12/7/21, 10:28 AM [Cyberpunk 2020] 1001 Night City Stories

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TheRPGSite » Forum » Pen & Paper Roleplaying Central » Pen and Paper Roleplaying Games (RPGs) Discussion »
[Cyberpunk 2020] 1001 Night City Stories

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Nexus [Cyberpunk 2020] 1001 Night City

Stories
Hero Member
« on: December 14, 2014, 01:33:14 PM »

I've decided to resurrect an old idea that never quite got off the ground. A Cyberpunk 2020

N
campaign centered on rogue guerrilla journalists investigating and reporting the stories
that no one else will touch: seedy, bizarre, the conspiracies and cover ups and
controversial secrets those in power don't want unearthed or involve the disenfranchised
and forgotten to provide an alternative to the “Fair and Balanced” corporate driven media.

Posts: 5919 So what I need are some ideas, story hooks for this type of game. Full details aren't
required just fragments and stingers, odd events and other things might draw the attention
of a group like this. Simple hooks and suggestions are probably best actually since some
of my players occasionally browse this forum. The campaign is centered on Night City but
they aren't limited to that location. I have most of the Cyberpunk 2020 source-books.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Logged

Remember when Illinois Nazis where a joke in the Blue Brothers movie?

Democracy, meh? (538)

"The salient fact of American politics is that there are fifty to seventy million voters each of whom will
volunteer to live, with his family, in a cardboard box under an overpass, and cook sparrows on an old curtain
rod, if someone would only guarantee that the black, gay, Hispanic, liberal, whatever, in the next box over
doesn’t even have a curtain rod, or a sparrow to put on it."

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Artifacts of Amber [Cyberpunk 2020] 1001 Night City

Stories
Hero Member
« Reply #1 on: December 14, 2014, 05:46:50 PM »

Ran tons of CP 2020 back in the day one of my favorite scenarios was for one of the

A
nomads in the group.

Part of her pack was dying from something. So party investigates finds out it is from
tainted deer meat from a Corporate preserve the Nomads poached on. This was a
corporate solution "poison the well". Left it up the pcs on how to react. would make a cool
Posts: 685 human interest story.

Another was corps snatching gangers off the street to cyber up and train as soldiers.

Another had to do with a yakuza hit during a mafioso wedding, makes for interesting
"Party" that is not high society or corp related. With serious levels of security.

Hope that helps

Logged

ArrozConLeche [Cyberpunk 2020] 1001 Night City

Stories
No Más
« Reply #2 on: December 14, 2014, 08:22:29 PM »
Hero Member

Count Zero had the man who employed the protagonist actually living as a sentient mass
of flesh inside a huge vat or something. He would only meet with her in a virtual
environment.

Neuromancer's straylight villa stuff was in the bizarre secret kind of territory too. You could
probably riff off of that.

Logged
Posts: 1761

Whatever happened to "Why it has to be free speech all the time"

So much for that on TheRpgSite:

http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?t=31580

http://rpgnetsucks.blogspot.com/

tenbones [Cyberpunk 2020] 1001 Night City

Stories
Poobah of the D.O.N.G.
« Reply #3 on: December 15, 2014, 05:08:33 PM »
Hero Member

the Meta-AI - There's an app that everyone is finding ubiquitous to use - like a highspeed
messaging system (phone with limited virtual tactile sensations). But it's really a malware
program that uses people's brains for computational power while they sleep. The side-
effects might be tiredness, lethargy - that mounts into physical damage later. And bits of
that knowledge of what they're being used for is retained in their waking memory.

Posts: 5149 The scary thing: Some Corp is using the combined brain-power to create a "Meta-AI"
that's actually good for one thing: killing or hacking other AI's. Another AI could attack this
entity - but it's decentralized nature means the damage is shunted off to the brains of the
app-users.

This could have a LOT of scary implications.

The Discovery - a deep-space mining operation on Mars has found something (the
MacGuffin). The PC's hear through their various connections about a mining operation
coverup concerning the deaths of hundreds of miners. The truth is something far darker...
far more wondrous. What is it the corporation covered up? What did they find? Did they do
it to protect everyone else? Or to protect their own interests? Getting the PC's to Mars is a

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huge gaming journey itself. (Use Deep Space and Near Orbit).

The War on Drugs Part Deaux - A plant is discovered in Amazon that has resisted all the
biotoxins sprayed there to "kill off" drug-producing plants. This plant has adapted the
biotoxin into creating a SUPER concentration of Dimethyltryptimine (DMT) - so powerful
that it's users have shared dreams. Shares experiences. (Perhaps as a MacGuffin to
introduce low/high grade psionics? Or the ability to tap the web without a deck) whatever.
Corporations are willing to commit atrocities galore to secure the rights and ownership of
such a plant.

The Perfect Weapon - A senator is really a synthetic being. Controlled by a group of

rogue AI's to finally bring order to the world. But some undesireables will have to be swept
aside to make it happen. Perhaps the PC's are recruited to help it...

