System Reference Document

Cyber is licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0.

Cyber is a role-playing game about the exploration of a dark world of the near future, dominated by megacorporations and technology. Players take on the role of inhabitants of a giant metropolis - a crowded, noisy city full of greed, hypocrisy and shady dealings. Characters can climb the career ladder of zaibatsu, operate on the edge of the law as freelancers for hire, or lead a settled (albeit not unchallenged) life as a member of one of thousands of factions - from religious sects to the city’s emergency services.

It is based on the Cairn by Yochai Gal.

Many thanks to Scott Forbes for English proofreading.

The game was written by: Oskar Świda.

The PDF version is available for free on itch.io

• System Reference Document
  • Introduction
  • Character Creation
    • Name, Background, Wealth
    • Ability scores
    • Hit Protection
    • Inventory
  • Rules
    • Abilities
    • Deprivation \& Fatigue
    • Saves
    • Easy and Difficult Tests
    • Combat
    • Economy
    • Infosphere
    • Cybermodifications
    • Reactions
    • Die of Fate
  • Character development
    • Fiction
    • Technological improvements
  • NPCs
    • Hirelings
    • Making NPCs

Introduction

Cyber was written with the following design philosophies in mind (inherited straight from Cairn):

• Neutrality: The referee’s role is to portray the rules, situations, NPCs, and narrative clearly, while acting as a neutral arbiter.
• Classless: A character’s role or skills are not limited by a single class. Instead, the equipment they carry, cybermods they own and their experiences define their specialty.
• Death: Characters may be powerful, but they are also vulnerable to harm in its many forms. Death is always around the corner, but it is never random or without warning.
• Fiction First: Dice do not always reflect an obstacle’s difficulty or its outcome. Instead, success and failure are arbitrated by the referee in dialogue with the players, based on in-world elements.
• Growth: Characters are changed through in-world advancement, gaining new skills and abilities by surviving dangerous events and overcoming obstacles.
• Player Choice: Players should always understand the reasons behind the choices they’ve made, and information about potential risks should be provided freely and frequently.
• Shared Objectives: Players trust one another to engage with the shared setting, character goals, and party challenges. Therefore, the party is typically working together towards a common goal, as a team.

Character Creation

Name, Background, Wealth

Choose a name for your character and their background, which informs about knowledge and skills from the character’s life experience.

Roll 1d4 and multiply by 1000 - it is the initial amount of credits your character has. These can be used to purchase starter equipment (see Inventory and Economy).

Ability scores

Player Characters (PCs) have just three attributes:

• Biology (BIO) - overall physical qualities: build, endurance, agility, dexterity, reflexes
• Psyche (PSY) - a set of mental and social qualities: intelligence, knowledge, willpower, empathy, contacts
• Interface (INF) - characteristics related to the use of technology: ability to operate in the Infosphere, resistance to cyber attack, level of integration with cybermodifications.

When creating a PC, the player should roll 3d6 for each of their character’s ability scores, in order. They may then swap any two of the results.

Example: Miko rolls for her character’s BIO, resulting in a 2, a 4, and a 6, totaling 12. The next two ability rolls result in a 9 for PSY and a 13 for INF. She decides to swap the 12 and the 9, for a character with 9 BIO, 12 PSY and 13 INF.

Hit Protection

Roll 1d6 to determine your PC’s starting Hit Protection (HP), which reflects their ability to avoid damage in combat. HP does not indicate a character’s health or fortitude; nor do they lose it for very long (see Healing).

Inventory

Characters have a total of 4 inventory slots, with each slot describing a specific location:

• 2 slots for hands, i.e. whatever the hero is currently holding - weapons, tools, etc.
• 2 slots for body - any place such as the back, belt, chest. They can be used to attach another container such as a backpack or a bag.

Most items take up one slot, and small items can be bundled together. Slots are abstract and can be rearranged per the referee’s discretion.

Bulky items take up two slots and are typically two-handed or awkward to carry.

Bags, backpacks, trolleys can increase the number of inventory slots, the same also applies to cybermodifications. Whereby, items representing containers attached to the character’s body or requiring the use of the hand (carried, pulled) take up one space in the inventory.

