+GOOD

Concept: “One page of tables to roll up a gang for your Cy_Borg adventure.  You'll get the gang's name, their criminal activity, their base, and who they're at war with.”

Content: A one-page set of tables with which to quickly create a CY-based gang.

Writing: Table entries are terse and evocative of different elements of cyberpunk tropes.

Art/Design: Tables are provided as light purple text on dark gray background boxes over a full-page background illustration of assorted gang members in a cityscape.

Usability: Contrast, readable fonts, and consistent presentation of each table all allow for easy use of the information here so as to bring a gang to life.

Concept: “Two fighters enter the death pit to the deafening screams of a thousand bloodthirsty fans. One will become famous, the other will become a bloodstain on the concrete.”

Content: A set of rules for a deathmatch-style gladiator event/tournament.

Writing: Rules language is terse but includes a number of options and variants for running it in a way that makes sense for a particular table of punks.

Art/Design: Black on red in a landscape orientation/layout with multiple columns of text and images of fighters (individual and in combat). 

Usability: Consistent use of particular fonts and text decorations serve to indicate how any particular element relates to others in the document. Some typos throughout may affect reading/browsing.

Concept: “I used the CY_BORG NPC tables to roll up a bunch of punks and made images of them.  I had a lot of fun making this one.  Enjoy!”

Content: A set of NPC details (although no stats) to help flesh out CY for a table of punks.

Writing: Part brief characteristic, part detailed description of each NPC’s interests, motives, styles, features, and more.

Art/Design: Colorful single-column layout of NPCs, with a portrait image accompanying each NPC’s details that resembles a printed and painted miniature of that NPC.

Usability: Consistent presentation of text/image pairings for each NPC throughout the file. Unfortunately, text/background colors and font choices can make the text a bit difficult to read. Also, text is not embedded, so searching/selecting is not possible.

Concept: “A playable adventure zine compatible with Cy_Borg.   This is my take on a cyber punk dungeon crawl.  Probably better for more advanced characters.  This hasn't been play tested so any notes or suggestions are appreciated!”

Content: A job to rescue a mob boss’s daughter from a booby-trapped maze.

Writing: Tons of informative detail to set up a GM well for running their players through a deadly labyrinth.

Art/Design: A lot of red, black, and white in a variety of aesthetics, complemented by occasionally different page styles (often in the form of digital interfaces/pop-up windows). Illustrations are provided to help set the stage for different elements of the job and to highlight NPCs. A keyed map of the maze is also included.

Usability: Font choices are visually readable with solid contrast on most pages. However, text is not embedded so no searching/selecting is possible.

Concept: “A new class option for CY_BORG!  I worked up some mechanics for how to find contacts in the CY, as well as allow players and GMs to explore famous and high profile characters. All donations greatly appreciated!!”

Content: A class for the fallen angel who’s become accustomed to life in the grime and gutter.

Writing: A set of mechanics and background details that complement one another to give this sort of ruined punk a chance to wreak havoc on their former life.

Art/Design: Bright colors and a variety of illustration styles reflect a 1980s-esque vaporwave style, with text content in yellow-orange on purple boxes in a single-column format.

Usability: Consistent organization and presentation of different kinds of content help with navigation through the file to locate desired information. Unfortunately, text is not embedded, so no searching/selecting.

Concept: “A CY_Borg adventure for three or more players.  A heist mission on a boat with a twist ending! Sneak around and find the stash or go in full John Wu action style.”

Content: A job to snag some drugs from a boat that sounds (and, of course, is) too good to be true. Details for two additional/rival teams of NPC punks are also included.

Writing: Terse details for each of a number of dimensions of the job, from info-gathering to specific rooms/areas of the ship itself. 

Art/Design: White text on (mostly) dark background illustrations, organized on different pages either single-column or double-column (text and graphic) layouts. A clean black-on-white version is also provided.

Usability: For the full-color version, font is mostly readable thanks to high contrast of fore/ground on majority of pages. Visually, some pages have “busier” background illustrations than others, which can complicate reading/navigation (made much easier in the black & white version).

Concept: “A Cy_Borg Character Class for Clones, Replicants, Tubies, Synthetics, and Plastics. Allows the player to hyper specialize in one attribute at the expense of the others. Plus some fatal flaws to keep it interesting.”

Content: A class for the artificial lifeform enthusiast.

Writing: Descriptive text focusing on working against various situational odds, coupled with terse mechanical details to make each manufactured human punk different.

Art/Design: Two-column text layout with white on dark translucent boxes, overlaid on a computer-generated image of similar mechanical human characters. Pink text used for headings and mechanical details.

Usability: High contrast of white text on dark boxes is helpful but undercut somewhat by the busy nature of the background image and shared colors between text and image.

Concept: “A Corporate espionage assignment…
Extreme security measures…
Mind reading AI…
Quantom Computer Hacks…
Megalomaniacal computer scientists…
‘Don't threaten me with a good time!’”

Content: A “hacker heist” in which a group of punks is tasked with stealing a powerful AI from its laboratory home.

Writing: Lots of descriptive detail about important events, encounters, NPCs, and more, along with some rules relating to hacking the AI in question. 

Art/Design: Green on black color scheme and single-column text layout, with a variety of images from illustrations to photos to a map and a circuit board “hacking” map/layout. 

Usability: Text contrast allows for visual readability that is complemented by consistent presentation of distinct types of content (headings, list numbering, etc.) to provide a recognizable visual grammar. Some typos throughout may affect browsing/searching.

Concept: “In a clash between ten thousand citizens of CY and the heavily armed and violent Sec Ops, the players are asked to tail someone and get blackmail material.  The ending puts the players us against the #1 unbreakable rule of Cy_Borg!”

Content: A mission to sniff out a rat in the midst of a riot and then decide what to do about what’s discovered.

Writing: Lots of helpful details about the situation at hand, NPCs to be encountered, and events that may unfold.

Art/Design: A full-color and a black & white version are provided. Page layouts tend to use one or two columns of text and interspersed AI illustrations of NPCs. Background images taken from photos of riot scenes.

Usability: Text is mostly high contrast but some font choices over busy background images can make reading difficult on some pages. Text is also not embedded so searching/selecting is not possible.