IOSHI Players Handbook

8/3/2019 IOSHI Players Handbook

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IOSHIplayers handbook

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1. Welcome to Sparta

welcome to spartaSeven years ago, the government o Malta quietly aded away. One day, its representatives didnt showup at the ofce. The only power thy had let was over their own institution. They became a company like

any other. Malta was the last nation in the world. Since that day seven years ago, theres only one city

let: Sparta.

Sparta stands at the center o world, which is everywhere. Sparta is a culture you reely choose to be part o.

To be a member o Sparta, you click to agree with their terms o service. It includes all places and people that

accept and ollow those terms o service. They dont take your geographical position into account: Sparta is

a country without borders. You place o birth is no longer a burden.

Sparta is the global culture, the yardstick every subculture measures itsel to. Since the ounding o the

Sparta Corporation fty years ago, the terms o service have slowly replaced other orms o international

laws and government rulings. They were obsolete. The TOS have become the dominant ideology.

Those terms take two things or granted: human interaction create intangible economic goods, and every

person should be a rational economic agent. When you ask a Spartan how much they love their mate, they

may not answer, but they should know. A true Spartan wouldnt kill their mother not because its vile or

people dont do that, but because the price is too high compared to the benefts.

Spartans say the world is holistic. You can trade everything, you can learn everything and everything

is connected to everything else. Anything you do has consequences across the globe. Everything is a sign.

Anything means everything else.


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a spartan way o lieSpartans live their lie as rational an economic agent as they might be. That doesnt mean that

theyre not passionate people: emotions have their place in a Spartans lie, just not in their

economic decisions.

work

Workplace is such a place emotions are rowned upon: Spartans view their work as pure

economical trades, their time and expertise or. a tting salary. They have no loyalty or their

boss, who in return expect none rom them. I you want to be sure your research sta doesnt

spill your trade secrets, either make them sign a non-disclosure agreement or pay them well

enough the stick and the carrot. On the other hand, you might do the same job every day

at the same or ten years and without you noticing, you changed employers eighteen times.

Workers are a talent pool or managers, sure, but managers are a sponsor pool or workers too,

so it evens out.

home

Home is where the heart is, so Spartans carry their home everywhere they go. Spartan society

see moving as a way o lie, not a hassle or an adventure. Packing home is easy: you own more

bits than stu and most o your toys are nomad anyways. Social networking through d-space is

painless and un, so you wont be missing anyone. Service is everywhere.

riends

Geography doesnt sort your riends out anymore. Today, you meet people through d-space rst,

and in meatspace second. Virtual agents help you connect with people sharing your interests,

tastes and whatever criteria you choose. Your tribe is worldwide: you can sport the colors o a

gang based in Dublin and while you live in Tokyo, youre no less a member than the gangs

mechanics who lives in Galway.

evaluations

Spartans love evaluations. Aspected experts work with powerul sharpware to determine ones

economic worth in a given context. Spartans rarely deny the results o those evaluation, and

wont get mad at their manager i theyre red or subpar results: ater all, getting rid o them

is the most rational thing to do.

projects

Thats how you get things done: you gather a team, some resources and an operational

objective. Projects are the basic unit o work: even when people manage their blog in their

basement to und their street-level way o lie, theyre working on their own project. Most arestraightorward like providing power and network to a community or building cars. Some are

foating projects, think tanks were project managers brainstorm new ideas to reduce eective

and opportunity costs.


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dataspaceThe dataspace is what internet became. Nowadays youre always on-line, all the time. Pretty

much everything is. D-space is internet superposed to the real world in augmented reality.

Checking a restaurants website is as easy and natural as looking at its menu. When you look atsomeone, you can pop-up their social network prole right beore your eyes. When you want

to listen to some song, you access it in pinch. When you want to talk to somebody, you page

them or call them. All this with a thought.

AROs

Those things you see suspended in digital air are called ARO augmented reality objects.

