Hi I have a new story to share, check it out here:

https://open.substack.com/pub/pnubk1/p/when-harry-drove-sally-right-off?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=jvrk7

This story was inspired by all the fascinating new ways we connect with each other and emerging tech... but mostly by the greatest romcom ever made—When Harry Met Sally (1989).

I've launched a new Cyperpunk RPG for open playtest and appreciate any feedback from those who read, test, or run it.

Free/PWYW: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/580323/veritas-ignota-playtest-edition

Veritas Ignota is a 'RPG set in the near future of the modern world: it provides a framework for stories about characters in a cyberpunk genre with action-oriented tales in a hyper-capitalistic future. The Veritas Ignota RPG is a complete system, built on the chassis of the D&D 5e SRD, and featuring a new, core mechanic based on the character’s beliefs that drives characters to act in their story in a way that is fully integrated into the game’s reward system, the character’s ability to succeed in their actions, and the choice to install cyberware or pursue the passions that make them human.

Any questions? I'm glad to answer.

EDIT: Adding some additional details from questions raised in crossposting.

1) That just sounds like cyberpunk. What's the point?
https://hilltopplehouse.substack.com/p/near-future-cyberpunk-for-the-post

2) Ugh. Why would you do it in 5e? 5e sucks.

https://hilltopplehouse.substack.com/p/why-use-the-5e-srd

3) ...but I don't like it because it doesn't meet my pre-concieved notions.

That's great! It's why I'm here asking for blind playtesters. Go get the free 0.7 Edition playtest at the link above and tell me what would make it a better experience for you (hopefully within the constraints of the design... "don't use 5e, you suck" is not helpful in that way). It will evolve rapidly into 0.8, 0.9, and 1.0 and my whole purpose is to learn from you, the community, and what makes cyberpunk cyberpunk. When you get the PDF it will provide you a Discord link to the playtest server, too.

A teaser for a fan film I am working on

Episode 10: Chemically, inside Current Inc.’s testing facility, ERIS reveals something unexpected. Mizira is perfectly healthy, unlike the rest of the Ergonian population. But what makes her different may be exactly what Current has been searching for.

ERIS introduces Project Arc, a groundbreaking genetic enhancement program designed to repair, strengthen, and evolve the Ergonian people, Mizira is faced with a new reality: she may be the foundation for something far greater than herself.

Desperate to help her grandmother and her people, Mizira agrees to move forward, stepping into a process she doesn’t fully understand.

Inside a sterile laboratory overlooking the city, she enters a chamber filled with a glowing blue solution… and the transformation begins.

After re-watching Akira for the nth time and still having my mind blown by the audio-visual experience, yet again I sat there like an absent minded toddler when thinking about the narrative. As one does on the internet, I ventured to explore if I was alone in this experience and to my joy... I was not. Curious at the heated discussions on the topic I decided to have a look see through the manga, the creator's insights, and other sources on 'Why Akira Doesn't Make Sense'. Here's my take in the form of a video essay, give it a watch, let me know what you think. Any and all feedback is appreciated.

P.S. putting a link wont work for some reason, just check my profile if you wanna watch ;)

I've been playing Cyberpunk 2077 since launch (PS4 Pro - buggy but still perfectly playable) and am probably about 4/5 of the way through the main storyline.

I have to say that as a long-time fan of Cyberpunk in general and the original RPG in particular, and while I fully acknowledge the sheer amount of work that has gone into creating this game, overall the effect is not as "cool" as I would have hoped. The world of Cyberpunk 2077 feels like a cartoon rendition of every Cyberpunk cliche you can imagine. While this is awesome sometimes (in the way that sometimes, Saint's Row is more fun to play that GTA), it's also sometimes cool to play a game in which the world, and particularly your place in it has some more gravity. I always loved the Deus Ex games and, perhaps unusually, thought the later iterations from Square (Human Revolution, and Mankind Divided) were a great improvement on the originals. They strayed away from the overly militaristic tone of the original and Invisible War just far enough to start asking some really deep philosophical questions about what effect enhancing ourselves with technology might have on us as a species while still dropping a good healthy dose of Hi-tech/Low life cyberpunk on us.

In the end I think the overall effect of Deus Ex is way cooler and more "Cyberpunk" than Cyberpunk 2077.

/discuss

I've read Neuromancer 3 times. I'm not saying that as a brag or an achievment, it's just something I did. I read it the first time when I was about 8 years old, when I found the book in my dad's office in the late 80s. I didn't understand much of what I was reading, and skipped big chunks when it got too verbose. However, I was absolutely entranced with the mystery of it; the metaphors were so alien, it both scared and excited my child-mind.

