Cyberpunk RED Gear Guide: Weapons, Vehicles, Night Markets, And The Night Market Index

The short answer

Use the Night Market Index to find the right source, then use that book and your GM's market to decide whether the item belongs in the game. The Index works like a map of the equipment library. It tells you which product introduced an item and what it costs; the source entry supplies the full rule, and the campaign decides availability, timing, and consequences.

In Cyberpunk RED, gear is part of the job's fiction. A market can be an access problem, a favor owed to a Fixer, a chance to hear a rumor, or the reason a rival notices the crew. The best purchase is the one that gives the group a sharper plan for its next operation. This guide covers how buying works, how to use the Index, and how to choose weapons, armor, vehicles, and NET gear with that plan in mind.

Hot take

The Night Market Index should make players buy fewer things. Once every item is easy to locate, it is tempting to build a character with a perfect answer to every danger, and then every job plays the same way.

Buy for the plan the crew has right now. A weapon should support an approach, armor should answer a known risk, a vehicle should change where the team can go, and a cyberdeck choice should make a Netrunner more useful in the architectures the GM actually runs. Leave useful gaps. The strongest loadout leaves the crew worse at something else, and that gap is where Fixers, Techs, favors, and desperate improvisation get to matter.

How buying works: price categories and Fixer access

The Core Rulebook's Buying and Selling rules sort everything into eight Price Categories. Every item table lists the category under the eurobuck cost.

Two rules shape every shopping trip:

• Access has a ceiling. Without an experienced Fixer or one of their Night Markets, only items up to Premium can be bought. The book is blunt about it: if something is Expensive and you do not know a Fixer, you are not getting it.
• Starting money has limits too. During character creation a player can buy anything they can afford, but players cannot pool starting funds, and the rulebook warns GMs that Luxury or higher items at creation "could break your game."

A Fixer's Operator Reach raises that ceiling as it ranks up. At Ranks 3 and 4 a Fixer can always source up to Expensive items for clients; at Ranks 5 and 6 they can work with other Fixers to set up a Night Market once a month; the ceiling keeps climbing until Rank 10 reaches Super Luxury. That is why a Fixer contact is often the real price of a rare item.

Night Markets are story access, not a vending machine

The Core Rulebook describes Night Markets as mobile shops mounted on trailers, vehicles, and shipping containers, set up by Fixers and Nomads. Some are public enough to find by asking around. The best ones are secret and need a connection or access code just to locate. A market can appear for a few hours and vanish, or return regularly to a site with enough space and security.

The rulebook's market generator keeps stock limited. The GM rolls twice on a six-entry table to pick two kinds of goods (Food and Drugs, Personal Electronics, Weapons and Armor, Cyberware, Clothing and Fashionware, or Survival Gear), then rolls 1d10 per category for how many item types appear. The book notes that this is a general listing rather than the full inventory, but the point stands: a weapons-and-armor market is not a cyberware clinic, and a personal-electronics market is where a Netrunner might find programs or hardware. Cyberware bought at a Night Market is installed by the seller's preferred ripperdoc for free, not on site.

When a player wants an unusual item, answer these questions before opening a book:

The Night Market index

The official Night Market Index is a free, regularly updated R. Talsorian Games reference. Each line gives an item's name, its cost with Price Category, and the source abbreviation and page where the entry appears. It is especially useful when the same kind of option exists across the Core Rulebook, Black Chrome, Interface RED, boxed products, and DLC.

What the index actually organizes

The January 2026 edition groups its listings into weapons, ammunition, and attachments; armor; gear; cyberware; fashion; vehicles; NET material; lifestyle and housing; entertainment and services; Elflines Online; and items by company. The opening pages hold a legend for the product abbreviations. That lets a reader start from either the problem they need to solve or a manufacturer they ran into during play.

The Index is the authority for its own listings and abbreviations. It has no authority to change the original item's rules.

Read a listing in the right order

A listing gives you a research trail. Follow it in this order so a quick lookup does not turn into a false rule claim.

