Name some Z devices, if you wouldn't mind? Some hold up to scrutiny, most notably one-kilo cell phones, but many simply do not—they either exist in Shadowrun, are a trivial rework of an existing item, or have a good reason to not exist (like the WMI).
~J
Full Version: Re-Bootin Shadowrun
My point is that merely with established dates, you run into one of two disappointing possibilities; an irrelevant time line or one that gets changed, and both are a hit to versimilitude. As to which is the bigger hit, that's down to personal taste.
But if you don't establish dates, or if you establish them much further down the line, you can avoid both problems; for example, if you say that until about 2030 it was a dark and confusing time in which magic returned, governments fell, megacorporations arose, computer viruses wreaked havoc and wars, famine and plague ravished the planet then its pretty understandable nobody was taking really detailed notes on dates (or if they were, no one was that interested in reading them).
But if you don't establish dates, or if you establish them much further down the line, you can avoid both problems; for example, if you say that until about 2030 it was a dark and confusing time in which magic returned, governments fell, megacorporations arose, computer viruses wreaked havoc and wars, famine and plague ravished the planet then its pretty understandable nobody was taking really detailed notes on dates (or if they were, no one was that interested in reading them).
My goal with this project is to create a new timeline for an SR style universe that feels as if it could occur in the future, with magic included.
I know that some people on this board don't like the idea, but one of the draws of SR to me is its connection to reality and history.
The places runners run are not some fantasy city which we know never existed but instead they could be down the street many years in the future. A Player's character could graduate from the same University, or even be a (admittedly somewhat elderly) version of themselves.
The history of SR is reality mixed with fantasy, but it is a fantasy from the 80's which can and often does cause a lot of disconnect in newer players.
I don't want this thread to be an argument about whether or not revising the timeline is a good idea. These revisions are for my own game and to be shared with others if they like.
The goal is to establish a firmer and more realistic feeling connection between today's world and the world of the Player Characters. It isn't to rewrite the core SR universe. I don't work for Wizkids and I doubt that this will really influence them.
I know that some people on this board don't like the idea, but one of the draws of SR to me is its connection to reality and history.
The places runners run are not some fantasy city which we know never existed but instead they could be down the street many years in the future. A Player's character could graduate from the same University, or even be a (admittedly somewhat elderly) version of themselves.
The history of SR is reality mixed with fantasy, but it is a fantasy from the 80's which can and often does cause a lot of disconnect in newer players.
I don't want this thread to be an argument about whether or not revising the timeline is a good idea. These revisions are for my own game and to be shared with others if they like.
The goal is to establish a firmer and more realistic feeling connection between today's world and the world of the Player Characters. It isn't to rewrite the core SR universe. I don't work for Wizkids and I doubt that this will really influence them.
80s fantasy won't weird out your players if you have them watch "Big Trouble In Little China", "The Octagon", "The Karate Kid", and "Escape From New York".
...If I were to rewrite one part of SR history, the Crash of 29 would have been caused by a massive solar flare which put out enough EMP to knock any system that was online out. This way (as I discussed in the MomHammer thread) it would have made more sense that isolated systems would also have been affected.
If you do that much damage you also have to deal with no power and no phones for several months to decades.
I could ignore most of it if Shadowrun was set in "the future" or in 5298 after civilization rebuilt itself from an almost a planet killer asteroid impact but, the SR timeline (minus ED) started in the 1980's and went from there. Real Life seems to have outpaced the "scary" in many things and SR is no longer as dark / depressing as it should be.
So lets muck things up a bit and recreate the timeline from present day tech & thoughts and go from there (per Gerzel's original topic post).
@Kagetenshi: "WMI" Windows Management Interface? Weapons of Mass Instruction? I kind of screwed myself on that one as I have no idea whats in the BBB4...I should have stated BBB3 as it didn't have many things that were in 2 source books that is should have had. Don't tell me that WP grenades, tracer rounds, and the poisons from Shadow Tech couldn't have been included in BBB3! Thats just everyday stuff thats been around for a while.
EDIT: OK, I googled it and it s SR4 Wireless frack. And yes thats one thing that should have been in BBB3 or even the 3rd ED Matrix book but seems to have been overdone in 4th.
