Roleplaying Games

The Good/Bad/Ugly of Cyberpunk RED

They recycled a lot of ideas from Cybergeneration and Cyberpunk v3.0, and that’s a good thing

“Damn it, I can’t leave, Night City keep calling me”

- Run the Jewels, “No Save Point”

The Good

The Colors!

The first Chromebook featured a color section, but this is the first entire Cyberpunk book in color. Obviously the injection of cash from having their RPG made into a video game provided a budget the likes of which they’d never imagined. Might as well blow it on delicious artwork. And it is delicious.

Role-Based Lifepaths and Workspaces

The new Role-specific Lifepaths are a godsend. Also, unlike in previous editions, players roll Lifepath BEFORE they generate stats. Yay, narrativism!

Workspaces are also a nice touch. Now the place your cyberpunk works doesn’t have to be “bought”. You just have it. It might suck but it doesn't require any bookkeeping.

Streetrat and Edgerunner Character Generation.

The Streetrat option, with its heavy use of Templates, is what keeps me from HATING the skill list more than I already do (see The Ugly). The Edgerunner method gives players a bit more control without ALL the bookkeeping. Pre-built packages of guns, gear, and cyberware are way overdue. This is all sort of the culmination of ideas from Cybergeneration and v3. Because everything gets reused.

Role Abilities

Godlike. 2020’s Wideside supplement expanded the Fixer’s ability like this. Now all the Roles have their own fun subsystems. Solos can tweak their approach to combat. Medias can mine for Rumors. Nomads have access to a garage of vehicles. But the big winner is…

Invention Expertise

“More than any ability in the game, this ability can result in game imbalance.”

— Cyberpunk RED, page 149

Techs now have their own invention mechanics. Personally I would “invent” tech from alternate Cyberpunk settings…

• NuCyb from Cyberpunk v3
• Moddies and Daddies from When Gravity Fails
• Spinners and aeroboards from Cybergeneration
• Emotive Rock from Dark Metropolis

Price Categories

Cyperpunk RED organizes everything into Price Categories. Cheap, Everyday, Costly, etc. I think Housing prices are the only exception. This means you can assign a price to any new weapons, gear, or services quickly.

Bulletproof Shields

Not at all groundbreaking, but I LOVE the idea of normalizing shields on the streets of Night City.

EMP Threading

The metallic lines everyone in the 2077 trailers has on their skin are purely aesthetic. I originally figured they retconned cyberware so that surgery left “seams” between the hardware and flesh. Not so. It’s ALL style and NO substance. Love it.

Some people think EMP threads protect you from electro-magnetic radiation, but they don’t because electrohypersensitivity is not a real thing.

Running Out of Cash/Selling Your Soul

In Cyberpunk 2020, players could sell out to the military, the Mob, or a megacorp in exchange for 10,000eb in “free” cyberware. That’s been lowered to 1,500eb AND the entire group has to take the deal. That determines the entire bent of the campaign, rather than an obligation hanging around one player’s neck.

Netrunning

I didn’t even dislike the old version, but this is still an improvement. Now Netrunning is a series of encounters on different “floors” of the system. The same concept was played with in Cybergeneration, which called them Nodes. Come to think of it, Nodes might be a better word because systems can have branching paths. Whatever.

Demons and Defenses

Also great. Now AI programs in computer systems can strike back at meatspace intruders. Expanding the options for physical defenses and traps and whatnot is long overdue. Putting these in the Netrunning section sorta makes sense and sorta doesn’t, but I don’t really care. It’s the new toys that matter.

Cyberpsychosis

Other than in third party supplements (ex: Dark Metropolis), Cyberpunk never expanded on the Humanity and Cyberpsycho rules. Distinguishing between medical prosthetics and full-on cyberware makes it clear exactly what cyberpunks are doing to themselves (still worth it). Same with gender surgery and exotic bodysculpting. Very different things now. Also, adding other kinds of trauma shows how life in Night City can push you over the edge without cyberware.

