Part 3: the larger goal

My goals for this system are far grander than this specific game and even this specific design. Cyberpunk is a broad set of ideas without a single definition. Much like fantasy settings will often label specific races as optional or provide guidelines for a low-magic version of the game, I’m seeking to build a flexible system that allows people to make their vision of the future. Part of the challenge here is that cyberpunk/sci-fi is actually far broader in scope and options than most fantasy settings.

So let’s talk about those themes. In actuality, I’m building out 18+ themes instead of just the 7 I gave to my players. Here is the rough idea of the grand vision: before there is a formal character creation process by the players, there is formal world creation process by the DM. That DM will look at all the themes and label each in one of 3 ways: Nope, Specialized, or Widespread.

Nope simply means that this is not part of your world and you leave those cards/elements out. The Nope option is critical because it lets me design the weird stuff from the start and balance it against everything else. This insures there is a niche in the game for those skills to fit into if you want them and they have interesting gear choices that are neither overwhelming nor underwhelming nor redundant vs. other themes. At the same time, I expect that most of the weird stuff is going to get a Nope from the DM… and that is great! If these elements are in your world, they need to affect your world. If those kinds of stories don’t fit what you are trying to do, by all means just leave them out. Nopes are a powerful tool to shape your world. In my test version, I gave a Nope to 9 of 18 options, or 50%, and I feel like we still have a diverse world.

Specialized means that it is in the game but only some players can use it. These will be the class flavors of your game. As a DM, you will also need to decide how many of these specialized themes your players can have. There is a case to be made for different approaches which we will talk about later. The goal of the specialized themes is they are interesting and will draw your players into the game on its own as well as provide them with those clutch moments that are unique to that character in the party.

Widespread means everyone can use it. This basically means the specialized gear is now treated like basic gear. Once again, this is a way to express the nature of your world. Is it heavily militarized? Make the Marksmen cards widespread. Are drones and robots all over the place? Make the Rigger cards widespread. The game will always have basic options, but these are somewhat limited so you need 1 or 2 widespread themes to flesh out that pool of cards and give players a reason to engage with the basic cards of your world and switch up what they can do. This is also a great way to give players a critical choice, alignment like issues, or other similar mechanics.

I do not know what the right mix is yet for players between these labels on themes. If I had to guess, and I feel like a need to so I can at least give people a starting point, I would suggest one of the following:

• 2 Widespread, 7 Specialized (Selects 2), and 9 Nope
• 4 Widespread, 5 Specialized (Select 1), and 9 Nope

Notice I used Nope on 9 themes. I feel like that gives you a tight, consistent world that people can quickly digest. As people become more familiar with this system that maybe too many nopes, but I think it works well for now to both focused world creation and still giving players plenty of options. That said, don’t be afraid to make decisions based on your players. If they like tons of system, use only 1 or 2 nopes. If you know it will always be 4 players, then you can only have 4 specialized with single select.

It is also worth talking about another play variations.

• You can have “specialized” meaning it takes 1 gear slot if you have that theme and 2 or 3 gear slots if you don’t have that theme.
• You can also simply house rule that you are allowed to have 1 piece of specialized gear from a theme you don’t have.
• You could also select 1 major specialty and 2 minor specialties. The major works as normal. You are then allowed 1 piece of gear from between your minors.
• Another option is to keep to a single specialty but carving out 3 to 5 sets to be widespread so there is a deep pool of options for players to pull from.

Once again, I want DMs to have extreme control over the kinds of worlds they can build, while giving players quick and interesting cards to select between. I classify these variations options as “1+”. It is a single specialty with a niche exception allowed. All of these are just other ways to combine gear and choices. Simply giving players 2 specialties also works well.