NZRaG

[Masada]

I've been spending a lot of time reading up on fairly new setting for True20. While True20 and Cyberpunk are not new, Interface-Zero provides an updated look at the genre--taking influences from the original masterwork, Neuromancer, all the way to The Matrix and inclusive of Anime like Ghost in the Shell. It packs a lot of cool in to 168 pages.

True20 is hallmarked for being simple and fast. I-Z funks it up a bit. But it does so in interesting ways. No cyberpunk game could exist without biological and cyber upgrades and I-Z delivers a mechanic for this not too far off from Shadowrun Essence, but I-Z allows for more ways to eliminate the essence cost. The crowning jewel though is the ability for the whole party to contribute in "the Deep" (cyberspace). They fundamentally assume that taps to the global network are nearly ubiquitious. Every character has constant connection to the world of information--but of course the Hacker is still the master of the domain. The basic notion is that the Deep emulates, enhances, and completely overlaps real space. Thus data security programs appear as visible guards to the real front doors of corporate building to anyone tapped in to the Deep (the whole party). While the Hacker will be the most effective against virtual threats, the whole group can fight and assist.

Character types run the range from pure human to genetically improved human, to animalistic hybrid, to cyborg, to simulacrum, to full AI. There's a lotta game here. I'm not sure when I'll get to try it out, but obviously y'all are my test group.

You can buy it on http://www.rpgnow.com or http://www.rpgobjects.com (the publisher) as a PDF. It doesn't exist in print yet... but they plan to.
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We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.
Game Blog

[sophmelc]

[Luke]

BTW if you are interested in checking out any of the True 20 products, I can lend them to you. I have all the main line and some additional 3rd party products. It is my Con rule set of choice.
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Playing: Doomstones (WFRP2e); Shades of Terra (Exalted: Dragonblooded)
Running: Thousand Thrones (WFRP2e)
Planning: Incarnadine Crucible (Exalted: Alchemicals); Tale of Twin Kings, Angels of Death and the Lover Who Stole All Things (Exalted 1e)

[sophmelc]

[Masada]

I have the hardback copy of the core rules and a softback copy of the Beastiary. I have PDF copies of Interface Zero and the Expert's Handbook. I am slowly printing off I-Z at work...

I could bring them to the next WARG if folks want to take a peak.

What elements of a cyberpunk game seem most fun to you?
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We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.
Game Blog

[Mashugenah]

Thing about Cyberpunk is that it often misses the point of a dystopian future of dehumanization, and instead becomes a pseudo-fantastical world of quests and adventures merely interlaced with dark elements and magical items finished in chrome.
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The opinions prevalent in one age... are confuted and rejected in another and rise again to reception in remoter times. Thus the human mind is kept in motion without progress.
- Samuel Johnson, Preface to Shakespeare

[Masada]

*Masada scribbles notes* ...look up "dystopia"...

hehe!

I see what you mean. The notion of dystopia is mostly flavour. It would be something that would have to really drip off every encounter. I had not connected a dehumanized society as a part of cyberpunk, but now that I think about it I agree. Human life becomes cheap and easily replaced. As a GM I find hard to "live" in a really dark world--I find it physically draining. But I think you can capture the feel of it without getting that down and dark about it. I can see how folks would want to make it more D&D cheery. Playing in a world where a Corporation is only interested in you while you make more money than you cost and then dumps you is... a bit too close to home!
_________________
We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.
Game Blog

[Luke]

[Luke]

[Mashugenah]

Third Party
Caliphate Nights


This any good? I've periodically thought of acquiring it, to round out my Arabian stuff...
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The opinions prevalent in one age... are confuted and rejected in another and rise again to reception in remoter times. Thus the human mind is kept in motion without progress.
- Samuel Johnson, Preface to Shakespeare

[Luke]

[sophmelc]

[Luke]

[sophmelc]

[Masada]