A fistful of…Cyberpunk?

[Malebolgia]

Inspired by Dentatus’ awesome blog I secured a copy of A Fisftul of Kung Fu (FKF) from Osprey (cheap too! https://ospreypublishing.com/a-fistful-of-kung-fu-hong-kong-movie-wargame-rules) and the rules really appeal to me. They are cinematic, have some nice twists with the turn-overs, excellent way of personalizing your characters and they are easy to read and follow. Seems like an excellent game to do some Cyberpunk gaming…but with some adjustments.

Here are my ideas:

Less top heavy
FKF has one Protagonist (the hero), sometimes a Bruiser (sidekick) and extras (fodder). This works well for cinematic games which focus on the characters but for my Cyberpunk I want a game with several characters which are about equal in power. So here’s my idea:
1) Regular group: 1 Protagonist, 0-1 Bruiser, 0-14 Extras
2) Alternative: 0-4 Veterans, 0-1 bruiser, 0-8 Extras
The Veterans are Quality 3 / Combat 3 models, so the Quality is between the Protagonist and the Bruiser and the Combat is equal to the Bruiser. Points value: 40, maximum points: 100
So they fall between Protagonists and Extras and for some situations they need their own options.
For all traits, they pay the average between Bruisers and Protagonists with the same choices as the Protagonist (but with Rigger and Hacker too, see below). For example, Acrobat costs 5 for Extras and 13 for Protagonists. For Veterans they will cost 9. If Extras cannot pick the skill, pay 60% of the cost of the Protagonist.

New stuff for Veterans
1) They can react, but only once per turn. So once again, between Protagonists and Bruisers.
2) They can focus up to 1 action, no more.
3) They can have a maximum attack of +4.
4) They don’t count as extras (for example, in the damage tables)
5) Veterans can recover 1 Cyberware (Chi) by spending 2 actions (instead of 1).
6) Veterans can target any model, like protagonists with ranged attacks (not restricted to the closest model)
7) Veterans can motivate 1 Extra by spending 1 Cyberware (Chi). The Extras activate at +0.
8 ) If Veterans fail a Morale check on 1 or 2 dice, they will perform a fleeing move.

General changes
1) Changing Chi to Cyberware. It’s just a name…but still
2) Changing some traits to Cyberpunk names. Same as with Chi
3) No magic
4) Undead become robots; Cyberpsycho instead of Hopping Vampire (basically one so cybered up they have succumbed to cyberpsychosis); Giant Robot instead of Dinosaur
5) Add a Rigger trait. An extra rigger gains 1 drone, a Veteran rigger gains 2 drones. Protagonists cannot become riggers. 8 points for Extras, 14 for Veterans.
6) Add a Hacker trait. Protagonists cannot become hackers. I’ll have to see how to deal with hacking in a good way. 5 points for Extras, 7 for Veterans.
7) Use the ‘big’ trait for normal Exo-suits and ‘huge’ for the big walkers. Just easy adjustments!
8 ) Adding some extra environment rules and removing some.

So, do you guys have any other ideas or adjustments? Thanks!

[Dentatus]

Hey, glad I can contribute something to the discussion. Only comment is we decided the FKF combat results were too fiddly and time consuming for physical combat, so we adjusted them more like SoBH. Current FKF mechanics might translate to cyberspace, but firefights flowed much smoother, faster this way. 

COMBAT RESULTS

MELEE COMBAT = Per Standard ASOBH Melee Rules

DEFENDER WIN (RANGED) = Defender Dodge/No Effect

ATTACKER WIN BY 1 = Defender Recoils 1 Short toward nearest Cover.

ATTACKER WIN 2+ = Defender Prone (Auto Kill for any subsequent attacker win while Prone AND +2 to attacker’s C for Melee)

1 SHY of DOUBLE = Knocked Out. Can be revived by friendly. (3 Successful Q rolls. 2 if Medic. Auto Revive with Auto Doc. Can be Auto killed by melee enemy spending one action to attack. (cover or passive trait penalties apply but no defense roll possible)

DOUBLE = Kill

TRIPLE = Gruesome Kill (force morale roll to allies in Long/LOS)

https://stalker7.wordpress.com/2016/05/28/song-of-mirrorshades-and-shadows/

[Malebolgia]

Thanks for the input! I'll keep it in mind, but first it's time to play the game
I'm first going for a regular game to check out the rules as they are.

[Maspalio]

That's interesting, I plan to play in some Dark Future/Cyberpunk setting too with Fistful ruleset

[eilif]

Very cool ideas here. 
I wasn't necessarily interested in the cyberware aspect, but I definitely got FoKF (gotta love the pronunciation of that acronym...) with the intent to use it for modern or near future skirmishes without much/any magic.

[Dentatus]

Side note: Picked up the Eclipse Phase RPG core book for inspiration, and have to say it's so dense with cyberpunk goodness, it generates it's own gravity. I've only skimmed it once but it is a remarkable piece of work.

Hard copy on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Eclipse-Phase/dp/0984583505

Free PDFs
https://robboyle.wordpress.com/eclipse-phase-pdfs/