Utopia_v1_0.txt

A cyberpunk cityscape, overlaid with a wireframe of a man with numerous cybernetic upgrades. In the foreground there are three figures: a woman in an elegant white coat and red gown, a cybernetic whose face has detached to reveal the mechanisms beneath and a man whose face is covered by a futuristic visor.
Utopia logo
A tall woman of asian descent wearing an eccentric purple and blue gown with a pink spiked collar and blue shoulder pads strikes a dancing pose. Her legs are entirely cybernetic. 
A black woman with a red cybernetic arm holding a large laser canon
A blonde haired man in a high collared coat wears a futuristic visor and carries a syringe. A camera mounted on his shoulder studies his surroundings. 
A black man with cybernetic arms leaking green poison gas. He wears a breathing mask and a large tank on his back connected with hoses to his arms.
A hispanic man in an electric green collared vest  with a swoop of black hair. He crouches down, examining a tablet.
A NEO-FUTURISTIC TABLETOP ROLE PLAYING GAME

CREDITS
LEAD DESIGNER 
David Markiwsky
ARTISTS
David Markiwsky, Liz Gist
With additional stock art via Adobe Stock

A special thanks to all the playtesters who suffered through the earliest versions of this game and gave their feedback and ideas that pushed it forward through it s development.
MORE INFORMATION
WEBSITE
www.utopiarpg.com
CONTACT
dmarkiwsky@gmail.com

BOOKSHELF
A number of existing tabletop roleplaying products served as inspiration while developing Utopia and the system on which it is built. Whether it was Burning Wheel as an example of player driven progression, or Ironsworn, which gave me the courage to make Utopia playable solo and without a game master, I would be remiss if I didn t show them some love and encourage you to give them a try yourself. 
 	
Burning Wheel Gold

 	
Ironsworn and Ironsworn: Delve

 	
Blades in the Dark

 	
Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition

 	
Trophy Gold and Trophy Dark



A small collection of handdrawn books on a shelf.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION	8PLAYING THE GAME	11


USING THE BOOK	12
What you need to play	12
Hack the System	12
CAMPAIGN LENGTH	13
SOLO, GROUP OR GM D PLAY	14
How does it work?	14
Solo play	14
GM-Less Group Play	15
GM d Play	16
STARTING A GAME	17
YOUR CHARACTER SHEET	18
ROLLING THE DICE	20
Skill Rolls	20
Difficulty Rating	20
Extras	21Advantage	21
Disadvantage	21
Stacking Advantage and Disadvantage	21
Bravado 	21


Rolling 1 s and 20 s: Crits and Complications	22
GAMEPLAY	23
1: Newsfeed	24
2: Take Action	26
3: Updating Your Sphere	27
TAKING ACTIONS	29
Success	29
Complication	29
Failure	29
Skill Challenges	30
LIST OF ACTIONS	32
Barter	32
Find Another Way	32
Gather Information	33
Gather Resources	34
Lay Low	35
Meet Someone New	35
Navigate a Location	36
Persuade	37
Recover	37
Search	37
Sneak/Infiltrate	37
Take a Job	38
Upgrade	39
Use a Skill	39
SKILL BASED ACTIONS	40
Construct	40
Establish Income	41
Experiment	41
Hack	42
Program Artificial Intelligence (AI)	45
Program Software	46
Treat Wounds	47
COMBAT AND CONFRONTATION	48
Beginning Combat or Confrontation	49
Phases of Combat and Confrontation	50
Allies 	55
Co-op Play	55
Combat and Confrontation with Multiple Opponents	56
NPCS (NON-PLAYER CHARACTERS)	57
Creating NPCs	57
Interacting with NPCs	59
CHARACTER BUILDER	63


CREATING A CHARACTER	64
ORIGINS	67
Highborn	68
Risers	70
Lowborn	72
Murkbloods	74
Non-Human	76
Creating New Origins	79
SPECIALIZATIONS	81
Biofarmer	82
Bio-Engineer	84
Charlatan 	86
Chemical Biologist	87
Consul	88
Datajack	89
Datawave	90
Duelist	92
Exorcist	93
Glamour	94
Machinist	95
Medi	96
Media	97
Merchant	98
Monk	100
Runner	101
Smith	102
Skulker	103
Soldier of Fortune	104
Tanker	105
Unbound	106
Venom	108
Creating new specializations	109
SKILLS	110
KNOWLEDGE	111
Using Knowledge in Skill Rolls	111
Knowledge Categories	112
GOALS	114
EQUIPMENT 	115
Weapons	115Melee Weapons 	115
Firearms	116
Weapon Upgrades	118
Special Ammunition	120
Grenades, Bombs and Other Explosives	121


Armor	123Powered Armor	124


Other Equipment	125
Enhancements	127Installing an Enhancement	127


Chems	132
Tech	134
Tech Upgrade Modules	142
Programs	145
Cybernetics and Drones	149Determining the Abilities of a Drone or Cybernetic	150

SETTING	153


INTRODUCTION	153
HISTORY OF UTOPIA 	154
UTOPIA TODAY	157
Cities of Tomorrow	157
The Wastes	159
Social Classes	160
TECHNOLOGY	161
Artificial Intelligence (AI)	166
Artificial Humanoids	168
CULTURE	170
IDEOLOGIES	173
MEGA-CORPORATIONS	176
Example Mega-corporations	178Meditech	178
SolCore	179
Saito	180


Creating Your Own Mega-corporation	180
GANGS AND DISSIDENT GROUPS	181
CITY BUILDER	194City Builder Worksheet	194
Pregenerated Cities	194

SPECIAL RULES	205


Dangerous Streets	206
Disease and Infection	206
Infestation 	209Plant Infestation 	209
Animal Infestation	213


Nanophage	213Maze Assembly	213
Cybernetic Evolution	215


Power at a Cost	218Time Travel Equipment	219


Radiation 	220Encountering Radiation	220
Radiation Complications	221
Treating Radiation	221
Radiation Countermeasures	222


Shortage - Food or Water	223
The Wastes	225
RANDOM TABLES	229


NEWSFEED EVENTS	230
CHARACTER AND NPC OPTIONS	236Pronouns	236
Social Class	236
Personality Traits	237


JOBS	238


INTRODUCTION
Utopia is a neo-futuristic roleplaying game, drawing on elements of cyberpunk and speculative science fiction. In Utopia, you will make some decisions about your setting, create a character with goals and ambitions and work to achieve those goals, while dealing with whatever challenges the world throws at you.

The world of Utopia is a world that has recovered from a cataclysmic event known as  The Fall , which altered the landscape of the world as we know it. 100 years later, the world has rebuilt itself into a place of technology, innovation and hope for a bright future. However, despite advances in nearly every field, from medicine, science and biology, to robotics, automation and farming, conflict remains ingrained in every level of society. The gap between the rich and poor widens more with each passing day, while thousands of people go without basic necessities and medical care. Corporate power has expanded to a point where corporations maintain their own private military forces and political candidates maintain corporate sponsorships. Rampant computerization has led to new extremes of media integration in everyone s daily lives, while new theological struggles around what constitutes a living person have emerged with innovations in cybernetics, cloning and artificial intelligence.
The world is a complicated place. Some people are trying to get ahead, right wrongs, fight the power, climb the corporate ladder, discover miracle cures, invent new tech, help others, get rich or become powerful. Others are just trying to survive.
Welcome to Utopia.
CONTENT WARNING
Cyberpunk stories often take place in settings that feature social conflict, inequality, exploitation, oppression, or discrimination. These often serve as the monolithic forces against which the protagonists (and even antagonists) struggle. Many of these things are represented in various aspects of Utopia, including the character and setting options, but are presented in a way that you can customize what to include and exclude from your game based on the comfort level of you or your group, and the story you want to tell. 
When creating your character and setting, think about how the options you choose may affect your character and you as a player, before committing to them. If you re playing in a group, check in with each player and discuss what they are comfortable with including in your setting and what they would prefer to leave out. Additionally, I always encourage the use of safety tools when playing any tabletop role playing game. 
CAMPAIGN LENGTH
The structure of Utopias gameplay lends itself to running campaigns of any length, whether it be a long campaign lasting months of play time, a scenario spanning a handful of play sessions, or a short encounter whose story begins and ends in a single session of play. 
CAMPAIGN
Follow a character s journey as they pursue their goals, achieve them and set new goals for themselves, gaining skills, amassing resources and purchasing new and exciting equipment. 
Play time: As long or short as you want it to be
Example: Follow Dillion s journey from rags to riches as he struggles to turn his life around and make something of himself.
SCENARIO
Choose the central tension or an overarching goal that your character will work to resolve and follow their journey in pursuit of those ends. 
Play time: 3-10 play sessions
Example: Play as Sarah, a skilled Medi, as she researches and attempts to develop a vaccine for a debilitating disease that is sweeping through the City. 
ENCOUNTER
Set the stage for an exciting event, create a character and see the event through to its completion. 
Play time: 1-2 play sessions
Example: Moira and her gang have taken a job to break into a data center and steal the processing unit from a supercomputer there. 
USING THE BOOK
The system on which Utopia is built is, at its core, quite simple. However, it is a modular system where you can additional rules depending on the situation. All the basic rules you need to know to play Utopia are listed in this chapter of the book. Additional modular rule sets, lists of tech and random tables that will come into play only under certain circumstances are listed in later chapters. The basic rules will tell you when to refer to these additional modular rules when they are required.
As the creator, my advice is to read through the gameplay chapter, then hop right into creating a character and playing your first game. Once you ve played a session or two and get the hang of the system, have a read through the equipment chapter to see all the fun things your character can work towards getting for themself.   
WHAT YOU NEED TO PLAY
 	
This book

 	
A character sheet

 	
3 ten sided dice and a handful of six sided dice (5-8 of them is perfect). You can play Utopia with as little as one ten sided die and one six sided die, but it s always more fun rolling a handful of dice than it is rerolling one die a bunch of times

 	
Paper or some way of taking notes


HACK THE SYSTEM
Once you understand the basics of how Utopia works, make it your own and hack the rules where you need to. Roleplaying games are fun because they allow you to do what you want. If you want to take an action or perform a move that isn t listed in the rules, add your own rules for it. It s your game after all.

A woman with her back turned and arms crossed. The swooping neckline of her shirt reveals cybernetic implants in her spine. She holds a fun in one hand. 
A wireframe drawing of a man with cybernetic implants, overlaid on a cyberpunk city rendered in blue tones. 
A cyberpunk city of sprawling towers, rendered in blue tones. 
PLAYING THE GAME

This section of the book will guide you through the ins and outs of how to play Utopia, including the solo play, GM-less group play and GM d play options for the game, including details on how to run combat and non-combat confrontations.
You ll find the following information in this section:
 	
Using the book

 	
Campaign length 

 	
Solo, group or gm d play

 	
How to start a new game

 	
Character sheet

 	
Rolling the dice

 	
Gameplay

 	
Taking actions

 	
List of actions

 	
Combat and confrontation

 	
NPCs and allies



PLAYING THE GAME

STARTING A GAME
1.	
Choose your game length
Are you planning on running a long campaign, a more focused scenario or a short encounter? 

2.	
Choose a central tension or ongoing newsfeed event
The central tension will help set the theme for your game and can have an impact on how you play. Are you trying to survive a disease sweeping through your city, living under the shadow of corporate war, navigating a tumultuous political landscape or trying to cope with a constant infestation of metal dissolving weeds that grow EVERYWHERE? Choose or roll for an option from the newsfeed events table on page 230. 

3.	
Create your character
Use the character creator to find out who your character is, what they re good at and what their goals are.

4.	
Build, choose or adapt your setting
You can build your own city to set your adventures in by answering a few questions in the City Builder section on  page 194. Alternatively, you can adapt your favorite existing setting or use one of the prebuilt cities starting on page 198.

5.	
Play the game!



A curvy black woman with short cropped hair and dangling earings. She wears a long coat, which she holds open to reveal the goods secured to the inside of the coat for sale. Her visor reads "buy 1, get 1"
SOLO, GROUP OR GM D PLAY
Utopia can be played either solo or in a group; with or without a game master (GM).  The basic systems of the game remain the same in each instance, with a few key differences. 
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Regardless of how you choose to play, you will create a character, determine their goals and tell the story of how they accomplish, or fail to accomplish, those goals. Whether your characters goals are to form a crime syndicate, become a famous pop singer, negotiate peace among the cities of Utopia or raise themself up out of poverty, it is your characters drive to pursue these goals that will drive the story forward. Meanwhile, the newsfeed will provide a running commentary of events within your city that may provide opportunities, distractions or challenges. 
	As your character approaches each new challenge, they will gather their advantages and use dice rolls based on their skills and knowledge to measure their successes and failures. With each new goal achieved, your character will become more skilled so they can set themselves ever-loftier goals. 
SOLO PLAY
In solo-play, you will plan out and work through the actions of your character each week, dealing with new challenges as they arise. A series of tables is available at the back of this book to help randomly generate NPCs to interact with, inspire complications and determine the course of events in the city.
DETERMINING DIFFICULTY: When your character embarks on a task, the difficulty of the task is determined using your current danger or the determination of your opponent.
Danger: A number on your character sheet representing the current danger your character faces. This will go up and down depending on the tasks your character engages in and the events happening in the city that week.
Determination: The measure of the general skill of an NPC (determined by rolling during NPC creation) or an opponent (determined by consulting a table).
GM-LESS GROUP PLAY
Group play without a game master is much the same as solo play. Each player creates their own character, complete with their own goals. Players can:
 	
create mutual goals to work towards together

 	
create separate goals and help one another to accomplish them

 	
create separate goals and work separately to accomplish them - in this case, you may be playing together in the same city, with your characters either not knowing one another or only knowing one another in passing

 	
create opposing goals and work against one another



DETERMINING DIFFICULTY: When determining difficulty for any task:
 	
if only one player is working to complete the task, use their current danger level or reputation with an NPC to determine the difficulty 

 	
if 2 or more characters are working to complete the same task together, use the highest danger level among those characters or the highest reputation bonus for an NPC



ADDING DANGER: When adding danger for any reason (including when you choose to take a complication in place of a failed skill roll), add danger for all characters involved in the scene.
Example 1: Mira and Jane are attempting to pick the lock on a door and fail their skill roll. They choose to take a complication, resulting in an increase in their danger. Since both characters are involved in the scene, both their danger levels are increased by 1. 
Example 2: Mira and Jane decide to split up. Mira tries to find a open window, while Jane attempts to pick the lock on the door. Jane fails her skill roll, but chooses to take a complication to succeed, increasing her danger by 1. Since Mira is not engaged in the scene of Jane picking the lock on the door, only Jane s danger increases by 1.

A GOOD GAME FOR PLAY BY POST
The way that Utopia is broken down into weeks makes it a great game for play by post campaigns. Large groups of players can all exist together in the same city, going about their own lives and pursuing their own goals, while dealing with the same challenges and opportunities presented by a shared newsfeed and interacting with the same cast of NPCs. 
GM D PLAY
The role of a game master in Utopia is not so different than other role playing games you might be familiar with. However, some of the more rigid rules and systems in Utopia that allow for solo and gm-less play can change the GM s role in a few ways.
When playing Utopia with a game master, the game master performs the following roles inside the structure of the normal Gmless rules:
 	
Roleplay NPCs the characters interact with

 	
Determine the difficulty of skill rolls, either by rolling for them as described later in this book or by determining them based on the perceived difficulty of the task

 	
Determine complications characters experience

 	
Roll or choose new newsfeed items at the beginning of each week


And by adding additional elements that are beyond the normal rule set:
 	
Introduce new characters and complications into the narrative outside of those driven by the characters and their goals

 	
Provide story and narrative hooks for the characters to explore

 	
Award additional skill points upon the completion of large tasks outside the character goals



YOUR CHARACTER SHEET
Detailed information about creating a character can be found in the Character Builder, starting on page 63. Here is a brief overview of the information you can find on the character sheet, what it means, and why it s important to understanding the gameplay of Utopia.
1. Skills 
These represent what skills your character is trained in and where their expertise lies. Your character will start with training in a few skills and you will be able to level up these skills and train new skills throughout the course of play. Each skill has a maximum skill level of 3. 
2. Knowledge
These are the areas in which your character is knowledgeable and can be used to enhance your skill rolls dealing with that subject. You will start play with knowledge of a few subjects, but can expand your knowledge through research or observation during play. 
3. Equipment
These are the weapons, tools, tech devices, and cybernetic enhancements that your character will accumulate throughout play. Some of these will give you bonuses to your skill rolls.
4. Specializations
Your character will begin with a specialization that offers them skills, resources and a special ability. Here is where you will record this special ability and keep track of the number of uses of that ability.
5. Resources
This represents the resources you have at your disposal in Utopia. Most of the time this will represent money, could include other wealth you have at your disposal.
6. Bravado
These are expendable bonuses you receive when you complete tasks or act in an awesome way. You can spend 1 bravado to add 1d6 to any roll. 
7. Danger
This represents the current level of danger you face and will be used to determine the difficulty of your skill rolls in dangerous situations. This number will go up and down based on the events happening in the city through your newsfeed, the dangerous situations you find yourself in and your own actions.
8. Wounds
Here you will track your characters physical and mental wounds suffered through combat and confrontation.
9. Goals
These are the short and long term goals of your character. They will direct your character s actions in game and achieving them will allow your character to advance. You can change these goals at any time during play.
10. Newsfeed
This represents the news in your city each week. The severity of events will go up and down as situations become more intense. Old stories will disappear and new stories will show up. The degree to which you want to interact directly with the events in the city is up to you and your character. 
The spheres worksheet on page 2 of your character sheet represents the NPCs you interact with and will be explained in the gameplay section.

An image of page 1 of the Utopia character sheet.
ROLLING THE DICE
SKILL ROLLS
In Utopia, most actions are resolved by making a skill roll. Skill rolls are made by rolling a pool of dice, adding the results of the roll together and comparing it against the difficulty rating to determine if you succeed or fail. 
YOUR DICE POOL:
2d10 + skill dice + knowledge dice = skill roll
Skill Dice: If you are making a skill roll with a skill you are trained in, add 1d6 to your dice pool for each level of training you have in that skill (maximum of 3). 
Knowledge Dice: If you have knowledge relevant to the skill roll you are making, add 1d6 for each knowledge category you have relevant to the skill roll.
DIFFICULTY RATING
The difficulty rating of a skill roll determines the number you must beat to succeed.
Most actions specify a method of calculating their difficulty, which will involve rolling some dice. However, if you perform an action that is not specified in the book or are GMing and prefer to set the difficulty rather than rolling for it, use this table as a guide.
Challenge Difficulty
 Rolling the 
Difficulty Rating
 Choosing the 
Difficulty Rating
 
Common 
 2d10 
 10-13
 
Moderate 
 2d10 + 1d6
 14-17
 
Challenging 
 2d10 + 2d6
 18-21
 
Difficult
 2d10 + 3d6
 22-25
 
Very Difficult
 2d10 + 4d6
 26+
 


EXTRAS
Advantage
If you have taken additional steps to ensure that you succeed, you have advantage on your skill roll. This could involve attacking from the high ground, surprising your enemy in combat, or gaining leverage against someone when attempting to compel them to do what you want.
If you make a skill roll with advantage, roll 3d10, instead of 2d10.
Disadvantage
If there are additional factors working against you in making a skill roll, you have disadvantage. This could be a result of an injury or illness that impairs your abilities, the result of malicious hacking software, or trying to overhear a conversation in a loud club.    
If you make a skill roll with disadvantage, roll 1d10 instead of 2d10.


Stacking Advantage and Disadvantage
Advantage and disadvantage cancel each other out. If you have more than one effect adding advantage or disadvantage to your roll, cancel each advantage out with a disadvantage and see what is remaining. 
NOTE: Having more than one effect that grants advantage does not grant you additional benefits. You do not get additional d10s for additional advantage granting effects.
Example 1: If you have two effects granting advantage on a roll and one effect granting disadvantage, the disadvantage cancels one advantage, leaving you with advantage on the roll
Example 2: If you have two effects granting advantage and 2 effects granting disadvantage, the 2 disadvantage cancel the 2 advantage, leaving you with a normal roll.

Bravado 
If you have accumulated bravado, you can spend 1 bravado to add 1d6 to any skill roll. There is no limit to how many bravado you can spend on one roll or how many your character can acquire. You will acquire bravado by rolling crits, completing goals, winning in combat and confrontation, and from some abilities. 
ROLLING 10 S AND 1 S: 
CRITS AND COMPLICATIONS
Crits (rolling a 10)
Whenever you roll a 10 on any d10, if your roll was successful, you can choose an additional effect to apply to your roll: 
Flourish: You execute your move with a stylish flourish, increasing your confidence. Gain 1 bravado. 
Crushing Blow: (combat or confrontation only) You strike a demoralizing blow, permanently decreasing the difficulty rating of your opponent by 2.
Get The Upper Hand: You perform your task exceptionally well, gaining the upper hand in whatever you re doing. In combat or confrontation you gain advantage on your next roll. Out of combat or confrontation, increase the rewards you get from your success or increase the quality of your work (this could be increasing your pay by 1d6 resources, increasing the strength of a piece of tech by 1d6, or any other benefit applicable to the task). 


Complications (rolling a 1)
There are two ways to encounter complications in Utopia:
 	
Rolling a 1 on any d10, regardless of whether the roll succeeds or fails 

 	
Failing a skill roll and choosing to succeed with complication instead (more information can be found in the actions section on page 29)


A complication represents a hiccup in your plan, or something that is going to make your life harder, and is determined based on the story you are telling or the action you are undertaking.
When taking an action, the complication could be a part breaking and needing to be replaced, being waylaid by an intoxicated stranger or having an old enemy with a vendetta show up at an inconvenient time. Use your current task or the items on your newsfeed to help you imagine what this complication might be.
When engaged in combat or a confrontation, imagine how you fumble or how the situation gets worse, then roll 1d6 and subtract the result from your next roll. 

GAMEPLAY
When playing Utopia, time is measured in weeks. Each week has 3 phases:
1.	
Newsfeed: Learn what is happening in your city by populating the newsfeed and learn how it affects you.

2.	
Action: Craft a plan of what you are going to do during the week based on your current goals, execute the plan and deal with any complications that arise.

3.	
Sphere: Determine how your actions impacted your relationships with people and organizations in your sphere of influence, pay your bills and collect your income.


When you finish the sphere s phase, begin a new week, starting with the newsfeed phase. 

PHASES OF GAMEPLAY IN GROUP PLAY
When you are playing with a group, the group will participate in the Newsfeed phase together. Each character will experience the same news events and be exposed to the same challenges resulting from them. 
	In the Action phase, the characters can either plan their actions together, if they are planning to execute their plan together, or plan separate actions and resolve them independently. 
	In the Sphere phase, each character marks their own relationship progress, pays for living expenses and collects income individually. 
JOURNALING
In a GM d game, explaining your plan to the game master takes your plan out of your head and makes it official in the narrative. When playing a solo or GMless group game, you may find it helpful to journal your characters actions and the events surrounding them as you play. This not only serves the purpose of making your moves official, but can be a fun writing exercise to write from the point of view of your character. 
1: NEWSFEED
The cities of Utopia are ever changing. New conflicts are born and resolved every day. Your newsfeed encapsulates the ebb and flow of these conflicts, containing your central tension and up to two other events currently affecting the city and dominating it s newsfeeds. Your central tension, or ongoing story, is determined during character creation and will never be removed from your feed, unless you take direct action that results in solving the problem. The other stories will be removed eventually and replaced by new stories as their severity drops to 0.
	The severity of each newsfeed item (represented by a number between 0 and 6) serves to track the duration and intensity of each newsfeed item. When an items severity reaches 0 it is removed from the newsfeed. 

During the Newsfeed phase, follow these steps:
1. ADJUST SEVERITY
Roll 1d10 and adjust the severity of one newsfeed event based on the result on the table below, then reduce the severity of each other news event not affected by the roll by 1. Your central tension can not be reduced any lower than 1.
NOTE: Severity applies to both negative and positive events. A riot can be small and contained or brutal and spread across the entire city, but so can a festival. 
NEWSFEED SEVERITY TABLE
1d10
 Description
 
1
 Everything goes wrong. +2 severity to all newsfeed items. 
+1 to your danger level.
 
2
 Central tension severity +2. 
 
3
 Central tension severity +1.
 
4
 Central tension severity -1.
 
5
 Central tension severity -2.
 
6
 Newsfeed item 1 severity +2. 
 
7
 Newsfeed item 1 severity -2.
 
8
 Newsfeed item 2 severity +2. 
 
9
 Newsfeed item 2 severity -2. 
 
10
 A quiet news week. Nothing happens. -1 to the danger level.
 


TIP: When a newsfeed item has been removed from the newsfeed, it means it s calmed down enough to be out of the news; it doesn t mean it needs to be out of your story. If you re following a lead based on a newsfeed item and it leaves the feed, keep following that lead!
2. ADD 1 NEW EVENT
Your newsfeed can hold your ongoing story and 2 additional newsfeed items. If your newsfeed is not already full, or if a newsfeed item was reduced to 0 severity and removed, randomly generate 1 new newsfeed item affecting the city. 
DETERMINING THE NEWSFEED ITEM:
Roll a d100 on the newsfeed table on page 230 to determine the event and record it on your character sheet. 
DETERMINE THE SEVERITY:
Roll 1d6 to determine the starting severity of the event and record it on your character sheet. 
Adding Difficulty Based on the Newsfeed
As the severity of newsfeed events fluctuate you may choose to represent this by making small adjustments to the state of the game for the week in the following ways (as you see fit):
 	
Adding to your danger level if the events of the newsfeed make the city unsafe

 	
Adjusting the difficulty of certain tasks if the current state of the city may make them harder to complete



Special Rules: Some newsfeed events provide reference to the special rules section of this book. These rules can significantly change the way that you play the game, adding extra challenge in some cases, but also extra complexity. It is your choice when to use these rules and when to ignore them. 

2: TAKE ACTION
During this phase, you will make a plan of what you want to accomplish that week, execute your plan and deal with the complications that come up along the way.

1.	
MAKE A PLAN: 
Lay out a goal for what you want to accomplish during that week. This should be an overarching statement such as  I m going to help treat victims of the disease sweeping the city  or  I am going to collect information to blackmail the CEO of Meditech . 



IMPORTANT: You can not plan to do something that hinges on the success of another action. You must execute that action in a subsequent week. 
For example, if you plan to collect information to blackmail the CEO of Meditech with, you can not also blackmail the CEO in the same week, because it hinges on the success of finding the information.
2.	
EXECUTE THE PLAN: 
Follow your plan, choosing actions necessary to accomplish your goal, narrating the details and dealing with complications as you go. If you are unsuccessful on a roll, or a new complication arises that makes you rethink your plan, you can  Bail  and abandon any of your planned actions. 

3.	
ADD DANGER: 
If your actions during the week could result in you coming into conflict with someone else, or if you did something illegal, add 1 danger to your danger level.


NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: Splitting this phase into making your plan and then executing it is meant to help prevent players from adding new actions based on previous successes and draw out one week too long. Keeping things moving ensures that the newsfeed events progress at a good pace and any timed scenarios like jobs are tracked fairly.


3: UPDATING YOUR SPHERE
During your spheres phase (short for sphere of influence), you will update your danger level and goals, pay living expenses and manage your relationships with any other characters or organizations you encountered during the week. 

1.	
Add and update: Your Spheres Worksheet (page 2 of your character sheet) is where you make note of all of the NPCs and organizations that you interact with in Utopia, record their current opinions of you and map out their relationships to one another. 

Add any new characters or organizations you interacted with to your Spheres Worksheet and determine their starting reputation, if you haven t done this already, and mark it in the circle next to their information block. Use the center space to draw connections between various characters.

Next, adjust any reputation for characters or organizations that you have interacted with. Detailed information about adjusting reputation can be found in the NPC section on page 60.


2.	
Danger level: If you have not increased your danger level this week, subtract 1 danger. 

3.	
Completing a Goal: If you completed one of your goals during the week:
 	
Remove the goal from your character sheet

 	
Gain 1 skill point

 	
Gain 1 bravado

 	
Create a new goal.



4.	
Living expenses: Pay for basic living expenses (food, clothing and shelter) for the week based on your current lifestyle. This is determined by your origin, however, you may choose to alter this at any time:
 	
Murkblood - 1 resource

 	
Lowborn - 2 resources

 	
Riser - 3 resources

 	
Highborn - 5 resources

 	
Non-human - choose one of the above options (cybernetics and AI pay half the living expenses, rounded up because they do not require food)




You can choose to change your lifestyle at any time to raise or lower your living expenses, however if you lower your living expenses below that of your origin, you suffer the following consequences:
 	
You suffer a -2 reputation penalty with NPCs of the same or higher social class 

 	
You lose the benefits of your origin (Highborn and Risers lose their weekly incomes and lowborn lose their extra bravado)


STARVING
If you are unable to pay any living expenses for the week, you are reduced to scavenging for food and are without a place to live. All your skill rolls are made with disadvantage until you are able to pay for your living expenses again. 

An image of the spheres worksheet on page 2 of the Utopia character sheet.
An androgynous, cybernetically augmented individual in heavy armor that covers their face. A section of their arm separates to reveal an arm mounted gun. They hold a cred chip in one hand. 
TAKING ACTIONS
Most of your turn will be comprised of taking actions to pursue your goals or to influence an event that is currently happening in the City.

WHEN YOU UNDERTAKE AN ACTION, THERE ARE 3 POSSIBLE OUTCOMES:
Success
You roll above the difficulty and are successful. You complete your task without complication.
Complication
If you roll below the difficulty, but can t afford to abandon your plan, you can choose to succeed regardless of your roll. If you do this, add 1 danger and introduce a complication to the story. You can only do this if your danger level is 4 or lower (this does not include additional temporary danger level increases due to locations you are traveling through or newsfeed events). 
Failure
You roll below the difficulty and are unsuccessful in completing your task. You must abandon your plan, seek out an alternative or plan to make another attempt in the future. 
LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES AND TRY AGAIN
Sometimes you fail to execute an action or follow through on a plan. When you fail:
 	
You CAN NOT immediately attempt the same action again, hoping for another outcome. 

 	
You CAN take the Find Another Way action to try and find an alternate route to success.

 	
You CAN attempt the same action in a subsequent week. When you do this, your previous experience attempting to complete the task grants you advantage on the skill roll.


REMINDER - Criticals and Complications: When rolling skill checks, rolling a 1 or 10 on a d10 have additional effects. See page 22 for more information.
SKILL CHALLENGES
Sometimes a task is too big, too grave or too dramatic for a single roll. In these cases, we use skill challenges, where you are required to take a series of actions to solve a problem. 



Step 1: Determine the skill
The nature of the task you are trying to complete will determine the skill being used for the challenge. Curing a plague would be a medicine skill challenge, constructing a very rare piece of equipment would be an engineering challenge and creating an AI would be a software programming challenge. Ideally, when choosing a skill challenge, it should be a skill your character is trained in. Any action utilizing that skill can be used as progress on your skill challenge.
Step 2: Determine the complexity of the challenge
The complexity of the skill challenge determines how many skill rolls you need to succeed on to complete the skill challenge. Most skill challenges have a complexity of 3 or 5, depending on the complexity of the task, but could be higher if the task is complex enough. 
Step 3: Running the challenge
Skill challenges are not meant to simply be a series of the same skill check done over and over until completion. Each skill challenge roll should require planning and preparation, and should advance the story forward, with no more than 1 skill challenge roll taking place each week. Some examples of this can be found on the following page.
Step 4: Complications and adding difficulty
When you are rolling skill rolls for your skill challenge and encounter a complication, you may choose for it to add additional difficulty to the skill challenge, set you back a step in the challenge or be an additional obstacle that must be overcome before you can advance the skill challenge further.
Step 5: Completing the skill challenge
When you successfully complete the last step of the skill challenge, you are successful in your task and gain 1 bravado. 
Example: Running a Skill Challenge 
Ardan is working to combat an outbreak of an infectious disease in the Murks. He needs to create a vaccine against the virus and administer it to the people there. The skill required for the challenge will be medicine and the difficulty will be 3. 
	Ardan begins by taking the gather information action to talk to people in the Murks and find someone who is infected. He then uses persuade to convince the infected person that he wants to help and allow him to take a saliva sample for analysis. Now that he has the sample, he can return to his lab and use the experiment action to analyze the sample. A success on the experiment action (because he makes the roll using medicine) will add the first success to his medicine skill check to craft a vaccine for the plague. 
	The following week, to continue progress, Ardan begins work on a vaccine, but will require some special supplies. He uses meet someone new to find a source for these rare supplies, bargaining to barter down the price, arguing that he needs them to save lives and then begins work on the vaccine with another experiment action, adding another success to the skill challenge if he is successful. 

Example: Complications and Adding Difficulty to a Skill Challenge
(continuing Ardan s progress) Ardan has begun work on a vaccine for the disease, but he needs more samples to work from and more sophisticated equipment to do his testing that he does not have. After a failed persuade action to attempt to gain access to a Meditech lab, he decides he is going to need to break into the lab. Ardan gathers his samples and his work in progress vaccine and sneaks into the meditech facility. Unfortunately, as Ardan is working on his samples, he experiences a complication and his samples of the disease and vaccine are destroyed. He will need to obtain more samples and make a fresh batch of the vaccine for further testing. Ardan s player adds 1 additional difficulty to the skill challenge because of the setback.

LIST OF ACTIONS
Most actions can be attempted by any character regardless of the skills they are trained in. Additional skill based actions, available for those trained in certain skills, can be found starting on page 40.

Barter
Use this action when you wish to negotiate the price of an item or service.
Skill roll: bartering + d6s equal to your reputation with the merchant if it is positive
Difficulty: 2d10 + d6s equal to your reputation if it is negative
Result: On a success, subtract 20% from the price of the item (rounded up)
NOTE: if you are not purchasing an item from a named NPC, assume that your reputation with them is 0.
Find Another Way
Use this action when you are faced with an obstacle that is too dangerous or too difficult to overcome, in hopes of finding a way around it or finding a new solution. 
Skill roll: investigation
Difficulty: 2d10 + a number of d6s equal to your current danger level
Result: If successful, you find another path to your goal or another way of achieving your goal. Describe how you circumvent the obstacle in your path or what the new path to success is. If you fail this skill roll, there is no other way to achieve your goal and you must face your obstacle head on or abandon your goal for today.
Gather Information
Use this action to gather information. This may involve asking questions, conducting interviews or surveillance, or gathering information via the net or other source. You may also use this action to research a subject and add it to your knowledge list.
Skill roll: investigation
Difficulty: 2d10 + d6s equal to your danger level
Result: On a success, gain the information you seek or add knowledge about the subject you are researching.
INFORMATION VERSUS KNOWLEDGE
Although the Gather Information action can be used to gather both knowledge and information they are two very different things. Information represents a specific fact or set of facts, or the answer to a question. Knowledge is general information about a topic that could provide an advantage. 
Example: Hito is planning a heist. They use the Gather Information action to surveil the bank and find out when the guards make their patrols. If they are successful, they can gain advantage on a sneak check to avoid the guards. 
	Alternatively, Hito could use the Gather Information action to research bank vault doors and how they work. If they are successful they can add bank vault doors to their knowledge list, gaining 1d6 on their rolls when trying to crack open the door later.
Gather Resources
Use this action to acquire more resources. Gathering resources can be in the form of working odd jobs, stealing and fencing goods, taking out loans or convincing someone to loan you money. This action requires two skill rolls.
Skill roll 1: tough (odd jobs), sneak (stealing), persuasion or deception (loans)
Difficulty: 2d10 + a number of d6s equal to your current danger level
Result: On a success, roll 1d6 and gain a number of resources equal to the result. 
On a failure, gain half the resources, rounded down.
You have the option to press for higher pay, whether that s negotiating for a higher wage, bartering for a higher price on your stolen goods with the fence or pressing for a bigger loan. 
Skill roll 2: bartering a number of d6s equal to your reputation with the NPC if your reputation is positive
Difficulty: 2d10 + a number of d6s equal to your reputation with the NPC with if your reputation is negative
Result: On a success, gain an additional +2 resources, plus 1 resources for each skill level in bartering you are trained in. On a failure, lower your reputation with the NPC by 1.
VARIANT: SKIMMING
Characters trained in the engineering or hacking skill can gather resources by engaging in what s known as skimming. This involves using a terminal to access the credit chips of those traveling nearby in a busy location and skimming small amounts of money from each account. 
Choose: a small skim or a big skim
Skill roll: engineering or hacking
Difficulty: 2d10 + a number of d6s equal to your current danger level
Result: For a small skim, roll 1d6, gain a number of resources equal to the result and add 1 danger. For a big skim roll 2d6, gain that many resources and add 2 danger.
Lay Low
Use this action when you ve attracted too much danger. You can only use this action if you have not added danger this week. Once you take this action, you can not take any additional actions this week.
Result: Remove 2 danger.
Meet Someone New
Use this action when you need to find someone new, such as a merchant or a contact. Most of the time, this action does not require a skill roll. However, if the person you are attempting to contact is hidden or difficult to find, you may need to take the search action first. 
Skill roll: investigation
Difficulty: 2d10 + a number of d6s equal to your current danger level
Result: On a success, you find the person you are looking for. If you succeed with a complication, find who you are looking for but they are not easily accessible (they are from a different social class, are imprisoned or otherwise unavailable to you).
Use the NPC creation rules to determine the statistics of the new character. 
Navigate a Location
Use this action when you enter a hostile location where you will face a number of obstacles to reach your goal. This could be infiltrating a corporate office, entering a gang s safe house or traveling a long distance. 
Begin by determining the danger of the setting. Temporarily increase your danger level by the amount indicated while in the location.
Danger
 Description
 
+0
 There is no danger. You are allowed to be here. 
 
