Creating a CyberPunk character in free form is easier than you think. Just follow the steps below and you'll be ready for 2020 before you know it!

1. Pick a role for your character.

2. Determine your stats.

But wait! I said no stats! Wrong...I said minimal stats. While it is perfectly fine to write a character without any statistical information whatsoever, using stats will help you write a believable character that works well in the CyberPunk Cafe environment. Because it's free form, however, you will generally not refer to your stats for every little move. They are more or less a guideline to remind you where your character's strengths and weaknesses lie.

Okay, so on to the stats. Player characters (PCs) have 65 points to spread between 9 stats. You can have anywhere between 2 and 10 points per stat, with the average of that stat being around 5 or 6...for example, 2 points in INT and you'll have trouble remembering your name, 5 and you'll be about as smart as the average person, 10 and you are a brainiac.

Intelligence (INT) is how good you are at thinking, observing, remembering, etc.

Reflexes (REF) is your dexterity and coordination.

Cool (CL) is how well you handle sticky situations and how together you appear to others.

Technical Ability (TECH) is how you relate to technical things.

Luck (LK) is that little something extra that makes things go your way.

Attractiveness (ATT) is how good you look.

Movement Allowance (MA) is how fast you can move.

Run: MA x 3 = the distance you can run in 10 seconds in meters.

Leap: Run / 4 = distance you can leap from a running start in meters.

Empathy (EMP) is how well you relate to other living beings.

Humanity: EMP x 10 = your ability to continue to relate to other living things when you have cybernetics added. Your humanity is used to determine if you are in danger of cyberpsychosis. When choosing your ware keep track of how many Humanity Points you use up. Your EMP drops by one point for every ten points of Humanity lost. When your EMP reaches 3, you are in danger of becoming a C-Psych, where you relate better to machines than people. If your EMP drops to 0, you are gone, no longer a human, and you're likely to start killing people and being rather nasty in general. At this point, the nice boys from C-SWAT come in and kill you. If your EMP is getting dangerously low, you can go in for treatment (counseling and braindance) which involves having all non-life-sustaining cyberware switched off until you are brought back to a more normal state. You gain 2 Humanity Points/week of therapy until you return to your total EMP.

Body Type (BT) is your strength, endurance, and constitution.

Carry: BT x 10 kg

Lift: BT x 40 kg

3. Create your background. How does your character look and dress? What is their ethnic background? What was their childhood like? What is their personality? What major events have happened in their life that make them what they are?

4. Now set your skills. These skills will be on top of the special ability and career skills that go with your chosen role. Skills are rated on a scale of 1-10, 1 being minimal and 10 being an expert in that field. Note for you purists: yes, the skill table has been modified to make it more adaptable to free form role play, where skills are used more as a guideline for writing the character than as a statistical base for game play. After all, some of the skills will be based on the players ability to write his or her character well (if you want to convincingly use Persuasion/Fast Talk, you have to be able to actually *do* it). Special ability and career skills that are specific to particular roles will be covered in the role description. You may either rate your character's skills for more free form style, or you may follow the statistical skills generation format described on the Skills page.

Grooming and Style	Education/General Knowledge	Handgun	*^Basic Tech
Endurance	*Teach	Rifle	*^Aero Tech
Feats of Strength	*Computer Science	Heavy Weapon	*^AV Tech
Intimidation	*Business	Submachinegun	*^CyberTech
Interrogation	*Science (specify)	Archery	*^Weaponsmith
Resist Torture/Drugs	*Mathematics	Athletics	*^Electronics
Streetwise	*History	Brawling	First Aid
Awareness/Notice	*Language (specify)	Martial Arts (specify style)	Drive
Shadow/Track	*Medical Science	Melee	Motorcycle
Dodge/Escape	*Performing Arts (specify)	Wilderness Survival	Pilot (specify)
Hide/Evade	*Physical Education	Pick Lock	Heavy Machine
Stealth	*Fine Arts	Pick Pocket	*Military

Click here for an explanation of skills and a complete list of career skills you can choose from.

5. Choose your gear. You will get a basic gear pack and a career pack appropriate to your role. In addition you may buy or upgrade gear up to 1000 eb from your initial cred account.

6. Choose your cyberware. Keep in mind your EMP and humanity...too much ware and you could go into cyberpsychosis, unable to relate to other people and a pick-up for the Psycho Squad. You may spend up to 2000 eb from yout initial cred account on cyberware.

Okay, you're ready to roll...get into the CyberPunk Cafe and chill, choomba!

Cyberpunk:2020 is a Registered Trademark of R.Talsorian Corporation. Original Cyberpunk:2020 material Copyright 1994, 1995, 1996 by R.Talsorian Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Used without permission. Any use of R.Talsorian Corporation's material or trademarks in this Web Page should not be viewed as a challenge to those copyrights or trademarks.

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