Example: John takes a backpack into action, which increases the number of slots by 4. However, the backpack has to be worn on the back, so it takes up one place. In the end, therefore, John has increased the number of slots by 3. If he had opted for a trolley, which he has to pull with one hand, the item still takes up one slot. With a transport vehicle, automatic trolley, etc., the containers do not take up any slot.

Equipment capacity limit: the maximum number of equipment slots cannot exceed the maximum level of the character’s BIO ability.

A PC cannot carry more items than their inventory allows. Anyone carrying a full inventory (i.e. filling all available slots) is reduced to 0 HP.

In addition to the starter equipment (purchased with initial credits), during character creation, each player can choose any number of cybermodifications for free, but the cost of these upgrades cannot exceed 20,000 ℂ.

Rules

Abilities

Each of the three abilities are used in different circumstances (see Saves).

• Biology (BIO) - in risky situations requiring physical strength, agility or stamina.
• Psyche (PSY) - for troubles that can be avoided through intelligence, knowledge, willpower or social interaction.
• Interface (INF) - in avoiding Infosphere threats, problems with cybermodifications or device control.

Deprivation & Fatigue

A PC deprived of a crucial need (such as food or rest) or subjected to prolonged psychological pressure is unable to recover HP or ability scores.

Anyone deprived for more than a day adds Fatigue to their inventory, one for each day - starting with the empty slots and then marking the places occupied by the objects. Each Fatigue occupies one slot and lasts until they are able to recuperate (such as a full night’s rest in a safe spot). After a rest, the character recovers all taken slots.

Slots blocked by Fatigue cannot be used to carry equipment, if a player has to mark Fatigue on a slot already occupied by an item, that item must be put back or discarded. Any character who has full inventory (items and fatigue combined) is reduced to 0 HP. The capacity of the equipment is also a certain measure of the character’s endurance, a composite of physical fortitude and mental determination defined by the size of the luggage the character can carry.

PCs can also gain Fatigue through events in the fiction or as an effect of certain actions (e.g. activation of some cybermodifications).

Stimulants: it is possible to get rid of Fatigue by taking stimulants. To do so, the player consumes one dose of stimulant and rolls the 1d4. The result indicates the number of spaces recovered in the inventory (by removing Fatigue).

Saves

A save is a roll to avoid bad outcomes from risky choices and circumstances. PCs roll a 1d20 for an appropriate ability score. If they roll equal to or under that ability score, they pass. Otherwise, they fail. A 1 is always a success, and a 20 is always a failure.

Basically only this one type of test is performed in Cyber - we check whether the character has managed to avoid the threat or risk. Whereby, if a risk situation has two active sides, the throw is performed by the one for which we determine the risk to be greater.

You could put it this way:

• if a character performs a risky activity that does not involve other characters (climbing, breaking down a door, hacking an Infosphere node) - a passed test removes the risk of failure
• if (outside of combat) a character performs an action that is actively opposed by another character (PC or NPC) - a save eliminates the risk of an opponent interfering with the objective.

Examples:

Ada tries to open the electronic lock without knowing the code so she performs an INF test. A passed test means that she has successfully tricked the system and the door opens.

Kumiko races against a security vehicle that tries to block her path. The vehicle’s manoeuvres depend on her reflexes and agility so she has to perform a BIO test. Passing the test means she will be able to escape the security.

Robert is trying to find a missing family member, and to do so he enlists the help of a street gang friend. A passing PSY test means that he has obtained some information about the wanted man.

Easy and Difficult Tests

Sometimes the referee would like to point out that it is easier or more difficult for a character to avoid risks or negative consequences of actions (other than combat) due to external circumstances, independent of the character’s abilities.

The referee may describe the test as Easy or Difficult.

• for the Easy test, the player rolls 2d20 and then chooses the lowest result.
• for the Difficult test, the player rolls 2d20 and then chooses the highest result.

Combat

Rounds

The game typically plays without strict time accounting. In a fight or circumstance where timing is helpful, use rounds to keep track of when something occurs. A round is roughly ten seconds of in-game time and is comprised of turns.

Actions

On their turn, a character may move up to 40ft and take up to one action. This may be activating a cybermod, attacking, making a second move, or some other reasonable action.

