[K5pbem] My Thoughts On Restarting the K5 PBEM

[Michael Surbrook]

On Nov 22, 2005, at 6:38 PM, Rob Rutherford wrote:

> 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?

Maybe I did.

>  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.

True. And she might go for it. She's got enough cyber.... unless, of  
course, all that wire has made any more adjustments Not A Good Idea..

> 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.

Yeah, that's been a sub-plot here and there.

> 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.

The corps are strong in HK, if anything. It's what kept China from  
devouring HK when things went bad.

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

"Personally, I'm looking forward to the return to North America of  
human-sacrifice Aztec basketball. If players knew their still-beating  
hearts were going to be ripped out and served to the war god at the  
end of the NBA finals, I think we'd see some *real* players out there."