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Posted by: Synner667 Jul 24 2007, 08:32 PM

Hi-de-ho !!

I'm due to put together some background for a game, and I thought I'd ask you kind folks what you think are the main elements that make up Cyberpunk ??

Jotting some notes at work, I have :-

Large organisations in power :-
Corps
Governments

High technology :-
Cloning
Nanotechnology
Powerful computers
Datanet
Machine intelligence
Cybernetics

Disaffected people :-
Corporate wageslaves
Free thinkers
Criminals
Persecuted people [by religion, genetic engineering, magicness]
Small group of rich
Big group of poor/homeless/undocumented

Global catastrophe :-
Tidal waves/earthquakes/famine/disease/datanet wipeout
Millions dead
Areas of wilderness
Contaminated areas
Enclave territories
Arcologies/Aquacologies
Restructuring of countries/corps

Being me, I'm also wanting to have :-
Energy weapons
Power armour
Activation of energy nodes/leylines
Viable magic use
Space/Belter colonies
Things man was not meant to know


Any thoughts gratefully received

Posted by: eidolon Jul 24 2007, 09:04 PM

Other threads you might find useful:
(note: this isn't a "don't talk about this again" or anything; it's just a "here you go" )

Discussions related to the "definition" of cyberpunk.

http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=13215&hl=cyberpunk

http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=13122&hl=cyberpunk

http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=8784&hl=

Discussions containing examples of cyberpunk or cyberpunk influence.

http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=18027&hl=cyberpunk

http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=14997&hl=cyberpunk

(not a complete listing)

Posted by: Synner667 Jul 25 2007, 07:07 AM

Hi,


Thanks for these, Me Eidolon..
..Very interesting reading.


A nice checklist of things and views, and a realisation that my post has the wrong title..
..I think it should have been titled something like 'Help with a Background'.


I plan to make my background something to mention and develop, and have others add to it or amend - like an alternate SR [similar to the Hardwired supplement for CP2020].

Posted by: Kagetenshi Jul 25 2007, 12:46 PM

Cyberpunk, at its core, is fairly simple to describe. A few elements come from cyber, a few from punk, and a few are properties of the whole.

Cyber: advanced but limited (see later) technology, dehumanization through technological advance and integration, increased social stratification by introduction of "essential" technology unaffordable to the poorer members of society

Punk: Corrupt social order (see later), the struggle specifically to tear down that social order (not to build a new one! Cyberpunk is inherently destructive, though the aftermath of success on this point could permit construction of a new social order), struggle of individualism vs. conformity

Cyberpunk: vast increase of corporate power and influence through neo-feudalism and an organizational structure designed to produce decisions not interfered with by human conscience, scarcity-based economy (not post-scarcity! See first point in Cyber) with demand far outstripping supply, Japanese corporate dominance, destruction of rights and protections for the proletariat (used here in the strict sense, that is workers as opposed to those who own the means of production)

Ultimately, the philosophical base of Shadowrun is (or was) the struggle of individualism against collectivism. Radical individualists (Shadowrunners) fight against collective societies (Corporations, which are warped in Shadowrun in that everyone works for the good of upper management but are nevertheless collectivist in nature), hive minds (Invae), authoritarian pseudo-religious organizations (Renraku Arcology and its post-shutdown inhabitants), and so on.

~J

Posted by: eidolon Jul 25 2007, 02:32 PM

Posted by: Synner667 Jul 25 2007, 11:07 PM

Thank you, Mr Eidolon.

Twas very confusing, to 'lose' my thread !!

Posted by: eidolon Jul 25 2007, 11:34 PM

D'oh! My bad.