Showing posts with label Cyberpunk2020. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cyberpunk2020. Show all posts

Thursday, April 10, 2025

Recent Gaming (spring 2025)

Lots of gaming lately. Here's some highlights:

My Amber Diceless Roleplay campaign continues to go strong. It's rolling on 5 years now, roughly twice a month, so we've recently crossed our 100th session with the same characters. Dworkin/Oberon's universe was destroyed, and the action now takes place in Corwin's universe and another universe that Fiona created, plus the occasional scene in the tiny islands of primal matter in the Abyss that were left when the old universe imploded. Those are basically the only place where Brand can exist without the "immune system" of the other universes trying to destroy him.

I just wrapped up my Feng Shui 2nd Edition campaign about a week ago. The players foiled a really major push by the Ascended to conquer 2 of the 3 Junctures they didn't already control. This caused a Critical Shift (the second one of the campaign) and after a truly epic battle we ended with the PCs stepping into a portal to a future they don't know.

For the same group (as played Feng Shui), I'm now prepping a Cyberpunk Red campaign. Scroll down to my last post, from earlier this week, to read about that. 

It was a bit of a toss-up among the group whether we wanted to do Cyberpunk or Pendragon, so in the next few months I'll be reading The Great Pendragon Campaign and the Book of Uther and doing bits and pieces of light GM-prep for that, so that when Cyberpunk wraps up, I'll have that in my pocket and ready to go. But, given that the last two campaigns for this group ran multiple years each, I'm not too worried about getting Pendragon ready in a hurry.

I'm also now playing in an RPG as well. A friend of mine is running Night's Black Agents, aka spies vs vampires. In NBA designs their own vampires and determines whether vampirism is supernatural or superscience or literally infernal demon hell-powers. Our campaign is taking place in the 1980s, so in the two sessions we've played thus far, we've had to sneak across the Berlin Wall three times now. Our characters have rescued a journalist, and the goons who were holding her captive had weird mysterious creepy stuff going on, but we haven't really connected that they (or their leader) is a vampire yet. There's one of them that makes us instantly nauseous when we get near them, but we haven't really figured out why. A different one jumped on top of our car and ripped the roof open trying to kill the journalist, but the roof-rider burst into flames when we shot the heck out of her. We're not at all certain what to expect, or what we're up against. Unraveling the mystery is pretty fun, and the uncertainty makes it easy to tap in to the fear and bewilderment our characters are experiencing. 

This weekend I got together with some friends and played the card game Innovation and the board game Thunder Road.

Innovation is really good, but kind of overwhelming the first time you play.I had really good early turns, or so I thought, as I was in the lead in points and achievements.  Unfortunately, in the mid-game I just could not manage to draw cards with any synergy at all. Well, really the problem was that I had a great hand, but I foolishly commented on it, so someone Melded a card that they could then use via Dogma to steal my hand. I didn't even know that was a possibility... but, duh, I should have, it's not like this is the first game to ever let you steal cards from another player. I just never recovered. Good game, but boy does it have a ton going on.  It's sort of a civilization-builder, where every card is an invention or cultural breakthrough. You start in the stone age, and end in the far-future. Every card in the game is unique, and they all have multiple unique ways to play them. So while I liked it a lot, I imagine its' not going to be good match for everyone.

Thunder Road is much simpler. Just good chaotic Mad-Max style shenanigans. Sort of like if Gaslands or Car Wars was a streamlined racing boardgame. We played with the Chop Shop expansion, which adds cool asymmetric super-powers to your cars via a drafting mechanic at the start of the game. I enjoyed it a great deal, and may end up buying the game and that expansion. Based on just one play, it seems like the core game without that expansion is very light beer-and-pretzels without much depth, but that expansion made every turn interesting and unpredictable. 

I continue to play the occasional solitaire-RPG or solo-skirmish miniatures game when I have insomnia. For the solo-RPG I've been mostly running D&D, with one PC (a Satyr Circle of Stars Druid) and a rotating cast of lower-level NPC sidekicks. When I started I had to lean a lot on the Solo Adventurer's Toolbox and its sequel. I'm a little more freeform of late, but that book is great for getting you started and comfortable with solitaire play.  

And every once in a while I boot up Cyberpunk 2077 or Baldur's Gate 3, but I have to be careful with those because man can I ever lose an entire evening just rearranging my darned inventory. When that happens, I feel like I've wasted a resource (my life, my time) that I'll never get back... and yet, I love both those games so much.



Sunday, April 6, 2025

Meatwagon In The Time Of The Red

Starting a new campaign soon. It'll be Cyberpunk Red, with the PCs being the crew of an REO Meatwagon Combat Ambulance. If you've consumed any flavor of Cyberpunk, you've probably heard of Trauma Team, the premiere combat ambulance medical extraction company. REO Meatwagon is the low-budget disreputable version. 

I'm setting it up like an episodic TV show. Every session will have an A-Plot and a B-Plot. 

The A-Plot is "this episode's story" that's usually going to be an emergency call, where the PCs show up in the middle of a terrible situation and have to try to get their client out alive. Often this means going in guns-blazing, but sometimes it will be more of a puzzle or require subtlety.

The B-Plot will be a few roleplaying scenes around the edges of that, which tie in to one PCs backstory or personal arc each session, or perhaps advances "this season's simmering meta-plot" in the background.

I've done something similar to this in a one-shot before, and it worked great. Now I'm going to find out how well the idea holds up for a longer campaign.


Planning to assign IP a little differently than the books suggest. 

  • Making any serious attempt at the A-Plot scores everyone on the team 50 IP, even if they fail. 
  • If they save one or more paying customers, and deliver them safely to a Hospital (or other place the customer says is safe, provided the customer's not bleeding out or KO'd) the group +10 IP per customer saved. 
  • Engaging with the B-Plot in any way (e.g.: not just hanging up on the NPC) scores an extra +5 IP for the team.
  • If that B-Plot scene is a real dirty suckerpunch that seriously complicates the character's life, hits you in the feels, or someone's roleplaying really impresses the GM, everyone gets +10 IP bonus (beyond the usual +5 from the B-Plot)

The intention then being that the PCs gain 50 to 75 IP per session, which is a little higher than the average the book assumes, but not crazy high. Doing it this way to motivate the players to engage with the plots in particular ways, so there's just a little extra push to try to save a customer. Also to give you a reason to include NPC friends or family in your backstory so it's not just "I'm an orphan and a real loner" as many people seem to love to do with Cyberpunk. I find there something about dystopian futures that really make folks want to create dysfunctional lone-wolf bad-asses by default. 

