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I am feeling a deep lust for playing a TTRPG cyberpunk game, but I also really want to play with minis I've been playing and also build terrain and have fun with that. How suitable is this version of cyberpunk for mini based combat? Edit - Oh drat new page. This lust for cyberpunk is being started by playing through The Ascent, which is actually a pretty good game, but primarily has reallllllly good cyberpunk set dressing and design. Absolutely something to steal from wholesale. Wrr fucked around with this message at 01:59 on Jun 19, 2022 |
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Jun 19, 2022 01:54
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I think it would work generally fine with minis but you'll be measuring from mini to mini to get the DV for ranged weapons if you play it RAW
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Jun 19, 2022 03:04
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I think you could use grids, or set up the terrain to be kinda gridlike / minecraft like. Voxel-ish enough to simplify distances without having to literally measure distance with tape, while also not looking blatantly lovely. You could make up some rule of thumb so you don't need to do geometry to see how far the DVs are to shoot a dude off a catwalk in the cyberalloy refinery. Or make your agent calculate it for you  that might actually be an option these days.To figure out how to scale these you can look at what the fastest speeds players might be going while they run and gun. Pretty sure i'm reading this right that in the book each grid cell is 2m and the hypothetically fastest character can move i think 19 cells in one turn with skate feet, which is really close to how far you can drive a car without using a maneuver. If you're a good driver with the shittiest car i think you can go like 40 cells if you use your action to double move and this blows cyborgs out of the water right off the bat. Vehicles in general are ofc going to be much faster than everything else, even the slowest shittiest ones, so if you have a campaign with that kinda stuff you are gonna need to figure that out. Could be cool, some roles like lawman or exec are going to be prone to getting AVs and stuff called in for backup or medical, even if you don't have a lot of situations with vehicles normally. Rifles and rocket launchers can reach 800m tho. Dunno if you're going to have terrain setups that are the size of multiple hundreds of minis lined up shoulder to shoulder. Another thing that would maybe help figure out scaling is to check out people who've played over virtual tabletops -- most of these are all going to have 2d maps where they bullshit height, but I think the neat thing about having actual terrain objects is you can have some verticality to it if you're really going all out, so checking what other people have done would still give an idea of how to scale your stuff. The first map I made for this was in dungeonfog, there's a scenario about wood poachers and I wanted to stress the vertical part of the thing so I actually did layers for the roofs and stuff and you could turn off different layers and change the day/night and have indoor lights shine into the trees and poo poo like that. The Ascent was pretty good but I botched my character build and got stuck fighting a robot bug boss that was basically impossible to deal with. That's one where there's a lot of impressive verticality in the overall design, but individual fights are always very nearly 2d, they solved the problem by basically throwing 3d into the trash. In Red you can set up a whole campaign in a megastructure if you wanted, although there's not much in here other than "they are a thing." You could probably somehow just rip data straight out of Ascent, do some massaging and print it, but I'd be damned to know how it'd actually be done. I've thought about how would want to run a game in Tabletop Simulator, there's a Red table you can get that is extremely uh... it's very much trying to replicate having your character sheet in front of you and stuff like that. If I were going to make one and could actually pull it off, I'd try to deemphasize that aspect and focus on having major physical objects on this table: basically what you're talking about. But with tt sim you could have really impossible and cool layouts that couldn't really work so well irl, like very vertical environments, automatic range calculations, complex stuff with multiple ways to traverse, you could have psycho squad fly down and shine their lights on the crew and scan them, weather, all kinds of weird poo poo. You could have insane stuff in there all running automatically to focus more on playing the game and less on looking up the rules, if you were some kind of scripting maestro and could do the 3d models. PS i'm pretty sure almost everything can be destructible so that's something to keep in mind as well. You can just shoot through walls and blow poo poo to shreds, up to a certain point. PPS they have or are planning to release some kind of combat centric mini version of the game but I don't know anything about it or even if it's actually hit stores yet or what. Somebody has some maps printed but they're not terrain i don't think or just say gently caress it, scale things the way they look good, measure, and if everyone runs off the map gently caress em
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Jun 19, 2022 05:43
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I played on the Foundry, so with digital minis. It worked really well. The ranges in the book use squares in addition to distance measures so it’s pretty easy to remember. One square is 2 meters.
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Jun 19, 2022 05:45
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How does Roll20 with the Cyberpunk RED module compare to Foundry?
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Jun 21, 2022 18:12
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Foundry is free and at the time the Roll20 released much more powerful.
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Jun 22, 2022 01:07
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Isn't Foundry 50 bucks? https://foundryvtt.com/purchase/ Are we talking about different Foundries?
