As a life long citizen of the Detroit area, it just piqued my duriousity as to what has happened to the Big Three American Auto companies. There are vehicles listed under the tag GMC and Chrystler (Though I don't think I've seen a Ford.) Are they still individual companies, or is there any source material from older ediations giving some insight into this?

GMC was bought out by Ares. I can't remember where I read this, but they bought GMC for it's military contracts, IIRC.

Ford may still independent, but might just be held by a holding company in the Caribbean League. Shadowtalk is mixed on that. (One of the Rigger's Black Books.).

Chrysler appears to have joined Nissan, the infamous Chrysler-Nissan Jackrabbit sporty subcompact was a staple of Shadowrun. (1st Edition BBB.).

The Ford Americar has been the standard four-door american sedan for most editions. Probably equivalent to a Taurus or a Crown Vic. I believe they are owned by Ares. Chrysler is a subsidiary of Nissan, which is in turn a subsidiary of Mitsuhama, I believe.

Very nice to hear they still exist at least. Do any of the older sourcebooks cover Detroit? I'm doing a wite-up for it, and I want to make sure I'm not stepping on any canon toes. ... as opposed to cannon toes.

Corporate Guide, Page 49, Sidebar under Ares Heavy Industry. Ares owns GMC. And Honda. And Honda-GM.

I don't remember anything about Detroit in any of the sourcebooks, but my collection is far, far, far from complete.

Edit: You know, with Ares HQ being in Detroit (According to Corp Guide), I'm surprised we haven't heard about it yet...

2nd edition sourcebook Target: UCAS does. Year is 2058.

Target UCAS has Detroit but it's back a ways. 2050s I think. so....

Cool, sounds like we're about ready for a more modern take on Motown then. Sounds like I've got my work cut out for me. I'll check my local game store for Target:UCAS. Thank ya folks!

Mine (Target UCAS) Came in today. Got it for about $3.50 off ebay. (( that's with shipping))

It's why we're here.

Well, this, and to complain bitterly. And abuse each other. And...

Why do I keep coming here again?

Because you love us!!

From what I know, Ford is still independent from any Megacorps, but there are some unknown shadows behind it.
They also have a new Special Editions Department to revive the old classic Ford Focus

anyways, I just image a whole campaign around cars.

If memory serves... Ford was bought by Nissan. I seem to remember at some point one of the guys mentioning he was Driving a Mustang, and it was still as good a car now that Nissan had bought ford as before.....

As for third edition books Shadows of north-america has an entry (it's not all that big), The Targe:UCAS book says Ford and GM (The big two) are in constant competition for Ares Contracts.

Schadenfreude.

Rigger 3 (3rd ed) page 19:

"As the only member of the Big Three American automakers to remain independent, Ford finds itself caught between a rock and a hard place. Ford has managed to survive by playing Ares and Chrysler-Nissan against each other. Additionally, Ford has diversified by making inroads in the vehicle components industry, as well as expanding outside the North American market through its ownership of the European Motor Company, maker of low-price European vehicles such as Opel, Peugeot, Skoda, Jaguar, Range Rover and Citroen. It also gained a presence in the Far East by buying out Mazda and Kia. Ford also retains the exclusive and lucrative contracts for manufacturing certain Docwagon and Lone Star vehicles, despite the best attempts from other corps to steal them away."

Also, worth noting they have a separate section for Mitsuhama and Chrysler-Nissan on the same page, suggesting that the former does not in fact own the latter.

Belvidere, please post when you've finished your writeup. I've been contemplating running a game in Detroit as well and I'd like to see what you come up with.

Nissan only bought the Mustang line, not Ford itself. And, man, could you hear the swearing of car nuts North America over! Carroll Shelby generated high torque using nothing but his own body and his coffin.

With any luck on my end, and maybe a bit of ass kissing, it may be in the next issue of Dumpshock Data Haven. (I'm unaware of an ETA on that. But my hopes are high, and worst case I'll have a few friends do some digital art and use my limits photoshop skills to do a layout.) Actually, would I be stepping on legal toes if I released it as a free PDF? (Should the DS: Data Haven not work out.)

This is the second reference (as Canray noted) to Ford in SR after the gear section from the SR1 book.

I'm unfamiliar with SR Detroit but there was this interesting documentary about the decline of Detroit with the car industry which showed massive empty factories and abandoned houses as the population shrunk by about a quarter. Seemed good SR material on a few levels.

I hate to be a noob but where can I find these DDH issues? What is DDH?

