Introduction

This document is for people who already know Ironsworn.  Fe-Runners takes a lot of moves and other foundational materials from Ironsworn works such as Starforged.  Even if you haven’t played Starforged but are familiar with Ironsworn in general you should probably start with this reference.  If there is something new that you run into that isn’t covered here, you can look it up in the core rulebook for Fe-Runners.

This reference just gives a high level overview of what’s new in Fe-Runners.  For details, see the core Re-Runners rulebook.

Difference In Rules

Most of the rules are the same as in traditional Ironsworn, however there are a few differences.

Supply

Supply is your rig’s power supply.  It powers your equipment.  Some assets or moves will use additional power in order to operate.  In general this has a similar mechanic to the traditional supply moves with one exception, Allies do not share supply.  Each player manages their own supply.

Impacts

Unregulated Power

When you Sacrifice Power and your supply reaches 0, you will mark unregulated power under Impact Misfortunes.  This represents an unstable and fluctuating power supply.

Rig Impacts

Your rig is the equipment you use to be online.  It is your lifeline and damage done online transfers through your rig and affects your health in the real world.  From a game mechanic perspective, a rig is handled in a similar fashion to a ship in ironsworn.  However it has two unique impacts that occur when you Withstand Damage.

• Overheated - Your system is running hot and can barely operate under the heavy load. 
• Infected - You no longer have enough power to keep up your defenses and have become infected.

Truths and Fe

The Truths are unique to the Fe-Runner world and you should refer to the main rulebook for details on those.  Fe is the name of the crypto blockchain that the online world is built on.  It is both the main currency as well as what the network uses as its backbone.  Fe is the “iron” that your character will swear their online vows to.

Nodes

Nodes are systems on the Net.  These are kind of like sites or settlements in Ironsworn.

Sentient AI

There is an optional mechanic.  This mechanic is inspired from Soundered Isles curse die, however it does not modify oracles in the same way as the curse dice did.  Instead you can roll an additional d10 when making an Explore the System, Enter the Fray and Secure an advantage move.  This dice represents a rogue sentient AI that roams the network and appears on random occasions to introduce an extra level of random or chaos.  The AI will often temporarily change something in either a positive or negative way for you.  There are different types of AIs and if this mechanic interests you, you should see the Sentient AI section in the core rulebook.

The World

Artifacts

Artifacts are unique programs that reside online.  These are often viruses, hacker tools, or some other piece of software that gives enhanced capabilities.  Only certain paths can create certain types of artifacts but everyone has the ability to use an artifact. Artifacts should be considered short lived and only last so long by default.  See the Artifact Moves section for more details.

Network topology

The network is broken up into four segments:  Core, Corporate (CorpNet), Government (GovNet), and the Underground (DarkNet).  Everyone connects into the Core by default.  When you are in a segment you may try to breach any Node (system) within that segment.  You need to Infiltrate a Segment to cross into another segment.

You must Infiltrate a Segment in proper order, for instance, to reach the GovNet, you would first need to infiltrate Corpnet, then you can plot a path to GovNet and attempt to infiltrate that segment.  The deeper you go into the network the more bounces and relays you will need.  See the travel and breach mechanic below for more detail.

Travel and breach mechanic

You always start in the Core Segment.  You may use Gain Entry to any unfriendly node that you wouldn’t normally have access to in the segment you are in.  To travel to other segments you must travel to them in order: Core to CorpNet to GoveNet to DarkNet.  To travel to a segment you must use Map Route to create a series of bounces and relays off of other minor equipment and servers.  Once you reach the next segment you then make the Infiltrate a Segment move.  If you are not at your desired segment, you must continue to Map Route to the next segment and infiltrate that segment. Once you are in the proper segment you may use the Gain Entry to breach that node and start exploring that system.

Mapping Routes

While mapping routes you will be taking over smaller devices along the way to help hide your trail.  On occasion you may find one of these devices interesting or useful.  You can take the extra time to Explore the System of one of these relay nodes with an automatic hit on Gain Entry. See Relay Nodes and Waypoints in the core rulebook.

You may also map a route in a segment you are already in before gaining entry to the target node.  This can be helpful if you want to explore a bit more or you would like some extra relays between you and your target.  Having additional relays can help when you are being traced (See below)

Once you have gained entry to a system you will then begin to Explore the System.  There are new oracles that let you envision the areas of the system and you will use a progress track to explore.  Exploring a system is similar to the Delve mechanic in Ironsworn: Delve.

Disconnecting

One major difference with travel and exploring a system is when you disconnect.  You can either voluntarily disconnect or be forced to disconnect.  Being forced to disconnect is usually very bad and will involve suffer moves.  If you voluntarily disconnect you often can maintain your mapped route of relay nodes.  However, when you are forced to disconnect or disconnect after being found, you will lose all previous mapped routes.

Being Traced

Often someone or something may start a trace on you.  A trace will kick off a countdown clock.  You will want to disconnect before the trace completes.  For details see You are being Traced in the core rulebook.

New Oracles

There are a lot of new oracles for Fe-Runners and this reference will not include them but will list them out by title so you are aware.  These are not all the oracles in the book but the ones that are key differences from other Ironsworn oracles.

• Revealing new nodes
  • Node discovery
    • Segment
    • Core Segment Node Type
    • Corporate Segment Node Type
    • Government Segment Node Type
    • Underground Segment Node Type
    • Miscellaneous Node
    • Node popularity
    • Node encounter
    • System area
• Malicious Entity Oracles
  • Scale
  • Basic Form
  • Malicious Entity First Look
  • Encountered Behavior
  • Revealed Entity Aspect
• Social Oracles
  • Hub Oracle
  • Hanging out oracle
  • Location name template
  • Fe-Runner Handles
  • Trademark Avatar Characteristic
  • Character Role
• Segment Oracles - Feature / Peril / Opportunity
  • Core Segment
  • Corporate Segment
  • Government Segment
  • Underground Segment
• Node Types - Area / Feature / Peril / Opportunity
  • Social / Communications
  • Commerce
  • Gaming
  • Entertainment
  • Education
  • News & Media
  • Science and Research
  • Manufacturing
  • Legal
  • Hospitality
  • Advertising and Marketing
  • Security
  • Law Enforcement
  • Military
  • Healthcare
  • Infrastructure
  • Social Services
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Programming
  • Criminal Activity
  • Political / Radical Groups
• Faction Oracles
  • Corporate Faction
  • Political Faction
  • Underground Guild
  • Corporation Name
  • Political Group Name
  • Underground Guild Name
• Artifacts
  • Artifact Types
  • Artifact Ability
• Sentient AI Oracle
  • AI Persona
  • AI Positive Explorative Outcome
  • AI Negative Explorative Outcome
  • AI Positive Combat Outcome
  • AI Negative Combat Outcome
• Rig Oracles
  • Random Rigs
  • Rig Damage

New Moves

Most of the moves are the ones you are likely already familiar with from Ironsworn: Starforged.  Here are some of the newer moves or altered moves used in Fe-Runners

• Combat Moves
  • Automate Attack (Similar to Battle)
• Exploration Moves
  • Infiltrate a Segment
  • Map Route
  • Gain Entry
  • Explore the System
  • Disconnect
• Artifact Moves
  • Develop an Artifact
  • Utilize an Artifact
  • Reverse Engineer an Artifact
• Suffer Moves
  • Sacrifice Power (Sacrifice Resources)
• Recover Moves
  • Recharge (Resupply)