MetaCyber is a cinematic but gritty setting, with grounded violence and high lethality. It is not expected that all Runners will survive, and periodic turnover within a team should be a thing. Every Run could be a Runner's last, due to death, injury, or a decision to get out of the game while still more or less in one piece.

Character Point Levels

MetaCyber is designed for mid-powered characters who scale into high-power tiers as they survive and gain experience. It is assumed that new characters in this paradigm start with 125 Base Points and up to 100 points from Disadvantages. This value can be altered by the GM at will.

High / Low

A GM can easily kickstart the campaign to a higher level of play by granting Experience to characters to represent their status as veteran adventurers when the campaign starts.

Similarly, the GM could downscale the characters to represent that they are somewhat green when the campaign starts. However, given the lethality of the setting, this should be carefully considered.

Experience

In play, GMs should be somewhat fluid with XP awards to encourage a sense of growing power and so that the scale of the antagonists can be ramped up as the group takes on bigger and more dangerous missions. Without this feeling of ascending scale, a sense of boredom can set in. You can only break into a regional office to hack a corporate mainframe so many times before it becomes routine. There are always bigger, more dangerous missions that can be cooked up to maintain the challenge level, and when a GM starts to feel like the game is in a comfortable place, the XP flow can be tapered off to keep the PCs in that point range for a while.

If a player character dies or is retired, the GM should allow the player's new character to enter play with the same total XP as their previous character. Otherwise, players will get discouraged or give up. Also, if players want to just swap out characters periodically, this should not be penalized so long as it is not disruptive to the overall play experience. There is a bit of a "Mission Impossible" vibe to Runs, so it is very feasible for a Fixer to insist on a specialist joining a Run, or other similar justifications for a lineup change.

Relative Point Levels

The following chart vaguely indicates relative status levels by adjusted character points. The titles are not intended to have any literal meaning; they are just intended to give an idea of the status of a character with that many character points relative to the setting.

Relative Status	Base	Max Disadvantage Points	Starting Experience	Total Points
Noob	25	100	0	125
Neophyte	75	100	0	175
Youngblood	125	100	0	225
Pro	125	100	25	250
Veteran	125	100	75	300
Hero	125	100	125	350
Champion	125	100	175	400
Famous	125	100	250	475
Legend	125	100	400	625+

Rules Options

The following rules options have been curated to dial in a particular combination of cinematic and gritty options, that create a somewhat over-the-top but still grounded play experience. This setup is assumed to be in effect for MetaCyber campaigns.

Normal Characteristic Maxima (NCM)	Required
Powers Available?	by Origin
Super Skills Available?	by Origin
Combat Luck Available?	by Origin, to a cap
Deadly Blow Available?	by Origin, to a cap
Literacy Standard?	Yes
Weapon Familiarity Required?	Yes
Armor Familiarity Required?	No
Transport Familiarity Required?	Yes
Skill Maxima?	No
STR Minima?	Yes
Superheroic CSL Conversion?	No
Encumbrance?	Yes
Knockback or Knockdown?	Knockdown
Damage Resolution?	Hit Locations
Damage Persistence?	Injury & Impairment
Default Damage Kind?	Killing
Long Term Endurance?	Yes
END Ratio?	(Active Points / 10)
Equipment Cost Handling?	Resource Pool
Bases & Vehicles Cost Handling?	Resource Pool
Followers Cost Handling?	Resource Pool
Cybernetics Cost Handling?	Character Points

Origin

MetaCyber uses the notion of Origins for all PCs and significant NPCs. Origins modify what is or isn't allowed for a given character's build in specific ways. A character can have exactly one Origin, and thus it is a significant decision.

There are four Origins assumed to be common in the MetaCyber setting. As they are mechanical in nature, while a GM can extend or swap out Origins, they might need to make some adjustments here or there to accommodate their changes.

Pure Cyberpunk

If a GM wants to focus specifically on a pure cyberpunk experience without the metahuman concepts of MetaCyber, they can simply exclude the Meta Origin, and perhaps the Tuber Origin as well. The iconic characters of excluded Origins are not usable, but all other content is.

Androids / Replicants / Synthetics / Etc

If a GM wants to add in artificial humanoids, I recommend dropping the Tuber Origin and re-purposing some of the Tuber Phenotypes to instead represent specific lines or kinds. I would use Extra Capable, Extra Enhanced, Extra Evolved, Extra Rugged, Extra Quick, Extra Smart for this purpose.

