Nach langem Suchen, habe ich auch das
Transscript Log des Interviews gefunden. Das wurde in einem Chat geführt, also nicht wundern:
[20:28]
<+NeomancerTeam> that was not prepared at all^^
[20:29] <~Dan> Thanks, guys! The floor is open to questions!
[20:29] <~Dan> What do you think makes Neomancer stand out from other cyberpunk RPGs?
[20:31]
<+NeomancerTeam> Neomancer is a refined approach to Cyberpunk. We have updatet the assumptions about our future without losing the retro chic completely.
[20:31] <~Dan> Can you give some examples of that?
[20:34]
<+NeomancerTeam> For example we do not emphasize on VR, in Neomancer, Augmented Reality and artificial lifeforms are more important and a vital part of the world. We try not to cross the line to science fiction though.
[20:35]
<+NeomancerTeam> The gritty cyberpunk feeling is still there but we we implemented some modern aspects of our world.
[20:36]
<+NeomancerTeam> Cyberpunk, in a way, has been overtaken by reality and we try to adapt
[20:36]
<+NeomancerTeam> done
[20:36] <~Dan> Interesting… So there’s no VR matrix?
[20:38]
<+NeomancerTeam> VR is a purely recreational system. This has 2 reasons. In the world, it just does not make sense to “hack” virtually. No serious hacker would use a GUI, not in the 80s, not today and surely not in 100 years. They just love their code
[20:38] <+Lee> Many of the classic influences on the genre feature primarily “lone wolf” hackers or small collectives, but in the years since we’ve seen the rise of “hacktivist groups” like Anonymous. Is that reflected in the setting?
[20:39]
<+NeomancerTeam> Mechanics-wise, a VR matrix always feels like a virtual dungeon crawl. Our approach is more like in modern video games, take watchdogs for example. We have layers of reality which have to be discovered
[20:41]
<+NeomancerTeam> @Lee the Operator group could consist of a group hackers and there are plans for activists like f.society for example. But not every hacker is part of a group. It depends on the characters motivation
[20:42]
<+NeomancerTeam> @ Dan done
[20:42] <~Dan> How prevalent are cybernetics in the game?
[20:44]
<+NeomancerTeam> cyberware is a very vital part of our game and setting. Cyberware is relatively new and not always reliable. Depending on the money you spend. Also, we will implement a mechanic called “alienation” which will cover the difficulties of replacing body parts
[20:45] <~Dan> How does alienation work?
[20:45]
<+NeomancerTeam> normal citizens use cyberware mostly for medical or aesthetic reasons. The Operators/players use it mainly to do their…thing^^
[20:47]
<+NeomancerTeam> We are working on that right now. But in short, the more cyberware you use, the more alien your body feels to you. This can be triggered in- and outgame. Thats a classic cyberpunk mechanic which just feels right for our setting
[20:48]
<+NeomancerTeam> done
[20:48] <~Dan> How advanced is technology in general? Is it mostly comparable to classic cyberpunk?
[20:49] <~Dan> I’m guessing you don’t have laser weapons, for example.
[20:50]
<+NeomancerTeam> It is a little bit more advanced than classic cyberpunk. There won’t be cables for example for basic hacking. You wont necessarily have a hole in your head to plug a cable in.
[20:50] <+Lee> Does the setting reflect other current technologies like 3D printing and the introduction of smartphones, iPads, etc.? For instance, can a 3D printed prosthetic be used instead of cyberware?
[20:51]
<+NeomancerTeam> Now, laser weapons are science fiction and honestly they are too clean for cyberpunk (and i personally prefer projectile weapons for style)
[20:52] * ~Dan nods
[20:52] <+Lee> Rail-guns?
[20:52]
<+NeomancerTeam> Current technologies are available but the quality heavily depends on your skills and money. So, a self printed cyberarm wont be as effective, if it works at all.
[20:53] <+Lee> Got it – thanks
[20:53]
<+NeomancerTeam> and to Rail-guns. While they are cool and maybe fitting. But the Operators are not military guys. We do not emphasize on weapons. In our Quick Start Guide, for example, is only one weapon listed. A pistol.
[20:54] <~Dan> Really? Wow…
[20:54]
<+NeomancerTeam> sounds dissapointed^^
[20:55]
<+NeomancerTeam> there will be more weapons in the core rules, of course.
[20:55] <~Dan> Well, surprised, certainly. No street samurais?
[20:55] <+Lee> Beyond the Quick Start, how focused on hardware are you?
[20:55]
<+NeomancerTeam> But the concept of 100 weapons, which basically do the same and divide into pistols, guns, shotguns, etc… is not appealing to us
[20:56]
<+NeomancerTeam> @Lee could you specify hardware?
