AidenJacks

Concept: “Maybe you're tired of Players rolling Presence to charm/snipe/shoot their way in and out of any situation, especially that Discharged Corp Killer who, for some reason, rolled a +3 on his Presence. Well, do not worry anymore, as this hack aims to fix that.”

Content: An expansion of stats and skills to add a bit more crunch to games of Cy_Borg. 

Writing: Focused, direct explanation of optional mechanics to integrate into a game, along with an insightful rationale for the hack’s existence and a character sheet organized to include the new stats & skills.

Art/Design: Single-column white text on a dark black-and-purple patterned background. Character sheet mixes hand-drawn illustration, photo collage, and fillable fields.

Usability: Text in both files is high contrast and has consistent font use for headings/labels and body content. Unfortunately, text is not embedded in either file, so searching/selecting is not available.

Concept: “Wanted to include mental struggles in your gameplay but didn't know how? Well, the new STRESS mechanic does just that: allows you (as the GM) to have characters get stressed out when they get their limbs cut off, their partner dies, their gun jams, their food tastes nasty, they're sitting in a piss-filled bar, the drink tastes like gasoline and any other stressful situation!”

Content: A set of rules to deal with the potential stress/strain of adding more and more cybertech in a single body.

Writing: A balanced mix of definition/description and mechanics to explain how each stressor and effect can impact a punk through both roleplay and dice rolls.

Art/Design: Colorful landscape-oriented pages with white text on a translucent content container shape to increase contrast with background colors/patterns.

Usability: Distinct content sections help indicate distinct purposes for each, with visually apparent headings. Background image/pattern noise might impact some readability. Text is not embedded, so searching/selecting is not possible.

Concept: A cyberpunk weapon generator.

Content: Details on a weapon one might find, complete with info about the manufacturer, designation, codename, condition, and weapon type.

Writing: Mostly single-word terms offer a surprising amount of character for each weapon, in part thanks to the combination of fields making each generated weapon feel unique.

Art/Design: Output is provided on a lightly stylized Google Spreadsheet, so text is large and positioned under each clearly labeled column.

Usability: Very readable layout and font choices, and refreshing the page will generate a new weapon quickly.

Concept: “You sung the theme of revolution. Now, you desperately run from entropy.”

Content: A class for the has-been who’s not quite ready to burn out or fade away. 

Writing: Intriguing class features that reflect artistic creation (with a game mechanics dimension), vices, and origin stories.

Art/Design: A red-tinged illustration of dying star characters overlaid with contrasting patches of space where class details are laid out. 

Usability: Content is arranged in distinct areas that make for easier navigation. Font choices and color scheme can be difficult for some to read, in part due to overall busy nature of the spread. Class is provided as .png file, so text is not embedded, making it difficult for searching/copying/pasting or using a screen reader.

Concept: “They always rig the system against you. We were supposed to be in the big leagues by now and look where they left all of us. You decided to take matters into your own hands. You’d win. At any cost. You’d play at one game, any side as long as you’re on top. Even if you cheat.”

Content: A class for the doublecrossing, backstabbing, roguish scoundrel at heart.

Writing: Fantastically colorful descriptions and labels for class features, with intriguing mechanics to match (including a morale component).

Art/Design: Several UI windows scattered across much of the spread provide some unique flavor (gambling aesthetics, blood splatter background, etc.), while a muted image of a cheat frames the right side of the page.

Usability: Separate windows/boxes for distinct content assists with navigation and location of desired info. However, as a PNG, class text is not embedded, so searching or copying/pasting is unavailable.

Concept: “A Cy_Borg zine featuring: D12 Cybertech from Nueuropa [...] D6 Legends of Cy [... and] Street Cred - A New Mechanic.”

Content: Options for gear, NPCs, and a ‘street cred’ reputation tracker that can add extra dimensions to a game.

Writing: Four pages of enticing tables filled with flavorful descriptions and mechanics that reflect strange, horrifying, and completely appropriate events and circumstances.

Art/Design: Four two-page spreads each have a distinct focus and color scheme that extends from one to the next, from a stark red/black/white to a neon purple/blue.

Usability: Language is direct and straightforward in describing and explaining each subject, with each table making use of a consistent visual grammar to help with navigation. However, text is not embedded, so no searching or copying/pasting is possible.

Concept: “This Zine features 66 different locations (not 36, not d66, not 100, not 1, but 66) all across the CY, split into 11 different categories to aid all of your different encounters. Each has a description that encapsulates most things about it & a name (ex:  HOLE IN THE OCEAN ). Every location (be it a club, a market or an industrial harbor) has a suggested "theme", a song which the G-man thought would fit perfectly to set the mood during gameplay.”

Content: A collection of location descriptions–fixer spots, combat clubs, industrial megaplexes, and more–that add a wide variety of flavors to the CY cityscape.

Writing: Each location writeup is a single paragraph of intensely atmospheric color that focuses as much on the essential being/purpose of each place as on physical description/explanation.

Art/Design: Three versions are provided: a dark themed “printer killer” version, a light themed “ink vegan” version, and a plain text version. For the first two versions, each page displays a similar-but-distinct aesthetic to present the relevant list items over a background image that illustrates that list’s focus.

Usability: Distinct headings are provided on each page, and the body text is mostly high-contrast with the background image color, although there are some areas where the text may be difficult to read due to color choices and/or busy graphic elements (which sometimes is clearly intentional). The plain text version has helpfully noted breaks for each list/page.