D20 System for a William Gibson-esque game ?

[johndaw16]

So I'm about to start game set in a futuristic setting loosely modeled on the concepts found in William Gibson's novels. And I'm looking for suggestions for a D20 system to use with this game. I know that Shadowrun blends well and even borrows elements from Gibson but I dislike the dice pool system and the rules are rather clunky and complicated. I'm looking for something quick easy to learn, gritty, and flexible. So what do you guys suggest ??

Thanks as always,
John

 

[D_Sinclair]

D20 Modern.

Use D20 Future to provide cyberware options and Urban Arcana to provide the fantasy races.

Plus there are numerous third party D20 modern and D20 future products dealing with the cyberpunk genre as well, many of which you can find over on rpgnow.

But if you really want to do the cyberpunk genre well, get some Cyberpunk 2020 books. Jon Walter Williams wrote an official Cyberpunk supplement for his Hardwired novel for the first edition of that system.

 

[red eyed antipaladin]

Also, the d20 Cyberspace book is coming out for d20 Modern in September, which includes a setting that seems pretty close to Cyberpunk to me.

The CyberRave campaign setting is a cybernetics-heavy, near-future campaign set a little more than two generations in the future. Megacorporations and smaller business ventures are as powerful as governments. Personal freedoms take a back seat to national and economic security. Consumerism runs rampant, and many people spend their entire lives in pursuit of a better lifestyle -- one filled with more and higher-quality material possessions. To achieve this, most people depend heavily on credit, and thus never truly own the things with which they define themselves. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

Information is the ultimate commodity. Governments and businesses vie to have the best thinkers develop new technologies. Market research and advertising techniques are only slightly less valuable than new scientific advances. The value of any material good or service can rocket or plummet based on new advances. The VRNet, successor to the Internet, provides new methods for gaining information, but it makes securing valuable knowledge more difficult.

A CyberRave campaign is about more than independent heroes fighting against a world of tyranny and corporate greed, though those are important elements. It's about exploring human nature and the construction of new societies.

 

[eyebeams]

So I'm about to start game set in a futuristic setting loosely modeled on the concepts found in William Gibson's novels. And I'm looking for suggestions for a D20 system to use with this game. I know that Shadowrun blends well and even borrows elements from Gibson but I dislike the dice pool system and the rules are rather clunky and complicated. I'm looking for something quick easy to learn, gritty, and flexible. So what do you guys suggest ??

Thanks as always,
John

Hi there,

I develop/design a modest .pdf line (TERMINAL IDENTITY) meant to supplement D20 Modern and Future. The systems are specifically designed to, among other things, emulate both "classic" cyberpunk from Gibson and Sterling as well as newer influences like Egan and Stephenson. For instance, NETSPACE (the hacking supplement) lets you choose between classic data representation, Matrix style hijinks or non-invasive VR and standard computer programming.

The aim of the line's design is to provide general resources without being redundant with other sourcebooks. Obviously this will change a bit when Cyberspace comes out, but I've decided to follow a slightly more customizable approach than the standard for D20 Modern.

You can find out more here:

http://www.adamantentertainment.com/term.html

Incidentally, I'll be running a D20 Modern/Future game with Terminal Identity's rules in effect this weekend at the Canadian Gaming Expo, should anyone be inclined to drop by.

 

[arscott]

Also, the d20 Cyberspace book is coming out for d20 Modern in September, which includes a setting that seems pretty close to Cyberpunk to me.

Out of curiosity, where'd you find that description?

 

[Turanil]

So I'm about to start game set in a futuristic setting loosely modeled on the concepts found in William Gibson's novels. And I'm looking for suggestions for a D20 system to use with this game.

For something like Neuromancer? Try OGL Cybernet by Mongoose Publishing; Either available on ebay (try this link), or as a PDF (for the latter see this link, but it is overpriced, better find the book on ebay). OGL Cybernet (d20 modern rules) replaces d20 Modern with a twist to play the cyberpunk genre. Otherwise, as others suggested, d20 Modern + d20 Future, but they are not really geared at the cyberpunk genre.

 

[malladin]

If you can wait a couple of months (well, three actually), there's Etherscope, which is a cyberpunk system/setting based on D20 Modern. There's a victorian angle on the setting, too, but you can easily bypass that if you desire. It does a better job than OGL Cybernet (obviously I'd say that ).


Cheerio,

Ben

 

[Kesh]

So I'm about to start game set in a futuristic setting loosely modeled on the concepts found in William Gibson's novels. And I'm looking for suggestions for a D20 system to use with this game. I know that Shadowrun blends well and even borrows elements from Gibson but I dislike the dice pool system and the rules are rather clunky and complicated. I'm looking for something quick easy to learn, gritty, and flexible. So what do you guys suggest ??

Thanks as always,
John

Shadowrun 4e.

Seriously, they've changed the system dramatically for the new edition. Might be worth taking a look at when it hits your FLGS.

 

[D_Sinclair]

OGL Cybernet (d20 modern rules) replaces d20 Modern with a twist to play the cyberpunk genre. Otherwise, as others suggested, d20 Modern + d20 Future, but they are not really geared at the cyberpunk genre.

OGL Cybernet doesn't have any twists. It's just Cyberpunk 2020 shoehorned into D20 Modern, same as Digital Burn was.

 

[The Black Kestrel]

D20 Modern.

Use D20 Future to provide cyberware options and Urban Arcana to provide the fantasy races.

Plus there are numerous third party D20 modern and D20 future products dealing with the cyberpunk genre as well, many of which you can find over on rpgnow.

But if you really want to do the cyberpunk genre well, get some Cyberpunk 2020 books. Jon Walter Williams wrote an official Cyberpunk supplement for his Hardwired novel for the first edition of that system.

I have to agree with D_Sinclair. If you really want to run a good cyberpunk game buy RTG's Cyberpunk 2020 (version 3.0 is supposedly coming out soon). Accept no substitutes. Nuff said

If you want to run a D20 Cyberpunk style game Adamant's Terminal Identity line isn't a bad place to start. The first two supplements Posthuman and Netspace weren't bad (Posthuman bieng the better of the two and having some intruiging setting ideas). I was less impressed by Black Market and haven't picked up Tactical Implant which is the latest in the line so I can't comment on it. Based on the previews d20 Cyberspace is shaping up to be a must have book for people intent on running a d20 Cyberpunk game.