What your perfect archetypal characters would be like in 2077?

[prosociety]

What your perfect archetypal characters would be like in 2077?

I'm assuming/hoping that we'll see much loved characters from the original game, perhaps a poll for "characters I want to see most in the game" will come soon....

However, here is a question for now: what type of characters do you want to see in the game? For example, what would your ultimate villain be like? What would a damsel in distress be like? etc. Or would you rather minimal use of "written in" characters?

 

[wisdom000]

Um... the much loved characters from the original game were the ones we created and played... the ones that appeared in the source books were just kind of there, and had little to nothing to do with the games most people played. I could really care less if any of those "legacy" characters appear or not.

 

[prosociety]

Um... the much loved characters from the original game were the ones we created and played... the ones that appeared in the source books were just kind of there, and had little to nothing to do with the games most people played. I could really care less if any of those "legacy" characters appear or not.

Fair enough, I'm maybe being overly fond for them. But that aside, what would be the kind of charters you would really like to see? Or, if that seems a bit cheesy, is there a type of character you really don't like , and wouldn't want to see?

 

[chriswebb2020.736]

Actually, in one of the longer videos, they said that they had not committed to the PnP roles. Theyay be creating new ones.

If new ones are made, what would we like to see in am all new role/class layout?

 

[Garrison72]

Look at TW1 and TW2. That's the kind of cast I want in '77.

 

[prosociety]

Not sure if this has been mentioned yet, but I think it could be really cool to see the carbon plague characters from Cybergen. Hey, add the element of illness into the game for added anguish. My favourite classes are from 2nd generation rules as I like the utilitarian vibe and clear set of comparative skills. It's easy to describe what the characters are because the need no back story, they are exaggerated projections which everyone can identify without the embellishment of super-heroics. I would like to see:

Solo
Fixer
Nomads
Corps
Cops
Rockerboy
Netrunners/techies - could be merged?

Honestly, don't need Medias. April O'neil can not be bested....

Other iterations: (pinched from Rifts)
Juicer
Crazy
Maybe some kind of psychic? (Diana Troy is the goddess of us counsellors, but not very tough....)
With the big Asian influence, would we like to see Farang's - or non native martial artists?
UnFundeMENTALists? - some kind of Jesse Custer?
Transhumanists: Something like the Trill from star trek? Or maybe even Krang...
Genetic hybrids - some kind of GM peoples, made from spider DNA and walmart patents?

 

[prosociety]

Sorry, almost forgot to include the obligatory zombies....

 

[prosociety]

[video]http://www.youtube.com/user/deeboi70?feature=watch[/video]

In case anyone wanted more elaboration into what a crazy could be like.....

 

[chriswebb2020.736]

[video]http://www.youtube.com/user/deeboi70?feature=watch[/video]

In case anyone wanted more elaboration into what a crazy could be like.....

I think the term you're after there is 'Smackhead'.


Anyway, I've been having a long think about Pro's origional question. I think he's on to something.

Now, the old guard in this community, like Wisdom, Sard and Myslef, the guys who have played 2020 for the best part of a decade or more now, we assumed that CDPR would be using the 2020 roles. That isn't a done deal. As I said earlier, the jury was clearly out at the initial reveal in 2012.

So, how about we dial it back a bit and look at 2077 with fresh eyes. Eyes that have yet to witness the glory that was 2020's filth and corruption. Corruption redeemed at the business end of a 20 gauge semi automatic shotgun.


Do the roles in the PnP game translate well to this brand of digital media? I do not doubt they could, certainly in a multiplayer environment they would. But 2077 is going to be singleplayer. Perhaps those roles, which encouraged teamwork and mutual reliance, need to be updated before they go forth and choke the life out of the dark future.

So, what if there were no specific roles? How about 'builds' that have an effect on your starting options, giving you bonuses to certain skills at the start of the game. We could drop all the special abilities and/or treat them as normal skills. Maybe even 'Perks'. Anyone would be able to become proficient killers as easily as they could become a technical master or a hacker extraordinaire. As our characters use skills, they could still gain Improvement Points, but I don't think generic IP should be the way to go. Each skill is linked to a specific stat. Rather than gain generalised IP, I think we should gain specific IP linked to specific Stats. The more I successfully use a handgun, I should gain reflex IP, with which I could improve any of reflex related skills, but I would not be able to improve my intelligence related skills. For that I would need to use intelligence skills more.

This would be a good way for us to get a much broader experience of what the game can offer without having to create 10 or even more characters.


If this doesn't suit, what about simplifying and restructuring the roles. In many RPG's, you find the holy trinity of "warrior, caster, rogue" and it works well. Can we break down Cyberpunks roles into a smaller, more simplified list without losing the depth they give?




Oh, before I forget:
I had another idea about certain high-end gear and the skills needed to use it. How about combining skills when using certain things?
Example:
20mm Anti-Material Rifle - rather than use stright rifle or heavy weapons, why not combine the two?
(Rifle+HeavyWeapons)/2
As a weapon system, it's kind of half way, so I think it could work well at incresing the 'competancy' curve with some weapons. To master it, you would need to max out two skills, not just one.

 

[presticles]

When I originally imagined playing this video game (prior to its announcement) in my head after having played the PnP version many times the one thing I loved about it was that all roles had equal combat ability. Solo's and Cops would start off with better skills (which is realistic as they have training) but that didn't prevent a Fixer or a Media from spending all his/her CP's on raising combat skills where Solo's and Cop's would get thrashed. That being said while I love the roles, that doesn't mean they need them.

