Monday, March 8, 2010

Hidden Agenda


I'm a sucker for cyberpunk, give me Snowcrash or Neuromancer to read and I'm a happy man. When I heard about Netrunner back in the 90's it was as if they had made a game for me. I was heavily into Magic at the time and a Cyberpunk based CCG filled with hackers against corp was music to me ears. I remember taking a trip to London on launch day and grabbing starter decks and boosters then reading the rules on the train back home.
The game was brilliant, it fitted the world very well and the rules were simple and elegant. Needless to say it was played again and again. Boosters were bought and around singles were swapped using new technology called email and newsgroups. I even travelled to play in some sealed tournaments organised by newsgroups. My £20 a month pipex account was well used then.
The first expansion came out out, Proteus and I travelled to Brighton to pick up a box of boosters. I have never bought a box of boosters before or since, I was that enthralled with the game.

Then the news of it being dropped hit. Why! its such a great game, but the market was being saturated with CCG's. I was buying Xfiles, Mech Warrior, Star Wars, L5R and others but none came close to using Black Dahlia on that ice infested run.

I haven't played Netrunner for a few years now. It occasionally hit the table after a bit of nostalgic banter and this Wednesday sees it rise again from the ashes. Decks have been sorted, rules have been read. Hopefully Wednesday will involve some good games, that said the fact that Netrunner is going to be played means there will.

1 comment:

Steerpike said...

I love Netrunner. By far the best CCG ever to have emerged and a criminal offence that it was dropped in its prime.

I still have all my old decks - maybe I should give you a lesson in Corporate Cyber Hacking at some point :-)