Game Overview

A:> WHATˍISˍYESTERDAY'SˍTOMORROW.txt
Yesterday's Tomorrow is a game about cyberpunk criminals attempting daring heists in a neon-lit 2020 future, as seen through the lens of the 1980s.

We play to find out if our crew of runners can outwit the corporations, whether they can deal with the cutting edge tech, bioware and systemic opressions to complete their task, and whether they manage to solve their own personal problems enough to retire from the life.

This is a game inspired by classic cyberpunk books like Neuromancer, media like Ghost in the Shell and Altered Carbon, and retrowave music.

A:> WHATˍDOˍTHEˍPLAYERSˍDO.txt
Each player creates a cyberpunk runner and strives to bring their PC to life as an interesting, exciting, conflicted, cyberpunk mercenary who reaches beyond their current safety and means.

A:> WHATˍDOˍTHEˍCHARACTERSˍDO.txt
The runners attempt to work as a team to complete the jobs they agree to take, which may include ones they themselves bring to the group. While on the job, they look for ways to turn an extra profit, solve personal problems and dilemmas, and stick one to the corrupt megacorporations.

A:> WHATˍDOESˍTHEˍGMˍDO.txt
The Game Moderator (GM) establishes the neon-lit fictional world around the characters ---especially the corrupt civilian world and the megacorporations that dominate it, and their key players, connections, vulnerabilities, opportunities, threats, and challenges. The GM plays all the non-player characters in the world by giving each one a concrete desire and preferred method of action. The GM works with the players in making the judgment calls necessary to engage the game mechanics.

A:> POWEREDˍBYˍTHEˍAPOCALYPSE.txt
Yesterday's Tomorrow is Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) and asks some familiarity with that system. If you've never played a PbtA game you may want to read a full text with in depth examples and mechanics.

This text should be sufficient to play the game, but won't have more robust discussions. If you're unfamiliar, check out Apocalypse World 2nd Ed. by Vincent and Meg Baker or The Sprawl by Hamish Cameron.

R:> SETTINGˍDIALS.exe
This game has some preconceptions. Unless we agree to set the dials to a different set of assumptions they are as follows:

• The world is run by Megacorporations. Countries exist, but the people buying the votes are the Corps. Disparity between the rich and the poor is vast. Population density is high, and cities sprawl.

• The world is wired. Wireless tech exists but is not preferred/efficient. Cybernetics are common. Some jobs will hire based on your chrome. Nanotech is nonexistent. There are many space stations, and outposts on the moon, but no FTL technology. Hover cars exist but are the domain of the rich.

• The future is chrome. The style of the world is retrofuturistic. There are fiberoptic tattoos, jackets with glow collars. Cybernetcs are often bulky.

• Tech causes as many problems as it solves. Corps run on profit. Life is cheap. People are disposable. The only way to stand up to Corps is with chrome.

• You're runners in São Paulo, Brazil. At the center of the city is the space elevator, which lifts goods to the orbital stations. The main language is Portugese. There are corporate districts with skyrises that rise through the clouds. The slums sprawl for miles into the local jungle. 27M wildly diverse people live here.