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2080: Running Ain't Easy

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Broomhandle45

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This is a cyberpunk/shadowrun-lite idea that I was 'volunteered' to DM, information down below. Readers beware, infodump down yonder. Try to distance yourself from the concept of it actually being "Shadowrun", it borrows concepts, but it's mostly it's own entity.

The main meat and taters of this concept would be playing a group of shadowrunners on a job by job basis with potential for some overarching plot of some kind. Corporations are not a static entity, depending on how things go, some corporations will be wiped out and reorganized, and others may just get stronger. This will probably be in systems, as there will be minor things in play to see how things go.

The first of which is the 'fucked' die, I'll roll to set the run, and subtle(or not so subtle) hints as the level of fucked it'll be, and the higher the number, the harder it'll be to unfuck it. Creativity is rewarded, I'm not asking for hardline realism, I'm asking for something fun to read within limits to character talent and experiences.

The second is character creation, it works under a simple rule. You have 9 'Background points' and these points are simply things that your character has a 'background' on, and things relevant to that are considered your characters bread and butter. Generally speaking, you can be...general! If you want to put...I don't know, 'Hunter', then it is assumed that the traits and abilities that hunters possess, you would be capable in. This is by no means a mechanical thing, this is merely a quick chart that allows you (and me) to understand your characters specializations and needs and make it so everyone has a fair shot at doing something if I don't suck at this. This does not mean you character cannot excel at other things, this is simply a reference to the notable talents. If I can drive that through your head enough, I'll be happy.

Also, don't hesitate to toss out a weird race or something. This is the realm of magic and cyberpunk, shit is weird anyway. Give me a decent enough story and I'll let it pass.

An example character could be (at the most optimum set-up)

Joe Schmo
Data Entry (+2)
Driving (+2)
Coffee Making (+2)
Paperwork (+1)
--

If people are okay with it, things could be added as they survive runs, but as of now. However you divy up the 9 points is up to you, playing into character strengths is a sign of good writing and fun, playing outside of your comfort zone makes for a creative read just as much as playing strong does. Don't use them as a crutch, use them as an ace in the hole. Be creative! The only thing I'll call bullshit on is...well, bullshit. It's a team effort, not a lone wolf effort.


And the fluffy stuff:


Well, it's 2080. You're in the future, a future with high technology and magic...a future where elves are dicks and trolls are the best bouncers you can find. Corporations are everywhere, and they're greedy. Everyone has a ID, you see. A SIN, a system identification number that tells everyone else you exist...not being part of the 'system' means you don't get any of the benefits...but not being part of the system effectively means you are invisible, and that can be a very good thing.

Corporations are like trees, or like trees used to be in the early 20th Century. Some have a space of a few blocks, others own entire states and some are currently trying to maintain entire continents. The balance is constantly shifting and the only reason for it is Shadowrunners.

None of the Corporations would openly admit a word of it, or how their territory would mysteriously shrink and competitor assets are suddenly absorbed, but Shadowrunning is how it's done. They are invisible to the system, and that makes them powerful assets to businesses.

Of course, being a Shadowrunner doesn't mean you're a corporate lapdog, some people do it out of their own desire to see the world burn, others do it because they like danger and money. But whatever the reasons, there's no stoppage of demand for Shadowrunners, and an even larger demand for GOOD ones.

---

The World of 2080 is a mess of magic and technology that has blurred more lines than it has made. But there is a clear rule: If you want magic, your body must be real. The more metal you shove into your body, the less the magical spirit gods give a shit about if you exist or not.

  • Cybernetics are cheap, good cybernetics are a dime a dozen, excellent cybernetics are the work of artisans. Better than limbs if you hate that whole 'real' feeling and dislike magic, anyone can shove just about anything in a cybetnetic something if they get enough time and credits.
  • Bionetics is the organic option, but with less 'shoving things in' and more using what mother nature already has. Beef up your muscles, give yourself cat eyes to see better, give yourself a pointy ear if you wanna feel special. It costs an arm and a leg to upgrade your arm and leg, but it keeps your attachment to magic strong.
  • The internet is now the Outernet, anyone who doesn't live in a cave without wi-fi has a plug at the base of their skull that they use to connect to a living, breathing electronic world. Any sort of portable terminal (a laptop, a cellphone) that can provide a mobile signal can be used to access the Outernet. Good hackers are hard to replace, excellent hackers are probably too rich to give a shit about your problems and make a game out of breaking everything they can find just to see if they can.
  • The world isn't so clear cut anymore, humans, elves, trolls, dwarves...they're everywhere, once magic started seeping into things, puberty suddenly became a bitch and a half to figure out. If you think it exists, it probably does and hates you and wants to eat you. Or is a normal person doing normal things...one of the two.
  • Weapons are the modern age with some tweaks, melee weapons are in vogue again, and some fancier gadgets are around If you're not sure, ask away to see if it's cool.