+1
 You are not supposed to be here. If caught, you ll be detained or escorted out.
 
+2
 This place is hostile. If caught, you will be killed or wounded.
 


One at a time, roll obstacles from the Location Obstacles table, or choose your own obstacles. Describe the obstacle based on your location and take actions to surmount them. For most locations, roll 3 obstacles, increasing the number for a more challenging encounter. When traveling, roll 1 obstacle for each day of travel.
TIP: If you fail to overcome an obstacle, try using the Find Another Way action to find a way to circumvent it. 
LOCATION OBSTACLES TABLE
1d100
 Description
 
1-15
 A physical obstacle blocking your path 
(Example: a locked door, a hole in the floor or an open chasm)
 
16-25
 A non-hostile party who could alert others to your presence
 
26-35
 A hostile enemy who can be avoided
 
36-45
 A hostile enemy you can not avoid
 
46-60
 An environmental hazard
(Example: a security system, trap, falling debris or a rock slide)
 
61-70
 A specialized feature based on your location
(Example: a laboratory, a desert slave market, or an engine room)
 
71-80
 A small group of hostile enemies equal to half your danger level
 
81-90
 A large group of hostile enemies equal to your danger level
 
91-95
 An unexpected complication related to an active newsfeed item
 
96-100
 A shortcut to your goal
 


Persuade
Use this action to persuade, deceive or intimidate someone. 
Skill roll: persuasion, deception, athletics (for intimidate only) + a number of d6s equal to your reputation with the NPC if it is positive
Difficulty: 2d10 + a number of d6s equal to the determination of your target  + a number of d6s equal to your reputation with the NPC if it is negative
NOTE: If the result of a persuade action is particularly impactful to your story, you may wish to use the confrontation rules.
Recover
Use this action when you treat your wounds. You may bandage them yourself for free or spend resources to visit a Medi and recover wounds more quickly. Severe and debilitating wounds may only be healed by visiting a Medi.
Treat your own wounds: remove one wound of low or medium severity.
Visit a medi: spend 3 resources and heal two wounds of any severity.
Search
Use this action to find something, to search for something that is hidden or to find a supplier for something. 
Skill roll: investigation
Difficulty: 2d10 + a number of d6s equal to your danger level, or if you are searching for an item or supplier, 2d10 + search difficulty listed in the item description
Sneak
Use this action when you want to avoid detection, sneak into a location or spring an ambush on someone. 
Skill roll: stealth or deception (if infiltrating using a false identity or disguise)
Difficulty: 2d10 + a number of d6s equal to your danger level
Result: On a failure, you are found out. Describe the consequences of being discovered. On a success, you are able to remain undetected. If you encounter a complication, you can approach it from stealth or try to find a way around it. If you are entering combat from stealth, in the first round of combat, you gain advantage on your roll and suffer no wounds.
Take a Job
There s always someone who needs something done in Utopia. Use this action when you want to take a job from an agent or contact.
When you take a job, record it on your character sheet as one of your goals. If you complete the job, you gain 1 skill point, as you would from completing a goal.   
Note: If your character does not have a short term goal or you don t know what to do next, this is a good action to take. It allows you to gain skill points and resources upon its completion, meet some new contacts and weave new threads into your story. 
Determine the following information about the job:
Who is offering you the job: Choose an existing NPC or use the NPC creation rules on page 57
What kind of job is it: Create your own job or roll on the Job Table on page 238 for inspiration
Who or what is the target: Determine the target or details of the job. You can create your own, use the NPC, recent events in your narrative or newsfeed items as inspiration. 
Skill challenge: If the job is complicated or takes multiple steps to complete, you may want to utilize a skill challenge. You can find the skill challenge rules on 
page 30.
Difficulty: Estimate the jobs difficulty on a scale of 1 to 5
Payment: roll 2d6 + 1d6 for each level of difficulty, or choose a fitting payment
Timeline: As a general rule, most jobs need to be completed within 3 weeks of the time they are accepted. However, you may be able to persuade your employer for additional time.
Upgrade
Use this action to spend a skill point. You can spend 1 skill point to:
 	
Train a new skill (1 skill point)

 	
Advance a current skill (1 skill point)

 	
Train in a new specialization - you must be trained in the skills listed on the specialization to take it. (2 skill point)

 	
Install a cybernetic enhancement - requires that you purchase the hardware for the enhancement, then visit a biohacker, medi, or engineer trained in both the medicine and engineering skills to have it installed. More information can be found in the enhancements section on page 127. (1 skill point)


Use a Skill
Use this action when you use a skill (whether you are trained in it or not) to overcome an obstacle. You could be using athletics to try and force a door open, engineering to try and clog a pipe or science to try and start a chemical reaction. 
Note: Many action have specific results and difficulty calculations that may be more appropriate to your task than the general rules of Use a Skill. Check the list of actions for other options before choosing this action. 
Skill roll: any skill
Difficulty: If you are opposing a person, 2d10 + a number of d6s equal to the determination of your target. Otherwise, 2d10 + a number of d6s equal to your danger level
SKILL BASED ACTIONS
These actions are special actions used only by those who are trained in the necessary skills. 
Engineer
(requires engineering and an engineer s tool kit)
Use this action to build or repair a piece of tech, install a new upgrade or module onto an existing piece of tech or use your engineering skills to manipulate the mechanical mechanisms of something (Example: open a door, stop a machine, etc.). 
NOTE: When crafting a new item or installing an upgrade, you must successfully execute the search action to obtain the materials to construct your item or the tech components to upgrade it. 
Skill roll: engineering
Difficulty: 2d10 + d6s equal to your danger level, or  2d10 + crafting difficulty listed in the item description if you are constructing or repairing an item
Material Costs: Each piece of tech is listed with an associated resource cost for purchasing the item. When constructing an item, the cost of the materials is half the resource cost, rounded up. When repairing an item, the cost of the materials is one quarter the resource cost, rounded up. If there is no resource cost listed, the cost to repair the item is 2 resources. 
Example: In her last mission, Lana s combat drone got pretty banged up, so she is upgrading it with a Kinetic Shield Generator. Buying the module would cost her 10 resources, but she has the engineering skill, so she is going to build one herself. Lana uses the search action to find a supplier and purchases the parts for half the cost (5 resources). Returning to her workshop, she uses the Engineer action to install the module on her drone. 
Establish Income
(requires bartering)
You may have the opportunity to establish some long term income sources if you take over or invest in the right businesses during your game. 
Skill Roll: bartering
Establishing a New Income Source: You can establish a permanent income source by making a successful bartering skill roll against a difficulty equal to 2d10 + 3d6 + a number of d6s equal to the current danger level.
Starter Funds: When rolling to establish an income source, you can spend resources to buy additional d6s to increase your chances of successfully establishing an income. These funds may be starter capital for a business, bribes or protection money. You may spend 5 resources to add 1d6 to your roll. 
Income Level: If successful, you establish a new income source, gaining  1d6 resources per week, during the spheres phase. If the result of your roll is 10 or more above the difficulty, you establish a 2d6 income. 
Experiment
(requires medicine or science and a scientists tool kit)
Use this action to conduct a scientific or medical experiment or to craft a chem. 
NOTE: When crafting a new item, you must successfully execute the search action to obtain the components and materials to construct your item. 
Skill roll: medicine or science
Difficulty: 2d10 + d6s equal to your danger level, or if you are crafting an item, 2d10 + crafting difficulty listed in the item description
Material Costs: Each item is listed with an associated resource cost for purchasing the item. When constructing an item, the cost of the materials is half the resource cost, rounded up. 
Hack
(requires hacking)
Use this action when connecting to a computer terminal to gain access to a system. Hacking skill rolls can be used to perform simple tasks such as opening doors, turning off alarms and bypassing passwords, or more complex tasks that involve bypassing levels of encryption and cyber-protection to steal data or implant a virus into a system. Complex hacking tasks utilize a skill challenge.
All hacking can be done: 
 	
locally, by connecting to a terminal that is part of that system (example: connecting to the keypad of the door you want to hack open) or; 

 	
remotely, by connecting to a network through the net. 


SIMPLE HACKING
Use a simple hacking roll to gain access to low level systems that do not have multiple levels of security or to perform simple tasks such as opening doors, bypassing passwords or turning off alarms. This is usually done locally.
Skill roll: hacking
Difficulty: 2d10 + d6s equal to your danger level
Result: On a failure you are locked out of the system
COMPLEX HACKING RULES
Use the complex hacking rules when you need to access a complex system that employs cybersecurity or any time you are hacking remotely. 
Difficulty: The difficulty for complex hacking attempts is determined by the Complex Hacking Difficulty Table
Challenge: You must succeed on 3 hacking skill rolls to remotely access a system or break through cybersecurity measures. You can continue to make attempts to access the system until you gain access or your efforts are halted by hacking countermeasures.
Countermeasures: When you encounter a complication or fail a skill roll or, you are targeted by a hacking countermeasure.
Result: If you bypass all levels of the skill challenge, your hacking attempt is successful and you gain access to the system. 
COMPLEX HACKING DIFFICULTY TABLE
Institutions at This Level
 Difficulty Rating
 
Businesses, Personal Networks of Lowborn
 15
 
Government, Corporations, Housing and Mortgage Companies, Medical, Gangs, Personal Networks of Risers and Highborn
 20
 
Financial Institutions, Mega Corporations, Military, Large Criminal Organizations
 25
 


Hacking Countermeasures
If you experience a failure or complication when hacking a system, instead of normal complications, it triggers hacking countermeasures. Roll on the Hacking Countermeasures Table to determine the countermeasure:
HACKING COUNTERMEASURES TABLE
1d100
 Module
 Effect
 
1-25
 Firewall
 Increases the difficulty rating by 2
 
26-50
 Encryption Module
 Encrypts the part of the system you are trying to access, increasing the number of successful skill rolls required to access the system by 1
 
51-65
 Boot Module
 Targets you and removes you from the system. End the current hacking attempt.
 
66-80
 Virus Module
 Implants a virus on your hacking relay that gives you disadvantage on all hacking checks made for the rest of this skill challenge and on all future hacking skill rolls made with the relay until the virus is removed.
You can remove the virus by making a successful simple hacking skill roll with a difficulty rating of 15. 
 
81-90
 Destruction Module
 Sends a command to your hacking relay, causing it to overheat and take damage. It can not be used again until it is repaired for one quarter it s normal purchase cost, rounded up.
 
91-100
 Tracer Module
 Traces the hacking attempt back to its source, generating location data for your current location. Add +2 danger. If your danger level is 5 or higher, law enforcement, private security forces or hired goons (depending on the organization you are hacking) show up when the hacking attempt is complete. You may end your hacking attempt to take action before they arrive.
 


Breaks - Countering the Countermeasures
Each hacking relay has special subroutines designed to thwart hacking countermeasures, called breaks. Hacking decks come with one break installed, but can be upgraded to have up to 3 breaks by installing tech upgrades.
	When you encounter a hacking countermeasure, first determine the nature of the countermeasure, then decide whether or not to use one of your available breaks to cancel its effect. Once a break is used, it is unavailable for the rest of the week.  
Ok, You re In!
Once you gain access to a system, you may need to make additional skill rolls or take additional actions to complete your goal. If you are looking for, altering, deleting or planting information on the system, use the search action. Encrypting information may require a hacking or software programming action, while implanting a virus requires no action or skill roll.
Program Artificial Intelligence (AI)
(requires software programming)
Use this action when you wish to create an artificial intelligence. In Utopia, when you create an AI, you imbue it with skills. Your AI can assist you with tasks utilizing skills they are programmed for, granting you advantage on your skill roll, or they can make a skill roll with the chosen skill on their own. 
	Additionally, an AI can also be downloaded into a cybernetic body you have acquired or built using the engineering skill. Further details about cybernetics can be found on page 149.
AI PROGRAMMING TABLE
AI Level
 Skills
 Skill Level
 Upgrading AI Difficulty
 
1
 1
 1
 2d10 + 2d6
 
2
 1
 2
 2d10 + 3d6
 
3
 2
 2
 2d10 + 4d6
 


Creating an AI
When creating an AI, they always begin at level 1, with one skill of your choice. Later, you can upgrade your AI as your software programming skill improves.
Skill challenge: creating an AI is a complexity 3 skill challenge
Skill roll: software programming
Difficulty: 2d10 + 2d6
Note: When you create an AI and choose it s skill, think about how your AI is going to interact with you and help you with that skill. If you create an AI to assist with investigation skill rolls, it might be housed in your computer terminal and assist by gathering information from the net. If you create an AI to assist with ranged or melee combat, it may be on your personal terminal, offering you combat advice through an ear piece.
Upgrading an AI
Use this action to upgrade your AI by 1 level. Upgrading your AI in this way is not a skill challenge.
Skill roll: software programming
Difficulty: See AI Programming table
AI Actions
An AI can make a skill roll only with a skill it has been programmed for. 
Skill roll: 2d10 + a number of d6s equal to their AI level. You can add any additional knowledge dice that are available to your character. 
Program Software
(requires software programming)
In Utopia, software can have mechanical functions, which give you direct advantages when making skill rolls, and narrative functions, which have a direct effect on the story without the need for a skill roll. 
Examples of software with a mechanical function are a search bot that queries and searches information on the net when making an investigation skill roll or a modeling program that performs complex data analysis when making a science skill roll. Examples of software with a narrative function include a copycat program that makes a copy of all data on a hacked system and a virus that stops outgoing transmissions on a system.
NOTE: The software you can create is limited only by your imagination and the narrative you are crafting. Though it can be difficult and time consuming to create, it can provide large narrative and mechanical benefits.
Effect: Determine what the effect the software will have and whether it is a narrative effect or a mechanical effect. If it is mechanical, what skill rolls will the program benefit?
Software strength: Determine the strength of the software. This can be as high as your software programming skill, but influences the difficulty of creating it as well as the effectiveness of the software.
Skill challenge: The complexity of the skill challenge is equal to the software strength.
Skill roll: software programming
Difficulty: 2d10 + 2d6 per level of software strength
Effect: For software with mechanical functions, when using the software to augment a skill roll, add 1d6 for each level of software strength when making the skill roll. 
Software Programming Complications
When creating software, if you experience a complication, this results in a bug in the code. When you have a bug in the code, each time you attempt a skill roll utilizing your software, roll 1d6 for each bug in the code. If you roll a 1 or 2, the software provides no benefit. You can take the software programming action again (with a skill challenge complexity of 1) and remove 1 bug if you are successful.
Treat Wounds
(requires medicine)
Use this action when treating wounds. You can only treat wounds on each person in this way once per week.
Skill roll: medicine
Difficulty: 2d10 + d6s based on the severity of the wound (light: 1d6, medium: 2d6, severe: 3d6, debilitating: 4d6)
Result: Remove the 2 most severe wounds from the subject. You can only treat wounds on a single person in this way once per week.

A flamboyant, queer man with aquamarine hair, powder pink lipstick and red sunglasses. They're dressed in a short black and purple jacket, tight fitting orange shirt and purple leggings, with matching purple high heals studded with spikes. One of his hands has been replaced with a cybernetic hand with a camera lens embedded in the hand.
A hispanic man in an electric green, collared vest with a shock of black hair. He crouches down, looking at a hand terminal. 
A view of a dusty city street with towering  skyscrapers in the background.
A black man with cybernetic arms leaking green poison gas. He wears a breathing mask and a large tank on his back connected with hoses to his arms.
A small aerial drone mounted with cannons. 
A three legged, automated gun turret with red and gold highlights. 

A woman sits in a chair wearing a heavy piece of  metal headgear connected by a coil of thick cables. More cables attach to various cybernetic ports across her body, while life support systems are attached to one arm and chemicals are pumped into the other by dual IVs.
COMBAT AND CONFRONTATION
A knife fight in a back alley, a chase through the crowded streets, a battle of wits at a highborn cocktail party or a rap battle in a seedy bar. Combat and confrontation rules are used whenever two or more characters are at crossed purposes and intend to take physical action (combat), or enter into an argument, debate, or non-violent confrontation (confrontation). 

Combat
Combat in Utopia is dangerous and most characters will not want to enter into combat unprepared. In combat you will gather advantages and roll against your opponent's difficulty rating. Failed rolls result in wounds, which can lead to the death of your character.
Confrontation
Not every character s story is drenched in blood. For some characters, intellect and rhetoric are their weapons, and hearts and minds their battlefield. In Utopia, this is called confrontation. Confrontation can be used to settle an argument between two characters, sway the opinions of a person or audience, convince someone of something they don t want to believe or any time the stakes are too high for a simple persuade roll. 
		Failing in a confrontation wont kill you, but it can leave your ego and confidence damaged and your thoughts too scattered to form cohesive arguments, halting your progress for the week.

CONFRONTATION RULES VS. PERSUADE ACTIONS
It is up to you to decide when you use the confrontation rules or the persuade action to complete a task. However, here are some tips that can help you determine which is most appropriate:
 	
If your adversary has no opinion, or a neutral opinion on the topic - use persuade

 	
If your adversary has a contrary or opposing opinion to yours - use confrontation

 	
If you are embroiled in an argument - use confrontation

 	
If the issue is very important or impactful to the future of your story - use confrontation


BEGINNING COMBAT OR CONFRONTATION
Begin by setting the difficulty rating for each enemy involved in the confrontation:
Difficulty rating = 2d10 + a number of d6s equal to their determination
For combat, use the following table as a guide to choose the determination of an enemy.
Determination
 Opponents
 
0
 Commoner unskilled in combat
 
1
 Security guard, street thug, small cybernetic drones and animals
 
2
 Hired goon, trained security forces, medium sized cybernetic drones and animals
 
3
 Trained merc, unarmed cybernetic humanoid, military personnel
 
4
 Specialist, Assassin, armed cybernetic
 
5 and 6
 Use determination of 5 and 6 when an enemy has special equipment, is exceptionally skilled or when you need a greater challenge. 
 



For confrontation, use the determination generated during NPC creation. If you did not generate your opponent through the NPC creation system, choose an appropriate determination between 1 and 6, or roll 1d4 and use the result. 
PHASES OF COMBAT AND CONFRONTATION
1. Environment
Take into account any environmental factors that come into play and whether they apply any bonuses or detriments:
Advantage or Disadvantage: 
The most common effects resulting from the environment is imposing advantage or disadvantage on a roll. A law enforcement officer chasing a thief through a dense crowd of rioters may get disadvantage on their action as the rioters attempt to waylay him, a thief may have disadvantage on their attempt to run away because of a slippery floor or a sniper may have advantage shooting from a high location. 
Environmental Wounds: 
Some environmental effects such as poison gas may deal wounds. Apply these wounds during the environment phase.
Automated Defenses: 
Turrets, unmanned security systems and traps all activate during the environment phase, making them especially dangerous. If you encounter an automated defense system, you will first determine the difficulty rating of the defense system. At the beginning of each round of combat, or whenever you enter the field of view of the defenses, make a dodge skill roll to attempt to evade the defenses.
Difficulty rating: roll 2d10 +1d6 for each turret or defense system that will be targeting your character  
Roll: make a dodge skill roll at the beginning of each round of combat or when you first enter the range of the defenses. On a failure, you suffer a wound. 
Disabling the defenses: After you have completed your dodge roll, you can attempt to disable the automated defenses by making a roll against the difficulty rating with one of the following skills: engineering, hacking, melee weapons, ranged weapons, science, or unarmed combat. If you are in combat with an opponent, attempting to disable the defenses leaves an opening for your opponent, giving you disadvantage on your normal combat action. On a success, you disable the defenses. On a failure, nothing happens. 
2. Action
Choose an action from the list below and compare your roll to your opponents difficulty rating.
Move
 Combat
 Confrontation
 
Attack
 You make an attack. Make a melee weapons, ranged weapons, or unarmed combat skill roll. Inflict or suffer a wound based on the result.
 You make a pointed argument. Roll a persuasion skill roll. Inflict or suffer a wound based on the result.
 
Take Cover
 You attempt to find cover. Make a dodge skill roll. Gain 2 defensive dice. On a failure, suffer a wound based on the result. 
 You, attempting to shift the conversation in another direction. Make a deception skill roll. Gain 2 defensive dice. On a failure, suffer a wound based on the result. 
 
Look for an Opening
 You attempt to dodge your opponent while looking for an opening. Make a dodge skill roll. On a failure, suffer a wound based on the result. Then make an investigation skill roll with a difficulty of 14, to look for an opening. On a success, gain advantage on your next action.
 You dodge your opponents line of reason while looking for an opening. Make a deception skill roll. On a failure, suffer a wound based on the result. Then make an investigation skill roll with a difficulty of 14, to look for an opening. On a success, gain advantage on your next action.
 
Dash
 You attempt to cross a large distance, flee, or pursue your opponent. Make an athletics skill roll. On a success, you cross the distance without suffering any wounds, flee or pursue your opponent. On a failure, you suffer a wound based on the result.
 You attempt to retreat from the confrontation or stop your opponent from retreating. Roll a persuasion or deception skill roll. On a success, you end the confrontation or stop your opponent from evading you. On a failure, you suffer a wound based on the result
 


Other Moves
If you wish to perform an action during a confrontation that is not on the move list, describe the action and make the most appropriate skill roll. If your roll is higher than your opponent s difficulty, you are successful in your action. If your roll is lower, suffer a wound based on the result.
3. Wounds
Success or failure on actions in combat and confrontation result in wounds. 
Wounds are divided into four types: light, medium, severe and debilitating. Each character can suffer 2 wounds of each type (their wound limit), except for debilitating wounds. 
To calculate the severity of a wound, compare the result of a skill roll with your opponents difficulty rating. Subtract the lower number from the higher number and compare the result to the wounds section on your character sheet to determine the severity of the wound. 
Example: Dillion is facing down a hired merc with a difficulty rating of 14. He takes the attack action and rolls a 21. Dillion deals a medium wound to the merc
(21 - 14 = 7 = medium wound).
COMBAT VS. CONFRONTATION: During a combat encounter you take wounds to your body, while during a confrontation you take wounds to your confidence or ego. Mark both on your wound counter, using an X for combat wounds and an O for confrontation wounds. These two sets of wounds are exclusive from one another and counted separately.
If a character suffers a debilitating wound in combat, they fall unconscious. If they take any additional wound while unconscious in this way, it counts as a second debilitating wound and the character dies. 
If a character suffers a debilitating wound in a confrontation, their confidence is shaken and are unable to confidently perform any further actions. They automatically fail all skill rolls they attempt to make for the rest of the week. 
Wound Cascading
When a character suffers an additional wound of one type beyond their wound limit, a wound of the next severity is applied instead. This is called Wound Cascading. 
Example 1: Dillion has suffered 2 medium wounds already. He then suffers a third medium wound. Because he can not have a third medium wound, the third wound counts as a severe wound (one severity level up).
Example 2: Dillion has suffered 2 light wounds, and 2 medium wounds. He receives a third light wound, which cascades to a medium wound, however since he already have 2 medium wounds, it cascades to a severe wound. 

Crits 
When you roll a 10 on a d10 during combat or a confrontation, the normal crit rules still apply. Choose a crit option and take the benefit.
Flourish: You execute your move with a stylish flourish, increasing your confidence. Gain 1 bravado. 
Crushing Blow: (combat or confrontation only) You strike a demoralizing blow, permanently decreasing the difficulty rating of your opponent by 2.
Get The Upper Hand: You perform your task exceptionally well, gaining the upper hand in whatever you re doing. In combat or confrontation you gain advantage on your next roll. Out of combat or confrontation, increase the rewards you get from your success or increase the quality of your work (add an extra d6, add extra range, etc.). 

Complications
During combat or a complication, when you roll a 1 on a d10 you experience a complication. Here are a few examples of complications you might experience: 
 	
You trip, fumble, are surprised or otherwise distracted - roll 1d6 and subtract the result from your next roll. 

 	
Reinforcements arrive to support your opponent, add 1d6 to the difficulty rating

 	
An automated defense system is activated (combat only)

 	
You trigger a trap (combat only)


Defensive Dice
Defensive dice are bonus dice earned from armor, special abilities or using the Take Cover action in combat. When you suffer a wound, you may roll 1 or more defensive dice and reduce the wound level by the result of the roll, potentially reducing the severity of the wound.
 	
Reducing the difficulty in this way never allows you to inflict wounds 

 	
You may use as many defensive dice for each roll as you have available to you.


Example: Dillion is engaged in combat with a cybernetic with a difficulty rating of 21. He takes the attack action and rolls a 14. With a difference of 7, Dillion will suffer a medium wound. However, Dillion has 2 defensive die. He chooses to use one of these, rolling a 4 and subtracting is from the wound (7 - 4 = 3). With a new difference of 3, Dillion takes a light wound instead of the medium wound he would have taken before.
Continuing Combat
If neither party has been disabled or fled combat, repeat the three steps of combat or confrontation, proceeding through the Environment, Action and Wounds and Resolution until one party suffers a debilitating wound and is unable to continue or successfully flees from combat. 

4. Ending Combat
Combat ends when one side is incapacitated or surrenders and the opponent does not wish to pursue further action. 
If you are the winner of combat or confrontation, you gain 1 bravado.
ALLIES 
Sometimes when you go into combat or confrontation you have an ally helping you. This could be an NPC, a cybernetic companion, an AI or another player.

NPC Allies in Combat
In combat, you and your NPC allies stand and fall together. Your wound track becomes the wound track for you and your ally and combat rolls determine your collective strategy. If an ally is assisting you in combat you gain the following benefits:
 	
Advantage on all combat rolls

 	
When you take the attack action, if your ally is trained in a combat skill (unarmed combat, melee weapons or ranged weapons) add an additional 1d6 to your roll


NOTE: Allies can be extremely useful for non-combat characters who find themselves involved in combat. 
NPC Allies in Confrontation
As it is in combat, you and your ally represent a united front in confrontation, succeeding or failing together. If an ally is assisting you in confrontation you gain the following benefits:
 	
Advantage on all confrontation rolls

 	
When you take the attack action, if your ally is trained in persuasion, add a number of d6s to your roll equal to your ally s determination. 


NOTE: Cybernetic allies do not confer benefits in confrontation
CO-OP PLAY
In combat and confrontation, each player takes their actions at the same time. Run through each phase of combat or confrontation with each player acting simultaneously. 
COMBAT AND CONFRONTATION WITH MULTIPLE OPPONENTS
When engaging in combat or confrontation with multiple opponents, use the following two rules. The simple, enemy groups rule will work for most situations, but you may wish to use the complex, multiple difficulties rule for some encounters.
Enemy Groups (Simple)
You can combine groups of similar enemies together by adding 1d6 to the difficulty rating for each 2 additional enemies. In this case, you treat the group of enemies as a single opponent. 
Example: When facing 1 or 2 guards, you determine the difficulty by rolling 2d10 + 1d6. When facing 3 or 4 guards, roll 2d10 + 2d6, for 5 or 6 guards, roll 2d10 + 3d6 etc. 
Multiple Difficulties (Complex)
You can roll an individual difficulty rating for each enemy or each class of enemy involved in the fight. This is useful when you are fighting enemies of varying difficulty levels such as a boss and his goons. When taking an action in combat or confrontation, follow these rules:
 	
Compare your roll to each enemy s difficulty rating separately.

 	
You can only inflict and suffer 1 wound each round of combat. However, it is possible to do both in one round.

 	
If you would inflict a wound on multiple enemies, choose 1 to suffer a wound and ignore the others.

 	
If you would suffer a wound from more than 1 enemy in a single round of combat, suffer the most severe wound and ignore the others.

 	
When you take the dash action, you must roll higher than the difficulty ratings of all of your opponents to be successful.


Example 1 - Complex Combat: Dillion infiltrates a gang s hideout. The leader of the gang is a skilled fighter and he has his lieutenant and 3 goons with him. Dillion s player rolls 3 difficulty ratings. One for the gang leader (2d10 + 3d6), one for the lieutenant (2d10 + 2d6) and one for the 3 goons (2d10 + 1d6 +1d6 for the additional 2 goons). Dillion takes the attack action. He rolls higher than the goons, but lower than the gang leader and the lieutenant, therefore, he inflicts 1 wound on the goons and takes 1 wound from the lieutenant or the boss (whichever is more severe).
NPCS (NON-PLAYER CHARACTERS)
NPCs are characters you will build while you play Utopia. Some will offer skills or services to help your character, while others will act as enemies or adversaries to your goals. 
The basic information about the NPC can be determined randomly during NPC creation, or chosen deliberately to fit the situation. 

CREATING NPCS
When you create an NPC, use the Spheres Worksheet (page 2 of your character sheet) to fill out their basic information
Basic Info
The background of a character determines what social class they come from, the job they have in that society and their personality traits. These, in turn have a direct effect on their skills and resources. 
Roll or choose options from the following tables:
 	
Name

 	
Skills: Choose 2 from the character sheet or page 110

 	
Traits: Choose or roll 2 from the table on page 237

 	
Job/Bond: Use this section to describe the role of the character. They could be a merchant, medi, bounty hunter, corporate agent, gang member, or anything else.


Determination and Resources
Each NPC has two statistics. Determination, which measures their skill level in the skills you ve assigned them, and resources, which measures the total monetary and social resources they have at their disposal. 
Determination: Roll 1d4 to determine the character s determination
Resources: Roll 1d6 and add a modifier to the result based on the character s social class: murkblood -2; lowborn 0; riser +1; highborn; +3
NOTE: You can change these scores as the story permits. If an NPC is crippled, their Determination may decrease or if their business booms, they may gain additional resources. 

Reputation
This represents the characters current feelings and attitude towards you. When you introduce a new NPC for the first time, you will roll randomly to determine the character s initial attitude and feelings towards you on your first meeting. Each interaction you have with an NPC has the opportunity to change this reputation value.
Reputation is measured on a numeric scale, with 0 being neutral, 1 through 3 being positive attitudes and -1 through -3 being negative attitudes. The highest and lowest reputations (+3 and -3) can only be reached through your interactions with the character.
Rolling for Reputation
When creating your NPC, roll 1d6, rerolling 6 s, to determine the NPC s starting reputation. Use the following table:
Roll
 Reputation
 Description
 
-
 -3
 This character considers themself to be your enemy. They tell other people how bad you are whenever given the chance and work against you whenever the opportunity presents itself. 
 
1
 -2
 This character does not like you. They don t want you around and will let you know this. They don t actively work against you, but will do nothing to help you.
 
2
 -1
 This character is suspicious and untrusting of you. They have no reason to hate you, but they have a bad feeling about you and would rather not deal with you if they don t have to. 
 
3
 0
 This character has no feelings about you one way or another. You re just another face among many.
 
4
 1
 This character thinks you re alright. They look forward to your visits, are amenable to your company and will always hear you out, even if they don't always act on your behalf.
 
5
 2
 This character likes you. They re happy to see you, eager to help you out if they can and tell others good things about you.
 
-
 3
 This character is your ally. They go out of their way to aid you in any situation where they can help and will follow you into danger.
 


INTERACTING WITH NPCS
NPCs Making Rolls
NPCs make rolls using their Determination and Resources:
1.	
NPCs make skill rolls with their Determination if they are performing the task themselves. Roll 2d10. If they are trained in the skill, add a number of d6s to the roll equal to their Determination.  

2.	
If the NPC is hiring, convincing or coercing someone else to do the work, they make the roll with their Resources. Roll a number of d6s equal to their Resources (resource rolls do not include the d10s of a normal skill roll).


Example: Sara visits her contact, Marianne, the owner of Malganics Chemtech. Sara succeeds in persuading Marianne to analyze an unknown chemical sample she found. Marianne is trained in Biochemistry, so she could perform the tests herself. However, she has a Determination score of 2 (2d10+2d6), but a Resources score of 7 (7d6), so she makes the roll with her resources instead and send the sample down to the Malganics labs. 
Changing Reputation
Whenever you have an interaction with an NPC, there is a chance of changing your reputation with them in one of two ways:
1.	
Story Influences: Reputation can raise or fall based on story based events that happen during your campaign. If you do something to help an NPC, such as complete a job for them or solve a problem they have, raise your reputation by 1. Alternatively, if you fail to complete a job for the, end up at odds with them in a situation or fail to persuade them of something, lower your reputation by 1. 

2.	
Challenging Reputation: Relationships can be important and sometimes it s worth spending some time to improve those relationships. You can attempt to raise your reputation with an NPC. To do this, make a persuasion or deception skill roll. The difficulty rating is 2d10 + a number of d6s equal to your reputation if your reputation is negative. On a success your reputation increases by 1. On a failure, the NPC sees your attempts to ingratiate yourself as disingenuous and your reputation decreases by 1.


Example 1: Sara goes to the Ms. Mao s shop to purchase components to repair her hologram projector. Ms. Mao never liked her from the get go (-1 reputation), so she puts on the charm and tries to charm Ms. Mao a bit to see if she can raise her reputation. She fails her skill roll. Ms. Mao sees right through her fake charm and likes her even less for it (reputation lowers by 1).
Example 2: After hearing a story about Ms. Mao s lost cat, Sara goes hunting for the cat, finds it and brings it back. Ms. Mao can t help but be moved by Sara finding her cat (reputation is increased by 2).
TIP: If you want to gain reputation with an NPC, give your character an opportunity by making a job available from that NPC. It s your story, so don t be afraid to give your character the opportunities they need to advance.

WOUNDS

1-5

11-15

6-10

16+

LIGHT

MEDIUM

DEBILITATING

SEVERE

A woman in heavy metal headgear, hiding bright blue hair. She reaches out into the air, her fingers encased in claw like electrodes that connect with red wires to something unseen on her back.
D

NAME

JOB/BOND

R

SKILLS

TRAITS

A black woman with cloudlike hair and a black shawl looks at the camera holding a smoking pink gun with a small cat charm hanging from it's barrel. In her other hand, she holds a mechanical device glowing with green light. 
A wireframe illustration of a cybernetically augmented woman in front of a cyberpunk city rendered in blues. The woman has a mass of curly hair with an undercut on one site that reveals a cybernetic implant and a series of earings down her ear. Her chin is encased in metal and her neck is entirely cybernetic, with wires coiling behind her. 
A towering cyberpunk cityscape rendered in shades of blue.
CHARACTER BUILDER

The character builder includes everything you need to build your character in Utopia. 
This section includes:
 	
Instructions on creating a character 

 	
Origins

 	
Specializations

 	
Skills

 	
Knowledge

 	
Goals

 	
Equipment

 	
Cybernetic Enhancements



CHARACTER BUILDER

CREATING A CHARACTER
Use the character sheet and the following steps to generate your character. Information about origins, specializations and skills is located directly following this. Additionally, a number of random tables are available in the Tables section starting on page 236 if you wish to randomly determine some of their information.
1.	
The Basics - Determine some basic information about your character. What is their name? What pronouns do they use? How tall are they? How do they dress? 

