A hacker walks into a bar..., Food & Drink in shadowrun Options

[faultline]

A hacker walks into a bar...., A rigger goes to the grocery store....

Its a little detail for most people but I love to give my characters some real life to them even going as far to rattle off whats in their fridge if company comes over, in the past my gaming group has just used a lot of the same products available now in RL, but I know there's been brands of food and beverages mentioned throughout the books (game books and novels), so I'd like to start compiling a list of food and beverages and post them here for everyone to use if they want.

Its going to take some time to go through everything, so if anyone knows of any brands of food and beverages from any of the books I'd appreciate it if you post it, even just name a book and I'll try to find a copy and look it up. I'll even take anything you've come up with for your own games it will add to the diversity.

Document is up and running, updates will be added asap. Available at your local Grocer

Thanks in advance for any help (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[RdMarquis]

Food Fight 4.0 has an extensive list (the whole thing takes place in a Stuffer Shack, after all).

To whit, NutraSoy Energy Cakes ™, Sweeteez, Krak-L-Snaps, AlmostEgg, BacoSoy, Maxiblast Sugar Bomb cereal (in Red, Green and Purple flavors), soynuts, Slurpee-doos, Cup-O-Soup, twitters, choco-slurps, berry-bombers, Boostergum, SucroZoom, Womp-Snappers, kafsoda, synthjuice, Synthmeat hot dogs, Soy Patty Yummy Burgers, Schmoozies, Snorkels, Shakeups, Fizzygoo, Ludivenko Lovely Soya Sloppies (with or without the DoubleThick option), and I think krill sandwiches were mentioned in some other book. They also have soy milk, but I bet that's laced with tons of sugar, too.

And keep in mind, this is in addition to our junk food, most of which is still available in 2072. Running the shadows must burn incredible numbers of calories.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go eat something healthy and naturally grown.

[Thanee]

Attitude could have some as well.

Bye
Thanee

[Xahn Borealis]

Attitude could have some as well.

Bye
Thanee

How delightfully ambiguous.

[thorya]

There's Buzz!Blitz from the SR4 (not the anniversary edition if I remember) it's an energy drink filled with stimulants marketed to trolls and orks. Be careful though, if humanis has its way it's also poisoned. BUZZ!BLITZ - CHUG THE BOMB! Another fine product from Buzz Beverages.

There's also a subsidiary of Evo mentioned called Lighting Brands that also makes soft drinks, but exactly what is never said.

[bannockburn]

A number of beverages are mentioned in Parabotany, iirc.

[Abstruse]

Sprawl Survival Guide also has a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff if you're more into the classic books.

If you want to add some color to the local bar, use your own imagination. A hacker/decker bar is probably going to have a couple of specialty drinks named after Matrix stuff. The Black Ice would be a shot of Jagermeister and blackberry juice. You can also just rename existing drinks, like the Fairlight Excalibre just being a top shelf Long Island. And in a major megaplex like Seattle, Hong Kong, New York, etc. there would be a themed bar for every subculture imaginable. Mages (the Fireball would be a flaming Dr Pepper), street sams (the APDS shot is Everclear, 151, and moonshile; guaranteed to "pierce your armor" and get past any blood filters), faces (basically somewhere they don't have to be "on" and can be themselves), etc. etc.

Also keep in mind there's probably going to be two "types" of these bars, even after splitting into subgenres (a bar solely for shamen where hermetics aren't allowed, taverns where technomancers wreck havoc with the comms of any hacker that comes in, etc.). The first will be the "tourist" bars, where normal people will show up to rub shoulders with elves/shadowrunners/vampires/etc. but are actually tame, mostly filled with posers and scam artists wanting to take advantage of the tourists. Then there'll be the REAL bars, who will never advertise the fact of what they are. If you're in the know, you'll find the place eventually. If not, well then they just don't want your type there...go back to the tourist bar.

