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  1. #1

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    Anyone up for a GURPS CYBERPUNK style campaign?

    Just curious...

    Would anyone be interested in a GURPS CYBERPUNK campaign set in the year 2048, in a mythical Chrome City (think Night City from CP 2020 but with the serial numbers filed off). Elements of BIOTECH will be involved, as would be Ultra-Tech (largely from GURPS CLASSIC ULTRA-TECH).

    Characters would be built using GURPS CHARACTER ASSITANT
    Anyone who wants to run a net runner for solo campaigns would find that FG in conjunction with GCA works just fine.

    Just as GURPS CLASSIC CYBERPUNK suggested using 150 point characters, for GURPS 4e, the new point total would be 225 points instead.

    This is basically a question to see if anyone would be interested, and find out what times would be best for game play. I'm located near Western New York, and would be deemed as GMT-5 if that helps.

    For those interested, the classic version of Net Running would be viable for FG, and I've tested both the older version of Netrunning with the newer Pyramid net running. Net result of the testing was that the older version from GURPS CYBERPUNK was more preferred over the newer.

    This is to be a Sandbox environment in which as GM, I would present multiple possible threads, and what you choose will determine the course of the adventure. In some cases, it would require improvisational GM'ing (ie, thinking fast on my feet and going with the flow".

    There will be no Skype or audio aspects to the game, as I was born hard of hearing and have a hard time with Skype. Having been a computer operator for over 20 years, my typing speeds are rather fast.

    Feel free to ask questions or send email messages or private messages as you desire.

    As ever, without Ronke's efforts, none of this would be possible, and a major thanks should be directed his way for his efforts - and the efforts of those who preceded him in this. Were it not for those individuals, I'd never have purchased Fantasy Grounds.

  2. #2

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    I would so love to get in on this, but I already play 6 sessions a week. There are too few hours in a week...needz more for gaming. :P
    Timezone: Australian EST (GMT +10).
    Systems/Rulesets: GURPS 4th Edition.
    Campaigns (Ultimate License Holder)
    GURPS Traveller - The Empty Peace
    GURPS Shadowrun - Power Plays
    GURPS Banestorm - Dark Clouds Rising

  3. #3

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    Quote Originally Posted by ronnke View Post
    I would so love to get in on this, but I already play 6 sessions a week. There are too few hours in a week...needz more for gaming. :P
    What an amateur - you need to go pro bro.


    *teasing grin*

  4. #4

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    Ran my second session tonight - and had fun.

    Disclaimer: This is set in Night City of CP2020 fame, but uses a timeline entirely different than that of CP2020. The year is 2048, a space orbital is being built to house the rich, and life just gets grittier and harder for everyone else on Earth. TL is 9 with some elements of BIOTECH involved as well as quite a bit of CYBERPUNK from ULTRATECH involved.

    Cast:
    Anthony Reeves (nickname Alpha Romeo) as an NPC. He works for Continental Investigations Agency.

    Sean McGuinness (no nick name as yet) as PC. He's a recent hire of Continental Investigations Agency.

    William Green (nicknamed Whiskey Golf) as PC. He's recently separated from Service as an experienced NCO who ran the gun range on base on a regular basis. A Crack shot.

    Chapter 1:
    Our three heroes are placed on a mission to investigate the death of a private detective who had been hired by Fiona Hayes to track down information regarding the Tolliver's DIsease Vaccines that were seemingly ineffective despite them being approved as valid vaccines. All our heroes know, is that the death of Felix Mason (the Dead CIA investigator) was somehow tied in with something big. The killer of Felix was their initial target. But, as sometimes happens, they ran into Fiona instead, who in turn, is the target of a hit team known as "The Odd Couple". Half of the couple is a man named Billy Jackson with a reflex booster that makes time slow down for him in a big way. His claim to fame is that if you give him a weapon, he'll shoot it with deadly accuracy - and FAST. The other half of the Odd Couple is a hacker who is very skilled, and knows his way around the net and what it can do for him.

