d100 Things Found In The Rubble

This is for my current Mega Dungeon projects and because I am rusty at d100 so need to get back on. My craft and street art stuff making money again and getting some attention from more experienced model makers. Using COVID to teach me skills and have room to work. This is for petty items and interesting things to find throughout the thrice-cursed city.

Found more data lost from the pages from my wanted/shopping list as well as my main article index of fantasy stuff. I'm worrying less and will be plodding on anyway. A few new hobbies though cutting into my time and I don't worry about trying to make content here - if it happens it happens.

d100 Things Found In The Rubble

01 Tiny cracked terracotta figure of a person in prayer
02 Small ivory figurehead worth 30gp
03 Wooden comb with a carving of a hunter and a boar
04 Corroded tiny copper idol of a forgotten god 10gp if cleaned
05 Clay figurine of snake-headed figure missing some limbs
06 Head from marble statue with missing nose 15gp
07 Small clay toy cart and ox
08 Glazed clay goddess figurine with ornate patterns
09 Wooden idol left by barbarian beast folk of one of their gods
10 Fist size chunk of unusual stone, buried close are many fragments of a statue of a king
11 Clay tablet in an ancient script a receipt for slaves
12 Clay tablet in an ancient script a sales contract for land
13 Clay tablet in an ancient script payer to forgotten god
14 Clay tablet in an ancient script from a students homework
15 Clay tablet in an ancient script from a court case
16 Jade seal of an ancient state with heraldic designs 40gp
17 Red jasper seal of demon cult with a demon face
18 Broken headstone from a grave with an inscription
19 Seal ring of copper, corroded but if clean worth 15gp
20 Small agate seal of a merchant 30gp
21 Corroded bronze nails from wood or boots
22 Large lump of bitumen
23 Ceramic roof tiles
24 Clay brick with an ancient inscription to a god or king
25 Corroded bronze spearheads could be cleaned and used
26 Corroded bronze short sword or dagger crumbling apart
27 Sheet of corroded copper with the impression of deer over a crumbling wood bucket
28 Broken glazed pottery, some depict demons and monsters
29 Mostly intact pot with images of ancient nobles in court drinking
30 Broken glass bottle with intact decorative stopper worth 15gp
31 Copper arm ring with semi-precious stone 15gp
32 Copper ring with 5gp
33 Gold leaf on a copper headband 15gp
34 Tooth with an inset gem worth 15gp
35 Carved boar tusk drilled for a necklace 15gp
36 Bronze torc with ornate organic designs 40gp
37 Remains of a bronze helm with a bird crest 12gp
38 Ornate bronze cod piece with remains of leather strap 15gp
39 Copper head circlet, battered worth 25gp if fixed 
40 Silver wrist ring with sun symbol (used as a compass or clock by an expert) 30gp
41 Gold leaf pine cone for ritual purposes 15gp
42 Copper ornate sceptre worth 20gp
43 Copper medalion with demon name used in summoning 30gp
44 Ornate sacrificial bronze dagger
45 Holy symbol of forgotten god 30gp
46 Conch shell horn with silver inlay 30gp
47 Hundreds of glazed clay ornate beads from ritual necklace 5gp in total
48 Holy symbol of bronze on top of staff with a crystal and writing 40gp
49 Copper bowl with designs featuring a temple, dried blood inside 10gp 
50 Fine flint knife with ornate handle 15gp
51 Turquoise earing 5gp
52 Jade lip plug 15gp
53 Ankle bracelet of copper with glass beads 15gp
54 Wooden holy symbol on leather thong worth 1sp
55 Bronze bull-headed mace 25gp
56 Skull filled with clay and face painted on it
57 Necklace of human teeth 
58 Ceremonial tin rattle or sistrum
59 Corroded and battered trumpet
60 Flute carved from human leg bone
61 Broken bottles of well-known brand
62 Modern tent peg someone dropped 
63 Moth eaten bedroll
64 Tattered remains of a tent with a several-month-old corpse
65 Wanted poster for a local bandit
66 Slaver manacles cut through and dropped by an escaped slave recently
67 Empty box of military hardtack rations
68 Human skulls 
69 Pile of dead rats
70 Human ear necklace
71 Clay broken pipe with black lotus resin in a bowl for one use
72 Horseshoe
73 An old boot
74 Fishing line and fish hooks
75 Eel trap
76 Clay jar of long rotten cabbage
77 Clay bottle of spoiled wine
78 Cowrie shell necklace 5-20gp depending how far from the sea
79 Old sheepskin with fleece with 3d6gp with of gold dust (used for gold panning)
80 Burnt sheet of paper torn from a spellbook
81 Carved ornate wooden table leg with dragon and knotwork design 5gp
82 Stone carved palm-sized beetle with inscription 15gp
83 Corroded lead plates with inscriptions (cursed) 10gp
84 Brass corroded oil lamp with designs, inscription and inlaid glass 12 gp
85 Crumbling mummified cat with topaz earing 5gp
86 Onyx broken off snarling panther head with inscription 20gp
87 Tiny meteorite of iron size of fingernail 30gp
88 Broken ornate wooden ceremonial hat 40cm high
89 Map of ruin scratched in wall recently with several x marks
90 Beast shaped ceremonial full helmet, quite fearsome 50gp
91 Broken sundial with ancient zodiac symbols 1m
92 Diorite border stone with symbols of city gods 1m
93 Granite pillar with 8 sides of ancient laws in tiny script 1.2m
94 Large grinding stone used for grain long ago
95 Battered remains of bronze cauldron with scenes of gods and beasts
96 Stone idol of demon carved from basalt 1m high
97 Mummified hand with occult symbols tattooed on it
98 Ancient bronze key with engravings
99 Painted wooden coffin with a mummified corpse with 30gp of grave trinkets
100 Stone bones of some huge unknown creature

Moving My Goal Posts

https://www.osrelfgame.com/post/nazis-not-welcome?fbclid=IwAR364PJBxdEr576tgxEmHBaXgfSYYNUMigMhPD5_9vWwUCY7XXR5SkGqJsQ

http://www.tabletoproleplaying.com/the-osr-is-anti-fascist/?fbclid=IwAR36KiZvQKagXqPL0aMT-NAqBCB1Y3k6YuiCEc-UwYG2HitCmk3BER9YxeI

https://thac0rpg.blogspot.com/2020/10/thac0-stands-in-support-of-elf-blog.html?fbclid=IwAR3kcf_vg4zmlYQVUeOl1nGrCm_n3LjNkcMCW9DIgTcTJO2NAYTrvYUP0-A

So a renewed interest in being anti-fascist anti-nazi and anti-racist has sprung up which I welcome. Few links above examples of this. I had my doubts that OSR can be saved or should be as so many good people gave up on it years ago but If people are keen to try good. It would be good to create a culture that could bring back all those who quit the scene and even quit public gaming lives. It would be good to convince all the people who associate OSR with awful people might reconsider. It would be good if people called out fake centrism and neutrality that uses SJW as pejorative or who use the phrase "PC culture gone mad". I'm not sure if things are at that stage but If you have the energy to try to go for it and you have my blessing. Antifascism should be normal and politicians shouldn't be trying to target it by the use of fantastic claims. 

