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22:47, 28th March 2024 (GMT+0)

Cyberspace combat?

Posted by Morty
Morty
member, 284 posts
The Doctor.
Wed 24 Aug 2016
at 08:11
  • msg #1

Cyberspace combat?

So, I'm toying with the idea of starting a cyberpunkish game again. The age-old question of integrating the netrunner with the rest of the team came up, so I ask you, gentle and experienced readers, to help me with that. What I'd need is a list of systems you know handle cyberspace, and what you think pros and cons of each one.

I have to confess that I usually glossed over the netrunning aspect, and kept things happening in the real world, with 'Net things resolved via one or two rolls. This time I'd like to embellish it a bit more, without annoying the guys playing solos :)

Another idea I've had was running a hacker outfit. 3 or 4 PCs of the netrunning variety, perhaps give an NPC to run to each. Which game system do you think has the most fun/elaborate netrunning ruleset, that could be the centerpiece of the game?
Utsukushi
member, 1382 posts
I should really stay out
of this, I know...but...
Wed 24 Aug 2016
at 15:37
  • msg #2

Cyberspace combat?

quote:
Which game system do you think has the most fun/elaborate netrunning ruleset, that could be the centerpiece of the game?


TORG.

GodNet was awesome, and to my mind, their rules for structuring a system and then moving through it were better than Shadowrun's.  Similar, of course, because they were very similar concepts.  But Shadowrun is sadly lacking in SpiritChips and an actual hell that your Persona might be dragged to if things go... south.  Divorcing them from the rest of that universe, and especially their religious overtones, would be difficult, though... it would be, I think, very interesting to keep those in and spring them on a group of players expecting a run-of-the-mill Cybernet.

Shadowrun is, of course, the next best and, especially with the Net-based supplements, could easily build a solid Decker-only game.

Fourth Edition Shadowrun, as I remember, actually revamped Decking more for your other question -- I never had a chance to actually try it, but they were definitely trying to find that balance between making things interesting for Deckers without having to include a solo adventure just for them inside every game.  I think they did a good job of that, with a lot more on-the-fly hacking effects.  Not just unlocking doors or getting the data you came for, but taking over an opponent's SmartGun or Cybereye and using it against them.
Grimmond
member, 420 posts
Antler-care by LIV THATCH
"RALPH" The Wonder Llama
Mon 29 Aug 2016
at 17:25
  • msg #3

Cyberspace combat?

THAT is the problem with deckers. They always needed a game with-in a game. We always made the decker an NPC for that reason and handled the decking as a story line controlled by the GM. Things went right or poorly depending as to how the GM saw the story.
Davy Jones
member, 35 posts
Mon 29 Aug 2016
at 17:31
  • msg #4

Cyberspace combat?

I haven't really played cyberpunk-style game since the mid-90s, but I remember thinking Shadowrun had the better grid-immersion rules over CP2020. I don't know if that still holds true with later editions.
engine
member, 177 posts
Mon 29 Aug 2016
at 17:44
  • msg #5

Cyberspace combat?

Is your concern only with combat, or also with non-combat?
C-h Freese
member, 249 posts
Survive - Love - Live
Tue 30 Aug 2016
at 01:29
  • msg #6

Cyberspace combat?

I had an idea about creating a 3.5 D&D psion class that was actually cyber [Psyber] punk.  That used special Crystals to enter and ethereal shadow world.  But what was important to me was beyond using it as a tool to control psybronic; locks, valves and swithes or storing pages or maps. the psyber-user was to be able to bring the rest of the party into the cyber world as the levels went up.  The pc as Either fully them selves in time or as a Cyber familier that was partly the non cyber-PCs spirit and could be used by that non cyber to counter attack cyber attacks on the real world from enemy Cyber-users when with the parties psbyer-use. or as if in body and with their own skills and abilities intact.
Morty
member, 290 posts
The Doctor.
Sat 10 Sep 2016
at 05:56
  • msg #7

Re: Cyberspace combat?

engine:
Is your concern only with combat, or also with non-combat?


For now, I'd like to know what other systems apart from cp2020, cyberespace, and shadowrun have well developed cybercombat built in - and can be run on rpol. Non-combat takes an unexciting second place for now. Ideally it's an off-the-shelf solution, and I don't mind spending a few $ if you can make me want it.

GodNet sounds nice, but it's not really in the direction I want. Psyberpunk also isn't. I want the stereotypical cyberpunk setting seen from the decker's side, with it being interesting enough to play. Anyone can think of themselves as gods, but runners routinely walk the razor's edge with delusions of grandeur on the left, and brain frying ICE on the right, with the Reward just out of reach.
trooper6
member, 285 posts
RPGing since 1984
Wed 14 Sep 2016
at 07:20
  • msg #8

Re: Cyberspace combat?

I've never played the new edition of Shadowrun, but I'm watching a campaign that is Twitch streamed on HyperRPG called Shadowrun: Corporate SINs. In that campaign, the simultaneous actions between the decker and the non-deckers seem to work out really well.

When I've run cyberpunk, I've always run it using GURPS and I enjoy that system (and modularity) for cyberpunk quite a lot. There are different ways you can handle net running, and I've used a different few hacking systems. For my most recent GURPS c-punk campaign I decided to do something a bit different rather than use one of the presented hacking systems. Rather, I had all the players be deckers...but I ran decking as a full VR dungeon crawling...with regular dungeon crawling rules. So each player had two PCs. Their cyberpunk PC and their Dungeon Fantasy avatar. That worked really well.
Morty
member, 292 posts
The Doctor.
Wed 14 Sep 2016
at 10:57
  • msg #9

Re: Cyberspace combat?

I have to confess that I haven't touched GURPS in 20ish years. TBH, I am not too fond of it.

syncing a runner with real-life character might be fun, if I make the runner ghost around in the electronics around the flesh shields...
trooper6
member, 286 posts
RPGing since 1984
Thu 15 Sep 2016
at 03:35
  • msg #10

Re: Cyberspace combat?

20 years? So, 3rd Edition? You might want to check out the 4th Edition and see if you like it better than the 3rd. It isn't so different from the 3rd Edition, but cleaned up and streamlined a bit.
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