Category Archives: Open Development
World Building: Cybernetics
Cyberpunk and Cybernetics have been a mated pair from the beginning. I had a number of goals when it came to cybernetics and Glass Shadows. In addition to the traditional chrome and steel, I wanted to offer an alternative to implanting hardware. We call it Genegineering, more on that next week. We originally covered cybernetics […]
World Building: The ECILAL
We introduced the ECILAL back in this post, and it has since become the expected default play area. The Easel, as residents tend to refer to it, grew out of my research into Megacities, megaregions, and feral cities. For those of you unfamiliar with these terms: Megacity: An urban area that exceeds 10 million residents. […]
Under the Hood: The Network in a Nutshell
In Glass Shadows, the players take on several personas. The first player role is the Handler, someone within one of four factions competing to control the future of humanity. These characters work behind the scenes to advance their faction’s goals. At the start of a campaign, the player selects their Handler’s faction, motivation, interests. This Agenda […]
UPDATE: Where the heck have we been?
[SIGNAL ACQUIRED] [DECRYPTING] [TRANSMISSION BEGINS] Hello again, faithful readers! After a year of hiatus to deal with my son, work, and attending University, Glass Shadows is back on track and barreling toward publication at a breakneck pace. In the last two weeks, we’ve completed the background setting material, completely re-written the character generation chapter, simplified some […]
Under The Hood 4: Action and the Non-Combatant
When all hell breaks loose you want to be the guy with training, guns, and all the right answers. Lets face it through, those special operatives with years of training make up less than a 1% of the population. The world of Glass Shadows needs those special operators, but it also needs the investigators, data […]
Under The Hood 3: Fast Tracked Character Generation
With the concept of cinematic play and players taking on multiple roles, one thing that came up early on was speed of character generation. We wanted players to be able to jump right into the action. For this reason, generation took a dramatically different path than we expected. When developing the player Network, character concepts […]
Under The Hood 2: The Network
Before we talk about the Player Network lets look at the idea of contacts for a moment. The idea of trusted allies and contacts is nothing new to role playing or fiction in general. In fiction, contacts don’t sit around just waiting to be called. They have their own lives and stories. These peripheral characters […]
Under The Hood 1: The Open Action System
The rules used to create a role playing game, sometimes referred to as the engine, set up the dynamics of play and provide a structure for interaction. In a lot of cyberpunk fiction, what could be considered as traditional action is fast and brutal, often over before it even began. The threat of violence is ever present, but violence, when it […]
What’s in a Name?
You may ask, “Where did you come up with the name Glass Shadows?” Dave actually suggested it, with the rationale that “You can see through both glass and shadows, but they distort what’s inside. You can never really be sure of what you’re looking at.” In Glass Shadows, the Player Characters interact with a world that […]
What’s this all about, then?
Welcome to the development blog for Glass Shadows, a Cyberpunk RPG that I am writing in cooperation with Dave Silva. Glass Shadows is heavily inspired by cyberpunk-style animes, such as Ghost in the Shell and its sequels, Appleseed, and Bubblegum Crisis, as well as the western movies Bladerunner, and Johnny Mnemonic. Literary inspirations include Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash, and Diamond Age, and Charles […]
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