NEWS

Cyberpunk Settings

  • 27 Replies
  • 4981 Views

Banshee

  • *
  • Catalyst Demo Team
  • Ace Runner
  • ***
  • Posts: 1095
« on: <02-05-20/1103:28> »
The thread about the cyberpunk documentary got me to thinking. Question to the masses?

If you were looking for an alternative setting to Shadowrun, what would it be like?

Completely original? Based on an existing novel, series, movie, ect? If so which one?
« Last Edit: <02-05-20/1110:49> by Banshee »
Robert "Banshee" Volbrecht
Freelancer & FAQ Committee member
Former RPG Lead Agent
Catalyst Demo Team

Hobbes

  • *
  • Catalyst Demo Team
  • Prime Runner
  • ***
  • Posts: 3078
« Reply #1 on: <02-05-20/1123:55> »
For me the main appeal of the Shadowrun setting is the "Mash-up" aspect.

Games like Torg, Rifts, Starfinder also scratch that itch for me.

"Cyberpunk" gets real table specific.  I've played Shadowrun games that are essentially high fantasy kind of campaigns and had plenty of fun. 


Stainless Steel Devil Rat

  • *
  • Errata Coordinator
  • Prime Runner
  • *****
  • Posts: 4572
« Reply #2 on: <02-05-20/1131:36> »
I'm kind of sour on the mashup nature, but I think it has more to do with unbalanced game mechanics than not liking the atmosphere.  Honestly i think Shadowrun would be vastly improved if spirits were just taken away ;)

Setting-wise, though... call me morbid but Shadowrun is kind of too "Happy Bright Future" for my cyberpunk tastes.  Nowhere near enough despair and dystopia.  A cyberpunk-supernatural mashup I could totally dig is Cyberpunk/Cthulu.
RPG mechanics exist to give structure and consistency to the game world, true, but at the end of the day, you’re fighting dragons with algebra and random number generators.

Ixal

  • *
  • Chummer
  • **
  • Posts: 148
« Reply #3 on: <02-05-20/1242:00> »
For me the main appeal of the Shadowrun setting is the "Mash-up" aspect.

Games like Torg, Rifts, Starfinder also scratch that itch for me.

"Cyberpunk" gets real table specific.  I've played Shadowrun games that are essentially high fantasy kind of campaigns and had plenty of fun.

For me too. Although Rifts is limited by the rules and imo too post apocalyptic while Starfinder ignores the SciFi aspect too much and is too much geared towards dungeon crawls far away from any form of civilization. I do not know Torg.
So from all those mentions only Shadowrun really does a "mash-up" of technology and magic.

MercilessMing

  • *
  • Omae
  • ***
  • Posts: 598
« Reply #4 on: <02-05-20/1339:43> »
Setting-wise, though... call me morbid but Shadowrun is kind of too "Happy Bright Future" for my cyberpunk tastes.  Nowhere near enough despair and dystopia.  A cyberpunk-supernatural mashup I could totally dig is Cyberpunk/Cthulu.

Same here, I'd prefer less high fantasy, more occult.  And Shadowrun definitely pays more lip service to cyberpunk themes than they actually support it in game terms.

If we're talking about a Shadowrun game with a different Shadowrun setting, where Cyberpunk and Magic are mashed up, I think I would just like a setting that's more tightly designed, to be honest.  Instead of a setting where Tech and Magic are blended all over the place (despite what the books say about them not playing well together), I'd like a tech-heavy setting where magic is rare, lower powered, and represents chaos in a world obsessed with control.  So it has a cyberpunk purpose, because it's f'ing magic.  When magic is powerful and you need magic to fight magic and it boils down to just another dimension of combat, it becomes ubiquitous and predictable and it ceases to be magic for me.


Banshee

  • *
  • Catalyst Demo Team
  • Ace Runner
  • ***
  • Posts: 1095
« Reply #5 on: <02-05-20/1432:43> »
For me I'm really digging what K.C. Alexander did in Necrotech ands it's sequel Nanoshock
Robert "Banshee" Volbrecht
Freelancer & FAQ Committee member
Former RPG Lead Agent
Catalyst Demo Team

Horsemen

  • *
  • Catalyst Demo Team
  • Chummer
  • ***
  • Posts: 229
« Reply #6 on: <02-05-20/1731:51> »
For me I'm really digging what K.C. Alexander did in Necrotech ands it's sequel Nanoshock

Would you mind providing a brief summary of that Banshee please?
Agent #191 Catalyst Demo Team

Banshee

  • *
  • Catalyst Demo Team
  • Ace Runner
  • ***
  • Posts: 1095
« Reply #7 on: <02-05-20/1856:01> »
For me I'm really digging what K.C. Alexander did in Necrotech ands it's sequel Nanoshock

Would you mind providing a brief summary of that Banshee please?

