Games-In: Hört ihr mich?

from Karsten at Cyberpunk2020.de
to info@games-in-vlg.de
date Sun, May 11, 2008 at 7:35 PM
subject Cyberpunk Relaunch: PR?

Liebes Games-In Team,

angesichts des baldigen Starts der Neuauflage von Cyberpunk 2020 wollte ich als Webmaster von https://www.cyberpunk2020.de – der wohl größten und aktivsten Cyberpunk 2020 Seite (jedenfalls in Deutschland) – anbieten, den Neustart mit z.B. einem Gewinnspiel oder einer Verlosung zu unterstützen, wenn Sie entsprechende Preise stiften möchten. Infrage kommt auch ein ein Promoabenteuer durch mich etwa auf dem NordCON.

Zudem wollte ich der guten Form halber abklären, ob Sie mit der Verwendung des Logos / der Bezugnahme von Inhalten von Cyberpunk 2020 durch meine Seite einverstanden sind. Ich bin bisher davon ausgegangen, dass meine Seite, die ohne Einnahmen auskommt, Ihre Zustimmung schon wegen der damit verbunden Werbung für das durch Sie vertriebene Produkt hat.

Zudem plane ich die Veröffentlichung eines Artikels in dem neu entstehenden Fanzine “Abenteuer.” Auch hier bitte ich um Zustimmung für die Verwendung des Namen Cyberpunk2020. Bei Abenteuer. wird es sich um ein Printmagazin ohne Gewinnabsicht handeln – aber das Heft wird Geld kosten, um die Druckkosten auffangen zu können.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Ihr Karsten […]

Geschrieben hab ich die Mail am 11.5., eine Antwort gab es bisher nicht. Vielleicht liest ja jemand von Games-In hier mit… falls meine Mail im Spam-Folder gelandet ist.

Aerial Intrusion Device

Real Life

The following device is based on Yves “The Fusionman” Rossy’s Jetpack. For copyright reasons, I’m not showing you any photos, but link to them:
On the ground

  • Wings folded, front view
  • Wings unfolded, front view
  • Close-up view of underside with jetmotors and harness, wings unfolded

Flying

  • From above
  • From above
  • Edge-on side view
  • From below
  • Video

There is a video on YouTube, too:
[youtube bEXxkWXncuo]

And Wikipedia has an entry, too.

Game Stats

For a Cyberpunk setting I would leave the requirment to launch the jetpack from an airplane or something similar. The reach should be short, but not as short as the prototype (6.5 minutes at 185 km/h). So lets put it at 220 km/h for 10 min, giving it a reach of 35 km. It has near to none radar signature, but does emit heat, so it might be detectable.

Statistics:

Top Speed 220 km/h Acc/Dec 110/20 km/h
Crew 1 Range 35 km
Pass 0 Cargo none
Maneuver +3 SDP 5
SP 0 Type Jetpack
Mass 20 kg Cost 20,000 EB

Special Equipment:

Nav System, stealth option, parachute

Copy Protection in Cyberpunk 2020

by Amy Luther

“Anti-IC and Anti-Personnel programs cannot be Backup-copied; they have special copy-protection routines that erase the chip in the copy process. This makes sure you come back to your friendly local fixer for a new copy of Hellhound when yours crashes. You can make a copy using your Programming Skill against a Task Difficulty of 28.”
(from the Cyberpunk 2020 Rulebook)

In our games, we assume that the copy-protection routine referred to in the CP2020 rulebook prevents copies from being made. When you roll versus a difficulty 28 to make a copy, you are effectively cracking this section of the program. From then on, the program is cracked, and you may make a copy of it.

Copying Made Easy

Ditto

(Anti-IC, STR 6, MU 4, GM’s decision as to cost and availability)

Ditto deactivates the copy protection routine of a target Anti-IC or Anti-Personnel program. It is run against the target program and an opposed roll is made: Ditto’s STR + 1d10 versus the target program’s STR + 1d10. If Ditto wins, the string which prevents copying in the target program is stripped, and it may be copied freely with the COPY function on the Menu. This may affect its stability; on a 1 or 2 on a d6 roll, the target fries itself, and no copy can be made. The copies which result are cracked copies and are somewhat corrupted. Whenever run, they will crash and de-rez on a roll of 1 or 2 on a d6. ICON – If run in the net, Ditto breaks up the IC into a million glowing bits, then reforms it. If the program crashes, the bits simply spin away into the net without reforming.

