Why is Cyberpunk RED’s Combat So Good?
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ต.ค. 2024
- Ever since it came out, Cyberpunk RED has been one of my favourite tabletop RPGs. But I've never made (well, finished) a video about it until now. So, let's dive in and see why Cyberpunk RED's combat system works so well.
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#rpg #trpg #ttrpg #tabletoprpg #cyberpunk #cyberpunkred #cyberpunk2020 #cyberpunk2077 #cyberpunkedgerunners #phantomliberty #dnd #dnd5e #dm #gm #dungeonmaster #gamemaster
Excellent
I tried running Cyberpunk RED a year or so ago. First problem I encountered is not the fault of cyberpunk, but of DnD which has many easy ways to plan and run encounters online, flipping through the book and modifying stat blocks of enemies was such a hassle and a lot to keep track of. Combat itself seems lethal and fast paced on the face of it, but there's a lot of dmg absorption and ways to reduce dmg so it took a lot longer than I suspected. Being a player wasn't too interesting either, there didn't feel like there was a lot differentiating the builds in combat.
If you want an easier way to mess with NPC statblocks, I recommend using the Cyberpunk RED Companion app (of which I myself was the QA tester). It makes it very easy to generate NPCs from a template, then edit their stats and weapons with a few taps.
As for absorbing/reducing damage, yeah that's one of the big differences between D&D and Cyberpunk. You get used it to it after a while. As for differentiation, most of that will come from weapon choice (an assault rifle plays differently to a pistol plays differently to a sword plays differently to martial arts), but I'll admit the differences can be a bit subtle. This is where a lot of the exotic weapons really shine, as they do give some intriguing unique abilities.
You mentioned that the penalties incurred by reaching half HP can trigger a death spiral, but you like it. This got me thinking a bit, because I'd only heard of death spirals referred to negativity before. The consequences of mechanics that cause death spirals could be an interesting topic to dive into.
Both having and not having death spirals creates interesting incentive structures. Not having a death spiral incentivises players to be aggressive and keep pushing forward, since as long as they have 1 HP, that's all that counts. However, this can push players to the point of recklessness and stupidity, since again, as long as they have 1 HP, that's all that counts. Adding a death spiral encourages the players to be more cautious and potentially plan smarter, since even if they dn't die, they can still get debilitated. However, it can also make players too cautious, grinding the game to a halt.
The MATRIX skin in the iris of the eye is a good detail.
Glad you like it!
@@allseeingeyetrpg I'll check Cyberpunk books again. Btw, have you ever checked Palladium RPG 1e combat system?
@@nosotrosloslobosestamosreg4115 I've heard of RIFTS and the other Palladium RPGs, but I've never read them. I'll have to give them a look.
@@allseeingeyetrpg I recommend you to highlight the differences between Palladium RPG 1e and Palladium RPG 2e/RIFTS combat systems. They're very different animals.
crap, my brain is full of Cyberpunk and when you said "Chip In" I instantly thought of the song "Chippin In." Wont deny that the video game introduced me to the tabletop
It's a great song
Your audio is incredibly "tinny" at the high range. It also sounds like you are using a mic that just happens to be in the same room with you. ESPECIALLY if you're going to use a format of a disembodied voice over text slides, you HAVE to get a decent microphone which captures your voice in the full range and up close. You MUST do this.
Thank you for the feedback. This video's audio was much more cursed than usual - for some reason it came out really quiet (I had to heavily mess the volume and compression for it to be in any way audible), and to top it off my normal headphones broke right before I started editing. Once I figure out what's making the audio so quiet, we should be back to business as usual.
