Alpha State
This game system, and the setting in which it takes place, are both in active development. Everything on this site is subject to change. Please hard refresh pages when you visit to ensure you're viewing the latest versions.3.3 - Cyberware
Technology has advanced greatly, which includes the advancement of human augmentation and supplemental technology. What began with augmentations meant to support people with disabilities eventually expanded into generalized human augmentation. As the tech improved so did public interest, which came with new demand, and unfortunately corporations were quick to jump on that opportunity.
These days, cybernetic augmentation is as easy as getting a tattoo, and there are so many things a person can do to alter their body that the idea of "your body" has begun to wane. People change their look, their capability, their entire physical structure, and some do it frequently. Some argue this makes us all less human, others say it frees us to be who we want to be. Problem is, we're not the ones in control of any of it.
Corponations own cyberware; they sell it if you're rich enough, they rent it out if you're not. They own the Atom Cloud that powers and connects our cyberware. They own the debt we take on to get it installed. Are we still human, are we less human, are we more than human... at some point, these questions become meaningless until we realize we've already sold our souls to the corps for a dream.
The baseline for all cyberware is having the bio-infrastructure necessary to support it. Firmware updates, housing installations, hardware support, nano-circuitry, stuff like that. Once you've got the cyberware ranks, you can install basically any cyberware you'd like, provided you can afford it, and you've built enough bio-infrastructure to support it.
Cyberware Ranks (CWR)
The total amount of cyberware installed in your body is abstracted and tracked by cyberware ranks. The tracker starts at 0, and as you gain more cyberware ranks you're able to install more cyberware; a regular person on the street who's never installed any cyberware beyond their ICS has 0 cyberware ranks; someone who doesn't even have that doesn't track cyberware ranks.
What cyberware ranks measure are the bio-infrastructure necessary to support cyberware. For comparison, you can't install new hardware in an old PC without adequate power supply, wiring, and a space in the frame to support it. Similarly, you can't install new cyberware in your body without the wiring mesh, connective tissue, and cyberflesh or cyberbone support structure in which to house it.
Using Cyberware Ranks
Every piece of cyberware uses a specific number of cyberware ranks, measured by its complexity rating. The total complexity of all your installed cyberware cannot exceed your total cyberware ranks. So long as installing a specific piece of cyberware wouldn't increase your total complexity higher than your cyberware ranks, you can have it installed.
Installing Cyberware
Generally, you can't install cyberware on yourself. Circumstances, and your Narrator, might allow you to do so with massive penalties to your STK Checks, but for the most part it's just not possible. Usually, you need a cyberdoc: a person trained in physiology, engineering, and the specifics of cyberware.
Legal, corporate-funded cyberdocs work in comfortable clinics with sanitary conditions and the most modern tools. They also have very high $Index requirements, never accept Scratch as payment, and are required to report anything that might even slightly impede on corporate interests.
Illegal cyberdocs, usually but not always found in free zones, generally work in much less sanitary or comfortable environments, with tools that might not be the best for a given piece of cyberware. By contrast, they're happy to accept any kind of Scratch as payment, and might even offer installations as trade for some service. They'll also do installations for $Index value, but they generally much prefer hard currency.
Cyberware Complexity
The more cyberware you've got installed, the more it all has to interact, and the more likely things are to go wrong. Whenever you activate a piece of cyberware that requires activation, roll 1d20; this is called a cyberware die. If the roll of your cyberware die is equal to or lower than the total complexity of all your installed cyberware, something goes wrong.
Whether the malfunction occurs in the activated piece of cyberware, or one of your other installed pieces, can be fairly random. The Narrator is encouraged to choose something dramatic, but if you'd rather randomize it, roll 1d100 + your total cyberware ranks on the first table below.
