Cyberpunk 2020, Near Future

Mixed Martial Arts for Cyberpunk 2020

While I love the cyberpunk 2020 system, I feel that the Martial Arts part of it has a few problems and does not deal with Mixed Martial Arts.
Firstly, many Martial Arts are just variations of a theme as there are only so many ways to injure someone. And taking multiple Martial Art Skills, your character ends up wasting IP (ie Experience). So as it stands, CP2020 does not deal with mixing martial arts together that well.
Secondary, most Martial Arts start with the foundations and then include weapon training at higher levels of skill. Having chosen a Martial Art, a character is almost locked into that path. So the form does not grow or evolve as the character does.
And finally, it cuts down on the roleplaying opportunities as a character does not need to learn from others. To find the master that can teach them that final technique to become the ultimate killing machine.

So the goal of this is to retain the feel of the CP2020 martial arts while allowing character growth. To simplify the system. And to give the cool feel of the H2H from movies like John Wick (1, 2, 3, & 4), The Raid, & soo many other movies…

MMA Rules for Cyberpunk 2020Download

This is the Art-less edition (ie No Art)

Game Mastery

Creative thinking techniques for RPGs

Once you have got some time & space to be creative, now it is time to use some tools to make the process easier. Even though there are many online tools (and explanations) to help you, they can also lead to distraction. So I’ve found the quickest way is pencil & paper as it does not interrupt my flow. Digital tools are great when creating the finished form and should be saved for later in the process.

Random (Encounter) tables

This is something that seems to have disappeared from most game systems over the years, and I can see why with the shift in focus towards narrative storytelling in RPGs. However, they can act as a prompt to help build the encounter or session.

For example, in one session of AD&D (I’m showing my age here). One of the encounters our party had was during the night once the campsite was set up and the watches allocated. A terrified hedgehog races through followed a few seconds later by a giant bear limping after it. We’d grabbed our weapons expecting violence but took a step back to let the bear go on its way, as it was too worked up to help. After the session, the GM said she rolled up the two creatures and mashed them together into a single non-combat encounter.

This shows how random encounter tables and for that matter, any table can be used to spawn ideas. It also demonstrates that not all encounters need to end in violence.

Flowcharts

Flowcharts are closely related to Mindmaps in look and simply add a direction of flow from concept to concept. The ones used in programming have a set of symbols to describe the flow of control in a program but in the case of RPGs it could show the direction of flow for a plot. The main difference is the arrows that are used to visually show the connection.

Brainstorming

Usually built around a single question, phrase, or idea brainstorming is just throwing as many variations down as possible.

Word Salad

Is a free association technique where you throw random words together to see what happens. A great example of this is on the Runehqmmer channel.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmlaGD2hOxg?t=2m[/embedyt]

Mind mapping

In it’s simplest form a Mindmap links together ideas.  I tend to think of it as labels & links. The labels are the word, concept or idea that represents a thing such as an NPC, room, or event. While the link is how the labels are connected, which could be a relationship between NPCs, connecting corridors between rooms, or possible repercussions from events.

For example, In the review of Oath of the Frozen King, there is this picture.

It shows a collection of dice linked together by lines and when developed it becomes a series of rooms or dungeon.

…Onward…

Each of these techniques is a starting point for the GM to develop their ideas from and requires a little time to polish them up into an encounter, plot point, or some other part of the game.

Near Future

Selling out

One of the choices a Player Character can have in Cyberpunk 2020 is to sell out. Basically, it’s more chrome for young punks at the cost for servitude to the Corporation, Covert Military, or Organised Crime. New players can access these easy packages of cyberware. Providing them with Cyber-Soldier, Netrunner, Tech Support, Faceman, and a Bioware focused pack.

Sellout PackagesDownload

Pages 93 & 94 cover the details of selling out and as a GM it does provide many opportunities to make the character’s lives more difficult. An organization’s coercion technique is hidden in the GM’s notes adds some paranoia to the game.

An example of a corporate’s holdover a character is Case from Necromancer. Having been locked out of the net by his past, Armitage offers a treatment to give him what he wants. As always, life is not that simple as the treatment is temporary, requiring Armitage’s cure.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHQqm6ijntg[/embedyt]

Having a character selling out leads to some interesting adventure hooks.

  • Forced employment or jobs you can refuse is a starting point to kick off an adventure.
  • What about a list of the ’employees’ gets out…
    • into the hands of the PCs. With them discovering who’s working for who,
    • or into the hands of their enemies,
    • The question can become what information…
    • Names, Locations, Tracking signal, or Kill codes?
  • How could a PC escape their employer?
  • How can you remove a corporation’s hooks in a character,
    while existing under their watchful gaze?
Near Future

Body Conditioning

Body Conditioning or Body Building is a BODY-based skill represents the character’s knowledge of how to train the body to improve its condition. This idea originally appeared in Interface 1#1, but it was too easy to go from BODY 2 to 10 (or higher) without problems. So this is a rewrite of that idea.

