Can you make a cyberpunk fantasy setting without advanced technology?
>>47287379
Well, you've neutered the central premise of "Cyber" in it by removing the advanced technological aspect, and introduced "punk" as a setting genre into fantasy, which usually isn't conducive to the rebellious nature "punk" implies.
Still, might be able to make it function. Instead of advanced technology, it could deal with magic and the machinery/systems that govern the universe's laws, and advanced mathematics and rules. The "punk" aspect could imply that there's an overpowering order that imposes its will over everything, and the PCs and associates act as sort of universal law hackers that bend or break those rules without attracting too much attention, often employed by those overpowering, imposing forces for their own purposes, be they straightforward in their goals or part of some inscrutable plot.
You might want to take a look at The Elder Scroll's Dwemer, and their whole practice of science and reason, plus the entire fictional science of tonal architecture. Still, the Dwemer actually used a lot of technology, though much of it clockwork and somewhat simple in comparison to computers and other such "advanced technology," at least in practice rather than principle.
>>47287379
cyberpunk implies advanced technology, no?
if it's not advanced it'd just be modempunk fantasy, no?
>>47287379
But cyberpunk tech is advanced usually. Why would you drop VR?
>>47287379
Advanced relative to now?
If so absolutely,run a retro future game with shitty 90's tech in an 80's movie dystopia.
>>47290891
That's the essence of the original cyberpunk right there.
Though if we go back we've got some crazy and silly spy tech from the Cold War, and even further there's the Enigma Machines of World War II. World War I seems to be where that stops without getting into diesel-powered mechs because by that point you still had the last few official regiments of longbowmen and horseback cavalry charges. This is discounting those few individuals who stormed beaches with claymores and such.
>>47287379
Just use magic. Cybernetic arms made of stone and crystals are still cybernetic arms, right?
>>47291166
>stone and crystal
>cybernetic
Really?
In any case, if you wanted the "punk" aspect which is any sort of rebellion against a preceived unjust authority then that can be done in any genre really. But I suppose this is some kind of sneaky trolling of some sort.
>>47287379
That's not cyberpunk, it's just urban fantasy.
>>47291166
>Cybernetic arms made of stone and crystals are still cybernetic arms, right?
Yeah, and pork and beans is still called pork and beans even if it is made of chicken and asparagus, right?
Idiot.
>>47287379
Of course not.
That's half of the fucking name.
>>47287379
No, since if you try and substitute the cyber half with magic: congradulations, you just turned magic into cybernetic technology!
>>47290947
Swordsmen actually made up a non-trivial part of the standing forces of both China and Japan. Most people seem to forget that such fighters existed in contemporary history.
>>47287379
No, because of Clarke's Third Law (and related corollaries). You'd basically just be reskinning things.
That said, it would be an interesting flavor, and I'd play it.
>Ranking up in a skill increases a die you roll with the d20
>Rank 1 is 1d20+1d4, rank 3 is 1d20+1d8, that sort of scheme
>Cybernetics (mint condition) give a flat bonus on top of that
>As they break down, the bonus decreases and your effective rank decreases as well
(applies to firearm proficiency and athletics checks and the like)
>But, the only way to damage the limb is to sustain an injury that would have crippled your meat limb
Does this system make sense? Is it intuitive enough? Is it too crippling? Does it put too much incentive on ripping off enemy cybernetics to salvage and repair your own limb?
Replace cyberspace with the Aborigine concept of the Dreamtime.
A strange dimension that many can access, but few can bend to their will.
>>47287379
Well, then it would be called magepunk or steampunk, depending on how you replaced the advanced technology.
For a mild example, see Eberron.
As far as actual cyberpunk goes, are there any systems you guys like?
I've been going crazy trying to find the perfect game
Is there even a game with a less narrative driven system (less like Ex Machina/Technoir for example) and modern world (not "retrofuture" like Cyberpunk 2020) that still retains that seedy feeling?
I was thinking one could remove magic from Shadowrun or use Gurps, but both would need a lot of tweaking
Savage Worlds + Interface Zero is a little off because of Bennies and deck initiative
Do any of you guys run a Cyberpunk game?
What makes a game feel fun to you?
Do you feel it lends itself more to a crunchy system or a more narrative driven one?
>>47292830
Also true. WWI seems to be around when the West abandoned its old martial traditions in favor of modern warfare, and WWII solidified this change in the East.
>>47287379
No. Cyberpunk implicates advanced technology and people having to deal with it.
>>47287379
Well, you can make a game that happens in some slums or barrens or wastelands. If you don't want high-tech low-life Cyberpunk, then just pick some other punk to your liking.
>>47287379
>hey guys how do I make a chocolate cake with cherries without the chocolate cake?
How about the one that is almost a hundred years old by now
>>47296620
>fucking cyborg from hell
>fucking demonic factory of hell
>fucking iron arm prosthetic
>not high-tech
Listen, m7, it might have been a retrofuturistic setting, but it still featured "high-tech".
>>47291432
>>47292343
A circuitboard is a circuitboard as long as it does what its supposed to do.
Do you really think that, say, the plastic Sentinals weren't robots because they weren't made of metal? Geez guys.
>>47296699
This would apply if stone and crystal was a circuit board
>>47287379
Keep the high tech, but have the energy available to run it extremely limited.
Either implants that run off of bio-electric energy, or have cells that can only store limited amounts and so either have minimal effect or minimal duration, or the alternative is non-portable tech that requires bulky and inefficient batteries that store solar power. Or have the sky be polluted so that solar power is inefficient and batteries are at current levels and traded in as currency.
You still have wireless comms, but you have to communicate in morse code to save energy/bandwith because all you can do is signal on or off for periods of time.
>>47292343
>Cybernetic
>noun
>the science of communications and automatic control systems in both machines and living things.
Idiot
>>47291166
Yes, you are right.
>>47291432
>>47292343
Plebs,
>>47296847
It can be done with magic.
I was dismissive at first but...
Can someone explain to me how the setting of Thief isn't cyberpunk-like without advanced technology?
Themes of the first 2 games seem to me to be about the impossible balance between nature/chaos and technology/order and humanity's need for and vulnerability to both.
There is an established order of technocrats who are unjust.
There is alienation of the masses through a disconnect from nature.
There is use of knowledge and technology to enforce inequality.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlYrdiRDLrA&list=PLefwHG3F_HyMJ-CHd16S172FOzlOecs6w&index=4
>>47290891
God yes.
>>47291432
The "cyber" aspect, representing the idea that metal is better than meat, can certainly be replicated using magic, and a world rapidly heading that way could certainly be made dystopian enough that "punks" arise.
It reeks of "tryhard" though.
>>47287379
By definition cyberpunk is "High tech, low life".
You can use different tech as "high". Like early industrialisation helps humans build wonders, but 99% its tank and chemical weapons and big war looms over horison. Use mage alternative state of consciousness induced with shrooms like cyberspace.
I can deconstruct it and turn it into a SAO/mon genre twist
>>47287379
You can take the ideas, replacing the megacorps and skyscrapers with Mage guilds and mile high flying wizards towers who have changed the standard fantasy world so much that it's unrecognizable. Maybe people are hooked up to a psychic network and can teleport anywhere on the planet almost at will. Maybe wizards are scrying on everyone. Maybe you can get permanent spells on you which sort of mess up your psyche (invisibility or blink)
Check out the Tippyverse for ideas
That sounds pretty fun, actually. I might try it out sometime. Don't call it cyberpunk in fantasy tho that's dumb desu
>>47287512
>the rebellious nature "punk" implies.
Stop spreading this misinformation.
