GAME NOTES

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to New Tokyo! It's intense. Everything's moving. The city's crowded. Bustling. It's dirty. The trash that hasn't been embedded into the asphalt by thousands of vehicles and feet or trapped into the millions of nooks and crannies, blows around freely. The only clean areas are owned by the Corporations. Toss something on the ground there and expect to explain to an officer in an armored Corporate uniform why you willfully spit in the ambiguous Corporate face. The skies are always overcast. Darkened by pollution and storm clouds. It rains frequently. The days the screamsheets claim are sunny are really just a brackish haze.

Technology is on the bleeding edge. If it's flashy, complicated, or gimmicky, it's what's trendy. For now. Biotechnology has brought us cloning, genetic engineering, broad-spectrum antibiotics and antitoxins, and retroviruses. Cybertechnology is available, if you can afford it. If you can't, you can always find it used, and the used stuff works the same as the new, right? Nanotechnology is still relatively new. It's still mainly used on a single-purpose basis.

Everything's retrofitted to everything else. Old buildings give way to new. Some new buildings are just glued onto existing crumbling structures. Buildings at the heart of the city seem to keep growing; taking up entire city blocks and hundreds of stories tall. Forgotten neighborhoods decay into crime and disease.

Crime is at an all-time high. So are deaths. When individuals are insignificant in the wash of bodies, life is meaningless. Drugs are easy to get. Many of the special-purpose engineered drugs have become quasi-legalized and are usually labeled "designer drugs". Those that aren't legal can usually found by walking out your front door.

Welcome to New Tokyo. Watch your back.

BACKGROUND

Some loose background information:

There are rumors that Militech has developed a pistol with heat-seeking properties
There are also unsubstantiated rumors that Fuyu, an Arasaka AI, has gone rogue
There is a significant Mafia presence in New Tokyo (big surprise...)
Blanks have been disappearing
Vigilanteism is on the rise
Vera Blue, Fil's hacker friend, is missing
An abandoned oil rig off shore from New Tokyo was recently blown up

NPCs

Here's a quick list of NPCs our players have encountered. You are responsible for remembering specific details about them (and should write them down on your contact sheet!) Note that not everybody has encountered them.

Alain - Vocalist, Karla Blake's roommate
Antoine - Fixer
Brooklyn - Rogue tech
Chip - Hacker kid
Gracie - Rik Shaw's bodyguard
Hope Rosenthal - Network 66 reporter
Jake - Job contact
Janey Crane - Network 23 reporter
Jase - Merc
Kaitlin O'Connor - Blank - Deceased
Nim - Pilot for New Tokyo branch of Texas Air Rangers
Mother - Bartender at the Nostromo
Rat - ?
Rik Shaw - Combat Zone Fixer
Ripley - Street Doc
Sean O'Connor - Blank, Kaitlin's brother
Shin - Sushi stall vendor
Vera Blue - Hacker - Currently missing
Vince and Nick - TraumaTeam Medtechs

CORPORATIONS

Here's a quick list of Corporations of note:

Arasaka - Physical and Information Security
Biotech - Genetic and Biotechnology
Militech - Weapons Manufacturer
Network 23 - Television Network
Network 66 - Television Network
Ono-Sendai - Cyberdeck Manufacturer

GOALS

I expect every character to have their own set of goals. I will make every effort to work your goals into the game. Overall, general goals for the game are stay alive and keep employed. Staying alive is fairly self-explanatory. As for keeping employed, I will provide opportunities for keeping busy. However, I will not spoon feed you jobs. Jobs can be obtained from various sources including little snippets in the screamsheets and good roleplaying. As for player goals, after everything is said and done, we're playing to have fun. If we aren't having a good time, we'll pause the game, take a breather, and discuss what's wrong with the situation.

RESOURCES

I will try to provide many resources for you to use with and for the game. These include, but are not limited to:

Game materials (rulebooks, character sheets, pencils, paper, etc.)

New Tokyo Screamsheets (at occasional intervals)

Our CyberPunk website: www.ravenna.com/~czechm8/cpunk/cpunk.html

A playing environment

HOUSE RULES

We will set a game time. I expect everybody to show up at that time. We will take a half hour to settle in and get comfy. If you show up late, I won't kick you out, but we'll take only a five minute break to let you get ready. If we plan on eating as a group beforehand, let's attempt to do it prior to game time.

If there is a rule dispute that takes longer than two minutes to resolve, I will make a judgement, and we can discuss it after the game. I expect anybody to say something if a dispute lasts longer than two minutes.

I will try to have a supply of Mountain Dew and filtered water on hand. If you wish to drink something else, bring it and put it in the fridge.

I will provide Shrimp Chips for consuming at the ShrimpChip Noodle Bar™. If you want to bring something else, please do so.

No alcoholic beverages before or during the game.

No smoking in the house.

We will take occasional five minute breaks for stretching, smoking outside, bathroom breaks, etc.

No spectators. They're distracting. If they show up, I will have no choice but to play the Mao rule, and make them play.....

Phone calls should be kept to a minimum. If they are important, we will take a five minute break.

POST GAME

After the game is over, we shall take no more than twenty minutes to discuss the game. I would like to go player by player to discuss how everybody else played. The reason for this is two-fold: so everybody can examine their playing style and so I can fairly assign experience (Fame and Fortune) points. I will also take this time for feedback, suggestions, and constructive criticisms about how I run the game. I want to make this the best gaming experience I can.