Whenever the Runner makes a successful run on this server, play a Psi Game. (Players secretly bid 0–2[credit]. Then each player reveals and spends their bid.) If the bids differ, the Runner cannot access cards other than this upgrade for the remainder of that run. If the bids match, the Runner cannot access this upgrade for the remainder of that run.
When your turn ends, you may move this upgrade to the root of another server.
| Startup Card Pool |
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| Standard Card Pool |
| Standard Ban List (show history) |
| Printings |
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| The Automata Initiative |
If the Runner is prevented from spending credits, for example from the subroutine on RSVP, what bid can the runner make during Adrian Seis’s Psi Game?
The runner can only choose to bid 0 credits.
Sometimes we write flavour text for a card before we know if there will be space for it or not. This is one such card, so here I present the flavour text for posterity:
Itʼs not that he can predict the future, itʼs just that heʼs seen it all before.
Adrian Seis keywords the Psi Game!
Templatings:
You and the Runner secretly spend 0[$], 1[$], or 2[$]. Reveal spent credits. If you and the Runner spent a different number of credits, …; otherwise, …. (cf. Mganga)
Play a Psi Game. (Players secretly bid 0–2[$]. Then each player reveals and spends their bid.) If the bids differ, …. If the bids match, ….
The new templating is more readable, much more skimmable, and even has the same length as the old templating (similar word/character counts), counting the reminder text (as @Saracenar said on Stimhack).
Design: I like that, for the Runner, a psigame “loss” (ie. differing bids) is mostly-but-not-strictly worse than a psigame “win” (ie. matching bids), since that's when--and only when--they can trash him. Psi-Sysops (aka. PsyOps?) add a different, bidding-based variance to the intrinsic, shuffle-based variance of HQ/R&D breaches (and for the Runner, to the ignorance-based variance in remote/archival breaches).
I also like Jinteki mobility (on self-move-ing defensive upgrades like this, self-swap-ping gearcheck ice like Tatu-Bola, and so on), which is like Jinteki trickery that's “softened” (with some “encounter opt-out” or “access opt-out”). For example:
Midori: You may swap that ice with 1 piece of ice from HQ. (the legerdemain) + The Runner may jack out. (the softener).
Toshiyuki Sakai: You may swap this asset with an agenda or asset from HQ. (the prestidigitation) + The Runner can choose not to access the new card. (the loosener).
Compare:
In fact, the Liberation Cycle may have a whole cycle of “nomadic sysop’s” (ie. with When your turn ends, you may move this upgrade to the root of another server.):
