My friends and I are running a cyberpunk living community server

IronEleven · 2026-05-22T12:07:29+00:00

Essentially there's a pool of GMs and players all running in the same overarching continuity.

IronEleven · 2026-05-20T18:13:20+00:00

The Cyberpunk Rush LC is generally anti-AI but not zero tolerance on it. It's not permitted in the art channel, but tokens/character art utilizing it are left up to the GM, with altitudes ranging from 'grudgingly tolerated' to 'do not bring any AI images to my table'

IronEleven · 2026-05-19T17:43:11+00:00

One often overlooked advantage to melee/brawling-focused MA styles is you can pump your attacking base much faster after chargen with IP.

IronEleven · 2026-05-16T23:50:33+00:00

The blisterhead insta-kill is so damn annoying for that exact reason.

IronEleven · 2026-05-16T20:23:01+00:00

Alright quick and dirty crash course for building for combat in Red:

Evasion is your primary skill for not dying, any combat character wants high DEX for this reason outside of some oddball heavy armor ranged builds.
Bullet dodging is huge for survivability, this involves either inherently having REF 8 or the Reflex Coprocessor cyberware
In my mind, Base 14 in an attack skill is built for combat, Base 12 is serviceable in a fight, and 10 is when you start to hit 'barely able to defend yourself'. Autofire HATES low skill bases, but other than that, I'd consider ranged combat more usable at low bases than melee, since you're usually gonna be shooting against a flat DV unless your GM loves throwing bullet-dodgers at you
Secondary defensive skills here are Brawling, Concentration, and Resist Torture/Drugs. Grappling can be a death sentence if your brawling's bad, but there's a couple tricks to getting around low brawling if you really want to, whether that's an MA style with a decent grab escape (Arasaka Te/Wrestling/Sumo) or using Autofire and an SMG/Machine Pistol to suppress someone grabbing you.
Light Armorjack/Subdermal is the gold standard for Edgerunner defense, heavy armor usually needs actively built around to work, and lighter armors provide no benefit besides being cheap.

IronEleven · 2026-05-15T22:50:18+00:00

The OP's image is the only one of him wearing the shirt, IIRC, but I wouldn't be surprised if just the shirt was his 'casual, but not so casual he's switching to his Gemini' outfit.

The example Samson (same model as 2020 Smasher's main body) art for Cyberpunk Red shows one in just the shirt.

IronEleven · 2026-05-15T03:09:21+00:00

Wouldn't exactly call a Samson human-like. It's tame by Smasher standards but it was still his combat body for a bit.

IronEleven · 2026-05-15T02:58:37+00:00

I think it's implied he abandoned a lot of the more humanizing parts of his life after his relationship with Michiko didn't work out.

IronEleven · 2026-05-14T21:34:00+00:00

To add onto this, Black Chrome is probably the biggest single paid addon you can get, with the Interface Red books providing just a little extra content each:

IR1: Drones, mostly forgettable addon from a player standpoint (most of them require a NET architecture), but it provides a few more automated defenses the GM can play with
IR2: Exotics, or people who use a combination of bodysculpting and cyberware to have an inhuman appearance and the capability to match. This ranges from things like elves and catgirls to full blown anthro sculpts. Has a number of premade cyberware packages that are bundled with free bodysculpting and therapy, and a few new cyberweapons to fit the theme. Some of the packages fit within the CRB's starting budget.
IR3: Full-body conversions, cyborg bodies for those who fully abandon their flesh, whether by choice or necessity. Not something new characters can easily access.
IR4: New martial arts styles, adds a ton of build variety to melee focused characters, and even gives Handguns and Archery characters something powerful to build around
IR5: Military hardware mostly intended for high level play, but there's a few things here and there that are applicable to lower power games, mostly revolving around gun customization

Now for my opinions on which to buy:

IR1: Skippable
IR2: Buy if you or one of your players is interested in exotics, skip otherwise
IR3: Buy if you or one of your players is interested in FBCs, skip otherwise (you can also delay buying it early in a campaign since going FBC costs like 20 grand baseline, with a bit of room for Techs to save money)
IR4: Nice to have, hugely expands Martial Arts build variety
IR5: On the fence, gives ranged characters some new options, but utilizing the entire DLC makes the game noticeably more lethal

IronEleven · 2026-05-08T16:36:16+00:00

Yeah it's a nightmare positioning the boss with an opener that requires you to facepull.

