Techs Rejoice! This New Blueprint Sheet PDF Will Help You Craft Your Next Invention

Blueprint Submission Form: 27b/6 For Inventing and Prototyping

We have all felt it. You know that feeling you get when you stare into a well or deep hole in the ground. A gnawing anxious feeling forms in your gut and your mind starts to wander. You begin asking yourself things like: “What would happen if I fell in?” and “How far down does it go?” or “You think there’s a white rabbit down there?”

For me, that’s the same feeling I got when I cracked open the PHB for Cyberpunk Red and fliped to the Tech’s Maker ability, and read a little section called Invention Expertise. I remember feeling excited and at the same time, horrid anxiety began to creep in. How does one just invent items and upgrades? Isn’t that part of the sacred realm of the all powerful GM? Did The Cyberpope and R. Talsorian make a mistake?

Nope! I read it again, and again to confirm it. It was real. I could invent items! I could make whatever my little heart desired and so long as the GM is cool with it, and the dice were with me. It felt amazing. Then the feeling came back. I was looking into a well again. My mind raced for ideas, and how they could work, and I just couldn’t seem to find them.

The Blueprint System For Inventing New Items and Upgrades

I put that part of the Maker ability on the backburner for a while. Opting to avoid Invention Expertise in favor of upgrading and fabrication. But recently I have been revisiting inventing and I designed a PDF to aid in that process, and I would like to share some of the insights I have gained in the process.

First off, necessity is the mother of invention. That is why I urge you to go and play Cyberpunk Red. This is the best way to learn what you and your fellow players need that the master gear list doesn’t provide.

Next, now that you have played and have an invention in mind you can use the Blueprint PDF to guide and organize your creative process. Start by asking yourself thinks like: How does your new invention work? What items or cyberware that already exists could be used in the creation of this device? What are the cost of those items? Are there special rules for your invention? Does it deal damage, provide armor, or boost the users skills or stats? Are there drawbacks, or limitations? How difficult will it be to produce this invention? All these questions and others may come up during this phase and the next one. Embrace them as part of the process of improving your invention and making it more interesting.

You may have a tendency to overdo it during that process, and that is ok. That is why you take the next step of talking to your GM, fellow players, or even an online forum like the Cyberpunk Uncensored Discord server. This is the step where you will refine your invention and finalize your blueprint. Balancing will be very important to keeping the game fun for everyone, so you may have to give up some features due to cost or difficulty level to craft. Some things may be just a no go for your GM or party and you may need to be prepared for that too.

Now that you have done all that brainstorming, it’s time to figure out how much all this is gonna cost to fabricate. Thankfully if you are using the PDF you can just input the cost of each individual component and the sheet will tally the rest for you. If you are a GM with a Tech NPC who is crafting this invention consider how much your NPC may charge the PC’s to fabricate it.

For GM’s Too

While loot tends to be sparse in Red, Blueprints provide GM’s a new type of reward/potential sidequest for your players. For me as a GM who loves to grant custom crafted loot for my PC’s in my regular group games, this tool is beginning to become an indispensable to me, and a fun handout at the table or on Roll20 to boot.

Like for instance this OP as hell, Warhammer 40K inspired Power Armor I made. While it isn’t designed for use in the game per se, it is an example of what types of items can be created and shared using this system.