Welcome to the Shattered Net
Imagine the internet as a vast city, and then imagine that city after a nuclear war. That's the Net in 2045 - a fractured landscape of isolated digital fortresses, prowled by killer programs and haunted by the ghosts of AIs that died in the DataKrash.
Netrunning isn't browsing the web - it's digital warfare. You're not clicking links; you're infiltrating enemy territory where the security systems can literally kill you. Your mind becomes a weapon, your cyberdeck becomes armor, and every line of code could be your last.
⚠️ CRITICAL WARNING: Flatline Risk
In Cyberpunk Red, netrunning can kill you. Not your character - YOU. When ICE deals damage, it's not hitting your health points - it's frying your actual brain. Death in cyberspace means death in meatspace. No respawns, no continues, no extra lives.
The Broken Architecture of Cyberspace
The Net in 2045 isn't the seamless global network we once knew. It's like a city where most of the bridges have been destroyed, leaving isolated neighborhoods connected only by dangerous, makeshift pathways.
The New Network Topology
Corporate subnet
Heavily defended
Connection hub
Moderate security
Individual system
Light defenses
Crashed systems
Rogue AI fragments
Real-world analogy: Think of the current Net like a medieval kingdom after a plague. Each castle (data fortress) is now isolated, with guards (ICE) watching every entrance. To get from one castle to another, you need to traverse dangerous wilderness where bandits (rogue AIs) hunt travelers.
Your Tools: Cyberdecks and Hardware
A cyberdeck is like a fighter jet for your mind - it amplifies your capabilities, protects you from digital attacks, and gives you the weapons you need to survive in cyberspace.
🖥️ Zetatech Parraline 5150
Attack Power
Defensive ICE
Program Slots
Total Programs
Mid-range deck popular with freelance netrunners. Like driving a reliable motorcycle - not the fastest or flashiest, but it'll get you where you need to go without breaking down.
💀 Raven Microcyb Blackbird
Attack Power
Defensive ICE
Program Slots
Total Programs
Military-grade hardware for serious netrunners. This is the digital equivalent of a stealth fighter - expensive, powerful, and absolutely deadly in the right hands.
Cyberdeck Components
- Neural Interface: Direct brain-to-computer connection
- Data Storage: Your programs and stolen files
- Processing Matrix: Where the digital magic happens
- ICE Breaker: Tools for defeating security
- Emergency Jack-Out: Panic button when things go wrong
Programs: Your Digital Weapons and Tools
Programs in cyberspace are like spells in a fantasy game, except instead of casting fireballs, you're casting code that can crash systems, steal data, or fry enemy brains.
🗝️ Backdoor
Class: Booster | Cost: 2 slots
Creates hidden entrances into systems. Like having a lockpick that works on digital doors - subtle, effective, and leaves minimal traces.
Effect: +2 to Interface checks when infiltrating systems
👻 Cloak
Class: Booster | Cost: 2 slots
Digital invisibility cloak. Hides your presence from detection systems and makes you harder to trace.
Effect: +2 to Stealth checks in cyberspace, harder to detect
🔍 Scanner
Class: Booster | Cost: 1 slot
Digital radar that maps out network architecture and identifies threats before you stumble into them.
Effect: Reveals ICE locations and types, maps network topology
🏃 Speedhack
Class: Booster | Cost: 3 slots
Overclocks your neural interface for faster processing. Like digital amphetamines for your brain.
Effect: Extra actions in cyberspace, but causes mental strain
⚔️ Sword
Class: Attacker | Cost: 2 slots
Basic anti-ICE weapon. Think of it as a digital combat knife - reliable, effective, and always useful.
Effect: 1d6 damage to ICE programs
💥 Sledgehammer
Class: Attacker | Cost: 4 slots
Brute force attack program that smashes through ICE like a digital battering ram. Subtle as a brick through a window, but twice as effective.
