Description

This Catchupstarter, which runs until March 5th, allows you to back the campaign at the original pledge levels and gain the same rewards as last year’s Kickstarter, some of which will not be available again.

Just pick the Pledge Level above which corresponds to the backer levels (see below for details).  Note this all links on this page either redirect to external sites, such as my To The Stars Blog, where the game is explained in detail, or Kickstarter campaign updates.

As well as the main rulebook the following Stretch Goals were been funded.

• Reboot the Future for Dimwits an illustrated cheat sheet for quick reference during play in pdf format.
• 100 Cyberpunk adventure ideas added to the main rulebook.
• More Art from artists Dan Barker and Jesshields.
• Form fillable pdf Character and Gang sheets.
• Liminal SRD. The text that author Paul Mitchener provided me to produce Reboot the Future, tidied up for others to use under the Creative Commons licence.

In addition, the following was added to the campaign, since we ran over Black Friday 😀

• Black Friday Special – a free pdf adventure for all backers added.  Read more about it in this update. 

Note money raised here does not add to the Kickstarter total, so no more stretch goals will be funded.

The delivery date for the final book is April 2022.

The first draft is available now, so when you make your order you will be provided with a pdf download link.

Any questions about this please contact me.

I love cyberpunk, from the early days of the genre in 80s film and literature, through its heyday as the setting of various RPGs in the 90s.

By the early 2000s, I had played out the default setting of cyberpunks vs corps against an endless urban backdrop. I also found while the game systems started simple, they rapidly descended into twiddly complexity when you start working out the effects.

So Reboot the Future is my attempt to make the Cyberpunk game of my dreams.  I’ve pushed the usual near-future setting further into the space age by setting it in the year 2223.  I’m using Paul Mitchener’s Liminal system, which is simple and accessible, yet has some very clever rulings to give it meaningful depth both in a rules sense and to support roleplaying.

•  Here’s me and its author talking about Liminal, with a mention about Reboot towards the end.

When I designed Reboot the Future, I had five design goals in mind, listed below.

Each of these five points links to a blog post that explains it in further detail.

1.  At its heart, it’s a straightforward rules-light cyberpunk game. If you want to discard the setting and make your own, you still get value for money. The character generation, game rules, and example NPCs and organisations are rooted in traditional cyberpunk tropes.
2.  Cyberpunk in the 23rd century. I wanted a setting that even if the players want to play straightforward cyberpunk, which is a little bit more than the Cyberpunks vs Corporations. Dragging the setting’s time period forward into the 23rd-century space age of fringe colonies vs core corporate worlds and the mystery of what’s in space has done this for me.
3.  Everyone’s a Cyberhacker. Although there is a dedicated cyberhacker concept, everyone can interact with virtual reality and do stuff there. Sometimes they will have to work together as a group to overcome the Artificial Intelligences that run Virtual Reality and guard its secrets.
4.  Play the cyberpunk you want. Using a setting questionnaire and other player centred tools, the group gets to run the version of cyberpunk you and your players want.
5.  Deep setting info you can ignore if you want. If you like the deep occult conspiracy type of cyberpunk that the Matrix brings, mixed with a dash of Ufology, the game supports that. But keeping with point 4, you can easily switch that off and ignore it if you or your players don’t want to engage with it.

 NEW! Actual Play Reports!

Backer #1 Jim enjoyed playing Brain Dead at the Shopping Mall with me at Grogmeet 2021 recently wrote an actual play (with spoilers), which shares the fun.

• Jim’s actual play write up.

And here’s my take on the same game, in a spoiler-free Narrator’s report

• Reboot the Future at Grogmeet 2021

The main rule book in its standard edition is a hardcover US Digest format (i.e. 6 by 9 inches), 200-300 pages long. With a colour cover by Dan Barker, and black and white internal art by Jeshields.

• You can see more examples of the art on this blog post

There is also a signed and sent version and a limited edition cover, which are detailed below.

