#blade runner core

[degeneracygenerator]

cyberpunk at its core is about speculative dystopia. fantastical developments that should benefit society but exist in a system fundamentally designed to beat people down. alluring transhumanism imprisoned by money, class, and other axes of oppression. it's about the real world issue of new and exciting technology corrupted by the world that produces it.

armored core stands out against the common war stories in mecha. it's about gig workers risking their lives thanklessly to kill poor people just to survive and get ahead. even while the entire system around them crumbles

dorohedoro is a story about a stratified society where incredible magic that could be shared to benefit others is used in petty arguments and 'experiments' on those treated as subhuman. it's about how hierarchy creates struggle for everyone, but the blood and tears always runs down to the bottom.

i do love the basic cyberpunk aesthetic. the edgerunners kind, the blade runner kind, like ghost in the shell and gunnm. sci-fi, cybernetics, robots and cities are dear to me. but when you put on the skin of a dystopian genre without knowing what the bones look like, you make something that isn't just bad. it's insulting.

i live here. i know how it goes. the robot dogs are cops and my smartphone was obsolete when i bought it. the air quality is garbage and my health is a mess because my government treats corporations more like people than me, even though we can magically cure or prevent almost any ailment. there are more vacant houses than homeless people. it's theft to take food out of the garbage.

cyberpunk is a city full of vacant buildings and streets full of poor people. it's a raspberry pi duct taped to a cybernetic arm to intercept advertisements before they reach your brain. it's a gig economy that forces you to work overtime just to get paid enough to eat. isn't it frustrating? isn't it frustrating that we have to live like this? flying cars, body augments, virtual reality, and we still live like this.

[teenalien-xx]

𝘔𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵

𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭

𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘦

𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸

[rinariverss]

[mosstrades]

admitting ryan gosling gives you gender envy should get you into some kind of support group

[fightinggamegirlfriend]

perfect dark zero, unfortunately isn’t perfect. Because man, that Sinophobia really shows its bare ass and it really takes a lot of fun out of the game. Like c’mon why is this even here, it doesn’t even NEED to be here. Who on the development team thought that was a good idea??? Genuinely would like to know who thought this was a good idea (it’s not!!)

aside from that elephant in the room, I would otherwise say it’s a friendly game for noobs like me who don’t play fps games. that said I have some gripes with the weapon swapping controls. why did they dedicate that to the Y Button they should have mapped that to the D-Pad, it would’ve been WAY easier + you’re using the d-pad to use spy gadgets already and to be in unarmed combat, so why did they not assign secondary weapons to the D-Pad is BEYOND ME. (Scrolling would have been a pain but the muscle memory is already there! Use it to your games advantage!!)

[phantastyinfact]

UNIQUE

Are you as special as you think you are?

[manriah]

🤡🤡🤡

[privatefire]

I can’t begin to list how many things and characters I recognize. See how many you can.

Spot the apes! (open in new tab for proper clarity!)

Another Night At The Warp Core Cafe by Jeff Carlisle

[burningcheese-merchant]

"You and I... We are meant to be together." okay everyone pack it up. go home. it doesn't get worse than this. I fear all other ancient x beast is #cancelled forever because how the utter fuck do you compete with that. My god. Dark Cacao would die on the spot, his old fucking heart would give out processing a sentence that romantic. Golden Cheese would choke and die from the physical manifestation of her own pride and ego before she could ever utter a sentence that open and honest. Hollyberry is choosing to laugh it all off and pray she can drink away and not think about it. White Lily would fall into another witch pot of bubbling goo before confronting said feelings. Only Pure Motherfucking Vanilla is that clincally batshit and unburdened to spout his feelings 1000% unfiltered to a guy who just killed his friends and got his rocks off psychologically torturing him.

Mystic Flour being utterly repulsed by such naïve, meaningless sentimentality, still clinging to the remains of the apathy she so cherishes and champions even as it slips through her fingers like flour through a sieve; hating herself to her very core because somewhere within it, she KNOWS her heart beats and aches for that ridiculous man, but she would end her own suffering before she allowed the truth to poke its head out from the shadows of her subconscious for even a single second

Burning Spice knowing how he feels for Golden Cheese, reveling in it, LIVING for the way his heart thunders in his chest and his breath hitches at the mere thought of his little bird. Never being afraid to tell her so, to pour out the contents of his dark heart without any filter (and Witches know he needs one at times...), either through his mouth or through the blade of his axe. But... still knowing that it isn't quite enough. Not for her. Because there's still something missing from his confessions. That soft, sugary sweetness that took away enough of the edge to his overwhelming spice that even he himself noticed it. That raw honesty - a different kind than he's used to, not quite what he employs. The kind that well and truly leaves him vulnerable and open to judgment; things he hates himself for fearing, even if it's only in relation to her and no one else. The kind he simply cannot have, that he cannot carry out. He tells Golden Cheese how he feels for her the way he WANTS to, not the way he NEEDS to. For that, he must change. And damn it, he can't handle any more change. It'll kill him, and he doesn't want to die anymore. Not while she's there to make his life fun again

