What is Cyberpunk?

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universetrials

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What is Cyberpunk?

After hearing about Cyberpunk last year and seeing the trailer over 20 times, there's one thing that I realized I don't know.... what is Cyberpunk all about? On the forums, I see people talking about "Oh, I loved this guys car" or "Man, that dude had the best gun ever!". I researched Cyberpunk (the genre) on wikipedia but I still don't really know how everyone knows so much about Cyberpunk 2077 or other stuff like Cyberpunk 2020. This poses another question: How did Cyberpunk start? Was it a boardgame or like a videogame in the 80's / 90's that I never even heard about, or is it bigger than what I have heard it to be? I'd really like to know as I am really excited and hyped for this game to come out.
 
:ice: aww c'mooon - how hyped can you really be if one year after you came across this forum you still figured out so very little that you have to ask some of these questions. no offense intended btw.

There are a lot of threads here that should be able to tell you a lot about the cyberpunk genre and which way it has come so far. This one for example ;)

also check these threads to get into the mood:
Eweryday-Life and Unfamiliar with the PnP?

and don't miss out on an old old man reminiscing about his past^^ (sorry)

also vtmb posted some links a couple of days ago:


prepare to experience what real hype feels like:)
 
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Cyberpunk is the combined awesomeness of everything that was, is, and will be cool. Regulated by dice. I think the best way to get a sense of it would be to experience playing the original game, maybe just try out building a character which is easy enough to do, then you'll start to get an idea of the possibilities....
 
Cyberpunk is the combined awesomeness of everything that was, is, and will be cool. Regulated by dice. I think the best way to get a sense of it would be to experience playing the original game, maybe just try out building a character which is easy enough to do, then you'll start to get an idea of the possibilities....

i like that explaination
 
Cyberpunk is a near future setting, tech has gotten better, life has gotten worse. People try to give it more meaning than that, but that's all that is really necessary.
 
Hmm. Sort-of.

You could then make the argument that life in North America since the, oh, 70s, would fulfill that description. Do you feel we're living in a cyberpunk world yet? I don't. Close, but not yet.

I might say, "Cyberpunk is a near future setting, tech has gotten incomprehensibly better, life has gotten much worse. People try to give it more meaning than that, but that's all that is really necessary. "

Maybe add, "You try to make your mark in the world, keep your sanity and stay alive. "

How does that look?
 
Hmm. Sort-of.

You could then make the argument that life in North America since the, oh, 70s, would fulfill that description. Do you feel we're living in a cyberpunk world yet? I don't. Close, but not yet.

I might say, "Cyberpunk is a near future setting, tech has gotten incomprehensibly better, life has gotten much worse. People try to give it more meaning than that, but that's all that is really necessary. "

Maybe add, "You try to make your mark in the world, keep your sanity and stay alive. "

How does that look?

No, tech doesn't have to be incomprehesibly bettter, because if we can't comprehend it, it will be alien to us, and that is star trek, not cyberpunk. If we were looking at today from the 70's, the 80's, or even the 90's, it would be cyberpunk as fuck to us. Cell phones and the internet alone....
 
Well, I'm thinking more of the cyberpunk theme that the tech has eclipsed our "humanity" whatever that is. Thinsg like the Net, full body conversions, speedware - tech that no non-expert could understand, repair or build themselves.

This very high tech contrasts strongly with the mundane, often dirty motives of the principals in these stories and it part of what sets them apart from regular crime fiction.

Otherwise, what is the difference between Cyberpunk and, say, Michael Mann's "Heat"?
 
Otherwise, what is the difference between Cyberpunk and, say, Michael Mann's "Heat"?

Um.... not much of anything.... I mean you could throw in some cyberlimbs, and the armored truck they knocked over could be an AV, but otherwise Heat runs pretty much the same as about every 3rd Cyberpunk campaign I have run... the only question is who gets to be Val Kilmer... when that still meant something.
 
Ahhh, Val. So good once. Have you seen "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang"? Superb.

Well, that's my thing, then. Cyberpunk -is- different than other crime thrillers - in fact, you can have a game of CP2020 with, gasp, no crime at all! Yes, I know! It is more versatile than a crime drama. Or a wasteland survival drama. Or a corporate intrigue setting.

It can be all of those along with some eerily uncomfortable super tech that makes you question whether you are still human or something more. Or less.
 
Ahhh, Val. So good once. Have you seen "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang"? Superb.

Well, that's my thing, then. Cyberpunk -is- different than other crime thrillers - in fact, you can have a game of CP2020 with, gasp, no crime at all! Yes, I know! It is more versatile than a crime drama. Or a wasteland survival drama. Or a corporate intrigue setting.

It can be all of those along with some eerily uncomfortable super tech that makes you question whether you are still human or something more. Or less.

I forget, are we arguing or agreeing....

Because I think the only thing we are arguing about is the definition of "supertech".
 
Hmmm. I think that's it. And, hell, it's probably closer than not. Neither of us wants to see Star Trek shite or laser guns, ugh. More the same as modern tech, PLUS PLUS.

I mean, who understands a RISC instruction set or modern hard drive storage technique anyway?

I want "Heat" with cyberlimbs and cyberpsychos and corporate bad guys instead of..oh, wait, Heat had corporate bad guys.

Yeah, modern noir thrillers with the question of "are you human"?.

You know, "Blade Runner". Only with actually cool cyber. Those replicants wouldn't have lasted ten seconds vs Kerenzikov, Boostmaster, good skinweave and a properly built pair of cyberlimbs.
 
Hmmm. I think that's it. And, hell, it's probably closer than not. Neither of us wants to see Star Trek shite or laser guns, ugh. More the same as modern tech, PLUS PLUS.

I mean, who understands a RISC instruction set or modern hard drive storage technique anyway?

I want "Heat" with cyberlimbs and cyberpsychos and corporate bad guys instead of..oh, wait, Heat had corporate bad guys.

Yeah, modern noir thrillers with the question of "are you human"?.

You know, "Blade Runner". Only with actually cool cyber. Those replicants wouldn't have lasted ten seconds vs Kerenzikov, Boostmaster, good skinweave and a properly built pair of cyberlimbs.

Ok... yeah, total agreement...you just have to make things difficult because you are Sard, and it's in your contract, I understand.
 
OHMIGOD so yes.

Have you ever TRIED an amazing Gouda? Those flavour crystals...it's nearly as good as sex. Which I'm fairly sure -some- of you have enjoyed. With other people.



I've actually had some of the Beemster's extra pictured above. Cheese GENIUS.
 
OHMIGOD so yes.

Have you ever TRIED an amazing Gouda? Those flavour crystals...it's nearly as good as sex. Which I'm fairly sure -some- of you have enjoyed. With other people.



I've actually had some of the Beemster's extra pictured above. Cheese GENIUS.

Dammit.... now I want cheese....
 
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