Society in Revolution.exe
As I mentioned previously, I'm tinkering around with a cyberpunk TTRPG called Revolution.exe. The basic premise is that you're cyberpunks, chewed up and spit out by a horrible future. After a failed career and a turning point, you've decided that the best thing you can do for your community is to try and get their needs met in a way that fucks with the system.
Maybe your crew takes slightly dodgy jobs at first, even works for a few corps, but that nets you some cash. Now you can take it and put it to good use. Get someone's debt paid; set up an illegal SCeP tank to feed people; set up a pipeline for getting cheap meds to your family and friends; maybe get some sick-ass implants so the next job goes easier.
Now your problems are different - where are we gonna get the nutrient matter for that SCeP tank? What happens if corpo-sec comes sniffing around? Maybe you have to get some leverage on sec to stop them poking their nose in and let you do your thing. Maybe you need to raid a train carrying SCeP-nutri. These are the kinds of things that Revolution.exe is going to present you with. You are the good guys, and you're raging against the machine because it keeps eating the people that you love.
Anyway, I'm kinda sick of making things and sitting on them, so I thought I'd share what I'm working on. Below is the game's "opening crawl" and a really quick sketch of how the society of Revolution.exe is set up.
YOU ARE CYBERPUNKS.
THE SYSTEM HAS CHEWED YOU UP AND SPIT YOU OUT. DESTITUTION. POOR HEALTH. DESPAIR. ALIENATION. THIS IS ALL THAT THE SYSTEM CAN OFFER YOU.
YOUR GOAL IS TO SMASH THE SYSTEM AND STICK IT TO THE MAN.
WITH STYLE, IF POSSIBLE.
SMASH THE SYSTEM BY BUILDING A COMMUNITY THAT ACTUALLY PROVIDES FOR PEOPLE. GIVE PEOPLE AN ALTERNATIVE SYSTEM TO LIVE WITHIN THAT MEETS THEIR NEEDS. GIVE THEM A REASON TO CHOOSE A BETTER WORLD.
STICK IT TO THE MAN BY FUCKING WITH HIS SHIT. STEAL HIS EXCESSES BACK, BREAK HIS TOYS, BURN HIS ICONS, AND MAKE WHAT YOU NEED, INSTEAD OF BUYING HIS CRAP. BE A VISIBLE SYMBOL OF POSITIVE CHANGE.
THE MAN WON'T LIKE THIS. PREPARE TO DEAL WITH THE FALL OUT. DEFEND WHAT YOU HAVE MADE.
FRIENDS ARE THE ONLY WAY TO GET THIS DONE.
THE ALTERNATIVE TO RESISTANCE IS ZOMBIFICATION OR DEATH.
HAHA JK... ONLY SERIOUS.
The Divine Right of Capital
The game world of Revolution.exe is set in 2450. The mega-city of Europa stretches from the northwestern edge of what was once Ireland, all the way to the Alps. The environment is completely fucked, and most of humanity now spends all their lives inside, eating poor-quality vat grown food and staying away from the weather, which produces either scouring rain or irradiating sunshine.
The ruling class of Europa are the Shareholders. If you've got money, you probably own a decent chunk of one of the corps - big or small - which makes you a Shareholder and entitled to a vote in GOV (the government). GOV in Europa is just an administrative rump, implementing the law as the Shareholders dictate.
Beneath the Shareholders are the workers; either company-men or gig workers. It's worth noting that the company-men don't have to be men, that's just the way the Shareholders have styled it.
Company-men sign a contract with a corp and get the benefits of loyalty to their new liege as a result. Housing, healthcare, food, all are discounted - a little, at least - and they can look forward to their offspring being able to work for the company in the future. Rarely, very rarely indeed, if their ancestors worked hard enough or they get lucky and marry rich, a distant descendant might even make Shareholder one day.
There are downsides to being a company-man, of course. Patronising another corp is grounds for dismissal, as is going to another corp's territory without prior permission or notification. Marriage and procreation are strongly encouraged by HR, with marriage licenses only available through corps - discounted at least a little for employees, of course! Marrying someone from another corp is completely forbidden - they might be a spy! - and marrying a gig worker is a real social step downwards.
Relatively few workers are actually company-men; most jobs have been automated away. With the advent and wide implementation of AI, creative corporate jobs were made a thing of the past. The combination of AI and robotics made most manufacturing jobs or practical knowledge work like chemical analysis or laboratory work, history. Most of the work of company-men is the ideation of new products, or liaising with STEMists to put their R&D into use for the benefit of the company.
STEMists are the last remnants of the public research and higher education sector, totally subsumed and made subservient to the Shareholder's needs as The Academy. They act as a sort of techno-clergy. They put their hard won research and expertise to use for the company, increasing profit margins and selling therapeutic interventions to Shareholders chasing immortality. They maintain the machines, they perform R&D, they advise on the science.
If you can reach high enough in the corpo world, then becoming a STEMist is a way to make a lucrative career, while denying yourself the opportunity to have real power. STEMists are forbidden from participating in GOV, and are generally seen as wise advisors, rather than political operators - it doesn't stop them for trying things in the shadows from time to time. Of course, The Academy is also a wonderful place to shove a Shareholder's more rambunctious or disappointing offspring, or a place for a fourth or fifth child, liable to only inherit millions, to make a name of their own.
The final and largest piece of the puzzle are gig workers. They take whatever work they can get. Usually it's some ad hoc work; something a corp wants to test out without having to reorganise their infrastructure, or something they want to keep quiet. They live precarious lives on the verge of destitution or devastating ill health, either until they can finally sign a contract and become a company-man, or they die. Life is short and hard for gig workers. They have next to no rights, their pay is shit, and their expenses many. Many turn to less legal methods of making a living and so increase their risk that way, too. Others fail out completely, and join gangs, taking whatever they need to survive from whoever has what they want. This usually means other people just like them, unless they've got some serious firepower and can hit a small corp subsidiary.
Cyberpunks, after a failed career, have inadvertently become gig workers. Maybe they were already surviving moment to moment. Maybe they were just about to get a big break as a company-man and got sabotaged by a conniving co-worker. Maybe they were the scion of a wealthy family, knifed in the back by a family member, for their share. Maybe they finally got their hands on the Academy research data, and seeing the rates of poverty, disease, starvation and more, broke them. Whatever happened, their new goal - in addition to survival - is to SMASH THE SYSTEM AND STICK IT TO THE MAN.