Bozos (Cyberpunk RED, CP2020)

I didn't expect the Bozos to become a thing, but they're a thing.

I'm running a short-campaign RED for my regular group, in which the lead, Shamus, is a Rocker-Chef, an Anthony Bourdain wannabe being run off his feet by his jealous mentor. He operates a food truck in Rancho Coronado and has just recently had his big face-off against Bob Ghandi's Bhaji Bomb (From Bradford To Your Belly) in which he emerged triumphant, thanks to his team and his encyclopedic knowledge of Friends trivia. Now he wants to break into Playland By The Sea, but there are challenges ahead. Think of it as Food Wars but with more gunplay and far fewer anime boytoys. Though Shamus is kinda the Idiot Hero ...

Anyhow in the first episode, when we were all just settling in and I needed to introduce the characters to the game world, they ran up against some Bozos who were holding kids hostage in Five, which I saw as an old Uncle McPorky's fast food joint long since stripped out and turned a bit Five Nights At Freddies. Acid balls in the ball pit, rats instead of golden tickets being poured into the ticket blaster, that sort of thing. 

Uncle McPorky's is all me, by the way. I was using that as a backdrop in CP2020, donkey's years ago. The Bozos are new to Cyberpunk; at least, I don't remember them being a thing in CP2020. According to the main book, p. 308:

When they first appeared, the Bozos were a prankster gang. Biosculpted to look like circus clowns with red bulbous noses, wild red hair, and long flat feet (no, not shoes) and costumed to the part, the Bozos became impromptu slapstick. But soon the Bozos became the ultimate killer clown gang. People living on Bozo turf learned the hard way that if you see a pack of Bozos, just run. Bozos enjoy playing on people's greatest fears: lurking in apartments in the dark, locking victims in small spaces filled with rats, stopping elevators midway and filling them with water. They are not funny.

I expected this to be a quick in-and-out, beat up the bad guys and save the day situation, with the added bonus that saving the kids would lead Shamus and his pals to a group living in Rancho Coronado that grows their own vegetables - perfect allies for a food truck business. 

Little did I realize the Bozos would become one of the most popular recurring gags in the series. Particularly the mimes ...

Incidentally if the players out there are wondering how best to encourage your GM in bad behavior, screams of fear, gibbering, and general expressions of terror will do quite nicely, please and thank you.

Killer Clowns aren't the most popular horror concept in the world. Everyone remembers Pennywise, and the classically minded might mention Pagliacci, but those are about the only killer clowns to have made a significant contribution to the medium. As a trope, they're not even a 0.1 on the Zombie scale. Gosh darn it, they're memorable, and that's what counts.

Still, even in Killer Klowns they are just ... clowns. Pancake make-up, red noses, big feet, pointy teeth, boom, it's a killer clown. Clowning has a rich history. Why not steal a few ideas and turn Bozo into something really special?

I'm using the basic boosterganger stats found in the main book (p 412), with minor modifications. Pyros and Psychos (p 416) for the main bosses, with the occasional Netrunner (p 414) Tech and Rocker as backup / floating opposition. 

I see these as Bozos with a purpose: cheap horror braindances. Jack in and be a Bozo out on the town, or see what it's like to be on the sharp end of a Bozo's rippers as one of the victims. There's going to be a market for that. There's a market for just about anything in Night City. Plus, the Bozos can sell surplus organs from their victims to Ripperdocs. Everyone's a winner!

At the very lowest level are the Mimes or Mummers, silent artists, working their way up to a speaking role. These are always basic Boosters. They can be mistaken for Posers since they sometimes borrow costume ideas from silent comics like Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton. Variants: heavy melee weapon, cane with taser, light melee weapon, bowler hat with razor blades in the brim, both for swiping in close combat and short range thrown weapon, Oddjob-style. 

There's a strong temptation to incorporate Noh ideas in a variant Bozo gang but I don't know enough about Noh to really make it work. Still, Mime Bozos playing out a Mugen Noh plot complete with supernatural characters and themes is ... tempting. 

A step up from the Mimes are the ones with speaking roles, who I see as a Commedia dell'Arte troupe gone very badly wrong. Commedia relies on stock characters and cheesy storylines, and even if you've never once seen a Commedia performance in your life you can usually get the gist of it whether or not you know the language, because you've seen these stories before. It's soap opera with beautiful masks.

The usual characters include:

List taken from Wikipedia

You can probably guess, for example, what Arlecchino is going to get up to. A servant to two masters is the go-between, the hapless slapstick target. Maybe Arlecchino is cheating both of them, maybe Arlecchino is just one of nature's whipping boys. Il Dottore, the Doctor, is going to seem wise while spouting rubbish, but as Il Dottore is head of the household Il Dottore will expect to be obeyed. The old wealthy man is going to be trailing after the perky maid like a dog in heat, and so on. 

From there you can dig deeper into the lore to come up with variations. Arlecchino is also Harlequin, variously a devil figure and a trickster, a sword-carrying bravado and an indigent  wanderer. And that's all before you get to the modern interpretation.

