Alpha State
This game system, and the setting in which it takes place, are both in active development. Everything on this site is subject to change. Please hard refresh pages when you visit to ensure you're viewing the latest versions.NeoNeuro is a singer, belting out the last chorus of her latest cyberjazz hit, standing atop a speakeasy table. It's the band of cyberjazz musicians accompanying her, all of whom are only present as NeoHolos projected into everyone's minds. It's the speakeasy crowd singing the chorus along with her, drinks raised in the air, holding each other too close.
It's the rest of the crowd behind them, dancing with desperate joy and frantic eagerness. It's the android bartender polishing glasses, the gangster reconfiguring his cybernetic hand while he watches the crowd. It's the busboy carrying used glasses back to a kitchen operated by people who owe the local gang money.
NeoNeuro is the woman dying of starvation in the alley outside, and it's all of the times she was among the cheering, dancing crowd in that speakeasy. It's the crushing mass of humanity packed into streets and buildings, five hundred billion people sharing a structure never built for that many.
It's the cyberpunks who guard free zones from corporate police, and fight amongst each other for rights to be the biggest legend. It's the corpo cops relinquishing control of those so-called "free zones" because it gives them an easy way to track dissidents. It's the endless grind of corporate employees and citizens, locked into routines and debt they couldn't escape in a hundred lifetimes. It's the CEOs who'll never notice that any of those people exist.
NeoNeuro is a starbase, lost in the endless black; one giant ring-shaped structure packed full with an impossibly large single city. It's the darkness of the cyberstar wastes around the station, starlight washed out by the composite violet glow of all the neon lights, traffic, and lighting elements in the clothing people wear.
It's the atmosphere itself, filled with atomized quantum machinery that powers, connects, and tracks all things and people in it. It's the connections between every computer, cyber-augmentation, vehicle, vending machine, and human brain into one massive network, turning each one of them into a tradeable market product.
NeoNeuro is the few, desperate or eager, who stand up and say "Fuck This."
Hi there! NeoNeuro is an in-development RPG set in a lost future. It takes place on a Niven Ring; a massive ring-shaped starbase the size of a planet. This ring is covered in one tremendous city packed full of people crowding every street and building until there's almost no room left.
This website is where I'm building it all! The world, characters, history, technology, and especially the RPG mechanics will all be found here. Previously, I kept all the official rules and details here on GM Binder. Currently I'm in the process of migrating everything over to this website, one bit at a time. It's slow going, but it'll get done, and of course I'm still developing and building as I go. Most importantly this website, the official core rules for the NeoNeuro RPG, will remain free of charge. Even when I eventually manage to put together a physical book, this website will always be free.
Game Sections
There's a lot of information here; some of it crunchy rules, some of it juicy lore. To help you sort through it all, everything is broken into what I call CodeBlocks—think of them as book sections and chapters. Each is numbered so, ideally, you'll always have an idea where you are while you're reading. Here's a quick breakdown of what you'll find in each CodeBlock:
- CodeBlock 1.0 - Hightech Lowlife | This is everything about player characters, both individuals and your group as a whole. Creating them, figuring out what your stats are, organizing your player group and deciding what kind of group you are, it's all here.
CodeBlock 1.1 - Who Are You? | This is where you create a new character, from the ground up. For the most part, with maybe the exception of the cyberware or equipment sections, it's the only CodeBlock you'll need to do so.CodeBlock 1.2 - What Do You Do? | Everything about your stats can be found here. From your Style, Training, and Knowledge, to your Humanity itself, this is where you'll find the rules for those stats.CodeBlock 1.3 - Who Do You Run With? | Your group of player characters can be defined in a lot of ways, and this is where you'll put that all together. Whether you're cyberpunks, Mafia, Triad, Yakuza, or anything else, there's a lot of things that help define who your group is, what you have available, and what you're going to do.- CodeBlock 2.0 - Heart of the Machine | This is everything about the rules system. It'll tell you how to play this game, and describe the more detailed game mechanics.
CodeBlock 2.1 - NeuroSystem Rules | NeoNeuro is built on the NeuroSystem, a completely original set of RPG rules. The core game mechanics are all defined here, along with variations and examples.CodeBlock 2.2 - Telling Stories | The NeuroSystem is built around narrative before anything else, and this CodeBlock will explain how that works. It also includes examples of different types of stories you can tell with this system, along with some unique rules that apply to each.- CodeBlock 3.0 - Cyberstar Wastes | This is everything about the setting itself. Here you can read about how the world works, what it feels like to live there, and even things you can do or acquire.
