Cyberpunk 2020 Play by Post Databook- Title Subject to Change

+
Mmm. Mooore like

1: Barely trained at the trade/profession/art, etc.
2: Basic principles.
3: Just competent at common tasks.
4: Practiced at common, just starting intermediate
5: Skilled at common tasks, practiced at most intermediate
6: Practiced at intermediate tasks, starting advanced
7: Skilled with intermediate tasks, practiced many advanced
8: Practiced at most advanced skills in the trade/profession/etc.

9-10 Really degrees of fine tuning in your preferred subfield.
Thanks for the clarification. So basically any skill level less then 6 or 7 assume you're unlikely to succeed at, and shouldn't really attempt, any uncommon tasks.

15 is Average. That means that a person with a 5 rating and a 5 stat can do 50% of the time, without special gear. Roughly. So, something like hacking into the hardline would be above Average, yes, although probably not crazy above it.
This is actually a problem I've long had with the CP2020 system and has no bearing on the PBEM campaign.

If a person needs average stats (5) and what are by the book above average skill levels (by the book skill 4 is a BA/BS) to succeed 50% of the time at average tasks the game system itself has a problem. It goes back to the discussion elsewhere about critical success/failure where according to game rules the average real life shooting range would average 4+ fatalities every weekend.

Murphys Rules!
 
Last edited:
I dont like the critical system either, but in it's defense, that applies when Serious Things are happening. I.e. when the Ref actually calls for a Skill Check. The range would just be misses. Same as a driving check on a normal day would just be driving through a Red Light.

And that's presuming you don't spend Luck to zero out the crit fail chance.

Same is true for the Average chance. Yeah you're going to fail 1/2 the time and succeed half the time. That's pretty, well, "average". ANd then you can try again. Arguably, the chance at first-time success is too high, given my experience in task resolution.

Also, either deliberately or accidentally, you've confused "uncommon" with "complicated". Sure, skilled at common tasks means you are used to doing mostly common tasks for your profession.

That doesn't mean something uncommon but simple isn't going to be easy. Putting a chain-knife on a laptop isn't very common, but for a tech, it's not exactly tough to glue/bolt/tape/solder said items together. Now, having the knife also rev according to the laptops' thermal output, that's more complicated.


Basically, if you're under stress, expect to fail way more than if you're sitting at home doing it on a simulator. For no money.
 
Also, either deliberately or accidentally, you've confused "uncommon" with "complicated". Sure, skilled at common tasks means you are used to doing mostly common tasks for your profession.
Just a substitution of "uncommon" for "intermediate" or "complicated". Since they would (in theory) be tasks you'd attempt less often and unless you were highly skilled not expect to succeed at.

P.S.
I dropped several of Nogitsunes skills and reduced others to placeholder levels so she's actually good at something rather then near worthless at everything.
 
Okay, Doom and Mali, that's your scene wrapped up. You can either emote the ride to Afterlife or I can. IN the meantime, some good RP there. Take 15 IP to spend anywhere, as well as 1 IP for every time you succeeded at a skill, 2 IP if it was a check of 20 or higher, and 1 IP for every time you failed at a skill, 2 IP if it was a critical fail.
 
Okay, Scene end for the Land Steal team. Take 15 IP to spend anywhere, as well as 1 IP for every time you succeeded at a skill, 2 IP if it was a check of 20 or higher, and 1 IP for every time you failed at a skill, 2 IP if it was a critical fail. Remember you are lightly Wounded, Wallace/AMT, and it hurts a lot.
 
Well the good news is I have my PC back.
The bad news is my primary data storage hard drive (vice the SSD that holds the operating system) went belly up so I lost most of my data (except a VERY small handful of files I had backed up elsewhere).
 
@Suhiira " The deck requires a periodic (the time can be set/changed ... for "normal" operation every few seconds ... in a "hot" situation perhaps every half-second or less) verification from the operator to continue functioning ... no verification it shuts down. So brain hijacking programs can't lock her into the Net unless they can somehow force her brain to continue to send the "continue operations" signal. #2 A thumb pressure operated switch, lifting the thumb, twitching it off the switch, or a lack of mental activity to continue pressure on the switch shuts down the deck."


