What's Up with FanPro?, Looking for a rundown of the seminar Options

[Oracle]

[Synner]

As the sell sheets says, Emergence will deal with the technomancer phenomenon, how it becomes public knowledge, how people (at all levels handle it) and to in no small part what makes TMs different from otaku. The campaign book unfolds during late 2069 and thru 2070 and follows the results of widespread public awareness and good old human nature kicking in. And that's only about the half of it.

[SL James]

I fail to comprehend how a society as PC as it is in 2070 becomes insane at the idea of TMs. But that's just me.

[Oracle]

We'll see. I'd bet on a "Wow. Just another oddity"-kind of reaction.

[mfb]

it... agh! so, this overrides the hearsay translated from a German fanzine that says that TMs are basically unknown in 2070? i ask because, well, until now that hearsay was really the only flavor text anyone had to go on.

[RunnerPaul]

[mfb]

i've had that nugget from other sources, but the German zine translation is the only one i'm sure is public knowledge. i don't care which it is, so long as it's confirmed one way or the other soon, y'know? and so long as TMs get some sort of flavor in the same timeframe. just because i think radio brains are the silliest thing since Hitler-based street gangs doesn't mean i don't want to know what my preciouses are up to.

[Synner]

The information from the German newsletter is correct. Technomancers are rarer than magicians and at the start of 2070 society at large is blissfully unaware of their existance and their abilities.

[mallet]

[Samaels Ghost]

So is there going to be some event that freaks out the public regarding technos? Like some terrorist hacking or public airwave hijakcing?

[Valentinew]

Thanks, Winterhawk. Actually, it makes me feel a little better knowing I was not the only one who missed it...

It sounds like most of the stuff covered is stuff that we've already heard hear on dumpshock, so maybe I didn't miss as much as I thought I might have.

Oh, & for the admins, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to provoke any flaming with my thread title, I was just aiming for a play on the seminar title....

[zeb.hillard]

[Eryk the Red]

Well, sounds like Emergence won't work with my campaign. I always assumed technomancers were public knowledge, to some degree. The group met a technomancer DJ, even. (Kidnapped her, actually.) Ah, well. I was never good at sticking to a pre-defined world. My game definitely takes place in my own version of Shadowrun 2070.

I'll probably get it anyway, because I think technomancers are neat.

[SL James]

[Rotbart van Dain...]

[RunnerPaul]

[Grinder]

[Shrike30]

[Rotbart van Dain...]

[James McMurray]

Magical hysteria has died down a lot, but people are always afraid of something new. They've lived 50 years with nobody taking over their mind, but they're probably also experieinced at least one case of identity theft or other hacking crime. That someone can do it with their brain alone will scare people. Sure, logically it's little different than someone doing it with a commlink, but logic rarely matters in mob mentality.

Additionally there is now a huge security problem for corporations. you used to be able to scan people for commlinks if you wanted to keep them from gaining access in your facilitity. Now they can walk through your scans butt nekked and still hack you blind.

[Rotbart van Dain...]

[Jaid]

well, by taking over your fridge they can proceed from there to contaminate your food source. they could also take over various other things (like most of your apartment).

for example, they could lock you into your apartment, turn off the phones, activate all your security features... and have half a dozen cleaning/maintenance drones waiting for you inside.

furthermore, if you own a sim module (hint: most people will) they can hack that and force you into the matrix and proceed to use black hammer/blackout on you.

but what gets *really* scary, is when the rules for psychotropic IC come out. because, as we all know, technomancers can learn any program as a complex form. *any* program. such as a "send me all your money, and be my slave for the rest of your life" program. which they can use on you from more or less anywhere, as long as you have trodes/datajack/implanted commlink and a sim module.

so yeah, i could totally see how TMs would become demonized.

[Rotbart van Dain...]

You can demonize anyone and their dog. (Especially their dog.)

Just trying to demonize tech-affinity in a hightech world isn't really going to hold well.

[James McMurray]

From a security standpoint implanted commlinks are different because you can detect an implanted commlink. From a personal standpoint they're different because implanted commlinks have been around a while and nobody thinks about them. TMs are new and not understood. Therefore they're scary.

It doesn't matter much if threats have changed any, people want something new to be scared of. It's fairly standard for there to be a "threat" that's the flavor of the month. For awhile it was nukes, then AIDS, more recently it was terrorism, then Armageddon, now terrorism again.

[Rotbart van Dain...]