"In Medias Res" - Cyberpunk 2020 RPG

Show notes, Night City Secrets episode 1: "In Medias Res"

 Welcome to Night City Secrets.

This will be a podcast about a handful of friends playing the tabletop role-playing game Cyberpunk 2020.  Our inaugural episode takes us straight into the action.

(We are adults, and we do curse a little - not like sailors, and we don't use words we wouldn't use in front of our own kids, but there is some colorful commentary -- usually in character.)

Cover Art for the podcast from “Cyberpunk madness,” by the artist Eddie Del Rio.  

Intro and closing music is from Amoebacrew, called simply "Cyberpunk royalty free music.”  It is available on Youtube:

Background ambient music is from RoyaltyFreeSounds, called “Soundscape Ambient, Cyberpunk Music. Royalty Free.”

It is on Youtube:

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

REF = The Referee

Antigone = Corporate.  Director of Public Relations for the Paupau Collective (“PPC”) in Night City.  PPC is a family autonomous corporation floating out on ships in the Pacific Ocean.  Half-Greek half-Polynesian.

Han = Solo.  The team solo and pilot, bioscultped to look like Harrison Ford, though he also has spiky short hair.  Native Hawaiian, cousin to Antigone.  

“Chewie” = (NPC) Medtech.  Officially, Consuela Jarillo, a Costa Rican doctor currently dating Han.  She is played by the REF. She’s also a pilot.

Hako = Fixer.  Aohako is also Hawaiian, but not related to Han or Antigone.  He grew up in Night City and has connections all over the city.  He and Antigone met through their common mentor, Derek Trammel, a former Night City Police Department detective, now a private investigator.

Surány = Netrunner.  A young and nerdy Czech fame-seeker.  Raised in Night City, and went to high school with Chewie.  Attained some fame for his “March of the Ents” program — he names all his programs after people, places, and events in the Tolkien Mythos, and has been trying to grow a Gandalf beard.

Stahl = (NPC) A pilot for hire, short but very capable Japanese Solo and former fighter pilot.  Used to do odd jobs with Han.

Tatiana = (NPC) A former employee of Han, a dangerous Solo currently working for the Willow Sisterhood - a Poser Gang who bioscult themselves to look like famous women from media and pop culture who played the roles of bad-asses.  Tatiana is currently sporting the look of Scarlet Johannsen from the Ghost in the Shell movie adaptation. Tried to kill Han once when he tried to come onto her.

TOC and Timestamps:

** Introduction:  @00:28

** Play begins:  @1:51

The crew is in Club Atlantis (page 154 of “Night City Sourcebook,” CP3501).

** Antigone separates Tatiana from Stahl:  @3:06

** Han tries to sneak into Stahl’s AV, Surány hangs out at the bar:  @8:05

** Hako leaves to give Han backup:  @8:55

** ‘Tig is trying to bribe Tatiana and the Willow Sisterhood:  @9:25

** Han arrives at the AV: @12:40

** Surány deals with the triggered security system on the AV:  @19:53

** Stahl arrives at the AV:  @20:50

** Hako arrives at the AV:  @30:15

** ‘Tig tries stalling Tatiana with a job offer:  @38:26

** Closing Comments:  @47:55

INTRODUCTION TEXT:

Hello, and welcome to Night City Secrets.

This will be a podcast about a handful of friends playing the tabletop role-playing game Cyberpunk 2020. 

We have played a variety of games together from World of Warcraft to Guild Wars 2 to Settlers of Cataan… many different games.  We recently decided to try out the Roll20 platform - at Roll20.net - and go back to some of our roots.

There’s 5 of us, one serving as the Referee.  This is a game that three of our group played together in their childhood, but it is a new experience for two of us.  So I’m pretty much the newbie here.

As I was preparing to get into this game, I was doing a variety of research into how to play, and I came across the series on playing Cyberpunk 2020 called “Dark Future Dice” - you can find them on youtube and other media sites - and I really enjoyed listening to it.

We have a lot of fun playing and joking around with each other, and I thought…. why not record it?  Maybe someone out there will get a laugh out of it, too.

Rather than giving a lot of backstory, however, I’m going to start this “en media res.”  “En media res” is a term that literary geeks use to describe a narrative or a story that begins “in the middle of things.”  It is a technique meant to put you right into the action and let you deduct things and piece them together as it happens.  

So without further ado, this is game night three of our new venture into Cyberpunk 2020.

CLOSING NOTES:

Here I’ll end the first part of our podcast.

That ends the middle part of our third session.  If that was too disorienting… Han has hijacked the AV-4 of Stahl, a pilot he hired who betrayed us on our last mission.

The AV-4 is the McDonnell-Douglas AV-4 Tactical Urban Assault Vehicle, described on page 182 of the Cyberpunk 2020 2nd edition manual.  It is the quote “nearest thing to a science fiction jet car…Short, bulbous, and equipeed with only rudimentary maneuver wings” unquote.  

While taking down Stahl, he “red-misted” Hako, our Fixer, as he entered the vehicle.  Hako had some unconciliatory feelings about the incident, to say the least.

In the meantime, Surany the Netrunner, remotely infiltrating the security systems to Stahl’s AV-4, and Antigone, the Corporate funding this operation, were attempting to isolate Tatiana.  Tatiana is a former disgrunatled and… violent… employee of Han… which is why they are trying to keep her separated from the encounter with Stahl and Han. She is a member of the Poser Gang “Willow Sisterhood,” a collection of mercenaries who hire themselves out for odd jobs.  Their signature poser identity is to bodysculpt themselves as attractive women from feature films and pop culture known to be absolute bad-asses.

Next time, we’ll wind back the clock and take you to where our characters tried to piece together the clues that would lead them to trying to find their betrayer, Stahl. 

Until then, peace be with you, Choombatta!