1. Name the job problem: concealment, protection, mobility, a NET run, medical access, or a specific social scene.
2. Find the relevant category or company entry in the Index.
3. Decode the source abbreviation with the legend and note the page reference.
4. Read the original entry for its full mechanics, prerequisites, and context.
5. Ask whether the campaign makes the item available through a Night Market, store, clinic, contact, Nomad Family, client, or job reward.

This order catches the common mistakes. A source may carry requirements the Index cannot summarize. Many items are listed with several sources because later collections reprint them, and the Index shows all of them. And a published listing says nothing about what a particular neighborhood is selling tonight.

What the index cannot decide

The Index is intentionally broad, and its limits keep the game from turning into a catalog simulator.

Turn a search into a scene

The Index is most useful when it points at what the crew must do next. Instead of announcing that an item is unavailable or silently approving it, turn the source trail into one concrete choice.

The Cyberpunk RED Fixer Guide is the crew-facing route for making those questions social. Operator can provide a believable contact or introduction, but it should not erase price, trust, time, or risk.

Use it without expanding your campaign by accident

The Index mixes Core Rulebook entries with books, boxed products, and DLC, so it is easy to find an option from a source your table never chose to use. Treat that as information, not an obligation. Before introducing an unfamiliar source, decide:

1. Is this source allowed in this campaign?
2. Does the group have the original text needed to use it correctly?
3. Does the item add a new kind of job decision, or only a bigger number?
4. Is it available through the current market fiction, or does locating it become a lead?

The Cyberpunk RED Sourcebooks Guide covers what to add and when, including the Core Rulebook baseline, the expansions, and the Interface RED collections.

The five-minute index check

When someone asks for a specific item, run this check:

1. What job problem are we trying to solve?
2. Which Index category or company gets us to the likely source?
3. What does the original entry require or change?
4. Who could make this available in the current campaign?
5. What does acquiring it cost besides eurobucks?

If the group cannot answer the last two yet, the Index has done its job: the GM and the Fixer now have a specific lead to develop instead of a vague shopping request.

Navigate gear by the job

Start with the scene the crew wants to change, then use the Index to find the product that holds the relevant rules.

This prevents category mistakes. A cyberdeck shapes how a Netrunner takes part in the job. A vehicle is a target, an asset, a crew space, and often a Nomad story. Armor does not settle whether the crew should be seen at all.

Weapons: pick a plan, not a damage number

Choose a weapon after the crew chooses its approach. A carried weapon has to reach the scene, fit the route, work at the range that matters, take the ammunition you can get, and leave the crew an exit after it is fired. The Core Rulebook gives the baseline weapon types; the Index points to published additions; the original source and the GM settle the exact option and whether the market has it.

Core weapon types at a glance

The Core Rulebook treats its weapon tables as generic classes; branded models in the Night Market section use the same numbers for their class. These are the standard-quality ranged weapons.

SMGs, Heavy SMGs, and Assault Rifles also have Autofire and Suppressive Fire. Basic ammunition costs 10eb per 10 rounds (Cheap); grenades and rockets have no basic version and are bought by type.

Melee weapons are classed by weight. Light Melee Weapons (1d6, ROF 2, concealable, 50eb) include combat knives. Medium (2d6, ROF 2, 50eb) and Heavy (3d6, ROF 2, 100eb) cannot be concealed, and Very Heavy Melee Weapons (4d6, ROF 1, 500eb) cover chainsaws and sledgehammers. Hands required depends on the specific weapon. Every melee attack ignores half the defender's armor, rounded up, which is why a blade still matters against heavily armored targets.

A 2 ROF weapon can make two attacks in one Attack Action and split them around movement. That is the practical case for a Heavy Pistol over a Very Heavy Pistol: less damage per shot, but two shots and a weapon you can hide.

Read the weapon entry in the order the job needs it

The weapon tables put the practical questions close together. Resist scanning only damage and read the entry as a set of constraints.

Start with the job, not the shopping list

Before opening a book or the Index, describe the pressure the crew expects. A short answer is enough.

That last question is why the Solo Guide matters to a weapons decision. A Solo's Combat Awareness pays off most when the rest of the crew knows what the protection, warning, or opening buys them.

