(IW) Cyberpunk Worlds

[arcanus]

Hi All - I’m interested in how people have used Cyberpunk settings or Worlds in their campaigns, obviously there’s Shika-Mon and Cyberme but has anyone used a more traditional Cyberpunk or cyberpunk red.

Cyberpunk settings are high surveillance and high violence so why would Infinity infiltrate them - I’m thinking cybernetics would be a target technology.

However my thoughts are that the VR and AR net/grid/matrix would be the bigger draw, advanced security IC, widely available semi-AI, immersive system architectures, advanced decks and so on.

Would Infinity sponsor operations/runs against local corporations to obtain the above..

What have people done in their campaigns?

[AlexanderHowl]

Cyberpunk worlds are incredibly dangerous to do anything in from Infinity's point of view. They have superior technology, may have supernatural abilities, and are full of vile organizations willing to do anything to make a buck and having no one to tell them no.

[Flyndaran]

All high tech worlds are dangerous and studied very cautiously by Homeline.
But most great rewards come with great risk.
Cyberpunk worlds tend to have tech near the present which would certainly be more reverse engineering-able than all the overt superscience and ultratech parallels.

[AlexanderHowl]

It depends. Many cyberpunk worlds actually are TL10 or even TL11. The problem is that the high surveillance and high paranoia of the setting means that it is probably a matter of when rather than if a megacorporation will capture a conveyor.

For example, imagine a cyberpunk world like the setting in Shadowrun in Q4. You have TL11 technology, incredibly advanced and powerful magic, and a number of megacorporations that would love to steal conveyor technology. If a AAA corporation gets ahold of a conveyor, Infinity will find itself wishing that it for the good days when Centrum was its only major competition.

[Inky]

The only cyberpunk setting I'm familiar with (except by hearsay) is the webcomic "Drugs and Wires" (set in "the dark future of 1995"), so this is making me giggle a bit. I don't think the glorious Republic of Stradania would be much of a threat to Infinity. Not all cyberpunk dystopias are created equal.

("Drugs and Wires" is brilliant and does in fact have a pretty good thriller plot going on, in spite of the general scruffiness and silliness. I actually did GURPS stats for the main character one time. Shall I post? It may give you a general idea of the style when I tell you that he turned out as a 47-point character including -55 points of disadvantages.)

[Dr. Beckenstein]

My group was the first team that visited the Cyberpunk 2020 world, which was later christened Arasaka.
The used the cover of nomads (homeless migrant workers without ID). While some of the timelines technology was impressive (Infinity is very interested in the skill chips), the wide-spread use of fax machines surprised them. Well, the game was written in the 90s.

[arcanus]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

All high tech worlds are dangerous and studied very cautiously by Homeline.
But most great rewards come with great risk.
Cyberpunk worlds tend to have tech near the present which would certainly be more reverse engineering-able than all the overt superscience and ultratech parallels.

That was my thinking the benefits in terms of medical technology (cyberware and the Bioware that enables it), TL10 Computer technology even some consumer technologies would make the risk worth the effort.

The technological leads to reverse-engineer might be far more understandible and quicker than say trying to reverse engineer Caliph technologies.

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

It depends. Many cyberpunk worlds actually are TL10 or even TL11. The problem is that the high surveillance and high paranoia of the setting means that it is probably a matter of when rather than if a megacorporation will capture a conveyor.

For example, imagine a cyberpunk world like the setting in Shadowrun in Q4. You have TL11 technology, incredibly advanced and powerful magic, and a number of megacorporations that would love to steal conveyor technology. If a AAA corporation gets ahold of a conveyor, Infinity will find itself wishing that it for the good days when Centrum was its only major competition.

Agreed a Shadowrun, Cyberpunk/Merlin or PSI-cyber worldline (think a future version of Phoenix from Gurps Psionics) would be Z Rated extemely quickly, the problem arising if the Worldline is Q6 or Q7 in which case there would need to be a surveillance presence in case the other sides assessment of gain over risk differs.

This got me to thinking how the Scouts would infiltrate high tech cyberworlds or monitor a cyber/powers worldline.

I'm thinking sea insertion would be the prefered route for both drone conveyers and then scouts, there's a chance of running into submersible traffic or even an aqualogy but far less surveillance.

The Paraviewer (P.28 IW) might be a good option after the drone has completed enviromental, climatic, geographic and communication scans, if its registered similar urban locations Infinity would use well known coordinants for Paraviewing.

Does Paraviewing show up on other bandwiths and wavelengths than Cliodynamic?

Then lone scouts highly trained in infiltration and recruitment go in again by sea, again my thinking is High Reward High Risk would be handled by the Scout recruiting local talent to acquire technologies ie tapping into the street black-ops (Runner) culture of the world and working through proxies.

Essentially the Scout might be a Fixer rather than a solo, although if mind-reading isn't on the table then direct operations could be viable the big watch-out is conveyer insertion itself.

Paranoia would be high, conveyers would jump in and out very quickly and have additional auto-destruct fail-sales and multiple cyclic time sensitive pick ups.

Campaign wise it would be an operating behind enemy lines rather than the conveyer being hidden somewhere, thoughts?

[arcanus]

Originally Posted by Inky

The only cyberpunk setting I'm familiar with (except by hearsay) is the webcomic "Drugs and Wires" (set in "the dark future of 1995"), so this is making me giggle a bit. I don't think the glorious Republic of Stradania would be much of a threat to Infinity. Not all cyberpunk dystopias are created equal.

("Drugs and Wires" is brilliant and does in fact have a pretty good thriller plot going on, in spite of the general scruffiness and silliness. I actually did GURPS stats for the main character one time. Shall I post? It may give you a general idea of the style when I tell you that he turned out as a 47-point character including -55 points of disadvantages.)

"Shall I post?" Yes please inspiration is very welcome and the idea of a inept or dysfunctional cyberworld is very interesting, afterall if Infinity found such a world it might be the preferred target.

Originally Posted by Dr. Beckenstein

My group was the first team that visited the Cyberpunk 2020 world, which was later christened Arasaka.
The used the cover of nomads (homeless migrant workers without ID). While some of the timelines technology was impressive (Infinity is very interested in the skill chips), the wide-spread use of fax machines surprised them. Well, the game was written in the 90s.

Thats an excellent point around Nomads or similar sin-less groups as a cover group.

Skill Chips could revolutionalise training and Homeline Education.

Arasaka and its Zaibutsu equivilents are an interesting point, I suppose one thing that UNIC and Infinity would worry about is Homeline National governments coming in heavy handed and seeing an opportunity where a nations corporate power is greater (ala France being a somewhat independant and unruly power on Homeline)

[cptbutton]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

All high tech worlds are dangerous and studied very cautiously by Homeline.
But most great rewards come with great risk.
Cyberpunk worlds tend to have tech near the present which would certainly be more reverse engineering-able than all the overt superscience and ultratech parallels.

And as with all high tech worlds there is a danger they will invent parachronic travel themselves. So Infinity needs to monitor them to be ready to misdirect or intervene if necessary to keep the Secret.

[AlexanderHowl]

Of course, penetrating the research facilities of TL10+ megacorporations in order to do that might be quite difficult. These are installations hidden well enough and/or secure enough to avoid being compromised by their competitors, so Infinity might have difficulty a) finding out that they exist and b) successfully penetrating them. In the case of cyber/magic or cyber/psi, they also have to deal with megacorporations with divination and/or precognition that has been honed to a razor's edge through competition (while they might not know why the people arriving are interesting, they know that they are visitors with novel technology).