"The Big Short" and Cyberpunk XP

I just finished watching Adam McKay's The Big Short, which I hadn't seen before. It's pretty good; I thought it was way better than Vice or Anchorman.

There's a scene at the end where Steve Carell's character—Mark Baum, based on Steve Eisman—has this conversation:





For context, Baum & Co. have just successfully shorted the American housing market betting against bad debt—they thought that the market would crash, it did, and they all got rich.

It's a great scene; the whole movie, Baum is railing against Wall Street and its cronies for being stupid, corrupt, arrogant, greedy bastards. He—along with a few others—realize that the market is going to crash, and so they bet against it in a gigantic short (hence the movie's name) and then come out with truckloads of cash.

Throughout the movie, there's a sense that Baum is making money off of Wall Street, that he's ripping off the bankers. It's what makes the movie comedic, watching all of these characters realize that every stockbroker in the US is a moron, bet all of their stock on their beliefs, and then come out on top. On some level it's a heist movie, where instead of bank vaults and security cameras, it's housing data and S&P assessments. It's fun, it's awesome, it's good TV.

This scene, though, hammers home for the characters what the movie has been telling us, the audience, throughout, but has never quite seemed real for the characters: all this money isn't from Wall Street, it's from ordinary people. Subprime loans hurt the banks, yes, but more importantly, they hurt taxpayers, and that's before the bailout.

This is, I think, my issue with a lot of cyberpunk RPGs. I've been tinkering with one for a while now, and XP has been gnawing at me.

In almost all the cyberpunk games I've played, you play some manner of professional criminal, a small fish in a big world. The exact way you get there varies, but you'll almost always end up making money off of the megacorps: maybe they pay you for off-the-book jobs, maybe you're being paid by their contractors, maybe you're just stealing money from them directly. It's easy money in the corporate dystopia—there's no guilt to be felt, since you're stealing from the oppressors.

I'm sure you can see where this is going.

Except that isn't really true. If you broke in Jeff Bezos' house and stole $100 million in gold bars or whatever, you aren't really stealing from Jeff Bezos. Sure, you are, you had to sneak past his Amazon drones loaded with guns, but that isn't Jeff Bezos's money.

Capitalism is bad because it exploits the workers; they don't see equal benefits as the result of their labor, since it's being siphoned by the bosses. If you, a random person off the street, steal from those bosses, you're really just stealing from the workers with extra steps involved.

In cyberpunk games where you steal from megacorps, you're depriving the rich of their wealth, yes, but that wealth just transfers to you. You don't fight the system, you actively benefit from it.

A couple of caveats and exceptions to this:

1. Not all cyberpunk games care about money, you get XP in different ways or have item pickups or whatever. This is true, but I think those games are cowardly for doing so: cyberpunk is about a capitalist dystopia—not centering currency is sidestepping the issue.

2. Some games acknowledge that you're playing as the villain. This is cool; forcing the players to be Mark Baum is a good position to put the players in. Alternatively, some games let you just work for the corps and play extrajudiciary supercops; kind of horrifying when they glamorize doing so, but sure.

3. Occasionally, you are the worker stealing from your bosses. This is cool, too; it centers the classism directly and means that you're fighting capitalism in your own backyard.

Still, most of the games I've played don't do this.

My tentative proposed solution to this problem is as follows:

Making money earns you XP, but only if you give that money away to people or causes that need it.

It centers cash-as-XP, which is good for a grimier, lower-down cyberpunk kind of experience, but still forces the players to think about what they're doing. They can still spend their cash on cyberware and guns and chromed-out cars or whatever, but they sacrifice both some potential XP and the moral high ground as they do so.

I think it'll work.

The question that still remains, unfortunately, is what XP actually does, but that's a question for another time.

Thanks for reading.

Super-hot-but-not-actually take in the post-script: all of this is true in D&D once the dragon is dead.

GLOG Class: Gun Priest

"...but Samuel Colt made them equal."

GLOG Class: the Gun Priest

A: Ordained, Gunslinger, Holy Books
B: Blessings on this House, Set Those Sinners Free
C: Arbiter, Confessor's Gaze
D: Anointing Ritual, Wrestle with G_d

Starting skill [1d3]: 1 = Janissary chaplain; 2 = Wandering folk hero; 3 = Professional gambler

Starting equipment: a copy of the Book, a vial of anointing oil, a long coat, a priest's shirt & collar, and a gun. 

Per template, you get +1 to-hit with guns, and +1 save when your immortal soul is concerned.

You are trained in firing, maintaining, and repairing guns. You can read and write well, both in the vernacular and in whatever the Book is written in (usually Latin). 

(A) Ordained
You're a priest, and everyone knows it. You can wed couples, give the dead their last rites, bless newborns, administer rituals, hear confessions, create holy water or oil, open and close feast days, and pronounce religious judgement. 

If you're lost on the road, people will likely house and feed you for a night, and then give you directions the next morning. People will actively look to you for advice and counsel, and will usually listen when you offer it.

