Quick Cyberpunk Red Game

Over the weekend, I ran a quick adventure using the Cyberpunk Red "Easy Mode" free intro rules. I didn't use the adventure included in those rules, though, and came up with my own. Inspired partly by the Cyberpunk 2077 video game's origin stories, I threw this quick game together and thought I'd share.

(Warning! I don't know Cyberpunk Red that well and just sort of made up a lot on the fly. This very likely has several mechanical mistakes for skill checks, so take it with a grain of salt.)

“Dead Man’s Ride”

Premise: The PCs are hanging out at home, a hideout, or another semi-isolated area when a shot-up corpo bursts in, bleeding, then passes out. A second later, a small-time fixer, "Tweak," follows, begging the PCs to help save his friend. Tweak explains that Rico (the shot-up corpo) has info Militech wants buried.

What's really going on: In reality, the “info” is ownership papers (stored in Rico’s neural link) for a rare, smuggled Porsche 911 Turbo (or whatever rare car the GM wants). Rico’s boss was embezzling money from Militech and buying himself some fancy toys. He hid this by spreading out the ownership to his underlings, who weren’t even aware that items had been purchased under their names until recently.

Militech discovered the embezzlement and is in the middle of making examples of everyone involved (knowingly or not).

(The following assumes that the PCs have a Tech and Medtech, as my group did, and that they were in a warehouse hideout. Adjust accordingly.)

1. Opening Scene: Blood and Chrome

Setup: The PCs are in their Combat Zone warehouse hideout when Rico, shot and bleeding, collapses inside. Tweak, a jittery fixer, follows, begging them to save Rico because “Militech wants him dead for what he knows.” Militech drones are circling, signaling hitmen.

“Neon flickers through the warehouse’s cracked windows, casting shadows on your gear. The Tech’s tweaking a rig, the Medtech’s sorting stims, when a crash hits the door. A man in a dirty, bloodied suit staggers in. A gunshot wound’s torn his side. Just behind him, a wiry man in a ripped hoodie scrambles in. ‘Save him, chooms! He’s got dirt on Militech—they’ll flatline us all!’ Outside, a drone’s whine grows louder. What do you do?”

Actions:

• Stabilize Rico (Medical Tech, DV 15)
• Diagnose (Medical Tech, DV 13) to detect his neural link holds encrypted data.
• Scan drones (Electronics/Security Tech, DV 13): Two Militech drones (SP 10, 20 HP, no weapons but signal hitmen).
• Jury-rig a jammer (Basic Tech, DV 15, Maker ability) to delay the hitmen by 5 minutes.
• Check area (Perception, DV 15) to spot the hitmen’s van a block away; they may spot other cars in the area (to hotwire).
• Press Tweak (Streetwise, DV 13): He admits Rico’s data is about “something his boss hid” (vague).

NPCs:

• Rico (Injured corpo): Former Militech netrunner, critically injured (20 HP, unconscious). His neural link holds the car’s ownership papers.
• Tweak (Fixer): A street fixer who knows about the car but plans to steal it. 30 HP, 6 SP armor, pistol (3d6).

2. Development: The Papers and the Plan

Depending on how the players proceed, they may end up in a shootout, foot chase, car chase, or try to negotiate their way out of the situation. Eventually (hopefully), the players will have a moment to discover the car's ownership papers and either extract them, make a deal with Tweak, make a deal with Militech (much harder), or decide to try to keep the car or sell it themselves. 

Here are some breakdowns:

• Militech Hitmen: (# of PCs +1, max 5): 50 HP, 11 SP armor, assault rifles (5d6), one with a cyberarm (4d6 melee).
• Hotwire car: (Electronics/Security Tech, DV 15) - plenty of cars in the area, but few are going to outrun or outlast a Militech armored truck.
• Extract papers: (Electronics/Security Tech, DV 15); failure corrupts the papers, requiring a runner to restore and lowering the reward to 1,000 eddies.
• I didn't have a Netrunner PC, so I didn't plan out a netrunning solution, but that would probably be a better approach.
• Craft a distraction: (Basic Tech, DV 15, Maker).

NPCs:

• Nomad Contact (Optional): A smuggler, Dax, who hid the car. 40 HP, 8 SP armor, shotgun (4d6). Appears if PCs track the car.

3. Resolution:

Assuming the PCs get clear of the hitmen and discover the nature of the "info," they can go pick up the car (dealing with the Nomads holding it), make a deal with Tweak, or do something else. If they didn't shake the hitmen, they may have to deal with them later, or a second group might show up (a shootout between the Nomads and Militech might even occur).

Once all is settled, the PCs need to decide how to deal with the car. Here are some possibilities:

• Have Tweak sell the car: 2,000 eddies.
• Steal the Porsche: Worth 100,000 eddies, but puts a flashy target on the PCs. Also, Tweak will not like this and will try to betray the PCs at the first chance.
• Sell to a Rival Corp (Ziggurat): 5,000 eddies for the papers (Streetwise, DV 15, or Operator). Risks corp heat.
• Give to Nomads: Pays 3,000 eddies and offers a favor.

So that was my little "intro" adventure. The players had fun, I had fun. Not sure if we’re going to keep playing Cyberpunk Red, though; we might just convert to GURPS but keep playing in Night City, so I might be posting some GURPS Cyberpunk conversions soon.