Traveller's "70s...in...spaaaaaace!" vibe never bothered me. It's set far enough in the future that one can easily imagine some sort of Dark Ages period between now and then where a significant amount of current technical know-how gets lost or forgotten.

*facepalm*

Have you truly considered what TL-15 means?

Quote from: Settembrini;676190*facepalm*

Have you truly considered what TL-15 means?

The games I've played in were all about jumped up M-16s and computers the size of Buicks.

Quote from: Xavier Onassiss;676163Classic Traveller hasn't aged well; its age started showing decades ago. Actually, the setting hasn't aged at all. Thirty-five years on, nothing has changed. In the OTU, nothing is allowed to change, forever and ever, amen. I've lost count of how many editions ported the OTU setting word for word into a different rules set.

So which is it? Has Classic Traveller not aged well or has it aged at all? Because for the whole "nothing has changed" claim, I don't think you ever heard of The Rebellion or The Virus Era or Milleau Zero. The OTU covers a lot of time and a lot of space, enough room for a whole lot of differences in the same setting framework.

Quote from: Dimitrios;676184Traveller's "70s...in...spaaaaaace!" vibe never bothered me. It's set far enough in the future that one can easily imagine some sort of Dark Ages period between now and then where a significant amount of current technical know-how gets lost or forgotten.

Quote from: Dimitrios;676193The games I've played in were all about jumped up M-16s and computers the size of Buicks.

There was a Dark Ages known as The Long Nightof the OTU, but hand computers were present in Classic Traveller that weren't the size of buicks. I can only conclude that your Referee was an idiot if all you got was a "70s...in...spaaaaaace!" vibe from the game.

Quote from: Dimitrios;676193The games I've played in were all about jumped up M-16s and computers the size of Buicks.

Fair enough, from a players perspective. If you check out even the old stuff aka LBBs, TL-15 is quite advanced as the baseline of the Third Imperium.

Internet, in general, is a huge game changer when it comes to Call of Cthulhu, as the whole idee fixe revolves around lack of knowledge at the beginning, and hardships of gaining it. However, it is a subject I actually devoted some thoughts to, and I feel I am ready to tackle and discuss it, proving it can enrich the gaming rather than be an obstacle.

So in general CoC could use some modern modern setting, rather than pre - Internet 90s. So I second that Delta Green has not aged that well. Loss of X - Files and move towards Supernatural/Dresden Files stylistics also don't help.

Cyberpunk of any kind for me is both dated as hell as topical as fuck.  It's not what happens, but how, that's different.

We don't have a Global Japanese Economic and Cultural invasion and everything doesn't look like Blade Runner.

We do however, have an ever-increasing Corporate control of government, which is resulting in everyone becoming a Sarariman consumer.

Really all Cyberpunk has done is changed from an alt-future to an alt-history.  The themes and tropes though are as valid now as they ever were, it's the trappings that have gone out of style.

We're about halfway through the "How it Came to Pass" in Shadowrun.  We've had Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission but we haven't yet had our version of the Shiawase Decision.

Quote from: Rincewind1;676218Internet, in general, is a huge game changer when it comes to Call of Cthulhu, as the whole idee fixe revolves around lack of knowledge at the beginning, and hardships of gaining it. However, it is a subject I actually devoted some thoughts to, and I feel I am ready to tackle and discuss it, proving it can enrich the gaming rather than be an obstacle.

So in general CoC could use some modern modern setting, rather than pre - Internet 90s. So I second that Delta Green has not aged that well. Loss of X - Files and move towards Supernatural/Dresden Files stylistics also don't help.

Would the Internet even be useful in CoC?  I mean sure, you can have a whole host of great scenarios like when McDonalds comes up with a new Logo and ad campaign "Have you seen the Yellow Arch?", but trying to research Mythos stuff on the internet?  Sweet christ, what a load of bullshit you would have to wade through.  I'd rather go the CoC route of trying to gain access to the Vatican catacombs.

