Magazine Madness 46: Interface RED Volume 5

The gaming magazine is dead. After all, when was the last time that you were able to purchase a gaming magazine at your nearest newsagent? Games Workshop’s White Dwarf is of course the exception, but it has been over a decade since Dragon appeared in print. However, in more recent times, the hobby has found other means to bring the magazine format to the market. Digitally, of course, but publishers have also created their own in-house titles and sold them direct or through distribution. Another vehicle has been Kickststarter.com, which has allowed amateurs to write, create, fund, and publish titles of their own, much like the fanzines of Kickstarter’s ZineQuest. The resulting titles are not fanzines though, being longer, tackling broader subject matters, and more professional in terms of their layout and design.

—oOo—

Technically Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 5 is not a magazine. It collects some of the downloadable content made available for Cyberpunk RED, the fourth edition of R. Talsorian Games, Inc.’s Cyberpunk roleplaying game. So, its origins are not those of a magazine, but between 1990 and 1992, Prometheus Press published six issues of the magazine, Interface, which provided support for both Cyberpunk 2013 and Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0. It is this mantle that Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 1, Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 2, Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 3, Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 4, and future issues is picking up in providing support for the current edition of the roleplaying game. As a consequence of the issue collecting previously available downloadable content, there is a lot in the issue that is both immediately useful and can be prepared for play with relative ease. There is also some that is not, and may not even make it into a Game Master’s campaign.

Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 5 starts by adding some crunch to your Cyberpunk RED campaign. Quite literally. With ‘Breaking Your Stuff: Rules for Maintaining (and Damaging) Gear’, the Edgerunners have to deal with the wear and tear on their weapons and gear, and the need to maintain it. It can now be categorised as ‘Damaged’ as well as ‘Destroyed’ and ‘Destroyed Beyond Repair’, which allows it to be repaired or used with a penalty. Maintenance can be part of an Edgerunner’s Lifestyle level if the item does not exceed that Lifestyle level, but if it does, he will have to pay to keep it functioning. There are Role-based exceptions, such as Rockerboys having a Lifestyle one level higher for the benefit of maintaining musical instruments and other equipment. Lack of maintenance can lead to breakdowns, as can other damage, but when a player rolls a natural one to use a damaged or poorly maintained, malfunctions can happen. Tables list possible malfunctions for a range of devices and weapons and the Game Master can always make up more. This adds a level of realism to the play of Cyberpunk RED, but it may be a touch too much for some groups. Others will like the grit adds to the streets of Night City.

The Edgerunners may have had the chance to play Roller Derby as part of the campaign, Tales of the RED: Hope Reborn, but ‘Chasing The Rabbit: Roller Derby in the Time of the Red’ gives the full details of the game and the Night City Wonderland League and its twelve teams. It can be the focus of a scenario or two, but there is the possibility here that Roller Derby could be the central focus of a campaigned, perhaps combining a Streel Level campaign with a sports-based campaign. The combination would have lots of inspiration to draw upon and would work well for a short to medium length campaign.

In the Time of the RED, everyone has an Agent, an A.I. in their pocket that is one half-communication device, one-half computer, providing entertainment, handling calls and messages, filters news, tracks tasks, orders groceries, and more. Much like everyone today attached to their mobile phone, the Agent is very personal to its user. ‘All About Agents: Your Best Friend in your Pocket’ looks at the history of the Agent, their origins being in a game console that did not sell well in 2020 and got hacked to do much of what an Agent does today. The manufacturer of that game console tried to adapt, but other manufacturers came to dominate the market with models like the EBM PiR2 or Raven Microcybernetics Drake, the latter an internal model. An Agent can be hacked and there are rules for this, but this will get the hacker into serious trouble if discovered. The article includes models and apps ready to buy and install, but where Agents get interesting is the little details that they can add to play. They reflect their user and depending upon the personality installed, the Game Master can have fun roleplaying them and interacting with their owners, having them become unpredictable due to spotty connections and dead spots, and even offer the very occasional piece of advice to their owners. This is an article that helps the Game Master bring another aspect of daily life in Cyberpunk RED into the busy lives of her Edgerunners and makes it just a touch more immersive.

‘Toggle’s Temple: Be Ready When the Dolphins Invade’ brings back a lot of guns from Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0. and gives them stats for Cyberpunk RED. Which makes a lot of sense, since in as heavily armed as the society was in 2020, there are going to be a lot of firearms to be found two decades later. So welcome back Militech Avenger, Dai Lung Streetmaster, Arasaka Minami 10, and others. The article couples this with a secret underground armoury, gun range, and configurable weapons-based obstacle course in Night City run by a man known as Toggle. And Toggle has a gloriously wild conspiracy theory about Cetaceans! A perfect combination of stats and off-kilter colour.

‘Did Someone Say Murder? An Investigation System for Cyberpunk RED’ does what it says and gives mechanics, advice, and examples for running mysteries in Cyberpunk RED. Edgerunners gain a new stat called ‘Focus’, derived from Intelligence and Will and expended to make Evidence Checks over the course of an investigation, and then recovered by whole days of rest. A mystery has a Goal and a Complexity rating; the latter being reduced by successful Evidence Checks as if Complexity was actually the mystery’s Hit Points. A successful Evidence Check also gain a clue. Clues even have the equivalent of armour, called Obfuscation, reducing the damage done by the Evidence Check. If the Obfuscation is zero, then the clue could be a first-hand witness statement or complete recording which points clearly towards the solution, but if as high as six, it might only be a rumour or grainy footage. Obstacles such as a remote location or a red herring or corporate interference will impede the Edgerunners’ investigative efforts, inflicting Focus damage if they are successful, but more damage if they are not.

The article turns the mystery into a construct of a kind, complete with Hit Points, that the Edgerunners are fighting, and likely fighting long term. So, there is an artificiality to both mystery and the investigative process that the Game Master may want to make less obvious so that the investigation is less of a game and more of an organic process. Of course, good roleplaying will help on both sides of the screen. Nevertheless, the system is workable, the advice solid, and the examples given are decent.

