Cyberpunk Legends

Cyberpunk Legends Rulebook

Table of Contents

Beginnings

The outskirts of Night City, a pawn shop. You've come to get ready, to tool up for your first time in the Night. As you're picking through old weapons and second-hand cyberdecks the Pawnbroker starts to speak...

Welcome to Night City, punk. What'd you come for? Wealth, power, thrills? Or were you just trying to get away from the hell that is the rest of the old U.S. of A? It doesn't matter. You won't last a minute if you don't know how this place operates. So let's start at the beginning...

Who Are You?

See those boxes with characters on the outside? Pick one. That's your new role. Everyone gets to reinvent themselves in Night City, so who will you be? Gonna be a Netrunner, hacking the virtual world? A Rocker sing-screaming the revolution to the masses? A Nomad just in from the wastes? Or maybe you're more of a Solo, running with more guns than you know what to do with? (Actually, exactly as many guns as you know what to do with... but that's still a lot.)

Well, then grab one of those decks you found in the box. Pick one that appeals to you and start from there—though if you really hate what you find you can always pick again.

Got your deck? Great. That's you. Everything about you is represented by that deck. Together the deck makes an aggregate whole that is "you". Over time, you'll grow, evolve, become a... well, I won't say a better person... but you will change up your deck and decide who you want to become.

Not sure what I mean? Don't worry about it, it'll all make sense later. For right now, let me tell you about The Run.

The Run

Coming into my shop, gearing up like you are, you're not just here to be tourists and you don't look like you're looking to settle in and sing the corporate anthems. So you're here for biz, for the sharp edge of Night City. That means you'll be doing runs. You'll be working together to make some eddies doing complex, dangerous... and dubiously legal... jobs.

Setup for each run is easy. Simply place your Player Decks in front of you, put the Scenario Deck for the run you're doing in the center of the table, choose someone to start with the Leader Token and keep your damage counters handy. Then shuffle your Player Decks and draw five cards...

DO NOT SHUFFLE YOUR SCENARIO DECK. I'll repeat that because you have no idea how many gonks don't listen the first time. DO NOT SHUFFLE YOUR SCENARIO DECK!!

Ok, now that that's out of the way, your goal in each run will be, as a team, to get all the way through the Scenario Deck. How do you do that? Well if you remember one thing I'm telling ya, let it be this...

The Cardinal Rule of Cyberpunk Legends is:

Whoever has the Leader Token flips the top card of the Scenario Deck and reads it aloud to the team. Once you've read all the text on a Scenario Card and completed all the instructions on it, put it in the discard and flip the next card. Unless it's an Obstacle, in which case, after you've overcome the Obstacle, you pass the Leader Token clockwise and the new leader draws the next card.

Now sometimes a card will tell you to do something like, "Discard the next card without looking at it." This is part of the instructions on the card and so gets completed before your fearless leader gets to flip it. So, in the case of the example card (First Contact: "If you answered A: draw the next card. If you answered B: discard the next card without looking at it."), if you answered B you would discard the next card without looking at it, then immediately draw the following card because of The Cardinal Rule.

And that's it. Get to that sweet, last card in a Scenario Deck and you're out, you've successfully completed that run. But there's a lot that's going to get in your way...

Obstacles

Obstacles are things that you are going to have to hack, talk, or punch your way through to get closer to your goal.

Now if you'll direct your eyes to the eye-wateringly teal numbering in a mind-numbing corpo font you'll find (on an Obstacle card such as Bike Raiders):

The Damage an Obstacle deals at the end of every round if not cleared. Sometimes this is 0. If that's the case it probably does something that is explained in box 5 below.
The Obstacle's health (this isn't always health in a literal sense—it can be how hard something is to hack or how difficult it is to convince someone of something they might not be inclined to believe).
The name of the card.
The "To Hit" requirements for the Obstacle. When your Plan executes (which we'll get to in a moment) it doesn't deal any Damage unless you meet at least one of these requirements. In this case in order to deal Damage you'll need a numerical pair with at least one Muscle symbol in it or a straight or better in your Plan. (See page 8 for a breakdown of what all the "To Hit" symbols mean)
Flavor and Rules text. This doesn't do anything but you should probably read these aloud to the team. Every once and a while they might give you a hint at something later on. Rules text on the other hand, tells you any special rules you have to follow when facing the Obstacle... this you really better read aloud to the team.
The type of card.
The order number signifies where the card should be in the Scenario Deck. If you SHUFFLED THE SCENARIO DECK LIKE I TOLD YOU NOT TO, or you dropped it or you just want to play it again with a new set of friends, this number tells you how to put the Scenario Deck back together.

