Looking for a Cyberpunk Genre Game

[Thomas Shey]

Vault is a pretty common term. Do you know the company behind it?

Here's a link: Vault RPG

Wow you weren't kidding about Sinless, even the logo is uh... "inspiried" by Shadowrun.

Yup. Its very obviously a sort of OSR of Shadowrun.

 

[daddystabz]

LowLife 2090 is fantastic. It is basically Shadowrun with much, much better rules and lighter.
The Gaia Complex is really neat.

There is also this on Kickstarter right now: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wylochsarmory/neon-skies/comments

 

[MGibster]

I think my biggest problem is the cyberpunk game I want to run is set in Night City and I really want it to be Cyberpunk 2020. I feel as though I'm pining for something that simply cannot be. i.e. I think I'm my own problem.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Cities without Number

The Veil; and a supplement the Veil Cascade.

Also, someone's got time on their hands:

RPG HISTORIES — Age of Ravens Games

www.ageofravensgames.com

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I think my biggest problem is the cyberpunk game I want to run is set in Night City and I really want it to be Cyberpunk 2020. I feel as though I'm pining for something that simply cannot be. i.e. I think I'm my own problem.

Or your own solution.

There's honestly no reason not to run Cyberpunk 2020 so long as you avoid PC netrunners.

It's not horrifically clunky or anything. The combat is a bit convoluted but not the crunchiest, and probably there are calculators or managers out there which massively speed it up.

The big issue I have with like, 80-85% of "newer" cyberpunk games is that they don't get what I consider to be a fundamental part of cyberpunk - obsession with specifics and having the latest tech. This is huge in a lot of the foundational tracts of cyberpunk. It's huge in Cyberpunk 2020, Shadowrun, and for that matter, Cyberpunk 2077. Specifics matter - you want specific brands, specific guns, specific cyberware. You're not just shooting "Fancy Pistol D8 damage", you're firing a specific gun which works in a specific way with specific peculiarities.

There are essentially three ways to do this:

1) You can have a vast equipment and cyberware list, with all these specifics.

2) You can have generalizations and modifiers - I can't think of a game that's done this as its main thing, but it does come up a bit Cyberpunk 2020 touches on it with the system for designing armoured clothes (in I think Chromebook 4 maybe?). Possibly RED does too but in a very limited way.

2) You can rely more on fictional positioning, and maybe have fairly generic stats, but encourage players to describe their specific gear and its peculiarities - again not aware of a game that actually advocates for this, rather surprisingly, the closest I think was a one-pager from Grant Howitt - but it's something I've done and seen done by others in Mothership for example.

 

[Thomas Shey]

1) You can have a vast equipment and cyberware list, with all these specifics.

2) You can have generalizations and modifiers - I can't think of a game that's done this as its main thing, but it does come up a bit Cyberpunk 2020 touches on it with the system for designing armoured clothes (in I think Chromebook 4 maybe?). Possibly RED does too but in a very limited way.

I think Vault does a combination of this if I'm not conflating.

 

[Piperken]

Any of you have any suggestions?

Realize you've made progress on this end but wanted to echo Sinless as a possibility. I've not played but have done a cursory read through and listened to a one-shot, unedited live stream.

It's lighter than Shadowrun, but not "rules light" (e.g. a Borg like game). Based firmly in OSR space. The players in the one-shot commented it definitely captured the feel of Shadowrun. The Brands (like Domains) play loop feels engaging, and worth looking at.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I think Vault does a combination of this if I'm not conflating.

Hmmm interesting. Tempted to take a look though I am a not hugely keen on fantasy cyberpunk, at least it seems like it has a different angle to Shadowrun.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Hmmm interesting. Tempted to take a look though I am a not hugely keen on fantasy cyberpunk, at least it seems like it has a different angle to Shadowrun.

Yeah, its got a different take. Its got some mechanically interesting parts too, though there were also some odd decisions in a couple places I'm not really sold on.

 

[Theory of Games]

There's always