The specific effects of a malfunction are also left to the Narrator, unless you'd also like to randomize that. If so, just roll d100 on the second table below. If multiple pieces of cyberware malfunction, you should roll once for each.
| Roll |
Which Cyberware Malfunctions |
| 01-60 |
Activated cyberware |
| 61-90 |
Random different cyberware |
| 91-110 |
Activated cyberware, and one random other cyberware |
| 111-120 |
Two random different cyberware |
| 121+ |
Activated cyberware, and two random other cyberware |
| d100 |
Type of Malfunction |
| 01-33 |
Activates; functions unreliably for the Scene |
| 34-60 |
Doesn't activate |
| 61-80 |
Doesn't activate, must be repaired |
| 81-93 |
Doesn't activate, must be repaired; you are lightly damaged |
| 94-100 |
Doesn't activate, must be repaired; you are badly damaged |
With the astounding advancement and prolific production of cybernetics, came standardization. Some of the more high-end brand names use more proprietary designs, but for most cybertecy corps if they want you to buy their products it needs to be compatible with products from other companies. This means that, for the most part, you can install basically anything, provided you've got the necessary bio-infrastructure.
Cyberware Properties
Every piece of cyberware has three properties: Location, Theme, Types, and Tags. These help define what each piece is, where it goes, and how it might be affected by different situations or game mechanics.
Location is the part of your body where the cyberware is installed. With rare exceptions, this means the entire original organic part of you is replaced by a cybernetic version. If the location has a duplicate (such as one of your eyes or a limb), the cyberware piece only replaces one; if you want to replace both, you have to specifically install both.
Theme is what your cyberware looks like. This is often simply an aesthetic choice that doesn't affect price or functionality to any notable degree, but at your group's agreement that might work differently. A common example is deciding mecha cyberware (i.e., parts that look like a mechanical robot) is also cheap cyberware (see the "Cyberware Quality" sidebar below).
Types define the kind of cyberware being installed. In any given Location on your body, you cannot install two cyberware with matching Types (with the exception of Additives, see below). Some cyberware may have multiple Types, which are counted as one; meaning that you cannot install any cyberware in that same Location that matches the exact same types, but you can install cyberware in that same location that only partially matches those Types.
Tags detail some specific nature of the cyberware that distinguish it from others. Some cyberware might have no Tags, other cyberware might have a long list of them. Tags have no immediate effect on how your cyberware functions or relating to its installation, but certain Traits, narrative events, and other elements of the game might apply to cyberware bearing specific Tags. For example, certain places across SB65 run software that temporarily shuts down any Combat cyberware.
Cyberware Theme
One of the myriad benefits of cyberware is thematic customization. If you're going so far as to replace body parts with cyberware, might as well go all out and make it look the way you want. To that end, there are a number of various Themes available. If you've got an idea for a different look to your cyberware that doesn't seem to be on this list, work with your Narrator to develop that.
Mecha looks like it sounds: mechanical. Some people want to look like a mechbot, but often mecha cyberware looks like that because it's cheap. This cyberware just looks like robotic parts; sharp edges, visible seams, little to no exterior casing, audible mechanical functionality, things like that.
Neostructural is built like a standard cybernetic arm, but the flesh is cyber-plastiform. It feels a bit like flesh, maybe a little weird, but most importantly it's intensely customizable. You can choose its color and, most famously, you can choose its opacity. Some people make it perfectly clear, giving unobstructed view of the cybernetic functions inside. Most people choose their favorite color and then set an opacity anywhere between 20-80%, often leaning toward the lower end.
Neurosteel cyberware is often expensive, but not always. Its structure is a metal polymer built in overlapping layers (think of ancient Roman armor), allowing the arm to bend and flex precisely as a natural arm (or sometimes even more). This metal can be any color you like, but the most famous part is that many neurosteel cybernetics come standard with interior backlighting. The backlighting, as with the material itself, can be any color you like, and is visible between the seams of the implant's layers.
Trueflesh is another Theme often associated with expensive cyberware, but it doesn't have to be. The main draw of Trueflesh is that it looks and feels—like the name implies—like your real skin. Cyberdocs work hard to match your own color tone, and the skin feels just as warm and soft as your original flesh would have (or not, I'm not your mother). The only difference is a visible seam; at the edge of the cyberware where it connects with your meat, and at relevant locations along the cyberware itself.
Stellar cyberware looks exactly like you'd expect: cyberware. It's shaped like your body part, visibly metal, but it's got interlocked plates and whirring mechanical parts that allow it to function in place of a normal meat body part. Its name derives from the fact it was developed right around the time humans first began exploring the stars en masse, associating it foreverafter with space travel. These days, trapped as most people are on starbases, most people don't know where the name comes from.