    By the time the first chapter ends - the heroes find themselves in a dark converted warehouse that is known now as the shooting range called THE MARKSMAN. The Odd couple hacked into the computer system at THE MARKSMAN, and control the lighting and everything else of value. Sowing confusion and fear, the hacker gets the players to believe they're going to die in the darkness once the attack begins in earnest. Instead - the players hunker down, and poor Fiona rushes out the door (having left our heroes in the dark) and meets a date with destiny called a LAW. Just as she enters into the van, the law slams into the vehicle, throwing her yards away in the resultant explosion. Had it not been for the Trauma Team contract she had, Fiona would be just another corpse in the ground. Instead, she survives long enough to offer the three heroes blood money. "Find who did this and you get 500,000 to split amongst yourselves".

    Chapter 2:
    Having spent time investigating leads and trying to find out how everything they know fits together, our investigators are finally on track to finding the Odd Couple. Unfortunately, the person they got the lead from, was told "if anyone asks about someone who purchased a LAW or anything like that, tell him to go to the Diner (Joe's Diner) at the end of your shift. We'll meet with them once you tell us. Here's the money - half now, half later plus a reward, if you do as we ask.

    Sure enough, she did (aw Sheila, they LIKED you!) and our heroes were sent to meet with her at 3 AM when she got off her shift at the Afterlife. Sadly, the players got to Joe's diner at 1:30 AM and decided to case the place in case it was a set up. Even more sadly, the Odd Couple didn't spot the three characters in the diner with the idea those where the one's they would be expecting to meet at 3 AM.

    3 AM comes and goes. Our three heroes are down to two because the third one got up as soon as the Odd couple came in, and went to act as a backstop in case the Odd Couple fled out the front door. The two in the diner decide to make certain that the Odd Couple aren't innocent hicks, but the ones they think will try to kill them at 3 am had they done as told.

    In the start of a blink of an eye, Sean decides that he's going to dive for cover and deal with the fallout that way. Unaware that Billy Jackson (the crew haircut guy) had augmented reflexes - finds out the hard way, that boy is Billy fast. Unfortunately for Billy, his off the cuff shot misses his intended target. So, he tries to reacquire his target - only to discover not one, but two pistol barrels pointing his way (both Sean and William have fast draw). Now it becomes a deadly two on one scenario - and one that Billy was sadly about to discover - it matters not whose gun clears the holster first, what matters is accuracy. Billy's first shot missed his target by a bit. Billy and Sean's next shots rang out as one practically - with Billy's shot barely missing (as one might say "Missed by THAT much" but Sean's hitting him in the torso. Enough to stun an ordinary man, Sean was about to discover that Billy was no ordinary man! But, before either of Sean or Billy would renew their shots - it was Williams shot dead to center on Billy's heart with a 10mm round, that put an end to it all. The man has no heart as some might say, and "Billy the Jack"son lie on the floor dying. Billy's only saving grace that night? REO MEATWAGON, which showed up on site 2 minutes after the signal went out that Billy was dead.

    That's when "poor geekboy" was seemingly lost. He fainted, he begged for them to not hurt him. As they restrained him (ie cuffed him), dragged him out of the now deserted diner (would you stay in a diner when shots were fired?!!!) and stuffed his lanky buttocks in the trunk of a sports car. Then the three fled the diner with the intent to call the police, advise them of the shoot out at the Diner, and then let the Night City Police know they had the man in custody that would shed light on the LAW attack against Fiona Hayes. It didn't quite end up that way alas. See, our hacker's real name was Frank Martin Lawson. His Hacker handle was TheRatPack. He was good, VERY good. Good enough that he had undergone plastic surgery to alter his face and apparent age and all that goes with that. He was also armed with a trusty cyberdeck implant that was worth a LOT more money than people could ever dream of. He had what was known as a mobile cyberdeck.

