[K5pbem] My Thoughts On Restarting the K5 PBEM

[Michael Surbrook]

On Nov 22, 2005, at 5:20 PM, Mathieu Roy wrote:

> --- Mike Surbrook <susano at guisarme.net> wrote:
>> 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.
>
> I dunno about that. Last we saw, though, Jinsei wasn't precisely  
> winning the
> ground war. They'd resorted to carpet-bombing the place, a gesture  
> that seemed
> unlikely to be met with the same casual disinterest from the rest  
> of the world.
> And it's not like the Zoners were entirely defenseless against  
> that, either.

Although considering the general (assumed) temperament of the rest of  
the world, pacification though superior firepower may be greeted with  
nods of acceptance. And while Jinsei wasn't winning per se, they  
weren't losing either. It was sort of like Iraq, actually, except  
there was less of an influx of new "insurgents."

> I really think the one most annoying point about putting the game  
> on hiatus
> when we did was that we left the whole Jinsei war unresolved  
> (assuming the
> outcome wasn't preordained).

One possible out come was Jinsei being forced to pull out when it  
became apparent other corporation were sneaking their own troops in  
for live-fire combat trials and/or a chance to force Jinsei to commit  
more material in NY and less elsewhere. Bringing new meaning to "cut- 
throat" business practices, neh?

> And extreme measures might lead to extreme counterattacks. A lot of  
> the Zone
> people have excellent connections with capable operatives, some of  
> which are
> unburdened by morals.

Very true.

> It's entirely possible the outcome of the Jinsei war could become a  
> united Zero
> Zone population as a (mostly) singular force replacing the bunch of
> individualistic independents that used to live there; something  
> that would be a
> lot more troublesome to deal with for all involved.

Another independent "nation"? Or an autonomous zone? The Neo York  
Autonomous Zone?

>> 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.
>
> Of course, given the level of medical technology available in the  
> K5 universe,
> "5 years older" might not mean the same thing there as it does  
> here... all
> depending on your means.

Point. I hadn't thought of that, but then I don't think in that  
direction, either. On the other hand, a lot of Zone inhabitants don't  
(and won't) have access to that sort of medical assistance.

>> Oh, and Ran is still alive (one presumes), provided he wasn't
>> blasted into a smear by Jinsei somehow.
>
> Of course, he might have blasted Jinsei into a smear too. ;)

I had an mental image of Shion going up against a Nightsky Dragon,  
and a sane Ran helping.

Shion: Gunkoku was very pleased. As my bank account shows.

>> The Zone is now a vast industrial park, or a Jinsei
>> super-arcology in progress.
>
> So why did they go THERE, precisely? This I could never figure out,  
> and it
> seemed they went to a huge lot of trouble for a patch of land,  
> probably more
> than it was worth -- not something the shareholders would  
> appreciate...

Ask Max. I figured the end result would be a Jinsei corporate state.  
And, to be honest, the land is worth plenty, simply because of its  
location, but development has been put off so long, no one knows how  
or where to start.

>> One street sam, one decker, reasonable rates.
>
> On a semi-unrelated note about deckers -- maybe the computer tech  
> base could
> use to be revisited? The whole "virtual reality hacking" thing is a  
> staple of
> the genre, but it's neither very realistic (IMHO) nor easily  
> workable in a RPG
> where most of the characters are more physical in nature.

I am open to suggestions. My current image of the next is loosely  
based off of stuff seen in "GITS", "Silent Mobius", and parts of  
"Johnny Mnemonic". I have also thought about "The Matrix" for ideas  
on next "hacking" as well as "Virtual Light."

>> 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.
>
> When last we saw her Raven and Lora had rescued an entire creche of  
> budding
> espers. 5 years later most of them would be adult, or close to it.

Somewhere in the 17-22 range IIRC.

> I'm still debating what to do with Raven, BTW. Not that I don't  
> like her (I do,
> a lot) but I have other concepts brewing in the back of my mind.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Surbrook
susano at guisarme . net http://surbrook.devermore.net/index/index.html

"Put it this way -- remember Gozer?  This guy makes Gozer look like  
Little Mary Sunshine."

Egon, from "The Real Ghostbusters" episode "Collect-Call of Cthulhu"