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Fleshing out Humanis for a series of runs

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Dampfish

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« on: <05-08-17/0132:01> »
So, I've been taking my players through a campaign where the Humanis Policlub has been the main baddies/cannonfodder for most of it, and I haven't really made much effort to distinguish each encounter beyond being more or less normal-looking militia-types (but still racist assholes) apart from having Alamos 20k look like outright armored clansmen. I figured it wouldn't make much difference when seing the organization from the "outside," so to speak, but now I've come to a point where we're going to have to dive a little deeper into Humanis so I want to make them a little more multi-faceted.
But I need some help!

Short background: During a particularly pivotal run involving an assault on a Humanis compound, one of the players got to the VIP they were trying to extract before anyone else did. But instead of apprehending him or waiting for the others, he decided to help him escape instead. The player in question was growing tired of his character and was looking to retire him, so we discussed it and agreed that this would be an interesting way to do it. The large sum of money he was offered also helped, RP-wise.
Now the group is hell-bent on tracking down the character who betrayed them, but he is off playing bodyguard to a mid-level Humanis leader and they have no way of getting to him.
So I'm thinking they're going to have to infiltrate parts of Humanis in order to get close to him...

Here's where I need some help.
In my mind, at least, the only place where a prejudiced, racist or ultra-conservative mindset etc. could survive in the Sixth World is within organizations such as the Humanis Policlub. Therefore in my game, Humanis is more of a loose alliance between different political parties, activists, hate groups, lobbyists, religious organizations and so on. Groups which, although not necessarily under the Humanis umbrella, still associate with Humanis in some way and while they may still fight amongst themselves they at least have one goal in common and are united in their mutual hatred.
I'm thinking anything from relatively clean suburban, nuclear-family proponents (y'know, everyone should be a straight couple with 1.4 children and a white picket fence type-of-thing) somewhere in the middle, to radical everyone-who-isn't-human-must-die on one extreme, to ultra-conservative, almost Amish-like keep-to-the-old-ways types on the other extreme, and anything in between!

But I haven't really thought about it much further than that, and I'm also terrible at coming up with plausible-sounding names for things like this. So if you have any ideas for groups with different agendas within Humanis that the players can play off each other, or perhaps things they have to do that they'd rather not have, for people whom (while still racist dicks) aren't quite as bad as some of the others (lesser of two evils kind-of-thing) I would be tremendously grateful.


TL;DR - Need some help coming up with some plausible-sounding Humanis groups, y'all!


DISCLAIMER: I realise this could be a loaded topic, but I'm hoping to keep any actual political debate out of it and just get a good brainstorming session going.
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Sterling

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« Reply #1 on: <05-08-17/0805:43> »
Sparked by something I read a few years back, I created a "Humanis Youth" movement named the Purity Chapter.  On the face of it the organisation promotes abstinence and celibacy and is comprised of members drawn from High Schools, however the members are slowly indoctrinated to associate purity with humanity.

As the members get older and more indoctrinated, they are taken on protests, and then these slowly progress to violence.

Hope this is of use
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Dampfish

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« Reply #2 on: <05-08-17/0941:38> »
Yeah, I could see that happening...
I suppose their internal rhetoric would be along the lines that every metatype evolved out of humans (i.e. they are genetic mutations, or in other words "impurities" in the human genome) and how it wouldn't be too far fetched to advocate "Staying Pure" as a means of preserving the human race. And when it comes to the word Purity, the word Abstinence is usually not too far away.
The whole Youth thing just makes it that much more sinister, too.
It would probably line up pretty nicely with the ideals of some other groups as well (like fundamentalist Christian ones or something) and it could be used to make them appear to actually be the good guys to some people.
And it would be fairly easy to draw on my players understanding and assumptions of real-life "no sex before marriage"-movements as well.
Good suggestion! There's a lot to run with.


