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Cyberpunk 2077 Review RPG REVIEW Issue #49-50, Dec-Mar 2020-2021 ISSN 2206-4907 (Online) Proceedings of "Cyberpunk 2020: Year of the Stainless Steel Rat" Convention Proceedings, Articles, and Scenarios Keynote by Walter Jon Williams What Was/Is Cyberpunk? ¼ Hackers and IT Security Issues ¼ Cyberculture ¼ Technology Trends and Solarpunk ¼ Anarchist Politics ¼ Gaming and Cyberpunk ¼ GURPS Biotech ¼ Cyberpunk 2020, Cyberspace, Scenarios ¼ GURPS Biotech ¼ and more! 1 RPG REVIEW ISSUE 49-50 Dec to Mar 2020-2021 Table of Contents ADMINISTRIVIA.........................................................................................................................................................2 EDITORIAL AND COOPERATIVE NEWS................................................................................................................2 WHAT WAS/IS CYBERPUNK?...................................................................................................................................7 HACKERS: THE IT SECURITY PANEL..................................................................................................................17 TECHNOLOGY : CYBERPUNK AND SOLARPUNK.............................................................................................26 POLITICS: ANARCHISM, LIBERTARIANISM, CYPHERPUNKS........................................................................35 CYBERCULTURE PANEL........................................................................................................................................44 CYBERPUNK GAMING............................................................................................................................................56 YEAR OF THE STAINLESS STEEL RAT SETLIST................................................................................................68 SHU CITY: A GURPS BIOTECH CAMPAIGN........................................................................................................71 CYBERPUNK 2020: THE MANIFOLD DECOMPOSITION...................................................................................83 CHROME RIOT: A SYSTEM INDEPENDENT SCENARIO.................................................................................104 SYDNEY BRIDGE CROWD: A CYBERPUNK RED SCENARIO........................................................................107 CYBERSPACE : THE GREAT CAMEL RACE......................................................................................................112 HUNGRY? WHAT©S FOR DINNER?.......................................................................................................................116 THE REDISTRIBUTORS..........................................................................................................................................119 CYBERPUNK 2020 IN SPACE................................................................................................................................120 MOVIE AND SOUNDTRACK REVIEW: BLADE RUNNER 2049.......................................................................122 CYBERPUNK 2077 REVIEW..................................................................................................................................125 ADMINISTRIVIA RPG Review is a quarterly online magazine which is available in print version every so often (e.g., Issues 40 and 44 for RuneQuest Glorantha Con Down Under). All material remains copyright to the authors except for the reprinting as noted in the first sentence. Contact the author for the relevant license that they wish to apply. Various trademarks and images have been used in this magazine of review and criticism. Use of trademarks etc are for fair use and review purposes and are not a challenge to trademarks or copyrights. This includes Cyberpunk RPG, Cyberpunk 2020, Cyberpunk RED by R.Talsorian Games, Cyberspace by Iron Crown Enterprises, Blade Runner 2049 movie distributed by Sony Pictures. Cover art by unknown. Convention screenshot by Kayo Turner. Image of Walter Jon Williams from tvtropes.com, Adam Ford picture from himself, ditto for Sarena Ulibarri, PSC Willis, Rick Wayne, Jason Scott, Dan Smith, Tod Foley. Francesco Verso photo from Yves Tennevin, Stephen Dedman image from Catriona Sparks. SIRIUS cyberpunk band image from australiangothicindustrialmusic.com. Cyberpunk characters by Dan Smith. Zippy Burger layout from a McDonlds in Gympie Road, Strathpine, by DM2 Architecture. Cyberpunk RED characters by AZ Volt. Internet of Things hack image from wonderfulengineering.com EDITORIAL AND COOPERATIVE NEWS Editorial and Cooperative News Well, here it finally is; the special double issue of proceedings of the Cyberpunk 2020: Year of the Stainless Steel Rat convention. Of course, it had to be done. The Lunar New Year, starting