RPG a Day 2023: The 10th Anniversary Edition--Day 24 Complex/Simple RPG that you play

The most complex game that I play has to be Cyberpunk:2020. I can't see myself taking on any more complex games than this. Playing the role of a Netrunner and running games based on the net is far more complex than it ever needs to be. I ran a network takedown RAW successfully one time. The Runner and I enjoyed it but the rest had to be bored out of their wits. I'd cut back to them once in a while, but the main game was just myself and either one or two other players--can't remember how many runners were in that group. After that, I made a rule that Netrunners would be NPC only unless a player wanted a one on one session. 

I call the new Shadowdark game the best simple game I've played. I realize it's the newest internet darling, but I'm really digging it. I've also played/run these rules light games: Index Card RPG, Ryuutama, and EZ D6. I've liked them all at various points, but the magic system, magic user class or Cleric/Priest class always tends to go against the simplicity inherent in the rest of the system. With Shadowdark--at least so far--the magic system is easy and yet the game feels at least as robust as 5E. Simply classifying the spells at various tiers rather than levels does wonders to help new players that always wonder why a level 4 character doesn't cast level 4 spells. The rest of the system is quite streamlined too. Rolling to cast makes sense, but in other systems that use the same mechanic the misses seem to pile up--I know other classes miss their attack also, but when a spell fizzles it just seems like a true wasted turn. Shadowdark has the feature of base difficulty 10 plus the spell's tier.  A tier one spell then is a DC 11 for the magic user. They can cast again and again on their turn until they miss that DC. No slots, no shifting things around. If they do miss, then they forget the spell until there is a rest. If they fumble it--it's off to the mishap table. Very simple fun and effective. 

I used to like playing complex games, but as I've gotten older rules light is the only way to go for me. 

RPG a Day 2023: The 10th Anniversary Edition--Day 22 Best Second Hand RPG Purchase

This one is scraping the bottom of the barrel for me because I don't normally find any second hand books overseas.  What really grinds my gears is in the States--on the rare occasion that I'm there--the only used bookseller in my town is in the know. It can't be doing much for his sales, but you won't go in there and find anything RPG related that isn't priced with the collector in mind. Somebody needs to inform folks with an eye on earning that if you sell an old hardcover for $10 you have $10...if you price it at $25 and it sits there at $25, then all you have is something collecting dust on your shelf. Too many people know there's an alleged market for these things, but not everything old is really worth what you think...a thing is only worth what you can get someone to spend on it. I will also shout out to R Talsorian Games who recently told all the fans not to get the gouged price on their older stuff as they would do more print runs on the more popular items--and the less popular ones probably still had originals in stock. 

All that said, one of the best games I bought online second hand was Dragon Quest board game by TSR. The game teaches you how to play a simplified version of advanced D&D--I think so because THAC0 is in it. The system itself really doesn't matter as much as the sturdy board inside. You could use it to generate random dungeons all day using whatever you want. I'm going to run it with the  Shadowdark rules. There are also lots of cardboard standees included, but those didn't hold up so much  over the years. 

   

RPG a Day 2023: The 10th Anniversary Edition--Day 19 Favorite Published Adventure

My favorite published module is 'Thicker Than Blood' for Cyberpunk:2020. It's one of the few investigation/mystery type scenarios that seems playable and that the players can actually have fun doing and possibly solving. It's about a kid who has been abducted from a prestigious private school. It gives the party a chance to investigate in the main city as well as the surrounding "suburb" area which gives the players a little taste of most everything in Cyberpunk. 

   

RPG a Day 2023: The 10th Anniversary Edition--Day 6 Favorite Game You Never Get to Play

 I'll alter this just a little and say favorite genre I never get to  play and the answer is Cyberpunk. I would rather play Cyberpunk 2020 or its current Cyberpunk:Red iterations, but I'd take anything on the radar--Shadowrun, GURPS, Carbon 2185, Altered State, or the new Bladerunner to name a few. 

