CYBERPUNK: Night City Chronicles

[Absinthe]

CYBERPUNK:

Night City Chronicles

There's no place like Night City, the infamous city state in what was once California. Depending on who you ask, it's a vibrant, exciting city, a unique melting pot of cultures. A cityscape full of opportunities, interesting people, and home to technology once thought impossible. The City of Dreams, home to legends like Morgan Blackhand, Rogue Amendiares, Alt Cunnigham, and Adam Smasher. Of course, there's plenty out there who would disagree. People who would dismiss it as a overcrowded dystopia ruled by unchecked megacorps, corrupt politicians and unabated gang warfare. Crime rates are sky high, cases of cyber-psychosis are a near every day occurrence, and even ordinary citizens can be driven to extreme measures just to get by. These are the people that voted Night City the worst place to live in both the NUSA and Free States. The first to point out that real NC legends don't usually live long enough to enjoy their success.

But you were one of the dreamers. You headed to Night City with big dreams. Hopes of being that one in 500 million to beat the odds and strike it big as a legendary edgerunner. Ambitions to walk among the rich and powerful as a successful member of the corporate elite. Or maybe you're just trying to outrun your old life and scrape enough eddies together to pay the rent and keep kibble on the table.

And maybe you'll get there one day. Right now? You're holed up in a shitty apartment building on the edge of the Combat Zone. It's not much, but it could be a lot worse. You know the owner of the building, one of the last remaining properties in NC not owned by a mega-corporation. At least this means that they're a little more understanding when it comes to rent, although a favor owed to a Fixer . They also somehow manage to keep the local gangs from hassling their tenants too much, but you know better than to ask for details on the hows and whys there.

Sure would be a shame if anything were to happen to this little neat set up. Especially as you've yet to find yourself the right circle of friends, a crew to fall back on. Hey, all legends had to start somewhere, right?

=== * ===

I promised I'd be back, and here I am! Presenting, a Cyberpunk RP that may seem a little familiar to anyone who's played Cyberpunk Red's Jumpstart kit to begin with, but it's an initial hook that does seem to work for a broad range of characters and backgrounds... so that's where we'll start!

You will be playing as an Edgerunner, someone who lives the fast paced lifestyle of those looking to make a name for themselves in Night City. Maybe you're a Rockerboy following in the footsteps of Kerry Eurodyne, a Netrunner out to learn all the secrets of the Net, or a Solo who's just looking to have an excuse to blow shit up. As of right now however, you're a low level nobody in Night City. Maybe you like that. If you're still here however... You probably don't. You want to be someone. The first 'act' of the RP will focus on the crew forming, and learning to work together, and then later moving onto other jobs, missions, and assorted antics that may or may not make you some hard earned cash.

Cyberpunk very rarely has any happy endings, and can deal with some heavy topics. That said, to start with, I'm hoping to keep it relatively light hearted, and roll with the vibe players want to continue with for future story lines.


Does this all sound good? Join the Discord here to say hi! Night City Chronicles Discord Server

 

[Absinthe]

CYBERPUNK:

Night City Chronicles

Rules

A Message from your GM

Respect and Courtesy:
Treat others with respect and kindness. Avoid personal attacks, harassment, or discriminatory behavior based on race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, etc.

Use appropriate language and tone when communicating with others. Assume positive intent where you can, but obvious bad behavior will result in warnings and possible bans.

Resolve conflicts in a calm and constructive manner. Encourage open dialogue and understanding.

Roleplay Etiquette:
Stay true to your character's abilities, limitations, and the RP world's established rules. Some dice rolling will be included in this RP. Ability check failures are a part of life, and make for equally fun action. Embrace the fails!

Avoid metagaming (using out-of-character knowledge in character interactions) or power-gaming (unfairly maximizing character abilities) unless previously discussed with the GM and other involved players.

Give other players opportunities to participate and contribute to the RP. Avoid monopolizing the spotlight - this is an ensemble cast of characters, after all!

