Suriel

::backs away from the  name as a if it were a holy cross::

"WHY? HEGEL! FICHTE! Arghh!"

::turns to ashes as he remembers the most boring of philosophy classes::

I´m 28.

We´ve obviously been through different experiences then. No need to discuss it any further. You´re right and I´m right, too.

Don´t bind your thoughts to a syllogistic conclusion, Bookwyrm!

Humble Storyteller Suriel says:

Try Chromechilds

And join the Navy, too!

You know Malek, one day I´ll offer you a job as CEO at my sites BioTechnica-Bayer, if you continue like this.

Thanks again!

Sorry, but as far as I know the US government has maintained a shadow government since the days of the Cold War, just in case the war exaggerated from cold to nuclear heat.

I don´t remember where I read the article (*not some conspiracy net, though!*). I´m sure it said something about the head of NSA being one of the permanent members of the shadow government.

Correct me if I´m wrong.

***DEFINITELY NOT A BUSH SUPPORTER!!!***

Whoever said anything about radical change? But if you feel something is wrong and don´t do anything to change it, you don´t have the right to complain later. Doing nothing is always supporting the status quo.

I agree that assassinating politicians, laying bombs, etc. is not a good way of political change. But we have the option to use our democratic rights, it´s just most people are too damned lazy to do so. Most don´t even know them.

Some peaceful citizen initiatives I joined actually made a difference in minor scale politics. And if enough citizens (voters!) feel pissed off, national level politics can be changed, too. But only if they voice their problems.

Now if that is radical, we better go back to absolutism... We´d not be worthy to be called democrats.

Checked it out. Quite impressive. I especially liked the second site on your list for it´s "Bringing out the best in you" slogan and the first one for it´s instructors. Good material for a campaign of aging Solos I´ve been thinking about. More like a flashback, for I already installed them in my city.

But really, I appreaciate those links, thanks!

Neither is germany. The two great parties aren´t that much different. (See my theory on who gets to get the power above)

That´s cool!

Hm... We should include our choice of female Zombies and heroes in our contract, though. With Psycho leading our nasty charade of brainless netheads, all in all it could be fun.

Damn, how am I to explain this to my trainer?

Marijuana? You serious? Well, ok, let me state it this way: About three percent of the people I know smoking Marijuana (that bad bad drug!) are really addicted. Meaning about 1,5 individuals.

I know far more people who couldn´t handle alcohol.

So psychologic addiction (aside from the usual state inquisition, that allows alcohol and nicotine) is most prominent with Cocaine. And even Cocaine ain´t a drug just everyone get addicted to.

The most addictive drug is perhaps heroine and it´s derivates and crack. (aside from some new ones on the market I don´t know)

As for combat: I agree! It takes long and hard training to catch a knife that´s meant for you. I can handle myself relatively good in a fight myself and I had some years of unarmed combat training. BUT there are just guys that are different. They have the same training, the same experience, and in a tournament they would go for the same place I would.

But in a REAL fight, they just are a few classes better than me. I´m not a coward. But I still keep thinking in a fight, until I get hurt. Some guys (and girls!) though, hm, it just seems as if there whole life was waiting for this very moment. They can switch from their regular personalities to instinct driven fighter within seconds. This, paired with a long training, is what I meant.

And our culture doesn´t much promote the chances to show off with these kinds of instincts.

But the Cyberpunk universe...

I´ve done many campaigns with different roleplaying systems, the longest was a Vampire campaign I ran for about four years. I still keep the diaries of this one.

And of course I did several Cyberpunk campaigns.

Some were fairly standard, some were good. I don´t do long pen-and-paper campaigns anymore. We´ve got three excellent GMs in our group, each itching to bring his very own ideas (very incompatible to the others ideas) to life. And somehow every story must have a fitting end. (Which doesn´t mean I kill off all the characters. I just plan campaigns with an idea in mind AND an possible outcome. Which players can change through their actions, of course).

The only exception to this rule is my Online campaign. But there the main character is the City, not the characters. The city comes to life through the actions of the characters. No, this ain´t meant as another ad for my online campaign.

I don´t go into details with the campaign settings here, as I plan to make them available as downloads soon.

Oh, and of course I agree with you with the similiarities in characters.   But what applies to real life relations, applies to characters, too.

They exspect you to behave in a certain way, they exspect your characters to do so.

If I want to play real different characters, it´s easiest to do it with a new group. If I want to change, it´s easiest to do so alone, until I feel ready to meet my friends again.

I don´t do pointless death. They were playing themselves, which was part of the horror. It wasn´t meant to be a campaign, but a single scenario. Some of them disappointed me. The only woman in our group pretending to be sooo athletic and cool and who knows what else. Several of the others, too. One surprised me, as he played his panic real well. I mean, this scenario went more insane which each step they took, beginning with a simple radical radio message only they could hear, then all, even their family, forgetting they ever existed, then all humans and animals suddenly gone. Then the entry to Metropolis, etc..

They watched the suicide of a mad priest, who told them that death was the only way out. They had to become cannibals or die. Etc...

