Below are some rules and schticks that correspond to Cyberpunk style of game.
Ludicrously simplified to keep it fast. Look in the `Netrunner' template. For GMs, design a netrun as a combat scene or role-play vignette, with unnamed and named defence programs. Bigger Data Fortresses have more scenes, maybe some puzzles or stuff like that. Treat it like half dream sequence, half solo adventure, but get it over and done with quickly so the other players don't get bored.
All weapons do +2 Damage, while bare handed damage stays the same. Characters receive 1 point of Impairment for every full 5 Wound Points they take (ie 0 Imp for 0-4, 1 Imp for 5-9 etc). Characters make Death Checks after taking 25 WPs, with the difficulty of the Death Check modified accordingly. Healing... well, I'll burn that bridge when I get to it. Probably a Constitution check, with healing equal to the Outcome (bonus to the AV depending on medical attention), once per day of game time.
Because armour is more plentiful in a C-Punk environment, it works better than it does in FS. Subtract half the Armour value from the wearer's Agility-based AV. This doesn't apply to Armour that comes from Cyber-Schticks.
Pretty much anything that boost one sub-stat. Each schtick boosts the appropriate stat by two. You can only take boost a stat once.
Gives +1 to AV when using a Smartgun. If aiming, you get +1 for one shot, +3 for two shots. Assume that all the PCS guns are Smartguns.
Cyberweapons:Things like fingernail razors and vampire teeth. Work out an appropriate damage bonus (bearing in mind the Damage increase for weapons), where the thingie goes and what it looks like.
Cyberguns:You have to have a CyberLimb to put the weapon into. Pick a gun from the list of weapons. The gun has a full clip of ammo, changing it takes a moderately inconvenient amount of time and effort.
Pain Editor:Ignore 1 point of Impairment. Make Death Checks at 30 Wound Points, but with the same difficulty that other players would (ie based on WPs over 25)
Chipware/Skill Chips:The player can use a Fortune Dice to have exactly the right chip available. Roll a dice, and give the player that number as the bonus for the appropriate skill for the rest of the game, or until the player changes chips. The player can't have a chip for a skill she already possesses, and the total AV of the skill can't be more than 12.
Armor:Each schtick pick in armor gives +2 armor points, with none of the usual penalties. Armor with only one schtick is always slick. Armor with three or more schtick picks is bulky. Three schticks is the normal maximum: four schticks makes you a full cyborg, Darth Vader style, unable to pass for human unless cloaked. Five or more schticks are currently not possible.
Balance Wires:Cybernetic enhancements for the inner ear and enhanced neural receptors for spatial awareness give you the ability to roll with the hardest of punches and dance on razor wires. You get a +5 bonus when you make an active Dodge. You can take this schtick several times, each extra schtick increases the bonus by a further +1. One schtick is slick. Three schticks are bulky. Four schticks (the maximum possible) require external antennas and sensors that are obvious to anyone.
Combat Crystal:A computer helps you keep track of the relative position of friends and foes in combat. As long as you occasionally let your vision sweep across the area, or get information from external sensors or other characters equipped with Combat Crystal, you have an innate spatial awareness of the location of everything and everyone in the vicinity, even when out of your line of sight. If local maps are available, you also know your position relative to points on that map.
Two or more friendly characters with Combat Crystal need never be afraid of hitting one another, and all can attack a target anyone of them can see, as long as any physical barriers can be penetrated.
With combat crystal, you can perform continuous actions with no shot penalty. You can maintain an aiming bonus even if you or your target moves or takes other actions in between aiming and shooting. If anyone connected to your combat crystal is aware of something that is about to surprise you, you are not surprised.
Cortex Link:The human nervous system is pathetically slow. This is particularly important in combat. Cybertechnology can overcome this problem by bypassing the conscious decision-making process. When under a Cortex Link, you become very direct, focusing totally on attack and defense.
For each time you Pick Cortex Link, add +2 to your Speed for initiative tests, as long as you are not surprised. One schtick is slick. Three schticks are bulky. Four schticks (the maximum possible) require external antennas and sensors that are obvious to anyone.
Any use of Intelligence, Charisma, Fortune, Fu or Magic points or skills are distracting in this hyped state, and using them while on the Cortex Link requires a Continuous action.
Cyber Senses:Cybersensory enhancement packages give you new sensory abilities. In many cases, you can now do things automatically that would normally require Perception rolls, while the things you can now notice with a Perception roll are imperceptible to a normal human.
In certain cases, a cybersense might call for a Fix-It roll in place of a normal Perception roll for an enhanced sense.
Replacing large parts of the body with powered machinery can give enormous strength, speed and resilience, but you can hardly be called human anymore. These schticks are grouped together here for easy reference. All cybernetic body structure implants are bulky.
The Electronic Warfare Package comes with advanced encoding/decryption systems, homers, jammers and ECM systems. It allows you to eavesdrop on the radio communications of others, to make your own communications untraceable and to jam all communication or electronic surveillance nearby. This last operation is very noisy, though. Even though people cannot tell were you are, they sure know something is out there.
