Brett Austin

The original Cyberpunk roleplaying game was released in 1988, in a small box with three little stapled black booklets making up a minimalist and DIY feel. By 1990, the much more widely played and supported “Cyberpunk 2020” had been released in a slick, single volume. In many ways, this mirrors the progression of original D&D from its 3 booklet 1974 release to later editions that altered and “filled in” the game, making it more accessible, but also changing some elements in significant ways. This week I made a DIY box set of the original Cyberpunk game and have begun exploring it. The deadliness (even more so than 2020!), the low-power grit, and the blank spaces left to the player and ref evoke a similar feeling of excitement that coming back to the original edition of Dungeons and Dragons produced for me. Some things are always lost for me in later editions of games - maybe it’s the lightning in a bottle feeling, the excitement and amateur recklessness of the creators bleeding through their first iteration. It doesn’t mean original editions are always “the best,” only that they come with their own distinct vibe and freedom of interpretation that I find appealing.