Standard Cover by Dan Barker

Dan Barker’s Limited Edition cover

The book going to be available in four versions

•  Pdf. The Pdf with full bookmarks and hyperlinked page references.
•  Print on Demand. A POD at cost copy, where you pay the production cost, plus postage via drivethrurpg.com + Free PDF.
•  Signed and Sent. A properly printed book, saddle-stitched pages, ribbons, endpapers, and if they fund colour plates as part of the More Art stretch goal (see below). Which will be sent directly from me to you. Postage is payable via my web store before I ship.
• Limited Edition Signed and Sent. Exactly the same quality and features as the Signed and Sent version, but with a new specially commissioned cover by Dan Barker that will not be available outside of this Kickstarter.  Postage is payable via my web store before I ship.

These levels just get you the standard book in the format of your choosing (Pdf/POD or Signed and Sent), and all the stretch goals.

•  Digital Citizen (£10/approx $13) PDF only, stretch goals in pdf.
•  POD Dweller (£15/approx $20) Get the Print on Demand POD version + PDF at no extra cost. All printed stretch goals in POD, otherwise pdf were only offered as a digital version.
•  Signed and Sent (£25/approx $34)*. The printed, Signed and Sent version of the book + PDF at no extra cost.  All printed stretch goals in POD, otherwise pdf were only offered as a digital version.

If you want the Cyber Monday Tales add-on (see Add-on section below for more details) back at the following backer levels.

•  Cyber Monday Tales + Digital Citizen (£15/approx $20) 
•  Cyber Monday Tales + POD Dweller (£20/approx $26) 

The following levels get you the Limited Edition book, with Dan Barker’s new cover, signed and sent directly to you.

• Planetary Systems Architect (£50/approx $68)*.  As Signed and Sent, except you get the Limited Edition Signed and Sent cover, an at-cost POD copy of the standard cover and a free pdf of the Cyber Monday add-on.
• Domain Controller (£100/approx $135  )*. Get signed and sent copies of the standard and limited edition covers. An at cost POD coupon of the standard cover.  All the stretch goals and extra content (which at the time of writing is Digital Discordia, Brain Dead at the Shopping Mall, Black Friday Specia, Cyber Monday add-on) in both pdf and print versions sent directly to you.

*Note any postage for print copies that I’m sending you directly is calculated and paid for via my web store, before I send it to you.

Here’s the list of Stretch Goals that were funded during the original Kickstarter campaign.

•  £2000. Reboot the Future for Dimwits (A Cheat Sheet for the Rest of Us). A five-page intro to the setting and a quick rules reference for use at the table, in pdf format suitable for home printing. FUNDED!
•  £2500. 100 Cyberpunk Adventure Ideas. Ten tables to roll on, each with a narrative theme, each with ten adventure ideas. I’m going to add this to the main rulebook if it funds.  FUNDED!
•  £3000. More art. I’ll commission more images to do some setting-specific pieces and colour plates for the Signed and Sent and PDF versions. FUNDED!
•  £3500. Form fillable pdf character sheet.  As well as a standard pdf version to print off for use, I’ll provide a form-fillable version that you can use for your online games as well as pre-filling before printing off. FUNDED!
•  £4000. Liminal SRD. Working with Paul Mitchener with a combination of what’s in the main Liminal rulebook and some of the new bits I bring to the table in Reboot the Future to produce a freely available Liminal System’s resource document. FUNDED!

Note all Reward Levels come with stretch goals.

Cyber Monday Tales

This is a collection of mini-adventures for the game, in pdf format. Each Cyber Monday Tale will describe a missed-up situation that the characters find themselves in and three possible reasons why the situation exists. Each tale will include any NPC stats or new game rules for Tech encountered, so you can pick it up and make your player’s life interesting.

It costs £5, but it is included in the following pledge levels to make it easy to add to your pledge.

• Cyber Monday Tales – Digital Citizen
• Cyber Monday Tales – POD Dweller
• Signed and Sent
• Planetary Systems Architect
• Domain Controller.

Make sure that you are backing at one of these levels if you want a copy.

Also, Planetary Systems Architects and Domain Controllers get the opportunity to suggest one or five Cyber Monday Tales, respectively. I will contact you in Early March to get a title + a quick description of the situation as part of the Backer’s Survey after the campaign closes and funds are collected.  Currently, to date, we have thirty tales due to the generosity of the Kickstarter backers.

This add-on is in pdf format, except for Domain Controller who will receive it in print.