Have you played or read anything about these RPGs:
>Vurt >Tales from the Sprawl >The Sprawl >The Veil
What are some current trends in society or technology that would make cyberpunk cutting-edge again, rather than just a 1980s nostalgia-fest?
Luis Flores
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Asher Price
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Aaron Edwards
I guess the cyberpunks haven't woken up yet IRL.
Levi Taylor
Cyberpunk is going to have a big revival when Cyberpunk 2077 comes out. With the success of The Witcher 3, CD Projekt Red is mainstream, and well liked, enough that it's going to hit massive audiences that wouldn't have been exposed to the genre otherwise. Except maybe through Dues Ex, which was also a huge success. Otherwise just take current technology, make it a little less streamline, and make it a distopia and we're already there.
Matthew Morgan
Drones, social media trails, homogenized internet use, ar games about pocket monsters, concentration drugs, disposable computers with yearly releases, 3d printing, decentralization of globalized socioeconomic powers.
Samuel Young
What's unique about them? I know emulating the 80's feel and apperance is a big part of cyberpunk but what sets these apart from the others? Are you ultimately just playing an operating operating operations operationally with the latest big bad gun and modifications that would make you look like a walking tank that no sane person would allow out in general public?
Parker Carter
I don't know much about them but The Veil has the premise that the entire world is enveloped in a virtual reality coccoon that makes reality very malleable. That's kind of neat twist.
The Sprawl is basically Gibson's Sprawl trilogy novels in Powered by the Apocalypse RPG form, so if you want to recreate those stories its perfect.
Vurt is based on the Jeff Noon novel, cyberpunk with a British, hallucinogenic Manchester twist.
None of these are overly focused on guns.
Alexander Russell
Deus Ex isn't cyberpunk. Cyber, maybe, but not punk. You literally play as the cops.
Connor James
I could understand that, but it still has all the trappings of Cyberpunk, since you get in over your head in squabbles between powerful corporations. Having to be part of the Man in all the Deus Ex games fits as a framing device, since you can't hand off the job with a tip and you need to go to places where the games want you to go.
Hudson Walker
Close enough to get people interested in the genre.
Carter Morgan
That habitat design sucks. >Have to go through the bathroom to reach the bedroom. >Can't walk from kitchen to dining area because there's a random chair bolted to the floor >Stairs don't connect.
Brandon King
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Oliver Rodriguez
They are on Lainchan.
Colton Robinson
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Carter Bell
Yeah, was going to ask that about Vurt, I read the book a while back, was alright, and I'd heard it got a game
Very low on the "cyber", replacing it with weird shit and hallucinogenics, but a fair read.
When I started reading it I happened to be living down fallowfield way in manchester, so there was a little extra level of cool/weirdness there for me - especially the car chase and the scene following it at the beginning, seeing as I semi-knew most of the roads mentioned, and the supposed location of their flat was round the corner from where my house at the time was.
Cameron Wilson
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Brayden Lewis
The Veil sounds pretty interesting; does anyone happen to have a pdf?
Isaiah Ross
Is Otherland considered cyberpunk or just science-fiction with virtual reality?
Chase Hill
Oh wow, I really loved Vurt! I had absolutely no idea it had an RPG, thank you so much for bringing it to my attention user. I've always wanted to run a derivative campaign with the feathers.
As for current trends to put cyberpunk back on the map, have you tried watching the Black Mirror series? It uses a lot of older tropes but have rebranded them to make them feel more close to home. The episodes with social media driven dystopias, although written hit-or-miss, have an interesting dynamic that you don't quite get from older staples of the genre even though it's built from the same premises. A recent book called The Circle also touched on this and could be used for inspiration though I'd be hesitant to call it -punk of any kind, or even good writing, it just had an interesting piece of worldbuilding that would really work if it was repurposed.
Nolan Garcia
It was a pretty good novel and made an impression on a lot of people in the 90s.
