File: 1665259807861203.jpg (393 KB, 878x1239)

393 KB JPG

>Have you used the chase rules from Hot Pursuit DLC in your RED games?
Is that something to do with vehicles? Also no.
>additional thread question.
Is your character a whore, or do you play a chaste and innocent character?

>>97103576
>>97103666
I was going to sub in for the GM one week and planned to use it; though I got pissed when I realized I'd hallucinated foot-chase rules and it was just for actual vehicles.

As for the second question, you should jerk off before you post. She's not a whore, she's actually terrifying loyal, but also down extremely bad. A stable input would go a long way to reducing the number of war-crimes she designs monthly; or at least make them a little less unhinged.

>>97103666
I guess chaste, there hasn't been much room for relationships in my game so far but the moment I can I'm getting tailored pheremones and some of that nymph perfume to seduce the head of another division in my corpo's corp

bit confused about where to find biomod stuff, is it just listed under cyberware?

>>97104377
It's generally found under the heading of sculpting jobs. There's a DLC related to exotics that expands upon this, but the core book level of detail is just concerned with your look.

>>97099558
I had a similar idea using the poor quality neural links hinted at in Reaper. NC University sets up a research LLM but since resources are scarce they offer to pay citizens with neural implants and their custom 1-slot upgrade (installed for free) 300€$/month to let them use their 'mental computing power' when the user sleeps (they would plug into the citynet). NCU was also offering cheap poor quality neural implants (100€$) so anyone could be involved. Speaking of cheap neural implants another group was selling these to solos who only wanted something simple like smartlink. All of the tech was open source and peer-reviewed (except the poor neural implants). Then one day a vibe coded update would be pushed and put everyone under the control of an AI that infiltrated NCU who now has a vast army of netrunners, solos, and others under its control. Imagine a zombie apocalypse but some special infected are crackshots with all firearms, hackers or drone riggers, or some are actually 'conscious' (they love the AI and power it gives them so they have more autonomy).

Since 300€$ probably wouldn't entice players my other benefit would be once per session a player could ask Chat GPT for guidance and their next roll is just a 10. This is obviously insanely powerful so the build-up to the AI takeover would just be a few sessions, enough to get the crew addicted to free instant successes. If I could get players to actually side with the AI just out of greed that would be very entertaining for me. Otherwise expect a lot of Robocop prime directive-style attempts by the AI to stop the crew from stopping it until they get their warez removed or fried (I'd laugh if players had to grab microwavers to keep shooting their heads to keep the device offline).

>>97105338
The introductory adventure to my RED campaign was actually about shutting down a Cyberware Refurbish shop that was slipping crypto mining programs into their blow market vault Cyberware inventory, selling at a loss, and living on the passive income.

My players killed the Netrunner and Techie duo, and sold the ware to some Nomads out of NC; also they made the Lawman PC walk home through the combat zone because he kept trying to stop them from murdering perpetrators, and stealing Cyberware like Scavs. (Wasn't a police job.)

One thing I don't get about cyberpunk is why so many night city gangs seem kinda nice.
Like the 'community protection' gangs legitimately do that.
But at the same time the rulebook says that nobody uses the common rooms in cube hotels because of gang activity (why are they all hanging out in shit accommodation lol)

>>97106044
I think you're not quite getting how even a romanticized version of gangs work. Gangs have to look after their own to a degree to maintain loyalty and --while it's often scraps compared to the big earners and royalty of a family or enterprise-- a minimum effort is required.

A protection racket, for example, is exploiting residents, but also has to have the bare minimum of actual protection involved to keep the neighborhood in line. This mostly comes in the form of scaring off other gangs or unaffiliated hoodlums since that's what the gang is going to be doing anyways. Some more 'honorable' and 'respected' gangs may do this as a 'service', since it's no skin off their nose to enforce their territory when they're already going to do so.

As for community protection as an MO, those gangs are more like militia more than anything else. Their purpose is keeping the neighborhood in order, not necessarily profit or power.

Even so, non-gang members should know better than to go hanging out at gang clubhouses and meeting areas unless they have a good reason to be there. Freedom of movement is something that we see a lot in Cyberpunk PCs and characters from games because they're already respected and known and not necessarily enemies to the gangs of the city.

As for why they're in the common rooms: They're low level gangsters anon, they have guns and there is a room with a garbage TV and a refrigerator that can be theirs if they point guns at anyone else trying to use it. If you didn't catch on yet, NC is kinda a shithole if you don't have money.

>>97106044
Here's a better question: why do most of the gangs in NC consist of rejected Batman villains and enemies from Double Dragon?

>>97106156
Writers are corny. Same reason there's so much focus on furry stuff and popstars

Does Trauma Team do any R&D? You know, do they develop new medicines, prosthetics, vaccines etc.? Or do they only do the combat medic thing? If not, does anyone have any idea for some smaller corps that specialize in medical research? My turn to GM's coming up and I've got some ideas regarding potential anagathics and prosthetics. Game's gonna be Cyberpunk Red, but with 2077 add-on stuff.

>>97107087
In general it is better to invent a small corporation that provides one hyper-specific service, and then umbrella them in under the larger corporations. That way you can still have the large branded companies, as seen in official sources, while also loading them up with anything you want to imagine.
>[Galmatec] produces [anagathics and prosthetics] and 93% of their sales are to [Trauma Team]

Strictly answering your question, TT would definitely be funding R&D but almost assuredly not doing it in-house. They would farm it out to other companies, that's how business works.

Does the Kerenzikov in RED still make you live in slow motion?
It's not actually mentioned (most cyberware has next to no RP details in the red rulebook) so I dunno if the tech has improved beyond that flaw or if it's the same and it's not just mentioned (implied by the high humanity cost?)

>>97107321
iirc, it never acted like that. The user "reacts" to things in slow-motion so they have a faster reaction time compared to everyone else. Unless im confusing this with the Sandy.

>>97107321
Apparently in 2077 there's a TV interview where a Trauma Team first responder talks about their ware and explains they've stopped watching television because their Kerenzikov dilates their perception of time to the point the video is too choppy; I think its reasonable to say that people with one installed still suffer those side effects (not even really side effects, it's just what it does).

While Edgerunners kinda played fast and loose with the Sandevistan giving the user increased speed, it's worth noting that faster reflexes ARE to a degree increased speed. In the timescale of a fist or gunfight, if you start moving before someone else does, by the time they are moving, you are already that much ahead of them in acceleration, and your sense of time will let you adapt to their movements faster than they can adapt to yours. It's exaggerated for effect, but I don't think in the show David was ever shown to be really moving at real superhuman rates until post-timeskip where he's clearly got substantial bodyware installed.

I'm kinda drifting off point: The point is that yes, Kerenzikov is a substantial adjustment to live with.

>>97107614
Kerenzikovs are basically cheaper Sandevistans that never turn off and have higher humanity prices due to having to readjust your life to your new altered perception where time essentially moves in slow motion due to how quickly your body processes information.
I’ve always liked the Kerenzikov for this particular lore.

I'm through a big chunk of the Shadowrun Anarchy 2.0 release. I'm digging it so far. I like the core dice mechanic, it's the normal skill+attribute, 5s and 6s count as hits. If you had advantage on a roll, 4s also count, if you have disadvantage, only 6s count. The Human max for stats is 4, and skills max out at 8, so you're dealing with smaller pools. Instead of hunting for extra dice, you can swap out normal dice for Risk dice with appropriate narration. Hits on risk dice count for double, but 1s on them create glitches. 1 is a minor, 2 is a major, and three is a disaster that is theoretically going to radically change the course of the mission. One of the main things shadow amps (which is how the game does cyberware, important gear, and inherent traits) do is mitigate risk, meaning you can ignore up to three 1s.

Another thing I like is that the skill list has been made smaller, and most things that might have been specific skills are covered by specializations. So, you can have stealth, and then you have specializations for astral, matrix, and physical. Risk mitigations is cheaper to buy for a specialization than it is for the larger skill. I like that it makes characters slightly more broadly capable, but still has niche protection.

I gotta get ready for work but I'll post more thoughts later. It has some stuff I'm kind of lukewarm on but ultimately I think it's pretty good.

There's no d100 cyberpunk game is there?

>>97109183
ICE Cyberspace is based on Rolemaster, which uses 1d100-based resolution mechanics. Metalhead is also 1d100-based, IIRC.
If you mean specifically BRP-based, closest you've got is River of Heaven.

File: free tibet propaganda.jpg (168 KB, 1500x625)

168 KB JPG

>>97103576
So how is Tibet doing in the Cyberpunk Timeline?
China had a major civil war in the cyberpunk timeline between in the 90s. I can't imagine Tibetan independence geurillas wouldn't take advatage of the chaos to try and regain their nation. Although given the CCP still exists in the Red and 2077 they clearly didn't succeed.

If you're 10 sessions into 2020 and your character bites the big one, what do you do? It's not exactly the system where you can just roll up another level 7 rogue and go on, how do you bring the new character up to the level of the rest of the party?

>>97110041
You don't, and the crew helps you secure the gear you need to do your job. If it's reasonable the GM lets you get some boons that put you about par, like having a particular skill you are great at or a piece of tech that is very expensive.

>>97103576
Where to start with Shadowrun?
I remember folks telling me to play 3e and avoid 5e, but I may be misremembering.
I also remember there being a quasi-mythical german edition of 5e that fixed all it's flaws, has it been translated to english?

>>97110637
There was just a thread the other day discussing what the best edition was

>>97108347
Alright, the other thing I really dig is the legwork/flashback system. They have something that is a good middle point between trad game legwork and a more story game, forged-in-the-dark flashback system. After you get the job, you can simplify legwork as just a series of rolls where people describe what they are doing to get information and rolling for it. Hits go into a group pool of edge that can then be spent either before the mission, to get any gear or set anything up you'd need before hand, but it can be banked to spend during the mission of fitd style flashbacks. It's nice because it seems like it isn't sort of hard coded into any other mechanics, so you could use it or not, depending on how planned out you want the mission to be. It seems like the goal of the game is "how do you get the game going as fast as possible," so I like that they have tools like that so you can adjust the dials of your game.

The GM advice seemed pretty solid too, nothing crazy but GM advice in modern rpg books is so fucking bad anything even remotely competent surprises me anymore, and that goes doubly for a shadowrun book.

The shit I'm kind of back and forth on: There is a chunk in the beginning of the book that explains the rules concepts, but then the rest of the book is more or less in setting Jackpoint posts describing weapons and armor and cyber (and hacking and magic, but I haven't gotten to those chapters yet.) It's a little bit of a slog, I know some people really hate long bits of in-setting writing, so that might be a deal breaker for some.
Each class of shadow-amp has a list of example shadow amps, but there isn't a big master list, which I would have liked. It was kind of the opposite in the first edition, it *just* had a master list, so it's kind of weird they got rid of it. It also took me a couple of reads to really grok how shadow amps are made, but I admit that might be me, I'm reading this as a PDF and I fucking hate reading PDFs.

