[K5pbem] My Thoughts On Restarting the K5 PBEM

[Greg Ewing]

Just thoughts...  
If Marta starts either having problems keeping up with modern enhanced people or if her cybernetics start breaking down, she has a couple of options. 
 
Theoretically,
 
Marta could go for a full body replacement, Given her nature, probably a soft body.
 
OR even a synthetically generated body.  
 
just nearly random thoughts. 

________________________________

From: k5pbem-bounces at devermore.net on behalf of Michael Surbrook
Sent: Tue 11/22/2005 17:26
To: k5pbem at devermore.net
Subject: Re: [K5pbem] My Thoughts On Restarting the K5 PBEM




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."


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