So lets muck things up a bit and recreate the timeline from present day tech & thoughts and go from there (per Gerzel's original topic post).
@Kagetenshi: "WMI" Windows Management Interface? Weapons of Mass Instruction? I kind of screwed myself on that one as I have no idea whats in the BBB4...I should have stated BBB3 as it didn't have many things that were in 2 source books that is should have had. Don't tell me that WP grenades, tracer rounds, and the poisons from Shadow Tech couldn't have been included in BBB3! Thats just everyday stuff thats been around for a while.
EDIT: OK, I googled it and it s SR4 Wireless frack. And yes thats one thing that should have been in BBB3 or even the 3rd ED Matrix book but seems to have been overdone in 4th.
| QUOTE (Angelone) |
| Seriously? Where? That boggles the mind. I know there are places I can't get cellphone reception *cough* Korea *cough, cough* but no phones at all is insane. |
You haven't driven around the West, have you? There is a section of I-70 in central Utah where you'll see no buildings for 106 miles. It's a very nice highway, but fill your tank in Salina or Green River. The signs about "No services next 106 miles" are not lying.
If you head south from Moab to Flagstaff you'll spend hours driving through the Navaho Reservation in which the residents of the occasional houses you'll see get water with the tanks that fill their pickup beds. You'll notice there are no power lines along the road, because there is no power to the houses. Nor phones. But it's kind of hard to run power and phones when houses are two to three miles apart, even ignoring the horribly ugly issue of rights-of-way on Reservations.
| QUOTE (kzt) |
| If you do that much damage you also have to deal with no power and no phones for several months to decades. |
...yeah, makes the timeline real interesting...
Keep in mind it would only affect systems that were active at the time. So backups on optical storage would be unaffected as would shielded or systems that were shut down.
Would'a made a real mess of global economics though.
(...one of the few aspects I liked about that cheesy Fox show, Dark Angel)
I've been out there, drove from El Paso into New Mexico and on up towards Omaha. I mean of course where there's no buildings there's no phones, but even in the middle of the desert I got cellphone reception. I guess I've never been that far out.
| QUOTE (Angelone) |
| I guess I've never been that far out. |
...I have...
,..whoops wrong kind of far out dude...must be those flashbacks from my college days again
| QUOTE (Angelone) |
| I've been out there, drove from El Paso into New Mexico and on up towards Omaha. I mean of course where there's no buildings there's no phones, but even in the middle of the desert I got cellphone reception. I guess I've never been that far out. |
I have no idea if there was cell phone reception. When I went from Chicago to Prescott I had no signal on my nextel after OKC except for Albuquerque and Flagstaff. When I cruised through Utah I was between jobs and had turned the cell phone in to my previous employer. But coverage in NM has greatly improved since Nacchio got arrested and Qwest stopped spending oddles of cash on his pet European money holes.
If you really want to see the stark difference in orientation between the older editions of Shadowrun and the newer ones, look no farther than the "Motivations of Free Spirits":
| QUOTE (Grimoire I @ Grimoire II, or Magic in the Shadows) |
| Guardians spirits seem motivated to protect the Earth from exploitation. They rarely have much use for metahumans, though guardians have been known to form alliances with people who show a concern for nature in order to hold off resource-hungry corporations, Guardians also occasionally enlist shadowrunners to help derail corporate plans for invasion of unspoiled evironments. |
Vs. the Street Magic version:
| QUOTE (Me in Street Magic) |
| Wardens seem motivated to protect the Earth from exploitation. They rarely have much use for metahumans, though wardens have been known to form alliances with eco-activists and people who show a concern for nature in order to hold off resource-hungry corporations. More urbane wardens will occasionally enlist deniable assets and other extreme measures to derail corporate plans for invasion of unspoiled environments. > This is an example of he shamanic bias of the original author. While there are certainly warden spirits that behave in that fashion, let us not forget that there are also toxic wardens that help despoil the environment. A warden spirit is really just motivated to make or keep the world a specific way. Basically, it's trying to paint all of astral space one color. If you like that color, then maybe you can get along with them just fine. >Ethernaut |
-Frank
| QUOTE (Gerzel @ Oct 16 2007, 11:14 PM) |
| The history of SR is reality mixed with fantasy, but it is a fantasy from the 80's which can and often does cause a lot of disconnect in newer players. |
Being disconnected from the '80s is the fault of the player. Our goal should be to reconnect the player to the '80s, not paper over their insufficiency.
