Cybernetic Jesus

I personally thing Brazil is far to powerful to come under the sway of a "Corporate-War". I know, I used to live there. I just don't see the Brazilians falling for the whole "Corporate in control" thing. Their egos are far too big for that. Brazil is a huge country with enough people, natural resources and wealth to prevent Corporate entanglements such that would result in the loss of a large city. Revolutions, yes, I can see Rio being destroyed in a Revolution, but not in the 4th Corporate-War.

Yeah, I also incorporated Paranoia into CP. First, had Alpha and Beta Complexes at human colonies on a barren Alien-World with a non-breathable atmosphere; these colonies were underground, at war and both controlled by AIs. Then I had another version that took place on Generation-Ship; the players really didn't know they were on a Generation-Ship as it resembled a massive mobile-O'Neil Colony; the ship was rather old and the "Surface" was dark and heavily polluted and toxic to the players without a breathing mask: yeah, their ancestors screwed up the eco-system there. I made bit-maps of the underground structures, but I am not happy with how they look (I rarely am happy with something I create because I can always create it better). Maybe I'll redo it better this time.

The media really screwed up and stirred the pot; one, they called him a "White-Hispanic", two, the didn't publish a pic of Crayon Martin as the thug that got shot, but rather as an innocent 12-year old boy (they should of published a pic of 12-year old Zimmerman). And finally, they failed to mention Martin was attacking him at the time.

That is correct and useful in a CP:2020 game; when faced with the PCs, corporate-troops will act in such a manner. In the next CP game I run, I'm going to have a corporate soldier dash in reaction to the PC's ambush; it's about money not some fanatical idea like bringing down an oppressive corporation.

I changed the 8 and blown-off rule to 8 and make a death save; if you fail, you're limb is crippled/off. I had too many PC dying from head wounds and it's fun to make them play brain-damaged vegetables because they like to solve all their problems with guns.

I say, if the player's wish to play muckins, then so be it; and they will tire from making PCs again and again (the dumb ones won't). I mean, if I wanted to play a muckin and the GM was a cock about it, it's just find another GM.

They're mercs; it's not like they're fighting for the glory of Rome.

As long as you have "Knucky Thompson was here" written some where....

Picked up the Moderator's guide for v2; haven't read much of it. I just know that the creatures don't make evolutionary sense unless they were imported from Earth and genetically manipulated there. The evolutionary environment is different there than on Earth and you're probably not going to get mammals to evolve.

I'm thinking of creating my own version of Blue Planet. However, it's not going to be the pristine eco-sphere from the book but rather a more realistic scenario. Earth, itself has only had and will have advanced life for only about less than 10% of it's existence. The chances of us finding another world in the habitable zone with liquid water that's the right size and composition as Earth or the "Blue Planet" at the point in which there is advanced life is extremely rare. Most likely, we'll find pre-cambrian worlds that need to be terraformed.

 

Now as I read this, in order to qualify for detention you'll need to be an active part of al Qeada, the Taliban, or have substantially been in support of those organizations.

That means, determined to be a member of AQ by a US-government employee you can therefore have your due process bypassed rights as guaranteed by the US constitution.

And how many official members of AQ are left, like three?

The law is simply unconstitutional and doesn't stand a chance; if Obama's smart(he ain't), he'd veto it. But he's probably already made a deal with the Teabaggers that he won't veto it if they promise to hire some PT temps to say the economy's improving and he can get reelected while pissing on the Constitution.

Blue Planet is a cyberpunk setting. But it's more for people that love the ocean or are more ecologically concerned. I love it. It's not at all dark like CP2020 and going there is paradise compared to it. Sun, warm-weather, fresh and abundant food that isn't kibble, that's the life; it'd be like going to the Executive-Zone. Also, you can play dolphins and whales, which is interesting...

I've only read a few pages; I'm not totally drawn into the story yet. Thoughts? Opinions of the book?

I've posted this before, but with this article, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/world/asia/14minerals.html and the fact I can make NPCs on Hero-Machine.

Synopsis: The American military and allies fight against a cyborg-Islamic threat.

Date: 2030+

Name of Enemy: some sort of Muslim sounding name such as the "Followers of Alla" or "Followers of the Prophet".

The Main Enemy: Like OBL and Hussein, there will be a leader to this movement; he will claim to be a prophet from God and state that man and machine must become one in a fused state.

They will gain influence and eventually control Afghanistan. Using it's wealth and Pakistani technology, they begin to build up the nation and be in a position to exploit it's mineral wealth to further their cause.

Kazakhstan and Iran's governments will fall under the control of the Prophet through monetary influence and Gemini-replacement and infiltration of key government and military officials.

The West will draw a line in the sand* in Iraq and prevent the Forces of the Prophet from expanding into the Middle East.

A "Tapped-Out" Middle-East: in this version of Cyberpunk, there was no "Mid-East Melt-Down". However, the oil has run out in most countries here. Saudi Arabia is on the brink of revolution and collapse as it's people are starving and poor. Dubai is an abandoned city, with no oil there's no reason for it to exist. The people of the Middle-East are looking for salvation, and the 26th Prophet may be that light.

The "Good-Guys"

This is not our America we live in now nor is it the America of Cyberpunk; it's an Alternate Future with a bit of Cyberpunk and futurism mixed in.

The Political System in the US at this time: The extreme right has gained power. The President, a man of extreme religious conviction (no, not GW. Bush but rather the President from Escape from LA) has allowed a lot of religious-based laws to be passed such as banning Cyberware as it is seen as an "Abomination" (heh, Surrogates).