I picked it up again as a teen about 5-6 years later, and enjoyed it way more, but still had trouble with some of the more opaque metaphors. That said, it was around then that I really fell in love with Gibson's writing style. It kind of reminded me of the Aeon Flux cartoon, where everyone spoke really cryptically, and the plot and character motivations were really esoteric and somewhat unrelatable on purpose. In the future of Neuromancer, everyone is a cryptologist, speaking in code- everyone knows a little programming jargon, everyone feels smart and mysterious; that is a big part of what I consider "cyberpunk"- the obsession, valuation, and protection of information, both digitally and verbally. This love of spoken abstraction and a sort of "ennui" is a big part of my life now when it comes to the media I look for, be it David Lynch's works, or something like the film Mandy (2018). As far as other cyberpunk media I've enjoyed, I include the other short stories by Gibson in Mona Lisa Overdrive, and Snow Crash by Neil Stevenson. The last time I read Neuromancer was about 20 years ago, while I was stationed in Afghanistan, and it was still every bit as good, if not better, than my teenaged experience with it.

Which is what brings me to Cyberpunk 2077. When the game was annouced, I was absolutely thrilled. I built a brand-new PC specifically to play it. Upon release, I wasn't affected by the bugs that many people suffered, but the dialogue and story just felt... dumb... or at least dumb in comparison to Gibson's book. Maybe I just came in with the wrong expectations, but even games like the newer Dues Ex series felt a little more thoughtful and sophisticated with their dialogue to me, so I just didn't really get into it, even the much-revered Phantom Liberty expansion. Part of this could have been due to translation issues- you can tell the game came from Eastern Europe by the syntax, but even the "smart" characters in the game (netrunners like Songbird and T-Bug, or senior corpos like Goro Takemura) kinda talked like they were in a Michael Bay movie. "I'm gonna overload the mainframe!" that kind of fake, silly computer-speak stuff, instead of the strange jargon like in Gibson novels. I'll also say I was really disappointed that there was no real cyberspace or netrunning in the game, but that's a whole different complaint.

With the new Neuromancer series coming out, I'm hoping that the series maintains that wierd, cryptic vibe when characters talk to eachother, where you're not really sure what's going on sometimes, or at least characters' thoughts and feelings are kind of alien to the audience, and there's lots of double and triple meanings to the dialogue. That said, I'm worried that things will get dumbed down for mass-audience appeal.

Anyway, just wanted to get this off the top of my head and see if anyone relates, or if I am in the minority and just didn't "get" Cyberpunk 2077, and may just be too much of a grognard for the new Neuromancer series if they adapt the dialogue to be more "paletteable" to modern audiences.

Shadowlink continues to provide thoughtful analysis of the cyberpunk genre:

https://www.neondystopia.com/cyberpunk-movies-anime/altered-carbon-and-the-oversaturation-of-a-genre/

Hello folks!

I would like to bring here some discussion about cyberpunk fashion and topics related to it. I know that Cyberpunk is actually about philosophical subtext and it is a serious "sci-fi" genre (actually many of things which were sci-fi and were in cp before are not sci-fi anymore but is a reality now. Specially a lot of cp elements from 80s) but still you can admire of cp fashion as well if you really love cyberpunk and you are really using it as inspiration in your life, for example you love technological advancement but you are kind of frightened of social and environment problems it can bring... You also can be impressed by some famous cyberpunk works like books, films and videogames and you want to have some so-called adjustment in your life by wearing some cyberpunk fashion. It is like you see all the changes in real world, all this progress in high-tech and all this social problems and you are embracing it (a small Deus Ex reference here - embrace what you've became). So... I decided to wear some cyberpunk inspired clothes as well. I take cyberpunk seriously but still I like it's fashion. I started with some clothes inspired by techwear fashion. I haven't bought those expensive techwear brands yet but still some my clothes can be considered techwear due to look and abilities (in my minds if you know how to look and what kind of materials are good in clothes you can find good looking and practical wear. Still maybe I will buy expensive teachwear stuff in the future). And then I started to think about wearing some replicas of clothes from favorite cyberpunk games and movies. In general those are Blade Runner and Deus Ex. Actually Blade Runner 2049 and Deus Ex Human Revolution and Mankind Divided. First I started to look for Adam's trench coat from MD. It was designed by Acronym, a famous techwear brand and then was being sold by Acronym. But Musterbrand, famous geek fashion store, was selling more cheap but still good quality copies as well. Unfortunately no one is selling it anymore. I found a bit changed replicas which could be still kind of close choice on Amazon.com but they are not being sold worlwide ;( (this one https://www.amazon.com/Parevaas-Jensen-Leather-Mankind-Divided/dp/B07PBLZQ25/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=deus+ex+coat&qid=1551718460&s=gateway&sr=8-6).

