Cyberpunk 2020: Cabin Fever - RPG Review
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- čas přidán 11. 09. 2024
- Review and GM tips for the classic Cyberpunk 2020 RPG adventure "Cabin Fever." Released by Atlas Games in 1994.
A fun twist on a classic adventure setup that requires plenty of role-play.
That interrogation scene. My sides. They are dead.
"I can't go to jail, I'm too pretty!"
Cyberpunk 2020: Cabin Fever has taken on a whole new meaning!
Things that did not exist when this module was printed:
* I Pads
* Wi-Fi
* Camera Phones
* Global Cellular Service
* CZcams/Facebook/Twitter
Cyberpunk 2020. As futuristic as an episode of Max Headroom. Still want to play it.
I mean, I could think up reasons why a lot of that stuff could go away in the dystopian cryberpunk future:
high powered and wireless devices could become extremely regulated, due to mixtures of both health concerns, overcrowded bandwith, and the security threats from so many devices floating around... plus falling out of fashion with lower classes due to how such things are prime spying tools or worse by governments, corporations, hackers, and so on.
on a similar note I could also see the internet "shrinking" restricted to hard wired or tight beam transmissions connections, often isolated barring highly monitored/controlled bottlenecks that can be severed if something unwanted is found to be passing through.
I think that's why I like it so much.
I really liked the idea of a heist,and the interrogation section absolutely killed me. Great content man.
Every part was funny when it came to that interrogation.
I’ e Seen this video like four or five times and that third interrogation scene still cracks me up.
I've ported this to Red and run for my players, thanks for the heads up about the possibility of the players trying to go someplace else than the bar. I've countered this by describing the smells of the bay to the players, then when entering the bar the first time, mentioning that there is no foul bay-smell inside, probably the owners sealed the building petty well to keep those outside. When the players needed to bolt, their first thought was "Hey, the bar was airtight, let's go there quick". They ended up being transported to a black site for questioning, then the ops left suddenly, now it's a Lassie Telephone Home story...
The beginning section that railroads the players into the bar is still very difficult to pull off without players complaining that you're just forcing them in there.
I'm getting a group together to play Cyberpunk and this video made me want to buy Cabin Fever for our first game. Thank you!
Glad you found it useful. Have fun.
You gonna do the road trip pack too?
*I would love more Cyberpunk module reviews .*
Great review, as always. Nice cyberpunk character. I loved your illustration of how the different players reacted to interrogation. Did you physically separate them when they went through interrogation?
I'd planned to, but by the end of the game I was feeling lazy and we just did it in front of the other players and it ended up awesome. Especially since the most "hardcore criminal" type among them was the one that completely spilled his guts and started crying about how he didn't want to go to jail. It ended up cementing that character so much that he became one of those cherished few that earned the title "Epic Character" meaning that they transcended normal character and became something entirely separate from the player.
LOL. That's awesome. I've done it both ways when my Call of Cthulhu investigators were unwise enough to wait around for the police. Each one has it's advantages. I feel like separating them makes for better realism as they can't get ideas off each other. It's less fun though. Sounds like you have some amazing players though.
I've run this module in Cyberpunk as a way to bring a new group together, I've also used it for an ongoing group to introduce Silver Shark as a new ongoing contact. The best use I had for this module was when I was running a d20 Modern game in D&D, and adapted this on the fly.
Last part made me laugh crying!!!
Bought it on your recommendation and I'm really looking forward to using it.
Awesome. Have fun with it.
So cyberpunk reservoir dogs?
Kinda, yeah. Heist gone bad, they're trapped in a building, pointing guns at each other, some dude goes crazy. If the GM inserted a PC as an undercover cop you'd definitely have it
At first I thought it was the boat heist in 'The Usual Suspects'.
Was waiting for a Kaiser Soze reference.
Thanks, you made me get a 2nd hand copy (was difficult and in not the best conditions) and play it! Keep the good reviews going on.
Hope you have fun with it. I really wish Atlas Games would put PDFs of their old Cyberpunk adventures up on Drvethru RPG or something.
The only thing I can think of to make it better is separate them for the interviews or not letting them talk between each other and recording the interviews for later
When the beep out section played, it was so unexpected that it cracked me up.
Finally convinced some friends to try cyberpunk 2020. Lured them in with the premise of doing a heist on an automated cargo ship and they were sold. Game session is tomorrow and they don’t know I’m pulling this surprise onto them lol.