Questions, comments, interest...etctera. I'm sure I missed something. (I probably most likely did)
 
Okay, so fairly similar to what I was gonna do anyway. In that regard, here's a few more things to toss out:

Do people want to keep track of ammunition? I don't honestly care one way or another, but it won't be a complicated process if so. At worst I'll have people just keep track of how many 'reloads' they want, and if the majority of the people want to get fancier, just keep track of ammo by numbers (Basically like how any video game does it, you reload and it reduces your total count, and who gives a fuck about the magazine) I personally feel that some kind of ammo management is needed. Personally, I feel more inclined toward reload, as it kind of finds the happy medium of management.

In terms of item management, I was thinking of introducing a simple inventory system as opposed to 'weight', at character creation you'd basically pay for a number of inventory slots and that would basically be what you have on your person. The lower would be cheaper, allowing you to have more options in terms of equipment, but not everything to carry. So you'd have to choose what you'd want to have on you for a job or a situation.
 
This is fine by me. I suggest to help us all, rather than just keeping track however, maybe we can have a little header somewhere (yes, me and my headers... I love them and am biased, but hell, they are helpful as fuck!). Anyway, maybe in something like a header there can be a means of indicating how much ammo or whatever is left. That way WE keep track and OTHERS know as well. Make sense??? Seem reasonable???
 
That's more or less what I was thinking, it's just a matter of actually making the header compact enough without it being a chore.
 
Indeed. That and making sure people don't get lazy and just copy/paste and suddenly forget to tweak it. Goodness knows I've seen it happen enough times just in general.
 
Backgrounds. Skills imply a particular talent at something narrowly defined. Background is more like a history of experience.

And yeah, pretty much whatever you come up with. Naturally I can say yay or ney to anything in particular, but it gives people less worry about making sure their character is optimized and more about making a character that they want to use.

An example of how backgrounds would work would be...I dunno, say you have a background as a Soldier (+2) you wouldn't have to particularly justify an excuse for why this background modifier would help your roll in say...a gunfight. Naturally, that would make sense.

However, you can get a little creative about it. Say we're in a new area. You could pose the idea that your character was deployed there a while ago, so you have a basic idea of where everything is and how people operate. I'm not going to let people pull shit out of their ass just because, I will stress some sense of continuity. But I'm not going to ignore creative attempts at using a characters background to their fullest. I want people to feel like they can choose anything and somewhere, it will be useful. It'd kind of depress me if everyone just optimizes for the sake of it when you literally have no boundaries other than me saying no.

I should also note that I've begun world building, so when anything relevant comes up, I'll drop it here to paint a better picture. I'll also help people decide what they want to do and what's going on in the wonderful region.

EDIT: Oh, and for weapons...do you guys want detail, or keep it simple? on the grand scheme of things, it won't effect much other than fluffing the world out more.
 
As far as guns go, I think it'd be cool if we had more systems than just the standard mass driver weapons (explosion propels bullet impales person). Things like railguns, plasma rifles, sticky grenades, and needleguns really add to the flavor of a world (maybe even some neo-archaic options like lightsabers and gravity cannons). An interesting option would be if various different cultures specialized in different weapon systems.
 
You sound more interested in adding sci-fi than actual cyberpunk, or perhaps my understanding of cyberpunk seems entirely wrong. Since I wasn't really going to invest too heavily in alternative firearm options, since I'm not really used to seeing them in the media I explore. Guess I'll have to do some digging and see if it interests. Although I don't feel like Railguns are particularly 'alternative'
 
Broomhandle45 said:
EDIT: Oh, and for weapons...do you guys want detail, or keep it simple? on the grand scheme of things, it won't effect much other than fluffing the world out more.
Click to expand...

I would prefer to keep it pretty simple since I dont really know that much about guns anyway
 
That is sort of the mind I am of, but I tend not to use guns in role plays because so many people ARE big into details.
 
I don't know much about guns either. And if guns were allowed, I'm more of the mind of.... here is gun, point it and shoot with it... BANG! >.<

EDIT: And then the gun would cause x amount of damage and that would be that and it would also eventually run out of bullets. Basically, something stupid simple. And that would be more or less that because, as I said, I know next to nothing about guns. So simple weapons with simple explanations. And that's if guns were even allowed.
 
So do I. But the issue with more detail is dependent on just how people care on what weapons do to effect their rolls. If everyone is in agreement that weapons are simply a stylistic choice that is more of a character's own tool of effectiveness than actually determining a better outcome, then its full fluff and nobody cares except said fluff people. If you want weapons to modify rolls, then some minor detail will be required. Likely separated into easy portions for people who don't care about the fluff and people who do.
 