‘Your New Best Friend: Welcome to the Bottom of the Food Chain’ looks at the new range of cyberpets (and the dangers of keeping them) from Biotechnica. Want a lovable Forever Turtle™ (comes with combat jaw and its own Trauma Response account for longevity), cute and fluffy Datarabbit™ (complete with EMP-protected storage locker for holding sensitive memory chip in its eye), or Neon Newt™ (with acid-secreting skin and flamethrower breath)? Here are the rules and stats for them and more. An owner needs a good Animal Handling skill to train a Cyberpet and maintain the Cyberpet’s own Lifestyle level in addition to his own! The article describes nine Cyberpets old and new, new Cyberpet cyberware, and includes four hooks that the Game Master can use. These are fun new toys that the Edgerunners and their players can play with—if they can afford them, and the Game Master can use to out the occasional memorable NPC.

‘Screamsheet Generator: Creating Headlines for your Campaign’ is an excellent toolkit for the Game Master to create Screamsheets, the equivalent of newspapers in Cyberpunk RED. It is really several tables of prompts, but these are all good and the process is shown off with a good example of the process that works through a pitfall or two along the way. It provides another way to add verisimilitude to a campaign. The penultimate entry in Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 5 is the eponymous ‘The 12 Days of REDMAS: A Cyberpunk Red Holiday Tradition’. This is a collection of goodies and gear to satisfy most gearheads and cyberware junkies, from the Centurion Essentials Thermal Dagger which slices and stabs and as much as it sets defenders on fire, to a Zetatech CyberConductor that enables a Netrunner to have three Cyberdecks in parallel and switch between them that comes with some program shutdown, so he can have access to more programs ready to run. As with Christmas presents, there should be something here for everyone.

Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 5 comes to close with a big article which both adjusts the scale of Cyberpunk RED and the stage upon which it is played as well as providing an update for three whole supplements for both Cyberpunk 2013 and Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0., ‘Solo of Fortune 2045’ takes up almost a third of the issue and provides a state of affairs guide to mercenary work in the 2040s. In the process it updates the popular supplements Solo of Fortune, Solo of Fortune 2, and Maximum Metal. However, it is not the full update of Maximum Metal in that it does not detail tanks, artillery, ground-support aircraft, and other armoured vehicles. Rather, it keeps it personal with an examination of Advanced Combat Personal Armour or ‘ACPA’ suits, along new equipment, weapons, modifications, and more. The ‘editor’ of Solo of Fortune stresses that the magazine is for professionals and not ‘posers’ and in game terms it adds ‘Mercenary Level’ above the ‘Street Level’ of games where the Solo is not just the combat specialist, but also Hardened in terms of power level and will expect to face similar threats.

The ’magazine’ breaks down mission types and examines what Mercenary Level is as well as detailing new equipment like barrel extensions (and their increased ranges); adding ‘Machine Gun’ and ‘Autofire’ as categories; and listing numerous new weapons from manufacturers old and new. Burrowing ammunition, explosive ammunition, and high precision ammunition are also available for arrows, bullets, and slugs; new explosives and surplus armour such as Heavy, Hybrid, and Light Metalgear; and plenty of new chemicals and dispensers. Pride of place, of course, goes to the ‘ACPA’ suits and the rules for them. This includes operation, fabrication and repair, and design. The latter enables a Solo to order the parts and have a Tech construct them into a working machine, or of course, a Solo can just buy (and modify) an off-the-shelf design. The latter includes some familiar models such as the Militech Commando and the Zhirafa Boris in addition to new designs.

Add in to this some colour fiction which sets the groundwork for Mercenary Level games, gives advice for players new to the power level, and throws in some history that fans of Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0. will specifically as well as some mission ideas and a full mercenary Level Screamsheet and ‘Solo of Fortune 2045’ just about gives everything that the Game Master and her players might want to take a Solo-focused campaign up a notch or two. There is probably still room for a full Solo of Fortune supplement for Cyberpunk RED, but in the meantime, ‘Solo of Fortune 2045’ is perfect for the Solo who really wants to go professional and the Game Master who wants to shift her campaign away from the streets.

Physically, Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 5 is cleanly, tidily laid out. The artwork is decent too and everything is easy to read.

Although much of it was originally available for free and of course, all of it is optional, as with previous issues, having it all in print in Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 5 is a great compilation and great support for Cyberpunk RED. There is so much in its pages that will find its way into any Game Master’s campaign and much that will extend it too in unexpected ways, such as sending it onto a Roller Derby rink, giving advice and structure to mysteries (murders and otherwise), and turning up the power for Mercenary Level. Plus, there is much that will add little details to the Game Master’s campaign like creating Screamsheet handouts and giving a touch of agency to Agents. All of it together, Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 5 is another great issue.

Magazine Madness 43: Interface RED Volume 4

The gaming magazine is dead. After all, when was the last time that you were able to purchase a gaming magazine at your nearest newsagent? Games Workshop’s White Dwarf is of course the exception, but it has been over a decade since Dragon appeared in print. However, in more recent times, the hobby has found other means to bring the magazine format to the market. Digitally, of course, but publishers have also created their own in-house titles and sold them direct or through distribution. Another vehicle has been Kickststarter.com, which has allowed amateurs to write, create, fund, and publish titles of their own, much like the fanzines of Kickstarter’s ZineQuest. The resulting titles are not fanzines though, being longer, tackling broader subject matters, and more professional in terms of their layout and design.

—oOo—

Technically Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 4 is not a magazine. It collects some of the downloadable content made available for Cyberpunk RED, the fourth edition of R. Talsorian Games, Inc.’s Cyberpunk roleplaying game. So, its origins are not those of a magazine, but between 1990 and 1992, Prometheus Press published six issues of the magazine, Interface, which provided support for both Cyberpunk 2013 and Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0. It this mantle that Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 1, Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 2, Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 3, and future issues is picking up in providing support for the current edition of the roleplaying game. As a consequence of the issue collecting previously available downloadable content, there is a lot in the issue that is both immediately useful and can be prepared for play with relative ease. There is also some that is not, and may not make it into a Game Master’s campaign.

Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 4 opens with ‘Hornet’s Pharmacy: A Chemical Wonderland’, which introduces a dealer—Hornet—in street drugs, his wares, and more. There are combat drugs for the Solo, of course, but surprisingly for the Exec and the Netrunner too. ‘Berserker’, which lets the user shrug off the immediate effects of Critical Injuries, so good for the Solo, whilst the Exec becomes a killer in the office with temporary bonuses to Will and Cool with ‘Prime Time’, but a huge loss of Humanity, and ‘Sixgun’, which gives a Netrunner a bonus to Speed when Jacked in and always effect a Safe Jack Out, but reduces his Move and Ref. Additive Compounds include a ‘Delaying Compound’, which can delay the effects of a substance, and ‘Distilling Compound’, which supercharges any substance, increasing the difficulty to resist its effects. New gear includes the Suzumebachi Assassin Drone, which can be operated remotely and is equipped with a dartgun, and new Cyberware, such as the ‘Pursuit Security Inc. Gas Jet’, which is installed in a cyberarm and is an aerosol gas launcher that effectively works as an exotic shotgun that sprays the chemical or toxin of the user’s choice.

‘Black Chrome+: Extra Content for Black Chrome’ puts the Edgerunners in contact with another dealer, Molly Anderson, who has stuff left out of Black Chrome. There is ‘Junk Ammunition’ and ‘Scavenged Armour’ for the Edgerunner on a budget, incendiary grenades, of course called ‘Molotov Cocktails’, and more. The content of ‘Black Chrome+: Extra Content for Black Chrome’ is less useful than ‘Hornet’s Pharmacy: A Chemical Wonderland’, since it is really filling in niches rather than presenting items of more general use. What is definite of use in ‘Black Chrome+: Extra Content for Black Chrome’ is the answers to questions, “What does X style look like?” and “What do External and Internal Linear Frames look like?” Part of Player Character generation in Cyberpunk RED is deciding what the Player Character looks like and to that end, Cyberpunk RED suggests ten basic fashion types, such as ‘Bag Lady Chic’, ‘Gang Colours’, and ‘Urban Flash’. In response to R. Talsorian Games, Inc. having to answer the first question one too many times, it decides to show you with a set of mini illustrations for each fashion type that nicely bring this aspect of 2045 to life. Then it does the same for Linear Frames along with some description too. Again, very useful because the Game Master can show her players rather than just tell.

The fact that ‘Achievements and Loot Boxes’ was the publisher’s April Fool’s download makes complete sense, since it is bonkers, but it is easy to imagine it being integrated into play. It is a reward system, known as the ‘M.R.A.M.A.Z.E.’ or ‘Mystery Reward Achievements Making (you) Attain (the) Zenith (of) Existence’ program, which gives an Edgerunner a trophy for attaining certain targets. For example, ‘15 Minutes of Fame’ is awarded when an Edgerunner reaches Reputation level 7, ‘Going Dark’ for completing a mission without resorting to combat, and ‘Pub Crawl’, for a buying a drink in a bar in each one of Night City’s districts. In return, a player can turn an Achievement in to gain a reroll or one of Mr. Amaze’s Mystery Boxes, randomly rolled for. This adds loot boxes to the play of Cyberpunk RED and versions of the Achievement Badges are given that the Game Master could print out and actually put on badges! It is a very silly option and probably the best way to use it is either to ignore it or to combine it with a city wide event with a limited time frame.

‘Stickball: The sport of the street’ gives the rules for the game that some gangs in Night City, as well as other groups, use as a means to settle disputes. It is a non-lethal combat sport in which microwavers, acid paintballs, heavy handguns loaded with Stickball-sanctioned rubber ammunition, smoke grenades, stun batons, stun guns, and Stickball Sticks are ‘legal’ weapons, the game being played with electrified balls and electromagnetic lacrosse sticks. Although the players and their Edgerunners need to learn the rules to Stickball, this adds a non-lethal option for an action session or so. Of course, if violence is the preferred option, then a gang might take the engines off one or more AV-4s, bolt them onto a combination of bus, truck, and/or junk, and hang whatever it can off the sides and mount the biggest weapons it can to create a cobbled-together scrap vehicle that might just give the gang the means to stand up to the hi-tech, dedicated combat vehicles fielded by law enforcement and corporate military forces. If only for a little while… The result is ‘The Dreaded Punknaught’, a Mad Max-style battering ram, weapons platform, and ganger transport that the article gives the means and guide for the Game Master to create one for her gangs. It even comes with a character sheet for the Punknaught and its own death table, and the vehicle can be used as threat to the Edgerunners, as a temporary vehicle for the Edgerunners, and the Edgerunners might even have to build one themselves!

One of the useful articles back in Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 2 was ‘Cargo Containers & Cube Hotels’ which explored options of where an Edgerunner might live if on a budget. ‘Corporate Conapts & Studio Apartments’ is the sequel, presenting more luxurious choices for when an Edgerunner is ready to move out of the modified Cargo Container home. The focus here is on the types of accommodation that the various corporations provide and where they are in Night City. For example, the employees of bitter rivals Petrochem and SovOil both reside in the ‘Petrochem & SovOil Joint Temporary Housing Solution’ near their offices. The facility is cheap because it is what they could get after they blew each other’s apartment blocks and to avoid each, the employees of Petrochem use one lift and one tennis court and the employees of SovOil use another. Unless one of the lifts breaks down and, in the meantime, human resources for both companies say it is just temporary. There are lots of little details like this, plus the article suggests what apartments are like in different districts and what fittings the up and coming Edgerunner might furnish his new home with. Real instant coffee, smart oven, and orbital crystal shower head for the ultimate in water pressure are some of the options here. The article definitely needed more though, and a sequel would be fitting since players do like to go shopping, if not always for guns.

