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In the C.I.A. Blues write up we published our alternate Cyberpunk Timeline to show the history in which our campaign operates. Sometimes what we do in our campaigns is directly related to our growing timeline, and sometimes (like now) it is just in the background. All in all it gives the players context to their world and hints on where the campaign is going. The following is the Timeline as referenced in the C.I.A. Blues and a continuation of major world events from then till now.

http://vfte.cyberpunk.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=7973

2040: November: David Whindam is reelected to a third term as President of the United States of America by a slim margin: 50.2% to 49.5% with minor third party votes .3%. He is the first person since FDR to do this. Despite the Supreme Court decision allowing him to run many in the country are disturbed by his election. Still, the growing economy and reinvigorated political muscle of the United States brought about by the Whindam Administration has instilled a national pride that the country craves. President Whindam’s handling of the Carbon Plague Crisis has kept the man’s international reputation at a high point.

2041: February: JAB (Japanese Aerospace Bureau) launches its first major warship, the carrier, ISS Zuikaku. Although it carries a half a dozen new Deltas, it is primarily equipped with small space fighters that can’t operate in Earth’s atmosphere. The EU condemns its launching as a provocation against Europe. All the other nations of Earth dismiss the EU’s objections as disingenuous.

May: The JAB lays the keel to the ISS Hiru, a sister ship to the ISS Zuikaku, over the protests of the EU.

August: The corporate sponsors of the Mercury colony (supported by the EU) appoint a non-cyborg governor over the objections of the Metal Society, whose cyborg members have spent the past five years building the new colony base. A new Master Plan is unveiled and the cyborgs of Mercury are ordered to prepare the colony for human (fleshie) habitation. The Metal Society releases to the public the secret EU/corporate master plan to have corporate appointees (all fleshies) from Earth fill many of the supervisory positions in direct violation of the original colony charter. The Society also provides proof that this was their plan all along and appeals to the European Community Council. The Secretariat stifles any attempt to bring the Metal Society’s objections to the floor and orders the new Master Plan for the Mercury Colony to be implemented.

Well that is the recent world news (or a bit of it) that the PCs are operating in. Yes, and with it are seeds of future adventures. This future is NOT set in stone however. Our various GMs have always liked to let the players’ actions effect history. Of course, the PCs are not usually aware that they are effecting greater events, but that is fun part!

Although we have a number of our campaigns detailed here, not all of them are. If you are interested, the following is a listing of the ones published on this site with some character references:

The Fourth Corporate War: http://vfte.cyberpunk.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=6515

Tyree Jones is one of the C.I.A. identities of Sam Fisher.

Dr. Gordon Freeman is here.

Caitlin Jones is the original (before being cloned) of Cat Fisher.

New York 2026: http://vfte.cyberpunk.co.uk/index.php?show...c=7266&st=0

Unfortunately this story is incomplete although the campaign was rather a long one. Real Life issues got in the way of completing the write-up.

Super Solo Campaign 2027: http://vfte.cyberpunk.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=7442

Caitlin Jones is the original (before being cloned) of Cat Fisher.

Mario, who is introduced in this campaign, is the brother of Dr. Schamal.

Union City, New Jersey Campaign 2028: http://vfte.cyberpunk.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=7607

Mario is involved in this one.

Romanian Campaign 2037:

This was never written out for this blog. Also, its plot was so massive and international, I doubt it could be easily explained. However, a number of key characters and plot from this hang heavily over the current group.

Dr. Gordon Freeman was a major player here.

Mario was a major player here too.

Bella was the self mobile AI that ran Dr. Freeman's Research facility.

Sam Fisher was here working for the C.I.A. under the identity of Ira Hayes.

Cat Fisher was here as Dominique Vadim and Marina Lupescu, who were the first “clones” of Caitlin Jones and worked for the Martian Ministry of Communications Special Branch.

Kyle Vaduva was here as Zar, a deep cover sleeper agent for the C.I.A.

Dominique and Zar became lovers in this campaign and their relationship outraged both their agencies. Ira and Dominique became fast friends (both were assassins, who were having second thoughts about their line of work). The relationship between these three characters caused major problems in and between the Martian Ministry of Communications Special Branch, the C.I.A and the Russian SVR. At present Kyle (Zar) and Cat (Dominique} are unaware of each other’s true identity. Sam (Ira) DOES know and his biggest fear is that they will discover this secret which, possibly, could bring down spy administrators and possibly Presidents in three countries. Cat thinks that Zar is still working undercover somewhere in the world for the C.I.A. She sacrificed much to make sure he was not destroyed in the Romanian Campaign. Kyle (Zar) thinks Dominique was assassinated in Deva, Romania in 2038 during the Transylvanian War. Sam, who now looks on Cat as his daughter, feels that she is not ready for the truth and needs to mature more. The truth of Cat’s (Dominique’s) fate was kept from Kyle to allow him to continue with his C.I.A. career. This was Cat’s wish as Dominique. This leaves Sam to continue to juggle these lies and keep the two people he cares about most in the world alive and safe.

The C.I.A. Blues: http://vfte.cyberpunk.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=7973

Sam Fisher was the Team Leader.

Kyle Vaduva was brought aboard as the final part of Sam and Cat’s (Dominque) plan to save his life and career after Romania.

Dr. Gordon Freeman was on this one.

Mario was also a major player here.

Boyd Crowler was introduced here as was Raylan Gibbons, his boss Art Miller and William Smith, the head of Law Div’s OCB office in Philadelphia.

Cat Fisher appeared briefly at the end.

OK, that is enough of a “program” to follow what is going on. Episode 7 will be coming soon as our tale continues. Hope you all enjoy it!

OK, so Cat is a bit of a basket case. She is right out of an experimental cloning tank. She was shot down by a (Russian?) sniper during the celebration of the liberation of Deva during the Transylvanian War in 2038 where her DNA was modified for greater longevity. Well, the key word here is “experimental”. It didn’t work quite as well as expected. She was” birthed” younger than expected. Her memories are a mass of “scrambled eggs”. She is not completely sure of who she is (or was). She remembers Sam Fisher as his was the last face she saw before she “died”. These two characters became the answer to each other’s problems. Cat has serious “Daddy” issues due to her creation by Dr. Kimura, and her failure to resolve them during the Fourth Corporate War. Sam Fisher has forty years of distinguished service to his country, but that cost him any chance at a marriage or (more importantly) a family. He views Cat as his one chance for the family he always wanted. Cat sees in Sam the “father” figure she always craved.

So how does this bode for the current party? Fourteen year old Alex finds calling Sam a “pedophile” his one way to strike at the “pompous old fart” and earn the admiration of his peers. Of course, if Sam is a “pedophile” then what does that make Cat? At present the ex-C.I.A. man is her whole life and the pillar of her fragile stability. When Alex brought the overly large stolen van to the safe house, which was right across the street (and one house down) from one of the Mippossa brothers’ houses and announced (loudly) that this was a stolen vehicle that he was hired to steal, she snapped. Then something unexpected happened. Alex did not go unconscious from her strike. In fact he beat her initiative and tried to get away. Of course she was faster but he drew his gun on her (which she easily disarmed). She probably could have beaten him down, but that was not really an option on the same street where the surveillance targets were located. (As a note, both Alex and his player were not aware that the Mippossa brothers lived on that street.) Someone like Alex would never have posed any problem to her “before”. At this point Cat came to the realization that she is someone new. She couldn’t (or rather wouldn’t) kill Alex or even hurt him badly. She wasn’t an unstoppable biogenetic assassin, she was just a “kid” (albeit a dangerous one). All she wanted to do was go home.

Kyle has always been very against using any of the kids for covert work that might put them is serious danger. This stems from the fact that he had to abandon his own son, Nicholas, in Romania when his cover identity (Zar) was “killed” during the Romanian Campaign in 2037. Most of the kids here are around his son’s age. He has been very disapproving of Sam having Cat come on the few ops they have run. She thinks he is way too cautious, until now.

So here we are. The memory (mostly) clone of the most infamous biogenetic assassin doesn’t want to kill anyone anymore. To paraphrase the Eagles, “All she wants to do is dance!” For the first time is her existence she has friends, who are NOT world class killers and edgerunners. All she wants is a “normal” life. Unfortunately, there are many who don’t want that for her. Her skill sets are just too valuable. This should be fun. Each character usually has something that sets it apart from all the others. Caitlin’s always seems to be that things never work out the way she plans. In fact her fate has always been that things turn out in ways she never imagined.

