A game like Cyberpunk Red doesn’t really work without Fixers. The Cyberpunk 2077 video game treats them as quest giving hubs, as does the Edgerunners anime to some extent. For the ttrpg, however, they are the grease that lubricates the gears of the underground economy. I consider them to be one of the “role-play heavy” Roles along with Rockerboy, Exec and Media.
What is a Fixer?
Simply put, Fixers connect people (and themselves) with the things they want. See the moral gray area? Need food and medicine to supply a free clinic? A new identity? A hard to find piece of technology? Valuable information? A Sex Worker? A Human slave? Drugs? A Fixer (or more than one) was probably heavily involved. They are people who use their web of contacts and cultural knowledge to find things, people and services.
Wildside, a source book published for the Cyberpunk 2020 game is a great starting point for someone who might want some ideas.
Fixers in Practice
At the table a fixer player has access to the “Operator” role ability. There are four sub-abilities associated with Operator. “Haggle” mechanically adds the number of Operator ranks to the trading skill, giving the fixer an edge in negotiations. “Grease” gives them additional free ranks in some languages of their choice as well as cultural competency within the communities that may speak those languages. The other portions of Operator are a bit vague. These include “Reach” and “Contacts”. Reach is a rough metric of the maximum prices of things a Fixer can source without too much trouble and Contacts are the kinds of people that a Fixer has access to.
In addition to these sub-abilities, Fixers have one other helpful ability; the Night Market. Night Markets are how individuals gain access to the underground market. If you need or want something that is hard to get these locations frequently have it. At Operator rank 5 a fixer unlocks the ability to help set up and organize a Night Market once a month. This allows them to source and purchase items of any price category. At Operator rank 9 they can organize a Midnight Market allowing access to ultra rare and one of a kind items and services.
As a Role that leans heavily on role-play, the GM and player have some decisions to make. They can go pure rules as written and just run the system as instructed or they can play around and role-play their encounters with running deals or even a small plot arc involving the creation of their own Night Market. This gives the Player Character Fixer a chance to flex their skill rolling muscles. The depth of a role like the fixer is really up to the ambitions of the player.
Media
When I recommend media for people interested in playing Fixers in CP Red I don’t automatically run straight for genre specific. Any good crime film/show is loaded with different kinds of fixers doing what they do best. Here are a few suggestions:
- Animal Kingdom (Television)
- Better Call Saul (Television)
- Breaking Bad (Television)
- Cyberpunk Edgerunners (Anime)
- Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)
- The Diplomat (Television)
- Lord of War (Movie)
- Mayor of Kingstown (Television)
- Pulp Fiction (Movie)
- Ray Donovan (Television)
- Strange Days (Movie)
- Wolfs (Movie)
Homebrew
There wasn’t much I thought that needed any changes within my home game for Fixers. The one change I did make (and it wasn’t so much a change as a fleshing out) was to add on some important named contacts to start a new Fixer character off with. I used the contact creation system within Wildside as inspiration and created five very different contacts that my player could then use and bounce things off of right from the start. After that it would be up to the player to continue cultivating them and to add more as the game progressed.
My reasoning wasn’t because the Role lacked anything, but because my player was having a hard time wrapping their heads around the kinds of people they could utilize as contacts. They include:
- A talented, but struggling artist (Rockerboy/Tech) with a heart of gold that can’t seem to catch a break who moonlights as maintenance in an apartment building. I made her past slightly mysterious to add as a plot hook should the players wish to take that bait.
- An austere and serious art and collectibles dealer who can also act as a fence for those types of items (Fixer/Exec). He also runs a small but lucrative criminal empire within high society and is absolutely vicious to potential rivals.
- A Max Tac Lieutenant with a slight vigilante streak and a harsh moral code for those who hurt or threaten children (Solo/Lawman).
- The head of a bicycle courier group called the “Wrecking Crew” who have gained notoriety for their willingness to go almost anywhere in the city to deliver their cargo and a tight bond to one another (Nomad).
- A Grey Hat hacker (or hacker group) with a price on their head. They are responsible for multiple prank and not so prank hacks of corporate, governmental and criminal enterprises. Net Watch currently has a 100,000ed reward for information leading to the capture and prosecution of said individual or group. This contact is a giant carrot of a plot hook should the player group ever attempt to aid them or hinder them, they could make a long term powerful ally or an enemy that could dog them for the rest of their days.
Well, this wraps up my take on the Fixer role for Cyberpunk Red. Hopefully, this will be helpful to a table or jump start a few new ideas that can benefit them. Remember, fixers can be a lot of things. In a dystopian world their chameleon like nature helps them survive and thrive where others would not.
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