RFID Tags

These tiny computer chips, commonly called arfids, are stuffed into every product commercially available in the Sixth World. Tags integrated into many products - bullets, for example - are microscopic, but commercially available tags range from two-millimeter squares to three-centimeter squares. They have a stick-to-anything adhesive backing, and the truly small ones can be tricky to spot.

Tags are used for geo-tagging locations and objects, leaving a virtual AR message for anyone who comes by, employee tracking, access control, owner - contact information for everything from vehicles to pets, vehicle and weapon registration, and so on. They can also be used as tracking devices, periodically transmitting GPS data to the Matrix. RFID tags are devices that can hold one or more files, but not much else. The physical location of a tag can be found via the Matrix (Trace Icon, p. 184). Tag data can be erased with a tag eraser (p. 270) or programmed with an Edit File action (p. 181). RFID tags have owners like all other devices, but unlike other devices a tag’s owner can be changed to “nobody.”

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RFID Tags

Illegal RFID Tags

Standard Tag

A standard RFID tag that can hold up one or more files via AR, but nothing else.

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¥1 for 10

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Datachip

Used to store data offline, a single datachip can hold an enormous quantity of data in a two-centimeter-by-six-centimeter chip. Datachips have no wireless capability, so you need to plug them into a universal data connector (found on any device) if you want to read or write to them.

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Security Tag

Used to track people and things, security tags are usually implanted under the skin. Megacorps use them to track citizens for good or ill (but, you know, mostly ill), prison corps use them to track incarcerated and paroled criminals, and parents and schools also use them to track students. Security tags cannot be erased with a tag eraser due to EMP hardening.

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¥10 for 10

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If a tag is implanted under the skin, a Biotech + Logic (10, 1 minute) Extended test is needed to remove it.

Sensor Tag

Used to record twenty-four hours of data from a single sensor (sold separately). After twenty-four hours, it will either shut off or overwrite data older than twenty-four hours, depending on how you programmed it. Retrieving the information can be done only within a meter of the tag unless its wireless functionality is enabled.

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¥40 for 10

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Holds a single Rating 2 sensor.
Wireless: You can monitor the data in real time, if you're the tag's owner. The tag's recordings can be transferred to a device of your designation.

Stealth Tag

A stealth tag always runs silent. It's disguised to not look like RFID tags and are often used as a backup for security tags by megacorps that are security conscious.

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¥10

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If a tag is implanted under the skin, a Biotech + Logic (10, 1 minute) Extended test is needed to remove it.
+2 Concealability
Contains a Sleaze statistic of 3.

Illegal RFID Tags

RFID Tags are everywhere in the Sixth World, gathering and transmitting marketing data, monitoring you via sensors, delivering advertisements and generally just invading everyone's privacy. Of course this means that enterprising hackers have discovered - or in some cases developed - a few new tricks that can be done with RFID tags.

GOD Bomb

A batch of software tags loaded with the most obnoxious but ultimately harmless viruses and other illegal software. Once activated, the tags start breaking the law with incredible speed and abandon. Obviously it's a bad idea to set one of these off where you're going to be, but they work great for distractions and practical jokes by people who don't understand that a joke can go too far.

Rating: 1 - 6

Availability: 4 (Illegal)

Cost: Rating x ¥500

Special Qualities:

When activated, begin tracking an Overwatch Score for the GOD Bomb.
At the start of every Combat Round after activation, increase the GOD Bomb's Overwatch Score by (Rating x 1D6).
When the Overwatch Score reaches 40, a small explosive designed to utterly destroy all of the tags is detonated, leaving GOD with the impression that a persona has just been converged upon and dumped from the Matrix.
This will cause an escalating security response, initially calling in demiGOD in the Matrix, but a physical security response team will also show up eventually.

Screamer Tag Bomb

Screamer Tags are the opposite of Stealth tags. They don't run silent, they go loud - usually with obnoxious AR audio and images. These are actually just nefariously modified standard RFID tags with some malicious code that makes them immune to common spam filters. Individually, these serve no purpose beyond harassment, marketing, vandalism, or a very simple distraction. However, some hackers had the big idea to use them in clusters. Despite the lack of a physical explosion, these devices have been dubbed "Screamer Bombs." Dozens of them at once, all tied to activate from one trigger, can create a stunning effect in the Matrix.

Rating: 1 - 6

Availability: 2 (Illegal)

Cost: Rating x ¥100

Special Qualities:

A Screamer Tag Bomb's Rating is based on how many tags are tied together. Each point of Rating represents about a dozen tags.
When they are activated, they increase the Noise level by half the Rating (rounded down) out to a radius of 100 Meters.
This is also illegal and alerts Matrix security forces that begin shutting the tags down one at a time over the course of 1D6 Minutes.
No Edge or rerolls may be used on any Matrix Perception test when within range.
All users gain a Dice Pool Penalty to Matrix Perception tests equivalent to the Screamer Bomb's Rating.
Screamer Bombs are incapable of screening their effects from individual users: they affect everyone.
Anyone who fires off a Screamer Tag bomb that is still connected to their own PAN gains 2D6 Overwatch Score every Combat Round.

Software Tag

A software tag is slightly larger than your average datachip and contains the memory storage and processing power required to host and run a single piece of software. For more complex tasks, multiple software tags can be connected together to run several programs simultaneously.

Rating: 1

Availability: 4 (Legal)

Cost: ¥100

Special Qualities:

Software Tags are not powerful enough to run agent programs but can handle commlink apps, cyberprograms, and autosofts.

Spy Tag

Instead of merely running silent, spy tags are programmed to stay offline to avoid any chance of Matrix detection and only occasionally turn on to send a burst of data before deactivating again. These can be programmed to activate on a specific schedule but the default is a randomized pattern to avoid accidental detection. Unless someone is actively searching for signals during the three seconds or so that the tag comes online, it is highly unlikely to be detected except by visual scans.

Rating: 2

Availability: 2 (Legal)

Cost: ¥250 per sensor type

Special Qualities:

Spy Tags are Stealth Tags modified to pair with one or more Sensor Tags in order to gather more detailed information.
In this case, the Sensor Tag operates in offline mode (no wireless), and only sends their data to the Stealth Tag. Connecting a Sensor Tag to a Stealth Tag makes the tag a little bulkier, but they are still overall pretty small.

Whisper Tag Bomb

Less noisy than a screamer tag bomb, this device comes from the same concept but uses many Stealth Tags to make it harder to pick out individual silent-running icons. These Stealth Tags are modified with illegal software to appear to have a larger device footprint on the Matrix so that they might be mistaken for a larger device until identified.

Rating: 1 - 6

Availability: 2 (Illegal)

Cost: Rating x ¥200

Special Qualities:

When you are running silent and activate a Whisper Tag Bomb, the bomb begins to generate an Overwatch Score of it's own at a rate of 1D6 per minute.
If this score reaches 40, it is converged upon and destroyed and a security team will be sent to its location.
If anyone successfully spots you using a Matrix Perception Test while you are using a Whisper Tag Bomb, roll 2D6.
Unless you roll doubles, they spotted a Stealth Tag instead. Permanently reduce the Whisper Tag Bomb's Rating by 1 every time this happens.
Unless converged upon, you can deactivate and re-use a Whisper Tag Bomb but any Rating reductions are permanent as they are bricked by Matrix security forces or are burned out.