Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by Krash
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Houston, the shipping capital of the Americas, a city where almost a billion shipping containers from around the world make their first contact with American soil. The new Los Angeles as it came to be called with refugees from the dried and burnt California fled on the coattails of tech elite that spread like locusts from the barren wastes of decayed silicone valley to greener pastures in Austin, those that could afford the move. Or those so desperate to leave that they sold themselves to massive MNCs that would happily relocate a person to their designated employee cities but I’m getting ahead of myself.

While our story starts in Houston, it takes place in a very specific place. Southwest Houston there’s a parking lot, a very special parking lot, it belonged to a convention center that was flooded and abandoned because of Hurricane Whitney in 2034 before the massive ocean windfarm. This parking lot, situated beneath the S290 Skyway, fostered a new community, weeds that grew through cracked concrete away from the distracted eyes of society. It used to be part of a local city but it only borrowed its name and evolved it as the reason for the city block became its very namesake, Relief.

This tangles mishmash of stalls, vendors, illicit businesses providing whatever a person could need and Ripperdocs that formed originally as a way for Corpo slaves to remove their employee chips that now provide all manner of physical alteration and enhancement. Relief serves as its own city mostly ignored by Houston and run by local muscle that occasionally squabbles. Houston doesn’t care as long as the mess stays local and isn’t too bothersome, only occasionally sends a Blue to investigate when some Gonk bragged too loud about pirating a Corp Lootship. Relief is probably the closest thing to a grassroots collective in this hellscape of concrete and asphalt. And this is where your life begins.




I enjoy writing stories where things are organic and it's just as likely for someone to add a lore element as myself and we collectively learn about the world together and what lore elements I have will spill out in bits and pieces as I add to the world and play NPCs. What you need to know about the world is that it's the near future and we are facing the results of climate change and technological advances. It's a cyberpunk story at it's heart as I draw from books and movies that I love while also trying to interpret a view of Houston, TX in the future. A bit difficult since I don't live there but I'll give it a try! I post slowly but will strive for a post every week/two and generally expect/encourage 2-3 paragraphs, this won't be a high speed thread and I don't know how long it will last just that I hope to have an interesting time :)
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Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by TheNoCoKid
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Seems like this could be cool. Color me intrigued
Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by Gisk
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I may be interested!

And regardless of whether I join or not, I have some lore to offer. I wrote this for another game, but never got to use it, so I thought I'd posit it here.


Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by Krash
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@TheNoCoKid
Appreciate the look! I really struggle with finding the balance of how much information to share during the OOC set up and in the IC itself, I really appreciate world building that asks the audience to really ask questions about what's going on... but not be so confused that they don't enjoy it. I'm a bit of a masochist lol.

@Gisk
Nice! Thank you much for sharing, idk how much of that I'll use as I'm trying to avoid some of the Nipponphilia that's prevalent in basic Cyberpunk but the core ideas match up well and make sense, even integrate into the core idea of Relief itself.
Hidden 2 yrs ago 2 yrs ago Post by Gisk
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Well if you want to move away from weeb stuff, they can pretty easily be converted away from there. Honestly, all you'd need to do is change the name and take out the katanas and we're already there.

EDIT: hell, this takes place in Texas, we can have them have a hard on for old school guns instead.
Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by Krash
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@Gisk

I'm trying to imagine a future refugee crisis and exodus from California, I know California has a pretty heavy Asian population as well with China, Japan, Korea, and even Taiwan having sizeable communities and wondering what some of that combining with Texas might be, there will definitely be some elements that come in and it won't be absent of Asian culture at all. I just don't want it dominating the scene for lack of a better word. I was def already toying with how that idea would change in story.
Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by Yam I Am
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>from the dried and burnt California fled on the coattails of tech elite that spread like locusts from the barren wastes of decayed silicone valley to greener pastures in Austin, those that could afford the move.

As someone who's lived in Austin for 24 years, I think it is very kind of you to think that this place won't go up in flames due to our severe drought cycles and like we didn't just have massive wildfires that ravaged the entire north side of town about 10 years ago.

Now as for the actual setting of Houston proper, I can give some decent knowledge of the place, owing to the fact that I have a ton of friends and some family who have lived there for a while.

@Gisk

I'm trying to imagine a future refugee crisis and exodus from California, I know California has a pretty heavy Asian population as well with China, Japan, Korea, and even Taiwan having sizeable communities and wondering what some of that combining with Texas might be, there will definitely be some elements that come in and it won't be absent of Asian culture at all. I just don't want it dominating the scene for lack of a better word. I was def already toying with how that idea would change in story.


