Slow Burn
Still in pregame preparations
There is a Slow Burn in the people of Night City. You can see it in the eyes, the bloodshot stare of of the junky in Northside, the feverish gaze of the gamblers in Charter Hill, even the finance kings in Corp Center have a low simmer behind their cool detachment. But if you have the nerve to find them and meet their gaze, its the shadow dwellers, those who work in the cracks between the megacorps. In them its the slow burning of a fuse, and even they don't know how long it is.
Slow Burn is a GURPS based game pulling elements and inspiration from Cyberpunk 2020, Shadowrun, William Gibson, and anything else that catches my eye.
First off this is not our earth, think of it as an alternate time-line/dimension, that should cover any discrepancies or flaws in your suspension of disbelief. The year is 2070, natural and industrial disasters have made large chunks of the world uninhabitable, and technology has advanced by leaps and bounds to compensate. Synthetic foods, enclosed arkologies, low orbit space stations,robots and robotics in all shapes and sizes, brain to computer interfaces, leading to a full immersion digital world, lets call it "The Matrix", and the latest and greatest, Augmented Reality. AR is now a part of daily life, super imposing images and sounds over the real world, helping people ignore their humdrum lives with social networks, news feeds, advertisements, directions to the closest soy-dog stand, entertainment, and a dozen other things. It is so pervasive in fact that if you don't have your comm-link on at the least you will get odd looks from people, at the worst the cops will bring you in for questioning over your "suspicious behavior."
Corporations and individuals have need of expendable, deniable assets. That's you, expendable and deniable, after all you don't show up on any of their payrolls, heck you might not show up on any records. You are a mercenary, a runner, a shadow person. You might be a cold blooded killer, a wheel/wing/boat/drone-man, a finesser of all things digital, a street doc, or maybe just a charming smile in a forgettable face. If you are a specialist, someone has need of your skills and discretion.
Basic Information
System: GURPS 4th Edition
Build Points 150 Max 100 points in Attributes Max 60 points in Disadvantages 20,000 starting money
Tech Level 9 with level 10 items emerging in some fields (PCs will need GM approval and a good reason to get level 10 tech)
No magic or psionics.
Available Books For Players:
-Basic Set Characters
-Bio-Tech
-Ultra-Tech
-Gun Fu (Non Cinematic/Extraordinary options)
-Martial Arts (Non Cinematic/Extraordinary options)
We are shooting for a mostly realistic/gritty game, please work with me to bring this about.
-I would also recommend GURPS 3rd Edition Cyberpunk and Cyberworld for inspiration. You will have to find the 4th Edition counterpart in one of the above books but still a lot of good ideas.
A note on Advantages/Disadvantages. They must be reasonable/relevant. Most advantages will come in the form of cyber or bioware, too much and I might impose penalties for social interactions just a heads up. No stacking disadvantages such as blind and color blind, and one eye, you get the idea. As usual all advantages and disadvantages are subject to GM approval, a bit of background or concept as to the reason a character has this advantage/disadvantage will help it get approved.
For Cyberware this is a useful guide for coming up with costs Pyramid: Better, Stronger, Faster: Basic Cybernetics for GURPS 4th Edition
General Game Info
This will be a mission or job centric game. Once a job/mission has been accepted a new thread will be created with the name of the run for a title. We will have an ongoing thread for downtime between runs. This will allow RP to continue while the GM works on the next mission,or is out of town, additionally this will allow people who are interested in the game but not able to commit to regular postings for a run, a place to interact. Particularly nice bits of RP in these areas might be rewarded with points or credits so keep it IC.
Once we work out the formatting and I feel comfortable with GURPS I would like to allow sidejobs (read solo mini runs). That would let new players get a few points to catch up with the rest of the team, or build a reputation to get an invite to join, to put it in character.
House Rules
Computer related: Pretty much everything has a computer in it and everyone has a comlink and Personal Area Network connecting all their electronics together, AR glasses and interface be it gloves or trodes, cell phone, radio, camera, all the blinking and buzzing fashion accessories. For Runners you can also include cyberware, and all but the simplest weapons. Generally all these are connected by a very low powered wireless connection sent out from the comlink and encrypted. Technically this means your gun or cyberarm could be hacked. To counter this you have few options, you can get a neural interface plug installed and hook directly into your comlink, can't interfere with a direct connection, likewise you could wire in your gun, glasses, belt buckle and arm, but you will have wires all over the place and drawing attention to yourself.
The Computer Hacking Skill from the Basic book will be used for the majority of actions not recommended by the manufacturer.
Rigging(connecting to vehicles and drones) will require a connection to the target either wired or wireless and fairly easy Computer Operation check to configure if you have the correct access rights(usually this will be part of the preparation before a run). If you don't have the access rights to say, the security drone firing at you, it will take a Computer Hacking (or Computer Combat if it is actively being controlled by a Rigger) check to gain access. Once you have control of the vehicle/drone in question you will use the appropriate pilot/driving skill for maneuvering and gunner skill related to whatever weapons it has equipped.
New Skills: Computer Combat:TL IQ/Very Hard; will be used when in direct confrontation with another Hacker, Rigger, AI, IC, or other similar combatant.
New Advantage: Talent:Hacker 10pts/lvl( Computer Hacking, Computer Combat, Computer Operation, Computer Programing, Cryptography, Electronics Operation-Security, Electronics Operation-Electronic Warfare) Reaction bonus with Hackers/Riggers/Technophiles
Internal Comlinks, 7pts and $4,000+Cost of the comlink to be implanted. Comes with a wired connection. (placement up to the player) Optional: +3pts and $5,000 to have a wireless connection installed also.