 Do they still have fairs in 2070?, Normal events in a dystopian setting? |
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 Apr 9 2007, 02:23 PM
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#1
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Moving Target  Group: Members Posts: 321 Joined: 7-March 07 From: Hapeville, GA Member No.: 11,175  |
I was cleaning up following a shadowrun game at my apartment, and as I am want to do, I had an odd thought... do they still have the equivalent of county fairs (ferris wheels, games, funnel cakes, etc at an event usually held in the fall) in 2070?
I had an interesting idea for a run where a mafioso hires the PCs to protect/babysit his three children while they have fun at the fall fair, but wasn't sure if it would actually be appropriate in spite of the serious probability of hilarious hijinks (Uncle Street Sam, will you win me a stuffed bear at the shooting gallery? Pwetty Pwease!). Also, what about other seasonal events we have now like Ren-faires... or holiday events from other areas that might have migrated given globalization - such as the Mexican Day of the Dead? What do you guys think? |
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Apr 9 2007, 02:40 PM
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#2
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Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,598 Joined: 15-March 03 From: Hong Kong Member No.: 4,253 |
I'd assume that the matrix is much more likely for such events. You odn't need to maintain the rides, you don't have to worry about moving your carnival around, etc. In addition, you can 'serve' all sorts of exotic dishes (drop bear onna a stick!), have really killer rides, and everything else you can write the code for.
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Apr 9 2007, 02:43 PM
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#3
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 184 Joined: 14-January 07 From: Zurich Orbital Member No.: 10,642 |
I don't see my hometown giving up the country fair just because of some dragons and magic and stuff. I really don't see them going out at all, heck with the enhanced automation available, they could actually become more prevalent since you don't need people to operate rides and such.
That and I find the idea of the street-tough runner losing his lunch on the Scramber highly entertaining. A Ren-faire complete with elves and dwarves, sounds like a Tolkein addict's wet dream... |
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Apr 9 2007, 02:44 PM
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#4
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,266 Joined: 3-June 06 From: UK Member No.: 8,638 |
I'd expect to see something like that in the countryside, but in the 'plex the closest you're likely to get is probably some kind of carnival. Even today, do you get these county fairs in New York or Los Angeles? The difference in population density changes the flavour of such things.
EDIT: I'm informed that one does get county fairs in New York and Los Angeles. I'd still be interested if someone could provide a comparison of an urban county fair to a rural one. |
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Apr 9 2007, 03:30 PM
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#5
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,206 Joined: 9-July 06 From: Fresno, CA Member No.: 8,856 |
LA and New York still have ag surrounding them, or close enough. Seattle is surrounded by nearly hostile foreign powers. In UCAS proper I'd imagine there would be.
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Apr 9 2007, 03:31 PM
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#6
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Cybernetic Blood Mage Group: Members Posts: 3,472 Joined: 11-March 06 From: Northeastern Wyoming Member No.: 8,361 |
Well I'd say yes, they do have fairs/carnivals and even the odd amusement park, but that they are most likely very strictly divided via 'class status', with your rich corp babies getting something akin to what we have now while the barren trash are lucky to be dealt old half-broken death traps and roasted devil rat instead of cotton-candy...
Still, I love the idea of virtual theme parks who in order to get an edge over their competition bump up their feeds to Cal-Hot or maybe even BTL levels. |
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Apr 9 2007, 03:38 PM
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#7
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Bushido Cowgirl Group: Members Posts: 5,782 Joined: 8-July 05 From: On the Double K Ranch a half day's ride out of Phlogiston Flats Member No.: 7,490 |
...after we finsh these Nukitburgers let's go on the Tilt a Whirl |
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Apr 9 2007, 03:48 PM
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#8
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 205 Joined: 7-January 07 From: Sydney, Australia Member No.: 10,558 |
Also, I can't imagine a mafioso hiring people outside the family to babysit his kids (I'm making the assumption that none of the runners is intimately connected). It just seems weird to me.
