What's your favorite cyberpunk game and why?
How would you improve your favorite cyberpunk game?
What's your favorite cyberpunk game and why?
Connor Jenkins
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Dominic Cruz
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Josiah Wood
Deus Ex you fucking casual
Evan Rivera
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Henry King
>Shadowrun
The most popular one. And it's terrible is so many ways. I think it's really holding back. The system is crunchy and complicated as all hell, isn't balanced well, and there's 3 different game systems that don't mesh well. There's Freaking elves and magic shit for some fucking reason.
It was made by people who grew up with cowboys and indians and VASTLY over-estimated how many indians were around. It's fluff has aged poorly and for some reason most of their content is really hard-up on the inter-corporate drama.
And ironically, one of the shitty things about it is the corporate culture surrounding it. See: Loren L. Coleman embezzelment. How un-punk can you get?
>Cyberpunk2020
The system is SHIIIIIIT
>GURPS
You gotta love gurps.
>Eclipse Phase
WAYYYYY to far future for cyberpunk.
>Interface Zero
This is the one I want to try next. I've heard a lot of good things about it.
Jackson Brooks
>How would you improve your favorite cyberpunk game?
Better introductions.
It's a dystopian high-tech near-future where corporations have risen above national powers. They're practically sovereign and run most of the world in a very direct way. There have been massive catastrophes, political upheaval, and big agents of change. But there has also been technological progress; the Internet and gadgets are ubiquitous. The blind can see and the lame can walk with cyberware. We've developed space. And the human lifespan can be extended greatly... if you can afford it.
But you're not (usually) up there living the high life with semi-immortal space CEOs. You're down here in the gutters trying to scrap by as punks. Cyberpunk RPGs revolve around criminal enterprise. You are criminals being paid to perform illegal activities. Although, "illegal" is more fuzzy now-a-days, as even the cops are for-profit corporations and legality is usually tied to someone's profit margin. But in the free-market orgy that is corporate rule, they often need plausible deniability for overly-competitive use of explosives, and shadow runners fit the bill. That's you. And in a dystopian world, there are plenty of opportunities for those willing to bend the rules and/or shoot people in the face.
Public services are now private. That includes the cops, judiciary systems, and prisons. Cities and nations hire PoPo Incorperate or their competitors to enforce the peace. By and far, all the petty things that the cops have to deal with today, like fender benders, run away kids, licenses, speeding, assault, toxic waste dumpage, and whatnot are not typically prosecuted. Unless someone pays extra for that service. Which depends entirely on where you are and who you pissed off.
Thomas Adams
Locale makes a difference
You don't casually walk up to people in the barrens. You don't slight the Don in mafia skin-bar. You don't pull the mask off a lonestar ranger. And you don't mess around with Slim. These are things you just don't do unless someone pays you to. Most of Seattle (or Denver), is loosely ruled over by lone-star (the cop corporation) and whoever claims the turf. In the affluent and bourgeois areas, the typical lonestar is a glorified baby sitter, they don't even get guns. In the slummy ganger-lands, lone-star can bust heads. In Mafia-controlled areas, lone-star is toe-to-toe and there's an tricky balance. Lone-star doesn't intrude on megaCorps and doesn't bother with the barrens. Lone-star is not omniscient and for the most part assumes you are not the vile criminal scum that you most indeed are. MegaCorps ARE (or should be) omniscient in their territory and for the most part either know exactly who you are and what you're doing there or they're already scrambling the kill-bots.
So, going down the list:
AAA: Corporate turf, federal buildings
A: Affluent. Smaller corporations or subsidies, arcologies, high society
B: Bourgeoisie. Upper-class, professionals, polite society
C: Common Folk. Middle-class America, Greasy spoons, mom&pop shops, rarer and rarer each year.
D: Dirty Slums. Gang-turf, lots of excess people with nothing to do. The SINless don't get above this level.
E: Edge of Barrens. The down-and-outers, the desperate, or those that enjoy the liberty of the fringe.
