A BEE TO HONEY

An adventure for low level cyberpunk characters

By Craig Campbell
A Bee to Honey
A bee to honey
“A Bee to Honey” is a CAPERS Cyberpunk
adventure for low to mid-level characters. While it
tells its own story, it is also a jumping-off point for
the mini-campaign outlined at the end.
ADAPTING THE SETTING
This adventure is set in New York City, though
several encounters’ locations are unspecified. Some
are simply set in a local neighborhood or
community; these locations should be tailored to the
group so that the characters are invested in the
location and its inhabitants.
Some encounters take place in specific locales
throughout NYC. Feel free to change these if you
want to restrict the action to a particular area.
THE BASICS
This adventure is designed for four low- to mid-level
characters. For groups with more or fewer players,
add or reduce the number of NPCs in encounters as
necessary.
The characters are assumed to be criminals,
allied with criminals, or folks who actively fight the
oppression of the megacorps.
If the characters work for a criminal
organization, pick one from the setting. A good
fallback is working for Carla “Lucky” Luciano.
Having access to a criminal organization and
perhaps other factions in the city will help the
characters deal with some things, but their contacts
shouldn’t solve their problems for them.
The first encounter introduces a community that
the characters should be part of, or at least care
about (referred to in the text as the “home
neighborhood” or “home community”). As the
adventure continues, the characters deal with a
variety of problems while discovering more about
what’s going on.
“A Bee to Honey” centers around Project
Honeycomb, a secret project spearheaded by Sceptre
Industries, a megacorp headquartered in Brooklyn.
Before the events of this adventure, Dr.
Jacqueline Turner, Sceptre’s rising-star cybertech
14
developer, began experimenting with a new design
for a cranial implant.
The hivemind implant, as she calls it, links all
those wearing it via wireless networking. The
implant taps into the users’ brains, connecting them
like a decentralized, broad network computer
system. The users can then work in tandem to
perform many computations and analyses, sending
the data and answers developed back to the user
who initiated the system.
Dr. Turner implanted several of her assistants
with the device and tested it briefly. Now, some
months later, she has gained authorization from
Sceptre management to conduct a public alpha test
of the implant. To that end, Sceptre has recruited
several hundred subjects from all five of New York
City’s boroughs, who have allowed Sceptre to install
its new hivemind implant behind their ears—which
costs less than intercranial grafting—in exchange
for generous payment (and a signed non-disclosure
agreement). These prototypes are connected and
anchored to the subjects’ brains via two long
fiberoptic diodes implanted through small holes
drilled in the skull.
As the adventure opens, several of the alpha
test subjects begin experiencing glitches in their
implants, resulting in a variety of erratic and
dangerous behaviors.
ADVENTURE OVERVIEW
The first encounter is Shadow Street Crisis and the
last is Get the Word Out, though the ending of your
story might be very different, depending on player
choices. All encounters provided here are in an order
that flows for the sake of easy reading, but in your
game, these encounters may take place in a
different order. Some may not be used at all. And
you may add additional encounters not described
here.
The following is a breakdown of several goals
the characters may pursue during the adventure.
They may not complete all of them.
 A Bee to Honey

Goals Dr. Jacqueline Turner

◆ Help those in immediate need in the first Dr. Turner is a rising star at Sceptre Industries.
encounter. After a rocky start with a few failed programs, she
◆ Discover all they can about the hivemind has finally hit on her ticket to fame and wealth.
implant, what it’s capable of, how widespread it Project Honeycomb has paved the way to hubris
is, how it might be removed, and the side-effects for Turner. She’s always been egotistical, but is now
associated with its implantation. frightfully so. She demands perfection from those
◆ Remove the implant from as many NPCs as around her and is harsh and dominating. She will
possible, or at least render it harmless. defend her project, and her own interests, to the
◆ Reveal the implant’s existence to the greater death.
population. While Turner is very adept with electronics and
business, she is also a Caper specializing in
The adventure concludes with the characters
emotional and mental manipulation, which has
(hopefully) mitigating the immediate threats they’ve
helped her rise through the ranks.
encountered. But the actions of the megacorps
involved have deeper implications, which can be
Ricky Gomez
played out as a longer campaign. An outline of what
this might look like is provided at the end of this Ricky is a handyman in Cobble Hill. He mostly
adventure. works on a barter basis, but has a little money. He
and his wife, Elena, have a young son, Ricky Jr. He
NPCs is dependable, if a bit excitable. He loves his
community and family.
Three basic types of NPCs are present in this
adventure. First, there are the members of the Use the Store Owner stat block for Ricky.
communities the characters visit. They are mostly
downtrodden and just getting by. They flee from
conflict unless people they care about are involved.
Second, you have the corp cops and megacorp
operatives that oppress the people and pursue the
characters. They are mostly loyal and efficient.
Finally, there are corporate executives. The
characters might meet the NPCs behind Project
Honeycomb.

