There are lots of ways to play a game in the cyberpunk genre, with the crew model being the most common and well known. But what if you want to try something different? Something with more of a theme? Well, time to dive into that, with Going Corporate!
Background
Games in the cyberpunk genre, notably Cyberpunk RED and Shadowrun, have always included a corporate role or archetype. And in the broad genre, they seem like an NPC template more than something a player would actually choose. But in reality, like cops and media/reporter type roles and archetypes, they’re actually a key to unlocking a different style of game. The corporate world of a cyberpunk setting is more akin to a medieval or shogunate era political arena than an actual functional body of corporate governance and operation. It’s American Psycho and Wolf of Wall Street meeting Nobunaga’s Ambition. And it’s a whole campaign style of its own.
Going Corporate
There’s a few ways to do this, but these two methods are the most common in my experience.
First there’s the corporate main character. And yes, you heard me, main character. In this entry to the world of corporate adventures and intrigues, the corpo is the main driver of things. Their goals, their needs, their end game is what’s driving the plot and the missions. I only recommend this method to groups that have a strong narrative game background, where the GM can balance keeping the other players engaged and interested. There’s a lot of potential in these kinds of games, but they can be difficult to manage.
The other is the task force approach. Now, this can have overlap with the approach above, but it’s different in that the characters are a specific task force that’s been assembled by a corporate entity, and their corpo has been assigned to them, not as the main character, but as a liaison between them and the proverbial mother ship. This kind of game tends to stay in the trenches of the corporate world, with limited upwards mobility but a huge amount of politics and decisions that have to be made on the fly in the field.
Narratives in the Corporate Campaign
This is where things get interesting, because working for a corporate power in a cyberpunk setting =/= being loyal to them or even wanting to ensure their best interests are upheld.
One narrative is Playing it Straight. The characters are supporters (at least initially) of their corporate boss. They believe in the mission, and that through hard work and good performance reviews, that they can move up in the structure. And here’s the thing. It’s possible. Cyberpunk genre corporations are evil, nepotistic, classist, and not infrequently racist messes, but game recognizes game and characters that are useful, loyal, and that make the right connections can actually move up in the world. There’s also potential for betrayal and revenge arcs in here, and not a small amount of medieval style politics to secure alliances and support. It should be stated though that this is very much the cyberpunk genre’s equivalent to an Evil Alignment Game.
A popular narrative for these campaigns is the Insider Threat. This is where the bulk of the player characters, and possibly some of the NPCs they interact with, are trying to bring the system down from the inside. The supporting cast in these games tends to be larger and more diverse, including media contacts to drop info to, hackers, and even rival corporate groups. In my experience, this is a good campaign type for the players to really fill out their character’s backgrounds to outline why they’re willing to put themselves at risk taking these actions, what brought them together, and how they’re hiding their real motives and opinions. These campaigns are a lot of fun, and the backstabbing nature of them makes the social interactions so much more deep.
The last type of game I’ll cover is the Start Up Protocols campaign. This one actually takes the focus off the corpo character (if even present!) and places the characters as the team behind a plucky new start up. They have an idea, they’ve managed to get it through the labyrinth of government and legal bureaucracy, and now they’re setting up their own company. Except people want what they have. They want the plans, prototypes, working models, researchers, and thumb scans from every employee. This campaign puts the characters on the defensive initially, but ultimately could see them go on the offense as well.
Why Go Corporate?
To be honest? It’s a change of pace and it opens up the narrative potential of the genre. Cyberpunk is a genre that has suffered from the hyper focus of its baseline media content, at least in my opinion. There’s more possible than just being a bunch of mercenaries for hire, and an easy way to explore this is through a corporate lens. For more narrative and social aspect oriented tables, the corporate game offers the high level intrigue, politics, and alliance structures that the baseline game only briefly brushes against. For the more tactical groups, it gives a nice combination of offensive and defensive operations to get into, as they have external ops that are familiar to anyone who’s played a regular game, and internal ops where they’re the defense against hostile externals. And as seen above, it’s not always about toeing the corporate line.
Another reason is that the table gets to explore “how the other side lives”. Cyberpunk is a genre noted for its socioeconomic disparity and the grime of living at street level. The corporate campaign juxtaposes realities in ways a normal game can’t because the exposure is reversed. The characters live relatively comfortably, if not well, and then descend to the grime before returning. Toss in some commentary from NPCs about it all and you have a very real chance to do some actual social examination in game.
Final Thoughts
This is the first in a series of articles I’m writing that look specifically at gaming in the cyberpunk genre outside the regular bounds. Going Corporate is a good entry point, since it’s the adjacent narrative structure that’s the most familiar in the genre. After all, in media we get to see the machinations of supervisors, managers, VPs, and CEOs while the main characters go about their business, so we have an idea about things for them. Also, this type of campaign is a good way to explore how to resist or aid resistance from the inside. So, yeah! Try a corporate game and see how it goes!
