I'm in the process of world building up a CP world for my first game as DM ever.
Shadowrun isn't my cup of tea with all the elves and magic and shit.
Is 2020 the best rule set? I heard some people say v2 was better (I think 2020 is v3?)
Why are there barbie dolls in this rulebook?
Any generic advice for a first time dm? I'm a monstrous cyberpunk fan so I'm feeling pretty juiced up and eager to write a whole load of shit up for my little world.
1. Good luck!
2. Right on, SR is too magicky.
3. Yes, CP2020 is best. V3 is mostly awful, don't use it.
4. Because Maximum Mike couldn't afford art and his wife was really into dolls/action figures at the time. We don't talk about it.
5. Nerf Skinweave, lower most armor values by about 4.
Ride the cyber-waves, choombatta.
Thanks friendo. Especially the balance changes. I have 0 Fucking clue how this game is run.
Rules ways it's basically just dnd but with a d10, broadly speaking, right?
>basically just dnd but with a d10
Noooot really, no. Because it's Skill + Attribute + d10 attributes are much more important than in other games, REF especially.
Wounds and shock are quite a bit different from HP.
Don't use the Netrunning rules as written, they're too convoluted and will bore everyone who isn't a netrunner.
Re-read the firefight rules, especially how armor layering and armor-piercing ammo works. It makes a huge difference.
Head shots can kill even the hardiest PCs. Auto-fire is super-deadly.
Basically if your PCs aren't doding or finding cover they're gonna be road meat very fast.
Gotya. Only skilled the rulebook because I wanted to make sure I got the right book before crunching down. Its Fucking massive.
Well, doesn't seem too complicated really. Thanks for your help.
No problemo. I've also got a personal homebrew that streamlines/simplifies a lot of the rules, revamps netrunning and adds a new world. The game kind of needs an update.
The netrunning system isn't that bad. You don't need to do the mini game each time you want to control stuff. You just need utility programs to do so. The cyberdeck can scan an area to find controllable devices like automated cabs, doors, cameras...
My advice as a long time CP2020 DM is to play the game as it is first. Have the players do very basic missions at the beginning. It will help you get into the system and identify stuff you want to improve. It will help the PCs get into the universe and get used to the system.
Another tip is: avoid Interlock Unlimited. It's a fucking mess made by using rules from Cyberpunk 2013 and 2020. It's absolutely inferior to classic Cyberpunk 2020.
A good resources website is the Black Hammer Cyberpunk Project.
I'll have a look when I get to my pc, thanks.
Sample easy missions I'm coming up with:
Transport crate from a to b, crate turns out to be new chip that's currently illegal (hence why crate is going through the pcs hands and not the corp's usual couriers.) the chip claims to reduce cy-psych, but actually wears off over time and can't be removed once inserted. (Thought I'd make it fun for any enterprising pc who decides to try the wares)
Kill ganger x. Ganger x actually turns out to work for the corp who hired the pcs (some mid level sec company, nothing huge), who worked as a mole for corp z. Unfortunately he fell for that hot ganger booty and wants out. Gives players a choice on where to go there. Might add a further twist that ganger x's shit was all just made up and he was saying that shit to try and protect his own hide, but I'll only drop that if the players befriend him.
Then finally I'm thinking a find missing person y, who turns out to just be one of the many fake names a super high end assassin uses. They can choose whether to find a way to discretely report Y's position, hoping not to get discovered, or fight a wave of mid to high level security forces with Y helping out.
That shit kinda sound like what would work?
I was thinking of really basic stuff, like the missions that are in the rulebook. Most are so short, you can play them right after character creation. The stuff you wrote is totally ok, too.
A thing I would avoid, are small corporations. If it's a corporation, then it should be huge. If it's small or medium then it's not a corporation, but it belongs to one (holding company, trust...).
I also would try to have a global and coherent vision of the world. CP2020 with all its sourcebooks is a mess of different and very heterogenous inspiration sources (AD Police, Appleseed, Bubble Gum Crisis, Mad Max, Neuromancer, Robocop, The Warriors, Death Wish, Dirty Harry, Terminator, Blade Runner, Cyborg, Rambo...). Try to do something more streamlined, the universe will feel more realistic and coherent.
Yeah, I was planning on all the 'small corps' that do mundane things like courier services and then like all be not son secretly owned by the bigger corps, but of course if the smaller company gets caught doing properly even for corps illegal shit the daddy company can just cut all ties and leave them to the dogs. Seemed like a realistic and thematic way for mid tier business to run.
Yeah, I've got a pretty clear world view of where tech is, how fucked the environment is etc etc. Cp 2020 is horrendously convoluted when it comes to this it seems
>Eyes fish people
If you all are looking for some newer inspiration, check out the tv show Incorporated. It's basicly cyberpunk in a post "global warming/environment fucks up world" setting. And there's lots of corporate intrigue.
