Cyberpunk Edgerunners Mission Kit Announced

R Talsorian Games recently announced a new Cyberpunk RED expansion: Cyberpunk Edgerunners Mission Kit. This boxed set is the first official tabletop RPG expansion putting players into the world of the Cyberpunk 2077 video game as well as the popular anime on Netflix. The Cyberpunk Edgerunners Mission Kit is described as including “essential rules as well as lore about the Dark Future, Night...

R Talsorian Games recently announced a new Cyberpunk RED expansion: Cyberpunk Edgerunners Mission Kit. This boxed set is the first official tabletop RPG expansion putting players into the world of the Cyberpunk 2077 video game as well as the popular anime on Netflix. The Cyberpunk Edgerunners Mission Kit is described as including “essential rules as well as lore about the Dark Future, Night City, the Edgerunners team, and more!” With this project, fans will be able to game the streets of Night City in 2077 with a GM and dice just as Mike Pondsmith intended when he developed the original RPG.

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The Cyberpunk RPG, in each of its editions, is the quintessential game set in a dystopian future of “lowlife and high tech,” as William Gibson described the genre. While Cyberpunk 2020 is still a gaming staple that supported great sessions for decades, the latest edition, Cyberpunk RED, is only two years old (November 14, 2020), yet an Adamantine Best Seller at DriveThruRPG. Bringing together creator Mike Pondsmith and the hype around the initial release of the Cyberpunk 2077 video game, RED takes place in 2045 and offers the cleanest, best realized version of the Cyberpunk ruleset. Well-considered, beautifully laid out, and written to be both old school and new player friendly, RED is a great addition to tabletop.

The newest edition of the game dropped at the same time as the video game. Even with the software glitches, fans want to play in 2077, especially after the release of Edgerunners, a series with a 100% Tomatometer and 96% audience score at Rotten Tomatoes. The hype is real and even inspired Bell of Lost Souls to publish an article bringing Edgerunners to 5e, which resulted in controversy even as it demonstrates the gaming public’s desire to see Edgerunners available for tabletop. The Cyberpunk Edgerunners Mission Kit is the response to that demand offering your gaming table the world and opportunity to roll alongside edgerunners like David Martinez, Lucy, Rebecca, and Maine. R Talsorian’s announcement about their new boxed set opens the door to convert fans from the video game to tabletop.

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I asked J. Gray, Cyberpunk RED Project Lead, if the Edgerunners Mission Kit would be a product like the Cyberpunk RED Jumpstart Kit, a standalone boxed set that introduces the world and gaming system. J. Gray explained it will be a standalone box set. "We know 2077 and Edgerunners have both brought new fans to the Dark Future and we want there to be a recognizable, easy way to transition into the tabletop RPG and maybe even TTRPGs in general."

Polygon stated that there’s a "2077-themed sourcebook" in the pipeline. When I asked if the tabletop RPG version of Cyberpunk 2077 would backwards compatible with Cyberpunk RED or be a new edition, J said that the current plan for the Mission Kit is a sourcebook, not a complete game, so it will be played using Cyberpunk RED. I wanted to know more, but its early days on the project and J was limited on what he could share. “We'll have more information on what will be inside the Cyberpunk Edgerunners Mission Kit in the future. No spoilers yet.”

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While details are limited beyond what the press release and J. Gray shared, we can look at a past release and make some educated guesses about what the Mission Kit will offer. Based on the Cyberpunk Red Jumpstart Kit, RED’s current introductory boxed set, we might be able to glean some elements of the content. The Jumpstart Kit is a boxed set with an MSRP of $29.99 for the physical edition or $10 for the PDF version. For that price, you’ll get a softcover Rule Book (44 pages plus the cover), a World Book (52 pages plus the cover), an “Ez Reference” sheet that summarizes rules akin to a four-page GM screen, a set of dice (2d10 and 4d6), two double-sided fold out battle maps, six pre-gen character sheets, a sheet of cardboard standees and plastic stands. The boxed set has everything you need from rules to a setting book to dice and characters for you and your players to get into the Dark Future and explore Cyberpunk RED. While past performance is not a guarantee of future success, I believe it’s safe to bet that R Talsorian will offer a boxed set with a lot of bang for the buck with their upcoming Mission Kit.

The Cyberpunk 2077 video game continues to evolve the world that Mike Pondsmith introduced in 1988. The Cyberpunk Edgerunners Mission Kit and eventual Cyberpunk 2077 sourcebook mean a new day is coming for tabletop roleplayers in Night City. Add to that CD PROJEKT RED’s announcement about the Cyberpunk 2077 video game sequel, and this new boxed set and book are well-placed to widen the Cyberpunk RED fanbase. Cyberpunk 2077 is coming in the form of a starter boxed set and sourcebook, two items that are my top most wanted RPG products for 2023.

