I was just thinking about a rocker character I made a while ago. I was wondering how to deal with the problem of her band members being NPCs, since contacts aren't your buddies who show up whenever you want and play rock concerts, and there isn't really a system to add NPC "friends" to your character. Then I thought, why not have the other band members be AR virtual people? You could position speakers around the stage, and have the AR avatars project their sound through them to give the experience of real live music.

And then I thought -- what about taking it beyond that? Like using AR to make the sky bleed, or have virtual bombs dropping, virtually blowing up nearby buildings and making peoples' heads virtually explode? Or you could make virtual piles of weapons appear, and part of the entertainment would be people virtually murdering each other with chainsaws and shotguns. It would be like a video game, but it would be a real-life venue combined with live music, too.

Do you guys think this kind of AR entertainment would be really popular and attact big crowds? After all, people could sit at home and experience pretty much the same thing using full VR. But while some people would prefer that, my gut tells me that Shadowrun with its punky origins would have to include lots of young people with funny haircuts gathering to enjoy rowdy concerts. These concerts could even start spontaneously, someone sets up their virtual band and starts playing, and within minutes the word has spread through the mesh network, and kids from miles around are showing up on mopeds, rollerskates, and Barrens-grade Mad Max mobiles.

Has there ever been a discussion of such things in the fluff? Would it be a plausible thing to infer, lacking such references?

i see it as entirely plausible in big cities. in malls in smaller towns and even in "underground" clubs. its a cool and feasible concept that i believe meshes very well with the world.

Yes, these kinds of clubs are mentionned in fluff - AR clubs. They are, as you describe, not quite the same as a full VR club, though it is mentionned that many AR clubs also have people appear virtually - basically, the same as say astrally manifesting. People can see and interact with people appearing from their homes via the AR overlay.

So basically, everything you describe has been mentionned in fluff. So yeah, you're right on the ball

Whoa your character knows how to put on a show. I buy your interactive entertainment thought.

You know you could always buy your back up band mates as level one contacts with a devoted friendships.

in particular, i would suggest you look at the wallspace program, as an example; it is able to place a backdrop of just about anything onto just about anything.

if you're talking about your band being actual software (as opposed to people who are telepresent) then the virtual personality likewise seems to be just the thing for you.

in both cases, if you want those to be available as VR to others, i would expect there to be a more expensive version to be used by businesses... (in much the same way that TV shows for the public can be bought for 20 bucks a season, whereas "educational" TV shows cost many times more than that... try buying bill nye the science guy sometime =S )

though of course, the cost of said programs is largely only relevant if you are expecting to operate legitimately... if you owned a club, you would need to buy them, but if there isn't likely to be anyone around to check if you have a legal copy or not, then you obviously don't need to worry since you're not staying in one place like (most) legitimate businesses do...

Is that a Companion thing? I still don't have it Having advanced contacts rules could probably add a bit more oomph to the idea of a live performance with real band members...

Anyway, the only part of Cyberpunk 2020 worth a damn is the Rocker archetype, whose special skill is the ability to summon up a concert, whip the crowd into a frenzy, and start a big riot I think using social networking to gather everyone, and AR for neato special effects, and social adept powers to mezmerize/manipulate the crowd, SR characters could achieve a similar thing. It would be a great tool for a fixer/face, you have the ability to do off-camera networking stuff, and for a run you can create a huge distraction that helps the team without really needing to risk your fragile self in combat.

Hm... Also, you'd have the ability to do inside jobs if you were a semi-legitimate cyber performer, a la the holo artist from Neuromancer. It would be pretty cool to get yourself invited to the rich CEO's mansion based on putting on a good show, instead of the tired old "I roll to seduce the NPC" deal.