Publisher: Skortched Urf' StudiosAutorun is a D20 based mini-game that overlays virtual reality-based cyberhacking into any D20 Modern or Pathfinder Roleplaying Game adventure. Autorun is a fast-play mini-game that is based on the Computer Use skill but which can stand apart from it. If you want ultra-competent, Gibson-style hackers who plug into a virtual environment to manipulate data and steal files, Autorun has your back. Autorun is simplistic enough that a gamemaster can lay out the Autorun playing field along side the campaign’s tactical map, and play a quick hacking minigame between other player’s actions.
From the author:
I’ve never run old school Gibsonian cyberhacking in any of my games. Logistically, running a ‘decker’ type character in games like Shadowrun (Catalyst Game Labs) or any iteration of Cyberpunk (R. Talsorian) is a nightmare- while building a fictional world for the rest of the players to explore, you have to put together a virtual reality world for the team’s hacker to explore alone. In essence, you’re splitting the party every time the hacker uses the ability that defines his class, and due to the complexity of most cyber-hacking rules, even the simplest virtual task becomes a marathon encounter.
As a result, I’ve never bothered to include a genuine cyberpunk ‘virtual world’ into my Otherverse America campaign world. Despite being set in 2107 CE, Otherverse America’s communications protocols are virtually identical to our own, and if a player wants to hack, they make a Computer Use skill check or three and abstract the results. Same goes for my other campaign worlds- Psi-Watch, Galaxy Command and Black Tokyo. Hacking is handled mostly off screen, simply because I couldn’t think of a good way to integrate a cyber-hacking mini-game.
That changed recently, and you’re holding the result in your hand