Cyberpunk Spitfire

***Cyberpunk: Spitfire*** was a game series ran by Dork Tales using the Cyberpunk Red ruleset and set in the same universe as Cyberpunk 2077. It began on January 24, 2021 and ran bi-weekly on Sunday afternoons in the Pacific Time Zone, with a few exceptions, until its conclusion on July 25, 2021.

The game was expected to run 12 sessions in its first season, but ultimately became a single campaign of 8 sessions. It followed a short-story narrative form, with miniature arcs intended to be told over the course of a few sessions. The series consisted of two types of Player Character: *Mains*, who were regular occurring characters, and *Sides,* guest characters who existed as part of the extended world. Due to the highly lethal nature of cyberpunk games, these categories may not have meaning for long.

## Premise

***Cyberpunk: Spitfire*** followed a core group of street-level mercenaries operating out of the Spitfire, a grunge club in the Watson District of Night City. The game was set in 2076, roughly a year before the video game Cyberpunk 2077, and centered on the Spitfire Club's attempts to survive and thrive in the harsh reality of Night City. As they are tested by threats both internal and external, their rise of fall was dictated by their actions, their skill, and their luck.

## Cast and characters

### **Player Characters**

#### Mains

* Kelle Belle as Rain Wyte, a **Rockerboy** legend who headlined the Spitfire when it was popular and now runs the mercenary organization
* James Gibson as **Ramone Stryver**, a **Fixer** who dreams of making it big, but is weighed down by a duty to where he came from
* Michael Ilott as **Vale Fender**, a **Solo** and former military veteran who has returned to Night City after many years away to help their cousin's gang
* Camille J. Kerfuffle as Sabina "Beanie" Horvath, a **Netrunner** who escaped Watson for a corporate life, but has returned under mysterious circumstances

#### **Sides**

* Kelly Wright as Ezra Hames, a **Corpo** with shady connections and motivations.
* Jen Peters as Zelda Foxwell, a **Media** who works with Spitfire to eliminate Skip Mazer, her employer and game-show host.

### **NPCs**

* "Goodie", a synthetic brain developed by NUSA and (maybe) Arasaka acquired by Spitfire originally designated as "Friendly Neighbor"
* "Hornet", a drug-running street contact who provides Spitfire with contraband and rumors, and is occasionally Rain's *Input* on the side.
* Johnny Lately, a video host who hires gangs for Reality TV action fests
* Sans Andreas, a hacktivist who is looking to hire mercenaries to track down the creator of a deadly new malware
* Damiron Jonez, enforcer of the Immortals, a new street gang looking to carve out territory in Kabuki
* Evangelina Hendrix, a singer-songwriter with strange abilities to overwhelm technology with song
* Yves L'Erixia, a fashion designer willing to kill to make his name famous
* Les Sang Oranges (the Blood Oranges), a union of Joytoys seeking self liberation from traditional sex work oversight
* Noh Face Killer, a serial killer prowling the alleys of Kabuki who dresses in ceremonial Noh masks
* Office Lance Briggan, a corrupt rookie cop and former gang member
* Lola Caliente, a thief under the protection of the Valentinos

**Minor NPCs**

* J-Dawg, a messenger boy who runs between gangs
* DJ Shadowflame, a cut-rate vaporwave DJ who was ejected from the Spitfire club (Episode 1)
* Noise Doma, the Spitfire club's quiet bartender with a vastly flexible sense of gender expression.

## Episodes

 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8

## Production

### **Development**

Kelly Clark was encouraged to run Cyberpunk Red by several players, predominantly Michael Ilott, who is a huge fan of the genre. After experimenting with other systems in the cyberpunk genre, Kelly decided to give Red a shot. The rules seemed clear, consistent, a more grounded that other systems, such as *Shadowrun*, which incorporates magic and a significant amount of mystical metaplot. Also, a **lot** of dice.

The name *Spitfire* came about during an art test Michael was doing for his prospective character, which had a jacket bearing a large SPITFIRE logo across the back. After seeing the image, Kelly found that he was fixated on the name and how its uniquely western iconography contrasts against the samurai aesthetic of Cyberpunk 2077.

The Twitch frame layout was designed by Michael Ilott, who also played Xan "the Plan" in Curse of Strahd.

Sound effects and ambient audio for the game is provided by Tabletop Audio. Music will be announced as it finalized.

### **Casting**

The initial casting prospects included the final cast, as well as the idea to have a rotating guest seat to allow for cast diversity and schedule adjustment. During the casting phase, Michael requested that Kelly take a firm hand in deciding what each PC should play, as to direct them to play against their normal type. After some consultation with the cast, the current round of character types was chosen.

### **Filming**

The series broadcasted on Twitch over a bi-weekly schedule, opposite Werewolf the Forsaken: the Bitches of Brewery Park's second season. However, unlike its pair game, it ran from 2:00pm PST to 6:00pm PST to allow Camille to play comfortably from the east coast of Canada (+4 hours). Episodes aired on Twitch, and was made available the following Tuesday after a 48-hour delay for editing.