| QUOTE (GrepZen) |
| @Kagetenshi: "WMI" Windows Management Interface? Weapons of Mass Instruction? |
Wireless Matrix Initiative, what they called the SR4 Matrix before SR4.
| QUOTE (GrepZen) |
| And yes thats one thing that should have been in BBB3 |
Good lord no! It's a physical impossibility with only the narrowest justification. Basic modern-web-and-email-level access should be ubiquitous, but the WMI was a bad idea from the beginning.
~J
| QUOTE (Kagetenshi) |
| I'm not sure I'd call Japan a "threat" as such, though it's done some alarming things recently (moves towards remilitarization, resurgence of the right-wing and increase in whitewashing), but you probably shouldn't count them out just yet—or count China in, for that matter. |
Sorry when I was talking about Japan being an economic threat I was talking more about the 80s when their corporations looked to be able to do no wrong and were seemingly buying up most of the US, since that was where Shadowrun took a lot of its early tone from.
| QUOTE (Wounded Ronin) |
| Sadly there would be less of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUUTwLVr-bA |
And this would be bad why exactly? My general reaction would be 'Good.'
| QUOTE (Angelone) | ||
Seriously? Where? That boggles the mind. I know there are places I can't get cellphone reception *cough* Korea *cough, cough* but no phones at all is insane. |
Like some others have said--Quite a few places. I know people who live in areas with no phone lines and yet live within a hour's drive of my city. I've also met people who haven't used one, or only did very recently.
...I don't have one...
...and I get along just fine...
...really...
...and I get along just fine...
...really...
Bioroids and Genetically Sculpted People
There really is little real difference between the a boiroid and a person who was born with genetic sculpting. The legal definition varies from country to country but the practical one is basically whether or not the individual in question was raised as someone's child or where they bred and raised (or put through forced maturation) to perform some task. Another major factor is how different does the individual look from an ordinary human.
In many cases the Corps have found that if you want to give workers less than human rights it is often simpler to make workers that are (at least legally) less than human. One of the most popular methods of controlling a workforce of bioroids is to use a genetic template that is naturally addicted to a substance which their bodies cannot produce. Most often the genetic engineers aim to have higher thinking brain functions degrade in response to being cut off from the substance making it easier for any escapee to be caught. There is also the added benefit that if the escaped bioroid is acting like an animal when it is captured and if this capture is recorded and transmitted to the public then the Corp simply smiles and demonstrates how much their wards need them.
MCT Kitsune GT AL2
Grown and sold mostly in Japan but with a dedicated oversees market the Kitsune GT AL2 is marketed as a low-maintenance service industry model. These models appear as a person with red-furred fox ears and a number of bright bushy fox tails often with red fur down their back. The face is mostly human with slightly enlarged canines with delicate features and what many lament as a slightly western look. There are nine separate versions of this model with the most directly apparent difference between them being the number of tails.
The standard single tail model can be found most often working either as a waitress, or in various janitorial roles across Japan and tends to have mental abilities slightly less than human average dealing very poorly with situations calling for independent thought and retaining very little long-term memory. The two-tail model is about the same with improved math and memory capabilities though still somewhat less than low-human average.
The tri-tail model is equivalent to the two tail in mental capacity but is much fitter and comes with a standard 30-year replacement warranty if any major health or mental problems arise that are not due to neglect or injury inflicted by the owner.
The quad tail model is even more robust with a moderate strength and dexterity increase over the average human and an optional replacement warranty that covers the first 60 years. The five-tail model lacks the increased strength and agility of the four tail but instead boasts improved mental abilities and a greatly improved long and short term memory over that of a normal human, marketed for a role as personal secretaries.
The six and seven tail models are virtually identical security models with enhanced senses, strength, agility and basic non-lethal combat skills as standard. The seven tail model has slightly improved intelligence (to human-average) and comes with ceramic bone plating and a snake-eyes system as standard allowing them to be more easily incorporated into a drone network.
