Cyberpunk setting for Traveller
- Thread starter mdavidj
- Start date
Personally, if you are going to do a "pure" cyberpunk game then there is very little space travel. Guns are (almost) entirely normal slug throwers. I would be quite hesitant to use powered armor in the setting either. A.I.s belong to the setting, obviously as well as hackers and ultimate bad ass killers for hire. Oh, did I mention the drugs and cybernetics? 
For me the game (mainly Cyberpunk 2020) has always been a game about cybernetic urban mercenaries and I still like that aspect of the game although it would be nice to see other aspects supported in game mechanics (like Wildside did to Fixer).
Anyway, here's hopefully my cleaned list of what I would want included.
- Careers (hackers, middle men, gangers, suits, street ronin, etc.) that are modified (if needed) for the setting.
- Drugs - from recreational to various combat drugs etc.
- Augmentations (cybernetic but also biomods)
- Hacking rules that not only allow but preferably enforce the netrunner to go with the other team when on the job. I would like to see this role work quite a lot like various spell casters in fantasy games. Quite different from mundanes but can still work alongside the others. That is not so in many (older) cp games.
- Powered Armor or maybe up to a small mecha (like landmate)
- Variable power level like from gutterpunk up to a corporate scheming. From rusty old knife up to mecha with heavy weapons.
- I don't care whether the game has only firearms or also energy weapons (depends on how far to future it is set). If there are colonies in other parts of the solar system then energy weapons could work OK.
- Memes and other select parts of transhumanism but I don't want to go all the way to same direction as Transhuman Space or Eclipse Phase.
I hope it helps. BTW Takeshi Kovacs trilogy by Richard Morgan but also Mirrored Heavens and the sequels by David J. Williams are excellent sources for what I'd like to see. Yes, I know these are very different kinds of series and not all inclusive.
For me the game (mainly Cyberpunk 2020) has always been a game about cybernetic urban mercenaries and I still like that aspect of the game although it would be nice to see other aspects supported in game mechanics (like Wildside did to Fixer).
Anyway, here's hopefully my cleaned list of what I would want included.
- Careers (hackers, middle men, gangers, suits, street ronin, etc.) that are modified (if needed) for the setting.
- Drugs - from recreational to various combat drugs etc.
- Augmentations (cybernetic but also biomods)
- Hacking rules that not only allow but preferably enforce the netrunner to go with the other team when on the job. I would like to see this role work quite a lot like various spell casters in fantasy games. Quite different from mundanes but can still work alongside the others. That is not so in many (older) cp games.
- Powered Armor or maybe up to a small mecha (like landmate)
- Variable power level like from gutterpunk up to a corporate scheming. From rusty old knife up to mecha with heavy weapons.
- I don't care whether the game has only firearms or also energy weapons (depends on how far to future it is set). If there are colonies in other parts of the solar system then energy weapons could work OK.
- Memes and other select parts of transhumanism but I don't want to go all the way to same direction as Transhuman Space or Eclipse Phase.
I hope it helps. BTW Takeshi Kovacs trilogy by Richard Morgan but also Mirrored Heavens and the sequels by David J. Williams are excellent sources for what I'd like to see. Yes, I know these are very different kinds of series and not all inclusive.
superc0ntra
Mongoose
Adding another vote for Interface Zero.
But I like the Psionics although not everyone should have it, and cybernetics would cause it to not function.
But I like the Psionics although not everyone should have it, and cybernetics would cause it to not function.
SnowDog said:Personally, if you are going to do a "pure" cyberpunk game then there is very little space travel. Guns are (almost) entirely normal slug throwers. I would be quite hesitant to use powered armor in the setting either. A.I.s belong to the setting, obviously as well as hackers and ultimate bad ass killers for hire. Oh, did I mention the drugs and cybernetics?
I'm not sure how "Pure" it will be in terms of sticking to what's come before and nothing else.
I want any products I do to have their own special feel to them. I think I can put out a book that is definitely cyberpunk, but have all the relevance of modern times and speculate about a distant (and much darker) future, if that makes sense.
