Cyberpunk Open Table Campaign

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A few years back I ran a campaign called Hyperdrift Stories, which combined two different games in effect. You could play as part of the starship Tempest’s crew, or you could play in a strategic game as one of the major factions in Settled Space. We got in about 18 sessions with the Tempest crew and played around 8 turns with the strategic game.

Now, I want to do something like this again, but I have some different approaches.

I’m running a cyberpunk campaign that is open table - anyone can join. The campaign is set in New Ashford, a mega city with many arcologies, cities buried under cities and powerful corporations locked in a strained alliance. 

The abstract map of the city. 


What I’ve done with this campaign is set up two systems (for now) that pertain to how you play. Downtime is handled in a very specific “Citizen Sleeper”-style gameplay, where each turn lasts a real-time week. In this system you can explore the city, meet new characters and manage resources. This part of play is something I consider optional - it’s there to engage with for those who are curious and want to explore that direction. The second part, or rather the primary part, is regular RPG sessions where we use Jason Tocci’s 2400.

The jobs the characters take on have an impact in the city. It could be that they draw unwanted attention, learning new information about the city or possibly dealing a blow to one of the big factions. The city also changes over time. The IRL date is the same as the date in-world, so time records are kept strictly. When new seasons come it will have an impact on the city, whether it is blizzards or harrowing droughts.

Next on the horizon is enabling play as the major corporations, but this requires a bit of “critical player mass”. I have 9 corporations planned for, and also a few organizations such as cartels and gangs, which require at least one player per faction. These are scalable, so many players can play as a corporation. This segment is inspired by mega games. The factions have all their weaknesses and strengths, which will be tested when new crises appear.

So, what about the setting? Well, it’s not too well defined, but I’ve had some media touch stones: Neuromancer, Blade Runner (2049 included), Andor and Altered Carbon.  It’s a bit of a mix and there’s no need for new players to have consumed these pieces of media either. There are some setting decisions I’ve made, though:

  • There was a climate collapse. Much of the biosphere has died off.
  • States have been hijacked and even dismantled by the major corporations.
  • Cyberbrains are an emerging technology that promises mind-replication and seemingly immortality for those who can afford it.
  • Androids exist in various forms, ranging from simple robotic armatures to “fleshjobs” which are synthetic humans with various forms of bio-programming.
  • Humanity is experimenting with relativistic travel and cryostasis. Already for a hundred years humans have been exploring nearby solar systems and creating new colonies. For most people on Earth, this is a distant reality if not a forgettable dream.

Practically speaking, I run games every second Tuesday at 20:00 (GMT+1). I will do some impromptu games in weekends in roughly the same timeslot so some of my american friends can join in too! Since the downtime and strategic games are practically play by post, you can join from anywhere in the world and check in at least once a week.

If you want to check this out, hop on my discord server. Consider this post an open invitation! 

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