F: Fuck-you barren part of the Barrens, Wilderness. Mostly, there's no one here. It's abandoned buildings and leftovers from a more prosperous and populous age. Lots of empty suburbs and burned out buildings. Specifically in Seattle, this is a section of town that no-one pays the cops to patrol, and officials have given up on it. The law here is entirely what you can make it.
Ethan Phillips
Area Alertness:
You can escalate the area's alertness level however you wish, if you survive long enough. Occasionally, NPC's will raise the alertness around you of their own free will. Civvies won't push it above 2, criminals can't push it above 3, etc. That is, If you threaten a civvie, he may punch you, but he won't call out the swat team, he just can't. And he won't pick up an AK and shoot you if the area's alertness isn't up to three. He can't, or won't, take it that far. Players are a different matter. If they find a nuclear bomb, they're allowed to detonate it whenever they wish, and everyone else follows them to that threat level.
0: Peaceful. Normality. How the rest of the world is when you're not around. Small random chance of cops patrolling around in certain areas. Even if cops are there and see you, you can pull off a concealment check and not be harassed.
1: Aggravated. People arguing. Like when you're trespassing. This gets some attention. People call the cops in the upper areas for this sorta shit, but it's common enough in slums to just let it pass. This is as low as it gets in the bad parts of town. Cops will stop and question you, with a chance of arrest.
2: Fight. The civilized kind with fists and chairs. People don't expect to die here, but they'll get out of the way. Civvies have a chance of fighting back or fleeing. Cops will be called in all but the seediest of bars and Cops won't blink an eye to this in the slums. Cops will pull their guns (they're allowed to, you're not) or beat the unruly and they'll arrest you but they won't kill you.
2.5: Threat of blood. You whip out a gun and threaten someone, but you haven't fired yet. It can stop a fight and calm down a situation, or it can accelerate it. This is a special scenario. Civvies get a chance to secretly call the cops. Cops will always bump it up to three, you don't pull guns on cops. Now a hostage situation might be different, but I haven't planned for it.
Nathaniel Price
3: Bloodshed. Knives and guns come out and people start bleeding. People panic and flee. Cops are called in, but they take their time getting to the slums. Cops response with bullets and call for backup. This is a big threshold. (Split into firearms and non-firearms?)
4: Rampage. Lots of people start to die. Oh dear god! Some maniac is on the loose! Cops bunker down and call for the swat.
5: National Emergency. This is either a full blown riot, or the players get really lucky. The mayor calls the national guard, they bring tanks.
6: Defcon 1. The president nukes you from orbit. This really shouldn't ever happen. We're talking about the birth of Lodoz here.
Evan Murphy
And I'd incorporate as much of VIOLENCE the RPG as possible.
It's not paticularly Cyberpunk-themed in anyway, but it certainly is imbued with the typical murderhobo mentality that players gravitate towards.
Landon Evans
The fuck is The Sprawl?
Jaxon Lewis
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Eli Peterson
>Eclipse Phase and Cybergeneration in a cyberpunk game list
Mason White
>gotta love gurps
Please, Interface Zero/Savage Worlds is a million times easier to get into
My game just went Metal Gear: the team were sent to Brazil to rescue a musician-turned-ecoterrorist and found him being used as forced labour by the very company he was fighting.
Cue the ex-cop with literally no stealth ability coming up with the best plan by snapping a guy's neck with his cyberarms and taking his uniform while the literal cyberninja just climbed over the fence while taccloaked, hid behind a building and stabbed every guard who passed his spot.
Nolan Collins
That's a videogame you idiot.
Michael Mitchell
Cyberpunk 2020 is for now my favorite cyberpunk game. It's by far the game I played the most, and frankly, I'm too lazy to try any new system. I found ExMachina, Interface Zero 2.0 and GURPS Cyberpunk + Cyberworld to be decent, too, but I feel much more comfortable running Interlock (other games I played a lot were Fuzion: Chronicles from Lodoss War and Fuzion: Sengoku) than dX, Savage World or GURPS. TechNoir and Sprawl 1.0 seem interesting but I'm not so much into narrative games.