‘Halloween Screamsheets: three spooky shorts for Cyberpunk RED’ outlines three scenarios to run during October. In ‘Haunted Vendit Haunts NCU Campus’, it appears that someone is aping a Continental Brands Triti-Fizz Vendit to sell flavours that the corporation does not and denies it is testing. The Edgerunners are hired to find the rogue Vendit, put it out of operation, and return the remains for analysis. In ‘Spook Up at Ghostglobe Halloween’, the EdgeRunners are hired by the Goth poser gang, the Sinful Adams, to run security for its upcoming Halloween event and prevent the Philharmonic Vampyres from crashing the event. This is a point defence scenario, which works especially well if the Edgerunners have encountered the Philharmonic Vampyres before, perhaps in ‘A Night at the Opera – Darkness and Desire in Night City’, from Tales of the RED: Street Stories. The third Screamsheet is ‘TSpooks’ Terror, Episode 21: Werewolf in Watson’. After a series of werewolf sightings and the supposed death of one in the district, the assistant coroner asks the Edgerunners to investivate what looks like enforced body sculpting. This a more detailed investigation than the previous two, but all three can be played through in a single session, and whilst all three involve Halloween, none of them have a whiff of the supernatural about them. This does not stop them from being horrific in places. Of the three, ‘Haunted Vendit Haunts NCU Campus’ is the screamsheet with least connection to Halloween, so can be run at any time of the year, whilst the other two are more specific in their time setting. All three are good solid screamsheets though, easily played through in a single session or two.

Penultimately, Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 4 offers up its by now traditional Christmas carol suitable for the ‘Time of the Red’ and twelve classic pieces of cyberware or gear from days of Cyberpunk past. The head-mounted Cybercam EX -1 is every Media’s dream, whilst the Tech will want to get his hands on the Master Mechanic’s Tool Kit, especially given the bonus it gives to all tech-related rolls. Meanwhile the Cops of the NCPD swear by the Cyberscanner which picks up the cyberware installed in a suspect and the ION Cuffs that when placed on the suspect’s wrists shuts them down.

Lastly, ‘Cyberfists of Fury: Expanded Martial Arts’ adds twenty-three new martial arts forms for Cyberpunk RED which gives the option for martial artists learn multiple Forms and as he increases his skill level in each form, granting him access to both their own Special Moves and the Shared Special Moves common to most forms. The new Forms in the article are divided between the traditional, such as Boxing, which provides Knockout Punch and Punch Combination, and Tai Chi, like Joint Manipulation and Lu, and the new, specific to the ‘Time of the Red’. Unsurprisingly, Arasaka and Militech have their own Forms. Arasaka-te teaches Counter Strike and Escape Hold, whilst Militech Commando Training includes Combat Knife Training and Commando Disarm. For the Full Body Conversion, there is PanzerFaust with Borg Fist and Inner Chrome. There are also weapons-focused martial arts including Kendo or ‘Way of the Sword’, the archery focused Kyudo, and Gun Fu, the latter a modern Form with the Special Moves of Combat Reload and the amusingly named Woo Technique.

The need to specialise in different martial arts in order to learn new Forms can be used in a variety of ways. One is to suggest a martial artist’s origins, such as training in Arasaka-te versus Capoeira, whilst another is set up a roleplaying opportunity, a martial artist Edgerunner needing to find and satisfy a teacher to learn or improve a new Form and its Special Moves. Then of course, a Form can suggest details about an NPC as well as the way in which he fights. The article expands the options available to both player and Game Master and is undoubtedly useful to any campaign in which martial arts play a role, however significant.

Physically, Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 4 is cleanly, tidily laid out. The artwork is decent too and everything is easy to read. Notably, many of the articles open with colour fiction that detail individuals and places that a Game Master could easily use help bring her campaign to life, for example, Hornet of ‘Hornet’s Pharmacy: A Chemical Wonderland’.

Although much of it was originally available for free, as with previous issues, with the publication of Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 4, it is nice to have it in print. And again, as before, all of it is useful in some ways, but barring the drug-related gear of ‘Hornet’s Pharmacy: A Chemical Wonderland’, the new equipment detailed in the issue is the least interesting content. ‘Halloween Screamsheets: three spooky shorts for Cyberpunk RED’ gives three good scenarios, whilst ‘Cyberfists of Fury: Expanded Martial Arts’ expands the character options in the roleplaying game in very useful fashion and ‘Corporate Conapts & Studio Apartments’ adds further detail and colour to the downtime of the Edgerunner with Eurobucks to spend. Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 4 brings a wealth of new detail to Cyberpunk RED and there is something useful in its pages for every Cyberpunk RED Game Master.

Magazine Madness 39: Interface RED Volume 3

The gaming magazine is dead. After all, when was the last time that you were able to purchase a gaming magazine at your nearest newsagent? Games Workshop’s White Dwarf is of course the exception, but it has been over a decade since Dragon appeared in print. However, in more recent times, the hobby has found other means to bring the magazine format to the market. Digitally, of course, but publishers have also created their own in-house titles and sold them direct or through distribution. Another vehicle has been Kickststarter.com, which has allowed amateurs to write, create, fund, and publish titles of their own, much like the fanzines of Kickstarter’s ZineQuest. The resulting titles are not fanzines though, being longer, tackling broader subject matters, and more professional in terms of their layout and design.

—oOo—

Technically Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 3 is not a magazine. It collects some of the downloadable content made available for Cyberpunk RED, the fourth edition of R. Talsorian Games, Inc.’s Cyberpunk roleplaying game. So, its origins are not those of a magazine, but between 1990 and 1992, Prometheus Press published six issues of the magazine, Interface, which provided support for both Cyberpunk 2013 and Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0. It this mantle that Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 1, Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 2, and future issues is picking up in providing support for the current edition of the roleplaying game. As a consequence of the issue collecting previously available downloadable content, there is a lot in the issue that is both immediately useful and can be prepared for play with relative ease. There is also some that is not, and may not make it into a Game Master’s campaign.

Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 3—as with the previous issue—is by James Hutt and/or J Gray and starts on a hard note, or rather, on a ‘hardened’ note. In the previous issue, two connected articles—‘Hardened Mooks: break glass in case of powergaming’ and ‘Hardened Lieutenants: break glass in case of powergaming’, provided tougher versions of the standard threats, mooks, and lieutenants. With ‘Hardened Mini Bosses’ the series with increased stats for Mini-Bosses in the core rulebook, including ‘Hardened Arasaka Assassin’, ‘Hardened Militech Veteran’, and ‘Hardened Pyro’. This is a mix of the old and the new, so should keep the Player Characters on their toes. Plus, they come with a little commentary on how to best use them.

