Need Help with new Yogang

[mikethedog]

Hi folks,
Hoping the people here can help flesh out an idea I had that seems very appropriate (and overlooked!) for Cybergeneration.
Neat ideas AND game mechanics appreciated.

Botmasters, doll babies, puppet kids, et al. I'm sure others can come up with better names for this yogang of kids who modify toy robots and dolls into a small army of the Revolution!

If you not familiar with current robot toys, google for terms such as robot soccer (entire teams of robots!), robosapien mods, aibo. Mix this with super realistic dolls such as those by the VOLKS company. This is not betsy wetsy dolls....in a few years kids will be able to use these toys to do really WILD things.

I'm imagining using some form of variant of the Eco Front animal training rules.

OK....jump on this thread and do what you will! Thanks!

[jonathan]

This is actually a pretty intereting idea. Let me think on it and get back to you.

[ReverendStyx]

Silent Runners -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Running

[Bri]

It is a good idea, though on the old board I had a sort of similar idea (heavily borrowed from Bot Battles or what have you) of tech savvy juves running a Robot Wars sort of thing.

Of course, it wouldn't take much tweaking to go with actual robots, etc.

And if you need any programming, well Wizards are perfect for the job (Or V-Punks for that matter).

[benjamin]

This is a pretty cool idea. One item you may want get a hold of is Cyberpunk V3.0. While unloved by many Cyberpunk 2020 fans, (as was Cybergeneration) it does have several ideas that can be easily imported into Cybergen. One of the AltCults is called the Desnai, a rip off of Disney to avoid copyright issues. They are given an implant at an early age which allows them to remotely control robots. To go along with this is an easy to use mecha (aka robot) design sequence which could be of some help for you.

In my game I've used the Desnai concept to create a new evolved type (some have said a Wizard could be used for the same role but I wanted a more specialized drone controller). Like some of the connection between the yogang MASHERS and the MEDIC evolved type, you could have both an evolved type and a yogang with similar abilities / skills. Whether you then want to allow your "Bot Master" yoganger to also be a "Puppetmaster" evolved type is up to you, the GM or the luck of the die.

Benjamin

[Bri]

There is nothing wrong with some overlap, or derivation. One could easily argue the Beastieboys(grrls) could be a biology oriented subset of the Tinkertots. Of course, there is the Scout cyber-evolved which does have some commonalities with the aforementioned Puppetmaster as well.

The other thing is to make the proposed YoGang sufficiently different from others. Of course, a general skill would be needed, like call it puppeteer or something. (The names are not the most brilliant...). Then there is the matter of specialties, such as:

Pinnochio: The programming which brings the bot to 'life' as it were. Who knows, maybe a good enough Puppeteer could actually create an Artificial Intelligence, as opposed to just a Virtual Intelligence (it may seem life like, but there is no sentience)

Pipeline: A good builder has to know where to get materials, or even whole bots, after all. And it does cost money/favors/etc. to procure one's items.

Gepetto: Okay, too much puppets on the brain. Basically, this is the assembly of said robot/puppet, and all the goodies that would go into it.

[ReverendStyx]

There's plenty of basis for this sort of thing. Silent Running, Battlebots and other robot sumo sports, Runaway, Slick Henry from Mona Lisa Overdrive...

The trick is moving it from being a hobby to a subculture in society. Frankly, if you go to a place that sells remote control vehicles (or slot cars or other form of model racing), they can tell from looking at you what the difference is between you and them. The trick is punking them up for the grand dystopia.

[Bri]

Making them a subculture would be easy enough. Heck, I could even see a large divide within the subculture between those who build everything from scratch, and those who actually have the credits to buy one already built, or to pay someone to build it for them (not that one who builds something from scratch couldn't buy some parts as well.)

Heck, even a bad movie like RoboJox even has some dystopian elements as well (though it was more guys in giant robots fighting)...

[mikethedog]

Glad to see the replies and good comments coming in. I do agree with the one that said we do have a BIT much puppets on the brain.

As far as a going from hobby to society: In the CP world, kids are often left alone, but the corp state doesn't like that. Many parents use POOKHA's (small stuffed animals with sensors) to keep remote track of their kids. Kids being kids...sooner or later those sensors going to be disabled. Probably by an older sibling who doesn't want to be caught on tots web cam by mom. Once disabled as a spy, these toys can become the only constant in a child's world...one step from imporving your friend. Thats one trend already starting for real...parents already tracking kids via cell phones and RFID and chipped cars.

Another path is Junk Exposure. Early industrial robots are starting to show up in junk dealers. A web article shows some hacker who have an industrial robot arm, added a sling, and using bowling balls as ammo demolished a mobile home. Real atricle..search the web. Then Imagine the CP world with abandoned dump and factories....and hacker kids having access to those machines

Third path, real pets are expensive and time consuming...ask the Beastieboys. In real life parents are already more and more resistant to traditional pets like cats and dogs. So they try and use robot pets as substitute. Disappointed cyberbrat pulls out soldering iron and upgrades bobbie the terrior into butch the TERROR!

I'm leaning towards Bot Bosses or Bot Bashers for a gang name..not original but does give good idea of the groups focus. I also like SILENT RUNNERS...not as plain...but very cool.
I also think this gang would be very v-punk friendly...VR sims are where they train and design their creations. They would be good friends with VR punks, also tinkertots, and because of their spy capacity, networkers. Buskers could also be useful. They probably don't get along with beastieboys because of the organic/inorganic rivalry, but in rare situations when they DO cooperate...watch out.

They are probably VERY closed society. Other yogangs ridicule them at first. "Aw...duz da widdle boy still carry hims puppy to skool?" Then the homebrewed upgraded floppy cuddly puppy bites him...with a homemade taser in its mouth. Or someone comes home and catches the glimpse of a half dozen, 10 inch tall bots escaping....with his homework netbook.

I'm thinking that the (Pinocchio/Geppeto) skill will allow 3 kinds of uses. 1 it allows for riding a properly equipped bot with full VR, like dumb remote control. 2 would be..call it Simulated Intelligence programming...this allows the tot to build a small form of AI into the bot so it can act independent of him...like the beastieboys training abulity. The last use would be making/repairing the hardware.

Gear: this gang are gearheads! Boxes of partially disassembled bots and toys, they need tools. They need some sort of software/controller for programming and "riding" the bot. The need embedded puters to give thier creations some smart. Hmm.....Franken Tots?

Bots could probably be classed in 3 types: modified pookha's and toys, converted industrial tools (hehe...12 year old tow head pulling his lil red wagon...in which is mounted a giant robot arm with eyes ), and scratch built basement high end bots...for this type im picturing the new (Doctor Who) K9 as in the K9 adventure series, youtube has trailers I think.

What I'm hoping you folks can help with is especially gear descriptions. The old board had great description of item for VR punks, big puter that could run whole second life type sims. That was great example of gear im thinking of. Need enough gear for "The Mall" and for players to pick for opening character creation.

One thing I'm not interested in at this time...is pokeman style fighting, or robot wars. Im concentrating more on toys as companions and tools. Parents waking to find thier tots have an effective robot army built under thier noses is more the theme.

Thanks for all the replies so far! Please Keep em coming!