2300 AD vs Cyberpunk 2020
Compare 2300 AD and Cyberpunk 2020 side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| 2300 AD | Cyberpunk 2020 | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Scifi | Cyberpunk |
| Tags | Career-Based, Skill-Based, Simulation, Combat-Heavy, Tactical, Crunchy, Ship-Based, Exploration, Random Tables, Strong GM Support | Combat-Heavy, Skill-Based, Deadly, Lore-Heavy, Corruption, Crunchy, Tactical, Simulation, Gritty, Character Building |
| Core Mechanic | For a task, roll d10 and add modifiers from applicable skills and characteristics; meet a difficulty target from 2 for Simple to 18 for Impossible to succeed. A natural 1 fumbles, while failed checks use a separate roll to determine whether the character may retry or suffers a mishap. Hasty, hazardous, uncertain, and cooperative tasks modify time, failure risk, information, or group participation without changing the core check. | Roll 1d10 + the relevant stat + skill and meet or exceed a difficulty number. Opposed checks compare totals, with ties favoring the defender. A natural 1 automatically fails the check. A natural 10 adds one extra 1d10 to the total. |
| Dice | d10 | d10 |
| Complexity | High | High |
| Availability | Paid | Paid |
| Runnability | 4 of 5 book tools | 5 of 5 book tools |
| License | All Rights Reserved | All Rights Reserved |
| Third-Party Publishing | Noncommercial only — Mongoose Publishing Fair Use Policy | Noncommercial only — Homebrew Content Policy |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | GDW | R. Talsorian Games |
| Year | 1988 | 1993 |
| Languages | English | English, Italian, Japanese, Polish |
| Best For | Groups who want career-shaped crews exploring a politically divided interstellar frontier where starship operations and hard-science constraints drive missions. | Groups who want dangerous urban jobs with customized cybernetic characters and detailed firefights. Campaigns can draw on personal enemies and corporate power struggles in Night City. |
| Highlights | Career terms turn pre-play service into skills and organizational ties, giving each crew member a practical history that feeds later missions. Space combat uses hex movement and signature-based detection, making maneuver and sensor discipline as important as weapon range. Linked world-generation and mapping procedures build planets down to regional terrain, giving exploration campaigns playable locations instead of setting prompts. | Role-specific abilities give specialists distinct ways to influence a job. Lifepath events establish enemies and allies that can become campaign hooks. Cyberware trades mechanical upgrades for Humanity loss that reduces Empathy. |
| Considerations | Character creation can end when a turning-point roll fails, leaving a concept in its current career before the player intended. Combat routes each hit through location and damage-type tables, adding several lookups to a fight. The future history assumes a World War III and French hegemony, so campaigns are tied to a specific 1980s vision of the 24th century. | Extended Net infiltrations use separate procedures that can leave other characters waiting. Armor layering and damage to specific body locations require repeated calculations during firefights. A sufficiently damaging head hit kills outright regardless of remaining health. |