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Dumpshock Forums _ Shadowrun _ Breaking from canon timeline

Posted by: Talia Invierno Jan 23 2004, 01:57 AM

Us, we had such a convoluted background interweaving between family members who had to be born or goblinised into specific races that we ended up having to shift the amalgamation of the UCAS and the founding of the Tirs by a few years before the game even started. That was actually easier than redoing the game-as-a-whole's backstory!

Future changes in canon timeline are entirely possible, depending upon the PCs' actions.

Which changes to the canon timeline have you made, whether to events already "past" or to events you've gone past in-game?

Posted by: Backgammon Jan 23 2004, 02:04 AM

Seattle had to deal with a bout of terrorism, with notably the restaurant at the top of the needle blowing up. Metroplex guard were mobilized, and the Seattle governor had to deal with bad PR for "mishandling" the situation.

Posted by: Crusher Bob Jan 23 2004, 03:12 AM

I've done several rewrites of the SR timeline to suit my various ends. My current favorite replaces the crash of '29 matrix virus with an awakened form of hemorrhagic small pox that just needs to be 'near' you to get you sick (so a spacesuit won't really help). Produces some interesting side effects, like the rise of mega corps occurring during re-construction, the SIN database being made to track survivors, as a bit of black humor Native Americans were more resistant to the bug that's why there are comparatively more of them. Some of the setting remains the same in feel but the events leading up to it are much different. No re-education camps, no great ghost dance, no silly reactor meltdowns, no 'everyone forgot how to make X' during the crash. Just a big pile of dead bodies, 20 years of depression, and other goodies.

Posted by: Fahr Jan 23 2004, 05:55 AM

I love chicago, I hated living in houston, I moved bug city to houston.

It never made any sense that Texas would have re-joined the CAS, so in my world, it didn't. It has Oil, Military bases, Tech sector, manufacturing, is as big as france... so They stayed independant. they still hate Aztechnology/Atzlan and are in border skirmishes all the time.

Guns are really easy to get in Republic of Texas, and The Sin'd are required to do military service. Big mega's in RoT - Ares, Lone Star (duh) Shiawase (through houston shipping channel) and they are very freindly to smugglers from the carribean leauge.

Pretty darn non canon, but I like it

-Mike R.

Posted by: Centurion Jan 23 2004, 06:40 AM

As much as I'd like to see a RoT, the rejoining made sense, seeing that there's nothing to stop the Azzies from picking up and going for Round 2: Destination, Louisiana border if they aren't part of a much bigger nation.

And I think you mean WAS as big as France Unless you did what I've seen a bunch of SR players do and put the border back at the Rio Grande. Heck, why not go back to the old school territory and make it our Western Boundary as well.

Posted by: Playing Games Jan 23 2004, 08:24 AM

comonly in my games, CFS is a power house.They kept San diego,and Japan failed to pull a fast one.

Aztlan,ain't as bad as it is in canon.Wile they have blood magic,it ia only in the fringes, and a few mid level suits.

Denver, has a 40-60% large population.

THe bugs weren't bugs.As the idea that bug spirits are evil,wile things like shark aren't never went well with me.They were "alien spirits" that have many names.

Added, a few A-AA's.

Made IE's unknown of,those NPCs without pasts,just have odd pasts.

Posted by: Centurion Jan 23 2004, 09:10 AM

Ditto for Atzlan. I'm not against the absurd cartoonish evil as much as the way Mexican society just up and changed from a grossly incompetent compadres y comadres barter/favor system to some uber tyrannical Nazi style top down regime (Although the ultranationalistic feelings present in Atlzan are dead-on, as far as real life goes). As a student of political science and history of the American Southwest and Mexico, this bugged me immensely, and Mexico/Atlzan in my SRverse is one gigantic barrens where authority is arbitrary and anything can be had with the proper contacts and money. It's harder for gringos but by no means insurmountable (Put that linguasoft away, and get those Spanish and Hispanic Culture skills up to at least 4)

Someone awhile ago posted a very CAS centric rewrite of the universe which still had the Nation state as the big kahuna, which I liked immensely, seeing as how I don't like cyberpunk/that whole great ghost dance thingy all that much but love nearly all of the rest of SR.

