The Inside Scoop on Gaming

I picked this up because I was planning on buying into Cyberpunk and wanted to grab some of the harder to get stuff before I no longer could.

That being said, I am, after reading this book,going to buy into Cyberpunk.

I should mention that I do have a bit of expierience with Cyberpunk form a few years back... and like so many others am familiar witha number of other games in the genre, so I feel fairly solid about the material the book presents.

Overall, Listen Up, You Primitive Screwheads!!!! (LUYPS!) is a book for the Referee of Cyberpunk. Planning on being a ref some time in the future, I thought this would be a good benchmark on how well the system works. I am quite pleased with the amount and type of information provided as a whole, and am of the belief that a GameMaster of any game could use this book. Usually, I am quite pessimistic of a book or person that claims such a thing... since sourcebooks are written for a specific game system and it is not without a considerable amount of effort do things transfer to other systems (usually).

However, LUYPS! presents information as advice, not as hard rules. Yes, there is some optional rules that are pretty swift (and some a bit cheesy) but the real meat of the book is dedicated to giving all sorts of helpful advice to Referees on how to handle a number of aspects of running and RPG. I am not even running a Cyberpumk game currently, like to consider myself somewhat experienced as a GM, and I still found a lot of the advice helpful and worthwhile.

The book is written by a lot of different authors, each contributing an article to a topic. All the articles are collected and then made into a chapter. Thus, you have 3 or 4 opinions (usually) on a variety of topics from dealing with problem players, to how a combat should be run for different groups, to the general atmosphere of Cyberpunk. The many ideas and opinions clash occasionally, and sometimes is a bit clunky. On the average though, the many opinions give a nice bredth of advice to the topics and present more than a single viewpoint or solution so the reader can pick and choose what they will use.

The topics, in general, are all quite timely and useful. There are 11 chapters overall, with the last being the bios of the contributors (so you can get an idea of who these people actually are). Long-term campaigns, style and mileu, sociology, more on the lifepath (an aspect of the game you eiter love or hate... I like it... it allows randomness to character generation and ready made plot ideas while still allowing the player control in the creation process), types of campaigns, types of characters and how to deal with them, new rules, and a few other add-ons. Like I said, good for almost any campaign, not just Cyberpunk.

Sidebars every so often include bits and pieces of info that did not fit in anywhere else. Quite nicely done really, they are interspesed throughout the book and clairify some things that a reader may blow over or be confused as to the meaning. Nice touch.

A couple of indices are included to help the Ref find careers and skills in the many Cyberpunk supplements. There is no index for the book as a whole, which is disappointing. The table of contents works (don't they all?) but is just not the same.

Not being terribly familiar with Cyberpunk, I am not going to comment on the rules. Though they deal with explosives and combat for the majority... take that for what it is worth.

I can not, with a good conscience, tell you all to run out and find this book. However, if you are new to GMing, or are planning on running a Cyberpunk game then i highly suggest you find this book. The info found therein will be worth your while.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Listen Up, You Primitive Screwheads!!!!
Author: Mike Pondsmith, Ross Winn, Benjamin Wright, Craig Sheeley, Eric Heisserer, Charlie Wong, Mike Rooter Category: game Company/Publisher: R. Talsorian Games, Inc. Cost: $15 or so Page count: 112 ISBN: CP 3291 Capsule Review by Chris Gunning on 12/21/98. Genre tags: Science_fiction Conspiracy	I picked this up because I was planning on buying into Cyberpunk and wanted to grab some of the harder to get stuff before I no longer could. That being said, I am, after reading this book,going to buy into Cyberpunk. I should mention that I do have a bit of expierience with Cyberpunk form a few years back... and like so many others am familiar witha number of other games in the genre, so I feel fairly solid about the material the book presents. Overall, Listen Up, You Primitive Screwheads!!!! (LUYPS!) is a book for the Referee of Cyberpunk. Planning on being a ref some time in the future, I thought this would be a good benchmark on how well the system works. I am quite pleased with the amount and type of information provided as a whole, and am of the belief that a GameMaster of any game could use this book. Usually, I am quite pessimistic of a book or person that claims such a thing... since sourcebooks are written for a specific game system and it is not without a considerable amount of effort do things transfer to other systems (usually). However, LUYPS! presents information as advice, not as hard rules. Yes, there is some optional rules that are pretty swift (and some a bit cheesy) but the real meat of the book is dedicated to giving all sorts of helpful advice to Referees on how to handle a number of aspects of running and RPG. I am not even running a Cyberpumk game currently, like to consider myself somewhat experienced as a GM, and I still found a lot of the advice helpful and worthwhile. The book is written by a lot of different authors, each contributing an article to a topic. All the articles are collected and then made into a chapter. Thus, you have 3 or 4 opinions (usually) on a variety of topics from dealing with problem players, to how a combat should be run for different groups, to the general atmosphere of Cyberpunk. The many ideas and opinions clash occasionally, and sometimes is a bit clunky. On the average though, the many opinions give a nice bredth of advice to the topics and present more than a single viewpoint or solution so the reader can pick and choose what they will use. The topics, in general, are all quite timely and useful. There are 11 chapters overall, with the last being the bios of the contributors (so you can get an idea of who these people actually are). Long-term campaigns, style and mileu, sociology, more on the lifepath (an aspect of the game you eiter love or hate... I like it... it allows randomness to character generation and ready made plot ideas while still allowing the player control in the creation process), types of campaigns, types of characters and how to deal with them, new rules, and a few other add-ons. Like I said, good for almost any campaign, not just Cyberpunk. Sidebars every so often include bits and pieces of info that did not fit in anywhere else. Quite nicely done really, they are interspesed throughout the book and clairify some things that a reader may blow over or be confused as to the meaning. Nice touch. A couple of indices are included to help the Ref find careers and skills in the many Cyberpunk supplements. There is no index for the book as a whole, which is disappointing. The table of contents works (don't they all?) but is just not the same. Not being terribly familiar with Cyberpunk, I am not going to comment on the rules. Though they deal with explosives and combat for the majority... take that for what it is worth. I can not, with a good conscience, tell you all to run out and find this book. However, if you are new to GMing, or are planning on running a Cyberpunk game then i highly suggest you find this book. The info found therein will be worth your while. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 4 (Meaty)