If ‘Hardened Mini Bosses’ gives the Player Characters someone to fight, then ‘Digital Dating in the Dark Future’ gives them someone to love—and then, since almost nobody lives happily ever after, someone to fight. Romantic entanglements have always been part of Cyberpunk through its ‘Lifepath’ system of Player Character generation, and Cyberpunk RED is no different. However, what about now, because those relationships are likely to have been in the past and may be long over? To let a Player Character go dating now, the article gives a ‘Datepath’ system which enables the Game Master to determine how the match describes themselves in their dating profile, where the date will take place and what the significance of that location is—for example, if in the Watson Development, the date might have a connection with SovOil, what the date activity will be, how the date goes, and what the after date review will be. This can be rolled as is or played out, and if the latter, it means that a player gets a chance to roleplay another aspect of his character and explore another side of the game that is not necessarily all guns and combat. This is a fun addition if the playing group wants to expand the lives of their characters and would work every well for one-on-one sessions between a single player and the Game Master.

‘Salvaging Night City: A New Downtime Activity’ also gives the Player Characters more to do when away from typical adventures or missions. Although this is primarily for the Tech character type, but any character could engage in this, exploring Night City’s Hot Zone, Combat Zones, and scrapyards, not just for scrap to sell, but items to repair and use and sell. The article also goes through the possible dangers that a scavenger might face, including pollution, radiation, rival scavengers and gangs, unsafe structures, and more. This is an article that can be used to generate, with a bit of effort upon the part of the Game Master, encounters and even scenarios. Plus, like ‘Digital Dating in the Dark Future’, this activity works well for one-on-one sessions between a single player and the Game Master and also for sessions where there are only a very few Player Characters.

Cyberpunk RED is a roleplaying game that focuses on a lot of gear—equipment, weapons, cyberwear, and cyberware—and its use in play, and if there was a criticism of Cyberpunk RED, it was that it was genericised and therefore not interesting. Issues of Interface have been changing that with names and describes a wide variety of items, and Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 3 is no different. ‘Woodchipper’s Garage: Weapons That go Boom!’ is an interview with a Nomad who purchases weapons scavenged by Nomads in the Badlands and brought into Night City to fulfil the demand for the weapons that deliver a bang! This includes rocket launchers to suit all budgets and attitudes to safety standards, flare guns, flamethrowers, and odd weapons like an air cannon and harpoon launcher! ‘Midnight with the Upload: New Cyberdecks and Hardware’ provides a wide range of decks and new items of hardware, each with own benefits and effects. For example, the ‘Raven Microcyb Phoenix’ is an expensive deck that has six slots to install either Programs or Hardware and protects any programs the Netrunner uses, restoring any that were destroyed during a run, when the Netrunner jacks out. ‘Must Have Cyberware Deals’ details the new chrome that might be purchased from Mr. A-MAAAZE at Dock 13 in sunny South Night City. Want to keep that figure trim or low on rations, install an ‘Appetite Controller’, whilst ‘Lead’s Turn-On-Show-Off Nails’ is the perfect set of programmable, lighted fingernails, and if that shoe does not fit, then the ‘PerfectFit Cyberfoot’ adjusts perfectly (and if the user wants to run in heels, then these are even more perfect!). There is a certain superficiality to these entries, being as they are mostly fashion cyberware. All three of these articles come with no little flavour too. ‘Woodchipper’s Garage: Weapons That go Boom!’ is the most straightforward, primarily focusing on how the weapons that Woodchipper sells are got hold of in the interview, whilst the ‘Midnight with the Upload: New Cyberdecks and Hardware’ gives lots of commentary and feedback that suggests a certain lack of humanity with interacting with the seller and perhaps that they might be a cultist of some kind or a Netwatch Agent. Lastly, ‘Must Have Cyberware Deals’ is all about the slick sales pitch from Mr. A-MAAAZE.

‘Collecting the Random: Ideas, Thoughts, and Lists from the CP:R CREW’ is the second longest article in Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 3. It is a collection of new rules, such as complementary skill checks, and ideas that how Cyberpunk RED is played, fortunately without the need for any mechanical changes. Roles are a big focus for the article. It suggests ideas for reskinning them, like turning the Netrunner into the Thief or the Exec into the Mobster, all with simple adjustment of the flavour of the mechanics rather actually than changing the Roles. Multiclassing ideas suggest ways in which each of the Roles works with the other nine Roles. For example, the Rockerboy/Media becomes an Influencer, the Netrunner/Fixer the Information Broker, and the Lawman/Media the Psychic Detective. There are some great ideas here that again shift how a Role is played. Campaign ideas making the Player Characters ‘Guerilla Gardeners’, ‘Librarians’, and ‘Food Truck War’ participants and come with some very simple mission ideas. All of these set-ups require no little development, but they all change the focus of a campaign from a more standard set-up. ‘Cyberpunk RED Fashion’ suggests styes such as ‘Bag Lady Chic’(!) and ‘Asia Pop’. This is mostly flavour, of course, as are the article’s final ‘Twenty Random Kibble Flavors’—fizzy kibble anyone? This is just a plethora of fun ideas that a playing group can pick and choose from.

Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 3 takes an odd, even cynical turn with ‘Elflines Online the TCG: Battle for the Elflands’. Previous issues of Interface RED have explored the number virtual game world in Night City, ‘Elflines Online’. Effectively a game world within a game world, ‘Elflines Online is a hobby that a Player Character or NPC can play during his downtime, but it can become something that the players can roleplay their characters playing in the world of Cyberpunk RED, a fantasy roleplaying game in the cyberpunk roleplaying game. ‘Elflines Online the TCG: Battle for the Elflands’ does not expand to any great degree, but rather introduces a trading card game that the Player Characters can play offline and some of the cards will provide bonuses and benefits in the online game. Full rules are included so that the players can play it too, though using an ordinary deck of playing cards. Accompanying the article is a commentary that highlights the disappointment of some ‘Elflines Online’ players when ‘Elflines Online the TCG: Battle for the Elflands’ was launched and since. There is a brilliant cynicism to the whole exercise that feels as if it mirrors certain MMORPGs in the real world.