Broken Arrow 1 - a little known high-way that cuts its way across the wasteland of the US
has been used by the Government for years. But a fierce band of outlaws has attacked a
convoy and taken it's ordinance - an old Hydrogen Bomb on its last legs and being
delivered to be decommissioned. The PC's are doing a story on something else when they
get a whiff of a lead from out there in the Wasteland. What if there's someone behind the
heist? What if there is an actual intent in using the H-bomb for something heinous? What if
these Nomads don't have a fucking clue what they got and they could accidentally set it
off? Either way - it'll be an adventure getting out there - and dodging the spec-ops teams
that will be descending on the region. Or take it from another perspective - what about the
PC's finding out the Government has a missing H-bomb running around the country? Who
would pay/kill to keep it quiet/get into the public?

Broken Arrow 2 - The PC's are the ones with the fucking bomb! DOH... now what? Sell
it? Stash it? Set it off? either way... people are coming for you.

... I got more if you're interested.

Logged

Nexus [Cyberpunk 2020] 1001 Night City

Stories
Hero Member
« Reply #4 on: December 16, 2014, 10:43:06 PM »

Quote from: tenbones;804659

N ... I got more if you're interested.

Absolutely! This is just what I was looking for. Thanks!

Posts: 5919

Logged

Remember when Illinois Nazis where a joke in the Blue Brothers movie?

Democracy, meh? (538)

"The salient fact of American politics is that there are fifty to seventy million voters each of whom will
volunteer to live, with his family, in a cardboard box under an overpass, and cook sparrows on an old curtain
rod, if someone would only guarantee that the black, gay, Hispanic, liberal, whatever, in the next box over
doesn’t even have a curtain rod, or a sparrow to put on it."

tenbones [Cyberpunk 2020] 1001 Night City

Stories
Poobah of the D.O.N.G.
« Reply #5 on: December 17, 2014, 02:41:39 PM »
Hero Member

The Three Parter - 1 - The Insurgency - Gang activity in the city suddenly gets amped
up. Police fatalities take a sudden spike. The PC's are hot on the trail investigating and
find out there is some new gang that has appeared and are taking over the territories of
other gangs with frightening ease. The drug-market, body-banking, prostitution and other
rackets are getting either squashed or subsumed by this "gang". When the cops decide to
do anything about it (towards the end of the cycle where the violence starts getting
Posts: 5149 particularly close to "civilized" portions of the city) - the cops start getting wasted. The

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natural response is: send in the C-SWAT. The PC's learn that this gang has instilled
complete terror in the underworld. They're not "normal". No one knows who they are.
There isn't even enough time for traditional parley or warnings. They show up and bodies
hit the floor. They don't even fear organized crime strongholds in the CZ.

The Three Parter - 2 - Operation: Curveball - The "gang" in question isn't a gang at all.
They're several teams of Corporate SpecOps. They're using their advanced training and
gear to simply wipe out "undesireables" for Urban Warfare training. The Catch - the
Corporation in question has lead these SpecOps teams to believe that they're actually on
a black-ops mission paid for by the City itself (which might be true! See below) in ridding
the the CZ of the dangerous elements - as well as Police forces that are "troublesome" -
that are sent to "deal" with this new "gang" threatening the fine citizens of the City. Two-
birds, one stone right? Wrong! Within this same corporation (or maybe a rival Corp) there
is a Black Projects team that does military contracting that knows what's going on and
sees this as the perfect opportunity to use this chaos for their own purposes. They flood
the streets with proto-type weaponry to the remaining and most lethal gangs still standing
(dangerous weapons, but prone to malfunction due to their prototype status of course), or
if you want to *really* ratchet it up - they drop in a team of proto-type borgs to pit against
the SpecOps teams to test them in a live in an urban hot-zone.

The PC's will have multiple avenues of adventure here - finding out the truth about the
Spec Ops teams, their possible connections to the City. Corrupt politicians making their
political bids at the cost of civilian and police lives. You have a range of possible allies and
enemies to make - DA's, Councilmen, Police officials. You'll have to decide how far it goes.
From the Corporate side you'll have plenty of intrigue to boil up between contacts in the
rival corp, or within the same corp behind the SpecOps team itself. Perhaps a rival project
manager? And of course the possible corporate espionage required to ferry that
information (assuming you do/don't use Netrunning). There's a *lot* of meat that could
cause this stage to run a long time.

The Three Parter - 3 - This is WAR, peacock! Is it going to be corporate war? Is it going
to be just a brushfire war in the streets. It's Spec-Ops vs. High-powered Gang/Borgs and
let's not forget C-SWAT. Maybe organized crime has gotten involved? The PC's might
have garnered enough information to use for their own gain within several organized crime
syndicates about why their operations have been disrupted, which could be invaluable for
the PC's down the road.