Dr. Hasan Safar

A former colleague of Dr. Turner’s while they were
at college, Dr. Safar worked for Prophecy in
Manhattan for several years, developing cybertech.
A rival there stole his work and he escaped to
Sceptre with a few trade secrets. His willingness to
bring another megacorp’s secrets with him earned
him a place in his new job, but also made others
distrust him. When Jacqueline jumped up the
corporate ladder before him, she threw him under
the bus as potential competition. He was framed for
corporate crimes and his accounts were frozen. He
escaped to the streets and lives on the run.
Hasan is knowledgeable and inventive, but
often surly over the hand life has dealt him. He’d
like nothing more than to get back at Turner and
Sceptre.
Use the Doctor/Scientist stat block for Dr. Safar.
A Bee to Honey
Romy Willis
Mx. Willis is one of Dr. Turner’s assistants whose
implant has been glitching worse and worse of late.
They’ve taken some sick days in an attempt to self-
diagnose and not subject themselves to whatever
testing Turner would want to do.
By the time this adventure takes place, their
malfunctioning implant has caused them to become
obsessed with taking Turner down, and they are
seeking others who are glitching. This leads them to
the characters eventually.
However, if their implant is removed or
deactivated, their implant-induced obsession ends.
They may turn on the characters and try to win
favor with Dr. Turner.
Use the Techie stat block for Romy.
THE IMPLANT
The following section addresses the rules for the
Hivemind Uplink cybertech implant.
Hivemind Uplink Cyber
An external cranial implant turns your brain into
part of a decentralized, networking computer along
with all others with the same implant. A wireless
transmitter connects you to all other members of your
hive.
Effect: You can perform complex computations and
analyses by sending information to the rest of the
hivemind, who then help complete the work faster.
Any information you glean from this is also gleaned
by others in the hivemind. (You may choose to send
such information only to specific members of the
hive. Doing so causes the work to be done more
slowly, but only those members also glean the
information that is processed.)
An individual with the hivemind implant can
channel others’ sensory input (vision, hearing, etc.)
to their own mind and send it to others in the
hivemind. If they have a data core or skulltop
computer, they can store the information there. If
they have a neurolink, they can send the
information to the web or a connected computer.
Cost: Not for sale ($30,000)
Glitch Table
Suit Glitch
Flip again and refer to the suit for
glitch effect; additionally, flip a
Bad Joker second card and take Suit Hits
damage based on that card.
Violence: The subject believes the
first person they see is out to kill
Clubs them, and the subject tries to kill
them first.
Loss of Empathy: Subject doesn’t
take others’ feelings or lives into
Diamonds account when making any
decisions.
Hallucinations: Subject experiences
Hearts vivid sensory hallucinations
described by the GM.
Obsessions: Subject becomes
obsessed with something they can
Spades never truly understand or find, or a
task that they can likely never
complete.
Good Joker No glitch.
The glitches are actually not a malfunction; they are
part of the end goal of the project, which is to create
sleeper agents the megacorp can puppeteer in
violation of the implant host’s consent. a propensity
for violence, a loss of empathy, hallucinations, and
obsessions will help Sceptre control these sleeper
agents.
Three Phase Deployment
The test subjects at the heart of this story are part
of Phase 1. The characters have the chance to slow
Project Honeycomb, but Dr. Turner and executives
at Sceptre Industries will still have access to
implant volunteers they can use for the real goal of
this implant, as described in Phase 3 below.
Project Honeycomb Phases
◆ Phase 1: Initial testing on a few hundred paid
volunteers.
◆ Phase 2: Refined testing on a few hundred
more paid volunteers as well as corp cops and
other Sceptre operatives.
◆ Phase 3: Testing of “directed action” protocols
for the implant, awaking sleeper agents for the
megacorp who will carry out actions fed to them
by Dr. Turner.