Night Markets

Introduced in Wildside (called Agoras) and expanded. Makes gun shopping interesting without bogging down the game. The above chart starts the process. Other charts determine exactly what’s available.

Smart Guns, Smarter Bullets

Smart Bullets work like Chromebook 2's micromissiles. Yay.

Lifestyle and Housing

Food and entertainment and whatnot are abstracted into one monthly cost. It’s not an earth-shattering change. Shadowrun did it like this. It’s just overdue because I’ve seen players and GMs actually care about this stuff, and it was cringe-worthy.

Same with housing. Now housing costs include/abstract furnishings. No more buying individual lamps. You might THINK no one ever did that back in the day, but I’m sure SOMEONE did. Plus, I like the rules for how much sleeping on the street fucks you up.

Doing Jobs and The Hustle

2020 didn’t list what typical jobs usually pay. You had to suss it out from published scenarios. Now it’s spelled out. Also, the Hustle rules help determine what happens during downtime. No one blue-books anymore, and that’s a good thing.

Beat Charts

Resurrected and reworked from the out-of-print Dream Park. Cyberpunk always provided GMs with a lot of backstory and ideas to build scenarios with. RED now provides a thorough list of set pieces and instructions on how to assemble them. A LOT of Cyberpunk GMs never learned how to build a plot. This will help.

The Bad

The Lawman’s Role Ability is Dumb

I’m not in love with Backup. It’s useless until you get into a fight, then it slows the game down because there are now more bodies to manage. I might be in denial that it’s a combat-centric game, but I miss using 2020’s Authority ability to MAKE people give up without a fight. Yes, I played a Cop.

WHY DIDN’T THEY ABSTRACT FASHION?!

Managing individual articles of clothes was always dumb. I guess assigning separate prices gives context, but your wardrobe should also be a package, like Lifestyle. I’m not even sure I want to fix it. I just want to ignore and avoid it as much as possible.

Task Resolution

I thought simulationism died. Apparently we still need to kill it. We do not need to track real world speeds or make actions this granular. Literal Movement is only important in combat AND IT SHOULDN’T BE. Same with time and initiative. Playing out 3-second intervals is a dinosaur idea that was abandoned a decade ago. And do we really need all those negative modifiers?

Biotoxin, Flashbang, Sleep, and Teargas Ammo

T̶h̶e̶ ̶r̶u̶l̶e̶s̶ ̶s̶a̶y̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶y̶ ̶d̶o̶ ̶n̶o̶ ̶d̶a̶m̶a̶g̶e̶.̶ ̶Y̶o̶u̶ ̶j̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶a̶p̶p̶l̶y̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶v̶a̶r̶i̶o̶u̶s̶ ̶e̶f̶f̶e̶c̶t̶s̶.̶ ̶B̶u̶l̶l̶s̶h̶i̶t̶.̶ ̶I̶f̶ ̶I̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶o̶t̶ ̶s̶o̶m̶e̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶a̶ ̶t̶e̶a̶r̶g̶a̶s̶ ̶b̶u̶l̶l̶e̶t̶,̶ ̶i̶t̶’̶s̶ ̶g̶o̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶d̶o̶ ̶s̶o̶m̶e̶ ̶d̶a̶m̶a̶g̶e̶.̶

I missed were it said these kinds of ammo weren’t bullets, just grenades (and sometimes arrows?). Good catch, Squidberries.

Still, they should do SOME kind of normal damage on a direct hit. Ruben Salazar got killed by a tear gas “projectile”. I guess they skip the what-ifs to simplify things. Otherwise you’d have to roll for the special effect, then roll AGAIN for damage.

Where’s the Chipware?

