Over the course of my Cy_Borg inspired cyberpunk campaign I made numerous pretend social media posts, headlines, and other bits of world building. I’m posting them here for posterity and in case anyone finds them and is inspired for their own campaign.
Some of these make reference to campaign events, while others relate to Cy_Borg’s miserable headlines. I really enjoyed this micro-fiction world building and it definitely seemed to be one of the rare occasions that my player’s have engaged with world building outside of actual play.
And now a breaking story from the streets of Bigmoss… camera footage from a drone zipping through traffic, ahead a pair of gyrobikes flank a cab, their riders brandishing weapons An explosion rocked the 23-21 Arcology early this morning, casualty reports are still to be confirmed, with odds of 4-1 available of a mass casualty event from our sponsor Bet Freedom. Over to our reporter Ayla on the scene. face shot of a female reporter with impossibly smooth skin and hair flowing in a none existent breeze. In the background sec ops and med teams can be seen working. Thanks Brett, I’m here at 23-21 where just minutes ago and explosion rocked the building before two heavily armed mercs fled the scene. The word on the street is… camera pans violently as it is grabbed by a pair of hands before refocusing on an Asian face, with cropped black hair and framed by aviators I’ll tell you the word on the street motherfuckers. Fu Soma here to put a bounty out, 10k credits to whoever ices these motherfuckers and brings me their heads. Bigmoss kidz for life! the newcomer throws up a gang sign before pulling an smg, theres a flash and the feed goes dead
The bulwark of the G0 containment wall rises up in front of you, the automated sentries curiously idle, hanging limp like wilted stranglethorns. A small queue of people slowly shuffles towards a dimly lit doorway.
As you get closer to the entrance a heady scent fills the air, emanating from the stairs that lead down from the doorway. A hooded figure presses a pair of black candles into your hands as they lean in and greet you “welcome home”.
The stairs finish in a concrete basement, hot with the press of bodies. The crowd sways and sings along as Swift’s final album starts to play. A fellow reveller, clad in a fluorescent jump suit bearing Taylor’s face hands you a flask and you take a gulp. The music intensifies, the air seems to shimmer and the evening collapses into a kaleidoscope slide show.
You awaken on a cigarette burned couch, the last few frames of the night playing over in your mind: Candles on a stone altar, a smooth face, devoid of features save for sunken eye sockets, and a rasping, hissing voice in your ear: “Kergoz loves you”.
BREAKING: Popular food vendor Greggs announces a new partnership with United Citadel Security. The CEO of UCS had this to say: “Greggs sells top quality reclaimed biomass and thanks to our new range of DNA detecting sentry turrets they’ll be able to cut down on theft from their kiosks across the city.” Meanwhile protests have taken place outside several stores, with customers citing the need to submit a DNA sample on entry as an “excessive and intrusive” addition to the shopping experience.
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Social Feed:
UnderstandingIsOverrated@cy.public: This bio attack isn’t real, I don’t know anyone that died on the metro yesterday. It’s all a scam, probably to make you buy those over priced respirators! My mate Daz took one apart and he says he found nanites in the filters. low Res photo of a dissembled respirator with some grey dust in it
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TransportForCy@cy.biz: We take our customer safety very seriously, that’s why we’re offering 1000 credits for every dead SickSickSick World terrorist. Transport for Cy: Smooth Transit for the Masses.
Carl2058@cy.public: This is getting out of hand guys, what if Alliansen and UCS go to war? I work a desk job at Alliansen’s office in South Central, I don’t wanna get drafted 😭 Clip from a talking heads segment on Cy in the Morning. A woman with a severe haircut in a sharp orbital jacket argues with a young man with precision sculpted facial features in this week’s style. “Your accusations against UCS are beyond insulting..” begins the man, before being cut off by the woman: “what I find insulting is that a company we considered a serious competitor won’t even own up to its own espionage. Blaming bombings on some third rate terrorist group is childish!”
