CyberPunk 2013 - Core - View From The Edge.pdf - Core - parasito

View From the E

Cyberpunk Hand

Contents

Soul & the New Machine:

Cyberpunk Characters

Rockerboy(girls)

Solos

Netrunners

Techies

Medias

Cops

Corporates

Fixers

Nomads

Headware: The Mechanics of Cyberpunk

Character Points and Statistics

Skills & Tasks

Lifepath

Putting the Cyber into the Punk

Running out of Cash?

Netrunner: The Cybernetic Interface

System for Cyberpunk

The Net

Netrunners

Interface Programs

Hardware

Software

Net Combat

Into the Net: a sample run

Refereeing the Net

Trauma Team: Medtech In the Cyber Age

The

View

From the

Edge

SOUL & THE

NEW MACHINE

"---Got the Chrome and enhancements.

Got the Attitude right.

Got the metal beneath my skin

Movin' faster than light"

Big City (c)Johnny Silverhand

2012, Metal Fire Publishing (ASCAP)

CYBERPUNK Characters

The world of Cyberpunk is a violent, dangerous place, filled with people who'd

love to rip your arm off and eat it. The traditional concepts of good and evil are re-

placed by the values of expedience--you do what you have to do to survive. If

you can do some good along the way, great. But don't count on it.

So you wanna be a Cyberpunk? Or maybe

just look like one?

Before you pitch off your sleepmat and

jump in, there's a few things we need to

tell you. First of all, the name. Cyberpunk

comes from two words: CyoaMrom the

term cybernetic, or a fusion of flesh and

machine technology; Punk -from an early

1980s rock music style that epitomized

violence, rebellion and social action in a

nihilistic way. The term was popularized in

the Pre-Collapse days by a group of writ-

ers who specialized in writing science fic-

tion with this kind of techno-melange.

Their works featured a streamlined blend

of rock, pop, sex, drugs and the highest,

Hippest technology-usually grafted onto

your body somewhere. The archetypical

Cyberpunk heroes of the 80s ranged from

techno-barbarians roaming a postholo-

caust world, to cyberchipped jet setters

with designer bodies.

Cyberpunk characters are survivors in a tough, grim world, faced with life-and-

death choices. How they make these choices will have a lot to do with whether

they end up as vicious animals roaming a ruined world or retain something of

their basic humanity. Cyberpunk characters are the heroes of a bad situation,

working to make it better (or at least survivable) whenever they can. Whether it

takes committing crimes, defying authority or even outright revolution, the quin-

tessential Cyberpunk character is a rebel with a cause. As a Cyberpunk role-

player, it's up to you to find that cause and go to the wall with it.

This is the essence of Cyberpunk-- playing your character with the proper disaf-

fected, cynical-yet-idealistic style. Whether you're a biker with leathered skin and

metal claws, or a debutante in satin sporting the latest in designer cyberoptics,

you're going to need a certain panache, a certain flair, in portraying yourself. To

achieve the essence of the 2000s, you need to master three concepts:

1) Style over substance

It doesn't matter how well you do something, as long as you look good doing it. If

you're going to blow it, make sure you look like you planned it that way. Normal-

ly, clothes and looks don't matter in an adventure-in this world, having a leather

armor jacket and mirrorshades is a serious consideration.

Of course, from our enlightened viewpoint

here in 2010, this all looks pretty dated.

After all, you probably accessed this arti-

cle from your personal database 'comp.

You used a Kiyoshiru 1300A interface

cable with a direct link from your wrist-

plugs. You're used to hardwiring into the

2) Attitude Is Everything

It's truth. Think dangerous; be dangerous. Think weak; be weak. Remember,

everyone in the 2000s is carrying lots of lethal hardware and hightech enhance-

ments. They won't be impressed by your new H&K smartgun unless you swag-

ger into the club looking like you know how to use it and are just itching for an

excuse.

