Cyberpunk RED

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Cyberpunk RED
RPG published by R. Talsorian
Rule System	Interlock
Authors	Mike Pondsmith James Hutt Cody Pondsmith Jay Parker J Gray David Ackerman Jaye Kovach
First Publication	2020 (digital) 2021 (physical
Essential Books	Cyberpunk RED

Cyberpunk RED or CP RED is a role-playing game published by R. Talsorian Games in November 2020.

August 2019 saw the debut of a new edition of the RPG at GenCon meant to bridge the gap between 2020 and 2077 (so can be used for campaigns set anywhere in between). Later in November 2020, the full corebook was released. With its existence, and per the creator's confirmation, it has supplanted V3 as Cyberpunk's successor, and it basically ignores that game's timeline.

As a side benefit is that it explains why things have changed and how between CP2020 and CP2077 (for example; the Voodoo Boys went from an all-white gang of voodoo posers in 2020 to a predominantly-Haitian gang of actual Vodun practitioners (only in outward appearance, their leader Maman Brigitte says they "left their gods in Haiti" when no divine intervention saved the flooding island nation) in 2077 and CPRED explains how that happened).

The timeline is advanced from 2020 to 2045 and sees a lot of the old setting changed in order to provide a fresh ground for veterans of the earlier editions, as well as new players. The old net is gone, in favour of multiple local data nets (requiring the netrunner of the group to actually travel with the rest of the crew to complete jobs) The Fourth Corporate War has been and gone and seen some corporations fall, some rise and the power dynamics shifted. The local geography of Night City had changed somewhat with the detonation of a small nuclear bomb in the centre. Certain characters whose names are synonymous with the setting are either dead, semi-retired, or MIA.

All in all its not as dramatic a change as V3 which is probably a good thing.

So What Happened after 2020?

2021 sees the start of the Fourth Corporate War with two aquacorps (CINO and OTEC) fighting over the right to snap up a third after it goes bankrupt, unaware that they're being manipulated by a fourth megacorp as part of a plan to cripple and acquire all three. After a year of stalemate, CINO and OTEC call in the big guns of Arasaka Security and Militech respectively to fight on their behalf. What starts out as 'business as usual' quickly starts getting personal - Militech's CEO considers kicking Arasaka's smug face in a matter of pride, while Saburo Arasaka is bent on doing the same due to the CEO reminding him of WWII America and the pilot who crippled him.

Before long, Militech and Arasaka are taking great chunks out of each other and the rest of the world gets its teeth kicked in just because the two giants don't want either side to get an advantage. A couple low-orbital habitats go "Fuck this noise" and drop rocks on key positions round the world, then use the chaos to declare independence and become sovereign nations unto themselves. The war continues, with Arasaka and Militech now regularly wrecking cities, unleashing bioweapons, and launching Net-based attacks on each other. (Soulkiller in particular being used to assassinate several pro-Militech politicians.)

By 2023 the breakdown of international trade and travel sees megacorps start collapsing. The EEC finally has enough and starts nationalising Militech and Arasaka facilities within its borders, swiftly followed by the NUSA and Japan getting off their arses and trying to put a leash on their respective megacorps. While the majority of the corporate forces back down, Night City remains a battleground right up until a certain Rockerboy and a legendary Solo team up to deliver a pocket nuke directly to the local Arasaka head office, destroying it and much of downtown in the process.

The resulting fallout from the Nuke, plus the orbital rock strikes from earlier, leave so much crap in the atmosphere that the skies are coloured a deep red for the next two years and a less brilliant crimson for the next decade, beginning the Time of the Red and hence the name of the book. (Oh, and Rache Bartmoss accidentally the entire net somewhere during all of this.) And all that just takes us to 2025.

The next 20 years are the reconstruction years as the radioactive debris is removed and the rebuilding begins. Much of the old world's infrastructure and net architecture is so ruined as to be unrecoverable, forcing many Megacorporations out of business. In the years that follow the new normal is established with local city nets as opposed to one internet and recovery of Night City.

Links

• Official website