>>97111083
The other thing I don't love is the wound system. Instead of the wound track, you have 2 light wounds, 1 serious wound, and 1 incapacitated wound. If you take a light wound, you have disadvantage until your next turn. If you take a serious wound, you have disadvantage until it's fixed, and if you get to incapacitated, you're incapacitated. No more contested rolls, you have a static number based on your stats, amps, and armor, and how many of what kind of wound you take is based on how many net hits your attacker gets over your defense rating. They also bleed over; if your light wounds are full and you take another, it counts as a serious etc.

I don't love this for a couple of reasons; I never thought that the wound track in SR was a problem, I actually like the way that 1e anarchy simplified damage from modern SR just fine. Also, no more stun and physical damage, and the game says to basically just remember whether or not it was a stun or phys damage when it comes to healing. Not very clean. I would rather see a track for both, and/or include FATE style consequences in order to soak some wounds, or just keep the old stun/phys damage track.

Oh, one more thing of note, and I actually like this, but now everything is expressed in Nuyen. You increase your gear, cyber, magic, skills, stats all with Nuyen. Building a character, you don't get build points, you get a budget. I feel like that makes sense and reinforces the capitalist hell-hole themes, but I could see some people disliking it.

All in all I'm looking forward to running some one shots of it when I have some time. It really seems like it is the thing that anarchy 1e was promised as.

>>97106217
I would say that Mike should do some 'tard wrangling but he's always liked that goofy shit, much to my annoyance.

Does reading cyberpunk literature actually help with playing cyberpunk.
I'm not taking the piss, a lot of those works are thematically about when a man becomes a machine and stuff like that but most cyberpunk games are really about mercs doing heists.
Would you be better off for getting gameplay ideas if you just read something like Parker?

>>97111875
Anon, THE cyberpunk novel is quite literally about a team doing a heist.

File: inui-juzo.mp4 (387 KB, 498x280)

387 KB MP4

>>97111875
I do what Mike did and watch cyberpunk/sci-fi anime for inspiration. I know there are all of the old classics but even new series like No Guns Life gave me inspiration for the sub-brain which I think is pretty devilish We invented a humanity loss dampener so you can go even further borged! Oh whoops it actually collects your humanity loss and turns it into an evil ghost that controls you our bad.
>>97106044
I'm pretty sure the core rulebook's darker and realistic tone came from Mike (or at least his notes from v3). But now he's in his Kojima arc consulting for Cyberpunk 2078. I know he wrote Agents of Desire but even that was years ago.

In 2077 can people access the citinet in their heads or is it purely through terminals/computers?

>>97106044
>Like the 'community protection' gangs legitimately do that.
Sometimes its just desperate groups of people banding together to protect themselves. Other times its shepherds protecting their flock of sheeple from getting fleeced by others.
>(why are they all hanging out in shit accommodation lol)
Because gangers live shit lives in shitty cube stacks. Did you think they were living in conapts or something?

>>97115901
Edgerunners Mission Kit says you can access via holophone and you have a holophone implanted so you should be able to browse internally.
>>97116197
But there's empty or underocccupied buildings all over the place right? Why not just klep the common room tvs and whatever and take it somewhere with more living space?

>>97106156
>why do most of the gangs in NC consist of rejected Batman villains and enemies from Double Dragon?
Go watch The Warriors (1979) and you will understand.

>>97116221
>Why not just klep the common room tvs and whatever and take it somewhere with more living space?
Choom, you want me to have to walk my ass all the way over to some other building with sketchy ass power n' shit, when I could just walk down the hall and keep reminding these gonks who is king around here?

Is the fencing skill required in 2020 to use a sword?

>>97106044
>>97106156
>>97106217
>Mike's retired
>Mike's kids don't care about Cyberpunk and divert resources to their vanity projects
>J.Gray left in charge of the line, is good at layouts but keeps pushing his softer interpretation of the setting
>James is left in charge of game design and good at number crunching but bad at actually designing new rules and mechanics


At this point I don't have much hope for the 2077 book. The line seems kinda dead atm. I figure R.Tal straight up doesn't have the manpower and resources to do a proper 2077 sourcebook, which is why they pivoted to making it a "campaign" book. James copy and pastes parts of the corebook, making the bare minimum mechanical changes, whilst J.Gray hires a ton of freelancers to write the campaign.

>>97116550
tragic really. I've never played 2077 nor do I have much an interest in it but that still sucks

>>97116550
it's genuinely funny how allergic they are to cashing in on 2077
People just want to play a sandbox in the setting and they can't give it to them.

>>97116571
The elephant in the room for Red is that most players would rather a 2077 ttrpg, but R.Tal keep kicking that can down the road for whatever reason. Honestly I'd settle for a 2050's or 60's sourcebook with Red's cringe lore if it meant relaxing some of Red's more obnoxious mechanics like scarcity.

>>97116534
I think the answer is no, but it's really one of those things better decided by the GM. 2020 has a lot of annoyingly redundant skills. My favorite is dodge/escape which the game literally just says you can use athletics or even martial arts for, skills already useful for other things that aren't just dodging or escaping.
Personally, for fencing I make it a specialized skill that applies only to bladed weapons but adds a damage bonus.

>>97116622
>>97116571
>>97116606
Didn’t they just release an Edgerunners expansion for Red allowing players to build a campaign in the 2077 era?

>>97116991
The EMK's actual rules are pretty short and lack alot of critical information necessary for running a full campaign. For example no information on the Roles. The EMK is designed to be run with the attached campaign using pre set characters

You can use it as a supplement for the Red corebook, but even then the amount of new content in the book is surprisingly lean, so you still have to homebrew a ton of material to run a fully fledged 2077 campaign.

>>97116991
The issue is that the CEMK is supposed to be the same as Red's Jumpstart, aka rules for complete newbies focused on a narrow campaign. There is some awesome gear and rules (I like the new semi-auto rule because I finally see players reload mid-fight) and quickhax. But the CEMK is also really simplified (for example the solo can only add to initiative, nobody can dodge unless they secured synthcoke somehow because premade characters). So will quickhax remain the way it is in the real release (it seems to just be a new power all netrunners get, all they need is a cyberdeck and they can hack anyone's holoport like a netarch with almost a dozen abilities)? There is a good chance we don't see the 2077 book until 2027 (a year before CDPR releases Cyberpunk 2078 I hope). Since the CEMK came out 18 months ago there are going to be referees who have run 3 years of 2077 games using their homebrews which will probably be trashed when the official rules come out. That just ain't right.

>>97110041
There's a point to be made about living on the edge and being expendable n shit.
That being said, I've played a 3 year long campaign for RED, naturally over the course of time some characters died, and some got progressively better and better gear and chrome. This system does not have levels per se, closest thing being your role rank, but it's pretty obvious, that a Tech Upgraded armour is better than basic version, and a 5K gun is better than a 500eb gun etc.
Anyway, there was a trend, that a player that died first had some trouble catching up, especially he wasnt very keen on minmaxing, after his second character lasted less than first one GM decided that from this point the crew became respected and known enough that they will be approached by more experienced mercenaries (new characters), and had him start with a bonus 1000eb and 1000IP to distribute however he wanted.
It fit the game since we have been taking more and more dangerous jobs, it was getting more and more easy to die instantly.
We started at fighting some street gonks, and ended by attempting smash and grab on militech convoys guarded by Commando ACPA. You cant take on that much heat without some serious chrome, so it all made sense.

>>97116550
Niga, James just started his own system, lol. Like yesterday.
Good fucking riddance, should've employed homebrewers.

>>97117581
What is he no longer writing on Red?

>>97116249
The one with the most ridiculous mohawk is the king.

>>97116550
At this point, I can take or leave a 2077 book, especially since it's not going to be a full sourcebook. With the right rules, I can run a game set in 207X just fine. All I need from R. Tal now is the new Night City Sourcebook, and I'm already preparing myself for the dumb, tonally inconsistent lore that I'm going to strip out and replace with my own stuff.

Drones & puppeteers updated (BETA), one more drone to be made.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uYEvMl32La8xhhkDh9eDcHfCPLACp6rI/view?usp=drivesdk

>>97116550
I hate that Mike forgot to tell these kids the secret to easy money. They can license out the Official Cyberpunk Brand ™ and get free cash AND content. All they have to do is deal with is a little cringe lore (like those weird rat exotics in New Night City Stories or the fact that white nationalist South Africa is still a thing in Greenwar, heyo) but they can always cope by saying that's not canon enough (but it is). Instead they went the Bethesda route where they released a basic game and charge full price for it while the fan community releases mods and better art but have to add copyright disclaimers and can never profit off it.

Also it kinda sucks that the other cyberpunk thread got nuked. While the OP twatter screencap was cringe it could have been fun world building since we are never gonna get actual lore.

>>97117581
He might have his Avengers Weeaboo Fightan Magic game but James Hutt was the head writer for the October DLC and was an additional writer for Solo Play (aka the only content we got this year unless we get Interface 5 as a Christmas present).

>>97118370
This man is the real MVP. o7

Any ideas for a christmas gig or should I make it the basic heartwarming event for a cooldown and treat to my players?

>>97119254
Home Alone. The Edgerunners create clever traps for the Maelstromers trying to enter the conapt. The cyberpsycho next door is just misunderstood. Christmas is saved, everybody claps.

>>97119314
Tower defense is an underutilized game structure in table top rpgs.

>>97117044
>so you still have to homebrew a ton of material to run a fully fledged 2077 campaign.
Well that sucks. I was planning to set a campaign in the 2077 setting. Looks like I might have to homebrew some more myself.

the 2077 militech crusher is so ugly, what did they do to my boy?

File: image_2025-12-05_224435598.png (1.47 MB, 2105x846)

1.47 MB PNG

>>97119254
I really like RED's S.A.N.T.A (at least initially before he became a FBC). A netrunner stealing corpo blueprints so anyone can build them is pretty awesome. I once ran a game where Santa dipped into Techie and tried stealing parts to make smartguns so he could distribute them like the real Santa and the crew saved his ass. Luckily the crew also made a few good social checks so the Weng Fang Tong didn't put them on a kill list immediately (this happened later though due to Agents of Desire). So a job where the crew supports Santa netrunning one of the big corps, saving his ass, or for a milk run distributing the files to different net cafes could be good jobs and build public support.

If you focus on Heywood/urban politics you could run a job where the crew secures (mostly) organic food especially a Christmas goose for a dinner celebration with the community your crew works the most with. Could be negotiations or theft.

If your crew is disgustingly evil you could run a gig where they ambush and rob the TetraCorp America MegaHaulers carrying highly desired presents (like new agents, or the latest guns for solos) and deliver them to scalpers. But let your crew know that nobody likes scalpers.

