Rules : Experience

This is an alternative system for experience and skill advancement. Instead of earning Improvement Points for individual skills, characters gain Experience Points, and roll for skill advancement.

With enough experience points and a successful advance roll, skills go up. One major advantage of this system is that the Game Master does not have award IPs for specific skills.

Advancement is fairly rapid at low levels and slower at higher levels. Be warned, however. If the characters live long enough, they will eventually reach +10 in their primary skills. Of course, most Cyberpunk characters don't live all that long...

Experience Points

The first time a character successfully uses a skill during a session, he gets an Experience Points. Put a mark next to the skill on the character sheet.

If you make a mistake and live through it, you are bound to learn something. Thus, a fumble gives an experience point. One point per skill and session is the limit. You get only one point per skill, even if you both fumble and succeed!

Each critical success gives an extra skill point. It is possible to get an infinite number of points per session if you roll really well. And yes, if your first successful roll was a critical success, you get one point for success, and one extra point for critical success.

Example: Vita grabs a submachinegun during a fight and fires a burst at a mook. Several bullets hit and the mook goes down. Since Vita has successfully used Submachinegun she gets a check for that skill.

Skill Advancement

After a session, each skill that has gained Experience Points can potentially improve. Make an Advancement Roll for each such skill to see if it improves:

Roll D6 plus number of checks. If roll is higher than the current skill level, the character advances one level in that skill, and any experience points are lost. If roll fails, the points remain, and the player can roll again after the next session.

A roll of 1 is always a failure. A roll of 6 is not an automatic success, however. It's a dark future.

Example: Vita has one experience point in Submachinegun and skill level 1. She will roll D6+1 to advance. Unless she rolls a 1, her skill level will improve from +0 to +1.

Skills with a cost multiplier need extra points to offset the multiplier. One extra point is needed per multiple over x1. The extra points do not give a bonus when making the advance roll!

Example: Vita has skill level 8 in Savate (x2 multiple) and 3 experience points. Since one point is required to offset the cost multiple of 2, she only rolls 1d6+2 to advance. Even if she rolls a 6 she will not advance. Vita will simply have to kick some more butt during the next session!

Roleplaying Awards

Experience Points may be awarded for specific skills by the Game Master. An example is for good roleplaying where the player did not have to make any roll. This may lead to a certain amount of begging. Of course, you know what to do with whining players, don't you?

Bonus Experience

The Game Master can award a number of extra checks as he sees fit. Once extra check is generally awarded for player participation. More checks can be awarded after en of a longer scenario, such as EuroTour or Land of the Free. This should not be more than 5-10 bonus points.

Outright bribery of the Game Master usually gives an extra skill checks per session. Examples:

• Text for the website
• General site maintenance
• Snacks
• Rules or constructive criticism
• Showing up (the default bonus point)
• Outright bribery of the Game Master
• Standing in for the Game Master so he can play occasionally

Bonus points can be spent on any skill (within reason). Thus it is possible to learn new skills that you did not use during play. Ask the Game Master for approval. Bonus points can be added to skills that have already gained points during play, and offset the increased cost skills with a higher multiple.

Option: Slower Advancement

At higher skill levels, it becomes progressively harder to improve skills. This rule can be used to slow down advancement a higher levels.

After skill level 5, the cost multiplier is increased by one for each extra level. This means x2 for skill level 6, x3 for skill level 7, etc for a regular (x1) skill. This rule means that very few characters (such as Morgan Blackhand or Johnny Silverhand) will have skill levels of +8 or above.

Example: Using this rule, Vita's Savate skill of +8 has an effective skill multiplier of 5 (2 for Savate, increased by 3 for skill level 8). A minimum of 7 experience points is needed before she has a chance to advance. You do the math.

Option: Breaking the Limits

While 10 is the maximum skill level a player character can reach, there are exceptions. After all, Colonel Kurtz has a Charismatic Leadership skill of +12. This optional rule makes it possible.

Examples from the official Cyberpunk world would be Johnny Silverhand or Morgan Blackhand. (Colonel Kurtz surpasses these feeble weaklings by far! Let's all go insane and live in the jungles of Cambodia!) If you have a skill of +10 or higher (yeah, right), you can only get skill checks if you roll boxcars. You cant assign bonus points to the skill.