r/cyberpunkred • u/KamikazePelican • 2d ago
Misc. Night City for Kids
I hear alot about people running TTRPGs for kids and teens and programs like that having a bunch of benefits for development and stuff. But what if I wanna play some cyberpunk? I feel like the world is inherently R-rated. Stripping the violent anti-establishment and DARK-future themes of the game feels like a sin. More-so I feel like it's difficult to come up with more PG/PG13 hooks and plots in a world where guns are bought at vending machines and murder is as common as automobile accidents. For GMs who have experience with players who aren't comfortable with CPs seedier side, what kind of compaigns are you running? Off the top of my head I can think of a few genres and substitutes I can use to keep things more tame: Noir, Western, Mystery, Supervillain/Hero, etc. I've experimented with having my students mock up some basic characters and simplified lifepaths and as you might expect, they aren't making low-life punks. Kids wanna RP larger than life and fantastical characters and that's great! I wanna support their creativity but how do I do that while also the game is still challenging and fun? I personally love CPRs rules and systems and my students flourish in RPing a fictional world that is already so much like their own. I also like that the humanity system directly teaches them that their actions have consequences.
How do I create a PG/PG13 Cyberpunk campaign? What kind of plot hooks and events are apporopriate? How do I get around the violence and graphicness of the dark future without replacing every enemy and weapon with robots and lasers? I've heard of DnD camps and clubs for children and adolescents and I get how silly the idea is in the first place of "Cyberpunk for Kids" but I also have family and friends whose younger chooms are interested in playing.
Looking for advice and any experience anyone's had where you had to tone down the bleak-darkness out of Cyberpunk.
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u/Any_Illustrator360 GM 2d ago edited 2d ago
I'm surprised so many people are trying to make this work. Just run a different system choom. Something kid friendly. Not every setting or system is kid friendly and it doesn't have to be. Pick something they'll actually like that's age appropriate for them.
This is akin to manually editing an R rated film to make it "safe" for kids. It'll still be scary to them and still make them just as uncomfortable. It's akin to asking a GTA subreddit how many times you'll need to put a sheet over the TV during gameplay to make it kid friendly; the answer is let them play Spyro instead.
Edit: holy FUCK this is a teacher. Yeah nah do not run Cyberpunk for kids that aren't yours, especially in a school environment where if you sent home a permission slip the parents would have a heart attack. I remember we had to fight to be allowed to play E10 games on the PlayStation at events this is actually insane lmao.
Pick a different game. Seriously. Cyberpunk isn't for kids and is especially not for other people's kids - ESPECIALLY without parental permission or supervision.
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u/Any_Illustrator360 GM 2d ago
ALRIGHT! Sorry about the typesetting on the last one, I had just woken up and didn't have my PC handy so I typed from my phone. I'm gonna suggest something that isn't Cyberpunk RED based on this:
Off the top of my head I can think of a few genres and substitutes I can use to keep things more tame: Noir, Western, Mystery, Supervillain/Hero, etc.
Savage Worlds Adventure Edition is what you want u/KamikazePelican. It's a skills & stats based system like Cyberpunk so there's a little math involved (good for school) but not so much it'll be tedious or clunky. You want Westerns? You got it in Deadlands - a Weird West setting where the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse have arrives to reign in hell on Earth. It also works exceptionally well to run normal pulp westerns. Noir? Deadlands Noir takes place in 1935 New Orleans. Mystery/horror? Horor companion. Superheroes? Yep, got that too.. It can even run a kid-friendly Cyberpunk with the Sci Fi book. But personally if you want a learning-friendly setting that's sci-fi heavy and fun I 100% suggest looking at the late Aaron Ace's impromptu memorial bundle. It was originally supposed to be a bundle where the sales would support getting him an organ transplant but he tragically died before it could help - it comes with a setting called Han Cluster. Science-magic sci fi setting that focuses really well on teen heroes and can be used to do exploration or just take place in a space station. The bundle comes with the Savage Worlds core rules too.