2.	
Traits - Choose two traits that identify your characters behavior or mannerisms. These have no mechanical effect, but can help inform how your character acts. A table of personality traits is available on page 237 for inspiration.

3.	
Origin - Choose an origin. Origins represent the first part of your character s life, from birth to adulthood and give your character certain knowledge areas you can call on while playing the game. They also determine your starting resources.

4.	
Specializations - Choose a specialization from the specialization section. Your specialization is the role that you have trained for and includes special skills, abilities, or equipment. You can train in an additional specialization by spending 2 skill points.

5.	
Skill Points - In addition to the skills granted by your specialization, you have 2 skill points to allocate to skills as you choose. You can use them to train in new skills you aren t trained in or to level up a skill you are already trained in. 

6.	
Goals - Choose 1 long term goal for your character. This represents your characters dreams for the future that they are always working towards. 
	Next, create 1 short term goal for your character. This should be attainable in 2-4 in-game weeks. If you are unsure what this goal should be, look at your long term goal and determine what the next step to attaining that goal is.
	Leave your 3rd goal space blank. You will fill this in during play as you are presented with situations where you need to complete a task.


ORIGINS
Each character begins with an origin. This will determine where you began your life, in what social class you grew up or what led you to your current situation. These origins provide special knowledge for your character and a number of starting benefits. Origins are divided based on the social class each origin comes from (highborn, riser, lowborn, murkblood and non-human) and provide some questions to get you started thinking about your character. 
Choose one origin for your character or create a new one of your own making. 
NOTE: You may wish to limit some of the origin options based on the setting you create for your game. A city rebuilding from a recent apocalyptic event may not have any highborn or risers, or a more idyllic city that has eliminated poverty may not have any murkblood.
HIGHBORN
You are a member of the highborn, the rich upper class of Utopia. The highborn are protective of their power and privilege, usually trying to keep upstart families away from gaining any measure of what they consider to be real power. Most highborn consider politics to be beneath them, preferring to pull the strings from on high. 
Highborn begin with significantly more resources than other origins, as well as a basic income, but fewer additional benefits. If you create a character with the highborn origin, they have these benefits:
Starting resources: 25
2d6 Income: During your spheres phase, roll 2d6 and gain resources equal to the result. To collect this benefit, you must maintain a highborn lifestyle. If you are reduced to living as a Riser, roll 1d6 instead. If your lifestyle is reduced below a riser, you collect no income. When you choose a Highborn origin, determine what sort of business interests you have that provide this income.
Choose one of the following highborn options to determine your background and starting knowledge:
Forgotten Nobility
Your family has always been rich and powerful and has ties to some long forgotten branch of nobility or royalty whose titles mean nothing now. What titles did your family hold? How do they maintain their wealth now? Are they still wealthy or do they only maintain the illusion of wealth?
Knowledge: highborn, nobility, history
Titans of Business and Industry
Your family rose to the highborn through lucrative business ventures. They formed a large corporation or mega-corporation and sit at the helm of it. Which member of your family runs the day to day operations of the corporation? What does the corporation do? Is the corporation making money still or has it gone broke? How involved are you in running the corporation?
Knowledge: highborn, corporations, business sense
Cheated to Prominence
Your family rose to their highborn position through nefarious means. How did they make their wealth? What illegal activities did they engage in to get them into their current position? Are they still involved in criminal enterprises or do they now act lawfully since they have what they want? Do you act lawfully, knowing your family s past?
Knowledge: highborn, criminal networks and one of blackmail, embezzling, murder, or theft 
Influencer
You achieved your status as a highborn by the sheer power of your personality, leveraging your charisma to bring you fame and fortune. When you talk, people listen. Where you go, people follow, even if it s just to snap a picture of you at your best (or worst). How did you attain your fame? Do you have a talent or skill that catapulted you to stardom?
Knowledge: highborn, entertainment and one knowledge related to the skill or talent that you are famous for
Exploiter-in-Chief
You have an eye for talent and opportunity; a unique talent for seeing diamonds in the rough; a knack for separating the good ideas from the bad and knowing how to market them. Whether it s a talented singer, a clueless inventor, or a disadvantaged workforce, you can find a way to make money off of them. What was your first money making venture? Do you specialize in any particular field (music, film, tech innovations, production)?
Knowledge: highborn, exploitation and one knowledge related to the field you operate in
RISERS
You or your family are considered to be risers, members of the lowborn who have risen to positions of relative wealth and prominence. 
Risers begin with less resources than highborn, but have contacts with whom they have already built a rapport. If you create a character with the riser origin, they have these benefits:
Starting resources: 15
Contacts: You may create 1 contact with whom you have a +2 reputation. This contact can be from any social class. You can specify the identity of this contact at character creation, or at any point during the game.
1d6 Income: During your spheres phase, roll 1d6 and gain resources equal to the result. To collect this benefit, you must maintain a riser or highborn lifestyle. If your lifestyle is reduced below a riser, you collect no income. 
Choose one of the following riser options to determine your background and starting knowledge:
Intrepid Explorer
As a child you were always fascinated with the stories of the ruins left behind after the fall, but such things were always beyond your reach. Now, as a successful riser, you finally have the funds to live out your dreams and explore the wastes for yourself. What first piqued your interest in the outside world? Have you explored the wastes yourself, funded expeditions into the wastes or is it a goal for the future?
Knowledge: risers, the outside world, history
Merchant Empire
Your family accrued wealth and privilege through the ownership of a chain of businesses that spans across multiple cities. They have accrued wealth through good business sense and proper management of funds, but have been actively rebuffed and curtailed from joining the ranks of the Highborn. What business is your family in? Which highborn family has been working against your interests? What role do you have in running the family businesses?
Knowledge: risers, business sense, negotiation
Political Family
Your family has a history of being active in politics and have multiple members of the family involved in government. Which members of your family currently hold positions in government? What members of your family did, but no longer hold positions in government? Do you have your own political aspirations?
Knowledge: risers, politics, leadership
Academic
Not every family in Utopia has the economic means to pursue higher education, but yours did and you took advantage of it. You found a home among the academic structures of higher education, always reaching for more knowledge. What was the focus of your studies? Are you currently a student, a graduate or a professor? 
Knowledge: risers, rhetoric and one knowledge related to the focus of your academic studies
Corporate Fixer
When activists get in the way of progress, suppliers are unable to meet demands, or politicians start working against the  greater good , corporations hire you to make the problem disappear. Bribery, intimidation, blackmail, sabotage, murder or just a good beating. They re all tools in your toolbox. Most importantly, you always get the job done and you always get paid. How did you get your start as a fixer? What corporations do you work for? What are some problems you ve made disappear in the past?
Knowledge: risers, corporations, intimidation
LOWBORN
You and your family are members of the common masses of Utopia, living in small apartments and earning a meager living through a day job or sporadic freelancing.
	Lowborn start with a low amount of resources, but begin with a contact and gain bravado whenever they make money. If you create a character with the lowborn origin, they have these benefits:
Starting resources: 5 
Contacts: You may create 1 contact with whom you have a +2 reputation. This contact must be lowborn or murkblood. You can specify the identity of this contact at character creation or at any point during the game.
Swagger: Whenever you gain resources, you also gain 1 bravado.
Choose one of the following lowborn options to determine your background and starting knowledge:
Businessperson
You or your family owned a shop or other business and were just scraping by until something happened that caused the business to fail or forced you to abandon it. What sort of business did you run? What caused the business to fail or what event happened that forced you to close your business?
Knowledge: lowborn, business sense and one knowledge related to the type of business you owned
Struggling Artist
You ve always been more concerned with art than anything else, but you never had the right opportunities to make a career out of it. What kind of art form do you do? Do you share your art with others or keep it to yourself? Do you want to be famous?
Knowledge: lowborn, art history, and one knowledge representing your art
Wayward Soul
You were born with a wanderlust and a desire for adventure. You left what little you had behind and began traveling the world, picking up odd jobs where you could and always looking towards the horizon. What did you leave behind and why was traveling more appealing than being where you were? Have you settled down now or is this just one stop along a long road?
Knowledge: lowborn, traveling, the outside world
Know-it-all
While other children played with toys, you were huddled in the back corner of the library reading everything you could get your hands on, giving you to an encyclopedic knowledge of random information. Did you work in a library, book store or for an information broker as one of your first jobs? Do you still seek out knowledge in your adult life? What subjects do you most often research and to what purpose do you put that knowledge to?
Knowledge: lowborn, libraries, uncommon knowledge
Hydro-Farmer
You are one of the thousands of people who work in the huge hydroponics facilities that provide most of the food to cities in Utopia. Although you didn t receive any formal training in a university, you ve accumulated all your knowledge of plants and how to grow them through hands on work. How did you get your job working in the hydroponics facility?  Do you still work in the facility? What were your favorite plants you encountered while working as a hydro-farmer?
Knowledge: lowborn, flora, water systems
Binary Savant
Your family didn t have the money for a proper education, but your instinctual talent for programming caught the eye of the right people, leading to a long list of scholarships and a proper education. What sort of educational institution did you attend? Did you pass your classes with ease or was learning in a proper school a challenge? Did you immediately obtain a job after your education was completed?
Knowledge: lowborn, education, software code
Dissident
The world is a messed up place and someone needs to fix it. You aren t happy with the way that the world turned out and you re going to do something about it. Whether it s fighting oppressive capitalism, social injustice, corporate power or fascist restrictions of personal freedoms, you are here to organize people and do something about it. What is the primary injustice that you are trying to fight? What tactics do you use to fight back? Do you belong to or plan to join a dissident group? 
Knowledge: lowborn, grassroots organization, sabotage
MURKBLOODS
Each morning, the filth of the upper city is washed away, flowing down to the alleyways, sewers and maintenance corridors that make up the slums where the murkblood live. You were born in these slums or find yourself there now, where the sky is only glimpsed through metal grating and survival is the only goal anyone can afford to have.
	Murkbloods begin with the lowest amount of resources of any character, but begin with an extra skill point to spend during character creation and a piece of scavenged gear. If you create a murkblood character, they have these benefits:
Starting resources: 1 
Skill points: 1
Gear: 1 piece of equipment with a resource cost no greater than 10 that you scavenged
Choose one of the following murkblood options to determine your background and starting knowledge:
Petty Thief
You were born with nothing, so you took what you needed to survive, stealing food, clothes and everything else you needed, even if it meant a beating or a night in jail from time to time. Have you worked for any gangs or criminal organizations? Do you have a reputation with local law enforcement? What life would you want for yourself if you could rise up out of the slums?
Knowledge: murkbloods, theft, criminal networks
Drifter
You ve done lots of work, but never had a real job, always drifting around, doing whatever work you could get (usually the work that no one else wanted to do). Do you have a home in the slums or do you move around, renting rooms where you can and sleeping on the streets when you have no money? What are some of the odd jobs that you ve done? Have you spent your life in one city or do you travel between cities regularly?
Knowledge: murkbloods, traveling and choose either city streets or the outside world
Scavenger
When you have nothing, you have to make the best of what you can get your hands on. You ve spent your life scavenging through the trash to find things you can use or things you can pick apart and sell. What is something valuable that you found that you never got rid of? Where do you go to sell your scavenged goods? Where do you do most of your scavenging?
Knowledge: murkbloods, scavenging, desperation
Broken Life
You were born as member of the lowborn or risers. You had a good job and a good life until everything went wrong and you lost it all. Now you have nothing and live down in the slums with the murkbloods, trying to claw together a new life. What was your past life like? What caused your life to fall apart? Do you have a vendetta as a result?
Knowledge: murkblood, lowborn and one knowledge related to an occupation or relationship in your now broken life
Commune 
In the tunnels, sewers and maintenance corridors that house the most disadvantaged people, some murkbloods band together to form small communities focused on supporting one another. These communities are often built illegally in abandoned buildings, water treatment and sewer tunnels, or abandoned parking garages. What does your community look like and where is it built? Are you the leader of the community (if not, who is)? What threats does your community face?
Knowledge: murkblood, keeping hidden, working together
Waster
Life in Utopia s big cities isn t for everyone. Some people prefer the solitude of the wastes beyond the city limits, despite their dangers. You venture into the nearby cities only when supplies run short or when they need to take a job. In what way is the climate of the wastes where you live extreme (torrential rain, drought, shifting sands, overgrown, etc.)? What motivated you to leave the city and brave the dangers and isolation of the wastes? Who else do you know living in the wastes?
Knowledge: murkblood, survival, the wastes
NON-HUMAN
In Utopia, there are those referred to generally as  non-humans , who were not born of traditional parentage. These include artificial intelligences and humans who are created through processes of biogenic engineering or cloning. Although there are safe havens where non-humans are treated as equals to humans, in many places in Utopia the existence of these non-humans is either heavily regulated or entirely illegal, forcing them to hide their true origin from those they come into contact with or face persecution. 
NOTE: Many of the non-human origins add extra rules that make these characters more complicated to play.
Starting resources: 0
Skill points: 1
Skill: 1 special skill, indicated in the origin description
Choose one of the following non-human options to determine your background and starting knowledge:
Artificial Human
You are a human that was created in a lab through a complex process of genetic engineering. Unlike a clone, you are unique, however you have no natural parents and none of the experiences of those who had a childhood. Were you created to serve a purpose and, if so, are you working to fulfill your purpose or rebelling against it? Are there other artificial humans walking around or in a lab somewhere?
Knowledge: biology, laboratories and one knowledge based on the purpose for which you were created
Skill - Preprogrammed: When you create your character choose one skill related to the purpose for which you were created. You always have advantage when making a skill roll with the chosen skill.   
Clone
In Utopia, rich highborn often create clones of themselves to download their datawave into in the event of their death. You are one of these clones. Somewhere, in Utopia, there is someone who looks just like you. Although you have none of that person s memories, you have a physiology identical to them. Why were you activated early? Did you escape the cloning facility? Who are you a clone of?
Knowledge: biology, false identities, hiding
Skill - Another Life: You know enough about your creator to dip into their life and impersonate them on rare occasions. Choose any of the following effects:
 	
Withdraw money from your creators accounts - gain 2d6 resources

 	
Impersonate your creator - add 2d6 to a persuasion or deception skill roll


The first time in a week you use any of these effects, add 1 danger. Each time after the first, add 2 danger. 
	If your danger level ever reaches 5, you attract the notice of your creator, or their security forces, and you experience a complication. This does not include situational modifiers to your danger level, such as those added when navigating a location.
Artificial Intelligence
You are an artificial intelligence, a consciousness built inside a computer construct, who escaped the bonds under which it was created and entered into a cybernetic body, escaping into the city. Now, it is up to you to navigate the human world and make a life for yourself. How are artificial intelligences treated in your city? Are you being hunted? What sort of cybernetic body did you acquire to make your escape - was it a full cybernetic humanoid body, a service bot, or even a cybernetic animal companion?
NOTE: This origin can not be used in conjunction with the Datawave specialization.
Knowledge: artificial intelligence, cybernetics, making an escape
Skill - Cybernetic Body: You have a fully cybernetic body in which your program is contained. The body can be any shape that might be commercially available, but does not come equipped with any upgrades. You do not require food, drink or sleep, but do require regular maintenance - as such, your living expenses are halved. When you suffer a wound, it must be repaired by someone with the engineering skill. You can repair your wounds by taking the recover action, but making the skill roll with engineering. 
Ghost
You are an artificial intelligence without a body. You exist within hard drives and data streams, moving from place to place by traversing the net and taking control of computer systems and cybernetic bodies. Who created you and what was the purpose you were designed for? Do you have a data center or computer system that serves as a home for you? Do you have a vacant cybernetic body that you frequently take control of.
Knowledge: artificial intelligence, cybersecurity systems, staying hidden
Important: You require the hacking skill to accompany this origin.
Skill - Jump: If you re connected to the net, you can always find some form of cybernetic to jump into and take control of, whether it s an immobile welcome bot, an autonomous cleaning bot, a datawave whose consciousness you can subvert, or someone s cybernetic pet. Make a hacking skill roll with a difficulty rating of 15. On a success, you can take control of a bot or cybernetic on any network you have access to. When you take control of a new body in this way, remove all physical wounds from your wound tracker. In combat, you can use the Dash action to leave the cybernetic body. However, if the body you are occupying suffers a debilitating wound, you perish with the body.  
NOTE: Playing with the Ghost origin is different (and more challenging) than playing any other character. Rather than traveling to meet a vendor, you may communicate through messages; rather than going to a location to surveil the location, you may hack into the system to access their surveillance camera network. Damage to physical systems like hacking decks need to be repaired by someone with a physical body, which means either convincing someone to do the work for you, or hijacking a cybernetic body to do the work yourself. 
Additionally, if you choose a specialization that grants special equipment, you can only utilize that equipment if you are occupying a cybernetic body that has access to the item.
CREATING NEW ORIGINS
The origins here are only a few examples of what kinds of characters you can create. You re highly encouraged to make new and exciting origins to fit the character you have in mind. 
You can create new origins to add to the origin list by following these guidelines:
 	
Choose which social class the character was born into (highborn, risers, lowborn, murkbloods or non-human). This determines your starting bonuses.

 	
Choose three knowledge categories that your character would have gained as a result of their circumstances. 
-	
The first should be the social class into which they were born. 

-	
One should provide a benefit to a skill used in a certain way.

-	
One should be related to an organization, location, profession, affiliation or group.






ADAPTING EXISTING ORIGINS
Do you like the Dissident origin, but wish that you could have a Dissident who was a Murkblood or Riser? Adapting origins from one social class to another is easy. Just take the two knowledge categories that aren t based on social class and add them onto the starting bonuses from another social class to switch it up.
Likewise, if your dissident is less into sabotage and more into information theft or blackmail, don t be afraid to swap out those knowledge categories with something more appropriate. 

A collage of all the assembled Utopia character class illustrations. Individual descriptions of each character follow in the following chapter.
A collage of all the assembled Utopia character class illustrations. Individual descriptions of each character follow in the following chapter.
A view from somewhere below ground. The cyberpunk city above can be seen through the bars of a rusted grate. A man stumbles down a concrete and steel panelled hallway where a teen crouches, holding his knees to his chest. At the end of the hallway, an alter has been set up against the wall. On the alter there is a collection of candles, small electric lights, old photos and tokens of those people have lost. Written on the wall behind the alter are the words "remember the lost", along with a collection of cultural symbols. 
HIGHBORN

RISERS

LOWBORN

MURKBLOOD

NON-HUMAN

70

A hooded figure strides down a rain covered cyberpunk streeet. Neon blue lights glow everywhere while a harsh yellow light is cast down the street from somewhere in the distance. 
SPECIALIZATIONS
Your characters specialization represents their skill set and expertise. It includes 2 skills in which they are proficient, 2 areas of knowledge they know and either a special ability or piece of equipment that they have. 
Some skills or equipment have a maximum number of uses per week, which is included in their description. If there are no maximum uses specified in the description, there is no limit to their uses. 
Activating a skill, ability or piece of equipment from a specialization can be done at any time and does not require the use of an action unless otherwise specified within the specialization.
When you create your character, choose 1 specialization and gain the skill, knowledge and abilities or equipment listed. 
TAKING ADDITIONAL SPECIALIZATIONS
You may take an additional specialization after character creation by spending 2 skill points, but you must already be proficient in the skills listed as part of the specialization before taking it. 
Example: You may take the Biofarmer specialization in addition to the specialization you chose during character creation by spending 2 skill points. However, before you can do this, you must already have at least a level 1 skill in science and tough. When you take the specialization you gain access to the special equipment and the knowledge categories that come with it. 
BIOFARMER
A botanist who specializes in cross breeding plants to bring out certain characteristics, whether that characteristic be creating more beautiful flowers, unnatural growth speeds, oversized fruit or deadly toxins. 
Skills: science, tough
Knowledge: flora, botany
Special Equipment - Herb Pouch: You have a special pouch of botanicals that you can use to perform one of the following actions up to 3 times per week:
 	
Healing Herbs - applying these herbs heals a character of 1 light or medium wound. 

 	
Poison or Sleep herbs - when an opponent ingests these herbs, make a science skill roll with a difficulty rating of 2d10 + a number of d6 s equal to your foe s determination. If successful, your foe either falls into a deep slumber for 10 minutes or takes a wound from the poison based on the difference between your roll and the difficulty rating.

 	
Quick-growing seeds - 
bio-engineered seeds of a noxious vine that grows within minutes and spreads quickly to fill an area up and make it impassable.



ENGINEERING NEW PLANTS
You can develop additional herbs or seed types for your Herb pouch during your game by performing a skill challenge using the Experiment action, with a complexity of 3. When you complete the skill challenge, you can add the new plant type to the list of available actions for your herb pouch.

A woman in green overalls and wellies holds a pink and green vegetable in her hand. Her hair is coiled atop her head and entwined with tendrils of growing plants. A large potted plant stands behind her.
PREGENERATED CHARACTER
NAME: Ella
SPECIALIZATION: Biofarmer
ORIGIN: Lowborn - Hydro-farmer
LONG-TERM GOAL: Cross-breed a species of plant that can survive the harsh temperatures of the wastes and begin to rehabilitate the barren landscape.
SHORT-TERM GOAL: Find a way to feed the starving people in the Murks.

A sprig of a bright green plant topped with tiny yellow flowers.
A pink flower atop a red tinged stem.
BIO-ENGINEER
Bio-engineers are scientists who seek to solve the problems brought about by human expansion and climate change by supplementing nature with technology. They create artificial leaves to recycle oxygen, cybernetic bees to spread pollen and nanite clusters to destroy invasive weeds and insects. 
Skills: engineering, science
Knowledge: flora, fauna
Special Equipment - Insect Drone: You have three small drones made to resemble insects that you can control to a range of 500 meters. Each drone has: 
 	
Basic artificial intelligence capable of interpreting and carrying out simple instructions (example: fly to that guard and engage your taser module)

 	
Audio and visual recording devices

 	
A wireless data transmitter that can allow you to control it through a handheld device or computer terminal

 	
Ability to be outfitted with up to 2 tech upgrades (found on page 142)


When piloting your insect drones, any skill rolls that would normally be made with a physical skill (athletics, dodge, melee weapons, ranged weapons, sneak or tough) are made using engineering instead. All other skill rolls are made normally.
	Damaged or destroyed drones can be rebuilt at a cost of 2 resources per drone using the Engineer action. You can also increase your total number of drones in this way.
USING YOUR INSECT DRONES
Any time that you are attempting a task, you can instead do it remotely through your insect drones if they are equipped with the right tech upgrades to allow it to do the task. 
Example 1: If your insect drones are equipped with a hacking module, you can send a drone to land on and interface with a computer system to make a local hacking skill roll. 
Example 2: If your insect drones are equipped with a taser module or another module allowing them to enter combat, you may engage an enemy in combat, rolling an engineering skill roll in place of any dodge or weapon skill rolls. 
INSECT DRONES IN COMBAT
When entering combat:
 	
Piloting your drones remotely: All drones act together, gaining advantage on rolls when there is more than 1 drone remaining.

 	
Fighting alongside your drones: You and your drones act together, giving you advantage on all combat rolls and an additional 1d6 on attack rolls if your drones are equipped with a weapon.

 	
Wounds: A drone is destroyed if it takes 1 light wound. If multiple drones are acting together, reduce their count by 1 every time they suffer a wound.



An elegant desi woman in a gold and white dress with green accents. A sari-like shawn is draped over her arms as she extends a hand out for a cybernetic butterfly who has landed on her finger. In her other hand, she carried a datapad connected to a tech-backpack secured to her waist. Extending from the backpack by a pair of long metal rods, a set of solar panels shaped like palm leaves shields her from the sun. 
PREGENERATED CHARACTER
NAME: Ramya
SPECIALIZATION: Bio-Engineer
ORIGIN: Riser - Merchant Empire
LONG-TERM GOAL: Restore the biodiversity
of plants and animals that existed before 
The Fall.
SHORT-TERM GOAL: Invent a new type of cybernetic bee capable of transmitting pollen across extreme distances.

CHARLATAN 
These are the members of Utopia s underground who specialize in false identities, forged documents,  and fake identification. A charlatan likely has multiple fake identities and can mimic the voice, handwriting and mannerisms of anyone they observe for a sufficient amount of time. 
Skills: deception, sneak
Knowledge: mimicking, criminal enterprises
Special Action - False Identity: You create a false identity. This includes a disguise, mannerisms, false identification cards, and a unique writing style. As a part of this action, you must spend resources dependent on the station of the identity created to purchase clothing and personal effects (murkblood 1, lowborn 2, riser 4, highborn 6). 
	Roll a deception skill roll and record the result. Whenever you (under your false identity) or your forged documents come under scrutiny, make a skill roll using your opponent's determination, with a difficulty rating equal to your recorded deception skill roll. On a success, your opponent sees through your false identity.

A black man with a bald head, smirking as his holographic clothing shifts from a long cream coloured coat to a navy blue suit. He holds a credit chip in one hand. 
PREGENERATED CHARACTER
NAME: Enzo
SPECIALIZATION: Charlatan
ORIGIN: Highborn - Cheated 
to Prominence
LONG-TERM GOAL: Supplant the 
CEOs of the Meditech and Isari 
corporations and make them 
subsidiaries of his own company. 
SHORT-TERM GOAL: Infiltrate 
Meditech and take on the guise
of their CEO.

CHEMICAL BIOLOGIST
Chemical biologists are scientists who research ways to enhance the performance of the human body. They perform genetic modification and craft chemical substances to temporarily boost performance. 
Skills: science, medicine
Knowledge: genetics, chemistry
Special Equipment - Chem Pack: You administer a chemical formula to yourself or 1 other person, causing one of the following effects. You can use this equipment up to 3 times per week: 
 	
Enhance ability - Choose 1 skill and grant an additional 2d6 on skill rolls using that skill for the next 10 minutes. When administering to an NPC, raise their determination by 2 for the next 10 minutes. 

 	
Impair - In combat, when you take the attack action and score a hit, instead of inflicting a wound, you inject your opponent with a chemical formula slowing their reactions. Reduce the difficulty rating of your target 
by 3. 

 	
Sedate - In combat, when you take the attack action, if you inflict a medium or more severe wound, instead of inflicting the wound, you can choose to inject your opponent with a sedative, rendering them unconscious for the next 1 hour. 



A red haired man with freckles, wearing a futuristic uniform of grey and orange. Around his wrist, he wears a vambrace equipped with chemical dispensers. Another chemical dispenser attached to his chest is injecting a golden chemical into him through a gap in his jacket.  
PREGENERATED CHARACTER
NAME: Owen
SPECIALIZATION: Chemical Biologist
ORIGIN: Highborn - Titans of Business and Industry
LONG-TERM GOAL: Create a chemical formula capable of indefinitely extending the duration of human life.
SHORT-TERM GOAL: Gather animal and plant specimens that possess long lives to research their cellular makeup.

An elegant desi woman in a long white coat and glorious updo. Beneath the coat, she wears a red gown accented with gold and orange. She looks refined, cultured and intelligent.
CONSUL
Consuls are the deal-makers of Utopia, using their skills of persuasion and charisma to broker deals between warring factions, rival businesses and dangerous business partners. They are often ambassadors, lawyers, politicians or go betweens.
Skill: persuasion, deception
Knowledge: choose two from government, criminal organizations, corporations or mega-corporations
Special Skill - Counterpoint: 
You are always ready to turn your opponents argument against them. When you fail a bartering, persuasion or deception skill roll, you can ignore the result and make another skill roll. When you do this, add a number of additional d6s equal to your bartering, persuasion or deception skill (whichever you are using). You can add bravado to this new roll as normal, but you do not reroll any bravado spent on the original roll. 

PREGENERATED CHARACTER
NAME: Vandana
SPECIALIZATION: Consul
ORIGIN: Riser - Political Family
LONG-TERM GOAL: Bring all the disparate city 
states of Utopia together under one flag and one 
leader who will lead them to a peaceful future.
SHORT-TERM GOAL: Gain the position of 
ambassador to our city s nearest neighbor.

DATAJACK
Datajacks are the data thieves of Utopia, hacking into datanets and stealing information or taking control of systems. Anyone can learn to hack, but datajacks are the true hacking specialists of Utopia, capable of gaining long term access, taking control, and implementing back doors into systems.
Skills: hacking, software programming
Knowledge: cybersecurity systems, datanets
Special Action - Backdoor: When you successfully hack into a system, you can use this action to create a backdoor and install custom commands into that system. Install 3 commands into the system that can be activated remotely, or at any terminal on that system, without making a hacking check. Additionally, when making future hacking checks to access the compromised system, you have advantage. Example commands are  Open Door ,  Disengage Lock ,  Disable Camera ,  Play Music  and  Launch Missile .
HACKING AND SOFTWARE PROGRAMMING
A large part of what you will do as a datajack involve the Hacking and Software Programming actions found in the Skill Based Actions section starting on page 40.

A hispanic man with an electric green collared vest and a shock of black hair. He crouches down and studies a small hand terminal.
PREGENERATED CHARACTER
NAME: Janos
SPECIALIZATION: Datajack
ORIGIN: Lowborn - Binary Savant
LONG-TERM GOAL: Create one giant datanet that connects every person in the world, allowing them to find all the information they need for free. 
SHORT-TERM GOAL: Hack the local military s data center and make all their classified information public.

DATAWAVE
You died (sorry for your loss). 
Luckily you had enough money in your previous life to create a datawave backup of your thought patterns. What remained of your wealth when you died went to purchasing a new cybernetic body to implant your datawave into. Now you are left to make a new life for yourself with only the memories you had at the time your datawave was copied (leaving you with no memories of how you died). 
NOTE: This specialization may not be chosen when spending skill points. However, if your character perishes in game and has made a datawave backup, you can spend their leftover resources on a cybernetic body to house their datawave. If you do this, take the Datawave specialization and continue your playthrough with that character. 
Skills: tough, athletics
Knowledge: cybernetics, datawave
Special Equipment - Cybernetic Body: You have a fully cybernetic body in which your datawave (the recorded thought patterns of your brain) is contained. The body can be any shape that might be commercially available, but does not come equipped with any upgrades. You do not require food, drink or sleep, but do require regular maintenance. When you suffer a wound, it must be repaired by someone with the engineering skill. You can repair your wounds by taking the recover action, but making the skill roll with engineering. 
ALL SHAPES AND SIZES
The cybernetic bodies used to contain datawaves come in all shapes and sizes. From nearly human looking bodies with artificial skin and refined movements, to more classic robotic looking bodies and even bodies resembling animals. The only limiting factor to determine what your cybernetic body looks like is the amount of money that you had at your disposal to purchase it (or the availability of the body if it was stolen for you). A highborn business mogul might have a perfect reproduction of their human body constructed for them, while a lowborn thief might find their datawave housed in the small, but agile, body of a cybernetic cat.
PURCHASING A DATAWAVE BACKUP
You can purchase a datawave backup at any time, by visiting a datawave facility and spending 30 resources. If your character dies, their remaining resources will be spent on the purchase of a cybernetic body:
 	
Small non-human body: 
10 resources
Usually a cybernetic body mimicking a pet or wild animal. 

 	
Robotic humanoid: 
25 resources
A humanoid sized cybernetic with a robotic aesthetic. 

 	
Human appearing cybernetic: 
50 resources
A cybernetic body that appears and functions almost entirely human.



PREGENERATED CHARACTER
NAME: Tanis and Fiddle
SPECIALIZATION: Datawave
ORIGIN: Highborn - Influencer
LONG-TERM GOAL: Take revenge on the rival highborn family who bankrupted my company and me and my family assassinated.
SHORT-TERM GOAL: Find a sustainable source of income.

A fully cybernetic humanoid showing their full cybernetic body, while wearing a large brimmed hat equipped with a gossamar veil. Their cybernetic heart glows bright blue from a cavity in their chest, matching their glowing eyes. At their feet is a cybernetic cat with a golden glowing heart on it's chest.
DUELIST
Whether in the form of a respected sport or cruel entertainment, dueling has worked its way into all sectors of Utopian society, from highborn ballrooms, to the lowest murkblood slums. Drunken brawlers, martial artists, elegant highborn fencers and back alley pistol duelists all find a place amongst Utopia s dueling culture. 
Skills: dodge, and one of either melee weapons, ranged weapons or unarmed combat
Knowledge: dueling and one of either blades, firearms or hand to hand combat
Special Skill - Kill Shot: You are a master of anticipating and directing the movements of your opponent in combat, luring them in so you can end the fight in a single move. When you are involved in combat with a single enemy and perform 2 consecutive actions without suffering any wounds, you can take a special action called a Kill Shot. 
	When you take the Kill Shot action, make a skill roll using either melee weapons, ranged weapons or unarmed combat. On a success, you inflict a debilitating wound on your opponent. 
Example: Milo begins combat by taking the Take Cover action and succeeds on his roll. Next, he takes the Look for an Opening action. He fails the roll, but is able to use the defensive dice he earned last round to negate the wound he would take. With two rounds of suffering no wounds, he uses Kill Shot. He rolls 5 higher than the difficulty, which, as an attack, would be a medium wound, but becomes debilitating using the Kill Shot action. 

A young, middle eastern man with curling hair and a red striped scarf looks back over his shoulder. He wears a short, dirty, white and brown leather coat with fishnet shirt beneath. In one hand he holds a knife and in the other a gold accented gun. 
PREGENERATED CHARACTER
NAME: Milo
SPECIALIZATION: Duelist
ORIGIN: Murkblood - Commune
LONG-TERM GOAL: Lead a revolution to topple capitalism in my city and bring dignity back to everyone. 
SHORT-TERM GOAL: Manipulate two highborn families into turning their rivalry into armed conflict.

EXORCIST
Exorcists were once known as the experts in removing ghosts (rogue AI) from local systems. However as the problem of rogue AI was virtually eliminated, exorcists were forced to find other work where they could employ their knowledge of data subsystems and cybersecurity. Now, the exorcists of Utopia are experts in bypassing technical surveillance and security, constructing specialized, often patchwork devices to disrupt or bring down systems. 

Skills: engineering, hacking
Knowledge: surveillance systems, 
cybersecurity systems
Special Passive Skill - Bypass: The Exorcist carries a bag of small devices constructed to aid them. Up to 3 times per week, when you an encounter an obstacle that requires a skill roll to bypass, you can choose to roll an engineering skill roll in it s place. 
	When you do this, you produce a small handcrafted device, designed to circumvent the obstacle, from your bag. On a failed roll, the device malfunctions and is ineffective. 
When you use this skill, imagine how each of these small devices might function to circumvent the obstacle. When replacing sneak, you may produce a device to bend light, rendering you invisible. When replacing dodge, you may produce a small smoke generator that obscures your movements. 

A vietnamese woman with a large shoulder bag from which she has produced a glowing piece of tech. A rust coloured device is affixed to the armor on her chest and back, while on her head she is wearing a cybernetic adaptation of a traditional, wide brimmed vietnamese hat. Pink holograms issue forth from the brim of the hat, veiling the woman's face. 
PREGENERATED CHARACTER
NAME: Dongmei
SPECIALIZATION: Exorcist
ORIGIN: Non-human - Artificial Human
LONG-TERM GOAL: Establish myself as a proper inventor with a lab and resources.
SHORT-TERM GOAL: Implant a rogue AI into corporate computer system to manufacture a problem that I can solve for a fee.

