I’m calling the race early! Cybernetics is winning the poll by an absolute landslide, so here’s me rambling about how and why they work the way that they do in Bite the Hand. There's a new poll attached at the bottom, so vote for what you want me to yap about next!

So starting from the top on page 10, let’s first look at the basic mechanics. Basically, you start with one that’s class-exclusive, and then you get to pick one more. If you’re comfortable with the game and want to start it “at a higher level”, the GM could always just give everyone a few thousand dollars to pick more. Give this page a read and meet me below the screenshot.

Hello again. We may talk more about the way these interact with Stress in another deep dive, but first, why are the cybernetics separated into categories? If you look at the beta rulebook, you’ll notice that they used to be arranged in this big messy web, more like a skill tree you’d see in a video game. This created a few problems. First, it just wasn’t great to look at, especially for dyslexic readers, and it resulted in a lot of flipping pages back and forth to remember what was a prerequisite for what else. Second, these single arrows were a little too restrictive. Oftentimes if you wanted a certain tier two or three cybernetic, you would be stuck picking up a few that you really didn’t want to get there. This resulted in what we in the biz call “feat tax”.

I needed a solution to these problems, but I wasn’t comfortable with the idea of just removing tiers and prerequisites entirely. This would make the catalog longer, with each item having its own monetary and Stress cost listed individually, which is just a lot of information. Instead, I arrived at the idea of separating out the tangled web into four wide “lanes” of upgrades. Each lane would loosely correspond to one of the four classes, and the mandatory class-exclusive cybernetics would function as a sort of “head start”, allowing each class earlier access to one set of tier two upgrades.  This to me felt like a really elegant middle ground between a restrictive web and an open catalog.

BUT! This presented a new problem. I had to figure out how the heck to arrange these disparate items into solid categories. I was willing to alter the effects of some of these to better fit, but I didn’t really want to throw away and reinvent more than a few. So I turned to meatspace, cut up a sheet of paper into little slips, and rearranged them over and over again until I was happy.

And presto! That’s how we ended up where we are.

While I’m here, I want to talk about the classes-exclusive cybernetics, why they are what they are, and how they work. For those familiar with Mothership, you can think of classes-exclusive cybernetics as functional replacements for that game’s Trauma Responses, and the rest of them as replacements for Skills. Thus, each class-exclusive cybernetic is a direct reflection of what that class is as an archetype, and the rest are associated with a particular archetype, but not definitive of them. That’s basically a long winded way of saying I’m not just thinking about these as cool mechanics, but also as reflections of the type of character who they’re meant for. Additionally, the reason these are class-exclusive is so that each class maintains their special identity within the party, even as the game goes on.

Anywho, let’s actually look at them.

These are simple. Rogues are a longstanding game design archetype, and there’s one nearly universal constant thing about them: they’re sneaky. So, how to guarantee that all BTH rogues are sneaky? Make their footsteps silent of course! This isn’t a 100% guarantee of perfect stealth in all scenarios (thermal vision makes this kind of useless, for example), but it really locks in your character as the one the party calls on when subtlety is needed.

This one is also pretty straightforward, and is a direct reflection of the Marine class from Mothership. In that game, Marines have +1 Wound capacity just by virtue of their intense combat training. In a cyberpunk setting you don’t just get stronger by working out and training hard, you do it by becoming a cyborg. This one is also unique in that it gives your character +3 minimum Stress instead of +1. There’s two reasons for that, the first being that 50% extra health is just really good, so it needed something to balance it out. Second, it’s a reflection of the mental struggles of having been a soldier. Mothership does this with their Trauma Response, I do it here with Stress.

These last two were pretty much directly inspired by Cyberpunk 2077. In that game, the protagonist has both of these powers, and they’re both really good. I figured by making them separate and not universal, they’d make for great optional powers. Technicians can use the game’s hacking mechanics while their hands are full and without others noticing them, making them a “wizard” class of sorts. Turncoats on the other hand can use the phones in their head to be a more effective “face" class. You can look up information about the people you’re talking to or the topics you’re discussing to be a better liar, you can maintain multiple conversations at once, and you can capture audio and video. These were both also partially inspired by subtle spell, an ability in the world’s most profitable role-playing game. 

And I think that covers all the major topics! I’m sure there’s something I’ve missed though, so if you've got any questions or just want to know more about a specific cybernetic let me know in the comments, and keep sharing the game so I can get it into your hands!