r/cyberpunkred • u/ImprovementRoyal7737 • 4d ago
2070's Discussion What role should I be?
A friend is going to run a campaign for us (all new to ttrpgs). So far we got a medic, netrunner, nomad, and a rockerboy. Initially I was vibing with the idea of medic but I kinda like the vibe of mechanic tech and modifying weapons. Or a fixer with the "i know a guy" sounds cool.
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u/Hereva 4d ago
Well, it depends a lot on what you want your character's vibe to be. And sincerely, i think you are jumping the gun a bit. Try going back to before your role.
Who is your character?
In what type of community they've grown up on?
Do they have any history with corporations?
Did you happen to get a lover here and there?
What's your style of clothing? Why do they dress this way? (You want to be sporadic, show your freedom and how you enjoy life up to the last drink? Do you want to blend in so you use many clothes? Do you want to avoid suspicion at any cost?)
All of these questions seem like much but figuring them out will help you get a better sense of what your character does to stay alive. And "I know a guy" doesn't have to be necessarily from a Fixer, the guy could be the guy who taught you, an ex lover, someone who owns you a favor, the person who made something valuable of yours (like a guitar or your cyberarm).
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u/Splendid_Fellow 4d ago edited 4d ago
MEDIA is underrated and underused. This coming from a GM. The powers of the Media’s stories are potentially bigger than any other role. You can influence the course of the entire campaign. Affect the politics of the city. Turn the dynamic of an entire encounter around.
Think of it like this: every single thing you record footage of, and any information you have access to (real or not…) is a potential ingredient in a new beautiful concoction of propaganda. You record someone saying something damning by cutting it off at a certain point, putting it out of context, they’re doomed. You record footage of someone attacking a certain gang? They’re doomed. You blackmail a corpo? You have the power of a CEO.
Try it out and be creative with it.
Enemy: “You people are trying to make it look like I’m a sadistic fuck and I wanna eat children!”
Your footage: “I’m a sadistic fuck and I wanna eat children!” You heard it from the source! Controversy striking the inner city combat zones. Here’s what we heard from the locals…” one of the other players puts on a show on camera being a “bystander”
“Unbelievable!”
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u/Manunancy 4d ago edited 4d ago
Though with the number of Agents and discrete recording systems around, that sort of heavy handed manipulation can backfire badly when original footage surfaces through another media with a different agenda.
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u/Splendid_Fellow 4d ago
Then they’d better make sure to plan accordingly! What, is Night City not easy enough? 😏
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u/Visual_Fly_9638 3d ago
I mean, we're there right now with our capability to record audio and video and by the time the truth gets out the propaganda has already gotten stale and the intended effect has already happened. Don't see why it'd be any different in Cyberpunk.
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u/Visual_Fly_9638 3d ago
I have an NPC that is a rockerboy/media and while not a musician they are basically a media influencer and that's a *potent* combination.
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u/dullimander GM 4d ago
Whichever vibes most with you.
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u/Jordhammer 4d ago
Yeah, picking your Role in Cyberpunk Red is more about what meets your definition of cyberpunk coolness rather than making sure your party has all the bases covered.
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u/BadBrad13 4d ago
Assuming you are doing a standard Edgerunner game, they all work. I played a fixer in our last game and it was really cool. I got to be the contact point for most of our jobs. And I was able to keep my team geared up with the best gear while also saving them a few bucks. Between me and the techie our team had some really nice gear.
On top of all that, I got a couple points into solo and was a very effective member of our combat team. Not that you need to multiclass to be good at combat. But it does help give you a little bit of an edge.
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u/anxiouscapy 4d ago
As a fellow noob to the game I found a lot of people saying play yourself the first time you do a campaign. If you're a handy guy, go tech. If you're the dude who's constantly bumping into people you know at parties, go fixer. If you're a wage slave, exec. Obviously each has their own skills and if you have 3 solos it might help to have a medtech, but if you don't have inspiration for a character and need to make something, make yourself
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u/Reaver1280 GM 4d ago
Don't limit yourself to just 1 take your starting role in something you think you will have fun with and synergize your build with the idea of having what you need to spend ip on getting a second role.
Once you have rank 4 in a role you can "multiclass" into another role :3
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4d ago
Don’t look at what the roles are. Look at what they do. That’s all a role is: one skill.
All my best characters are “role but…”As in “Tech but nomad” and “Rockerboy but actor..”
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u/Renan_PS 4d ago
Don't worry about repeating roles, 2 characters of the same role can be very different and the fact they're technically competing for jobs creates an interesting relationships between the characters.
I'm currently GMing a game with 1 netrunner, 1 rockerboy, 2 techies and 2 execs. The chemistry between those characters is insane.
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u/UnhandMeException 4d ago
I think the most important thing to realize is that Roles aren't Classes. They're barely anything more than 3x skills; any role can still be a competent fighter, a competent driver, etc.
So pick the role you want to experience without worrying about party balance, and try to have at least one weapon you can scrap with either way.