‘Spinning Your Wheels: A New Way to Ride the Edge’ adds an old technology to the streets of Night City and updates it. This is the bicycle, whose reintroduction is presented in an interview with the head of Yang’s Wheels, the city’s leading manufacturer of bicycles, skateboards, and inline skates. Their introduction brings a cheaper form of transport to both the city and Cyberpunk RED. Of course, they are cheaper to buy then a car, more manoeuvrable, and take up less space. They are all muscle-powered, so require the use of the user’s Athletics skill rather than Drive and, of course, they can be upgraded. Fit cycle armour or a gun mount to the handlebars, or even an enclosure to turn it into a trike. The article also details the type of tricks that can be performed on a bicycle, skateboard, or inline skate.

‘The 12 Days of Cybermas: A Cyberpunk RED Holiday Sequel’ returns with a Christmas carol suitable for the ‘Time of the Red’ and twelve classic pieces of cyberware from days of Cyberpunk past. Want to tear your enemies apart, then install the ChainRip, the original cyberweapon of mass destruction in your cyberarm or look really cool with one cyberoptic, then the Kiroshi MonoVision installs your cybereye in a single band. Whilst the stats update the descriptions, the illustrations feel intentionally dated.

The last and longest article in the issue is ‘Going Metal: full body conversions in Cyberpunk RED’. The article moves on from the fears from cyberpsychosis due to full body conversions to suggest that there is a culture all of its own around full body conversions. This does not stop the opening between someone who has undergone full body conversion to somebody who is about to from being just a little bit creepy. It is followed by complete guide to undergoing a full body conversion in game terms and keep as much Humanity possible, up to a maximum of fifty. Some thirteen standard full body conversions are detailed, like the ‘Cybermatrix Inc. Copernicus’ for work in space, the ‘Dynalar Brimstone’ fireproofed for fighting fire, the ‘Militech Dragoon Revised War Platform’ updated from the full body conversion so successful in 4th Corporate War, and even if the ‘Raven Microcybernetics Gemini’ if you do not want to look like a cyborg! Added to this are numerous pieces of cyberware and gear, which break down the numerous items that go into the design and construction of the earlier full body conversions. The full body conversions come with commentary from the interviewer at the start of the article. There are lots of options here, good for NPCs as well as the Player Characters who want to take a radical step and have the EuroBucks to spend! The article brings Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 3 to a close with big fully borged options.

Physically, Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 3 is cleanly, tidily laid out. The artwork is decent too and everything is easy to read.

Although much of it was originally available for free, with the publication of Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 3 it is nice to have it in print. All of it is useful in some ways, though ‘Elflines Online the TCG: Battle for the Elflands’ is very much less useful then the other content. Together, ‘Digital Dating in the Dark Future’ and ‘Salvaging Night City: A New Downtime Activity’ really do bring greater roleplaying opportunities to the play of Cyberpunk RED, whilst ‘Collecting the Random: Ideas, Thoughts, and Lists from the CP:R CREW’ brims with interesting ideas for both the player and the Game Master. Everything else is tech and cybergear-based, adding numerous options and greater choice to the world of Night City and beyond. Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 3 is the best issue to date and there is something for every Cyberpunk RED campaign in its pages.

Magazine Madness 36: Interface RED Volume 2

The gaming magazine is dead. After all, when was the last time that you were able to purchase a gaming magazine at your nearest newsagent? Games Workshop’s White Dwarf is of course the exception, but it has been over a decade since Dragon appeared in print. However, in more recent times, the hobby has found other means to bring the magazine format to the market. Digitally, of course, but publishers have also created their own in-house titles and sold them direct or through distribution. Another vehicle has been Kickststarter.com, which has allowed amateurs to write, create, fund, and publish titles of their own, much like the fanzines of Kickstarter’s ZineQuest. The resulting titles are not fanzines though, being longer, tackling broader subject matters, and more professional in terms of their layout and design.

—oOo—

Technically Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 2 is not a magazine. It collects some of the downloadable content made available for Cyberpunk RED, the fourth edition of R. Talsorian Games, Inc.’s Cyberpunk roleplaying game. So, its origins are not those of a magazine, but between 1990 and 1992, Prometheus Press published six issues of the magazine, Interface, which provided support for both Cyberpunk 2013 and Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0. It this mantle that Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 1 and future issues is picking up in providing support for the current edition of the roleplaying game. As a consequence of the issue collecting previously available downloadable content, there is a lot in the issue that is both immediately useful and can be prepared for play with relative ease. There is also some that is not, and may not make it into a Game Master’s campaign.

Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 2 starts on a hard note, or rather, on a ‘hardened’ note. James Hutt begins the anthology with two connected articles—‘Hardened Mooks: break glass in case of powergaming’ and ‘Hardened Lieutenants: break glass in case of powergaming’, both of which provide tougher versions of the standard threats, mooks and lieutenants, to provide the Player Characters with more of a challenge. The former includes stats for the bodyguard, boosterganger, road ganger, and security, whilst the latter has stats for the netrunner—anti-personnel and anti-program; reclaimer chief, including a ‘lightning’ version for lieutenant who likes to fight form the front and a ‘thunder’ version’, who prefers to support from the back; and raid and siege versions of the security officer. None of these are suitable to be used against combat-orientated Player Characters, especially the lieutenants. In addition, the Game Master can customise them further with a table of complications for the mooks and tactics for the lieutenants. Further, the second article actually lists what a hardened Player Character actually looks like, so that the Game Master has a definitive ideas as to what that also looks like! Overall, solid support for when the Player Characters are finding things a little too easy.

Infamously, Night City is the site of a nuclear weapon being detonated, as well as having subject to numerous chemical spills and the ongoing effects of climate change over the years. All of which is reflected in ‘Night City Weather: The Sky Is Crying Blood’ by J Gray and James Hutt gives advice and a set of tables that the Game Master can use to colour her depiction of Night City. The latter are organised by season and each has a one-in-six chance of the weather turning strange. When it does, this could be anything from a radioactive windstorm or blood rain to dust storm or blackout. These are extremes, of course, but virtually all of Night’s Weather is extreme, whether that is suffering from exposure in a cold snap or increased armour penalties in a heatwave to suffering as if poisoned and a foreign object critical injury during an ash storm if not wearing a filter mask or nasal filters or simply being exposed to a biotoxin during a blood storm! All of it is nasty and extreme, and all of it is going to make the Player Characters value days when the weather is not a danger. The article details new gear and clothing designed to deal with this weather, including a Militech Combat Umbrellas, which of course, is also an umbrella gun! The article is the first of two in the that further develops Night City as a place and gives it some verisimilitude, being the sort of thing that can be worked into a scenario cannot only add atmosphere, but also affect how a mission might be played.

