Erik System Crash System

Alright tg, this is a starting point, but I'm all about KISS in my crunch (KISS means Keep It Simple Stupid).

Character Creation

I have no idea how to make stats that aren't redundant or overly specific. I do love copypasta:

Tierfag>Interface - think charisma/personality/perception in one.

Tierfag>Algorithms - knowledge about programming, known algorithms, ability to create new ones... like strength and intellect combined. {UP FOR MODIFICATION}

Tierfag>Capacity - size, determines how much data you can drag along and how large you are, might severely impact "movement", i.e. when you are a hulking block of tools or just the bare bone ware.

Tierfag>Data scanning - a different sort of perception, how good you are at assessing code and the environment.

Tierfag>Integration - the opposite of one's humanity; the closer you are to pure code, the more integrated you are. Take care! Become too integrated and you become nothing BUT code, a special kind of PC death.

Resolution of Actions

Subtract your relevant skills vs. opponent's relevant skills or static challenges, minimum of 1. Roll that many d10 to see how affective you are. You could also directly roll against an opponent's stats or with your own stats, though this is rarer. For example, Hacker Bob is rolling his Strength vs. a static challenge -- he's trying to crack open a firewall that's blocking the party's path. The static challenge is 6 (it's a tough wall) but Hacker Bob's Strength is a 9. He rolls 3d10 (9-6=3) to see is he can get through.

0-5: Critical Miss

5-10: Failure

10-15: Minor Success

15-25: Success

25-30: Improved Success

30-40: Major Success

40+: Sucess + Resource

Or for the 4chan version:

under 5: Epic FAIL

5-10: Fail

10-15: Not sure if Fail or win. (Barely able to succeed, tied).

15-25: Win

25-30: Epic Win!

30-40: Legendary Win!

40+: You won internets resources.

Resource Points

Everyone has 0 resources when starting, you can earn more by getting over 40 on a check or by taking PERMANENT Humanity damage. These represent a kind of willpower that your humanity can use, possibly even a meatspace physicality that no one in the WebForts can really track down.

Things you can use resource points for by any class:

• Use a skill you are too damaged to access.
• Heal 1 damage from any stat but humanity.
• Start accessing a new skill tree.
• Advance an old skill tree.

Bonus resources you win can only be won by doing something meaningful in game to progress thru any current story arcs. This is up to a GM to decide whether your action does so.

Design note - This makes players DO stuff and keeps people from IRL lurking in their games. Also, it builds momentum as you get enough resources to pull off major class skills during a session at the climax.

Damage

You can take damage and it mostly goes to your 3 physical stats, but as you are playing you can take temporary damage to any stats. If you take damage, it represents part of your code being corrupted or your inaccessibility to your hardware or just mental fatigue. Going to 0 in a stat does not kill you but might prevent you from using your skills. Going to -10 in any one stat will kill you. Going to 0 in 3 or more stats will kill you. Time, items, and classes can heal damage or apply buffs to increase your stats.

Other Stats

All actions in combat are measure in milliseconds. For example, Hacker Joe uses pingblade.exe, a basic attack, which takes 2 ms to use. Hacker Joe 8 Strength and smacks a Cyber for pingblade.exe damage only. If you have a C++ Programmer writing up a code to burn up a 'weak virus swarm' thingy, it could take 20 ms but deal massive damage to an area.

Why MS? Milliseconds is a standard 'computer' rate of time. Try running ping yahoo.com in a command prompt and you get ms times. KISS VERSION: Rounds are called milliseconds because they take a millisecond of time. Different actions will take a different number of rounds. Eventually, there should be ways to abort certain actions before the prescribed number of rounds.

Classes

Virus Rider - Warlock/Ranged Damage from D&D AND a Pet Class from WoW . One trick magical pony, probably with some sort of Virii pet. Can take integration to amp up his abilities further than the normal. I also like the fluff of that one with the butterfly where you can get infected virused. Main stat would be having a high humanity. Two main paths with the Virus Rider: Either improve your ride and have a FUCKHUGE Virus or exchange for having a swarm of small viruses that unleash a sea of death. Virus Riders flirt with demise nearly constantly because of the hazards of their job so suggested characterization is a cocky bastard in denial of the risks that the job has. Also cowboy hats are suggested. Fuck yeah cowboy hats.

Hacker/Cracker - Wizard type who uses cracks, hacks and other exe files defend themselves and others against Cybers. As in RLish, they would have anti-virus and firewalls running all the time to stop from getting killed themselves so they can use more powerful exes. Fear the Hacker who has backups of his persona! Main stat is intelligence.

Script Kiddie - Warrior type who creates nothing but is a master at wielding programs. A Script Kiddie's best friend is a Coder who can use the things they have programmed to their full advantage. Master of knowing how and when to use a lot of files.

Lurker/Surfer - Rogue/Ranger mixup. Masters of the address bar. They spent so little time creating and using and so much more time surfing the web that they know everything about everything and can exploit their weakness. Good Lurkers can disable passwords on high-value sites and get the SAUCE. Bad lurkers can be epic trolls, instigating fights and employing all manner of 'dirty' tricks like *roll.flash to disable an arrogant opponent. Main stat is perception.

Coder - (Mage DnD) Whereas the Lurker knows where to get the sauce, Coders ARE the sauce. There are several schools of programming, from Java (summoning), Flash (evocation), Photoshop (illusion), C++ (buffing by creating temporary exe). Coders also create firewalls. Like the Virus Rider, they have a high level of integration but unlike the Virus Rider which needs to hide it to save themselves from Webfort's defenses, Coders love to show off the coding they can do. They aren't nearly as stubborn as hackers, and their base of knowledge isn't as wide as a lurker, but can get more integrated to do more. Of course, the 'mad wizard' archetype definitely could be played out here. Also, they hold 'the code' sacred, and unlike Virii riders, tend to keep their malicious coding for combat at a minimum. Main stat is Intelligence

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Admin (Cleric/Healer): Usually an older generation, the Admin is the protector of the webforts. Where programmers create new data, lurkers find data, Admin's protect the pix and data from those who want it. After all, the acculumation of all that info caused the Internet to become aware, so by keeping data secret and safe are they able to generate their own power. This user saves pix and exes, and their 'system' contained millions of terabytes of old info. Of course, KNOWING how they've organized it, how to save it, and how to retrieve it takes up lots of mental work and only the best can save new data generated these days. However, even with a temporary knowledge, they can recall old versions of avatars and exes that 'worked better' whether from damage or what not. Of course, to bring someone back fully requires them to integrate more. Main stat is System. THIS SHOULD NOT BE A PC CLASS, AND ADMINS ARE COMPLETE USELESS OUTSIDE OF THEIR SERVERS/WEBFORTS.

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Feel free to design skills, more classes, and mod these. Do use a tiered system where skills and stats lead into COOLER skills and stats. Kind of like the 'tree' system Diablo and WoD uses.