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Digital Web 2.0 (Approved System)

It is best to actually take the time to read and familiarize yourself with the Digital Web 2.0 before running Digital Web scenes as part of the Camarilla sanctioned chronicle.

Entering the Web

Characters may access the Digital Web in several ways.  The easiest is sensory access, which can be accomplished with initiate Correspondence or even with mundane Virtual Reality gear.  The other options include holistic immersion and mental projection.  Each method is addressed here.

Sensory access through VR gear has become more common recently.  The Technocracy has introduced a product known as RealiTV that is now being test marketed in the South East and East Central regions of the US.  This decision to push the timetable forward has led to an influx of Sleeper activity in the Digital Web.  Some of the devices have found their way to other areas, and clever hackers with the right tools can bypass the security limiting the device to RealiTV broadcasts opening up access to other sectors on the web.  Even mundanely available VR gear is functioning more reliably than ever before.  Anyone on the web without using magic is considered to have the negative traits Oblivious and Shortsighted.

For mages, the use of Correspondence is important for access to the Web.  A mage using mundane VR techniques can perceive the web sectors they visit, but cannot use magic in the web, and they are vulnerable to Correspondence effects that detect their physical location.  If a mage is using initiate Correspondence to perceive the Web then they are immediately aware of attempts to trace their connection, giving them the option of jacking out to avoid such a trace.  Disciples of Correspondence can even use magic to affect the web sectors they perceive, although such effects are conjunctional and thus more difficult.

Holistic immersion can also be achieved in more than one way.  By far the most common holistic method used by Virtual Adepts is the digital encoding of the life pattern.  This requires a trinary computer to handle the amount of data involved.  The VA performs a Disciple Life, Initiate Forces, Initiate Prime effect to digitize and encode their pattern onto the Web.  Adept Life is required to affect others and the difficulty and nature of the rote is such that it will only work on a voluntary participant.

Alternatively some members of the Ghost Wheel Society have been known to achieve holistic immersion through the use of Disciple Spirit.  This method allows the mage to slip into the virtual world where it touches the boundary of the Umbra, and forms a momentary bridge to the virtual realm as they cross the Gauntlet.  This method, unfortunately, subjects the mage to the Avatar Storm.

The final method used to enter the web is mental projection. Adept Mind can be used to transfer the consciousness into the web in a limited form of astral projection that only allows access to the virtual realm.  The only added limitation to this form of projection is that it maintains a connection between the body and mind that can be traced with Correspondence.  Masters of Mind overcome this limitation, literally separating the mind from the body to travel in the virtual realm.

All web spinners can be categorized by the means they use to enter the Digital Web.  We refer to these types of immersion as telepresence, holistic presence, or mental presence.  Each has different limitations and advantages that we will discuss with respect to the how they interact with the virtual world.

Icons

Once you are on the Digital Web, it is time to consider how you represent yourself.  If you are using telepresence your computer produces a default icon.  This may look like a mannequin, a crash test dummy or some bland John or Jane Doe.  Holistic presence merely duplicates your normal appearance on the Digital Web, so this requires some tricks with overlays and icon masks to change your appearance.  Translucent icons are the norm for a mental presence on the web, usually an ideal version of the self. Your mental image, if you prefer changing this appearance, requires the use of your skills with Mind.

Generic icons with a specific appearance can be created using Computers or Crafts: Graphic Design and a static mental challenge difficulty 8.  Such an icon doesn't permit the use of Intimidating or any of the appearance related traits.  If you want to improve an icon increase the difficulty by the number of Intimidating and appearance-related traits you want to make it capable of displaying, note that these traits cannot exceed those possessed by the character it represents.  It takes about five minutes of programming to create or alter an icon.  A facial alteration or overlay (mask) takes only a minute or so and requires a static mental test Difficulty 7.

Icons can be stored for use on future visits to the Digital Web, so you don't have to create them from scratch each time.  Just remember if somebody rips a copy of your icon they may get you in a lot of trouble.

