[Psyberpunk] Black ICE as Cyberpsi abilities

Prince Charon · 02-03-2023, 01:20 AM

Black ICE is a concept well-known to Cyberpunk fans: Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics (which is to say, computer security systems) that are potentially lethal to an intruder. 'Psyberpunk' is, as his etymology imply, cyberpunk with psychic powers, and often psi-tech (especially the kinds with that aesthetic, like psychotronic implants and psi drugs).

In normal cyberpunk, black ICE is some sort of advanced program or gadget in the computer that feeds back through your cyberdeck into your nervous system. In a psyberpunk setting, both the 'deck and the computer being hacked into may be psychotronic (and indeed, the deck might need to be), and likewise, the hacker might be an ergokinetic with the Netrunning ability. Cyberpsi doesn't seem to have any combat powers, though, but such are quite plausible for a Psyberpunk game.

My current thinking is that there could be several abilities that fall under the heading of 'black ICE' (Affliction: Heart Attack would fit, but so would some form of Toxic Attack, and other possibilities exist), but all of them require that the target and the user be accessing the same computer using cyberpsi (whether an innate power or through a psychotronic device). The main question is how to redefine the range component of whatever advantage is being used. 'Malediction' sort of works, if combined with some sort of Accessibility limitation that I'm uncertain how to price, but it's a bit clunky and annoying. Adding a Cosmic enhancement instead ('your and your target's locations within the net are your 'real' locations for targeting purposes,' or something like that), but then I'm still wondering how much that enhancement is worth.

Thoughts?

02-03-2023, 01:20 AM	#1
Prince Charon Join Date: Dec 2012	[Psyberpunk] Black ICE as Cyberpsi abilities Black ICE is a concept well-known to Cyberpunk fans: Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics (which is to say, computer security systems) that are potentially lethal to an intruder. 'Psyberpunk' is, as his etymology imply, cyberpunk with psychic powers, and often psi-tech (especially the kinds with that aesthetic, like psychotronic implants and psi drugs). In normal cyberpunk, black ICE is some sort of advanced program or gadget in the computer that feeds back through your cyberdeck into your nervous system. In a psyberpunk setting, both the 'deck and the computer being hacked into may be psychotronic (and indeed, the deck might need to be), and likewise, the hacker might be an ergokinetic with the Netrunning ability. Cyberpsi doesn't seem to have any combat powers, though, but such are quite plausible for a Psyberpunk game. My current thinking is that there could be several abilities that fall under the heading of 'black ICE' (Affliction: Heart Attack would fit, but so would some form of Toxic Attack, and other possibilities exist), but all of them require that the target and the user be accessing the same computer using cyberpsi (whether an innate power or through a psychotronic device). The main question is how to redefine the range component of whatever advantage is being used. 'Malediction' sort of works, if combined with some sort of Accessibility limitation that I'm uncertain how to price, but it's a bit clunky and annoying. Adding a Cosmic enhancement instead ('your and your target's locations within the net are your 'real' locations for targeting purposes,' or something like that), but then I'm still wondering how much that enhancement is worth. Thoughts? __________________ Warning, I have the Distractible and Imaginative quirks in real life. "The more corrupt a government, the more it legislates." -- Tacitus Five Earths, All in a Row. Updated 12/17/2022: Apocrypha: Bridges out of Time, Part I has been posted.