Negflar2099
Explorer
I managed to finally pick up the NeuroSpasta 5e book yesterday and I've been reading through it. Despite sounding like a type of food favored by Italian neurologists, NeuroSpasta's actually a really cool book and a great pick up if you're looking for a 5e game that's cyberpunkesque.
The book covers the setting, which is an interesting modern take on the Cyberpunk genre, as well as adding one new class, three new races, a few new backgrounds and bunch of new add on components like cybernetics and hacking. You do need the Ultramodern 5e book though, but if you want modern or sci-fi gaming that's a good book to have too.
The rules are a little dense and difficult to understand in parts. It has the old White Wolf bad habit of half introducing concepts that aren't fleshed out until later in the book. Expect to have to read the rules a few times before you get it.
Plus there's other stuff that isn't ever explained, unless I just haven't put it together yet. Specifically there's two races that are really confusing. I'm talking about the Full Body Converted Prosthetics and the totally android but not traditional android Virtuants. They are both artificial and so should have construct abilities like not needing to breathe or sleep, but it's not clear if that's the case or not. He says the prosthetics have to eat to keep their organic components alive but he doesn't say how often or what they need to eat (just that it's more expensive than normal food).
I figured that would maybe be in the equipment section where the book covers full body conversions and robots but it's not there either. To make it even more confusing the virtuant opponents statted out have a bunch of immunities (like poison). Do all virtuants get that or just enemies? It's not clear.
And that's leaving aside the questions of how magic might effect those races. Can they even be healed by magic? It doesn't say. I know the game doesn't include magic by default but given the large number of DMs who will toss it in anyway (how could they resist) it feels like a major oversight not to include it.
One other tiny problem I had was with the cybernetics section. Don't get me wrong. The rules the book has for fully converting a character into a machine body are cool and the attachments and upgrades you can make are awesome. But that's all you'll find. If you're looking for how to upgrade an organic character (by say adding a cyberlimb) you're out of luck. This is strictly for full body conversions. It's all or nothing.
It does a good job explaining why that makes sense and for the record I think it's probably right. As it says by the time we have working cybernetics we'll have long ago developed vat grown (or 3d bioprinted) replacement arms and legs. Cybernetics the way they are typically presented are just completely unrealistic.
That said, I sort of don't care. It's rule of cool here (for me) and nothing is cooler than a dude with two massive metal arms punching through a concrete wall. Realistic just isn't a barrier for me in that case and I was expecting it to include something more cyberpunk traditional. Sadly, that's not what this is about.
On the other hand, the rules for hacking are great. It gets away from the virtual reality battles that you see in other cyberpunk games opting again for something more realistic and grounded (sensing a pattern yet?). The rules make the game as much like typical 5e as possible, with programs duplicating spells and firewalls in place of AC. It's a neat system (the opponent section for servers is especially cool) that I can really can't wait to include in my games.
As a setting it's also rife with possibility. By default the characters are members of the Division of Public Safety and are charged with protecting the independent UN city of Archon from all manners of threats. It has a great political thriller Jason Bourne feel with the PCs constantly being swept up in world spanning conspiracies and murder mysteries. I was planning on just using the book as a grab bag for another campaign but after reading more about the setting I may just change my mind.
Overall, despite the odd name NeuroSpasta 5e is a solid campaign book that brings 5th edition D&D into a new sci-fi setting. If you're at all interested in cyberpunk 5e then I suggest you give it a shot.
The book covers the setting, which is an interesting modern take on the Cyberpunk genre, as well as adding one new class, three new races, a few new backgrounds and bunch of new add on components like cybernetics and hacking. You do need the Ultramodern 5e book though, but if you want modern or sci-fi gaming that's a good book to have too.
The rules are a little dense and difficult to understand in parts. It has the old White Wolf bad habit of half introducing concepts that aren't fleshed out until later in the book. Expect to have to read the rules a few times before you get it.
Plus there's other stuff that isn't ever explained, unless I just haven't put it together yet. Specifically there's two races that are really confusing. I'm talking about the Full Body Converted Prosthetics and the totally android but not traditional android Virtuants. They are both artificial and so should have construct abilities like not needing to breathe or sleep, but it's not clear if that's the case or not. He says the prosthetics have to eat to keep their organic components alive but he doesn't say how often or what they need to eat (just that it's more expensive than normal food).
I figured that would maybe be in the equipment section where the book covers full body conversions and robots but it's not there either. To make it even more confusing the virtuant opponents statted out have a bunch of immunities (like poison). Do all virtuants get that or just enemies? It's not clear.
And that's leaving aside the questions of how magic might effect those races. Can they even be healed by magic? It doesn't say. I know the game doesn't include magic by default but given the large number of DMs who will toss it in anyway (how could they resist) it feels like a major oversight not to include it.
One other tiny problem I had was with the cybernetics section. Don't get me wrong. The rules the book has for fully converting a character into a machine body are cool and the attachments and upgrades you can make are awesome. But that's all you'll find. If you're looking for how to upgrade an organic character (by say adding a cyberlimb) you're out of luck. This is strictly for full body conversions. It's all or nothing.
It does a good job explaining why that makes sense and for the record I think it's probably right. As it says by the time we have working cybernetics we'll have long ago developed vat grown (or 3d bioprinted) replacement arms and legs. Cybernetics the way they are typically presented are just completely unrealistic.
That said, I sort of don't care. It's rule of cool here (for me) and nothing is cooler than a dude with two massive metal arms punching through a concrete wall. Realistic just isn't a barrier for me in that case and I was expecting it to include something more cyberpunk traditional. Sadly, that's not what this is about.
On the other hand, the rules for hacking are great. It gets away from the virtual reality battles that you see in other cyberpunk games opting again for something more realistic and grounded (sensing a pattern yet?). The rules make the game as much like typical 5e as possible, with programs duplicating spells and firewalls in place of AC. It's a neat system (the opponent section for servers is especially cool) that I can really can't wait to include in my games.
As a setting it's also rife with possibility. By default the characters are members of the Division of Public Safety and are charged with protecting the independent UN city of Archon from all manners of threats. It has a great political thriller Jason Bourne feel with the PCs constantly being swept up in world spanning conspiracies and murder mysteries. I was planning on just using the book as a grab bag for another campaign but after reading more about the setting I may just change my mind.
Overall, despite the odd name NeuroSpasta 5e is a solid campaign book that brings 5th edition D&D into a new sci-fi setting. If you're at all interested in cyberpunk 5e then I suggest you give it a shot.