Tfw 2020 is in 3 Years, where are my fully functioning Cyber limbs
They're right there, with your flying car.
2013 is v1, 2020 is v2 and 2033 is v3 (and shit)
Mfw there's a real life cybernetics model
Anyone have or know the location of the Cyberpunk 2020 V2 rule book? I can't for the life of me find a good one. All crummy abridged and singular chapters are what I can find.
Cyberpunk 2020 had two or three reprints/editions. The first one, the original one had ugly artwork and never got scanned. The second edition/reprint incorporates art from the Italian edition and a few minor rule changes taken from Listen Up You Primitive Screwheads supplement. This is the one you can find scanned in all Cyberpunk repositories. Most foreign CP2020 editions are based on the first edition/print. In term of rules the main changes are that special skills become something like über-skills, while before they were simply different skills, and rules for armor layering got included.
For the rulebooks to get you started, grab the pdfs from here: cyberpunk2044 wikia, under Resources.
Enjoy user!
Anyone has more info on the different CP2020 editions?
Have you actually tried searching 'cp 2020 rulebook pdf'? V2 is the first result, in pdf form
I'm looking for V.1 since I had some argument about special skills vs. normal skills.
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I 100% asked for this
>barbie dolls
Why had I never heard of this?
Can someone please post pictures?
Please don't, there is no V3 just like there was only 1 Highlander movie.
>CP2020
You're in for a good time.
The combat in that game is fucking brutal, love me some Friday Night Firefight.
Just let us know if you get that one guy who drops all his credit on exotic body mods.
mediafire.com
This is the rulebook you want. 2nd ed, and I've bookmarked nearly everything in there for people.
Keep it to core and the interlock books, at most. there's websites with a lot of resources, etc, but it can overwhelm people and to be honest there's homebrewed bullshit that will complicate things.
I've been a GM for 2020 2nd ed for about a decade, ask any questions you have.
OP here. Could you run me through a little babby starter game on a discord call or whatever?
In the kinda guy who learns much faster doing the game.
If you're not up to it no worries, but could we call anyways? So I can throw ideas at you and ask rules questions etc etc
Nice to see there's a moderate crowd around for proper cyberpunk too I was worried everyone had turned into shadowrun players, which I consider the pathfinder of cyberpunk.
sure thing, this might work. not my discord per say, but one I frequent often. In case you've gone to bed, my email is included here.
Sent you an email m8
responded.
also, if anyone wants to learn 2020, send me an email. I can't say I'd start a campaign or anything, but it's a system I'm passionate about and am willing to teach.
Out of curiosity, how do you guys use the dodge skill? I always used it as an active defense and I never used the "evasion mode" unless the character was only moving.
I-I arely survived coming back with it. Tell my wife I love her.
you look into the necronomicon and you pay the price, buddy
RIP
>4. Because Maximum Mike couldn't afford art and his wife was really into dolls/action figures at the time. We don't talk about it.
Actually, Mike is the one who's into action figures. He has a truly impressive toy collection, including a ton of Japanese robot toys (hey, he made Mekton) and also, yes, many fancy, expensive, customized 1/6-scale figures. Since he had them anyway, he figured he could use them for the art in the book. In addition to saving money hiring artists, he probably figured he could turn his action figure hobby into a business expense that way.
It wasn't a bad idea, really, it's just that Cyberpunk wasn't the right choice for it. Well, and the fact that the customs and photos weren't all that good. But then, nothing about CPv3 was good.
NOTHING.
What did they fuck up with the rules?
They changed them to a Fuzion compatible system. Which means that it addresses no problem CP2020 has, but it created new ones.
Fuzion is not that bad - did a lot of Sengoku and Chronicles of Lodoss War, but it doesn't suit cyberpunk particularly well, nor is it simpler than CP2020.
10 stats, 12 derived stats, over 90 skills (incl. useful stuff like ventriloquism) and 34 advantages.
>useful stuff like ventriloquism)
oh hey, like gurps
Enjoy keeping track of Hit Points, Stun Points and Endurance Points instead of having a health monitor.
Then you have the profound imbecility of the setting. A big data crash, the world is fucked, people don't know what year it is, alt-cults...
So w40k but more sensible?
That actually sounds like it makes a lot more sense than a health meter in a game that wants semi-realistic endurance (human endurance is also commonly affected by drugs, and is modded in at least a couple of cyberpunk works I can think of) and wants stun weapons to matter
most problem in CP 2020 can be avoided if the GM oversees chargen and clamps down on minmaxing
normally only hit points come up
From my Fuzion experience HP and Stun are both used (edged weapons, bows and firearms do regular damage while fists, clubs and maces do stun damage).
