ACCESS: When the Runner makes a successful run on one of our data forts, he or she accesses its contents. The way the cards are accessed and the number of cards accessed depend on the type of fort successfully run.

ACTION: The basic unit of a turn. An action can be taken in a number of ways. We have three actions on our turn after our mandatory draw. The Runner has four actions and no mandatory draw.

ADVANCE: To score an agenda, or to improve the functioning of certain nodes, we can advance them. To advance an appropriate card, we take an action and pay 1 to put an advancement counter on the card advanced.

AGENDA: The data associated with a highly sensitive Corporate project. Netrunner is a contest between us and the Runner to score agendas.

APPROACH ICE: The Runner is said to be approaching a piece of unrezzed ice just before we decide to rez it, or approaching rezzed ice just before he or she is about to deal with its subroutines.

ARCHIVES: The central data fort that protects and includes our discard area, which contains a face-up pile and a face-down pile.

BASE LINK: Your link value is composed of two parts: your base link and any modifications to your link, which you add to your base link. Your base link starts off at 0 for each trace attempt. You can set your base link by using a base-link card. Only one base-link card can be used per trace attempt.

BIT: A counter representing a unit of wealth. Bits are spent to pay for cards and card effects. Of course, our bits represent more wealth than the Runner's.

BIT BANK: The supply of bits not in use.

BIT POOL: The bits we have available to spend. The Runner also has a bit pool.

BREAK: To stop a subroutine from taking effect.

CENTRAL DATA FORT: R&D, HQ, or our Archives.

CODE GATE: See ICE.

CORPORATION: Your opponent.

DAMAGE, BRAIN: Damage to the Runner's brain. For each point of brain damage, the Runner loses one card at random from his or her hand, and his or her maximum hand size is permanently reduced by 1.

DAMAGE, MEAT: General trauma to the Runner's body. The Runner loses a card at random for each point of meat damage.

DAMAGE, NET: Sensory overload induced in the Runner through the Net. The Runner loses a card at random for each point of Net damage.

DATA FORT: Discrete locations on our side that the Runner can attempt to gain access to. We have two types of data forts: central data forts, which we always have; and subsidiary data forts, which we build during the course of play. Any card we install is part of a data fort.

DEREZ: A card that is derezzed is marked to indicate that it hasn't been paid for. It is left exposed. Derezzing an unrezzed card has no effect.

DIE: A six-sided die (or a randomizer subroutine with a range of the integers one through six applied with equal weight) is used with cards that call for a die roll.

ENCOUNTER ICE: To meet and have to join battle with one of the cybernetic wards, traps, or demonic slaves of the diabolical Corp.

END THE RUN: To force the Runner out of netspace. If an ice subroutine ends the run, any following subroutines do not take effect.

EXPOSE: Certain cards can expose one or more cards the Corp has installed. If an unrezzed card is exposed, it is turned face up so that you can see it, but is marked to indicate that it has not been rezzed yet. Exposing a rezzed card has no effect.

FLATLINE: When the Runner ceases to be a threat.

GAIN BITS: Take bits from the bank.

HARDWARE: A deck or other piece of gear you can install to give you that extra edge.

HQ: Short for "headquarters." The central data fort that includes and protects our hand.

ICE: A program that protects our data forts from intrusion. An acronym for "intrusion countermeasures electronics." (An acronym for "insidious cortical electrocution.")

ICEBREAKER: A program that neutralizes ice in some way and permits its user to gain illicit entrance to data forts. A basic tool of the trade for hardworking proponents of information freedom.

IN PLAY: Only installed cards are considered to be in play.

INSTALL: To put a card into play. Nodes, agendas, upgrades, and ice are installed face down. Ice is installed on a data fort. Nodes, agendas, and upgrades are installed inside a data fort.

INSTALLATION COST: Normally our cards have no installation cost, but each piece of ice on a fort after the first has an installation cost in bits equal to the number of pieces of ice already on that fort. All your cards other than prep cards have an installation cost stated on them.

JACK IN: To enter the virtual reality of netspace. A neural interface connects your brain with your cyberdeck, typically via wires plugged directly into your gray matter. Your deck then connects to the Net, and your deck translates the signals it receives into direct sensory input. Jacking in is assumed to precede each run.

