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Lentrax
2013-01-31, 01:36 AM
So, here's the thing. I enjoy cyberpunk. I like the genre.

I want to run a game in this type of setting. And So I found Cyberpunk 2020.

My question is this: Is the setting any good? Is there anything grossly wrong with it?

Actana
2013-01-31, 02:07 AM
I love myself some Cyberpunk, and if you can tolerate the 80s vision of what the 2020s are like the setting has a lot of cool stuff. It's not hard to make it a more modern version, but as written the CP2020 setting is very 80s to its feel, in design, technology etc (For example, the Night City sourcebook says that NC has 5 million inhabitants, which is sort of laughable). The Corpbooks have lots of stuff on the corporations, and the Chromebooks have a lot of cool gadgets to use. There's a fair bit of fluff floating around the internet too as far as I can recall.

That said, the system itself is a bit of a mess. Solos win forever at combat, armor stacking is ridiculous, and god forbid if one of your players wants to play a Netrunner. The classless class system is a bit weird, and there's a fair amount of messiness in the combat, and I don't mean blood and gore.

If you want to make combat a bit better you should check out Listen Up, You Primitive Screwheads. It contains better rules for all sorts of stuff.

Cyberpunk v.3 has some more refined mechanics, ditching the role system entirely and making it completely point based. On the other hand, v.3's setting is absolutely atrocious and shouldn't be touched with a 10' cybernetic pole. The good news is that it's almost completely backwards compatible and can be easily adapted into the 2020 setting.

Lentrax
2013-01-31, 06:59 AM
So its good for setting, but I should v3 if I want good rules?

Interesting...

Thanks.

Ashtagon
2013-01-31, 07:13 AM
I dunno if 5 million is an unreasonable figure. Cities grow and shrink in size. I can imagine a city of 5 million but formerly 10 million as having a lot of abandoned buildings, which are perfect for hiding all kinds of secret information and adventure sites in.

hymer
2013-01-31, 08:01 AM
Actana is basically right according to me, but I'll just say that CP2020 is my goto system with quite a bit of houseruling. The combat and weapon system is nice and fast, and the character system is perfectly salveagable with some houseruling.

Actana
2013-01-31, 08:09 AM
So its good for setting, but I should v3 if I want good rules?

Interesting...

Thanks.

You might want to up the technology level of 2020 though, because looking at some of the artwork, the CP2020 book still uses things that are obsolete even today. The v.3 has some nice basic technology (disregard the altcults :smallyuk:) like the agents and other things. You might also want to check out some more contemporary cyberpunk settings, like Deus Ex: Human Revolution or the upcoming Cyberpunk 2073 game (of which there is only a trailer, but details might be coming later). They're usually more grounded in realistic ideas. Works like Minority Report or Ghost In The Shell are also good estimates for cyberpunk technology or general atmosphere (though Minority Report needs more rain).

The CP2020 sourcebooks are still usable with v.3 with extremely little modification. Weapons especially can be ported directly into the new system. And speaking of which... Blackhand's Street Weaponry 2020. If you like having guns, you want this book. There are guns. Lots and lots of guns. More guns than you can shake a stick at. Some realistic, some not. Some are jet-fuel powered hammers. Others are six barrelled minigun shotguns.


I dunno if 5 million is an unreasonable figure. Cities grow and shrink in size. I can imagine a city of 5 million but formerly 10 million as having a lot of abandoned buildings, which are perfect for hiding all kinds of secret information and adventure sites in.

It might be reasonable if 5 million were the official census that doesn't include all the lowlifes and illegal immigrants, but even then I'd call it a stretch. New York City has an estimated population of over 8 million at 2011, and while the sourcebook does say that Night City is a "moderately-sized city", I personally find the sprawling urban metropolis a far better setting than an average sized.

comicshorse
2013-01-31, 08:19 AM
Cyberpunk v.3 has some more refined mechanics, ditching the role system entirely and making it completely point based. On the other hand, v.3's setting is absolutely atrocious and shouldn't be touched with a 10' cybernetic pole. The good news is that it's almost completely backwards compatible and can be easily adapted into the 2020 setting.

So seconded. It was terrible

Lentrax
2013-01-31, 09:06 AM
Alright. Thanks for the advice.