If you could play in a pen & paper cyberpunk style RPG, which would you choose from the following list?

1) Carbon 2185 (D&D 5e rules system)

2) Cyberpunk Red Jumpstart plus parts from Cyberpunk 2020 amalgam until the full Red core rulebook releases

3) Android: Shadow of the Beanstalk (FFG's Genesys system)

Cyberpunk 2020 while ignoring Cyberpunk Red Jumpstart or Cepheus Engine Clement Sector/Earth Sector.

CP Red setting (2045) using the CP2020 rules (NOT that junk that came in the jumpstart kit).  Just the setting book, not the system. I bought it the second it came out in .pdf form, then went ahead and bought the box set when it found its way to my FLGS, because clicky clicky math rocks, but I was not impressed with the $30 teaser.  I was happy to help out the FLGS with sales though.

1) I'm sorta interested in Carbon 2185, mostly to see how 5e does non-fantasy. I'd love to hear more about the game from anyone who's read it or played it.

2) I haven't been impressed with the Android universe, nor the Genesys system based on the reviews I've read. I haven't played either, but I'd be open to a demo at con.  

3) Pondsmith gives money to free looters and rioters from jail (which is his right) so FOR ME Cyberpunk Red can go fuck itself.

If I were to run cyberpunk today, I'd probably just run the original Cyberpunk 2020. The game continues to be excellent, and pretty much unsurpassed for capturing the feel of the genre into a very playable RPG.

I haven't bought POLYCHROME for Stars Without Number yet, but if its like anything else Kevin Crawford has done, I am betting it's probably excellent if you enjoy OSR-adjacent systems.

2d20 Infinity maybe?

You could just use the cyborg rules from Heroes Unlimited and do a decent job of cyberpunk.

I just run cyberpunk with GURPS but I'm not really big on nailed down settings.  If a PC makes a wealthy industrialist well, that's the focus of the campaign.  It's not for everyone.  GURPS Cyberworld is okay but I like Autoduel America better, so sue me.

ICE's Cyberspace is a decent option for the setting or the system.

There's a long rant in me somewhere about how cyberpunk as a genre is broader and narrower than people think.  The introduction to the Mirror Shades anthology should be required reading in English class.  Well, The Gernsback Continuum might be a better fit with psychology or social studies classes but really, it's just part of the spectrum.

Quote from: Batjon;1144974If you could play in a pen & paper cyberpunk style RPG, which would you choose from the following list?

1) Carbon 2185 (D&D 5e rules system)

2) Cyberpunk Red Jumpstart plus parts from Cyberpunk 2020 amalgam until the full Red core rulebook releases

3) Android: Shadow of the Beanstalk (FFG's Genesys system)

None of the above.

Mongoose Traveller.

I'm not exactly going to recommend it, but I'll put out for completion that there is a Powered By version of Cyberpunk called Hack the Planet.

Like so many other things if you like it or dislike it will largely come down to your general philosophy of gaming, I suppose.  I'm trying to decide if it needs a review or an essay on faulty assumptions before i post anything about it.

If you want a recommendation than I'm all for classic Cyberpunk 2020.  Nothing in the Red box (pdfs for me, sadly) said it was worth replacing my 2020 books for it, but then I never run 'out of the box' settings anyways, so just updating the setting is approaching meaningless for me.  2020 has a functional, easy to learn/use rule set that has enough complexity to keep it interesting without bogging down, it has a fully realized vision of a cyberpunk future that is pure (comparison here to Shadowrun, which is hybrid), and the technology base gives you a solid, believable 'near future' culture that is coherent and manages to balance exotic yet familiar, as it should

Questions about Carbon 2185 or a Genisys system (or many other options) largely will revolve around how much you like or dislike the foundational rule set, followed only after that by how much you like the presented setting.

I've reviewed Carbon 2185 and I summed it's strengths and weaknesses up pretty solidly, I'd say. I'm not a fan of the Genisys 'Katamari Damancy' system of sticking more stuff your character until you are a star (not items but feats/talents/microrules) which is why I also can't recommend any of what I'm sure are a half dozen excellent Savage Worlds supplements to create a cyberpunk game around.

And finally to be a contrarian weirdo, I'll recommend something exotic for your cyberpunk gaming needs.   Unfortunately, my go-to A choice I have forgotten the name of, and as I'm on vacation I can't look at my bookshelf.

So... your get Polaris

Quote from: David Johansen;1145195There's a long rant in me somewhere about how cyberpunk as a genre is broader and narrower than people think.

Please start a new thread to unleash that rant!!

I'm interested in your "broader and narrower" concept.

Quote from: Spike;1146754So... your get Polaris

Awesome setting but terrible ruleset. They have a Savage Worlds conversion on Drivethru, but almost any generic system will do. I actually think this is one that would do well with GURPS.

From the list I would probably go with Android. From my experience with the Netrunner cardgame, the setting is really good in more sober, plausible, Ghost in the Shell-like way.

But nowadays my group uses The Sprawl for cyberpunk needs, as it scratches nicely our Powered by the Apocalypse itch.

None of the above. Try Dystopia 23

https://dystopia23.com/

Quote from: HappyDaze on August 28, 2020, 06:25:21 AM

Quote from: Spike;1146754
So... your get Polaris

Awesome setting but terrible ruleset. They have a Savage Worlds conversion on Drivethru, but almost any generic system will do. I actually think this is one that would do well with GURPS.

That's okay, I think I've remembered by 'go-to' recommendation for Cyberpunk games when I'm feeling snarky. It's Marauder 2197.


I have owned every book for it at one time, but I'm currently missing one of them.    Honestly, I got a million options here, but I actually enjoy this little gem, which is more than I can say for most...

Quote from: Spike on September 22, 2020, 02:22:27 AM

Quote from: HappyDaze on August 28, 2020, 06:25:21 AM

Quote from: Spike;1146754
So... your get Polaris

Awesome setting but terrible ruleset. They have a Savage Worlds conversion on Drivethru, but almost any generic system will do. I actually think this is one that would do well with GURPS.

That's okay, I think I've remembered by 'go-to' recommendation for Cyberpunk games when I'm feeling snarky. It's Marauder 2197.


I have owned every book for it at one time, but I'm currently missing one of them.    Honestly, I got a million options here, but I actually enjoy this little gem, which is more than I can say for most...

I liked it well enough, the penetration system hits one of my pet peeves, but I just couldn't get past some of the aspects that turned me off of trying to sell it to the rest of my gaming friends at the time.  I honestly don't even remember what, now. I'll probably have to go read it again.

Quote from: jeff37923 on August 15, 2020, 10:23:41 AM
Cyberpunk 2020 while ignoring Cyberpunk Red Jumpstart or Cepheus Engine Clement Sector/Earth Sector.

Gotta go with this. I've got 2020 right now.


Though I've got a hankering to GM Mutant Chronicles lately.

I feel I should point out that R.Talsorian appears... at least based on my recent excursions to B&M stores, to have reprinted their ENTIRE catalog of cyberpunk books, to include Cybergeneration, from the 2020 line, perhaps to stir interest or capitalize on stirred interest, with Jumpstart.


THe only thing I haven't seen on the shelf is v3. I wonder why?