Ares Macrotechnology and refugees from now NAN-Land would reverse that nicely. Detroit is probably pumping out cars once again as the UCAS employees aren't exactly demanding as high a price for labor as before.


DumpShock Data Haven, a "Quarterly" Fan-Made production written from the point of view of a Black BBS set up by Bull "The Best Ork Hacker You Never Met". It's in the "Important Links" sticky at the top. The second issue is being worked on right now.

That's what I was thinking, something akin to the days of WW2 when Motown boomed because people had no choice but to work cheap and make reliable products.

Add in the death of Unions due to Extraterritorial Corporations and you got the revival of cheap, hard-worked labor in the area. And that's at the Ford plant. At Ares, where they can set the minimum wage to whatever they like...

Hell with the death of the unions, SINless factory workers might become a rather common occurrence. And say goodbye to work place regulations as well, no point if they're SINless.

Can't hire SINless. No SIN, no taxes. No taxes, no government or Corporate Court contracts. That's big money.

Of course, there are ways around that, but John Q. Wageslave will almost always be a SINner.

I can see some third party parts and product makers. Like the metal fabricating companies and glass companies now that provide for the big three, being easily small enough to hire on SINless workers to stamp metal in outdated factories with beyond unsafe conditions, if only for a few months to give Corp A the parts they need to make the piece the Corp B, that will sell the piece to Corp C to build a product the mass produce for Corp D.

"Damn cheap Detroit Knock-Off parts. I told you not to buy the replacement parts at Stuffer Shack!"

I work in auto/forklift parts, and there is no way I can truly describe how true that statement is... sad really.

Dad was a truck driver. I went parts shopping with him on occasion. I know the crap that's out there.

Yeah, there are about a million generic crap parts to every good one. And thinking about it, Motown seems like it would be a Rigger haven.

C'mon, guys. We all know how much Can loves stealth linking us to TVTropes. Why else would he be here, if not for that?

I only started that recently. I've been here for years.

Nah, I'm here because I've been wanting to play Shadowrun since '92.

Can't get caught using SINLESS. And considering all the crap it happily lets slide under the radar, I don't think the Corporate Court gives a fart about wether you're using SINNERS or SINLESS. The CC is there do defend the megas and their major shareholder's interests to make as much money as possible and arbiter conflict between them. Not to take care of the wage salves.

But there's a problem with SINLESS : most of them aren't educated enough to be that usefull in a modern factory. Often illiterate and for the worst case quite unfamiliar with computers and other tech - when a cheap TV set is already a big ticket item you save monthes, if not years for, there's little chance to learn how to use a computer...

Putting a cheap skillwire and some basic programs make even the sorriest cases usefull, though at a cost that make drones an alternative (drones work longer shifts, make les errors, won't steal stuff or assault someone while drunk...)

So you'll end up with those SINLESS used in the less visible parts : doing cleanup, hauling thing around, that sort of scut jobs who barely pays for subsitence-level food and a cardboard box under a bridge. Don't even think of medical assistance for the chemicals related health problems you're bound to get. It's not like there was a short supply of peoples like you afterall. Supply and demand is an harsh mistress.

Thou Shalt Not Get Caught is rule #1.

Dexter tells us so...

Oh, that rule is older than Dexter. Far, far older!

Yeah but the serial killer 'Hero' Is fun to quote...

First, just for the fact that most corporate employees must be registered in the corporation databases to keep track of their duty hours, qualifications, and an address to search if the security suspect them of stealing something. So, the corporation is going to issue them a SIN, even if they do not tell them or hand them a credstick.

Just because you have a SIN doesn't mean you have Corp citizenship. You're default SIN of your nation unless you apply (( or are born)) into Corp citizenship.

Thou shalt remember the Eleventh Commandment, and keep it Wholly. -Robert A. Heinlein, The Notebooks of Lazarus Long

The "System Identification Number" is an International/Intercorporate mandated, standardized identification system wholly supported by the CC and UN.

...

Yeah, I can't say the last two initials with a straight face either. It's designed to make people numbers to make them easier to track, for a large variety of reasons.

That's why a lot of proud SINless (Like Shadowrunners) proudly proclaim: "I AM NOT A NUMBER, I AM A FREE MAN!", without even knowing what they're quoting.

It's also the box The Accountant From Hell oh so badly wants to be back in.

As a side note.... Barcode tattoos are not advised... tried to get one this week. Seems they go on fine but in like 20 years they'll bleed together and look like a black brick. Pissed me off...

Laser-branded barcodes. A bit harder to read, but won't "Bleed".