Eternal Sugar sighing, rolling her eyes before letting them flutter shut again, because she knows this song and dance. She once helped countless others perform it; such was her lot as Happiness. And she chooses to ignore it, tuck herself back into bed and retreat into the world of dreams once more. Letting laziness govern her actions, like always. Running away from everything again - including her feelings for Hollyberry, and the fears and doubts that shroud them. Choosing to do nothing with the fact that Hollyberry is a runner and a quitter just like her, instead of taking initiative with her life and emotions for the first time in ages and telling Hollyberry point-blank that they could run away from the world together if she truly wanted

Silent Salt secretly lamenting his condition more than ever before, for now more than ever can he truly say that it is a hindrance, a curse, a stain on the tapestry of his life. Because no matter how well he's trained himself to express his thoughts and feelings through his actions, he knows that there are times where words really DO speak louder - and he can't speak them at all. He can never look White Lily in the eye and open his mouth and allow his praise and adoration to leap freely from his tongue. She will never feel the warmth of his tone as his words embraced her. She will never shiver and swoon at the joy and passion that dripped from every single letter - and there would've been many, there would've been more than could ever have been recorded, for he would've sung his feelings from every rooftop on earth until his lungs gave out. But he can't. He never will. Does he try to pretend it's better this way? Does he try and fail to cope with his lovesickness like his comrades do with theirs? Or does he accept the bitter reality for what it is, no ifs, ands, or buts, only hiding the gloom and doom he knows is written all over his face behind his helm just so he doesn't have to see it for himself?

And, above all of these things, bundling up the other 4 Beasts' feelings and tucking them away... Above all else, they are angry. They are angry at Shadow Milk. Because he achieved what none of them could. He got everything he wanted. His Ancient admitted his love for him, with all of the raw sincerity one could possibly afford another. The other Beasts would do ANYTHING to hear their Ancients speak to them in such a way. To acknowledge and embrace their connection, to confess to loving and longing for them; for their countenance, for their voice, for their touch, for their very souls. Shadow Milk got to reunite with his other half - who chose him willingly, wholeheartedly.

And Shadow Milk chose to throw it all away in the end. Let it all go to waste.

If any of them ever see him again, they're going to let him know EXACTLY how they feel about it all. Maybe it can count as practice towards crafting a proper heartfelt confession.

[43501]

Enormous detailed list of Near headcanons.

Basically canon / extrapolations from canon:

A pro at spatial visualization, excellent at translating 3D images from his mind/memory to reality. Sculpts and carves all sorts of things. If there's anything that definitively proves his inhuman IQ, it's that he can use Blender without breaking a sweat (we see this in the A-Kira story).

Particular about his hair, always wanted to just leave it alone and let it grow out naturally.

Immaculate handwriting.

Autistic. Should this be in the below category? This is basically unanimously agreed on, right?

Purely headcanon / not based on anything in particular / wishful thinking:

His past: He was at another institution before being discovered and brought to Wammy's House. His memory of this is hazy, and his memory of early childhood life before that is completely non-existent. He has no idea who his birth parents are and has no desire to know.

His present: Throughout his adult life he vacillated on his feelings about taking up L's mantle. Growing up he felt like it was his only option, feeling himself unfit for a regular life with a regular job. But he never felt he was as good as the original L. Goes about his duties in a rather passionless way. Never got over Mello's death and probably never will.

Not insomniac, but an erratic sleeper. Schedule doesn't really conform to a typical 24-hour cycle. He sleeps when he feels the need and this can occur any time. Will often just fall asleep on the floor, but does have a bed (it more resembles a nest of blankets/pillows).

Diet is unremarkable (compared to say, L or Mello) but he under-eats. Has never cooked a single thing for himself, exclusively orders food or has his staff bring things to him. Not a picky eater (I mean... HTR13 suggests he ended up eating the New Year's mochi, he was playing with those things on the floor).

Owns and wears clothes other than plain pajamas (mostly t-shirts, sweatpants) but everything is comfort-first, slightly loose and made from breathable natural materials. Owns a long skirt, because sometimes that's the most comfortable for him. It earned some raised eyebrows and then a shrug when he instructed his staff to procure it.

Favorite season is winter, prefers a cooler room temp. Hates summer, has low tolerance for the heat.

Fascinated with the shinigami, wishes he could meet more of them than just Ryuk.

At his core, a sentimental and sensitive guy (after all, while he trashed most of the finger puppets he created at the end of the story, he kept the ones of himself and Mello and stored them somewhere safe). His expressions are muted and his emotional regulation is superhuman, so it's not evident to an outside observer.

Reads books for leisure sometimes but generally not a huge consumer of media. Very, very, very rarely watches any television/films and when he does, they're exclusively mecha-oriented or sci-fi (he probably likes Blade Runner and Ghost in the Shell).

Spends a lot of time on the internet, specifically on charged social media platforms like Twitter and 4chan. He reasons it's a broader part of his job, but he seems to just like observing people.

And about Mello specifically:

Feelings of kinship bordering on romantic, but he never got the chance to interrogate them. Only realized the extent of his affection some time after Mello's death. Has not felt like he has an intellectual equal in the world since Mello left it.

Has, at some points in the past, held completely ordinary, pleasant conversations with Mello. They are some of his better memories.

Believes that they would've been friends if they met in some environment other than Wammy's House/the L program. Feels a little bitter toward Wammy's over it, even though he recognizes they raised him and gave him access to a world-class education.