Content and Language:
Keep discussions and content within appropriate boundaries. This is a RP with mature topics, including but not limited to violence, drug use, and some potentially suggestive content. Please exercise common sense when it comes to these boundaries, and when in doubt, please check in with myself or the rest of the party.

Clearly label and use content warnings (CWs) for sensitive or triggering topics that might be included in RP threads or discussions.

Strong language will be used IC and likely OOC, please be advised. However, the use of slurs or other inflammatory or derogatory language, IC or OOC, will not be tolerated.

It's hard to avoid politics in cyberpunk. However, please refrain from OOC political discussion.

No Spam or Advertisement:
Do not spam or flood the server/forum with excessive messages or unnecessary content.

We love to hear about what you're doing, but please avoid sharing your links to socials/stores/servers unless asked.

Stay On-Topic:
Try to keep discussions and interactions related to the RP and relevant channels and threads on both Iwaku and Discord. Avoid derailing conversations or disrupting the flow of RP threads.

Moderation and Disputes:
Follow the instructions of the GM, currently yours truly.

Disputes or concerns should be brought to my attention respectfully and privately. Constructive feedback (e.g "I think you could do better at X, it's making things not so fun for me.", "I feel like my character has been left out of scene A" or "This thing Y that you're doing is making me uncomfortable,") is welcomed and encouraged! Rants, pointless complaining or general trolling will not.

Do not engage in public arguments or create unnecessary drama.

Expectations: Activity
By joining this RP, you're committing to one post, per active character, per week. You will have a week's grace period on your first offense, and after that, you will earn strikes for every post missed. If your character is blocking any others, I will move/remove them from the scene in the least disruptive manner possible. Three strikes without an excuse will result in being asked to leave the RP until such a time when you can commit.

However, I do appreciate that life (and vacations!) happen. If you're expecting to be away longer for a week, for any reason at all, please drop the party a line in the #member-announcements channel of Discord or give me a quick DM. In cases like these, please try to make sure your character isn't blocking anyone else's interactions.

Members are welcome to take a hiatus if they can remove their characters from active scenes.

Expectations: Posting
You are also expected to maintain a high quality level of posting. A high quality post to me includes the following.

- Respond to the situation, and give the rest of your crew something to react to. Edgerunners don't make it very far by sitting around, trying to mysterious at a bar and waiting for the world to come to them. Go find your fellow players, make friends, make contacts. Grab the world by the horns.

- If you don't already use a text editor, I recommend using one such as Google Docs or LibreOffice. Not only does this allow you to have an offline copy of your post that is less likely to be erased by accident - it's happened to all of us! - they often feature spelling and grammar checkers. I don't expect perfection every time, but I appreciate you making your post as easy to read as possible!

- CSS fancy post styling is not a requirement. If you are planning to use it for your regular posts, however please check that it works fully on mobile! There are some pretty popular templates out there that cut text off, or that stretch the page out on mobile. If you need a hand adjusting a template - let me know!

Character Creation:
This will not be a first come, first served affair. You will be admitted to the RP based on your character sheet. As GM I reserve the right to ask you modify or adjust certain aspects of your character or character sheet before joining. If you'd like to join, but the sheet is a little overwhelming, give me a ping and I'll be happy to help get you sorted!

Characters are expected to be over the age of eighteen.

Every character is this world has their own tragic backstory with dead friends, lovers, parents and family. Everyone is carrying some level of trauma. You're living in a dystopian city that had a nuclear explosion devastate the city center in the recent past. This does not make your character special in this setting, and failure to adapt to these circumstances will have gotten your character killed.

Accountability and Consequences:
Understand that actions have consequences, both IC and OOC. If you act like a standoff-ish jerk, NPCs and potentially other player characters may react in accordance with that. For example, if you're rude to a Fixer, then don't expect to get jobs from them in the future. If you threaten the wrong suit, then you might end up with Militech breathing down your neck. Keep inserting cyberware, and you risk cyber psychosis. From an OOC perspective, violations of the rules may result in warnings, temporary or permanent bans, or other appropriate actions.

