gomiville

(Players playing murder-hobos disguised as players playing murder-hobos. How avant-garde!)

HA!

I guess that would add Insect Farms (which can be pretty small and gourmet...), Stack Farms (an increasingly real thing) and various types of AR enhanced social hub to the world.

I think I put Urban Farms on the extended list, and it should be put on the main list. Insect farms, high density hydroponic farms, aquaculture systems, bioengineered algae plants (producing hydrogen or other byproducts)... Or community gardens, or reclaimed vacant lots, or hidden pot farms, or bioengineered opium plants...

I don't think "social hub" would be its own entry. We already have bars, clubs, coffee houses, gyms, even churches. Throw some AR flavor on top of that. People won't create whole new types of building because AR provides a new medium of information transfer.

Actually, there's an idea for a cyberpunk scene: an AR enhanced Catholic church (or some other type of very traditional flavor of religion). Look through your cyber-techno-super-glasses at a saint's statue and it seems to come alive, giving a homily specific to themselves. Don't light a candle for someone, but throw a tag into the cloud hovering in the north transept. Have the sermon auto-translated into whatever language you want ("You haven't experienced God until you've heard the liturgy in the original Klingon."). And, of course, people hacking the systems to project atheist messages, or points of theological argument from a rival branch of the faith.

You could have fun with that.

But we could break it down by category - licensed gambling (as I wrote before, from national lottery / Body Lotto tickets to full-blown casino), licensed sex (from go go / striptease club to brothels and SM clubs) and the like.

Nb. fight clubs should be, I think, included with gambling - after all, there are usually two folks doin' the fighting part, and the rest is mostly setting up bets.

"Licensed Sex," "Licensed Gambling," "Licensed Drugs." Three categories of licensed vice, allowing the GM to determine how libertarian their world is.

I only have the four issues of volume 1. There are two others, in volume 2, but I don't think they're exclusively cyberpunk.

One point that stands up - a lot of these street location ideas are places you can already find in any town. Keep it science fictional, guys

That was the idea, for me at least. I need to mix in some more science fictional stuff, but generally, I wanted it to be a lot of current stuff too.

Go back 50 years, and you'll see many similar stores on the streets. No cell phone shops or computer repair places, which were the science fiction of the time, but otherwise very similar.

Go back 100 years, and you'll still see a lot of familiar shops. You won't see many (or any?) supermarkets and barely any mechanics, but those were part of the scifi then too.

So, 20, 50 or 100 years in the future from now, a lot of the street will still look pretty similar. There will be shops selling cyberware, or robo-made burgers, or fabber shops, but otherwise not radically different.

This isn't just for futuristic stuff. It's for a GM to roll up everything on the street, so they don't have to think about it and can focus on the plot. It's not so they have to think about current stuff and only roll up the futuristic stuff.

I'd rather not have "underwear, female, used" on our list of what's available form a vending machine though I know such machines are present in Japan.

My moral qualms aside, I think it wouldn't fly elsewhere because of cultural reasons .

As for storefront ideas - I'm still not sold on drug den then. It requires our generic cyberpunk city to have legislation allowing for legal purchase and consumption of recreational chemicals.

A headshop can keep to tobacco in various forms (cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco, snuff tobacco - and legal analogs like chewing gum) - which, AFAIK, is legal basically everywhere - if that's what they can get away with, and get anywhere above that should the law allow it.

A drug den requires not only the chance of buying it, but also the social acceptance of specific places where you pay to indulge in your poison of choice.

 

No, really, my vote is against this one.

What about licensed brothel, then? Or gambling?

Maybe boil it all down to "Licensed Vice," to include whatever's legit according to the GM in that particular game. That includes gambling, prostitution, drugs, strip clubs, S&M clubs, fight clubs, etc.

Reduce all those entries into one, and fold the headshop into the tobacconist, and there's room to move a lot of items from the extras list onto the main list.

I'll compile a new version of the list tomorrow, including all our changes.

As for vending machines, I think a list of 10 will do just fine

Still, while hardly breathtaking, I found this puppy pretty interesting.

I included auto-vendor food in the list, like robot made burgers, burritos and sushi, but auto-vend convenience stores are a good entry too. Both a bigger than a basic vending machine, and closer to storefronts, but maybe popular in places like coffin hotels. A full selection of food and essentials, available 24/7, without any necessary staff.

