Three Cyber Supplements for Cyberpunk Red RPG

Rulebooks are great, but add-ons help fully flesh out a game system. They provide additional support and visual interest while expanding the game’s content. Often supplemental material is overlooked for more enticing items like adventures and sourcebooks. Still, with the correct supplemental item, your game can go from average to creating lifelong stories for you and your fellow players. The fine details or going the extra mile make games memorable, and using one or all of the Cyberpunk Red supplemental items below will get you there.

Note: R. Talsorian provided Rolling Boxcars with review copies for this article. Please visit our Product Review Request page if you want Rolling Boxcars to review an item.

Data Screen

Authors: Mike Pondsmith, James Hutt, and Cody Pondsmith
Publisher: R. Talsorian
Available Formats: PDF & Print
PDF (DTRPG) – $8
Print – Currently Out of Print

The Data Screen is made of very thick and stout cardboard that should withstand years and years of use. The screen spans 25″ fully extended, and its thick substrate allows it to rest squarely in place. The four-panel 11″ high screen features a panoramic illustration of two cyberpunk against a bustling metropolis. If the scene is familiar, parts of it have been used in other Cyberpunk Red publications. The screen dimensions allow gamemaster plenty of space to easily hide their notes and dice rolls.

The inside panels mimic the design of Cyberpunk Red’s core book. The first-panel feature quick references for skill resolutions, difficulty values, actions, modifier examples, facedowns, and other useful non-combat information. The middle two panels focus heavily on combat. From initiatives to ranged weapons resolutions, all the most important tables and data to reference for combat are devoted here. The fourth panel covers damage results, wound status, and critical injuries.

Netrunning Deck

Authors: James Hutt, Cody Pondsmith, Mike Pondsmith, and J Gray
Publisher: R. Talsorian
Available Formats: PDF & Print
PDF (DTRPG) – $15
Print – $17

The Netrunning Deck includes 15 Program cards, 27 Black ICE cards, 3 Demon cards, and 7 Floor cards. With these cards, you can build a NET Architecture and play through it. A five-page downloadable PDF user guide is provided on R. Talsorian’s website.

The deck of 52 cards is broken down into eight categories: Program [Defender], Program [Booster], Program [Attacker Anti-Program], Program [Attacker Anti-Personnel], Black Ice [Anti-Program], Black Ice [Anti-Personnel], Demon, and Floor. Each type is marked at the top of the card, distinguishable by its designs as outlined in the user guide. The cards are for players and Gamemasters. Players will use them to visually represent their cyberdecks, while the Gamemaster can build a NET Architecture to run a Netrunner through it.

When using the cards for a Netrunner’s cyberdeck, each program in the deck is placed face up in a row in front of the player, known as Program Row. The cards are then orientated as used per the Netrunning Deck instructions. Pushing a card forward, rotating it in place, turning it sideways, or flipping it over—all these movements track the cyberdeck’s use and effects upon its programs.

To set up a Net Architecture, the Gamemaster gathers the corresponding cards for each level, placing them in stacks. Each stack is placed face-down in front of the Netrunner player. The cards are arranged in a vertical column with the first-floor stack closest to the player. As the Netrunner explores, the NET Architecture cards in the stacks are revealed and orientated to note the outcome of the action.

Data Pack

Authors: Jay Parker, Melissa Wong, James Hutt, and J Gray
Publisher: R. Talsorian
Available Formats: PDF & Print
PDF (DTRPG) – $8
Print – $20

The Data Pack consists of three supplemental aids: six double-sided battle maps, a thick pad of character sheets, and a booklet containing Screamsheet adventures and tools for the Gamemaster.

The battle maps are full-color, double-sided, tabloid-sized, one-inch gridded, on glossy paper. Two sheets complete a map—a 17″ x 22″ playing field for miniatures play. There are six environments: a stretch of highway, a desert, a combat zone intersection, a street corner, a roof helipad, and an underground garage. The maps fit the theme of the Screamsheet missions.

The thick pad of characters sheets is printed on excellent paper and easy to tear free from the pad. There is enough to last any group for quite a while. The sheet is configurated differently than the one in the rulebook but shares the same styling and color. It is a slimmed-down version of the three-page character sheet found in the core book. These sheets a single letter-sized, double-sided pages that capture everything a character needs. A free PDF copy is available on R. Talsorian’s website.

The booklet is where most of the value lies. It is a 34-page full-color saddle-stitch booklet printed on a sturdy coated stock. Inside are six Screamsheet and an aid to help Gamemasters populate their worlds with people, places, and things.

