Shadowrun
Shadowrun Play => Gamemasters' Lounge => Topic started by: HarshRhettoric on <04-24-14/1031:34>
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I've been playing this game for a long time, and as I get older, I find that the games I run tend to be more detailed in terms of scene and background, giving players the maximum opportunity to explore their characters. To this end, I was sitting in the bathtub reading my Shadowrun 5th ed book (it's how I keep my players from overborrowing it) and I was particularly interested in the lore where it describes sex in 2070.
Except it doesn't. Well, only in the broadest terms.
My table consists entirely of legal adults, and I want to take the generally rising level of sexual tolerance in today's world forward into one where governments have less power to restrict and more people can dictate markets with their credsticks. While corporations undoubtedly police internally for unapproved deviance, they would certainly not let an untapped market escape them. That said, I think the world of 0f 2070 is about as sexually liberated as technology allows.
I want to portray this to my characters as an everyday thing--something so pervasive, it's normal. While it won't be the center of the plot, I would like to be able to drop in some ready-made window dressing to make my players go 'huh.'
Moving the timeline forward: these are some current fetish/sexual/social trends that I thought of just off the top of my head, and I would ask the community to (tastefully) add anything they might have thought of.
Tame stuff: male and female enhancement? That happens even today (as I listen to China White by the Scorpions). Breast augmentations, total body sculpts and permanent male performance enhancement are just the tip of a very insane iceberg. Does your job require you to move around a lot, or do you like to cross-dress? Why not get expandable breasts so you can scale them back for work or family? Are you naturally all straight lines? You can get air bladders that make you look rounder, then scale it all back in when you go home to visit the family. Did you like Total Recall? Why not a third breast? Are normal girls/getting boring? Why not a cat girl, or a green alien? Always wanted to try it with a troll, but were afraid of dermal deposits? Ultra-smooth trolls (think Amazon Eve) have got you covered.
Simsense: Where to even begin? Simsense (and by extension BTLs) could be used to show you how the opposite sex feels, what love feels like, what hate feels like. You could experience moves in simsense that your normal partner would never approve of, or you and your normal partner/s could be doing whatever you normally do and each slotting a different simsense porn feed. You could experience sex as animals, as people or even as different metatypes. In fact, home-brewed simsense porn could create sensations that aren't feasible IRL (sex while skydiving, zero-g, underwater, while on fire, in a speeding vehicle, etc).
Trans: Even today, gender is not a binary proposition. In 2070, they don't have to say, and you might never know. That's the tame stuff. Cyber and bioware can make it so you can reassign your gender on the go. On the fence about gender? You can just be androgynous; completely sexless and able to accommodate your choice in partner/s. Are you a player? Challenge yourself by intentionally getting the wrong pheromones implanted, then turn them off for work.
Amp: amputation fetishists have always had it hard. Parts don't come back once you have removed them, and maybe that's part of the charm. But in 2070, you can be completely subsumed by your partner/s with your arms and legs removed. When it's time for work, you just plug them back in and you're ready to grind through your day.
Magic: Woof, this one is tough. Mind control bondage immediately comes to mind. Chaotic world/entertainment spells could enhance the experience for groups, and the list of services that can be performed by spirits and elementals is by no means exhaustive. You could have an all-magic using invisible orgy, or healing through sex. Astral sex? Sure, why not? What seductive alien creatures lurk in the dark corners of the astral, captain Kirk?
What is weird in 2070?: Tentacles? Vaginal/anal fangs? Extra-long tongue? Vibrating software for cyberlimbs? Extra sex organs? Different sex organs? Inflating/modular sex organs? Alien/highly unusual/technological sex organs (cybermember designed by HR Geiger, anyone?)
I don't normally make this disclaimer, but this is sex and it is not all things to all people. If I have unintentionally misrepresented or mocked any group or individual, I will happily edit/delete my post. I think, however, that an intelligent discussion can be had on this topic.
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Cool idea; sex isn't something that comes up often in my games, but certain topics have come up and it seems that you've got a pretty solid basis. I'll try to add some of my own thoughts, and expand upon what I've experienced in our games. I'll start by saying that I think sex can be a topic that can throw some people off in ways you didn't expect, so I'd just advice caution regarding too much detail and/or the way a topic is broached.
That being said...
Experience at table
Sexual preference; this one was pretty straight forward, I think, at least for me personally. Our players range from early 20s to early 30s, and I don't think anyone really batted an eye at the idea that one of the characters is gay and living with his boyfriend.
Based on the fluff I've read throughout editions, social liberties at least in this area seems to have moved on significantly; you still have your hate groups, but at least according to Runner's Companion these seem to focus more on metahumans and certain ideologies than sexual preference. Should be pretty tame, unless someone at your table is uncomfortable with the subject, in which case a real-life issue could become an in-game issue.
Sexual assault; this one is definitely a whopper. Potential Season 2 missions spoiler ahead, you have been warned: during one of the missions in SRM02, the team discovers a "farm" where Ork women are being forced to carry implanted zygotes to term as part of some sort of diabolical Tamanous operation. This definitely threw some of my players off, and they still play up their characters hatred towards the ghouls who were running the operation.
Sexual assault, both physical and mental, and especially if magic is used, is to my mind something that has the potential to be incredibly shocking. It's definitely a mature subject, it's definitely a dark subject, and it's certainly something I wouldn't broach if I wasn't sure that my players were able to deal with it. That being said, this subject does have the potential to set up a truly villainous antagonist or group of antagonists, and in certain circles it could even be tolerated as "just a fact of life". Shadowrun is a dystopian setting, after all.
Own thoughts:
Any sexual fetish you can think of (and a quick google search can probably give you some ideas you might not have considered ;) ) that exists today is likely to have been accepted and commercialized in some way or another.
You already mentioned simsense, and this is a big one to my mind. Studios are creating "mainstream" porn these days that only 40-50 years ago was considered scandalous and completely taboo (doesn't mean people weren't doing it, just means it, whatever it was, wasn't accepted in society). Take pretty much any fetish that's considered "edgy" today (again, google is your friend, because this varies greatly by country and even region, as San Francisco is certainly more liberal than say, Houston) and introduce it to your game as part of a storyline involving a simsense studio branching out from their normal operations, perhaps, and you have a good start.
