Game Mechanics - The Cyberpunk RED Guide

The Foundation: How Dice Tell Stories

In Cyberpunk RED, everything revolves around a simple concept: rolling a ten-sided die (d10) and adding your relevant STAT and Skill. Think of it like this - the dice represent chaos and uncertainty (the random elements of life), while your STATs and Skills represent your training and natural ability (what you can control).

It's like trying to hit a bullseye while riding a motorcycle in a thunderstorm. Your skill determines how steady your hand is, but the storm (the dice) can still throw you off target - or give you that perfect moment when everything aligns.

Interactive Dice Roller

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The Core Mechanic: STAT + Skill + 1d10

The Universal Formula

Roll: STAT + Skill + 1d10 vs. a Difficulty Value (DV)

If your total beats the DV, you succeed. Matching it is not enough: a tie fails. When someone is actively resisting you, they roll too, and the defender wins ties. It's that simple - and that brutal.

Figure — every roll in the game is this one shape. Notice how little of it is the die. A specialist with STAT + Skill of 12 clears Everyday and Difficult tasks most of the time and fails Heroic ones almost always; the d10 decides the middle. That is the whole design: characters are defined by which rungs of the ladder they own outright, not by lucky rolls.

Think of it like this: you're constantly taking tests in Night City, but instead of getting a grade, you either succeed or face consequences. Sometimes those consequences are embarrassment. Sometimes they're bullets.

Difficulty Values: The Mountain You're Climbing

Cyberpunk RED uses named difficulty steps. The five in the middle (Everyday 13 to Incredible 24) do most of the work; the core rulebook adds Simple 9 and Legendary 29 at either end. The GM picks one, and you have to beat it.

Figure — the DV ladder, and who can actually climb it. The steps are fixed by the rules; what changes is your STAT + Skill total. Because one d10 only spans 1–10, a character can be mathematically incapable of a task no matter how they roll — and equally, once STAT + Skill is high enough, Everyday tasks stop needing dice at all. Both are features. When a roll cannot fail or cannot succeed, don't call for it.

Critical Success and Fumbles: When Dice Go Wild

flowchart TD A[Roll 1d10] --> B{Natural 10?} B -->|Yes| C[CRITICAL SUCCESS Roll 1d10 more and ADD it] B -->|No| D{Natural 1?} D -->|Yes| E[CRITICAL FAILURE Roll 1d10 more and SUBTRACT it] D -->|No| F[Normal result roll + STAT + Skill] C --> G[Must beat the DV a second 10 or 1 does NOT chain] E --> G style C stroke:#1f6f5c,stroke-width:3px style E stroke:#7a2450,stroke-width:3px style G stroke:#2a3f6e,stroke-width:3px

Critical Success (Natural 10)

When the d10 comes up a natural 10, roll one more d10 and add it to your total. That is the whole rule — if the second die is also a 10, it does not trigger another critical. The dice do not keep exploding in Cyberpunk RED.

This matters more than it sounds. A single bonus die means the best possible roll is 20 + STAT + Skill, so the ceiling on any check is knowable. A character who cannot reach a DV even on a critical simply cannot do the thing, and the GM should say so instead of asking for a roll.

Example: Your hacking attempt doesn't just break in - it gives you admin access and erases all traces of your intrusion.

Critical Failure (Natural 1)

When the d10 comes up a natural 1, roll one more d10 and subtract it from your total. As with criticals, a second 1 does not compound.

Note what this is not: it is not an automatic failure, and it is not a licence for the GM to invent a disaster. A character with STAT + Skill 15 can roll a 1, subtract a 2 on the second die, and still beat an Everyday DV 13 (15 + 1 − 2 = 14). The mechanic makes a bad roll worse, not fatal.

Example: The subtracted die drops you under the DV, so the lock holds. That is the failure; the GM doesn't need to add a snapped pick and an alarm on top of it.

Think of criticals and fumbles like life's extreme moments - sometimes you have the perfect day where everything goes right, and sometimes you spill coffee on your shirt right before the big meeting. Cyberpunk RED captures both these extremes.

Combat: When Talking Stops Working

Combat in Cyberpunk RED is like a deadly dance where everyone's trying to step on each other's feet with bullets. It's fast, lethal, and unforgiving - just like real violence should be in a game about consequences.

Initiative Phase

Roll: REF + 1d10, once at the start of the fight

Highest goes first and the order then stays fixed. In gunfights, going first often means going home alive.

