Tag: cyberpunk

Krav Maga – The Israeli Martial Art for Cyberpunk 2020

Krav Maga – The Israeli Martial Art to the World

Author: Hound. Used with kind permission.

Krav MagÃ?¡ is not a martial art. Krav MagÃ?¡ is the only style world-wide known as an art of self-defense and not as a Martial art. There’s no tournament competitions, rules or forms (katas or katis in some martial arts).The technique of Krav MagÃ?¡ is based on mind and intellectual force, no matter what the physical strength you have, and had as a goal the transference of weight as explosive force. As physics tells us, strength is equal to mass multiplied by acceleration. The strike brings to the target the striker’s body weight. The strike’s movement works as a spring released: the speed does not have continuous acceleration; it is released at maximum speed. Its like an explosion.

All the Krav Mag�¡ moves were created based on natural body movements and are all very simple, what makes their use easier on danger and surprise situations. The moves are short, and by consequence, fast. There are no rules. The technique was created for real-life situations application. The strikes are intended to body sensible targets, what makes the Krav Maga practitioner and his adversary even, independently from their physical strength, and makes the defense more objective. In short: Krav Mag�¡ is a simple personal defense system, fast and objective, accessible to anyone.

This art is also taught in a few major cities in the United States (Denver, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, and several in the Los Angeles area) as well as Israel, Brazil, Finland, France, Norway, and Sweden. It’s taught as a means of self-defense, as well as a sport. Indeed, it’s particularly well-suited to purposes of self-defense; it’s full of counterattacks and ways to repel and subdue an attacker, including a lot of action to sensitive areas of the body such as the eyes and groin.

Among law enforcement agencies in the United States that use Krav Mag�¡ are the FBI; the US Coast Guard Tactical Unit, Park Service, and Treasury Department; the Texas Department of Public Safety; the State Police Departments of Alabama, Connecticut, Illinois, and Pennsylvania; the Beverly Hills Police Department; and many others. Thus this is a good martial art for PCs and NPCs alike who are members of those outfits.

Game Bonuses:

IP Cost x3
Strike +2 (with staff, knife, and rifles used as staves)
Punch +3 (most often to vitals)
Kick +1 (a few good kicks)
Escape +4 (advanced training is mostly in getting out of trouble)
Block +3 (same)
Grapple +2 (to achieve the next maneuver)
Choke +3 (a very effective way to subdue an enemy)
Disarm +2

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Be sure to check out www.kravmaga.com for more information

New Martial Arts for Cyberpunk 2020

New Martial Arts

Author: Hound. Used with permission.

Originally I had proposed a sweeping reform of the hand to hand combat system in Cyberpunk 2020, but with the arrival of The Pacific Rim Sourcebook, most of my demands were satisfied.
Instead, I propose several new martial arts to be added to the Martial Arts listing, as well as the removal of several others that were too generalized. I’ve also included a few martial arts that were added to the game previous to Pacific Rim but were not included in that book’s listings (mostly from Listen Up You Primitive Screwheads!).
For descriptions of the Martial Arts listed below, I recommend any good Martial Arts reference book, or the GURPS Martial Arts from Steve Jackson Games, or the Ninjas and Superspies book from Palladium.
Continue reading “New Martial Arts for Cyberpunk 2020”

Master Martial Arts List for Cyberpunk 2020

MASTER MARTIAL ARTS LIST

Compiled and written by Deric “D-ROC” Bernier.

Introduction

Stats

Descriptions

Melee Weapons

Additional Rules

INTRODUCTION

Ok, for all you punks who like a little variety in your ass whippin’ I have compiled the master martial arts list. Using the format in the PACIFIC RIM SOURCEBOOK , this list includes every martial art you could imagine, including some I made up just to add some spice to the mix. The hardest part was setting the difficulty modifier. Originally my system was based on how hard teh style was to learn, and how hard it was to find, but after several comments I have decided to revise this. Now the IP modifier is based strictly on how hard the art is to learn. The difficulty of finding someone to teach the character the art is something that should be roleplayed. If you don’t own a copy of PAC RIM I strongly urge you to go out and buy it right now. It specifies in detail the hand to hand and melee rules for CP 2020. Ok, got your cup in place, let’s go.

