Take another look at the cover art and do a mental inventory of the party.

Quote from: BadApple on June 22, 2024, 08:28:32 PMTake another look at the cover art and do a mental inventory of the party.

They look more magical than most Shadowrun pics, but then again, there was Night of the Comet and the Changelings. I think the back right might be a bird-lady with feathered arms. The dwarf mage-guy and the ogre/troll mage lady are fairly Shadowrun-ny, and most of the other characters are too.

Quote from: HappyDaze on June 22, 2024, 08:37:45 PM

Quote from: BadApple on June 22, 2024, 08:28:32 PMTake another look at the cover art and do a mental inventory of the party.

They look more magical than most Shadowrun pics, but then again, there was Night of the Comet and the Changelings. I think the back right might be a bird-lady with feathered arms. The dwarf mage-guy and the ogre/troll mage lady are fairly Shadowrun-ny, and most of the other characters are too.

The wheel chair adventurer is a lefty dog whistle for representation.

Quote from: BadApple on June 22, 2024, 08:39:16 PM

Quote from: HappyDaze on June 22, 2024, 08:37:45 PM

Quote from: BadApple on June 22, 2024, 08:28:32 PMTake another look at the cover art and do a mental inventory of the party.

They look more magical than most Shadowrun pics, but then again, there was Night of the Comet and the Changelings. I think the back right might be a bird-lady with feathered arms. The dwarf mage-guy and the ogre/troll mage lady are fairly Shadowrun-ny, and most of the other characters are too.

The wheel chair adventurer is a lefty dog whistle for representation.

Cyberpunk has had deckers/hackers in wheelchairs along with riggers/wheelmen. Shadowrun adds in magicians in wheelchairs, all of which can be useful. So even if it is for representation, it's not egregiously out of place.

Looking at the website of the creator makes me a good 95% certain that the game's garbage full of back-patting vague anti-capitalism "resistance".  But Valatar, I hear you say, cyberpunk has anti-capitalism as a core tenet!  And that's true.  But cyberpunk's anti-capitalism is nihilistic grittiness where the world and the PCs are already pretty fucked, while this one seems like the PCs will go and spraypaint a delivery truck and then get a bunch of likes on cyber-twitter for it.

Quote from: Valatar on June 23, 2024, 12:21:38 AMAnd that's true.  But cyberpunk's anti-capitalism is nihilistic grittiness where the world and the PCs are already pretty fucked, while this one seems like the PCs will go and spraypaint a delivery truck and then get a bunch of likes on cyber-twitter for it.

You don't see nihilism in a life spent searching for approval on social media?

Fragging Unicorns Games other product is Misspent Youth, about being leftist revolutionaries.  I've already bought a few communist propaganda books disguised as games and I find them to be very poorly developed and implemented.

While much of cyberpunk had giant multinational corps as antagonists, that doesn't necessarily mean it's anti capitalist.  The corps are openly anti free market making the setting more of a neo-feudalist dystopia that honestly looks almost identical to early 1980s USSR.  This misunderstanding is a big part of why so many modern cyberpunk stories fail.

Fair, I should have said anti-corporatist instead.  Firebombing the family-owned corner store or kicking over little Suzy's lemonade stand isn't all that cyberpunk.

First of all, let me thank you a lot for your reviews. It's difficult (or impossible) to find reviews of "obscure" cyberpunk games that are not CP20XX, Shadowrun, Interface Zero, The Sprawl or The Veil. And personally, I find that many small company games do a much better and streamlined work of giving nice rules for cyberpunk campaigns. Also, the fact that you read several of those games and can compare them or have a very broad criteria, helps coming to conclusions or deciding which one has the features we are looking for.

That said, I'd like to propose a few games that catched my eye or I'd like to hear your informed opinion upon. Feel free to ignore them, of course!

-Terminal State - Quickstart. Yes, it's a Quickstart, but feels like a full game. Uses the Year Zero Engine as seen in Blade Runner and Twilight 2000. https://www.drivethrurpg.com/es/product/457568/terminal-state-quickstart

- Blood Chrome Neon. No idea about it, but looks like a neat rule-light system.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/es/product/277659/blood-chrome-neon

- Wired Neon Cities. It's a minimalistic system. Very minimalistic. But I feel it really captures the very basics of cyberpunk. There's the original version (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/es/product/210919/wired-neon-cities-minimalist-cyberpunk-roleplaying) which, personally I like more than the Ultimate Edition (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/es/product/414479/wired-neon-cities-ultimate-edition).

-Wired Neon Cities ://hacked. A personal desire of mine, I made my own hack of Wired Neon Cities (with the authors permission), changing the basic mechanic to a D6 pool of dice, and expanding several options. You might not like it, of course, but would be awesome for me to know your opinion, and what you don't like about it. As stated before, your criteria in the reviews I've read of games I know, is usually spot on in what I also think.
(https://www.drivethrurpg.com/es/product/471686/wired-neon-cities-hacked)

Thanks again for all your effort!

Any interest in reviewing Cy Borg, or is it too artpunk-y?

Quote from: Bubu on December 10, 2024, 08:32:46 PMAny interest in reviewing Cy Borg, or is it too artpunk-y?

I did review it, post #11.  It's a pretty good game but not a great game.  I gave it a 6/10 and I stand by that.  (Of course, it is just one man's opinion.)

So you did! I missed it. Thanks for doing all these reviews, I'm working my way through them.

thank you for the reviews ,nice job

Great job.
I always wanted to have a solid Cyberpunk game in my library. Carbon 2185, and Neon City Overdrive have been in my radar, but now I'm learning about Zaibatsu.

Have you checked Hack the Planet: Cyberpunk Forged in the Dark?

Great set of reviews!

In all honesty I haven't heard of the majority of these titles.
 
Imo, the absolute champion of the genre is obviously Cyberpunk 2020, in pretty much all aspects. That accompanied with Netrunner CCG is just the ultimate experience. This I believe is mostly due to, as you point out, Neuromancer and Do Androids... being the literary works that define the genre and Cyberpunk 2013/2020 just rode that wave so well. It somehow became a staple due to momentum, but it also did it due to sheer quality. I will never forget the first time I read about the setting and the combat system, how they analyzed police records of violent crimes and shootouts to design it. To this day I feel like such realistic brutality of firearm combat is unparalleled in RPGs.

RED was a disappointment, disliked the progression of the metaplot and mechanically it felt a bit off.

From your list I also know and have tried Zaibatsu and, as you say, I appreciate it for its adjacency to Traveler (though in my mind, if I'd have to choose, I'd say GURPS is more cyberpunk-able). Obviously know of Altered Carbon and Blade Runner, but haven't tried them, so it was interesting reading your thoughts.