On another note, I did some further digging and found the Ulster Revolutionary Force, and in particular their UCAS arm; the Knights of the Red Branch.
I'm thinking of having them be straight-up Irish skinheads more or less, but with an exclusively anti-Elf bias.
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farothel

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« Reply #3 on: <05-08-17/1208:45> »
You can always look up current racist groupings and use those names.  They migth still be around and shifted from racism to specie-ism (or however you write it).  Groups like for instance the KKK can easily be adapted and used and it migth give your players something they recognise, yet is slightly different.
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Crimsondude

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« Reply #4 on: <05-08-17/1535:08> »
One thing that I think is valuable when looking at Humanis is that the image is typically white male Christian. You know, nostalgic Americana. But metaracism transcends traditional ethnic and racial groupings by a huge extent.

In blunt terms since I'm on a phone at lunch, there is going to be a shitload of resentment among traditional minorities at metahumans and meta rights activists because they are just another group whose existence and influence (BECAUSE meta groups are run by white Christian blah blah blah. Though led by women, Sons of Sauron excepted) and like how intersectionality was supposed to unite particularized groups instead it has just reduced the size and exploded the orthodoxy of narrower groups.

Basically, Humanis is going to be full of pissed off brown and black people. Throw in the fact that the Sixth World has adopted stereotypes of these races that are similar if not identical to those of actual ethnic and racial groups and that's just going to make it worse.

But tl;dr you now have new groups of people who want to jump the line and avoid all the discrimination and pain minorities have spent centuries of abuse enduring and there are going to be some very angry people resenting them for it, resenting the white people at the head of those movements, and one million percent ready to put these metahumans in their place by subtle and overt acts.

Tecumseh

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« Reply #5 on: <05-08-17/1856:05> »
I'm going to apologize in advance for going on a tangent first before addressing Dampfish's original question. This is more about alternative approaches to, mmm, less-inclusive organizations like Humanis.

When I GM, I play Humanis as a moderate policlub, leaving the explicit hatred and violence to other organizations like Alamos 20,000. I don't like it when Humanis is too openly racist, because that makes them too black and white and too easy to oppose. I like shades of grey, and for almost every organization - even Humanis - to have redeeming, or at least moderating, virtues. (Even insect spirits have mantid and spider spirits, after all.) I have Humanis take positions that sound reasonable and/or insidiously attractive. If I can get my players to stop and say, "Wait, did I just agree with Humanis?" then I feel like I'm doing a good job of creating a fictional world that's just as confusing and conflicted as our real one.

My Humanis propaganda is directed toward middle-class suburban moms, The Real Housewives of Renton, Auburn, and Snohomish. Not only are they demographically desirable, but they are respectable, and provide good political cover for when criminals start slandering you with the most outrageous lies. I make Humanis pro-human rather than anti-metahuman. When metahumans are discussed, it's mostly in affable terms of incompatible cultures, rather than genetic inferiority or race baiting. The general thrust is the separation of metas rather than the elimination of metas, all cloaked in the language of backhanded compliments. Things like:

- "Ork culture is so interesting and unique! They really need a society of their own in order to fully expresses themselves and reach their full potential."
- "Wouldn't dwarves and trolls would be happier and healthier in societies of their own that could be customized to their unique physiologies? That would allow them to capitalize on their distinctive physical gifts in an environment perfectly suited to their needs."
- "Elves are so pretty and charming! Their longevity, however, introduces complications that our legal system isn't fully capable of incorporating and representing equitably. It would be unfair to them if they were to live their lives under laws and customs that have been designed for human lifespans. They would really benefit from a society of their own that could be tailored to their unique gifts."

And so on. Arguments like these stress the Otherness of metas in a way that makes it seem like they would be better off and happier on their own. "Society isn't flexible enough to accommodate such drastically different needs, so it is in every race's best interest to have their own!" That makes the argument more palatable than emphasizing the threats that metas pose, which in turn gives cover to people who think of themselves as fair and reasonable instead of as racists. That's how you generate empathy with your goals, if not your underlying cause, and that's how you win.