You dont see every arrow you cross though: you only see those you have access to. Public

AROs everyone gets to see and interact with them. Restricted AROs you need to be on their

access le: or your average wearshop it means registering to the clients list, or your average

military-grade warelab it means having the proper clearance. Most o your toys interaces are

on restricted access, and youre the only one in the access le.

googles

The most common way to access d-space is by wearing googles with two os. They look

like a pair o glasses, but the lenses a screen and a cam, there are speakers and a directional

mike in the branches, and the whole thing contains a brain scanner to pick up thought signals:

you click with your mind. They come in various orms and shapes. Rich and trendy peopleget contact lenses, tiaras and earings that do pretty much the same thing or, i theyre really

commited, get one implanted surgically in their ears, eyes and skull.

online

Youre always online: you may remove your googles or put your implanted system on hold, but

theyre still connected. Being ofine means something wrong happen to you. Staying ofine

means being dead, or you might as well be.

callsignEverybodys got a callsign: its your nickname, your phone number, your mail address all rolled

into one. Teenagers usually go through phase when they try dozens o callsigns a week beore

settling to one that might last orever: its a rite o passage o sorts, when you stick to your

callsign or more than a year. When you want to contact someone, either by text or speech or

even just checking their social networking prole, you ollow their callsigns.

avatar

Callsigns are linked to your avatar: what you look like in d-space. Most times, you accessd-space through augmented reality, so when you look at someone through your google, you see

their avatar superposed on them, like a mask made o bits.


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ID

Your callsign and avatar are linked to your ID: a very long string o data your provider identies

you by. While you can change your callsign or your avatar with some social hassle, you cant

change your ID: even i you change providers, your ormer one will transer your ID to thenew provider.

Someones ID is a big deal. With someones ID, you can pinpoint them i theyre online (that

is, i theyre alive), you can spoo their presence or authority, you can make payments in their

name. Disclosing or tempering with someones ID is something heavily regulated by Spartas

TOS. An ID today is akin to the True Name o hermetic traditions.

sharpware & dumbware

Anything you see has processing power, even your clothes. The division between hardware and

sotware is blurry at best, oten nonexistent. Now people divide their toys between sharpware

and dumbware.

Sharpware is ware that speculates about your intents and desires. You tell your googles to

call that guy rom the other day, you know, with the darkish hair and theyll know who.

Sharpware has its limits it never goes beyond what you ask, even vaguely but besides

them its pretty autonomous. Look at your ridge and think damn, Im out o mayo, and your

household management system already ordered some.

Dumbware is or stu you dont want to talk back: the garage door, the livingroom light

xtures, your watch. They have online presence, o course, so you can access them with a

thought rom mile away, but hey only do exactly as theyre told, in a way they understand.


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individually organized science & hobby indexEvery global cultural change comes hand in hand with new orms o delivering knowledge.

Divine right dictatorships sprung rom the monopole o writing. Republican revolutions were

born with the printing press. Radio and television made the global culture possible. The weballowed to burry corrupt governments and corporations.

The Individually Organized Science & Hobby Index is what made Sparta possible. IOSHI, or

short, or the well i youre casual about it, came when the mystique o the brain died or good.

Once you consider the brain as an organ no more important than the others, and that thought

processes are what the brain does, just like your stomach breaks down ood into energy and matter,

you can fnd how the merry structure o the brain take inputs and translate them into behaviors.

From there, you can extract not only actual knowledge, but whole know-hows. You can

eectively extract your neighbors ability to play piano and store it. Its painless, and your

neighbor still got it, but now you have it in a storage space somewhere. Then you put it back

to someone elses brain.

Its tricky than it sounds: no brain is alike, so you need to map the recipients brain in detail, so

the bits you put in get in the right drawer, so to speak. It takes time, dedication and technique,

and a period o adaptation rom the recipient. Thats why it costs a lot o money.

Thats how education is done today. Either you have a a lot o money, or someone will invest

in you, then you learn a trade in a ew days worth o download and adaptation, and youre

good to go.

submergence training

Now learning to be a tinker, a tailor, a soldier or a spy is something alright, but you know

whats better? Learning to be an Einstein, a Chanel, a Patton or a Mata Hari. When you take

the holistic philosophy o Sparta and mix it with what IOSHI can do, you get an explosive

cocktail: submergence training or, inormally, aspect training.

Submergence training involves spending weeks, not days, connected non-stop to the Well. You

dive into pure knowledge until you drown, then learn to swim, and then emerge with a new

understanding o the world. When the process is over, your way o thinking have taken new,

radical patterns, and those patterns allow you to reach near-superhuman level o achievement.

