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CYBERPUNK, THE REWRITEAlternate rules for use with the Interlock system from Cyberpunk 2020Ò. This is NOT the standalone version of the UNLOCK system and requires Cyberpunk 2020Ò to use. Much of this can be used with Fuzion, but be careful. Copyright © 1993, 2000 Steve Gill. Permission granted to use, copy and distribute freely so long as this copyright message is kept on each copy and no charge is made other than reasonable reproduction costs. Cyberpunk 2020 is a registered trademark of R.Talsorian Games Inc used without permission. Its use should not be construed as a threat to this trademark.
Character GenerationThis is the important part where most of the work happens, also where there are the most changes. It is most important that players have a character concept worked out in advance. Background FirstBefore generating the numbers for the character run it through Lifepath, Origins, Background, and Motivations if these are used by your group. This will help the player get a better idea on what makes the character tick. When going through Origins it’s often useful to roll for country of origin first. On a roll of 1-7 the character is originally from the country the campaign is based from, otherwise the character is a foreigner. Obviously this option should not be used if the campaign is working from a premise where this does not make sense such as one where the characters all grew up together. StatsMA is removed. It’s pretty useless as stats go, being the only stat with no skills dependant on it. Empathy is no longer simply reduced by Humanity Loss. The maximum Empathy a character can have is 10 – (Humanity Loss / 10). Humanity Loss is tracked separately as it indicates the chance of a character developing psychoses due to stressful events. Stats are bought with points from the Campaign Basics table.
Roles and Special AbilitiesSay goodbye to the concept of roles, these are something of a throwback to the bad old days of character classes that just get in the way in a Cyberpunk setting. Special abilities are kept, but treated as skills as far as getting them is concerned. Characters can have as few or as many as is needed for the character concept. If necessary new special abilities should be created, but as these are very powerful skills they should be carefully controlled by the GM. A character should only have special abilities that are supported by relevant ordinary skills. This means that the character either has one relevant skill at the same level as the special ability or higher and one a level lower, or three relevant skills two levels lower than the special ability or higher. SkillsSkills are also bought with points from the Campaign Basics table. Skill levels are added to their relevant stat to get the Basic Chance of success (BC) for that skill. Derived Stats and SavesDerived stats are based on a characters main stats and/or skills.
Saves have been changed. STUN rolls are based on COOL while DEATH saves are based on the character’s natural BODY. HandednessRoll for handedness: 1-7 Right, 8 Ambidextrous, 9 or 10 Left. Life EventsThe character is now run through Life Events to complete the lifepath. If it’s available the character should also be run through the contacts table from ‘PUNK 21 issue 1. Money and KitCash is assigned based on the normal Occupation Table, with modifiers from the Campaign Basics table. If a character has more than one special ability use the one at the highest level. All equipment purchases should be checked by the GM. Pay special attention to cyberwear and items from Chrome Books 3 & 4. In some games it makes sense to adjust starting cash based on the characters’ ages to reflect savings and investments over a longer period of time instead of the usual 1D6/3 months. This may cause friction in some groups as they may see this as unfair (as if the Cyberpunk world is ever fair). To compensate you may want to state that some of the kit that older characters start with is older, not quite state of the art.
Mods to skill BCs are made for cyberwear and other purchases as per normal. CyberpsychosisAfter character generation, and each time a character adds cyberwear during the campaign, make a percentage roll. Results of Humanity Loss/10 or less indicate that the character has picked up a psychosis. Psychoses should either be chosen (with the GM’s agreement) or rolled on the table in Hardwired. The chance of getting a psychosis when adding cyberwear during the game should be modified by the quality of care the character received.
As an option (at the GMs discretion) make modifications to Humanity Loss for any traumatic event that occurs in the game. In other words use it as a sanity check. Playing the GameBasically there is only one main change to the game, but it’s a major one. All rolls are made into percentages. The method is simple, instead of assigning a difficulty level for each attempt the GM assigns an ease factor (EF) which is multiplied by the skill’s BC to get the percentage chance of success. This system has two advantages over the target number system: there is always a chance of success, no matter how low the character’s skill, also it goes a lot quicker in play. Ease FactorsEase factors range from 10 (ridiculously easy) to 1 (extremely difficult), with an optional ½ for virtually impossible situations. The base number is 5 which is then modified by the GM depending on the difficulty of the situation. Opposed attempts, ie those in which two characters are using skills against each other, require the defensive character to make a roll first without an ease factor being assigned. The offensive character then uses the ease factor that the defensive character achieved as the base ease factor for the attempt. NoteIf the character doesn’t have the skill required for the attempt the GM must first decide whether an attempt is possible with the character’s skills. If so then the attempt must either be attempted from the base stat that would be used by the missing skill or by using a related skill with a loss of two ease factors (ie a base ease factor of three).