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Jun 22, 2022 04:09
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Ah yeah, a Foundry license is $50, but the module to run Cyberpunk is free. So you're paying $50 for the Foundry license and $0 for the module or $40 for the Cyberpunk Red module on its own on Roll20. The Foundry module is really good and has good video documentation on how to get up and running with it. I'd never used Foundry before and was able to get an entire game running within it using their guides. If you do a lot of online games I'd recommend just getting Foundry anyway. Once you get past the slightly steeper learning curve, it's got a lot more to offer than Roll20.
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Jun 22, 2022 17:33
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Foundry I've found to be really interesting. It's less feature complete than roll 20 out of the box, but it's got a ton of add on support so you can make it do whatever you want it to. I've actually got foundry set up on a raspberry pi 4 8GB as a mini web server and it works shockingly well.
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Jun 22, 2022 19:47
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I've been using the roll20 module and its fine. The system itself has more clumsiness than the module imo
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Jun 22, 2022 19:58
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Board game kickstarter set in the 2077 world that will come with a raft of minis: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cmon/cyberpunk-2077-gangs-of-night-city
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Jun 23, 2022 06:14
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I'm going to run "Cabin Fever" but in Red rather than 2020. I'm wondering if anyone has any good ideas how to accomplish the following: The story takes place in a bar where the players are trapped after a ship carrying highly toxic material explodes and a gas spreads that kills everything it touches. The players are right next to the ship as it blows up, and their only option is to swim to shore. Right by the shore there's a little bar. I need the players to enter the bar and not run down the alleyway and I'm wondering how to accomplish this. The book suggests having cops at the end of the alley looking for terrorists aim their guns at the players, but since the players are new to Cyberpunk I'm worried they don't know how deadly the game is and decide to engage the cops. They've been in the bar earlier that day and the fixer that gave them the job is currently there. I have a few ideas: 1. A lot of the dangerous gas was blown up into the air and out, kinda like a mushroom cloud. Because the gas is somewhat heavy it envelops the area and starts closing in from both sides so they have no choice but to enter the bar. Does this sound realistic? 2. If one of them starts heading down the bar, they hear another explosion coming from the sinking ship and see a wave of thick white gas approaching them very rapidly, way faster than they can run. I'm worried this will make them panic and run down the alley even harder. 3. An NPC will be there with the players as the ship explodes. I initially planned on having her die for dramatic effect, but maybe she can survive and be just a bit faster than the players and encourage them to head for the bar when they arrive on shore. I'd love some suggestions. Aside from this I plan to give the players a lot of agency.
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Jun 29, 2022 13:48
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Agency is great unless your commitment to agency keeps the players from going to where the game takes place. I’d put a couple of survivors in the alley, and as the PC’s run towards them, have a gigantic MILI-TECH or NCPD police mech stomp by and “sanitize” them, just some huge and obviously indestructible “dragon” type enemy that indicates “you are too small to fight me” yet, and that’ll have the advantage of keeping your PCs motivated to stay inside the bar until the gas leak and the containment unit are done cleansing the area
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Jun 29, 2022 14:03
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You could have an couple tough seeming npcs start closer to the alley and get gibbed on screen, a few are already dead by lead overdose ship parts get blasted over by the explosion and land in the alley and on the nearby roofs A lot of places have decon stations because of the blood rain, maybe the bar has one that they would remember Before the ship they hear a rumor ahead of time about the terrorist and how the cops are way more trigger happy than they usually are, which is already pretty bad Have a drunk leave the bar, "nah gently caress this" and go back in, leaving the door open Some dumbass tries to drive thru the gas, gruesomely dies, and crashes into the alley The gas settling from above could make sense, if they know there's clearly no chance they can make it all the way down the alley before it hits
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Jun 29, 2022 14:21
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I think some setup for why the bar is a safe place would be good. If I was dealing with a toxic gas I might assume that it could seep though windows and doors and whatnot, making buildings unsafe.
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Jun 29, 2022 23:51
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I would expect buildings in cyberpunk to be chem proof because of all the acid rain and various other toxic fogs that corps put out.
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Jun 30, 2022 00:36
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Maybe it’s a froofy gastro cloud-pub where the whole bar is just selling little crystals of vapor that you huff and enjoy
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Jun 30, 2022 01:06
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Have some bar flies run out, see the gas cloud and then grab and start spraying foam goop around any gaps that gas could come in thru.  I knew this would happen choom, fuckin knew it
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Jun 30, 2022 01:29
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If you want some inspiration I just saw this in the OSHA threadOrnamental Dingbat posted:Holy poo poo. Chlorine gas explosion in Jordan.
