Given that New Flesh Red RPG emphasizes Cronenbergian biopunk, body horror, and corporate ethical decay, the bioware should be less about slick chrome and more about organic, unsettling, and perhaps morally compromising modifications.
Here are five bioware devices for your game, complete with a description and potential mechanics/flavor:
Bioware Devices for New Flesh Red RPG
1. The Synaptic Mesh-Worm
Description: A genetically-engineered parasitic worm, implanted near the brain stem, that secretes a bio-luminescent enzyme directly onto the host's neurons. This dramatically improves mental processing speed and memory recall, but the host experiences unsettlingly vivid dreams of the worm's microscopic "life." Produced by Takeda Technologies' shadowy R&D division.
Effect: Grants a +1 bonus to all Intellect and Empathy checks (or similar mental stats in the Red system).
Drawback/Side Effect: The host suffers from Chronic Insomnia (roll a difficult check to gain the benefits of a long rest) and, in moments of extreme stress, the worm can cause painful neural feedback, resulting in a temporary -2 penalty to all Initiative rolls for the remainder of the encounter.
2. Bio-Adhesive Skin Grafts (The 'Second Skin')
Description: A thin, dermal layer of fast-regenerating, chameleon-like biopolymer grafted over significant portions of the body. It can rapidly shift color and texture to perfectly match any adjacent surface, allowing the user to seamlessly blend in. The graft requires constant application of a nutrient paste (a black market item) to prevent it from becoming flaky and visibly diseased.
Effect: Grants a +2 bonus to Stealth checks in all non-open environments (urban, industrial, forested, etc.).
Drawback/Side Effect: If the host misses a nutrient paste application (e.g., runs out of the black market supply), the grafts become dry and itch horribly, inflicting a -1 penalty to all non-Stealth checks until treated. Furthermore, the skin occasionally sheds like a snake, leaving behind a disturbing, near-perfect copy of the user's outer layer that must be disposed of quickly.
3. The Glandular Combat Injector
Description: A cluster of synthetic, highly volatile adrenal glands implanted beneath the clavicle. When activated (often by a small, muscle-flex trigger), they flood the user's system with a potent, bio-synthesized cocktail of pain suppressants and stimulants. The resulting rush makes the user terrifyingly fast and aggressive, but the crash afterward is debilitating.
Effect: As an Action, the user can inject themselves. For the next 1 minute (4 rounds), the user gains a +3 bonus to Melee Attack and Evasion checks, and is immune to the first instance of pain-based penalties or knockdown effects.
Drawback/Side Effect: Once the effect ends, the host suffers 2 points of Organ Damage (a permanent or hard-to-heal damage type) and a -4 penalty to all checks for the next 10 minutes from extreme fatigue and nausea.
4. Exoskeletal Tendril-Grip (The 'Spider Hand')
Description: A subtle, fibrous network of engineered muscle and synthetic bone woven into the hand and forearm. When triggered, four long, segmented, black chitinous tendrils rapidly extrude from the wrist and fingertips, acting as razor-sharp clamps, climbing aids, or a terrifying close-combat weapon. The retraction is slow and often sprays biological lubricant.
Effect: Provides a new Melee Weapon: Tendril-Grip (Damage: Medium, Piercing/Grappling). This device also gives a +2 bonus to all Climbing and Grappling checks.
Drawback/Side Effect: The tendrils are susceptible to cold. In cold environments, they take a full round to deploy and inflict a -1 penalty to their Damage. The device is also impossible to conceal, often causing social checks to be made at a disadvantage in non-combat situations.
5. Ocular Slime-Sacs (The 'Viscera-Vision')
Description: Two small, internal sacs grafted onto the lower eyelids. On command, a bio-luminescent, viscous fluid is secreted over the eyeballs. This fluid reacts to minute temperature fluctuations and pheromonal traces, granting the user a form of thermal and chemical sight. The visual distortion is extreme, however, making the world look like a shifting, oily pool of heat and color.
Effect: The user can see in complete darkness, automatically detect hidden heat sources (such as people behind thin walls), and gains a +1 bonus to all Perception checks to detect lies or emotional states.
Drawback/Side Effect: The fluid causes eye irritation. The user suffers a -1 penalty to all Ranged Attack checks while Viscera-Vision is active due to the oily distortion. Continuous use (more than one hour) causes the eyes to weep an oily residue for a full day.
Organizing the bioware with pricing and availability will make it easy to integrate these gruesome mods into the black markets and clinics of your New Flesh Red world.