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If you’re interested in trying out Cyberpunk RED, check out the free Cyberpunk RED Easy Mode which has enough rules, history, pre-gens, and an adventure to get you into 2045. To keep up with the Cyberpunk Edgerunners Mission Kit, you can follow R Talsorian Games on Twitter (@RTalsorianGames) and Instagram (@officialrtalsoriangames).

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Egg Embry

Egg Embry

Jaeger

That someone better
Bringing together creator Mike Pondsmith and the hype around the initial release of the Cyberpunk 2077 video game, RED takes place in 2045
The newest edition of the game dropped at the same time as the video game. Even with the software glitches, fans want to play in 2077
For a lot of people, their first exposure to the R. Talsorian's cyberpunk world is going to come from the video game Cyberpunk 2077 or the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners anime on Netflix. Those folks coming to to the table top RPG through those avenues are a bit surprised because Red is a lot different.

Absolutely baffling that CPRed does not share the same universe as the videogame.

A total headscratcher why Pondsmith would do a separate timeline for RED.


I'm in the same state of mind as Seth Skorkowsky in regards to Cyberpunk Red. There is a lot to like but there are some serious blunders/misses in my opinion. Basically I'm mixed about how I feel about it over all. Seth did a great video about it this year which I appreciated since it confirmed for me that I wasn't alone on how I felt about it.

^THIS^

His review highlighting the rules inconsistencies was spot on.

When you are having to houserule obvious holes in the rules from the jump; it quickly becomes obvious that little to no playtesting was done on this game. Dude...


Cyberpunk settings are many, what you have to ask is what does this bring to the table how is it differant than say 2020, or genefunk, even carbon 2185, low life 2090, or other books like ultramodern redux 5e which you could do much more with as a toolbox.

CP2020 & Shadow run were the first commercially successful RPG's in this genre. First mover status reigns supreme in RPG land. Supreme.

People play the game with the biggest network effect because it makes it easier to get a group together.

And CP2020/RED is still it. Still.


What Cyberpunk the RPG brings to the table that no other RPG brings is its setting.

All the other RPG's Vincent55 listed have perfectly suitable settings.

But CP was first. First mover + Good Enough = No can Defend.


In 2020 and 2077, not so much during the Time of the Red, Megacorps enjoy a great deal of extraterritoriality for their installations and personal. In the height of their power they were virtually their own states.

If anyone wants to know how a megacorp would actually work / look like in real life - I recommend you read up on the British East India Company.

The British government basically let a private corporation with it's own army and navy run roughshod over a continent for over a century.

In a cyberpunk alternate timeline there could easily be a scenario where the US government hands over administration of certain states/ territorites/cities to similarly styled megacorporation(s).

i.e. The Taxes Must Flow.

So long as Tax Revenue keeps coming in at a suitable level, and "order is maintained" - the megacorp(s) is free to earn a profit to compensate themselves for their "administrative costs"...

To make it interesting these fiefdoms "administrative areas", could be assigned to newly formed corporate conglomerates (which are made up of independent megacorps not under one corporate umbrella.) That then compete with each other for political power on the governing 'Corporate Council' of a particular territory.
 

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MGibster

Legend
Absolutely baffling that CPRed does not share the same universe as the videogame.

A total headscratcher why Pondsmith would do a separate timeline for RED.
It's in the same universe. The bar Rogue runs in 2077, the Afterlife, appeared in the main book for Cyberpunk 2020 back in 1991. (It may have also appeared in the Cyberpunk boxed set from 1988 but I can't verify that.) I suspect the reason the video game was set so far in the future was so CDR could do their own thing with the setting without it affecting the table top game. But both the video game and the anime reached a far wider audience than the table top game did, and for many it's the default setting. If you to to the Cyberpunkred Reddit, some of the most frequently asked questions are how to make Red most like the video game and anime.
When you are having to houserule obvious holes in the rules from the jump; it quickly becomes obvious that little to no playtesting was done on this game. Dude...
I honestly wonder if it the production was rushed. It feels like it.
 

Jaeger

That someone better
I suspect the reason the video game was set so far in the future was so CDR could do their own thing with the setting without it affecting the table top game. But both the video game and the anime reached a far wider audience than the table top game did, and for many it's the default setting.

In bold is the obvious no brainer. Of course they would reach a far wider audience.

Why R.Tal did not just adopt the CPR2077 setting wholesale from the beginning is still a headscratcher. He certainly uses their concept art in the CPRed game book, why not just crib their setting notes as well? It would have saved him a lot of writing time.

