Torrid Thursday Cyberpunk - Stand On Zanzibar By John Brunner- A Surreal Old School Campaign Part III

Introduction 
 This blog entry is going to make a whole more sense if you read the first part right HERE and the second part right over HERE. Plus this little side venture right over Here
Frank Brunner was/is one of my favorite authors and combines lots of high weirdness into his novels. Stand on Zanzibar was his "tour de force" and its only now that I'm beginning to appreciate the impact its having. 

Its a six hundred and fifty page book of very disturbing ideas, weird interactions, and a very possible future created using some social science fictional glue.
This game combined some high weirdness. 

Please bare in mind that this was an adventure game and that the works of John Brunner are sociological science fiction. They were from a strange alternative Earth  late 60's perhaps early 70's akin to something from an episode of "Johnny Quest" on acid. There was a large dose of Moorcock and pulp thrown in as well. They were allies of the Blue Blazer Irregulars, went up against bizarre villains, the Cthulhu Mythos, and secured children from government agents. 

They used a combination of plane segrators, time displacement units, bizarre equipment, mental conditioning, downloaded personalities, and sheer fire power. 
 Major Spoilers Ahead 
"The Plot of Stand" according to Wiki: 

The story is set in 2010, mostly in the United States. A number of plots and many vignettes are played out in this future world, based on Brunner's extrapolation of social, economic, and technological trends. The key main trends are based on the enormous population and its impact: social stresses, eugenic legislation, widening social divisions, future shock, and extremism. Certain of Brunner's guesses are fairly close, others not, and some ideas clearly show their 1960s mind-set.

Many futuristic concepts, products and services, and slang are presented. A supercomputer named Shalmaneser is an important plot element. The Hipcrime Vocab and other works by the fictional sociologist Chad C. Mulligan are frequent sources of quotations. Some examples of slang include "codder" (man), "shiggy" (woman), "whereinole" (where in hell?), "prowlie" (an armored police car), "offyourass" (possessing an attitude), "bivving" (bisexuality, from "ambivalent") and "mucker" (a person running amok). A new technology introduced is "eptification" (education for particular tasks), a form of mental programming. Another is a kind of interactive television that shows the viewer as part of the program ("Mr. & Mrs. Everywhere"). Genetically modified microorganisms are used as terrorist weapons.

The book centres on two New York men, Donald Hogan and Norman Niblock House, who share an apartment.^[2] House is a rising executive at General Technics, one of the all-powerful corporations. Using his "Afram" (African American) heritage to advance his position, he has risen to vice-president at age twenty-six.

Hogan is introduced with a single paragraph rising out of nowhere: "Donald Hogan is a spy". Donald shares an apartment with House and is undercover as a student. Hogan's real work is as a "synthesist", although he is a commissioned officer and can be called up for active duty.

The two main plots concern the fictional African state of Beninia (a name reminiscent of the real-life Benin, though that nation in the Bight of Benin was known as the Republic of Dahomey when the book was written) making a deal with General Technics to take over the management of their country, in a bid to speed up development from third world to first world status. A second major plot is a break-through in genetic engineering in the fictional Australasian nation of Yatakang (which seems to be a disguised Indonesia), to which Hogan is soon sent by the US government ("State") to investigate. The two plots eventually cross, bringing potential implications for the entire world.

High Crimes And Treason

 

By this time the "Amerikan Irregulars" were hitting their stride with the campaign. Things were going very well after two side missions. They had adventured on two other alternative worlds and were ready for a "real challenge" so to speak. 

The mission was a simple extraction from an alternative world rife with high population, terrorist issues, and strange retro 70's technology. The world of Stand on Zanzibar. They downloaded into their brains the works of Chad. C. Mulligen and the HipcCrime Vocab works.Climbed into the "Plane Segrator" and were off 

"Quotations from books by Quotations from books by Chad C. Mulligan, a former sociologist turned iconoclastic social commentator,"^[3] appear throughout the novel to illustrate or contrast plot points. The books are:

• The Hipcrime Vocab, a satirical collection of dictionary pseudo-definitions similar to Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary. "Hipcrime" is one of Mulligan's neologisms; his definition in the book is: "You committed one when you opened this book. Keep it up. It's our only hope."
• You're an Ignorant Idiot — a series of pieces poking holes in "common sense" and received wisdom.
• Better ? than ?
• You: Beast — a "popular science" book, condensing the science of mob psychology, population pressure, and biological imperativeso that readers living in the increasingly populated world can better understand their own environment.

