Playing the grydscaen: hack the mainframe role playing game can be fun and rewarding. A 2-4 hacker infiltration strategy person game with simple to follow and dynamic rules that can be enjoyed by all.
excerpt from grydscaen RPG rulebook (copyright 2018-2019. Natsuya Uesugi)
game objective
Level the playing field. Stop the Elite government from oppressing people. Attack ruthlessly, reveal the lies or use your cybersecurity skills to stop the infiltrations and bring the hackers to justice.
the gridscan is all around you.
about cards and game play
The grydscaen RPG game is a multi-player role playing game and Tarot deck. Beat the hacker and mitigate their attacks. Do a Tarot divination reading with the main card deck. Role play and use stats, tokens and Silence badges to enhance play or just admire the character card designs.
hacker objective: attack the mainframe
Use your hacking skills to attack, take psi inducer drugs and use psychic powers to enhance your abilities. Gain street creds and forge alliances. Use virus and credit tokens to buy scripts, or disappear in a fog of drugs and drink.
cybersecurity objective: threat mitigation
Use traps and your network to thwart the hackers revealing their identities. Catch hackers in the act, send the Zone Police on a raid. Partner with cybersecurity informants and gain affiliations.
the card stats
Each main deck game card includes: name, image, number and title. Card backs include stats, description, rules. Select your player card (hacker or opponent) from the Major Arcana (cards 0 – 21). There are 4 card stats: Intrusion, Network, Social Engineering and Hardware.
Intrusion – Your hacking ability, use these skills to attack and mitigate threats. All hacker attacks need to use the intrusion stat.
Network – Your hacker network or the threat mitigation infrastructure to ward off an attack. All cybersecurity defends need to use the network stat.
Social Engineering – Affiliations, communication and persuasion skills. Use social engineering to get inside, learn intel, obtain data. The better your pitch and deeper your lies, the further you get inside.
Hardware – Your rig. You need the right tools to hack or oppose. Master your domain.
the main players
Select hacker player in the choosing round from the Major Arcana with front colour images. Chose one of six characters to play.
Select cybersecurity operative player in the choosing round from the Major Arcana with red borders. Choose one of six characters to play.
the skill cards
The Coins suit cards are purple. Use them to procure objects and hacker affilliations. These are the Steal cards and include equipment, items and tools you can use in the game. Buy passwords and IDs or gain credits. Coins cards allow you to purchase items or steal credits and tokens needed to play the game.
The Cups cards are yellow and include hacking skills. These are the Attack cards. Execute attacks and gain reputation and virus tokens. The better your attaks, the more street creds you have. Attack computers, ministers, employees or business entities. Gather cards aong the way and and plan your final attack on the mainframe.
The green Swords cards make up the Trap cards. Each card holds a particular skill that will stop the hacker from progressing on their mission. These cards can be used by the cybersecurity analyst.
The orange Wands cards include extra powers. These are the Skill cards. These skills can be used by all of the hacker player characters but only by the Gailen Allred cybersecurity character. The social engineering skills can enhance attack cards.
about role play
about role playing in grydscaen
The grydscaen series is a rich world with many characters, locations and politics that can enhance game play. This is a Role Playing Game. Use your player character and come up with a player storyline as you play the game. Use aspects from the grydscaen world to enhance your experience.
Use the character stats sheets to learn more about the main character you are playing in the game. Use the knowledge wisely. The game is only as rich, diverse and complex as your imagination allows. Be creative. The grydscaen world is a dark, dreary and complex post-apocalyptic landscape that will give you many elements to work with in crafting your game play storyline.
playing the hacker
The main player hacker characters in the game each have a stat sheet that comes with the game set. Use that stat sheet to give your characters extra depth and make your role playing come alive. Each stat sheet includes informaiton about the character and who they are as well as their backstory and background, where they live, work and who they know. Use this information to help inform the story as you develop your character’s actions.
playing cybersecurity (opponent)
The major government cybersecurity characters in the game each have a stat sheet that comes with the game set. Use the stat sheet to give your characters extra depth and make your role play more exciting. The cybersecurity stat sheets have infomration about your player’s risk mitigation skills, their backstory and if they have ever been on the other side of the law. This informaiton can enhance your player character giving them extra dimensions and depth.