Effect: 2d6 damage to ICE, but creates lots of noise
🛡️ Shield
Class: Defender | Cost: 2 slots
Digital armor that absorbs ICE attacks. Like wearing kevlar for your consciousness.
Effect: Reduces ICE damage by 2 points
🩹 Armor
Class: Defender | Cost: 3 slots
Heavy-duty protection against serious ICE. Military-grade digital armor for when things get really dangerous.
Effect: Reduces ICE damage by 4 points
ICE: The Digital Guardians
Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics (ICE) are the guard dogs of cyberspace. Some bark, some bite, and some will tear your brain apart without breaking a digital sweat.
Cyberpunk Red’s Black ICE splits into three jobs, and confusing them is how netrunners die. Some ICE hurts you. Some ICE hurts your programs. Some ICE just makes you worse at everything for the next hour. Knowing which one you are looking at decides whether you fight or run.
Black ICE that attacks you
Damage from these goes straight to the Netrunner’s brain. This is the category that ends characters.
Wisp
The weakest of them, and still not harmless.
Effect: 1d6 damage direct to your brain, and you lose one NET Action next turn (down to a floor of 2).
Hellhound
Effect: 2d6 to your brain — and it sets fire to an uninsulated cyberdeck and the clothes you are wearing. Insulation is not a luxury purchase.
Giant
Effect: 3d6 to your brain and you are forced to Jack Out unsafely, which is its own injury.
Kraken
Effect: 3d6 to your brain, and while it lives you cannot move deeper into the Architecture or jack out safely. It does not just hurt you, it traps you.
Raven
Effect: 1d6 to your brain and it destroys one of your Defender Programs at random — softening you up for whatever is on the next floor.
Black ICE that attacks your programs
These never touch you. They strip your loadout instead, which is worse than it sounds: a netrunner with no Attacker left has nothing to do but retreat.
Asp
Effect: Destroys a random Program on your cyberdeck outright. No damage roll, no save.
Killer
Effect: 4d6 damage to a Program. Despite the name, it is not trying to kill you.
Sabertooth
Effect: 6d6 damage to a Program.
Dragon
Effect: 6d6 damage to a Program — and if that Derezzes it, the program is Destroyed instead, meaning it is gone for good rather than just switched off.
Black ICE that degrades you
No damage at all. These follow you out of the Net, and the debuff outlasts the run.
Liche
Effect: Psychosomatically reduces your INT, REF and DEX by 1d6 each (minimum 1) for a full hour. You survive the Net and then discover you are useless in the firefight on the way out.
Scorpion
Effect: Reduces your MOVE by 1d6 (minimum 1) for an hour. Same trick, applied to your ability to run away.
Skunk
Effect: All your Slide Checks take a −2 penalty until it is Derezzed. It does not stop you escaping — it just makes escaping unreliable.
Read those three groups again and notice how badly intuition serves you. Killer attacks programs. Wisp, which sounds like nothing, does real brain damage. Liche does no damage at all and is still one of the worst things on the board, because it follows you into meatspace.
A netrunner who assumes the scary-sounding ICE is the dangerous one will spend their Attacker programs on a Sabertooth that was never going to hurt them, and then meet a Wisp with nothing left.
ICE Behavior Patterns
Net Actions: What You Can Do in Cyberspace
Every action in cyberspace is a calculated risk. Move too fast and you trigger alarms. Move too slow and you're sitting duck for ICE patrols.
Your Interface Rank is your budget: it sets how many NET Actions you take per turn. Every roll below is 1d10 + Interface against a DV — Interface is doing double duty as both your action economy and your entire skill at this, which is why it is the one number a netrunner raises first.
Note what is not in that formula: INT. Unlike every other check in Cyberpunk Red, NET Actions do not add a STAT and a Skill. The Interface Rank replaces both.
Netrunning Action Simulator
Try different netrunning actions and see their effects!
