Casting Shadows

In this age of plenty in terms of the number of game companies producing record numbers of games, the thirtieth question for #RPGaDay may seem like a real challenge.  The question asks about a mash-up of genres you would like to see in an RPG. There are already so many out there that it may be a bit intimidating to consider coming up with a new one. Be at ease. Do not be discouraged. You do not have to actually invent a new mash-up, just share one that you would like to see that you have not. With a little luck, someone will let you know if a game matching your desires is actually out there somewhere. With a little more luck, someone will see your idea and make the game. With even more luck, they might even recruit you to help make it. It’s up to you whether any of that luck is good or bad…

Get on with it!

My idea for a mash-up is somewhat subdued unlike some of the great ideas of the past, like Shadowrun or Cadillacs & Dinosaurs. Despite that, or perhaps because of it, it is this sort of idea that I would like to see now.

Imagine a world where time travel is real, but only allows observation. Imagine that in this world it is also possible to view dreams, and that recent developments have made it possible to not only interact within those dreams, but to view and interact with the conceptual understanding of humanity – to mess with our myths, in other words. As various powers wrestle with the immutability of past time, others revel in the mutability of idea and understanding, waging wars that seek to separate us from our past. The battlefield is the now and the prize is the future.

In order to engage in these games of rewriting the present to shape a new future, the characters are enhanced with cybernetic devices which in their severity, visibly and physically separate the characters from others of their species.

Part espionage and investigation, part action, part speculative exploration of imagery and ideals, and part this mashup is in a very real sense about mash-ups. It presents a world where our understanding of who we are, where we are going, and what has come before has becomes the building material of humanity’s reality, and the builders and re-shapers of humanity’s future are themselves becoming less and less human physically, and more and more removed from humanity mentally, philosophically, and perhaps even spiritually.

Question 31 – the last question of #RPGaDay for 2017:

• What do you anticipate most for gaming in 2018?