While the Cyberpunk 2077 video game may have had its well-chronicled release woes, the same fate hasn’t befallen the Cyberpunk Red RPG. This is a good solid RPG, a worthy successor to the original which my husband and I played. I picked up the PDF (US$30) from Drivethrurpg.com with a Christmas gift card. A friend had gotten me interested in revisiting the setting/genre, although I usually don’t go for darker settings.
To my surprise, I quickly got caught up in the story. I went from “I’ll try rebuilding my original ’90s character, a Medtech, to test the character build rules” to “I have two PCs nearly done with backstories and two more concepts!” (Of course, you’ll meet them in this space, at some point.)
So how is character creation? Pretty straightforward, thanks to 3 versions of varying complexity, each with a flowchart. “Streetrat” is “Pick a Role (AKA class/career), roll for stats, and copy over your skills, gear, and cyberwear from the lists.” “Edgerunner” is similar except you have some skill options. “Complete” is the full point-buy experience, which can take some time. Especially choosing from all the tempting gear.
All the classic cyberpunk Roles are back, for a total of 10. Some Roles, like Exec and Lawman, are going to be harder to fit into random parties. They are probably best for games where everyone is with the same organization, like a Cyberpsycho Squad campaign or a one-shot with freelancers hired by a Corp for a Special Project.
Each Role has its own Role Ability, allowing several unique actions, with unique mechanics. Media and Rockerboys can get people to, respectively, believe things and do things. (The included short story “Never Fade Away” depicts iconic Rockerboy Johnny Silverhand using his Role Ability.) Solos (soldier/bodyguard types) can reduce damage they take in combat. Netrunners can replace their normal Action with several NET Actions. Techs and Medtechs have access to skills limited to their Role. Surgery, for example, is the only skill which can heal some Critical Injuries and is only open to Medtechs. Note these are just a sampling; every Role Ability in the book allows the PC several mechanics and/or benefits no other Role has.
The best part of character creation is the same for all PCs, the Lifepath, a tradition from the 33 year old original. Actually it is two Lifepaths. There is one that every PC uses, which covers background, friends, enemies, and family. In addition, each Role has its own Lifepath, which is more “work related”: Do you have a partner? What’s your workspace like? Who wants to take out your group? Who gives you most gigs – Fixers, Corps, or boostergangs? My favorite workspace description from the Medtech Lifepath: “Your cryo gear is also used to cool drinks.” You can blame the Lifepath system for my PC creation kick. Every question got me to think of a new detail, if not a whole new character. Yes, the Lifepath system works as intended!
There are some Lifepath changes in this version to streamline things. One of my gaming group members recalls tables for number of siblings and all their individual fates. I remember the original tables being all random rolls, which can give some weird results. (Q: Why the heck would a Boostergang like the Police Cyberpsycho Squad‘s Medtech? A: She’s moonlighting as their Ripperdoc, per the GM.) Red (as with all its character generation tables) gives you the choice of picking or rolling for Lifepath results. And the results inspire creativity and won’t make you feel railroaded. For example, I was surprised at how many variables the Nomad Lifepath had on each table – size of clan, business type, location (town/road/sea/air/near-space), etc.
If CP Red’s fun character creation isn’t enough to draw you in, there is all the background, history, and gear fluff. It is all good reading. (One warning – the history includes several mentions of plagues as well as many incidents of civil unrest that you might prefer to skip over after current/recent events.) The background materials take up about one third of the book, when you count the three excellent short stories.
Yes, I said short stories, featuring Johnny Silverhand. My favorite is “Black Dog,” which ends the book. Not only is it a good tale, but there are sidebars introducing the real people – all of them prosthetics users – who helped create the new “Black Dog” characters. I loved it. Thanks for including this, Mike Pondsmith and team! I really needed the Humanity boost.
