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malek77

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Posts posted by malek77

  1. Having now finished a playthrough of 2077 and onto my second...

    IT'S AWESOME.

    Do not let the whinging of console peasants divert you from the truth - 2077 is amazing and produces a mood unlike any other. It is fantastic. The city is amazing. The look is gorgeous. The gear is on point.

    There are differences to 2020, choices here and there I wouldn't have made. But it WORKS. It is hella fun.

    But. Y'know the grand finale from the books; Silverhand kicking in the door to Arasaka tower?

    Yeah.
     

    ...go play. Do it.

    photomode_31122020_180749.png

  2. Good grief.

     

    RL 2020 was every bit as demented as the game, just in different random dimensions.

    Cyberpunk 2077 finally came out in December. It's magnificent on PC. In typical punk fashion, managed to cause mayhem just by existing.

     

    Will 2021 be better? 
    It may be a little calmer...but for much of the world, things have been crazy for a long time, and look set to get crazier.

  3. I have the webspace (airlock7.net)...what I don't have is the Webdev skill necessary.

     

    I can at least make #1 possible.

     

    As for future direction - that's a bit more plotting.

     

    (please see your PMs for more detail!)

  4. However, you need to handle random damage locations somehow. Roll a location die with each damage die?

    With standard location mechanics that could work (roll me 2 dice, d6 for damage and d10 for location).

     

    That's how I rolled on Sunday. It worked well enough.

    There are some issues of 'which D10 for which D6'...which I'm still thinking through.

     

    What is this LUYPS system?

     

     

    If you don't mind changing probabilities, then simplifying would work. But it will make 18 as common as 9 or 12.

     

    Yup. Absolutely. And I think that actually benefits the story.

     

    I'm inclined to knock a few +1's and +2's off the damage to compensate though - both because of the likely dmg increase, and to keep the maths simple.

     

     

    (Don't make me get into the factorials behind this, college and discrete math/probability theory were a long time ago.)

     

    Aww...

     

    If you're any good with that - I need a Poisson Distribution out of dice.

     

    The closest I've got: D6 x D6 is sort've along the lines of what I need, except it has weird 'lumps' in the output.

     

    A nice smooth Poisson distro would be great, but I'm terrible at maths. Anything I know is jerry-rigged pick-up knowledge from way after school. Mathematically, my education was a dumpster fire of incompetents being incompetent.

     

     

    Why?

     

    I don't think you'd be surprised to know I'm cooking up my own game system.

    I've tried some live tests at the table, and it has potential - particularly for sword fights and martial arts! - but it's not refined enough for publication.

     

    I'm fundamentally trying to recreate the Far Cry game feel in a tabletop way. Something where you grow your skills in play, and can 'have a go' at anything, but obviously do much better at those things you've trained in.

     

    The Poisson distribution would help with that - you can always have a go, but as you get better, you move up the curve to where benefits come from.

  5. So I FINALLY got to run Cyberpunk again (hurrah!) and have a new tweak to suggest.

     

    When rolling damage, instead of rolling 3D6...

     

    ...Roll D6 x 3!

     

     

    Pros:

    1. 1 bullet, 1 dice

    2. Easy maths = less table-time spent on addition

     

    "So, 3 +2 +4 +1 +6...16"

    vs

    "So, 4 x4 = 16"

     

    Cons:

    3. Changes the damage output a bit.

    Lets look at a graph.

     

    IPB Image

     

    Blue is the old 3D6, orange is the new D6x3.

     

    Over 10,000 rolls provided courtesy =randbetween(1,6) in Excel, we can see that the output is very different.

     

    3D6 has a nice bell curve to it, clustering the most common results in the middle, but slack at the extremes.

    It's quite rare to roll minimum or maximum damage.

     

    D6x3 goes softer at the low end, and harder at the high end. There are many more min- or max-dmg hits.

     

     

     

    I believe this is a good thing.

     

    [1] Middling outcomes just aren't good for story.

     

    A cinematic graze, or a Dredd style head-splode make for story.

    A hp points grind of "I should fire another 12 shots to ensure an average damage of 21pts vs the armour class of 14..." isn't the kind of calculation you'd make under fire.

     

    [2] I believe the time-savings are worth it.

