Tbh after playing a Netrunner in my buddy’s campaign for like a year now…they should’ve stayed NPC’s. Netrunning has so much wrong with it in Red that prevent it from reaching its true potential. Part of that comes from the fact that Solos are way too overloaded, but while great in concept, in practice netrunning feels very unsatisfying for all parties involved. I don’t want to rant TOO LONG but I’ll try list out how in my experience, there’s no good way to do a run. If anyone has any advice, I’d love to hear it. Me and my GM buddy have wracked our minds trying to brainstorm ideas together but nothing feels like it lands in the Goldilocks zone. >Netrunner attempts run before party goes in >Party sits around doing nothing for however long it takes >Runner either succeeds or >Fails and is useless in the inevitable fight because they had to jack out early to avoid being seriously wounded by Black ICE. >Netrunner attempts run simultaneously with party infiltration >Combat begins >Turret control nodes are at the end of the architecture >You complete the entire run >The party has already cleared all enemies and destroyed all relevant turrets >Netrunner attempts hack after infiltration >Same problem as scenario 1
A campfire talk "You might be too young to remember preppers, huh?" "Name rings a bell. People who'd stock up on guns and canned food, right?" "That's them alright. Used to be... preppers were laughed at, maybe even feared a little. Until natural disasters happened, then oh hey, funny thing, everyone's a prepper now." "Uhuh? That's ancient history, though, neh?" "Riiiight. That was the pre-Collapse world. Same happened later on with us Nomads, though. We're always scary raiders unless you need some goods moved. And when your city goes to shit because the corpo giants trampled all over the place fighting each other. Now everyone's a Nomad. Shit's cyclical."
There are two kinds of prepper. One stocks up on necessities in case those necessities, for whatever reason, aren't available. He acquires the equipment and training necessary to protect himself and those he loves. The other kind builds a bunker, surrounds himself with canned food, guns, and ammo he'll never use. He's kinda like a post-apocalyptic grocery store, where everything costs one bullet.
In my CP-Red campaign, I have a Fixer, Netrunner and Tech as recurring NPC's. That way the party can call on them for the benefits, but usually they'll have to share the loot or, in case of the Fixer, continue working for him.
I know this video is 2 years old, but I'm building a Techie at the moment, and when you said luck is important because failing is very expense, I noticed that in the handbook on page 148 it says that you actually salvage the materials. "On a failed Check, halfway through the fabrication process, you realize that you'll have to start again from scratch. The materials purchased to make the item are uninjured." Just figured I'd mention it, and wondered if that affects how you feel about investing in Luck for the Techie.
Really love the new abilites. Much more "playable" and condensed than in 2020. Only thing I wish they did was give the Nomad atleast a little aspect of the old "Family" ability. Just so that you can get that feeling of cruising down the road with your pack. Guess it's all up to the GM's now, but still a little sad that it's out of the Nomads hand.
I think they were trying to differentiate nomads from exec, rockerboy, and lawman that all to some extent have an ability to bring in faceless backup. With how vehicles fit into combat now, they needed to dramatically restructure nomad to keep them balanced anyway, and the social aspects on top of the mechanical benefits were probably just too much.
I love Cyberpunk. The game has so much style. Each Role feels so fleshed-out and I can think of a million different fun ways to play them, from Ripperdoc Medtechs to Private Investigator Medias, there's a lot you could pull off with this system, and no matter what you're doing-- you're doing it with style! That's something this game is very big on and even with the features in this game, I've never seen anything like it. The Media seems like a truly unique role and I just love how brilliant some of these concepts are, and how unique everything feels!
Infectious hype, my friend. It feels like a gritty, violent version of “The Sims”. Slice-of-life campaigns just work. It doesn’t have to be nothing but anti-corpo runs, which to me should be rare(r).
A note, since a lot of these roles have Dex as a recommended skill due to it being linked to Evasion. Evasion is used for dodging MELEE weapons. It's possible to use it to dodge bullets, but in order to do so you must have a REFLEX of 8. Logically it makes sense but by mechanics it's super unintuative. Just something to keep in mind if you're following this guide but you want to dodge bullets.
Your videos are a godsend to me as someone who's only played one DND campaign and is now going to DM a game of six cyberpunk players. I wrote a nice worldbuilding exposition that includes some role breakdown as well but this is way more in depth.
On many games, back on 2020... there was no Netrunner on the group because the GM didn't want to learn the rules or design a Net... so I used to hire NPC netrunners all the time, lol... an Exec Netrunner staff would be nice in such
In 2020 the Cop role actually had quite a good skill (authority). I don't know why someone decided to crash the role completely. In my campaign I gave my lawman an added bonus - his skill (mostly useless tbh) gives bonuses (from 1 to 4 depending on the skill level) to Interrogation, deduction, criminology and persuasion (only when properly fitted with the cop gear - badge and stuff). This way the class skill actually has some sense and could be used to roleplay.
If I recall correctly, the change had to do with how the scope of the class had been changed. In Red, a Lawman doesn't have to be a cop specifically, and people see more authority in guns than in badges. If you pulled the old Authority ability on anyone who doesn't fear the law, chances are it would only make them angry. If you use the new Backup ability, you multiply not only your intimidation factor, but also your firepower in the case of resistance.
@@RokuroCarisu Interesting take, a valid one in terms of looking at the old skill. The new one though is still rubbish. It's clunky to use and takes away some of the immersion I think. My players hated it tbh.
I've been so interested in the Table Top RPG of Cyberpunk ever since the game came out and finally I've had time to sit down and just listen to this video. You presented this so amazingly and it was super easy for a newbie to this Table Top game to understand. Thanks so much for this choom! Greatly appriciated.
