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Old 02-12-2019, 06:19 PM   #11
Phantasm
 
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Default Re: Build a Cyberpunk Setting

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Originally Posted by The Colonel View Post
How about: someone tried to vent Yellowstone to avoid a catastrophic eruption. Half right was not good enough.
You could also use the same event to rid the world of coastal California...
I was just about to suggest a Yellowstone eruption. It'd also wreak havoc with the American farmland in the Midwest, which could easily lead to stuff like vat-meats and hydroponic towers producing the Not-Soylent Green-Really that the lower classes eat in such a dystopia. (Bonus if someone starts shouting "it's made from people!" and is hit with a slander/libel suit from the corp putting it out, regardless of the truth.)
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Old 02-12-2019, 08:33 PM   #12
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Default Re: Build a Cyberpunk Setting

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Another idea
The ice age is a result of global warming. One or all of the temperature regulating ocean currents went out of whack. Now the arctic is a lot colder but somewhere else is a lot warmer as a result. Maybe a melting Antarctic (ice age and ocean levels rising), Amazonian desert, middle east monsoons or a burnt to a crisp Austrailia.
That's pretty cool.

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The technology of the world is on the cusp of creating some post scarcity developments. Corporations of course dont want this to happen.
This already happened when they switched from fossil fuels to cheap fusion.

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The formation of the NAU involved a long and drawn out "shadow war", now there are many enhanced veterans from all the sides involved, many of whom are still carrying an axe to grind.
This I like. Very much.

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Originally Posted by The Colonel View Post
How about: someone tried to vent Yellowstone to avoid a catastrophic eruption. Half right was not good enough.
You could also use the same event to rid the world of coastal California...
That could have gone very wrong. Hmm.

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Originally Posted by Phantasm View Post
I was just about to suggest a Yellowstone eruption. It'd also wreak havoc with the American farmland in the Midwest, which could easily lead to stuff like vat-meats and hydroponic towers producing the Not-Soylent Green-Really that the lower classes eat in such a dystopia. (Bonus if someone starts shouting "it's made from people!" and is hit with a slander/libel suit from the corp putting it out, regardless of the truth.)
I was going more with a Indian/Thai flair for cuisine since there was likely a ton of immigrants from there when the Ebola hit and caused so massive death. Also, I love curry >__> So there's that.
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Old 02-12-2019, 11:07 PM   #13
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Default Re: Build a Cyberpunk Setting

A follow-up - what sort of tropes do you like or dislike in a cyberpunk/bear-future setting?
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Last edited by Christopher R. Rice; 02-12-2019 at 11:11 PM.
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Old 02-12-2019, 11:47 PM   #14
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Default Re: Build a Cyberpunk Setting

Ice ages, what causes them?

Take a peek HERE for some information worth considering...

But here is the fun part.

The sun by definition is a variable star. The one location I read said it varies by as much as +/- 1%

Yet, per this page, the variation is about .25% - which is about 1/4 of what is stated on THIS SITE.

Now, let's look at some of the issues that may come into play. If technically speaking, we're still in an ice age, just not at the peak of one - then what short lived humans might call global warming might be something akin to a natural cycle that existed since before the advent of human recorded history. If the Maunder Minimum that lasted approximately 70 years (now called the Mini-ice age) was responsible for that - then might not an ice age be more of a result not of one event, but a confluence of events? Might not an ice age actually be a "perfect storm" kind of event rather than a single event attributed to a single cause?

Earth's eccentricity is not stable per some information on the net (whether this is true or not, I can't say). But let's suppose for a second, that it is true. What if the eccentricity changes at a time in which the sun goes quiescent (ie zero solar spots) which lasts for a long period of time? What if the evidence in Sequoia trees and petrified wood actually indicates that these pre-historical (in the sense that no one was recording the history up until recently) cycles are in fact, NORMAL? What if we enter a new "mini-ice age" whose effects will last say, three times longer than the last mini-ice age? 210 years is a long time to be gripped in cold weather right? In theory, we're overdue for a major return of an ice age like people think of it (ice sheets forming on the ground, water becoming tied up in snow, the salt water becoming more salty (percentage wise) etc.

California's wet/dry seasons existed before what was to become America was settled by Europeans. Sequoias hold information locked in their trunks that date back as far as (by some estimates) some 3,000+ years. Looking at the rings of those trees should give historians a better appreciation of weather patterns for that time period. If you want to delve deeper into that topic matter, HERE is a nice enough start.

