Variable board
Every network is different.
Twenty-eight Track Cards are dealt into fourteen two-row layers, creating a fresh route puzzle every game.
Network access // v3.5
The Architect
Infiltrate. Steal the Payload.
Get back out.
A competitive tactical board game where every path you take in becomes the route you must survive on the way home.
00 // One turn. Your call.
Four movement.
Three Exposure.
You are three layers from Root. Your Safe roll gives you 4 MP—enough to take the hot line now or stop on blue and cool.
Safe roll // 4 movement points
Exposure 3/5
Layer 12 // You are here
You
You
Layer 13 // The choice
Pass: +1 Exposure
Land: −2 Exposure
Pass: +1 Exposure
Land: −2 Exposure
Layer 14 // Final gate
Blocked: pass through only
Blocked: pass through only
Root // Control code
Spend 1 MP to enter
Spend 1 MP to enter
Decision 01 // You rolled a 4
Push—or disappear?
Race through the Firewall and take the Payload at 4 Exposure, or spend 3 MP to switch rows and end in Cold Storage at 1.
Route committed
The Payload is yours. The heat comes with it.
PositionRoot
Exposure4 / 5
Mod slots open1
The tradeoff you just made
Root is faster through the Mainframe—but the Payload makes every trace on the return more dangerous.Rules-accurate mini-turn // Three of fourteen network layers shown. No Mod played.
01 // The mission
Steal the code.
Survive the return.
The world belongs to the Architect. Its network decides who gets paid, who gets through, and who gets erased.
You are a Runner carrying illegal tools into the most protected system on Earth. Punch through the exposed Mainframe or disappear into the Undernet, seize the control code at Root, then retrace a network your own choices have changed.
Reaching Root is only the turn.
02 // What kind of game is it?
A tactical infiltration game.
Driven by a race.
The Architect is a competitive board game about reading a shifting system, committing to a route, and managing how much risk you can carry.
Route planning
Your way in writes the way out.
Every Node you enter is marked on your Route Ledger. On the return, the paths you skipped become the paths you must take.
Push your luck
Roll safe—or Sprint.
Roll one die with no cost, or roll two for speed and immediately gain Exposure. The faster line is rarely the safer one.
Hand management
Risk takes up space.
Your five hand slots are shared by tactical Mods and locked Exposure cards. As the heat rises, your options disappear.
Tactical interference
Plans are made to be broken.
Rewire the board, move a rival, corrupt their hand, or spend cards to block an attack. Every Runner can change the problem.
Mission arc
Root is only halfway.
Be first to steal the Payload, then survive the route back to Entry. The leader becomes the target in a tense second act.
03 // Choose your route
Speed leaves a trace.
Cover costs time.
Every layer presents a decision. Run hot through the Mainframe, or pay the price to vanish below.
MAINFRAME // RED
Move fast. Burn bright.
Cross red Nodes for less movement, but watch your Exposure climb. At five, the system crashes your run.
04 // The run
Infiltrate.
Take Root.
Get out.
The board is simple. The consequences are not.
ENTRY → ROOT
Build your way in
Roll for movement. Change rows. Mark every Node you enter on your Route Ledger—the network is writing your exit plan as you go.
ROOT // PAYLOAD
Steal the control code
Reach the Root Directory and flip your Runner to reveal the Payload. Now the network knows exactly where you’ve been.
ROOT → ENTRY
Survive your own route
On the way out, incomplete layers force you into the path you skipped. Rivals rewire the board. Exposure closes in. First home wins.
Procedural board
No two breaches are the same.
Twenty-eight Track Cards become a fresh two-row network every game. Read it fast, then make it yours.
Rewrite the system.
Rewire connections, scramble facilities, ghost your movement, or corrupt a rival’s tools.
Every shortcut has a cost.
Every trace gives the Architect another piece of your route. As Exposure fills your hand, the tools you brought in are squeezed out and your options disappear. Let the system complete the lock and it severs the Payload, burns your kit, and purges you deep into the Undernet—alive, exposed, and forced to breach Root all over again.
05 // Open the Root Kit
Tools for the run.
Weapons for the race.
Every Mod competes with Exposure for one of five hand slots. Keep the right answer—or use it before the network takes that option away.
Network Mod // Blockable
Rewire
Swap two unoccupied Track Cards. The route stays marked—but the terrain beneath it changes.
Use it when: a rival’s clean return route is one swap away from becoming a trap.
06 // On the table
A machine you
can hold.
Industrial-future worldbuilding, tactical clarity, and a full network that takes over the table.
07 // Physical edition
Coming soon
Own the
breach.
A compact tactical game that opens into a table-sized network—built for sharp decisions, dramatic reversals, and the immediate demand for one more run.
Release details and availability to follow.
A network that never repeats
Twenty-eight Track Cards deal a new two-row infiltration puzzle every time the box opens.
A race with a second act
Stealing the Payload makes you the target. Winning means surviving the route back out.
Interaction with counterplay
Rewrite the board, pressure a rival, or burn precious cards to block the attack you saw coming.
Compact box. Full table presence.
Network terrain, tactical Mods, Route Ledgers, anchors, and five distinct Runners create a complete physical system.
08 // Designed by
A system built
through play.
The Architect is an independent tabletop game from JRZ Ventures LLC, developed around one central idea: the route you choose should become the problem you have to solve.
The next phase moves the system onto the physical table. Prototype sessions will sharpen pacing, clarify the teach, and make every card earn its place before the game reaches production.
- Current build
- Rules v3.5
- Development
- Active playtesting
- Owner
- JRZ Ventures LLC
09 // Get updates
Stay inside
the network.
Get prototype progress, playtest openings, production updates, and the signal when the physical edition is ready.
- Prototype and production progress
- New online and tabletop playtests
- Release and availability announcements
Open a secure channel
Entry Node open
The system is waiting.
Steal the code. Survive the return. Rewrite the world.