[20:56] <+Lee> Overall gear available to Operators – beyond the basics, not just weapons.
[20:57]
<+NeomancerTeam> @Dan well, there will be characters focusing on combat. They can have a mohawk if they reayll want and katana. But its not neccesary
[20:57]
<+NeomancerTeam> @ We wont have huge gear lists. The Operators can individualize per cyberware, skills and talents.
[20:58] <~Dan> So the game isn’t very combat-focused in general?
[20:58]
<+NeomancerTeam> we promised crunch in our video, and there you will get it. However, it is not Exalted
[21:00]
<+NeomancerTeam> We have very elaborate combat rules and groups can focus on combat if they want to. However, choosing the right tactic at the right moment is more important than the size and price of your gun
[21:01]
<+NeomancerTeam> Our sample Operation in the Quick Start Guide does not have many combats. But if you want to, you can trigger a combat every step on the way. Remember, the Operators normally want to stay quiet, because the system has backup and combat is not always the smartest choise.
[21:01]
<+NeomancerTeam> choice
[21:02] <~Dan> Can you say a bit about the setting’s status quo? What year is it, for example?
[21:03] <~Dan> (Howdy, DayTripper!)
[21:03]
<+NeomancerTeam> Its 2084, the cities have merged into megacities (as usual) and while there is still a government, the corporations have a lot of power
[21:03]
<+NeomancerTeam> Hi
[21:04] <+DayTripper> evenin Dan, hey evvybuddy. Talk to me about Neomancer!
[21:04] <~Dan> 🙂
[21:04]
<+NeomancerTeam> its great
[21:04]
<+NeomancerTeam> 😉
[21:04] <+DayTripper> 🙂
[21:05] <~Dan> Are the usual assumptions in place about who the PCs are and what they do? Scoundrels for hire, etc., etc.?
[21:05] <+DayTripper> I know I’m late, tell me something really cool about it that you havent said yet
[21:06]
<+NeomancerTeam> @DayTripper There are androids to have sex with^^
[21:06]
<+NeomancerTeam> @Dan The Operators live “off the grid”. Classical
[21:07] <+Lee> What happens after the operation? When the corporations are looking to find the Operators and make them abruptly stop living? The Kickstarter videos show the basic structure of the operation – what about the “downtime?”
[21:08]
<+NeomancerTeam> The time between operations is very important. Here the Operators improve their skills/bodies, spend time with contacts (live their normal life), deal with consequences of the meta plot
[21:09] <~Dan> The game has a metaplot?
[21:09]
<+NeomancerTeam> not the game, but your campaign
[21:10]
<+NeomancerTeam> you should not just grind operation after operation. Some of them are relevant to the plot, you make enemies, friends,decisions etc
[21:10] <~Dan> Ah, I see.
[21:10]
<+NeomancerTeam> You could just grind Operations, if you wanted to. With your mohawk and katana^^
[21:11] * ~Dan chuckles
[21:11] <+DayTripper> nice
[21:11]
<+NeomancerTeam> But a campaign with a good metaplot resolving about interesting characters is more fun
[21:11]
<+NeomancerTeam> and rewarding
[21:11] <+DayTripper> both the campaign downtime and the android sex. 🙂
[21:11]
<+NeomancerTeam> you could combine that
[21:11] <+DayTripper> hajha
[21:12]
<+NeomancerTeam> sex is good way to get in touch with your body and fight alienation^^
[21:12]
<+NeomancerTeam> its 4.15am here, sorry. Dont judge us
[21:12] <+DayTripper> so hey – is this classic “wired” cpunk, or wireless?
[21:12]
<+NeomancerTeam> Augmented Reality, hence wireless
[21:13] <+DayTripper> v cool
[21:13]
<+NeomancerTeam> but you need to be there to “field hack”
[21:13]
<+NeomancerTeam> secret data is not accessible from your home.
[21:14] <+DayTripper> ahh so like, local networks, you have to get near them?
[21:14]
<+NeomancerTeam> yep, thats a good analogy
[21:14] <+DayTripper> awesome
[21:15] <~Dan> Speaking of hackers, are there any particular character types/classes that comprise a viable group?
[21:15]
<+NeomancerTeam> there are no classes
[21:15]
<+NeomancerTeam> ***silence****
[21:15] <~Dan> Well, I use the term “class” loosely in this case.
[21:15]
<+NeomancerTeam> ah, okay
[21:16] <~Dan> Archetypes, if you prefer.
[21:16]
<+NeomancerTeam> you dont need certain operators. But the choice of your skills defines your campaign
[21:16] <+Lee> Is that mechanically enforced in the rules somehow?