The eight and nine tail versions are reserved for custom orders but generally have higher than human average intelligence though still with difficulties in independent problem solving. The eight tail version is for security and military grade models while the nine tail is for civilian versions.
There really is little real difference between the a boiroid and a person who was born with genetic sculpting. The legal definition varies from country to country but the practical one is basically whether or not the individual in question was raised as someone's child or where they bred and raised (or put through forced maturation) to perform some task. Another major factor is how different does the individual look from an ordinary human.
In many cases the Corps have found that if you want to give workers less than human rights it is often simpler to make workers that are (at least legally) less than human. One of the most popular methods of controlling a workforce of bioroids is to use a genetic template that is naturally addicted to a substance which their bodies cannot produce. Most often the genetic engineers aim to have higher thinking brain functions degrade in response to being cut off from the substance making it easier for any escapee to be caught. There is also the added benefit that if the escaped bioroid is acting like an animal when it is captured and if this capture is recorded and transmitted to the public then the Corp simply smiles and demonstrates how much their wards need them.
MCT Kitsune GT AL2
Grown and sold mostly in Japan but with a dedicated oversees market the Kitsune GT AL2 is marketed as a low-maintenance service industry model. These models appear as a person with red-furred fox ears and a number of bright bushy fox tails often with red fur down their back. The face is mostly human with slightly enlarged canines with delicate features and what many lament as a slightly western look. There are nine separate versions of this model with the most directly apparent difference between them being the number of tails.
The standard single tail model can be found most often working either as a waitress, or in various janitorial roles across Japan and tends to have mental abilities slightly less than human average dealing very poorly with situations calling for independent thought and retaining very little long-term memory. The two-tail model is about the same with improved math and memory capabilities though still somewhat less than low-human average.
The tri-tail model is equivalent to the two tail in mental capacity but is much fitter and comes with a standard 30-year replacement warranty if any major health or mental problems arise that are not due to neglect or injury inflicted by the owner.
The quad tail model is even more robust with a moderate strength and dexterity increase over the average human and an optional replacement warranty that covers the first 60 years. The five-tail model lacks the increased strength and agility of the four tail but instead boasts improved mental abilities and a greatly improved long and short term memory over that of a normal human, marketed for a role as personal secretaries.
The six and seven tail models are virtually identical security models with enhanced senses, strength, agility and basic non-lethal combat skills as standard. The seven tail model has slightly improved intelligence (to human-average) and comes with ceramic bone plating and a snake-eyes system as standard allowing them to be more easily incorporated into a drone network.
The eight and nine tail versions are reserved for custom orders but generally have higher than human average intelligence though still with difficulties in independent problem solving. The eight tail version is for security and military grade models while the nine tail is for civilian versions.
Interesting but humans, in general, prefer symmetry as does biology so putting more than one tail on a humanoid would be counter productive (get your minds out of the gutter folks). I'd suggest differing the animal base to differentiate the types instead of multiple tails. This also give the GM a plentiful supply of story arcs and tie-ins to sci-fi series. Just my 2 
He's going with the mythic basis (though sorta ruining it by making the nine-tail a civilian version)—and multiple tails can be symmetric (one tail on the center line for n tails where n ∈ odds, all other tails branching from the same base but angled in opposite horizontal angles in same-vertical-angle pairs).
~J
~J
| QUOTE (FlakJacket) |
| And this would be bad why exactly? My general reaction would be 'Good.' |
That's because you are immune to truth and beauty.
| QUOTE (Kagetenshi) |
| He's going with the mythic basis (though sorta ruining it by making the nine-tail a civilian version)—and multiple tails can be symmetric (one tail on the center line for n tails where n ∈ odds, all other tails branching from the same base but angled in opposite horizontal angles in same-vertical-angle pairs). ~J |
I understood the reference...I just thinks it begs of "tenticle porn" and bad hentai. Of course "furries" everywhere would just love the idea.
Well, as proposed they can't be schoolgirls, so there's no link to tentacle porn. You may want to consider why your first thought is porn, though…
(For the record I think it's thoroughly un-Shadowrunny. We're supposed to use metal, damn it, gleaming chrome and titanium, not this namby-pamby genesculpting and bioware.)