So right now I am choosing between Deus Ex HR treanch coat (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Deus-Ex-Revolution-Jensen-Trench/dp/B06XF6WV4L/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1551718511&sr=8-4&keywords=deus+ex+coat) and Blade Runner 2049 trench coat (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gosling-Officer-Runner-Cotton-Trench/dp/B07LCHS866?pd_rd_w=5jTDa&pf_rd_p=900a2723-8ffa-4e47-8f88-f5adbc093b57&pf_rd_r=Z58J9C6E8JE9V850C36Q&pd_rd_r=03d10efc-f611-4c34-97d6-51f9948a6257&pd_rd_wg=rwJSn&ref_=pd_gw_simh). General issue is this - I dont think that such black leather coat will look cp enough, at least in my country (Europe, the Baltic States). It will not be accepted as techwear fashion. And it would be okay. But I think that such coat would be considered punk or gothic and not cyberpunk. I thought maybe it is a good idea to buy Blade Runner 2049 replica instead of HR replica (so I can even make cosplay of officer K later on and go to our local unicon) and to have hope that I will find that MD replica in the future.

Also there are some Cyberpunk 2077 bomber replicas on Etsy (like this one https://www.etsy.com/listing/667822832/cyberpunk-2077-cosplay-costume-faux?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=cyberpunk+2077&ref=sr_gallery-1-5&organic_search_click=1) and they look pretty cool but they all are made of faux leather.

And what other community members think about this topic?

In hiatus at the moment, but chapter 2 is still on its way.

Mods, feel free to remove this post if this isn't cyberpunk enough.

Edit: Forgot to say what the project actually is lol. Not particularly cyberpunk, but rather biopunk. Regarding this comic, I've been the writer, artist, as well as the one developing the setting.

To sum up the world building, death has been solved and all technology has become a flesh adjacent version of itself. Oligarchs have become practically immortal and have ascended beyond the biological definition of a human. Using overpopulation as an excuse, those who fail to pay the "living tax", unable to afford resurrection, and/or are accused of a serious crime are sent for AV-unit transfiguration: a process that disassembles a person's brain lobe by lobe, so that it will be reconstructed with each lobe coming from an individual. Through this process, they create organisms with broken wills and identities called AV-units (Augmented Vessels), which are bought by various corporations and are augmented based on what is demanded of their bodies.

That's most of what I can say for this project, since I don't want to spoil too much of what hasn't been explicitly stated within the webcomic so far. The only other tidbit of lore I would add is that the world is set so far into the future that any irl starting point to how things got to the way they have has either been forgotten or censored to a point without written records. Otherwise, until I pump out more content (in which I will), I'll have to be vague about certain aspects.

If there are any lore questions, feel free to ask. I will make sure to answer without giving too much away.

https://donotlink.it/EbZw

This doesn't even get into having the option of gender pronouns as a choice in character creation. Apparently an rpg can't have player options.

But what should we expect from a site who has a writer which say this about gay options: https://donotlink.it/abk1

So first and foremost, your character in Cyberpunk 2077, named ‘V’, is depicted as an outright degenerate. The commentary over the video talks a lot about choice and whatnot, but we don’t really see any examples of it.

The transition from the first mission to the character waking up after a pointless night of sex doesn’t indicate that maybe players can choose to sleep with people, or not. We’re simply told that there are choices but there’s no prompt or any indication that you don’t have to have pointless one night stands

In the Eurogamer interview it was also acknowledged that in the demo when playing as the male version of ‘V’, your character still wakes up next to another male. So the implication is that your character is gay. Once again, CD Projekt doesn’t really clarify if players can avoid that all together or if that particular cinematic is ingrained into the storytelling. Quest designer Philipp Weber told Eurogamer…

In this demo at least you will always wake up to another man, so we can show different kinds of relationships will be part of the game, and players will be able to choose what kind of character they want to play.”

This explanation doesn’t necessarily denounce, change, or alter the implication of whether or not this scenario still carries over into the main game. But the presentation here didn’t seem to indicate that your character couldn’t be degenerate.

Really? I dount he even reviewed the trailer.

https://web.archive.org/web/20070322230557/http://www.themailstrom.com:80/info.htm

The Mailstrom from Nine Inch Nail's Year Zero ARG from 2007.

We are closer to the 2022 setting now than we are to the world the record was released into, figuratively and metaphorically.