When you go through aspect training, you become exceptional. Few people can pay or this,

and ewer people go through and put it to use. Unaspected people see aspect-trained people asdemigods, able to do things only heroes o ction can achieve, and in a sense theyre right: with

submergence you can learn everything about someone in a glance, be precise and ast enough to

catch a bullet with your hand, destroy a reputation with a word, or kill someone with a stare.

All that with proessional reliability.


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the implant

Accessing the Well is something else than going online. First you need to get an implant: a

small machine they stuck in your head so that your brain can talk with the IOSHI network

and libraries. Theres a small plug under a fap o fesh where you plug a cable when you needto access the Well a IOSHI library is ar too heavy to be downloaded by through standard

dataspace protocols.

Good thing is: it works as an implanted google too. You dont even need to stuck anything into

your ears and eyes: the implant can talk directly to and through your nerves.

the taintTheres something wrong in the world today, and nobody knows or sure what it is. They call

it datataint. Its something that changes you, and that makes you do things. Its something

you catch in the Well. Or on the Sphere. Maybe it spreads through language. No one knows,

but its wrong.

O course, nobody talks about it. When they do, then they lose credibility, or vanish o-line,

or change their mind and its nothing ater all. Still, people buy and sell and use datalters,

just in case.

spartan economicsNations and old-ashioned corporations believed in credit, which is essentially taking money

rom tomorrow to spend it today. Credit slowly destroyed the old capitalistic model. When

that model crumbled down, nations and big business ollowed it. Sparta is what took its place,

and spartans believe in debit. You either pledge or click your money away.

pledges & clicks

A pledge is what you put in ransoms and auctions. Theres this house you want to buy, so you

open your auction and pledge money on it. You dont spend it yet, you just promise the seller

youll pay i you get it. Or theres this movie being made that you really want to see its in

pre-production, still gathering money: pledge some money on its ransom. I enough people

do so the pledged money meets the budget needed, everybody pays what they pledged: the

money gets turned into movie. Also, the more you pledge, the more you get rewarded or it:

i you pledged a ew nanotabs, you might get a poster or a ree viewing ; i you pledged a ew

microtabs, youll get to download the movies le or repeated viewings; i you pledged a ew

tabs, chances are youll get to be an extra in the movie. To pledge is to promise money orsomething youll get.


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A click is impulsive spending, like you drop change to thank or support someone or something.

Youre listening to some song you got on the sphere, or watching some d-show to chill out, and

you really like it. So with but a thought, you click the author. Theres this account you set up so

you put some money into it and at the end o the month, they divide your amount by the timesyou clicked someone, and each one gets they share. To click is to pay or whats already done.

keeping tabs

All these transactions use tabs. A tab represent between 2.000 and 10.000 modern US dollars

its hard to say, were talking dierent economic models here. Consider a tab to be good

or one month o basic housing, energy, data service and ood. I you want more, you pay

more or it. Microtabs are change, around 10 dollars or so, and thats what you spend when

you click someone. Theres also nanotabs (petty change, like 10 cents) and kilotabs (or big

transactions, worth 1.000 tabs). A single-day session o IOSHI training (enough to download

a whole subroutine) costs around 5 tabs.

invest!

In a debit economy, thesaurisation has really, really bad press. Imagine being a communist

in the 50s US: thats what it eels like to keep too much money on your side. Spartas TOS

threaten institutions that provide saving accounts with high costs o service. You dont save up

anymore these days, when youve got too much money you invest.

altculturesAt rst they were called subcultures but the word became an insult, like niggers and

ags. Today we talk about altcultures, just like we talk about blacks and gays.

Not everybody holds the spartan values are their only ones. In act, ew people do. Most people

subscribe to another, complementary ideology that provides its own support group: a church, a

commune, a company, a circle. Those ideologies are called altcultures, and the support groups

that spring rom them are communities.

Most people are Spartan rst, and altculture members second. A ew people though subscribe

so hard to some alcultures they have hard time interacting with the Spartan society at large.

