I think it's time I explain what's going on with the cyberpunk extension. This game, mechanically, has been something I've been thinking about a long time, and the extension I made deeply reflects that. This rendition of the cyberpunk genre is set in the late 90s, and I had a lot of difficulty in my playtests communicating that to players. I think the fact that playtests took place in February, within days (It release during playtests) of Cyberpunk 2077 had a big impact on that.
The ETA is still soon™, but I've had to spend a lot of time reworking the entire expansion to make this clearer. For this reason I'll be renaming the cyberpunk extension 'Flawk: 1996'. To make expectations a lot clearer.
To that end, I'll share the current introduction from this expansion:
1996 is a late 1990s setting, on the cusp of the Information age and the birth of the world wide web. Many corporations and factions are connected, but knowledge is not yet widespread, and most communication devices are at least the size of a brick, and portable computers the size of a suitcase.
Secretly, silently, true AI has been born and is slowly spreading along the net, manifesting physically in small, local spaces. Each AI has its own goals, domain, and may equally hinder and help you.
Police have grown, overstepping their jurisdiction and ensuring the poor of the undercities are kept away from the grandeur and power of those in control. Humanitarian efforts have lost their funding and renown, causing gangs and cliques to step in to fill the void.
This is where you, runners in the night, live life to the fullest, doing your best to live without regrets in a world that disallows your existence. Satisfaction is only available, in such cases, through substance abuse, or various vices that keep you wanting more. Your job, in its adrenaline, and heavy stakes, can only be done by the expendable, and the forgotten. To private interests that hire you, you are nameless. You are Shadowrunners.
Thank you for reading,
Enemby
