Now, if you read these forums much, you know that I'm not really a fan of Savage Worlds and I'm especially not a fan of games that smear some setting over the top of the generic vanilla rules.

Enter Interface Zero

I'm still reading it, and might do a detailed real review later, but the short version: it doesn't smear the setting over the rules.  Gunmetal Games has done a great job of making detailed, granular melee weapons, ranged weapons and armor (even power armor) while still fitting within the SW rules and (this is the important part) still being interesting.  They modify the rules when they need to and don't cut and paste sections out of the SW book.

As far as the setting goes, think 21st century Cyberpunk.  Elements of Transhumanism, and owing as much or more to Stephenson as Gibson, this manages to be current without being a transhumanism wankfest.  No post-scarcity or singularities.

What about the neo-forgisms that seem to crawl into most RPG darlings like Savage Worlds?

Quote from: Interface Zero bookNo Means No!
Learn to say NO, and say it often. This is vital to the success of your game. Just because the team thinks they deserve 150k apiece for snatching some slag from a tyrannical megacorp doesn’t mean they should get it, and there are a few reasons why.

• Street Cred: Are the characters really that nova-hot? How long have they been freelancing? N00b ronin are exactly that; n00bs. They don’t necessarily have the experience or clout to up their earning power. They don’t get the types of gigs that LEET ronin do, because nobody trusts them. More importantly; nobody KNOWS them. A major league contractor isn’t just going to hand the characters a PRO run because they say they can get it done. She’ll do her research, find out what the runners have done, check the streets to see what their reputation is, and if the characters don’t cut it, they don’t get the work. Life’s a bitch, but them’s the breaks amigo.
• Fixed Rates: People have budgets, especially the guy footing the bill for a given mission. The contractor might not be authorized to pay the characters beyond a specific monetary amount, no matter how slick the team is; especially if he’s working as a liaison for a megacorp. The Mega’s don’t do anything if there isn’t a percentage in it. If a run hurts their bottom line, or a shadow team gets greedy, they’ll simply go elsewhere. It’s not like the
characters are the only game in town.
• Maintaining Control: No contractor in his right mind is going to let a shadow team fleece him. It’s a good way to get your rep trashed mano’. When word gets on the streets (and it will) that the contractor let a shadow team charge ridiculous rates for a gig, everyone is going to want that much cred. It’s bad for biz.

Oh no they didn't!  A SW game where the characters aren't pulp superheroes(regardless of genre) and the players aren't all special snowflakes for whom the GM is just a trained monkey?  Where the hell have these guys been the last ten fucking years.

This is a game that's inspired me to knuckle under and try to make Savage Worlds work for my group.  Which considering I agree a great deal with Pundit when he says "Savage Worlds is Deadlands retarded brother." says a lot about Interface Zero.

I pre-ordered the IZ book because I've been waiting for cyberpunk-ish game for a system I am comfortable with and encouraged by Testubo's review. In the meantime they sent me the pdf version but I've not read it yet, proabably won't for a while.

It is also entirely possibly I don't run it but lend to someone else in my group to run. The lengths one has to go to avoid playing fantasy games these days :-)

Funny, I never used to preorder games before, and now in the space of a month between IZ and Icon's Villanomicon that's two preoders already. I guess the hook is the free pdf that comes with pre-orders. I really prefer read the actual book but having a pdf as well can be very handy.

Quote from: Soylent Green;412483I pre-ordered the IZ book because I've been waiting for cyberpunk-ish game for a system I am comfortable with and encouraged by Testubo's review. In the meantime they sent me the pdf version but I've not read it yet, proabably won't for a while.

It is also entirely possibly I don't run it but lend to someone else in my group to run. The lengths one has to go to avoid playing fantasy games these days :-)

Funny, I never used to preorder games before, and now in the space of a month between IZ and Icon's Villanomicon that's two preoders already. I guess the hook is the free pdf that comes with pre-orders. I really prefer read the actual book but having a pdf as well can be very handy.

Yeah Green Ronin does that, it has me buying all the SIFRP and DA stuff.  It's a very effective marketing technique.

Hi!

This is David Jarvis, president of Gun Metal Games.

