Shadowrun
Shadowrun General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Critias on <07-12-11/1523:48>
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Inspired by an "any game, cook up something for George R. R. Martin's Ice and Fire epic!" thread elsewhere, I came up with the following. I have no idea how playable it would be (IE, trying to organize a campaign would be a nightmare), but it was fun to sit down and think up cool shit as I was typing:
The year is 2050 and megacorp TargaryNet has been torn to shreds in a series of hostile takeovers despite their draconic support. The corporate merger between Baratheonics and LanniSoft has brought about an uneasy truce in the Sixth World, as together the two are a force the other Seven Megacorporations can't compete with. The smallfolk are still adapting to the 2011 Awakening that brought about a decades-long summer and ushered magic back into the world, but the Corporate Court and the Seven Megas rest for no man. There are profits to be made, after all.
Massive TullyTech trawlers scour the seas and waters for algae and sea-creatures that keep the smallfolk of all the Seven Megas fed, while unruly Greyjoy thugs -- ruthless corporate sharks united to criminal pirate networks and granted Mega status only grudgingly -- nip at their heels and smuggle goods across dangerous oceans. Martech facilities rake in terrible profits from diamonds and oil across Africa and the Middle East but their comparatively primitive industrial methods are sneered at by their peers and rivals. ArryNetwork spires climb towards the heavens in impressive displays of engineering, but their true pride and joy is the world's first self-sustaining orbital facility, the Eyrie, letting them look down on the smallfolk from madness-inducing heights. Magically talented Tyrellogistics executives smirk up at them in response, their hydroponic facilities sprawled across Europe, their shipping facilities spreading their influence and collecting their unfathomable wealth from every corner of the globe.
StarKorp, with their northern holdings and antarctic research facilities, broadcasts dire warnings across the Matrix, but the sunny lords of southern lands aren't eager to listen. Baratheonics reaps profits as a dizzyingly powerful PR and media firm thanks to their CEO's position as First Speaker of the Corporate Court, all while the elven execs from LanniSoft, military-industrial giants and the golden lords of the Matrix, reap the benefits of merger-brought stock options.
The Corporate Court's private army, Nite.Watch, prowls the wastelands where magic spikes the wildest, but no one but StarKorp pays their dues to keep the security force manned and equipped. Magic is back, StarKorp reminds the rest of the Court at every meeting. Interrupted Nite.Watch transmissions warn of the dead walking and other horrors. The other six Megacorps scoff at their concern and rake in their wealth, indulging in petty takeovers, cyber-duels, corporate espionage, and every extravagance known to man.
But StarKorp knows the mana level is on the rise, and Winter Is Coming.
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So. Awesome.
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So. Awesome.
Uh yeah, what he said.
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So who's Dany in this little exercise? ;)
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So who's Dany in this little exercise? ;)
Likely a Latent Drake, Lofwyr or Dunkie's daughter with some TargaryNet Executive Vice President. Following the kill-team attempt on her entire family (which she narrowly escaped in a suborbital) she's squatting in some mega-Barrens for a dozen years prior to the campaign kicking off with her (worthless) big brother looking after her, negotiating with local gangs for security.
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Y'know it sucks.
It sucks because I would SOOOOOO play that. Even though I don't have the time for it. Well, maybe a little time... ;)
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So who's Dany in this little exercise? ;)
D'oh! I just thought of Nadja being Dany... She's currently missing after a military coup, after all.
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Seems more appropriate to Ryan Mercury.
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"Applause""cheers""whistles"......perfect symmetry between worlds! +1
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I'm itching to start statting up various characters, now, just FYI. What was a spur-of-the-moment post on RPG.net has turned into the seeds of an idea that've stuck with me for a couple days, now. It's not like it's even a stretch, really; Shadowrun's basically a feudal society, after all. Replacing AAA megas with Westerosi houses is a pretty quick fix, and the misery of the folks at the bottom rungs is really about the same. The trick is that most of the POV characters in Martin's novels are the CEOs and security heads of the various megas (so to speak), or their children (with, at least initially, the wealth and advantages that entails).
Also, his characters are so fleshed out that I, once again, find myself ramming my head over and over against the 35 BP Quality limit (both positive AND negative), as I so often do.
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You may want to remove Dany from easy access by the Corps. Have brother and her retreating to Japan/Korea/China...maybe Australia or even Aztlan. Would certainly make for an interesting bunch of people to grow her dragons with.
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This is the best/worst thing ever.
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That is a LOVELY setting treatment.
Entry-level PC into that...lesser corporate employees jockeying for position? (Former) Company Men as one or another corp staggers? Torn ex-members of Nite.Watch that deserted/slushed out to bring the warnings back 'south' and/or help out their families/former allegiances with the ongoing troubles?
Depends how close to the inspirational story one wants to keep the overplot...without at least the possibility for some level of derailment, it might feel, well, really railroady. Or, just keep the big stuff moderately remote and just play sub-top-level, within the world, and be the ones sent on the behind-the-scenes runs...
That last little bit reminded me of the Godfather game on 360/Wii (Black Hand Edition) where your character filled in a lot of the gaps of side-missions and such through the main, famous Godfather storyline. E.g., the player is the one who gets to sneak in and plant the horse's head in the bed, for example...
So much room for awesome!