News Flash: The stock market has soared after UCS CEO O.B.P. Gunner announces a series of upcoming bombings against rival Alliansen. Our reporter, Ayla is outside Citadel Tower in South Central with more: A drone camera rushes down from the towering heights of Citadel Tower before snapping to a halt as it focuses on a female reporter in an Acid Panda tank top with floating golden locks “I’m here in South Central where Mr Gunner made his announcement just seconds ago. With a relatively peaceful first quarter behind us the threat marks the first escalation in the business dispute between Alliansen and UCS for several months. A detailed press release from UCS cites Alliansen’s claims that UCS was behind the bombing of one of its trains earlier the week as the reason for the escalation, with Mr Gunner describing the behaviour of Alliansen as ‘Anti consumer’”.
And a big welcome back to “Is it live?”, the gameshow where the incarcerated gamble with their lives for your entertainment. Up this evening we’ve got the return of Mani, who you’ll remember from last week’s car battery medley. Cut to a shot of a bald man wearing an orange jumpsuit, sat in a bathtub. His hands shake as he holds a toaster just above the waterline, a long power cable snakes out of shot. The cheerful presenters voice continues: Today’s challenge is our fan favourite, toaster in a tub. Mani has opted for long odds here, taking a 70% chance that the toaster is live for a commensurate reduction in his remaining 200 year sentence.
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RCD notification. Good evening ${employee_name}, Your employer has recently signed up to a new payroll system and we’re letting you know how that will affect when and how you receive your renumeration.
All the best from the team at Fin Freedom - managing your payday is our pleasure.
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Through busy streets you follow Lisa, her neon jumpsuit bobbing through the crowd ahead of you. The buildings here bear scars from the incident: Shadows frozen against walls, purple hued moss creeping down concrete facades, echoing sounds from another time.
Finally you arrive in an old mall, gutted and refitted into some sort of discotheque. The beats of Taylor Swift’s first album play, reverberating through long steel piping that has been fitted to the outside of the building to emerge as a distorted, but melodic blurt high above. As you pass over the threshold you are temporarily blinded by the glint from a dozen glittering disco balls, ruby laser light cascading off them in a spray of color.
Lisa pops a pill into her mouth and grinning leans in for a kiss, the pill fizzing as your tongues meet. A rushing noise builds in your ears and you feel energy prickling across your skin, your blood seeming to pulse in time with the music. The night gathers pace, you gulp down a shot of a bright blue liquid, the surface choked with glittering dust.
Songs, faces, places all begin to blur. The world spins around you - the bass drones, or perhaps it’s chanting. Disco lights flicker through the smog from a smoke machine, or perhaps it’s candles and incense.
Then a single clear memory, hard stone pressing into your knees, the smell of ozone and something sweet. You look up into the face of a man with sunken eye sockets, at once repulsive and familiar. He passes a goblet to you, the contents a silver fluid that boils with life.
You raise the drink to your lips and drain the vessel in one gulp, a chill spreads through your body and your vision flickers. Artifacts distort the world around you into a maze of infinity mirrors in miniature, the face of Taylor Swift gazing back at you across time and space. Something moves behind your eyes, and for a split second you see another looking back at you across the void. Then the world shatters, collapsing into fractal shards.
Awakening in a darkened room you stagger towards the bathroom, your heart hammering in your chest. Your shin crashes into a table as you fumble to the sink. Staring into the cracked mirror you lock eyes with the other looking back at you. A sense of calm fills you as you realise you’ll never be alone again: Kergoz loves you, after all.
Security footage of a fast fashion store, suddenly one of the walls is torn apart by a hail of gun fire and three figures crash through into the store. The video freezes and zooms in on the shotgun carried by one of the trio. An info panel opens up showing a rotating render of the weapon and a voice over begins. “The ACGS Liberator is the latest in our series of personal defence weapons, whether you’re protecting your apartment or blasting a gang hit squad in your local mall, you can count on ACGS.” The video resumes, cropped to focus in on the man wielding the shotgun, he blasts an Uzi wielding thug square in the chest as he runs into the room. The footage fades to black, and the ACGS logo appears. “The ACGS Liberator, the smart choice in self defence”.
This end user license agreement (referred to as the EULA) is a legally binding agreement between you (the licensee) and the licensor (UCS). This EULA includes terms that limit the licensees use of the software and legal rights (related and unrelated to usage of this software). By signing this agreement you agree to abide by the terms within.
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We’re writing to let you know of a small 300% increase in your water bill from tomorrow. The reason for the increase is that due to our previous board decision to sell several reservoirs there isn’t enough clean water to meet demand. This means that if we kept our prices the same Cynergy wouldn’t be able to continue to invest in replacing the infrastructure that was sold off.