Bringing it back to the current discussion
If Humanis has been your goons for a whole campaign then the entire brand has been tarnished beyond recovery. New organizational names could include things like:
- Friends of Humanity (or Friends of Metahumanity if you're being insidious)
- Daughters of Abel (the implication being that metahumans are the Sons of Cain)
- Universal Brotherhood

Actually, here's a fun game. Pick an adjective from column A and a noun from column B. Voila! Southern Poverty Law Center watchlist!

Adjective     Noun         
DivineAlliance
First   Breed
Forsaken   Brigade
Fraternal   Citizens
Holy   Front
Moral   Heritage
Neo   Identity
Noble   Justice
Patriotic   Majority
Sacred   Order
True   Storm

GloriousRuse

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« Reply #6 on: <05-08-17/2225:56> »
Ok well if we wanted to extrapolate from how most groundswell movements do it..know what? This is going to become a serial answer. Without further ado:

High Concept Elements

WHY Because you don't get to be the mayor of Seattle by screaming Klan chants. Unless in your world you do, but that is probably a Seattle 'Brownshirts meet an ever declining population of non-humans" world.

These guys are very, eminently, rational and moral. It is a common error to assume that people involved in some form of hatred are inherently dumb and amoral - even Al Qaeda and turn of the century Russian Revolutionaries have debated at great length who and what is an appropriate target, and for what ultimate ends, within a moral and political structure that fundamentally believes they are right. There is substantial, significant, scholarly work done by these guys. They are the intellectual heads and very often have PhDs and acdemic credentials from respected institutions - the current loudest voice in domestic supremacist movements has one from Duke I believe, and Sayyid Qutb (the basic ideological founder of modern Takfir Salafism) studied at Stanford. The products they make are slick, coherent, and usually with just one fundamental assumption made in their logic, air tight thereafter. The smaller the assumption, or the more supported it is (which, incidentally doesn't mean right - human confirmation bias means that if you were already a target for this stuff, then you were likely to discard contrary evidence; so long as examples or data are available, it does not matter if other examples or data disprove the thesis.), the cleaner and broader the appeal.

These guys are scary for three reasons:

1. Movements need leaders; the thinkers may not be them, but leaders inherently want to do more than just go beat up their neighbor. They have a vision for the future. And that vision and the moral reasoning behind it comes form the high concept guys. The new -ism in town was born in these guys books, articles, and speeches. Marx-ism starts with Marx for a reason.

2. Because they really are often quite smart and charismatic; more than one media type has figured they would be chewing up a rube easily and then been destroyed in a debate or found that the answers they got weren't a laughable stock portrait of "what we all know is wrong" but actually a fully fleshed and tested rational viewpoint delivered with professorial wit and skill...this won't change the mind of anyone who already KNOWS Humanis is wrong, but those people who maybe are vulnerable to the idea? All of a sudden they have a believable and compelling alternative narrative that they probably wouldn't reach on their own, but they can hook their minds on and backfill in the rationalization machine we call the human mind. And if they moderate that viewpoint one step or two, they can even present it sociably and not be ostracized.

3. Because, as tec pointed out, its not just trailer park klansmen. Its not even just soccer moms with Family Values. If you were to look at a variety of modern hate movements, you would find a disturbingly increasing number of middle and upper middle class members. Lawyers, merchants, programmers, business owners. Doctors. They may not come because they hate their neighbors, but because some event has happened where they have decided the system of world as it is no longer represents their values and interests and they need an alternative. Humanis provides it. Now, these guys won't sign up for "Jackboots for Jesus", but a slick, well presented series of intellectual arguments that is somewhat correspondingly more aligned with their world view or experiences? The day after a tax hike and a court ruling calling their parents bigots? Yeah, they might just find themselves reading a few books. And maybe even donating to a charity or a fundraiser. And you know, if you get five of them at a dinner party...well...now they aren't kooky at all, are they? Just one end of a political spectrum, really.

And that should terrify you. Because that is how legislators, judges, and executives get made inside a completely open and democratic system. Which SR is not.