How to improve Cyberpunk 2020? Well, that always leads to heated debate. I think that each GM should modify it according to its personal needs and to suit its personal DMing style. Personally, I find CP2020 playable as it is out of the box. The only adjustment I find necessary are a revision of the price list, a rebalancing of the armor values of protective gear and cyberware and a modification about how dodging should work (for me dodging is an active defense, like blocking, and not a mode I put myself in - it should also not be a special skill but depend on Brawling or Martial Art skill). Further modifications like making a classless system, modifying the combat or netrunning system is optional.
Brody Campbell
>classes
>in a modern/future setting
>a modern/future setting where you can literally plug skill chips into your head and instantly know how to do something
kek
Kayden Davis
Classes can be removed, but I don't find it to be a prime necessity. I removed them and let the player choose 10 "professional" skills. But players will often create their characters using existing character classes as basis. If you play a solo-type you will always have at least Combat Sense, Awareness/Notice, Athletics and Brawling. With that 40% of your skill pool is already pretty much defined. The 60% that are left will depend on the character's specialization (bodyguard, soldier, assassin, street samurai, bouncer, etc.).
If it pleases you, you can make a solo with Combat Sense, Awareness/Notice, Athletics, Brawling, Gambling, Geology, Interface, Seduction, Personal Grooming, and Demolition. It will be kind of hard to justify, though.
Justin Sanders
I there any cyberpunk RPG using the Open D6 engine?
Evan Sanchez
>Personal Grooming
>Geology
>these are fucking skills in a cyberpunk game
This is another thing I hate about the system, the skill list is longer than the fucking Bible with shit your average edgerunner is never, ever going to use.
I honestly feel Savage Worlds does CP2020 better than CP2020 ever did. Currently running a game using a mix of its fluff and Gibson (see ), it's based as fuck
Mason Sullivan
I don't understand how people can't just ignore the skills they find useless.
Julian Lee
Because they take up space on the character sheet that could be used for shit that actually matters. Also with a skill list that long there's gonna be one guy who takes a skill that the GM never gives any use. Congrats, you wasted skill points on fucking Flower Arranging or whatever the hell useless ability.
Aaron Myers
>Because they take up space on the character sheet that could be used for shit that actually matters
So make your own sheet
>Also with a skill list that long there's gonna be one guy who takes a skill that the GM never gives any use. Congrats, you wasted skill points on fucking Flower Arranging or whatever the hell useless ability.
Yeah god forbid someone chooses skills on the basis of their character concept or background, instead of just minmaxing like a cheesy cunt
Sebastian Young
People complain that the skill list ist too long. Protip: The skills are listed alphabetically and you only need to look the ones you put levels in (11 to 15 skills at most). Writing all skill on the character sheet wasn't necessary but it's no fucking big deal.
The reason why there are so many skills is because CP2020 is not only a game about professional shadowrunners. You can also create "normal" characters (scientists, lawyers, reporters, workers, call-girls, dancers...). The so much praised GURPS has easily twice as many skills as CP2020.
Also, keep in mind that with CP2020 you don't have to deal with advantages, disadvantages, feats, moves, quirks, spells, pools, different types of dices, cards, action words, exact mapping and whatnot. Everything you need has stats and they are clearly written on your character sheet. A RPG system could not be much simpler.
Ian Barnes
>having your investment of points mean something is min-maxing
What kind of retard are you? Go look at Savage Worlds or nWoD's skill list and see how a decent system does it.
SW turns everything that has no bearing on basic competencies you'd expect from an action genre game like shooting people or driving a car into specific Knowledge skills, while nWoD has broad skills that have specialties that suit whatever specific concept you have in mind (Flower Arranging would be a Crafts specialisation, for instance)
Noah Butler
spoilers: I fucking hate GURPS too
Ian Garcia
>action genre game
Cyberpunk isn't only about street samurai blasting at security drones with interfaced miniguns and implanted missile launchers.
Ever read some cyberpunk stories? How many characters are heavily armed and highly augmented killer machines?
