Cyberpunk 2020 vs Cyberpunk RED: What Changed and Which to Play

The setting jump#

Cyberpunk 2020 is set in 2020, in a Night City full of the Corporate Wars to come. Cyberpunk RED is set in 2045, after the 4th Corporate War, a nuclear blast in Night City and the DataKrash. The 2020 line's Firestorm adventures moved the timeline to 2022 and the start of the 4th Corporate War, and RED picks up after it ends.

The biggest practical change is the Net. In 2020 the Net is a global cyberspace. In RED it is gone, replaced by local, air-gapped systems called NET Architectures, and rogue AIs sit behind the Blackwall. Read the Time of the Red for the world and the Cyberpunk timeline for the dates.

Canon note: Cyberpunk V3.0 (2005) has its own post-war timeline and is separate from RED.

Combat and lethality#

Both games use Friday Night Firefight, and both are lethal. The mechanics under the name differ. 2020 uses a health track and location-based damage. RED uses hit points and only two hit zones, head and body, with Wound States and a Critical Injury table. A Critical Injury triggers when two 6s show up on a damage roll: 5 extra damage straight to hit points and a nasty injury like a lost eye, a collapsed lung or a broken jaw.

RED lowered armor values to keep fights deadly under hit points, and armor ablates, losing 1 Stopping Power when it takes a hit that costs you hit points. The designers describe RED combat as a faster, more furious upgrade of the 2020 version.

RED also simplified guns. Instead of individually named weapons you get categories (medium pistol, assault rifle, sniper rifle) and a short list of exotics.

Opinion: RED combat is quicker, and 2020's is crunchier. If your group likes the sound of a hit-location table, 2020 will feel like home.

Netrunning#

A common complaint about 2020 netrunning was how long it took. It was practically its own game, and the netrunner played it alone while the rest of the table waited. RED makes the runner go on site, wear Virtuality goggles and descend a NET Architecture floor by floor, with one obstacle per floor. The design goal was to give every character something to do during a hacking scene.

That is the single biggest quality-of-life change in the edition. See the RED netrunning guide.

Roles and character creation#

Both editions have ten roles, though the names shifted: Corporate became Exec and Cop became Lawman. Role abilities in 2020 were things like Combat Sense, Charismatic Leadership, Streetdeal and Family. In RED they are Combat Awareness, Charismatic Impact, Operator and Moto, and they scale with rank. Medtech has its own Role Ability, Medicine, with three specialties. The full list is on the roles page.

Character creation in 2020 was points or random rolls. RED offers three methods, Streetrat, Edgerunner and Complete Package, and adds a role-based Lifepath on top of the general one. Economy is also streamlined: lifestyle and housing are simplified, and you price unknown items from a table. Details on the character creation page.

What did not change#

The Interlock engine is the same idea: d10 plus a stat plus a skill against a Difficulty Value. Lifepath is still the best background generator in the hobby. Cyberware still costs Humanity, ten points removes a point of Empathy, and zero Empathy means a cyberpsycho. Skills improve by spending points, not by leveling.

The attitude did not change either. The four tenets, style over substance, attitude is everything, always take it to the Edge and break the rules, are in both books.

Fixer's notes: which one to play#

Opinion: RED for a new table, especially one that came from Cyberpunk 2077 or Edgerunners. It is in print, it has free monthly DLC and a free Easy Mode, and the products guide lists the books. The Edgerunners Mission Kit brings RED rules to the era of the anime.

Opinion: 2020 for the tone and the sourcebooks. The 1990s line has dozens of supplements, and the Night City book and the Corporation Reports are the origin of a lot of 2077's backstory. The core book is on the R. Talsorian Store as a PDF. See the Cyberpunk 2020 page.

You can mix them. Interface RED Volume 1 includes a step-by-step conversion guide for bringing Cyberpunk 2020 weapons into RED, so old gear is not wasted. The Cyberpunk RED overview has the rest, and the first session guide gets you playing.