List of Types
Here's a description of all existing Types.
[Counted] (+# or x#) cyberware isn't a specific Type, but indicates that you can have multiple installations of the same cyberware. If the parenthetical number is listed with a "+" that means each installation is an identical version of that same cyberware; but if the parenthetical is listed with a "x" that means each installation improves the effects of the original cyberware (as described in the specific cyberware description).
Additive isn't part of another cybernetic; it's an extra limb, or external hardware, anything that's not housed in your body or in cyberware. It's not replacing anything, it's extra.
Enhancement maximizes the function, capacity, or other usage of your cyberware, allowing it to do things far beyond what it should normally be capable.
Major is any type of upgrade or modification that uses up the majority of the cyberware, or requires supporting infrastructure that takes up most of the unit (e.g., a limb).
Minor is any type of upgrade or modification that uses up a small portion of the cyberware, but which requires enough support that you can't install any others in that same prosthetic (e.g., a hand or foot).
Moderate is any type of upgrade or modification that uses up a significant portion of the cyberware, but not the majority of it (e.g., a forearm or shin).
Module utilizes large amounts of the cyberware's physical structure, or takes up enough space within the cyberware itself that it counts as being the majority of its construction.
Cyberware Quality
Not all cyberware is made equal, and if you want the high-end chrome you pay through the nose. Quality is a category that can be applied to any cyberware of any group, any type, with any tag. You can have different quality applied to different cyberware, but each cyberware can only have one quality category.
Cheap cyberware is built with lesser materials, corner-cut manufacturing, and usually comes with a lot of problems.
Whenever you activate cyberware, treat your total complexity as 1 higher for each piece of cheap cyberware you have. However, a piece of cheap cyberware costs half as much its listed price.
Expensive cyberware is built with the best materials to the highest standards. It also looks the part, often gleaming and highly customized.
Whenever you activate cyberware, treat your total complexity as 1 lower if all your installed cyberware is expensive. However, a piece of expensive cyberware costs twice as much as its listed price.
By default, any cyberware to which you don't apply a quality category is standard.
Software is essentially an advanced program built specifically for the cyberware in question, and usually performs a very specific function.
List of Tags
Here's a description of all existing Tags.
Combat is intended for combat, usually identifiable by the cyberware's basic function, and often further identified by hardcoded signals in its software.
Hardlight features react to hardlight beams in one way or another, whether that be to bend or otherwise utilize them, or treat them as solid objects.
Resonance cyberware is specifically designed to read, match, and respond to any resonance field with which they come in contact.
Baseline Cyberware
Sometimes, you just need a prosthetic. It's possible to install cyberware that has no additional functions and exists only to serve as a regular part of your body. Baseline cyberware, as this is called, doesn't have any functions beyond acting like a regular body part.
These days you can get basically anything you want. From baseline medical cyber-prosthetics, to weapons grade cyberware, to purely cosmetic designs, you can get basically anything you like. Just don't go too far into debt with it, you don't want a repo crew coming for your lungs.
Cyberware Groups
The following list of cyberware is grouped by Location.
Each cyber-arm comes in segments: hand, forearm, and upper arm. You can install cyberware in any or all of these segments as you see fit; if you wanna chop off your arm at the elbow, replace the forearm with cybernetics, and then attach your original hand to the end of that, you do you! Installation is a fairly quick procedure; you sit in the cyberdoc's chair, they get to work, maybe you watch a show or have a conversation, and you have a new cybernetic limb.
Extra Arm
Location: Cyber-Arm // Type: Additive (+4) // Tag: —
Complexity: 3 // Cost: $c9,300,000 or 7$; Installation: 90 minutes
Passive: This technically isn't an upgrade, but an entire extra limb. It contains the full three segments of any cybernetic arm, and can be fitted with any other cybernetic that can be installed in your regular arms.
Heavy Hitter
Location: Cyber-Arm // Type: Moderate, Module // Tag: Combat
Complexity: 1 // Cost: $c6,200,000 or 7$; Installation: 45 minutes
Passive: Micro-thrusters, weight manipulators, or miniaturized hardlight rails drive your reinforced fist with the force of a car. You can punch through any object made from ferrocrete or flimsier material. Your fist has a +6 combat bonus.