Posted by: Dogsoup Jan 23 2004, 09:31 AM

I've done away with nearly every immortal elf I can think of. So far only Harly and Ehran remains (and maybe some insignificants):
Daniel Howling Coyote discovered his magical techniques himself, through epic astral quests.
That head honcho woman of the Draco Foundation is a human. Oh, and Dunkie never used any other spokesperson since that first "translator" died.

Everything that's featured in any given SR novel have never happened/existed in my game.

Posted by: Reaver Jan 23 2004, 12:31 PM

I've stretched out the ammount of time Deus has a hold on the arcology. That's been about it.

Posted by: Sahandrian Jan 23 2004, 01:04 PM

We've got two extra immortals, some very strange things going on in the astral and matrix, and the Arco situation is lasting longer. Though corporate rumors claim that Deus is gone and it's a bunch of his otaku running things inside, which doesn't really matter since they can't get through the drones and Red Samurai anyway.

Though I like that idea for Atzlan.

Posted by: bwdemon Jan 23 2004, 02:34 PM

The only major canon thing I've altered is that Ares never hosed down Chicago, post-nuke. Bug City is still just that, with tensions higher than ever as the barricades remain. I can't help it, I'm a sucker for survival horror... heh.

Posted by: Cray74 Jan 23 2004, 02:40 PM

1) Most campaigns produce no long range alterations. The players just don't mess with Big Events much.

2) I've been itching to run my, "USA: Super Power, Corporate Whore," setting for a while now. This replaces the SR early history with real history, so there's no Shiawase or Seretech decisions (among other things). Without megacorps, there's no real Resource Rush, no real SAIM (and when pro-Native American terrorists try to launch a nuclear missile, it gets shot up as it emerges from the silo, and most Native Americans denounce this stupidity), and no break-up of the USA with the Treaty of Denver. The Crash of 2029 is an annoying event that requires many computer users to re-install their back-up files, causing billions of dollars of lost labor but not much else. However, since it's no fun (for roleplaying) to have a happy fuzzy giant super power "Making the World Safe for Democracy," the US is a complete tool of the megacorps. This is where runners come in: since the megacorps are not extraterritorial nor allowed to have military-grade security forces (in First World nations anyway), megacorps need and crave deniable assets to do their dirty deeds. It's a much narrower tightrope to walk when the FBI can storm your corporate offices and arrest the CEO, even if you own half the Congressmen in Washington.

But that hasn't gotten off the ground yet.

Posted by: Fahr Jan 23 2004, 05:11 PM

QUOTE (Centurion @ Jan 23 2004, 06:40 AM)

Unless you did what I've seen a bunch of SR players do and put the border back at the Rio Grande. Heck, why not go back to the old school territory and make it our Western Boundary as well.

thta depends on what you think would happen if mexico invaded... there are on average 3 guns per person in texas, and lots of old US military bases, I think that Texas would put up a better fight than they are given credit for in Canon. I moved the border, but not to the rio grande, its about 150 miles north of the rio grande, close to corpus, but Texas expanded some west and has most of oklahoma too, to make up for this loss...

I just can't see Atzlan getting organized quick enough to take such a large chunk, and I also can't see Texans sitting down for it. The brush country is not an easy place to fight. In my world, they are constantly fighting, they are allies with CAS, and they are a mercenaries favorite Western hemisphere fight.

plus, they have the backing of a certain western dragon of repute...

-Mike R.

EDITED FOR DOUBLEQOUTING

Posted by: Centurion Jan 24 2004, 12:55 AM

QUOTE

Texas would put up a better fight than they are given credit for in Canon

Sir, how DARE you try to thwart the noble commandments of the SR makers when they decreed every bit of Anglosphere descended culture in North America had to have it's ass handed to it repeatedly.

