Ideas and stuff for cyberpunk campaigns

[hal]

Because this is for use with GURPS CYBERPUNK rather than just a role playing in general concept, I thought I'd post it here, but if it should be in Role Playing in general, my apologies...

When using NIGHT CITY for use with my GURPS campaign, I try to use ideas from other game systems, but GURPSified for use with GURPS campaigns. For instance, the Reputation stat in CYBERPUNK RED or CYBERPUNK 2020 (same game mechanism basically), I hit on the idea that a Rep 1 equates to a 6 in GURPS on 3d6. A reputation 2 equates to a 6, and so on.

So, if Frequency of reputation is linked to Reputation (as it is in CP2020), then we'd have

Rep 1 = 6 or less.
Rep 2 = 7
Rep 3 = 8
Rep 4 = 9
Rep 5 = 10
Rep 6 = 11
Rep 7 = 12
Rep 8 = 13
Rep 9 = 14
Rep 10 = 15+

We no longer simply use a 7 or less for recognition, or 10 or less, or all the time, it becomes incremental dependent upon whether the people are local, from non-local, or even international regions.

Also, people who can have access to facial recognition software, could make use of public news video and run facial recognition against that kind of database - anyone who has ever had their face broadcast on Television for example, could use "Research" to find a person's name if they've ever been in the news.

Police response to the Combat Zone. CP2020 (via NIGHT CITY) has the concept of combat zones, essentially lawless "blight" areas, and that got me to thinking. If the heart of the combat zone are areas of "no go" for police, we can model that with the following concept:

Police response: Roll 3d6. Police fail to respond to the event on a roll of 16+
Combat Zone: an area where the police tend to not show up
Negative value: Descriptor of how deep into the blight a building is

So, a CZ-3 zone means that the crime scene is about 3 blocks in from the "boundary" of the normal area/crime zone, and police will fail to appear on a roll of 16-3 or 13+ on 3d6 A CZ-0 means the building is RIGHT on the edge of the blight, and still fails to get a police response on a 16+. Cz-10 on the other hand, means that the police fail to show up on a 6+ on 3d6.

Now for the fun part. Depending on the resources of the Police Department, the average response time for police to arrive is dependent upon multiple factors such as how man patrol units are available, what time of day it is, how much is going on at that time etc. If you google the average police response time, in 2017, it was about 10 minutes in a city. Call it 2d6+3 minutes. Domestic disturbance in progress may be closer to 14 minutes (so call it 2d6+7 minutes).

Simple table to use might be:

Active Shooter: 2d6 minutes
Simple crime: 2d6+3
Active Assault in progress: 2d6+6
Active Domestic quarrel in progress: 2d6+7

There is a random 911 call generator for THE BEAT Police role playing (available at Drivethrurpg.com for $3.50 that is well worth it) where you can customize your "police response time" concepts.

In any event, ideas I thought might be worth sharing. Feel free to add your ideas for others to perhaps use or rework for their own campaigns.

[Varyon]

The CZ penalty should probably influence response times - that is, provided they do respond, police are likely to take a good deal longer to respond to a crime in a CZ-5 (50% chance to respond) area than a CZ-0 (95% chance to respond) area. Perhaps add twice the penalty to the time? There's also the question of what sort of police response shows up. In a CZ-0 zone, perhaps a squad car with a pair of fairly-average beat cops is the most likely to show up - but in a CZ-10 zone, if any cops show at all, it's probably going to be something akin to a SWAT squad (if a pair of average beat cops show up, it's either because someone in the department is trying to kill them off, or they aren't actually average beat cops).

It occurs to me you could probably handle that with a the same roll as seeing if cops show up at all. Maybe on an 11-16, beat cops show up (but the lower the number, the more heavily armed/armored they are), on a 7-10, you get some fairly-boosted cops, and on a 6 or less, it's something akin to SWAT that shows up. So beat cops don't ever show up (absent the whole "Somebody trying to kill them off" bit) in CZ-5 and worse areas, and SWAT is the only type that show up in CZ-9 and worse areas.

[Apollonian]

I think I'd throw in another wrinkle, based on Heat from Night's Black Agents: the more trouble the PCs have been causing, the more likely calls involving them are going to bring a heavy response. You could model that by subtracting the Heat rating (determined how you choose, see NBA for more details) from the appearance roll. That does two things: one, it encourages PCs to avoid doing stuff that gets official attention, i.e. raises Heat; and two, if they feel they have to do that anyway, they have a reason to go do it in really bad neighborhoods.

[hal]

Originally Posted by Apollonian

I think I'd throw in another wrinkle, based on Heat from Night's Black Agents: the more trouble the PCs have been causing, the more likely calls involving them are going to bring a heavy response. You could model that by subtracting the Heat rating (determined how you choose, see NBA for more details) from the appearance roll. That does two things: one, it encourages PCs to avoid doing stuff that gets official attention, i.e. raises Heat; and two, if they feel they have to do that anyway, they have a reason to go do it in really bad neighborhoods.

Since you have a copy of the game (presumably), would you mind sending me an email (click on my name and select "Send email to hal") outlining just what the $25 buys a person who picks up the PDF? I'm always on the look out for good ideas, and the review I read alone gave me pause for thought about when investigating for a clue, you will always FIND it if you have the right mindset and skills to go looking for it. From the review:


"Gathering clues is simple. All you have to do is:

* Get yourself into a scene where relevant information can be gathered,
* have the right ability to discover the clue, and
* tell the Director that you’re using it.

