404 Jam Not Found

Concept: “*404 Jam not found's* theme is content that does not yet exist in a meta sense. CY_BORG as a TTRPG book is still new and has little content (aside from the enormous amount of amazing Mork Borg content out there). People can submit anything big or small. Maybe it’s an encounter table, NPC, creature, gear, weapons, some new mechanics, or even a class. This is for the community by the community and most importantly for fun. The ranking criteria is how Cyber and how Punk the submission is.“
Content: A wide variety of content to flesh out the Cy_Borg world for a table.

Concept: “A crazed socialite with a seemingly bottomless wallet and far more information and connections than one person in CY has any right to. He could take over this city in a matter of days, instead he’d rather play sick jams as the backing to an even sicker game.”

Content: An adventure/scenario for destructive PCs who enjoy a soundtrack to their chaos from a malevolent DJ.

Writing: Brief descriptions of tasks to complete cunningly reflect a variety of music genres that the GM is encouraged to develop a playlist for ahead of time (punk, metal, hip-hop, electronic, etc.). 

Art/Design: White text on dark brick-pattern background with a hand-drawn chaotic punk in motion on the cover. Each page (focused on a musical genre and its tasks) is given unique character with font choices and text arrangement.

Usability: Large text makes identifying each element and its relation to other elements–and a similar structure for each page helps this identification and navigation. Helpful note for GMs on the last page also encourages combination and experimentation.

Concept: “You were a cog in the massive machine that feeds the city of Cy. Now, for one reason or another, you had to abandon your algae farm. All you have is the clothes on your back, a couple pieces of gear, and whatever the fuck you found out in the emerald muck of the vast algae fields.”

Content: A class for the “rural” outsider who’s ready to make a mockery of the hero’s journey.

Writing: Really engaging, flavorful text pervades the entire document; mechanics information is distinguished by underlined phrases amidst the descriptive core content.

Art/Design: A lo-fi image of an algae farmer, surrounded by imposing stalks of their crop, supports bright green, yellow, and white text content.

Usability: A variety of visual markers–boxes, clearly labeled list items, color choices–very effectively organize the presentation of class information across a two-page spread.

Concept: “The pumping beats of the last Post-Grunge Blitz-Rave still course through your veins.”
Content: A class for the circuit-bending audiophile who’s long wanted to use their love of sick riffs and beats to obliterate the enemy.
Writing: Brief glimpses into a fully-formed lingo for the class detonate idea-bombs about how to live, and not just use, the vividly described mechanics provided here.
Art/Design: Filtered neon cityscapes and a close-up of a soundfiend on the prowl stand out as strongly as the bold, distinct headings for each set of class details/features.
Usability: General organization is quite navigable, although some font choices can make reading tricky; similarly, HP & Glitch calculation details blend into the background image.

Concept: “Some trashy random tables for generating odd sports and shows names punks play in CY_.  You can roll some cocky champion names too and get some inspiration from the portraits provided.”

Content: Tables for quick generation of game types/specifics and famous sports NPCs, all of which are soaked in CY style.

Writing: Table results are vivid, grungy, and dystopian–exactly what you’d hope for.

Art/Design: Contrasting-color rows help with table navigation, with tables positioned around the edges of large image spreads (an arena and a gallery of NPC portraits), with an eye-bleeding aesthetic and palette.

Usability: While not all tables are labeled, it’s clear what each does functionally and how to use it alongside the others.

Concept: “Optional tables to be used with your Cyberpunk or modern day games... well, lets just say it aloud -- it's intended to be used with CY_BORG first and foremost. It's absolutely awesome, just stop playing anything else right now. On a single page here you will find a broad diversity of cultural and visual aesthetic touches that you can easily apply to your PC or NPC characters, enhancing the level of immersion. It could be completely random or by your responsible choice, as it suits you and the nature of your games. As a note: for your character's gender definition you can use two types of randomization, d20 (higher chances to get cisgender result) and d12 (even chances between results). Use the one that fits your games. And feel free to pick anything that better suits your character. Zero offense intended.”

Content: A set of tables relating to personality, from ethnic background and gender identity to outfit style and hair & nail color.

Writing: A wide variety of options available in each table (from 8 to 40, depending on the table) that can help customize a punk.

Art/Design: Green on black boxes over a partial portrait of a punk character.

Usability: Consistent presentation across tables and high contrast between fore and ground make this usable and accessible.

Concept: “One moment you're living your life in the everyday world of smart phones and student loans. Next thing you know, you're out on the streets of CY, everyone you've ever known is dead and nothing makes sense anymore.”

Content: A class for the outcast who loves reflecting on their situation with critical distance and who wants to lean hard on being a fish out of water. 

Writing: Hilarious pastiches of the “relic” trope through media with the occasional heart-rending vignette/idea that underscores the terror of life in CY.

Art/Design: Really bold yellow/pink color scheme for text-heavy content with an adorably wary pencil sketch of a relic looking over their shoulder. 

Usability: High contrast fore/ground and easily recognizable content blocks make for easy recognition of the purpose for every element.

Concept: “You don’t remember who owned you, just that you used to belong. Maybe you went out of fashion. Maybe someone outgrew you. Some tech-head fished you out of the gutter, patched you up and set you loose on the streets, burdening you with the curse of sapience, just for kicks.”