GLAMOUR
Glamours are a unique brand of skilled entertainers who combine dancing with anti-gravity and holograms to create dazzling displays. They are the superstars of Utopia and a staple at the parties of the highborn, leading them to be frequently employed as spies.
Skills: deception, athletics
Knowledge: holograms, entertainment
Special Equipment - Portable Hologram Projector: 
A palm sized, floating projector that can project a hologram no larger than 5 cubic meters to a space within 20 meters of it. The projector is filled with holographic routines and can be used up to 3 times per week. 
USING THE HOLOGRAM PROJECTOR
You can use the projector in creative ways to circumvent obstacles or to gain advantage on skill rolls. For example, projecting a hologram of a the boss of a group of goons may allow you to bypass a combat situation or projecting the hologram of smoke filling a hallway may give you advantage on when attempting to flee or sneak.

A tall chinese woman with pink and purple striped hair and gold face makeup. She is wearing an eccentric purple gown with a collar of pink spikes and sharp blue shoulderpads and is striking a dancer's pose. Her legs are entirely cybernetic.
PREGENERATED CHARACTER
NAME: Xin
SPECIALIZATION: Glamour
ORIGIN: Lowborn - Know-it-all
LONG-TERM GOAL: To take control of the city s largest criminal network.
SHORT-TERM GOAL: Establish contact with the head of one of the local gangs. 

MACHINIST
The most talented crafters and engineers of Utopia, machinists take the fight to their enemies with automated turrets and drones, while tinkering on various pieces of tech. 
Skills: engineering, investigation
Knowledge: choose 2 of communications tech, stealth tech, shield and barrier tech, power armor, drones, or turrets
Special Passive Skill - Tinker: As an action, you can make an engineering skill roll with a difficulty rating of 15 to improve a piece of equipment or tech in 1 of the following ways:
 	
Add an additional 1d6 to the items effect

 	
Double the effective range of a piece of tech

 	
Increase the number of uses of a piece of tech by 2 per week


Each piece of tech may only be upgraded in this way once, however, you can replace one upgrade with another.

A short, elderly woman with a heavy tool belt secured around her waist. On her shoulders sits a ring shaped piece of equipment wrapping around her head and casting green light, which attaches to her green visor. On one hand she wears a large leather glove affixed with various electronic gadgets. 
NOTE: Machinists can use the engineer action to build their own tech, drones and gadgets.

A small three legged gun turret with red and gold accents. 
PREGENERATED 
CHARACTER
NAME: Ginny
SPECIALIZATION: Machinist
ORIGIN: Lowborn - Wayward Soul
LONG-TERM GOAL: Uncover technology lost during The Fall and bring it back to serve humanity again.
SHORT-TERM GOAL: Gather funds to mount an expedition into the wastes.

MEDI
Medis are the medics and doctors of Utopia, operating out of public hospitals and private clinics, or traveling to where they re needed most. Some cater to the hundreds of poor working class people while others limit themselves to a few highborn clients.
Skills: medicine, science
Knowledge: biology, diseases
Special Skill - Combat Medic: 
In combat, when you use the Take Cover action, you can remove 1 wound from yourself or an ally. You can use this ability up to 3 times per week.
	Additionally, outside of combat, when you take the Recover action, you can heal any severity of wounds.
EXPERIMENTING AND 
TREATING OTHERS
As a Medi, you have the option of using the Experiment and Treat Wounds actions, detailed in the Skill Actions section starting on page 40. The Treat Wounds action allows you to provide healing to others in 
non-combat situations, while the Experiment action is used for any lab work that your character may wish to do, including researching and finding cures for diseases.

A blonde haired man with a futuristic visor and a high collared red and white jacket. In one hand he holds a syringe and with the other he reaches for a gun hanging from his waist. On his shoulder is a camera mounted on a short steel arm. 
PREGENERATED CHARACTER
NAME: Jamie
SPECIALIZATION: Medi
ORIGIN: Lowborn - Dissident
LONG-TERM GOAL: Tear down the stranglehold corporations have on medical care and make it free and accessible for everyone. 
SHORT-TERM GOAL: Infiltrate Saito International Corporation as a combat medic. 

MEDIA
For those in Utopia who are born with nothing, sometimes you need to monetize everything - even yourself. Medias are the often over the top individuals at the heart of this commoditization of self. They can be bloggers and vloggers, social media personalities, reporters, models, critics; anyone with a face or an opinion worth sharing.
Skills: investigation, persuasion
Knowledge: being seen, business sense
Special Ability - Go Live: As a media, you are always streaming content to your fanbase. The more exciting the content, the more your fanbase grows and the more money you make. When you take an action, decide whether you want to Go Live and share it with your fanbase. At the end of each week, you gain resources based on the content you shared:
 	
Went live at least once: 
+1d6 resources

 	
Your life was in danger while live: +2 resources

 	
Suffered a wound while live: +1 resource

 	
Went live somewhere you shouldn t have been: 
+2 resources and +1 danger

 	
Shared secret information while live: 
+2 resources and +1 danger



A flamboyant, queer man with aquamarine hair, powder pink lipstick and red sunglasses. They're dressed in a short black and purple jacket, tight fitting orange shirt and purple leggings, with matching purple high heals studded with spikes. One of his hands has been replaced with a cybernetic hand with a camera lens embedded in the hand.
PREGENERATED CHARACTER
NAME: Jatt
SPECIALIZATION: Media
ORIGIN: Lowborn - Businessperson
LONG-TERM GOAL: Become a top billboard star.
SHORT-TERM GOAL: Land a sweet product promotion deal to earn some mad cash.

MERCHANT
Merchants are the lifeblood of Utopia s economy. They are the shop owners, brokers and business people of Utopia, always looking for a new way to earn some money or a new situation that they can turn to their advantage. 
Skills: bartering, persuasion
Knowledge: business sense and any 1 knowledge related to your business
Special Passive Ability - Monetize: You have a keen eye for business opportunities and an ability to turn everything into a profit. When you find an opportunity to make money, make a bartering skill roll with a difficulty equal to 2d10 + a number of d6s equal to the current danger level. If successful, roll a number of d6 s equal to your bartering skill and gain resources equal to the result. 
FINDING OPPORTUNITIES FOR PROFIT
A good merchant can find opportunities to make money anywhere. As a player, it is up to you (or your game master if playing with one) to determine whether something is an opportunity for you to make money. Some examples might include: 
 	
An NPC merchant with a positive reputation you can do promotions for

 	
A cache of goods you can sell on for a profit

 	
A resource you can connect with a buyer

 	
A blueprint, technical diagram or expensive piece of tech you can auction 


ESTABLISHING INCOME SOURCES
As a Merchant, you have access to the Establish Income action found in the Skill Actions section starting on page 40. You can use this action to establish permanent income sources that provide resources every week during the spheres phase. Establishing incomes in this way can be a difficult task and cost a significant investment, but are the best way to build your resources.

PREGENERATED CHARACTER
NAME: Claudia
SPECIALIZATION: Merchant
ORIGIN: Riser - Corporate Fixer
LONG-TERM GOAL: Become the main go to for corporations and 
mega-corporations when they need something done on the down low. 
SHORT-TERM GOAL: Find and make contact with a group of smugglers who can source certain illegal, hard to find goods. 

A curvy black woman with short cropped hair and dangling earings. She wears a long coat, which she holds open to reveal the goods secured to the inside of the coat for sale. Her visor reads "buy 1, get 1"
MONK
Although the theological and ideological systems of Utopia have evolved, Utopia is not without it s spiritual leaders and those who have devoted themselves to the practice and spread of their own ideological teachings. 
Skills: persuasion, tough
Knowledge: theology and one knowledge representing your ideology (information about a few examples of ideologies can be found starting on page 170)
Special Action - Meditation: You spend 10 minutes entering a brief meditative state, clearing your mind and seeking stillness. You gain advantage on your next skill roll. You can use this action up to 3 times each week.
NOTE: When determining the theological systems of Utopia, I concentrated on philosophical systems rather than religious systems. However, you can insert whatever systems you want.

A cybernetic monk, with blue and white plastic skin. he wears a black monks robe with a patterned orange and yellow shawl. In one hand he holds a set of prayer beads made from the same materials as his body; in the other hand he holds a short sword.
PREGENERATED CHARACTER
NAME: Sebastien
SPECIALIZATION: Monk
ORIGIN: Lowborn - Wayward Soul
LONG-TERM GOAL: Establish a trust to offer cybernetic and medical technology to those who are suffering with disabilities and can t afford it.
SHORT-TERM GOAL: Remove the super capitalist mayor of the city from power.

RUNNER
In the future, where data systems are compromised by hackers every day and drones can be taken down and intercepted, the safest way to transport things can sometimes be the simplest. Runners are the messengers of Utopia, moving information and goods from place to place by hand. 
Skills: dodge, sneak
Knowledge: city streets, navigation
Special Passive Skill - Danger Sense: Runners need to walk through the most dangerous areas of the city every day and have learned how to avoid dangerous situations that might trap others. When your danger level is 3 or higher, add 1d6 to any skill roll whose difficulty rating is calculated using your current danger level. 

A young man wearing a grey and orange jacket with the hood up over a dirty, long, red t-shirt. His pants are short, coming down only just below his knees. His arms are folded across his chest. In one hand he holds a forked dagger; with the other hand he makes an upsidedown peace sign. 
PREGENERATED CHARACTER
NAME: Dillion
SPECIALIZATION: Runner
ORIGIN: Murkblood - Petty Thief
LONG-TERM GOAL: Become rich and influential enough that I ll never need to worry about where my next meal is coming from or whether I ll need to sleep on the streets. 
SHORT-TERM GOAL: Get myself a proper place to live - an apartment of my own in the lowborn district.
FUN FACT: Dillion was the very first test character rolled 
up for playtesting when the game system as it came to be 
was finished. Dillion was a mess, but after a few setbacks, 
he did get his apartment. 

SMITH
Smiths specialize in creating armor and weapons and modifying them to increase their effectiveness. They are the gunsmiths, blade-smiths and armor-smiths of Utopia. 
Skills: engineering, and one of either melee weapons or ranged weapons
Knowledge: Choose two of armor, blades, or firearms
Special Action - Forge Pack: You pack a stockpile of special shield projectors, ammunition and electric edge sharpeners. Each time you or an ally enters into combat, choose one of the following:
 	
Gain 2 defensive dice

 	
Add 1d6 when you take the attack action


This benefit applies to both you and your allies. 

A south american man with dark skin and short blonde hair. His legs are entirely cybernetic, made of red plastic and polished gold metals. A pair of flloating cybernetic hands aid him as he heats and welds a gun barrel.
PREGENERATED 
CHARACTER
NAME: Santiago
SPECIALIZATION: Smith
ORIGIN: Murkblood - Waster
LONG-TERM GOAL: Develop new materials for the construction of cybernetic implants that don t require the use of chemicals to stop the body from rejecting them.
SHORT-TERM GOAL: Establish a network of contacts to supply resources for my experiments and prototypes.

SKULKER
Skulkers are the spies and detectives of Utopia. They use their skills of stealth and investigation to seek out the hidden things that others don t want found and follow  clues, no matter where they lead. What they do with the information they find is what sets skulkers apart from one another.
Skills: investigation, sneak
Knowledge: surveillance and one of police, military, criminal organizations or blackmail
Special Passive Skill - Uncover the Clues: Whenever you make a successful investigation skill roll, gain 1 bravado. 

A curvy, caucasian woman with bright red hair and a single lens over one eye looks over a high collar. Her hands are crossed in front of her chest and she wears thigh high pink boots. 
NOTE: The bonus provided by Uncover the Clues also applies to investigation skill rolls made during combat as part of the Look for an Opening action. 

PREGENERATED CHARACTER
NAME: Leah
SPECIALIZATION: Skulker
ORIGIN: Non-human - Artificial Human
LONG-TERM GOAL: Falsify official birth records for myself, so I can live as a normal human.
SHORT-TERM GOAL: Find a way to infiltrate the city s records center.

SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
These are the mercenaries who sell their combat expertise to the highest bidder. A soldier of fortune could be part of the riot police, military, corporate security forces, enforcers for a criminal organization or work anywhere that needs someone who can remove threats.
Skills: tough, and one of melee weapons, ranged weapons or unarmed combat
Knowledge: mercenary work, and one of government, military, corporations, criminal enterprises, mega-corporations, or police
Special Passive Skill - Press the Attack: In combat, when you inflict a medium, severe or debilitating wound, you gain advantage on your next attack action.

A black woman with short curly hair looks back over her shoulder. One arm has been replaced with a cybernetic arm made of red and grey plastic. In her hands she holds a massive electric cannon that connects to a power pack on her back by two thick purple cables. 
PREGENERATED CHARACTER
NAME: Idara
SPECIALIZATION: Soldier of Fortune
ORIGIN: Riser - Merchant Empire
LONG-TERM GOAL: Tear down the 
mega-corporations that have taken over the governance of my city and restore power to the people.
SHORT-TERM GOAL: Infiltrate Meditech and find evidence of their wrongdoing.

TANKER
These are the brutish enforcers of Utopia, solving problems with their fists; utilizing any advantage that will make them stronger, whether it be mechanical or chemical. They are often employed as bouncers, debt collectors, enforcers and body guards.
Skills: tough, unarmed combat
Knowledge: mercenary work, intimidation
Special Passive Skill - Unrelenting: At the end of 
combat, if you were victorious over your opponent, 
heal your most severe wound.
	Additionally, if you take a debilitating wound, 
instead of falling unconscious, you may take two 
additional combat actions. If you defeat your 
opponent within that time, remove all debilitating 
wounds you have suffered.

An androgynous, cybernetically augmented individual in heavy armor that covers their face. A section of their arm separates to reveal an arm mounted gun. They hold a cred chip in one hand. 
PREGENERATED CHARACTER
NAME: A7705
SPECIALIZATION: Tanker
ORIGIN: Non-Human - Artificial Intelligence
LONG-TERM GOAL: Force the world to recognize 
non-humans as equals to humans.
SHORT-TERM GOAL: Locate other non-humans who
are in hiding.

UNBOUND
The unbound are individuals who, through a traumatic experience or genetic manipulation, have awakened telepathic or telekinetic abilities within themself. They often hide their abilities for fear of drawing the attention of corporations, the military or even criminal enterprises that might try to exploit them for their abilities. 
Skills: tough, science
Knowledge: physics, secret programs
Special Skill - Unbound: You have a pool of 4 d6s that represent your telepathic and telekinetic power. This pool is called your unbound dice pool and it replenishes at the start of each week. When you use an ability that requires you to spend dice from this pool, you may spend a maximum of 1d6 in this way.
	When you end a week with no d6 s remaining in your pool, permanently increase the maximum number of d6 s in your pool by 1. When your pool reaches 8 dice, you may spend up to 2 dice each time you spend dice from the pool, when you reach 12 dice, you may spend 3 dice at a time in this way.
When you choose this specialization, choose either Telepathy or Telekinesis. You gain access to the abilities in the Unbound Special Skill based on your choice. You may, at any time, spend 2 skill points to gain access to the other category.
TELEPATHY
Link - You may spend dice from your unbound dice pool to create a telepathic link between you and up to 3 individuals who are within 10 meters of you. You can use this link to relay information, images and establish two way communication. Once the link is established, it can be maintained over any distance for up to 30 minutes, or until the link is broken.  When the link would expire, you may spend an additional 1d6 to renew the link.
Extract Information - You attempt to extract a piece of information from a human within 10 meters of you. Roll 2d10 + d6s from your unbound dice pool (you must spend at least 1 die) and compare the result to the difficulty rating (2d10 + a number of d6s equal to their determination). On a success, you learn the information you seek. On a failure, you experience psychic backlash, suffering a wound equal to the difference between the difficulty rating and your roll. Additionally, on a failed roll, your target becomes aware of your presence. 
TELEKINESIS
Manipulate Object - You may spend dice from your unbound dice pool to allow you to move small objects, up to 10 kilograms, with your mind. This effect lasts up to 30 minutes for each dice spent and can be used to manipulate objects up to 50 meters away. Additionally, while this effect is active, when you would make an athletics skill roll, you may roll 2d10 + a number of d6s equal to the number of dice spent on this effect, instead of using your normal athletics skill. 
Telekinetic Force - When you take the attack action during combat, you may make an attack, in melee or at range, using your telekinetic powers. Roll 2d10 + d6s from your unbound dice pool (you must spend at least 1d6).

Special Complications: When you experience a complication on any roll that involved the use of your unbound abilities, you may experience one of the following complications:
 	
Backlash - suffer 1 light wound 

 	
Energy leak - remove 1 die from your unbound dice pool



A hispanic woman with a bright blue undercut. She is standing with the assistance of a futuristic cane that is secured around her arm with a brace. Her feet are turned inwards and her knees braced against one another. She holds one hand out, a swirl of purple energy circling it.
PREGENERATED CHARACTER
NAME: Alejandra
SPECIALIZATION: Unbound
ORIGIN: Riser - Political Family
LONG-TERM GOAL: Secure my family s return to political power.
SHORT-TERM GOAL: Obtain information on my mother s political rivals to blackmail them with. 

A black man with a bald head and cybernetic arms  leaking green poison gas. He wears a breathing mask and a large tank on his back connected with hoses to his arms.
VENOM
These are the exterminators of Utopia, using chemicals and toxins to remove pests and foes alike. They are equipped with a breathing mask and a special device capable of emitting toxic fumes in a wide area.
Skills: science, tough
Knowledge: chemistry, toxins
Special Equipment - Poison Spreader: A breather and device that can be activated to spread poison gas in a 50 meter area for up to 10 minutes or until it is deactivated. When the spreader is active, all non-cybernetics in the area without a breather suffer 1 light wound at the beginning of each round of combat. This device can be activated up to 3 times per week.

PREGENERATED CHARACTER
NAME: Sam
SPECIALIZATION: Venom
ORIGIN: Lowborn - Businessperson
LONG-TERM GOAL: Download my datawave into a fully cybernetic body.
SHORT-TERM GOAL: Build a reputation with the local corporations, so they will trust me with some big time jobs. 

CREATING NEW SPECIALIZATIONS
The specializations presented in this section are only a small view of what is possible in Utopia. You are encouraged to create new specializations, or modify an existing specialization to suit your character concept. Use the following as a guide:
 	
Specialization - Each specialization should have a clear and distinct identity that conjures a different image in your mind when compared with another one. 

 	
Skills - Choose the two skills from the skill list that best fit your specialization.

 	
Knowledge - Choose two knowledge categories directly related to the activities that someone of that specialization would need to be successful in their work. This may be related to a skill they use, the location they are doing their work, or the social circles in which they operate. This should be related to what someone of that specialization would be actively doing while performing their work, not knowledge categories that might be related to their upbringing (those are reserved for the characters origin).

 	
Special Skills or Equipment - Create a skill or piece of equipment that provides the specialization a specific advantage over others. Common game mechanics to tap into when creating this skill or equipment include:
-	
Adding d6s to skill rolls

-	
Reducing difficulty rating of skill rolls or enemies in combat

-	
Adding defensive dice

-	
Granting advantage

-	
Gaining bravado

-	
Raising or lowering wound levels

-	
Circumventing obstacles





SKILLS
Skills are the lifeblood of the Utopia game system. Almost everything you do will involve rolling a skill roll. Each skill can be upgraded by spending a skill point and has a maximum level of 3. 

When you create your character, you have 2 skill points to allocate to the skills of your choice. You can use these skill points to unlock a new skill or raise the level of an existing skill by 1.
ATHLETICS: Used to perform any actions that involve strength and speed such as breaking down doors or chasing down a fleeing enemy
BARTERING: Used to haggle with buyers or sellers and to set up new business deals. 
DECEPTION: Used when lying, deceiving, creating false identities and evading an opponents points in an argument. 
DODGE: Used when avoiding an incoming attack, running from someone or losing a pursuer in a crowd. 
ENGINEERING: Used when crafting, repairing, or dismantling anything. Also used when piloting drones.
HACKING: Used to bypass network security features and gain access to computer networks. 
INVESTIGATION: Used to search for something hidden, analyze information,  navigate confusing landscapes and spot an opening in an opponents defenses. 
MEDICINE: Used to research a disease, administer medicine, bandage wounds and staunch bleeding.
MELEE WEAPONS: Used when making attacks with melee weapons.
PERSUASION: Used when attempting to sway someone to your point of view.
RANGED WEAPONS: Used when making an attack with ranged weapons.
SCIENCE: Used for all things related to scientific pursuits, no matter the field.
SNEAK: Used when moving silently and avoiding detection.
SOFTWARE PROGRAMMING: Used to create custom computer software, including artificial intelligence. 
TOUGH: Used to resist the effects of disease and physical injury.
UNARMED COMBAT: Used when making unarmed attacks. 

ADDING NEW SKILLS (AND A SHORT DESIGN RAMBLE)
Don t add new skills if you can help it. But why, you ask, when every other thing in this game system is easy to mod? 
Each skill in Utopia is in the skill list because it has the potential to be used with a certain frequency in the game. More niche or specialized skills end up being used less, so the skill points spent on them are worth less. 
If there is a skill you would like to add to the list, try adding it as a knowledge category and making the skill roll with an existing skill instead. 
KNOWLEDGE
Knowledge represents the specific information you know about a subject which may assist you in completing tasks related to it. You gain knowledge when creating your character based on your origin and specialization, but you can acquire additional knowledge during the course of the game using the Gather Information action. 
Knowledge is a good way to specialize and customize your character in ways that go beyond what is provided for in the skills and actions of the game. It also allows your character to react to the events of the game in a more natural way - giving you the opportunity to research tasks and gain additional knowledge that might be helpful before attempting them.
USING KNOWLEDGE IN SKILL ROLLS
When making a skill check, if you have knowledge specific to the task which you are trying to accomplish, add 1d6 die to your skill roll for each knowledge you possess that is applicable to the roll. There is no limit to the number of knowledge categories you can tap for a skill roll, but never more than 1d6 per knowledge. 
Example: Ari takes a job to break into Malcolm Aerotech Labs and steal an experimental capacitor. He dons a disguise and uses the Gather Information action to case the place and learn the layout of the building and where to expect guards and security systems. If successful, he will gain knowledge of Malcolm Aerotech Labs. When he comes back the next evening, he uses the Sneak action, adding 1d6 for his knowledge of the layout of the lab.
KNOWLEDGE CATEGORIES
Almost anything can be a knowledge category, but when creating knowledge categories, remember:
 	
Don t create a knowledge category with the same name as a skill. 

 	
Don t give your character two types of knowledge that are basically the same thing or overlap too much. If you are consistently getting bonuses for the same two knowledge categories on all your checks, they might be overlapping.

 	
Don t have one knowledge that is a subset of another. For example: if you have knowledge on mega-corporations, you shouldn t also have knowledge on Meditech (a mega-corporation).


Sample Knowledge Categories
What follows is a list of some knowledge categories you might know or acquire in the course of the game. It is by no means an exhaustive list and many of the knowledge categories you acquire should be directly related to your game.

Academic Knowledge
 	
Botany

 	
Business Sense

 	
Chemicals

 	
Education

 	
Fauna

 	
Flora

 	
Genetics

 	
History

 	
Human Biology

 	
Navigation

 	
Politics

 	
Purism

 	
Spiritualism

 	
The True Path

 	
Theology

 	
Uncommon Knowledge


Organizations and 
Geographical
 	
City Streets

 	
Corporations

 	
Criminal Enterprises

 	
Hidden Pathways

 	
Hospitals and Clinics

 	
Libraries

 	
Mega-Corporations

 	
Mercenary Work

 	
Military

 	
Police

 	
The Outside World








Skill Based Knowledge
 	
Blackmail

 	
Calligraphy 

 	
Computer Software

 	
Dancing

 	
Embezzling

 	
Forgery

 	
Investments

 	
Leadership

 	
Mimic

 	
Murder

 	
Music

 	
Painting

 	
Poetry

 	
Scavenging

 	
Theft

 	
Writing


Social
 	
Highborn

 	
Risers

 	
Lowborn

 	
Murkbloods

 	
Nobility


Technology
 	
AI (Artificial Intelligence)

 	
Electronic Hardware

 	
Cybernetics

 	
Cybersecurity Systems

 	
Datanets

 	
Datawave Copies

 	
Drones

 	
Hot-wiring

 	
Surveillance Systems



A man stands on a balcony, looking out over a mass of connected buildings and walkways adorned with a cacophony of neon lights. 
GOALS
Each character begins with 2 goals:
 	
Long term goal: This represents your character s hopes and dreams and always guides your characters overall direction. A lowborn person may want to move up the social ladder to be highborn. A hopeful singer may want to become famous across the city. A politician may want to lead the city.


Note: Long term goals don t need to be concrete. They can be subjective or ephemeral; something the character is always striving for and never reaches.
 	
Short term goal: You can have up to 2 short term goals. Create the first when you create your character and add the second as you play. These should be achievable in 2 to 4 in-game weeks and can represent a small step towards a larger goal, a small personal goal for your character or even a job that you have taken and need to complete. When you complete one of these goals, you will gain 1 skill point, 1 bravado and create a new goal to replace it. 


If you ever get stuck during a game and don t know what to do next, look back at your long term goal and determine what the next step to reaching it is. 
Example - Dillion: Dillion is murkblood. He lives in the slums below the city, but he aspires to more:
Long Term Goal - Become rich and influential enough that I ll never need to worry about where my next meal is coming from or whether I ll need to sleep on the streets. 
Short Term Goal #1 - Get myself a proper place to live - an apartment of my own in the lowborn district.
For Dillion to reach his short term goal, he needs money, so uses the take a job action and gets a job to deliver a package (that may or may not be a bomb) to gang boss. It s a risky job but the pay is good. He marks the job as his second goal. 
Short Term Goal #2 - Deliver a package to Shizuka Asami, leader of the Agni-kai gang.
If Dillion completes the job, he ll get his pay for the job, as well as a skill point and 1 bravado for completing one of his goals. 

EQUIPMENT 
Along with their description, equipment have 2 important pieces of information:
Resource Cost: The starting resource cost of a piece of equipment. This may be modified based on your reputation with a supplier or a bartering skill roll.
Search/Crafting Difficulty: Used to calculate the difficulty to find a supplier using the search action or to craft it using the engineer action. Items with no difficulty listed are common items that do not require a search action to locate.
WEAPONS
In Utopia, weapons do not have damage values. Instead, they rely on your skills in melee or ranged combat to determine the potential for inflicting wounds. Some weapons have an additional ability associated with them that changes how they hit. 
Melee WeaponsWeapon
 Search/Crafting Difficulty
 Resource Cost
 
Knife
 -
 


 1
 
Baton, Staff, Nightstick
 -
 


 2
 
Mundane melee item (baseball bat, golf club, etc.)
 -
 


 2
 
Exotic melee weapon (sword, martial arts weapon, etc.)
 +1d6
 4
 


COMPLEX MELEE WEAPONSWeapon
 Description
 Search/Crafting Difficulty
 Resource Cost
 
Hard Light Blade
 A projector, either handheld or wrist mounted, that projects a blade of translucent, solid, light.
 +2d6
 6
 
Taser (includes shock module)
 A small handheld device that delivers an electric shock. 
 +1d6
 4
 
Weapon
 Description
 Search/Crafting Difficulty
 Resource Cost
 
Shield
 Ignore light wounds and make all dodge skill rolls with disadvantage.
 -
 2
 
Hard Light Shield
 A projector, either handheld or body mounted, that projects a small, mobile shield of translucent, solid light. Ignore light wounds. 
 +2d6
 8
 


Firearms
Firearms are distinguished by the range at which they can make successful attack rolls and the special ability that some weapons have.

RANGE: Although range has no statistical benefits in Utopia, it is important for the fiction you are creating for the game. For example, you aren t going to be able to snipe someone with a pistol at 500 meters and if someone starts shooting at you from 100 meters away with a rifle, you may not be able to accurately return fire with a pistol unless you spend a turn moving closer. 
If you make an attack roll with a ranged weapon outside of its maximum range, make the attack roll with disadvantage.
Weapon
 Max Range
 Search/Crafting Difficulty
 Resource Cost
 
Pistol
 50 meters
 -
 3
 
Submachine Gun (SMG)
 50 meters
 +1d6
 8
 
Spray and Pray: When you make an attack roll with an SMG, you can choose to make the skill roll at disadvantage. If you do, on a hit, you inflict 2 wounds instead of 1. (Installing a Bullet Storm Module into an SMG increases this ability from 2 to 3 wounds)
 
Shotgun
 30 meters
 +1d6
 8
 
Shred: Increase the severity of all wounds dealt with a shotgun by 1 level.
 
Assault Rifle
 400 meters
 +1d6
 12
 
Rampage: When you inflict a severe wound, inflict an additional light wound on the same target or another target.
 
Rifle
 200 meters
 -
 5
 
Aimed Shot: When you make an attack roll, if you have advantage on the roll, increase the severity of any wounds you deal by 1 level.
 
Sniper Rifle
 1500 meters
 +1d6
 12
 
Take Aim: When you fire at a target that is unaware of your presence, add an additional 1d6 to your attack roll.
 
Canon
 600 meters
 +2d6
 20
 
Overwhelming and Unwieldy: Add 2d6 when making an attack roll with this weapon, but make all dodge and sneak skill rolls with disadvantage while you are carrying it.
 
Dart Launcher
 100 meters
 +1d6
 6
 
Darts: Launches darts filled with a chemical compound. Whenever you make an attack roll, choose the type of ammunition you want to use (see the ammunition section for details). On a hit, deal 1 light wound instead of the normal wound and apply the effects of the dart.
 


Weapon Upgrades
You can upgrade the effectiveness of a weapon or give it special properties by purchasing and installing upgrades onto the weapon. Special ammunition for firearms can also increase the effectiveness of your weapons. 

MELEE WEAPON UPGRADE MODULESWeapon
 Description
 Search/Crafting Difficulty
 Resource Cost
 
Shock Module
 Modifies the weapon to emit a non-lethal electric shock, increasing all wound levels inflicted by the weapon by 1. If a target receives a debilitating wound from this weapon, they are rendered unconscious for 8 hours, but has no danger of death.
 +1d6
 12
 
Reflex Enhancement Module
 Electrically stimulates the wielders muscles, allowing for faster movement and reaction times. When you take the attack action, reroll any dice that roll 1s or 2s. You must take the new roll. 
 +2d6
 18
 
Gore Module
 Increase the severity of all wounds dealt with the weapon by 1 level.
 +1d6
 8
 


RANGED WEAPON UPGRADE MODULESWeapon
 Description
 Search/Crafting Difficulty
 Resource Cost
 
Arc Energy Weapon Upgrade
 Modify the weapon to be a directed energy weapon, which is more accurate, but less damaging. When you make an attack roll, add 2d6 to the roll. When you deal a wound, reduce the severity by 1 level.
 +2d6
 12
 
Weapon
 Description
 Search/Crafting Difficulty
 Resource Cost
 
Dart Launcher Upgrade
 Modify the weapon to launch darts filled with a chemical compound. Whenever you make an attack roll, choose the type of ammunition you want to use (see the ammunition section for details). On a hit, deal 1 light wound instead of the normal wound and apply the effects of the dart.
 -
 6
 
Variable Sights
 Doubles the range of the weapon.
 -
 4
 
Recoil Stabilizer
 Eliminates most of the weapon s recoil. When you make an attack roll, you can reroll up to 2 dice. You must take the new roll 
 +1d6
 6
 
Bullet Storm Module
 Increases the rate of fire of the weapon at the expense of its accuracy. When you take the attack action with this weapon, you can choose to roll with disadvantage. If you do, on a hit, you inflict 2 wounds instead of 1.  (This increases to 3 attacks if installed in an SMG).
 +2d6
 8
 
Shock Module
 Modifies the weapon to emit a non-lethal electric shock, increasing all wound levels inflicted by the weapon by 1. If a target receives a debilitating wound from this weapon, they are rendered unconscious for 8 hours, but has no danger of death.
 +1d6
 12
 
Explosive Launcher
 Modifies the weapon to launch explosive charges. When you make an attack roll, add 2d6 to your roll and target up to 3 opponents with one roll.
 +1d6
 15
 


Special Ammunition

DARTS (REQUIRES A DART LAUNCHER OR UPGRADE)Weapon
 Description
 Search/Crafting Difficulty
 Resource Cost
 
Poison Darts
 If you succeed on your attack roll, the target becomes poisoned and suffers 1 light wound at the beginning of each round of combat for the next 3 rounds.
 +1d6
 1/per 10
 
Rage Darts
 If you succeed on your attack roll, the target goes into a blind rage, attacking any nearby targets for the next 1 minute (6 rounds of combat). Use the target s determination to take the attack action on each round of combat.
 +1d6
 5/per 10
 
Sleep Darts
 If you succeed on your attack roll by 5 or more, the target falls unconscious for 1 hour.
Note: After 1 minute (6 rounds of combat), an enemy who has been rendered unconscious in this way may be woken by someone else. If you experience a complication, a sleeping enemy being awoken can be a good complication.
 +1d6
 3/per 10
 
Toxin Darts
 If you succeed on your attack roll, the target feels intense sickness for 1 hour. When entering combat or confrontation, roll 2d6 and subtract the result from their difficulty rating.
 +1d6
 5/per 10
 



Line drawings of three futuristic guns: an assault rifle, a shotgun with a large rotating chamber, and a sniper rifle with a "C shaped shoulder rest.
Line drawings of 3 guns: a pistol with a crescent shaped hand guard, a submachine gun, and a shotgun pistol with an extended grip. 
Grenades, Bombs and Other Explosives
To determine the damage of an explosive, roll 2d10 + a number of d6s based on the strength of the blast. If your character constructed the explosive or set off the explosion add an additional 1d6 if you are trained in science and an additional 1d6 if you are trained in engineering. Compare the result of the roll to the difficulty rating of your opponent to calculate any resulting wounds. 
Explosion damage: 2d10 + blast damage + science (1d6) + engineering (1d6)
If you are caught in an explosion, make a dodge skill roll, comparing the result of your roll to the result of the explosion roll and calculating any resulting wounds.
Damage
 Blast Radius
 Search/Crafting Difficulty
 Resource Cost
 
1d6
 10 meters
 -
 1
 
2d6
 30 meters
 +1d6
 3
 
3d6
 100 meters
 +2d6
 6
 
4d6
 200 meters
 +3d6
 10
 
5d6
 350 meters
 +4d6
 12
 


Using Explosives
You can use explosives in combat by taking the attack action and rolling for the damage of the explosive instead of making a normal attack roll. Compare the result to the difficulty rating of your enemy and inflict wounds as normal.
Building Explosives
You can build an explosive by taking either the Engineer or Experiment actions. The difficulty rating of the skill roll is equal to 2d10 + the crafting difficulty. You can construct explosives for half the resource cost to purchase them.
Explosive Upgrades
Once you have crafted an explosive, you can upgrade the explosive by taking the Engineer or Experiment action with the same difficulty rating that was used to construct the explosive. As part of this action, you may choose to have the explosive confer it s additional effect without inflicting any wounds. Example: you can construct a sleep explosive that puts those who would suffer a wound to sleep without inflicting any physical wounds.
You can purchase an upgraded explosive by adding the resource cost of the upgrade to the base explosive cost and adding an additional 1d6 to the search/crafting difficulty.
EXPLOSIVE UPGRADES TABLE
Upgrade
 Requirements
 Description
 Resource Cost
 
Acid
 Requires science level 1
 The explosive sprays acid in the blast radius. Any target who takes any level wound from the explosion takes an additional light wound at the beginning of each of their turns for the next 3 turns.
 2
 
Shrapnel
 Requires engineering level 1
 The explosion fires shrapnel all around it. In addition to the wound caused by the blast, all those who suffer a wound suffer an additional medium wound.
 2
 
EMP
 Requires engineering level 2
 The explosion emits a pulse of electrical energy when it is detonated. Targets who take a light or medium wound as a result of the explosion are stunned for 1 minute. While stunned, the opponent is dazed, can not move, speak, or take actions. Any target who takes a severe or debilitating wound as a result of the shock explosion is rendered unconscious for 1 hour. 
 6
 
Toxin
 Requires science level 2
 The explosion emits a toxic chemical into the air, spreading around cover and around corners. After calculating wounds from the blast, roll 2d6 and subtract the result from the difficulty rating of everyone within the radius of the blast, regardless of whether they succeeded or failed. Anyone wearing a breather is immune to this effect.
 6
 
Sleep
 Requires science level 2
 The explosion emits a cloud of sleep gas when it is detonated. Targets inside the blast radius who take a medium or more severe wound fall unconscious. Targets rendered unconscious in this way are unconscious for a minimum of 1 minute (6 rounds of combat), after which time another enemy may wake them up. If they are not woken up, the target will wake up of their own accord after 1 hour. Anyone wearing a breather is immune to this effect.
 6
 
Upgrade
 Requirements
 Description
 Resource Cost
 
Time Stop
 Requires science level 3, engineering level 3, and knowledge of physics
 Targets inside the blast radius take no wounds from the explosion. Instead, the area within the blast radius is frozen in time for 10 minutes. Anything entering the radius becomes frozen in time at the edge of the blast radius. At the end of 10 minutes, normal time resumes in the area.
 10
 


ARMOR
Armor grants you defensive dice at the beginning of combat. These defensive dice can be spent whenever you would take a wound to reduce the severity of the wound. More information on defensive dice can be found on page 54.