As far as space travel goes, I think it fits well in a cyberpunk game. If handled right. In Bladerunner, the Nexus (6 or 7?) series replicants had actually come from off-planet to try and extend their lives. Also, in Neuromancer the final chapters played out in an orbital habitat, so there are examples of off-planet activity in the genre
Should it be a major focus of the book? No. I want to explore ideas of martian colonies and colonies on Europa and other moons just because I think it's cool and we'll likely see that sort of thing happening in the future.
AI's will most certainly play a role in this book, no worries there.
SnowDog said:
It helps immensely!
thank you.
Everything you've mentioned is in Interface Zero, so I'm just going to do Interface Zero, but with more to it. Even more-so than the Savage Worlds version I'm working on.
SnowDog said:
I'll check those out. thanks!
superc0ntra
Mongoose
Keep us posted, this is at the top of my "things to buy when they are made" list, along with the ABC-Warriors
As I do the research regarding colonization of Mars and Jovian moons such as Ganymede, Callisto and Europa, I'm running into a couple of issues: Time and propulsion.
It currently takes anywhere from 6 to 9 months to get to Mars, which makes any adventure involving traveling from Earth to the Red Planet prohibitively lengthy.
I don't know how long it would take (again, using current technologies) to get from Mars to the moons of Jupiter, but I suspect that it would take a long time.
There are experimental propulsion systems that could speed up the process. Ion drives are the most likely technology to be adopted by space agencies, but again, I'm not sure how much time this would shave off the trip.
So I'm wondering, what would seem the most likely development we'll see in the next 80 years with regards to propulsion, and how much time would it take?
I want a measure of realism, but I'm willing to stretch it a bit to facilitate game play.
Any feedback would be appreciated.
Thanks for your time.
It currently takes anywhere from 6 to 9 months to get to Mars, which makes any adventure involving traveling from Earth to the Red Planet prohibitively lengthy.
I don't know how long it would take (again, using current technologies) to get from Mars to the moons of Jupiter, but I suspect that it would take a long time.
There are experimental propulsion systems that could speed up the process. Ion drives are the most likely technology to be adopted by space agencies, but again, I'm not sure how much time this would shave off the trip.
So I'm wondering, what would seem the most likely development we'll see in the next 80 years with regards to propulsion, and how much time would it take?
I want a measure of realism, but I'm willing to stretch it a bit to facilitate game play.
Any feedback would be appreciated.
Thanks for your time.
mdavidj said:
If you look at the kind of Ion Drives that have been speculated in New Scientist etc we are talking tiny, tiny, tiny. Therefore your ship doesn't need to carry most of it's weight as fuel and has much smaller engines. That means much less mass for the same mission payload and therefore for the same 'thrust' but 1/2 the mass it should take you 1/4 of the time to travel the same distance.
BookwyrmEDS
Mongoose
For space travel you might want to take page from anime like Cowboy Bebop and have a network of system-wide Jumpgates.
The initial trip to Mars (and later Jupiter and Saturn's moons) might take a couple of months, but once the Jumpgate is set up and functional the trip becomes much quicker; days (or even hours) instead of months. So instead of taking 9 months to get to Mars, it now takes 9 days (or 90 hours, or 9 hours, or ...).
With this you could have gates going from Mercury all the way out to Pluto if you wanted (though a more realistic cyberpunk version might be just running from Earth > Mars > Ganymede > maybe Titan.).
The initial trip to Mars (and later Jupiter and Saturn's moons) might take a couple of months, but once the Jumpgate is set up and functional the trip becomes much quicker; days (or even hours) instead of months. So instead of taking 9 months to get to Mars, it now takes 9 days (or 90 hours, or 9 hours, or ...).
With this you could have gates going from Mercury all the way out to Pluto if you wanted (though a more realistic cyberpunk version might be just running from Earth > Mars > Ganymede > maybe Titan.).
Another solution would be to use a Jump 0 cant cover a parsec but you can get about anywhere in system in a week. Just use the smallest J-drive and give it like half the fuel of a J-1. If you dont want Jumpships then call it something else for flavor. Like the ION drive mentioned earlier in the thread.
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