Netflix is heading back to Night City. We just don’t know when. We don’t even know what the streamer is going to do when it returns there. And we definitely don’t know if this new animated story is connected to the site’s previous anime series set in the video game world. The streamer and CD Projekt Red released a “special announcement” trailer for a mysterious new Cyberpunk project. They just didn’t share any details about it.

As part of this year’s digital Geeked Week event Netflix revealed it’s getting back into Cyberpunk 2077‘s world of technology and body modification. This new animated series will seemingly just be known as Cyberpunk without any year designation just yet.

And that’s about all we actually know about it! The streaming site and CDPR only said “more info” is “coming soon.”

With so few/any details, the lack of information might be more telling. This will not be the first animated show from the franchise to debut at Netflix. In 2022 the two companies released Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, an animated miniseries based on CD Projekt Red’s video game. That ten-episode season told the story of “a street kid trying to survive in Night City” by becoming “a mercenary outlaw also known as a cyberpunk.” This brief teaser also makes no mention of Studio Trigger, which was behind Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.

It’s certainly possible this new series could have a direct connection to the previous one, either through recurring characters or plot. The change in title and a complete lack of nods towards it has us lenaing towards this new show being an all-new thing. We’ll just have to wait to find out.

In the meantime, fans of the franchise can celebrate the total turnaround it has undergone since the original game’s less than stellar debut. It did not initially live up to its highly anticipated release. (To put it kindly.) Yet here it is about to have another anime spinoff series. The fact we don’t know anything about it doesn’t change how telling that fact is.

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One of the most celebrated science fiction novels of all time is soon becoming a series for Apple TV+. Neuromancer, based on the iconic novel by William Gibson, will become a 10-episode series for the streamer. Many credit the 1984 novel for creating the cyberpunk genre. Others even cite the novel for coming up with the term “cyberspace” in the first place. Forty years later, it is finally getting a proper adaptation. This series comes from creators Graham Roland (Jack Ryan) and J.D. Dillard, with Roland serving as showrunner and Dillard directing the pilot episode. Additionally, per Deadline, Masters of Air‘s Callum Turner has joined the cast as the series’ lead, Case.

According to the official series description, the story follows a damaged, top-rung super-hacker named Henry Case, who, as mentioned, will be played by Callum Turner. He finds himself in a web of digital espionage and high-stakes crime with his partner Molly. A razor-girl assassin with mirrored eyes, Molly aims to pull a heist on a corporate dynasty with many untold secrets. Case soon comes in contact with a powerful A.I., decades before that term was in common use. Gibson followed up the original novel with two more in what he called “the Sprawl trilogy,” Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive. It’s unknown if these 10 episodes serve as a self-contained season, or if the other books are part of this adaptation as well.

Neuromancer is famously the only sci-fi novel to win the Nebula Award, the Philip K. Dick Award, and the Hugo Award for an original paperback novel. Its influence is huge, and many have noticed its fingerprints on the themes and storylines of The Matrix. It’s the latest celebrated science fiction novel to receive the big-budget treatment as a series from AppleTV+, along with Isaac Asimov’s Foundation. No word yet on who will star in Neuromancer, or even when filming commences, but don’t expect to see the series on AppleTV+ before 2025.

Originally published on February 28, 2024.

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Who doesn’t need a multi-colored armored spine just in time for the holidays? Sure, it makes a good cosplay addition, but it could also be used for other purposes. Perhaps the metallic armor is just the accessory you need to finally sit up straight in your office chair. Cyborgs certainly don’t slouch. You can buy your very own bionic glowing spine for $710-910, depending on the options you choose. What options are there for cyperpunk spines, you may ask. Well, the aluminum structure itself comes in either silver or black and has three sizes. So whether you need a small, medium, or large spine, the Etsy shop BionicConcepts has your back.

We saw this luminous tech on Technabob. The rig comes with a remote control to set the speed, brightness, and colors. And based on the Instagram feed, the designer has been working to improve it for years now. For those who want to incorporate cyberpunk aesthetic elements into their everyday lives, this Etsy artist has you covered from head to toe, front to back. The shop also sells wings, gauntlets, utility belts, and more items that bridge the divide between mechanical and fantastical.

The market for light-up cosplay pieces seem to expand every year as folks add new glowing accessories to their lives. Another great artist we learned about recently is Sophy Wong, who brings a colorful mixture of robotics and art to her 3D-printed pieces. But for those of us not crafty enough to make our own pieces, it’s nice to know Etsy has plenty of shops where we can spend our hard-earned cash on that perfect addition to our wardrobe.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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Spiders, why does it always have to be spiders? There’s no shortage of ways to decorate your home with these creepy crawlies with no shortage of legs. It may make your guests jump with fright, but once they calm down they’ll certainly want to take a closer look. This lamp from Mecrob is shaped like a robotic spider and made out of found parts. It’s actually a model kit with 618 pieces and an estimated four hours of assembly time. And it’s on sale just in time for spooky season for $70. The video below shows off its adjustable and dimmable light features, perfect for setting the mood for anything from a rave to romance robot spider-style.

We saw this lighted arachnid thanks to Technabob, which suggests it as the perfect way to illuminate a creepy underground robotics lab. Can’t argue with that. If spiders aren’t your thing but DIY metal cyberpunk kits are, Mecrob has plenty of other options on offer. There’s a Bluetooth speaker in the shape of a scorpion, an Army tank cell phone stand, and of course a candle holder shaped like the headless body and motorcycle of Ghost Rider. And that’s just a few of the kits available on their website.

Once you have this robotic metal spider desk lamp, why not decorate your entire desk with spiders? There’s lots of other possibilities, like one made out of antique watches. What about adding a pop of color with some artistic blown glass spiders. Or if you’d rather go for the superhero vibe, you can opt for a Spider-Man lamp instead.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She does not like spiders. Melissa moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth.

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Oregon-based mechanical engineer Ian Davis is in the midst of building an extraordinary prosthetic hand. The partial hand—in the videos and pictures below—is stunningly intricate and now, after two years of development, working flawlessly. It’s also steampunk (and a little cyberpunk) AF.

The videos of Davis’ mechanical hand prosthetic, which come via Gizmodo, are on his eponymous YouTube channel. Davis’ channel is dedicated to outlining the journey he’s been on to build the electromechanical prosthetic hand; a journey that began in 2019 following an accident in his shop.

Davis told KDRV News that his healthcare provider informed him his fingers were not “medically necessary” post surgical operation, and the indefatigable engineer, who is also battling cancer, stepped up and decided to take on the task of building the prosthetic himself. Now, two years later, the prosthetic works so well it almost seems like its functionality is a special effect.

The mechanical prosthetic is mostly aluminum, and consists of a series of linkages and levers; some of which even use bike chains. When Davis moves his hand or wrist, the links and levers transmit that movement to the aluminum fingers; allowing the engineer to make fists, splay his fingers, or do pretty much anything else one can with a hand. Once complete, the hand will also have electronics allowing it to, say, monitor a wearer’s heart rate. It will also be able to connect via bluetooth to attachments, such as this mini chainsaw.

Davis ultimately wants to team up with a biomedical engineering department at a university in order to build hands like this one for other amputees. “There’s a need and it just needs to be filled,” Davis told KDRV news. He added that his greatest desire is to see his prosthetics on other people, helping them the way the devices help him.

Ian Davis

Originally published on June 6, 2020.

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2020 is proving to be the kind of year that sets up a cyberpunk movie in a prologue text card—for numerous reasons. Considering the fact that 2020 may also set up the rest of our lives as a cyberpunk narrative, what better time than now to discuss which cyberpunk fashion trends we should see more of in real life? Especially since these designs deliver stealthiness, autonomy, and symbiosis with technology. Those elements are all essential for surviving the cyberpunk landscapes.

To that end, here are seven cyberpunk fashion items that could help us survive whatever extinction-level event is going to turn humanity into a bunch of cybernetically enhanced beings. And they’ll help you look good while doing it.

Light-Up Jackets

CD Projekt Red

While big coats and jackets are peak cyberpunk, the ones we’ll want to popularize in real life should light up like V’s bomber in Cyberpunk 2077. It’s not just for the gimmick. Because there’s a lot of darkness in cyberpunk worlds (including IRL ones), you want to stand out so you don’t get run over.

Utility Belts

Warner Bros.

Utility belts may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of cyberpunk, but they’re going to be so helpful. Designs like the one Terry McGinnis wears in Batman Beyond (see above) are stylish and functional. You could carry around lasers, batteries, hair gel, snacks—everything you’d need to survive and remain stylin’ for days at a time.

Combat Boots

Production I.G

Combat boots, like Motoko Kusanagi’s from Ghost in the Shell, are the go-to footwear in many cyberpunk worlds. A lot of people own and wear sturdy combat boots already, and they’re on the right track. The cyberpunk outfits that will be most useful in real life will be durable and comfortable. And nothing says durable, comfortable, and badass like combat boots.

