While the gadgets and the gear are what makes Cyberpunk Red cool, what I love about my games are the characters. I love the classic tropes of calling in a favor from a friend, hitting up an old friend for information on your current job and even the sudden yet inevitable betrayal when the corporations corrupt them. A lot of world building happens in these conversations in dingy gun shops and virtual sex clubs. Sometimes it can be hard to come up with a colorful character on the spot and that’s where Danger Gal Dossier comes to the rescue. Designers J. Gray, James Hutt, Anne Morrison, Chris Spivey, David Ackerman, Frances Stewart, Kate Bullock, Linda M Evans, Malize Evans, Melissa Wong, Noura Ibrahim, Paris Arrowsmith, Steve Kenson,Trace Wilson,Tracie Hearne and Tsuneo Tateno have packed this book full of over one hundred NPCs to use as allies, enemies, rivals and lovers. R. Talsorian Games sent a copy fresh from Gen Con for my review. How do these characters line up? Let’s play to find out.
Danger Gal Dossier presents itself as a document from the titular corporation, a cat-themed group of edgerunners who are also a security firm in Night City. The characters are broken up into fifteen factions that appear all ofer the map in terms of cyberpunk adversaries. You’ve got the classic clown themes gang The Bozos, some examples of the NCPD, media reps from Network 54 and even the Danger Girls themselves. There’s even a space for some celebrity writeups here. Ever wanted stats for a true cyberpunk version of Matthew Lillard’s Hackers character? Cereal Killer lives, man! Characters are broken down into four broad categories: mook, lieutenant, mini-boss and boss, with some characters getting a hardened writeup that’s like a half step in between the power categories. The back of the book also has an index that breaks each character down by faction, build and role, so if you need to suddenly drop a fixer into a location you weren;t expecting your players to go, you can quickly find one.
Each character comes with a short flavorful write up to let them be used as is.The write ups also link to other members in the faction to provide story hooks as players get caught up in rivalries and agendas outside their own. I enjoyed each of the factions and how they add forces pushing within Night City doing their own thing.
These factions also provide a little bit of, dare I say it, corporate synergy, as these characters are also the ones featured in Cyberpunk Red: Combat Zone the new miniatures game from Monster Fight Club. You don’t need the minis game to be able to use this book for Cyberpunk Red but it is certainly useful for fans of both to get a little more information on their miniatures before they send them off to war.
The book also contains rules for making new NPCs. While I may never dig into these because it’s just easier for me to reskin one of the other NPCs in the book, they also seem like faster and cleaner guidelines for making player characters. I love the lifepaths and choosing templates but the speedy process here also appeals to folks who want to get playing without agonizing over point spends or buying gear.
Danger Gal Dossier offers plenty of meat for the Cyberpunk Red GM and might even tempt you to try out the minis game.
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