Also, this thread isn't a dick measuring contest about RPG systems. OP asked what system we like best and what we would change. So tell us what are those Gibsonesque things you added to Interface Zero.
Jordan Williams
I didn't use Interface Zero, it's a mix of SW core, the sci-fi companion for houseruled cyberware and grenades and literally just the Athletics houserule from IZ.
The Gibsonesque stuff is mostly just setting: the Sprawl minus the dome is the main setting of my campaign. Cybernetics are limited by just Spirit unlike the lower of Vigor and Spirit as in the sci-fi companion, and going over this limit risks you cracking and going insane from neural overstimulation in stressful situations. (modified d20 Fear table with your 'ware over the limit added to it, 20+ means you completely lose it)
>Ever read some cyberpunk stories? How many characters are heavily armed and highly augmented killer machines?
Molly Millions, and... Turner? I think his name was? From Count Zero. The archetypal CP2020 character is a heavily borged-out Solo with a gun the size of a baby, though, and even Case nutted up when shit was on the line at the end of Neuromancer.
At least two of the PCs in my game aren't hardcore combat guys, they're doing pretty well for themselves regardless.
Alexander Lewis
Why don't you use Interface Zero?
Hunter Jackson
I wanted a more CP2020, pseudo-retro feel and IZ's wireless hacking and different playable species didn't do it for me.
Plus finding a print copy of IZ 2.0 is a pain in the dick, at least where my FLGS is concerned.
Don't get me wrong, one day I'll run IZ straight-up, but for now I'm just going with my horrible franken-setting, complete with weapons and corps ripped bodily from CP2020's fluff.
Robert Torres
The first edition of Interface Zero seems to be what you describe. From the background you still have the Chinese Mandarinate (national anthem: youtube.com
Charles Nguyen
Still has wi-fi hacking and fucking furries as a playable species. Sorry.
Zachary Smith
I'd bring it from retro sci-fi to something more modern. I like the setting, just not the outdated stuff. I get that modems and the like are part of the feel, but it's a bit old for my tastes. Interlock Unlimited helps that, but it's still rather clunky.
Jaxson Lee
I should clarify: I didn't get too retro, most of the PCs are equipped with smartphones and computers, it just makes zero sense to me for any company with sensitive data to put it on a network with Internet access, let alone on a wireless-enabled network. Cyberdecks are pretty much just specifically-designed "security testing tools" but the general principle is the same: you need to perform a physical insertion to get in and hack most systems worth hacking.
Jonathan Smith
I like the setting of Android: Netrunner. Wish it was a full-blown RPG, it'd blow IZ and GURPS out of the water. Except for those fucking custom dice that FFG crams into everything.
Caleb Jones
Is there a lore book pdf somewhere?
Luke White
Not really. There's an artbook that just came out recently:
fantasyflightgames.com
but most of the setting details, metaplot, main characters, etc. are embedded in the card sets. And a few novels.
Henry Gonzalez
>implying FFG Star Wars isn't based as fuck and that the custom dice don't actually make each roll more interesting
Liam Green
>The archetypal CP2020 character is a heavily borged-out Solo with a gun the size of a baby, though
It's really not though. I see more fixers and techies than I do solos.
Isaiah Hall
This just means you're playing with the right people user
Gabriel White
Also cops, but they are completely underrepresented in the game.
Dylan Campbell
I think the cop sourcebook was one of the best written for 2020.
Elijah Bennett
Which book was that?
Easton James
Protect and Serve.
Samuel Barnes
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James Gomez
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Parker Collins
More capsule apartments for the average cyberpunk.
Owen Hughes
Furak! If I chiphead would post the link, it'd work better. Here it is: domusweb.it
Colton Parker
Yuck. By Japanese standards, this place is filthy-nasty. Good riddance to bad architecture.
Angel Anderson
>>Cyberpunk2020
>The system is SHIIIIIIT
>>GURPS
>You gotta love gurps.
Easton White
Christopher Helton at ENWorld writes about why Cyberpunk 2020 is one of his favorite games.
Lincoln Lewis
Haha...no, of course GURPS is terrible.
