Ok choombas, want to dive into the Red? Feel like reaching out from your Beaverville safety into a life fraught with danger and excitement? Well, maybe you’d like to play a character in Cyberpunk Red and take your chances?
In Cyberpunk Red, the latest roleplaying game for this dystopian vision of the not so far future, you get to play archetypal edgerunners such as gun toting solos, medics, power hungry executives and of course netrunners. You’ll play characters in a world where the law is harsh, if you get caught, where opportunities are rife, if you’ve got the steel to venture out and where ultimately, it’s not what you do that matters the most, but how you do it and looking good doing so.
Ok choombas, want to dive into the Red? Feel like reaching out from your Beaverville safety into a life fraught with danger and excitement? Well, maybe you’d like to play a character in Cyberpunk Red and take your chances?
In Cyberpunk Red, the latest roleplaying game for this dystopian vision of the not so far future, you get to play archetypal edgerunners such as gun toting solos, medics, power hungry executives and of course netrunners. You’ll play characters in a world where the law is harsh, if you get caught, where opportunities are rife, if you’ve got the steel to venture out and where ultimately, it’s not what you do that matters the most, but how you do it and looking good doing so.
First impressions
The Cyberpunk Red rulebook is quite chunky and has everything you need to play. It is wonderful in its theme and flavour, but there is a warning that the way its organised will take some getting used to and it is better that you are happy with running off the theme and using house rules when appropriate.
It’s not that the rulebook has key information missing, but rather, in my opinion, it could be better organised and structure to better enable character generation and facilitate quick research during gameplay.
The rules are interspersed with thematic, colourful stories and adverts from the setting, which is a great idea to help with immersion. Ultimately, I can’t fault the theme and attention to detail for this, although it takes some getting used to in order to navigate your way around the rulebook. Despite the drawbacks regarding this, it is worth persevering with.
Character generation
In Cyberpunk Red, the system allows you to create characters using three methods, namely the Streetrat, Edgerunner and Complete package options. Essentially, the options give a sliding scale of input from the player.
Streetrats are effectively preset in what you get. This is useful for those new to the game. I also think it is more generous, although this depends in part how much the gamesmaster wants to deviate from the rules and be creative in terms of starting position. Characters have a starting bundle of gear, clothing, cyberware and cash and you build the character stats from a preset grid where you choose or roll randomly for a line of stats.
The Edgerunner option gives you more input into the character generation process, but still allows a quick process, so more useful for those with a little more experience and then the complete package is for those that are more familiar with the rules and want to create more of a bespoke character package.
The playable options are fairly limited, but then bear in mind this is just the template structure for character generation and whilst you can play heavily into stereotypes, there is plenty of scope to be creative. Whilst the character options may look like they create pigeon-hole roleplaying, there is plenty of scope for breaking boundaries.
Gameplay
During play, the rules are simple enough to help make sessions fluid and potentially fast paced. Having a netrunner in your team will slow this down and add a little complexity to play and more onscreen time for those players, but it is at the heart of the game after all and ultimately isn’t difficult. Arguably, having the option for net actions is something to be welcomed by the gamesmaster and players alike to better enable varied play and the fun of taking the game to the heart of the theme and recreating classic dystopian plotlines.
For much of gameplay, there is little limit to what you can do subject to your talents and the gamemaster determines difficulty and the appropriate test to determine the level of success.
For many situations, skill tests are simple. You roll a D10 and add your skill value, which itself is a composite of your base stat and the degree to which you’ve developed that discipline. You have to beat whatever the difficulty value is with this skill role.
There is an issue whereby the rules are simple enough that they don’t cater for some situations like where a bonus or penalty could be added to the role, but good gamesmasters and players too will come up with variations and homebrew rules as required. This is just a light warning that, as good as the theme is, the ruleset leaves a lot of space and some necessity to step in and adjust to suit your needs.
Harsh world
The reality of life in this post-apocalyptical type setting, is that for many, life is hard and money talks. But for the entrepreneurial or simply the lucky there are eurobucks and reputation to be made.
Much of the joy that comes from playing in a setting such as this, is really down to both the gamesmaster and the world s/he has created and the players and their willingness to embrace the chaos and choose the stylish option. Combat can be deadly and there is no magic in this world, just the cyberware and quick response of the trauma teams for those who can afford to pay. Like a lot of games, it really comes down to what you get out of a game is based on what you put in. It is a create setting for immersion.
What’s the attraction?
In Cyberpunk Red, the setting is harsh yes, but the opportunities for roleplay are limited only to the imagination like you would expect from a roleplay system and the flexibility and creativity of all involved.
The ruleset presented is enough to give you are solid introduction and food for thought for campaigns. Ultimately, the emphasis is on theme over detail, not to mention a bit lacking in layout and structure which is not as friendly as it ought to be. There is plenty of scope to develop from this position and one of the attractions for me has always been the open-ended potential of a game.
Summary
I have always found it fun to play if you embrace the setting. It isn’t a kind system mechanically, like others, if you are careless, but then a lot of success comes from the way you play and good players should be rewarded as appropriate for their ingenuity, immersion and the effort they put in.
Ultimately, this is a ruleset that helps you create archetypal characters and immerse yourself and if you like the cyberpunk setting and roleplaying generally, then I would highly recommend Cyberpunk Red.
