Cyberpunk Feng Shui

By Patrick O' Duffy

One of the cool things about Feng Shui is the ease in which you can adapt it's rules to other systems, and other game settings to it's rules and milieu. The Cyberpunk 2020 RPG is an excellent example: both games feature hyperkinetic violence combined with attitude and style. In fact, John Woo is essentially Cyberpunk without the cyberware. The following conversions allow you to quickly convert your Cyberpunk game to Feng Shui rules. Characters, netrunning, and cyberware are all streamlined so you can run your 'Punk games Feng Shui style.

Incidentally, with a little tweaking, you could just as easily adapt this material to your Feng Shui games. The characters are virtually interchangable, and the Cyber-schticks work just fine in a Feng Shui game (in fact, they fit right in). The only real difference is that Cyberpunk tends to be a bit less cinematic (and more deadly) in the way it handles combat. That, and the absence of fu powers, sorcery, and the like. You might want to adjust things a bit as a result. Of course, you could just take the cyber-schticks and insert them directly into your game. It should be easy for you to adapt the Cyberpunk setting into your game.

Attitude

Cyberpunk 2020 is a kinda anal-retentive system. Character creation requires lots of numbers, you have to minmax stuff and keep track of how much money you spend. There are lots of rules to cover various dangers, in and out of combat. It tries to cover all the bases and keep an eye on game balance.

Bugger that.

These rules are for a simplified, player-friendly system. It has a little more “realism” than Feng Shui, but not much. The aim is to keep things fast and simple, both for character creation and for play, same as in FS. I tend towards a fast-n-loose style of GMing, and I improvise a lot. GMs who like more detail and coverage may get frustrated by the gaping holes in these notes. Mea Culpa.

Rules Changes

Stats

The Chi stat is gone. All PCS have 2 Fortune Dice. The max on all other stats is 10, human average is 5.

Skills

To reflect the more “real-world” level of things, skills are generally lower. 13 is the maximum level for combat skills, 14 for non-combat. The Difficulty of stunts/actions is the same — therefore, characters should be handle anything up to “Real Tough”. With no Fortune stat, Gambling is now based off Perception. PCS who don't have Guns or Martial Arts as starting skills may buy those skills during creation, but cannot have an AV greater than 10.

Equipment

Players can use guns from the 2056 list in the FS rules. You can safely assume the players know the C-Punk genre well enough to think of other cool equipment to use.

Damage/Combat

All weapons do +2 Damage, while bare handed damage stays the same. Characters receive 1 point of Impairment for every full 5 Wound Points they take (i.e., 0 Imp for 0-4, 1 Imp for 5-9, etc.). Characters make Death Checks after taking 25 WPs, with the difficulty of the Death Check modified accordingly. Healing… well, I'll burn that bridge when I get to it. Probably a Constitution check, with healing equal to the Outcome (bonus to the AV depending on medical attention), once per day of game time.

Armour

Because armour is more plentiful in a C-Punk environment, it works better than it does in FS. Subtract half the Armour value from the wearer's Agility-based AV. This doesn't apply to Armour that comes from Cyber-Schticks.

Cyber-Schticks

CyberOptics

Covers all the various eye implants. Lets you see in I-Red, has telescopic functions, camera, Heads-Up info etc. Whatever's appropriate. General +2 to all visual Perception checks.

CyberAudio

Again, covers all the basics. Radio, enhanced hearing, CD player, maybe a recorder or something. +2 to hearing Perception checks. Both of these Schticks should be whatever the player thinks they should be.

CyberLimb

Pretty much the same as a FS “Robot Limb”. Effective Strength of 12 with that limb. Two legs gives you a Move of 12. If you have two limbs, you get 1 pt of Armour free; 4 limbs gives you 2 pts of Armour.

Stat Boosters

Pretty much anything that boost one sub-stat. Each schtick boosts the appropriate stat by two. You can only take boost a stat once.

• Speeding Bullet (Move)
• Muscle & Bone Lace (Str)
• Nanosurgeons (Con)
• Subdermal Armour (Tgh)
• Reflex Booster (Dex)
• Speedware (Spd)
• Motor Coordinator (Agl)

Smartgun Link

Gives +1 to AV when using a Smartgun. If aiming, you get +1 for one shot, +3 for two shots. Assume that all the PCS guns are Smartguns.

Cyberweapons

Things like fingernail razors and vampire teeth. Work out an appropriate damage bonus (bearing in mind the Damage increase for weapons), where the thingie goes and what it looks like.

Cyberguns

You have to have a CyberLimb to put the weapon into. Pick a gun from the list of weapons. The gun has a full clip of ammo, changing it takes a moderately inconvenient amount of time and effort.

Pain Editor

Ignore 1 point of Impairment. Make Death Checks at 30 Wound Points, but with the same difficulty that other players would (i.e., based on WPs over 25).

Special Sensors

Radar, Bug Detector, UV Scanner or whatever. Let the player define what it does, give them a +2 Perception bonus when using the sense, and work out any special benefits it might give.

Chipware/Skill Chips

The player can use a Fortune Dice to have exactly the right chip available. Roll a dice, and give the player that number as the bonus for the appropriate skill for the rest of the game, or until the player changes chips. The player can't have a chip for a skill she already possesses, and the total AV of the skill can't be more than 12.

Player's Choice

If the player has an idea for a cyber-thingie that these schticks don't cover, work out the details with her and come up with something appropriate. Nothing too game-destroying, but nothing too pissweak either.

Pissweak Stuff

Interface plugs. Colour-changing hair. Skinwatches and beepers and tattoos and all that. If players want this stuff, just let them have it without spending any schticks.

Special Rules

Cyberpsychosis

Nah, forget that. If the players want to be crazy, let'em be crazy; they don't need rules for it.

Netrunning

Ludicrously simplified to keep it fast. Look in the “Netrunner” template. For GMs, design a netrun as a combat scene or role-play vignette, with unnamed and named defence programs. Bigger Data Fortresses have more scenes, maybe some puzzles or stuff like that. Treat it like half dream sequence, half solo adventure, but get it over and done with quickly so the other players don't get bored.

Other Schticks

All roles have a Unique schtick or two, with the option of taking cyberschticks or other stuff. Some roles give the option of taking certain FS schticks — if these schticks would normally require Chi to be spent, ignore the cost.

Money

Don't worry about it. Keep the whole poor / working stiff / rich thing from Feng Shui.

Stuff I've Forgotten

Whatever. Fake it.

Final Note

If players want schticks or equipment that these rules don't cover, well, I say let 'em have it. Like it really matters.

Characters

All content copyright ©1997-2004 by David Eber, unless stated otherwise. (Read the legal fine print.)

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