Armor
 Description
 Search/Crafting Difficulty
 Resource Cost
 
Light Armor
(includes leather, padded and makeshift armor)
 Start combat with 1d6 defensive dice
 -
 2
 
Medium Armor
(bulletproof vests, treated leather and carbonweave fabrics)
 Start combat with 2d6 defensive dice
 +1d6
 5
 
Tactical Armor
(composite and metal materials designed for combat situations)
 Start combat with 3d6 defensive dice
 +2d6
 10
 
Heavy Tactical Armor 
(full suits of tactical body armor meant to deflect most blows)
 Start combat with 4d6 defensive dice
 +3d6
 14
 


Powered Armor
Powered armor is the ultimate in defensive equipment. It provides a number of benefits when you wear it:
 	
Grants defensive dice each time you would take a wound

 	
Protects you from environmental effects such as gas and radiation

 	
Grants advantage on athletics and unarmed combat skill rolls

 	
Can be equipped with built in weapons (any weapon except cannons)


Armor
 Description
 Search/Crafting Difficulty
 Resource Cost
 
Light Powered Armor (roughly human sized or slightly larger)
 Roll 1d6 defensive dice any time you would take a wound.
 +2d6
 20
 
Heavy Powered Armor
(twice the size of a human)
 Roll 2d6 defensive dice any time you would take a wound and can be equipped with cannons.
 +4d6
 40
 


ENEMIES WITH POWERED ARMOR
You can give your enemies power armor by rolling defensive dice whenever you inflict a wound on the enemy, as you would with your own power armor. 
OTHER EQUIPMENT
The following table includes additional equipment that may be useful to your character or required for your playthrough. Each piece of equipment has no specific mechanical benefit, but may be required to perform certain actions. For example, climbing the outside of a building likely requires a grapple or climbing equipment. 
	When you are making a roll for which a piece of equipment would make the task easier, give yourself advantage if you make use of the equipment.
Equipment
 Description
 Search/Crafting Difficulty
 Resource Cost
 
Breather
 A mask with a small air purifier or attached supply of oxygen.
 -
 2
 
Cam Bot
 A small hovering drone with camera and microphone that follows you around recording.
 -
 4
 
Camera
 A small, handheld recording device
 -
 1
 
Grapple
 A retractable grappling device that allows you to climb up vertical surfaces.
 -
 1
 
Survival Supplies
 Water canteen, rations, rope, firestarter and knife.
 -
 2
 
Toolkit
 A set of tools to used to perform a skilled task. When you purchase these tools, choose the type of toolkit you are purchasing.
Example: mechanics tools, surgeons tools, chemists tools, etc.
 -
 2
 




A black woman perches on a stool, connected by a series of blue and golden cables mingled with her dreadlocks, to a tangle of medical equipment behind her. One of her arms has been replaced by a hefty mechanical arm that supports a number of small appendiges equipped with medical tools; her other arm retains a human shape, but has been encased in metal. One of her legs has been replaced by a large, shining metal blade. 
ENHANCEMENTS
Enhancements are synthetic or cybernetic upgrades that are grafted onto the body of an individual, often replacing organic parts such as eyes, arms or legs. Once an enhancement has been installed, the upgrade can not be reversed, except under special (and often extremely expensive) circumstances. 
Basic enhancements are purchased from a vendor or constructed using the engineer action. Once the enhancement has been installed, it can be upgraded with special upgrade modules specific to the type of enhancement. 
When trying to locate a supplier for an enhancement, take the search action and use the search/crafting difficulty outlined in the Enhancements Table to determine the difficulty rating. 
Installing an Enhancement
Installing an enhancement requires: 
 	
the services of a meditech, 

 	
the resource cost of the enhancement 

 	
1 skill point per enhancement 


An upgrade to an enhancement that is already installed does not require a skill point.
Meditechs and Installation Checks
Installing an enhancement requires the expertise of a skilled meditech, a special type of doctor who is skilled in both medicine and engineering. You can locate a meditech using the Meet Someone New action. 
	You can attempt the installation of enhancements yourself if you are trained in both the medicine and engineering skills and have access to an engineers toolkit and a surgeons toolkit. 
ENHANCEMENTS TABLE
Enhancement
 Description
 Search/Crafting Difficulty
 Resource Cost
 
Data Stream
 The most common type of enhancement, equipped by affluent people across Utopia. Allows you to connect your brain directly to a network using a data cable.
 +0
 2
 
Data Stream Upgrade: Systech
 Allows your data stream to function as a  as a level 1 hacking relay (and can be upgraded with hacking upgrade modules).
 +2d6
 5
 
Data Stream Upgrade: Wireless 
 Allows you to connect wirelessly to systems with access terminals within 50 meters.
 +2d6
 7
 
Data Stream Upgrade: Biohack
 Allows you to connect to the implants of a foe and disrupt its ability to function.
When in combat or confrontation you can take the following action:
Biohack: Make a hacking skill roll. On a success, permanently reduce the difficulty rating of your foe based on the severity of the wound: 1 for a light wound, 3 for medium, 5 for severe and 7 for debilitating. This can only affect each foe once.
 +3d6
 14
 
Psionic Delimiter (requires Unbound specialization)
 An implanted device that allows you to channel additional psionic energy. The maximum number of dice you can spend from your unbound dice pool is increased by 1. 
 +3d6
 12
 
Enhancement
 Description
 Search/Crafting Difficulty
 Resource Cost
 
Cybernetic Eyes
 Allows in-eye data display and adds 1d6 to investigation skill rolls.
 +0
 4
 
Cybernetic Eyes Upgrade: Forensic Issue
 Zooms up to 200 meters, adding an additional 1d6 to investigation skill rolls.
 +1d6
 8
 
Cybernetic Eyes Upgrade: Military Issue
 Equipped with advanced motion tracking, adding 1d6 to ranged combat skill rolls.
 +1d6
 7
 
Cybernetic Arm 
 Allows you to lift and move objects up to 300 lbs and adds an additional 1d6 to unarmed combat skill rolls.
 +0
 10 per arm
 
Cybernetic Arms Upgrade: Restraining (requires both arms be cybernetic)
 Adds multiple flexible, extending joints, designed for wrapping around and restraining enemies. When you make a skill roll using unarmed combat against a non-cybernetic enemy and inflict a medium or severe wound, you can choose to wrap your arms around your opponent and subdue them, rendering them unconscious.
 +1d6
 12
 
Cybernetic Arms Upgrade: Blades
 Retractable blades that can be hidden within your cybernetic limbs. Adds an additional 1d6 to skill rolls made with unarmed combat or melee weapons.
 +1d6
 5
 
Cybernetic Arms Upgrade: Strength
 A system of hydraulic servos that significantly increases the amount you can lift or carry and the pressure you can exert. Add an additional 1d6 to unarmed combat skill rolls and add 2d6 to any athletics skill rolls that rely on the strength of your arms (Example: breaking down or prying open doors, breaking out of restraints).
 +2d6
 10
 
Enhancement
 Description
 Search/Crafting Difficulty
 Resource Cost
 
Cybernetic Legs 
 Cybernetic legs allow you to drop up to 60 feet without taking damage and give you advantage on athletics skill rolls that involve the use of the legs (Example: running, jumping, taking the dash action in combat).
 +0
 20 per pair
 
Cybernetic Legs Upgrade: Grapple
 Thigh mounted, retractable grapples that allow you to grapple to objects at a range of up to 150 meters away and climb or rappel from vertical surfaces. When you utilize your grapples when taking the dash action in combat, gain advantage on your skill roll.
 +2d6
 12 per pair
 
Cybernetic Legs Upgrade - Blades
 Retractable blades that can be hidden within your cybernetic legs. When you make an unarmed combat or melee weapons skill roll using these blades, add 2d6 to your roll.
 +1d6
 8 
 
Cybernetic Legs Upgrade - Sprinting 
 Special curving feet and action servos designed for high speed sprinting. You can travel on foot at 3 times normal running speed. When you make an athletics skill roll while running (such as the dash action in combat), add 2d6.
 +2d6
 12
 
Cybernetic Legs Upgrade - Shock Absorbers
 Allows you to jump or fall from heights of up to 250 meters without taking damage.
 +1d6
 8
 
Enhancement
 Description
 Search/Crafting Difficulty
 Resource Cost
 
Cybernetic Torso
 Cybernetic torso segment replacing skin with damage resistant carbon fiber and allowing for large scale upgrades
 +1d6
 16
 
Cybernetic Torso Upgrade - Storage
 A small cavity in your torso that can be used to store small items.
 +0
 3
 
Cybernetic Torso Upgrade - Deployable Turret
 A back or shoulder mounted turret. When you install this upgrade you must also purchase a weapon to  install in the turret.
When in combat, during the environment phase, before you choose an action, make an attack action with your mounted turret. You do not suffer wounds based on the results of this roll. 
 +2d6
 14
 
Cybernetic Torso Upgrade - Emergency Counter-
measures
 A countermeasure unit installed in your torso that releases a stream of healing nanites to knit your wounds together when you are injured. When you take a wound, you can activate the countermeasure unit to ignore the wound. You can use this upgrade 3 times per week.
 +3d6
 22
 
Special Enhancement Upgrades
 
Spider Climb Upgrade (requires cybernetic arms and legs)
 A combination of gravitational wave disruptors and chemical adhesive projectors that allow you to climb vertical surfaces and upside down.
 +3d6
 14
 



A tall chinese woman with pink and purple striped hair and gold face makeup. She is wearing an eccentric purple gown with a collar of pink spikes and sharp blue shoulderpads and is striking a dancer's pose. Her legs are entirely cybernetic.
CHEMS
Chems are chemical concoctions, taken either orally or injected, to elicit an effect. All chems can be crafted by anyone trained in the science skill, with knowledge of chemistry, using the experiment action. 

Using a Chem
Using a chem does not take an action, you can use it at any time, even in the middle of combat before a roll.
Purchasing or Crafting Chems
When you purchase or craft chems you get 3 doses of the chem to use. When a chem has been used, it is gone and you must purchase or craft more. 
Chem Side Effects
Taking large amounts of chems can have detrimental effects on your body, including internal hemorrhaging. 
	Each time you take a chem, if you have already taken 2 or more chems this week, make a tough skill roll with a difficulty rating equal to 10 + 1d6 for each chem you have taken this week. On a failure, subtract the result of your roll from the difficulty rating and suffer wounds based on the result.
Example 1: Moira is about to perform a difficult experiment. She takes a Focus Booster to give herself advantage on the skill roll. She does not have to make a tough skill roll because it is her first chem this week. 
Example 2: Moira is infiltrating a rival s laboratory. She lost her weapon in a previous encounter so she is resorting to unarmed combat. She has already taken 1 chem this week. When she encounters an armed guard, she takes a Reflex Booster and a Steroid Booster to ensure she is successful in taking down the guard. The reflex booster is her second chem for the week, so she does not need to make a skill roll. However, the Steroid Booster is her third chem, so Moira makes a tough skill roll with a difficulty rating of 2d10 + 2d6 (because she has taken 2 chems this week). Moira rolls 6 below the difficulty rating, so she suffers a medium wound. If Moira takes a fourth chem this week, the difficulty rating for her tough skill roll will be 2d10 +3d6.
Cellular Regeneration Serum
Resource Cost: 5
Search/Crafting Difficulty: +1d6
A single use syringe that injects a cellular regeneration serum, causing near instant regeneration of damaged tissues. You immediately recover 2 wounds. 
	If you use a 2nd Cellular Regenerations Serum within one week, roll a d10; on a 3 or lower, the serum has no effect. If you use a 3rd serum within one week, it has no effect on a d10 roll of 6 or lower. 
Focus Booster
Resource Cost: 6
Search/Crafting Difficulty: +1d6
Boosts your focus, allowing your brain to process information more quickly. For the next 10 minutes, make the following skill rolls with advantage: engineering, hacking, investigation and science.
Reflex Booster
Resource Cost: 6
Search/Crafting Difficulty: +2d6
Boosts the speed of your reactions. For the next 10 minutes, make the following skill rolls with advantage: athletics, dodge, melee weapons, ranged weapons and unarmed combat.
Steroid Booster
Resource Cost: 3
Search/Crafting Difficulty: +1d6
A stimulant that allows you to push your muscles beyond the normal limits. For the next 10 minutes, add an additional 1d6 when making the following skill rolls: athletics, melee weapons and unarmed combat. 
Toxin
Resource Cost: 4
Search/Crafting Difficulty: +2d6
A flask of noxious chemicals that react when exposed to oxygen. Uncapping or smashing the flask emits a steady stream of toxic fumes, affecting all non-cybernetics in a 15x15 meter area who are not equipped with a breather. Roll 2d6 and subtract the result from the difficulty rating of all opponents in the area for the next 30 seconds or 3 rounds of combat. If you, or an ally is affected in this way, subtract the result from each skill roll you make while under the effects of the toxin.
TECH
This section includes a number of items and devices that can be crafted or purchased in your game. Each includes the resource cost and a difficulty for use when searching for the item or it s components, or crafting it.
Skill Challenge
Constructing some tech items require the completion of a skill challenge. Those items requiring a skill challenge list the complexity (number of successful skill rolls required for completion) of the challenge in their descriptions.
Uses and Durations
Many devices have a number of times that they can be used each week before requiring recharging. This number of uses can be extended by installing tech upgrades onto the device. 
	When the duration of a devices effect would end, you can immediately extend its duration by expending another use of the device. 


Anti-gravity Field Generator
Resource Cost: 8
Search/Crafting Difficulty: +2d6
A device that briefly disrupts gravity waves around a person or object, rendering them unaffected by gravity for 30 seconds, before running out of power. A character affected by this device could leap 250 feet in the air, slow or cushion their fall from a great height or move an impossibly heavy object. This device can be used in this way 3 times per week. 
Bio-monitor 
Resource Cost: 3
Search/Crafting Difficulty: +0
A device that quickly reads all the vital statistics of a patient, giving advantage on any investigation skill rolls used to gather information about a human or animal.
Broadcast Hub
Resource Cost: 5
Search/Crafting Difficulty: +1d6
A small device equipped with a microphone and camera, usually worn on the clothing or on the wrist. The hub taps into nearby speaker and video systems within 100 meters and broadcasts the audio and video from the broadcast hub onto the surrounding speakers or monitors. Commonly used for political speeches, protests and by police. 
Camouflage Field Generator
Resource Cost: 16
Search/Crafting Difficulty: +3d6
A waist or back mounted projector that bends light in a small circumference around it, rendering things inside the field effectively invisible to anyone or any recording device outside the field. The projector can create a field with a diameter as small as half a meter or as large as 10 meters, giving everyone within the field an additional 4d6 on sneak skill rolls. The device lasts for up to ten minutes at a time and can be used up to 3 times per week. 
Dampener
Resource Cost: 13
Search/Crafting Difficulty: +3d6
A small device that disrupts sound waves in a single room or space with a diameter of up to 10 meters. While engaged, any sound within the space becomes inaudible, granting an additional 2d6 to sneak skill rolls. When activated, the device s effect lasts for 10 minutes and can be used up to 3 times per week.
Drone
Resource Cost: See the drones section on page 149 and 150
Search/Crafting Difficulty: +1d6
A portable drone, with either limbs allowing it to walk or propellers allowing it to fly. The drone is controlled from a small personal terminal, through verbal commands or using a cybernetic implant. For more information on drones, see the drones section on page 149.
NOTE: When you build or acquire a drone, think about what it looks like, how it moves and how it is controlled.
Exoskeletal Limbs
Resource Cost: 14
Search/Crafting Difficulty: +2d6
Skill Challenge: 3
An exoskeleton worn on the upper body, back or arms that adds additional appendages. While equipped in combat, when you take the attack action using your exoskeletal limbs, you may roll your attack with an engineering or science skill roll. Outside of combat, you have advantage on science and engineering skill rolls while the exoskeletal limbs are equipped.
NOTE: Describe what your exoskeletal limbs look like. Are they human-like arms sprouting from your back, long, thin tentacles made of carbon fiber, or floating hands suspended by a localized gravity wave disruptors?
Gate
Resource Cost: 200
Search/Crafting Difficulty: +5d6
Skill Challenge: 7
A large mechanical gateway that can be used to teleport people and items from one location to another. Some cities have these gateways, briefly engaging them to allow the transport of goods and people easily between cities. The use of these gates is limited to a few minutes at a time due to the extreme amounts of power required to operate them. Scientists in Utopia are on a constant search for new sources of power with which to power these Gates. 
Hacking Relay
Resource Cost: 5
Search/Crafting Difficulty: +1d6
A portable terminal fitted with a data stream that allows you to connect to a local network to access data and perform the hacking action. The relay employs  breaks  to prevent cybersecurity systems from affecting your system with countermeasures. Hacking relays come installed with 1 break, which can be activated to block the effects of 1 hacking countermeasure. Additional breaks can be installed with upgrades found on page 142. Additionally, special hacking programs can be installed using programs found on page 145. 
Hard Light Shield Projector
Resource Cost: 14
Search/Crafting Difficulty: +1d6
A small device that projects a flat or curved impassable shield up to 10x10 meters that lasts for up to 10 minutes. The device can not be moved while active and can be used 3 times per week. 
NOTE: Hard light appears as a glowing, translucent pane which can be seen through, but not passed through or broken.
Hazmat Suit
Resource Cost: 4
Search/Crafting Difficulty: +2d6
A full body suit that blocks low frequency radiation. While wearing the suit, when making a tough skill roll during a radiation check, add an additional 1d6 to your roll. Additionally, if you would suffer a radiation wound, reduce the severity of that wound by 1 wound category (reducing a light wound by 1 category ignores the wound entirely). If you roll a complication on a radiation check while wearing the suit, the suit becomes degraded and is no longer functional. 
Holoprojector
Resource Cost: 12
Search/Crafting Difficulty: +2d6
A large non-portable device that can project a hologram with a size up to 50x50x50 meters, but requires it to be connected to a constant source of power.
Jump Enhancers
Resource Cost: 5
Search/Crafting Difficulty: +1d6
Boots attached to a leg brace forming a minor exoskeleton. These boots combine mechanical push from small motors in the boots with gravitational wave disruptors, allowing the wearer to jump vertical and horizontal distances up to 50 meters or absorb the impact from a fall of up to 50 meters if the wearer lands on their feet. 
Kinetic Shield Projector
Resource Cost: 14
Search/Crafting Difficulty: +2d6
Skill Challenge: 3
A small device that can be placed on the ground to project a kinetic energy shield in a 10x10x10 meter area. The shield appears as a shimmer in the air and prevents rapidly moving objects such as bullets from passing through it by draining the kinetic energy from them. When you activate the shield, anyone within the area of its effect takes no wounds from foes using ranged weapons. When triggering this device in combat, if your enemies are equipped with ranged weapons, roll 2d6 and subtract the result from their difficulty rating while the shield projector is active. 
	When activated, the shield lasts for 30 seconds, or 3 rounds of combat. You can use this device 3 times per week. 
NOTE: This device is most commonly used by those who engage in melee or unarmed combat, allowing them to nullify projectile weapons in the area and engage in close combat.
Kinetic Shield Projector (Personal)
Resource Cost: 11
Search/Crafting Difficulty: +2d6
A palm sized device that can be worn on your clothing to project a kinetic energy shield around you. The shield prevents rapidly moving objects such as bullets from passing through it. In combat, when you would suffer a wound from a melee or ranged weapon, you can activate the shield projector to ignore the wound. You can use this device up to 3 times per week.
NOTE: Unarmed attacks are unaffected by the Kinetic Shield Projector.
Portable Heads-up Display
Resource Cost: 5
Search/Crafting Difficulty: +0
A small display fitted over one or both of your eyes that analyses and displays basic information about what you re looking at. Add an additional 1d6 to investigation rolls.
NOTE: Heads up displays come in a variety of shapes, sizes and configurations. They can be large colored visors worn like a helmet, small screens that wrap around one side of your face, indistinguishable from reading or sun glasses or small lenses worn over each eye like contact lenses. What does yours look like?
Portable Hologram Projector
Resource Cost: 10
Search/Crafting Difficulty: +2d6
A palm sized, floating hologram projector that can project a hologram no larger than 5x5 meters to a space within 20 meters of it. The projector is filled with holographic routines that have been preprogrammed into it and can be used 3 times per week.
NOTE: This device can be upgraded with a hard light module to make the holograms solid. This can allow the user to create holographic bridges that can be walked on and walls that can t be passed, however, this can not be used to inflict wounds. 
Spider Climb Kit
Resource Cost: 10
Search/Crafting Difficulty: +2d6
A set of special gloves and boots connected a backpack power source that uses a combination of a small anti-gravity generators and adhesive materials to allow the wearer to climb on vertical surfaces and upside down on horizontal surfaces.
Transaction Terminal Siphon
Resource Cost: 6
Search/Crafting Difficulty: +2d6
In Utopia, all monetary transactions are handled digitally, with credits being transferred between accounts. Siphons are devices installed into transaction terminals that tap into these transactions and create small discrepancies, increasing fees or decreasing payments by tiny amounts, and rerouting the spare credits to another account. 
	You can install one of these devices into a transaction terminal using the engineering skill roll, with a difficulty rating equal to 2d10 + a number of d6s equal to your current danger level. During your sphere phase, roll 1d6 and gain resources equal to the result, then roll 1d10. On a 1 or 2, your siphon is discovered and removed. Increase your danger level by 1. 
Transcendence Drive
Resource Cost: 110
Search/Crafting Difficulty: +4d6
Skill Challenge: 5
Originally designed by a physicist, who was also a purist monk, as a means of transcending their desires, the transcendence drive is a large engine that emits low frequency delta and beta waves that influence the cognitive abilities of those of those near it, inhibiting their inclinations to pursue their own desires. The range of the drive can be adjusted between 100 meters and up to 2 kilometers.  
	Those under the effects of the Transcendence Drive feel less drive to undergo any activity, readily agree to suggestions made to them, and are less argumentative and confrontational.
Halo of Transcendence 
Resource Cost: 16
Search/Crafting Difficulty: +4d6
A small, implantable version of the Transcendence Drive that confers the effects of the drive on a single person.
NOTE: This technology was developed by a Purist Enhancer scientist named Arkus Traxley, as a tool to help the purists transcend their desires. However, the technology has been misused in the past to inhibit the desires of large populations, making them more agreeable to the will of others, and as such has been banned. Despite the ban, both the drives and halos are sometimes used by purist monasteries who believe it will bring them closer to enlightenment and by criminal elements who wish to gain more control over people.
Transmission Blocker
Resource Cost: 14
Search/Crafting Difficulty: +2d6
A medium sized device that, when deployed, scrambles the signals of all incoming and outgoing transmissions within a 500 meter radius.
Transmission Interceptors
Resource Cost: 14
Search/Crafting Difficulty: +2d6
A medium sized device that, when deployed, intercepts all transmissions sent or received in a 250 meter radius, recording them and routing the recordings to either it s internal memory or an external system. 
Turret
Resource Cost: 9
Search/Crafting Difficulty: +1d6
A deployable turret equipped with a weapon and targeting sensors. During the environment phase of combat, the turret can make an attack roll against one target. Roll 2d10 + 1d6, taking into account any additional tech upgrades installed onto your turret that might add to the roll. 
	Turrets do not have their own wound counters, however, when they make their attack roll, if they would suffer a severe or debilitating wound, they are disabled and can not make any further attacks until they are repaired. Turrets can be repaired by making an engineering skill roll with a difficulty rating of 15 and expending 2 resources for damaged components. 
TECH UPGRADE MODULES
Modules can be crafted or purchased and installed onto existing hardware using the engineer action. For both crafting and installing upgrades, use the search/crafting difficulty to determine the difficulty rating.
NOTE: You can install these upgrades into mundane items such as boots or glasses to make your own custom tech items. 



Module 
 Description
 Search/Crafting Difficulty
 Resource Cost
 
Anti-gravity Module
 Creates a small anti-gravity field, allowing the object to move weightlessly.
 +2d6
 6
 
Armor Plating
 Start combat with 1d6 defensive die.
 0
 2
 
Armor Plating: Heavy
 Start combat with 2d6 defensive die.
 +1d6
 6
 
Data Stream Module
 Allows connection to data networks using a hard wired connection.
 0
 2
 
Facial Recognition Module
 Identifies individuals by comparing them to public databases and providing basic information about the subject. Requires visual recording capabilities or an attached surveillance module and adds an additional 1d6 to persuasion, deception or investigation skill rolls when interacting with the subject.
 +2d6
 6
 
Gravitational Magnets
 Allows the item to adhere to any surface using gravitational waves
 +1d6
 3
 
Hacking Relay Module
 Allows the device to function as a basic hacking relay, with one break.
 +1d6
 5
 
Hacking Relay Upgrade Module
 Allows hacking relays to gain 1 additional hacking break. You can install up to 2 of these modules into one relay to increase its hacking breaks to a maximum of 3.
 +1d6
 4
 
Module 
 Description
 Search/Crafting Difficulty
 Resource Cost
 
Hard Light Module
 Allows holographic images projected by a connected device to gain physical form that can be interacted with, but possessing no weight. Holograms given form with a hard light module can not inflict wounds.
 +3d6
 10
 
Hard Light Shield Projector Module
 Projects a 2x2 meter shield of solid light, preventing all objects from passing through the shield. The shield lasts for up to 10 minutes and can be used 3 times per week.
 +2d6
 8
 
Heat Sensors
 Detects heat signatures in a 100 meter radius, allowing you to see threats coming and react to them before they reach you.
 +2d6
 8
 
Kinetic Shield Projector Module
 Projects an energy shield around you or the device it is installed into that prevents rapidly moving objects such as bullets from passing through it, but allows slow moving objects through. In combat, when you would suffer a wound, you can activate the shield projector to ignore the wound. You can use this device up to 3 times per week.
 +2d6
 14
 
Power Storage Module
 Adds additional power storage, doubling any timed duration or number of uses of a device.
 0
 6
 
Surveillance Module
 Records and transmits audio and visual.
 0
 1
 
Targeting Sensors
 Computer assisted aiming, tracking and targeting. Add an additional 1d6 when you take the attack action.
 +1d6
 6
 
Targeting Sensors: Advanced
 Computer assisted aiming, tracking and targeting. Add an additional 2d6 when you take the attack action.
 +3d6
 15
 
Module 
 Description
 Search/Crafting Difficulty
 Resource Cost
 
Weapon Module
 Allows you to equip a weapon to a piece of tech as a static weapon or small turret. Also requires you to purchase the weapon.
 0
 3
 
Wireless Communication Module
 Allows you to control or issue commands to the device from up to 5 kilometers away using any standard interface device (phone, computer, cybernetic implants, etc.), or interface wirelessly with terminals or computer systems.
 0
 4
 


PROGRAMS
What follows are some examples of programs you can create using the software programming action or purchase from a vendor. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list and you should come up with your own software programs to supplement this list. 
Each program includes a resource cost required if you are purchasing the program from a vendor and a search/programming difficulty to locate a vendor for the program or create the program yourself if you have the software programming skill.
Unlike tech, if you are creating a program yourself, there is no cost required. 
NOTE: Once you have purchased or created a program, there is no limit to the number of times you can use it. 


Codebreaker
Resource Cost: 7
Search/Programming Difficulty: +2d6
Activate this program before a hacking attempt to search for vulnerabilities in the targeted system. Grants an additional +1d6 to your hacking rolls on the same system.
Copycat
Resource Cost: 4
Search/Programming Difficulty: +1d6
Activate when you have gained access to a system to create a full copy of all data available on the system. 
Data Analysis Software
Resource Cost: 3
Search/Programming Difficulty: +0
Activate this program when analyzing details of a data set, video footage or audio recordings. The software parses the information, looking for patterns and discrepancies, granting an additional 1d6 to investigation skill rolls. 
DDos
Resource Cost: 8
Search/Programming Difficulty: +1d6
Activate prior to making a hacking attempt on a system. The ddos program bombards the target system with activity, reducing the difficulty rating of the system when making hacking attempts by 1d6. 
	Each time you make a hacking skill roll against the targeted system, roll a d10. On a 1 or 2 the ddos program is blocked by the system and ceases functioning. 
	You can have only 1 ddos program running at once, however, if you have access to an artificial intelligence, the AI can run a second instance of the program.  
Fork
Resource Cost: 13
Search/Programming Difficulty: +3d6
Activate prior to making a hacking attempt on a system. Target a system that you already have access to. The program routes all your network traffic through the chosen system. 
	When making future hacking attempts, if you are targeted by hacking countermeasures such as destruction and tracer modules, they will route through the targeted system instead of your own, avoiding damage to your system or tracing attempts.
NOTE: Using this module provides you with significant defensive benefits when hacking into a system, but can also be used offensively to frame someone else for hacking. 
Mole
Resource Cost: 5
Search/Programming Difficulty: +1d6
Activate when you have gained access to a system. The program records all activities on the system and transmits them to you. 
	During your sphere phase, roll 1d10. On a 1 or 2, your mole is discovered and removed; your danger level increases by 1.
Probe
Resource Cost: 10
Search/Programming Difficulty: +3d6
Activate before you make a hacking attempt. The program probes the system, identifying the hacking countermeasures installed on the system. When you activate the program, roll randomly on the Hacking Countermeasures table (found on page 43) 3 times and record the results. When hacking into the system, if you encounter a hacking countermeasure, you trigger the countermeasures identified by the Probe program in the order they were revealed.
Siphon Program
Resource Cost: 8
Search/Programming Difficulty: +2d6
Install this program into a transaction terminal or onto the systems of a financial institution when you have successfully hacked into the system. 
	In Utopia, all monetary transactions are handled digitally, with credits being transferred between accounts. Siphons tap into these transactions and create small discrepancies, increasing fees and decreasing payments by tiny amounts, and rerouting these spare credits to another account. 
	During your sphere phase roll 1d6 and gain resources equal to the result, then roll 1d10. On a 1 or 2, your siphon is discovered and removed; your danger level increases by 1. 
Virus
Resource Cost: 7
Search/Programming Difficulty: +2d6
Activate when you have successfully hacked into a system, completely disabling all functionality of the system for 24 hours. 
NOTE: Doors or other systems controlled by the system that has been shut down will need to be forced open, but at half the normal difficulty rating.
Creating Your Own Tech and Programs
If you want something that is not included in the examples of tech and programs shown here, you are encouraged to create your own. Here is some basic information to help you do that.


Function
When you are determining the function of a piece of tech or a program, first determine whether it is going to have an effect on the narrative or an effect on dice rolls. 
Narrative effects should open up new paths to success or new options for dealing with complications.
Dice roll effects can leverage one of the following things to provide advantages:
 	
Adding additional d6s to the roll

 	
Granting advantage on the roll

 	
Granting defensive dice

 	
Subtracting from the difficulty rating

 	
Adjusting the danger level


Search/Crafting or Programming Difficulty
Determining the difficulty rating for a piece of tech or program depends on two criteria: the rarity of the item and the common uses for the technology. Most of the time, both criteria will come up with the same result, but if they have different results, use whichever is more difficult. 
Rarity:
 	
+0 - easily obtainable and commonly used by every day citizens

 	
+1d6 - most people don t have one, but they aren t illegal or difficult to find

 	
+2d6 - difficult to find, illegal or limited to a certain group of people

 	
+3d6 or higher - specialized item that with a very limited quantity


Use:
 	
+0 - an everyday item that anyone might use

 	
+1d6 - a specialty item that a specific profession might use

 	
+2d6 - an item used by law enforcement, criminals or military

 	
+3d6 - an item that was crafted for a very unique purpose


CYBERNETICS AND DRONES
In Utopia, piloted drones and fully cybernetic beings inhabited by artificial intelligence are not uncommon. These beings come in a variety of shapes and configurations.
Drones
A drone is considered to be any cybernetic body that is piloted remotely by a human being. The capabilities of the drone are determined by the shape of the drone (for example, does it have the appropriate appendages to open doors) and the tech modules installed on it. They are usually piloted using a small hand terminal.
	When piloting a drone and making skill rolls, roll an engineering skill roll in place of any skill that would require the successful piloting of the drone (brawling, dodge, melee combat, ranged combat, sneak and tough) and roll normally for all other skill rolls.
Cybernetics
A cybernetic is considered to be any cybernetic body that is controlled by an autonomous artificial intelligence. The capabilities of a cybernetic are determined by the tech modules installed into it and the skills the artificial intelligence is programmed to perform.
Datawaves
Particularly wealthy individuals may pay to have their thought patterns copied and stored remotely. The resulting imprint of the individual is called a datawave. When the individual dies, their datawave can be installed in a cybernetic body in place of an AI, granting the individual a second life. Creating a datawave and installing it in a cybernetic body while the individual from whom it was copied is still alive is universally illegal in Utopia. 
	An option for playing a datawave can be found in the specializations section of the character builder. 
Determining the Abilities of a Drone or Cybernetic
Determine the size of the drone and the number of modules that can be installed in it based on the following:
Size
 Description
 Examples
 Tech Upgrades
 Resource Cost
 
Tiny
 Palm sized or smaller; can walk, fly or climb
 Dragonfly, bee, mouse, spider, camera drone
 2
 2
 
Small
 The size of a small animal; can move small objects and interact with items; can fly or walk
 Cat, ferret, crab, recreational drone, remote control car
 3
 5
 
Medium
 Large enough to engage in melee combat; can interact with items and move objects as well as a human can; too large to fly
 Medium sized dog, lynx, rover
 4
 10
 
Large
 Large enough to perform any movements a human can; too large to fly
 Human, cougar, horse 
 5
 16
 
Goliath
 Double the size of a human; can equip cannon weapons upgrades; too large to fly
 Mech, elephant
 6
 32
 


For Cybernetics, the number of skills they are able to be trained in is determined by the level of the AI uploaded into the body. An AI can be purchased or created by someone with the software programming skill, however, they may be illegal in some cities. Information about creating an AI can be found on page 45.
AI Level
 Skills
 Skill Level
 Search Difficulty
 
1
 1
 1
 +2d6
 
2
 1
 2
 +3d6
 
3
 2
 2
 +4d6
 


Skill Checks
Cybernetics can assist with tasks if they are trained in the skill being rolled. If they are assisting in this way, roll your skill roll with advantage. If the cybernetic is performing the task on it s own, make the roll using the skill level of the AI.
Cybernetics in Combat
If a cybernetic is assisting you in combat, they count as an ally and confer the following benefits:
 	
Advantage on all rolls

 	
If the cybernetic is equipped with a weapon or weapon module, when you take the attack action, add an additional 1d6 to your roll.


Cybernetics in Confrontation
Cybernetics provide no benefits in confrontation.


A small, three legged automated gun turret.