What's weird in 2070?
I have no freakin' clue, to be honest. Cross-metatype/sentient metacritter relationships seems to be accepted, but we had a chuckle at our table of how a sexual encounter between a pixie and a troll would work out.
Mojo throws a big 'ole monkey wrench into the "what is normal" thing, but don't forget Hot-Sim VR. Both have the possibility of making anything and everything we "know to be true today" to go all topsy-turvy. Essentially, take any modern day sexual activity and/or fetish, add a sprinkling of magic or matrix enhancement, slow cook for 30 minutes, and presty; weird, freaky stuff.
[EDIT]
By all accounts, SURGE Level 3 and sapient metavariants are still pretty rare; I'm sure you could think of something involving the more extreme modifications that would be considered odd, if not taboo, in the seedier parts of town.
Also, bunraku parlors. While having another human being surgically altered to look like your favourite sim star and have a chip implanted in the subj... victims brain is "acceptable" by the fringes of society, it's still seems pretty vile and somewhat shocking to my mind. Something I'm sure a crafty GM could run with...
Also, this topic (http://forums.shadowruntabletop.com/index.php?topic=16158.0)
Thanks for broaching a mature subject in a meaningful way; I look forward to seeing where this discussion goes (fingers crossed!)
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I think as long as it involves consenting spirits/AI/sentient critters I think pretty much anything goes in 2075.
I think bunraku parlors probably raise some eyebrows..That is kind of a grey area around consent. What if the person agreed to be Parlor Doll but new personality is non consenting.. The things that will and always should be taboo are animals, kids and non consent.
Here is some Ware I posted a While ago
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I find that sexuality is an under-discussed topic in Shadowrun as well. In my campaign, I plan on introducing some rather mature topics into some of the games by having the team assist/hinder the Triads in their sex trafficking operation. Not sure exactly how it's going to play out yet, but I know my players can handle the subject matter so I feel like I can push the envelope a little bit. Needless to say, I'll be following this thread and contributing as things develop.
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In our group we never had any problems with having the characters have sex, although we don't go into details of course. We even had 2 PCs being in some sort of mind control (this was not in shadowrun, but the same applies here) have sex with each other and it didn't give any problems. I think it's mostly a question on how mature your players are. We do keep away of the more disturbing topics as rape and such, or at least only have it happen in the background. But we've arrived at crime scenes where it happened or had it in a character background. As long as it stays like that, I don't think it's a problem to have even those topics in your games.
One of the things that can make things difficult in Shadowrun is the presence of Lael and Laes. Most often used by shadowrunners as a way to make knocked out guards forget they were there, their potential as date-rape drugs cannot be underestimated.
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I'm not sure how comfortable I am with my PCs having sex (either with each other or NPCs) as part of the game, but the first adventure I ran for my group was actually rather sexually charged. Basically, the setup was a hooding mission; they were hired by a Barrens street doc who was worried that an abnormally high number of her female patients had been going missing for the past six months.
The one lead they had was that the last girl who vanished had been working at a night club in Bellevue (which was unusual, since she was SINless) The PCs investigated, and found out that the club was a front for the Vory, and that the Vory were hiring these SINless girls, abducting the ones they wanted, and putting them to work in a secret bunraku brothel called the Dollhouse, where they were surgically altered to look like famous female celebrities, given personafix programs to match, and then switched over to a docile, obedient personality when not "on the clock."
I also eased the players into the adventure by kind of playing up the sleazier side of the sprawl. The fixer who brought them on for the job met them, along with the street doc, at an all-elf "dancing revue" called Tir-La-La, which got some laughs out of them but kind of set the tone for the content of the rest of the adventure. The club where they PCs found the leads was an Orxploitation-themed club called the Savage Land. The club was designed around a kind of "Neil the Ork Barbarian" theme (which I pictured as being similar to Conan the Barbarian's Hyborean setting), and the servers were all attractive orks or humans being made to wear false tusks and ork ears, and the wait-staff uniform was essentially loincloths and coconut bras (for the women). Again, kind of goofy and garnered a lot of laughs, but it also kind of set the tone for the sleazy, exploitative content of the adventure so it wasn't as mentally jarring for the players.
Everybody had a good time and the build-up really made them want to stick it to the Vory who were running the brothel (the adventure ended with them torching the building and killing the thugs with an improvised explosive after they had gotten the bunraku girls out). So, I think sexual content can play just fine, given the right context and given that you know the players are okay with that kind of subject matter ahead of time.
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Not to much to add here ...
1) Shadowrun online/returns (whichevers the one that's already out) had a brief encounter with bunraku puppets who when freed indicate they didn't consent to what was done to them (the man screams my god what have they done to me, then you leave them there).
2) I can see a villain mage who uses control actions to rape people so they appear willing on the outsife but he knows their hating every minute. Especially if he uses genetech to alter their bodies first.
3) Animals are a bit of a gray area with the small shifter population who are intelligent shaoeshifting animals. If one of then has a kink for a human who has a kink for them in their animal form?
And there's always the darker possibilities offered offered by simsense and gene therapy but i wont go into those here.
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The club was designed around a kind of "Neil the Ork Barbarian" theme (which I pictured as being similar to Conan the Barbarian's Hyborean setting),
Funny, I always pictured Earthdawn.
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The new player in my group just made a Transgender Street Shaman for my Street/Mid Level campaign. Gremlins level 4, thank God group has Technomancer instead of Decker. She is only girl player in group, so I warned her the games can get a little adult..
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Like Critias said in the other thread, as long as you're doing right by your players it's all good. In my experience, it takes the right table. I'm sure we've all played with the guy whose character is a fantastically-promiscuous female elf who derails things in his effort to play out his browser's history. That is, to say the least, lame.