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Social Feed
TheDailyPost@cy.news: Wide spread panic gripped Cy last night following a city wide blackout. Cynergy have issued a statement that the blackouts, while longer lasting than planned, were due to routine maintenance. Meanwhile rumours continue to circulate that the blackout was related to the raid on the 616th Legions temple headquarters in the early hours of this morning.
ChildOfKergoz@cy.public: this is so fucking bullshit. There’s no way that disc was a real god, it’s just smoke and mirrors guys.
Advert: The ACGS Liberator - your ticket to hassle free public transport. still image of a knife wielding assailant being blasted in the chest on the tube by a man wielding a shotgun.
MilBlogger666@cy.conspiracy: This 616 stuff is just a cover. The blackout was due to a top secret Alliansen raid on UCS facilities. I know people who work in this area and they say UCS got hit hard last night. Expect retaliatory drone strikes over the next few days.
Mike_Grit@cy.public: Praise the disc! Praise the disc! Praise the disc! -> hod@cy.chef: Fuck off Mike. I lost an entire evening’s worth of business due to this shite. -> Mike_Grit@cy.public: You’re just a big ramen shill Hod. I’m never coming to your food court again! I bet you even believe in that corporate ad science they call “nutrition”
clip from Cy in the morning, a beaming presenter interviews a man with impossibly white teeth, wearing a grey Tulles&deVerte shirt. “We’re here in the studio with UCS’ director of competition, Mark Gray, to discuss the explosive success of UCS’ new marketing campaign. I’ll be the first to say that the corporate competition scene is one of the most innovative fields, but Mark, wow, how did you come up with this?” The guest smiles politely, steepling his fingers as if recalling. “Well Hal, after Alliansen’s drone strike on our key note last year, we knew we had to think outside the box. I was in the office late one night whiteboarding ideas with my team when someone mentioned the fact that security around big events and facilities was bound to be through the roof after the events of the last few weeks.” “Then it hit me, we’d obtained a client information database for Alliansen just the other week, why go to the effort of targeting well protected facilities when we could just take out Alliansen’s biggest whales.” The guest pauses for a sip of water and the presenter jumps in. “Now that’s innovation - but weren’t you concerned about hitting consumers who also bought from you?” “Ah, we had no issue there, it was trivial to run an exclusion activation between our customer data and the Alliansen database. To make sure we only sent bombs to the homes of Alliansen customers. The added beauty of course being that now this is public, people know that buying UCS will protect them from the second phase of this marketing campaign.”
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A movie trailer, showing a child playing catch with his father, a man with steel fists, wearing a baseball cap. Ominous music plays, the father is shown relaxing in a hot tub, suddenly an armed group burst in, the father throws up his hands and is brutally gunned down. Screen fades to black and a voice over plays “They took his father’s legs, now he’s out for revenge.” Montage footage of the boy, now older, training in a gym, boxing in a ring, and finally flexing a pair of steel fists. “Son of Jackhammer - in Holo theatres next week.”
Social Feed:
Public Announcement: Cynergy is pleased to announce that they have regained control of Adam R3 after the terrorist incident yesterday. We expect to have restored the reactor’s output by this time tomorrow, in the meantime power will be redistributed across the city to ensure critical infrastructure remains available to all.
Billy@Laketon.cy: wtf guys the powers out! The only light in the entire building is the ad boards.
News Article: Violence has erupted at the checkpoints between Galgbacken and Laketon today. Our report Ayla Skye is on the scene. A female reporter, with slowly shifting holographic skin stands in front of a security checkpoint, a line of security personnel with riot shields is facing off against a large crowd. I’m here at checkpoint 04 where the brave Galgbacken sec corp have been holding the line after the citizens of Laketon took to the streets to protest against Cynergy’s energy rationing policy which they claim has left millions without electricity while the lights, and jacuzzis, remain on in Galgbacken.
Public Announcement: We at Cynergy would once again like to reiterate that energy in Laketon and Galgbacken is being rationed according to our contractual obligations. The citizens in Galgbacken have all signed up to our guaranteed uptime plan, which means that we have to meet their needs above customers on lower rate tariffs. Once again we’d like to thank the people of Cy for their patience during this time of hardship.
