Los Angeles 2043: A Blade Runner MUSH

Anhedonia

Synopsis:
Humanity has mastered space exploration and colonized the solar system. You are one of the unfortunate millions who remain on Earth, locked within the confines of a futuristic and dystopian Los Angeles. Society is split between haves and have-nots. Fear of synthetic humans, known as replicants, fosters open harassment and political violence. The world is dying. Countless species are extinct, vast portions of the continental United States are unihabitable, and the climate has been irreversibly damaged.

Nonetheless, you must survive. Work. Shop. Reproduce. Find entertainment. The dreary overcast skies, night and day, are bathed in eccentric neon lights. There is no shortage of food or water or spirits or crime. Gamble, eat, seek out employment with a megacorp, avoid street gangs, and stay under the LAPD’s radar.

At night, you dream of blue skies and white sand beaches and warm sunlight. A life you will never live. But then again, who does?

Site: https://la2043.aresmush.com/
Client IP: 157.230.48.227 / 4201

Other deets:
Hi folks! Have been working on this project for a few weeks. Always was a fan of Blade Runner and felt the setting might make for an interesting MUSH. Made a choice to diverge from some of the film canon to accommodate specific themes and technologies, so you’ll probably see a bit of general cyberpunk floating around. We’re entering the open beta phase of the game after ironing out a lot of the essentials. Grid is 95% built, relevant guides have been written, and all of the major lore pages are complete. In the past week, posted an exploratory prologue plot hook for interested parties.

If you’ve ever had an inclination to explore a setting like this, now is your opportunity. We’re accepting both human and replicant characters. Feel free to reach out to me here or via messaging ‘Director’ on the website. Happy to answer any of your questions, and I hope to see at least a few of you on the other side of chargen. Cheers!

Edit 1, 1/23:
After speaking with a friend of mine, I realize it is probably in my best interest to provide some additional information.

I will be accepting player-run-plots.
There is a metaplot, although it will be a ‘slow crawl’ during the beta.
The world will change based upon player decisions, and I encourage players to reach out to me with their ideas – including places they’d like to see added to the grid, or if they wish for specific lore to be expanded upon. In this sense, players will help dictate what is built and what becomes important or influential.
https://la2043.aresmush.com/wiki/philosophy covers some of these things, including the themes we’re looking to explore, in more detail.

Whisky

Just to say this has been the first ARES MUSH game I’ve properly connected into and that’s a big thanks to you. I’ve struggled before not using a grid and good old Telnet to pick up spontaneous RP, but here it’s felt very natural to not.

Also the scenes with NPCs doing something, then PCs reacting either in single scenes or together has been really fun.

So thanks!

Anhedonia

@Whisky hey thanks for the comment bud, appreciate it, hope to keep the momentum up

shit-piss-love

I really like that you laid out a narrow focus for the themes and tone you want in the Thematic Integrity section. Nothing takes me out of the gritty futuristic economic horror or whatnot faster than getting a message delivered by Fluffles the Rainbow Colored Corgi.

Testament

I’m really enjoying the layout of the wiki. Took some time reading files for a couple hours this afternoon and I really like what they got going. It’s an established IP and I usually stay away from those, but it looks more like just the world which isn’t too terribly established.

So I dig it.

Anhedonia

Update, 3/5:
So tonight was the last major event related to the game’s prologue, meaning we’re in the process of wrapping that particular arc up. Chapter 1 will begin within the next 2-3 weeks and will focus on one of the game’s larger megacorps/criminal syndicates

We hit a few big milestones that I would like to share:

349+ completed scenes one month and some change later.
Consistently between 12-15 active players during the day and 20+ actively players in the evenings.
20+ scenes in progress.
3 approved player-run-plots.
Addition of one staffer.

I wanted to take a moment to thank my active playerbase. Everyone has been very inclusive and typically goes out of their way to make new players feel welcome. We have a plethora of solid writers. People proactively establish pre-existing relationships/connections, which dramatically reduces the prevelence of awkward first conversations and interactions. There’s a strong sense of community, at least from my perspective, and I am routinely surprised by/pleased with everyone’s contributions.

I intend to continue to prioritize quick responses on jobs involving application reviews, grid additions, and lore clarifications. My goal turnaround time is less than a day, if not less than 3 or 4 hours from job creation.

I hope everyone still hanging around is having fun. Anyone reading this is more than welcome to come check us out. Feel free to message me on ‘Director’ if you have questions. Cheers!

Roz

Cyberpunk just isn’t my particular jam, but I’ve heard great things from others who have been playing, and I hope you guys keep having an awesome time over there.

bear_necessities

I have had the BEST time on this game so far. I can’t say enough about the people that play there - one of the most (if not THE most) inclusive, amazing group of writers I have had the priviledge of playing with. The plot so far has been great, the stories are great, and everything is just amazing.

Thanks for making this place @Anhedonia! I have had so much fun

Whisky

@Anhedonia said in Los Angeles 2043: A Blade Runner MUSH:

People proactively establish pre-existing relationships/connections, which dramatically reduces the prevelence of awkward first conversations and interactions. There’s a strong sense of community, at least from my perspective, and I am routinely surprised by/pleased with everyone’s contributions.

That has honestly been one of my favourite things about the game. Whenever there’s that “Welcome Name” message there are usually a few people who share how the characters could be linked up.

farfalla

It has been an absolute delight to see how eager people are to make connections and add hooks, the moment I hit the grid I had five people contact me about it.

Props for @Anhedonia for fostering this atmosphere, but he also included links to three different people and directions for RP hooks in my application approval.