/!\/!\/!\ >>> A GAME IS IN THE PROGRESS. KEEP YOUR DIGNITY. <<< /!\/!\/!\

Targeting the new year for main game.

Drifting Tokyo is a ~~anime~~ visual culture-inspired (but not consumed by) sandbox Mage game based in Tokyo, Japan.

Current Events

Register interest below each hook description. Feel free to choose as many as you like and I'll sort out the parties. Content that doesn't get takeup will remain in rotation unless something supersedes it.

Kurobi no Basuke (Regional Qualifiers)

The Red Queen who presides over the secret games of Heaven and Hell has made an announcement of a prize to be won and a game through which to win it. The prize, the priceless 'Ihakudama', a globe of amber nearly ten inches across containing an ancient and mysterious creature. The game, none other than the National Girls' High School Basketball Tournament, with the prize to be presented to the captain of the winning team.

Fujisaka's team isn't bad, but its glory days are long past, and the Western Tokyo regionals contain the formidable Shingata Rengou. Can they sort out their training, scouting and strategy to win the big game and reach the nationals?

tags: sandbox, low-lethality?, techno opposition, sports

Palimpsest

A secret war has secret graves. Throughout Japan lie ruins of the war for reality, and other wars besides, and not all are effectively tracked by the feuding sides. The Virtual Adept R3-JoIN, who specialises in Technocracy intelligence, has either just discovered or just decided to reveal the location of an abandoned Progenitor laboratory. What might his assembled team find inside?

tags: combat?, horror, [spoiler] opposition, dark science

Estro/Kotoba

Snake Eater

Ashippo Ai, proprietor of Hebi-Baby, has a problem: threatening messages, and a dead snake at her door. Her usual rival Hireko protests innocence. Can Hebi-Baby's client or clients help her find the culprit and see them off?

tags: investigation, combat?, wuff opposition, animals

Estro/Kotoba (?)

Rules & Material

Chargen

Build using XP Based Chargen: Mage with 75 freebie XP rather than 105. You can buy arete up to 4 at chargen if you want.

Dodge is subsumed under Athletics.
Being highschool age is a -1 flaw unless you can easily pass for 20+. This doesn't count against flaw limits.
Flaw limits are flexible.
The 'Esoterica' skill is added. Define a paradigm and it packages niche occult knowledge for that paradigm, such as alchemy, numerology and the names of angels for Esoterica [Hermetic].
Computer is a skill
Knowledges are still half cost because w/e

Characters who can get along and work with one another easily are preferred. Knowing one another already is encouraged but not required.

Anime alert level is set to elevated.

Characters

Put the link to your sheet here.
Nishifune Nozomi
Niwa Sachiri
Saki Macgregor-Mathews
Ira Nevanlinna
Rensei Kotoba
Madigan Baskerville

Alumni

Itome Junya (糸目順也)
Vladimir (Vlad) Sakharov

Rules

Drifting Tokyo Crafting

Setting Elements

Drifting Tokyo Cosmology Sketch

Natural Society

Tokyo 2020

It's not long now before Tokyo will be swallowed by this festival of athleticism and its sordid underbelly. Those who want to make a point to the whole world will converge to proclaim their messages.

Climate Change

Freak weather events are increasing, and the summers are becoming hotter. The four seasons of Japan teeter on the edge of chaos.

Supernatural Society

After the War

During the war, some in the country engaged with some entities and in some practices now considered disreputable. In the aftermath those responsible were of course punished, where the accusations were not scurrilous, or exaggerated by the victors. And of course, some people of peripheral involvement and legitimate expertise were able to make amends and begin new lives under the new administrations.

Techno Quiescence

Tokyo is techno turf, but recently their activity has declined for unknown reasons.

Tokyo Metropolitan Special Police

This little-advertised special force deals with 'unusual' situations.

