Review & Commentary On Michael Brown's New World: 2D6 Adventure in a Cyberpunk America For Cepheus Engine rpg or Your Old School 2d6 Science Fiction rpgs

 Oh, beautiful for spacious skies

Skies that are colored gray, not like that of a dead channel, but from rain trying in vain to wash away the grime and evil of the streets below.

For amber waves of grain

Grain used to make “food” to feed America’s 430+ million people; and of course, the fatcats still get the first — and sometimes the only — mouthfuls.

"For purple mountains’ majesties

That the average person will never get to see, because they’re too busy with their noses to the grindstone, pleasing their corporate masters. If the skies were even clear enough, that is.

Above the fruited plain

At least those plains that haven’t been devastated by the worsening weather events brought on by climate change.

America, America

No longer exists in a recognizable form, ever since becoming a mere fascist shell of itself under the boot heel of an ascendant China."

"God shed his grace on thee

The gods now live above the masses in their mighty towers of polycarbon and glass, imposing their will through tyrannical (and compliant) politicians and legions of armored federal agents.

And crown thy good with brotherhood

There’s very little good in the world anymore and “brotherhood” is a joke. There is only destroy or be destroyed, succeed or fail...and the system is rigged to make you fail.

From sea to shining sea

Which (also thanks to climate change) comes a little closer every year, flooding once-habitable land"

"New World is a cyberpunk campaign framework based on the Traveller SRD (which is itself based on The Original Science Fiction Roleplaying Game published in the 1970s) and the Cepheus Engine SRD. Set in the middle of the 21st century in an America rendered almost unrecognizable by past events, the campaign features many of the tropes commonly expected in a cyberpunk world, along with some developed expecially for New World:

• A timeline based on and extrapolated from real-life events
• A familiar lifepath character generation system
• A generous selection of cybernetic modifications, mundane equipment, and vehicles
• Simplified rules for computer use and cyber-combat
• A discussion of mid-21st century American life and culture, including a glossary of slang terms
• A look at the changes wrought on America and the rest of the world
• A system for mapping sections of the “Net (aka cyberspace)
• A system for determining spontaneous radicalization, one of the worst scourges of the future age
• And much, much more

It’s a new world, just around the corner. Welcome to the future, daoren…hope you survive it!" 

Someone once told me that all good cyberpunk rpg's are a political statement. And this is true but not in the way that you might think! Michael Brown's New World: 2D6 Adventure in a Cyberpunk America does what some games take pages & pages to do in sixty eight pages of Cepheus Engine rpg goodness. And it does it by hitting all of the usual  Cepheus Engine & Traveller notes. 

And Mr.Brown lays it out in the first campaign overview; "The High Concept: The heroes are high-tech lowlifes navigating precarious existences in an authoritarian, China-influenced United States. Setting: America, in the near future (within the next 50 years.) America is a “soft” vassal state of China, now the world’s premier superpower. Social and financial breakdowns have produced a dystopian society of haves and have-nots, overseen by megacorporation executives in their mighty towers and preyed upon by organized crime and a puppet US government. However, America still views itself (and behaves) as a mover-and-shaker in global politics; the general public is unaware that the impetus for American policy often begins in the halls of Beijing. Scope: (Suggested) Local at first (one or two cities), perhaps becoming international as the party gains more power and influence and begins tackling larger and more complex adventures." 
Make no mistake New World: 2D6 Adventure in a Cyberpunk America  isn't your usual cyberpunk style game setting. This is an America that is past its prime, seen better days, & is very dangerous. The setting is part action movie & part thinking man's cyberpunk campaign. Brown's design & writing is tight, solid, & easy to incorporate into a 2d6 campaign. Michael Brown is easily one of the least appreciated Cepheus Engine rpg designers using the 2d6 rpg platform today in my opinion. And that's a true shame. The man know what he's doing and  New World: 2D6 Adventure in a Cyberpunk America  shows this.  New World: 2D6 Adventure in a Cyberpunk America   is expansive and very well done.  New World: 2D6 Adventure in a Cyberpunk America  showcases the strengths of the 2d6 system with solid career paths, an extensive cyberpunk array across the board. And a very dangerous setting. In point of fact one could add in either Cepheus Atom or Mr. Brown's Afterday to show areas that have broken down in society. While you don't need either of these products they can easily slot in.