The rulebook itself gives the same advice in plain terms: an assault rifle is great at long and middle range but awkward in tight corridors, so carry a pistol too.

Concealment, reloading, and carry

The weapon has to exist in the fiction before it can help. Hiding a weapon under clothing uses the Conceal/Reveal Object Skill, and only weapons marked concealable qualify. Drawing an easily accessible weapon into a free hand or dropping one does not take an Action, but stowing a held weapon does. Reload is an Action that fully replaces the magazine with a single ammunition type, and you cannot mix ammunition types in one magazine, so a specialty-ammo decision happens before the first roll.

Make a short carry plan for every important item:

1. Where is it while the crew enters the scene?
2. What would reveal it, restrict it, or make it socially costly?
3. What does the character give up while carrying or using it?
4. Where do fresh supplies come from if the job runs long?

Attachments, quality, and exotic weapons

Each non-Exotic ranged weapon has three Attachment Slots. That is a framework, not blanket permission. Attachments are built for specific weapon types and cannot easily be moved to another type, and equipping the same attachment twice does nothing. Some have a physical cost: a bayonet, for example, means the weapon can no longer be concealed under clothing.

Quality changes reliability and price:

A Poor Quality weapon malfunctions on a Critical Failure (a 1 on the Attack Check) and needs an Action to clear, with no Check required. An Excellent Quality weapon adds +1 to its Attack Checks.

Exotic Weapons are Average Quality and take no attachments or non-basic ammunition unless their entry says otherwise. They range from Premium oddities like the Stun Gun and Dartgun to Luxury pieces such as the Rhinemetall EMG-86 Railgun, which needs BODY 11 or higher to fire, and the Super Luxury Malorian Arms 3516. The rulebook says they are hard to find at a Night Market without a friendly Fixer and that carrying one "can really make a statement." Budget for the attention, not just the eurobucks.

When an option seems to solve everything, check whether its entry quietly changes one of these constraints: training, carry, range, ammunition, attachments, BODY requirement, or the market that can supply it.

Carried weapons and cyberweapons need different answers

A carried weapon asks whether the crew can bring, conceal, supply, and use it as planned. A cyberweapon changes access, but it also brings a body location, option slots, Humanity Loss, and clinic access into the decision. Neither is automatically better.

Read the Cyberweapons Guide when the job needs an integrated contingency. Use a carried option when the crew benefits more from flexibility, a visible deterrent, easier maintenance, or the ability to change loadouts between jobs.

Five-minute loadout check

Before the crew leaves the Night Market, each character can answer these:

1. What exact job pressure does this support?
2. Can I carry it into the first scene without breaking the cover story?
3. At what range or in what terrain is it actually useful?
4. What ammunition, attachment, quality, or maintenance constraint will matter if the plan changes?
5. What will the rest of the crew do with the opening it creates?

If the table has an answer for all five, the loadout is ready to play. If not, that is a lead for the Fixer, a question for the GM, or a reason to pick something simpler for this job.

Armor: buy a known risk

Armor is rated by Stopping Power (SP) and bought separately for the head and body. Only the highest SP in a location counts, all worn armor there is ablated by 1 whenever damage gets through, and the single most punishing Armor Penalty applies once to REF, DEX, and MOVE.

Light Armorjack is the obvious value pick: the highest SP with no penalty at Premium, which a character can buy without a Fixer. The Bodyweight Suit matches its SP and also stores a cyberdeck and supports Interface Plugs. Past that point, every extra SP costs speed. Read armor and weapons together so the crew does not build one plan for movement and another for standing still.

The Cyberpunk RED Armor Guide covers ablation, coverage, Black Chrome armor with a fashion appearance, and how to choose protection that supports the crew's route.

Vehicles: make the route a crew choice

A vehicle is a route, a crew space, and a promise to get home. Choose it for the job it changes: who and what it carries, where it can go, what attention it draws, and what failure means when the crew needs an exit. The Core Rulebook gives baseline vehicles and procedures. Black Chrome adds more vehicles and upgrades, including its Nomad Access rule, without making every option automatically available.

The best crew vehicle is rarely the fastest one. A ride that can move a witness, carry fragile equipment, reach the Outskirts, or offer a credible retreat gives the table an actual plan. A vehicle picked only for its top speed often turns into scenery.

