I think of it as the "Powers That Be" treating people the same way most people treat tech.
Yuppies on power/ego trips run the world and the ONLY thing that matters is "What can you do for ME."
People, in-and-of-themselves are of use only as consumers and are a disposable commodity discarded when the next generation of wiz-bang gizmos comes out.
So the game is about you, the character, trying to make the cold unfeeling world see that people matter.
At least that's my opinion on the subject.
Really, it's just about trying to survive in that environment. Sure a Rocker or Media might try to change the world, or at least make a profit from looking like thats what they want. But most people are just trying to get by, even the PC's, slicing out as big a piece of the pie for themselves as they can.
The only place you are really going to find a sense of community, and people thinking beyond themselves, are either with the Nomads, or with small innner city disenfranchised crusaders.
The corps care about money, the fixers about power, techies and medtechies about having a safe place to do what they do, and netrunners, just want to run the digital labyrinth.
The idea of doing something for the sake of change, or the greater good, is an onus entirely on the heads of each individual player. It's not a theme. Deckard wasn't trying to work for any greater good, he was trynna get some replicant tail. Chase isn't on a crusade for the people, he is trying to save his own ass.
Luckily there's a proper selection of literature/movies/animes in those links (not everything is a masterpiece but it fits well). Surprisingly the game list is fine too considering 99% of cyberpunk games are crap. Real life examples are pretty much a given but still cool : P: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
I warn you though, genocyber is absolute shit
Last edited:
short explaination.....good! For aa long explanation read the post of Sard or Wisdom they could probably write many sides of this topic..
I disagree and I think you'll find Ford and Scott do as well.
I also disagree that trying make the world better isn't a theme in Cyberpunk. It is - it's a part of the "punk" theme. It's discussed in the CP2020 corebook and is present in the fiction - Neuromancer, where Case tries to do some good and struggles over how to deal with Wintermute
in terms of humanity's future, in the Matrix, where Neo is trying to save the world, in Blade Runner where Deckard is trying to save his own humanity and maybe Rachel's as well in the face of a dying world, in Ghost in the Shell where the agents are not working for the paycheque, they are trying to make the world a better place.
Even Nemesis features a hero who rebels against his masters and tries to do the right thing.
That often-fruitless attempt to stand above the baser impulses everyone else in the setting succumbs to is a key part of Cyberpunk storytelling and without it, the genre would just be Cyberassholes and Dragoons.
But I can't worry about ethics now. I've got a report due in an hour and it looks like that guy in Sales is planning to ice my database for good. I'm gonna ice him first.
I'm okay with the game giving you an option to try and "save" "the world" and then crushing your hopes of it working. I like quixotic heroes fighting against all odds and... yeah, sometimes failing. It doesn't need to be a humiliating failure/death. I think it's kind of romantic and plays along with the idea of isolation that is also of capital importance in cyberpunk.
Whoah.
Don't get the wrong idea. I'm not saying that Cyberpunk is IN ANY WAY about saving "the world". It is not. Matrix was an exception to the general theme.
Cyberpunk - the very optional "saving" bit - is about trying to save a little bit of something, anything from the machine that is industry and a greed so deep-set in the setting it makes corruption irrelevant.
It's about trying to save some of yourself - when Deckard rescued Rachel, he was as much trying to rescue his own (possible) humanity as he was trying to "save the girl."
It's about trying to make one small bright spot in an ocean of grey and rust and chrome and obsidian futures, one tiny thing that says, "I was here!" against a backdrop that portrays humanity as a replaceable and often obsolete detail in the march to tomorrow.
It's about failing in that attempt.
Cyberpunk is a setting in the dark future, a demonstration of a dystopia, a future gone wrong.
There may be happy endings there, but not for you.
Don't get the wrong idea. I'm not saying that Cyberpunk is IN ANY WAY about saving "the world". It is not. Matrix was an exception to the general theme.
Cyberpunk - the very optional "saving" bit - is about trying to save a little bit of something, anything from the machine that is industry and a greed so deep-set in the setting it makes corruption irrelevant.
It's about trying to save some of yourself - when Deckard rescued Rachel, he was as much trying to rescue his own (possible) humanity as he was trying to "save the girl."
It's about trying to make one small bright spot in an ocean of grey and rust and chrome and obsidian futures, one tiny thing that says, "I was here!" against a backdrop that portrays humanity as a replaceable and often obsolete detail in the march to tomorrow.
It's about failing in that attempt.
Cyberpunk is a setting in the dark future, a demonstration of a dystopia, a future gone wrong.
There may be happy endings there, but not for you.
That's why I was using quotation around those two different pieces: "saving" on one part, implying it may be very naive to talk about "saving" anything and "the world" as either trying to grasp too much or being too reductionist (maybe you're neglecting other parts of the equation when you try to "save" "the world", etc.)
once again you are arguing while agreeing with me.... it's a fricking super power you have or something...
It is a super power!
Dec, I wasn't picking on your post particularly, I got that you understood the inherent futility of the genre. Just wanted to make sure no one thought I was an advocate of the Save The World plotline, even in a satirical fashion, in the Cyberpunk genre.
Schiff, although you have a point and that would well lead to an interesting discussion, I can only imagine we would then confuse the OP even more. "Post-cyberpunk? Is that a thing? What defines post-CP? Is there a pre-cyberpunk? cyberpunk-moderne?" etc.
Still, it's a good point. Matrix and GiTS, although frequently categorized as cyberpunk stories, really have a lot of transhuman and futuristic themes. Maybe too many.
Dec, I wasn't picking on your post particularly, I got that you understood the inherent futility of the genre. Just wanted to make sure no one thought I was an advocate of the Save The World plotline, even in a satirical fashion, in the Cyberpunk genre.
Schiff, although you have a point and that would well lead to an interesting discussion, I can only imagine we would then confuse the OP even more. "Post-cyberpunk? Is that a thing? What defines post-CP? Is there a pre-cyberpunk? cyberpunk-moderne?" etc.
Still, it's a good point. Matrix and GiTS, although frequently categorized as cyberpunk stories, really have a lot of transhuman and futuristic themes. Maybe too many.
I tend to disagree.
Solo's would compare notes over a beer at a bar and be more likely to trust another of their kind to cover their butt when things get hot.
Techies will be swapping ideas and parts with each other all over the place.
So I think each archetype has a "sense of community".
Now, "thinking beyond themselves" is another issue entirely.
I think Shadowrun is a GREAT "beer and pretzels" game, like say "Junta" or "illuminati".
But for "serious" roleplay I'll take "Masquerade" any day.
Last edited: