Cyberpunk RED Alert! – August 2026 DLC – Con Jobs
“For those who missed Gen Con 2026…”
This DLC continues a tradition established last year with So, You Missed Gen Con where we share the gigs run at North America’s largest gaming convention by our crack crew of GMs.
This year, we’re dividing our convention gigs into multiple DLCs, since each is a major effort deserving its own love. This month’s mission started as a short, improvised session I ran for members of the CDPR design team in 2025. I took my notes from that session, asked myself questions, and added a branching path in the second act. The result is Transporter Drone Down. I want to focus on the “asked myself questions” part of the last paragraph for a moment. That’s important and a skill I think every adventure writer needs. As I was developing the simple one-shot I ran at CDPR HQ into a full mission, I worked through the outline with a Player’s mindset and asked myself questions about their potential actions during a session.
Are there enough clues to lead the Players from Act I to Act II?
What locations are in the Old Combat Zone near where the drone dropped?
What are the different ways a Crew might try to find the drone at a location?
What is the Kibble Kirkle kult worshiping?
Do I have a bonus encounter in case the session runs too short?
As I answered these questions, I filled in blanks in Transporter Drone Down I didn’t even know were there, transforming it from a quick on-the-spot session I ran as a demonstration into a full story. The question about clues added the 80/20 Development, creating another option in case the Crew missed the memory chip in Unit 7. The question about locations near where the drone dropped inspired the branching path concept, allowing the GM to further customize the mission. You get the idea. Asking questions not as vague thoughts, but as specific, well formulated sentences is an amazing tool
for finding the holes in your adventures. I encourage each GM to run through their notes with a Player’s mindset, searching for questions their actions at the table might bring up. This method won’t uncover every possible variation, but it should help anticipate problems, and that always makes for a stronger gig.
One last note. Keep in mind Transporter Drone Down was specifically designed to show off Cyberpunk RED to new Players at a convention. That means the “difficulty level” puts first-time experience over lethality; no one wants to sign up to die two hours into a four hour event – unless that’s the point and it is spelled out in the event’s description. It also means the gig was balanced against the pregens from the Single Shot Pack aka the standard characters handed to convention Players.
As with all pre-made missions, you might need to make adjustments to suit your table, your Crew, and your desired mode of play. You’re the GM. You’re in charge and can make any change you want, from switching out Rex Royale for the Crew’s Fixer of choice to adding another combat encounter if things run
too smooth to beefing up the bads. Go for it!
Happy gaming, all!
- J Gray, Cyberpunk RED Line Manager