Oh, I almost forgot. The Puddy Tat program from Episode 3 has an interesting story. We have a new cat in our house named Eldrich. When he arrived he was suffering from a bit of separation anxiety. If you walked away from him he would start to yeowl, walk back and forth between your legs so you have to slow down and deal with him. And, no, that "dealing" with him did not include punting, a scrum or other unpleasentness. I love animals and Eldrich had me pegged from day 1 and knew he would just get picked up and cuddled! Hence, SnowCrystal our GM, who is in real life my girlfriend, lover and life partner came up with a NET program in honor of the new cat!

Our group was rather small for Episode 3 because that weekend was the local rounds for the Warhammer 40K ‘Ard Boyz Tournament. Of those who entered, Alex (who also plays Mario for those who follow our write-ups here) is moving on to the next set of regional play. Congraz!

The rest of us met to do a little NET run to gather intelligence on “Athenia TransWorld”. The NET in Cyberpunk is one of the most overlooked (in practical terms) and poorly written parts of the game. We all know that technology today in the computer sciences has far outstripped the predictions of computing power and such of the original game. Also, NET runs take time and often leaves other players sitting with little to do as the NET “Wizards” go about their esoteric battles. Few things can kill a “session” quicker than having to wait a couple of hours for the “run” to be completed. Because of this our Net Runners tend to specialize in information research (Library Search), combat support (running locate and control remote), and running their own remotes (usually aerial but not always). These last remotes are usually armed and allow the player to take part in the combat.

I personally have always thought that the NET is for everyone. There is a whole world out there that non-Net Runners can enjoys from NET Clubs, public BBS’s, and the ever popular “Virtual Vicki”. If you haven’t guessed I play Cat, Sam Fisher’s “daughter”, but that is another story. If you read Episode 3, you might think I am a Net Runner (or at least have Interface), but I am not (and do not). I am a “Glo-go” (goggles and gloves) hacker! I came up with the idea while reading Rache Bartmoss’ Guide to the NET. In the Rules Appendix on page 145 it talks about “Keyboards in the Net”. It gives a way for a Net Runner to still work the NET by reprogramming the modem of a computer and rewriting your cyberdeck programs to run on a computer. This way you bypass the need for the skill: Interface, and use the skill Expert: Complex Computer Languages, which anyone can get. If you combine this with a goggles and gloves set up (see page 47 of Chrome 4) you can become a “half-assed” Net Runner!

Now there are a lot of things you can’t do. You do NOT have access to a “cyberdeck” Menu although your computer has many of the same functions. You will need a clever Techie (with cyberdeck design) to tweak you an LDL Link command, but the Locate and Control Remote functions are beyond your ability. Our group has discussed the possibility of writing a (computer) program that can simulate these functions, but we all agree that such a program would be a tough one, but a PC would have to write it. (No getting NPCs to do this “dirty work”.) Cat has a decent Programming and Expert: Complex Computer Languages skills (both at 4), but this would be beyond her at present. Still, when working with a “real” Net Runner (Nip in this case) you can actually take part and not just be “along for the ride” on a trod.

On a practical level there is another major problem. That problem is “program degradation”. This is spelled out on page 39 of Rache Bartmoss’ Brainware Blowout. We enforce this rule since it takes into account the rapidly changing face of modern programming. As a note, we also update the “size” of MUs to keep up with the times. The larger size of the MUs means that eventually your old decks need to be replaced or upgraded. Hey, that is what the skills: Cyberdeck Design and (to a lesser extent) Electronics is for. But, back to “program degradation”. There are NO commercial upgrades to cyberdeck programs that have been tweaked with (Programming or Expert: Complex Computer Languages) on the market. Your “faux” Net Runner must hire a Programmer to update them or do it themselves. Just this amount of time involved will keep your selection of programs small. Well, I like to think of my collection of programs as “lean and mean!”

Also of importance are the few rules that we have adapted from other sources. First and foremost is the idiocy that a cyberdeck can run only one program at a time. We have adapted the LOAD rules from the Winterfrost Archives. http://reocities.com/Area51/corridor/8102/netrunning.html This simple addition has allowed the technology to expand and makes a Net Runner with a “speedy” deck extremely versatile in their Program selection and operation. We will be working on more “rule updates” now since there are two (supposedly) NET savvy PCs in the campaign. The second rule change involves the skill: Library Search. The NET is not today’s Internet. In Cyberpunk the “information superhighway” is a giant toll road! The databases you need to search are located all over the world (or at least the country) and the “Internet Phone Company” wants its cut! There is no free long distance in this world! Therefore, a Net Runner, with their ability to spoof the charges running through an LDL, will find it easier to gather better information than someone who cannot. That said if the non-Net Runner wishes to pay the long distance charges (and that could be considerable on a search lasting several hours or spread over several days) they can be just as effective as a Net Runner doing the search. No, we have no set rules as to this, except that the “target number” for the Library Search skill roll will be less for a Net Runner than someone who can’t “spoof” the LDLs. However, if the search is completely local then there is no difference in the target numbers for the two characters doing a “Library Search”.

Now, our group’s Net Runner has been happy to have the support in the NET, but as the gap between the Net Runner and others narrows, Nip has suggested a change in the initiative for NET combat (or other actions requiring an initiative roll). This would be to add your Interface skill to the initiative (or maybe half your Interface) since they are supposedly the “Solos” of the NET. What do people think?

Well, so much for “How to Make a Half-assed Net Runner!” The NET should not be (or end up by default) the sole domain of the possessors of Interface. Yes, in there they should be King (or Queen), but with some gear, a clever programmer and techie; anyone (with any Special Ability) should be able to compete there and have fun!

Well, our new GM has tried to register on this site, but it seems the "image code" function just continues to say "loading" so she can't register. Oh well, another bug to be taken care of, but that's life in the electronic age. So she has sent me her write up on Episode One to post, and here it is!

Episode 1: Shameless Tramples Burn Notice

The idea was to have “a few kid PCs” in addition to the “Burn Notice PCs” — and use Shameless as the basic “kid campaign concept” — so there would be something for everyone to do. We have a large group of players, and keeping everyone occupied has been, well, a challenge.

Okay — you know the saying, “no plan survives first contact with the enemy”? Well, seven players decided they wanted to play a kid. We now have two budding prowlers (one of them a kleptomaniac), a drug dealer, a car thief, a tech guy, a nascent Netrunner (who thinks she is actually a “pooka” — try translating THAT into Cyberpunk, ie no magic, anyone?) and a ... well, a cat-based biogen who’s starting on the next of her nine lives.

And of course, the Burn Notice crew: the burned spy Kyle, his buddy Sam, another colleague named Dr. Freeman from Kyle’s agent days, and ... where’s the “Fiona” character? Excellent question. Fijay seems to be stuck somewhere off in the boonies.

So the opening session swings into full gear...

The Players

Kyle Vaduva: Burned spy.

Sam Fisher: Retired CIA black operative, assassin, cleaner, you-name-it.

Dr. Gordon Freeman: Former professor at UNLV, former assistant coroner in Las Vegas and disgraced cyber researcher from our Romanian Campaign.

Fijay: (in case she shows up)

Catherine (Cat) Fisher: Sam’s 15 yo daughter.

Nip Lacey: 12 yo girl with neon blue hair, has amnesia. Woke up in Philadelphia Combat Zone 4 years ago with no memory of her past. Was brought to Atlantic City by a kindly hooker mentor. Was adopted by Tyne Lacey 2 years ago.

Allison Cole: 13 yo kleptomaniac sex pot. Lives with father.

Oliver Texeria: 15 yo quiet gay kid, close friend or lover of Rayne Snow.

Alexander (Alex) Jackson: 14 yo Runner and spotter for Jimmi Stevens. Lives with mom who works long hours.

Geoffrey Stark: 14 yo fixer specializing in braindance drugs; he also supplies hallucinogenic substances to high school kids; he has found a braindance addict to play the role of his father.

Dan Smith: 15 yo unreliable prowler; lives with grandmother but often on the street, stays at or hangs out at the Lacey house. Wants to get rich.

The NPCs

Sharin Vaduva: Kyle’s mom.

Vali Vaduva: Kyle’s dad, former antique dealer and furniture maker. Currently has Alzheimer’s.

Tyne Lacey: Sharin’s sister, a widow, also foster and adoptive mom of several kid PCs and NPCs, she lives next door to Sharin in a big house.

Crystal Snow: 18 yo, lives in Pleasantville with her boyfriend Jimmi Stevens. Crystal is a waitress at Pistol Pete’s Saloon on Black Horse Pike in Pleasantville.

Jimmi Stevens: Crystal’s boyfriend and professional car thief.