>>97122045
Made it ugly

File: file.jpg (375 KB, 1110x723)

375 KB JPG

dear anons of /cpg/,
I want my group to expand beyond standard medieval fantasy & try cyberpunk. Is there a recommended short starter module? I don't mind runing RED or 2020

Sorry for the 2077 talk but they seriously have npcs named Sandra Faucet and Sandra Dorsett

File: gosling next level detatchment.jpg (57 KB, 1280x720)

57 KB JPG

>>97103876
>As for the second question, you should jerk off before you post.
For the cyberpunk universe, it being hypersexualized, I think it's something you need to be mindful of when crafting a background. This doesn't mean you have to have full-blown ERP exchanges within a session, but acknowledging your character gets off to BDs or goes to clubs to try and find their input/output helps them fit into the world. Not everyone has to be lewd, of course. They could be a jaded character who isn't interested in lewd interactions due to a traumatic past and longs for true love, or someone who's chemically castrated themselves by overdoing it with cyberware.
>>97104250
>no romance, only using sex to advance your goals.
Very cyberpunk.

>>97125477
I was only giving you a hard time bro. I'm literally the guy with the Tech in the sheer leotard whose boobs are bigger than her head. Her case is kinda interesting because she's a pathological attention seeker, but has no idea what to do with attention when she gets it. In fairness, a lot of this dysfunction is rooted in trauma.

I do think though more players should explore more reactionary responses to a sexually liberal culture. More weird asexuals and tradition fetishizing incel types, or other wild things including the fairytale princess complex types. It can just be background to put together batshit side jobs, but it really sells the kind of cultural and societal breakdown you can expect in a dark future.

>>97125185
Red would be the easiest and the conflict resolution system is simple (set difficulty value, player rolls 1d10+skill to beat it). There are really baby Cyberpunk Red gigs like the Jumpstart kit's Apartment or the train one but to really break your players into Cyberpunk I recommend Tales of the Ted's job Agents of Desire, written by Mike Pondsmith himself.

The crew is hired to find a programmers wife who was abducted. They investigate the restaurant he went to last with her and break into the security room or interrogate the staff. Their client never came with anyone. Turns out he went cyberpsycho years ago due to corporate abuse and nearly murdered his fiancé, then took her to an Arasaka scientist to soulkill her and put the engram into his agent (phone). He's been living a delusional lie for a decade now. His phone was stolen and the crew can recover it. But then they have to decide do they let their client go, have him arrest him, or deliver street justice? It really handles all of the types of drama cyberpunk should have and could easily be a session 0 job because it only has one fight to reclaim the agent.

Anyone know where they have good fillable 2020 sheets?

File: clothing optional for cyb(...).png (166 KB, 1202x758)

166 KB PNG

>>97126351
Part of the issue is that the world presented in cyberpunk is hyper sexualized. While our society is moving towards that future, there's still some stigma for walking around with your tits out in our present reality.

In the cyberpunk world, people walking around naked or (god forbid) having some exotic implants to make them into furry creatures or multibreasted monstrosities with macro asses is technically fair game in the lore. It's so ridiculous that everyone is desensitized to it, much the same way they're desensitized to the hyper violence in most cases (as long as it doesn't affect someone you care about).

There's also the whole transhumanism aspect that dips its toe in the transgender dialectic. You start talking about that, and people will give you knee-jerk reactions, thinking you're doing social signalling for a certain group of people. With the tech presented in the cyberpunk world, individuals suffering from gender dysphoria actually do have a medical option that is more than cosmetic mutilation. Science has advanced to the point that a ripperdoc will redo your whole body, assuming you have the eb to pay for everything.

A darker humorist might comment on the per capita number of shooters being trans individuals and allude to cyberpsychosis, but surely one wouldn't want to rustle anyone's jimmies with that sort of joke.

>>97111106
>I feel like that makes sense and reinforces the capitalist hell-hole themes
I mean it's just karma character creation, skipping the karma to nuyen conversion, which was the only balanced one as priority/sum to ten massively favored magic users.

>>97110637
>that fixed all it's flaws
That's a myth. It clarified a bunch of shit that was confusing or missing rules, and improves others (like making skilljacks and softs massively cheaper so they're actually useful)

>>97126785
>transgender
The issue with troons irl is that they horribly mutilate themselves with crude surgery and most of the time they've been diddled and end up doubling it and passing it onto the next one. Nevermind that many do it out of impulse or because they feel like they'd be more likely to get attention (like every other mtf being conveniently a lesbian). If the tech is good enough that you can get surgery to truly make you transexual, even if your genes are still XX/XY, there'd be no problem with them.

>>97127156
>>97126785
It's a bit hard to exclude transgender people from the lore of your game when it's canon you can swap your pipe for a cyber-vag the way you can get a new transmission for your car in our world.

>>97126785
>allude to cyberpsychosis,
Pondsmith actually did comment on that in an interview. He said that if he had been making Cyberpunk today, he probably would have changed how cyberpsychosis is established to work in the lore to factor in stuff like porn addiction, and political radicalization. Though he didn't say anything about transgenderism. Probably just because he knows it a controversial topic.

>>97127585
>It's a bit hard to exclude transgender people from the lore
The issue it's it's the wig/dentures deal. You don't want someone to compliment you on how good your wig looks or how nice your fake teeth are. Ideally, no one would ever know you were missing your hair or teeth. I view modern transgenderism through the same lens. i.e. I don't think anyone wants to identify as transgender; they just want to be the other gender. Unless they get off the idea of being identified as transgender as an identity unto itself, which is a whole fetish bucket I'm not going to delve into right now.

With cyberpunk tech, you can completely overhaul your biology. There wouldn't be any transgender people outside of fetish circles and people pursuing exotic implant styles because people wanting to identify as the opposite gender would simply get the surgeries to make that change.
>can't people do that now?
They can "try". With our current level of medical tech, it's mostly cosmetic. Internal bone & muscle structure, glands, and hormones can't really be swapped around. That may change in the future, but the tech isn't quite there yet.

That's why I cringed at Claire Russell's trans flag in 2077. She didn't come off as a trans fetishist, and by 2077, there wouldn't be a need to identify as such if you just wanted to swap your gender.
>he probably would have changed how cyberpsychosis is established to work in the lore to factor in stuff like porn addiction, and political radicalization.
Hindsight etc. etc. I like the new positive humanity gain system introduced in the ERMK. At least, I think it's new? How did you recover humanity in older versions without losing weeks to "therapy"? I think going out and drinking/partying with your chooms and living in a decent apartment makes a lot more sense for maintaining humanity rather than hospital visits.
>he knows it's a controversial topic.
True, but it can't really be avoided entirely given the subject matter.

>>97127585
>It's a bit hard to exclude transgender people from the lore of your game
Exclude? Wdym? There's tech that makes near complete gender swap possible (or complete with FBPs). The thing is you wouldn't be trans because you'd be the opposite sex. Same with infinity, there are characters that swapped gender and it's acknowledged that some change sex regularly, but those people aren't called transgender cause they aren't

>>97127156
>even if your genes are still XX/XY, there'd be no problem with them
And if there will be a problem, Biotechnica can sell you the solution(I assume gene therapy is advanced enough in cyberpunk world)

Jesus fucking Christ can we not have a thread on this board that doesn't get absolutely sidetracked by how obsessed you are with trans people?

>>97128190
when gravity fails (?) added bioware that allows you either father or carry children

>>97128475
Kinda agree. I regret humoring the sex talk if this is how it's gonna turn out.

I resubmit: Jerk off before you post.

File: GYqhkSpaEAAWNJ0.jpg (925 KB, 2000x2065)

925 KB JPG

>whole group thinks netwatch are the bad guys because the AI the group caught on a gig fed them basic false lies that it was caught and tortured
>everyone failed their rolls to notice it was lying
>it wouldnt help anyway because the players really thought they stumbled on a good AI
>planning to pop the wall or fight netwatch
yep, thats a party kill campaign ender coming up

>>97128968
Are you planning on letting them win the fight against Netwatch then get killed by the AI in a double-cross, or are you gonna have them crash against Netwatch's ICE and mercs? I guess the former follows them managing to survive against the latter.

File: pyxx2urlw5h81.jpg (27 KB, 449x448)

27 KB JPG

>>97128968
I dunno if it's canon or not but I use Netwatch as really bad guys. In my own lore when the RABIDS were going nuts around 2023 they were pressganging netrunners and techs to hold back the AI while the Blackwall was being built. Netrunners would be thrown into the old NET to fight the AI (and die while doing so) and techs were forced to work 23/7 on building the infrastructure for the Blackwall with really chem-heavy Kang Tao net parts (pic related). I tried to show how big of a deal this was by having the crew meeting a ton of different NPCs, from a nomad netrunner who thinks he's Merlin to a Red Chrome Legion techie and even a few of the truly bad villains and they all were forced to work on/defend the Blackwall project. One media keeps trying to blow the lid off the story but people just don't care 20 years later.

But on the whole AI is my favorite. And I feel like at least 33% of my players wanted an AI buddy too, and this was a year before Chat GPT was a thing.

>>97128968
This can either end up amazing or amazingly poorly.

>>97129292
I think this is an acceptable take if you at least acknowledge that, based on what AI and RABIDS can do, they might have been strongly justified.

Building the Blackwall was probably the most brutal war nobody knows about. Netwatch are totally spooks, but in a kind of ironic sense they don't have the manpower or peace to abuse their power, they're just chewing bystanders up doing their job because they can't slow down or look back because the threat of the AIs is that much further ahead of them.

File: Items.png (1.31 MB, 1024x1536)

1.31 MB PNG

Drones & Puppeteers received a massive update (+26 pages) of content, which includes, but is not limited to:
>New FBC
the Rigger
>New Cyberware,
host a Demon, pump a smartgun, better interface plugs
>Rewritten catalogue
15 drones instead of 10, each role now has at least 1 related drone
On top of that almost all drones come with variants
>New upgrades
Some rebalancing, some new ones, some were given a second tier, permanent ones are moved to their separate table
>Lifepath looks prettier
One additional question
>New fluff
I've finally written some worldbuilding

Since I cannot send you a PDF, here's the link.https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/13M8JJh1qC9VaqZ6kPM3NTXJCX10H_HHg?usp=sharing

PS: Yes, I'm aware that there's one drone (HumaGain) still lacking.
For those of you still curious, it's supposed to be a Exec related drone that is a sex bot, therapist and a bodyguard.
I havent came around to making it, yet. But the PDF, and new stuff is done I might as well upload the drive now.

File: 114165901_p0.png (3.38 MB, 5000x4000)

3.38 MB PNG

Is there a way to fight a tactically smart enemy that uses the environment without making the players seem dumb in comparison?

>>97134223 (Me)
adding more context
enemies found a direct counter against the party via intel, party didn't. I know this gives the enemies the biggest advantage to wipe the floor with their asses, but how do I make it so I'm not cheating against my players and give them a small chance to flee? this is in red if it helps

>>97134245
I know you're probably being cagey because you might have players who browse, but without more context advice has to be general.

Don't mitigate the disaster let bad things happen, just don't twist their arm on it. Metaphorically, break their legs but don't stop them from crawling away. If this requires giving them an out or literally having someone else save their asses to own them for a favor, do it.

It's not bad GMing to let players fall into pits, it's just bad GMing to roll rocks over top of them so they're guaranteed to die.