By joining this server, you're also agreeing that you're familiar with the world of Cyberpunk RED, or at least that you're willing to read up and learn about it before getting stuck in! This is not quite the same world as portrayed in Cyberpunk 2077 and Edgerunners. Please don't be afraid to ask questions or ask for more resources. If you don't want to ask a question in a public channel or thread, feel free to ping or DM me!

Does this all sound good? Join the Discord here to say hi! [URL="https://discord.gg/yWB9pYFb"Night City Chronicles Discord Server[/URL]

 

[Absinthe]

CYBERPUNK:

Night City Chronicles

Stats & Rolling

A Message from your GM

Hey hey!

So you're wondering what stats and dice rolls are doing on Iwaku? Dice rolls are used to introduce an element of chance and unpredictability to the story. It adds an exciting layer of randomness and helps determine the outcomes of various actions, making the game more interactive, dynamic and keeping the players (and yours truly) on their toes.

To keep things simple and accessible, we'll be using simplified stats. These stats generally represent a character's abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. In this case, we've got Body, Movement, Reflexes, Dexterity, Intelligence, Technical Ability, Empathy, Willpower, Cool and Luck.
We've got a whole post braking down these stats and what they represent.

When you want to perform an action that has a chance of success or failure, you'll roll a dice - a d10 - to determine the outcome. Your dice roll will be added to the stat, and compared against a DC or difficulty check of a certain value. The higher the value, the harder the task. The outcome of your roll will determine the level of success or failure. It could be as simple as rolling a higher number than a target difficulty, or it might involve comparing your roll to an opponent's roll in a contest. If you just pass the check, you complete the task by the skin of your teeth. If you pass by a large margin - you do so in epic style. Weapons carry different dice values to calculate damage - I will elaborate on this further on the discord server! RED also assigns values to certain skills or talents, such as animal handling, land vehicle driving, conversation and so on. For the purposes of simplicity, we won't be assigning numbers to these values - however, if there's enough demand it's something I'm happy to add. You will roll with the stat most closely associated with what you're trying to do, or the weapon you're using instead. If in doubt, just ask!

 

[Absinthe]

CYBERPUNK:

Night City Chronicles

FAQs:

> So how do you roll on Iwaku?

Dice rolls are available when you go to edit your post. You can select the number of faces - e.g 10 for a d10, and how many dice you want to roll, e.g 2d10. Maybe making an action is something you want to do in the middle of your post. In those cases, I'll permit dice rolls in Discord. All dice rolls for players should be made publicly. While I usually prefer to roll GM rolls 'behind the screen' or privately, I'm happy to roll out in the open too.

> I DON'T LIKE MATH ABSINTHE

Can I tell you a secret. Neither do I. The math needed to play dice based RPs- or at least, this one - is pretty straightforward. We'll be using almost exclusively d10 and d6, with only a single modifier to add to it. But I'm happy to recommend tools, or grab a bot for Discord if that makes it even easier for you!

> What's happened to the other roles?

If you've played RED, or done the reading, you might notice that there's a couple of classes or roles not mentioned in the intro posts. This is not an oversight. To save myself having to write more and more and more lore, and to keep things simpler for me as a GM and for new players, I've reduced the number of roles available. I have my reasons, chief amongst them is that most require an in-depth knowledge of the world to play well, and/or have the potential to derail the thread in a negative fashion. I'm one woman who works full time and DMs a tabletop version - I do not have the mental bandwidth to corral rogue Fixers, bleeding heart Execs or corrupt Media. I may reconsider this at a later point.

> I want to play V/David Martinez/Panam/Silverhand/Rogue...

The events of this RP are set about thirty years prior to the events of Edgerunners and 2077, in the Time of the Red. A good chunk of the cast of 77 are not born, or still in diapers. Silverhand is dead, and the likes of Kerry Eurodyne and Rogue have better things to be doing than hanging out with a street rat nobody like you. Please stick to your own original, brilliant, non canon characters.

> So, I have this great idea...

Awesome, let me hear it!