Man, this video has been great help, im GMing the system for the first time soon, and having a general idea about the roles each character plays is so useful
2020 Solo was Combat SENSE my man lol and you're right it was a little underwhelming for being the fighter class. Love the new Solo Special Skill Tree with multiple dealios. Perfect. On the comment regarding the Tech not being able to increase fire rate, it makes sense because changing a receiver on the spot simply wouldn't work that well and you might just break the gun. BUT anyone can turn a semi-automatic weapon into "full auto" with a very simple technique. I would allow "bump fire spray" with say a glock 20 but give an accuracy penalty AND range penalty ranging in severity on how many rounds the person is trying to bump fire out on their turn. Rule of cool, choomba. Great video Jon!
CP2020 Combat Sense underwhelming?? It was one of the most broken Special Abilities in the game dude. Percieving hostile intent, noticing ambushes, identifying ideal combat positioning and having a consistently higher initiative. Solo's often easily trivialise combat just with Combat Sense. So much so the rest of the party and the enemy often never gets a chance to fire a shot. Underwhelming....wow...
This video was so helpful! Thank you so much man! I just got Red and my friends and I have played D&D, CoC, and Unknown Armies, but never Cyberpunk so this primer was exactly what we needed! Hell yeah!
I just found your channel today when I decided to make a love child between 5e and cyberpunk red so that I could get my friends to play and this video helped sooo much. Great video! Very informative and easy to take in. The timestamps were also godlike. Definitely liked and subscribed!
25:50 I think it'd be fun to look at the side effects from real-world stuff and find analogs for the game world. Whenever there's an ad it's like "this can relieve your social anxiety. side effects may include [a laundry list of things that would make me anxious: nausea, insomnia, etc]" 🤭 "may increase appetite, hallucinations have happened... ask your Medtech."
Of all the changes between 2020 and red, switching netrunners to an almost default "arcane-trickster" type by design is not one I am in the slightest bit mad at. I think it makes them even more badass.
I've almost always played netrunner, but I must say Red made it a lot more challenging, which I enjoy. At least, it made character design much more challenging, anyway.
Great video! I'm just getting into Cyberpunk, and know almost nothing about it besides playing 2077 so that's kinda what I'm basing my internal map of it on. (Besides other cyberpunk media for a general vibe or tone of everything) I looked at the classes but kinda didn't really get them very much. "Oh what's the difference between a medtech and a tech?" etc. So this was really helpful, as well as the skill/attribute recommendations, and "Why you'd want this role on your team" stuff. :)
I know I'm kinda late but I've been trying to get into cyberpunk red but have had no time, these videos have let me educate myself while ima at work so thanks.
I love the way they have fleshed out the Execs. When your player tosses the replacement team member a red shirt -"Put that on" "Ah! you fuck right the fuck off, I'm outta here."
in the end of the day, a game session will come down to a fight scene... I always think that if you gotta make a Solo happy, everyone should feel needed as well... a Techie should be able to "quick buff" and do "techie attacks", for instance... say, he should be able to speed up the Netrunner Cyberdeck, temporally add an extra die or precision of weapons, or have an attack Drone as a companion... same thing with the Corporate... he should be able to day-buff the team with money gear for the day... call a strike beam from a sattelite or corporate turret, even heal with a corporate Trauma team Plan... crowd control by buying an opponent out... you know, things that make everyone important and desired into the team ... this means in a common investigation, in influence, in sneak, in combat, in driving, in hacking... and so on Anyway, just an idea... GREAT VIDEO, thx JonJon
The problem with allowing a Tech to mess with a Solos gun (+ROF, +Damage, +Accuracy, whatever) is that you can't just make a pistol go full auto without any changes. Not quickly, either. A "Glock Switch" (full auto mod) is 5+ minutes work to install, and stays there until removed. Same for increasing damage, that's a change to the ammo. It takes time to make the better ammo, and that that will last till you use it all up. (Watch the first episode of the Innocent Venus anime to see how long it takes to do an ammo swap with a special round) Increasing accuracy, let's assume the easy way and make it a change to the sights. That's an even longer process than putting in a Glock Switch. Because once you put in the new sight, you need to make sure the laser/red dot is pointed to the place where the bullets are hitting. Call it 5min or so to install (I'm going to assume that all CPRed guns have mounting rails for stuff), and half an hour or so to get the new sights lined up to point of impact via shooting.
Great video, I'm just looking at Cyberpunk game stuff never really played an RPG Boardgame, but this was great to watch to get me interested. Thank you!
I just ran my first session and I’m so great full for your videos on this they’ve helped so much. My party consists of a nomad, a tech, a solo, and an exec with 2 npcs being a net runner and a medtech. It’s been super fun so far.
This was a good guide to the classes. I had a character idea that functioned like a Rockerboy, Media, & Tech while the class i chose was actually a Netrunner. This helped me figure out which parts i should keep as part of the character, and what can maybe be split off into a background ally or a willing party member. One thing i am still curious about is how well a non-combatant character can do in a party. I wouldn't want to have this cool Spy/Hacker character that just ends up useless any time combat starts.
Hey, I know I'm late to the party but I've just recently gotten interested in it. I know you can dip into multiple roles and I was wondering. Could you theoretically have an effective mashup of lawman, rockerboy, and exec? Not all three combined, but could they combine between each other in some effective manner? Some of my thoughts are like lawman + exec for being some corpo security manager. Lawman + rockerboy to be a commissioner type that's great with PR. Or Exec + rockerboy as being a very outgoing PR figure in a corporation. Rough ideas, but ya know.
Damn, sad to see the Exec doesn't get a Medtech, the Exec seems useful to use their Team Members as a means to fill in gaps that the players group is missing, you have the Bodyguard for combat, Covert Operative for espionage , the Driver as a pseudo-Nomad and an actual Netrunner. The Technician seems a little weak when compared to the Netrunner and Driver since the Netrunner gets Interface Rank 2 and the Driver gets a pseudo-Moto Rank 2 with access to a Compact Groundcar with the Seating Upgrade. It would have been nice for the Technician to get access to the Tech's Maker Role Ability. You would think an Execs Technician would have expertise in repairs and skill in inventing and fabricating things for the corporation. I think the Medtech would have been a good addition to fill the healer role. I am not sure if designers worried having real Techs and Medtechs would step on PC toes, but since you have access to the Netrunner and Team Member's skills and stats never increase you never have to worry about it since players start with Rank 4.
