CBR+PNK
Plain Text Core Rules in English
v1.6 April 2024
CBR+PNK IS A FORGED IN THE DARK GAME FOR ONE-SHOT SESSIONS OF CINEMATIC CYBERPUNK ACTION.
PLAYER Characters (PCs) are RUNNERS—mercs, criminals, rebels, living on the edge and running in the shadows of a gritty, ultraviolent world. In each game they are brought to life as a team, ready to make huge compromises to score their Angle by going on one LAST /RUN.
Their fixer is known simply as OPERATOR, an anonymous flat voice over the comlink who sees them as nothing more than disposable assets.
The SPRAWL can be any overcrowded megacity consumed by high tech, class struggle, intrusive advertising, corporatocracy, poor quality automated services, climate crash, the futile search for humanity amongst all this, and so on.
The GRID is made up of servers across the globe through which data flows frantically. On the surface level are public records, media streams, everyday apps. Sensitive information is protected by ICP (Intrusion Countermeasure Protocols). Megacorps and obscenely wealthy individuals run their own private servers, accessed only from terminals inside well-secured facilities.
The GAME MODERATOR (GM) uses the game rules to establish a dynamic world around the PCs. They help organize the conversation so it’s pointed toward interesting elements of play.
This game touches sensitive topics like racial stigma, class segregation, large-scale disaster, violence and substance abuse. Because of that, it is intended for mature players, with mutual trust and safety tools in place (e.g. the X-card, Lines & Veils and Open Door).
This website provides the complete text of the game for reading and reference purposes only. It is not a System Reference Document (SRD) and does not grant permission to reproduce, adapt, redistribute, or create derivative works based on this content. If you wish to publish third-party material compatible with CBR+PNK, you must do so in accordance with the official CBR+PNK Compatibility License, available at: https://emanoelmelo.itch.io/cbrpnk-toolkit. Use of this website does not grant any license beyond those expressly provided in that document.
Get the boxed set at myth.works
Get the brochures in digital format at emanoelmelo.itch.io/cbrpnk-core
Download the Plain Text Core Rules as zipped PDFs
CBR+PNK created by EMANOEL MELO (cabinetofcuriosities.games) and published by MYTHWORKS (myth.works).
Version Editor: Helen Hey
Long-Shot (Campaign Mode) rules adapted from Sean Nitter’s Broken Spire campaign setting for Blades in the Dark.
This work is based on Blades in the Dark , product of One Seven Design, developed and authored by John Harper, and licensed for our use under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.