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Why I Haven't Kicked Recon

Mercs/Megacon, the company that made Myth (which I really liked) have another Kickstarter wrapping up in a few days. Mercs:Recon looks like an interesting game, but there’s a few things holding me back. Really this is the post where I talk myself into it, or out of it.

Okay self, why should I NOT irresponsibly throw oodles of cash at Mercs:Recon?
  • 1) I’ve got too many cooperative minis games right now. For the last week I’ve been posting about Myth, Galaxy Defenders, and the upcoming Shadows of Brimstone. The only way Recon will get any play time at my table is if I retire 2 or 3 of the other games permanently. Much better to save my money for the inevitable Myth Expansions kickstarter. Recon is more of a "one-off" board game, and not campaign-style. That does make it easier to jump into on a off night, but at the cost of some of the fun and investment.
  • 2) It’s not cyberpunky enough for me to use the parts for something other than the game itself. Futuristic mercenaries breaking into a corporate high-rise sounds like it should be right up my alley. I love CP2020… but this game only has about 10% of the CyberPunk aesthetic. The game has minis for modern-day office workers and private security, and for futuristic mercs in MetalGear, but not for anything that represents the core player characters of a CP2020 campaign. If there were cyborgs, or street punks, or even glamorous CEOs in fancy italian suits and evening gowns, it might be worth my kicking in for the minis. I kinda want the office-building map tiles, and the add-on purchase 3D terrain and drones, but at this point there’s better ways for me to spend my $135. While that's not their fault, they aren't making CP2020 the minis game after all, it definitely means the game itself would need to be more compelling because there's nothing else for me to do with the parts.
  • 3) The four playable factions don’t seem different enough. 3 of the 4 are indistinguishable to my eye, all being decked out in basically the same power-armour and armed with the same style of weapons. The sample character sheet was all about bonus dice, instead of more colorful abilities. Character niche seems a little shallow at first glance, though that could just be a marketing failure. If the other elements were compelling enough, I could get past this issue.
  • 4) I’m not so thrilled with the stunt-casting. Remember how Galaxy Defenders has minis that are clearly lifted from Aliens, Predator, MIB, and RoboCop? That’s kinda cool, but very distracting. It undermines immersion, and leaves a weird taste in my mouth about the setting. Now Mercs:Recon also has a mini lifted from RoboCop, not to mention a couple from Die Hard and, of all things, Tango & Cash. What!?! Rambo and Snake Plisken I might have been able to get behind, but Tango & Cash? Really? That's what you thought gamers were dying to play?
Tango & Cash scored 39% on Rotten Tomatoes.  Just sayin'.
  • 5) The Myth pledge level is a bad deal. For a $40 pledge, you can get just the stretch-goals that come with a Myth tie-in. At the time of this writing, that’s 1 figure that comes with 2 cards. By the time you’re reading this (I’ve written so many posts today that I’m scheduling them out to go live one per day), they may have hit the next Myth-related stretch goal. That’d be a second miniature, with about 30-35 cards. Still not a great deal, and not Megacon’s best mini either — it’s hard to get excited about a mini that’s intentionally generic enough to kinda sorta fit both the near future and medieval fantasy europe. If the kickstarter gets another $100,000 past that, it’ll unlock 4 zombie minis that most likely come with a single card.  Are 1 to 6 minis and 2 to 40 cards worth $40? That kind of pricing is what drove me out of WH40K. The original Myth kickstarter was $100 for 150+ minis and 200+ cards, so you know the cost to manufacture any given component can't be very high. I'm a little worried that if people buy into this, it will set some really bad precedents for what Megacon can charge MSRP for a single figure.
Good points, self. You’ve convinced me to stay out of this one. Though there is a little voice over my bad shoulder that tells me objections # 2, 3, and 5 could all be negated if there’s some cooler stretch-goals added in the final days. I wonder how I’ll feel about it a week from now when this post goes live?

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Recent Gaming Projects

Been a while since I've posted, but I've been keeping busy. Here's a brief statement of the gaming-related projects that have been keeping me busy:

  • Death Warmed Over is a new Zombie Apocalypse RPG that I'm writing. The first playtest will be this Sunday.
  • Interior Dredmorating 1.2.4, the latest version of my mod for the rogue-like Dungeons of Dredmor, has been released. It features new rooms (including new shops and zoos), vastly improved artwork, and miscellaneous tweaks and fixes. I've got some exciting news to announce soon about ID and DoD, but for now I must remain silent.
  • My Continuum campaign continues ahead on it's two nights. Both play-groups are about a session away from major tangles with narcissists. Ron and Heilyn are about to rescue a fellow spanner from a narcy nest in 1998 London, while Declan and Casey are currently planning to foil a narcy serial killer operating in Basel, Switzerland circa 1530. Should be some exciting sessions in the next couple weeks.

So I'm keeping very busy on multiple fronts.

Bonus Fun Link: Nokia has patented vibrating tattoos that talk to your phone. Cyberpunk may actually be here by 2020 after all. You know this tech is will lead straight to sub-vocal mastoid communicators and Mr Studd implants. All night, every night, and she'll never -- wow, that's incredible sweetheart, where'd you learn how to -- no, wait, that's just my phone.

Friday, December 18, 2009

Cyberpunk F#

Last night I ran a sequel to the old Cyberpunk "MOC" campaign, using F# instead of the clunky old rules for CP2020. I really like F#, it scores highly in the flexibility, elegance, and collaborative story-telling arenas.


Tone and Themes:
The setting aspects were:
  • "Dark Comedy" would be the prevailing theme.
  • Cold, harsh world where life ain't fair, the rich abuse the poor, and cybernetics is cheap and dirty.
  • The PCs are crazy enough, or desperate enough, to join a gang that indulges in random mayhem.
It was a lot of fun, but didn't quite capture the feeling of the old campaign. I think that is because the GM doesn't have any real fangs in F#. The GM can give out negative aspects as a form of damage, but the rules strongly encourage only doing that once per session per PC, and you really can't kill off a PC at all. There's no fear of death, which for many settings is actually a good thing, but probably isn't in keeping with the tone of Cyberpunk. In the old campaign, when the big fight broke out at the end, the PCs would have run and probably scattered - heroism in CP2020 gets you killed. Instead, the PCs stood toe-to-toe with the badguys, and there was nothing I could do to really make them sweat. They had fun, and got to be courageous, so perhaps I shouldn't complain.


