GURPS Cyberpunk

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GURPS Cyberpunk
Cover of GURPS Cyberpunk
Designer	Loyd Blankenship
Publisher	Steve Jackson Games
Publication date	1990
Genre(s)	Cyberpunk
System	GURPS 3

GURPS Cyberpunk is a genre toolkit for cyberpunk-themed role-playing games set in a near-future dystopia, such as that envisioned by William Gibson in his influential novel Neuromancer. The main sourcebook for the line (ISBN 1-55634-168-7) was written by Loyd Blankenship and published by Steve Jackson Games in 1990, as a part of the extensive (3rd-edition) GURPS generic role-playing game system.

In 1993, GURPS Cyberpunk Adventures — a collection of three RPG scenarios in the GURPS Cyberpunk line — won the Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Adventure of 1992.

[edit] The sourcebook

Besides the main chapters detailed below, GURPS Cyberpunk contains a 1-page glossary of common 'cyberpunk terms', an index, and a 2-page bibliography listing relevant books, short stories, comic books, graphic novels, magazines, electronic newsletters, movies and television titles.

Characters: This chapter describes some of the most common character types (netrunner, corp(orate), cop, celebrity, to name a few) and their typical skills, advantages, and disadvantages. It also provides a guideline about how much money a given job might bring or cost.
Cyberwear: Rules for and descriptions of bionic enhancements such as cyberlimbs, weapon implants, biomonitors, gills, various sense organs, mental implants, or neural-interface implants.
Technology & Equipment: Lists many sorts of (slightly) futuristic gadgets such as power cells, weapons, armor, communicators, vehicles, tools, security systems, medical science, drugs, and others.
Netrunning: The longest in the book, it details rules for realistic computer networks as well as fantastic cyberspaces accessible only through a neural interface. It describes what types of system can be found in the Net and how the characters can act (and fight) there.
World Design: Gives guidelines for designing your own cyberpunk world.
Campaigning: Helps the Gamemaster in running a longer series of adventures.

[edit] “The book that was seized by the U.S. Secret Service”

Main article: Steve Jackson Games, Inc. v. United States Secret Service

GURPS Cyberpunk received notoriety when the Austin headquarters of Steve Jackson Games was raided by the U.S. Secret Service in 1990. The authorities seized the manuscript for the sourcebook, which was under development at the time, asserting that it was a "handbook for computer crime". This raid is often attributed to Operation Sundevil, a nation-wide crackdown on ‘illegal computer hacking activities’, although SJ Games and the EFF claim otherwise.