hook, line, & cyb3r

every additional $5 over purchase price adds three community copies to the pool

a go fish-powered cyberpunk-flavoured game of blade-wielding bounty hunters, originally developed for the fishblade 2023 game jam

you may wonder what "go fish-powered" means

you play this game by playing go fish

hook line & cyb3r is a zero prep, GMless, pick-up-&-play one shot of blade-wielding bounty hunters & dastardly neon-tinged montages. an array of generative tables are layered over mechanics you've known like your whole life– the game of go fish– sliding you effortlessly into the chaotic professional lives of shadowrunners, bounty hunters, or some other type of high tech dystopic gig economy adjacent freelance criminals for hire.

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stats & resources

gm: no. prep: no. fish: go.

what you need to play

• a few hours (around three)
• 2-6 players (though i learned in the process of making this game that some people claim go fish works for up to 12 people, so, i dunno, give it a try)
• or just you-- there's a section on solo variants
• a deck of cards (or digital analogue (that you can play go fish with))
• a light handful of d6s (or an e-handful of cyber-d6s)
• the provided play assets (or another way to take both private & public notes)

what you get

• the 34 page rulebook .pdf
  • in singles
    • with a full-colour cover
    • & a more home-printer-friendly toned-down version
  • & spreads
• play assets
  • printable for physical play
    • public record markers to organise your intel
    • a full page character sheet with quick reference rules
    • a pamphlet with all of the generator tables
  • digital
    • a google sheets document that can automatically apply your rolls to tables
      • in separated form, where each player has their own private spreadsheet, & the group also has a public record document
      • & in combined form, where everyone is working in one document

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how it works

you PLAY this GAME by PLAYING go FISH

each card is a piece of intel, privately generated by the player (with the help of an extensive series of tables) when they "fish" it from the deck. each suit represents one of the four pillars of intel you need to pull off a job: the client, the objective, the opportunity, & your "in". by the time you've assembled all four cards of a value to complete a book, they've picked up a wild spread of facts that you get to weave into one single successful mission. if you complete a book by taking those cards from another player's hand, the two of you work together to build the narrative of how you stole that job out from under them.

but beyond that

characters are created at the table. everyone draws cards & rolls dice, generating mad libs style prompts & filling them in using the [adjective] table, creating a cluster of statements that get interpreted into the shape of a person. this is a game of massaging puzzle pieces of words until they fit together in the way you want them to.

I often fall back on my habit of being trendy. Rumour has it that I'm secretly scientific, which is because I'm too tender. I get myself into trouble by being spooky but vigilant.

I take any opportunity to flex that I'm very, very beautiful. My crew would tell you I'm impulsive, though I want to be more relaxed. I'm good at my job because I'm uptight, and my old crew would tell you I'm pleasant.

after creating your characters, you play through That One Job you did together a while back, adding history & flavour to your personal & professional relationships.

Client: A lawyer in the pocket of a pharmeceutical monopoly needs to impress their boss.
Opportunity: A massive job fair after a major merger or acquisition.
Objective: You need to bring in the VR influencer you used to date for debt collection.
"In": An accurate speech/announcement schedule.

then, you play go fish. each of your characters works independently, stealing jobs & intel out from under each other along the way (while you, as players, collectively tell the story). when all the books are complete– man, these big towns are so small sometimes– you're hired to do one more job as a group in the ending montage.

Player who collected all of the 2s: The crew is assembled in full for the first time. You're either first or last to arrive. How do you change or control the vibe?

Player who collected all of the 3s: The objective is laid out. You know something no-one else knows about it. What is it, and why don't you share?

the tables

this game requires zero prep. in service of that, it's full of generative tables for every instance of information you might need to build a scenario. this is a GMless game in part because the cards & tables can help GM for you. let the dice set your characters up so you can focus your creative energy on how they pull off the impossible. the nature of randomness means you'll be confronting situations zanier than any non-table entity would generally find reasonable to throw at you, leaving you with even more room for coming up with inventive & cinematic solutions.

on tables & providing structure for preplessness

to be perfectly candid, part of my design philosophy for this game stems from the fact that i'm very very tired most of the time & often feel that the narrative games i love don't provide me enough structure to work with to get play started. i wanted to make a system that doesn't require me to be having one of my best days to be able to get something creative & fun out of it. in addition, it can be difficult to get busy & sleepy adults together for a game, so i wanted to make something you can pick up & play almost immediately.

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google sheets playdocs (file > make a copy > edit freely!)

private notes & intel generator - public record
combined version

physical play assets

at the bottom of the page, under "download demo",  you'll find

a full page character sheet that folds up into a nametag, with quick reference rules
& a generator pamphlet with all of the tables you'll need during play

a sheet of public record markers to keep your intel organised as it changes hands

printing a copy & want to go a little further with it? the pages were designed to fit on half of a standard sheet of printer paper. if you turn one of the singles .pdfs into a booklet, print it double-sided, fold it in the middle, then staple or stitch it, you've got a little book <3