Digital Web

For Royce inhabits a sci-fi universe where his every transaction and correspondence occurs at lightning speed across the vast electronic data-stream known as "cyberspace."

"I usually check a couple news sites first thing in the morning," Royce says as he instantaneously uplinks current events from across the globe on his brightly illuminated view-screen. "CNN.com and Huffington Post are pretty good."

The Digital Web is a zone within the Umbra based entirely within virtual reality, unusual in that many mortals have (limited) access to it (think Second Life and you're on the right track). It's also the unofficial home of the Virtual Adepts as a whole.

PCs merely accessing the Internet without any sort of VR interface don't need to worry about any of this.

• High-level overview

Primary reference is Digital Web 2.0 page 110 ('Web Systems' charts). Additional references are listed below.

Access

Reference: DW2.0 pages 35-37

Sensory visitation Requires VR equipment +2 to all difficulties (including but not limited to magic) Pretty much anything except uploading/downloading data or moving around requires magic (including 'physically' attacking someone else's icon) For 'Strength', substitute Intelligence For 'Dexterity', substitute Wits Remain aware of normalspace, but distracted

Astral immersion Requires Correspondence 2 (coincidental) and complex VR setup (Intelligence + Computer, 3+ successes) Substitute attributes as with sensory visitation Lose awareness of normalspace for the duration (some Virtual Adepts set up their system to scan for physical intrusion and pull them out)

Holistic immersion Requires Life 4 Forces 2 Correspondence 2 (vulgar) and more complex VR setup (Intelligence + Computer, 5+ successes) Alternatively, you can travel into the Middle Umbra and then further (Dexterity + Athletics or Cosmology vs 7), but this takes a 'long time' and staff has not yet determined how long Do not substitute attributes 'Physical' damage to your body remains in effect after you leave, same as if you had suffered that damage in normalspace

Icons

Reference: DW2.0 page 99

• Basic creation: Intelligence + Computer vs 6, base is Appearance 1 Intimidation 0, each success gives +1 to one of those stats
  • House rule: No minimum number of successes for new icons
  • House rule: Can be extended, but each additional roll is +1 difficulty (cumulative)
  • Each roll takes 3 to 5 minutes
• Changing faces:
  • Adjusting details of appearance (e.g. hair color): Quick and automatically successful
  • Adjusting traits: Manipulation + Computer vs 5, each success lets you adjust Appearance or Intimidation by 1
    • These adjustments only last until you exit the Digital Web
    • To manipulate someone else's icon, see 'Magic' below

Travel

Reference: DW2.0 pages 100-102

• Finding your way (walking): Perception + Computer vs variable difficulty
  • Hot Links (apart from the rare Restricted ones) are quick, easy, and painless, but sometimes one-way
• Popping (direct teleportation): Correspondence 3 (+2 difficulty to go to another Sector, +2 difficulty for unfamiliar areas, +2 difficulty if destination is Restricted)
  • Normally takes at least two turns (one to scan, one to go); skipping the scan counts as 'unfamiliar areas'
  • Fail = unknown Sector, or Restricted or occupied area (de-rezzed and booted out of the Net)
  • Botch = Junkland, Haunt, etc. or painful crash

Sectors

Reference: DW2.0 pages 102-103

Restricted Sector Hacking: Extended Wits + Computer Hacking vs (7 to 10), accumulate 10 to 20 successes May be resisted by security systems, typically 5 to 10 dice vs 5 May include puzzles or other challenges, e.g. (Perception or Intelligence) + (Cryptography or Enigmas or Linguistics or Psychology or Occult or Science) Faking an ID badge: Perception + Cryptography vs (7 to 10), typically requires an existing valid ID badge and a compatible fake icon created with 5+ successes

Corrupted Web ST discretion Nothing works normally, not even magic Getting out is harder than getting in Wits + Technology may occasionally help Junklands Easy to enter and leave Spending time in one causes disorientation or loss of temporary Willpower (Willpower vs 7 or higher to resist) Constraint Realms Any icon not fitting the 'dress code' is dumped Functionally Restricted for purpose of teleporting in or out

Haunts Junklands with some wraiths, and possibly some links to the Shadowlands Resonance of death (Jhor) seeps into everything Trash Sectors Inaccessible unless you get dumped so badly that your body and mind become separated Hung Sector Stuck in a time loop, requires Time magic to escape

Damage

Reference: DW2.0 103-105

• Aggravated damage is limited to viruses / chaos dumps / Whiteouts / Feedback programs, and may manifest as brain hemmorhages / severe burns / internal bleeding (rather than gaping wounds / broken bones).
• Only holistic immersion or severe trauma carries over into normslspace. Other damage just affects your icon, and is auto-healed if you jack out and back in.
• Life magic to heal a sensory or astral traveler's icon also requires Mind 1. Targeting a holistic traveler just requires Life.
• Manipulation + Computer vs (6 to 10) can heal a sensory or astral traveler, but not a holistic traveler.