Archetypes

MetaCyber also uses the notion of Archetypes for Runners in general, whether they be PCs or significant NPCs. Unlike Origins, Archetypes are optional and non-exclusive. The serve as ready-made roles that make it easy to fill out a team with the skill set needed for specific Runs. Characters do not have fit neatly into one or more Archetypes, but it does make it more difficult for them to find work.

There are eight Archetypes assumed to be common in the MetaCyber setting. However, because Archetypes are narrative rather than mechanical in nature, GMs are free to merge, extend, or discard these options as they see fit without harm.

Resource Pools

Characters can have three different Resource Pools, as described in the Dark Champions Genre book. The allowed Resource Pools and their default starting values as shown in the below table.

Resource Pool	Starting Points
Equipment	60
Vehicles / Bases	10
Contacts / Followers	5

Note: The default values of certain pools are modified by certain Origins

Kit vs. Armory

As described in Dark Champions, there is a difference between Kit and Armory. A character's Kit is what they can carry on their person or into combat, while their Armory is their stockpiled collection of items from which they can choose their Kit.

When created, starting characters are assumed to have any gear they can fit into their Resource Pools for free, without having to pay credits for them from their starting funds.

Stockpiling an Armory

Gear that a character owns that isn't currently in one of their Resource Pools is considered to be in their Armory. When they have access to their Armory, a character can fill up their Resources Pools from their Armory and swap items to and from their Kit and Armory.

Thus, character's can acquire more gear than they can carry, and stash some of it elsewhere for potential future use. Acquisition can take many forms ranging from theft, looting fallen enemies, and the more prosaic option of buying them for credits. It is each player's responsibility to keep track of their own character's Armory and Kit, but GMs are recommended to monitor this as well in any case where they suspect dishonesty or poor accounting.

Equipment Availability

The Equipment Availability Perks detailed in Dark Champions are in effect. In addition to affecting starting Equipment options, characters are assumed to have connections that allow them to acquire items appropriate to their Equipment Availability during play with greater ease than other characters.

Perk	Cost	Benefit
Standard	Free	Basic handguns, basic body armor, and "army surplus" type gear. Normal street vehicles.
Enforcement	3	Military small arms, submachine guns / assault weapons, and basic military issue. SWAT-style vehicles (such as Runner Vans).
Military	5	Grenades, machine guns, high-grade body armor, basic military vehicles, and restricted military issue devices. All light-to-medium military air and ground vehicles such as Armored Reconnaissance Vehicles, observation planes, transport helicopters, and similar mid-grade units.
Advanced Military	10	Missile launchers, flamethrowers, small-scale Nuclear / Biological / Chemical weapons, ordnance, artillery pieces, experimental and cutting-edge weapons, and similar items. Main battle tanks, fighter aircraft, assault helicopters, and other high-end military vehicles.

During play, a character might sporadically acquire a bit of gear of a higher grade than their Equipment Availability Perks naturally gives them access to. But even then, they won't be able to easily repair, maintain, or replace such gear without the Perk.

Depending upon the emerging story of a campaign, characters that do not start play with an elevated Equipment Availability Perk might gain or improve such a Perk later, but they must pay the character points to do so. Similarly, a character might lose access based upon the emerging plot of a campaign; character points are recouped if this occurs.

Healing: Uncommon to Rare

Combat-effective Healing is unusual, though some high-tech first aid kits might be represented by Healing at the GM's discretion. MetaCyber characters get hurt often and will frequently have some residual damage from previous encounters. However, out-of-combat healing is fairly common assuming a character can afford professional medical treatment in a high-tech facility. Additionally, it is expected to be very common for characters to have the Rapid Healing Talent and/or lots of BODY.

With the Injury options in use it is also expected that characters will eventually need some form of cybernetics to replace destroyed body parts. While high-tech medical facilities can save a character from the verge of death if they are accessible, there is no form of resurrection. Thus a GM might want to consider having all players prepare and maintain an "understudy" character that is ready to be brought into play fairly quickly in the case of the untimely death of their primary character.

Deadly Blow

Deadly Blow is available, with the following restrictions.