    As was his habit, TheRatPack always did battlefield preparation. Using his hack into the mobile phone system, he determined what cell phones were within 50 feet of his own, and changed their accounts to read as "unpaid, shut down pending reactivation". This would keep them from calling out. He also disabled their automatic 911 ability to call through a hack of his own devising. A good hacker controls communications is one axiom he lives by. So, cell phones out of the way, he then made certain that if anything went bad - that he'd be able to shut the power grid down in the local area. He - always has an ace in the hole due to the fact that he has multiple identities he can call upon in an emergency, including a false Federal Agent Id if necessary.

    Tonight, it proved necessary. The players bungled him unceremoniously into the trunk of a sports car, then took off. Frank activated his Federal Agent personae, and contacted the police to let them know that a federal agent was in serious danger, transmitted a photo of the two who he had when he entered the diner saying "these are wanted terrorists with access to a nuclear trigger assembly for a bomb hidden in Night City. Send only your best anti-terrorist snipers and await termination orders if necessary.

    I wont' bore you with the dialog that happened in the car as the heroes realized they'd been SWATTED by their prisoner. All that matters is how the heroes handled themselves. Stripping himself of any clothing, Sean raised his hands out the window of the car, slowly opened the door, and walked (some might say padded about in his bare feet) to the back of the sports car, opened the trunk, and lifted out Frank Martin Lawson. Seemingly defeated, our heroes watched as the villain they knew as TheRatPack walked back to the Snipers and left in a borrowed police vehicle. They went through central booking and were processed as terrorists - only to be released within 24 hours of their incarceration. Since that was the actions of lawyers doing lawyering things - we'll avoid talking about that. What we will talk about is the fact that when Sean lifted Frank out of the trunk of the sports car, he also planted a tracking device on Frank. Sadly, Frank is unaware of the tracking device...

    Which brings us to Poor Billy. Yup. Arrives at the emergency room with a destroyed heart, there is no way he's going to live without it. Remember how Billy was picked up in record time? The EMT on duty did his best to stabilize the man and cool down his body so as to buy the surgeons more time in case the heart wound was not fatal. Instead, it bought Billy time to have a cybernetic heart emplaced, and permit Billy a new lease on life. Now "Bill Jack" son has a new nick. His name is now Billy the Undead. And as everyone knows, the recently dead want vengeance upon their killers.

    Will our heroes find TheRatPack in his lair? Will they capture him and interrogate him as to paid to have Fiona killed? Will they find out what is really going on with Night City and Tolliver's Disease vaccine manufacturing? For now, Tolliver's Disease is not a world wide epidemic. For now.

  5. #5

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    Hi Folks,
    Sometimes when a GM sets up a "Mystery" - what seems like "Obvious Clues" end up not being so obvious. So, with that thought in mind, I largely have to wonder just how "cute" I'm aiming to be, only to fall short of my goal. To that end, for those who might read this and wonder "hmm, if I were playing in that campaign, this is what I'd do...

    First, setting the stage:
    Felix Mason, employee of Continental Investigations Agency (Private detective outfit that runs almost like a Pinkerton style organization of old) - hires out its investigators to those willing to pay the coin/credit. Killed in such a manner as to cause doubt as to how he died but for one person's video footage, and a coroner's report indicating that the situation is being ruled a murder (I used a PDF file of a coroner's report that I got from the CP2020 FORTRESS site).

    Coronor's report:
    Description of Corpse: Subject was seemingly gnawed upon by feral Dogs. Injuries were inflicted post-mortem. See Notes.

    External Injuries: First Injury of note: cranial damage inconsistent with force that can be applied by living animal. Multiple lacerations consistent with gnawing produced by feral dogs. Salivia samples
    indicate multiple dogs by DNA samples taken.

    Internal Injuries: All internal injuries consistent with gnawing by feral dog activity applied post-mortem.

    Medical Diagnosis: Subject’s wounds were all applied post-mortem with the possible exception of the wound to the head. Victim’s death seems consistent with a a high velocity round to the head, but no such bullet was recovered.

