Curious about roleplaying in the world of Cyberspace and future tech? Ever wondered what goes on in a Cyberpunk Red game session? Well, let me share some of the missions and shenanigans that my team have been up – I’m playing a female corporate type.
Background. Trauma team start up
So, I’m Slice, a Corpo, so I’m not liked by many, but I get things done. That’s why Chooms I got given this Trauma team gig by my boss at Rocklin Augmentics. They wanted me to set up a new team to test the waters as to how viable it is to run a Trauma team franchise. I hired an ex-military medic and a couple of solos to form the four-man squad we needed and there we were, setting off in our AV to pick up Trauma team card carrying members when they got hit.
It was pretty straight-forward to be fair and the money good, especially when we showed discretion when needed. Those extra eddies came in helpful not just so we could buy extra gear, but also to start paying off the franchise debt I’d incurred. I did such a good job, I was able to let that gig go when convenient later on.
I’ll also introduce my direct lines too. My in-house team consist of a covert ops gal, called Dice; she’s great and carries out some of the sneaky, dirty work so I don’t have to, and the recently arrived colleague, Spice, she’s my net runner; both have proven valuable in getting stuff done whilst I handle the bigger picture.
Building a team of edgerunners is fun, but it takes a while to get used to each other and the Trauma team franchise helped build up the familiarity and our standard operating procedures. We were already getting involved in side hustles by the time I got the news my boss wanted to palm off the franchise to his nephew. Nepotism to be sure, but hey, it’s done us a solid as I’m left to my own devices most of the time and I’ve made the boss a little money on the side which is great for my prospects.
Building our reputation – blasts from the past
No-one will take you seriously until you start earning respect and develop a reputation that shows you can be trusted or are simply good at what you do. Part of being successful in Night City isn’t just about what you do, but also about how you do it and I’m all about the style. I know my way around office politics and a ledger, but I look the part too with the latest Torrel and Chiang armoured executive suit and a full compliment of fashionwear, so I can use my fancy light tattoos, my techno hair and my multi-coloured nails to cause a stir as needed and as back up, my chromed sidearm is usually on show, not to mention the White Hornet Tanto shock device hidden away for those close in moments. Statements matter and sometimes you can win before you’ve opened your mouth.
But I digress, we had hit a couple of successes before being tasked with infiltrating a highly secured base to grab some paper files as well as to plant a little bug to transmit data to a third party. We got away with it, kinda. A senior boss identified us, but curiously then hired us for a job; so, I guess we made an impression.
We were tasked with extracting this boss’s daughter unharmed from the clutches of a rockerboy gang; she was in on her own free will, and was impersonating Lady Gaga. They were all impersonating rockstars from the not-so-distant past. Their lead singer was someone called The King and he was hooked up with some gal called the Material Girl. I digress but it was very entertaining for one my boys, Menendez who took part in a dance off with this fella called Jackson, he lost, but made a positive impression nonetheless. He did the same taking on a cyber ninja a short while back; he’s becoming our melee specialist with Sharp our sniper.
So, as my team were milling around and trying to get into position to nab the daughter, some of us heard an argument strike up about some love rivalry. Turns out the King was playing the field. Anyway, Menendez walked into the back of the church where the band were holding their gig and promptly got shot by ‘chest implanted SMGs’ by a jealous Material Girl on the understanding that my boy had started a rumour. She stormed out and my boy was well enough to continue thanks to being armoured up and all, but still a close call.
The King and the new Lady on his arm then made a quick egress from the church towards a waiting limo, some ancient looking Cadillac thing. I wasn’t about to let them leave when I sensed the right moment to act, so act I did and a smoke grenade was tossed in to the limo. It did a good job forcing the pair out and Quack our medic and I ‘helped’ the daughter into our cab (we had one on standby) and fled the scene. Sharp, my other solo then stole the limo from the driver and both solos were able to evacuate safely. We have a contact in old Japan town, so I made a quick call on my agent to arrange a chop job, so that was taken care of and my direct team members had already been directed to flee the scene. That was a good piece of work that. Daughter safely returned down at the docks with a nice bonus to boost. I didn’t mention she shot our taxi driver in the head as we were trying to calm her, her father doesn’t need to know. Quack successfully brought the taxi to halt after this happened after I tried and failed to take control of the car safely; well don’t judge me, I normally have people for this.
Getting noticed again and why don’t we build ourselves a base
I should point out, I’m good when it comes to accommodation. I have my corporate condo in a safe zone, good food and lifestyle, but I am monitored. My team however, live out of old storage containers and eat kibble so it’s good for me to look like I care. Having an independent base also means more secrecy and I can drop my executive look and mix in my urban flash; well, I still have standards so I have the latest fashion.
The idea started from hitting this gang hard when we were called out to rescue another trauma team some weeks back. They got hit by a rpg and were the bait for us. We weren’t being dumb though and we parked our AV a click away and headed on in stealth mode. The long and short of it is we took out their snipers and before the burning AV blew up killing most of the remaining gangers, we took out a sizeable chunk of their force with a booby trap we had spotted and reset. Sharp got a good shot in and detonated the trap as their leader and his squad tried to surge past.
It turns out our efforts to go searching for a likely base and loot the gang’s stash was noticed, and especially our vocal comment to want to help the locals too. A fixer got in touch with me to suggest a rendezvous with a local leader, some ex-military type of German origin who was building a little community.
The School Run
So here was our last mission to date. We were asked to clear out the remaining members of the gang we hit plus a few others who were likely to cause trouble for this little community.
This could attract further unwanted attention so we felt it prudent to help out if this was going to be near our patch too. Our reward was going to be a regularly supply of fresh food and discounted technical help. This will prove useful in addition to the credit I negotiated with our old Japan town contact, as instead of a little cash, we would end up getting a lot more with payment in kind like equipment, hardware, supplies and labour costs.
So, we carried out our recon on the old school being used for the target gang’s base. They had two automated turrets in defence and possibly twice our number. But we had surprise hiding away in an outbuilding earlier in the night. Well, we kinda still did, even though Menendez slipped and they must’ve heard something as in the early hours he heard someone creep up to our location.
Thankfully Menendez was able to catch the ganger and eliminate him before he could raise the alarm. Sharp then started proceedings by taking out the turrets from a ruin further back and we stormed to the edge of out building. In short, we used speed, firepower and a grenade to push them back and those that survived fled to an outbuilding with Menendez charging and Quack and I pressing the advantage with shots as needed to suppress the enemy. In the end their leader tried to throw a grenade and misjudged the blast killing himself and that was that. All clear, and mission successful.
This is how we are rolling at the moment. Not taking anything for granted, but we seem to be building something…
About the author:
As well as playing board games, Neil has been playing a variety of roleplaying games since 1982, including creating campaigns as a GM and espousing the art and craft of being a good GM and the therapeutic value of games generally.