Michael Brown's New World: 2D6 Adventure in a Cyberpunk America uses its cyberpunk aesthetic to its advantage taking carefully created & crafted rules that are perfect for a short beer with pretzels game night. Or as a part of an extensive cyberpunk campaign that could last years. I highly recommend  Michael Brown's New World: 2D6 Adventure in a Cyberpunk America.  New World: 2D6 Adventure in a Cyberpunk America  is a reliable, playable, easy to run, & fun game campaign setting. At eight dollars this is a steal for a fun & very dangerous cyberpunk rpg campaign setting to add to your Cepheus Engine rpg collection! 

Michael Brown's New World: 2D6 Adventure in a Cyberpunk America is  available right here. 

First Impressions & Review of Cities Without Number Rpg by Kevin Crawford

 "The world is neon and dust.

There is nothing more than the flesh. There is nothing greater than the wires. There is nothing to dream that is not sold and nothing to worship that is not made. It is a mirrorshade world of human reflections, every red hunger and every black passion worshiped in cathedrals of glass and greed. The great love their sins like children and the least want only to be great. Who could hope for more?"

Cities Without Number is a cyberpunk role-playing game built for sandbox adventures in a dystopia of polished chrome and bitter misery. It's both a full-fledged Sine Nomine toolkit for building a cyberpunk world of your own and an Old School Renaissance-inspired game system for playing out the reckless adventures of the desperate men and women who live in it. Whether polished metal or flesh and blood, your operators will risk their lives and more to seize those precious things a merciless world would keep from them.

Cities without Number rpg has finally been released to the public but the backers of the Kickstarter have been watching this rpg's evolution for sometime now. And it's a beast of a pdf clocking in at two hundred & fifty six pages of pure Cyberpunk rpg. Cities without Number  pretty much does it all, Cities has great layout, excellent fonts, and a solid B/X OSR  tool box approach to it's material. 
Cities is completely cross compatible with Worlds Without Number, Stars Without Number, and Godbound as well as other Sine Nomine publishing rpg product. And Cities has been in development for months now. As a Kickstarter backer for this project we've been at ground zero for development. Take note other OSR publishers this is how you run a kickstarter. You get your gamer's feed back, take on board opinions, and more then turnout a great product. 
There's already a Cities Without Number: Free Version rpg which has the following in it by Kevin Crawford: 

• An old-school inspired game system that's fully compatible with the sci-fi Stars Without Number game and its fantasy sister-game Worlds Without Number
• Cyberware and sophisticated high-tech gear suitable for chroming the most discriminating cyborg and equipping the most refined of street operators
• Playability-focused hacking rules designed to give hacking-focused PCs useful and important things to do without forcing an entire separate mini-game on the GM
• Gear rules for drones and vehicles, to better equip PCs who want to bring a little extra iron on their next mission
• System-neutral Sine Nomine worldbuilding tools for helping a GM create their own custom cyberpunk world or elaborate the details of existing worlds and settings
• Gang, corp, and city district creation tools for fleshing out your world with people and places that fit
• Fifty Mission Tags for adventure creation, plus guidelines and step-by-step procedures for handling facility infiltrations, managing local heat, selling loot, and other activities beloved of corp-hating street scum everywhere
• The default campaign setting of the City, a premade backdrop to help you get into the game as quickly as possible

And Cities does exactly what it says on the package able to deliver the goods in no time. And does it in style. And Cities can easily be combined with Worlds Without Number to bring you a Shadowrun style Cyberpunk fantasy with little issue. 
And the paid version is even better with more tools and cybernetic goodness;"

In the deluxe edition of Cities Without Number, you'll also be getting...