[traceytonight]

Tracey rambles about Tron Ares again

Tron Ares fills me with so much dread, each passing day is like a countdown to the death of a franchise I care so much about.

The producer, title & main character, is literally Joker Morbius alleged pedophile since the early 2000s himself Jared Leto. That alone ruins the movie for me, and yet every following bullet point makes everything about and around it so much worse.

-Premise is explicitly "What if the Grid came to the real world".

NO, the interesting part of the series is THE GRID, where all of the deeply meditative commentary about our world and visually interesting splendor is supposed to be! Yes we had the lingering plot thread of Quorra coming to our world, however;

-Nothing directly tied to Tron Legacy is specifically being followed up

So no seeing where Sam Flynn could have taken Encom, no Quorra adjusting to our world, No Edward Dillinger Jr scheming with the resurrected MCP; But most disrespectfully of all, they didn't even bother to get Bruce Boxleitnter back, THE GUY WHO PLAYS TRON (and Alan Bradly & Rinzler). The one guy who actively loved this series and campaigned for a Third Tron film for over a decade, and previously Tron Legacy for even longer. But you know who they are bringing back?

-Kevin Flynn is back

THE GUY WHO FUCKING DIED IN THE LAST MOVIE. Undermining the noble sacrifice that was integral to the core themes of the film.

And just today we got this:

This is so far from an advancement design wise of the Light Cycle from either film. None of the simple shape language of the original. None of the sleek visual melding of human & technology of Legacy. While the light cycle was always cool for being a futuristic video game-ass motorcycle, its was just one of the multitude of visual elements that served the thematic purposes of Tron flawlessly.

Meanwhile, this not only physically separates the driver from the cycle, they further emphasize it through all the little gaps where there were none on either prior design. They so easily could've had the red line on Ares connect into the obviously aligned part of the bike.

Even if this is meant to show the separation of the programs from the grid for some thematic element we're unaware of at the moment, we're already going to be getting a lot of that considering the movie takes place in an average ass city.

Also, to be truly nitpicky, it looks really uncomfortable to sit in & I don't like all the added greebles.

To circle back around, what I really hate about the cast, besides the obvious one, is that there are a lot of actors who I think will work extremely well in the world of Tron. Greta Lee, Gillian Anderson, Evan Peters? Inspired casting choices.

Meanwhile production wise we're literally taking David Fincher's collaborator trifecta. Jeff Cronenweth (Cinematographer), Tyler Nelson (Editor), and Trent Reznor (Composer, backed up by Nine Inch Nails) all worked on The Social Network, another one of my favorite films. Jeff is literally the son of Blade Runner's cinematographer, Nelson was co-editor on The Batman, a film with incredible pacing thanks to their hardwork, and while I'm not the most familiar with Reznor's full body of work, I've sincerely liked everything I've heard and think in conjunction with Jeff & Tyler he will make something fantastic and fitting for the tone of this film.

However, the screenplay is done by the writer of Harry Potter & the Cursed Child, and is being handled by the director of Pirates of the Caribbean 5. Choices that feel at odds with the prestige praise I was just handing out a paragraph ago.

Theres so many good elements that are eclipsed by its central glaring protagonist, seeming lack of the interesting setting/designs or integral thematic elements that I look for in Tron, and lack of expectation regarding the choice of director & writers.

Because my two greatest fears are not about if the movie is awful and destroys the franchise as I'm expecting it could, it's either:

What if the movie is genuinely good? Well acted and performed, somehow actually has the same level of philosophical inquiry that Legacy & Identity have? How am I gonna face that reality with the enormous horrific issue starring in it?

What if the movie is bad in everyway that I think it will be, but does financially and/or critically better than the first two? The franchise is not killed again, but revives and bases everything going forward around this awful outlier in the series?

Unless this movie fails so horrifically that Disney wants to scrub it from existence, as they tend to do, the future of any Tron media will undeniably be forced to cohere itself to the existence of Ares.

If you want something that actually expands on the musings and universe of Tron, play Tron Identity. A game so lovingly crafted for fans of those elements of Tron as a connected series. And I know this factually, as the writer of the game itself (who also created Thomas Was Alone) watched my twitch stream of it and confirmed my ramblings about the deep seeded lore and intent of design of the TREES that appear in the game. Only one example of the incredible attention to detail the game delivers on. Plus its also getting a sequel that unlike Ares, I'm awaiting with bated breath.

[cyberpunkonline]

10 CYBERPUNK ARTISTS THAT'LL JACK INTO YOUR SKULL AND REWRITE YOUR TASTE IN MUSIC

Your auditory implants won’t know what hit ‘em.

Right then, reader — pull up your faux-leather trousers and strap on your chrome-plated headphones. We’re blasting through the corrupted circuits of the 2025 underground, bringing you 10 contemporary artists who sound like they’re scoring a riot in Neo-Tokyo while being hacked in real time. Yes, there’s synths. Yes, there’s screaming. No, Grimes isn’t on this list.