AR Sunglasses

Eidos Montréal 

AR (augmented reality) glasses, like Adam Jensen’s “smart vision” shades in Deus Ex, should be a quintessential part of real-life cyberpunk fashion culture. You’ll want to keep track of a lot of bodily stats as a cybernetically enhanced human. And you’ll also need profile read-outs on any sketchy characters coming your way.

Leather Gloves

Valve

The Gravity Gloves from Half-Life: Alyx may have some powers we’ll never have in real life, but they’re still the kind of cyberpunk gloves we should popularize. They keep your hands warm, provide crucial health stats, and allow your fingers to remain naked for quick hacking at keyboards.

Face Covering

Warner Bros.

Face coverings, which show up in worlds like Blade Runner 2049, should be an essential cyberpunk accessory. Right now, face masks are commonplace due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But we should keep embracing them. Face coverings will not only help people remain anonymous and stealthy, but also avoid identification by facial recognition cameras.

Backpack

Netflix 

Finally, everybody assembling their real-life cyberpunk look should consider a backpack. Yes, something like Takeshi Lev Kovacs’ “Hello Unicorn” backpack from Altered Carbon is probably too conspicuous, but the utility function is undeniable.

Featured Image: CD Projekt Red

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GM Amy Dallen introduces the TBD RPG crew to a new RPG from Nightpath Publishing, Entromancy: A Cyberpunk Fantasy RPG. Entromancy​ is a cyberpunk, urban fantasy d20 roleplaying game set in San Francisco in the late 21st Century.

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As tabletop gaming continues to rise in popularity, more-and-more tools and tricks become available for storytellers to enhance their tabletop games. Using soundtracks isn’t exactly an old trick (hell, I’ve been using Chrono Cross music for my games since its release), but it has gotten a lot easier. MP3 files of every song, soundtrack, or video game are organized on many a storytellers PC, but having the exact mood on demand for every scenario does take a lot of searching. Thanks to newer software like Syrinscape, having a full sound, background music, and sound effect board that works off a tablet means you can have a full range of atmosphere.

Why use a sound tool when storytelling though? Particularly paid ones when YouTube, Spotify, or MP3 files work for soundtracks just fine. At this point, you can google “D&D Ambience” and find 10-hour long soundscapes for everything from the Jungles of Chult to The Great Abyss. These soundscapes are handy in a pinch, but are repetitive and lack dynamic or character personal natures that other tools offer. Plus, if you are going to storytell in a modern or cyberpunk game—you’ll need to up your sound effects since those soundscapes aren’t as common.

Like any tool for storytelling, we need a proper time to use it. Here are some key points if you are pondering sound immersion at your table.

Character Soundtracks

I’ve found nothing that gets me in sync with a character of mine more than music. Like an anime intro that plays to the montage of every character in the campaign, character soundtracks create an instant connection. Many players (raises hand) have entire albums for their character with a variety of songs to help get them into a role-playing mode. There’s no reason you can’t use this as a storyteller.

Try finding a theme song for every adventure you run or every session even. At the end of a campaign, you can put them all together and have a soundtrack for your game. These often aren’t played at the table during the live session, but a nicer out-of-game tribute to the events and actions that have happened. Another cool trick is to have a library of “epic win” and “epic fail” songs on hand. When you are running combat that has clearly swung to one side or the other—play the music and switch to narration mode to close out the scene. It has a better impact than rolling out the last few dice to no fanfare.

Sound As Mood Setting

Fantasy campaigns have boring sound settings (tosses down storyteller glove). There are only so many “leaky dungeon” soundscapes or boring ethereal Elven forest music I can take before I want to drill my brain out. When it comes to fantasy settings, I still prefer instrumental music unless I really want to create some horror. Then maybe some howling wind is up to your alley. Syrinscape fits perfectly here because you can time in different background noises like creaking doors or the distant sound of ravenous wolves. Yet its modern-day and cyberpunk settings that sound immersion become wickedly cool.

The new Cyberpunk 2020 rules set and soundtracks from Cyberpunk 2077 fit perfectly into science fiction, cyberpunk, urban fantasy, and many other modern campaigns. Real music that is compelling and interesting to listen to but still fades well into the background. The occasional chatter, bar glasses chinking, or even a concert being started up complete with mic check. If you’re running a Shadowrun campaign, it makes for the perfect immersive setting to meet your Johnson contact. I can’t recommend enough how handy the sound sets are for modern-day campaigns in creating an immersive environment where it’s sorely needed.

In fantasy campaigns, there is enough of a disconnect for players to imagine walking through the Elven forest. A little sound can enhance that and bring them further home. In modern-day campaigns, the sound is essential to separate your players from the living room to the seedy night club.

When To Use Sound Effects

Sound effects for spells and explosions are whimsical and cute, but more of a novelty at the table. Players tend to focus on the sound of the storytellers’ voice and your cadence when you are narrating and pausing to cue up a sound effect actually breaks immersion more than it enhances it. It’s, for this reason, I say to avoid overloading your players’ audible senses with a plethora of repeated sound effects for every action… but they do have a place.

Sounds of crying children or people pleading for help as the party races through combat to save hostages is a perfect example of when to use a sound effect. Try to locate sounds (or use a sound toolset), that works well for an event, rather than an effect, that is happening in the current scene. Characters are in a dungeon? Find some low-key fleshy torture sounds. Characters are in a serene garden? Find some sound effects of running water. The magic formula here is the current scene, low-key soundtrack, the sound effect of an event.

Of course, having the sad-trombone effect is always good for laughs on a timely critical fail.

Ever use sound effects to great effect? Let us know in the comments below!

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Featured Image by: Eddy-Shinjuky Cyberpunk 2077 Concept Art – A New Girl In Town

Image Credits: Syrinscape, and Cyberpunk 2020 RPG

Rick Heinz is the author of The Seventh Age Series, Dread Adventures, and a storyteller with a focus on D&D For Kids, Wraith: The Oblivion, Eclipse Phase, and an overdose of LARPs. You can follow the game or urban fantasy related thingies on Twitter or Facebook or reach out for writing at RickHeinzWrites@gmail.com

The post Using Soundtracks and Effects to Enhance Your Tabletop Game appeared first on Nerdist.

The sci-fi dystopia presented by games like Cyberpunk 2077 show us a world full of A.I., greedy corporations, body augmentation, high-tech weaponry, and so many vinyl jackets. But that far-flung future they present is happening right now. Join Dan Casey on a brand new episode of Explainiac as he breaks down how our cyberpunk future is happening right now.

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These days, almost everything is connected to the internet. We walk around with computers in our pockets, talk to our speakers, and remotely access the cameras in our fridges and doorbells. Cyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt Red’s forthcoming dystopian shooter-RPG, takes this concept even further and shows what an always-on, hyper-connected future really looks like. During an hourlong hands-off E3 demo that showcased a previously unseen area of the game, that meant hacking into everyday objects — and even people.

Based on a tabletop role-playing game from the late 1980s, Cyberpunk 2077 is set in Night City, a megacity of the future where body modification is all the rage. The game’s protagonist, V, is completely customizable, from physical features to gender to attributes and attitude. Every choice you make affects how others interact with you, including your wardrobe and history. For example, if you choose a “street kid” background (as opposed to “nomad” or “corporate”), you might have more luck talking to gangsters, which comes in handy in the seedy underworld of Night City.

You can see a lot of the staples of the sci-fi subgenre in Cyberpunk 2077; it’s a sort of neon-noir grittiness that blends vibrant color and grime to show how things went wrong. This was especially apparent in Pacifica, a district designed as luxury tourist resort. Billboards show Pacifica’s original vision, but as it was never finished, it’s now a slum. It’s a very “expectation versus reality” moment.

Locals have turned what would have been a high-end hotel into a flea market of sorts, where V can pick up new clothes and mods. After a short shopping trip, V meets up with a man named Placide to discuss a new mission. Because this demo’s V was part of the Netrunner class, there was a big focus on hacking and tech, and Placide won’t help V unless he can hack into the protagonist’s body to keep an eye on the mission.

Placide wasn’t the only voice in V’s head during the demo. Johnny Silverhand, notoriously played by Keanu Reeves, pops up from time to time like a handsome cyberghost. Silverhand is based on a character from the original game, and the extent of his role in CDPR’s imagining isn’t entirely clear, but he does comment on V’s actions from time to time.

According to CD Projekt Red, there are multiple ways to approach any given situation. You can go in guns blazing or take a more measured approach, the latter of which was a better idea when infiltrating the base of the muscle-obsessed Animals gang. These baddies inject themselves with a special liquid to gain physical strength, and they are indeed intimidating. Using stealthy moves, V was able to get past many of them without raising the alarm.