• Cyberware quirks and features for particular megacorp product lines
• Variant gengineered human types for PCs who don't fit the baseline mold
• Optional rules for the psychological strain of Cyber Alienation
• Optional rules for cheap street cyber, for those campaign settings where every goon with a knife has some wire beneath his skin" 
• Spellcasting, spirit summoning, and magical items for GMs who want to add a dash of magic into their cyberpunk world

This also means that Cities can be used to turn any of your favorite B/X 'World's Most Popular' Rpg adventures into cyberfantasy adventures. And this goes a long way towards getting incredible mile out of modules such as 'B4 The Lost City' where perhaps the other levels contain more then merely a lost race but city blocks of lost cybernetics and net running to thier favorite old school adventure modules! 
Anyone whose been reading this blog knows we've been running Trey Causey's Strange Star campaign setting books. Cities is a perfect supplement to use with Strange Stars because of the transhumanistic elements of this OSR campaign. 

So is Cities without Number rpg worth getting?! In a word, 'oh yes!' if your looking for a solid set of Cyberpunk rpg OSR tools that is capable of creating a campaign to call your own? In a word, yes. This book is worth every penny! 

 

Review & Commentary on Stark Space By Magic Pig Media For The White Star Retroclone Rpg System and Your Old School Space Campaigns

 White Star has a dizzying array of products out for that stand alone retro clone rpg system. Magic Pig Media comes out with a solid amount of products from pulp era titles to fully realized enemies. And now they've created another thirty nine page interstellar  humancentric, dystopian universe for your PC's. Stark Space basically gives the DM all of the cyberpunk style options and tools  for an interstellar back water world or sector for the  sort of dangerous and sleazy adventure locations, NPC's, new PC options, races, a cyber add on system for White Star and other dangerous adventure ideas all boiled down to their cyberpunk gritty foundations and it does it with a  style all of its own. In many ways Stark Space reminds me of West End Game's other Star Wars titles the ones that showed what was happening in the other not so nice parts of the 'Expanded Star Wars' universe map. That's not a bad thing as we shall see.

GRAB IT HERE


Stark Space boils down the PC's into the template like menu of PC class types that White Star uses; here we get : The Brains, The Face, and The Muscle which are then customized as the player sees fit and then assembled into PC's. We have genetically modified combatants called  Max-Gene's, Simulants who are androids so close to human it hurts, and finally the  Psi are humans with powers who have been main streamed into  society and whom the corporations have main lined into interstellar  society.
   This is the setting  of hundreds of late night latterial Nineties  and early two Thousands cyberpunk movies and television shows and White Star is in bad need of this type of setting. Sure your PC's can play 'Star Knights' and 'Smugglers' at will, but in Stark Space these folks are out on the edge of intergalactic society struggling with the high octane of real down and dirty adventure life. This is straight mainline Adrenalin material and quite frankly lately White Star is starting to bore me. Stark Space is just what the cybernetic doctor ordered! For three dollars you get everything you need to plunk PC's right down into a failed colony or feral cyberpunk dungeon world. There are more then a couple of new  optional combat rules, equipment, and antagonists all waiting to tear into your PC's. Stark Space contains everything you need to bring your PC's right over into a high end intergalactic world of adventure without the BS of having another twenty books to nickel and dime you to death.
Stark Space  is a a fully developed set of tools straight out of the gate to create a high tension and dangerous world of cyberpunk dystopian adventure against the backdrop of the interstellar setting of White Star. I highly recommend this product and actively encourage Magic Pig Media to continue this title line  with other product adds on's for Stark Space.

Unboxing of 'All Bets Are Off' - An Alternative Setting for Postcards from Avalidad

 "All Bets are Off is a mini-setting for Postcards from Avalidad. It adds the city of Lisbon, Portugal’s capital, to the Avalidad game world. Lisbon of the near-future is a new entry in the infamous list of gambling and vice cities of the world, such as Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Macao, Monaco and Singapore."

Today I got an unexpected package from my friend Miguel Ribeiro From Postmortem Studios for the Postcards from Avalidad rpg. 'All Bets Are Off' is  high end Neo Noir Cyberpunk rpg setting that is  a highly polished & very well done. The whole thing is perfectly suited to the 'shadow wars' & back room dealings of  the 'Postcards from Avalidad' rpg.  And this post will pick up from here on the blog. 

