who will think of the children!?, teenage wasteland |
who will think of the children!?, teenage wasteland |
Jun 10 2007, 05:19 PM
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#1
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Immortal Elf Group: Members Posts: 11,410 Joined: 1-October 03 From: Pittsburgh Member No.: 5,670 |
i was skimming CNN, and came across a story about a study that shows an increase in the number of minors committing sex offenses. there's a debate about whether the increase comes from increased sex/violence awareness in minors, or if it's a result of better reporting and tracking measures. there's good arguments on both sides, but the whole idea got me thinking about what life is like for kids in SR.
in the US, and in much of the first world, kids are important. we try to protect them, in a physical sense and and a mental/emotional sense--not just our kids, our own biological younger family members, but all kids, everywhere. the entire basis of the MPAA rating system is the concept that human beings of certain ages should not be introduced to certain ideas or images. this value is not shared by large portions of the rest of the world. kids form a large part of the 'military' forces in the brushfire wars raging in Africa. kids work in sweatshops around the world. kids form a huge part of the global slave trade. granted, there probably isn't anywhere on the planet you can go where parents won't protect their own children (except maybe SPARTAAAAAAA), but the idea that all kids are worthy of protection by sole virtue of their age is fairly unique to the first world. and i'm not describing some dark cyberpunk future, here. this is the real world. this is how things are, and how they have been for tens of thousands of years. so, how do kids fare when we are discussing a dark cyberpunk future? prior to 4th edition, the only time anyone was likely to play a kid was if it was an otaku. and people complained about it, because the idea of a 12-year-old kid running the streets seemed incongruous. but is it? kids start joining gangs, in real life, at around age 10 or so. the key concept, here, is teenagers. before the 20th century, or so, teenagers simply didn't exist. as soon as you became physically capable of handling an adult's job, you became an adult. you didn't get nine years to shrug off your childish things. i think that in SR, teenagers have largely disappeared again. they're an endangered species, surviving mainly in corporate enclaves, where they can be protected and sheltered from harsh realities. of course, what really makes things interesting and weird is the fact that those enclaves are so very close to the street. a runner who started out as a company man will see a 12-year-old ganger as a kid. he won't be as quick to draw down if that ganger attacks him, he'll probably take the soft option. a runner who started out as a ganger, though? he'll see that 12-year-old as a threat to be taken seriously. so if a 12-year-old can be a ganger, can't he be a runner? i would say probably not, for the simple reason that most Johnsons are corporate (or at least have corporate sensibilities). if your mage is 12, you couldn't bring him to the meet. not to mention the fact that it's hard to augment a kid; any cyberware you stick in them, they're likely to grow out of--which would be messy, to say the least. so kid runners would be pretty rare. but not so rare that you couldn't toss one at your runners as an NPC, just to shake 'em up. |
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Jun 10 2007, 06:22 PM
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#2
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Prime Runner Group: Banned Posts: 3,732 Joined: 1-September 05 From: Prague, Czech Republic Member No.: 7,665 |
The restrictions on child labor are almost complete a creation of the Progressive Movement, something which in the dark future has lost completely. All of the reforms the Progressive Movement made, from public edcation and child labor protections all the way up to social security and medical aid for the elderly are gone.
There's no 8 hour work day, there's no 40 hour work week, there's no minimum wage, and if you want to hire 8 year olds to operate looms you just do that. --- So yeah, a 12 year old can be a runner. People may not take her seriously, but only in the way that you don't take a child soldier from the LRA seriously - you seriously suspect that they'll get distracted and kill a bunch of extra people instead of completing their mission. -Frank |
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Jun 10 2007, 06:39 PM
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#3
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Immortal Elf Group: Members Posts: 11,410 Joined: 1-October 03 From: Pittsburgh Member No.: 5,670 |
that depends on how you want to reconcile these ideas with the existing material. SR was written by people who think of kids as kids, rather than as mini-adults, and it shows in the setting--with the minor (ha!) exception of otaku, kids are never presented as viable runners. it's possible to ignore that, because the setting information also never explicitly states that kids aren't viable runners.
