Cyberpunk Six Pack - Street Media Teams

 

At the street level there are all kinds of different groups of folks tapping into the media frenzy. Money can be made just about anyway. Those at the bottom are the most desperate for some bucks just so they can get by. So here are six street level media teams your Edgerunners may run into. 

Six street level media groups

1 – JamCamz. This a group of skaters, high speed bike riders and others who are hooked on fast personal transport devices. They all have cameras mounted on their helmets and make a habit of chasing cops and rushing to scenes where something is taking place. Most of their product is video footage, although a few have gotten quite talented at doing quick and dirty reporting quips while filming.

2 – Poser Squad. These people never show their real face. What they do is disguise themselves as various workers and slip into secure facilities with small concealable cameras. Exposing illegal activities going on behind closed doors in all sorts of businesses. The bigger the business, the better. Everything from illegal dumping of toxic chemicals to full blown sex trafficking rings have been exposed by these folks.

3 – All Glamour. Chasers of the rich and famous. They track down celebrities and catch them reveling in the all the wonderful perks of being rich and well known. Often they will compile footage of an individual star together as a ‘Glam Packs’ and sell it to network. Sometimes they even manage to bag an interview or a quick exchange or two with those they are following.

4 – REAL. This small group goes into the combat zones, the homeless centers, slums and everywhere else where society is falling apart or completely failing. Interviewing people, showcasing their hardships and pushing the idea that things are really, really, bad. Most networks won’t even touch their stories so they run a few streaming channels showcasing their work and advertise via bumper stickers, street tagging and other such low cost means.

5 – Eyes in the Sky. A group of netrunners and techies who specialize in drone operations. Using some highly modified drones equipped with some of the most cutting edge cameras they send these into areas where events are happening right now. Shootouts in the streets, high speed police chases, gang wars, anything that can be viewed from above. Then they sell the footage to the networks with a quickness before the story can even begin to cool off.

6 – Politics Suck. A group of folks who are tired of politics at almost every level. So they follow any elected official they can around and try to capture them engaging in illegal activities. Not to mention having a few people hack their Agents or home computer systems to dig up some dirt as well. Most security for politicians have full privileges to rough up those who are part of this group that get close.

Weekly Health 12/2/24

 

 Starting weight: 362

Weigh in this week: 355.5

Well fuck. Gained back two pounds. Thanksgiving sure didn't help. Neither did working extra hours this weekend and eating whatever I could when I could. Boss bought us pizza one day, next day I was offered fast food that I didn't have to pay for. So yeah. Sucks.

I'm up to about 6 to 7 hours on the CPAP now. Falling asleep a lot faster with the face hugger on me than I did before. So I'm getting used to that. Feeling much better in the mornings than I used, like actually somewhat rested.

Nothing else to report. No medication changes or appointments.

Roll a D10 - How are they getting rid of the bodies?

 

Sometimes the psycho's causing trouble in your horror games need a way to get rid of the bodies. Especially if they are starting to stack up some numbers. Here are ten non-supernatural ways that a killer or group of killers can get rid of their victims bodies. 

How are they getting rid of the bodies?

1 – Into an old ventilation shaft that leads down to long abandoned mines.

2 – Strapping them to cinder blocks and dropping them into an old water filled quarry.

3 – Sealing them in old concrete septic tanks in a section of the city where nobody lives anymore.

4 – Putting them through a wood chipper and spraying them into a local river.

5 – Crushing them inside of old cars in an a junkyard.

6 – Putting them in large suitcases and tossing them into garbage dumpster to be hauled to a landfill.

7 – Sealing them in 55 gallon metal barrels and storing them in a storage unit that’s been paid ahead for years.

8 – Dismembering the bodies and tossing them into the pens at a pig farm.

9 – Placing them in the grave that has been dug and prepared for a funeral. So the casket is dropped down over them.

10 – Tossing the dismembered pieces into a funeral home crematorium with the body of someone being cremated.

Roll a D10 - Cyberware Chop Shop Names

 

Not everything is new in a Cyberpunk world. Sometimes you have to get something that's been used before. Even when it's mechanical replacements for part of your body. Not to mention some of these places will be happy to take some 'salvaged' cyberware off your runners hands in exchange for cash or services rendered. So here are ten names for shady places like this. 

Cyberware Chopshop Names

1 – Parts is Parts

2 – RePsychoed Wares

3 – Second Hand Hands

4 – Scraped Up and Resold

5 – Freed From Meat

6 – Not Fresh But Refurbished

7 – Traumatic Team

8 – KMFDEAD

9 – Pre-Owned Chrome

10 – Parlor Reprocess

Roll a D10 - The Creatures Weakness

 

Something specific can hurt and possibly kill the creature. What is it?

 Weaknesses of the creature.