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Apr 9 2007, 03:51 PM
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#9
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 244 Joined: 8-June 06 Member No.: 8,681 |
Even more likely, the rich corp babies have something like the Disney version of a county fair. It's high-tech and polished with a superficial veneer of old-timey down-home painted over the top, and the games are all rigged to make sure the executives' kids will win. |
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Apr 9 2007, 04:09 PM
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#10
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Shadow Cartographer Group: Members Posts: 3,737 Joined: 2-June 06 From: Secret Tunnels under the UK (South West) Member No.: 8,636 |
I can't see in an age of SIMsense and ready access to massive online virtual adventures, that a modern roller-coaster, helter-skelter fun fair would survive. In the dystopian setting of SR2070, most kids would regard it as less fun with the chance to break your arm.
If a fair is going to get by in this world, I think you've got to be looking at a return to traditional values: freaks, bawdiness, shysters and fear. Come see the giant. Watch the barghest fight three dogs - who will win? Have your fortunes read by the daughter of Howling Coyote himself! The beautiful spirit Esedera will reveal to you the mysteries of Astral Love (ten minutes maximum)... Be entertained by the mysterious Harlequinn. Etc. In fact, I think this is an excellent idea. Think I might write this up. BRB. ;) -K. |
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Apr 9 2007, 04:14 PM
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#11
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 244 Joined: 8-June 06 Member No.: 8,681 |
Been watching Carnivale, knasser?
...if not, you should :) |
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Apr 9 2007, 04:26 PM
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#12
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Shadow Cartographer Group: Members Posts: 3,737 Joined: 2-June 06 From: Secret Tunnels under the UK (South West) Member No.: 8,636 |
No. I'd not heard of that until now. Looks interesting. I did read "Something Wicked This Way Comes" by Ray Bradbury though, when I was thirteen and I've never had a good night's sleep since. :( |
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Apr 9 2007, 05:22 PM
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#13
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 749 Joined: 28-July 05 Member No.: 7,526 |
Within Seattle -
Consumer product trade show meets open-air concert festival. Brought to you by Aztechnology, and smothered in vendors and branding. Very, very mainstream. You're only going to get traditional freak shows, barkers, rides, midways, "authentic" psychics, handcrafted items, and such out on the fringes of society. Closer to the barrens, and in the NAN. |
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Apr 9 2007, 05:34 PM
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#14
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Bushido Cowgirl Group: Members Posts: 5,782 Joined: 8-July 05 From: On the Double K Ranch a half day's ride out of Phlogiston Flats Member No.: 7,490 |
...hmmm.
Harlequin...? Carnival...? Something Wicked This Way Comes...? ...think I'll keep the light on tonight... |
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Apr 9 2007, 06:07 PM
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#15
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 831 Joined: 5-September 05 From: LAX, UCAS Member No.: 7,687 |
Add horrors and make an SR equilivent of the old arcade game Carnevil :D
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Apr 9 2007, 06:10 PM
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#16
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 184 Joined: 14-January 07 From: Zurich Orbital Member No.: 10,642 |
Luckily none of my players have ever played Silent Hill 3.
Otherwise they would be right terrified if I said that the next run took place at a fairgrounds... |
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Apr 9 2007, 06:30 PM
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#17
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Shadow Cartographer Group: Members Posts: 3,737 Joined: 2-June 06 From: Secret Tunnels under the UK (South West) Member No.: 8,636 |
True, but the way that I play the setting, the crime, the gangs, the threatening chaos and poverty are only ever round the corner. That's what makes the people in Bellevue build the walls so high. You only have to one wrong exit before you find yourself skirting the outlying districts of Hell. I think a fairground wouldn't have a problem setting up somewhere they'd be readily accessible to the affluent. The carnival folk and the area it's set up in are part of what would lend it that edge for the sheltered types. Oh this is giving me such good ideas. |
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Apr 9 2007, 06:38 PM
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#18
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Target Group: Members Posts: 66 Joined: 9-March 07 Member No.: 11,195 |
I'd say that in the mid-to-lower rent districts of Seattle you'd still have something akin to a fair. Less of a county fair, 'cause there's very little livestock in the 'Plex unless you count devil rats, more of an extra-large block party with some corporate sponsorship. Especially in the less awful sections of the Barrens, where Matrix connections are less ubiquitious and physical entertainment is more common.