Content: A class for anyone who wants something big–and violent, and terrifying–in a small package. Making this happen is child’s play, really.

Writing: Hilarious class details/features with which to develop a nuanced murder-bot that can hold its own without feeling one-note. 

Art/Design: Vivid sketch of an example character atop a psychedelic background pattern. Text blocks in different fonts and colors provide distinct information across spread.

Usability: Visually distinct text areas provide distinct types of content. Some of the text can be a bit difficult to read against the busy background pattern.

Concept: “Cost of living and injuries skyrocket, wages and work conditions remain pitiful. Sick of the bullshit, you joined the Ungrateful Unionites, and quietly organized a local. Then you all got doxxed. Everyone was made an example of: gunned down by CySec, or sent to scream in black, bloody room——wishing they were. Everyone but you.”

Content: A class for the worker who has nothing to lose and everything to topple.

Writing: Vivid class features/details will definitely make a player want to organize, agitate, and overthrow. “Rage” mechanic offers additional means for accomplishing goals.

Art/Design: Industrial aesthetic with red/green color scheme complemented by a bit-art flyer for the union. Text organized in two-page spread.

Usability: Combinations of highlighted and italicized text, along with high-contrast colors, make for easy reading and navigation.

Concept: “Most people just see the surface of the water, but there’s a lot down there if you know where to look. Wrecks, stashes, secrets of all kinds, some going back centuries…who knows how deep and old things get?”

Content: A class for the enterprising underwater dumpster diver–another scumbag’s trash is your sunken treasure.

Writing: Description and mechanics are concise and clear, with straightforward indications of the scope of the class.

Art/Design: A dark blue, watery background offers helpful contrast to the white text in this spread.

Usability: Class details are easy to recognize and navigate, with strategic bolding to highlight important elements that complete the character.

Concept: “Jailbreak your ride and take to the streets with the FULL AUTO vehicle rules for Cy_BORG […] FULL AUTO gives punks a straightforward set of rules with enough crunch to create engaging car chases through the streets or canals of CY.”

Content: A wide range of inspired vehicular rules packed into eight pages (full-size, mini-booklet, and plain text versions). 

Writing: Concise, direct rule explanations surrounded by hilarious software-glitch flavor text.

Art/Design: A technicolor mix of mock digital UI and roadside aesthetics that manages to suggest both unique layouts/pages and consistency throughout the document.

Usability: Recognizable organization on each page and high contrast text (although white on red on one page might be difficult for some readers) makes for an engaging and enjoyable experience. Plain text version allows for incredibly easy reading and selecting/searching.

Concept: “Your mind orbits 20,000km above the world. A tangle of artificial neurons trapped in a discontinued militech satellite. THEY WON’T LET YOU REST. Instead you’re forced to exist in prototype cydroid units. Protocols stop you from killing yourself, but they won’t stop someone putting a bullet in your head. Like a roach you keep coming back; a new body to replace the scrap left behind. Maybe the next resurrection will be the last…”

Content: A class for the claustrophobic technophile ready to go out with a bang. 

Writing: Maudlin tones serve pointed explanations of class abilities to inspire players.

Art/Design: Sleek layout in a movie poster/VHS-box style that entices in both full-color (with a rainbow effect) and grayscale versions. 

Usability: Inviting presentation of class details supported by section divisions and text embellishments to facilitate reading/navigation.

Concept: “Maybe it was kidnapped from its daily coffee grind serving [###]’s coffee to corpo stiffs, maybe it was freed. Once a dutiful servant, this menial automaton is now something much more. Somebody filled the milk steamer with industrial corrosives and loaded the thing with enough malware to knock over a small corporate arcology. To what end?”

Content: A deadly and, arguably, tragic take on exploitation of the working class in CY.

Writing: A mix of straightforward explanations and darkly humorous nods to the absurdity of the creature’s premise. 

Art/Design: Three columns–two of the creature details around a central computer-generated image of a barista bot in an industrial environment.

Usability: High-contrast content has a consistent color scheme and easily recognizable organization. However, the file is only available as a .png, so the text is non-selectable and inaccessible to a screen reader.

Concept: “Your favourite evil corporation experimented with infecting gene-edited hamsters with nanites which resulted in horrible mutations.”

Content: A furry nightmare sure to overwhelm a party of punks, whether with murder or a slew of infestations.

Writing: Concise mix of adorable and haunting plot hook and creature stats.

Art/Design: An ominous portrait of an infected hamster stares at the reader while plot hooks and stats line either side.

Usability: A simple layout and immediately distinguishable color-coded content blocks make this incredibly easy to locate and make use of desired details.

Concept: “You woke up in a back alley among the garbage, memory-wiped and brain-scrambled. Rummaging through your clothes you hope to find some vestiges of your past. There must be some clues…”

Content: A class for the two-fisted pulp-loving gumshoe who enjoys sifting through back-alley grime for answers.

Writing: Gritty flourishes complete a well-rounded set of class details and characterization.

Art/Design: Spread layout highlights a pixel-art tech noir character in silhouette beside a column of multi-colored text across several distinct fonts.

Usability: Layout is easily navigable and color-coded text is recognizable, although some of the text is small and requires quite a bit of zooming in to read.