I'm happy you like Interface Zero, and thanks so much for your support!

We're all really proud of how  IZ turned out, and plan on heavy support for the game!

thanks again!

From the character sheet, this looks pretty much the same as any other SW game, with cybertech added on and  Ckrueger mentioned only gear and fluff changes.  How have the rules been modified for a cyperpunk setting?

Quote from: Nicephorus;416472From the character sheet, this looks pretty much the same as any other SW game, with cybertech added on and  Ckrueger mentioned only gear and fluff changes.  How have the rules been modified for a cyperpunk setting?

Don't have it in front of me, but a couple things.
1. Gun combat is more deadly, no soak rolls.
2. A reputation system that lets you use your Street Cred to leverage certain things, with a penalty to your Rep if you fail.
3. Hacking rules
4. Cyberware rules

BTW more detailed guns and armor is a rules modification for a cyberpunk setting.

This looks really cool.  Thanks for the pointer.

Are the rules included in the book, or do I need a separate SW book?

Hi everyone,

We have some extensive hacking rules, programming rules, Street Cred rules and cyberware creation rules in the book. Combat is very deadly, as it should be for a cyberpunk game.

No soak rolls, you take a wound level based on how much damage was done over your Toughness, with a mandatory Vigor roll. Failure on the Vigor roll causes incapacitation. These are the rolls written in the Moscow Connection One-sheet written by Shane Hensley, the owner of Pinnacle Entertainment and creator of the Savage Worlds rules.

Also, there are rules for addiction when your characters use drugs in the game.

As for the Core SWEX rules, no we don't have them included. The game runs on the Savage Worlds engine.

The Street Cred/Rep rules look good. I personally think I'll use the stadard Soak/damage rules becasue I'm more interested in Hollywood style cyberpunk than the real deal, but that's just me.

Interface Zero is utterly boring, at least what i got from the beta release.
It does almost everything wrong what is normally good with Savage Worlds setting.

Oh, and they fuck with the rules where they shouldn't, eg:
Mess with the benny rules and some other core rules of SW.

Oh, and your character with cyberware can die from breaking a sweat.
And your characters are meant to be coporate hooker of sorts.

Heck, in wouldn't play/run that setting even if someone would pay me to.


CRKrueger, wtf are talking about?

About the "dying due to breaking a sweat" go read:
http://calebtheheretic.wordpress.com/

We tried to make the rules as modular as possible, so you can use whatever you like and drop the rest to get the game you want to play, so go for it!

Hollywood action-style cyberpunk can certainly be a blast, and really, the SWEX rules as written can still be pretty lethal.

Quote from: Phantom Black;416543Interface Zero is utterly boring, at least what i got from the beta release.
It does almost everything wrong what is normally good with Savage Worlds setting.

Oh, and they fuck with the rules where they shouldn't, eg:
Mess with the benny rules and some other core rules of SW.

Oh, and your character with cyberware can die from breaking a sweat.
And your characters are meant to be coporate hooker of sorts.

Heck, in wouldn't play/run that setting even if someone would pay me to.


CRKrueger, wtf are talking about?

About the "dying due to breaking a sweat" go read:
http://calebtheheretic.wordpress.com/

LOL.

If Gunmetal did what most every other SW game now has done, ie.  use SWEX and slap some fur, chains, steamcannon, whatever on top, then IZ wouldn't be Cyberpunk, it would be the Matrix, where everyone is Neo, ie all other SW games except Solomon.

I wouldn't expect a SW fanboi to like this game, the fact that one doesn't is just a plus to me.  Although Brownell gave it a 9, and he's a SW Evangelist, so they must have done something right.

The cyberware rules were revised from the "Bet Test." And yes, it WAS a BETA TEST. I received a TON of feedback based on those rules and revised the system accordingly.

You can no longer die from cybertrauma. Your cyberware can fail though.

I have absolutely no idea what you mean by "corporate hooker."

I wrote rules I felt were needed to capture the feel of the genre, and got permission to use others, but as I said previously, the rules are meant to be modular.

You don't have to use cyberware rules if you hate them.

You don't have to use the deadly rules that Shane Hensley wrote (not me) if you don't want.

I'm sorry you don't like the game.