Cyberpunk RED Character Creation: Streetrat, Edgerunner, Complete Package, Lifepath and Humanity

Three ways to build a character#

The core book gives you three methods, and they trade speed for control. All of them let you pick a role first, since the Role Ability defines what your character does. The roles page covers the options.

• Streetrat: A template system, similar to the one in the Jumpstart Kit. You choose a role and take a pre-built package. It is the quickest way to get a legal character.
• Edgerunner: A fast and dirty way to customize the template. You start from a role package and change the parts you care about.
• Complete Package: You spend your points and make your choices. Nothing is locked to your role except the Role Ability and a section of the Lifepath.

Stats and skills#

RED characters have ten stats: Intelligence, Reflexes, Dexterity, Technique, Cool, Willpower, Luck, Movement, Body and Empathy. A typical check is a d10 plus a stat plus a skill, compared to a Difficulty Value the Gamemaster sets. Cyberpunk was one of the first tabletop games to use difficulty values.

Skills run from Athletics, Brawling, Concentration, Conversation, Evasion and First Aid to Cryptography, Deduction, Education and Electronics/Security Tech. A published RED NPC such as the netrunner Roman Deckard shows what a finished stat block looks like: eight in Intelligence, Reflexes, Dexterity and Body, six in Technique and Willpower, three in Cool, plus Interface 6 as his Role Ability.

Compared with Cyberpunk 2020, RED has hit points instead of a health track, Wound States, and Critical Injuries that make fights lethal in a way you can describe. The 2020 vs RED page has the full comparison.

Lifepath: the part that makes it Cyberpunk#

Lifepath is a series of tables that generates a background. In RED it is for roleplay only and does not change your starting stats or skills. The idea predates the game: the concept was introduced in the 1977 RPG Traveller.

The general Lifepath covers Cultural Origins, Personality, Dress and Personal Style (clothing, hairstyle and an affectation you are never without), Motivations, Relationships and Values, Original Family Background, Your Environment and a Family Crisis, with more tables after. On each table you can roll a d10 or just pick, and you can swap a result that does not fit.

All characters know Streetslang, and your Cultural Origins give you 4 free levels in a native language. RED also adds a role-based Lifepath, which tells you things such as whether your Netrunner has a partner, which venues your Rockerboy plays, and where your Tech gets spare parts.

The official example is worth stealing. A player rolls Combat Zoners for Original Family Background, does not like it, and picks Corporate Technicians instead, and the character's family now works the motorpool for a company that ships luxury goods to the Highriders. Rolling is a suggestion, not a contract.

Humanity and Empathy#

Cyberware costs Humanity. Every ten points of Humanity Cost removes a point of Empathy, the stat that measures how well you relate to other people. At zero Empathy your character is a cyberpsycho and the Gamemaster takes over.

RED has rules for the whole arc: how cyberpsychosis works, how to play it out, and therapy to get Humanity back. Some chrome is kinder at recovery time: the Dynalar Modular Finger Enthusiast cyberhand in the revised Black Chrome causes Humanity Loss but not Humanity Depression when you recover Humanity through therapy.

Mike Pondsmith has described Humanity as how susceptible you are to cyberpsychosis. A supportive environment and strong relationships act as a buffer. Our read: use that. A character who has friends, a family, a reason to stay human, is a character who can carry more chrome. See cyberpsychosis for the lore.

Opinion: set a Humanity budget before you shop. Decide what the character will not give up, and install around it.

Gear, cyberware and lifestyle#

The core book's character chapter covers stats, skills, weapons, armor, gear, fashion, lifestyle and housing. Weapons are generic categories (medium pistol, assault rifle, sniper rifle) plus a short list of exotics such as the mono-katana, flamethrower and air-pistol. The cyberware list shows what the 2077 version looks like.

Cyberware has its own chapter, with about a hundred pieces. Some need others first, so a Kerenzikov speedware requires a Neural Link, and the book keeps the older option where you pay with your soul if you run out of cash. Lifestyle and housing are simplified, from kibble and prepak to cube hotels, cargo containers, conapts or living in your car.

Opinion: for a first character, take armor and a reliable weapon before cyberware. Chrome is fun, and it is also how a new player ends up with a character at zero Empathy by session three.

Fixer's notes: which method to use#

Opinion: Streetrat for a first game, Edgerunner when the table knows the rules and wants a few tweaks, Complete Package when a player already has a build in mind. Skip character creation entirely with the five Easy Mode pregens if you have one evening and five people.

Do the Lifepath at the table with everyone present. It is the fastest way to find out what the group wants to play, and it hands the GM a pile of contacts, rivals and loose ends. See the first session guide for how to run it.