Daniel Bailey
until you realize that they are the government isn't what it seems as you unravel conspiracies. I don't think the original is Cyberpunk in the same way GitS isn't cyberpunk but the prequals defiantly were
Xavier Lee
All four look like absolute dogshit especially The Sprawl.
Luke Gomez
>mfw Cyberpunk 2077 will change the face of the genre and be amazing but will probably kill the Cyberpunk 2020 roleplaying scene
Nathan Myers
>will probably kill the Cyberpunk 2020 roleplaying scene The scene is just as good as dead. You only have grognards or hipsters still playing it.
Jacob Sanders
Flickering neons, CRT monitors and interface cables are just as dead.
Jayden Lopez
The future has never been that dark.
Jeremiah Hernandez
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Adam Cooper
Why even live when there are no androids that blow mutagene powder in your face?
Julian Green
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Caleb Wright
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Nolan Phillips
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Hunter Walker
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Adam Martinez
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Cameron Cruz
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Austin Campbell
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Daniel Nelson
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Leo Stewart
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Tyler Young
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Parker Hernandez
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John Ortiz
What the fuck is all this garbage that's being posted?
Brayden Jenkins
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Ethan Evans
>interface cables Those still have a bit of a future - for large volumes of data and more secure transfer
William Edwards
You tell me
Jack Cooper
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Nathan Turner
It looks like it makes Invasion of the Neptune Men look good.
Kayden Bell
You have not seen everything, yet
Matthew Perry
Why are you subjecting us to this Z-grade Japanese shit?
Ryan Ortiz
The question is: what are you doing in a cyberpunk thread if you don't even know the classics of cyberpunk cinema?
Asher Allen
Because I watched everything last weekend and I feel sadistic today.
Grayson Jones
>the classics of cyberpunk cinema? If that shit is what qualifies as classic cyberpunk cinema, no wonder the genre's dead.
Jonathan Sanchez
You just don't get it because you're too young.
Chase Reed
That was about my face when I finished Burst City and Death Powder.
Camden Harris
No user, I don't get it because I possess functioning quality detectors.
Lincoln Turner
A man wakes up one morning to find himself slowly transforming into a living hybrid of meat and scrap metal; he dreams of being sodomised by a woman with a snakelike, strap-on phallus. Clandestine experiments of sensory depravation and mental torture unleash psychic powers in test subjects, prompting them to explode into showers of black pus or tear the flesh off each other's bodies in a sexual frenzy. Meanwhile, a hysterical cyborg sex-slave runs amok through busy streets whilst electrically charged demi-gods battle for supremacy on the rooftops above. This is cyberpunk, Japanese style.
Jeremiah Richardson
In the Western world, cyberpunk was born out of the new wave science fiction literature of the sixties and seventies; authors such Harlan Ellison, J.G. Ballard and Philip K. Dick - whose novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) was the basis for Blade Runner - were key proponents in its inception, creating worlds that featured artificial life, social decay and technological dependency. The hard-boiled detective novels of Dashiell Hammett also proved influential with regards to the sub-genre's overall pessimistic stance. What came to be known as cyberpunk by the mid 1980s was thematically characterised by its exploration of the impact of high-technology on low-lives - people living in squalor; stacked on top of one another within an oppressive metropolis dominated by advanced technologies.
Live-action, Japanese cyberpunk on the other hand, is raw and primal by nature, and characterised by attitude rather than high-concept. A collision between flesh and metal, the sub-genre is an explosion of sex, violence, concrete and machinery; a small collection of pocket-sized universes that revel in post-human nightmares and teratological fetishes, powered by a boundaryless sense of invasiveness and violation. Imagery is abject, perverse and unpredictable and, like Cronenberg's work, bodily mutation through technological intervention is a major theme, as are dehumanisation, repression and sexuality.