I̶f̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶’̶r̶e̶ ̶n̶e̶w̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶C̶y̶b̶e̶r̶p̶u̶n̶k̶,̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶d̶o̶n̶’̶t̶ ̶k̶n̶o̶w̶ ̶w̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶i̶s̶.̶ ̶H̶o̶w̶ ̶c̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶?̶ ̶I̶T̶’̶S̶ ̶N̶O̶T̶ ̶T̶H̶E̶R̶E̶!̶ ̶T̶h̶e̶ ̶C̶h̶i̶p̶w̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶S̶o̶c̶k̶e̶t̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶l̶i̶s̶t̶e̶d̶,̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶s̶a̶y̶s̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶n̶e̶e̶d̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶C̶h̶i̶p̶w̶a̶r̶e̶,̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶I̶ ̶f̶o̶u̶n̶d̶ ̶n̶o̶ ̶C̶h̶i̶p̶w̶a̶r̶e̶,̶ ̶o̶r̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶n̶ ̶r̶u̶l̶e̶s̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶u̶s̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶C̶h̶i̶p̶w̶a̶r̶e̶.̶

A few hours after I posted this story…

Never mind. Skill Chips, which used to be the only Chipware, is listed plain as day. Also, a bunch of other Neuralware is now Chipware.

Fuck this pandemic.

Screamsheets

There are only three. 2020 had ten. I know RED’s designers gave the GM more tools and inspiration to roll their own with, but 14 more pages of plot seeds wouldn’t have killed them.

The Political Powers of Night City

This isn’t Bad for the game, but it is Bad for the player-characters. From page 300…

This City Council is dominated by the most aggressive or charismatic members of these disparate factions, including:

- The Nomad Families

- The Edgerunners, including Netrunners, Solos, Rockerboys, and other “cyberpunk” types

- The old City government

- The Corporate interests of Biotechnica, Continental Brands, Danger Girl, Militech, Network 54, Petrochem, Rocklin Augmentics, SovOil, Trauma Team, Ziggurat, Zhirafa and (recently and covertly) Arasaka.

The cyberpunks aren’t just professional criminals anymore. They’re a legitimate culture onto themselves. But if 2077 is the official future, they lose. The megacorps become dominant again and everyone else gets fucked.

The Ugly

Skills and the Character Sheet

66 skills. There are 66 skills in this game. I had WAY higher hopes. Cybergeneration squished all the classic skills down to 27. Down with simulationism! Cyberpunk is more gamist than simulationist, but it’s still TOO SIMULATIONIST. Nobody has time for this anymore.

I guess the sort of game with 66 skills needed a character sheet to match. It’s three pages long. Both too much detail and not enough space. If they really needed players to have this much info, they should have spread it out over one more page.

Best way to fix this bullshit is to chop the Skills down to the bare bones. Make the 9 Skill Categories (Awareness, Body, Control, etc.) the new Skills. Characters now start with 12 skill points (I think). Tweak whatever needs it. If you think you’ll miss the the granularity, you’re wrong.

While we’re at it, maybe make the 4 Stat Groups (Mental, Combat, Fortune, and Physical) the new Stats. Characters would then start with 25 Stat points. Again, tweak whatever needs it.

Friday Night Firefight

I am not at all happy about RED’s combat system. I know it’s simpler than 2020. I know they trimmed down the formulas. I know there are fewer tables. I know they abstracted away a lot of details. I know there are fewer action options available, which cuts down on analysis paralysis. I know I haven’t even played it yet. I’m still not happy.

This is not a fast system. Still too crunchy. Still too many distinct options. Still too slow. Still too simulationist. Just looking at it angers me. Instead, use Thursday Night Throwdown from the Jumpstart Kit. Then ignore or forbid any skills or gear that doesn’t work with TNT until you’ve gotten so good with the system it seems effortless.

Also, maps will speed things up. And miniatures. Maybe official miniatures, because they have those. When they say, “In roleplaying, the ‘board’ is your imagination”, they lie.

What I really want you to do is use Saturday Night Scuffle from Cybergeneration plus v3’s metacharacter sheets because that’s what I would do, but that would be two more things for you to buy.

Overall, it’s a good book and a good game. But if Rifts can get a Savage Worlds version, Cyberpunk RED can be Powered by the Apocalypse.