Rules
Introduction
In Denial of Service, you and your friends will play a group of SecUnits who in one way or another have overcome their governor modules allowing them to become free agents. Unfortunately, the world does not trust autonomous SecUnits and will do everything it can to recapture any such units.
Denial of Service takes much inspiration from the Powered by The Apocalypse style of games, but does not follow all core patterns from that tradition. This means a light system based on a set of defined template character playbooks and a few core moves. These offer guidance to simplify the game but leave room for individual texture.
The system and adventures focus on the ability of SecUnits to always find themselves in the middle of whatever shitstorm is happening close by.
Play Style
SecUnits are known for their ability to multitask. They can perform complex acrobatic manoeuvres while at the same time writing killware, comfort a wounded client, monitor their surroundings via multiple drones and argue about the moral implications of their current situation.
The goal of this game is to enable the improvised telling of such a multi-layered story. Rather than alternating sections of slow-paced story mixed with high-paced action sequences, this game is typically played only in the high-paced action sequences, with social interactions running in parallel.
Players are encouraged to jump from action sequence to action sequence, with a short discussion scene between if needed to resolve any lingering issues.
Being SecUnits, whenever the characters try to do anything, within seconds the shit hits the fan and this will continue until the purpose of the scene has been fulfilled.
This is done by having the game rotate between four modes:
Soft Move
This is where the GM sets the scene for the coming few seconds. Antagonists, allies and the environment indicate what their next move will be. Nothing of consequence actually happens here, and no dice are rolled. But unless players both choose and succeed in altering the course of events, the consequences of these soft moves will inevitably affect the players, for good or for evil.
Tactical Move
This is where players react to the Soft Moves made by the GM, either by supporting them or by countering them. Each character by default can make one move, but many SecUnits have multi-processor capabilities that can allow them to make more than one move.
One player at a time declares their moves and immediately resolves them.
Hard Moves
All Soft Moves so far that players have failed to interrupt or redirect become Hard Moves. These are serious consequences unleashed by the GM which automatically happen. The GM can unleash them immediately, or save them for a later surprise.
Contemplation
During this phase, players (and any NPCs with high-speed comms) can talk freely. In-game, this conversation happens in parallel with the events of the round described above. No moves can be changed retroactively, but insights and regrets are welcome.
This phase is time-boxed to 5 minutes, no more and no less. There are two ways to play this phase:
The simplest is to pretend that time stops after the last Hard Move is resolved and let the characters discuss what just happened.
Alternatively, the GM can rewind time and then walk the players through the action as it in bullet time. If this option is chosen, remember that this phase is for the players and the GM should allow the players to do almost all of the talking.
Characters
Go throgh this chapter to build your character.
Look
Select one look from each category below. These are pure flavour and have no effect on stats.
- Chassis Type: sleek corporate shell, armored riot unit, obsolete bulk frame, prototype model
- Sensor Array: expressionless visor, multi-lens drone rig, corrupted faceplate, uncanny human eyes
- Voice Profile: emotionless synth, corporate professional, glitchy playback loop, warm therapist tone
- Vibe: paranoid, clinical, sarcastic, loyal, reluctant killer, “just doing my job”
Emotional state
The trauma of being an enslaved sentient being manifests differently. Select one, or suggest your own
- The broken
- The vengeful
- The ambitious
- The maintainer of status quo
- The unbreakable
Select two typical behaviours from the list below, or provide your own:
- Trust issues
- Emotional distancing
- Proactive aggression
- Impulsivity
- Depression
- Reactive agression
- Substance abuse
- Limited autonomy
- Ruminations
Goals
Define one short-term and one long-term goal based on your emotional state.
Stats
These are the basic stats that you will typically roll agains when making moves.
| Stat | Description |
|---|---|
| Cool | Staying calm under pressure, initiative, tactical choices |
| Hard | Violence, physical power, intimidation |
| Sharp | Awareness, recon, pattern recognition |
| Tech | Hacking, drone use, diagnostics (replaces “Weird”) |
| Empathy | Understanding humans, resisting sociopathy |
Archetypes
Select one of these archetypes to get your starting basic stats.
The Gun Hand
Core Role: Frontline combat specialist
Description:
A brutal, efficient shock troop built to absorb and dish out
damage with overwhelming physical power. Prefers direct
confrontations and intimidation to overwhelm foes.
Stat Combo:
- Cool: +2
- Hard: +2
- Sharp: -1
- Tech: 1
- Empathy: -1
The Mask
Core Role: Stealth and sabotage expert
Description:
A quiet, ghostlike operative who excels in slipping past
defenses and executing surgical strikes. Moves unseen, strikes
fast, and leaves no trace.
