[SprawlSG] Modern Life Gets It Done, Ramble or Essay, and Reflection Options

[Malokei]

Hey who here thinks the music that KMFDM does seem to remind you of ya'll of Shadowrun?

[Solstice]

yes i agree it's quite appropriate

[Pthgar]

There was a picture in the 2nd Ed. Corebook of a guy in a leather jacket wearing a KMFDM tee shirt.

[shadd4d]

Aslo appeared as a piece of art in the Germany sourcebook.

Don

[Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_*]

I think it was a Bradsteet image, and it was badass.

I guess if you're focusing on Seattle, it might be different that the UCAS proper. One of the things that I'd like to emphasize in "mainland" UCAS (something I know I wrote, but not sure I posted in the DeeCee thread) is that there is an undercurrent of institutional anger, sadness, frustration or indifference that pervades the UCAS--especially the former U.S. states--since the fall of the United States. There are going to be people who are our age (18-30) now still around in the 2060's, and I have little doubt that they will not only carry some manner of stigma, and some personal burden on their souls (so to speak) about the fact that they (we) basically let the country die; something that will carry on for years, compounded by all of the tragedies which have befallen the UCAS over the years, and after a while it would be a rare person to think that we are still "God's favorite." And the young people in the 2060's will be faced with the burden of all of the shit that finally came due on them--the burdens of a fall of wuality of living, of less purchasing power, of less opportunity, of less national/ patriotic prestige, and less chance of living the nice suburban, exurban, lifestyle because you can't escape other people in the UCAS the way you can in the U.S. (without freezing your ass off in northern Canada). There will be no 20 year-old ranch house owners in the exurbs the way David Brooks would have us all live given half a chance. And that is also going to be something significant, because for much of American history, we've been trying to get the Hell away from strangers. Sometimes we develop little enclaves, even in the far, far suburbs, but we move out to the suburbs to get away from people not like us, and things that scare the living crap out of us (crime, killer bees, whatever); and since 2050 there have been a lot of things to be afraid of--and one of those things is magic. SoNA indicated that the UCAS is just now starting to actually warm up to the fact that magic has been around for 50 f-ing years, and it's not a tool of the devil. And one of the things that strikes me almost incredulous, is that religious beliefs decreased in the years after the Awakening. Just to interject a personal anecdote, I recently found myself on the edge of the sprawl in town (the local metroplex is growing, and there has been a continuous housing boom here for years) , and I was fascinated by the sheer number of churches, the synagogues, the Mormon tabernacle located every couple of block (and in some cases clustered in intersection, one to a corner at one such intersection), and when the world goes to Hell, UCASers/ans (whatever...) are going to go to church. In 2060, jack into your all-purpose domgatic religious text book and find solace in the house the size of your grandparents' garage (and several times more expensive) and hope the stories of the Evil AI are just stories.

[Kanada Ten]

The Matrix itself is a perfect supplement to a nation, even more to a nation of consumers and service industries. Matrix telecommute; Matrix vacations; Matrix mental medication; Matrix relationships, break-ups and sex; Matrix homes and pets from Gamma-X; a thousand toys we haven't thought of yet; Matrix God and Satan, too; Matrix children with eyes so blue; perfect living... The grass is green against a sky so clear - not brown and parched beneath a sky of angry rolling red. Dreams come true in my mind; share them with me. Life's just fine.

I also see the Canadian-American religious scene as large and active. At fist, many would turn to alternate religions, and these would rule for a time. Their congregations would grow and become established in deserted churches. Instead of across the street, churches would share rent on apartment buildings, and God would finally have a Hi-Rise. After the Universal Brotherhood, many would fall away from the younger religions and move back into the safety of child molestation and stipends. But not all.

Trying to find Truth in the Matrix is both easy and impossible. I can browse for the Word and get ten million hits. I can search for aid, help, and hope only to find that everyone knows. Listening in chat rooms, everyone's like me; we're all searching for what isn't on Trid feed. Watching all the sermon streams gives a sense of that's not me. I've read every Holy Book or slotted them on chip, and I've found that Truth is quite elusive despite the advertising. Going online every night is my ritual. I talk with the friends I made and argue with the fucks. We search for something funny, distracting or fulfilling. I find myself just waiting for the moment I jack-in. I know it's not Heaven, but then again, what is?

I find it kinda funny
I find it kinda sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had.
- Mad World, Tears for Fears

[Kagetenshi]

Tangent: didn't Gary Jules do Mad World?

~J

[Kanada Ten]

Redid. And much better, yes.

[ Spoiler ]

We wasted every chance we had smoking crack and being sad,
slottin’ beetles and burnin’ oil, poisoning the living soil,
watchin’ trid that’s gotten stale and our weapons up for sale...
Blow the whole thing up to hell, this heaven’s boring anyhow.

[ Spoiler ]

As the mind thinketh, so the heart shall be. - [Proverbs 23:7] New Awakened Bible

[Kanada Ten]

1 (900) CALL-1GOD

Only 99 cents a minute! All the answers to life's tough questions!

Hurry, God's chosen servants are waiting to talk directly to you! Salvation is only a phone call away!

¥2.50 for the first minute. Confessions subject to international anti-privacy laws.

