It's always personal, best road to immersion

Art by Psychée"

INTRODUCTION

<< Disclaimer: No revolutionary recipe here, nothing new under the sun. Just some advice for new GM. Old timers aren't gonna learn anything useful here>>

The most important page of the CRB told us : It's always personal (CRB p.28)
A Cyberpunk Masterclass (for GM) told us : It’s Always Personal. (CRB p.394)

Well, it's being told to both players and GMs... that might be important.

Ok, but why is it so important ? It's always Street Level, that's for the atmosphere, and to avoid epic ultra badass stuff (at least for your first campaign). And if it's Street level, then you can make it personal. And when it's personal your players will be more immersed in your plot & job. That's what roleplaying is about.

WHAT IS A CYBERPUNK CAMPAING ?

A campaign is a connected string of Quest/Mission/Jobs (well, can be a lot more complex like in VtM). It has many form due to the fact each RPG has a specific atmosphere they want to bring at the table. Of course the GM can do whatever he wants and like swimming against the stream ie: a political campaign with DnD ruleset. For Cyberpunk, I think the most important part of the setting, the most important advice we got, is : It's always personal.

What are the consequences for you as a GM ?

You can't write your campaign without knowing your PCs. Of course you can have some big plots behind the scene. BUT whatever you have already written during your preparation time, you now need to adapt it to your audience: your players and their characters. Else you will miss the point. It's not a bunch of Edgerunners (Adventurers) waiting in the Afterlife (Tavern) for a Gig (Quest). I may looks like it... it's not.

You MUST include part of your PCs into your Campaign plots.

For that you will dig into their Lifepath.

PCs' LIFEPATH

"You start with the Lifepath. Lifepath is a flowchart of "plot complications" designed to help you give your Cyberpunk Character an authentically Dark Future background. Its sections cover your cultural origins, your family, friends, enemies, personal habits, and even key life events"

"And remember: Cyberpunk hinges on roleplaying, so make use of the information in your Lifepath run. It's a guaranteed adventure generator!"

Lifepath are a convenient tool to create a small background very fast and with enough depth for a GM to dig in. So you need to use whatever you can from these lifepath inside your campaign.

I'm not telling you to take the enemy of a player and to make him the campaign bad guy. (because there is no bad guy in cyberpunk. Just greed and survival of the fittest). But use him as part of the OPFOR. Then bounce from this point.

Example 1

John “Slash” is a small-time gangster who likes to play knife with his joytoys, and he is Mover's lifepath enemy. Mover is a Solo who used to protect a group of joytoy living in the same container hotel than him, and who may have been under the spell of one of them (don't tell anyone, he doesn't really assume these feelings). John killed her by “accident” (What a tragic love affair), and now Mover want him dead. Put John in the group of gangsters hired by Wu Lee, an important player in your campaign, to do a job. Put Mover and his team in the opposing force, hired by a fixer to do another job (or the same). He will get his revenge very quickly, but Djin will die in the process. She's a netrunner and the girlfriend of Wu Lee. Now Wu Lee wants to avenge her. He's pretty busy and might not do it himself, he'll just send some goons, and they might hurt other friends of Mover. This is the beginning of a circle of violence between one of OPFOR's main characters and a PC. It's going to be very personal. AND words travel fast on the street, a fixer may hire Mover for a job knowing he'll do his best as soon as he mentions the job will screw up Wu Lee.

Example 2

Julie is Mover's mom, and she asked him to check her neighbor, Melany, a cute girl. She lives in the cargo above hers and there was some strange unusual noises, like a fight. Nobody responded when Mover knocked at the door, but with his tactile boost capability, he knew, there was 4 persons in the cargo. He decided to forced the door open and discovered a porn/snuff movie was being shot. The girl was gagged and clearly not consenting. The 3 mens died quickly. Melany needed some help and a therapy, but she was very grateful. Now, she spend time with Julie, and sometimes Mover is here too. She saved some money (500eb) and she wants Mover to kill the guy responsible for that.

Family, Enemy, Friends and Tragic love affair, they aren't always a weakness to exploit. I know that's a common trope in a Cyberpunk world. But you can be more creative. They are plots devices. Use them.

COMMUNITY

In my post about building a community I told you about the advantage of such a set-up. The main idea is to build a small community (few blocks in a Moderate threat rating part of the town) and to create a life in this community through Factions and NPCs. During session 0 you will find a reason for all PCs to live in this part of the town.

Then I explained that you have to root your PCs in it.

"I use this community to give PCs their first jobs. Always through the Fixer, but he usually gives the identity of the client. It's always street-level and always personal"

After few jobs

"Players usually find themselves completely immersed in this community. This gameplay option also helps to brighten up the dark side of the world with positive events. The block party, the birth of a baby, evenings out at the club with friends."

If you want your campaign to be personal, you need connexion between your players and the world around them. Give them NPCs a lot. Then focused on the NPCs they like. In my typical community I have : A Protector, his Enforcer, A Gang (leader, lieutenant, some fun goons), a Nomad pack (leader, road capitain, etc..), a bar/night club owner and his crew (Bouncer, DJ, waitress, Server, etc..), a Fixer, a Ripperdoc and his nurse, some bodega owners, a local Tech, a local street storyteller (Media), a tattoo artist, a green-roof owners, some street kids, a cargo hotel owner, etc..

Spend a bit of downtime into Party, Gang rituals, Marriage, Baby shower, etc.. Have some encounters in the community involving these characters, the street kid have some problem with one of the ganger, such there are the guardian type, still they aren't angels. How the PC gonna react ? Killing the dude would start bad relationship with gang.

They will "click" with someone sooner or later. NPCs have a life of their own, and problems. They will ask for help with only a little amount of money to pay the PCs, maybe with a new tatoo or free drinks for a month, etc... That's also an other way to establish immersion, something more pleasant than eddies

That's how you can make it personal again.

CONCLUSION

Use Life path, have tons of NPCs and focused on the ones they like the more (flesh them out AFTER you identify they are loved by your PCs for whatever reason). Create relationship, link each PCs to your world and then attack them where it hurts. I can promise you, that's gonna be personal.

You are looking for this kind of reactions from your players :

"I'll let our Fixer know that I'm willing to take on any job involving screwing up Xyz.”
"I'll let the street know I'm looking for Yzx, I've got some questions for him and I'm willing to pay whatever it takes."
"I'm gonna spend a bit of my free time patrolling around Maria's green roof, these thieves aren't gonna have their way !"

When your players are actively trying to achieve certain goals on their own, you've done your job.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse