Contortionist is a better skill once you remember that much of Cyberpunk runs on movie logic, so a lot of buildings will have movie style air vents that someone with good contortion can squeeze through and make it around the rest of the building.
Can also just work as a way to sneak someone in as part of a larger plan - think that time in Brooklyn 99 where they had to break into the FBI and they snuck Rosa in with a mail cart.
Also the classic movie "I'm flexible enough to slip the cuff/ropes in front of me from under my legs then can pop my wrist and thumb out of their sockets and slip the cuffs/rope ."
It hasn't come up in my campaign, but I could see Contortionist being used to escape some form of bondage. For example, getting out of handcuffs, ropes, or zip ties binding the character.
Night Club with loud music and tight crowds, a common occurrence in Cyberpunk. Lip Reading to understand what people are saying even when standing next to you, Contortionist to move through the crowd without being slowed down, probably add Dance in there as well at least complementary to each other.
Concentration is also clearly used to resist fear and ignore forms of stress/duress; consider that it is the skill tapped to resist Suppressive Fire for example. GMs can and should use Concentration checks to have players not take the -2 Extreme Stress penalty in certain situations (such as being on fire, being suppressed, being surrounded or in another tactically disastrous situation, etc), and to avoid being intimidated/giving into panic or even resist psychological trauma/humanity loss. It can also provide complimentary bonuses to most skill checks by having the character focus on the task at hand, or employ some mind over body mojo to help resist torture, pain, bodily stresses, and so on.
I like Conceal/Reveal for cheating at cards and as my Solo is a geek who does Prestidigitation (woo I never thought I’d ever be able to use that word!!)
@@MlSTERTORGUE I’m just glad I was able to use it!🤣🤣 I get funny looks when I use big words down the pub🍻🍻 I may lose my “Working Class Hero Card” just for using it!
Contortions has more uses i belive then just being able yo squuze into small spaces.. what about a Clinch tries to put you out by armlocking you for example. Someone with high Contorsion would be more easily able to slip out of that because he isnt paralyzed by Pain
Enjoyed this video. Good to see advice from a seasoned Cyberpunk GM talk about how they use the skills in game. One thing I feel like the Red book lacks for someone like me who is new to the game is examples in the GM section of how to utilise them within the context of the game and setting that Cyberpunk is.
@@gulliverthegullible6667 yeah for sure. Most well written rpg's these days give you guidance in the Gm section on how to use them in games via the context of the game/setting or give more detail in the actual skill section.
@@NOopulence I gain a lot of understanding of rules with examples. RED has a serious deficit in this regard, not only in the GM section. Would have been good for combat and netrunning as well. Instead they repeated some weapon and equipment tables three times.
Eyyy noice! Good series to start :D Now to meticulously go over how you use skills for our games >:3 For Skills, you could label them like this: Everyday: A skill that basically everyone has at least some know how in and is used nearly everyday. Common: A common skill that a lot of people may have and know how to use, but not everyone. Uncommon: A skill that the normal folk dont usually possess but may be more common for specific jobs or ways of life. Specialized: A skill that only those who spent time and effort to learn usually know. Normal folk may have heard of the skill or know of it but damned if they know how to actually use it.
I'm just now approaching this game and I'm baffled by the plethora of skills. There are many of them that I feel could have been squished into one single skill instead of going so specific.
I really love cyberpunk i think its my favorite system. Im a writer and the types of stories i tell are very character focused and brutal. Its hard to do that with other systems but with cyberpunk its exactly everything i like. Also still sick getting more sick so ive been binging your videos to make the best game i can for my players!
hello from Argentina! I started directing the game recently, it's my first time with cyberpunk, but not my first game within the genre. Happened that the players were observing from a high position a group of unaware enemies that they had to defeat. One of the players used his very heavy pistol (Malorian Arms 3516, a classic) and shot a goon below him. The attack roll on the unaware enemy was successful and the dice roll was accompanied by a serious injury. I decided to make it lose 1d6 humanity because it was downright goory and brutal. But I asked for a concentration roll (stay focused on the task at hand) to avoid it, my justification at the time was that "this is part of the job, it's too late to back down". What do you think? PD: sorry for my English, it's not my first lenguage (only had 2 ranks in it xD)
As a Ref coming from a different system i struggle the most with things like lying, jokes And education in general.. Lying could be conversation or persuasion vs human perception i guess..
