Welcome back to the weekly Tabletop Games thread! This thread is where we can talk about all kinds of RPGs, card games, board games, etc. Whether you gather around a physical table in the real world, or use a virtual space to play with friends who may live far away from you, this is where you can discuss your favorites, ask for and/or receive recommendations, recap your recent adventures, or even find some people to play games with!

Discussion Prompt: Handsome Young Dugong is back this week with a TTRPG system review!

Hey everybody, this week we’ll be learning about a system that will have you hacking the grid, installing cyberware, and working both for and against megacorps (all in less than a hundred pages) with Neon City Overdive. 

What is it?

Neon City Overdrive (NCO) is a cyberpunk sci-fi game set in a post-apocalyptic world where most of civilization has galvanized around giant urban centers ruled by megacorporations.  Like its more verbose contemporaries, Cyberpunk Red and Shadowrun, characters in NCO often work heist-style jobs that involve a futuristic webscape (the Grid), or require advanced technology or gear.  Players pick a number of “trademarks” (akin to a class in other games, but you always pick multiples) and then “edges” (a more focused skill in that trademark) that define their characters and what they can do.  For instance, a player might pick the trademarks bounty hunter and cyber eyes to gain edges like track and thermal imaging to make a character adept at staking out a target. 

 What are the mechanics?

The dice rolls in the game are in the “Forged in the Dark” lineage; for any given action, the player rolls some number of d6 (referred to as action dice).  If a die yields a 6, the action succeeds unilaterally, with a 4 or 5, it succeeds with a consequence or reduction in effect.  A 3 or less on all die yield a failure, and there are effective critical success or failures depending on the number of dice rolled.  Like the other Forged in the Dark games, players can gain extra dice based on their abilities (or edges, in this case), but unlike its bretheren, NCO has players roll danger dice based on their character’s faults or position in the story.  A danger die cancels out an action die of the same result, decreasing the likelihood of success.   Details and other game elements are handled via Tags, like you might see in Monster of the Week. 

What does the gameplay look like?

Natalie2447, a Jammer specializing in disruptive broadcasts, strides confidently toward the two corp-sec guards standing at the back entrance to the GeneLab headquarters.  Natalie2447 activates her personal broadcasting device and starts addressing her GridTube subscribers, telling them she is going to shout out the hardworking corp-sec peeps with an interview.  The GM decides she will have an action die for her Arcology Brat rich-kid background, her edge on lying, and the professional gridcasting gear.  She will have danger dice for both the suspicious guards and the incongruous location.  She rolled 1, 1, 5 on her action dice and a 2 and a 3 on her danger die.  With the five, she has gotten corp-sec’s attention, but maybe not in the way that she wanted, because they’re chasing after her.  Fortunately, that was just enough distraction for the rest of her team to move in. 

Niche

The relative brevity of NCO makes it a viable choice for one-shots or play with less-experienced gamers who enjoy cyberpunk video games or other media. 

Pluses

• The author does a great job of explaining the mechanics and setting, but even more so the success/failure/partial success element that can be tricky for some players and GMs. 
• The manual is a really smooth read (for a gaming manual) and balances instruction, flavor, and examples nicely.

Minuses

• I wouldn’t have minded a few more entries in the threats/bestiary section.
• Selling a D&D group on a cyberpunk story-game might be a tall order.

Dugong’s advice

Don’t be afraid to pick some trademarks and edges randomly, because then tying them together with a backstory becomes a fun exercise in creative writing and may help individualize the setting. 

Where can I find it?

Available digitally at Itch.io and DriveThruRPG or in print at the latter. 

Thanks again to Handsome Young Dugong for providing this write-up! If you would like to suggest a prompt or contribute a write-up or discussion topic of your own, let me know in the comments!