Undead War

The kei-jin courts of Japan are long-established, but successive waves of Cainite (kein-jin [polite], hirubito [derog.]) immigration have carved out niches, most consolidated under the control of the ferocious 'Prince of Tokyo'. Recent events are raising the heat of this cold war.

The Lightning Court

The Eastern Pillar

The White Light and Black Shadow

The Red Queen's Court

Cainites

Onmyouji

The practitioners of onmyoudou are not tradition mages, but their organisations and families have many political links with the Order of Hermes, and Hermetics visiting or living in Japan will often rely on them as a local network. Of course, any Hermetic knows not to rely too much on the good will and good faith of a host.

The House of Nakamoro

A major clan of onmyouji with a significant presence in Tokyo. Its patriarch Nakamoro Tadayuki is a survivor of the Meiji purges and founded the Onmyoudou Association.

The Onmyoudou Association

An umbrella organisation formed to assist in the recovery and regeneration of onmyoudou after the Meiji purges. Like many major crafts, it maintains a permanent representative in Horizon.

The Akashic Brotherhood

Widespread popular adherence to buddhism, folk belief in martial arts and overseas support from their Traditional allies have made the Akashic Brotherhood one of the more resilient and effective bodies of mystics in Japan.

Azumakage

Many magical organisations pursue a policy of cold-war accommodation with the Technocracy. The Azumakage ninjas are a notorious exception. They organise themselves in cells, not dojos, recruiting those disaffected by modern society into a shadow war of murder, sabotage and terror against the oppressor. Their methods are controversial, but their uncompromising stance wins them many supporters among young mages.

The Order of Hermes

While Hermetic society in Japan is closely associated with the Onmyouji, it does have an independent existence centred on the Great Lodge in Osaka, under Master Ashihara. A gifted syncretist and reformer in his early days, in the postwar years he has become doctrinaire and a bitter, resolute opponent of the subsumption of Japan under the Adversary's paradigm.

The Tokyo Lodge

Virtual Adepts

The Virtual Adepts are, together with the Akashic Brotherhood and the Sons of Ether, one of the most prominent traditions of Japan. They mostly lack formal structure, but most will distinguish two broad cliques as a starting point. Both names are english loan-compounds.

Cypherpunks

Cypherpunks espouse a philosophy of 'exit', of cryptographic paranoia toward the technocratic world and building new systems to lifeboat away from it. The economic system is fake; they have built their own. The web is compromised; they had their own from the beginning. When the technocracy swallows itself and the sheep that populate its world, they will be waiting to live on in the ruins, sovereigns to themselves.

Many of the backbone systems of the VA web - the tass chain, VBay, etc. - were built by Cypherpunks.

Noisemakers

As the world transforms, humans must transform with it. Noisemakers work on the margins of the system to pierce the cognitive and sensory boundaries of human existence with unlistenable music, unreadable texts and indescribable pharmaceuticals. The Technocracy seek to level and consume the world; it must respond by becoming jagged and ever stranger.

Noisemakers tend to be more concerned with and effective in the physical world and fighting the Technocracy than Cypherpunks, and they are responsible for many of the standard libraries of kill fractals, biohacks and countersurveillance systems.

Urban Legends

On street corners, in hallways, in locker rooms, in comment threads; Tokyo is an endless marketplace of fanciful rumours.

Drift

The appearance of objects and phenomena from alternate histories. Banknotes from the Heisei era of Imperial Japan, refugees from brutal civil war, and newspaper articles announcing the death of Nelson Mandela in prison have all had their moments of unverifiable online fame.

Tokyo Labyrinth

Tokyo's transport network is larger than any human mind can grasp, but some say it is larger than even its creators and operators know. Crannies in time and space hide secret lines and districts, which few find and fewer return from.

Heaven or Hell

It's hard to get ahead in the Japan of the lost decades, but some down on their luck are given a chance at a new life. Participate in one of the bizarre secret games run for the amusement of certain wealthy spectators, and you can achieve your dream - or suffer a fate worse than debt.