Travel

Travel in the Digital Web uses either conduits, which are the links between sectors, or sector addresses.  If you have a sector's address, typically if you've visited it before, then you can pop to that sector using Disciple Correspondence.  If you don't have the address or the sector is Restricted, then you will probably have to follow the conduits.

Popping lets you move between sectors' without using a conduit.  First you scan the target sector with Initiate Correspondence.  This will let you know who is there and whether the sector is up.  Assuming there is no reason to avoid the sector you can use Disciple Correspondence to pop there.  Adept Correspondence is required in order to transport a group, any number of subjects as long as they are in a single sector.

Conduits are the roads or paths between sectors.  Each conduit links two sectors together, and new conduits and sectors are being formed or discovered all the time.  Some conduits have security that may need to be bypassed in order to traverse them.

Geography

Sectors don't map to geographical locations.  Instead they have logical connections that create a network of sectors linked by conduits.  Sectors can be associated with people, companies, ideas, places or even objects.  The links between sectors often follow logical connection patterns or sometimes no pattern at all.  Traveling the web can involve a lot of difficult learning experiences.  There are many different types of sectors, and all manner of defenses on both the sectors and the conduits.

Inhabitants

The programs and creatures inhabiting the Digital Web come in all shapes and sizes, especially since those attributes are just part of the icon specification.  Most of the things that appear to be creatures are actually simple programs.  These have a severely limited intelligence and interactive programming.  Others are more versatile.  Many daemons are actually spirits.  AI's and other more powerful inhabitants should be created using the spirit creation rules.

Types of Sectors

Restricted sectors have internal security measures.  The purpose and nature of the sectors may vary, as do the security precautions in place.  Popping into or out of a restricted sector is always considered vulgar with witnesses.

Corrupted sectors are somehow dysfunctional; things don't work like they are supposed to. Like restricted sectors the nature of these sectors varies.  The usual rotes and programs may not have the expected effect and getting out of the sector may be difficult.

Junkland sectors are a mess of distorted images, resonance and program fragments. Being stuck in a junkland can literally drive you insane. These sectors are very chaotic and unpredictable. Programmers have an acronym, GIGO, which stands for Garbage In, Garbage Out. Creating or running programs or performing magic in a Junkland sector requires the Concentration merit or the expenditure of a Willpower trait.

Constraint Realms have special rules.  If you want to enter a Constraint Realm then you have to follow the rules while you are there.  If the rules say that all icons must appear as a form of bird, then you can't get in unless your icon is a bird.  Some sectors may assign generic icons or simply automatically apply their rules to you upon entry.

Haunts are creepy sectors.  They sometimes seem to represent systems or places that no longer exist.  Most of them reek of Jhor, and some have ghosts.  All of them give you that graveyard on a cloudy night kind of feeling.

The Trash Sector is almost a legend, a bit like a universal Junkland.  Supposedly this is where you go when your connection to the real world is severed but your mind gets stuck in the Web.  Rumor has it there is no way out of the Trash Sector, but clearly that can't be right.  If there really were no way out, then no one would know it exists.

Hung sectors are the most dangerous sectors in the Digital Web.  Some of these sectors act like flypaper.  Everything inside the sector is in stasis, pop in and you may be in for a long stay.  Others are looping sectors, after a period of time elapses you find yourself repeating your actions.  This continues until something disrupts the cycle, or ends it with an Adept Time effect.

Warzones are combat sectors.  Many of them are modeled after popular games.  Different warzones have different levels of lethality. Many simply wait a few seconds after your “deathâ€� and then restore your icon to the state it was in when you arrived.  But rumors abound of warzones with different, more permanent rules.

Certain Sectors may give you resonance traits based on your actions or length of time spent (ST Discretion).