Plot, such as there was:
Despite that tonal difference, the game was a lot of fun. The PCs were loser punks in a bizarre little gang that gets together for random mayhem rolled up on Morton's List. The List told them that this week's adventure would be to commit a major act of vandalism in another gang's territory. There were hijinks (involving the night city transit authority officers) on the bus-ride into enemy territory, a dead body in the park-and-ride, and then a big gang-vs-gang conflict at the soup kitchen.

The enemy gang was the Kennedy's Posergang. They faced off against cybernetically-enhanced duplicates of JFK, RFK, MLK, Jackie O (in pink), old Teddy Kennedy and Mayor Quimby. Okay, Quimby I probably never would have done in straight-up CP2020, but the improvisational nature of these light systems just takes me over the edge.

JFK had retractable head armor that (once deployed) was described as dinged up and chipped such that you could tell people liked to play Oswald on him. He was the gang leader, and eventually unleashed a very anime-style attack, where he shouted "CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS!" and launched a dozen micro-missiles. Jackie O had souped up Cyberlegs and did a ballerina attack. The "Vote Quimby" sash had a built-in monowire. Teddy's weight problem was actually enhanced Skin Weave. Etc. Governor Connolly was driving the get-away convertible. It was pretty stupid, but quite enjoyable at the time.


Character Sheets:
F# gives PCs 6 Aspects, which I've found is probably more than you need. Most PCs end up with some that overlap, and since Aspects don't stack, there's not much benefit to be gained with it. I tried to mitigate this a bit, by restricting the Aspects into categories to encourage diversity on each PC. It also let me ensure all the PCs were properly CyberPunk. The blank character sheet looked something like this:





































RatingAspectCategory
+2This space left blank for the player to fill in. Useful piece of cyberware, cool gadget, or bio-implant.
+2This space left blank for the player to fill in. Bizarre useless cyberware, or just something that defines the look of your character.
+1This space left blank for the player to fill in. What type of hoodlum, criminal, ganger or loser are you?
+1This space left blank for the player to fill in. Other background element or character backstory
+1This space left blank for the player to fill in. Catch phrase
+1This space left blank for the player to fill in. Your choice, this can be anything.

Most characters had one major piece of cybergear, some managed to squeak a second out of the bizarre / fashion category, and everyone had the option of using the last category for one more major tech bit if they wanted.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Chipped-in Wage-Slaves

Over at Pair o' Dice, they mentioned the concept of chipped workers in Shadowrun (and the same could be done in Cyberpunk), people who are slaves to the company they work for. A company that never had to train them, they just plugged in a skill chip that guides the worker's hands. Scary, creepy, sci-fi fun. And it's only a few years off.

Talking about it, Scott at Pair o' Dice wrote:
Wageslavery as a Backdrop to the Action

I am not suggesting players take on wage slave characters (although some runners have backgrounds as an ex-wage slave or corporate drone), that would probably be a terribly dull game.

But I gotta say, that actually gave me two really cool campaign ideas that aren't dull at all:

  1. A game where the PCs are wage slaves, and some sort of mix-up happens. One day, they show up for work, and their "Assembly Line Efficiency & Company Loyalty" chip has been replaced with a "Urbo-Anarchist Badassery" chip. Or just a Martial Arts chip. You're playing ordinary people who suddenly have a single maxed out skill, which was no doubt slipped to them by someone for some reason. Cue the clues, interspersed with Matrixy fight-scenes. You have to break out of work, with company property still in your head, and the pursue the mystery.
  2. A game where you don't play the meatbag, you play the AI. I'm a super-spy that only exists as a skill chip. Plug me into a person, and I immediately over-ride their personality as well as tacking on a couple of very important skills. If things go south and I need to lay low, I just convince someone else to try this awesome skill chip instead. You'd play the same character, but have new character sheets and background every time you swapped your plugging. There's some logistics to work out about the couple seconds between unplugging from your current body and getting plugged in to the other, but I'm confident it could be explained in a way that would at least diminish the risks and plot holes. If the persona lingers for a few minutes after the chip is pulled out, for example, or if the last thing you do before unplugging is auto-hypnosis. Every NPC you meet that has a visible chip socket becomes a potential bodysnatching.
Anyhow, the blog post over at Pair o' Dice is pretty cool. Check it out

Friday, February 20, 2009

Savagepedia

I posted some of my house-rules for Savage Worlds to Savagepedia today. It's a Savage Worlds wiki. Everything I posted there was already on this blog for some time, with nothing new beyond some organization-related edits and minor clarifications. Here's the relevant links:
  • Cinematic Damage: aka "1 Hit = 1 Wound" rule. Speeds up damage rolls and prevents random anticlimactic PC death.
  • Non-Arcane Cybernetics System: Uses a new thing called The Cyber Die instead of making Cybernetics just another form of Arcane Background (as I'd seen elsewhere).
  • Cyberpunk 2020 Setting Conversion: A framework for catching the feel of R. Talsorian's classic setting without losing the mechanical elegance of Savage Worlds.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Back to Cybersavage

Here's a far better Cyberware system for Savagepunk 2020 then that dreadful thing I'd put together last month. This version is super elegant (but has yet to be playtested, and will result in a very cinematic campaign if used), and doesn't require making a Savage Worlds equivalent of the Chrome Books.

The Cyber-Die
The Cyber-Die works very much like the normal Wild Die in Savage Worlds - having cyberware is very much like having a second Wild Die. You roll it in addition to your Trait die and Wild Die for anything that the character's cyberware could effect. As with the Wild Die, you keep only the highest die rolled. PCs will frequently roll three dice and use just the single highest die.

