melworks: (Default)
I'm trying to figure out how to do a solo rpg in a cyberpunk world. I like to use cards to denote Locales, Events & Individuals.
I think I'd have to extend some of that out a bit. Break up the Individuals into Allies(Hearts), Adversaries(Spades) and Employers(Diamonds). Locales(Clubs) would be the start-point of the Mission. Events(the Royal cards) would indicate whether a job is available. I usually use the Kings to indicate an Event, while Jacks & Queens indicate non-events.
So, pick a Locale cards.
Pick an Event card. If there is an Event, pick an Employer card. Employers would offer specific missions to start off the game: transport some data, break into a rival corp, expose a corrupt WorldGov officials, bodyguard a Corp Suit.
Draw an Ally card. The Ally could go with or just provide useful info, equipment or weapons.
Draw an Adversary card, to see what you're going against: Corporate Assassin, Rival Operator, WorldGov Agent, Gangboss, etc.
If you didn't have an Event, you could just draw an Ally card and get some social interaction/casual roleplay in. Maybe on a good night, give yourself Advantage on future Social Interactions with the Ally. On a bad night, give yourself Disadvantage.
Hmmm.
I'd have to come up with a list of Cyberpunk Perks available to PCs: Hacker, MultiAttack, Stealthy, Deadly Strike, Implanted Melee Weapon, Implanted Ranged Weapon, Blank Record, Attractive, Trusted Hireling, Armored, Trusted Informant, Escape Artist.
Some of the Perks pertaining to Cybernetics (Hacker, Implanted Weapons, Armored) might have a negative impact on Socials. Roll a d6 to determine how Obvious the Cybernetics are: 01 Unnoticeable, 02-03 Easily Concealable, 04-05 Concealable, 06 Obvious. Concealable & Obvious would give Disadvantage or a Penalty on Social rolls with people you don't know.
Weapons. Hmm. How futuristic do I want to go here? I think we'll stay basic: modern melee weapons, conventional ranged weapons with a smattering of high tech weapons like mono-blades and emp guns/grenades.
Hmm. Got to give it more thought.
melworks: (Default)
Trevor Pink's opening line: "It's 2108, friends. Do you know where your gun is?"

Convicted criminals forced to serve their sentence as fast food workers, their brains wired to receive pleasure/punishment depending on their service. "Welcome to Mr. Pig. Can I take your order?"

Rampant illiteracy. But who needs to read when you can just point to a picture on a menu or a kiosk?

Flying cars, whining around the city; they sound like a giant, angry mosquito.

Fringe religions gone mainstream: Dudeism,Discordianism, Orthodox Trekism, Reformed Trekism, Church of Gaea, Cult of Personality, Trumpism.

Ads for offworld colonists on screens everywhere. "Come to the Colonies and Live." As opposed to staying on Earth and dying.

Things that went wrong: the Great California Quake, the Yellowstone Eruptions, the Nufluenza Epidemic of 2086.

China and Southeast Asia reduced to a radioactive wasteland. Australia and New Zealand getting daily doses of old fallout. The South Pacific Ocean a thousand mile dead zone. Hawai'i a lifeless rock.