What I think would be sort of cool is having a sort of non-linear skill system (which Cyberpunk already had that) that as skills became leveled your "role" changed. Like for instance you start off as (Burn Out) but you decide to put points in Guns, and Martial arts and your title changes to (Hired Gun) or whatever. I think the whole "role" thing was only meant to give characters access to credits with regularity rather than to make people do specific things. I think the fact that we're in a real world environment it makes "class balance" more easily attainable. You don't have 10 difference classes with 10 sets of abilities. You have one set of abilities with people selecting it themselves. Clearly a person with combat skills leveled would have an advantage over another character that didn't have combat skills leveled.

Anyway. My point is that Cyberpunk doesn't need builds or roles. It only needs a system that allows you to level skills. Like Fallout. I mean in Fallout you have specializations but you didn't NEED to have a certain character class. I think we should be seeing a game more like Fallout, and less like Dragon Age Origins. I think roles have no business in cyberpunk, and no "Build" or "Role" should limit the customization a character can have. Allowing for literally nearly endless customization and character crafting.

 

[Sardukhar]

Actually, Wisdom and I didn't assume at all they were using the old Roles.

We're hoping they aren't.

The Special Abilities are restrictive and often vague as to application. They overpower the Solo and underpower the Nomad.

We had a good discussion about alternatives they might employ.

It would be nice if they used the names for the Roles to describe what people in Cyberpunk 2077 do for a living. But let's hope they allow multiple Apecial Abilities.

As soon as they allow multiple SA, the Roles aren't anymore. Instead, they are loose descriptions of your primary skillset.

Cop-Solo. Corporate-Netrunner. Fixer-Rockerboy. Etc.

Cyberpunk already has a system that allows you to level skills. The only things Roles do - the only things for the whole career of the character - is provide a Special Ability, a starter package of skills and a payscale. That's it.

I think probably people might want to check out what game CDPR is basing their game off and find out that much of what they are thinking of, has already been done by R.Talsorian and Mike Pondsmith.

There's a reason CDPR picked CP2020 for their game setting.

Perhaps we need a wiki for the PnP or something. Or even a stickied thread here. Maybe I should add it to the FAQ? What are CP2020 Roles? How do skills work? Are there plasma cannon? Etc.

 

[prosociety]

Perhaps we need a wiki for the PnP or something. Or even a stickied thread here. Maybe I should add it to the FAQ? What are CP2020 Roles? How do skills work? Are there plasma cannon? Etc.

I think that would help to focus in on the details - next steps?

 

[Mister_Lizard]

I have been playing the PnP for at least 20 years now off and on, and the first rule mod that our groups came up with was multiple roles. I am with the crowd of redefined roles and/or the ability to multi-role. I am not too keen on a Fallout3 style of leveling just because of the CP2020 purist in me. It is not a level based system of advancement but a skill based one. I think that the idea of getting stat based IP and 'free' accomplishment based IP would be a good one. I just don't like the idea of getting enough experience and 'ding!' now you get better and have to wait for more experience to accrue to become better again. It doesn't fit in CP to my mind.

I am not really on board for a no role system. Perhaps having your role change as your skill set changes would work, but I am not sold on it yet. There should only be so much time in one person's life, you should have to choose to specialize in an area if you truly want to master it, or be satisfied with being a jack of all trades and master of none.

 

[kc_infamous]

The villain could be a really manipulative character and very "illuminati" like with controlling everything behind the scenes and setting people up. The damsel in distress could be a beautiful women who likes to get into things that she can't handle, sort of a Louis Lane type character. I also hope that Swag Jacket Guy is a character in this game. He could be a smooth, contract killer or just smooth.

 

[wisdom000]

Damsel in distress.... I think games have moved past this...or at least they should have.

 

[cmdr_silverbolt]

I pretty much trust CDPR to create memorable characters, I feel they have a handle on that. I'm hoping for story-based gameplay for '77, so I guess that requires "written-in" characters.

I would really appreciate increased character reactivity in this game- they should be able to comment and react on the player's story-based decisions.

 

[chriswebb2020.736]

Damsel in distress.... I think games have moved past this...or at least they should have.

Damsel in distress suits me fine...

 

[Mister_Lizard]

Yeah, this clip also shows that when you run across a damsel in distress in CP, he/she/it is usually a trap

 

[prosociety]

I think that the idea of getting stat based IP and 'free' accomplishment based IP would be a good one. I just don't like the idea of getting enough experience and 'ding!' now you get better and have to wait for more experience to accrue to become better again. It doesn't fit in CP to my mind.e.

I know what you mean. The numbers and levelling idea makes it a bit like AD&D - I like the idea of having skill based growth, but i'd also worry that it might result in monotonous skill building exercises (like in Elder scrolls). My hope is that there's a best of both worlds option out there which can use styles of character roles, but still give the player a lot of freedom to create unique builds.

 

[prosociety]

lol Prod Slash - I think we should have a

Villains:

Some power hungry boss with a shameful past (thinking oldboy)?

"hyper good" chaotic good free spirited type character, that is actually an over programmed corporate ho that has absolutely no free will, and totally betrays the characters trust in every possible way, resulting in gaming betrayal equivalent of being bogwashed by that girl that you loved but never got to date...

The sneaky weak dude who hires heavies to protect him, and uses overly camp plans to make a fool out of the tough-guy image. View attachment 1046