Maybe the PC's just wait it out? But if they do that - then simply have the SpecOps team
figure out the PC's know the truth - so they have to be eliminated, but give the PC's a
headstart and let them know. SO now what do they do? They will HAVE to make friends
with someone: Organized Crime, Cops, DA, rival Corporation(s)- with the knowledge they
have, it can be leveraged. But doing so is the adventure, right? It literally writes itself... of
course they could just try to make the WHOLE thing front-page news... but that will have
its own ramifications.

The Cannonball Run - The PC's are doing a "feel good" piece. A streetrace that literally
goes across country. It's semi-legal (the cops don't give a shit) and it might even be
sponsored. The PC's might be doing "stories from the road" as participants. The catch?
Someone in the race has a very high-profile hit on them, and a number of powerful Nomad
packs have gotten wind of it. OR maybe a PC has a bounty on on them. Either way - it's a
race across country with Nomads chasing the PC's the whole way. The curveball - the
PC's might be in a car that carrying some kinda MacGuffin that's being smuggled to
waiting parties at the finish line. And there are inevitably people that don't want that
MacGuffin to make it. Double-Curveball - it's a fucking bomb.

Waterworld - The PC's are investigating some kind of new aquatic-arcology/aquaculture

habitat that has some kinda new technique for producing high quality food-pellets out of
GMO-seaweed -or whatever. While interviewing the people that live there and work there -
PIRATES ATTACK! The facility is designed to rise/fall using hydraulics and pontoons. One
of the pontoons is destroyed forcing the facility to submerge. Curveball - the pellets are not
as financially feasible to produce and the company is trying to destroy it for the insurance
money and they hired the pirates to fuck shit up. Double-Curveball - the pellets are
actually poisonous when stored as they are and off-gas some kind of chlorine gas or
whatever - so the PC's and everyone else have only limited time to get out.

Logged

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12/7/21, 10:28 AM [Cyberpunk 2020] 1001 Night City Stories

tenbones [Cyberpunk 2020] 1001 Night City

Stories
Poobah of the D.O.N.G.
« Reply #6 on: December 17, 2014, 05:45:56 PM »
Hero Member

If you're looking to go a little beyond Cyberpunk - go whole-hog post-apocalyptic...

The End of It All - Something causes the net to shut down and the bombs start flying.
Yeah - Skynet? Aliens? Jackass Humans with itchy trigger fingers? Who knows - and
ultimately who cares. The catch? The PC's are on assignment in the Crystal Palace or
Tycho Crater or Copernicus Crater. They get front-seat show to the end of the world. Now
Posts: 5149 what? Divvy up the factions that exist there - and let the space-carnage commence. Think
about it - the remnants of the world is there smoldering below you, waiting to be claimed.
For a journalism crew - what could be MORE important (outside of survival) than to find
out what happened? Make contact with survivors? ARE there survivors? What secrets
come out that out of necessity require people to go back - databases that need rescuing?
AI's? technology.

The End of It All 2 - Your PC's are on the GROUND when it happens. And now getting to
L5 orbit is going to be a bit touchy. How did they survive? What hellhole are they going to
have to come to the surface to deal with?

Logged

tenbones [Cyberpunk 2020] 1001 Night City

Stories
Poobah of the D.O.N.G.
« Reply #7 on: December 19, 2014, 12:01:45 PM »
Hero Member

God's Angels - The PC's are covering the brutal killing of a major corporate executive, in
the middle of some big public event. He had plenty of enemies, but none stupid enough, or
with so little to lose to even think about it. Yet... it happened. PC
contacts/investigation/whatever gleans that a very high profile assassin (read: Interpol top-
10) arrived in town three days ago. The person responsible for this information suddenly is
killed. Further dangerous investigation leads to other people of prominence being killed.
Posts: 5149 The PC's come to find that it's not the assassin at all. Rather it's the ASSASSINS. The
Angels are doing wetwork in your city. Their purposes: Inscrutable. The Angels do what
the Angels do. Hunting one another for their games? Told by their unseen overlords to
remove high-powered players off the board. (Angels are the legendary hunting cadres of
Europe's elite solos. They are so legendary they are considered myths even by people like
Morgan Blackhand - well maybe no Morgan.) Reporting on the Angels might be career
suicide. Or just suicide.

The Screwjob - The PC's have done one too many hard-hitting reports. They get framed
for some crime (doctored footage will be made available, of course). Send their asses to
prison! You always wanted to use that Cop-Book. Of course after several brutal sessions
behind bars while their trial dates get established - Some mysterious benefactor springs
them with the promise of evidence that will exonerate them. For a price. Of course. The
Curveball - It's the guy that actually set them up. Double Curveball - The Players find out
the reason why their nemesis hates them is based on a misunderstanding and they have
evidence to back it up. Deadly enemy becomes possible contact? Or do the PC's ruin their
enemy with evidence of their own?

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