People weaponising soft porn to drive people out of nerd culture are one of my pet hates. I'm for porn but smearing it everywhere to deliberately offend people and drive away people who don't like it is shitty. It is a common tactic in all kinds of nerd culture.

So If I have not lost your readership forever yet stay tuned.

So If you didn't know I have been an anarchist punk since the 80s. I've been destroying nazi graffiti, posters and stickers all that time. I've worked in unions and was elected as a left newspaper editor for 3 years (yea I mostly art directed and had a team of proofreaders). I worked in human rights, community groups, indigenous aid, homeless and sex worker programs and prisons. Friends have been involved in gang brawls with Nazis for decades and carried weapons. I prefer pacifism and I'm not a huge fan of violence and I prefer to give people a chance If I can. I prefer not to purge people from my life but I have. I prefer not to do this to my family but I have to some degree - some made this easy for me. While lecturers at uni could tell what uni I was in when by my style and considered me very left-wing Id be first to admit some of my ideas are dated and this is why I appreciate young friends and people who have given me a chance rather than banhammered me for life for my errors.

I've known lots of awful people and I generally will try to be civil if people are civil to me. Plenty of douche edgelords like to say shocking shit but might not act on it. People who think they are normal and nice can say shitty things out of ignorance and lack of experience. As I managed to convince some nazis and racists to not be anymore I prefer to leave a door open rather than shut it forever. I guess if someone went to being a nazi skinhead white supremacist into genocide to now just says they wouldn't marry a different skinned person but will socialise with them and let hippies hug them I count as an improvement. Some of them thanked me for helping them get out. I did swerve to scare a Nazi in a huge swastika T-shirt once and my GF of the time thought I was intolerant. Sure thing I was and not just because I know such people would hurt me or people I care for.

So I'm not going into details today but after I removed a bunch of swastika stickers and looked at my phone I had discovered I had lost people over my suggestion I prefer to judge people over their conduct vs the shit they say but I probably said this in a shitty way. Basically, I said one group I admin had someone I recently was a Nazi. I had known them for 20 years since they were a teen and never noticed till someone pointed it out - rather I hoped to keep an eye on them. I had no idea from their group posts but looking at their personal feed I unfriended them but didn't kick them out. So I've adminned stuff for orgs and government and I don't feel I always have the luxury to impose my standards on everyone In a public forum. Actually, my standards would exclude most co-workers, some family and some of my clients. So anyway people didn't like my shitty examples so I have apologised to all concerned, purged the previously mentioned Nazi and backed off. 

I get people who didn't like my approach. I do hope I can influence deluded people rather than isolate them more into their world of shit. We don't all have the same approach to dealing with this or the same antipathy in us. But I get other people to have different takes. I have friends who don't believe in any anti-nazi iconography that depicts Nazis or Swastikas because portraying them at all ever empowers Nazis. I get this point but I wouldn't go that far so I lost one friend over this. I've lost friends on the correct way to hate HP Lovecraft's racism even though we agree he was a racist and agreed on almost everything else.

I'm an Anarchist and I am suspicious of Communism being of Estonian descent and seeing how they behaved in unions and told me my ethnic group deserved to be put in gulags without a thought. My dad told me about seeing farmworkers being found in the forest dead with hammers and sickles carved in their bodies. Some Estonians were pro-German some Pro Russian and some pro-nationalist despite that cause vs two huge war machines unlikely. Pro german and pro-Russians factions argued which side would exterminate all Estonians fastest and argued 20 years was more desirable than a few years. Which is pretty crap and sad alternative to debate. My grandpa was an heir to a Jewish department store - he ran away from home as son of a single mother who ran a bathhouse because he wanted to go to school and was adopted by Jews. By the end of the war, the store had been robbed, bombed flat and he was in a camp for 18 years unaware his wife and children escaped to Germany and eventually got to Australia because Estonians were considered white and non-semetic so desirable for immigration officials under the White Australia Policy.

Estonian Christmas is was a contest who could tell the most shit miserable war stories. Grandma my dad and aunt fleeing Russia got locked in a German jam factory with Polish people and spent several years there. One night grandma was sent to the hospital and her kids went with her. While in the hospital the Jam factory was bombed and everybody killed. When released from the hospital the family got to rebuild the factory. After the war, lots of Estonians were tempted by (fake) letters from home to go to Soviet-occupied Estonia and none were seen again. I'm sure plenty of people have worse stories.

So I'm not a fan of swastikas or hammers or sickles. I know Ukrainians whose family were murdered by forces of Nestor Makhno the anarchist Hero and I get their unhappiness with people liking this man or Anarchy. I've been assaulted plenty by people claiming I am gay or foreign or Asian of which I am non of. But I know I didn't like racists my first day of school because I have epidermal folds. I regret some shitty things I've done and said or when I was slow or resistant to ditch shit ideas. I feel safer in a diverse community.

Nazis are officially racist. Fascists and Communist states may officially not be racist but can be in practice and historically were. There are lots of brands of left thought that are neither communist nor socialist. Cruelty and authoritarianism are always wrong even if capitalist or whatever. People bringing up slavery in Arabia or Africa as if it absolves white people in developed colonialist nations now are arseholes. Yes, cops have an image problem and all those new weapons and doubling down on douchebaggery instead of doing better and failing to police themselves is not helping anyone.

I mostly don't approve of mass murder. But the new super-rich could back off and not gobble faster when exposed because it is killing people more than a powerless idiot who blames the wrong people. Millions of idiots with violent fantasies they wish to unleash on the others they blame is a problem. Wanting everyone to have justice, food, water, safety and home is fine.

