Character Creation

I know, I was just a little undecided and preferred to expand on it during the game, but that's the base where I'll build upon.

I'll add a couple details later, anyway, but putting down that is helping me ground Kamisori's angle.

Ok how about something like that:

+ Influence
++ Mobility
++ Ranged combat
++ Rigging
+ Streetwise

Cyberware: Mechanical leg joints - Faster movement, jumping higher (2m), landing either silently or with reduced damage depending the height.

He's probably the stealthy character type.

That looks fine.

Did you have any thoughts about your Approaches?

Approaches: How you do things. Assign 2, 1, 1 and 0.
• Aggression: Force/Intimidation/Destruction (Glitchy: Hesitant)
• Smartness: Creativity/Cunning/Perception (Glitchy: Disoriented)
• Empathy: Charisma/Leadership/Diplomacy (Glitchy: Cold)
• Caution: Discretion/Precaution/Accuracy (Glitchy: Reckless)

the_cava, while there is no harm to it, you don't need to pick Load now, you only need to tell us at the start of a job. You can change it each time (if we do more than one job as part of the /run).

Oh yeah sorry forgot to include it:

0 Aggression
1 Smartness
1 Empathy
2 Caution

+ Influence
++ Mobility
++ Ranged combat
++ Rigging
+ Streetwise

Cyberware: Mechanical leg joints - Faster movement, jumping higher (2m), landing either silently or with reduced damage depending the height.

That is what I expected. I did not want to suggest Caution and steer you from any other ideas you might have had.

It has been bugging me, and I finally checked. Updating the template:

s/Cyberwear/Cyberware/

Understood, but I'd rather leave it for now, mostly because I feel the character usually lugs around a bag or backpack with tools and toys. It might change when the /run begins, but that reflects how she usually is between them.

No problem. Listing defaults is fine.
Those sorts of details can also go in the character description, background, and biography. Which can probably go below the tables?

Alright, I've been reading the .pdf & am going through the character creation process. I submitted a character sheet to the game too but probably still have things to edit/tweak. No doubt I'm doing something wrong. Lol.

My Runner's handle is "Solovei." I envision him as a Gunner who specializes in long-range weapons. So probably good for providing cover/overwatch/what have you.

For approach I have:
Aggression - 2d6
Smartness - 1d6
Empathy - 1d6
Caution - 0d6

My skills are:
Influence - 1d6
Mobility - 1d6
Observation - 2d6
Ranged Combat (expertise) - 3d6
Streetwise - 1d6

And I've taken Cyberware:
Cybereyes
Cyberarm

Which marks me as Hunted.

I'm not entirely surely if there's a list I should be consulting for Cyberware or if we're given free-reign. For Cybereyes I was thinking something that helps with perception - like Thermal. And for Cyberarm, something that helps with Strength.

Happy to tweak whatever, that's just what I have so far.

You, sir, are a punk and a criminal! So you are definitely did something wrong!...

Oh, wait, that is the character, not the player (so far as I know:).
The wording is confusing --talking about a third die-- but 'Expertise' is actually a separate thing (on its own line). From the sound of it --with the 'specialising in long-range, overwatch'-- your Expertise may be 'Sniper'? Maybe go with the general term of 'Sniper' instead of 'Sniper Rifle' so it can apply to anything related to sniping (a Skill like 'Ranged Combat' is not all about guns, it is also about the combat and ranges).

If you like 'Sniper', the table would look like:


You have the choice --each time you use Ranged Combat-- whether you want to treat it like a 3 dice Skill, or a 2 dice Skill and an Edge. So Expertise adds flexibility to your actions.

We can go into hypothetical examples of how this would work, and can discuss which is best during play, as it comes up.

(Also: Remove the example ^Knives and ^Choppers)
Do you have ideas about who you screwed over to get the arms (or was it the eyes?), and under what circumstances?
Any ideas are welcome, and we don't need to nail them down now. We can wait and see if others are Hunted and think about common connections, but the GM can connect stuff behind the scenes as well, as we like.
Remove the (Glitched) from your list, that was just an example of how we could represent it.
I thought about a checkbox, but it is a long-term thing and not something we check and uncheck regularly, and adding it to the text makes it appear in the dice roller, so we know to treat one of its dice as a Glitch die.

It is really interesting that your long range gunner has Empathy and Influence. That adds so much flavor to the character.
Do you want to tell us about your Cyberware?