As long as you do these three things, you will never fail to gain a piece of necessary information. It is never dependent on a die roll. If you ask for it, you will get it.

Night’s Black Agents, page 44 (emphasis in text)"

That made me think a little - "This advice helps whether you're dealing with 1920's style horror campaigns, or with 2052 AD Cyberpunk campaigns." One thing that has me itching to know, is if the rules for building conspiracies in NBA can be converted for use with Cyberpunk.

In any event - food for thought. :) Thank you.

[hal]

Originally Posted by Varyon

The CZ penalty should probably influence response times - that is, provided they do respond, police are likely to take a good deal longer to respond to a crime in a CZ-5 (50% chance to respond) area than a CZ-0 (95% chance to respond) area. Perhaps add twice the penalty to the time? There's also the question of what sort of police response shows up. In a CZ-0 zone, perhaps a squad car with a pair of fairly-average beat cops is the most likely to show up - but in a CZ-10 zone, if any cops show at all, it's probably going to be something akin to a SWAT squad (if a pair of average beat cops show up, it's either because someone in the department is trying to kill them off, or they aren't actually average beat cops).

It occurs to me you could probably handle that with a the same roll as seeing if cops show up at all. Maybe on an 11-16, beat cops show up (but the lower the number, the more heavily armed/armored they are), on a 7-10, you get some fairly-boosted cops, and on a 6 or less, it's something akin to SWAT that shows up. So beat cops don't ever show up (absent the whole "Somebody trying to kill them off" bit) in CZ-5 and worse areas, and SWAT is the only type that show up in CZ-9 and worse areas.

Your comment above got me to thinking about "Police Assets". If you've seen CYBERPUNK 2077, police drones could very well be the ONLY police assets sent to the scene of a disturbance. Augmented Reality The Holistic City Kit for Cyberpunk - has such a table in it.

If you've ever seen CONTINUUM (a Canadian TV series with some very definite cyberpunk themes in the time period before the one character goes back in time) - the idea of having the police wear top of the line armor, have a memory core that records all visual and aural information as it enters into the police officer's cortex for recording purposes to be used at the perp's trial - also acting as a form of body camera, would be something interesting for ANY GM to document for his game before he needs to present the presence of the police for his player characters.

Dang, now I've got something else to think about. ;)

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by hal

Your comment above got me to thinking about "Police Assets". If you've seen CYBERPUNK 2077, police drones could very well be the ONLY police assets sent to the scene of a disturbance. Augmented Reality The Holistic City Kit for Cyberpunk - has such a table in it.

For certain types of *punk settings, police surveillance drones fit perfectly. Get a good record of the crime to ensure arrest and conviction. De-escalation hurts the profitability of the prison system.

[The Colonel]

Originally Posted by RyanW

For certain types of *punk settings, police surveillance drones fit perfectly. Get a good record of the crime to ensure arrest and conviction. De-escalation hurts the profitability of the prison system.

Of course, there's a good chance of a profitable trade in "slightly used drone parts" as well, depending on how well armed the drones are...

Also, on the topic of police non-response, the type of crime may be important: crimes against the person may be ignored, but a proper Cyberpunk setting should ensure that economic or ideological crimes (counterfeiting workshops, dissident radio stations etc.) get a military grade response - either from "SWAT" units or from corporate PMCs. Also, the chance for suitably malicious PCs (or villains, if the PCs are police/PMC/currently working for the side of law) to change the film from Robocop to Blackhawk Down.

[Apollonian]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

Of course, there's a good chance of a profitable trade in "slightly used drone parts" as well, depending on how well armed the drones are...

Also, on the topic of police non-response, the type of crime may be important: crimes against the person may be ignored, but a proper Cyberpunk setting should ensure that economic or ideological crimes (counterfeiting workshops, dissident radio stations etc.) get a military grade response - either from "SWAT" units or from corporate PMCs. Also, the chance for suitably malicious PCs (or villains, if the PCs are police/PMC/currently working for the side of law) to change the film from Robocop to Blackhawk Down.

I recall a bit from a 90's cyberpunk game (SLA Industries) where the police were pretty much held in contempt (as opposed to corporate security, secret police, etc.), but the fire department was very fast response with no actual concern for human rights or safety. This makes a certain degree of horrible sense in the overbuilt conurbations typical of a lot of cyberpunk: a few pedestrians flattened by fire engines is an acceptable price for preventing a thousand-unit hab block from becoming a towering inferno (and corporate loss).

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Apollonian

I recall a bit from a 90's cyberpunk game (SLA Industries)

You sure it was that one? It hasn't been that long since I played that and I don't remember much of anything except successively levelling up teems of paramilitary bounty hunters instead of police.

I will admit we didn't really set anything on fire. I don't know how we overlooked that.

If you wonder I was a genetically engineered killing machine in powered armor with a monowire scythe who collected unused hand grenades from battle sites. I'd gotten up to 10 before the need to use any came up.

[Apollonian]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

You sure it was that one? It hasn't been that long since I played that and I don't remember much of anything except successively levelling up teems of paramilitary bounty hunters instead of police.

Pretty sure. I remember it only from a piece of flavor text, so that may have been the only place in the book it appeared.