At a table with people I knew (so obviously not Missions), I think an exploration of the darker side of things could be interesting and would allow me to present all sorts of moral dilemmas to my players. Getting specific (It's Horror-themed porn!) to add flavor and dimension to the setting is one thing, but getting overly specific (the GM goes on a 7 minute monologue detailing exactly what the Juggernaut does) detracts from the storytelling.
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One of the books at some point made clear that children are still a taboo. Benraku Parlors are partially accepted, unless slavery is involved. Snuff SIMs (and I imagine rape SIMs too) are a problem. Mental Manipulation creeps people out and gets the cops called on you. But for the rest, only the racists care about things too much, every taboo that doesn't bypass human integrity has probably been crossed off the "waaah, kill them, the freaks!" list as long as you keep it private.
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<znip> But for the rest, only the racists care about things too much, every taboo that doesn't bypass human integrity has probably been crossed off the "waaah, kill them, the freaks!" list as long as you keep it private.
Hehe, isn't that how things are these days; nobody cares what you do in private, it's only when something becomes public that the outcries begin, neh?
Oh, and on the topic of gender; it is at least hinted to in the Run & Gun book that Plan9 has undergone gender reassignment (somehow or another) at least once or twice, and nobody seems to bat an eye at that;
> I had a really nice set of this stored from my last female turn, but I have to get it adjusted. You wouldn’t think a few millimeters of fur would make a difference, but it does.
> Plan 9
> So you’re back to male again?
> Turbo Bunny
> Yep. Still adjusting to all the itchiness from the hair.
> Plan 9
> And the chorus of voices in your head?
> Turbo Bunny
> Sing in sweet harmony.
> Plan 9
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honestly, given that the time period of shadowrun is only 60 years ahead of us, i honestly don't think much will have changed, especially with how busy and in some cases culturally regressive those 60 years have been.
Trans: Even today, gender is not a binary proposition. In 2070, they don't have to say, and you might never know. That's the tame stuff. Cyber and bioware can make it so you can reassign your gender on the go. On the fence about gender? You can just be androgynous; completely sexless and able to accommodate your choice in partner/s. Are you a player? Challenge yourself by intentionally getting the wrong pheromones implanted, then turn them off for work.
ok...so i understand you're talking about the sexy bits of the sixth world and very specifically fetishes being manifest as societally acceptable and out in the open... but folks who are trans are just people... really normal boring people... and the fact that they're trans is not a sexual thing at all. they're already fetishized really grossly already in our day and age and pretty out in the open at that, so it hardly seems to fit.
also it's not just the 2070's where trans people have no obligation to tell you, and you wouldn't know they were trans otherwise
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Aww, what a shame I saw this thread late. I really enjoy mature discussions about sexuality and such, and in such a mature setting as Shadowrun, I think it's important to establish that they do have a place in the world. Of course, it's then up to the players and GM as to whether or not that place also happens to be the same as their game sessions. Still it's a very important topic to me and I'd love to add what I can to the discussion.
Trans: Even today, gender is not a binary proposition. In 2070, they don't have to say, and you might never know. That's the tame stuff. Cyber and bioware can make it so you can reassign your gender on the go. On the fence about gender? You can just be androgynous; completely sexless and able to accommodate your choice in partner/s. Are you a player? Challenge yourself by intentionally getting the wrong pheromones implanted, then turn them off for work.
ok...so i understand you're talking about the sexy bits of the sixth world and very specifically fetishes being manifest as societally acceptable and out in the open... but folks who are trans are just people... really normal boring people... and the fact that they're trans is not a sexual thing at all. they're already fetishized really grossly already in our day and age and pretty out in the open at that, so it hardly seems to fit.
also it's not just the 2070's where trans people have no obligation to tell you, and you wouldn't know they were trans otherwise
Being transgender might not be a specifically erotic thing for them, but it's definitely related to sexuality. But yes, HarshRhettoric's point would be more about gender-play than transgender people. The older books though have mentioned that sex-change operations are completely possible and prettymuch perfected. Compared to the other stuff bioware can give humans (gills, chemical glands, making your own skin into 'smart insulation) changing someone's sex organs is easy-peasy. It's likely that this, along with the fact that society has become accustomed to even more "abnormal" situations with SURGE, sapient critters like Nagas, and spirits, that it's just fallen a bit to the wayside. It's only 60 years, but an unbelievable amount of turmoil has happened in that time. Magic, technology, politics, epidemic, natural disaster, terrorism, etc. The Sixth World is older than its years.
I make use of Bunraku parlors in stories rather often, actually. Not like a common occurrence or as a place to meet up, but that when the Yakuza come up, it's known that people who become too indebted to them often end up there, just like how the previous ages of Japan, daughters would be forced to become geisha. Everyone I know is bothered by those parlors-- Not offended that I would bring it up (because they know I'm not just making offensive stuff up), but in that it is a great way to let them know who their enemies are.
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Being transgender might not be a specifically erotic thing for them, but it's definitely related to sexuality. [snip]
dinosaur was rightfully pointing out the difference between gender and sexuality, the two are completely different and separate: unrelated things. You can be transgender and straight, transgender and gay (or bi, etc. etc.), just like you can be male or female and be straight or gay (or bi, etc. etc.). "Mainstream society" confusing - or rather conflating - the two (gender and sexuality) is pretty much the summation of the whole problem faced by the LBGTQ community. Even the conflation of gender and sex-organs is a painful thing for some people to have imposed upon them by others.
Now, on-topic, in retrospect it's surprising to me how sexually charged/vulgar our groups dialogue can be, but sex acts rarely (if ever) come up in play. We have a gay player, have had gay NPCs, have hookers and potential love interests come up regularly, have off-handed flirting between PCs and PCs, and NPCs and NPCs, and between PCs and NPCs, but I don't think we've ever had sex acts pursued or enacted by anyone in play. Not even in a fade-to-black kind of way. I think this is mainly because sex can be a powerful story-telling tool, but it can also be an incredibly lazy or cheap one. Especially in the cases of sexual-assault or rape, IMO, it is real easy to use this as a cheap tool, at which point it can become a pretty repugnant form of emotional exploitation - even having played with the guys I game with for over 4 years now (we all know each other really well), I'd be very very careful how I used those elements. For it to be the powerful tool, you can too easily bump up against the borders of too dark or too personal.
