Downloadable Content, or DLC, is a common feature with video games. It adds new player content, missions, cosmetics and other add-ons that extend the life of a game. In some cases, such as the DLC for Cyberpunk 2077, it improves the game and turns it into something players come back to again and again.
Cyberpunk 2077’s tabletop sibling, Cyberpunk RED, embraced this notion of DLC early on in its development. Every month it releases new, free content to fans to use in their home games. These drops include everything from new gear to rules for roller derby to graphics files that help Game Masters make authentic looking props for their games.
For fans who want to support this initiative, they can pick up copies of Interface. This magazine collects many of these downloads into a single volume. Each issue also includes a special rules expansion exclusive to the volume.
R. Talsorian Games recently released the fourth Interface DLC collection. Now seems like a good time to look at each one and discuss the highlights of the different articles, player options and plug in rules on display in each. A review copy of Interface Issue #4 was provided for this article.
Cyberpunk RED Interface Volume 1
This issue kicks off the run with a collection of pre-generated characters, net architectures and other game elements that can drop into any storyline. It also contains the first article about Elflines Online, Night City’s most popular online game. The Elflines articles are a great way to pull Cyberpunk RED characters into some classic fantasy stories, as well as a way to add in fantasy elements for fans who want a little bit of both.
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The exclusive article focuses on drones and how they work in the Time of the RED. I found the article about converting weapons from the original Cyberpunk 2020 to be the most useful. Cyberpunk characters are often defined by their gear and there is a ton of useful stuff just waiting in that earlier edition’s Chrome Books.
Cyberpunk RED Interface Volume 2
This DLC collection includes new gear and locations for runners to crash. On the GM side, there are hardened bad guys and a weather generator for atmosphere. Elflines Online gets a guide to encounters and monsters.
This volume includes rules on exotics, people who use cyberware to modify themselves into having more animalistic features than futuristic chrome. I found the conversion guide to the Jumpstart Kit most useful by updating the boxed set content to work with the finished game. Jumpstart Kits are the best way to get a sample of Night City no matter what time frame.
Cyberpunk RED Interface Volume 3
The third issue of Interface gives the Game Master mini-bosses that fit in between the minions and bosses built in the core book. More guns and gear of course, plus new programs for netrunners and cyberware that’s cheap and flashy. An article about the Elflines Online collectible card game offers a great send up of its real life counterparts.
My favorite inclusion here is a lifepath style dating routine to use with players. It’s a great way to add new allies and rivals while the players are off the clock from their edgerunning gigs. For the hardcore solos, the exclusive article discusses Full Body Conversions where characters lose all their meat in exchange for maximum metal.
Cyberpunk RED Interface Volume 4
The most recent issue puts some cut material from Black Chrome out into the world. Rules for building a punknaught give players a chance to make the mobile headquarters of their dreams. Though this collection doesn’t have Elflines Online, there are rules for achievement and loot boxes that bring a little video game reality to your cyberpunk fantasy.
The exclusive content this time around are several Martial Arts styles that really expand the usefulness of that skill. They contain a mix of real world styles and ones that have evolved in the streets of Night City. These styles also contain a lot of inspiration for anyone who wants to design their own.
Cyberpunk RED players can look forward to new content coming out on a regular basis. Each release contains new inspirations and ideas for the game. But they also make Night City feel like a living, breathing and growing place.
