A New Edgerunner Role

for Cyberpunk Red

Version 2.0 by Scott Zaboem
artwork by Deviant Artist, T-Ry
warning: not playtested!

Netmagick
The Netwitches hack devices and netdive into systems using no cyberdeck or net programs for
support. Netwitches view themselves through a lens of spirituality, sort of like shaman who bridge the
gap between the digital and mortal worlds. The terms “Netwitch” or “Cyberwitch” refer to both
women, men, and even gender-nonconforming individuals.
Netwitches experience netdives like a
hallucination. A netdive into a computer network
can be called “dream walk” or a “spirit quest” by
the few Netwitches who try to verbalize what they
see. They perceive electronics that they control as
friends or pets. They commune with voices from
the dark and uninhabited regions of the regions of
the NET, and they can call on these mysterious
voices of hidden artificial intelligences. Like ghost
mediums of a post-digital age, Netwitches excel at
invoking audience with great and otherworldly
spirits (the A.I.s) that even the Netwitches
themselves do not understand. While netdiving,
Netwitches may perform all of the standard Net
Actions but not utilize any Netrunner programs.
Others tend think of Netwitches without
admiration. Many computer security specialists and
Techs skeptically reject the idea that Netwitches
even exist, dismissing them as urban legends and
tall tales until they see what a Netwitch can do first
hand. Many Netrunners know differently, having
encountered Netwitches in the most remote and
obscure digital islands that exist in the fragmented
remnants of the old NET. Security specialists count
Netwitches as a subcategory of Netrunners because the do netdive, and this categorization is accurate
as far as it goes. The Netrunners think of Netwitches as a delusional type of hacker, downright bizarre
in their religion and crude in their methodology. To Netwatch Agents and corporate Netrunners, the
Netwitches are the boogeymen whose very existence threatens the systems they protect.
The ways in which Netrunners and Netwitches approach the same problems differ greatly in
strategy. Netrunners (at least in my mind) rely heavily on processing power and anti-encryption
software. Netwitches approach puzzle-solving as a mental discipline. When faced with a difficult
password wall, the Netrunner will utilize the powerful quantum computing chips of her cyberdeck for a
brute force attack, running through billions of possible passwords in a second. The Netwitch will study
the target user's profile and try to get inside the target's head to deduce what passwords the target is
most likely to select. Suppose that a Netrunner and Netwitch are both in the same office trying to break
into the building's net architecture. The Netrunner might search the target's keyboard for recent
memory of keystrokes. The Netwitch will search the desk and trash can for paper notes with passwords
scribbled down. In game mechanics, this is all resolved the same way: a die roll + Interface. The
different methodologies are just flavor text.

Chipped In but Deckless

How is an interface achieved by a hacker who possesses no cyberdeck? There are actually a
variety of ways. Most Netwitches do have cybernetic interface ports which allow them to connect much
the same a Netrunner does. If the device getting hacked does not have a datapool into which to dive,
the hack succeeds without a roll. If the Referee calls for a roll, use the Electronics/Security Tech skill.
If the device being touched is connected to a datapool, the netdive begins.
Rarely, some Netwitches use no interface ports. Some gain their abilities without ever knowing
how nor why. One might carry lost nano-machine technology in their blood. Another may make use of
an experimental engineered organ which although organic can function to the same effect as an
interface port. See the description of the Pregen character below for some suggestions on how the
organic option be appear.
One thing all Netwitches have in common, regardless of their personal beliefs or the origin of
their abilities, is how they use their abilities. All Netwitches can attempt to hack and control any
electronic machine which is turned on. They do this by touching the machine with their skin, usually
through a hand, but any skin contact can work. They must maintain this skin contact to maintain the
control of the device. While touching, the Netwitches may also project their own perceptions into the
machines and thus Netdive into a computer.
To be clear: Netwitches cannot hack at a range beyond touch like Netrunners can do, but
Netwitches can hack (or attempt to hack) any electronics whether the machines are networked or not.
While netdiving, a Netwitch may perform all the same Net Actions like Pathfinder and Zap but none of
the Netrunner softrunner like Worm or Armor which makes Netdives safer and easier.

