Build a Cyberpunk Setting

[Christopher R. Rice]

So I'm building a new campaign setting for my players. It's going to nominally be a cyberpunk setting but has elements from the action, horror, biopunk, caper, and neo-noir genres. The TL is going to be 9 and the start date is going to be 2081 so I've got a bit to fill.

A few random bits:

• Psionic powers are real and those with them are actively hated by most common folks. They are considered second-class citizens. Currently, I'm considering telepathy, telekinesis, teleportation, and ESP as abilities. I'll be using GURPS Psionic Powers, of course.
• Biotechnology is retarded do to some stuff that happened creating (among other things) a nasty vampire-like disease that essentially destroyed Mexico. Biotech firms still exist and still do research, but bio-tech in general (not really including medicine) is at early TL9 instead of the campaign's mature TL9.
• There is a mini-ice age happening that has chewed up some of the more northern countries and nations.
• I've moved some borders around and changed some nations. China became a empire with an actual (psi-active) emperor, parts of Canada, the US, and Mexico have formed the North American Union (NAU), while most of South America is under the rule of a dictator with advanced technologies.
• The solar system (at least the Moon, Mars, and parts of the asteroid belt) have been colonized to a degree.
• No living aliens, but something was found on Mars. I just don't know what yet. It's still a secret the world's governments are keeping.
• The Middle East is just a mess and has been in constant warfare for almost a century.
• The Indonesian subcontinent and parts of western Africa were decimated by an Ebola outbreak.

I'm looking for events or ideas to incorporate in the setting. Any help would be appreciated.

[Mathulhu]

Here's an idea that flies in the face of one of your random bits.

The Middle East isn't really a mess, there is actually several solid functional states in there. The chaos and violence that is seen by the outside world is actually a minority of loud people being dramatic, it's like they're judging all of America on the gang riddled area of a single city.

A war that isn't happening, or maybe no one wants to win. There are troops deployed and things are being blown up but no one is actually shooting at anyone. The troops in the field are mingling like sentries before a Napoleonic battle. The officers are allowing the enemy to retreat in good order.

[ericthered]

What do you want AI and robotics to look like? There are many ways to present them in a cyberpunk setting.



For space colonization, I'm always an advocate of orbital rings. They're useful for getting huge amounts of material into space.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Mathulhu

Here's an idea that flies in the face of one of your random bits.

The Middle East isn't really a mess, there is actually several solid functional states in there. The chaos and violence that is seen by the outside world is actually a minority of loud people being dramatic, it's like they're judging all of America on the gang riddled area of a single city.

A war that isn't happening, or maybe no one wants to win. There are troops deployed and things are being blown up but no one is actually shooting at anyone. The troops in the field are mingling like sentries before a Napoleonic battle. The officers are allowing the enemy to retreat in good order.

Hmm. Interesting. Yeah, maybe.

Originally Posted by ericthered

What do you want AI and robotics to look like? There are many ways to present them in a cyberpunk setting.

AI is working toward late-era TL9, but are restricted after an isomorph took down the NAU power grid harkening back to a previous catastrophe. So they are there, but they are effectively LC2.

Originally Posted by ericthered

What do you want AI and robotics to look like? For space colonization, I'm always an advocate of orbital rings. They're useful for getting huge amounts of material into space.

D'oh. Good idea.

[AlexanderHowl]

Global cooling is not really a cyberpunk theme unless it is the result of nuclear winter or geoengineering gone horribly wrong. A limited nuclear exchange, perhaps between Russia and the USA, or a UN sponsored geoengineering project that bankrupted most of the world would be quite thematic. Perhaps a giant sunshield 'acquired' by China after the bankruptcy of the developed nations allows the Chinese to selectively reduce sunlight to its rivals by up to 50%.

[The Colonel]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Global cooling is not really a cyberpunk theme unless it is the result of nuclear winter or geoengineering gone horribly wrong. A limited nuclear exchange, perhaps between Russia and the USA, or a UN sponsored geoengineering project that bankrupted most of the world would be quite thematic. Perhaps a giant sunshield 'acquired' by China after the bankruptcy of the developed nations allows the Chinese to selectively reduce sunlight to its rivals by up to 50%.

you could blow up a large volcano somewhere ... that could get you some serious global cooling. The eruption of Tambora in 1815 lead to "the year without a summer" in '16 and is thought to have reduced global temperatures in '17 and possibly '18 as well. Could give you the traditional "sky the colour of a TV tuned to a dead channel" ... and possibly some impressive sunrises and sunsets every now and again.

[Black Leviathan]

I'd suggest a few things,

Keeping in the theme of transhumanism make Psionics new and either part of man-made evolution or an unintended effect of industrialization on huamans. If psychic ability came from alien interference make a very obvious link between the cover-up of what's going on on Mars and the shadowy organziations that watch and document psychic ability.

Make your middle-east conflict corporate rather than cultural. Basically once oil companies got their claws into government influence the entire region became a thousand corporate plutocracies overnight but nothing in the character of the region changed. Now there are corporate terrorists blowing themselves up.

Make population centers around the decimated areas massively paranoid about disease, like you have to be tested in isolation for two hours before you can travel from uptown to downtown or city center. Nobody shakes hands, nobody gives gifts or eats foods that aren't packaged and microwaved.