Wanted: recommendation for a cyberpunk adventure
Frank J. Perricone
> I'd second the vote for the first of the Necrology series - plus, it's
> small an inexpensive.
Thanks for the suggestion. However, as it happens, that was the very first
published adventure I read looking for one to fill in this particular gap,
and I didn't think it would work, for several reasons, most of them
subjective. First, I didn't really like the adventure itself; I can't
quite put my finger on why, and it might just be a subjective consequence
of the other reasons.
Second, there wasn't much "cyberpunkish" feel in the scenario itself.
Don't get me wrong; I'm sure that if you played it as written, it would
feel reasonably cyberpunk, but that's because you have characters who come
to the adventure with a cyberpunk attitude and background, and an
established cyberpunk world. With my dimension-hopping characters, they
could easily pass through the adventure without getting more than the
slightest taste of cyberpunk. They'd treat it as a fantasy or horror
story, resolving it without ever having to act cyberpunk. In essence, the
scenario seems to me to serve to add non-cyberpunk elements onto an
existing cyberpunk situation, just the opposite of what I need.
Third, I really couldn't see how to lure my characters into the story. I
especially doubt that any of them would ever even consider going flatline.
But even without that aspect, I have a hard time seeing outsiders to
cyberpunk having any reason to get involved, or to think that there's
anything in it for them to get involved with. I could contrive something,
but I doubt I'd come up with any less obvious a contrivance than getting
them into any other scenario out there.
I sure hope I don't come across as a whiny, picky, un-help-able person now,
since I've dissed the only suggestion I got. :( Any other ideas, please?
[Hope this one goes through. Moderated groups are such hit-or-miss
propositions for me; my ISP's outsourced news server provider maintains a
farm of servers, and uses sophisticated desynchronization software to
ensure no two of them ever have exactly the same configuration, combined
with a rotation schedule based on a randomizer that Schrodinger would have
loved. This is my third attempt to post to this thread, and this time I'm
emailing straight to the submission address.]
--
* Frank J. Perricone * hawt...@mail.com * http://www.sover.net/~hawthorn/
* If hawt...@mail.com doesn't work, try hawt...@sover.net *
"If a man can do it, a woman can do it better. If a woman can do it, a
man can do it better. It's just a matter of finding the right one."
Angela
forst post. Hi! Hello everyone! Hi Mom!).
1) POWER BEHIND THE THRONE, by Citadel Games, published for Warhammer
Fantasy Roleplaying. This adventure is highly cyberpunk. Obviously, you'll
have to do some adapting, but the basic plot elements are not only sinister,
gritty, and Machiavellian, but there's a bread-and-circuses facade to the
whole affair that goes perfectly with the Huxley-esque view of life in the
Punk genre.
2) MOB WAR!, by FASA Games, published for Shadowrun. Some minor editing to
remove traces of magic, and it's fantastic for farming adventure material.
Probably unhelpful - sorry I didn't have any better ideas!
Angela
"I don't have a .sig."
Frank J. Perricone
> Hey - I have a few ideas, but they're a tad... unusual (yes, this is my
> forst post. Hi! Hello everyone! Hi Mom!).
Thanks, this is fantastic. If you have a few minutes could you answer one
other question about them, so I'll know whether they're worth spending
money on? The question is: What is it that pulls the characters into the
story in each adventure?
> 1) POWER BEHIND THE THRONE, by Citadel Games, published for Warhammer
> Fantasy Roleplaying. This adventure is highly cyberpunk. Obviously, you'll
> have to do some adapting, but the basic plot elements are not only sinister,
> gritty, and Machiavellian, but there's a bread-and-circuses facade to the
> whole affair that goes perfectly with the Huxley-esque view of life in the
> Punk genre.
>
> 2) MOB WAR!, by FASA Games, published for Shadowrun. Some minor editing to
> remove traces of magic, and it's fantastic for farming adventure material.
--
Aardy R. DeVarque
>Hey - I have a few ideas, but they're a tad... unusual (yes, this is my
>forst post. Hi! Hello everyone! Hi Mom!).