JACK OUT: To exit netspace. If the neural link to your deck is broken for any reason, your deck cuts its connection to the Net, dumping you back into the meat world. You will also be jacked out if you are flatlined, or if the power to your deck is cut. To jack out voluntarily, you typically send a thought-command, instead of punching a button on your deck.

KEYWORDS: Bold-face words in the first line of a card's text box, and sometimes referenced within a card's rules text. Keywords identify the categories to which a card belongs. If a card references a keyword, the keyword will appear in bold text.

LINK: Connection points along the Runner's telecommunication trail (a Runner with a lot of links has a maze-like trail that's hard to follow). The sum of your base link and any modifications to your link is your link value.

MU: Short for "Memory Units." You are limited as to the number of programs you can install by your current MU.

NETSPACE: The practically infinite virtual reality environment of the Net.

NODE: Data associated with one of our projects that would be of little interest to competitors. Nodes are stored in forts like agenda and in lieu of agenda.

OPERATION: One of our cards that is played as an action and then trashed. Operations are simple, one-time actions that are not part of our regular procedure.

OVERWRITE: To replace installed data with other data. Data may not merely be thrown away; it must be overwritten. If we wish to replace an installed agenda or node with a new one, we can trash the existing agenda or node and take an action to install an agenda or node from HQ. You may overwrite programs when installing new ones. This option can become desirable if you have no more MU left for installing additional programs.

PREP: One of your cards that is played as an action and then trashed. Preps are one-time special options you can exercise to make the job of netrunning easier.

PROGRAM: One of the main categories of cards available to you, which includes icebreakers, among other tools. You are limited in the number of programs you have in play by the number of MU you have.

R&D: Short for "research and development." The central data fort that protects and includes our draw pile.

RESOURCE: Any of a number of different tools or connections in or outside netspace that you can work to your advantage. If the Corp tags you, it can trash your resources.

REVEAL: A card turned face up, but not rezzed. Exposed cards and cards that have been derezzed but not trashed are considered revealed.

REZ: When we make an installed card active, we rez it by paying its rez cost. If it was face down, we now reveal it.

REZ COST: The cost we pay in bits to rez an installed card. This is a one-time cost.

RUN: An attempt to gain access to a data fort.

RUNNER: Our opponent.

SCORE AGENDA: After we have placed a number of advancement counters on an agenda equal to or greater than its difficulty rating, we may choose to score that agenda. We may only score agendas during our turn. You score agendas by accessing them during a run.

SENTRY: See ICE.

STACK: Your draw pile.

STORE: Uninstalled cards in central data forts are considered "stored" in those data forts.

STRENGTH: Our ice cards are rated at a certain strength: the higher the strength a card has, the harder it is for programs to sabotage it. Your icebreakers come rated at a certain strength, which can be temporarily boosted in many cases. The icebreaker must have strength that equals or exceeds the strength of a piece of ice for it to affect that ice.

SUBROUTINES: The functions of ice, marked by ·. Each subroutine on an ice card corresponds to an anti-intrusion effect. icebreakers also have subroutines, marked by their separate costs to use; generally, these routines either break the routines of ice cards or boost the icebreaker's strength.

SUBSIDIARY DATA FORT: A data fort other than R&D, HQ, or our Archives. Can contain an agenda or a node, and any number of upgrades.

TAG: Information about the Runner. When tagged, a Runner is vulnerable to many card effects, and we can trash one of the tagged Runner's resource cards by taking an action to pay 2. You can get rid of a tag by taking an action to pay 2.

TRACE: An attempt to figure out where the Runner is physically located.

TRACE LIMIT: The maximum number of bits we can spend to perform a trace on the Runner. The number n in "traceⁿ."

TRASH: To send a card to a discard pile, that is, our Corporate Archives or the Runner's "trash." When one of our cards is trashed, it goes to our Archives; when a Runner card is trashed, it goes to his or her trash. "The trash" is the name for your discard pile; cards go face up to the trash.

UPGRADE: An improvement to a data fort.

VIRUS: A special class of programs the Runner may have access to and for which we provide a perennial debit allowance in our annual operating plan. A special class of programs that you may have access to and that cause the Corporation misery.

WALL: See ICE.