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Jun 30, 2022 02:35
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Thanks all! A ton of great ideas here! Some won't work because of the specifics of the setting, but I didn't mention these details. The bar is not entirely safe, it just needs to be safer than running. The players will see gas seep into the building through gaps in the doorframe and windows, etc. and they (together with NPCs) will be encouraged to jury rig a solution with duct tape or towels or whatever. This makes gunfights even more scary because if they miss and hit a window they're in a lot of trouble. - I'll make certain to introduce the decon station and have them use it when they enter the bar the first time before the gig starts so they know it's there. The bar is a dive but I can probably justify it. - I can certainly have a drunk guy stand outside in the open doorway, not fully aware of the danger. The door being open means they'll see the decontamination station and other NPCs on the map which might encourage them. - I've also added a lot of bright lights in the building, and made the alley very dark. - I think I'll go with the gas settling from above, too, if they notice. - The fixer that gave them the gig will be in the bar, which they know, so that should help. - The attack catches everyone, including the players, the owner of the ship and the NCPD off-guard so I prefer not to have the NCPD there with mechs, but I can put one there that turns an NPC into mist as a last resort. I think all of these combined should do the trick. Wrr posted:If you want some inspiration I just saw this in the OSHA thread
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Jun 30, 2022 08:59
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a7m2 posted:Thanks all! A ton of great ideas here! Some won't work because of the specifics of the setting, but I didn't mention these details. There could be a dude in the doorway literally waving them in, and then when they go in he goes out to grab a straggler or whatever and the gas gets him and he dies in a real hosed up way. Thats a classic bit.
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Jun 30, 2022 13:16
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a7m2 posted:- I'll make certain to introduce the decon station and have them use it when they enter the bar the first time before the gig starts so they know it's there. The bar is a dive but I can probably justify it. If the port has a prominent chemical handling function just have every building and business within a half mile of it feature a decon shower as compliance with health code or OSHA/EPA regs from years ago.
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Jun 30, 2022 13:46
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I mean, it depends on how hard you really want to railroad them in there. One of the bar patrons happens to be a guy who works in a chemical factory or whatever, and loudly declares 'oh poo poo, my chemsniffer implant is picking up high levels of Meltafaceoffitall, we gotta seal up the doors and windows quick! No, somebody stop that drunk guy wandering out the door! Oh no, this face is melting off! See, I told you!'
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Jun 30, 2022 14:44
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I think many Game Masters get really caught up in a completely unnecessary need for accommodating player choice. Shoving players into the box so they do the thing you worked hard on is fine, and if you’ve got the type of gamer who insists on going left when everyone says to go right “just because” you should probably nip that in the bud and let them know that you’re the boss, not them, because that kind of thing can end up with Main Character Syndrome where everyone never gets to do what they want because Captain Jack is always doing whatever. It’s literally ok to bully your PCs.
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Jun 30, 2022 22:40
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TheCenturion posted:I mean, it depends on how hard you really want to railroad them in there. This is an actual implant you can get. Plus I think it might just be chipware
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Jun 30, 2022 23:02
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Thanks to everyone for your valuable advice. I ran half of the story and it was such an awesome fun time. Two of the players were super inexperienced playing RPGs but they did quite well. They spent an hour preparing their heist, going all over the city to gather their stuff, thinking that they'd spend all this time on a ship, only for the ship to blow up immediately. Their reactions were quite funny. Thankfully the thing I was worried about they ended up solving for themselves: One of the players called someone in the bar on his internal agent while swimming for his life, which gave me the perfect opportunity to have him come out, pull the players out of the water and tell them to rush inside. The decon station thing also helped because the players were super eager to use them. The atmosphere inside the bar is getting quite tense and the players are quite concerned about it breaking out in a fight since they are still quite beaten up from a fight they themselves picked with some gangers earlier in the day, but there were some really funny moments too. This is my first time doing anything with Cyberpunk TTRPGs and my first time as a DM (having only played DnD before) and it was a blast. I'm continuing this story next week and I can already tell that this story has the potential to turn into something of a campaign, but I plan to mix it up between one-off gigs and a longer term thing. Kinda like how the X-Files had the monster of the week and the occasional larger story episode.
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Jul 4, 2022 19:48
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So if I wanted to get into the tabletop rpg, where would I start? What would I need? I’m very new to this but wanted to try.
