Table of Contents

Overview of Netrunner

Overview of Deckmaster

Objective

Getting Started

Symbols

Game Essentials

Start of the Game

Corporation's Turn

Runner's Turn

End of Turn

Combined Rules

Playing the Cards

Interpreting the Cards

Runs and Countermeasures

Priority

Scoring Agendas

Tracing the Runner

Tags

Damage

Netrunner Golden Rules

Deckmaster Golden Rules

Corperation Rules

Corporation Overview

Corporation Cards

Runner Rules

Runner Overview

Runner Cards

Sample Game

Corp and Runner Glossary

Index

Overview of Netrunner™

Netrunner is a two-player Deckmaster® game set in the world of R. Talsorian's Cyberpunk® roleplaying game. There are two roles in Netrunner: the Runner, who is a high-tech data thief; and the Corporation. Using a computer that feeds output from a telecommunication link directly to his or her brain, the Runner navigates the virtual-reality environment of a global computer network known as the Net. Established to facilitate legal commerce, the Net also presents opportunities for the savvy Runner to raid stores of Corporate data.

The Corporation has access to research and development facilities, an executive headquarters, and netspace data forts. The goal of the Corporation is to score "agendas" despite the Runner's attempts at theft and vandalism.

The Runner, despite a general lack of financial resources and the paranoid tone of his or her existence, has reliable access to street contacts, legal and illegal hardware and software, and assistance from other runners in the Net. The goal of the Runner is to liberate agendas from the Corporation and expose its operations.

Each starter pack contains one Corporation deck and one Runner deck. Players should know the rules for both sides and should experiment with playing both roles.

Overview of Deckmaster

Deckmaster is a line of trading card strategy games: each deck and booster pack you buy will contain a random assortment of game cards. Deckmaster games are unlike conventional card games because each player adjusts the mix of cards in his or her deck to fit any of near- limitless avenues of strategy. You will find certain strategies suit you better than others, and you may choose to buy and trade cards to fill gaps in your ideal deck configuration.

Objective

The Corporation's goal is to score agenda cards worth a total of 7 agenda points. The goal for the Runner is to "liberate" cards worth a total of 7 agenda points from the Corporation (or "steal" that much agenda, depending on your point of view).

The Corporation also wins if the Runner is forced to discard more cards than the number of cards he or she has in hand, in which case the Runner is considered flatlined, or brain dead.

If the Corporation has to draw a card from its deck when the deck is exhausted, the game ends in a victory for the Runner.

If you are keeping a running point total, you should play an even number of games, with you and your opponent trading Corporation and Runner roles after each game. The winner of each game gets a flat 10 points; the loser gets 1 point for each agenda point scored.

Getting Started

(Refer to relevant sections of this
manual for more information.)

It is recommended that for the first few games, each player use unmodified decks straight from the box; however, as you gain experience with Netrunner, you will want to optimize your deck by adding certain cards to it and removing others. The player who plays the Corporation and the player who plays the Runner will each need about forty beads or other small tokens to represent bits and various counters, and perhaps a six-sided die for use with certain special cards.

The Combined Rules section of this book presents both the Runner and Corporation sides together in a kind of dialogue. Throughout the rules, the Corporation rules address the Corporate player as "we," and the Runner rules address the Runner player as "you." The Combined Rules section elaborates upon interdependent functions of the Corporation and the Runner, and you will want to read the rules pertaining to both roles here. The main section of the rules is followed by rules specific to the Corporation and then rules specific to the Runner.

Important!: The rules rely on some familiarity with the terminology and tone of the cyberpunk genre, so you should spend a few minutes understanding the feel of this game by reading the definitions below. While reading the rules, if you want to refer to a card diagram, see the diagrams in the Runner or Corp rules section and the table layout on pages 14 and 15.

 

Quick Definitions: Netrunner uses a lot of special terminology. Here are some essential terms you should understand before you proceed to learn the rules. A comprehensive glossary is located at the end of the rules.