I thought with the release of CP:2077 video game that there would be more interest in the TTRPG, but it hasn't been my experience. Most people just want to play D&D 5E and in a fantasy setting. Altered State and to a much greater extent Carbon 2185 could get more traction due to the former being similar to 5E and the latter running on the 5E engine, but most of these games are completely set apart from 'The World's Most Popular Roleplaying Game' and most players I come across don't have the time nor the desire to learn or play anything else. I get that. It amazes me how much time we put in to learning the various different systems when we were younger. 

Another big challenge in running any of these games online is that even when people are willing to try, most of these systems are pretty crunchy. People without books shouldn't even apply. 

RPG A Day 2022--Day 17--Past, Present, or Future? When is Your Favorite Game Set?

It was set in the future...then for a while there it was the alternate present...and now it's in the past...

It's Cyberpunk 2020 and 'Night City' along with its various precursors and derivatives. If you want to get technical there is 2020 which is still the most famous along with the first version which took place in 2013, so those are in the past for sure, but there is the current version of the TTRPG called Cyberpunk Red which is in 2045 and the video game version that I talked about yesterday that takes place in 2077 so as to keep the main settings in the future even if it is like Max Headroom--20 minutes into the future. 

In many cases the games predicted what actually came to be and may yet come around...most of the predicted technological advances are still well in development, they just aren't up to the standard/common place that the fictional year 2020 presented them as being. There are some cases in which the real-time counterpart actually surpassed the fiction. However, in all cases the settings are familiar enough to easily get invested in because they are grounded in reality while still being imaginative. This is vastly different from the typical sword and sorcery of D&D and even from the similarly themed Shadowrun which introduced fantasy elements into the cyberpunk genre. I can't get enough of it. The Cyberpunk setting is one of the few that I can watch live play throughs and though it's a few years old now, the Playstation Access crew's mini-campaign remains a favorite. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FlU6p9KKzU&list=PLLUkxbIkknLuQJJRwEbV5z2WFt6hs9Rxy

RPG A Day--Day 16--What Would Be Your Perfect Game?

 Hard to say. I think my perfect game would be something like the Cyberpunk 2077 video game except it would be completely immersive, multiplayer and not as glitchy. For a long-time fan of the Cyberpunk series from R Talsorian Games the video game version from almost two years back was amazing. I put in over 100 hours in that game and I still didn't see it all. Just seeing all the locations that I imagined and saw pictures of in the source books for so many years brought to life was an incredible experience. The story was top-notch, and very nearly exactly what I wanted...unfortunately, it was too glitchy and the actual video game gameplay  wasn't everything people hoped it would be. That said, I loved every minute of it. I'd like something like that except completely VR with the ability to run with a group just like in the TTRPG except truly living it. The tech isn't quite there to give us that holodeck/Matrix yet, but I think it'll be great once we get there. 

RPG A Day 2022: Day 11--If you could live in a game setting, where would it be?

This one's easy. It starts by not choosing the setting where you wish to be, but rather accepting the setting in which you are--Cyberpunk Dystopian. 

I've trained most of my life for living in a Cyberpunk Dystopian world...unfortunately, the cybernetics aren't as widespread and sadly we don't even get to watch any Rollerball match-ups, but quite a bit of what was predicted in CP 2013/CP 2020 and Bladerunner came to be and I'm here for it. 

Style over Substance, mass media overkill, corporate owned political representatives, designer drugs, body modification, chimeras, out of control political correctness, virtual/enhanced reality, mass disparity between the social classes, varied plagues--many of which lab based, my favorite girls' hairstyle, pollution, transportation and infrastructure collapse, nations against nations within nations--even serious talk of secession in certain states are all clearly present in our real world. All in all, great times. Just institute more roller-based sports for me ASAP, and I can wait a bit on the bionic implants. 

RPG A Day--August 23rd--Surprise!

You may or may not be surprised when I say that Cyberpunk is my favorite genre of RPG when it comes down to it. I was pleasantly surprised when the video game Cyberpunk: 2077 by CD Project Red was announced and rekindled interest in the tabletop RPGs that inspired it namely--Cyberpunk (2013) and Cyberpunk 2020--we don't like to talk about Cyberpunk 3.0 A.KA. CP203X or "Barbie Punk"; let's just say decisions were made...mostly decisions by the players to keep playing CP2020 instead of the new edition, but I digress.