[Ottergame]

I've always gotten the impression from reading the SR sourcebooks that it's mostly the shadowrunners, the poor, and the otherwise disadvantaged that are the ones who's opinions you read. As bad as things might be for the homeless, the SINless, and the destitute, MOST of the UCAS's population is middle class and not of want for basic needs. While the gap between the poor and the rich has widened, and the middle class has shrunk, the middle class still make up a good majority of the population.

I also get the impression that things for the middle class and the rich are either little different or have generally improved compared to today's middle class. Many mundane manual chores are automated, people can work and get an education from their own homes, things are more convenient than ever. Medicine is much more advanced, people rarely die in hospitals, cyberware, cloned organs, and bionics can replace missing or damage tissues.

In my game, at least, it's not a hopeless, cruel, and ruined world out there. While that's certainly true in some places, most people go about their daily lives in about the same ways they do now.

[Bob the Insane]

Loved the writing....

I do think it is an accurate portrate of life in a certain segment of the SR world in the 60's... Think Low Lifestyle, blue collar workers... The equivilent of those on the dole (welfare?) and in very low income jobs. Yes they have SINs and basic rights as a citizen but can not afford anything... To these people a corp job with accomdation and corp perks would be a godsend and making their kids work hard to get into corp school and out of proverty is a big deal... For people on this level of lifestyle the main drive is to escape and the usual route is sim or drug abuse and depression...

I think a look at the middle lifestyle would reveal a similar life but the trappings would be cleaner to the point of being completely sterile... For people on this level of lifestyle the main drive twofold, get more and don't lose what you aready have, primarily protecting yourself and your family from crime, diesease, dirt, a drop in lifestyle, everything...

[shadd4d]

I think that is one element that fell by the wayside when you look at something like the UB and its success with both the people and using them as hosts. People were duped, but that ferver and religiousness would probably have been a large part of UCAS and probably CAS reations to magic. That's also another reason why I like the description of the Catholic Church in SoE.

Don

Who needs to buy SSG real soon.

[Kagetenshi]

[mfb]

bah. that's what air-cleansing HVAC, wall-mounted trideo "windows", and simsense are for (moodbender: hope!).

[Ottergame]

[Kagetenshi]

While the air may be clean, the implication is that a lot of wageslaves live in arcologies or arcology-like environments, and those that don't frequently see most of their outside on the walk from house to car or car to building and vice versa. That grates on one after a while.

~J

[Austere Emancipa...]

[Skeptical Clown]

Shadowrun isn't supposed to be an accurate reflection of what life will really be like in the middle of the 21st century. It's a bastard mix of cyberpunk and fantasy, and cyberpunk is a dark portrait of the future we most fear might come to pass. Thus, in this future, illiteracy and unemployment are high; corporate power is unchecked; money equals virtue; all authority is corrupt, and oppression is everywhere; the environment is ruined (there ARE no environmental laws); disease is rampant; random violence and riots are common; those who can, align themselves with corporations who protect them from the unwashed masses by walling them inside sterile corporate enclaves; those who cannot or will not work are left to fend for themselves in lawless barrens; the common man is dehumanized, by poverty, by soulless wage slavery, by intrusive technology.

The only heroes in cyberpunk are the anarchists who subvert authority with the very technology that oppresses.

You can run a Shadowrun game that is a more "realistic" portrayal of life in the 21st century, but I think that misses the point. And while most of the fears are "worst-case scenarios," none of them are impossible. I mean, thirty years of environmental policy are being unwritten as we type.

[Kagetenshi]

[Austere Emancipa...]

And you're not dead yet because...?

Saying that there's less hope in a cyberpunk world is really fucking stupid.

[Skeptical Clown]

Not at all. The definition of hope is basically the belief that things will be better in the future. In a cyberpunk world, there's no reason to believe things will be better. At least, not in the overriding, humanitarian sense that everybody will be better off. There will, of course, still be the more personal belief that an individual will be able to profit in the future, but even that is limited largely to those who are already wealthy. Part of the dystopia of the future is that wealth is largely congregated at the top of the heap. The "middle class" is essentially trapped in a vassal position to corporations, and most will work the same menial office jobs for their entire lives, with little opportunity for promotion or raise. Hence the term "wage slavery." The poor don't even have those meager comforts; they're left in virtual anarchy on their own, with no chance for advancement except for what they can steal.

That's certainly a less than hopeful view of things.

[Kagetenshi]

[Austere Emancipa...]

[Skeptical Clown]

I think you miss the point, which is that Cyberpunk isn't reality. It's a literary projection of fear onto the future. It's not just a period of stressful times; it's the complete breakdown of a near-futuristic society. Why is that any more difficult to accept than the fact that there are elves running around?

As for who seeks only profit and wealth, Corporations do obviously. That's their reason for being. And by quirk of law, they happen to be legal citizens. In cyberpunk (and in Shadowrun), they are more than merely citizens; they're their own nations. One of the fears of cyberpunk is that the amoral nature of corporations seeps into all aspects of life. And the hopelessness that stems from that isn't the fear of imminent violence (although that's often around;) it's the complete dehumanization that has occurred on all levels of society.

[Bob the Insane]