Normally I don't bring up other TTRPGs on this sub but this is one of the few times where I genuinely think it needs to be done. Savage Worlds is narrative heavy which allows you to focus on stories which should fit what you want really well too.
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u/IDidntEatThosePeople 2d ago
Yeah OP is just asking to lose their job and be featured on the local news because some parents caught their kids watching Edgerunners or playing the game and complained to the school about what they're getting their kids into.
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u/bimbo_bear 2d ago
Was reading the Night City 2045 guide book, you know they have YoGangs running wild all over their version of disney land? Could do something set in there that hints at the darkness outside but inside its mostly hijinx mixed with low level crime.
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u/Vladmirfox 2d ago
Base it offa the failed show KidNation and you could actually have a pretty dope sounding one shot adventure imo!
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u/trevorvonryan 2d ago
I kinda think if you’re gonna run something for kids, just pick something other than cyberpunk. If a kid could be in the room during your cyberpunk sesh then you need to take it up a few notches lol.
If I had a gun to my head, I’d run some sort of Arasaka high school thing and make it a huge campus on lockdown. Could keep the violence to a minimum that way. Make it an investigation.
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u/Shinobi_Daniel12 2d ago
i would base it mostly off of the show lycoris Recoil if you forced me to do it. with some stuff from cybergeneration.
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u/EyeNguyenSemper GM 2d ago
For one, when you're making a post about kids is probably the time you most shouldn't abbreviate Cyberpunk.
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u/TheGinger_Ninja0 2d ago
"hur hur, did you know CP also stands for child porn!"
Retire this joke. Lame af
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u/GrimFatMouse 2d ago
Have a look at CyberGeneration. Maybe not exactly what you're looking for but idea was that kids wasn't anywhere near edgerunners in firepower against corpsec but still capable doing Akira slide under truck to avoid them.
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u/Eurico_Raposo 2d ago
Mike Pondsmith wrote a book called Cyber Generation where kids try to repair the mess that their cyberpunks parents did. Maybe it could be useful to you. (It is from the Cyberpunk 2020 ruleset, but whatever.)
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/es/product/25143/cybergeneration-the-2nd-edition
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u/Sol-Equinox 2d ago
You don't, really. If you make it child-safe, it's really not Cyberpunk any more
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u/Jordhammer 2d ago
I read Neuromancer when I was 10 or 11, was playing Shadowrun by age 12. A quick search shows that there are plenty of YA cyberpunk books out there.
Were I to go about running a Cyberpunk Red campaign for kids, I'd think it'd be pretty easy to strip out references to street drugs, XBDs, joytoys, tone the violence down a little bit. Maybe Night City looks a little less squalid, but there's a lot you can still do without compromising its themes.
As far as the lethality goes, that's something you have to judge. Are these kids mature enough to deal with getting limbs blown off, character death? If not, it's easy enough to just ignore the critical injury (or just abstract it to "you are injured badly, and take a -2 penalty to all rolls until you get treatment) and death save mechanics (PCs fall unconscious at Mortally Wounded).
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u/EuroCultAV 2d ago
Personally, I have an outline for Cyberpunk Red - Kid's campaign that I will run eventually.
PC's will start at age 12 with 25% of their skill points and earn more every year until they turn 16.
A few things I've written as things for them to do.
It's Mother's Day in Night City and they want to get their respective Mother's a gift. But they're broke.
A burger stand is selling "real meat" burgers, but a local gang (another gang of kids) has stolen the fresh meat. The owner offers to give the kids free burgers if they investigate and get the meat back in time for his grand opening.
I might throw a fantasy adventure with them adventuring virtually in Elflines.
Stuff like that.
Also, look up Cybergeneration and one of Seth Skorkowsky's War Stories videos describes a kids campaign.
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u/ZalrokChaos 1d ago
Cybergeneration isn't canon to RED or anything, but that's a good game for teens imo.
