Cold Storage
A hardened portable drive pre-loaded with standby software. Slots your extras so they're ready when the job changes.
Cold Storage is a shielded external module — about the size of a thick credstick or a short flask — that connects to a Cyberdeck via a physical hardline port. It doesn't run software. It stores it. Programs loaded into Cold Storage sit dormant, drawing no RAM and occupying no active slots on the deck.
The value is in the swap time. Swapping programs between your deck and Cold Storage takes 1 minute — no skill check, no risk of a full deck wipe. Compare that to the standard 10-minute downtime required to reconfigure from scratch, or the DV 14 Interface check that risks wiping everything if you try it mid-field. Cold Storage is what lets a runner pack for more than one job at a time.
Tiers
| Tier | Soft Slots | Cost | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | 1 | 300eb | Common — tech shops, runner supply vendors |
| II | 2 | 700eb | Uncommon — specialty vendors |
| III | 3 | 1,500eb | Rare — high-end tech shops, black market |
Rules
- ›Swap Time: Moving any number of programs between your Cyberdeck and a connected Cold Storage takes 1 minute and requires no check.
- ›Stored programs are inactive. They occupy no Cyberdeck slots and generate no RAM cost while in Cold Storage. You cannot activate them without first swapping them onto the deck.
- ›Physical connection required. The drive must be physically attached to the deck to swap. It cannot be used remotely.
- ›One drive at a time. A Cyberdeck can only interface with one Cold Storage unit at a time.
- ›Does not protect against a failed in-combat swap. If you attempt the risky in-combat DV 14 swap and fail, programs in Cold Storage are unaffected — only whatever was loaded on the deck at the time is wiped.
Cold Storage is most useful for runners who need flexibility across different jobs — surveillance versus sabotage, social infiltration versus a straight data heist. Load the right set for the job before you go in, and keep your alternates ready in the drive.
A Tier III drive with three spare slots effectively doubles the loadout of a Basic deck (3 active + 3 stored) or meaningfully extends what a Standard or Hardened runner can adapt to between scenes.
For loadout swap rules, see Cyberdeck — Swapping Loadouts. For available software to fill those slots, see Quickhacks.