(IW) Cyberpunk Worlds

[arcanus]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

The advantage of organized crime is that it appeals to certain types of players (basically, the majority of people who want to play in the cyberpunk setting). You might want to take a look at the Cthulupunk setting, by the way, as it is an interesting take on the cyberpunk genre.

Of course in a shades of grey campaign this does open up the possibility of a Suicide Squad type campaign

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Of course, the ISWAT team could tell Infinity to slap a Z label on the timeline at pickup, which is probably the most logical choice (especially if there are supernatural elements like with the Cthulupunk or Shadowrun settings). They could still pick up a buttload of technical manuals and entertainment files even if they classify the timeline as a Z, as anything that they bring back would likely have some value. However, especially in a supernatural cyberpunk setting, something might have noticed them and follow them back home.

Imagine a scenario where a Deep One Hybrid knocks up an ISWAT agent who, not realizing the horror she is carrying, decides to not terminate her pregnancy. Now, you have a child that may eventually become a Deep One living in Homeline, potentially acting as a parachronic beacon. If nothing else, if it is born a hybrid, it can breed with humans and have other Deep One Hybrid children, allowing for a gradual hybridization of Homeline humanity. Of course, it may have already happened a few times, and Infinity may not even be aware of the issue.

I have an old copy of Cthuhlupunk, it would definitely deserve a Z Rating its borderline Cthuhlutech in the making with Old One or Outer God control of megacorps.

The HL infiltration is an interesting point I wonder how much contamination has occurred on Homeline in general, mind you I'm pretty sure Offworld pregnancies raise a few questions back home.

Originally Posted by Willy

The idea of living a longer time unobstusive is a good one, what about renting just a small flat in a uncontroled zone, pay your protection money to the gangs and watch TV/ internet for some time, the normal living activities will give you a good insight in the other people around you.

For Infinity this is the way I'd go as a scout.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Willy

I see some weaknesses in your plan, first homeline is incredible rich, with a very high living standard, it takes a very determinated agent to endure the hardships of this kind of live. In our real world several times US agencys complained that they couldn´t find people to infiltrate organizations in the third world because no one wanted to live like this.

A homeless is often even more endangered than normal people and more often mugged, robbed and so on.

That's the hardest part: who wants to live as a homeless person on the streets of an unknown city? what do they pay you to make it worth it?


In this case, I think the exact scenario helps. First guy on a new world is somewhat prestigious, and you have a very concrete goal and mission. You can count days until pickup, you can go home at the end, and I suspect that the "same-old same-old" mill that generates burnout will get a little more diversity. But yeah, getting good people is one of the patrol's constant problems.

Homeless know each other, infiltrating them needs at least a culture familarity and some background knowledge or somone gives the gangs / cops a hint.


Same goes for living costs either begging or "found" money is dangerous the first asks for social interaction, the second raises questions, beggars aren't blind.

I'm not sure about this. What do the cops do when one homeless guy tells him that the other new homeless guy is weird? Sure, they might tell him the other guy is suspicious, but if you're not actually doing anything other than scrounging for food and salvage in garbage cans and finding rainproof spots to sleep in, he'll just see another vagrant. How do people become a part of these communities in the first place? Maybe you're thinking of a different class of homeless than I am.



In the worst case, if you do get arrested, it would be a very paranoid, well funded, and very lucky government that interrogated them well enough to discover their identity, and you may be able to conduct a different sort of reconnaissance.

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

That would probably be a mission for a ISWAT team. They go in as a group of homeless people in a 'red' zone, make friends, take lovers, and integrate into the community as they 'improve' themselves. It will be a drop off and pick up, probably using an aquatic conveyor, as other types of conveyors may be too static/obvious.

Its a basic scouting mission, even if it is a high tech world. Why would ISWAT get involved? Those folks are supposed to overthrow despots on slow tuesdays. How long are you going to sideline them posing as homeless people?



Though I'll admit I usually run ISWAT as almost in a different setting from the rest of infinity.

[AlexanderHowl]

Because ultra-tech worlds are too dangerous for normal scout teams? ISWAT teams possess skills/abilities that are quite extraordinary, and they are much more likely to successfully survive in an ultra-tech world. They also have the skills/abilities to deal with unexpected supernatural entities, which normal scout teams really do not possess.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by ericthered

The simplest trick I can think of is to send in an agent who lives as a homeless individual for six months to a year..

Seems wildly excessive. The logical approach would be to locate some pawnshops to sell curios to, then rent a room with a low end entertainment system and watch a lot of TV.