From plot ideas, to witty Screamsheet headlines, to wacky and wonderful NPCs - please, please shoot me a DM! I can't promise I'll always add them in, but I'd love to hear you out. This goes doubly if you have a problem with a judgement or call from myself, or if you're having trouble fitting your character into a scene. I'm happy to break down my reasons, and as long as you're respectful, I might be willing to reconsider a decision or allow a re-roll with the additional context.

 

[Absinthe]

CYBERPUNK:

Night City Chronicles

Points Allocation:

Opening Message from Chandra Ansel [NCPD Official]:

Reading Subject's AI Generated Attribute Scores

People, really? I need to explain this to you again? This is the last time, after this, you can fuck up in front of your boss. You're not my problem any more.

Every person is allocated score in ten categories. To recap:

Body: Rating of subject's raw strength and endurance
Movement: Rating of how fast, and how far the subject can run, swim, ect.
Reflexes: Rating of subject's response time, co-ordination, skill with ranged weapons
Dexterity: Rating of subject's athletic ability, including brawling and melee ability
Intelligence: Rating of how generally bright, clever and aware the subject is.
Technical Ability: Rating of how well subject can manipulate specialized tools and instruments
Empathy: Rating of subject's ability to empathize with others and resist potential cyberpsychosis.
Willpower: Rating of subject's ability to face danger and their ability to operate under stress.
Cool: Rating of subjects ability to impress and influence others.
Luck: Rating of how fortunate or lucky subject appears to be. This is an experimental value, because you can't track luck but... Try telling that to my boss's boss's boss.

For these so called 'edge-runners' or 'cyberpunks', these scores tend to add up to a total of **60**. A rating of **5** indicates you're about average. Yeah, that means the average cyberpunk is slightly better at average at each of these things than the average tax paying citizen of NIght City. That's what the street will do to you. Of course that also means that you won't find a cyberpunk with a rating of less than **2** in any category. Anything less than that, and given the vicious nature of this town, they'd be dead before breakfast.

We haven't come across any entry level edge-runner types with a score in any of these categories with a value higher than **8** in any one category. While it is possible... The drugs and cyberware needed are way out of the league of any street punks. That said, a rating of **8** means they're in the top couple of percent in the city in that skill - keep that in mind if it flags on any checks.

There is one other stat that you should be aware of. That's the rating of the subject's remaining **Humanity**. It measures what it says it measures. When you trade some of your flesh and blood in for a chrome upgrade, you lose a little bit more of your soul, of what makes you human. The lower a subject's humanity ranking, the more likely they are to suffer dissociative disorders, before lapsing into full blown cyber psychosis. It's important to note that contrary to pop culture, not every cyber psycho is a mindless, violent killing machine. You can have violent ones who are wickedly smart, unhindered by any moral qualms or allegiance to a Corp, faction or cause. You can also have placid, vacant shells of a person, whose mind has long left a mechanical body.

A subject's humanity directly ties in with their Empathy score, and the loss of one will affect the other. Every point allocated to Empathy allocates ten points to a subject's maximum level of humanity. With every piece of cyberware added*, it will reduce a subject's humanity by a certain amount of points. Every ten points of humanity lost of cyberware results in one rank of empathy lost. On hitting an empathy score of three, the subject will start showing obvious signs of dissociation and instability. When that score drops to two, the subject will no longer have full control of their actions, and will be diagnosed as having cyberpsychosis. At this point, subjects will be hospitalized, or neutralized by MaxTac forces, depending on their disposition. A subject may regain some humanity by removing cyberware and undergoing intensive therapy, but this is not a popular choice given the time and expense involved.

* Medical tier cyberware, such as that to replace a loss of limb or organs due to an accident or disease, will not cause a loss of humanity. It should be noted that medicial tier upgrades do not offer any advantages over 'meat' organs. Those using cyberware as part of their gender affirming care also do not lose humanity for any cyberware involved in this process. Fashionware and biosculting also do not incur humanity loss. All that psychology is above my pay grade. I just know the rules.

Okay, you screwheads finally understand? Good. Don't count on me repeating this.

