People spend centuries of subjective time in the digital realms, getting their brains baked on digital drugs in darkweb psychosoma subrealms, customizing digital homes in corporate social subrealms, fucking digital playmates in porno subrealms, and going on digital adventures on MMO subrealms. People, subjectively, spend the vast majority of their lives online, and it is a rare person in any megacity who isn't logged into their sense-tank for a significant period of their free time. It might only be an hour or two in the real world, maybe a few days if they have a long holiday because their manager pissed off the wrong gang and now the corporation has to rebuild the place they work, but weeks, months, even years can pass for them online. Whether they're playing in corpo designated playgrounds, or risking their lives traversing the digital wasteland.
The following is a series of rules for how to deal with and play in Digital Realms, and how they modify play. All the rules from how sense-tanks and sub-realms work, to how to move around them, to how being digitized changes play.
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A Note About Time |
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Whenever time is mentioned in any context for a digital realm, take into account the time-dilation of the current location the player is in, rather than the passage of time in the material world. Importantly, this applies to the length of time rests take and when techs and abilities reset while online. These do not reset any the material world states, so if you use up all of your techs and abilities in the material world, hop into a sense tank, and then wait until they reset online, they will not reset in the material world when you log out unless enough of the material world's time has passed as well (this rule does NOT apply to digitized characters, only those using sense tanks). |
Digital Realms Primary Rules
These are the primary rules for how to use sense-tanks, how to traverse sub-realms, and how to deal with damage and hacking while online, both from within a sense-tank, and while digitized.
Sense-Tank Rules
It takes 5 minutes+the amount of time it takes to get undressed to log into a filled Sense-Tank. It takes 10 minutes to fill a Sense-Tank.
If you are killed online while using a Sense-Tank, or otherwise logged out anywhere except your home sub-realm (the sub-realm your Sense-Tank is directly hooked into), you are ejected from the sense-tank immediately, take 1 level of exhaustion, and must wait 15 minutes to log back in (10 minutes to refill the tank, 5 minutes to log in)
Sense-Tanks come with scanner-lockers that you can place any equipment in, this lets you bring equipment into the digital realm where it will function as normal.
A Sense-Tank User may always log out from wherever they are currently in the Digital Realms as a bonus action, with the effects described above. A Sense-Tank User may also take a full-round action to instead return to their home sub-realm, and then log-out with no deleterious effects.
If the connection between the digital realm where a Sense-Tank User is currently, and their Sense-Tank is severed (eg: the physical server or device is destroyed or becomes unpowered, the subrealm deleted, the connection terminated or wires severed), they are forcibly logged out and suffer the effects above.
Sub-realms
Sub-realms are specific, self-contained, controlled spaces in the digital realms that are owned either by corporations or administrated by specific individuals, often undercity elf technocultists and various techno-geeks. As a full round action you can usually move from one sub-realm to another as long as they are linked. You may bookmark a sub-realm to move to it directly as well regardless of whether or not they are directly linked. Sub-realms will often contain links that allow you to move to other, related sub-realms. Search Engine sub-realms in particular are good for this, but require you to take time and skill checks to find the appropriate link.
A sub-realm administrator has advantage on all hacking checks to alter the sub-realm, and may always take 20 on such a check as a full round action provided they are not being directly opposed. Sub-realm administrators also have advantage on all checks to determine the real identity of someone logged into their sub-realm. They may kick or ban anyone from their sub-realm as a bonus action, which will forcibly log the person out. A sub-realm administrator's sub-realm counts as the lair of that sub-realm administrator, and a DM should design any encounters with that sub-realm administrator accordingly.
Any non-corponet sub-realm that loses its administrator for any reason eventually becomes part of the digital wastelands as its firewalls degrade and become outdated, slowly overwritten as time passes.
Sub-realms may have respawn points built into them, which will prevent you from being logged out if your avatar is killed or destroyed. In Darkweb sub-realms, if they have them at all, these generally appear in designated lobby areas for violent games, while in Corponet sub-realms, they tend to be inside of corporate holding areas of the subrealm where the admin (or their A.I. assistants) can investigate the nature of the criminal activity that resulted in your digital avatar coming to their attention, and fine you appropriately..
