallying an OS, it increases by another 2D6 (rolled
by the gamemaster in secret).
When your Overwatch Score hits 40, the jig is up.
The nastiness that follows is called convergence. The
grid’s demiGOD converges on your trail, and then the
fun begins. First, they hit you for 3d12 Matrix damage,
which you resist normally. Then they force your persona
to reboot, erasing all of your marks and dumping you
from the Matrix (causing dumpshock if you were in VR at
the time). As if that wasn’t enough, they also report your
physical location to the owner of the grid you were just
47 | P a g e
using and the host you were in (if you were in a host),
so you might have to deal with some real-life security
forces coming to track your ass down.
Your gamemaster keeps your Overwatch Score a secret
from you. You can use the Check Overwatch Score
action or the Baby Monitor program to keep tabs on
your OS. You could just wing it, too, if you’ve got a good
memory (and the gamemaster is nice enough to tell you
how many hits your targets get. Which, honestly, she
shouldn’t be, but we don’t control everything).
Of course, G-men, security spiders, IC, and other users who
are officially sanctioned by GOD never rack up
an Overwatch Score, even if they’re really misbehaving.
Such is life on the Matrix. And in the meat world, too,
come to think about it. Convergence does something
slightly different in hosts (Host Convergence,),
but once you poke your head out the demiGOD hammer
will fall.
DIRECT CONNECTIONS
Devices have a universal data connector, which is the
global standard for connecting devices together for
power and data exchange. If you have a cable, you can
connect to the device directly. Cyberdecks and datajacks
come with a meter of built-in retractable microfilament data
cable, or you can always buy a cable for about
five nuyen per meter (some devices, especially those
installed in buildings, are connected by cables to mitigate
noise). When you use a direct connection, you ignore all
noise modifiers and modifiers due to being on different
grids or the public grid. It’s just you and the device.
Some devices don’t have wireless capability. Usually this is
because the person who bought the device
couldn’t afford one that was less than ten years old, or
because they thought they’d be more secure without
wireless. These devices are called throwbacks.
Throwbacks can’t be accessed by wireless connection, so
they can’t be controlled remotely or get a wireless bonus
for being connected to the Matrix. They still have universal
data connectors, so you can connect to them (and hack
them) by jacking in directly.
PANS AND WANS
If you want extra protection for some of your devices, you
can slave them to your commlink or deck. Your
commlink (or deck) can handle up to (Device Rating)
slaved devices, becoming the master device in that
particular relationship. The group consisting of your
slaved devices plus your master commlink or deck is
called a personal area network, or PAN.
Slaving gives a weaker device some added protection.
Whenever a slaved device is called on to make a defense
test, it uses either its own or its master’s rating for
each rating in the test. For example, if your slaved
smartgun is the target of a hacker’s Brute Force action, it
would use its Device Ratings Firewall Usually 2, or your
commlink’s, whichever is higher in each instance. If
a slaved device is under attack via a direct connection (as
through a universal data connector), however, it cannot
use its master’s ratings to defend itself.
There are risks to slaving devices. Because of the
tight connections between the devices, if you get a
mark on a slave you also get a mark on the master.
This happens even if the slave was marked through a
direct connection, so be careful about who you give
your slaved devices to. This doesn’t work both ways;
if you fail a Sleaze action against a slaved device, only
the device’s owner gets the mark on you, not the master
too.
There are also wide area networks, or WANs, with
multiple devices slaved to a host. A host can have a
practically unlimited number of devices slaved to it, but
because of the direct connection hack you rarely see
more devices than can be protected physically. If you
are in a host that has a WAN, you are considered directly
connected to all devices in the WAN.
Only devices can be slaves, masters, or part of a PAN.
In a WAN, the slaves must be devices, and the master
must be a host.
EXAMPLE
Tesseract wants to protect Crunch’s HK-227 from
any hacking attacks. Its Device Rating is 2, which is very
poor for defense. If a competent hacker comes along,
Crunch is going to be in trouble. To keep him safe,
Tesseract slaves the gun to his deck. He has his Cyberdeck
Rating of 8 meaning the weapon is protected by his
Cyberdeck. Now an enemy hacker is going
to have trouble landing a serious blow, at least before
Crunch does.
GRIDS
You need a grid to access the Matrix. The grid you’re
on changes the look of the Matrix slightly, and it also
can affect your interactions with other icons. There are
three kinds of grids in the Matrix: the public grid, local
grids, and global grids.
GRIDS ON A RUN
On a typical shadowrun, you’ll only be dealing with one
or two grids, aside from the public one. Most likely,
there will be the one you’re typically on (probably your
local or public grid) and the one that your targets are
on. It’s usually fairly obvious which grid your objectives
are using. All the devices and people in a Shiawase facility
will be using the Shiawase global grid, for example, while a
thrill gang is probably on the public grid,
and local law enforcement on the local grid.
48 | P a g e
Different grids have different demiGODs that monitor
traffic and keep an eye out for security, which occasionally
causes a bit of lag across grids. When you’re
attempting a Matrix action against a target on another grid,