' Postcards from Avalidad' is partially based upon the work of William S. Burroughs & a lot of the author's interesting take on the fake indo Middle Eastern campaign setting. This rpg is  fused with cyberpunk leanings & quite a bit of body horror bubbling under the campaign setting surface. 'All Bets Are Off ' picks up the action in Lisbon, Portugal and targets the usual Las Vegas style campaign issues. Lisbon in 'All Bets Bets Are Off' is a viberant & living cyberpunk city with all of its own glitz, glamour, and an undercurrent of corruption. Adventures within Lisbon are going to be a combination of grift, grief, loss, and gain all in equal measure. 

And here's where the players could get into deep trouble especially if the DM uses  Zozer Games Zaibatsu rpg. Then Lisbon becomes the center of space deals, & corporate gambling and much more. This city is the unofficial center of corporate politics of the setting. Interstellar deals are done over drinks & black jack.

And this is the center of the cyberpunk corporate  situation that we find ourselves within. This of course is going to breed more shadow wars, violence, and more. I highly recommend 'All Bets Are Off' - An Alternative Setting for Postcards from Avalidad. But I might do something completely different with this rpg setting coming up! 

'All Bets Are Off' - An Alternative Setting for Postcards from Avalidad Is Available Here. 

OSR Review & Commentary On Hacker By Paul Elliot for your 2d6 Science Fiction or Cyberpunk style rpg

 "You need a set of hacking rules for your futuristic RPG setting.

HACKER is system-neutral – a fast and unobtrusive set of cyberspace rules that recreates the colour and danger of a classic cyberpunk ‘consensual hallucination’. In the words of William Gibson, it is a ‘graphic representation of data … lines of light ranged in the non-space of the mind, clusters and constellations of data.’

In these rules, we call it Cyberspace. But it might be the Matrix, the Netrix, or just the Network. Take your pick. Just don’t call it the Internet. Or the Web"

So I got a copy of Hacker by Paul Elliot from an update from the Zaibatsu rpg. What followed were thirteen pages of common sense and well thoughtout hacking in Cyberspace rules and clear decking rules for any 2d6 Traveller or Cepheus Engine rpg driven games. Hacker does that by give us clear and precise rules for hacking into the computers and systems of Zaibatsu and Hostile. But really these rules could easily be appiied to any 2d6 Cyberpunk style rpg. Hacker's font and layout are clear and well done. 
Now the weird part of this is that I've been meaning to get back to Zaibatsu for sometime. The game mechanics of Hacker rely on the Hostile and Zaibatsu 2d6 systems. This means that Hacker has it's own internal system with the following;"Your roleplaying game will have its own dice, attributes, skill levels and so on. We can’t guarantee compatibility. So, at key moments we just ask you to ‘make a computer skill roll’, whether that’s 3D6 roll under 12, or roll 2D6 to get 8+, or to make a percentage roll against Computer Programming 56%, or whatever. You get the idea." 

Hacker is a step sideways for Zaibatsu and Hostile. There are already solid systems for cyberspace within Zaibatsu? Hacker presents a faster alternative & solid alternative. The rules in Hacker are built for convience & not to slow down your games. There are even two example runs through Cyberspace  with the Hacker rules. 

What Hacker gets right is the William Gibson Neuromancer style experience of Cyberspace. Hacker is a lean & mean set of 2d6 rules for the Cyberpunk 2d6 player out there. 

Mekton Zero Kickstarter

Well it looks like Mike Pondsmith is resurrecting one of my favorite systems of all times! Mekton is trying to come back! Very cool stuff! Lets look into the video. 

 From The Kickstarter: 

"Hi. I'm Mike Pondsmith, head of R. Talsorian Games. You may remember us from our games like Castle Falkenstein, Teenagers from Outer Space, and, of course,Cyberpunk. And in case you haven't heard, with the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077video game, we're now back on the block in a big way.

But this time, I want to talk about Mekton.

