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Running Silent Toolkit

Overview

Running Silent is a procedural toolkit for referees and solo players running cyberpunk or cyberpunk-fantasy sessions. It emphasizes lightweight generators for contacts, jobs, and emergent complications.

Table Architecture

Category Table Die
Oracles Elements/Keywords/Inspiration d100
Oracles Verbs d100
Contacts Domain (Academic/Engineering/Corporate/Street/Blue Collar/Institutional) d6 → d100
Contacts Metatype d20
Jobs Typical Clients / Unusual Clients d100 each
Jobs Objective (Destroy/Protect/Retrieve/Plant/Examine/Cover Up/Con/Espionage) d6
Jobs Area d100
Jobs Conditions and Extras d20
Jobs Locations d100
Jobs Features and Details d100

Hex Flower Matrix

A 2d6-driven minigame for tracking pacing and escalation across a session or campaign arc:

Navigation rules: - Progress move: on success, roll 2d6, consult the PROGRESS navigation hex, move one space toward completion. - Glitch move: on critical fail or serious setback, roll 2d6, consult a COMPLICATIONS hex.

Regions on the hex matrix: - Quiet Zone: no random complications — runners have breathing room. - CLOCK: time pressure complications — unexpected delays, deadline changes. - SURGE: sudden environmental or social complications; circumstances shift against the runners. - CROSS: interpersonal complications — a chummer gets cold feet, betrayal attempts.

Use the matrix as a session pressure gauge: track where the runners sit on the flower and narrate the region's flavor as ambient tension.

Fast Mission Pipeline

Generate a complete run in under 5 minutes:

  1. Roll d100 on Typical or Unusual Clients — who hired the runners.
  2. Roll d6 on the Objective table — what type of job.
  3. Roll d100 on Locations + d100 on Features and Details — where and what complications exist there.
  4. Roll d20 on Conditions/Extras — any modifiers (no loose ends, quiet job, bonus if early, lower pay, etc.).
  5. Place runners on the Hex Flower Matrix — roll 2d6 to determine starting pressure level.

Combine Oracle tables (d100 Keywords + d100 Verbs) mid-session to improvise twists when the action stalls.

Design Value

Supports prep-light and no-prep mission play. Particularly useful for faction-rich urban campaigns and investigative loops. The hex flower matrix replaces countdown clocks with a spatial pressure metaphor that naturally produces escalating complications without GM preparation.

See Also