| From: | "Fisher, Victor" <Victor-Fisher@******.COM> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Plot ideas for Shadowrun |
| Date: | Mon, 7 Apr 1997 21:44:34 -0400 |
Huntington Avenue,in Boston, just a little before midnight. As usual
with this guy, the conversation swirled around a variety of topics, but
eventually a thread presented itself. Why is so much of the writing for
cyberpunk [Shadowrun novels, modules, other punk books] just not good?
I brought up, this also applies to many comic books that are
currently out on the market [I won't name names, but they're primarily
from a company with a big M in the title]. We both came to the
conclusion, that many writers today draw too much of their inspiration
for their stories from other writers in a similar vein.
Alan Moore [guy responsible, among other things for the 'rebirth'
of the Batman, the Dark Knight, before Shoemacher got a hold of him
<grrrrrrr>] said writers aren't taking the time to go back to the roots
that their predecessors did, and are only basing their works off of
theirs. As a result, many are producing shallow, trite storylines, with
little substance, or as I call it, Umph.
Now, you ask what's all this got to do with plotlines for Shadowrun
[patience, I'm getting to it]. If, when generating plot ideas for our
games [or novels in the making or what have you], they sometimes seem
pale in comparison to the source material. Like a video copy of a copy;
each one successively degrades from the original.
Now, I'm not saying stop reading all your cyberpunk books [drek,
I'd go stir crazy inside of an hour!]. What I am saying, is expand your
reading criteria to other sources OUTSIDE science fiction, like
speculative sciences, or history. Or mythology. Maybe even the study of
the origin of a nursery rhyme [Does anybody remember 'Ring around the
rosie?' Can anyone say what that rhyme's REALLY talking about, when it
was conceived over 500 years ago?]
Things like this can spark the imagination, and generate stories.
Skim thru the Wall Street Journal once in awhile, you don't have to read
article for article. Get an idea how business really operates. It may
clarify just how megacorps operate in your gaming world.
Read some of the old classics, like Poe or Dumas, or even
Shakespeare. Think what kind of updated twist you could present to your
Shadowrun game, with your take on, say, Man in the Iron Mask, set
against the high rise world of the megacorps. Or the Tempest, played out
amidst the splendor of Tir Nan Nog [hey, did you know the sci-fi classic
Forbidden Planet, is actually just a remake of the same play?]. That's
why I recommend Kurosawa's Seven Samurai over the remakes it spawned
over the decades; it's still the best.
Neil Gaiman wrote in his Sandman comic book series, that all the
stories played out today, are just retellings of much older stories,
whose actual facts are lost to time. That doesn't make them any less
true, only more interresting. [I think that's how it goes.]
I hope I haven't spiraled hopelessly off the target, but I just
wanted to say, if you want to breathe life into your campaigns [and I'm
not saying you don't already <throws nomex tarp over head to avoid
flaming. Grins>, expand the horizons of your data intake. Technology may
change rapidly over the years [or as Tim Allen said, the only difference
between us and cavemen, is that we have better tools] but the nature of
man remains primarily the same. Learn about the world, then take it back
to your gamers.
< jumps off soapbox, slips, twists ankle, gets carried to the hospital
:-[>