STATS

Continue reading “Master Martial Arts List for Cyberpunk 2020”

Juvenile Emancipation: An Idea for Cyberpunk 2020

Juvenile Emancipation: an idea for Cyberpunk 2020

Author: Mockery (Mockery’s)

I first read about this idea in Over the Edge, from Atlas Games. I filed it away in the back of my head and didn’t really think about it again until Cybergeneration came out. Now, I don’t especially like Cybergeneration, for reasons I won’t go into here, so the idea of playing a kid never appealed to me. But at some point in the last year or so, the 15-year-old juveganger from Cybergen collided headlong with the pubes from Over the Edge and the following concept was born.

In our games in 2020, any child between the ages of fourteen and eighteen (or sixteen, if you go by Home of the Brave) can be emancipated or declared a legal adult, with all the rights and privileges thereof.

The minor in question must meet the following requirements:

PSYCHOLOGICAL –
The minor must pass a battery of psychological exams which ensure that he (or she) has the emotional maturity to survive as an adult. This is weighted in favor of stability, so one must actually have slightly higher-than-average COOL (7+), but only an average EMP (6+). Continue reading “Juvenile Emancipation: An Idea for Cyberpunk 2020”

Human Shields in Cyberpunk 2020

Human Shields in Cyberpunk 2020

Author: sparky.

The asshole attacked me with a back hand. I swung my right arm and connected with his kidney. He promptly buckled with a scream. That was when I saw his partner with the Assault Rifle. ‘Shit. This is going to be a bad day.’ I thought. As his partner raised the muzzle of the weapon to point it at me I acted. I reached and grabbed the punk I’d just nailed by the back of the shirt and held him in front of me just as his parter opened with a three round burst. The bullets made wet smacks as they pummeled the body in front of me. After the guy fired I pulled out my AMT and blew his fool head off, and left the shield to die in a pool of blood.
Johnny Walker – Militech

Some times you are looking down a barrel with no where to go. So what do you do? You attempt to find cover. And in some close range fire fights the best cover around can be the bodies of living or dead people. I know, it harks back to memories of Arnold riding the escalator up and using a human shield against fully automatic weapons. Pretty cool, a little messy, but pretty cool.

Well, guess what. I was CC’d with a message for Rajeen Nabid and the message had a direct quote for RTG on how this would be done! So here it is a little more fleshed out and taking armor into account. (Which believe it or not, is actually easy.)
Here we go!

Human Shield

SP = Body Type Modifier (BTM)

SDP = 4xBody (i.e. Body of 7 = 28 (7×4=28)

These are estimates from RTG (pretty good ones too). An unarmored shield would have these types of values. And for all intents and purposes this would be treated as cover. Damage that penetrates the SP of the Shield will be passed on to the SDP of the body (4xBODY). So if the person has a high body there is a lot of damage that can be stopped. But, once the Shields SDP are reduced to zero the shield ins no longer effective and you are also wearing a large portion of the shield as there won’t be much left.

Now, “Great!” you’re saying. “Next time I get my self into a fire fight… I’ll just grab the first person I see and use them as cover!” Well, it does work that easily for dead or unconscious shields. But, it’s a different story when that shield is still conscious and alive! If the person you wish to hide behind is not incapacitated you must first make a grapple roll to grab the person. Once you have grappled the person you may hold him in front of you. You must also roll a grapple roll every turn you wish to use him/her so long as they are alive and awake.

Armored Shields

Now What do you do if you have armor on the shield. I use the RTG armor Layering rules for the body only! The shield does not count towards armor layering because it is actually treated as cover and not armor! This is what I came up with.Now, the first step is to figure the total SP of the Human Shield. This can be done by using the rules for armor laying (Which can be found on www.cyberpunk2020.de (At least….That’s where I found them on the net)).