MACHINE GIRL Genre: Gabberpunk, Cybercore, ADHD-core Ever wanted to be mugged in a server room by a rave demon? Machine Girl has you covered. It’s breakbeats plus punk plus absolute chaos. Every track is a manic assault from a frothing modem on fire. Start with “MG Ultra” — it's like doing parkour through a collapsing arcade. Machine Girl is a project from New York-based Matt Stephenson, who started it in 2013. What began as breakcore mutated fast into a multi-genre freakout. Live performances are frenzied, sweaty, and borderline ritualistic, often featuring live drums and mosh pit energy in tiny venues. Bandcamp: https://machinegirl.bandcamp.com Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0WwSkZ7LtFUFjGjMZBMt6T

TENGUSHEE Genre: Faewave, Electrofolk, Cyberdrift, Post-Ratcore This glitching shadow-beast of the net is what happens if a faerie takes too many digital drugs and starts a resistance movement in a cursed VR chatroom. Tengushee doesn’t just cross genres — they light them on fire, digitise the ashes, and make a concept album out of it. Expect story-driven drops, haunted samplers, and the occasional whisper from the void. Tengushee operates like a ghost in the wires, often dropping full-concept albums with narrative arcs tied to multimedia projects, zines, or even encoded tone signals. Based somewhere between London and Faewave, their work includes collaborations with glitch-artists and mythmakers, crafting a world as deep as it is weird. Bandcamp: https://tengushee.bandcamp.com Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5pPzJk8q2YbVRo3dEiE5rZ

PERTURBATOR Genre: Darksynth, CyberGoth Former black metal guitarist turns synth wizard and soundtracks the end of civilisation in style. Every track feels like the opening credits to a forbidden anime you found on a hacked VHS tape. His recent albums dip into goth rock, coldwave, and grim industrial — a sonic warehouse rave thrown inside a haunted monolith. James Kent is the man behind Perturbator, rising out of the French synthwave explosion in the early 2010s. What set him apart was the sheer cinematic density of his work, as well as his willingness to evolve. His later albums feel like full-blown existential crises scored with analog doom. Bandcamp: https://perturbator.bandcamp.com Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0O02jvPzKT1kQEYg5XEqRA

GUNSHIP Genre: Synthwave with Dad Issues Think “Stranger Things” but horny for Blade Runner. GUNSHIP slaps synth arpeggios across your face while whispering movie references into your ear. Songs like “Tech Noir” and “Dark All Day” are pure neon cocaine. Bonus points for the video with Tim Capello, the sax guy from The Lost Boys. Formed in the UK, GUNSHIP emerged from the ashes of alternative rock band Fightstar. What they lacked in punk energy, they made up for with lush synth arrangements and cinematic ambition. With vocal guests ranging from horror icons to YouTube animators, they’re a love letter to analog future-fantasies. Bandcamp: https://gunshipmusic.bandcamp.com Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3dD9W6Gh8Mo9Tu4S7ydz8q

SHREDDER 1984 Genre: Darksynth, CyberMetal French producer who mashes heavy metal energy into a screaming cyberpunk blender. His album "Dystopian Future" is all dark atmosphere and adrenaline. This is music for doing squats with a neural interface strapped to your head. Shredder 1984 is exactly what it says on the tin: shred. A project born from metal roots but raised on VHS aesthetics and neon grime, Shredder builds tracks that feel like boss fights in an underground data vault. Occasionally throws in face-melting guitar solos for good measure. Bandcamp: https://shredder1984.bandcamp.com Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2YlR5FzF4XWgeXGxR2b3Vh

REVOLTING PUPPETS Genre: Cyberpunk Punk These Swiss psychos deliver rebellious punk fused with grinding electronics. The kind of band that would stage-dive into a riot squad. Add in LED helmets and maximum cyber attitude and you’ve got a live act worth risking a black eye for. Born in Bern, Switzerland, the Puppets are part cyber-art project, part live-action political tantrum. The band leans hard into performance art, complete with backstories and a lore-rich website that feels like an ARG. Think Rage Against the Machine, but upgraded with malware. Website: http://revoltingpuppets.com

CLIPPING. Genre: Sci-fi Horror Rap Experimental hip hop trio fronted by Daveed Diggs that brings tales of malfunctioning AIs, haunted ships, and cosmic terror over glitch-heavy beats. Their albums feel like audio novellas for doomed protagonists. Start with "There Existed an Addiction to Blood" or "Visions of Bodies Being Burned." clipping. formed in Los Angeles, with William Hutson and Jonathan Snipes providing the surgical, abrasive production. Their use of silence, static, and horror tropes makes them unique in the rap world. And yes, Diggs was in Hamilton, but don’t let that fool you — these guys write soundtracks for existential dread. Bandcamp: https://clppng.bandcamp.com Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7cNNNhdJDrt3vgQjwSavNf

BEAST IN BLACK Genre: Cyber Metal, Synth Power If you're into big riffs, bigger vocals, and synths that sound like they were mined from an alien war machine, Beast in Black delivers. Their album "Dark Connection" is basically a concept record about AI girlfriends and cyber-samurai. Finnish-Greek metal band formed by former Battle Beast guitarist Anton Kabanen, Beast in Black are unapologetically bombastic. They mix anime aesthetics with power metal drama, and if you can get past the over-the-top vocals, you’ll find a band that gets how to marry synths with shredding. Website: https://beastinblack.com Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5wJ1z2KgFvb1GQ9ApnFlog