The Plan

If you wanna survive in Night City, you've got to work together. You're going to encounter a lot of Obstacles that will get in the way of you doing whatever hardscrabble biz keeps you in the scene and when that occurs, it's time for the Plan.

The Plan is what happens between that idea you had in your head of what was going to happen and what you can possibly pull together on the fly as it's all going down.

You ever play poker? Because putting together a Plan is sort of like making a poker hand as a group. In fact it's just like that.

Starting with whoever has the Leader Token and going clockwise, each member of your crew has to lay down one card until you hit the Plan Size - which by default is 5.
Once you hit the Plan Size you check if the Plan meets any of the "To Hit" requirements on the Obstacle.
If it does, you hit and apply any Damage in the Plan, otherwise the Plan fails to come together and is discarded without doing any Damage.

Once the Plan executes, if you hit, add up every point of Damage in the Plan, even if it's not part of the poker hand you're using to make the To Hit requirements. Put that much Damage on the Obstacle.

If the total number of Damage on an Obstacle equals or exceeds its health total, the Obstacle is cleared. Clean out the Plan by having each player put the cards they put into the Plan in their discard. Then every player may choose to discard as many cards as they want from their hand and draw back up to their hand size (by default 5).

Once this housekeeping is done, pass the Leader Token clockwise and have the new leader draw the next scenario card.

If the Obstacle is not cleared however, it deals its Damage to your crew and you resolve any "end of round" effects at the bottom of the card. Still alive? Great, discard all of the cards in the Plan—each player puts their cards in their own discard pile—then, after that, everyone may choose to discard up to one card from their hand and draw back up to their hand size (default 5). Once players have redrawn their hands, they start the next round, creating a new Plan and applying Damage in the same manner.

NOTE: Unless you clear an Obstacle, the Leader Token does not move. The Leader Token only moves when all Obstacles facing the crew have been cleared. This means the same person will start off every round against any given set of Obstacles.

Table Talk

There's one thing you really have to know about trying to plan in Night City: When the bullets are flying or the ICE has you in its grip, communication is... less than perfect.

So: when you're all trying to coordinate you can't say anything that's on the cards in your hand (no suits, numbers, card names or rules text).

It's Night City though, so get creative. Bend this rule as far as you can. You might even say something like, "I'm feeling regal today," to imply that you have a king or queen. As you get more familiar with the cards you might say, "Team, I think it's time for some heavy artillery," to (hopefully) let everyone know you're holding on to Big Guns. You just can't say anything that's actually on cards in your hand.

Player Cards

So what are these cards that you're playing from your hand? Player Cards. You'll use them to overcome all the Obstacles that stand between you and your goals here in Night City... or you won't, in which case you'll end up dead and I'll be selling your cyberware second-hand. So let's break down all the different bits you'll find on a Player Card so you understand how they fit into the Plan.

Direct your eyes back to the ocularly-blistering teal numbers and you'll find:

Card Ranks. These are just like the numbers on a normal set of playing cards except a card counts as each number on it, so a card showing 3 and 2 counts as both a 3 and 2 for the purposes of straights, pairs, etc.
Suits:
- Charisma
- Muscle
- Stealth
- Tech
These work just like suits in a normal deck of cards. You want a flush? You need five of one suit. Sometimes a card might have more than one symbol on it or might even provide more than one of the same symbol.

When it does, it provides all of those symbols. So in the case of Disarming Smile it provides Charisma, Muscle and Tech. If it had three Charisma symbols on it, it would instead provide three of the five Charisma symbols you need to make a flush (so yes, it's possible to make a flush with only two cards).
The name of the card. Enjoy finding inventive ways to talk around it without actually saying it to your fellow players.
The rules text. This section tells you how much damage a card does and provides you with any other instructions for what to do when you play it.