Man, 25mm grenades kind of suck. It seems more economical to load 10ga HE shells and other specialty shotgun loads instead

>>97132952
Fantastic work. The art for the drones is great too. I've got to give it a more detailed read at work tomorrow when 4chan is down but I really like the extremely expensive options.

In my games I've had big boss drones that could perform multiple actions per turn (typically weapons, my reasoning being that a drone with two independent weapons controlled by a daemon is the same as the daemon controlling two seperate drones). Do you have anything like that?

>>97135491
That's not that unreasonable. 10ga shotshells approx 20x89 in mm, whereas 25mm low-pressure rounds are 25x40 and high-pressure are 25x59.

>>97136220
You forget that shotguns have long hulls but the actual slugs are significantly shorter. The x89 is the length of the casing, not the bullet. Meanwhile 25mm grenades are half bullet.

>>97136231
That's why I didn't say the 10ga should be more powerful. You can combine the wad, powder, and projectile within a shotshell up to the full length of the case, especially if you've got your own ammo plant instead of relying on off-the-shelf sizes.

>>97136251
Well, 25mm irl is notoriously weak...compared to 40mm, which you can just use with an underbarrel and it's why no one uses smaller grenades, save the chinks with their 35mm grenade snipers. Would definitely be way more powerful than a 10ga slug however

Are there any other cyberpunk ttrpgs that place as much if not more of an emphasis on hand to hand combat/martial arts?

>>97136187
This warms my heart, thank you.
>Do you have anything like that?
I havent made such drones, nor did I thought about making them for one reason - I wanted these drones to be companions, including combat, hence they use combat number mechanic like police summon do.
That being said your idea fit the game RAW, there isnt really need to homebrew it.
But because I'm autistic I'll try.
>Buy NET Arch
Demons need one, they cannot fit into cyberware/cyberdeck. Well, I just posted a FBC only chrome that allows just for that but lets keep it homebrew free.
>Buy a demon
Imp is like 1K and it has got Combat Number of 14 and two net actions, seems like it would suffice.
>Bolt this backpack server on your vehicle
Looks like a 500eb job for me
>Use nomad upgrades for two weapon mounts
or cash
>Wire weapons to Net Arch
100eb job for me + 1K for double smartgun link if your GM is picky, +2K for double automated swivel mount if they are extremely picky
>Order demon to shoot on sight/whatever
Done and done, you're now in posession of a vehicle that cranks like 30-60 damage per round.

About that... check Golden Chrome, it has a few pretty neat vehicle upgrades that could help in that situation

>>97136220
>>97136231
But remember this is the dark future of five years ago, everything is caseless

File: prim ma wep.png (347 KB, 897x374)

347 KB PNG

Am I reading pacific rim right that if my character has ninjutsu (and it has to be ninjutsu) I can add all the martial arts bonuses to my sword attacks?

File: lucy.mp4 (70 KB, 498x280)

70 KB MP4

>>97136966
You know what you bring up a good point, I don't think I've developed any purely support drones (but my players have played with the observer drone and a savanah panther that is basically Blade Wolf). I guess for me drones and bozos are how I keep my players on their toes with weird enemies.

Also I like your idea of taking on raw sources first. As far as I know the only portable netarchs mentioned (besides the core rulebook saying they exist) are the ones in Tales of the RED with Reaper AI. The one carried in a backpack had 11SP (due to the armored backpack) and 50 SDP. The transmission tower one had 50 SDP but due to the amount of floors I guess it was portable too? If they can survive a ton of gunshots and potentially even a car crash they can probably survive being welded to a motorcycle. But the real question is can I tech-upgrade the netarch to miniaturize it so it fits in my agent or even helmet like the flying drone that carries the mini-net that has one of Reaper's clones in it? . Also what's the deal with the transmission tower netarch. They need to have 3 floors minimum, so did Reaper tech-upgrade to only need 2? So it paid the price for 4 floors to have 2??? Uh, AI bros?

From what I get in the core book demons can receive about 2 lines of code for commands. I wonder if 'open fire on anyone who attacks me' and 'open fire on anyone I indicate (as an action)' would work? Then the demon would continue attacking until the target is obliterated (like Black ICE).

Someday I'll write that treatise on AI and netrunning. When I stop getting my soul sucked out by working for a Corp.

File: echolocation frustrations(...).png (1.15 MB, 1849x1281)

1.15 MB PNG

I really like the idea of this system, I was even considering giving it to my character. But the cost is unjustifiable, I don't know what Mike or rtal were cooking when they came up with all this. You can see the logic but it's just not worth getting over the goggles, why do you need to take up half your eye slots with these imagers when they could have just been part of the regular times square option?

>>97136220
>>97136270
I'm not expecting 40mm high explosive damage over here, but I was hoping foe something more than 2d6+1

>>97145432
isn't this what the whale guy in johnny mnemonic has? I suspect they wanted to recreate that rather than balance for gameplay. His situation sucks so it's maybe intentional

Does this weapon work with the Gunfu Woo Technique? I'm not sure if Gunfu allows for the Burst Fire effect or it counts as Ammo effect and is legal?

File: Screenshot 2025-12-10 at (...).png (76 KB, 422x592)

76 KB PNG

>>97149430
forgot pic

>>97149430
>>97149439
Gun-Fu requires ROF 2 weapon using the handgun skill
This qualifies,
Its effect appears to be an ammo effect, so should remain functional

Unfortunately as an exotic without a noted exception in its entry, it can't take other types of ammo, but armor piercing is usually the best anyway, and here you're getting it for a 3eb a shot instead of 10eb
You'll have to pull off that Gun-Fu reload at least every other round, but its DV is only 15 so that shouldn't be a problem
It only has 1 slot, I'd go for a silencer over a bigger mag

>>97140635
For some weapons, yes, you can add martial arts to damage. Though Ninjutsu also implicitly bans cyberware.

>>97148022
The dolphin in Johnny Mnemonic has echolocation, in the sense that *all* dolphins have echolocation. I don't think that's what they were going for.

>>97151176
It doesn't say it's Exotic, otherwise it wouldn't have mod slots. I figured the whole point of the weapon was to combine armor piercing with other ammo effects.

>>97151209
Realising I misread JM now. I read it as Jones being a heavily modded human, not an animal

>>97151225
My bad yeah, I was under the impression that all nonstandard weapons were exotics unless noted otherwise, in the first couple splatbooks that was the case, but it looks like they eventually stopped doing that

File: funny glasses man.png (1.17 MB, 1024x686)

1.17 MB PNG

>>97134223
Waste 'em and let them learn the lesson, their next PCs will be smarter.

>>97152221
NP, Red isn't known for it's clear and concise rulings, it describes everything is jargon you have to decipher, where the author's intent isn't always clear.

>>97156506
At the expense of being a pedant, RED actually is really concise, that's a lot of its problems. A lot of rules questions can be solved by intensive reading and assuming nothing in the rules: RAW is actually very tight; the problem is that its so autistically tight anything that's actually missing is nearly invisible until it grinds your game to a halt. Some rulings are also very intentional but also extremely retarded.

Basically if you have a question about a rule, read the rule again but pretend somebody brought it down off a mountain and it was written by god. Things like "what does an anti-program ICE do if you rez no programs?" where the answer is "nothing. It follows you around and stares, daring you to do it." or "Can I hold my action to shoot someone when they move out from behind cover while being in cover myself?" where the answer is "No; unless they move to a position where you are no longer in cover to them, you cannot see them to fire at them; because if you have line of sight to them you are not in cover. To shoot someone popping out of cover, you must necessarily be out of cover to see them."

Doesn't always work. Ambush rules have been hidden in the GMing section since launch and "melee executions" being a rule are something you kinda have to just learn by putting together the stupid rule legos enough times to figure it out (NPCs cannot evade attacks they don't see coming, so if you can move into melee with them unaware, you can make a called shot to their head and you will automatically hit because they automatically fail their forced evasion roll, even if you rolled a maximum negative value.)

>>97141518
>Also I like your idea of taking on raw sources first.
Proper way to homebrew RED IMO, the system is extremely logical and much modular. There are gaps, sure but it's obvious enough to notice how to fill them using official examples, oftentimes in reverse.
>But the real question is can I tech-upgrade the netarch to miniaturize it so it fits in my agent or even helmet like the flying drone that carries the mini-net that has one of Reaper's clones in it?
Tough question. Hmm... Rtal did state that neuroport from 2077 is a portable NET architecture stored within a tiny implant in your neck/somewhere close to the brain. So it's by all means possible, yet tech isnt really there yet. I think the real choice is to decide on whether it's even possible by the 2045s.
And if you do, it should definitely require invention. My opinion is that it should be possible somewhere around 10K, which is the highest price for a program (balron)
>Also what's the deal with the transmission tower netarch. They need to have 3 floors minimum, so did Reaper tech-upgrade to only need 2? So it paid the price for 4 floors to have 2??? Uh, AI bros?
Based AI retards
>From what I get in the core book demons can receive about 2 lines of code for commands. I wonder if 'open fire on anyone who attacks me' and 'open fire on anyone I indicate (as an action)' would work?
Most certainly
>Then the demon would continue attacking until the target is obliterated (like Black ICE).
Yeah probably, unless you specify "shoot it untill it dies/stop moving, then shot it in the head three times"
>Someday I'll write that treatise on AI and netrunning. When I stop getting my soul sucked out by working for a Corp.
I've seen this homebrew like 3 times already from different authors. By no means I'm trying to discourage you from doing so (more content is always welcome) I just want to point out there's a load of text to get inspired by, or to research from.

>>97156715
In REDs defence - idk how to tell it exactly (ESL here) but there seems to be a point where you accumulate enough knowledge and memorise enough rules after it all just clicks and you're able to answer almost any question. At least it's how it worked for me.
>Read corebook once
Idk what the fuck man, what a mess
>Read twice
Hmm, bad formatting, cant navigate but pretty easy rules, at least compared to 2020
>read thrice
Aight so the rule A fits rule B which helps rule C and gist seems to be X

I wanted to elaborate on that but >>97156715 pointed aut red autism better than I could.
Also, ambush rules are hidden because they forgot to add them to combat rules, James said so in one of interviews.

>>97156715
I suppose that's true, there are examples like Gun Fu where I think the writers over design things and their intent is not clear or straight up misunderstood by alot of readers.

Like you can infer alot of how the Gun Fu Woo Technique works by the fact it's referred to multiple times as a Martial Arts attack, but the logic behind the ruling is somewhat counterintuitive (you're more or less throwing bullets at the enemy) and goes against the precedent set by the other Weapon based Martial Arts present in Interface 4.

That is you roll a DV15 Martial Arts check and then you weapon gains enhanced properties for the rest of the turn. Much simpler than the errata filled word salad needed to accurately describe all the inns and outs of the Woo Technique.


>Basically if you have a question about a rule, read the rule again but pretend somebody brought it down off a mountain and it was written by god.


That's another thing, do R.Tal playtest outside their office/discord circlejerk. It feels like a lot of issues with Red would be solved it R.Tal took a modicum of feedback outside their own bubble.

