Post by Malcadon on Jun 8, 2015 10:18:04 GMT
Modempunk is a homebrew mico-RPG inspired by the 1995 movie Hackers (rulebook found in the link). The rules are as bare minimum as you can get and still called yourself a game system, but can easily be replaced by more complete system of ones choosing. The real draw of this game is its setting...
Modempunk describes its own concept as "radical computer hackers in a totalitarian '80s that never was." The default setting is an alternate-reality 1986 where the computer curve ran a few decades earlier than in our world. Due to the high cost of petroleum, along with the economic depression on overdrive, entertainment and travel are really expensive. On top of that, the Reagan administration made it illegal to use a computer without a licenses (much like with HAM radios), but most kids in this world are tech-savvy computer/radio geeks. Much like the internet pirating of today, kids use "the net" to bootleg media, but at a lower quality than what you see today. That is, bootlegged music sounds like they are being played through a NES system, while bootlegged movies/shows look pixelated to where early Sega-CD look high-def in comparison. Bootleg tapes, cassettes and floppies are still traded off by hand. Much of the gear used by hackers are improvised in strange and unique ways, like repurposing Walkmans to make "blue box" devices (a sound-making device used to "phreak" telephone systems for free long-distance calls) or rigging CB radios to send computer code over short distances, when telephone lines are not an option.
Hacking in this world is not the pastime of obese basement-dwellers. Due to aggressive crackdowns by the police-state and corporate thugs, as well as a greater involvement by the criminal underworld, Hackers are highly mobile and really creative. To not draw attention to themselves, portable electronics, including computing, hacking, phreaking and data-storage devices usually look like mundane objects. Hackers also find cleaver ways to infiltrate secure sites in order to get valuable or classified data.
Hackers are the roguish outlaws of the setting sticking it to "The Man," and they risk their rights and freedoms if they get cough. Much like classic cyberpunk, coolness and style are emphasized traits, and they both have a vary '80s vibe. Players are encouraged to come-up with ways to rework old '80s technology in cool and useful ways; the setting gives some extra leeway to account for the technological boom. Something like Penny Gadget's Communicator Watch (that looks like an 80s calculator watch) and Computer Book (that looks like a school textbook) would not be beyond what a Hacker could rig-up, save for a dramatic drop in video quality with the watch.
The rulebook gives a rough outline on the setting, but it really needs expanding. This sounds like a great setting to play, as its got that retro-'80s vibe that is big these days, and its a neat take for an era that was so obsessed with the futuristic-looking technology that looks really dated today, like home computers, 8-bit video games, bulky mobile phones, and so on. In a way, the setting would make those old, antiquated things feel more useful again, but with an emphasis on making them work like devices we have seen in the past two decades. So what do you guys think of this alternative-history setting, and do you have any ideas one how to expand on it?
Oh, and '80s goth-punk girls are FUCKING HOT!!! d
Modempunk describes its own concept as "radical computer hackers in a totalitarian '80s that never was." The default setting is an alternate-reality 1986 where the computer curve ran a few decades earlier than in our world. Due to the high cost of petroleum, along with the economic depression on overdrive, entertainment and travel are really expensive. On top of that, the Reagan administration made it illegal to use a computer without a licenses (much like with HAM radios), but most kids in this world are tech-savvy computer/radio geeks. Much like the internet pirating of today, kids use "the net" to bootleg media, but at a lower quality than what you see today. That is, bootlegged music sounds like they are being played through a NES system, while bootlegged movies/shows look pixelated to where early Sega-CD look high-def in comparison. Bootleg tapes, cassettes and floppies are still traded off by hand. Much of the gear used by hackers are improvised in strange and unique ways, like repurposing Walkmans to make "blue box" devices (a sound-making device used to "phreak" telephone systems for free long-distance calls) or rigging CB radios to send computer code over short distances, when telephone lines are not an option.
Hacking in this world is not the pastime of obese basement-dwellers. Due to aggressive crackdowns by the police-state and corporate thugs, as well as a greater involvement by the criminal underworld, Hackers are highly mobile and really creative. To not draw attention to themselves, portable electronics, including computing, hacking, phreaking and data-storage devices usually look like mundane objects. Hackers also find cleaver ways to infiltrate secure sites in order to get valuable or classified data.
Hackers are the roguish outlaws of the setting sticking it to "The Man," and they risk their rights and freedoms if they get cough. Much like classic cyberpunk, coolness and style are emphasized traits, and they both have a vary '80s vibe. Players are encouraged to come-up with ways to rework old '80s technology in cool and useful ways; the setting gives some extra leeway to account for the technological boom. Something like Penny Gadget's Communicator Watch (that looks like an 80s calculator watch) and Computer Book (that looks like a school textbook) would not be beyond what a Hacker could rig-up, save for a dramatic drop in video quality with the watch.
The rulebook gives a rough outline on the setting, but it really needs expanding. This sounds like a great setting to play, as its got that retro-'80s vibe that is big these days, and its a neat take for an era that was so obsessed with the futuristic-looking technology that looks really dated today, like home computers, 8-bit video games, bulky mobile phones, and so on. In a way, the setting would make those old, antiquated things feel more useful again, but with an emphasis on making them work like devices we have seen in the past two decades. So what do you guys think of this alternative-history setting, and do you have any ideas one how to expand on it?
Oh, and '80s goth-punk girls are FUCKING HOT!!! d
