Night's Edge Alternate Reality Universe - Why?

Originally Posted By: Justin Schmid Sometime in 1991, I read Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. Yeah, it's the same old story. I fell in love with the story, and thought it would make incredible role- playing material. Similar stories account for almost all of the other vampire- related games and game-material. And, I knew when I started writing it that dozens of other people would get the same idea. Nevertheless, I continued because of one basic idea. None of the representations of vampires were satisfactory. While many people got the idea that vampires were these wild, night- life party animals or that they vamps were always trying to restore their humanity, I picked up something very different from the novels. I saw their existing humanity, saw them as real people, with every virtue and failing that you and I have. They loved, they wanted to be loved, they hated. This was finally the intuitively right version of vampires I had always wanted to see. And, that would be at the center of my vampires. The concept grew as I wrote and rewrote it, encompassing psychic powers and other new game rules. It was inevitable, I was taking vampires in directions never traveled before in the gaming universe. Instead of mystical creatures who are either heartless villains or pathetic wretches, mine would be real people, struck by a disease not entirely implausible in nature. It would turn out that placing them in the CyberPunk realm was a blessing, as it forced me to rationalize the majority of the myths and make them as realistic as possible. A lot of people would say that vampires and psychic powers aren't very realistic, but then neither are cybernetics. What's the difference? Having spent the majority of my life researching parapsychology and other unexplained phenomena, personally I consider these things a lot more plausible than cybernetics. Who could imagine chopping off their leg just so they can put a gun in a mechanical one that requires constant maintenance, will break down eventually and screws up their brain? But, everyone has heard of people talking to dead relatives, seeing UFOs and most people have had dejá-vu. Even if you don't believe in those things, they still happen every day. With the Night's Edge universe, I took this idea and said, "what if some of these things were real?". Not all of them mind you, that would have reduced it to a parody of the genre. Instead, just take those concepts that are most plausible and make them real. Psychic powers become a reality, if a rare one, and vampires exist alongside humanity. All of the concepts that could be considered "supernatural" in the alternate reality universe have followed that philosophy. I took an idea and said to myself, "if this existed today, in this world, what would it be like?". This is why vampires are so rare, and not the plentiful, flashy wastrels of other games. In the real world, we don't hear about people dying by loss of blood a lot, nor about stars who pretend to be vampires. Therefore, in the Night's Edge universe, there should not be any of that, within reason (given that it is in a different culture and society). The same went for the psychic power system, the vampire hunters and were-wolves. All were based on my research in those fields. While I personally do not believe that they exist in the real world, I feel that knowing what is believed about them helps create a more plausible game universe. Also, I was able to finally correct the mistake all psychic power systems up to this time have made. The proper term is psychokinesis, not telekinesis. Telekinesis was made up in comics years ago, and used by AD&D, then picked up by everybody else. Since its release, Night's Edge has done very well, it is into its fourth reprinting at this time, and has been translated into French and German, with more languages coming. While the more fundamentalist CyberPunk 2020 fans are ardent in their dislike of it, that is to be expected. My real pleasure has been hearing about those who have had great pleasure from it, enjoying the great role-playing possibilities it offers. For those who haven't read Night's Edge, the universe is essentially the same as that of CyberPunk 2020, except for a few things. First, gunplay isn't nearly as common. The police of the Night's Edge universe much deadlier (nothing related to vampires, just my own personal slant), and therefore while most people carry handguns, they don't use them without a very good reason. Automatic weapons are only used on special occasions, as they are hard to obtain, ammunition just as difficult. There is more belief in the supernatural. In the rough world of 2020, having abandoned traditional religion, most people turn to cults and superstitions to explain why Timmy got the bullet instead of Jack. And, vampires exist. Only a few people realize they do, and most of these people are hunters, therefore don't want others to know what they're doing, nor that vampires exist. You see, if they told others, they might get locked up, and if their activities we re public, their murders would definite provoke public interest. The supernatural creatures that do exist are considered mythical by the public, nothing more than fodder for the movie industry. Just like in our world. Last, the government is still in control. Or, rather, the government agencies like the CIA, NSA and Secret Service are still alive and well. To the public, these organizations exist no more than vampires do, but look how wrong they are about that. Operating almost completely in secrecy, these groups continue their clandestine machinations, now focusing on corporate manipulation. Therefore, the Night's Edge universe is for the most part the same as the normal CyberPunk one. Almost all of the changes are behind the scenes. And, this is where the horror comes in. No one is scared by a vampire in White Wolf's Vampire, they're expected, just as no one is surprised to find aliens in Leading Edge's Aliens. On the other hand, a GM who covertly adds Night's Edge to his CyberPunk game is likely to have a group of very nervous players. Unsure of what they've encountered, they're likely to write it off as a cyberpsycho, until it comes back from the dead and has its hands on their throats.