I can only guess that he wanted to do his own earlier RED setting era for some reason. Which is still an utterly baffling choice given that he had a Locked-In videogame tie in on release...


I honestly wonder if it the production was rushed. It feels like it.

Had to be. Which is also a bit inexplicable. AAA games like CP2077 takes years to develop. And by all accounts Mike Pondsmith began to design Cyberpunk Red prior to the deal with CD Projekt Red.

CPred comes across as a game designed by someone who only ever played CP2020, and didn't agree with the wider fanbase on what needed to be updated... The 65 different skills long list is the ridiculous proof that R.Tal's game design is stagnant. There was no open playtest, and no outreach to the loyal CP2020 community of how the game could be improved.

The base interlock system is solid. And CP2020 has been around long enough that the fanbase is aware of its issues and the typical fixes. To say nothing of looking at the other cyperpunk genre rpg games released since, and how they do things. Game design should not exist in a vacuum.

CPRed should have been a streamlined, playtested, solid update of the game that game that gave CP2020 fans such great memories.
Instead, we got this in-between thing with a few good ideas scattered throughout a tome with obvious rules holes that had clearly never seen an solid playtest.

As a first mover in its rpg niche, it will sell well due to the tie-ins and brand loyalty. But it completely failed to hit the black on the target of what should have been...
 

MGibster

Legend
Why R.Tal did not just adopt the CPR2077 setting wholesale from the beginning is still a headscratcher. He certainly uses their concept art in the CPRed game book, why not just crib their setting notes as well? It would have saved him a lot of writing time.
Because at that point R. Talsorian Games is no longer to sole owner of the Cyberpunk TTRPG. They'd have the share that honor with CDPR.

I can only guess that he wanted to do his own earlier RED setting era for some reason. Which is still an utterly baffling choice given that he had a Locked-In videogame tie in on release...
The setting of Cyberpunk V3.0 was also set after the 4th Corporate War, the net didn't exist like it did in 2020, and the economy was still recovering. I guess the post 4th Corporate War world in recovery is what he wanted to continue exploring with this edition. I would have been happy to continue exploring that too, except the economy in Red just doesn't make any sense and it gets in the way of having a good time with the game.



The base interlock system is solid. And CP2020 has been around long enough that the fanbase is aware of its issues and the typical fixes. To say nothing of looking at the other cyperpunk genre rpg games released since, and how they do things. Game design should not exist in a vacuum.
There are areas I wish were better explored in Red. I would have loved to have seen a Humanity system that more closely resembled the anime.
 

Vincent55

Adventurer
There's the cyberpunk sub-genre of science fiction and then there's the Cyberpunk role playing game which has its own distinct setting.

Cyberpunk (1988) - Set in Night City, Free State of California in 2013.
Cyberpunk 2020 (1991) - Set in Night City, Free State of California in 2020
Cyberpunk V3.0 (2005) - Set in Night City, Free State of California in the 2030s
Cyberpunk Red (2020) - Set in Night City, Free State of California in 2045

The setting has changed a bit over the years. In V3.0 and Red, the game takes place in the aftermath of the 4th Corporate War, the net as we knew it in 2020 is gone, and the power of the corporations have been curtailed quite a bit (they're still powerful though). What Cyberpunk the RPG brings to the table that no other RPG brings is its setting.

I was not refering to the narrow one game dude, that is one setting by one company, obviously you have not looked very far, Genepunk 2090, low life 2090, carbon 2185, and many more. Heck genefunk just on kick starter with shadows of korea but hay stick with what you want.
 

Vincent55

Adventurer
this is just the new shinny and after a while it will be tossed to the way side like many ohters that people find are not like the movies or video game on which it is based. But even so it might bring in others that might find something new to invest in.
 

Dias Ex Machina

Publisher / Game Designer
Cyberpunk settings are many, what you have to ask is what does this bring to the table how is it differant than say 2020, or genefunk, even carbon 2185, low life 2090, or other books like ultramodern redux 5e which you could do much more with as a toolbox. I have the video game and seen the anime which i liked had more action and fewer brains than a ghost in the shell which none have really topped for me. Really this feels generic on many levels as if they try but don't capture all of what it could be, but might help get some players into RPGs or turn them off completely. For me i prefer a book that i can create my own setting, not run someone elses idea of what it is or i guess you could use the bones to build your own game on in that case it may sell. I am still a bit bias as i love the Ultramodern 5e books and the designer and how he does the rules.
Sorry, I am always late for these sorts of things.

First of all, THANKS for the support. Always appreciated.

Second, NeuroSpasta is our cyberpunk setting, which we hope to reboot in 2023,
 

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