Talk in plain language

Type what your character does. search the body for credits, ask the bartender about the Iron Lotus, draw my katana and charge. The game master narrates what happens next.

Stats & the dice

Risky actions fall into one of six categories. Your archetype is strong at some and weak at others; lifepath choices shift things further.

• Violence · fights, weapons, dealing or taking damage
• Tech · hacking, decrypting, cyberdecks, jacking in
• Influence · persuading, intimidating, deceiving, haggling
• Infiltration · stealth, lockpicking, slipping past guards
• Movement · running, climbing, dodging, parkour
• Grit · enduring pain, resisting interrogation, willpower

Routine actions just happen. Stats only roll when something could go wrong.

Combat & HP

You don’t pick from a list of attacks — describe what you do. Creative tactics shift the odds. Running is always an option and often the smart one.

You heal through in-fiction actions, not menus: stim-packs, medkits, resting safely. Medical items are consumable. There’s no auto-heal between turns.

When HP hits zero, your character dies permanently.

Heat — the city is watching

Heat is your wanted level (0–100). Combat, theft, hacking, and brandishing weapons in public push it up. Resting, shopping, and talking peacefully bleed it back down.

• 25+ street NPCs recognize you, whispers follow
• 50+ bounty hunters look for you, vendors get cagey
• 75+ a named rival hunts you personally, security is on alert

Item tags

Every item carries a tag. Reusable items (weapons, armor, hacking, utility) stay with you even when the narrative says they were knocked away or jammed — they’re recoverable. Only items you voluntarily drop, sell, give, use up, or deliver are removed.

• melee-weapon, ranged-weapon, armor, hacking, utility · reusable
• medical, junk · consumed when used

Factions & reputation

Five major factions track your standing: Syn-Tech, Chrome-Heads, Null-Set, Iron Lotus, and the Cleaners. Help their members and rep goes up; harm them and it goes down. Standing tiers from Hostile through Inner Circle and shapes how every member of that faction treats you.

Asking the GM (/dm)

Start a message with /dm (or /gm) to ask out-of-character questions. /dm what’s in my inventory?, /dm am I still wanted by the Cleaners?

OOC questions don’t advance the story or roll dice. Answers are binding — treated as canon by future turns. Useful for confirming what you know before a risky move.

The GM can’t change your character sheet. No granting credits, HP, items, or rerolls. If you want HP back, buy a stim-pack in the story.

Saving

Your run auto-saves after every turn. Close the tab, come back later, pick up where you left off. Starting a new game permanently deletes your current save.