Being Australian I find it sad for people to predicate their idea of masculinity or freedom on guns. Running protesters over or turning up from another state with a gun is a terrorist dick move. Claims antifascists are an organisation to be feared by non-fascists or more dangerous than the right are a scam. While I'm here, look at the discrimination subhuman status atheists like me are given in many places here. Many places assume atheists are communists and incapable of moral conduct. 

I try to be utilitarian and humanist. I'm not a fan of ultra-rich or the conservative politics they puppetmaster through racism and classism. I like minimum income, everyone with a home, shelters for special interest groups, free healthcare, free education and an effort to help people get over generational poverty rather than blame the poor or the yet unborn generations they will produce. 

The point of this is to make my stance clear - its part self cringe and despair at recent events and state of the world and where I am now. I'm not doing this to be popular. But I hope by wearing my politics on my sleeve it can act like a dickhead filter. Also to say I support people suffering from xenophobes, homophobes, transphobes or attacks against the poor. I don't have to understand all your struggles or problems but I can try to not add to them or deny them. So I'm sorry If I contributed to your problems.

I'm happy to talk if I have time, it is in good faith and you don't resort to swearing or arguing like a graduate of the Ben Shapiro school of man-baby debate. Jordan Peterson is a loser too.

Sour Hill Sessions

Had a public holiday monday for something and managed to get 3 players in for an extra game which cheered me up and got to use my cobblestone battleboard, turf sheet for wilderness and some of my old and new terrain bits.

Game wise I realise I really need to print up my homebrew rules in 3 copies ASAP. Also a good use of setting I made over a year ago for my 3fold mania days. Playing stuff I design is a huge help for editing and writing new stuff to fill in blanks. Playing creates in-game needs for my play style that keeps me writing more.

I went to use blogger  EMO DnD Rules and world page as I have for over 8 years to use my blog directory pages to find once again most of my content has vanished from this page again. No other weirdness yet but disappointing. I might have backed that page up so will see. As I went through data loss a few months back I coped better this time but sad I used a fan-made article directory instead of my own and mostly I just didnt.

Have had some better news on gaming work front which is also encouraging.

Everyone had a good time and we went from a 6 to a 9 hour game with a meal break. Often grabbing a random bunch of minis and using that to generate equipment kinda works. Players all into the system which has lots of choices, standard build options for speed and as examples when needed and runs pretty quickly.

Sour Hill is based on Old Sarum UK. While civil war rages for decades over the corpse of the third empire, the north becomes neglected, lawless and increasingly abandoned. Nobles spend more time in the south or increasingly insane. Whole villages have been abandoned and wild folk, beat folk and humanoids are returning.

Hugh played a drunken monk running away from family attempts to marry him off and avoid all the angry women he rejected. Maxed out in open hand and movement abilities which proved pretty interesting and different to other players versions of that class. 

Fergus played a lawful good young giant with a two handed sword whos clan had been wiped out by chaos in the frozen mountains. He headed for human land as he still could pass as a human.

JB played a dwarf who was very average (ended up 1/3 potential HP) so got into crossbows and being clever and wary. His clan in the frozen mountains had been sealed under an avalanche and he fled to human land. 

The party met on a road and battled some devil cultists in red robes with gold paper mache masks. The gang were injured but fended of the cultists. Met a tinkerer on kings road who gave them some pointers for the north. Later got attacked by kobolds and the giant caught the last one fleeing and saved the two unconscious from wounds. Arrived at a village they heard was abandoned and found a hotel so stayed for lamb shanks, mash and beer. The kobold was a bit amazed by the kind giant who fed him more than anyone ever had before. The monk managed to drink more than anyone. They stayed in a room and heard some troubling noises so barricaded the door but all succumbed to a sleep spell. 

Awoke in a cell in nightshirt in a cave. The giant broke free using a twisted cloth to bend bars and spent about 20 minutes freeing everyone. Found their gear and took unconscious kobolds and the awake one and found some stairs up into a witch cottage. They killed her and her goat and grabbed her magic loot to burn if evil and identify or not. Escaped onto the moors and fled. Met abard on the road who provided lots of gossip on area and was keen to join them.

Arrived in Sour Hill and got room in a good in to drink and gorge on food. Most got better but one unconscious kobold choked when daily force feeding went wrong. The giant had a loyal companion in the awake kobold. They heard of the ruined church quarter and guards discouraged them. Dwarf met local dwarf clan who invited him to the Underland embassy. Next day they went to the ruins and explored the cathedral ruin which turned out to involve a wight. On way home found an intact nunnery and sold them some loot for healing. This worked out well and party offered to recover more stuff for cash and healing credit. Went through a bit of holy water.

Returned a week later to find wight had respawned and battled again with some zombies and giant skeletons. As they had got stronger they decided to get that cult village which ended up in a hopless chase where party plundered the cult, burned houses, killed monsters and fled with a new nun companion. Reporting to the Lady of the sour hill they got invited to dine with the bored noblewoman rumoured to be quite bizarre and descended from generations of lords who had ruined the region. The monk jumped in the river to clean up in fear of women falling in love with him an then hating him. Dwarf groomed himself and the giant bought a noble outfit. WHen he spent the night with the noblewoman he discovered her family obsessed with breeding monsters and he saw a model of her father's menagerie complex in the ruins, a possible dungeon to visit. She knew he was a giant and promptly lost interest after confirming her theories. Got lots of terrible magic items most they burned like books or boots of stealth made from halfling feet and witch flying ointment made from babies. 

WIll try again hopefully and just what I needed after the last session folded. Trying to get at least one more player. 

Health has plagued out games. One friend diagnosed by post virus stress and his boss apologised which is nice. Quite a few players Ive had last few years have been unwell or caring for loved ones. A few having mental health issues. One guy I met for 2 games was awesome fit in our group but having diabetes problems and vanished sadly when I thought we had a good long term guy. Quite a few people working report bosses being extra awful to get rid of people because they want to downsize. One friend being sacked for being spat on helping customers be safe. Actually, they are trying to automate the workforce and get rid of people. In many ways I feel lucky to have done so well this year despite some disappointment. Hoping your all as well as can be in the shitstorm that is 2020.

Nightclub happy with my punk poster wall extending upstairs on Wednesday

Lair of the Acid Lords

Map by Dyson Logos

Manipulated by D.L. Johnson
Posted/sorta commissioned by Christopher Mennell

So from a chat on Dyson Logos Cartography Fan Club, we sorta did this

Apparently, this to be expanded with four sections and guide to crack goblins

Recent Stuff

 

So Ive mostly been crafting of late and I guess I'm more patient than when younger because some of this stuff takes days to dry and I'm happy to wait to build up layers. Going through my piles of art materials has been good to purge stuff that has spoiled and has helped to make more space. Motivated to purge some stuff around the house to get more room. Did a wall of paste-up art at a punk club and my moon rocks here are aimed at decorating another club up for a month. Oddly a while back I said If I went to art school again I would do Printing and Sculpture and that's what Im doing now. 

My megadungeon project I am probably under halfway through on Patreon but trying to finish a section every few days. Bigger projects harder to keep consistent and I'm respecting some big adventures more. 

My palisade walls mostly are done with flock and some grass tufts but I need some green flock and a few touch-ups. Pencil sharpening sticks was pretty good and leftover bits I've been stuffing in other things. Made one tree scenic chunk but making trees looks hard. Stealing Xmas decor in dec might be good (with a bit of an old Xmas tree and cheap Chinese tiny trees). Making up rock and tree clumps with lumps of foam offcuts. I do like doing things as cheap as possible. A few other experiments in the works from scrap and with materials. My cobblestone battle board is nice but needs some more painting and the grass mat players kept putting drinks on which makes rings aaaarg.

Most of my backlog of want items I have and not lots of new stuff interesting to me. Looking at lots of DnD5 groups has made me a bit over modern DnD lore even though I have got a few 5th ed books. I might grab some more 2nd hand. Probably some Call of Cthulhu gear I want but with limited games on currently my enthusiasm has diminished. I guess Im awaiting the new revision of Castle Amber hardback. Lots of games featuring Mesoamerica coming out but they make me squirm a bit and I found Maztica setting box set and novels pretty disappointing (gurps Aztecs is good). Not sure if adventures about white people destroying a civilisation was a great idea. Some of the art is pretty amazing. 

Most of the Art I requested come in but not the cover or several other pieces. All the spot art in and I'm happy with them. I have an amazing full-colour cover of my stone age sorcery book revision done. My rewriting my spell lists project to finish my BX clone has stonewalled. What I have is fine for my games but not really publishable as is. The campaign is still going and all name level but running anything seems a struggle. Still, lots of players missing and not much interest in newbs. Every game feels like a struggle to get together since covid. Offered running Cthulhu but they want current ed which I have some issues with. At the moment I feel like I've written everything I want to but a few old projects I would like to finish. 

Reading lots of evolutionary biology, history and archaeology at moment fact-checking for groups I admin online.  

As usual feedback helps motivate me lots and inspires me to write. 

My paste up wall...sneaked in a dungeon map. Have done lots of posca pen artworks in another club. A bit odd as my interest in drinking or clubbing is nil.

Random "Cult of the Demon"

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Random Adventurers for Thrice Cursed Megadungeon

So I'm trying to finish this project that is far bigger than I intended. A sprawling multi-faction megadungeon under a ruined city for Patreon. I should have a big chink done this month but probably another to finish. So here is a bit that I need for It.  

The ruins have an explorers guild outpost where the party can get drunk or high between adventures, sell off goods well below market goods, pay full price healing and meet other adventurer scum. Formating on blogger and random spaces I give up caring. Some other weird space issues im discovering and toolbar keeps coming and going.

d12 Adventurer Type 
1 Priest - here to fight cults and aid those fighting them to cleanse the ruin
2-3 Rogue - here to plunder possibly affiliated with the local guild
4-6 Warrior - here to fight and plunder
7 Wizard - seeking forbidden lost lore
10 Other classes d4 1=Bard 2=Druid 3=Monk 4=Sorcerer
11 Demihuman d4 1=Dwarf 2=Elf 3=Gnome 4=Halfling
12 Other races d4 1=Abhuman (beastfolk or orc) 2=Changeling 3=Giant 4=Tako

d12 Quick Back Story
1 Young and naive seeks easy wealth
2 Young and naive seeks glory
3 Young and naive wanting to save the world
4 Running away from family obligations
5 Running away from law and authority
6 Running away from enemies
7 Running away from love gone wrong
8 Mercenary for hire down on luck
9 Owes money to avoid painful murder
10 Ancestors came from here long ago
11 Looking for a missing person who came here
12 Vet murder hobo here to kill and rob the joint 

d20 Quick Dark Secret
1 Member of a fish cult (1in6 chance is a hybrid)
2 Demon cultist here on pilgrimage
3 Evil god cultist here to evaluate the area for cult schemes
4 Darkness cultist here seeking forbidden lore and relics
5 Member of local slavers here to evaluate possible gladiatorial slaves
6 Member of local bandit gang here to spy on adventurers
7 Thief here to spy on adventurers and steal
8 Secretly a mutant tainted by curse or chaos, guided here by dreams
9 Doppelganger in disguise, working for clan planning to eat and rob explorers 
10 From a cursed bloodline of the city - doubles wandering monster odds
11 In previous party they murdered fellow adventurers over money
12 Delights in murder, disembowelling, torture, poisoning and mutilation
13 Heard from scholar how one curse on the city can be lifted
14 Has a grudge against one of the local factions and here to kill them
15 Agent of a noble here to evaluate threats to the kingdom for a noble
16 Stalking someone they love who barley is aware they exist
17 Sent by a wizard to seek spell books and scrolls 
18 Sent by a church to recover a long lost relic
19 Sent by the church to evaluate cults festering in the ruins
20 Sent by merchant cartel to evaluate goods coming and going

So my need for d100 stuff has flatlined a bit as my current game thriving fine off content in my Stone age sorcery book and a few extras. Its a pleasantly uncomplex world. Not getting any classic dnd stuff and my real-world craft and art jobs taken over my free time. A Demon cult generator next. 

Cyberpunk: Lawnmower Manning Down The People

So kids are wearing Cyberpunk 77 shirts and ppl are selling their old eds for a fortune and gamers are raving about a thing they pre-paid for foolishly trusting the system. I think when I saw the four-character choices for CP77 (cos you cannot say CP) I was disappointed by how glamorous everything seemed to be. Also I have been on cyberpunk forums since FB started and I was involved in teen hackers in 80s doing kind of dodgy stuff so I feel like I was into the genre before it was named. The cyberpunk maxim from Mondo2000 era "How Fast? How Dense?" has been my art and writing based mantra since 1990ish.

