With the release of that awesome Cyberpunk 2077 trailer I doubt I am the only one feeling some Cyberpunk fever right now. An itch I didn't even know I wanted scratched given my ignorance of the genre. The whole cyberpunk oeuvre has always been alluring for me though I was never really given the chance to fully deck punch my way into its cyber-enhanced clutches. So after doing a quick steam sale browse and hearing Jason's recommendation on this weeks podcast, I decided to give Shadowrun: Hong Kong a shot. I played the original release of the Shadowrun remake but it didn't really hook me. I'm hoping this time will be different as I feel more open to feel things out and learn what all the ridiculous terms mean.
Starting the game I wanted to make a character that I was able to bring my own story to. That isn't something I usually do in games. I usually just make someone I think looks cool and let the game do what it wants with them. Though there may be a time here and there where my own ambitions for my avatar filled in a few small gaps in their story it was never something I went full force into. Recently I've been more open to this kind of "make your own story" (or whatever) kind of way of playing and though I wouldn't say I am good at it, I've noticed I have grown more attached to characters I would otherwise have written off as shallow or uninteresting. It also probably helped me enjoy State of Decay 2 a lot more than I would have otherwise but let's get back to Shadowrun.
Knowing close to nothing about Cyberpunk and even less about Shadowrun's take on the genre I simply went off of what the game was telling me. Race descriptions painted a world where Elves are respected, Trolls are maligned and Humans are seen as "the most normal" of the races. The other of the two or three races fell somewhere in between the ones I lined out here. I immediately chose to see these the race dynamics to be less absolute norms and more general rules for how this world operates. Not everyone is guaranteed a good spot in society and although some are much worse off than others anyone is susceptible to living on the streets forced to live lives of crime to get enough Nuyen (money) to survive. Class archetypes showed what roles these different races fall into given their innate skills or preferred way of protecting themselves. Seeing the default class option was a moment for me where I knew was in for a bit of a ride. "Street Samurai" Melee adept thugs of honor trained in the ways of the ancient samurai and often apply their abilities to mercenary work or upholding the honor of respectable criminals. There's also the less interesting "Mage", "Shaman" and "physical adept" classes that just seem too traditional to be an interesting starting point for me. Though Street Samurai was appealing my eyes were set on the more cyber aspect of punk life. Decker and Rigger are what caught my eye and deciding whether I wanted to punch some deck or have mind controlled robits do the punching for me was the big choice I offered myself here.
That brings us to Shaye Vasa (street name: H0110w Zer0), an Elf who even though she was born into more privilege than most was not ignorant to what life was like for those under her and the effect the megacorps had on the people in the lower rungs of society. As Shaye became more adept in her hacking ability the truths she learned and the people she consorted with became more and more seedy. Becoming a rebellious and corporate hating cyber socialist, she won the favor of a select few that once stuck up their noses being all but aware she could never really know their true ills and the pressures living under the system she was born thriving in.
This is the loose base I've decided to base my character on. Though it may seem rather pedestrian by the more cyberpunk literate out there it worked for me as a decent jumping off point. While going through the character creator googling recommended starting stats for a Decker and getting a loose idea of what it was I was building I eventually got to the name section. Specifically, with picking the street name I spent way longer than I am willing to admit coming up with good bad cyberpunk street names laughing to myself over the sheer silliness of the things I started coming up with. I decided to use the tried and true framework of coming up with words that sound cool and putting them together in ways that they weren't really meant to. Of course, you need some of that cyberpunk flair so I replaced all instances of "O" with "0" and "l' with "1" I am a Deckker after all.
After finalizing my character I set out to the world of Hong Kong a place where megacorp's and government are attached at the cyber hip. There are ones fortunate enough to thrive within the corporate controlled system and then there is everyone else. Forced to scrap and survive any way they can. A childhood father figure that took me in is in trouble and needs my help. Time to jack in! I don't know how deep this road will take me but I am interested to learn.
So with my Cyberpunk adventure beginning, I'm wondering what Cyberpunk adventure awaits you guys if any. Does the excitement of 2077 have you perusing any wiki's? Gotten into a good book? Playing a new game? and for the Cyberpunk veterans what was your jumping off point? What do you think is a good starting point for anyone interested?
The inspiration for this thread was actually to get some name recommendations but I went a little overbored when I actually started writing and it's this now. I would still love to hear any cool/dumb/funny Cyberpunk names you made up or stick out to you. Alright, see you guys on the matrix? in the matrix? ...bye!
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