Hack the Planet: Cyberpunk Forged in the Dark


Hello! It’s awesome checking out all the games in development here. It’s much easier to view than the G+ Community and there seems to be a lot to look forward to.

Some of you may know I Kickstarted a cyberpunk Forged in the Dark game called Hack the Planet, which incorporates a lot of notions from climate fiction, a burgeoning sub-genre (for good reason, IMO!). Here’s a short pitch on the game:

In HtP, climate effects have led to Acts of God, natural disasters that are just a fact of life for people in the setting. Corporations, having seen the way things were going, constructed a superstructure designed to be a Shelter. Years later, the Corporate City is walled off from the 'Zone, where all the climate refugees live and work. It’s overpopulated and holds the poor and the labor force that allows for the Shelter to run. But Glitches, who have hacked themselves to go off grid, reject the status quo and form a crew to wrest power back from those that have it, turning to the criminal underworld.

There are rules for cybernetics/cyberware, Acts of God, playbooks, and crews designed for the setting. Lots of additional content from Blades community members like Andrew Gillis, Ash McAllan, Melody Watson, and more! If you’re interested in checking it out, the PDF just dropped today. The print run is around a month or so away.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/268457/Hack-the-Planet-Cyberpunk-Forged-in-the-Dark

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Awesome, off to check DTRPG!

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This looks very pretty and reads very cool. @Frasersimons Well done!

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I am really curious to hear how you integrated cyberware. Would you be willing to describe?

Sure! I tied it to action ratings. There’s a fifth row of a different color that abstracts the fictional positioning of the cyberware being installed, so it can be a lot of different things. Part of character creation is adding a dot in one, using it as a springboard to tie the PC into the life of a 'punk. Did you get a cyberlimb from a score gone wrong? Maybe you were injured on the job for a corp and then “let go”. That kind of thing. Additional cyberware is tied to a PC’s stress track. Getting more eats up your stress track temporarily and it costs money to get it done, too. There’s a max rating of 1 for each action and the more cyberware you get the more stress it eats up. There’s also a stress track you can put xp in so you can get back that temporarily lost stress in the future.

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I think it is awesome that most of the cyber type hacks all treat cyberware in a different way!

In mine, I treat it more like gear.

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I picked it up and his morning. There are definitely some interesting aspects. I like the tie between stress and cyberware and the ability to “train” to increase stress. There is a no e diversity of factions and the premise of the setting is cool.

I’d love to see continued development of the world. It would be great to have a few examples of pre-flood ruins to scavenge.

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Yeah there will be more setting stuff. One of the stretch goals is the Tracer crew, which I plan on using to flesh out more of the setting. Going to end up being a bigger stretch goal than just a crew sheet. But should be a good vector for more setting info.

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This is so exciting! I’ve always wanted to run a cyberpunk game, but I really dislike how crunchy Shadowrun is. I’ll have to give this a spin!

Very excited to try this. The longest continual RPG campaign I’ve ever run was a three-year Cyberpunk 2013/2020 campaign in college '88-'91 & Bruce Sterling’s Heavy Weather had a big impact on me. Reading through, I wish I’d had HtP back then (along with GM chops to absorb it).

So much Forged in the Dark goodness!

I don’t know much about Shadowrun but I hope that works out well!

Thanks for the enthusiasm, y’all :slight_smile:

I’m hoping to get a game started for one of my local groups in a few weeks.

This is the FitD game that’s grabbed me the most. It hit at the perfect time as I’ve been on a cyberpunk kick and just reread Heavy Weather a month ago.

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Hope you dig it! :slight_smile:
Heavy Weather is always a blast. Page turner.

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Reading Loosed Upon the World now and really seeing the setting. Thanks for the cli fi reading list!

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I’m really excited for more people to get their hands on this and have a look at it. Admittedly part of that is being selfish and wanting to know what people think of my bits :stuck_out_tongue:

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Just picked up the pdf on Drivethru. Excited to read it!

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I love a lot of things in the game and I am running my first session this Friday, but I am missing some of the standard gang stuff from the Blades - I am lacking these cool but still villainous factions like Lampblacks or Red Sashes. There’s not enough underworld in the game about the underworld. Most of the factions are quite clear-cut for the players to side with or against. Any cool ideas I can add here?

I’d add cyberpunk versions of the Blades factions! Just change the description a bit.

That’s what I did - added Crows, Red Sashes (they are Red Bandanas now, and have a shooting range and a gun shop instead of duelling school). That’s enough for a start - the players are starting by messing with Exhaust after they pushed Salon Ariadne around and kidnapped one of their dealers with stash…

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