Categories of Cyberware
Cyberware falls into a few basic categories, and these types determine what sort of rolls the corresponding Cyber Die can be rolled with.
  • Cyber-Legs: Applies to Climbing and Swimming checks. May also be used on running rolls, adding the better of two dice to your base Pace. Since a large amount of your flesh has been replaced with metal, you may use it on your Soak rolls, too.
  • Cyber-Arm: Applies to Climbing and Fighting skills (the later of which makes the Full Defense combat option a bit more attractive than normal). You may roll and add your Cyber Die to the damage total of your unarmed attacks. Since a large amount of your flesh has been replaced with metal, you may use it on your Soak rolls, too.
  • Cyber-Senses: Applies to Notice and Tracking skills. Can also be used to resist Smarts and Agility tricks. The GM may allow you to use it to resist social rolls when someone is lying to you, as the improved senses will pick up their tells better.
  • Neural Ware: Applies to Agility rolls (but not to skills). Applies to Spirit rolls made to recover from being Shaken. Can be used on Shooting rolls on any smartgun you plug into.
  • Cosmetic Enhancements: Applies to Image rolls, and to any roll where your Charisma Modifier could be applied. If you're gaming with a silly group that rolls to find out how good the sex was, this would certainly apply.
  • Synthetic Organs: Applies to Vigor rolls to resist Diseases, Poisons, Fatigue, and environmental effects. Also applies to Soak rolls, and rolls to recover from being incapacitated.
Starting Cyberware:
The default assumption is that PCs begin with one of the above categories of Cyberware, and a Cyber Die of d6. A cash-poor campaign about characters struggling to survive in the gutters (like the old MOC game) might restrict them to a d4. A campaign about more afluent characters at the tops of their careers would still start with a d6, but PCs would get more than one category of cyberware at the start of the campaign.

Increasing Cyberware:
For game balance reasons, additional cyberware is increased by Rank, not money. Once per Rank, a PC may spend an Advancement to either increase the size of their Cyber Die, or to pick up an additional category of cyberware. The Cyber Die represents not just the tech, but also how well you've acclimated and mastered the use of your enhancements.

Optional Money Rule:
Still only allow the Cyber Die to be increased by Rank/Advancement, but you could allow someone to buy the parts

Humanity Loss and Cyber Psychosis:
Willingly having parts of your body carved out and replaced with chrome and circuitry takes a psychological toll, making you cold, distant, and inhuman. Every time you improve or increase your Cyberware (except via minor Chrome, see below), you gain a permenant -1 penalty to your Charisma.

Installing Chrome:
You don't just want better eyes, you want better eyes with telescoping infrared vision. You don't just want a cyber-arm, you want one with a digital "kill counter" that ticks up every time you grease another scumbag. Part of the fun of having a Cybered character is the various options, gadgets and subsystems. For simplicity, we'll call all that good stuff "Chrome".
Chrome is primarily cosmetic and minor. Chrome almost never gives mechanical benefit (if you want your cyberware option to give some extra benefit, take an Edge to represent that boost), but they can give narrative/flavor benefits, similar to the way players can decide on the Trappings of their PC's Powers. If the narrative benefit seems too potent, the GM can deny a particular bit of Chrome, or choose to allow it only if the PC takes an additional -1 penalty to Charisma as a trade off or some other penalty to balance it.
Chrome is free, but you are restricted in how much you can have. At character creation, characters may choose two bits of Chrome. Every time they go up a rank, they may choose one more. Every time they increase or expand their Cyberware, they may choose another.

Chrome Examples:
Players are encouraged to make up their own Options, but here's some short lists to get the pumps primed for you...
  • Cyber-Legs: Spring legs. Telescoping legs. Talons. Built-in spike heels. Skatefeet. Hoverskirt. Cyberlegs that look human and normal.
  • Cyber-Arm: Digital kill display. Tool hands. Detachable fingers. Concealed weapons. Pneumatic Piston Arms. Telescoping arms. Joints that rotate nearly 360º . Four arms.
  • Cyber-Senses: Telescopic. Microscopic. UV. IR. Recording devices. Nasal filters. Eyes that change colors or display messages on the iris.
  • Neural Ware: Reflex boosters. Datachip sockets. Math processors. Smartgun link. Remote piloting. Built-in phone or modem. Music database.
  • Cosmetic Enhancements: Grooming nanites. Mood skin. Furry. Adjustable cup size. "Mr Stud" implant. Pheromones. Concealing your other Cyberware.
  • Synthetic Organs: Communicable antibodies. Ultra-efficient digestion. Perfect bladder control. Internal air bladder. The ability to mentally shut off circulation to wounded areas.
Further ideas for Chrome can be found in any Cyberpunk 2020 book.

The point isn't to have Chrome add extra powers. Instead, Chrome does two things:
It looks cool and is fun to narrate.
It explains why and how you get the benefit of rolling a Cyber Die.

Cyber Weapons and Cyber Armor:
Any armor or weapon can be installed as cyberware, and so can most bits of equipment. Doing so costs 10% more than the mundane equivalent. The benefit is you can't accidentally leave home without it, and you can't be disarmed.
There's two drawbacks:
  1. Each such built-in item inflicts a -1 Charisma penalty as it edges you deeper in Cyber Psychosis.
  2. It's pretty obvious. A cyberlimb can hide a weapon or two via Chrome, provide they aren't big anti-tank weapons. Cosmetic Enhancements can use Chrome to make armor look decorative, or hide a few small weapons or gadgets. Beyond that, if you're a walking tank, it's probably obvious to any cop, bouncer or booster that sees you.

In Summary:
Wow. I wrote a lot of words, but the overall concept is pretty simple and there's not much added to character creation. You get a Cyber Die and a couple of fluffy "Chrome" options. The Cyber Die can be improved (to a higher die, or to apply to more types of rolls) once per Rank. To "balance", you get -1 to your Charisma. You get another free bit of Chrome at each rank and each time you improve your Cyber Die. Have fun making up your own Chrome.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

New Professional Edges for Savagepunk 2020

New Professional Edges for use with Savage Worlds games trying to emulate the feel of Cyberpunk 2020.



Badge (Professional Edge)
Requirements: Novice, Vigor d8+, Guts d8+,
You don’t just have police connections, you’re actually a part of the force. A character with this edge is a cop or a member of a licensed security service with the legal right to use deadly force. It functions like the Connections edge, but if you use these connections to commit a crime, the GM is free to make you the target of a nasty Internal Affairs investigation. In addition, you have a fancy badge you can waive around to make the riff-raff get into line. The authority and power invested in you by your law-enforcement credentials gives you a +2 bonus to rolls of Intimidate and Persuasion whenever the target of your rolls is afraid of being arrested.


Sway Audience (Professional Edge)
Requirements: Novice, Spirit d6+, Artistry d8+, a positive Charisma modifier
Your artwork has been known to move people to action. While performing (or via a gallery show or other large exhibition) you can sway the crowd to your way of thinking. With a successful die roll, you can affect larger than normal groups of people. A success on an Artistry roll can affect up to 20 people, a raise brings that up to 100 people. Each additional raise doubles the size of audience you can affect.
You can get people to sing along, inspire the crowd to feel a strong emotion, or even provoke them to riot. Getting more precisely controlled action requires not only an Artistry roll, but also a Persuasion roll. The lower of the two rolls determines the maximum number of people influenced, following the scale sited above.
In order to have this impact, you must have an audience. If no one can see or hear your art or message, it will fail to move them. This is not magic.