Of late I noticed a flood of new cyberpunk groups online who missed the point. Many featured underage girl cosplayers and anime characters and crude sexual discussions that made me the think CP is appropriate for these groups. I quit a bunch and began to think the older groups where lefty tech punks feuded with libertarians and capitalist fascists were actually better all along. I run an Australian cyberpunk & apocalypse group that started as a local thing for gamers before COVID but I opened to Australia and more recently to anyone interested and we have been mostly jerk-free (though there is a Nazi I'm looking for an excuse to banhammer but they have been careful about saying in public so some kudos for staying in your shitty closet-nazi uniforms and white race pride crap). I'm pretty disheartened how some men weaponise soft porn to drive any who don't share their values from groups and to gaslight people. So they don't want young peoples ethics issues or women or people who side with them and soft port is the means to purge groups. Plenty of admins don't see this and ban the wrong people in some sort of centrist fantasy bubble. So I opened up my group to rescue people from some groups which was nice.

On a side note, I worked in pin-up art and men's mags but you don't have to turn all your interests to porn or imagine fucking everything you like to look at. Actually, you kind of appreciate a break and working in it makes it a chore, not fun and you don't even see attraction the same way anymore. My old boss won't accept male friend offers mostly because they discuss his art in ways that make him want to puke.

Go look at Solarpunk if you need a break from bitterness. Those groups are so much nicer on the whole and optimistic.

Anyway, the discussions of late we had (which led to me formalising my Cyberpunk1977 stuff) explored the changes and parts of cyberpunk culture since the hype for the new game have been affecting groups and other Admins and I have discussed it. This is a bit from my FB page and some extra content following that. Im a bit reminded of a guy who ran a nightclub complaining when a certain gen reinvented punk as glamour with more shiny PVC than punk and that was 20 years ago. There is more to being cool in cyberpunk.

Lots of this Included Eff Wing, Richard and Tai and follows from Eff Wing questions and I'm Tudor here (don't ask - a sad FB story). This was pulled out of lots of threads and tangents but Ive tried to make chronological which it wasn't. Be kind and blame me rather than any participants please - hard to convey a sprawling multi thread conversation over days here. (sic) means ive changed the wording and I hope not intent for clarity. Ive added to my stuff a bit cos I can. Basically, it is a clumsy attempt to explain Cyberpunk and Punk vs Cyberpunk77 marketing hype.

Your welcome to agree or disagree in comments but please don't make personal attacks on participants. There are lots of takes on this topic and better histories. Its just a discussion not a textbook or absolute truth statements.

Eff: Any opinions on Blade Runner? Alien? Total Recall?

Tudor: Mine or groups? More to it than 80s cinema. The genre is pretty stuck in 80s

Eff: lol. IMO AirPods, watches, RFID chips under our skin, and the way we never are far from our phones make us cyberpunks in a way

Tai: No, that just makes people consumers and non-questioning subservient cattle. Bread and circuses.

Eff: it's herding us toward more cyberpunk notions isn't it? ala Singularity book

Tai: "cyber" yes, "punk" no. Most people these days append "punk" to any genre because they naively think it sounds "cool" or "clever", not because they understand the meaning or origin. Which is ironically the opposite of being "punk".

Eff: It's fascinating that the pandemic has made us all even moreso a digital version of ourselves. you're being a bit coy, please help me to understand what the 'punk' means? what is the meaning and origin of cyber 'punk,' if you don't mind sharing? Cheers.

' punk ' mainly implies rebellion against the government / megacorps / authority and normal society ' doesn't it ? ShadowRun! back alley transactions! Jonny Mnemonic! If one wishes to go Blade Runner or Dreaming Androids, that's more philosophical, but not really a punk idea, methinks. not really sure why you (Tudor) and Tai are making this definition so murky, but I'd appreciate a straight answer if you don't mind.

Tudor: Im not gonna write an essay on this now but I prefer sf dealing with philosophy and humanism. 

In 80s i hung with punks and hackers. Mid-late 80s into early 2000s punks I knew were brawling with nazis, eating garbage, having secret raves in drains with hacked power, shoplifting games to pirate and distribute them with hand photocopied walkthroughs and decoder wheels and other hijinx. Punk is grimy and a bit scary and only came to be middle-class glamour in 90s. Punk is DIY vs mass-produced. It isn't just game saying no authority like a kneejerk move but maybe for some it is. Not really one take on this but I have an idea of authentic punk formed in 1977 to 2000ish.

2000ad comics with judge dredd was full of cyberpunk grit.

I liked gurps cyberpunk and iron crown cyberworld which reality was uncertain and quirky and riddled with conspiracy theories to the extent the GM could define their settings reality level from dry sci fi to a more tabloid reality. More games should do this.

I like cyberpunk rpg in someways it is Metkon rpg modded to anime cyberpunk. I liked TSR freelancers setting. Torg had good tech and corporate warfare rules and first RPG to implement 3d printing in a way TV is just starting to use. 2300 was perfect for aliens style sf and did a cybertech supplement for the earth.

High Colonies rpg, much-maligned was like the expanse setting and not cyberpunk but slots into Aliens or 2300 well. High colonies did have a fascist faction with clone soldiers which kind of united everyone and hidden alien jerks nobody in setting new about. Would work well with some cyber add ons. The hab generations and birth tables could be used in any in system sf.

I'm not saying anything I say is authority or matters. Don't be like me.
I don't want a cyberpunk that parades of 14-year-old characters or cosplayers as sex toys rather than for the cool costumes or hair or artistry or effort. Pics are one thing ogrish comments ppl make about them are morally repugnant and would be illegal in many cases if they acted on them. If you have wife or daughter or sisters or a mother maybe consider If your comments helps them or hurts them.