Uh, another few observations for today:

[*]You have both Headshop (licensed/legal recreational drug supply) in the Consumable Goods category, and Licensed Drug Den in the Cultural Services category. What is the difference, and is there enough of a difference to make them separate?

A headshop is to a liquor store as a drug den is to a bar. One has supplies and the other provides consumption. Although, technically, a headshop sells drug paraphernalia, not the drugs themselves, I just adopted the term for legalized drug sales.

In a lot of the goods and service categories, I was looking for a mirror storefront to the other. So, when there's a food store in Food Goods, I included a restaurant in Food Services. Liquor stores are mirrored by bars. Car dealerships are mirrored by auto mechanics. And headshops are mirrored by drug dens.

[*]Art supplies should, IMO, include craft supplies (as optional variant).

Call it "Arts, Crafts & Hobby Supply." That rolls paints, yarn and RC planes all into a single category.

[*] there is no tattoo parlor on the list (it is bouncing in my head so hard I can't believe I haven't mentioned it so far!) - I'd put it down as:

[*] Body modification (tattoos, piercings, scarfications, aesthetic implantations or cyberware customization)

Good point. Rename the entry at #3 under Consumable Services.

Also, we should combine Hair Salons and Nail Salons into a single entry, making space for the below idea.

[*] I know the Printshop (print-on-demand) is on your backup list - I guess it should be called Fabrication-on-demand - a category which will include not only printing / photocopying, but also 3D printing, laser cutting and whatever else the technology will be able to come up in the rapid, small-scale manufacturing technology.

Excellent idea.

I was trying to add some near future bits and bobs among the contemporary stuff (like kibble shop, auto-vendors, cyberware, etc), and this is a great example.

I'd also drop the "Storefront" part of the Storefront Church entry, as this seems to be a distinctively US idea. A church (regardless of actual faith in question) is a church (maybe we should label it "temple"), and whether the building was originally built for this purpose (most of them here were so) or converted from another purpose of a building (here, these tend to be converted living spaces, serving small religious communities that cannot afford a purpose-built "church"). Keep in mind a monastery might also be considered a place of worship, and definitely an interesting (and surprising!) find in a cyberpunk street...

All in all, I'd make the "storefront church" into

[*]Temple (church, synagogue, mosque or other, also storefornt church, house church. Also, a monastery)

Yea, when I first started making this list up, I was a little hung-up on storefronts, which is also why I missed schools, hospitals, hotels, apartments, etc. I was focusing too much on small business kind of real estate.

Maybe instead of "Temple," call it "House of Worship?"

Other nitpicks:

[*]gas station - should be more generic fuel station (including electric car recharge outlet). Hel knows what will the future's automobiles be powered with: gasoline, alcohol, methane, LPG, hydrogen or just electricity...

Or CHOOH2.

[*]I assume the "mechanic" was meant as car mechanic? I guess it is something that should be written down. "Vehicle mechanic". Whether they deal with cars, motorcycles or aeros (AVs in CP2020), you don't want a GM gazing into this in stupor due to a temporary mental block "mechanic...? What mechanic did they meant...?"

Right. I think I first wrote "auto mechanic" then thought "oh, but what about AVs and stuff," so I shortened it to simply "mechanic." "Vehicle Mechanic" makes it clearer, you're right.

[*] Oh, and I have another Cultural goods store for you to push the military surplus out: Antiques. A low-end one will be just a junk shop with whatever used but still functional goods can be found (still can produce a real jewel from time to time), a high one will deal with objects of art and antique, stylish house equipment.

Maybe merge this with "art gallery?" "Art & Antiques?"

Unrelated - I think it would be interesting to make a Vend-o-Mat table (well, maybe not a list of 100...), but these aren't really popular around, and thus I can't provide much insight. For example, I guess these types of machnes are likely to be very popular in a Cyberpunk city, and shouldn't be encountered as single units, but in banks of... how many?

Maybe have a d6 roll to determine the number of machines at a spot. Sometimes it's a single soda machine, sometimes it's two soda machines, a coffee machine, two snack machines and a toiletries machine.