    If you've poured a whole magazine on-target, you expect results.

    A game-stopping audit of distinct groups of dice not the result you're after.

     

    [3] Degenerate Strategy//aka 'Broken'

    This a game-theory term for, well, finding an exploit and ruining the game.

    The broken strat.

    I haven't found this to lead to a degenerate-strategy yet - a 3D6 pistol is now more likely to beat an SP14 armour jacket, but there's still enough 'steps' for it to only be a 1/3 chance of getting through, as opposed to a ~21% chance when rolling 3D6.

     

     

    So...try it.

    You might like it.

     

     

     

    ...I'm also cooking up a lexicon of terms like 'table-time' or 'table-maths' to represent experiences, or measures of a Rule's Quality. A high quality rule should be easy & cognitively cheap to implement, and it should produce the kind of results that support your story.

     

    Table-time is how long you have to sit there and play with your friends. The less time spent on rules or maths, the more decisions you get to make with said friends. Lots of decisions = lots of engagement, should mean lots of fun. So - how to not waste precious table-time on rule adjudications or maths, so the time can be spent on fun decisions instead?

     

    Table-maths is how hard the calculations are to do, in your head, on the spot.

    A rule that requires division by 3 will immediately generate lots of painful cases - do you round down fractions? What do you do with the remainder?

    Is there another way to get the same spread of results, with easier maths?

     

    Cognitive-Cost - how much braining does it take to make the rules go?

    If it's hard to figure out the precise result, it's exhausting to use that option; so if it happens a lot, the GM will be wrecked by pizza time.

    How often, as a GM, have you avoided automatic weapons or shotguns (or the dreaded Auto-Shotgun!) because the cognitive-cost of computing the results?

     

    If I figure out strict definitions, I might even get to a point of objective measures of rule 'fitness' - wouldn't that be interesting!

     

    Hope this'll inspire someone. :)

  6. I had a game idea once; what if sea level rise caused 5% of the SE.Asian population to want to move to higher ground, i.e., North Australia?

     

    The answer had too many zeroes. I thought I'd screwed up my maths.

    So I tried again at 1%.

     

    A disruption to 1 in 100 people in S.E.Asia could displace 50 million+ people.

     

    Something is going to give, sometime, somewhere. And the old rules and borders and expectations are not going to cope.

  7. Ripped from the R.Tal FB page, just up:

     

    The Cyberpunk Red FAQ (as of 5.3.2019)

     

    Q: What is Cyberpunk Red?

    A: Cyberpunk Red is a new edition of Cyberpunk, the original tabletop roleplaying game of the Dark Future created by Mike Pondsmith and published by R. Talsorian Games.

     

    Q: What system is Cyberpunk Red? Fuzion or Interlock?

    A: Cyberpunk Red will use the classic Interlock system, though, as with any new edition of a TRPG, there will be revisions and updates.

     

    Q: Is Cyberpunk Red going to be compatible with Cyberpunk 2020?

    A: While there will be changes to the rules, it should not be too difficult to convert Cyberpunk 2020 material to Cyberpunk Red.

     

    Q: Does Cyberpunk Red take place in the same universe as Cyberpunk 2020 and Cyberpunk 2077?

    A: Yes. R. Talsorian Games and CD Projekt Red have worked together on a common timeline for the original Cyberpunk (Cyberpunk 2013) to Cyberpunk 2020 to Cyberpunk Red to Cyberpunk 2077.

     

    Q: What about Cyberpunk v3? And Cybergeneration?

    A: Cyberpunk v3 and Cybergeneration both officially take place in alternate timelines. They are "what if?" scenarios. The Carbon Plague of Cybergeneration did occur in the 2020/Red/2077 timeline but was quickly contained.

     

    Q: Will there be Roles (aka classes) in Cyberpunk Red?

    A: Yes, there will be roles. They will be familiar but many will have evolved or changed. Some will have alternative special abilities. There will also be rules for changing roles during play.

     

    Q: When in the timeline does Cyberpunk Red take place?

    A: Cyberpunk Red takes place between the end of the 4th Corporate War (2022 or so) and 2077. We realize that's a long stretch of time but aren't yet ready to say where, specifically, in that time period Red will begin.