In any event, you don't really need to posit a world wide catastrophe to have the temperatures drop 15°. What you may want to do is posit what happens WHEN the ice age hits.

More water trapped in ice means less water in the oceans.
There is the question of whether or not gulf stream current and other world wide current changes might also affect the global weather. Positing a sudden appearance of land from an underwater volcano temporarily blocking one of the currents might be of value for your world.

As for the march of history? Consider this for "fun". Just as the Oil countries have engaged in producing oil with a sort of monopoly on production and controlling prices etc could have an effect - what happens if someone starts to play games with food production? Simply enacting a methanol additive for gasoline caused a dramatic increase in the value of corn. The methanol became more valuable as fuel additive than it was for food. As a consequence, corn prices rose - as did cereals based on it, as did cattle feed, etc. This in turn caused the value of food shipments to regions that were not self-sustaining food producers, to face riots as the cost of food was disproportionately felt by the importers of the food who depended on imports.

But why stop there? If I might suggest? Get your hands on a copy of THE MILLENNIAL PROJECT by Marshal T Savage. For $1.98 plus S&H - (Used copy of course), you can't go too far wrong.

Want to posit that traditional farming bread basket areas become hard hit with the weather? Then build one of those "floating islands" with the ability to generate power, suck up cold nutrient rich water from the depths of the ocean, use the heightened food production capabilities, and generate foodstocks from powdered Algae. The numbers are there in the book - how much to build the floating island using the patented "Sea-crete" method, how many tons of an given material will be harvested (per Island) and the idea that sea farming for fish and the like will also soon replace animal herding/breeding etc.

Imagine the following circumstances that come into play...

Beamed power from the power plant generators of those islands (they are not emissions based power plant systems) - that lowers the carbon footprint there. Microwave transmissions bypass the need for copper line transmissions (known as power lines to Americans). Waste energy from power ends up warming up the locale in which the power is used (Read just how much energy is lost due to power lines and why birds just LOVE sitting on them in the winter) and you'll begin to see some fun patterns you can use for your cyberpunk campaign.

Me? I'm busy researching what happens to Hong Kong in 30 years from now using some of the applications of GURPS ULTRATECH TL 9 technology. That ought to be a hoot (for me at least!)

Addenda: I meant to imply that with more water locked up in ice, less water in the oceans - more of a salinity rise than anything. Not that the water levels for the world would drop precipitously.

Last edited by hal; 02-12-2019 at 11:50 PM. Reason: addenda
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Old 02-13-2019, 02:03 AM   #15
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Default Re: Build a Cyberpunk Setting

Quote:
Originally Posted by Christopher R. Rice View Post
A follow-up - what sort of tropes do you like or dislike in a cyberpunk/bear-future setting?
Cyberbear/punk-future?


Tropes I like? Hmmm... Megacorps that don't care and grind down the oppressed underclass; megapoles like hive-warrens with gleaming mile high skylines and dark shadowed grimy streets; nowhere is 'safe', you're either in bed with the corps who think you're expendable or the crime families that think they own you from the debt you've accrued; -isms run rampant, the future is both completely inclusive and yet more violently factionalized, with every tribe scraping its own niche out irrespective of every other tribe; tech is both just about to have a singularity runaway and is totally irresponsible, and yet without it humanity collapses and your gear is prone to malfunctions because is cobbled together from scrap bins; life is cheap and not worth living, but yet everyone strives and hopes and parties anyway; the fight is real, but undercut with the bitter hopelessness of the war having already been lost.


The only tropes I dislike is when it's pushed too far one way... like if somehow the crime families overpower the genre as though they were more important than the megacorps, I mean in some ways they are (locally, streetly), but in many ways they aren't. And vice versa. Or if tech is too perfect and clean or too haphazard and dangerous. It's a tight balancing act.

