Does anyone here play Cyberpunk HERO?

[Nightshade]

Just wondering if anyone is trying a cyberpunk style game in HERO. I was hoping to steal... err... look at ideas other people have, but I am deficient in my search-fu.

 

I have the 4th ed. CyberHERO book, but was hoping for some more stuff, especially on the equipment end...

 

Also, did anyone have much luck running that style of game? I haven't run very many of these, so any advise on actually GMing this style would be very much appreciated.

 

Thanks!

 

Nightshade

[CourtFool]

Wal-mart = the new evil

 

I also have the 4th edition book and G.U.R.P.S. Cyberpunk, but I have never ran that type of genre. Although I like my morality ambiguous, that genre is too dark for my taste. Maybe it just hits too close to home.

 

The only advice I can offer is make sure to include diversifide Microsoft and Wal-mart corporations that control the world.

[TheQuestionMan]

Re: Does anyone here play Cyberpunk HERO?

 

Let's see now. Are you looking for Cyberpunk 2020 to Hero Conversions & Adaptations or Campaigns?

 

Here are a few resources;

 

Surbrook's Stuff KAZEI 5 - Campaign Setting

http://surbrook.devermore.net/kazei5/kazei5.html

 

Clarke's Third Law as basis for fantasy campaign

http:// http://herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?p=521985&highlight=Blade+Runner#post521985

 

The KAZEI 5 Committee

http:// http://herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?p=486525&highlight=Blade+Runner#post486525

 

[Character] Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto

http:// http://herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3681&highlight=Replicants

 

Blade Runner Resources

 

BRmovie.com - The Home of Blade Runner

http://www.brmovie.com/

 

Blade Runner (1982)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083658/

 

RPG-SoundMixer - The new PnP RPG Experience

http://www.rpgsoundmixer.com/soundmixer/cds.php?cd_id=10

 

Blade Runner - The Replicant Site

http://www.blade-runner.it/index-e.asp?page=/author-e.html

 

Off-World: City-speak

http://scribble.com/cgi-bin/colloquy/colloquy2?which=br&range=1876-1889

 

Google Images Search - Blade Runner

http://images.google.ca/images?q=Blade+Runner+&svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&biw=488&imgsz=xxlarge

 

Blade Runner - Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_Runner

 

Replicants - Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replicant

 

Spinner - Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinner_%28Blade_Runner%29

 

Conspiracy X HERO

http://herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19120

 

Cyberpunk 2020 Hero (by Lord Laiden)

http:// http://herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29816

 

Grimjack HERO

http://herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14127

 

Matrix HERO

http://herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10155

 

Shadowrun HERO

http://www.starherofandom.com/h_shadowrun/index.php

 

Transhuman Space HERO

http://herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1064

http://herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6078

 

Related Links

http://herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24564

 

Other RPGs converted to HERO System (Thanks Lord Laiden)

http://herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23298&highlight=RPGs+converted+HERO+System

 

 

More later

 

QM

[austenandrews]

Re: Does anyone here play Cyberpunk HERO?

 

Allegedly I may be in a new cyberpunk game soon. Which reminds me, I must check on its progress. It will be my first, that I recall anyway.

[Fox1]

Re: Does anyone here play Cyberpunk HERO?

 

I'm currently running/playing in a Shadowrun game using HERO.

 

However given my way of building things, I don't think I have much that would be of use to anyone.

[Guest Black Lotus]

Re: Does anyone here play Cyberpunk HERO?

 

Well, I'm a Shadowrun veteran, and intimately familiar with the cyberpunk genre in general, as well. If you need any advice, conversions, or creations that you cannot find in Question Man's list, send me a PM and I can do/ get it for you.

 

- BL

[ghost-angel]

Re: Does anyone here play Cyberpunk HERO?

 

This depends entirely on the kind of Cyberpunk game you intend to run..

 

IMO too many CP game focus on the tech and and the 'cyber' forgetting that a lot of the genre focused on the imminent feeling of doom via the one-two shot of constant culture-shock and future-shock.

 

If you're going for that approach than all you've got to do is instill a deep sense of paranoia in the players. [i suggest misinformation, forcing them to use trickery and deceit to get out of situations, half truths and never ever under any circumstances tell them the entire story - even after they complete an objective.]

