Over the years, I have allowed a few PCs in my own campaigns to have neural jacks.  I found these optional rules to be a very useful balancing mechanism; the PCs soon learned that "n-jacks" were, at best, a mixed blessing.  My thanks to Matthew for granting permission for me to host his revised article on my web site. - Kevin Clark - Jul 4th, 2000.

INTRODUCTION

The Earth/Cybertech Sourcebook covers the subject of neural jacks.  The following article adds some optional rules and equipment for use in your 2300 AD campaign.

The capability of the human brain to process data is vast, but it can still be fatigued and overloaded.  Continual use of a neural jack can result in mild to serious side effects.  After twelve hours of constant use, a character should make the following task roll:

Task: To avoid overload.  Difficult.  Determination.  Instant.

If successful, the character may continue his activities unhampered.  Otherwise, he begins to suffer from severe headaches.  All tasks attempted after this point will be at one difficulty level higher than normal, due to lack of concentration.  If the character unjacks, recovery will require 1d6 hours of rest.

If the character remains jacked-in, another task roll will be will be required after 12 more hours ( at the 24-hour mark), at the Formidable level.  If this second roll is successful, the character will receive one light wound, and all subsequent tasks are performed at two difficulty levels higher than normal.  If unsuccessful, the character will become unconscious and suffer one serious wound.  At this point, he must receive medical attention promptly to avoid permanent damage.

Task: To avoid permanent neural damage.  Difficult.  Medical and Automed.  1 hour.
Requires a surgeon and hospital, or a medical technician and automed.

If the task is unsuccessful, the character suffers a 1d6 loss from Intelligence and Education.  If successful, the character recovers normally with no permanent damage.

Characters who rely on chipped modifiers to enhance their skills or attributes can become psychologically dependent on them.  A character who regularly uses a chipped enhancement can roll a task to avoid these addictive effects.  This roll is made at the referee's discretion, depending on the amount of usage.

Task: To avoid addiction.  Routine.  Determination.  Instant.

If unsuccessful, the character will be unwilling to do anything without having something chipped in.  Every month afterward, the character may attempt to break the addiction, which is a task.

Task: To break addiction.  Difficult.  Determination.  1 day.

If the task is unsuccessful, the character may try again in one month, and every month after that, but the difficulty level is now Formidable.  At this point, the character becomes paranoid, or even catatonic, if forced to act without being jacked into something.  Once a character successfully breaks the addiction, this will no longer be a problem.
 

NEURAL JACK ATTACHMENTS

Jack Expander: While it is true that a character may only have one neural jack, its capabilities may be expanded by the use of this adapter.  The adapter plugs into a character's neural jack and provides three parallel ports for input.  Therefore, the character can access three separate sources simultaneously ( e.g. one computer and two chipped skills).  This unit is bulky and cannot be hidden by a character's hair, unless it is very long.  The added input fatigues the brain faster than normal.  Task rolls to avoid cerebral overload are made every 4 hours instead of every 12 hours.  Price: Lv500 Wt: 10 grams.

Sleep Inducer: This chip is designed to put the user into a deep, alpha-state sleep, then wake him up after a predetermined amount of time.  The chip is generally sold in standard time increments of two, four, six, and eight hours.  A character who is using this chip may be hard to rouse from sleep.  Also, a character who regularly uses a sleep inducer may find it hard to sleep without one.  Price: Lv50 Wt: N/A
 

BLACK MARKET CHIPS

Black market chips lack the flashy packaging that a commercial chip needs to induce the consumer to buy.  These chips are very plain looking, and carry little or no identification.

Characters should be careful when using black market chips, as the production standards are unreliable, and use of the chip can cause severe injury.  On a 1d100 roll of 99-100, a black market chip is defective.  When the character inserts a defective chip for the first time, he will suffer one serious wound and will fall unconscious.  The task roll to avoid permanent neural damage must be made to determine the outcome of the situation.

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