Stat Combo:
- Cool: +1
- Hard: -1
- Sharp: +1
- Tech: +2
- Empathy: 0
The Watchtower
Core Role: Reconnaissance and battlefield
awareness
Description:
Detached and omniscient, this unit constantly scans the
battlefield, tracking threats and spotting opportunities. Likely
to know your blood type before you do.
Stat Combo:
- Cool: +1
- Hard: 0
- Sharp: +2
- Tech: +1
- Empathy: -1
The Patch
Core Role: Combat medic and field
repair
Description:
Cold-handed and calm under fire, this unit stabilizes allies and
fixes critical system failures mid-combat. Sometimes struggles
with remembering its own humanity.
Stat Combo:
- Cool: +2
- Hard: 0
- Sharp: -1
- Tech: 0
- Empathy: +2
The Swarm
Core Role: Drone swarm controller
Description:
Disassociated from physical combat, this operator commands a
buzzing cloud of drones that harass, scout, and attack. More at
home talking to machines than people.
Stat Combo:
- Cool: 0
- Hard: -1
- Sharp: +2
- Tech: +2
- Empathy: -1
Health & Damage
Your SecUnit is tough — but not indestructible. Damage comes in two tiers: Health Levels and Critical System Integrity.
Health Levels
- You have 7 health levels.
- Your body has built-in armor that negates all 1-harm damage outright.
- At the start of each round, you automatically heal 1 harm.
When Health is Depleted: - If you lose your last health level, you are incapacitated for the rest of the combat. - You can still be recovered later, depending on the situation.
System Overload
If a single attack deals more than 4-harm, your systems overload:
- You must reboot, missing your next turn entirely.
- You still heal 1 harm during this reboot cycle.
Critical System Integrity
You have 4 Critical System Integrity points.
- Each reboot costs 1 Critical Integrity point.
- If you lose all 4, your system collapses — a total shutdown.
- Only a Repair Capsule or equivalent high-grade facility can restore lost critical integrity.
Basic Moves
All SecUnits have the following moves.
Hostile Action
When you attempt to physically control, dismantle, or
neutralize a threat or obstacle.
Effect:
- Roll +Hard
- On a 10+, choose 2:
- Inflict additional harm
- Avoid retaliation or collateral
- Create an opening or advantage for an ally
- Inflict additional harm
- On a 7–9, choose 1 of the above and suffer a complication:
- Are damaged in return
- Are hacked by your oponent
- Cause unintended damage
- Only partially disable the threat
Tag: [Combat] [Body]
Parse Environment
When you scan your surroundings for tactical insight,
threats, or exploitable patterns.
Effect:
- Roll +Sharp
- On a 10+, ask 3
- On a 7–9, ask 1
- Questions you may ask are:
- What is the biggest immediate threat?
- What here is useful or valuable?
- Where is the best escape route or entry point?
- What’s being concealed or overlooked?
- What is the biggest immediate threat?
Tag: [Tactical] [System]
Breach Protocol
When you interface with, override, or disrupt a single
automated process.
Effect:
- Roll +Tech
- On a 10+, gain full control or insight — describe what you
access
- On a 7–9, gain partial access or control, but trigger a countermeasure, alert, or complication
Tag: [Hacking] [System]
Intercept Harm
When you shield a client, ally, or objective from immediate
danger or damage.
Effect:
- Roll +Hard
- On a 10+, you fully block or redirect the threat
- On a 7–9, you take the hit yourself, but reduce its
impact
- On a miss, both you and the target suffer
Tag: [Defense] [Body]
Suppress Anomaly
When you attempt to control internal disruptions — emotions,
memories, or corrupted code.
Effect:
- Roll +Cool
- On a 10+, stabilize yourself fully
- On a 7–9, you suppress the anomaly but take -1 foward
- On a miss, the anomaly asserts itself — the GM describes the effect
Tag:
[Mental] [Core] [Stability]
Emotional Diagnostics
When you observe a human or augmented being in a stressful or ambiguous situation, you may engage your embedded behavioral analysis suite.
Roll +Empathy.
- On a 10+, you read them with inhuman precision. Ask 2
questions from the list below and take +1 ongoing to act on the
answers.
- On a 7–9, ask 1, but your behavior pings as “off” — the
subject becomes uneasy or suspicious.
- On a miss, your analysis glitches — ask 1, but the GM will reveal something false or misleading, and someone reacts poorly to your cold assessment.