Challenges for your Runners

Kill/Capture on these guys is likely to have a martyr effect. It may even legitimize their viewpoint in the general public.

They are unlikely to be directly out-social'd. Even a "win" in a public forum probably let them build legitimacy with a small target audience. Also, your 37 dice Pornomancer may look great on Trid, but are they well versed enough in the subject to take on someone who has spent their lifetime in political philosophy? Think Hollywood stars debating policy. It feels super win for the people who already agree, but generally the reinforce the idea that there are "Simplistic Idiot Views for The Public" and "Nuanced Views for Real People with Real Decisions". You do not want policy makers to start thinking that Humanis is in category number two, but that is the likely outcome.

They aren't, you know, in any way legally targetable. You are conducting criminal activity against a perfectly upstanding citizen with a public following and a media presence. Welcome to "the case where we had to assign more resources than we would have ever wanted to, because really, this looks bad"




« Last Edit: <05-08-17/2316:10> by GloriousRuse »

&#24525;

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« Reply #7 on: <05-08-17/2241:10> »
I'd suggest looking into Native American Nations Vol 1 because the main plot involves Jesse John going into left field and not only rejecting his Amerindian heritage and joining Humanis, but going so far as to "blow apart the NAN". Inside you'll find conflicting perspectives of members of Humanis. All-in-all a good read.

Dampfish

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« Reply #8 on: <05-08-17/2303:08> »
Tecumseh: No no, it's relevant, though. That's kinda what I had in mind when I wanted Humanis to be more of a loose alliance rather than one cohesive organization.
There's definitely room in there for less extreme groups or movements that could be considered more acceptable, that just happen to agree with some racial superiority groups on one single issue.
Like for example that metahumans need their own societies in order to flourish, which happens to align somewhat with Humanis' over-arching goal of segregating humans and metahumans, for instance. Similar end-goals but from drastically different directions, so it's more of a cooperation born out of convenience rather than matching ideologies.

I've mostly kept them in Seattle so far, so I think I could get away with saying it's just been one particular chapter or group of Humanis, and that they don't represent Humanis as a whole or something like that. So the brand might not be entirely beyond recovery.
And that could be a good way of explaining the sudden change in variety too, lore-wise.

Crimsondude: That's a good point actually. I've mostly just assumed that ethnicity-related racism would've fallen to the wayside in favour of species-related racism and that only the very ultra-conservative would still be holding on to the "old type" of racism. Maybe I should start looking into more real-world ethnic-minority groups and see what I can come up with (would the Black Panthers still be around?).
And I've been looking to blur the line a little between Humanis and organized crime, so this might be a good reason to start including some ethnic gangs too.

Farothel: Yes, I tend to rely a lot on real-world equivalents as a kind of shorthand for what I want to get across, then expand upon it. With echoes of the KKK in particular all over Humanis, just because it's easy and everyone immediately gets it (or sometimes even outright Nazi-symbolism if I want someone in particular to stand out as an even bigger asshole, though only sparingly).
The most overt of which would probably be Alamos 20k as KKK with guns and body armor, or Humanis mages conjuring spirits that look like ghosts of old-fashioned clansmen with swords and things.

EDIT (your reply came in while I was composing mine)

GloriousRuse: Basically, nobody thinks of themself as the bad guy.
I'm always striving to portray the world in shades of gray, and have tried to spread out the bigots in my game over as wide a societal spectrum as I can. One concrete example is that the VIP the player betrayed the group for was a high-ranking official inside Knight Errant, with direct ties to Brackhavens administration. And speaking of Brackhaven I have (hopefully) portrayed him as a less than scrupulous character (borrowing heavily from Trump actually, but that's a bit too close to real-world politics than I want to get in this thread).