Although there is a lot of cross-over between fans of video games and table top RPGs, not everyone enjoys both, so ICYMI, the company CD Project Red is apparently a big deal because of the critically acclaimed Witcher video game among others. CP2077 has been in development for years--even in danger of becoming so-called "vaporware"--but things really started picking up over the past couple of years culminating with an appearance by Keanu Reeves at this year's E3 gaming trade show/convention. Reeves was revealed to be starring in the game as the infamous Johnny Silverhand--a favorite Rockerboy character from CP2020. Maybe even more importantly, a release date was finally announced for April of 2020. Of course with popularity like that Cyberpunk needed a new tabletop edition and since there will be a forty plus year gap between 203X and 2077 what better way to create this new edition than by setting it in those gap years. This is where Cyberpunk: Red comes in

Cyberpunk:Red takes place between 203X and 2077 detailing the rebuilding of Night City after a small nuke was detonated therein during the 4th corporate war. The fallout from the blast created "Red Skies" and although most of the fallout has diminished, during sunrise and sunset the entire sky again becomes a blistering red--thus the punks call this era, "The Time of the Red". As of this entry, only the beginners box called the jumpstart kit is out. Physical copies sold out at Gencon, but more will be on the way. Drive-thru of course has the PDF ready for download. I really like what it looks like so far, and even if I don't get to play, I love reading the lore.

When I think about the Cyberpunk RPG--remember the fiction of "Cyberpunk" does take place before the game and authors of such works are even mentioned in the game--I am very surprised about how many future events and technological achievements were successfully predicted. Almost every crazy thing in the games has either already happened or is currently in development. Stories about: chimeras, bionic limbs, implantable skill chips, fully functioning A.I., Self-driving vehicles, designer drugs, rabid media reporters and savage corporations sometimes read like they are ripped from today's headlines--er, newsfeeds--from a game created back in the late 1980's. Almost everything is spot-on...except one thing--no, not the nukes or astroids--I'm talking about smartphones and a wireless net.

In the CP "universe" there is still a reliance on paper products--FAX Machines and even the, then futuristic, "print on demand" Screamsheets--for example are still prevalent and relevant. Today in the real 2019 you almost never need a FAX and newspapers are going the way of fidget spinners. Old guys like me still love the physical media, and--to a certain extent--I supposed there will always be a niche market for such, but the kids these days...they don't want it. Almost EVERYTHING is digital and you're using your wireless smart phone to do it--no hacking needed.

I have said for years that I now live in a dystopian present and the fact that I love the CP genre so much is one of the reasons I'm able to cope without going into technostress. In just four days in China I've seen things...seen things you little people wouldn't believe. First of all, right off the plane you buy a Chinese SIM card, if you're smart. The card activates your number and gives you X amount of time including data. You'll download a multitude of apps, the most important of which is called WeChat. They are practically in a cashless society now with this WeChat--it's everywhere--and it's so easy to use. ATM we have cash because we just got here, but once I start getting a salary it will all be deposited electronically into my account. I won't even have a check stub unless I print one off. Almost everything is purchased using this app to scan QR codes--even if you want to buy a little toy from a gumball machine or use a massage chair--you gotta scan the code. Coins don't work. (I'm only being slightly facetious, you can probably find an old machine somewhere, but I haven't seen them) There are other 'pay' apps but WeChat is the big one. I know it's available in the States as well, but it certainly isn't the big deal it is out here. Next, you get the Chinese version of Uber in an app called DiDi this connects to your WeChat which is connected to your bank. I book cars without ever talking to the guys. If I did have to talk, I could use the Youdao Fanyiguan app like a universal translator. They have robots in the mall that can give you directions...they recognize your face and know you're standing right next to them. They don't know that I don't speak a lick of Chinese (yet) and they aren't compatible with the translation app--possibly a user problem from my end--but still. Now all of this stuff happened...and continues to happen...before we reached the actual year 2020. Can you imagine what might come around by the time "real" 2077 gets here? If technology continues to advance the way it has, it wouldn't surprise me if a lot of us are here to see what transpires first hand.