There are some pretty good-sized Chinese and Vietnamese communities in Houston. It's Chinatown is a decent size, but it's more of an "Asiatown" for the entire Asian-American diaspora than anything specifically related to Chinese-Americans (If you think racism might have something to do with that, congratulations for using your brain and welcome to Texas). Most of the Vietnamese came there during the mid-70s and have stuck around since. You get occasional groups of Koreans and Japanese, but again, nothing i'd really consider out of the ordinary for

About Houston's layout: It's fucking disperse. If you want cyberpunk-styled megacomplexes and giant concrete spires, Houston is not your place. All those pretty skyscrapers you see in those pictures of Houston's skyline? Yeeeeep, those are all office buildings. You aren't gonna find too many high-rises over in H-town: It's a lot of like 2 or 3-story apartment complexes that look like Motel 6's and then a bunch of neighborhoods from around there, all stemming off from the absolute congestion nightmare that is Houston's infrastructure. Seriously. Driving in Houston should be standard practice for measuring someone's blood pressure.

Now, there is a decently interesting take you could spin this all with Houston's economy: A huge part of Houston's historic economy was how all the refineries and petroleum companies were located there. But if there's a huge shock and the oil industry is going to shit with a huge push for electric stuff and alternative energy, then all of a sudden Houston's staying power is thrown immediately out the window and it becomes another Detroit. So you could do some cool stuff where like abandoned refineries are used as hideouts and marketplaces, and there's all these basically-abandoned office high-rises downtown that have been basically converted into squatters' communities, maybe run by the local slum lord.
Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by Dinh AaronMk
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Don't do Texas just do Minneapolis you goons. It's got a dope skyway making downtown navigable for harsh weather and is a major finance center in the mid-west already.

It's a low-key sleeper hit
Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by Krash
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@Yam I Am
I appreciate the input! I borrowed the name and general location from Alief just South of, what seemed to be, the focus of the Asian area. And my primary thought process was that, according to my Googling, the Houston Seaport handles the most foreign freight in all of North America if not the entirety of the Americas. I combined that idea with the failed Nicaraguan Grand Canal plan of 2020 and the proposed massive gulf windfarms that would help buffer hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico. I'm going out on a real flimsy limb with the thought that buffered hurricanes would equate to increased rainfall. All of this is to kind of avoid the idea of Los Angeles Cyberpunk. I could see a hoard of warehouses and fresh buildings entering Houston similar to the endless farms of California logistics warehouses if LA/Southern California were to become practically uninhabitable over the next 20 years.

I could really boil all of this down to "non-LA." Last time I ran this it was in a fictional region. Maybe that would be best so I don't run into a situation where someone's reality conflicts with a fiction and it can't be compromised.

"... So you could do some cool stuff where like abandoned refineries are used as hideouts and marketplaces, and there's all these basically-abandoned office high-rises downtown that have been basically converted into squatters' communities, maybe run by the local slum lord. "

That is, at its core, the essence of this story more or less, rundown abandoned buildings being repurposed for new things.
Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by Gisk
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I agree that using a made up region might be better.

That said, this is the future, after a mass exodus from the west coast, so we can say just about any damn thing about what the area looks like now, you know?

Can I ask what kind of tone or style this game is aiming for?

Like, will there be a lot of action and violence, or will it tend towards more slice of life and drama?
Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by Krash
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@Gisk
Honestly might be for the best. Less Cyberpunk 2077 and more Blade Runner, Alita, Ghost in the Shell, Neuromancer etc. A balance of both while leaning more on slice of life. There will definitely be gunfire and explosions but that won't be the focus. I don't intend for everyone to be together as a single group but if that happens then I won't resist it. I don't want to hardline what people can and can't do and will try to accommodate all characters and ideas.
Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by Gisk
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Well that all sounds pretty great to me.

Can I ask what elements of 2077 you're steering away from?
Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by Krash
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@Gisk

Well I haven't played it since the first month it dropped so my memory goes back to that buuuuuut
-no nuance to the world outside of nonstop combat/gang violence
-no signs of a polluted world, sky is light blue, rain is light and pleasant. Closest thing was trash on the streets.
-dramatically oversexual. I didn't mind it but I just wished I could dial it down so other things could blossom more.

The nuggets of fun dispersed throughout were wonderful but not enough. I want to buy it again to revisit it now that it's been updated more and mods are available but... not yet lol.
Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by Gisk
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Gotcha!

I'd recommend the anime, but it's definitely a lot of the same. Though I do think it has a great story.
Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by Krash
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@Gisk I def want to check the show and am not against the violence at all. I just wanted more from the game lol.