OKLOU Genre: Glitchpop, Cyberambient A softer, prettier ghost in the machine. Oklou blends vaporous vocals with ambient electronics and medieval fantasy energy. It’s like if a fairy princess got lost inside a Sega Dreamcast. Oklou is the moniker of French artist Marylou Mayniel. With classical music training and a background in club culture, she creates tracks that are emotionally dense but digitally fragile. Her work occupies the misty edges of cyberpunk, where romance and signal loss overlap. Bandcamp: https://oklou.bandcamp.com Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1FqqOl9itIUpXr4jZPIVoT

NAZAR Genre: Deconstructed Club, Warwave Amsterdam-based producer with beats sharp enough to cut through reinforced concrete. Inspired by war, trauma, and classic cyberpunk anime. His upcoming album "Demilitarize" might be the most realistic sonic vision of future conflict you’ll hear this year. Nazar was born in Angola and raised in Europe, and his music reflects that blend of postcolonial tension and Western club evolution. His productions on labels like Hyperdub use field recordings, mechanical rhythms, and unflinching political commentary. Harsh, heavy, and honest. Bandcamp: https://nazarmusic.bandcamp.com Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1pQWsZQehhS4wavwh7Fe8D

[ttrpgcafe]

Heya! TTRPG trick or treat, please! 🎃👻

This one's got a backstory, so stick with me.

When I first got into TTRPGs, I learned about the big 6: D&D, Pathfinder, CoC, Cyberpunk, WoD, and Shadowrun. Of those, I've still, to this day, only played 5, and Shadowrun has remained the odd man out, despite having probably my favorite setting of all of them after Pathfinder. Part of this is its reputation for being a really crunchy game, keeping me from getting players, and part of it was that it's a very crunchy game that explains its rules SO POORLY (in recent editions at least, I'm told 3rd is the best in this department) that I couldn't even really convince my friends to get over the hump because it's hard for ME to grok the rules.

For well over a decade, Shadowrun has been my white whale, always on my shelf, never my table. So I did what any other well meaning TTRPG player does when they have a setting they like but a system for that setting they hate: I looked at every hack on the planet for every other system.

So here's your treat: every Shadowrun hack I've found!

Up first, Runners in the Shadows by Mark Cleveland:

This is a Forged in the Dark hack for the Shadowrun setting that is probably one of the better ones for emulating the "crew going on heists and doing cool shit" vibes that Shadowrun tries really hard to say is its core. I'm a sucker for FitD games in general, I think the system is *so* elegant, and I struggle to find a system more suited for the setting (SR's own rules included) than Blades, so this one has to go at the top.

With that said, there are still plenty more!

I'm going to give 2 PbtA games a shout out here, the first I've played, the second I haven't, but have heard plenty about.

Up first: City of Mist!

"But that's not a shadowrun hack!" I hear you saying behind your screen, and you're almost right, it technically isn't, BUT it's asymptote certainly approaches shadowrun, for my math nerds out there. This is a game about the (literal) power of stories, about struggles against an unseen and unknowable force trying desperately to remove every semblance of magic from your life, and about the yearning to keep your mundane life despite, or maybe in spite of, your magical adventures. City of Mist proper is a fantastic gritty noir urban fantasy game that works wonderfully as the framework for an early 6th world setting with minor tweaks, but it's sequel: Metro Otherscape, leans into the Shadowrun of it all, adding a 3rd axis along which your character can struggle, being "noise". In Otherscape, you're balancing a mundane, magical, technological life, and trying not to let any of those three overwhelm your being. A lot of cyberpunk games try to say that cybernetics reduce your humanity in one way or another, but I think Otherscape does the best job at embodying that balance in a way that isn't deeply ableist in its messaging. It's ALSO the only PbtA game I actually LIKE.

Hot take: I can't stand Moves, they annoy me to no end, and needlessly complicate an otherwise brilliant system. I might make a follow up post if anyone wants to hear my deeply bad take, but for now, just know that I'm a ttrpg heretic, and we can move on.

Otherscape completely does away with moves, and instead just lets the MC and the players decide whatever is most relevant to the action being attempted! It solves almost every problem I've ever had with PbtA games, AND kicks ass as a shadowrun stand-in, so this also deserves a place at or near the top.

Second PbtA game: Shadowrun in The Sprawl. This one is a hack of The Sprawl, a PbtA cyberpunk game in its own right, SRiTS adds the setting and magic of SR to its formula, and that's all I know about either system, due to my aforementioned PbtA-phobia. I've included this one for thoroughness, not because I have any stake in it.

Most of the other hacks I've seen use generic systems like Fate, Savage World, Cypher system, Genesys, and a hero system hack I've heard a bit about but can't find anywhere. All of this is to say that there is a wealth of options for generic systems that try to emulate SR, and most of them are fine. The last game I'm going to talk about though uses its own system, its own setting, and manages to be completely, utterly unique while capturing the vibes of SR so well that I'm still a little in awe at how well it does all of the above. I'm also not 100% certain it's a particularly good game, but the fact that I'm unsure about it should tell you that it's definitely still better than SR proper, because I KNOW that system is bad.

