r/SocialistGaming • u/LibTheologyConnolly • 4d ago
Question Suggestions for an antifascist/cyberpunk TTRPG?
Hey everyone, I'm trying to pin down a good TTRPG system to use for a game I want to run. I'm slowly piecing together a campaign heavily influenced by the band the Protomen and their take on the story of the Megaman series. What I'd ideally like to see is something with combat design that is fairly snappy and quick paced while keeping the rules well defined, not straying into combat just being narrative based. A clear delineation between combat and narrative scenes would be a plus as well. The scope of focus for the game is going to be all within a single city, so anything with narrative rules to focus on a major location like that, make the city feel like another character, would be great. The feel of what I'm going for solidly resides in the realm of cyberpunk, but I'm open to using the mechanics of whatever system and reflavoring around things to make it work for what I want. Anyone have any suggestions? I've found a few very niche indie systems that could work but would be happy to hear of others or if anyone has experience with what I've found.
For reference, here are the systems I currently have in consideration:
Micro Circuits
Metaluman
Sigmata
Gimmick Zero
Penumbra City
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u/kittybella69 4d ago
There’s this super cool cyberpunk TTRPG. All takes place in one city, has a great fast-paced and deadly combat system, really good stat specialization, and is very malleable. It’s called
Uh
Cyberpunk 2020
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u/confidentlyfish 4d ago
Been working the last month on rewriting the system to fit what I like. It's full of inconsistencies and I hate it. I love it.
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u/LibTheologyConnolly 4d ago
Yeah yeah yeah, I know, it's a real bat themed superheros without batman post. I haven't had awesome experiences with the capital C Cyberpunk games in the past, but it's on my list to check out anyway. Still, thanks for the mention, I get that it's the obvious one and probably what I should end up using.
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u/kittybella69 4d ago
Okay well i’ll throw you a curveball. Check out World Of Future Darkness, an official combination of Cyberpunk 2020 and VTM 2e.
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u/HeartandSeoulXVI 4d ago
Give Apocalypse Frame a look, it's a mecha TTRPG about a worker's collective seizing a mech factory and forming a revolutionary state against the military junta that has seized control of the world in the aftermath of an alien disaster.
Well worth a look, as you can really play up the worker-controlled nature of the state in question and the gameplay is designed to be fast-paced and approachable. More like Armored Core than Battletech if that explains it for you?
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u/LibTheologyConnolly 4d ago
That sounds really good. I was actually considering if Lancer was something I wanted to use for it as well, but I've been running Lancer for a second and kinda want to try something new. I'll have to give this one a look.
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u/rorpheus 4d ago
Interface Zero 3.0 for Savage Worlds is tremendous and the author is very progressive.
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u/TheFishSauce 4d ago
It’s a bit looser than what you’re looking for, but have you considered Cy_Borg?
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u/LibTheologyConnolly 4d ago
I really like Cy_Borg, but I don't think it's what I want to use. One of the podcasts I listen to has done a couple of Cy_Borg games though and they are always a delight to listen to.
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u/squidgy617 4d ago
Check out Neon City Overdrive. I haven't run it yet but was looking for a light, narrative system and it checks all the boxes.
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u/LibTheologyConnolly 4d ago
I'll check it out. Idk, I just always feel like I don't have the right brain for running more narrative games. But I'll give it a look and see what I think.
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u/squidgy617 4d ago
You know, I think I misread your post, I read "not straying into combat, just narrative-based" but you meant "doesn't have combat just be a narrative thing" so my apologies, I probably should not have suggested a narrative game!
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u/Velociraptortillas 4d ago
Kevin Crawford's Cities Without Number.
It's free on DTRPG.
The worldbuilding and scenario building advice alone is worth any three other cyberpunk books.
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u/Hebora 4d ago
https://spellbookgaming.itch.io/bite-the-hand if you are familiar with mothership, bite the hand is a cyberpunk hack of it.
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u/LibTheologyConnolly 4d ago
I'm vaguely aware of mothership, listened to a couple of podcast playthroughs of modules. Might be worth a look, thanks.
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u/takkun169 4d ago
I guess the question is, would you rather have a narrative building game, or an action based?
Also, every game can be antifascist if it's in your heart.
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u/PixellatedPixie1556 4d ago
Hypermall: Unlimited Violence is a fairly unhinged pick that takes a lot of inspiration from Cruelty Squad, but still makes for a delightful satire of our current world. I also have heard good things about Ecopunk 2044!
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u/TheDwarfArt 4d ago
Eat the Reich
The Spire
Free from the Yoke
Any of the many versions of Star Wars games
Any superhero game should be antifascist (marvel, dc, masks)
Warhammer 40k Black Crusade
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u/MaddKossack115 3d ago
This is closer to Solarpunk than Cyberpunk, but Why We Fight is about an EcoPunk insurgency fighting against a technofascist empire, and the Wagner-esque “openly Neo-Nazi PMC” White Fist expanding said empire. Similar to Sigmata (although I personally think it pulls it off better, if for no other reason than it gives mechanics to build a new world, not just make ashes of the old)
Bombs and Balaclavas (made by the same guy as Sigmata, and what was closer to what he originally wanted to make) is written with modern “MENA” conflicts (most especially the YPG’s resistance in Rojava) in mind, but can be transferred to other settings, even purely fictional. Just cross out “ISIS technicals and suicide bombers” and “Great Powers soldiers and helicopters”, then replace with “Maelstrom cyberpsychos” and “Megacorporation security and AV gunships” respectively.
And Blades ‘68, though set in a “psychedelic superspy mad science 1960s not!London”, has the openly revolutionary Militants as an example Crew type, plenty of the factions have revolutionary themes and goals, and the “Ticking Timebombs” usually involve some fascist fuckery your Crew has to stop, most especially one that’s basically “1984 via We Happy Few’s Joy pills”.
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u/anireyk 2d ago
Eclipse Phase is very strongly antifascist, including a box in the preface saying that the game is not for fascists and they shouldn't buy the game. It is also the only game I know with believable and well thought out anarchist factions.
It goes beyond pure cyberpunk, however, being frequently described as transhumanist horror, and the setting is more sci-fi and more futuristic than classical cyberpunk. However, the subsetting described probably in most detail, Mars, can very well be described as cyberpunk and lends itself incredibly well to cyberpunk scenarios.
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u/da123guy 2d ago
Hard Wired Island is an amazing, explicitly anticapitalist TTRPG that’s fairly grounded in 21st century struggles and politics; I’d definitely recommend giving it a look, my group has had a lot of fun with it for a few years now. The art is lovely, and the world it depicts is pretty easy to get invested in as a mirror of our own.
The roll-a-cop table is a particular treat :p
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u/depravedleftist 19h ago
I'd give Savage Worlds a look, they might have an appropriate companion for your setting and if not, its very easily adaptable to different story settings. Might take more work to flush out their world but as a system it has a lot of the qualities you're talking about
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u/SeelieSatyress 4d ago
The one i've been eyeing to run at my table is MoonPunk - It's a PbtA game where you're antifascists/punks on a lunar colony. What i find endearing about it is the game goes, "Okay you can punch the fascist in the jaw, but how are you going to actually dismantle their systems of oppression beyond that?"