As others have mentioned, I think things like changelings (fur, tails, scales, all that) and 'ware-augmented sex (multiple or unusual sex organs or limbs, obvious cyber-"abdomens", etc.), and just about anything you could dream up as an Icon and in your cyberspace Node would be among the popular things in the sex-trade in the 6th World. What about sex-bots, is the technology there? That would seem to be a means for lots of otherwise taboo (violent) behaviors. And you could probably do magical bondage, have your body under the control of your Awakened Mistress, but still be allowed to have control of your voice to use that safe-word?
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Being transgender might not be a specifically erotic thing for them, but it's definitely related to sexuality. [snip]
dinosaur was rightfully pointing out the difference between gender and sexuality, the two are completely different and separate: unrelated things. You can be transgender and straight, transgender and gay (or bi, etc. etc.), just like you can be male or female and be straight or gay (or bi, etc. etc.). "Mainstream society" confusing - or rather conflating - the two (gender and sexuality) is pretty much the summation of the whole problem faced by the LBGTQ community. Even the conflation of gender and sex-organs is a painful thing for some people to have imposed upon them by others.
He totally was; I hope I didn't seem to be saying he wasn't. I just meant to say that, as part of it being "LGBTQ", and how transitioning can allow the person to be comfortable enough to enjoy sex (believe me, if you feel the kind of disconnection with your own body, it's very difficult to get intimate for a lot of people) that the two things are not completely unrelated. That's all.
Now, on-topic, in retrospect it's surprising to me how sexually charged/vulgar our groups dialogue can be, but sex acts rarely (if ever) come up in play. We have a gay player, have had gay NPCs, have hookers and potential love interests come up regularly, have off-handed flirting between PCs and PCs, and NPCs and NPCs, and between PCs and NPCs, but I don't think we've ever had sex acts pursued or enacted by anyone in play. Not even in a fade-to-black kind of way. I think this is mainly because sex can be a powerful story-telling tool, but it can also be an incredibly lazy or cheap one. Especially in the cases of sexual-assault or rape, IMO, it is real easy to use this as a cheap tool, at which point it can become a pretty repugnant form of emotional exploitation - even having played with the guys I game with for over 4 years now (we all know each other really well), I'd be very very careful how I used those elements. For it to be the powerful tool, you can too easily bump up against the borders of too dark or too personal.
Ugh, I agree about that sex can very easily become a cheap and tasteless story element. Like extreme violence, it absolutely needs to be used respectfully and not as the solitary focus of an event or scenario.
As others have mentioned, I think things like changelings (fur, tails, scales, all that) and 'ware-augmented sex (multiple or unusual sex organs or limbs, obvious cyber-"abdomens", etc.), and just about anything you could dream up as an Icon and in your cyberspace Node would be among the popular things in the sex-trade in the 6th World. What about sex-bots, is the technology there? That would seem to be a means for lots of otherwise taboo (violent) behaviors. And you could probably do magical bondage, have your body under the control of your Awakened Mistress, but still be allowed to have control of your voice to use that safe-word?
Honestly, if I was in the situation of said mistress, I'd probably also be using a spell to read the emotional state of the target, or some kind of mind-reading. The amount of intimacy that having a literal emotional connection to someone could bring would be pretty intense. It'd also immediately let you know if you're doing something that's pushing them (in the wrong way) and know to back off or change the situation. Also, if the Orgasm spell exists, it's entirely reasonable to assume there's spells made specifically for sex. They're certainly not main-stream, and likely difficult to learn, but there's definitely spells for it. Probably ones that amplify sensations (pain, or pleasure, or both) or even ones to share sensation. In fact I think sharing senses actually was a spell in 4th...
As for sex bots, and this takes a bit of a downer turn, they probably don't really exist for two reasons. I'm sure there's drones that look mostly (meta)human and stuff like those "Real Doll" things, but they're not full on Steven Spielberg's A.I. Artificial Intelligence levels. Also, bunraku parlors exist and they make quite a bit of money. Though clearly there's a lot of people who would probably feel more comfortable having a "rather close approximation" than a metahuman with a personafix chip installed. To be honest I think the only reason it probably doesn't exist, is because Shadowrun seems to be trying to avoid the "androids among humans" thing, hence why cyberzombies are being researched and why biodrones are a thing. I dunno, I guess they probably do exist on some level since most of the technology is there, even if androids aren't really a thing.
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On the subject of trasngender people in Shadowrun, this is one of those things that kind of brings the dystopia out of the setting for me a little bit. Yes, it's a grim dark future, but holy crap some of this stuff is amazing! Imagine having a transgender individual at your table and saying, "Gene therapy and medical science has advanced to the point that sexual reassignment is basically perfected, but no guys, Evo is seriously bad and evil for umm reasons."
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On the subject of trasngender people in Shadowrun, this is one of those things that kind of brings the dystopia out of the setting for me a little bit. Yes, it's a grim dark future, but holy crap some of this stuff is amazing! Imagine having a transgender individual at your table and saying, "Gene therapy and medical science has advanced to the point that sexual reassignment is basically perfected, but no guys, Evo is seriously bad and evil for umm reasons."
Hahaha. Totally. But that's the best part of the setting, that even the "worst" corps make huge contributions to society. Hell, I think Stuffer Shack is owned by Aztechnology for christ's sake. And let's not forget that every runner uses something made by Ares or SK. Also why the Sixth World is still worth fighting for-- It may be dystopian but that doesn't mean there's no good in it. If dystopia meant that, then you'd end up with too much Darkness Induced Audience Apathy (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DarknessInducedAudienceApathy) and nobody would care about the characters.
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The one fetish I imagine that has had the most interesting transformation is the vampire fetish.
I can imagine there are vampires who meet their hunger needs just by working as prostitutes and being open about what they are. Someone with a vampire fetish visits them, and as part of it the vampire gets to feed on them.
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The one fetish I imagine that has had the most interesting transformation is the vampire fetish.
