Cyberpunk 2020 v Shadowrun - Intro

Something I've been meaning to try for a while is creating similar characters in the top cyberpunk RPGs from the 80s.  Cyberpunk 2020 is getting noticed again thanks to Cyberpunk 2077 while Shadowrun recently had its sixth edition released.  Let's see how similar characters compare.

There are a few ground rules.  The first, no magic.  Cyberpunk 2020 does not have magic.  That means, all characters will be human,  There's just no getting around it.  Second, the characters have to be viable in both games.  That shouldn't be an issue, but some of the roles in 2020 don't quite work in Shadowrun.  Third, gear needs to be equivalent.  This is going to be the tough one.  I can't go by costs; the two games use a different base of reference.  Instead of going by costs, I'll be going by rough equivalence - a heavy pistol is a heavy pistol in both games.  The same goes with cybernetics; enhanced reflexes are done differently in the two games but are still enhanced reflexes.  Finally, core games only.  No supplements, at least mechanically.

What does that leave me?  My plan is to use ideas from cyberpunk novels.  Character types like the Street Samurai and the Hacker, both from Neuromancer, a combat driver, loosely based off Cowboy from Hardwired, a combat medic, like Nadia from Trauma Team, and possibly a Rocker, like Priss from Bubblegum Crisis.  Try to tell me either version of Bubblegum Crisis isn't cyberpunk.

Obviously, this will take some time.  Expect the first comparison to be the Street Samurai.  The concept is simple, street muscle with cybernetics.  Until then, chummers and choombas, keep your stick on the ice.

Friday, Lost in Translation continues at Psycho Drive-In.

Saturday, Lost in Translation can be found at The Seventh Sanctum.

Shadowrun Thoughts - Mr. Johnson and Chronic Backstabbing Syndrome

It's been quiet around here.  I hate summer.  And record heat and humidity.  It makes doing anything difficult, even thinking.  The heat and humidity just drain you of energy.  Summer sucks.

On to the meat of the post.  A recent thread over at RPG.net, "The worse tropes in modules/scenarios that new writers should really avoid", had me thinking.  Shadowrun and, to a lesser degree, Cyberpunk 2020, especially in published adventures, tended to have the PCs betrayed by their employer in one way or another.  It's not as bad as it used to be, but after the first betrayal, the players aren't going to trust anyone who hires them.  This is a problem.

Security in Cyberpunk 2020 and Shadowrun - Part 3 - Example

It's been a couple of weeks, but here's how the security levels play out during a heist.  I'll assume a pure cyberpunk approach and point out where the magic from Shadowrun can make a difference.  If you need a refresher, check out parts 1 (the levels) and 2 (the responses).

Meet the crew, one I was going to use for a Shadowrun story that needs some work before I start.  Skater is the group's hacker; she uses skating metaphors to get past the Intrusion Countermeasures (or IC).  The Chrome Rainbow is the team's cybernetically enhanced combat expert, a street samurai if you will.  Hudson is the getaway driver, one with the car.  Tempest T. Pot, the team's face and dealing with a few personal issues.  And for Shadowrun, Datalore, a mage who uses detection spells.

The crew gets hired to break into a corporate facility to remove a MacGuffin that Mr. Johnson wants.  Mr. J has added a "no killing" clause to the contract, so the crew wants to get a better idea of what they're walking into.  Skater and Tempest, being the least likely to draw casual attention thanks to a low amount of cyber installed, are sent to the facility during an open house of job seekers.  Between the two of them, they make note of the security guards around, which are mainly the first level, obvious but lightly armed, the security cameras, and get copies of employee IDs to check later for security tags,  Skater and Tempest leave after spending the entire time under the watch of guards and trying to fit in, and report back to the rest of the crew.  In Shadowrun, Datalore stays back; the crew assumes that the corporation will have someone scanning the astral and mages are rare enough that one walking in will be noticed.

A day and a half later, the crew has a plan.  Mr. J has given a general location of his MacGuffin and everyone has less-than-lethal weapons like tasers and stun batons.  Skater has done some more homework online and has a map of the facility's grounds, including entrances.  She has also given the crew modified security access to use to get through doors.  The access won't last long, but they just need to get inside.  The door near the facility's parking lot responds to the stolen security access, and the crew enters.

The crew has a plan.  Skater and Datalore will go grab the MacGuffin while the rest of the team pretends to go after another target with the intent to fail.  They're not getting paid for stealing a second item.  Skater is prepped with the needed props, a copy of an IT work order.  Datalore will look at the work order from time to time.  Tempest, Chrome, and Hudson make their way through the facility, staying in touch with Skater and keeping close to exits and not going too much deeper.

