DIY & Dragons, has issued a creative challenge. An invitation to write something for my favorite roleplaying system inspired by the Lego toys I enjoyed as a kid. For me, that meant one of two camps. As a child of the 90s/80s, I had tons of fantasy and space sets. But, something about finding inspiration from the fantasy sets feels a little too on the nose. On the other hand, the space sets are fun.
Let me set the scene a little bit. It’s late in the summer of 1995, and I’ve just used the money from my 11th birthday to purchase my first boombox and some CDs. The strange, squatty two-speaker Sony model with a CD player on top is blasting Ace of Base’s “The Sign,” Coolio’s “Gangsters Paradise,” and Shaggy’s “Boombastic” on repeat — The only three CDs I will own for months. Resting beside a flood of loose Lego pieces patiently waiting to embed themselves in my parents’ feet is the Lego catalog. I have meticulously starred and circled the sets I wanted the most, but one spread has been dog-eared and spoken about endlessly.
From the 1995 Lego Catalog
I have already assembled little space stations and housing pods in anticipation of adding this sick monorail to my imaginary space settlement. I would bring this monorail set to my mother's attention at least 65 times in the months leading up to Christmas. When that day finally came, I ran to the basement and cleared a space to set up this world. I spent hours assembling the monorail, then surrounding it with imaginary stops (even though it really just went forward and back endlessly). For the next two years, even after I disassembled the core set, that track and battery-operated piece in the middle that drove the cars was the focal point of every creation I made.
So, it is literally impossible for me to participate in this jam without making a monorail the subject. But, as a bonus, I will sprinkle in some inspiration from sets #6886 and #6957, two sets I personally owned that fit into the world of Cy_Borg — because Rule 0.
Set #6991, the Unitron Monorail (See it in action)
The Magenta Line.
The magenta line runs through the heart of Cy, circling G0, connecting the Ports to Barnyard fields, Laketon, and back around through North Central.
Monorail Cars
Roll a d12 against each column of this table to create a monorail car encounter. Replace all instances of “someone” with a d6 roll — 1: a character, 2-6: a random NPC.
| d12 | Passengers | Encounter | Complication |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | d6 | A young gutterscum is stealthily picking someone's pocket. | The power and lights suddenly go out. |
| 2 | 2d6 | A group of d4 cultists is passing out propaganda. | The monorail comes to an abrupt stop. |
| 3 | 3d6 | A passenger has passed out in a pool of their own waste. | A random passenger overdoses. |
| 4 | d8 | A group of d6 gang goons are hassling someone. | A SWAT team swarms the monorail car, attempting to arrest someone. |
| 5 | 2d8 | A passenger is carelessly smoking a cig. | A highly modified passenger bursts into a cy-rage. |
| 6 | 3d8 | A passenger is loudly listening to music. | A fight breaks out amongst d4 passengers. |
| 7 | d10 | A waster woman is begging the other passengers for money to eat. | d3 stinger drones attempt to dose someone. |
| 8 | 2d10 | The monorail's ads are malfunctioning, flooding the passengers' RCDs with endless ads. | A skulker hiding amongst the passengers attempts to apprehend someone. |
| 9 | 3d10 | A micro surveillance drone is stalking someone. | An infested passenger bursts into a cloud of cosmic dust mites, filling the car. |
| 10 | d20 | A seemingly normal ride. | None. |
| 11 | 2d20 | ||
| 12 | 3d20 |
Monorail Stations
Roll a d12 against each column of this table to create a monorail station encounter. Replace all instances of “someone” with a d6 roll — 1: a character, 2-6: a random NPC.
| d12 | People | Encounter | Complication |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | d20 | A circle of Neohippies in a drum circle. | The power and lights suddenly go out. |
| 2 | Cops on the platform stop and interrogate someone. | A heavy downpour suddenly starts. | |
| 3 | Two rival gangs are locked in a knife fight, d6 goons on each side. | Thick, choking smog fills the air. | |
| 4 | 2d20 | A corpodrone approaches the PCs and offers them a random piece of contraband. | Shots are fired, and chaos erupts as people flee. |
| 5 | A strange bag has been left unattended on the platform. | A pigeon shits on someone. | |
| 6 | A glitchmode is sleeping on a bench. | Cops with drug dogs are on the platform, 1 in 6 chance they notice a character with illegal drugs. | |
| 7 | 3d20 | The cops have set up a checkpoint for contraband near the turnstile. | d3 stinger drones attempt to dose someone. |
| 8 | A group of cultists is offering people free aura readings. | A large drone drifts overhead, releasing hundreds of pamphlets about cybernetic upgrades. | |
| 9 | A PC notices a credstick with d100 creds on it lying on the ground. | Two cops are scanning people's faces for outstanding warrants. | |
| 10 | d100 | Nothing outside of the ordinary. | None. |
| 11 | |||
| 12 |
Police Vehicles
Two armored vehicles used for transporting criminals and subverting protests.
HVT Transporter
The HVT (High Value Target) Transporter is a short-range flying gunship similar to the Milcorp Gunship, but smaller in scale. It is a fully armed and armored vehicle, capable of sustained hovering and tight cornering. Also equipped with a confinement chamber that places prisoners into a drug-induced stasis.
HP 32 Morale 7 Armored -d6
Gatling guns d10a (The Gatling guns only autofire)
Riot Crawler
This tank-like crawler is used by the wealthy for crowd control, deployed at the first signs of protest or strife. Capable of splitting into two parts, with a surveillance flyer used to track protestors’ movements and drop tear gas clusters into crowds.
HP 50 (20 Flyer, 30 Ground unit when split) Morale 9 Armored -d6
Rockets d12, Manned guns d8a (Ground unit only), or Tear gas clusters
Tear gas clusters, bouncing canisters of tear gas that spread thick, choking gas in an area of up to 20m in diameter for up to d10 rounds. Characters in the cloud test Toughness DR12 or +2DR to attacks for d6 rounds.
Lego is a trademark of the LEGO Group. The names and images of all Lego products are copyrights of the LEGO Group and are used here without permission. All names and images of Lego products used here are intended to represent Fair Use under the 1976 Copyright Act. Their use is non-commercial, and is part of a transformative artistic project, which is not a substitute for the original products, and should not affect those products' value.
©2025 Anthony J. Zinni. All rights reserved. The Magenta Line is an independent production by Revivify Games and is not affiliated with Stockholm Kartell. It is published under the CY_BORG Third Party License.
CY_BORG IS ©2022 STOCKHOLM KARTELL.
