I'll be DM'ing my first session of 2020 soon Veeky Forums and was wondering if you had any advice. Are there certain things I should avoid outright, tweak so that the game isn't broken, etc.?
This is the first time I will be DM'ing 2020 or anything for that matter, and the first time my players will be playing 2020 as well.
First, congratulation for your excellent taste!
Now, to your question. Cyberpunk 2020 is a pretty old game. Therefore, many people with many different tastes and expectations have played and modded it. Some added crunch, others simplified the system, etc. Even if you ask here, people will give you different and contradictory advices.
My first advice is to play the game as it is, first - it works. Have your player do a short and simple campaign that will let them explore the game world and the different options that are available to them (cyberware, drugs, guns, vehicles...). This way you can identify the things that bother YOU and your players. You can then search for mods to fix them.
Pretty much everyone comes to develop a set of houserules for this game, but like suggests you really have to find what suits you. Personally I never liked the career system and let players built their own, for example. If I would give some advice, it's that you should be very careful incorporating the sourcebooks without putting some checks in place first.
That with the sourcebooks would have been a next tip. The "flavor" of the different sourcebook doesn't really match. Also, the info found can be contradictory.
Ex. Home of the Brave starts by saying that the USA are completely broke, but then it explains how its military is super-powerful and can easily destroy any corporation - that soldiers would be payed like only every three months, that there is no money for spare parts for jets and submarines, that pilots cannot fly because theres no jetfuel, that computer systems didn't get any upgrade during the last 5 years, etc. is completely missing. Deep Space pushes it even further by describing the NASA as a super-powerful organization, the only space agency on earth with kickass military spaceships, not even the ESA has - we don't exactly understand how the Euros could gain the supremacy of orbit with only some shitty transport shuttles and cutters.
Another example is the rulebook saying that Earth is completely polluted - oceans have become oily swamps, birds have died, etc. Yet, the Night City sourcebook claims that the beaches of Night City are good to swim - we're not speaking of swimming pools, but of the ocean. Somehow, Night City is completely broke and can barely maintain one police station, the US government is broke, but the beaches can be cleaned and the water purified so people can go swimming? Some people will say that it's a tourist attraction. But what tourists do you hope to attract in the world's most dangerous city?
I had made some rough cyberpunk aesthetic guides a while ago.
It could be a good idea for you and your players if you would do the same. Search pictures of buildings, people, guns, vehicles, equipment... that fit your vision of cyberpunk. This will allow you to streamline your universe and avoid the big hodgepodge cyberpunk melting-pot Cyberpunk 2020 is.
Here is the guide I had made for earlier cyberpunk aesthetic. There should be one more that would come in-between (mid-90s to early-2000s), but I had no time to make it, yet.
Here is another doc I had made to show my vision of a cyberpunkish city.
Is that Rocky being beaten up by Molly Millions?
lol
What's a good way to keep it things 'classic' cyberpunk without going full 80s retro?
Simply replacing Neo Tokyo with a Neo Bombay or Neo Hong Kong ( which even ghost in the shell did) feels pretty uninspired, I'm sceptical the Asian economic bubble is going to last that long.
It looks like it, yes. It's the DM screen from the French edition. The rulebook was absolutely dreadful, but the editor, Oriflam, managed to make the best looking screen of all editions.
Divide all Skinweave SP ratings by 2. Trust me.
We feel so attracted to Neo Tokyo, Neo Hong Kong or Neo Deli because those locations feel exotic to us. Cyberpunk "adventures" could take place in any megacity of your choice. New Paris, Neo Moscow, New York Metroplex... it doesn't really matter. Cyberpunk is also pretty international. Characters often travel from one location to another - which is also realistic as if you just did a heist in Los Angeles, you would be pretty stupid to stay there and not to hide in Panama or Shenzhen.
Cyberpunk IS 80s.
Use Tokyo.
It's too familiar now
Yeah good point.
I mean I could set it somewhere grounded and believable, like a contemporary american city that sprawled after the economic growth of trump's presidency, (hell night city itself is in Northern California, not too far from San Fran) but it hardly makes for a cool exotic locale.
Nowadays, Caracas and Manilla are cyberpunk cities (lots of people, strict class-division, high levels of violence, black market, political unrest...).
A good cyberpunk city needs a mix of rich and poor, High Tech Low Life. You want big international corporate types rub shoulders with the small time crooks. Where having friends in low places it's just important as high.
Another cool place for a cyberpunk game set in a not-so-far future would be Mossul. We can imagine that the Kurds of Syria and Iraq manage to keep the land they took from IS and form a new country, Kurdistan. Mossul would probably the capital and the geographical hotbed.