personally, i'm thinking of writing up a kid runner right now. but if somebody else feels different, there's a good explanation for why, in their game world, kid runners are rare or unheard of. |
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Jun 10 2007, 06:40 PM
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#4
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 6,748 Joined: 5-July 02 Member No.: 2,935 |
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Jun 10 2007, 07:31 PM
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#5
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Manus Celer Dei Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 17,006 Joined: 30-December 02 From: Boston Member No.: 3,802 |
Or the result of increased criminalization of behaviour formerly handled at a community level. Personally, I think child/teenage shadowrunners will be extremely rare because the usual limitation on the number of shadowrunners will apply even more harshly to them--people die a lot on shadowruns. The few who can operate effectively enough, or who have enough innate talent or ability, or who mostly aren't human anymore (Otaku) will survive and actually do stuff. ~J |
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Jun 10 2007, 08:56 PM
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#6
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Ain Soph Aur Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 3,477 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Montreal, Canada Member No.: 600 |
Awesome thread.
Here's what I think. Yes, kids join up gangs reeeal early. Especially in Shadowrun. GMs totally should have punk-ass 12 year olds come up to runner and jam a gun in their face. But here's the problem. Kids can carry guns and kids can shoot guns, and guns can kill you. But what else can a kid do? Can he make elaborate plans? Determine what's best for him medium-to-long term? Negociate - knowing when and how to make compromises? Few precocious kids aside, the answer is no. Kids can point and shoot. Kids can execute orders. But they can't lead, can't make good decisions. CERTAINLY not enough to be a shadowrunner. Kids, by definition, have like zero life experience. They don't have enough background to make real decisions. Even a kid brought up in hellholes like the Barrens, Kowloon, El Infierno, etc, who may be petty big survivors and pretty tough, cannot perform duties of a grown-up. |
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Jun 10 2007, 09:17 PM
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#7
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Midnight Toker Group: Members Posts: 7,686 Joined: 4-July 04 From: Zombie Drop Bear Santa's Workshop Member No.: 6,456 |
The increase in the number of child sex offenders is a matter of increased reporting but I wouldn't call it better reporting. Uptight reporting would be more accurate.
Twenty years ago, if Timmy and Tammy (or Timmy and Tommy) were caught playing doctor in the garden then people would just say "kids will be kids" and the parents might sit down and have a lite version of "the talk" to help satiate curiosity. Today, if Timmy and Tammy are caught playing doctor the police are called and their sent fro Juvie for incest and, depending on the jurisdiction, statutory rape. It is really a matter of the extreme uptightness about child sexuality resulting in the criminalization of normal healthy exploration, for the most part. Child Shadowrunners might be rare, but I won't completely agree that this will be certain. I would assume that child gangers and child soldiers would both be common, with both enlisted at very early ages, particularly if they are orks or trolls due to their quicker physical development. I'm also going to assume that a number of skilled gangers and soldiers eventually graduate to become Shadowrunners or Mercenaries and among these will be some child gangers and child soldiers. Child soldiers in particular will be the most likely to go AWOL simply because of the condition under which they live and those who do go AWOL would have little to offer in way of skills, other than their military abilities. However, I would also assume that being a Shadowrunner or mercenary generally requires a superior skillset and most children, even gangers and mercenaries, will not have the talent or the drive to develop a superior skillset in adverse conditions (most people won't, in general). The only child runners I ever made was a ten-year-old ork who was taught terrorist tactics and murder by her hardcore Human Nation parents and then murdered them after she goblinized because she bought into the crap they were spewing about how orks were evil and thought it was what she was supposed to do. In this case, she has a superior skillset because she was trained from birth to be a soldier in a race-war by crazy but skilled people. Such training-from-birth and other forms of indoctrination are the best way to create a skilled child shadowrunner, much like the movie Soldier. If one wanted to create the perfect assassin and had unlimited resources, one would not pick a military sharpshooter but instead one would pick a baby and school that baby in combat from the very beginning, creating an agent who wouldn't be taken seriously due to age but who is still extremely deadly. As such, the number of child shadowrunners really depend on the adults around the children. I would presume that most homeless/squatter children in the barrens join a gang at an early age, around seven or eight, simply to survive. At that age, they would be employed as couriers, for the most part, but they would also be encourage to commit easy stick-up jobs and easy murders, those that do would right more quickly than those that don't. |
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Jun 10 2007, 10:03 PM
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#8
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 6,640 Joined: 6-June 04 Member No.: 6,383 |
I would argue that internationally there is an effort to protect children by the UN. Lots of nations have signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
This is where lots of Americans begin jumping up and down and go, "nyah nyah nyah the UN sucks anything they do doesn't count STARVING STICK FIGURE CHILDREN BLEAARGGHYYYhhh EEKAA EEKAA EEKAA DOOODDAAAHHHHHH SHUUGGHHHHHHHBUUURGGGHHHHH vote republican!" That being said, the UN (and UNICEF in particular) *has* accomplished some things to the end of protecting children even if the record isn't perfect. The UN is largely responsible for many successful immunuization programs around the world. UNICEF made ORS widely available around the world, a measure which both saves lives and is extremely cost effective. So, things aren't perfect, but it's certainly not all hopeless either. Of course, UN bashing can be fun. Like when some double digit IQ guy from Utah claims that the UN wants to take away handguns from private citizens in the US and totally missing the point of disarmament because he dosen't actually know about the negative impacts of landmines in developing countries around the world or the history of the genocide in Rwanada and erroneously thinks that this is somehow all about him. |
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Jun 10 2007, 10:30 PM
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#9
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Midnight Toker Group: Members Posts: 7,686 Joined: 4-July 04 From: Zombie Drop Bear Santa's Workshop Member No.: 6,456 |
While this is true of the modern UN, the Sixth World UN is a megacorporate lap-dog that primarily exists to legitimize certain actions by the CC.