Well, I think certain weapons should play with rolls. Like SMG LMG assault rifle, sniper rifle carbine, then you get you're knives and other edge weaponry, and then things like explosives that play another roll. And then other alternative weapons, like stuff for electronic warfare for deckers or things for magic users. Beyond that, I think the rest is for show.
 
...So everything that is a weapon in the sense of the usage is should have a roll in your opinion, got it.
 
World Background

So to not ignore this thread and what have you, I thought I'd share with you folks some world-building I've been doing. This has seriously deviated from my original concept of what I was expecting, but sometimes the dance moves to it's own tune, as it were. Yes, I am still working on this, and I will continue to do so at a pace I find comfortable, whoever is left or whoever is waiting will just have to wait until it's done.

In this world (which is our world, just in 2080) magic has always existed in general, the many stories about bearded old wizards and such were very much true, but for a different reason.

You see, magic is a manipulation of the balance of the four elements within the human body. The human body possesses a perfect balance, down to the tiniest level that allows them to call on the big four without a lot of issue, just some training. The method here is different, however...in that the caster in question manipulates the delicate balance in their bodies and projects it outward. While magic is generally seen as projecting something inward (Casting, hand waving, divination) and projecting it outward (Fireballs, turning people into sheep, making magic pancakes). So these wizards back in their day pretty much knew nothing of the balance, and they would be able to conjure immensely powerful spells that would degrade their bodies incredibly fast. Many of them didn't make thirty, some who were a little more conservative could perhaps hit thirty five. These people were generally very much needed and dating back to the Roman Empire, these spell casters had a notorious practice of taking multiple wives and simply having affair after affair to sustain the spell casting population.

Ultimately, however, the increased wars in Europe (The Thirty Years War, Hundred Years War, so on) as well as the Black Plague shrunk these numbers considerably. And by the 1700's, there weren't many magicians to be had. The ones that did still survive decided that their ailment was of the body, and magic could ultimately restore them, since it was all an internal process. So, they utilized a very unique method of magic and put themselves in a cocoon of purely neutral magic, the a metaphysical 'spirit' of the human body to allow them to rest and recover, and eventually awake. Well into the 1940's, magic was little more than a cute footnote, or a usable utility. The balance was more properly understood as medical sciences and technology advanced, and humans were woefully incapable of actually using magic to any incredible degree if they wanted any kind of lifespan. Continued use of dangerous and extreme leaps in power would degrade the body and make the balance in their systems horribly askew. It was around this time that people began to notice that not everyone was human. Indeed, as time wore on...the elemental balances within the promiscuous wizards soon spread into their own bloodlines, their weaknesses their bodies soon became known as a strength.

These are known as 'aspect' people, elementals, homo-magi...there are a thousand different words for them and all of them generally mean the same thing. Aspects are different in that their biology is specifically attuned toward a single element, allowing them access to stronger magics that humans cannot reliably manage without a drastic cost. However, they suffer the same penalty, you can only use it so many times before it screws up their biology and starts to rapidly degrade their bodies.


Now, how does Magic become relevant again? Through a group called Kura Multinational, and through a wonderful product known as Saha Cells, or 'Batteries'. Once an environmental protection agency that utilized earth magics to cultivate the soil and allowed them to promote growth, they located one of those shells containing a wizard within and dubbed him 'Merlin'. They knew that at least, there was a unique magic that they had yet to see in the cocoon, it was completely 'neutral', it had no element, which was completely unheard of at the time.

Through means only known to them, they managed to harness that neutral conduit of magical energy and eventually make their own. They exploded overnight, as anyone could buy and recharge these batteries and soon they had a brand new market that they cornered, selling batteries and adapters for just about anything you can imagine (cars, power plants, weapons...you name it)

It was also discovered quite easily by Kura Multinational that these batteries can be used for magical enhancement. By inserting them along the 'leylines' along the body (and not the chakra points in the center of the body, all kinds of weird shit happens then) they discovered that magic could be used safely and powerfully by any and all who wanted to use it.

The batteries are generally very efficient things, but when inserted into a body, they become a little less so. While the user is more than capable of hurling fireballs willy nilly, they have no actual control in manipulating the amount that comes out. Think of magic without the cells like a gun, the human body is both the trigger and the bullet, taking energy from both to do one action. With the batteries, the human body is simply the trigger. The body adapts to this change, and it becomes dependent on it for normal routine.

People who invest very heavily into batteries and suddenly find themselves completely empty of their energy will be suffering some serious problems, like migraines, stomach pain, hallucination, a feeling of dehydration, profuse chills and so forth. All of it depending on the manner of element that the battery has.

More batteries means more energy to do more spells, but also means more risk for a crippling headache or ringing ears. Placing batteries at certain parts of the body will incur different benefits/capabilities.

Next post (or...update, or if I get it all finished by then, I'll just flesh it out at my own pace) I'll explain how technology and the like is in 2080.
 
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