''GURPS Cyberpunk'' is a

genre toolkit This is a listing of the publications from Steve Jackson Games and other licensed publishers for the GURPS role-playing game. Fourth edition Core books These are the books necessary to play, with the core rules used in all settings (''GURPS Basi ...

for

cyberpunk Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian Futurism, futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of low-life, lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial in ...

-themed

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

s set in a near-future

dystopia A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...

, such as that envisioned by

William Gibson William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948) is an American-Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as ''cyberpunk''. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, hi ...

in his influential novel ''

Neuromancer ''Neuromancer'' is a 1984 science fiction novel by American-Canadian writer William Gibson. Considered one of the earliest and best-known works in the cyberpunk genre, it is the only novel to win the Nebula Award, the Philip K. Dick Award, and ...

''. It was published in 1990 after a significant delay caused by the original draft being a primary piece of evidence in '' Steve Jackson Games, Inc. v. United States Secret Service''. In 1993, ''

GURPS Cyberpunk Adventures ''GURPS Cyberpunk Adventures'' is a trio of near-future cyberpunk role-playing adventures published by Steve Jackson Games in 1992 for the third edition of '' GURPS'' (''Generic Universal Role-Playing System''). Contents This book contains three ...

'' — a collection of three RPG scenarios in the ''GURPS Cyberpunk'' line — won the

Origins Award The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the game industry. They are presented by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for the previous year, so (for example) the 1979 a ...

for ''Best Roleplaying Adventure of 1992''. Unlike most commercially successful books from the third edition of the game, there is currently no Cyberpunk sourcebook for its fourth edition, as of 2018. Similar rules for advanced technology can be found in

GURPS Ultra-Tech ''GURPS Ultra-Tech'' is a sourcebook published by Steve Jackson Games (SJG) in 1989 for science fiction role-playing games using third edition ''GURPS'' (''Generic Universal Role-playing System'') rules. Description ''GURPS Ultra-Tech'' is writt ...

, from gadgets to cyberwear, but there aren't, for example, rules for netrunning which are essential for such games.

Besides the main chapters detailed below, ''GURPS Cyberpunk'' contains a glossary of common cyberpunk terms, an index, and a

bibliography Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliography ...

of relevant media. ;Characters : This chapter describes some of the most common

character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

archetype The concept of an archetype (; ) appears in areas relating to behavior, historical psychology, and literary analysis. An archetype can be any of the following: # a statement, pattern of behavior, prototype, "first" form, or a main model that ...

s (netrunner, corp(orate), cop, celebrity, etc.) and their typical skills, advantages, and disadvantages. It also provides a guideline about how much money a given job might bring or cost. ; Cyberwear : Rules for and descriptions of

bionic Bionics or biologically inspired engineering is the application of biological methods and systems found in nature to the study and design of engineering systems and modern technology. The word ''bionic'', coined by Jack E. Steele in August ...

enhancements. ; Technology & Equipment : Lists many sorts of near-future gadgets. ; Netrunning : The longest in the book, it details rules for realistic

computer network A computer network is a set of computers sharing resources located on or provided by network nodes. The computers use common communication protocols over digital interconnections to communicate with each other. These interconnections ar ...

s as well as fantastic

cyberspace Cyberspace is a concept describing a widespread interconnected digital technology. "The expression dates back from the first decade of the diffusion of the internet. It refers to the online world as a world 'apart', as distinct from everyday re ...

s accessible only through a neural interface. It describes what types of system can be found in the ''Net'' and how the characters can act (and fight) there. ; World Design : Gives guidelines for designing your own cyberpunk world. ; Campaigning : Helps the

Gamemaster A gamemaster (GM; also known as game master, game manager, game moderator, referee, or storyteller) is a person who acts as an organizer, officiant for regarding rules, arbitrator, and moderator for a multiplayer role-playing game. They are m ...

in running a longer series of adventures.

U.S. Secret Service seizure

Loyd Blankenship Loyd Blankenship (born 1965), better known by his pseudonym The Mentor, is a computer hacker and writer. He has been active since the 1970s, when he was a member of the hacker groups Extasyy Elite and Legion of Doom. Writings Hacker Manifesto ...