I can imagine there are vampires who meet their hunger needs just by working as prostitutes and being open about what they are. Someone with a vampire fetish visits them, and as part of it the vampire gets to feed on them.
Yeah... vampires are interesting because they're something that has been kind of sexified in real life but is distinctly unsexy in Shadowrun. Sure, I imagine there are people that are into it, especially since a vampire's essence drain causes a feeling of "ecstacy" and is literally addictive. But it would be seen as an extreme, extreme kink. Something self-destructive and insane, sort of like a castration fetish or seriously out there BDSM stuff is viewed today.
Ideas for plots or scenes I've had that were sexual in nature:
-Shadowrunners are hired for a "hooding" run to break up an illegal simsense porn studio that specializes in vampres draining simrigged victims. Their drain experiences are recorded and amplified to BTL-levels and sold as chips. Users end up hooked on both BTLS and Essence Drain, and the bodies pile up quickly.
-A scene that takes place at the site of an "astral orgy" where projecting magicians and spirits get freaky in the astral space a mile above Seattle. A literal mile-high club!
-Every shadowrunner deserves to blow up a benraku parlor at least once.
-A Humanis-sympathizer politician with a commlink filled with gay troll-on-human porn. I mean... filled. Infinite storage space, and it is freaking filled.
-A "snuff party" where organizers intend to kill a female "performer." What the monster running the show hasn't told people is that this is for more than a dark sexual thrill; the act is actually a ritual designed to allow temporary access to a very scary metaplane.
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The one fetish I imagine that has had the most interesting transformation is the vampire fetish.
I can imagine there are vampires who meet their hunger needs just by working as prostitutes and being open about what they are. Someone with a vampire fetish visits them, and as part of it the vampire gets to feed on them.
Probably happens... An interesting thing that things called Vampires exist in an extension of the modern world, where everyone thinks about vampires as they do today. That would lead to a lot of deaths though, since Essence Drain is literally addictive, and Essence doesn't "heal" over time.
Has anyone brought up that, in one of the 4th edition books (possibly Runner's Companion) it mentions that SURGE changelings sometimes end up working as prostitutes? Ah, I found the part:
> Oh please, drop the blinkers. In the ‘60s, many changelings had
no other choice than to prostitute themselves and make pornchips
for people with certain “appetites” because no one would employ
the freaks. They may have been heralds of today’s transhumanist
trends, but that’s as much due to their exploitation as fashion or
pop idols as idolization by their loyal fans. Let’s face it, their ap-
pearance is still an invitation for harassment and violence in all too
many places.
> Goat Foot
Ideas for plots or scenes I've had that were sexual in nature:
-Shadowrunners are hired for a "hooding" run to break up an illegal simsense porn studio that specializes in vampres draining simrigged victims. Their drain experiences are recorded and amplified to BTL-levels and sold as chips. Users end up hooked on both BTLS and Essence Drain, and the bodies pile up quickly.
-A scene that takes place at the site of an "astral orgy" where projecting magicians and spirits get freaky in the astral space a mile above Seattle. A literal mile-high club!
-Every shadowrunner deserves to blow up a benraku parlor at least once.
-A Humanis-sympathizer politician with a commlink filled with gay troll-on-human porn. I mean... filled. Infinite storage space, and it is freaking filled.
-A "snuff party" where organizers intend to kill a female "performer." What the monster running the show hasn't told people is that this is for more than a dark sexual thrill; the act is actually a ritual designed to allow temporary access to a very scary metaplane.
That first one is hella frightening just because it sounds 100% possible. The chipheads hear rumors of the warehouse they can go to experience it for real, and a small cult-like group would probably form. Runners might be used to occasionally going up against crazed chipheads, but when they realize that half of them aren't chipped-in when they rise to attack, it would give a serious opportunity for thoughts about morals and the frightening affects of addiction. Could make for a very powerful game!
The last two though, I dunno. I mean the Humanis thing is mostly humorous, and harmless. It's literally just a prejudiced politician with a buncha embarassing porn. Hilarious! Maybe not "mature", but like I said, harmless. The last one though is really dark and would be legitimately disturbing to witness. I imagine at least one PC would be tempted to suggest blowing up the place and killing everyone involved, save for the victims, but including anyone in the audience. That said, I, if I was a player in that game, would not object to you deciding to GM that kind of story if it was handled respectfully.
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The last two though, I dunno. I mean the Humanis thing is mostly humorous, and harmless. It's literally just a prejudiced politician with a buncha embarassing porn. Hilarious! Maybe not "mature", but like I said, harmless. The last one though is really dark and would be legitimately disturbing to witness. I imagine at least one PC would be tempted to suggest blowing up the place and killing everyone involved, save for the victims, but including anyone in the audience. That said, I, if I was a player in that game, would not object to you deciding to GM that kind of story if it was handled respectfully.
That's true, it is kind of a gag, but my point is it's a highly believable run. "Get Senator Smith's commlink, or failing that, every file on his commlink." The team decker tries to hack it, and says, "Hey, guys, there's a LOT of files here." He cracks one, takes a peek, and everybody gets a good laugh... but then they're still left with the practical ramifications of dealing with moving that amount of data. Or stealing directly from a politician who will probably be VERY defensive about that particular commlink. It also lets them poke fun at the Senator's hypocrisy instead of just "lol gay troll porn," which would be pretty darn immature.
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I will admit the vampires thing probably isn't that common... which would make it extremely hard to find out it is happening.
Bewilderbeast, it would be even better if, in those videos, the human was the Congressman...
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I will admit the vampires thing probably isn't that common... which would make it extremely hard to find out it is happening.
Bewilderbeast, it would be even better if, in those videos, the human was the Congressman...
Of him going to a bunraku parlor with a male troll set to the Cellmate Bubba the Love Troll personafix. I'm sorry, I just talked about maturity and then I say that. >.>
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As I said earlier there's a lot of potential for darkness here and since we're sharing here's two that occured to me.
