martes, 15 de enero de 2013

Interludio: ¿Qué ha sido de Cyberpunk Genesis Descent?

Uno de los proyectos roleros que me había devuelto la ilusión los últimos años era Cyberpunk: Genesis Descent, un proyecto de Cubicle 7 bajo licencia de R.Talsorian Games. En teoría el juego era una versión alternativa que transcurría posteriormente a Cyberpunk 2020 y prescindía del fiasco de Cyberpunk 3.0. El sistema de juego iba a ser el Interlock con algunas variaciones. Según la ficha de juego para el prepedido, el manual constaba de 256 páginas e iba a publicarse a finales del 2010.
De sobras son conocidos los retrasos en Cubicle 7, pero creo que Cyberpunk: Genesis Descent tiene el record con cuatro retrasos tras el prepedido inicial. A todo ello se sumó la marcha a finales de 2011 de Cubicle 7 de Angus Anderson, diseñador del juego, para montar Chronicle City, su propia compañía. Cubicle 7 retiró de su catálogo toda información del proyecto, pero avisó a los compradores que Chronicle City produciría, editaría y gestionaría el envío de los juegos. La compañía existe y produce material y distribuye juegos de terceros... pero de Genesis Descent ni rastro. Imagino que o la licencia para publicarlo como material oficial (como hicieron Ianus y Atlas en su día) ha expirado o que Chronicle City ha tirado la toala al respecto. No he encontrado quejas acerca del dinero, así que imagino que o bien Cubicle o bien Chronicle reembolsaron la cantidad pagada a los desafortunados compradores.
Y es una lástima porque Cyberpunk: Genesis Descent ofrecía algo que Cyberpunk 3.0 no supo o no pudo hacer: actualizar el propio concepto sin perder la identidad. Recordemos que el género cyberpunk ha sufrido una transformación espectacular las últimas dos décadas. Por un lado los autores del nucleo duro original (como William Gibson) han ido encauzando sus historias hasta lo que podríamos llamar un neocostumbrismo. Vamos, que son de los pocos autores de CF en 30 años que han acertado sobre el futuro. Tras ellos llegó como una tromba la Singularidad y el post-punk. A día de hoy, hay etiquetas para volver loco a cualquier bibliotecario: neopunk, new punk, transhumanismo, post-transhumanismo, post-Singularidad...
Etiquetas a un lado, es cierto que la tecnología tal y cómo se imaginaba en los 80 (¡y en los 90 también!) para principios del s.XXI está más que obsoleta si la comparamos con la real. Y, por encima de todo, existe también ese impacto social de la tecnología que ha sido como una segunda Revolución Industrial mezclada con una pesadilla orwelliana. Y es que el "nosotros contra la máquina" no ha cambiado, sólo la forma intuitiva de concebir y utilizar la tecnología.
Os dejo la transcripción de lo poco que trascendió del juego, en el inglés original:
"Ditch your old fasioned ideas of the Military Industrial Complex and the Corporate Conspiracy: That's so 2020.
Now we have the Media Information Complex. It controls the things we see, the news we hear... it's the cool hip wars in other countries, its the alleyway glamor of the mysteriously photogenic disenfranchised coming to you between commercials for Bentsens new "AV8 Sport Coupe" and the next (non)reality show. The truth is what the spin is. It's bought and sold, cleaned up and dumbed down for the masses, choombas. It's open inforwar fought with weapons of mass distraction and user editable reality, coming at you fast and furious... a Henleyist nightmare of dirty laundry feeding into their sheep brains at a rate of 5 terabytes a second. Who wrong, who's right? Its all in spin... and the top ratings win all.
And that's where you come in. You grew up watching the power of the Media grows. You sat there and listend as Orwells real nightmare made flesh and although it's not called "MiniTruth" you saw "Double Plus Ungood" become reality. Wrong is right, right is wrong, good is bad, up is down... it all spewed out at you, and while everyone else sat around nodding thier heads the faulty logic pounded behind your eyes like a trip-hammer migraine. The lines became blurred, The Corprations, The Goverment, The Edgerunners... who were the heroes, who were the villians? It changed day to day, then minute by minute, then second to second.
Then, after drifiting through the morass of misinformation... you met someone else that thought the same thing. And they knew someone else... the first dominos began to fall.
Just like the old vid-show said "The Truth is Out There," Well... you're gonna take that truth and show it too the world. No Live Feed...with a five-second delay. No blond Double-Dee in a flak jacket with perfect hair. Nope... this time they get the meat of the story, raw and bloody and you're the butcher.
Gone are the Corporates and the Fixers, now we have the Angel$, the money men who can get you want you need, when you need it. If someone has the concept and the drive you have the conections that can fund it, package it, and market it, err... for a small percentage, of course.
Gone are the Med-Techs, now we have Apoths. Medications cost more and more and do they ever *really* make you feel better? Why sign your life away to some company when you have a veritable drugstore right in your own kitchen? Like Mom always said... sometimes the best medicine comes from your own window box.
Gone are the Medias, now we have the Warbloggers, using wisdom and 'ware to strain the wheat of truth out of the chaff of spin. From the best dressed to the worst warcrimes... it's veracity and truth that's your game.
Gone are the Netrunners, now we have the 5p1d3rs (Spiders). They used to call you "hackers" for a reason, but why use and axe when a scaple works soo much better. From inside your web of AR feeds and datalinks you sift and dig for morsels that wander into your silk.
Gone are the Nomads, now we have the Invisibles. You're everywhere, but no one ever seems to see you, programmed that you don't exist. But you realized something... by being invisible, no one thinks twice about what you see and hear.
Gone are the Rockerboys, now we have the Indys. Why get in your face, when your ears on one the sides of your head? Let the corp-rockers pack the stadiums and PPV events. Your voice is softer... and much more subversive.
Gone are the Solos, now we have Security Specialists, the low-key shadows at your client's shoulder. You go through the doors before them and they leave after you, and when the "easy" formula fails... you do it the hard way.
Gone are the Techies, now we have Makers. They can get a new media player at any Bullseye or Kal-Mart and it'll do what they want it to do... but will it do what *you* want it to do? You can fix that.
Oh and Cops? Cops are always around... and there's more good ones than you think.
Back in the day, they called you guys "edgerunners." But now the edge is just too damn hard to see anymore. You can't just skirt it and do a little here and there, they have to know the truth so they can fix it, they deserve it... and they're GONNA see it if you have to jam it into the world's face and MAKE them look at what's become of everything.
That's what you are... Jammers".

Hay cosas que me gustan y cosas que no, y es difícil juzgarlo sin poder ver el juego completo (aunque el término Jammers me parece horrible). El problema es que no volveremos a ver un juego así en mucho tiempo. ¿O quizás no? Os dejo con la incógnita en el aire, que trataré en el cierre de los artículos sobre Cyberpunk que estoy escribiendo estos días.


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