Exo Link:Used to operate vehicles and cybernetic exoskeletons or power armors. Certain hi-tech vehicles require such a link to operate at full efficiency. You can always ignore any first-time penalties when using an exo link. If you have an appropriate power armor and this cyber schtick, you can ignore the usual Reflex penalties of the armor.
Shroud:You can control the pheromones you produce, the amount of blood in your skin, pupil dilation and the timbre of your voice. The net effect is that the signals and body language you produce need not match your true emotional or physical state. You can also alter your body signature drastically.
The main effect of the shroud is to confuse automated sensors. Lie detectors, automated alarms and robot targeting systems can't get a good fix on you. The special bonuses of a killseeker, stress analyzer or threat analyzer won't work against you.
Skin Graft:This is an extensive modification to all your cyberware, making it less obtrusive. Low-density, nonmetallic implants are used for all normal systems, and living tissue is grafted to hide whatever remains. Count all your cyberware as slick, though it can still be bulky. See the general rules above for definitions of slick and bulky.
Stress Analyzer:You have a built-in sensory and analysis system that checks the actions and responses of those you communicate with. Such factors as pheromone releases, voice timbre, blood flow under the skin and the like are constantly monitored. To be reliable the target must be present, a phone conversation cannot be analyzed.
While the Stress Analyzer is active, you are almost impossible to cheat, deceive or lie to. You can penetrate most disguises, discover lies and spot other attempts at deceit. Anyone trying to use the Deceit skill against you cannot use an Action Value higher than their Willpower unless using some special means (such as drugs, cybernetics et al) to hide his bodily reactions.
Magical disguises and tricks, such as illusions or the Monkey Mimic arcanowave schtick, are similarly limited, while true transformations, such as from the Creature Power Shapeshift, are not.
Threat Analyzer:This is an advanced tactical system that analyses your target's signature, movement patterns and responses. It allows you to maintain an aiming bonus continuously over a sequence. As long as you have aimed at a target but failed to hit him, you get the aiming bonus on each shot. If you hit, or do something else (such as dodging actively), or the sequence ends the threat analyzer is reset and you must start all over again.
When combined with Combat Crystal, the bonus is only reset if you hit him, or at the end of the sequence.
Voice Box:Replace your vocal chords with a cybered voice box. This allows you to perfectly imitate voices and to control your volume of speech, from the softest whisper to a thunderous roar. It can also be used in combination with listeners with cyberears to encode normal speech into unrecognizable squeals or ultrasonic noise inaudible to unmodified humans.
Pissweak Stuff:Interface plugs. Colour-changing hair. Skinwatches and beepers and tattoos and all that. If players want this stuff, just let them have it without spending any schticks.
Attibutes: Body 5, Mind 5 (Cha=9), Ref 5
Add 4 points to primary attributes. Add 2 points to secondary attributes.$$
Skills:
Seduction +4 (=13)
Leadership +4 (=13)
Guns +2 (7) [Max 11]
Martial Arts +2 (7) [Max 11]
Info/Appropriate Art Form +4 (=13)
Add 6 Skill Points.
Unique Schtick: Everybody Loves You. You have many fans and are a popular figure. You may use your Leadership skill on pretty much anyone who might recognize your face, and use it like Deceit to persuade your fans to allow to get away with something `just this once'. You may spend a Fortune Dice to have a bunch of your fans suddenly appear and do whatever you ask of them (within reason), like cause a distraction or start a riot.
Other Schticks:4 cyberschticks
Weapons: One or two appropriate items
Attributes: Body 5, Mind 5 (Int=9), Ref 5
Add 3 points to primary attributes. Add 3 points to secondary attributes.
Skills:
Info/Computers +5 (=13)
Info/Other +3 (12)
Info/Other +3 (12)
Fix-it +2 (=11)
Add 7 Skill Points.
Unique Schtick: Netrunning. You can plug into the Net and run Data Fortresses. This is done as a combat situation, using your Info/Computers skill as your AV. Most defensive programs are `mooks', but there are `named' ICE programs. Your programs act like a ranged weapon, using your Intelligence+2 as damage. Your Willpower works as Toughness for the purpose of taking damage, and most Wound Points taken in these `fights' fade once you jack out (unless you're really unlucky). The GM may flesh out the `run into more than a simple fight scene, such as a stealth run. If you can think of cool ideas to change the feel of the run, more power to you.
Other Schticks: 4 cyber-schticks. Instead of a cyber-schtick, you may take a program, which works like a cyberschtick, but only while netrunning. Normal cyberschticks have no effect when Netrunning.
Weapons: One gun if you feel like it.
Wealth: working stiff
Attributes: Body 5, Mind 5 (Int=8), Ref 5
Add 3 points to primary attributes. Add 4 points to secondary attributes.