A new drug to induce an incredible high and interconnection. Essentially two people take it and even if the lack the power/training they astrally project and make love in astral form over the city sharing each others emotions ans sensations ... Said drug being manufactured and dustributed by a Master Shedim who then summons more normal ones to possess the vacated prepared bodies of uts customers.
A ring who pick various people in for skill wire implants and fit them with a sim rig they then sell the happy/pleasureable moments of that persons life online without tjeir knowledge or consent. If possible maybe even selling control coded to various special customers so they can upload different persona fixes to the victim then uninstall them and bask in the negative emotions generated as they find themselves in various situations ranging from the humiliating to the tragic.
And then there's the ones I wont share here.
You've also got the potential for some unusual punishments e.g. you boys beat up this transgendered individual so your all getting court ordered sex changes for a year so you can experiencr what its like to have your mind and body not match up personally. Cosmetic surgery on a polu club member to make them look like an elf/ork.
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A new drug to induce an incredible high and interconnection. Essentially two people take it and even if the lack the power/training they astrally project and make love in astral form over the city sharing each others emotions ans sensations ... Said drug being manufactured and dustributed by a Master Shedim who then summons more normal ones to possess the vacated prepared bodies of uts customers.
The shedim are gone. The drug might still exist though.
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Any game where the social setting is just as important as the martial or magical one is GONNA have some sex in it, if im running the game. PCs are GONNA have sex at some point. I don't like to dwell on it ingame though. It's usually the sort of thing that's handled during downtime. "Ok, it's been 3 months since the last run. Bob, you've been shacked up with that ork rigger you met in jacksonville, right?"
The player understands that sex is occurring and so when that ork rigger hits him up about whatever she hits him up about, he reacts to her as a lover. Later on, if that rigger steals his helicopter and pawns it for a ny100,000 BTL block party, he reacts to her far worse than he would some random junkie off the street.
I got long winded, but my point was that sex IS important to any large scale social setting, but to dwell too much on it for too long in character, tends to creep players out a bit.
It's a fun little balancing act with every group.
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honestly, given that the time period of shadowrun is only 60 years ahead of us, i honestly don't think much will have changed
you know that it wasnt much more than 60 years ago, we had "whites only" drinking fountains in the US, right?
SO MUCH can happen in 60 years, dude. so much.
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Yep now we've got humans only drinking fountains. :D
I'm thinking the Ork riggers hitting him up about being pregnant.
Also while I'm glad the sheddim are gone (no stealing my body while astral projecting) where they just dropped or is there an ingame explanation about what happened to them.
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Also while I'm glad the sheddim are gone (no stealing my body while astral projecting) where they just dropped or is there an ingame explanation about what happened to them.
The explanation is that when the Watergate Rift was closed, the shedim sort of vanished. No one knows where they went, and there's certainly some possibility that there are a few left over, but it appears that the connection between our plane and there's is closed. If one were to encounter shedim now, they're nowhere near as scary and powerful.
The out-of-game explanation is that shedim were a tie in with Earthdawn, which is no longer an IP owned by Topps. This means that Earthdawn can't be used by Catalyst, and can't be tied in to Shadowrun anymore. Of course, this might change in the future (as this IP has changed hands more times than Paris Hilton's sex tape).
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Namikaze,
What's your source for the info on Shedim? As per Conspiracy Theories (page 136), they're declining in numbers, and the Watergate rift "was believed to be a direction connection to a metaplane"; that doesn't mean they're gone, though.
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Also while I'm glad the sheddim are gone (no stealing my body while astral projecting) where they just dropped or is there an ingame explanation about what happened to them.
The explanation is that when the Watergate Rift was closed, the shedim sort of vanished. No one knows where they went, and there's certainly some possibility that there are a few left over, but it appears that the connection between our plane and there's is closed. If one were to encounter shedim now, they're nowhere near as scary and powerful.
The out-of-game explanation is that shedim were a tie in with Earthdawn, which is no longer an IP owned by Topps. This means that Earthdawn can't be used by Catalyst, and can't be tied in to Shadowrun anymore. Of course, this might change in the future (as this IP has changed hands more times than Paris Hilton's sex tape).
That's not quite right.
Master shedim can't summon new shedim, but those on Earth remain unless and until they are killed or they figure out a way to reconnect to their home plane some other way, which is so "far" away that the rift was a sort of door jamb even though new shedim didn't come through the Rift and so it's not like the portal was closed, per se (See every sci-fi blockbuster of the last decade). It's complicated. There's an artifact in Clutch of Dragons that might itself allow them to do that, or help, or ??? :D
As for the OOC reasons, I don't recall it having anything to do with Earthdawn. First of all, I don't think the shedim are Horrors. Ultimately, Horrors need and want life to continue, albeit corrupted; shedim want the death of all things. But aside from that I think that the way I pitched it was to change their threat dynamic, to create a couple of plot threads, and for other reasons I won't discuss.
The Rift closure does have a Horror connection through Aina, but that's for another day.
I got long winded, but my point was that sex IS important to any large scale social setting, but to dwell too much on it for too long in character, tends to creep players out a bit.
It's a fun little balancing act with every group.
It's also a cultural thing the publishers have to worry about. RPGs still have this stigma and publishers still have that concern about being seen as corrupting influences, and because the U.S. is so weirdly tolerant of violence and fearful of sex, it is something that just gets a very light touch if at all because RPGs are aimed at males age 10-up. With regard to Shadowrun, this is a policy decision that Catalyst and Topps have to consider.
That said, the Sixth World is pretty damn liberal when it comes to sex, sexuality, and gender. There are some rather powerful gay and lesbian plot characters, and some are LGBT but it's never been mentioned. I made DeeCee, locally and the UCAS federally, a gynocracy by today's standards and it didn't even register with me nor with the characters in the text. I didn't even notice it until I realized I forgot to add an entry for Anne Penchyk and then looked at all the named figures and realized that in a book titled Conspiracy Theories no one even suggested (I don't recall. My memory's hazy because I just finished law school finals and I'm still consumed with statute sections and case names) that the UCAS government was run by a feminist cabal or, because I mention Penchyk and this was what I was checking, Mantis Spirits via the Empowerment Coalition/Timmons Fund — either as Mantis spirits or simply their allies like Penchyk, who is canonically an ork (and is old enough that she needs to be replaced soon).