RPG A Day 2018: Day 26 Gaming ambition for the next 12 months

Today is the first day of my 9th year of teaching at Al Seddique Boys School in the Liwa Western Region of the beautiful desert country of the United Arab Emirates...with any luck I'll make it will be the beginning of my farewell tour. As such getting out of here will be a lot of work on my end and I must focus constantly throughout this year so that I'm not caught with my pants down this Spring when resignation time comes around. Certain set-backs have already happened over the summer that will either mean even more work than I expected to achieve that end or else put my head down and stay where I am for one more year beyond the one that just started. In either case, the RPG year for 2018-2019 will probably be the worse for it.

On the docket:

The Roll*20 Cyberpunk 2020 weekly game should continue. At times my roster of players is like a revolving door, and even I had to take a session off last week thanks to a summer cold. If I get tired of the setting I may persuade my players to take on the 'Journey to Ragnarok: A Norse Mythology Adventure for 5E' that I backed on Kickstarter...this may also become a live table option, but that's really not the plan...

At the weekly live table we should continue a D&D5E campaign hopefully from September onward. I want to run Mutant Crawl Classics with them as a palette cleanser if the group is up for it. This group is also at a crossroads as the regular DM from last year has moved away. I want to step up, but as I have a four year old, I am a bit of  a flake that's liable to call it at the last minute nowadays. There are other teachers in the group who are also planning on making this their last year. Odds are even if I get stuck yet again, they'll be moving on. Could be the end of an era for us.

On the Gulf Roleplaying Community front, there is usually at least a meeting or two in the capital city of Abu Dhabi. Last year we only had the one meeting back in October '17, and I know of at least three group members who've already hit the dusty trail, so who knows if they'll even run one for us this year? The rest of the meetings are in Dubai--the most famous of the Emirates--which I normally don't take due to driving distance. I may make exceptions this year based on how much gaming I'm able to do. It is my farewell tour after all. Also in Dubai is the Middle East Comic and Sci-Fi Convention, our own Comicon, which always has a strong GRC presence. Again, it's not usually my thing but I'll play it by ear this year.

Kickstarter and other online strangeness. I already have a few products that I want to buy. As I mentioned yesterday, R Talsarian Games are offering Cyberpunk books that I want in print with more promised, and an official My Little Pony RPG by Hasbro that I really want with a dice set, dungeon master's screen and everything. These products may in fact be purchased, but I'm holding off because I have too much stuff to move already. Unfortunately, aside from PDFs which I really don't like all that much, I've had to retire from backing Kickstarter projects as in addition to adding to my moving burden, they may not be created and mailed out to me in time. I'm really pushing the idea of GingTFO of here this year if at all possible.

Anyway, that's the year at a glance. If I do get to move, I wonder if I'll have time to participate in RPG a Day 2019?

RPG A Day 2018: Day 25... Game that had an impact on you in the last 12 months

It's time to really talk about the system I use in my current campaign, Cyberpunk 2020.

For those not in the know, Cyberpunk is a specific genre of science fiction that takes place in the not-too distant future...next Sunday A.D. not really...actually, the times are usually somewhat non-specific or in the 2000's. Everything is seen through the filter of writers and other creators from the late 70's early 80's, so most of the time although it is the future, it has a retro vibe. Often the genre is described as high-tech, low-life. It's the ultimate evolution of a disposable society wherein image is everything and perception trumps reality. Technology has advanced to the point wherein humans have to fight to keep their humanity. Popular examples include: Bladerunner, The Matrix, Total Recall, and Ghost in the Shell. Recently, the entire genre has been making a comeback in film with sequels to Bladerunner, a live-action Ghost in the Shell, an upcoming live-action Battle Angel Alita, and another reboot of the terminator on the way, and in television with the shows: Mr. Robot, Orphan Black, Altered Carbon and Black Mirror enjoying at least some popularity. As a fan of the genre, I think it's a great time and that more people are being exposed to Cyberpunk than arguably any time before. Unfortunately, it can also be argued that we have yet to have a "break out" success in this current renaissance. Here's to hoping one of these properties becomes a killer app.