As for the types of machine, we could find a list of what's available in Japan, kingdom of all things vending?

Off the top of my head:

• Cold Beverages (soda, juice, water, etc)
• Hot Beverages (coffee, tea, cocoa, etc)
• Snacks (candy, gum, chips/crisps, etc)
• Cold Food (sandwiches, pre-pack salads, questionable sushi, etc)
• Hot Food (burritos, noodle bowls, etc; kept frozen next to a built-in microwave)
• Cigarettes (but also include e-cigs, maybe alcohol, legal narcotics, etc)
• Traveler's Needs (toothbrush, deodorant, magical clothes ironing spray, etc)
• Small Electronics (headphones, batteries, disposable cameras, etc)
• Media (archaic books, but also digital "vending" for music, movies, etc; perfect vector for a hacker)
• Clothing (generic loungewear or underclothes; maybe something installed in coffin hotels)
• Polymer Oneshots (a CP2020 classic, but also include disposable tasers, etc)

Well, Gomiville, having finished with junk and emergency services generators, I took a serious look at what you've managed to do with 100 shops & businesses.

 

Overall, you did an outstanding job

 

I've copied it to my Google drive for ease of reviewing, and the more I see it, the more I believe the material will need some glossary real bad. Some stuff is cultural, some I haven't encountered yet (how a walk-in clinic is different from any other clinic...? Or hospital?) and the several kinds of a bar...

A hospital is a big, fully equipped medical facility. An emergency/triage intake area, departments for intensive care, births and infants, etc. A walk-in clinic is a small, rather basic facility. It's more like a doctor's office, but you don't have to be a specific patient to be treated (here in the US, you generally have a specific relationship with your doctor). It's for minor emergency cases that don't need a full hospital (sprains rather than breaks, a bad cough rather than full pneumonia, etc) and for people that don't have a doctor. They're relatively common around here, but I was also thinking they're more common in many cyberpunk universes where they might be the primary medical resource for the urban poor. And something that can be run by volunteer "street medics," like maybe the players.

I also divided bar's into three categories kind of like restaurants. A basic bar is a counter where they serve you alcohol. Maybe a few booths or tables, but it's pretty simple and basic. The "fast food" of alcohol establishments. A lounge is trendier, with better seating (maybe a few couches with more tasteful mood lighting) and maybe some decent live music. The "sit down dining" of alcohol establishments. A pub (at least in the US) is a bar that serves food. Grill and fryer stuff (burgers, french fries/chips, etc) plus alcohol.

Bar and lounge could probably get rolled into one, depending on a quality roll. The pub could get rolled into sit down restaurants, as it's basically just a specific type of restaurant, I guess.

I think I have another entry we should have instead of a licensed drug den - tobacconist. Nicotine 9tobacco's active substance) is, after all, a psychoactive substance. Legal and, in most places, can be sold if you have a license. i'm sure the other recreational chemicals will be forming a niche for this kind of business to exploit).

• Tobacconist (tobacco products and other legal recreational drugs)

Yea, tobacconist is on my extra list I distilled from your survey. I wouldn't replace licensed drug den though. Well, maybe put them together, depending on a quality roll, but I see them as two different things.

I was picturing a "drugs are legal" kind of cyberpunk future, where something like 19th century opium dens make a come back, but serving the latest lab made psychoactive (or just plain ol' heroin in the cheaper places). A place to consume drugs socially similar to going to a bar to drink alcohol.

A tobacconist is either high end, selling pipe tobacco and nice cigars, or low end, selling big boxes of cigarettes and (now) e-cigarettes or vaping supplies. A liquor store, rather than a bar, if you will, and focused on tobacco rather than recreational drugs in general.

Also, I believe there should be a distinction in the Health & Beauty (Shop) category:

• Pharmacy (medical supplies and medicines, including prescription-only ones)
• Chemist (over-the-counter medicines, cosmetics and beauty products)

While their ranges do overlap pretty often, they do remain separate and distinct categories, at least here. And each of them is pretty popular.

Around here, we'd call that a pharmacist and drug store, respectively, though they're often the same thing (the pharmacist counter is in the back of the drug store). I included drug store (what you'd call a chemist) under Consumable Goods (#6).

