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Old 09-12-2021, 01:58 AM   #21
Black Leviathan
 
Join Date: Sep 2018
Default Re: Things worth having in a Cyberpunk Campaign

Rather than a delivery truck, you have a food truck with storage and oven for prepped foods, like racks of refrigerated pizzas. Robot selects and bakes the pizza, packs and loads it onto one of the rooftop drones along with the breadsticks and wings that went through the oven first. Drones deliver to a commercial windowsill delivery platform with a GPS transponder that was linked to your order, and used by the drone to navigate. Fresh-cooked to you in 10 minutes. If the Truck is depleted of product or ends the night it pilots itself back to the kitchen to be filled and maintained.
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Old 09-12-2021, 02:20 AM   #22
Black Leviathan
 
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Clothing Vending Machines. Machine's scanner takes your measurements and you select from a variety of products in three colors. The machine knit-prints a full outfit in about 3 minutes. You find them at the beach a lot for folks who didn't pack a swim suit.

Smart Ads. Local ad netowrks that read your credit chip so as you walk through a promenade advertisements play songs you've bought in the last year to accompany ads tailored towards your consumer habits.

Taccall. Localized Amber Alert style messaging for your phone. Police want to deal with a dangerous suspect in a busy downtown area, they send a burst message to everyone in the reach of the nearest cell tower except the suspect, letting them know a police action is commencing and they need to shelter in place.

Mr. Whiskers lessons in Biology. Your child's robotic pet has the processing power to be a professor. So you download a tutoring upgrade into the home station the pet uses and now your child's cute buddy also lectures them about the ecology of whales or the life cycle of the beetle and thousands of other lessons for children.

Whatsisface! Got a problem with remembering names or benign details of acquaintances or business affiliates? With this augmented reality software each time you see someone who you've created a persona file your glasses or cybernetic eye will automatically project their name over their head and give you bullet point details about them. The Pro version will print the words they speak in any patched foreign language under their face.
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Old 09-12-2021, 08:10 AM   #23
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Default Re: Things worth having in a Cyberpunk Campaign

These are a few random ideas from one of the world-building threads that could be dropped into many cyberpunk settings.

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Originally Posted by coronatiger View Post
Answer 17 [STG] (1 of 5) - Trends
Hobby programmers have been feeding music to neural networks for nearly a century now, just to see if they can have the AI generate something worthwhile to listen to. For various reasons (low quality, poor public reception etc.) this method of making music hasn't hit it big until very recently, but now everyone listens to neo-classic music. The question "do you prefer Mozart or the Beatles?" now has a new answer: "Let's merge them!"
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Answer 17 [STG] 2 of 5
Interface Bars, restaurants and Clubs.
Initially built in cheaply available buildings from defunct chain stores these locations share a common floor plan and an immersive augmented reality suite usually modified from a second hand virtual meeting room. Each location transmits the image of its guests to the other locations. The first versions of interface restaurants were used by poorer immigrant workers to have time with their families. They typically serve a decent authentic meal that matches their demographic. Pirated entertainment feeds are also common. The tendancy to have bootleg data connections as well as the high signal to noise ratio means communications are relatively private a fact that some criminals take advantage of. Many versions of the interface bar have come into existence over the years exploring the possibilities of the technology.
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Answer 17 [STG] - Trends (3 of 5): Voizing, Speezing & Gibboneze

A fairly simple set of procedures modifying a user's vocal chords, larynx, palate, tongue and diaphragm with polymer inserts, microcontrollers and artificial muscles, allows them to achieve a range of vocal tricks, from changing their natural pitch or mimicking a celebrity's voice, to speaking in ultrasonic frequencies, emulating animals or creating entirely novel vocal characteristics. You can start with basic implants allowing a small set of voices, or go up to fully neurally integrated arrays with interface control for professional singers or voizer otaku.

Voizing is the trend where a sub-culture develops around one set or style of vocal mods. They still mainly speak their own language, but often develop new slang or word forms appropriate to their vocal set. Coyote voizers, for example, have a slew of insults using varying yipping sounds. It can take some time for a listener to become accustomed to a new voize, and some voizes, such as infra- or ultra-sonic ones, may need aural filters to even be heard. Some notable voizes include Coyote, which started in Arizona drug culture but has also caught on among corporate financiers in Berlin; Cheong-Jiog, which jumps unnaturally several registers across just one word, from bass to falsetto, used by dayglo clubber types in Pusan and Kyushu; and Hummingbird, widespread in SACA favelas and tunnel-shanty towns.