I'm getting away from my point, but there soft limits to what most RPG publishers will touch, and for SR there's also the complication that violence is so predominant to the game that probably pushes the line further along the sex and violence spectrum. Of course this is all my personal opinion. But it's the same line of reasoning I've inferred when it comes to publishers (RPG and others) covering faith and religion. Yes, there's enough material already out there or hinted at to write a Deep Shadows book on religion, but even when discussing new religions or religions that have changed pretty drastically, e.g. Roman Catholic Church, to say it requires a delicate touch is a tremendous understatement.
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The shedim are pretty much related to the Horrors iirc, but it's not as if they're now a big IP violation (just like how Ghostwalker is still around), so that I doubt that is why they were made less massive a threat.
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So... not gone. But not growing, and declining all the time. They're rare though - that's the point I was getting at.
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On the subject of trasngender people in Shadowrun, this is one of those things that kind of brings the dystopia out of the setting for me a little bit. Yes, it's a grim dark future, but holy crap some of this stuff is amazing! Imagine having a transgender individual at your table and saying, "Gene therapy and medical science has advanced to the point that sexual reassignment is basically perfected, but no guys, Evo is seriously bad and evil for umm reasons."
Hahaha. Totally. But that's the best part of the setting, that even the "worst" corps make huge contributions to society. Hell, I think Stuffer Shack is owned by Aztechnology for christ's sake. And let's not forget that every runner uses something made by Ares or SK. Also why the Sixth World is still worth fighting for-- It may be dystopian but that doesn't mean there's no good in it. If dystopia meant that, then you'd end up with too much Darkness Induced Audience Apathy (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DarknessInducedAudienceApathy) and nobody would care about the characters.
We are well aware of that. But good doesn't always mean good for everyone, which is why I think Horizon in particular went over like a lead balloon with some people. Though the sheen has been tempered since.
So... not gone. But not growing, and declining all the time. They're rare though - that's the point I was getting at.
Not necessarily rare, but they don't have the luxury of being the endless horde charging from over the hill threat they were feared to be when introduced (and which has been used to good effect at times). Though it's not as if they go away immediately when their host bodies die.
The master shedim are more strategic now. And with 15 years time better at manipulating people into destroying themselves.
Oops. I didn't say that last thing.
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Hmmm I'll have to look into the watergate rift then.
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The master shedim are more strategic now. And with 15 years time better at manipulating people into destroying themselves.
And this is why Crimsondude is a freelancer. With all of 19 words, he can scare the piss out of me. :P
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Given that one can get a cheap piece of hardware to continuously "buzz" the pleasure centers of the brain (24/7, even), there's nothing preventing a market for creating completely artificial genders... which adds another twist to the "connector conspiracy". But you can accomplish the same thing without involving anyone else, making the only real difference one of shared experience and companionship. Which sounds pretty awesome... but that's what BTL is for. (Welcome to the 6th World Metahuman Experience Roller Coaster. Please keep all body parts inside the thread until the post comes to a complete stop.)
Then there's a big issue of sex with manifested spirits, services, and binding. The euphemisms are thick here because... they are. Ever wonder how someone gets the Spirit Bane NQ? Well, that's several ways right there. It's exotic enough people will pay big nuyen for it, and the profit margin is gigantic (big, big love). Don't ask about blood mages' involvement in this trade.... you really don't want to ever know. But if you're lucky, you'll only find out through BTL. Another good reason to ditch the chip habit, especially if you're left with a "favorite".
Suddenly, Evo isn't looking so bad... unless... oops.
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Then there's a big issue of sex with manifested spirits, services, and binding. The euphemisms are thick here because... they are. Ever wonder how someone gets the Spirit Bane NQ? Well, that's several ways right there. It's exotic enough people will pay big nuyen for it, and the profit margin is gigantic (big, big love).
That's an interesting topic... Some traditions, I bet sexual intercourse with some spirits wouldn't be considered horrible or even necessarily weird. I'm sure there's probably several Japanese Kami that would probably be considered to grant you good luck if such a thing happened. I think Voodoo would consider having sex with someone who's currently acting as a cheval to a spirit to be a great honor, even. Some traditions, like perhaps Black Magic, may even have spirits who would willingly participate in an orgy or some who would just willingly have sex with metahumans in general, as those kind of carnal acts may be considered empowering to them.
Of course, none of these traditions would have a positive view of binding spirits and ordering them to perform those kinds of acts with other people, especially those who are not related to the tradition in any way. On top of that, depending on the laws in the area, such a thing could be considered akin to beastiality more than rape if spirits are not recognized as sapient beings by the government. Or on the other hand, if they're considered more to be the "property" of the magician who summoned them, then legally there's no laws being broken.
It would be an interesting story focus, or even just an interesting discussion, because of all the facets involved. Of course, it could also just be used in a situation where everyone knows it means trouble-- And could very easily drive an Awakened PC to want to get involved.
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In parts of the real life middle east you can marry djinn, even with the approval of local clerics.
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In parts of the real life middle east you can marry djinn, even with the approval of local clerics.
What?
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Djinn or Jinn - Spirits mentioned in the Koran. Westernized version would be genies, but Djinn are usually much scarier. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jinn
Some websites cover the theological debate about whether you can actually marry djinn. It seems like most of the websites are based in the west (like the UK for example) and say no, but acknowledge it is a legitimate debate. http://www.daruliftaa.com/node/5412
http://www.islamawareness.net/Jinn/fatwa_marry.html
But I have always heard that there are Islamic clerics that authorize Djinn/Human marriage.
Here is a economist article on the Djinn http://www.economist.com/node/8401289 (which briefly mentions Djinn Marriage).
Here is a crazy weird video of a woman calling into a shaykh on a television program in the UK. She says she is possessed by Djinn. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MR3pNUT81o (creepy)
edit: I should clarify that I don't actually believe in Djinn
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Sorry guys. I shouldn't have referenced anything in the real world.
