The Players- Megan, Josh, Dani

The Shock- advanced robotic technology

Issue #1- cybernetic and genetic human enhancements. There is a divide between those that are enhanced cybernetically and those that are enhanced genetically; there is a radical group known as “Purists” that are against modifications of any kind; alterations require application and registration.

Issue #2- artificial intelligence and civil rights. Unregistered AIs are not considered people and can be killed without legal repercussions; AIs possess the ability to upload and download themselves into cybernetic parts and imitation human forms; the Interntet has become self-aware and owns the black market on illegal AIs.

Issue #3- institutional racism. The “Purists” have a large minority contingent; it is difficult for minorities access enhancements; everybody undergoes mandatory genetic (and therefore racial) testing at birth.

The issue Josh explored was cybernetic and genetic human enhancements; his protagonist was Lucy, an eight-year old girl who had had cancer since infancy and had had many body parts replaced by cybernetics. Her mother owned a cybernetics company. Unbeknownst to her mother, she had an unregistered AI known as Matzie squatting. Her story goal was to not die by becoming a program and uploading herself into a new form.

Her story began at her birthday party where her uncle Mark ( a Purist) was trying to convince her mother of the folly of continuing her treatments since he believed they were only prolonging the inevitable. She stumbled upon some promising research and was trying to download it to her mother’s network but her efforts were thwarted by the security systems that sensed Matzie. Her mother had decided to stop some of her treatments and in the final scene the disease had run its course. Her uncle Mark was going to use her as an example of what was wrong with all this new-fangled technology. Lucy’s physical body perished but her consciousness lived on as she managed to achieve her story goal.

The issue I explored was institutional racism; my protagonist was Ayana, a young African-American woman who suffered from a chronic genetic condition that was going to claim her life. She was intelligent and distantly descended from royalty. Her mother had given her a necklace that had been passed down for generations. Her story goal was to have a procedure that would cure it.

Her story began when she was talking with her case worker at the Bureau for Minority Affairs after some paperwork had been sent back. She had a bunch more forms to fill out, including a request to expedite her application which was denied. Eventually her application for the procedure and even a hardship application to move her to the top of the waiting list was approved but she had to come up with all the money up front! The community rallied around her, allowing her to have the procedure and salvage her relationship with her estranged fiancé.

The issue Megan explored was artificial intelligence and civil rights; her protagonist was Andrea, an unregistered AI that had been built by Dr. Finkle, a philosophy professor for academic purposes. She currently occupied a robotic body. She frequented a forum for unregistered AIs, where she had met #152, another unregistered AI. Her story goal was to take over a human body and live life as a human.

Her story began when Dr. Finkle told her his request to register her had been denied. A Purist named Bill heard this. He detonated an EMP that rendered her current body temporarily useless. Dr. Finkle uploaded her into a robotic dog. She ended up sneaking into a meeting of the Purists where Bill was bragging about his exploits and confronted him. He was arrested for breaking and entering the lab but his fellow Purists saw him as a martyr. Her robotic body was repaired. Bill lead a mob to storm the professor’s lecture. The professor was killed in an explosion of some sort and his research was lost but Andrea achieved her story goal when Bill was given cybernetic enhancements, allowing her to take over his body.

It was the first time that two of us had ever played Shock (no prize for guessing which two) but Megan was very patient and explained things very well. Once you’d rolled the dice and seen how conflict is resolved it wasn’t that bad. I enjoy the collaborative set up process. We ended up choosing issues that worked quite well together. Having the opportunity to be a protagonist and an antagonist is really cool and

I liked being able to observe and influence the other stories. The scene economy encourages judiciousness and creativity in how you set up your story and how you want to complicate the lives of the other protagonist.

The game itself was enjoyable. The stories had certain things in common but differed enough to make them unique. It’s a neat system with a lot of potential that I will be able to explore better the next time(s) I play it. It was a good first experience with the system, which has a lot of elements I liked and didn't cause us any difficulty. And the stories we told were engaging. We had a good time around the table as we gamed and talked about game and non-game related things in my opinion.

Thanks to Megan for facilitating at my request and to Josh for his contributions to the fun.

- Dani, aka Ayana