I spit on your shoes.

But I think the part of the canon (or at least inferred) was they threw out some REALLY nasty things during the invasion, a la the Tir when they invaded California, lightning bolts, blood spirits smashing down the street godzilla style, etc.

Also, 150 miles is FARTHER north in some places that it is now. San Antonio is only 125 miles.

QUOTE

plus, they have the backing of a certain western dragon of repute

I always wondered why Dunkie didn't give the CAS more goodies in his will, seeing as they're ballsout anti Atzlan.

Posted by: Crimson Jack Jan 24 2004, 02:08 AM

Great topic... I tweak a lot of what's in the books, so this one caught my eye.

1) I also targetted the Space Needle for a little destruction. It was destroyed by a magical explosion, rebuilt, then the new one was destroyed on its grand opening. That was fun and funny.

2) Dunk isn't dead. The whole thing was a conspiracy/cover-up so that he could go in hiding. I haven't let any of this on to my players, but they all know that I'm up to something every time they dig a little too deep into the assassination.

3) I've made a well-known free haven for shadowrunners on the high seas. A captain by the name of Captain Kenga revamped an old aircraft carrier and he and his crew navigate it across the world's oceans and seas. It's called the Mother Outlaw and is a place where many big events and deals have gone down in SR history for my team.

4) I made a dark dragon named Xam. He's cranky. Just woke up from a very long slumber. He slept through the 4th age (he's from the 2nd age). Now he has a hankerin' to do just about anything he wants. Some of the runners aren't in the best graces with at least one dragon. Xam has taken the heat off them for a bit, since the rest of the scaley ones are more concerned about this larger and more powerful entity.

5) Teleportation exists. Uses blood magic to work though and almost exclusively used by the Azzies only.

6) Hoverboards (ala Back to the Future, but slightly larger... like snowboards) were created by Novatech and there are plenty of hoverboard gangs and games.

7) Following the success of Urban Brawl, Sea Brawl was created. Played off the coast of Florida mainly, there are a variety of different types of players including jet ski operators, turbine charged scubamen, and 'heavies' or goalies that play under the water in mech-like machines. I've had the runners play in this game before. Rules are very similar to UB.

Harlequin has a son named Mad Jack, who is currently stuck in a metaplane called Twixt (it's a dark plane of magic that relies heavily on the power of imagination). Mad Jack was left there to train with one of Harlequin's other children, but instead, the bizzare terrain, people, and physics are warping his mind. He's going to be returning shortly to take on his pop and there's a reason why this is possible.

9) This is probably the weirdest, but everyone told me that they had one of the coolest game sessions ever on this run: I had a major villain from Deadlands (whom they had banished to a portal and then sealed it) meet up with the characters in Shadowrun. He had been living in SR for quite some time trying to figure out how to get back home. In the time that he had been there, he had amassed millions of nuyen and was ready to bring back a bunch of technology and power... enough to make Deadlands an even worse place than it already is. As he was a Harrowed, or walking dead, he broke lots of rules in the SR world. When the runners got close to him, I told them that the undead sensed something about their auras. When his eyes widened and he exposed his fangs with a "I know who you all are!", the game was on. No one could believe that this major bad guy had shown up in another game (the one they sent him to) and further (that he recognized them as players, not characters). It was a really great game.

Posted by: Snow_Fox Jan 24 2004, 03:43 AM

The arcology take over was much less massive and was over in weeks.

Posted by: Sepherim Jan 24 2004, 05:49 AM

Apocalypse came on January 1st, 2058. No more history for the human race, only dragons and AIs survived, though through different means.

Posted by: Austere Emancipator Jan 24 2004, 05:59 AM

QUOTE (Sepherim)

only dragons and AIs survived

That must be interesting. What's the population of planet earth, 250? 1,000? 5,000?