Ali@cy.public: I wish those sick sick sick guys had just let the reactor go critical. There’s not even power to the hospital here right now while those rich fucks in Galgbacken are still partying.
Billy@Laketon.cy: Those bastards have deployed mechs at the checkpoints! I saw one of those machines open up on the crowd point blank with a machine gun. Fuck. This. Shit. Sick world were right.
I’m Ethan Rich, and this is episode 3092 of my podcast, Trading with Rich. I’ve got important news today about ammunition futures. Turns out a cyber attack has hit UCS and completely paralysed their ammunition production and delivery - which gives you and me the opportunity to get rich - Hills Rich! If you want to know how, all you need to do is sign up for my insiders circle of traders, where myself and other experts will show you how to invest to get rich. Sync now to find out, but don’t forget to come back and listen to the rest of this podcast. And now, a word from our sponsors Alliansen.
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Breaking News: Just minutes ago an unidentified terrorist group stormed the headquarters of Royal West Shipping. The group are live streaming a feed of Sri Alraune, Royal West’s CEO, tied to a chair with a countdown. The group have yet to make demands, but the stock markets have taken a hit as rumours of a televised execution circulate. Hot on the heels of UCS’ executive action last week, which saw an Alliansen director brutally beheaded in his villa, many are wondering if the UCS/Alliansen competition is about to drag a third party into the conflict.
A female reporter with faintly glowing purple eyes stands outside a grubby looking tower block, a burnt out car smolders off to the side. I’m here in Lilypond where citizens have been protesting the arrival of 10,000 displaced homeless following Cynergy’s decision to flood a neighbouring district to provide cooling for a new TG Labs data centre. The struggling energy company has seen its shares plummet after the recent city wide blackout and hostage situation with the Adam R3 reactor AI. We asked Cynergy COO Dana Azar for a comment on the situation: “At Cynergy we strive to provide critical infrastructure for our customers, as well as value for our shareholders. That being said we understand the distress that the recent flooding has caused and will be offering a 10% discount on the next energy bill of those affected.”
Social Feed:
News Article: Master Crimson linked to cult killers of Sri Alraune A still image of a man with short cropped hair, a tattooed claw on his cheek, a cluster of datasoft ports are visible down the left side of his skull. The former A list holo star has vanished from the public eye after rumours began to circulate that he may have been funding the Heirs of Kergoz, a cult apparently based out of the Barnyard Fields district. Many are theorising that Royal West Shipping may have already had him liquidated, though the company has yet told claim responsibility. Read more…
Theo@cy.public: Just seen Son of Jackhammer. Totally awesome. Jared de Saul really came through with the ultra violence on this one. -> marco@canyon.heavy: idk man I downloaded a Linux iso yesterday, the vengeance scene just didn’t quite seem true to life in the same was as in Disco Killer. -> saul31@cy.public: gotta agree with Marco, I rewatched the footage of Jackhammer’s death after the film and those mercs definitely wouldn’t have gone down as easy as they did in the film. I reckon they might have used special effects or something lame like that.
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clip from Cy in the morning, a grinning talk show host with a synthwave mohawk interviews a woman in a red dress, wearing a heavy gold necklace. “I’m joined today with Elaine du Pont, the people’s elected representative on the Cy city security council. Elaine, as I gather you’ve been proposing some fairly radical reforms in the city in the wake of recent terrorist incidents.” Elaine smiles and adjusts her necklace before responding. “Indeed Marco, I was elected based on my research into novel models for stability, and since being elected I’ve had my team looking at how we might keep the people on the street safe. Recently I spoke with an executive over at UCS and we think that by introducing a small levy on those living in areas most affected by crime we could fund a new, citizen focused, security corporation.” The presenter idly injects a vial of something into his left eye while listening, then responds: “But Elaine, that almost sounds like a police force, something we abolished years ago due to their institutional corruption… What’ll make this any different?” “Well with a traditional police force funding comes from taxation, which dissociates the police from those they are protecting, they know they’ll get paid so there’s little incentive to provide a quality service. By utilising an opt out subscription service we directly link ‘police’ performance with their funding.” the woman smiles, as if she’s just invented the fusion reactor, and the camera cuts to an advert for UltraBlue.
