In “Games from the Crypt”, we’ve covered several board games that have turned out to be timeless, perennial classics and a couple of them have even been re-released for a new generation to enjoy. Sadly, the subject of this crypt-crawl isn’t likely to ever see print again and it is undoubtedly one of the most dated games I can think of in terms of its visual presentation as well as its social context. The game is NETRUNNER, Richard Garfield’s follow-up to his smash success MAGIC: THE GATHERING and according to many hobbyists it is the superior game.

Although MAGIC went on to bring thousands (millions?) of people into gaming and has remained influential and commercially viable for over fifteen years, NETRUNNER was barely a blip on the radar when it was released in 1996. Despite some hype generated by magazines such as SCRYE and INQUEST it didn’t sell up to expectations and it seemed to be little more than a footnote in the history of collectible card games. The game definitely deserved a better fate, because it is a great one and it’s still worth “jacking into” today; I’d argue that it is the best non-MAGIC CCG ever published.

With its crude, mid-90s computer-generated artwork and its technological concepts hearkening back to the cyberpunk fiction of the early 1980s, NETRUNNER is almost hilariously quaint in today’s day and age. It’s easy to forget that a lot of the technology we have today was science fiction ten and twenty years ago and NETRUNNER positively wallows in that past-tense future. Based around the world and concepts of the CYBERPUNK 2020 pen-and-paper RPG, the game pits a lone hacker (called a “Runner” in the game’s parlance) against a massive, sinister corporation that is trying to advance certain agendas to increase profit and power.

The game’s hook, and the really innovative piece, is that it is completely asymmetrical. The Runner and the Corp players essentially play completely different games but there are key points of linkage between mechanics that generate conflict and a compelling sense of conceptual theme. The Runner has to contend with limited resources and a sense of being up against the wall the whole game due to the clandestine and illegal nature of their activities, while the Corporation can leverage its tremendous resources to obfuscate their goals, block intrusion, and shut the Runner down. The winner is either the Runner who “liberates” seven points worth of agendas or the Corporation that promotes a like number of them. Running out of cards will lose you the game, so there’s also a time pressure involved in getting either of these jobs done.

The Corporation player has a number of “Data Forts” representing different areas of The Net where it can play cards. The Corporation player’s deck, hand, and discard pile are also considered Data Forts. Into the central Data Forts the player will place face-down cards that might represent a certain corporate initiative or action or they could be agendas. The idea is that “bits” (the game’s currency) are put on these face down cards and when they have as many bits on them as their cost, they’re “rezzed” and become active. The Corporation player protects the Data Forts by installing various type of Ice and anti-intrusion countermeasures that can harm a Runner, end their run, or destroy their equipment. The Corporation player gets to play a very interesting bluffing game as Ice is only revealed when the Runner makes a run on a particular Data Fort, which may or may not contain a valuable agenda. The Corporation also has to protect its hand and other resources from intrusion so it is effectively a defensive game.

The Runner, on the other hand, effectively lays siege to the Corporation throughout the game. Using an entirely different deck, the Runner has access to equipment, contacts, software, and other hacker resources that can be used to circumvent, disable, or destroy the Corporation’s defenses. The Runner’s game is one of probing, reconnoitering, and exploiting detected weaknesses. It is crucial for the Runner to have the right pieces of anti-Ice software running at the right time in order to break subroutines and get into the Data Forts, and the game really kind of captures the concept of the Runner accumulating knowledge and using it to disrupt the Corporation’s affairs. Runners are much more vulnerable too- in addition to “meat damage” and “net damage”, they can also be tagged by certain Ice subroutines and many powerful Corporation cards have particularly potent effects against tagged Runners.

With two different styles of game coming together effectively under one roof, playing NETRUNNER is still intensely compelling after all these years, even long after we realized that “The Net” was more about tweeting what you had for breakfast and pornography than any of the sci-fi goings-on that happened in THE LAWNMOWER MAN or JOHNNY MNEMONIC. We’re still not plugging into the internet through some kind of port wired to our brains, but the game’s concept of a lone, rebellious street punk with tech smarts taking on a giant corporation out to control the hearts and minds of free people everywhere is still, at least, resonant. Regardless, it’s really the gameplay that’s the draw. NETRUNNER is still starkly original and unique 13 years after its release. There still isn’t anything else remotely like it, although we’ve seen any number of games with asymmetrical concepts come and go over the years.

So why did such a great game flop? It seems like the problem was that it was released when MAGIC was still riding high on its success and most people weren’t really looking for another CCG, let alone willing to spend money on what would inevitably become another expensive card collection. It didn’t matter that Richard Garfield’s name was attached to it, or that it was the new Wizards of the Coast game- that didn’t work for the BATTLETECH card game either. I also think that the concept was a little goofy even for 1996. I remember seeing it in the store, with its faux-CD image on the cover, and thinking it looked really dumb. I also remember thinking that if it had come out in 1990, when I was really into the whole cyberpunk thing including the RPG, I would have been more interested. But like most of my peers, I don’t think I spent a hobby gaming dollar on anything other than MAGIC in 1996. At least not until SETTLERS came along.

So NETRUNNER turns out to be one of those things where a great idea came out at the wrong time and in the wrong way and even though it’s a “failure” in financial terms I think it’s still a great success no matter what those money-hungry Corporations tell us. The game has maintained a sizeable cult following and if anything its stature has increased over the years. The internet (ironically) has made the game more accessible than ever, not only because of the aftermarket availability of cards but also because of interest groups and tools that have enabled online play. I think it’s actually easier to buy the cards now than it was in ’96, and if you do your shopping it’s also a lot cheaper to get into the game. With only some 500 cards between the initial release and its one expansion, PROTEUS, it’s fairly easy to acquire a good percentage of the cards that were available with a lot purchase or a couple of booster boxes. But one of the things that has helped NETRUNNER remain popular is that it really does play well out of the box- deckbuilding does open up a lot of potential strategies and combinations but if you can track down a single two-deck starter pack then you’re going to have a fairly complete, enjoyable game that will probably make you want more.

And that means repeated trips to eBay, more than likely. I can’t imagine that NETRUNNER will ever be reprinted in any capacity so this isn’t one of those situations where I think that maybe if I write about a game someone will see the article and it will plant the seed of an idea in the mind of someone with the wherewithal to republish the game. Years ago, one of the professional MAGIC players was rumored to be in talks with WotC to buy the rights to the game but nothing ever came out of it. Now, with WotC and its properties owned by Hasbro, I just can’t see any of those Corporation types seeing any profit in releasing a game that is so very 1990s and so maverick in its design. It’s really a shame, because it is one of the best hobby game designs ever published regardless of its context or retail performance.

But it’s still out there, if you know where to look and have a little patience in tracking it down. A lot of people still love it, and play it regularly. NETRUNNER is dead, long live NETRUNNER.

Questions or comments for Michael? Send them along to gameshark.feedback@yahoo.com .

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