Here is a Black Market Price and Availability Table for the five devices, using a system similar to the one found in the core Cyberpunk RED rulebook for cost and difficulty to acquire:
Black Market Bioware Price and Availability
The Cost is listed in Eurodollars (E$), and Availability determines how hard it is to find the device, usually represented by a roll or check difficulty.
| Bioware Device | Cost (E$) | Availability (Acquisition Check Difficulty) | General Legality & Source |
| 1. The Synaptic Mesh-Worm | 5,000 E$/yr (Subscription Model) | Difficult (DV 17) | Highly Illegal. Requires specialized, refrigerated storage. Sourced from high-level corporate labs or organized crime. |
| 2. Bio-Adhesive Skin Grafts | 1,000 E$ (Grafting Only) | Everyday (DV 13) | Illegal. Common among smugglers and spies. Grafting is cheap, but the Nutrient Paste costs $\text{E\$}200$ per month. |
| 3. The Glandular Combat Injector | 3,500 E$ | Difficult (DV 17) | Highly Illegal/Mil-Spec. Often salvaged from dead soldiers or created in underground hormone labs. Extremely hazardous to install. |
| 4. Exoskeletal Tendril-Grip | 2,500 E$ | Challenging (DV 15) | Illegal. Favored by industrial saboteurs, black market muscle, and specialized assassins. Requires a skilled Medtech for integration. |
| 5. Ocular Slime-Sacs | 800 E$ | Everyday (DV 13) | Illegal but Common. Often implanted in Scavengers, urban trackers, and street gangs. Relatively easy to install. |
Black Market Notes
Subscription Model (The Mesh-Worm): The $\text{E\$}5,000$ per year is required to receive the chemical bath/antifreeze/anti-rejection drugs the worm requires to stay stable. Missing a payment results in increasingly severe neural feedback (GM's discretion).
Organ Damage (The Combat Injector): The 2 points of Organ Damage from the Combat Injector crash should be considered permanent unless treated by a highly specialized Medtech using extremely expensive, cutting-edge bio-regeneration therapy (Cost: $\text{E\$}5,000$ and a Difficult (DV 17) Medical Check).
The Medtech's Role: Since this is New Flesh, installation is never clean. A successful Medicine Check (difficulty equal to the Availability DV) is required for installation. A critical failure on this check could lead to infection, permanent damage, or the device malfunctioning catastrophically!
Organ Damage Mechanic
Since New Flesh Red focuses on the cost of body modification, the Organ Damage mechanic should represent the permanent, systemic wear and tear caused by synthetic implants and volatile biological augmentation. This type of damage is much harder to heal than standard injury.
Rule: Organ Damage (OD)
Tracking: Organ Damage (OD) is tracked separately from standard HP/Wound Levels. It represents systemic stress, cellular deterioration, or the slow poisoning of the body's major systems.
Effects: For every 5 points of accumulated Organ Damage, the character suffers a permanent -1 penalty to one of their base STATs (e.g., TECH, BODY, or REF) chosen by the Player (or the GM if the damage is specific, like $\text{OD}$ to the eyes from the Slime-Sacs).
Example: A character accumulates 5 points of OD from repeated use of the Glandular Combat Injector. They must choose to take a permanent $-1$ penalty to their BODY stat.
Healing: Organ Damage is extremely difficult to heal.
Standard first aid, therapy, or basic Medtech kits have no effect on OD.
Healing OD requires a dedicated surgical procedure using Black Market Bio-Regeneration Therapy.
This treatment costs a base of $\text{E\$}5,000$ per 1 point of OD healed and requires a Medtech to succeed on a Difficult (DV 17) Medicine Check over 24 hours of surgery.
A critical failure on the Medicine Check results in the patient taking 1 additional point of OD and the E$5,000 is wasted.
Critical Threshold: If a character's accumulated OD equals their current BODY stat, they begin suffering from irreversible organ failure and must make a Death Save at the start of every combat round or strenuous activity until the OD is healed down to below their BODY stat.
Acquisition Scenario: The Spider Hand
Scenario Title: The Gutter Mechanic's Price
Bioware Target: The Exoskeletal Tendril-Grip (Spider Hand)
Acquisition Check DV: Challenging (DV 15)
The Contact: "Patchwork Pete," a former Biotechnica technician turned Black Market Medtech. He runs a hidden clinic beneath a polluted water purification plant in the Combat Zone.
The Problem: Pete has the necessary components for the Spider Hand, but the key installation tool—a specific custom-made surgical laser array—was stolen two nights ago by a petty rival gang, the "Marrow Boys," who are trying to start their own bioware operation.
Player Hook: Pete promises to install the Tendril-Grip for half-price ($\text{E\$}1,250$) if the party can recover the laser array. He warns them that the Marrow Boys are inexperienced, and if they try to use the device without proper training, they might destroy the necessary components.
The Conflict: The Marrow Boys' hideout is an old, cramped meat-packing facility.
Stealth Approach: If the party tries to sneak in, they must deal with the Marrow Boys' Sentry (a low-level ganger armed with Bio-Adhesive Skin Grafts) who will use the grafts to blend into the industrial surfaces (Stealth DV 15 to spot).
Direct Approach: The main group of Marrow Boys are armed but poorly trained. They have one member who foolishly attempted to install the Glandular Combat Injector himself. This member is currently suffering from the crash effects (permanently on -4 to all checks) and is unstable, making him a wild card in the fight.
Resolution: Recover the laser array and return it to Patchwork Pete. He then performs the surgery (requiring a Medtech's DV 15 check). If the party critically failed any step of the scenario, Pete might demand the full $\text{E\$}2,500$ and only install it with a penalty to the Medtech's roll (e.g., DV 17).
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.