     

    Q: What is Cyberpunk Red's relationship to Cyberpunk 2077?

    A: Red will show the Cyberpunk world in a period of rebuilding following the 4th Corporate War. It will help show how society moved from that world shattering event to what's presented in the video game.

     

    Q: When will Cyberpunk Red be released?

    A: We're aiming for an August 1 release but that will change if we feel the book isn't ready. Ideally, it will go on sale at our booth at GenCon and online via DriveThruRPG at the same time. It might also be available via our webstore then.

     

    Q: What formats will Cyberpunk Red be available in? How much will it cost?

    A: Cyberpunk Red will be a full color, hardcover book in physical form and a full color PDF in digital form. The suggested retail price is yet to be determined.

     

    Q: How soon will Cyberpunk Red be in stores?

    A: That depends on how quickly distributors and retailers order it once its made available, though we won't open orders until we're sure we can fulfill them.

     

    Q: What sort of art will Cyberpunk Red have?

    A: Cyberpunk Red will have new art, commissioned from a number of talented artists. The art will be full color and on par with any modern RPG.

     

    Q: Will Cyberpunk Red be available in other languages?

    A: We do not translate TRPGs ourselves. That being said, we have several partners in other countries who have localized our games. We anticipate licensing the rights to companies in several countries in the future.

     

    Q: Is Mike Pondsmith involved in Cyberpunk Red?

    A: Absolutely. He is both the lead developer and primary writer on the project.

     

    Q: Will Cyberpunk Red be compatible with the Witcher TRPG?

    A: Not without work. Though they're both Interlock, each is specifically designed to work within their genre. Of course, we've already had some arguments about Geralt vs. Morgan Blackhand...

     

    Q: Where can I find out more about Cyberpunk Red?

    A: We'll be releasing new information about Cyberpunk Red from now until its debut in August. Follow us here or on Facebook or check out blog for more details: https://rtalsoriangames.com/

  8. Anorak - just a bit longer? I didn't see any indication of how long - did I overlook something? It was "Release: When It's Ready" five years ago, and a quick check of their forums doesn't give me any more specific release date.

     

    There's some hints out there that early 2019 is possible, but clearly CPDR are keeping it flexible, juuuuust in case.

     

     

  9. It's not all bad mate, Amazon delivers alcohol to my door in 2 hours or less. I'll weigh that against the political turmoil and call it a draw.

     

    :lol:

    Ah, lucky you. Enjoy.

     

    ( Have one for me. I can't drink. :/ )

     

     

     

    In other news - we're not alone in being freaked out. Saint Gibson himself is all ...

     

    But last fall, Mr. Gibson’s predictive abilities failed him. Like so many others, he never imagined that Donald J. Trump would prevail in the 2016 election. On Nov. 9, he woke up feeling as if he were living in an alternate reality. “It was a really weird and powerful sensation,” he said.

     

    Sci-Fi Writer William Gibson Reimagines the World After the 2016 Election

     

    Same here.

    Same, like, I literally spent the first few weeks feeling dislocated from my proper timeline. I questioned objective reality and whether this was a nightmarish invention of my subconscious and concluded, no, even my nightmares are cleverer than this.

  10. It's just all too real at the moment...and it's weird, because neo-80's stuff is 'in'...but then, we are living in a cheap $2 Cyberpunk novel.

     

    Not a good one. Not a classy one, like Idoru.

    Not a funny one, like Snow Crash.

    A stupid one. A cheap splatterpunk novel. One that's all boobs guns and zombie gore.

     