Interlock is pretty good with a few tweaks. Like trimming the bloated skill list, streamlining netrunning and getting rid of all those shock/MORTAL saves and conditions which bog down combat. And getting rid of Skinweave. Otherwise it's solid.
Isaac Nguyen
>getting rid of all those shock/MORTAL saves and conditions which bog down combat
To what end.
Josiah Clark
Lemme rephrase that:
"It is a requirement to be affectionate of the GURPS system to play CURPS Cyberpunk. As such, I have not played".
Sorry for the confusion guys.
Jeremiah Edwards
Exactly! If you get bogged by having to make a roll, you suck at GMing.
Joseph Walker
>heavily borged-out Solo with a gun the size of a baby
You probably meant: "with a gun the size of an obese adult"
Mason Miller
I don't share Helton's opinion that Cyberpunk 2020 should be played with retro tech. It's the future after all. You have suborbital space shuttles connecting Tokyo to New York in 2 hours, mag-lev trains are used for public transportation, cyberware and fashionwear are widespread, etc. I share 's opinion that what exist now (smartphones, tablet PC's, WiFi, etc), should logically also be featured in a cyberpunk game and that wired cyberdecks make sense.
IMO Cyberpunk 2020 should not set in a far future like Inteface Zero 2.0, but should be closer to us. It should be set somewhere between the early 2030's to the 2050's.
Jace Roberts
Found this for Savage Worlds.
Luis Mitchell
These rules are dreadful by comparison to IZ and the Sci-Fi companion's cyberware, but I'm and I am running the adventure series that goes with this with some minor changes.
It's some fun stuff, especially since I tied a PC's backstory into the overarching plotline which is going to be great when it's revealed he's an indentured assassin for the exact same corp their Neuromancer-esque client is owned by, and his handler's finally twigged someone's been masquerading as him to get the assassin on board with the rest of the party
Asher Edwards
I like shadowrun, I mean it's dumb, but I like dumb and strange.
Jeremiah Smith
Didn't read it. Just found it while looking for something else.
William Long
Effectively most cybernetics here change the Wild Die you roll with certain skills, which I guess works? It just doesn't sit well with me and my thoughts on what that die represents.
That and there are some pulpy optional rules there that would work horribly (certain damage rolls not being able to explode, for instance: if they couldn't do that the assassin and Solo would never have to worry about being shot at, ever).
But the adventures themselves are nice.
Jaxon Long
Ok. Still looking for a decent Open D6 or especially Mini Six cyberpunk system. Found nothing interesting so far.
Blake Adams
I saw someone did a cyberware treatment for Mini Six on one of the d6 fan forums? No idea which one.
You could try and hack together something from d6 Space's cyber, too.
Also I must congratulate you on your excellent taste, Mini Six is based as hell
Levi Martinez
I'm more of a Cyberpunk 2020 guy, but since I got Mini Six, I feel strangely attracted to it. Don't know why, though. Anyway, after much google-fu I finally found this: d6cyberpunk.wikia.com
Seems like something useful to start with.
Michael Brown
Eclipse Phase is the only cyberpunk RPG that's ever felt like it has an identity separate from wank over Gibson and shallow 1980s aesthetics.
Asher Powell
Implying EP is cyberpunk and not transhumanist
Nathaniel Martinez
The two aren't mutually exclusive, as GiTS clearly shows.
All cyberpunk really is is "a future where technology is used to oppress and those in the fringe fight back,"
Carter Sanchez
chaosgrenade.com
You might replace WyRED with REWIRED.
Dylan Johnson
GiTS is more postcyberpunk than classic cyberpunk as the protagonists are valuable members of society (governmental secret agents) instead of rebels and anti-heros. I know that some people are allergic to the classification, postcyberpunk, but it kind of makes sense.
Adam Clark
Sweet, thanks.
William Ross
It remains that transhumanist themes are naturally at home in a genre that celebrates personal augmentation and breaking taboo.
David Brooks
Should now than in the Reich of Germania free speech has been abolished by Glorious Leader Merkel.