I recall playing the first Cyberpunk that came out. I even posted my Solo character previously on this blog. So when a copy of Cyberpunk V3.0 fell into my hands thanks to a friend, I knew that I had to use it for the 2022 Character Creation Challenge.
In my quick research before starting this blog entry I discovered that the v3.0 game was different from the original first edition system by quite a bit. Which is fine because it’s been so long since I’ve played Cyberpunk that I’ve forgotten how the system ran. I have some good memories of our gaming sessions, but I couldn’t describe the system now.
So starting brand new, lets crack open the book and see what we can come up with. Looks like you can select from a template and add a few modifications. Making sure that was correct, I flipped through the book. Sure enough there is an advanced section (looks like they also have basic and advanced combat rules as well) with lifepaths that look very detailed along with Character Points for buying stats. In the past when I’ve created a few characters for the challenge, I’ve pretended that a bunch of friends are sitting down with the core rulebook just as this game came out and we are trying it for the first time. I’m going to run with that theme on this entry and take a template and create this character.
I will talk about some of the attributes used within the game and briefly talk about the points use in advanced character creation. The attributes are broken down into three categories. Physical: Reflexes, Dexterity, Constitution, Strength, Body and Movement. Mental: Intelligence and Willpower. Technical: Technique (that’s it). Normal people have a score of 2-4 in each attribute. One point equals one point in attribute. The number of points is in question. You can randomly roll 13D10 and that is your starting number, or roll 1d10 for each stat then roll 3d10 for extra points to add to your stats. There is also something called Flash Characters that with a single roll you get a bunch of pre-generated stats (I guess that would be useful for a quick NPC). And the last option is the Referee can declare what type of game this is (Average to Major Hero) and give the points based on that declaration. There are then some Derived Statistics generated from the primary statistics. Stun, Hits, Stun Defense, Recovery, Run, Resistance, Luck Endurance and Humanity. Afterwards you would choose perks, talents, skills and equipment.
So, going back to the templates you have the different “classes” within the game. Solo (independent fighters), Media (reporters), Tech, Netrunner (hackers), Divemaster, Subjocks, Shifters and Waleboys (water nomads who live on the sea), Mechajocks (drive large fighting robots), Imaginators (transforming robot drivers, I think?), Idols (famous people, called Rockerboys in the first game), Security Ops, Scout, Panzerboy (tank drivers), Warriors (fighters on the roads), Shamans, City Fighter, Traders (merchants), Beastmasters (control bioform pets), Surfriders (independent water nomads), Transporters (long haul drivers), Protector (law enforcement), Wiseman (thinkers), Dragoons (heavy combat), Combat Fighter and Streetdealer (rogues). I don’t recall any water based characters in the first game. Some of these redundant sounding types may be a part of different AltCult (Alternative Cultures, or groups of people following the same ideals).
I never played a Netrunner in the original game, so I’m going to pick one now. His handle will be FreeJack. According to the RAW, you take the already provided statistics and you can move any of the three basic stats on the template. Afterwards you generate the derived stats. I liked the fact that there was some freebie equipment and then pick six from a list for a starting character. In other games the equipment allocation had seemed to be missing so I had to guess.
It looks like there is an entire section on lifepaths depending upon your AltCult that can fill in a lot of details or you can write them out. If this was for a full game, I’d get this section filled in. I think the basics to start play are on the sheet.
Afterthoughts:
Thank you to the game designers for giving us a character sheet breakdown in the book. Including details like this help in character creation.
Would I play this game, doubtful. Not because it looks bad or anything, but because the new Cyberpunk Red has been released. Any players are probably using the latest system.
Additional Notes:
I’m still recovering from the weekend’s website fiasco so I haven’t found a lot of other blogs that are participating. Please let me know if you see any.
Out of curiosity, I did a YouTube search for Fantasy Imperium. I only found two review videos and no game play videos. They did not give any high marks to the game at all. They even dove deeper into the issues than I had. But they were also doing full reviews instead of just creating characters. If you would like, you can see them Here and Here.
Coming Up Next:
Amazing Adventures