New Religions

[gord44]

did someone mention Shadowrun!? Oh man that was my favourite RPG ever.

 

[BaconWizard]

did someone mention Shadowrun!? Oh man that was my favourite RPG ever.

I remember it well!

 

[Zoness]

did someone mention Shadowrun!? Oh man that was my favourite RPG ever.

I remember it well!

Be still my heart. Other Shadowrun fans!

 

[gord44]

hoi chummer.

 

[Jane_the_Bane]

I'm still an active Shadowrun player. The fifth edition rocks!

 

[Eudaimonist]

did someone mention Shadowrun!? Oh man that was my favourite RPG ever.

I've played it once or twice. I was never really into the cyberpunk genre, so I didn't get into the game further.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[gord44]

I've played it once or twice. I was never really into the cyberpunk genre, so I didn't get into the game further.


eudaimonia,

Mark

speaking of 'Cyberpunk', that was the RPG I switched to after Shadowrun. I always like the guns, hacking and cyberware of Shadowrun but wasn't a fan of the magic. So when I discovered Cyberpunk 2020, I found I enjoyed it alot more for a while except Cyberpunk had some really convoluted combat rules. In the end I will say Shadowrun is my favourite though.

 

[gord44]

I'm still an active Shadowrun player. The fifth edition rocks!

Impressive!

I haven't played a tapletop RPG for probably 15+ years.

I was normally the GM. What kinda characters did/do you roll with Jane? My favorite character was a courier. Kinda based off of Johnny Mneumonic. When people didn't trust their data to be moved on the matrix they would hire my character. He drove a Ford Americar and carrried an Ares Crusader machine pistol and a Mossberg shotgun in the trunk of the Ford.

 

[Jane_the_Bane]

My favourite Shadowrun character was a feisty orc-girl called (wait for it) Jane the Bane, hence my screen name around here.

She went through several different iterations throughout the years, serving in several different capacities but a few constants remained: an extended family (with lots of older brothers), an almost human appearance (earning her lots of derision from the same), a quick temper, and a way with words. She could talk herself out of almost any situation, and loved fast cars.

 

[Zoness]

That's legit, Jane. I always wondered about your screen name. I'm just starting to really saturate myself in the world of Shadowrun. I have the Sixth World Almanac, Core Rulebook and Corporate Guide. Great reading material. I've got a couple of character concepts in the works. My favorite is a young, awkward non-meta hacker kid who tries to be tough and underground while in reality belonging to the upper class. He likes to be rebellious and is a bit of an eco-terrorist. I'm pumped to play him alongside a character that my friend is drafting.

Gord, I might have to look at Cyberpunk 2020. I love Shadowrun but that might give a more 'pure' Cyberpunk experience. Something equally up my alley.

 

[Jane_the_Bane]

My favourite SciFi-themed RPG to date is "Eclipse Phase", a post-apocalyptic, trans-humanist scenario that incorporates some of the best aspects from all the games I love:

social criticism á la Cyberpunk.
Psychological horror á la World of Darkness.
"Cosmic" horror á la Cthulhu.
Space-operatic tones á la Star Wars, etc.

In spite of this broad scope (and the various influences that shaped it), it's quite unique, and has a very distinctive feel to it.

 

[Zoness]

My favourite SciFi-themed RPG to date is "Eclipse Phase", a post-apocalyptic, trans-humanist scenario that incorporates some of the best aspects from all the games I love:

social criticism á la Cyberpunk.
Psychological horror á la World of Darkness.
"Cosmic" horror á la Cthulhu.
Space-operatic tones á la Star Wars, etc.

In spite of this broad scope (and the various influences that shaped it), it's quite unique, and has a very distinctive feel to it.

That's really interesting, I've seen the Eclipse Phase core book on shelves at my local gaming store and I've thought about picking it up so that motivates me more to do so.

 

[Jane_the_Bane]

In Eclipse Phase, Earth is a wasteland due to a devastating world war that gave birth to almost godlike post-singularity AIs. The scant remains of mankind and other sapient descendants of the blue planet are spread out across the solar system, and fall into two (or three) major power blocks: the Planetary Consortium (think: Shadowrun's megacorporations) in the Inner System, the Jupiter Junta (a technophobic military dictatorship), and the Anarchist Alliance of the outer system (which, contrary to its name, also incorporates The direct (socialist) democracy of Titan, the anarcho-capitalists of Extropia and many others).