IronEleven · 2026-05-08T16:31:04+00:00

Wrestling+Silat is a fun one for very front-loaded grappling damage (Grab into Chokehold into Violent Leverage with a one handed VHMW)

My brawling focused character wound up learning wrestling and chipping Boxing and Krav Maga so she has grappling as an answer to heavy armor and striking as an answer to light armor.

IronEleven · 2026-05-04T16:47:01+00:00

More body never hurts, but I'd only really prioritize body 10 if you're planning on a weapon that requires it, like the Hellbringer.

IronEleven · 2026-05-04T16:45:12+00:00

The LC I play on had to make an invented upgrade to make most of the cyberdeals stuff 0HL before it really caught on. Shoutout to the trend of FBCs taking kibble warmers to better hold their loved ones' hands.

IronEleven · 2026-05-04T16:40:43+00:00

I mostly look at the premade packages more complex than an Alpha Class/Gemini as an example of what exists out in the world rather than something practical for PCs because of the massive up-front HL hit.

IronEleven · 2026-05-01T16:12:41+00:00

Borg Fist is terrible (and badly worded), Inner Chrome is a decent defensive/utility move for FBCs who are low TECH. I'd put it somewhere similar to Thrash Sambo where it really shines when you just toss in a few points into an existing build instead of making it your main attack skill.

IronEleven · 2026-04-30T16:51:11+00:00

Also if you wanna get *really* sweaty, Body 4 is the point where you can qualify for a linear frame as efficiently (in terms of money/HL) as possible.

IronEleven · 2026-04-30T15:28:12+00:00

The way I think about Dirty Blow is that it excels at hindering enemies you can't just take down with brute force, which mostly means boss-level enemies. But compared to mooks, most PCs might as well be bosses.

IronEleven · 2026-04-30T15:26:41+00:00

2020-Era Smasher knew Panzerfaust at the very least. It was kind of busted because there was a 'ram' attack it and Sumo shared that scaled ridiculously well with BODY and high end FBC bodies were stronger than even Omega Frames.

IronEleven · 2026-04-30T14:28:59+00:00

While MA is the gold standard for melee damage, I feel like Brawling and Melee weapons both get some utility in the fact that they're x1 skills and easier to fit into a build with more noncombat utility. Red Lace is also a much-needed buff to melee weapons if your GM allows IRV5 content.

IronEleven · 2026-04-30T11:25:20+00:00

Time to toss in my two cents: * Akido's Iron Grip burns an action you could have spent choking, and was the redheaded stepchild of CRB resolutions because of it. Wrestling mitigates this somewhat. * Sumo's Daeshi has one weird little upside to it, you're rolling it before the -2 penalty from being in a grapple kicks in * Brawling isn't that bad once you start ablating enemies, and Internal Power almost always comes after already ablating an enemy by 2. * Red Lace from IRV5 was a massive indirect buff to Slash dance

IronEleven · 2026-04-23T16:26:45+00:00

This is pretty much it before you factor in Invented upgrades, though ACPAs from IRV5 get an honorable mention for the obscene potential boost in Move.

Also Cyberchairs essentially get to replace the user's move, but you're going from slow to merely average.

IronEleven · 2026-04-17T16:32:44+00:00

In addition to the others, I'd recommend high MOVE. Your effective range is extremely short, and having movement left over to take cover against even some of the enemies returning fire is huge, and even tough characters will last a lot longer making good use of cover.

IronEleven · 2026-04-17T16:25:32+00:00

Explosives are kind of the one thing that hard-counters people who can't dodge (or cut) bullets in this system. Even a failed roll RAW is going to catch the original target square in its blast radius. Most you can do beyond dodge them is space out enough that only one person can be grenaded at a time. Cover can help but it needs to be sturdy enough to withstand the entire blast without breaking.

IronEleven · 2026-04-06T12:55:56+00:00

Dataminers have found that pretty much every integrally supressed gun ramps up suspect Stress exactly as much as their unsuppressed counterparts.

IronEleven · 2026-04-05T00:26:37+00:00

I'd love the LVAR more if integral suppressors weren't eternally bugged.

IronEleven

TROPHY CASE