>>97157137
The only people who actually playtest anymore are Kickstarters who have a big fan base that will send in notes. Actual game companies don't do it anymore.

>>97157168
Well start a kickstarter for Cyberpunk 5th Edition then. I'll even back Shadowscar if it means I can send them my feedback that nobody cares about bootleg Naruto and we want more Cyberpunk instead.

>>97155636
I wonder if Mike taught his kids important life lessons by making them play Cyberpunk.

I am being genuine when I ask your opinions on the fact that this setting will forever be linked with a mid pop song and a pale gremlin girl?

>>97158376
2077 and Edgerunners were both the best and the worst thing to happen to the Ip. It revived the brand, but also broadened it's appeal beyong the niche, which is a detriment to any hobby. But especially TTRPGs.

>>97158376
I'll take "I Really Wanna Stay At Your House" playing on a loop while Rebecca slaps me in the face with her big hands in time with the beat over the dumb furry shit and Elflines any day of the week.

I don't know about any of you fellows but I don't care about the meta plot. I do not care about Johnny and the samurai, I don't care about alt or spider or rache, I don't care about any arasaka family drama. I liked the 4th cw but that's about it. It's one of the reasons I wasn't very interested in 2077

>>97158376
>>97161376
Major Crimes by Health was the better song in the show and the final scene where it plays when David goes full cyberpsycho and starts talking with his mom about how he will make it to the top of Arasaka tower was more impactful than the ending.

>>97161894
Agreed, I just want a sandbox for my cyber munchkins to go do crimes in.

File: b62627ec6455b6563426e865f(...).png (737 KB, 860x484)

737 KB PNG

December is almost halfway in, christmas is coming. Time to play the game and guess the content ideas and name of this years.
I'm stealing the last year joke from someone else and this will be a ground vehicle gear list DLC called landmass
Alternatively Chromemass that will be about various chrome from chrome books 1-4, since they didnt used everything
Or even biomass with mucho bioware

>>97164171
Elfmass with more Elflines shit.

>>97162039
Okay? I don't disagree. Is this supposed to be some kind of gotcha?
>>97161894
Good for you.
>>97164171
>this will be a ground vehicle gear list DLC called landmass
Too good to pass up, lol. And it would be nice to have even more vehicles, especially sea vehicles.

>>97164171
It's going to be all about the gear and cyberware that's been slept on

BedMas! the collection of cyber pillows, deployable cyber body pillows, bulletproof weighted blankets, Bodyweight suit pajamas, streetdrug tranquilizers that make a nice tea, cyberglasse eyemasks, corporate sponsored lullaby cyberaudio implants, sleepwalker linear frames, massaging mattresses, and most importantly: Cyberpillow thighs

>>97162607
And what's stopping you from having that?

File: bubblegum-crisis-boomer-awaken.mp4 (98 KB, 540x406)

98 KB MP4

>>97164171
>Biomass
Bubblegum Crisis bros we are so fucking back.
>suddenly Maximum Mike gets involved to fanboy over his favorite anime

>>97161894
this is not as much of a hot-take as you think it is.

>>97165057
Nothing. I was just agreeing with the other anon.

>>97165586
wtf were the boomers anyway?

>>97118370
>>97164171
Drones & Puppeteers updated, anons.
>New cyberware
It's uh... a swarm that is a melee weapon. long since I've designed it, didnt had the formatting space to put that in. Only did so due to Rigger being moved to the end.
Second one is red mist (or whatever it was called) from the corebook, made into cyberweapon.
>New Drone
Called Apex for legal reasons, overtuned CQC drone, invisible unless DV17 (ignores IR, radar n shit), hits like a truck (literally) is extremely hard to put down and costs a mere 149,500eb.
It's on page 58, look it up, it's pretty good. The fluff deserves some more love, as there's some empty space over the quote, but yeah I think I'm done for some time.
>Rigger FBC
It was present before, but I've moved it to the end of Drone Catalogue, to adjust the two page format neatly, so left page= Rigger, right page = blank sheet.
Two questions for you, anons; does rigger makes sense to be put there? I did so cause I wanted to add some cool art (and I think it's pretty cool how nonchalant a FBC just sends in their slave to do their bidding) so it needed it's own page, not a mere position on cyberware list. I've expanded on fluff, and shit Samantha says, so the page doesnt feel as empty.
Second question is, should I fix all catalogue statblocks to fit the Apex template? I mean the consolidated Stats. Also I should just straight up remove the battery. The devs did not care about such details, why should I?

Thoughts on this campaign idea?
Its set in the ultra left corpo states of canada, and pretty much a group of canuk nationalists have hired the party to intercept a shipment of real maple syrup (now extremely rare due to forest fires destroying most maple trees in quebec) and rob it in order to fund the group.

>>97167902
Boomer is the term for a rampant / malfunctioning Voomer
Voomers are basically designer cyborgs: vat grown biotech fused with cybernetics intended to be a slave race

It's been forever since I've read/watched bubblegum crisis, so I may be a bit inaccurate there

>The Cyberpunk future is mobile and disposable. A computer society makes it easy for people to live like campers all the time. All of ones' entertainment is accessible with handheld devices. One could live off of fast food. Clothing can be worn until it disintegrates, and then new ones purchased. And like the cowboys of the Old West, most people carry their lives on their backs — miniaturized sleeping, eating and entertainment components crammed into carryalls and the back seats of cars. The stuff one carries around is known in Streetslang as an outfit, and most of it is crammed into a shoulder bag or duffel pack.

I mean this whole section makes it sound romantic and all but doesn't this mean that I'm playing a fucking homeless person? Cyberpunks live on the Edge and die for what they believe in and get all the cool tech but they seem to be just hobos.

>>97172171
Think of it more as though you're playing as a prepper who has a "bug out bag" just it case shit hits the fan.

>>97172190
*just in case

That's what I get for phoneposting.

>>97171723
Interesting, I thought for most of it they were some form of full borg

>>97172171
*Ahem* I think you mean cyber hobos, thank you.

>>97173470
They're basically the androids from Blade Runner but much more dangerous, with built in weapons and super strength. Them snapping and going on violent rampages to rebel against their human owners is what inspired Cyberpsychosis in the lore.

File: 25mmpg.png (345 KB, 1118x339)

345 KB PNG

Not exactly a gun person so can someone explain why .45 is low power? It does 2d6+2 while 10mm which is supposed to be high power does 2d6+3

>>97175925
10mm ammo is higher velocity than 45 ACP, and Kinetic Energy = ½ mass*velocity2. It just hits its target harder. Historically 10mm's a newer round than 45 ACP and 9mm and there's never been a real push to equip 10mm sidearms to military/law enforcement in the same way that 45 ACP/9mm got widely adopted, so it's also seen as more niche round. General advice is carry no smaller than 10mm for woods self-defense (ie bears and big cats), with 45 ACP being less favorable again due to physics.

File: SR_The meme-ing of life_2_0.png (585 KB, 780x436)

585 KB PNG

>the central thesis of Cyberpunk is that there will be a countercultural movement that is willing and able to take the latest and greatest cutting edge technology by the neck and use it to fight against the Man
>the ease and availability of music recording will allow countercultural Rockerboys to fight. The ease and portability of video and sound recording will allow Media to take it to the wall and shame corrupt corps and government. Technology is so widespread and cheap that Techs can make and share technology for their communities. Cyberware and weapons are so cheap that any rebel with a cause can get enough personal power and lethality to make a difference.
Now that I think about it Cyberpunk is like the most absurdly optimistic cyberpunk RPG setting out there. We've got most of that shit in real life and none of that shit is happening enough to make a difference.

>>97176538
>to make a difference
You got so close, but flubbed it at the end. Cyberpunk isn't about making a difference, it's about b'ing urself despite the world.

if someone autofired on an already dying guy, would the death save be +10 because ten bullets used up or +1 since it is mechanically a single attack?

>>97176784
+1 due to it being a single attack

>>97177118
very gay

File: My water cards.png (48 KB, 570x410)

48 KB PNG

death save mechanic gets really ridiculous when pcs get a +1 when they should be getting more than that
i had an guy survive being clapped by an elevator
i know its a game and all and obvious situations needs a skip to straight death, but i dont think an automatic crit and 1+ to death save makes sense from getting turned into double tapped swiss cheese

>>97179556
The math for not particularly tough characters is not favorable. We should also not forget that turns/rounds are 3 seconds; when you're on death saves a character with literally the highest saves possible is expected to live for less than 30 seconds. It's literal bleedout time.

>>97179556
Take a hint from the rules about falling down from a skyscraper and just let people hit by an elevator die on the spot.

>>97179556
>i had an guy survive being clapped by an elevator
story time?

>>97179598
>We should also not forget that turns/rounds are 3 seconds
Never seen this followed on any tabletop in general unless its explicitly timed by a goal, I think Red might be the worst example of such because of some of the grenades described of taking about 10-20 rounds to pop.

>>97179668
What are you talking about? All grenades go off the turn they're thrown and ones with a duration are listed in real time (# of minutes).

File: file.png (124 KB, 680x338)

124 KB PNG

>>97179712
anon is talking about the black chrome ones. while actually explosives, theyre still treated as grenades

>>97179712
I confused explosives and grenades, I'm retarded.

File: cyberpunk china .jpg (194 KB, 708x699)

194 KB JPG

>>97103576
I'm building a campaign set in an asian country but I also want to give my players the option to play as their preferred characters without having to make them play as 'lore friendly' OCs.
For example if I set a campaign in China, the military police are gonna be profiling a black netrunner or a white solo with a tourist visa as a potential troublemaker, potentially making it harder for my players to pull off their heist.
Any advice?

File: areyousureaboutthis.jpg (63 KB, 566x747)

63 KB JPG

>>97179598
I never counted the time during combat unless it is necessary, like rescuing some person before he falls to a vat of acid or wave fights and their in-betweens. We all know time passes in basic mook fights but it is treated like a '[x] seconds had passed' or something like that when combat ends.
>The math for not particularly tough characters is not favorable
Most of my player characters who die are the weak ones who have a low body stat, rather than the stacking modifier.

>>97179644
>>97179650
long story short; the party's plan went tits up from something unexpected thrown at them and the netrunner mistimed on closing the door. The Solo happened to be on the wrong place at the wrong time and lost his leg and arm.

>>97179956
>The Solo happened to be on the wrong place at the wrong time and lost his leg and arm.
Well that's gonna take a chunk out of his humanity score, and potentially lead to cyberpsychosis later in the campaign.

>>97180202
he is a ticking time bomb ready to blow, he rests on 1 humanity right now.

4th edition: What are the defensive rolls for astral combat? Is it purely intuition to avoid the attack (because that's the astral reaction stat), or can you roll dodge? Is it just willpower (astral equivalent of body) to resist damage? If that's so, is there any way to make astral combat not deadly as fuck?

I'm doing a deep dive comparison between Cyberpunk and Shadowrun for myself. Corps in Cyberpunk 2020 don't have extraterritoriality and blatant culture and identity shifting power to get people to identify with them instead of nations correct? They can issue passports and IDs but they're also not powerful enough to fuck around and find out since national armies still outnumber them and nations have wmds and space rocks. Corp troop numbers and equipment in 2020 seem to support this.