 

In which case however you build the tech, and whatever tech level you use, doesn't much matter.

 

Here's some guidelines I use in my games -

 

Stats rarely get above 18 and tend to cap at 25.

Tech is prevelant, but not hotswappable (I don't like the idea of switching out arms at a moments notice.)

I don't care what the PCs have... Corps have more (they sold them the PCs stuff after all).

Normal People (the Everyman) does not trust technology, why cyber up when a vat grown hand costs half as much and you don't look like a robocop extra.

Armor is good, but bullets still suck, I try to cap rPD/ED at 9 for the PCs and 11 for the badguys (hey, NEVER make it easy).

 

My tech ranges all over the place in the CP games I get to run... and I make it up differently each time.

[bigdamnhero]

Re: Does anyone here play Cyberpunk HERO?

 

I just finished a long-running cyberpunk-ish campaign. Near future, some high tech by today's standards, but fairly low-tech by most CP standards. None of the PCs had any cyberware (available, but too many disads), `tho some bad guys did. The campaign was a blast, and only ended because I moved out of state.

 

I used a mis-mash of stuff from 4th Ed Cyber Hero and Horror Hero. In particular, the stress & shock rules from Horror Hero worked well to reinforce the "imminent feeling of doom" as ghost-angel so apty put it. My one mistake was allowing one of the PCs to take "arms dealer license" as a perk - it fit his background, but made the PCs a bit better armed than I would've prefered.

 

One bit of GM-ing advice I can give is to watch your setting. The mood you want for CP (or Horror) games is very different from Champions or most other genres. A brightly-lit kitchen with kids in the next room watching cartoons makes it hard to keep everyone "in the gloom" so to speak. Mood lighting, mood music, etc.

 

bigdamnhero

"I can't keep track of her when she's *not* incorporealy possessing a spaceship."

[ghost-angel]

Re: Does anyone here play Cyberpunk HERO?

 

I think one of the best CP games I ever ran the characters were acutely aware of their own mortality ... firefights weren't just people shooting at each other and if you got hit the Ambunaught would rescue you and put you back together .. they were DEADLY...

 

best scene ever:

 

The PCs (five of them) are in a the top floor suite of a hotel looking for evidence of corp espionage when a bomb threat is called in to trap them. They see police outside, they see news helicopters, all sorts of stuff. They're thinkin of a way out, possibly fighting if they have to when I do this to them.

 

ME: What appears to be a combat helicopter appears outside the balcony window.

PC1: Oh damn.

PC2: Think this rifle will break through that canopy glass?

ME: It fires a missile, I need one action from all of you.

 

The look on their faces was utterly priceless - this was two sessions into the campaign (9 session planned story arc). THAT instilled the proper mood for the game. Especially when the missile turned out to be an EMP Bomb that the police were using to kill any remote detonators they might have on hand... poor players never knew what I was going to throw at them next.

[ghost-angel]

Re: Does anyone here play Cyberpunk HERO?

 

oh I almost forgot... if you ever need to explain the genre:

 

 

"Cyberpunk is a Hello Kitty claymore mine." -posted to alt.cyberpunk.chatsubo (usenet)

[Legendsmiths]

Re: Does anyone here play Cyberpunk HERO?

 

I have run several, and am currently assembling my notes for a possible project. Kazai-5 is available in the online store, and may help a lot. If you need any campaign or feel assistance, let me know. I'd be happy to have you test some of my ideas >)

 

One of my favorite seens from my DarkStreets game was a face named Saint. The group (mostly merc types except for Saint) were walking through the barrens when a truck full of gangers rolled up and stopped in the intersection in front of them, demanding tribute.

 

Saint: Look, the way I see it is it will cost us 30 cred each to replace the ammo we will expend not paying you. So, if you give US 150 we'll let you go and nobody ends up perforated. Deal?

 

Needless to say the gangers suddenly changed their tune facing down an apparently unarmed and well dressed Saint flanked by 4 unflinching mercs. They tossed some of the cash and some bullets (they didn't have a lot) and sped off. Later when the group had to deal with the gangers on a business level, this interlude set the tone for that meeting.

 

CP, which in its original form I believe is dead, is about capturing that dystopian nightmare of a corporate controlled police state. The characters really are not much more than terrorists, but certainly can be more Robin Hood than Osama bin Laden. It's important for the GM to paint the corps in a bad light so that the players can at least feel morally justified in their insurgency.

