Cyberfunk 20XX

2023 Street Grimoire TTRPG Jam

Ranked 1# Place for the Modern Day Criteria

It was an amazing opportunity to enter this game into the Street Grimoire TTRPG Jam and see all of these incredible games stand beside Cyberfunk 20XX. At times it felt as if Cyberfunk 20XX was not fit to stand among these titans of roleplay. And so you can probably tell how happy I was to find out it was tied for 1# place with another legend: Trashed Crash Pandas. Thank you to everyone for taking the time to play Cyberfunk 20XX and rating it. And a massive thank you to Kyle for hosting this fun and inviting jam!

Welcome to Cyberfunk Metropolis!

Where logic holds on to a tiny string and every day is an adventure in a crazy world of slick skaters, skilled arcade players and superheroes powered by music.

Hiya, how are ya? It's me, Orangey. This is my first ever TTRPG and I have worked on this project for 3 full years. I love roleplaying games to death and after playing so many of them, I wanted to challenge myself and create my own.  It was tough and a lot of rewriting and playtesting went into it. But me and my friends playtesting it is just not enough... That's why I'm opening up to public reception (more on that later)!

For this project, I was inspired by a lot of things such as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Friday Night Funkin', Fight Club, Batman: The Long Halloween, Crazy Taxi, Mr. Robot, Scott Pilgrim, Jet Set Radio, Cyberpunk 2020, Baby Driver, and much more. No real game inspired the rules or flow of Cyberfunk 20XX, I have tried my best to make my own system, make it quirky and gimmicky- y'know, memorable. Let me explain how:

• Music is a mechanic ー In the world of Cyberfunk, there are colorless people and colorful people. Most of society is colorless but there are few people living in it that are colorful, very noticeable and vibrant. These people became this way because they listen to music and that's exactly what the players get to do in a Cyberfunk 20XX session. Players listen to music throughout the session and when they choose to stop, their character will slowly lose it's color, slowly blending in with the rest of society. Aside from that, each character that listens to music awakens their special super power which they use to solve issues in their day to day lives- you can already imagine what this means: when characters stop listening to music, they lose access to this power which could put them in vulnerable situations.

• "I don't get it, so is it a board game?" ー When you think TTRPG, you don't usually expect the game to be played like a board game except for strategic combat- and even then, only a certain amount of tables do it and only a certain amount of games advise it.. Cyberfunk 20XX comes in out of nowhere and says "Hey, you travel physically on this map. Roll a die and see how much you move". Cyberfunk 20XX doesn't force GMs to use this way of running a session (obviously, that would be mean) but it's one of the main gimmicks of Cyberfunk and it even provides a default map for starting GMs, lazy GMs and GMs in general to use. It's supposed to be fun and a good place for the adventure (and even the party) to split.

• Personalized side quests! ー Cyberfunk 20XX gives each character a side quest to do every session that awards them after completion. Instead of the side quest being generated by the GM, it is random and comes directly from the character's occupation (which is the class system of the game btw). Each occupation has their own table of side quests known as "Distractions" and characters can choose to ignore them or pursue them. This doesn't just act as a way for characters to get side quests but also as a way to split the party, to immerse them in this feel of characters having their own errands and personal life stuff that they need to take care of.

• Options to make a group of characters like no other ー When you think about a party, you think of something that fits a theme, that is somewhat organized- right? Well, in Cyberfunk 20XX, a party of characters could be assembled by the most random people the human mind could think of. A famous superhero going around with a know-it-all stunt skater that's best friend is some office worker who is friends with this weird street fighter who is contracted by this graffiti artist- you get it, it's wild, messy, has no coherence but it sure is fun, funny and more memorable than a band of high-fantasy heroes trying to save the world for the 7th time. The options are here, and especially with how the rules are set up, allow for players to theme and flavor their characters in their own enjoyable way.

• Multiple Types of Combat ー So sometimes we want a cool fight where the party just fights a group of evildoers, and sometimes we want an intense duel between the party's best fighter and their rival. Most RPGs make us stretch the rules to make this possible but Cyberfunk 20XX teaches you exactly how to make different types of combat work. From gun & cover to hack & slash, from destructive superhero action to underground boxing duels; run combat, play combat and enjoy combat without limiting rules! 

• "There is probably a rule for it" ー Cyberfunk 20XX has a lot of rules, this means that if you ever think of something like trying to do a skate race or coming up with a rap battle, you don't need to start messing around and homebrewing your own rule system for it, Cyberfunk 20XX has got your back. From rules about the weather, to rules about getting arrested, to rules about trials and punishments. Seriously, there are so many rules, don't sweat or break your head, sit back and relax!

Did I peak your interest? No? Oh okay, I'm sorry, you can leave now.  Ahem, I mean, get the PDF, give it a try with your friends, and leave feedback!