Never walk into a room when you can stride in. Never look at someone unless

you can make it your best "killer" look. Use your best "I'm bad and you aren't"

smile. Don't sit around the flat or cube waiting for the next job. Get on out and hit

the clubs and hangouts. Make sure you're where the party starts.

appliances to make coffee, "studding"

into the 'Benz to drive down to the corner

store. But understand---in 1987, this was

all considered pretty visionary stuff. No

one had plugs. You couldn't dial Luna on

the cellular. Designer drugs were illegal.

You could walk down most city streets

without an armor jacket. There wasn't

even a Net.

3) Live on the Edge

The Edge is that nebulous zone where risk-takers and high-riders go. On the

Edge, you'll risk your cash, your rep, even your life, on something as nebulous

as a principle or a big score. As a Cyberpunk, you want to be the action, start the

rebellion, light the fire. Join great causes and fight for big issues. Never drive

slow when you can drive fast. Throw yourself up against danger and take it head-

on. Never play it too safe. Stay committed to the Edge.

Now we know better. History books can

tell you in detail about the Crash of 1994,

when the Euro-Combines established the

World Stock Exchange and the econo-

mies of the United States and Old Sov

Russia collapsed.

ROLES

The Core of CYBERPUNK Roleplaying

The world of Cyberpunk is a combination of savage, sophisticated, modern and

retrograde. Fashion-model beautiful techies rub shoulders with battle-armored

road warriors, all of them making the scene in the hottest dance clubs, sleaziest

bars and meanest streets this side of the Postholocaust. Each character in this

world is playing a role--a face that the person projects to the outside world as

the real thing. There are nine Roles in Cyberpunk: Rockerboys, Solos, Ne-

trunners, Corporates, Techies, Cops, Fixers, Medlas, and Nomads.

As a Cyberpunk player, you must select one role for your character.

As long as the Tycho

massdrivers are ready

to throw rocks at Mos-

cow and Washington,

we'll probably avoid

having the nuclear war

everyone's been

expecting

Special Abilities

Special Abilities are skills usable only by specific character roles; for exam-

ple, Rockerboys have the Special Ability of Charismatic Leadership, which rep-

resents the vast amount of power they have over their legions of fans. When

using a Special Ability, you will add it's value to your INT Stat as if it were a skill. A

beginning character always begins with his or her Special Ability at a Level of +2

(on a scale of one to ten).

In those days, both were ranked as su-

perpowers, instead of a couple of over-

armed second raters waving nuclear

weapons around under the watchful eye

of the EuroSpace Defense Agency. As

long as the Tycho massdrivers are ready

to throw rocks at Moscow and Washing-

ton, we'll probably avoid having the nucle-

ar war everyone's been expecting since

1944. After all, rocks are cheap.

Occasionally, you may wish to start a character with a higher- level Special Ability,

for example; an old, washed-up Rockerboy who used to be hot a few years

back, or a hard-bitten Solo who's killed a few too many men and made a few too

many enemies. In these cases, you may trade points from a Stat on a one-for-

one basis with your Special Ability skill, up to five points total. These points may

only be taken from the following: REF, CL, or INT stats.

Now, of course, everything's more or less

run by the Corporations, which are pretty

much governments in themselves. You

can go anywhere on one passport-one

worldism at it's best. The currencies of

most nations are stabilized to each other,

and EuroSpeak is the world language.

Hardly anyone complains anymore about

corporate lifetime contracts or the aboli-

tion of unions. It's the price of living in a

stable, safe society, right?

Rockerboys & Rockergirls

Rebel rockers who use music and revolt to fight authority

If you live to rock, this is where you belong. Rockerboys are the street poets,

social consciences and rebels of the 1990s. With the advent of digital porta-

studios and garage laser disk mastering, every rocker with a message can take it

to the street, put it in the record stores, bounce it off the comsats.

Sometimes, this message isn't something the Corporations or the Government

wants to hear. Sometimes what you say is going to get right in the faces of the

powerful people who really run this world. But you don't care, because as a

Rockerboy, you know it's your place to challenge authority, whether in straight-

out protest songs that tell it like it is, or just by playing kick-ass rock n' roll to get

the people away from the TV sets and into the Streets. You have a proud history

as a Rockerboy--Dylan, Springsteen, Who, Elvis, the Stones--the legions of

hard rock heroes who told the truth with screaming guitars and gut-honest lyrics.