Action Phase

Each character gets one Move Action (up to MOVE × 2 m/yds) and one Action per turn. Common Actions include:

Attack: Shoot, stab, or punch someone
Aimed Shot: −8 to hit in exchange for targeting the head (double damage), a held item (disarm), or a leg (Broken Leg critical injury)
Reload: Because running out of bullets is embarrassing
Run: Spend your Action on a second Move Action
Get Up / Take Cover / Use an Item: The unglamorous actions that keep you alive

Not a Cyberpunk RED rule

There is no generic "aim for +1" and no "full defense" stance — those are Cyberpunk 2020 habits. In Red, the only way to trade accuracy for effect is the Aimed Shot, and the only way to dodge a bullet is the Evasion skill, which you can only use against firearms if your REF is 8 or higher.

Resolution Phase

Roll damage, apply armor, check for critical injuries. Combat is over when one side is dead, unconscious, or runs away.

Attack Resolution

flowchart TD A[Attacker rolls REF + Weapon Skill + 1d10] --> B{Beat the range DV or the dodge roll?} B -->|No| D[Miss — no effect] B -->|Yes| C[Roll the weapon's damage dice e.g. 2d6 for a medium pistol] C --> G{Two or more 6s among those dice?} G -->|Yes| H[CRITICAL INJURY roll 2d6 on the table +5 damage straight to HP] G -->|No| E H --> E[Subtract the target's armor SP from the dice total] E --> F{Any damage got through?} F -->|Yes| I[Lose that many HP armor SP drops by 1] F -->|No| J[No damage, armor undamaged] style B stroke:#8a5a10,stroke-width:3px style G stroke:#7a2450,stroke-width:3px style H stroke:#7a2450,stroke-width:3px

Damage and Death: The Price of Violence

Health and Injury System

Your BODY and WILL determine how much damage you can take:

Figure — hit points count down, and the penalty is a cliff, not a slope. This is the single most misplayed part of the system. Nothing happens as you take your first 19 points of damage — then you reach half and everything you attempt gets −2 at once. Dropping below 1 HP doesn't kill you either; it starts a clock that a friend with medical skills can still stop.

Critical Injuries: When Bad Gets Worse

Critical Injuries are not triggered by a damage threshold. They are triggered by the damage dice themselves: whenever two or more of the d6s rolled for a single melee or ranged attack come up 6, the target suffers a Critical Injury — roll 2d6 on the appropriate table. Every Critical Injury also deals 5 bonus damage straight to Hit Points, bypassing armor entirely.

This is why even a medium pistol (2d6) is never truly safe to stand in front of, and why an assault rifle rolling 5d6 is terrifying: more dice means more chances to pair up sixes. These range from annoying to life-changing:

Body hits: broken ribs, a broken arm or leg, a torn muscle, a collapsed lung, a spinal injury
The worst body results: a dismembered hand, arm or leg
Head hits: a separate table, with results such as a concussion, a broken jaw or a lost eye
Most of them carry ongoing penalties until they are treated

Real-world parallel: Critical injuries are like the difference between a paper cut and a car accident. The system reflects that some wounds change you permanently, which is realistic and terrifying.

Netrunning: Digital Warfare

Netrunning is like being a digital warrior in a virtual battlefield. Your body stands within a few meters of an access point, jacked in and vulnerable, while your mind fights for its life in cyberspace against security programs that can literally kill you.

Pathfinder

Roll: Interface + 1d10 vs. DV

Map out the digital fortress you're about to assault. Knowledge is survival.

Backdoor

Roll: Interface + 1d10 vs. DV

Sneak past the front door security. Sometimes stealth beats brute force.

Cloak

Roll: Interface + 1d10 vs. DV

Hide your presence from security programs. Being invisible is better than being dead.

Control

Roll: Interface + 1d10 vs. DV

Take command of enemy systems. Turn their weapons against them.

graph TD A[Jack In] --> B[Pathfinder: map the floors] B --> C{Security Detected?} C -->|No| D[Navigate Safely] C -->|Yes| E[Combat with ICE] D --> F[Access Target File] E --> G{Survive ICE?} G -->|Yes| F G -->|No| H[Real damage - possibly death] F --> I[Jack Out Safely] style A stroke:#4ecdc4,stroke-width:3px style E stroke:#ff6b6b,stroke-width:3px style H stroke:#8e44ad,stroke-width:3px style I stroke:#96ceb4,stroke-width:3px

ICE: The Digital Guardians

Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics (ICE) are like guard dogs made of code. They patrol cyberspace looking for unauthorized users, and when they find you, they try to delete you - sometimes literally.