[AlexanderHowl]

Well, that depends on access to money. Many cyberpunk societies are cashless societies, so you need some access to the local banking system to function, either through legal identities or false identities, and you would need money to start the bank account with. Even homeless people would use some form of banking, just because no one would give cash or take cash.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Well, that depends on access to money. Many cyberpunk societies are cashless societies, so you need some access to the local banking system to function, either through legal identities or false identities, and you would need money to start the bank account with. Even homeless people would use some form of banking, just because no one would give cash or take cash.

<snort> Cyberpunk societies are almost never truly cashless because they have too large a disenfranchised underclass although they are likely to use cash cards for transactions rather than paper and coins.

[cptbutton]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

<snort> Cyberpunk societies are almost never truly cashless because they have too large a disenfranchised underclass although they are likely to use cash cards for transactions rather than paper and coins.

And too many people who want to evade surveillance and money tracing.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by cptbutton

And too many people who want to evade surveillance and money tracing.

Yeah. A cashless society is incompatible with any setting where corporations are constantly paying people under the table for dirty deeds done dirt cheap.

[arcanus]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

<snort> Cyberpunk societies are almost never truly cashless because they have too large a disenfranchised underclass although they are likely to use cash cards for transactions rather than paper and coins.

Originally Posted by cptbutton

And too many people who want to evade surveillance and money tracing.

This comes back to the Red Zone concept of the Cyberworld - are they barrens/no-go/skid-row areas that the corps/law enforcement contain.

If so then they have a street economy which is either unregistered cards, cash or even exchange of goods.

Using the rent an apartment & watch entry method, find an apartment on the perimeter of the red zone, cheap shabby but slightly safer and access to services but landlords who don't care where the rent comes from but not far enough in where your probability of home invasion is a nightly occurance.

The more I think about it as well as quietly familarising themself with the world and building an ID, cyberspace would be an area of research.

I think the idea of cyberspace having deep uncharted areas where the virtual framework has run away from the original architechs or been over-written but left areas it lends to the shadow community exploiting this quite heavily.

The difficulty the scout has is how do they interface with cyberspace and then navigate its dangers whilst they get up to speed, but slowly establishing netrunner contacts in the Red Zone would be a good route.

A good degree of this thought process is the Telepresence articles in Pyramid, which raises all sorts of good campaign ideas.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Because ultra-tech worlds are too dangerous for normal scout teams? ISWAT teams possess skills/abilities that are quite extraordinary, and they are much more likely to successfully survive in an ultra-tech world. They also have the skills/abilities to deal with unexpected supernatural entities, which normal scout teams really do not possess.

The supernatural fear applies to any world. I really doubt ISWAT is the first in on any world... thought they might be if they go on a wild cross-time chase passing through it. I suspect they quickly dictate a wild story to staff back at the base, who write it down, redact it properly, and then hand it to a team of scouts who get to scratch their heads about the origin of the intel. As long as there isn't magic on the world, of course.


As for ultra-tech worlds being more dangerous... its sort of true and sort of not. Running equivalent espionage against a substantially higher tech opponent is a nightmare, at least until you've been bloodied enough times to know all of their tricks. On the other hand, if you're just trying to live and get by, higher tech and richer societies tend to take better care of people who fall through the cracks just by virtue of having a lot more resources.



Instead of an infinity agent and an unnamed cyberpunk world, lets look at a time traveling 1938 nazi trying to infiltrate modern Russia. If he tries to steal military secrets from the Russian Government, he is in for a world of hurt. But what if he's just trying to learn how to blend into the society so he can send some cheap modern consumer goods home? Sure, he's a foreigner, sure, he has no papers, and he's absolutely clueless. But he's not a threat.

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Seems wildly excessive. The logical approach would be to locate some pawnshops to sell curios to, then rent a room with a low end entertainment system and watch a lot of TV.

6 months of that approach might be excessive. But I'd want to send someone to live on the streets for at least a few weeks so we don't make any faux pas when selling the curios.

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Even homeless people would use some form of banking, just because no one would give cash or take cash.

A lot of homeless people are there because they struggle to live functional lives. Its kind of the crack those people end up in. Many of them have idiosyncrasies, mental issues, and self-destructive behavior. Its really sad, and not a trivial problem. Sure, some are folks who are just down on their luck or just trying out the lifestyle. But that's not all of them, and a time traveler agent in cyberpunk can blend in with the least functional.