The way this works is first find the SP of the armor that the shield is wearing and the SP of the body (BTM). Subtract the lower of the SP from the larger and cross reference the table. Add the number of the bonus to the LARGER of the SPs. Chances are the low SP of a human body is not going to make much of a difference.

Difference in SPs Bonus Number
0-4 5
5-8 4
9-14 3
15-20 2
21-26 1
27+ 0

Once you have figured the SP of the Shield you are ready. Let the mayhem begin. Here’s an example to illustrate the point.

Example

John Doe is using a human shield. The BTM of the shield is +2 so the SP of the shield is 2. The shield is wearing a Kevlar T-Shirt (SP-10). Subtract 2 from 10 to get 8. Cross referencing the table we see that he gets a bonus of +4. This number is added to the LARGER of the two SPs to give 14SP. The target must take over 14 points of damage for the SDP of the target to take any damage. Makes for a pretty good shield huh? John Doe is being shot at by Punk Boy. Punk Boy is using a heavy SMG. He fires and hits the Human shield. He rolls for his damage and gets 17 points. The armor of the Shield stops 14 of it the other three go through to the SDP of the shield. The shield has a body of 8 so the shield can take 32 points of damage before being reduced to so much chopped liver. John Doe has a good thing going. Unless Punk Boy pulls out the big guns.

So, as you can see there are a lot of good benefits to having a human shield. Thanks for the idea!
-sparky

Panzerungstabelle aus dem englischen Regelwerk Cyberpunk 2020

Panzerungstabelle aus dem englischen Regelwerk Cyberpunk 2020

Author: Mike Pondsmith.
Übersetzung: Blechpirat

Aus dem englischsprachigen Regelwerk (2. Version, überarbeitete 2. Auflage, die mit den Bildern aus Italien) ergibt sich eine Regel zu dem übereinander tragen von gepanzerten Kleidungsstücken. Sie lautet:

Vergleiche die unterste Panzerung mit der darüber. Nimm den höheren Panzerungswert, und ziehe den niedrigeren davon ab. Vergleiche die Differenz auf dieser Tabelle:

Differenz Bonus
0-4 5
5-8 4
9-14 3
15-20 2
21-26 1
27+ 0

Zähle den Bonus zu dem höheren Panzerungswert hinzu. Wenn noch eine dritte Schicht Panzerung da ist, wird der berechnete Panzerungswert mit der dritten Schicht verglichen, die Tabelle dazu befragt, und der Bonus wird wieder zum höheren Panzerungswert hinzugezählt. Mehr als drei Lagen Panzerung ist unmöglich. Dieser Vorgang wird für jede Trefferzone des PCs wiederholt.

Außerdem wird (zusätzlich zu der Behinderung, den die Panzerung etwa schon mitbringt (Mittlere Panzerjacke = -1) ein weiter Punkt für die zweite Lage, und dann noch 2 Punkte für die dritte Lage von den Reflexen abgezogen. Skinweave (Hautverstärker) wird dabei nicht mitberechnet.

Beispiel:

Ripperjack hat Reflexe von 8 und trägt ein Kevlar T-Shirt (10 SP), eine Leichte Panzerjacke (14 SP) und eine Schwere Panzerjacke (20 SP).

Am Torso:
Die Differenz zwischen den beiden unteren Panzerungen (14 und 10) ist 4. Das ergibt nach der Tabelle einen Bonus von 5. Der wird zur höheren Panzerung dazugezählt: 14 + 5 = 19 SP. Darüber kommt noch die Schwere Panzerjacke mit 20 SP. Wieder die Differenz zwischen 20 und 19 (der berechnete Panzerungswert für die beiden unteren Lagen gemeinsam) bilden: 1. Bonus beträgt also 5. Höherer Wert + Bonus: 20+5 = 25. Am Torso hat Rippejack als 25 Punkte Panzerung. (Nach dem alten System hätte er 34 Punkte gehabt.)
An den Armen:
Das T-Shirt wirkt hier nicht, daher 20-14= 6, Bonus also 4. 20+4 = 24…

Sein Reflexverlust beträgt: 2 für die Schwere Jacke, +1 für eine zweite Lage, +2 für eine dritte Lage = 5. Kein Spaß. Ripperjack hat jetzt nur noch 3 Reflexpunkte.