Storm Snow: 15 yo boy, junior in upcoming year of high school, lives at Tyne’s house. He makes extra money by writing essays for college kids through the Net. He is a member of chess club and astronomy club.

Rayne Snow: 14 yo boy, sophomore in upcoming year of high school, lives at Tyne’s house. He’s gay, rather intense Goth, artistically inclined. He is a member of theater club and glee club.

Gayle Snow: 12 yo girl, will be in 8th grade upcoming year, lives at Tyne’s house. She is curious about everything, always wants to tag along.

Zephyr Snow: 11 yo boy, in 7th grade upcoming year, lives at Tyne’s house. He pretty much keeps to himself, likes to torture small animals. Nicknamed “Zeff”. It’s a bad idea to tease him about his name.

Nathan: CIA’s Deputy Director of Clandestine Operations. Based at Langley VA.

Art Mulligan: US Marshall, chief of the US Marshall Office in Atlantic City.

Raylan Gibbons: US Marshall, general all-around US Marshall.

Sheriff Bennett: The corrupt local sheriff of Cumberland County.

Boyd Crowler: local fixer in the Pleasantville/Northfield area.

Bo Crowler: Boyd’s dad, a “godfather” type in the local criminal element of the Pleasantville/Northfield area.

Prologue (by GM fiat and description)

Monday, July 8, 2041

Kyle and Fijay were sent to Caracas, Venezuela to purchase a bronze, supposed-antiquity statuette from Darius, a Greek art dealer. All very ho-hum and routine. Kyle was there to authenticate the item, transfer the payment, and get the statuette. Fijay was there as Kyle’s driver and “just in case something goes wrong” backup.

When they checked into their hotel at 8 pm, Kyle noticed a guy leaving the elevator who seemed familiar. He’d already left via the side door before Kyle remembered who he was. The man had taught hand-to-hand killing techniques during Kyle’s training at the Farm. His nickname was “Crackler” for the way he cracked necks and spines.

Tuesday, July 9, 2041

The next morning as they checked out of the hotel en route to their meeting with Darius, Kyle and Fijay overheard a low-voiced discussion in Spanish not far from the desk. One was a plain-clothes detective who was sure it was murder, time of death 8 pm last night. The other was a top hotel management guy arguing there was no wounds on the body, therefore any reason to alarm the hotel patrons or tell the media the death is suspicious.

Kyle and Fijay left the hotel and headed for the meeting with Darius — destination a private mansion on a hillside with a magnificent view of the valley. Darius greeted them effusively and escorted Kyle upstairs with one goon. Fijay was left downstairs with 3 other goons.

Darius showed Kyle the statuette. Kyle saw it was indeed what it was supposed to be. Kyle then opened his laptop and tried to transfer the money — but was unable to log into his CIA-based account. Darius frowned. Kyle said, “Just some sort of computer glitch,” and called his handler. The handler said, “Sorry, dude. We got a burn notice on you. Nothing I can do,” and hung up. The goon pulled a gun and leveled it at Kyle. But he was too close. Kyle grabbed his arm, dislocated his wrist, took the gun and aimed at Darius.

Long story shortened: Kyle and Fijay took Darius hostage and got out of the house, then Fijay “drove like heck” to the airport and a waiting private plane. On the plane, Kyle went to the cockpit and “persuaded” the pilot to go to a destination of Kyle’s choice, while Fijay sat in the passenger section.

Fijay called her handler, who said, “There’s a burn notice gone out on Kyle. You were with him — so we can’t use you again unless that’s cleared up somehow. Look, you’ve done good work for us, I wish you well. Good luck.”

A steward came from the back of the plane and entered the cockpit rather silently, and did not re-emerge. Feeling nervous about this disappearing steward, Fijay went to the cockpit and found Kyle slumped on the floor, unconscious, and the steward in the copilot seat, pointing a gun at her.

The “steward” assured her no harm was intended. They were taking Kyle to his folks’ house in Atlantic City. Once they landed, Fijay could go anywhere she wished. He handcuffed her to a seat in the passenger section, went through her luggage and confiscated her weapons and CIA identity, then tossed her a wallet with her US identity card and 600 euros, and said, “Should be enough for a one-way ticket back to Europe.”

When they landed at the Atlantic City International Airport, an ambulance was waiting, along with Dr. Freeman, a colleague from Kyle’s recent past. He and a medic took Kyle (still unconscious) into the ambulance, while Fijay, who decided to stick around and see if she can help clear Kyle’s name, drove Dr. Freeman’s car following the ambulance to Kyle’s parents’ house. Kyle was taken upstairs on the gurney; the medic and ambulance left.

Meanwhile, Kyle’s buddy Sam Fisher had retired months ago and bought a house in Atlantic City — and made certain “modifications” to said house for his extensive collection of guns, his “muscle cars” and other assorted goodies. Earlier today, Sam had gotten a call that Kyle was being brought to his folks’ house in Atlantic City. So Sam went to the specified address, only to see that his daughter, Catherine (nicknamed “Cat”) was there playing a video game along with seven other teenagers on a very expensive game console with six “slots”.

The very expensive game console belongs to Johnny Appleton, who had invented a video game and wanted some friends to play-test it. So he called his pal Storm Snow, who lives next door to Kyle’s mom, Sharin Vaduva. Storm knows “everybody”.

Sharin’s sister Tyne Lacey is a widow. She and her late husband worked for DMS and retired here. She has a big house filled with “the Shameless kids” and a few more. The Snow family used to live on the other side of Tyne — but their dad was arrested some months back on an insurance scam, and is currently serving 4 to 8 at the local hoosegow (wherever that is). Their mom has been in the wind for seven years, whereabouts unknown. So the Snow kids needed a home, and Tyne took them in.

Two years earlier, Tyne had adopted Nip, now a 12-year old girl, with blue hair, an invisible pet ferret, and a passion for the Net. Storm’s younger brothers Rayne and Zephyr (Zeff for short) and sister, Gayle, also live with Tyne. The oldest sister Crystal lives in Pleasantville with her boyfriend, Jimmi Stevens. Crystal works at the Pistol Pete Saloon, also in Pleasantville.

But I digress ...

Tyne had refused to host the video-game “party” — new carpet was being installed that day. So Sharin agreed to take them. There at one end of the living room, playing the video game hooked up to Sharin’s wide-screen plasma, are Nip, a gay friend of Rayne’s named Oliver, a good-looking girl named Allison, and boys Dan, Alex, and Geoffrey. Johnny Appleton is supervising and taking notes about how to improve the game. Storm is watching over Johnny’s shoulder.

The Shameless action begins ...

Tuesday, July 9, 2041

Before Kyle is brought to the house, Dan pulls a wedgie on Alex’s underpants, and Alex clocks Dan on the chin. Sharin breaks up the fight immediately, stating the house rules: “No fighting.” She insists that Dan apologize to Alex, and that Alex apologize to Dan. They do so.

At this point, Sam Fisher comments on the high noise level, Alex makes a “smart-alec” remark, and Sam threatens to “pop his head like a pimple”. Alex retaliates by calling Sam a pedophile.

Kyle is brought into the house, by a medic, Dr. Freeman and Fijay. Cat feels uncomfortable, and goes outside to the back porch.

Geoffrey Stark follows her. Geoffrey has surreptitiously been checking out the house and its furnishings, and now glances around looking for security cameras and the like. Even though he is reasonably subtle about this, Cat realizes he is checking out her surroundings as well as checking her out.

Sam notices his daughter is no longer in the living room. He goes looking for her, and finds her on the porch, talking with Geoffrey. He introduces himself and, in a rather challenging way, asks Geoffrey who he is. Geoffrey keeps his cool, and gives Sam a business card that he does math tutoring. He’s also a student at the Atlantic City High School. Cat politely implies that “Daddy can buzz off,” she’s fine with Geoffrey.

Sam leaves the porch, and calls Raylan Gibbons, a US Marshall with whom he’s on good terms, and asks him to check out the name “Geoffrey Stark, phone number such-and-such.” Raylan agrees to see what he can find out.

Alex and Dan sneak up the stairs to see what is going on. At the top of the stairs is a short, jagged hallway and four doors, two closed, two open. They see Kyle being put onto a bed in the second bedroom, while Sharin stands just inside the doorway. Soon thereafter, Sharin turns and sees them. Alex pretends he’s looking for the bathroom — Sharin points to the open doorway behind him. He goes inside, shuts the door and takes a whizz. She remarks rather pointedly to Dan, “There’s another bathroom downstairs, next to the kitchen.” He dutifully returns downstairs, and Alex soon follows him.

