Cyberpunk 2020 vs The Sprawl
Compare Cyberpunk 2020 and The Sprawl side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Cyberpunk 2020 | The Sprawl | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Cyberpunk | Cyberpunk, Scifi |
| Tags | Combat-Heavy, Skill-Based, Deadly, Lore-Heavy, Corruption, Crunchy, Tactical, Simulation, Gritty, Character Building | Mission-Based, Espionage, Heist, Noir, Gritty, Faction Play, Playbook-Driven, Fiction-First, Player-Only Rolls, One-Shot Friendly |
| Core Mechanic | 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. | When an action matches a move's fictional trigger, roll 2d6 plus Cool, Edge, Meat, Mind, Style, or Synth. A 10+ is a strong hit, 7-9 is a weak hit, and a 6 or less lets the MC make a move. |
| Dice | d10 | 2d6 |
| Complexity | High | High |
| Availability | Paid | Paid |
| Runnability | 5 of 5 book tools | 4 of 5 book tools |
| License | All Rights Reserved | Proprietary |
| Third-Party Publishing | Noncommercial only — Homebrew Content Policy | No verified route found |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | R. Talsorian Games | Ardens Ludere |
| Year | 1993 | 2016 |
| Languages | English, Italian, Japanese, Polish | English, French |
| Best For | 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. | Groups who want structured heist-style missions with a hacking minigame and a growing web of corporate rivals across a campaign. It suits players who enjoy risky planning and personal ties that complicate the crew's loyalties. |
| Highlights | 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. | Countdown Clocks track legwork noise, mission alertness, and corporate attention on separate tracks, giving missions a visible pressure gauge instead of a single doom clock. Cyberdeck ratings and tiered ICE turn hacking into its own tactical minigame layered on the standard moves. The Legwork and Action phase structure lets intel and gear earned through investigation convert directly into narrated advantages during the mission itself. |
| Considerations | 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. | Combat and infiltration rely on fictional positioning and MC judgment as much as dice modifiers, so groups who want tightly defined tactical rules may find some outcomes settled by table discussion. Running an ongoing campaign means the MC tracks separate Countdown Clocks for every corporation, threat, and mission in play at once. Choosing how a character paid for their starting cyberware can permanently tie that character to being owned or hunted by a specific corporation. |