From Batman and Harley Quin (2017)

So there's a heavy emphasis on sexual comedy with all the broad tropes and dick jokes that implies. Someone's in love (possibly more than one someone), someone's in the way (possibly more than one someone) and it's up to whoever it may be - usually the servants - to sort this mess out so everyone can live happily ever after.

There are variations. One of the most famous is the British puppet version, Punch and Judy. In that blood-soaked narrative Punch is both protagonist and serial killer, and if he avoids the hangman it's only because the world is crazy.

Mr. Punch is one jolly good fellow,

His dress is all scarlet and yellow,

And if now and then he gets mellow,

It's only among his good friends.

His money most freely he spends;

To laugh and grow fat he intends,

With the girls he's s rogue and a rover;

He lives, while he can, upon clover;

When he dies-its only all over;

And there Punch's comedy ends.

Punch. [Knocking down her head.] I thought I should soon make you quiet.

Judy. [Again raising. her head.] No.

Punch. [Again knocking it down, and following up his blows until she is lifeless.] Now if you're satisfied, I am. [Perceiving that she does not move.] There, get up Judy, my dear; I won't hit you any more. None of your sham-Abram. This is only your fun. You got the head-ache? Why, you only asleep. Get up, I say.- Well, then, get down. [Tosses the body down with the end of his stick.] He, he, he ! [Laughing.] To lose a wife is to get a fortune. 

The best advantage of a Punch and Judy theme is the wide variety of characters. Crocodiles, ghosts, devils, hangmen, policemen, skeletons, Toby the Dog, lawyers, servants, blind men - you can stuff almost anything into Punch and Judy. Also, since murder's all part of the plot, Punch & Judy's practically built for Bozo. 

OK, so all that in mind, what next?

First the basic structure, in a kind of loose Cospyramid a la Night's Black Agents.

At the very outer rim are the collaborators and business partners, the Ripperdocs, Fixers and Media willing to work with the Bozos to distribute the dances. These aren't Bozos proper but if anyone ever found out they were working with Bozos their Reputation would be trashed. 

I see these as low-level characters about on par with the pregens found in the Single Shot Pack. Anyone more influential wouldn't be caught dead working with Bozos. They might have a few allies or know where to find some Solo muscle if necessary, but otherwise anything they do, they do themselves.

Closer to the Bozos proper are the Netrunners, Techs and Rockers who create, edit and prepare the dances for distribution. They also prepare the lures and traps the Bozos use to sucker in victims, and maintain the Bozo vehicle fleet, such as it is. 

These are no higher than Mimes and Mummers, and might not have body mods yet. They can wear masks and costumes, and they're committed to the Bozo lifestyle, but they can't afford the full sculpt. This is both a financial and a practical problem. Someone's got to be the go-between. Someone's got to meet the collaborators and business partners. You can't do that if you look like a Bozo.

Next up the chain are the Mimes and Mummers, the ones with actual biosculpting. These are the basic boosters, and they're the muscle for the high-ups. When people talk about Bozos, the Mimes and Mummers are usually what they're talking about. They can look like anything - Chaplin tramps, exaggerated whiteface, something out of the Wicker Man parade - but their stock in trade is funny/scary. 

One step up from the Mimes are the Commedia, and these are the ones committed to their particular bit. Arlecchio is always Arlecchio, Il Dottore is always Il Dottore. These are the speaking roles, and while some of them may have Booster stats they're generally one step up from your average Ganger. Better equipment, better armor. Pyros and Reclaimer Chief types - mini bosses.

At the very top is the Psycho, the Boss Clown. Punch, or Pierrot if we're being classical. Punch can only tolerate other Bozos, and even then it's a very thin-ice arrangement. Seeing anyone who isn't a Bozo drives Punch crazy. When not laying about with his club (or gun, or grenades) Punch is kept happy with a combination of drugs and games. The minute Punch's happy pills run out, or the game isn't as entertaining as it was, is the minute everything goes pear-shaped. Probably in a six-block radius. For Punch is a jolly good fellow ...

Story Ideas:

• Where's the Baby? Punch has lost track of the Baby, and the other Bozos want it back. If they don't get the Baby soon, Punch will start looking for it himself - and then things will get very complicated very quickly. Turns out, the Baby is at the same Night Market the characters are currently shopping in - the little scamp! Exactly what the Baby is, is a matter best left to the imagination; stats-wise, it's no tougher than a Booster, but nobody's allowed to hurt the Baby except Punch.
• Jealousy. Pierrot is in love, again, and that can only be bad news for the inamorata. The Bozos have taken over an abandoned multi-story car park and turned it into a theme park filled with traps and unpleasant vignettes. Then they place the bait: braindance volunteers wanted to run the maze, with some valuable McGuffin at the top of the car park as the prize. Pierrot will 'fall in love' with one of the dancers and pursue them through the maze, singing all the while. A few other speaking role Bozos will also be on hand, to make sure the fight's as fair as it can be.
•  Uncle McPorky's Strikes Back. The Bozos have captured a food truck and turned it into their own special mayhem delivery vehicle. They travel around Night City selling treats to whoever will buy - but those treats are nightmare-inducing hallucinogenic 'pork rib' kibble. Or perhaps that's not really rib of pork at all ... They film the trippy antics of their victims before going in for the kill.  

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