Players: Martin, Myra, and Denn
Issues: Pollution, Disinformation, Education
Shock: Burning Rain. Air pollution has rendered rainfall all over the Earth toxic and corrosive. Nothing can survive outside of the domed cities where all of humanity now lives. The world's government, aware of the inevitability of human extinction, has censored all information about the true state of affairs and insists that the problem is only temporary. Crammed into their sheltered cities, some people cling to the lie and dream of a day when they can live under the sky again, while others acknowledge the bleakness of the future and seek a way to fix it.
Praxis: Truth and Lies, Fear and Desire

[NB: Myra and Denn left with the sheets, so I am making all this up from memory. Hence why no one has any names]

Stories:
A meteorologist risks his career to publish the first honest paper his field has known in decades [Truth+Desire]. His department chair has the University's reputation to think about, however [Lies+Fear]. Ultimately, the paper is published, but the author pleads guilty to sedition charges in order to save the University embarrassment, and is executed.

A listless young chef is chasing rumors of a climate sanctuary where the weather is safe [Truth+Desire]. Her cynical but loving girlfriend teases her about it, and encourages her to focus on living in the here-and-now, as bad as it is [Truth+Fear]. Our chef presses on, though, and they do find the sanctuary- though how easy it will be to live there is anyone's guess.

One of the original architects of the great coverup is retired now, and grappling with the question of whether her life's work was a good thing [Lies+Fear]. She is called out of retirement to confront a crusading journalist who threatens to reveal everything and throw the world into chaos [Truth+Fear]. She crushes him, as she crushed so many idealists before him, but it doesn't sit so easily on her conscience the way it used to.



This was quite a good Shock game, especially considering two of the players were 100% new. The stories complemented each other well, and the setting really let us get down to the human struggle without wasting time on irrelevant sci fi details.