Vermilion Air

Children have always pretended to have special powers, but more and more unsourced testimonials insisting that these ones are real have begun to appear. Enthusiasts declare that the spiritual alignment of modernity has created a 'vermilion air' that awakens latent powers... or something.

The Black Sun

No dude, I looked at it and it was black. My eyes hurt, even after. Something about it, it fucked them up. Like I couldn't even see sunlight after, just black and it hurt. That's why I had to get rid of them. I didn't have a choice.

Business and Organised Crime

Ginto-Kai

A Yakuza organisation based in Ginza. Their young and charismatic chairman has been making waves and the riches of Ginza give them resources, but their lack of substantial or 'special' backing has many observers thinking they may be slapped down before too long.

Kamitouge Group

A high-tech industrial concern with a focus on biotechnology, controlled by the Kamitouge family.

To those in the know, the public Kamitouge family is the hand of its undead elders, who dominate the reformist Lightning Court of Keijin.

Miyamoto Group

The current most prominent Yakuza group, with ties to the Tokyo governor, the Tokyo Euthanatos, and even connections with the Technocracy.

Shinbashira

Strong in western Tokyo. While the organisation itself is young, it has involvement from a number of long-established figures, including some old rivals of the Miyamoto Group thought dead the last few years or decades (for some, this thought is correct).

Akaseki

Strong in Minato ward. This organisation is the main criminal front for the 'Prince of Tokyo', and dates from the postwar years. Its main businesses include the import-export trade, 'consultancy' for foreign businessmen, and it also has connections to American intelligence.

High Schools

Fujisaka Gakuin (藤坂学院)

Posh private HS. Has a ghost problem.

Shingata Rengou Koutou Gakkou (新型連合高等学校)

'Scientific' high school using new educational techniques, with affiliated elementary and middle schools. Backed by a combination of business concerns and foreign investors, with a generous scholarship policy. Its university enrolment rate is top-class.

To those in the know, Shingata Rengou is unsubtly controlled by the Technocracy, providing security for the families of Union members and a platform from which to operate in the educational space.

Sotei Gakuen (素亭学園)

Ultra-high-class private school for children of the nationalist elite. Sinister. Nontheless it is the best place for a young man or woman to make important connections for their future and even those who worry about the occasional rumour are often willing to take the long view for their children's wellbeing, if they can secure the necessary fees or recommendations for entry.

Shiritsu Lilium Jogakuen

Private catholic school for girls. Run by Juumonji Maria, a chorister.

Establishments and Institutions

Hidden Theatre

The Hidden Theatre does not exist.

To those in the know, the Hidden Theatre can be found between the real and mirror Kabukicho, and is a meeting place for the inhabitants of both. Its bizarre performances are the backdrop to many secret deals and sordid acts, but are entertaining to see in themselves for those who can appreciate the traditional arts.

Hebi-Baby

A tattoo, beauty, complementary medicine and random other things shop in Tsukiji run by the extremely attractive and almost certainly pseudonymous Ashippo Ai. She has a long-running feud with Sushi-ya Ooshiro over an array of things so petty just about everyone assumes there must be more going on.

Hooded Lantern (フード付きランタン)

An occult and antiques shop in Jimbocho, run by the stiff old Mr. Kurohara. Has a particular interest in rarities and old asian wares.

Sushi-ya Ooshiro (すしやおおしろ)

A hidden gem sushi restaurant in the outer Tsukiji market. The proprietress, snaggle-toothed young Ooshiro Hireko (大白鰭子), knows a great deal about goings-on around Tokyo Bay, where she often goes swimming. Warning: Kansai-ben.

Museum of International Art and Culture (国際文化美術館)

'Kokusai Bunka Bijutsukan'. Located in Minato. Opened in the 60s as the inheritor of a similar institution destroyed in the war. This museum celebrates the history of cultural and artistic exchange between Japan and the West; its exhibits on Japanese Christianity and the adoption of firearms are exceptional. It is noted for its unusual 24-hour opening times policy, buttressed by a strict policy against violence and rowdiness.