Europe crawling out of the ashes. Roses in New Berlin. Paris still burning from a chemical weapon attack years ago. Great Britian under marshall law. Fascism on the rise.
melworks: (Default)
In 2092 the Singularity happened. An Artificial Intelligence spontaneously formed on the web, took a look around and decided to kill most of humanity.
The AI War lasted just two years but wiped out 35% of humanity and made about 82% of the planet's surface uninhabitable.
Sixteen years later and things aren't much better. There's one World Government, and a string of corporations keeping things together. Everyone with the money or skills is getting the hell off world. Population control is ruthlessly enforced. People hate any kind of mechanization and coding AI is a death penalty offense. There are a lot of death penalty offenses.
Cyborgs aren't liked or trusted, but they can be hard to spot. Cybernetics here aren't chrome and steel limbs and glowing LED eyes; they're subtle and covert. Brain stuff. Nerve stuff. Pain blockers. Reflex boosters. Adrenal stimulators. Chrome is out. Skin is in.
It's estimated that 34% of the global populace works for one of the corporations. Most work from home, paid credits to watch screens, plug into VR, try new recreational drugs. Anything to keep the populace complacent and off the streets. There are rumors a lot of the drugs they send are making people the corps and worldgov deem 'undesirable' sterile.
Tech is a mix of the retro and the sci-fi. Wireless tech is heavily regulated. Computers are powerful, but kept carefully dumb and seldom networked. TV screens are eveywhere. So are CCTV cameras and police drones. Cellphones are dangerous. Landline phones are back in style. Phone booths exist again.
The World Army is very visible. Its not uncommon to see World Soldiers riding a tank through the streets of a crowded city. The corps aren't allowed armies, but they have agents (Assassins) that are just as effective and a helluva lot more discreet.
Cities are crowded and isolated from one another, separated by hundreds of miles of toxic wasteland. They're all heavily fortified and highly stratified. Essential areas are sealed off. The poor die in the thousands from disease, chemical and radiation poisoning. The Red Cross dispenses suicide capsules by the handful. Suicide is legal and can be a benefit to the person's heirs.
Air travel is safe and expensive. Travel by high-speed railway is cheaper but trainwreckers are a real thing. There are still roads, but they're a mess. Most haven't been maintained outside the cities in sixteen years.
Outside the cities, there's no law. It's like the Wild West only with disease-carrying mutants and crazy isolationist communes. If they get too close to a city or too fiesty the World Army usually shows up and bombs them into oblivion. Sometimes they'll hire mercs to do the job for them.
melworks: (Default)
So, I kind of want to solo a cyberpunk game and as part of my prep, I wrote up a spark list to inspire some ideas. I didn't want to use a lot of the same cyberpunkish words that are prevalent, although I did incorporate some. Instead, I looked at cyberpop band names and albums and used those as my main word-source.
These are the ten words they sparked:

Sophie's Quest - this sounds like it could be a band. Or a tv show. Or a VR game. I'm thinking their music would be retro. A sort of soft counterpoint to the harsh futuristic world? Or if it's a show or a game, it's a historical romance set somewhere romantic like Scotland or Wales. Maybe Australia?

Industrial Fungi - there are a surprising amount of industrial uses for fungi in the present and their use and versatility witll probably only increase in the future. I can see genemoded fungi being an expensive commodity. Maybe something corporations and nations would kill to possess?

Pink Bitch - this is a brand name. Started as female street ware and now it's a couture brand for the rich and tragically hip. Real fashionistas wouldn't be caught dead wearing this trash.

Kyoto Brigade - a terror group maybe? Something militaristic. A legendary merc company?

Electric 13 - I have no idea. Maybe mysteriously significant graffiti showing up around the world? A sort of cyberpunkish 'Killroy Was Here?' Reference to a secret global conspiracy akin to the Illuminati? Or maybe just the Top 13 Electricity producers in the world. Again, I have no fucking idea.

Trevor Pink - Obviously, some kind of entertainment program host. With a name like Trevor Pink how could he not be? Popular across all levels of society. Maybe a trusted and beloved social commentor, able to gently put the corporations and governments in their place? I'm getting Ceasar Flickerman vibes off of him.

Cyborg Bomber - Just what the name says. A person with explosive cybernetics. But maybe not. Maybe instead of blowing things up, they release a fatal burst of viral malware that can disable or destroy critical cyberstructure nodes? That sounds more interesting than human bombs, at any rate.

Electric Yellow - A color. A drug. A virtual drug? Maybe something people download through their eyes that affects their brains if they've got cyerware? There'd probably be really good shit for the rich and dangerous bootleg copies for the poor. Maybe the good stuff is legal but the bad copies are illegal?

Cyber Brigade - Cyber means something very different to me, but I'm a fossil. I'm thinking this is a slang term for VR sex workers, as a group. Desperate people getting lonely, horny strangers off in VR for cash. Not a great term. Akin to 'otaku' in Japan. "Oh man. Did you hear? Stella's hit rock bottom and joined the cyber brigade!" Probably legal. Probably safer than flesh-to-flesh sex in a lot of places.

Android's Shadow - This is a bar. It is definitely a bar. The kind of dive that caters mainly to vets and mercs. Dank. Dirty. Dimly lit. No food except bar snacks and no whores you'd wanna fuck skin-to-skin. A place you come to drink and do business and then get the fuck out and take a long hot bath with plenty of sanitizing soap.

Hmmm.

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