• Action: The basic unit of a turn. The Runner and the Corp have the choice of one of several permissible options to exercise for each action.
• Advance: To score an agenda, or to improve the functioning of certain nodes, the Corporation can advance them. The Corporation places counters on agendas and nodes to represent the process of advancing them.
• Agenda: The data associated with highly sensitive Corporate projects. Netrunner is a contest between the Runner and Corporation to score agendas.
• Archives: The central data fort that includes and protects the Corporate discard area, which contains a face-up pile and a face-down pile.
• Bit: A counter representing a unit of wealth. Bits are spent to pay for cards and card effects.
• Bit bank: The supply of bits not in use.
• Bit pool: The bits each player has available to spend.
• Damage: Each point of damage causes the Runner to discard a card from his or her hand. There are three types of damage: brain, Net, and meat.
• Data fort: Discrete locations on the Corporation player's side that the Runner player can attempt to gain access to. There are two types of data forts: central data forts, which the Corporation always has; and subsidiary data forts, which the Corporation builds during the course of play.
• Hardware: A Runner card representing a piece of gear.
• HQ: Short for "headquarters." The central data fort that includes and protects the Corporation player's hand.
• Ice: A program that protects Corporate data forts from intrusion. Acronym for "intrusion countermeasures electronics." There are three types of ice: walls, code gates, and sentries.
• Install: To put a card into play.
• Keywords: Bold-face words in the first line of a card's text box, and sometimes referenced within a card's rules text. Keywords identify the categories to which the card belongs.
• MU: Short for "Memory Units." The number of programs the Runner can install is limited by his or her current MU. Every program has an MU cost.
• Node: Data associated with a Corporate project or function that is not highly sensitive. Nodes are stored in data forts like agendas but in lieu of agendas.
• Operation: A Corporation card that is played as an action and then trashed (discarded). Operations are simple, one-time Corporate functions that are not part of regular procedure.
• Prep: A Runner card that is played as an action and then trashed (discarded). Preps are one-time special options the Runner can exercise to make life easier.
• Program: A category of cards available to the Runner that includes icebreakers (programs to counter ice), among other tools. Programs use up MU.
• R&D: Short for "research and development." The central data fort that includes the Corporation player's draw pile. * Resource: A Runner card representing a tool or personal contact in or outside netspace.
• Rez: When the Corporation makes a non-agenda card active, it is said to "rez" the card. (Corporation cards are not automatically active when installed.)
• Run: The Runner's attempt to gain access to a data fort.
• Stack: The Runner's draw pile.
• Subroutines: The separate functions of ice and icebreakers.
• Tag: Information that the Corporation has about the Runner's whereabouts and identity. When tagged, the Runner is vulnerable to many card effects, and to having his or her resources destroyed by the Corporation.
• Trace: An attempt by the Corporation to figure out where the Runner is physically located.
• Trash: As a verb, "trash" means to send a card to a discard pile. As a noun, "trash" is the Runner's discard pile.
• Upgrade: A card representing an improvement to a data fort.

Symbols

	1 bit (a number in a star like this indicates that many bits)
	An action is required.
	Trashing this card is required to generate the effect that follows this icon, or if the icon contains a number, that number is the cost for the Runner to trash this card.
	Subroutine marker
	1 difficulty (a number in an arrow like this indicates that much difficulty)
	1 agenda point (a number in a circle like this indicates that many agenda points)
	Rez cost of 1 (a number on a tab like this indicates that rez cost)
	Installation cost or cost to play of 1 (a number in a star on a tab like this indicates that play cost or installation cost)

Game Essentials

Start of Game

Each player should set aside a store of counters to serve as his or her bit bank. The Corporation and the Runner each take 5 bits ([5]) from the bank and put them in a handy area to serve as his or her bit pool. Each player shuffles his or her deck and then gives the other player the option of shuffling it. Each player draws five cards-the starting maximum hand size for both players. The Corporation takes the first turn. The Runner begins with 4 MU (Memory Units) for installing programs.

Corporation's Turn

The Corporation's turn consists of drawing a card from R&D and then taking three actions. The Corporation can do any one of the following things for each of its three actions:

• Draw another card from R&D.
• Take a bit from the bit bank to the Corporate bit pool.
• Install an agenda, ice, node, or upgrade card. See Installing Corporation Cards, under Playing the Cards.
• Play an operation card.
• Advance a card that is capable of being advanced, such as an agenda. (Pay 1 bit [1] to put an advancement counter on the card.) See Scoring Agenda.
• Pay 2 bits (2) from the Corporate bit pool to destroy one of the Runner's resource cards if the Runner has a tag. See Tags.

Cards in play might let the Corporation perform actions not listed here or give it additional actions.

Runner's Turn

The Runner's turn consists of taking four actions. The Runner can do any one of the following things for each of his or her four actions:

• Draw a card from the stack.
• Take a bit from the bit bank to his or her bit pool.
• Install a hardware, resource, or program card. The card's installation cost is paid immediately. See Installing Runner Cards, under Playing the Cards.
• Play a prep card.
• Make a run on a data fort. See Runs and Countermeasures.
• Pay 2 bits (2) to lose a tag. See Tags.

Cards in play might let the Runner perform actions not listed here or give him or her additional actions.

End of Turn

At the end of his or her turn, each player discards down to his or her maximum hand size, which began the game at 5.

Combined Rules

Below is an operating manual for Corporation players (addressing the Corporation as "we"), in black type, heavily hacked by a runner (addressing the Runner as "you"), whose notes are in green type. Because of the interdependence of the roles of Runner and Corporation, you will need to read the entire document to effectively play either side.

 

"After the ice has hit your cortex, you lose the tread on those lobes and they no longer corner like they used to."–Anonymous

 

Liberated Guide with Annos (in green) Compliments of Filched Radar Rig, a Runner Consortium

 

Corporation Protocol: Anti-intrusion Systems

Playing the Cards

Installing Corporation Cards: To install an agenda card, a node card, an ice card, or an upgrade card, we take an action to place the card face down on the playing area. Our face-down cards are inactive until they are rezzed (see Rezzing Corporation Cards).