Team False Intrusion eventually trip an alarm.  The security station sends out drones to locate the intruders, followed by several human guards a few metres back.  Without Skater to hack into security's radio encryption, Team False Insertion doesn't know that theyve been discovered.  However, that is part of the plan.  When the drones appear, Chrome throws one into a wall, guaranteeing the security control knows where they are.  The human guards take up posiition and tries to stop TFI.  Chrome's reflexes allow him to tase two before they can react, and a quiet foot chase begins in the facility.

Skater arrives at the location where the MacGuffin is.  She hacks her way into the secure room, but notes that the lock used is something she has seen where there is more security.  Yet, there isn't thing here, no drone, no camera, no tripwires, nothing.  Inside the secure room, she finds the MacGuffin and notes that it's older than she expected.  Again, the security surrounding the MacGuffin is off.  Tight but not.  Skater gets what she came from and lets the rest of the crew know.  Datalore checks for magical security, but magic and tech don't play well together, and the room is almost a storage space for tech gear.  While Skater does her work, Datalore magically keeps an eye out for security passing outside.

TFI is still dealing with security.  On the part of security, they're noticing that they're not being killed.  Security control makes the choice to not call in heavier troops.  With TFI withdrawing, security decides that pushing the intruders out is enough; going for an arrest may turn the intruders violent and they're not getting paid enough to be killed.  TFI escapes, leaving a number of tased and confused guards behind.  Hudson gets his car going and the crew escapes with what they came for.

If Mr. J. was after something else, say a weapon prototype, the crew may have run into high levels of security who might not have bothered to warn them before opening fire.  Security, though seemed light, leaving the crew wondering just what Mr. J. wants with the MacGuffin.  Skater takes some notes so she can follow up after exchanging the MacGuffin for the crew's pay.

Questions?

Friday, over at Psycho Drive-In, The Live-Action Adaptation.
Saturday, over at The Seventh Sanctum, hiatus week.
This weekend, Renaissance Press is holding a virtual convention.  I will be on a panel about adaptations Saturday at 4pm Eastern.

Security in Cyberpunk 2020 and Shadowrun - Part 2 - Response

Oops.  Meant to post this last week.

Disclaimer:

What follows is a discussion of how security in a near-future science fiction setting would work, not a how-to on breaking into a secure facility.  Some of the information comes from my personal experience in working in public- and private-sector offices.  The rest is imagination.  Any similarity to a real location is coincidental.

Last time, I wrote about the layers of security that can be expected at a megacorporation in Shadowrun and Cyberpunk 2020.  This week, how the layers respond,

Security response will depend on how far the PCs have gotten into a facility and the time of day.  Ideally, heists are done when there aren't as many witnesses, but sometimes there's a deadline looming and a daytime break and enter is needed.  Given the levels above, here's what the PCs can expect to run into.

During business hours, intruders will warrant a quiet response to avoid panicking workers.  Last thing security wants is workers running through the line of fire.  Security control will use cameras to locate the intruders  Drones could be sent in to follow the intruders. A few guards, lightly armed and armoured, will walk into the area to isolate the intruders to deal with them away from the workers.  If the intruders begin a firefight, the first guards will fight a holding action to ensure most of the workers escape and to hold the intruders in place until the second wave arrives.  This new wave will be using firearms and won't care as much for collateral damage.  Depending on the setting, heavily armed drones will accompany or even lead the way.  If the intruders are able to make a stand, more guards will arrive, though the average team of expendables are going to cut their losses at some point.

Outside business hours, the first line of response will be armed drones.  Unless there intruders area in an area of the facility that is in use 24/7, the drones won't hesitate to open fire, especially if the would-be thieves have obvious weapons.  Guards will follow, more to confirm that the intruders are down than to get involved.  The fewer live targets around, the more likely the drone will shoot intruders instead of guards.  However, guards can't be hacked line a drone can be.  Sure, there's social engineering, not quite to the point of, "these are not the droids you're looking for," but asking the right questions and carrying the right props can get an intruder into a facility past guards.  Drones, thus, are second level response.

If the intruders get past the drones, then out come the heavy hitters,  Heavily armed, heavily armoured.  The intruders are after the expensive, core business, and need to be stopped.  Traps are activated, lockdown and alarms go off, and security stops the pretense of caring about the average workers, though the braintrust and senior C-level executives get to see far more guards than normal.  The goal becomes directing the intruders into a designated killzone and making sure none survive.