Don't know this hardware. Where did you pull it from? If it's not from one of the books, then you'll have to have a Techie try to build it or do so yourself in-game. Also not too likely to work, since if it was that easy, few if any 'Runners would ever be brain-burned.

Other than that, given your skills and roll, you're in, apparently tracelessly.
 
Don't know this hardware. Where did you pull it from? If it's not from one of the books, then you'll have to have a Techie try to build it or do so yourself in-game. Also not too likely to work, since if it was that easy, few if any 'Runners would ever be brain-burned.

Other than that, given your skills and roll, you're in, apparently tracelessly.
No, these aren't in any of the books. But what's the point of being a Tech if you can't build/modify stuff, why I took Tech: Electronics and Tech: Cyberdeck as skills.

#1 Is both a combo of very simple rewiring and some code. Basically at a preset (but changeable) interval a query is sent to the operator, if the operator fails to reply properly the deck powers down.

#2 is pure hardware but again very simple. A pressure operated button that again powers down the deck when the (very light) pressure is released.

This provides both a mental (the verification) and physical (the pressure switch) deadman system. By powering down the deck rather then simply cutting the connection to the Net any hostile code that may have infected it is stopped in its tracks. Are these foolproof? By no means. But they should reduce the probability of Nogitsune having her brain turned into Jello significantly.

I have great faith they you'll do everything possible to screw your players over @Sardukhar. After all you're a GM! And only an utter fool trusts a GM.
Wait ...
...
...
I GM too ...
...
...
 
Last edited:
Yeaaah....I already vetoed someone who wanted to start with customized stuff. You can (try to) build this in game, of course. When you get the time and materials.

Again, if it was so easy a single person could beat a Hellhound, it would be done already. It's not. You can certainly try to rig some things up, but a Cyberdeck is a hypercomplex machine.

Tech skills let you repair and do light modifications. I have some myself and believe me, I'm not out building a better mouse trap. Or hard drive or Hilti drill or whatever.

This isn't about screwing over the player, this is about play balance and game realism. You just can't bypass the vulnerability of being jacked in very easily. You can always do it without jacking in, of course. That's mostly safe...
 
Yeaaah....I already vetoed someone who wanted to start with customized stuff. You can (try to) build this in game, of course.
Why I indicated a customized deck on my character sheet. Not like she just bought/found/stole the thing, she's had it for months.

Again, if it was so easy a single person could beat a Hellhound, it would be done already. It's not. You can certainly try to rig some things up, but a Cyberdeck is a hypercomplex machine.

Tech skills let you repair and do light modifications. I have some myself and believe me, I'm not out building a better mouse trap. Or hard drive or Hilti drill or whatever.
These are light modifications, no need at all to mess with the guts of the deck. There are two wires that run from it's power supply, pick one and add a couple switches. Hardly rocket science.

I don't expect to auto-beat a Hellhound, but I do think the probability of doing so should be one difficulty level easier.

I suspect a lot of this has to do with when CP2020 was written. In the early 80's PCs were barely capable of running Pong, mainframes still took up large chunks of buildings, and the mysteries of operating systems required you to be able to decipher 10010101. While any gamers can plug components into a PC how many know the difference between a transistor and a diode? Electronics is scary stuff that require years of study and banks of tools and test equipment!
Yeah ... right ...
 
Last edited:
Why I indicated a customized deck on my character sheet. Not like she just bought/found/stole the thing, she's had it for months.

Yeah, you can customize your deck based off from-the-book customization options, and pay the euro for it. Anything else, please do in-game.
 
Yeah, you can customize your deck based off from-the-book customization options, and pay the euro for it. Anything else, please do in-game.
Oooookayyyy ...

Next time I see a Radio Shack I'll buy a pressure switch and a sodering iron.

I'll also presume I was incapable of writing the DataTerm scanning/hopping program previously.
 
Top Bottom