This article is about the area in Cyberpunk 2020. For other uses, see Combat Zone (disambiguation).
The Combat Zone. [...] A burned-out sprawl of tenements, abandoned factories, boarded up offices and trashed shopping malls, occupied only by the desperate, the devious and the dead. During the light of day, the Zone sleeps under its industrial strength pall of smog. But at night, the Zone comes alive, for it is only then that it's most feared residents venture out of their sweltering sewer holes and rat-infested hovels to howl and prowl.
— Dataterm description, Night City Sourcebook
The Combat Zone (also known as Section D) was a dangerous lawless area of Night City during the first half of the 21st century. It was found somewhere in South Night City,[1] bordering with the Central City downtown, as shown on most chamber of commerce maps.[2] In Cyberpunk 2013: Welcome to Night City, the map shows it south of the W. Gibson Memorial Freeway.[3]
Overview[]
For the first few miles, this section of the city was mostly made up of residential areas; buildings of nearly identical tract housing, interspersed with small businesses. Further south lied the area actually known as the Combat Zone, with its many blocks of burnt out wasteland. There was no clear definition between the residential area and the proper combat zone, as things just tended to degrade gradually, getting worse and worse until the neighborhood was finally at the level of a post holocaust hellhole.
Night City'a Combat Zone was never safe. Although it was possible to freely get in and out of it, maybe more than once, not even the high-rollers at the Hacienda Hotel casino would give you odds on it. Entire security teams had disappeared in the Zone, and not even the NCPD were willing to go down there anymore. The only professional organization that would enter the Zone was Trauma Team. And even then only with state of the art firepower backing them up.
The only information most people could get about day-to-day life in the Zone came from those who "came back to tell the tale," so to speak. People who were tough enough to survive the Combat Zone didn't really care about small talk, so much of the information was gathered in bits and pieces.[2][1]
History[]
Night City's Combat Zone appeared sometime between 1998 and 2000. The corporations and organized crime of that time carved up the city's resources, which resulted in the NCPD becoming completely ineffective. Gangs, backed by corporate and Mob sponsors, established themselves in the suburbs south of Central Night City and in time, these gangs became so entrenched that the only way to remove them would be to demolish the entire area and start from scratch. There were many discussions on whether or not Night City should had walled it off, much like it had been done in Detroit's Combat Zone, with its ubiquitous twenty foot concrete abutments. But in the end, no agency, either civil or corporate, was willing to take the initiative to began such a massive undertaking.
By 2020, the Zone was a few miles of somewhat habitable tract housing interspaced with small businesses that eventually gave way to the burnt out wasteland the Zone was. Of note, the Combat Zone was seemingly growing yearly, and what was once marginally valuable housing one year could often become another pile of junk in the Zone the following year. It was pretty well accepted that there was some form of hierarchy among the combat gangs there, with the Blood Razors being at the top around 2020. It was also rumored that something called "RazorBall" was played at an abandoned ice-skating rink, once a month, and had a great turnout among the gangs.[1][2]
By 2045, much of this area became known as the Old Combat Zone, being the seed from which the rest of the city's Combat Zones grew from.[4]
Locations[]
- Rache Bartmoss apartment
- RazorBall rink
Notable Gangs[]
- Blood & Tears
- Blood Razors
- Death in the Afternoon
- Fangs of Justice
- Golden Knights
- Piranhas
- Second Comming
- Steel Slaughter Slammers
- Warrior Heart
- Western Stars
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Countdown to the Dark Future (#45-#46,#58-#61,#178,#244)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 PONDSMITH, M. Night City Sourcebook. Berkeley, CA, R. Talsorian Games, 1991. (pp.171–172)
- ↑ PONDSMITH, M. Cyberpunk 2013: Welcome to Night City. Berkeley, CA, R. Talsorian Games, 1988. (p.9)
- ↑ PONDSMITH, M. Cyberpunk RED Core Rulebook. Kenmore, WA, R. Talsorian Games, 2020. (p.299)