Then there's speezing. This is the less common trend, yet still widespread, of speaking in a completely new creole, or a conlang even, based on the vocal features of a particular voize. Most speezing is restricted to particular sub-cultures, but Sulawesi Gibboneze is now often heard world-wide. Gibbon voizing is one of the most basic procedures, and gibbon speeze arose among the street vendors, taxi drivers and tourist touts of Makassar, blending Bahasa with English, Cantonese and Tamal vocabulary, but all modulated into gibbon-style grunts and hoots. It became popular worldwide with the boom of Sulawesi street gang culture and coto-coto music sung in Gibboneze during the 2060s.

Tonal Cetaspeak is another speeze, widespread among high-end IT workers and in the hackersphere. It is a wholly constructed language based on dolphin and whale vocalisations, but includes a lot of artificial high-frequency vocal flexes as well, requiring a programmable voize array to properly articulate and hearing enhancements to properly understand.

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Answer 24 [STG] - Languages
a)
Sulawesi Gibboneze is not the official language anywhere, but it's quite commonly used on the street from Beijing to Beirut, and some Gibboneze derived terms and sounds show up in the slang of other languages. Many consumer device interfaces will include Gibboneze language functions to show they have "street cred" or "mass-market appeal."
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Answer 17 [STG] Trends (3-6 of 5)
Street culture, Food
Femas
Originating from the refugee mega camp in Arizona and originally made with the ingredients available there, notably CS powder, Algae pellets, mystery meat and green nutri-beverage mix. These sweet, crunchy and spicey sticks are traditionally fried in filtered bioil though many variations exist today. Popularity has been high enough that Biodyne produces a specifically formulated vat grown mystery meat product line, sold with a more appealing name of course.

Street culture, entertainment
Rishs
Sex, drugs, rocknroll and anonymity. The faceless mass of commuters garbed in acid rain ponchos, smartshades and smog masks sometimes hides a chaotic party know as a Rish. Concealed in the most common and bland examples of commuterwear the Rishen sync their personal entertainment devices to a single source, spray the same drugs on their smog masks and party amongst the rush hour masses.

Jaqing
Hacking drones, removing inhibitors and racing for speed or endurance through the crowded streets. Oddly a win in the sport is gained by getting the hijacked drone back to it's original start location and erasing the signs of the hack.

Hacker Culture, entertainment
Luceria run
Using a random algorithm to merge all of the available "skins" of a single system while navigating as much of an internal network as possible this is a modern hacker vision quest or sometimes just a fairly extreme form of entertainment. Often combined with sleep deprivation and hallucinogens advocates claim the experience provides insight into the "psychology" of a system and grants them a "feel" for identifying exploitable flaws. The prolonged exposure to a nonsensical and bewildering array of sensory inputs is certainly a memorable experience.
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Originally Posted by Daigoro View Post
Answer 21 [MC][1/5] Implant- LinguaVox D-Series

From What's Ware Today? - The Cybertech Reviews Channel


Following the success of their AngelVox voizer arrays, TIO is capitalising on their reputation in the speech-tech world with a new concept - natural language emulation! By plugging into the speech centres of the brain, the LinguaVox D-Series picks up a speech act you've formulated in your own language, translates it to your selected output language, then its articulator module takes control of your vocal tract to let your thoughts come out in that language. It literally puts the words in your mouth!

The seven-node articulator connects to your diaphragm, pharynx and glottis - controlling the basic AngelVox inserts - as well as the tongue, jaw and upper and lower lips.

Naturally, you'll want to understand what the other person says back to you, so the LinguaVox includes an auditory nerve inducer to relay the translated conversation.

As is the new TIO design principle, the main controller is externally mounted below the mandibular joint, with stylish fibre conduits running along the jaw to the lips, all available in subtle lavender, pearl, shell pink or maroon stylings on a faux-bakelite texture.

But enough of the commercial copy - what do the users think? Among all the nine-star ratings, a few grumbles show that the LinguaVox has some teething problems. Many say that the high latency in producing speech means it's still a way off from making you sound like a native speaker. Another issue is that the audio loop sometimes picks up your own speech and translates it back to you, creating very confusing feedback. Others find the implant's motor control "marionette-effect" to be quite disturbing.

But the biggest bug is this - think about how the implant picks up your sub-spoken thoughts and emits them for you… But what if that thought was not for public consumption? Users are sharing their "Did I just say that out loud?" moments on day-recorder channels. The one where a poor guy is introduced to his girlfriend's father for the first time descends into the old ultra-violence quite rapidly.