Each round, the PCs declare what they are doing before dice are rolled. If a character attempts something risky, the referee calls for a save for appropriate players or NPCs. All actions, attacks and movements take place simultaneously.

Turns

The referee will telegraph the most likely actions taken by NPCs. At the start of combat, each PC must make a save to act before their opponents. For a physical combat that should be a BIO test, for the Infosphere - a PSY test.

Example: Bea has accidentally stumbled upon an area where a gang of smugglers is prowling. In order to act before them, she has to take a BIO test. She fails, so the smugglers attack first.

Attacking & Damage

The attacker rolls the damage dice for their weapon. For physical damage (inflicted in the BIO) subtracts the armour of the target, then deals the remaining damage to the opponent’s HP.

Unarmed attacks always deal 1d4 damage.

If the amount of the damage exceeds the opponent’s current HP, the remaining points decrease the corresponding ability of the character (BIO for combat in the physical world, INF for clash in the Infosphere or EMP weapons).

Reducing any of the character’s abilities to zero means:

• BIO - physical death of the character
• PSY - catatonia and, after a potential cure, serious mental problems (phobias, anxiety) requiring specialist care or social problems (permanent exclusion from certain societies)
• INF - blocked access to the Infosphere and failure of all cybermodifications until at least one point of this ability has been regained

Multiple Attackers

If multiple attackers target the same foe, roll all damage dice and keep the single highest result.

Attack Modifiers

If fighting from a position of weakness (such as through cover or with bound hands), the attack is impaired and the attacker must roll 1d4 damage regardless of the attacks damage die.

If fighting from a position of advantage (such as against a helpless foe or through a daring maneuver), the attack is enhanced, allowing the attacker to roll 1d12 damage instead of their normal die.

If the 1d4/1d12 modification is insufficient for your style of play, you can define a imparing/enhancing level of attack calculated as the number of dice types by which you reduce/increase the attack. The level of imparing/enhancing is determined by the referee depending on the circumstances.

The available damage dice are: d4, d6, d8, d10, d12. In this case, the imparing/enhancing level is a value between -4 and 4.

Example: John jumps behind the crates to take cover from the guards’ fire. The crates are metal so the referee decides that they provide good enough cover to weaken the attacks by 2. In this case the guard who had a d12 damage rolls d8. The other guard fired a d6 pistol, a weakening by 2 admittedly is off the scale but cannot give a dice less than the minimum, so the shot is settled with a d4 dice.

Dual Weapons

If attacking with two weapons at the same time, roll both damage dice and keep the single highest result.

Blast

Attacks with the blast quality affect all targets in the noted area, rolling separately for each affected character. Blast refers to anything from explosions to huge cleaving onslaughts to the impact of a meteorite. If unsure how many targets can be affected, roll the related damage die for a result.

Critical Damage

Damage that reduces a target’s HP below zero decreases a target’s ability (BIO or INF) by the amount remaining. They must then make a BIO/INF save (with the ability value after reduction) to avoid critical damage. Additionally, some enemies will have special abilities or effects that are triggered when their target fails a critical damage save.

Any PC that suffers BIO critical damage cannot do anything but crawl weakly, hanging on to life. If given aid and rest, they will stabilize. If left untreated, they die within the hour.

Any PC that suffers INF critical damage, becomes immobilised in the Infosphere (cannot move between nodes or disconnect from the network) or all its cyber modifications temporarily cease to function if it operates in the physical world.

The Black ICE and EMP weapons have an additional critical damage effect: “if the target has a neuroprocessor, inflict as many points of damage to the target’s PSY as have been inflicted to INF this turn”.

Armor

If you are fighting in the physical world, before calculating damage to HP, subtract the target’s Armor value from the result of damage rolls. Shields and similar armor provide a bonus defense (e.g. +1 Armor), but only while the item is held or worn.

The player can obtain the armor effect in the Infosphere by activating the appropriate software.

No one can have more than 3 Armor.

Retreat

Running away from a dire situation always requires a successful save (BIO for physical world, INF for the Infosphere), as well as a safe destination to run to.

Detachments

Large groups of similar combatants fighting together are treated as a single detachment. When a detachment takes critical damage, it is routed or significantly weakened. When it reaches 0 BIO, it is destroyed.