 

Consider also how you are going to handle your tech and your lifestyle issues. Those are the two biggest challenges character-wise. Resource Points vs. Cash, Points for 'ware or Points & Cash or just Cash, Realistic vs. Fantastic netrunning, Virtual Reality or No, Computers - unique or standardized.

[Nightshade]

Re: Does anyone here play Cyberpunk HERO?

 

Thanks for the advise. Here's what I have so far for the campaign:

 

Mostly hard sci-fi. No magic, psionics, or demon-summoning cultists. There will be some rubber science (monofilament, AI's, and some others). Hacking will be more real-world (not virtual reality).

 

Points and money for everything. I had the players vote on this, and that's what they wanted, which is fine for me.

 

Pretty far future. High cybertech.

 

Right now we have a corporate soldier and a corporate programmer that moonlights as a hacker. I'll have two more players this weekend. I have some plans on getting them out of their comfort zones. Getting the corporate soldier to turn renegade will be very interesting (ever have a cyberpunk character with Subject to Orders?). The hacker will be easy.

 

Nightshade

[ghost-angel]

Re: Does anyone here play Cyberpunk HERO?

 

I played an entire campaign based on the idea that the characters worked for a Corporation, and were working against that Corps enemies (mostly other corps) and as the game unfolded that came to a fork in the road .. the moral high ground where they realize their employer is probably not the lesser of two evils and that becoming "runners" on the mean streets fighting the corps was a moral imperative. Then there was the road they took.. the Corp pays the bills, gets them the equipment, life is good here and we're shooting people anyway - why not have money backing you and a safe place to sleep?

 

Disads

PschyLim: Loyalty - Corporate Employer

Reputation: Corporate Scum

[bigdamnhero]

Re: Does anyone here play Cyberpunk HERO?

 

best scene ever:

 

The PCs (five of them) are in a the top floor suite of a hotel looking for evidence of corp espionage when a bomb threat is called in to trap them. They see police outside, they see news helicopters, all sorts of stuff. They're thinkin of a way out, possibly fighting if they have to when I do this to them.

 

ME: What appears to be a combat helicopter appears outside the balcony window.

PC1: Oh damn.

PC2: Think this rifle will break through that canopy glass?

ME: It fires a missile, I need one action from all of you.

 

The look on their faces was utterly priceless - this was two sessions into the campaign (9 session planned story arc). THAT instilled the proper mood for the game. Especially when the missile turned out to be an EMP Bomb that the police were using to kill any remote detonators they might have on hand... poor players never knew what I was going to throw at them next.

 

OutSTANDing!! I love it.

 

(I'd rep you, if I had any rep.)

 

 

The characters really are not much more than terrorists' date=' but certainly can be more Robin Hood than Osama bin Laden. [/quote']

 

I hate to quibble, but... are the PCs blowing up busloads full of children and other civilians? If not, they're not terrorists. There IS a very big difference between terrorists and guerillas/insurgents/rebels/freedom fighters/or whatever: the deliberate use of violence against non-combatants. (The Evil Powers That Be may very well CALL the PCs terrorists, of course; but that's just name-calling.)

 

Sorry for the veer into NGD, but you punched a button of mine.

 

bigdamnhero

"Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!"

[Legendsmiths]

Re: Does anyone here play Cyberpunk HERO?

 

I fully veerred it into NGD: http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?p=770725#post770725

 

If you want to continue discussing cp characters as terrorists.

[CSgeekHero]

Re: Does anyone here play Cyberpunk HERO?

 

Here's an idea.

You and your team are the protectors of non-enhanced humans and hunt down the cyberpunk terrorists.

You know, invert the whole thing.

[Susano]

Re: Does anyone here play Cyberpunk HERO?

 

Here's an idea.

You and your team are the protectors of non-enhanced humans and hunt down the cyberpunk terrorists.

You know, invert the whole thing.

 

Then there's the anime version (seen in ANGEL COP, GHOST IN THE SHELL, APPLESEED, SILENT MOBIUS, and so on), where the PCs are part of a government group (usually special ops) working to keep order in the face of massive political and technological upheaval and change. In this sort if setting, they often get piles of cool toys and support, but must steal deal with massive corporations, faulty intel, double-crosses by other departments, an uncaring/unknowing public, and so on.