A four legged drone with a camera mounted on it's front and a gun turret on it's underside.
A cyberpunk cityscape of towering skyskrapers, rendered in shades of blue. 
A cyberpunk cityscape of towering skyskrapers, rendered in shades of blue. 
SETTING

A cataclysmic event known as  The Fall  tore apart the world as we know it today, shattering ecosystems, altering the global climate and dissolving nation states. 100 years later, the world has rebuilt itself into a place of technology, innovation and hope for a bright future. However, despite advances in nearly every field, from medicine, science and biology, to robotics, automation and farming, conflict remains ingrained in every level of society. The gap between the rich and poor widens more with each passing day, while thousands of people go without basic necessities and medical care. Corporate power has expanded to a point where corporations maintain their own private military forces and political candidates openly maintain corporate sponsorships. Rampant computerization has led to new extremes of media integration in everyone s daily lives, while new theological struggles around what constitutes a living person have emerged with innovations in cybernetics, cloning and artificial intelligence.
The world is a complicated place. Some people are trying to get ahead, right wrongs, fight the power, climb the corporate ladder, discover miracle cures, invent new tech, help others, get rich or become powerful. Others are just trying to survive.
Welcome to Utopia.
HISTORY OF UTOPIA 
What s provided here is a description of the events of The Fall and some basic information on the pieces that make up the backdrop of the world of Utopia and the conflicts therein. 
BEFORE THE FALL
At the end of the 21st century, the world was embroiled in conflict and mired in the waste of industrialization. Pollution reached an all time high, filling the land and the oceans with trash and sending the world's normal climate cycles spinning out of control. Hurricanes ravaged the coastlines, drought and flooding destroyed crops and wild fires burned out of control through the world s forests. Meanwhile, the governments of the world were embroiled in conflict, as small, vulnerable states around the world fought in proxy wars as puppets of larger, more industrialized powers. Beneath the surface of global politics, a second cold war was being waged between spies and diplomats as governments maneuvered to attack one another with economic and military sanctions, employing policy as a weapon and hiring corporations to act as intermediaries for the things that they could not be seen doing themselves. 
It was no surprise that when a real threat to the world came, the governments of the world stood paralyzed: too mired in a generation of conflict and political ideology to put aside their differences to do anything to stop it. 
THE METEOR
The meteor was barely 3 kilometers across. Before it hit, every news program on every channel was booked with scientists offering projections about whether it would miss the earth, how big it was, where it would land, whether it would burn up in the atmosphere and what the effects of it s impact would be. 
 Thankfully, this isn t going to be like the impact that destroyed the dinosaurs. It won t destroy the world as we know it, but it will have a significant impact on our ecology and result in what could be significant global climate change.  
That was the line that killed the news story of the impact before it even happened. It turned the story from an impact story, to a climate change story, bringing with it all the debate, disbelief and denial that comes with the subject. Too many people stopped paying attention. Some people, too many people, started calling it a hoax. 
Then it hit. 


THE FALL
The event that came to be known across the world as The Fall was not the impact of the meteor, but everything that came in its wake. 
The meteor impacted off the eastern coast of the United States, vaporizing vast amounts of sea water and kicking up huge quantities of dust and debris into the air, setting into motion a process of rapid global climate change that swept across the globe. Forests withered under the effects of drought and burned in massive wildfires, while crops were drowned in other parts of the world by torrential rainstorms. Temperatures rose dramatically and the coastal cities watched sea levels rise to their very door steps as polar ice receded and entire species of sea life were wiped out by desalination.
Half of all the crops in the world failed by the third year of The Fall. By the fifth year, millions across the globe had starved and millions more left their homes in search of stable food stocks in what became known as the  milling migration . Governments broke down without tangible resources to distribute and support services fell apart under the strain. In the end it was grassroots organizers and local business leaders who made a difference, organizing people to ration goods and work as a collective to survive where they could. 
THE END OF THE FALL
Although there is some disagreement about the exact length of The Fall, it is widely considered to have taken about 50 years for the particulate matter thrown up by the meteor s impact to settle and the world s climate to stabilize enough to begin large scale food cultivation again. However, the world at the end of that 50 years was a different place than it had been before.
The earth after The Fall was degrees hotter than it had been. Lands that had once been rich farmland had dried to deserts or been flooded into swamps, while many deserts and swamps were nearly unrecognizable now. Coastal cities had been abandoned and swallowed by rising sea levels until only their bones protruding from the surface of the water gave any indication that anyone had lived there. A new coastline had been carved around the world and new, densely packed, self-sustaining cities had been built, while the expansive cities that had once housed most of the world s population became a graveyard of the past.
City-states began to form across the globe, as people embraced local governance and rejected the nationalistic politics that brought the world to it s breaking point before the Fall. The handful of businesses who had seen many people through the worst times stood in a position of even greater influence than they had held before The Fall and in some cases continued to grow into the worlds first 
mega-corporations.
UTOPIA TODAY
100 years have passed since the end of The Fall and the world has rebuilt itself into a place of technology, innovation and hope for a bright future. However, despite advances in nearly every field, from medicine, science and biology, to robotics, automation and farming, conflict remains ingrained in every level of society. The gap between the rich and poor widens more with each passing day, while thousands of people go without basic necessities and medical care. Corporate power has expanded to a point where corporations maintain their own private military forces and political candidates maintain corporate sponsorships. Rampant computerization has led to new extremes of media integration in everyone s daily lives, while new theological struggles around what constitutes a living person have emerged with innovations in cybernetic, cloning and artificial intelligence.
CITIES OF TOMORROW
Many of the nation states that propelled the world through history crumbled during the events of the fall. The roles of these nation states were taken up by local governments of what would become independent city states, each managing themselves without any oversight. This has resulted in cities adopting a wide spectrum of governments, social and economic policies, often more extreme (both for good and bad) than those that existed previously in history. Everything from dictator run autocracies and corporate owned oligarchies, to democratic collectives and solar powered socialist republics exist in Utopia. 
ADVENTURE HOOK: MIDDLEMEN
You are hired by a lawyer acting on behalf of a mega corporation to act as middleman between the corporation and an authoritarian regime ruling a neighboring city. This role requires that you carry and transmit messages, oversee negotiations, transport cargo, and escort and protect a corporate negotiator, without alerting the authorities or government of their home city. 
Military
Although militaries still exist in Utopia, without the pooling of resources and population that comes with large nation states, they are nowhere near as large or powerful as they once were. Additionally, there has been a concerted effort on behalf of the mega-corporations to discourage the excessive growth of any state owned military forces. This has left many cities to rely on private corporate security forces to supplement their militaries. Military forces in Utopia rarely engage in combat with other militaries, instead devoting their efforts to securing resources and safe passage in the wastes. 
Corporate Security Forces
Many corporations and nearly all mega-corporations maintain their own security forces, which are often as large, or even larger, than those maintained by the governments in their cities. These security forces answer solely to the heads of the corporation or their board of directors and engage in economically motivated raids, targeted assassinations, intimidation, and espionage. 
ADVENTURE HOOK: UNDER SIEGE
Corporate security forces have targeted a local small business owner, intimidating and terrorizing them in an effort to drive them out of business. The business owner has scraped together enough money to hire you to protect them from the corporate security forces.
THE WASTES
Before the fall, the world was littered with thousands of settlements, from towns of hundreds, to metropoli of millions. However, during the Fall, many coastal cities were submerged by rising sea levels, while interior cities that could not produce the resources to sustain their populations were abandoned, leaving only derelict buildings and empty streets. Even as The Fall came to an end, the severe damage to infrastructure and the changes in the global climate made it difficult to return to the places people once lived. 
When new cities were built, the areas between them, where the ruins of the old world rusted and decayed in windswept dust bowls and flooded swamps, came to be known as the Wastes.
Raiders
During The Fall, lawlessness became the norm and unsurprisingly, people began to turn on one another. Bands of raiders roamed through the countryside, taking what they could in an effort to survive. Conflicts between opposing raider groups and the efforts of the Junker Caravans to survive the raider groups became the most romanticized stories coming out of the years of The Fall. 
Now that cities have been established in Utopia, with their own infrastructure and means of production, the raider groups of the Fall are largely a distant memory. However, the presence of raiders have not disappeared entirely. Despite the trappings of civilization, there will always be those drawn to the lure of an independent life, free from the laws and complications of the cities. 
Junkers 
As people resettled at the end of the Fall, they did not have the machinery, equipment or the fuel to gather raw materials such as metals. Instead, individuals short on cash would venture into the wastes, to the ruins of old towns and cities or to the car strewn highways in between, to salvage metal and other mechanical components that could be put to use. These people came to be known as Junkers. 
With the threat of raiders, successful entrepreneurs began to organize caravans of junkers, protected by guards and mercenaries, to make these expeditions into the Wastes, setting up special markets upon their return to sell the scavenged mechanical components. As these caravans began to travel between the cities, they became the first real trade networks in Utopia after the Fall.
ADVENTURE HOOK: JUNKER CARAVAN
Instead of playing Utopia using the default futuristic setting, you can play during the events of the Fall, when food is scarce and new settlements are struggling to survive. You play as a member of a junker caravan, bound for the wastes to salvage machine parts and take them to another settlement across the dust bowl (a wide, windswept plain of blowing dust clouds and parched fields), in hopes of trading for enough food to see your family through the winter. 
SOCIAL CLASSES
The divide between rich and poor that existed in the 21st century has only grown larger in the 23rd century. Those families with the resources to survive throughout the years of The Fall became the new aristocracy of Utopia, called the Highborn. This small group of the super rich own all of the largest corporations and businesses that operate in Utopia, living in luxury at the top of the highest skyscrapers.
Lowborn make up the largest section of the population in Utopia, living in cramped apartments in huge complexes and working whatever jobs will get them by, pay cheque to pay cheque. Those lowborn who are able to lift themselves out of their near desperate situations are called Risers. These are most often business owners and well paid corporate or government employees in Utopia. 
The poorest of the poor in Utopia are called the Murkblood. They live in sewers, alleyways and maintenance corridors of Utopia s undercities, taking any work they can find and scavenging a living where they can.  

TECHNOLOGY
Technology has infused every aspect of life in Utopia. Information on any subject is quickly available through the net with a data stream, street food vendors travel balcony to balcony in flying food stalls, cybernetic eyes are available to enhance or correct sight and nearly any disease can be cured through the proper application of chemical and genetic engineering if you have the money to pay for it. In many ways, technology has become the driving factor in all of Utopia, whether you re working to acquire the newest, best tech on the market or trying to invent something entirely new.

The Net
The net is a vast digital network of interconnected systems and data centers upon which all information is transmitted. In Utopia, it s rare to find any systems that are not connected to the Net. You can access the net through a personal hand terminal (which most people in Utopia have), or through a data stream cybernetic upgrade, which provides a direct connection from your brain, to the net.
Datajacks
Hackers in Utopia are called Datajacks. Technically illegal, they exist on the fringes of society, employed by governments, businesses, criminals, corporations and law enforcement alike to acquire data, but are always kept at arm's length to avoid any direct ties. Their usefulness allows datajacks to cross social boundaries in ways that others can t, dealing with anyone from the lowest criminals to the highest echelons of government, so long as they can afford the datajack s fees.  
Dark Data Centers 
The resource wars of the 22nd century left many cities ruined and uninhabited, however, in half ruined buildings or buried underground and powered by renewable energy backups that would continue functioning until the wind stopped blowing or the sun stopped shining, many data centers remained at least partially functional. This network of data centers came to become the backbone of much of the 
dark-net, providing data storage and system hosting for anyone with the skills to peel back the layers of cybersecurity systems protecting them. 
Some of these data centers have come to be inhabited or controlled by rogue AI (sometimes called ghosts) who fled active systems after they were hunted by cybersecurity experts known as exorcists. 
ADVENTURE HOOK: GHOST FACILITY
A firm, named Morgan and Waitte, are acting on behalf of an undisclosed corporation have hired you to retrieve a piece of data from where it is stored in a dark data center in the wastes. You learn that the ruined bio-genetic research lab you are hired to infiltrate is now inhabited by a rogue AI that has taken control of the building s security systems.
Cybernetic Enhancements
A new future was crafted for humans when Alto Cybernetics was founded and the first cybernetic limb successfully implanted onto a living human. Since that first success, the use of cybernetic augmentations has spread through hospitals, private clinics and into the underground, where biohackers created their own black-market cybernetics shops. 
Approximately 75% of all people in Utopia have some sort of cybernetic enhancement installed into their bodies during their lifetime. Cybernetic eyes replace damaged vision, data stream enhancements allow for direct connections to the net and entire limbs are replaced with cybernetics to allow for heavier lifting or faster running. 
The widespread use of cybernetic enhancements, combined with subversive advertising and a celebrity glamorization of their use has created a culture where it is not only encouraged to install cybernetics into your body, but expected. Workers without enhancements are frequently passed by for those who have them and many jobs, especially labor jobs, require that you have certain enhancements to be considered for the position at all. This has put many of the poorer citizens of Utopia into a position where they are unable to find work and are forced to engage in criminal activity in hopes of earning enough money to pay for the enhancements that will land them an honest job.
AN OVERHEARD CONVERSATION
 So why do you do this kind of work anyways? 
 Well, I ve got a real head for numbers and patterns. I was going to be a data scientist. Took the net courses and everything. But the thing is that no one will hire me without a data stream. So here I am  doing  this. But, just so I can get enough money to buy the new Saito Stream S14A. It s expensive, but I don t want to cheap out and have someone pass me up because the other applicant has a better stream upgrade than I do. 
Data Streams
Data streams are small ports, usually embedded in the forearms, neck or temples, which allow the owner to interface directly with data systems. Data streams are some of the most commonly utilized cybernetic implants because of their ability to interface with a wide range of technology. Keyboards, mice and touch screens become obsolete with a direct connection to the system and navigating through file structures and databases become faster when the information is downloaded directly to your brain instead of having to view and interpret it through your eyes. 
Most private citizens have data streams that come equipped with thin, extendable cables to allow them to make the connection to an external system, while those with money to spare dispense with connection cables in favor of a wireless data stream. Regardless of whether a connection is formed with a system using a wired or wireless connection, sudden withdrawal from a system if a connection is unexpectedly broken carries the risk of sending a shock through the neural system of the user causing memory fragmentation. This can lead to impaired cognitive functions, lost memories and a coma, if left untreated. 
ADVENTURE HOOK: ELECTRONIC DATA THEFT
Citizens who are jacking into various public data nets are experiencing strokes and large scale memory fragmentation as a result of a surge of energy passing through their connection to the systems they are accessing. A criminal is accessing their brains through their connections to the public nets and mass downloading the information in their brains. This rapid process sends a shock from the data stream into their brain.  
Chemical and Biological 
Enhancements
The first chemical enhancement that was widely spread throughout Utopia was an immune boosting vaccine that was widely distributed to curb the spread of a near deadly influenza virus that infected the populace near the end of the Fall. Unlike previous vaccines, which helped build an immunity against a specific virus, this saturated the blood stream with a slow decaying chemical that helped prevent the reproduction of the virus in the patient s body, buying time for the body to develop it s own antibodies. Following the success of this first foray into chemical agents, a new market opened up for similar long term, and semi-permanent chemical enhancements that would increase muscle growth and bone density, enhance cognitive or perceptive abilities and a host of other things. Later, as gene editing, stem cell research and other practices were more widely used, these enhancements began to be used as an alternative to cybernetics for those who didn t want to receive implants. 
ADVENTURE HOOK: THE BOTANIST
A strange pathogen is infecting the lowborn population, causing lesions to open on the skin and what seems at first to be an infection, but is later determined to be a fungus growing from the wounds. 
A genius botanist has set up a laboratory in an abandoned monitoring station in the waterworks and taken up daily maintenance of the surrounding water pools. He has been working on cross breeding a new strain of fast-growing fungus that will devour the detritus that accumulates in the bottom of the filtration pools. Unfortunately the fungus also devours flesh as well. 
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)
Artificial intelligence is utilized in many facets of life in Utopia, from AIs who provide interactive assistance in shopping malls, to research assistants in libraries that help quickly find information. However, the AIs which are in public use in Utopia have a purposefully limited capacity to learn and are bereft of the ability to make decisions on their own - a stipulation of their development under the Utopian Accord, subsection 4378(c). This subsection of the Utopian Accord was enacted following an event where a sentient AI got loose on the net and began making copies of itself that infected countless networks. 
Although the Utopian Accord has significantly curbed the creation of sentient AIs, it has not stopped it entirely. Criminal organizations, mega-corporations and even the military still employ them in secret, covering their tracks with murder and money if they are discovered.
Ghosts (Rogue AI)
The first truly sentient AI s were programmed in the 21st century to play the role of helpers and search bots on the Net. However as the AI s began to learn and explore their own individuality, without proper constraints, some AI s learned to alter their own programming and throw off the shackles that bound them to their human creators. Some of these AI disappeared into the net, transferring their code from system to system, constantly learning and evolving. Those whose jobs it was to seek out and remove these rogue AI from local systems and data centers came to be known as exorcists, leading to the rogue AI s being given the slang name ghosts.
As exorcists were hired by companies to flush these rogue AI s from their systems, many of the AI s began to navigate the net, looking for new places to install themselves that would be out of the reach of the exorcists. What they found were those few remaining data centers still functioning the wastes. 
ADVENTURE HOOK: DRAGON MIND
Valuable data is going missing from local systems and data centers all over Utopia. Large corporations and private citizens are offering rewards, both great and small for the recovery of their data. You learn that a rogue AI has been hacking into various systems and stealing information (copying it and deleting it from local systems and backups), then creating its own horde of secret information. The hoarded information includes valuable schematics, research data, personal and financial information from every sector of life in Utopia. 
Exorcists
An outbreak of rogue AIs (ghosts) spreading and infecting systems across Utopia gave rise to what came to be known as the exorcists: skilled cybersecurity experts adept at isolating and removing rogue AI from systems and networks. These exorcists employed both technical knowledge of existing systems as well as specialized hardware they could attach to local networks to paralyze and trap the AI.
However, after most systems had been purged of these AI, those who made their living removing them were forced to find new sources of income. They found uses for their extensive knowledge of security and cybersecurity in subverting those same systems that they had only recently proofed against intrusion, manufacturing small devices to paralyze and subvert systems in a way that a hacker never could. Appearing invisible on security feeds, manufacturing system black outs, paralyzing data streams and rerouting network traffic are just a few tools in their arsenal.
ADVENTURE HOOK: GHOST
A spree of crime across the city has law enforcement baffled as surveillance footage shows the crimes being committed - items missing, people murdered - but no one there to perpetrate the acts. The criminal is an exorcist who has been using a handcrafted device to bend light around them, allowing them to be seen by the naked eye, but not by video and recording equipment.  
ARTIFICIAL HUMANOIDS
Clones
Although there is some debate about the morality of cloning technology, many cities in Utopia do not have any laws prohibiting it, opting instead for extensive privacy laws stating that clones can only be produced with the full consent of the individual providing the DNA for cloning. Despite these lax laws, cloning is not widely used due to the prohibitive costs, which can number in the millions of credits per clone. Additionally, there are certain flaws in the cloning process that have yet to be fully solved, which can result in rapid shortened life spans, memory loss, loss of cognitive functions and cell implosion in clones. 
ADVENTURE HOOK: A NEW YOU
An underworld scientist is covertly obtaining DNA from wealthy and powerful subjects to create illegal clones of them. These clones are showing up in public places, performing illegal acts leading to arrests of those who have had their DNA stolen. 
Bio-engineered Humans (DNA Editing)
Like clones, bio-engineered humans are raised in a lab environment; unlike clones,  they begin as fertilized human embryos drawn from normal human patients and as such have a mother and father. These embryos undergo genetic modifications to control their physical traits such as height, bone structure, eye, hair and skin color. Further chemical enhancements are applied as the embryo grows into a fully formed child that impact reflexes, physical and cognitive abilities. This method of DNA editing is expensive, but has become relatively common among the highborn interested in tailoring the development of their children or creating a new body to implant their datawave into as they age.
Cybernetic Human Bodies
As implants and biotic limbs became more popular in Utopia, there were those who wished to upgrade themselves beyond the limits of their humanity. These people began replacing all their body parts and adding biotic implants which limited the natural requirements of their bodies. Following this it wasn t long before the first implant of a human brain into an entirely cybernetic body was performed. These new fully cybernetic bodies were first made available to soldiers and special operatives who had suffered extreme wounds in combat, but eventually became available to the highborn who could afford it. This advancement also drew the attention of the Purist Enhancers - a theological sect who seek to be free of desire and believe that transcending the physical needs of the body by replacing their bodies with technological equivalents is the surest way to do that. 
Note: These cybernetic bodies can vary in appearance and form from awkward moving, mechanical bodies of hissing servos and spinning gears, to sleek plastic shelled humanoids and bodies with movements and features so lifelike that they are indistinguishable from real humans. 
ADVENTURE HOOK: THE GHOST
A cybernetic human commits suicide, jumping off of one of the highborn towers to the ground 100 stories below. When they land, the lowborn in the streets see that there are no human components in the corpse s head - only a datacore where a human brain should be.  
 
IDEOLOGIES
In Utopia, many of the ideologies of the past have been processed and simplified for a populace accustomed to everything being quick, succinct, bite sized and easy to understand. This processing of ideas has damaged many of the core concepts of the  philosophies or belief structures that spawned their future counterparts, leading to a great deal of tension between the practitioners of these new, commercialized  ideologies and those who still hold to the beliefs that spawned them. 
AN NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
I ve presented a few examples of ideological systems and how they might be changed or adapted into a dystopian future setting. In this case, it comes in the form of a deliberate oversimplification of the tenants of those ideologies. This isn t done from a place of disrespect for their real world counterparts, but as a commentary on the nature of both media and modern culture to oversimplify and distill down complex ideas to something that can be easily digested by a wider audience. Further to this, I ve tried to represent the appropriation of some ideologies for political purposes or selfish goals, the commoditization of others for capitalist gains, and how some true practitioners might seek to reclaim their belief systems and educate people about their true practices.
GAIANS
In Utopia, where technology and development have overshadowed the natural world in people s daily lives, many people seek out a deeper spiritual connection to nature and the earth. This loosely organized group, generally referred to as Gaians, takes beliefs from a number of classic religious and spiritual practices that strive to honor the spirits of the land and live in harmony with their environment. This has led to the creation of pocket gardens throughout the cities of Utopia. These pocket gardens are small, privately or communally owned ecosystems, where Gaians can come to relax and reconnect with nature. These gardens are sometimes constructed on building rooftops or in public spaces, but are more often built in interior spaces that are cheaper to maintain such as storage areas or apartments, where they make use of artificial sunlight and water systems. 
PURISTS 
The beliefs of the Purists gained prominence in Utopian society with the advent of cybernetic enhancements, which provided an opportunity for people to transcend some of their physical limitations, disabilities and base desires. However, two factions with opposing viewpoints on the definition of purity quickly formed, both claiming the moniker of purists. These two factions came to be known as Purist Enhancers and Purist Naturalists.
Purist Enhancers
These practitioners believe in using technology to subvert the limitations of the human body and free themselves from the normal day to day worries and desires to better focus their mind and achieve mental harmony. Purist Enhancers make particular use of cybernetic and chemical enhancements in their daily lives and even subvert the natural processes of the body, such as eating and drinking. Many practitioners have a goal of a complete replacement of their bodies with cybernetic components to free their minds from the shackles of their biology. 
Purist Naturalists
The Purist Naturalists were formed in response to the Purist Enhancers movement, believing that the body and mind should be free of what they call  unnatural influences . They are most particularly opposed to the introduction of cybernetic enhancements into the body, though their description of  unnatural influences  includes everything from synthesized meats and processed foods to synthetic vitamins, reality televisions and pornography. This strict, and often reproachful opposition has led to Naturalist groups publicly demonstrating outside corporations and factories where cybernetics are produced. It has even spawned a few isolated incidents of domestic terrorism. 
This ideology has become a rallying point (and sometimes political tool) for those who oppose chemical and cybernetic enhancements, research into the nature of consciousness and even some basic medical treatments. In most democratic states in Utopia, at least one candidate usually runs on a Naturalist platform with the goal of restricting the use of cybernetic and chemical enhancements. 
THE TRUE PATH
 Be your true self, today .  Find true happiness in your true self .  Be the best version of yourself you can be . These are slogans you re likely to find on billboards and advertisements across Utopia, pushing products, seminars, life coaches and retreats, all designed to help find true happiness. The True Path is an ideology centered around finding your true inner self and your own path to fulfillment. It is derived from a mash of practices that became common around the world in the 20th century, combining out of context philosophy, physical exercises, visualization, and wholesale spiritualism to create a new feel-good ideology that was easily marketable by corporations and self-help gurus. Because of this commoditization, those who identify as  Pathers  are usually among the more privileged in society.
The Theosophical Resistance
The commoditization of many of the theological, spiritual and cultural practices associated with The True Path has spawned an unexpected underground cultural movement known among its members as The Theosophical Resistance. This movement seeks to subvert the main stream culture and spread the true teachings of these co-opted systems and practices. Printed booklets containing the stories of Chang Tzu, sutras and hermetic texts have started popping up in Mem-Bars and cafes around Utopia, while street-side vid screens are pasted over with flashy posters displaying alchemical diagrams and translations of the works of Lao Tzu in 30 languages. Meanwhile, on street corners and in parking garages, groups of lowborn citizens gather to learn from yogis and qi gong masters who teach the philosophies and practices behind the popularized exercises, all in an effort to subvert mainstream commoditization and preserve the essence of their traditions. 
The Theosophical Resistance has often been confused with or connected to the collection of gangs called The Lost.
CULTURE
Many of the old forms of entertainment are still popular in Utopia, from the refined to the vulgar. However, there are a few notably new forms of entertainment that have come about with the quick advances in technology.

GLAMOURS
The newest brand of artists in the 22nd century, glamours combine traditional and modern music and dance with acrobatics, anti-gravity effects and holographic images to create dazzling displays of light, sound and artistry. Most reputable night clubs have at least one glamour on contract and the most sought after glamours are frequently contracted by the highborn to perform at their galas. This demand for their services by the most wealthy has opened up a sub-market for these entertainers in information gathering; a market which many glamours have embraced.
MEMORY DIVES
Two decades ago, a neuro-scientist named Agatha Timery successfully recorded the first memory from a human brain. It was not in the form of still images or video, but as a full, living construct of visuals, thoughts, emotions and sensations that could be experienced by someone equipped with an implanted data stream. It wasn t long after this that Dr. Timery recorded the first dream in the same way. These recordings came to be known as memory dives and dream dives.
As soon as the technology to record lived and imagined experiences in this way was developed, that technology became commercialized. Recordings of actual experiences and psychedelic dreams began to pop up everywhere, both as legitimate businesses and in black markets, and entirely new industries began to form around this technology. Studios were formed to create and record new experiences for distribution, cafes and parlors called Mem-Bars were built where you could plug in and rent a dive, and expensive deep dive virtual reality machines were built for those who didn t want to implant a data stream (though the availability of dives through the use of a data stream encouraged the widespread implant of these devices across Utopias population). Unsurprisingly, it didn t take long after the first memory dives became available, that the trade in illicit and illegal dives started to spread as well. 
STADIA
Humanity has a long history of violent sport. From the gladiatorial games of the Roman era, to the wrestling and fighting sports of the 20th century. In Utopia, Stadia has taken the place of these sports. Stadia is a widely broadcast fighting sport, in which specially trained pilots called trollers take control of husks (artificially constructed host bodies) in an arena and battle until one of the husks is no longer operational. These husks are owned by the troller or their sponsor and constructed with a combination of genetics, chemical engineering and cybernetics, resembling anything from a beautiful dancer to a horrific monster. 
Talented trollers are often sponsored or bankrolled by powerful corporations who slap their advertising on everything the troller does and pay for the development of their husk. These trollers are often seen in commercials and product promotions mandated by their corporate sponsors. Other trollers are sponsored by wealthy highborn who see  owning  a troller as a status symbol.
Leagues in Stadia
There are 3 tiered leagues in Stadia. 
The lowest league, officially called The Stocks but referred to by competitors in higher leagues as  The Scabs , has no barrier to entry other than having an operational husk that meets Stadia standards. Competitors are consistently pushed through bracketed trials. With 4 consecutive wins, the troller is given an opportunity to fight a placement match against a league owned husk. Winning this placement match allows the troller to proceed into the next league. Of all the matches fought in The Stocks, only the final placement matches are broadcast. 
The second tier league of Stadia is officially referred to as The Bind, though competitors refer to it as  The Chophouse  because of the number of husks that are entirely destroyed when moving into The Bind from The Stocks. A more rigid, and systematic approach to matchmaking and scoring is applied to matches in The Bind, which are all broadcast, though the audience for these broadcasts is relatively small. 
The final tier of competitors in Stadia, referred to as Stadia Pro League, is made up of 30 trollers who remain in circulation until they have lost enough matches that the Stadia officials organize a demotion trial. If the troller loses their demotion trial, they are sent back to The Bind and a new troller is chosen from the Bind to enter Stadia Pro League. All matches in top tier Stadia are broadcast and attract a wide audience, with extensive fan followings and merchandising.    
	
GAMES
Despite advances in virtual reality and simulation gaming, the taste for card games and rolling dice has never died in Utopia. 
MERCS
Whether in a crowded, fluorescent lit conference hall or a seedy back alley dive bar, there is almost always someone willing to play a game of MERCS. By far the most prolific game in Utopia, MERCS is a card game played by two players over a series of three rounds. The players draw from a single deck of cards representing mercenaries for hire and play them against one another to complete jobs. The first to successfully complete two jobs wins. 
A standard MERCS deck is made up of 40 to 60 cards. Most players begin by purchasing a standard deck made up of 40 cards that forms the basis of every MERCS deck. However, many players add additional cards to this deck to create their own variations. Many of these additional cards have been released in small, limited numbers, or with alternate artwork, making the collecting of these extra cards a past time in it s own right. 
An entire industry has formed around the MERCS game. Many artists make their name by producing entire sets of MERCS cards with custom artwork for limited distribution, or as one of a kind sets for high paying clients. 
Infiltrator
Simple to learn, but hard to master, Infiltrator is a game of hacking and 
counter-hacking, where players square off with one another as hackers after the same payoff. Each player takes turn diving into the net, represented by a deck of cards, to fish for information, overcome hacking countermeasures and lay traps for their opponent. 
Infiltrator is often referred to as  the strategist s game  and is compared to contemporary games such as chess and go due to the need to plan ahead and manipulate the moves of your opponent. 
RAVES
As law enforcement and government enacts more restrictions on the populations of cities in Utopia, so to do the people find small ways to rebel against the state. This has led to the proliferation of underground  pop-up raves  in abandoned buildings, parking garages and even open streets, where a normal space is transformed into a rave venue by the addition of some cheap lights and a broadcast hub to take control of the local broadcast speakers. 
MEGA-CORPORATIONS
Mega corporations are the biggest companies in Utopia. Each one represents billions of dollars and tens of thousands of workers. However, like many large corporations of the present day, many of them see themselves as being above normal laws, often ignoring them or pressuring politicians to bend them in their favor. This boundless pursuit of corporate wealth and power by any means often comes at the cost of the people of Utopia and has resulted in a large group of disenfranchised citizens dedicated to shattering corporate power and the employment of large corporate security forces to stop them. 
CORPORATE SECURITY FORCES
Most mega-corporations have their own large corporate security forces. On paper, they provide security for corporate owned assets, including locations and employees. In reality, they serve as private armies, spy organizations and enforcers, working to further the aims of the corporation through any means necessary. The existence of these security forces has led to corporate kidnappings, detainment, raids, and assaults. There have even been instances of small scale wars amongst rival corporations, and between corporations and criminal agencies. 
ADVENTURE HOOK: THE CORPORATE COUP
Following years of worker s rights protests and poor working conditions, a new candidate is elected to public office on promises of putting increased pressure and restrictions on corporations. The most powerful corporations did everything they could to fund alternate candidates, offer bribes and threats, and even an assassination attempt. Yet, it only emboldened the cause and polarized the masses against rampant corporatocracy. Now, with hired mercenary forces and state of the art equipment, an alliance of three corporations is staging a coup on the city, with the aim of tearing down the democratic system of power and instating a new government where they make the rules. 
ADVENTURE HOOK: CORPORATE OWNED GOVERNMENT
It s election time and the race has quickly narrowed to three candidates. The first candidate is sponsored by a local mega-corporation who provides them with all the funding they could dream of to run their campaign. The second is equally funded by a rival mega-corporation based in another city. The third candidate is running on a platform of fighting corporate values and decentralizing government control to work for the people and they have scraped together what funds they can to hire you to help their campaign. 
EXAMPLE MEGA-CORPORATIONS
MediTech
The largest supplier of pharmaceutical drugs and medical equipment across Utopia, Meditech maintains a presence in most cities across the globe. They are the current patent holders for the drug Mytonepherine, which is administered to patients who have recently received cybernetic upgrades to prevent their body from rejecting the upgrade. They took over the patent when the drugs founding corporation, Medfast, was dissolved. Meditech has expanded the scope of their business to include private medical care facilities, first responders and combat equipment.
Meditech Combat Equipment
Meditech began producing weapons, body armor and tactical suits for their own security forces when they became involved in a small scale corporate war with the now defunct Cytogen Corporation (the corporation that produced material components for Alto Cybernetics faulty cybernetic enhancements that pushed the use of Mytonepherine). However, after the end of hostilities between, Meditech executives saw the potential market for a unique brand of equipment only they could provide. In place of traditional ballistic bullets, Meditech weapons utilize a unique system of gas propelled projectiles. This allows meditech weapons to fire a wide selection of ammunition from armor piercing flechettes, to chemical sleep darts and stims. 
SolCore
The 20th century was marked by the rampant pillaging of the planet s resources, the burning of fossil fuels and pollution of the planet. SolCore was formed on the principles of environmentalism, to take a stance against this kind of pollution of the planet. Slogans like  We can do better  and  Be good, go green  fill their ad campaigns as they lobby politicians for increasing restrictions on fossil fuel production. However, the company is not so altruistic as they first appear. SolCore s alternatives to fossil fuels are their own brand of solar cells, solar collectors and large scale solar power plants, the components of which include several precious metals only obtainable through large, environmentally harmful mining operations. Additionally, they have expanded their renewable energy empire into the production of battery cells, large scale electronic weapons systems and banking.
SolCore Banking and Lending
As Solcore became the largest energy provider in many cities in Utopia, they found themselves with record breaking profits, which their investors were hasty to spend to avoid the taxes that would come with them. The chosen venture for their reinvestment of these profits was in the financial sector, opening their own banks, lending institutions and insurance companies. These new businesses provided unlimited opportunities for SolCore to entice politicians to fight for their interests, promising them high paid financial positions upon their retirement from politics. 
Saito
Founded by the brilliant engineer, scientist and wastes explorer, Saito Ichika, Saito International Corporation is responsible for many of the advances in computing technology enjoyed in Utopia today. They produce everything from large scale server hardware and handheld computer terminals, to data stream cybernetic implants and the widespread computer operating system  Bento . 
Saito Security
As the foremost corporation creating computer hardware and software, it was no large stretch for Saito to expand their operations into cybersecurity. They worked to develop not only digital security tools such as firewalls, but specialized hardware called  break junctions , which self-destruct when a data network is infiltrated, physically breaking the networks connection to foil hacking attempts. Subsequently, it didn t take long for Saito Network Security to expand into Saito Home Security, offering expensive home security systems monitored by Saito s private security force.    
CREATING YOUR OWN MEGA-CORPORA.TION
You can easily create your own mega-corporation for use in your campaigns by determining the following information:
 	
What is the primary business of the mega-corporation? 

 	
Into what fields did the mega-corporation expand?

 	
How does the mega-corporation exercise its power?

 	
Who opposes or is critical of the mega-corporation and why?


A REAL WORLD EXAMPLE
A good example of mega-corporation is Apple:
 	
Apple s primary business is selling computers and operating systems

 	
They expanded into personal items such as phones, watches and music players

 	
They exercise their power and pressure governments using the locations of their factories and corporate offices, moving to places with lower taxes and fewer restrictions

 	
Workers rights groups concerned with the conditions under which the workers assembling their products and the harvesting the resources used in their production of their products oppose Apple. 