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Jun 10 2007, 11:14 PM
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#10
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 511 Joined: 24-March 05 From: On a ledge between Heaven and Hell Member No.: 7,226 |
A child born and raised in the Barrens would realize the need to do whatever is needed to survive.
Although a 12 year old might not be fully developed physically or mentally they still may have several skills useful to Shadowrunners. Give young kid some training in thief and acting skills and he could be useful for gathering Intel. Need to kidnap a wealthy execs kid. Need someone to fit through those narrow openings. Equipped with radios and pure instinct, immune to hackers, undetectable by scanners, cheaper than drones. Kids the under looked commodity can pick pockets, cause distraction, lay down cover fire, and go overlooked by them corporate adults. Call Dodger's Orfinatarium to hire a qualified kid today. . . Looking out for kids for 150 years. |
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Jun 10 2007, 11:46 PM
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#11
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 6,640 Joined: 6-June 04 Member No.: 6,383 |
See, that's still slightly bourgeois style. As long as we're being dark we might as go Sierra Leone style and collect Barrens 12 year olds, drug them up, give them AKs, and have our very own army of child soldiers. There's a terrific book on the subject written by a former child soldier called "A Long Way Gone", or something like that. http://www.amazon.com/Long-Way-Gone-Memoir...81518726&sr=1-1 It's seriously worth a read. It explains how it's possible to make a child an effective combatant. Even if a kid isn't very strong compared to an adult he can still hide in the bushes and fire from concealment with his AK which is plenty deadly. One of the child soldiers described in the book had been given the nickname "Rambo" by his adult CO because this kid actually had a proclivity for crawling up behind sentries and silent killing them with a knife. (I suppose that just goes to demonstrate that sentry removal techniques *are* really effective; evidently even a child can perform them.) You can fill him with rage and hate towards the enemy and drug him up so that he doesn't get incapacitated with fear in the middle of a firefight. Now, this would be good for SR because I recall over some years of reading SR material on the web that a few writers had the idea that many runners might have a personal honor code against killing kids. I don't remember who the writer was, but one essay I read years ago talked about how a GM (the writer) didn't want his players to reflexively kill everyone suspicious that they met but rather wanted to emphasize role playing and character values over percieved hack and slash. So at one point the team blew away some teenager sitting in a stairwell and their contact they were meeting expressed shock that they had killed a "kid". According to the writer in subsequent games the PCs acted more "decently" in terms of who they killed and didn't because they were thinking more about the NPCs. Now, if you had characters who were doing all kinds of things to not kill kids, but then you have them go up against a batallion of coked up child soldiers who are plenty dangerous, THEN you've got some good drama, I think, and possibly pdeath. The best part about it is that the players can't accuse you of being unrealistic or playing to their weaknesses because if they do you're allowed to jam the corner of your "Blood Diamond" DVD case into their eye socket. |
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Jun 10 2007, 11:47 PM
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#12
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Cybernetic Blood Mage Group: Members Posts: 3,472 Joined: 11-March 06 From: Northeastern Wyoming Member No.: 8,361 |
I think that the question to ask is why would childhood survive in the lower to mid teirs of the corp landscape either. After all its like FrankTrollman said, Labour Laws are a thing of the past, if its cheaper to hire a bunch od 6-8 year olds to run a sweat-shop type factory then its in the corps best interests to do so.