you take a –2 penalty. If you want to avoid this penalty,
you’ll have to hop to the target’s grid. If you have access to
the grid you want, you can just use a Grid-Hop; otherwise
you’ll have to get your access by the Brute Force or Hack
on the Fly Matrix actions. Note that this penalty doesn’t
apply when you’re inside a host; it’s only imposed when
you’re out on a grid.
EXAMPLE
Pistons and /dev/grrl are on the public grid during
a big run against NeoNET. On their way into the corp’s
offices with the rest of their team, they analyze some
of the building’s devices and note that, as they suspected,
the building is on NeoNET’s global grid. They
could stay on the public grid, but that would cause a
–2 dice pool penalty when targeting devices across
grids (not to mention the public grid penalty of –2), so
they agree to hop grids. /dev/grrl has access to that
grid through her lifestyle, so she simply Grid-Hops
and is now on the NeoNET grid. Pistons doesn’t have
any grid subscriptions, so she uses Hack on the Fly to
make the hop, with a –2 penalty for being on
the public grid.
THE PUBLIC GRID
The public grid is the Matrix’s Barrens. It provides the
world with just enough access to let the corporations
claim that the Matrix is still free. Data traffic from paid
global and local grids is given priority over information
flowing to and from the public grid, so connection
times are slow and unreliable. As a result, all Matrix
actions are performed at a –2 penalty when
you’re using the public grid, even in a host
LOCAL GRIDS
Local grids are available within a specifically defined
physical area, such as a sprawl or county. You can only
access a local grid if you’re accessing it from the service
area, usually the geographic area with which it is
associated. For example, the Emerald City local grid is
only accessible as long as you’re in Seattle. Outside the
sprawl, the Salish-Shidhe ChinookNet becomes the local
grid. You can still access things on the Emerald City grid,
but you’re now working across grids. Each local grid is
usually provided by a AAA or AA megacorp, though the
advertising is a bit more muted than you’d find on the
more commercial global grids.
GLOBAL GRIDS
There are ten publicly known global grids, one for each
of the Big Ten megacorporations. As you’d guess by
the name, global grids are accessible all over the world,
even in orbit out to as far as two thousand kilometers
from the surface of the Earth. These grids are full of
advertising and marketing. Each has its own demiGOD,
and those groups share security information and Overwatch
Score data freely. The megas don’t agree on
much, but they all hate hackers.
DEVICES AND PERSONAS
Devices and personas are the movers and shakers
in the Matrix. They’re the only icons that actually do
things (except hosts, which do things internally, but
let’s stay focused). The difference between the two is
that devices usually do things in the real world, while
personas do their thing in the Matrix.
DEVICES
A device in the Matrix is any wireless device in the real
world. Toasters, power tools, vehicles, firearms, fire
hydrants, street lights, ear phones, sales and inventory tags,
doors and locks, commlinks, pet collars, office
equipment, snow blowers, thermostats, drones ... if it’s
big enough for a microchip, it’s big enough to house
enough computing power to be a device. And if it’s a
device, it’s in the Matrix.
Devices have a smaller-than-person-sized icon in
the Matrix. They also have a Device Rating. When is a
device not a device? When it’s a persona!
PERSONA
Personas are the “people” of the Matrix. Some personas
are actually people, users and hackers who are connected to
and using the Matrix. When a person uses a device
to connect to the Matrix, the device’s icon is subsumed
by the persona’s icon, so it’s basically gone from the
Matrix until the persona jacks out. You can only run one
49 | P a g e
persona at a time; switching requires you to reboot both
the device you’re currently on and the device to which
you want to shift your persona.
Some personas are agents, performing tasks on behalf of
their owners. Agents running alone on a device
replace the device icon the same way a living user does.
If you’re running an agent along with your persona, it
appears with its own separate persona, even though
you’re using the same device.
Each IC program has its own persona. IC programs
are not connected to devices because they’re only
found in hosts (thankfully).
Technomancers have a living persona not attached
to any device. A technomancer’s persona exists in the
Matrix as long as they’re awake, unless they deliberately
jack out. When a technomancer compiles a sprite, the
sprite has its own persona, too.
MATRIX PERCEPTION
The Matrix has a lot of stuff in it. Cars, blenders, light
switches, advertising RFIDs, hosts, and everything wireless
and/or electronic. You need to be able to find your
target in the galaxy of icons before you can start affecting
it; finding an icon this way is called spotting it. Lucky for
you, the Matrix is very helpful in finding things for you.
You can automatically spot the icons of devices that
are not running silent within 100 meters of your physical
location. No matter where you are in the Matrix, your
commlink or deck (or your living persona) only has its
own antenna for wireless signals, so this distance is
measured from your physical location no matter where you
are in the Matrix. Beyond this distance, you need to make
a Matrix Perception Test (p. 241) to find a specific icon.
For all intents and purposes, there is no “physical”
distance to any host in the Matrix. You can always spot a
host from anywhere on the planet without a test, assuming
the host isn’t running silent.
You can always keep track of your marks, so you can
spot an icon you have a mark on without a test, no matter
the distance.

