Customer Reviews

Cyberpunk 2020: The Roleplaying Game of the Dark Future

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've ben GMing for something like fifteen years and this is the system I always return to. If I want to run someting of my own, this is the system I base it on.

Slim-line, fast, flexible, simple, expansive, effective. All words that describe Talsorian's game mechanics - it simply does not get any better.

As for the universe - this is a REAL world of darkness. No bright dawn, no happy ever after. Only your wits and tech, style and edge. No right or wrong, only power and death, a world of grey areas that seems only just around the corner.

If you are a gamer and you don't have this - get it now.

If you aren't a gamer but love the Dark Future setting, it's worth it.

Magnificent.

CP 2020 is by far the best pencil and paper RPG, this is all you need to get started. Playing CyberPunk will open your eyes to the world and the direction it is heading in and also opens your creativity and imagination. Everything from the weapons, the armor and the stat system whips AD&D. Anyone who doesn't like the whole fantasy ideals and/or combat system of AD&D needs to give CP a serious look-see.

If you like CP:2020 check out the CyberSphere MOO, well coded and reasonably closely based on CP.

Telnet on over to:

cs.vv.com:6969
or
cs.vv.com:7777

this rpg is great. i have owned it for 5 days and am already having a great time GMing a small game (1 other person). both of us are having an immensely good time. no happy elves or grumpy dwarves here, only grumpy people struggling to survive in a world which will eat them alive. buy this, you wont be disappointed!

Cyberpunk 2020 (2nd Ed, anyway) is still a good game, and one of my favorite Pen and Paper games to date. Allow me to explain.


CP2020's main idea--like most books, movies, etc in this genre--are built upon the idea of "high tech, low life". In this game, the world has basically gone down the tubes. The USA is essentially a Corporate piecemeal, and life as we know it is gone. You assume the role of a street-level character in pretty much any role that you wish. Want to be a gangter? No problem. Corporate field agent that slings drugs on the side? It's in there. Just be careful you don't sample too much of the goods, though.

The game itself is primarily a d10 system, which can throw some people off to it. At first the conventions of skill checks, to-hit rolls using a d10 were confusing, but in due time (1 or 2 game sessions, usually), one gets into the swing of it. There are no 'levels' to a character in this game--your health remains static, just as in real life. You could be a godlike gunman, but a good shot to the dome will still kill you--just like in real life. Instead of leveling, one gets more skillpoints. This could translate into being a better shooter, knowing more about lockpicking, or even being better at calculus (not making up that last one, honestly!). There are certain ways to absolutely break the game (I'm looking at the section where you can create drugs on this one), but for the most part it's a solid system.

The real emphasis is, 'does it make sense', and 'logically speaking, can I do "X"?'. If you have a good GM (or in this case, Referee), the sky's the limit. In the gear section are a lot of good items that, if taken at face value, aren't worth much. Just treat things like a puzzle--combine a video camera, a holo projector, and a good RC car and you have a moving hologram. Useful for heists. It is, for all intents and purposes, a thinking man's game--I encourage my players to use the mindset of "I want to do "X", but how can I get away with it?', and this system really aids in it. And although it lends itself to being a primarily hack 'n slash thriller, with the right oversight, it's easy enough to turn things into a cooler, more drawn-out game.

Now for the let-down. Yes, it is showing its age--as the game was made in the early nineties, there's little as far as basic wireless devices, and the entire atmosphere still reaks of the flashy glam of the 1980's. Any competent GM can compensate for it, however some find it distracting. The biggest downfall, however, is that a majority (read: 85%) of the good 'stuff' out there lies in over 30 splatbooks made for the system in its heyday, all of which are naturally out of print and hard to find. If you can, I recommend picking up the Corpbooks(1-4), Maximum Metal, and Solo of Fortune 1 and 2--all of them great things like exotic weapons, more vehicles, and you can essentially make a Gundam Wing in Maximum Metal if you want. I actively encourage you to grab a copy of them if and when you can--all of them add oodles to the game, and the corpbooks help the aspiring GM to add atmosphere to their games.


And last but not least is a small list of movies/books/games that might help set the mood for this genre. Take from it what you will. There's a new game coming out called 'Genesis Descent' made by Cubicle 7 that's set to release in late 2011. It uses the same system as Cyberpunk 2020 so fans of CP2020 might like to pick it up when it releases.

Neuromancer
Count Zero
Mona Lisa Overdrive
Deus Ex Complete
System Shock 2
Ghost In The Shell Volume 1 - 2nd Edition (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex) (v. 1)
Johnny Mnemonic [Blu-ray]
Blade Runner: The Final Cut [Blu-ray]

In the short-run, it's like Shadowrun only without anything in the way of mysticism or magic. It's all metal or nothing in this game.

Plenty here have praised the games mechanics, so I won't dive into that... ditto the excellent storyline (I haven't actually GMed a CP game in almost 10 years, and haven't played in five, yet I'll still flip through the rulebook every so often just to read about the local color and stories provided)

If the game has a downfall it is only in that the story lineage is a little dated by modern standards (although strangely prophetic). As 2020 is fast approaching us (being 12 years away as of this writing) much of what was theorized as being "part of the future" has actually come to pass: The internet (ok, not QUITE as they have invisioned it, but can it be far off?), cellphones, corperations wielding vast political power, even modern stem-cell research is a harbinger to the body limb-regrowth capabilities tauted in the game, ditto with cyberlimbs/prosthetics.