[21:16]
<+NeomancerTeam> The GM should be aware of that. A combat group should not do a hacking focused campaign, obviously
[21:17]
<+NeomancerTeam> no, but the Operators can choose freely between several options if it is not a meta-operation
[21:17] <+Lee> Okay
[21:17]
<+NeomancerTeam> only the meta-operations are really important for the main plot
[21:19] <~Dan> Do you have a character sheet posted that we can see?
[21:19]
<+NeomancerTeam> give me a second
[21:21] <+DayTripper> good question Dan. You can tell a lot from a character sheet.
[21:21] <+DayTripper> welll, sometimes 🙂
[21:22]
<+NeomancerTeam> (Link:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7nvr7fNyCV-ai1uaUtreUZnWTQ)https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7nvr7fNyCV-ai1uaUtreUZnWTQ[21:22]
<+NeomancerTeam> here you go
[21:23] <~Dan> DayTripper: Not my first rodeo. 😉
[21:23] <+DayTripper> intense.
[21:23] <~Dan> Okay, so let’s see here…
[21:24] <~Dan> Looks like we’ve got an attribute+skill system of some description?
[21:24]
<+NeomancerTeam> basically yes
[21:24]
<+NeomancerTeam> but you only make skill check
[21:24]
<+NeomancerTeam> s
[21:25] <~Dan> What’s the relationship between attributes and skills?
[21:25]
<+NeomancerTeam> you add the first dot of every skill in column, thats your attribute
[21:27]
<+NeomancerTeam> this is you base pool for every check in that column. If you have a dot after the line, you may add this in form of dice. If you are totally unskilled, the difficulty goes up (red numbers here)
[21:28] <~Dan> So your attribute in a given column depends upon how many skills you have?
[21:28]
<+NeomancerTeam> yep
[21:28] <+Lee> I was curious how is an unskilled attempt resolved? How many dice would you roll? From the videos it was somewhat unclear.
[21:28] <~Dan> Actually, before answering Lee’s question, can you describe the core mechanic?
[21:29]
<+NeomancerTeam> The core mechanic is based on operator dice (OD) vs System dice (SD)
[21:29]
<+NeomancerTeam> D6
[21:30]
<+NeomancerTeam> You OD are determined by your skill value and the system SD by the difficulty (most of the time 2). So when Alaya makes a stealth check, she rolls 2OD and 2SD.
[21:31]
<+NeomancerTeam> you get a success on 4+ on every dice. When there are more successes on OD than SD, the check was succesful
[21:31]
<+NeomancerTeam> we recommend using 2 different colors for the dice
[21:31] <~Dan> Why does Alaya get to roll 2OD when she only has one dot in Stealth?
[21:32] <+DayTripper> stealth plus intimidate = 2 for BODY?
[21:32]
<+NeomancerTeam> Her attribute is 2. And therefore she has 2 OD for stealth. The first dot indicates basic training.
[21:32]
<+NeomancerTeam> @daytripper yes
[21:33] <~Dan> Okay, so… You add up the number of skills in a column to get the attribute score…
[21:33] <+DayTripper> question/possible errata: shouldnt manipulate and tactics be 4’s?
[21:33] <~Dan> The attribute score is the basic score for all the skills…
[21:33]
<+NeomancerTeam> no, you only add the first dot
[21:33]
<+NeomancerTeam> before the line
[21:34] <~Dan> …and extra dots beyond the first add more dice to the attribute score?
[21:34]
<+NeomancerTeam> no, only to the relevant skill
[21:34] <~Dan> That’s what I meant, sorry.
[21:34]
<+NeomancerTeam> okay, than you re right
[21:35] <~Dan> So Alaya has an effective score of 4OD in Tactics?
[21:35] <~Dan> 3 from Social plus an extra die?
[21:35]
<+NeomancerTeam> yes, this is a mistake
[21:35]
<+NeomancerTeam> the 3 should be 4
[21:35] <+DayTripper> ok same for manipulate
[21:35]
<+NeomancerTeam> yep
[21:36]
<+NeomancerTeam> shame!
[21:36]
<+NeomancerTeam> thanks for finding that out
[21:36]
<+NeomancerTeam> a glitch in the matrix
[21:36] <+DayTripper> hey we caught it. BUGHUNT
[21:36] <+DayTripper> now we can kill it
[21:36]
<+NeomancerTeam> ^^
[21:36] <+DayTripper> 🙂
[21:36] <~Dan> I notice that combat abilities are listed under the skills.
[21:37]
<+NeomancerTeam> what do you mean? Close and Range?
