Dreema Roman was a star ballerina in a corps sponsored by a Corporation – the kind of thing corps do to make themselves appear charitable. It was fun, if not easy (dance is hard, often painful, work!) With the encouragement of the corps de ballet‘s donors, she also became a literal braindancer, making braindance versions of her performances, so the wealthy fans could experience being a prima ballerina.
Unfortunately, a couple years ago, Dreema got caught in the crossfire of a gang fight, and lost both her legs. Although her leg prosthetics allow her to dance at the same level – and without the pain of meat legs and feet – the artistic director fired her because “they make you look awkward,” and to get her lover top billing.
But Dreema landed on her (cyber) feet. A friend of a friend was a partner in an up-and-coming indie production company, Stylish Groove Arts, specializing in braindances. SGA was happy to publicize that “Fever Dreamer” (her stage name) now had an exclusive contract with them. But SGA doesn’t just do entertaining braindances and game sequences, (at all rating points, if governments still bothered with those). That finances the team’s passion projects: getting out the word about injustices of all sorts: overstepping corp security agents, unsafe housing, etc. It’s a little, a lot, more dangerous than than letting everyone into your brain while dancing a pas de deux, but Dreema loves a challenge.
Design & Play Notes: A Rockerboy who acts (is that the right verb?) in braindances is a concept I’ve been thinking about for a while. The PC’s Role could probably be Media as well, since Fever Dreamer is using braindance and her status as a local celebrity to bring attention to issues. This time around, I didn’t detail out any of the friends/lovers/enemies in the general Lifepath, just the general type and number of each. So you and your GM have more backstory to flesh out! I can see her buying up Martial Arts with some Improvement Points.
The braindancer, like my other CP Red PCs, was statted out using the Complete creation option. However, I stuck pretty close to the Rockerboy gear, cyberware, and statistics from the Streetrat and Edgerunner options, since it speeds the process up. In fact, if your GM okays it, I recommend picking or rolling a set of statistics from the Streetrat or Edgerunner tables, even when using the Complete generation system for everything else. It’s faster and you’ll be doing enough math with the skills.
When the Rockerboy is the more common musician, other PCs might be members of their entourage. The same thing can be done here. Other characters might be a Netrunner (or Tech) to put the final braindance together, Solo bodyguard for the Braindancer, a Media (or Fixer) to write the scripts and publicize, etc. An Exec would fit in as a producer at, or even owner of, Stylish Groove Arts.
Credits: Thanks to Empty Bacta Tank, my fellow Cyberpunk fan, for technical editing and suggestions. Artwork is © 2021 Linda Whitson (me!)
Disclaimer: “Fever Dreamer, Braindancer (Cyberpunk Red)” is unofficial content provided under the Homebrew Content Policy of R. Talsorian Games and is not approved or endorsed by RTG. This content references materials that are the property of R. Talsorian Games and its licensees.
RTG-CPR- Braindancer
Linda Whitson
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