Knight Blade
Location: Cyber-Arm // Type: Moderate, Module // Tag: Combat
Complexity: 1 // Cost: $c8,800,000 or 7$; Installation: 45 minutes
Active: This long, straight, collapsible blade extends from the front of your wrist above the hand, or out through the back of your elbows. You can keep it extended for prolonged use, or extend and retract in a single action. The blade has a +7 combat bonus.
Powered Strength
Location: Cyber-Arm // Type: Enhancement // Tag: —
Complexity: 1 // Cost: $c7,500,000 or 7$; Installation: 45 minutes
Active: You (1) ignore the recoil of all firearms held with this arm, (2) can bend or break any object made from steel or flimsier material provided you have adequate leverage, and (3) you always win tests of strength against anyone without Powered Strength.
Raptor Blade
Location: Cyber-Arm // Type: Moderate, Module // Tag: Combat
Complexity: 1 // Cost: $c8,700,000 or 7$; Installation: 45 minutes
Active: Mid-length, curved, double-edged blade extends from your forearm; your forearm opens up entirely and the blade extends on a sturdy support frame. The blade can cut through anything made of steel or flimsier material. You can keep it extended for prolonged use, but activating it takes too much mechanical function to retract it quickly. The blade has a +8 combat bonus.
Resonance Mesh
Location: Cyber-Arm // Type: Minor, Module // Tag: Combat, Resonance
Complexity: 1 // Cost: $c12,900,000 or 8$; Installation: 60 minutes
Passive: The energy mesh fitted within the surface of your hand feeds on the energy of any combat shield it passes through. Whenever you use your hand to attack a target that has an energy shield, add the taret's shield rating as a bonus to your unarmed STK Check. This applies whether you're hitting with your empty hands, or you're using blade upgrades.
Self-Preservation Algorithms
Location: Cyber-Arm // Type: Minor, Enhancement // Tag: —
Complexity: 2 // Cost: $c6,000,000 or 7$; Installation: 30 minutes
Passive: Your arms are fitted with monitoring software that reacts when you're in danger. Normally they don't do anything, but when you're in a dangerous situation your arms can react to protect you. They can only do things that a hand would be able to do by itself; catch a ledge if you fall, slap away an incoming knife, etc. They don't control your entire arm however, and if your hand isn't in a position to help, they can't do anything. This effect happens whether you're aware of the danger or not, or even if you're unconscious.
Each cyber-leg comes in segments: foot, lower leg, and upper leg. You can install cyberware in any or all of these segments as you see fit; if you wanna chop off your leg, replace the thigh with cybernetics, and then attach your original shin & foot to the bottom of that, you do you! Installation is a fairly moderately quick; most of the difficulty involves making sure the limb will support your body weight without overcompensating the other way.
Bounders
Location: Cyber-Leg // Type: Enhancement // Tag: —
Complexity: 1 // Cost: $c21,500,000 or 8$; Installation: 75 minutes
Active: You can always outrun anyone with fewer Bounders installed than you.
Special: If you have Bounders installed in only one leg, but not the other, you gain the "Unbalanced" Negative State until that changes.
Lightwalkers
Location: Cyber-Leg // Type: Minor, Module // Tag: Hardlight
Complexity: 2 // Cost: $c34,300,000 or 8$; Installation: 45 minutes
Active: Your foot treats any hardlight beam as an indestructible and harmless solid surface. This effect applies only to your feet; the rest of your body (including your leg itself) will still be incinerated per usual if it touches any hardlight.
Powered Leap
Location: Cyber-Leg // Type: Module // Tag: —
Complexity: 1 // Cost: $c19,400,000 or 8$; Installation: 60 minutes
Active: You (1) can jump twice as far as your normal jumping distance, and (2) can kick or stomp through any object made from steel or flimsier material, provided you have sufficient leverage.
Special: If you have Powered Leap installed in only one leg, but not the other, you gain the "Unbalanced" Negative State until that changes.
Each cyber-optic is sold separately. The price for each optic remains the same whether you get them individually or as a pair, but installation time for two eyes at once is the same as installing just one.