Nelly ist cleverer. Sie hat auch Reflexe 8, hat Hautverstärker mit 10 Punkten (damit sie nicht riskiert, Attraktivität zu verlieren) und trägt eine leichte Panzerjacke.

Die Differenz zwischen den Panzerungen ist (14-10) 4, der Bonus daher 5. Der höhere Panzerungswert ist 14 + den Bonus von 5 ergibt 19, Reflexverlust beträgt 0.

Falls es noch Fragen dazu gibt, meldet euch in den Kommentaren!

Vielen Dank an Dreamdealer, der mir die Tabelle zugemailt hat und Yw376, der sie nicht kannte.

Die Rückstoßregeln aus Morgan Blackhand’s Street Weapons.

Hit Locations

Hit Locations adapted from Fuzion / CyberPunk 3

Author: Hound
Taken with permission from: The BlackHammer CyberPunk Project

[Karsten’s Note: I used this table for a while, but now I think its not worth the extra effort. It’s slightly more realistic (and the -6 for headshots is still in use), but having to multiply by 1.5x just takes to much time to make a fight fast – and thus fun to play.]

3d6 Location Damage To Hit
3-5 Head 2x -6
6 Hand �½x -6
7-8 Arm �½x -3
9 Shoulder 1x -3
10-11 Chest 1x -1
12 Stomach 1.5x -3
13 Vitals 1.5x -6
14 Thigh 1x -3
15-16 Leg �½x -4
17-18 Foot �½x -5

These numbers vary from those given in the Fuzion books because I feel the to hit difficulties they gave were not really related to reality, but to game balance. Hands are as easy to hit as arms, even though they are smaller and move around more than the head. Although because of this movement they become easier targets on a random table, they become harder targets to hit specifically. Also the stomach is given a quite hard to-hit number, because it is weaker and easier to damage than the chest, but not because of it’s size and ease to hit. Which of course brings us to…Called Shots. .
The rules for called shots have varied over the years in the Interlock / Fuzion system.

  • CyberPunk 2013 : Called shots to hit locations are at 1/2 normal base [(REF+skill+WA)/2].
  • CyberPunk 2020 : Called shots to hit locations are at a -4 penalty.
  • CyberPunk 3 : Called shots to hit locations are at a variable penalty to hit based on the vulnerability of the location.

In the hit location table above I have included our “balanced” called shot penalties tied in more with the difficulty of hitting a location than with the locations vulnerability to injury. But there is more to a called shot than just firing blindly at someone’s head. Before any called shot can be made, a COOL roll (DIF:12) must be passed. If failed the character can’t hold his cool long enough to concentrate on an aimed shot, and instead fires blindly. Called shots can be made with any weapon at the listed penalty if the firer only fires one shot in that action. If the firer wishes to utilize a semi-automatic weapon with a higher ROF, each called shot gains an additional -3 penalty. 3 round burst weapons can fire called shots as normal, but they do not receive the +3 to hit for burst fire and only the first shot hits the called location, with the second having a 50% chance of hitting the called location, and the third shot must be rolled as normal. Full autofire cannot benefit from called shots.

Cyberpunk Tech 3

Screenshot: Courtesy of Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

Via Wired: This Is The World’s Most Advanced Bionic Arm – this shiny little piece of tech. Its much like the cyberarm I envisioned in the games. The linked article gives more info about state of the art prosthetic tech, even nerve splicing to connect the limb to the body. Well worth reading.

Muscle and bone lace

Everybody has it, it gives you +2 on BODY, next to no humanity cost and probably works well against back pain, too. Almost to good to be true, right?

No: Via Trigram I found a report on nanotech. The researchers are close to finding a very similar stuff, usable for Muscle&Bone Lace as well as the much more cyborg-style hardness-improved bones.