The primary character Riho is a razor girl street thug who wakes up in a lab with a huge gap in her memory and her girlfriend has been turned into a cyber zombie by the Necrotech virus and she has to figure out what's going on from there in a very gritty street action cyberpunk mystery
Robert "Banshee" Volbrecht
Freelancer & FAQ Committee member
Former RPG Lead Agent
Catalyst Demo Team

Singularity

  • *
  • Chummer
  • **
  • Posts: 178
« Reply #8 on: <02-05-20/2154:24> »
There is The Sprawl from Ardens Ludere; it's a cyberpunk setting and the Touched: A Darkening Alley supplement adds low magic and horror to the game.

Vormaerin

  • *
  • Newb
  • *
  • Posts: 11
« Reply #9 on: <02-06-20/0109:06> »
What I like about Shadowrun is the cyberpunk/urban fantasy cross over.   What I don't like about it is the focus on mega threats of the week and high fantasy shenanigans.  Personally, I don't think shadowrun is "cyberpunk" thematically.  It has cybertech, but it is a high fantasy world in its themes and stories.

 I'd be tempted to do something like a cyberpunk version of iHunt.

Horsemen

  • *
  • Catalyst Demo Team
  • Chummer
  • ***
  • Posts: 229
« Reply #10 on: <02-06-20/0111:56> »
The primary character Riho is a razor girl street thug who wakes up in a lab with a huge gap in her memory and her girlfriend has been turned into a cyber zombie by the Necrotech virus and she has to figure out what's going on from there in a very gritty street action cyberpunk mystery

Interesting. I will have to see if they are available when I hit my FLGS tomorrow.
Agent #191 Catalyst Demo Team

Michael Chandra

  • *
  • Catalyst Demo Team
  • Prime Runner
  • ***
  • Posts: 9922
  • Question-slicing ninja
« Reply #11 on: <02-06-20/0138:23> »
Eh, I don't often include megathreats myself. And that's the beauty: You get enough variation in the material that you can go either way. Want heavy cyberpunk? You got what you need. High fantasy? Sure. A splash of hope? Well, okay, there's a bit of room for that.
How am I not part of the forum?? O_O I am both active and angry!

Banshee

  • *
  • Catalyst Demo Team
  • Ace Runner
  • ***
  • Posts: 1095
« Reply #12 on: <02-06-20/0701:25> »
The primary character Riho is a razor girl street thug who wakes up in a lab with a huge gap in her memory and her girlfriend has been turned into a cyber zombie by the Necrotech virus and she has to figure out what's going on from there in a very gritty street action cyberpunk mystery

Interesting. I will have to see if they are available when I hit my FLGS tomorrow.

They are not game books ... yet. Just novels using thatcsetting.
Robert "Banshee" Volbrecht
Freelancer & FAQ Committee member
Former RPG Lead Agent
Catalyst Demo Team

Horsemen

  • *
  • Catalyst Demo Team
  • Chummer
  • ***
  • Posts: 229
« Reply #13 on: <02-06-20/1608:02> »
The primary character Riho is a razor girl street thug who wakes up in a lab with a huge gap in her memory and her girlfriend has been turned into a cyber zombie by the Necrotech virus and she has to figure out what's going on from there in a very gritty street action cyberpunk mystery

Interesting. I will have to see if they are available when I hit my FLGS tomorrow.

They are not game books ... yet. Just novels using thatcsetting.

One of my FLGS's is also a book store. It celebrated its 40th anniversary this year.

Not sure if this will be linkable or not but this is one of the news stories that ran last month.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/sentry-box-d-d-scifi-fantasy-gaming-board-games-1.5412019
Agent #191 Catalyst Demo Team

CanRay

  • *
  • Freelancer
  • Mr. Johnson
  • ***
  • Posts: 11141
  • Spouter of Random Words
« Reply #14 on: <02-06-20/2237:02> »
I've only been to the Sentry Box once, and I already miss it very, very much!   :o
Si vis pacem, para bellum

#ThisTaserGoesTo11