• Restriction Based on Origin: Deadly Blow is considered to be a Super Skill in the MetaCyber setting, and is thus limited to Origins that allow Super Skills. Each separate kind of Deadly Blow is considered a single separate Super Skill "slot", thus a character could have three heavily limited levels and two limited levels counting as two separate Super Skill "slots". The GM might put limitations on the total number of dice allowed on a case-by-case basis, however (a max of 3d6 per Super Skill "slot" is recommended).
• Inanimate Objects: Deadly Blow adds damage to a character's attacks. This causes the odd side effect of characters being able to hack through inanimate objects with ridiculous ease. To prevent this from occurring, I recommend that a House Rule be implemented stating that Deadly Blow does not affect inanimate objects unless specifically purchased to do so. Thus a character couldn't normally Deadly Blow through a wall with their pistol, for instance, but a character could take Deadly Blow Only vs Doors to represent a SWAT-like adeptness at busting in doors.
• Automatons: For this purpose, Automatons are considered "inanimate", though the SFX for various Automatons may not be clear-cut. Regardless, under this House Rule, Deadly Blow will only affect Automatons if specifically defined to do so, though this can be categorical.
• Base Damage: Deadly Blow adds to base damage; this usually makes sense but it does cause some odd side effects, such as when performing a Move By with a weapon while using Deadly Blow. To prevent this, it is recommended that a House Rule be implemented stating that Deadly Blow only adds to base damage for purposes of determining maximum damage.
• Knockback and Knockdown: Another odd side effect of Deadly Blow is its effect on Knockback and Knockdown. Each die of Deadly Blow results in an extra 3" of Knockback or 1.5" of Knockdown on average, which can get ridiculous quickly. Thus it is recommended that Deadly Blow dice should be differentiated from normal damage dice, and not included for purposes of Knockback / Knockdown. Typically different colored and/or sized dice are used to accomplish this quickly and easily.
• Forgetful Players: If a player forgets to differentiate their Deadly Blow dice and rolls for damage, simply add the same number of dice as they rolled for Deadly Blow to the Knockback roll, or take an average of the damage inflicted times the correct number of non-Deadly Blow dice if using Knockdown. This is a flawed solution due to the potential for the Deadly Blow damage dice to roll abnormally high or low, but it is generally preferable and less disruptive to the game than forcing the player to reroll the damage completely.

Combat Luck

Combat Luck is available, with the following restrictions.

• Restriction Based on Origin: In the MetaCyber setting, Combat Luck is considered to be a Super Skill and thus is only available to characters with Origins that allow Super Skills (Tubers and Adepts by default). A character can have up to three levels of Combat Luck (9 PD / 9 ED) as a Super Skill. A GM may allow a character to take more Combat Luck as additional Super Skill "slots", and if so each "slot" can have up to three levels of effect (9 PD / 9 ED).
• Combat Luck and Area of Effect Attacks: To maintain some sense of realism it is recommended that a House Rule be implemented stating that Combat Luck will not protect a character from an Area of Effect that affects the hex that the character is in and all the hexes around them.
• Adjoining Open Hex: If there is at least one open hex to any side of a character which is not in the Area of Effect, then that character may opt to use their Combat Luck vs. the AoE Attack but must move into the adjacent open hex of their choice as a Non-Action which takes no time; this can be done even if the character is unable to move normally because they have already acted in that Segment or would not act in that Segment, but may not be done if the character is immobilized. However, the character is prone in the new hex and at 1/2 DCV, just as if they had performed a failed Dive For Cover maneuver. In this circumstance, the character subtracts their defenses from the AoE Attack, including applicable Combat Luck, and takes the remainder as normal.

Stacking Defenses

A concern when running MetaCyber games is characters who layer defenses to the point where they are invulnerable. It is important to remember in a setting like MetaCyber that most guns hover in the 2d6K range and thus armor of 10+ is extremely powerful and armor of 13+ will require heavy weapons to put a dent in. Thus a GM should be careful to keep DEF under control or else characters can become bulletproof.

The commonality of layered defenses becomes more prevalent if cybernetics are more common. For instance, what happens when a character with Dermal Armor wears Body Armor, both built using the Armor Power? Or when a meta with Steel Skin puts on a suit of Powered Armor?

To limit the ability for a Character to stack several small defenses on themselves of the same type and attain Tank-like resistance to harm, it is recommended that a House Rule be implemented as follows: If a character has two Defenses that apply to the same attack that are based on the same HERO System Base Power, they use the higher Defense +1 PD or ED for each other Defense that also applies.

For the purposes of this House Rule, the following are considered to be distinct Defenses:

• Armor
• Damage Resistance
• Force Field
• Damage Reduction
• Combat Luck
• Flash Defense
• Mental Defense
• Power Defense
• Triggered Missile Deflection
• Triggered Dispel
• Triggered Suppress

NOTE: Force Wall is not on this list. A Character protected by multiple Force Walls gets the benefit of all of them.

NOTE: A Force Field can also contain Flash Defense, Power Defense, and Mental Defense. This would add to each of those Defenses bought separately if a Character had both.