We don't seem to have a real estate agent (or however you call the in-between that helps you buy or rent office space, living space and what-not) and hotel / hostel / rooms for hire / coffin hotel on the list yet.

The real estate agent's under the extra survey list and should get included somehow, you're right.

Good call on the hotel, though. Don't have that on the list at all. And maybe we should break it into "Hotel" and "Coffin Hotel." Both with quality rolls, because I could see high-end coffins aimed for the business traveler on the go, plus low-end roach infested ones. Same with "full size room" hotels.

Are the indoor shooting galleries that common? I'd roll these into one entry with gyms & dojos, it is a form of indoor sports after all (and other possibilities are laser-tag facilites, paintball "killhouses" and similar combat games, as they can be played indoors on a pretty limited area).

They're not that common, but I included them as part of the "violent future" aspect of cyberpunk. Same as firearm dealers, licensed brothels and drug dens. But, really, when they exist around here, they're often attached to the back of a gun dealer's shop. Maybe keep them distinct from gyms & dojos, but roll them into the gun dealer entry?

1-3. Volunteer crew (non-government organization, or sometimes gang-backed). Hearts of gold, but little money for fancy stuff: -3 on the equipment table

Nice tables overall, but I really love this line. The "street medic" vibe of idealistic fools trying to fight back, with donated, half-broken and out-of-date equipment. Great addition.

Yup, we have the same kind of financial predators over here too. But still a financial service.

Now I do imagine the entry (any...) in this case looking like that:

• financial services (bank, loans, money exchange, investment advisors etc)

Consolidated and bumped Jewelry/Goldsmith to the main list.

I was considering bumping up Pets & Pet supplies, but some cyberpunk canons go with the "many animals go extinct" idea. Maybe something to add as "Pets, Pet Cloning & Pet Supplies," for that scifi feel.

For example, you may make bank, loans, money exchange and investment advisor four different entires - or one common "financial services". After all, any sensible bank would be able to offer you a loan, invest your money for you and in most cases exchange money too. Even if it is a shadow bank or a loan shark type-fixer...

There's a thing around here about "pay day loans" and other companies that offer high interest short term loans for people that need money now. They often prey on the financially vulnerable and are really shady, but legal (for the moment). Not full banks, but just loans.

But I see your point about merging it all together.

If you could, would you send me the file you're creating? What I'd like to do is try and create an Inspiration Pro 3 file set that would be able to combine all of the information you're compiling for this.

Gomiville, you can make the list bigger (split in two, for example, as I've already suggested).

 

Several entries can also be rolled into one.

Which entries would you merge?

Also, do we have enough for two lists? We have more than one list, but less than two... Maybe two lists (Goods and Services, like you suggest), but including duplicates for common storefronts?

My personal pet peeve is the entry "firearms", as 1. it suggests the store carries essentially nothing else, and 2. assumes the firearms are relatively easy to obtain legally in the random game area. Here, there is only one shop carrying firearms (two, if you consider a hunters' store with hunting weapons being the only type available), but several "sports goods / military goods" stores where you can buy self-defense accessories that aren't considered weapons (or atleast, firearms) under the local law.

 

I'd rename it as either "weapons" or "personal defense accessories".

But, as I said, a pet peeve of mine

Haha, that's a regional (or national) difference, I think. Around here, there are stores that basically carry nothing but firearms (plus a few accessories, ammunition, etc). And they are relatively easy to obtain legally. It's literally written into the United States' DNA.

But to generalize it, we should rename it "Weapons & Personal Defense Accessories," you're right.

No plumbers? No electricians? Maybe a "repair service"?

So, reviewing your survey, Mikael, there are a couple of store types not already on my list.

Home repair (electrician, plumber, general contractor, etc)

Park, Memorial or other open area

Car rental

Locksmith

Parking Lot

Transport (bus station, taxi depot, auto-cab depot, etc)

Distillery, Urban Farm (either open lot or vertical aquaculture), or other foodstuff producer

Arcade, pool club, etc

Car wash

Pawn shop

Import/Export shop (though we already have Ethnic Food store which covers part of this)

Pets and pet supply

Travel agent (the 'net is already pushing these out of business, but "Come to the offworld colonies!" works too)

On-demand print shop or some kind of outsource office services (printing, shipping, etc)

Real estate agent

Car accessories shop

"Dime store"

Tobacconist

Government or Municipal offices

Small Business Offices (catch-all for non-retail offices that aren't otherwise covered on the list)

Anyone care to argue for replacing one of the entries up above with one of these? Or merge on of these with one of list entries? Or maybe some way of extending the list to include some of these?