Mekton was the first game I wrote professionally. I've always had a soft spot forMekton, even more, believe it or not, than I do for the other game I'm more well known for, Cyberpunk.

Mekton was the first giant mecha game ever to come to the United States."

• Back then, I had to teach a lot of people about a unknown Japanese concept and get everyone up to speed.
• Now that anime is all over America, I can take the training wheels off Mekton.

What's Mekton Zero?

• Mekton Zero is the RPG my friends and I used to play even before I published the original Mekton One. That's why I call it Mekton Zero, because it came before the published edition.

• Set in original Mekton game world of Algol
• A group of refugees from the ancient Bendari Empire established a colony on the edge of known space.
• Now centuries later, rival factions fight with giant robots called Mekton for control of the planet.
  
  Sounds good so far but lets find out more about the planet! 
  A world based entirely around mecha.
  • Hundreds of military and civilian models
  • Sophisticated mecha “supercars” and experimental types.
  • Super cool police, rescue and firefighter mecha,
  • Cowboy mecha ride the range herding dinosaurs
  • Hunter meks fight Godzilla-sized monsters
  • Fisherman meks hunt battleship-sized sea serpents
  • Explorer meks seek lost civilizations and uncover alien threats
  • Titanic factory mecha build cities and tear up mountains for raw materials, guarded by mecha armies.
  
  
  Alright you had me at Dinosuar herding!
  
  Wonder how the character generation works? 
  Zero is designed to have everything you can cram into an anime-based role-playing game.
  • Gone beyond Lifepath system pioneered in the original Mekton and Cyberpunk.
  • Character roles are designed make you a classic hero or heroine right out of a robot anime show.
  • Character generation is fast, big on style and feel instead of numbers, and surrounds you with a supporting cast of interesting characters.
  We apply the same process to your Mekton.
  • Pick one from dozens of base models (with more to come).
  • Customize yours the way you want just like a real-life mecha designer.
  • Your mek has a history, background and unique quirks
  • Learn KATAS-- combat moves to turn your suit into a weapon right out of a mecha-fighting game.
    Here's a sample character sheet from the game!
    
    
    Want to know more?! Go over to the kickstarter right over HERE
    Bottom line- This is a slap dash fun little read. Giant mecha robots and dinoherding. Interstellar planets, and incredible mecha action. This is one to watch. 

Saturday Cyberpunk - The Squares Of The City - A Surreal Old School Campaign

 Introduction 

When I was in college this book was part of a book sale and I bought it for fifty cents.
Back then I was deep into the Prisoner television series and Squares was part of read while taking a train ride. This is thoroughly sociological SF, when that was still the Next Wave (originally published by Ballantine in 1965).

The  Plot According To Wiki:
It is a sociological story of urban class warfare and political intrigue, taking place in the fictional South American capital city of Vados. It explores the idea of subliminal messages as political tools, and it is notable for having the structure of the famous 1892 chess game between Wilhelm Steinitz and Mikhail Chigorin. The structure is not coincidental, and plays an important part in the story.
Plays an important part of the story? The game actually is the story. 

Brunner takes "subliminal domination" from advertising, the original fear, and explores its application to a city government  and city planning in this story. It is eerily prophetic of the future total dominance of politics by televised sound-bites, advertising, and mass persuasion. It predates the internet by an order of magnitude.

It was natural to combine it with this: 

The Hot House Chess Board

 

"The political atmosphere was of the hothouse kind. The least incident capable of being made to bear political fruit was being nurtured, protected from the frost [of contrary information] and fed with manure until it blossomed out of all proportion."

 John Brunner Squares of The City

What happens to a fictional South American country when its ultra modern city explodes into an orgy of violence and protests. When all of the chess pieces are put away and only the board is left standing? 

"Conformism is a slow death; anarchy is a rapid one. Between the two lies a control which [...] like a lady's corset is an advertisement  constricts and yet bestows a sense of freedom. We govern our country with a precision that would amaze you." (84-85)

The fiction Latin American country of Aguazul and more specifically to the capital city of Ciudad de Vados, a city envisioned and built by the man the city is named after--Vados. Vados lies abandoned in the jungles of Aguazul. So while riding the train and reading the book I took my copy of Cyberpunk 2020 and Over The Edge. Threw in a bit or two from Gurps Prisoner book then moved the action to an alternative 1969 -1970. 