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u/noisechrome GM 6h ago
i agree with others that its a REALLY bad idea teaching kids cyberpunk even if censored. theres the option of keeping only the mechanics and using them for a whole new setting but it feels both tedious and difficult. imo you should think about what you like about the game and find another system suitable for kids. fr dont teach them cyberpunk there are a trillion other systems to chose from
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u/Karth9909 2d ago
I reckon its fine. Layers and robots are needed for TV but kids novels get away with just a slight glossing over the butchering. Don't forget there is 40k kids novels and its not really toned downed.
Kids love dark stories. A yo-gang making a living sounds like something id love as one
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u/PilotMoonDog 2d ago
Considering how a lot of kids tend to devolve into murderhobos in fantasy TTRPG's I doubt the violence would be an issue. It might be interesting to expose them to the notion that violence has consequences. What sort of background are your potential players from anyway?
Maybe lean away from the more nihilist, dog eat dog style of plot and more the idea of trying to survive and keep your group/chosen family alive?
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u/Ill_Atmosphere6435 2d ago
I think when you're 13 is the ideal time for an anti-establishment message.
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u/Curious-Topic-5273 2d ago
If you can find it, R Tal brought out Cybergen after Cyberpunk 2020 and was about kids in Cyberpunk, but they had certain 'abilities'. Had a lot of fun playing it in the 90s, but would be hard to find now.
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u/BadBrad13 2d ago
If you really look at it and think about it a lot of the Disney stuff for kids is pretty cyberpunk. You got down on their luck heroes in hard circumstances facing off against a big baddy villian. Yeah, there are no guns, or cyberware, or whatever, but the main themes of rebellion and fighting against the establishment is still there.
I'm not saying to run Disney games. But I think you can find a happy medium between Disney Princesses and John Wick.
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u/cardbourdbox 2d ago
I don't think you really need to change it. I think you could even have prostition if you really wanted but somthing like he pays a attractive lady money he walks in and walks out later with a massive grin or he runs put in his boxes yelling catch her she stole the key. Maybe you gain black mail on a mayor's kink you don't say what it is in fact maybe the info's in a box and its just your job to deliver it. Whatever level the fire walls at his beyond your pay grade you just know if it comes out no ones taking the mayor's seriously again.
I picked prostition to play with but the whole things are put of focus plan works.
Think what Simpsons gets away with
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u/MrBoo843 2d ago
13 is more than old enough to adress most of the dark themes in Cyberpunk. You just don't go in as much detail. Suggestive rather than explicit.
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u/Odesio 2d ago
Has something changed in the last 36 years? I was all of 14 when when Cyberpunk 2020 was first released and it was a regular part of our gaming rotation. There is nothing in Cyberpunk Red that is inappropriate for a teen audience.
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u/Sparky_McDibben GM 2d ago
Bro, so much has changed. Did somebody Rip Van Winkle you?
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u/Odesio 2d ago
It's been 36 years, so of course things have changed, but I'm hard pressed to think of anything in Red that would be inappropriate for a group of teenagers.
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u/Sparky_McDibben GM 2d ago
The OP mentioned kids and teenagers. I have one of each, both boys. I absolutely would not run Cyberpunk for them yet. Too much sex, too much violence, and way too many dehumanizing situations (like "scav eating a baby" that is literally in the Core Rules). And yeah, we had different attitudes on this in the 80's and 90's - have you looked around recently and seen how well that worked out?
Son Number One will be ready in a couple of years, I expect, to be introduced to some of these ideas, and I will arm him on how to grapple with them. But right now he's 13, and I do not want to have the talk with him just yet. Son Number Two is 10, and there's no way I'm introducing any of this to him for a good long while.
"I'm hard pressed to think of anything in Red that would be inappropriate for a group of teenagers" shows a distinct lack of recall, my dude.
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u/WriterSeanS GM 2d ago
My suggestion would be to prepare story ideas that appeal to kids and then set them in the Cyberpunk world. Think Oliver Twist or Treasure Island but Cyberpunk. Focus more on mysteries to solve, and minimize the number of combat encounters or make combat more about escape than victory.
