Chromebook, Wizard's Breath

In doing these recaps/reviews of the books in my collection I have  been able to find a few gems that I did not know that I had. The  biggest of these so far has been the entire Cyberpunk line. I have  known that the game was good but I have not paid attention to the  accessories as well as I should have perhaps.

Chromebook is the first in a series of what would become four  books dedicated to the accessories that would be available to  characters in the Cyberpunk 2020 world. Much as was done in the  Night City accessory this book packs a ton of information into  it's 96 pages. One of the nice touches is that it is written as if  it is an actual "catalog" and not a gaming accessory. It declares itself the "digital styleguide and techbook for Cyberpunk 2020".  It does well in fulfilling this claim.

This book more so than others that would follow is not focused so  much on the combat aspect of the game. This first volume though  full of useful stuff for the action side of the game also has a  good amount of what would be considered fluff by some. To me this  helps make the setting more real though. The book is broken down  into ten sections. These are as follows:

Electronics & Miscellaneous
Vehicles
Cyberware
Fashion
Executive Services
Chipware
Housing
Software
Price List & Index

The sections of the book are all well done and in addition to  describing the items often have images as one would expect a  catalog or styleguide to have. The art though not great is  passable. The books art adds some color when it gets to the  Fashion section. This is a nice touch and it might serve to emphasize that section of the book in the readers mind.

The one drawback is one that other material for the game has  suffered from. The materials presented in some cases either in  function or form are archaic in today's world let alone what will  be in less than 10 years. This often the case for books dealing  with technology that are were written twenty years ago so I will  have to give it a pass. One can always think of it as a throwback  to a vintage feel.

I have to say that this book would be one that any GM of the  Cyberpunk game will want to have in their bookcase. It would also  serve well someone running Shadowrun or any modern/future type  game. It is also just a fun book for anyone to read through and  see how close they writers from 1991 came to getting things  right. Avery Brooks did a great commercial for IBM where he  decried the present the lack of flying cars. This book does not  promise those but it does have somethings that are still perhaps  too far off. I for one though still want the flying car I was promised.


Spell:

Wizard's Breath

Level: Fifth
Range: None
Duration: One Turn + 1 Turn/Level
Ares of Effect: Caster
Components: V,S
Casting Time: 1 Round
Saving Throw: None

When this spell is cast the magic user makes it so that they can  breath and function in in any environment in regards to breathing.  The spell does not impart any other immunities or abilities to adapt to harsh environments.

This spell will allow the caster to breath under water. It will  even allow them to function in environments with noxious fumes.  Other aspects of the certain environments will limit the spells  functionality though. The caster could breath submersed in lava  but the lava would kill them in other ways. The vacuum of space is  not a problem but the cold and pressure issues would be a problem.

In addition to the obvious benefits the spell also grants the  caster some offensive capabilities as well. These can be used up  to three times during the duration of the spell. If used the three  times then the spell will expire with the third use. Each use will  allow the caster to have their breath affect a single target  within 1" of them. The effect of their breath will serve as a  single target Sleep, Friendship or Hold Person spell. The victim of  the caster's breath is not entitled to a save versus these effects.

Disclaimer: The spells that you will see, for how ever long the  write ups last, were all written up or conceived of back in the  80's so the terminology may not appropriate for anything other  than 1e and depending on how well I did back then it may be  slightly off for that as well. If there is any duplication of  spells that exist now it is most likely I wrote mine first :)  Please feel free to comment on them but try not to be too hard on  me. If anyone wishes to use these in anything they print please  let me know in advance and all I ask is proper credit.

Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0. Character Sheets, Summon Exchequer

Every game will end up having them though players don't really  have to have the. Some of the best ones are actually homebrew  creations. I am of course talking about character sheets. They  have come a long way since the early days of writing everything  down on a sheet of filler notebook paper.

The Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0 character sheets were released in 1993 by  R. Talsorian Games, Inc. This is actually pretty amazing since  the game was released in 1990. Most games today the character  sheets seem to beat the game out or at least tie. I seem to  recall there being a character sheet example included in the book  but that may have been one of the later editions.

The pack includes twenty four two sided sheets. You can see an  example of the sheets here. The pack also includes sixteen pages  of NPC records with four NPC records per side. You can see samples of those here.

In the end they are not needed but they do make things easier to  find. In these cases the consistency is not foolish so there are  no hobgoblins or small minds involved....well there could be the  latter but that is decided on a case by case basis.



Spell:

Summon Exchequer

Level: Second
Range: 6"
Duration: Three Turns
Ares of Effect: None
Components: V,S,M
Casting Time: One Round
Saving Throw: None

When this spell is cast the magic users summons a collection of  small gnomish creatures whose sole purpose will be to exchange currency for the caster and.or anyone else who happens to be near by. The origin of these creatures is unknown though they will  apparently interact with all races with no animosity.