Less cyber and more punk the adventurers are hired by the "United Police States" to recover a series of cutting edge mind control technologies imported in from else where. Namely the fictional country in Over The Edge. I freely admit to liberally stealing a few Prisoner references and throwing in some South African mercenaries. There were also a bit of a pulp vein running through the adventure when they encountered a few aquatic giant South American centipedes.
Out of the six people playing four survived but it was whom they found in the South American jungle that caused the most problems.
That began the so called "Club of Rome Quartet" campaign with the adventurers known as the "Amerikan Irregulars " .  The Amerikans roamed through  the games Cyberpunk 2020, Over The Edge, And finally were retired in Mage The Ascension. They made their way through the worlds of Stand on Zanzibar and Shock Wave Rider. I felt that Gibson was over used by the 90's and someone different was needed. 
You can read more about John Brunner Right over Here
 If your interested in the "Club of Rome Quartet" campaign and want to know more.Please leave me a comment.
 Part II coming up. Maybe? 

OSR Review & Commentary 'All Bets Are Off' - An Alternative Setting for Postcards from Avalidad Rpg By Miguel Ribeiro

 "All Bets are Off is a mini-setting for Postcards from Avalidad. It adds the city of Lisbon, Portugal’s capital, to the Avalidad game world. Lisbon of the near-future is a new entry in the infamous list of gambling and vice cities of the world, such as Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Macao, Monaco and Singapore. There are several tie-ins to the original storyline through factions in the core book and plot hooks which demand the characters to travel to the Iberian city. There’s also enough information to make Lisbon an alternative location for an Avalidad on-going plot."

'All bets are off ' is a faction & setting book for the Postcards from Avalidad rpg set in Lisbon in Portugal. A city I'm very familiar with having been there several times in the 90's. And this isn't that city or at least the version I'm familiar with.

And that's the point here folks. The Lisbon of 'All bets are off ' is a world of spies, dilettantes, grifters, cyberpunks, & every low life of the jet set that you can imagine. And this book clocks in a massive Eighty Nine pages of crammed in setting & NPC book.

'All Bets Are Off' is Lisbon through the rabbit hole of Cyberpunk on steriods, and everyone here has an angle including the house. The setting wears its Neo noir roots on its gold cuff linked sleeves. And this is just as its getting out the brass knuckles to finish off your PC's. Lisbon isn't built with factions in mind its built out of factions! And every one of em has an angle all of the while international & corporate spies move through the campaign sea like sharks. There's more then enough in 'All Bets Are Off' to keep the PC's on their toes for an entire campaign and they may never leave Lisbon... alive. 

Lisbon in 'All Bets Bets Are Off' is a viberant & living cyberpunk city with all of its own glitz, glamour, and an undercurrent of corruption. Adventures within Lisbon are going to be a combination of grift, grief, loss, and gain all in equal measure. 

Miguel Ribeiro writing is tight, the whole cloth of the setting is rich with adventure possibilities. And that's a solid six dollar investiment for the PDF. And it's a good solid start for a Neo Noir campaign.

All Bets Are Off' - An Alternative Setting for Postcards from Avalidad Rpg By Miguel Ribeiro Is Available Here

Now, how would I use 'All Bets Are Off ' personally?! Well, there's few thoughts swimming around in this diseased brain of mine. And that's to take 'All Bets Are Off' and grab Zozer Games Zaibatsu rpg then run Lisbon fast & loose as a campaign starting city. The glitz & glamour with its otherworldly qualities contrasts quite nicely to the underbelly of the factions driven world Lisbon.

Why?! Because the Neo Noir setting of Lisbon with its cyberpunk world contrasts nastily with the bio punk PC's elements of Zaibatsu. The PC's are purposely going to be fishes out of water in Lisbon exploited & exposed by the NPC factions of the city. And this trend will continue as the campaign continues.