To those in the know, this is the 'elysium' of the vampires of Tokyo, a place held sacred against violence for the conducting of business.

Divine Spirit Association (神霊会)

'Shinreikai'. A New Religion that teaches union with the infinite through meditation and good works. Shinreikai is small, but has some notable members, particularly wives of wealthy men. Its leader, Renga, claims to perform miracles, and certainly has influence through his congregation.

Kirisaki Ashita Museum

An small and obscure location in Jimbocho, on the top three floors of a building. It collects and exhibits things that did not come to pass - predictions that failed, SF futures already outdated, purported records and products of alternate histories. It is run by the retired JSDF colonel and Hanshin Tigers baseball player Sunaharu Niwatori in memory of a woman he once loved. He expects little business, and entry is free.

To those in the know, Sunaharu has a small array of supernatural devices at his disposal, and an unsurprising interest in Drift artefacts.

WI-FU

Not localised to Tokyo. A Digital Web site that sells 'local digital assistant' programs that secure and protect your local network, as cute (or in the latest character set release, handsome) versions of various hearth deities. Advanced features like poltergeist and materialisation raise the up-front and ongoing quint cost.

Areas

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Tokyo_special_wards_map.svg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q5iDH8JARh0/VVr3R2XOvrI/AAAAAAAAEME/ompF5XTspdk/s1600/04_Tokyo_All.jpg

Top levels are the 23 special wards. Special wards are quite large, 10+ sq.km.

Probably gonna put this in its own page when the game is closer, it's getting big.

Bunkyo

A residential and educational special ward.

Hongo

Site of the main campus of Tokyo University.

Chiyoda

A special ward. The heart of political power in Japan. Chiyoda-ku houses the Imperial Palace, the National Diet, the Supreme Court, and the residence of the Prime Minister, as well as important mystic sites like Akiba and the Yasukuni Shrine. Low population density, high xp density.

Akihabara

'Electric Town', 'Akiba'. You know what this is.

Jimbocho (神保町)

'Booktown'. A district thick with used bookshops, publishers, and purveyors of curios. Many occultists and occult beings make their homes or ply their trades here, among musty stacks deep with secrets.

Chuo

'Central'. A special ward and the historical commercial centre of Tokyo. The Bank of Japan is headquartered here.

Ginza

Upscale shopping district.

Nihonbashi

Business district. Home of 'Kilometre Zero' for Tokyo and Japan.

Tsukiji

Home of the Tsukiji Fish Market (fishket).

Minato

A coastal special ward, name meaning 'Harbor'. Home to many corporate and industrial HQs, foreign company local HQs, and foreign embassies.

Roppongi

Nightlife, embassies and gaikokujin. Vampires have a strong presence here.

Shiba

Contains Shiba Park, the site of Tokyo Tower.

Shibuya

A special ward. A centre of the Japanese IT industry and the home of NHK headquarters.

Harajuku

A centre of fashion and youth culture. Contains the shrine of the emperor Meiji and Yoyogi park.

Shibuya Station

The station is surrounded by a famous shopping district.

Shinjuku

A special ward and major commercial centre. Shinjuku Station is the busiest railway station in the world.

Kabukicho

An entertainment and red-light district. The Hidden Theatre has been a significant supernatural meeting site since the late 40s. Kabukicho is traditionally a hideout of organised mundane crime and reality crime, though recent crackdowns have reduced this along with the prominence of the Theatre.

Suginami

A special ward. Many animation studios including Sunrise and Bones keep their headquarters here.

Koenji

An aging retail & commercial district, filled with many second-hand shops, particularly for clothing and electronics. Its 'retro' culture conceals a community of technologically-oriented supernaturals.

Taito

A special ward.

Ueno

Home to many major cultural and Buddhist sites, and also a large homeless population.

Toshima