Characters interact with The Grid through a variety of interfaces, ranging from ordinary augmented reality to full neural immersion.
Most people rely on a Personal Access Device (PAD) and augmented reality for everyday use. Virtual reality provides immersive access to specific services and environments, while GridRunners and other specialists may use Deep Interface to interact with network structures at much greater speed and precision.
The interface used does not change the underlying architecture of the Grid. It changes how information is presented to the user and, in some cases, what actions they can perform.
PADs
A Personal Access Device (PAD) is the standard interface used to connect to The Grid.
A PAD typically handles a character’s communications, identity, payments, credentials, augmented reality, personal data, and access to connected equipment. It also acts as the central interface for most personal networks.
PADs come in many forms, including handheld devices, wrist units, badges, pendants, and implanted systems. Their physical form does not significantly change how they function in the rules.
Most characters are assumed to own and carry a PAD unless their circumstances say otherwise.
A PAD may connect to weapons, augmentations, sensors, vehicles, and other personal equipment. When it does, those devices normally form part of the character’s personal network and are treated as a single hacking target.
Augmented Reality
Augmented Reality (AR) is the standard way most people interact with The Grid.
AR overlays digital information onto the physical world through lenses, glasses, implants, PAD displays, or other compatible interfaces. It is used for navigation, communication, device controls, service access, advertisements, work instructions, permissions, warnings, and other everyday functions.
AR does not place the user inside a virtual environment. The character remains fully aware of and able to act in the physical world while using it.
Most ordinary Grid interactions are assumed to occur through AR unless another interface is specified.
Virtual Reality
Virtual Reality (VR) is a fully immersive interface that projects the user’s consciousness into The Grid and replaces their physical senses with a simulated sensory environment.
When entering VR, a user is initially projected into their personal VR Hub. A Hub is a private interface environment used to organize services, contacts, applications, and destinations. It can be customized into virtually any form, from a familiar room or landscape to a gothic cathedral, spacecraft, abstract structure, or featureless void.
From their Hub, users navigate menus, links, and other interfaces to access VR-enabled Hosts. Each Host determines the environment and sensations it provides.
VR can reproduce sight, sound, touch, taste, smell, balance, motion, temperature, pain, and other sensations where supported by the Host. A virtual meal can have texture and flavor without providing nourishment, while entertainment services can reproduce physical experiences that would be impossible or impractical outside VR.
VR can also relay the sensory experience of another person or device when an appropriate interface is available. A user connected to an augmented racing driver, for example, could experience the race from the driver’s perspective and receive a simulation of the sensations the driver is experiencing.
Commercial VR normally employs sensory limiters that prevent simulated sensations from reaching their full physical intensity. The experience can approach reality closely, but ordinary systems deliberately restrict dangerous levels of pain, disorientation, acceleration, and other potentially harmful stimuli.
VR is not a continuous virtual world or a representation of the physical architecture of the Grid. Moving between VR Hosts means connecting to different hosted services, not travelling through a shared digital landscape.
Accessing a Host through VR also does not bypass the underlying network route used to reach it. Shard distance and other connection restrictions still apply normally.
Deep Interface
Deep Interface is the administrative and technical VR layer through which the underlying systems of The Grid can be directly observed and manipulated.
Where ordinary VR presents information and services to users, Deep Interface exposes the infrastructure beneath them: connections, routing, permissions, security systems, data flows, active processes, and other technical structures. It is the plumbing inside the walls rather than the finished room.
Deep Interface translates this complexity into a representation that an operator can understand and manipulate at high speed. Routing paths might appear as roads, currents, tunnels, or branching structures. Firewalls and defensive Scripts may appear as walls, creatures, machinery, or other obstacles. The exact presentation depends on the operator, their hardware, their software, and the systems being accessed.
Deep Interface is not a literal geography of the Grid. Its visual structures represent underlying systems and relationships rather than physical locations. Moving through a representation does not bypass Shards, shorten network distance, or change the actual route between the operator and a target.
Accessing Deep Interface places significant strain on the nervous system. A Deck provides a GridRunner with the processing power and neural interface needed to enter it. A Cold Cradle regulates the physical cost of any Dive.
Decks and Cold Cradles
A Deck is specialized GridRunner hardware used to access Deep Interface and perform advanced operations on The Grid. It provides the processing power, memory, security systems, and neural interface required for serious hacking.
Most Decks are portable enough to be used in the field. Entering Deep Interface through a Deck without additional protective equipment is called a Hot Dive.
A Cold Cradle is a separate full-immersion support system designed to make Diving safer. It regulates neural load, monitors the operator’s condition, provides cooling and body support, and helps absorb dangerous feedback.
A Cold Cradle does not normally replace a Deck. A GridRunner connects their Deck to the Cradle and uses both together. Some high-end models combine a Deck and Cold Cradle into a single integrated unit.
Technopaths do not use Decks. They enter Deep Interface through their innate connection to the Grid, though they may use a Cold Cradle for cooling, body support, neural monitoring, and protection from feedback. A Cold Cradle does not create, carry, or replace a Technopath’s connection.
Technopaths do not run Scripts. They weave Patterns: innate Grid manifestations that can produce effects ordinary users would need specialized software to achieve. A Pattern is not a program and is not an ordinary spell.
Entering Deep Interface while supported by a Cold Cradle is called a Cold Dive. Cold Diving provides the same access and speed as a Hot Dive, but reduces the physical consequences of neural feedback.
Hardlines
A Hardline is a direct physical connection between a Deck and a device, Host access point, or other network infrastructure.
Hardline access bypasses the need to reach the target through intervening Shards and provides a more stable, direct route for intrusion.
A Hardline does not bypass the target’s Firewall, grant Keys, or otherwise provide automatic authority. The GridRunner must still overcome the target’s security normally.
Hardlines are especially useful against isolated systems, heavily segmented Hosts, or targets that cannot be reached wirelessly.
A GridRunner may enter Deep Interface while connected through a Hardline. This is still a Hot Dive or Cold Dive depending on whether a Cold Cradle is being used. Hardline describes the connection method, not a separate type of Dive.
Using a Hardline physically ties the GridRunner to the point of entry until the connection is broken.
Snapback
Snapback, formally known as Neural Rebound, occurs when an interface user is suddenly or forcibly disconnected from Deep Interface before their nervous system can safely transition back to normal sensory input.
This can happen when a connection is severed, a Deck loses power, a Hardline is physically disconnected, or a hostile system forcibly ejects the user from Deep Interface. Leaving Deep Interface normally does not cause Snapback.
The consequences depend on the type of Dive:
- An interface user suffering Snapback during a Cold Dive gains 1 Fatigue.
- An interface user suffering Snapback during a Hot Dive suffers 3 Damage.
If Hot Dive Snapback causes a Critical Wound, resolve it using the Snapback Critical Injuries table instead of a Hit Location table.
A Cold Cradle regulates the transition back to normal sensory input, greatly reducing the physical consequences of forced disconnection.