Black ICE that hunts runners: the attack dog - it does real damage to your body through the link
Black ICE that hunts programs: the dog that chews up your gear - it wrecks the programs on your deck

The Netrunning part of this guide covers NET Architectures, NET Actions and Interface Abilities in detail.

Skill Interactions and Complementary Actions

Skills in Cyberpunk RED work together like instruments in a jazz band - individually they're good, but together they create something greater than the sum of their parts.

Complementary Skills

A good roll in one skill can set up a related one:

Complementary Skill: a successful check in a related skill (which another character can make) may give +1 to the next use of the main skill
The bonus is small on purpose: it nudges the odds by about a tenth, it doesn't replace training

Example: A Library Search for the system's old manuals gives +1 to the Basic Tech check to get the ancient terminal running.

Teamwork and Assistance

Multiple characters can work together on tasks:

Setting each other up: the complementary-skill rule above is the usual way to help
Splitting the job: one character scouts, another talks, a third does the technical part, each with their own check
The Exec's Teamwork: a Role Ability that builds a loyal team around the Exec, not a dice bonus for helping

Real-world analogy: It's like having a study group for a difficult exam. Everyone brings different strengths, and together you can tackle problems none of you could solve alone.

Advanced Mechanics: Beyond the Basics

Autofire and Suppressive Fire

Automatic weapons change the game completely:

Autofire: Spray a burst of rounds at one target; the damage scales with how well you beat the DV, up to a cap set by the weapon
Suppressive Fire: Spray an area to keep enemies' heads down - anyone caught in the open has to steel their nerve or get to cover
The cost: both burn through a big chunk of the magazine in one Action

Vehicle Combat

Car chases and vehicle combat use different rules:

Maneuvering: REF + Drive Land Vehicle (or Pilot) vs. obstacles and opponents
Ramming: Vehicle damage can be transferred to occupants
Shooting from Vehicles: The GM can make a moving platform harder to shoot from

Reputation and Face

Your reputation precedes you in Night City:

One number: Cyberpunk RED tracks a single Reputation score, not separate street, corporate and media ratings
Facedowns: a COOL-based stare-down between two people; the loser backs down or fights at a penalty against the winner, and a big Reputation helps
Media: the Media's Credibility Role Ability is how stories, and reputations, get made

Game Master Tools: Running the Mechanics

For GMs, these mechanics are like the engine of a car - players don't need to understand every detail, but you need to know how to keep things running smoothly.

When to Roll vs. When to Roleplay

Roll when: Outcome is uncertain and consequences matter
Don't roll when: Success is certain or failure isn't interesting
Roleplay when: Character interaction is more important than mechanics

Scaling Difficulty

Adjust DVs based on circumstances:

Favorable conditions: Lower DV or give bonuses
Poor conditions: Higher DV or apply penalties
Time pressure: Multiple rolls or escalating consequences

Making Combat Flow

Pre-roll initiative: Start fights immediately
Describe impact: Make every hit and miss cinematic
Consequences matter: Injuries should affect the story

Common Situations and Their Mechanics

Social Encounters

Persuasion: COOL + Persuasion vs. a DV, or opposed when the target has reason to dig in
Getting answers out of someone: COOL + Interrogation; WILL + Resist Torture/Drugs is how the subject holds out
Reading people: EMP + Human Perception to spot a lie or a hidden motive

Investigative Scenarios

Finding Clues: INT + Perception, Criminology or Library Search
Following Leads: COOL + Streetwise or INT + Local Expert
Connecting Dots: INT + Deduction or an appropriate knowledge skill

Survival Situations

Endurance: WILL + Endurance, or DEX + Athletics for the physical stuff, vs. environmental DVs
Navigation: INT + Wilderness Survival out in the Badlands, INT + Local Expert in the city
Finding Shelter: INT + Wilderness Survival, or COOL + Streetwise in the city

Putting It All Together

Cyberpunk RED's mechanics serve the story, not the other way around. Every rule exists to create tension, consequences, and dramatic moments. The dice don't just determine success or failure - they determine how your character's story unfolds.

Remember: In Night City, the house always wins eventually. But the mechanics give you tools to fight back, to carve out your own space in a hostile world, and to tell stories worth remembering.

The key is understanding that these aren't just game rules - they're the physics of a world where style matters as much as substance, where a single roll can change everything, and where the most important victories are often the ones that let you keep your humanity while gaining power.