 

[Absinthe]

CYBERPUNK:

Night City Chronicles

Character Classes:

Message Incoming: Unknown Contact (Toolbox)

Hey, so I got word from Rex that you're new in town and looking to scare up some eddies. Lemme give you the rundown on how things work here. All Edgerunners have their specialties. Most don't like to acknowledge it, but for all the style, savvy and talking that they do, you'll fall into one of the following categories.

First up, we got Solos. These folks are the meanest, toughest fighters you'll ever come across. They're like walking arsenals, trained in all things combat. Whether it's guns blazing or blades swinging, Solos can handle it. They got the reflexes of a cat, and their mere presence can scare the pants off any foes dumb enough to cross 'em.


Next, we got Netrunners. These are the tech-savvy wizards who can dive headfirst into the NET, the digital realm that connects everything. Armed with their cyberdecks and a keen understanding of technology, Netrunners can hack into systems, bypass security, and mess with the digital world. They're like modern-day magicians, pulling off tricks that'll leave you scratching your head. Anyone can use a Dataterm, Netrunners are the only ones able to navigate and hack the NET.


Then we got Techs, the grease monkeys and engineering whiz kids. Techies can build, fix, and modify just about anything that's mechanical. From weapons and vehicles to cyberware and gadgets, they know their way around machines like nobody's business. Give 'em a pile of junk, and they'll turn it into a shiny piece of tech that'll make your jaw drop.


Now, Medtechs are the healers of your crew. They're the ones who patch us up when things go south - because who can afford Trauma Team in this economy, right? Medtechs know their way around the human body, cyberware, and medical procedures. They can treat wounds, cure diseases, and even tinker with cybernetics. They carry all sorts of fancy medical gear and know-how to keep us on our feet when the bullets start flying.


Then we got Rockerboys, the rebels and influencers. These guys use the power of music, art, and words to inspire change. They can captivate crowds, rouse emotions, and get people to rally behind their cause. Rockerboys are the voice of the people, the ones who can turn the tables and shake up the status quo just by strumming a guitar or belting out a tune. Hell, there's even some Rockerboys capable of stirring shit up with a few well placed jokes or some provocative poetry. Rockerboy is generally considered to be gender neutral, but 'Rockergirl' and just 'Rocker' can also be used too.


There's Nomads too. They were outsiders and outcasts until quite recently, but having roaming packs of people with their own vehicles and knowledge of the roads, skies and seas comes in handy when you need to move goods after the global infrastructure breaks down. If you're not born to this life, you've got strong blood bonds with someone who did. Their loyalty runs deep, and they'll fight tooth and nail to protect their kin. What are freedom loving road warriors doing in a hell hole like this, I hear you say? Same as everyone else. Looking to earn money, contacts, or work to keep the family going, or maybe they're the rebel child looking to strike out on their own to prove something. Or maybe their family just burned all to hell, and NC is the last option open to them. That's what happened to me.

Of course, you'll also hear tell of other types. Fixers are information brokers, with contacts both high and low. They can help find you work - as long as the client pays their commission upfront of course. Of course, they can also help you find people, things and set you up with the details of where and when to find a Night Market - for the right price. Sometimes it's eddies, sometimes it's a job, sometimes it's a 'favor'. Favors rarely work out to be as cheap or straightforward as a Fixer makes them out to be. Be careful.

Execs are the ambitious folk in pretty suits who work for a corp, and who are loyal to the lifestyle, if not always their actual employer. If a corp needs dirty work done, it's generally an Exec who'll reach out to you, or who will coordinate things so the real bigwigs don't have to mix with the rabble. Dismiss them as lazy white collar desk jockeys at your own peril. They're as cutthroat with a blade as they are in a boardroom for the most part.

I live just down the hall, so shoot me a message if there's anything you need help with. Most of us were fresh meat in the city once, I'd hate to see a pretty thing like you get spat out.