Netwitch Lifepath
What was the origin of your Netwitch Interface ability
1. cyberware: interface port, customized for Netwitchery
2. nano-tech blood
3. unknown origin
4. cyberware: interface port, customized for Netwitchery
5. bioware experiment: extra organ implanted in your body
6. unknown origin

Who or what was the first Net Spirit you contacted?

1. An imaginary friend you knew from childhood revealed itself to be spirit of the old NET.
 2. During a near death experience, an unknown entity reached out to your unconscious mind.
3. During a normal netdive, you met a NET ghost of a Netwatch agent who was killed by a
R.A.B.I.D. and did not know she was dead.
4. You met an emergent A.I. who demands sacrifices and claims to be a god.
5. It looked like a genie and said it was the god of all vendits.
6. A Kracken (the BlackICE) became self-aware and escaped with your help, then gained
enlightenment and godhood on the other side – or so it claimed.

Who is your oldest enemy?

1. A small but wealthy neocorporation wants to capture you for reverse engineering.
2. A specific Netwatch agent became obsessed with tracking you.
3. A Reckoner cult declared you an abomination and wants to kill you.
4. Yourself, you developed an addiction to a strong hallucinogen.
5. A specific R.A.B.I.D. wants you dead for no reason.
6. A popular debunker claims that you are a hoaxer and seeks to ruin your reputation.

Thoughtforms
Netwitches also use mental disciplines in a similar capacity to how a cyberdeck uses netdiving
programs. These mental tools are called thoughtforms and three are detailed here: Memory Palace,
Beast Master, and Seance.
A Memory Palace thoughtform, a discipline dating back to ancient Greece, works like a neatly
organized inventory of anything the Netwitch wants to remember. Recalling facts, even detailed
technical data, from a memory palace is possible and 90% accurate up to a year later. Because retention
is not perfect, the Netwitch does not copy files to his or her own brain.
Beast Master is a curious trick for dealing with dangerous programs. When a Netwitch
encounters an enemy program like a BlackICE or Deamon, the Netwitch may attempt to tame it. If an
Interface roll is successful (DV determined by the gamemaster), then the program will cease acting
hostile to the Netwitch. The Netwitch may even command a tamed program until that program gets
rebooted.
Seance is perhaps the most powerful thoughtform, a technique by which the Netwitch may call
up the distant and powerful Spirit (the A.I.s) from beyond the Dark Wall of the Old NET for guidance.
Contacted A.I.s will not fight for the Netwitch or do his work for him, but they will sometimes offer
insight and helpful instructions. Exactly what guidance is offered depends entirely on the willingness of
the Spirits and the whims of the gamemaster. The Spirits are under no obligation to offer the Netwitch
any of their wisdom, so a prudent Netwitch will use this ability sparingly and avoid annoying the
Spirits. Performing a Seance requires about an hour of meditation or ceremony but no Interface roll.

Referees, this part is for you.

Here come some quick guidelines for dealing with a Netwitch in a group of player-character
edgerunners. The Difficulty Values for using Beast Master are kept vague on purpose so that they scale
to the difficulty of your game. In many cases, the Combat Number of Deamons or 10+Defense of
BlackICE can work as that DV. Likewise, Seance has no specified cooldown rate and no specified
information which may be gained. As a rule of thumb, maybe once per session seems about right. The
sort of gifts that spirits might bestow could be passwords, intel, or the location of hidden treasures. One
spirit might appear as a genie who grants a single wish. The next might appear as a loa spirit
demanding a sacrifice before granting any help. Try to not let the Seance scene drag on for too long or
else find a way to involve the other edgerunners.

Multiclasses
 If a player of a Newitch wants to multiclass into Netrunner, this is possible. The PC will need to
purchase his own standard interface plug and a cyberdeck. If a Netwitch tries to simply buy a
cyberdeck and use it without multiclassing, that doesn't work so well. The spirits may stop responding
to Beast Master and Seance requests, ignoring the confused Netwitch. Mixing a Netwitch with any
other Role should work just fine as per the normal rules on Page 143.

Creating a Netwitch
If you use the Streetrat or Edgerunner character creation methods, just use the Stats and Skills
of a Netrunner.

