Editing Cyberpunk 2020 (section)

== The Net ==
A central concept of the cyberpunk genre is the internet and computer hacking. One article in R. Talsorian's referee's supplement ''Listen Up you Primitive Screwheads'' asserts that the internet is the minimum technology required for a cyberpunk setting. Not surprisingly, the chapter on Netrunning (hacking) is the longest in the ''CP2020'' rulebook.

The game takes a 'classic' 1980s approach to the subject, with the internet described as a three-dimension grid (complete with fluorescent gridlines on a black background) through which move icons representing users and programmes. Servers are referred to as 'data-fortresses' protected by 'data walls' which the intrepid Netrunner knocks down with a programme like a medieval battering ram. Referees are encouraged to design datafortresses using blank crossword puzzle grids as maps.

A second line of defence for valuable data is Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics programmes, which can chase the hapless Netrunner back through the net to their 'deck' (laptop with a 'modem') and either fry the deck or shock the Netrunner into unconsciousness, with some programs (Black ICE -- straight outta Gibson) just plain killing the poor schmuck they hit.