Inside the Bundle: A Cast of Characters
A few days ago, we detailed the process of remastering the Cyberpunk 2020 Datascreen for inclusion in the Cyberpunk Boost bundle over at Bundle of Holding. The Datascreen isn’t the only exclusive for the bundle, though! For the first time anywhere, the bundle’s “level up” feature also includes a digital version of Tales from the Forlorn Hope, a classic collection of adventures linked together by a common location and cast of characters. Tales from the Forlorn Hope isn’t available anywhere else as a PDF except through the Bundle.
Just outside the Forlorn Hope on game night. These guys made the mistake of insulting the home team.
The Forlorn Hope is a bar, originally built as as a refuge for soldiers who survived the South American wars and the Long Walk home. Now, it serves as a haven for Edgerunners, young and old. Tales from the Forlorn Hope uses this location and a vast, colorful cast of NPCs, to link together eight fantastic adventures in a way that turns the “Your party walks into a bar and meets a stranger with a job” trope into a deep and intense story. As a setting or as an adventure path, Tales from the Forlorn Hope is one of the best RPG adventure collections ever published. And a lot of that’s down to the NPCs any group of Edgerunners any group can encounter and befriend there!
Meet the Regulars
Kronos has been a fixture at the Hope ever since it opened. He brokers jobs for other customers at the bar. He’s stated as a Solo but proves you don’t have to be limited by your Role in the game, since his primary occupation as he enters his twilight years is as a Fixer. He used to work for the CIA and still contracts freelancers to do jobs for “the company”.
Marlo is among the few Forlorn Hope regulars who is constantly employed. She’s a Militech street rep. She’s also a veteran of LRT-601, a recon team which operated during the SouthAm wars. Marlo doesn’t just contract freelancers for Militech jobs, she goes on the missions with them.
Wolf came to Night City from Europe. His English is a little rough, and he prefers not to use a chip to make it better. He’s a specialist at tracking anything down but had to flee his homeland because of… disagreement with European Business Machines, one of the biggest corps in Europe.
Roxxi and Kissy are two young women who work as a team. They are nearly inseparable, spending all their time together, on the job and off. Overly exuberant and utterly destructive, the two have been known to blow up buildings or sink ocean liners to get a job done.
Zora is a native of the ex-Sov Bloc, and a former Russian Highrider. She’s been freelancing in the US for some years. She spent two years blowing up Soviet military posts in the Ukraine before things got too hot and she hightailed it to North America. These days, she freelances and specializes in insertion piloting.
Axeman is an interesting character: a real, old fashioned private-eye. People come to him when the police won’t help out, which is too often in Night City. For a lot of people on the street, Axeman is their only shot at justice. Or so he likes to tell people.
Nails is a Federal Marshall, still learning the ropes from her partner, a bar regular known as Gunsights. She did two years as a merc in the employ of Militech before attending the academy.
The Professor owns and runs the bar with his wife, Marianne. He was a Captain in the Rangers and led LRT-601 in the South Am war. A serious wound forced him out of the military and he went back to school, earning a PhD in Military History. He opened the Forlorn Hope because he had trouble adjusting to “the real world” and knew other vets would to. He wanted them to always have a place to belong.
If that piqued your curiosity, take a look at the Cyberpunk Boost bundle! For less than $30 you’ll get not only Tales from the Forlorn Hope, but eight additional Cyberpunk 2020 titles, two Cyberpunk v3 titles, and four Cybergeneration titles. You really can’t beat a deal like that!
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