Cyberpunk Red Jumpstart Kit: The ultimate cybertease RPG Review & Mechanics

I would love to see a review of the fully released Core Book for Cyberpunk Red now. I have it, but I would love to see your take. Side note - There is an official companion app that is free for players and only $5 for GM.

I’ve got no one to run this game with, but I want to pick it up just to read the world book and gawk over the material. The decks seem really cool too. Thanks for keeping up such a solid channel over the years, must’ve missed this review when you first dropped it.

Cyberpunk belongs to a specific time and technological reference point. It cannot be technologically upscaled. If you do, it just becomes 'sci-fi'. I also don't like the current trend of pairing TTRPGs to PC/Console games. It's not needed and does nothing to expand either. It's purely a corporate trick to try and increase revenue out of the same IP. Personally, I'll stick to the early edition.

I played Cyberpunk in the mid to late 90s and for me that's the version to play. From a background standpoint, the earlier version can still be played from a retro-technology point of view, a bit like the technology in Blade Runner 2049 - The future is here but digital technology was forced to take a step backwards, so it's a kind of super analogue as opposed to true digital.

The last few sentences of this video were very interesting in particular. i get the sense that dave is hinting there is creative work to be done in fleshing out what a cyberpunk-esq future from the perspective of 2020 would look like. What kind of futuristic elements would your drop into a near future setting like this to make it feel more authentic?

I feel like there are some wonky things in the rules that were not addressed in this review, and I'm wondering if anyone else feels that way or has had issues with this in play.


For example, damage ratings seem to be all over the place. A guy with 9 body does 4d6 damage when brawling, but a monowhip does only 2d6 damage, as does a submachine gun round. A knife is a lowly d6 damage, and so is smashing someone with a cyberarm. A very heavy pistol is 4d6. A lot of armor has around 11 or 15 stopping power (SP), which means a lot of firearms aren't going to do any damage. Apparently brawling attacks do 0 damage against an armored location, but SP is halved against other melee attacks like a knife (which would still be pretty useless at 1d6). For some reason, you can make 2 melee attacks in a round, but you can only fire a gun once. There are some rules for 3 round bursts and suppressive fire, but no rules for a long burst or full auto burst.


I really want to like this game, but on paper some of the rules (particularly damage values) just seem a little random. I'm interested to see how the final version will look.


I feel like the Jumpstart really only scratches the tip of the iceberg with this game, and I wish they had added a bit more of the meat of the game into it because, as it stands, it doesn't quite give me enough that I want to run it as is. I feel like it's too incomplete, and I won't feel comfortable giving it a shot until I have the full rules.

very clear presentation. thanks a lot

Could you please review the Hero System if you own it? Or GURPS? Or perhaps Symbaroum?
Or A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying, from Green Ronin?

Would you do a review of Dungeon Crawl Classics please? I love listening to your views on games.

Great review man! Has convinced me to buy the kit when it releases. Feel like GMing the game will be possible even with my lack of experience. Hopefully the core rulebook will not release too far in the future!

One note so far: the lifepath is NOT fully fleshed out in the jumpstart kit. It explains that in the core rulebook it will encompas a wider variety of possibilities though some sort of branching flowchart.


Overall good video though. You do a good job of explaining even the more complex bits (netrunning).



You bring up a point at the end about how this cyberpunk is less an imagining of a possible future and more of an extension of an antiquated possible future. I personally disagree with this, but I do see where you are coming from. The split point between cyberpunk and our world is around 1990, however I don't think this harms the ability of the game to envision a modern future setting. The future history takes a lot of inspiration from real life events and advancements in technology, and that can bridge the gap between the 1990 imagining and the 2019 modern world. You also mention a lack of transhumanism, which I am not sure how you concluded... I see plenty of transhumanism, from the braindances to the cyberware. its not pervasive like some fictions have it, but its there.


Overall tho, everyone can have different perspectives, I just thought you didnt really give any credit to other possible interpretations.

The explanation of the Netrunning was MUCH appreciated. That's what I like about this channel, first-hand experience of a game is good, but sometimes I just want to know whats in the box and decide myself.