Under that framework, I don't quite understand how the fuck the Fourth Corporate War got that bad though. Europe should have been dropping rocks.

>>97181724
Mike, Talsorian and CDPR deliberately left gaps in the lore to give players some leeway if they want to make a campaign about the corporate wars.

>>97181724
Corporations in Cyberpunk use influence, economic manipulation and blackmail to get what they want. National governments can still lay down the law if things get out of hand, assuming they have the power to do so, but they're usually being made to look the other way. That's why Medias are such a big deal: they can expose the horrible shit the corps are doing behind the scenes and force the authorities to act through making what been going on undeniable.

>I don't quite understand how the fuck the Fourth Corporate War got that bad though.
Militech and Arasaka got away with amassing small armies for themselves under the pretense of being involved in the private security/military contractor business. They also had the backing of their respective governments.

With that in mind, it's important to remember that the Fourth Corporate War didn't immediately erupt into open conflict. It was a gradual build-up of force as both sides pushed the limits of what they could get away with. Funnily enough, it was during the Hot War that world governments began cracking down.

>Europe should have been dropping rocks.
The Highriders staged a coup up in orbit and began dropping rocks themselves.

>>97179929
sounds like an extra layer of potential roleplay. maybe counterbalance the increased visibility with some expat communities they'll have an easier time making contacts in.

>>97183699
>ational governments can still lay down the law if things get out of hand
Notably, this is what happened in the Cybergeneration branch of the timeline: The Carbon Plague and corporate warfare weakened the megacorps enough that the US government was able to reassert itself.

We're halfway into December and the "-mas" dlc haven't dropped yet? Or does it release in christmas?

Reading When Gravity Fails and man, it's funny how "chipping in" actually makes sense as a phrase in this. I get why cyberpunk borrowed it but it's never really fit with getting cyberware.
>>97162039
Major Crimes is dull, it's just health doing health.
The grimes songs from the same station in the game are better, which is hilarious given how shit she's been since.

>>97181724
Militech and arasaka were hired as security consultants for cino and otec but over the course of the water war escalating tit for tat incidents eventually boiled over since both corps had been looking for an excuse to fight one another for years. Don Lundee saw defeating arasaka as a personal mission, and Saburo wished to see the west fall like a true bushi of nippon. They wanted the 4th war to happen

File: GoRES-UWMAMQLw-.png (557 KB, 788x446)

557 KB PNG

>>97184954
Vehiclemas soon
https://rtalsoriangames.com/2025/12/15/cyberpunk-red-alert-the-12-days-of-vehiclemas-drops-for-december-2025/

>>97187476
>soon
im retarded, it dropped now. i just woke up, sorry choom.

>>97187476
>rusted chrome dies
>get this and extra nomad perks
fucking what is going on in rtal?

>>97187476
>Sea vehicles, finally.
Praise Pondsmith. I now have more to work with for some sea pirate stuff.

>>97181724
Corporate War lore is flawed, I agree. In the setting there is "four" corporate wars but of them all only really the Fourth and """maybe""" the Second are conflicts that could be considered to slightly resemble actual wars, the other two are pretty small scale operations. This is in spite of the fact that Cyberpunk 2020 is supposed to be a setting where corporations violently targeting rivals in small scale ops is already normal, and big corporate conflicts that quote "make Vietnam and Afghanistan look like picnics" are supposed to be an accepted occurrence across the world.
All in all, I tend to prefer the V3 take of the fourth corporate war eventually spiraling out of control into what is essentially the setting's WW3 involving the world's nations because the big corps just have that much pull.
The canon conclusion to the war because nations are powerful enough to just lol nationalize Militech and Arasaka assets, just makes both companies look incredibly retarded for ever thinking they could get away with it.

>>97188577
Yeah, the third was basically just weeks of computer hacking wasn't it?

>>97187508
Time for ACPAfag to tackle the issue and sperg another 30ish pages of nomad related lore and gear

Shadowrun 2e question: do your pools refresh on every combat phase you act, or just the first combat phase you act in a round?

>>97187476
I like it. And the retro 2020 art looks nice (is it actually just 2020 art like Gunsmas was?). Christmas bros always be winning.

Lore wise which non-pondsmith cyberpunk ttrpgs would you say feel closest to Cyberpunk 2077?

Does 2020 have an advanced hit table or something like that for a situation where, say, an explosion could blow off a PC's hand or put out their eyes?

>>97190316
Infinity 2d20

>>97190316
Had a friend run Blades in the Dark in a cyberpunk setting, and it worked pretty darn decently.
To be honest, cyberpunk makes for a better theme for its gameplay than its weird occult steampunk does

>>97191955
There's a full cyberpunk version of the FitD system but I didn't really dig the setting they had come up with. It was more climate collapse than pure cyberpunk.

>>97190316
Kuro, me thinks. Maybe hardwired island. There's also Corporation

>>97188577
From what little I've scanned from reading Firestorm, the Fourth Corporate war is also a series of small scale operations, just that they were incredibly numerous and happening all at once. It's why PC Edgerunners can fight in it since it wasn't about mass battles or indiscriminate artillery bombardments or planes dropping bombs or large scale tanks or power armor fighting each other. My impression is that Arasaka and Militech were doing their best to bankrupt each other by blowing up each other's offices, factories, and homes.

>In the country of Brazil, the city of Rio De Janeiro was reduced to rubble.
And then I read shit like this in the wiki and things don't make sense again as to why the nations didn't act sooner. The explanation of "lobbyists" in Firestorm sounds patently fucking absurd. Although anon's point >>97183699 about the US and Japan backing the corps as proxies makes sense.

>>97194666
In CP2020, what's left of the USA has a massive hate-boner for Brazil (and SouthAm in general) so I suppose it makes sense politicians would be like "Well, as long as they aren't doing it in our backyard, and also fuck those guys." Governments are kind of known for doing "enemy of my enemy" shit until it inevitably bites them in the ass.

>>97191989
There's quite a few forged in the dark cyberpunk rpgs, CBR+PNK, Neon Blood, Runners in the Shadows, etc. etc.

>>97195214
Neon Blood is osr/nusr/d20, not fitd.
The one I was thinking of was Hack The Planet.
I'd not heard of CBR+PNK, the "pack of a bunch brochures" looks like a horrible, annoying gimmick.

>>97195227
>Neon Blood is osr/nusr/d20, not fitd.
I meant Neon Black

>>97194666
>It's why PC Edgerunners can fight in it since it wasn't about mass battles or indiscriminate artillery bombardments or planes dropping bombs or large scale tanks or power armor fighting each other
You should probably re-read firestorm because the war basically becomes exactly what you just described verbatim. There are passages about how battles are well beyond the scope of a PC party and the GM should focus these encounters on having the PCs try to avoid incredibly deadly situations and not be afraid to just outright kill PCs when they screw up.
They even have rules for resolving large-scale open combats and stat out orbital artillery strikes.

Is there any RED homebrew for 2077 vehicles? You can never have too much vroom-vroom.

>>97103576
>bit<dot>ly/2Y1w4Md
This link goes to a post on reddit that was removed by one of their mods.

Is there a better link?

File: bubblegum-crisis-leo.mp4 (31 KB, 498x376)

31 KB MP4

>>97199985
Here is mine, but I haven't added some of the most recent content from this year (which is really just Solo Play and Interface RED 4) and the most recent uploads by homebrewbro. https://bit <DOT> ly/cyborganarchist. Our local pirates have a lot more detailed caches if you follow their treasure map, and there is 3y3 (but I also think that hasn't been updated in 2+ years).

>>97200207
Scholar and a gentleman, bro. Many thanks.

>>97200207
Your link only has one folder of material, all the ones besides 2020 are empty. Your archives ok?

>>97200231
What the hell... I haven't checked in a bit but I'll start updating things.

>>97200211
>>97200231
I'll try to recreate my original folder, but I've got a fair bit of RED here. https://mega<dot>nz/folder/CwZjzbAR#8hx2Lo8JaPVttVmL56XsOA

The acpa book had stuff on jump jets and powered flight, was there any options like that for players? A jetpack or rocket boots or something tucked in one of the chromebooks?

>>97128475
When diving into the transhuman issue (FBCs and exotics), the discussion can fishtail into trans stuff since there's also the option for swapping your gender. To shift gears, we can TRANSition to XBD discussion.

There's Braindance content where people can have whatever digital body they want within the virtu.
With the datakrash messing up the net, everything is localized to regional subnets and private networks. I reckon all manner of digital degeneracy gets explored in these private spaces.
>loli orgies
>zoophilla
>necrophilla
>guro
>Rule 63 Bob Ross futa painting your insides and giving you a "color commentary" on the process.
One thing I need to research is the actual laws in the universe. XBD production is illegal (obviously, you're harming real people), but what about AI-generated/simulated content for people to get off murder and rape? Presuming the sensations for that content are remixes of legal content, no one is technically getting harmed in the production and use of said XBD content. Is there a grey market for such content, or are all XBDs considered illegal since there's no way to discern real rape/murder from simulated rape/murder?

Have you ever allowed players to make their own cyberware or bioware in a game? How would you limit it so it would be balanced? I do think it should fit in the setting as there's plenty of chooms that would jailbreak their implants for another mantis blade but it's rare to hear about anyone coming up with new ideas for stuff they'd want to put inside themselves for shits and giggles.

I myself have set up a rudimentary system where if a character is a techie or obtains a program that could reasonably be used as a design software I'll allow them to draw up some cyberware and stat it according to what would be reasonable for similar types of 'ware. They can then give it to me before they start a session or after we finish a game for the night and they get some ideas.

It lead to the player having a pair of Lynx Paws-like leg implants that would launch them into the air with an explosive blast but would deal damage by a dice roll. They ended up killing a corpo that was gonna backstab them because they rolled a 1 to be cool and jump away on their first meeting and instead tripped and missled themselves through his torso.

>>97200892
The illegality of XBDs is that they're basically jail-broken to give you a better-than-real-life experience (or at least more extreme than real), and that fucks up your brain, right? I'd imagine that it's much like people fucking around in blender or drawing doujin now, there might be some legality issues around BD's of kid fucking (especially if you're programming specific kids) but probably it'd be legal, if not socially acceptable.

I guess the question is, how much do you need to make a bd?

File: 1754027059955621.jpg (12 KB, 173x182)

12 KB JPG

>>97200909
For context I rolled a 1 on the corpo dodging and was going to have that affect the quest but then when I rolled for the damage their tumble caused the weight of everything the player had on them/chipped in combined with a 20 led to him getting pulped.

I had to scrap the job the group was gonna go on and pivot to an adventure using the backup scenario I made of them being hunted by corpo killteam ninjas if they killed the corpo. I planned for it but I was baffled they activated that scenario by a random series of fuckups rather than a cool plan to backstab the backstabber for more eddies.