Eff: Thanks, i understand.
I think I was put-off by the attitude of Tai's response -- it seemed inaccessible, i guess?
I agree and think that philosophy and humanism are likely the underpinnings of any 'punk' movement, the raison d'etre of the rebellion, perhaps. Why hack? Why fight nazis? Why eat garbage? Why hold secret raves? Why pirate software / media? Because it's the philosophical or human 'right thing to do,' to some degree. (Tudor: poverty, inaccessibility, gentrification, only way to enjoy these benefits of modern living my answer)

For RPG's, I think that the Shadowrun genre (cyber tech deckers, physical combat, and magic) has the most flexibility. for one, magic is the ultimate rebellion, above physical and technological laws, some would say. (I'm running a 'hack' of Marvel Heroics and Cortex Prime to create a fast and easy Shadowrun game on Facebook groups atm). The cyberpunk genre can be gritty, can be anti-establishment, can be costumes/hair/piercings, but it can also be a 'wage slave' that fights the good fight in the night. (and on weekends?). In any case, happy cyberpunk roleplaying - as i type my cyber message about punks to you on my tech, I think the world is basically 'there' in many ways.

Tai: No, I touched on a major core point. In general (and there is a large variety), the punk side (including the writing itself) has its basis in questioning, thinking for one's self, exploring ideas, not being manipulated, and self-sufficiency; which is opposite to the OP mentioned tech-cheesecake, being controlled consumerist sheep, and conforming to "pop culture" to be "hip".
Therefore, just using tech/cyber does not make one cyberpunk. In most cases these days we only have cyberconsumers.

Eff: Ah thanks for that clarification, good to know.
The "If you know, you know" attitude kinda Irks some people.
So punks (without the Cyber) include protagonists in stories like:
Brave New World,
Sherlock Holmes,
and Equilibrium.
Toss in some integrated / internal tech and these characters become Cyberpunks, is that right?
I'd say with the pandemic lockdowns, people are showing their punk side. Questioning / exploring ideas: answers are all over the internet, and everyone is doing research on topics like the pandemic. Thinking for one self / not being manipulated: some punks wish to not wear face masks, and keep partying without social distance. Self sufficiency: some punks are using what they know (herbs, meditation, exercise) to make themselves heal better after getting infected, though it seems unorthodox. I agree, we're mostly cyberconsumers today. But for those that are 'punks' today, it is easier to observe them (e.g. join the 2600 hacker collective); it is easier for them to 'rebel' thru social media (e.g. Antifa and UBI movements).

Tai: By knowing what it isn't and is the opposite of (eg: tech gadgetry by itself, consumerism, tech for the sake of tech, and the mentioned tech-cheesecake), you can develop a better understanding of what the punk part of cyberpunk is.

Eff: Okay so to reiterate from all of these comments, that "punk is rebellion from the norm"
Cyberpunk is "rebellion thru technology"
Thanks for the lesson, coach.

Tai: Not necessarily blind rebellion. It usually involves some degree of intelligence/thought/insight and avoiding being used/abused by "the system" which is often a dystopian society or corporation. It's not normally about causing trouble for the sake of trouble (eg: not wearing a mask during COVID so as to be "anti-authoritarian" when the infection has been verified is self-defeating).

Eff: so punk is political then, yes?

Tudor: Inherantly

Tai: Everything is political, but it is the way CP is political that defines CP. Mal from Firefly resists the Alliance, has tech and so on, but is not really CP. Luke resists the Empire in Star Wars, has tech, but is also not really CP.

Tudor: punk kids still use political images. Ive got lots of books of punk posters many like John Heartfield art memes of pre ww2. Look at dead Kennedy's (top of post) Art like this easy to look up. If you only appropriating punk for fashion you never got it (even though Vivian Westwood was there in early days of punk when she and Malcome and Punk flirted with Swastikas briefly to be edgelords then stopped - but that another story).

The first modern description of "street art" was punk posters. Punk kids first crackers who got into scar and hiphop.Johnny rotten was kicked out of scar scene for his swastikas - punk scene flirted with it as shock/rebellion till violent skinheads tried taking over scene and punks fought back - generations of punks kept this up. And the flirting with swastikas ended (Souxie and Banshees did it too, then bands with Nazi inspired names like Joy Division and New Order - but I dont think any of these ppl were actually Nazis). 

Punk was always about poverty and DIY vs overpriced gigs that paywalled the poor. Rebellion is there but gamesaying and shock for the sake had problems with consequences (use of swastikas). Sherlock holmes I cant really see as Cyberpunk but I guess noir detectives are common in genre and Sherlock was a drug additct and jerk. Sherlock written by a newage sucker duped by fraud psychics is funny.

Eff:Okay who are some characters that 'are' cyberpunk?
I'm guessing Jonny Mnemonic? Mr Robot? (sic) Protagonists in the Matrix>

Tudor: Im more interested in setting than characters who often are or start as stooges - Jonny is a highly paid corporate agent in a cp world - he wears a suit but deals with punks. The junky dolphin is the most cyberpunk character and film too gutless to discuss it.

Eff: I was of the impression (sic) that anyone could be cyberpunk, including wage slaves who go to their day job, but hack at night, like Mr. Robot. Wow the dolphin is cyberpunk.

Tudor: metropolis 1926 is more cyberpunk than some takes (though ive done stuff on decopunk before and dislike modern steampunk and dieselpunk - perhaps id use Jetpunk for 60s). Metropolis has class struggle, consciousness, a megacorp, oppressive urbanisation and an android/consciousness transfer or mind copy.

Eff: oh gosh I'll need to look that up, thanks. Um... any other mainstream examples of cp?

Tudor:Protagonists dont have to be punk or start off that way. JudgeDdredd is a case in point
2000ad characters and worlds are often punk - so many brit writers from there made vertigo comics. 

Eff:Ok so judge Dredd was not a cyberpunk himself, but the other supporting characters and his targets were cyberpunk, is that right?

Tudor: Yes - characters explore the world but might look down on it rather than fight it. I like Johonny Nemo too - a brit comic cyborg detective who is modded to drink more, has a robot assistant and deals with weird tech crime in an often brutal manner. Currently, I'm more interested in what I term "proto cyberpunk" nowadays. 6million dollar man, Semon Seed, Forbin project, Brainstorm.

Eff: I thought Steve Austin is basically a loyal government agent ?

Tudor:As I said protocyberpunk. He was astronaut turned into cyborg, only very tough and strong willed could survive - Jamie a world class athlete (the book Cyborg is nastier and has inbuilt assassin weapons. He early on refuses missions so they trick him into them and make them personal by using his friends - he refuses to kill for OSI (in tv only). In bionic woman she is keen after the shock of surgery but at end she wants to quit, they hunt her down and she cuts a deal to live after being a fugitive. Both have good ai and replicant episodes. Computers in some episodes straight from Forbin project. Only big government could afford AI and bionics in 70s. Shockwave Rider by Brunner the hero trained by a prestigious thinktank but becomes a fugitive. Starting corp and falling and seeing inequality and poverty and lies works (Matrix). In 80s Cyberpunk tech it is common, stealable, hackable, recyclable.

