Custom Cyberpunk Setting - Can someone explain Netrunning?

[fieryscubadivingaccident]

Wow, this forum is quite active, thanks for all the responses! I've followed @sir_pudding's advice and grabbed that issue of Pyramid.

@Refplace, that makes a lot of sense! To make sure I'm understanding it right: a hacker first enters a network. A hacker can move from node to node, but only if she has defeated any security programs running on nodes "ahead" of her (?) A hacker cannot advance to additional nodes until the programs on that one have been beaten? And "combat" is a division of turns into phases -- which represent the relative speeds of the hacker's computer and the system being invaded? I think I get it? I think what's still confusing me is how movement works. Can a hacker run a program from one system against another? further down the line? Can a hacker hop to one node, and then simply hop to another without defeating its defenses?

Regarding the concerns about netrunning bogging down gameplay: Perhaps I should have clarified that the my game concept is a retro-futurist cyberpunk game, a TL7 world with some TL8+ tech tossed in there.

I like the idea behind the 3e version of Netrunning because it is very similar to how the Metaverse is described in Snow Crash. While researching cyberpunk game systems for my concept, i kept finding a common complaint that 'hacking dungeons' can drag down gameplay; they often just become an exchange between the GM and whoever's playing a 'hacker' class. Snow Crash itself acknowledges the absurdity of the Neuromancer-style cyberspace as being limited to a tiny sliver of the population with neural interfaces. So, in Snow Crash, the Metaverse is accessible through terminals and VR headsets. I'll be following a similar model such that any player can enter cyberspace, regardless of whether or not they're a 'hacker' class. Plus, my players seem enthusiastic about the prospect of a 'hacking' game mechanic.