Welcome All.

Welcome, welcome. How can we serve you?

Do you have a moment to complete a quick marketing survey?

Tell us a little about yourself, and what you are hoping to get from this game. Remind us if you have played or read Blades in the Dark, or any other FitD games before so we can calibrate our automated responses and targeted adds especially for you.

Hi! I'm Nikos, I've been looking into CBR+PNK for some time and I'm glad we have the opportunity to play, it's not a common game to find, especially in pbp. I haven't played BitD but I have read most of the book, mainly the parts for the players. I love compact and minimal rpg games and I'm curious to see how such a rules-light system can be played. I don't have experience generally in cyberpunk, so for me a light game like CBR+PNK is perfect for an introduction to the genre, instead of getting into Cyperpunk Red or Shadowrun. Most importantly, I'm looking to enjoy a nice game with you and have fun!

I don't know anyone who has played it. I only read it this week, and was quite impressed, both with the game concept and with some of the tweaks it did to base BitD. Replacing 'Position' with 'Threat' and using that to set the amount clocks move by or set harm is inspired. (Though I am going to keep calling it 'thread'.):
That is all that would be relevant here. Though the GM (and all GMs) would benefit from reading the GM parts. If we refer to the SRD, it would also only be the player facing parts that we care about.
Generally they are very dependant upon the GM, since there are not rules to say how things go, the GM has to make it up. This means that players can not know what to expect when they sign up. This lack of consistency is one rules-lite games' bigger problems, with a good GM (and that is a matter of opinion and compatibility) they can sing, with the wrong GM (or just one that clashes with one's style) they can suck.

At least with a game where everything is written down, one can have a fairly good idea of what it will be like and how things will work.

For a single-page RPG, CBR+PNK actually has a lot of mechanics. Most of them are carried over from Blades in the Dark and not fleshed out in the text, though.

I have always been very collaborative, using what the players suggest (some say too collaborative). This is one of the reasons (I presume) that people kept telling me I had to read Dungeon World. When I eventually did, it was not a revelation (as some describe PbtA); My reaction was" 'Well, yes. That is how it is done.", or at most: "I like that and would do it that way if I did 'that' in a game".
That is fine, it is a very ill defined genre, anyway, and has lost its way since the 80 when it made sense.

Out of interest: What is your Cyberpunk experience? Games, books, movies and TV, whatever. Is there anything you are wanting to emulate (though, I don't watch a lot of movies or TV, and have not played a computer game in... decades? (really? looks that way, wow) so I may not actually be able to help with emulation:).
Many would debate whether Shadowrun is 'cyberpunk' and not 'modern fantasy'. :)

Hello everyone. I'm a huge cyberpunk fan so I'm always looking to give any game of it a try. I've played a few sessions of BitD but I actually didn't care for it too much lol. I think the problem wasn't necessarily the system so much as the other stuff about the game. I'm excited to give the system another shot with a different setting!

I suppose I should add that I am not all that sure how I feel about cyberpunk... or even what is is anymore. :)

Obviously I consider the works of William Gibson as part of it, though I tend more towards the 'realistic' stuff like The Jackpot Trilogy than The Sprawl.

Walter Jon Williams is more my style, though again, I tend more towards Dagmar Shaw (and also Dead Empire's Fall, and Implied Spaces) than Hardwired.

My early introduction to cyberpunk (I did not know the term when I read Williams' Voice of the Whirlwind, which was probably my first) was Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash, and I am embarrassed to admit that I did not realise till way afterwards that it was a spoof of cyberpunk. :) Cryptonomicon was excellent, though again, more about the human drama than the cyber or the punk.

I will put together a Same Page thread (as well as Safety Tools) tomorrow, and we can discuss what will and what will not be in the game.
Was it the Doskvol setting? Many did not like it. Or the enforced 'criminal' aspect? Many found that uncomfortable, but that, at least, was able to worked around. Blade's setting is pretty baked into the system and it is hard to decomplect them.

I almost never use defined settings, but actually liked BitD's. Maybe I am just too lazy to read the setting stuff but had to for Blades, and maybe I would like more if I read more? I am doubtful. I liked Lady Blackbird's setting too, so maybe it is just Jon Harper?
Me too, though I worry this would be better live. I am confident we can make it work though.