Once Kyle is in the bed, the medic leaves with the gurney. Dr. Freeman removes the I.V. and assesses Kyle. He tells Sharin that Kyle should wake up within an hour or so. He and Sharin go back downstairs. Gayle drops by, and Sharin sends her upstairs to watch Kyle and say when he wakes up.

At 4:00 pm, Kyle wakes up, still dizzy and disoriented. Gayle shouts, “He’s awake!” and scoots down the stairs. Sharin goes upstairs and greets Kyle, then brings him downstairs into the teen-filled chaos of a living room.

Cat senses something familiar about Kyle and asks her dad, Sam Fisher, who this person is. He tells Cat she had seen him a year ago in Asuncion, Paraguay (see previous adventure, C.I.A. Blues, Episode 4). He also introduces her to Kyle.

Alex sneaks upstairs again, only to be confronted by a rather pretty, 25 year old Latino woman coming out of the master bedroom. (This woman is the “day nurse” for Kyle’s father.) She asks what he is doing here. He pretends to use the bathroom again, and then goes back downstairs.

Meanwhile, Kyle has been talking with some of the teenagers, and Allison takes this opportunity to pick his pocket. Kyle “allows” her to take his zapper wallet, and she gets zapped.

Storm told the teenagers about a tournament at Perilous Paintball the next morning. It’s four teams pitted against one another, winning team gets tickets to an upcoming Blood Bowl game (one ticket each), plus the person who captures the prize at the center gets a money prize. Nip finds out the address and time of the tournament, and tells everyone — or so she thinks. Either Cat was distracted when Nip was giving out the information, or Nip didn’t realize she hadn’t told Cat the details. Whatever, Cat didn’t hear the where and when, and so she doesn’t go.

Kyle and Sam go to the upstairs bedroom to have a private talk. Sam hears a noise and flings open the door. Kyle’s father is standing there. “Kyle?” There is a quasi-happy reunion, before Dad gives some rather strange answers, thinking that he and Kyle can “go to his shop” the next day. Dad has Alzheimer’s, and his shop days are over.

Raylan calls Sam; reports there are no police priors on the name “Geoffrey Stark”. Does the kid have a street name? Sam asks Cat if Geoffrey has a nickname. She says she doesn’t know of one. Sam tells Raylan he doesn’t know, but describes Geoffrey. Raylan says that could fit a lot of people.

Meanwhile, Alex looks in the driveway outside, and notices Sam’s car. It’s a customized Max Interceptor, easily worth 100K euro, which would fetch about 10K on the market. He asks Nip to get the schematics of the car for him. Nip negotiates to get paid for the information: 15 euros, which is the price of admission to the tournament (also covering rental of a paintball gun, helmet and overalls). Nip goes on the Net and gets the schematics, gives them to Alex and gets paid.

Alex calls Jimmi Stevens and reports that he’s seen a customized Max Interceptor, should he steal it? Jimmi remarks that’s a really unusual car. He’d better see about lining up a buyer first. He will make inquiries.

For most of this time, Nip has been happily playing the video game, and doing Really Well. At some point, apparently in response to something either Alex or Allison has said, Nip turns to Dr. Freeman and asks, “What is bestiality?” Dr. Freeman tells her to Google it.

On the other side of the room, Kyle has been talking with Sam and Dr. Freeman. Dr. Freeman wonders aloud if Kyle needs a place to live. Kyle agrees that maybe he does, and Dr. Freeman tells him about Merle Hagglar, owner of the Golden Dreams pawn shop on the Black Horse Pike in Pleasantville. Merle was complaining just the other day that he’s got a drug dealing squatter on his houseboat that he’d love to get rid of, and wondering out loud about finding someone who could do the deed. Kyle decides that he and Sam will go talk with Merle the next morning.

Sam asks Kyle, Fijay, Dr. Freeman, and Geoffrey back to his house for a drink. They accept. Cat drives Sam’s car. She starts out driving carefully until Kyle comments that he thought that Sam would have taught his daughter a little offensive driving. The teenager smiles, punches the accelerator and roars towards the intersection. She then pulls a bootlegger reverse just before the cross street and tries to leave Dr. Freeman and Fijay, who is following them, in the dust. Fijay drives Dr. Freeman’s car — and easily manages to stay with. Geoffrey takes note of Sam’s license plate number.

Earlier that day, Sam sent a drop-box message to Nathan, his buddy at the CIA and former handler, asking about Kyle’s burn notice. Nathan calls him back this evening. “Since it’s you, I’ll tell you what I know. It was the usual. Notice to all personnel who had contact with Kyle. Short and to the point. ‘Advise all personnel: Burn notice on Kyle Vaduva, effective 9 July 2041. Cause: classified level Omega clearance, codename Zanzibar.’ I don’t know diddly about any operation Zanzibar. And of course, I can’t go poking around in Omega matters without special clearance to do so.”

Raylan calls Sam, reports that the phone number is registered to Tony Stark of Richmond Ave in Atlantic City, a few blocks east of the Ventnor Borough line. There is no record of Tony having a son. Sam asks Raylan to ask Tony if he has a son. Raylan agrees to go.

Geoffrey checks out Sam Fisher’s house just as he did Sharin’s. Cat again notices, and this time warns him to stop. Sam asks if anyone would like to play some pool. Cat plays Kyle and her father and beats them both. Everyone has a fine time, until it’s time to figure out where people are sleeping. Cat glares at Fijay — both at the idea of her spending the night at Sam’s house, and when she realizes Fijay is more interested in Kyle than in Sam. Kyle spends the night in Sam’s spare bedroom, and Fijay spends the night on Dr. Freeman’s couch at his apartment in Pleasantville.

That night, Alex goes to a local teen dancing hangout. He meets Julie, of ordinarily ordinary appearance. He flirts with her and she flirts back, but nothing more happens between them. Alex goes home.

***

Wednesday, July 10, 2041

Sam buys a phone for Kyle and another for Geoffrey. The young man’s phone does not have long distance. Kyle asks his Mom if she can find his birth certificate. She says she will look for it (and later, she finds it).

Kyle and Sam visit Merle Hagglar at the Golden Dreams pawn shop. Merle explains about Cinnamon, this drug dealer who is living on Merle’s houseboat without his permission. Kyle and Merle strike a deal, that Kyle will be Merle’s tenant, at 600 euro per month — but first, last and security will be free if Kyle can remove Cinnamon from the houseboat. The only catch: Don’t kill Cinnamon, who has connections in DMS and the Pleasantville police department. Merle has had Cinnamon arrested in the past, and he just kept coming back. If Cinnamon were to disappear, the finger of suspicion would point straight at him. Kyle and Merle sign a tenant agreement.

Kyle and Sam go to the houseboat, having armed themselves with some pistols. A moderately large goon, Salt, greets them. Kyle says they want to talk to Cinnamon. Salt says, “Stay here, I’ll get him.” Kyle says no, we’ll go to where he is. Another goon named Pepper — smaller but more agile — comes forward and says, “You stay here, I’ll go get him.” Kyle again says no, we’ll go see him. Kyle and Sam step forward.

Salt goes for his pistols (large .50 calibers), as does Pepper (an ordinary gun). But Sam is faster. In a blur, he pulls out his big guns and goes blam-blam with one, blam-blam with the other. Two exploded goons’ heads later, there’s a lot of blood and gore on Kyle’s new residence.

As Kyle and Sam cross the gangplank onto the boat, they both see a blur and hear a splash. Cinnamon has exited the premises. Problem solved (at least for now <GM cackle>).

Raylan goes to Tony Stark’s house and knocks, identifying himself as a US Marshall. Geoffrey is there. He unhooks Tony from the braindance machine, and sends him to answer the door. Raylan says they got a call from a neighbor that the neighbor was concerned. Is Tony all right? Tony keeps his cool and says yes, he’s fine. Raylan asks about Tony’s wife? Tony looks a little confused for a moment, but says she’s dead. Raylan then asks about Tony’s daughter Ellen? Tony denies having a daughter. Raylan then asks how is Tony’s son? Tony again keeps his cool and says that Geoff is fine. The question about Geoffrey reminds Tony of his braindance machine, and he goes back inside the house, letting the door swing shut. Raylan leaves and reports back to Sam that Tony does indeed seem to have a son named Geoff.

Meanwhile, four of the kids head for Perilous Paintball. On the way here, Allison successfully picks a stranger’s pocket. The tournament starts at 10:00 am. Nip asks the manager a bunch of questions.