Jacked In (Professional Edge)
Requirements: Novice, Smarts d6+, Computer d8+, CyberEnhanced
You’ve undergone the necessary cybersurgery and neuroaugmentation to directly interface with computers. You have neural plugs and/or a short-range wireless interface. The upshot of this that you may give commands to computers via thought, rather than keyboard or mouse. You may interact with computers from several feet away, not needing to sit in front of a monitor, and you have an internal heads-up-display of any computer you’re interacting with. What’s more, your reaction speed is much faster than those archaic hardware systems would ever have allowed.
You may take one extra action every round without penalty, but only if that action involves giving a command to a computer or rolling your Computer skill. Therefore you can monitor two computer programs at once, or even search a database while dodging bullets.


Investigative Reporter (Professional Edge)
Requirements: Novice, Smarts d8+, Spirit d6+, Guts d8+, Image d6+, Artistry d4+
You’ve established your reputation as a hard-hitting reporter and champion of truth. Your regular column or special reports pull no punches in exposing corruption, incompetence, and evil amidst governments and corporations alike.
This gives you a +1 bonus on Persuasion, Intimidate, Streetwise and Taunt rolls. In order for the bonus to apply, you must be using the name that you publish under – you can’t be entirely anonymous and use your reputation at the same time. Should you make a public statement that is later proven false, you lose this benefit for about a month.
The other benefit of this Edge is that your editor or publisher has great confidence in you. You get a +2 bonus to any rolls you (or they) make to resist pressure to censor your work or pull you off of a case.

Savagepunk Roles

In Cyberpunk 2020, character Roles are really important. They’re thecharacter classes of CP2020, defining your likely initial skills, andyour special power.

Savage Worlds has nothing of the sort. Butit does have Professional Edges, which allows me to create abilitiessimilar to the Role powers of CP2020.

The primary roles (and their corresponding special skills) of CP2020 are:
  • Cop – Authority

  • Corporate – Resources

  • Fixer – Streetdeal

  • Media – Credibility

  • Med Techie – Medical Tech

  • Netrunner – Interface

  • Nomad – Family

  • Rocker – Charismatic Leadership

  • Solo – Combat Sense

  • Techie – Jury Rig

…andthen there’s some variants in sourcebooks. There’s a variety ofdifferent cultural groups (Spacers, Gangers, etc) that have renamedversions of the Family ability. One of the books had some Stripper orProstitute class with a special ability called Vamp.

Looking at that list, I don’t think I’ll have to make Professional Edges for all of them.
  • Mostwould be just variations on the Connections Edge. Family (and it’s manyderivatives), Resources, and Streetdeal could all be viewed as justConnections with flavorful trappings.
  • CP2020’s Jury Rig isclose enough to SW’s McGyver. Mr Fixit and Gadgeteer kinda catch thefeel as well, but are a bad match since CP2020 doesn’t really allowthings with the power and versatility of Savage Worlds’ ArcaneBackgrounds.
  • A Solo’s Combat Sense can be covered in Savage Worlds via Danger Sense or Level-Headed or Quick or some combination of those.

That does leave a few things for me to design before we can start the game…

3 Savagepunk Skills

A cyberpunk-influenced game of Savage Worlds needs a couple of extra skills that aren’t on the normal savage skill list. These are (as I see it) Artistry, Computer, and Image.

Artistry (Spirit)
This skill governs composition, innovation and style for endeavors of the performing and visual arts. Consider it a gauge of talent and design sense. It does not convey an understanding of art history or musical styles (those would fall under various Knowledge skills), nor does it grant flawless virtuoso performance or photorealistic renderings (either of which is probably best handled by an Agility roll should they ever prove necessary in game). What Artistry does determine is how compelling your style is, and whether or not people think you’re cool. A successful roll of Artistry means the audience likes you. A roll with a raise or two grants you the metaphorical 15 minutes of fame, possibly including glowing reviews, future gigs, lucrative contracts and/or being hounded by the paparazzi as the GM sees fit.

Computer (Smarts)
This skill governs your ability to use, program, optimize and hack computers. It’s what you roll to break into the enemy datafortress, speed up your own processor, search for hidden files in memory, wipe a drive, or install new software. You can also use this skill to size up a computer system by sight, guessing its likely capabilities. Internet searches typically use Investigation, as that skill governs your ability to piece together clues and follow leads. (If it’s a fairly simple fact-checking or database look-up, don’t even roll, just assume anyone with even d4 in Investigation, Computer or any relevant Knowledge can find it.)

Image (Spirit)
This skill is all about what you wear, how you wear it, and how you carry yourself. It’s how you fit in, and how you stand out. It serves as a measure of how well you control your personal image, and also governs your taste in clothing, the size of your wardrobe and the extent of your acting and personal grooming skills. A successful roll of Image can catch someone’s eye, or, if you’d rather, it can hide you in a crowd. Any attempts to disguise yourself use this skill, as well.
In addition, a successful roll of Image just prior to any scene allows you to adjust your wardrobe and perceived style to match (or impress) the group you expect to interact with in that scene. Make the roll as you arrive at the scene’s location, and specify the group/organization/culture your roll applies to. If you succeed on the Image roll, you gain a temporary +1 bonus to your Charisma when interacting with that group. This assumes you have at least a casual awareness of the group. If you’ve been lied to or mislead about their personality or nature, the bonus can’t be used. If you interact with any groups that are radically different from how you've dressed yourself, the bonus becomes a penalty. Dressing to fit in with the Fashion Yakuza won’t do you any good on Posergang turf, or vice versa.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Contemplating Options

I'm working on a random chargen system for use with SavageWorlds campaign that is designed to capture the feel of Cyberpunk 2020.I wantthe system to be reminiscent of the Lifepath charts from CP2020.

However,insteadof charts, I want a shorter & more abstract system. I thinkI'llhave it use playing cards: Cards are used for initiative inSavageWorlds, but not much else, and I'd be happy to justify theirexistencea little more. As a plus, it might feel a bit reminiscent ofthe systemfrom the original Deadlands (and/or the tarot card spreadsfrom 7th Seasourcebooks).