[pinecone]

Re: Does anyone here play Cyberpunk HERO?

 

The main theme I went with when I ran a Cyberpunk game was conformity vs induvidualism...the Corps are the embodiment of conformaty, and the characters are rebels simply because they insist on being themselves in a world where every resturant is Mcdonalds. The corps do evil, but they beleive the end justifys the means and the "heros" pursue good by evil means. The truely good? NPC's if they even exist (most likely they're con men) The games not about good and evil, its about "art" vs madisen avenue......

[arcady]

Re: Does anyone here play Cyberpunk HERO?

 

I'm running a postCyberpunk game right now using the Ex Machina system.

 

I've got a setting here:

http://home.pacbell.net/arcady0/SciFi/

 

And a lifepath generator here:

http://home.pacbell.net/arcady0/SciFi/lifepath.html

 

 

 

I'd adopt the above to Hero in a flash given the right tools to do so.

 

Back when CyberHero came out I heard nothing but complaints about it - especially with regards to the netrunning rules and their use of extra dimensional movement and needing points to buy programs.

 

I prefer a realistic net over a Gibsonian net; one that takes the way info actually flows and is controlled online and just moves it through a speed up, greater globalization, and a neural interface.

 

 

 

I personally can't stand the 'overly idealistic nature' of so many other games / genres as used by gamers. Cyberpunk lets me portray realisticly motivated and acting people - some gamers end up thinking I'm being dark, but I'm not. I just grew up a little closer to the streets than the typical gamer profile suggests...

 

postCyberpunk is much like Cyberpunki, but without the obsession over Japan, lifetime employing corps, cyberware, and the idea of total collapse. It is still oppressively dark, but more int he sense that you have to deal with 'perfect societies' that are anything but, outsourcing, human trafficking, personalizaed information that is a bit too personal and omnipresent, and so on. Wikipedia has some great information on the subtle differences.

 

At present post/Cyber/Tranhumanism is my preffered genre, if only because I've managed to get a wealth of ideas for it in the development of my setting and it fits so well with my studies from my recently finished degree in Political Science / Criminal Justice.

[arcady]

Re: Does anyone here play Cyberpunk HERO?

 

One bit of GM-ing advice I can give is to watch your setting. The mood you want for CP (or Horror) games is very different from Champions or most other genres. A brightly-lit kitchen with kids in the next room watching cartoons makes it hard to keep everyone "in the gloom" so to speak. Mood lighting' date=' mood music, etc. [/quote']Sometimes horridly innapropriate music / lighting / setting can only add to how 'off' a moment is.

 

Right as the PCs, as SIU detectives, bust into the SIN-cast (sensory interface) studio to save the 14 year old human-anthro girl who's had her neural buffer loaded up with an explicit meme and hooked into a SIN-recorder for 'this weeks' live snuff flick...

 

That's when I play the utterly cheery music as the studio staff hands them the license for their broadcast and the contract to legally buy the girl which has been declared 'expendable' under the anti-terrorism statutes by the state for the crime of hacking censorship to distribute 'highly deviant memes' on the net in the form of the writings of one 'Henry David Thoureou'.

 

 

Yes, its a utopia now, and people who attempt to subvert that need to be chipped in order to learn proper ways. If they get past that, they need to be recycled for the good of society, the state, commerce, and the safe flow of information.

 

[Actually, the above wouldn't exactly happen in my setting - snuff is also classed as toxicly deviant meme. But they would brain chip the poor kid until she learned better, and failing that send her off to be a test subject somewhere, or to do a suicide bombing against a rival state (with chipping so strong that it could only be used on a short-lived subject)... or just 'convert her biomass into food']

 

 

Point being - like those movies that switch to classical music during the big gun fight - the wrong music at the right time often heightens just how wrong the event in play is...

 

You want to 'jar' the players from time to time, make them feel something is very off here... From the subtle, such as naming things with the wrong dialect / slang, to the more severe - like protraying some horrible moment in an utterly mundane or even cheery manner. Especially with the dystopian angle of [mostly] postCyberpunk, you work to keep it always 'off center'. You want them to relate to their character and the story, but to also not relate to those very same things.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Does anyone here play Cyberpunk HERO?