    Where the POTUS is a reality tv star backed by a gay vampire[1] and crazed Rightists, the south-west of the pacific ocean writhes with lunacy as presidents are impeached for being corrupted by cult links and forced into the fashion crimes of wearing the cult-leader's gigolo's fashion designs[2], a situation so insane the GREAT LEADER OF NK had to go into seclusion to get over his severe case of WTF, China champions the future of the internet as invasive but remarkably helpful, and the Phillipines has been taken over by the pinoy version of Dirty Harry; with suitably 'Do you feel Lucky Punk' attitudes toward anyone who looked sideways at a drug[3], while massacre and oppression surges through Timor and Australia doesn't care because it's already stolen the gas-rights by F***ING WIRETAPPING THE GOVERNMENT of a HELPLESS NEW NATION (we Aussies thought we were helping) to get a one-up in negotiations, and is about to drop $1bn on a corrupt foreign coal company to destroy the largest artesian basin under the best farmland in the nation, and was happily going to cut a channel (stopped, prolly cos of the tourist $ impact) through the Great Barrier Reef to ENSURE ocean-acidification and heating caused by carbon emissions will F*** the rest, the UK is now headed by someone who thought banning all mind altering substances was a smart solution to a minor health problem and has now logically made TEA ILLEGAL except no-one will enforce that because reason doesn't apply there, the IMF has apologised(!!!) for the screw-up disaster they made of Greek economic-'crisis' but the EU carries on with its campaign of flagellating-punishment, Russia is reinventing the KGB, the gas weapons we thought were such a threat in Iraq are ACTUALLY BEING USED by MULTIPLE SIDES in a Syrian civil war so extensive that it's like an encyclopaedia-of-acronyms murderating itself into the dirt, meanwhile the Taliban STILL EXISTS despite the Size14 US Combat boot inserted in its ass, Mexico looks just as insane as AfPak - yeah, that place, where I learned recently that corruption was so bad the mexican Federal and Local Police were LITERALLY HAVING GUNBATTLES because each 'knew' the other was corrupted by the 'OTHER' cartel.

     

    *inhales*

     

    ON THE TOPIC of conflict, and conflict-of-interest, Academi NEE Xe NEE Blackwater is providing the PMC Security for the CHINESE "One Belt/One Road" plan to build a giant logistical pipeline through Absurdistan to Europe- which is gonna get REAL interesting if the Cheeto-In-Chief[4] starts smack talking the Chinese too much and it would screw with Eric Prince's future financial plans. Incidentally, Eric Prince's sister, Betsy DeVos, wielding crazed what-hell-is-that policy against public education has been given the education department; because drooling f***wits are cheaper to manage I HOPE is the reason - because any other explanation is too cynical even for me.

    ISIL's been dropping semtex into tank hatches from Phantom 3 drones; the CIA's been dropping hellfire on 12yo American Citizens in Yemen; Assads been gassing (& some of his rebel enemies too HANG ON - WASN'T a DECADE of war in the Sandpit supposed to KEEP NBC WEAPONS OUT OF TERRORIST HANDS?!?), and the French have been going Ninja on rebels who got too close to their uranium mines - and much of this activity is flowing through Dijibouti, a tiny African nation getting a colossal-cash-job from Chinese cobalt mining and American paramilitary presence in the region (watch this space).

    An Israeli hacker used robocalling to cause a media panic to label the Cheeto-in-Chief an anti-semite (He's not, he's just excessively pro-self), government secrets have haemorrhaged so bad that there's TOO MUCH data for news-media to actually study and so they're just going for random twitter outrage, the grand spectacle of the 'security theatre' of everyone taking their shoes off in airports has been rendered irrelevant by just walking through, hiring a truck and ramming a crowd........& I'm not going to start on the economic stuff because I'm just so angry and I don't want to damage my keyboard anymore.

     

     

     

    But by all that is good and right and just, who the hell is writing this crap? Do they have NO respect for the audience's intelligence? How is this history?

     

    This is gonna be a dark age because we're gonna look back on it in 10 years time like a nostalgic visit to our old MySpace page and DELETE EVERYTHING because we WERE SOOOO DUUUUUUMB.

     

     

    That's why playing Cyberpunk hurts too much.

    We knew.

    We always knew.

    And yet, still, we collectively chose the stupid path...

     

     

     

    ........We're at least getting DNI out of it, so we've got that going for us at least. :cry:

     

     

     

    [1] Peter Thiel is in on the 'lets inject young blood to extend our lifespan' train. He's rich. He's technically competent. He's gay. He has terrifying Big Brother 'big data' visions. WTF is he doing 'IN' with Trumps crowd of hard-Right types? They should be mortal enemies!

    [2] South Korea. Srsly. An actual, honest to Rael, CULT LEADER had control of the PRESIDENT and was EDITING HER SPEECHES over proper government process or review - and the gigolo thing is just off the dial.