Food Goods (1-10):

1. Supermarket

2. Specialty food (Produce, Butcher, Fish shop, Wine & Cheese, Health, etc)

3. Liquor store

4. Ethnic food

5. Hypermarket/Big Box (combining supermarket and department store)

6. Warehouse for food delivery service

7. Co-op style (or Caterers, closed to public)

8. Wholesale (closed to public)

9. Kibble shop ("Selling the future of food today!"*)

10. Corner/Convenience/General Store

(* Kibble shops could be anything from dingy generic places with bins of drek two steps from dog food, to shiny boutiques selling the latest and trendiest food-replacement for corporates on the go.)

Food Services (11-20):

1. Fast food

2. Sit-down dining

3. Coffee/Tea shop

4. Carry-out only

5. Ethnic cuisine

6. Basic bar

7. Lounge (bar with comfier seats and live music)

8. Sidewalk cafe/bistro

9. Pub (bar with food)

10. Auto-vendor food (machine made burgers, sushi, burritos, etc)

Durable Goods (21-30):

1. Automobiles

2. Other Vehicles (Bikes, Fold-A-Scooter, AVs, Boats, etc)

3. Weapons & Personal Defense Accessories

4. Cyberware

5. Home appliances

6. Electronics & Computers

7. Sporting goods

8. Cellphones & Cyberdecks

9. Home improvement & Hardware

10. Furniture

Durable Services (31-40):

1. Mechanic

2. Gas Station

3. Gunsmith

4. Cyberware maintenance

5. Appliance repair

6. Laundromat & Dry cleaning

7. Gym & Dojo

8. Electronics repair

9. Movers & Storage

10. Shooting range

Consumable Goods (41-50):

1. Clothing

2. Department store

3. Specialty clothing (Uniforms, Body armor, etc)

4. Cosmetics

5. Hypermarket/Big Box

6. Drug store (medicine, first aid, etc)

7. Headshop (licensed/legal recreational drug supply)

8. Housewares (decor, linens, flatware, kitchen goods, etc)

9. Office Supply

10. Corner/Convenience/General Store

Consumable Services (51-60):

1. Hair salon/Barber

2. Nail salon

3. Cyberware customization

4. Tailor

5. Accountant

6. Lawyer

7. Private Investigations

8. Financial Services (Bank, loans, currency exchange, etc)

9. Jewelry/Goldsmith

10. Pharmacist/Chemist

Cultural Goods (61-70):

1. Bookstore

2. Art Gallery

3. Religious goods

4. Music store

5. Other media (video, braindance, VR, etc)

6. Art supplies

7. Software

8. Sex toys/Pornography

9. Military surplus (not really cultural, but why not)

10. Florist

Cultural Services (71-80):

1. Cinema

2. Theatre

3. Discotheque/Dance club

4. School

5. Funeral services

6. Storefront church

7. Political organization

8. Strip club

9. Licensed drug den

10. Licensed brothel

Health Good & Services (81-90):

1. General practitioner/Family doctor

2. Hospital

3. Cosmetic/Plastic surgery

4. Cyberware implantation

5. Specialty doctor (Dentist, Podiatrist, Ear/Nose/Throat, etc)

6. Walk-in Clinic

7. Medical Supply (wheelchairs, crutches, etc)

8. Acupuncture, Massage & Alternative Medicine

9. Psychological (including cybernetics adaptation therapy)

10. Physical therapy (need to learn to adapt to that new cyberlimb, after all)

Common Storefronts (91-100):

1. Fast Food

2. Bar

3. Coffee/Tea Shop

4. Ethnic Cuisine

5. Auto-Vendor Food

6. Convenience/Corner/General Store

7. Clothing Store

8. Laundromat & Dry Cleaning

9. Cellphones & Cyberdecks

10. Walk-in Clinic

Added a few, swapped a few around. Still reviewing your street survey, Mikael, to change any of these around or broaden them out a bit.

