Unusual but practical Cyberpunk gear

[coiledspring]

I am new to this forum, (despite being an old fart of a gamer), so I am unsure if this is the right place to post this enquiry. If not I am certain that the diligent moderators will let me know. Well here goes.

I am currently working on a simulationist rpg concept set in the near future, during the period of inevitable (and quite desirable) Chinese hegemony. The rules system will be a very standard die pool system, borrowing heavily from white wolf and others but in D10, 9’s & 10’s count flavor, such that every die equates to an additional 20% chance of success. I am going for a medium level of crunchiness. Ok there is the overview, nothing remarkable. Now onto the meat and potatoes of my muse.

I am looking for ideas from any source for enhancements, either mental or physical supplied by future 2150 tech to the human condition. Defining technology level is always tiresome so imagine ghost in the shell (I know we have all read / seen that). If you prefer imagine a system wide human civilization just a millimeter from the singularity.

The enhancements should be of a type that demonstrates convergence between bio and mech’ elements. No hulking steel plate here. Sleek, refined, elegant. Systems that work side by side with the totality of the enhanced subject. No “humanity loss” concept.

Specifically I am looking for unusual but practical systems that will provide good roleplaying handles and challenge my ability as ST. I have got most of the standard stuff covered already. Can’t wait to see if there are any novel ideas out there!

[Call Me Curly]

Ultralight synthetic body fat as fashion fad, body armor, cold weather gear, swimming aid, and Buddha-worship.

[coiledspring]

You mean the uploadable buddha ?

[David Artman]

What about nanotech clothing and armor? It could reconfigure itself to be just about any style or color, and it could be self-healing, as Armor.

Couple that together with intuitive mind/machine interfaces to the nanotech, and you could even have the clothing behave as weapons or independently (think Spawn's cloak).

Taken a step or two further, and the same clothing/armor could provide disguise, lookalike, or even chameleon effects.

And what about that mind/machine interface? Can it copy one's mind state? If so, then you could probably have "reincarnation" as downloading a mind state into a new cloned body.

Taken further, if that mind state can actually be *active* in cyberspace, then it could go out and perform independent tasks and then return to "assimilate" what it's learned with the original mind. So everyone could have a bunch of intellectual twins as cybernetic agents.

And what about that nanotech? Read Diamond Age, by Neal Stephenson, to see *several* ways that nanotech could become ubiquitous, in society.

HTH;
David

[coiledspring]

Good ideas away from the beaten track. Thank you.

[Simon C]

I don't know how you feel about game "balance", but if you don't mind characters with differeng levels of cyberware that's not "balanced", the way I did it might work for you.

Basically, I decided that no list was going to cover all the weird and exciting things I wanted in the game.  It's part of the genre to encounter bizarre alterations that are possibly unique, or incredibly rare, and very task-specific.  I figured a "shopping list" would only discourage people from being creative.  So my rule for cyberware was "whatever you can think of".  At character creation, they could start with whatever they thought was cool, with abilities defined by discussion between me (the GM) and them, with consultation from the other players.  "Balance" wasn't an issue for us, but we did try to protect niches to some extent.  Basically, it meant your character could to one task incrediby well.

Some of the cool ideas the players came up with:
Bones made of "intelligent" plastic, which could mould to any shape, but stay rigid.
A face made of the same material, with a chip slot so that it could emulate a variety of pre-progammed faces.
Reversible, spring loaded knee joints, which allowed for incredible jumping power.
A detachable cyber-eye (for looking around corners)
A spine and leg joint modification that allowed it to "fuse", plus heel spikes, forming a stable heavy weapons platform.

It's worth noting that, later, I drew up a "price guide" to make it easier to work out the cost of buying new cyberware, and this immediately killed the creativity.  As soon as I gave them the list, the players' "shopping list mentality" returned, and they were back to "cyber arm + 1"

Like I said, this might not be what you're going for with your game, but it's worth considering.

[coiledspring]

I agree with you generally about the shopping list, but I decided that forty or fifty pages(ish) of equipment ideas could not hurt. I fully expect players to kit bash their gear. I love some of the devices you have just proposed especially the bone melding & plastic face morph implant, excellent just the sort of thing I need.

As for relative "power levels" I couldn't give a hoot if the players as balanced either internally or with respect to the rest of civilization. If they want to bite off more than they can chew that's on them. I'm going for a very realistic feel here.