Kurdish security forces. Kurdish hardliners who support the Kurdish guerrilla in Turkish Kurdistan. Iraqi, Syrian, Iranian, Israeli, Russian, Chinese, Turkish, European and American secret agents, each with their own agendas. International arms dealers. IS terrorists. Refugees from Turkish Kurdistan. Foreign mega-corporations trying to win government contracts (electricity, water, health care, medical care, defense...).
Caracas and Manilla have both. Super-rich and super-poor. Bogota would be pretty good, too. Thinking about it, Dubai could be an interesting place also.
But user, it's cyberpunk. You ARE retrogaming. The net is gonna be some mystical led display, where the hacker is gonna work his magic, more than a corporate extension of our bodies like it is now.
We do live in a post-cyberpunk world right now.
This summer we played some cyberpunk. Total 1980s aesthitcs and all, 2020 etc.
We were in Mexico, and jokingly we decided the reason we couldn't escape to the US (arguably not much better but at least the cops didn't want our head) was the new bigass wall they erected at the border.
The Wall of Trump.
Now I think we're not gonna play Apocalypse World, at least not with an apocalypse after the period IRL we're playing in.
I consider Bangkok to be a perfect example of a cyberpunk city.
>Bangkok has a sulfurous reputation.
>It's big and it's crowded - it stretches over kilometers.
>Society is very structured - you have this cyberpunk mix of super-rich, rich, middle-class, poor and super-poor. The different groups sometimes mix but it's pretty rare. The rich have their shopping malls (Gaysorn, Siam Paragorn, Terminal 21...), the middle-class has it's shopping malls (Big C, Carrefour, Lotus, Platinium...), the poor have their markets, etc. The rich stay in their gated communities and luxury condos, the middle-class stays in cheap condos or old apartments, while the poor live in shitty slums.
>There's an interesting mix of high-tech and tradition.
>The nightlife is pretty "dangerous and exciting".
>Neon lights and advertising.
>Work laws are very liberal.
>Mass media completely promote stupidity (mostly advertising, crappy news show, stupid talk shows and lakorns).
I would replace Cyberpunk 2020's drug production rules by this: ambient.ca
Here. Have a picture of an Arasaka strike team. Beware the guys in black!
Get on your phone and download the free App "Friday Night Fire Fight" to make combat and netrunning easy as pulling a trigger. Thank me later.
Pic related.
I'll probably do that once we get to the point where people start buying Skinweave SP. I remember hearing that it was too powerful in another thread
OP here, you guys fucking rock. I'll definitely try everything out first and get a feel for the game. Thanks for all your help, I'm even more excited to get this session started.
Not OP, but you're my favorite tripfag now. I had no idea this existed.
Many people argue that armor values are too high in Cyberpunk 2020, that the system is broken... If you compare the values to real data, one could say that armor values are way too low. Let me explain.
Body armors are rated to stop bullets up to certain calibers. Getting hit by a bullet is unpleasant, even if your armor stopped it. I will assume that armor always lets 4 to 6 points of damage pass at maximum to simulate this.
Level II body armor protects from calibers up to .357 Magnum. DMG of highest caliber is 3d6+1. SP should be between 13 to 15. That's as much as a Kevlar jacket or a flak pant.
Level IIIA body armor protect from calibers up to .44 Magnum. DMG of highest caliber is 4d6. SP should be between 18 to 20. That's already close to the heaviest body armors available in CP2020.
Level III body armor protects from calibers up to 7.62x51mm FMJ. DMG of highest caliber is 6d6+1. SP should be between 31 to 33. That's more than a MetalGear armor.
Level IV body armor protects from calibers up to 7.62x51mm AP. DMG of highest caliber is 6d6+1, but SP is halved. SP should be between 62 to 66. That's 50% more than an armored AV.
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
Little playlist I had compiled: m.youtube.com
...
Big thing to remember is that skinweave in all but the lowest SP values makes your skin look like plastic. In the retro style, looking good is incredibly important. If someone is walking around looking more fake than a Ken doll, have people react to it.
>Too ugly, get out of my establishment.
>Bullet-proof faces tend to be people who get in firefights, get the fuck out of my bar.
sort of deal.
People who take shortcuts for safety should be prepared to deal with fallout to those decisions.
Good point!
As if the bars that cyberpunks frequent would care about big bruisers having plasticky skin...
Some good points, but if you're going to invoke that level of detail you should remember that level 2-4 armors use hard ceramic plates to give that kind of protection. These plates break after 1 shot. So you would have to have degrading armor based on hit locations.
Also, if you have a fixed armor value that always has a fixed protection level that's as good as the max damage roll, then why bother rolling damage at all? Just say:"the guy shoots you with a .44 but you're immune." At least for one shot in the same location.
Is that Plog art?
Yeah, but what about when you have to go to the fancier establishment for an info drop? Or need to sneak into a brothel? or meet with a Corp? And then just walking home with you bag of kibble, and Cops start profiling you?