~J
(For the record I think it's thoroughly un-Shadowrunny. We're supposed to use metal, damn it, gleaming chrome and titanium, not this namby-pamby genesculpting and bioware.)
~J
| QUOTE (Kagetenshi) |
| You may want to consider why your first thought is porn, though… |
I don't know about you, but my first thoughts are always sex-related.
say you set new SR in 2050. The gap in technology is going to be much the same as between 1964 and today.
Note, Orwell wrote 1984 in 1948 and it seems kinda quaint.
But anyway, the technology gap is massive. Computers have gone from house size using *transistors* to ICs in that time. The internet went from conceptual twinkerling in someone's eye to fairly ubiquitous, same for mobile phones. so, some observations:
Quantum computers are likely a reality, and probably a common reality. Your computing power avalible in your pocketwatch is probably going to be super computer style.
Genetic engineering is likely to be the foremost modification technology, we can do it now, it'll probably be somewhat advanced by then.
Would be intresting!
Note, Orwell wrote 1984 in 1948 and it seems kinda quaint.
But anyway, the technology gap is massive. Computers have gone from house size using *transistors* to ICs in that time. The internet went from conceptual twinkerling in someone's eye to fairly ubiquitous, same for mobile phones. so, some observations:
Quantum computers are likely a reality, and probably a common reality. Your computing power avalible in your pocketwatch is probably going to be super computer style.
Genetic engineering is likely to be the foremost modification technology, we can do it now, it'll probably be somewhat advanced by then.
Would be intresting!
| QUOTE (Cthulhudreams @ Oct 18 2007, 11:39 PM) |
| say you set new SR in 2050. The gap in technology is going to be much the same as between 1964 and today. Note, Orwell wrote 1984 in 1964 and it seems kinda quaint. |
Orwell would be very surprised to hear that he wrote that book some 14 years after his own death in 1950. 1984 was published in 1949, having been written (wholly or substantially, I don't remember offhand) in 1948, which looks similar to 1984 for a reason.
Edit: turns out the title thing is speculation, there are a few other theories.
~J
you are of course right. Whoops! My maths is stupid. Trying again.
Anyway, the time gap from 1948 (lets run with that one, published in 1949 so he had to finish writing in 1948 at the latest) to 1984 is 36 years. The time gap from 2007 to 2050 is 43 years, same as the timegap from 1964 to today.
(which is where I got the 1964 from!)
so 1964 included events like, in the field of IT
A computer made of transistors!
Some runs a program in BASIC
People are tenatively making their first spaceflights
Networks are a concept no-one has thought of.
Do when thinking forward, you can either reel in the date, you have to break out some really futurist thinking.
Anyway, the time gap from 1948 (lets run with that one, published in 1949 so he had to finish writing in 1948 at the latest) to 1984 is 36 years. The time gap from 2007 to 2050 is 43 years, same as the timegap from 1964 to today.
(which is where I got the 1964 from!)
so 1964 included events like, in the field of IT
A computer made of transistors!
Some runs a program in BASIC
People are tenatively making their first spaceflights
Networks are a concept no-one has thought of.
Do when thinking forward, you can either reel in the date, you have to break out some really futurist thinking.
Lisp was invented in 1958, clearly demonstrating that there has been almost no progress in the field in nearly half a century.
~J
~J
"1984" was written in 1948. But still the point is valid.
| QUOTE (Kagetenshi) |
| Lisp was invented in 1958, clearly demonstrating that there has been almost no progress in the field in nearly half a century. ~J |
What are you refereing to? LISP as the AI language of choice or advancements in the field of programming. I think you're wrong on both counts, just look at C# and .NET
both are quite robust and teaming with intelligent bugs (umm...features...ya thats it). 
If you want a fantastic C&C type strategy game look up Dark Reign. The AI engine was a striped down version of LISP that could be customized by the user (as could most of the game).
Back on topic: The gene/bio engineering will probably appear sooner than cyber as there are more applications for such tech, are a tad more media friendly, and there are more (large) companies these days doing/funding bio research than cybernetics.
I can't really see a "replicant" being a viable commercial product due to the whole slavery issue but, the tech could be used for life extension/alteration.