Type	Caused by	Description	Roll	Success	Failure	Botch
Net fatigue	Strenuous activity	Weariness	Willpower vs 6	No effect	Neurosis / depression / nightmares	Nervous breakdown / Quiet
Virus infection	Varies
Soft de-rez	Go somewhere you shouldn't, 'die' in a Warzone with respawn, etc.	Teleported elsewhere	Usually just feel pain for a little while Holistically immersed: stunned for several minutes, +2 to all difficulties for about an hour Dumped out of a restricted area: -1 to a mental attribute for one day
Hard de-rez	Violate major protocol, minor Whiteout backlash, incapacitated	Booted out of Web entirely	Stamina vs 7	Disoriented	1 level of lethal damage, -1 to a mental attribute for a while	2 levels, -2
Icon death	Beyond incapacitated, major Whiteout backlash	Intense pain, harm, possible death Restricted area: Permanent -2 to each mental attribute	Stamina vs 7	Stunned for several minutes, disoriented (+1 to +3 to all difficulties for a while), often hallucinating, damage carries over to normslspace (-1 level per success, spend Willpower to heal 1 more level each)	Coma, damage	Instant death
Chaos dump	Severe Paradox backlash, death in Restricted Sector, targeted by specific offensive magic, massive shutdowns (e.g. the Great Crash of 1997)	Death	Arete vs 8	Quiet	Coma	Death

Magic

Reference: DW2.0 105-107

Vulgar with witnesses	Vulgar	Coincidental
Within a Restricted Sector where you're not approved Large-scale effects Most effects targeting normalspace Effects crossing Sectors	No perceptible source Contradicts the setting of a Constraint Realm Effects targeting another realm of the Umbra Any effect cast in Corrupted Web	Most other effects

Forces or Prime effects with 5+ successes:

• Roll (possibly coincidental) stands as is, but increases risk of Whiteout, and caster gains 1 Paradox per 5 (pre-soak) levels of damage
• Exception: Warzones do not impose these issues, as they're designed for it

Effects that work differently than in normalspace:

• Anyone can roll Perception + Alertness to sense their Sector in top-down fashion.
• Correspondence, Forces, and Prime are effectively 1 higher (still max 5, limited to same Sector, and doesn't extend to magic items).
• Forces 2 (System Havoc): Each icon within (successes * 10) yards, possibly including caster, takes 1 automatic level of lethal damage per success (soak with Willpower vs 8). Vulgar with witnesses. Paradox backlash is rolled at difficulty 4 instead of 6.
• Life and Matter can target holistic travelers and normalspace equipment connected to the Web, but not VR objects.
• Morphing someone else's icon or the environment:
  • Entropy 3 Forces 2 Prime 2
  • Base difficulty 7 (9 if morphing the environment in a Restricted Sector)
  • Large area may require 5+ successes
  • Morphing someone's icon doesn't automatically cut them off from magic, but may interfere with their ability to use certain foci

Gauntlet ratings

Rating	Successes	Area
2	2	Virgin Web
4	2	Haunt Sectors, Corrupted Web
5	2	Junklands
6	3	Webspace between Sectors
7	4	Average Sectors
8	4	Grid Sectors, Conduits
9	5	Constraint Realms
10	5	Restricted Sectors

Umbral magic here opens gateways into Hellholes or the Shadowlands.

Whiteout severity

Reference: DW2.0 page 109

Whiteout is how Paradox manifests within the Digital Web.

• Forces or Prime effects outside a Warzone: ST may choose to roll Paradox backlash vs difficulty 4 instead of 6
• Large-scale: Others in area have one turn of warning, and may roll Wits + Dodge vs 8 to take half damage
• Long combat: ST may choose to roll combined Paradox pool of all combatants all at once

Successes	Mage who caused crash	Others	Sector
1	Soft de-rez
2	Hard de-rez
3	Booted into another Sector, soft de-rez	Same (within 20 feet)
4	Hard de-rez	Same (within 50 feet)
5	Hard de-rez	Soft de-rez
6	May be booted into Lost Sector (Junkland, Trash Sector) or chaos dumped	Hard de-rez	Fuzzes, offline for several seconds
7+	May be chaos dumped	Hard de-rez	Crashes, offline (duration depends on mage's Paradox), long-term damage
10+	Disappears	Hard de-rez	Trashed permanently

Paradox pool	Duration of Sector crash
1-3	Less than a minute
4-6	One to five minutes
7-10	One to six hours
11-13	One day
14-16	One week
17-20	One month or more, ST discretion
20+	Permanent