    Notes: tests indicate that multiple dogs participated in gnawing upon the victim, but bite marks are
    consistent with only one dog. Force required to crack the human cranium is not consistent with known samples of modern dogs. Suggest possible attempt to disguise wounds to appear natural. Someone got too cute.

    Coroner: Dr. Janet Pittman-Zimmer
    Received by: Chief Detective Elaine N. Skaggs
    Date: 20481031092331
    Routed By Homocide.

    See next post.

  6. #6

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    When the group investigated the robotic dog hairs discovered at the crime scene, they determined based on the video and the hair sample - the make and model of the robot. It was initially intended to work as a "Coroner's Fetch" - where the forensics program on the dog allows it to spot clues, and through manipulators, pick up the clues and bag/tag them per standard police procedure. The model was discontinued after less than a year's production and discontinued due to it contaminating the crime scenes. Faulty programming perhaps, or poor design - either way, robots were discontinued and sold at discount to Arasaka Corporation.

    Next item or clue if you will. Fiona Hayes, ace reporter investigating corruption, approaches the intrepid investigators working for CIA (Continental Investigations Agency!) and lets them know she was the employer whose case Felix was working on. He was to find out why vaccines for a retrovirus, the only known functional vaccine - was no longer 100% effective. Detective Felix Mason was investigating a Logistics company who handles both autonomous driver delivery vans as well as live trucking driver vehicles - to the extent that perhaps they were involved in diluting the vaccines or switching them or something else. She shows up days after the Murder of Felix to aid them in their investigation. Little did anyone know, a team was waiting to assassinate poor Fiona Hayes with the use of a LAW munition. They (A two man team it appears) almost succeeded. Fiona Hayes was airlifted to a nearby medical facility and survived her ordeal.

    Next Clue: Fragments of the law rocket were found, and one of the serial numbers involved in its manufacture was discovered.

    Next Clue: The Company that manufactures the Vaccines is a struggling corporation that owns patent rights to a manufacturing process that is unique to the production of the Vaccine. Unfortunately, Petrochem either stole the process, or managed to arrive at the same process independently, but filed their patent claims days after it was filed by the Medical company. As a consequence, the patent infringement cost Petrochem 500,000 to pay off (not including lawyers and courts fees).

    Next clue: while spending time to investigate things, it was discovered that the team who attacked Fiona Hayes, included one hacker by the handle of TheRatPack. His MO is such that when he hacks any organization, he uses both a Text file along with a photographic file (both with the same name). The text file is filled with what appears to be gibberish. The Photograph contains five men in them, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Joey Bishop, Sammy Davis Jr. and Peter Lawford. This TheRatPack hacker, also penetrated the computer security of Continental Investigations Agency, the personal computer of Felix Mason at his home, and his work station at his job. Tying this all together is the fact that when Fiona Hayes was attacked, a hacker had penetrated the computer system at where a memorial was being held for Felix Mason by fellow employees, police etc at THE MARKSMAN shooting range (the calling card of TheRatPack was found there as well.

  7. #7

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    When the investigators showed up at THE AFTERLIFE club, one of the investigators was nosing about trying to discover if anyone had purchased a LAW munition recently or if anyone had information relating to the method of attack used in the murder and attempted murder of Fiona Hayes. A certain woman named Sheila, told the one investigator, that she knew who sold the LAW and that she got off her shift at 3 AM. Meet her at Joe's Diner and she'll show up. What the investigators later discovered was that She simply told someone of who was asking questions, and failed to show up. They however (a guy with a crew cut hairstyle and more brawn than anything along with a nerdy guy with half his head shaved bald to accentuate his Direct Neural Interface plug) showed up at 2 AM. Had it not been for the investigators showing up at 1:30 discussing other issues, the party would have walked into an ambush. Instead...