It’s possible to get through the entire game without killing a single person. This demo, however, did not do that. V can use environmental takedowns to destroy his enemies, as demonstrated when he stuffed one Animal in a garbage chute. And remember when I mentioned that everything can be hacked? That includes the weight-lifting machines, which led to a particularly gruesome death for one guy just trying to get his gains in.

While all this is going on, the facility itself is being hacked by another Netrunner (the Cyberpunk 2077 term for “hacker”), who’s using digital billboards to flash V messages like “Go back” and “Leave now.” It turns out that this ‘runner is from Netwatch, a government cybersecurity group. Through dialogue options, V can decide whether to trust the other Netrunner or follow Placide’s orders to terminate him; the demo player chose the second option, which led to an immediate betrayal. V and every connected Netwatch agent are incapacitated as a virus takes them out. It’s only thanks to Johnny Silverhand that V isn’t shut down for good.

There’s no way to verify this now, but based on what I saw of Cyberpunk 2077, it looks like each playthrough could vary wildly thanks to the sheer amount of player choice. I couldn’t help but wonder how V would experience Pacifica with a different affiliation or background. It feels like CD Projekt Red’s next epic has been in development for millennia, but there’s not long to wait now; Cyberpunk 2077 will launch on April 16, 2020.

Images: CD Projekt Red

The post The World of CYBERPUNK 2077 is an Interconnected Nightmare appeared first on Nerdist.

This year’s E3 started off with a hell of a bang; more gameplay and story from Cyberpunk 2077, a release date of April 2020 and a cameo from Keanu Reeves that many are speculating is Johnny Silverhand, a character deeply important to the setting’s lore. In case you missed it, or want to get blown away again…

It’s great that we have a release date, but that’s 10 months from now! What to do in the interim? Luckily, cyberpunk as a genre has a pretty storied history in tabletop RPGs. Cyberpunk 2077 is set in a tabletop RPG world, much like sister game The Witcher came from a series of novels. Rather than play that video over and over in the background, why not bust out some high tech heists featuring cool characters, sweet tech and maybe just a hint of dystopian melancholy?

Cyberpunk 2020/Cyberpunk Red

For GMs that want to go direct to the source, Cyberpunk 2020 is the past of Cyberpunk 2077’s retrofuture (if that makes sense). This was one of the first cyberpunk RPGs on the market and set the template for a lot of what followed. Most games feature PC Edgerunners who did dirty jobs for corporations, criminals and whoever else would be willing to slide some credits their way to get the latest cyberware. Going through these books is a fascinating look at where technology has traveled versus where some folks thought it might go. Fans who want to jump into the year 2077 can do so as of Gen Con 2019; publisher R. Talsorian Games is releasing a jumpstart kit for Cyberpunk Red, a new edition of the game set in the video game’s continuity.

Shadowrun

For most fans of cyberpunk tabletop, there’s a long standing race between two settings that rivals things like Coke vs. Pepsi, Star Trek vs. Star Wars and PC vs. Mac. Shadowrun came out shortly after Cyberpunk did and upped the ante by adding in fantasy elements to hook new fans. Running a neon neural network is cool, but so is matching wits with a CEO who also happens to be an actual fire-breathing dragon. Shadowrun has also got a presence in the video game world with a series of great isometric RPGs featuring X-Com style combat and Bioware style NPC management for anyone looking to check out the world on their own. A new edition is slated for this summer.

Shadow of the Beanstalk

Although the late, lamented Android: Netrunner is no longer with us, Fantasy Flight Games is keeping the setting alive with this book for the Genesys RPG. Shadow of the Beanstalk adapts the Android universe to the system made famous by FFG’s Star Wars RPG. This cyberpunk setting feels fresh thanks to a more modern take on some of the class and technology issues as well as touching on some of the “what does it mean to be human?” themes of classics like Blade Runner. Players can make full synthetic characters who explore the mysteries and dangers of the Beanstalk, the space elevator that’s become central to the Android setting. There’s also a great art book full of setting details that compliments the RPG rules.

Bonus trivia: Android: Netrunner was an adaptation of the Netrunner CCG which was originally set in the Cyberpunk 2020 universe!

The Veil

Fans of the anime-influenced side of cyberpunk will find a lot to love in The Veil. This Powered By The Apocalypse  game features playbooks directly inspired by Ghost in the Shell and Battle Angel Alita. Playbook choice determines what the big issues of the game are going to be. The game also features influenced by JRPGs. Players choose what they add to rolls based on what they feel at the time. Players decided if their character’s are sad they have to hack someone’s cyberbrain or mad they have to get into a brawl with a robot. Use the same emotion too much and it causes a limit break like issue that has to be resolved with some deep soul searching (and role-playing).

The same company, Samjoko Publishing,  also recently released Hack the Planet, a cyberpunk game where the dark urban future of cyberpunk clashes with the apocalypse of climate change.

The Sprawl

For those tables who want to roll their own dystopian future, The Sprawl integrates making the world and making characters in the first session. Players of this Powered By the Apocalypse game not only choose their playbooks but also create the megacorporations that hire their crew to do dirty deeds dirt cheap. The designers also have supplements that add more unusual elements for GMs that want to shake things up a bit, such as Altered Carbon-style body sleeving, horror elements  for a dash of the supernatural or even quick hit missions perfect for a one shot or convention slot.

Chip These Articles Into Your Braintape

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Images Credits: R. Talsorian, Catalyst Game Labs, Fantasy Flight, Smajoko Publishing, Arden Luderes

Rob Wieland is an author, game designer (Star Wars RPG, Firefly RPG, Camelot Trigger) and professional nerd. who occasionally tweets and livestreams RPGs with the Theatre of the Mind Players while his meat body resides in scenic Milwaukee, WI. 

The post Scan These Great Cyberpunk RPGs appeared first on Nerdist.

Try to imagine, if you can, the far-off future of 2009. A time where, as soon as the sun sets, all those corporate suits come out of their high-rise offices and down into the glowing city streets. Your streets. They want your product, to party in your clubs, to feel alive even if it kills them. And if any reckless joovs get in your face, they’ll be the first to get deleted. In Neon Gods, the streets are yours for the taking.

First things first, you’ll need a crew. You’ve got a few loyal thugs in your pocket but there are some heavy hitters out there turned free agents and you better snatch ‘em up before the other gangs do. Some can keep your friends on their feet, others are better at knocking them down, but they’ve all got their specialties. Next you’ll need to build out your territory. Factories are good for making that sweet product that everyone hates to love and loves to hate. You can spend the cash to make your own, but the real money is in taking someone else’s hard work and turning it around for a quick buck before leaving the place high and dry.

Those other gangs aren’t going to take that lying down, so you’ll have to be ready for a fight. The law is pretty tight around here, so you can’t pack too many strapped yoots into any one space or the Andy’s will get suspicious, but if you keep some reinforcements nearby you shouldn’t have anything to worry about. And if you can build a tower or two, all the better. Lastly, any space your gang controls is great, but those skyscrapers are where the real action is. Capitalize on them and you’ll be golden. Hold on to them all night and you’ll be neck deep in what we came to this city for – what everyone comes here for – Blurp.

As you might have guessed by now, Neon Gods takes you on a somewhat tongue-in-cheek ride through a brilliantly painted cyberpunk cityscape. The game marries deck building a gang of cool criminals with area control mechanics, wherein you only earn Blurp – the victory points of the game – for the locations that your gang members are currently sitting on. As soon as they get knocked off a space, whatever else that might have been there is up for grabs.

Fighting in the game is snappy, with each player committing gang members that bring different skills to the fight. After revealing their cards, each player rolls different colored dice that will do damage and/or steal money from the opponent, and the high number wins. Combat isn’t too brutal through, as your cards simply go into the discard pile and your gang members head back to your hideout. Because of this, you usually don’t feel too discouraged after losing a fight, so it’s easy to get yourself back in the game.

It’s also worth noting that Neon Gods has a bit of a lineage. Back in 2013 Plaid Hat Games released City of Remnants, another game of rival gang members fighting for control of city streets. I’ve always held that, though it wasn’t perfect, City of Remnants deserved a bit more attention than it got. Now, Neon Gods has come around and has greatly streamlined the gameplay from Remnants (with room clearly left for expansions), as well as wrapped it in a beautiful new theme.

And let’s talk about the theme for a second. Specifically the design choices on these gang members. Plaid Hat Games have always done a great job including a diverse cast of characters, but they’ve really outdone themselves here. Besides the deck that each player starts with, every gang member you can recruit brings something unique to the table. It’s clear that great lengths were taken to be inclusive, and it pays off. Neon Gods has some of the best representation I’ve ever seen in a board game, and it should be safe to assume that everyone in the Geek and Sundry community can appreciate that.

It’s easy to get lost in the world of Neon Gods. From the theme, to the colors, to the inexplicable (but absolutely delightful) inclusion of owls as a gameplay mechanic, there’s a lot to be excited about. And with several different scenarios included in the box, each one requiring a different strategy, it’s going to keep you coming back to these retro-futuristic streets for more.

