(IW) Cyberpunk Worlds

[dataweaver]

I never really considered that to be a significant difference. In both, the face of oppression that the punks usually face tend to manifest as corporations; in Japan, though, I believe that the culture has always viewed corporations and the government being largely hand-in-hand, while in America we tend to see a more adversarial relationship between them. So in America, the tendency is to assume that powerful corporations must mean a weak government, while in Japan the opposite assumption holds.

OTOH, Cyberworld is firmly set in the United States; and the central conflict of that game is the totalitarian federal government.

[dataweaver]

Originally Posted by warellis

Like what Cyberme does? Or Academy City in the Toaru light novels does with its espers?

Kind of, yes. Though if it's Urban Fantasy, you'd want to keep the Psionics mostly in the shadows. Debunkers and anti-psi should be a fairly significant thing, possibly with a government or corporation that's seeking a monopoly on psionics causing them to keep their heads down.

Cyberme also includes another element of urban fantasy with its inclusion of cat persons and vampires, albeit ones with genetic rather than mystic natures. Overall, it really plays up potential anime influences.

But in terms of the psychotropics, Cyberme is tame. Granted, it was written in 2010 while GURPS Psi-Tech wasn't published until almost a year later; so that's part of it.

In fact: thinking about it, Cyberme was written in 2010 and was in the current year of 2017. It's now 12 years later; so Cyberme ought to have advanced to 2029 by now, right? What might over a decade of development have done to the place?

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by warellis

You know, one interesting thing I've noticed is that Japanese cyberpunk often still has the nation-state being strong and still around (albeit heavily beholden to corporate interests), whereas a lot of Western(?) cyberpunk often has it being weaker or much more broken. I wonder why that is.

I think that may be more of a reflection and exaggeration of the way things are in Japan (can you say Toyota City?)

[warellis]

Originally Posted by TGLS

I think that may be more of a reflection and exaggeration of the way things are in Japan (can you say Toyota City?)

This place?

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by warellis

This place?

Yeah. Even a funhouse mirror reflects something. In the West, Cyberpunk reflected a fear that globalization was going to lead to an eclipse and weakness. In Japan, I suppose you could see fears of the cozy interlocking nature of business and government.

[Fred Brackin]

I've had a concept for psi/cyber for a long time. So long that it works better with 3e psionics. :)

The core of it is that in almost all fictional treatments netrunnig works a lot more like astral projection than any sort of modern computer use. So you give up and netrunning _is_ a form of astral projection. The cyberdeck is then the psi amplifier.

What you need in 3e terms was both Astral Projection Power and the Cyberpsi ability from Electrokinesis. I think Psi Powers probably kept the names the same in 4e.

Anyway, your Avatar _is_ your astral body. That's why it's important and why it has to travel into the target system. The Cyberpsi component is what allows for most of the netrunning shennanigans.

Anyone with heavy cyber would need that touch of Cyberpsi too so they could interface with their cyber in the very cinematic manner of the fiction.

[warellis]

I'm wondering if Kaiserreich-4, with its dream netrunning and those dieselpunk robots (and borrowings from Metropolis), sort of like a dieselpunk cyberpunk setting with an imminent dieselpunk AI rebellion?

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by dataweaver

I never really considered that to be a significant difference. In both, the face of oppression that the punks usually face tend to manifest as corporations; in Japan, though, I believe that the culture has always viewed corporations and the government being largely hand-in-hand, while in America we tend to see a more adversarial relationship between them. So in America, the tendency is to assume that powerful corporations must mean a weak government, while in Japan the opposite assumption holds.

OTOH, Cyberworld is firmly set in the United States; and the central conflict of that game is the totalitarian federal government.

I don't actually understand that. If the federal government is dictatorial how do civilians get away with having all those combat enhancements?

[dataweaver]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

I've had a concept for psi/cyber for a long time. So long that it works better with 3e psionics. :)

The core of it is that in almost all fictional treatments netrunnig works a lot more like astral projection than any sort of modern computer use. So you give up and netrunning _is_ a form of astral projection. The cyberdeck is then the psi amplifier.

