Introduction
Cyberpunk RED is a tabletop RPG about edgerunners making expensive choices in the Time of the Red. One player is the GM, who presents Night City, its people, and the consequences that follow a job. The other players make characters with useful skills, complicated lives, and reasons to take work when a safer person would stay home.
The Core Rulebook sets play in 2045, in a world reshaped by the 4th Corporate War but still full of opportunity, conflict, and people trying to get by. A crew might operate as mercenaries, investigators, reporters, corporate troubleshooters, smugglers, Nomads, or a Trauma Team unit. The rules support all of those frames because the central question is what the crew can afford to risk, and who will remember the answer.
For a real campaign, buy or borrow the Cyberpunk RED Core Rulebook. For a low-commitment first look, try the free Cyberpunk RED Easy Mode material, which teaches the basic loop with ready-made characters and a short introductory mission. It does not replace the complete game.
Hot take
Do not make your first Cyberpunk RED session a tutorial firefight, and do not build the crew as a perfect combat squad. Start with a reason the characters need one another when nobody is shooting: access to a neighborhood, a way to find work, a technical specialty, a source of medical help, a professional reputation, or a person worth protecting. Then hand them a job with a deadline, a client who needs something, and one complication they can see coming.
New players learn the system faster when every roll changes a plan they care about. A crew that talks its way past a guard, spends its last eurobucks on the right tool, or trades a future favor to protect a neighborhood has learned what the game is for. Use violence when it changes the situation. Night City will supply plenty of it on its own schedule.
What the game asks of the table
Cyberpunk RED runs on a direct conversation. Players describe what their edgerunners want to accomplish. The GM describes the situation, plays the people in it, and calls for a roll when an outcome is uncertain and meaningful.
That procedure makes preparation visible. Before rolling, a crew can get better information, bring the right gear, ask for help, choose a different approach, spend time, offer a deal, or decide the job is not worth doing. A high number is useful. A better plan is usually cheaper.
| At the table | What it means in play | A useful first-session habit |
|---|---|---|
| Players | Decide what their edgerunners attempt and what they are willing to risk. | State the objective before naming a Skill. |
| GM | Presents pressure, people, opportunities, and consequences. | Make the cost of delay or violence understandable. |
| Dice | Resolve uncertainty when success and failure both change the situation. | Ask what can improve the plan before rolling. |
| Crew | Covers different approaches and creates reasons to stay together. | Give every character a practical contribution and a personal stake. |
Combat is part of that conversation, not its default ending. The Core Rulebook's combat rules make movement, cover, initiative, weapons, armor, damage, and healing matter. A crew that starts shooting without a goal can win the encounter and still lose the job, its reputation, its gear, or the next safe place to sleep.
The guide library
Every Cyberpunk RED guide on this site links back here, and this hub links down to each category.
| If you need help with... | Where to go |
|---|---|
| Starting a group | Buying the right book, learning the core loop, and preparing a first session. |
| Choosing books and DLC | A purchase-priority guide, Interface RED collection map, and verified uncollected-DLC notes. |
| Making a character | The ten Roles, character priorities, party coverage, and useful crew ties. |
| Doing jobs in the NET | NET Architectures, programs, ICE, cyberdecks, and Netrunner coordination. |
| Paying the price for chrome | Cyberware, Humanity Loss, cyberpsychosis, slots, and cyberweapons. |
| Finding the right equipment | Weapons, armor, vehicles, cyberdecks, and the Night Market. |
| Using Night City | Districts, gangs, factions, corporations, and story pressure. |
| Running the game | Screamsheets, Trauma Team, first-session GM preparation, and sourcebook support. |
| Choosing a version or entry point | Cyberpunk RED compared with Cyberpunk 2020, Cyberpunk 2077, Shadowrun, and the Edgerunners Mission Kit. |
Cyberpunk RED for beginners
This section is the practical on-ramp: what to buy, the one rule to learn, how to prepare the first session, and what can wait.
Buy the right starting point
| Your situation | Best first choice | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You want to run an ongoing campaign | Cyberpunk RED Core Rulebook | It has the full rules for character creation, Roles, Skills, combat, Netrunning, cyberware, gear, the setting, and GM support. |
| You want to test the game with minimal commitment | Cyberpunk RED Easy Mode | It is a free introductory experience with basic rules, ready-made characters, and a short mission. |
| You own the Jumpstart Kit | Use it as an introduction, then move to the Core Rulebook | It is not the full ruleset, and some of its rules changed before the Core Rulebook released. |
| You arrived from Cyberpunk 2077 | Start with the Core Rulebook, then make a crew | The tabletop game is a group conversation with shared consequences, not a fixed solo story. |
| You arrived from Edgerunners | Choose the Mission Kit or a 2045 campaign deliberately | The Mission Kit is a guided, boxed 2070s entry; the Core Rulebook is the complete 2045 campaign foundation. |
| You played Cyberpunk 2020 | Treat RED as a new rules set | Rebuild the character concept with RED's STATs, Skills, character creation, and Netrunning procedures. |
| You want magic and cyberpunk together | Choose the genre before the rules | Shadowrun makes magic central; RED keeps the crew's pressure human, technical, social, and material. |
The jumpstart kit warning
The Jumpstart Kit was built as a streamlined starter box, not as the complete rules framework. R. Talsorian Games says some Jumpstart rules changed before the Core Rulebook released and provides a free conversion guide for updating its missions to the full rules. Do not combine a remembered Jumpstart rule with a Core Rulebook rule without checking the current text. The Jumpstart Kit versus Core Rulebook guide has the direct purchase and transition verdict.