on January 25, was Year of the Rat. More to the point, it was a year of a metal rat, and of course, it was the year that the cyberpunk roleplaying game was set. So it had to be, "Year of the Stainless Steel Rat"! Further, 2020 is 2 RPG REVIEW ISSUE 49-50 Dec to Mar 2020-2021 preceded by the year that the early and definitive cyberpunk film, Blade Runner, is set. Which also led to a curious personal experience with a Nexus 6 mobile ©phone. Now as for our nominated mascot, the little stainless steel rat with wheels, it is quite an unknown quantity. It once appeared on a German website for LaborFürNeueKunst (https://www.ambientart.de/) which requires no translation. There was a 3D-Robots page and, if one looks very carefully, an email addreess ([email protected]) can be discerned on the piece. Which isn©t great given that Yugoslavia is now but a memory (even if there are still a number of people who identify as "Yugoslavs"). The point being, our rather beautiful stainless steel rat is by artist unknown. But it©s a great piece of work, and full credit is due to whomever the artist is. Originally, as announced at Arcanacon 2020, the Cooperative was planning to hold the conference on July 4th, for aesthetic reasons of course. The there was a certain global pandemic, which of course, threw everything apart. Our little Cooperative (which really is quite small, even if a legally constituted body). As the year drew to a close it became increasing obvious that the prospect of a face-to-face convention was really improbable. Thus, as the year was drawing to an end, I made the wild suggestion to the Cooperative©s committee that we hold the convention between the Christmas and New Year©s break. Given that this is usually the time when a good portion of the population take leave at least some members of the committee questioned my wisdom and sanity, even more than usual. However, they did agree with the need and as long as I was prepared to give it a go, the event had official blessing. Due to our location, the conference was very heavily biased towards an Australian perspective of cyberpunk, and appropriately in its speaker©s list. This is evident with the contribution of some local IT security experts, such as Daniel Tosello, David Cake, Morgan Reed, and Adrian Smith. For cyberpunk culture, we also had Travis Johnson, with his expertise in film, Josh Rombout with music. Technological contributions were provided by Adam Ford, an organiser of many conferences himself, and Josh again. For politics, we had author Stephen Dedman, and Pirate Party activist, John August. Mention must also be made of the setlist by DJ Jus Godden. Of course, it wasn©t only a local affair. There was a major stroke of good news with Walter Jon Williams agreeing to be the keynote speaker. His contributions to cyberpunk literature and gaming made him perfect for a RPG club holding a cyberpunk convention. I was also fortunate to know Dan Smith, who did the illustrations for Rolemaster Companion VI, my first gaming publication, Tod Foley, who produced the excellent Cyberspace, and made contact with Jason Scott who curates textfiles.com, which really is part of my own formative culture, and archive.org, which is so incredibly important to me today. I must also thank committee member Andrew Daborn who, whilst unable to attend the conference himself, did an extraordinary job of finding international contacts such as Rick Wayne, Sarena Ulibarri, Francesco Verso, and PSC Willis. Such writers have made impressive criticisms of traditional cyberpunk, partially as a form of retro-futurism, but also for its endemic pessimism. The contemporary alternative, which addresses the possibility of a future that is not as depressing and terrible as the cyberpunks made out, is solarpunk. It is not a utopia, flawed or otherwise, it is not without its contradictions, and the force of narrative, but there is a certain positivity about solarpunk which suggests that yes, we can actually avoid or even reverse, some of the possibilities of terrible environmental devastation etc. On a personal note, I©m definitely a convert to this gospel. Making those positive aspects of the solarpunk future a practical reality has become the single-most important driving force in my life. At least I got something out of the conference, eh? In addition to the transcripts (largely automated, but with the presenters given the opportunity to update) of the convention, this publication also had a number of cyberpunk RPG scenarios, articles etc, including those run at the convention. After all, we are a gaming cooperative and it would madly inappropriate if we didn©t incorporate a large 3 RPG REVIEW ISSUE 49-50 Dec to Mar 2020-2021 portion of the publication to such activities. As a result we have Conan French©s
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