Basic Moves for CyberNoir
CyberNoir is an investigation cyberpunk game. I put together these basic moves for it.
Savvy Moves:
Assess a Person:
When you Assess a Person in a conversation, roll + Savvy. On a 7-9, hold 1. On a 10+, hold 3. Spend your hold 1 for 1 during the conversation to ask that character’s player a question from the list.
*Are you lying to me?
*What are you really feeling?
*What do you intend to do?
*What do you wish I would do?
*How could I get you to ____?
On a miss against an NPC, ask one question anywy, but they identify your attempt to read and manipulate them, so they clam up or otherwise react.
Assess Your Surroundings
When you take a few moments to Assess Your Surroundings, roll + Savvy. On a 7-9, ask 1 question from the list. On a 10+, ask 3.
If you make a followup move that builds on the answer, take +1 forward.
*What’s my best way in/out/through?
*What here is immediately useful to me?
*Where are my enemies vulnerable to me/which enemy is most vulnerable to me?
*How is my enemy most threatening to me/which enemy is the biggest threat?
*Where is the true danger?
*What should I be on the lookout for?
*Who is really in control here?
Search for Clues
When you take time to Search an area for Clues, roll + Savvy. On a 7-9, hold 1. On a 10+, hold 3. Spend your hold 1 for 1 as you search the area to pick an option from the list.
*Ask: What happened here recently?
*Ask: What is hidden here?
*Ask: What doesn’t belong here?
*Ask: What’s missing that should be here?
*Find a piece of physical evidence.
*Find a useful or valuable item.
Moxie Moves:
Call in a Favor
When you Call in a Favor from one of your Contacts, roll + Moxie.
If your request puts them at great risk, take -1 to the roll.
On a 10+, choose one.
On a 7-9, choose three.
*It’ll take a few days to follow through.
*They can come up with something similar- close is close, right?
*They ask a lot of questions.
*You owe them one for this.
*Their participation draws attention.
*You have to grease the wheels- spend 1 Payola.
*After this, they’re out. Cross them off your list of contacts.
First Impression
When you make a First Impression on an Npc, roll + Moxie.
On a 7-9, the character reacts normally as they would to someone of your position. At the very least, they’re willing to talk.
On a 10+, they are favorably predisposed towards you. Take +1 for your first Manipulate a Person or Assess a Person against them this scene.
On a miss, you get off on the wrong foot. Take -1 forward all Manipulate, Assess, or Threaten rolls against them this scene.
Manipulate a Person
When you attempt to Manipulate a person, you must have something they want. Tell them what you want and roll + Moxie.
Against NPCs:
On a 7-9, the character will tell you something they want. If you provide it up front, they’ll do what you want.
On a 10+, the character will tell you something they want. If you provide promises or assurances that you can get it later, they’ll do what you want.
Against PCs:
On a hit, the character will tell you something they want.
On a 7-9, if they do what you wanted, they get xp.
On a 10+, additionally, if you do what they wanted, you get xp.
Grit Moves:
Resort to Violence
When you Resort to Violence, roll + Grit. By default, you will do your harm to your opponent, and if they are in a position to fight back, they will do their harm to you.
On a 7-9, choose 1. On a 10+, choose 3.
*You do +1 harm.
*You take -1 harm.
*You seize control something important: terrain, an item, or just the tempo of battle.
*You impress, dismay or frighten your enemies. They must change their current behavior or actions.
Take a Beating
Whenever you Take a Beating, roll + Grit.
On a 10+, you’re fine. You can fight and act, no ill effects.
On a 7-9, the GM chooses one:
*You drop something you’re holding.
*You temporarily lose track of something important.
*You fail to notice something important.
*You lose your footing.
On a miss, the GM chooses one:
*It’s worse than it looks, take +1 harm.
*You’re out cold, possibly for several hours.
*The GM chooses two from the 7-9 list.
Threaten Violence
When you Threaten Violence, say what you’re threatening, what you want, and then roll + Grit.
On a 7-9, your opponent must do something they think you want, or call your bluff.
On a 10+, your opponent must do what you want, or call your bluff.
If your opponent calls your bluff, choose one:
*Do nothing and back down.
*Resort to Violence now. Do not roll, instead use the result you got for this roll.
*Come back later to carry out your threats. Resort to Violence, with +1 forward to the roll.
Defy Danger
When you are in a tight spot and taking a risky action, roll to Defy Danger.
Are you acting with tenacity, physical fortitude, or sheer physical ability? Roll + Grit
Are you acting with cunning, or implementing a well thought out plan? Roll + Savvy
Are you fast talking or otherwise trying to talk your way out of a bad situation? Roll + Moxie
On a 10+, you avoid the danger, and achieve your goals.
On a 7-9, you’re mostly successful. The GM will give you a mixed result, a hard choice, or a Pyrrhic victory.
Optional Rule: Psi-Powers
If Psi-Powers are in the game, each character has an additional stat, Psi, and access to the Hunch move.
Hunch
When you get a Hunch, roll + Psi.
On a 7-9, the GM will tell you something interesting about the current situation. On a 10+, the information you get will be precise and detailed.
On a miss, you draw the attention of psychic threats.
I feel like maybe Fast Talk should be a specific move instead of just defy danger, since people seem to try to bluff and bluster their way out of trouble in my AW and DW games all the time. Also, I like the concept of the First Impression move, but I worry it would be clunky in play. The Threaten move is a variant I’ve been pondering for a while.
/follow
I’ll dig into this after work. For now, this is EXACTLY what I have been waiting for someone to do, so I didn’t have to do it myself 🙂
Sub
Very interesting. Thanks for sharing!
Sub! Big fan of the genre.
Have these been playtested? I’d be interested in seeing how that threaten move played out.
The miss result for assess a person is interesting as well.
/sub
No, none of it’s been playtested yet, these are first thoughts.
The threaten move came about for two reasons:
*There’s been a couple of moments in my games where a character will say something like “do this or I’ll come back with my gang later and burn this place to the ground,” which has to be handled as a manipulate, because the character isn’t in a position to make good on their threat right there and then, and when a character makes a threat, but you aren’t sure if they’re bluffing or not- it pulls you out of the fiction to stop and ask them to see if you should have them Go Aggro or Manipulate.
/sub!