I generally prefer Japanese cyberpunk to novels in the 80s by guys on typewriters (I'm looking at you Nueromancer). I couldn't get past the first chapter of Snow Crash despite having Sumerian references because it was too too cool and wasteful of resources for a pizza delivery. Most of my friends loved it. Possibly I like cyberpunk comics and Japanese animation more. Probably roleplaying games did it better than novels too for me.

Eff: Fifth Element?, Total Recall?, Mad Max?

Tudor: mad max nope - though the decay and punk is there from when family folk feared them.
I preferred modern total recall to old one - Phil K Dick a huge influence on genre - best thing in 1st one was Jonnycab. Original total recall spent years in edit and needed tech to save it ironically. 5th element the city squalor is cyberpunk but the film is ultimately religious ending in space gods deus machina and a vertical shaft of white light (cop out end of too many SF films). Cyberpunk elements are mainstream now and overlaps but some things probably more specifically cyberpunk not just visiting for the glam.

Ghost in the shell is probably my fave film/anime/manga of genre - philosophy of consciousness is big part of the genre and how tech changes everything. In series, people are always doubting the rules of technology and how aware machines are. I like Burst Angel quite a bit too but that's also a spaghetti western and mecha drama. Some include Akira but it probably has non cyberpunk territory. Tetsuo Body Hammer films are interesting but I couldn't watch ever again (I blame you Richard). The KDFM vid using Gunhead footage is probably the most cyberpunk thing ever to me.

Eff: (sic) Is this the game (shows pic of Cyberpunk77) It looks interesting, but it could also just dilute everything that we've discussed in this thread. Anything that is a big open world video game can become rote very fast, losing the original intent / message / gravitas and becoming ... Well, just a video game.

Tudor: basically my point all along and point of this thread. When they announced the character backgrounds and pix of them I lost interest (but I might play when cheaper - now im actually online not homeless with a phone tether I might change after I thrash Farcry Primal and Fallout stuff I missed).

Eff: In your post you said game, so I thought it was referring to a new paper rpg game, like Shadowrun. That also has races and classes.

Tudor: Best not get me on Shadowrun. Class and race not the inherent problems just the Cyberpunk2077 game ones (but class and race do have problems inherently in games).

Eff: Videogame marketing for 2077 is very heavy-handed.

Tudor: Yes more glamourpunk

Eff: Is there anything they could add to the game, to attract you into playing it?

Richard: I think you're being a bit harsh about the classes - creating content for all the classic character classes would bee too expensive. They might only have two skill trees available, but you can build your own character from both skillsets and you get a choice of three backgrounds which I assume give separate skills and bonuses. The backgrounds are more the character archetypes anyway - corporate (diplomat/resources), street kid (I guess rogue/tech/hacker skills) and nomad (street samurai type stuff). Better for them to focus on deeper content for fewer character types than broader but shallower material for all.

Tudor: (a few ppl have said this to me) I get that but are classes in rpg
corp=fixer
nomad=mad max types in ttrpg
street kid=gang member in ttrpg?
I think its kinda over glamorous my main hot take

Richard: It's meant to be a first person immersive CRPG, not a social beer and skittles RPG session - they need to put the money on the screen and want to take everything up a notch from Witcher 3.

Tudor: I get it and I hope not a GTA reskin full of heists. Hope it has philosophy social commentary and cognitive gonzo. I only play fallout so what would i know about computer gaming.

Richard: Well, the Witcher games had a go at subverting expectations re the monsters and curses. You could straight up treat the monsters as monsters and hack them up and still keep going with the game, or you could investigate the legends, the characters involved in the affected village and work out that a lot of the time the monster was only there because of someone's corruption or evil actions, and bringing them to justice would lay the curse.

Tudor: Possibly like many things just marketing and fans that bug me.
Worst film ever made gets me more curious than blockbuster of the year

Richard: So I doubt Cyberpunk 2077 will be just another shitty open worlde collectathon and icon a-la-ubisoft

Tudor: I guess we should wait and not speculate

Richard: I can wait and speculate

Tudor: Your a special man. Solarpunk is the cool thing kids into now
sustainable egalitarian tech. Cant imaging a computer game Solarpunk77 - probably a sustainable city sim about gardening and recycling so supermarkets and power companies collapse. 

Tai: If you can, watch "Appleseed Ex Machina"

Eff:Cool thanks, watching the YouTube clips now
Sooo many bullets, John Woo bullets, many many

Tai: You need to watch the whole thing to see the message.

Eff: Shall do. I like the love story too, lol
  
(later)

Thanks Tai Lung and Tudor Cook Beal , I've been inspired to check out the live version of Ghost In The Shell (can't access Appleseed yet). Just starting to watch it, it seems a bit more heavy handed with the cyberpunk message than the anime, but I like how much grittier it seems. (I watched the anime years ago, and am trying to appreciate the live version on its own) Thoughts?

Solar Punk seems nice!

Tudor: (ghost in the shell) film was abused as dumbed down and whitewashed so lots of fans hate it. I liked It anyway. Stand Alone Complex the tv series is the best version but some ppl don't like that. I guess the idea of failures of high tech is part of the dystopia - so grunge, ruins, poverty all part of the mix. Solar punk guys got me into dumb tech - less fragile more sustainable longer lasting. Looking at Indiginous long lasting cultures again.

Eff: I realize the live movie is different, but in some ways, the dumbing down made it more accessible. If I had seen it first, I'd be interested in watching the anime/tv series after.

Tai: The movie is different in that is does not capture what made the anime special. It does not have the depth, the thought, the essence. That is the problem with everything becoming accessible, you lose the depth that originally inspired and drew people to it. Then pop culture is drawn to something that is not what it was, only to something that implies what it is. You lose the original.