 

Back when CyberHero came out I heard nothing but complaints about it - especially with regards to the netrunning rules and their use of extra dimensional movement and needing points to buy programs.

 

I prefer a realistic net over a Gibsonian net; one that takes the way info actually flows and is controlled online and just moves it through a speed up, greater globalization, and a neural interface.

 

Personally I prefer the simplified version of netrunning that Susano introduced in Kazei Five - clean, logical and doesn't completely shut out the other players from the scene while the runner is running:

 

http://surbrook.devermore.net/kazei5/k5netrunning.html

 

I don't care for the cyberpunk genre myself, but I've used this system in other genres to the satisfaction of all concerned.

[Gummibear]

Re: Does anyone here play Cyberpunk HERO?

 

This depends entirely on the kind of Cyberpunk game you intend to run..

 

IMO too many CP game focus on the tech and and the 'cyber' forgetting that a lot of the genre focused on the imminent feeling of doom via the one-two shot of constant culture-shock and future-shock.

 

If you're going for that approach than all you've got to do is instill a deep sense of paranoia in the players. [i suggest misinformation, forcing them to use trickery and deceit to get out of situations, half truths and never ever under any circumstances tell them the entire story - even after they complete an objective.]

 

In which case however you build the tech, and whatever tech level you use, doesn't much matter.

 

Here's some guidelines I use in my games -

 

Stats rarely get above 18 and tend to cap at 25.

Tech is prevelant, but not hotswappable (I don't like the idea of switching out arms at a moments notice.)

I don't care what the PCs have... Corps have more (they sold them the PCs stuff after all).

Normal People (the Everyman) does not trust technology, why cyber up when a vat grown hand costs half as much and you don't look like a robocop extra.

Armor is good, but bullets still suck, I try to cap rPD/ED at 9 for the PCs and 11 for the badguys (hey, NEVER make it easy).

 

My tech ranges all over the place in the CP games I get to run... and I make it up differently each time.

 

Heh-no wonder you like IBC...

[Greatwyrm]

Re: Does anyone here play Cyberpunk HERO?

 

I've run a lot of Cyberpunk 2020 with good success. I'll skip duplicating others' info, but here's what I haven't seen:

 

--It's worth your time to find a copy of "Listen Up You Primative Screwheads". It's the Cyberpunk 2020 GM's guide. It's not very mechanics-heavy and I recommend it to anyone that wants to run a CP game.

 

--CP is a good style for fostering paranoia between party members and even a little PvP action, as long as you've got players that understand that up front. One of the most successful series of adventures I ran had all the players selling-out to someone. In addition to the regular jobs they were running, they had to deliver a MacGuffin, spy on other party members, and so on and keep it all a secret. Kinda like Paranoia in a way. Tons of fun all the same.

 

--Everybody wants something. Any time you introduce a character, have at least one thing they want and if/how they can use the party to advance their goal. Some people will be up-front about it. Some people will lie, cheat, and steal. But, everybody wants something.

[Adventus]

Re: Does anyone here play Cyberpunk HERO?

 

I would like to recommend several books you should read:

 

The first two are told from the Corporate perspective rather than the punk perspective.

 

Jennifer Government by Max Barry. It is a great way to do the first corporate war. Your last name is based on the company you work for. hence the name.

 

Market Forces by Richard K Morgan. You can challenge somebody for their position with an unarmed but armored auto-duel. It is a great story about the fall of a good man.

 

The next two are from the runner perspective.

 

Hammerjack by Marc D. Giller. Net jockeys in this book are called Hammerjack. This book is about one of the best, 'retired'. And the biological supercomputer he uncovers.

 

Nylon Angel by Marianne de Pierres. This book is about a female runner in way over her head. It gives a great description of life inside a Combat Zone. She is lightly cybered. Her leather vest is very cool. Lots of conversions of people. a very good read.

 

The final one isn't exactly cyberpunk. It is fantasy.

 

Broken Crescent by S. Andrew Swann. This is fantasy yes. It is about a computer hacker who gets pulled into a fantasy world. Magic is done by the nonhuman god's language. which is basically a computer language. You could run a cyberpunkish fantasy world with this book alone.

[Curufea]

Re: Does anyone here play Cyberpunk HERO?

 

It disturbs me how close Australia is getting every day to how it is described in Jennifer Government.