  8. #8

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    The ambushers were themselves, ambushed. Without going into too much detail, the hacker battlefield prepped the diner by hacking its Local Wifi network. He had already penetrated the Cell Phone company's mainframe, and could do pretty much anything he wanted with Cell phone data that resides on the Telecom's computers. He also activated a prior hack into the power company when things had started to look bad for him and his team. In short, TheRatPack hacker, doesn't just hack into things, he prepares for emergencies. Using a back up false identity, he "SWATTED" the heroes when things were really bad for him. Using a false identity as a Federal Agent, he then began to issue orders...

    But throughout all of this, no one realized that TheRatPack had one vital edge - that of a mobile Cyberdeck with the ability to connect via telecommunications. Up until now, all of this was happening without him seemingly doing a thing. When he "Fainted" and lay seemingly unconscious on the floor, he was a very busy individual.

    Then one of the team made it a point (via email) to try and determine whether Fiona Hayes has a hit on her (which she does). What the team forgot was this when she was attacked:

    1) She received a phone call telling her that a hit team was about to hit her location.
    2) hackers penetrated the computer system of THE MARKSMAN gun range
    3) in her haste to leave, she ran directly to the closest exit that would take her to her van that was driven by her co-worker camera man.
    4) she was barely in the vehicle when the LAW attack was launched

    No one questioned "Who gave her the phone call that set this in motion"

    Another clue that the group has - is one in which Fiona Hayes gave the investigators, a list of personnel who are employed by Arasaka Corporation for various "tasks" that would be termed as "Black ops". She specifically tells the players to ask the Night City Police Department for a passenger manifest involving those individuals in case they are instigators of any events. Of that list, ONE name will be found on the passenger manifest of a privately owned corporation jet in from Japan. The owner of the jet is also a listed subsidiary of Arasaka Corporation, that would require digging to make the relationship known. As fate would have it...

    Another clue that was unearthed was an in depth research into the question "who benefits if the original company manufacturing the Retrovirus vaccines were to go bankrupt". The following was sent to the one player:

    Background information on Arasaka Corporation is such that it is also a holding company of extensive holdings in addition to its manufacturing concerns. Kaneko Financial Group is based in Kyoto Japan, currently #23 in the world's largest financial institutions. It has fallen under scrutiny recently due to allegations of money laundering - but such allegations were found to be unrealized. The initial investigation came to a halt temporarily, but was resumed by a subordinate when the lead investigator died of natural causes.

    Many of Arasaka's holdings do not advertise their link with Arasaka, such as Matsuda Aeronautical Incorporated, which is used to manufacture the AV-4 VTOL aircraft in Japan, or the Ogura Pharmaceutical Corporation based in Osaka. But every single one of the Arasaka Holdings have significant shareholder status or are outright divisions of the Arasaka Corporation. It has its own small arm manufacturing firm, its own Police Training division, its own security personnel training division, as well as a corporate Security division.

    Due to the tight focus of your search parameters and the fact you cross referenced data here and there, your research in the financial database came up with the following:

    Arasaka Corporation owns 12% stock in BTI.
    George Valdez recently acquired 18% of BTI stock.
    Zai Pu owns 10% of BTI stock as an original investor in the company.

    Cross referencing Zai Pu's marriage to Roger Fleet last year, brought up the interesting fact that Roger Fleet is Chief Financial Officer for Kaneko Financial Group
    Cross referencing George Valdez with known associations, you discover that he is a member of the Board for Arasaka Corporation. Those three hits in your database research brings up a possible link to nearly 40% of BTI's outstanding stock. All that would be necessary for Arasaka Corporation to grab controlling shares is the need for 11% total. Should BTI's stock take a downward turn, more of its stock would become available on the open market for a fraction of their nominal value in today's market.


    The private jet is registered to Matsuda Aeronautical Incorporated - carried one passenger by the name of Don Cassidy.

  9. #9

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    Last but not least...