, who was hired by

Steve Jackson Games Steve Jackson Games (SJGames) is a game company, founded in 1980 by Steve Jackson, that creates and publishes role-playing, board, and card games, and (until 2019) the gaming magazine ''Pyramid''. History Founded in 1980, six years after the c ...

in 1989, was nearly finished with ''GURPS Cyberpunk'' later that year, which was intended both to introduce the company into the popular cyberpunk genre, and to help the company get over its financial difficulties. ''GURPS Cyberpunk'' received notoriety when the Austin headquarters of Steve Jackson Games was raided by the U.S. Secret Service in 1990. The authorities seized the manuscript for the sourcebook, which was under development at the time, asserting that it was a "handbook for computer crime". The book was reconstructed and rewritten from older drafts when the manuscript was not returned. The seizure delayed publication for six weeks. This raid is often wrongly attributed to

Operation Sundevil Operation Sundevil was a 1990 nationwide United States Secret Service crackdown on "illegal computer hacking activities." It involved raids in approximately fifteen different cities and resulted in three arrests and the confiscation of computers, ...

, a nationwide crackdown on illegal computer hacking activities that was occurring about this time. ''GURPS Cyberpunk'' was ultimately published in 1990, joining the already-released cyberpunk role-playing games ''

Cyberpunk 2013 ''Cyberpunk'' is a tabletop role-playing game in the dystopian science fiction genre, written by Mike Pondsmith and first published by R. Talsorian Games in 1988. It is typically referred to by its second or fourth edition names, ''Cyberpunk 2 ...

'' (1988) from R. Talsorian, ''

Cyberspace Cyberspace is a concept describing a widespread interconnected digital technology. "The expression dates back from the first decade of the diffusion of the internet. It refers to the online world as a world 'apart', as distinct from everyday re ...

'' (1989) from

ICE Ice is water frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius or Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaq ...

, and ''

Shadowrun ''Shadowrun'' is a science fantasy tabletop role-playing game set in an alternate future in which cybernetics, magic and fantasy creatures co-exist. It combines genres of cyberpunk, urban fantasy and crime, with occasional elements of conspi ...

'' (1989) from

FASA Fasa ( fa, فسا, Fasā, also Romanized as Fassa) is a city and capital of Fasa County, Fars Province, Iran. At the 2016 census, its population was 110,825, in 33,379 families. Fasa is the fourth most populous city of the province. The city dat ...

Publication history

The main sourcebook for the line () was written by

and published by

in 1990, as a part of the extensive (3rd-edition) ''

GURPS The ''Generic Universal RolePlaying System'', or ''GURPS'', is a tabletop role-playing game system designed to allow for play in any game setting. It was created by Steve Jackson Games and first published in 1986 at a time when most such systems ...

'' generic role-playing game system.

Reception

The July 1990 edition of ''

Games International ''Computer Games Magazine'' was a monthly computer and console gaming print magazine, founded in October 1988 as the United Kingdom publication ''Games International''. During its history, it was known variously as ''Strategy Plus'' (October 1 ...

'' (Issue 16) commented that "computers interfaced with humans and piles of personal morality make playing cyberpunk a challenge." The reviewer concluded, "Lovers of

's ''

'' should start here."

Awards

At the 1991

Origins Awards The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the game industry. They are presented by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for the previous year, so (for example) the 1979 aw ...

, ''GURPS Cyberpunk'' was a nominee for Best Roleplaying Supplement of 1990.

Other reviews

*'' White Wolf'' #23 *''Dragão Brasil'' #3 (1994) (Portuguese)

References

{{reflist

External links

Official ''GURPS Cyberpunk'' page
on the SJ Games website
SJ Games vs. the Secret Service
from Steve Jackson Games website
EFF: Steve Jackson Games v. Secret Service Case Archive

Bruce Sterling ''GURPS''' labour lost
Cyberpunk role-playing games

Cyberpunk Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian Futurism, futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of low-life, lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial in ...

Origins Award winners Role-playing game supplements introduced in 1990 Works about computer hacking