Cyberpunk Killed the Netrunner - Vol. 1 Ed. 29
Feb 03, 2021 1:01 am
World Builders' Guild Newsletter
You may have heard of this game that came out recently called Cyberpunk 2077.
"Cyberpunk", eh? What's the story?
Jump back in the time machine, choomba, and smash the digits to 1996.
A growing game publisher called Wizards of the Coast diversified its collectible card game portfolio away from the fantasy-forward Magic: The Gathering (a smash hit by the day's standards) with a foray into the gritty dark future. By April they had published a Netrunner collectable card game. It followed the same randomly-generated pack scheme popularized by Magic and the booming baseball card hobby markets of the early 90s.
The game, designed by Richard Garfield (yes, that same world-building titan Richard Garfield), was based on and set in R. Talsorian Games' Netrunner tabletop roleplaying game universe created by a different world-building titan, Mike Pondsmith.
Netrunner never achieved the success its sister product managed. Players balked at the baroque, asymmetrical (more on that later) mechanics and failed to source enough random cards to create top tier decks. Without a widespread competitive scene to prop it up, Netrunner was dead in the water.
Pour a Zima out for our fallen pastime, and dial your time machines forward to 2012.
Fantasy Flight games (also known as "FFG"), with their stable of hot licensed card games like A Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, and Warhammer) had just released a soon-to-be cult hit game called Android: Netrunner. The game mechanics were based on Wizard's fizzled 90s foray and licensed accordingly.
The one thing Fantasy Flight didn't license, however, was the Cyberpunk setting (since it was R. Talsorian's to begin with). However, they acknowledge the origin of the system with a byline to R. Talsorian Games in the printed material. FFG opted for their in-house setting called the world of "Android".
Android: Netrunner featured a standalone core set of cards--plenty to stay busy with a small group of friends at a kitchen table--with plans to release regular themed expansion packs to augment the core card pool over time. Fantasy Flight trademarked this new format as "Living Card Games" or LCGs.
In living card games like Netrunner, your skills at the table, not your bank account, dictate your success. There are no randomly generated "booster packs" which are common in larger-market collectable card games like Magic: The Gathering or Pokémon Trading Card Game. The living format is accessible to all players at the same budget. Gone were the days of god-tier decks whose component cards could run a competitive player $500 or more.
It is, as of this writing, one of the few asymmetrical card games ever designed and published (that is, aside from its 1990s progenitor). One player acts as the Corporation (or "Corp") who has a completely different set of tools, win conditions, and even rules than the netrunner (or "Runner").
Android: Netrunner is based on the all-encompassing cyberpunk trope of the daring renegades vs. the oppressive megacorps. Think of netrunners as advanced hackers equipped with mind-bending technology, traversing a transcendent full-body-experience VR version of the Internet. Readers familiar with cyberpunk novels Neuromancer and Snow Crash have the right idea. Megacorps (kind of like more sinister versions Amazon and Monsanto) work to advance their nefarious "agendas" while netrunners try to hack into their digital fortresses to foil these schemes.
This is your brain on Netrunner. (Image copyright Fantasy Flight Games)
This time, however, Fantasy Flight used the power of their LCG format to keep fans interested without murdering their pocketbooks. So far, so good.
Here's where it gets weird. One more spin in the time machine, friend.
On June 28th, 2018, Fantasy Flight games announced that it would immediately discontinue production and design of the beloved game due to "licensing" negotiations with Wizards of the Coast. This struck fans as strange, considering that they had just announced the release date of their latest, highly anticipated expansion set, Reign and Reverie.
Without much of a concise explanation from HQ, players were left to speculate on what caused the axe to drop:
Dwindling tournament attendance (which was real), an overextended card pool with too many patches and errata (not as many as you'd expect for the size of the game), or some kind of back-room legal kung fu that forced Fantasy Flight's hand.
Without any proof or payoff whatsoever, my money is still on the latter.
I suspected at the time that Wizards of the Coast, R. Talsorian Games, and CD Projekt Red (developer/publisher of the over-hyped, brutally maligned Cyberpunk 2077 video game) struck a deal that would see a new version of the 90s collectible game released in concert with the upcoming digital title. This type of thing was not without precedent: CD Projekt Red brought their franchise The Witcher's own in-universe card game, Gwent, to mass-market collectable success, if only in the digital realm.
To this day, I have no proof that there was any kind of move to revive the Netrunner game a third time through a modern megacorp consortium.
Instead, I'm left to marvel at the eternal techno-haunted worlds spun by master designers Richard Garfield, Mike Pondsmith, Kevin Wilson, Dan Clark, and Lukas Litzinger.
The real-life story of corporate chicanery, intellectual property battles, public outcry, and obfuscated truth is as interesting a plot as any found in Cyberpunk or Android.
Maybe, when you build your own cyber-themed world, you might use our own version of the dark future as inspiration.
Some say we're already there.
To future worlds,
Matt Ventre
Hey World Builders!
Did you know I started a game company called PlayArchitect Games?
I believe that fun makes the future bright. If you're ready to make your brain sweat and your heart smile, come win with PlayArchitect Games' first title, in development now, Legends of the Cage:
Legends of the Cage is a combat-focused mixed martial arts tabletop roleplaying game.
It's a full-on "fight simulator" with uppercuts and armbars.
Visit our site and sign up for the PlayArchitect Games Bulletin to stay up to date on the latest Legends of the Cage updates, behind-the-scenes developer news, and insider info on private playtesting and product discounts.
You're a winner, right? Check it out today.
If you received this email from a friend, be sure to subscribe to the World Builders' Guild Newsletter and follow on social media for more exclusive content on world building and creative processes!
Love what you're reading? Tell a friend to join the World Builders' Guild today.