The game itself is still very much worth playing. Only now instead of a "dark future", the game has instead become more of a "grim alternate reality"... or alternately, you could just move the game's story ahead 20-30 years and adjust accordingly :)

I highly reccomend it. If I could find another regular crew to play with locally, I'd be all over it!

For Dark Future gaming, this game is "where it's at." It's a harsher, sharper world than something like Shadowrun will give to you - and R. Talsorian Games use their standard, "realistic but fast" gaming system. I bought it, loved it, and still play it. So, buy it

I was stationed in Vilseck Germany with the 2nd of the 63rd Armor when I friend told me about Cyber Punk. It was almost a year before we found someone with the books, and immediatly set up a game. It was a game that I have never forgoten. It sits in my mind like the begining of Secret of Mana, forever a defining factor in my oppinions.

This game does tend to drag with its role to hit/role to dodge rules, but it is more believable then any other game I have seen or played. The setting for Cyber Punk is OURT world, with OUR history. It is science fiction. We can look at our own lives, make few changes to the timeline, and see that it IS possible. In reality, these things would never happen, but in the game, it is easier for us to adapt to this new world because it is so close to our own. Realy, what has changed? The world has met a sort of anarchy, like in Mad Max. The government is now run by Corporations. Bionics are common enough that you see people with mettle limbs on a regular basis. This world is more real then any other I have seen, and this makes more believable. Since it is more believable it becomes easier to enter your charactor and enjoy the game.

If I had to rate all the games I have played, I would put this on tope, even with its long combat and ineffectiveness with machine guns.

Cyberpunk 2020 (2nd Ed, anyway) is still a good game, and one of my favorite Pen and Paper games to date. Allow me to explain.


CP2020's main idea--like most books, movies, etc in this genre--are built upon the idea of "high tech, low life". In this game, the world has basically gone down the tubes. The USA is essentially a Corporate piecemeal, and life as we know it is gone. You assume the role of a street-level character in pretty much any role that you wish. Want to be a gangter? No problem. Corporate field agent that slings drugs on the side? It's in there. Just be careful you don't sample too much of the goods, though.

The game itself is primarily a d10 system, which can throw some people off to it. At first the conventions of skill checks, to-hit rolls using a d10 were confusing, but in due time (1 or 2 game sessions, usually), one gets into the swing of it. There are no 'levels' to a character in this game--your health remains static, just as in real life. You could be a godlike gunman, but a good shot to the dome will still kill you--just like in real life. Instead of leveling, one gets more skillpoints. This could translate into being a better shooter, knowing more about lockpicking, or even being better at calculus (not making up that last one, honestly!). There are certain ways to absolutely break the game (I'm looking at the section where you can create drugs on this one), but for the most part it's a solid system.

The real emphasis is, 'does it make sense', and 'logically speaking, can I do "X"?'. If you have a good GM (or in this case, Referee), the sky's the limit. In the gear section are a lot of good items that, if taken at face value, aren't worth much. Just treat things like a puzzle--combine a video camera, a holo projector, and a good RC car and you have a moving hologram. Useful for heists. It is, for all intents and purposes, a thinking man's game--I encourage my players to use the mindset of "I want to do "X", but how can I get away with it?', and this system really aids in it. And although it lends itself to being a primarily hack 'n slash thriller, with the right oversight, it's easy enough to turn things into a cooler, more drawn-out game.

Now for the let-down. Yes, it is showing its age--as the game was made in the early nineties, there's little as far as basic wireless devices, and the entire atmosphere still reaks of the flashy glam of the 1980's. Any competent GM can compensate for it, however some find it distracting. The biggest downfall, however, is that a majority (read: 85%) of the good 'stuff' out there lies in over 30 splatbooks made for the system in its heyday, all of which are naturally out of print and hard to find. If you can, I recommend picking up the Corpbooks(1-4), Maximum Metal, and Solo of Fortune 1 and 2--all of them great things like exotic weapons, more vehicles, and you can essentially make a Gundam Wing in Maximum Metal if you want. I actively encourage you to grab a copy of them if and when you can--all of them add oodles to the game, and the corpbooks help the aspiring GM to add atmosphere to their games.


And last but not least is a small list of movies/books/games that might help set the mood for this genre. Take from it what you will. There's a new game coming out called 'Genesis Descent' made by Cubicle 7 that's set to release in late 2011. It uses the same system as Cyberpunk 2020 so fans of CP2020 might like to pick it up when it releases.

Neuromancer
Count Zero
Mona Lisa Overdrive
Deus Ex Complete
System Shock 2
Ghost In The Shell Volume 1 - 2nd Edition (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex) (v. 1)
Johnny Mnemonic [Blu-ray]
Blade Runner: The Final Cut [Blu-ray]

First started playing this game years ago. It is still a very fun game of Cyber-Future where life is cheap and Corporations rule. If you have never tried it, you should. If you have ever watched Bladerunner or the Bubblegum Crisis anime and enjoyed, you will like this game.

Out of the whole cyberpunk movement and craze, it would seem that a role playing game was a natural. This had an interesting setting and information, and was appropriately brutal. This would lead to characters having the life expectancy of at least a little more than a paranoia clone, so you had to do something about that if you wanted to feature violence in your games.