SPOTTING DURATION
Once you’ve spotted an icon in the Matrix, you continue to
spot it even if it initiates silent running. There are
two ways you can lose an icon. If the icon successfully
uses a Hide action against you, you lose it and need to
try to spot it again. If the target reboots or jacks out,
you also lose the icon.
RUNNING SILENT
You can switch your commlink, deck, other device,
or persona (including your living persona, technomancers)
to silent running. This reduces your traffic
to and from the Matrix, but it doesn’t stop it entirely.
Running silent makes it easier to avoid detection, but
harder to use the Matrix as a whole.
Switching to silent running is a Simple Action. Running
silent imposes a –2 modifier to all of your
Matrix actions due to the processing power needed to
cover your tracks.
If you’re trying to find an icon that’s running silent (or
if you’re running silent and someone’s looking for you),
the first thing you need to do is have some idea that a
hidden icon is out there. You can do this with a hit from
a Matrix Perception Test; asking if there are icons running
silent in the vicinity (either in the same host or within 100
meters) can be a piece of information you learn with a hit.
Once you know a silent running icon is in the vicinity,
the next step is to actually find it. This is done through
an Opposed Computer vs Computer Test. If you get a hit,
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you perceive the icon as normal; if not, it stays hidden and
out of reach.
Note that if there are multiple silent running icons in
the vicinity, you have to pick randomly which one you’re
going to look at through the Opposed Test.
Marks can’t run silent because they’re already pretty
hidden, but all other Matrix objects can be switched to
silent running by their owners.
NOTICING HACKERS
An icon or host might detect you if you perform an Attack
or Sleaze action on it. The exact way they can detect you
depends on what you’re doing to it.
If you succeed with an Attack action, your target
may make a Computer Test vs ½ of your Hacking Skill to
becomes aware that it is under attack by another icon, but it
doesn’t automatically spot you. It will most likely
actively search for you on its next action, although it
will almost always alert its owner to the attack and (if
it’s a host) launch IC, depending on the owner’s
preferences and the gamemaster’s judgment. If you fail
with an Attack action, you are not noticed, because
you failed to affect your opponent (Note Illegal Actions
and GOD ).
On the other hand, if you succeed in a Sleaze action,
you do not increase your visibility. If you fail a Sleaze
action, however, your target immediately gets one free
mark on you (or its owner does if your target is a device).
This means it spots you right away, along with the whole
owner-alerting and IC-launching thing.
RECOGNITION KEYS
Want to get into a club where you’ve already paid the
cover charge? Show the guy at the door the stamp on
the back of your hand. Want to get into a foreign country?
Show the border guards the visa stamp on your
virtual passport.
The Matrix works the same way. If you can show
a device or host or whatever that you have the right
mark, you can go where you want to go. In Matrix lingo,
“mark” is an acronym for Matrix authentication
recognition key, which is part of the protocol that devices,
personas, files, grids, hosts, and so on uses to identify
legitimate users. Only personas may mark icons.
When you’re hacking things, putting your mark on it
encourages that thing to recognize you as legit. It’s no
guarantee—just as a sharp-eyed border guard can nail
your visa for being fake, and hosts are sometimes not
fooled by your hacked mark—but the more marks you
get on something in the Matrix, the more likely it is that
you’ll be accepted as a viable user, or even an
administrator. Still, security-minded Matrix operators will
often have agents or even spiders constantly using Matrix
Perception to look for unauthorized marks on sensitive
icons (and like security guards in the meat world, these
are the people who tend to get taken out first when
shadowrunners come calling).
There are three ways to get a mark on an icon. The
first is the legitimate way: the icon invites you to add a
mark. For example, when you pay the cover to get into
the host of Dante’s Inferno, the host sends you an invite
to mark it so you can enter and join the party. The other
two ways are by hacking, both Matrix actions: Brute
Force (the loud way) or Hack on the Fly (the sneaky way).
In the Matrix, whether in AR or VR, putting a mark on
something is usually a very literal action. You approach
the icon of your target and slap your personalized mark
on the thing. Most passers-by won’t see your mark; it
takes a Matrix Perception Test [Computer] to see that kind
of detail.
When you put a mark on something, your mark appears
on the target icon. Your mark is only visible to you
(without the aforementioned Matrix Perception Test). You
can choose its look, as long as it meshes with your own
persona icon (per Matrix protocols). For example, if your
icon is a house cat, your mark might look like a small
paw print. If you appear as a ninja in the Matrix, your
mark might look like a shuriken buried into your target.
You can put multiple marks on a single icon, up to a
maximum of three (unless you’re an owner; see below).
Different Matrix actions require different numbers of
marks on your target.
Marks only last a single Matrix session and are deleted
when you reboot. This is rarely an issue for most
devices because they almost never need to reboot, and
when they do the hosts and other services usually have
a standing offer, so re-marking them takes seconds.
Hackers, by contrast, reboot regularly to avoid detection
by GOD and the demiGODs, and they don’t exactly get
permission to place most of their marks. If the demiGODs
converge on a hacker (perish the thought), they
erase all of the hacker’s marks in the process.
Your marks are specific and connected to your persona and
whatever you’ve marked, so you can’t just give
them out for others to place or transfer them to other
people. You can give other personas permission to mark
devices you own with the Invite Mark action.
OWNERS
Every device, persona, host, and file has an owner. This is
a special relationship that offers special privileges. Each
Matrix object can only have one owner, but you can own
as many Matrix objects as you like. The owner of a device,
host, persona, or file can always spot it in the Matrix. For
all intents and purposes, owning an icon is the
same as having four marks on it.
Owning a device and being its owner aren’t necessarily the
same thing, although they usually go together. Ownership,
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at least in the Matrix, is something that
is registered with both the device (or other icons) and
the grids, so it’s a bit more involved than just putting a
“Property of [blank]” sticker on it. When a commlink is at
the store or in a warehouse, the commlink’s owner is
its manufacturer (although sometimes stores get ownership
of their goods before the buyer does). When you
buy that commlink, the store or manufacturer transfers
ownership to you.
Corporations and governments use this registration
system to keep track of their equipment. A security
guard’s weapon might be in her holster, but its owner is
the corp that employs her. This makes it relatively simple
to track down thieves, deserters, and looters—at least,
the ones who can’t hack what they steal.
The owner of an icon can intentionally transfer ownership
to another persona in a process that takes about
a minute. If you steal a smartgun without transferring
the ownership, the gun will still behave as though its
owner is the guy you stole it from (which can lead to
complications if the owner comes looking for it). That