The elite guard, like Renraku's Red Samurai and Arasaka's elite corporate soldiers, are only going to be in areas that are mission critical.  The average worker will know about them more from corporate propaganda pretending to me entertainment.  If they're around and get called in, they will be calling the shots.  They are the last line of defense.  And they will be combat monsters.  Player characters may want to think of running away if they hear that the elite guard are involved.

Shadowrun adds one more twist - magic.  Cyberpunk 2020 is the near future, with today's society having been shattered and destroyed by unfettered capitalism.  Pretty much today but worse, really.  Shadowrun tosses in the return of magic, so it adds a twist to how security operates.  The last thing any corporation wants is to be on the receiving end of a magical intrusion when they have no way to counter it.  Given that magicians and adepts of any tradition are rare and are worthy of being protected by security themselves, those who go into security are worth their weight in Unobtanium.  This means that they are never going to be part of the front line, especially in a setting where, "Geek the mage.first," is an altruism.

The security mage is going to be busy handling astral security, not physical or network.  Full mages and aspected mages focusing on conjuring can create weak spirits known as watchers to keep an eye on out-of-the-way corridors and report on any activity and full strength spirits to patrol independently.  The runners will have their own magical capabilities, so the corporations are going to try to get the magical edge.  Magical research is one of those categories that could bring out the elite, though the researchers may be better at defending themselves.

Next week, an example run from security's point of view.

Friday, over at Psycho Drive-In, Alien Nation, the series.
Saturday, over at The Seventh Sanctum, Scooby-Doo (2002).

Security in Cyberpunk 2020 and Shadowrun - Part 1 - Levels

Disclaimer:

What follows is a discussion of how security in a near-future science fiction setting would work, not a how-to on breaking into a secure facility.  Some of the information comes from my personal experience in working in public- and private-sector offices.  The rest is imagination.  Any similarity to a real location is coincidental.  If you choose to use the following in anything outside a tabletop RPG, it's on you, not me.

For GMs, figuring out the opposition is one of the tougher jobs in the role.  Too easy, and the players run roughshod over the plot.  Too hard, and it's a Total Party Kill and no one leaves the session happy.  Level based games, like D&D, have ways to help balance encounters, but games like Cyberpunk 2020 and Shadowrun aren't so easy.  Being skill-based games, sometimes the lack of a skill causes problems, or a player gets creative or even lucky with their character's skill set and completely bypasses a challenge.

The issue in a stereotypical mission in the two games mentioned is that the characters are hired to be disposable, untraceable cutouts in the grand game of corporate espionage.  The opposition will be corporate security.  But even in a time where a corporation can expect a bunch of reshirted murderhobos to smash in to steal some cutting edge tech that isn't exactly ethical, the corp isn't going to put their best or most effective security up front.  They cost too much to cover the front desk instead of the multi-billion dollar research lab.

In the dystopias of the games, corporations are 24/7.  However, humans function best during daylight hours, so there still is a concept of business hours.  During business hours, when the bulk of the workforce is in, security's physical presence is going to be light.  There will be a small number of uniformed guards at the main entrance, three to five, making sure that commuters are able to sign in and checking ID badges.  There may be one stationed on each floor of the building, not obtrusive, but visible to reassure employees that they are safe.  They won't be in the cube farm.  An armed guard out of sight is one thing; an armed guard watching workers is another.  The goal is productivity at a low cost, and worried workers are inefficient workers.

The uniformed guards, though, are there as a deterrent.  They are a sign that the facility is under guard.  Deeper inside, probably in the basement, is a security room with banks of monitors.  Electronic security is handling the bulk of the work.  Cameras will be everywhere.  Privacy is not a perk; if workers wanted privacy, they can start their own corporation.

The light security will be in areas that aren't critical - parts of IT, accounts payable, HR, essentially, anywhere that counts as support instead of money making.  Network security will be covered and may work with physical security directly.  Deeper in, security is going to be more obvious, with weapons visible.  Critical areas, such as the multi-million dollar research lab, are going to have the best security the corporation has, to hell with how the scientists feel about it.  At that point, though, the scientists will appreciate having the beefier guard.  They, too, can be targets for extraction.

Short version?  The Renraku Red Samurai and Arasaka's elite guards aren't going to be found at the main entrance of a low-level facility with only support staff and rookie guards aren't going to be guarding an ultra-secret lab performing unethical experiments for fun and profit.  Unusual levels of security can act as a hint for players that something is not quite right, whether a run is too easy or too hard.

Getting a little long, so I'll pick up next week with security's response to PCs creating havoc,

Today, over at Psycho Drive-In, Remaking Emergency!
Saturday, over at The Seventh Sanctum, Star Trek Continues.