Working Title: The Grey City Machine
In the streets of Grey City, a thousand mysteries lay in wait. They are like sharks awaiting their prey; those who seek them out are consumed.
And they're not the only sharks in this neighborhood.
There used to be such a thing as right and wrong. There used to be order and scruples. Now there is neither certainty nor government to speak of; the world is ruled by the massive corporations, who are fed constantly by the bribes of vast, criminal enterprises. The two have become indistinguishably entwined. The little guy is powerless against them. These feudalistic titans of commerce may wage war for control of the Cyber and Genetic Modification industries, but they all pay fealty to the Glorious Benefactor Corporation (GB Co). Any spirit of revolt or freedom is crushed beneath the heel of its CEO-- President Keeton.
Few have morals... and those that do have a habit of imposing them on everyone else. Ethical people don't tend to survive long unless they are strong-- in body, mind, or spirit. And the spirit bit counts for a lot less than you might expect. Everything is twisted and wrong. The occult waits on the edge of the city for the day when the towers of business and technology fall and we all return to the old ways.
Businessmen scheme, grub for money, and accept bribes.
Vigilantes patrol the streets, enforcing an order and morality that might only exist in their minds.
Movers do the dirty work for criminal organizations, acting as spies, assassins, thieves, and general thugs.
Occultists perform strange magics and await the day of their grand rise.
Detectives seek truth in a world of lies-- either out of a misguided sense of justice or for the highest bidder.
Ghosts move through computer systems like... well, you know, gaining access to almost anything.
Slashers, conversely, have nothing to do with computers. They literally hack things to bits, and are usually
completely insane. But everyone keeps them around, because everyone needs at least one.
Insurgents attempt to bring down the corporate machine threatening to suffocate them.
However, there is something like hope in this world of shadow and gray. There are a few people still trying to make a difference; they are burdened by their own code of ethics in an utterly immoral landscape. They have the potential to rise to great power, but only by slowly becoming more and more like the people they despise and oppose. By the time you reach the top of the Corporate/Occult/Criminal Machine, you make a terrible realization-- you are the Machine.
This game will focus primarily on Cyberpunk's roots in Noir-- specifically a black and gray morality that forces good people to slowly sell out for power. However, it will remain firmly fixed in the Cyberpunk genre due to its futuristic setting, revolutionary and corporate themes, and fantastic elements.
The game will be based on a system created by my good friend Alex D., who is a great designer and sometimes poster on Story Games and the Forge. The core mechanics of the system are based upon D. Vincent Baker's brilliant Otherkind Dice (though notably distinct from it) and John Harper's Lady Blackbird.