Other Avenues

Programs bought from legitimate sources (i.e., not your local fixer) may come with codes, allowing the corporate buyer to make backup copies, or even fully-enabled copies which can be run anywhere. This option would naturally be very expensive and might explain why Anti-Personnel programs cost so much.

Other options are a licensing/registration process, in which a purchaser (probably a corporation) pays a fee upon purchasing the program which guarantees a set number of copies of a given program from the manufacturer. This fee could be renewed annually, or simply paid whenever one of the corp’s copies gets zapped by an intruding netrunner.

This opens up another avenue for netrunning. Runners could raid programming houses for anti-personnel codes for sale or distribution, or could steal the corporate’s license, then get free copies from the house while the corporation foots the bill.

We’re also working on black IC companies… after all, somebody’s got to have a license to program and sell this stuff, right?

The evil guys – how to paint them black in a greyscale world

Villians are difficult do create and play for an Cyberpunk 2020 GM. In D&D, a evil aura is all you need for the groups paladin to cry “I shall smite this evil” and a fight will occur. Which will be Level-appropriate. And be won by the group after having expended the precalculated amount of spells, magic item charges and hitpoints. Boring.

So how do you give your PCs a villian they will remember? When I was young, you could identify them rather easily. They wore a tie. This is no longer an option – I have to wear a tie at work myself. But then, I’m probably a villian, too. Only less well payed. And no, we don’t get any cool guns or explosives. Not even super-powers.

Where was I? Ah, right. Yax, over at dungeonmastering.com, wrote an D&D related article on how to greate a love-to-hate villain. Some stuff (also taken from the comments) might be useful for cyberpunk, too. In the comments I found

Make the villain an ally, until story arcs climax, then betrayal then return in reacuring arcs. Annoying, frustrating, and appealing. Plus, get one of the players intimatly connected, like a relative, or childhood friend or lover. thats a hard thing to kill.

Okay, that’s basic for us. What else is there? Lot of stuff that might be innovative for D&D, but not new for cyberpunk. A selection of the best ideas:

The love-to-hate-them villains should:

  1. Speak slowly. Very slowly. Or have any other annoying vocal habit.
  2. Be good. That villain is lawful and good, but stupid or manipulated so that he doesn’t realize he’s causing harm. It’s hard to deal with someone who well-meaning, but they’re still annoying.
  3. Have the villain send a thug to beat the tar out of one of the PCs – not permanently damage them but beat them into unconsciousness (if they can). Of course the villain has an alibi but everyone KNOWS it was his/her order.
  4. Have the villain steal a prized magic item from one of the PCs and then wear/use it publicly, much to the adoration and amusement of the commonors in town.

I would love to collect your tips on how to create the most memorable and well-hated villians for cyberpunk 2020 in the comments. Yes, comments in german are willkommen.

Programming 108: It's the Law, 'punk!

Programming 108: It’s the Law, ‘punk!

Snitch
CLASS: Alarm COST: 580eb
STRENGTH: 4 MU: 4
PROGRAMMING: 174 DIFFICULTY: 29
FUNCTION(S): Alarm
OPTION(S): Memory, Icon (superrealistic)
COST MULTIPLIER: x2 (Alarm x2)
ICON: Snitch has a database consisting of thousands of pictures. You nevah know who can be airin’ your dirty laundry.
DATA: After the intruding netrunner has been detected, the program will alert the sysop on duty so he can deal with the threat first hand.
Handcuffs
CLASS: Anti-Personnel COST: 7,000eb
STRENGTH: 3 MU: 4
PROGRAMMING:168 DIFFICULTY: 28
FUNCTION(S): Anti-Personnel Continue reading “Programming 108: It's the Law, 'punk!”

The Armys robot mule: Amazing Robot Tech

Nils sandte mir aber dieses Video zu:

[youtube b2bExqhhWRI]

Danke, Nils!

@Nils: Wäre nett, wenn du und ich bald mal wieder zusammen zocken könnten. Und: Sag mal, hast du noch die buildnotes zu unserem Hovercraft? Und das Bild? Bald ist ja Nordcon