Index
Introduction
Money
Megacorporations
Merits and Flaws
Cyberware
PsiCorp
PsiEnhancers
History
Supernaturals in the cyberage
Introduction
Welcome to the Cyberpunk Age. In the history
of the world it is a time of turmoil and exciting new technological possibilities.
Mankind has learned the secret of cybernetic enhancements to the
human form. However, at the same time the social structure of our
world is falling apart.
The government lost even the seeming of power and
the corporations took on the task of government in areas they controlled.
In the areas not controlled by the corporations crime is rampant.
Almost all the population lives in large cities and fly on airplanes between.
Many live lives serving the corporations in safe neighborhoods well guarded
by corporation police. Many more live lives serving the corporations
but who cannot afford to live in these safe neighborhoods they work the
assembly lines and the factories.
In the cyberpunk age the best games will involve
those who are trapped in the slums. Those people who don't bow down
to the corporations but instead squeak out a living doing temporary jobs
for others live exciting and dangerous lives.
Money
In the Cyberage there are two types of money.
Money you actually possess and money you have some control over.
Many different jobs allow a certain amount of control over resources for
a corporation or government however they watch those who spend their money.
The Money and resources you actually possess in handled by the Resources
background. The second type of money is handled by Employment
Skills (depending on the special ability and the level).
Resources
The resources background is explained in general
terms in the section on backgrounds. However, due to the rampant
poverty and the enormous split between the rich and the poor. There
are two different levels of resources. The first level of resources
is allowable for pcs while the second is not. We will call the first
level of resources simply resources while the second which is reserved
for the richest of the rich is megaresources.
If you normally do not keep a close eye on money in your
games it is especially important that money be kept up with even for the
fairly rich after all money is fluid and tends to fade away in the cyberage.
Resources
The first type of resourses has random aspects due to the nature of
the Cyberpunk age. Also resources must be justified (a job of some
sort). Resources over 5 may be bought but 2 points per dot must be
paid.
Monthly salary is the amount of money you bring
in each month. This usually pays for monthly bills.
Assets is the amount of money you have managed to
use to buy equipment. All cyberware and equipment are bought out
of this fund or may alternately be bought out of savings.
Savings is the amount of money you can lay your
hands on right then.
Circumstances is a description of what life is like.
For extra equipment money the character may sell
out and gain $15,000 to purchase equipment and cyberware. The corporation
usually gets their own. Occationally selling out may be used to get
access to equipment that would not normally be available but it may also
limit the equipment that you may purchase since they now have an interest
in you. See cyberpunk 2020 selling out section.
| Dots | Monthly Salary | Assets | Savings | Circumstances |
| - | $800 | $500 | $10 | You occasionally stay up to save living costs. You live in a coffin and occasionally skip meals.Your meals are exlusively kibble |
| O | $1000 | $1000 | $25 | You managed the payment for an efficiency 1 room apartment in combat zone. You eat kibble every day. If you want to save money you skip meals. |
| OO | $1500 | $2000 | $100 | You have an apartment in a moderate zone if you wish but you still mostly live on kibble with occasional treats. |
| OOO | $2000 | $3000 | $250 | You have an apartment in a moderate zone if you wish. You can live on real food pretty easily. You are able to afford occasional treats pretty easily. |
| OOOO | $3000 | $4000 | $500 | You have a good job and can afford to live in the corporate zone. You can afford a pretty nice apartment and eat fairly well. |
| OOOOO | $4000 | $5000 | $750 | You have a really good job. You can eat real food regularly and can afford a hotel when you travel. |
| 5 + O | $8000 | $10000 | $1000 | You are rich by cyberpunk standards. You eat real food all the time and can afford hotels even if you travel often. |
| 5 + OO | $12000 | $15000 | $1500 | Saving is quite easy for you and the equipment you have is high quality without shorting yourself in other areas of your life. |
| 5 + OOO | $16000 | $19000 | $2000 | You are quite wealthy. Money for the most part is no object in day to day transactions. |
| 5 + OOOO | $24000 | $30000 | $2750 | You can afford bodyguards and hirelings pretty easily. |
| 5 + OOOOO | $32000 | $38000 | $3500 | You can afford good bodyguards and hirelings. |
Employment Bonus
Employment skills are decided by the gamemaster based
on the character's description of his job. The Employment bonus is
based on the skills used and divided by the number of essential skills
rounded up.