Oh, and the President is serving on his 10th year; yeah, they got rid of that law.

Digging in on the Iraq-Iran border is a coalition of American, NATO and Israeli forces. The gulf states are too weak to provide military support and have to suppress their populace from rebellion.

The Weapons: Straight up Maximum Metal for American and Solo of Fortune, Russian, for the Prophet's. The vehicles in Maximum Metal were designed to fight a large Soviet-Style attack; so, I'll give them that using the Russian weapons from Solo of Fortune and using Firestorm rules (MM takes too long).

Objectives: The Prophet wants to crush Mecca bad. They must wipe the slate clean before they can begin again and Afghanistan can be the New Mecca (Chronicles of Riddick). The Arabs don't want that and the US still needs the oil that remains in the ground and the leadership has religious views against that (Fear the loss of Israel).

Tactics; The West is playing Chess; they have set units that can do certain things and their objective is to knock out the King to win the battle (yes, the troops have learned that killing the king doesn't mean the battle's over, but the Leadership thinks so). The Prophet will follow Sun Tzu's advice to the letter at times using spies and intel to make decisions. Once battle is set, the Prophet will fight like the Soviets did, with large number of tanks and artillery and the US will fight like they always had, air superiority to kill as many tanks as they can. I've never played an M-11 vs. a T-90 (? out of Solo of Fortune) against each other so I don't know who will win.

Technology: the playing field is leveling out. Ten years since the Fanatics got into power, has deprived funding for military programs that us Cyberware. US-vehicles won't have Cybernetic-links and ACPA will not have VRIs etc. You might find a few soldiers with a cybernetic-limb after they lost one in battle, but for the most part, they will have no cyberware on them.

The Prophet's forces, however, will have lots of cyberware and some will be "Full-borg". They have the best techs out there right now. Paki, Indian and Chinese techs have worked to create a military-machine that's equal to, technology-wise to the US. They even have Stealth Technology.

Religion, has allowed one side to fall behind and another to leap forward.

Overconfidence: there's one fact that is shared by all US-Forces; overconfidence that they will slaughter their enemies; in every American unit, there's a Sergent or a Vet that has multiple-kills on their belts from shooting Muslims. The US has been at war with Extreme Islam for decades and has learned how to fight them and their fanatical tactics. They've always held a great technological edge and idea that Muslims could out-fight the US with technology is offensive. Most of the military don't even consider they could die will fighting them; they're just a bunch of primitives.

Outcome; who knows. I'm going to run the over all war with Chrome-Berets; the commander NPCs and the rolls will determine the out-come. Will the US preemptively strike, retaking Iran or will the Prophet feign an attack against Iraq and instead attack through the straights at the Gulf States and attack the US-fleet in the Gulf. This is a scenario with the key parameters I have set above. I have no favorites and this is just a future war.

*From a wargame about the '91 Gulf War I saw.

There's a show a while back on the History channel about the effects of a major plague and a the collapse of American civilization.

It had a lot of smaller communities isolating themselves from disease and not letting others in.

The greatest threat to a person during an epidemic isn't necessarily the disease, but the survivors.

Ooo, oooh, in Pacific Rim, it states a new Muslim state composed of Arab refugees from the Middle East in Indonesia.

relevant

If you're still doing this, dump the cannon. I really don't see Israel nuking the oil fields. Doing so would damage it's economy, as it refines oil and bring the wrath of the world upon them in such a way that Hitler would blush.

Why don't you write a future history about the middle east. Read a few articles.

I can tell you, oil is the primary source of income for most middle eastern countries and it's a fact that one day, it will be gone.

I have often thought of a Middle Eastern religious transplant to some distant world colonized by humans. Perhaps I have seen Pitched Black/Riddick too much, or perhaps that only recalled my readings in the Kurita Source Book.

Right now, I'm toying with the idea of creating an 1930s-1940s middle eastern nation dominated by the British as a colony (Palestine), with the Grand Mufti has an Islamic resistence all with German agents, bombs and terrorism and then and infusion of communism after the war and Jewish refugees for Night's Edge, yes, a vampire game. They'll be in the middle of all this turmoil.

Cyberpunk and love are two themes that don't seem to mix. Love isn't going to get you that nice job at the Corporation, unless you love the right person, namely your manager etc.

Also, since most of the players are guys, falling in love with the female PC is kind of....awkward...

MC_Bolshie's genocide is not much different than my genocide in the Chrome Berets thread. In fact, mine is much more brutal. On the island of Dhurma, the ethnic Toung and exterminating the Kura not unlike NAZIs/Stalin. However, the big difference is that a google search for "Dhurma", won't produce such a nation for my nation is completely fictional. Though I used indonesia as a base, everything else is made up. That's where it touches tempers.

The problem with the timeline are several things,

1. As soon as Israel looses US support, it's histroy.

2. The Palesinians will soon demand sufferage and bleeding heart Europe will not let Israel deny them that.

3. I thought the middle-east, including Israel, where nuked.

I an see Israel becoming a state similar to Sparta.

Israel is somewhat likely to commit genocide. In the past, it has demonstrated it will do anything to survive. Also, there is a sizable percentage of Israeli extremists that, well, they wouldn't mind if a million Palestinians starved to death. The world could use a few less "Muslim Dogs".

Oh, by the way, I have many more horrible genocides like cyborgs culling the normal human population in 23rd century Asia and a neo-christian movement in a post-apocalyptic US "cleansing" people with cybernetics by removing them from their bodies, without pain killers. ouch!

Loving it, loving it.