New free Cyberpunk 2020 Sourcebook

Deric Bernier (and his helpers) managed to publish an impressive online cyberpunk 2020 Sourcebook for South and Central America, Conflict II.

It’s great! Everything you need to know to run adventures in the jungles of the Americas,

I’m most impressed with the amazing detail of the sourcebook, the lifepath and they even thought of random encounter tables to help the GM with slow moments! From Derics “advertising”:

Well folks, I am pleased to announce, THE CURSE IS BROKEN. After exactly 361 days of work, and a collaborative effort of 6 writers, and 20 other contributors, Conflict II: The Central And South American sourcebook. That’s right, from the only site that could possibly do it justice, the long awaited project is finally finished and available to you. Detailing every country in the region, the people, the resources, the wildlife, travel, and more, the Sourcebook also sets the stage for the Third South American War. With full descriptions of all the major armed forces involved including detailed weapon and equipment lists for the U.S., EDF, Neo-Soviet, Chinese, Mexican, Militech, Arasaka, Argentina, Chile, ICMF, and the South American Alliance armed forces. It also contains information on the Media presence covering the conflict as well as a more detailed look at the previous wars and a Journal of the Long Walk. There are even Lifepath charts and Random Encounter tables to make the experience complete. More than just a sequel to Conflict: Africa, this sourcebook is twice the size and much more detailed and comprehensive.

Link: Conflict II: Sourcebook for South and Central America.

Netrunning – can it be salvaged?

The Net in 2020

[Netrunning is probably the part of Cyberpunk 2020 which troubles the GM most. It’s neither very realistic, nor does it work fast. It also forces the GM to either focus on the netrunner OR on the rest of the party. James tries a more realistic approach, which might be more in tune with todays internet, but also requires a deeper technical understanding of the working of the internet.]

Author: James Lownie

This is a description of the basic features of the internet as it *may* function in 2020 (or any near future setting, see assumptions). It is intended as a framework upon which detailed rules can be built, and also as guide for players to understand how their characters will use the net, and what they can do on it. Comments and constructive criticism are eagerly awaited. Continue reading “Netrunning – can it be salvaged?”

Snitch-Chip today its for pupils, tomorrow for the wage-slave

The ARCH Blog informs us about a projekt in a british secondary school where pupils have RFID chips in their uniform that transmits rather sensitive data:

The chip connects with teachers’ computers to show a photograph of the pupil, data about academic performance and whether he or she is in the correct classroom.

Well, next time you start your Cyberpunk 2020 game with the PCs flipping burgers somewhere, you know how to make them rebel… why wouldn’t they be chipped, too?

“Mr. Anderson, we noticed that your average toilet time is 0.4% higher then the average for male employees. This reduces your productivity and costs the company a lot of money. See to it that you come to terms with this problem!”

Its stunning what you would be able to learn about the person chipped.

With this amount of spying, its easy to rationalise why someone would feel punk enough to grab a gun and become an outlaw…

Handprothese mit Gefühl

Auf dem Weg zum Cyberarm macht die Wissenschaft Fortschritte. Wie Spiegel Online meldet, können jetzt zwei Menschen mit der Handprothese etwas fühlen:

US-Forscher haben bei Mitchell und einem 54-jährigen die Nerven so umoperiert, dass die Empfindungen der verlorenen Hände auf der Brusthaut spürbar wurden.

Dafür lass ich mir die Hand noch nicht abhacken – ich warte mindestens bis die Cyberfinger einzeln erhältlich sind…

Electorthermal Weapons in Cyberpunk 2020

ELECTROTHERMAL WEAPONS

Author: unknown.

These weapons are very unrealistic and overpowered. The default rules don’t talk about the many disadvantages of such weapons. Will all know that an electrothermal upgrade can only be preformed on a gun that fires cased shells. While the increase in firepower is considerable, the large list of disadvantages may make you think twice about using such weapons.

Heat:

Think about it, using plasma to fire a copper cased shell is not by any means smart. The copper casing ejects from the side of the gun through the sliding action. These casings are extremely hot and can burn your skin. Even normal casings can burn you if you catch them, but with electrothermal casings the chances of starting fires and such are greatly increased. Burning your hand on a casing inflicts 1 point for a normal casing and 1d6/2 for a electrothermal casing. There is also a 15% chance that a hot casing will start a fire if it lands on something flammable. Continue reading “Electorthermal Weapons in Cyberpunk 2020”

Cyberware: iSpy

Im Blutschwerter-Forum fand ich diese fantastische Idee, um den zunehmenden Überwachungswahn in einem Dark-Future Rollenspiel wie Cyberpunk 2020 vernünftig unterbringen zu können. Raben-AAS hat auch sonst eine große Leistung mit der Aktualisierung der Spielwelt erbracht, die man in dem Thread nachlesen kann.