Examples: 1. Striker is attempting to walk along a three inch wide wall. The GM gives him an ease factor of 4 which with his athletics BC of 12 means he requires a roll of 48 or less not to fall. 2. Striker next attempts to sneak past a security guard, his stealth has a BC of 13. He rolls a 42, which is between ease factors 3 and 4, which gives the guard a base ease factor of 4. As the guard has an awareness/notice BC of 11 her percentage chance of success is 44 without any other modifiers to the ease factor such as Striker being very close, security lights or built in radar. 3. Striker is spotted and attempts to run for it as the guard raises her shotgun. He doesn’t have the dodge & escape skill so rolls on his athletics BC of 12 getting a 47, just below ease factor 4. The guard is then on an ease factor of 6, 4 for Striker’s roll plus 2 for Striker not having the required skill. The guard’s rifle skill is on a BC of 14 which gives her a percentage chance of 84. With a roll of 23 it doesn’t look good for old Striker. Note that in the third example Striker gave the guard two ease factors, instead of having his ease factor reduced by two like normal, as he did not have the required skill and his roll was only to set up the guard’s ease factor. Exceptional RollsThere are two types of exceptional rolls: successes and fails. Exceptional success is achieved on a roll of 01 or a roll that made four ease factors less than was required. Exceptional failure occurs on a roll of 100 or a roll four ease factors or more worse than was required. Exceptional rolls indicate either great achievement or abject failure in what was being attempted. Exceptional success in combat for example would mean that the player could choose the target point of the attack, reduce the armour value of the target by one, or do maximum damage for the attack. Exceptional failure can mean a weapon jams or the character is opened up to an attack with +2 to the ease factor. The actual effect is up to the player and GM to decide based on the situation at hand. LuckLuck points can be used in many ways to favourably influence the game, each costs at least one luck point, such as: 1. Reroll any roll made by the player. 2. Add one to the ease factor of an attempt. 3. Get a favour or hint from the GM (at GM’s discretion of course). Optional Rule for Special AbilitiesSpecial abilities are generally more than just skills, they indicate the character’s overall ability in that field. If a character has a skill level higher than the relevant special ability then the skill level should be dropped to that of the special ability under exceptionally stressful conditions. An ease factor 5 COOL roll can be used to avoid this penalty. If a character doesn’t have the relevant special ability for an exceptionally stressful situation then an ease factor penalty should be given instead. Example: 1. A character with a handgun BC of 5 and combat sense of 2 would use a pistol as level 5 until seriously wounded, at this point it would drop to 2 as the realization that this game was dangerous sunk in. Combat ProceduresNote: Combat with this system is much more dangerous than in the normal CP2020 system. Any hit that penetrates the target’s armour is likely to cause serious damage so be careful out there.InitiativeBase initiative is equal to REFLEX plus Combat Sense plus a D10. Highest total goes first, rest in descending order. Reroll for ties. Modifiers are made depending on the actions being performed, details are on the Combat Modifiers Table. If modifiers reduce an action’s initiative to zero or less then it passes on to the next turn. AttacksAttacks follow a four tiered procedure. For each attack the defender decides whether or not to dodge. If so then a roll is made to determine the attacker’s base ease factor, otherwise the ease factor is calculated from a base of 5. The attack roll is then made. If it is a success then check whether or not the attack penetrated the defender’s armour. If it did then roll for damage. ArmourAll armour has an Armour Value based on its stopping power. When armour is stacked it is best to use the system given for armour addition in 3G3 if possible. Alternatively (the quick and dirty approach) simply add the full SP of the heaviest armour to half the values of any other layers. Once the total SP for an area has been calculated look up the SP value on the Armour Value table. At the same time look up the REFLEX loss for the item, SPs over 15 encumber the character. Encumbrance is calculated by areas, the three areas considered are head, torso & arms, and legs; the REF loss is counted separately for each of these. REF loss is halved for the head (round down) so there is no encumbrance until SP26. This REF loss should be applied to most actions involving REFLEX, but only when movement or rapid reaction is required. An emplaced sniper in heavy armour should not take a minus for taking an aimed shot, but would if he tried to run or shift position for a snap shot.
PenetrationWeapons each have a penetration value (PV) and a damage value assigned to them. If the penetration value is equal or higher than the armour value of the area attacked then the full damage value is inflicted on the target. If the penetration value is one less than the armour value then half damage is done. If the penetration value is two or more less than the armour value then no damage is done. Projectiles reduce their penetration by one level at long range, two at extreme. Hand to hand weapons get a bonus to penetration equal to the character’s DM, with the exception of flexible weapons like the Slice’n’Dice. Special AmmunitionProjectile weapons using AP rounds raise their penetration value by two but halve the damage done, thus quarter damage is done if the armour value is one higher than the revised penetration value. DP rounds do full damage up to armour equal to the penetration value, half damage to two levels of armour above that, and quarter damage to another level beyond those.