Big disagree, one of my least favorite combat systems for basically the reason you said I have never seen a game where everyone is so damn spongy. No one ever feels at any imminent risk and it is just completely unrealistic. Huge explosives are the only way to do any decent damage in the game. Which forces both players and GM to only reason use them. Characters can literally ignore your average goon shooting them with a pistol. Game is just an absurd superman sim. Or huge explosive sim as everyone is built like a heavy tank. As a player I would just calmly walk up ignoring the gun shots plant my bomb and calmly walk away then set it off. As a GM would bum rush because hilariously melee is often more effective than a gun because of the ignoring half armor or if I am being mean just spam grenades cause again explosives are just the most effective thing especially in group fights which is almost always the case. Honestly just prefer the exact opposite game. High lethality NPCs and PCs with very low HP but have a large number of options and abilities on their turns is far more interesting and tactical to me with far more tension.
I even disagree that the melee is worse the the ranged. There are actually interesting abilities you can get under martial arts. And the melee combat of taking several punches makes way more sense then just ignoring gun shots.
That's fair. It's certainly not the realistic combat system. While I can suspend my disbelief for that, I understand if you can't.
The math does not add up either. Autofire is absolutely useless. Run the math and see how skilled you need to be in auto fire to consistently outperform single shot rifle damage
There's also no way to eliminate a full HP enemy with a headshot, even when they are not wearing a helmet. I can go on and on about all the other stuff that Red gets wrong IN combat. Outside combat, it is a solid game. Roles are excellent, dropping Attractiveness as a stat was a good choice, etc.
Just use 2020 combat rules and Red role-playing rules.
Red combat rules create bad combat. Period.
@@RooflessMLol.
@@RooflessM No way to eliminate an enemy at full hp with a headshot? You do double damage with a headshot, So if someone has no armor to mitigate you can potentially deal 12 damage per d6. 2d6 is enough to one shot a street punk. 3d6 could take out anyone up to 35 hp.
Autofire needs alot of homebrewing to be viable. DVs are too high and the damage is terrible on average.
For a x2 skill it needs more oomph.
5d6 weapons have greater average damage output and a decent crit rate chance and is only a x1 cost skill.
I ran a game of Cyberpunk Red when it came out and ran 2020 before I did Red and I am not happy with the combat. My players both used melee and one of my players used an item which had each arm socket allow him to have double arms per side so 4 arms in total which each had a melee attack which each removes armor by 1 and reduces armor effectiveness by half. The other player was able to easily dispatch standard goons by just using martial arts. Shit is busted. There is also a way to get 2 attacks per turn I am pretty sure which makes the issue of enemies simply dying instantly becomes worse. The only way to counter this would be to use absurd amounts of enemies or Adam Smasher level enemies.
Yeah, the Artificial Shoulder Mount cyberware is a bit weak. Sponginess is also definitely something a lot of people have complained about. While I like the ruleset, I can appreciate that it's not for everyone.
you weren''t happy with it because you played wrong. Melee weapons have ROF 2 max no matter how many of them you can hold lmao.
Try reading the book next time.
@@WilkesBarreWrestlingTo give him some credit Martial arts is incredibly strong, And my players have noticed. They’ve also noticed how strong explosives are, But I make collateral in the city feel realistic to dissuade them from being too liberal with grenades and rockets
In my experience my group found that combat in cyberpunk red really dragged with no easy online or irl tools armour degradation and accuracy at range tables meant that even simple combats were crunchy and boring no matter how many cool descriptions are implemented throughout the turns. Character creation was the strongest aspect of the game the point buy is good and I love the setting but the combat drags with weapon stats being split into COMPLETELY separate sections of the book, damage and firing modes being 20 or more pages away from the range table
The Cyberpunk RED companion app (which I QA tested) has a lot of good tools for managing combat. While I have played Cyberpunk in person, I'll admit I've never had to track HP or armour on paper.
Also, for future reference, the weapon stats and range table are only 2 pages apart - the second of the three places you can find the weapon stats is p. 171, and the range table is on p. 173.
I solved this issue!
1. The companion app gm tools -- let you track initiative and apply damage/armor ablation automatically. It's a little clunky still, but easier than paper.
2. Range rulers. Just cut out strips of paper for the different weapons and mark out the dvs for different ranges. Now you never have to check that dumb table again and turns are lightning fast.
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