Cyberpunk, Rifts.

[Ronin78]

You know I'v seen a few times posted that Palladium doesnt have a Cyberpunk setting. But after looking over a few books I got an idea.

I could easily run cyberpunk with city rats. Especially with the variant in the biotech book. A group of mercs running on the streets of chi town.
Dodging CS patrols, Taking jobs from various gangs, Powerful patrons, And smuggling goods from zone to zone.
Deniable assets in the urban sprawl.

I think the only requirement would be to only allow OCCs from "street level" or lower power level OOCs.

[taalismn]

That's what City Rats are for...and the Japanese high-tech cities with their corporate ninja. To a lesser extent, the Australian city-states. And, of course, Rifts Black Market is made for cyberpunk deal-cutting, corporate espionage, smuggling, and the occasional foray into the wilderness or mad science(like sneaking into a Lone Star farm to steal the new super cultivars that promise super crop yields, or hacking a CS R&D site to see what's what on rumors of new supersoldiers).

[Bill]

The southern alliance from South America 2 is also kind of set up to be played as a cyberpunk/shadow run style setting. It only gets a couple paragraphs, but I think that leaves it wide open for development.

[MikelAmroni]

Well the southern alliance is basically a "We don't want to develop it, but here's the tech republic of Japan but in South America - run with it!" type of plot hook.

[mobuttu]

I could easily run cyberpunk with city rats. Especially with the variant in the biotech book. A group of mercs running on the streets of chi town.
Dodging CS patrols, Taking jobs from various gangs, Powerful patrons, And smuggling goods from zone to zone.
Deniable assets in the urban sprawl.

There are also several references to netrunning on the books.

Click on the upper-right button for an automatic google translation.

[Bill]

Well the southern alliance is basically a "We don't want to develop it, but here's the tech republic of Japan but in South America - run with it!" type of plot hook.

With super powerful magic users (that aren't detailed at all) and MDC humans from Wormwood, yes. In some respects, I wish more of Rifts were presented in that sort of mix and match style. So much material has been generated over the last 20 years, pulling a couple exciting elements from wildly different sources and mixing in a couple story hooks is more than enough to get a game off the ground. It tends to be how I run things anyway.

[glitterboy2098]

personally i'm a big fan of post-cyberpunk themes, and try to incorporate them into stuff i do. though given the state of rifts, they tend to devolve into more plain cyberpunk themes due to the general dystopian nature of the world. though i'm willing to settle for islands of post-cyberpunk in an otherwise regular cyberpunk world. seems more natural than a mono-thematic setting..

[taalismn]

personally i'm a big fan of post-cyberpunk themes, and try to incorporate them into stuff i do. though given the state of rifts, they tend to devolve into more plain cyberpunk themes due to the general dystopian nature of the world. though i'm willing to settle for islands of post-cyberpunk in an otherwise regular cyberpunk world. seems more natural than a mono-thematic setting..

Surfin' the edge of the Singularity, are we?

[glitterboy2098]

personally i'm a big fan of post-cyberpunk themes, and try to incorporate them into stuff i do. though given the state of rifts, they tend to devolve into more plain cyberpunk themes due to the general dystopian nature of the world. though i'm willing to settle for islands of post-cyberpunk in an otherwise regular cyberpunk world. seems more natural than a mono-thematic setting..

Surfin' the edge of the Singularity, are we?

not exactly, though i'll admit i like my post-cyberpunk with a few transhumanist elements.

the technological singularity is something i'm not convinced would actually happen, given the counter-pressures of human reactionism and the fact that the world is not uniformly advanced. not to mention the drag on technological progress created by late adopters and those who plain refuse to adopt something for personal/ethical/religious/social/political reasons.

but the kinds of technologies that could lead up to a singularity are great fodder for game material when divided up and applied in fashions that are internally balanced against the game setting. heck, rifts already has half of the stuff already. you have soft AI (such as skelebots), simple strong AI (like ARCHIE), cybernetics, basic biotech (mutant animals and biosystems), and some hints as to viable nanotech systems. plus very efficient and compact energy supplies and fairly developed fields of computers, optics, and metallurgy.

