Astral Projections – Eateries for Cyberpunk RED: Sorta-Burger

June 27, 2022 Linda Whitson Articles- Staff Columns, Astral Projections 0

Edgerunners gotta eat, too, choombas. And I don’t mean kibble. So once in a while, you get to go out to a nice Night City restaurant – my treat! Sorta-Burger is aimed at those living the Generic to Good Prepak Lifestyles. That is, if you are paying for Generic Prepak or better Lifestyle, your meal should be included, unless you’ve been spending really crazy this month – which is your GM’s call.

SORTA-BURGER: Sorta-Burger is the closest thing Night City has to a 20th Century fast food burger joint. It’s pretty authentic, per the old-timers. Tomas Sermon and Sandro “Sandy” Ricci, friends who met at Night City University, opened two or three years ago, not far from their alma mater. The signature 1/10 to half-pound burgers are “sort of” burgers, being made from soy. All Sorta-burgers can be topped with vegan cheese for a small upcharge. (There is a pricier Sorta-Gourmet burger with a vat-grown quarter-pound beef patty.) Other menu items include Sorta-fries, Chick-clone strips, and Onion-ish rings. Wash them down with shakes, smoothies, soda-pop, and “coffee” – all in various classic and improbable flavors.

Last year, Tomas and Sandy opened a second location in the north Upper Marina/Little Europe area, and are doing well enough to consider a third location, if they can get the eddies. Both locations have an outdoor “cafe” seating area, plus indoor seating in the form of two-top tables and four-person booths. Meal costs are 10-20EB (Fast Food to Good Restaurant Meal), except Sorta-Gourmet meals.

The NCU location is, naturally, popular with the students, faculty, and staff. But it attracts many other customers as well, like small business owners, families and anyone else who wants to eat something on a budget. It’s rumored that some patrons have Bratva (Russian mafia) connections. Which might be true; Sorta-Burger 1 isn’t too far from Bratva-controled neighborhoods, after all.

The North Sorta-Burger does the bulk of its business when there’s a game at McCartney Field. Fans wanting to fill up before or after the game fill the store. It isn’t totally empty at other times, since less well-off residents and employees of companies too small to have cafeterias eat there.

Adventure Hooks

  1. Sorta-Burgers is now offering a Cheapskate (1-5EB items) Menu. Continental Brands feels it competes with Kibble and hires the crew to “encourage” Tomas and Sandy to drop the promotion.
  2. A cyberpsychotic boosterganger goes into a rage over a wrong order. (Ideal for a Max-Tac centered game, but can work for others, such as Trauma Team/REO Meatwagon.)
  3. The crew’s Media arranges to meet a source at Sorta-Burger and the Media witnesses them being kidnapped just before, or right after, the meeting. Can be altered for other types of meetings (Fixer and Buyer/Seller, a PC’s Significant Other)

Artwork © 2022 Linda Whitson

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Linda Whitson

Contributing Writer & Copy Editor at D20 Radio
Linda Whitson is a long-time RPGer, amateur musician & artist, & an officer in the Rebel Legion Star Wars costuming club. Linda met her husband in an AD&D game and they have 2 teenagers, an anime fangirl daughter and a son who plays on his university's quidditch team. She is the Lead Mod of D20 Radio's forums and Copy Editor for the blog. Linda can be reached at GMLinda@d20radio.com

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