The player needs to make a list of essential skills
that the character uses in their job. The gamemaster then rates and
removes any that are not as important (shouldn't have more than 5).
The player then adds any skill multipliers and skill levels divides by
the number of skills. Example: John the cyberdoctor has Cybertechr
skill
(multiplier x2) of 4 and a Medical Tech (multiplier x3) of 5. Add
2+4+3+5 = 14 Divide by the number of skills (2). The answer you get
is 7. Every 5 this value gives you 1/2 dot higher salary (no other
differences). For each multiple of 10 treat as a ten on the random
changes roll. If the character has 4 or under in this field this counts
as a one on the random changes in employment.
Now for the random parts:
After purchasing your resources and after any long pause in game play
(a story skips a year or two) roll dice equal to your resources.
Each ten follow the chart on the left. Each one follow the chart on
the right. (At storyteller discretion you might limit the amount
of ones and tens to three therefore limiting the variation) and use the
following chart below for the effect. (Note: The number is the final
roll. Therefore, three tens and two ones gives a final result of
1 ten).
| tens | savings multiplier | assets:
addition to total |
ones | savings multiplier | assets: subtraction from total |
| 1 | x 1.5 | + 25% | 1 | x 3/4 | - 25% |
| 2 | x 2 | + 35% | 2 | x 1/2 | - 35% |
| 3 | x 3 | + 45% | 3 | x 1/3 | - 45% |
| 4 | x 4 | + 55% | 4 | x 1/4 | - 55% |
| 5 | x 5 | + 65% | 5 | x 1/5 | - 65% |
| 6 | x 6 | + 75% | 6 | x 1/6 | - 75% |
| roll | result |
| 1 or 2 | The character's source of income has just disappeared all savings and assets remain the same. |
| 3-4 | The character just suffered a pay cut; subtract one resourses level from income. |
| 5-7 | Everything stays the same for the character. |
| 8-9 | The character just got a raise; add one resources level to income. |
| 10 | The character just got a major raise; add two resources levels to income. |
MegaResources
MegaResources may only be purchased by one who has a normal resources
of 10. The character may then double their Resources for 2 points
per dot up to Megaresources 10. No one is assumed to have a megacorporation
rating unless they have a resources of 10. Storytellers should be
very careful in any game that they allow pcs to possess megaresources.
| Dots | Monthly Salary | Assets | Savings | Circumstances |
| - | $32,000 | $380,000 | $3,500 | You can afford good bodyguards and hirelings. |
| O | $64,000 | $750,000 | $10,000 | |
| OO | $128,000 | $2,000,000 | $25,000 | |
| OOO | $256,000 | $5,000,000 | $50,000 | |
| OOOO | $512,000 | $10,000,000 | $100,000 | |
| OOOOO | $1,024,000 | $50,000,000 | $300,000 | |
| 5 + O | $2,048,000 | $80,000,000 | $1,000,000 | |
| 5 + OO | $4,096,000 | $120,000,000 | $4,000,000 | |
| 5 + OOO | $8,192,000 | $240,000,000 | $7,000,000 | |
| 5 + OOOO | $16,384,000 | $600,000,000 | $12,000,000 | |
| 5 + OOOOO | $32,768,000 | $1,000,000,000 | $24,000,000 |
Megacorporations
Megacorporations are the powers that be in the CyberAge
(and for many of the ages thereafter) Megacorporations use the generalized
organization rules. (See text on organization
creation) Most Megacorporations are multinational organizations
wielding great amounts of power.
| Corporate Points | Corporation Description |
| 25 | Well known moderately powerful organization |
| 40 | Powerful organization |
| 55 | One of the great powers |
| 100+ | The other megacorps fear this megacorp. It can buy and sell many megacorps. |
Merits and Flaws
Some merits and flaws are altered in the Cyberpunk world.
CEO President may be bought. The networth of the Company is only
worth 5x the value of the character's total assets. The type of company
that the character could afford should be kept in mind. The Character
may not liquidate the company though they may be able to sell their own
stock in the company.
Corporate Ties is a much less effective merit in the Cyberpunk world
it is the equivelent of being a Corporate (the character type in Cyberpunk).
The world is connected to the human body and spirit. The less of the human body left the less strong this connection is. A vampire is no different. The less connection to the human spirit the lower their humanity as well.
For this purposes there is a third figured attribute. This attribute is called Humanity. Humanity is equal to the Empathy rating. (though more may be purchased at 2 freebie points per point point of Humanity). (Note: standard cyberpunk cyberware humanity loss is 1/10th as expensive.)