It could be that a Rank 2 tech/medtech is not skilled enough to really make it work. I mean, there's a big difference between 2+d10 and 4+d10, and that's just at starting character levels.
They do get trauma team coverage at certain ranks, iirc, so that's _sorta_ like having a medtech on the team. Obviously not as direct, but better than nothing.
Hearing about what the Tech can do is absolutely appalling. As someone who's spend years trying to homebrew a unique tabletop system with a group of friends, that has specifically tried all sorts of ways to wrangle a good tech system, this free-for-all approach to technical characters is an absolute NIGHTMARE to manage. This is just about the single worst way you could integrate these types of characters. unless you want to micromanage and house rule by the seat of your pants every single session your techies WILL ruin your session and WILL ruin your game for everyone involved. What the actual fuck were they thinking with this??
I thought that everything on the shelf was on the floor behind him and that candle was a trashcan and was like, "Jesus Christ! Where did he get that giant predator model and those giant books!"
Lol it seems like all of these roles are considered essential to a party. Think ill shoot for Fixer, with Netrunner as a backup if no one else wants it. And hope for the best with the other essential roles😅
Having gone over the Red book several times now since I got hold of it, I'm unfortunately going to disagree with most things that you say between when you first bring up the role breakdown at 1:50 and when you start talking about Rockerboy. However I do like that they no longer split up your career skills and your personal skills (and give you more points too at that), the roles were already set up for you to understand how they were played with the separation of career skills. That was a guideline to how you played your character "skills" wise. And the role abilities were obvious in what part you played. And patching up your weaknesses in your personal skills. As for the new "basic skills" all roles now get, no longer means you specialize to become a melee or stealth based character as these skills are given to you at rank 2 for free. Of course you also get others. But becoming an expert in something should be more difficult. As for room for creativity, sure somewhat, however the second worst changes that they did in Red in my opinion is the lifepath. They, to be honest, really messed up here and changed it to stop allowing a lot of the creativity in 2020. Including removing family, friends, enemies and life events. Secondly, removing having a job (or not) and the ability to adjust your starting money. Which brings me to the last part and most ruined feature, gear. And I mean all gear, from weapons to cyberwear. They've adjusted all items to be based on a tiered cost category system. (bad) Items that should have been more and should have been less are now just all mashed up into one price category with no room for adjustment. And the higher leveled categories not being obtainable without a fixer night market. Some of this is good, but 2020 did this better (like the night market system). And then during character creation for cyberwear, you have to take the above average roll for humanity loss. During several advanced character creations, these new systems almost are guaranteed to force you to take the 1,500 extra starting cash. Especially for Solos and Netrunners that need a lot of gear. Netrunners especially are hindered massively by the new features. They MUST take a minimum of 14 humanity loss just for the necessity of using the role. And all the Netrunner specific good gear is all in a category that falls into only being available at night markets. Which, are randomly generated and you're not guaranteed to get said gear, so if you don't take it at character creation, chances are you won't get it. Which means your bodysuit and advanced cyberdeck. Which just these 4 things are 14 humanity loss and 2,000 of your 2,550 starting cash. You can of course take the standard deck or settle for cloth armor, but you might never get those items otherwise. I will however praise their 2 "preset" character creation setup systems. They allow for easily creatable characters and is noob friendly. But there are a lot of issues with Red, which is a shame when it came with so many amazingly good changes. (like the new Netrunner).
in are campaign my character [medtec] is having a bit of self reflection even though we have a netrunner npc. i am thinking on expanding her repertoire to a netrunner they has the min requirements to do it I am trying to make them a bit of a we can do this and if you muck-up we can fix you up. so any and all info I can get is great. the minimum info in this helps out.
Yes you would need rank points in the specialty that you want to use. You could always look for a NPC to handle things that you can't handle. The NPC will charge extra unless they owe you a favor
@@JonJonTheWise Haha,nah! Thats gonna kill my rep in South NC, choom. Were just starting out..''The Bundy Drive Boys''. We already giving protection to a teen gang called ''The rooftop Cicadas'' and a bunch of cheap hookers by the docks called ''the NC Mermaids''.
Absolutely! Not easy, since corps all have Internal Affairs (investigators) looking for people trying to leave or otherwise mess with what the Corp is trying to do. So it's a very, *very* dangerous situation. Much more common is the Corp in the team trying to get an advantage over one of their coworkers/competitors for advancement, looking for something they have done that has messed up corporate plans. Or planting evidence of that idiot doing it.
Okay, this is probably a shot in the dark, but I'm trying to make a Tech at Rank 1 (yes, Rank 1) for my first ever Cyberpunk Red campaign. Would anyone seeing this know whether my Maker specialties start out at Rank 0 or Rank 1 before I start ranking them up? The rulebook doesn't seem to specify
The original role ability of the Cop (Lawman) and the Corp (Exec) were WAYYY better then what they have now. Cop had Authority, which let you order people (Freeze!) or get access to files, the evidence cage, etc. The Corp had Resources. You could call for a ride, get weapons, get vehicles, get money, call strike teams, etc. Way cooler then what RED gives them which is a pain in the ass for the GM, which is just a ton of NPC's that the Lawman and Exec get and the GM has to run, which is in essence the same ability that the Rockerboy has. They essentially made a bunch of pet classes. Lazy game design.
That's one way to look at it. But the GM should also feel completely free to use the rules as benefits the story best. Funny thing, in the 2-3 years before Red launched, I was already houserule-adapting 2020 in ways that would be recognizable to a Red player. Eventually you'll see hybrid systems out on the net to pick something that really fits your game style.
