Sleeping on the Street is a Death Spiral

Summary

Cyberpunk RED introduces unique mechanics for characters living on the street, detailing the harsh realities of homelessness through gameplay.

Abstract

Cyberpunk RED, the tabletop roleplaying game that inspired the video game Cyberpunk 2077, includes a distinctive system for simulating the experience of homelessness. Unlike its video game counterpart, which only depicts hostile architecture without addressing the issue of homelessness, Cyberpunk RED requires players to make difficult Endurance Checks to successfully sleep on the street or in a vehicle, with failure resulting in a debilitating penalty to all actions the next day. This reflects the real-world challenges of chronic homelessness, emphasizing the importance of stable housing for basic human functionality. The game's mechanics highlight the struggle of maintaining daily activities without proper rest and shelter, illustrating the downward spiral that can occur from sleeping rough.

Opinions

The author acknowledges Cyberpunk 2077's detailed environment but criticizes its lack of engagement with the theme of homelessness, as the protagonist V always has an apartment.
Cyberpunk RED is praised for its unique and grim portrayal of homelessness through its game mechanics, which is not found in other roleplaying games, including the dark game Underground.
The difficulty of the Endurance Check for street sleeping, classified as "Difficult," is seen as an appropriate representation of the challenges faced by homeless individuals.
The game's -2 penalty for failing the street sleeping roll is considered significant, as it equates to performing technical tasks without proper tools or working under extreme stress.
The author suggests that the game's rules may oversimplify the complexities of chronic homelessness but also recognizes that the game assumes the character's homelessness is temporary.
The importance of housing is underscored, stating that without a secure place to sleep, humans cannot function well, which aligns with real-world conditions where obtaining housing becomes increasingly difficult once lost.

It’s terrible

Cyberpunk 2077 might be a shitshow of a game, but it was ambitious in its detail. That detail includes a ton of hostile architecture, like benches with spikes to keep people from lying down. But the game doesn’t actually address the subject of homelessness. V has an apartment by default, so the game doesn’t have to go there.

But the tabletop game 2077 is based on goes there. Cyberpunk RED is the only RPG I know of that has mechanics for sleeping on the street. Not even Underground had rules for that, and that’s a pretty grim game.

From Cyberpunk RED, page 378.

There are two Housing options in this wheelhouse: “Living on the Street” and “Living on the Street in a Vehicle”. Both require an Endurance Check roll of 15. That’s considered “Difficult”. If you make it, you sleep OK. This doesn’t mean you won’t get robbed or shot in your sleep, or rousted by the cops. It just means that if no one bothers you, you suffer no ill effects. If you fail the roll, you suffer a -2 to every roll you make the next day.

From Cyberpunk RED, pages 129 and 130.

-2 is equal to doing something technical without the right tools or parts, or working “under extreme stress”. That’s fairly debilitating. Think about it this way.

13 = Everyday — “This feat is something most people can do without a lot of special training.”

15 = Difficult — “This feat is difficult to accomplish without training or natural talent.”

17 = Professional — “This feat takes actual training and the user can be considered to be a professional, skilled in their abilities.”

Rough sleeping makes everything noticeably harder. Finding food and water. Keeping warm. Avoiding cops. Navigating government programs (if there are any). All of those things and everything else is just harder to do without real rest. On top of that, while the rules don’t state this outright, that penalty probably applies to the Endurance Check you have to make the NEXT night. And so on. It’s a death spiral.

Sleeping in the wilderness is the same except you roll Survival, and someone else can roll that for you. Sleeping in your car isn’t much better. Unless you have room for something like an inflatable mattress, you make the same roll. Also, none of this even tries to address exposure to the cold, like during a fucking snowstorm in Texas. And there are no rules for sleeping on hostile architecture. You just can’t.

To call this procedure an oversimplification is the understatement of the century. The game rules don’t have to go into the painful details of chronic homelessness because it’s assumed your character is only temporarily fucked. But in the real world, once you lose the roof over your head, finding a new one becomes crazy hard. That’s why housing isn’t a luxury, or even optional. Without a comfortable and secure place to sleep, humans cannot function well.

Roleplaying Games | Society

Sleeping on the Street is a Death Spiral | Cyberpunk RED

It’s terrible

Read every story by Oscar and everything else on The Ugly Monster!

As a Medium member, a portion of your membership fee goes to writers you read, and you get full access to every story…