忍: That brings up a good question, though. Considering how most of the NAN threw out the Anglos from their land, or lumped them together into their own "pinkskin" tribes, could there be a place for Amerind-based groups under the Humanis umbrella?
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GloriousRuse

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« Reply #9 on: <05-09-17/0013:06> »
Its more than "no one thinks of themselves as the bad guy", its really that the entire environment has shifted. You work on the incredibly American, incredibly Western Democratic, basic idea that rolling tolerance is the inevitable order of things and only ultra-consevrative prejudiced types could ever join a Humanis. The fundamental assumption if we all just em,brace diversity, we get richer, better, etc. And understandably - this concept has made western state some of the most powerful and richest in the world. It is a really good idea. It is, notably, key to sustaining the long term viability of a state when it is not homogeneously populated.

That has a requirement though - the state has to be the law maker, the one that owns legitimate violence, guarantees the peace, and more or less hashes out an acceptable social contract so that it doesn't have to keep the peace too often. In return you can safely say things like "I am an American first, and it doesn't matter that bob is not like me." Tolerance isn't just safe for you because the state guarantees it, you are free to reap its benefits because of that safety.

In shadowrun, the state has lost its monopoly on violence and on the social contract. I mean, hell, its a core gameplay concept that companies wage secret wars with heavily armed mercenaries while gangs wielding assault rifles are a danger to every day citizens on certain highways. Now, the vast majority of human pre-state history, and indeed the current state of the world in places like Africa, the Balkans, etc tells us that when the State is not bring order through violence, people very rapidly have decide for themselves who is "Us" and who is "Them." Those who get it wrong usually suffer a lot of life unpleasantness, including its rapid conclusion. In perhaps the least surprising turn of events ever, "Us" tends to be people who look like you, speak like you, think like you, and have at least some visible cooperative survival interest with you. The security dilemma ensures that trusting "Them" ain't gonna happen any time soon.

In a world like that, it isn't crazy ultras who are the "ists". Its crazy outliers who are the tolerant. Seattle 2075 hasn't gotten all the way there yet...but it's sliding in that direction with every gang, every crime syndicate, every shadowrun, every corp war, every time the police can't maintain order, every time a big national army finds itself unable to impose its will. And clubs like Humanis are fighting to make sure its their "Us" you sign up for. That's why concepts matter, not just because 'i wann be a good guy"


 

Dampfish

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« Reply #10 on: <05-09-17/0125:53> »
Yes, sure, the governments in Shadowrun are not even close to what they are now in real life, but in their abscence corporations have stepped in to pick up the slack and twist it to suit their own ends. Many roles that used to be filled by governments are now filled by corporations, so the power vacuum that would have to exist in order for what you describe to be the common everyday life just isn't there (I'm not saying it doesn't happen, because it does, but it's just not as prevalent). Because chaos (which is what that would ultimately lead to) is not in the corporations best interests. So even if we don't have governments we can still rely on the corporations to keep some semblance of peace.
I've always adopted the position that the general view, held by most ordinary people outside of Humanis, is more like that of the Western Democratic idea and that the "threat" of non-humans, technomancers and magicians toppling that delicate balance is probably the main aggregate behind the rapid rise in Humanis-like organizations. But that fear is born from misunderstanding or a lack of desire to understand, which you would need to have a racist, ultra-conservative etc. mindset in order to be.
That's why I said that those kinds of mindsets would probably only survive in such circumstances.
(Not to start an argument or anything. You have some good points.)

That's part of why I want to make Humanis a bit broader, as a sort of counterpoint to that almost.
I dunno, the world in my game is perhaps less anarchic than it should be.

But to bring it back to a more pragmatic level, I'm interested to hear in a more concrete way how you yourself would represent these things in the game world?
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GloriousRuse

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« Reply #11 on: <05-09-17/0335:58> »
Ok, so in abstract stuff and gameplay stuff, I'll go gameplay first:

Gameplay: your runners infilitrate Humanis. And they find the relatively dull workings of a minority political party. There is no super secret source of funding; there's campaign donations, some from corps, some large private investors, a bunch of twenty yen donations from people who get a stylized "i'm with Humanis" button back. Because, in the sixth world, these guys aren't any more whacko than a Sanders supporter. Their elaborate super secret plan for Seattle? Continue to influence the city council and mayor, maybe even hold some seats, and promote/support Pro-Human legislation. Don't give your players some super rewarding target to hit, because there isn't one. There's maybe some lobbyists, some PR kids, some town hall meetings that your middle school teacher goes to when shes feeling politically active.