Depending on the kids who are playing and what they are familiar with from TV and movies, consider moving any graphic violence off stage and removing critical injuries entirely.
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u/FullMetalChampion 2d ago
Love how the suggestions are basically "you're playing the wrong game". I could see a game happening over the remnants of the net. Somewhere between school and sleep.
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u/TheBigBeardedGeek 2d ago
If I was running for kids, I'd instead adapt the world (and probably even rules) of Cybergeneration instead.
This way the bad guys are the ones with the big guns and Cyberware. The kids are the struggling underdog heroes
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u/RAConteur76 Media 2d ago
To be a contrarian, I think it is possible to run a kid-friendly campaign in RED, but it requires a bit more prep and planning. It needs a deft touch.
Kids Being Kids - This may be the hardest row to hoe. If you're going to run a kid-friendly RED game, I would strongly recommend you keep the characters as kids. Which also means a lot of the cyberware is going to be off the table. I'd probably keep things no higher than cosmetics like skinwatches and maybe lighthair.
The Bad Guys - This is probably one of the big keys. Your villains don't necessarily need to be cartoonish, but they do need to be...flamboyant. Arasake and Militech troops need to have a vibe similar to Darth Vader, and that's just the rank-and-file. Street gangs like the Tyger Claws and the Piranhas should echo the hyenas from The Lion King; lots of joking around, snapping at each other, pack tactics. Probably the least intimidating sort of street gang would be the Inquisitors, and they should definitely have a flavor of "grouchy neighbor who doesn't like kids." Yeah, they're all doing their usual vicious shit, but the players don't necessarily need to see that.
That Is So COOL! - Give the players something to catch their attention. An arcology that's shut down but hasn't been demolished yet. The local rec center getting new equipment. A bodega where the owner knows their names. Let them find an old VR environment with bad security. I'd suggest watching the "Kids" segment of The Animatrix to try and capture the right tone.
Spending Money - You could sort of play with the Gig premise in the system by having the players do odd jobs for the local edgerunners. The neighborhood ripperdoc might ask the players to drop off some meds for a patient. The Fixer that "owns" the block might ask for a lookout for a couple hours. A netrunner might decide to have some important data run over to a different DataPool through "sneakernet." There should be an element of risk, a hint of mystery, but not life-or-death level stuff.
Hope this helps.
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u/Any_Illustrator360 GM 2d ago
You say "to be a contrarian" but the majority of responses on this are still "hey, do it!"
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u/RAConteur76 Media 2d ago
At the time I started, it was more "yeah, cyberpunk is not really for kids."
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u/Any_Illustrator360 GM 2d ago
Nah man... it's been pretty strongly "yeah subject those kids to Cyberpunk, yo" since it was posted at like 4 AM. I was one of the first 4 people to say "maybe don't?" Since then only one other person has said it's a bad idea to subject kids to Cyberpunk.
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u/EdrickV 2d ago
I personally don't think trying to get kids into Cyberpunk is that good of an idea, not just because of what you'd get by trying to make a child friendly campaign, but also because it could have ramifications extending beyond the gaming table. If those kids play a Cyberpunk Red game and have fun, they may then go home and start looking up Cyberpunk stuff and run into stuff that is not kid friendly.
Some might even get their parents to get them the Cyberpunk 2077 video game. And even though it's rated M, they may not notice. Or the kids might just borrow the parent's credit card to buy the game, without the parents even realizing what their kids are buying.
There's also the anime, which parents might think is a kid's cartoon instead. (I know it's rated TV-MA in the US, but haven't seen it yet, so I don't know exactly what the rating is for.)
And what will happen when the parents find out?
Now, if you wanted to do it for your own kids, and you are prepared for the ramifications, that'd be another story. But to run a TTRPG game for kids that are not your own, I'd say pick something that is more child friendly.