Perilous Paintball occupies a full city block. The inside play area is about 80 yards long by 60 yards wide. At the center is a platform on stilts, 20 feet by 30 feet, with two circular staircases, one at each end. The platform itself is crenelated. Scattered across the area are 16 plywood “Sherman tanks” and 13 plywood “trees” with 6-foot diameter trunks.

The “Pretty Unicorns” team (our PCs) takes the northwest corner. Clockwise, we have Team Zebra in the northeast corner, Team Yellow in the southeast, and Team Xiffle in the southwest.

Team Xiffle charges ferociously towards the center, taking cover at the tanks and trees along the way. However, they are targeted by both the Pretty Unicorns and Team Yellow. By the time they reach the western staircase, they each have two splatters (three and that team member is out of the game). Team Zebra is more cautious, taking cover at the tank closest to the eastern staircase, figuring they can pick off all the Yellow team who try for the staircase. That strategy doesn’t work, as two of the Yellows make it up to the platform.

Meanwhile, the Pretty Unicorns had split into two factions, who independently chose the same route to the staircase. Allison chose a stealthy approach, zigging and staying low. Nip, Oliver and Alex went more forthrightly towards their goal, taking opportunity shots at the Xiffles. Then Oliver stayed behind giving cover fire, while Alex advanced more slowly, as Nip and Allison made a dash for the staircase.

They arrived at the same time as the Xifflers, but had the advantage of fewer splatters. Three Xifflers were already down when Nip and Allison launched themselves up the staircase, dodging splatter as they went. Alex and Oliver finished off the last Xiffler as Allison and Nip reached the top platform.

However, two of the Yellows had also reached the platform, and now charged at the Pretty Unicorns, pistols a’splatterin’. Nip fought them off as Allison dove on the “prize” — a snow globe in the center of the platform. As she seized it, a bell rang, signaling the end of the tournament. The Pretty Unicorns had won! Blood Bowl tickets for this Saturday’s game against the Los Angeles Demons were handed out, along with 10 euros for the snow-globe seizer.

Sam has invited Nathan, Kyle, Raylan, Dr. Freeman and Boyd to his house on Friday night for a barbecue.

Next: Episode 2: Rumble at the Dance

New friends are always good. Welcome! This is a good group and a great place to discuss our mutual interest in his genre. It also a wonderful place to go when you have a question regarding Cyberpunk in all its forms. Nice to have you all aboard.

I have never liked the way Cyberpunk just wrote off New York City. Although I no longer live there, I was born there and that city is at the very least too mean to die. However, it was nuked and abandoned with a (deliberately) vague description. Well, not completely abandoned as Land of the Free, and Edgerunners Inc. show. Brooklyn was a separate city before being folded into New York, and it still has its old city hall. I do not think the borough presidents would fold as quickly on their own boroughs.

Our campaigns have always had New York City authority NOT completely collapse throughout the city. Yes, Manhattan was cut off an abandoned at first. The Bronx teetered, slipping in its own blood. Queens suffered from riots, civilian flight, and lawlessness, but Brooklyn soldiered on its own devices. Staten Island had a partially closed Naval Station and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (more on them later). Over the years the Big Rotten Apple has made a comeback. It must have since the Mag Lev Extension goes through New York and on to Boston (See Neo-Tribes).

In our past campaigns we have written a little history for New York City using the scant information provided by the previously mentioned sources. For us it is now 2025, and the Boroughs of Brooklyn, Staten Island, Queens, and the Bronx call themselves New York City. The new city hall is in the Bronx, mainly to keep the New York State government from trying to regain authority in the City after years of not so benign neglect by moving overland from Westchester. The City’s new governmental complex is in the shadow of the new Yankee Stadium and includes the station for the Plantran MagLev. Queens has suffered the greatest population loss (after Manhattan, of course), and is slowly being turned into the “industrial borough” of the city. Between the rising industries and new corporate housing, the last denizens of pre-collapse Queens are being forced out. Brooklyn has maintained its character although the Russian Organitskaya has heavily infiltrated its government. They are fighting to save as much of the land as possible against the rising sea levels.

One of the questions that must be considered is why, now that New York City is making a comeback, what is too stop the State of New York from reasserting its authority. What stops a governmental authority is another governmental authority with major vested interest in the status quo. I think Destecado has come up with that organization in the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. An organization with interstate powers becomes very hard to dismantle and/or destroy especially when it is serving the “good of the people”.

Additional information about the Port Authority of NY NJ...

 

The Port of New York Authority was established on April 30, 1921, to administer the common harbor interests of New York and New Jersey. The first of its kind in the Western Hemisphere, the organization was created under a clause of the Constitution permitting Compacts between states, with Congressional consent. An area of jurisdiction called the "Port District," a bistate region of about 1,500 square miles centered on the Statue of Liberty, was established. In 1972, the organization's name was changed to The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to more accurately identify its role as a bistate agency.

 

Governance

 

The Port Authority is a financially self-supporting public agency that receives no tax revenues from any state or local jurisdiction and has no power to tax. It relies almost entirely on revenues generated by facility users, tolls, fees, and rents. The Governor of each state appoints six members to the Board of Commissioners, subject to state senate approval. Board Members serve as public officials without pay for overlapping six-year terms. The Governors retain the right to veto the actions of Commissioners from his or her own state. Board meetings are public. The Board of Commissioners appoints an Executive Director to carry out the agency's policies and manage the day-to-day operations.........

Who controls (or appoints) the members of the board of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey now? However you map the timeline on your campaign, the New Jersey State government has collapsed. Why has it not re-coalesced? Well, because the remaining political machinery in that state doesn’t want it to. Much of the Jersey Shore is under organized crime control. Jersey City, Bayonne, Hoboken, and (the Free City of) Newark identify more with the interests of New York City than Trenton. Without a governmental body in New Jersey to appoint their share of the commissioners, the four previously mentioned cities take it on themselves to make the appointments. On the New York side, Albany, at first wrote off the Authority and made no further appointments. The (then unrecognized) New York City government began appointing new members to the board. Now, these changes have been ratified into law with the federally negotiated agreement to keep the Port and transportation hubs in New York City open for (military) use.

Since the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is self supporting, it is beholding to no other governmental agencies except the City governments of New York and the cities in New Jersey that fall under its jurisdiction, it is a difficult, if not impossible to abolish it since it costs are NOT bourn directly by the citizens and, it works in a time when not much of what government does. I like the idea of the Authority dispersing its facilities through the area. But moving its headquarters to Staten Island. I would have the Port Authority, since it has its own income base, to have taken over and improved methane production form the landfills on Staten Island. This would further entrench their position as a political power player in the area, and (with cheap energy to distribute) very popular with “the people”. For those familiar with our travails here in Massachusetts with our “Massachusetts Turnpike Authority”, the situation would be similar except the organization has grown beyond any one state’s control. Also, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has its own police and “other” enforcement options. This makes it dangerous to threaten. What keeps this organization safe is the self-interest of a few cities in New Jersey, the weak New York City government, the interstate nature of the Port Authority, and its ability to deliver on its stated mission.

Well, and then there is Manhattan. It is no longer a treasure trove of abandoned wealth. That is long since been plundered. We use it as the Combat Zone of New York City. At the north end of Harlem across from the Bronx, the buildings have been leveled fro blocks to provide a “free-fire zone” that has been maintained since the days that Manhattan was “abandoned”. The area of Manhattan around the 59th Street Bridge has been “reclaimed” and this “oasis” of civilization is very tenuous and violent. The “safe” areas shift daily. As you travel around Manhattan you never see any area near the water that has signs of habitation. The old “blockading forces” (now the Port Authority) use their “free fire” directive to keep their crews trained. The interior of Manhattan is filled with all sorts of interesting cyber crazies, radioactive mutants (well, the damage has been done so the “mutants” aren’t radioactive anymore, just twisted in interesting ways), escaped criminals of every stripe, political extremists of all varieties, and any sort of urban strangeness you can imagine. There are also (probably) small, longstanding (?) communities still existing on the island. This kind of makes Manhattan a hard crusty shelled strip of land with a soft festering center. In short, everything you need in a (post Fourth Corporate War) Cyberpunk City.