Yeah Authority was a great special ability, it was so much more than just single word commands. Every role and special ability in CP2020 wasn't tied to the surface level stereotypical examples. Cops didn't have to literally be cops and Authority didn't need to be used just for things like commanding "freeze" or "drop your weapon" etc. Once had a Cop that was an ex-Spec Op's team leader. Would walk into a place that had information he needed like he owned the place. Used Authority to boss the staff in the place around distracting them and gain access to the area where the information was. The rest of the party were able to sneak in and get the info while I busted the NPCs ass over sloppy maintenance of security and poor work ethic. Once even had to use it on a player to stop them from wanting to flatline a Fixer we needed info from. Turned out the player was duped into paying too much for something by the Fixer a few weeks earlier. The PC was a Media from a well off Corpo family, wasn't very street savvy or particularly smart either. Had been cut-off from his family's wealth because he reported on some particular shady dealings his family were doing for their Corperations, insider trading and stock manipulation mainly. Essentially forced him to calm down by using Authority to matter of factly state that 'if he tried anything with the Fixer I'd break his arms and leave the partnership'. With that he calmed down enough for me to offer a portion of my jobs payout, prior to this he was mainly in it to report on the investigation. My street knowledge, investigation skills and the protection I offered in our initial agreement was more than enough payment for him, I still paid him for the information he had, a weekly retainer and any leads & info he got through his channels. By using Authority successfully here the statement came off as a matter of fact rather than an implied likelihood as it would using intimidation. Even though this Media was about twice my size and a very capable fighter in hand to hand, he stopped and calmed down because of Authority's air of certainty.
So... If a round takes roughly 3 seconds, isn't kind of silly that a lawman can call for backup? Wouldn't they pretty much have to be in the other room?
The lore answer is backup are flying around in AV's constantly. So they're always nearby. The "game" answer is, it's more balanced this way. You decide what's best at your table at the end of the day.
The way I've seen it handled is like a panic button from a bank but on the Lawman's waist. Calling backup is just a button press that acts as a distress beacon.
Every major city has something called a "City Net" or "Garden Page". It's like their own little interenet/social media platform. So that's where there googles and youtubes would be.
Can you say more about cool? i think they change something at cyberpunk 2077...because most of cool mechanics on 2077 its sin using cool...but they look more like a stylish thing...??? i think its a so strange atribute...
The stats has two ideas behind it. The first idea is whether you can keep your cool in a rough situation. And the second reason is it emulates your general style and charisma. It’s a very esoteric stat. I recommend checking out the skills associated with it so you can figure it out
Role ability rank. It's the number next to your Role Ability. It's kind of like levels but it's more like skills. It's a special skill that gives you the ability to do unique things
I feel the same about Netrunner's. A party without can still do alot, but a party with one makes everything more interesting.
Well said 🙏
How to you feel about a party with 2/3 of them?
that's a free ticket to headache city lol@@jonathanmathai9269
@@jonathanmathai9269you are a madman haha
Tbh after playing a Netrunner in my buddy’s campaign for like a year now…they should’ve stayed NPC’s.
Netrunning has so much wrong with it in Red that prevent it from reaching its true potential. Part of that comes from the fact that Solos are way too overloaded, but while great in concept, in practice netrunning feels very unsatisfying for all parties involved.
I don’t want to rant TOO LONG but I’ll try list out how in my experience, there’s no good way to do a run. If anyone has any advice, I’d love to hear it. Me and my GM buddy have wracked our minds trying to brainstorm ideas together but nothing feels like it lands in the Goldilocks zone.
>Netrunner attempts run before party goes in
>Party sits around doing nothing for however long it takes
>Runner either succeeds or
>Fails and is useless in the inevitable fight because they had to jack out early to avoid being seriously wounded by Black ICE.
>Netrunner attempts run simultaneously with party infiltration
>Combat begins
>Turret control nodes are at the end of the architecture
>You complete the entire run
>The party has already cleared all enemies and destroyed all relevant turrets
>Netrunner attempts hack after infiltration
>Same problem as scenario 1
A campfire talk
"You might be too young to remember preppers, huh?"
"Name rings a bell. People who'd stock up on guns and canned food, right?"
"That's them alright. Used to be... preppers were laughed at, maybe even feared a little. Until natural disasters happened, then oh hey, funny thing, everyone's a prepper now."
"Uhuh? That's ancient history, though, neh?"
"Riiiight. That was the pre-Collapse world. Same happened later on with us Nomads, though. We're always scary raiders unless you need some goods moved. And when your city goes to shit because the corpo giants trampled all over the place fighting each other. Now everyone's a Nomad. Shit's cyclical."
There are two kinds of prepper. One stocks up on necessities in case those necessities, for whatever reason, aren't available. He acquires the equipment and training necessary to protect himself and those he loves.
The other kind builds a bunker, surrounds himself with canned food, guns, and ammo he'll never use. He's kinda like a post-apocalyptic grocery store, where everything costs one bullet.
In my CP-Red campaign, I have a Fixer, Netrunner and Tech as recurring NPC's. That way the party can call on them for the benefits, but usually they'll have to share the loot or, in case of the Fixer, continue working for him.
This is a great idea
One of my players is a fixer. So I made a roster of NPCs that can be hired for a job for varying percentages and be used for their roles.
I know this video is 2 years old, but I'm building a Techie at the moment, and when you said luck is important because failing is very expense, I noticed that in the handbook on page 148 it says that you actually salvage the materials. "On a failed Check, halfway through the fabrication process, you realize that you'll have to start again from scratch. The materials purchased to make the item are uninjured." Just figured I'd mention it, and wondered if that affects how you feel about investing in Luck for the Techie.
I believe that time is just as expensive. Time wasted failing is time you could be spending succeeding. And you don't get paid for failing
Ujj
So for the Lawman your backup is gonna range from Barrney Fife to MAXTAC.
An hour and eleven minutes of pure data without boring me or making me zone out.
AND it was helpful to an experienced GM.