SR would have to be quite a bit more apocalyptic for such a thing to fly.
| QUOTE (GrepZen) |
| What are you refereing to? LISP as the AI language of choice or advancements in the field of programming. |
Advancements in the field of programming. We found Lisp early, and people have been reinventing it badly ever since.
| QUOTE |
| I think you're wrong on both counts, just look at C# and .NET both are quite robust and teaming with intelligent bugs (umm...features...ya thats it). |
Funny that, I was looking at them when I came to this conclusion
~J
I am surprised that no one has mentioned SJ Game's Transhuman Space. Being a more recent game (i.e - from inception), its' timeline starts at a date closer to today. Of course, it is a lot more optomistic. But they do give good reasons for both the prevelince of bio-mods and the scarcity of cyber.
Whenth thalking abpsout pphlorgramming you haphe to lisphspsps.
I think the biggest change is that there would be fewer corps as enemies and governments would be a more powerful player.
I think extra territoriality is not an issue. Look at Blackwater in Iraq and just change the name to Lone Star.
If anything the tech would much more impressive. I mean I have looked at my husband's 1st ed rules and some of the tech there, like Wrist phones and decks with a satalite up link seem big expensive items but who pays $150 for a cell phone or $125,000 for a lap top with wi-fi?
I think extra territoriality is not an issue. Look at Blackwater in Iraq and just change the name to Lone Star.
If anything the tech would much more impressive. I mean I have looked at my husband's 1st ed rules and some of the tech there, like Wrist phones and decks with a satalite up link seem big expensive items but who pays $150 for a cell phone or $125,000 for a lap top with wi-fi?
Consider that cell phones are, as far as can be told by the rules, paid for life. I would pay $150 for a phone like that--even if it dies after two years, I've saved a good amount.
The corollary to that being, many people do pay $150 or more for their phones--they just don't pay it all up front.
~J
The corollary to that being, many people do pay $150 or more for their phones--they just don't pay it all up front.
~J
| QUOTE (Daddy's Little Ninja) |
| If anything the tech would much more impressive. I mean I have looked at my husband's 1st ed rules and some of the tech there, like Wrist phones and decks with a satalite up link seem big expensive items but who pays $150 for a cell phone or $125,000 for a lap top with wi-fi? |
Wow, man. That's my nostalgic charm, right there. I want my cellphone to be the size of a cinderblock and have an antenna taller than a pro basketball player.
He is 14 years older than i am. he remembers black and white tv's.
Unless you're twelve, I fail to see the novelty in that.
| QUOTE (martindv) |
| Unless you're twelve, I fail to see the novelty in that. |
You're just one of those people immune to truth and beauty.
We pray for his soul.
| QUOTE (Wounded Ronin @ Oct 24 2007, 06:30 PM) | ||
You're just one of those people immune to truth and beauty. |
oookay.
I fail to see how a black and white TV is something special that DLN has apparently never seen before, which I can only suspect comes from being so young that even her grandparents don't have one anymore. I especially find it interesting (or stupid, I can't yet decide) in light of how I just bought a small new one to play while I am on my home PC.
| QUOTE (Kagetenshi) |
| Lisp was invented in 1958, clearly demonstrating that there has been almost no progress in the field in nearly half a century. |
My grandfather remembers people lisping when he was a kid. There's no way it's that new.
| QUOTE (martindv) | ||||
oookay. I fail to see how a black and white TV is something special that DLN has apparently never seen before, which I can only suspect comes from being so young that even her grandparents don't have one anymore. I especially find it interesting (or stupid, I can't yet decide) in light of how I just bought a small new one to play while I am on my home PC. |
...for someoene even in their mid to late 20s this would mean they were born around 1980 or later.
In the early to 1960s colour television was a novelty and an expensive one at that. I believe my grandparents paid a whopping 600$ (1963 economy) for our giant "Archie Bunker" styled Zenith. Every time you turned it on you had to re-tune the colour, sometimes even when you changed channels.
By the late 60's Black & white programming on television was pretty much becoming passe' save for news footage shot in places like Vietnam, live on the spot news reports and some sports events. Standard network fare from Variety shows to Dramas, to Westerns, to even Sitcoms all had jumped on the colour bandwagon.
