Life in the Shadows

• Sun Oct 1, 2:00 PM - 6:00 PM
• • RPG
• W Quinellipe ("Quin") Zorn
• Breakdown
• (note - player antagonism is possible/enabled, but not required nor per se expected)
• Open Door Policy,Script Change,Other
• 2022 (11)
• 4
• 1 of 4
• Created at the table

Description:

The game Breakdown features highly-stressed protagonists (“Pros,” as we call these characters) trying to do some fundamental good amid a tide of inhumanity. Their emotional drive makes them powerful and vulnerable; they risk breaking down the harder they push.

The Life in the Shadows setting is focused on people under pressure in a near-future “Big Brother”/Orwellian state. Inspirations include today’s headlines about surveillance and privacy and/or fiction such as:

• Brazil, the movie, where Sam Lowry tries to cope with the Orwellian state crushing him
• “Life During Wartime” (especially the extended version) by the Talking Heads
• Fahrenheit 451‘s Guy Montag, awoken by a precocious nonconformist and his wife’s suicide attempt to realize the desperation of his empty life, the oppression of his labor, and a sudden desire to truly experience life amid a culture bent on control, stultification, and self-indulgence
• Blade Runner highlights characters caught in existential crisis – especially the “replicants” with their false memories and short lives

Some inspirations more specific to the world setting include:

• The TV show Max Headroom: 15 Minutes into the Future
• The roleplaying game Paranoia
• The book Neuromancer
• The book and movie A Clockwork Orange
• The book 1984
• The TV show The X-Files
• The video for the song “Revolution Action” by Atari Teenage Riot
• The TV show Dollhouse

(Note: Player antagonism is possible/enabled, but not required nor per se expected)

Tags: Collaborative, Cyberpunk, Dark, Drama, Emotional, Intrigue, Investigation, Modern, Play to find out, Player antagonism, Rotating authority, Sci-Fi, Serious