No, I'm not sure that childhood as we know it today would exist anywhere outside of upper management and other rich families that can afford to simply give money to a freeloader. |
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Jun 11 2007, 01:10 AM
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#13
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Manus Celer Dei Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 17,006 Joined: 30-December 02 From: Boston Member No.: 3,802 |
Middle management has the ability to acquire a number of comforts despite lacking the raw power that upper management possesses.
~J |
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Jun 11 2007, 01:35 AM
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#14
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Immortal Elf Group: Members Posts: 11,410 Joined: 1-October 03 From: Pittsburgh Member No.: 5,670 |
SR also seems to have a healthy non-corporate middle class.
there was an ep of The Unit where a drug/weapons dealer employed child soldiers. the protagonists managed to capture the dealer without engaging the child soldiers--but it was clear they would have, had another option not presented itself. and yeah, like Wounded Ronin said, there are militia in real life that are manned mostly by kids. there's no reason (aside from questions of conscience or reputation) why you can't slap an AK into a kid's hands and emplace them for an L-shaped ambush. it's not like they're going to be significantly less effective than a bunch of untrained gangers. |
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Jun 11 2007, 01:37 AM
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#15
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Prime Runner Group: Banned Posts: 3,732 Joined: 1-September 05 From: Prague, Czech Republic Member No.: 7,665 |
An AK is a weapon so simple that a child can use it. And they do.
-Frank |
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Jun 11 2007, 01:38 AM
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#16
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Immortal Elf Group: Members Posts: 11,410 Joined: 1-October 03 From: Pittsburgh Member No.: 5,670 |
heheh. that was an awesome movie.
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Jun 11 2007, 01:56 AM
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#17
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 511 Joined: 24-March 05 From: On a ledge between Heaven and Hell Member No.: 7,226 |
Bourgeoisie and Proletarians will exist as so long as Capitalism does according to Marxism. As to who will look after the children in a dark future? With the exception of their parents or society, that would be who-ever finds it in their advantage to do so. It seems that several countries would still be ruled by the Middle to Upper class and may not realize the importance have having children work to increase the family's budget. Others in government would not want their children to fall victim to exploitation tactics and enact laws to protect them. So various governments may still have laws protecting children. Although this would not stop the AAA companies from exploiting them if they so desired. Whether or not these laws are adhered to in the lower echelons of society would depend on their overall support and the possible necessity to ignore them. |
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Jun 11 2007, 02:13 AM
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#18
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Midnight Toker Group: Members Posts: 7,686 Joined: 4-July 04 From: Zombie Drop Bear Santa's Workshop Member No.: 6,456 |
In the "developing" world laws against the exploitation of children are largely ineffectual, particularly in places with economies that are so craptastic that children are the only viable commodity.
Pragmatic jurisdictions would legalize but regulate all forms of child labor including the UN's "worst forms" of child labor, simply because a legalized and regulated system is far safer than an underground system controlled by professional criminals who risk severe jail time. |
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Jun 11 2007, 08:47 PM
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#19
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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 |
...The original KK (SR1) was fifteen when she started running (& it showed). Like your average teenager, she tended to be a bit impulsive. The team's mage always kind of looked out for her, even though as a combatant she was very dangerous.
Leela was 18, when she started but has the personality and outlook of a 13 - 14 year old. She is a total genius when it comes to music, various sciences (like chemistry, physics, structural engineering), and demolitions. Leela actually became the grounds for a new Flaw my GM wrote up called Young Looking. I expanded on this in my campaign and wrote up a flaw titled Childlike Nature. My newest 'Kid on the block", the little con artist adept, Da Brat doesn't quite remember her actual age (15, 16?). She's been living on the streets for a good part of her life. She started as your typical gutter urchin but after discovering her unique influence abilities worked her way up to become quite the operator and a pretty good street fighter to boot. Yes, playing younger characters can be a challenge since they usually can't get into clubs & bars in better areas of town & wouldn't really want to in the bad parts. And yes, they usually are not taken seriously by others, even their own teammates (which was a bad thing to do in Leela's case). However, if they can prove their worth, as a couple of my characters have done (Da Brat is still waiting in the wings), they can be valuable members of a runner team. Think of having a thirteen year old who can booby trap grenades and make "Play Dough" sculptures out of C-12 (with a radio detonator surprise hidden inside). |
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Jun 11 2007, 09:41 PM
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#20
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Shooting Target Group: Members Posts: 1,922 Joined: 31-December 06 Member No.: 10,502 |
On kid runners. One issue with allowing that is that it should be modeled in the skills/stats of the char. You can give a kid an AK, but if a PC wants to play them they're going to try and convince the GM to give them automatics 6 with an assault rifle spec. And that will be annoying. Also I'd think a campaign will lose a little bit of it's edge or rationality with kids present. I suppose it wouldn't have to, but it would tend to.