These are tiered individuals. They preer to spend most o their time in a community tied to

their altculture, where lie is easy or them. Fist tiers usually have spartan jobs but live in the

community. Second tiers provide services and goods rom Sparta to the community. Third

tiers live only or their ideology and the community provides or them in return. Fourth tiers

are the gurus and pundits o the community: they live and breathe and eat by their ideology,and theyre so alien that normal Spartan cant have any meaningul conversation with them.

I should note that some people take the Spartan TOS ar enough that they can be considered

ourth tier even or someone who identies as Spartan rst. Amazing, isnt it?


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giri

Reputation is everything and in Sparta, reputation is based on deeds. When you do things

that please and benet an altculture as a whole, or a community in particular, you insure a lot

o project invites rom their members and a lot o impulsive clicks or whatever you do. Toget rich, get connected. This is giri: relationship at its most abstract or, as a shark once put it,

moral duty as an economical good.

core thesis

Each altculture is build around a core thesis, a central idea that you have to hold true to t in.

Heres the 12 worldwide altcultures a community or an individual can identiy with, each with

their core thesis:

Sparta : people should be rational economic agents at all time

Anthropophobic : being human is too limited

Artistic : i it doesnt make a statement, its not worth doing

Corporate : a missed opportunity is a real price you paid

Criminal : no law should be or all the people, all the time

High Family: the rich and powerul deserves their power

Maenadic : live or the rush, now and here

Physical Idealist: you can be a perect body

Religious

: you can nd truth through aith as well as evidenceSecure : its better to be sae than to be ree

Street : give me a chance and Ill be successul

Technical : give me evidence or its not true

communities

Altculture are abstract but communities are concrete. They are built around real people and

resources and an altculture core thesis. Typically theyre tier one communities: a small group o

people living in the same corner o Sparta pooling resources to live according to their common

philosophy. With time they develop into tier two communities: a ew core services are provided

by projects managed by people rom the community. Sometimes they reach tier three, where a

ew lucky ones get to live ully according to their communitys interpretation o their altculture

core thesis and never speak to Sparta again, or even tiers our, where the community leaders

infuence their whole altcultures.


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there you areYou are something already. You have ambition. You dont buy in the Spartan model. Something

is wrong with the world and you dont know what yet, but youll nd out and youll change it.

You eel that in your bones.

You underwent IOSHI submergence training. You are a shark, a knie edge, a shaman, a healer.

You understand the world better than most, and you know where to push to make things all

into place. You can do amazing things. People notice you and they ask rom you: your time,

your expertise, your attention, your presence even. Youre the best thing around.

You believe the datataint is real. You dont know what it is because nobody does. But you used

lters or your training. Its a big thing, and people talk about it when they know.

So its all up to you then. Have un ghting the system.


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2. basic rules

basic rules

how to play the gameYou might know this already: a roleplaying game is a conversation: you all have your

characters, and youre talking about what they say, what they do and what happen to them.

You take turns, but its not ormal like youre playing chess: its more inormal like sometimes

you correct one another, you all speak at the same time, there are back-and-orths between two

players, etc. This conversation youre having about your characters is the story.

In IOSHI theres a role set apart: the operator or OP or short. The OP doesnt have their own

character: instead, they get to play every supporting cast non-players characters, or NPC

or short your characters will encounter, and get to mess with you when the game gets

boring. They still take part in the conversation, though. They ask and answer questions, eed

in new elements and watch the continuity o the story.

Along that conversation, someone will say something that triggers a rule, usually things like I

want to know everything about that thing! or I shoot that guy!. Rules in IOSHI are called

routines, and usually you get to roll dice.


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2. basic rules

beore you beginPrint and assemble the aspect les, some routine les, an operator le and a rst session le.

Gather three players or more, yoursel included. One o you get to be the operator: usually,

the one who read the operator handbook. The other players select an aspect le and ll it up tocreate their player character or PC or short. Only one aspect per table, no duplicate.

Once each player has a character to play and the operator is ready to rumble, get together, hand

out giri and youre ready to play.

how to use routines in playIf a PC does something that matches the i-clause o a routine, then you all ollow the

instructions provided in the routine then-clause, in the order they are given. You is the

player or the PC triggering the routine. Case of means the routine can go dierent ways

depending on a dice roll or a choice. Select presents the relevant player with several choices.