Now, in the CAS you can bet your ass that the county fair is still going strong. It may have as many virtual rides and attractions as it does physical ones, but with FASA/Wizkids/FanPRo going out of their way to remind us of how traditional the CAS is every chance they get I can't imagine a staple of Southern country life like the county fair coming to a close. |
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Apr 9 2007, 07:11 PM
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#19
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 410 Joined: 5-April 07 From: Vancouver, BC Member No.: 11,383 |
I would think that a corp run amusement park would be more probable in a metroplex than a corp sponsored traveling fair. Imagine a building the size of an arcology with hundreds of rides, floors filled with matrix games, haunted houses and other such fun.
They could even make it closer to West Edmonton mall and have tons or retail stores. |
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Apr 9 2007, 07:29 PM
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#20
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 548 Joined: 21-December 06 Member No.: 10,416 |
There is one of those travelling carnival in town right now. They probably would still exist in 2070, enhanced by magic, technology and so on. A carnival with a real live Sasquatch entertainer, something most people would never get a chance to see, would be a good draw. And I'm sure they'd still have the same crooked games, rickety rides and "colorful characters."
On the sinister side, perhaps the carnival is a front for a creature like a vampire or wraith: on that feeds on joy and happiness. There would be enough people around that if could syphon a little here and a little there that the people wouldn't even notice, attributing it to mood swings or losing at a game of ring toss. On the other hand, you could see things like this sponsored by policlubs. How about the Humanis carnival with the shooting gallery full of Metahuman targets, or the environmental group's gallery where the targets are the heads of verious corps, because they are the big polluters? |
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Apr 9 2007, 07:31 PM
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#21
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Shadow Cartographer Group: Members Posts: 3,737 Joined: 2-June 06 From: Secret Tunnels under the UK (South West) Member No.: 8,636 |
Hmmmm. A bug infestation would make for an extremely trippy adventure. Something else to write up! |
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Apr 9 2007, 08:18 PM
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#22
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King of the Hobos Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 2,117 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 127 |
Depends. If there's an internal power struggle under way within the Family and you really can't be sure who if anyone you can trust then bringing in outsiders without any ties to opposing factions or stake in how things shake out could be a good tactical move. |
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Apr 9 2007, 08:59 PM
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#23
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 244 Joined: 8-June 06 Member No.: 8,681 |
It could make for a great run. Come up with a good excuse for the PCs to have to go undercover as part of a travelling carnival...say, using it for cover to smuggle someone or something across a series of borders. Should be possible to invent a reason why it makes sense :) Hmm. The carnival is full of magically-active people, freaks and oddities, and frequent spellcasting. Also, there's a lot of strong emotion. All together, it muddies astral signatures and makes an excellent smoke-screen for the enchanted object or magical creature the PCs are transporting (and which opposing forces are trying to locate). |
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Apr 9 2007, 09:29 PM
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#24
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 548 Joined: 21-December 06 Member No.: 10,416 |
That's an interesting idea. I did something like that with one of my shaman characters. He got in some trouble and went and hid amongst the "gypsie" clans in Northern CalFree up around the Mount Shasta area. Stayed with them a few months, got in good with them with his healing spells, and collect magical raw materials over time. Hiding in a carnival might work as described, just have to hope the package doesn't have to be delivered in a hurry. |
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Apr 9 2007, 09:32 PM
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#25
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 244 Joined: 8-June 06 Member No.: 8,681 |
Yeah. I suppose it could also be a 'hide this until the heat dies down' job, more than a transport issue.
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