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Sep 25, 2022 14:07
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KernelZee posted:So if I wanted to get into the tabletop rpg, where would I start? What would I need? I’m very new to this but wanted to try. This sounds obvious but you need a group with one GM and a number of players. I feel Cyberpunk lends itself best to groups of 3-5 players. You can definitely do fewer or more too though. Then you need to pick which version you wanna play: 2020 or Red. I recommend Cyberpunk Red because it's much more accessible. The GM absolutely needs the book, the players would benefit from having it but could just read the GM's copy if they need to. https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/333585/Cyberpunk-RED Do not get the Jumpstart Kit, IMO. The GM needs to prepare a story. It can be worth using a pre-written story for the first game. https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/404486/Tales-of-the-RED-Street-Stories I haven't tried these myself but they get good reviews. The main book also has some story hooks but they're not nearly as fleshed out. If you do it in person, I recommend getting some miniatures/tokens/small carboard cutouts and one of those erasable grid maps (e.g. https://www.amazon.com/Battle-Grid-Game-Mat-36/dp/B01MQHECUR note that I haven't tried this specific one). Cyberpunk Red benefits a lot from battlemaps and tokens. I just really love miniatures but it can easily be done with printed paper tokens. If you do it online, I really like Foundry. It's 50 bucks and you have to host it yourself but it's very good and there's a free module for Cyberpunk. Roll20 also has a module, which I haven't tried but plenty of people use it online. I'd have a session 0 where the GM and the players create the characters together and discuss what they're looking to get out of the game. Also make sure that everyone's limits are crystal clear (e.g. no sexual violence). All games benefit from it but Cyberpunk Red puts a lot of emphasis on the backstories of the characters.
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Sep 25, 2022 14:52
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There are a couple friendly cyberpunk ttrpg discords I've found through youtube, a lot of the information videos have links where you can look for a group
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Sep 25, 2022 15:47
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KernelZee posted:So if I wanted to get into the tabletop rpg, where would I start? What would I need? I’m very new to this but wanted to try. For starters, check out the Easy Mode which is free and will give you a good grasp of the basics: https://www.dicebreaker.com/games/cyberpunk-red/news/cyberpunk-red-easy-mode-quickstart-download-free Also saw this which is, in fact, as the kids say 'kinda cringe.' https://twitter.com/JimZub/status/1574004661731966976
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Sep 25, 2022 16:26
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Im running a cyberpunk red game and was asked a lore question by one of the players that I couldnt think of a good answer to. So agents have auto banking you can do transfers between accounts fairly easily. Paper money still exists and is used fairly regularly for shady deals in large quantities Its referenced in the quickstart for red and is used fairly frequently as a thing for various 2020 premade adventures. Do mercs launder their money? Is there even a need to? Megacapitalism says that banks dont care so long as they get their creds and would prefer if literally everyone minded their own business, but paranoia says you dont want anyone knowing that you just loaded five thousand eb into your bank right after arraska just got hacked.
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Sep 25, 2022 17:12
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It's the first one. Banks maintain their relevance in the Cyberpunk world by not asking questions.
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Sep 25, 2022 17:26
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Just kicking off a game of Red with some of my ex-coworkers, I’ve played a little dnd in the past but this will be my first time as GM. Had a quick intro session where we compared character stats to make sure nobody was underpowered and did a dry run of combat, everything went well. Some character loadouts might need some correcting, someone took some netrunner programs but no way to interface with the net. But I’ve warned them that character death will happen and will be swiftly replaced so to not worry too much about their build. Looking forward to it!
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Oct 15, 2022 19:14
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I'd been putting off picking up a physical copy of Red until my birthday, and now I'm singing the blues because my FLGS has completely sold out thanks to Edgerunners. On the upside, I'm glad to see more copies coming off the shelves and into homes.
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Oct 16, 2022 18:38
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It's been nice to see Edgerunners punt RED back up into the top 5 on DTRPG again. It was number 2 for a while but that huge M&M bundle and Fabula Ultima which has a lot of buzz kicked it back down to 3.
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Oct 16, 2022 21:11
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I think our group is like, 10 sessions or so into our campaign at this point. I'd say the strengths of the game are definitely the setting and a focus on narrative over crunch. However over time we've found a lot of the mechanics to be pretty shallow.
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Oct 18, 2022 00:08
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Which ones?
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Oct 18, 2022 00:19
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One of my players is hesitant to play Cyberpunk as they're not that familiar with the setting. Not the specific cyberpunk red setting, but cyberpunk in general. What are some good bits of media to help them get a feel for things? They've seen Blade Runner. I'm hoping to watch Edge Runners with them soon.
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Oct 18, 2022 00:55
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Edge runners is good of course, other cyberpunk media are ghost in the shell, Johnny mnemonic, and I can't remember a third although there's like two TV shows and three movies for ghost in the shell.
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Oct 18, 2022 01:27
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| # ? May 20, 2024 07:51 |
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Wrr posted:One of my players is hesitant to play Cyberpunk as they're not that familiar with the setting. Not the specific cyberpunk red setting, but cyberpunk in general. What are some good bits of media to help them get a feel for things? They've seen Blade Runner. I'm hoping to watch Edge Runners with them soon. Fifth Element, Akira.
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Oct 18, 2022 01:27
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