Posted by: Crusher Bob Jan 24 2004, 06:01 AM

And which time zone did the end of the world start in?

Posted by: FlakJacket Jan 24 2004, 06:34 AM

QUOTE (Fahr)

That depends on what you think would happen if Mexico invaded... There are on average 3 guns per person in Texas, and lots of old US military bases, I think that Texas would put up a better fight than they are given credit for in Canon.

But wouldn't the fact that Aztlan has an actual army still work out with them beating the Texans? I mean, tanks/IFV's trump firearms mostly.

Posted by: Crusher Bob Jan 24 2004, 06:37 AM

And then the occupation starts...

Posted by: Playing Games Jan 24 2004, 07:12 AM

QUOTE (Crusher Bob)

And which time zone did the end of the world start in?

PST,Seattle is the most important city in the world,duh!

Posted by: Centurion Jan 24 2004, 08:05 AM

QUOTE (FlakJacket @ Jan 24 2004, 01:34 AM)

But wouldn't the fact that Aztlan has an actual army still work out with them beating the Texans? I mean, tanks/IFV's trump firearms mostly.

The fact the Mexican/Atzlan army by it's history and culture is one of the most grossly inept in the world? The majority of enlisted are teenage conscripts and the officer corps is purely political. At one time there was 1 general for every 100 people in the army.

Armored vehicles do not a victory vs. partisans make. Partisans simply avoid where they are, hit them where they can do damage and avoid where they can't. The mission of guerillas is to hit poorly guarded areas and get out before the big guns arrive. This is even assuming these vehicles are used in a competent manner, and Mexican military history has shown they're even more grossly inept in this department than Imperial storm troopers.

The reason Atzlan is so scary in my SRverse is not because of its military, but because it can pull force gazillion blood spirits out of it's keister to do the rarrgh hulk smash thing, and even that rarely works due to the gross incompetence and inability of the Atzlan military structure to capitalize on the advantages created by this.

Posted by: Kesh Jan 26 2004, 07:58 PM

I plan on running a "Bug City" campaign, and moving most of the bug related events to Chicago (or whatever city ends up being played in). Thus, the UB/QE/DE adventures take place in Chicago/whatevercity.

Not changing a whole lot else. I'll be throwing in random adventures from other game systems (The Killing Jar from Dark*Matter, for instance), which may alter a few things.

Alternately, I may run a d20 Modern version of Bug City set in the present day; meaning no cyber and less magic, but just as many bugs.

Posted by: Shockwave_IIc Jan 26 2004, 08:22 PM

The only break that i did i think was the mana warp around sydney. It happen as the comet turned up, mainly cause i didn't know it was there when i shifted my players to Sydney

Posted by: Dogsoup Jan 28 2004, 06:25 PM

One thing I've decided, to explain the abundance of toxic shamans, that both shamans and hermetics turn toxic, and works roughly in the same ways.

Posted by: Herald of Verjigorm Jan 28 2004, 07:21 PM

QUOTE (Dogsoup)

One thing I've decided, to explain the abundance of toxic shamans, that both shamans and hermetics turn toxic, and works roughly in the same ways.

The official terms are: toxic shaman/wujen; corrupted mage; petro vodoun; twisted adept.

Posted by: sable twilight Jan 28 2004, 08:58 PM

QUOTE (Centurion)

QUOTE (FlakJacket @ Jan 24 2004, 01:34 AM)

But wouldn't the fact that Aztlan has an actual army still work out with them beating the Texans? I mean, tanks/IFV's trump firearms mostly.

Of course with the Hispanics likely out numbering the Anglos in that region by that time (check out what the census bureau has projected for the next 50 years... very interesting, Anglos are on their way out as a majority through the entire nation, Hispanics will become the leading minority, which means they will be out numbering Anglos even if they are not a complete majority), I would put money on the indigenous Hispanic population. If they saw the invasion of Aztlan as an up to date version of the old Aztlan movement that started back in the 1960s (yes, a real live movement, check it out sometime) I could easily see how Texas would have its rear handed to it.