Essence is essentially the character’s connection to their spirit and to the spiritual world. The character’s essence lowers when they add cybernetic additions to their body. The cost depends on many factors. Essence cost is normally in percentages of an Essence point. There are several effects of Essence level.
Humanity affects the character’s resistance to magic and to effects that
affect the spirit directly (storyteller's discretion). For each point of
humanity lost
subtract 3 from any magical/spiritual resistance rolls.
A characters vitae is lowerd by one each time Humanity is lowered.
Conversions.
As much as I would like to type in all of the things from Cyberpunk
with my own alterations this tends to cause copyright difficulties (golly
I wonder why) and take forever. Therefore, below is a general conversion.
Cyberpunk Humanity to Talorian Humanity.
Cyberpunk Humanity is approximately 1/10th the value of Talorian Humanity.
Psi Corp
The Psychic Enhancers
A link back to Psychic Gift system for those who need to know the effect
A Quick History Lesson
In the year 2000 CE (common era essentially after Christ) a man by the name of Harold Buran in an accidental use of a new brain scan machine discovered an actual area of the brain that was different in Janice Wells a well known police psychic. Fascinated by this he began the study of psychic phenomenon. As time went on he found that this area of the brain was constant in all psychics.
In the year 2008 CE Janice Wells (and a slowly growing number of her fellow psychics from Buran's experiments) were approached by a small subsidiary of Biotech Enterprises. This subsidiary made a deal that involved funding them for a small company in exchange for the right to do minor experimentations on the psychics. (brainscans, bloodtests, after death autopsies, body scans etc).
In the year 2012 CE Biotech Enterprises discovered the psychic enhancers. Janice Wells became the CEO of a new Biotech Enterprise subsidiary PsiEnterprises. It is believed that she instituted a secret breeding program to increase the number of psychics in the world though this has not yet been proven.
In the year 2015 CE PsiEnterprises psychics began routinely adding a cybernetic dispenser for easy use during missions.
In the year 2020 CE PsiEnterprises became a worldwide known feared and respected company.
How Psi Enhancers work
Psi Enhancers function by increasing efficiency in that area of the brain that psychic gifts work through. By increasing the speed that the brain can function it increases the power of the psychic gifts. Unfortunately once the drugs are in the psychic's system they cannot survive without it. There are claims by PsiEnterprises that the problem is being worked on.
Game Effect
Psi Enhancers are highly addictive drugs to
all psychics. A little of the drug must remain in the Psychic's system
from the moment they first take a dose or they eventually die. For each
minute without the drug in their system roll Body difficulty 6 to resist
one health level of damage. Vampires and most other supernaturals
with bodies may become addicted to this substance though there are mystical
ways to remove the addiction.
PsiEnterprises employees possess a dispenser directly
in their skull that makes sure that they have their minimum dose as well
as a refill tube. This dispenser costs $4000. A weekly required
dose costs $100 dollars when given through the dispenser. The cost
is at least doubled if given in any other way. Shots with an entire
normal dose will stay in the system for most of a day, some methods may
have higher or lower efficiency though none will equal the dispenser.
A Psi may take a major dose of the drug and enhance
their psychic gifts for a short time. A boost costs $25/worth of
their weekly dose per 10 minutes of enhancement.
For each ten minute period after the first of consecutive
use roll a body roll to resist 3 health levels of damage at Dif 3 + 2 /
extra ten min attempt.
Consecutive use is defined as any use that does
not allow as much time to recover from the use as the use took. Therefore,
if the character used the drug to enhance for 30 minutes he must not use
the drug to enhance for at least 30 minutes or it counts as consecutive
use.
Currently there are four known psienhancers in use.
The different level of enhancers multiply the costs to buy the dose but
the dispenser still has the same cost. The enhancer also works to
enhance gifts over their normal maximum of level five and can enhance potential
gifts (though the character still has to discover them). The most
powerful of the drugs you have ever used is the one that you must keep
in your system at all times.
| enhancer level | cost multiplier | effect |
| 1 | x1 | +1 level to all psychic gifts |
| 2 | x2 | +2 levels to all psychic gifts |
| 3 | x4 | +3 levels to all psychic gifts |
| 4 | x8 | +4 levels to all psychic gifts |
A Brief History of the Cyberage.
| Timelines Index | Martial Arts | Immortals | Index Talorian | Index Social Groups |
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