In the end, some of them died. As the girl was so grandios and great and cool, I decided in mid-adventure it couldn´t be her. So she was the creature behind it without even knowing it.

The scenario was partly great fun, partly frustrating. Two players later told me it had been too scary to imagine some of the situations, if it was themselves. I told them to keep that in mind when they next created characters.

Great! That´s good new stuff...

In germany you normally join a "Schützenverein" if you want to learn to shoot. Very traditional folks there, but some teach combat shooting,too.

First of all: There is no need for democratic propaganda as far as Bush and his brilliant army of light is concerned.

Anyone using phrases like "Axis of Evil" is either a bad demagogue or a very simple-minded person. Perhaps his scripts are done by idiots, but than he would be an even greater fool to read them aloud to the public. And anyone who treats his allies as ####, as that very fine Mr Bush obviously does, (new steel import taxes included) is very short-sighted, too. The EC is able to defend itself on the market. And the idea of the American Trade Freezone is dead (cause of the actions and arrogance of a party starting with R., mostly). So if he is not planning a war against Europe, too, he should be at least aware that while Europeans treat the USA with velvet gloves under normal circumstances, that one day they might awake and just say: "No!"

Second: Whoever stated that it´s useless to fight the system: I´m totally on your side and I still wonder why there is no more king unhampered by a parliament today (except for Elvis) and where Absolutism went...  

No, really, it´s not worth the effort trying to fight the system! Let us be ruled by the caste of the new old powermongers...

Third: Kyoto: Then why send delegates at all? Well, the german defense minister was heavily critized these weeks (he ain´t the smartest, but it´s only as an example) cause he couldn´t fulfill the promises he made buying those transport planes. Delegates normally are able to VOTE at such occasions cause they actually HAVE the allowance to reach decisions.

Hm. Somehow I don´t believe in the "automatic addiction" thing. There are some drugs that do that to you, others do not and it also depends on the specific individual.

Then again I believe in people who are natural talents at fighting to a degree far beyond that of normal training. People who´ve got that special something.

So I must be a total lunatic... Don´t take me serious.

No really, Sandlines International I didn´t know. I did some reference work on Mercs working out of Istanbul a while back.

But this is another dimension entirely and exactly the kind of information I hoped for starting this topic.

I went to their homepage after reading your answer. How they avoid the term Mercenary...

Do you know more organisations like these? (Except for those on their links page...)

I think big corporations are already displaying some of the glass tower or copper tower [As in the poem: "I´ll build myself a copper tower with four ways out and no way in. But mine the glory, mine the power..."] syndromes today.

It´s not the architecture or corporate armies that convey this feeling to me, but the structure of large corporations and the power they wield through business tactics that are -essentially- blackmail.

I remember one incident about 10 years back, when Daimler wanted to open a new test-drive range for their cars.

They demanded from the local government at Hannover to built a new Highway to the site, five years of tax-freedom.  50% of the total costs to be paid by the government, etc..

When the government refused, they went to Bavaria. They accepted the offer. (Some bribing was involved there,too, as was found out recently.)

Well, that was on a national level, but they play that game on international level, too. I think Edward Luttwak captured the ghost regime a large Corp can be in a poor country best in his handy little book "Coup d´Etat" (A guide as to how to perform one). It´s great reading. The thing is, for most of their operations they are not required to give a #### on the laws of just one country. They can go to another, where their lobby is stronger.

I don´t think that corporations need to do the fortress stuff. The real security for them is the ability to remain international.

That said I don´t believe corporations are "evil". They try to do what they were made for and use the power money and influence gives them. I never much liked the idea of the "Evil Corporation" some GMs use. I like the idea of the neutral egoistical one.

And, yes, I think you´re right about a surge of upstarting Mini-Corps,too.

Thoughts and Questions:

1. I didn´t have the time to read through the articles at Sandline.com. Did they ever get actively involved in a war or do they pull out in an actual state of war?

2. The SAS is reported to provide such military training programs for countries favored by the UK, as is the Mossad.

Does anyone know of their recent training activities?

3. Gimme more more more of such stuff, guys!

And thanx again for this first grandious inspirative article!

They´ll probably hire us for the next remake of "Night of the living dead" if we continue to post in that pace.

Hum. Only two characters I remember in my campaign using customized weapons.

The main Cosa Nostra killer has a custom made sniper rifle (damn, did I spend time on research for that one) and one of the Techs has customized his revolver after watching "The good, the bad and the ugly"...

Sawed-offs don´t count, eh?

::start to dig::

::suddenly face wents even paler than normal::

"Eh, Norton?"

"Yep?"

"####, we´ve found an oil reserve!"

::run for their car::

::three miles into the wilderness::

CRUNCH!

"Damn, the axis of evil! It has been hiding in our car all along!"

Hm, yeah. I´m baffled by his skill as a statesman. I´ll start digging a trench now.

But I agree, Clinton would make a great televangelist.

Thanks again for recommending Robinson´s Mars triology, Archangel. Ordered it at Amazon and can´t remember the last night I slept more than four hours. Great reading, really!

If he breaks the 3000 within the next three month, I´m outta here... Don´t like to deal with these nasty Government AIs!