That is no reason to discard the kit. Use it for what it does well: a fast introduction to the setting, pre-generated edgerunners, and a ready-to-run job. When the group wants to build characters, continue a campaign, or settle an exact rules question, the Core Rulebook is the authority.
Learn one rule before session one
The core loop is short:
STAT + Skill + 1d10 vs. Difficulty Value (DV)
The GM calls for a check when success and failure would both matter. Sometimes the DV comes from the situation: picking a lock, driving through trouble, treating an injury, bluffing a guard. Sometimes another character rolls an opposing check. Players describe an approach first. A roll answers "does this work under pressure?" It should not replace the conversation about what the crew is trying to achieve.
Two exceptions are worth knowing. A natural 10 is a Critical Success: roll another d10 and add it. A natural 1 is a Critical Failure: roll another d10 and subtract it. Neither chains into a second critical. You can learn the rest of the edge cases when they come up.
For dice, the game uses d10s and d6s. Give each player a d10 and keep a shared pile of d6s for damage.
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Your first session checklist
Before the table meets
- Choose a GM and confirm the session length.
- Use the Core Rulebook for a campaign, or Easy Mode's ready-made characters for a fast trial.
- Have a d10 for each player and a shared supply of d6s.
- Decide what kind of job the group wants: investigation, street work, a courier run, a rescue, a media story, repair work, a medical call, a Nomad run, or a technical problem.
- Agree on boundaries before the setting's violence, exploitation, trauma, or inequality appears in play.
The last point is not optional tone-policing. The Core Rulebook calls RED "a mature setting" and advises GMs to learn what players are and are not comfortable with, since invoking the wrong material can leave a player uncomfortable, angry, or depressed. A clear agreement lets you use hard situations on purpose instead of discovering a line after a scene has crossed it.
Give the crew a reason to exist
Ask each player three questions:
- What can your edgerunner do that the crew needs?
- Why do they need this job now?
- Which person, place, promise, debt, or neighborhood would they refuse to abandon?
Those answers are worth more than an optimized loadout. They tell the GM where to aim a complication and tell the players why running away is not always the best decision.
Prepare a first job, not a metaplot
For the GM, write down only these items. The Cyberpunk RED First Session Guide expands this into a low-prep procedure built around visible choices and fair consequences.
| Prep item | A good first-session version |
|---|---|
| Client | Someone who can explain the payoff and why the crew was chosen. |
| Objective | One concrete thing to find, deliver, protect, expose, repair, or recover. |
| Clock | A deadline, rival, patrol, incoming storm, or person running out of patience. |
| Complication | A cost that makes the obvious solution incomplete. |
| Consequence | A person or faction who will remember what the crew chooses. |
Give the players at least two approaches, then let their plan decide which rules appear. A Netrunner does not need a NET Architecture just because a Netrunner exists; they need a reason to access one. A Solo does not need a firefight just because a Solo exists; they need a moment where protection, intimidation, or tactical judgment matters. You do not need a corporate-conspiracy master document for session one.
What to learn later
Do not absorb the full book before the first job. Add rules when the crew reaches them:
| Learn now | Learn after the group has a reason to use it |
|---|---|
| Basic checks, initiative, movement, cover, and damage | Advanced combat choices and Critical Injuries |
| A character's Role, key Skills, and immediate gear | Role Ability detail, new gear, and Improvement Points |
| The job's neighborhood and the people in it | Wider Night City politics, factions, and corporations |
| The physical objective of a NET action | Programs, Black ICE, cyberdecks, and deeper NET Architecture procedure |
| A character's current cyberware and Humanity | Additional chrome, Humanity Loss, therapy, and cyberpsychosis guidance |
This order keeps the rulebook from turning into homework. It also gives players a better question than "what can I buy next?" Ask "what problem did our last job reveal?" and then find the rule or gear that answers it.
A better first-session ending
End the first session with a consequence that points toward another job. The crew earned a contact, made an enemy, learned a name, spent more than expected, protected someone, or saw a problem they cannot ignore. They do not need to save Night City. They need a reason to meet again.
