CBR+PNK Designer Spotlight: Matteo Perego

Hey Runners! Here's another designer spotlight for CBR+PNK: OVERLOAD, this time featuring designer Matteo Perego. Matteo is one of three (!) Italian designers we have working on CBR+PNK: OVERLOAD, primarily due to the influence of the Italian publisher of CBR+PNK, Grumpy Bear Games. We're stoked to be bringing these amazing scenarios to a wider audience with OVERLOAD. Anyway, let's get into it!

1. What inspired your Pamphlets?

 I chose Naples for its iconic identity:  a city overflowing with colour, contrast, and stories. I wanted to channel its culture and energy without falling into cliché, then push everything to the edge. The goal was to corner the players and force out the kind of raw, epic stories only CBR+PNK can deliver.

2. Describe your Pamphlet in three words, then explain why you chose them.

 Iconic. Oppressive. Loaded.

Iconic, because Naples is reimagined as a city of chrome, gold, and fire, but its soul is still unmistakable.

Oppressive, because the city is owned by a single Corp that holds every citizen under a lifelong debt,  a mechanic that grants extra abilities to bold players, while pulling them deeper into the system’s grip.

Loaded, because SPACCANAPOLI is more than a scenario: it’s a compact setting packed with factions, locations, and triggers designed to inspire unforgettable stories.

3. What’s a design element - either as part of your Pamphlet or otherwise - that you’re particularly proud of?

 The Suspended Credit mechanic is inspired by the Neapolitan tradition of caffè sospeso, where people pay in advance for someone who might need a coffee later. In the game, it becomes a pool of shared credits left behind by fellow citizens: a gesture of mutual aid within a complex and oppressive economic system. It’s the most Neapolitan and punk thing in the whole pamphlet: hope passed forward, one credit at a time.

4. Do you have any advice for someone designing their first TTRPG or module?

I’m still a rookie myself, so my best advice is: read and play as many games as you can. Pay attention to the design choices: ask yourself why each mechanic exists and how it supports the rhythm and themes. The more you understand how games think, the better yours will speak.

5. What’s your signature drink in the CBR+PNK universe—and what’s in it?             

CHROMONCELLO — brewed illegally in the alleys of O’Nido, served flaming in cut cans or broken espresso cups.

• 1 oz limoncello
  
  

• 1 dash of chili-infused spirit
  
  

• Burnt lemon rind
  
  

• Set on fire, inhaled with the smoke, and downed before it dies out
  
  

It’s sweet, sharp, and burns like a back-alley betrayal. No chrome in your blood? You’ll feel it after this.

5. Any other projects or thing’s you’d like to plug?                                                 

SPACCANAPOLI is my first published project — but definitely not the last. I’m also working on a self-standing pirate-themed ttrpg, but it’s too early to talk about it.

6. Where can people find you?  

You can find my other works (only available in Italian for now) at:

https://vagabondo.itch.io

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Don''t forget, CBR+PNK: OVERLOAD runs through the month of June 2025!