means changing ownership is a high-priority action any
time you steal a wireless-enabled item. You can illegally
change a device’s owner with a Hardware toolkit and
an Extended Hardware (12 hours, less 1 hour per raise)
test. A glitch on that test results in the item sending a
report to the authorities.
Changing ownership of a file is somewhat easier.
Your best bet is to use Edit File to copy it (the copy’s
owner is you) and then delete the original, again with
the Edit File action.
Note that you can’t change the owner of a persona
or a host. So sorry, chummer—you can’t steal an entire
Stuffer Shack with a quick hack
MATRIX ACTIONS
As you’ve no doubt guessed from the name, Matrix
actions are only available in the Matrix. That’s not to
say that they’re the only actions available in the Matrix.
Matrix actions are special because certain rules
apply to them, like noise and the Overwatch Score.
This section is a list of Matrix actions. This list covers
a lot of the rules for handling what you can do in the
digital world, but of course they’re not the only things
you can do in the Matrix. If you want to try something
that isn’t handled by these rules, like tweaking your icon
to imitate a fashion trend or creating a distracting VR
display out of datastreams, your gamemaster will let you
know what kind of test you should attempt.
For example, a device that an owner sets and forgets, like a
door lock, uses its Device Rating as defense pool against a
Control Device action.
BRUTE FORCE
Marks Required: none
Test: Cybercombat vs. Firewall
You can use this action to mark a target without obtaining
the normal permissions you need. This is the
action for hackers emphasizing their Attack over their
Sleaze, making it related to Hack on the Fly.
If you succeed in this action, you place one mark on
it. You can have up to a maximum of one mark per
Rating.
Before rolling, you can declare that you are trying
to place more than one mark. If you try for two marks
in one shot, you take a –4 penalty on the attempt. If you try
for three marks in a single swipe, you take a –6 dice pool
penalty.
You can also use this action to hop to a grid for which
you don’t have legitimate access. The defense in this case
is 4 for a local grid or 6 a global
grid. If you succeed, instead of putting a mark on the
grid, you hop to that grid immediately. Using Brute
Force to hop grids successfully doesn’t alert the grid or
its demiGOD the way most successful Attack actions do.
CHANGE ICON
Marks Required: Owner
Test: none
You change the target’s icon to one that you have
a copy of or have designed yourself. Changing an icon
doesn’t change the results of a Matrix Perception action,
but might fool personas who don’t take the time to inspect
your new look. You can target your own icon, if
you like.
CHECK OVERWATCH SCORE
(SIMPLE ACTION)
Marks Required: none
Test: Electronic Warfare v. 6
You find out how close the grid is to converging on
you. Checking the OS is an Illegal action, so the defense
against it will add to your OS. If you succeed, the
gamemaster tells you what your OS was when you started
the action.
CONTROL DEVICE
Marks Required: varies usually Rating
Test: Various
You perform an action through a device you control
(or at least control sufficiently), using your commlink or
deck like a remote control or video-game controller. The
dice pool of any test you make using this action uses the
rating of the appropriate skill and attribute you would use
if you were performing the action normally. For example,
firing a drone-mounted weapon at a target requires a
Gunnery test, and using a remote underwater
52 | P a g e
welder calls for a Nautical Mechanic test. All actions you
take while controlling a device use either the Autosoft
limit for that action or your Skill rating, whichever is lower.
If there is no test associated with the action you want the
device to perform, you must succeed in an Electronic
Warfare vs. Firewall test to perform the action.
You can use this action to control multiple devices
at once. If you are the owner of all devices being
commanded and they are all being commanded to do
exactly the same thing, taking this action costs nothing
extra.
Otherwise, you must give each order as a single action.
This action is a Sleaze action whenever you use your
Sleaze in the test, which incurs the same risk
of Overwatch Score and consequences of failure as all
Sleaze actions.
CRACK FILE
Marks Required: 1
Test: Hacking vs. Protection Rating
You remove the protection from a file, making it
readable. This action doesn’t need to be performed on a
file that isn’t protected, of course.
CRASH PROGRAM
Marks Required: 1
Test: Cybercombat vs. Firewall
You overload part of your target’s memory and scramble
one of its running programs. You need to specify
which program you’re trying to crash; you can learn what
your target is running either with a Matrix Perception
action or by observing the program in action. If you
succeed, the program is scrambled: it ends and cannot be
restarted until the device it was running on is rebooted.
DATA SPIKE
Marks Required: none
Test: Cybercombat v. Firewall
You send harmful instructions to a persona or device,
causing Matrix damage to the target. Your attack
has a Damage Value equal to the rating of your Attack
program, this damage is Matrix damage. It is resisted with
the target’s Neural Toughness.
DISARM DATA BOMB
Marks Required: none
Test: Software v. Data Bomb Rating
You attempt to disarm a Data Bomb that you have
detected (usually as the result of a Matrix Perception
action). If you score any net hits, the Data Bomb is
removed and deleted. If not, the Data Bomb activates,
causing its damage and possibly destroying any file to
which it was attached (assuming it was set to destroy the
file).
EDIT FILE
Marks Required: 1
Test: Computer v. Firewall
Edit File allows you to create, change, copy, delete, or
protect any kind of file. The defender against this test is
either the host holding the file or the owner of the file (if
it’s not on a host). Each action is enough to alter one detail
of a file—a short paragraph of text, a single detail of
an image, or two or three seconds of video or audio (you
and your gamemaster can work out what exactly “one
detail” means). Your gamemaster may impose penalties
on the test if your edit is particularly intricate or tricky. If
you want to perform a continuous edit, such as removing
your teammates from a video feed, you need to perform
this action once per Combat Turn for as long as you
want to keep the edit going.
If you use this action to copy a file, you are the new
file’s owner. If the file you want to copy has protection
on it, this action automatically fails. If the file has a Data
Bomb, the Data Bomb goes off on you (so try to remember
to scan files before you open them).
You can also use this action to set protection on a
file if you’re its owner. To protect a file, make a Computer]
test. The number of hits you get becomes the rating of the
protected file. A protected file cannot be read, changed,
deleted, or copied until its protection is broken.
For example, an IC program has marked both you
and your buddy. You roll your Computer opposed by the
IC’s rating to erase its mark on your icon. You need three
marks on your buddy’s icon to erase the IC’s marks on him,
but he isn’t
the sharing type, so he’s on his own for now.
ERASE MATRIX SIGNATURE
(COMPLEX ACTION)
Marks Required: none
Test: Computer + Resonance [Attack] v. (Signature
Rating) x 2
You eradicate a Matrix signature that has been left by
a Resonance being, such as a technomancer or a sprite.
If successful, the signature dissipates. You need to have
a Resonance rating to attempt this action; unlike other
actions that need Resonance, this one’s a real Matrix
Action, and an Attack one to boot, so you risk Matrix
damage and Overwatch Score when you use it.

