User Guide

THE "REAL WORLD”
Neuromancer is a science fiction role-playing game set in the year 2058. Your real world location
is Chiba City, by Tokyo Bay in the Kanto District of south-central Honshu, Japan. Chiba is a
magnet for the Sprawl’s techno-criminal subcultures, notorious for its shadowland of black
medicine and Body Shops. Criminal activity in Chiba is a constant subliminal hum, and death is
the punishment for laziness, carelessness, lack of grace, or the failure to heed the demands of the
intricate protocol. At one end of the city is the towering hologram logo of Fuji Electric,
dominating the skyline over the high-tech zone. At the other end is the Chiba Spaceport,
gateway to the orbital colonies of Freeside and Zion Cluster.
Since Neuromancer is a role-playing game, you’ll start the game by maneuvering your character
through the “Real World” areas of Chiba City. Skills, in the form of “skill chips” implanted
directly into your brain jack must be purchased and developed to ensure your continued survival
in this complex world. Skills will be discussed later in more detail.
In the Real World, interactions with the citizens of Chiba are important. Through dialogue, you
can make friends or enemies.
Some people can be very helpful, going so far as to give you things
you need. Others can be downright unfriendly, keeping vital information from you if you say the
wrong thing. Information is power-and you don’t have much when you start the game.
Another important source of information is the PAX, Public Access booths conveniently located
around the city, providing private citizens with the means to stay current with the rest of the
world. The PAX offers a newspaper, the Night City News; a Public BBS (Bulletin-Board System)
for personal messages; and friendly Banking services (yes, money is important to your survival).
The Night City News is updated daily, so it’s a good idea to refer to it at least once every 24
hours. The PAX BBS will remind you that you’re not alone in this world-you have friends who
are happy to help when they can.
YOUR PURPOSE IN LIFE
And what about your friends? Curiously enough, you seem to have fewer of them these days. Is
it because of your breath? Maybe it’s because you haven’t taken a bath recently? Or in Chiba
City, is survival more valuable and less costly than friends? You’ve heard rumors that several
cyberspace cowboys have disappeared-and not all of them were your friends. Where have they
gone? You suspect that the answer lies in cyberspace, but you’ve fallen on hard times. You had
to pawn your deck for
some cash as soon as you arrived in Chiba City. You’ve spent the last two
days in a drunken stupor, wondering what to do. Now it’s time to act. The fate of your
remaining friends, and yourself, depends on your successful solution of this bizarre mystery.