,^[3] appear throughout the novel to illustrate or contrast plot points. The books are:

• The Hipcrime Vocab, a satirical collection of dictionary pseudo-definitions similar to Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary. "Hipcrime" is one of Mulligan's neologisms; his definition in the book is: "You committed one when you opened this book. Keep it up. It's our only hope."
• You're an Ignorant Idiot — a series of pieces poking holes in "common sense" and received wisdom.
• Better ? than ?
• You: Beast — a "popular science" book, condensing the science of mob psychology, population pressure, and biological imperativeso that readers living in the increasingly populated world can better understand their own environment.
  
  The "Irregulars" found themselves in a nasty jungle war and up to their necks in an alternative island hopping world war.According to the plot and wiki : "A Vietnam-like jungle war is being fought in the Philippines between US forces and Chinese units based in Yatakang. The latter is described as being spread over more than 100 islands, the largest of which is Shongao, with an area of 1,790 sq mi (4,600 km²), described as being shaped like a sword. The description closely matches Palawan, which lies between the Philippines and Sarawak. The war is being fought by conscripted soldiers, and one of the subplots follows a draftee." 
  
  
  

So who were the Irregulars to snatch from this fire fight besides almost losing their lives against Chinese National troops? A Yatakang scientist working on that very genetic engineering project.  In the combat with the Chinese two of the PC's bought it! Shot and killed when their helicopter went down!

The replacement Irregulars came from the ranks of the African state of Beninia. A soldier/scientist called Varnralin and a former official of General Technics now a washed up drunk. 

Both were fed the memories of the dead adventurers to bring them up to speed and into the fold. The brain dance technology was ripped straight from the 1983 movie Brainstorm. 
 There was a large manhunt for the characters and even though they had recovered the scientist. Their plane segrator was hit by a stray bullet. They escaped into another alternative world and met up with their old foes from the "Green Brain". After a protracted fight over several days they made it back to their planar drop point.
They elected to return to fight the hivers even with a damaged plane segrator and vanquished them. There was a cost however. They could not return to their own world. They found themselves on a very modern and dark as well as dangerous world. A world of sheer darkness needing the help of adventurers. The "Amerikan  Irregulars" became members of the "Technocracy" from Mage The Ascension.
The campaign ended and I haven't made it back down to Manchester to see my former players since.
So ended the 

"Amerikan Irregulars " and "Club of Rome Quartet" campaign. 

Some Stray Thought And Overload  
According to Wiki: 

"Stand on Zanzibar was innovative within the science fiction genre for mixing narrative with entire chapters dedicated to providing background information and worldbuilding, to create a sprawling narrative that presents a complex and multi-faceted view of the story's future world. Such information-rich chapters were often constructed from many short paragraphs, sentences, or fragments thereof — pulled from sources such as slogans, snatches of conversation, advertising text, songs, extracts from newspapers and books, and other cultural detritus. The result is reminiscent of the concept of information overload." 

There is a lot of book packed into the 650 pages of Stand. Its a very complex and uneven at times read. The book has more going for it now then it did when it first came out. I'm a bit of a devotee to this book. In many ways it reminds me of "Naked Lunch" by orbiting its own narrative. 
The book is one of those that I'm possibly going to pick up for another Summer read and adapt into a campaign for Mage The Ascension or some other rpg. 
This is a good solid read but not one for everyone. The book is really nasty in places and sometimes seems like an episode of depression waiting to happen. That being said if your looking for science fiction social commentary that can be turned into straight balls to the walls Rpg action/adventure. This might be for you if: A. you don't take it that seriously. And B. Aren't adverse to committing a few Hip Crimes and such.
 Cheers. 

Resources for Gaming and Otherwise 

1. Here's the Wiki Entry On Stand HERE
2. An article about stand correctly sort of predicting our current political climate HERE 
3. Here's the TV Tropes entry for Stand HERE