In our previous campaigns, we have expanded on the situation in New York City. Brooklyn, which was originally a seperate city, did not collapse. Queens had a rough patch, but eventually pulled through. The Bronx was occupied by New York State authorities. Hey, can't let those rioting mobs disturb Westchester. Staten Island? Who cares? As Destecado points out, the Federal Government isn't going to abandon their Naval station in the greatest harbor on the east coast. This left Manhatten as an isolated Combat Zone. Now, Land of the Free states that the New Jersey state government collapsed eventually, so any blockade on the Hudson wouldn't last. In our world, Newark is a Free City (shades of Johnny Mnemonic). The Mob, which controls many portions of New Jersey near the (then glowing) Big Rotten Apple would find some way to open the bridges (the tunnels have been flooded by the rising sea level and lack of maintainence), and make some money. As it stood in 2022 of our campaign, New York City is back and is undergoing a revival. This revival was done without much government assistance. The State of New York couldn't afford to help, and the Federal government was overwhelmed on other fronts. We made these assumptions due to the fact that the PlanTrain MagLev was extended from Washington to Boston with a stop in New York (the Bronx at this point).

The boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx now form New York City, and are trying to rebuild the city. Honestly, we hadn't given Staten Island much thought, but that borough has always had that problem. (I do like Destecado's ideas for that island.) Manhatten is a combat zone. It has been stripped pretty much of most anything valuable. As we are now in 2025, too many edgerunners have made off with "the good stuff". There are parts of Manhatten that have some semblence of order. These are usually near points that connect to other parts of the city (ie the 59th Street Bridge). These provide places for the denizen's of Manhatten to trade and aquire goods. There are a number of "edgey" clubs there too. In short, an Edgerunner's paradise.

This is how our group, in the past, handled the New York City question. For those who don't wish their campaigns to follow the (retarded) timeline of V3, New York City provides a great east coast alternative to continue your adventures. I would also like to note that a site entitled "Nu York 2020" has a listing on the Cyberpunk Top 100 site, but I have been getting the "Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage" message when I try to access it. I had looked at it before, and it was (in my opinion) a good start. I am not sure if the site is now permenently down, or what. Well, this is how we dealt with it and I am curious how other groups have handled the "New York City Issue".

I recently picked up the latest version Paranoia, partly out of fond memories of the original, but also to get a look at the revamped game system. My thought was to perhaps do a one-off scenario for my gaming group. The problem being, saying “let’s play Paranoia” would make most of them run for the hills or come at me with torches and pitchforks. I've therefore resolved to find a way to incorporate Paranoia into the Cyberpunk setting....

Well, as one of the 3 GMs in our group, I would like to state that we didn't "run for the hills", and those pickforks were only plastic. Paranoia is a great game, but the main problem with it is, that it does not really lend itself to a long term campaign. Its a great "brief respite", but as the core of this group has been together for almost 20 years, we look for something that plays long term. Anyway, with some of our current crowd, I could see the game devolve into a constant slaughter. Hmmm, which is usually what happens in a Paranoia game anyway. I guess I mean to say, that the subtly and humor would be lost on some of our younger members.

That said, Destecado and I have talked about this, and doing a "Paranoia - like" campaign perhaps involving the domed complex of "Alpha" sounds like a great idea. Due to the nature of our rather "long term" plot lines. I might suggest slowly introducing this plot idea over a number of story arcs, as a sub plot to other stories. This will allow the players to get invested in the story without having it presented as "the main thrust" of the particular arc we are doing. By the time we must penetrate Alpha, many of the players, who might not be too thrilled about "Paranoia" will be hooked. An insane computer running that complex is VERY cyberpunk. With the characters having an established "vested interest" from the previous story arcs, the step into a "Paranoia Style" enviroment will not put anyone off.

Anyway, it sounds like a great idea, and I am looking forward to it.

Glad to have you aboard!

And a musician too!

You've come to the right place!

the horse isnt dead yet?!

Your probably righ......Wait......BLAM!!! I swear, I thought I saw it move!

Welcome aboard, Cas. The members of this board tend to share an interest in the Cyberpunk genre and dark future roleplaying, and the occasional spirited debate, but the similarities pretty much end there. Diversity is a good thing! I suspect many of us take pride in defying categorization.

Yes, I would say that we are all rather unique here. Ther are a lot of people listening to different drummers, but the discord is beautiful! Welcome aboard, you sound like you have come to the right place!

This is really outstanding work! I am curious, who draws/creates the illustrations of the weapons?

Talsorian Games<p>2001 Schedule

APRIL

AM09002 DragonBall Z/ The Frieza Saga ย.00

Energy levels only dreamed of in the DRAGONBALL Z ADVENTURE GAME are common place in this sequel detailing all the players, powers, technology and SUPER SAIYA ABILITIES of the Frieza Saga.

 

REPRINT

CP3291Listen Up, You Primitive Screwheadsผ.00

Want to control those power gamers? Want to keep your players enthralled with a mythic campaign? This GM guide, originally created for CYBERPUNK, has proven useful for GM's of any system.

 

JUNE

AM01014Quicksilver Blues: An Adventure Set for Mekton Zeta ผ.00

Part Frontier Adventure, part Spy Movie, part Space Opera, these adventures, linkable into a continuing campaign, show off the versatility of Enough flavor for continuing Mekton players, enough direction to help out beginning Mekton referees. Anime gaming at its best.

 

REPRINT

RT03502 Chromebook 3/4 ฦ.00

ndispensable goodies for your CYBERPUNK character, (many of which will still be floating around in the V.3 world.) Robots, cybernetics, vehicles, med equipment, software, and something for everyone.

 

JULY

DM09003 DragonBall Z/ The Android Sagaฤ.00

Episode guides, character background, inside information, new powers and new rules to cover the Garlic Jr., Trunks and Android Sagas, making this one jam-packed new supplement for the DRAGONBALL Z ADVENTURE GAME.

 

AUGUST

RT04110 CYBERPUNK V.3ษ.00

WE'VE BEEN PROMISING FOR YEARS AND NOW ITS HERE! Back out to the Edge: The new edition of CYBERPUNK jumps the world ahead twenty (?) years into the new near future. Where will your characters be in the Post Information Age? The same FUZION-based mechanics with an added quick start system for new players.

 

OCTOBER

AM01024 A NEW LICENSED PROJECT THAT CANNOT BE NAMED AS OF SHOW TIMEำ.00

Well you couldn't really - not till August!<p>Lisa Pondsmith mailed me last night with this years release dates, so i would say that this is the most definate schedule I have ever seen.

O.K. check out what was slated for August 2001 release. I saw this doing a little forum mining and couldn't help myself! All that work, all that waiting, oh well, some people like it and thats wonderful, but you would think that they might want to appeal to there base.

I know there are some bridge books or something like that promised, but looking at this doesn't make me confident. Well, my two sons also play CP, maybe these new books will come out in time for them to play CP with their children!

Welcome Ken! Nice to have you aboard.

This was indeed a humorous encounter. I would however like to clear up a couple of misinterpretations. It appears that Cyberbear is writing from the point of view of his character. This filter has colored some of the events which occurred.

Well, of course its from my character's point of view. Its the POV filter that adds to the humor!

.....Yes the whiny sniveling about ruined stockings was a nice touch, although being pathetic and looking pathetic are two different things. Alexis had the looking pathetic act down.

..."whiny sniveling?"... I was shot! The stockings cost over 200eb! Did I mention, I got shot! I was asked out on a date and got shot! I had never been shot before (well, that character anyway). I always had someone else take the bullet for me before then! I think I had the right to be a little "whiny"!

....Alexis was sort of trapped in the middle. She couldn’t tell the rest of the party (or didn’t feel like revealing) the true nature of her “associates”.

Oh yes, and if I had "come clean", the group might have killed me. Even if they didn't my other "associates" definately would have. As it turned out Dimitri now wants me dead, Dead, DEAD!!!, but at least he had to swear not to kill me (or order it done by word, deed, or implication etc, etc, etc..) Still he "suggested" to Jesus that killing me would be a "good" idea. Well, I had skipped town by then anyway, and was on my way to my shoemaker and plastic surgeon (I have a few of each on speed dial).

Well, recently my favorite moment was in Destacado's Las Vegas campaign. Jesus, (a PC) who is a prowler was supposed to pick up my character, Alexis (not her real name, but she changes her identity like other people change their socks), for a date (things were a little slow in the mission department). Before he made it to pick me up, he got called in by the head of the Russian Mob (an old friend of his) to discuss something or other. Realizing he was massively late he borrowed the Mob Boss's limo and driver (with permission) to make up for his tardiness.

Well, how can you stay mad at someone who shows up with a chauffered stretch limo with a fully stocked bar, a dozen long stemmed roses and a big wad of cash. We went out with another PC, Charlie, a nomad and went dancing and partying all up and down the South Strip in Vegas. Well, unbeknownst to us, the Italian Mob who had decided to got to war with the Russians saw and recognized the limo, and decided to kill the occupants. As we left the club and walked up to the car, we noticed that the driver did not come out to open the door for us as usual and there was a bullet hole in the driver's side window. That was nothing compared to the five men in suits with no necks that were walking towards us from all different directions. Being a sensible person, I screamed, "RUN!", and did so. Since I looked somewhat harmless in an unarmored cocktail dress, and unarmed I was shot at twice with a medium pistol (one hit for a couple points of damage).