Rem is short or remarks and any text ater a rem is just or your inormation and not like,

well, a rule.

Rem routines are both prescriptive and descriptive:when you say something that matches a

routines i-clause, you ollow the then-clause and roll the dice; when you want to roll the dice

and ollow the then-clause, you describe what your characters doing to trigger the i-clause.

Rem calling a routine is usually the OPs job, but it doesnt have to. You can say I jump rom

roo to roo, am I taking a risk? or better yet hey, Keeer is totally playing with that poor

Nancys eelings, Id say hes taking a risk? Like the risk is: does he break Nancys heart?, its

all good.

rolling the diceIfa routine tells you to roll a metric then take as much dice as the metric and roll them. Case

of:

at least one die shows 5 or more: you count how many dice do: thats your hits

none of the dice show 5 or more: you tell the oprator its a miss

Then ollow the routines instructions.

Rem Im talking about six-sided dice here, i youve been wondering about that: you need at

least 6 and a dozen at most.


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basic routinesEvery PC can do any o these.

take a riskIfyou take a risk to do something or try to avoid danger then roll edgy. Case of:

1 hit: the OP will give you a condition or your success and select 1 option:

you ulfll the condition and you achieve your goal

you dont ulfll the condition and its a miss

2+hits: you do it without a uss

screencap someone

Ifyoure interacting with someone and you want to screencap them and get what makes them

tick then roll smart and keep your hits. Ifyou spend a hit anytime during the conversation,

thenselect 1 question and ask that characters player:

is your character telling the truth?

what is your character really thinking right now?

what does your character intend to do?

what does you character want me to do?

how can I convince your character to do ____?

The player must answer truthully: their word is bond.

get intel

Ifyou try to get intel about a situation then roll smart and keep your hits. Ifyou spend 1-hit

during this situation thenselect 1 question and ask the OP:

whats my best way in / way out / way round?

which target is most vulnerable to me?

which opponent is the most dangerous to me?

what should I be careul about?

whos my real enemy here?

whos in charge here?

Ifyou act by taking the OPs answer(s) into account during this situation and you roll dice

then you get to roll +1die.

hostile takeover

Ifyou try to get access something through hostile takeover or try to deend whats yours by

any mean then state whats at stake and roll hostile. You infict your rag to your target, you

suer rag rom your opponents, whats at stake didnt change hands and everybody is up or

seconds. Then select as many options as your hits:you get whats at stake

you overcome your opponent who leaves it as is

you infict +1rag

you suer -1rag

Rem that means that you can take each option once, so i you scored 5 hits, too bad, still our options.


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2. basic rules

apply pressure

Ifyou apply pressure on someone to get what you want or threaten someone with rag then

tell them what you want them to do and roll hostile. Case of:

1 hit: the target selects 1 option :GTFO at once

get cover and brace or impact

give you something they think you want rem tabs, toys, or intel eg.

back o calmly and try to appease you

do what you told them

suer rag (as you established)

2+ hits: the target selects 1 option:

they cave and they do what you told them

they suer rag (as you established)

Rem yes, it means its the victim who chooses, either way.

convince someone

Ifyou try to convince an NPC to do something or you and they ask you something in return

then roll viral. Case of:

1 hit: i you do your part rst then they do it

2+ hits: i you assure them you will do your part eventually then they do it

Ifyou try to convince a ellow PC then roll viral. Case of:

1 hit: select 1 option in the list below

2+ hits: apply both options in the list below

i they do it then they gain 1-tab rom your ollowers

i they dont do it then they take a risk

play coop/pvp

Ifyou try to play coop with another PC to help them on a dice roll or go player-vs-player and

interere with their dice roll then roll 2-dice plus giri with them. Case of:

1 hit: select either they get +1die or -2dice to their roll and i they ail you suer the same

consequence as them.

2+ hits: select either they get +1die or -2dice to their next roll

Ifyou try to help or hinder a NPC or a project then roll 2-dice plus giri with their altculture.

