Cyberpunk Rules

CyberPunk - An Update

Some house-rules I use for CyberPunk 2020

I have played CP2020 since its first inception as CP2013. A myriad of characters, from Forge (Street-Techie, master of ad-hoc solutions) to Rhino (Solo, talks to his gun, hobbies: porn movies). NorthHills, a section of the Lakeside sprawlzone, has developed from the games I have run, becoming filled with character and flavour. But one thing still marrs my enjoyment; the system.

Starting at the beginning, I find character creation to be awkward. It is very tempting to start a character with maximum skill-levels in their prime areas. This leads to many problems, especially if your campaign calls for beggining characters or you want your players to see some progression. Also, NPCs must be statted to challenge them (Player:"What do you mean, another BODY 10, Rifle 10 NPC? Is everyone Ultra-trained?". GM:"Sorry, what are your stats again? BODY 11, Rifle 10?").

Armour has been much-discussed on other sites, and is still problematic. We have all seen solo's who can take a full-auto burst to the chest and still keep coming. Even lowly media's often have skinweave, armoured T-shirt, armour-jacket, the ubiquitous Acid-wash jeans (Chrome Book 1) and combat helmet. Ah, helmets ... all PCs must wear helmets. There is a 1 in 10 chance of a shot hitting your head. take 8pts (before or after doubling for head-shot?) and you are dead. Very stylish. Did Case wear a helmet? Or Molly?

Here is my attempt to solve some of these problems, in a simple manner, without actually changing the system too much:

Character Creation

Stats: INT, REF, TECH, COOL, M.A., BODY, EMP.
All measured on a 1-5 scale. PCs roll 1d6 for each:

Roll:	1	2	3	4	5	6
Stat:	2	3	3	4	4	5

This gives a range of 2-5, weighted towards the centre. Personally, I prefer to let my Players choose where to allocate theses scores. I have removed LUCK (I don't like it. You can use it if you like) and ATTR (I prefer to use Merits/Flaws to determine this.)

LifePath: A useful tool provided with the RuleBook, either let your Players roll through, or have them choose some appropriate events. Campaign setting and game-balance should over-ride any rolls, and the GM has final say (as always).

Skills: 40 points to spread? Oooh, I'll take 3 10s and a few bits n bobs please! Plus my pick-up skills (INT+REF, around 15pts?) will make me a nice, rounded character! Personally, I think this is bad. Here is my new, integrated skill system:

Choose a Role (from standard, expanded and made-up-on-the-spot lists). This determines your Special Ability and Starting Skills (as per Rulebook). You now have 1000 (adjustable, by campaign) IPs to buy your skills with, plus 300 pick-up skill IPs. Costs are as normal IP improvement: current skill level x 10 IPs to improve.

Level:	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
IP to buy from zero:	10	20	40	70	110	160	220	290	370	460
IP to improve:	10	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	N/A

This allows Players to buy, for example, 9 skills at level 5 (9*110=990, 5*9=45, similar to old system). While a Player may still buy several high level skills, it is restricted: 1*lvl 10 , 1*lvl 9 1*lvl 6 will cost 460+370+160=990 leaving 10 pts to buy a level in one more skill.
In my campaigns, I also will put an arbitrary restriction on skill levels. My current campaign had no PC start with a skill higher than level 6. Pick-Up skillpoints, as normal, must be spent on different skills, not increasing Role Skills.
I think this system leads to more rounded characters, and allows PCs to progress in their chosen areas. It makes it easier to start with a few low level skills (drop that 10 to a 9, and you get 90 IPs back, enough for a level 4 skill and either a level 2 or two level one skills, or two level 3 and a level 1).

Skill-Checks

Another quite major change I use is to roll skill checks on 2d6 rather than 1d10. Although this gives a higher average, it is balanced by using halved STAT ranges, meaning target numbers do not need to change.
The probability curve of 2d6 means that average rolls are more likely, leading to fumbles and critical-successes apearing less often and meaning more. Having a 10% failure chance on any roll hindered my previous campaigns, and took the emphasis away from characters skills.
Also, I dislike the idea of having skills tied to stats. White Wolf (and others) use a more flexible system, where the stat used will rely upon the task being attempted. e.g. persuading a ganger to crack a code may require a Persuasion+COOl+2d6 roll, whereas convincing a Corporate Scientist to set up a meeting to discuss your ideas may warrant a Persuasion+TECH+2d6 roll. Talking a lawyer into taking your case could be done with a Persuassion+INT+2d6. This will lead to some unexpected combinations - I recently called for a Drive+BODY+2d6 for a long, arduous car-journey, and Gambling+COOL+2d6 when a lare amount of money was at stake. Technical skills can be used with REF for intricate adjustments, and Ref skills can be rolled with INT to recall information such as the range of a certain weapon, or which bike handles better in the wet.

Combat

The first thing I changed about combat was to remove SkinWeave™ from the game. At 2,000eb for SP12 all over, all the time and usually unnoticable, it became standard equipment for any PC. 2d6 humanity loss is quite acceptable to deny snipers the chance of catching you without armour, or kidnappers to remove it along with other equipment. It stops all small handguns, and severely reduces the effect of heavier weapons. This still allows characters to routinely wear armoured t-shirts and Light armour jackets, giving an SP19 coverage to the torso, stopping heavy pistol rounds (3d6 damage) in their tracks, and slowing Very Heavy rounds (4d6) to cause Light wounds, sometimes.
Next, I introduced a 'Bruising through armour' rule. Any bullet that hits you, whether slowed/stopped by armour or not, will cause a minimum of 1 point of damage. This stays true to the original 2013 ideas that bullets should be dangerous. Kevlar vests absorb the damage, stopping the bullet peircing your lungs and splitting arteries, but its still gonna hurt! Modern (2002) bullet-proof vests will travel over an inch into a wearers body while slowing the bullet.
If you are dealing with small-arms against very heavy armour, this rule may be relaxed. Yes, some Cyborgs CAN walk through a hail of auto-fire ... but most Solo's can't! Suddenly, those low-calibre, high-rate of fire SMGs look very tempting!
Still our games suffered from PCs being able to effectively ignore Pistols. The latest change is to HALF all armour values. (The other way to get some damage through was to increase bullet damage, but that would have led to escalation). This drastic measure was recently put to the test and the Players, for the first time in months, were scared for their characters lives. Just what I was looking for.
Hit locations I have not fully worked out. For now, I run a loose form of the CP2020 rules, with much-reduced chance of hitting the head. This allows characters to (...brace yourself...) not wear helmets! CyberPunk is about style. Many people express thier style through their hair. All of them will either die in combat, or suffer helmet-hair (-4 COOL/REP). I do not like this. I say that most shots will not hit the head. To counterbalance this, players and NPCs alike are very restricted in taking aimed shots to the head. This is actually enforced by the Players, who will stop thier fellow Players taking such shots: "No way, Joe! If you start taking head-shots at people, the GM will have snipers do it to us! And you know how he likes those Barret-Araska Light rifles!". All true.

Summary

Half STAT values. This makes Skill Levels more important.
Replace 1d10+Skill+STAT with 2d6+Skill+Appropriate Stat.
Lifepath: Adjust as required.
Starting Skills: Use a more IP-based system.
Remove SkinWeave™.
Bullets do 1pt of damage through armour.
Half armour values.
Head-shots restricted. Helmets discouraged.