The Purge
Extreme population control measures

During the purge, which lasts from 7 PM to 7 AM one day per year, all services including 911, Judges, TERRA, and WCS stop working.

tl;dr: rampage, but IC, without the meta shit.

It fits the setting in a way, and gives a section of players a way to try things out they may not have otherwise, and makes people be creative with how they're going to ride it out.

I suppose the worst case scenario is it ends up like ebola outbreaks with everyone locked inside, but could still be fun to try.

NPCs are probably the biggest issue to overcome, would probably need a lot of staff for it.

How easy is it to perm characters during this? No judges, no risk to attacking someone who wakes up in genetek.

What does this add to roleplay, realistically? Nothing. Hey, there's going to be all-out murder and destruction soon! Great. That's how it is in the mix every day, generally. It would make corporate characters just hide safely inside while their respective security teams mows down swathes of mixers (if the corporations were dumb enough to not just have lockdown procedures that would render their buildings impervious), no RP will really be had, just pure senseless combat and loot grabbing.

And then presumably every death is basically a perm, since there would inevitably be a cadre outside Genetek for shits and giggles.

If the city wanted to purge then they would only want mixers to die. Not topsiders. So they would keep the WJF and WCS active as WJF protects topsiders and not mixers and WCS protects nobody (at least directly). TERRA being shut down would have, realistically, little impact outside of the ambient side of things which is still cool (imagine hearing that TERRA went on strike one day and that 500,000 more mixers died then on other days).

If a city mandated IC purge was to happen I imagine it would more likely be the Council paying relevant corps (like VS) to just distribute chemicals throughout the mix that was crafted to kill off 10% of the population or something.

If I was a GM and wanted to run this I would probably just do it as 99% ambiance. News reports about the decision. Footage of areos flying over the mix spraying misty clouds of gas. Pictures of dead mixers. Maybe target a couple of well off PCs who are good sports to get gassed and die for effect. Nothing more.

I agree that hide in your pad events tend to be my least favorite. But a big city-wide story like this, even if mostly ambient, is great fun for a lot of players. It gets them talking. Gives the motivation to go and do bold things. It is fun and can encourage RP. I think that more than a few would be fine with hiding in their pad for a day if they get some fun story to play with after.

Pavane: tough shit, this is Sindome, immies and oldbies need to get permed now and then.

Crooknose: great idea, any twist to make it ICly viable is good.

Wonderland: it's epic? Big city wide plot with combat mayhem anarchy and massive death? What's not to like about it?

As a matter of theme, kinda-sorta.

As a matter of actual gameplay experience... You're either projecting a couple of events you've experienced onto all Mix players every day, or, you just do not know.

Because it's both - Red is red in tooth and claw, themefully, but, the reason more-than-half of our players are rolling Mixers isn't because they're always losing to murderhobos. We RP the struggle, we don't just grind out loot wins.

I get it, some people don't like RED. Some people don't like violence. Some people don't like struggle of any sort whatsoever. I'm not defending this @idea, I'm not too great a fan of it. But the reactions to it are silly, uninformed, and possibly in bad faith.

I'll just point out that this is something PCs can do all by themselves. Sure, it's a Big Plot(tm), but what are we even here for at all.

I think the rule-enforcing and authority-enforcing mechanisms and organizations have the perception of having grown very strong over time IC, and players often avoid gameplay that involves them even when its completely viable. It could be useful to let players just get out and try stuff and that might carry over afterwards into people being more bold about what they attempt topside.

Totally. It's been done. Again, 100% from the player side.

Agree with this all the way. It's gotten to the point where the reward to even attempt anything topside is near non-existent and anytime someone does something it's up there it is purely to progress plot, knowing that recovering after the event will be a pain. Corpies hitting Red has consequences, but mixers hitting topside has consequences perpetually.

In the mix it can take several hours to properly line up an ambush on a target, which just isn't possible topside because a GM has to be with you every step of the way. In addition, to pile another reason on top of what I said about effort and reward earlier, bounties on corporate citizens are usually incredibly disproportionate to risk involved.