The internet would be a magnificent vector for "Mythos Invasion" and practically useless as a scientific or academic research tool, kinda like real life.

It's dirt easy to incorporate internet & modern smart phones if you take into account the intelligence of the antagonists. In Nomine SJG back in the day already suggested angels & demons of the internet, and unknown future tech already known but currently waiting to introduce to humanity when "the time is right." Assume cults and mythos servitor races are as smart as modern humanity, plus mythos tech on the side, and that just makes them more dangerous -- not more exposed.

A smart villain loves a useful idiot, the more powerful the better.

Remember, there's more than one way to hide things: hide it, deny it, lie about it, gossip it, reveal it, etc. Humans are very competent in their capacity to fool themselves. The incredulous are as useful as the credulous in the right hands (though I recommend structuring your NPCs with pre-written personalities, goals, and routines). If antagonists have more resources, let alone more smarts or access to 'magic', there'll be a vast supply of humanity's foibles to firewall PC efforts.

Quote from: CRKrueger;676221Cyberpunk of any kind for me is both dated as hell as topical as fuck.  It's not what happens, but how, that's different.

We don't have a Global Japanese Economic and Cultural invasion and everything doesn't look like Blade Runner.

We do however, have an ever-increasing Corporate control of government, which is resulting in everyone becoming a Sarariman consumer.

Really all Cyberpunk has done is changed from an alt-future to an alt-history.  The themes and tropes though are as valid now as they ever were, it's the trappings that have gone out of style.

We're about halfway through the "How it Came to Pass" in Shadowrun.  We've had Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission but we haven't yet had our version of the Shiawase Decision.

How is that any different than Pinkertons enforcing mine "law", company stores in mining towns, US Steel practically controlling the US Gov't, "Range Detectives" who basically murdered-for-hire for corporate beef ranchers, "What's good for General Motors is good for America and vice-versa." - most or all of this at the turn of the 20th century, if not earlier?

And that's just in the US - the British East India company was a private corporation given control of a whole country, and the ability to call in the Army to do its bidding.

QuoteReally all Cyberpunk has done is changed from an alt-future to an alt-history. The themes and tropes though are as valid now as they ever were, it's the trappings that have gone out of style.

It is for this reason that I actually went explicitly alt-history for Hackerscape, but I wound up overestimating my own art abilities and so it's been cancelled for now.

Quote from: James Gillen;676103The 80's: When every man had sunglasses, every woman had a perm, and EVERYBODY wore spandex.

JG

That's not right. I didn't wear spandex. I wore nylon, specifically parachute pants, and had all kinds of t-shirts with mystic Chinese or Japanese slogans inscripted with splashy kanji or logograms. Also from time-to-time headbands or bandanas as well, to keep all that long heavy metal hair well disciplined, and let's not forget all the silver jewelry.

Quote from: thedungeondelver;676233How is that any different than Pinkertons enforcing mine "law", company stores in mining towns, US Steel practically controlling the US Gov't, "Range Detectives" who basically murdered-for-hire for corporate beef ranchers, "What's good for General Motors is good for America and vice-versa." - most or all of this at the turn of the 20th century, if not earlier?

And that's just in the US - the British East India company was a private corporation given control of a whole country, and the ability to call in the Army to do its bidding.

It's not. It represents a return to rampant predatory capitalism, rather than an emergence.

Quote from: TristramEvans;676082WEG's Star Wars. No midichlorians, no Boba Fett clones, no JarJar Binks, there aren't even any rules for Trade Embargos! Doesn't even feel like Star Wars.

You say that like its a bad thing...

Quote from: Lynn;676089But does that make them less enjoyable to play? To me, that's part of the charm, like playing a spy game like Top Secret, or even an Old West game.

Same here. I love "X-files" styles games. Classic Cyberpunk too. I mean if you play a Flash Gordon "Retro Future" what's wrong with a little dated?

Oh and to contribute: Pretty much every sci fi game about 5-10 yrs after its released.