Remember, these guys helped put Brackhaven in office - they are large enough to be normal. They don't need to burn a cross on your yard; they have a zoning committee for that, and I guarantee there are 50 good reasons for that zoning change beyond "I don't like orcs." If you really want to put the boot in, have your players work hard to dump the paydata on something, expecting ti to be a public outcry - and then have all the talking heads and politicans from both sides of the aisle agree on open trid that this is actually a pretty solid plan, and might really do some good. There is not really much of a reason to have super secret night of rage 2076 plans when you can do it all in the open.

Have some of your contacts uneasy about dealing with your runners after so many anti-Humanis runs. You are, after all, effective attacking a mainstream political party. "Hey men, yeah, I sell you guns and you murder people for biz, and that's ok because thems the rules of the game.But there's a line between "runner" and "terrorist" that maybe isn't so clear and word on the street is you might be on the wrong side of it. I pay the right bribes to the right people, and runners quietly go fuck up some corp drek in a private war, no one cares. Same corp probably sends a team to me for guns going the other way. Hell, same team might run aginst that corp tomorrow.  My name starts getting associated with "terrorists" who keep attacking policlubs because of its "moral?" All of a sudden biz isn't so good and I fall into the liability column. So yeah, you're gonna have to cool off a bit before I deal with you."

Heavens help you if your runners use violence. One trid of a snarling trog sammy gunning down humans - licensed private security contractors in a very dangerous world! - or an elven mage using magic, and you just recruited more members to the Policlub than you ever could have hoped to cut out through your run. And, incidentally, totally justified all those "private security contractors" they keep around. Can't you see that there are misguided meta racists out there who will resort to violence because of an opposing political view? These are definitely NOT brownshirts, they're needed security!.

If they do find some link between Humanis and Jackboots for Jesus? Turn those tolerance cannons around. How dare they assume that a few Violent Extremists, bad apples really, represent the entirety of a legitimate political movement. You bigots. That should be the "educated society" response to most smear efforts. The appropriate uneducated, of course, will happily agree that humanis are shitheads. That's why their in Sons of Sauron! We can only handle the humans through violence, am I right?

Lets see..other good events to pull...have your players cause a race riot by being too violent and the story of seven dead humans, killed by trogs (facts optional) for NO REASON! (again, facts irrelevant) gets out. Leave a couple dozen dead, a few hundred injured, and a barren;s community last public school burned down. In the ensuring racial tension, everything the players are working for is set back several steps and humanis comes out as a force for moderation, which then boosts their poll ratings.


Abstract Stuff: On the abstract, fear is just as often based on competition for scare opportunity/resources, conflicting ideology, etc.The fear was/is still there. Understanding is a way to avoid conflict, but there are several significant and fundamental reasons why you can hate and fear even that which is understood. Positional and interest differences, fundamentally non-compatible ideologies, who determines the norms and values you live by,  so forth and so on. We mostly view these as "State" issues and not "people" issues - people issues we say are just a product of misunderstanding because those big things are taken care of by states. The relationship of interests, resources, and values has, for most of the western world in recent history, been a state one.

In a sixth world where the state is on its way out, those fundamental fears are very rapidly becoming people issues, "us"/Them" issues. Next thing you know, murdering the shit out of your Tutsi neighbor because he's non-christian and therefore can't be trusted - indeed, is probably planning to enslave you and your hutu friends - and you know, incidentally, may be sitting on some pretty good grazing land, starts to make a lot of sense.









MDMann

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« Reply #12 on: <05-09-17/0512:06> »
Lots to add.

First. Don't forget the opportunists. They're not even slightly racist or bigoted. They're just immoral. They join an organisation because they see an opportunity. The leadership even likes them, they may be them, because they support or manipulate the groups goals to other ends and help the group by helping themselves. Then bring it home by making them look a lot like shadowrunners.