SUBBED!!
Thanks for watching and welcome!🙏
Really love the new abilites. Much more "playable" and condensed than in 2020. Only thing I wish they did was give the Nomad atleast a little aspect of the old "Family" ability. Just so that you can get that feeling of cruising down the road with your pack.
Guess it's all up to the GM's now, but still a little sad that it's out of the Nomads hand.
I agree. Cyberpunk is a team game and I like abilities like that. I think they are trying to play off that long wolf acratype
Playing a Nomad is like The Fast And The Furious: Family is the most important
I think they were trying to differentiate nomads from exec, rockerboy, and lawman that all to some extent have an ability to bring in faceless backup. With how vehicles fit into combat now, they needed to dramatically restructure nomad to keep them balanced anyway, and the social aspects on top of the mechanical benefits were probably just too much.
I love Cyberpunk. The game has so much style. Each Role feels so fleshed-out and I can think of a million different fun ways to play them, from Ripperdoc Medtechs to Private Investigator Medias, there's a lot you could pull off with this system, and no matter what you're doing-- you're doing it with style!
That's something this game is very big on and even with the features in this game, I've never seen anything like it. The Media seems like a truly unique role and I just love how brilliant some of these concepts are, and how unique everything feels!
Infectious hype, my friend. It feels like a gritty, violent version of “The Sims”. Slice-of-life campaigns just work. It doesn’t have to be nothing but anti-corpo runs, which to me should be rare(r).
A note, since a lot of these roles have Dex as a recommended skill due to it being linked to Evasion.
Evasion is used for dodging MELEE weapons. It's possible to use it to dodge bullets, but in order to do so you must have a REFLEX of 8. Logically it makes sense but by mechanics it's super unintuative.
Just something to keep in mind if you're following this guide but you want to dodge bullets.
Another thing to keep in mind is there is a piece of cyberware called Reflex Co-processor which allows you to dodge bullets without an 8 Reflex.
Your videos are a godsend to me as someone who's only played one DND campaign and is now going to DM a game of six cyberpunk players. I wrote a nice worldbuilding exposition that includes some role breakdown as well but this is way more in depth.
My dream party: a hyper paranoid netrunner, a no fucks given rockerboy and the cop that needs to get them out of trouble every time
Is that a reference to a show or a movie?
On many games, back on 2020... there was no Netrunner on the group because the GM didn't want to learn the rules or design a Net... so I used to hire NPC netrunners all the time, lol... an Exec Netrunner staff would be nice in such
In 2020 the Cop role actually had quite a good skill (authority). I don't know why someone decided to crash the role completely. In my campaign I gave my lawman an added bonus - his skill (mostly useless tbh) gives bonuses (from 1 to 4 depending on the skill level) to Interrogation, deduction, criminology and persuasion (only when properly fitted with the cop gear - badge and stuff). This way the class skill actually has some sense and could be used to roleplay.
If I recall correctly, the change had to do with how the scope of the class had been changed. In Red, a Lawman doesn't have to be a cop specifically, and people see more authority in guns than in badges.
If you pulled the old Authority ability on anyone who doesn't fear the law, chances are it would only make them angry. If you use the new Backup ability, you multiply not only your intimidation factor, but also your firepower in the case of resistance.
@@RokuroCarisu Interesting take, a valid one in terms of looking at the old skill. The new one though is still rubbish. It's clunky to use and takes away some of the immersion I think. My players hated it tbh.
Feels like the words Empathy and Corporate Executive don't track in Cyberpunk
You gotta be quite empathetic to efficiently gaslight.
I've been so interested in the Table Top RPG of Cyberpunk ever since the game came out and finally I've had time to sit down and just listen to this video. You presented this so amazingly and it was super easy for a newbie to this Table Top game to understand. Thanks so much for this choom! Greatly appriciated.
Welcome to Night City choom!
I'd love to see a team that all went in for the cyberware bonus and the exec is their handler
I dont even play tabletop i just think the lore is neat
And that’s a totally valid way to enjoy the game. Keep on rocking choom
Dom from Fast and Furious is definitely a Nomad LOL.
"Hand to hand martial artist who's also a netrunner" is literally the first Netrunner I've ever made XD
Running a ganger lawman seems pretty appropriate to how its portrayed here... at least with lower rank backup
God, I wish there was a digital version of the table top to play online, it's pretty difficult to find people into tabletop stuff.
Roll20.com and FoundryVTT are both tools for playing with people online
Man, this video has been great help, im GMing the system for the first time soon, and having a general idea about the roles each character plays is so useful
2020 Solo was Combat SENSE my man lol and you're right it was a little underwhelming for being the fighter class. Love the new Solo Special Skill Tree with multiple dealios. Perfect.
On the comment regarding the Tech not being able to increase fire rate, it makes sense because changing a receiver on the spot simply wouldn't work that well and you might just break the gun. BUT anyone can turn a semi-automatic weapon into "full auto" with a very simple technique. I would allow "bump fire spray" with say a glock 20 but give an accuracy penalty AND range penalty ranging in severity on how many rounds the person is trying to bump fire out on their turn. Rule of cool, choomba. Great video Jon!
I completely spaced on the name. Thanks 😅
CP2020 Combat Sense underwhelming?? It was one of the most broken Special Abilities in the game dude.
Percieving hostile intent, noticing ambushes, identifying ideal combat positioning and having a consistently higher initiative.
Solo's often easily trivialise combat just with Combat Sense. So much so the rest of the party and the enemy often never gets a chance to fire a shot.
Underwhelming....wow...
This video was so helpful! Thank you so much man! I just got Red and my friends and I have played D&D, CoC, and Unknown Armies, but never Cyberpunk so this primer was exactly what we needed! Hell yeah!
I'm glad to be of help! Happy gaming
I love how the most important state across the board is cool
“Gotta be a cool cat” xD
I just found your channel today when I decided to make a love child between 5e and cyberpunk red so that I could get my friends to play and this video helped sooo much. Great video! Very informative and easy to take in. The timestamps were also godlike. Definitely liked and subscribed!