Choose the job before the vehicle

A flashy vehicle is still the wrong answer when it cannot carry the cargo, cannot cross the route, or makes every checkpoint ask questions.

Core vehicle stats

Every vehicle in the Core Rulebook is Super Luxury. SDP is the vehicle's hit points, and combat speed is its MOVE.

Cabin Cruisers and Aerozeps have a two-room minimum; Yachts have a four-room minimum. At these prices most crews get a vehicle through a Nomad, a job, or a very good Fixer rather than a shopping trip.

Read the vehicle entry as a crew resource

Each field answers a practical crew question.

A listed vehicle is not guaranteed campaign inventory. Market access, a Fixer's introduction, a Nomad's Family, maintenance, and the current situation all decide whether the ride is part of the story.

A chase is a sequence of decisions

The Core Rulebook separates basic driving from Maneuvers. Basic driving needs no Check if the driver's REF plus the relevant control Skill is greater than 9; otherwise the driver spends their Action each Turn on a DV10 Check to keep control. Maneuvers are for driving where a mistake could cause a loss of control. They take both the Action and the Move Action: Swerve, Sharp Turn, and Emergency Stop are DV13, while a Bootleg Turn or a Jump is DV17. Air vehicles add Landing (DV13) and aerobatics (DV17). Fail, and the GM decides the vehicle's whole movement that Turn; hitting something counts as ramming.

Getting into a vehicle is an Action, and so is starting it, so nobody jumps in and speeds off in the same Turn. Once the vehicle starts, the driver goes to the top of the Initiative Queue and uses the vehicle's MOVE. Without Interface Plugs, one hand stays on the controls.

Keep the scene legible before asking for a roll:

1. State the route choices: open highway, tight market lane, elevated ramp, flood channel, or service road.
2. State the immediate pressure: time, pursuer, roadblock, terrain, passenger, cargo, or weather.
3. State what a Maneuver could gain and what failure would expose.
4. Let the driver choose the risk while the rest of the crew creates options around it.

The Cyberpunk RED GM Guide helps turn these decisions into fair job pressure.

Damage, cover, and a way home

A vehicle with at least 1 SDP can still move. At 0 it is Destroyed, stops counting as cover, and cannot move until repaired with the right Vehicle Tech Skill. Vehicle glass has no HP and gives no cover, so passengers can be shot through it; Bulletproof Glass is a Nomad upgrade. An Aimed Shot at a weak point such as the tires takes the whole Action at -8 and doubles the damage that gets through. Ramming deals 6d6 to both sides and gives everyone involved the Whiplash Critical Injury.

That makes damage a campaign decision. Before a job, settle who can drive, where the backup exit is, which contact offers a safe garage, and what the crew does if the vehicle becomes a stationary problem in hostile territory. A Tech can make repairs matter, a Fixer can make parts and garage access matter, and every other Role can make the stranded crew worth helping or worth hunting.

Nomad vehicle access is a family relationship

A Nomad adds their Moto Rank to driving, piloting, and vehicle tech Checks. Each time Moto rises, the Nomad either adds a stock vehicle of their Moto Rank or lower to the Family Motorpool or gives an existing Family vehicle one upgrade. Ranks 1 to 4 unlock the Compact Groundcar, Gyrocopter, Jetski, and Roadbike; the AV-4 arrives at 7 to 8. Only one Family vehicle can be out at a time, and if one is destroyed the Family repairs it in a week for 500eb. The Cyberpunk RED Nomad Guide covers the crew side: a Family vehicle is permission and responsibility, not disposable property.

Black Chrome adds Nomad Access. Its vehicles carry a Nomad Access value, and when a Nomad adds a stock vehicle through Moto they can pick one whose value is equal to or lower than their Moto Rank. It arrives with its listed upgrades, which do not use up Moto ranks. The story question still matters: who trusted the Nomad with this ride, what does the Family want in return, and how does the crew explain bringing it back damaged?