Skills:
Fix-It +6 (=14)
Info/Science +4 (12)
Info/Other +3 (11)
Info/Other +3 (11)
Add 8 Skill Points
Unique Schtick: Bag o' Stuff (same as the Techie schtick from FS, p. 63)
Other Schticks: 5 Cyberschticks
Weapons: One gun if they want it.
Wealth: working stiff
Note: If you want to play a MedTech, replace Info/Other with Medicine +6
(=14) and reduce Fix-it by 2 points (=12)
Attibutes: Body 5, Mind 6, Ref 5
Add 3 points to primary attributes. Add 2 points to secondary attributes.
Skills: Journalism +7 (=13)
Deceit +3 (9) [Max 11]
Intrusion +2 (8) [Max 11]
Detective +3 (9)
Add 6 Skill Points
Unique Schtick: Bucket o' Credibility People generally trust you and think you tell the truth. +2 Deceit AV against unnamed characters who watch your show. Use your Deceit or Intimidation (whatever's higher) to browbeat `interview subjects' or unnamed characters you can scare with a camera. Spend a Fortune Dice to have a small group of fans/devotees show up. This crowd is not as suggestible as a Rocker's fans, but can still be persuaded to do some things you want.
Other Schticks: 4 cyberschticks
Weapons: One if you feel like it.
Wealth: working stiff.
Attributes: Body 5, Mind 5, Ref 5
Add 3 points to primary attributes. Add 4 points to secondary attributes
Skills:
Police +8 (=13)
Driving +3 (8)
Guns +5 (10) [Max 12]
Martial Arts +4 (9) [Max 12]
Intimidation +3 (8)
Add 5 Skill Points
Unique Schticks:
Send More Guys! - Spend a Fortune Dice to summon a squad or two of unnamed
cops. The number, skill and armament of the squad will depend on the reason
for summoning them. Make a Police task check to get more guys than the
situation might demand.
Freeze, Punk! - You get +2 Intimidation against unnamed GMCs if you flash
your ID and show your gun.
Schticks: 4 cyberschticks
Weapons: 4 from the lists available
Wealth: working stiff
Attributes: Body 5, Mind 6, Ref 5
Add 3 points to primary attributes. Add 2 points to secondary attributes.
Skills:
Info/Business +7 (=13)
Deceit +7 (=13)
Gambling +2 (8)
Intimidation +3 (9) [Max 11]
Add 8 Skill Points.
Unique Schticks:
Amex Platinum Card - Spend a Fortune Dice to get your parent corporation to
send you whatever you need. Anything too major might require a Deceit or
Info/Business roll to convince the accountants.
Friends in High Places - +2 to Intimidation AV against unnamed characters in
situations where dropping your corporation's name might come in handy.
Schticks: 4 cyberschticks
Weapons: One if you feel like it
Wealth: rich
Attributes: Body 5, Mind 5, Ref 5
Add 3 points to one primary, 1 point to another. Add 3 points to
secondaries.
Skills:
Deceit +8 (=14)
Guns +3 (8) [Max 11]
Intimidation +4 (10)
Detective +2 (8) [Max 11]
Seduction +3 (9)
Add 5 Skill Points
Unique Schtick: Know the Score. You know where crimes are going down, who's behind them, who to contact. You get +2 to Detective AV when working in areas you know well. You can make Deceit checks to track down stolen or special merchandise. Spend a Fortune Dice to get a bunch of hoodlums to show up, or to make a deal for unusual equipment or stuff.
Other Schticks: 4 cyberschticks
Weapons: 2 or 3 from the lists.
Wealth: working stiff
Attributes: Body 6, Mind 5, Ref 5
Add 3 points to primary attributes. Add 2 points to secondary attributes.
Skills:
Martial Arts +6 (=11)
Guns +7 (=12)
Driving + 9 (=14)
Intimidation + 4 (9) [Max 11]
Fix-It +3 (8) [Max 11]
Add 5 Skill Points. Swamp Guns and Martial Arts if desired
Unique Schticks:
Hey, Rube! - Spend a Fortune Dice to have a group of your Nomad Pack show up
and get you out of trouble. The group will probably be small, but violent.
Tough as Nails - +2 to Willpower checks to resist pain, fear or worry.
Born to Run - Nomads can drive (or fly, or pilot) anything, and get half
normal modifiers for using an unfamiliar vehicle.
Schticks: 5 cybershticks
Weapons: 3 weapons from the lists
Wealth: poor
Attibutes: Body 6, Mind 5, Ref 6
Add 3 points to primary attibutes. Add 1 point to two secondary attibutes.
Skills: Guns +7 (=13)
Martial Arts +5 (=11)
Leadership +2 (7)
Driving +3 (9)
Intimidation +2 (7)
Add 4 Skill Points
Switch values for Guns and Martial Arts if desired.
Unique Schtick: Hair-Trigger Neck Hairs (as per FS, p 78)
Other Schticks: The solo can have 5 other schticks, chosen from the various
cyberschticks or the list below:
Weapons: Any four weapons from the stuff listed in FS.
Wealth: working stiff