Second. Take a mainstream political party. Not one of the extremes and look at its opposing wings and viewpoints. They all have a fringe. Or several. They're coalitions of  groups. There are reasonable people on every wing. And nut jobs on even then most mainstream ones. Plus entryists. Backroom deals.

Three. Take two opposing campaign's. Black lives matter and blue lives matter. They've both got valid points. They've both got extremists and nut jobs.

Forth. Not every member will agree with all things the group stands for, but they agree with enough to join anyway or don't care too much about what they disagree on.

Fifth. People's views change. What about those with second thoughts, those who want out but have gone too far? They needn't be sympathetic, though they could be, they might think the group just a bit too much.

Sixth. Don't forget snitches, grasses, spies, government agencies, rival organisations and undercover reporters who may have also infiltrated the group. Some may care. Others may see doing this as a thrill or just a job. No personal opinion.

Dampfish

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« Reply #13 on: <05-09-17/0526:17> »
GloriousRuse: Funny thing, they almost did actually cause a riot once...
Sidenote but, I've borrowed bits and pieces from the Buried Underground plotline from Missions a couple of seasons back for the campaign (we're playing in 2072-ish) and improvise the rest, focusing more on the outcome of the players actions but with an overall plot to fall back on when necessary.
There's one mission in there were they have to make a politician appear at a political rally against his will. Anyway, someone (not them) fired off a shot and the players all still had their weapons on them (because they'd managed to sneak in and bypassed all the checkpoints) and one of them wasn't very good at hiding theirs and nearly took the blame for it. She was an ork...

But usually they're pretty good at avoiding violence, and often actively plan against it, so I think it'll be hard to catch them doing something rash like that.
And I meant more like things that could happen during or after they'd infiltrated, if someone had any really good suggestions about that.
Also, I feel like we're getting off topic a little bit.

MDMann: Oh, snitches and undercover stuff could make things interesting!
And funny you should mention BLM. As I said to Ruse above in this post, I've been borrowing from the Buried Underground plot and have basically played the ORC more or less like that, now that I think about it...
A lot of good ideas there. I'm gonna have to think about a few of them.

---

Anyway, I've been toying with the idea of there being an upcoming symposium or conference or something where all the groups within the Humanis alliance will meet. Like a G20 summit but for racists, or something. It'll be a chance to dip our toes outside of Seattle too. I'm leaning towards somewhere in the CAS, maybe New Orleans (just 'cause it's a cool place) but haven't decided yet.
The details doesn't really matter too much; it will just be a way of giving a time and a place to my players where they know for sure that the character who betrayed them is going to be. But in order to even get there they would have to infiltrate one of the parties or groups who are going.
That's where I would really like some help coming up with possible groups that'll be at the meeting.

I'm thinking that while the top brass and representatives from each group are off somewhere safe discussing whatever it is they're discussing, there will also be a lot of just regular members seeing this as a chance to meet and greet (and drink and fight) with like-minded people.
So where the normal "footsoldiers" (for lack of a better word) are meeting up, and where the players will be, it'll be more along the lines of Burning Man or something similar. So I'd like to come up with some groups I could throw in there that would really stand out, just to add some flavour to it.
"It's not my fault if you don't understand what I'm saying."

GloriousRuse

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« Reply #14 on: <05-09-17/1213:27> »
Well, as some character prompts you might meet:

"Why did YOU Join Humanis?"

"It was a bad year on the farm, and the tractor broke right before planting. The Human Small Farmers Relief Association was there when no one else was. Humanis had my back, and since then, I've had theirs."

"I saw this expose on how Elven special interest groups on the 'trix...you would not, like, believe the stuff they do. Someone's gotta represent the real people, the majority. That's Humanis."

"I was a cop for twenty years. I only fired my weapon three times. All three of them involved violent crimes by orcs. Humanis gets it."

