Streamlined Neo-Futuristic Tabletop Roleplaying

 

• A fresh ruleset and a new narrative setting - both built from scratch and tested in parallel.​

• One streamlined mechanic that sprawls out into innovative rules for three key moments essential to the genre: combat, vehicle chases, and OmniNet diving (i.e. longform hacking in cyberspace).​

• A la carte character creation with no classes, ensuring uniqueness and infinite customizability...and yet it takes under 10 minutes to create one.

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Welcome to Rook City

In the year 2150, ‘neath the spherical cage of a million OmniNet satellites in doomed orbits, over 95% of the population has succumbed to the practice of cybernetic infusion. When it was realized that weaving a digital system into the human genome could leave it vulnerable to manipulation, a cultural crisis over the notion of free will was born.  It is under that specter of uncertainty humanity now subsists. It is a yawning specter that has catalyzed new religions and value sets. It is a specter of inevitability with eyes of sparkling Magnesium trained upon a loaded powder keg. It is a glowing, pulsating specter raining down distilled adrenaline upon the city, and there you are: eyes closed and palms opened upward, receiving the baptism of those neon skies.

The Infused

The human body is generally accepted to have five senses. The ability to see, hear, touch, feel, and smell allow a person to experience the physical world. The human body knows nothing of digital space. It cannot sense its presence or interact with it. In years past, we used computers as an intermediary crutch.  The Infusion changed all of that. Much how a cochlear implant can suddenly cause the deaf to hear or prescription glasses can allow the impaired to see, the Infusion gives the human body a way to directly interface with the digital world. An Infused person is wirelessly connected to the OmniNet, all day, every day.

However, unlike those older tools, the Infusion makes a permanent change at the biological level. It modifies one’s DNA by adding a new synthetic component to it. In addition to the known four nucleotides ACGT, a fifth one is woven in: cyber (Y).  The Infusion formula itself is ludicrously complex and is based around molecules of super-heavy isotopes Chromium-804 and Neon-621 with femtobot delivery, all in a meta-stable solution of radical Mercury.

The Infused are almost always identifiable due to their alterations. Alts are aesthetic tweaks ranging an odd eye color or iris shape all the way up to patches of skin that look like carbon weave or joints with embedded servos. It varies wildly from individual to individual, and no two Infused will ever manifest exactly the same alts.

Infused individuals possess a neuralnet. This refers to the grouping of synthetic portions of the body, just as one would refer to the nervous system, the digestive system, or the cardiovascular system. The neuralnet is capable of storing digital data, akin to a computer hard drive. The presence of a neuralnet is the defining characteristic of what it means to be Infused. It is what allows you to install BioGrafts, consume boosters, and mentally interact with digital devices and the OmniNet.

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What's Involved

This single 240 page book includes everything needed for the players and Admin (gamemaster):

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• Over 100 pages devoted purely to lore and setting

• Rules for major moments organized in convenient facing-pages

• Smashin' rules for high speed vehicle chases

• Elegant rules for hacking, including OmniNet diving

• Copious gameplay example boxes, written diegetically

• Four pre-made characters

• 30 Talents

• 33 BioGrafts

• Pages and pages of Cyphers, Boosters, and other wondrous equipment

• Dozens of weapons, plus the formulas to design your own

• Over twenty pre-made NPCs, plus the formulas to design your own

• Beautiful game aides

• Three complete scenarios, plus guidance on constructing your own

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