Timing, "Put" Cards and Immediate Damage

Alright, now you know how a Plan works, but you know what separates real edgerunners from flatlined gonks? Coordination and timing. So let me tell you how some of the subtler elements of Night City work.

Timing

Healing and Damage are calculated when the Plan executes, but everything else takes effect as soon as it enters the Plan. For example, Before the Night's effect ("Choose a player. That player draws 2 cards.") happens immediately because it's not Damage or healing.

This means that Guns, Lots of Guns' Damage ("+1 Damage for each Muscle symbol in the Plan.") will increase for every Muscle symbol played after it, because its Damage isn't calculated until the Plan executes.

Oh I'll give you a real subtle Nomad trick on the house, something I learned from a friend in the wastes. Any card that says "discard" can discard itself, because cards enter the Plan and then their effects occur.

So Trap and Trace ("You may discard a card from the Plan.") can clear itself right off the board. Remember how I said earlier that each member of the crew has to play a card when it's their turn? Well this is the only way to get around that rule because this lets you discard the card you just played, effectively letting you "pass". And since you discarded a card from the Plan and still get to play up to the Plan Size, one more member of your crew is going to get to go again. Just remember that if anything with an ongoing effect, like Plan Size +1, leaves the Plan you lose that effect immediately (and the Plan executes if this puts you at or over the Plan Size).

Put vs Play

When a card lets someone "put" a card into play it ignores all play requirements. That means it lets you go over the Plan Size and even lets you play cards you otherwise couldn't.

Second Story Work ("Draw a card. Discard that card or put it into the Plan. Plan Size +1 if you put it into the Plan this way.") will let you put Crimson Flags ("Can only be played if there are no other Tech symbols in the Plan. +3 Damage") into the Plan even though there's already a Tech symbol in it.

Immediate Damage

As soon as an Obstacle has been dealt Damage equal to or greater than its health it clears, so immediate Damage is the one case where you can end the Plan ahead of time. If you obliterate an Obstacle mid-Plan you just clean up what you've got and pass the leader token... and because healing happens when the Plan executes, if you're trying to heal up, immediate Damage may throw a wrench in your... plans.

(Example card: Malachias the Lost — "Discard any number of face cards (J,Q,K,A) from the Plan. Immediately deal 2 Damage for each card discarded this way.")

Nothing to Play?

In rare cases you might have your back against the wall and no outs left. Them's the breaks in Night City.

If you ever end up without any cards you can legitimately play and it's your turn to play something the Plan immediately executes. Check to see if you hit and do Damage as normal but no other players get to play anything this round.

Clues

Not everything in Night City is about smashing baddies or impressing the local script kiddies with your "1337" skills though. Sometimes you'll even need to think about things. And that's where Clues come in.

As you progress through each scenario an overarching story will unfold for you. Read carefully because there will often be hints regarding where to go next and what's going to help you survive when you get there. These are called Clue Cards. These are marked with a magnifying glass next to the icon so you don't toss them out like a dorphganger looking for a fix.

And while I said nothing lasts in Night City, that every time you're done with a Scenario Card you put it in the discard, Clues are the exception.

You'll want to set them aside and keep them handy as both pictures and the text may serve as hints for how to overcome some of the more... choice... moments you'll encounter, help you solve some of Night City's intractable puzzles and sometimes, just sometimes, if you really think them through, they'll lead you to opening new packs of skills.

Clues can be straightforward, cryptic, or downright puzzling. Don't worry though, you never have to solve the puzzles to progress. It's good to use your head but in Night City, there really is nothing you can't blast, talk or hack your way through... just know that doing so might come at a cost.

Persistent Memory

There are some things you'll always remember... or the city will. There's a space in the box labeled Persistent Memory. If you come across a Persistent Memory, slot it in there.

Just Don't Get Yourself Killed

Following a lead in Night City can often be a risky proposition. There are a lot of secrets here and some very unpleasant people who want to keep them buried. But you know what they say: "The greater the risk... the greater the chance you wind up gasping out your last breath in a nameless alley."