I kept the categories pretty broad and open to some interpretation.

I have some questions regarding particular entries - like, warehouses and wholesalers. Here, these tend to be kinda out of the way (in the outskirts of a city), so not a likely random find on a random street...

I figure the warehouses aren't huge distribution warehouses, but small, local points of pickup for delivery services. Like a supermarket that's closed to the public and only used by the "personal shoppers" who deliver the groceries and meals to wealthy city residents. Not something we see today, but an extension of various food delivery services that have popped up in the past 15 years or so.

Wholesalers aren't that uncommon in the city, in my experience. Granted, I used to live next to an old meatpacking district, and my wife is a chef from a restaurant family, so I've been to plenty of food and equipment wholesalers for restaurant supply. My perspective might be skewed. But if there are restaurants and other food prep businesses, there are likely to be wholesalers. They should be more uncommon, but we don't have the granularity on a simple 1d100 to really do that.

And as for categories - matching categories for Goods and Services were meant to make it easier for us. Not more difficult. We need a separate category with banks & lawyers? We make it. So what if there is no equivalent goods category...?

I ended up folding them into the Consumables Services category for two reasons: 1) I couldn't think of that many services in that category, and 2) they actually kind of fit. They're not "durable" services, where you visit once and then not go back, but something you regularly go to. More like buying toilet paper than buying a car.

Just a quick thought (no time for it now really): ain't Art Services, it's Cultural Services. Cinema, theatre (inc. opera), photographer, funeral services (I guess?).

That's a good point. Strip clubs could be included in that category, as could storefront churches (how's that for bedfellows?).

But then, we lose the category for attorneys, banks, etc... Hmmm

IDEAS:

Food Goods:

1. Supermarket

2. Specialty food (Produce, Butcher, Fish shop, Wine & Cheese, Health, etc)

3. Liquor store

4. Ethnic food

5. Hypermarket/Big Box (combining supermarket and department store)

6. Warehouse for food delivery service

7. Co-op style (or Caterers, closed to public)

8. Wholesale (closed to public)

9. Kibble shop ("Selling the future of food today!"*)

10. Corner/Convenience/General Store

(* Kibble shops could be anything from dingy generic places with bins of drek two steps from dog food, to shiny boutiques selling the latest and trendiest food-replacement for corporates on the go.)

Food Services:

1. Fast food

2. Sit-down dining

3. Coffee/Tea shop

4. Carry-out only

5. Ethnic cuisine

6. Basic bar

7. Lounge (bar with comfier seats and live music)

8. Sidewalk cafe/bistro

9. Pub (bar with food)

10. Auto-vendor food (machine made burgers, sushi, burritos, etc)

Durable Goods:

1. Automobiles

2. Other Vehicles (Bikes, Fold-A-Scooter, AVs, Boats, etc)

3. Firearms

4. Cyberware

5. Home appliances

6. Electronics

7. Sporting goods

8. Computer & Cyberdecks

9. Home improvement & Hardware

10. Furniture

Durable Services:

1. Mechanic

2. Gas Station

3. Gunsmith

4. Cyberware maintenance

5. Appliance repair

6. Laundromat & Dry cleaning

7. Gym & Dojo

8. Electronics repair

9. Movers & Storage

10. Shooting range

Consumable Goods:

1. Clothing

2. Department store

3. Specialty clothing (Uniforms, Body armor, etc)

4. Cosmetics

5. Hypermarket/Big Box

6. Drug store

7. Headshop (licensed/legal recreational drug supply)

8. ?

9. ?

10. Corner/Convenience/General Store

Consumable Services:

1. Hair salon/Barber

2. Nail salon

3. Cyberware customization

4. Tailor

5. Accountant

6. Lawyer

7. Private Investigations

8. Bank

9. Quick loans

10. Pharmacist/Chemist

Art Goods:

1. Bookstore

2. Art Gallery

3. Religious goods

4. Music store

5. Other media (video, braindance, VR, etc)

6. Art supplies

7. Software?

8. ?

9. ?

10. ?