What are your favorite Psychedelic Neo-Retro Cyberpunk games? Let us know in the comments!

More Gaming Goodness!

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Image credit: Shea Parker

As well as writing for Geek and Sundry, Shea teaches board games on his YouTube channel RTFM. You can also talk to/follow/stalk him on Twitter @Sheasayswords and Instagram @RTFMshow

The post Take Down Rival Gangs And Rule The Fluorescent Streets In NEON GODS appeared first on Nerdist.

Our newest actual play show on Alpha, Callisto 6, brings together two genres that go great together; superheroes and cyberpunk. Pop culture has plenty of great examples of superheroes these days, but cyberpunk is a bit more obscure. There’s been a recent resurgence in the genre thanks to things like Altered Carbon from Netflix and Blade Runner 2049, but we thought fans of our show might want to check out some of the original sources to get a better sense of the kind of world which Callisto 6 inhabits.

Blade Runner

What began as an adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep became something else entirely in the hands of Ridley Scott in this 1982 film. Scott drew heavily on noir influences for this sci-fi tale of a bounty hunter tracking down escaped robots on Earth.  Deckard’s case takes him into the rarefied air of corporate scions and the rain-slicked streets where real animals no longer exist. It also ends on an ambiguous note that fans and filmmakers have argued for decades. The recent sequel still leaves the question unanswered but provided even more glimpses into a future world filled with wonder and with despair.

When most people hear the word cyberpunk the image they form in their mind is likely one from this film, like a beat-up car flying through a futuristic skyline or the bright neon signage of a dingy street where Deckard chases his prey.

Neuromancer

This 1984 novel by William Gibson was where many of the tropes of cyberpunks found their origins. It highlighted the clash between the high tech elements of the future and the low life members of society’s fringe that are used by the powerful to get their dirty work done. Elements of the setting had come from Gibson short stories like Johnny Mnemonic and Burning Chrome, but this collects everything together in a heist that involved cybernetically enhanced assassins and brain hacking computer experts that influenced two of the largest tabletop games of the 80s. Some folks think that Neuromancer influenced Blade Runner or vice-versa, but as often is he case it was the same influences working on creators in different ways.

Neuromancer heavily influenced the tabletop games that claimed to be part of the cyberpunk genre, primarily through the central conceit of rogue outcasts of society banding together to steal something from the corporations that rule everything.

Cyberpunk

R. Talsorian Games released groundbreaking RPG in 1988. It was inspired primarily by Hardwired, a Walter Jon Williams novel that mixed in a dash of post-apocalyptic surroundings to the glamorously gritty cities of cyberpunk. The game focused on the same heist structure used in Neuromancer to allow players to go on adventures without worrying about alignment or heroics like other RPGs. If this name sounds familiar to video game fans, that’s because this is the setting and system the upcoming CD Projekt video game is using for its first-person RPG Cyberpunk 2077.

This game influenced a lot of the good and bar tropes that are part of cyberpunk tales, such as the focus on cool guns and gadgets used by the main characters to the idea that too much cyberware makes a person cold or emotionless.

Shadowrun

This 1989 game was one of the first of many to blend cyberpunk with other genres. In addition to a dark future setting, Shadowrun adds in the return of magic, allowing teams of “shadowrunners” to include orks and wizards as part of their teams that can be hired to do dirty deeds cheap. The tabletop game continues to be published today and HareBrained Schemes has created a trilogy of excellent console RPGs that deliver the interesting details of this unique world to new players all the time.

Shadowrun brought cyberpunk full-circle by mixing in elements of D&D fantasy into the genre. It was also the first of many “kitchen sink” games that mashed up genres in tabletop roleplaying, inspiring such games such as RIFTS, TORG, and Deadlands.

This is by no means an exhaustive discussion of the genre. We expect to see some great suggestions for cyberpunk books, movies, games in the comments on social media. But everyone has to start somewhere, and these choices should put anyone in the mood for some more stories in the dark future of Callisto 6.

What cyberpunk titles would you recommend for newcomers to the genre? Tell us in the comments! 

More RPG Goodness!

• Learn About The Cyberpunk RPG That Inspired A Video Game
• Full Metal Cyberpunk comes to Pathfinder with Interface Zero 2.0
• Meet The Creator of Cyberpunk 2020

Check out Callisto 6!

Join GM Eric Campbell and players Amy Dallen, Aliza Pearl, Bonnie Gordon, Sam deLeve, Hector Navarro, and Gina DeVivio on Callisto 6, a cyberpunk-set actual-play RPG show!

You can check out the first episode here on Geek & Sundry, and catch it live on Twitch and on Alpha every Friday starting at 4PM Pacific. Don’t have an Alpha subscription? Get a free 30-day trial at projectalpha.com!

Images Credits: Warner Bros., Wikipedia, R. Talsorian, Topps

Rob Wieland is an author, game designer and professional nerd. He’s worked on dozens of different tabletop games ranging from Star Wars and Firefly to his own creations like CAMELOT Trigger. He can be hired as a professional Dungeon Master for in-person or remote games. His Twitter is here. You can watch him livestream RPGs with the Theatre of the Mind Players here. His meat body can be found in scenic Milwaukee, WI.

The post A Beginner’s Guide to Cyberpunk – 4 Seminal Titles to Check Out appeared first on Nerdist.

Geek & Sundry’s new cyberpunk superhero RPG show, Callisto 6, introduced us to a new set of PCs played by that excellent cast from the Shield of Tomorrow Star Trek Adventures RPG show. Callisto 6 is also introducing many viewers to the Cypher System, a grand RPG system from the Monte Cook Games team.

Unless you are already quite familiar with the Cypher System, it may be easy to get a bit lost in how and why of these new rules and game mechanics. So here’s a Cypher System Glossary of Mechanics to help you get a better grasp of the basics you’ll be seeing throughout the Callisto 6 season.

CHARACTER TERMS

Type: what a character is; a character’s class. The Cypher System uses four optional, generic class titles: Adepts, Explorers, Speakers, and Warriors.

Descriptors: what a character does; a character’s motivation. Take a peek at the online Cypher System Cypher Guide for the full List of Descriptors.

Focus: an ability set that makes a character special and unique. Check out online Cypher System Cypher Guide for the full List of Foci.

Stats: a PC’s three defining characteristics – Might, Speed, and Intellect.
Might: defines a PCs overall physical strength, endurance, and constitution.
Speed: defines a PC’s overall physical dexterity, movement, and reflexes.
Intellect: defines a PC’s overall intelligence, wisdom, and charisma.

Each Stat (Might, Speed, and Intellect) has two additional components: Pool and Edge.
Pool: the measurement of your PC’s raw, innate ability in that Stat. The average range is 9-12 points, which are spent when a PC wants to perform a Task.
Edge: a numbered factor that can reduce the Task cost of Pool points. For example, a PC with a Might Edge of 2 can reduce that number from a Task that uses their Might stat.

Effort: allows a PC to spend Pool points from a stat in order to increase their chance at accomplishing a Task with that stat. The first 3 points of Effort applied will lower a Task Difficulty by 1 step; only 2 Effort points are required to lower a Task Difficulty after that. Effort may also be applied to increase damage dealt. Effort is also affected by a stats’ Edge factor.

Asset: most anything that can be applied to a Task, usually reducing the Difficulty Level of the Task by 1 Step, and never more than 2.

Tiers: character levels, Tier 1 – Tier 6.

Benefits: actions bought with earned XP that mark progression to the next Tier. Each Benefit costs 4 XP, and all 4 must be bought (in any order) to advance to the next Tier.
Increasing Capabilities: You have 4 points to add to your stat Pools.
Moving Toward Perfection: add 1 point to your Might, Speed, or Intellect Edge.
Extra Effort: increase your Effort score by 1.
Skills: become Trained in 1 Skill of your choice.

Experience Points: Discovery is the core guiding principle in the Cypher System, and a prime factor a GM uses to award XP. Characters may earn 2-4 XP during a typical game session.

GM Intrusion: A GM may insert an “unexpected complication” for a PC at any time. However, the GM must also immediately award that PC 2 XP. Then, that PC must immediately give 1 of those XP to another PC of their choice. GM Intrusions may be refused by the PC at a cost of 1 XP (meaning that PC isn’t awarded the normal 2 XP). If a PC has no XP, the Intrusion cannot be refused.

Skill Levels
Level 1 Trained: Decreases the Difficulty Level of a Task by 1 step.
Level 2 Specialized: Decreases the Difficulty Level of a Task by 2 Steps.
Skill levels never decrease the Difficulty Level of a Task by more than 2 Steps.

ENCOUNTER TERMS

Initiative: A d20 PC Speed roll vs NPCs level-based target number.

Actions: attack, activate a special (non-attack) ability, move, wait, defend, or do something else.