🔍 Scanner
Roll: 1d10 + Interface vs. the floor’s DV
Map the network architecture and identify threats. Knowledge is power, and power keeps you alive.
Success: Reveals ICE locations, network topology, and data files
Failure: Incomplete information, possible detection
🚪 Backdoor
Roll: 1d10 + Interface vs. Security Level
Find hidden ways into protected systems. Sometimes the service entrance is safer than the front door.
Success: Bypass security, avoid ICE detection
Failure: Triggers alarms, attracts ICE attention
👻 Cloak
Roll: 1d10 + Interface vs. ICE Perception
Hide your digital presence from security systems. Invisibility is the ultimate defense.
Success: Remain undetected while moving through network
Failure: ICE spots you, initiates pursuit protocols
🎮 Control
Roll: 1d10 + Interface vs. System Security
Take command of enemy systems and turn them against their owners.
Success: Gain control of cameras, doors, weapons, or other systems
Failure: System lockdown, increased security response
💾 Eye-Dee
Roll: 1d10 + Interface vs. File Security
Identify and analyze data files. Not all data is created equal - some files are traps.
Success: Determine file contents, security level, and value
Failure: Misidentify file type, possible data bomb activation
📂 Grab
Roll: 1d10 + Interface vs. File Security
Steal data files and download them to your cyberdeck. The whole point of most runs.
Success: Successfully copy file to your deck
Failure: File corrupted, incomplete download, or triggers trace
🏃 Jack Out
Automatic Success (unless prevented by ICE)
Emergency exit from cyberspace. Sometimes retreat is the better part of valor.
Note: Some ICE can prevent jack-out, trapping you in cyberspace
Combat in Cyberspace
Digital combat isn't about physical strength or reflexes - it's about processing power, programming skill, and the will to survive when your opponent is trying to delete your consciousness.
🟢 Netrunner | 🔴 ICE | 🟡 Data | ⬜ Empty Space
Digital Combat Phases
Attack Resolution in Cyberspace
- Declare Target: Choose which ICE to attack
- Roll Attack: 1d10 + 1d10 + Interface vs. ICE Defense
- Roll the program’s damage — the dice come from the Attacker Program you used, not from your Interface. Interface decides whether you hit, not how hard.
- Apply Damage: Reduce ICE's REZ value
- Check Destruction: ICE at 0 REZ is destroyed
💀 When ICE Fights Back
ICE attacks work the same way, but they target your mental health directly:
- ICE rolls: 1d10 + its ATK against your DEF
- Damage: Goes straight to your physical health
- Critical damage: Can cause brain damage or death
- No armor: Your meat body can't protect your digital mind
Data Fortresses: Digital Dungeons
Data fortresses are like digital castles - layered defenses protecting valuable information. Each one is unique, reflecting the paranoia and resources of whoever built it.
🏰 Arasaka Secure Node Architecture
Security Rating: Military Grade
ICE Complement: 3 Wisps, 2 Asps, 1 Killer, 1 Liche
Special Defenses: Trace programs, data bombs, black ICE
Valuable Data: Corporate secrets, employee records, financial data
Common Fortress Features
- Multiple Entry Points: Front door, service entrances, maintenance access
- Layered Security: Each level requires different clearance
- ICE Patrols: Mobile security programs that hunt intruders
- Data Bombs: Booby-trapped files that explode when accessed
- Trace Programs: Track intruders back to their physical location
- Emergency Lockdown: Fortress can seal itself when under attack
Fortress Penetration Strategies
🎯 The Stealth Approach
Use Cloak and Backdoor programs to slip past security undetected. Slower but safer.
⚔️ The Assault Approach
Use powerful attack programs to smash through ICE. Faster but louder.
🔧 The Technical Approach
Find service entrances and maintenance tunnels. Requires system knowledge.
🎭 The Social Approach
Steal legitimate access codes through social engineering. Most elegant when it works.
