The tactical card game with a hackable board for two players
What is Black Hats?
|
|
Black Hats is what you get when you cross a tactical card game and a map deformation game. You take the role of a cyberpunk crew leader and direct a team of hackers (called runners) across a virtual reality network. Runner crews in this world are after one thing: encrypted data.
Your opponent's server is chock full of it and you're going to try to steal it while they try to steal yours. You just need two things to do it: |
#1: A crew with tech
|
Every heist starts with a team of experts armed with the latest gear. You'll have 20 bandwidth points to both hire your crew and pay for their rig. Each runner in your crew contributes a unique passive and active ability to your arsenal.
The rig you equip to a runner will determine their speed, security, and signal strength when connected to the virtual reality network. Some even grant additional abilities to the runner using them. In Black Hats, runners aren't inherently fast, slow, fragile, or tough - that's all determined by their rig and there are over 400 possible combinations. |
|
|
#2: A Custom Cyberdeck
|
Your cyberdeck is exactly 20 cards representing the system altering hacks, viruses, and additional effects available to your crew when they are on the job. You can have up to two copies of any card in your deck. The exception is Hack the Network - runners can always add more generic hacks to their cyberdeck!
Cards effect the game in two ways. You can play them from your hand for their main text as in most card games, but you also flip cards from your cyberdeck when attacking and scoring and use the number at the bottom to determine the damage dealt by your attack or the points earned when you score. Some even apply additional effects to attacks when flipped. A wise crew leader must consider the effectiveness of a card both when played from hand and when flipped during an attack to evaluate it's place in a deck. Some cards are extremely powerful, but they often provide minimal damage/points. You're playing with fire if you include too many, but it's up to you to decide how many is too many. |
|
Hack the planet!
|
The core of Black Hats is its hacking mechanic. Areas of the board are defined by connecting groups of same-colored hexes into "subnets". Both players can hack the board to change the color of any space on their turn, reshaping the board constantly during play.
Runners can move and attack freely within their subnets, but can only enter one new subnet while moving and can't attack outside their current subnet. Because the size and shape of each subnet is constantly in flux, an enemy that sits across the board may be completely unreachable or functionally next door - if you can outsmart and out-hack your opponent, you will control which. |
|
Ready to jack in?
|
Take turns commanding your runners, supporting them with cards from a custom-built deck, and shaping the very board upon which you play. It's a cyberpunk capture the flag scenario on a constantly changing landscape.
The final game will have 20+ runners, 15+ rigs, and dozens of executables to choose from, allowing you to craft a strategy that's unique to you. So hire your crew, customize your cyberdeck, and hack your way to an early retirement. Start playing now on TTS and Join Our Community! |
|