Monday, June 11, 2012

My history with Cyberpunk 2020

I didn't mention it when I announced the update to the site the other day, but in addition to Night City Amalgamated and updating the link list, I also added a page dedicated to all the Cyberpunk games I have ever run or been a part of, dating all the way back to the beginning.  I didn't mention it on the front page of the site, or in the announcements because its more personal, not something that anyone else outside the people I have gamed with would really find important, and I am not really sure why I felt the need to right it all up other than impulse.  It was actually while I was finishing this up that Mike Pondsmith got ahold of me last week, so I thought I would share this anecdote, just a footnote really, to my experience with the game.

Since 1989, I have been running or playing Cyberpunk in one for or another on an almost weekly basis.  Sure there have been a few dry spells, like the first 6 months after I moved from Kansas City to NW Arkansas, or when Dungeons and Dragons 3rd edition was new and no one wanted to play anything else.  But as a whole, Cyberpunk was the game that got me into gaming, it has remained my one true gaming love all these years, and even now I am involved in 3 games a week... running two and actually playing in another.  Sure I play in other games as well, occasionally I even run them... but there is no game I would rather be playing or running than Cyberpunk, though we use Interlock Unlimited rules now.  And since it is pretty bloody rare that I am at a shortage for excellent players, I imagine I must be doing something right when it comes to running games.

Some of my friends, and several people I know online aren't as tied down as I am, one game to them is much like any other.  One of my other friends, one of my oldest gaming friends in fact, has what I like to refer to as Gamer ADD.  He is always on the hunt for a new game, a new system, a new setting.  He has a massive library of games, but has never played or even attempted to run 90 of it.  When he does convince himself to run a game, it rarely lasts more than a few sessions before he gets bored and he abandons it to stare dreamy eyed at whatever new purchase he has made.  I have a friend who refuses to play anything but Dungeons and Dragons, and only the newest edition... which means that I haven;t gamed with him since they switched to 4rth edition.  I could grin and bear it with 3rd and 3.5, but 4th edition is most definitely a system I cannot enjoy even on player basis.  Not knocking it, just saying it has nothing to offer me.

But for me, its always Cyberpunk.  The setting of Cyberpunk, and the Interlock system (well updated to IU) are so perfect for me, the hit me on such a visceral level, that nothing else even comes close.  Hell, my love for the system was what led to the creation of IU in the first place, because I wanted to be able to use the system to run other genres every now and then.

Anyway, so on a whim, I decide to throw up the history of the campaigns I have been involved in, the vast vast majority of them as GM, just so I can have something to look back on and reflect.   If anyone is interested, they can find it under the references section of the site, or they can just go here:
http://datafortress2020.oliwy.net/datafortressgamehistory.html

3 comments:

  1. You seem to had great fun over the years. I wish I was able to play Cyberpunk as continuously as you.

    After my group lost interest in the game many years ago, I can only play (and GM) occasionally on an online roleplaying community (comunidadumbria).

    All this writings only make me wish I was able to play to someone as dedicated to you to the game.

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  2. I just recently got exposed to CP2020. About a month before the video game was announced, coincidentally.

    I've been a predominately DnD and D20-based system player and GM since I first picked up AD&D at age 11. Most of my time has been spent playing DnD 3.x, with a large gap of nothing between age 13 to 21.

    Strangely enough, I've never been too fond of DnD. But it was what everyone played, and the only sort of system I knew. I was initially hesitant when the DnD group I was in disbanded and a player offered to run CP2020.

    I didn't really want to learn a new system, but I'm really glad I did. We've only had a few sessions but it's been, hands down, the best campaign and system I've played.

    It's awesome to read that you've been enjoying the same setting since I was just a year old. Hopefully the new video game will encourage players to try to pen and paper version when it's released, because I'm sure there's a lot of people like I was, afraid to try anything other than D20 systems.

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  3. Hi Wisdom,
    It seems that your wonderfull map of Night City Amalgamated is not available anymore (the HD version) at this link http://datafortress2020.oliwy.net/nightcity/Night%20City%20Amalgamated.html
    It's a great map, and so much more interesting that the original one. Is there any way to get it?
    best!
    Nurg

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