>
>1) POWER BEHIND THE THRONE, by Citadel Games, published for Warhammer
>Fantasy Roleplaying.
>2) MOB WAR!, by FASA Games, published for Shadowrun.
I'm told the original "Harlequin" adventure for Shadowrun (IIRC) is one of
the best out there. OOP, so not necessarily easy to find, especially since
there's a (inferior, or so I'm told) sequel ("Harlequin Returns", IIRC) that
is available all over the place (or was, last I checked) that tends to flood
the results any searches you try to do for the original.
--
Aardy R. DeVarque
Feudalism: Serf & Turf
Brandon Blackmoor
news:IhzU5.27177$iy3.6...@news1.rdc1.tn.home.com...
>
> 1) POWER BEHIND THE THRONE, by Citadel Games, published for Warhammer
This sounds really interesting, but my local game shop doesn't carry it.
What's it about?
BBlac...@blackgate.net
28.november.2000
Geoff Raye
>I'm told the original "Harlequin" adventure for Shadowrun (IIRC) is one of
>the best out there. OOP, so not necessarily easy to find, especially since
>there's a (inferior, or so I'm told) sequel ("Harlequin Returns", IIRC) that
>is available all over the place (or was, last I checked) that tends to flood
>the results any searches you try to do for the original.
I've just recently finished being a player in Harlequin's Back. My GM
still doesn't own the original Harlequin adventure, so I picked up a
couple copies on eBay in hopes of finding one in gift-worthy condition.
This means I have one to keep for myself, and that I've read cover
to cover.
First of all, the two adventures are rather different, and shouldn't
really be compared, except as any other pair of two Shadowrun adventures.
Harlequin covers a range of settings related to the Shadowrun universe.
There's quite a bit which marries it to the world of Shadowrun, but the
magic and rituals of the adventure could generally be converted to be a
superstitious tradition. One fascinating thing about the adventure is
that it should be played with the players unaware that they've entered a
series of connected adventures. If at all possible, the sections of
"Harelequin" should be run with interspersed adventures of other
natures. Realizing what's going on is part of the fun in this one.
The conspiracy is above the players for a while, but is intended to come
out, without being at the players' expense. I think that's somewhat
against the traditional cyberpunk feel--unlike, say, the three runs in
Corporate Punishment. (At least one of those would work great in a
non-magical setting.)
Harlequin's Back, on the other hand, is totally married to the concept
of magic. About the only other setting it could work in is a Star Trek
style "holodeck gone horribly wrong" adventure. (That could actually
work fairly well, actually.) Harlequin's Back is all about saving the
world and doing something good to strike down evil. Selflessness is
pretty well rewarded, and death isn't as harsh as the real world. I
would call this adventure epic fantasy, not cyberpunk.
I'm trying to keep this comparison fairly low on value judgements. I
think they're both good adventures, but they're definitely not a series.
For that matter, I think that having players in both adventures would be
bad, and it might even be better to run the first adventure after the
second, in some ways.
If there's more I can elaborate upon with respect to these, let me know.
I think both adventures belong more in Shadowrun's specific genre than
generic cyberpunk.
Geoff
--
Geoff Raye \ All irregularities will be handled by the forces
ge...@raye.com \ controlling each dimension. Transuranic heavy
PGP: ra...@uiuc.edu \ elements may not be used where there is life.
James Nicoll
Brandon Blackmoor <BBlac...@blackgate.net> wrote:
>"Angela" <angelab...@home.com> wrote in message
>news:IhzU5.27177$iy3.6...@news1.rdc1.tn.home.com...
>>
>> 1) POWER BEHIND THE THRONE, by Citadel Games, published for Warhammer
>
>This sounds really interesting, but my local game shop doesn't carry it.
>What's it about?
You might have better luck looking for it under Hogshead,
who do the WH RPG these days.
--
My Pledge: No more than 2 OT posts to rasfw a day. No replying
to trolls and idiots. Start five good on topic threads a day to drown
out the crap. Drink more coffee. Cross-posting is an abomination.
Frank J. Perricone
outbid on it... by Brandon. Shouldn't've asked publicly, ne c'est pas? :D