If they don’t see it coming its on them at this point, I did the same thing when I got them to try call of Cthulhu and ran Dead Light as the scenario instead of the obvious bait of the invitation they received to perform for the opening of an occult museum in New Orleans (I was running it in modern day and the investigators were in a band). Still not entirely sure if they’ve forgiven me for that one but they at least said they had fun
I ran this one for my players.
Now, I don't have any degrees or university qualifications for chem (but I DID pay attention in High school chem class and I understand enough of it) - my dad, however, was an electroplater - and he had most of the acids around him in the workplace (they're often used for cleaning metals (rust/oxide removal) before the plating is applied, so I also understood what most of those acids smelled like. I thought it'd be a fun one to spring on them.
One of the party PCs was a medtechie with a sideline of making high-quality pharmaceuticals for the street (so he had a 5+ Chemistry, in addition to his +5 pharm) - After the reveal of "hydrogen fluoride", the explosion and fog ... his reaction was "I want to see if I know how bad this really is ..." because the player himself knew that the cogent "Hydrogen fluoride+explosion" reaction should be "we need to get TF off the street and into somewhere we can seal off." HF does nasty shit to the body.
... and the game went from a heist to a siege (where the pcs in the bar (with the other npc patrons) became the beseiged from "the fog" and its denizens. Shadows assaulting the bar windows leaving bloody smears (some luckless vagrant inhaling too much of the fog and having their lungs wrecked, coughing up bloody sprays.
The interrogation scenes were works of art!
Jack circa 2017! Fantastic!
Awesome video all around. Love the costume, love the editing and the advice just reeks of "Seasoned DM that knows his stuff". The scenario itself however...
Railroad in the beginning, railroad in the end, actual gameplay experience in the middle. What an odd module!
I counted at least 6 places where id call bullshit on the entire situation as a player. "Destroy their cars with shrapnel" "Railroad them with a heavily armed AV and a cloud of toxic gas!" "The only way out is through corpos that arrived just to silence the people involved!" "And even If they get out leave them at mercy of corpo-cops that can simply whack them instead of interrogating them!".
No wonder this book is out of print. Sheesh...
Seth, I'm planning on running this for my Cyberpunk Red group tomorrow. Wish me luck.
Good luck. Hope you and your group have a blast.
I don't know if you bother to read comments on these old videos, but the sound is atrocious except in Jack's scenes which are way too loud. You may want to re do them. I boosted the sound up to 500 percent and it was still bad. Other than that, I am a big fan. You really got me interested in this game.
I do. And since this vid was recorded, I've upgraded mics twice. So don't expect that crap audio on newer vids.
Some of the older vids I have re-recorded just due to them being painful as hell to rewatch now. This one is on the list, but I also don't re-do vids that often (it feels kinda cheap to re-do what I did instead of putting out totally new stuff). Eventually, this one will get the re-skin.
@@SSkorkowsky Hey Seth, thanks for the response. I realized I came off like I was complaining, but I just want to let you know how much I love your channel. I used to DM back in the 80's and 90's and I haven't really played since. I found your channel by mistake and have watched everything you have posted. I credit it with getting me back into gaming. You're videos are incredible, so much information, and the little skits you do make me laugh out loud a lot of the time. So keep up the good work and once again, thank you for the videos and the inspiration you've given me.
Good review. Only thing I disagree with is pretending the players have a decision at the beginning, when they don't (they can only go to the bar). It seems better in that case to just say "you only have one decision" or even to frame it so it's clearly the only choice, rather than acting like they do when they actually don't. Players are very good at figuring out when they do in fact have a choice or not, but if they're straight up told that there's only one option then they'll usually just accept it and be fine with it.
Omg I wanna play this scenario! I love unique ones like this in any format (CP, D&D)
Awesome review Seth love your channel and subbed! :) What's your thoughts on Shadowrun? I had never heard of Cyber Punk 2020 until finding your channel :)
Thanks. I enjoyed Shadowrun the few times I played it. But the game mechanics and more sci-fi and less fantasy of Cyberpunk was what really drew us in.
Crate. In the era of containers. Still want to play it 🎉
You're wearing an awesome t-shirt, any clue where I can find one ?
I picked it up at a con where they were selling Cthulhu Wars. They had them left over from their Kickstarter but were just burning through the old inventory by giving them to people that bought the game at the con.
