the game...
Ok... here is an idea im working on for the game i want to run.. Instead of the D&D game.. Im thinking of running a D20 Future game... D20 is basically D&D but it takes the rules and applies them to other time periods than just medieval fantasy.
Here is my setting idea:
In the distant future, mankind has mastered the technology of "faster than light" (FTL) travel and with this innovation the universe was open to colonization. Stretched over hundreds of star systems, humanity was enjoying a great age of exploration and prosperity and with this came huge strides in equality and freedom for all people. Poverty and crime were nearly done away with as resources were abundant, and everyone was united under one great democratic government. It is important to note that at this time all of those "1 out of 10" were enjoying true freedom to live their lives without the discrimination or persucution the GLBT community had endured in the past. However...It wasnt to last...
Almost 350 years after the first FTL ships helped spread humanity to the far reaches of the universe disaster struck in the form of a simple virus. "The Scourge" as it became known brought an end to the peace and prosperity humanity had known for so long. Before it was finally tamed nearly 40% of the massive population was infected. An "STD" it was the quiet killer... simple in its effectiveness.. it didnt kill its victims.. instead it merely rendered them permenantly sterile in a very short amount of time. Its sucess was credited to a few key factors. First, it was unimaginably contagious, present in nearly every human body fluid unlike previous viruses. Second.. it was hardy.. living for days outside the body, and third and probably most importantly it appeared first within the GLBT community. This last factor seems minor at first but what this allowed was for the virus to spread undetected for years infecting millions. Coined "non-breeders" sometime later the GLBT population as a group were not as concerned with reproduction as everyone else. Those that did choose to have kids would often times adopt or seek medical alternatives to *ahem* traditional reproduction techniques. If one was found to be sterile.. they were not as devastated by it as heterosexual couples would be and so they didnt make a fuss and bring attention to the facts. By the time the virus was discovered.. it was out of control... and within a few generations the human population was facing the reality that it may become extinct.
During this time, mass hysteria replaced democracy.. Entire planets tried to quarentine themselves from their infected neighbors with little success. Government rule fell to individuals who preyed on the fears of the population for their own ends. Chaos and anarchy became everyday life.
Out of the smoldering ruins... came a cure... a mega bio-engineering corportaion developed a vaccination for the virus which halted its spread almost imediatly. Leading humanity into the light, the corporation united the tatters of the population once again under one rule. Not the utopia of before but a strict totalitarian rule that dominated everyones lives. One of their first actions which was not suprisingly backed by a population who had come to blame the "non-breeders" for the epidemic.. was to make all non-heterosexual relationships illegal and punishable by...well whatever seemed appropriate at the time. this law quickly came to encompass any sort of lifestly that wasnt deemed "normal". At first these people were rounded up and shipped to the very edges of space left to fend for themselves on border planets issolated by blockades... later it was sometimes just easier to execute people than to find transport for them.
This is the world.. the player find themselves in...
lemme know what you think... i cant take credit for all of this as some of the ideas presented are adaptations of a web-story by Lisa Grey (the virus thing is mine.. the rest is kinda hers), but i think it makes a wonderful backdrop for an RPG.
sorry about no cuts... if someone complains.. i'll cut it
Here is my setting idea:
In the distant future, mankind has mastered the technology of "faster than light" (FTL) travel and with this innovation the universe was open to colonization. Stretched over hundreds of star systems, humanity was enjoying a great age of exploration and prosperity and with this came huge strides in equality and freedom for all people. Poverty and crime were nearly done away with as resources were abundant, and everyone was united under one great democratic government. It is important to note that at this time all of those "1 out of 10" were enjoying true freedom to live their lives without the discrimination or persucution the GLBT community had endured in the past. However...It wasnt to last...
Almost 350 years after the first FTL ships helped spread humanity to the far reaches of the universe disaster struck in the form of a simple virus. "The Scourge" as it became known brought an end to the peace and prosperity humanity had known for so long. Before it was finally tamed nearly 40% of the massive population was infected. An "STD" it was the quiet killer... simple in its effectiveness.. it didnt kill its victims.. instead it merely rendered them permenantly sterile in a very short amount of time. Its sucess was credited to a few key factors. First, it was unimaginably contagious, present in nearly every human body fluid unlike previous viruses. Second.. it was hardy.. living for days outside the body, and third and probably most importantly it appeared first within the GLBT community. This last factor seems minor at first but what this allowed was for the virus to spread undetected for years infecting millions. Coined "non-breeders" sometime later the GLBT population as a group were not as concerned with reproduction as everyone else. Those that did choose to have kids would often times adopt or seek medical alternatives to *ahem* traditional reproduction techniques. If one was found to be sterile.. they were not as devastated by it as heterosexual couples would be and so they didnt make a fuss and bring attention to the facts. By the time the virus was discovered.. it was out of control... and within a few generations the human population was facing the reality that it may become extinct.
During this time, mass hysteria replaced democracy.. Entire planets tried to quarentine themselves from their infected neighbors with little success. Government rule fell to individuals who preyed on the fears of the population for their own ends. Chaos and anarchy became everyday life.
Out of the smoldering ruins... came a cure... a mega bio-engineering corportaion developed a vaccination for the virus which halted its spread almost imediatly. Leading humanity into the light, the corporation united the tatters of the population once again under one rule. Not the utopia of before but a strict totalitarian rule that dominated everyones lives. One of their first actions which was not suprisingly backed by a population who had come to blame the "non-breeders" for the epidemic.. was to make all non-heterosexual relationships illegal and punishable by...well whatever seemed appropriate at the time. this law quickly came to encompass any sort of lifestly that wasnt deemed "normal". At first these people were rounded up and shipped to the very edges of space left to fend for themselves on border planets issolated by blockades... later it was sometimes just easier to execute people than to find transport for them.
This is the world.. the player find themselves in...
lemme know what you think... i cant take credit for all of this as some of the ideas presented are adaptations of a web-story by Lisa Grey (the virus thing is mine.. the rest is kinda hers), but i think it makes a wonderful backdrop for an RPG.
sorry about no cuts... if someone complains.. i'll cut it