What I'm trying to say is, there are lots of ways to get dead. You can bleed out, you can fry your brain, or you can just lose whatever last vestiges of humanity you have left. Luckily for you, Trauma Team provides great medical attention. Unluckily for you, they're expensive.

At the beginning of each scenario, set your Health Die to your max health (Default 20. Healing can't take you over your max health.) Whenever something causes you to take Damage, reduce the Health Die accordingly. If it reaches zero your whole team has flatlined.

If You Flatline

Open Trauma Pack 1.

But let's say you don't screw up too bad and you even survive your first day in Night City, what then?

Adding Runners Later On

Speaking of flatlining: people come and go in Night City. Let's say you lose one of your crew and somebody new wants to join in while you're halfway through a job. Just add up the value of your gear and let them go shopping in the Upgrade Pool with the same amount of eddies the rest of your party has spent. This will make a lot more sense by the time it occurs.

Going it Alone

But sometimes you're light on crew. What do you do? Well, going solo in Night City is harder than being a Solo in a Netrunner bar, so if you're planning on going it alone you can hire a merc. Grab a second one of those Player Decks. They'll be coming with you. You're going to draw a hand for them and play their cards exactly like you do with your own, following the standard turn order as if there were two people playing.

The problem with mercs though is sometimes they don't listen very good. Sometimes they just rush in... So when you encounter an Obstacle, at the start of each round, put the top card of the merc's deck into the Plan before you play anything. Plan Size's still five though....

Starting a New Scenario

Once you have completed a scenario and added any rewards you received to your decks, you can start a new scenario. If you're in the middle of a campaign you'll usually just take the next number deck in that campaign. Other times – like when you're doing a one-off or when you complete a full Run – the world's your oyster and you can choose whatever you want.

Above All Else...

Anything I'm saying? None of it's more important than what's on the cards. If the rules on a card ever contradict something I've said here, what the card says always takes precedence.

The Last, Most Important, Bit

So that about wraps it up, I've just got one thing more to tell you before you go. If you ever...—what's that? oh shi.....

DUCK!

Choose who gets the Leader Token, draw five cards... and open Scenario Deck 1.

Symbol Glossary

There are a lot of symbols in Cyberpunk Legends. Not to worry though, we'll tell you what they all mean. Any new symbols that are introduced will be explained when they show up, but for all the starting symbols, look right here.

Damage: This indicates Damage done to the players. The number next to it tells you how much.
Obstacle Health: The number next to this symbol tells you an Obstacle's health.

Suits

Instead of spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs, we have: Tech, Charisma, Muscle, Stealth, and Any Suit.

To Hit Requirement Symbols

These symbols are found on Obstacles and are used to represent poker hands. These hands are the requirements a Plan must meet to deal Damage to the Obstacle with the matching hand symbol.

Pair: Two matching ranks.
Two Pair: Two pairs of different ranks.
Three of a Kind: Three matching ranks. Also counts as a single pair.
Straight: A run of five ranks in a row. Examples: 2,3,4,5,6 - 6,7,8,9,10 - 10,J,Q,K,A
Flush: Five of one suit. The To Hit Requirement will reflect what suit is required. (The example here uses the "any suit" symbol, meaning any suit works.)
Full House: A pair and a three of a kind.
Four of a Kind: Four matching ranks. Also counts as a three of a kind and a pair.

The poker hands above are listed in order from weakest to strongest. To see where this comes into play, see the "Or Better" section below.

Suit Requirements

Frequently, To Hit requirements will ask for specific suits within the required hand. The required suits will be attached to the side of the hand symbol. Each suit attached to a hand means you need one of that symbol in the required hand in order to hit.

Example: if a hand symbol has a Tech symbol and a Charisma symbol attached, the To Hit requirement is "one numerical pair with a Tech and a Charisma in it."

"Or Better"

Often a requirement will be followed by a plus symbol. When you encounter this, you may make either the hand represented by the symbol or any hand that is better than the listed hand. Remember: the poker hands are listed in order above from weakest to strongest.

