Not your father's Cyberpunk

[Kestrel]

Kenjib- I can see us doing this kind of thing in the future, especially if global warming gets worse or overpopulation forces us to.

mmmm flavored krill

But in the sense of cyberpunk, I like the idea that Stephenson put forth with the accumulation of flotsam and jetsam (literally) forming a floating city. Like the Oakland bridge being formed into a community in Gibson's Virtual Light and All Tomorrow's Parties. I like the idea of the detritus of society forming communities in those two books.

That to me is very cyberpunk.

 

[Pielorinho]

In Kim Stanley Robinson's excellent Red Mars trilogy, he proposes not multinational corporations, but metanational corporations.

The idea is that a corporation goes to a very poor country and says, "Look. We'll pave your roads, repair your schools, equip your police, fund your hospitals. We'll improve the quality of life for your citizens immeasurably. Just sign this form (your new constitution, giving us a controlling interest in your government), and we'll get started!"

It was pretty plausible, and would be a great setting for a cyberpunk game. In fact, his earth would, with a few modifications, be a great setting.

One other idea that I'd love to see in a game: food pipes. Some nutritional scientists in the mid-70s wrote a well-researched article in a peer-reviewed journal explaining the process.

Eliminate farms, and instead grow forests. Each "neofarm" will have a huge chipper, into which the neofarmers regularly feed trees. The sawdust is mixed into a bacterial slurry that breaks the biomass down into a sugar syrup. The sugar syrup is then piped to population centers, where it's used as a growth medium for different cell cultures. Some cell cultures will be wheat cells; some will be tomato cells; some will be pork cells. And that's where everyone's food will come from.

The benefits are reduced fossil-fuel usage (transporting via pipeline is apparently more efficient than via highway or rail), reduced erosion, reduced use of pesticides and herbicides, better wildlife habitat, and so forth.

One disadvantage (and there are many others, e.g., "Nasty!") is that these pipelines and cell culture centers would be great terrorist targets: these facilities and pipes would be really expensive, and the pipes would be difficult to guard, and if one got destroyed, it could cut off food to an entire metropolitan area.

I think the piped-in-culture-grown food would be a cool atmospheric touch, and would probably be good for at least one adventure as well.

Daniel

 

[johnnype]

my thoughts

I think that overall CP2020 was a good effort. That said I agree that its terribly outdated.

From reading the many post on this topic I think many people see CP the same way. Here are my thoughts:

No magic, no elves, no fantasy period. Horrible idea.
However, I would not be opposed to seeing psionics in a campaign. I know it's not completely cyberpunkish but I've always liked it. Perhaps as an appendix.

Netrunning has to be changed. I also thought of using the CCG as a fix. The CCG perfectly captures how I envision netrunning. There is something about the logic and the way the different elements combine that I just love. The ICE, black ICE, viruses, tags, programs, upgrades, subroutines, walls, icebrakers, worms, traces, nodes etc. The way only the right program will work on a specific piece of ICE. Great game! Too bad it's gone.

Since I'm on the topic of CCG's I should also mention Heresy: Kingdom Come. It's an old CCG long out of print that combined elements of CP with the spiritual. Kinda like netrunner meets In Nomine. Strange, I know, but cool. Great art.

Some of the lingo needs to go. Words like choomba, eurobucks and credits ruin any sense of atmosphere.

Other sources of inspiration:
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. Think what you will of the plot, the visuals kicked ass.
Akira - Psionics gone mad and a good glimpse at drug use in the future.
Ghost in the Shell - perfect for ideas of assault weapons, AIs and cybertechnology.
Blue Planet - for those who have not read it, take a look at it at your local game store. The PHB has a great technology section. What initially brought my attention to the setting was the how technology has surpassed hard line connections to things like computers and weapons (not to mention things like light switches). Implants now function and communicate with items with but a thought. I know that BP is not the first game to have this but it was the first time I saw it.

Trinity - Although more sci-fi than CP, the technology guide has some fantastic material on subjects like personal assistants and how they affect the average citizen. Great psionic setting if you're into that sort of thing.

Neuropolitan 2.0 - great website for a more modernized CP game:
http://members.rogers.com/krypter/neuro/index.html

Black Hammer - arguably the best CP site on the web:
http://www.ambient.ca/cpunk/

 

[Kestrel]

Peil's tubefood theory reminded me of this :


Tank :Here you go, buddy; "Breakfast of Champions."
Mouse: If you close your eyes, it almost feels like you're eating runny eggs.
Apoc: Yeah, or a bowl of snot.
Mouse: Do you know what it really reminds me of? Tasty Wheat. Did you ever eat Tasty Wheat?
Switch: No, but technically, neither did you.
Mouse: That's exactly my point. Exactly! Because you have to wonder: how do the machines know what Tasty Wheat tasted like? Maybe they got it wrong. Maybe what I think Tasty Wheat tasted like actually tasted like oatmeal, or tuna fish. That makes you wonder about a lot of things. You take chicken, for example: maybe they couldn't figure out what to make chicken taste like, which is why chicken tastes like everything!


Courtesy of The Matrix

 

[UD]

If anybody here has not read the Red Mars Trilogy by KS Robinson... Go and do it now!!!! its probably one of my favourite set of books.