On an unrelated note I'll be working on the OC, and updating the lore bits a bit. Tbh I like the location as it's forming in my mind but it will no longer take place in Houston but in a fictional location allowing for people to break from their preconceptions on the location and help in developing the world a bit more uniquely.

I would say I'm aiming for the weekend but I still feel like crap from whatever non-Covid virus got me so we'll see.
Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by False Prophet
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Ok, as a native Houstonian and scifi lover, I gotta join-
Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by False Prophet
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>from the dried and burnt California fled on the coattails of tech elite that spread like locusts from the barren wastes of decayed silicone valley to greener pastures in Austin, those that could afford the move.

As someone who's lived in Austin for 24 years, I think it is very kind of you to think that this place won't go up in flames due to our severe drought cycles and like we didn't just have massive wildfires that ravaged the entire north side of town about 10 years ago.

Now as for the actual setting of Houston proper, I can give some decent knowledge of the place, owing to the fact that I have a ton of friends and some family who have lived there for a while.

<Snipped quote by Krash>

There are some pretty good-sized Chinese and Vietnamese communities in Houston. It's Chinatown is a decent size, but it's more of an "Asiatown" for the entire Asian-American diaspora than anything specifically related to Chinese-Americans (If you think racism might have something to do with that, congratulations for using your brain and welcome to Texas). Most of the Vietnamese came there during the mid-70s and have stuck around since. You get occasional groups of Koreans and Japanese, but again, nothing i'd really consider out of the ordinary for

About Houston's layout: It's fucking disperse. If you want cyberpunk-styled megacomplexes and giant concrete spires, Houston is not your place. All those pretty skyscrapers you see in those pictures of Houston's skyline? Yeeeeep, those are all office buildings. You aren't gonna find too many high-rises over in H-town: It's a lot of like 2 or 3-story apartment complexes that look like Motel 6's and then a bunch of neighborhoods from around there, all stemming off from the absolute congestion nightmare that is Houston's infrastructure. Seriously. Driving in Houston should be standard practice for measuring someone's blood pressure.

Now, there is a decently interesting take you could spin this all with Houston's economy: A huge part of Houston's historic economy was how all the refineries and petroleum companies were located there. But if there's a huge shock and the oil industry is going to shit with a huge push for electric stuff and alternative energy, then all of a sudden Houston's staying power is thrown immediately out the window and it becomes another Detroit. So you could do some cool stuff where like abandoned refineries are used as hideouts and marketplaces, and there's all these basically-abandoned office high-rises downtown that have been basically converted into squatters' communities, maybe run by the local slum lord.


you hit the nail on the head with this one. Houston is definitely a very spawl-y city. It has weird pockets of suburbia meshed right next to office buildings and strip malls, but they're really nothing impressive to look at. I don't currently live there (sometimes I visit for a few months), but you can really go forever and a day without setting foot in downtown if you don't work there. It does, also, take fuckin' forever to drive everywhere despite the absolutely massive highways/freeways/whatever.

It also does have a pretty decent asian community. There's probably several, but I'm familiar with the Bellaire area. However, it also has a sizeable Indian population, as well, which might actually be pretty interesting. Of course, it being Houston the other predominant culture is Latino/hispanic (I'm one of them).

This actually gives me an idea...I have a southeast asian-latino character who is affectionately known as "Tex". He's also a street racer. From personal experience of formerly living by busy roads, Houston has a street racing problem. I think he'd work pretty well in this setting
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Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by Gisk
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I think we might be dropping Houston as the setting, to avoid it being too different from what locals might know.

Though the game will be so far in the future, and after major disastors drive people east, I think it could still work.
Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by Krash
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@False Prophet@Gisk

You're not wrong. I still like the core idea of Houston but to get away from the problems associated with differing beliefs on the future of a city I'm moving away from it to a completely fictional location which will brutally plagiarize the limited scope of what I imagine Houston to look like in 20 years following multiple climate disasters that are being exploited for continued profits.

Prophet, our understandings of the night life are very similar and I honestly feel like the sprawl would still work. If anything it integrates with my idea as more buildings simply fill the expanse of suburban sprawl that needs to be rebuilt following fictional Hurricane Whitney and the downtown core becomes something of a corp sector, hardened and heavily policed.
Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by False Prophet
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I think we might be dropping Houston as the setting, to avoid it being too different from what locals might know.

Though the game will be so far in the future, and after major disastors drive people east, I think it could still work.


I'm personally not a huge stickler. You get something wrong, whatever. Hell, I'm not even an expert on my own city. I like the idea of Houston, though, mostly for nostalgia sake. Houston isn't a city you'd think of when somebody mentions "cyberpunk", but that's what makes it so interesting. Also, you're right about the whole future thing- tines change.
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