A "BioPunk" (or modern cyberpunk in the post CRISPR age https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRISPR) setting. With real designer babies just around the corner, this take on the cyberpunk dystopia feels closer at hand than its 1980s inspired ancestors. That said, if you are at all familiar with Cyberpunk 2020, Shadowrun, Interface Zero or any other cyberpunk game settings, you know the drill. You are deniable assets for megacorps, with the added wrinkle that all "cardre" (mercenary band meets limited liability corperation) are linked into a single social media app "Mosaic" with reputaion tracking.
What will you get in this free download?
All the fluff text and art of the unreleased core book with brief blurbs where the 5e crunch will be post-kickstarter. This is an increadibly generous preview for the future release, but not a playable game.
What will they do differently with 5e?
Instead of magic or psionics in this setting, all spell-like effects are tech-based hacks. 99% of all PCs and NPCs have integrated nanotech computers with legions of nanobots swimming in their veins so hacking into the bodies and brains of friend or foe mimics spells easily. Biohackers heal & harm bodies, codehackers dominate minds & computers while engineers engage in good old mechanical techno-wizardry.
Other classes mimic your fighters and rogues, but the "Suit" class seems like an interesting choice: You wield powerful 'favors' with governments and megacorps. Make one phone call and an orbital ion cannon strike takes out a target or a drone delivers exactly the ordinance you need.
Is it good?
The fluff and concepts for the various genotypes and classes are very intriguing, but as this has no stat crunch I can't tell you much about the actual game design. The art is outstanding and I have yet to find any typographical errors or word salad gibberish commonly found in kickstarter PDFs. These folks have done the right thing and worked hard on the project BEFORE going to Kickstarter and asking for money. Based on this preview, come May 1st I plan to be among the first 100 backers.
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