Hacking

In the Digital Web a hacker has far more to worry about than his programs and Computer skills.  Those are still useful in many places, but in the representational virtual world many other skills may come into play.  Defenses may be overcome by stealth, bravado or combat.  Security may take the form of puzzles or passwords or simply faking the right icon.  Things that would mean a lot of core dumps and boring coding in the real world take on a more cinematic flair.

Mages connected through telepresence can always fall back on their Computer skills, but mages with a holistic or mental presence must confront these challenges from within the paradigm of the local sector.

Combat

All your normal abilities can be used when you are holistically immersed.  You have your usual Health levels, skills and attributes, and the damage you take is real.  When using telepresence or mental projection you use your mental traits for combat.  Icons, including overlays, have virtual health levels that duplicate the standard chart.  When a mage using mental projection takes damage it costs them Willpower.

Most web spinners that use holistic or mental immersion use icon overlays to avoid taking real damage at the start of a fight.  However, once the overlay reaches mortally wounded the icon is destroyed and they begin to take damage in Health levels or Willpower.  An icon that has not been destroyed can be healed in about a minute by reloading it from storage once the conflict is over.

Icon Death

When the icon of a web spinner using telepresence is destroyed they suffer a backlash.  Their perceptions shift back to their body carrying all the pain of that virtual death.  This usually forces the mind to retreat into unconsciousness.  If this occurs they are considered incapacitated with bashing damage, but all recovery times are reduced to one hour.  The other option is to spend Willpower to prevent their incapacitation, and one to six stamina related traits to prevent the remaining damage.  Each trait spent removes one level of bashing damage.

Some attacks can inflict lethal or aggravated damage to the body, even through a telepresence link.  Only a mage using Master Mind to astrally project into the web is truly safe from such attacks.  Possibilities include chaos dumps, whiteouts, viruses and feedback programs.  The damage usually takes the form of brain hemorrhages and internal bleeding.

A chaos dump is the worst thing that can happen to a web spinner.  These can be caused by severe paradox backlashes, icon death in a restricted sector with killer security, a few specific procedures and rotes, or a massive sector crash.  If you suffer a chaos dump then do a simple test.  If you win or tie you enter a Quiet and may eventually recover, if you fail the test you immediately drop to Mortally Wounded due to brain damage and will die if you don't receive immediate treatment. As such this is extremely rare.

Whiteouts are usually caused by paradox.  Depending on their severity they may result in a hard or soft de-rez, or even a sector crash.  It is possible for other effects to cause a Whiteout.  Paradox is just the most common reason.

A hard de-rez destroys your icon or overlay and knocks you offline if you are in telepresence.  If you are using holistic or astral immersion then you are dumped into the nearest Junkland instead of offline.  You are incapacitated for the next ten minutes and immediately lose two temporary mental traits.

A soft de-rez dumps you into another part of the Digital Web typically an unrestricted, nearby sector.  You are incapacitated for the next ten minutes, but you may immediately spend one trait of Willpower to prevent this effect.

Magic

Magic is coincidental as long as it is based on appropriate foci, primarily the Computer ability, and on the paradigm of the local sector.  Magic that does not follow the local sector's paradigm is considered vulgar.

Correspondence effects are easier to perform in the Digital Web.  If an effect uses Correspondence as its primary sphere, then reduce the difficulty by 2.

Forces and Prime effects are more powerful in the Digital Web.  Add one grade of success to any Forces or Prime effect in the Digital Web to a maximum of 4.

Paradox

The number of Paradox you have acquired when you suffer the Paradox Backlash determines the severity of the Whiteout. A Whiteout causes the same damage as any Paradox Backlash, and has other side effects:

1 :the Mage suffers a soft de-rez
2 :the Mage suffers a hard de-rez
3 :the Mage suffers a hard de-rez, everyone else in the sector suffers a soft de-rez
4 :the Mage and everyone in the sector suffer a hard de-rez
5 :the sector goes offline for the session, everyone in the sector suffers a hard de-rez
6 :the sector hangs, the Mage is trapped for a scene, everyone else in the sector suffers a hard de-rez
7+ :the Mage suffers a chaos dump, everyone else in the sector suffers a hard de-rez
     the sector becomes Corrupt,
10+ :everyone in the sector suffers a chaos dump, the sector becomes a Junkland or Haunt

Paradox in the Digital Web is bad, especially large amounts of Paradox. Most experienced web spinners will spend Willpower to avoid a backlash and attempt to jack out before the scene ends.

