New: CounterCycle (free, open-ended, email, human, modern, rpg)

From: lindahl@pbm.com (Greg Lindahl)

Date: Thu, 31 May 2001 19:13:00 +0000

Name:		CounterCycle
Email:		countercycle_usenet@yahoo.com
Frequency:		two to three per week
Type:		modern rpg
Last-Update:		2001May29
Keywords: free, open-ended, email, human, modern, rpg

Description:

"The root of the prevailing absence of imagination cannot be
understood unless one attains the imagination of the absence - that
is, unless one conceives what is missing, forbidden and hidden, and
yet possible, in modern life." - Guy Debord

Today's society has become separated, by distance, technology, and
wealth, from those who control them. Control becomes consolidated in
the hands of a few, and their intentions appear far from noble. The
utopia that technology has promised seems to be turning into a
dystopia where the only growth is in the amount of stimulation
required to avoid boredom.

Even in the face of all this, there are yet some people who have the
potential to strip away that separation, to peel off the layers of
advertising, wires and pavement and return that which is rather than
that which represents. These people, with a connection to the world
itself, can see and even alter the real behind the image.

You are one of these people, and you can have that power. But what do
you do, where do you start, and whom do you trust? Against a seamless,
world-spanning machine bringing forth and endless stream of
commodities and images, do you and a few allies have the power to
start a countercycle of your own? Or is it better to take over the
cycle and run it yourselves?

Now that we've gotten the quasi-philosophical part out of the way, I'd
like to explain that this is a PBeM that is set in a present day
universe not that distinguishable on the surface from our own. The
player characters will be people in this world who will discover the
reality behind it (and goshdarnit if that reality doesn't resemble
Mage: The Ascension) and will have to figure out what to do in the
face of this. There will be a lot of player say in what happens and
how they approach this: there isn't meant to be a correct way to
handle this power built-in.

I'm looking for players who are interested by the idea, interested by
seeing what responsibility comes with power, and are capable of
writing on a decent level. I expect no knowledge of Mage: The
Ascension, nor of the game system we're going to use (FUDGE, a very
easy-to-pick-up freeform system). It's important to note that this is
not the world of Mage as outilined in book X, but more a separate
world with the spirit and ideas of Mage.

If you are interested, send me an email introducing yourself, and give
one or more short ideas for characters who could possibly discover
this kind of power lurking within them and the world.

[ This is a new entry for the PBM List. You can find the list
itself, and instructions for adding games or comments, at
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/pbm_list/ -- greg ]