The books that matter first
The Core Rulebook is the starting point for an ongoing campaign. Use it for exact values and procedures; use this library to understand which decisions matter at the table.
Cyberpunk RED has expanded through books, boxed sets, and collected or uncollected DLC. That breadth is useful, but it can make it hard to tell whether a rule is core, optional, or located somewhere else. These are the products this library distinguishes first:
| Source | Start here when... | What to verify before relying on it |
|---|---|---|
| Cyberpunk RED Core Rulebook (CR3001) | You are starting or running a standard campaign. | Core rules and baseline setting assumptions. |
| Cyberpunk RED Easy Mode | You want to try the game before committing to the full book. | Its quickstart scope versus the complete rules. |
| Cyberpunk RED Jumpstart Kit | You want a ready-to-play starter box or need to continue its missions. | Its streamlined, changed rules and the free conversion path to core play. |
| Black Chrome (CR3061) | Your table needs expanded gear or cyberware options. | Which options supplement rather than replace core material. |
| Danger Gal Dossier | A GM needs faction and NPC support. | Its specific faction and NPC content. |
| Interface RED collections | You want selected DLC gathered in a curated collection. | Which individual DLC the volume actually contains. |
| Tales of the RED: Hope Reborn | Your group is evaluating that campaign material and its additions. | What is campaign-specific and what is generally usable. |
| Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Mission Kit | You arrived from the anime or want its 2070s-era material. | Its setting and rules scope before mixing it into a RED campaign. |
| Night City 2045 | You need its expanded city setting material. | The edition and the exact content used by a guide. |
The sourcebooks guide identifies when a rule comes from a DLC collection rather than silently calling every option "Cyberpunk RED."
Pick a starting path
New players: Start with the Core Rulebook's introduction and character creation. It offers three methods: Streetrat (templates, the fastest), Edgerunner (fast and dirty), and Complete Package (point-buy). Learn the basic check, then make an edgerunner who has a reason to take a job with the others. You do not need to memorize every weapon, program, or piece of chrome before session one.
Returning Cyberpunk players: Treat RED as its own game before importing an older edition's habits. Start with the core check, the ten Roles, and the Time of the Red setting. The future may still be mean; the procedure at your table should still be the one in the book you are using. Read Cyberpunk RED versus Cyberpunk 2020 for the character, Skills, Netrunning, and new-group decision.
Netrunners: Learn the crew's physical job before trying to master every program. A Netrunner has to jack in within 6 m/yds of an access point, so name what the rest of the crew is buying time for: opening a route, taking a Control Node, removing surveillance, digging up dirt, or stopping a threat.
GMs: Prepare a job with a visible payoff, a complication, at least two ways to approach it, and people who react to the result. You need a crew decision that will matter to somebody by the end of the night.
Cyberpunk 2077 and Edgerunners arrivals: Start with the tabletop game's collaborative structure. Every player shapes the crew, the group decides what it wants, and the table accepts the consequences together. The story follows those choices rather than one protagonist's arc. Read Cyberpunk RED versus Cyberpunk 2077 for the era, Role, and first-job path.
A strong first crew
The Core Rulebook names ten Roles: Rockerboy, Solo, Netrunner, Tech, Medtech, Media, Exec, Lawman, Fixer, and Nomad. A first crew needs only enough contrast that players can watch each other solve different parts of a job.
Pair the three crew questions above with two table decisions: what kind of jobs the group wants to pursue, and one relationship, debt, ambition, or neighborhood tie per character that the GM can put under pressure. The Cyberpunk RED Roles guide covers what each Role Ability adds to a job.
What this library will not replace
These guides do not reproduce the Core Rulebook, recreate the Night Market price lists, or substitute for a product's full rules, tables, stat blocks, scenarios, or DLC. Use the books for exact procedures and values. Use these guides for a verdict, a decision path, an explanation of table impact, and a clear pointer to the relevant source.
That matters in Cyberpunk RED because its published material is spread across books and DLC. A trustworthy guide tells you where a rule lives, what it changes, and whether you need it, without making you guess whether an answer came from the core game, an expansion, or a different era.
Where to go from here
Start with the Core Rulebook, make a crew with a reason to work together, and give the GM one job whose consequences can follow the team into the next session. When you are ready to run it, use the Cyberpunk RED First Session Guide, and browse the Cyberpunk RED guide directory for every live guide.
Source scope
- Cyberpunk RED Core Rulebook (CR3001): core rules, character creation, the ten Roles, Critical Success and Failure, Netrunning range, GM boundary advice, and the 2045 setting baseline.
- Cyberpunk RED Easy Mode: introductory scope and basic resolution procedure.
- R. Talsorian Games' Cyberpunk RED FAQ: Jumpstart Kit scope.
- R. Talsorian Games' Cyberpunk RED checklist: Jumpstart-to-Core rules-change and conversion-guide note.