Advanced Netrunning Concepts
Trace Programs and Counter-Surveillance
When you're in a system, that system can try to track you back to your physical location. It's like having someone follow you home after you burglarize their house.
- Trace Detection: Scanner programs can identify active traces
- Trace Evasion: Cloak programs make you harder to trace
- Trace Breaking: Special programs can sever trace connections
- Consequences: Successful traces can lead to physical raids
Data Bombs and Digital Traps
Not all data is safe to steal. Some files are booby-trapped with programs designed to fry curious netrunners.
- Virus: Infects your cyberdeck, spreads to other systems
- Worm: Copies itself and consumes deck memory
- Logic Bomb: Activates based on specific conditions
- Feedback Loop: Causes physical pain and mental damage
Rogue AIs and Digital Ghosts
The DataKrash didn't just destroy the Net - it shattered several powerful AIs into fragments that still haunt cyberspace like digital ghosts.
- AI Fragments: Pieces of destroyed artificial intelligences
- Behavior: Unpredictable, often hostile to human intrusion
- Capabilities: Can control ICE, manipulate data, attack netrunners
- Danger Level: Extreme - treat like natural disasters
Corporate Netwar
Sometimes netrunners find themselves caught in digital battles between megacorporations - cyber-warfare on a scale that makes individual runs look like schoolyard fights.
- Attack Protocols: Coordinated assaults on enemy networks
- Defensive Measures: Fortress lockdowns and emergency protocols
- Collateral Damage: Innocent systems caught in crossfire
- Aftermath: Digital devastation requiring months to repair
Building and Running Netrunning Scenarios
For GMs, netrunning scenes should feel like a combination of heist movie, war film, and horror story. The stakes are life and death, the tension should be constant, and every success should feel earned.
Scenario Structure
- Preparation: Intelligence gathering, equipment selection
- Infiltration: Getting into the target system
- Navigation: Moving through the digital environment
- Obstacles: ICE encounters, security measures
- Objective: Stealing data, planting viruses, sabotage
- Extraction: Getting out alive with the goods
Pacing and Tension
- Time Pressure: ICE response gets stronger over time
- Resource Management: Programs have limited uses
- Escalating Stakes: Each alarm raised increases danger
- Meaningful Choices: Risk vs. reward decisions constantly
Integrating with Meatspace
The best netrunning scenes connect with the physical world:
- Team Coordination: Other players provide physical security
- Real-World Consequences: Digital actions affect physical situations
- Time Synchronization: Both worlds operate simultaneously
- Mutual Support: Success in one realm helps the other
Netrunning Ethics and Philosophy
In a world where information is power and corporations control everything, netrunners occupy a unique moral space. They're digital Robin Hoods, cyber-terrorists, freedom fighters, and criminals all at once.
The Netrunner's Code
- Information Wants to Be Free: Data belongs to everyone, not corporations
- Privacy is Sacred: Personal data should be protected
- Power Corrupts: Those with digital power will abuse it
- The Net is Neutral: Cyberspace shouldn't be controlled by any one entity
Moral Dilemmas
- Stealing corporate secrets vs. exposing corruption
- Protecting privacy vs. fighting crime
- Personal profit vs. the greater good
- Digital violence vs. physical harm
The Future of Netrunning
The Net in 2045 is broken, but it's slowly being rebuilt. New protocols are emerging, new threats are developing, and the balance between security and freedom continues to shift.
As a netrunner, you're not just a digital thief or warrior - you're an architect of the future. Every system you hack, every piece of data you liberate, every ICE you destroy is a vote for what kind of digital world will emerge from the ashes of the DataKrash.
The question isn't whether you can survive in cyberspace - it's whether the cyberspace that emerges will be one worth surviving in.
🌐 Remember: The Stakes Are Real
Netrunning in Cyberpunk Red isn't a game within a game - it's digital warfare with lethal consequences. Every time you jack in, you're risking not just your character's life, but their sanity, their humanity, and their soul.
Make it count.