Netrunner is a two-player asymmetric card game set in a dystopian future where four megacorporations control almost every aspect of daily life. Legendary hackers known as “runners” aim to fight the corps’ influence by hacking into their servers and preventing them from advancing their sinister agendas.
In Netrunner, one player takes the role of the Corp, whose tools include corporate assets and defensive programs called “ice”. Using tools like these and the element of surprise, the Corp aims to advance their agendas to completion. Across the table, the Runner‘s objective is to infiltrate the Corp’s servers and steal their agendas, and they’ll draw on their resources, specialty hardware, and programs to do so. Of course, the Runner is no threat if they’re dead, so a canny Corp may also attempt to “flatline” their opponent through damage—while the Runner’s secondary path to victory is stalling the Corp long enough that they run out of opportunities.
Netrunner is a game designed for customization. Players can pick from dozens of Runner and Corp identity cards, each with their own unique abilities, and build custom decks around them. A unique “influence” system allows players to import a small number of cards into their deck from different factions, with the more distinctive cards typically costing more of that scarce deckbuilding resource. A meticulous Criminal might adopt an Anarch’s destructive tools, but they can’t take them all—they must carefully select what’s most important to their strategy!
Can the Runner see through the Corp’s bluffs and emerge victorious from their netspace siege, or will the Corp tighten their grip upon the world? Find out by playing Netrunner.
Getting Started:
System Gateway
System Gateway is Null Signal’s foundational set. It is designed as an out-of-the-box learning experience and provides everything you need to start playing Netrunner. The cards in the set are straightforward, yet powerful, and will form the cornerstone of any player’s collection.
One copy of System Gateway – Remastered Edition is all two people need to learn Netrunner.
System Update
System Update 2021 – Remastered Edition is a set of over 80 classic Netrunner cards, reprinted with updated Null Signal Games rules and templating and brand-new original illustrations. It is designed as the perfect follow-up purchase for anyone who wants to dive deeper into the game after experiencing System Gateway.
Expansions:
The Automata Initiative
The Automata Initiative is the first set of the Liberation Cycle, which is set in Brazil. As the population is in uproar over proposed legislation to remove rights of personhood from bioroids comes before the National Congress, a broad coalition of Runners struggle to expose the involvement of the Corps.
The Automata Initiative contains 65 brand-new cards, including four identities, and introduces the brand new Threat mechanic to Netrunner.
Parhelion
Parhelion is the second set of the Borealis Cycle, which began with Midnight Sun. The hackers, thieves, and eco-terrorists of the Arctic have wounded the corporations; in return, the corporations lash out, hunting down the perpetrators.
Parhelion contains 63 brand-new cards, including four new identities, and expands on the mechanical ideas introduced in Midnight Sun.
Midnight Sun
Midnight Sun is the first set of the Borealis Cycle, set in the frigid Arctic Circle. The corps plunge through thawing permafrost and thinning ice sheets in search of their next plunder, and runners have to turn to new tricks to stop them.
Midnight Sun contains 65 brand-new cards, including five new identities, and marks a bold new direction in Null Signal Games’s design philosophy.