...
yay! I did a good!
Everything you can see is real or synskin. Under that three piece designer suit is a combat ready corp killer. Pic related: Its subtle from a glance, but the second you look at it, you see the difference.
>you
Meant that >you for another post. Miss pasted.
If I remember correctly, Home of the Brave states that national militaries just have more stuff thanks to being national. Corporate militaries are significantly smaller for the most part, with the largest topping off with 100,000 active combat units. Corporate soldiers are also spread all over the world, and not concentrated to one nation like national militaries are. The U.S. military is falling behind, but they still manage to tell corps to fuck off when they need to.
That said, Deep Space sucks and isn't really considered canon (Considering it takes place in 2025). There is also a lot of really odd differences between the two Europe books, like the game not being able to decide whether or not the Soviet Union exists.
Realism aside I kinda feel that PCs and important NPC really need high armor considering the highly lethal combat.
I know it's not exactly 'hardcore', but I'm not exactly a fan revolving door characters.
Lethal combat is a charm of the system. Best way to keep a character alive is just to mitigate risks.
All modern plates have multi-hit capacity. Level 2 and 3a armor is soft, trauma plates might be built in to soften the impact.
>Lethal combat is a charm of the system. Best way to keep a character alive is just to mitigate risks.
Hence the Armour.
If you have a netrunner you may want to modify the netrunning rules, or just get them to focus on utility based netrunning skills like opening doors or hacking cameras. The way the netrunning system is set up you run the risk of spending an hour with a netrunner doing their stuff while the rest of the party does nothing. I personally would just avoid the grid based webspace maps and focus on them firing off programs like they were regular weapons in play. I also give my runner a pool of points to use on their utility rolls,determined by their deck and interface level, since often they only have a 30% chance of landing a utility program. The points can be used for them to up their chances.
It is easy to get overpowered in CP2020 so be sure that you set clear boundaries on what the players have access to.
C2020 Combat is lethal. I am running the 6th game of my current C2020 campaign and so far we have only had one major combat, and they are still hurting from it. There is a 10% chance to get a headshot, and they do double damage. A good head shot can kill a PC easily if they don't have any head armor, and any mook with a gun could potentially pull it off. This isn't going to be like in D&D where your party can live through lots of combat and heal instantly after ( healing is VERY slow in this game) - make it so they have other options than just shooting their way out of their problems. The game lends itself to roleplaying really well, utilize it.
Cyberpunk runs best on mysteries, conspiracies, allegiances being forged and broken, and having your players explore the world and the social ramifications of the technology.
Start off with a vague idea of your world, but do a session zero where everyone does their lifepaths together. have them try to forge back stories with one another, and use the npcs, organizations, and events, created in their backstory in order to flesh out your game world.
You can have as much stuff as you want, if you have no money for paying your troops, no money for fuel and spare parts, your gear will just lay around and your fighting force will be completely uneffective.
The best example would have been the Russian armed forces at the fall of communism during the early 1990s. Soldiers and officers didn't get payed for months and were completely unmotivated. To make ends meet they'd sell military gear on the black market. Most of the heavy equipment was just laying around, rusting, waiting for better times. Once war broke out against small Chechnya, the Russians got their ass handed over by a small force mostly equipped with infantry weapons.
In Cyberpunk 2020 the US nuclear submarines would be rotting in their pens, the F-22 and F-35 would mostly be grounded due to high maintenance costs, same would go for tanks. There would be no money to purchase ACPAs or AVs. Soldiers would desert. Etc.
Use the right kind of ammo to defeat armor:
>JHP Ammo (SP x2, DMG x1.5, Cost x1.5)
>JSP Ammo (SP x3, DMG x2, Cost x1.5)
>FMJ Ammo (SP x1, DMG x1, Cost x1)
>AP Ammo (SP x0.5, DMG x0.5, Cost x3), restricted, reserved for governmental or corporate (police, corporate security, etc.)
>HV Ammo (SP x0.25, DMG x0.5, Cost x5) weapon must be modified (50% weapon’s cost) otherwise REL -1 category (UR weapons will jam automatically), most likely illegal, reserved for governmental or corporate use (C-SWAT, etc.)
>APHE (SP x0.5, DMG x2, Cost x10) only for weapons of caliber > 10mm, highly illegal, reserved for governmental or corporate spec ops (SEAL, Delta Force, Arasaka elite black ops, etc.)
Also, hardened leather shouldn’t have SP 4. SP 1 is already generous.
Inspired by GitS.
...
...
...
...
...
Best cyberpunk is black and white cyberpunk.
Got a iphone version somewhere?
iPhones are not cyberpunk enough, chombatta.
...
...
