Forums » Looking for RP » LF Cyberpunk/Post-cyberpunk rp (closed)

Just poking my head in to see if anyone else is interested in a sci fi rp with emphasis on cityscapes and highly futuristic (optionally dystopian) settings. If you're wondering what I mean, think GitS, Mass effect, etc. There's a project called Babiru that also inspires me, (pics made by nivanh chanthara)

Basically a futuristic urban setting without too many hangups on fantastical aspects. (Barring godmode-y things.)

Bear in mind I'm laying out a pretty rough idea, and so details fleshing out the world are open to discussion, This is mostly just an interest check: I noticed not many people rp consistently in the sci fi forums, except in TGW.

I'm down, I need to develop Minaret regardless.

Ezmelik here is a space pirate/war lord ! ^^
And he doesn't get any RP è^é
Well, he's a bad guy, soo...

I'd be interested in rping with both of you guys but there is a bit of a concern I have off the bat...

...And its that all of our characters are malevolent in some way. I mentioned this to my gf, to which she blurted, "Evil League of Evil!". Which I think might be possible, if they had a common goal? Do you guys have any ideas you want to explore? The story premise is completely open to debate rn.

I know I have a general plot idea, nothing too arbitrary on you guys, that I discussed with her earlier... But if you guys have a better idea I want to hear it.

Well, you know, Ez is hard to work with...
He may be too much of a (often forced) leader
Actually, being at the head of a PMC is part of his themes...

But I can change things tho ! ^^
He can just be an cunning evil knight who likes to shout orders. He's more a dragon than the big bad, well, he actually killed his big bad (look up Five-Bad Band on TV Trope). And while he likes to be bathed in blood and have others be bathed in blood with him, he can work toward "good", as long as doing good includes bringing peoples to psychological and moral breakdowns before litteraly breaking them.

So yeah, he's hard to focus on a goal, but he is pretty efficient at killing things and building armies.

I don't really want to force an alignment shift on characters, especially not characters who are pretty clear-cut chaos babies. I was more thinking of working with that to weave it into a premise. Especially with Ezmelik! He seems like the least likely person to cooperate with others on his own, unless circumstances strictly prohibited his progress alone. I may be speaking too soon but with what little I've seen of Minaret, she seems to be the more flexible of the two. I don't know this, though.

I usually use Riagan for my sci fi stories. He's a bit of a henchman (a quiet one at that!) so its very difficult for him to lead anything, literally or by narrative. Just that he's a very selfish person. I also have Shashi, but he's reserved for another story for the moment. I should mention most of my fantasy characters can be written into a sci fi setting pretty easily, I've considered roles for most of them in a different genre. At the very least I can use that to provide some variety for you guys to work with, and a lot of them are more fun than Riagan is. Its just that Ria suits the cyberpunk style a lot better specifically.

I might drag my gf into it, so that she can help paint a more diverse world as well. Only if she wants tho xD At least she expressed interest? I should just have her check this post herself. Think I'll do that.

Heya! Hopping on for a quick reply at the behest of Ilth:

I'd be down to join this RP. I don't have any ideas explicitly related to this set up just yet, but I'll think about it and post back tonight at some point. I have a few characters I could bring in. Would it be preferred if I threw in a less villainy character? I'm liking all the things I've heard about your characters, and it could be a lot of fun to throw someone in with a conflicting personality.

Does anyone have any specific leanings regarding story vibes or direction?

Yes, always wanted to do a cyberpunk rp. Can I join?

Gey, we could do a five-bad band.
Maybe some sort of cyberpunk/shadowrun/space opera gang.
Five mischivious to straight up bad individuals get thrown together by some sort of destiny.
We could do it the goofy way and save the galaxy by mistake (saints row style), or go for a more serious and evil path...

Minaret doesn't really understand the difference of doing a job out of good or evil. She's practically neutral until she receives orders. I usually make most of my characters as such so they can be bent and adaptable to most situations and RPs.

And, Duc, I can help but see a Guardians of the Galexy pop up in my head
It seems like a ligit plan though. At least with the gang doing stuff by mistake, there are no forced alignments, right?

If you're looking for a unifying threat for your characters in a sci-fi/ cyberpunk setting I've got a few of them that I could offer up to conflict against, ranging from brute force and numbers to low numbers and extremely sneaky. I've got quite a few. However I'll halt from spamming them out here as I know you started this post so its completely up to you what you want the main threat to be.

!interested! If you need anything to know please ask me because I don’t know what to say.

@8-Ball You're welcome to join!