It wasn't the setting itself, but yeah the criminal aspect, and the fact that the setting was so baked into the system. Just as an example, I played the class that could communicate with ghosts. Then I realized I had no idea how that worked because I didn't know how ghosts work in that setting, that they can do, etc. Because it was a one-shot split over a few sessions and we played pre-mades, you can't really jump into the game without knowing the setting very well like you can with other games. I also didn't like the advancement options for characters or the flashback mechanic lol. But I'm hoping this time around will be more enjoyable now my expectations are lowered and I'm more familiar with cyberpunk than Doskvol.

So much there I agree with.
That is a problem if the setting does not grab you, you can't really get away from it.
That is one of the reasons I don't often do settings. I do too many different systems to know any one of them well enough.

When players insist I run Star Wars, for instance, or some other setting they know better than I, I explain before we start that I don't have the 'deep lore' for the universe and don't know what most of the planets or aliens are. I tell them: "I will describe an alien as being 'large, triangular and purple, and angry'. If you say 'Oh, that sounds like a Hurochian', I will say, 'yes, it does sound like one... what is it doing that is out of character for one of them?'" And then I look up Hurochian (that sounds 'made up') on wookiepedia after the session and maybe adjust for next time.

If we aren't in an existing setting, then I can do the same description, and the players can fill in the same '[my character] thinks it is a such-and-such' and we can go to town on defining what/who they are.
I find Blades did not lend itself to oneshots. There is too much to learn (mechanics-wise) and in really starts to work well once everybody properly groks all the parts.
I really like Baldes, but have almost no interest in being a player in it. None of the Playbooks (character types) interest me as characters I would want to play (this is partially the 'criminal' aspect, but also everything else). All the rest I actually like and enjoy GMing it. It has a lot of handy GM-tools.
Flashbacks are awesome... for the right group.

But, many groups love all the pre-planning stuff, and I have --in other games-- had groups spend two session planning an op that they completed in the first half hour of the next session, and loved it. I have had a group spend a whole session planning an op that got canceled by the client, it worked well.

But I have also seen the problem that they are trying to solve. Blades does flashbacks better than any other game I have tried (aside from, maybe, Leverage?). I have sometimes allowed players to do as much pre-planning as the table finds fun, and then used flashbacks to correct things or fill in the missing gaps.

In this game I might do pre-planning as mini-missions. That has work in the past.

The Engagement roll is a cool mechanic, but I found players struggled with it, and learner-GMs kept trying to follow it up with a description and back-and-forth of the characters getting there. We don't always wand to jump to the action.
For a long time I had been on the verge of writing a Cyberpunk version of Blades, it seems perfectly suited for the genre. But its struggles with PbP held me off. There are many attempts, but this is the first I thought was worth it. There are already so many other Cyberpunk games out there, and I have other systems that work.

The streamlining done to this game make me optimistic of its potential.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was one of my favorite books, I also loved the Blade Runner movie (looking forward for the ttRPG!). I've played the classic Shadowrun RPG games and now I'm giving Shadowrun:Hong Kong a try (I agree though, I also consider it a fantasy game in a cyberpunk setting), and other smaller games like Gemini Rue, Ruiner, VA-11 Hall-A, and the cyberpunk-related Disco Elysium and Half-Life:Alyx. I haven't played Cyberpunk 2077 but I've watched a lot of gameplay footage. Generally I prefer the Blade Runner style: Retro technology, noir aesthetics, dark setting, neon lights on streets but not on people's clothes, that kind of stuff.

It really was a good book. I like Dick's work.
Noted.

I am also not a fan of some of the clothing tropes envisaged in a lot of cyberpunk. Would you prefer that the other players steer away from such frivolities as well? We can also make an exception and not the way most people dress.

Not at all! Please create characters and settings however everyone likes, I'm open for anything. We can all wear jackets with glowing collars and led-screen masks if you want, no problem. :D Oh, I like tech prosthetics too.

Me too. :)
Even just aesthetic ones.

My late to the party!

