Neo City Sourcebook - 1 neocityneocity directorydirectory Introduction 2 Welcome to the Neocity Project Net.Book. In your Waverrider, a Short Story 3 hands is a project that has been ongoing since 1998, the ef- A Brief History of Neocity 12 forts of three years of development at the time of this writing. In The Technology of Neocity 14 the beginning, the book was a group effort, with submissions Places of Interest 18 by dozens of people. Unfortunately, the ideas from others The Free Zone 25 quickly dried up. However, I have trudged ahead on my own in Doing Business in Neocity 32 the development of this book, expanding it from 40 pages to its The Living Colour of Neocity 44 current 96 page form, developing new rules for ship construc- Crime & Security in Neocity 54 tion, revising curent rule to better apply to the neocity environ- Governing Neocity 60 ment, finding illustrations, etc. I won’t say “I hope you appreci- Life in Neocity 61 ate the effort”. I already know that the vast majority of you Adventure in Neocity 63 already do. Neocity Chrome Anyway, though it may look close to finished, there is Cyberware & Gear 65 still quite a bit to do for the project. There is a big expansion for Weapons 71 the ship rules coming very soon (the first tidbits are already Spytech 74 obvious in this edition), along with some alternate character Vehicles 77 generation rules. And of course, there are always new places, ACPA 83 businesses, people and adventures cropping up all the time, Appendix A: Maximum Metal on the 88 meaning the book will never truly be finished. Thankfully, being High Seas a PDF, I can regularly update the book without difficulty. After Appendix B: New Rules 99 all, there were 3 Word and 2 PDF predecessors to this edition. New Skills 99 One very important note to make is This Book Isn’t Underwater Combat 99 For Children! Cyberpunk is a literary genre targeted toward Diving Dangers 99 adults or mature readers, and the games in the genre should Shockwaves 101 have been similarly targeted. This is probably the only material Getting Sick 102 written for Cyberpunk 2020 that tells you it’s for mature read- Appendix C: High Seas Combat 105 ers. Got it? As always, your submissions are always welcome. Just post them in the neo-city mesage boards on the cyberpunk contraband website. They’ll likely make it to later edition of the sourcebook. There will always be a download for this book available on my website, http://www.cyberpunkcontraband.com. You’ll be able to find it either in its own section or on the downloads page. And to answer a frequent question, if you want to make a donation, go to http://www.cyberpunkcontraband.com/ donations.asp . Neo City Sourcebook 2 - wAVERIDERwAVERIDER They still saw themselves as sailors, he thought disgust- edly. They’d adopted the mannerisms of an earlier age to signify that Fletcher had reflected at some length on Cera-Plastic since they were different, somehow better. They worked on the water, not his arrival at Neo-City. There was, after all, a great deal of it to reflect on land. These two were alleged engineers. They wore blue suits, on, half a billion tons or so. The most curious thing seemed to be that perhaps the same color as real engineers wore, but these were tai- the huge corporations with the money to design these substances lored, three piece, Italian, maybe. Korean more likely. They worked in were headed by people who didn’t want to be around them. The spa- a spotless control room, operating computers but still said ‘Aye, Sir’ cious office on the top floor of the Corporation Tower was constructed to their supervisor. Sickening really. of Cera-Plastic but this was far from obvious. Everything was cov- “She sure stood out”, said one of them. The other nodded ered with expensive organic material, hardwood was everywhere. In vigorously. “Pretty as an Admiral’s daughter”, the first went on. Fletcher the center of the room was a large circular table and Fletcher and CB forced a smile to cover his wince. Focus on the job and get off this were sitting at it looking across at some very serious people. mobile desert, that’s what he’d promised himself. An unusually tall man called Damon Reed had taken the chair. “What color was her hair?”, he asked. Fletcher didn’t know what position he held or even in which company “Blond”, said one with a speed that showed he’d never he held it, but it was clear from the fact that CB instantly accepted his stopped imagining it splayed on a pillow. chairmanship