Topic: Junk Dreams

In which I discuss the technicalities of immersion into the junkscapes through the use of opiates and other drugs, and how this immersion affects both the junkie and the game mechanics themselves of living in the junkscapes.

When the CIA began testing drugs on soldiers and other Americans, the goal was to discover a means to control and contain them - to turn the drugs into part of the overall conditioning program used to keep us all in check, having the many doing what needs to be done in the eyes of the few. Of course, like most intense trips, they found what they were looking for. The underlying need to find a means to control became the impetus for the Control Machines. The very foundation of their existence is to control everything within the junkscapes. Born from a subconscious need for order, reinforced by government paranoia, and fed by the fears of the unwitting subjects of these very experiments, the Control Machines are not so much malicious as the personification of paranoia and the need to maintain order.

I've stalled temporarily in the development of the background material for Junk Dreams as I start working on the system for the game. Any further development beyond this point will rely on having a system that I can tie the development to. Although Gareth has started musing about dropping the d20 system for some of his upcoming releases, I had already decided that something other than the d20 system would be the basis of Junk Dreams. That said, I'm also considering 'dual-statting' the game - that is, releasing a short product that converts it over to the d20 system (albeit not a d20 product, since a game about using heroin to save the world is definitely beyond the limits of the decency portions of the license).

First, Denise reminded me of something vital throughout the conversation - this game / project is commercial suicide. The target market for a game where you take the most villified drug in the world as the primary protagonistic device - a game about being fucked out of your gourd, as you will - is about 2 dozen people.

Secondly, she had just read AssassinX for the first time. She tore apart the layout, and commented on the typos and spelling errors. She also pointed out that when AssassinX is redone and released, and Junk Dreams is launched, that we'll have Drugs and Violence covered, leaving only Sex for our next game. I thought that drugs was commercial suicide... I can't imagine a game about sex that *I* might write being any more feasable. But it would certainly involve a lot of pretty latex and bondage gear.

Been thinking about Junk Dreams while applying for jobs and working on products today. Five applications sent, three confirmed. One of the big issues before I go any further with the concept development of Junk Dreams is setting on some sort of system for the game.

The other big question, though, was asked in a forum:

A question, if I may - how do the junkies interact with "the real world" during junkscape? Do they interact at all? To what extent those two worlds correlate?

I don't know... but I'm willing to write a whole bunch about it...

After the brain-scrambling joy of GenCon (and the 16 hour drive each way to and from) and then another 20 hours on the road to and from my sister-in-law's place, I've got a new game on the brain.

Originally, I was going to dedicate this month to an expansion and revision of AssassinX, my 24 hour RPG, to get it ready for publication in time for next year's GenCon. However, along the ride, I started musing about my other obsessions than murder, bloodshed and violence - drugs and hallucinations. I've been a William S Burroughs fan since the tender age of 16, and before that, a fan of the movie VideoDrome. And that is the territory where Junk Dreams seeks to travel now.