Note: I'm fine with a campaign being particularly loopsided, say if the game is focusing on the streets, thus more crime, more neighborhood level politics, less high tech, more meat... but that doesn't mean the Yaks just push around Arasaka corp or some other weirdness.
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Old 02-13-2019, 03:59 AM   #16
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Default Re: Build a Cyberpunk Setting

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Originally Posted by Christopher R. Rice View Post
A follow-up - what sort of tropes do you like or dislike in a cyberpunk/bear-future setting?
One aspect of cyberpunk that does irritate me is the "muh-capitalism-evulls" that it degenerates into where the corporations are cast as monolithic villains.
I prefer a more grey-on-grey model where corporations are set against an overweening but broadly incompetent state and against anarchy and all have their positive and negative aspects. Plenty of values dissonance also plays well - where the police can descend mob handed on unregulated ISPs or tax dodging but aren't around when people are shooting each other in the street, where liberty and security are clearly trade offs ... that sort of thing. I've always wondered about starting campaigns in cyberpunk though... I'm not really familiar enough with criminality to reckon on bringing PCs up on the criminal side and starting them with corporate security seems a bit limiting. I would guess making players build PI types might work...
I did like Millennium's End as an idea, but it, well, ended... I liked the near future, credible tech aspects with much of the silly stuff (like VR hacking and poorly thought out cybernetics) removed. Meh ... more like diesel-punk than cyber-punk I guess...

Has anyone tried mixing horror and cyberpunk? Again, I have idly wondered about wainscoting PCs into a supernatural campaign from (cyber)punk. Or a police procedural ... at least part of that resulted from watching a three season boxed set of CSI Miami to try and understand the Miami setting of Millennium's End. That sort of thing makes the RPG minded wonder what would happen when forensic science is faced with apparent evidence that the deceased moved themselves somewhere several hours after the diagnosed time of death, or with murder weapons that, being formed of ectoplasm, evaporate after a few hours.
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Old 02-13-2019, 04:19 AM   #17
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Default Re: Build a Cyberpunk Setting

I love the idea of combining cyberpunk with psionics, and I totally understand how psis would be hated (fear and envy), but them being second-class citizens raised an eyebrow for me. Unless you meant de facto, because they are so widely disliked and distrusted, instead of de jure actual second-class citizens with fewer rights.

Regarding the thing on Mars: The (perhaps too) obvious answer would be a terraforming device that no one knows how to operate and might also be a doomsday device.

Alternatively, just an archaeological find, perhaps pyramids that predate the ones on earth by a few millenia. Coincidence, or was earth colonised? Was earth abandoned or are we the descendents of the martians? (I feel like this is nothing original, either, but I cannot remember where I got it from.)
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Old 02-13-2019, 05:44 AM   #18
Christopher R. Rice
 
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But why stop there? If I might suggest? Get your hands on a copy of THE MILLENNIAL PROJECT by Marshal T Savage. For $1.98 plus S&H - (Used copy of course), you can't go too far wrong.
Interesting. I'll see if I can snag a copy.
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Old 02-13-2019, 05:54 AM   #19
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Originally Posted by evileeyore View Post
Tropes I like? Hmmm... Megacorps that don't care and grind down the oppressed underclass; megapoles like hive-warrens with gleaming mile high skylines and dark shadowed grimy streets; nowhere is 'safe', you're either in bed with the corps who think you're expendable or the crime families that think they own you from the debt you've accrued; -isms run rampant, the future is both completely inclusive and yet more violently factionalized, with every tribe scraping its own niche out irrespective of every other tribe; tech is both just about to have a singularity runaway and is totally irresponsible, and yet without it humanity collapses and your gear is prone to malfunctions because is cobbled together from scrap bins; life is cheap and not worth living, but yet everyone strives and hopes and parties anyway; the fight is real, but undercut with the bitter hopelessness of the war having already been lost.
Thank you. That's a very vivid picture.

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Originally Posted by evileeyore View Post
The only tropes I dislike is when it's pushed too far one way... like if somehow the crime families overpower the genre as though they were more important than the megacorps, I mean in some ways they are (locally, streetly), but in many ways they aren't. And vice versa. Or if tech is too perfect and clean or too haphazard and dangerous. It's a tight balancing act.
I plan on tech being problematic and mostly functional with a few imperfect attributes that can't be worked out - bugs in the technology.

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Originally Posted by evileeyore View Post
Note: I'm fine with a campaign being particularly loopsided, say if the game is focusing on the streets, thus more crime, more neighborhood level politics, less high tech, more meat... but that doesn't mean the Yaks just push around Arasaka corp or some other weirdness.
Right. They have pull, but not worldwide pull or even then not enough to mess with billion dollar companies.

