Welcome to Night City. Cyberpunk 2020: Session 0

The pair passed a convulsing body as they stepped from the street into a condemned tenement building. A flickering light and the peeling paint and wallpaper cast eery shadows as they shook the water from their clothes, the drops soaked into the moldy worn and discoloured carpet.

The smaller of the two stopped in front of a solid door and raised his hand to knock but was interrupted by the sound of a heavy bolt being withdrawn, he glanced up at the camera with a smile.

The opulence of the room as they crossed the boundary was a stark contrast to the misery outside and the air was heavy with tobacco smoke and other more..exotic, aromas, and their ears were assaulted by a loud rhythmic music.

'Slap patch!, my favourite medic' A booming voice cut its way through the almost deafening music

'What brings you here today? your delivery isn't due till the end of the week'

The small man motioned to his much larger companion. His ratty hair, stubble, and old faded biker leathers belied a man who was poised to strike. There was a striking mismatch between him and Slap patch whose hair was long, straight and was in a miniskirt and even indoors refused to remove his wraparound mirrored shades.

'Hey TTK' he greeted the large seated man 'This is my good friend Defrag, he's new in NC and is looking to make a few eddies so he can spend the night in a coffin hotel rather than in the gutter, I was thinking, you know, given our partnership, you might have a suitable gig for us.

'Those girlfriends of yours costing you all your ennies, eh, Slap Patch? how many is it now?' 

Slap patch opened his mouth to answer, but TTK continued before he could answer.

'I got one small job, some low level Corpo absconded from Militech with a data shard and is looking to leave NC. Militech is pissed and want to make an example of her, they are offering a bounty, dead or alive. Tell you what, I know where she is. She's holed up in Northside with her sisters booster gang so you go to the address I give you, grab her and I'll cut you in for 25% of the bounty, so 2,500 eddies each. I'll throw in another 1k each if you bring me the data as well, I don't think Militech gives a shit about it, they just want to send a message, but I want to know whats on it. deal??'

Introduction

We decided to take a break from our regular D&D campaign and do a brief session 0 to get to know the basics of Cyberpunk 2020 and the Friday Night Firefight combat rules. I've not played cyberpunk since the early 90's and we are planning on starting a campaign once we finish Dragonheist, which could take us anywhere from 2 weeks to a year depending on how much progress we make.

What is session 0?

For those who may not be familiar with role playing games, session 0 is a loose term given to a session or sessions at the start of a new campaign where everyone familiarises themselves with the rules and where any and all expectations can be set. mistakes will obviously be made but RPG's are just for fun so unless the errors are massively egregious we can easily just gloss over them as this happens.

One of the big differences between D&D and Cyberpunk is that combat is a lot more lethal, fast moving and dynamic. for this reason I'm currently scratch building a lot of things and painting a batch of TTCombat laser cut terrain.

I've got a load of infinity miniatures which are suitable, hats off to Corvus Belli for some fantastic sculpts and I'll have to get a load of the more individualistic miniatures painted. They have a more manga/anime feel to them but they should fit the aesthetic nicely.

Before I get into the after action report, this will be a one off for these two individuals, our unfamiliarity with the rules and combat system meant I had to make alterations on the fly since they were massively under powered compared to what they could have been. I won't share he character sheets, in hindsight they are, embarrassing.
 
Slap-Patch the medic is played by Ginge and Defrag the Solo is played by Garry

Friday Night Firefight

The address that TTK gave them was in Northside so Defrag and slap-patch took the number 23 bus from Old downtown, changing twice to end up on the 72. Defrag grumbled as he was down to his last few eddies. walking would have been cheaper but he hadn't much liked his chances of making it to Northside unmolested. 

The Bus service dropped them off just around the corner from where they were going, a bankrupt shipping company. There was a Noodle bar with a flickering neon light just across the road from the entrance. Garbage lay strewn around the area which was otherwise quite quiet. Not unexpected as it was late and the sun had set hours ago. Only a few of the street lights were working, the rest were either broken or missing.

A tasty snack before getting to work

Defrag used his last few eddies on a portion of noodles, the chicken shaped scop was obviously well past its sell by and he had to choke it down, but it sure beat kibble.
He had been taking in the layout of the area. Containers, 3 guards outside, unknown number inside. some fast talking by Slap Patch managed to coax out that they came out every so often and ordered for 5 or 6. good enough.