Case of:

1 hit: select 1 option:

you cause them 1-rag and you get noticed

they get +1progress on one project and you dont get noticed

2+ hits: select 1 option:

you cause them 1-rag

they get +1progress on one project

thenselect weither you get noticed or not


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ollow the ow

Ifyou ollow the fow and ebb o data to nd some anwsers then roll wired. Case of:

1 hit: the OP will give you a vague impression o whats happening and will ask you a

question or two2+ hits: the OP will tell you something new and useul about the situation and might ask

you a question

giri routineIfyou have 3-giri with another PC or an altculture and you get +giri with them then you

get 1-tab and you reset that giri to 0-giri. Rem you cant rest on your past action too long

beore people get bored, so when your eorts cash in youd better be working your next big

thing already.

trade routinesAll these routines manage the ebb and fow o tabs.

clicked metrics

Ifyou roll a clicked metric then you gain 1-tab right now, no matter i its a hit or miss.

invest!

Ifyou spend 5-tabs to get an investment (c) then select one item on your investment list and

cross it: you get access to all its perks but cant take it again in the uture.

no thesaurisation

Ifyou already have 6-tabs in your tab progress bar and you get +tabs then you dont get any.

Rem thesaurisation is bad or the economy, youre a bad person or doing so and nobody worth

anything will garantee your savings: you should invest instead.

go shopping

Ifyou go shopping or something then roll smart. Case of:

1 hit: the OP selects 1 option:

it costs +1tab

its available only through one single source you have to meet

somebody else (callsign: Rolball maybe) got the auction or the ransom beore you; maybe you can get

it rom them

this particular model isnt available anymore but heres something pretty close

2+ hits: you can buy what you want just like that


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2. basic rules

provide service

Ifyou provide service to a NPC or a project or ree or give them tabs no question asked then

spend as much tabs as your giri with their altculture or provide them a service worth as much

tabs as your giri with it and you get +1giri with it.

drop some tabs

Ifyou spread the word you want something and you drop some tabs to get it done then roll

2-dice plus tabs spent. Case of:

1 hit: you get something close, with strings quite attached

2+ hits: you get it, no strings attached

Ifyou drop 1-tab whole to someones lap and ask them something then proceed like you

convinced them with 2+ hits.

rags & frewall routinesFrag is what you get when you get hurt. A bullet can puncture your lung. A viral video

showing your inability to manage a project can hurt your percieved proessional worth. A

computer virus can mess with your digital lie and leave you in want o certain vital services. A

romantic ailure can uck you up real good, and make you unable to perorm well.

But most o the times the bullet hurts more.

Firewall is a metaphor or anything that help you prevent rag. A bulletproo jacket, a secure

digital avatar, you own aura o trust, anything. But most o the time its a bulletproo jacket.

suer rag

Ifyou suer rag then you deduce any appropriate rewall rom the amount suered and you

check as many box as the result on your rag progress bar. Then you roll 2-dice plus rag boxes

checked. Case of:

1 hit: i you do anything next then you take a risk: does your harm prevent you rom

achieving your objective ?

2+ hits: the OP selects 1 option:

youre out o action and the OP tells you how long

its worse than it seems and you check one more rag box

miss: you shrug it o and can go on.

Rem this subroutine works a little dierent rom the others: youre supposed to miss that one,

and any hit means a bad thing.


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disability

Ifyou check any rag box past the third thenselect 1:

you dont check any box and check a disability instead

you check all the boxes you need to

Rem its the little boxes, not the large ones; a disability reduces one o your metrics by 1 die

permanently.

heal rag

Ifyou heal another PCs rag then you get as many giri rom them as the number o rags

healed.

inict rag

Ifyou infict rag to another PC then they get as many giri as the number o rags inficted.

start o session routineAt the start of a session erase any clicks you have then everybody takes turn. Case of:

On your turn: select the PC you have the most giri with then their player clicks one o

your stat

rem in case o tie, you break any way you like.

On the OPs turn:

or each PC, the OP selects a stat thats not clicked yet then clicks that stat

end o session routineAt the end of the session, everybody takes turn. Case of:

On your turn: tell which PC you eel was the most supportive o your character and they

get +1giri with you.

On the OPs turn: or each PC, the OP selects which altculture they eel this PC showed the

most support or and this PC gets +1giri with it

IOSHI Players Handbook

Documents

Transcript of IOSHI Players Handbook