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.

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!