that this was an individual to be respected. There were “Just below the shoulder”, added the other. a series of almost identical men in dark suits occupying the other “Eyes?”, this threw the men into a quandary, they looked at positions at the table. each other for help. “What progress have you made so far?” Reed began with- “No!” Fletcher shouted, “I don’t need a consensus, either out any preamble. He didn’t even introduce the other people at the you know or you don’t, understand?” table. “Aye, aye, sir”, one responded. This time Fletcher couldn’t Fletcher was caught by surprise, he’d expected far longer to hold back a derisive snort. marshal his thoughts. He stood, “I haven’t had much time yet, but “Anything unusual you remember?” here’s how I see the problem.” “You can’t miss her skipper, just follow your instincts, if you “Crime, it’s a crime, not a problem,” one of the identical suits know what I mean”, said one with a leer. interrupted. Fletcher knew exactly what he meant but didn’t dignify it with Fletcher rounded on him, “Emotion undermines perception, a response. “Clothing?” for the victim it’s a crime, for the investigator it’s a problem.” He stopped, “Shorts, and a T-shirt”, responded the more talkative. It never aware he may have stepped over the mark. Glancing up he noticed a failed, ask a man what a woman was wearing and they always men- slight smile on Reed’s face, seeing this he steeled himself and contin- tion what was below the waist first. Always. ued. “Thanks for your time”, Fletcher stood and walked out with- “We know the apartment security systems were compro- out looking back. Hurrying alongside was ‘CB’, his name was actually mised. This much was obvious since the owner had been found mur- David something-or-other but Fletcher thought of him as ‘Corporate dered. We don’t know exactly when the crime took place however.” Bod’. One of the suits made a movement as though he was going to speak. “Useful?”, CB asked. Fletcher bulldozed on, “yes, we know the security system was dis- “No, those guys have taken what they actually saw and plas- abled at 19:00 on Saturday evening, that does not tell us when he was tered it onto their fantasies.” He stopped walking. “Still, she was blond.” actually murdered, the body was not discovered till much later. The “And unmistakable”, chimed in CB. building security sweep identified that his security was off. That wasn’t “Unmistakable in shorts and a T-shirt. Not wrapped in a grimy until 07:30 on Sunday. By the time a security guard had actually seen blanket on a street corner in the lower levels”. CB acknowledged the the body it was 08:00.” point. “How many levels are there here anyway?” Fletcher asked. “Assuming that the murder had taken place by the time the “About thirty below the ‘tween depending on where you look, system sweep started that still leaves a twelve and a half hour win- twenty-four in the ‘tween and a lot on top.” dow during which the murder could have taken place.” There were “Damn big ship; not really a ship at all, more like a city.” slow nods from around the table. “We have a possible suspect,” Fletcher was looking around him at the remarkable sights of this huge Fletcher grimaced, remembering the pseudo engineers he’d had to place. interview, “a young woman of striking appearance entered the building “Bigger,” CB said, “no city in the world has this much useable via an access route from the engineering deck below the transport area.” level under the tower. We know this because she passed two incon- “So how do you police it?” sequential engineers at around 07:30 on Saturday. The engineers say “I thought you were supposed to tell us how to do it,” CB she didn’t return that way and, as it happens, I believe them.” Oh yes, commented with a smile. Fletcher was sure they would have noticed. “Lay off, I got here less than twenty-four hours ago.” “The timing of her entry tallies well with the daily building “What do you think of Neo-City then, first impressions?” security system sweep, she’d have entered just after it finished, giv- “Hate it,” Fletcher almost spat out the words. ing her twenty-four hours before the next system wide scan. Here, “That’s a bit strong for twenty-four hours isn’t it?” however, we have a problem. We’re asked to believe that she entered “Not really, I hate everywhere when I first see it.” the building by 08:00 on Saturday, but didn’t commit the crime until CB smiled, “so how long does it usually take before you stop after 19:00 on that evening.