Cooper Garcia
>Live-action, Japanese cyberpunk on the other hand, is raw and primal by nature, and characterised by attitude rather than high-concept. A collision between flesh and metal, the sub-genre is an explosion of sex, violence, concrete and machinery; a small collection of pocket-sized universes that revel in post-human nightmares and teratological fetishes, powered by a boundaryless sense of invasiveness and violation. Imagery is abject, perverse and unpredictable and, like Cronenberg's work, bodily mutation through technological intervention is a major theme, as are dehumanisation, repression and sexuality. Sounds like shitty b-movies to me.
David Ward
Eh, Japanese cyberpunk is largely it's own thing iirc, with a heavy emphasis on gore and metal in the whole 'losing your humanity' thing
Adam Edwards
You're too negative. Get the movie, try to find subtitles, install yourself comfortably in a dark room with a notepad at hand, get your favorite poison and some snacks, and start watching the movie. Take notes if you want or just draw stuff if bored.
964 Pinocchio Burst City Death Powder Guinea Pig 4: The Android of Notre-Dame Gunhed Rubber's Lover Testsuo: The Iron Man Testsuo 2: Body Hammer
Anthony Williams
>964 Pinocchio >Burst City >Death Powder >Guinea Pig 4: The Android of Notre-Dame >Gunhed >Rubber's Lover Supposing I were to replace those with Meatball Machine and TGP.
Jordan Allen
I only chose movies made before year 2000.
Nicholas Gonzalez
Meatball Machine (2005) is a remake of Meatball Machine (1999).
Ian Long
>Meatball Machine (1999) Thank you based user! I will die less stupid thanks you.
Carson Nelson
I mean, I can't say goddamn weebs, because Japan is pretty damn important for cyberpunk, both as it's own genre and in general, but goddamn, bloody weebs (pun fully intended) and their damn Japan obsession
Isaiah Gomez
>Sounds like shitty b-movies to me.
Mostly they are, yes. Japanese cyberpunk anime are far better than the live action shit.
Ian Mitchell
Reposted from a thread cause I didn't see this general up.
I've been feeling a cyberpunk mood coming on, so I wanted to run a game about it. I was reading up on Shadowrun, and I really liked the system, but then I started reading up on how the owners embezzle money for crack and refurbishing their bathrooms, so now I'm feeling iffy about being associated with that in the slightest.
Are there other cyberpunk games out there that are good and/or fun? Perhaps even free? Don't necessarily mind crunch as long as its somewhat balanced.
Or should I just go ahead and contribute to some drugged-up thieves and buy shadowrun anyways?
Liam Mitchell
Which system has the best hacking and net diving rules?
Something that is quick (no involved mini games while everyone watches the decker) but still features a bit of depth (building a rig and getting around ICE)
I'mean developing an add on for the Star Wars ffg system, but I want to see what's already out there.
Zachary Perry
But would you really want a port in your body that can get dirty by having sweat and dead skin and oil get into it and possibly get infected?
Thomas Thompson
Just look up Shadowrun General. You can get everything from them.
Angel Allen
>Are there other cyberpunk games out there that are good and/or fun? Perhaps even free?
Brother, there are so many...and you can pirate whatever.
Kayden Peterson
But what is good, and why? Any good/recommended pieces? Or even good places to read reviews?
Carter Butler
Is asking for ay acceptable here?
I'm looking for cyberpunk prisons, prisoners, asylums, patients,etc. If it ain't acceptable just ignore this.
Mason Bennett
What is good depends on what you like. If you're into narrative stuff, try TechNoir, Remember Tomorrow or Sprawl. If you like medium crunch, there's Cyberpunk 2020, GURPS Cyberpunk/Cyberworld/Cthulhupunk, Ex Machina or Interface Zero. If you want goofy background try SLA Industries, Underground or Cybergeneration. Finally, if you want elves and magic, there's Shadowrun. The higher the edition, the more crunchy it gets.
Jaxon Gonzalez
Can someone fill me in on what the difference between GURPS Cyberpunk and GURPS Cyberworld is? WOuld I actually need either of them to run a Cyberpunk campaign in GURPS?
Dylan Reyes
Cyberpunk is the rule supplement, Cyberworld is the background
Logan Scott
Hellraiser?