Task Difficulty

Task Target Number is 3 x Task Difficulty. Example: a Task Difficulty of 5 (Challenging) means a PC has to roll a Target Number of 15 (3 x 5) or higher.

Special Rolls (d20)
Nat 1: GM Intrusion can happen without the normal 2 XP award.
17: Damage Bonus – +1 damage (damage-dealing attack rolls only).
18: Damage Bonus – +2 damage (damage-dealing attack rolls only)
19: Minor Effect – Damage-dealing attack does +3 damage; non-attack rolls do normal effect + a minor effect.
20: Major Effect – Damage-dealing attack does +4 damage; non-attack rolls do normal effect + major effect. Any stat Pool points spent on the action are refunded.

Damage to PCs reduces the appropriate stat Pool (usually Might).

Damage to NPCs reduces their Health score, which is equal to their Target Number.

Armor Value: subtracted from damage before it’s applied to the stat Pool. Light armor = 1, Medium armor = 2, Heavy armor = 3.

The Cypher System is of course much more than can be simply covered here. If your interest is sparked and you want to know more, download the free 17-page Cypher System Rules Primer. The Cypher System and Cypher Guide websites are also great places to learn more.

Be sure to tune in to watch the show live on Twitch and Alpha every Friday at 4PM Pacific! Don’t have an Alpha membership? Get a free 30-day trial at projectalpha.com!

More RPG Awesomeness!

• CALLISTO 6’s Cast Reveals Tidbits About Their Still-Mysterious Characters
• WATCH: CALLISTO 6 – Episode #1
• Getting your Friends to Love Roleplaying Games

What are your favorite things about Callisto 6 and the Cypher System? Be sure to tune in for the next Callisto 6 episode every Friday at 4pm Pacific on Geek & Sundry and Alpha! Sign up for your 30-day free trial today at www.projectalpha.com!

Jim has been a video gamer since 1977, a tabletop RPG gamer since 1980, and a freelance journalist online since 2003, covering his favorite geek topics of video games, entertainment, military history, tech, martial arts, and tabletop gaming. You can find and chat with him about all the geeky things at Google +, Twitter, Instagram, and while watching shows in one of the Alpha chat rooms.

Header image credit: Monte Cook Games / Artist: Robert Pitturru

Article images credit: Monte Cook Games

The post CALLISTO 6 101: Glossary of Terms From The Cypher System appeared first on Nerdist.

Without too much hyperbole, 1988 is probably the most important year in the history of Japanese animation. It’s the year it boomed in a way unforeseen up to that point, and it made western audiences and critics sit up and take notice for the first real time in history. And right at the center of this, celebrating its 30th anniversary on July 18, is Katsuhuro Otomo’s landmark science fiction epic, Akira.

Akira came out on the heels of Studio Ghibli‘s first major offerings, the double feature of Hayao Miyazaki‘s My Neighbor Totoro and Isao Takahata‘s Grave of the Fireflies. But while those films looked back at Japan’s past with melancholic nostalgia (read my essay about them here), Otomo used the nation’s past to look to a future, in a terrifying and frenetic way. Based on his own six-volume manga which ran from 1982-1990, Otomo adapted the massive tome for a single film that is as pure a spiritual experience as the cyberpunk body horror story could be.

That experience remains so pure to this day because, like the greatest Ghibli works, the viewer can see the guiding hand of its director on each and every frame. Otomo only agreed to adapt Akira into a film if he retained complete creative control, something which was almost unheard of for someone who had only directed segments of anthology anime up to that point. And in order to do his 2,000 page manga justice, the movie would require a budget unheard of for anime: the equivalent of about $10 million. This cost was footed by a consortium of several of Japan’s largest entertainment corporations, including Kodansha, Mainichi Broadcasting System, Bandai, Hakuhodo, Toho, Laserdisc Corporation, and Sumitomo Corporation.

So Otomo had a huge budget and complete control, and to his total credit, he knew how to use it. Akira consists of over 160,000 animation cels, more than twice what anime usually employed up to that point. The dialogue was also pre-recorded so the animators could animate mouth movement to the performance, rather than the usual case of the actors having to post-sync to general lip flapping. The result is an animated movie with the smoothest and most precise action available. It feels as though you’re watching a live-action movie at times, just with animated characters and settings.

But even all of this wouldn’t have amounted to one of the greatest anime ever made if not for the brilliant story and concept. Set in a then-distant 2019, following Tokyo’s forced rebuilding to the dystopian, military-complex-controlled Neo-Tokyo, Akira explores themes of disaffected youth, corruption in government, rampant religious zealotry, nuclear-energy-caused telekinesis, destruction, and rebirth.

The film opens with a mushroom cloud obliterating Tokyo in 1988. We don’t know for awhile, but we learn it was caused by someone named Akira, a young person imbued with unheard of telekinetic energy. 30 years later, Neo-Tokyo has become a cesspool of street violence and police state rule. Our heroes are a gang of motorcycle thugs who begin the movie by getting into a massive and deadly high-speed war with a rival gang. Kaneda is the de-facto leader of the group, with his iconic modified red motorcycle and jacket with a drug capsule on the back. His best friend is Tetsuo, a slightly younger kid who both looks up to Kaneda and resents his power over him.

At the same time, a strange, grey-faced child is being led through a traffic jam by a man with a gun, chased by dogs and government agents. A gunfight ensues and the man is eventually shot to death. Tetsuo nearly crashes into this grey child after bashing the skull of a rival gang member, but a psychic shield protects the kid, forcing Tetsuo to crash. This crash, we soon learn, awakens latent psionic energy within him, and the government takes him and the grey child into custody and Kaneda and the rest of the gang are taken into police custody.

While Tetsuo realizes his powers, and has utterly nightmarish visions thanks to the three grey children, all of whom have enormous powers, Kaneda meets a teenage girl named Kei, a member of a revolutionary group intent on overthrowing the corrupt bureaucracy. But it’s all a ruse, and the revolutionaries actually work for a disgruntled member of that very corrupt government. The only one who seems to care about the implications of these psychic youths is Colonel Shikishima and Doctor Ōnishi, but even they can only watch as the true power of Tetsuo means, as the movie’s tagline states, Neo-Tokyo is about to explode.

The world of Neo-Tokyo is so clearly defined through the storytelling of the movie, but Otomo rightly doesn’t get too bogged down in setting this up, instead choosing to focus mainly on the melodrama of teen angst. Kaneda and Tetsuo’s strained brotherhood is the alpha and omega of the story, and Kaneda’s juvenile love affair with Kei, the proud and focused revolutionary, provides some of the movie’s lighter comedic moments. Kaneda is a much more a fool commenting on the ridiculous nature of the movie’s uber-serious events than you might expect, and it makes the actions of the government and the rebels seem all the more futile.

Tetsuo allows the power he has to go to his head almost immediately, and it’s all the more terrifying that this godlike energy is utilized by a petty and envious teenager. He only wants to show Kaneda and the world that he’s not some little kid who needs saving, or can be pushed around. He’s able to take on the entire military himself, and this causes him to become the new savior for the group of religious zealots who’ve spent the past 30 years worshiping Akira as the destroyer of worlds. And all of this because he’s jealous of his surrogate big brother, even though they clearly love each other enough to want to kill each other.

And like Akira, Tetsuo ultimately loses himself to the technological revolution, using inorganic material to create a new, devastating body that ultimately grows to terrifying sizes in the film’s climax, where Kaneda, Kei, the Colonel, and the Doctor are powerless to stop the next doom of the city. The future is the disaffected youth, and there’s no telling what more powerful beings will wrought going forward. The movie ends with apocalyptic destruction, and lighthearted camaraderie between friends as they motorcycle away.

Akira is a movie I think people need to watch once a year (much like Dark City), to bow at the grandeur of near-perfect science fiction. 30 years after its initial release, the movie seems more prophetic than ever, as technology has made life “easier” but more troubling, and the youth of the world more and more disenfranchised by those in power. Katsuhiro Otomo’s singular vision, never sequelized nor–as of this writing–remade, remains the absolute pinnacle of the anime artform and its influence continues to be felt the world over.

Neo-Tokyo will forever be about to explode.

Images: Toho

Kyle Anderson is the Editor at Large for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

The post AKIRA is a Spiritual Experience appeared first on Nerdist.

Over the course of Microsoft’s annual Xbox E3 press conference, they revealed 50 brand new games, including surprises like Halo: Infinite, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and Devil May Cry 5, but no one could have predicted how the conference would close: with the video feed glitching out and cutting to an unexpected first-look at CD Projekt Red’s highly anticipated follow-up to The Witcher 3, Cyberpunk 2077.

“In 2077, they voted my city the worst place to live in America,” the narrator tells us as we see a montage of futuristic scenes. “The main issues: sky-high violence and more people living below the poverty line than anywhere else. Can’t deny it. It’s all true. But everybody still wants to live here.”