I think I'll have each PC be definedby 5 cards,and each card represents a specific event in yourcharacter's life thathelped define the person they became. Possiblyit's draw 7, discard 2,but it may just be 5-card stud. 5 is a nicenumber - it's notoverwhelming or overly detailed, and a normal SavageWorlds PC gets 5Attribute points and 15 Skill points. That means Icould try:
  1. Eachcard gives you +1 to one specific Attributeand +1 to 3 skills. Thiswould work with a draw 7, discard 2, method.Characters would be alittle random, and tend towards generalization.

  2. Eachcard givesyou +1 in one of your choice of two attributes. Likewise,each cardgives you 3 points to spend on a short list of two to fourskills. Thatway, two PCs with similar events in their past wouldn'tbecarbon-copies. However, it would also make the chargen systemslower,so I'd be tempted to make this a straight draw system. This mayplay havoc with the system by which Attributes limit Skills in SavageWorlds - what happens if you get 3 skill points but the skills inquestion are above your attributes so they cost 2 points per level?

  3. As #2, above, but instead of skill points, you get +1 to three skills from alist of 3 to 5 per card. We dodge the Attribute bullet by disconnecting skills from attributes at chargen. More exciting cards can also give you Hindrances and Edges, as long as the card balances out. On the plus side, we don't care whether the PC has the legal number of Edges or Hindrances, since they don't (in this version) ever get to take Hindrances on their own, and, when all is said and done, only get to pick Edges to represent cyberware. The big downside is that PCs are even more random than the previous method.

  4. Eachcard gives you +1to one skill (on average). In addition to the 5 carddraws, PCs get 5 attribute points and 10 skill points. This gives you alot of flexibility in character creation, but at thecost of making thecards/backstory less important. However, it means the Attribute-to-Skills feed becomes more important since PCs can customize the character more.

  5. Cards only give Hindrances and Edges. Attributes and Skills remain yours to pick and spend as you see fit.

There's probably a few other options I haven't even considered yet.

Savage Cyberware

Update/Edit: This post is a nightmare. You'd be far better to use my new system, which is far more elegant, and doesn't add all this unnecessary complication to the character creation process. I'm leaving this old post here for posterity, but the new Cyber Die system is a huge improvement. It puts Cybernetics into Savage Worlds without adding ridiculous numbers of Edges to your typical character, as the system below did...

Context: Cybernetics system for Savagepunk 2020.
CyberneticEdges are only available as bonus edges via the Cyber-Enhancedbackground edge. Because they can be made inaccessible by damage(until repaired), they should be marked or recorded on a different partof the character sheet. Other Edges may be taken as Cybernetic Edges, provided a good rationale explains them as such. If taken as a Cybernetic Edge, the Edge is treated as Cyberware from then on, and is vulnerable to being damaged.

The following tend to be a little bit better than normal Edges, which hopefully is balanced/mitigated by restricted access (unless the PCs are rich, they can only get these at the start of the campaign) and the vulnerability of being shut down when damaged.


Cyberarm
Cybernetic Edge
Requirements: Novice, Cyber-Enhanced
Oneof your arms (your choice) has been replaced by a cybernetic limb thatis stronger and harder than organic flesh. This gives +1 to yourdamage for Fighting attacks made via that arm, +1 to any Strength rollsmade predominantly via that arm, and grants +1 parry.


Cyberlegs
Cybernetic Edge
Requirements: Novice, Cyber-Enhanced
Yourlegs have been replaced with cybernetic models that are faster,stronger, and harder than organic flesh. This gives +1 to your Pace, +1to your damage when kicking, and +1 to any Strength rolls made torepresent things you’re doing with your legs.


Cybersenses
Cybernetic Edge
Requirements: Novice, Cyber-Enhanced
Oneor more of your sensory organs have been replaced by cybernetic devicesthat with superhuman capabilities. This gives you +2 on rolls of Noticeand Tracking where such a sense would be useful.


Expanded Sensory Data
Cybernetic Edge
Requirements: Novice, Cyber-Enhanced, Cybersenses, Notice d8+
Yourcybersenses are augmented to not only outperform human senses, but toextend to frequencies that humans don’t normally perceive. You may seeinfrared or ultraviolet, hear ultra- or sub-sonics, etc. You may ignorepenalties for darkness or other environmental distractions to yourNotice, Tracking, and attack rolls. This also opens up possibilities ofsecret communication via those expanded frequencies, should equipment,some other Cybernetic Edge, or player ingenuity come up with a means.


Smartgun Link
Cybernetic Edge
Requirements: Novice, Cyber-Enhanced, Cybersenses, Shooting d4+
Yourgun is wired directly into your brain, with a targeting reticle in yourfield of vision or heads-up-display, and the ability to fire by simplythinking “shoot”. When wielding a Smartgun, you add +1 to your Shootingrolls. Nearly any shooting weapon may be purchased in a smartgunversion. Smartguns cost double dollar value of a “normal” version, andtypically must be special-ordered from gun stores. They cannot be firedby anyone who doesn’t have a Smartgun Link. A smartgun must be pluggedin and/or turned on before it can be fired, so drawing one requires anAgility roll. Should a Smartgun be broken or damaged, the difficultyto repair it is 2 higher than for the normal version.


Cyber-Armor
Cybernetic Edge
Requirements: Novice, Cyber-Enhanced
Whethervia covert subdermal armor, Kevlar fibres woven into the skin, or moreobvious external plating, your body is protected by a layer of armorthat can’t be removed. You gain +2 armor to your entire body, and itnegates 2 points of AP from bullets. You may wear normal armor overthis with no penalty.


Improved Cyber-Armor
Cybernetic Edge
Requirements: Seasoned, Cyber-Enhanced, Cyber-Armor
Thebonus armor from the Cyber-Armor edge is improved by +4, to +6 total.The AP negation to bullets is increased from 2 to 4. However, thisarmor is too bulky to hide (though it may still look flashy, it doesn’thave to scream “armor”), and you can no longer combine it with externalarmor (such as helmets or kevlar jackets).


State-Of-The-Art
Cybernetic Edge
Requirements: Novice, Cyber-Enhanced
Viaadvances in miniaturization, power systems, polymers, and otherscientific breakthroughs, an amazing new marvel of technology has beenpacked into your alloy-and-organic chassis. When you chooseState-Of-The-Art, pick one other Cybernetic Edge (or non-cyberneticEdge being taken as a Cybernetic Edge) you are purchasing at the sametime. You may reduce any one requirements of that Edge by up to twosteps. For example, if the Edge normally requires Fighting at d10, youcould take it with a Fighting of just d6. If it’s normally a LegendaryEdge, you could take it while at Veteran Rank. However, you can'treduce two different requirements - only one.
You may takeState-Of-The-Art multiple times, but only once per Rank, and only onceper affected Edge. Subsequent State-Of-The-Art edges must apply todifferent (new) Edges.