Infamously, Night City is the site of a nuclear weapon being detonated, as well as having subject to numerous chemical spills and the ongoing effects of climate change over the years. All of which is reflected in ‘Night City Weather: The Sky Is Crying Blood’ by J Gray and James Hutt gives advice and a set of tables that the Game Master can use to colour her depiction of Night City. The latter are organised by season and each has a one-in-six chance of the weather turning strange. When it does, this could be anything from a radioactive windstorm or blood rain to dust storm or blackout. These are extremes, of course, but virtually all of Night’s Weather is extreme, whether that is suffering from exposure in a cold snap or increased armour penalties in a heatwave to suffering as if poisoned and a foreign object critical injury during an ash storm if not wearing a filter mask or nasal filters or simply being exposed to a biotoxin during a blood storm! All of it is nasty and extreme, and all of it is going to make the Player Characters value days when the weather is not a danger. The article details new gear and clothing designed to deal with this weather, including a Militech Combat Umbrellas, which of course, is also an umbrella gun! The article is the first of two in the that further develops Night City as a place and gives it some verisimilitude.

The other is ‘Cargo Containers & Cube Hotels’ by James Hutt and J Gray, which asks the question, “Where might my character living and what is it that I am getting for rent each month?” Essentially, what can a Player Character can afford and with a few extra eurobucks afterwards, what he buy to make the place a little more homely. There are tables of locations and accompanying descriptions for both habitat types and then descriptions of potential upgrades, like some wall art, a fire safe, and even a hidden compartment.

In between, ‘Jumpstart Kit Conversion Guide: JSK adventures using core rules’, by James Hutt, Mike Pondsmith, and J Gray, addresses a problem with the Cyberpunk Red Jumpstart Kit. This is that its rules do not match those of Cyberpunk RED. The article is not simple an adaptation, but rather a rebalancing of its missions and adjustments so that it can form the basis of a starting point for a campaign. It includes advice too on how to run each of the missions in the Cyberpunk Red Jumpstart Kit. It is rare that game designers get to revisit an earlier product in their roleplaying game line—especially without the publication of an entirely new edition—but the release of the original PDF article and its inclusion here in Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 2 gives them space to do so. The article is easier to use if the Game Master has not run the Cyberpunk Red Jumpstart Kit, but makes it more accessible and easier to use overall.

‘Daeric Sylar’s Guide to Elflines Online’ by James Hutt continues exploring the online world of the most popular MMO played via Braindance in Night City, Elflines Online. First described in ‘Elflines Online: A Segotari Rush Revolution Exclusive’ and ‘Elflines Online: Expansion Pack’ in Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 1, this third article includes a map of the setting and a guide to levelling up in the game and when to visit the various locations in the game, plus various monsters. The level of detail in the article feels like gilding the lily, adding extra detail to a world that feels superfluous to most Cyberpunk RED campaigns. That said, Elflines can be added as an activity in the game that NPCs and Player Characters engage in as flavour, but there is nothing to stop that the Player Characters needing to play in order to find an NPC or hidden data, or even adding fantasy roleplaying game that uses the Interlock system of Cyberpunk RED.

One of the issues with Cyberpunk RED is that its technology is often genericised and that includes its guns. This is in comparison to the weapons of Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0., in which all of the weapons are named and branded. In part, this has been offset by the release of the Black Chrome, but that does not include weapons or piece of gears from the previous versions of the roleplaying game. This was addressed in part by ‘Old Guns Never Die: A step-by-step conversion guide for bringing weapons from Cyberpunk 2020 into Cyberpunk RED’ in Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 1, and is continued in Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 2 with by James Hutt’s ‘The 12 Days of Gunmas: A Cyberpunk Red Holiday Special’. As much a parody of The Twelve Days of Christmas, the article updates some classic weapons from Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0., such as the Arasaka WAA Bullpup Assault Weapon, Militech Crusher, and Stolbovoy ST-5 Assault Rifle. Drawn from various supplements, these are a welcome addition that add weapon variety and flavour.

Lastly, the issue gets a bit weird with ‘Exotics of 2045: There’s nothing you can’t become’. Again, written by James Hutt, this details some of the options available as part of the Biotechnica’s Bioexotics programme, which for two decades has offered a range of full body sculpts and modifications, evolving into a month-long intensive ‘Zoo camp’ that requires a fixer and money beyond the cost of any surgery done, to attend. It has become highly exclusive, but can be accessed during character creation with the purchase of an Exotic Package using non-fashion/fashionware locked money. Seventeen packages are detailed, including what each package includes and its resulting Humanity Loss. They divided between major and minor Bioexotic packages. The minor include the ‘Embrace Rodentia’ rat form, ‘LagoForm’ rabbit form, and ‘Serpentise Yourself’ snake form, whilst the major include the ‘AquaForm’ whale form, ‘Bughouse’ insect form, and ‘UrsaForm’ bear form. Added to these are the FantaForms, which represent classic fantasy biosculpts, such as with the ‘Draconic FantaForm’ and the ‘Elvish FantaForm’. All of the new cyberware for these Exotic Packages is given too, like the ‘Reflex Co-Processor’ to super enhance a character’s Reflexes and a Combat Tail which act as a Heavy Melee Weapon. All of the options here push Cyberpunk RED into the realms of the fantastic to one degree or another, even to the point where with the FantaForms, the Player Characters could find themselves in the LARP equivalent of the Elflines Online! Certainly, these provide Cyberpunk RED with an anime element not as extrovertly present in the setting.

Physically, Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 2 is cleanly, tidily laid out. The artwork is decent too and everything is easy to read.

Although much of it was originally available for free, with the publication of Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 2 it is nice to have it in print. Some of its content is more useful than others, and some of it is going to find less favour with some Game Masters. The latter includes the articles on Elflines Online and the Exotic Biosculpts, whereas the ‘Cargo Containers & Cube Hotels’ and ‘Night City Weather: The Sky Is Crying Blood’ articles will add flavour and verisimilitude to a Game Master’s campaign, however they are used. Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 2 is a mixed bag in terms of content, but not quality of content. There is definitely something in its pages that every Cyberpunk RED Game Master is going to find useful.