    [3] Known users are invited to public confessions, to make a promise to give it up. Go back to it, and you will get whacked by a death squad. What worries me is that it seems to be WORKING, and that means it'll get COPIED.

    [4] 'Commander in Chief' is a real worrying term when you realise the original meaning, in its Latin, Roman, original form...is Dictator. When emergency was declared, Rome was to pick a Dictator, do what needed to be done, then dump the title and get back to work. The merging of the Presidential identity with that of Commander in Chief is one of those...abrasive micro-aggressions, grinding away the stony tablet of constitutional checks and balances that ever-more-flimsily stands between the USofA and the screaming idiocy of central-asian 'Democratic Presidents.'

  11. So now Herr Drumpf has got shouty and hung up on the Australian PM over an Obama-era deal re illegal refugees. (Who shouldn't be in a feffing gulag in the first place you bastard PMs), and Bannon thinks a war with China is inevitable (possibly due to his horoscope-like interpretation of American history - Fourth Turning/Strauss-Howe) and the Trump (mal)administration is shouting down the Judiciary, blaming them for potential future attacks...which is a mind boggling attack the separation of legislature/judiciary, but hey, no one voted for me.

     

    Meanwhile, I peeked over at the other bubble, the Breitbart site.

    The thing that struck me is that both Left and Right feel the same.

    The underlying narratives and nouns they use are different, but everyone is worked up about how terrible the opposite political chirality is. The Left has its comedy-show names for Trump, the Right has 'Jabba the Moore' for Michael Moore; the Right wants to publish lists of crimes committed by illegals, the Left calls it fascist agitprop, the Right sees that as hard proof the Left deliberately ignores hard evidence in favour of delusion.

     

    Ordinarily, these opposites would dialectically form a synthesis...but it seems there's actually a psychological segregation going on.

     

    The same name & fact set has opposed and unreformable narratives. You can't reasonably diverge, attempting to do so descends into idiosyncratic conspiracy theories.

     

    This is amazing.

     

    May this, hopefully, create some empathy with the other side(s), wherever it is you stand.

  12. LOL...yeah...ouch.

     

    A few years braindance doesn't sound so bad, does it...that is of course making the bet things get better in the intervening period.

     

    Just now, down under, there's plenty of political air-time about how 'Australia stands with Trump's strong border stance' which is either lauded by scary people (and championed by dodgy newspapers) and generally met with horror by everyone else, meanwhile, a pregnant asylum seeker in the Nauruan gulag desperately needs a c-section, but for that, she'd have to come to Australia...oh noes...

     

    Meanwhile. The term 'Strong Leader' is popping up all over. Someone's been casting about wondering if Australia too wants a 'Strong Leader'...apparently 'competent servants of the people' just doesn't have the same ring to it.

     

    And China is psyching up.

     

    I'd really prefer a war with China DIDN'T happen...the Coral sea doesn't need all those broken ships and bodies dumped in it again... :(

  13. It's day 3 and I'm struggling to get my jaw off the floor...

     

    What's the atmosphere like over there in the USA?

     

     

    Think of this not so much as a discussion, but stream-of-consciousness "What does the mood feel like today", because change, it's a comin', and it will be very interesting to look back on it.

     

     

    (From your fellow Cyberpunker in his own nation of WTFistan, with its gulags for asylum seekers and hell bent desperation to frack its largest most agriculturally sensitive artesian basin. Since when did Cyberpunk become a f***in' handbook? Arg.)

  14. To get plot ideas, I recommend reading historical or journalistic stuff about smuggling, organised crime, 'what it's like in the maffiya/cartel/somalia/PSC' type things, or messy periods of history.

     

    Then you strip out everything that locks it into a place. Use generic terms. Army becomes force. Sword becomes weapon.

     

    Then swap in your favourite cyberpunk terms.

     

    Imagine letters of marque being given to Netrunners, a magna carter hammered out after a disastrous foreign war, a neo Al Capone of pirate movies...

  15. Pike isn't alone :

     

    Switchblade - Kamikaze drone in use in Syria.

     

     

    Pike does seem to be the ideal thing to put on a drone platform though. Imagine a drone missile bus, carrying a rack of four. It'd be like having helicopter CAS from the back of a ute!