By the time I was in college (early 70s) all the dorms had colour sets in the recreation lounges as did most hotels & motels (save for Motel 6 which actually used it as their advertising gimmick back then). With solid state technology the cost became much more affordable as the sets could be made smaller and soon just about every home had a colour set. By the late 70s, Black & white Tellys were pretty much found only in places like bus station waiting rooms (remember those TV Chairs, a quarter for 15 min?), second hand shops and as battery operated "take along" portables.
So yes it is quite conceivable that someone born say 25 years or so ago would not have seen a B & W telly.
| QUOTE (Angelone) | ||
Seriously? Where? That boggles the mind. I know there are places I can't get cellphone reception *cough* Korea *cough, cough* but no phones at all is insane. |
Eastern Kentucky and parts of West Virginia. These areas are mountainous, rural and poor. While "never used" isn't very likely, there are several families here in Pike county Kentucky who don't have their own phone and have to visit neighbors "down the holler" to actually place a call.
Some people out here don't have sewer systems, just septic tanks and well water. There are families poor enough they don't have a hot water tank, they just heat water on the stove and put it into the tub that way.
Now, that's the exception, not the rule. But this still exists in the USA.
| QUOTE (Kyoto Kid) | ||||||
...for someoene even in their mid to late 20s this would mean they were born around 1980 or later. In the early to 1960s colour television was a novelty and an expensive one at that. I believe my grandparents paid a whopping 600$ (1963 economy) for our giant "Archie Bunker" styled Zenith. Every time you turned it on you had to re-tune the colour, sometimes even when you changed channels. By the late 60's Black & white programming on television was pretty much becoming passe' save for news footage shot in places like Vietnam, live on the spot news reports and some sports events. Standard network fare from Variety shows to Dramas, to Westerns, to even Sitcoms all had jumped on the colour bandwagon. By the time I was in college (early 70s) all the dorms had colour sets in the recreation lounges as did most hotels & motels (save for Motel 6 which actually used it as their advertising gimmick back then). With solid state technology the cost became much more affordable as the sets could be made smaller and soon just about every home had a colour set. By the late 70s, Black & white Tellys were pretty much found only in places like bus station waiting rooms (remember those TV Chairs, a quarter for 15 min?), second hand shops and as battery operated "take along" portables. So yes it is quite conceivable that someone born say 25 years or so ago would not have seen a B & W telly. |
... depending on your tax bracket, maybe. As a teenager, I got a 13" black & white TV of my very own as a Christmas present. Rabbit ears and all. Lasted a long time, too.
Ah, yes. Good point there.
Earlier in this thread someone asked for a bit of tech that wasn't in SR that would be in the future that would majorly affect game mechanics and daily lives of runners.
I give you 3d printers!
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology...ry/4224759.html
This is a link to an article on a home version that is available (as designs which armatures can build for themselves) for free right now (the main site has been slashdotted atm). This version can make simple things but given 50 years and an actual development budget behind it machines like this would really change the way things are done. Yes SR does this for food somewhat but not for consumer products.
One big change would be that paydata would probably be worth a lot more. A decker could break into a lab, steal design specs and then print out that novahot chip at home. These things could also make a Rigger's life a lot easier.
I give you 3d printers!
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology...ry/4224759.html
This is a link to an article on a home version that is available (as designs which armatures can build for themselves) for free right now (the main site has been slashdotted atm). This version can make simple things but given 50 years and an actual development budget behind it machines like this would really change the way things are done. Yes SR does this for food somewhat but not for consumer products.
One big change would be that paydata would probably be worth a lot more. A decker could break into a lab, steal design specs and then print out that novahot chip at home. These things could also make a Rigger's life a lot easier.
Well, as of Augmentation, Shadowrun does have NanoForges.
Rage.
~J
~J
I guess if we were starting over today with SR, there wouldn't be as much focus on Japanese corporations. Maybe more of a focus on neo-imperialism, islamo-facsism, and other vague terms caused by squishing two words together. (I apologize if this is retreading other posts, but I'm too lazy to pore through the whole 2 pages of the topic I didn't read.)
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