ENCOUNTERS
SHADOW STREET CRISIS
(Roleplaying, Combat, Skill)
The characters run into trouble at a black-market
street fair.
The characters are enjoying an evening perusing a
street fair secretly put on by Shadow Street, a
covert, mobile black-market organization. It’s come
to Cobble Hill, formerly a well-to-do neighborhood
now populated by those with nowhere else to go.
Let the characters conduct some business and
enjoy the fair entertainments while establishing the
close-knit, if poor, community.
Suddenly, violence breaks out in several areas
as some fair attendees begin attacking their friends
and family members. The characters spy a middle-
aged Latino man named Ricky Gomez, who is
swinging wild punches while screaming for someone
to stop him.
Ricky is overcome by glitches from the hivemind
implant and needs help.
Complications
If you want to add some complexity to this
encounter, you can choose one or more of the
following:
◆ Corp cops show up.
◆ A passerby tries to steal something from a
character or pick a fight.
◆ Ricky attacks one of the characters.
Foes
◆ Various NPCs (Goon stat block)
◆ Ricky, to a degree
THE IMPLANT
(Roleplaying, Investigation)
The characters figure out what is wrong with Ricky.
Assuming the characters save Ricky and get him to
safety, it takes a bit of work to calm him down. He’s
guilt-ridden over his behavior and hyperventilating.
If the characters question him, they eventually
discover a bit about what what’s wrong with him.
Ricky knows he volunteered for implant testing, but
was only told a little about the implant, as the docs
said, “We don’t want to skew our test results by
having you know too much.”
He can show the characters the implant behind
his left ear, but he’s very wary about them
A Bee to Honey
attempting to remove or even touch it. He’s been
having headaches and recently started
sleepwalking. He doesn’t know any of the implant’s
tech specs.
Some choice Trait Checks might reveal more
information, but be careful how much you give away
now. There are opportunities to gain more details
about the implant later.
Complications
If you want to add some complexity to this
encounter, you can choose one or more of the
following:
◆ Ricky, in his confused state, distrusts the
characters.
◆ Someone happens upon the discussion and
overhears it, perhaps threatening to tell a
person of authority.
AMBUSHED
(Combat)
The characters deal with corp cops.
During the discussion with Ricky, several corp cops
show up to “pacify” the characters and detain Ricky.
They were dispatched by Sceptre as soon as
Turner realized some of the test subjects were
glitching. They know nothing about the program,
but know they were dispatched to address a Code
111, meaning they had to drop everything and take
this call, no questions asked.
As long as the implant in Ricky Gomez’s head is
fully operational, corp cops may show up to seize
him.
Complications
If you want to add some complexity to this
encounter, you can choose one or more of the
following:
◆ Ricky fights the corp cops, endangering himself.
◆ A third corp cop arrives as backup.
Foes
◆ 2 Corp Cops
A Bee to Honey
ACCIDENTAL TRAITOR
(Investigation, Skill)
The characters become aware something is amiss and
try to disable part of the implant.
At some point, the characters may try to disable or
learn more about the implant. If they don’t catch on
quickly, have Ricky start complaining about “seeing
things that aren’t there” as he sees through eyes of
other glitching test subjects being hauled away by
corp cops. One of these subjects is Romy Willis, one
of Dr. Turner’s assistants. Ricky might talk about
how he’s seeing Romy in a mirror, or seeing them
going through data on a screen concerning
something called Project Honeycomb.
Savvy, technologically minded characters can
examine the implant through a variety of methods.
The following information is available to them, if
they succeed vs. TSs listed with appropriate
capabilities.
◆ TS 10: The implant is transmitting to a variety
of other locations.
◆ TS J: The implant accesses Ricky’s senses,
particularly his vision, and transmits data
collected by the senses.
◆ TS J: Some of the data is being transmitted to
Gold Tower, Sceptre Industries’ headquarters in
Brooklyn.
◆ TS Q: This TS disables the transmissions.
If the characters are unable to disable the implant,
they can stay ahead of corp cop pursuit by keeping
on the move and denying Ricky use of his senses,
though he may require some convincing as this
leaves him helpless.
Complications
If you want to add some complexity to this
encounter, you can choose one or more of the
following:
◆ A corp cop shows up in the middle of the testing/
investigation/procedure.
◆ Ricky freaks out or goes catatonic from fear.
A SAFE PLACE
(Roleplaying, Exploration, Stealth)
The characters seek a safe place to consider their
options.
Given the possibility of corp cops being on the
group’s trail—and the willingness of other folks to
rat them out for some money or food—finding a safe
place will be a challenge.
The players’ characters might reach out to
contacts or trusted friends/family. They might seek
out a completely abandoned location. Whatever
their course of action, make it take a little work and
build the tension of them being on the run.
GUINEA PIG
(Skill)
One of the characters volunteers to have Ricky’s
implant placed in their own head to learn more about
it.
Depending on the characters’ capabilities, they
might be able to try this on their own.
Getting the implant out of Ricky requires a TS J
Expertise/Sciences Check, TS K for it to not harm
Ricky at all. The players may come up with other
methods. You may also call for multiple checks and
create complications to go with them.
Safely drilling holes in a skull requires a TS Q
Agility/Sciences Check. Implanting the device
requires a TS J Expertise/Sciences Check. You may
also call for multiple checks and create
complications to go with them.
Attuning/activating the implant in a new host
requires a TS J Expertise/Electronics Check.
Once the implant is active, the host and their
friends can attempt to learn more, but the host risks
glitching if they or anyone else gets a Botch on a
Trait Check. The following can be learned with
successively higher TS Trait Checks.
◆ TS 9: Some of the data is being transmitted to
Gold Tower, Sceptre Industries’ headquarters in
Brooklyn.
◆ TS 10: The implant can glitch, causing the host
to become violent or hallucinate.
◆ TS J: There are several hundred other people on
this interconnected network of signals. With
some work, the characters can locate other
victims of this tech.