Often players will wander into places looking for people and things that the Gamemaster did not anticipate or prepare for. To help mitigate the trouble area for the Gamemaster, the Data Pack booklet contains six lists with twenty items each of people, places, and things to come across in Night City. There are 20 Freelancers, two of each class, 20 Night City hot spots, 20 people to encounter on Night City Subways, 20 Safehouses, and 20 things to find in a dead person’s Subermal pocket (a 2″ x 4″ hidden in the skin). A Gamemaster may choose any to use or roll on a D100 to get a randomized result. Most of the entries are single short paragraphs except for a few, and most are in the hot spot section. The NPCs don’t have stats, so a gamemaster can tailor them to fit into their game.

Screamsheets are short missions or encounters on a single page, with one side a handout for players and the reverse mission information for the Gamemaster. The player’s side is the  Screamsheet. It is a graphical representation of the setting’s news feed. News articles, advertisements, and the like adorn the fronts with tie-ins to the missions on the reverse. The mission information is relatively brief. There are players and Gamemaster notes but no statistics or deep detail details about NPCs. Gamemasters must create or pull from the main rule book for their adversaries’ statistics. Screamsheets are great for one-shots and great to incorporate into a campaign.

The booklet contains these six Screamsheet missions:

Hilaria 2045
The facilitator of a Hilaria 2045 Event, being held not too far from a combat zone, is having trouble getting help from the Night City Police department. He’s afraid a local gang will disrupt the event without any muscle to deter them. Edgerunners looking to earn a few Eurobucks can sign on as security. The job is simple. Hold the line. Don’t allow any unwanted to disrupt the event.

The Digital Diva Burn It Down
The band Digital Diva is feeling the burn of success. Their new hit record, “Burn it Down,” fuels a fan’s pyromaniac desires. Since the album’s release, there has been an increase in arsons. Three significant incidents occurred at locations where the group played the previous day. The band didn’t appreciate their fan’s firey actions and vowed to stop performing until the culprit was caught—a statement they had to walk back due to pressure from their promoter. The band has reached out to the Edgerunners to help them out. They are getting revenge on their promoter for making them look dumb by playing an unscheduled show outside their office. The band needs the Edgerunners to keep the promoter from pulling the plug on their gig and to watch out for an arsonist. They may be in attendance.

Don’t Fear The Reaper
The Edgerunners are hired to discover why a young girl took her own life. While attending a Digital Diva event (“The Digital Diva Burn It Down” mission), a young girl was chased from the event, and she consciously jumped in front of a huge hauler resulting in her death. The deceased’s mother knew of her daughter’s involvement with a street gang that was into the occult but is looking for closure and understanding about her daughter’s death. Why did her daughter take her own life?

Cargo Race
A Delta 4 Spaceplane was shot down by a Militech drone in the “badlands,” a desert east of Night City. News of the downed Delta is spreading like wildfire. Anyone who can salvage the wreck can make up a lot of Eurobucks if they can get their first. There are a lot of interested buyers and plenty of scavengers on the hunt for the prize.

Snuff
Someone is killing people using a “snuff'” Braindance Program, which is upsetting the owner of a braindance club. He wants the Edgerunner to track down the proprietor and put them out of business. The owner has a lead for the crew, a person of interest that is expected to pop up at the nearby Night Market.

Thrillkill
A new game is being played among Night City’s Street Gang called “Thrillkill.” Murderous biker gangs are killing Night City residents for points based on a ranking system. Whichever gang accumulates the most points by the end of the week wins unclaimed turf. A concerned group of executives has hired the Edgerunners to end the game. They will provide the team with high-speed bikes to keep up with the gangs, but they will want them back after the mission, so don’t scratch the paint.

Final Thought

All three items will enhance your Cyperpunk Red game. The Data Screen contains all the most critical information Gamemaster will need to reference while running a session. The screen is sturdy and will hold up for years to come. The Data Deck is a great visual tool to entertain the player running the Netrunner as well as the other players. They can visually follow along as cards are flipped, turned, and removed. It is a great way to keep the attention of waiting players. The Data Pack contains the most significant value to me, the thick pack of character sheets,  Screamsheets, and extra content for Night City. The Screamsheets are quick, simple encounters to use in a campaign or as a one-shot, and the extra NIght City content with more people, places, and things is fantastic. Anyone of these products will invigorate your table. Bring all three, and you have the trifecta of Cyberpunk Supplemental material to bear.

Check out our other Cyberpunk reviews:

Cyberpunk Red: Easy Mode – An Introduction to the Dark Future
All that Glitters is Chrome — Cyberpunk Red Jumpstart Kit
Chippin’ In to Cyberpunk Red
Tales of the Red: Street Stories [Cyberpunk Red]
Interface Red: Volume One [Cyberpunk Red]
Taking to the Streets – Streetfighting [Cyberpunk 2020]

~Stephen Pennisi

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