ENTER/EXIT HOST
(COMPLEX ACTION)
Marks Required: 1
Test: n/a
You enter a host that you have a mark on and your
icon appears there, or you leave a host you’re already
in. There is no test for this action: a host allows anyone
to enter if they’ve got a mark, and anyone inside can
exit. The host might not be so welcoming once you’re
inside, of course, and some IC has the ability to keep you
trapped in a host until you can break out.
When you leave a host, you return to the grid from
which you entered.

ERASE MARK
Marks Required: special
Test: Computer v. Firewall
You eradicate a mark that has been placed on your
persona or on another icon. To perform this action,
you need three marks on the icon from which you are
erasing a mark. You do not, however, need a mark on
the icon that placed the mark in the first place. You
can try to erase two marks in the same action at a –2
penalty, and three marks in one go at a –4 penalty; if you
go for more than one mark, all of the marks must be on the
same icon and from the same icon. You can’t use this
action to change the target’s owner.

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INTRUSION COUNTERMEASURES
IC is a form of intelligent software made to ruin a
Hackers day and protect valuable data and services.
As soon as the program senses that a Hacking attempt
is made, it springs into action. IC comes in two
varieties; White and Black.
White IC is the legal kind that everyone can buy. When
it triggers, it sends a jolt down your spine and sends
you tumbling out of the Matrix and back to the real
world. This is called a Dump Shock, and it is most
unpleasant. It does not kill you, however. Although you
might want to sit down while the migraine goes away.
54 | P a g e
Black IC is not as forgiving. Black IC is illegal in most
places in the world, and you will only run into it when
the node’s owner has something important to hide.
Black IC sends powerful pulses through your
connection, and tries to kill you via cyber induced
stroke. That’s right, Chummer. If you run into this drek,
you your body convulses, you bleed from every hole in
your face and you die. Tough shit.
MATRIX ENTITIES
In this rule set, every piece of electronic equipment is either
a Device or a Node. A Device is a small, autonomous unit
in the matrix, such as a Drone or a Smartgun system. A
Node is a more substantial matrix entity, which can control
other Devices or Services. Services are programs that do
certain things on a Node, while IC is specialized defensive
software.
SERVICES
A Service is a piece of complicated software that
manipulates things. A Service could control all security
cameras in a corporate facility or store data on all
employees. Services must be connected to Nodes,
who direct and protect them. A Service cannot be
hacked on its own.
Services are often used by Nodes to control a lot of
Devices. An example would be a Service that controls
all the cameras. These Devices must be identical to be
controlled by a single Service. In other words, the
Camera Control Service cannot also control the
Drones and Turrets. If a Device controlled by a Service
is hacked, the Service detects this immediately.
DEVICES
Devices are things in the real world that has some sort
of wireless functionality. Examples include Drones,
security cameras, Smartgun systems and Vehicles.
Devices are generally autonomous and they have a
limited functionality. Devices can be governed by
Nodes, which is often the case in regards to
Commlinks.
NODES
A Node is a collection of devices or services. This
could be a person’s Commlink, the security system in
a Corp building, a data haven or anything complex
really. Nodes are often, but not always, protected by
IC. Generally, if a system is complicated enough to
warrant IC, it’s a node. If it governs more than one
thing, it’s a node.
IC
IC, or Intrusion Countermeasures, are digital entities
that use specialized programming to seek out and
destroy any intruding software or hacker. IC are the
only entities besides hackers who can attack and
damage other matrix entities.
IC comes in two major varieties: White and Black.
White IC can only stun, while Black IC can overload a
hacker’s equipment enough to cause permanent brain
damage
not exceed the Cyberdeck’s rating. In that case,
the Attack’s damage is done on the initial turn, and
the Poison’s damage is applied on the subsequent
turn
ATTACK
This is the basic chip used to disrupt digital
entities. It allows the Decker to do 1D8 damage
against a Digital entity as part

CYBERDECKS & COMPONENTS

CYBERDECK COMPONENTS
A Cyberdeck consists of many different components. For
the sake of keeping the complexity down, the
number of components have been boiled down to the
essentials. The actual Shadowrun system has more
detail than this.
The main difference between Commlinks and Cyberdecks
is that in service of security, Hardware and Software
is locked down and requires technical knowledge to
change or upgrade.
The total price of a Cyberdeck is equal to its rating, plus
any components you add to it when making it. Buying
a Cyberdeck elsewhere costs a lot more than making your
own, since there’s not a lot of people making them.
Also making Cyberdecks is, well, illegal.
During character creation, you get the Cyberdeck at Street
Price

MPCP-SYSTEM
The motherboard, if you will. This system
determines the rating of the Cyberdeck, and also
accounts for Memory, both working and storage. A
Cyberdeck cannot contain more components that
its rating.

HARDENING
These specialized chips are made to resist
attempts to disrupt the Cyberdecks function. They
consists of some code and a lot of electronic safety
measures. Each point of Hardening built into a
Cyberdeck increases the users Matrix Toughness
by 1.

BLACK HAMMER
These highly illegal chips are used to fry other
decker’s brains. Each chip allows the Decker to do
1D8 damage to an opposing Decker as part of an
attack.

POISON
This chip feeds a steady stream of self-replicating
garbage data into a digital entity. As part of an
attack, it allows the Decker to do 1D6 damage to a
digital entity, which repeats itself the next round.
This damage can be combined with the Attack BUILDING & UPGRADING
damage, provided that their combined rating does Building your own cyberdeck is cheaper than getting