Night's Edge - Support Material

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There have been a number of support material expanding the universe since Night's Edge, including my own: The Necrology Trilogy: No, it's not about sex with dead people, it's about the study of death and dying. Not really a science that exists today, but a plausible one. Some parapsychologists already study it the rough NDEs (Near-Death Experiences). The three adventures follow various individual's experiments centering around death, culminating in a show- down that could result in immortality for the characters. While the adventures do feature some action, they are largely mysteries designed for characters to solve through interaction with NPCs and putting together the clues. They are dangerous, not for inexperienced players, but those elite players who think they can conquer anything may find a match in death. Necrology: The first of the trilogy, this adventure focuses on the machinations of Flatline 2020, a chain offering the experience of death with only a small chance of really dying. Add to it a plot to control the minds of key players in Night City's corporate executives and a television station that is just a little too enticing to watch, and you have a real fight for your life. This adventure focuses on the near-death experience and mind-control. Yes, it was inspired by Flatliners, but only loosely (near-death experiences, that's about it). Now I Lay Me Down...: Just a few weeks after Necrology 1, people start to die in ritualistic ways. Not just any people, those key players in the first adventure are being killed according to rites from the cultures around the world. Characters either investigate or become victims of the strange killers, who appear to already be dead. The first glimpse of voodoo in CyberPunk is found in this tense mystery. Immortality: The characters have been captured, and will be forced to endure a horror beyond imagining. Unless they can escape the cruel experimentor's prison, they may never live normal lives again. This grand finale features the inhuman villain who has made their lives a living hell. Grimm's Cybertales: The second sourcebook for the Night's Edge universe, Grimm's picks up where Night's Edge left off. Covering cults, neo-voodoo, dream stalkers and magic, this is a highly controversial sourcebook. First, it describes rules for stress (something all Cyberpunks experience a great deal of) and fright checks, as well as an alternative view to humanity loss explaining it in terms of Alienation, Egotism, Obsession and Paranoia. The new cults include a closer look at the Inquisitors and their current status, as well as Nihilists, the Church of SIN and the Mandelbrot Society (commonly known as the Patternists). Neo-Voodoo examines the culture of vodoun as found in 2020, including the making of zombies. Modern horrors, that you and I know, are found in chapter 5. Stalkers, mass murderers, serial killers, terrorists and ghouls all figure in this section on the "Boogey-men of 2020". Who needs a were- wolf when you have a stalker pursuing you? The idea of spirits in the Net is explored in Ghosts in the Machine, with the Murk. Unfortunately, no one knows exactly what they are, though there are lots of theories. Gods who manifest in this new reality? A netrunner psychosis? Or covert government infestations? Or, maybe they're just aliens who found their way here. In any case, netrunners now have gods of their own to worship, and something else to worry about when they jack in. This brings us to the magic system. Well, I wasn't hot on the idea when it was first proposed to me. I didn't want to turn CyberPunk into that other magic- infested pseudo-CyberPunk game. So, I approached it in the same way, what if magic really existed in this world? And, came up with one of the most down-to-earth magic systems I have seen. You won't find Gandalf in this system, just people like Stoner, who uses runes to help in his dealings (and trust me, they don't always help). The most powerful practitioner would be Shift-X, a technomancer who can talk directly with AIs. Or can he? Last, there is a guide to all the concepts, people and organizations described in this book and Night's Edge, their rarity in the game universe, what the public knows about them and what those who study the subject know. For example, Vampires: Rare-Near-Unique Common Knowledge: Demons who hunt the night, drinking the blood of sleeping victims. They can be destroyed by a stake though the heart and sunshine. They don't really exist. Studied Knowledge: People bitten by vampires who have been reborn as vampires. They now drink the blood to survive. They must sleep in coffins during the day. They can be destroyed by decapitation and fire, as well as by a stake through the heart and sunshine. They don't really exist. Remember Me?: This is a campaign adventure that I consider one of my sickest inventions. I can't say much about it without giving the adventure away. Suffice it to say that some of those secret government agencies' activities are revealed and the players are going to go through the roller-coaster adventure of their lives. It is not for the feeble at heart, and definitely not for those who like shoot-'em-up adventures. Premature Burial: An adventure for use in conjunction with Grimm's Cybertales. Following a Ceasarian-plot, the owner of a small corporation is attacked by his executives and left for dead. Unfortunately, he survives, and the player characters find him. Now, he wants vengeance, except one thing stands in his way. He still is in control, or someone who looks just like him. This adventure is unique in that it can be played live-action. I tried it out on a university campus, and we had a blast, racing around the campus. The trick is finding two people who look very similar. Twins ain't that common. Dark Metropolis: The third sourcebook delves into the realm of city life in the Night's Edge universe. Including a full-length adventure, it contains tons of new rules and information for creating more realistic and diverse city adventures. i. Technicalities: Added tables for generating the character's past, maintenance and malfunction rules for electronics and cybernetics and surveillance in your campaign (it's everywhere. Ever seen Rising Sun?) ii. Things To Do: Rules for generating and running your very own pirate radio or television station, the festivities of the modern age (including Teem's Day, a remembrance day for those who died in riots), rules for disasters, heat waves and riots. iii. People To Meet: Two new character roles, the Spook and Reaper are introduced. Spooks are surveillance and security experts. Most of them are ex-intelligence agents (maybe they didn't really retire?). Reapers are repossessors, of all kinds of things, including cybernetics and people. Needless to say, they don't take no for an answer. There are also rules for generating contacts for your characters and a listing of the major power players of Night City from the Night's Edge universe. iv. Places To Go: Drug bars and asylums figure prominently in this section. Asylums are places that will hide you for a price. What would you pay to be protected from Arasaka hit teams? Last, enclaves are looked at. Slums and concentrations of culties of all kinds, including Guinee, the Vodoun enclave. v. Dark Pleasures: My favorite section! A new, fully-revised drug system features in this chapter. This one covers everything from side effects to after effects to cumulative effects to onset time to whether it can be detected in your system at the police check-point. Deathspas (kinda like Flatline booths, but better), emotive rock (and you thought subliminal messages were bad), indulgences of the flesh and revised pseudopet rules are also found here. vi. Imp Of The Perverse: An adventure for novice players can be found. What's worse than a stalker who follows you everywhere? One that destroys your life as well. Quick thinking and astute perception is all that will get you out of this one.