This is one heck of a railroad module .
I wonder if the author of this (and many other) Cyberpunk 2020 works is the same guy who's now a Hollywood screenwriter -- "Arrival"'s screenwriter has the same name...
I'm confused on what to do after the arrest. What's stopping the corporate cops from destroying the evidence and killing the players? The party is screwed. Or what if the party doesn't record the heist at all? Again, the party is screwed.
Nothing stops the corp agents from flat-out murdering them save for the GM not wanting their players to not stab him in the face for putting them through a totally un-livable scenario. Now if the PCs don't record the heist, as instructed, then the GM should feel free to have the corps take them out.
@@SSkorkowsky It just seems a tad bit off to tell your players to record themselves committing a crime right off the bat, especially if it's a frame up. And I wish this scenario had a reason for corporate cops wanting to play this straight other than one or more of them somehow had scruples. Tbh, I think a good way out they could've added to this was to have a hack option in the scenario where the team could either send a reporter the footage, or if they don't trust them, hack the news directly. In case of lack of a PC, throw a npc hacker looking for some work in the bar. Or have them do a contacts roll, then forward some footage to them as "insurance" in case the Corporation tries to do a clean up ops on them. As for the recording, make that the negotiators idea and not the higher ups to make it more believable. Paperwork over common sense in this case, which does fit the setting.
The Corp wasn't who told them to record. The fixer who didn't know it was a frame job tells them to because he's worried the client might try to get out of paying if the goods aren't on the ship. But the players having the recording it's their negotiating tool to get out off the bar and into the Corp AV.
Why kill the PCs, when the cops could instead force them to become undercover informants instead? Instead of ending the game, turn it into an opportunity for more stories.
Kudos from RunicNeonTelescope!
I like the concept, but I think module is too rail road in the ending part.
Awesome video, Seth. Ayone have any ideas on how I could turn this module into a Vampire: the masquerade locked room one-shot?
Ordered this module off of amazon. Hope to actually use it at some point.
Now to find a damn copy of it!
The interrogation killed me...
That 3rd interogation!
Nice review (and very fun!)
D&D
Yeah Minimum of 10 sessions
Every other role-playing game
About 1-2 sessions Max sometimes 3
Do you know where you can find this adventure in 2022? I've looked for PDFs, places to buy, ebay, the normal stuff but I really can't find any hint of getting ahold of just a digital copy, let alone physical
I was about to ask the same. I guess we are SoL for this one, just gotta wing it based on the info in the vid.
Do you have any suggestions on how to handle the television broadcast sections because they seem to be very heavy on dialogue in those sections. Also any advice on running this scenario online via Discord?
I know this was 3 years ago. But my advice is just Trim it down on the details. Because the News doesn’t know about everything, only what they’ve been told.
ever played any shadowrun?
I downloaded and printed the PDF
I'm currently converting this scenario for CPR. Any tips?
This video is still hilarious.
Cyberpunk 2020.... Cabin Fever....
2020... Cabin Fever...
There is a joke in there somewhere.
Did you separate the players for the interrogations? Or were they able to witness each other's questionings?
I had originally planned to separate the players for it. But by the time we'd gotten to that part I was feeling a bit lazy, and since I trust my players to not let out-of-character knowledge effect their playing, we just did it all at the table. Had I not trusted them all 100%, I'd have separated them. I'm glad I didn't because the one where the "tough guy" sold everyone out was priceless and I'm glad everyone got to see his groveling.
@@SSkorkowsky Thanks for the reply!
I was seriously asking myself how I would do it, and that exact scenario came to mind. While it would be great to get genuine un-informed reactions/roleplay from everyone, it would be a real shame that I would be the only one who ever got the complete picture.
By the way, I stumbled upon your channel very recently because I was curious about the Call of Cthulhu RPG, and I can't stop watching your videos. Aaaaaand I also ordered the 7th edition box set and plan on running a campaign soon.
Great stuff!
Thanks. Glad you're enjoying it.
i might do a home brew version of this for a dnd campaign
I keep hitting the like 👍 button and commenting .
How many Likes 👍 & comments for another how to play/run series "Overview" ( of any system ) .
Appletini?!
Is ever cyberpunk model classic lol
The cut-aways are too G-ddamn LOUD and annoying!
2:49 Jeff The Npc gets me.