Tai: An excellent overview and perspective
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FH2aVDj6HVM

Rodney: Cyberpunk died in 1993 (with pic of Billy Idol's Cyberpunk single)

-----------------------------------------

This thread came to life elsewhere again but it links to my older cyberpunk 1977 and deco posts

For the record I side on Pure genre over elements of genre featured. So Psychic aliens or demons tend to put outside scope of my work. I dont dislike it (if you do better than Shadowrun) but when Im talking genre other stuff should be a minor element. Corsucant in StarWars had dirty low living neon scary streets but Starwars is not cyberpunk even if it has the odd bionic bit.

I Call Ye Craftgod!

 

So I got proper internet or what Australia passes for the net, not just phone. I thought I'd spend 72 hours a week playing Farcray Primal and Fallout but nope. Mostly watching videos and since I found this wood mirror frame I've been crafting lots. I've pulled out my minis, kits, scrap boxes, and got to work. Above is battleboard I'm working on and some pencil sharpened sticks hot glued awaiting a base currently keeping Cthulhu away (i will paint).

Mostly working on making frame into a battleboard with a cobblestone texture still drying after days. Has one coat of pva and spak filler mixed to fill in edge around outside and seal. Will try a pva and colour wash next. Has some cracks from Femo air dry clay but overall its less like baby poop than Das brand I've always thought a sad and disappointing product. The Femo brand was perfect with texture rollers from greenstuff (yes send me free products to review and name drop). Some of my cheap pva had gone sour and nasty but the good stuff seems fine after 20 years. This has been good to purge stuff.

So the baseboard in cobblestone will be for dungeons and ye old cities. I got a green grass square for it for outdoors. Will do a city grid and perhaps a space scene for sf battles. Started on some scatter terrain bits and hope will get a bunch ready for my stone age games with cliffs, hills, and trees. I have two lots of mars attacks redbrick ruins and an industrial foundry kit I'm going to build and paint finally. From what I've seen from 20 years of stenciling and aerosol art I have lots of the skills I need and enjoying learning from vids while i work and potter about the house. I've been eating less too which I didn't expect. So my net has given me a new lease on life. Plus walking to the hardware store and collecting sticks and smashed bits of car plastic on the highway for post apoc terrain. I'm supposed to be building a moon theme room at one club and a poster corridor of my art for a punkier one. I Will see how this goes but doubt I will get Sydney pay here.

I appreciate art tricks cos as an art teacher for 20 years lots of art is tricks. I know lots that my vid viewing channels don't know and more fine art or street art so I think I have something to bring to the table. Got a Dremel for sawing (a bit disappointing cutting sticks vs my titanium bladed shears). Used to unrivet some old toy cars for gaslands type stuff. I have a few test things drying and some things I want like cheap mesh not a dollar a cm mesh from hobby or art shops. Hoping to find cheaper expanding foam.

So having been a mostly not interested in minis gamer what happened? I liked 1/72 and a kid because it was compact and you got alot and as I felt to starved I mostly liked lego, matchbox cars,  blocks, soldiers, animals, and starwars as you could add to a collection over years and I knew I would not have cool seasonal toys. My plane kits collection my mum paid me so she could smash them out of some anti model fantasy from a life time of model making males in her life - i used to buy unearthed arcana in 80s. She did wince when I told her they were worth quite a bit. Mostly relatives gave me macrame owls, hankies, candy and tea towels so I got good at hoarding my scant resources.

So 40 years later I have a bunch again. I like fancy toy animals and collecting them made me draw better and learn about evolutionary biology and evolution better (I love synapsids). When I lived above a gaming club and ninja dojo for years in Sydney I got to see huge piles of scenery, tables, crafters at work, and model makers. I got back into minis "biblical era" first for my BRP Babylon games and later Vikings, Roman era, medieval. The monster scale I find less important. Big monsters for non-humanoids ok. I have almost the whole line of Mars attacks - civilians and burning cow set (i will build my own burning cows). I was mostly ok not painting as I like silhouette mostly. Club kids laughed at my use of paper minis for marvel (sob) and scrouged me a tub of Heroclix for my marvel game. I since got a few hundred bulks that have had years of use. BRP murder highway game I got lots of modern special forces and recently sets of 1/72 rednecks and zombie fighters. I got a sizable pile of 1/72 armed pre ww2 civilians and cops and gangsters and boxer rebellion civilians and ww2 partisans for Cthulhu plus a pile of 1920s cars, trucks, and busses. In the last few years, I was running Cthulhu and got lots of squamous and rugose things.

I'm mostly working on terrain till im happy with tool use and using less glue and paint better. But will paint some up eventually possibly when I get my shed and spare room clearer. 

So other than renewing my toy and company starved youth that probably helped me be imaginative what have I come to like about minis, especially when you have enough?

They really do ad to drama when you go for your monster box and pull out some Cthulhu Mythos thing and players go EWTF is that and worry more.

Sometimes playing with stuff gives you ideas. Sorting my cars into themes suggested roadwar adventures and gangs. 

As for who is where and can shoot It reduces lots of ambiguity and speeds play.

Helps some ppl less imaginative than me work out what's happening because sometimes theatre of the mind varies from person to person.

I think playing TSR marvel I always liked minis because punching ppl through walls and knowing what stuff in the street you can lift and smash ppl with is important. I ran a con Secret Wars 2 street battle 12 player battle royals that were fun. Scenery and minis help players come up with crazy ideas.

I have considered now I have lots of monsters I could draw random monster from a bag instead of dice. Mostly my ice age mammals this works but my dungeon critter pile improving.

Scale and numbers can really add to the horror and theatre of gaming. Possibly I'm driven by ooh and ahs of players a bit.

I'm supposed to be doing a megadungeon module for Patreon and rewriting my spell lists but not. Checking if my airbrush in the shed workable tomorrow and checking the state of long-stored art supplies. Need packs of chipboard cos I do pretty well with cardboard so some buildings in works soon. Hopefully will have something decent to show off soon. The skills I learn here I will abuse in my fine art in the future.

I guess I'm finally enjoying covid shut-in and loss of my career and thankfully I have a place to live and the means at the moment. 2/3 of my friends awol since march a bit sad so I hope they are all well. I guess I have come out of this better than lots of people. Id like to thank my readers for keeping me going through a few horrible years.

broken found bits from the road will end up post apoc scatter terrain

Wish I had known about these before I bought a fancy hi-tech ruin kit

Kit bits. Good inspiration but I think I could scratch build now. Still good inspiration.

Still find Blogger changing things after I do with spaces, fonts, justifications. I prefer new facebook to new blogger.