Our What to Ware Ranking = 7/9
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Languages
Answer 24-d
C-kwentia

This is a simple language that evolved in conjunction with voice recognition technology. It uses a stilted cadence and short distinct words that are well suited to providing clear instruction to computers. The tones and sounds used carry well over background noise. Words have been taken from many of the worlds languages and some simple words match up to quite complex macro type commands. It is considered insulting to use this micro-language to talk to a person.
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Old 09-12-2021, 08:49 AM   #24
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Default Re: Things worth having in a Cyberpunk Campaign

We shouldn't forget elder-outrage. Every generation has disdained the shortcuts and excesses of the next. Plato thought that easy access to writing would ruin our ability to memorize. Paper was going to destroy people's ability to clear slate. The internet was going to destroy people's ability to use libraries. Etc.

Also, with new technology comes the youth-corrupting ability to access... devil worshiping music. And... evil games. Byron wrote about the panic the Waltz caused in his time. I remember the Satanic Panic of the 80s. Grunge Rock was going to make everyone kill themselves.

There will surely be SOMETHING to be upset about.

Maybe we now have AI determining the appropriate age-level for EVERYTHING based on stupid rules. Then an annoying hack would be to set someone's permissions to 12-year-old.
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Old 09-13-2021, 05:06 PM   #25
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Default Re: Things worth having in a Cyberpunk Campaign

Quote:
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Taccall. Localized Amber Alert style messaging for your phone. Police want to deal with a dangerous suspect in a busy downtown area, they send a burst message to everyone in the reach of the nearest cell tower except the suspect, letting them know a police action is commencing and they need to shelter in place.
Scary phrasing (particularly given what my mind usually goes to with the phrase police action), fitting for a Cyberpunk setting.
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Old 09-14-2021, 11:37 PM   #26
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Default Re: Things worth having in a Cyberpunk Campaign

That was pretty much what I thought first when I saw that entry, too. In a scenario where the readers aren't supposed to like the authorities, the police might use this just because if any innocent bystanders got killed in the massive shoot-out that followed, it would mean that they could shrug and say "You were warned, should have moved faster". And of course the readers aren't supposed to like the authorities in more cyberpunk than not.
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Old 09-16-2021, 10:34 AM   #27
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That was pretty much what I thought first when I saw that entry, too. In a scenario where the readers aren't supposed to like the authorities, the police might use this just because if any innocent bystanders got killed in the massive shoot-out that followed, it would mean that they could shrug and say "You were warned, should have moved faster". And of course the readers aren't supposed to like the authorities in more cyberpunk than not.
I probably shouldn't bring up the potential for surveillance technology advancement.
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Old 09-16-2021, 10:56 AM   #28
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Default Re: Things worth having in a Cyberpunk Campaign

Quote:
Originally Posted by Inky View Post
That was pretty much what I thought first when I saw that entry, too. In a scenario where the readers aren't supposed to like the authorities, the police might use this just because if any innocent bystanders got killed in the massive shoot-out that followed, it would mean that they could shrug and say "You were warned, should have moved faster". And of course the readers aren't supposed to like the authorities in more cyberpunk than not.
I probably shouldn't bring up the potential for surveillance technology advancement.
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Old 09-17-2021, 08:37 AM   #29
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Default Re: Things worth having in a Cyberpunk Campaign

A “fun” social craze where people get a ping on their mobile to swap clothes with someone while out of sight of cameras. Most people eventually get their own clothes back (or something similar enough to not know the difference) through further swaps, or they get something they think is better than what they originally had.
Unbeknownst to most, it’s a nation-state spy tool. It allows for agents to quick swap clothes out of sight to fool potential tails (people or cameras); and many potentially interesting or useful people have their clothes circulated to people who surreptitiously add trackers and wifi sniffers.
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Old 09-17-2021, 08:46 AM   #30
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A decade ago, a hacker collective created self-replicating distributed mesh network drones and seeded most cities.
The drones are slow, rarely move, and slowly chew infrastructure and junk to replicate themselves. The drones are solar-powered or tap electrical cables and they join open networks and occasionally try to splice into wired networks.
Their mesh network is slow but mostly anonymous, and once in a while real hackers find a juicy intel feed because somewhere one of the drones tapped a business hard line.

A different group of hackers find and feed the drones by leaving electronics trash nearby, and they track the evolution of different variants of mesh drones over the years.

Spies and criminals deliberately allow the mesh to connect, and search all the traffic for whatever they can find.
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