[ravensmuse]

There's Choco-blast bars in Elven Blood. Squire stuffs herself full of them.

There's also chains of restaraunts - Bee Burgers (Sprawl Sites), McHughs.

That's all off the top of my head...

On that note, I had my players rolling one might when I started coming up with Biblical names for drinks. "The Moses - so good, the ocean splits in half for it. The Ten Commandments, Cain n' Ables..."

[Neraph]

On that note, I had my players rolling one might when I started coming up with Biblical names for drinks. "The Moses - so good, the ocean splits in half for it. The Ten Commandments, Cain n' Ables..."

The Deuteronomy - it sets the standard for what a drink should be. The Burning Busch.

That's all I've got. In my defense I'm tired though.

[Dolanar]

The Genesis- In the beginning you weren't sh*t-faced

[Dreadlord]

The Genesis- In the beginning you weren't sh*t-faced

The Revelation - you wake up in the drunk tank, and question your life path!

[Udoshi]

On a similiar subject, could you guys help me geek themed menu of punny hacker food names?

I want to flesh out The Cathode Glow from On The Run, the old retro-themed hacker bar(at least it was in our game, gm may have changed it), and

Corny things like the Sleazer(instead of ceasar) Salad, Bacon Bytes, pretty much anything as long as it makes your player groan and go "really?".

I'm just short of inspiration and figured I'd ask the greater community for assistance.

[Dolanar]

make meals have the small version "Kilo-bite" then the medium "Mega-bite" then the Large "Giga-bite"

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

make meals have the small version "Kilo-bite" then the medium "Mega-bite" then the Large "Giga-bite"

Shouldn't that be Kilopulse, Megapulse, and Gigapulse? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Halinn]

Even if sticking to bytes, it should probably be shifted up at least one prefix, if not two. So a gigabyte, a terabyte and a petabyte, probably. The times they are a-changing.

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

Even if sticking to bytes, it should probably be shifted up at least one prefix, if not two. So a gigabyte, a terabyte and a petabyte, probably. The times they are a-changing.

Indeed they are... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[WhiskeyJohnny]

The Genesis- In the beginning you weren't sh*t-faced

A blend of Sabra Liqueur, Carolans, and Irish Whiskey - "And He separated the Light from the Darkness."

The Exodus: Anís del Mono, a little Black Sambuca (for color and flammability), distilled water (to give it a smoky appearance), set alight - "And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire..."

I could go on...

[Critias]

There's also "Sylvan Mist" bottled water, which claims to be from Crater Lake, and meticulously purified by Eagle shamen (to drive up the price).

[ShadowDragon8685]

The amazing thing about this situation is that you can pretty much make up whatever the hell you want. The GM won't mind - he'll probably thank you if it means fleshing out the world some.


Go ahead and make up your own product lines your character consumes!

[CanRay]

Revelation: Straight Tequila. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[Halinn]

On a similiar subject, could you guys help me geek themed menu of punny hacker food names?

I want to flesh out The Cathode Glow from On The Run, the old retro-themed hacker bar(at least it was in our game, gm may have changed it), and

Corny things like the Sleazer(instead of ceasar) Salad, Bacon Bytes, pretty much anything as long as it makes your player groan and go "really?".

I'm just short of inspiration and figured I'd ask the greater community for assistance.

Every serving would include chips. The dessert menu would have pancakes with food coloring (Silicon Wafers) and likewise colored waffles (Silicon Waffles). IC Cream would be sold in various themed flavors (Blackberry Hammer being a very popular one).

[CanRay]

Watch out for the Deception Drink. It's actually just a Q-Cola with synthetic rum flavoring to make you think you're getting a rum and cola. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Snow_Fox]

look in your own fridge, your own panrty and there you are. I know the distopian outlook says soy and krill and that was put in in 1st ed because it was common in cyberpunk but I've said in the past that the VITAS outbreak actually should have relieved that becasue it killed off a huge chunk of thep opulation meaning that in modern countries in North America, Japan, parts of China, Korea and Europe food should be prentiful like it is today.