Posted by: crazyivans Jan 28 2004, 09:33 PM

I always thought it was redicuous that Iceland and Greenland joined the Trans-Polar-Aleut Nation, so we changed that. Iceland and Greenland joined forces, and are a Nation, but they did not join the Injuns...

Posted by: Dogsoup Jan 28 2004, 10:46 PM

QUOTE (Herald of Verjigorm)

QUOTE (Dogsoup @ Jan 28 2004, 01:25 PM)

One thing I've decided, to explain the abundance of toxic shamans, that both shamans and hermetics turn toxic, and works roughly in the same ways.

The official terms are: toxic shaman/wujen; corrupted mage; petro vodoun; twisted adept.

Yeah I know

, but when was the last sourcebook/adventure you saw a corrupted mage?
How often do toxics pop up?
The 'Corrupted' path could just be a Sterile toxic shaman/mage or a new "path" for all i know/care

.
Twisted and Petro are just fine though.

Posted by: Centurion Jan 29 2004, 12:23 AM

QUOTE (sable twilight @ Jan 28 2004, 03:58 PM)

Speaking as a person of Hispanic descent, I think you're making a critical error sir, not unlike that of thinking that every person of Japanese descent on the west coast, even those that have been here multiple generations, was a potential traitor during WWII.

There are several subsets of Mexican culture in the United States, and not all of them are gonna ask "How high?" just because some obvious dictatorship in Mexico says "jump." The largest 4 of these being:

The recent immigrants- these people often feel a good bit of loyalty to Mexico, but are usually here to seek permanent residence. Their acculturation depends on which of the three other metagroups they join.

The migrants- People who move their families from place to place throughout America. Usually, education is fairly poor due to the constant movement. Loyalty would be divided fairly randomly, and probably would settle with wherever they could get work when the Ghost Dance and the subsequent fallout hit.

The Californios- California has always been a prosperous place, even during the Spanish rule. However, in recent years California has failed to acculturate it's Mexican immigrants and has in fact, encouraged them NOT to while at the same time subsidizing the incoming of even more immigrants, mostly of the illegal sort. THIS is the place where you would see a massive indifference/possible assistance by many of the hispanic culture, due to the fact that the idea that they are Mexicans living in California, rather than the idea that they are/should become Americans is hammered into them.

And finally, the Tejano culture- by far the subset of Mexican culture with the least loyalty to Mexico proper ever since it's incarnation with the founding of Nagadoches and San Antonio in the 1600's (a large percentage, if not the majority, of the defenders of the Alamo were of some Mexican descent), is a blend of Texan and Mexican, as can be expected. This group is extremely patriotic and assimilation of recent immigrants usually happens within a generation or two.

QUOTE

(yes, a real live movement, check it out sometime)

I'm aware of that La Raza crap and as a citizen of the United States I hate it passionately. This group of people is primarily concentrated around the most highly educated (college professors, et al), and the very least educated. You didn't state nor infer as such, sir, but I will implore you not to assume that it has a hive mind majoritarian grip on the Mexican American populace.

If anyone is going to have a massive insurgent problems, it's going to be CFS. I will state that in Texas, the hispanic culture, due to the aforementioned population change, local acculturation and other factors, will be the CORE of the Texan resistance, not the downfall of it (and that's assuming the Azzies even defeat the Texas regular forces in the first place, which they probably won't for reasons I've already stated unless they unleash the blood magic boogaloo and create a PR diaster.) Don't assume that an overwhelming and undefeatable amount of people are gonna rise up against the "Anglos." More than likely, we're/they're going to see the "Anglos" as our countrymen and women and the Azzies for what they are, a Porfirio Diaz-esque dictatorship that needs to be stopped in it's tracks.