[The Story]

Silver wants to be a pop star. She's one of the baby stars being nurtured by DMS corporation to take the lead as next year's hot product. After a long day of voice lessons and music theory training, Silver wraps things up with a recording test in the DMS studios. Her handler is pleased. She's coming along fine, and she'll be ready on schedule. Silver is let out of the studio and exits though the main DMS lobby which doubles as a secure, massive music lounge three stories tall and full of pop stars to be. The public is kept at bay by massive glass walls, creating a multimedia pop aquarium for the fans to oggle into which they will never touch. Silver's got the night off in this new town. She hops a crosstown bus to see what's around this place and is whisked into the night...

Grubby is a respectable laundry owner, at least by day. By night, he moonlights on the streets of the city, buying and selling party favors (drugs) to the teens of the city. Tonight, while moving a few grams in a bity college bar, he gets a call from Dale. It seems Dale has a friend named Angel who got into trouble on a courier run one of Dale's boys messed up. Dale takes care of his own, and this is an embarassing mistake, so would Grubby please take a couple evenings off to watch over her and her buddies? They have a knack for getting in trouble. Why, just a couple weeks ago, they were in the Star Mall and... That was them. Christ. If I didn't owe you...

Bob is milking his incarcerated friends for all they're worth. He drags Beth's man apart from the gang and takes him to the clean room where two of his fellow officers strip him and cuff him down. Bob then proceeds on a "routine" high pressure hose down of the subject which goes on for a painfully long time. At the end, he says to the man " want you to think of me when you f*** her. Stay away from your girlfriend. Just walk away." When the confused gang member tries to ask what he's talking about, Bob gives him a blast of water in the face which sends him toppling over. Eventually, Bob finishes the cleaning, and the officers drage the tired and waterlogged gang member back to his cell.

Jack picks up the phone and dials Jenny. Her voice answers, and is quiet and full of tears on the other end. She can't stay with Jack, she thinks. They're all too violent. Jenny's voice is heavy with the gravity of a person who's deciding to leave a lot of friends out of her life. Jack consoles and explains to her. His worlld is a dangerous one, he says, and friends have to stick together. Sure, he didn't know what D was up to when he started shooting Aristotle, but he trusts D enough to know D wouldn't start anything like that if it weren't to protect them. Jade was in some kind of danger, and D picked up on that. D covered them all, just like Jack would cover them if he ever saw them in trouble. -Just like he'd back Jenny up if she were in trouble. Jenny finally sounds convinced that Jack and the gang are not entirely crazy, and at Jack's gentle invitation, consents to come over to his place.

Fix stands at the threshold of the Green Nile trying to calm down a frantic bartender. Abdul stands across the doorway, emphatically shoving the air in front of him as if a gust might pick up and take Fix away. "You can't come here any more!" He exclaims. "I won't have anyone shooting up my bar!" Fix speaks gently, trying to assure the man that there was imminent danger, that they were protecting their lives, and that it will never happen again. Abdul resists, but When Grubby shows up on his bike and after some shoving with Fix ends up being pushed by fix into the bar area, Abdul completely drops his argument and takes Grubby's order then serves Fix his usual. Maybe he is a robot.

In Night City hospital, Bob makes his way through the screen of nurses warning that it is past visiting hours. He notes in the back of his mind that hospitals and nursing homes both have a smell like old people's pajamas, and steps into Racy's room. He quitely pulls open the curtain around the bed only to find it empty. He checks the other beds. Nobody. He asks the nurses. Racy is supposed to be right here. Bob's mind reels at the possibilities, and runs from the hospital, determined to lose himself in the endless issuance of parking tickets he has made his job.

The door knob wiggle on Jack's door but there is no voice asking for anything. Down the hall, there is a muffled sound of metal biting heavily into wood, and Jack pushes away his cybermodem and pulls out his gun. Gingerly, he opens the door and looks out. Down the hall, someone has let themselves in to an apartment using a crowbar. Jack creeps out, gun in hand, just as Jenny comes up from the stairs at the opposite end of the hall. Suprised, Jack tried to mouth "someone is robbing this apartment. Go into my place and shut the door. I'm going to check this out." Jenny nods, and steps back into the stairwell, leaving only a concerned looking corner of her head poking out from the bend in the hall. Jack drops his hands and sighs at the failure in communication and quickly gestures for her to come into his apartment. Jenny rushes forward, and just as Jack is entering his place, the robber comes out of the apartment down the hall, starts, and runns right by Jack and down the stairs. Jack can do nothing but shrug to himself, shut the door, and sit down next to Jenny. She looks as small as a mouse on the floor, and apologetically reveals a bag of wine, and food. Jack brightens, Jenny makes him a sandwhich, and they talk for a while. After a while, they decide to check in with Fix who invites them to the bar. The pair grab their helmets and hit the streets.

North of the City, a suburban commuter bus stops near a defunct gas station and a small tavern. A brightly dressed pop star in training hops out - confident, haughty, and refreshingly alone for the first time in weeks. The city was a bit intense. She had driven by violent urban labyrinths where she could see gangs running amok. She counted 4 armed robberies and what may have been a rape on the trip here, and this was the first spot that didn't seem imminently dangerous to get off of. Upon entering the bar, she sees a group of folks her age among the old ghosts nursing their hard liquor and a grizzled man with a Trauma Team patch on his jacket invites her over. She sits, thankful to meet some friendly people. Jenny leans over to talk to her, and the rest of the evening is a long, smooth drink of conversation and companionship.

[GM Notes]

I admit, this game was a bit short, and there was almost no action in the traditional sense, but I really enjoyed the breather to allow the new characters to meet each other and to allow the existing players to flesh themselves out a bit more. Jack's talk with Jenny was really nicely done, and shows some of the ways a gang's loyalty might go against logic in the name of compraderie. Bob was also nice and creepy, and he perhaps begins to be engulfed by stress and madness. He might be heading for a meltdown.

One thing players might have noticed is that I've begun to flesh out the nastier side of street life in Cyberpunk America. I've always wondered how a place as violent as Cyberpunk advertises itself to be can sustain an active and vibrant economy. Certainly modern examples don't show this is possible, or do they? I've started to read about places like Brazil and the Phillipines in my "World's Most Dangerour Places" book to see how bad it can get out there, and it can get pretty bad. Yet, that still didn't make Cyberpunk make sense. We don't hear of much technological and economic innovation coming from Brazil, do we? Then it hit me: Brazil is an emerging 3rd world economy. The US in Cyberpunk is a 1st world economy that has splintered in the recent past. There will be a lot of legacy culture for skill and innovation left from the good old days to keep the country limping along for a little while longer.

The streets are a different story though. There is an expression that goes something like "mankind is only a generation away from savagery." Well, on the streets is the first generation of Cyberpunk youth, born in disaster and weaned on drugs, violence, and mass-market oppression. I hope to have more insight into the divisions between the safe, shining downtown and burbplexes and the dirtly, lawless streets of the combat zone and outer city.