Seeing a sniper who had just fired from behind a wall at Jesus, and having time to charge her before she could get another shot off, I declared a run to the wall, jump over it, and kick her. Well, a stupid thing to do in hindsight, but I botched the jump, ran into the wall and knocked myself out cold. This had the effect (fortunately) of putting me out of sight of the sniper. It confirmed to the other shooters that I was not much of a threat, so they concentrated on the others.

Well, a running gunfight occured between the rest of our group, and the Mob hitters in the speeding traffic. Our group killed a couple, cars ran down two others, and the sniper decided to slip away. I eventually woke up and crawled away to bandage by leg, and berate Jesus about getting shot! Sometimes being pathetic can save your life!!!!

Hello I am David and a few friends already belong here.

Nice to see you out here this forum.

Style over Substance…hmmm…..as I read this forum it seems to mean different things to different people, and all of them quite valid from their own perspective (and mine too mostly). When I first read those words in the main book, my belief was that it was a call to focus character role-playing and not to think of the advanced technology as the end all of the game. The future technologies as presented created a de-humanizing effect on the human spirit and culture. In other words, it was a kind of Future Shock morphing into a "psychotic episode". Therefore “to ride the Edge” meant in part to seize these new technological advancements and the culture it spawned, and make them a part of you without being devoured by it.

I do get saddened (and a little annoyed at times) by players who feel that lethal killer tech is style, when in reality all that it is a way to justify carrying a one shot kill weapon.

One of my HG characters has a .60 caliber pistol that can fire in vacuum. I suppose you could call that style-over-substance. Another one has a tendency to spray lead all over the place with an SMG - oh, and she's got a dueling sword.

 

I haven't really made enough characters to tell so far.

Now I could be wrong but to have a weapon that fires in a vacuum is really needed for space. So that would be kind of a dangerous thing to shoot around an orbital habitat. Your air supply won’t last forever outside. But I digress, it’s a five-year-old statement anyway.

In our games we have had a few problems with players who take the view that “Style is Substance” with the corollary that “Substance is Gear” to make your invincible (as if that is really possible, and it is NOT). The first thing that suffers is role-playing, of course. They want to wear their heavy armored clothes and carry their HUGE hand cannons into every club and restaurant. Now in some places that is rather appropriate, but in a four to five star establishment, you are not getting in the door. If you end up hanging out in the clubs in or near the old Combat Zone well….

 

...on style, I've found that characters defined by thier equiptment usually end up drinking alone in the clubs and don't seem to survie Cult of Sin riots very well (hey, look at that dude w/ the Plasmatic revolver! that pinhead's gotta have more one him! STRIP HIM!!!! .... various shots and wet gurgly noises...) ......

This type of character generally doesn’t survive in our campaigns as, they usually go around pissing off various NPCs, and at some point one of them will have the means and will to waste the arrogant combat “Cyber-Hog”. Unfortunately, sometimes other PCs, who stress role-playing over roll-playing, end up as collateral damage in the process. As a GM, I try not to have that happen, but sometimes you have to let the chips fall where they may.

As a GM, I (and Destacado, who is another of our GMs), try to reward those who concentrate on style (role-playing) rather than substance (roll-playing), with helpful plot threads, potential allies, a little luck (not the stat, but having things go their way sometimes). I won’t penalize the “roll-players”, as I feel that is wielding the GM’s club a little too strongly, but I leave it to the other players to police them. After a while, are you going to ask out the “mondo-cybered”, borderline cyberpsychotic solo to go clubbing with you (meet a prospective employer, meet your girl/boyfriend, see a chill concert etc.). I think not! {disclaimer: I do not mean to imply that all heavily cyber solo types are insane, psychopathic killers. Many are good upstanding citizens and are a very valid character type. (The tooth fairy told me so!) }

As this was a bit of “forum archeology” by Cyphire (good idea!), I wanted to quote a few of the entries that (I believe) are “Right on Target” in the Style over Substance debate! And check out all of Suriel’s comments, they were too many to quote, and while I don’t agree with all that was said, the observations are quite good.

Alright, Morbo, I'll bite. Prepare for my lecture on style over substance.

 

Depending on what character you're playing your style may very well be substance. Allow me to elaborate (of course you are, what you're going to do, find me and break my fingers to keep me from typing? ). Say, you're a solo (alright, you're a solo). Now if you have any kind of decent training then you know that you must pick a weapon that will work, not some piece of trash that might look good but not be very reliable.

 

However, if you're a rocker then, depending on your style, you're going to choose some outrageous stuff. Think Ziggy Stardust. Sure, you couldn't wear it on the streets but it was part of the act. Same here. You want to look stylish doing what you do but you also want to be able to DO what you do. So if you have a guitar that has fringe hanging off and color changing paint with pyros built in to go off on the first power chord well what does it matter if it doesn't play (unless you're Milli Vanilli)? So the trick to the style over substance is to pick something that looks good but still does the job. And if it's a Arasaka WSA pistol, well it might look stylish to other solos who belive that substance is a style. It's all in the perception.

Do you play confident, distinctive characters? Do you employ tactics and weaponry because you think your character would use them and look cool rather than their statisical benefits? Have you ever had your character do anything patantly dangerous just to look cool? Has you character ever punched somebody out for upstaging them?

 

Or do you place a sad little wallflower who uses The Best Gun, The Best Armour and The Best Martial Art and doesn't even know what colour his Metal Gear is?

A somewhat biased looking question, ignoring the downsides of style over substance. For instance a game based entirely on style can become overly self-regarding or narcistic. Such games can devolve into posturing and posing, eventually losing any shred of suspension of disbelief in my experience.

 

"Style over substance" has become a hackneyed expression used to justify an extreme - either performing illogical or moronic actions or choices for reasons of style, or claiming 'substance' for stats based decisions.

 

It seems clear to me that the ideal CP game has style and substance in appropriate measures. Drama (my favourite term for 'Style') is one of the driving forces when I run a CP game, but without the grit ('Substance') the game risks turning into an adolescent cartoon parody. Likewise too much concern for character efficiency ('utilisation'?) over roleplaying issues leads to the inevitable (and valid) accusations of powergaming.

Lot of good points in this thread. I like that

 

Suriel, that waiting-for-death scene you described sounds like some excellent RP'ing. It's a good sign when a player is comfortable with character death because that death is really the logical conclusion to the current situation or the story as a whole. That's the ideal interpretation of "style over substance", when it means "advancing-the-story over winning-the-game".

 

Gear-wise, my chars nearly always end up with a hodge-podge of stuff, as various items of clothing and weapons are lost or destroyed. The only time they're wearing a coordinated outfit is usually when they've just bought it for purposes of fitting into higher society or going on some dangerous toy-requiring mission. Ironically, most of the high-society stuff gets trashed when the high-society affair turns into a dangerous mission

 

But on any given day, various items from that hodge-podge are chosen with as much care as possible, usually in an effort to look cool without looking like you're trying to look cool. And I have on many occasions avoided heavier armor or firepower to avoid the goon look. This occasionally causes trouble for me. Which is why I heavily prize the Dodge and Athletics skills

 

"Style over substance" is a neat maxim, but what most of our players subscribe to is, "stay in character". Another guideline we use is "Toys are temporary".

Yeah, but come on - how many people are really interested in reading dull equipments lists on how a persons's character has Style[tm] because they wear a gibson battle jeans with gibson trenchcoat and a gibson posing pouch? That's not really a discussion on style, though it is an excellent expose on the consumerist tendancies the masses may show in CP2020.

That was just me getting a bit exibitionistic - on the other hand i hoped to coax a few explicit examples out of others -exactly how they sacrificed substance for style ?

 

And this topic is primarily about style in terms of equipment and fashion - how do you describe a character neglecting that ? Style in the form of panache is a bit difficult to explain to someone that you never played with .

And as good as these are, Wisdom has put it best!

 

Can't say I have ever agreed with you more Spyke, that very principle in fact is the driving force behind all the gun, equipment, and vehicle catalogues on my site. Because style counts, and part of that style is making each and every character unique, from the kit they carry to the clothes they wear, to the wheels the ride.

 

And beyond the toys, its about personality, its about OWNING who you are and what you do. Usually, Style costs...... but it doesn't have to break your bank. Heck some of the trendiest people buy all their clothes second hand and rummage through the salvation army bins....... or at least look like they do.