Weapon Arm
Cybernetic Edge
Requirements: Novice, Cyber-Enhanced, Cyberarm, Strength d6+
Yourcyberarm has a built-in weapon. It may be any type of gun or meleeweapon you can afford, provided that you are strong enough to carry it.As an extra restriction, your Strength code must be higher than anysingle die in the weapon’s damage code. So, a character with d8Strength could have a shotgun, knife, or most pistols built-in to theirarm, but not a Molecular Sword, since that weapon’s damage codeincludes a d8. Note that the +1 damage bonus of the Cyberarm adds tothe damage of the Weapon Arm if it’s a strength-based weapon, but hasno impact on what size of weapon can be built into the arm.
If theweapon is a small one that normally requires only one hand to use, itmay be somewhat concealed in the arm, requiring a Notice check to spotit when not deployed. Larger weapons, however, are obvious to even acasual observer.


I've got lots more ideas for CyberneticEdges, and the above is just rough drafts. The design goal is basicallyto convert the feel of Cyberpunk 2020's various cyberwear into SavageWorlds without going to the painstaking detail that CP2020 dictates.

Remember,they work just in the context of the proposed system from a few postsago, so they can be a little bit better than some non-Cybernetic Edges.I'm also toying with a lifepath system, a bit like Cyberpunk 2020,which would make characters a little more random than in normal SavageWorlds, so putting slightly more power in these Edges isn't a horriblething. That said, I do still have to be careful about power creep.

I'll be posting more (and possibly revising some of the above) between now and when I run the first session.

Update/Edit: This post is a nightmare. You'd be far better to use my new system, which is far more elegant, and doesn't add all this unnecessary complication to the character creation process. I'm leaving this old post here for posterity, but the new Cyber Die system is a huge improvement. It puts Cybernetics into Savage Worlds without adding ridiculous numbers of Edges to your typical character.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Savagetics (Updated)

Update/Edit: This post is a nightmare. You'd be far better to use my new system, which is far more elegant, and doesn't add all this unnecessary complication to the character creation process. I'm leaving this old post here for posterity, but the new Cyber Die system is a huge improvement. It puts Cybernetics into Savage Worlds without adding ridiculous numbers of Edges to your typical character, as the system below did...

Background: as seen in previous post, I'm toying with the notion of Cyberpunk in the Savage Worlds setting. So I'll need rules for Cybernetics, Genetic Modification, Bioware, Wetware, and the like.

A quick search of the interwebs turned up Cyborgs as a monster trait and Cybernetics as an Arcane Background on Savagepedia. Neither is quite what I want, but it's got my brain cells running.

I don't want Cybernetics as an Arcane Background. Specifically, I don't think Power Points really capture the feel of CP2020 cybernetics. Your standard cyberarm doesn't run out of power and need to shut down for an hour. For that matter, most of the 31 powers in the Explorer's Edition don't match up to Cybernetics terribly well. Your cyberarm's extra strength doesn't line up well with Boost/Lower Trait. My cyberarm doesn't make my legs stronger, or make your arms stronger, or make you weaker, or make me Smarter, all of which can be done with Boost/LowerTrait. Sure, Trappings can reign that in, but you'd have to pump up theother aspects of the Power to balance. If you're gonna do that, why notjust make a Cyberarm Edge that does it for less complexity. There maybe Cybernetics that make sense as a Power or Arcane Background, butthat'd be the exception.

Afterall, I'm not looking for CP V3 level supertech. I'm looking for good old fashioned chrome and bolts.It's not Clarkean, it's not the Lost In Space remake, it's not sonic screwdrivers. It's mostly just wires and bitz where your flesh used to be.



That said, here's my gut instinct / second draft.

Players start off by making normal novice characters. There are no Arcane Backgrounds, and it’s generally understood that at this point they are buying the “meat capabilities” of their characters, un/pre-cybered.

Once normal character creation is done, everyone get’s cybered up. They get the following Edge for free: Cybernetically Enhanced.

Cybernetically Enhanced (Background Edge)
Requirements: Novice
You’re wired in, chromed up, and/or cyber-enhanced. Some portion of your flesh has been cut out and replaced with metal, and/or your nervous system has been computer integrated. No doubt about it, the machines have made you better than you were before, but some would say you’ve lost a bit of your soul in the process.
Your Charisma is reduced/penalized by –1. This cannot be removed, but it does not prevent you from taking other Edges that give you Charisma bonuses. You’re no longer entirely human, and that makes you a little cold.
As compensation, you gain 4 bonus Edges. Most often these will be Cybernetic Edges, a special category of Edge that represents hardened components and cyborg devices integrated into your body. However, you may actually take any Edge you want for the bonuses, provided you can justify it by pointing to a cyber device in a Cyberpunk book and explaining that the Edge is a logical benefit of having that bit of cyberware.
Examples: You could take Ambidextrous, and explain it’s a result of your advanced neural processor and targeting link. You could take Jack-Of-All-Trades to represent your “skillsoft” chipware and augmented memory database. Trying to justify “Noble” and “Filthy Rich” as the result of your cyberware might be more than the GM is willing to accept.
Cybernetic Edges may not normally be taken unless you have this Edge first.
Any time a Cybernetically Enhanced character takes a 3rd wound or is incapacitated, it is assumed their Cyberware is badly damaged in the process. The GM selects one of their bonus Edges to be deactivated by the damage (two if a single fight did a 3rd wound and incapacitated them. They cannot use or access that Edge until it has been repaired. Getting it fixed takes a Repair skill roll, with a –2 penalty if not done at a properly staffed and resourced cyberware facility, and 1d6 hours of work per Cybernetic Edge being repaired.
If the PC party makes a big score, the GM may choose to reward them with some number of bonus Edges to represent new cybernetic upgrades. Other than such awards, cybernetics can’t be purchased. This perhaps doesn’t make a lot of sense from an in-character and monetary viewpoint, but it is required for the sake of character balance and avoiding rampant inflation within the campaign. Savage Worlds is a light system, not intended for lots of economic book-keeping.
Bonus edges do not count as advancements, nor do they affect a character’s Rank. Starting characters still count as Novices, regardless of cyberlimbs and gadgetry, until they’ve accumulated 20 xp (and the 4 advancements that come with those XP).

