Atomik CyberTek

Game: Atomik CyberTek
Publisher: Atomik Vortex Studio
Series: generic
Reviewer: Wyrdmaster
Review Dated: 7th, February 2003
Reviewer’s Rating: 8/10   [ Really good ]
Total Score: 8
Average Score: 8.00

Atomik CyberTek is an Add-On. In order to really use Atomik CyberTek you’ll need to download a copy of Atomik Add-On Booklet but that’s free and easy so there’s no cause to pout here. The Add-On Booklet explains how the generic add-ons work but the best summary and pitch for the idea comes from the introductory paragraph from Atomik CyberTek. “If you play ‘Wizards and Towers’, but then decide to change to ‘Knights and Castles’ you don’t have to discard any Atomik Vortex Add-On book that you have purchased.” I don’t think you’re likely to be playing with Wizards or Knights for CyberTek but whether you’re moving from Cyberpunk to StarTrek™ or to GURPS Steampunk, you’ll not need to discard this add-on; its good for them all. Common sense applies, download the free Add-On Booklet first and make sure it’s talking your kind of talk.

The product might be about CyberTek but it’s not Tek-porn. Never heard that expression? I’d better explain. If you like to ogle painstakingly illustrated and thoughtfully designed futuristic weapons then Atomik CyberTek is not for you.

If you like to lose yourself in brooding Noir Tech illustrations or violent Cyberpunk landscapes then Atomik CyberTek is not for you. There are no illustrations in the product at all. This isn’t a fatal flaw, it means the download downloads more quickly, it’s easy to scroll and easy to print out. I feel with PDFs that products without illustrations can become a sear of text, especially if you read it on-screen but much of Atomik CyberTek is small paragraphs of Tech descriptions and these bite-sized chunks help avoid this problem. There are no bookmarks in the PDF and so it is just as well it is an easy scroll.

After just read through a few Atomik Vortex products I’m completely won over by the intelligent tone of voice and discussion. I’m sure this is just the natural writing style of Atomik Vortex but it suits the likely-to-be experienced gamers who’ll be buying the products. Atomik CyberTek isn’t an exception to the rule.

The add-on begins with a well-written tour of various Tech genres; Metal Tech (the traditional cyberpunk), Bio Tech, Noir Tech, Chic Tech, Steam Tech and Super Tech. If you’re not familiar with all the different types of tech then you’ll benefit not only from Atomik CyberTek’s clear descriptions of the genre but examples of books and movies in the genre too. Each of the different styles of Tech place different emphasis on different aspects of the super genre too; Chic Tech, for example, isn’t about the loss of humanity in the same way Metal Tech is and so in the Chic Tech section its suggested that the humanity loss for each item is reduced by one level.

It also gives the appropriate technology levels, how advanced technology is, for Chic Tech items and a cost modifier too. In some of the sub-genres cybernetic enhancements are commonplace so items can be cheaper.

Technology levels. Hmm, yes, I remember such a mechanic from Atomik Alienz. Add-Ons are supposed to be generic, able to be slotted into any gaming system and so I thought it important to check that two Add-Ons could be used together. Yes, the technology levels are exactly the same. In fact, checking both PDFs was being pedantic. The technology levels in Atomik CyberTek make use of how far advanced space travel is and how far advanced planetary colonisation is to describe and define the top categories. I much rather have the cut’n’paste job and absolute agreement than mutually exclusive add-ons.

There’s attention paid to the effect of installing tech into a body has on the humanity of the host. There’s equal attention paid to the actual business of installing the tech, the surgery times.

The list of CyberTek begins with the surgery items. Cosmetic Surgery. There are handy items like the subdermal watch to the exotic such as glowing tattoos and sex changes. NeoSkins is a list of entirely new skins for the players and NPCs. Take SpaceSkin, at low pressures it completely seals up and is good to have when caught in a vacuum as a result. The surgery required is critical and the effect on humanity severe. It costs 4VL. VL is an add-on mechanic designed to express the generic price range. We know it’s cheaper than the 5VL DuraSkin but more expensive than the 3VL VideoSkin.

The natural progression is onto Cyber Limbs. This is a long chapter divided into sub-categories. After offering up some uber-cyber limbs – whole legs, for example – it narrows down to offer smaller components such as hands, arms, fingers, legs and feet. The items are kept on the basic inspirational level here, there’s an Auto-Holster as a Cyber Leg option but there’s no such thing as a MakkoTech Auto-Holster and then a rival CheapoTek Auto-Holster. Atomik CyberTek keeps it (needs to keep it) on a higher level than nitty-gritty differences between versions.

Bionics are defined as cybernetics that modifies the way the body functions. Here you’ll find such things as muscle grafts, organ replacements and subdermal armour. It quickly leads onto the scary idea of bionic weapons; arm spikes and finger razors.

Super Tech covers the far future genre and so it is not a surprise to see Atomik CyberTek has them in a section of their own. We’re talking about implanted force shields at this level of tech, internal teleportation devices and holo-projectors.

There’s still half the product to go at this point. The chapter on sensors and communication tech is seven pages long and split into as many sub-sections. Neurotronics, chips wired into the brain, is eight pages long and again blessed with any many sub-sections. I’m not sure I could think of eight types of neuro-chips off the top of my head let alone eight pages of them.

When we reach the biotechnology chapter there’s a break from the shopping list. Once again Atomik Vortex offers up an intelligent discussion on the subject. There’s everything from mind cloning to “genie” characters, genetically engineered characters.

For the genie characters, we’re given a set of templates and they’ll call out to the furry fans. The Felina Series template, for example, is for clones enhanced with feline genes. Using the generic add-on rule mechanics we can see that such clones would have better dexterity (+2 dexterity checks) than the base race from which the clone was made. You could have dwarf felina series if you wanted, it might be silly but you could do it. You don’t have to go for fully-fledged cloning to use biotech though, you can improve and enhance with and so this large chapter takes us to the end of the product. The last two sections in the biotechnology chapter cover nanotechnology and viral enhancements.

If you don’t like the add-on system you won’t like Atomik CyberTek. That would be a shame because I think it works rather well. Atomik CyberTek is a good product, it does what it says on the tin and gives you pages and pages of all sorts of cyber tech that can be added into almost any game. I’d like to see Atomik Vortex making better use of the electronic media though, bookmarks, at least and perhaps getting into the messy business of illustrations too. Illustrations, if done correctly, would mean two versions of each add-on, one with the pictures and one without. Still, these are still early days for the company but they seem to be pointing at a bright future.