Fully Automated RPG

This is the post: https://www.reddit.com/r/worldjerking/comments/1d92dkp/rate_the_political_factions_in_my_totally/

>The vote to elect a new chair of the Pacifica Grid closes in four days, and an auditor thinks there's something suspicious going on. Records of an incident for the lead candidate's past have been destroyed in a cyberattack, and the manager responsible for the files is being mysteriously tight lipped. Keeping power in the right hands requires answers, and it's going to take a few determined problem solvers to get them!

After releasing the core game manual a week ago, we've now released our first playable adventure. It's a concise little one-shot that can be played in 2-4 hours, written specifically as an easy entry point into the game's world and rules.

Like the game itself, it's FREE! So check it out, tell your friends, and if you like this weird little story of hard-science sci-fi intrigue, please leave us a rating and review!

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/482551/fully-automated-a-demonstration-of-power

This is the background art for the cover. Before I share the full cover, I wanted to give a peak at what artist Sean Bodley has done for the background.

You can find more of his work at https://seanbodley.com/ and support him at patreon.com/seanbodley.

I've seen some discussion, mostly over on Mastodon, about whether solarpunk games should include violence. They make the case that we already devote too much headspace to killing, and believe that solarpunk should be held above that, as a space to think about alternatives.

I think that's a good goal, but I'm not sure banishing violence from the setting is a good way to go about it. Solarpunk is very much a genre space for exploring possibilities, and trying out new ways of doing things, but its also often pretty grounded in reality, whether that's technologically, socially, or politically. Maybe I'm pessimistic, but I don't think it's unrealistic to expect conflict and violence in the world's future, and I think its worth it to consider solarpunk answers to how/when to fight as well as to deescalation and conflict resolution.

The 'But why? Section of the 'Combat' page says: "Even if you don’t like running combat (and we’re right with you), having a combat system that is easy for a GM to use raises the stakes when situations get tense. Knowing that a fight is possible and easy for the GM to run in-game makes the risk of violence more present from the metagame perspective of players. This increases the stakes and instills standoffs with a higher urgency to deescalate."

I really like this approach - you don't have to add violence to your game, but you can, and much like in real life, the threat of it is always there if you can't find those other solutions.

I think this is a really good use case, and it reminds me of an article from awhile back that I really liked, about a campaign that went even further. Using an surreally lethal shoot'em'up cowboy miniatures game from the 1970s as the mechanics for a tense campaign of politics, deception, and intrigue.

The gist is that by providing a game where gunfights were, perhaps, realistically lethal for the players and NPCs alike, the GM was able to ramp up the threat of violence to the point where the players found all kinds of clever ways to avoid it, or to minimize risk to themselves when they decided it was necessary. And because it was sparse and high risk, the tension remained tight throughout. To quote Rutskarn (the GM):

>'Though a “powerful” character might tend to go first or hit more often, where they hit and how much damage they do has nothing to do with character (or player) skill. All hits debilitate, and a fifth of the time they’ll kill outright with no recourse for the victim.

>[...]

>Not many games discourage players from pissing off NPCs. The worst thing an aggrieved character can do is fight you, and that’s just where most RPG characters are built to succeed. I know from personal experience that, roleplaying aside, it’s tempting to conclude: “I’m going to fight this douchebag eventually. Why not get it over with now?”

>Played ruthlessly, Boot Hill‘s mechanics and milieu produce very different expectations.

>[...]

>The vicious, tense, and bloody combat made players very afraid of the consequences of mis-stepping. There was a fear, a tension, a thrill every time they even picked up the dice; if they were attacking they knew they were taking a great risk, and if they were being attacked, they knew they may have made their last mistake.'

At a glance, that doesn't sound like something you'd include in a solarpunk game. It's sudden, brutal, and bloody. But this is, I think, a pretty blunt impression of what violence really looks like. There's a reason most of us want to avoid it so badly.

Now his goal was different from ours - his simulated Toombstone was far from aspirational, and the player characters were a ruthless, corrupt pack of murderers. But the game mechanics didn't make them do that, and the ultra-lethal combat was the main reason why they only participated in fights five times in what sounds like a months-long campaign with a plot to otherwise rival Game of Thrones.

Fully Automated's Firefight system isn't this vicious, and it's also packed with less-lethal alternatives to bullets and buckshot. But I think there's a similar chord in the decision to make violence possible, so that the threat is there. What we do in the space around it is up to us.

I just realized that since this community is new, it's going to be listed on the front page of SLRPNK.net, so I should do a bit more explanation and promotion.

Fully Automated is a solarpunk tabletop RPG.

If I were to hear that, my first questions would be:

• *"What kind of solarpunk?"
• "What kind of stories is this for?"*
• and "How solarpunk is this? Are we talking science fantasy with solar panels? Or something more?"

First and foremost, it's meant to be flexible. That said, the default flavor is a scientifically grounded version of high density, post-scarcity urban adventure.

The first set of playable stories are meant to be accessible, exciting adventures, especially to people new to solarpunk. It's assumed that the game may be played by game groups at the request of one player, but not everyone in the group has ever encountered this genre. These stories are primarily investigative, with a mix of diplomacy and possible violence.

Finally, how solarpunk is it? Ultimately, I don't want to confine people, and different people have different tastes. But we've made an effort to provide a starting point that doesn't feel like capitalism with a green coat of paint. The default setting exists somewhere between Libertarian Socialism and Anarchist Communism. It describes a world with a very different set of technologies, social expectations, and philosophical relationships to neighbors and nature. This game is meant to appeal to people new to solarpunk stories, but hope that folks who've read all the classics will not find it shallow.

Most importantly, though, this is not a manifesto. It's a game, and it's meant to be easy to play and genuinely fun. If you like TTRPGs, we hope you'll try it out with friends! If you want to try it, let us know and we'll help get you started.

We're getting ready to release Fully Automated, which means setting up social media accounts and our website:

fullyautomatedrpg.com

I'm not sure how much activity this community will have, but if people are interested in discussing the game, here's the place to do it!

If you're unfamiliar with the game and have found your way here, go ahead and ask questions.