Limitations

  • A character can train themselves or others.
  • The maximum increase of the BODY stat through body conditioning is half the current skill level, up to a maximum of 13.
  • A character starting with Body Conditioning can roll once per skill level to improve their BODY once character creation is complete.
  • If a character is training regularly, then they can roll once per month
  • If a character is not training enough, then they lose one point of BODY per month until their BODY returns to its original value.

Skill Checks

Current BODYTarget
Very Weak (2)5
Weak (3 – 4)10
Average (5 – 7)15
Strong (8 – 9)20
Very Strong (10)25
Super human (11 – 12)30

Fumbles

On a roll of ‘one’, roll again to determine the degree of the Fumble.

RollResult
1 – 4No effect. You just failed.
5 – 6You look like a fool and everyone knows it.
7 – 8 Minor injury. 1 point of damage.
9 Major injury. 1d6 damage.
10Severe injury. 2d6 damage and – 1 BODY.

Training Gear

Like most skills there are pieces of equipment that can make it easier;

  • Basic Gym Equipment: +1
  • Full set Gym Equipment: +3
  • Integrated Cyber-gym: +5

Beyond Body Conditioning

There is REFLEX training used by the US Air-force to improve the responsiveness of their pilots. The same is true for world class athletics training the lower half of their body for movement (ie MA).

MA Training would be limited to skill level / 3, with a maximum of 12.

REF Training should be limited to skill level / 4, with a maximum of 11.

It appears that there are other forms of training the can make people more Emphatic (EMP), deal with pressures (COOL), etc. However, it is difficult to know how these could be set up in game.

Notes to self

Using Isometeric Cameras in Blender

Settings for a Isometric Cameras in Blender, adapted from
Daring Dino’s video Creating Isometric Cameras in Blender.

Setting up the camera this way requires that it is set to Orthographic with the rotation adjusted 54.736, 0, 45 (X, Y, Z). The XYZ coordinates can be anywhere to set up a good shot.

  • True Isometric Camera. X rotation: 54.736, Y: 0, Z: 45
  • Game Isometric Camera: XYZ (60, 0, 45).
  • Game 4to3 Isometric Camera: XYZ (40.5, 0, 45).

I’ve also noticed that if the Z-rotation is shifted +-90 to (45, 135, 225, or 315), it still maintains an isometric view, but from a different side.

Near Future

Cyberpunk Net Combat – Summary

Back in ’94-’95, I updated the Netrunning rules to make play easier, especially for Net Combat.  What follows is a summary / TLDR of those rules. Each round plays out at the same speed are the real world, just to keep the game flowing.

Initiative: The interface skill on page 46 says, “Other players can enter the Net, but cannot use the Menu.” This means that any action in the net requires Interface (See pages 149 – 150). I doubt this was intentional, so we just dropped this requirement and made Interface improve initiative. Making Netrunners, the Solos of the Net.

INT + Interface + speed – number of LDLs + 1d10
* LDLs in Africa get -2 each, not -1.

Jacking Out: The next change was logging out, the roll of 8 or less on a 1d10, seams at odds with the rest of the system and a character’s Cool should play a part.

COOL + 1d10 vs 12 

Using Software: This section was a little convoluted with Interface use in some places but not others. So the goal here was to simplify the dice rolls for Net Combat. Str vs. Str roll with program types acting against one another. If the roll is tied then favor falls to the defender.

INT + Str + 1D10 vs INT + Str + 1D10

Offensive Program Defending Program
Trace Evasion
Detection Stealth
Decryption Utility
Intrusion Codegate
Anti-System / Anti-Deck Datawall
Anti-Program / Anti-IC The Str of the program it’s attacking.
Anti-Personal Protection
Controller Controller in device
Utility vs 10
Interactive vs 10
Compiler (Demon) See the programs it’s loaded with
Notes to self

Things Mr. Welch can no longer do during an RPG

RPGs have been around for a while and one of the great joys is the stories that emerge from the game. The innocent-sounding ideas that become disasters ending in a TPK, and that epic-level bullshit that players try and get away with, and those stupid jokes that become core to your own game.

TheGlen’s list, Things Mr. Welch Is No Longer Allowed to Do in an RPG,  gives insight to some of those experiences. Read the full list here:

I have been so tempted to build a Gnomish character around, just the references to Gnomes to try some out in the home game.

Miniatures & 3D Printing

Creating dungeon tiles rollers

This week I’ve been design and creating dungeon tiles rollers for terrain crafting. The goal is to create a simple pattern that can be replicated around a roller to create a consistent imprint on XPS foam.

The first version was kludged together and mostly work, but the imprint was not square and the design process wasn’t elegant. The second version highlighted errors in the process which could be seen in the distortion when comparing the X & Y directions. 25mm (1 inch ) in X to 29 mm (1 1/8 inch) in the Y direction. Rescaling the size of the cylinder corrected this mistake. Finally, I just need some more patterns…

Research & References

Most research starts with a search (Duck Duck Go in this case) to find suitable images & other resources. It has been very useful having the name of the tile patterns, along with the images to use for inspiration.

The Rollers

Windmill Tiles

Roller for Windmill Tile Pattern

Running Bond Tile Pattern

Flagstone Tiles

Pinwheel Tiles