 

And don't leave solo's out of the fashion loop, in their circle it just runs opposite, the Style IS the substance, same.

 

Nomads are where it really gets crazy though, In an overwhelmingly hand made or customized society, style is incredibly important.

 

So remember kiddies, style doesn't necessarily mean spending big bucks, in fact in some cases that can set you apart as a poser, it means letting your clothes, your acoutrement, and especially your attitude, broadcast the exact message you want it to.

So keep those cards and letters coming!

Ok, now could anyone translate it into game terms effects?

 

I have a number of other ideas for events in the Romantic table (both good and bad... and moderately good too). I just have to write them down to the forum, and I hope I'll be able to do it today when I'm back from work.

 

These include:

We end up like remains of that day (death, possible mental breakdown, negative)

Far Away (separation, gives out a friend somewhere, moderately good)

Kama Sutra Master (skill boost, moderately good)

Romeo & Juliet (skill boost, very good)

It all stays within the Family (either skill boosts or contacts, very good)

 

Of course, the names can change (I'm fond of catchy names these days so should you have any suggestion, give them to me).

 

Any other ideas?

 

Very Succesful Romance

Romeo & Juliet – You are like Romeo & Juliet, Tristan & Iseult, Julius Caesar & Cleopatra… Your relationship is a bliss, .

I think you have gotten this down to a good set of useful and playable charts. Only one minor suggestion. Romeo & Juliet, Tristen.....etc, etc, Well, they all ended kind of badly. Memorable, but dead (and violently so usually). I'll give some thought to some happy (and longer lived) couples!

 

 

he is not alone among the people I know. I would be doing them a disservice if what they went through was portrayed as anything other than damaging to a person.

 

I don't think anyone is disputing that, it is just a very ugly place to go. There are some things that I feel do not belong in games. Child rape and sexual abuse is one of them. Not because it isn't real, but because it isn't neccesary to portray them, and frankly most gamers aren't mature enough to try.

 

Thats what I was saying...... I mean its one thing to mention that your character suffered horrible abuse as a kid, but to go into so much detail about it is a little disconcerting.....

Well this totally depends on the maturity level of the players. As far as making charts to cover these various acts of child molestation and sexual depravity, I don’t see that as really necessary. If you want to go into that, talk to your GM privately for a special background.

“Vagina monkey?” Never heard that one before.

But there is a serious note to be gleaned out of the last few posts on this topic: contraception and pregnancy. Yes, Encanta, we troglodytes here in the United States have heard of contraceptive implants. Some people use them, but they are not a preferred method of birth control. In Cyberpunk, however, we play that both men and women use them, and most all characters do. Maybe we have evil GMs in our group, but that is one of the first pieces of cyberware (?) most characters get.

Pregnancy (both in game and INL) is and should be an important occurrence. For an Edgerunner, a child from lifepath generation is a responsibility/complication that should not be handed out lightly. That sort of history needs to be worked out between GM and player as it could (and should) effect the actions of the character of many levels. If pregnancy occurs in game, for a female character, it might remove them from play for a while, and for a male, will give them a whole new set of priorities (maybe). Then there is the question of abortion. For the pregnant PC, the question becomes theirs. For a pregnant NPC, the question then starts involving the GM much more. In any case, these situations are truly a major “romantic” event for the characters concerned, and need to be handled in a mature manner.

Personal grooming is not always about getting dolled up to go out. Sometimes it is just about normal hygiene. The PCs in the game I am currently running recently took over a new headquarters. One of the things that they have been doing is replacing the plumbing. This is hard sweaty work which has been made even more so by the 100+ temperatures they are currently enncountering in Las Vegas (Where the campaign is set).

 

After working on the plumbing all day if a charcater does not indicate that they are taking a shower, or at least cleaning up, I interpret this is that they are still covered in the stink from working all day. Some people are cool about living in their own stink, while those around them may not be. I usually associate a negative social modifier to individuals who don't even make the attempt to stay clean.

 

Ok, but lets be fair about what's happening in Vegas. They didn't shower because they were fixing the pumbing which didn't work. And people asked about showers in a can, but no store in the immediate vicinity carried any.

Yes, sad as it is, wealth and alcohol tolerance are two major factors in that equation; wealth being the most important, and alcohol tolerance for all the rest of us losers. Now, before any of you ladies jump all over me…..hmmm……let me rephrase that; before I get flamed for that statement, how many beautiful woman attach themselves to poor old guys, and how many to the rich ones?

 

Hunny... You need someone independent. Like me, incidentally, but you knew I was going to say that.

 

Has it ever struck anyone that there ARE ways to find women which do not involve getting pished? The internet? VFTE (my current relationship is a friend of a friend I made here)?

While the Internet is a useful tool it is only that, a tool. It is an excellent medium of communication, but not truly personal communication. Much is lost using the just the written word. Tone, inflection, body language and eye contact communicate as much as the actual words do, and sometimes even more so. Then again what you glean for this is so open to your own interpretation. You can never be sure whether what you understand, is what is truly being communicated or rather what you want to hear because the raw input is colored by your own desires and thoughts.

Perhaps something is lost in translation, but I assume “pished” is a reference to alcohol? As for me, I don’t drink anymore, and anyway, it has been said, you only find barflies in bars. So, my reference to “…and alcohol tolerance for the rest of us losers” was a general observation, not a personal one. Well, not anymore at least.

That being said, on a more cyberpunk note, can you call going out for a little meaningless sex a romantic affair? What if it wasn’t so meaningless to your partner(s)? Perhaps a result under “Bad Luck in Love”: might reflect this. In essence, what your character considered a kind of “fast affairs and hot dates” result was to the other “finding the love of their lives”. After all, (while not in the definition of skill) seduction can involve discreet, although this aspect would be more appropriately covered under Persuasion & Fast Talk. Jilted and/or abandoned lovers are dangerous complications.

 

 

After thinking about it, and trying to re-read v3 over and over again, I have come to a different conclusion than the Title I originally gave the thread.....

 

The New Coke, Classic coke analogy was wrong.....

 

Instead, a better analogy can be found in Godzilla.

 

CP 2020 is Japanese Godzilla, pure Kaiju fun, yeah it may seem a bit dated, but it works and we love it. V3 is the American remake of Godzilla. In that its a noble effort, but its just not the same. The American remake was a fun monster movie, and the effects and action were nice, but it wasn't Godzilla. If they had called it something else, anything else, the movie would have been just fine, even enjoyable. Bit putting the name Godzilla on it just feels like blasphemy. The same can be said for V3, if they had called it anything else but cyberpunk it probably would have been much better recieved, but they wanted the name recognition. The problem is, that it is so far removed from anything remotely resembling Cyberpunk 2020, that it pretty much killed all interest from their base audience before the product even got finished. A much much wiser move on R.tals part would have been to keep the 2020 line supported, and bring V3 out under a different name (much like they did with Cybergeneration). They could have called it Fuzionpunk, or whatever.

 

And its not like the fan base didn't try and warn them, didn't try and suggest that what they were doing was a bad idea, but the fans were completely ignored, which is of course R.Tals prerogative, but in the end, it just feels like a slap in the face to everyone who supported them for all these years.

 

And, as an off topic side note, am I the only one who also feels let down that they dropped support for Bubblegum Crisis? I didn't run the system or setting, but like so many things, the books were fantastic as resources and information pools.

I just love that Godzilla analogy, and it is quite on point. I love the old Godzilla movies, but the new one is one of my guilty pleasures, but probably not for the reason the makers would have liked. Jean Reno is way too serious and Hank Azaria is just over the top. Still, the movies are apples and oranges as far as I am concerned.

Well, we have pretty much ignored Cyberpunk 3.0 and just continued on. Our present incarnation of Cyberpunk 2.0 is now in 2023 Las Vegas. No, the Fourth Corporate War hasn’t happened yet with us, and we are not in much of a hurry to get there. We can only hope that the lack of any enthusiastic response to CP 3.0 will give Rtal. some reasons to rethink their decision to no longer support 2.0, or at least license some one else to support it.

In reading 3.0, it just seems like someone’s (Mike Pondsmith’s maybe?) science fiction look at a possible future. Interesting but not Cyberpunk. I have trouble also with 3.0’s new timeline, which forces history to justify some of the weird evolutions of the “New Coke” opps, sorry "New Godzilla", while paying homage to some of the older discredited timelines (a brief Carbon Plague?). However, to those who like the newer version, I say enjoy! Whatever floats your boat!