Editing Cyberpunk v3 (section)

==Character Types==
In place of the character roles of ''CP 2020'' (which were basically careers), ''Cyberpunk v3'' has 'Alt Cults' (Alternative Cultures). These are not just urban tribes: they constitute whole nations in the setting. Functionally they are almost like character races in a fantasy RPG. Whereas each role in ''CP 2020'' had its own unique 'special ability' skill that characters of other roles couldn't learn, the Alt Cults have their own exclusive technologies and homelands and enclaves, which you can only freely access with a kind of electronic key called a 'Dog Tag'. 
 
The playable Alt Cults are as follows: Edgerunner, Reef, Desnai, Rolling State (Rollers for short), Riptide (Rip for short), and Corporate Metal (Cee-Metal).

'''Edgerunners''' are the old-school cyberpunk heroes of the first and second editions of the game, residents of the new mega-cities. Instead of getting their limbs, eyes and other organs removed and replaced with enhanced cybernetic versions of the same, they wear their cybernetics like a kind of jewellery called Nu-Cybe. This generally comes in the form of 'cuffs', metal bracelets with fine needle-like probes that penetrate the flesh and connect to the nervous system, which unfold by some strange pseudo-science into powered armour that covers the limb or body. 

This does away with the great dilemma of the first two editions: you wanted cybernetics to make you a better Edgerunner, but adding more implants chipped away at your humanity, gradually turning you into a cold-blooded psychopath. Cyberpsychosis was the Sanity Loss of the first two editions of ''Cyberpunk''.

'''Reefers''' (not the kind you smoke, unfortunately) live under the sea, in an octopus's garden, in the shade. Led by a couple of characters called Richard Storm and John Neptune, their unique technology is kind of virus-driven genetic engineering called Transform Nodes (or Nets), which they use to adapt their bodies to life underwater or for specific jobs. One Reef template is called the Whaleboy, while another, the Shifter, a kind of spy class, has 'Sex Change' and 'Succubous' (sic) as options for its transform nodes. It's not that you're a kinky transsexual, rather that you keep switching your parts as needed to seduce people as part of your spy work. How delightful. 

'''Desnai''' use Japanime-style mecha suits as their signature tech. They occupy an abandoned multi-media theme park in Orlando, Florida, called Desnaiworld, and have a skull-faced Mickey Mouse icon as their clan symbol. Did you see what they did there? They have kept the theme park open for business, and in fact it's the cleanest, tidiest place in the ''Cyberpunk'' world. One of their templates is called the 'Imaginator', whose job is obviously to imaginate fings. Their special tech power is controlling mecha and other robots remotely via implanted radio transmitters in their heads, complete with antennae poking out of their skulls.

'''Rolling State''' are the nomads of ''CP 2020'' with all the street cred removed. They live in entire mobile cities on caterpillar tracks, each housing around ten thousand people, their homes, factories, markets and enough weaponry to destroy a small country. Compare this to the ''CP 2020 Maximum Metal'' supplement, which explained in detail how giant robots and tracked vehicles over about 100 tons would just sink into the ground and get stuck. The Rollers' signature technology is 'Adaptive Symbiosis' (another word for nanotech) that gives them near-magical healing powers, poison resistance and superhuman reflexes.

Just as Rollers live in mobile land fortresses, '''Rips''' live in floating cities originally built around Japanese coastal cities, cut adrift during on the world's oceans during the Fourth Corporate War. They specialise genetic engineering (a bit like the Reefers) but use it to create bio-engineered pet/friend/servant/tool/weapon lifeforms. Whereas the Reefers have a hunter-warrior culture, the Rips are vegetarian pacifists. 

'''Cee-Metal''' are full 'borgs like those from the ''CP 2020 Chrome Books'', but with posher technology: Livemetal™ is a liquid metal analogue of the human body. Of course, they should still be a fucking cyberpsycho, but apparently we're not playing that rule any more. Only 2 per cent of them ever go on a murderous rampage croaking: “DESTROY... ALL... HUMANS!”, so that's all right then. Like the robots in ''The Animatrix'', they got pissed off with everyone persecuting them for being flesh-hating freaks, and went off in a sulk to start their own country somewhere in the south-western deserts of the USA, where they constructed huge solar-panel farms (another blatant ''Matrix'' reference).

The book tells you straight off that Cee-Metal hate Rolling State, Edgerunners hate Desnai, Riptide hate Reef (a bit unfortunate since the both live in or on the ocean) and Desnai hate Cee-Metal, all because of cultural differences or 'kulturkampfs' ― it goes without saying that ''Cyberpunk'' is as full of pseudo-German and Japanese as ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' is of dog-Latin. So much for inter-player cooperation and harmony. Oh, and Dwarves and Elves hate each other 'cos one lot live down mines and the other lot live up trees. By this point ''Cyberpunk v3'' is starting to look like its cyberpunk/fantasy mash-up rival ''[[Shadowrun]]''.

Some other, non-PC altcults include the '''Fallen Angels''', residents of the pre-crash orbital habitats who are reduced to scavenging, '''Ghosts''', whose personalities have been uploaded from their dying bodies onto surviving internet systems in abandoned cities, and '''Neo-Corps''', now organised like the Mafia.

In addition, the basic game had character creation simplified through the use of templates, a concept which Mike Pondsmith had borrowed from computer games design, with the stated aim of getting new players started quickly. A more detailed and flexible character generation system was included in the 'advanced' rules later in the book, but some players complained that it did not include some of the cooler and more powerful stuff available in the basic templates.