The tone of Ascension

Sunburn was about the power of the individual. I recall saying, "... by putting the player between two opposing factions, a rock, and a hard place..." And, through this, expressing the power of a few exceptional people, just trying to find a way home through the desert of death.

Ascension, I realize, is similar. Shockingly similar. There are two major factions (things get a little twisty there, it'll make more sense once I write about how players went through it), lots of guns, and it's a very "lonely" atmosphere, mainly because the players don't belong to any particular group of people. There's lots of heads to talk to, but no one who has that critical connection. And that's very deliberate.

By far the biggest roadblock I'm at is the mix of genre. I walked in expecting it to be very cyberpunk (again, mostly Hardwired, but a teensy bit of Neuromancer), but I'm finding it's more of a generic dystopian fare. Absolutely nothing wrong with that, but I feel like without enough computers, the robot warfare is just a tacked-on piece of gameplay that doesn't mesh with the setting.

Speaking of which, I think I've come up with an intro. Rough draft, subject to change.

The year is 1993. The ozone layer is all but depleted, robots and automatic firearms are everyday items, the UN has declared war on China, and the rich and uber-elite live in space stations above the Earth. 

I was going for a bit of cheese, a la Escape from New York. The beginning of the whole thing is stolen directly from Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, but it totally fits the atmosphere. For example, there's something called a NEON weapon- basically a lightsaber that solidifies after it forms the weapons. A little bit of 1980's glitz goes a long way.

There's going to be handouts up the wazoo. Part of it is, they're all going to form a puzzle/roleplay solution for the very end (smart players will pick up on it). Another part is, I want to illustrate more of the world through annoying internet ads. For example:

• 12 dead in Havana, 6 hostages remain. Vote now at www.hbo.com/shows/ahouseincuba
• Guess what we bought twenty years ago? www.coca-cola.com/pepsi
• Mayor Rashton apologises for Soylent Green scandal, "We can only make so much, so quickly."

This is also proving to be kind of a challenge. The ads aren't supposed to be slapstick/black humor funny all the time. I'm not trying to undermine the normally serious tone of the entire RPG with little text ads. So, my plan is:

• 50% of them are just regular ads. I might actually take real ones, from the real world, and change the names around
• 40% of them are "funny" ads, like the ones above.
• 10% of ads are shock humor. These are meant to disturb and frighten the player.

I'm banking on about 30 ads to show up, and be distributed over the handouts. That's not enough for me to question my life, but it is enough to fill out nicely.

There's a little bit of Mad Max going into Ascension. That raw, carnal experience is something I relish, especially for one particular segment I've got in mind.

I'm still feeling very confidant about all this. I've got a list of the weapons (no stats, just feeling around), a general plot (it's very back-stabby and illegal. Perfect!), and a few characters. This is going to be a much more solid experience than Sunburn, and I'm really looking forward to showing it off.