Most of the time, this just works; both the law and common people recognize you as a priest, so it's rare to get many questions. If there's a question or risk involved in your priestly duties—say, counselling a young couple to not get married too early, or declaring a much-loved townsperson to be a sinner—you have a 3-in-6 chances of success, which increases by +1-in-6 per additional template.

This also means that unless you take specific measures otherwise, pretty much everyone (like, say, a heretical Inquisition, or a demon in disguise) will spot you as a priest instantaneously.

(A) Gunslinger
If you stick your gun in a person's face, they immediately make a saving throw (probably CHA, but it depends). If they fail the save, either: 

• A) they have to do what you say, or 
• B) you blow their brains out and they die. 

If they succeed, they keep their nerve enough to stare you down in turn, or at least get out of the way.

If you quote a verse from the Book by memory while you do it, they suffer -[templates] to the saving throw. 

Note this is only for a person—this won't work on, say, a ghost, or a giant spider, and it definitely won't work on a dragon.

(A) Holy Books
Every template, you learn one of the randomly-chosen Holy Books contained within the Book itself. This provides some benefit on its own, but it also means that if you're ever in a theological debate that concerns, that Holy Book, you have a significant advantage.

If you roll a duplicate, choose the Book above or below it.

(B) Blessings on this House
You can bless a house, which is broadly defined as anywhere people live: a literal house, a monastery, a long-term campsite, a narrowboat, whatever it may be—people just have to live there. To bless a house, you must have been treated well by the people who live there, and have spent at least one night in the house.

When you bless a house, make a save (probably CHA or WIS). Whether you succeed or fail, the house gains one randomly-determined benefit:

1. Something lost (a key, a lamb, a sack of coins, a family member) will return to the house in the next three days.
2. Some kind of pest in or around the house (rats, roaches, fleas, a virus, extortionist taxmen) will be removed from the house, and not return for a year and a day.
3. For the next month, the people of the house will have enough to eat. It might not be a lot, and it might not be free, and it might not be tasty, but no one will go hungry.
4. For the next month, any natural-caused structural damage to the house is averted. This means wind, rain, wildfire, rot, and snowstorms won't cause the roof to cave in or the walls to blow down—but it won't stop axes or arson.
5. One long-term conflict that has been affecting the house (a rivalry, a feud, a divorce) will resolve within the next month—peacefully-ish—and then not resume for a year and a day.
6. One secret that has been hidden in or around the house will be revealed in the next three days.

If you failed the save, the house also gains one randomly-determined detraction:

1. Someone in the house will get sick or hurt; it won't kill them, but it might well leave permanent damage.
2. The house's well, stream, or other water source will run filthy for a week. It'll come back clean after that, but it might be a hard week.
3. Children and animals will fear and avoid the house for a month. They'll go inside their parents really force them, but will scream and cry the whole time.
4. A foul stench, like sulfur and urine, will pervade the whole house for a week. Doesn't matter how much perfume you spray or pastries you bake, it'll stay around.
5. For a month, anyone who sleeps in the house will have recurring, contiguous nightmares. It'll start one night, end when you wake up, and then continue.
6. Within three days, a strange, panicked, person covered in blood speaking an unknown language will arrive at the house, desperate for help—but with what?

Maybe you, the Gun Priest, roll this (so know what you're getting), but maybe the GM rolls (and so you don't).

(B) Set Those Sinners Free

If you know a person or creature to be sinner, you can inscribe a bullet with their name (their true name) and their sin(s); this takes an hour. When a sinner is hit with a bullet that has their name and sin inscribed on it, they suffer double damage. These bullets can kill creatures that normally don't die to mundane means (your demons, spirits, undead, etc.).

You can have [templates] × 2 inscribed bullets at any given time.

If you need some example sins, use the original seven: Gula, Luxuria, Avaritia, Acedia, Ira, Invidia, and Superbia.

(C) Arbiter

If a conflict has broken out, armed or otherwise, you can fire your gun into the air, and the immediate violence will stop. You can bring the leaders (or participants, if there are no direct leaders) of the conflict's sides together, and they will remain nonviolent as you are there, gun in hand. 

The GM secretly rolls 1d4 × 15 minutes; this is how long you have to work out a peace deal. After the time is up, tempers (among both the leaders and rank-and-file) will run high and the conflict will resume.

While these negotiations are ongoing, you have advantage on social checks to stop the violence and resolve things peacefully. If anyone resumes the violence before the time has run out, you go first in combat, no initiative roll required.

If your gun leaves your hand, negotiations break down and violence will immediately resume.

(C) Confessor's Gaze

If you believe a person to be a sinner—and you really mean it—but don't have proof, you can stare them down. If you spend one minute making unbroken eye contact with them, they have to make a save (probably CHA).

On a success, they tremble in fear and uncertainty, and will make as fast an exit as possible. On a failure, they fall to their knees and begin confessing their secrets to you, regardless of whoever's around them. 

If this is an innocent person, this will damage your reputation as a holy person significantly.

