2-19-96. NYT: "In this new game, you'll never play with a full deck." Sometime next month a game will be played on the Internet, challenging surfers to leap between sites, solving puzzles and cracking codes that will give them access to secret data hidden behind firewalls and software barriers. The new game is Netrunner, set in the "dark techno-future" in which "ruthless corporations scheme to accomplish secret agendas as they build elaborate fortresses of data." In opposition to such plots, "anarchistic netrunners hack the system, infiltrating data forts to liberate information." It was created by Richard Garfield, who applied his doctoral training in combinatorial mathematics -- a field that studies the interaction of objects in complex systems. " 'Magic' Casts a Spell on Players." Magic was invented by Richard Garfield, who revels in his shoelessness. "I like to wear socks or slippers indoors," he said, padding around the Puck Building in thick. off-white socks. Developing the game took Mr. Garfield, who has a doctorate in combinational mathematics, all of a week. NET_run