Attacks against detachments by individuals are impaired (excluding blast damage).

Attacks against individuals by detachments are enhanced and deal blast damage.

Morale

Enemies must pass a PSY save to avoid fleeing when they take their first casualty and again when they lose half their number. Some groups may use their leader’s PSY in place of their own. Lone foes must save when they’re reduced to 0 HP. Morale does not affect PCs.

Healing

Resting for a few moments and having a drink of water restores lost HP but leaves the party exposed.

Lost BIO or PSY points can usually be restored by a week’s rest supported by medical systems or an appropriate specialist.

Lost INF points require a visit to a cybertechnician or self-repair if possible.

Calibration: If a character’s INF is zero, the character can self-calibrate the interface by recovering one point of INF. Calibration requires a secure location and takes approximately one hour.

Economy

The global currency in the game is credit denoted by ℂ.

Characters start the game with a pool of 1d4 * 1000 credits.

All basic products and services such as food, household appliances, simple tools, etc. are offered as a monthly subscription with different levels. The differences are primarily in the quality of these items and not in their type. In shops, products are labelled with a coloured sticker symbolising the subscription level so that the customer knows which products to put in the shopping basket. Exceptions to this subscription system are specialised services and equipment:

• arms and armour
• vehicles and drones
• specialised laboratory, military, construction equipment
• engineering, research, security, medical, repair services

Some of the exceptions above have their own separate price lists and others depend on the specific need and offer - they will therefore be negotiated between player characters and NPCs. Any equipment officially considered illegal requires appropriate contacts and can be at any price.

For a detailed list of products and services and their prices, see Appendix.

Infosphere

The Infosphere is a global computer network that connects almost all devices and systems serving humans. Individual clusters of data are referred as nodes and represented like the equivalent of ‘places’ in the physical world.

Each character is able to interact with the network using an avatar representing the character. Connecting to the network is common and requires no special equipment.

It is possible to block access to the Infosphere although any device that does this is officially illegal.

Each character can perform a certain set of standard activities in the Infosphere:

• searching for information
• contacting people with known addresses or public places
• obtaining public information
• accessing the products and services offered by Infosphere

All other activities such as hacking, security, access to proprietary information require a cybermodification referred to as a neuroprocessor.

Infosphere actions are resolved similarly to the physical world, except that the ability taken into account for saves is Interface. Similarly, when a character’s HP is reduced to zero, the ability that is decreased by attacks is Interface instead of Biology.

Lock: Reducing a character’s INF to zero means that they cannot use the Infosphere until they have regained at least one point of this ability.

Hacking: Network nodes can have an HP level and an INF level specified. To access such a node (without the owner’s permission), the player must reduce its HP to zero. In order to do so, it is required to carry out attacks using the neuroprocessor. Once the HP is removed, the player takes control of the node for as many rounds as his current INF level. Simple electronic devices such such as cameras or doors, do not need to be controlled by a node (although they can if they are part of a larger system). In such a case, a passed Interface test is sufficient to take control.

Data destruction: After reducing the node’s HP to zero, the player can still perform the attack but this time will reduce the node’s INF. Reducing a node’s INF to zero means irrevocably destroying the data or program (unless its owner had a backup). Reducing a node’s INF to values other than zero has no effect on the game.

Firewall: Player characters can also actively protect Infosphere nodes. To do so, they must have the neuroprocessor and pass an INF test. Success means that this node is completely immune to hacking in the next turn.

Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics (ICE): Infosphere nodes can have automatic defense systems. This means they have an additional ICE factor expressed in damage dice (d4 to d12). In each round of hacking, the ICE makes an attack on the hacker’s character, reducing its HP and then INF. Hackers recognize the ‘white’ and ‘black’ ICE.

Black ICE (officially illegal), has an additional feature:

• Critical Damage: inflict the same amount of damage to PSY that was inflicted to INF this turn.

Software: any character with a neuroprocessor can use an infodeck (does not take space in the inventory) to store programs. Programs can assist the player with hacking or defending nodes, but require activation. The infodeck can store any number of programs.

Software Activation: To use the functions of the software stored on the infodeck, characters must activate the software each time they wish to use it. Activation requires marking one point of Fatigue in the inventory, but is not considered an action in the round. The maximum amount of software a hacker can activate is equal to her current INF level.