The creatures will exchange coins either up or down but in most cases they will be used to convert lower value metals to higher  value ones. They prefer to work in higher value metals and oddly  enough the percentage they take is better with higher value metals. The rate taken for conversion is below...

Copper to Silver   20%
Silver to Gold       15%
Gold to Gems       10%

The conversion process is done though bags which in the hands of  anyone other than the creatures are flimsy bags which rip when  anything is put into them. In the hands of the creatures they  simply put coins in one and pull from another with apparently  endless numbers.

The creatures will also convert coins of one realm to those of  any other in the world or even planes of existence that the  players are familiar with. This conversion process will be done  at a 5% conversion fee.

The creatures will not work in platinum. If they are asked to  provide they will become indignant and rude. If asked to exchange it they will instead take it and offer nothing in return. If this  happens the creatures start speaking about some strange set of rules with the highest number being 285 and calling it latinum. Any attack on the creatures at any time or attempt to get  the platinum back will cause them to vanish.

The material component of this spell will be the coins or gems  that are lost in the conversion process. Once summoned the must  be a conversion of funds that takes place. If there is not then  the DM should flip a coin...heads the characters lose 50% of all  coins and gems on them...tails they lose all coins and gems. One  must pay the taxman when he comes.

Disclaimer: The spells that you will see, for how ever long the  write ups last, were all written up or conceived of back in the  80's so the terminology may not appropriate for anything other  than 1e and depending on how well I did back then it may be  slightly off for that as well. If there is any duplication of  spells that exist now it is most likely I wrote mine first :)  Please feel free to comment on them but try not to be too hard on  me. If anyone wishes to use these in anything they print please  let me know in advance and all I ask is proper credit.

Castle Falkenstein, Wizard Speak

Castle Falkenstein is one of the games I have picked up because I loved the idea, had heard great things about it and planned on playing it eventually. There is a line from the movie "The Way of the Gun" that I quote way to often in real life..."I think a plan is just a list of things that don't happen.". Sadly to say that is true with my want to play Castle Falkenstein.

The game to me seems to be one part Shadowrun and one part Space 1889 which are both games I like the idea of. The layout of the game is done as a diary of a real world game designer drawn into a magical realm. The blog name is Quag Keep right so I think that works for me. I can't imagine why I have not played this game other than I just don't have time to play anymore.

Castle Falkenstein won the 1994 Origins Award for Best Gaming Rules. The idea of switching to cards instead of dice at first seems a little bit like a gimmick but in the end you can see it adds to the flavor of the game from what I have heard. Never having played it I can't speak to that. The use of cards could make it easier to play in non standard locales and you also don't have the sound of dice being rolled all the time.

The one thing that is considered a plus in many peoples eyes is that might be a detractor for me is the fact that it is set in Europe and not in England. I have nothing against Europe I am just an anglophile at heart. It is called the Victorian Age for a reason after all isn't it. This could add a flavor to the game that would help give it that just a little off feel that is sometimes helpful. Still the location would not be enough to make me to not want to play the game.

This is the original R. Talsorian Games version. There was a GURPS version of the game that was released in 2000. I have never had a chance to play that either but GURPS is usually pretty good at adapting systems so I am not sure how it would play.

If anyone has played this game I would love to hear about it and get some feedback. Then again it may just add to my want to play the game and that would lead to making plans to do so and I have told you how that seems to end up for me. Maybe I should make plans to not play the game and not win the lottery!


Spell:

Wizard Speak

Level: Second
Range: 6 " + 1"/Level
Duration: 5 Rounds + 1 Round/Level
Ares Effect: One Creature
Components: S
Casting Time: 2 Segments
Saving Throw: Special

By means of this spell the magic user assumes control over what the victim of  the spell is saying. The voice will be that of the victim and will be in the  language that is native to the victim or the common tongue based on the  casters desire.

The caster will be mouthing the words that are said while the victim is  speaking them. The victim must be within the range of the spell while this is occurring though the caster does not have to remain in visual contact.

For the first  round the victim will not realize that what they are saying is  not what they mean to say. The affected individual will not be able to alter  the words they are saying in any way. They are not under any sort of control  so they can try to communicate in other ways but they will not be able to  alter or stop what is being said.

The victim is entitled to a saving throw. If the save is successful then the  spell still takes effect but the words the caster are saying will be  gibberish. 

Disclaimer: The spells that you will see, for how ever long the write ups  last, were all written up or conceived of back in the 80's so the terminology  may not appropriate for anything other than 1e and depending on how well I  did back then it may be slightly off for that as well. If there is any  duplication of spells that exist now it is most likely I wrote mine first :)  Please feel free to comment on them but try not to be too hard on me. If  anyone wishes to use these in anything they print please let me know in  advance and all I ask is proper credit.