I have never been good at the whole corporatization part of Cyberpunk, or specifically the 'name all items' part, so if the players want Disney™ branded firearms (or cyberarms) they will have to add them themselves. :)

We can build a lexicon of major corporations to draw from. We can do that as we build characters and brand Gear, or start a new thread to hold all of that.
No list, make up whatever you want. We can chat and brainstorm ideas, and this sort of thing is also an important part of the setting, so any cyberware we have tells us about the world... any Cyberware we don't have tells us stuff too, like 'why not?'
It is good to know what sorts of things we are expecting from Cyberware --arms could be meant for strength or for dexterity, or fine motor control, or something completely else-- and we will assume someone with Cybereyes, for instance, can see better in most situations just as part of the fiction.

But there is also the Push mechanic where you can use it --spur of the moment, during an Action-- to do something exceptional and gain an extra dice or Resist a consequence. We don't want to define all its functions, that way we leave ourselves open to improvising based on the situation.
It is fine to use the checkboxes during character creation to test how much Gear we plan to use, but, when the /run starts, remember to clear them.

You don't check the items till you need them on a job. That way you don't carry armor into a job where it is never needed (unless you do, which changes the fiction in interesting ways). We can assume the characters are professionals who know what they are doing, and have access to in-world information the players don't have, so they might know to not take armor that would not be needed.

There is some subtle decision making with "saving 1 Load in case we need Armor" and such, but, by the time that sort of decision is being made, we should know more about the type of job.

Leave the Push and Assistance dice at 1d6, you can then click them to add the dice you get from a Push or an Assist.

Leave the 'zero dice' as 2d6l1, that way, if you end up rolling with zero dice, you can click that and it fills in the dice code to 'roll two dice and keep the lowest'.

Lol thanks so much for the help & thorough explanations. I edited the Expertise & fixed the other things you point out (empathy, push die, ect..)
Sure. Right now I have both Cyberware listed as being from "Vystar Industries." I imagine them being focused on biomedical tech & body modifications. They are part of a larger Corporate umbrella (Unifrontier) that absorbs a lot of other small companies. Sometimes in shady ways & through hostile takeover & then asset stripping.
I was thinking my character screwed over former co-workers (essentially a gang) and by extension Vystar Industries. They were outside contractors (read: muscle & hired goons) that would lean on whoever/whatever Unifrontier & its subsidiaries needed, acquire industry info, that sort of thing. They were pretty reliable. The gang itself were pretty close-knit too, having been together even before linking up with the Corp.

During one run, my guy was badly injured. The Corp covered medical expenses & outfitted him with the cyberarms, under the caveat that he would continue to work for them to pay off the debt (which would take an unreasonably long time & he'd likely wind up dead before he ever paid it off.) He was too out of it to really consent but they had him sign anyway. He did a few more increasingly risky jobs, trying to at least entertain the idea of holding up his end of the deal, then said "screw this" and went AWOL.

Now his old gang is feeling really sore & betrayed, especially being left with his medical tab. They & Unifrontier want to repo his arms (which would be as about as pleasant as it sounds) to settle things. So he's Running to get some cash and get outta dodge ASAP.

Nice. There is good stuff in there that we can definitely make use of.

I am not sure we need to mention '(expertise)' on the Ranged combat, but, unless things get too long for dice roller, it is probably fine...

...testing... .urgh. It spills over onto two lines after some number of characters. Maybe remove that extra text.

The long names in the Cyberware will be an issue as well if they get added to the dice roller, until they do (for Glitches) it probably does not matter, but you can skip them and summarise the Vystar involvement and branding in the biographical portion of the sheet.

Ooh, I see. Removed it, hopefully it's good now.

I'm a newb, sorry, didn't know longer text would bork the dice roller.

Me neither, this is a new feature that we are testing out.

But you had to pick the longest Skill name to add your text to, that is all your fault. :)
Actually it is good that it was a long name, else we might not have noticed it till later when we were playing. It is not all that bad if it spills over to two lines, so if it happens we will roll with it.

It is also complicated by the fact that, when the GM adds the rolls from player's sheets, it prepends the character's name for each one, making it longer.

This probably means we are unlikely to run into this problem.

Do we want to try for two separate teams, one slow and one fast?
The slow team would only be two characters, which can work, but is a bit tricky.

I suggest we start as one team of five, and maybe split off into two, if timing becomes a problem.