And yes, while it it is themely for the Orwellian boot to a mixer's face to be ever present, from a gameplay perspective it's boring. I say yes to any events that could even things out, though even that is a poor substitute for making hits on corpies something a mixer solo is interested in all the time.

Not gonna go much deeper into it here but I couldn't resist touching on it briefly. Agreed on what you suggested though.

I am doing that, despite being in a position IC totally unsuited to that aim and one that is worse off for it. There's nothing wrong with discussing ideas on the forums, it's not griping. It's discussion.

But being how the game is a long term game, and even if I split dodge/brawling(whatever attack skill) 100% and agility and strength say, I still don't think I can kill single NPC in the mix let alone a player.

I read on the forums that the gangers are made to be badass near unkillable guys for newbs, so while I think this would be cool to allow folks some combat experience, I don't think it tracks with the general theme of "You're nothing till you've been here a while and UE pumped your homie up."

So this would be only something that really oldbies could participate in that wouldn't be just throwing away your life.

Now I've also seen hinted that multi-person attack bonuses can turn the tide on even an advanced fighter, but then you gotta go get your immy gang gang going and try to find the opportunity and place to flex your limited muscle.

So to me, while I'm not against the kill or be killed mentality, it seems like you'd be asking everyone who isn't a combat monster to just be okay with being killed if they choose to walk around during this type of event.

Mixers try their best to get away clean from topside crimes because if they're caught, because they live in the mix, they are at risk forever. They have to bend, or break if they refuse to do so. There's a difference between the average amateur solo not wanting to leave any evidence behind and not being able to do so when theme is that the corporates must always win.

If this were changed and someone were fragged once and left alone over something then I could see an argument being made for them to stop being so perfectly elusive. Until then, nobody sane is going to risk themselves to a lifelong torture plot.

Again, I get it. I've been on both sides. I'm saying the game isn't a subjective crime simulator and it's about the RP. Both sides need more elbow room to achieve the back and forth that doesn't end in either being pasted and left empty-handed.

I'd rather see the existing IC group that advocates a similar depopulation goal be actively supported by PCs and see how that plays out.

Used to be, nothing in Sindome was forever. Obviously a reputation is going to stick and last, but, GMs and players used to make sure that consequences didn't prevent people from changing RP directions after an OOCly reasonable amount of time. Somtimes it takes some GM plot or handwaving, sometimes all it takes is for people to be willing to be cooperative while we compete.

What changed?

One thing is, population - we now have 6x the number of daily active players that we did when, for example, PC X got Consequence Y and burned Bridge Z, but then later RPd their way into something which rebuilt that burned bridge.

Another thing is, culture. We've got scores of new players who have only ever had set for them the example that consequences are due, and never been shown the ways in which characters can, well, not be "redeemed", but, break through obstacles in order to experience RP avenues which were closed for a while. This is Sindome and those come with their own risks, so, it's not like people got away with something.

Most people don't like to lose and by the time they face it - RP quickly de-escalates to spitting and yelling. At the same time, even if there is a compromise - it is in both party's best interests to not display that openly.

I think the reality is that there's a lot of what you folks are asking for happening already. Unfortunately, the optics of it all is terrifying ICly and in turn, people are scared to take action IC. It's all very themely but something keep in mind.

When the one button in a side's arsenal is 'attack x' in whatever variation*

1- Dozens of NPC weakling vagrants are scattered throughout Red, Gold, and Green. Maybe flavorfully their SIC releases a constant beeping sound, which indicates that this person has been "randomly" selected to be purged.

2- It becomes legal to kill / grapple / whatever these NPCs, and they're pathetically easy to do so. Players can place corpses in a depository chute outside WCS on Gold. Dumped bodies on Gold could be worth 1 point, Red 2 points, and Green 3 points, based on difficulty to chute & scarcity.

3- Heaviest purgers get a reward at the end. Instead of King of the Mix, you could call it Prince of the Purge.