What would make cyberpunk interesting again?
Aliens?
Retro 80s?
Psionics?
Occult stuff?
Partial Apocalypse?
Transhumanism?
World War 3?
Massive Mutations?
What would make cyberpunk interesting again?
Jonathan Bailey
Jose Evans
A good GM.
Adrian White
People don't like cyberpunk anymore cause the concept at a core is too real now
It was fun fantasy in the 80's and 90's, but now?
Bentley Long
So what would a good GM do?
Leo Reed
Well, first you've got to tell us WHY you don't think that cyberpunk is interesting.
Because I like it the way it is and don't see a need to "fix" it. Come on OP help us so that we can help you.
Evan Lopez
Relevance. All of the interesting things about Cyberpunk we live now, so you need to come up with new shit to speculate on.
Matthew Hill
Some things I find boring:
Cyberware when it first came out was amazing and cool. But every game has the same cyberware and (cyberarm, fast reflexes, smarter brain, etc) and it's gotten repetitive. Needs new ideas but without veering into superpowers.
Megacorporations rule the world. The world is affected by many other actors, from religions to NGOs to (still) nation states and country federations. Monothemes in politics ("The world is run by X!") are boring.
Oliver Torres
Rather than augmentations becoming a mundane thing why not highlight how it can shift our social views?
For instance, the people who get extreme modifications to their bodies can now do some really out there kind of shit when your skin can suddenly display moving pictures and simulate scales or fur rather then just getting a tatto. You have people wanting to gene hack themselves for whatever reason. Make that a part of the setting where the typical cyperpunk trope of the Pink mohawk "I have fiber cables coming out of my head and a lawnmower for a penis" is a point of contention for society and you become famous for that, then again it's kind of hard to do black ops when getting an erection sounds like your getting ready to do the lawn but still.
John Hill
>But every game has the same cyberware and (cyberarm, fast reflexes, smarter brain, etc) and it's gotten repetitive.
That's a problem in the games, not the fiction. Cyberpunk fiction is the exact opposite of that, with the idea being that lower class people are re-purposing technology to fit a different role.
Jonathan Hughes
>What would make cyberpunk interesting again?
>again
I'm sorry, I don't see where the problem is.
If you were to make adjustments, though:
hit up two important points.
Transhumanism is a big thing. Eclipse Phase did it right.
Psionics are useful depending on genre. Eclipse Phase ALSO did it right.
Retro 80s styling is okay-to-great depending on how it's done, but not a necessity. It's very much a specific genre of cyberpunk. I like it, personally, but I also aim pretty close to a "cassettepunk" aesthetic (I didn't come up with the term) when I play/run cyberpunk. Slightly different, more early 90s than early-mid 80s.
posted something I was going to mention while I was already typing, so I'll just point at him too.
Basically, cyberpunk itself has become real, you have to go to the next step. I don't even really treat cyberpunk *as* cyberpunk any more; in popular depiction, it's the step between modern-day settings and casual-space-travel science fiction. The punk roots have largely been lost, and only the cyber really remains.
Shadowrun is the only mainstream cyberpunk game left (Eclipse Phase has nowhere NEAR the same brand recognition and Interface Zero has even less, don't kid yourselves, especially if you're German). It keeps its punk roots to an extent, but the 4th edition and 5th edition writers have largely phased out those elements in favor of expanding on the magical and technological progression. The only way to fix it would be a total rewrite or a system move. Start promoting Interface Zero (generic cyberpunk) or Eclipse Phase (very setting-specific but very well written as well) if you want "interesting" cyberpunk again.
Oh, and don't discount the Asian influence. Japan being the world's dominant power is an eminently cyberpunk concept, and you don't see it in near as many other genres. China supplants Japan in science fiction, and Japan... just wasn't relevant, really, before the 20th century (tl;dr version).