Quote:
Originally Posted by The Colonel View Post
One aspect of cyberpunk that does irritate me is the "muh-capitalism-evulls" that it degenerates into where the corporations are cast as monolithic villains.
I prefer a more grey-on-grey model where corporations are set against an overweening but broadly incompetent state and against anarchy and all have their positive and negative aspects. Plenty of values dissonance also plays well - where the police can descend mob handed on unregulated ISPs or tax dodging but aren't around when people are shooting each other in the street, where liberty and security are clearly trade offs ... that sort of thing. I've always wondered about starting campaigns in cyberpunk though... I'm not really familiar enough with criminality to reckon on bringing PCs up on the criminal side and starting them with corporate security seems a bit limiting. I would guess making players build PI types might work...
I did like Millennium's End as an idea, but it, well, ended... I liked the near future, credible tech aspects with much of the silly stuff (like VR hacking and poorly thought out cybernetics) removed. Meh ... more like diesel-punk than cyber-punk I guess...
My current model is lots of authoritarian regimes in the various powers of the world. The corps just take advantage of that. Corruption is pretty much everywhere when it comes to the power elite, but there are a few bright spots.

Quote:
Originally Posted by The Colonel View Post
Has anyone tried mixing horror and cyberpunk? Again, I have idly wondered about wainscoting PCs into a supernatural campaign from (cyber)punk. Or a police procedural ... at least part of that resulted from watching a three season boxed set of CSI Miami to try and understand the Miami setting of Millennium's End. That sort of thing makes the RPG minded wonder what would happen when forensic science is faced with apparent evidence that the deceased moved themselves somewhere several hours after the diagnosed time of death, or with murder weapons that, being formed of ectoplasm, evaporate after a few hours.
I am planning definite body horror elements as well as some straight up horror elements in the form of bio-tech gone wrong. Mary Shelley of the 21st century and all. The vampire virus that was created made Mexico basically uninhabitable and there is still a hot war going on down the border for the NAU. Even Alverz puts troops on his northern border to keep the menace as locked down as possible.

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Originally Posted by CeeDub View Post
I love the idea of combining cyberpunk with psionics, and I totally understand how psis would be hated (fear and envy), but them being second-class citizens raised an eyebrow for me. Unless you meant de facto, because they are so widely disliked and distrusted, instead of de jure actual second-class citizens with fewer rights.
They are treated as such and (at least in the NAU) psis must accept GPS implants to monitor their activities are tattooed with their known abilities. Not registering abilities (or at all) can mean a death sentence in some areas. Seattle (a free city sprawl occupying basically the old state of Washington) is a haven for psi-actives and is almost 70% psychic. The NAU got thrown out of that area by the combined power of a massive gestalt and have been kept out. Currently, it would be too costly to take it back so they don't.

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Originally Posted by CeeDub View Post
Regarding the thing on Mars: The (perhaps too) obvious answer would be a terraforming device that no one knows how to operate and might also be a doomsday device.
I considered the same. Currently they are using early TL9 terraforming methods to try and get it more habitable for humans.

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Originally Posted by CeeDub View Post
Alternatively, just an archaeological find, perhaps pyramids that predate the ones on earth by a few millenia. Coincidence, or was earth colonised? Was earth abandoned or are we the descendents of the martians? (I feel like this is nothing original, either, but I cannot remember where I got it from.)
That's a cool. Maybe leading it back to the fall of Atlantis or something. Hmmm.
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Old 02-13-2019, 06:55 AM   #20
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Default Re: Build a Cyberpunk Setting

I actually like the tropes of addiction that underlie a lot of cyberpunk. Addiction to virtual sex should play an important role, as complete VR allows for anyone to explore their kinks without having to involve other people, which would have a dehumanizing impact on real sexual relationships. I can imagine beautiful people licensing off their virtual selves (after a complete 3D scan that includes auditor, chemical, sexual, and tactile analysis) for money, so that complete strangers could pay $10-$50/month to have a copy of them for their virtual brothels.

A complete workup (including sexual responses) would probably take a week and would include a variety of RP scenarios. After the workup, the individual would probably receive 10%-20% royalties, depending on their fame, which could allow an Independent Income. At 10% royalties, an individual would only need 10,000 subscribers at $10/month to make a reasonable income. A famous individual could possible get 100,000 people to spend $50/month and, at 20% royalties, they would earn $1 million/month. With 10 billion people, you might have as many as 1 billion people addicted to virtual sex, men and women.
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