     

     

    And this thing :

     

    uvision IDF drone/missile

     

    It's a UAV with 30 min loiter time, video feed, and 1lb/half kilo warhead.

     

    Think of the tactical uses!

  16. Y'know, I don't think I've ever had PC's go to a strip club...there's a disjoint between what's legitimately fun at the table (buying guns. Shooting guns. Buying more guns.) and what you'd do as a cashed-up bad-guy on the run. (Buy guns, girls and goon...)

     

    And it's kinda disappointing...I've occasionally thought of a type of nihilist Edgerunner who literally lives as nomad-player-hitter who just never stops. Something happens, they give up on the future of humanity or their own life or any kind of meaning, and live only to maintain a constant flow of intense sensation.

     

    Imagine that. You know the world is dying, you've seen it - the ocean turned red with algae and literally all the fish died. The air is thick now, just smog, methane and carbon dioxide, and that oxygen is not going to get replaced. Everyone else is freaking the fuck out. But no-one you know has any means of surviving. So as the reality settles, it's just get loaded and forget.

     

    All existence is on a timer. Might be a year. Or three.

     

    So. You Go hard.

     

    You load up on No-Doze, V and uppers and don't sleep. Anything that looks possible, you do. Immediately.

     

    Local hard man needs a hit? Do it. Get cash. Deliberately taunt the vengeful gang. Draw them into a catastrophic gun battle with another gang and cops, and just run, and keep running, and party somewhere, and run, and knock over a shop, and run, and just blast through the inevitable pursuit, not caring - because getting a double-tap to the face is better than asphyxiating.

     

    Could make for an interesting game scenario...

  17. You have a critical problem in that I don't believe anyone here would have coherently matching game worlds...I could lay out stuff from my games, but then you'd have a Lo-Tech full-auto fest, a super-intense Transhuman experiment, or a Drone Warlord fighting a Socialist revolution...

  18. If you have the time to do a realistic simulationist game, I'd be tempted to just put %ages next to the real codes and roll for that...which is a surprisingly awesome idea...

     

    But!

     

    It might help the game if the codes called in were actually game-pushing. Given you have limited time for a game, there should be some design to the options, and a layout of locations, perps and witnesses.

     

    I've been fiddling with an idea of a 3D encounter table of Risk * Reward * Location as a way of filling in daily life and economic possibilities in a location. This would be made in Excel of course, don't want to break the GM's brain...

  19. Would you stay and fight if a furry beast significantly taller and heavier than any of your squad suddenly attacked and tore through most of your men like they were rice paper?

     

    I'd be enormously motivated to wipe the subhuman beasts out.

     

    If my unit was wiped out by highly effective, amazingly fit looking people, I'd be jealous of them.

     

    The psychological effect of 'less than human' opponents would be to remove all barriers to the enemy being very effective at killing them. There's at least a little delay, some opposition against something recognisably human. Every step away from that makes it easier to take 'killing actions.'

     

    ...they might be scary at first, but they'll face determined opposition next time...

  20. The one thing they'll definitely be is 'hot'.

     

    Why?

     

    1. Cosmetic, aesthetic engineering is likely to be in the lead in development over everything else. There's massive investment in aesthetics now. It's even relevant in treatment of serious injuries, and, it's the least life threatening. Increasing bone density sounds great, but if it screws you over later, that's a real problem. Funny looking skin can be more easily repaired.

     

    2. Volunteer interest. If you want people to sign up for a bio-mass increasing retroviral that'll let you swing an M240B like a Nerf gun, then the poster looking for recruits better show a clean shaved square jaw and muscles to make Zeus jealous. Because if it turns you into a fur-ball Gorilla, I bet you 10:1 now that no-one will want it, no matter how pragmatic it is.

     

    3. "Hey baby..." ...an adaptation too far from socially desirable ideals, no matter how practical the promises of the designer, isn't going to get the girl/guy/it. Sure, being furry as a Wookie would make you great for surviving Mars, but I think it'd be an easier sell to totally terraform the planet to make sunny beaches on which to expose smooth skin.

     

     

    It is my belief, that in the future, Ugly will be a Choice.

    And it will be a choice that will make you socially suspect.

     

    Why would you choose to be ugly? What are you trying to prove...you some kinda weirdo?

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