The Digital Wasteland
Composed of all sub-realms that have lost their administrators, or were built 'wild' and not assigned to a specific corponet controller, and every bit of unclaimed digital space through which all data travels. They are a bunch of fractured, interlinked sub-realms and storage data zones nearly infinite in size, and exist in all the spaces between fire-wall protected sub-realms, which contain links between them that act as safe passage. All sub-realms border the Digital Wastelands, and any sub-realm can, eventually, be reached from any other sub-realm in the Digital Wastelands, requiring you to digitally traverse the actual fixed wire distances between the physical servers that contain those sub-realms. This means that you can log into a sub-realm in J.A.V., and traverse the Digital Wastelands across all of the miles and miles of wiring, and then enter a sub-realm in Calico Redistribution.
Time Dilation is always set to 1:1 in Digital Wastelands. This cannot be altered by any means.
Distances are reduced to 1/4th their real world distance in the Digital Wastelands for the purposes of calculating travel times between two physical servers.
To access the digital wastelands requires you to bypass the firewalls of corponet sub-realms, which do not want to let you out, with a DC20 hacking check. To access the digital wastelands from a darkweb sub-realm is a free action.
Entering a sub-realm from the digital wastelands requires a DC20 hacking check (this may be larger or smaller depending on the strength of the firewalls). This can be bypassed with the appropriate password.
Links and Bookmarks
Links are portals that connect two sub-realms, and are the only method of traversing between sub-realms that does not involve the Digital Wastelands.
Using a link always bypasses firewalls.
Links may be password protected, requiring a DC20 hacking check to bypass. Once hacked, the link remains open until you leave the subrealm the link is located in, or you pass through it. This allows others to pass through the link before you. A password protected link will usually not require a password in both directions.
Bookmarks may be created, or used, as a full round action. Bookmarks allow instantaneous traversal to a subrealm without traveling through a link or the digital wastelands.
You may bring as many people as can touch you while using a bookmark.
Bookmarks bypass Firewalls, but if you used a password protected link to access the subrealm in question, you will still require that password, or a DC25 hacking check to bypass it every time you use the bookmark.
Bookmarks are stored in the memory of a specific Sense-Tank, and must be physically moved between it and other devices. They may also be stored in other digital information storage devices. If you make new bookmarks, they are stored in the memory of the Sense-Tank, not your bookmark storage device, until you move the information over after logging out.
All sense-tank users are always considered to have a bookmark to their home sub-realm, the sub-realm that their sense-tank is directly connected to.
It takes a standard action DC5 intelligence check to search your bookmarks for a specific bookmark to use, you may take 10 on this check by spending 1 minute digging through your bookmarks folder. You are always assumed to have more useless bookmarks than you actually know what to do with, from porn subrealms to search engines to that digital shop you really do intend to buy from eventually. You never have to take this check in order to return to your home sub-realm.
Digitization
Modern technology can break down a person or object to their fundamental quarks
in order to physically move them in and about the Digital Realms. This effectively teleports a physical,
material object from the material world into the Digital Realms without the use of a Sense-Tank.While
Digitized, any and all damage inflicted is real, and will remain after leaving the Digital
Realms.
To create an engramic copy of a person or thing, to bring about the birth of a Remake for example, that person or thing must first be Digitized.
Without higher level techs, the only way to digitize is to use a digitization gate, an exceedingly rare, hand held, technical device used to transform physical matter into data stored in an engram. Some of these can be found with certain techwizards and source coders even on the street, though such devices have incredibly small bandwidths, incapable of using anything except common engrams. The far more valuable digitization gates, capable of sending someone directly into the digital realms, are often controlled by executives, CEOs, and high level techwizards
A Digitized User may not take the log out action as a Sense-Tank user can, nor may they return to their home sub-realm as a Sense-Tank User can. They may utilize bookmarks as normal, but must have them stored on a device on their person, rather in their sense-tank.
If banned or kicked from a sub-realm by its admin, a digitized user is not forcibly logged out, but instead transported to any random portion of the digital wastelands outside the firewalls of that sub-realm, takes 2d10 psychic damage, and is knocked unconscious for 3d4 minutes. The same occurs if the sub-realm they are inside of is destroyed for any reason (Such as the physical server being damaged or the drives formatted)
A Digitized user may only return to the material world through another digitization gate, from a sub-realm that is connected to a digitization gate, or by being converted into an Engram and inserted into the empty physical shell of a Remake (this process is irreversible and changes the digitized user's racial attributes and features to those of the model of remake shell they have been inserted into). Improper engramification or insertion into an improper physical shell (or even improper insertion into a proper physical shell) may result, instead, in the digitized user becoming some variety of Hacked.
