Hardwired Island, Cybernetic Revolution… In Space!

September 11, 2024

Hardwired island

Nostalgia for the 90s isn’t cool anymore, it’s all about nostalgia for the early 2000s. That’s why I propose we use clear plastic prosthetics, like those fake PS2/Wii controllers.

Touchstones: Bubblegum Crisis, 90s Cyberpunk Anime in general

Genre: Cyberpunk

What is this game?: Hardwired Island is a cyberpunk game about life as broke citizens in the first space station city on Earth

How is the gameplay?: Hardwired Island uses a 2d6+Bonus system, inspired by PBTA, but the game itself isn’t really that. Hardwired’s character creation is one of the big draws, it’s pretty simple but allows for a lot of different character concepts, you might be an android street fighter looking to join the big leagues or an ex-military drone operator looking to atone for your crimes, character creation works by choosing a background, profession and 2 traits, allowing for a lot of flexibility with your character! Backgrounds have various skills and determine your character’s skills (which you get to create yourself, so if you want your character to be really good at niche internet drama, you can!), professions give you powerful skills that make you really good at things other people are worse at, and traits are just random skills and events in your character’s history. The great thing about Hardwired is the financial shock system, when your character makes a big purchase, like a prosthetic for example, they might get more financial stress, which can lead to a crisis, where they might have to contact a friend to get a place to stay, or move back in with their parents, or make shady deals with the mafia, and so on. Hardwired’s mechanics are narrative-first, meaning they exist to create interesting drama for characters, and that makes it a really fun system to just make cool stories.

What is the setting (if any)?: Hardwired is set in the far future of 2020, in a giant space station city, where the rich prosper and the poor toil. Hardwired really loves the “boring dystopia” aspect, there is definitely interesting content! but players are supposed to be regular laymen trying their best to get by, this doesn’t mean their ADVENTURES have to be boring of course! a package delivery job might end up dealing with the strange Dreamers, bizarre AI with strange powers, or an investigation into an anonymous street performer might end up inciting a riot against a local bank, and so on!

What’s the tone?: Hardwired will try to crush your players, it’s not a nice world, there is kindness everywhere and good people can be found, but the world is overwhelmingly against you

Session duration: 1-2 hours is realistic enough

Number of players: I recommend taking 4-6 players!

Malleability: Hardwired’s mechanics are a bit rooted in the setting, but a savvy gamemaster could probably do something interesting with them. I’ve been working on a hack for my own cyberpunk setting, for example!

Resources: There is a Google Sheet available, and honestly that is all you need, it is not a very complex system. There are two or so expansions, one of which includes a playable cat cast!

So I’ve been a little hesitant to post this game because I know people have opinions about this game, but this game is awesome and I’m tired of pretending it isn’t. It’s definitely a must play for any cyberpunk fan, in my opinion