RPG Hack Simulator

CYBERDECK HACKING MINI-GAME

Cyberdeck Interface

This mini-game is a short, tense hacking sequence you can bolt onto any roleplaying game. It is designed to feel like sneaking through a hostile network under pressure, without replacing your system’s normal rules.

Use it when you want hacking to be a quick but memorable spotlight scene, not a single die roll.

What You Need

– A device with a browser (laptop, tablet, etc.)
– The Cyberdeck webpage open (the hacking interface)
– One player acting as the “hacker” for this scene, typing commands

Everything else (trace meter, timers, ICE, file structure) is handled by the page.

When to Use It

Use the Cyberdeck mini-game when:

– The PCs are trying to break into a meaningful system: corporate servers, secured archives, police records, military databanks, criminal syndicate network, and so on
– You want 2–5 minutes of focused tension: a quick sequence of decisions and close calls
– You want the feel of hacking: recon, risk, alarms, rushing to finish before the trace hits

Skip it when:

– The target system is trivial (“I log into my own email”)
– The pacing doesn’t support a mini-game (you’re already in the middle of another big action sequence)

In those cases, just use a normal skill/attribute roll from your RPG instead.

Basic Flow at the Table

  1. Set the scene in your game’s fiction.
    – Describe the system: what’s at stake, what they’re trying to pull (steal files, scrub evidence, plant a backdoor, etc.).
    – Decide on the difficulty mode in the Cyberdeck (see below).
  2. Call for an initial hacking check in your system.
    – On a strong success: let them run the mini-game on an easier mode, or give them a hint (“You know this layout will be pretty shallow”).
    – On a weak success: use the mode you originally picked.
    – On a failure: keep the same mode, but consider starting with slightly raised TRACE in-fiction (“They were already on edge after the last breach”).
  3. Run the mini-game.
    – The player uses the commands shown in the Cyberdeck interface:
    – list – see what’s in the current directory
    – scan <folder> – low-risk recon on a folder
    – probe <folder> – deeper recon, higher trace risk
    – breach <folder> – move into that folder
    – back / cd .. – move up one level
    – open <file> – inspect a file (especially cache.enc)
    – decrypt cache.enc – start the final decrypt
    – trace – check current trace level
    – disconnect – bail out early, if they choose to
    – Their goal is always the same:
    – Find cache.enc somewhere under /root, then decrypt it.
  4. When the run ends, interpret the result in your system.
    – They either manage to fully decrypt the file before the trace maxes out, or they get burned and have to disconnect.

You are free to translate that outcome into whatever consequences fit your game.

Difficulty Levels

Before the run, the GM quietly sets the difficulty using the hidden mode command:

– mode easy
– mode normal
– mode hard
– mode veryhard
– mode extreme

These are GM-facing tools and do not appear in the player help list.

As difficulty increases:

– The directory tree gets deeper and more tangled
– More folders are guarded by ICE
– Trace climbs faster when time passes or when they push their luck
– Countermeasure lists get longer (more options to scan through under pressure)
– The penalties for failing an ICE countermeasure get harsher

Suggested mapping (but use whatever fits your campaign):

– Easy: minor system, public library, older local government records
– Normal: private corp intranet, police records, mid-tier criminal network
– Hard: high-security corp server, intelligence agency archives
– Very Hard: black ops servers, deep military systems, legacy AI vaults
– Extreme: mythic endgame nodes, alien systems, god-tier black sites

ICE and Countermeasures (How It Feels in Play)

As trace rises, the system occasionally triggers ICE events. On-screen, the player will see:

– A warning that ICE is scanning for them
– A COUNTERMEASURE INDEX (a number like 06, 14, 23, etc.)
– A list of countermeasure phrases for this run, each with a number
– On Easy mode only: the exact phrase they need is also spelled out

The player must:

– Quickly scan the list
– Find the entry with the matching index
– Type that phrase exactly before trace ramps up or they get burned

This is the “poker hand” moment: tense, visual, and frantic under time pressure.

Reading the Outcome

The Cyberdeck mini-game doesn’t tell you what happens in your story; it gives you fictional leverage.

Things you can use as signals:

– Did they find and decrypt cache.enc at all?
– How long did it take (rough time, not exact seconds)?
– How high did TRACE get?
– Did ICE trigger once, several times, or not at all?
– Did they fail any countermeasures?
– Did they choose to disconnect early?

You can turn that into consequences like:

– Clean success – quick, quiet hack
– Full data, no obvious alarms, no immediate retaliation
– Noisy success – they got what they needed, but left a mark
– Partial logs, security “looking into something odd”, increased heat later
– Burned – trace maxed, ICE locked on them
– Security forces show up, warrants, bounty on hacker, locked-out systems, or future hacks against that target start at higher trace

Use it to shape the next scene: action, investigation, chases, or fallout.

GM-Only Tools

The following commands exist in the Cyberdeck but are not listed in the player help:

– mode <level> – set difficulty (easy, normal, hard, veryhard, extreme)
– cm_list – prints the full master list of 40 countermeasures (for testing or reference)
– fs_debug – dumps the generated filesystem for that run (useful for debugging, not for normal play)

In normal sessions, you should only need mode. The others are for testing or if something weird happens.

Using It With Any RPG System

You can combine this mini-game with any ruleset:

– Cyberpunk, sci-fi, or near-future games
– Modern horror and conspiracy games
– Superhero games where “the hacker” is one of the team
– Even fantasy, if you re-skin it as a magical archive, arcane network, or god-mind

All you need to decide is:

– What skill/attribute/ability governs hacking in your system
– Whether to roll before the mini-game, after, or both
– What successful/failed runs mean in your story

The webpage handles the “feel” of the hack; your game handles what it means.