The Den Games Network Forum RPG
Game Masters:
virtualoctopus, CKW, Wesforce
RPG: World Setting
"It's a Cyberpunk type world where all the old fantasy creatures (Elves, Dwarves, Orks, Dragons etc) have returned to the world, and humans have rediscovered their magic powers.
It is the 2050's-60's, and Corporations dominate the globe, holding national governments to ransom.
In the streets where life is cheap, mercenaries known as Shadowrunners work for the highest bidder, using their cyber and magical skills performing sabotage, assassinations, data steals and other useful jobs as the corporations vie for the top slot, whilst in the skies above Dragons duke it out with Attack Choppers.
The balance of power has been dramatically altered by the return of magic. In North America, Canada and the US have lost most of their land and have had to join together to form the United Canadian and American States (UCAS) at a fraction of it's former power and influence. Elsewhere, many governements are controlled by magical juntas, and Japan, the world's dominant superpower, looks to the West and the Soviet Union rising once again..."
Welcome, visitor. Here you will find the basic information about our world. It is a world of shadow... you will need this information to survive.
Current political situation:
See Politics page
Megacorporations:
See Megacorps page
Police service:
The only Police are Corp-Security (in this city. Some cities still have government police - London, for example, but British police are armed these days. In the UCAS and CAS, police duties are handled by Lone Star Security Servives Corporation, and professional security specialist corp. They are based out of Texas and have a reputation for trigger-happiness.)
Corp cops are ared and armoured. Street cops have handguns, but can call on Heavy weapons, drones, gunships and HRT teams at a radio call (Highways are patrolled by Cars and Panzers).
MUNDI is the "Megacorp and United Nations Defense Initiative". Basically it's a kind of Corp-Interpol.
Weapons:
See Weapons page
Money:
The international currency is the Nuyen [¥]
Currency is all-electronic. Everyone carries a 'Credstick' which serves as a credit-card, passport, ID etc, all- in-one, with a fingerprint scanner. It takes an electronic expert to reprogram a credstick to steal cash of it.
However, Shadowrunners, because of their 'Unofficial' status, prefer 'blank' credsticks which just have the cash. In effect, they have no ID (apart from maybe fake ID credsticks).
Races:
Orks and Trolls don't have to have green skin, they can range from all the human skin tones too.
Elves can short or tall.
Trolls are bigger than Orks (about 3m tall or so, but with relatively stumpy legs).
Centaurs are a rare, but officially sentinent, race. Found rarely, but most often in Italy and Greece, Centaurs are half man, half horse, and incredibly attractive creatures to other races, due to the pheromones they excrete through their sweat glands. A centaur can give intantly-obeyed commands to many weak-minded individuals. Centaurs are secretive and reclusive, rarely out of the company of their own race.
Centaurs stand a little taller than a man, with a mans torso on a horse's body. The are covered in silky fur. Centaurs run the biggest criminal organisation on the planet - Santro Sal - which specialises in brothels, organised crime, and owning the Pizza Slut chain of restaurants.
Golems are barely-living humanoid clay-men. Often found in arid middle-eastern companies, and working in the factories and warehouses of huge corporations, Golems are nearly always exploited and used as slave- labour, which Golems are too stupid (stupid on an Orkish scale!) to understand. An organisation known as Front For Golem Recognition (FoFoGoRe) seeks to implement sentinent rights for the oft-exploited, simple- minded giants.
Dragons: See Dragons page
Fashion:
Only corp-scum stick to mainstream fashion - At the moment your suit-about-town normally wears either the classic tailored dark-coloured suit (tie optional), or flashy silvery jumpsuits and sportsjackets with trainers.
Anyone else just wears whatever the hell they want - Goths, Army-fetishists (sub-categories - Urban Camo, Soviet Uniform, etc), Punks (old-style punks, leather jackets, piercings etc), Skaters (still around, very rare at this moment in time). Silver Jumpsuits are in fashion with teenagers (hey, it COULD happen!).
Hair: Long hair for men is back in fashion too. Cosmetic products mean any hair-colour is possible for anyone, even reactive changing colours. The revival of the Native American Nations has brought the Mohawk and Pawnee styles to the fore, too.
Cyber:
Datajacks are visble plugs on either the neck or temple (or on the arm, palm etc if you are really jazzy. Same with Rigger Jacks).
Cyberarms/legs can have fake flesh type coverings.
People with a lot of cyberware look visibly unhealthy.
See also: Technology page
Vehicles:
The biggest innovation in vehicular technology is 'Rigger' technology. These implants allow a (meta)human to interface directly with a 'Rigged' vehicle to control it by thought control. In effect, they 'become' the vehicle while they are jacked in. The vehicle's sensors become their eyes. The wheels/rotors/wings become their arms and legs.
A rigged vehicle will generally leave a conventionally-driven vehicle lying in the dust.
Another innovation is Remote Piloted Vehicles - RPVs (or Drones. A rigger with a Remote Control Deck Can control these from a distance while remaining physically safe should anything happen to the drone.
The vehicle types are generally the same as in the late 20th century, but improved with more electrically-engined vehicles and autonav systems - Most major cities are fitted with a GridGuide(TM) system for commuters.
All cars have tinted/mirrored windows as standard (to protect against magic attacks). Cars are generally sleek with canopys and gull-wing doors being common. Most public cars are Electric, with petrol or hydrogen cars being rare.
Helicopters can be single rotor, twin rotor, double rotor, 'orca' type or the like.
The newest toy for the military is the LAV - Low Altitude Vehicle, also known as the 'T-Bird' or 'Panzer'.
These are low-altitude ground-effect jet-engined flying tanks, about as aerodynamic as a brick, they fly by sheer brute force, are generally well-armoured enough to resist SAMs, quick enough to dodge ATGM's and generally carry enough Miniguns and Autocannons to cause even a dragon a headache or two.
Panzers mostly look like flying wedges with stubby canards and vector-thrust jets (like Harriers have).
SPACE - The Financial Frontier:
Curiously, it was the Corporations that finally made the big push into space. The US and Russian Space programs eventually reached such a level of financial difficulty, their respective governments were practically giving them away.
It only took a few entrepreneurs with a few billion to spend and the balls to do so to set up the world's first corporate space stations. From there, anyone clamouring to put up satellites or conduct experiments in zero- gravity had to pay the asking price.
The rest is history.
Low-Earth Orbit
LEO is getting pretty crowded these days. Anyone who wants to get anywhere in space has to ride a rocket up here first to one of the LEO stations to refuel - from here it is generally a 24-72 hour 'flight' to either the moon or the LaGrange points.
Amny corporations have prosperous stations in this region, including ZG tourist resorts.
Geostationary Orbit
GEO is also crowded, but not as much as LEO because it is a lot more expensive to get to. The corps that have stations here generally use them for satellite maintenance and repair and as a stop-off point for shuttles to the LaGrange points and the moon.
LaGrange Points
The LaGrange points - Areas around the Earth's orbit where all gravitational pull is cancelled out.
Prime Solar real estate, and the corps who own stations there keep their cards real close to their chests.
The Moon
Well, everywhere has a good and a dark side...
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