[Simon C]

See, I guess what I'm saying is that a shopping list, no matter how long, can have a definite effect on the kinds of things you'll have in your game.  I was going for a very "extreme" feel with the cyberware; I wanted the players to really stretch the concept as far as it would go.  When I introduced the list, it immediately changed the feel.  Your experience may vary though.  I think the primary advantage of a list is in determining prices, and balancing the things against each other.  The other effect is that it gives your setting a more consistent feel, if everyone's shopping from the same list it can make the setting come to life for some players. 

The "intelligent plastic" face (no idea where the name came from) was awesome in-game as well.  Becasue the chips had to be programmed in advance, we had a few cool scenes where a character with a camera equipped cyber-eye surreptitiously took a number of photos of this security guard, and then the computer expert hacked the chip software and modelled up the guard in 3D, so the face could emulate it, allowing the character to sneak into the facility undetected.  It was pretty classic.

It's interesting that you use the word "realistic".  It's something of a dirty word in game design, I think, becasue everyone's idea of what is realistic is different, and it can lead to very detailed, very cumbersome mechanics, for little purpose.  So "realistic" rules are a bit of a red herring, I think.  On the other hand, for a cyberpunk game, you definitely want the "colour" of realism.  That is, you want the game to use "real life" terms to explain the in game events.  You want, as you say, the "feel" of realism.  How does your game evoke this feel, without chasing the red herring of "reality simulation"?

[johnwedd]

wow, i love cyberpunk stuff. heres one for ya

Nueroclips: small stud-like electronic device, that fits a special plug-in behind the ear. small as jewlery, and just as common. these lil buggers can give knowlege on a variety of subjects, like conversational spanish, modern art,etc. but its not a patch of genuinely learning something, you can't just stick in a clip and suddenly be a master of martial arts. brain couldn't handle the sudden influx and the amount of hardware to hold that much info would be impractical. but they can also do other things, like give the user a perfect sense of direction, sense of time, balance, etc. but not much more than that.

[coiledspring]

See, I guess what I'm saying is that a shopping list, no matter how long, can have a definite effect on the kinds of things you'll have in your game...

The sort of players I have (all guys in their 30's and 40's all into indie / alt rpg's), always want weird - tweeked gear backgrounds, allies or powers for any game we play so no matter the length of the list I feel secure that it will not stiffle their creativity. In fact its usually all any ST can do just to keep up!

It's interesting that you use the word "realistic".  It's something of a dirty word in game design, I think, becasue everyone's idea of what is realistic is different, and it can lead to very detailed, very cumbersome mechanics, for little purpose.  So "realistic" rules are a bit of a red herring, I think.  On the other hand, for a cyberpunk game, you definitely want the "colour" of realism.  That is, you want the game to use "real life" terms to explain the in game events.  You want, as you say, the "feel" of realism.  How does your game evoke this feel, without chasing the red herring of "reality simulation"?

Let me define my terms a little more (I know people REALLY care about definitions on indie sites). When I say realism I mean simply that firefights and violence will be revoltingly unpleasant, no-one will be a simulated super hero, and all the tech must seem in keeping with thye general level found in society. Also the norms of this projected future must be respected by the players. There are for example defined codes of law that must be avoided or observed. In this sense I don't feel that chasing reality is a red herring, in fact the players will welcome it as a change from some of the other freeform and fantastical stuff we have done last year. The group changes systems and genre the way other folk change their underpants!

[coiledspring]

wow, i love cyberpunk stuff. heres one for ya

Nueroclips: small stud-like electronic device, that fits a special plug-in behind the ear. small as jewlery, and just as common. these lil buggers can give knowlege on a variety of subjects, like conversational spanish, modern art,etc. but its not a patch of genuinely learning something, you can't just stick in a clip and suddenly be a master of martial arts. brain couldn't handle the sudden influx and the amount of hardware to hold that much info would be impractical. but they can also do other things, like give the user a perfect sense of direction, sense of time, balance, etc. but not much more than that.

Love it (strangely I didn't have these as yet), thank you very much!

[johnwedd]

yeah, it was a theory that was brought up in nueromancer, and brushed over on otaki and baron zero. i'm a cyber geek. so i shouldn't claim anything from it. 

[coiledspring]

I am going to include the clips but not specify the load-out. The players can load them with any reasonable effect. That should keep the off the wall ideas coming. I also have been a life long fan of the sub-genre but more the Larry Niven than Gibson version.