What you need in 3e terms was both Astral Projection Power and the Cyberpsi ability from Electrokinesis. I think Psi Powers probably kept the names the same in 4e.

Anyway, your Avatar _is_ your astral body. That's why it's important and why it has to travel into the target system. The Cyberpsi component is what allows for most of the netrunning shennanigans.

Anyone with heavy cyber would need that touch of Cyberpsi too so they could interface with their cyber in the very cinematic manner of the fiction.

I was looking through Psi-Tech; and one of the Psychotronic Generators listed there is the psiberdeck. Specifically, it grants you Netrunning-1 (from Psionic Powers) — though bear in mind that PP defined Netrunning as a kind of Possession; I'd consider extending Cyberpsi with Abilities borrowed from Astral Projection, and reformulating Netrunning in terms of those.

As well, there's a note at the end of the Psiberface entry just before it starts listing the different kind of psi-interfaces saying that they can also function as if they were neural interfaces, if that technology also exists.

It also has Psionic Computers, which would be an interesting spin on the recent phenomenon in cyberpunk of digital intelligences that spontaneously emerge in the net. The idea I'm thinking of isn't so much that they have psionic powers, per se (though that's definitely an option for them), but rather that there's a fundamental connection between sapience and psionics that goes both ways; and once the circumstances are sufficient close to allow for the formation of a sapient AI, the process of becoming sapient includes developing a digital equivalent of a mind. Thus, the GURPS equivalent of the emergent ISOs from Tron Legacy: they're basically psychic entities inhabiting the Net.

OTOH, a counterpoint to that idea is that Dream-Tech works in a manner analogous to classic netrunning. Inception comes to mind.

And yeah; I could see “requires latent cyberpsi” as a prerequisite to getting cinematic cybernetics. Basically, cybernetics become part of the cyberpsi Power: they get both the Electronic (or Nanotech?) PM from Supers and the Cyberpsi PM. (In this setting, I'd allow Cyberpsi to be handled as a power in and of itself, not merely a category of Ergokinesis abilities). You're still considered a Latent Cyberpsi if the only Abilities you have are cybernetic.

[warellis]

Originally Posted by dataweaver

Kind of, yes. Though if it's Urban Fantasy, you'd want to keep the Psionics mostly in the shadows. Debunkers and anti-psi should be a fairly significant thing, possibly with a government or corporation that's seeking a monopoly on psionics causing them to keep their heads down.

Cyberme also includes another element of urban fantasy with its inclusion of cat persons and vampires, albeit ones with genetic rather than mystic natures. Overall, it really plays up potential anime influences.

But in terms of the psychotropics, Cyberme is tame. Granted, it was written in 2010 while GURPS Psi-Tech wasn't published until almost a year later; so that's part of it.

In fact: thinking about it, Cyberme was written in 2010 and was in the current year of 2017. It's now 12 years later; so Cyberme ought to have advanced to 2029 by now, right? What might over a decade of development have done to the place?

Actually hmm, for a place like Cyberme, I could see the open and accepted presence of psychic powers & psi-tech be used to sort of throw the public's attention off of something more supernatural.

Because psionics are real and provable. but magic? Pfft, that's just BS peddled by someone making stuff up obviously. ;)

In a sense, the idea here is hiding supernatural stuff like magic under something more accepted and "scientific" as psionics.

Another thing aiding in this, I could see, is if corporations focused more on specific psionic talents specifically while neglecting focus on other possible psionic talents or abilities. Like if corporations looked at psychics mostly from a military perspective, they might focus research and tech on using them as weapons, but neglect other possible talents that could be a thing, like say sensing ghosts or something.

As for GURPS Psi-Tech, what tech from it would fit the more semi-realistic cyberpunk of Cyberme? Since Cyberme was written in 2010, and Psi-Tech in 2011, it may mean something like more modern ideas on electronics & computing might be considered, compared to say the tech assumptions of Shikaku-Mon.