[K5pbem] My Thoughts On Restarting the K5 PBEM

[Mike Surbrook]

Let's presume it's 2039.

What has changed?

Well, Jinsei has had 5 years to pacify the Zone. I'd like to see what Max 
has to say about that. Based on the end results, it is likey most, if not 
all, of the old Zone NPCs are dead. This includes Ayane and Andre, Nami, 
Gordon, Sylvie, and so on. A very few may have escaped -- Tetsutenshi is 
one possibility, but I doubt she'd return to Hong Kong.

On the PC side, Shoko may have succumbed to biological breakdown, since 
she's going on what now? 8? (This presumes replicated humans have short 
life-spans ala "Blade Runner" -- I do think some have shorter life spans 
than normal, if only because of such things as the hyper-iummune systems 
and the like and to keep them managable). Of course, upgrades have the 
same and live to be around 200... so planned obselesence is probably a 
better explination.

Shion & Aoi are probably no longer partners, unless Kami never made it 
back out of the Zone, then you never know. By the same token, Aoi & Shion 
are both 5 years older, and if Aoi isn't a genetic upgrade, that 5 years 
might start to show. Shion, OTOH, still looks the same, which some may 
find more than a little annoying (for the record, Shion is 37 at this 
point and doesn't look a day over 25).

Marta is 35 and is starting to show her age to an extent (but as she works 
out on a regular basis, it's not that bad). Ling Ling is in her early 40s 
and doesn't seem to have changed much -- and this is probably when many 
upgrades start to wonder about the whole aging process -- are they 
immortal??? (Testing should show greatly reduced aging, but not 
immortality.) Marta & Ling Ling have been married for 5 years now, and if 
we go with one possible future, have 5 more years before Marta is killed 
by a Triad hit squad (said Triad is then visited by a certain white-haired 
esper weapon who then activates the "nuclear option").

Oh, and Ran is still alive (one presumes), provided he wasn't blasted into 
a smear by Jinsei somehow. (Nightsky Dragons armed with WP rockets, napalm 
bombs, ion cannon, microwave projectors, and lasers?) If alive, he's gone 
missing, and no one knows where he is. Joy.

The Zone is now a vast industrial park, or a Jinsei super-arcology in 
progress.

Sarah J Ferrari is still alive and still looking just the same. She's 
about 30 now.

One presumes that Sandra and David are still together. In fact, David 
might be more "combat capable" and the pair might work togehter as 
free-lance black ops team. One street sam, one decker, reasonable rates.

Kitten and Shina haven't changed -- Kitten is a cyborg, Shina an upgrade, 
so there you have it.

Other HK NPCs never really showed up much, so can still be used as 
written with no real changes..

Oh, if you are going to keep your PC, consider how time has changed the 
character. If an esper, do they have better (or worse) control? New 
powers? If a street sam, new wire? New toys? The biggest thing to consider 
is new skill and new contacts. The latter is important, actually, and 
Sandra, for example, could be heavily revised to reflect 5 years in HK -- 
a AK or two, a CK: Hong Kong, a KS: HK Underworld, some Chinese, and some 
contacts -- everyone from Ling Ling to Rinn-fa to anyone else Alex 
fancies.

Changes in technology and politics are not all that important. Why? Well, 
we didn't do much with it at the time, so it's not like a lot of stuff was 
set in stone. Africa is (or was) a charnel house, China is in anarchy 
and/or sub-divided into smaller warring states, and so on.

New characters can start fresh of course.

Oh, something to keep in mind for new PCs -- the whole idea of campaign 
themes. KAZEI 5 has two major ones:

1) Humanity: "What does it mean to be 'human'?" Cyborgs, cybernetics, 
upgrades, repliacted humans.... will the real "human" please stand up? As 
seen in "Ghost In The Shell," "Silent Mobius" (to an extent), and "Blade 
Runner," the question what makes someone "human" is under examination.

2) Esper Arms Race: Espers are here to stay. They have been around in 
force for well over 40 years or more, and they aren't going to go away. 
Companies want them, as guards, as weapons, as deterrents. They are K5's 
answer to the nuclear arms race, with people instead of missiles.

And, let's not forget:

3) Futureshock: This is a common cyberpunk theme -- also known as 
"information overload." Things are changing too fast for anyone to really 
be able to stay on top -- there are replicated humans, espers, cyborgs, 
the internet, orbital habitats, and what have you -- how does one cope?

Any comments?

-- 
Michael Surbrook
susano at guisarme . net http://surbrook.devermore.net/index/
If violence isn't the answer then I don't understand the question