[TiekoSora]

Way back in the 90's, I helped a guy write a setting that I hosted on my website, it was called Metroplex. I still have all the files, and almost all of it was fleshed out before he stopped playing any games. I used artwork from a couple artists, with their permission, and wrote some of the rules along with him. I have permission to continue to host it so long as I don't do so for profit. Let me dig it out and I will get with one of the guys on here with a website and we will talk about putting it up. Was a really good take on a Neuromancer type setting, with rules on doing things and combat in cyberspace. Oh the primary author in this endeavor was Barry Beldam out of Canada. I will only allow this stuff to be put online with the sole understanding that it will never be used for profit, because I have not been able to contact him in fifteen years or so.

[Torval]

Way back in the 90's, I helped a guy write a setting that I hosted on my website, it was called Metroplex. I still have all the files, and almost all of it was fleshed out before he stopped playing any games. I used artwork from a couple artists, with their permission, and wrote some of the rules along with him. I have permission to continue to host it so long as I don't do so for profit. Let me dig it out and I will get with one of the guys on here with a website and we will talk about putting it up. Was a really good take on a Neuromancer type setting, with rules on doing things and combat in cyberspace. Oh the primary author in this endeavor was Barry Beldam out of Canada. I will only allow this stuff to be put online with the sole understanding that it will never be used for profit, because I have not been able to contact him in fifteen years or so.

Sounds like a fun read. Did you ever get it back online?

[taalismn]

I have vague recollections of Metroplex...back in the day when Palladium fansites were popping up all over.

[Dr Megaverse]

I came across the GURPS Cyberpunk book at our local used book store before it shut down. If nothing else it provides a lot of very interesting ideas and plotlines which are outside the Rifts universe, so they're a kind of fresh take!

[SolCannibal]

Tone down the magic or give a greater focus psychics and mutants and the burbs make pretty good terrain for cyberpunk-esque slums and stuff.

[Wōdwulf Seaxaning]

Way back in the 90's, I helped a guy write a setting that I hosted on my website, it was called Metroplex. I still have all the files, and almost all of it was fleshed out before he stopped playing any games. I used artwork from a couple artists, with their permission, and wrote some of the rules along with him. I have permission to continue to host it so long as I don't do so for profit. Let me dig it out and I will get with one of the guys on here with a website and we will talk about putting it up. Was a really good take on a Neuromancer type setting, with rules on doing things and combat in cyberspace. Oh the primary author in this endeavor was Barry Beldam out of Canada. I will only allow this stuff to be put online with the sole understanding that it will never be used for profit, because I have not been able to contact him in fifteen years or so.

Sounds awesome, post it if you can. I'd love to read & possible use it as I'm a huge cyberpunk & RIFTS fan. So fusing both ia like mana of the gods to me .

[nilgravity]

Skraypers is sort of cyber punk

[SolCannibal]

Now that i think of it Rifts would be just the place for some Bubblegum Crisis brand of cyberpunk:
http://www.cyberpunkreview.com/images/bubblegum-crisis17.jpg
http://www.cyberpunkreview.com/images/b ... isis06.jpg
http://www.cyberpunkreview.com/images/b ... isis30.jpg
http://www.cyberpunkreview.com/images/bubblegum-crisis15.jpg

Genom Tower is pretty much a Coalition citadel with 20th century looking 'burbs around it.

Maybe a bit over the top for some poeple's idea of cyberpunk, but it was a little bit of something that crossed my mind.

Also, Juicer Uprising - gank the space 'roaches with a world domination plan and you have a blacker than black cyberpunk plot: make the people behind the "nanotech zombie juicer" plot a bunch of crazy scientists experimenting with immortality through machinery. Or the Coalition knew all along about the "actual colaterals" of the concept and went along with it, because dead mech-soldiers that rise to still fight for you are a bonus to any mercilessly pragmatic army, specially if the guinea pigs weren't citizens to begin with. Anyway loads of action, intrigue and cynicism to entertain any fan of the genre. Just my thoughts.