I was thinking about CP2020's non-solo classes. In the recent cyberpunk thread, there was one or two posts about campaigns based on med-techs running an ambulance service, which sounded like a cool alternative to the usual solo based games.

Has anyone ever tried a Media based campaign? From the Rockerboy supplement, it seems like the default would be a media team with solo bodyguards looking for scoops of conspiracies against the big corps, though that is only lightly sketched. Another idea that came to mind was something like that movie Nightcrawler, which I guess would not be that different from the med-tech game, except you're not looking to save lives.

Any other ideas?  

For Rockerboy campaigns, I for the life of me cannot figure out how you can base one around that as a PC role. They seem great as NPCs, though.

I've never done an express Rockerboy campaign - but I had ideas about it which I never pursued. My concept was one or more PC's are political rockers whose songs are anti-establishment/anti-corporate rabble-rousing songs. There might be someone that acts as security (Solo, Cop) someone handles PR (Media, Corp) among other possibilities. A touring band has a *lot* of needs that have nothing to do with the stage.

The real sub-plot is who do they make enemies of. It would open up things like having their own fixer tour with them to navigate the "needs" of the band and crew, possible corporate sponsorship by interests outside of the themes of the band's music. Nomads to insure safe travel on the road - maybe the road crew are Nomad packs? The game kinda runs itself in that being a rabble-rouser incites a lot of possible danger and just keeping them safe is an issue. Issues create conflict, and conflict is generally good gaming fodder.

Media guy wanting to do a tour-documentary. Groupies. Drugs. Security. Nomad road-crew having nomad-issues travelling across other, enemy, nomad territory. Logistical nightmares. Threats against the band with bad reviews (someone needs to lean on that popular reviewer), run it like TMZ on steroids. There's a lot of possibilities.

Media campaigns - I'd run as a news-service crew. Think of how dangerous that would be in CP2020? Corporate and political corruption scandals, covering urban gang issues. Police brutality cases. Serial killer stories. Entertainment beat? Drug dealing stories. The world is your oyster.

The best CP2020 game I ever ran involved a Media and his coterie of informants/muscle/friends.  It was like Max Headroom on steroids, One of the PCs was a C-SWAT cop disgusted by the corruption on the inside giving leads on Night City government dirt to the media, another a relatively naive rockerboy trying to win hearts, and still another was an ex-Yak hitter trying to redeem himself.

We probably played that game 5 days a week one summer.  It was pretty incredible.  I remember the players and I got invited to this really great party right as the game was hitting a climax, so we commandeered one of the bedrooms and finished up the game with me half-blackout drunk.  I think that may be the incident that taught me not to overprepare, because I was just running by the seat of my very drunk pants and it came off well, by all accounts.  And then downstairs for the party!

If you have the time look up Pattern Recognition. I think you could definitely run a game of gorilla marking research and trying to jump on the next big thing.

Quote from: ArrozConLeche;904789I was thinking about CP2020's non-solo classes. In the recent cyberpunk thread, there was one or two posts about campaigns based on med-techs running an ambulance service, which sounded like a cool alternative to the usual solo based games.

Has anyone ever tried a Media based campaign? From the Rockerboy supplement, it seems like the default would be a media team with solo bodyguards looking for scoops of conspiracies against the big corps, though that is only lightly sketched. Another idea that came to mind was something like that movie Nightcrawler, which I guess would not be that different from the med-tech game, except you're not looking to save lives.

Any other ideas?  

For Rockerboy campaigns, I for the life of me cannot figure out how you can base one around that as a PC role. They seem great as NPCs, though.

First, this should give you some possible answers.
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/127101/Eurotour-Danger--Death-on-a-EuroRock-Tour

Second, the above is bullshit. Make it a slice-of-life story, and if you can't get enough adventures as a Rockerboy in 2020, you ain't trying...

As a Rockerboy, you have three issues: what you do when you succeed getting famous, what you do to reach there, and what you do when you don't get there or are still not out there.
In all of these states, you have to keep a balancing act. The forces acting on you are, in no specific order:
The corps that you expose. Their teams will try to buy you, blackmail you, frame you, kidnap you, and misguide you. Your best protection are the media: they have to keep their image.
The media who can make or break your image are the next force pulling on you...but depend on you to sell their form of entertainment (in the future, news are entertainment, too).
The fans are the only ones who matter. You want to use your music to summon them to act...but sometimes, they're also a problem. Stalkers are also fans, after all. Groupies are fans, too, and they're dangerous in another way: when you're among them, you can get everything you want, sometimes with the addendum "regardless of what it is worth to them". This means that you can act like one of the elite. One of the same elite that you expose for getting everything you want, no matter what the cost is to other people...
The other rockers are the next issue. They'd love to paint you as corrupt, abusive to your fans, a talentless hack, a criminal, or anything else that makes the public stop paying you attention - but you want to ask yourself whether there's a grain of truth to such accusations... especially after having interacted with fans and/or corps. Oh,and some of them would love to steal your next album - if they can record it first, you're screwed.
The community you're part of is another force in your life. Everyone needs other people, artists need them basically all the time. But you were just someone who loved to sing one day, one of the boys. Now you're a big thing...are they still your friends? How does status set you from friends? Is anyone or everyone trying to exploit you and your success?

The year is 2020 AD.
You're a fucking star, or even a team of fucking stars.
You've got a violence, sex and drugs-fueled talent.
Go forth, have adventures:D!

Quote from: Certified;904849If you have the time look up Pattern Recognition. I think you could definitely run a game of gorilla marking research and trying to jump on the next big thing.

I've read that (and Spook Country). PR reminded me a lot of Count Zero in some of its beats. I'll have to reread. Did you have more of a media role in mind?

Quote from: tenbones;904826I've never done an express Rockerboy campaign - but I had ideas about it which I never pursued. My concept was one or more PC's are political rockers whose songs are anti-establishment/anti-corporate rabble-rousing songs. There might be someone that acts as security (Solo, Cop) someone handles PR (Media, Corp) among other possibilities. A touring band has a *lot* of needs that have nothing to do with the stage.

Quote from: Future Villain Band;904832The best CP2020 game I ever ran involved a Media and his coterie of informants/muscle/friends. It was like Max Headroom on steroids, One of the PCs was a C-SWAT cop disgusted by the corruption on the inside giving leads on Night City government dirt to the media, another a relatively naive rockerboy trying to win hearts, and still another was an ex-Yak hitter trying to redeem himself.

This is sort of what that referee guide (Listen up Primitive Screwheads) suggests. I was mostly wondering about these roles in terms of their mechanics-- as I can't see them being used even half of the time that you would use a Solo's mechanics. I'm guessing it would be pretty RP heavy.

Maybe the solution to the mechanical part would be to compensate with combat skills.
 

Quote from: tenbones;904826The real sub-plot is who do they make enemies of. It would open up things like having their own fixer tour with them to navigate the "needs" of the band and crew, possible corporate sponsorship by interests outside of the themes of the band's music. Nomads to insure safe travel on the road - maybe the road crew are Nomad packs? The game kinda runs itself in that being a rabble-rouser incites a lot of possible danger and just keeping them safe is an issue. Issues create conflict, and conflict is generally good gaming fodder.

This would be pretty awesome. I think I'd almost rather play the road crew itself.

Quote from: tenbones;904826Media guy wanting to do a tour-documentary. Groupies. Drugs. Security. Nomad road-crew having nomad-issues travelling across other, enemy, nomad territory. Logistical nightmares. Threats against the band with bad reviews (someone needs to lean on that popular reviewer), run it like TMZ on steroids. There's a lot of possibilities.

Media campaigns - I'd run as a news-service crew. Think of how dangerous that would be in CP2020? Corporate and political corruption scandals, covering urban gang issues. Police brutality cases. Serial killer stories. Entertainment beat? Drug dealing stories. The world is your oyster.

Nice.




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Quote from: AsenRG;905070First, this should give you some possible answers.
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/...-EuroRock-Tour

Thanks for the tip on this supplement.

QuoteAs a Rockerboy, you have three issues: what you do when you succeed getting famous, what you do to reach there, and what you do when you don't get there or are still not out there.
In all of these states, you have to keep a balancing act. The forces acting on you are, in no specific order:
The corps that you expose. Their teams will try to buy you, blackmail you, frame you, kidnap you, and misguide you. Your best protection are the media: they have to keep their image.
The media who can make or break your image are the next force pulling on you...but depend on you to sell their form of entertainment (in the future, news are entertainment, too).
The fans are the only ones who matter. You want to use your music to summon them to act...but sometimes, they're also a problem. Stalkers are also fans, after all. Groupies are fans, too, and they're dangerous in another way: when you're among them, you can get everything you want, sometimes with the addendum "regardless of what it is worth to them". This means that you can act like one of the elite. One of the same elite that you expose for getting everything you want, no matter what the cost is to other people...
The other rockers are the next issue. They'd love to paint you as corrupt, abusive to your fans, a talentless hack, a criminal, or anything else that makes the public stop paying you attention - but you want to ask yourself whether there's a grain of truth to such accusations... especially after having interacted with fans and/or corps. Oh,and some of them would love to steal your next album - if they can record it first, you're screwed.
The community you're part of is another force in your life. Everyone needs other people, artists need them basically all the time. But you were just someone who loved to sing one day, one of the boys. Now you're a big thing...are they still your friends? How does status set you from friends? Is anyone or everyone trying to exploit you and your success?

The year is 2020 AD.
You're a fucking star, or even a team of fucking stars.
You've got a violence, sex and drugs-fueled talent.
Go forth, have adventures!

Love all this. I think I was just stuck on the Rockerboy/Media's mechanical side and forgot about the RP.

A Media team has possible the best for a mix of of all the character archetypes.  A Tech to handle the gear, a Solo or Cop for security work, whether it's looking for ways around it or providing it, a Medic for when it goes bad, a Nomad for a driver, and of course the one in front of the Camera, the Media.

Quote from: ArrozConLeche;912937I've read that (and Spook Country). PR reminded me a lot of Count Zero in some of its beats. I'll have to reread. Did you have more of a media role in mind?

My thought was more along the lines of how to get characters doing increasingly shady things for what seemed like a relatively simple job up front. As far as team make up I could easily see at least one Rocker to hype things up, a media to handle the editorial and a fixer or nomad to make connections as the group travels. Of course there is always room for a solo for protection. You could even set things up where at the start of the campaign people see the solo as general insurance and extra baggage.

Quote from: ArrozConLeche;912937Thanks for the tip on this supplement.



Love all this. I think I was just stuck on the Rockerboy/Media's mechanical side and forgot about the RP.

You're welcome.
And the more I learn about mechanics, the less I think of the mechanical side. The Rocker boys are fine for the things that they'd want to do, and that's all I care about.