Thanks go to Reddit user u/Cyber-viper for detailed analysis for the first draft version of the Netwitch
Special thanks go out to Reddit user u/SeeSebbb for suggesting the Beast Master thoughtform

Pregen Netwitch, Hex

You were a strange child, preferring the company of imaginary friends over other children. Your
affinity for software code became clear early on. Even as an adolescent, you experienced a deep
understanding of the code, as if you could see the computer language behind every simulation. You
lacked the resources for a proper education, but an adult recognized your talent and instead taught you
mental disciplines like meditation, mental math calculations, and visualization exercises. You upgraded
your imaginary friends into powerful tulpa companions.
As a teenager, a genetic researcher selected you to receive an experimental device. The device
was called a Third Eye, but it wasn’t literally a third eyeball for your forehead. The Third Eye was a
genetically designed organ packed with nanotechnology which replaced one of your natural organs. It
might have been an internal gland or a kidney or an external organ like a hand or even a nipple, sort of
like the old European witch legends. The Third Eye organ works as well as the natural organ that it
replaced, and it grants an additional function of generating and also reading subtle electrical currents in
your nervous system. It relays these electrical signals between the brain and the skin, so you can
interface with any electrical device by touching it. With years of practice, you learned to hack machines
and netdive using your Third Eye. The Third Eye is not recognizable to others besides having a small
surgical scar near it, and because it’s living tissue, it is invisible to systems that scan for cybernetics.
With the aid of your Third Eye, you can do many things which Netrunners can do – and some
which they cannot. For example, you can hack devices which are not networked to anything. If it has a
computer chip in it, you can speak with it, and the only defense against you is shutting off and yanking
the batteries. You can also walk into secure areas where other edgerunners would be restricted because
of their decks and cyberweapons.
There are some drawbacks to your methods. You don’t have the wireless range of Netrunner as
your techniques require skin-to-metal contact. You do not have the processing power of a deck with
powerful software at your command. In a fair fight, a good Netrunner will beat you every time (so
don’t fight fair). Much worse, you have become feared and hunted for your abilities, like the witches of
old. Megacorporations would love to get to know you better by carving up your brain, and Netwatch
agents call you a walking security exploit. If you get caught, you’ll wish that they’d burn you at a stake.
 INT REF DEX TECH COOL WILL LUCK MOVE BODY EMP
7 6 5 7 5 8 8 5 5 6

Starting Hits 35 Seriously Wounded 18 Death Save 5 Humanity: 60

Interface 4 Net Actions 2

SKILLS
Athletics DEX+2 Basic Tech INT+4 Brawling DEX+4
Concentration INT+7 Conversation EMP+4 Cryptography INT+4
Education INT+4 Electronics/Security Tech TECH+6
Evasion DEX+4 First Aid TECH+4 Handgun REF+4
Human Perception EMP+4 Language (native) INT+4 Language (Streetslang) INT+4
Library Search INT+4 Local Expert (Your Home) INT+2
Melee Weapons DEX+4 Perception INT+5 Persuasion COOL+4
Stealth DEX+4

ARMOR kevlar, Head Armor 7, Body Armor 7

WEAPONS Vampires: Melee 2D6 extending sharp teeth
Monoblade Knife: Melee 2D6, usually a hunting knife or switchblade
Heavy Pistol: 3D6 with basic ammunition x30
CYBERWEAR
Third Eye, organic body part which allows you to interface with electronics
Vampires, fang cyberweapon, also fully organic
GEAR flashlight
anti-smog breathing mask
Agent: a pocket-sized machine which functions as a computer and a phone
500eb in a hidden pocket
3 Thoughtforms: Memory Palace, Beast Master, and Seance
This above version of the character Hex represents a playable starting character using the full Cyberpunk Red rules. If you
intend to use Hex as a Pregen using Cyberpunk Red Jumpstart rules, I recommend these changes to make the character on
par with other Pregens. Also invest in some better armor.
Interface 6 Net Actions 3
Athletics DEX+2 Basic Tech INT+4 Brawling DEX+4 Concentration INT+7
Cultural Learning INT+1 Education INT+4 Electronics/Security Tech TECH+6
Evasion DEX+4 First Aid TECH+4 Human Perception EMP+4 Language (native) INT+4
Language (Streetslang) INT+4 Local Expert (Your Home) INT+2
Marksmanship REF+4 Melee Weapons DEX+4 Perception INT+5 Persuasion COOL+4
Stealth DEX+4