Exceptions to the above rule are utility programs that do not modify game mechanics, do not deal damage or have effects such as “critical damage” - this software can be used without activation. An example would be a “guardian program” that triggers an alert when a specific event is registered.

Software creation: similar to cybermodifications, players can create their own software freely describing its effects and matching them to the game mechanics.

Cybermodifications

Each character can install cybermodifications in an amount not exceeding the level of ability Interface. It is possible to increase this number at the expense of the degeneration of the character’s psyche. The player can install additional implants at any time, provided that he reduces the maximum level of Psyche of the character - one implant requires the reduction of the PSY level by one point. Removing the excess implant restores the Psychic point.

Example: John Kowalsky has Interface ability at level 10 and his Psyche is at level 16. That means he can install 10 cybermodifications as standard. However, if he would like to add two more implants, he can do so by reducing the PSY to 14. His Psyche will remain at level 14 as long as he has excess cybermodifications installed.

A character whose INF is zero cannot use cybermodifications - they stop working until the character has regained at least one point of Interface.

Activation: any cybernetic modification item that affects game mechanics (modifiers to saves, critical damage) requires activation every time the character wishes to use it. Activation requires marking one point of Fatigue in the inventory, but is not considered an action in the round. Cybermodification items not marked as requiring activation have a permanent effect and their use does not increase a character’s Fatigue.

For more information on the creation of cybermodifications and their pricing, see Appendix.

Reactions

When the PCs encounter an NPC whose reaction to the party is not obvious, the referee may roll 2d6 and consult the following table:

Die of Fate

Occasionally you will want an element of randomness (e.g. the weather, unique character knowledge, etc.). In these situations, roll 1d6.

• A roll of 4 or more generally favors the players.
• A roll of 3 or under tends to mean bad luck for the PCs or their allies.

Before the roll, it is useful to clearly describe to the players both the favourable and unfavourable effects of the roll.

It may also happen that the probability of a given outcome is other than 50%, in which case a favourable (and correspondingly unfavourable) decision may result from a higher (for example, 2 or more) or lower (for example, 5 or more) number of roll results.

Character development

In Cyber we do not use the concept of character level or the idea of experience points. However, this does not mean that characters will not be subject to change during subsequent sessions.

Fiction

The fundamental concept of development in Cyber is to change a character in the game world. This change doesn’t necessarily mean that the character becomes stronger, smarter or more resilient (unfortunately!), so we don’t focus on the mechanics of raising character abilities. Instead, the changes that occur in our hero or heroine will be the result of events in the fictional world, the decisions the character makes and the adventures he or she will take part in.

Technological improvements

One of the characteristic features of the cyberpunk trend is the use of technology to enhance human abilities. For players who are comfortable with character ability boosting mechanisms, this is another option to exploit.

Cyber modifications are limited only by the imagination of the players and can change literally every mechanical element of the game: character abilities, types of saves, damage dice, HP level or equipment capacity. In this way, a character can be changed at will; it becomes just a matter of money and the availability of the technologies in question.

NPCs

Hirelings

PCs can hire hirelings to aid them in their expeditions. To create a hireling, roll 3d6 for each ability score, then give them 1d6 HP and a simple weapon (d6). Hirelings do not have their own cybermodifications but the player can equip them at his own expense if he wishes.

The average monthly cost of a mercenary, is 100 * his best ability level.

Making NPCs

Use the following template to model any more sophisticated NPC:

Name
X HP, X Armor, X BIO, X PSY, X INF, Weapon (dX, special items, qualities)

• Description of appearance, behaviour, goals and desires
• A trait, tactic or peculiarity that makes the character unique
• Special equipment

General Principles

Ability Scores: 3 is deficient, 6 is weak, 10 is average, 14 is noteworthy, and 18 is legendary. Adjust as necessary.

Give average creatures 3 HP, give hardy ones 6 HP, and serious threats get 10+ HP. Use flavor and style to help them stand out. Use critical damage to lean into the threat or strangeness of any aggressive NPC. Remember that HP is Hit Protection , not Hit Points. It’s a measure of resilience, luck, and gumption - not health.

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