Cyberpunk

So last night everyone was a little too wore down for the normal Friday night game and we spent some time discussing what we are going to do after this campaign ends.  The consensus was a Cyberpunk themed  GURPS campaign.  (Chris' blog post about the decision)

I was holding out for Top Secret but I went along with the crowd because at heart I am a sheep willing to be lead to slaughter.

As the conversation was ending I forwarded everyone a list of cyberpunk related materials that I downloaded from one of those sites that wishes to remain unnamed.  But as I was doing so I was thinking if you were trying to build a cyberpunk themed world what would be your references.  I came up with a few - most are obvious but a couple might be less so.

Neuromancer
Count Zero
Mona Lisa Overdrive
Burning Chrome
Hardwired
Voice of the Whirlwind
Noir
Hackers
Watchmen
Heir to the Dragon
Flight of the Old Dog
Good Friday

This list is by no means all inclusive, but all these books (and one movie) do a good job of describing a society in the midst of disruption.  Sometimes it is society as a whole, sometimes a smaller segment such as the military or computer geeks, and they do a good job of setting a mood that would be consistent with a cyberpunk themed world.  (Or at least that is how I remember them - try and find a copy of Good Friday at your local book store, so my disclaimer this list is based on my memory of these books some of which I have re-read recently but many of which it has literally been 30 years since I last had a copy.)