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Urgent RCD Notification Cy Security Council has designated North and South Central as controlled areas. Police officers will be patrolling public spaces and are authorised to shoot on sight anyone they suspect of being involved in criminal activity. To fund the increased security a small surcharge of 1k¤ will be applied to anyone entering the Central districts. Sync for more information on the premium tiers of police protection available.
Doomsday Media are pleased to invite you to participate in this month’s DEATH RACE! Starting in Foundry Plaza in Burnchurch Hex, the course will move through Laketon and Barnyard Fields. The winner being the first team to cross junction S5 on the main ports highway. First place will take home a huge cash prize of 100,000 credits, with second and third place receiving cutting edge cyberware from our main sponsor Alliansen. Sync now to confirm your place!
Breaking: Alliansen stocks plummeted this morning after a Cy Security Council raid on their headquarters. Elaine du Pont had this to say: “Unfortunately it has become necessary for radical action to be taken against the rogue corporation Alliansen after we received credible reports that they were smuggling a nuclear weapon into the city. Citizens need not panic though, the brave men and women of the Cy police force are taking bold action to protect the people from predatory business tactics.” Many sceptics have questioned the legitimacy of the reports, viewing the raid as another example of UCS using Cy Security Council to extend their corporate influence and attack competitors.
The metro carriage’s temperature rises steadily over 5 minutes, passengers begin to fan themselves as beads of sweat run down brows. Every wall of the carriage pulses softly with a cooling neon glow, a single word “Crush” floating in a tantalising glass of orange hued liquid. As the train pulls up at the station a voiceover plays: “Crushhhh… Quench your thirst now with a cooling can, available on the platform.” the doors open and a small stampede of passengers races madly to the vending machines on the platform, all of them exuding the same cooling neon glow.
Urgent RCD Notification: A tap water advisory is now in effect across all districts. Ingesting mains water should be considered cause for immediate admission to hospital. Cynergy Water and Energy apologise for any inconvenience. this notification sponsored by prime energy drinks - stay hydrated, stay energised
Social Feed:
Li_terror999@cy.public: Did you see that tap water advisory? Wtf man I’m thirsty -> priam@kergoz.love: just boil it dude 😎 -> kellyK@influence.cy: I’ve been drinking Kaytell’s 🆕 Crush. It’ll quench your thirst for sure.
Clip from talking heads show: a red faced man in a stretched suit blurts enthusiastically: “it’s all a conspiracy Gavin, really people should know better. If the head of the security council was involved in some kind of cult there would be evidence.” A slim man in a t shirt with the word “believe” emblazoned on it responds: “sure it could be a conspiracy, but if it is why won’t the council release the geo location logs for their members?”
Nix0n@bigmosse.district: Every time I go into the office lately there’s been this weird clicking noise in the kitchen, kinda like an irregular rattle. Anyone know what it could be? I’m in the basement level at the citadel… -> hod@kitchen.chef: coming from the kitchen or just in your head? ‘cus if no one else can hear it you might wanna see a psyche. -> Nix0n@bigmosse.district: oooh, maybe it’s stress or something. My hair has been falling out since that business with the security council catching Alliansen sneaking a nuke into the city…
borg rpgs worldbuilding
Over the course of my Cy_Borg inspired cyberpunk campaign I made numerous pretend social media posts, headlines, and other bits of world building. I’m posting them here for posterity and in case anyone finds them and is inspired for their own campaign.
mothership rpgs review
Our cyberpunk campaign has reached a season finale and as such needs the full group present for the next session, this meant that we ended up having enough players to play but not enough for cyberpunk.
review books
Written by Adrian Tchaikovsky, Children of Ruin (CoR) is an evolutionary sci fi novel set in a star system that humans had just begun terraforming before an almost complete technological collapse destroyed human civilization. It is a sequel to Children of Time but picks up some time after with a new cast of characters.
rpgs homebrew journal
In my previous post I’d started a campaign journal for a post apocalyptic setting. The first session went great, the players enjoyed it and then…
rpgs homebrew journal
The other week I ran the first session of a post apocalyptic hex crawl TRPG I’m calling, for lack of a better name, Dominion of the Sword. I transplanted some of the lore I’d written for a post apocalyptic wargame to come up with the seed for a setting and then fleshed out the local area and set the players loose.