THE EXPERT
(Roleplaying, Investigation, Exploration)
The characters seek out a renowned street doc to help
them.
Dr. Hasan Safar is a well-known local street doc. He
moves his lab every few months, so the characters
will have to ask around to find him, thus exposing
their own whereabouts.
Once they find him, he can help them learn
more about the implant as well as implant it into
one of the characters, if this has not already been
done.
He also suspects the implant is the work of
Jacqueline Turner, a former coworker of his at
Sceptre. He doesn’t know where she lives, but can
help the characters get into Gold Tower (or one of
Sceptre’s other facilities) as needed, using a stolen
keycard he pays to have continually updated by a
mole inside the megacorp.
Complications
If you want to add some complexity to this
encounter, you can incorporate the following:
◆ Dr. Safar demands money or favors for his help.
A Bee to Honey
BREAK-IN
(Stealth, Espionage)
The characters infiltrate a megacorp facility to
continue their investigation.
At some point, the characters might need additional
information, or to get their hands on some high-end
gear to untangle the adventure’s web.
To do this, they can break into a secure
megacorp facility. The following are examples of
avenues they might pursue and how you can use
them to further the story.
◆ Tech scanner, implantation tools, etc.: The
characters steal gear that will help them discern
the nature of the implant, transplant/remove it,
etc.
◆ Clean copy: The characters steal a clean copy of
the implant from a Sceptre facility to study
further or implant and test.
◆ Data storage: The characters discover a linked
data storage facility that is recording signals
from all the implants. They can use this
information to find additional hosts or disrupt it
to sabotage Sceptre.
If the characters are not incredibly careful and
successful in their Trait Checks, Sceptre Industries
(or another involved megacorp) will learn of their
break-in. This may happen even if the characters
steal what they were looking for and get away.
Complications
If you want to add some complexity to this
encounter, you can choose one or more of the
following:
◆ Reinforcements arrive (NPCs or guard dogs).
◆ The facility begins to lock down, making escape
very difficult.
◆ Ricky begins glitching at the worst possible
time.
Foes
◆ 3–5 Security Guards
A Bee to Honey
CLEANER CREW
(Combat)
The characters run into high-level “cleaner”
operatives dispatched by Sceptre Industries.
When the characters have slipped up, when they’ve
let their guard down, or when things seem to be
coming together, a cleaner crew shows up to take
them out.
Stage this confrontation where the cleaners can
endanger locals and their businesses and homes, if
possible. They’re ruthless, and they will do
whatever it takes “acquire” anyone with an implant
and eliminate all others who oppose them.
Complications
If you want to add some complexity to this
encounter, you can incorporate the following:
◆ The cleaners take hostages or otherwise
endanger locals or set nearby buildings on fire to
flush the characters out.
Foes
◆ Cleaner
◆ Pyro
◆ Brute
THE ASSISTANT
(Roleplaying, Skill)
The characters come across Romy Willis, one of Dr.
Turner’s assistants.
At some point after the characters have called
attention to themselves and are findable, Romy
Willis locates them.
Romy is desperate to help the characters take
down Project Honeycomb and Dr. Jacqueline Turner.
If questioned, they spill a great many details of
what’s actually going on, coupled with a few choice
lies or bits of incomplete information. Getting
accurate information from Romy takes some time
and some successful social Trait Checks.
If you want to dive into virtual reality, you can
have Romy contact the characters remotely and
insist upon meeting in a VR realm.
Complications
If you want to add some complexity to this
encounter, you can incorporate the following:
◆ Romy briefly “un-glitches” and seems to be
motivated against the characters. They then
return to glitching and their obsessive state.
FREE THE MIND
(Roleplaying, Exploration, Skill, Stealth)
The characters help some hosts get their implants
removed.
The characters may decide to try to help other folks
burdened with the hivemind implant. This could
include Romy Willis, others they saw glitch out in
the first encounter, and so on. This could also
become a recurring goal for the characters in future
adventures.
Finding a victim of this program is easiest if
they focus on finding those who are glitching. They
might use police reports, local gossip, etc. They
might use Ricky’s or Romy’s implant to pinpoint
others.
Regardless of the tactics they use, most
endeavors will take some time and several Trait
Checks to find the host, get them to Dr. Safar, and
then escort them to safety.
Complications
If you want to add some complexity to this
encounter, you can choose one or more of the
following:
◆ Romy briefly “un-glitches” and seems to be
motivated against the characters. They then
return to glitching and their obsessive state.
◆ Dr. Safar becomes overwhelmed with the effort
and demands payment or favors to continue. He
may also require help from locals the characters
have to recruit.
SPREAD THE WORD
(Roleplaying, Espionage, Skill)
The characters spread the word about the hivemind
implant as far and as wide as they can.
Taking on a megacorp or attempting to quash a
major initiative like Project Honeycomb is not done
easily. The characters can, however, warn the
populace about what Sceptre Industries is doing.
They can spread as much or as little information as
they want to get results. The characters have the
following paths available to them, among others.
◆ Word of mouth
◆ Community newspapers and bulletin boards
◆ Information embedded in AR news locations
◆ Spreading information in protected virtual
realities
◆ Motivating street soldiers. or any of several
other activist factions
 A Bee to Honey