@@JonJonTheWise no worries Jon, I found an extension that does subtitles better than youtube :) I'm deaf, so this is a constant struggle, part 2 of this vid had better subs :)
@@silkaverage okay I'm glad to hear that you were able to find a better solution. Again I'm truly sorry that I can't provide better accessibility. Do you mind sharing the extension that you used? I would love to pass it along to people in the future. Thank you so much
I've used losing Humanity as a thing my players take for solving stuff brutally. They come from a Space faring team of engineers and pilots of course they are affected when they burn a container with evidence and 2 dead goons inside! (1d6 btw) I don't use anything to prevent it since it's based on their background and they can always roll low.
which page in the rulebook is that mentioned? I think I have missed that. My players will hate it because they want to have as much cyberware as possible. I like the idea of punishing players for being overly brutal. Then again, my cyberpunk world has a crossover with the Chtullhu mythos, so the humanity loss could become a bit excessive.
![Twenty One Pilots - “The Line” (from Arcane Season 2) [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/E2Rj2gQAyPA/mqdefault.jpg)
Contortionist is a better skill once you remember that much of Cyberpunk runs on movie logic, so a lot of buildings will have movie style air vents that someone with good contortion can squeeze through and make it around the rest of the building.
I played a contortionist assasin. It came on handy in both my games for specifically the reason you mentioned.
Can also just work as a way to sneak someone in as part of a larger plan - think that time in Brooklyn 99 where they had to break into the FBI and they snuck Rosa in with a mail cart.
Crawl through some vents ... sneak around ... do a Die Hard.
Que the Cathrine Zeta Jones laser butt show gif
Also the classic movie "I'm flexible enough to slip the cuff/ropes in front of me from under my legs then can pop my wrist and thumb out of their sockets and slip the cuffs/rope ."
It hasn't come up in my campaign, but I could see Contortionist being used to escape some form of bondage. For example, getting out of handcuffs, ropes, or zip ties binding the character.
Great idea!
@@JonJonTheWise this is what I was going to say. The clear use of contortionist is escaping handcuffs, shackles, ropes, etc.
Contortionist skill is like when Perkins dislocated her hand to escape her restraints in the first John wick movie.
Night Club with loud music and tight crowds, a common occurrence in Cyberpunk. Lip Reading to understand what people are saying even when standing next to you, Contortionist to move through the crowd without being slowed down, probably add Dance in there as well at least complementary to each other.
Concentration is also clearly used to resist fear and ignore forms of stress/duress; consider that it is the skill tapped to resist Suppressive Fire for example. GMs can and should use Concentration checks to have players not take the -2 Extreme Stress penalty in certain situations (such as being on fire, being suppressed, being surrounded or in another tactically disastrous situation, etc), and to avoid being intimidated/giving into panic or even resist psychological trauma/humanity loss. It can also provide complimentary bonuses to most skill checks by having the character focus on the task at hand, or employ some mind over body mojo to help resist torture, pain, bodily stresses, and so on.
I like Conceal/Reveal for cheating at cards and as my Solo is a geek who does Prestidigitation (woo I never thought I’d ever be able to use that word!!)
Great idea!
As an avid D&D player youd be surprised how often Prestidigitation gets said XD
@@MlSTERTORGUE I’m just glad I was able to use it!🤣🤣 I get funny looks when I use big words down the pub🍻🍻 I may lose my “Working Class Hero Card” just for using it!
Perception’s description literally mentions spotting traps, something that I would very reasonably rule is hidden by conceal reveal
Contortions has more uses i belive then just being able yo squuze into small spaces.. what about a Clinch tries to put you out by armlocking you for example. Someone with high Contorsion would be more easily able to slip out of that because he isnt paralyzed by Pain
I use Endurance a lot for when my players are doing something when they should be resting, because they just can't sit down and rest
my players have to take an endurance test every time they have sex. Unfortunately, they fumble a lot.