Our cards are installed inside or on data forts, the netspace locations where all the processes of our Corporation take place. Each data fort belongs to one of two categories: central data forts and subsidiary data forts. R&D, HQ, and Archives (forts containing our deck, hand, and discard piles, respectively) are our central data forts; they all exist at the outset of the game- even the Archives, though it will be empty until a card is actually discarded or trashed. The central data forts are where planning and administration occur. Uninstalled cards in a central data fort-that is, cards in our hand in HQ, cards in our deck in R&D, and cards in the discard piles of our Archives-are said to be stored in their data forts. Subsidiary data forts are data forts we establish to contain agendas and nodes.

To protect our data forts, we install ice on them. We install ice horizontally in front of the data fort we want protected, although we are allowed to install ice on empty data forts. Ice cards that are protecting HQ are placed in front of our bit pool. Each piece of ice is placed farther from the data fort than the previous piece of ice on that data fort. The farthest ice from the fort is the outermost piece of ice; the closest to the fort is the innermost piece of ice. To install a piece of ice, we must pay 1 for each piece of ice already on that data fort; if we want to reduce the cost, we may first trash existing ice without taking any actions.

 

While there is always minimal security in netspace, that doesn't cause any problems for top-notch runners like you. It's only after the Corp installs some ice on a data fort that you'll have any problem getting inside it during a run.

 

We install agendas, nodes, and upgrades inside data forts. These cards are installed vertically. Agenda cards and node cards can only be installed in subsidiary data forts. To create a subsidiary data fort, we install an agenda, node, upgrade, or ice card independent of existing data forts. There can be only one agenda card or one node card in each data fort at a time, though we can overwrite an existing agenda or node card by taking an action to install a new agenda or node in its place, which trashes the existing one. If an agenda or node card is trashed, scored, or stolen by the Runner, we can later install an agenda or node card inside the now- empty data fort as an action.

We can install upgrades inside any data fort, even data forts that already have an agenda, node, or upgrade inside them. Data forts can contain multiple upgrades.

 

Because all Corp cards are installed face down, you can't tell what the card will do immediately. In fact, at first you can only tell whether the card is ice or not. If the Corp installs a card inside a data fort, you won't know immediately whether it is an agenda, node, or upgrade, which is quite a disadvantage, since some nodes and all upgrades will either make the data fort harder to penetrate or do nasty things to you when you access them.

 

Rezzing Corporation Cards: With the exception of agendas, our installed cards must be rezzed, or made active, before they can be used. When we rez a card, we turn the card face up. We can only rez ice cards when they are approached by the Runner during a run (see Runs and Countermeasures). We can only rez other cards at the following times:

• at the start of either player's turn;
• after each action;
• during a run while the Runner approaches a piece of ice and while the Runner passes a piece of ice;
• just before the Runner accesses a fort's contents, whether or not the Runner encountered ice during the run.

We rez a card by paying enough bits from our bit pool to the bit bank to satisfy the rez cost, which is in the upper right corner of the card. (Some cards have a rez cost of 0.) We never partially rez a card: at any given time, we either pay the entire rez cost and rez the card, or we do not rez the card. Once rezzed, a card is turned face up and stays active until it leaves play. Note that rezzing a card does not require an action.

 

Finding out what a card does by watching the Corp rez it usually amounts to finding out the hard way, but fortunately that's not the only way to discover what the Corp has in store for you. Some cards will expose the Corp's face-down cards. If a face-down card is exposed, turn it face up, but mark it somehow, to show that it has not yet been rezzed. If the Corp later rezzes the card, remove the marker. Rezzed cards that are derezzed remain face up, but you mark them in the same way.

 

Installing Runner Cards: To get a program, resource, or hardware card into play, you install it. To do so, you put down the card face up and immediately pay its installation cost, which is in the upper right corner of the card; the card is then available for use. (Note that some cards have an installation cost of 0.)

The combined MU cost of your installed programs cannot exceed your total MU, which starts the game at 4. If you install a program that causes you to exceed your total MU, you have to trash enough installed programs to make room. Generally, you should install cards as follows: program cards in a first row, followed by a row of hardware cards and then a row of resource cards.

 

Operation Cards: In addition to cards that we install, we have operation cards, which have some immediate effect when we play them. We play an operation card by taking an action, and the operation card is then trashed.

 

Prep Cards: You have cards similar to operation cards, called prep cards. You play them by taking an action, they have some immediate effect, and they are then trashed.

 

On the next page is an example of how the table might look in the middle of a game of Netrunner. We have created two subsidiary data forts, and the Runner has installed two programs, one hardware, and three resources.

 

Interpreting the Cards

Card Effects and Costs: Certain card abilities are written as "cost(s): effect." All of the costs must be satisfied to use the ability. Note that we and the Runner cannot borrow future actions to satisfy costs or card requirements; we can only take our actions on our turns. Also, if taking an action is part of the cost of an ability, we can only use that ability when we could normally take an action.

 

Examples:
A card reads: