What is it?:
Reality’s Edge is a Cyberpunk skirmish game set in the grimy, dark, depressing world of the Sprawl.
The setting:
It’s 30 minutes into the future and the Space Jerk/Tech Bros/Super Rich just run the world now. Crypto Currency is actually being used (even if that makes the least amount of sense in the whole thing) and we have cybernetics. It’s everything that science fiction authors have been trying to warn us about for decades.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t read too much about the setting, as it’s kind of mishmash of cyberpunk settings, with a dash of current trends (gig economy, crypto currency, social media, etc). I’m not saying it’s bad, not at all, it’s just that I have my own idea for the setting and I’ll get into that if/when I get around to playing some games.
The system:
The system for Reality’s Edge is very similar to the one from This is Not a Test, with a few changes and adaptation for the gritty cyberpunk setting. For the most part, models roll a d10, add a stat, and beat the TN (Target Number, usually 10). There’s stats for shooting, fighting, hacking, your firewall so you don’t get hacked, and even some digital hit points, which is really about your connection.
When you make your group, you’ll start with making a Showrunner, who is a promoted version of the various model types (I’ll get to them shortly), who also gets a background and a few other things. Then, you’re supposed to make your Backer, but I’m going to skip them for now. Instead, let’s talk about the rest of model types.
When making a crew or team, you can recruit up to five other models from a pretty good list of classic cyberpunk archetypes. We’ve got hackers (who are called Console Cowboys, in a nice nod to classic cyberpunk), Sprawl Ronin (which is a very interesting flip on the classic Street Samurai title), gang members, enforcers, social media influencers, ninja types, and drone handlers (which I find to be a very interesting inclusion), just to name a few. You might think that this low number of types might lead to a feeling of sameness in crews, but each time you pick one, you get to pick what sort of variation they get in stats, as well as pick a random table to roll on for their starting skills. These members of your crew start out as freelancers, who you can later recruit into permanent member of the crew, who then gain experience.
The last part of your crew is going to be the avatar of the mysterious backer of your Showrunner and your crew. This avatar is going to be a hologram or only exist in cyberspace, as that’s something else that’s also on the game board, too. Anyway. If you’re just playing one off games, your backer isn’t really a big deal. When you start a campaign, you get to pick (or randomly roll) what kind of backer you have and give them a special ability. Backers vary from media corporations, military/government sponsors, organized crime, corporations, and unshackled AI, which is my personal favorite. Each sponsor gives you a pair of advantages and gives their avatar a special skill.
The last part of building a crew is buying gear, which is going to add up quickly. You have melee weapons, pistols, long guns, support weapons (except not rocket launchers for some reason), cybernetics (with a cyber-psychosis mechanic to keep things interesting), and Apps for the hackers, that act a lot like spells. Now, most things cost 5, 10, 15 points, but it’ll add up quick. Plus, there’s only one healing item, but only one combat medic character type, so things are going to get deadly fast.
Once you get around to the missions, or JOBOPS as the game calls them, where you get to do your hacking and killing. Most jobs are about what you might expect in a dystopian cyberpunk future: kidnapping people who want to change employers (or because another employer wants them), protecting a location, or stealing data. My favorite one is protecting a Ramen cart as your crews transport it through the ghetto. There’s a fair amount of jobs, each with their own complications, as well as a master complication table. I feel like this can add in some repeatability, but it would be nice to get some expansions with extra jobs. Maybe that was part of the plan and it just hasn’t come to pass yet. Anyway.
Once the jobs are done, you get to roll for rewards, and traces if you fumbled while hacking and stuff, as well as recruit your freelancers. That’s right, most of your team isn’t going to gain experience during games. It’s the gig economy, but with more bullets and less heath care. Which is saying something. I still don’t know how I feel about this mechanic, but I can see why it works like this, with the setting we were given. I just worry about how this comes down to a roll, with bonuses from bribes, as I tend to roll poorly.
The last part of this book is the “rogue’s gallery” of NPCs you might encounter in the game. This list varies from the corporate security you might expect, to the drunk salaryman and VR griefer you’re probably not expecting. As much as I like the types collected here, I’m slightly unhappy with the amount of corporate goons that could have been condensed and replaced with more interesting NPCs.
Is it worth it?:
Reality’s Edge is most expensive Osprey Wargame that I’ve run across at $45, so that makes it a much harder call to make. For me, I found a cheaper copy online, which made it easier to swallow, but it’s a hard sell if you’re not sure if you’re going to like it or not. So, I have to leave this in the “maybe” category as that price makes it harder to figure out.