>>97200909
I tried working with my ref on some of that. I had one of my NPC followers have "rocket hands," where he could launch his fists. I don't believe there's an explicit cyberware like that in the RAW, but I think they were treated as a throwable melee weapon.
Another NPC has wolvers that were worn out and didn't work right. That's more reworking existing cyberware to behave differently, though.

Generally speaking, I think custom cyberware ideas are cool, even if they end up being a little broken. Just gotta convince your ref.
>"I have an idea for snake drones that I can deploy out of my arms to-"
>"Nah, that's too complicated. Just give them mantis blades. You can draw snake faces on them if you want."
>>97200942
>and that fucks up your brain, right?
No more than regular BDs (that also can be remixed to boost sensations), I don't think. I would argue it depends on the content and how intensely the sensations are rendered. I felt XBDs are usually content that's considered too extreme to be sold in stores and has to be sold on secretive subnets or in back alleys.
> I'd imagine that it's much like people fucking around in blender or drawing doujin now
Assuming no real people were harmed, I suppose, but if the XBD is so well made that you can't distinguish it from the real thing, I figure the law would just be
>All acts involving prohibited content (real or simulated) in an XBD etc. etc.
Or something to that effect. Enjoy this sloppy example.
>https://files.catbox.moe/vugixn.pdf
>I guess the question is, how much do you need to make a bd?
I had another character who was going to traffic that content, but they flatlined, so I don't need to do any BD crafting. I'm just curious for the sake of world-building.

>>97201003
In that scenario surely there's some wiggle room right? Like even if you're not willing to make new cyberware surely you can work with your player for some cool factor in your game?
>that's too complicated and overpowered
>how about instead we go with a pls and instead of missiles it fires spikes styled after snakes that have a jaw that clamps down when it hits something?

>>97201003
Huh, I misunderstood what XBDs were. I like the version I had hallucinated more.

>>97200909
Well we aren't getting a lot of official stuff so homebrew is the way to go. I let the tech player go wild, especially with the home base upgrade that let's him work on 3 projects simultaneously. But always with a caveat that no designs are final and might even be rescinded if after a few playtests the idea just can't be reigned in.

>>97201055
>In that scenario surely there's some wiggle room right?
Depends on the ref. If they like an idea, they may overlook some balance/mechanical bullshit to include your original donut steal idea.
>surely you can work with your player for some cool factor in your game?
If they're a decent ref, I'd say yes. If you feel like your ref is too restrictive, you can always let them know. If you don't let players fuck around in the world and build out their own shit, they're going to feel less like they're enjoying Night City, and more like they're in a Night City-style theme park.
>>97201072
Maybe I'm wrong. That was my interpretation of XBDs. Presumably, they would (on average) be more intense than regular BDs and have dialed up sensations. Arguably, we both may be right.

>>97200909
>Have you ever allowed players to make their own cyberware or bioware in a game?
In RED, you're expected to do so, Techie's Invention specialisation is for that.
Pathfinder has an "Inventor" class that can't invent anything which is exceedingly lame, but at least can be excused with fantasy theme. No such thing in a cyberpunk game.

>>97201099
No, you're definitely right, it's the content that's illegal, not the programming. I forget that cp2020 is specifically an authoritarian dystopian hellhole moreso than a libertarian dystopian hellhole.

File: delta protects.jpg (892 KB, 2560x1600)

892 KB JPG

>>97201116
>In RED, you're expected to do so, Techie's Invention specialisation is for that.
This. RED's super fun if you're into fucking around with your own ideas for cyberware in the world of Cyberpunk rather than just using the off the shelf stuff in Night City (which is still really fucking cool to be fair. Mantis Blades my beloved.)
We had a really cool DM that was willing to allow pretty much any ideas we had for implants so long as we drew up what is was and what it did and stated the thing like standard. The only caveat was we had to go out to get materials for our techie ourselves.
The whole game turned into us giving in forms that we and our techie player were down to work on, then he'd write up some jobs to get the materials to build them. I'll never forget how happy everyone was when we finally built our custom shit. I ended up going for a full bioware build that was designed to support the custom drill arm we made, best part of the session when we managed to protect a little girl and get some cannister in a remote town affected by a forgotten corpo plague weapon we were hired to get that turned them into zombies basically.T
here were so many I ran out of fuel and had to use the drill as a bludgeon to protect her while my team were firing into the horde atop a cliff behind me. In hindsight I think he made that job up when he noticed I had unintentionally turned myself into a Big Daddy.

>>97200942
That sounds more like Shadowrun BTLs than Cyberpunk XBDs

>>97201003
>No more than regular BDs
BDs can hurt or even kill people through either poor or intentional design. So in that sense they are kind of streetdrug analogous as well. For that reason I'd imagine you probably need permits to legally produce or distribute BDs, probably any BD being peddled on the street corner or pirated might technically be considered an XBD

>>97201003
>>97200942
>>97200892
>One thing I need to research is the actual laws in the universe
Well we do learn in 2077 in rivers mission that for all its degeneracy child abuse is still illegal in Night City. He specifically says a crime boss he busted went to jail for it.

>what about AI-generated/simulated content for people to get off murder and rape
Well there is an ad in 2077 for one fully legal BD called ''wet dream' which lets you be 'the dream or the dreamer'.

>>97201373
I'm definitely more of a chummer than a choomba, so that's probably where the wire crossed.

Any good sources for VTT maps?
I like TC Modern's stuff (works fine enough for cyberpunk) but most others I've seen online only make fantasy content or are kinda crappy.
I'm specially looking for some good road or highway open maps

>>97194666
>don't make sense again as to why the nations didn't act sooner.
While Mike did do a lot of real research into history and technology to make his future have some grounding in reality. He also was trying to make a fun setting for TTRPG campaign frrst, not a realistic depiction of how the actual future would go.

>>97181724
>Under that framework, I don't quite understand how the fuck the Fourth Corporate War got that bad though.
It didn't get "that bad" aside from Night City getting nuked.
Japan and America had some fighting and what essentially amounts to company funded terrorist attacks against the assets of the rival company but that's about it.
Most of the world didn't get directly affected by the 4th corporate war but cyberpunk lore has tunnel vision on Night City so obviously that place in particular looks like shit by the time of RED.

>>97202869
It seems like Chicago, Hong Kong and Rio are completely fucked up by fighting, Busan has a bio-attack that kills thousands, and there are plenty of smaller engagements all over the world. CP: Red also says that they targeted shipping and logistics specifically, which is part of the reason why things are so fucked up as of the time of Red: between supply lines being fucked by the war and the data crash destroying the data of what shit was in which shipping container in which spot, no one knows where anything is anymore.

Definitely Night City got the brunt of it, but other shit was happening all over the world. I don't think it's outright stated, bit I imagine a lot of smaller corps used the chaos as an opportunity to grind various axes as well.

>>97202465
I suppose? In 2077 the way Judy nonchalantly "mixed" BD's made it sound like you just had to tune the sensations correctly to make a (relatively) safe product.

I would figure abusing BDs or XBDs would have a negative effect. You're effectively flooding your brain with dopamine or other stimulating sensations, which over the long term would "fry" your brain the same way a chronic drinker or chem abuser might suffer. That's my interpretation anyway
There's also the virtu, which is explored more in 2077 where you join someone else inside a BD environment. In that case, I figure you could redo your avatar to be whatever you want. That way, even if you're a fat disgusting slob IRL, you could be cute shota or a masculine hunk of a guy in the virtu and feel that way despite being jabba the hut in meatspace. A similar concept was in Surrogates starring Bruce Willis (the movie is kinda dumb by today's standards, but it explored some interesting cyberpunk ideas)
This would also allow you (or a partner) to larp loli, woman, monster, or whatever your imagination could conceive.
>>97202803
>child abuse is still illegal in Night City.
Which I figured would be the case. As for
> fully legal BD called ''wet dream' which lets you be 'the dream or the dreamer'.
It looks kind of rapey with the cover art, but I'd need some more substantial evidence of what it entails before I say "you can buy legal rape/murder BD's as long as it's only simulated rape/murder." I'd reserve the XBD label for actual recordings of rape/murder that used 100% real rape and murder sensations for their sensation profile.
Arguably, whether BD or XBD, both could be tuned to be more or less intense for the viewer's pleasure, so I don't think any BD is going to give someone a pure translation of the original sensation that was recorded to create it.

>>97203525
>as long as it's only simulated rape/murder.
Well I presume Mike and CDPR intended for us to read between the lines here, considering investors might be a little nervous about pushing the envelope that much when a video game costs as much money as it does.
They almost cut rebecca from edgerunners because they thought there'd be backlash over her character design.

I'm refereeing for a group of 3 female players. All three are new to Cyberpunk but they have played D&D 5e before and are ok with trying out a new system. I have never GM'd D&D for them but I did play together with 2 of them and they are ok.
any advice with storytelling for women?

File: 1725499112628531.jpg (269 KB, 1200x1175)

269 KB JPG

>>97203755
Are they genre-aware? Cyberpunk is not a lighthearted dungeon-crawling fantasy setting. This is a world where if you fuck up, you're dead fast, or worse, your body ends up in some scab chop shop or a corpo lab where you're experimented on and then discarded when you've outlived your usefulness. Particularly for the time of the RED, all of Night City just reeks of shittiness
> You start off poor, living out of a shipping container or on the street
>No one can source anything
>everyone is trying to fuck everyone else out of money
>The city is filled with hyper-violence, rape, poverty, and corruption
>practically everything you do will cost you humanity, so you have to carefully balance your calendar to allow for some "vacation days" so you don't go cyberpsycho.
It depends on the constitution of the players, but if they're normie girls who watched the anime and want some Chromeo and Juliet story, I think they may be disappointed. If they're used to more hard-fantasy stories with grim-dark elements, I think they'd be at home in the game.

If their IQ is above room temperature, they should enjoy the same stories guys enjoy (if you're a good storyteller). Other than that, I would go over their character sheet and try to implement parts of their backstory into whatever narrative you're crafting when you can. Guys like this as well, of course. It shows the DM/Ref didn't just glance at the character sheet and handwave them into the world.

>>97203755
I'd be more worried about their tabletop game preconceptions coming from 5E more than gender. While you can definitely run your first session however you like (detective mystery, lots of combat, classic heist, social interaction, community building, etc) if you do have a fight it has to be brutal. If 5E players don't at least get a few funny crits in their first combat they won't ever respect the threat of combat. You don't have to make combat hardened especially if the players don't minmax (but since they are 5E players I'm confident they'll at least google 'cyberpunk red starting advice' like mine did).

So far my female players have been a violent techrunner who likes upgrading gear for much more danger, another netrunner who likes befriending AI and trapping them in household appliances without wifi access, and a solo who started a gang (which were a failed edgerunner group the crew beat in an early job but I gave them way too much personality). So maybe women are more receptive to interesting NPCs and building groups?

>>97203755
Start the session with their characters kidnapped by a megacorp or gang or whatever that puts that submissive slut neurochip that came in that chromebook in which they added furries

>>97203755
Just make sure they understand from the very outset the world of cyberpunk is not a nice place that's going to cater to them. You are not the chosen one, or an intrepid adventurer. You are a lost soul in a sea of lost souls where hope got snuffed out years ago.