 

[Kestrel]

Re: my thoughts

Since I'm on the topic of CCG's I should also mention Heresy: Kingdom Come. It's an old CCG long out of print that combined elements of CP with the spiritual. Kinda like netrunner meets In Nomine. Strange, I know, but cool. Great art.

I loved the art for that game. Incredible stuff. Never had enough cards to really play it though. It went of print too quickly and I caught on too late.

 

[Bonedagger]

Now. I haven't read through all the posts but I just wanted to make sure that no one forget one of the best themes ever made: Bladerunner. That world with its hopelessness, despair, sadness and post modernisme angst (lost innocence ) certainly set the standart many movies are jugded by today.

 

[Evil Josef]

I've always enjoyed cyberpunk that was more of a social commentary on our own times rather than a musing on the path of the actual future. While it is nice to have a feasible background for your dystopian (or utopian, if you're particularly optimistic) future-world, I'll gladly trade in the niggling details to generate a more enjoyable atmosphere.

The cyberpunk I like is adhered to the old adage of 'the more things change, the more they stay the same'. I think the Old West stereotype could work well with a cyberpunk upgrade, taking it on as a lawless land outside civilization - whatever that might be at the time - full of fun splinter groups, all manner of beast looking for a cheap opportunity and all manner of minds looking for seclusion in which to study their Next Big Thing. Something along the lines of a 'Cowboy Bebop' or a steampunk feel with a cyber upgrade. Variety is the key, of course, but the victor isn't the guy with the most drugs or implants. He's the smartest monkey, just like it's always been.

I was thinking of setting something up along these lines for a future cyberpunk game, maybe based somewhere in western Russian/central Asia, where things are underdeveloped just enough to let a bunch of ruffians, evil masterminds, and outlaws set up shop after the inevitable crack-down on potentially dangerous tech by the power countries. Sort of a Western style 'Tech Rush', if you will. Set up the Russian black market as the money-power (not necessarily an evil capitalist one; just your handy dandy snatch-up-what-you-like shopping mall), throw in enough modern outlaws - your terrorists, mercenaries, and corporate bounty hunters - along with your mad scientist types, then use a group like the Spetzsnats as your calvary types, and let them alternate between playing the cold-hearted hand of the 'law' and the stablizing do-gooders in an unstable place. Should make for high adventure with just a smidge of actual reality to keep things a bit cool.

 

[Pielorinho]

I've always enjoyed cyberpunk that was more of a social commentary on our own times rather than a musing on the path of the actual future. While it is nice to have a feasible background for your dystopian (or utopian, if you're particularly optimistic) future-world, I'll gladly trade in the niggling details to generate a more enjoyable atmosphere.

I once had the pleasure of hearing William Gibson speak about his work. When a member of the audience asked him about how Neuromancer fit into the dystopian novel tradition, he was annoyed. "It's not a dystopia," he answered. "It's reality. The Strand in Neuromancer is how a majority of the Earth's population lives now. It's us in the First World who live in a utopia."

I think that his answer was a little bit posturing, but it's an interesting approach to cyberpunk.

Daniel

 

[kenjib]

One other thing that I find to be a very interesting theme for cyberpunk is the disassociation of symbol and referent. One could say that we live in a society today that is becoming more and more obsessed with empty and/or self referential symbols. This is fuelled in some part by the hyper-commodification of our society (or perhaps this is just a manifestation - chicken & egg really) and as such the Nike logo is an example. It is a completely self-referential symbol that has acquired a great amount of social currency for what it represents, but what does it represent? In some ways, this consumerism and worship of icons has become the new religion/fetishism of the secular society. Consider also the concept of a superstar - actors, musicians, etc. They are valued as highly as they are not entirely for what they do, but also in large part simply for who they are, forming a self-referential feedback loop.

This is part of what made Bladerunner so post-modern and so cool. Existential thought has been fully absorbed into society and people in power have learned to exploit it to their advantage. People themselves become meaningless symbols, and are commodified and dehumanized. This is what makes the idea of the replicants in Bladerunner so compelling. It's not so much just a question of whether or not they are human, but also whether they can be more than human (i.e. Rutger Hauer's speech at the end). This concept runs throughout the movie - the strip clubs - the giant advertisements intruding into every aspect of life - the large, cold, impersonal, corporations that have no concern for individual human values - etc. It pervades at all levels and, in my opinion, is the real driving force behind the aesthetic of this vision of a dystopian future. Bladerunner is not really about machines gaining subjectivity. Ultimately it's about humans becoming objectified - transformed into symbols without meaning or reference.

What is social posturing and what is the true identity of a person? Is there a difference? Companies hire people to go out and shmooze in social settings, casually interjecting preferences for certain products. Cigarette companies hire bar hoppers to insidiously promote their cigarettes, clothing companies hire college students to insidiously promote their clothing, etc. In this way they are buying and selling friendship and social interaction, reducing it to an artificial interaction and breaking the fundamental value of these interactions as people become taken over by theit artificially assumed personae.

...just another thought on a little undercurrent that can be interjected into a post-modern dystopia