"I worked my ass off for five years to own a Stuffer Shack. I still own it. A troll two blocks over got a special small business loan just because he was a troll, and owns a stuffer shack. How is that fair? I wish we didn't need a Humanis, but with special privileges being given out like that, humans need someone to look out for them."

"Be honest? They had an internship open and I majored in poli-sci. Once I saw what they were doing, I was like "Yeah, I'm doing some good in the world"."

"The Ancients killed my kid. For fucking laughs. Know what the cops did? Nothing. Fuck that; I'm fighting back."

"If you had asked me when I was clerking, or even working as a junior associate, I would have never thought I'd join Humanis. Now that I'm a partner, I deal with people in D.C. a lot. It is amazing, just amazing, how many people really think that if you just raise taxes and throw it at the orcs then all the social problems will be solved. It won't. Humanis helps stop people - usually academics - from using the government to rob me and then throw my money down a black hole."

"I work hard. Pay my union dues. Pay my taxes. Deal with the bull-drek regulations. Those trogs don't even have the basic dignity to ask for a living wage - they just sell themselves for whatever they can grub from the corps. Of course the corps hire them; how am I supposed to compete when the other guy thinks squatting in a tunnel while his three kids eat trash is an acceptable lifestyle? Someone has to stand for me."

"This land was founded by humans; our constitution was written by humans, with human values. For humans. Humanis gets it"

"The trogs are outbreeding us, the elves are busy magic-ing and buying the government. Seducing humans away from other humans. In the long term its us or its them."

"So, I was on campus, and there's like a million student groups right? I mean everyone; the orcs get a group, the trolls get a group, the elves get a group, the pixies have a Capella choir...and I'm like, wait, everyone else not only gets a group, but its like, super congratulated and encouraged and cultural? But a human group is racist? Man, that's when my eyes opened..."

"I live literally twenty miles away from a country that says "if you aren't elven, we don't want you as a citizen." Trust me, on the frontlines it is VERY clear why we need a Humanis."

"Well, my husband joined, and all the ladies were super nice. They were good people."

"My kid was a great baseball player. Really had an arm you know? Thought he was gonna be the first one in the family to go to college. 50 years ago, he woulda been a star. Today,  they draft some orc. You know what? He went to college anyhow. You know why? Cause Humanis helped us apply for some other scholarships we woulda never known about. "

"Officially? For the good of humanity and all that. Really? There are over 150 political appointee positions in my city, and Humanis is my best ticket in. Everyone else is bringing in cronies with thirty years of favors"

"The Church looks out for Christians. The Association for Orcish Advancement looks out for Orcs. The fraternal order of Firefighters takes care of Firemen. Humanis looks out for Humans. I'm a Human. Pretty easy."

"Half of my teachers were unpaid Humanis volunteers."

"Well, I went to Human Day School. I mean, we had all sorts of non-human teachers, right? If you were a great elven physics teacher, you taught physics. One of our ethics teachers was a troll. We were the same as any other school, you just had to take a few classes on human culture, traditions, and history. Its natural for a people to want to celebrate their heritage, their traditions - Humanis has people who think like that."

"I was in a bad place. Hitting the bottle hard. Hitting other stuff harder. Humanis got me off the street, and showed me the power of a strong moral founding and discipline. Now I do work that gives me dignity and helps people like me."

"So, this chick was smoking hot. I went with her to a rally because I thought it might get her pants off faster. Well, it didn't work out, but a lot of what they said there made sense..."

"I've never been political. I just like being part of the Rotary. Humanis is our main sponsor."

"People are always going on about "who's gonna help the orcs to make sure there are more orc doctors" or "its so unfair that this pixie had to use a public restroom with a minotaur in it - the disgrace!" I look around, i look around and they don't fucking get it. Half the people here don't have jobs, every family has someone who is on drugs, single parents on every block are forced to choose between parenting their kids or trying to feed them...I don't give a FUCK who's gonna help the orcs become doctors. I wanna know who's gonna help ME'
« Last Edit: <05-09-17/2018:42> by GloriousRuse »