Thank you so much for the support and happy gaming!🙏
LOL good luck with your game. Though I’m sure M. Pondsmith would decry it as heresy upon the sweet hardcore mechanical beauty of Interlock.
25:50 I think it'd be fun to look at the side effects from real-world stuff and find analogs for the game world. Whenever there's an ad it's like "this can relieve your social anxiety. side effects may include [a laundry list of things that would make me anxious: nausea, insomnia, etc]" 🤭 "may increase appetite, hallucinations have happened... ask your Medtech."
Stats for the lawman and solo I would also add "will" to the recommended stats because you get your hp from "will & body"
Of all the changes between 2020 and red, switching netrunners to an almost default "arcane-trickster" type by design is not one I am in the slightest bit mad at. I think it makes them even more badass.
I've almost always played netrunner, but I must say Red made it a lot more challenging, which I enjoy. At least, it made character design much more challenging, anyway.
Never played, but I really liked your presentation. I kind of want to give this a spin.
Thank you! I hope you consider it. I love this game
@@JonJonTheWise I guess I should keep your channel on my radar then. :D Now, how am I gonna wrangle the gang together?
Great video! I'm just getting into Cyberpunk, and know almost nothing about it besides playing 2077 so that's kinda what I'm basing my internal map of it on. (Besides other cyberpunk media for a general vibe or tone of everything) I looked at the classes but kinda didn't really get them very much. "Oh what's the difference between a medtech and a tech?" etc. So this was really helpful, as well as the skill/attribute recommendations, and "Why you'd want this role on your team" stuff. :)
I know I'm kinda late but I've been trying to get into cyberpunk red but have had no time, these videos have let me educate myself while ima at work so thanks.
Great content! My friends and I are getting into RED and your videos are a big help.
Glad to hear it! Thank you for supporting
Just got my copy of Red, very useful video, thank you man
I love the way they have fleshed out the Execs.
When your player tosses the replacement team member a red shirt -"Put that on"
"Ah! you fuck right the fuck off, I'm outta here."
My friend just started a red campaign and I’m the groups Solo
Happy gaming Andrew!
in the end of the day, a game session will come down to a fight scene... I always think that if you gotta make a Solo happy, everyone should feel needed as well... a Techie should be able to "quick buff" and do "techie attacks", for instance... say, he should be able to speed up the Netrunner Cyberdeck, temporally add an extra die or precision of weapons, or have an attack Drone as a companion... same thing with the Corporate... he should be able to day-buff the team with money gear for the day... call a strike beam from a sattelite or corporate turret, even heal with a corporate Trauma team Plan... crowd control by buying an opponent out... you know, things that make everyone important and desired into the team ... this means in a common investigation, in influence, in sneak, in combat, in driving, in hacking... and so on
Anyway, just an idea... GREAT VIDEO, thx JonJon
The problem with allowing a Tech to mess with a Solos gun (+ROF, +Damage, +Accuracy, whatever) is that you can't just make a pistol go full auto without any changes. Not quickly, either. A "Glock Switch" (full auto mod) is 5+ minutes work to install, and stays there until removed.
Same for increasing damage, that's a change to the ammo. It takes time to make the better ammo, and that that will last till you use it all up. (Watch the first episode of the Innocent Venus anime to see how long it takes to do an ammo swap with a special round)
Increasing accuracy, let's assume the easy way and make it a change to the sights. That's an even longer process than putting in a Glock Switch. Because once you put in the new sight, you need to make sure the laser/red dot is pointed to the place where the bullets are hitting. Call it 5min or so to install (I'm going to assume that all CPRed guns have mounting rails for stuff), and half an hour or so to get the new sights lined up to point of impact via shooting.
Great video, I'm just looking at Cyberpunk game stuff never really played an RPG Boardgame, but this was great to watch to get me interested. Thank you!
Welcome to Night City, choom! Thank you for the support
I just ran my first session and I’m so great full for your videos on this they’ve helped so much. My party consists of a nomad, a tech, a solo, and an exec with 2 npcs being a net runner and a medtech. It’s been super fun so far.
I hope you have wonderful games choom!
We need someone to make cyberpunk stories on either existing characters or fan made characters.
Law man could be local gangster, enforcing the rules of their home block?
Yes totally. Look up Guardian Gangs. That’s basically what they are
Came here for the Seth interview. Stayed for the detes
I used Lawman to build a film noir private detective. Good times.
Working on my first character and I’m leaning towards solo or tech as they fit the characters backstory best. Thanks for all the info, choom.
Having a player as your netrunner splits game time in my opinion, you have to design two encounters
CPRed has greatly changed the netrun, more or less reducing the run to riding an elevator in the middle of combat.
This was a good guide to the classes. I had a character idea that functioned like a Rockerboy, Media, & Tech while the class i chose was actually a Netrunner.
This helped me figure out which parts i should keep as part of the character, and what can maybe be split off into a background ally or a willing party member.
One thing i am still curious about is how well a non-combatant character can do in a party. I wouldn't want to have this cool Spy/Hacker character that just ends up useless any time combat starts.
Glad to be of help. In my experience non combat characters Can handle themselves just fine and are a whole Lotta fun
Hey, I know I'm late to the party but I've just recently gotten interested in it. I know you can dip into multiple roles and I was wondering. Could you theoretically have an effective mashup of lawman, rockerboy, and exec? Not all three combined, but could they combine between each other in some effective manner? Some of my thoughts are like lawman + exec for being some corpo security manager. Lawman + rockerboy to be a commissioner type that's great with PR. Or Exec + rockerboy as being a very outgoing PR figure in a corporation. Rough ideas, but ya know.
You're down the right track, choomba. That's the fun stuff!
Good video as always, thanks Jon
Thank you 🙏
Thanks for the video.