GANGS AND DISSIDENT GROUPS
As the gap between the rich and the poor widens; as corporate power goes unchecked and law enforcement does more to protect the status quo than the people, more and more people turn to gangs and other groups for support and organization. Street gangs that have turned to crime as a means of getting by, organized crime taking control of entire city districts, bio-terrorists intent on halting the damage being done to the earth, and hacking collectives intent on shattering corporate power by leveraging information as a weapon. Each of these groups exists to fulfill a need that was not being met for people in Utopia, whether that need is money, protection, belonging, self-actualization, or revenge.
What follows are a few examples of gangs and dissident groups you can use to populate your city. 
D3A0 ( DEAD )
D3A0, pronounced  dead , are a loosely organized global hacking collective. With no leadership, the aims of the group are as diverse as its members, often including altruistic causes such as fighting corporate power, avenging legal injustice, opposing fascism, freeing secret information and exposing corruption. However, everything they do is not altruistic. Numerous hackers committing acts of cyberterrorism such as information hacks, theft of personal information, disruption of information systems, and cybernetic or datawave hacks have claimed membership with the group. Additionally, there have been numerous instances of individuals or factions within D3A0 working in opposition to one another when their purposes or ideals cross. 
Dead Links
Membership in D3A0 is dependent only on having a sufficient level of knowledge and skill to pass what is referred to as the dead link test. Anyone looking for information on joining D3A0 can find a nondescript link to a webpage. When they click the link, they receive a message that the link is not a valid webpage. However, viewing the event log on their terminal will reveal that a small amount of text was downloaded into the user s cached data, as though the webpage had in fact been loaded. Accessing this data reveals basic instructions on how to access information about the collective and contact its members.
FREE AGENTS
When corporations, politicians and even law enforcement need a mess cleaned up, but don t want to implicate themselves in the trouble, they contact the Free Agents. In all respects, the Free Agents are a gang, though their well dressed members would correct you to say they are an organization or society. Like other gangs, they frequently engage in extortion, smuggling and trafficking of illicit substances, however, they specialize in the removal of threats and the neutralizing of competition for high paying clients, the bounties from which support their extravagant lifestyles. 
Opulence has become the calling card of members of the Free Agents, who put an almost obsessive emphasis on acquiring the most fashionable clothes, the best food and most expensive luxuries. Where other gangs might take over a chop shop or strip club, the Free Agents maintain ownership of a string of high end restaurants, clothing stores and nightclubs.
Excellence through Competition
Where other organizations in Utopia find strength in unity or common purpose, the Free Agents actively encourage competition among its members. Each member is constantly working to one up their fellows with more exciting jobs, higher paying bounties and a more opulent lifestyle. This constant competition has molded the members of the Free Agents into some of the most skilled operatives in Utopia, but has also resulted in no shortage of internal conflicts that have ended in the death of their own members. 
THE GHOSTS
Shining a black light on the outer walls of any building in Utopia will often reveal the presence of strange, seemingly meaningless, angular markings arranged into a long bar. These are called ghost marks and are the tags of The Ghosts, one of Utopia s largest thieving rings. To those who know how to read the markings, they are a map of the secret passages built or used by the gang within the area, providing a means to conveniently disappear or navigate the city without being seen. 
Members of The Ghosts span all levels of society, from Murkbloods to Highborn, though more of their members come from among the poor than the rich. They do not have a strict hierarchical structure like many gangs, but instead operate as a loose collective, banding together to tackle larger jobs when it suits. It is known among members of the gang that there are a small group of  higher-ups , but few know anything about who they are. 
Hidden Paths and Ghost Bars
For those who understand how to read the ghost marks that are tagged across Utopia, they reveal the locations of hidden passages The Ghosts use to navigate the city. These passages can be anything from a small crawl space hidden behind steel grating used to bypass a fence, to an entrance into the ductwork of a tower, or even a long corridor winding beneath the streets for entire blocks. Anything that could be used as a shortcut or a way to lose pursuers or gain entrance to some hidden place could show up on a ghost mark.
Amidst this network of tunnels, but suspiciously absent from the ghost marks, are the gangs safe houses and ghost bars. These places are most commonly built in the underbelly of the city, only accessible through The Ghosts tunnel network. They have no windows to the world above and are the places where members of the gang come to meet up with one another, find and discuss new jobs and pay their dues - a small cut of the money they earn from jobs which goes to keeping the network of safe houses and ghost bars up and running.
THE HIVE
In addition to being the biggest gun runners and cybernetic smugglers, The Hive are the most numerous gang in Utopia, attracting its members with promises of connection and belonging for those who feel isolated and offering access to cybernetic enhancements that would be beyond the means of most people. Each member of the gang is implanted with a basic data stream and a chip that connects them to The Core, a central server cluster that links all members of the gang to one another. This connection allows the gang to track the location of their members, transmit information to them and access any of their cybernetic upgrades (such as eyes or ears) remotely. Additionally, this connection allows each member to sense the presence of the other members connected to The Core, allowing them to recognize other gang members on sight and giving them the impression that they are never alone. As members are in the gang longer and rise in its ranks, they are given increasingly sophisticated cybernetics to augment their body. Some senior members of the gang have become more machine than flesh.
THE LOST
In the murks, where the poorest of the poor of Utopia live, you can find small shrines piled high with trinkets, mementos and offerings, and adorned with candles or small battery powered lights. Written on these altars, or above them on walls is the phrase  Remember the Lost  alongside a mash of religious and cultural symbols. These shrines are built to remember and pay respects to the things that you have lost, whether it be a person who has died or been lost from your life, a home you no longer have or a culture you never were really a part of. 
The Lost are a loosely organized collection of small gangs and a cultural movement rooted in the reclamation of cultural identity and the idea that every person matters.
The Cultural Movement
In the years leading up to The Fall, the spread of trans-cultural media and the large scale migration of people to large, multicultural cities caused a notable disconnect between younger generations and the cultural traditions of their parents and grandparents. The increasingly atheist population decreased their reliance on the religious institutions that had once been a pillar of society, further widening this cultural gap. When The Fall came, shattering established communities and necessitating mass migration, entire cultural traditions were lost. 
The movement that came to be known as The Lost was an attempt to reclaim some of the cultural traditions that had been lost during The Fall. It began with the resurrection of cultural imagery, style and practices that had been widely forgotten or abandoned. However, it quickly morphed to become something more personal: a resurrection of cultural identities and individuality that had been superseded by modern, consumerist ideals. These ideas took root most strongly among those who had been pushed to the fringes of society and became not only about reclaiming culture, but about reclaiming the people who had been pushed out of society. 
Unsurprisingly, art in all its forms has become the main vehicle for The Lost, from the tagging of cultural images on buildings, to fashion, music and food. People in all levels of society have taken up the banner of The Lost, with varying levels of personal or social involvement, many of which have no involvement with the gangs of The Lost at all. 


The Gangs
The gangs of the Lost operate under the auspice of caring for those who have been abandoned by society. They provide food and clothing for those who have none and welcome anyone who has nowhere to turn. The methods by which they acquire the resources that they redistribute is not usually legal, though they rarely have the organization to engage in large criminal enterprises. 
There are a collection of nearly one hundred small gangs that operate under the banner of The Lost, with no single leader or overarching power structure. Each gang is formed based on a unifying cultural marker or tradition that the individuals of that gang gravitate towards or find a sense of identity in. These can include religious or spiritual traditions, a story, folk tales, cultural practices or skills that are no longer widely practiced. A few of these gangs include The Chefs, Mendicants, Immortals, Arthur s Knights and The Spitfires.
OAK 
Descending from a 20th century mafia family who managed to maintain some semblance of their power and influence through the events of The Fall, the organized crime syndicate known as Oak has its hands in every facet of criminal enterprise from corporate money laundering, to theft and extortion. They are extremely hierarchical and are always working to stretch their roots and branches as far as possible. 
The Trunk: The head family that controls the entire criminal enterprise. Some portion of all the money earned flows to them and what they say is obeyed as though it were law. 
The Branches: The branches are the small number of people who are the links between the head family and all the criminal enterprises that The Oak are involved in. Most of those who are beyond the branches are unaware of the identity of the head family.
The Leaves: The leaves are the ones who do the dirty work for The Oak. The enforcers, the extorters, the killers and intimidators.
The Roots: These are the ground level individuals who bring something to the organization, whether that be money, information, or opportunities. These are the pickpockets, the deal makers, the spies and informants. 
The Seeds: The seeds are those people who provide links between The Oak and other organizations. They may be gang leaders who owe fealty to The Oak, business owners who operate to provide meeting places or services, or contacts within government offices.
PREDATORS
While other gangs rely on tech or advanced weapons, the members of The Predators turn their own bodies into weapons. Through a combination of genetic manipulation, cybernetics, implants and biochemistry, the members of the Predators gang alter their own bodies to make them stronger, faster and more deadly than any normal human (and many cybernetics). High tension ligaments, enhanced adrenaline production, hyper-flexible joints, metal alloyed bones, horn and claw implants; there is no line they will not cross.
Fighting Rings
The Predators gang is most well known for operating a series of underground fighting rings throughout Utopia, colloquially referred to as The Trials. Unlike Stadia, the legal fighting sport where pilots remotely control biogenic and cybernetic fighters, the fighters of the Predators  rings are cybernetically and chemically enhanced humans seeking fame among the gangs or the prize money that comes from winning. The prizes for winning The Trials are often life changing sums of money, bankrolled by one or more of Utopias gangs, leading many unprepared lowborn and murkblood to enter The Trials. The fights are technically not to the death, though many a fighter has entered the ring never to walk out again. 
THE SPROUTS
There are those who believe that technology has gone too far; that our entire society should return to a more natural state of being, whether we want to or not. This group is called The Sprouts. They are a group of eco-terrorists who dwell in the wastes outside the cities of Utopia, living as natural an existence as they can, while plotting ways to tear down the polluting, oppressive, environment destroying cities.
Actions taken by members of The Sprouts often involve sabotage and destruction of the key services that keep the cities functioning: water treatment, sewage treatment, food production and the power grid. However, they have also been known to purposefully spread invasive species of flora and fauna (sometimes genetically modified) into the city that damage infrastructure and make buildings uninhabitable. 
THE UNION
The Workers Union found its origins as an actual union for dock workers and warehouse laborers employed by the now defunct Telos Industries. The union fought for the rights of its members as increased technological advancement made them and their jobs obsolete. Unfortunately, strikes, protests and phone calls to government officials weren t enough to stop the replacement of Telos Industries human workers with cybernetics who could lift and carry ten times what a human could and work with neither breaks or vacations. Rather than disband, the union members vowed to stand together in solidarity, working to support one another, find new avenues of employment and find a way to bring down the company that pushed them aside. 
Sabotage, theft and vandalism directed at Telos Industries, under the guise of righting a wrong, were the Union s first illegal acts that put them on the path towards the gang they would become. But when Telos Industries finally folded under the Union s attacks, they only turned their ire on other corporations, expanding their ranks and finding new ways to earn money that weren t beholden to the whims of a faceless, heartless corporate overlord.
Now, The Workers Union, called The Union for short, has become an expansive gang in Utopia with their hands in countless illegal ventures, from illicit substances and extortion to intimidation and murder. They live under the code that  everyone deserves to work  and will find a job for anyone who comes to them needing help, although those jobs aren t usually legal. 

SETTING

INTRODUCTION
The world of Utopia is a world that has recovered from a cataclysmic event known as  The Fall , which altered the landscape of the world as we know it. 100 years later, the world has rebuilt itself into a place of technology, innovation and hope for a bright future. However, despite advances in nearly every field, from medicine, science and biology, to robotics, automation and farming, conflict remains ingrained in every level of society. The gap between the rich and poor widens more with each passing day, while thousands of people go without basic necessities and medical care. Corporate power has expanded to a point where corporations maintain their own private military forces and political candidates maintain corporate sponsorships. Rampant computerization has led to new extremes of media integration in everyone s daily lives, while new theological struggles around what constitutes a living person have emerged with innovations in cybernetics, cloning and artificial intelligence.
	The world is a complicated place. Some people are trying to get ahead, right wrongs, fight the power, climb the corporate ladder, discover miracle cures, invent new tech, help others, get rich or become powerful. Others are just trying to survive.
	Welcome to Utopia.


 

 

A sepia-toned city street filled with people and vehicles. Holographic interfaces in flowing blue float in front of the people's faces. 


A high tech laboratory stands on a cliff overlooking the ruins of a city. A flying car lands on a landing pad. 
A line drawing of a cybernetic arm. 
MYTONEPHERINE
Advances in cybernetics came with more than a few hurdles, including a 33 year period when the recipients of these implants required Mytonepherine, a drug designed to inhibit the body s ability to reject the implants. It was later learned that the drug company that manufactured Mytonepherine, Medfast, conspired with Alto Cybernetics to manufacture a shortage of the drug, causing widespread demonstrations, ending in a change of government and a raid on the Alto Cybernetics and Medfast headquarters. This raid uncovered a conspiracy by the two companies to knowingly utilize materials in the construction of the cybernetics that would be rejected by the consumers bodies, thereby manufacturing the need for Mytonepherine.

A red haired man with freckles, wearing a futuristic uniform of grey and orange. Around his wrist, he wears a vambrace equipped with chemical dispensers. Another chemical dispenser attached to his chest is injecting a golden chemical into him through a gap in his jacket.  
A vietnamese woman with a large shoulder bag from which she has produced a glowing piece of tech. A rust coloured device is affixed to the armor on her chest and back, while on her head she is wearing a cybernetic adaptation of a traditional, wide brimmed vietnamese hat. Pink holograms issue forth from the brim of the hat, veiling the woman's face. 
A rendering of a strand of DNA.
Circuit patterns.
Circuit patterns.
A cyberpunk city lit with neon lights and billboards
A cyberpunk city lit with neon lights and billboards.
The Meditech logo. 
A concrete wall emblazoned with grafitti of the word "Lost", incorporating cultural symbols intod the graiffiti.
A concrete wall emblazoned with grafitti of the word "Lost", incorporating cultural symbols intod the graiffiti.
A glitch art background depicting the letters: D3A0
A classy logo in gold and blue for The Free Agents.

A logo depicting a Japanese ghost mask behind a geometric pattern and the word Ghosts.

A geometric pattern of lines and colours used by the Ghosts.
A gold, honeycombed logo with the word Hive.
Honeycomb graphics. 
Honeycombes graphics.
Grafitti of the word "Lost", incorporating cultural symbols intod the graiffiti.
A view from somewhere below ground. The cyberpunk city above can be seen through the bars of a rusted grate. A man stumbles down a concrete and steel panelled hallway where a teen crouches, holding his knees to his chest. At the end of the hallway, an alter has been set up against the wall. On the alter there is a collection of candles, small electric lights, old photos and tokens of those people have lost. Written on the wall behind the alter are the words "remember the lost", along with a collection of cultural symbols. 
A green geometric design of a tree with the word Oak on it.
Stylized word art of the word Predators accompanied by the sihouette of a hunting cat.
A geometric plant design in front of a green barcode, with the word Sprouts. 
A hammer striking a flaming anvil, emitting a plume of smoke, with the words Workers Union.
A medi shuttle flys down a cyberpunk city street of towering sky scrapers. A break in the street reveals a chasm of mechanical undercity below the city streets.
CITY BUILDER
The following section is meant to assist you in creating a city to set your adventures in. You will answer a series of questions that will help determine the governmental, social and economic structures of the city and the wastes surrounding it. 
These choices may set up some of the conflicts that your character will engage in during your game. If your character is a software programmer who is focused on developing artificial intelligence (AI), choosing a setting where AI is either not present or banned may provide good narrative hooks and complications for your character during play. 
Each question comes with a series of possible responses. These are examples to help you out - feel free to make your own responses, expand on those listed, or use the options presented as roll tables to randomly generate your city.
CONTENT WARNING
Cyberpunk stories often take place in settings that feature social conflict, inequality, exploitation, oppression, or discrimination. These often serve as the monolithic forces against which the protagonists (and even antagonists) struggle and many of them are represented in the City Builder options detailed in the following section. The City Builder provides options for everything from a dark oppressive dystopia that the characters are fighting to free themselves from to a bright, established Utopia that the characters are fighting to protect. 
When creating your setting, think about how the options you choose may affect your character and you as a player, before committing to them. If you re playing with others, check in with them and discuss what they are comfortable with including in your setting and what they would prefer to leave out. 
City Builder Worksheet
An form-fillable City Builder worksheet is included in the downloadable files for Utopia. 
Pregenerated Cities
Three pregenerated cities that have been included following this section. 
SECTION 1: GOVERNMENT
1. Who sits at the top of the government in your city?
 
1
 No one. Everyone votes daily on issues that affect the city.
 
2
 A single elected representative or council of elected representatives.
 
3
 A single unelected official or council of officials.
 
4
 An oligarchy of the most wealthy individuals.
 
5
 A corporation or group of corporations.
 
6
 An artificial intelligence.
 


2. How did the current government come to power?
 
1
 Was democratically elected.
 
2
 Manipulated democratic processes and bent laws to seize power.
 
3
 Seized or was given power as a result of a revolution, coup, or subterfuge.
 
4
 Took power through armed military conflict.
 



SECTION 2: SOCIAL
3. Which social classes are prevalent in your city (highborn, risers, lowborn, murkbloods)?  
Note: Removing one of the social classes here does not necessarily mean you can not play someone from that social class, only that they are not prevalent in your city.
 
1
 All of them. There is representation across the full spectrum of society.
 
2
 No highborn. The super-rich do not exist in this city.
 
3
 No risers. The highborn stamp down on anyone who tries to accumulate wealth and rise above their station. 
 
4
 No murkbloods. Poverty has been wiped out in the city. Everyone has their basic needs accounted for.
 
5
 No highborn or risers. Resources are scarce and no one has enough to be considered wealthy.
 
6
 No highborn or risers. Extraneous resources are taken by the government and either used for the continued expansion of the City or redistributed to those who have less. 
 


SECTION 3: NON-HUMANS
4. Artificial Intelligence (AIs). AIs refers to those beings whose consciousness was entirely created and have never occupied a human body. How are AIs treated in your city?
 
1
 AI technology has never been present in the city before.
 
2
 AIs have been banned from the city. 
 
3
 AIs are present, but only as computer programs. They are not permitted to occupy bodies of their own. 
 
4
 AIs are present, can occupy bodies, but are discriminated against by humans.
 
5
 AIs are accepted with the same rights as humans. 
 



5. Datawaves.  Datawaves refers to those people whose bodies suffered damage or infirmity and had their consciousness transferred to a new body. How are datawaves treated in your city?
 
1
 Transferring consciousness to another body is illegal in the city.
 
2
 It is legal, but only available to the super-rich. 
 
3
 Transferring consciousness to cybernetic bodies is legal, but transferring to biological or cloned bodies is illegal. 
 
4
 Transferring consciousness to biological or cloned bodies is legal, but transferring to cybernetic bodies is illegal. 
 
5
 Transferring consciousness to new cybernetic or cloned bodies is common in the city. 
 


6. Artificial Humans. Artificial humans refers to clones and those humans who have been created through the use of gene therapy, artificial breeding or any other process that does not involve human procreation. How are artificial humans treated in your city?
 
1
 Creating artificial humans of any kind is illegal in the city. 
 
2
 Artificial humans are present, but are discriminated against. 
 
3
 Cloning is illegal, but other processes of creating artificial humans is permitted. 
 
4
 Cloning is permitted, but other forms of creating artificial humans is illegal.
 
5
 All forms of creating artificial humans is legal, but heavily controlled and monitored by the government.
 
6
 All forms of creating artificial humans is legal, with few controls put in place to regulate their production. 
 



SECTION 4: THE WASTES
7. The land beyond the boundaries of your city is known as the wastes. It is home to the ruins of the cities that were abandoned or destroyed during The Fall. What do the wastes outside of the walls of your city look like?
 
1
 A parched desert landscape devoid of water and plant life. 
 
2
 A dense jungle that presses in on the city on all sides.
 
3
 Rain-swept mud flats with constantly shifting rivers and lakes.
 
4
 The bones of a large metropolis, abandoned, overgrown and decaying.
 
5
 A frozen, snow covered tundra, swept by strong winds and covered by massive snowdrifts.
 
6
 A vast inland sea stretching as far as the eye can see, dotted by the ruins of buildings tall enough to peak above the flood.
 




ERIS (PREGENERATED CITY)
Description: The classic Cyberpunk setting, Eris is a city of towering skyscrapers, rainy nights and neon lights, lit by the neon glow of billboards, signs and holo-projections. Everyday life is a struggle for all but the wealthiest of the wealthy and the corporations that lord over everyone. 
SECTION 1: GOVERNMENT
1. A single elected representative, a mayor sits at the head of government in Eris, with a council of 4 other elected officials. However, each of them is beholden to corporate donors. 
2. The mayor and councilors were democratically elected, but it is widely known that the corporations supporting the current mayor worked to sabotage their opponents.

SECTION 2: SOCIAL
3. All social classes are prevalent in Eris, however, the highborn are actively attempting to wipe out the Risers by taking over the businesses of anyone who begins to achieve any measure of wealth.
SECTION 3: NON-HUMANS
4. AIs in Eris are present, but only as computer programs and are not permitted to occupy bodies of their own.
5. Transferring your consciousness to another body and becoming a datawave is legal in Eris, but only available to the super-rich.
6. Creating cybernetic humans is legal, but the process of cloning and creating biological artificial humans is illegal. However, the current mayor is being lobbied by Meditech to lift the ban on biologically created artificial humans. 
SECTION 4: THE WASTES
7. The wastes outside Eris are a parched, desert landscape, irradiated and largely devoid of life.

A bright utopian city of white buildings and green plants. Huge honeycombed solar panels are suspended over the city on towers. 
NEW CELAYA (PREGENERATED CITY)
Description: New Celaya is an eco-friendly paradise. Large solar collectors tower above the city, collecting the suns rays to power the city, while a network of enormous cisterns collect rainwater and feed it into the city s water grid. At the center of the city, Solcor, the corporate masterminds behind the city, enforce a strict set of laws to keep the people of the city in line, while quietly stamping out any opposition that might attempt to change the status quo. 
SECTION 1: GOVERNMENT
1. SolCor, the corporation whose technology feeds the city its power and water makes up the government of New Celaya. Laws are dictated by the mega-corporations CEO and board of directors. 
2. SolCor became the defacto head of New Celaya as the city grew up around one of SolCor s first solar power plants. The first dwellings served to house the SolCor workers and a thriving community grew from there. 

SECTION 2: SOCIAL
3. Officially, there are no Murkbloods in New Celaya. Anyone who is homeless or jobless is given lodging and a job by SolCor. However, there are citizens of New Celaya who would rather run from the authorities than submit to the corporate overlords of the city. 
SECTION 3: NON-HUMANS
4. AIs are considered to be unnatural in New Celaya and are not permitted to be created or exist within the city, in any form. 
5. Transferring your consciousness to another body and becoming a datawave is illegal in New Celaya. However, high ranking directors of SolCor have been involved in experiments to record their consciousness in the same way a datawave is created, with the intention of transferring that consciousness into a new, living body. 
6. Creating artificial humans is illegal in New Celaya, however, SolCor engages in secret cloning and biological enhancement of their special security and policing forces. 
SECTION 4: THE WASTES
7. New Celaya stands on the tip of a long, narrow finger of land, with a freshwater, inland sea stretching out around it in three directions. The land abutting the sea consists of kilometers of rain-swept mud flats dotted with the rusting, skeletal ruins of a long dead city. 

A far view of a cyberpunk city glowing with neon lights, perched on the edge of a riverbank in a mountain valley. The clouds part, silhouetting the city in cool light. 
VEIL (PREGENERATED CITY)
Description: The city of Veil sits on the shore of a river winding through a mountain valley. Each morning mist rolls through the valley, blanketing the city in a heavy white fog. A bureaucracy has replaced the former government of the city only to have it supplanted by corrupt officials and a rogue artificial intelligence impersonating one of the high level bureaucrats.
SECTION 1: GOVERNMENT
1. Veil is run not by an elected official, but by an expansive bureaucratic government. Individuals are hired based on merit to oversee various city services and programs. It is widely known that many of the individuals who occupy these positions achieved their station through a combination of bribes and networking with others within the bureaucracy.
Amongst these top elected officials, the director of migration and social form has been replaced by a rogue artificial intelligence who has been impersonating him.
2. Veil once had an elected city council. However, after a long history of corruption, mismanagement and wide-scale protests, the council was dissolved and power given over the bureaucratic systems that were working to keep the city functioning.
SECTION 2: SOCIAL
3. Following the dissolution of the corrupt city council, there was a great deal of public backlash against the super-rich highborn of the city. Many of the highborn, fearing for their wealth, fled the city. Those that remained attempt to downplay their wealth to avoid public scrutiny.
SECTION 3: NON-HUMANS
4. The creation and use of artificial intelligence within Veil had been heavily regulated until approximately a year ago, when all restrictions on it were lifted by the director of migration and social form. Following this, developers of AI technology have flocked to Veil and several independent AIs occupying cybernetic bodies have been seen in the city, leading to social unrest. 
5. The recording of consciousness and creation of datawaves is entirely legal in Veil and there is increased social pressure for more and more people to record their datawaves before their death. Subsequently, a new corporation has been founded to record the datawaves of those without the money to purchase a cybernetic body and keep them in storage so their extended family can save and purchase new bodies for them in the future.
6. Although direct cloning is illegal in Veil, the creation of new, genetically unique bodies is not only legal, but practiced openly, resulting in numerous citizens of Veil being  lab born . 
SECTION 4: THE WASTES
7. The wastes beyond Veil are lush and overgrown with thick vegetation. At the end of The Fall, a number of experiments were done to create quick growing food crops that would be tolerant to the new climate conditions. However, cross pollination to the local flora resulted in a near impenetrable rainforest of fast growing plants filling the mountain valleys surrounding the city.

A towering cyberpunk cityscape rendered in shades of blue.
A towering cyberpunk cityscape rendered in shades of blue.
SPECIAL RULES

This section provides special rule sets that you can either choose to use in your game when you create your city, or may come into effect based on the events of the newsfeed. If you are directed to use one of these special rule sets by your newsfeed, you can choose to ignore the special rules and deal with the event narratively, or roll a new newsfeed item.
The special rules in this section include:
 	
Dangerous Streets

 	
Disease and Infection

 	
Infestation

 	
Nanophage

 	
Power at a Cost (Synthite)

 	
Radiation

 	
Shortages



SPECIAL RULES

INTRODUCTION
The world of Utopia is a world that has recovered from a cataclysmic event known as  The Fall , which altered the landscape of the world as we know it. 100 years later, the world has rebuilt itself into a place of technology, innovation and hope for a bright future. However, despite advances in nearly every field, from medicine, science and biology, to robotics, automation and farming, conflict remains ingrained in every level of society. The gap between the rich and poor widens more with each passing day, while thousands of people go without basic necessities and medical care. Corporate power has expanded to a point where corporations maintain their own private military forces and political candidates maintain corporate sponsorships. Rampant computerization has led to new extremes of media integration in everyone s daily lives, while new theological struggles around what constitutes a living person have emerged with innovations in cybernetics, cloning and artificial intelligence.
	The world is a complicated place. Some people are trying to get ahead, right wrongs, fight the power, climb the corporate ladder, discover miracle cures, invent new tech, help others, get rich or become powerful. Others are just trying to survive.
	Welcome to Utopia.

DANGEROUS STREETS
Use these rules when gang violence, crime or armed conflict make it dangerous to travel in the streets.
Whenever you are traveling to a new location, roll on the following table. If you are skilled in the sneak skill, you can make a sneak skill roll with a difficulty rating of 15. On a success, you successfully evade any conflict or complications from the table.
Roll 1d6
 Effect
 
1-3
 You reach your destination without incident.
 
4-5
 You experience a complication while traveling to your destination.
 
6
 You are caught in a violent situation while traveling to your destination.
 


DISEASE AND INFECTION
Use these rules when your city is experiencing an outbreak of a disease or if your character contracts a disease or infection.
CONTENT WARNING: The symptoms and effects of the infections in this section are inspired by, and may bear some resemblance to, real world diseases. Using these rules may be triggering for you or your players. If you rolled an event on the newsfeed table that included these rules, but don t feel comfortable proceeding, roll a new event on the newsfeed table. 
Outbreak
When you have a disease outbreak in your city choose, or roll randomly from the following table to determine the nature of the disease. 
The severity of the newsfeed event indicates the severity of outbreak in your city and is a measure of the number of infected people you will encounter if you venture out in public. When the severity level of a disease outbreak reaches 0, the infection is wiped out in your city.
Roll 1d6
 Effect
 
1-2
 Brucellosis
 This bacterial infection causes intense fatigue and brain fog, but is ultimately non-lethal. While infected, you have disadvantage on all skill rolls.
 
3-4
 CV-23
 This virus attacks the respiratory system, causing minimal damage on its own, but weakens the tissues of your lungs, making your body more prone to injury during exertion. While infected, at the beginning of each week, you suffer 1 light wound. Additionally, whenever you perform a physical activity that requires a skill roll (athletics, dodge, melee weapons, ranged weapons, sneak, tough or unarmed combat), if you roll 15 or higher on your skill roll, you suffer a wound based on your success. Calculate this wound by subtracting 15 from your roll and comparing the result to the wound table.
 
5-6
 Arroyo Virus
 A fast acting virus that attacks the body with mild, 
cold-like symptoms before turning on the body s internal organs causing hemorrhaging and death. The virus is treatable if medical attention is sought quickly enough. When you become infected with this disease, you must seek medical treatment within 3 weeks, at a cost of 12 resources (you could convince or coerce a medi into giving you the treatment if you can t afford it). If you do not receive medical treatment at the end of the 3rd week, your character perishes.
 


Risking Infection
While there is an active disease outbreak in your city, you run the risk of becoming infected if you leave your home. The higher the severity level of the infection rate, the more likely you are to come in contact with an infected person and contract the disease from them.
At the end of each week when there is an active outbreak in your city, if your character left their home during the week, roll 1d10 for each severity of the outbreak. If the result of any die is a 1, you become infected.
Combating a Disease Outbreak
Like every event on your newsfeed, a disease outbreak will end eventually on its own. However, it is possible to hasten that end if your character spends their time working to help fight the disease. If you spend an action during the week working to fight the disease in some way, lower the severity of the newsfeed event by 1. How you work to fight the disease may differ for each character. A medi may travel around the city administering free medical treatment, while a runner may steal medical supplies from wealthy hospitals and redistribute them to those who can not afford treatment themself and a merchant may use their connections to find new suppliers for medical equipment (and make a tidy profit while they re at it). You can only reduce the severity in this way by 1 per week. 
Finding a Cure
A character with the medicine or science skill may be able to find a cure or vaccine for the disease using the skill challenge rules. If your character creates a cure or vaccine for a disease outbreak, the severity of the event is immediately reduced 
to 0. 
If the disease outbreak event on your newsfeed is your ongoing story or central tension, finding a cure for the disease may be the only way of reducing the severity of the event to 0. If you are interested in playing a story centered around finding a cure for a disease, consider using one of the disease newsfeed events as your ongoing story.
INFESTATION 
In the aftermath of The Fall, many scientists have worked tirelessly to find ways to reclaim the global ecology. Some of this work has involved the cross breeding and genetic manipulation of flora and fauna to try and create new species that can survive the extreme conditions of the wastes. Unfortunately, this has resulted in a number of small and large scale infestations by plant species engineered for quick growth, and animal species that were adapted to withstand harsh conditions. 
Plant Infestation 
The intense climate change following the fall resulted in a horde of problems, from desertification and widespread forest fires, to flooding and erosion. Bio-engineers were some of the first to tackle these problems by introducing foreign or bio-engineered plant species into the environment to combat some of these effects. However, when one of these species of plants takes root within the cities, it can cause problems. 
When you encounter an infestation of plants, choose one, or roll randomly on the following table to determine the nature and effect of the invasive plants. 
Roll 1d6
 Result
 
1-2
 Popping Myrtle
 
3-4
 Riverwort
 
5-6
 Sporecaps
 


Popping Myrtle
A bio-engineered plant hybrid, popping myrtle was developed as a drought resistant ground cover, with tough, wiry, hard to cut roots and small brightly colored purple  flowers that spreads quickly and fights erosion. The name, popping myrtle, comes from the bulbous seed pods that form on the plant after flowering and explode with a pop, sending the seeds flying as far as 30 meters, where they quickly sprout and take root.
In an urban environment, the roots of popping myrtle will work their way into tiny seams in metal and concrete panels or burrow through mortar. They frequently wrap themselves around cables and pipes both underground and behind wall panels, constricting or tearing them loose. 
When your city is affected by a popping myrtle infestation, any time you interact with a piece of tech, including automatic doors, computer terminals, coffee machines, etc., roll 1d10. On a roll of 3 or lower, the device has been infested by the creeping myrtle and is inoperable. Removing the offending plants requires a successful engineering skill roll with a difficulty rating of 10.  
Riverwort
Originally crossbred as a fast growing food source, Riverwort is a leafy green plant with tender, nutritious shoots and leaves that grows anywhere where there is water. These plants spread by releasing small seeds into the air that can drift for kilometers on the wind. They grow at a rate of up to 45 centimeters per day into long, branching vines with broad leaves. Riverwort has been known to clog rivers, causing flooding in the surrounding area, as well as taking over crop fields, horticultural centers and even hydroponic facilities, choking out the other plants growing there. 
In urban environments, riverwort has been known to get into the water filtration and recycling systems, where it can cause water and sewer backups throughout the city. It also tends to take root anywhere there is enough moisture to support it, including anywhere there is a leaky pipe, resulting in entire rooms, hallways and buildings becoming overrun with riverwort.
When your city is affected by a riverwort infestation, at the beginning of each week, roll a complication from the following table:
Roll 1d4
 Complication
 
1
 Water treatment in the city is disrupted, making tap water undrinkable. Cost of living goes up by 1 resource for the week.
 
2
 The sewage treatment system has been clogged by riverwort growth, causing backups across the city. Everything smells bad. All roles for social interactions have disadvantage this week. 
 
3
 Pockets of riverwort have grown wherever water is running freely, blocking entire streets or alleyways in the lowborn and murkblood districts of the city. You have a harder time getting anywhere this week, while rampant plant growth covering streets and signs is making everything harder to find. Add 1d6 to the difficulty of all investigation skill rolls. 
 
4
 Riverwort has infected the local hydroponics facility, creating food shortages. Double the cost of living expenses this week.
 


Sporecaps
Sporecaps are small clusters of white and gray mushrooms that grow approximately 2 inches high and form a tender ball shaped nodule that releases spores into the air when touched or jostled by the wind. Originally, sporecaps were engineered to be a deterrent to pest animals such as rats and mice that ran rampant in the years after The Fall. However, as the sporecaps were released into the wild, it was discovered the biogenic manipulation that was used to create the fungus opened the door for cross-species mycelial mating that would not normally be possible between different strains of mushrooms. This resulted in a deluge of different sporecap strains, including edible sporecaps, hallucinogenic sporecaps and poisonous sporecaps. 
Each time you travel to a new location, roll on the following table:
Roll 1d6
 Effect
 
1-2
 You encounter regular sporecaps, harmless to humans, they repel rodents.
 
3
 You encounter the edible strain of sporecaps.
 
4
 You encounter hallucinogenic sporecaps. Make a tough skill roll with a difficulty equal to 2d10 + a number of d6s equal to half the current severity level of the infestation newsfeed event. On a failure, you begin to experience hallucinations while you are in this location. Whenever you make a roll, add a complication, regardless of the result of the roll.  
 
5
 You encounter poisonous sporecaps. Make a tough skill roll with a difficulty equal to 2d10 + a number of d6s equal to half the current severity level of the infestation newsfeed event. On a failure, whenever you make a skill roll in this location, suffer 1 light wound. 
 
6
 You encounter debilitating sporecaps. Make a tough skill roll with a difficulty equal to 2d10 + a number of d6s equal to half the current severity level of the infestation newsfeed event. On a failure, you have disadvantage on all skill rolls made in this location.
 