Without further ado: NewEdo

NewEdo is fascinating to me in that it feels like the same jump from Shadowrun that 3rd edition D&D made from 2e, or even the same kind of jump from 3rd to 4th, where you can clearly see the spine of the game it's evolving, but almost every other part of the system has been changed and improved in new, interesting ways that can still be used to tell VERY similar stories, but has its own identity at the same time. I mentioned that City of Mist is Asymptotic to SR earlier, and I stand by that assessment, but I'd say that NewEdo is closer to a parallel line, or a tangent from SR's line, if we're using the same terminology. To get into the nitty gritty, NE uses a system the author describes as "Crunchy lite easily managed", which amounts to a priority system during character creation very similar to the one SR uses, but with each tier you can select having pretty impactful ramifications for your character going forward. The easiest example is the modifications priority, at its top tier, you basically make a mythical creature into robo cop for your character's ancestry, but at its absolute lowest tier, your body actively rejects any and all implants, such that your character will NEVER have implants. On the same note, cyberware is handled REALLY well, with your body only being able to handle so much at a time, but otherwise the only ramification is a "biofeedback" line on your fate card, which I'll get to right now!

Almost every option your character picks gets added to a little personalized random d100 table on your character sheet called the fate card. This includes your character's crit rate, the possibility of a deity intervening on your behalf, or the aforementioned biofeedback line, which briefly fucks you up as you cyberware malfunctions. You get new lines on your fate card through picking certain character options, making impactful decisions during the story, and otherwise fulfilling the express goals of your character. The entire system kind of hinges on the fate card as a mechanic, which is weird, because I don't think I super love it, as it adds additional rolling to an already pretty dice heavy system.

Which brings me to the dice! New edo uses a d10 as its primary die for dice pools when rolling your characteristics like strength, speed, etc, but the rest of the polyhedral family for your skills. (D20 excluded) The skill system is a little funky, but I like it. Basically, each skill has a rank, which indicates how many dice it has, but each rank is assigned a die, each having a different cost associated with it. So my swordsmanship could be rank 4, but what that really means is that I've got 1d6, 2d4, and a d8 that I get to add to my strength rolls every time I attack with a sword. As far as resolution, you total all of your dice together to try and hit a target number. I don't have the table handy, but it's something like 15 for a moderately challenging task, and up to 40 for a nearly impossible task. I dislike addition in this context because math at the table usually slows things down, but it looks like you're probably only rolling 2-5 dice at a time at the beginning, which isn't *that* bad.

You'll notice that the two major mechanics I've mentioned so far have received pretty luke-warm responses from me, and that sounds like I hate the system, but those aren't that makes me like (\love?) this system is the back end, the choices that happen during character creation, and the things that those choices let you do. Every skill is attached to feats that unlock at different skills, magic is a skill, and its feats unlock better relationships with the Kami in your repertoire (magic is up next, I promise) and your class (path, they call it) doubles as a way to tie your character to the world, with each being associated with an in world faction which gives your character an immediate stake in the world and their community. It's a lot, but it all comes together to make something greater than the sum of its parts.

The last thing I want to talk about is the magic system, because I found it deeply interesting, as it's one of the very few skill based magic systems I've interacted with, and one of my favorites on a narrative level. Instead of spells or spell schools, your character instead develops relationships with Kami, and each new "order" or "type" of Kami your character gets access to represents them finding out how to supplicate, make an offering, or otherwise convince a given Kami to do a certain effect. If you have a relationship with the fire Kami (that's plural, not singular), then your character has learned that their local fire Kami really like a certain type of hot bun, so they offer them that hot bun after a scene where they invoked those kami, to maintain their relationship. Mechanically, this works instantaneously, you simply make a roll on your "Shinpi" skill, invoke whatever "rote" you want to use, and the relationship building is left for the GM and player to work out at the table.

(That's the last I have to say on the game itself, but I would ask anyone who has read the game and is more intimately familiar with Japanese culture to tell me if the game feels respectful to that culture, because I truly don't know, and the book doesn't list any sensitivity consultants. The author is Canadian, but spent many years sailing to and from Japan as a professional sailor, so idk. )

I guess the moral to this post, if there is one, is to acknowledge when a system or setting has faults, but learn from them, and don't ignore the good or cool stuff that's there! It might inspire you to make some amazing shit like City of Mist, Metro Otherscape, or New Edo, all of which, their relationship to Shadowrun aside, are fantastic games in their own right! (NewEdo is still up in the air, but it has its teeth in me, and that has to count for something)

That ends my trick or treat, thanks for asking!

[dross-the-fish]

I've seen you answer asks about children before, I didn't know you didn't like them! 030

It's not a HARD no. I'll talk to some extent about the childhoods of my characters within the AU if I think it's interesting/relevant to understanding the character as written but I don't like to speculate them as children if they didn't have a childhood or age them down into tropey child versions of their adult selves. i.e. Baby Watson wouldn't have a mini doctor kit or be tagging along journaling baby Sherlock's adventures. Most children are not simply miniature copies of their adult selves and we grow out of and into so many different things. Defining events that warp the trajectory of who we are occur through out our lifetime. The childhood and the adult hood of a singular individual can look wildly different and I feel like when people ask about child versions of the characters they want a Saturday morning cartoon-esque answer. Adam in particular I don't want to project a childhood onto because his lack of a childhood is a core part of his characterization. The absence of that experience and the memories associated with it are part of why he feels a disconnect from the humanity he so wants to be a part of. For Adam I actually draw a lot of inspiration from the replicants in Blade Runner. Born as an intellectually intelligent adult but having to learn emotional intelligence through time and experience. As far as asks about the crew adopting children or becoming parents. I just don't like them. I have a few characters who are canonically parents in the AU but as often as I've RPed or run DnD campaigns I have become really really put off by players who want to play child characters who get adopted by the crew and anon asks requesting a child OC interact with my characters. I no longer allow players to use characters under the age of 18 due to some really uncomfortable interactions that felt like I was being used for some kind of unresolved childhood trauma related wish fulfillment. Being the oldest of my siblings, with a 20 year age gap between myself and the youngest has left me very averse to wanting to write from a care giver perspective because from the moment I was old enough to cook a meal I was no longer a child, I was the third parent in my household. I am burnt out on the very idea of having to write anything from that POV. I know a lot of you like that kind of fluff/parent-child/hurt comfort but I do not want to touch it with a 10 foot pole.