If you're on an elevated position (like a pulpit, rooftop, or mountainside), you can do this to an entire crowd at once.

(D) Anointing Ritual
You can ritually anoint your gun. This ritual takes six hours, and requires the following things:

• Your gun
• An inscribed bullet
• A circle of salt
• Anointing oil, enough for your gun, hands, and head
• The bones of a saint
• A complete chapter of the Book, memorized
• The light of the full moon, or the dark of no moon

After being ritually anointed, if the first shot fired from your gun is the inscribed bullet hitting its target, that target instantly dies. If you fire a shot before then, or if you miss, or if you reach a full moon or no moon without firing, the ritual's power is lost. 

(D) Wrestle with G_d

Sometimes, when you travel alone, you will encounter someone will try to physically fight you, with kicks or punches or tackles. This person may be G_d; you will never be able to tell. 

If you beat one of these people in physical combat, without using your gun or any others weapons, they will truthfully answer any one question you have.

Holy Books

These are just twelve of the Holy Books contained within the Book itself. Included with each is a sample verse.

1. The Book of St. Uriathas. "Uriathas cried out, for his three daughters lay dead around him. After one hour had passed and Uriathas yet wept, G_d sent the ghosts of his daughters to comfort him in the time of his mourning. Upon seeing them, Uriathas wept all the more, for he felt as though his life had lost its purpose."
       --Uriathas 6:4–6
   When you kill a sinner, you learn one memory of theirs relating to the sin you killed them for.
2. The Book of Exhortations. "Do not suffer the liars and charlatans in your towns. When you encounter a liar, take his tongue from his mouth and nail it to his left hand."
       --Exhortations 11:2
   You know a lie when you hear it.
3. The Epistle to the Brevant. "If a friend comes to your door in the darkest hour of night begging for food and water, do you turn them away? No! You open your door and feed your friend. This is how you should treat all those who come to you, no matter their cloth."
       --Brevant 10:24
   Once per 1d6 days, you can bless a meal to feed ten times the number of people it should.
4. The Book of Belisaria. "And Belisaria touched the leper with her second and fifth fingers, and the leprosy was removed from his body. At that same moment, his eyes burst with flame, and his palms became like a furnace, and all the crowd around him ran with fear."
       --Belisaria 20:16–17
   When you heal (from magic or rest), heal [templates] extra HP.
5. The Book of St. Khoresh. "'Speak not unto me!' he said with a loud voice. And as he did so, the roof of the house they were in began to quake and tremble, and all the multitudes wailed, for they thought they would surely perish. "
       --Khoresh 1:15
   When you need to, your voice can carry over nearly any distance; when you speak to a crowd, they all understand you, even if they don't speak your language.
6. The Books of 1st & 2nd Archons. "Trust in G_d. Do this, and you shall know peace, and all that you need shall be provided unto you."
       --2 Archons 31:19
   If you have no more bullets and you desperately need one, there will be a single bullet in the chamber.
7. The Litany of Calaginosus. "'Woe unto the plague-bringers!' shouted Calaginosus. 'Woe unto the dwellers in our Mother's Hall! Woe unto all who defy the Prophets!'"
       --Lit. Calaginosus 4:4
   When you blow someone's brains out, any opponents within earshot must immediately make a Morale check, suffering -2 to the 2d6 roll (or appropriate). 
8. The Book of St. Dunstan. "Remain ever vigilant and ever watching. Do not trust those who come to your house with smiles and delights, for they hide serpents in their robes."
       --Dunstan 8:12
   You cannot be surprised in combat.
9. The Hymn of Karnassa. "Ash and oak, elm and fir, yew and alder. See all the bounty of the world that our divine G_d has given unto us? How can Hell stand against the might of Heaven and Earth?"
       --H. of Karnassa 2:33
   You gain +2 to saves against fear and mind control.
10. The Book of the Cataclysm. "When the storms of G_d come, and fire and ice rain from the sky, then you shall know the words of the Prophets as true."
        --Cataclysm 25:18
    So long as you have your priest's collar on, you have advantage against the effects of very cold and very hot weather.
11. The 1st & 2nd Epistle to the Synniots. "Hear me, Theophiloi, when I speak these words unto you: 'The works of G_d may seem impossible to you, but they are not. Through iron faith, all things may yet come to pass.' And the Synniots rejoiced upon reading these words, for their star had not yet abated."
        --1 Synniots 14:8–9
    Once every 1d10 days, you can re-roll a single d20 roll.
12. The Book of St. Yrsa. "Do not dwell in darkness, but embrace the light of truth. Fear neither sun nor fire, but welcome both into your hearts."
        --Yrsa 7:21
    After firing your gun, light hangs from where the muzzle flashed for 1 hour.

--

I think that's everything. This is kind of a mammoth class, sorry for that. 

Some touchstones: Dogs in the Vineyard, Joseph Seed, Dr. Jackson Crawford, Jesse Custer. 

As always, mostly untested. Let me know what you think.