There is a wide range of settings within the Cyberpunk genre itself. Some are very futuristic while others are more grounded in reality. Some of the common challenges for the people 2000's include, but are not limited to: natural disasters: earthquakes, asteroids, abnormal weather conditions, man made disasters: usually nukes of some kind, political shake-ups, oppression and confusion brought about by the rapid expansion of tech that outpaced the average person's ability to comprehend it, integration with machinery, integration biotech such as enhanced genetics and chimeras, sentient A.I.: androids, robots, holograms, designer drugs even more deadly than today, the rise in power of corporations, the rise of street gangs in response, usually, a matrix-like network of some kind, and the general questioning of what it means to be alive and human. Most of these stories include one of these aspects or another. Cyberpunk 2020 as a game attempts to make all of these things happen at more or less the same time.

One of the aspects of CP2020 that makes it interesting is the great number of predictions that have come true. Almost everything that was predicted has either been produced, is in development or in some cases has been surpassed in the real world...and we've still got two years to go. Some of the interesting 'misses' are: the continued reliance on fax technology and hard-copies that we've all but completely moved away from today, the relative high cost of cellular phones and the reliability of wireless networks, and the fact that in real-life we've shown a bit more restraint in use of nukes. There are lore reasons one could use as to why things developed as they did in the CP2020 world vs. what really happened--we haven't had widespread use of the nukes, we haven't had major asteroids crashing into the Earth either of which would have had a major impact on the wireless network, I'm sure. It's still funny that our smartphones IRL are more powerful yet smaller than the Netrunner's high-tech computer gear. I guess the same could be said for Penny's computer in Inspector Gadget. 

Cyberpunk's first edition (1988) was set in 2013, second edition (1990) which is the most popular, took place in 2020 while a third, generally unpopular, edition (2005) took place in 203X. All of the editions have had heavy/primary input by Michael Pondsmith who is credited with being the creator and overseer of the property. R. Talisorian games also produce other popular RPG products and have recently gained the licence and have produced 'The Witcher' for table-tops based on the popular videogame series of the same name. It has been well received so far. Pondsmith, his family, and the rest of the crew are very open with fans and share a lot of behind the scenes info. Apparently, the company was already planning a new edition of the tabletop game to be known as 'Cyberpunk:RED'. They were approached by CD Projekt Red, the highly regarded videogame makers behind the aforementioned 'The Witcher' series of games. CD Projekt Red was interested in the Cyberpunk property, and began development of the highly anticipated 'Cyberpunk 2077' videogame. At it's core this game is said to be using the lore and mechanics of CP2020. Buzz around this game has grown for years and years, and we may be waiting for years to come, but progress is being shown regularly. The company says Ready when it's Ready. Until then all we can do is wait. This anticipation along with the new popularity of Cyberpunk as a genre has resulted in many potential players looking to play CP2020...and that's good for me.

All PDFs are available in the usual places, but what interests me is that print on demand can be had for many of the books over at the R.Talsorian website. I--like a true CP2020 character--want the hard copies. As to the system itself, It is skill based. You can build a real badass right out of the box depending on what the GM says, but no matter how good you are a lucky punk with a gun could take you out. Which is what makes it awesome. Improvement to skills--which comes at a sloooow grind--and upgrades to equipment are the official way of 'leveling up'. To use a skill it is rolling a D10+your stat level+your skill level vs. a set difficulty number. There are levels of success that was kind of ahead of its time for an old system. You fumble on a '1' and crit on a '10'. The '10's even explode so one could have a crazy level of success. There were at least two combat systems throughout CP2020's long run. I use Friday Night Firefight from CP2020 rule book. It is too complex to go into here with rules for hand to hand, range, automatic weapons, and heavy weapons, but if you learn it...it is excellent. There is also an entirely different set of rules for 'Netrunning' that is almost a separate game in itself. Some people say that it is broken. For years I didn't understand it myself, but the Roll*20 character sheet made by someguy--wish I knew how to give him credit--made it easy to understand. It is a lot of fun--for the game master and the Netrunner players--but it's a tricky thing to keep the non-Netrunners entertained should you try this game mechanic.

I've said more than enough. Give Cyberpunk a try won't you?

https://talsorianstore.com/

https://www.cyberpunk.net/en