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Post by friartook on May 12, 2016 21:58:01 GMT
Hey all, I've had a hankering for some Cyberpunk gaming action lately! I was on a search for a new system. Shadowrun and Cyberpunk 2020 are cool, but the crunch is just more than I want to deal with as a GM. I made some inquiries on Twitter and found this: Interface Zero 2.0Its based on the Savage Worlds rules. I can't speak to the Savage World rules at all, never run them. However, Interface Zero is possibly the best RPG Worldbook/Sourcebook I've ever read! All the flavor text describing the world is written as if its were a blog post by someone who lives in the world (complete with comments throughout). It drew me in immediately, much as a well written novel would. Normally, my eyes glaze over when I read world exposition text. Its part of why I enjoy homebrewing my own worlds so much. But this book is great! I strongly recommend checking it out if Cyberpunk science fiction gaming holds any interest for you. On that note, anybody have another game they feel would fit the "Cyberpunk" genre? |
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Post by Deleted on May 13, 2016 8:26:29 GMT
My only experience with Cyberpunk was a few games of Shadowrun 5, but it was a blast (as a player). I never really took the time to learn the system well beyond what I needed to know for my character, but I would feel the same as you about running it based on what I saw. Interface Zero sounds interesting, but I want to try adapting my homebrew to HERO system, so that's kinda first in my queue of possible new systems to learn. Incidentally, they have some cyberpunk conversions for that system, but I'll be sticking with heroic fantasy. Interface Zero sounds more like pure sci-fi than cyberpunk in my estimation. Not that that's a bad thing. Are the actual contents more in line with the cyberpunk vibe? In any case, the description reminded me of a graphic I used for a recent school report about AI. Interesting article, just wanted to share.  timeguide.wordpress.com/2014/06/19/future-human-evolution/ |
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Post by friartook on May 13, 2016 14:20:56 GMT
Interface Zero sounds more like pure sci-fi than cyberpunk in my estimation. Not that that's a bad thing. Are the actual contents more in line with the cyberpunk vibe? Well, now we get to have one of fun discussions where we quibble about poorly defined pop culture terms. I would say that Cyberpunk is pure science fiction, but we don't need to belabor that point. What defines Cyberpunk fiction as opposed to general science fiction has a lot to do with theme and attitude for me. Common themes: the structures of society collapsing under the weight of technology, inhuman corporate entities filling the void; augmented humanity, questions of where the line is drawn for defining human; people trying to eke out a life in a world full of forces too big for them; a dark, distopian, noir feel to the world and language; cyberspace represented as an alternate reality, data as 3D interactive representation. Defining works (for my definition of Cyberpunk): William Gibson's Sprawl trilogy (Neuromancer, Count Zero, and Mona Lisa Overdrive), if you haven't read these, then your science fiction literary education is incomplete. Gibson is one of my all time, top 5 favorite authors. The short story (also by William Gibson) and bad movie (Keanu Reeves) Johnny Mnemonic fits into the same universe. Bruce Sterling's work is said to define Cyberpunk as well, but I haven't digested his books. Bladerunner: Bladerunner was Cyberpunk before the term was ever coined. It fits all the themes and the attitude. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. An excellent book full of crazy mythological symbology, quick pithy writing, and fun adventure. The film Strange Days seems to fit too, but I haven't seen it in a long time and don't remember it being very good. V for Vendetta brushes up against a lot of Cyberpunk too. Given all that, everything I've read so far of Interface Zero fits squarely in line with Cyberpunk. |
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Post by blakeryan on Aug 28, 2016 8:48:42 GMT
Back in 94-96 I played and ran a few Cyberpunk 2020 and Shadowrun 2nd ed games, we frequently borrowed stuff from one and inserted it in the other.
While they games were enjoyable, they were clunky. The biggest problem we had was while the decker/netrunner was doing their thing, everyone else was twiddling their thumbs, so DM time sharing was much harder. 2nd biggest being if there are automatic weapons involved and peoples first action is not 'take cover' then people get wasted.
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson is excellent, ditto Diamond Age.
Bladerunner is the archetypal Cyberpunk film yes, but there are Cyberpunk elements in V for Vendetta, The Matrix, Jonny Neumonic, Split Second & Aeon Flux.
William Gibson's Sprawl trilogy = also good yes!
There are a few Shadowrun games on Steam, some of them LAN/internet based.
You can put some Cyberpunk style into D&D, such as playing powergroups (Zhentarim, Red Wizards of Thay, Scarlet Brotherhood etc) like Megacorps, owning land, governments and people. Instead of cyberspace/the matrix, have astral space with wizards who rarely spend time in the prime material.
Instead of a Megacorp putting a b*mb/tracker in your neck, its a the Coven of 12 and they want you to slay three council members of Lusina Tirion.
One lesson I took from running Cyberpunk into D&D is You don't have to kill players to show they've screwed up/stumbled somewhere very dangerous, that's easy and boring. Wound them, blow up their house, steal their car/horse, nail their cat to the door. Basically threaten them and make their life inconvenient. This keeps the game going for those characters, motivates those characters, and reminds them they are not in a vaccuum.
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Post by dmgenisisect on Feb 3, 2017 4:52:43 GMT
Though this sounds more like dungeon punk... If your looking for a rules light cyberpunk game I bumped into technoir, which is a free cyberpunk game which is pretty fun. There's also atleast one shadowrun themed apocalypse world hack that I've encountered. |
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