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What about simsense porn-stars? Did anybody come up with any interesting ones during their gameplay? There's a lot of different jobs which could involve them. Some of them could actually be funny and not at all disturbing. Imagine the runners going incognito for a casting to steal some recordings or extract a "star" for another studio. :-)
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Not a simsense porn star, but one of the characters I play in a PbP on this forum is a troll who worked at a 'massage' parlor for some time (big regret being the obvious flaw to take here). So far it hasn't come up in the game and the character keeps a low profile about it as well, but it has to potential of giving great roleplay.
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I want to take the generally rising level of sexual tolerance in today's world forward into one where governments have less power to restrict and more people can dictate markets with their credsticks. While corporations undoubtedly police internally for unapproved deviance, they would certainly not let an untapped market escape them. That said, I think the world of 0f 2070 is about as sexually liberated as technology allows.
IMO you overlook/ignore that governments and corporations generally don't care which body parts people insert into whom, or how, as long as only consenting adults are involved - very little profit to be gained by alienating part of your voter/customer base.
Superstitious people care, but for sad, sad reasons (Crimsondude mentioned some), we can't mention love and its physical manifestation, sex, or make fun of organized superstition, in a commercial product made for entertainment - even one that glorifies hyperviolence and heinous crime seven ways from Sunday.
The world is a weird place.
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Superstitious people care, but for sad, sad reasons (Crimsondude mentioned some), we can't mention love and its physical manifestation, sex, or make fun of organized superstition, in a commercial product made for entertainment - even one that glorifies hyperviolence and heinous crime seven ways from Sunday.
The world is a weird place.
Society is learning. Compared to even 20 years ago? Society is learning. Maybe I'll live to see the day when sex isn't such a taboo subject that schools across the country still think the best way to stop teen pregnancy is to tell all the teens to never ever have sex ever. Hopefully during that time we'll learn to accept sex being used in the media for things other than teenage pandering and base eroticism.
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Firebug, don't count on it. That kind of society is the thing that entire religions were founded to fight against.
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Hrm.
Just because the LGBT community won the right to marry once people saw enough harmless, white gay couples doesn't mean we've moved more than that one fucking inch on civil rights in 25 years. Obama? Don't make me laugh.
That's one of the things that I miss about earlier material in SR before it took a giant left turn in the 2000s. The Japanacorps were ultra-conservative, non-Japanese humans knew they were second-class, and rarely the twain should meet. God forbid you were in love with a kawaruhito? No. You just weren't, or you weren't long for the corporate life. The other corporations were also racist and conservative, as corporatism leads social structures to be, in their own ways. There is nothing to suggest to me that racism should have changed at all in 25 years beyond some minor cosmetics. It doesn't go away. It just gets more insidious and clandestine, even covert, to make people doubt themselves when they do see racism.
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I wasn't talking about civil rights or anything. I honestly don't know enough about that sort of stuff to make any argument. I just meant society's general use of sex and how acceptable people consider it to be to like sex and have be an actual big part of your life (as I believe it should be). But I really shouldn't pull this argument away from Shadowrun and into a discussion about real world societal issues.
Racism (or metaracism or any other similar thing) is still going strong in Shadowrun from what I can tell. Actually, nothing I've seen suggests otherwise. Lines are drawn in sand every chance. Ethnicity, metatype, social class, loads and loads of subcultures... Just to name a few. I actually like Shadowrun for the opportunity to include that kind of thing in roleplaying.
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...I think the world of 0f 2070 is about as sexually liberated as technology allows.
Eh. Sure 5th ed. core book (pg 41-42) says "Like everything else in the world, sex has been commodified, a slickly packaged product designed to make you forget it once meant something real. Prostitution thrives where it’s legal (about 99.998 percent of the known world)."
But with generally sexist institutions/organizations like the Mafia/Yakuza/Japanacorps, etc.; the patriarchy still dominates. Which means the GM is free to exploit 500 AD taboos against female sexual expression if they so choose, especially within such organizations.
While hopefully the world will be far more liberated in 2075, there's enough leeway in Shadowrun for the GM to promote either extreme or somewhere in between.
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I wasn't talking about civil rights or anything. I honestly don't know enough about that sort of stuff to make any argument. I just meant society's general use of sex and how acceptable people consider it to be to like sex and have be an actual big part of your life (as I believe it should be). But I really shouldn't pull this argument away from Shadowrun and into a discussion about real world societal issues.
But sexual liberation is intrinsically tied to increased tolerance and poltiical/social power by historically underrepresented groups.
Though I guess if you treat sexual gratification as literally nothing more than a commodity, you can permit all sorts of representational behavior without actually permitting it to occur in the "real world." Though that actually seems far more terrifying, because it suggests a stronger amount of control and repression than even now. With the collusion of corporate and illicit worlds to control and manipulate people through their base urges (a tacit approval of limited black markets is critical to sustaining a totalitarian state), this could result in a really funky set of circumstances where everything is available, but most people are either too afraid to indulge or do so with the understanding that it means giving their masters more power over them.
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I wasn't talking about civil rights or anything. I honestly don't know enough about that sort of stuff to make any argument. I just meant society's general use of sex and how acceptable people consider it to be to like sex and have be an actual big part of your life (as I believe it should be). But I really shouldn't pull this argument away from Shadowrun and into a discussion about real world societal issues.
But sexual liberation is intrinsically tied to increased tolerance and poltiical/social power by historically underrepresented groups.
Though I guess if you treat sexual gratification as literally nothing more than a commodity, you can permit all sorts of representational behavior without actually permitting it to occur in the "real world." Though that actually seems far more terrifying, because it suggests a stronger amount of control and repression than even now. With the collusion of corporate and illicit worlds to control and manipulate people through their base urges (a tacit approval of limited black markets is critical to sustaining a totalitarian state), this could result in a really funky set of circumstances where everything is available, but most people are either too afraid to indulge or do so with the understanding that it means giving their masters more power over them.
This seems to be the status quo in Shadowrun's version of France, which is a hyper conservative state with a degenerate and corrupt underbelly, presumably based on the later years of Versailles.