Aim Assist
Location: Cyber-Optic // Type: Software // Tag: Combat
Complexity: 1 // Cost: $c6,000,000 or 7$; Installation: 15 minutes
Active: Your eyes predict the path of any bullet, projectile, or thrown object that emanates from your person. You gain +9 bonus dice on ranged attacks until the implant is deactivated.
Heat Tracking
Location: Cyber-Optic // Type: Module // Tag: —
Complexity: 1 // Cost: $c8,700,000 or 7$; Installation: 15 minutes
Active: Instead of seeing in the light spectrum, you see in the heat spectrum. Colder temperatures appear green or blue, while the coldest range to black; hotter temperatures appear red or orange, while the hottest range to white.
Light Enhancement
Location: Cyber-Optic // Type: Module // Tag: —
Complexity: 1 // Cost: $c4,700,000 or 7$; Installation: 15 minutes
Active: Your eyes treat the area you're in as if it were 2 x brighter than it actually is. Colors are dimmed, and your vision is a bit grainy, but your ICS fills in the blanks with generative graphics.
Magnification
Location: Cyber-Optic // Type: Module (x4) // Tag: —
Complexity: 1 // Cost: $c3,400,000 or 7$; Installation: 30 minutes
Active: You can zoom in your own vision, same as any camera. Image-stabilizing software keeps you from getting sick, and generative graphics fill in details your eyes can't make out.
Baseline upgrade allows you 2x magnification, and each subsequent installation of this same upgrade doubles that to x4, x8, up to x16.
Target Tracker
Location: Cyber-Optic // Type: Software (x5) // Tag: —
Complexity: 1 // Cost: $c5,400,000 or 7$; Installation: 15 minutes
Active: You can "mark" up to 2 AC-I/O port that you have line of sight to. Marking a target takes no time, it's just a thought. If you mark a target when you're already tracking your maximum number of targets, the oldest target is dropped.
Until you deactivate this cyberware, you can see where each target is located, including their range from you and their elevation relative to station deck plates. Even if you lose line of sight, your software tracks that target's position as long as they remain within the same atmosphere you're in.
Each subsequent installation doubles the maximum number of targets to 4, 8, 16, up to 32.
Most neuralware is installed with the application of self-guided bio-synthetics that adapt to the user's existing neural structure. This makes every installation unique, despite its extreme ubiquitousness. The cyberdoc usually goes in through the base of the skull, or at the temples, and lets the implant almost install itself.
Drive Doubler
Location: Neuralware // Type: Hardware (x5) // Tag: —
Complexity: 0 // Cost: $c10,300,000 or 8$; Installation: 180 minutes
Passive: Physical quantum storage drive installed in the user's brain that functions as an extension of the existing NSD, greatly increasing storage. Multiply your NSD capacity by x2.
Each subsequent installation doubles the multiplier to x4, x8, x16, up to x32.
NeuroChain
Location: Neuralware // Type: Module // Tag: —
Complexity: 0 // Cost: $c2,000,000,000 or 10$; Installation: 120 minutes
Passive: Allows the user to give, receive, and retain any UCT. Connects wirelessly to the AtomNet, and can communicate with any AC-I/O port anywhere in the same atmosphere. Authenticates or rejects all attempted transactions made on the neural block chain.
Precalculation Suite
Location: Neuralware // Type: Software (x5) // Tag: —
Complexity: 0 // Cost: $c25,900,000 or 8$; Installation: 5 minutes
Active: Analyzes the user's surroundings, predicting things like the movement of nearby objects, structural makeup of surrounding terrain, most likely actions of nearby people, and more. This allows the user to predict the results of physical actions within a certain degree of accuracy.
Before taking any physical action, you can calculate the most likely results of what you intend to do. This grants you a bonus to your physical STK Checks equal to your available cyber actions + the number of times you've installed this cyberware. This bonus applies only to actions directly related to each other (e.g., shooting at one target, or driving through the debris of a falling building), and ends when you take a single unrelated physical action (e.g., shooting at a different target, making it past the debris area).
Using this software suite involves complex math based on measurable movements, all of which are changed by using the software itself; once you've used this enhancement, you can't do so again for the rest of the current Scene.