Defrag spots a couple of guards in addition to the one at the main gate

Defrag finished his meal, washed it down with a can of Endurodrink, and then looking both ways before crossing the street, walking towards the guard at the entrance.

'fuck off' the man said, flipping him the finger and picking up his weapon, a particularly vicious looking baseball bat 'enhanced' with numerous nails and barbed wire. Defrag backed off slightly, 
'whoa, sorry there choom, just looking for directions'
'ask someone who gives a sh.....' The boosters sentence was cut short as Defrag quick drew his pistol and put a single shot into each of his eyeballs before quickly ducking into cover behind the wall.

Not one for waiting around Defrag takes the direct approach

Calls of alarm came and several more of the boostergang, now alerted, moved to investigate. Slap Patch crossed the road coming up behind Defrag, 

Slap Patch pretends to be a passing doctor

hefting his medi pack he called out 'Its ok, I'm a doctor!'which threw the boosters off long enough for him to slip into the compound and duck behind a stack of containers, picking up the baseball bat as he passed.

Boosters converge on the entrance

A pair of smg's unloaded their clips at the space where slap patch had just been, and defrag picked the few seconds they would be reloading and sprinted towards a parked car, he slip accross the roof and bonnet, landing perfectly, but his shots into the stunned booster were stopped by a bulletproof vest. 

Defrag gets maximum style points for a slide accross a car, but loses them by missing the back of a stationary target at 6 feet

She came after him, and fired wildly, panic in her eyes. a single bullet hit defrag in the leg, before he returned fire and hit the booster in the head, killing her instantly.

The Booster closes in for the kill

A second booster went after Slap Patch and the medic found himself in a gun fight with a baseball bat. the close quarters played to his advantage and he was able to land a couple of solid blows knocking the booster off balance. Slap-patch finished off his opponent with a brutal to the windpipe, he wasn't sure the booster was dead and, taking stock of the situation took a breath.

Slap Patch has a fight in the shadows

A door was flung open and more boosters emerged from the only building in the compound. one of them was much better dressed than the others.

More boosters emerge from the building with the Corpo in tow

'Get in the car! cover us Stevie' came an urgent shout from one of the female boosters. While Slap Patch continued his fight, Defrag knelt, picked up the weapon his last opponent had dropped, and reloaded it. He opened fire on Stevie but only managed to hit the building behind 

Slap Patch surprises everyone by running straight through a firefight

The Cars engine roared to life, and Stevie and Defrag were both a bit surprised as Slap Patch raced past them, smashed his elbow through the drivers window of the car and tried to wrestle control from the driver. Her foot jammed into the gas pedal and the car lurched backwards catching Stevie by surprise. He was hit, dragged along the wall for a few feet and then mulched in the narrow space between the car and the wall. 

Stevie is involved in a Hit and Run

The car came to a crashing stop stop as it hit one of the containers, and the vehicle deployed its airbags stunning both occupants. Slap Patch jumped on the bonnet and smashed the baseball bat through it.

Defrag walks calmly towards the crashed car and executes the driver

Defrag calmly walked towards the car, raised his pistol and shot the driver in the head through the smashed window. The passenger started screaming....

Defrag and Slap Patch looked round, There was another car, probably stolen, they could use to get back to TTK's with their Corpo, and they could quickly loot the boosters before the NCPD arrived. TTK might even be able to point them towards a chop shop and they could get a few eddies for the car.

not bad for a Friday nights work.

Conclusion

It was quite an entertaining fight, I think we got more things wrong than we got right, but the main thing was we had some fun. I had to drop a lot of the body armour from the boosters since neither slap patch nor defrag brought anything that could punch through armour, and it would have been quite a struggle. yes I know killing them would be the Cyberpunk way but the main object was to become more familiar with the combat rules rather than punishing mistakes made during character creation.
We also got the stacking of modifiers wrong, but consistently wrong which is the best way.

Once some more terrain is scratch built, and I get a few more miniatures painted and procured I will do a follow up. Slap Patch and Defrag might appear again, but I doubt it, unless they are corpses in a ditch.

If you like what I do, please consider supporting me on Patreon or buy me a nice cup of Coffee.

thanks for reading, and I will see you next time.

Cyberpunk logo is the property of R. Talsorian Games
Thanks to Ginge and Garry for playing
Metal miniatures by Corvus Belli, Terrain by TTCombat or scratchbuilt by me
Toy cars are Made in china, and donated by Ginge.
Miniatures painted by me
Photography by me.