An Actor, a Comedian, and a Choomba From Another Mother
- gregorymaness
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
Long before he died, I had heard and read that Robin Williams played tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs). Today I learned that he was a fan of the dark, dangerous cyberpunk settings found within Mike Pondsmith’s Cyberpunk and Cyberpunk 2020 TTRPGs. Knowing that, I feel a bit of connection with the late actor and comedian.
I once owned a copy of Cyberpunk 2020. I admittedly didn’t play it nearly as much as I would have liked to play it, but I did spend many enjoyable hours creating badass cyberpunk characters and reading the books for the game. The setting was a dark, gritty, dangerous one in which to live, to do biz, and to try to change the world just a bit for the better before you flatlined. I have been a fan of the cyberpunk genre since I was first exposed to it.
The opportunity to discover Mike Pondsmith’s vision of a cyberpunk world (obviously influenced by the works of other cyberpunk authors) and to vicariously live in that world through the setting information, the fiction created for the game, the creation of characters, and actually playing in the setting was a delightful experience. That experience is what influenced my decision decades after last playing Cyberpunk 2020 and other TTRPGs to pick up a copy of Mr. Pondsmith’s Cyberpunk Red, a new TTRPG that advances the timeline in his established cyberpunk setting. While I have yet to really dig into the books and the related material, I certainly hope to do so in the not-too-distant future and to play the game as an active participant. For that matter, I hope to eventually purchase and play Cyberpunk 2077, the video game that was largely responsible for the creation and publication of the Cyberpunk Red TTRPG. Cyberpunk Red is set decades prior to the Cyberpunk 2077 setting and evidently lays some narrative groundwork for the video game for those that are interested.
Anyway, I have included a link below to the article that tells the story of Mr. Williams’ passion for the game and a link below that to an article that explains what a “choomba” is. Enjoy.
“Robin Williams was a fan of the Cyberpunk tabletop RPG, according to its creator”
“Cyberpunk 2077: What ‘Choom Means & Where It Comes From”
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