setup the game
select your player character
Before game play starts: separate the Major Arcana cards numbered 0 – 21. You will choose your player from these cards. In the Major Arcana there are 6 hacker players and 6 cybersecurity (opponent) players with red borders. Determine who plays the hacker and who plays cybersecurity. Choose your character and set your character card on the table in front of you so the other players can see your card. After choosing, put remaining cards in the GoTo pile in the center of the playing area.
select your affiliation
You are allowed 1 affiliation in the choosing round. Choose a second character from the Major Arcana. Roll a dice, the person with the higher dice roll gets to choose first. If you pick the card Rom: Hacker Affiliation, choose an extra affiliation from the Major Arcana. Choose wisely to gain advantage. You will use your player character to guide the game and how you play. This is a role playing game with the entire grydscaen world at your fingertips. If you are familiar with the world, you can use your character’s backstory to enhance your role play.
One player will self-designate as Pawn Shop dealer (house).
start the game
start the game
Put extra tokens in piles to the side. Place your player character card face up on the table in front of you. You will gain cards, and tokens in play. Follow the rules on card backs. Hide your hand from your opponent except your player card. Place all other cards including remaining Major Arcana cards in a stack in the middle of the table, shuffle well to create the GoTo Pile where you draw cards on a turn. If a card instructs you to gain, lose or use tokens, do so. Follow card back rules. Have an area designated as the card Graveyard. After using a card to attack or mitigate discard to the Graveyard. Once Graveyard and GoTo piles are setup, each player roles a dice, higher role pulls first card to start the game.
play the game:
Pull 1 card off the GoTo pile on a turn. Keep card for later or play on this turn to attack/mitigate. Horde cards so your opponent can’t access them. Discard cards you don’t like to the Graveyard. If a card has instructions to roll dice, pull extra card(s) or gain tokens: follow card back rules. Play rounds until hacker or opponent has enough combined stats points to launch final attack/raid. Keep cards gained on a turn to launch attacks later in the game.
attacking and blocking
how to block
Use Corporate Risk Management tokens to thwart hacker attacks on any system or person. Remeber social engineering is an attack that can be waged against people. 1 Memory + 1 Attack token = 200 credits damage. Hackers can add credits, combine attacks to cause more damage which can be calculated. 1 Control.
how to attack
Launch an attack using Hacker Skills cards and Attack tokens. To attack use the Intrustion stat on cards backs + 1 Memory token and 1 Virus or Script Kiddie token. Add card Intrustion stat points to define attack strength. If cybersecurity launches risk mitigation to stop your attack add + 1 Reputation token or + 1 Credit token to increase attack strength.
silence badges
about silence badges
In the grydscaen series, Silence is a gridscan online ware game that kills you at level 60. Played jacked in, a game of strategy that has military applications along with the wargame Simlatrix. There are 3 types of silence badges used to steal tokens from other players or to form temporary alliances for a turn.
winning and losing
how to win:
For the hacker to win they need to launch an attack on the mainframe. If the hacker’s combined stats make a higher score than the opponent’s on final attack: the hacker wins and successfully hacks the mainframe. If opponent’s combined stats are higher than the hacker on the hacker’s final attack: the mainframe hack fails.
For cybersecurity to win they must launch a final raid at any time in the game to take down the hacker. The final raid like the final hack has certain requirements that must be met and cards/tokens that must be used in order for the raid play to work successfully. On the final raid, the opponent’s combined stats score must be higher than the hacker’s to win.
required to win:
For the hacker: You need hacker Skill cards for the final attack plus these tokens: 4 Virus, 2 Script Kiddie and 2 Reputation.
For cybersecurity: You need Trap cards for the final raid
plus these tokens: 4 Controls, 2 Mitigate and 2 Risk.
how to score final attack for the win:
For the hacker: Combine hacker Skill cards with additional cards for final Attack score. Add all Intrusion + Social Engineering stats on card backs. To win, hacker Intrustion + Social Engineering combined total stats score on all cards must be higher than cybersecurity total Intrustion + Network score. Then add all cards stats. If hacker scores higher, hacker wins.
For cybersecurity: Combine Trap cards with additional cards for final Mitigration score. Add all Intrustion + Network stats on card backs. To win, cybersecurity Intrustion + Network combined stats score on all cards must be higher than hacker’s total Intrustion + Social Engineering score. Then add all cards stats. If cybersecurity scores higher, cybersecurity wins.