Also remember that the concept of "kids" in the sixth world is a little messed up as metahumans mature at such different rates. By the time an Orc is old enough to drink they're middle aged. But I do think the topic is interesting. In virtual realities they touched on children in corps (where they are raised to be the next generation of loyal corp employees.). And I imagine kids in the barrerns aren't that different from kids in the other crapholes of the world. However what happens to kids who don't fit those situations? I imagine parents hooking up their babies to a trode rig to get them to be quiet and to play with Virtua Nanny (british looking of course). I doubt as the current generation of short attention spanned medicated kids starts breeding we'll see less chemical parenting. Hypospray type dispensers probably make it easy and fun. "WWWWWWAAAHHHH I WANT THE COOKIES I WANT THE COOKIES" *pssshht* "Ooooh. pretty lights" "Yes dear now come along." and of course you don't have to bother with the whole pregnancy thing. Just have your kid grown in a vat and pick them up when they're ready. Long story short I imagine it's a weird world for kids with lotsa disfunction. |
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Jun 11 2007, 09:46 PM
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#21
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 410 Joined: 5-April 07 From: Vancouver, BC Member No.: 11,383 |
I can't really see kids being shadowrunners till they are in their mid to late teens. They may be effective at killing and things at 12 while they have combat drugs, but they lake the karma to be true shadowrunner caliber till they get a few more years. If you were playing a low powered game with 250 or 300 bp's then it would be quite possible to be 'children'.
Also I don't think kids would really exist even in middle and upper class. By the time they were in their teens they would be training for their future jobs. Corp sponsored schools would just be elaborate brainwashing and training for whatever position the child showed an aptitude in. They would probably be treated as adults and not as kids. |
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Jun 12 2007, 12:37 AM
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#22
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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 |
...that sounds like something Leela would have said after she remotely detonated a White Phosphorus grenade. |
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Jun 12 2007, 01:28 AM
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#23
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Midnight Toker Group: Members Posts: 7,686 Joined: 4-July 04 From: Zombie Drop Bear Santa's Workshop Member No.: 6,456 |
No, it is quite possible to have kids who are highly skilled combat operatives simply by virtue of experience. The average six-year-old African rebel will be fodder, but after two years of almost constant combat, if he survives he will end up being a little Rambo. In the barrens, I imagine that young gang members go get combat experience. When the Ancients clash with the Spikes it doesn't matter how old you are, you'll either kill or be killed. Enough time in that kind of environment will breed superior skill. It won't necessarilary breed expert skill, because on-the-job training of that sort is only as good as one's enemies, but it is enough to justify a 6 in Assault Rifles. To put it another way, your average adult ex-wageslave shadowrunner will have almost no practical experience before he was forced to begin running. The Average adult ex-military special forces shadowrunner will have expert training but only about a dozen or two actually combat missions under his belt, if that many. The average child soldier or kid ganger will have dozens, perhaps hundreds, of deadly combats under his belt if he survives long enough. |
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Jun 12 2007, 07:03 PM
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#24
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ghostrider Group: Retired Admins Posts: 4,196 Joined: 16-May 04 Member No.: 6,333 |
QFT |
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Jun 12 2007, 11:16 PM
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#25
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Ain Soph Aur Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 3,477 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Montreal, Canada Member No.: 600 |
Depends how much of a liberal GM you are, but IMO gangers - any gangers - don't have much more than 3, 4 for the really good ones. Why? Cause ganger's spray and pray. Gangers don't go around being precise marksman. They are flashy, macho, grunts. They just don't evolve that kind of precise military shooting, kid or not. The problem, though, with someone who's been raised as a ganger, is that he can be little else than a ganger. Gangers bark loud, flex muscles, intimidate and are messy. They evolve into good Street Samurai, but not really into the covert ops type. There is still a market for that kind of people, but that niche is less on the ideal shadowrunner side of things. |
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