So I am hankering to start up a cyberpunk roleplaying game and I’m trying to decide what system to go with. Gurps is out because I have a dislike for the system. I’m looking at d20 Modern which is coming out with a cyberpunk addition book. Also Cyberpunk 2020, though Talsorian says the next edition of it is due out soon. I’ve also come across OGL Cybernet as well as a handful of other options. So what do you dopers recommend?
Cyberpunk seems to have a very good combat system, but I despise their character creat8ion. Also, I don’t think they though out the cyberware very well. I much prefer Shadowrun. Even playing without magic, it’s a solid system with a lot of options. You have to worry more about powergamers, though.
Also, in any system, you should be careful how you use the matrix/internet. Don’t let other players sit around for hours while the fraggin’ decker goes on a solo adventure. But this is largely somethign you need to work out within the party and make clear that you won’t tolerate it.
Rifts RPG can easily become a sort of pure cyberpunk if you just eliminate things like the magic and aliens. Or even keep them in! Rifts is just all kinds of cool (of course, this comes from a guy who just read a lot of his brothers Rifts books and was never actually able to get together a group to play it himself.)
New CP2020? Last I heard Talsorian had scrapped it and wasn’t releasing anything new? Joy!
I’ve always preferred 2020. I’m not a fan of Shadowrun, for the aforementioned powergamer reasons. I’ve not tried any of the other systems.
Blue Planet uses a pretty excellent system for Cyberpunk. It’s a little more updated so instead of seeing guys running around with metal limbs you see more genetic redesign. The system is fairly easy to use and violence is something even the toughest character will have to worry about. The game is set on a planet outside of the solar system but it can be run on Earth with little to no adaptation.
Marc
Downsides:
Rifts: Rifts is all about twinking. If you’re not very familiar with it, do not play Rifts. You will have to cut a lot of stuff, especially Megadamage. It’s just silly.
Cyberpunk; Awful Chracter Creation. Also, the later sourcebooks were so amazingly bad, it’s not funny. Actually, I don’t think they ever did have a good sourcebook.
Shadowrun: Some mathematically oddities in the system. It also can become twinky, though usually it takes time for people to get that familiar with the system. Character start out pretty powerful and in no danger from ordinary thugs and police.
I haven’t played Blue Planet, so I’m not sure what kind of downsides it has. It’s not, AFAIK, actually built to be cyberpunk.
What kind of feel are you going for? Classic cyberpunk?
If you like, I can take any system you like and write up some cyberware for it. The rest is just story and world background.
Thanks for all the inputs folks, I really appreciate it. I’ll look into them, the one I’m looking into currently (and really liking actually) is an old system called Cyberspace which was published in 1989. I found a company online selling its sourcebook as a pdf download.
I’m trying hard to avoid magic period. Even if I can snip it out of the system, I just have this disdain for it in a cyberpunk world. That’s one thing in Cyberspace I really like so far, there is no Magic. There are psychics / telepaths (I haven’t gotten to them in the book yet) but there is no magic in the core rules.
As for tone, I’m looking for gritty, grungy, dystopian cyberpunk. Neuromancer, Blade Runner sort of stuff. The setting is derived from a story idea I had and have yet to use. Cyberware stuff would be welcome.
What about the Warhammer 40k system?
Nevermind, you don’t want magic.
How about the old Hero System?
Hero system will do, since all powrs are the same system; it could mess thigns up with regards to equipment, though. You could change some skills around and use White Wolf’s system (available in any of their games). *Shadowrun * and *World of Darkness * products fit nicely, and the magical elements are fairly disparate. You can just ignore those sections.
Actually, I think it sometimes makes Shadowrun better to play to do just that, given that every bloody freaking’ time I play everyone makes a pack of magic-using characters.
The final decision was to use a system I found called “Ex machina” it is a spin off of a the Tri-stat system. Sorry I dropped this thread, forgot to subscribe and got lost as school picked up. But I finally made a decision and have gotten the team together, now we’re planning their characters for the Spring so we can play.