Update/Edit: This post is a nightmare. You'd be far better to use my new system, which is far more elegant, and doesn't add all this unnecessary complication to the character creation process. I'm leaving this old post here for posterity, but the new Cyber Die system is a huge improvement. It puts Cybernetics into Savage Worlds without adding ridiculous numbers of Edges to your typical character, as the system you just read did...

Savagepunk 2020

An aside: The "best" thing about Savage Worlds is how easy it makestitling blog posts. Just add Savage to front of things, or swap outwords for Savage. I'm so glad the game wasn't named "Buttweasel Worlds".

We used to have this MOC campaign... it was a Cyberpunk 2020 campaign withrandom craziness furnished via Morton's List. I loved that campaign,but it had one problem: the PCs had to be total freakin' cowards. Wewere a freakin' booster gang, and the sort of nutcases happy to puttheir lives in the hands of the Morton Boulder as a weeklysemi-religious experience - those characters shouldn't be cowards! Butwe were dirt poor gangers, and the CP2020 system isn't kind to thosewho can't afford armor, so we had to play cowards or die repeatedly. Wedidn't end up dying...

While talking today, Sarah and I lamentedthe passing of that game, and she mentioned that it bugged her that wewere such scaredy cats. In her experience, she maintains, CP2020 ain'tthat lethal. But she'd played mostly in high school, with power gamersand munchkins, where subdermal armor, skinweave, and metalgear wouldfrequently all end up on the same PC. Short of that kind of abuse ofthe layering system (which our poor gangers couldn't afford), headshots are nearly always lethal in CP2020, and 10% of hits areheadshots. Bravery gets you killed in Cyberpunk.

The otherproblem with CP2020 is how long it takes to build a character (PC orNPC). Even if you just need the random chombatta in an alley, he needscyberoptions, weaponry, and the SP values for every limb. It's a fun,gritty system, but it's a big pain in the ass to improvise.

Aswe discussed those truths, our eyes collectively lit up. Savage Worldscould get us back the MOC campaign concept without having to playcowards or deadmen. We've got recent experience with a very flexiblegeneric system, with low PC lethality and very simple NPC statimprovisation.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Wearable Motorcycle

When I saw the name of Brad's post on this, I didn't think much of it, and certainly didn't rush over to click on it. I figured it was one of those monowheel thingees that they had at the beijing olympics, and the puyallup fair. But no, it's a prototype vertical-parking wearable three-wheeled "motorcycle". It looks cool. But I'm not sure what benefits, if any, it would have over any other motorcycle. Slightly less parking space is all I can figure. If I have to choose between safety and parking space, it's easy...

Thankfully, I'm a gamer, and I've played Cyberpunk 2020. CP2020 is all about style over substance, cool over safety. It's a setting where a 3-wheeled wearable motorcycle that has your body dangling just inches above the onrushing pavement sounds just great. After all, you've probably got skinweave and an armored t-shirt between you and the road.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Crazy cyberpunk weapons in the real world

Info on the pepper ball guns and goo guns being used at this year's political conventions, along with tantalizing bits about the sonic weapons and microwave weapons that the government will neither confirm nor deny are being used. The goo gun footage is the coolest part of this:


And if that's not sci-fi enough for you, here's a bit on the SWORDS project, real life armed robots being used by our military today.

It's called the Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detection System, but don't let that fool you into thinking it's just a detector/sensor of some sort. It's armed, and can carry a 50-caliber machine gun or "the M202 –A1 with a 6mm rocket launcher"

Number Five is alive.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

CP2020 was right afterall...

VerveEarth reminds me of the way Cyberpunk 2020 views netrunning. Oh, you want to visit a website in London? First you must visit a website in the midwest, then one on the east coast, then a website of one of the atlantic underwater colonies, and finally you can get to London.

Monday, February 11, 2008

MOC Sequel: The Sequel

Last night I ran the second session of the MOC sequel. Totally improv. Players rolled up a Morton's List challenge was very quiet, homey and intellectual - they were supposed to explore artful writing. They, of course, gave this the MOC-gang spin, breaking into a building along the moderate zone / corporate zone divide, and reprogramming the businesses big digital sign so as to make it deliver a 30-foot tall message that would no doubt end in general mayhem and some level of fiscal disaster. And then there was this improvised sideline miniplot about a passing courier and the Solo who jumped him.

3 players (plus GM), with 2 out of 3 playing (someone else's) premade characters from the original campaign back in Albuquerque. Normally, we would have played Scion, but Kevin had a crappy day at work, and needed something short, fast-paced, and carrying no long-term consequences if he just blew off steam, so MOC it was. An hour or two into the game, I'd had the PCs witness a hit/shooting just to reinforce the random violence of the 2020 setting.

Instead they turned it around and visited some random violence on the shooter. Kevin played Jeff(who'd only shown up for one or two sessions of the original)'s old fixer character, "El Gato", and nearly got the cat killed. I rolled minimum damage on the head shot. If he'd been one range category closer (and therefore taken a second die of damage) it would have been "game over" for El Gato. Instead the grenade stayed focused on the NPC solo he picked a fight with.

The Courier's Briefcase: After the PCs kill the Solo, they decide to loot, not just him, but also the bleeding-out Corp courier he'd ambushed. The Corp had a briefcase chained to his wrist, and the Solo had blasted it free. The Corp also had a baggy of chocolate candy in his jacket pocket, which the PCs took as well. They make off with the briefcase, and trying to open it, they set off it's alarm and gas-dispenser defenses. Whatever was inside must be important. They crack it open, and find it just has more bags of the identical candy.

Now, in any other Cyberpunk campaign, the fixer would contact a scientist he knew and have them run a full suite of tests on the candy in the briefcase vs the candy in the jacket. That would be the lead-in to a clever mystery plotline about the dastardly schemes of some corporation making addictive / brainwashing / poisonous / nanite-laced / microfilm-filled candy. But this is MOC we're talking about, so instead, the PCs just pigged out.

"I'm a sub-poverty-level hoodlum. I don't care about corporate corruption, and this is better chocolate than I could ever afford!" How true.

Friday, February 8, 2008

Cyberpunk 2020 Resources

Cool site to check out - or rather a map to cool sites to check out if you like Cyberpunk 2020:
http://top100.cyberpunk.co.uk/index.php

Also of note (for setting inspiration, but not RPG mechical info) Reactable musical "instrument" and Capsule Inn aka "Sleep Coffins". I love the internet.