Enjoyed this video. Good to see advice from a seasoned Cyberpunk GM talk about how they use the skills in game. One thing I feel like the Red book lacks for someone like me who is new to the game is examples in the GM section of how to utilise them within the context of the game and setting that Cyberpunk is.
the lack of examples is truly disappointing in that book.
@@gulliverthegullible6667 yeah for sure. Most well written rpg's these days give you guidance in the Gm section on how to use them in games via the context of the game/setting or give more detail in the actual skill section.
@@NOopulence I gain a lot of understanding of rules with examples. RED has a serious deficit in this regard, not only in the GM section. Would have been good for combat and netrunning as well. Instead they repeated some weapon and equipment tables three times.
Eyyy noice!
Good series to start :D
Now to meticulously go over how you use skills for our games >:3
For Skills, you could label them like this:
Everyday: A skill that basically everyone has at least some know how in and is used nearly everyday.
Common: A common skill that a lot of people may have and know how to use, but not everyone.
Uncommon: A skill that the normal folk dont usually possess but may be more common for specific jobs or ways of life.
Specialized: A skill that only those who spent time and effort to learn usually know. Normal folk may have heard of the skill or know of it but damned if they know how to actually use it.
I assumed that skills like "Contortionist" are great for complementary check, Contortionist + Atlethics/ Evasion.
I love how this video is basically a thinly disguised tier list of the skills
I'm just now approaching this game and I'm baffled by the plethora of skills. There are many of them that I feel could have been squished into one single skill instead of going so specific.
I really love cyberpunk i think its my favorite system. Im a writer and the types of stories i tell are very character focused and brutal. Its hard to do that with other systems but with cyberpunk its exactly everything i like. Also still sick getting more sick so ive been binging your videos to make the best game i can for my players!
hello from Argentina! I started directing the game recently, it's my first time with cyberpunk, but not my first game within the genre. Happened that the players were observing from a high position a group of unaware enemies that they had to defeat. One of the players used his very heavy pistol (Malorian Arms 3516, a classic) and shot a goon below him. The attack roll on the unaware enemy was successful and the dice roll was accompanied by a serious injury. I decided to make it lose 1d6 humanity because it was downright goory and brutal. But I asked for a concentration roll (stay focused on the task at hand) to avoid it, my justification at the time was that "this is part of the job, it's too late to back down". What do you think?
PD: sorry for my English, it's not my first lenguage (only had 2 ranks in it xD)
That’s great! And your English is great too. You added to the story. Your head is in the right place. Happy gaming !
Your awesome dude and I'm big fan of cyberpunk
Thank you for all this
Im going to make sure to use all the under utilize skills in my cyberpunk session.
Dance is the skill to hit that Yoinky Sploinky
thanks choom
As a Ref coming from a different system i struggle the most with things like lying, jokes And education in general..
Lying could be conversation or persuasion vs human perception i guess..
Our old system had us all running Humor with everyone having to laugh/ignore a joke should you fail :D
I was thinking a rocker boy, that is a pro dancer as opposed to a singer would be interesting.
man, youtube subtitles are terrible, any chance of putting correct subtitles up instead of auto translate?
Unfortunately I have no time to do that, nor do I make enough money to hire someone for that task. I'm truly sorry. Maybe in the future
@@JonJonTheWise no worries Jon, I found an extension that does subtitles better than youtube :) I'm deaf, so this is a constant struggle, part 2 of this vid had better subs :)
@@silkaverage okay I'm glad to hear that you were able to find a better solution. Again I'm truly sorry that I can't provide better accessibility. Do you mind sharing the extension that you used? I would love to pass it along to people in the future. Thank you so much
I've used losing Humanity as a thing my players take for solving stuff brutally. They come from a Space faring team of engineers and pilots of course they are affected when they burn a container with evidence and 2 dead goons inside! (1d6 btw)
I don't use anything to prevent it since it's based on their background and they can always roll low.
which page in the rulebook is that mentioned? I think I have missed that. My players will hate it because they want to have as much cyberware as possible. I like the idea of punishing players for being overly brutal. Then again, my cyberpunk world has a crossover with the Chtullhu mythos, so the humanity loss could become a bit excessive.
Any plans for part 2?
yes for sure, i'll have it out soon.
@@JonJonTheWise yes!