Cultural Services:

1. Cinema

2. Theatre

3. Discotheque/Dance club

4. Photographer

5. Funeral services

6. Storefront church

7. Strip club

8. Sex toys/Pornography

9. Licensed drug den

10. Licensed brothel

Health Services:

1. General practitioner/Family doctor

2. Dentist

3. Cosmetic/Plastic surgery

4. Cyberware implantation

5. Specialty doctor (Podiatrist, Ear/Nose/Throat, etc)

6. Walk-in Clinic

7. ?

8. ?

9. ?

10. ?

I think I just eliminated the oddball category. Besides the gaps in the nine categories above, we're still missing a tenth category.

Maybe make the tenth a catch-all for particularly common stores? Convenience stores, bars, restaurants, coffee shops, etc? Increase the odds of their occurrence in a d100 roll, but also provide a specific category for "quick generation," with a cross-category selection of common places.

Basic categories for stores are typically foodstuffs, durable goods, consumable goods and arts.

We could assign services to each of those as well.

For example:

Food Goods: Grocery, Liquor Store, Butcher, Baker, Corner Store (multiple categories for this one, actually)

Food Service: Bar, Restaurant [carry-out, sit-down, fast-food, ethnic], Caterer

Durable Goods: Sporting Goods, Home Appliances, Cyberware, Vehicles, Gun Store

Durable Services: Gym, Appliance Repair, Laundromat, Cyberdoc, Mechanic, Bodyshop, Gunsmith

Consumable Goods: Clothing, Cosmetics, Ammunition, Software, Corner Store (see food goods)

Consumable Services: Hair Salon/Barber, Nail Salon, Tailor, Shooting Range

Arts Goods: Bookstore, Art Gallery, Cyberware customization?, Music Stores, Video Rental

Arts Services: ... Well, this one is tough.

Maybe, instead of Art Services, we have General Services, like Accountant, Lawyer, Private Investigator, Quick Loans, Bank, etc. Some Art Services could exist, like Movie Theater or Concert Venue.

That will give you eight categories. Then include Health (Doctor, Dentist, Cyberdoc, etc), for nine categories.

Then Oddball is the tenth category (sex shops, licensed brothel, licensed shooting gallery or drug den, etc). Maybe rename it Gray Market?

So, just fill in the categories. Some items, like corner/convenience stores (where you can buy food, maybe cheap clothes, maybe ammo, maybe cyberware batteries, etc) could show up in multiple categories, because they're particularly common stores.

And I like the idea of a quality roll, or maybe a neighborhood modifier, or list of quality levels that the GM could reference. A slum is likely to have worse stores than a corpzone, after all.

One more thing I would like with our lists of 100s would be arranging the results, so instead of rolling a d100, one could roll a d10 to find a broad categroy and then roll another d10 to find a specific result in a givencategory (if the category itself wouldn't be inspiring enough). I guess arranging the trash heap list this way will be a challenge, but I think I can handle this. Sortin' out junk, y'know

Arrange the d100 lists like this:

1. Gun shop type 1

2. Gun shop type 2

...

9. Gun shop type 9

10. Gun shop of some type

11. Bar type 1

12. Bar type 2

...

19. Bar type 9

20. Bar of some type

21. Food store of type 1

22. Food store of type 2

...

29. Food store of type 9

30. Food store of some type

...

99. Retail store of type 9

100. Retail store of some type

Then, you could roll 1d100, and get a direct answer. Or roll 1d10, and pick a general category (1 = gun store, 2 = bar, 3 = food store, etc) and another 1d10 to get a specific type (1.1 = gun store type 1, 2.4 = bar type 4, 3.10 = food store of GM's choice).

I'm thinking uniformed cops, beat cops, sitting in their car, or leaning against the hood, or chatting with the barista or corner store clerk. On patrol, but not moving around. Just loafing, but there. The players start getting nervous because maybe the GM put them there for a reason, but in reality, they're just the result of a random die roll.

You're right, that's more a "what you see on the street" kind of thing than a "you encounter police" kind of thing. Police as window dressing.

But I thought of it originally in terms of paramedics, so we could include it in that table too (or the "things on the street" table). Paramedics on a coffee run, or just waiting for a call.