Multiple AttacksMany weapons have the ability to make multiple attacks. There are three basic forms. Semi-automatic or single shot weapons can have a Rate of Fire (ROF) greater than one. In this case each is treated as a separate attack with the modifiers given for firing multiple attacks. It is possible to fire more than the expected ROF in which case the modifiers for firing excessive shots must be used. In order to use these modifiers correctly the player must state in advance how many shots will be fired during the turn. Automatic or burst capable weapons can either fire a short burst (typically three shots) or a full burst (the ROF of the weapon, presuming the ammo is available) at a single target. Each of these is treated as a single attack. For a short burst that has hit roll a D3 to determine the number of shots that hit. For a full burst the difference between the percentage chance of the attempt and the percentage rolled is the percentage of the rounds fired that hit. Obviously the target cannot be hit by more rounds than were fired. A full burst can also be sprayed into a group. Attacks are made on each member of the group until an attack fails or a number of targets equal to half the number of rounds fired have been hit. Taking DamageWhenever damage is taken by a character one of the blocks on the character’s wound track is ticked off for each point of damage taken. The wound track gives a visual indicator of the character’s condition. Each four points of damage taken reduces the ease factor for the COOL save by 1 from its starting point at 10. Failure of a COOL roll means that the character may take no action in the following turn other than to attempt another COOL roll. For defensive purposes the character is presumed to be seeking cover. From 25 points of damage onwards the character must also make death saves. Failure to make a death save means the character has gone into shock and is dying, only medical attention can prevent death. Every eight points of damage reduces the character’s ease factors for all actions (not saves) by one. Wound Track
Initiative and Combat ModifiersThe full list of initiative and combat modifiers are given on the combat modifiers table. These are guidelines and it is not suggested that the GM go through them for every attempted combat action as it will slow the game down too much. In general it is best for the GM to assign guesstimated values.
Modified WeaponsMost weapons are carefully designed to be ‘balanced’, the more balanced a weapon is the better. Adding things like grenade launchers and COT sights destroys this balance if not done properly. Unless modifications are made by a weaponsmith (at EF 5) any add-ons reduce a weapons accuracy by at least one, eg adding a 20mm grenade launcher to an SMG would reduce its accuracy by 2 (a 40mm would be 4!) due to the weight pulling down on the barrel. An add-on bipod will reduce WA by 2 except when used to support the weapon for an aimed shot when it will add 2. Having a weapon custom modified by a weaponsmith to fit the user will add at least one to its WA, though will usually cost quite a bit. 500+ eb is normal for this sort of service. NetrunningAll rolls requiring netrunning program use have a BC based on interface + INT + program strength. They are always opposed rolls, the defender rolls first to derive the EF the attacker will have to beat. Please note that in netrunning the attacker has to beat, not equal, the defence’s ease factor. It is vital for the survival of netrunners that they do their homework first. Any runner that leaps blindly into a datafortress should expect to suffer. As a rule of thumb they should be penalised by at least 2 ease factors if they haven’t researched the target adequately beforehand. On the other hand positive ease factors should be given for the use of programs specifically tailored or written for use against the target. Use of new programs that the defender hasn’t had time to adequately protect themselves against should also give a bonus. Of course all this presumes that the programs aren’t flawed. Quicky NetrunningNormally netrunning is done as a detailed procedure involving combat against ICE, other netrunners etc. This is unfortunately a long and complex procedure that can seriously interfere with the flow of a session and generally bores all the players that aren’t involved. For a quicker netrun follow this procedure: 1. Netrunner must find the target datafortress in the net. Roll on system knowledge if the location is not already known (which would imply a serious lack of planning). 2. Roll on interface to penetrate walls or doors. 3. Roll on interface to beat main defences. 4. Roll on library search to find data, computer operation to modify data, or run controller to operate a control interface as required. 5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for each effect wanted. For rolls against main defences reduce the runner’s EF by one for each defence that needs to be beaten on the way to a maximum of three. Add to the runners EF if using more powerful programs or hardware than the defenders, reduce it if using less powerful kit. The raid fails whenever the runner fails an interface roll. If the raid fails roll on the failed netrun results table. The roll is a percentage plus 10 for each ICE after the first on the runners route within the target datafortress.
These effects are based on black ICE being present. Reduce or increase as appropriate for the situation bearing in mind any special precautions the runner may have taken. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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