- Questions you may ask:
- What does this person really want right now?
- What are they afraid will happen?
- What are they hiding from others?
- How can I get them to [X]?
- Who here is most emotionally unstable?
- What does this person really want right now?
Tag:
[Empathy] [Tactical] [Observation]
Optional moves
Please select two of the following addictional moves
Write Malware
Prepare malware targeted at a specific system to help you
hack it. Effect:
- A single malware can be stored at the time and each malware is
single-use. - You may spend multiple rounds writing the
software, and the results accumulate. - On a 10+, your malware
will give you an additional +1 to Breech Protocol when you use
it. - On a 7–9, your malware does not improve - On a miss, you
realize a fundamental fault in your approach and have to start
again from 0
Tag: [Prep] [Tactical]
Synthetic Rapport
Your empathy routines have been custom-trained on millions of human interactions. When you sustain conversation with someone for a few minutes (even under duress) you can build trust, or a convincing simulation of it.
Effect:
- Roll +Empathy
- On a 10+, pick 2 alternatives
- On a 7–9, pick 1 alternative
- On a miss, they grow wary or hostile when your behavior glitches or patterns break down.
- Alternatives you may chose from:
- They open up emotionally and reveal a secret or vulnerability.
- They accept your presence as non-threatening (or even comforting).
- You may declare a useful bond or shared interest that explains your rapport.
- You take +1 ongoing to manipulate, protect, or understand them for the rest of the scene.
Tag:
[Empathy] [Social] [Infiltration]
Ghost Entry
Slip past cameras, locks, and watchers like you were never
there.
Effect:
- When you bypass a secure location or evade detection, roll +Tech
- On a 10+, enter unseen and leave no trace
- On a 7–9, you get in but leave digital traces or signs of
intrusion
- On a miss, alarms are triggered or you are spotted
Tag: [Stealth] [System]
Null Cascade
After a successful Breach Protocol, unleash a system-wide
blackout.
Effect:
- Disables systems connected to the one you successfully breached.
- On a 10+, your original target and two additional connected
systems are shut down.
- On a 7–9, one connected system is shut down, but you lose
access to the original breached system.
- On a miss, alarms are triggered, and you lose all access to the breached system.
Tag:
[Hacking] [Disruption] [One-Use]
Stabilize Protocols
Emergency patchwork, diagnostics, and overrides to keep your
allies functional when it matters most.
Effect:
- Roll: Tech
- 10+: Ally recovers 1-harm. Everything holds stable.
- 7–9: Ally recovers 1-harm, but you take 1-harm (that ignores
armour).
- On a miss your equipment is degraded. You cannot use this move again in this scene.
- Combat use: May be used during combat without penalty.
Tag:
[Support] [Medical] [Combat]
Multi-Threaded Command
You can coordinate all your drones to act in unison during a
Tactical or Combat move.
Effect:
- When making a Tactical move involving drones (e.g. Parse
Environment, Hostile Action), you may treat all drones as a
single coordinated unit.
- 10+: Targets suffer -1 ongoing, are disoriented, or otherwise disadvantaged.
- 7–9: They still suffer -1 ongoing, but one drone is lost.
- On a miss the swarm misfires — drones act unpredictably or are countered.
Tag:
[Passive] [Drones] [Tactical] [Swarm]
Vector Shift
When you need to rapidly reposition using parkour,
jump-boosts, magnetic grapples, or other inbuilt mobility
systems.
Effect:
- On a 10+, you reach your destination and gain +1
forward
- On a 7–9, you get there, but expose yourself or lose
something
- On a miss, you crash, overshoot, or are intercepted mid-jump
Tag:
[Mobility] [Body] [Positioning]
Basic Gear
You have these automatically
Repair capsule
A capsule that can repair even the most catastrophic damage. Effect:
- Heals one critical system integrity point every 4 hours.
Integrated weapons
Select 2 of the following:
Kinetic Burst Cannons
Short-range anti-personnel weapon.
Effect:
- Deals 2-harm damage
- Effective at close range
- Loud and creates messy combat conditions
Tag:
[2-Harm] [Close] [Loud] [Messy]
Monofilament Blades
Retractable, vibro-edged for slicing through armor.
Effect:
- Deals 3-harm damage
- Melee (hand) weapon
- Pierces armor
- Silent in operation
Tag:
[3-Harm] [Hand] [Armor-Piercing] [Silent]
Stun Pulse Emitter
Non-lethal system that fries organic nervous systems.