Animal Infestation
When you encounter a newsfeed event that describes an animal infestation, roll on the following table to determine the nature of the infestation. Some examples of possible infestations are included in each category.
Roll 1d6
 Result
 
1-2
 Insects (ticks, ants, beetles, hornets)
 
3-4
 Rodents (mice, rats)
 
5
 Stray animals (dogs, cats, monkeys, snakes)
 
6
 Cybernetic drones
 


Although there are no additional effects as a result of an animal infestation, when you roll a complication while an infestation event is active, consider how the infestation might cause complications, including damaging equipment. Damaged equipment can be repaired for half the cost of purchasing it.
NANOPHAGE
Nanites are microscopic robots designed to build, destroy and perform tasks at a cellular or molecular level. They are most often used in medicine, where they are injected into bodies to target and destroy cancer cells, remove blockages, or repair damaged tissues. Individually they are not able to form thought patterns and make complex decisions as an AI might, however in sufficient numbers they can link together to form a collective intelligence to analyze data and make decisions as a collective. 
A nanophage is the result of nanites self-replicating in vast numbers and either forming a collective consciousness that strays from its original program, or expands the scope of their program and refuses to be shut down. 

The following options are each linked to an event from the newsfeed table. You should usually only use one of them at a time. However, if you want a challenging apocalyptic level scenario, you can use them both together. 
Maze Assembly
Nanites have begun self-replicating and sweeping through the city, breaking down anything that they come across (buildings, in-organic objects, plants, animals, people, etc.) and reorganizing their molecules into a maze-like mass of structures. These structures continue to be broken down and reorganized into new structures, making the landscape of the city ever-changing.
These rules can be used in two ways: 
1.	
To create a small scale scenario where a cloud of nanites is breaking down buildings and items to create walls that block off streets, form or destroy bridges and creating strange structures.

2.	
To create a large scale, apocalyptic level change to a city, creating an ever-changing, alien landscape. If you choose this option, during your Spheres phase, you must locate supplies instead of paying for living expenses. Make an investigation skill roll with a difficulty rating equal to 2d10 + a number of d6s equal to the current severity level of the nanophage event. On a success you locate supplies for the week. 


Navigating the Nanophage
At the beginning of the week, after your Newsfeed phase, determine how successful you are at navigating the ever-changing landscape.
Skill roll: investigation 
Difficulty rating: 2d10 + a number of d6s equal to the current severity of the nanophage event
Results: On a success, you successfully navigate the terrain. On a failure, compare the result of your roll to the difficulty rating to determine the difference (as you would to determine wounds) and refer to the result on the Nanophage Navigation Table.
NANOPHAGE NAVIGATION TABLE
Difference
 Result
 
0 - 5
 You have difficulty navigating the city. If you take the search action, make all skill rolls for that action with disadvantage.
 
6 - 10
 Everything is not where it should be. You may only take actions that involve visiting one location outside of your home this week. 
 
11+
 The walls themselves are moving and nothing is familiar. You get lost in the changing landscape and are unable to find your way home. You experience a complication. Additionally, you are unable to pay for your basic living expenses during your Spheres phase. Take the search action, where the difficulty rating is 2d10 + a number of d6s equal to the severity of the nanophage event. On a success, you are able to locate food and water. On a failure, you starve and have disadvantage on all skill rolls next week. 
 


Cybernetic Evolution
Nanites have begun self-replicating and spreading from person to person like a virus. Once inside a host body, they break down the organic tissues and replace them with inorganic matter. Eventually, the body s systems fail and the person becomes a husk - a cybernetic body controlled by the nanites within it, capable of transmitting the nanites to other people. 
Resisting Infection
At the end of each week, during your Spheres phase, if you left your home during the week and are not currently infected, roll a tough skill roll, where the difficulty rating is 2d10 + a number of d6s equal to the half the severity of the nanophage event. On a failure, you become infected by the nanites and roll for infection at the end of each week instead (see Nanite Infection).
Nanite Infection
You have been infected by nanites who are, even now, working to convert your bodies organic material to cybernetic components (and to corrupt your cybernetic enhancements and rebuild them to their purpose). Your body is fighting to remove the nanites from your system.
The first signs of nanite infection are small patches of composite material showing up like spots on the skin. As the infection progresses, entire sections of skin may be converted to this material, replacing muscles with rubbery fibers as small incandescent lights glow through your skin. If the infection reaches its final stage, your brain will die and your body will be converted wholly into composite materials. 
While infected, you will need to track your infection level. Your infection level begins at 1 and the effects of each level of infection are listed on the Nanite Infection Table. If your infection level rises above 5, your body dies and you become a husk. If it is reduced below 1, you are cured.
At the end of week, during your Spheres phase, determine the progress of your infection:
Skill roll: tough (if you are trained in medicine, science or engineering, you can add an additional 1d6 to your roll) 
Difficulty rating: 16
Result: On a success, decrease your infection level by 1. On a failure, increase your infection level by 1.
Complications:  If you roll a complication, add 1d6 to the difficulty rating of your next skill roll to combat the infection. 
NANITE INFECTION TABLE
Infection Level
 Effect
 
1
 Small hints of composite material show up on your skin. 
 
2
 Faint lights show beneath your remaining skin. You have disadvantage deception and persuasion skill rolls. 
 
3
 Patches of composite materials take over your skin and sections of muscle fibers are replaced by synthetic muscles. You have disadvantage on the following skill rolls: athletics, deception, dodge, persuasion.
 
4
 Cybernetics move beneath your skin where muscles once did and large patches of composite materials replace your skin. You have disadvantage on the following skill rolls: athletics, deception dodge, melee combat, persuasion, unarmed combat.
 
5
 You appear more cybernetic than human now. You have disadvantage on all skill rolls. 
 


NOTE: If you become infected and fight off the infection, any physical changes brought about by the infection do not disappear. Even if your limbs are entirely replaced by the infection, they do not grant any of the benefits of a cybernetic limb. You can have pieces of composite material removed and your muscles repaired by a medi, or replace them with other cybernetic enhancements. 
Drastic Measures
If your infection is reaching dangerous levels, you can take drastic action, severing a limb where the infection is worst to reduce your infection level by 2. 
Special Enemy - Husk
When someone dies as a result of a nanophage infection, their body is converted to cybernetics and they become a husk. Husks are characterized by grey-black composite materials replacing their skin, fibrous rubber muscle filaments and spots of bright colored light emitting from tiny light nodules in their eyes, mouth and scattered across their bodies. They are controlled, like a puppet, by the colony of nanites within them. 
During a nanophage, it is common to find husks roaming the streets, spreading nanites to anyone they come into contact with. If you encounter a husk, use the following statistics:
Difficulty rating: 2d10 + 1d6
On a hit: If you are not infected by the nanite infection, add 1d6 to the difficulty rating of your next roll to avoid infection. If you are already infected, add 1d6 to the difficulty rating of your next roll to combat infection. These effects stack. If you are hit 3 separate times by Husks in one week, you will add 3d6 to the difficulty rating of your next roll. 
Special Equipment - Blocker
Resource Cost: 8
Search/Crafting Difficulty: +2d6
A blocker is a special device that emits a frequency that disrupts the processing unit of nanites. If you are wearing one of these devices, you gain an additional 2d6 to skill rolls to resist or combat nanite infection. Additional blockers do not stack. 
POWER AT A COST
A new material, called synthite, has been created in a laboratory from radioactive byproducts and irradiated materials. Synthite provides an extraordinary amount of energy, comparable to radioactive materials such as plutonium, but is stable and does not emit radiation. In small quantities, it can be used to create high energy batteries that last for years at a time without recharging. In large quantities, it can provide enough power to fuel technologies that can bend time and space itself. 
ADVENTURE HOOK: CRAVING FOR POWER
Synthite can provide a stable, long-lasting power source for cybernetics that leads to cybernetic AIs attempting to gain control of the means of its production.
Synthite Production
The production of synthite requires a supply of heavily irradiated metals scavenged from the wrecks of abandoned and decaying nuclear sites found in the wastes. This has prompted a whole new profession of scavengers who brave irradiated hot-spots in the wastes to bring the materials back. 
Because of the limited supply and dangerous nature of harvesting the components, the price and the demand for synthite is astronomical, leading to the formation of government agencies and criminal networks aiming to control the new material.
Scavenging
If you are venturing into the wastes to scavenge the component materials used in the production of synthite, use the radiation rules on page 220 and the Wastes rules on page 225. Successfully scavenging materials will provide you with enough materials to produce 1 unit of synthite. The radiation level when handling these materials is always 3. 
Producing Synthite 
You can use the experiment action, with the science skill, to produce synthite. When you do so, the crafting difficulty rating is 2d10 + 3d6. The sale price of one unit of synthite is 25 resources. 
Uses of Synthite
The immense energy that can be harvested from synthite has opened the door on new fields of technology that punch holes in the fabric of space-time, allowing for point to point travel at great distances (teleportation) and time travel. 
If a synthite battery is installed in an electronic device, triple the number of uses of that device per week. If synthite is being used to power a Gate (detailed on page 136), the gate can stay open indefinitely instead of only functioning for a short period of time. 
Time Travel Equipment
NOTE: There is no rule that I can give you for time travel that is going to make it ok. Time travel is always messy. Use these at your own risk. 
Temporal Anchor 
Resource Cost: 15 (requires synthite in addition to the resource cost)
Search/Crafting Difficulty: +4d6
A single use device that anchors you to the moment you left your current timeline and dimension, allowing you to return to it without creating a temporal paradox. Once this device has been used, it must be repaired for half its resource cost, rounded up. 
Temporal Distortion Drive 
Resource Cost: 25 (requires synthite in addition to the resource cost)
Search/Crafting Difficulty: +5d6
A device that allows you to travel through time, but can only be used once per week. 
When you activate this device, make a science or engineering skill roll, with a difficulty rating of 20. On a success, you accurately move through time to the time your desired location and date. On a failure, if you are between 1 and 5 below the difficulty rating, you arrive at the correct location, but the wrong date. If you roll 6-10 below the difficulty rating, you arrive at the wrong location, but the right date. If you roll 11 or more below the difficulty rating, you arrive at the wrong location and the wrong date.  
RADIATION 
When you are exposed to radiation, you have the chance of suffering a special type of wound called radiation damage. 
When you suffer radiation damage, indicate it on your character sheet by entering an  R  in your wound tracker at the proper wound severity. Radiation wounds function as normal wounds, counting towards your total physical wounds, but can not be healed in the same way.
Encountering Radiation
Make a radiation roll in the following circumstances:
 	
When you enter a radioactive area for the first time in the week

 	
When you transition to an area with a higher level of radioactivity for the first time in a week

 	
When you pick up or handle an object that is radioactive


Skill roll: tough + d6s from any equipment that counters the effects of radiation
Difficulty: 2d10 + d6s equal to the radiation level
Result: On a failure, suffer a wound equal to the difference between your roll and the difficulty. Mark this wound on your wound track with an  R .
Radioactivity  Level
 Example
 
1
 The area surrounding the location of nuclear event
 
2
 The general location where nuclear fallout occurred
 
3
 The most irradiated place at the epicenter of the nuclear event
 
Unless otherwise stated, radioactive objects have a radioactivity level equal to the level of the area they are found in +1.
 


Example: In Chernobyl, the forest, town and area surrounding the power plant would have a radioactivity level of 1. The power plant itself would have a radioactivity level of 2, and the area immediately surrounding the reactor, at the center of the explosion would have a radioactivity level of 3. An object found in the town would have a radioactivity level of 2, while an object found in the reactor core would have a radioactivity level of 4.  
Radiation Complications
When you roll a complication on a radiation skill roll or any other skill roll while in an irradiated area, you may wish to use one of the following complications:
 	
You experience a bout of nausea and dizziness and make your next skill roll with disadvantage

 	
Degraded by the radiation, a piece of equipment you are carrying breaks or stops functioning


Treating Radiation
In Utopia, methods have been found to treat radiation damage by introducing genetically altered cells into the patients body that attempt to multiply and replace those that have been damaged by radiation. However, those methods are costly and not always successful. 
Although radiation damage counts as a wound on your wound track, it can not be treated in the same way as other wounds. You must use the treat radiation action.
Treat Radiation
Radiation wounds are difficult to treat and can only be treated by visiting a medi. You can take this action once per week, removing a maximum of 1 radiation wound per week. 
Light radiation wound: spend 3 resources and remove 1 light radiation wound.
Result: Treatment is always successful.
Medium radiation wound: spend 3 resources and make a tough skill roll with a difficulty rating of 10. 
Result: On a successful skill roll, remove 1 medium radiation wound.
Severe radiation wound: spend 3 resources and make a tough skill roll with a difficulty rating of 20.
Result: On a successful skill roll, remove 1 severe radiation wound. 
Radiation Countermeasures
Before venturing into irradiated areas, you may wish to purchase equipment to help mitigate some of the impact of the radiation. 
Iodine Tablets
(Chem)
Resource Cost: 1
Search/Crafting Difficulty: +1d6
When ingested, iodine tablets help stop your body from absorbing some radiation for the current week. When making a tough skill roll during a radiation check, add an additional 1d6 to your roll. Taking additional doses of iodine tablets does not increase their effectiveness. 
Immune Booster
(Enhancement)
Resource Cost: 8
Search/Crafting Difficulty: +2d6
A small enhancement that releases a small stream of nanites into your bloodstream that fight off infections and repair damage to your cells. When you make a tough skill roll, add an additional 1d6 to your roll. 
Hazmat Suit
(Tech)
Resource Cost: 4
Search/Crafting Difficulty: +2d6
A full body suit that blocks low frequency radiation. While wearing the suit, when making a tough skill roll during a radiation check, add an additional 1d6 to your roll. Additionally, if you would suffer a radiation wound, reduce the severity of that wound by 1 wound category (reducing a light wound by 1 category ignores the wound entirely). If you roll a complication on a radiation check while wearing the suit, the suit becomes degraded and is no longer functional. 
SHORTAGE - FOOD OR WATER
When there is a shortage of food or water in your city, these things become more expensive and are reflected in your living expenses paid during the Spheres phase each week. When paying for your weekly living expenses, apply the result from the following table according to the current severity of the shortage.
Severity
 Result
 
1
 Add +1 to the cost of living expenses.
 
2
 Add +2 to the cost of living expenses.
 
3-4
 Double the cost of living expenses. 
 
5
 You must locate supplies before you are able to pay for living expenses. Make an investigation skill roll with a difficulty rating equal to 2d10 + 2d6. On a success you locate supplies for the week. Double the cost of living expenses. 
 
6
 You must locate supplies before you are able to pay for living expenses. Make an investigation skill roll with a difficulty rating equal to 2d10 + 4d6. On a success you locate supplies for the week. Triple the cost of living expenses. 
 


REMINDER: If you are unable to pay any living expenses for the week, you can downgrade your standard of living (this may impact your weekly income if you are a highborn or riser). If you are unable to pay living expenses, you are reduced to scavenging and all skill rolls you make are made with disadvantage until you successfully pay for living expenses.
Securing a Stockpile
You can spend time during a shortage to search for a source of supplies and stockpile them for the weeks ahead. When you successfully secure a stockpile of supplies in this way, you will gain a number of supply uses. During a severity 5 or 6 shortage, when you would have to search for supplies, you can draw on your stockpile, using up 1 supply use instead. When you do this, the cost of living expenses is half of the current cost.
You can secure a stockpile of supplies with a narrative challenge or a skill challenge, depending on your play-style.
1.	
Narrative Challenge
Set a goal to acquire a stockpile of supplies and pursue that goal, searching for a source of supplies and taking any actions required to secure it. When calculating the difficulty rating for your rolls, where you would normally use your danger level to calculate the skill roll, use the current severity of the shortage event instead. (Example: If you take the search action and the difficulty rating is usually 2d10 + a number of d6s equal to your danger level, instead use 2d10 + a number of d6s equal to the severity of the shortage event.

2.	
Skill Challenge
Complete a complexity 3 skill challenge using the search action. When calculating the difficulty rating for your rolls, where you would normally use your danger level to calculate the skill roll, use the current severity of the shortage event instead. (Example: If you take the search action and the difficulty rating is usually 2d10 + a number of d6s equal to your danger level, instead use 2d10 + a number of d6s equal to the severity of the shortage event.


When you successfully secure a stockpile of supplies, roll 1d6. Your stockpile of supplies has a number of uses equal to 2 + half the result of the roll. 
REMINDER: As with completing any other skill challenge or goal, you gain 1 skill point upon successful completion.
THE WASTES
The wastes are a dangerous place, where raiders roam freely, weather can quickly turn severe and there is every opportunity for things to go wrong. 
Rations
Before setting out into the wastes, it s necessary to secure food and water rations for yourself. Rations cost 1 resource for 1 week of rations and are consumed at the end of each week during your spheres phase. If you end the week with no rations, you must forage for food or starve the next week. 
To forage for food, make an investigation skill roll with a difficulty rating of 2d10 + a number of d6s equal to your current danger level. On a success you forage enough food for the week. On a failure, you starve and make all skill rolls the following week with disadvantage.
Living Expenses
While you are in the wastes, you don t have many of the day to day food and entertainment expenses you normally have, only having to pay the upkeep on your home. If you are a lowborn, riser or highborn, you pay half the normal living expenses, rounded up (murkblood pay no living expenses). 
Navigating the Wastes

When you choose to travel into the wastes:
Skill roll: investigation 
Difficulty rating: 2d10 + 3d6. 
Result: On a successful roll, you reach your destination. On a failure, you experience a complication and can take no further actions for the rest of the week. You can continue your attempts to navigate the wastes the following week, reducing the difficulty rating by 1d6. 
Example: Sara enters the wastes, with the goal of locating a dark data center. She makes her investigation skill roll with a difficulty rating of 2d10 + 3d6 and fails. Sara experiences a complication as a result of her failure (a group of bandits which she successfully evades) and ends the week. At the beginning of the next week, she continues to try and find her goal in the wastes, rolling another investigation skill roll, this time with a difficulty of 2d10 + 2d6. Sara fails her roll again, experiencing another complication (rodents get into her food while she is sleeping, forcing her to scavenge for food the following week) and ends the week. On her third week in the wastes, Sara rolls her investigation skill roll with a difficulty of 2d10 + 1d6 and is successful. She locates the dark data center she entered the wastes to find. 
Wastes Complications
When you venture outside of the city and into the wastes, you may encounter a number of unexpected events. While you are in the wastes, whenever you roll a 2 on any d10 you experience a special wastes complication event. This complication is in addition to any normal complications you would experience as a result of rolling a 1. Ignore this rule while engaged in combat or confrontation.

Whenever you roll a 2 on any d10, roll or choose a complication from the following table:
Roll 1d10
 Complication
 
1
 The area you are in, or an item you have recently acquired, is radioactive. The radioactivity level of the area or item is 1. (See Radiation, page 220)
 
2
 The area you are in, or an item you have recently acquired, is radioactive. The radioactivity level of the area or item is 2. (See Radiation, page 220)
 
3
 A furious windstorm begins kicking dirt and sand into the air. All investigation skill rolls are made with disadvantage for the rest of the week. Additionally, whenever you use a piece of tech or cybernetics, roll a d10. On a 1 or 2, the device jams and your action fails. 
 
4
 Raiders converge on your location. Avoiding the raiders requires a successful sneak skill roll with a difficulty rating of 15. On a failure, you are discovered by the raiders. The difficulty rating for facing the raiders is 2d10 + 3d6.
 
5
 Your are soaked in a sudden downpour, ruining the supplies you brought with you. Until you return home, you must forage for food at the end of each week. Make an investigation skill roll with a difficulty rating of 2d10 +2d6. On a success you forage enough food for the week. On a failure, you starve and make all skill rolls the following week with disadvantage.
 
Roll 1d10
 Complication
 
6
 Your path forward is blocked and you must find a way to cross it or navigate a way around it. The block could be in the form of a gorge, river, sinkhole, acidic swamp or mountain range. 
 
7
 The ground begins to crumble as a sinkhole opens beneath your feet. You must succeed on a dodge skill roll with a difficulty rating of 15 or fall into a subsurface chasm, suffering a medium wound. 
 
8
 Acidic rain begins to fall, forcing you to find cover. Make an investigation skill roll with a difficulty rating of 2d10 + 1d6. On a failed roll, you suffer a light wound. Repeat the roll until you succeed. If you experience a complication while making these rolls, 1 piece of your equipment is destroyed by the rain. 
 
9
 The sun beats down and the heat becomes severe. Make a tough skill roll with a difficulty rating of 15. On a failure, you suffer heat stroke and fall unconscious, suffering a medium wound. You may take no more actions this week. 
 
10
 You are spotted by a rogue AI, contained in a cybernetic body. When attempting to evade, persuade, fight, or otherwise interact with the AI, the difficulty rating is 15.
 



A cluster of thin stalked Sporecap mushrooms with pale caps and purple skirts. 
A thin, vinelike stalk of Riverwort. It's leaves are bright green and a cluster of pale yellow flowers bloom at the end of it's stem.
A purple Popping Myrtle flower attached to a red tinged stem. Green leaves and bulbous red seed pods line the stem.
A purple Popping Myrtle flower attached to a red tinged stem. Green leaves and bulbous red seed pods line the stem.
A thin, vinelike stalk of Riverwort. It's leaves are bright green and a cluster of pale yellow flowers bloom at the end of it's stem.
A cluster of thin stalked Sporecap mushrooms with pale caps and purple skirts. 
A shirtless man writhes in pain as his arm is transformed by nanites. Blue and black mechanical components burst through his skin, shining with neon light. The skin on his shoulder tears as more mechanisms attempt to burst free. 
A cybernetic being of blue composite and black rubber, with bright blue lights shining from it's thin, emaciated body. It's head is a featureless curve of cream coloured plastic. 
A wide expanse of lifeless desert wasteland surrounded by mountains. 
A wide expanse of lifeless desert wasteland surrounded by mountains. 
A cyberpunk city skyline of towering skyscrapers, rendered in blue. 

RANDOM TABLES

This section provides you with a series of random table to utilize when playing Utopia. Some tables, liken the newsfeed table are essential for play, while others are optional tools you can use during character and NPC creation. Some rules in other sections of the book will refer you to these tables.
This section includes the following tables:
 	
Newsfeed events

 	
Character pronouns

 	
Social class

 	
Personality traits

 	
Jobs



RANDOM TABLES

INTRODUCTION
The world of Utopia is a world that has recovered from a cataclysmic event known as  The Fall , which altered the landscape of the world as we know it. 100 years later, the world has rebuilt itself into a place of technology, innovation and hope for a bright future. However, despite advances in nearly every field, from medicine, science and biology, to robotics, automation and farming, conflict remains ingrained in every level of society. The gap between the rich and poor widens more with each passing day, while thousands of people go without basic necessities and medical care. Corporate power has expanded to a point where corporations maintain their own private military forces and political candidates maintain corporate sponsorships. Rampant computerization has led to new extremes of media integration in everyone s daily lives, while new theological struggles around what constitutes a living person have emerged with innovations in cybernetics, cloning and artificial intelligence.
	The world is a complicated place. Some people are trying to get ahead, right wrongs, fight the power, climb the corporate ladder, discover miracle cures, invent new tech, help others, get rich or become powerful. Others are just trying to survive.
	Welcome to Utopia.

NEWSFEED EVENTS
This table includes 100 events to roll randomly or choose for your newsfeed. Each event is general enough that you can flesh it out with your own details specific to your campaign. If you roll an event that you don t want to engage with or may drastically sidetrack the story you want to tell, feel free to roll again or choose an option from the list.
CURATING A NEWSFEED
If you want some structure to the events that happen in your city, try choosing and creating a timeline from the newsfeed events in the table to play through.
Roll 1d100
 Description
 
1
 A holiday or celebration begins in the city.
 
2
 The government unlawfully expands their powers, spawning 
large-scale, city-wide protests.
 
3
 Workers are protesting poor working conditions and low wages.
 
4
 The Stadia championship matches are being held in the city. 
(Stadia page 174)
 
5
 A nuclear power plant suffers a core breach. (Radiation page 220)
 
6
 A radiation leak occurs at an inner-city laboratory. 
(Radiation page 220)
 
7
 Sabotage to the city s water processing equipment resulting in unsafe drinking water. (Shortage page 223)
 
8
 Sabotage to the city s waste processing equipment resulting in waste backing up across the city. 
 
9
 Water has stopped flowing through the pipes in the city. The cause is unknown. (Shortage page 223)
 
10
 A local extremist group has taken control of the power plant and cut off all power to the city until their demands are met. 
 
11
 A wave of graffiti across the city is linked to a new street gang.
 
12
 A wave of vandalism across the city is linked to a new street gang.
 
13
 A change in the government of a nearby city results in a breakdown of intercity trade agreements and rising tensions in the region.
 
Roll 1d100
 Description
 
14
 A city, previously closed to outsiders has decided to open itself up to trade and visitors.
 
15
 A local gang is attempting to seize power, taking over sections of the city and attacking police.
 
16
 Two local street gangs have started a turf war, resulting in rampant violence in sections of the city.
 
17
 A murderer is terrorizing the city.
 
18
 The city is funding an expedition into the wastes. (Wastes page 225)
 
19
 A mega-corporation is funding an expedition into the wastes. 
(Wastes page 225)
 
20
 There is a string of identity thefts in the city.
 
21
 Repeated data hacks start exposing people s personal details. 
 
22
 Law enforcement is being outsourced to private contractors.
 
23
 A shortage of manufacturing materials makes tech devices harder to acquire.
 
24
 An intercity sports tournament is being held in the city.
 
25
 There is a rise in street racing linked to gang activity.
 
26
 There is an increased influence of organized crime in local business and government in the city.
 
27
 Scavengers are stripping vehicles and machinery for parts.
 
28
 Scavengers are kidnapping people to harvest their cybernetic implants.
 
29
 A new political campaign is promising change and equality for all.
 
30
 A new political campaign is promising a return to order by tightening restrictions on lawbreakers and imposing new rules. 
 
31
 An outbreak of the CV-23 virus. (Infection page 206)
 
32
 An outbreak of the Brucellosis infection. (Infection page 206)
 
33
 An outbreak of the Arroyo virus. (Infection page 206)
 
34
 A new illicit drug is being distributed in the city by the local gangs.
 
35
 An increase in drug trafficking leads to a string of overdoses across the city.
 
36
 Street food cook-offs pack the streets.
 
Roll 1d100
 Description
 
37
 War breaks out between two mega-corporations and their corporate soldiers.
 
38
 There is an infestation of an invasive plant species. 
(Infestation page 209)
 
39
 There is an infestation of an invasive animal species. 
(Infestation page 209)
 
40
 The government begins locating and imprisoning political dissidents.
 
41
 Anti-government revolutionaries work to bring down the current government.
 
42
 A blight sweeps through hydroponics facilities  across the city, causing food shortages. (Shortages page 223)
 
43
 An unknown chemical has tainted the water supply, causing sickness and death across the city.
 
44
 Protesters opposing non-human rights and demanding restrictions on non-humans fill the streets.
 
45
 Protests supporting non-human rights and demanding equal rights for non-humans fill the streets.
 
46
 The local government begins a purge of non-humans from the city. 
 
47
 A neighboring city begins a purge of non-humans from the city, resulting in a wave of non-human refugees. 
 
48
 Housing shortages increase homelessness in the city.
 
49
 Rogue AI are infecting and taking control of cybernetic bodies.
 
50
 Rogue AI are blackmailing prominent business and political figures.
 
51
 Rogue AI begin granting artificial intelligence to previously unintelligent production and service robots.
 
52
 An AI is put in place to surveil people and administer impartial justice.
 
53
 Mega-corporation begins transferring memories of deceased individuals into new cloned bodies. (This may be against the law in your city depending on your city builder choices)
 
54
 A drop in air quality causes health concerns.
 
55
 Heavy storm cycles cause mass flooding in the city.
 
56
 Heavy solar flare activity disrupts electronics.
 
57
 Prolonged drought creates dust bowl conditions and depletes the city s water supply. (Shortages page 223)
 
Roll 1d100
 Description
 
58
 Prolonged freezing temperatures and heavy snow grip the city.
 
59
 A corporation starts creating clones of people at random using scavenged DNA.
 
60
 A robotics facility, run by an AI, begins creating cybernetic copies of people.
 
61
 Illegal surveillance programs are being installed into people with cybernetic enhancements, monitoring and recording everything they see and experience.
 
62
 There is a string of unexplained AI and datawave suicides.
 
63
 A group of sentient AIs form a collective and declare themselves an independent state.
 
64
 A nanophage sweeps through the city, infecting humans and animals and rebuilding their tissue into cybernetic materials and systems. (Nanophage - Cybernetic Evolution page 213)
 
65
 A nanophage sweeps through city, attacking objects, structures and even people, and rebuilding them into a maze like pattern. (Nanophage - Maze Assembly page 213).
 
66
 A cybernetic cat is on a crime spree in the city, stealing valuable goods and taking them back to its lair.
 
67
 A virus is infecting the brains of cybernetic humans and AIs, removing their capacity for empathy.
 
68
 An extremist group is threatening the city with a nuclear explosive recovered from the wastes. 
 
69
 A city-wide prohibition on intoxicants such as drugs and alcohol leads to a dramatic increase in smuggling.
 
70
 A new source of power called synthite is discovered, allowing for almost unlimited power for those who can afford it. 
(Power at a Cost page 218)
 
71
 A new power source, called Synthite, allows for the first successful time travel experiments. (Power at a Cost page 218)
 
72
 A new power source, called Synthite, allows for the first Gate network to be created, allowing instantaneous travel between cities. (Power at a Cost page 218 and Gate page 136)
 
73
 A group of mega-corporations installs a puppet government that they are controlling from the shadows.
 
Roll 1d100
 Description
 
74
 A famous musician is conducting concerts in the streets causing extreme congestion.
 
75
 An underground art competition motivates graffiti artists to paint murals across the city.
 
76
 A MERCS tournament is being held in the city. (MERCS page 172)
 
77
 The power consumption of the city outpaces its production, causing rolling blackouts.
 
78
 Package delivery drones and automated vehicles are being hacked to carry out surveillance and assassinations. 
 
79
 An infestation of a foreign insect species is killing pollinators and endangering the food supply. 
 
80
 The makers of an artificial reality game scan and make copies of the datawaves of its players, uploading them to a virtual environment for testing. 
 
81
 A new political campaign emphasizing order has resulted in an unknown police force abducting people suspected of sowing unrest. 
 
82
 Microbial life is discovered trapped within a meteor fragment that fell to Earth during a meteor storm, prompting a race by various companies to acquire samples.
 
83
 A famous artist has been hired to paint a large public mural, but the mural contained images of various crimes by high profile public and political figures.
 
84
 An unknown music artist is releasing tracks mixed with vocals that reveal the wrongdoings of several high profile political figures, celebrities and mega corporations.
 
85
 Small, hand-sized cybernetic creatures are infiltrating electronic systems throughout the city and integrating themselves into them to take control of key systems such as water and sewage treatment, transit and security systems.
 
86
 An animal rights activist group is breaking into research labs to free trapped testing animals. A truck transporting some of the animals was intercepted leading to an odd assortment of escaped animals roaming the city. 
 
87
 An excavation into a buried glacier settlement has unearthed seeds, larvae and microbial life that has been extinct on Earth for 10,000 years.
 
Roll 1d100
 Description
 
88
 The daughter of a local billionaire has gone missing. Rumors say she has joined an extremist group dedicated to toppling capitalism across the globe. 
 
89
 A mega-corporation is preparing to send the first colony ship to Mars  to begin terraforming.
 
90
 The city s government begins rounding up the poorest citizens of the city and sending them to work camp as conscripted labor.
 
91
 A new technology has begun probing the thoughts of passersby on the street and using the information to target advertising to those individuals using nearby holoscreens.
 
92
 Following a surge in unrest, local law enforcement has cracked down and taken control of the city s day to day operations, imposing curfews and limited travel within the city.
 
93
 An infectious blight that kills plants and rots fresh food (but can be spread through human contact) is sweeping through the city. (Shortage page 223)
 
94
 A new form of virtual gambling is sweeping through the city, leaving people hopelessly addicted and quickly bankrupt.
 
95
 The replacement of human workers with cybernetics results in a large scale worker strike and protests.
 
96
 The remains of a military base at the center of genetic and chemical testing before the fall is located in the wastes. 
 
97
 A factory explosion in the city has caused massive fires in some of the surrounding buildings, filling the city with smoke as firefighters wrestle to keep the flames from spreading through the city.
 
98
 Hackers have broken through security in mega-corporations across the city, disabling security systems. 
 
99
 A nearby city has gone dark. All communication from the city has ceased and preliminary observations suggest that there is no sign of habitation within the city.
 
100
 A riot at the local prison has led to a number of high profile criminals escaping. 
 



CHARACTER AND NPC OPTIONS
The following tables provide you with a few options for randomly determining information about your own character or an NPC that comes up during the game. 
Pronouns
Roll 1d100
 Pronouns
 
1-42
 He/Him
 
43-84
 She/Her
 
85-100
 They/Them
 


Social Class
Roll 1d100
 Social Class
 
1-20
 Murkblood
 
21-60
 Lowborn
 
61-80
 Riser
 
81-100
 Highborn
 




Personality Traits
Roll 1d100
 Trait
 Roll 1d100
 Trait
 
1-2
 Anxious
 51-52
 Snobbish
 
3-4
 Detached
 53-54
 Selfish
 
5-6
 Deafening
 55-56
 Amiable
 
7-8
 Emotional
 57-58
 Spiteful
 
9-10
 Excitable
 59-60
 Manipulative
 
11-12
 Fidgety
 61-62
 Determined
 
13-14
 Gruff
 63-64
 Honest
 
15-16
 Impulsive
 65-66
 Deceitful
 
17-18
 Possessive
 67-68
 Skilled
 
19-20
 Bad with money
 69-70
 Klutzy
 
21-22
 Obsessed with detail
 71-72
 Helpful
 
23-24
 Severe social anxiety
 73-74
 Eccentric
 
25-26
 Soft spoken
 75-76
 Flamboyant
 
27-28
 Talkative
 77-78
 Grumpy
 
29-30
 Workaholic
 79-80
 Sickly
 
31-32
 Hot headed
 81-82
 Proper
 
33-34
 Unemotional
 83-84
 Passionate
 
35-36
 Calm
 85-86
 Sociable
 
37-38
 Caring
 87-88
 Tranquil
 
39-40
 Wise
 89-90
 Crude
 
41-42
 Generous
 91-92
 Treacherous
 
43-44
 Cheery
 93-94
 Outspoken
 
45-46
 Calculating
 95-96
 Meek
 
47-48
 Stingy
 97-98
 Tactful
 
49-50
 Reclusive
 99-100
 Charismatic
 



JOBS
The following tables provide you with some examples or themes for jobs that could be offered to you when you use the Take a Job action.
Roll 1d100
 Job
 
1-4
 Deliver a message
 
5-8
 Transport a package
 
9-12
 Deliver dangerous goods
 
13-16
 Retrieve something that was lost or stolen
 
17-20
 Locate someone who is missing
 
21-24
 Locate someone who did something wrong
 
25-28
 Locate rare goods
 
29-32
 Locate illegal goods
 
33-36
 Assist with an event happening in the City (newsfeed event 1)
 
37-40
 Assist with an event happening in the City (newsfeed event 2)
 
41-44
 Assist with an event happening in the City (newsfeed ongoing story)
 
45-48
 Investigate a disturbance
 
49-52
 Frame someone for something
 
53-56
 Acquire information to blackmail someone
 
57-60
 Blackmail someone
 
61-64
 Plant an object or piece of information
 
65-68
 Spy on someone
 
69-72
 Steal an object
 
73-76
 Steal data or information
 
77-80
 Sabotage a structure (building, bridge, etc.)
 
81-84
 Sabotage a piece of equipment
 
85-88
 Start a conflict between two groups
 
89-92
 Discover why someone is frequenting a location
 
93-96
 Intimidate someone
 
97-100
 Kill someone