[21:37] <~Dan> Oh, I didn’t realize what those are.
[21:38] <~Dan> So combat is pretty generalized, I take it.
[21:38]
<+NeomancerTeam> yes, the diversity comes with the talents
[21:38]
<+NeomancerTeam> alaya is not much of fighter
[21:40] <~Dan> What are the talents like?
[21:40]
<+NeomancerTeam> i give you another example
[21:41]
<+NeomancerTeam> some talents are combat oriented and others are narrative
[21:41]
<+NeomancerTeam> it will take a lot of work to balance the talents out
[21:43] <+DayTripper> what do you mean by that, NT?
[21:44]
<+NeomancerTeam> we try to not make the talents too powerful or too weak in combat and narrative. And there will also be a progression. Not necessarily talent trees but some kind of unlocking system
[21:44]
<+NeomancerTeam> but your katana wielding mohawk warrior could choose hacking skills, no problem.
[21:44] <+Crazy-Cabal> How pink is his mohawk?
[21:45] <+DayTripper> ah
[21:45]
<+NeomancerTeam> which would make him a data-stream-samurai (copyright pending)
[21:45]
<+NeomancerTeam> @crazy you can pledge with 75$ and decide it for us^^
[21:46] <~Dan> How does combat work in this system?
[21:46]
<+NeomancerTeam> you see everything you need on the character sheet.
[21:47]
<+NeomancerTeam> Basically, you choose one of the 12 boxes in secret with a die (which also determines your initiative). So, the GM does not know what the players are up to and the vice versa
[21:48]
<+NeomancerTeam> your actions determine your stance (top row) and the difficulty to hit you
[21:52]
<+NeomancerTeam> it is round based and every character acts when it is its turn
[21:53]
<+NeomancerTeam> You cannot spend infinite amounts of initiative, though. Operators have 10 in our sample scenario so you should choose carefully how much you spend and when
[21:53]
<+NeomancerTeam> my spelling gets worse, it’s late^^
[21:55] <~Dan> 🙂
[21:56]
<+NeomancerTeam> done?^^
[21:57] <~Dan> How do you see the game line progressing?
[21:58]
<+NeomancerTeam> it depends on the success of the core book. If there is enough interest we would be happy to expand our wolrd
[21:58] <~Dan> What would be the first region to get that work?
[21:59]
<+NeomancerTeam> we actually have a campaign book in mind already
[22:01] <+DayTripper> i love cyberpunk but it’s good to see it get a technology upgrade 🙂
[22:01] <+Lee> Any chance of a print edition? I noticed all of the KS reward levels are PDF…
[22:02]
<+NeomancerTeam> Glad you asked. We are considering a print edition and are in contact with publishers. It is almost certain that there will a a print and we are discussing the details right now
[22:03] <+Lee> Excellent news!
[22:04]
<+NeomancerTeam> we were surprised about the demand for a print and didnt include it at first
[22:10] <+Geek2theRight> mIRC just updated!
[22:10] <+MonkofLords> !
[22:10]
<+NeomancerTeam> ?
[22:11] <+Lee> :s
[22:11]
<+NeomancerTeam> dan is gone?
[22:11] <+MonkofLords> ((He should be around still)
[22:13] <+Geek2theRight> I can’t tell any difference whatsoever, just like the last bazillion updates, but it updated! So did Steam!
[22:13] <+Lee> I appreciate you guys staying up into the wee hours of the morning to tell us about Neomancer; I’m now officially highly intrigued!
[22:14]
<+NeomancerTeam> I’m happy to here that.
[22:14]
<+NeomancerTeam> We are no big company, just 4 dudes who love cyberpunk
[22:15]
<+NeomancerTeam> and its really nice that some people like our work so far
[22:15] <+Geek2theRight> ((Sorry!))
[22:17] <~Dan> (Sorry! Got distracted by IRL.)
[22:17]
<+NeomancerTeam> np
[22:18] <~Dan> So in the time remaining, is there anything we havent’ covered that you’d like to bring up?
[22:19]
<+NeomancerTeam> no, just thank you for the invitation and I hope we could shed some light on our project
[22:19] <~Dan> You did indeed!
[22:20] <~Dan> If you can manage to hang on just a few minutes longer, I’ll get the log posted and link you. 🙂
[22:20]
<+NeomancerTeam> since its 5.20am and my team members are packing right now I just hope I could interest some of you for Neomancer. And maybe the Quick Start Rules will bring some of you a good time
[22:20]
<+NeomancerTeam> ah,
[22:20]
<+NeomancerTeam> that would be cool
[22:21]
<+NeomancerTeam> thanks to Lee, Daytripper and the others