1 – Bleach, antiseptic and most harsh cleaning chemicals cause severe burns.

2 – High pitched whistling causes severe pain and is deafening to the creature.

3 – UV light sets the creatures skin on fire instantly and can reduce it to ashes withing a minute or two of intense agony.

4 – High pressure air, causes the creatures skin to blow off in large painful chunks.

5 – Radiation from a microwave, pushes the creature into fits of raging pain just being near one while it’s running.

6 – Good old fashioned fire, the biblical cleanser.

7 – Sunlight, how cliché.

8 – A book made of human flesh that it’s bound to. Destroy the book, destroy the creature.

9 – Knowing the creatures name, one you have that you can control it.

10 – Seeing it’s reflection in a highly polished large mirror will destroy it. Smaller mirrors will cause it pain.

Roll a D10 - More Affectations for Cyberpunk RED

 

During character creation in Cyberpunk RED you have a chart of Affectations you can roll on or choose from (page 47 in the corebook). Well here's another ten choices for you to add to that list. Some of these were suggested by my current game group. 

New Affectations list

1 – Fangs/Sharpened Teeth

2 – Overcoats/Long coats

3 – Lots of Jewelry

4 – Excessive amounts of makeup

5 – Face masks

6 – Elbow and Knee guards

7 – Eye glasses of various designs

8 – Cat Ear headbands

9 – Headphones

10 – Wristbands of different colors

Neon City (1991)

 

Neon City

You can watch this one for free over on Tubi or, if you really feel like it, you can pick up the Blu-Ray over on Amazon. 

This foray into post apocalypse film is an interesting treat. Mainly just because of some of the cast we have here. We have the always dependable Michael Ironside, then there is Vanity who has never been in what we would call a ‘good’ movie, Juliet Landau in a post Buffy appearance, oh Richard Sanders is here so nice to see Les Nessman working, then finally we have the walking wall himself Lyle Azlado. I mean how could you not watch this film with this line up. Okay, you could very easily not watch this film which is what so many others have done. But here I am, watching it.

Now one interesting thing is they don’t use your normal run of the mill nuclear apocalypse in this one. As the move goes on you find out we are in an environmental apocalypse. A real 80’s/90’s one which involved the ozone lair and air pollution. Something a bit different there. Taking place in “North America, Western Federation 2053 A.D.” so at least we don’t have the problem of the current year having caught up to this tale of the future.

The film opens with the usual credits and somebody riding a bike across the flattest land that I’ve seen in a while. Is this Kansas? Did they film this in Kansas? All with that wonderful background music that you just know you’ve heard someplace else and the red filter on the lens.

Soon we get to meet all the characters. Harry Stark (Ironside) a gruff ex-ranger who has dark past filled with loss. Reno (Vanity) a gruff convict on the run who has a dark past filled with loss. Dickie Devine (Nessman, I mean Sanders) a comedian/magician who has a dark secret about what he sells on the side. Bulk (Azlado) a big lovable bear of a man who has a dark past with Stark. Twink (Landau) a spoiled rich girl with a shiny happy past filled with zero loss. Plus several others. Most with dark pasts of some sort. Except Twink, she is dark free, which is really opposite of the role Landau is most known for.

Basic plot is basic. They are traveling across Damnation Alley… I mean across post apocalypse USA from one city that is trash to another less trashed city called ‘Neon City’ in a big ole’ fancied up camper truck. Mostly driving across what looks like Kansas during the winter, until there are suddenly hills out of nowhere for them to do things near. Many times I’m wondering if they used the pile of trash sets left over from the background of Spacehunter. But Max… I mean Stark continues on leading his band of intrepid travelers onward.

We get a good dose of how terrible things are when you can get ‘bye bye bags’ which are just jars of poison so you can kill yourself to escape the terrible things that have happened to you. Killer environment effects called ‘brights’ that can pop up out of nowhere during the day and cook you. A gang of scumbags that kills everyone else. But the roads seem to be in decent shape under the snow as this fancied up Winnebago plows along. Going from location to location to either kill things or have an awkward sex scene right in the middle of whatever the hell is going on.

The dialogue in some spots is a bit cringe and just dumb. Early on they use a lot of drunk cam for action scenes so you can’t see what the hell is going on. Acting is decent enough but nothing to write home about. Ironsides, as usual, does more acting with his facial expressions and forehead than anything else. But all in all this does rate slightly above most 90’s scifi post apocalypse fare.

All in all it was a fun to watch bad movie. Nothing great to write your parents about. I just wish Les would have survived, but I guess a bullet was more deadly than the WKRP Turkey Drop. Do I recommend it? Well yes, but don’t pay to watch it and don’t make time in a busy schedule to watch it either. But if you’re bored and got some time to kill then this makes a great filler.

"Don't forget to get my most important acting asset into the shot, my forehead."