[nemonoonesuch]

Ergo Proxy References and Parallelisms Vol. II

Hello there and welcome back to the Compilation of Ergo Proxy's references and parallelisms with other forms of art Literature, Cinema and Music. On this volume I'll attempt to expand on other parallels between this anime and other classical works of culture.

Some interpretations here will be highly speculative, and whether the connections were intentional or no, it's not entirely clear in every case.

Further updating and editing will come soon as part of the maintenance o this post.

As always, thank you for reading.

VOLUME II:

- Meditatio XI In the White Darkness - City Lights Bookstore - Les mémoires d'un saint - Apollo et Artemis - Ophelia - 2001 Space Odyssey - Amrita - Blade Runner - Eine Klein Nacht - A Minoan Tragedy

In the White Darkness

Meditatio XI is titled just like the interactive multimedia poem created by Reiner Strasser in collaboration with M.D. Coverley (Marjorie Coverley Luesebrink) over a 9-month period in 2003-2004. Just like the episode is an exploration on the nature between the self and the memories, and the recollection (anamnesis) of Vincent's Experieces, this visual poem explores the nature of memory, particularly focusing on the experiences of individuals with Alzheimer's or Parkinson's diseases.

"ii — in the white darkness" was originally published in January 2004 on Strasser's website. It has been preserved using Ruffle by the Electronic Literature Lab in February 2021, ensuring its continued accessibility (LINK).

Note: This is my favorite episode of the serie, so, perhaps I'll dedicate it a disproportionately long dive in, when compared to the other episodes.

CITY LIGHTS BOOKSTORE

City Lights Booksellers & Publishers was established in 1953 by poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Peter D. Martin, and is an independent bookstore and publishing house located in San Francisco, California. Renowned for its commitment to world literature, the arts, and progressive politics

On the series, is the (mental) place that Vincent visits while he is lost on Meditatio XI.

Perhaps a sort of involuntary Mental Palace for his knowledge to be guarded. But, this time, He is lost, and the books are empty.

Les mémoires d'un saint

This one I don't feel is an intentional example, but I believe is worth mentioning.

The Memoirs of a Saint is a 1960 painting made by the french René Magritte, that features a stage-like setting with three monumental curtains, the central one filled with an image of a cloudy sky, creating this self contained contradiction between the interior and exterior, alluding perhaps to the internal contemplative stage of the mind.

This introspective exercise is actually the core of Meditatio XI and as so, is echoed over and over again as Vincent Law unravel his own persona to uncover Ergo Proxy as his concealed identity, buried in his unconscious as the product of a self-inflicted amnesia.

Yet another layer of the Blue Sky Theatre is the revelation that of the Deus Ex Machina in the homonymous Meditatio XXIII, on which even Ergo Proxy is revealed as a fabrication of the vengeful Proxy One, who sits under the representation of a blue sky (The same beams of light foreshadowed on the Proxy's Mind Theater are actually the cause of the demise of Proxy One). And with that the oneness of the individual is reconstructed and the discernment between outside and inside is disolved.

MEDITATIO XXIII: DEUS EX MACHINA

EXTRA: A quote

JJ (JJ本屋) quotes James Alonzo Bishop

"the future is an opaque mirror. Anyone who tries to look into it sees nothing but the dim outlines of an old and worried face." Jim Bishop, New York Journal-American, March 14, 1959

APOLO and ARTEMIS... and Heraclitus

On the Library there are two marble statues:

Apollo Belvedere

A 2nd century A.D. Roman copy of an original bronze statue created between 330 and 320 B.C. by the Greek sculptor Leochares.

and

Diana of Versailles

Another partially restored Roman copy (1st or 2nd century CE) of a lost Greek bronze original attributed to Leochares, c. 325 BCE.

The "Logos" or "meaning" behind this peculiar choice of symbols requires the conciliation of opposites through the interplay of meanings and the tension of words.

Artemis and Apollo, as twin deities from Greek mythology, are rich with symbolic meaning, representing complementary dualities and a harmonious balance of opposites.

Artemis is often associated with the moon, symbolizing intuition, mystery, and the subconscious. As a huntress her instrument is the bow.

Apollo represents the sun, symbolizing clarity, superego, reason, and illumination. His light drives away shadows, suggesting knowledge triumphing over ignorance. As a musician his instrument is the lyre.