What about the mechanics? The core mechanic is simple, 1d10 + Statistic + Skill equals the result, which must beat a Difficulty Value (DV) from 9/Simple to 29/Legendary. Like most games, some checks will be opposed, using an opponent’s result as a DV. There may be circumstance modifiers added, as well as one or more points from your PC’s Luck Pool. (It is equal to your LUCK stat and refreshes each session.) Things like Moves, Autofire, and Critical Injuries are easy to resolve, which is always a plus. Weapon stats and damage are likewise straight forward, only using varying numbers of d6s for damage. Now, when my friend and I tried some combat trials, we did find a few rules that were unclear at first use – but nothing we couldn’t figure out or that was serious enough to dampen our enthusiasm for the game.
There are some changes, in both background details and some mechanics, to set up the video game, as this era, Time of the Red, is a prequel to Cyberpunk 2077. The most obvious change is the Net and Netrunning. The NET (called “Old NET” in the rulebook) was destroyed some years back, by famous Netrunner Bartmoss and what little was left after his sabotage was extremely dangerous due to super-nasty variants of rogue AIs and Black ICE programs. The controlling organization took apart what little was left. Between that and infrastructure damage from the recent Fourth Corporate War, Nets are much more localized than in Cyberpunk’s past.
This means the party’s Netrunner isn’t lying around on a couch, off in their own little virtual world while their friends get into a Friday Night Firefight. Nope, your Netrunner buddy is right beside you, because they have to physically go to whatever system they need to jack into, in order to explore or hack its Net Architecture. (Net Architectures are “like dungeons for the Netrunner,” according to my most Cyberpunk-savvy friend.) A Netrunner still needs a cyberdeck and all the associated cyberware, but they also wear Virtuality Goggles. The goggles not only allow them to see the virtual world over the “meatspace” one, it will keep them from tripping over stuff while jacked in, per the text.
The other big changes that stood out to me involve the Humanity Loss system. Having cybergear implanted still subtracts from your Humanity Score (as much as 7 points per piece at character creation, or 2d6 after), and for every -10 Humanity (or fraction of 10), you lose 1 Empathy. For most Roles, characters created by Streetrat or Edgerunner rules have lost 12 Humanity/2 Empathy.
But not all Cyberpunk Red cyberwear will affect Humanity. This time around, all Fashionware (chemskins, techhair, etc.) is zero Humanity loss. Medical-grade replacements won’t cause Humanity loss either. “Medical-grade cyberware” only restores natural function and cannot augment beyond normal human abilities. It costs 50eb, which is most likely included in the surgery, unless you buy it at character creation. But I am probably the only player who would buy the medical grade.
On the other hand, there is a new way to lose Humanity – the GM can inflict Humanity loss when a PC experiences/witnesses a horrific event. Don’t worry, there are therapy mechanics to help your PC regain some of their lost Humanity and Empathy, regardless of how it was lost, and therapy also cures addictions. No amount of therapy, which costs time and eurobucks, will restore the stats fully; only removing every last bit of (non-medical grade) cyberware will do that.
Unfortunately for fans who prefer physical rulebooks, the US$60 hardback is sold out everywhere online, even the publisher’s website. You can still buy the $30 Cyberpunk Red Jumpstart Kit. The kit has two 50 page softcover booklets; pretty, but hard to read, custom dice; grid maps; and standees (cardboard figures). I’ve seen the Kit – I got it for my son – and it’s very nice. However, choomba, if the Fixers at your FLGS can’t order the Jumpstart Kit for you, be prepared to pay some Nomads serious eurobucks for shipping. Shipping is $12-14 (half again as much as the game’s price!) depending on the site.
If you just want to check out the game right now, and don’t mind a digital copy, order either the $30 Cyberpunk Red core rulebook PDF I got or the $10 PDF version of the Jumpstart Kit from Drive Thru.
Cyberpunk Red is a great game and I am definitely ready to play it, for the first time in years.
(Featured artwork ©2020 R. Talsorian Games)
Linda Whitson
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