@Ezmelik Basically, though I'm not sure our rag-tag group fits all of the tropes which makes up that sort of band. We have a big bad/dragon and... a sixth ranger? And it seems the other folks are largely neutral. Whatever gets them together though.

@Minaret I got that vibe, but I wasn't sure.

@Theo I am curious now though. What do you have in mind?

@Jason You don't need to provide any specific information; we are trying to discuss plot at the moment though, so if you have ideas of your own I'd like to hear them.

Lyssa and I were considering something regarding a standalone cyberpunk city-world being targeted by a larger faction in the galaxy for assimilation. And while this larger power tries to assert itself, so too does it impede the normal lives of the people already living there. Something like that might be incentive enough for some neutral/evil folks to try and escape, or even defy the newcomers if enough was at stake.

What if there’s a company that everyone loves and adores like apple or something, then secretly they use their products to take over the world....I know pretty weak, but I hope it’s a seed to a better story.

Then why would the characters come together?

Because they stopped manufacturing phones with earphones. xD

On a more serious note, it could involve large companies who's interests are with the oppressing power?

Also I don't really know why they'd come together yet. Still thinking about that one.

Alternately we might not need everyone to be in the same exact place. We could have multiple scenes/subplots.

Then how would that play out? Multiple PMs?

On the point of offering up a few ideas: I'll stick to my more serious in tome for these ones although if anyone wants a silly one I have a few of them

The first is based on what ilthyen said about a larger faction: The Tri-Abol Mechanus - a space-faring nation of insectoid like creatures that abore genetic engineering and practically worship robotics, basing much of their lives around swarms of machines. They seek to expand their influence either by turning the worlds they settle on into gigantic factories or by first infiltrating the nation's population to bring about chaos before an invasion by their ground forces. This plot could be around the characters putting aside differences in order to hunt down these agents before they steadily takedown order

The next idea is that of a parasitic spore entity - a being that emits spores into people which steadily grow into small creatures that take control of a person's nervous system from the inside. Its almost impossible to detect however those infected by it begin to decompose after 1 month, their bodies not able to sustain the parasite at which point the creature dies too. It has a central nervous hivemind hidden deep away, with all its goals set on creating the perfect single host which will never decay. One from which it can control whoever it wants.

Finally there is the corrupt tech company, one which has developed advanced virtual reality. As such they house mass tournaments where people get to control these drones in what they think is a game which is in fact using them as murder machines. Alongside this, they have tech implants have the ability to connect to their mainframe and allow their operators to take control of human bodies using them as surprise assassins.

I have a cultist one if you wanted that one, although the list is getting long enough so I'll pause there and see what you think of my current suggestions.

@Minaret Nah, it would still be in the same forum thread. It'd just be diverging subplots in the same story. Edit: To expand on this explanation, I usually keep track of different scenes by giving their scenes titles relative to the setting. So like a conversation between two folks at a bar would be "Blah city - The Bar". I don't do it in every rp but I imagine we might be better off doing it that way.

@Theo I do like the Tri-Abol Mechanus, since it is similar to our idea and more fleshed out. All we need is some incentive, really. And we don't necessarily have to start out with characters all wanting to work together; we could have a while of just writing, developing how life is in the city-world before they actually get involved with the larger plot. I think if nobody objects this might be the winner.

I also enjoy the idea of an outbreak, but being that the setting is already relatively concentrated things could get a little confused if not done well. Doesn't mean I'd never do it, just that maybe I might not want to with this specific rp we're working towards. That said, it does give a more immediate incentive for characters to unite; a lot of our characters might be chaotic or loners, but might still need help finding themselves a cure or avoiding the parasite in the first place.

Really I like all of the ideas, and I definitely would like to explore the idea of a corrupt 'game' being used to enslave a populace, but if it isn't too packed together you might be able to partly include this one with the first plot. Not an off the bat kind of thing, but as a subplot of its own. Perhaps an ally of the Tri-Abol Mechanus has this trick up their sleeve and is eager to experiment on the current denizens before the new overlords take power. This might only be applicable if this turns out to be a genuinely consistent, long term rp, which I'd love to see.

Edit: I realize this last idea is essentially a more fleshed out version of Jason's idea, and I don't want to seem dismissive of them while solely complimenting you.

Combining the last idea Ilth mentioned with what we've got going so far, there could be a kind of social networking "game" used to gather census, consumer, and behavioral data on the people within the city's population. It's not the most awe-inspiring concept, but something like that - with set "dailies" and achievement systems, could be used to funnel characters into specific situations from the onset, maybe? The drone thing sounds cooler, though. I dunno. My brain is a little fried from all the furniture moving.. aaah!