8/9/2019 Issue #25, One Thousand and One Nights and One Night RPG Campaign Design 'zine

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/issue-25-one-thousand-and-one-nights-and-one-night-rpg-campaign-design-zine 1/2

One Thousand and One Nights and One Night a role-playing game campaign design ’zine Vol.: 2, Issue: 25, March 1, 2008

Content © Wooden Leg Named Smith Productions 2008 published in association with the Corvis Babbage Cliological SocietyWebsite: 1001nightsand1night.110mb.com ’zine art is either open source or through fair use of copyrighted works

 Just a Mechanical Boy!This issue I’m talking about the

cyberpunk genre. I’ve got a setting background and design, some sadpersonal news and a few otherthings. Enjoy!

Sad News, Sad News, toFair London Came

Our beloved cat, Tess, passed away on February 20th after a short battle with cancer. She was 14.

 As you can see by this ppolydactyl cat (sheextra toe on each frontpaw–6 toes total!). Shequite the talker (sometimestoo much at night) but every time I had a game at my house, she would come ouand greet the guests, thenshe’d come back later to check up on everyone.She will be missed very much.

icture, she was ahad an

 was

t

ght–up sci fi

of 

came back into

off 

arves

Cyberpunk BackgroundI’ve got a hard time doing a straigame (as I’ve mentioned before). So magic isgoing to be included in this game. But I’m not

going to follow the Shadowrun(Catalyst) timeline. Since I’mnot totally familiar with it, it’snot going to change my viewstoo much. Instead, I’m going tomix bits of several other settingsinto the cauldron. The bitGURPS Technomancer (SteveJackson Games), where magic

the world during the Trinity Test in 1945. At that time, elves and goblinsstepped back into the world, too (kinda a riff of John M. Ford’s The Last Hot Time). I’ll usethe standard Elves and Dwarves templates fromSavag e Worlds! (Pinnacle), with the Dw 

 being mechanical expert goblins, with theappearance of Brian Froud’s goblins.(continued on Page 2, Second Column)

Cyberpunk Setting DesignI don’t believe that I’ve ever run a game of 

cyberpunk, or even Shadowrun (Catalyst). Andthat’s been an interesting lapse in my gamingcircle. I’ve got GURPS Cyberpunk andCthulhupunk (Steve JacksonGames), and I’ve read throughD20 Modern Cyberscape (WotC) from my local library. Ithink I’ve been a player in acyberpunk game and I’ve readmost of William Gibson’s stuff,too. Is it because it’s a dark dystopian future that’s caused me to pause?

Maybe. I usually run hopeful games. But thenagain, maybe dark is the change I need. I’msure I can get it going, I just have to answer“how would I run a cyberpunk game?”

First, I’m going to cheat. I have to have the PCsas a cohesive group (despite what may happen

later), so I’m going to setthe group up to follow thecyberpunk setting fromGURPS Robin Hood (SteveJackson Games). It’s apretty neat thought–In the

future, a rich netrunnerdecides to help the poor by stealing from the richmega–corps around her.

She takes the handle of Robin Hood andgathers a group of street samurai (whom shepays very well) to help out. It’s got plenty of opportunities for combat, netrunning, anddrama (always a good staple of the genre) as

 well as the possibility of treachery! It gives meplenty of leeway on some other stuff.

I’m not going to use GURPS (Steve JacksonGames), though, nor D20 Modern (WotC).Since my group really likes Savage Worlds! (Pinnacle), that’s going to be the system of choice. I checked out the various SW!conversions available and found one forCyberpunk 2020 (R. Talsorian) that hascyberware mods and some other rules(continued on Page 2, First Column)

8/9/2019 Issue #25, One Thousand and One Nights and One Night RPG Campaign Design 'zine

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/issue-25-one-thousand-and-one-nights-and-one-night-rpg-campaign-design-zine 2/2

One Thousand and One Nights and One Night Page 2a role-playing game campaign design ’zine Vol.: 2, Issue: 25, March 1, 2008

Content © Wooden Leg Named Smith Productions 2008 published in association with the Corvis Babbage Cliological Society

Cyberpunk Setting (cont.)conversions. I also have a few of the toolkitPDFs from Pinnacle that may come in handy:

Sci Fi Gear Toolkit and Pulp Gear Toolkit (Pinnacle). A big decision is whether to mix inmagic, like Shadowrun (Catalyst) or leave itout. I’m going to buck the system and includeit, but develop my own setting background,

 which I hope will be more evocative than that(so I can add another PDF to the soup, theFantasy Gear Toolkit).

I’m going to start the PCs off as Novice + 2easoned, but close. Up–and–coming Bad–Asses.That should give them a

good start (especially if they buy cyberware). I’llrequire they each takeLoyalty (minor Hindranto their employer andthey’ll start with betwearound $6K cash for gear.That should get them some

cyberware without it going completely overboard.

raises, not quite to S

 

ce)

en

ideo y 

monkeybox.com

 

Since this is cyberpunk, another discussionthat’s got to occur is character–vs.–character

conflict, whether we want to have the option of PC death(s) occur during play by the other PCs.That’s an important bit of info, as I can see thatgetting out of hand, with hurt feelings and such.On a related note, I personally want treachery to occur during the game (whether it will resultin PC death remains to be seen) and I plan oncoming right out and saying “One of you will

 betray the others at some point during thisgame. You’ll be faced with a situation that willlead you to it.” This will be facilitated by allowing that PC

to change theirLoyalty hindranceto something elseand would addsome of thegrimness of thesetting to play.

 1-900-Nerd-Girl Youtube has a pretty funny v from the Monkey Box comed

guys ( www.the )

tely 

ers

 ber thered

t

”

-

s

 will

using a

$3 a

that spoofs a porn call line. Justgo to Youtube.com and searchfor “1-900-Nerd-Girl” and you’resure to find it. Please note: thisnumber is not real. It definigot a smile out of my gf (asnotorious a non-geek that ev 

 was). The Monkey Box group haabout 25 other videos that are

also pretty funny, so check them out.

Where’s the Duck Love?Old school gamers probably rememDucks from Glorantha when they first appeain RuneQuest (Chaosium, et al). There have

 been unfounded and baseless complaints thahumanoid ducks are just plain silly and “how could you have a serious game with a duck PC?

 Well, I’m a great big fan of the Duck and proudto say it! Recently there’s a thread on RPG.netabout them. It’s a pretty interesting read.

Cyberpunk Background (cont.)Half-orcs are going to be converted to a half demon breed. That’ll give some heaven–hellstuff to the mix that I’ll exploit later. If demonare real, then where are the angels? The game

 year will be 2025 and I’ll include most modernstuff. I figure that if it makes sense to exist,then it should–both to the benefit anddetriment of the PCs, of course. History follow our world’s history except there will bemore magic (duh!) but on the whole, most of 

 what has already occurred has happened, thespecifics can be different (for example,

Kennedy was shot and killed by Oswaldnew “magic bullet” spell). After about 2008,mega–corps came into their own and theintroduction of cyberware in 2010 changedeverything. Since I’m starting the PCs in theskids, some of them may remember bettertimes (if they’re old enough) when gas wasgallon!

Website: 1001nightsand1night.110mb.com ’zine art is either open source or through fair use of copyrighted works