Cyberpunk RED Guide Hub | Cyberpunk RED Sourcebooks Guide | Cyberpunk RED Gear Guide | Cyberpunk RED Cyberware Guide
The Short Answer
Black Chrome is a catalog of campaign hooks as much as a catalog of equipment. It adds choices across apps, cyberware, fashion, armor, general gear, linear frames, vehicles, and weapons, but it places those choices inside the 2045 economy of manufacturers, Fixers, and Night Markets. Add it when the crew is ready for a new piece of gear to create a lead, a favor, a repair problem, or a hard choice.
Do not add it because every character needs a larger shopping list. The Core Rulebook remains the baseline. Black Chrome is strongest when its extra options are scarce enough to matter and specific enough to change the next job.
Get the Free GM Session Kit
Session Zero template, recap format, and a pricing cheat sheet - everything you need to run a better table and, if you want, get paid for it.
No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Hot Take
The best Black Chrome purchase is often the one the crew does not make yet. When a new item is always on hand, it becomes another entry on a sheet. When it needs a Fixer introduction, a Night Market visit, a risky repair, or a favor owed to the wrong person, it becomes a Cyberpunk story.
Use the catalog to make a player say, "This would solve our problem, but what will it cost us to get it?" That is more valuable than letting every upgrade erase the problem before the job begins.
Use The Catalog To Ask Better Questions
The book has breadth, but a category is not a character plan. Start with a recurring problem at the table, then use the relevant entries and their surrounding fiction to decide whether the proposed purchase earns a scene.
| Black Chrome material | Useful question for the crew |
|---|---|
| A weapon, armor, or general gear entry | What approach does this support that the team actually uses? |
| Cyberware or a linear frame | What prerequisite, capacity, Humanity, installation, or downtime pressure comes with it? |
| A vehicle or upgrade | Does it change routes, cargo, exposure, or the crew's escape plan? |
| A manufacturer detail | Who benefits if the crew uses this, and who notices? |
| A Night Market reference | Who can get this item, and what do they want in return? |
That keeps Black Chrome from replacing the Core Rulebook with a larger list. Read the exact entry for its procedure and restrictions, then let the campaign decide whether the option fits its tone and present circumstances.
Night Markets Are The Limit, Not Decoration
Black Chrome details six Night Markets with enough location, schedule, operator, security, and likely-stock information to turn shopping into a scene. That information is valuable because it gives the GM an answer to the more interesting question: why is this item here tonight?
It is not a guarantee that every listed item is available. The book directs the GM to establish market goods through the Core Rulebook procedures or the campaign's needs. A product's named booth can point to a contact, a neighborhood, or a complication; it does not overrule that decision.
| Availability signal | Put it to work at the table |
|---|---|
| A particular Night Market | Give the crew a place, time, crowd, and security problem. |
| A booth or vendor connection | Turn the acquisition into a conversation, favor, or future contact. |
| A market category | Decide whether the current job and local economy make that kind of stock plausible. |
| A missing item | Make the crew choose between waiting, finding another lead, or changing the plan. |
For a compact explanation of the wider equipment reference, start with the Cyberpunk RED Gear Guide. It explains what the Night Market Index can locate and what it cannot decide for a campaign.
Buy Gear For The Job, Not The Category
Black Chrome rewards a crew that knows what it does. A vehicle can make a cargo job possible. A protective upgrade can make an extraction less reckless. A specialized tool can give the Tech a reason to plan around a repair. The wrong purchase is not necessarily weak; it is a purchase with no job waiting for it.
| If the crew needs... | Let Black Chrome add... | Check before saying yes |
|---|---|---|
| A different way into or out of a job | A vehicle, vehicle upgrade, or transport-focused tool | The route, ongoing upkeep, and who will notice it. |
| A distinct physical approach | Armor, weapons, or a useful piece of general gear | Whether it works with the plan, setting, and current market access. |
| A better way to make or repair things | A component that supports the Tech's recurring work | Whether its benefits create a real project instead of bypassing one. |
| A new identity or capability | Fashion, cyberware, or a linear-frame option | Its prerequisites, consequences, and whether the table wants that spotlight. |
The Cyberpunk RED Gear Guide is the right companion before comparing categories. It keeps the sourcebook, the Index, and the GM's availability call in the same conversation.
Let Cyberware Still Cost Something
Expanded cyberware is not an invitation to ignore the core pressures around chrome. Before an installation, check the exact source entry alongside foundational hardware, compatible capacity, Humanity Loss, money, time, and any installation or care requirements. A flashy option is only a good choice when the player can describe the job or scene it changes.
The Cyberpunk RED Cyberware Guide covers those baseline decisions without rebuilding the equipment tables. Use it first, then use Black Chrome to deepen a concept rather than to patch every imagined weakness.
Nomad Access Expands Options, Not The Family
Black Chrome introduces Nomad Access for certain vehicles added to a Nomad's Family Motorpool. That can broaden a Nomad's vehicle choices as Moto rises, but the exact vehicle entry and current Role Ability rank still matter. It is not a free pass to claim every expansion vehicle as a standing family asset.
Read the Cyberpunk RED Nomad Guide with the original vehicle rule when a ride will shape a campaign. The vehicle should create routes, cargo, repair needs, and obligations for the whole crew, not just a new number on one character sheet.
Add Black Chrome Deliberately
- Identify the campaign pattern that needs more support: market access, vehicle jobs, Tech projects, cyberware concepts, or social pressure around gear.
- Agree which sources are available and how a player raises a new option between sessions.
- Treat a rare item as a lead. Decide who has it, why it is moving now, and what the crew must risk or owe to acquire it.
- Revisit the decision when the catalog starts solving every problem before play begins. A smaller set of options can make a street-level campaign sharper.
Where To Go Next
- Return to the Cyberpunk RED Guide Hub for the full live library.
- Use the Cyberpunk RED Sourcebooks Guide to decide which product helps the table next.
- Read the Cyberpunk RED Gear Guide for Night Market Index navigation and job-first purchases.
- Read the Cyberpunk RED Cyberware Guide before adding chrome to a character plan.
- Read the Cyberpunk RED Fixer Guide when access, contacts, and a deal should become part of the job.
- Browse the Cyberpunk RED guide directory for every live guide.
Sources And Scope
This guide summarizes Black Chrome (CR3061) alongside the relevant market and character-building context in the Cyberpunk RED Core Rulebook. It intentionally does not reproduce its item catalog, price lists, statistics, vehicle entries, cyberware tables, Night Market procedures, or full rules text. Use the books for exact values and procedures.