55 | P a g e
someone else to do it for you. It also gives you a nice
dollop of street cred amongst your fellow Deckers.
REQUIREMENTS
To build a Cyberdeck, you need the tools and the
know-how. And some time on your hands,
obviously.
The Know-how of building Cyberdecks consists of
Hacking to program them, and Repair: Electronics
to put them together. Using those skills, you can
make a Cyberdeck with a rating equal to the lower
of the two skills, provided you have the tools
available.
The tools needed to build a Cyberdeck are covered
by a Repair: Electronics workshop or facility. With
a Workshop, you can build Cyberdecks with a
Rating equal to half your skill. With a Facility, you
can build Cyberdecks up to your skill level. A
Toolset can do basic repairs, but is insufficient for
actually building from scratch.
For example, Slamzilla the Decker has a D8 in
Hacking and a D6 in Repair: Electronics. He has
greased some palms and sold some favors to get
access to his friends Facility for Repair: Electronics.
All things considered, Slamzilla can now build a
Cyberdeck with a rating of 6. If he only had a
Workshop, he would be limited to Cyberdecks with
a rating of 3.
SPECIAL COMPONENTS
These components are pretty specialized, and they
don’t come in ratings like the others.
 Chip Burner: This component lets you
burn data to optical chips. Handy if you
need to exchange information in a
discrete way.
 Response Increase: This complicated
piece of circuitry is modern art, nothing
less. Installing this baby into your
Cyberdeck gets you an additional
Initiative pass that stacks with everything
else you might have. Yup, that’s a max of
4 initiative passes.
 Hitcher Jacks: Each of these allows
another chummer to ride shotgun when
you hack. They can’t do anything but look,
so you can work in peace.
 Vidscreen Display: A roll-up display lets
you do rudimentary stuff without the
hassle of jacking in. It also allows
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chummers to see what you’re doing in
there.
COMMLINKS
Commlinks are the primary computers of the 2070’s. These
work like supercharged smartphones and are capable of
doing any communication and computing one would
expect, including, but not limited to:
 Real time video calls
 Searching and finding information in the matrix
 Show and interact with augmented reality objects, ARO’s
 Save enough data to last a lifetime
They come if different grades, representing their ability to
withstand IC (and other hackers). Each Commlink comes
with a pair of glasses or contacts, and a pair of gloves or
fingertip patches for using AR. Keep in mind that a
commlinks with a rating lower than 2 cannot be used for
matrix combat. Rating 0 Commlinks have cheaply made
software, and they are laughably easy to hack. Getting into
them takes a single success, and they never raise an alarm.
SOFTWARE
Of course, a commlink by itself is useful for your average
wageslave. If you’re going to run the shadows, you need to
load up that commlink with some real software. A
Commlink can run a number of software points equal to its
rating.
DAMAGE SOFTWARE
These nifty programs can damage the running code of
Matrix entities and take them out of commission.
Several damage programs can be loaded to a
commlink, but you can obviously only use one at a
time. Each point adds a dice to the damage pool.
Black Hammer: 1D8. Damages hackers
Poison: 1D6 for two rounds. Damages digital entities
Attack: 1D8. Damages digital entities
AVOIDANCE
Avoidance Software helps the hacker avoid being the
target of Cyber Attacks. Each point of Avoidance
increases your Resistance by one.
HARDENING
Hardening software helps the commlink withstand the
destructive power of IC and other hackers. Each point
adds one to your Matrix Toughness.
SMARTLINK
This nifty piece of software allows the Shadowrunner
to connect his Smartgun system to his Commlink. The
Smartlink software only has to be purchased once

COMMLINKS AND PERSONAL AREA NETWORK
The most common Node in the world is the Commlink.
Everyone has one, and it is considered a node equal to its
rating. All Commlinks include a pair of contact lenses or
glasses, and a pair of gloves or fingertip patches. Each
commlink is the center the user’s Personal Area Network,
or PAN. The Commlink is the node, and everything
connected to it is either a Device or a Service.
For example, Ernie the Rigger could have the following
devices connected to his Commlink:
1. Fly-Spy minidrone
2. Nissan Dobermann combat drone
3. Smartgun-capable Sub Machinegun
4. Nissan Bulldog Jeep (customized, of course)
If Slamzilla the Hacker were to gain access to Ernie’s
Commlink, he would also gain access to all his connected
Devices. This would be most unfortunate. Slamzilla could
also attempt to hack each of Ernie’s devices independently,
such as his combat Drone. Either way would allow
Slamzilla to control the Drone.
IN SUMMARY
Devices
 Autonomous intelligent items
 Can be connected to Nodes
 Drones, Smartgun systems, Vehicles, ATM’s,
etc.
Nodes
 Larger systems
 Can manage a number of Devices and
Services
 Protected by Intrusion Countermeasures.
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 Control of a Node also grants control of the
Devices and Services connected to it.
Services
 Software running on Nodes performing a
single task.
 Counts as a connection, like a Device
 Examples include File storage and Security
Camera Control.
IC
 Security entities made to deal with intruders
 Able to attack other Matrix entities
 White IC stuns, Black IC kills
Commlinks
 Considered Nodes
 Can have as many linked devices as it wants.
 Can be hacked
Augmented Reality (AR)
 Still able to act in the real world
 One initiative pass
Virtual Reality (VR)
 Only able to perceive and interact with the
Matrix
 Real body unconscious and defenseless
 Two initiative passes per turn.
MATRIX RULES
The rules for hacking depends on whether the Hacker is
trying to access a Device or a Node. Devices require only
one roll to gain access, while Nodes require more time and
skill. Once access has been established, the hacker can
issue commands to the system.
GENERAL RULES
There are a few general rules that characters other than
hackers may interact with at some point.
COMMANDS
A command is a single sentence that makes sense to
the Device in question. If the command cannot be
interpreted by the Device, the device does nothing.
Issuing a command is not an action it itself, but the
Device might spend one or more actions completing
the command. Examples includes telling a drone to
open fire on its former owner, or telling a Smartgun
system to eject the clip. The game master is
encouraged not to be obtuse with the commands. We
assume the characters know what they are doing.
AR VS. VR
If the Hacker is hacking using Augmented Reality, the
hacker gets a single initiative pass per turn. The
hacker is also able to abort the hacking at any time to
interact with the real world, such as running away or
shooting some drekheads in the face.
If the hacker enters Virtual Reality, the hacker’s body
is lifeless and limp, unable to defend itself in any way.
The hacker enters the matrix space and can only see
nodes and devices. Once in VR, the hacker gets two
initiative passes per turn. Switching between AR and
VR is an action. If the hacker is dump shocked, he is
returned to AR mode instantly.
BREAK AND ENTER
The first step is, logically, to gain entry. This is where a lot
of hackers tend to go wrong and bring their team in trouble.
IN GENERAL
There are three ways to approach hacking, depending
on your situation. If you just want to do forge a single
command, such as opening a locked door or forging a
message, you Spoof. If you want permanent access,
you either go slow and steady, or go in hard, fast and
mercilessly by brute force. The former is called
Probing, and the latter is called Hacking on the Fly
Spoofing simply means sending a bogus signal to
some device, hoping it sticks. To do this, you roll your
Hacking skill against a TN equal to 2 + half the
device’s rating, rounded down. Spoofing represents a
few tries at something, and failure means that the
device has blocked any further attempts.
If you want to gain access by Probing, you spend a
large amount of time finding chinks in the system’s
armor and eventually gain access. Success is
guaranteed, mind you. All it takes is time. Half the
systems rating in days (if you’re using AR) or half the
systems rating in hours (if you’re using VR), to be
precise. The good thing is, nodes only get one shot at
detecting your presence, and that’s when you execute
the first command.
The Bad Thing is, once per hour Grid Overwatch Division
or GOD gets a Notice Roll at the Nodes Rating to notice
you.
Most of the time, however, spending hours hacking
something simply isn’t an option. That’s when you
need to hack on the fly. When you do this, you must
roll Hacking against TN 4 every round, until you collect
a number of successes and raises equal to the rating
of the system you’re hacking. If the system in question
is a Node, it gets to roll to detect you every time you
roll Hacking. Once you have access, however, it’s all
yours.
The Rating of a system is always known, since this is
broadcasted publicly. Everything else must be figured
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out by scouting whatever node you have in your sights.
Scouting a Node is done by rolling Hacking against TN
4. On a success, the Node will let you know what kind
of IC it is carrying. On a Raise, you know exactly how
much IC is in effect. Nodes cannot detect attempts to
scout them.
DEVICES
A Device is any system with a rating lower than 4.
These systems are normally used in drones, vehicles
and other smart hardware. They cannot be loaded with
IC, and they do not roll to detect hackers.
NODES
Nodes are a tad more difficult to work with. Any system
with a rating of 4 and above is considered a Node, and
can be loaded with IC of both the white and black
variety. When you try to hack one of these systems, it
rolls its Rating Die against half your Hacking Die every
round. A success means that the system has detected
you. Gaining control of a Node also gives you control
over all the Devices connected to it, either directly or
via Services.
BEING DETECTED
When a Node detects someone trying to access it
illegitimately, it will first and foremost run its alarm
procedures. This will alert physical security, who will
come running and try to take you down. The Node will
also load all IC. Once the hacker is out of VR, his
connection is blocked off from the system, requiring a
Deception check to get back in.
WORKING TOGETHER
When more hackers work together, designate one as
lead hacker. The chummer in charge makes his
hacking rolls as normal, and the rest make theirs as
cooperative rolls, adding +1 to the lead hackers roll for
each success and raise. Mind you that a node will
know who is hacking it, including tag-alongs. Don’t
expect to be out of harm’s way just because you were
“only helping”.
Detection
 Node rolls rating die vs. ½ Hacking skill.
 On detection, any IC on the network is
activated
 Once out of VR, the system blocks the
connection.
 Reconnecting to a blocked system requires a o Node attempts to detect at each
Deception check vs Nodes Rating hacking roll