Damn, sad to see the Exec doesn't get a Medtech, the Exec seems useful to use their Team Members as a means to fill in gaps that the players group is missing, you have the Bodyguard for combat, Covert Operative for espionage , the Driver as a pseudo-Nomad and an actual Netrunner. The Technician seems a little weak when compared to the Netrunner and Driver since the Netrunner gets Interface Rank 2 and the Driver gets a pseudo-Moto Rank 2 with access to a Compact Groundcar with the Seating Upgrade. It would have been nice for the Technician to get access to the Tech's Maker Role Ability. You would think an Execs Technician would have expertise in repairs and skill in inventing and fabricating things for the corporation. I think the Medtech would have been a good addition to fill the healer role. I am not sure if designers worried having real Techs and Medtechs would step on PC toes, but since you have access to the Netrunner and Team Member's skills and stats never increase you never have to worry about it since players start with Rank 4.
NPC class to me.
It could be that a Rank 2 tech/medtech is not skilled enough to really make it work. I mean, there's a big difference between 2+d10 and 4+d10, and that's just at starting character levels.
They do get trauma team coverage at certain ranks, iirc, so that's _sorta_ like having a medtech on the team. Obviously not as direct, but better than nothing.
Hearing about what the Tech can do is absolutely appalling. As someone who's spend years trying to homebrew a unique tabletop system with a group of friends, that has specifically tried all sorts of ways to wrangle a good tech system, this free-for-all approach to technical characters is an absolute NIGHTMARE to manage. This is just about the single worst way you could integrate these types of characters. unless you want to micromanage and house rule by the seat of your pants every single session your techies WILL ruin your session and WILL ruin your game for everyone involved. What the actual fuck were they thinking with this??
Damn, Johnny must be a shitty Rockerboy since he lacks soooo much empathy and social skills lol
Johnny maxed COOL and dumped EMP lmao
Rockerboy, the bard and influencer
thanks a lot man !!!!
Thank you for the support 🙏
Yo great video bro 💪💯🔥
thanks for watching!
I thought that everything on the shelf was on the floor behind him and that candle was a trashcan and was like, "Jesus Christ! Where did he get that giant predator model and those giant books!"
I wish I had friends who would play this with me.
"Lawmen" are basically Six Street from Cyberpunk 2077 before they went to shit?
Lol it seems like all of these roles are considered essential to a party. Think ill shoot for Fixer, with Netrunner as a backup if no one else wants it. And hope for the best with the other essential roles😅
JonJonCyberpunk 😁
I'm gunna be the Batman of night city
Damn can someone else please do the 1338 Like on this Video so I'm not the guy breaking Leet. Nice video thanks for the research
Hey JonJon will you be working on a cheat sheet for cyberpunk red? Trying to get into the game myself
Personally no. But the community has made one already. It's in our discord and the CPRED subreddit . Also talsorian is working on one
I want to play an Exec character so bad
I just like making characters 🤷♀️ dunno nothing ab the game but I need ideas for a Cyberpunk typa universe
Having gone over the Red book several times now since I got hold of it, I'm unfortunately going to disagree with most things that you say between when you first bring up the role breakdown at 1:50 and when you start talking about Rockerboy.
However I do like that they no longer split up your career skills and your personal skills (and give you more points too at that), the roles were already set up for you to understand how they were played with the separation of career skills. That was a guideline to how you played your character "skills" wise. And the role abilities were obvious in what part you played. And patching up your weaknesses in your personal skills.
As for the new "basic skills" all roles now get, no longer means you specialize to become a melee or stealth based character as these skills are given to you at rank 2 for free. Of course you also get others. But becoming an expert in something should be more difficult.
As for room for creativity, sure somewhat, however the second worst changes that they did in Red in my opinion is the lifepath. They, to be honest, really messed up here and changed it to stop allowing a lot of the creativity in 2020. Including removing family, friends, enemies and life events. Secondly, removing having a job (or not) and the ability to adjust your starting money. Which brings me to the last part and most ruined feature, gear. And I mean all gear, from weapons to cyberwear. They've adjusted all items to be based on a tiered cost category system. (bad) Items that should have been more and should have been less are now just all mashed up into one price category with no room for adjustment. And the higher leveled categories not being obtainable without a fixer night market.
Some of this is good, but 2020 did this better (like the night market system). And then during character creation for cyberwear, you have to take the above average roll for humanity loss.
During several advanced character creations, these new systems almost are guaranteed to force you to take the 1,500 extra starting cash. Especially for Solos and Netrunners that need a lot of gear. Netrunners especially are hindered massively by the new features. They MUST take a minimum of 14 humanity loss just for the necessity of using the role. And all the Netrunner specific good gear is all in a category that falls into only being available at night markets. Which, are randomly generated and you're not guaranteed to get said gear, so if you don't take it at character creation, chances are you won't get it. Which means your bodysuit and advanced cyberdeck. Which just these 4 things are 14 humanity loss and 2,000 of your 2,550 starting cash. You can of course take the standard deck or settle for cloth armor, but you might never get those items otherwise.
I will however praise their 2 "preset" character creation setup systems. They allow for easily creatable characters and is noob friendly. But there are a lot of issues with Red, which is a shame when it came with so many amazingly good changes. (like the new Netrunner).
Oh, and I forgot to mention the very limited amount of gear compared to 2020 too.
I’d like to play a private investigator if I ever play cyberpunk red
in are campaign my character [medtec] is having a bit of self reflection even though we have a netrunner npc. i am thinking on expanding her repertoire to a netrunner they has the min requirements to do it I am trying to make them a bit of a we can do this and if you muck-up we can fix you up. so any and all info I can get is great. the minimum info in this helps out.
Tech question, can i only have 2 specialities? If so how can i invent and build a weapon upgrade? Wouldnt i need invent, fabricate and upgrade?