[Abstruse]

look in your own fridge, your own panrty and there you are. I know the distopian outlook says soy and krill and that was put in in 1st ed because it was common in cyberpunk but I've said in the past that the VITAS outbreak actually should have relieved that becasue it killed off a huge chunk of thep opulation meaning that in modern countries in North America, Japan, parts of China, Korea and Europe food should be prentiful like it is today.

Actually, the issue with VITAS and all the other random tragedies that seem to happen every year in late December that kill millions (seriously, if you get transported to the Shadowrun world, STAY THE FRAG AT HOME EVERY CHRISTMAS EVE!!) isn't to fix overpopulation so much as make it plausible for the world to contain about the same number of people as now. Population estimates beyond 10-20 years are typically all over the place. I remember one estimate from the mid 90s putting the population as of now at 10 billion yet we've only barely topped 7 billion.

What would cause the food shortages would be the ecological problems with growing food. Due to magic, weather patterns all over the world have changed. Many areas that used to be some of our biggest food suppliers like the Midwest and West Coast are either subject to random manastorms or are in a very tense political environment to the point of all-out war every couple of decades. Other countries aren't faring that much better either. And that's not counting what megacorps are doing to the environment after basically getting carte blanch to tell the EPA where to stick their regulations. A lot of areas have become too polluted to grow food suitable for human consumption. And don't forget, every time in history you see some major disaster like a massive plague or drastic upheaval of society (like VITAS or the Awakening), you see every single time a massive loss of technology. Education falls by the wayside when you're just trying to survive. The Black Plague and shift from the Roman Empire to feudalism caused us to lose the ability to make concrete for something like 1500 years.

Also, corporations would want to make the most money for the least investment. Did you know that sawdust is a very popular ingredient in processed foods in the United States? I'm not kidding, it's called "cellulose" and it's literally virgin wood pulp. Read the ingredients on a lot of frozen or processed foods and you'll see cellulose high on the ingredient list. It's a dirt cheap filler that lets the manufacturer make health claims, especially about fiber content. We've also experienced a lot of change in popular tastes in the United States over the past 50 to 100 years or so based on marketing by large corporations. It's why corn syrup is in damn near everything because we've been programmed to like things that are sweet, even things that shouldn't BE sweet like hamburgers (seriously, there's corn syrup in hamburgers).

There's very little doubt that, with crop and livestock prices rising due to VITAS, the Awakening, Goblinization, the Crash, the Great Ghost Dance, etc. etc. that corporations would push hard to use items that can be easily farmed in controlled environments - krill, algae, seaweed, soybeans, etc. Once things stabilized - or as stable as they get in the Sixth World - somewhere in the 2040s, people are going to have a taste for that type of food. And why should corporations bother cutting into profit margins for agricultural products that can be iffy to bank on - one bad season and you have to raise prices and everyone starts getting your competitor's product instead.

Need another argument for stuffers? What has always been the most evil corporation in Shadowrun? Aztechnology. What has always been Aztechnology's core market? Consumer products including foods. What does Aztechnology excel out besides blood magic? Public relations. They're squeaky clean and friendly as far as the average citizen thinks. And yes, this is based again on real-life situations. Look up the sort of shenanigans that companies that inspired Aztechnology like Walmart, Kraft, Pfizer, Unilever, etc. all get up to. Should be common knowledge, but the best you'll get is a protest websites, articles on Page 19 of the newspaper, or a couple of episodes of Leverage.

TL;DR: Food substitutes make perfect sense in Shadowrun, even if the world isn't technically anymore overpopulated than our own.

[CanRay]

Montezuma's Revenge:
12 oz Corona® lager
1 oz Jose Cuervo® Especial gold tequila

Perfect for those Azzie Games!

And the Shadowrun Drinking Game!!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)