Joining to get a bit more of cyberpunk favor since I'm taking over one of bowlofspinach's and try to make it more of a formal adventure (mostly for fun) and I like to try all sort of light games, specially on GP. I don't think I actually played a published cyberpunk system yet...

Is Lady Blackbird a BitD or FitD game? I have played it here and the concept is really cool. The game ended up dying, can't really remember why. Probably something with the flashbacks dragging for some players and the momentum being lost...

But, we expected that. :)
No, it uses its own rules.

However, it is actually set in the same universe as Blades in the Dark, and was created during the very early stages of Blades' developement --though most don't know that, since it was out for a while before anyone heard about Blades. You have to really squint to see the connection between the two settings (unlike with Ghost Lines where it is pretty clearly the same world as Blades).

I don't think Lady Blackbird has flashbacks? It has been a while. It is also a oneshot type game, though it usually runs over two or three sessions if you want to 'finish' it, so it that might contribute to it 'dying'.

Hi, choombas!

I'm a long time Cyberpunk player, but since the olden times of 2020 I struggled a little with the in-house Interlock system, and I blame that game for introducing me to GURPS. I tried out many other systems with mixed results, and this one caught my eye first aesthetically, then with its essential approach. I never played nor gm'd Blades in the Dark, or any other FitD game, for that matter, but it sounds interesting, and I'm really curious to see how it plays out.

Hi, everyone. Thanks for having me.

I've played both Cyberpunk 2020 and Cyberpunk Red.

I'm familiar with Blades in the Dark but far from an expert. I've only played it once & it was awhile ago. I suspect I'll be learning as we go along.

As far as what I like about cyberpunk settings... I like the gritty, underbelly aspect. Questions about what you'll do to get ahead, or just survive, is something the genre is a good backdrop for. I'm interested in underdogs, criminals, & people who fall through the cracks. All powerful, 1% type guys aren't particularly compelling to me, other than as antagonists or character foils. I love to hate 'em.

I also like the ultra-capitalist vibe around the Corps and Cybernetics. They're an interesting way to explore bodily autonomy and what you would do if a company could lock you out of using your legs... Lol. I think the ethics of who owns what, and who can modify what, is neat.

Oh yeah! My other favourite thing about cyberpunk settings is the Retrofuturism aesthetic. The huge computers, wired networks, clunky switchboards, all that stuff.

Indeed we will. :)
Good stuff. We will use a lot of that.
I will definitely be going with wired networks for any secure systems. This results in the Hacker needing the Infiltrator to get them into the building to do their hack, and the Shooter to keep them safe while they do. Allowing Remote Access Hacking is a bad idea, both in this game and in real life. :)

The group can decide how much we want to lean into the retro-futuristic vibe with the rest of it. The advance of technology ahead of what the 80s cyberpunk movement thought possible has rendered it a tricky genre.

Hi folks, Dunko here!

I'm new to this site and still getting used to best practice, so let me know when I do something wrong:D.

I read most of BitD when it first came out, but I've never played it or any of the FitD setting. I have read the SRD though, as of today!

I've played cyberpunk settings in SWADE (interface 0, as recently as newest edition), and I ran a cyberpunk style setting in Cortex Prime last year. My fave part of the genre is the punk aspect--I like the small crews against establishment, social conflict over physical conflict, winning the day from behind a keyboard as often as a weapon.

But, I also like the shiny stuff. I actually prefer super advanced tech to the retro futuristic stuff sometimes found in the genre--holo-tablets, being jacked in 24/7 into augmented reality. But I fancy any type of high tech world setting so I'd do it all!

Welome.
I was rather impressed with Interface Zero, but that was still in the Deluxe days (or before?), and I did not play a lot of Savage Worlds.
How does Cortex Prime compare to the old Leverage game? That used an older version of Cortex, if I recall correctly. Or just to Cortex from a decade ago?
Me too. :)
... does not compute! A keyboard is a weapon!
Take a look at the Shape of the World thread and let's see if we can fit all these together. Our reality can be 'augmented', but I don't think it will be 'virtual'.

I've never played Leverage, but my understanding is that what's in the Prime handbook pulls a lot from it. Either way, I love the system and have had a blast using it!

Welcome! I'm glad to hear about Cortex, as I just recently got interested in the system and it's on my list to play some day!