I just recently purchased the latest updates of two classic 80s role-playing games, Cyberpunk and Shadowrun. Both games imagine a near future setting that has been extrapolated from the perspective of the 1980s (although Shadowrun muddies the water a bit by throwing magical fantasy into the mix). The world is ruled by megacorporations, there is a large gap between the rich and poor, everyone wants to replace their body parts with cybernetics, computer hackers will be running around with portable decks, punk fashion is in vogue, and American culture becomes strongly influenced by the Japanese.
From a 2006 perspective, cyberpunk seems as quaint and improbable as steampunk. The Internet is not the province of an elite few, but a tool for the masses. Goth fashion has replaced punk fashion as the symbol of nonconformity (and one can even make a strong argument that Goth fashion has already hit its peak). Japan is starting to lose its potential future cultural influence to China and India. Cloning and nanotechnology have replaced cybernetics in speculative medicine. And while big business does influence politics, no one can seriously argue that currently sitting corporate CEOs make all of the major world policy decisions regardless of public sentiment.
While this is not an article about cyberpunk gaming, it does highlight something that I do wish to discuss in today's column. About five years ago, I decided to run a modern secret fantasy campaign. The PCs would be college students in the modern world who had metaphysical powers. I wrote up the setting as a fictional New Jersey island shore town and created a few key locations that I thought would see a lot of use.
One of those locations was a local bookstore/coffee bar that had an extensive occult/New Age section. The bookstore owner was rather knowledgeable about esoteric topics and could help point the PCs toward any books that would help them on their current adventure. I thought I would get a lot of use out of this location. I was wrong. I was thinking like a child of the 1980s.
In my very first adventure, the PCs had to do some research on spirits. Did they go to the bookstore? No. Did they go to the school library? No. Instead, one PC simply sat in front of his laptop and started web surfing. While I tried to argue that you couldn't find everything on the Internet, it was still the PC's first choice for research in every successive adventure. I never really came to grips with that throughout that entire campaign. I kept trying to find ways to pull the PC away from the Internet rather than retool the campaign to accommodate it. I had to start thinking in truly modern terms.
The rest of this column will be devoted to integrating aspects of modern life into RPG campaigns. While some of this may seem obvious, it's my hope that this will help other mature GMs design their adventures, or help any GM update "modern" scenarios that were published over a decade ago.
Internet Research
While there are still many problems with strictly using the Internet for research, savvy users can accomplish most, if not all, of their research online. Almost anything can be found on the Internet if you look hard enough. Libraries have almost become a thing of the past, and more and more libraries are making their inventories available online (or, at the very least, making their card catalogs available online so that the research could be made at home). For those of you looking for an 80s analogue, think about all those video arcades you used to spend hours in. Where are they now?
Still, all research has its limits. You might be able to surf up a medical dictionary on the Internet, but that isn't going to make you a doctor. If the PC happens to be a medical professional, then such research will be more useful to him than to Joe the Plumber.
A common problem that I've found in many modern games, especially those that were written in the 1980s and early 1990s, is that computer use is treated as its own skill, separate from library use or other research skills. This was a product of the times, when not everyone was familiar with computers. In 2006, it's safe to say that the majority of people in a modern setting would be familiar with computers (in fact, having taught middle school students, I have found that while many of them are better internet jockeys than I am, they are completely lost when taken to a library). I would argue that simple computer use (as opposed to computer hacking or programming) should be stricken from the skill list or folded into a general research skill. While there are still people out there who don't understand how to use a computer, I think in game terms that should be quantified as an illiteracy disadvantage.
Similarly, there are many contacts that be found on the Internet. PCs can make use of chat rooms and other forms of online help (such as tech support) to aid them in their research. A motivated GM can flesh these out into interesting NPCs. An online chat with BaronLoa35 can be just as useful a source of information as visiting the kind old Haitian woman who runs the Vodoun fetish shop downtown. Obviously, these online contacts should be paid for just the same as traditional flesh and blood contacts. Also, there are many web sites that require membership fees and qualifications. Again, these should be paid for like any other membership. Finally, magical secret societies may also have online presences for the benefit of their members. These resources can be tapped for information.
Having said all that, there are still books and other literature that may not be readily available on the Internet. This is especially true of ancient and esoteric tomes. Even when these texts can be found online, they may only be presented in translations of variable quality. As any Call of Cthulhu player can tell you, translations are always inferior to the original. Also, there are many books that can only be ordered online. When time is of the essence, PCs may not have the luxury of waiting for two-day shipping. Old and out-of-print books present an even greater problem as it could take weeks to hunt them down. In this case it may be worth the effort to seek out local brick and mortar bookstores or libraries.
Cell Phones
Many traditional modern-horror scenarios rely on the theme of isolation. I soon discovered how difficult it can be to isolate PCs when help is only a cell phone call away. While even as recently as 2001 there were many places that lacked a cell phone signal (usually in rural areas), those places are shrinking. Cutting a telephone wire into a building will not prevent a PC from making a cell phone call to the outside world. While the technique of a dead battery may work for one cell phone, the GM will have to stretch a lot of credibility if he rules that every PC's cell phone is dead.
Unfortunately, I haven't found many ways to work around this other than to accept that cell phones exist and will be obstacles to isolation. If your campaign has a large rural area nearby, you can still use the excuse that cell phones can't get signals in that area. When dealing with a single PC in a scene, it's easy to find ways to separate the PC from his cell phone (especially when up against an intelligent threat).
Even with cell phones, GMs still can have isolation. In remote areas, it will take some time for help to arrive, and this is usually more than enough time for the horror to make its presence known. Waiting 15 minutes for the police to arrive may not be an attractive option when a pack of werewolves are bearing down on you (and imagine how you're going to explain that to a 911 operator in such a way that will prompt a quick response). Directions may not always be the best, especially if the PCs have been roaming around the woods for a while.
Global Positioning Systems
Many new cars are coming equipped with GPS. I have a friend whose car was stolen, and the police were able to recover his vehicle within a day because of the GPS. The GPS is an incredible tool for drivers. It enables them to get from Point A to Point B without having to consult a map. This is going to ruin a lot of those "you thought you knew a shortcut from the interstate to town, but now you're completely lost on the back roads" horror scenarios.
GPS is a new technology for me. I'm not sure how up-to-date it is; whether it can take into account recent road closures or accidents or things of that nature. I have written shotgun in a car that had a GPS. I was amused by the route it suggested, since it was not the fastest or most efficient way to go. GPS will, however, enable help to find you more quickly, offering a solution to the above cell phone problem. Still, GMs can emphasize that even though the authorities know exactly where you are, it may still take 20 minutes for help to get to you.
GPS can be used as a plot device. How will the PCs react when they come across a road or even a town that the GPS does not recognize? What if the GPS won't knowledge the name of a road? What if the GPS informs the PCs that they aren't in Kansas anymore?
Keeping Kosher
I could go on and on with various other modern conveniences, but I hope the point was made. When designing modern adventures, it's important for GM, especially us crusty old types, to ensure that the modern world has been fully taken into account. This will cause less headaches during actual play. Trust me.
Good gaming!