Matrix Actions MATRIX COMBAT

 Scouting a node Matrix Combat is a whole new order of dangerous. Best
 Spoof a Command case scenario is you surviving and gaining access. Worst
 Attempt to hack a Device case scenario is breaking your spine from convulsions.
 Attempt to Hack on the Fly Trust me, Omae, I have seen it happen.
 Issuing commands to more than one Device or MATRIX STATISTICS
service. There is a few statistics that account for doing battle in the
matrix. These stats correspond to their respective stats in
Hacking meat space, such as parry, toughness and so on. These
 Spoof a Command statistics are:
o Roll Hacking vs. 2 + half the device’s  Resistance: The stat that determines your digital
rating rounded down. avoidance.
 Scout the node with a Hacking test against TN  Toughness: Your ability to stand against IC and other
4 (optional) nasty things.
o Success reveals node rating  Damage: The hurt you bring on others in the matrix.
o Raise reveal IC type and strength Pretty straight-forward
 Probe the system (Slow and Safe)  Cyber Attack: Your skill for bringing the digital pain
o Takes one day per ½ rating (AR) / These statistics are the same for all entities in the matrix.
One hour per ½ rating (VR) They are calculated slightly different, however, depending
o Always succeeds on whether you’re alive or a machine. Note that Resistance
o Node gets one attempt at detection, in Nodes is determined by the single highest IC rating, not
when issuing first command. the combined rating of all IC. A Nodes damage is the sum
o GOD gets a chance to detect you once per hour at Node of all the IC it carries.
Rating
 Hack on the Fly (Fast and Dangerous)
o Roll a hacking test each round.
o Must reach Successes equal to node
rating to gain access.

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60 | P a g e
FIGHTING IN THE MATRIX Wounds taken from this damage can very well kill the
Matrix Combat works the same as regular combat, just at Hacker through biofeedback-induced strokes.
another plane of existence. Initiative works as normal for Other Nasty Tricks that IC can throw at you include
people. Entities get a number of initiative passes equal to Dumpshocks, which is violently ejecting you from VR.
Rating / 4, rounded down. Attacks are made using Cyber Going through a Dumpshock makes the Hacker shaken,
Attack against Resistance. Damage and Shaken works as and does 1D8 non-lethal damage for each success and raise
gained on the damage roll.
normal. Nodes and IC roll rating to recover from being
shaken
IN SUMMARY
Basics
If a Node takes damage, any wounds it would normally
 Initiative and Combat Actions works as normal.
take counts towards the number of successes required to
 Only IC can attack the hacker
take control of it. If the Hacker has already attempted to
hack the node on the fly, these successes stack. Once the
Statistics
Hacker gains enough successes to take control, they can
 Cyberattack
crash the node as an Action. Rebooting a Crashed node
 Resistance
takes 1D6 minutes per rating, during which it cannot
 Toughness
function. When crashing, any connections to devices are
 Damage
severed until the Node is up and running again.
Combat
IC can remain in operation until it has taken a number of  Cyberattack vs. Resistance (“attack”)
wounds equal to Rating / 4. After this point, the IC has  Damage as normal.
been disrupted and crashes. Once the Hacker has gained  Jacking Out requires that the Hacker succeeds on a
control of the Node, he may attempt to trick it into Hacking roll, at a -1 penalty for each IC active
deactivating any IC it has spawned by succeeding on a
Deception check against the Node’s Rating. Damage
Devices are incapable of defending themselves against  White IC stuns, Black IC kills
hackers, and thus cannot participate in Matrix Combat. If  Being incapacitated by White IC results in a Dumpshock.
the Hacker decides to cut their losses and Jack Out to avoid
 Being incapacitated by Black IC works as normal.
getting their brain fried, they must make a Hacking roll at -
1 for each piece of IC currently active. He can also chose to
abort rapidly, making sure he gets out, but taking 1D8
non-lethal damage for each Matrix Entity around him.