*iSpy: Das Keé ist ein extrem populärer, aus dem Alltag kaum wegzudenkender Gegenstand der Unterhaltungselektronik. Es handelt sich dabei um eine Art Verbindung aus Cyclops Display (vor dem Auge getragener, durchsichtiger Flüssigkristall-Bildschirm, in den Infos eingeblendet werden), V-Connect (Anschlusstelle für ggf. unter der Haut implantierter Interface-Systeme), Handy und MP3-Player (mit Earset). Keés sind stylish, in verschiedenen Designs erhältlich und trotz ihrer immensen technischen Leistungen absolut bezahlbar (oder kostenlos), da sie von den Unternehmen gesponsored werden. Continue reading “Cyberware: iSpy”

Cyberpunk Tech 8

The MIT developed an exosceleton that attaches to your legs and helps you carry an backpack. More here. (Via boing-boing)

The Humble Smartlink Revisited

The Humble Smartlink Revisited

[This article deals with the benefits and problems of directly plugging a gun into your nervous system – what probably every cyberpunk PC everywhere does all the time.]

Author: Chris Lupton.
Taken without permission from his site at (now dead). It pains me to violate his copyright, but the article is just to good to let it be forgotten. I’m sorry Chris and hope you approve what I do here.

The History of and Information about Smartguns

Origins
Operation
Advanced Systems

Origins

The first smartgun systems were developed independently by the US and German militaries in the 1990s. By 2001, smartguns had been adopted by several corporations and were beginning to appear on the street. The US military created the Milspec Smartgun Standard (MSS1) in 2003, after disastrous compatibility problems amongst the smartguns used in central America caused embarrassing problems and several fatalities. Today, almost every smartsystem in the world conforms to this standard. To ignore it means ignoring the large profits to be made selling smartlinks to the US military. In 2013 an improved standard (MSS2) was released, though it has yet to be universally adopted. The army considered it too expensive for its benefits and has yet to make compliance a requirement in weapons trials.The MSS1 standard was essentially very simple. It defined the data protocol between the smartgun and the neuralware smartlink, in terms of required and optional information/functions. This meant that one smartgun link mounted in a neuralware processor or smartgoggles could interpret the data from any smartlinked weapon. Continue reading “The Humble Smartlink Revisited”

First time on Karsten's: Guns!

Weapons

Author: unknown.

Need new ideas… ?

Content

Melee
Grenades
Mines
Guns

Melee

Ikari Razor Glove

MEL 0 P C 1D6/2 n/a n/a 50eb

This is a simple, Freddy Krueger-esque glove equipped with Scratchers or Rippers. The Ripper version costs 50eb more, has a Con. of Jacket, does 1D6+3 damage, and reduces REF checks with that hand by -3 due to reinforced finger joints. Neither version can be used for punching, as the blades on the fingers make it impossible to clench the hand. Continue reading “First time on Karsten's: Guns!”

Botnet Storm punishes its enemies

The first evil computer program that defends itself. Its so cool!

The worm can figure out which users are trying to probe its command-and-control servers, and it retaliates by launching DDoS attacks against them, shutting down their Internet access for days, says Josh Korman, host-protection architect for IBM/ISS, who led a session on network threats.

As you try to investigate [Storm], it knows, and it punishes, he says. It fights back.

As a result, researchers who have managed to glean facts about the worm are reluctant to publish their findings. They’re afraid. I’ve never seen this before, Korman says. They find these things but never say anything about them.

And not without good reason, he says. Some who have managed to reverse engineer Storm in an effort to figure out how to thwart it have suffered DDoS attacks that have knocked them off the Internet for days, he says.

As researchers test their versions of Storm by connecting to Storm command-and-control servers, the servers seem to recognize these attempts as threatening. Then either the worm itself or the people behind it seem to knock them off the Internet by flooding them with traffic from Storm’s botnet, Korman says.

Source: Networkworld