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Eclipse Phase: Thebes

Advanced hacking rules

These rules are intended for use in situations where the hack is more complex than just opening a door / attacking a opponent in combat. They are intended to represent time spent within a complex Mesh system searching for a specific data point or access control.

To use this rules you will need:

  • at least one character with the Hacking move
  • A standard 52 card deck of playing cards with the Jokers removed
  • Tokens to represent players and system ALIs
  • A system alert track and tokens to track the alert state

Setup

  • Remove the Ace of Hearts (the goal) and the Ace of Spades (the entry point) from the deck of cards and set to one side
  • Shuffle the remaining cards
  • If more than one Hacker is taking part then they choose the Lead Hacker between themselves.
  • The Lead Hacker rolls+Intuition/Cognition (their choice).
    • On a 10+ deal 14 cards
    • On a 7-9 deal 22 cards
    • On a miss deal 34 cards
  • Set the remaining cards aside
  • The entry point is the lower left corner as viewed by the Lead Hacker. Place the Ace of Spades in this position
  • Relative to this corner lay out three additional cards from those dealt to form a 2x2 grid
  • Add the Ace of Hearts to the dealt cards and shuffle
  • Relative to the entry point expand the grid out to 4x4, 4x6 or 6x6 depending on the remaining cards
  • Relative to the Lead Hacker the space to the left of the grid is the program store. Programs and code fragments gained during the hack are placed here.
  • Relative to the Lead Hacker the space to the right of the grid is where the system alert tracker goes.

You are now ready to begin.

Play

Multiple Hackers

Multiple hackers may participate in the same hack.

  • Each hacker has their own token and moves independently through the system.
  • Each hacker has their own Program Store, however the System Alert state is shared
  • Hackers may exchange code fragments and programs on any turn where they occupy the same system square.
    • Doing so does not prevent them taking any other actions that turn
  • Only a single hacker at a time may actively engage firewalls or system defenders
  • A hacker on the same square may choose to take the aid move to make the other hacker boosted forward

Play rounds

Play is divided into rounds.

  • Starting with the Lead Hacker each hacker takes a turn to make a move from the list below
  • Some moves may trigger a response from the system, this will be noted below.

Hacking moves

Jack out

A hacker may choose to jack out at any time. Roll+Intuition/Cognition. On a 10+ you leave a backdoor allowing you to re-enter the system from the same point. On a 7-9 you exit cleanly but must start from scratch if you wish to re-enter. On a miss you exit with additional badness as determined by the GM.

Move

A hacker may move in any direction they wish: Up, Down, Left, Right and diagonals. You may move freely over all revealed and defeated cards, no distance limitation applies. Moving onto an unrevealed card stops movement for that turn and reveals the card.

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