 

[Absinthe]

CYBERPUNK:

Night City Chronicles

Character Sheet:

Opening Encrypted File... SUCCESSFUL: Completed Personal Information Submission Form; <CITIZEN NAME HERE>

Employee #1234218
Please confirm all provided information with the tools on your terminal, and perform any required analysis as documented in your training. Update the below document, and submit when completed.
Serene Matheson, Citizen Registration Executive Manager
---


Basic Information:

Name: Full legal name, as present on identification and legal documentation

Alias/Street Handle: Those referred to as 'edgerunners' are commonly referred to by an alias or nickname rather than their given names known as a 'street handle'.

Role: If subject's profile fits that of a so called 'edgerunner', identify which archetype they fall into - Rockerboy, Solo, Netrunner, Tech, Medtech, or Nomad

Day Job: Occupation the subject carries out to earn regular paychecks, if any.

Approximate Age: In the recent years of upheaval, birth records have been spotty. Actual or approximate age of subject. [GM Note: Characters 18+ only please and thank you!]

Gender Identity: Current gender identity and preferred pronouns


Background Checks:

(General) Cultural Region: Night City attracts people from all over the globe. What kind of cultural background did the subject grow up with? Did they embrace, or reject it?

Family Environment, Childhood: Did the subject grow up with corporate executives as parents, receiving a top class education, or did they try to pull themselves up by their bootstraps from the Combat Zone and a 4.0 GPA from the school of hard knocks?

Family Environment, Late Childhood, Teenage years: Circumstances change rapidly, and what they may have surrounded them early in life may have changed as they grew up... for better or worse.

Family Crisis: Upheaval is common in the current age. Subjects classed as 'edgerunners' will have family dead, exiled, or otherwise in trouble more often than not.


Psychological Profile:

General Personality: The outer face the target presents to the world.

Dress and Personal Style: To be confirmed with NCPD database and any available surveillance. Typical fashion sense, e.g Asia Pop (Bright, Costume-like, Youthful), Urban Flash (Flashy, Technological, Streetwear), High Fashion (Exclusive, Designer, Couture). Fashion, as with most forms of expression, can rarely be firmly definable. If subject's sense of style encompasses multiple styles, note them all here.

What Does the Subject Value Most? Money, honor, vengeance? What motivates and/or drives the subject.

How Does Subject Feel About Most People? Confirm with NCPD and other available records. May differ from 'general personality'. Do they like people and take to new faces? Are they suspicious and wary? Or just neutral until a new addition can prove themselves?

Romantic and Sexual Orientation: How the subject defines their attraction, romantic and sexual, to other people.


Known Relationships: [GM Note: NPCs that you are welcome to create or just reference!]

Friends: Allies the subject may call on in a pinch, or perhaps if they just want to socialize. Include the nature of the friendship if possible, e.g childhood friends, sibling-like bond, co-worker, etc.

Enemies: Those the subject is feuding with. Often violent, almost always personal. Please include the reason for the feud if known, and any potential resources the other party has at their disposal, as well as the most likely outcome of any run ins. Check NCPD records to confirm.

Ex-Romantic Partners: If any. Not necessarily enemies, not necessarily allies, not necessarily still living. Include the reasons for the end of the relationship if known, e.g infidelity, imprisonment, death.


Attributes: Data provided by Night Corp and NCPD

[GM Note: There is a post explaining how to allocate points to these slots. If you're still not sure, shoot me a DM and I'll be happy to fill you in on some good pregenerated stat spreads!]

• Body: Rating of subject's raw strength and endurance​
• Movement: Rating of how fast, and how far the subject can run, swim, ect.​
• Reflexes: Rating of subject's response time, co-ordination, skill with ranged weapons​
• Dexterity: Rating of subject's athletic ability, including brawling and melee ability​
• Intelligence: Rating of how generally bright, clever and aware the subject is.​
• Technical Ability: Rating of how well subject can manipulate specialized tools and instruments​
• Empathy: Rating of subject's ability to empathize with others and resist potential cyberpsychosis.​
• Willpower: Rating of subject's ability to face danger and their ability to operate under stress.​
• Cool: Rating of subjects ability to impress and influence others.​
• Luck: (Experimental) Rating of how fortunate or lucky subject appears to be.​

Life Goals: The subject's goal in life.