Yes. But it ads unnecessary complexity. CP2020 already had stun saves. Now, you have a stun meter plus a stun defense stat. Before BODY was constitution, now you have BODY & Constitution. At least they didn't keep Dexterity and Reflexes as stats.
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>What did they fuck up with the rules?
The change to Fuzion did fix one or two small issues in the Interlock rules, but is right:
>Fuzion is not that bad
>but it doesn't suit cyberpunk particularly well
>nor is it simpler than CP2020.
Also, in an issue of both system and setting, CPv3 got rid of netrunning. And Cybernetics. completely.
And it replaced them with morphable nanotech monsters. And were-whales.
I'm not joking in the slightest.
I'm glad I never discovered v3.
I mean like w-who needs cybernetics or computers in cyberpunk r-right guys?
usually against melee attacks, sometimes thrown weapons if I think it might apply.
>I'm glad I never discovered v3.
>I mean like w-who needs cybernetics or computers in cyberpunk r-right guys?
Yes, be glad. That game was years overdue, and when it finally came out, it was an atrocity. I read it from cover to cover, and it was like punching myself in the balls over and over and over again.
Ugly colors + hard-to-read layout + screwball setting + inappropriate system + action figure artwork + rampant spelling & editing errors + large chunks copypasted from previous edition (including the spelling errors) + missing text and rules = DEEP HURTING
pathfinder at least the rules fit the setting. Showrun fluff is full of stuff you can not do in the rule set.
What's a good limit on cyberware and guns for street punks?
It depends mostly on how much cash they have. A knife, a polymer one shot with two extra mags, a light Kevlar jacket and one or two systems could be enough.
By the way, happy new year!
Does v3 have a set year? I thought it was just some nebulous 'sometime in the 2030s' stuff.
Is v3 the same timeline as Cybergeneration?
At least CP2077's going to be great, right?
It doesn't, because the people cannot agree on what year it is. A gigantic data crash wiped all digital data and no one thought about printing calendars. The unofficial name is Cyberpunk 203X.
>It doesn't, because the people cannot agree on what year it is. A gigantic data crash wiped all digital data and no one thought about printing calendars.
Is there some reason why they couldn't, you know, remember?
No idea. I'm not too curious about it either.
While I trust CD Projekt, I have a profound distrust of licensed games. The trailer didn't leave me a great impression.
>5. Nerf Skinweave, lower most armor values by about 4.
What about something like this?
Trailer is actually the thing that made me discover the pnp game, it looked really cool, as a piece of movie.
I just hope they give the game as much care as w3. If they do I think we might have a master piece on our hands.
I'm not blue pulled though. I don't hold any expectations for the game even though we reeeeeeally badly need a good CP game
If there's one quote from Cyberpunk that you couold give, what would it be?
No, 2020 is the most cool set of rules.
2013 is the less ridiculously broken.
v3 is terrible, setting-wise, the rules are meh.
Barbie Dolls is v3, not 2020. There's no "v2" or "v1".
Zaibatsu is the superior game.
No one leaves Night City, excepted in a body bag.
>4x30mm
>range over 10km
Someone cannot into air resistance.
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Yo that's shway
Yes, ok. Cyberpunk (nowadays called Cyberpunk 2013) was v1 of the Cyberpunk RPG.
Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0 was v2, and it's the one which people usually refer to when saying "Cyberpunk", and Cyberpunk v3 which isn't by Mike Pondsmith is just called, well, v3. It's not v3 of the Interlock rules though since it's Fuzion (Fuzion being Champions + Interlock).
Actually my bad, Cyberpunk 3 is called 3.0, not v3.
Anyway, play Zaibatsus by Paul Elliott.
Zaibatsu is even more outdated than Cyberpunk 2020, but if you like pixel art, synthwave, Neuromancer, Black Raine and Japan in general, give Zaibatsu a try.
You can also halve all armor values for a more gritty feel. Or keep them as is, you know. It works.
Zaibatsu is 1994, actually. And from reading and playing it, it's obvious that Paul was heavily inspired by DMing Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0 and wanted to make a lighter Cyberpunk game that works.
Or if you mean outdated as in retro, yeah, it has its own ridiculous quirks like retrogenics instead of cybernetics, and it's a bit too weaboo to use as-is, for my tastes. But the system works great and has clever rules.
The Witcher isn't an original CDP IP either, and they handled it brilliantly
But Witcher is based on one of the best fantasy serie that exist, while Cyberpunk 2077 is loosely based on a ok game with rather meh-tier background.
Found some cyberpunk art that I never saw posted before
Goes pretty well with Zaibatsu
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This one is more Cyberpunk 2020 (maybe it's from some supplement).
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Yeah, that looks good too.
It's from the Firestorm/Shockwave metaplot supplements for the end of CP2020.
9mm
Its a rail gun, so the round velocity is meant to be obscenely higher than usual.
I mean, its fictional, who knows.