Cyberpunk was role playing game like Dungeons & Dragons was with a rule book and expansions books for weapons and so on. You had multiple classes to chose from and including type of backgrounds too. Actually Johnny Silverhand was an actual NPC back then and there was story to it also. Did you know his background is that he is one of the lost sons of the Arasaka Emperor and there is the hatred of them.
if you preordered and linked to gog, you should have a pdf of the cp2020 sourcebook, not sure where it is for console users though, as mentioned above it's basically sci-fi D&D and an amazing blast to play!! https://cyberpunk.fandom.com/wiki/Cyberpunk_2020
It is a rather unique take on tabletops as I haven't played one that is not fantasy. I was thinking on going in and learn more about these tabletops and realised I enjoy it way more than shadow run.
Gathering few friends we tried to make two test play sessions where we had created three characters. But it turned out to be more complex (in an enjoyable manner) than we though and although we had a simple linear story and built characters, we never actually met outside a club and all of us simply worked part time jobs to farm money. Until we actually had to follow the plot mission but became rather complex when the net runner tried to hack into the first terminal. We all were referring to the pdf until he realised his programs usage sucked although that would've been my fault for choosing the difficulty of black ice. Thus we postponed next sessions and will try to learn more about how net running works in Red just waiting for my jump-start kit.
The second play session we didn't make any netrunners and played a bit more fun oriented plot and characters. It was all about RP in a club and surrounding area and the game itself has a rich base for a life sim tabletop. I definitely recommend it if you don't mind wasting few days to read and learn from the pdf. Though I would recommend getting the Cyberpunk red jumpstart kit as it has more available guides. It's just that I prefer the art in the cp2020 book.
Additionally, with a little imagination you can solo a campaign or even life sim if you are thirsty for a good rpg experience.
The worse part is that once I delved deeper in cp2020 is realising how lackluster and barebones Cp2077 is as an rpg. But hey they removed the rpg tag so....
Definitely recommend cp2020 and red if you have someone to play with.
Gathering few friends we tried to make two test play sessions where we had created three characters. But it turned out to be more complex (in an enjoyable manner) than we though and although we had a simple linear story and built characters, we never actually met outside a club and all of us simply worked part time jobs to farm money. Until we actually had to follow the plot mission but became rather complex when the net runner tried to hack into the first terminal. We all were referring to the pdf until he realised his programs usage sucked although that would've been my fault for choosing the difficulty of black ice. Thus we postponed next sessions and will try to learn more about how net running works in Red just waiting for my jump-start kit.
The second play session we didn't make any netrunners and played a bit more fun oriented plot and characters. It was all about RP in a club and surrounding area and the game itself has a rich base for a life sim tabletop. I definitely recommend it if you don't mind wasting few days to read and learn from the pdf. Though I would recommend getting the Cyberpunk red jumpstart kit as it has more available guides. It's just that I prefer the art in the cp2020 book.
Additionally, with a little imagination you can solo a campaign or even life sim if you are thirsty for a good rpg experience.
The worse part is that once I delved deeper in cp2020 is realising how lackluster and barebones Cp2077 is as an rpg. But hey they removed the rpg tag so....
Definitely recommend cp2020 and red if you have someone to play with.
funny you should mention the difficulties with netrunners in Cp2020, as a house rule, I say noone can be a netrunner, it's a bit time consuming imho and it's a bit antisocial for the rest of the group who have to sit by and wait,considering it's a group game, I worked around the lack of netrunner capability by saying "just hire one" their effectiveness depends on how much they are willing to spend hiring one, still working out a way to streamline it, was thinking of using the DC from D&D, still a WIP though.
The Cyberpunk pen and paper rpg had 5 iterations including Cyberpunk Red and the world lore is interesting to say the least.
I own all of the iterations and the ones that, are in the same time line from what I can tell, are as follows:
Cyberpunk, Cyberpunk 2020, Cyberpunk Red, Cyberpunk 2077
The Following are alternate realities stemming from the same incident in 2020, again from what I can tell.
Cyberpunk 3.0 and Cybergeneration
I own all of the iterations and the ones that, are in the same time line from what I can tell, are as follows:
Cyberpunk, Cyberpunk 2020, Cyberpunk Red, Cyberpunk 2077
The Following are alternate realities stemming from the same incident in 2020, again from what I can tell.
Cyberpunk 3.0 and Cybergeneration
cybergenerations was fun, but a strange iteration in all honesty, playing as angsty teens armed with paintball guns was funny
This is something I was really disappointed with and I hope someone can make a mod that brings back a good portion of the table top elements. Like the roles, skills and life path.
Wait what? CP 203x is alternate timeline? :O
Well. That explains a few things for me. I've been re-reading sourcebooks recently. I'd never played any of them beyond 2020
To OP: If you know the original source material, it makes the game more enjoyable because it is very lore-friendly with a slew of easter eggs here and there. It was actually developed in conjunction with Mike Pondsmith, the creator of the original tabletop games.
I was sad that the table top game wasn't intergrated into 2077, as a virtual game. Or recreated as a digital game separatly.
Well. The upcoming Cyberpunk Red sits bang directly between 2020 and 2077. So there's that. It was developed in conjunction with CP2077 to be lore friendly to it.
CyberPunk 2020 is like ShadowRun's little brother. I used to love ShadowRun when I was a kid, and it had such a great setting with nice lingo (what the drek is a choom?) and a good, fully fleshed out system for deckers (netrunners in CyberPunk) and Mages/Shamans (no real equivalent in CyberPunk)
I prefer ShadowRun if for no other reason because I was brought up on it and the rules are solid and fun.
I prefer ShadowRun if for no other reason because I was brought up on it and the rules are solid and fun.
*Cyberpunk 2020 is like Shadowrun's father.
There, I corrected it for you
The magic and fantasy creatures in Shadowrun always kinda bugged me. I personally want straight up sci-fi. But to each their own.
Cyberpunk DID come first tho. And GURPS Cyberpunk, which actually caused Steve Jackson Games to be raided by the Secret Service and ALL of their electronic equipment -- not just computers -- got confiscated. It significantly delayed their release. The idiotic SS thought the game supplement was freakin real instructions and shit on how to be a hacker of the bad sort. Clueless idiots
After SJG sued them they got it back, but not everything. They then advertised that game supplement proudly as being seized by the Secret Service. lol
Shadowrun was more akin to a sci-fi/fantasy which game it a nice charm. As a matter of fact, I would like to see CDPR actually do a Shadowrun game in the same style as Cyberpunk 2077.
If you're interested... The sourcebook for the game is in my steam directory: (I think it came with the pre-order?)
E:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Cyberpunk 2077\BonusContent\sourcebook..
Beware reading it may make you sad. As others said, when you look at 2077 and look at the sourcebook; you will see just how far off the mark 2077 missed the RPG elements from the source.
Oh, this so much! I really liked both settings quite a lot. They certainly have similarities, but still have their respective merrits.
And maybe throw in Tales from the Floating Vagabond as well, for something light-hearted. That setting is also a bit of a hybrid (well, quite a bit..), but I always had the idea that it got some of its inspiration from Cyberpunks' dark sense of humor, and added silly to the mix.