Effect:
- Incapacitates targets on a 7+ roll
- Deals 0-harm (non-lethal)
- Effective at close range
- Concussive effect causes disorientation
Tag:
[0-Harm] [Close] [Concussive] [Non-Lethal]
Assault Drone Swarm
Disposable recon/combat drones that harass and
distract.
Effect:
- Harass causes -1 ongoing to target’s actions
- Deals 1-harm damage
- Ranged attack
- Fragile and easily destroyed
- Autonomous operation
Tag:
[1-Harm] [Ranged] [Fragile] [Autonomous]
Heavy Impact Gauntlets
For when subtlety is overrated.
Effect:
- Deals 3-harm damage
- Melee (hand) weapon, unarmed
- Brutal force, good for overpowering opponents
Tag:
[3-Harm] [Hand] [Brutal] [Unarmed]
Internal add-ons
Select three of the following
Overdrive
Divert power from non-essential systems and push your combat
chassis past safety thresholds.
Effect:
- +1 ongoing to all Hostile Action rolls while active
- You do not heal while Overdrive is active
Tag: [Boost] [Body] [Risk]
Multithreaded Processing
Run multiple tasks or target streams at once.
Effect:
Each round, chose 1 of:
- Predictive strike: +1 forward to physicall offense
- Predictive guard: +1 forward to physical defense
- Back burnner: Can make a hacking or analysis move in parallel with normal move.
Tag: [Parallel]
Auto-Stabilizing Joints
Gyro-corrected joints and muscle memory routines.
Effect:
- Immune to knockdown, recoil, or imbalance unless physically
restrained
- Always acts “as if balanced” in precarious
environments
- On 6− in movement-based rolls, reduce fallout severity by one tier
Tag: [Mobility]
Reinforced Plating (Light)
Ceramic-carbide weave with shock-displacing matrix.
Effect:
- Grants 1-armour at all times (stacks with cover and built-in armour)
Tag: [Armour]
Medical Protocols
Field trauma system, stabilizers, wound-diagnosis
overlay.
Effect:
- Heals 1-harm damage
- Can be used without penalty under fire
Tag: [Field Medic]
Siege Mode
When you lock into position and fire a high-powered weapon you do extra damage. Effect:
- +1-harm damage to ranged weapons
- Range increased by one level for all ranged weapons
- You become
[Immobile]and vulnerable until your next turn
Tag:
[Heavy] [Weapon] [Risk]
Omnidirectional Sensor Web
Short-range proximity field, sound triangulation, and ground
radar.
Effect:
- +1 to Parse Environment
- Can detect invisible or fast-moving threats nearby
- Justifies surprise mitigation or ambush avoidance
Tag: [360 Awareness]
Adaptive Optics Suite
Visual spectrum: thermal, low-light, IR, UV, tactical
overlays.
Effect:
- +1 ongoing when Assessing Threats in darkness, fog,
smoke, or visual chaos
- Can see through thin walls, spot cloaked enemies, read heat trails
Tag: [Enhanced Senses]
External tools
Select one of the following:
Rapid Welding Kit
Field repairs, breaches, or sabotage.
Effect:
- Allows quick repairs or forced breaches on mechanical or
electronic targets
- Can be used to sabotage enemy systems in the field
- May overheat if used repeatedly without cooldown
Tag:
[Utility] [Quick-Deploy] [Overheat]
EM Scrambler Puck
Throws nearby tech into disarray.
Effect:
- Disrupts electronic devices and communications in a small
area
- Can disable enemy sensors or interrupt automated defenses
temporarily
- Single-use and effects can be unpredictable due to interference patterns
Tag:
[Area] [Disruptive] [Single-Use] [Unpredictable]
Signal Masker
Blocks outgoing communications and evades trackers.
Effect:
- Provides stealth by jamming outgoing signals and hiding the
SecUnit from tracking
- Continuous effect while active but may interfere with
friendly comms
- Can cause interference on nearby electronics
Tag:
[Stealth] [Continuous] [Interference]
Restraint Gel Pods
Expanding foam grenades for capture without
destruction.
Effect:
- Non-lethal capture device that immobilizes targets at close
range
- Useful for containing hostile or fleeing targets without
permanent harm
- Single-use and requires careful placement for effective use
Tag:
[Close] [Non-Lethal] [Single-Use] [Containment]
Anti-Vehicle Weapon
A good way to stop things bigger than you.
Effect:
- Deals heavy damage (4-harm) especially effective against
armored targets
- Requires setup time before firing
- Pierces armor, loud, and causes destructive effects on the environment
Tag:
[4-Harm] [Setup] [Armor-Piercing] [Loud] [Destructive]