The default setting sees players in the role of agents in service of "Firewall", a secret organization devoted to mankind's survival and the protection against exo-threats.

 

[Eudaimonist]

Eclipse Phase sounds interesting. Extropia sounds like a direct reference to the Extropian transhumanist group that I participated in long ago. (Not to be confused with Extropism, which was a later offshoot.) Back in the early days of the group (when I was there), it was solidly anarcho-capitalist. That changed after the group had ballooned in size.

On a different note, I've started running a new campaign that will alternate between two different systems and two different sets of characters. One system is Call of Cthulhu, and the other is Call of Catthulhu. The Call of Cthulhu player characters are human beings, of course. The Call of Catthulhu player characters are cats. Each player plays one human being and one cat, though not at the same time. The human characters and cat characters must work together to save the town of Arkham, and perhaps the world, from the encroachment of an ancient god-like being.

It might sound like a strange idea to alternate between two systems, but so far it works.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[Jane_the_Bane]

Eclipse Phase sounds interesting. Extropia sounds like a direct reference to the Extropian transhumanist group that I participated in long ago. (Not to be confused with Extropism, which was a later offshoot.) Back in the early days of the group (when I was there), it was solidly anarcho-capitalist. That changed after the group had ballooned in size.

Yes, that is exactly what is referenced there. It's an anarcho-capitalist space station with an "anything goes"-ethos, constituting a bridge between the inner and outer system cultures.
To me, it's also a nightmarish place, where any sort of help or cooperation is only offered to those who can pay for it and sign contracts with private companies offering relevant services.

I'd feel considerably more at home on Locus, the anarchist-proper space station; or potentially the Scandinavian-style direct democracy of Titan if I wanted to stay on somewhat familiar territory.

 

[Eudaimonist]

Yes, that is exactly what is referenced there. It's an anarcho-capitalist space station with an "anything goes"-ethos, constituting a bridge between the inner and outer system cultures.
To me, it's also a nightmarish place, where any sort of help or cooperation is only offered to those who can pay for it and sign contracts with private companies offering relevant services.

In other words, it's a distortion of Extropian ideals by writers who hate libertarian politics. I've known Extropians, and they aren't opposed to freely given help or cooperation. I doubt that an Extropian society would be especially less charitable than any other.

Okay, nevermind. If that is what I can expect from that game, I'm certainly not going to play it.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[Jane_the_Bane]

In other words, it's a distortion of Extropian ideals by writers who hate libertarian politics. I've known Extropians, and they aren't opposed to freely given help or cooperation. I doubt that an Extropian society would be especially less charitable than any other.

Okay, nevermind. If that is what I can expect from that game, I'm certainly not going to play it.

Actually, several of the game's creators are Extropian transhumanists, and so are many of the contributing players who keep on shaping the in-game universe, and the official descriptions of the place aren't as unfavourable as mine.
It's possible that my intense dislike for right-libertarianism and variations thereof has caused me to describe the place as worse than it is, but what I do remember is that you are expected to sign contracts with private companies if you want to receive any sort of security, health care, or other amenities.

Here's the link to a Wiki that describes it in much more favourable terms: http://eclipse-phase.wikispaces.com/Extropia

Of course, there *are* the Pits, where those who've fallen through the cracks without any social safety net end up. But that's just a realistic extrapolation of what would happen in a strictly meritocratic anarcho-capitalist society. If you cannot pay, don't expect anything in return. For that would be theft.

 

[Eudaimonist]

Actually, several of the game's creators are Extropian transhumanists, and so are many of the contributing players who keep on shaping the in-game universe, and the official descriptions of the place aren't as unfavourable as mine.

Ah, okay. Then I might give it a chance.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[Zoness]

I think its political systems are interesting but I'd have to study them more to know where my character would be comfortable. I'm reading into it now!

 

[Zoness]

Speaking of New Religions and Eclipse Phase; do any of you see Transhumanism becoming the wave of the future? I think it might implicitly as humanity moves towards greater longevity and knowledge but I don't imagine everyone makes it their end goal and ideology in the fashion of a religion.