Gm: make the route visible before the roll

Vehicle scenes work when the crew can see a tradeoff before committing. Show enough of the road, obstacle, clock, and possible consequence that the driver can take the hard turn on purpose.

This keeps vehicle scenes from shutting out passengers. A Netrunner can open a gate, a Fixer can find a tolerated route, a Solo can protect the stop, a Tech can keep the ride alive, and the passenger holding the cargo can decide what the crew is willing to lose.

Five-minute vehicle check

Before the crew relies on a vehicle, answer these together:

1. What job is this vehicle doing today?
2. Who drives if the usual driver is hurt, absent, or busy?
3. What must fit inside, and what cannot be left behind?
4. Which route is fast, which is quiet, and which is a last resort?
5. Where can the crew stop, repair, hide, or abandon the vehicle safely?
6. Who notices the vehicle, and what do they think it says about the crew?

Cyberdecks and net gear: start with the run

Cyberdecks, programs, hardware, and Black ICE live in the Index's NET Stuff section. The build decision starts with the campaign's runs. To use a cyberdeck at all, a Netrunner needs Interface Plugs, which in turn need a Neural Link, and modern runners wear Virtuality Goggles to see the NET over the real world. Programs and hardware share the deck's slots: a Poor Quality Cyberdeck (100eb) has 5, a standard one (500eb) has 7, and an Excellent Quality deck (1,000eb) has 9. The crew still has to reach and protect a physical access point.

Read the Cyberpunk RED Netrunning Guide before adding a deck option, and the Cyberdecks Guide for slot tradeoffs and upgrade paths. Use the Cyberpunk RED Cyberware Guide when an upgrade touches a Neural Link, Interface Plugs, a Cyberarm, or another prerequisite.

What Black Chrome changes

Black Chrome is an in-world catalog with chapters for apps, cyberware, fashion and armor, general goods and gear, linear frames, vehicles, and weapons. It also presents six detailed Night Markets, each with how often it runs, where it is held, what it sells, who runs it, its security, a map, and a way a player Fixer can get involved. Each listing names a booth letter that ties it to one of those six markets.

The book is explicit that the GM should first decide a market's goods with the Core Rulebook generator or by choice, and that Black Chrome items are a chance on top of that. Use it for more choices and more market texture, not as a rule that every listed product is always in stock. Read the Cyberpunk RED Black Chrome guide for its catalog and availability limits.

Where to go next

• Return to the Cyberpunk RED Guide Hub for the complete live library.
• Read the Cyberpunk RED Armor Guide before choosing protection by SP alone.
• Read the Cyberweapons Guide before replacing a carried contingency with an installed one.
• Use the Cyberpunk RED Cyberware Guide before installing or expanding chrome.
• Read the Cyberpunk RED Black Chrome guide when a catalog item or Night Market scene needs campaign context.
• Read the Cyberpunk RED Sourcebooks Guide before treating a listed book or DLC as automatic campaign content.
• Read the Cyberpunk RED Netrunning Guide and the Cyberdecks Guide for decks, programs, and the physical job around a netrun.
• Read the Cyberpunk RED Roles Guide when a Role needs to turn gear into a crew function.
• Read the Fixer guide when an item needs a contact, a market introduction, or a deal the crew will remember.
• Read the Nomad guide when Moto, a route, cargo, or a Family obligation changes the job.
• Read the Solo guide when a weapon choice must protect a real crew objective.
• Read the Tech guide when repairs, upgrades, or fabrication turn gear into a campaign project.
• Read the Cyberpunk RED GM Guide to present routes, clocks, and consequences fairly.
• Browse the Cyberpunk RED guide directory for every live guide.

Sources and scope

This guide was checked against the Cyberpunk RED Core Rulebook (weapons, armor, Buying and Selling, Night Markets, the Night Market Appendix, vehicles and vehicle combat, netrunning equipment, and the Fixer and Nomad Role Abilities), Black Chrome (Using Black Chrome, Nomad Access, and the Night Markets chapter), and the official Night Market Index, updated January 2026. The tables summarize the Core Rulebook's generic weapon, armor, and vehicle classes only. Branded items, attachments, ammunition types, upgrades, range DVs, and the Index listings themselves stay in the original sources.