Cyberpunk Normalization

These GM notes document how Cyberpunk RED and Cyberpunk 2077 source material is normalized for Ninefold. Source values are conversion evidence, not active rules. Only records marked approved in a canonical compendium are playable.

Compendiums

• Item Compendium contains equipment, consumables, programs, installable cyberware, bioskins, robotic bodies, mecha, and their retained unique variants.
• Effect Mechanics Compendium contains the reusable outcomes linked by those Items.
• Skill Compendium contains mental training used to operate, build, repair, or exploit equipment. Physical upgrades are never Skills.

The three canonical JSON files are structured truth. Generated Markdown is retained as a CLI and agent-readable cache. Source-review ledgers are provenance records, not additional compendiums.

Generic Items and Unique Items

Cyberpunk 2077 commonly represents the same functional item with many ranks, manufacturers, numerical tiers, and visual variants. Ninefold does not create a separate playable item for each of those variants.

An ordinary Cyberpunk 2077 variant is merged into one generic item for its functional category. For example, ordinary assault rifles become Assault Rifle. The generic item records every merged source name and URL as provenance.

Consumables are compared by their complete source effect, duration/statistics, and bonuses. Entries with identical mechanics become one generic item and retain their product names only as flavor variants. The current source audit merges:

Consumables with genuinely different effects remain separate items. A different name, brand, or description alone does not justify a separate compendium entry.

An item remains separate when either condition applies:

• the source marks it Iconic; or
• the source gives it a distinct ability that may produce a separate Ninefold effect.

A different name, manufacturer, appearance, source rank, or larger source number is not sufficient to create a separate item.

Cyberpunk RED records are not merged merely because they share a broad index category. Its categories include functionally different tools, services, weapons, vehicles, and cyberware. RED items should only be merged after a record-level review proves they are rank or flavor variants of the same function.

Scaling Tables

Merging does not discard source scaling. Each generic item keeps one row per source variant containing:

• original name and working source URL;
• original statistics;
• original bonuses and tags;
• proposed Ninefold mean damage or recovery; and
• proposed Ninefold dice.

The median converted variant is the generic item's candidate baseline. The lowest and highest converted variants form its candidate scaling range. That range is design guidance, not a set of purchasable ranks. A GM may select another point in the range when a setting requires a notably weak or advanced example without creating a new compendium item.

Candidate Numerical Conversion

Cyberpunk 2077 DPS is not used directly as Ninefold weapon damage. Recognized weapons use the fixed family profiles below. For an imported damaging device that has not yet been assigned a profile, the review candidate may use this provisional fallback:

source rate × occupied ticks ÷ 10 = candidate mean damage or recovery
candidate mean ÷ 3.5 = nearest number of d6

3.5 is the mean of one d6. For Cyberpunk conversion, an ordinary source action is normalized to 2 ticks and a source reaction to 1 tick. These are import assumptions, not shared player-system timing rules. An item with an explicit converted timing uses that timing instead. If DPS is unavailable, source Damage or Hit is used as the source rate. Healing uses the same provisional compression to produce recovery dice.

This 10:1 fallback is a review flag, not an approved weapon scale. Assign a weapon-family profile before approving a weapon for play.

Weapon Profiles Override DPS Scaling

Weapon conversion is deliberately ordered:

1. Select the closest ordinary D&D weapon.
2. Keep that weapon's exact damage dice for individual combat.
3. Calculate unit Hit Dice damage by dividing its average damage by 3.5 and rounding to the nearest whole Hit Die, with a minimum of 1.
4. Distribute the baseline across a burst hit pool where the weapon needs multiple independently resolved hits.
5. Preserve genuinely unique Cyberpunk properties as separate reviewed effects.

Examples:

The exact formula is round(average individual damage / 3.5). Round halves upward. Cyberpunk DPS is supporting source evidence only; it never creates larger base damage pools or separate weapon tiers.

Each hit is resolved independently using the final contested-roll hit percentage. All profiles below occupy 2 ticks under the Cyberpunk conversion assumptions.

Ordinary and unique weapons in a family share its base profile. Unique weapons differ through explicit reviewed effects, not larger damage pools derived from Cyberpunk rank or DPS. Chemical payloads and smoke devices remain effect delivery unless their reviewed effect explicitly causes damage.

D&D Weapon Alignment

Cyberpunk and D&D names do not create separate damage scales. Each source item is assigned to a Ninefold weapon family, and every item in that family uses the same baseline. The source system contributes flavor, physical properties, and reviewed special effects only.

A unique katana can add a reviewed bleed, armor, or critical effect, but it does not receive larger base dice merely because its Cyberpunk source DPS is higher. Likewise, a D&D magic sword begins with its family baseline and converts its magical properties into separate effect mechanics.

Effects and Bonuses

Source bonuses and named abilities do not silently increase the damage pool. They become proposed equipment effects, such as armor penetration, precision hits, burning, bleeding, electrical effects, or critical interactions.

Each proposed effect must define its own:

• trigger;
• cost and occupied ticks, if any;
• percentage or dice value;
• duration and target scope;
• damage or resistance tags; and
• contested-roll behavior.

Percentages copied from Cyberpunk remain source evidence until converted. A source +100% headshot damage is not automatically a Ninefold +100% modifier.

Candidate Statuses

Item candidate statistics use these statuses:

Candidate roles are damage, recovery, effect-only, utility, or flavor. Utility items receive no invented damage dice. Flavor items marked prune remain visible and searchable during review. Source-required weapons remain unresolved until their cited source mechanics are read.

Equipment upgrades use source-extracted when a bonus or ability was found and source-text-required when the index only points to another source.

Mind, Equipment, and Embodiment Boundary

• Weapon handling and technical knowledge are Mind skills purchased with Skill Points.
• A weapon's damage, armor penetration, targeting hardware, and special modes are equipment properties or equipment upgrades.
• Installed cyberware, bioskin modifications, robotic components, and mecha systems are Embodiment items and upgrades purchased or developed with Embodiment Points.
• XP can become Skill Points through training. XP cannot become Embodiment Points.

An imported item may reference a Mind skill required to use it, but owning the item does not grant that skill.

GM Approval Checklist

Before promoting a candidate into active play:

1. Open its original source URL and verify the imported values.
2. Confirm that it is genuinely unique or belongs to an existing generic family.
3. Confirm action ticks and compare its mean output with similar Ninefold items.
4. Convert each source bonus into a separate, explicit effect mechanic.
5. Replace Cyberpunk attack checks with Ninefold contested rolls.
6. Confirm damage tags, resistance interaction, ammunition or charge limits, and stamina costs.
7. Change the record's review status only after the complete item is playable without referring back to unstated source rules.

Regeneration

The normalization pipeline is deterministic:

import source items
→ merge ordinary Cyberpunk 2077 variants
→ retain iconic and mechanically unique items
→ map item use to the skill tree
→ generate candidate statistics and scaling tables
→ extract equipment-upgrade candidates
→ render cached Markdown

Run make wiki-test after changing source data, normalization rules, or candidate conversions. It rejects stale generated files.