To loosely quote Luke Stratton of Pirate Borg, RPGs are “all about the vibes.” I’ve been watching a fair amount of his killer podcast lately and I think it’s a great piece of advice for game masters as well. Rather than the massive lore dumps and world descriptions that GMs love to develop and players love to ignore, why not lean on popular media to help set the tone for your game?
Cy_Borg’s Tone
I’m pretty active on the Cy_Borg Reddit sub, and a recurring theme is posts asking for inspiration for the game or its tone. Admittedly, I think the game's tone is tricky, and people often forget that it is heavily influenced by its big brother, Mörk Borg. What does that mean? Yes, the game is grim and dark, but it also doesn’t take itself too seriously and should leave plenty of room for comedy.
My personal read on the tone is that it reflects pop-culture versions of cyberpunk, not necessarily the seminal books in the category like Neuromancer. The humorous irony of the game is that it seems best played as a reflection of the pulpy, heavily profit-motivated movies of the late 80s and 90s. Or B-movies that have bigger dreams than budgets. The type of content that can’t afford to be serious and instead aims to be fun and engaging.
My Cy_Borg Appendix N
So, like Gygax in AD&D’s 1979 printing, here is my list of inspirational sources to set the tone for your next Cy_Borg game, biased heavily by my own tastes.
The Verhoeven Trifecta: (Robocop, Total Recall, Starship Troopers)
Robocop and Total Recall are the obvious references, but its Starship Trooper’s satirical and campy take on patriotism that has inspired my corp killers. Stealing the way that propaganda is delivered in the film is also a killer way to deliver miserable headlines.
John Carpenter, Escape from New York and They Live
I’m definitely guilty of drawing inspiration for G0 from Escape from New York. But They Live’s conspiratorial plotline of a bourgeoisie in league with aliens is just amazing camp. Plus, who wouldn’t watch a movie with a 6+ minute fight scene over a pair of sun glasses? Bonus: Don’t sleep on Carpenter’s music either; some of his gritty synth tracks make great inclusions on your in-game soundtrack.
Hackers
The nostalgia runs deep for me with this one. I’m precisely the age where being a part of this cool group of hackers could be an aspirational goal. It’s the story of unknowing hackers colliding with corporate interests and having no choice but to expose their corruption. The props and styling of this movie are 100% in line with Cy_Borg and the soundtrack is a top 3 best of all-time choice for me.
Check out Hackers Curator’s vids to geek out on the prop design and maybe make your own luggable laptop.
-
Die Hard: The cyberpunk dungeon crawl.
-
The Fifth Element: The cyberpunk Bruce Willis.
-
The Running Man: Is a killmatch like boxing, or maybe it’s a gauntlet competition to the death.
-
Johnny Mnemonic: All the cyberpunk imagery and devices, none of that pesky acting or plot to get in the way of it. Just pure retro-futuristic tech porn.
-
1995’s Judge Dredd. I guess you could read the comics, but that wouldn’t be as Over the Top.
-
The Lawnmower Man: Wow, this aged poorly… perfect.
-
Freejack: Maybe you want to add a little time travel to your game?
-
Strange Days: holovids/memories apparently fit on a minidisc.
-
Gattaca: Great dying world/surveillance state inspiration.