Yes you would need rank points in the specialty that you want to use. You could always look for a NPC to handle things that you can't handle. The NPC will charge extra unless they owe you a favor
Hey! With haggle can i buy 100$ worth of sythcoke for 90$ and sell it back for 110$ ? Thanks
Yea of course but I recommend cutting it with some laxatives or drywall so you can have more volume. Flip it for 300 eddies
@@JonJonTheWise Haha,nah! Thats gonna kill my rep in South NC, choom. Were just starting out..''The Bundy Drive Boys''. We already giving protection to a teen gang called ''The rooftop Cicadas'' and a bunch of cheap hookers by the docks called ''the NC Mermaids''.
You think it's possible to do an Exec that's trying to take down their own corporation? Rebel Exec?
Hell ya!
Absolutely!
Not easy, since corps all have Internal Affairs (investigators) looking for people trying to leave or otherwise mess with what the Corp is trying to do. So it's a very, *very* dangerous situation.
Much more common is the Corp in the team trying to get an advantage over one of their coworkers/competitors for advancement, looking for something they have done that has messed up corporate plans. Or planting evidence of that idiot doing it.
Okay, this is probably a shot in the dark, but I'm trying to make a Tech at Rank 1 (yes, Rank 1) for my first ever Cyberpunk Red campaign. Would anyone seeing this know whether my Maker specialties start out at Rank 0 or Rank 1 before I start ranking them up? The rulebook doesn't seem to specify
Can u advice powerful Exec or Lawman build?
The original role ability of the Cop (Lawman) and the Corp (Exec) were WAYYY better then what they have now. Cop had Authority, which let you order people (Freeze!) or get access to files, the evidence cage, etc. The Corp had Resources. You could call for a ride, get weapons, get vehicles, get money, call strike teams, etc. Way cooler then what RED gives them which is a pain in the ass for the GM, which is just a ton of NPC's that the Lawman and Exec get and the GM has to run, which is in essence the same ability that the Rockerboy has. They essentially made a bunch of pet classes. Lazy game design.
That's one way to look at it. But the GM should also feel completely free to use the rules as benefits the story best. Funny thing, in the 2-3 years before Red launched, I was already houserule-adapting 2020 in ways that would be recognizable to a Red player. Eventually you'll see hybrid systems out on the net to pick something that really fits your game style.
Yeah Authority was a great special ability, it was so much more than just single word commands. Every role and special ability in CP2020 wasn't tied to the surface level stereotypical examples.
Cops didn't have to literally be cops and Authority didn't need to be used just for things like commanding "freeze" or "drop your weapon" etc.
Once had a Cop that was an ex-Spec Op's team leader. Would walk into a place that had information he needed like he owned the place.
Used Authority to boss the staff in the place around distracting them and gain access to the area where the information was. The rest of the party were able to sneak in and get the info while I busted the NPCs ass over sloppy maintenance of security and poor work ethic.
Once even had to use it on a player to stop them from wanting to flatline a Fixer we needed info from. Turned out the player was duped into paying too much for something by the Fixer a few weeks earlier.
The PC was a Media from a well off Corpo family, wasn't very street savvy or particularly smart either. Had been cut-off from his family's wealth because he reported on some particular shady dealings his family were doing for their Corperations, insider trading and stock manipulation mainly.
Essentially forced him to calm down by using Authority to matter of factly state that 'if he tried anything with the Fixer I'd break his arms and leave the partnership'. With that he calmed down enough for me to offer a portion of my jobs payout, prior to this he was mainly in it to report on the investigation.
My street knowledge, investigation skills and the protection I offered in our initial agreement was more than enough payment for him, I still paid him for the information he had, a weekly retainer and any leads & info he got through his channels.
By using Authority successfully here the statement came off as a matter of fact rather than an implied likelihood as it would using intimidation.
Even though this Media was about twice my size and a very capable fighter in hand to hand, he stopped and calmed down because of Authority's air of certainty.
So... If a round takes roughly 3 seconds, isn't kind of silly that a lawman can call for backup? Wouldn't they pretty much have to be in the other room?
The lore answer is backup are flying around in AV's constantly. So they're always nearby.
The "game" answer is, it's more balanced this way.
You decide what's best at your table at the end of the day.
The way I've seen it handled is like a panic button from a bank but on the Lawman's waist. Calling backup is just a button press that acts as a distress beacon.
I can’t join the discord, keeps saying the link is expired.
discord.gg/vvRTSMj
Here you go 👍
Where can I get more lore about Cyberpunk Red?
Unfortunately I’m not much of a lore guy but I recommend you check out The Mad Queen. She is an expert at Cyberpunk lore
Does the world of Cyberpunk red have something like Google or UA-cam?
Every major city has something called a "City Net" or "Garden Page". It's like their own little interenet/social media platform. So that's where there googles and youtubes would be.
The overall net has fragmented, so there's no overall Google/UA-cam. But every city will have their own mini version.
Say you only have a party of 3-4 PCs. What are the most critical roles to fill for the party?
Unlike other rpgs, cyberpunk works with any combination of roles. At the end of the day everyone is a human being that needs to defend themselves
Can you say more about cool? i think they change something at cyberpunk 2077...because most of cool mechanics on 2077 its sin using cool...but they look more like a stylish thing...??? i think its a so strange atribute...
The stats has two ideas behind it. The first idea is whether you can keep your cool in a rough situation. And the second reason is it emulates your general style and charisma. It’s a very esoteric stat. I recommend checking out the skills associated with it so you can figure it out
i will thanks@@JonJonTheWise
What's the song that plays in the intro
m.soundcloud.com/user-951629513
Arasaka Grooves. My own production
@@JonJonTheWise Absolutely love it great work!
You keep talkin about rank. Is that like levels in d&d?
Role ability rank. It's the number next to your Role Ability. It's kind of like levels but it's more like skills. It's a special skill that gives you the ability to do unique things
Its more like putting points into a skill/perk in a video game.
Did you do this for 2020?
No but a lot of the core concepts are the same
Do they still have cops in the game ?
Yes.