After all, you could be living in the Pro-

jects, right? Sixteen people to an apart-

ment, sharing ration chips every week to

buy food, with eight thousand apartments

per city block? Sure, it isn't the best life,

what with the boostergangs roaming the

malls and the major-league crime prob-

lems, but it beats actually being on the

Street. At least the mega-arcologies have

cops (okay, rented corporate cops, but

As a Rockerboy, you have the power to get the people up--to lead, inspire and

inform. A song from you can give the timid courage, the weak strength, and the

blind vision. Rockerboy legends have led armies against corporations and gov-

ernments. Rockerboy songs have exposed corruption, brought down dictators.

It's a lot of power for a guy doing gigs every night in another city. But you can

handle it. After all-- you came to play!

Special Ability: Charismatic Leadership

This ability allows the Rockerboy to control, incite and charm large numbers of

people through his or her performance skills. When under the Rocker's control,

this group can easily be persuaded to act on his suggestions, for example, a

Rocker could convince a concert crowd to riot in the streets or attack a heavily

fortified police line. Charismatic Leadership will only work with groups of ten or

more people, as it is primarily a mob leadership ability. The higher your Charis-

matic Leadership, the larger a crowd you can control and the more direct and

complex the instructions you can get them to follow. For example, a level +3

Leadership could incite a small nightclub crowd to get rowdy. A level +5 or +6

could provoke a concert crowd of four or five thousand to trash a neighborhood,

if the area wasn't too far from the hall. At level +9, and higher, you have the same

sort of mesmeric ability as an Adolph Hitler--you can raise armies, start move-

ments, and destroy nations.

Solos

Hired assasslns, bodyguards, killers, soldiers

You were reborn with a gun in your hand--the flesh-and-blood hand, not the me-

tallic weapons factory that covers most of your other arm. Whether as a free-

lance guard and killer-for-hire, or as one of the corporate cybersoldiers that en-

force business deals and the Company's "black operations," you're one of the

elite fighting machines of the Cyberpunk world.

Most Solos have put in military time, either in a corporate army or in one of the

Government's continual "police actions" around the world. As the battle damage

piles up, you start to rely more and more upon hardware—cyberlimbs for wea-

pons and armor, bio-program chips to increase your reflexes and awareness?"

combat drugs to give you that Edge over your opponents. When you're the

best of the best, you might even leave the ranks of corporate samurai and go ro-

nin- -freelancing your lethal talents as killer, bodyguard or enforcer to whomever

can pay your very high fees.

Sounds good? There's a price--a heavy one. You've lost so much of your origi-

nal meat body that you're almost a machine. Your killing reflexes are so jacked up

that you have to restrain yourself from going berserk at any moment. Years of

combat drugs taken to keep the Edge have given you terrifying addictions. You

can't trust anyone--your mother, your friends, your lovers--no one. One night

you sleep in a penthouse condo in the City--the next in a filthy alley on the

Street. But that's the price of being the best. And you're willing to pay it.

Special Ability: Combat Sense

This ability is based on the Solo's constant combat training and professionalism.

Combat Sense allows the Solo to perceive danger, notice traps, and have an al-

most unearthly ability to avoid harm . Your Combat Sense gives you a bonus

both your Awareness and Athletics skills. Example: Your Awareness is at level

+2 and your Athletics are at level +3. However, your Combat Sense is at level

+4. Your Awareness is boosted to +6, and your Athletics is boosted to +7.

Netnunners

Cybernetic computer hackers

At three, your parents bought you an old Apple IV GS with a Radius 241 war

screen, and your life was changed. By fifth grade, you'd already mastered every-

thing the school computer literacy lab could throw at you---you were already us-

ing C and META-LINGUA to crack into the district's mainframe and change your

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