You best not miss...

Guns don't kill people, murderhobos kill people! Specifically, when they engage ED-209 in a firefight for control of the strategically vital playground in the middle of an oil refinery, and miss.

Below is a random generation table for determining what happens when player characters in a modern or cyberpunk roleplaying-game miss what they're shooting at. The table is designed to be rolled when a character misses a shot with a projectile weapon in a dangerous area. Or a crowded one. Or rolls a critical failure. Or the GM is feeling particularly vindictive. 

The collateral damage table is very much inspired by the Ship Collateral Damage table in the Rogue Stars wargame. It's much shorter, because neon slicked streets lack some of the exciting options for catastrophe a spaceship possesses - atmospheric leaks, artificial gravity failures, that result which causes the ship to burst into flames and kill anyone who can't get to an escape pod...

This table should also be rolled if the PCs leave a loaded gun with a toddler or take lots of drugs before the run or decide to go into a night club with their helmets on and their assault rifles loaded (every Cyberpunk 2020 party has done this, without cause. Every Shadowrun party has done this, as a survival necessity).

The dice rolled varies depending on local conditions.

For a region free of bystanders, roll a D10.
For a region with a few non-combatants nearby, roll a D12.
For a crowded room, a crowded theatre or a crowded crowd, roll, a D20.

The GM decides exactly where in the environment the effect applies. Remember bullets frequently, like, pass through walls.

APPALLING COLLATERAL DAMAGE BELOW THE JUMP:

SNS 2: Uplifted Cat Seeks Legal Rights

SATURDAY NIGHT SCREAMSHEET 2: here at Vircades Project we spent good money on a subscription to the a time-traveller's news digest, but all we got in return a bunch of celebutante garbage. Still, I was able to turn it into an adventure, below the jump...

FEATURING: Lawfare! Cats! Keratinised penile spines!

KASHA SEEKS LEGAL INHERITANCE

Network 60 Daily Update

...legal complications following the death of Enrique Solo (54). The SoloGene founder, eccentric billionaire and uplift pioneer left no will. His two children (Leo and America Solo, both 14) and his former partner (Ms Jara Mitchell of Fort Worth TX, 42) have both put forward claims on his estimated $4.5 billion worth, while contesting a number of patents with SoloGene.

The intervention of Kasha has further complicated the affair. The celebrity cat has made claims to membership in the Solo family and produced verified online message transcripts indicating that Mr Solo wished him to have an inheritance. He further alleges that SoloGene is responsible for wholesale tampering with Mr Solo’s personal cloud server data store, removing evidence of Mr Solo’s intentions. Independent security experts confirm that some tampering certainly took place but cannot clearly identify a culprit. Kasha’s belief in SoloGene’s complicity is backed by the chat logs, in which Mr Solo himself alleged that SoloGene was intentionally acting to prevent further development of the cat uplift patent.

INVESTORS PRESS SOLOGENE FOR ANSWERS

Singapore Review

...Following the announcement of the successful Kasha project, investors have eagerly awaited the release of a successful cat uplift product onto the market. Indeed, the original announcement caused SoloGene stock to rise almost 430% and funded their major expansion through the last twelve quarters. Few of these investors expected immediate results and were simply happy to see SoloGene remain profitable through its period of expansion.

Five years later, shareholder patience has run out. Many admit to investing out of a simple desire to see uplifted cats reach the market, rather than any economically pragmatic reason. The “cat fancier” faction among the shareholders was willing to live with low dividends and high research costs in pursuit of this goal. But with no obvious progress yet made, they want answers from the board. Kasha’s recent accusations have fuelled a fire among investors that may yet burn SoloGene to the ground.

PETULANT AMERICA SOLO DEMANDS “SENTIENT CAT DISSECTION”

Outraged Citizen Monthly

America Solo shocked the world this morning with claims that Kasha the uplifted cat is “nothing but a fraud.” “My father was not an honest man. The so-called uplift-cat is nothing but a bio-computer AI implanted in a bio-drone. Impressive tech but no more sentient than a Mr Wacko(™) doll.” She further called upon Kasha to submit to medical testing to disprove her allegations. Kasha’s lawyers replied that such testing could not be adequately carried out without invasive surgery and severe risk to their client. Kasha himself used last's nights Tonight Show appearance to make wry comments about America Solo’s own intellectual faculties. “She loves Bop Metal, after all…”

SNS 1: Are Teenage Drone Pilots Child Soldiers?

I always loved the "Screamsheet" adventure format in the back of Cyberpunk 2020, sooooo:

SATURDAY NIGHT SCREAMSHEET: Vircades Project compiles the news from the grimdark future so you don't have to, sifting out adventure opportunities from all the trash and misinformation.

There's an adventure outline beneath the jump. This week - kidnapping, dixie gangsters and teenage drone pilots!

FIGHTING CONTINUES AROUND CHOLUTECA

Islamic Republic News Service

...government forces routed from their fortifications under ferocious strafing fire from insurgent “Fatbed” gunbirds. The rebels drones even succeeded in downing one of the government’s antiquated Cessna A-37s over the city itself.

It was only by evening that government forces rallied. Electrothermal anti-aircraft cannon brought up by Primeval corporation mercenaries forced the gunbirds to retreat, while a counter-attack by “stalker” type drones stalled the guerilla advance. But with EMP mortar rounds raining down on the city limits, it seems clear that the Honduran army has a tough fight on its hands if it means to keep the rebels from cutting the Pan-American Highway by week’s end.

ARE THE CHAEBOLS HIRING GAMERS TO FIGHT THEIR WARS?

GamerGateWay.com

...won the 2023 Sparkle Vampire World Wars World Championship under the moniker Twilight<3 before being drafted into the Korean Airforce like so many other championship gamers.

Following his return,Twilight<3 surprised many by choosing not to return to the pro-gamer scene, instead hiring out to the private sector. For the corporations, gamers provide a source of trained and battle proven talent. Col. Mikaelova notes that “the interfaces used in modern drone swarms are, if anything, a generation or three behind the newest games. These days, most combat drone AIs and pilot aid systems use code originally built for the entertainment sector.”

His suicide has prompted renewed calls among veterans organisations for better psychological support for drone operators. Twilight<3 is known to have taken part in LG Yeongdeok’s oil platform security operations in the Gulf of Mexico, targeting “Wolverine” insurgents in southern Texas. “He spent days at a time monitoring terrorists and terrorist sympathisers in their family homes, waiting for the moment to strike. There’s an intimacy to this kind of operation unprecedented in the history of warfare” claimed…

GAMER HERO? YOU COULD BE A WAR HERO! ENTER THE TOURNAMENT, WIN A JOB!

Miami Noticeboard

Age 14+, tournament entrants must possess an Immortal Sanguine Crystal Medallion in Sparkle Vampire World Wars or a platinum rating in Titancraft. Must be willing to move to Miami for at least one two-year tour of duty. 35k annual salary and benefits - see below for contract details.

TEENAGE DRONE PILOTS ARE CHILD SOLDIERS, RULES UNITED NATIONS

Auckland Post

“The high rates of PTSD among drone operators going right back to the Obama era should prove to any honest observer that these people are as much “combatants” as soldiers on the frontline. To say otherwise is frankly disrespectful to a generation of American veterans. If we forbid children from taking part in other forms of combat, why should we tolerate this?”

[...]

The Secretary General’s comments were ignored by all parties.