    Passenger Manifests: Due to the FBI coordinating the investigation, all records of flights in and out of Night City are available. An estimated 80% of all privately owned aircraft flight records are also available to the FBI. To find specific data from all of these logs would require either a Computer Operations search roll, or an Intelligence Analysis roll, with heavy modifiers for not knowing what it is you're looking for. (GM note: Unfortunately, Fiona's overall skills in computer research is usually handled by her now dead partner. She can recognize only specific names. If you ask her what names she's looking for, she will inform you "anyone working for Arasaka's upper management team, Anyone working for Petrochem's upper management, or a handful of "specialty" teams that's personally aware of. Knowing that a load is lighter with more hands, she gives you the following list below. These are individuals who have worked with or for major corporations in the last 10 years - specializing in covert operations.

    Benny L. Reynolds
    Ruben Mueller
    Joe Douglas Lawson
    Jose Thomas Mcknight
    B. Elmer Lehman-Smith
    Charles Jordan
    Tracy Proctor
    Frank Jones
    David N. Richardson
    Joseph Christian
    Ricky C. Lilly
    Colby Matthew Garcia
    David Chan
    Charles Vernon Sanchez
    Kenneth Howell
    Billie King
    Joe Hester
    John John Mireles
    Joe Gustavo Conley
    Kenneth Shanks
    John Morrison
    Howard Roberts
    Gilberto Lund
    James Michael Fitzgerald
    William Abbott
    James Edward Burris
    Benjamin Ruiz
    James Steven Moreno
    Mohamed Stubbs
    Buddy Keith Moreno-Osborn
    John Donahue
    Kenneth Rowell
    Floyd Thompson
    E. Fred Gray
    Paul Mattingly
    N. Walter Bowens
    James Oscar Page
    Robert Smith
    Carl Barajas
    Larry Michael Randolph
    Rafael Ruiz-Miles
    Christopher Dixon-Williams
    William Kenneth Wright
    Donald Hunter
    Charles Gill
    Francis Marcus
    I. John Jones
    Donald Jackson-Barry
    Sergio Laughlin
    Benjamin S. Adams
    Aron Griffin
    Jeffrey A. Smith-Mcgee
    Thomas F. Steele
    Marty Barrera-Elkins
    Jason Thomas Raines
    Douglas Jones-Kimball
    James Hayward
    James Burris-Howard
    Jacob Gant
    James Morris
    Frank Abbott
    Alfred Turner
    John Edward Mason
    Paul Mcwilliams
    Donald Cassidy
    Charles Robbins
    Stanley Terrence Greene-Barlow
    Gregory Smith
    Elmer J. Brown
    Robert Schroeder
    Curtis Al Johnson
    Michael William Haney
    Gerald Paul Valencia
    Fernando M. Smith
    Q. James Casey
    Bryan Ronald Davis
    Marty R. Hilton
    Janice Taylor
    Carole Rivas
    Marissa Johnson
    Theresa Margaret Brown
    C. Carol Cook
    Charlotte Jessica Smith
    Evelyn Howell
    John Walker-Ford
    Betty Castillo-Sylvester
    Christine Theresa Stoner
    Beulah Sarah Pratt
    Barbara Bush
    Luz Hill
    Kelly Julie Burt
    Eva Rice
    Kimberly Garrett
    Jo Nicole Lane
    Edna Jones
    Dawn Yvette Blair
    Anita C. Chapman
    Elizabeth Ross
    Irma Glenda Shaffer
    D. Justine Hunter
    Stacy Cruz
    Nadine M. Kuhn

  10. #10

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    so, if you were seeing all of this data - what would you want to investigate, and why? BTI is the small corporation that manufactures the Retrovirus Vaccines. Its ability to meet demand is exceedingly limited and it was in the process of expanding its production capabilities when rumors surfaced that its vaccines were not as effective as advertised. Each Vaccine has a wholesale value of about $500 per dose, and has been sold for as high as $1,000 per dose under normal market conditions. No one has asked "is there a black market value for these vaccines". If they were to ask, perhaps some of this would come into focus. As GM however, I've largely tried not to lead them through the nose, and this campaign after all, has only had two game runs plus a few emails.

    Thoughts? Comments? Observations? Advice?

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