[K5pbem] My Thoughts On Restarting the K5 PBEM

[Rob Rutherford]

On 11/22/05, Mike Surbrook <susano at guisarme.net> wrote:
>
> Let's presume it's 2039.
>
> 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).


Kami back in the Zone, did I miss something?

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").


I would suspect Marta still isn't showing much if anyting in the way of
aging. Hormone therapy might be available, since the rich execs who control
the money, and are also too old to have gotten the upgrades, would be
demanding it.

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.


Making the world of K5 a little bit brighter.

> 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?
>
>
It would be interesting to have rogue geneticists starting to create
non-corporate espers. They would probably even try to start trying to modify
the upgrade process to give the esper gene[s] to people who weren't born
with the gift.

There's probably a stronger underground railroad for runaway espers and
synthetics. Synthetics that aren't made in corporate labs, but basements in
the other zones.

Don't we need an expanded weapons catalog so our characters can buy new
toys? :-)

Do we want the corps to be stronger, weaker or remain the same.

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