A markedly brighter game than The Witcher 3, CD Projekt Red is trading in high fantasy for grungy sci-fi and neon lights. Cyberpunk 2077 looks jam-packed full of heavily augmented gangsters, cybernetic enhancements, holograms, seedy bars, robot fights, and so much more. Only time will tell if it can exceed the ridiculousness of The Witcher 3‘s infamous unicorn scene though…

What do you hope to see from Cyberpunk 2077? Let us know in the comments below!

Stay tuned to Nerdist all week long for the latest and greatest in E3 coverage.

Images: CD Projekt Red

Even more gaming news!

• Check out this DIY of God of War‘s Leviathan axe!
• We’re officially getting a Hitman 2!
• This Overwatch fan made ASL signs for all of the heroes!

What if Majora’s Mask made our moon fall to Earth?

[brightcove video_id=”5794448371001″ brightcove_account_id=”3653334524001″ brightcove_player_id=“rJs2ZD8x”]

Dan Casey is the senior editor of Nerdist and the author of books about Star Wars and the Avengers. Follow him on Twitter (@DanCasey).

The post CYBERPUNK 2077’s E3 Trailer Looks Sci-Fi AF appeared first on Nerdist.

Brian Compton hosts Signal Boost this week, all while having his MTG knowledge challenged and facing off with Ben McShane! His first boost is Kill or Be Killed, a comic by Ed Brubaker. He then boosts System Shock 2, a classic horror video game set in a cyberpunk theme and one that was ahead of its time. Last, he boosts Marvel UK’s Pocket Books, digest-sized comic books that cover some of the biggest stories in Marvel canon.

Kill or Be Killed – https://imagecomics.com/comics/releases/kill-or-be-killed-1

System Shock 2 http://store.steampowered.com/agecheck/app/238210/

Marvel UK Pocketbook Series & Marvel Comics Digest
http://essentialexploitsspiderman.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_28.html http://archiecomics.com/marveldigest/

Signal Boost! is our weekly love letter to all fandoms. Come see what wonderful, crazy stuff is out there and connect with a community of fans who knows what it’s like to like the wonderful, crazy, and unknown.

Visit us on http://geekandsundry.com
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The post KILL or be KILLED, System Shock 2, and Marvel UK Pocket Books appeared first on Nerdist.

Space opera may be the current king of the science fiction filmic landscape, and post-apocalyptic mayhem tends to rule the darker parts of the genre. But nothing beats Cyberpunk when it comes to impact on and relevance to our current society. The term–coined by writer Bruce Bethke as the title for his 1980 short story “Cyberpunk” (first published in 1983)–immediately evokes images of grungy urban decay coupled with highly advanced, though often misused, technology. Stories in the cyberpunk genre are often referred to as “high tech low life,” and tend to make for some excellent films.

Writer William Gibson is often cited as the father of Cyberpunk thanks to his seminal 1984 novel Neuromancer. Cyberpunk has deep connections to hard-boiled detective fiction of the 1930s and 1940s; thus, the onscreen properties made in that style often employ the film noir aesthetic, but with a futuristic edge. One of the other major elements is the bleeding together of the organic and the synthetic, blurring the line between what is “real” and what isn’t–a debate that has only gotten more heated and nuanced as technology has advanced.

Warner Bros

Perhaps one of the earliest examples of Cyberpunk in a feature film is also arguably the most famous–1982’s Blade Runner. Made before either Bethke or Gibson had written their books that birthed the term, Blade Runner–based on the Philip K. Dick novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?–was labeled with the genre term “Future Noir” to explain its mixture of post-World War II-style malaise and near-future techno-boredom.

Its plot concerns a lonely detective searching for escaped Replicants (advanced cybernetic lifeforms nearly indistinguishable from humans) who are deemed too dangerous to be given more than a brief lifespan. By the end of the film, we realize how inhuman and robotic the “hero” Deckard is (even if you don’t believe the theory that he IS a Replicant), and that the villain Roy Batty is simply trying to prolong himself.

Orion

Other films made shortly thereafter continued the theme of rundown futurism and the blending of humans and machines. For example: David Cronenberg‘s 1983 film Videodrome, in which a pirate TV signal starts to turn a sleazy cable access producer into a warrior for the cybernetic revolution. His shouting of “Death to Videodrome! Long live the new flesh!” continues to haunt long after seeing it.

In 1987, a slightly more tongue-in-cheek take on the subject came out with Paul Verhoeven’s RoboCop, in which a murdered police officer is fused with a CPU and cybernetic body parts to become the ultimate enforcer, even if it erases his humanity in the process. He fights against his programming and ultimately remembers his family. In many ways, RoboCop is the Frankenstein for the Cyberpunk set.

Miramax

It was in the 1990s when Cyberpunk as a film subgenre really took hold, beginning with Richard Stanley’s little-seen (but super awesome) Hardware. In  the film, a woman is terrorized in her dystopian-city apartment by both stalkers using hidden camera technology and a runaway defense robot. More Cyberpunk films followed in the early ’90s, such as Freejack, The Lawnmower Man, Johnny Mnemonic, and Judge Dredd… admittedly, none of those were very good.

However, Kathryn Bigelow’s 1995 film Strange Days–about a VR-experience dealer on the eve of the new millennium getting caught up in a murder plot by ruthless politicians–is genius, and perhaps one of the best examples of the Gibson-esque view of Cyberpunk. Like the genre itself in many ways, Strange Days was ahead of its time and was a commercial failure, though it has since been recognized for the achievement it is.

Warner Bros

The big turning point for the Cyberpunk live-action movement is 1999’s The Matrix and its two sequels, which brought in elements of anime, Kung fu cinema, and Hong Kong action flicks. The world inside the Matrix itself was sickly green, grimy, but still slick and stylish. The notion of the machines having already taken over and humanity having to fight back from the inside is an extreme take on the idea of automated control, which the Cyberpunk movement discussed at great length. We’re such slaves to our devices and comforts that we eventually become physically trapped by them.

The usage of Asian cinema styles in The Matrix is no accident; Cyberpunk is deeply tied to Japan and Hong Kong in aesthetic and setting. Gibson is quoted as saying of Tokyo that “modern Japan simply was cyberpunk.” Ridley Scott, similarly, when discussing his visual style for Blade Runner called future Los Angeles “Hong Kong on a very bad day.” It’s maybe because of this that Japanese live-action film and anime has taken Cyberpunk almost as its own, and done more to explore both the visual capabilities and the impact of human-like machines and machine-like humans. Arguably the best Matrix-related material is The Animatrix, after all.

Kodansha

While there were certainly films that came before, 1988’s Akira blew the doors wide open for Cyberpunk and anime to fuse seamlessly. That film depicts a thrice-rebuilt Japan in the major city of Neo-Tokyo, which is a cesspool of crime and fascistic militarization, and the strange and deadly telekinetic powers that awaken inside a young ruffian who quickly begins to use his abilities for evil before finally losing himself to psionic energy and metal. It’s an astounding film, one full of emotion and fear as is rarely seen in the oft-mechanically cold genre.

Japan Home Video

In 1989, the direct-to-video Japanese film Tetsuo: The Iron Man, written and directed by Shinya Tsukamoto, was let loose on the world. Taking elements of Cronenbergian body horror and Akira-esque loss of humanity, Tetsuo is an incredibly visceral and disturbing film that depicts metal fetishism and people violently turning into machines in the most painful way possible. Two sequels followed in 1992 and 2009, and J-Horror would utilize its intensity and grotesquery for decades after.

A24

Cyberpunk has again returned to the height of the public eye because of successful movies like Ex Machina and Her, which now seem very prescient given how close AI is to becoming indistinguishable from organic intelligence. One of the biggest films in the genre’s history is the original Ghost in the Shell from 1995, which itself begat many sequels and spinoff series. GITS seems to be the perfect keystone bridging Blade Runner-era and current views on AI; the film follows a police officer in a cybernetic body, with her consciousness in a mainframe somewhere else, and her efforts to stop a hacker terrorist.

Tokyo Movie Shinsha

As I’ve written about elsewhere (read my thoughts on Akira, Ghost in the Shell, and Cyberpunk’s humanity HERE), Ghost in the Shell represents a society that’s already taken over by technology, wherein nobody thinks twice about the loss of humanity except the synthetic beings. It’s rare in that world for a police officer to be organic, for example, but if humanity is all consciousness, is everything that can think a human?

DreamWorks/Paramount

We’ll get to explore these elements more and more as the live-action Ghost in the Shell hits theaters on March 31, Blade Runner 2049 coming later this year, and the prospect of an Akira live-action movie becoming a reality growing. Though born from writings in the ’80s and films in the ’90s, Cyberpunk might become the most important sci-fi genre of the 21st Century as we near the singularity.

What’s your favorite film in the Cyberpunk genre? I clearly left out quite a bit of examples; which should people check out? Let me know in the comments below!

Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist. He is the writer of 200 reviews of weird or obscure films in Schlock & Awe. Follow him on Twitter!

The post The Incomplete Onscreen History of Cyberpunk appeared first on Nerdist.

Back in 2013, CD Projekt Red revealed that one of its next projects will be Cyberpunk 2077; which is based on the classic Cyberpunk RPG created by Mike Pondsmith in 1988. And while we’re still waiting for Cyberpunk 2077 to get a release date, Pondsmith recently took a look back at the legacy of his creation while hinting that there may be a new edition or continuation of the Cyberpunk RPG to come in the near future.

Glixel has posted an extensive feature on Cyberpunk and its creator, which offers a very interesting overview of Pondsmith’s origins as an RPG maker and the creation of Cyberpunk itself. In particular, Pondsmith noted Blade Runner‘s influence on his initial game, which ultimately led to an RPG that is considered to be instrumental in the rise of cyberpunk as a sci-fi sub-genre. “I remember thinking that somebody should make a game out of that, and that’s what I tried to do. I wanted to get that feeling of perpetual midnight, the neon reflected in the rain-slick streets, that sense that everything is in flux and there’s a constant threat of violence.”

Pondsmith also related the story of how CD Projekt Red approached him to make the game while reiterating his involvement with bringing Cyberpunk to a new medium. “My wife told me that these guys in Poland wrote to us and said they wanted to do a Cyberpunk game. They told me that the game was really important to them back in the Iron Curtain days – back then, they had Cyberpunk and communism. What impressed us was not just their capabilities and their well-organized toolsets, but that they knew and loved the material. I said, let’s do this thing…I go over there pretty regularly. I’ll probably go back in the next couple of months. I’m in a room with a hundred people, all firing ideas back and forth. We jump up and down on the systems and see how well they work. I really got lucky.”

Regarding the rumors of an updated Cyberpunk RPG that could coincide with the release of the video game, Pondsmith seemed to confirm the project without actually saying much about it. “There will be more Cyberpunk stuff coming, yes,” said Pondsmith. “One thing I’ve learned is that I don’t talk about anything before it’s ready. I pioneered some genres, and people started paying attention to what I say. I don’t want to help the competition.”

If you want to know more, we highly recommend you check out Glixel’s full feature on Pondsmith and Cyberpunk.

Are you excited about the potential new Cyberpunk RPG? And will you get the Cyberpunk 2077 video game when it comes out? Let us know in the comment section below!

Image Credit: CD Projekt Red

The post Learn About The Cyberpunk RPG That Inspired A Video Game appeared first on Nerdist.

Set in the eponymous megacity of New Angeles, a familiar location to followers of the Android series, players take the role of one of 6 megacorporations that dominate the fictional Solar System of Android. Your goal is simple: build up as much capital and as many resources as you can using whatever means necessary. While on its face, it might sound a tad like cyberpunk Monopoly, it’s refreshingly deeper than that.

Each player is ultimately out for themselves, but they must align and bargain with other players to maximize their earning capabilities. While it’s very much a dog-eat-dog world, each player has a specific Rival they are tasked with beating. As long as the player gains more than their bitter opponent, they come out ahead. There are interesting wrinkles along the way such as civil unrest, organized crime, and the looming threat of The Federal Government sweeping in and shutting big business down for good. You have a limited number of rounds to accomplish your successes, so think on your feet, don’t trust anyone, and grab as much as you can! Even though some may say this echos current socio-political trends a bit too much, it promises to be an entertaining experience to say the least.

Fantasy Flight’s signature quality is readily apparent in the game’s visual design, miniatures, and packaging (surprising no one). There’s a reason they’ve carved out such a niche in the tabletop market, and with a pricetag of about $60, this is a perfect example of the company’s dedication to keeping gaming affordable and accessible. A worthy entry in the Android series, this high stakes game of corporate intrigue is sure to appeal to fans and newbies alike. The game will arrive on store shelves toward the end of 2016, and we’re very eager to get our hands on it

Think you have what it takes to steer a megacorp to victory? Let us know!

Photo Credit: Fantasy Flight Games

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In a world where modern technology is quickly outpacing certain aspects of sci-fi, it’s fascinating to see where the real world and the fantasy world overlap. With the proliferation of tech from smart phones, cyber warfare, 3-D printing and the ubiquitous presence of drones, our future is Cyberpunk AF.

Cyberpunk has a rich history on the tabletop as we’ve previously discussed, with R. Talsorian’s seminal and eponymous Cyberpunk RPG line being the gold standard for game design and setting. The genre has been well represented over the years, but for the past decade one of the sterling examples of how to keep the hallmarks of the style familiar-yet-topical is Gun Metal Games’ Interface Zero. Beginning life as part of the great spate of d20 OGL games that dominated the market in early 00’s, it has evolved to see itself become one of the iconic settings for Pinnacle’s Savage World game line, as well as being translated to the Fate system. And now, thanks to a successful Kickstarter, it’s coming to the powerhouse Pathfinder rule set!

The world of IZ 2.0 has many of the familiar tropes that fans of the genre have come to expect: chrome plated street warriors battling it out over big scores, corporate intrigue, and so forth. Dig a little deeper and you’ll find interesting undercurrent of prescient political and philosophical thought; bio-engineered chimera, bodyhackers taking self-expression to the extreme, the “Internet of Everything,” and drones as far as the eye can see.

And while the omnipresent, malevolent megacorps are here, they are not the only big bad in the grim future presented in the game. There is also environmental disaster, threatening civil war in America, and a rogue A.I. bent on ending it all. EVERYTHING went wrong in the world, and it’s everyone’s fault. As game designer David Jarvis says in an incredibly thoughtful essay (and you really should read the full length version HERE):

“…I believe Interface Zero 2.0 isn’t entirely about what cyberpunk WAS; it needs to be about what cyberpunk IS, and perhaps even what it WILL become.”

Geek & Sundry got a sneak peek at the Pathfinder version currently rocking on Kickstarter (though if you’re curious the now outdated Beta Document is available for free at DriveThruRPG), and while we can’t give too much away, it’s INCREDIBLY promising. Fans of both the d20 stalwart and Interface Zero will find a lot of common ground. A great balance of action, a unique take on the 3.5 rules for character advancement and buffs, and with intriguing expanded rules (including hacking and psionics), this iteration of the game bring a ton to the table. A satisfying hybrid of form and function, indeed.

The Kickstarter campaign lasts until October 12^th, and they are already on track to reach at least one of their stretch goals. As a fan of the genre, I would HIGHLY encourage any like-minded individuals to swing by and see what’s what.

Photo Credits: Gun Metal Games

Are you as excited as we are for this?! No? Well check out this amazing promo clip and get back to us!

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Mike Pondsmith, aka, Maximum Mike, is a roleplaying, board, and video game designer. Famously known for books released by R. Talsorian Games like Mekton, Cyberpunk, and Castle Falkenstien, he’s recently done some interviews for Cyberpunk 2077 and Neon Dystopia that you should be checking out. The video below offers some engrossing insight into the original world of Cyberpunk 2020 and how he’s looking to bring that into the digital world of video games.

One of the great classics, Cyberpunk 2020 was a staple of roleplaying for decades as one of the alternatives to Dungeons & Dragons. The game system focused more on style over substance and allowed the story to unfold in nonlinear ways. Hell, if you wanted, a group of gutter punks could liquidate some stolen assets and start investing in companies. Then after playing the markets and hiring mercenaries to sabotage competition, could run their own mega-corps. So needless to say, when CD Projekt RED released a teaser trailer a few years ago for Cyberpunk 2077, I was instantly looking for a way to plug my brain into the nearest machine so I could play. Sadly, it’s been pretty quiet since then. Apparently it takes a long time to make a video game. Who knew?

While you’re waiting for some sweet, sweet cyberpunk goodness, here’s a little something to ease the soul-crushing wait of dystopian game development, as programmers and writers toil away creating code for our consumption. A recent interview with Neon Dystopia asks Pondsmith some fantastic questions. The interview covers a wide range of questions from the creation of RPG games in the late 80’s to the influence of the official Bubblegum Crisis world. Besides being Mike’s involvement in games, they talk about industry crashes, GenCon protests, and even something a bit more hard hitting, but you’ll have to read the interview to find out!

By 2077, what advances do you want to see in technology? I for one, welcome our robot overlords, but what Cyberpunk features are you excited about?

Featured Image Credit: Cyberpunk 2020

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With such sterling examples of the genre done right as the Ghost in the Shell, Akira, and of course the legendary Blade Runner, people pretty much know what to expect in a Cyberpunk story, right? Evil corporations, smart killer ‘bots, cyberspace as a physical destination, and so forth. This style of story is already well-represented in tabletop with a variety of play styles, from the inimitable Shadowrun, Netrunner, and I’d argue even Resistance. However, there is a marked lack of tactical combat that suits the chrome-plated adventure and mayhem intrinsic in the genre so well. Something that really brings an Imperial Assault-style experience to the table. That is about to change.

