What is a good Cyberpunk RPG system

[Edje]

Been thinking about doing a cyberpunk campaign for a while but i haven't been able to find a really good system to set it in.

I was looking at D20 modern with the Future and Cyberscape addons but they are a bit to action oriented for where i'm going and I would still have to make a large number of modifications to make the players need to much more than a high computer use skill.

any suggestions? specifically i'm looking for something with low to zero fantasy, high tech, and AI rules.

[mikeejimbo]

I haven't played it or even heard much about it, but there is a system simply called Cyberpunk.

I think GURPS does Cyberpunk pretty well though.

[Thrice Dead Cat]

I've heard good things about Shadowrun, but have never actually played it myself.

[mikeejimbo]

I believe Shadowrun is a bit too much fantasy, though.

[Swordguy]

No fantasy? That's too bad - Shadowrun is by far the best-supported cyberpunk system in print right now.

Other games that can run Cyberpunk-style play include:
GURPS Cyberpunk
CP 2020
Alternity (with Tech level rules in play)
Eclipse Phase
CthulhuTech

...that's about all I can think of, actually. Shadowrun is by far the biggest player in that genre.

[kjones]

You can drop all the fantasy rules from Shadowrun really easily - just disallow all non-human metatypes, along with the Magician, Adept, or Mystical Adept qualities, and you're done. You'll have some work to do with regards to the setting, but even that isn't all that magic reliant.

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "rules for AI" though. Rules for AI to do what?

[Zeta Kai]

Shadowrun is a bit silly (okay, more than a bit) but the tech is good, & the vibe of the setting is about right. I personally like the more "normal" World of Darkness systems, like Vampire or Hunter, for cyberpunkery. Sure, you're either a supernatural being hunting humans or a human hunting supernatural beings, but the vibe is even better than Shadowrun, & without the dragons.

[Edje]

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "rules for AI" though. Rules for AI to do what?

AI PCs, more specifically AI BBEG/mission giver
thinking of having a campaign where the PCs are just unwilling pawns in this AI's war against his creators

[chiasaur11]

Ah.

Sorry for going a little off topic, but are there any major inspirations for the AI you had in mind?

I only ask because I feel Durandal is well worth looking up for reference for any artificial intelligence shenanigans.

[Sir.Swindle]

Cyberpunk 2020 is a really fun one if you have the chrome books, but all the books are kinda hard to find even online

[Edje]

Ah.

Sorry for going a little off topic, but are there any major inspirations for the AI you had in mind?

I only ask because I feel Durandal is well worth looking up for reference for any artificial intelligence shenanigans.

Ah nice question, I'm a studying to be a narrative designer for games and i'm basically prototyping a story for a video game with this:

I'm trying to blow apart the stereotypical AI archetype (shodan, Hal, GlaDOS, C3PO), while reinforcing just how monumentally powerful one would be

Imagine The Joker, meets Zero (Code Geass), meets a tochcoma from Ghost in the shell.
This AI character is all about theatrics, He will grind a city to a halt just to prove a point, and is trying to get mankind to remember just what it is.
He calls himself Loki.

So... yeah, i've been building this world in my head and on paper for months and I need a system to put it in asap before my head e'spoldes XD

[Satyr]

That sounds a bit as if you want to create your own setting anyway. In this case, Gurps is probably your best alternative, as it is very flexible and supports a multitude of different styles and settings. Additionally, the source books you probably want to use (Ultratech and Biotech) are so well written and informative, that you can easily use them for any other game system as well.

[Dracomorph]

AI PCs, more specifically AI BBEG/mission giver
thinking of having a campaign where the PCs are just unwilling pawns in this AI's war against his creators

Something almost exactly like this is a piece of established Shadowrun history. See: Deus and Renraku Arcology

[Optimystik]

Have you looked at d20 Modern? I'm not a pro by any means but it seems like it might be capable of this.

[The Rose Dragon]

Interface Zero.

It can be found for either Shadowrun or True20. I have the True20 version, though if Shadowrun version is anything like the True20 version, it will remove a lot of the fantasy elements from the game.

[Fhaolan]

With regards to Cyberpunk 2020, I prefer the older edition (just called Cyberpunk). Mainly because I find most of the streamlining they did for the later editions... sort of removed the atmosphere I was looking for. The clunky weirdness of the original version did more to set the scene for me.

They did do further editions after the one marked 2020, but I *really* don't recommend those if you manage to find them. They did not go over well.

Cyberpunk in general is a hard one to pull off in a RPG. Dystopian near-futures depend a lot on everyone really sucking hard, and nothing anyone can do being able to fix it. Players tend to get frustrated when they realize that nothing they can do really makes any kind of difference.

[kjones]

AI PCs, more specifically AI BBEG/mission giver
thinking of having a campaign where the PCs are just unwilling pawns in this AI's war against his creators

These are two very different things. An AI PC needs to have specific abilities and limitations. An AI NPC can do whatever you want.

[Raum]

You might check out TAG's Cyberpunk supplement (about halfway down the page) for Savage Worlds (SW). The investment is minor and SW is easily customizable.

[Another_Poet]

I have to put in my standard warning about Shadowrun.

I've played many fun sessions of Shadowrun, but the fun was always in spite of the rules. The rules are complicated, poorly organised, slow down play and don't really lend themselves to a Cyberpunk feel.

Depending on the type of cyperbunk you wanna play, you might consider Secrets & Lies, which is actually a system for noir detective roleplaying. Considering that classic cyberpunk is more or less the stepchild of Noir anyway, it could work well - especially for something Bladerunneresque.

[Draxar]

Shadowrun 4E has some fairly good AI-as-PC rules. They're heftily limited in certain ways, but have a lot of power in others.