The pulsation of a string in one is a weapon, an instrument of death, and on the other is the product of the death of an animal, but an instrument of joy. Is interesting to notice that in a polysemic sense the greek word bios can express the nuances behind the symbology conveyed on this Meditatio. Biós (βιός with the accent on the O) is the Greek for "bow". Bίοs (βίος with the accent on the I), is the Greek for "life". The Greek philosopher Heraclitus was aware of this conception and used them to express his dialectical views of nature. for him, and through him, other philosophers and thinkers did too:

"The bow's name is life, but its work is death." [source]

On the same way, the secondary creator, Ergo Proxy, builder of Romdeau, is the "Agent of Death".

The irony is that the very Title of this Meditatio, "In the White Darkness", exposes this internal but revealing contradiction.

Following the previously exposed is worth noting that the solar and lunar duality of those greek deities was a motif that also appeared on previous episodes in the shape of Senekis and Kaskis, the lover proxies from the double dome of Charos and Asura. The love between them, and the compulsive strife of their forces to annihilate mutually (enabled by the Pulse o the Awakening) gave them purpose and meaning, and motivated the absurd state of war among their respective citizens. The decaying halves of a same dome was on an insatiable conflict between parts de-voided of all human-like traits: The Knights droids vs the soldiers of the last War Battalion.

In the own psychological world of Vincent/Ergo, the amnesiac dissociation of his persona that fractured the interplay between anima and animus, between his two halves, can only be resolved by the integration and recognition of himself as a whole.

I think, therefore I am. I think therefore you are I am you. You are me

Ophelia

Ophelia is the title of the Meditatio XIV. On this episode, the protagonists arrive at an abandoned dome named Ophelia, with a mall of the same name to replenish their supplies. Unbeknownst to them, the dome's Proxy, capable of shape-shifting, subjects them to a series of illusions, delving into their psyches.

On the episode there is another obvious reference to Shakespeare's Ophelia

This is a direct nod to the Ophelia, as depicted by Sir John Everett Millais on a painting made on 1821.

2001 Space Odyssey

On the Show of Meditatio XV, some visual references to the classic film can be drawn. For Example the reference to the use of tools as bones, and the parallels between this first and last tool:

The Boomerang Star

AMRITA

As stated on the show, the biological material that forms the proxies it's called Amrita, a sanskrit term (अमृत) analogous to the greek amaranthos (ἀμάραντος) that means "immortal", "never-dying". It is a central concept within Indian religions and is often referred to in ancient Indian texts as an elixir, is comparable to the ambrosia of the greeks that also was related to the inmortality.

Amrita Cells lacks a Hayflick Limit (the he number of times a normal somatic, differentiated human cell population will divide before cell division stops) and so, they are essentially able to regenerate endlessly.

Blade Runner Death

Both Amnesia and Dr Eldon Tyrell from Blade Runner are blinded and killed by the same way: eye crushing. Dr Eldon Tyrell is the creator of the Nexus-6 Models on Blade Runner. Amnesia is the guardian of the memories of Mosko Dome, and stores the memories of Ergo Proxy.

EINE KLEINE NACHTMUSIC

On Meditatio XX, when Dedalous, Re-L and Swan are dinning, the classical piece playing is the second movement of Eine kleine Nachtmusik in G Major, K. 525, Romanza, quite popular for appearing on Alien The Eight Passenger.

A Minoan Tragedy (Kind of...)

Daedalus Yumeno (デダルス・ユメノ) is quite and interesting choice for the name of the Welfare Bureau. Both characters are brilliant on their fields and the bold approaches they apply to their schemes.

Deep is their hubris too, and their desire to shape the world to their whims. Both the mythological character and his anime homonym defy the natural order and provide the aid with the genetic experimentation. The first is the responsible of aiding Pasiphae to get pregnant by the White Bull (act that created the hybrid now called The Minotaur), and the second one is responsible for the cloning of Re-L Mayer and the hybridization between a Re-l and Monad Proxy. Also it's the mind behind the attempt of make the inhabitants of Romdeau able to reproduce again.

Beyond the name, that, Daedalus Yumeno is also surrounded by minor minoan references, as this dolphin on his holographic aquarium that comes straight from the early minoan paintings on the Crete Palace.

And there's also... The Thread

On greek myths, Daedalus provides the princess Ariadna with a ball of thread to help Theseus to navegate the Labyrinth. On the other hand Daedalus Yumeno gave REAL/Monad a ball of red thread for her to make easier to find her.

Eventually, on Meditatio XXIII, REAL/Monad takes the role both of Icarus and of Ariadne, but Daedalus Yumeno don't stand her abandoning him (again) for Vincent Law/Ergo Proxy, and destroys the Dome.

Ergo Proxy (our Theseus) then confronts his original, Proxy One (The Minotaur), and it's brought out of the crumbling dome by the now Winged ReaL/Monad.

But as most proxies, ReaL/Monad has a fatal weakness on her design, she is vulnerable to the sunlight and the UV rays. Thus, despite the warnings of Daedalus when she attempted to fly to close to the sun, she dies disintegrated, just as when Icarus tries to fly too high and close to the sun, his wax wings melts and he falls into the ocean.

Fall of Icarus, ca. 1588 from a series of The Four Disgracers. Engraving by Hendrick Goltzius

[zarpe]

Stendy as that one scene from blade runner because this movie is so stan core