CodeBlock 3.1 - Starbase 65 | All about the Niven Ring on which our stories take place. There's also some info about other starbases and the space between them, but most people will never leave their sector of SB65, let alone the station itself.CodeBlock 3.2 - Cyberware | Everyone has cyberware, everyone. Some people have the bare minimum, some people go all out. Here is where you'll find all the rules for how they work, and how to acquire more if you want.CodeBlock 3.3 - Computers and the AC | Everything you need to know about the network that permeates the atmosphere and connects all computers (including the one in your head) along a massive network. Also contains information about hacking systems, ripping code, and apps that help you do both.CodeBlock 3.4 - Marketplace | A few people can afford everything, most people can't afford anything. This CodeBlock details a lot of different types of equipment, as well as how you can acquire them (legally or otherwise).CodeBlock 3.5 - Vehicles | From RevCycles to Slicers to starfighters to cargo haulers, you'll find all the info you need on vehicles. You'll also find examples of vehicles to operate out in space or along the freeways. Yes, there's freeways on this starbase.- CodeBlock N.0 - System Updates | This is a collection of extras separate from the three primary sections. Slang, game terms, Narrator Characters, patreon supporters, stuff like that.
CodeBlock N.1 - People of NeoNeuro | Important Narrator Characters that the players may meet throughout their stories, if that's what your group wants to do. Even if you don't intend to meet them, learning about these characters will give you a more complete picture of the setting.CodeBlock N.2 - Glossary of Terms | Just a list of explanations for different slang terms, game terms, and other things. If you're reading about something anywhere else in the website and you're not sure what it means, you'll probably find it here. (If you don't, just lemme know and I'll add it.)CodeBlock N.3 - Patreon Supporters | A list of all the people generous enough to support my work. Thank you thank you thank you, each and all.CodeBlock N.4 - Patch Notes | Running list of all the updates and changes made to this website, as well as an archive of the patch notes from the previous GM Binder version.
I'm Lynn! If you're on this site you might already know me as Lynn Zero (AKA Lynn Landra, or Zero). I was a sex worker, but my agoraphobia forced me into early retirement, and my primary method of coping with that is to build this game. I have big dreams for NeoNeuro, and we'll see if I ever get to do anything with most of them, but step 1 is to finish this RPG. To that end, you can support me on Patreon if you want! You're supporting me and my work as a whole, not just the core RPG rules, so everything you feel like giving will be greatly appreciated. Girl's gotta pay rent, after all.
Design & Concepts Lynn Zero
Logo Design & Layout Elements Rey Pina (Twitter, Insta)
Artists Lucas Soares, Sleazy
NeoNeuro Typeface Lorenzo Martinez
Playtesters Angelica Ogonowski, Katie Darst, Saint Science, Shareef Dahroug (alpha head asploda), an invisible communist
Additional Thanks Angelica Ogonowski, Saint Science, Shaun Hellman, a net ghost
Patch Notes As of current version
Logo Design & Layout Elements Rey Pina (Twitter, Insta)
Artists Lucas Soares, Sleazy
NeoNeuro Typeface Lorenzo Martinez
Playtesters Angelica Ogonowski, Katie Darst, Saint Science, Shareef Dahroug (alpha head asploda), an invisible communist
Additional Thanks Angelica Ogonowski, Saint Science, Shaun Hellman, a net ghost
Patch Notes As of current version
Influences & Inspirations
Each of the works listed below has provided, in part, to the ideas and concepts that helped me shape NeoNeuro. I like to wear my inspirations on my sleeve. Not everything here is cyberpunk, but everything on this list has provided inspiration (large or small) for NeoNeuro. Everything is here for one reason or another.
Æon Flux,
Akira,
All Dogs Go To Heaven,
Andor,
The Ascent,
Babylon 5,
Blade Runner,
Blade Runner 2049,
Blade Runner the RPG,
Boardwalk Empire,
Bullet Train,
Colossus: The Forbin Project,
Cowboy Bebop,
The Crow (1994),
Cyberpunk 2077,
Cyberpunk RPG,
Dark City,
Detroit: Become Human,
Deus Ex,
Deus Ex: Human Revolution,
Dredd,
Escape From New York,
Elysium,
The Fifth Element,
Ghost in the Shell,
Highlander,
Johnny Mnemonic,
Kate,
The Kitchen,
Mass Effect,
The Matrix,
Neuromancer,
The Penguin,
Pitch Black,
Prohibition (Ken Burns),
Ringworld,
Road to Perdition,
Se7en,
Snow Crash,
Snowpiercer,
Space Sweepers,
Tron,
Tron: Legacy,
Ultraviolet,
Vampire: The Masquerade,
The Villainess.
As mentioned, the core RPG rules for NeoNeuro will always be free of charge. It just feels wrong to charge money for a game built on the idea of stealing everything from corporate power in a desperate bid for survival (especially as our own world gets closer and closer to making NeoNeuro look less like dystopian by comparison). However, NeoNeuro is also about community. If you like this game or the world it's in, if you like me or what I'm doing, or if you want to provide support for any reason, I ask that you do so on Patreon. You can also join the NeoNeuro Discord server, where I hope to build a little community of weirdos.
