From the first ideas of Dark Shield I wanted to have magic as a component in there together with high-tech. For people who enjoyed Arcanum, the game, it might be a familiar concept to have them both contradict each other: if a character does one, he can't do the other. Although I didn't want to actively disallow using both, I wanted to make sure that it is very difficult to get there. Both concepts, I decided, should be not restricted to one specific character but theoretically available to any character - given enough funds. 

The matrix is something any character can experience.  The matrix itself is more immersive than what we have as the internet. So entering the matrix feels like entering a new world, where you can see and even touch data streams that are sent around the world, see other users walk around and talk to them. However, the matrix is not just meet and greet. Matrix hosts that are not public tend to have intrusion detection programs installed that try to identify users that gained access to the host without proper permissions. Only people who have the right equipment will be able to defend themselves or even attack such intrusion detection/ intrusion counter measure (IC) programs. Patrol ICs will inform other ICs on the host about the intruder's whereabouts if they find him. White ICs will mark the user as intruder and identify weaknesses. They won't cause much damage themselves but they inform the other ICs about these weaknesses, so having them around can be dangerous if other ICs are around as well.

For managing these capabilities of defending and attacking in the matrix, I decided that an equipment called "Cyberdecks" are providing the means to it. Each Cyberdeck has a set of attributes that define attack strength, sneaking ability to reduce detection chance by ICs, data extraction capabilities, which allows to extract programs and valuable information from data streams, and at last the firewall strength which changes the user's defensive capabilities. 

On the other hand Magic doesn't allow the user to enter a new world but instead allows to experience the real world with new senses and capabilities. For making use of this, the character's essence is used. Essence is based on Wits and Ego. So the higher the character's Wits and Ego are, the more essence is available for magic. In order to channel this essence into a magical effect, the character needs a Focus, an astral construct embedded in a  physical object. Usually these are crystals of some sort that are bound to a special lens on the astral plane. Once such a focus is equipped, the character can charge the focus with spells. The amount of spells that it can be charged with depend on the focus object.  Using magic, it is possible to temporarily boost the capabilities of the characters as well as permanently boost them.

Since both, Cyberdecks as well as Astral Foci objects are equipment, they can be bought and equipped by any character. However, they are generally very expensive. Also based on the character's own capabilities, the effectiveness of these may vary.