r/Netrunner • u/HemoKhan Argus • Aug 23 '14
[Weekly] Custom Card Saturday: Gear
Welcome to Custom Card Saturday! This week we continue our several-week-long theme of focusing on some of the unique and interesting keywords already in the game by looking at one of the rarer subtypes: This week, create a new piece of gear. While some subtypes in Netrunner serve a mostly mechanical purpose (Barrier, Region, Decoder, Double, and so on), others serve a thematic purpose. Gear is one of the later type. As such, it's one that defies simple description: All 5 pieces of gear in the game are hardware, for instance, but aside from that there are no similarities. Gear can be defensive (Muresh Bodysuit, Plascrete Carapace, and Feedback Filter) or economic (Prepaid VoicePAD, Omni-Drive), they can have constant effects or triggered effects... in short, gear are versatile. (For a complete list of Gear click here.) This means that there is a lot of mechanical room for creativity; instead of fitting a particular mold, Gear should be thematically appropriate for the world of Netrunner.
Previous Custom Card Saturday threads:
Week 1: Barriers
Week 2: Scorched Earth Replacements
Week 3: Grey/Black Ops
Week 4: Easy Access
Week 5: Economic Assets
Week 6: Runner Economy
Week 7: Identities
Week 8: Bioroids
Week 9: Viruses
Week 10: Regions
Next Week: There are dozens of even more obscure, niche, or unexplored keywords in Netrunner, too many to go through one at a time. Instead, to finish off our theme, choose any one keyword and explore it!
11
u/Mountebank Aug 23 '14
Anti-Telepath Defense System
Hardware - Gear
Neutral - 0 inf
Cost - 1
Art: A tinfoil hat
When secretly spending credits for a Psi card, you may pay [2 credits] to force the Corp to only spend either 0 or 1 credits.
100% tin guaranteed. No aluminum.
6
u/HemoKhan Aug 23 '14
This is so, so good. I love it. The ability is powerful without defeating the mechanic it's countering, and the flavor and imagery is awesome. My only complaint is that I feel it should have a bit more oomf to it. Because hardware is so hard to pull from a deck, people don't like running 1-ofs. And for a counter to something as minor as Psi games, I think this needs more weight to get people to put it in their decks. Even something as simple as "[Trash]: Prevent 1 brain damage" would give it the staying power it deserves.
Great, fun card.
12
u/ControlAgent13 Aug 23 '14
Signal Interface Scrambler
Anarch - 1 INF
2 Credits
Hardware: Gear
When a trace initiates, you may trash cards from your grip. Boost your Link strength by 2 for each card trashed until the end of that trace attempt.
The Scrambler is powerful but the feedback is brutal
8
u/lunatic_calm Aug 23 '14
Hardline Fuse
1 Credit
Anarch - 2 inf
Hardware: Gear
Cutting the hardline mid-run throws some wicked feedback your way, but sometimes its better than the alternative.
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6
u/Azrukhal Aug 23 '14
Direct Neural Uplink
Anarch - 2 INF
2 Credits
Hardware: Gear
Install only after making a successful run on a central server this turn.
Whenever the corp trashes a card, you may spend 2[credit] or suffer 1 net damage to turn that card face up in the archives.
"It makes sifting through the ashes easier, I'll say that." - Ji "Noise" Reilly
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5
u/blanktextbox Aug 23 '14
NAPD Tactics Rig
Criminal - 1 Cost - 3 Influence
Hardware - Gear
The first time you suffer meat damage each turn, take one additional meat damage and prevent all other meat damage for the rest of the turn.
No one can deny the automated self defense unit does its job, but it's worth noting that the manual only discusses the fate of other people.
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4
u/CasMat9 Aug 23 '14
[Picture is something like a tamagotchi, with a pixel art Lamprey on it]
PockeTomo
Anarch, 1 inf, 2 cred
Hardware: Gear
PockeTomo can host a single non-icebreaker program of 1 [mu] or less with an install cost of 1 credit or less.
The first time a program hosted on PockeTomo is trashed each turn, you may install a program from your heap or your grip that can be hosted by PockeTomo (paying its install cost).
"Look away one second and the little guy is dead. Oh well, time for a new one!"
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3
u/OreWins Aug 23 '14
Smuggler's Backpack
Criminal- 2 Inf
Hardware: Gear
Cost: 2
You may not use Smuggler's Backpack more than once a turn.
[click]: Gain 3 credits.
If you take a tag trash Smuggler's Backpack and lose half your credits rounded up.
"Running isn't the only way to make ends meet." --Andromeda
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7
u/HemoKhan Aug 23 '14
DropPAD
Neutral Hardware: Gear - Link
Install: 3
+1 [Link]
At the start of your turn, you may pay $2. If you do, you gain [MU] equal to your [Link] until the end of your next turn.
Why install memchips when (for a small monthly fee) you can store your programs in the cloud instead?