Grayson Miller
And they're both 3e supplements, so you'd need to adjust things a bit if you want to use it with 4e.
Nicholas Roberts
Got my Kickstarter book from The Veil the other day. I'm filled with buyers remorse because I just can't get into Dungeon World based systems. Its a shame because the archetypes sound super interesting and the art is quite nice.
Aiden Lewis
>I just can't get into Dungeon World based systems Me neither. The Sprawl had some cool ideas but I still hated the PbtA mechanics.
Camden Wright
Any chance you'd be willing to post a few of those?
Tyler Cox
I've got all of those apart from Cybernet, Remember Tomorrow, Wyred, Zaibatsu, and Nova Prxis. What ones do you want?
Ayden Thomas
You demonstrably don't. I mean, it's one thing to shit on the Guinea Pig exploitation movies, but Tetsuo of all things?
Leo Jones
>What are some current trends in society or technology that would make cyberpunk cutting-edge again, rather than just a 1980s nostalgia-fest? >Cyberpunk >Past the 80s Why would you fucking ever
Adrian Hernandez
Japan has a ridiculous number of sexual hangoups, doesn't it?
William Martin
If you get Shadowrun, go to /srg/ and download the pirated books for free. Don't pay money.
Samuel Barnes
Just use covers for the ports.
Benjamin Lee
>implying that America doesn't
Cameron King
Because cyberpunk is still relevant. Some aspects have became outdated, but in others we are ever closer to the cyberpunkian future.
Mason Nguyen
>but in others we are ever closer to the cyberpunkian future. What a big meme
Aaron Walker
If I were sedentary and my work revolved around being plugged in sure but for a more adventerous type I would think having such holes in your body to be more of a liability.
Juan Miller
>having to work with your arms constantly raised up What kind of blithering idiot designed these?
Jaxson Robinson
Lainchan got pretty shit.
Carter Evans
It's not. Cyberpunk is about the European refugee crisis, erosion of society, and persistent mass unemployment. Its protagonists are gutter punks and illegal immigrants, not pretty and good smelling people. Cyberpunk is Jihadis not Japanese hacker girls.
Juan Moore
Nice meems m8
Logan Sanchez
>cyberpunk is terrorists, not criminals Pretty retarded amount of hair splitting.
Elijah Anderson
I think they wouldn't be amazingly common, but anyone using them legitimately would be doing high-end work
Keeping it clean would be an issue, could definitely see people who had them and had poor hygiene being especially looked down upon - a sure sign of someone with either poor sense, or someone who'd been good once but fell from grace. 'crusty' would be a good derogatory term for someone with a jack that could be similar in effect to calling someone a 'hobo'
There was a cool idea in vurt that was similar 'droidlocks'
Colton Sanders
More than that, my autism tips on the fact that what I suppose would be otherwise expensive and extenisve neural surgery is treated so non-chalatanly with cables sticking out of your head to connect to your gun or glasses and then you run into something and get them yanked out.
I'm all for crazy body modifications but if you're barely passing for human at a point then you're probably not lazing away in a comfy chair scarfing some coporate burger before your next mission.
Dominic Nelson
Same guy who designs bed space right above the kitchen/stove and (presumably) toilet.
Jaxon Smith
Surgery is generally much easier in the cyber-future, but it's still invasive so you have a good point - though I'd imagine most cable going into your head would have something to prevent yanking, even if it's just making cables snap really easily
I'd wonder what development would make surgery so much easier
Jeremiah Mitchell
Robot/AI assistance in surgery for really delicate tasks and sensative parts of the body. If nano machines are a thing maybe they do a lot of the grunt work putting in electronics inside of the body that doesn't require you to cut your way through. Figuring out ways to connect electronic components to the body and keep their powered without an external source. And, more importantly, a way to prevent rejection.
I mean, in in Shadowrun they make it sound like getting implants for your eyes is a sunday afternoon affair you do after you did your shopping.