Example: a Three of a Kind symbol followed by a plus can be read as three of a kind or better. This means that you can hit by making a three of kind or any better hand. A better hand could be a straight, a flush, a full house, or a four of a kind.

Term Glossary

Discard: When a card is discarded it is put into its relevant discard pile. So a Player Card would be placed into its player's personal discard pile, whereas a Scenario Card would be placed into the scenario discard. When a Player Card says to discard something it always means from your hand unless it specifically says "from the Plan".

Damage: Damage is how players reduce the health of Obstacles, and how Obstacles reduce the health of the players.

Draw: Draw a card from a deck. When a Scenario Card tells you to "draw the next card", it means the next card from the Scenario Deck. If it instead says "each player draws a card", each player should draw a card from their Player Decks. If a Player Card says a player "should draw cards", it always means they should draw cards from their Player Deck.

Executes: Executing is what the Plan does when it reaches its Plan Size (default 5), or if a player has no cards to play. When a Plan executes, players check to see if the Plan meets To Hit requirements. If it does, they deal their Damage to whatever Obstacles they hit. Then, if the Obstacle still has health, the Obstacle deals Damage to the players.

Hand (Poker Hand): "Hand" often refers to the different poker hands that can be made in the Plan. Specific hands are required by different Obstacles in order to meet their To Hit requirements. Poker hand symbols are defined in the "Symbol Glossary" and poker hands themself are defined in the Poker Hand Definitions section.

Hand Size: This is the amount of cards a player draws at the beginning of a scenario and how many cards they draw back up to each time a Plan executes (unless otherwise stated). You don't have to discard if you're over your hand size, you just don't get to draw new cards until you fall below your hand size.

Heal: Cards that say heal will restore the party's health by the listed amount. (Note: you cannot heal over your max health.)

Immediate Damage: Immediate Damage ignores To Hit requirements, and happens immediately (rather than waiting for the Plan to execute.)

Pair: Any time you've got two or more of a "rank" in the Plan you've got a pair. So for example 5,5 would be a pair or Q,Q would be a pair. But each pair has to be "numerically distinct", so if you have a 4,4,4 that counts as both a three of a kind and a pair of fours but not multiple pairs of fours.

Why does this matter? Suppose a card in the Plan says it deals extra damage for every pair you've made. A 4,4,4 would count as one "pair" for that purpose, even if you're counting it as a three of a kind for something else.

Three of a kinds, four of a kinds, etc. must also be "numerically distinct".

The Plan: The Plan is the series of cards created by players when facing an Obstacle. The default Plan Size is 5.

Plan Size: This is how many cards can be put into a Plan before it executes. The default Plan Size is 5. This can be expanded by Player Cards that say things like "Plan Size +1".

Player: If you're playing single player both you and your mercenary count as distinct players.

Put: If something instructs you to "put" a card into the Plan (as opposed to "playing" that card) it ignores all placement restrictions, including Plan Size. All the effects of a "put" card are resolved as normal, including effects that say "when played".

Replace: If a card asks you to Replace another card in the plan, discard the card that is being replaced and play (following the normal "play" rules) the replacing card.

Rank: Ranks are the numbers that appear on the side of Player Cards.

Suits: These are the colored, circular symbols that appear on player and obstacle cards.

To Hit: To Hit refers to the hand requirements that the Plan must meet in order for the players to deal Damage to an Obstacle.

Winning: Something that doesn't ever really happen in Night City...

Turn Order Quick Reference

Flip the top card of the Scenario Deck.
Read through it, follow any instructions on it.
- A. If it is an Obstacle:
  - Starting with the leader, each player plays one card from their hand to the Plan.
  - When the number of cards in the plan equals the Plan Size (default 5) execute the plan.
  - Put any Damage dealt on the Obstacle.
  - If the Damage equals or exceeds the health of the Obstacle, discard the Obstacle.
  - If any Obstacles survive, resolve their End of Round Effects then:
    - Each player may discard up to one card, then draw back up to their Hand Size (default 5).
    - Go back to A.
  - If all Obstacles are cleared, the Leader hands the Leader Token to the player to their left, players discard as many cards as they want and draw back up to their Hand Limit, then return to #1.
Return to #1.