Otherwise, actions for paramedics seen on the street could include:

• blasting by, lights and sirens blazing
• taking a gurney out of a nearby building with a patient, living or dead
• rushing into a building with a gurney and crash bags (leaving the door to the ambulance open by mistake)
• bent over a patient on the sidewalk, administering CPR/AED or drugs
• getting into a argument with a rival service provider (while the patient gasps like a fish)

How do you feel about having an equivalent idea for other emergency services, i.e. medical rescue and fire brigade?

I think that's a great idea. Especially with TraumaTeam, REO Meatwagon, Shadowrun's Docwagon, etc, in the dangerous cyberpunk streets.

Also, just thought of this, but maybe there should be a "hanging out, drinking coffee, eating donuts, having a smoke break" entry in the "doing what" table for the cops (and paramedics, etc). An entry for cops just being there, keeping an eye on things, but not actively responding to events. Keep the players paranoid about what's really just background color.

Maybe change it to a 2d10 or 2d6 roll, using the probabilities to make some things more likely, while also giving us more space for entries? Or should this book stick with 1dxx rolls?

Just my two cents on this, but couldn't you combine the Specialized Police Agency and Gendarmerie rolls into one result? This would allow the GM a bit of flexibility to plug and play what suits the area - cause let's face it, military police in the heart of most American cities would be really unusual, but Immigration not so much. On the other hand, a setting like Brazil and military units swarming the favela makes total sense. This combo allows you to expand City / Corp police to a 1-4 result and adjust the rolls upwards from there.

I second this suggestion

Was also thinking the doing what table might benefit from a shakedown result. Seeing beat cops extort a local shopkeeper might not make the scream sheets, but it is a nice kick off to some adventures. While witnessing a national police agent explain to the local Corp Security commander that he has to pay a "fee" for licensing all of the fully automatic weapons his detail is carrying has much larger implications for a storyline. The bigger the agency involved, the higher the stakes, the greater the danger to anyone who witnessed the exchange.

Maybe combine the "block off the area" entries (8 & 10) to open up a space for a "shakedown" entry.

And I wish there was a way to expand the "pursing a runaway" entry to two rolls, improve its odds a little.

Maybe combine the "street/vehicle search" and "stopping people for questioning" entries into a single 3-roll entry (30% chance instead of 40%), and add a roll to "pursuing runaway" to make it a 20% chance.

Nah, I like Gomiville's version better

 

For GM's discretion, I would even say that the temperature results of 1 and 10 can be treated as extremes - like, last December we had +15 C nights here... Well okay, -15 C in December, at night, would be a little on the cold side for my part of the world, but not something unheard of. 30 degrees warmer is a damn anomaly!

 

What I mean, is that one of the common tropes of cyberpunk worlds is a wasted ecology and climate gone wild. Which could mean such wild extremes, well, do happen. Not everyday, but 20-30 C difference from what's considered "normal" for a given season do occasionally happen...

That's a good idea:

A. Temperature (d10)

1: Extreme heat

2-3: Unseasonably hot

4-7: Average for the season

8-9: Unseasonably cold

10: Extreme cold

I used (relatively) large proportions for the unseasonable temps because I was going for that unstable climate idea. Heavy Weather kind of thing. Same with storms and fog. Part of it is the "dark, rainy night in the city" idea, but part of it is the idea that weather sucks in a dystopian urban future.

Here's mine:

 

D10

1-9: Raining

10: About To Rain

 

 

A. Temperature (d10)

1-3: Unseasonably hot

4-7: Average for the season

8-10: Unseasonably cold

B. Clouds (d10)

1-2: Sunny (-2 Precipitation roll)

3-5: Foggy (+0 Precipitation roll)

6-9: Cloudy (+2 Precipitation roll)

10: So overcast that it seems like night (+4 Precipitation roll)

C. Precipitation (d10)

<=1: Dry

2-4: Humid but no rain/snow

5-7: Drizzle/Light Flurry

8-9: Rain/Snow

>=10: Storm/Blizzard

To use, either determine the typical temperature for a fictional city, or do a quick search for the average monthly temperatures in a real city. Unseasonable temperatures are likely only "one month" hotter or colder than the given month, rather than a full season different. If the temperature is below freezing (32F/0C), it snows or sleets instead of rains. And, if it's below -10F/-20C, it's unlikely to be snowing, regardless of the precipitation roll.

How's that?