...
the only advice you really need is to not allow players to stack up armor to ridiculous levels, really. if yiu warnt hem and they still do that, bring out the heavy artillery from chromebook 1 & 2, they deserve it. no, really. this isn't D&D.
oh, ah yeah, another advice is: use chromebooks 1 & 2. and use it to represent the technological curve, throwing weapons that the PCs are not familiar with at the players. which is why players should never be allowed to browse these books.
...
i agree that the armor values in CP 2020 are fine. the problem is that players tend to maximize their armor values like they would do in real life (it's only sane), however, that goes against the spirit of the genre. if they were so sane, everyone else would be too and you lose the fast & loose cpunk aesthetic, as everyone is running around in heavy armor in the streets.
therefore, i argue that the GM needs to punish players who load up on armor.
Logically, you shouldn't be allowed to stack body armor at all, with exception of SkinWeave and subdermal armor.
If you wear an armored jacket, you cannot wear another jacket or a MetalGear on top of it. If you have some form of cybernetic plate armor (torso plate, face plate...), it won't be covered by SkinWeave or body armor. Same goes for cyberarmor on cybernetic limbs.
by which i meant buying skinweave, subdermal armor and the heaviest conventional armor available. that's when the system threatens to breakdown for normal firefights.
Sauce?
Urbance. Link: youtube.com
You cannot always wear the heaviest armor available. CorpSec won't let you walk around in a MetalGear or doorgunner's vest. You won't be able to pick up chicks at Rainbow Nights wearing a helmet, a flak vest and flak pants. Looking like Briareos from Appleseed will make most social interaction very difficult and will basically make you an outcast - bouncers don't let you in clubs, barmen refuse to serve you, cops are always checking you out and infringing on your rights. SkinWeave makes you look like shit. Etc.
yeah once you leave the club, you switch into something more heavy. you know what players are like. a CP 2020 GM must keep a lid on this crap.
It's up to the DM to put an halt on that, buy really enforcing the rule that armor isn't socially acceptable and wearing it outside a war zone, or not when in intervention, will get you unwanted attention. Forget shadowing someone, forget working as a lookout, forget intrusion, forget fast-talking, etc. You won't be able to enter most corporate areas, you won't be able to enter an airport or mag-lev station, you won't be able to enter a mall, gangs will try to get you to get your stuff, etc.
Also, one thing I did, was highlighting how important initiative is during combat - either you're fast or you're dead. Keeping that in mind my players always looked for armor with the smallest ENC-value.
I kind of like this neon color style.
Would be the kind of people who frequent Rainbow Nights.
The drinks they have must be heavily inspired by Cyberpunk 2020's Smash.
...
...
...
...
for Cyberpunk 2020, Akira can be a great example of "what would happen if I introduce psychic powers into the game?"
Isn't there a CP2020 supplement from Ianus that treats the subject?
iPhones are quite literally, real life corpshill tech for clueless idiots.
So no.
>That Picture
>Ctrl+Z
>Thinking anything less than a total hard drive reformat will forgive your sins.
>Thinking Apple hasn't already recorded everything as you do it
Your wetware is obsolete. Time to scrap it.
>CP2020 Cop campaign
>My face on the left
>"If you had skill score over 6 you shouldn't be a cop, but rather exclusively do that skill professionally."
>"Also, here's all the skills you need to be cop and here's some extra homebrew skills you gotta have too. Also half of your skills are auto placed on those 'cop' skills."
>My face on the right when my highest skill score is fucking 3.
Weird. Normally you should have 40 skill points for your 10 professional skills. Would make an average of 4. If the GM adds more professional skills, he should give you more skill points (4 per extra skill). Otherwise, your character will be way too weak.
I have 42 total skill points sooo yeaaaah...
>This isn't going to be like in D&D where your party can live through lots of combat and heal instantly after
WotC D&D*. Classic D&D is easily more lethal.
For how many skills?
You mean total skills in the sheet?
Just counted, 56 different skills in the sheet.
I meant for your character, not in total.
PS. With 56 skills your GM cut already the total skill list by half.
Like I said, 42 skill points.
Total skills that have points: 25
Mind you, GM auto spreaded many of those skills.
25 skills!!! That's absolutely excessive!
I used a modified system where PC have a minimum of 12 skills (in practice they have usually somewhere between 13 to 16 skills). Athletics, brawling, and awareness/notice would automatically start at +1. Then, players had 40 + INT + REF skill points to distribute among the skills.
Did you already watch spoony's video on it?
It's boring as fuck and ads no insight whatsoever. Watch it if you have nothing better to do.
...
True, but C2020 is still more lethal. Healing magic really helps in classic D&D, and there is no real equivalent in C2020.
>Total skills that have points: 25
Jesus Christ. The 10 class skills and 2-4 pickups is all you need to start.