Magazine Madness 20: Interface RED Volume 1

The gaming magazine is dead. After all, when was the last time that you were able to purchase a gaming magazine at your nearest newsagent? Games Workshop’s White Dwarf is of course the exception, but it has been over a decade since Dragon appeared in print. However, in more recent times, the hobby has found other means to bring the magazine format to the market. Digitally, of course, but publishers have also created their own in-house titles and sold them direct or through distribution. Another vehicle has been Kickststarter.com, which has allowed amateurs to write, create, fund, and publish titles of their own, much like the fanzines of Kickstarter’s ZineQuest. The resulting titles are not fanzines though, being longer, tackling broader subject matters, and more professional in terms of their layout and design.

—oOo—

Technically Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 1 is not a magazine. It collects some of the downloadable content made available for Cyberpunk RED , the fourth edition of R. Talsorian Games, Inc.’s Cyberpunk roleplaying game. So, its origins are not those of a magazine, but between 1990 and 1992, Prometheus Press published six issues of the magazine, Interface, which provided support for both Cyberpunk 2013 and Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0. It this mantle that Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 1 and future issues is picking up in providing support for the current edition of the roleplaying game. As a consequence of the issue collecting previously available downloadable content, there is a lot in the issue that is both immediately useful and can be prepared for play with relative ease. There is also some that is not, and may not make it into a Game Master’s campaign.

Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 1 opens with ‘Old Guns Never Die: A step-by-step conversion guide for bringing weapons from Cyberpunk 2020 into Cyberpunk RED’ by Mike Pondsmith, James Hutt, Cody Pondsmith, and J Gray. One of the issues with Cyberpunk RED is that its technology is often genericised and that includes its guns. This is in comparison to the weapons of Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0., in which all of the weapons are named and branded. In part, this has been offset by the release of the Black Chrome, but that does not include weapons or piece of gears from the previous versions of the roleplaying game. Which is where this article comes in, providing a step-by-step process that enables a Game Master to take a design from the previous editions of the roleplaying game and bring it up to Cyberpunk RED. The article is nicely supported by an example and enables the Game Master to loot her old sourcebooks for material just as the Player Characters can loot the city and beyond for old technology.

‘Red Chrome Cargo: A Cyberpunk Red Screamsheet’ by Cody Pondsmith is the single adventure in the magazine. Tensions have come to the boil in Night City’s Combat Zone as two gangs, the neo-fascist Red Chrome Legion and the heavily cybered Iron Sights, the Player Characters are connected by a fixer. His clients wants them to rob a train and steal a Red Chrome Legion shipment. In other words, this is a train heist, and it is as simple as that. The Player Characters have to get from one train to the target train, deal with any opposition, and bring the goods back. This is all action and combat, though the mission definitely requires a Netrunner. Although simple, the mission is nicely detailed and the Screamsheet makes a great handout. The mission will also make a decent demonstration scenario and so could be run at a convention, and it is easy to add to a campaign.

Mike Pondsmith, James Hutt, Cody Pondsmith, and J Gray further provide ‘Single Shot Pack: Pregen Characters and NET Architectures’. This presents ten pre-generated Player Characters (or detailed NPCs as required) and six ready-to-use NET Architectures for the group’s Netrunner to hack. There is one Player Character for each of the roleplaying game’s archetypes and the NET Architectures include ones for conapt security, clinic security, a small corporate facility, and even a vault for anyone who likes to lock their valuables away. All of these are designed for use on the go. The NET Architectures are easy to use and the ten pre-generated Player Characters can easily be used as replacement characters, as NPCs, or even in conjunction with the ‘Red Chrome Cargo: A Cyberpunk Red Screamsheet’ for the demonstration game.

‘Cyberchairs: New options for mobility’ by Mike Pondsmith, James Hutt, Cody Pondsmith, and Sara Thompson detail two models of cyberchair. The Mecurius Cyberchair is wheeled, whilst the Spider Cyberchair has legs. Both require operation, but both can plugged into operated cybernetically of course. Their inclusion opens up options in terms of representation of the disabled in the Time of the Red and enables their characters to become actively involved in missions and adventures.

The longest entry in Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 1 is actually two entries, dedicated to the same in-game MMORPG played via Braindance. ‘Elflines Online: A Segotari Rush Revolution Exclusive’ by James Hutt and Mike Pondsmith explains what it is, whilst ‘Elflines Online: Expansion Pack’ by James Hutt and Melissa Wong adds further background—online and offline—as pre-generated ready-to-play characters for the MMORPG, to the game within a game. Essentially this pair of articles is about a popular leisure activity in the Time of the Red, that the Player Characters really can play if they want to, almost as if they were roleplaying like the players. It has rules for in-game character creation, but otherwise uses the mechanics of Cyberpunk RED. The articles suggest the game as a platform where the Player Characters met, can encounter other NPCs, or simply as diversion. It is an interesting option that adds a layer of both immersion and complication, and that perhaps means it may not be suitable for every Cyberpunk RED campaign.

Lastly, the all-new article in the magazine is ‘All About Drones: Your Amazing Animatronic Friends!’ Written by Mike Pondsmith, James Hutt, Cody Pondsmith, and J Gray, this adds the element of biomimicry to drone design, such as the giraffe-like Zhirafa GRAF3 construction drone (there is even a junior model, My First GRAF3 for the budding engineer to build) and the Savannah Panther patrol drones. The five drones here have a generally utilitarian to them despite the thematic design, and they are all solid additions which add colour and flavour to the streets of Night City.

Physically, Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 1 is cleanly, tidily laid out. The map for the screamsheet is somewhat scrappy, but the artwork elsewhere is excellent, and the shorter page count means that that it feels as if there is more of it.

Although much of it was originally available for free, with the publication of Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 1 it is nice to have it in print. There is much that is useful and helpful in its pages, but none of it is absolutely necessary to expand either the rules or setting of Cyberpunk RED, and some of it, will be simply labelled as silly by some gaming groups. Overall, Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 1 is a solid, but essential first issue.