Enter Human Interface: Nakamura Tower from first-time developers Postindustrial Games, Ltd. The game is, without question, a love letter to all things cyberpunk and hews close to many of the familiar tropes we’ve come to know and love. The crux of the game focuses on two teams, or “Factions,” squaring off against each other and the security drones in Nakamura Tower to either protect or steal corporate secrets. One side represents a team of elite Nakamura agents, and the other their rivals from the Advanced MicroMachines corporation, the ominously named Ubermensch Gang. Each player gets a group of 5 heavily armed badasses with a variety of skills, and all come in to play at some point as the game features combat and challenges both in the real world and in cyberspace.

Each character has a number of core stats that can be augmented by various weapons, cybernetic enhancements, and programs. By the time a group has run through the 16-mission campaign presented in the core rules, they may be very, very powerful indeed. There are also already two expansions available: Pacification, which introduces an outside Police faction to the mix, and Black Stone Commandos Operations which brings us a quintet of hardcore lady mercs. There is even more content planned, as promised by a successful Kickstarter campaign.

With the board made up of a series of appealing, interlocking board tiles and each team represented by gorgeously crafted miniatures, there is no denying the eye candy factor in this game is HIGH. While there’s a lot of good stuff in this box, the thing most conspicuously missing is dice. The game uses the character’s base stats augmented by a mechanic called the “CanDo Cards” to determine the outcome of situations where success isn’t necessarily guaranteed. Keep in mind, too, that not every CanDo works with every faction, so luck plays a huge factor in card draws. While I miss the visceral thrill of rolling for victory, this resolution method suits the gameplay perfectly.

This game is a rare mix of style and substance, and deserves a place on your game shelf as soon as possible. The initial backer boxes have shipped almost in their entirety, and though the only place to currently order the game is on the its website, the designers are incredibly responsive and eager to get the message out about their hard work. Shoot a message and let them know you’re ready to get transhuman!

What’s your favorite piece of Cyberpunk  fiction? Or fact? Add it in the comments below!

Photo Credits: Postindustrial Games, Ltd

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The world of Shadowrun is an expansive one, taking shape through five editions of tabletop roleplaying games, a classic Super Nintendo game, and a host of new Shadowrun computer RPGs by Harebrained Schemes. It’s classic cyberpunk, Blade Runner-y goodness with a fantasy twist. Set in Seattle, Washington (though many other locations are also detailed) at the end of the 21st century, a series of digital attacks, mutagenic viruses, and the return of magic has completely altered the world as we know it. Humans live side-by-side with metahumans—mutants that have become fantastic creatures like elves, dwarves, orks, and others. Megacorporations run the world, and plucky mercenaries called Shadowrunners must make a life for themselves in this new, altered Earth.

As if all that weren’t enough, now those Shadowrunners have faeries to deal with!

The brand-new Shadowrun expansion Court of Shadows is an “alternate setting,” giving Game Masters access to the mysterious realm of Tír na nÓg, within which “the Seelie Court flickers in and out of existence like a bright, childhood memory.” Drawing primarily on Gaelic mythology and other folklore from around the world, this mystical setting is a serious departure from the gritty, cybernetic dystopia presented in the Shadowrun core rulebooks. It’s not a book every Shadowrun fan needs on their bookshelf, but for those of you who like fudging the barrier of fantasy and science fiction, this book is chock-full of game inspiration, short stories, and NPCs for use in your Shadowrun game.

While Court of Shadows is ostensibly for the 5th edition of the Shadowrun RPG, the book definitely has more system-neutral story content than Shadowrun-specific game mechanics. Intrepid gamers who want a gritty look at an alien faerie realm, the description of the land of the Tuatha de Dannan can easily be converted from Shadowrun to a game system of your choosing.

When exploring the world of the faeries, just remember what Terry Pratchett wrote about elves; the same advice applies to these Fair Folk:

“Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder.

Elves are marvellous. They cause marvels.

Elves are fantastic. They create fantasies.

Elves are glamorous. They project glamour.

Elves are enchanting. They weave enchantment.

Elves are terrific. They beget terror.

The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes look for them behind words that have changed their meaning.

No one ever said elves are nice.

Elves are bad.”

Watermarked PDF downloads of Shadowrun: Court of Shadows are currently 50% off at DriveThruRPG.

What adventures have you had in the weird, incredible world of Shadowrun? Let us know in the comments or tweet to @GeekandSundry!

Image Credit: Catalyst Game Labs

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If there’s one thing the anime medium can’t get enough, besides  unnatural hair colors, it’s science fiction. Series and films about technology, aliens, and the future are a dime a dozen so I’ve rounded up 5 television series to hit any science-fiction lover’s sweet spots.

Ergo Proxy

Photo Credit: Funimation

Set in a world where society is run like the gears of a clock, and androids known as AutoRevis are commonplace, investigator (and Evanescence lead singer lookalike) Re-L Meyer is tasked with discovering who or what is causing the once docile AutoRevis to gain sentience.

With its sleek cyberpunk art style, pressure cooker pacing, and mature story-telling; Ergo Proxy is the kind of series that rewards a viewer willing to pay attention and think, at least more than in your average Shonen fight fest. That said, there are plenty of great action sequences to spice up this methodical cyber noir. If you’re a fan of Blade Runner, Dark City, or Asimov styled robot stories with a dash of action, give Ergo Proxy a try.

Parasyte -the maxim-

Photo Credit: Sentai Filmworks

Based on a classic manga series, Parasyte tells the story of Shinichi, a normal high school student whose right hand gets possessed by a shapeshifting parasite named Migi. As other members of Migi’s race start devouring humans left and right, Migi and Shinichi must  work together to stay alive.

Parasyte isn’t the most sophisticated show but there’s something refreshing about its simplicity. Migi and Shinichi are enjoyable leads, while the grotesque parasites and the fights between them make for bloody good fun.  It’s like a love letter to classic body horror/alien invasion sci-fi films such as John Carpenter’s The Thing, or Invasion of The Body Snatchers that still throws in its on little twists on the formula. If you can stomach ruthless violence and nasty body transformations,  Parasyte -the maxim- will easily satisfy your space monster appetite.

Steins;Gate

Photo Credit: Funimation

Steins;Gate centers on Okabe Rintarou, an arrogant, wanna-be scientist who accidentally discovers how to send text messages to the past. Okabe is quick to use the tech to improve the lives of himself and his friends, but when a shadowy organization pursues him and his loved ones for the tech, things get ugly fast.

Such is the premise of Steins;Gate, a critically acclaimed anime based on the critically acclaimed visual novel.  Steins;Gate is great; not only is it one of my favorite variations on the rules of time travel, but it is a truly great story in its own right. It’s a slow build, but it’s cast proves to be a batch of deep, complex characters, and the story poignant yet with room for some silly but not jarring humor. If your looking for a Doctor Who or Back To The Future style story with a little more bite, Steins;Gate is a must see.

Serial Experiments Lain

Photo Credit:  Funimation

Serial Experiments Lain is weird. Very weird. I’m still trying to get an exact grasp on the series. The story starts with Lain, a cripplingly shy high schooler who receives an e-mail from a deceased classmate, inviting her to the online world of The Wired. From there, things go off the rails and into the void of deep space.

Lain is weird, and yet at the same time it is undeniable. Each episode is a puzzle, leaving you to unravel just what is happening amidst the haunting visuals and music. If you do manage to get a grip on Serial Experiments Lain, the series has some frighteningly resonant critiques on our internet age that still ring true today. If you’re not afraid of a lot of mind-warp in your science fiction, give Lain a try.

Space Dandy

Photo Credit: Funimation

If Lain is a futuristic nightmare, Space Dandy is a whacky space-traveling dream. From the minds behind Cowboy Bebop, Space Dandy is a light-hearted romp about Dandy and his loyal space crew as they hunt for unknown aliens with plenty of Zombie apocalypses, robot battles, and musical numbers along the way.

Space Dandy reminds me a lot of Men In Black or Galaxy Quest.  Stealthily clever, deceptively heartfelt, yet always loud and proud with it’s presentation and off the wall humor. It’s the kind of sci-fi that doesn’t ask hard questions but let’s you escape into a vibrant world of slacker heroes and incompetent evil empires. If you’re looking for something to lighten your mood at the end of hard week,  Space Dandy is just the ticket.

There were a number of great series and films that I didn’t include (Akira, Cowboy Bebop, Ghost In The Shell, Evangelion, etc.) and I didn’t even touch the Mech/Giant Robot genre because it deserves its own article. I only had 5 slots, I wanted to reserve them for shows I felt need more love.

All these series are available through Hulu, Funimation and Crunchyroll. Feel free to share your own Sci-Fi anime recommendations in the comments below. Until next time.

Featured Image Credit: Funimation

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