TAKING DAMAGE
Hackers taking damage in the Matrix works differently
depending on which kind of IC we’re talking about. The IC
also
have a few tricks up their sleeve. Regular Damage is done
via neurofeedback. Electric currents are blasted into your
noggin’, making you disoriented at best
When taking damage from White IC, regard it as Fatigue
damage. This can incapacitate the Hacker, but not kill
them.
Once incapacitated, the Hacker is Jacked Out out of the
matrix by his commlink. Gotta’ love those safety measures.
Technomancers leave VR behind as well, mainly because
they fall unconscious.
Black IC damage causes wounds. What usually happens
from an outsider’s perspective is that the hacker shakes TECHNOMANCERS
violently, bleeds from every orifice in their head and dies.
Technomancers, also known as the Otaku, are a new breed

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of metahumans who are able to perceive and manipulate
the Matrix without the use of commlinks. They sense the
flow of digital information in the same way a Magician
senses
the astral world. Technomancers also use the Resonance
skill to manipulate autonomous entities within the Matrix
known as Sprites. They function similarly to Spirits, and
may be called and petitioned in much the same way
Technomancers also feel the loss of essence in the same
way a magician does. Each point of lost essence imposes a
-1 penalty to all Hacking and Resonance rolls.

Technomancers use the Hacking skill as usual, with a few

changes. First of all, they have no need for a commlink,
and the Technomancer can freely use the Matrix in both
AR and VR mode. The Resonance rating also determines
how many devices the Technomancer can connect to their
digital persona. Technomancers also calculate their Matrix
Combat Attributes a bit differently. See the Matrix Combat
section for information.

FADING
Fading is the mental exhaustion a Technomancer is subject
to when using his Resonance skills to manipulate Sprites.
It functions similarly to a magicians Drain, and is likewise
resisted with Spirit. Fading is always Fatigue damage.

SPRITES
Sprites are semi-autonomous entities created by the flow
of data within the Matrix. They are the ghosts in the
networks that answer only to the Technomancer who
compiled them. Similarly to Spirits conjured forth by
magicians,
Sprites will offer a number of services to the
Technomancer, which they can perform in the digital
realm.
Sprites are only able to manipulate the Matrix or entities
connected to the Matrix, such as Nodes, Drones and
Devices. The nature of the services available depends on
the type of Sprite compiled.

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COMPILING
In order to gain the service of a Sprite, it must first be
compiled. In order to compile a Sprite, the
Technomancer must roll a Resonance check against
the Sprite’s Spirit. Each success and raise on this roll
grants the Technomancer one service. Regardless if
the Sprite is compiled successfully or not, the
Technomancer must resist Fading equal to one, plus
one for each success on the Sprite’s roll.
The Sprite will exist in the virtual space around the
Technomancer until the Sprite has performed all its
services, or 8 hours have passed, after which it will
dissolve into static noise. The service, like with Spirits,
can be any one sentence. The exact skills available to
each Sprite is detailed in the Appendices.
REGISTERING
If the Technomancer wishes to keep a Sprite around
for more than 8 hours, he must register it. Registering
a Sprite takes a number of hours equal to 8 - ½
Resonance rating (ex. 4 hours with a Resonance of
D8), during which the Technomancer enters a form of
meditation in VR, shutting out everything but himself
and the Sprite.
The Technomancer must roll a Resonance test against
the Sprite’s Spirit. A success indicates that the Sprite
is registered, and can persist beyond the 8 hour limit
until all tasks are completed. Each raise on this test
grants an additional task from that Sprite. After this
test, no matter the outcome, the Technomancer must
resist Fade equal to one, plus one for each success
and raise on the Sprite’s Spirit roll.
A Technomancer can register a number of Sprites
equal to half of his Resonance rating. These Sprites do
not have to remain present in the Matrix around him.
They can return to the resonance and be called back
in the Matrix as an action.
Sprites are skilled in manipulating data, and can act as
couriers in the Matrix. Machine Sprites are deeply
connected to the mechanical devices of the matrix, and
can aid in
repairing, and defeating, Drones and other electronics.
Like Spirits, all Sprites are extras who have a D8 in all
abilities and the Skills listed. Hack and Data sprites are only
able to act in the matrix. Machine Sprites can manipulate
drones and vehicles to which they have access, and can
use any Autosofts installed on these machines (such as
Shooting, for a drone)
COMMON TO ALL SPRITES
Attributes: Agility D8, Smarts D8, Spirit D8, Strength D8,
Vigor D8
Pace: 6, Parry: 6, Toughness: 6
HACK SPRITE
 Skills: Hacking, Investigation, Tracking
 Powers: Suppression, Electron Storm
 Special: Hack Sprites may engage in Matrix Combat as
supporting hackers.
DATA SPRITE
 Skills: Deception, Stealth, Notice
 Powers: Cookie, Hash, Stenography, Watermark
MACHINE SPRITE
 Skills: Repair (Electronics), Repair (Drone), Hacking
 Powers: Gremlins, Diagnostics, Stability

DECOMPILING
Just as a Technomancer can compile a Sprite into
existence, he can force a Sprite back to the resonance
it came from. Decompiling works like Banishing spirits,
in that the Technomancer rolls a Resonance test
against the Sprite’s Spirit. For each success and raise,
the Sprite lowers its number of tasks by one. If the
tasks reaches 0, the Sprite dissolves into static noise.
After attempting to decompile, the Technomancer must
resist Fade equal to one, plus one for each success
and raise on the Sprite’s Spirit roll.
SPRITES
Sprites are sentient matrix entities that come in three
general forms. Hack Sprites are useful for exploiting
systems
and can aid in Hacking, on their own or as supporter. Data

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