Complications Anti-Implant
If you want to add some complexity to this The characters work to develop technology that
encounter, you can choose one or more of the tracks, pinpoint, maybe even nullifies the implant or
following: its signals. This would require finding folks with the
◆ Romy falls back to helping Dr. Turner when expertise, acquiring the resources (money, raw gear,
their implant is removed or stops glitching. etc.), creating the anti-implant tech, and getting it
into the hands of others working to stop the project.
◆ Corp cops come looking for the characters.
◆ Folks who appear helpful want payment or Dance with the Devil
favors in exchange for getting involved.
The characters are approached by one of Sceptre’s
◆ Sceptre learns a great deal more about the rivals to help them take down the program (and
characters, leading to future problems for them. they obviously want to steal it for themselves). The
characters gain access to serious firepower and
EPILOGUE backup, but then have to figure out how they’re
going to betray the rival megacorp planning to
The adventure ends with the characters helping
continue Sceptre’s work.
Ricky and spreading the word about what’s
happening with Project Honeycomb.
Project Terminated
This causes Sceptre Industries to put a hold on
launching the next, wider test phase, and it prompts The characters go after Dr. Turner and members of
executives in Gold Tower to seek out the characters, her team. They destroy the project by whatever
as well as their friends and family. This puts the means they can and erase all the specs for the tech.
characters squarely on the side of criminals, who They find ways to highlight the actions of the
will need the help of other criminals—and those megacorp and deliver several solid blows in the fight
hiding from the megacorps—to get by. against it.
Phase 1 users still have their implants, which
continue to glitch. Sceptre does all it can to cover
NPC STAT BLOCK
this up, going so far as to eliminate any of these Dr. Jacqueline Turner Caper 5
subjects who start to cause problems.
Phase 1 users who don’t experience any glitches Trait Score Defense
become sleeper agents for Sceptre in future Charisma 3 10
adventures. Dr. Turner initiates a limited version of Agility 2 9
Phase 3 as needed to hunt down the characters and Perception 2 9
those helping them. Expertise 3 10
Resilience 2 9
Strength 1 8
EXTENDING THIS ADVENTURE
INTO A CAMPAIGN Skills: Business, Deception, Electronics,
Mechanicals, Sciences
Below are some ideas for extending the plots and
arcs set up in this adventure into a longer Hits: 14 Body: 9 Mind: 9
campaign. Moxie: 3 Speed: 30
Hunting Down the Victims Weapon Damage Range
The characters go looking for other glitching victims Fists Color -
of the Hivemind Uplink implant. This puts them Pistol Suit+1 50/150
even more on Sceptre’s radar, but can gain them
valuable allies. Power/Rank Boosts
Hypnosis 2 Amnesia, Extend,
Sleepers Awaken Extraction, Post-Hypnotic
Influence Emotions 3 Amnesia, Negative
One or more of the characters’ family members,
friends, or contacts turn out to be sleeper agents. Emotion, Positive Emotion,
Sceptre activates them for a limited Phase 3 Soothing, Twin
engagement to get to the characters.
Gear: Wallet, cash, credit cards, smartphone