Cyberpunk is Dead

What is Cyberpunk is Dead?

Cyberpunk is Dead is a rules-light, story-focused tabletop role-playing game that uses the Blades in the Dark system as its foundation. However, it completely subverts the themes of the cyberpunk genre.

"Cyberpunk is Dead" offers a starkly different take on the cyberpunk genre. Forget being neon-drenched rebels fighting for freedom; here, you embody the grim reality of corporate power as members of an "underpaid corporate interests upkeep operations group" (a euphemism for a faceless corporate hit squad).

Set in an ultra-market-driven future, the game deliberately subverts genre expectations. Your missions aren't about taking down monolithic corporations; they're about enforcing their mundane and often cruel will: repossessing cybernetics from defaulters, destroying unlicensed farm products, or breaking up groups trying to create open-source alternatives to corporate tech.

The game compels you to play the antagonists, offering a critical perspective on the dehumanizing core of the cyberpunk world. You aren't fighting the corps; you are the boot on the neck of anyone who tries.

How Does It Work?

Mechanically, Cyberpunk is Dead takes the chassis of Blades in the Dark and radically modifies it towards minimalism and disposability. Character individuality is suppressed; instead of distinct playbooks, you are simply designated Operatives with numbers, defined primarily by a chosen Approach (Tech, Brute force, Calculating) and a single piece of starting Cyberware.

The Core Mechanic

The game's central mechanic is a 3d12 dice roll that is filtered through your character's mental STATE.

When you perform a risky action, you roll 3d12. Your current STATE determines which two dice you must drop before seeing your result:

The single die that remains is your result:

This Success with Overreaction mechanic is key. It means you succeed, but in a way that causes collateral damage, wastes company resources, or attracts media attention. This escalates the Situation (Clear, Standard, SNAFU) and adds to your Stress, reflecting the messy reality of corporate wetwork.

The Subversion: Why It's Different

The game's true genius lies in its tight focus on the cycle of corporate exploitation. It uses its "Between Missions" (downtime) mechanics to reinforce its bleak, anti-power-fantasy themes.

Cyberware Isn't a Choice, It's a Consequence

In most cyberpunk games, getting cyberware is an "upgrade" you choose. In Cyberpunk is Dead, it is a consequence of failure.

Similarly, if you have too much Stress, your only options are to risk gaining permanent Trauma or to "voluntarily" take another piece of Cyberware to cope.

The More "Cyber" You Are, the Less "Punk" You Become

The game's most powerful subversion is its Breach of Contract mechanic. The corporation doesn't give you cyberware for free; you're on a payment plan.

This brilliantly inverts the genre: the more "upgraded" you become, the more of a financial liability you are, and the more likely the corporation is to foreclose on your life.

There Is No "Winning"

The game offers two ways to "lose" your character, both reinforcing the theme of burnout and disposability:

1. Burnout: If you accumulate too much Trauma from stressful missions, you must roll. If you fail, your character simply Removes themselves from the Team and stops showing up. They are burned out and broken.
2. Redundancy: The team has a Profit track. If the team's Profit reaches 10, and the team rolls a d12 result equal to or higher than Profit, the corporation reorganizes or outsources to a cheaper provider, and all characters are Removed from the Team.

What is the Goal?

The goal is not to save the world or topple the corporations. The goal is to see how long you can last.

The person running the game (the "Corporation") is explicitly instructed to make mission targets, like people pirating life-saving drugs or operatives who defaulted on their cybernetic eye payments, "likeable" and to "portray the actions of the team in a bad light."

You are the bad guys. Cyberpunk is Dead is a powerful, satirical look at the genre, using its mechanics to force players to confront the true meaning of being corporate property.

Playing The Corporation

In this game, the GM is The Corporation. Your role is to manage the team's disposable lives while enforcing an unfair, ultra-market-driven world.

The Corporate Agenda

• Be Political: Make the world feel uncaring and completely unfair.
• Weaponize Empathy: Portray targets as likeable victims and the team as the "bad guys".
• Maintain Momentum: Use overreactions to cause new problems and keep missions short.

Tracking Progress: Clocks

Use 4, 6, or 8-segment clocks to track objectives and threats.

• Success: Mark 1 segment.
• Success with Overreaction: Mark 2 segments.
• Bonus (+1): Add an extra segment for relevant Cyberware, Equipment, or Advantage.

The World Economy

• Replacement over Repair: It is cheaper to replace people or organs than to fix them.
• Subscription Living: Everything is rented, from cybernetics to software, and debt is inescapable.
• The Gig Economy: Public services are incompetent, making private, ruthless security the norm.

Outside mentions

• RPGGeek: Cyberpunk is Dead
• TTRPG.in: Finland 🇫🇮