The following rules are in place for groups that want to add more depth to their play in the digital realms. You do not need to utilize these rules if you do not want to, and can instead simply move with DM-fiat and rule 0 play for any of the following things.
Hacking Online
25 is the base DC for hacking the rules of a corponet sub-realm, 20 for a darkweb sub-realm. 15 for hacking your own avatar, 10 while in the digital wastelands. This DC may increase or decrease at DM's discretion based on the security of the sub-realm
May roll hacking checks as per the hacking rules. If you have a hacking kit attached to your Sense-Tank, then it gives you proficiency bonus as if you had it equipped.
When logged into a sub-realm, as opposed to the digital wastelands, you may alter the rules for everyone logged into that sub-realm.
Hacking checks will attract the attention of sub-realm Admins when used. You may roll stealth when entering a sub-realm against the passive perception of the Admin to avoid notice. Sub-realm admins will generally not become involved even if they notice unless it threatens sub-realm stability, the community they are trying to engender, or will cost them cash flow. Even if you fail the check, this doesn't mean they have actually seen you, they must still roll an active perception check to know more than that someone has tripped the sub-realm's security, and may not have time to do so unless further hacking checks are made and it becomes a priority.
You may always hack yourself or another person (take disadvantage if hacking an unwilling target), anywhere online
In addition to the normal effects and abilities enabled by Hacking (As described on the Hacking mechanics page), Hacking while online may inflict many other different effects and Sub-Realms may be set up to always have these effects on. A few examples are provided below.
The following changes can only be enacted on specific sub-realms, not within the digital wastelands
When in doubt, the DM has final say on whether or not a change can be affected by Hacking.
Digital Avatar Creation
While logged in, at the DM's discretion, you may customize your Digital Avatar with any combination of the effects of any tech with the shapechanging effect (such as Second Skin, Temporary Surgery, or Reformat). These customizations count as being cast on you while nude and divested of all equipment. Their duration is made indefinite and they require no components. These customizations do not count as being under the effect of a shapechanging tech, but rather represent your actual body while you are online.
All equipment you scan in or digital equipment you possess will be changed to be suitable for your new form. If you change size categories, you will not receive penalties for equipping or using those items, but neither will they gain bonuses. e.g. just because your longsword is now wieldable by you without penalty while Large, doesn't mean it gets the damage bonuses for being a large longsword.
Specific sub-realms may forbid or mandate specific alterations, or even all alterations all together.
Once you have finished creating your Digital Avatar, you cannot change it outside of designated areas on sub-realms or back at the home sub-realm that your sense-tank is directly connected too. You may still use actual shapechanging effect techs to further alter yourself just as you would in the material world, but when their effects end, you revert to the state of your Digital Avatar.
Hardlight Projection
Digital Entities may use Hardlight Projectors to instantiate themselves in the material world. While doing so they count as occupying a unique private sub-realm that they are the administrator of, and is designed to only contain a single occupant (but can store multiple, even if only the administrator is projected). They must choose if their attention is on the material world or Digital Spaces each round, and take disadvantage on all rolls for dealing with whatever space their attention is not currently focused on.
If the hardlight projector is destroyed, the user of the projector is forcibly logged out. For digital or digitized entities this means they die, unless they have a place to escape to once the hardlight projector is damaged. For a user in a sense-tank, they immediately take 2d10 nonlethal damage and suffer the other effects of being forcibly logged out as described in the sense-tanks section.
Digital Avatars may not be customized with any shapechanging effect except 'Second Skin' and the 'Change Appearance' option of the 'Temporary Surgery' tech while they are utilizing their hardlight projectors.
If you try to utilize a hardlight projector while using any digital avatar shapechanging effect (but not shapechanging effects applied to your avatar by techs after you have logged in) other than the ones described above, your hardlight image becomes a distorted, pixelated mess and your stats revert to their normal state, further, you take disadvantage on all charisma checks as the distorted mess of images is painful and annoying to look at. You may utilize shapechanging techs directly on your hardlight image to gain the benefits of those techs.
Purely Digital Items
Some items are purely digital. They cannot leave the digital realms, even with a digitization gate, barring incredibly high end techs. Purely Digital Items do not have to function by any laws of common sense or physics. Pricing of Purely Digital Items is exclusively up to the DM.
Black Ice
Black Ice is a specific kind of tech that can be applied to purely digital weapons or high end items to make their effects always treat a target as if they were digitized for the purposes of damage.