In July 2024 we presented the all-new Gaia Complex Bundle featuring the Hansor Publishing cyberpunk RPG of flesh and wires. In a megacity of intense violence, secret corporate warfare, and vampiric uprisings, an overzealous AI called Gaia governs the city and protects (controls) its citizens. You’re a Merc, uncovering secrets and using them to chase your next payout from the syndicates. But Gaia’s secrets are many and unexpected. Whether you’re a combat-ready Operator, Core Hacker, black marketeer, street-savvy Data Dealer, or feral who mind-melds with animals, the concrete jungle of New Europe – of NeoMunich, Bruss, Morvan, The Hamm, Paris-Zone, The Dome, and the vampire-controlled Outer Fringe – can eat you alive (especially the vampires). For fans of Blade Runner, Altered Carbon, Ghost in the Shell, Appleseed, Elysium, and Dredd, The Gaia Complex lets you create hard-edged stories of conspiracy, discovery, and brutal violence.
After the Resource War of 2039 pushed humanity almost to extinction and ruined the air, 11 cities managed to develop atmospheric processing and survive. The largest, New Europe, is a dystopian metropolis that covers much of today’s mainland Europe, home to a dozen megacorporate syndicates, a thriving mercenary underworld, and ferals, unique people who can enter the minds of animals. Though technology escalates rapidly, and Gaia has brought its people guidance and wellbeing, vampires have emerged from the shadows of Europe’s old streets, openly revealing themselves for the first time, walking the weathered pavements and bringing a new wave of violence and fear into the world. For the working Merc, uncovering the secrets of Gaia is a potential goldmine, but surviving the streets is its own problem.
The Gaia Complex uses a custom rules system called “12.3,” for the 2d12-based skill tests and the d3 (i.e, half of 1d6) damage and armor rolls. (Some attacks do “2d3” damage, a subtle variation on 1d6.) A successful test requires rolling under your ability stat on either one or both d12s, depending on whether the test is skilled or unskilled. Complexity Modifiers make life more difficult. If the test fails and either die result was 12, that’s a critical failure, which can be punishing.
Gaia‘s high-crunch combat rules present systems for close combat and ranged attacks, a dozen supporting actions, snap shots, grenades, suppressive fire, hit locations, knockdown, bleeding, cybernetic and drone attacks, armor damage, EMP damage, and – crucially – morale. You get a Morale score during character creation (2x your Guts stat); combat damage reduces your score. When your Morale score dips to 5 or less, you start making Morale tests. Failure means you’re pinned and almost helpless until you Rally. But you also have Grit points you can spend to improve Morale, modify die rolls, and activate special abilities.
Hacking the Core (the world computer network), a virtual-reality experience modeled on Neuromancer and Shadowrun, is a short, abstract sequence of skill tests intended not to hold up the game for the non-hacker players. The hacking player must overcome countermeasures (Code Walls, Cortex Traps, Reverse Infections) of varying peril. Bio Hacking lets you hijack a living person’s Neural Frame to extract or plant information, or even (trigger warning) to remote-control the target’s body.
Equipment and tech occupy a third of The Gaia Complex corebook, and here things get weird. Cybernetic implants include the Gravelin BigTech TurboElbow, Cybernetico Derringer Finger and OnePoint Finger Spike – lots of fingers, actually – plus Hell Toes, Snake Charmer hypnotic eyes, five pages of Cyberears, and Cyberjaws suitable for James Bond villains. Firearms range from police pistols to shoulder-mounted missile launchers. The BuddyArm is a belt-mounted third arm. You can order bioengineered pets. There are stats for the HI LAW 117 Rapid Response VTOL aircraft. And the Hardware 2119 supplement adds tons more gear. Mercs will need all these armaments to survive Vril and Norl vampires, robotic police, Ghost-TAC load lifters, OpenHub Network Drones, the Black Mane feral paramilitary group, the lab-made pathogen X-T-R-MIN-8, and a bear with a Sharktooth Cyberjaw and AniTech ExtraLimbs.
But hey, why are there vampires? And ferals? Why is Gaia the only advanced AI in New Europe? All is explained in the Gamemaster section, but your Mercs won’t ever find out. Designer Chris “Shep” Shepperson explains in a Hardware 2119 sidebar: “When The Gaia Complex was first conceived, my intention was to turn the story into a novel, series of novels, or an episodic format (I’m looking at you, Netflix!), but in time, I decided to stick to my first love and do what I knew best: turn it into a game. I still wanted to tell the stories I had sketched out, by exploring important characters, themes, and the world setting of New Europe, through dialogue and, of course, by introducing elements of the underpinning twist.
“Those elements remain a part of the hidden plot, while players experience the street-level impact of those stories. […] The fallout from the metaplot’s events directly influence the rules and setting that players experience: vampires, ferals, Gaia’s evolution, the police force, etc. [But] even discovering first-hand the events that form the basis of the game’s metaplot [is] beyond the reach of the player characters, and should simply serve as inspiration for the GM and those enjoying the fiction of the setting.”
Players may get a hint of the backstory if the GM streams some of the titles in the game’s filmography, such as Primer (2004), Triangle (2009), Looper (2012), and a brain-melting German drama series on Netflix, Dark (2017-2020).
This all-new Gaia Complex Bundle presented the entire game line to date for an unbeatable bargain price. There were four complete titles in our Gaia Complex Collection (retail value $78) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks, including the full-color, 291-page Gaia Complex core rulebook (plus the free 48-page QuickStart) and the recent supplements Evolution by Design and Hardware 2119, along with the GM Screen & Data Vault.