Formatting Sectors

Formatting a sector requires either virgin web, which is very difficult to find, or the skill to overwrite the existing sector format.  The difficulty of doing so may vary depending on how, and by whom, it was originally formatted.  A Sector Format Override requires Master Entropy, Adept Mind, Adept Forces, and Adept Prime, but it will re-format any sector.

Formatting a sector properly requires the Mage to have Computer x4 or Technology x4.  If the Mage does not have either of these abilities, then the sector will be Corrupt.  In order to format a sector, a Mage must spend a permanent Willpower point and then attempt an Arete challenge against a difficulty based on the chart on p.110 of Digital Web 2.0, allowing a single Computer retest.  If the Mage succeed, then the formatted sector is as they desired.  If the Mage fails the Arete challenge then immediately do a simple test.  If the Mage wins the simple test then the sector is Corrupt but otherwise viable.  On a tie, the sector hangs and traps the Mage for a scene.  On a loss, the sector crashes and the Mage is chaos dumped.

Appenidix: Items and Rotes

Digital Web Rotes

The following rotes are Low Approval, and allow mages to enter the digital web.  Other rotes may be converted from the Digital Web 2.0 as Mid Approval custom rotes.

Telepresence (Initiate Correspondence)

   The mage shifts their perception into the Digital Web.  This requires a computer and VR gear to be coincidental.  The use of magic while immersed through telepresence requires a conjunctional effect using Disciple Correspondence.  The mage maintaining the effect is always aware of attempts to trace any subject's physical location.  One grade of success lasts for a scene or hour.  This effect requires a static mental challenge to establish, the difficulty starts at 6 and increases by two for each additional subject.  Computer ability can be used to retest.  You can affect one additional subject per grade, or use additional grades to extend the duration.

Holistic Immersion (Disciple or Adept Life, Initiate Forces, Initiate Prime) or (Disciple or Adept Spirit)

   The mage digitizes and encodes their Life pattern, entering the Digital Web physically.  Adept Life or Spirit is required to use this rote to affect others, and because of its difficulty it can only affect voluntary subjects.  This effect is always vulgar.  The Life version requires a trinary computer to process and encode the data.  The Spirit version takes the subjects through the Avatar Storm.  Transferring each subject requires a static mental challenge with a difficulty of 6 + the number of quintessence currently in the subject's pattern.  The effect is instantaneous, and must be repeated to pull the subject out of the web.  You can affect one additional subject per grade of success.

Mental Projection (Adept or Master Mind)

   The mage projects their mind into the Digital Web.  Adept Mind permits a limited form of projection that leaves a traceable connection to the Mage's body.  Master Mind duplicates the rote Astral Projection, but with respect to the Digital Web.  This method requires a static mental challenge against 10 traits to attune the mage's mind to the virtual world.  This rote is coincidental if performed with a computer and VR gear.  The effect lasts for a scene or an hour.  Additional grades of success extend the duration

New Digital Web Wonder

RealiTV Rig (2 point Artifact, Initiate Correspondence) (Low Approval)

This device can be used by anyone to enter virtual reality as if using the Telepresence effect.  It comes with one set of gloves and goggles, but up to three additional sets may be added at a cost of 1 point per additional set.  A static challenge is still required to establish the session.  When newly purchased, this device can only connect to RealiTV Broadcast Sectors.  This restriction can be bypassed in about an hour with a static Computer challenge difficulty 10, allowing the device to be connected to any network connection.  The device has a session timer that limits the session to one hour; because of engineering constraints the timer cannot be bypassed without disabling the device.