>>97203755
Are they hot?


>>97203883
The only people who run Cyberpunk like that are adversarial GMs who think it's fun to kill the players over minor shit. Reality is Cyberpunk Red is just sci fi themed DnD with a few mechanics like lifestyle upkeep and humanity to keep you grounded in the setting.

OP should just find out what tone the players like and run that. Red RAW is very inconsistent anyway. It wants to present Night City as a desperate place where basic goods are scarce, but also as a wacky themepark filled 1960's batman villains where everybody is obsessed with a shitty MMO and nobody can decide whether or not cars exist.

File: Guardsman like the way th(...).png (83 KB, 395x295)

83 KB PNG

>>97206813
My ref is pretty rough. I went exec just to get a free car with my driver and a decent housing option.
>Cyberpunk Red is just sci fi themed DnD with a few mechanics like lifestyle upkeep and humanity to keep you grounded in the setting.
Depends on who you ask. I don't mind the rougher nature of the game. Part of the issue is my ref is pbp, so the pacing is kinda fucky. Progression is pretty slow because of it. I'd like to do a proper tabletop setting, but finding a game with decent players, a ref, and a schedule is tricky than more mainstream titles like D&D and Pathfinder. Thankfully, 2077 and the anime have kinda pulled more people into Cyberpunk (for better or worse), but the TTG and the world itself are still niche for the most part.

File: Do_you_guys_not_have_phon(...).png (1.71 MB, 1920x1080)

1.71 MB PNG

Since a lot of games happen either digitally or smartphones are nearby, has anyone ever given players a digital puzzle? I don't believe in puzzles that stop gameplay but they can be fun for opening up additional avenues or giving bonus rewards. Thematically they could be security systems with exotic protections (and the other players helping out the netrunner to solve it would be the same as the teamwork bonus).

I know there are a few websites with good puzzles but often it means slogging through boring ones for 20 minutes. I gotta find a website that just lets you level select.

>>97203883
Paradoxically, my impression of the Time of the RED is that with all the chaos and general shittiness and rebuilding its actually the best opportunity the world has to become something better. We know it won't thanks to 2077, but a dedicated group can go full alternate history.

>>97210131
Every once in a while I've thought it would be cool to do netrunning in an in-person game on phones using a local client type thing, just to keep it from cluttering the table and add a level of immersion.

Beyond that I don't like taking eyes off the board whenever possible.

>>97210985
Circle back around to
>It depends on the ref
For instance, I'm pretty wild. I might have a start that deviates from the RAW, where I give each player 15000eb and let them outfit a PC with all kinds of wild cyberware, gear, and other toys. Have them be a member of the MAXTAC squad. They'd buzz around Night City in an AV handling hostage situations and Cyberpsycho incidents.
Or maybe I'd have a zombie outbreak in a cordoned-off megabuilding that biotechnica (or some other corp) would try to cover up, and the players would have to fight off cyber zombies and corpo cleaners to escape.

If I were doing it RAW, I'd try to keep the grim shittiness while offering players little "steps" up to help keep them in the green and out of cyber psychosis if they're lucky. There needs to be a catharsis for the players after a prolonged struggle through shittiness.

>>97203289
If memory serves correctly, shipping lines just straight up don't exist anymore. Arasaka made millions of AI-controlled sea minds and programmed the AI to blow up any ship that could be used by Militech. The AI then came to the conclusion that ANY ship could be captured by Militech and so decided to blow up every ship that came in contact with the mines. When Arasaka realized how bad they fucked up, they tried to shut down the AI and it basically told them to go fuck themselves. I remember reading something in 2077 that says this is still a problem being dealt with well into 2077.

So yeah, the 4th Corporate War was apocalyptic in its scope and implications.

File: cyberpunk DTR ads.jpg (1.84 MB, 3024x4032)

1.84 MB JPG

>>97211670
>If memory serves correctly, shipping lines just straight up don't exist anymore
In 2077 Arasaka has made strides in fixing the problem, as their new warship making it across the pacific unharmed is considered newsworthy enough for Ruth Dzeng (the Stephen Colbert of Night City) to cover.
Also there are airships in the setting that make up some of the lost difference, the player sees ads for them all over the city. They apparently can reach at least as far away as Australia according to the ads.

>>97211670
>The AI then came to the conclusion that ANY ship could be captured by Militech and so decided to blow up every ship that came in contact with the mines.
If sealanes don't exist anymore in the cyberpunk setting, with fishing boats and cargo ships both being destroyed by these sea drones. Shouldn't the marine ecosystem of this setting be better off since nobody is fishing or dumping shit into the ocean? According to a kiosk at the beach in 2077 the last shark went extinct in 2067, so it's presumably still pretty bad. But so bad only the super rich can afford decent seafood?

>>97215199
>But so bad only the super rich can afford decent seafood?
Well, you know...
>since nobody is fishing

>>97215199
>since nobody is [...] dumping shit into the ocean?
Do you think you have to go out to the centre of an ocean to dump shit into it?

Here's hoping NC45 comes out in a few days as a nice Christmas present.

>>97215359
Or Interface RED 5 with the military DLC.

File: shadowrun fanart.jpg (385 KB, 1000x1000)

385 KB JPG

Is Shadowrun 6e decent? I heard the release corebook was trash, but since then they've released two updated editions that fix alot of the problems.

I want something Cyberpunk adjacent to run for my group. Getting tired of doing another Red campaign and figure Shadowrun is just Cyberpunk with higher power scaling and more build variety. Basically the things I try to homebrew into Red anyway.

>>97221936
Unless they fundamentally altered the core systems my understanding was that 6e was irredeemable garbage that played like FATE; in which case you could have just played fate and cut out the middle-man.

>>97221960
Okay cool. I'll avoid and look for something else or wait for that Anarchy 2.0 to come out. Preview looked decent.

Also off topic, but why do designers have a hard on for rules lite "narrative" style games these days? Why is there such a big push to reinvent the wheel instead of just reiterating and improving on what previously worked.

>>97221936
Gobbet, my beloved.

>>97221975
There's this idea that there's a barrier to popularity in complexity; and that the simpler a game is the more money it's going to make. Not only is this completely wrong, they're often stupidly tearing out most of the interesting systems and mechanics and leaving behind dull ones because they weren't complicated.

RED thankfully didn't make this mistake, not entirely. It's simpler, but there's plenty going on to keep people interested without also being in modifier hell (though I feel a lot of GMs I've played with are terrified of applying circumstantial modifiers, so it's whatever). There are other flaws in the system, but the bones are good and you can build it up where it needs bulk.

>>97222039
tbf Red does try it's hand at more narrative style gameplay. Rockerboy and Media have very wishy washy abilities open to interpretation.

Also Red does try to limit crunch by making the combat and character building very simple.

>>97222172
Well those are two roles that would be very unsatisfying if you made them much more granular. That said they're not quite as insubstantial as they seem.

Charismatic Impact is actually crunchier than it might immediately appear; I just find GMs don't tend to pay enough attention and can sometimes make it work like mind control. Broadly its a way to scattershot assistance wherever you go; unlike Backup or an Exec's Teamwork, you can run into fans anywhere and you don't have to drag them with you. Even at rank 4 there's more going on than it would appear: Being able to play at well known Clubs necessarily gets you into all the well known club, and you're one rank away from necessarily being able to play (and thus enter) any club that's not explicitly exclusive. Otherwise you're building effectively a contact list as you make fans and can shake them down weekly (figuratively) for favors, which has the rules breakdown of "I have an ever increasing pool of NPCs that I get a favorable social roll on to just have them do shit for me". Use that smartly, and you're going to have the rockstar treatment wherever you go in the most literal sense of the word.

Similarly, Credibility has some bite to it if the GM will just play it right. Passive rumors go automatically, so the GM should be keeping you connected and assuming he's not feeding you bullshit intentionally, something is going to be useful. Even if it's not, publishing can work a variety of ways to your advantage more than just having a magazine. You can 'publish' to individual people or organizations and what you publish doesn't even need to be true. It's definitely more fluffy than all the others and more nebulous than Charismatic Impact though.

>>97215169
How the hell does this thing fly?
>>97222245
A good Referee can make Credibility the most influential ability in the game.

>>97222245
It's not about being "granular," it's about giving those roles something to do outside of their vague ass narrative powers.

>>97222326
>A good Referee can make Credibility the most influential ability in the game.
A bad one can too

>>97134223
Disengage if things look bad
>>97179929
Sninoization surgery

>>97221936
Just play 2e. It isn't nearly as complicated as it seems at first glance.

File: 1722853052484087.jpg (55 KB, 474x592)

55 KB JPG

>player running low on money
>tell them they can do merc work for a corp ala edgerunners inc
>no
>its not selling your souls
>still no
>he still lament over money issues
I feel 'fight the corps' is so drilled into the heads that players never think of doing a simple alliance and leave for big money

>>97128968
Update
They got nuked by the AI

>>97222326
>How the hell does this thing fly?
When ER dropped and fandom peaked (again) we'd have a discussion over /tg. One Anon claimed that the anti gravity technology used in the arasaka prototype FBC-ish body isnt the first instance of such tech by claiming that in 2077 vidya there's an ad, or a shard that mentions that such airborne haulers use anti gravity to be able to lift themselves.
I post it as "maybe" and "claim" since I never came by such info in the game, nor any lore youtubers I've lost dozens of hours listening to mentioned such technology.

>>97224321
If that won't teach them a lesson, nothing will.

>>97222554
You can apply that same logic to Combat Awareness being a bad ability because it's exclusively a combat power. Solos aren't bad because they're only good at combat and nothing stops a solo from taking skills that aren't combat skills, buying equipment that's not combat equipment and doing things that aren't combat. It's players that pidgeonhole their characters into not doing anything their sheets don't tell them they can explicitly do.

Hi, my group wants me to run a game set in this system, but they don't want to just play as the usual cyberpunk downtrodden gang characters. So I'm curious as to how balanced the game is for something like a party where everyone is an average corpo soldier being sent out to put out fire in other branches or to do combat run against other corps.
I'm still reading up on the system and lore for this game, but it seems like there's a massive divide between street level gears and actual corpo grade tech.

>>97227021
Not really. Most of it boils down to cost and availability. Your average dyed in the wool corpo grunt isn't going to have a magical assault rifle that's better than all other assault rifles; but the one the corporation issues him is more likely to be an EQ one with attachments, possibly already bolted on.

Of course it's not really HIS rifle.

So Interface Volume 5 is supposed to come out this year still, isn't it? Where is it?

>>97227042
So it's not that hard to balance the encounter and enemy for a fully equipped and decked out group?

>>97227140
You'll basically be balancing the same way you would for a group that's been playing for a while. The power curve on things is actually really more like a step ladder in game; almost all your PCs if they're a corporate troubleshooting team will be hardened, so you'll just balance encounters based on that and what gear you've given them.