Here’s an idea for a game.  Those who like science fiction may enjoy this, particularly those who think the genre has been ill-served by role playing games to date.

  Start with your characters in a modern world, or one close enough to today that it’s easy enough to create a clear image of the way things really are.  Science fiction gaming tends to be about stock tropes, such as space opera and post apocalyptic stories, while some of the best sci fi literature is about how technology impacts our world.  The problem with most games then is that all of that is already laid out in the world description–we know how these technological advances have impacted the world, because the setting book describes the results.  A science fiction game which was about the impact of technology, and not merely about adventures in a world where technology has already formed a new order, would have to make it possible for the players themselves to explore the impact of the technology.  To do that, we need a baseline of sorts, a place to start, a world which we all understand as far as what technology is and does and how people live because of it.  Thus, we start with today, with things as they are, so that we can build on them.

  Once we have established that it is today, we are going to add our first major technological advance.  One innovation will be chosen, and it will be assumed that this new technical ability is in the hands of technologists and being made available to the rich and powerful.  Play will then revolve around how this technology changes the lives of the player characters.  Who has it?  What do they do with it?  As time progresses, the player characters will also have access to this advance.  What do they do with it?

  As time progresses, there will be additional advances.  These should be brought into the game in the same way, one at a time, again with the assumption that it starts in the hands of the few but eventually reaches the many.  Having one new technology from which only a few can benefit, one that is spreading among the middle classes, one that is starting to reach the poor, and one that is available to everyone is probably a good balance for this.  It’s not too many innovations to track, but it allows players the opportunity to consider how one advance impacts another.  Once a technology has reached the point where everyone has it, it should be easy to remember and to integrate with other advances.

  Of course, there would have to be some modifications to traditional play to make this work.  Although technology works its way into our lives hour by hour, we can’t really see its effects at that scale.  So our game will require a few special rules to work effectively.

  First, we should use a scale of play that is something akin to that used in the game Pendragon.  A turn consists of some detail of a few weeks of life played out, and then the assumption that a lot of other things happen and it’s the next year.  This will make it possible to explore the impact of the technology on daily life, while at the same time permitting the technological advance to push forward relentlessly into the future.

  Because of this scale of play, it is probably best for the first technological advance to involve gerontological research.  The player characters should have their aging slowed drastically early in the game, so that they can live to see the changes.  This could be done with the generational style play of Pendragon (in which a player plays members of the same family from father to son to grandson), but given that modern society does not foster the concept of sons following in the footsteps of the fathers that would be less practical and more complicated than simply letting the character live long and prosper.  This advance could take any of several forms.  Genetic manipulation of the body’s shut-down codes, drug therapy and organ replacement, and mechanization of the body are all possible choices, and which is pursued will itself impact the direction the game takes.  Also, the speed with which new technologies permeate the world will be increased, again for the sake of play.  Portable telephones were in use for many years before they reached the vast numbers who now have them, but in game terms it will be easier to compact that to four or five turns.

  Because the game is about the impact of technological advance on society, the players cooperatively should agree on each major advance introduced into the game.  At the same time, individually they should be free to introduce minor improvements and foreseeable combinations and assume these happen.  For example, if our first innovation were the cellular telephone system, our second the Internet, and our third the personal computer, a player should be permitted to declare that his character is now able to access the Internet from his personal computer through a cellular phone.  That having been established, a player could declare that he is able to wear a computer at all times, so it is constantly in use and connected to the Internet while he is awake.  In doing so, however, the players are required to explain how this changes their lives and the lives of others in society who have access to the same advances.

  It is also practical for the major characters to have significant roles in society.  Law enforcement, defense, government, medicine, education, banking and finance, retail management, manufacturing, social services, and labor all have potential for examining the changes that inevitably occur.  Having players take different roles will make the flow of the game easier, as each player will be focused on how the changes impact his character, and the combination of effects on the various player characters will suggest more changes in society beyond the experience of those fields.  It would also be worthwhile for characters to be different ages and more particularly in different social classes, specifically in relation to the penetration of new technologies.  One player may always be first to have the new technology impact his life, but he should be constrained by his own resources, less able to innovate because such advances cost a great deal of money at first.

  The interesting aspect of the game arises as players perceive what the world might become as their changes filter through society.  It may even lead to moral and ethical issues concerning whether people will do the right thing with their possibilities or abuse them to everyone’s detriment.  Will government use advancing surveillance capabilities to monitor and control the public (such as in Orwell’s 1984)?  Will robotics in the workplace displace workers such that unemployment balloons out of control?  Will the ability to work entirely at home result in growing isolationism as individuals cease to interact in person?  Whether these questions are addressed in the game will ultimately be in the hands of the players, but the potential for them is present.

  I am not one to say that science fiction must be about the way technology changes our lives, or about any other ideas.  I’m happy with my space operas and post apocalyptics and utopian futures, and would gladly explore these worlds without complaint.  However, I do see that for some fans science fiction should be doing more, should be looking more closely at how the world is changed by the advances proposed.  These tools might provide a way to accomplish that in play.

  Let me know how it works for your players.

  Next week, something different.

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M. Joseph Young is co-author of Multiverser and Vice President for Development at Valdron Inc.  His many contributions to online literature are indexed for convenience, and he looks forward to discussing these things by e-mail or on our Gaming Outpost forums.